Garou - One Punch Man

Garou (ガロウ, Garō; Viz: Garo) is a villain, a martial arts prodigy, the self-proclaimed "Hero Hunter," and a major adversary of the Hero Association and Monster Association. He is a former disciple of Bang but was expelled from his dojo for going on a rampage. Because of his fascination with monsters, he is commonly called the "Human Monster." Sitch of the Hero Association views him as a grave threat to the organization despite being only a human.

Appearance

Garou is a young man with sharp features, yellow eyes, and long silver hair that spikes upward in two large prongs, giving a feeling of a young wolf. He has a lean muscular build. He wears a tight, black, long-sleeved shirt, loose-fitting white martial arts pants, a yellow sash around his waist, and tai chi slippers on his feet.

As Garou fights further in the Human Monster Saga, his appearance becomes more monster-like over time. After being kicked by Saitama, he removes his shirt and wraps his upper body in bandages as he recovers. While fighting Genos, his right eye turns red and bloodshot, and his hair becomes red after he rubs his own blood into it.

Next, he is given a long-sleeved black shirt and tight black pants by the Monster Association. He retains a large diagonal scar across his face after being brutalized by Royal Ripper, and his right eye remains severely bloodshot. His clothes are torn and two strands of fabric flow behind him like scarves due to his encounter with Overgrown Rover, and after being defeated by Orochi his entire body is black with soot. The soot is blown off when Garou blocks Superalloy Darkshine's Superalloy Bazooka, and the force of the attack also shreds his remaining clothing into a spiral pattern around the hole Orochi put in his torso.

After his fight with Darkshine and the subsequent destruction of the Monster Association base, Garou begins transforming, with his hands turning into claws, his teeth transforming into fangs, and his skin hardening. When he emerges aboveground, Garou has hardened, armor-like skin and hair, razor-sharp claws, and glowing veins running along his body. His back also grows several holes that begin glowing a colour and his torn clothes are tied around his shoulders and waist as a makeshift cape. After his fight against Bang, Garou's left eye's armor is shattered as a result of his former master's final blow, exposing his eye in the left. As Garou's monsterization progresses through several other battles, his glowing veins become more bright and noticeable while his muscle mass seems to increase slightly. Later, when beaten by Saitama during their fight, Garou's body, in response to his rage, undergoes a mutation that greatly increases his size and stature. His jawline becomes sharper, his mouth becomes more pronounced and filled with razor-sharp teeth. The spikes on his body lengthen and multiply, with his overall appearance becoming much more monstrous and intimidating than previously. Soon later, when attempting to catch up to Saitama, Garou develops into an even more demonic form that grows greater in size, a pair of wings on his back as well as a pair of longhorns on his head, with flames on the back of his neck and both sides of his thighs. Shortly after, Garou grows two more arms while in this form.

After managing to avoid "God" trying to take over his body, Garou reverts into a physique more similar to that of his original monsterization form, but with featureless void filled with stars and galaxies over his front body.

Personality

Garou is introduced as an antagonist with a confident, vindictive characterization driven by a deep hatred for heroes. He hates being insulted and will attack anyone who offends him. He thinks highly of himself and uses that assertion to threaten high-ranking personnel such as heroes and Sitch. He will also attack low-ranked heroes and Hero Association staff members if he encounters them.

Garou hates those who are popular, as he believes the popular ones will always win in the end. This is because as a child, he had no friends and the popular children at school enjoyed abusing him both physically and verbally, particularly a boy named Tacchan. They forced him to play Heroes, where Tacchan ("Justice Man") would beat up Garou ("the monster"). Garou noticed how everyone liked Tacchan but hated him. After watching his life repeat over and over again on the basis of the Justice Man TV show, he grew a distaste of heroes in general and believed that in the end, the majority will always want him ("the monster") dead. However, this mentality also leads him to have a soft spot for victims, even his enemies. This is seen when fighting Superalloy Darkshine; when he begins attacking the hero's ears, he recalls moments when he and Tareo were bullied in a similar fashion and stops his attack.

Abilities and Powers

Prior to his hero hunt, Garou was Bang's best disciple and was able to defeat all of his fellow students before being expelled by Bang. Garou's combination of genius martial art intellect and heightened physical attributes allowed him to defeat numerous heroes from the Hero Association as well as many hardened criminals. During the ambush led by Death Gatling, Garou claimed to have defeated nearly a hundred heroes.

He was able to defeat the Tank Topper Army single-handedly early in his hero hunt, including the A-Class hero Tanktop Vegetarian and even the S-Class hero Tanktop Master, who was overwhelmed by Garou's superior technique.

Garou later challenged and defeated the S-Class hero Metal Bat, comparing him to an amateur fighter but privately admitted to himself that had a single one of Metal Bat's strikes connected, he could have lost.

His advanced martial arts, which he learned from his former master Bang, grants him an advantage when fighting humans. He can use targeted thrusts at joints and vital spots in order to incapacitate physical functions and return counterattacks after anticipating his opponent's movements. However, as a result of that, his fighting style becomes far less effective against beastly tactics and non-humanoid forms. This is proven when he is easily overwhelmed by Watchdog Man despite previously defeating two other S-Class heroes.

Physical Abilities

Immense Strength: Garou's strength is superhuman and on the level of an S-Class hero, he is capable of defeating A-Class heroes with little to no effort. He was able to rip Blue Fire's arm off and break Heavy Tank Loincloth's arm without difficulty, knocking him out with a single strike. He was also able to heavily injure Tanktop Master, an S-Class hero, with a barrage of strikes and defeat him after getting serious. He has shown able to knock out a grown man with a casual fillip to the face, pushing him back with enough force to also incapacitate another one right behind the first. Even in his weakened state, Garou was still able to defeat a group of A and B-Class heroes with either a short barrage of punches or a single strike.

Immense Durability: Garou is very resilient. He was able to take multiple attacks from Tanktop Master and remain standing, despite coughing up a lot of blood. Even when he was severely injured by Watchdog Man and later Saitama, he was still able to combat the group of A and B-Class heroes and tough out the pain. Even Shooter's poison arrows and the bullet hole in his leg from Gun Gun didn't slow him down, as noted by Glasses. He also survived an assault from two Demon-level monsters: Royal Ripper and Bug God, though he was put in a near-death state.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Garou possesses an extreme amount of speed and reflexes, far surpassing that of average heroes. He was able to effortlessly dodge a fire-based attack from Blue Fire and rip his arm off before the hero could even realize what happened. He also managed to react to and dodge, albeit barely, a point-blank bullet from Golden Ball despite being caught by surprise, as well as being able to quickly dodge a vast amount of the latter's bullets from multiple directions and redirect them into each other at the same time without difficulty after adapting to the dim-light environment. His amazing speed was once again shown when he was able to easily dodge and deflect all attacks from the S-Class hero Metal Bat, even moving faster than the latter could see. Even in his weakened state, Garou was still fast enough to outmaneuver the group of A and B-Class heroes and keep up with S-Class hero, Genos, in their fight.

Immense Stamina and Endurance: Garou possesses inhuman pain tolerance. He is able to continue fighting after suffering injuries which would incapacitate normal people, such as a beat-down from Tanktop Master, or when Spring Mustachio's sword stabs through his hand, without him so much as flinching. Moreover, after being weakened by multiple fights from the day before and suffering a fever, he managed to continue fighting multiple heroes at once and, in fact, defeated all of them using smart tactics and enduring all of the continuous pain. Even when being battered to a bloody pulp by both Bang and Bomb, arguably the two most powerful martial artists on the planet, slipping in and out of consciousness, and losing feeling in his arms, he was still able to persevere and create tremors in the ground, uproot a tree, and spin it at amazing speeds, to the utter shock of both Bang and Bomb.

Enhanced Senses: Garou is able to sense the trajectory of bullets from Golden Ball's Golden Breakout, even in the dark. He can predict the movements of Metal Bat's Savage Tornado attack. He is also able to sense that people are watching him, as he realizes he is being watched by two monsters despite being engaged in battle against Metal Bat at the time, as well as being able to sense killing intent very clearly. Moreover, he dodged Chain'n'toad's Ear Cutter, despite coming from a blind spot, just by instinct. It is also shown that his sense is sharp enough to enable him to deflect a barrage of shots from a Gatling gun flawlessly without letting a single shot hit him.

Accelerated Development: Garou's main attribute; in his first appearance at the Hero Association headquarters, the human monster admits that S-Class heroes would be too much for him to handle. Shortly afterward, however, he is capable of fighting against and defeating the very same S-Class heroes, such as Tanktop Master, in physical combat. This ability is shown to be at work mid-combat too, as seen when he was on the verge of defeat at the hands of Bang and Bomb but was able to turn the tables quickly on them despite his extreme injuries and exhaustion.

Fighting Style

Master Martial Artist: Garou is an extremely skilled fighter, who adapts to combat and uses the advantage of the opponent's weak spots to give himself the upper advantage in fights. His super learning ability (超学習能力, Chō Gakushū Nōryoku) allows him to learn countermeasures for other people's fighting styles while making their fighting styles his own. He shows this ability against Tanktop Master, where he attacks his weak spots and quickly turns the tables. Moreover, when fighting, Garou aims for the vital points and joints to make his opponents lose the ability to fight back very quickly. Furthermore, through analyzing his opponent's line of vision, posture, muscle tension, breathing, energy, movement patterns, and center of gravity he can effectively predict their next movements. Garou is even talented enough to acquire a martial art fighting style with only a single reading, specifically the Exploding Heart Release Fist.

Miscellaneous Abilities

Indomitable Will: One of Garou's defining traits and a factor that allows him to keep fighting, even when on the brink of death, is his sheer willpower. 

Massive Appetite: Garou is shown to have a massive appetite, as he can stuff himself with the full list of items on the menu of a restaurant in order to rejuvenate himself. Despite his toned body and slim physique, he is able to stuff down large meals and even chug an entire pitcher of water with a single gulp, showing his enhanced metabolism.

Monsterfication

After being pushed to his limits in a series of fights against a team of A-Class and B-Class heroes, followed by Genos, Bang, and Bomb, Garou's evolution begins to skyrocket. Later, after being almost killed in his fight with Royal Ripper and Bug God, his power explosively increases and his clothes merge with his body causing him to slowly transform until only his face remains untouched.

As a result of being pushed to the brink of death and overcoming it, his limiter starts to break and he is identified by Gyoro Gyoro as being a "Half-Monster". His senses and abilities increase so that even while he is asleep, he's still extremely dangerous and able to fight enemies. Even though he admits he's not a pretty sight while he's asleep, he was strong enough to easily defeat Puri-Puri Prisoner.

Garou was able to put up a good fight against Superalloy Darkshine, although he suffered great injuries from his attacks. As their battle rages on, Garou's abilities increase to the point that he can match Superalloy Darkshine's full-power Superalloy Bazooka with his own attack without any difficulty or damage. His strength eventually increases to the point where he was able to pressure and harm the hero both physically and mentally before Tatsumaki interrupted their battle. Though it should be noted that this victory has more to do with the hero's underlying psychological insecurities than any significant advantage in power on Garou's side. After experiencing Garou's exponential rise in power firsthand, Darkshine comes to believe that nobody may stand a chance against him by the time he makes it to the surface.

Explosive Growth Rate: As a result of appearing to break his limiter, Garou's abilities can increase immensely in a very short period of time. He likens this to the Fighting Spirit (気合い, Kiai) ability Metal Bat has. Garou's growth rate allowed him to easily kill Royal Ripper, who before with Bug God had defeated Garou. He later went on to fight far more powerful foes such as Overgrown Rover, Gyoro Gyoro, and Orochi in rapid succession before being defeated by the latter. Garou demonstrated his escalating fighting skill in his battle with Superalloy Darkshine by continuously improving his strength and refining his skills against the S-Class hero until he completely overwhelmed him. During his fight with Bomb in his evolved state, the latter was also surprised by Garou's escalating fighting skill and commented that through his battles, Garou has combined various techniques and refined them into his own style, prompting the elder martial artist to wonder if that was a result of his monsterization. During his fight with Flashy Flash and Platinum Sperm, the battle was initially an even exchange between the three until Garou refined his fighting style and was able to gain the upper hand against both other fighters. Although initially unable to deal any notable damage to Sage Centipede's tough armor, when working in-tandem with Metal Bat and accidentally creating a combo attack with the hero, Garou overcame a charge from the giant monster, damaging its entire body and cracking its durable shell.

Augmented Strength: Garou in this state is capable of defeating Royal Ripper with a single strike. After being awakened by Puri-Puri Prisoner, Garou could easily break the chains holding him and seriously injure the hero with a barrage of strikes, penetrating his bristle armor as well as effortlessly defeating him shortly afterwards. It should be noted that Garou did this while he was sleep-fighting and wasn't right in his senses. Garou's enormous strength convinced Puri-Puri Prisoner that even a fellow S-Class hero like Superalloy Darkshine would have difficulty facing him. During their fight, Garou's attacks caused the hero to briefly cough up blood and pulverize the surrounding stone, reducing it to sand, with just the shockwaves from his blows.

Augmented Durability: Garou can survive several point-blank attacks from both Overgrown Rover and Monster King Orochi, albeit the latter was trying not to kill him. He was able to survive a powerful tackle from Superalloy Darkshine, which he believed it would be instant death if he was hit by it, although he suffered critical injuries with his ribcage shattering. Later during their fight, Garou evolved to the point where he could withstand Superalloy Darkshine's much stronger attacks, such as his Superalloy Bazooka, and Superalloy Double Bazooka.

Augmented Stamina and Endurance: As his monsterization progressed, Garou's stamina and endurance were further improved. In his fight with Overgrown Rover, Garou was able to endure a brutal assault from the Dragon-level monster and advance through the Monster Association Headquarters, eventually confronting Gyoro Gyoro and Orochi without rest. During his fight against Orochi, his body was pierced by one of the latter's horns but the injury did not slow him down and stop him from continuing fighting, despite the visible hole in his torso. Later, in his fight against Superalloy Darkshine, he showcased his amazing endurance when he was capable of fighting with increasing speed and ferocity even after his entire rib cage was shattered by the S-Class hero.

Enhanced Instincts: Garou is able to quickly discern the strength of his opponents by listening to the instinctual warning signals that his body sends him. He was able to intuitively determine that Overgrown Rover was a very dangerous monster, which led him to retreat.

Regeneration: Garou can heal very quickly, as he fully recovered his life-threatening injuries from Royal Ripper in only a few hours. He also regenerated getting pierced through his stomach after Orochi's extremely fast and flexible horn struck and left a big hole; the bleeding soon stopped, and at the time Puri-Puri Prisoner ran into him, the hole already fully regenerated. 

Flight: In his fight with Saitama, Garou undergoes a transformation that grows a pair of wings on his back, allowing him the ability to fly.

Transformation: In his fight with Saitama, Garou showcased greater control over his monsterfication, to the point of purposefully creating a second pair of arms in an attempt to overwhelm Saitama.

Energy Projection: Garou used his two hands to form energy beams that were used as a jetpack to throw Saitama through a mountain.

Influence from "God"

"Awakened Garou: Cosmic Fear Mode" (覚醒ガロウ: 宇宙的コズミック恐怖フィアーモード, Kakusei Garō: Kozumikku Fiā Mōdo) is the form Garou assumes after escaping the body takeover by "God" in his fight against Saitama.[174] Its appearance is that of a featureless void filled with stars and galaxies. His silhouette is reminiscent of how he looked after his fight with Superalloy Darkshine. According to Blast, Garou was apparently able to stave off a full impartation of power from "God". Despite this, Garou's already incredible power reaches even more preposterous levels while in this form, capable of combating unbelievably powerful heroes such as Blast and a held back Saitama.

Universal Energy Projection and Cosmic Knowledge: Having received powers from "God", Garou has also gained knowledge of the flow of all energy as well as the behaviour of all forces in the universe. He can even control the energies of the universe as he pleases. This allows him to deliver extremely powerful blows of cosmic energy.

Cosmic Radiation: Due to his overwhelming power and God's influence, Garou constantly emits deadly levels of radiation poisoning from his body, which harms and incapacitates everyone in his surroundings. They begin to suffer the symptoms of Acute Radiation Syndrome, such as bleeding and hair loss. This ability seems to come out involuntarily as a side-effect of his attacks, but on a much greater scale. Blast even comments that is extremely dangerous and can kill all life on the planet.

Power Mimicry: Garou's ability to replicate fighting styles has been enhanced to incredible heights as he is able to duplicate Blast's ability to open portals and manipulate gravity just by fighting the number one hero briefly. This ability is strong enough that Garou believes he can win against Saitama if he manages to use his own power against him.

All Life Eradication Fist (全生命体根絶拳, Zen Seimeitai Konzetsu Ken; Viz: Fist Of Eradicating All Life Forms): An all new, all different martial art which Garou developed after receiving powers from "God". Having reached an epiphany on how the flow of energy works via his teachings received through study under his former master Bang, this cosmological empowerment enables the Hero Hunter to focus and utilize the natural energy flow of the universe itself in conjunction with his internal force channeling, enabling the simulation of natural universal phenomena through pure physical ability.

Shakkei (借勁): Some secret martial arts techniques that borrow the power of nature by imitating the movements of living things. Garou refers to them as "Modes", which he thinks sounds cooler. Using this ability, any techniques that Garou copies also get honed to perfection very quickly, rendering the original user soon unable to keep up with the duplicated techniques.

Augmented Strength: After transforming once again under the influence of "God", Garou's strength grows to even more preposterous levels. He was able to match a suppressed Saitama blow for blow in a collision of fists, unlike before when he was overpowered by the hero's Consecutive Normal Punches.

Augmented Durability: Garou's outstanding durability is even more drastically increased under this form, as he was able to withstand suppressed Saitama's Consecutive Normal Punches in an exchange of blows. He also came out relatively unscathed after taking a powerful punch from suppressed Saitama in the face. Garou has also been able to withstand Blast's Gravity Knuckle punches without visible damage.

Augmented Speed and Reflexes: Garou's immense speed and reflexes are further enhanced under this form, as he was able to keep up with suppressed Saitama and match him in an exchange of blows.

Overwhelming Presence: In Cosmic Fear Mode, when Garou appeared in front of many heroes on the surface, they all realized at that moment he was the monster that was the source of the massive explosions of energy. He seemingly possesses a frightening aura and pressure, and all of the heroes almost immediately sweat in fear as he approached them. Even S-Class heroes such as Zombieman and Flashy Flash felt the direness of the situation in their skin, realizing that running away would be useless. Many of the lower-class heroes began screaming in fear at the sight of Garou's evil presence, attempting to crawl and get away by any means possible.