How Strong is Garou?
Monster Garou, the hero hunter, aims to become the strongest monster in history. His intense desire literally changes his biology, turning him into a monster.
In the world of One Punch Man, monsters are born from the darkness of people’s desires. The more obsessed you become with a goal, the stronger you get. Monster cells consumed by humans enhance their abilities, amplifying their negative emotions and desires. This directly translates to strength. Garou sees monsters as beings that strive to fight to the end and views their defeats by heroes as unjust. Determined to change this, he embarks on a journey to overturn the established order.
Climbing the Monster Ranks
As the series progresses, Garou becomes more powerful, moving up the monster ranks. Monsters are classified into different tiers based on their threat level. Starting from the bottom, wolf-level threats are considered the least dangerous, posing a threat primarily to ordinary civilians. Tiger-level threats endanger groups of civilians but are manageable for most heroes. Demon-level monsters are significantly more powerful, causing destruction on a large scale and posing threats to multiple heroes. Dragon-level monsters are catastrophic threats, often requiring multiple S-Class heroes to be defeated. The highest threat level is God, reserved for monsters that threaten all of humanity and are nearly impossible to defeat. Garou climbs through these ranks at an unprecedented rate due to his extreme mastery of martial arts. A guidebook states that he possesses a natural sense of hand-to-hand combat and superhuman learning abilities. This is particularly impressive considering that Bang, in his prime, was recognized for his martial arts talent and dedicated decades to perfecting his Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist technique, which Garou mastered by the age of 18.
Facing the Unbeatable Hero
However, just becoming a monster is not enough, as there’s a hero who can defeat all of them with a single punch. Saitama, a hero who broke his limiter, possesses strength beyond comprehension. While Garou’s strength measures up to other monsters, Saitama’s strength remains unparalleled. Garou continues to grow stronger, taking on S-Class heroes and even high-tier monsters. His battle against Orochi, the king of the monsters, showcases his rapid adaptation and increasing speed. Garou’s fighting spirit, similar to that of Metal Bat, allows him to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds, including recovering from near-death experiences. Orochi, a monster as powerful as Boros, initially defeats Garou. However, after Garou recovers, he faces Darkshine. Despite being exhausted, Garou uses his martial arts to block Darkshine’s powerful attack, although it still shatters his ribcage. This marks a significant transformation in Garou; his biology changes, and he fully becomes a monster. Upon waking up, Garou defeats Bomb and Silver Fang and easily takes down Pure Ugly, demonstrating his immense growth in power. He then engages in a high-speed battle with Platinum S and Flashy Flash, fighting so fast that their movements are calculated to be 200 times faster than light. Garou’s next challenge is a giant centipede, which he defeats by mastering his new technique, the Monster Calamity God Slayer Fist, cutting Sage Centipede in half with a single strike. Garou’s strength and reputation grow, but his ultimate test comes when Saitama arrives on the battlefield. Garou knows that to reach his goals, he must defeat Saitama. Despite undergoing multiple monster transformations and gaining Cosmic Fear Mode after an encounter with God, Garou’s efforts are futile against Saitama.
Cosmic Fear Mode and Ultimate Defeat
Garou’s Cosmic Fear Mode grants him the knowledge of all energy flows and forces in the universe, along with new abilities like nuclear fission, causing nuclear blasts with his fists, and copying Saitama’s consecutive normal punches. He even uses a gamma-ray burst to attack Saitama, showcasing an attack powerful enough to destroy the Earth a billion times over. Despite these incredible abilities, Saitama remains unphased. Blast, the number one hero, arrives, having studied the entity known as God. He fights Garou using space manipulation, but Garou quickly adapts, copying Blast’s techniques and making them his own. Garou’s cosmic radiation overwhelms the heroes, and it seems like the end. Saitama arrives and, seeing his friend Genos defeated, unleashes his full power with a Serious Punch. Garou, having interacted with God, survives by matching Saitama’s strength, calling it Saitama Mode. Their clash generates energy that could shatter the Earth, forcing Blast to use his subspace gates to teleport the shockwave into space, creating a multi-galaxy level explosion. The battle continues on one of Jupiter’s moons, with Garou realizing he cannot keep up with Saitama’s exponential growth in strength. Saitama’s strength increases so rapidly that Garou cannot copy it. In a ridiculous turn of events, Saitama’s sneeze destroys Jupiter, and Garou acknowledges the impossibility of defeating him.
Garou, defeated, tells Saitama to fix his mistakes and teaches him how to reverse time. Saitama, reversing causality, undoes Garou’s actions and defeats him with zero punches. Garou’s journey from a human to a monster and beyond highlights the complex nature of good and evil. Ultimately, Garou rejects both concepts, embodying a unique and compelling character in the One Punch Man universe.
