Punchtoberfest continues! below is an accompanying meta i wrote about Garou & Blue Fire back in July. I don't have any other metas prepared, so i'll post the rest in batches.

I imagine if we ever get to see Garou join the Hero Association there'd be a lot of pushback, not all of it illegitimate. I imagine receiving Blue Fire's blessing would help stem a lot of it.

Apologizing to Blue Fire would also force Garou to face the fact that his stint as the Hero Hunter hurt real people who didn't deserve it, some of it will be carrying the scars of it for the rest of their lives. It might have him reckon with the fact that what he did was wrong and have him feel remorse, which so far we haven't really seen (as of writing 17th of July)

I imagine he'd also have some feelings on now having the system he's once screamed at the injustice of now back him. Now he's the one for whom the exceptions are made and whose past mistakes are swept under the rug. All in the name of justice. After all could Garou have received any of this preferential treatment if he hadn't been Bang's protégé?

>!As readers we don't have to ask, we know he wouldn't. Just look at Garou's fate!<in the webcomic.

Conversely i feel like such a moment would indicate a culmination of a mostly offscreen miniarc for Blue Fire. When we first meet him when Sitch gathers the Earth's criminals in a failed attempt to recruit them for his cause. While there Blue Fire states he'd rather just kill all the criminals they'd gathered in the name of "justice" (which ironically would have been an extrajudicial execution, but i digress) and he intends to make due on that when Garou steps out of line. Instead Garou cuts off his arm.

The next time we hear Blue Fire speak it's when Amai Mask turns monster. Interestingly Blue Fire does not immediately try to kill his former colleague, as one might have expected him to based on his prior stated convictions. Instead he holds the crowd back while trying to accurately assess the situation. Had he not done so, Beauto may well have fully monsterized, and even if he hadn't, it certainly would have put Saitama in hot water as he would have had to fight off Blue Fire to rescue Beauto with all the consequences that may have come from that.

Instead it happened as we read in the Manga. Perhaps because Blue Fire held some lingering kinship with Amai Mask, seeing him as a hero who practiced a similar code of justice. It's hard not to conclude that Blue Fire reevaluated his modus operandi since we last saw him. If you want to look at it uncharitably you can say Garou cutting off Blue Fire's arm chastened him, but either way Blue Fire is simply not as gung ho as he used to be.

Mind you: Blue Fire could have very easily taken the Amai Mask monsterization as yet another Hero Association cover-up. Like the secret gathering of criminals, which cost Blue Fire his arm, and the Psychic Sister affair (which among other things revealed to the rank and file heroes that the Hero Association was secretly holding demon level monsters in captivity). It would not have been all that strange for someone like Blue Fire to take out his legitimate grievances on the monster in front of him. The fact that he didn't and the idea to do so didn't even occur to him speaks to his character.

That's why i can imagine him putting his many grievances aside and giving Garou a second chance. It's also why i like to see Blue Fire meet Accel at some point.

These updates are likely to form a single chapter. Chapter 241 may well be its conclusion but I have enough to say that I may as well get on with it.

Summary: Aftermath

This summary is brought to you by the word 'segue'.

After weeks of saturation advertising, the Neo Heroes introduced themselves to the world yesterday, and the pro-heroes helped their debut by having a torrid time of things between being attacked by monsters just before neo-heroes swooped in to help and having a tough time dealing with four of the five dragon-level monsters that rampaged, one being so disrespectful as to attack the Hero Association headquarters. It hasn't gone all the Neo Heroes' way, mind: two of their leaders have been mortally wounded and one has absconded in response to being asked to carry out orders he found unjust.

It's today and it's time to take stock. Over at the Hero Association, we find Tatsumaki being told that Otento -- the leader of an organisation systematically abducting and drugging babies to make artificial psychics -- is out for her blood. Since she has a score to settle with them, she hardly needs prompting to go off on a mission of ~~revenge~~ um, do-gooding.

She's on it.

Elsewhere in the same building, Flashy Flash is being asked to take care of a group of ninjas known as the Dark Ones who've left a bloodstained challenge letter on one of the executive's desk. He assures them that it'll take him no time to finish these population-culling fiends off, and tells the officials that if they've time to worry about useless things, they'd best use it to worry about improving themselves. The HA's problems lay with its executives, not its heroes. Neo Heroes did a fine job organising people, providing low-grade heroes with crude battlesuits that enabled them to defeat low-level monsters while staying out of the way of S-Class heroes like himself.

How soon will he come to eat his words? With what sauce will they be served?

We segue to an office in the Neo Hero HQ, where a shadowed man is seated behind a desk. Erimin and Destro are standing behind him. They've been listening to a report from a much-bandaged and heavily-sweating McCoy, who is telling them of HA activities over a hologram. As he finishes recounting Flashy Flash's words, Erimin suggests releasing some information about Flash's assassin activities to stir up a scandal, but the seated man demurs, noting that everything is going smoothly so far.

Never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake. Even if you're having to listen to them boast and are itching to take them down a few pegs.

Turning back to McCoy, the man asks for an update on the other S-Class heroes. Well, says McCoy, some have withdrawn to train: Pig God is bulking up in the basement of the HA and Atomic Samurai has taken his disciples off on a multi-week training journey.

Some are incommunicado: Metal Knight appears to be sulking, possibly over control of his guard robots. King has ignored all calls, probably because he's off fighting some dread monster (actually, he's trying to exercise at last). Zombieman has dropped off the face of the earth, which is unusual for him -- maybe he's in trouble and would reward rescue with defection to the Neo Heroes (actually, he too is training. And yes, it looks like he's in trouble).

Some heroes are indeed working: Drive Knight is doing his solo monster exterminations at his own pace and Watchdogman is only concerned with City Q that he does his usual impeccable job of protecting. Puri Puri Prisoner is cooperating with the HA in training up hand-picked prisoners to work as heroes. We get to see that that's not going very well.

And some are recovering: Tank Top Master is hospitalised due to smoke inhalation, and Genos has gone for repair. On this last one, we see that Saitama came out to see Genos in the field and asks him to tell Dr Kuseno to come by for hotpot again, as long as he brought meat.

The four states of Class S: retraining, recovering, ignoring the HA (for reasons), and doing their usual duty.

Now that McCoy has finished his report, the man is silent. The silence stretches out awkwardly, prompting McCoy to go, 'Sir?', but the man only smiles to himself.

While we wait for his answer, let's cut to a training room at the Neo Heroes. Darkshine is trying to motivate his guys with a sparring session, urging them to come at him. If Puri Puri considered his lot half-hearted, he'd revise his assessment positively on seeing how utterly uninterested this lot was. Little wonder when it's the body armour that does all the heavy lifting. Just then, there's a ping to their wristwatches, informing them that an upgrade has been completed. A couple of them wonder what it means before dismissing it as likely of little consequence. Well, the guy who'd been doing most of the talking goes, it's time for him to try something. He rushes at Coach Darkshine intending to try hitting him, but as he swings, the armour activates with such power that it causes him to somersault and slam headfirst into the ground some distance away. The other recruits are confused and horrified. Darkshine picks up the stricken man; he is unconscious and appears to be having a seizure. Not good.

Any way you look at it, this man needs urgent medical attention. God help him.

Anyway, back in his office, the man is ready to give his verdict. And it is a self-congratulatory one: while the S-Class heroes' struggles caused mass consternation (said over panels depicting the ruins of City P and the ongoing decontamination efforts in City N [1]), their strategy of data collection and analysis and continual upgrades meant that they continuously improved without need to rest, reset, or retrain. In time, they'd surely rival the gods. Their greatest asset was time, which the S-Class heroes, looking down on them as they did, were generously allowing them to have. McCoy agrees with that assessment. As he looks at a news story on Blue that breathlessly praises the latter's defeat of a dragon-level monster, he thinks to himself that he has made the right choice in joining Neo Heroes.

Manpower is weak. To progress, you need horsepower (and AI).

We segue to Sekingar giving a run down of the Neo Hero strategy to Badd and Isamu. Badd is understandably disgusted at the idea that instead of looking first to defeat a monster, they're only pretending to fight and gather data. He goes on to say that if their antics endanger Zenko there'll be hell to pay, and asks what they're supposed to tell all the people whose homes have been flattened or have been forced out by poison?

Badd's straightforward morality that cuts through all sophistry...

Sekingar is silent for a moment and then says that as he's a cyborg from a rival organisation, he's not yet been granted access to core databases, nevertheless, he's been able to trace financial irregularities to discover which other HA officials are on the take from Neo Heroes. It's not everything but it's a start.

...Sekingar's forensic analysis that follows oddities to their centre...

Isamu pipes up with his findings. He's been inspecting the carcass of Eel Dragon and has just found something interesting in its head -- a microchip. He reports that he thinks that this might have been a manufactured crisis. As the other two try to digest the implications of this, someone calls out to Isamu. 'What are you doing, Diabolical Emperor?' the voice asks. It belongs to Webigyaza, who approaches surrounded by a menacing aura. Isamu cuts the feed.

...and Isamu's technical wizardry make for a formidable team.

We cut to Infelsinave and Zaedats, who are once again up on their feet despite the crushing (literally in Zaedats's case) defeats they suffered the day before. Their followers and syncophants praise them for their resilience and fighting prowess. Metal Bat stands back a bit from the fawning crowd. Sekingar signs off, telling him to be careful. A approaches Metal Bat and comments that it's a good thing those two are alive. As Badd says nothing, he continues, saying that those two were valuable as sources of manpower and funds. It'd be a shame if they died so he's glad their surgeries went so well. As he looks at the lifeless expressions on both mens' faces, Badd thinks to himself that this place is truly rotten.

You don't need an IQ of 240 to see that something's deeply wrong here.

That's where we are! We find out soon enough if we'll continue or move on. But for now, let us META!

Meta: The plots, how they do thicken!

A mountain is worn down one drop at a time

Little by little, Saitama is changing. In an earlier chapter, I loved seeing that Saitama had finally taken someone's advice and had gone out of his way to buy proper food for Overgrown Rover and Monkey when he returned after Machine God Mirror had caused a ruckus. I'm super glad to see that we find out where he went -- to City T, to make sure that Genos was okay. He may not remember the Ominous Future but he's no longer the guy who waves off his concern about Genos. As ever, he respects Genos enough not to interfere with his recovery procedures [2]. I love noting that unlike Cities N and P, City T is just fine; Genos may feel inadequate but he did good. This is one city whose citizens won't need an explanation. I still trust Saitama's judgement of people and the fact that he's keen to see Dr. Kuseno again is an endorsement in my mind. Unfortunately for Saitama, Dr. Kuseno won't be taking up the offer -- coming to the monster-infested City Z is one thing -- but stepping into a rival mad engineer's territory is a risk too far.

Saitama looking forward to seeing someone again is all but unheard of. Only King has gotten such treatment. I hope it means he sees something others don't. Also, the new body recovery drone isn't as whimsical as the first one we saw but it is sleek, and I'm sure it's just as heavily armed.

Keen spots

- I wish I could take credit for this one, but u/Ferdz0 spotted that the HA officials on Neo's payroll were the same that briefed Tatsumaki and Flashy Flash on their wild goose chases. I would love to say that that's too on-the-nose and a clever bribed guy would pick a fall guy to do the briefing but alas, it's a bit too close to real life.

- Speaking of journeys, I'm mildly hopeful that we'll get some chapters on Atomic Samurai and disciples. Unlike the webcomic, they have a thing to find -- the Moon Blade -- and the reappearance of the sunken continent gives them something to check out. Not expecting anything soon, though. No prizes for guessing that Tsukoyomi is the name of Otento's organisation. With Apollo having declared war on Tatsumaki, I'm also reasonably sure we'll get something in the manga on their conflict. Again, I'm not holding my breath.

Side quest accepted in Atomic's case and a personal score to settle in Tsukoyomi's -- I look forward to seeing updates on these! Also, Apollo, try to stop sounding like a member of Team Rocket.

- No prizes for noticing discrepancies in Webigyaza's collar. Murata draws pages out of sequence and these sorts of things sneak in. When he used to stream, streamers would often catch these and let him know. As it is, he'll probably fix it next update. Or come volume compilation time. Or never.

Depilated

I knew the S-Class was badly hit but today, only Puri Puri Prisoner is available to answer any calls for an S-Class hero. The other heroes around, Drive Knight and Watchdogman, move to their own beat. Genos will be back in a day or two and Tank Top Master probably within the week but this is bad. Garou can't sign on soon enough! It's little wonder the public is concerned. Like a peacock deprived of its train, the 'Shield of Man' [3] is looking a little tattered. Aside from the lack of powerful heroes, the failure of the HA to work out a way to use their heroes better is leaving serious gaps open for other actors. Speaking of which...

I love self-efficacy

Much to some readers' dismay, ONE and Murata don't let things that used to be revelations sta them but bring them in earlier so as to move the story on [4]. The question is not: are the Neo Heroes good or bad? Like many real-world evil organisations, you don't have to be a genius to be concerned about their activities, but they stay just about legal (at least for now), leverage valid public concerns, and are well-resourced enough to get a simple yet compelling message out that beguiles the public and leaves authorities reluctant to act against them. The question is: what are you going to do about it?

Quite a bit. Garou, in setting out his stand on why he'd be the Human Monster, noted that heroes only react to incidents instead of being proactive. From the first manga-only chapter (chapter 20), it's been clear that the HA hasn't only been sitting around waiting for something to happen. Seeing how Sekingar, Badd, and Isamu are using their respective skills to investigate the Neo Heroes does my soul good. Sekingar is using his corporate savvy and analytical mind to relate the Neo Hero on-the-ground tactics to their overarching strategic goals. Metal Bat is using his keen moral compass and outstanding perceptiveness to suss out who the movers of this operation are. And Wild Emperor is using his technical know-how to dig to the smoking gun. Furthermore, they're actively pooling intelligence and watching each others' backs, thus making excellent progress.

The second of the chapters sees us watching them each begin to appreciate just how rotten, and how well prepared, the Neo Heroes really are. What will they do next? Do they act on what they know now or do they gather more information? How are they going to get this back to Sicchi and what, if any, actions will the HA be able to take?

I love how it comes full circle: finally, Sekingar is in a position to do something pro-active, which the HA has been trying and failing to do for ages.

I love too that the Neo Heroes are no fools. They've been cautious in what they're allowing Sekingar to access. It's clear that the Neo Leaders have varying levels of access to the truth of Neo Heroes -- someone like Darkshine is completely oblivious, A is 100% on board and the others are somewhere in between. When we see A talk to Metal Bat about Infelsinave and Zaedats he's as much sounding him out to gauge how receptive he is to the Neo Hero predatory ways as he is conveying information. Webigyaza has made it clear that she knows what Isamu is up to. If she's inclined to be hostile, she could blow their little operation clean out of the water. We have to wait and see what her true intentions are.

What's behind that lopsided smile?

Something fell into place for me and it's ugly

Once upon a time, a few weeks ago in their universe, a few years ago in ours, Flashy Flash mocked Gale Wind and Hellfire Flame for wasting their times on getting faster without improving their minds. This chapter viciously returns to that question, showing us that regular people can't keep up with the increases in speed and power of even minor improvements of the body armour performance, with life-threatening impacts. This would seem to be a real problem for the Neo Hero leader's plans for incremental improvement but I'm sure he has some nefarious plan to deal with that impediment.

Like a ship without a pilot (cybernetes in Greek), power is wasted on the slow.

However, it's answered a question I've long had: why is Genos as clever as he is? Yes, he can be foolish, and as someone who doesn't develop his own gear and who believes just as passionately as any bruiser in giving violence a chance, there's no call in a character like him to be as incisive or as capable of rapidly analysing huge amounts of information to come up with deductions and hypotheses as he is. Now, I realise that I've been looking at it wrong. Put bluntly, there's no point in trying to fit out a person as a combat cyborg with someone who isn't extremely quick on the uptake -- they'll just die. Much less to put them through an intensive upgrading program that requires them to learn brand-new capabilities in a matter of minutes [5]. The person who became Genos isn't interchangeable with just anyone -- he gets to be the Cyborg for Justice because of his brains -- Dr. Kuseno needed an exceptional mind to drive that body. And that's really ugly any way you look at it [6].

Bleh, that got dark. I'm sure this arc will get much darker but before then, a palate cleanser. Have a free Rover!

https://preview.redd.it/ople1d15k8th1.png?width=427&format=png&auto=webp&s=17d7831d5e50a21675dfa448d6957e88a0086d53

Asides

[1] I love the world-building shown in the decontamination efforts in City N.

[2] The essential difference between fanwork and original work. ONE is constrained by needing to tell a coherent story: it would say something about Saitama if he just went ahead and laid hands on Genos without the latter's explicit permission to do so, something he'd have to take account of and work into the story. Fan works have no such restrictions! Please be sure to exploit it and enjoy! :D

[3] That's how Sekingar referred to the support team back in chapter 93 (95 in Viz).

[4] 'It's been revealed too soon!/No subtlety!' and complaints of that ilk are things you hear often but ONE has been letting cats out of the bag early since 2012 and he uses 'early' (and just who are you to judge what's early?) reveals as springboards for developing the story. No apologies.

[5] There's the hellish three-day period between Chapters 75 and 93 where every day he'd been beaten down, hauled back to the lab, knocked out and woken up in a new, more powerful body he had to quickly make his own, only to return to battle even crazier foes. I guess I should cut Genos some slack for dreading yet another cycle.

[6] Well, well, well. From 10 years ago, one of my earliest (and least popular) Reddit posts asking whether Dr Kuseno was a good person: https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePunchMan/comments/5z192i/is_dr_kuseno_a_good_person/ He has a lot to answer for, even if he's ultimately exonerated of wrong doing.