#cause basically to make garou feel justified in self defense vs saitama...i fear that could look poorly on saitama's character

[the-nysh]

Soooo....Saitama had already begun to put 2&2 together about who actually 'took care' of the cadres before with King's 'Ultimate Move,' saw Garou tanking hits vs more monsters to step in and help defeat Evil Ocean Water with a Serious Punch, and then saw much of the direct evidence himself when Garou made a huge scene chopping the centipede...

Enough for Saitama to take initiative with enough personal interest in him to confront an idle Garou himself with the million dollar identity QUESTION:

Whether Saitama's suddenly arrived to sate his own curiosity is one thing (surprisingly leaving the other heroes to deal with the wave's aftermath on their own, might I add.) For example, to ask about Garou's mystery identity/'costume' and his unknown apparent strength, or perhaps Saitama just wants more general information to get to the bottom of what's going on. (Hopefully Saitama doesn't blame Garou for the whole Monster Association mess here however, as that would be....a little unfair.) But so far, Saitama has seen no other incriminating evidence towards Garou being bad here yet (unless he remembers the 'Hero Hunter' stuff and the dine & dash encounter Garou looks different enough that even wc Saitama didn't recognize him)...that heck, Saitama could just be frank and forthright praising Garou's strength/heroics for helping to take out the monsters. :P (Which would be interesting to see how Garou reacts to such unexpected honesty, heh.)

As long as Saitama's question isn't ignored, brushed off, or interrupted by something else happening, like the other heroes or Psykos showing up for example, then...depending on who/what actually instigates the strength-gauging friendly spar fight (if it's starting now or later after a good introductory talk) I hope to see certain callbacks come up in their confrontation.

1. For Saitama to discern, just like Bang did in Garou's dojo flashback, the inherent 'softness' and hesitancy in Garou's fists to commit to the monster act.

Because while Garou may have destroyed the baddest monsters in spectacular (violent) fashion, he still keeps a non-lethal level of restraint when he faces hero (human) opponents. He never crosses the line of actually killing people (even in his feral 'sleep,' he doesn't want to) like he does monsters, so this distinction in his fighting intent/hesitancy, depending on who he targets, becomes an examination of his convictions & seriousness when it comes to his choice to hurt (vs his truer feelings/instincts to save) people as a 'monster,' that I hope Saitama still notices this nature about his behavior as they exchange fists and calls him out for being particularly un-monster-like 'sweet/soft' towards him.

2. While Saitama figuring out what's up with Garou is a main point of interest, on Saitama's side of character importance, I also hope his heroism is called into question and critiqued by Garou as well, as a reexamination of THIS moment:

Primarily for the "you're strong, but so what?" dilemma most familiar and personal to Saitama, as Garou (similar to King here) questions his duty/ideals and the reason why Saitama is even a hero in the first place. Because Saitama may be the strongest insurmountable 'final boss' wall towards Garou, but as the greatest hero??? (Has Saitama even found the answer or thought about it any further beyond seeing heroism as just a hobby?) When after the tournament arc - originally he was interested in martial arts because of hearing about Garou!! how fatefully ironic now - Saitama felt the stagnation like he gained nothing special from the experience and thought he was losing sight of why he originally became a hero. So King's question, weighing Saitama's heroic ideals of helping others vs his self-interest/satisfaction (seeking to sate his boredom/loneliness while 'too strong'), is just as relevant now and aligns with what I hope Garou's confrontation makes Saitama think about and reconsider from another perspective again.

Because, to put things in blunt perspective, when manga Garou hasn't really done anything wrong here yet, if Saitama hypothetically instigates the fight for self-serving reasons (which Garou would notice as not very heroic) for example - fighting to satisfy his own level of boredom/curiosity with someone 'strong,' unjustly blaming Garou for the 'noise' and destroying Saitama's house that wasn't Garou's fault, or the escalating monster disaster he didn't cause Garou actually helped destroy the worst monster threats!, taunting Garou to fight 'better' by insulting him & calling him 'chicken', or if the fight is framed with Saitama as the aggressor - aka the schoolyard 'bully' beating on Garou for the 'fun' of a good fight (which IS a panel present in the webcomic!) then...any of that portrayed in the manga's context would actually look poorly on Saitama's character. :O (!!!!) If Saitama were to behave just like his webcomic counterpart would towards manga Garou right now, it would honestly look quite unpleasant;;; as someone who likes both characters - because it's never fun to see one uplifted or degraded/humiliated at the expense of another. Which goes both ways - their characters can be challenged as they reexamine their strongest values/ideals, but I'd rather not see either character 'look bad' to achieve the arc's goal either.

So, provided the manga does its own thing that's consistent & respectable to both characters, as much as their fight originally leaned towards Garou's cathartic self-discovery and realizations before, I can only hope it brings something somewhat equally significant and enlightening towards Saitama's character as well. (As a possible continuation of what Saitama thought about and felt he didn't gain anything from last time following the manga's tournament arc.) A balance like that from ONE, appropriate to the manga's new context concerning and justifying why they'd fight, would be ideal to me.