"Boy Hero" (少年ヒーロー, Shōnen Hīrō, Tonari: 140) is the one hundred second chapter of the One-Punch Man manga series.
Short Summary
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Long Summary
Phoenix Man expresses interest in Child Emperor and his "costume", and rather than resuming their fight, he sends the young hero into the Phoenix Space, a mental realm shared by those who wear costumes. Phoenix Man reveals his intent to recruit Child Emperor, believing the child possesses the ideal qualities to become a powerful costume monster like himself. He explains how he could never trust anyone during his time as a mascot, and notes that Child Emperor, too, yearns for someone he can trust. Offering to be that person, Phoenix Man proposes creating a new organization founded on spiritual unity. To Child Emperor's astonishment, Phoenix Man grabs his hand, kneels, and earnestly declares that he needs the boy's strength. His goal is to monsterize Child Emperor and guide him along the correct path to becoming a costume monster.
Child Emperor rejects the offer, breaks free from the Phoenix Space, and slams Phoenix Man. In response, the monster activates his Prominence Hawk Mode, launching Brave Giant backward and smashing him through several pillars. Phoenix Man adopts a battle stance and claims that once the child witnesses his true power, he will come around. He then delivers a rapid series of strikes to Brave Giant, having transformed into his Phoenix Fire Falcon Mode to enhance his speed. Swirling around the mech, Phoenix Man declares that he will tear off its armor like peeling an apple, forcing the boy to surpass his limits repeatedly and embrace monsterization.
In retaliation, Child Emperor draws an energy whip and unleashes 20,000 Fold: Rope Skip Grinder, using it like a jump rope to slam Phoenix Man into a pillar. The two clash mid-air until Phoenix Man launches his Phoenix Flares, which Brave Giant successfully blocks. Unexpectedly, Phoenix Man finds himself ensnared in an electromagnetic web that Child Emperor had secretly deployed while flying. Seizing the moment, Child Emperor punches the immobilized foe. However, Phoenix Man blocks the blow and triggers Full Power 10000C° Prominence, which begins melting Brave Giant's fist.
Realizing there is a water source beneath them, Child Emperor removes the output limiters and plunges them both downward. As they fall, he reflects on Phoenix Man's words of encouragement that no one from the Hero Association had ever spoken to him before.
Summary
Version 1 Part 1
The battle between Phoenix Man and Child Emperor's battle-suit continues. Phoenix Man and the Brave Giant sprint across the long corridor, and Brave Giant tries to land a left sidekick, which Phoenix Man dodges. Brave Giant tries to punch him, destroying several pillars in the process, yet Phoenix Man still manages to avoid his attack. Child Emperor is frustrated that Phoenix Man continuously dodges him, while Phoenix Man remarks that while the Brave Giant is a threat, Child Emperor is too much of an oaf to defeat him.
The Brave Giant proceeds to launch several heat-seeking missiles from his right shoulder. However, Phoenix Man scoffs, for with his new powers, it is now child's play. Phoenix Man unleashes his Phoenix Flare, sending out several bursts of flames which fool the missiles and destroy them upon contact, along with several other nearby pillars. Child Emperor realizes that with his new pyrokinetic abilities, his heat-seeking missiles cannot track him.
Version 1 Part 2
Child Emperor's next strategy is sending out several Little Brave Giants from the Brave Giant, which surround Phoenix Man. Alas, Phoenix Man is still composed because he now possesses five eyes which won't miss even the smallest opening. Phoenix Man unleashes his Fluttering Wall, blowing all of the Little Braves away. The Brave Giant's operating time is now only 1 minute and 30 seconds. Phoenix Man notices that Child Emperor is rushing to finish the battle, concluding that his assertion was indeed correct about the weapon's limited operating time.
With this in mind, Phoenix Man unleashes his Phoenix Homing Wing Attack, Surprisingly, the attacks aren't aimed at the Brave Giant, but target Waganma, who's still hiding in Child Emperor's energy shield. Waganma notices cracks forming on the shield, and tells Child Emperor to do something. Child Emperor rushes to his side and defends from the flame attacks with his Divider Shield.
Phoenix Man mocks Child Emperor, stating that he'll lay waste to his trump card and continue to toy with him until all his weapons are used and he's all alone in deep monster territory. Suddenly, as Phoenix Man is flying, he gets trapped in an invisible wall. Child Emperor reveals that he placed another invisible wall while the Little Braves surrounded him. The Brave Giant then punches Phoenix Man with his Giant Knuckle Sandwich.
Version 2
The battle between Phoenix Man and Child Emperor's battle-suit continues. Child Emperor uses his Divider Shield and charges forward at Phoenix Man. Brave Giant locks onto Phoenix Man and launches a volley of heat-seeking missiles, which Phoenix Man is able to prematurely detonate by using Phoenix Flare. Child Emperor then activates Brave Giant's Delta Scale Saber, and slashes at Phoenix Man, who dodges them. Phoenix Man, noting the sloppiness of Brave Giant's attack patterns, initiates his Phoenix Fire Falcon Mode, and circles around the mech suit, now even faster than before. Phoenix Man uses Phoenix Heat Up Talons Strike on Brave Giant several times, damaging the suit.
Child Emperor, however, counters by launching Little Braves (autonomous robots) from the armor, which charge up their All Range Attack, and fire at Phoenix Man. The monster changes form once more, this time entering Phoenix Prominence Hawk Mode, and absorbs the attack. Child Emperor desperate to finish the battle uses Brave Giant to launch a downward assault on Phoenix Man using one of Brave Giant's swords, but Phoenix Man catches on and destroys the blade. Phoenix Man uses the opportunity to attack Waganma with his Phoenix Homing Wing Attack, forcing Child Emperor to come to the hostage's aid. Brave Giant blocks most of Phoenix Man's attacks and then responds with suppressing fire from its own machine guns.
Phoenix Man resolves to continue distracting Brave Giant and run down its timer but is suddenly caught in an electromagnetic shield launched by the mech. Brave Giant, still holding Waganma, launches a right hook punch at Phoenix Man, but Phoenix Man is able to catch it. Child Emperor activates Brave Giant's boosters, overpowering Phoenix Man, and sending the trio tumbling through many floors. Child Emperor notices the signal from one of the other heroes' locators, and hopes to rendezvous with them to finish off Phoenix Man, who he believes will resurrect again. Concluding their downward journey, the group suddenly find themselves in the same room that Flashy Flash had just done battle in, and sink into the pool of water. Reaching the bottom, Child Emperor spots a bunch of strange masks resting on the ground and contemplates what occurred, shortly before finding Flashy Flash's locator. As Child Emperor wonders what happened to the hero, something behind Brave Giant explodes, sending the mech suit tumbling through the water.
Characters in Order of Appearance
- Child Emperor
- Phoenix Man
- Flashy Flash (Mentioned)
- Tanktop Master (Mentioned)
- Puri-Puri Prisoner (Mentioned)
- Drive Knight (Mentioned)
- Superalloy Darkshine (Mentioned)
- Bofoi (Mentioned)
- Waganma
Volume Bonus Page
A profile portrait of Child Emperor.
Chapter Notes
- Murata wanted to follow up with an update soon after but had trouble story-boarding the battle between Phoenix Man and Child Emperor. He consulted with ONE and settled on the details of the battle.[1]
- Murata redrew the previous updates towards the final version. The chapter was released in parts, part 1 was previously named "Take-Off" (発進, Hasshin) and part 2 was named "Heat Up" (ヒートアップ, Hītoappu). These parts were then consolidated into a single chapter for the second and final version.
- The chapter's name was changed once again into "Boy Hero" (少年ヒーロー, Shōnen Hīrō) for the release of Volume 22.
Gallery
Trivia
- Murata released a 9-page update to coincide his Halloween themed chapter cover with the holiday.
- This chapter reveals the fate of the Subterranean People, who had been absent since surrendering to Saitama in Chapter 4.
- In the old version, the statue of the Subterranean King also prominently includes two giant centipedes that bear a suspicious resemblance to some already-seen monsters.[2] What, if anything, this means, is as of yet unknown.
- Similar imagery shown later in The Mysterious Shrine was used to foreshadow a similar monster's arrival, suggesting a potential connection.