#there's a really big difference between the monsters of Garou's imagination and real monsters

[gofancyninjaworld]

The difference between 'monsters' and monsters in OPM

@garoumylove has been posting some interesting meta on Garou and monsters (please go check their posts out! 1 and 2 ). I was pondering what was the essential difference between the way Garou understood monsters and what they actually were in the story, and I think I've hit on it.

The metaphorical monsters that Garou identifies with and the way people talk about being seen as a monster as a stand-in for being seen as socially unacceptable is Outside-In. It's society's opinion of you as not-ok, regardless of how you see yourself.

Actual monsters, by which I mean the transformed, used-to-be-human monsters in OPM are Inside-Out. Regardless of how they're seen by society, the person WANTS TO RENOUNCE THEIR HUMANITY and does so. It's not about being in a bad mood, being an outlaw (there are many criminals in OPM who haven't the slightest intention of becoming monsters, and good people who do), or even having strong interests.

Definitely, if you are hard done by others, it's easier to monsterize, but it's not a guarantee. I loved the way Bakuzan -- by all accounts, a highly successful, well-regarded person -- avidly consumed monster cells as he'd long been jealous of Suiryu.

No matter what other people say about you, no matter how bullied, cheated, or discriminated against you are; no matter what laws you've broken or crimes you've committed; no matter how angry or broken or depressed or confused you feel, only you can make yourself a monster.

The question that the story of OPM hasn't answered in full yet is: what does it mean to renounce one's humanity?

[paperficwriter]

So Much Missed Time

Garou always spends too much time away for Badd's liking. 

So funny story, this fic was actually born from a NSFW challenge on Twitter, wherein I offered bits and pieces for milestone numbers of likes. I hope you enjoy it now.

Cut is for length as well as content.

The messy, awkward kiss from upside down takes Badd off-guard. But then, he should have been paying attention, dozing in the open like this. He’s in full hero garb, lying in the grass at the top of the hill overlooking the city, holding his bat against his side. “Hey!” he snaps, but when he opens his eyes and sees a familiar jawline, a long muscular neck, and just the softest strands of white hair, he yanks the head down harder instead of smacking it away.

Garou purrs, cool hands grabbing his face.

Badd’s panting when he finally grumbles, “Fucker. Where ya been? Worryin’ me sick, with that stupid hobo monster boy bullshit…”

Sharp teeth nip his bottom lip before immediately sucking at the skin. It’s embarrassing how easy it is to make him gasp and shudder at that. “Shut up. Had to disappear for a bit. Blame your little hero club. They always want to make my life difficult.”

Badd doesn’t have a response to that. He could retort that he’s not exactly making it easy for him either, showing up like this when he’s on the clock as Metal Bat. All it would take is one nosy asshole with a cell phone, and they would both be in trouble.

God, he tastes good. Kissing Garou is like kissing a snowstorm and a knife fight. Badd’s the one who has to bring the softness to it, or they would both pull away bleeding and bruised. 

“Did you miss me that much, little Bat?” the Human Monster chides, one of those stupidly perfect fingers drawing circles on his chin. His catike grin and gold, mirthful eyes make his heart ache as much as his fists clench. “Was it that long?”

“Two weeks, asshole.” Badd grabs him and flips him over, next to him, but the bastard even makes falling look good, laughing and landing like it’s nothing. Then, he licks into his mouth like a real wolf, a wild greeting of wet pink, and Badd lets him in.

It’s a lifetime - being born, living, and dying to kiss those lips - before Badd finally pulls away. Then, he grabs loose fistfuls of black sweater and shakes Garou twice. This isn’t a fight. Garou would know if he wanted to rumble. “Ya could tell a guy,” he says, headbutting firmly into his shoulder to hide his face as much as get a smell of him. 

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me,” he snaps. “Ya think I’m gonna tattle on ya? Let ya get caught? At this point?”

“I--”

“Do ya know how bad ya made Zenko feel?! She’s askin’ me when you’re comin’ t’ dinner again, and I can’t even tell her.” His voice is loud, and that stupid perfect chiseled chest he’s muffling it into feels like a wall. “I don’t care if ya treat me like a dickhead, but if ya hurt my sister’s feelings again, I’ll kill ya.”

For several seconds, there’s nothing. Then, Garou moves.

If it were anyone else doing it, maybe the sensation of arms encircling him wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Badd gets hugs a lot: from his barber, from Zenko, from his neighbors and people he saves. But Garou hugging him - holding him, pulling him in, slow and tight, like he’s something important - that’s completely different.

“Sorry,” a voice murmurs in his ear. It tickles. 

Badd dares to hold him too, and at first, it’s trembling muscles and everything thin, so thin, has he been eating? And he doesn’t say anything, because another two weeks of nothing seems like too much to handle, and if he scares him away…

“I won’t do it again,” Garou whispers, holding him even closer, until there isn’t even room to breathe. 

“I don’t care if ya need space, yeah?” Badd kisses his jaw. “Just talk to me.”

His shirt is being pulled up from where it’s tucked into his hakama, and fingertips move up his spine. “Later,” Garou agrees, husky and already much too close to him.

“Ya couldn’t jus’...wait for me to get home.” Badd can’t stand the thought of pushing Garou away, telling him to wait, because he doesn’t even think he can. Not after this long, barely even touching himself because he’s gotten too used to way Garou does it, pressing and digging in, finding every pleasure center he didn’t know that he had. 

“No,” Garou says simply, “I couldn’t. Because they keep you on this stupid shift, and by the time you get home, Zenko would be back from piano.”

“Babe.” Badd pushes him back, and at first Garou snarls - did he think he was going to poke fun for being considerate? Or did he hate being interrupted? - but he peppers his cheek with kisses anyway. “Did ya seriously remember our schedules?”

“Yeah? So?” He’s trying so hard to look nonplussed, the loser.

Badd rolls him over so he’s lying on top of Garou’s body, gazing down into eyes that are growing darker. “I dunno. Somethin’ about ya bein’ sweet kinda gets me goin.’”

“Oh, is that what does it for you?” He grabs his ass and uses it to pull him in so tight, and both of them react to it, hard heat striking and rubbing between way too many layers of clothing. “Watch out, hero. I’m going to woo the shit out of you.”

Badd almost chokes on a snort, because he’s moaning now under his breath, leaning down to travel through all the lines of sinew and muscles and pale glory beneath him. Garou manhandles his chest, pulls and grabs at all the soft spots that should be embarrassing as hell, but it just has him devouring his mouth.

Someone could show up at any moment. Any fucking moment.

“I gotta get out of these fuckin’ pants,” Badd growls, and his fingers are shaking as he gets to work.

Badd is so focused on his own pants - damning all the straps and buttons, a curse of looking so fucking cool - that he almost misses Garou disrobing. He’s so long and graceful, it’s like what he imagines maybe a snake might look like shedding its skin. Actually no. Probably not, because there’s no struggle to it, no effort. This is a practiced dance, and Garou’s skin shines pale like snow, flexes hard like a statue. There’s nothing with any kind of give to it…

Badd can’t wait to get his mouth on him.

And then off go the little slipper shoes (cute) and white slacks, and Badd will never, ever get used to how he doesn’t wear anything underneath, or how the length of him swings free, long and hard and rising, especially when he notices how Badd is staring. He strokes it like it’s the handle of a sword.

“Seriously? You haven’t even gotten those stupid parachute pants off yet?” Something in Garou’s voice isn’t actually as annoyed as his words would make it seem. He likes to be watched, Badd fills in. “Let me.”

He doesn’t actually go for the pants. Instead, he travels up under the shirt, across his belly, pushing it up with just his wrists while his hands stroke Badd’s torso. Groping. Studying. Playing. How can he still have all his damn clothes on but feel so exposed?

Finally, Garou lifts the whole red garment off, and turns his head at the pants. Back and forth, a little frustrated. He better not try to rip them off. “These things are fucking stupid,” he grouses. “A corset would be easier to get off.”

Just a few more knots and there. Finally. Garou tugs them off and practically growls when his briefs come into view, like he had put them on this morning just to rile him up. “Why? Is that what ya wanna see me in next time ya decide t’ jump my bones in the woods?” 

The glint of his eyes makes Badd’s entire body burn. “No.” Garou takes the underwear off in a movement that’s so fast it’s like a magic trick, like someone removing a tablecloth from a set table without disturbing a dish. Garou kisses him, possessive, hard. “Only because I would kill anyone else who dared to see you in it.”

Maybe if it were a different time and place, they might be tender. They might take their time, exploring one another’s bodies, the chill of Garou’s skin creating and then subsequently rubbing away goosebumps as they scatter across Badd’s flesh.

But the moment they are naked, and all there is is this, is them, after weeks without contact...the desperation ignites between their bodies. They have to touch, they have to taste, they have to rub and grind.

Badd follows his desire from earlier and at some point he actually licks all the way up Garou’s abs. They feel like river rocks when they’re still soft, before the sun dries them out.

Garou grabs his biceps and squeezes so hard that it almost hurts. He does that a few times, with different parts of his body, actually. His stomach, crushing him back against his front. His thighs, leaving marks. And when he digs his nails into Badd’s chest, he moans and squirms.

“Watch it. Ya want...fuck, ya want me t’ finish already?”

That just urges him on. He bites a pec so hard the Badd sees stars. He almost doesn’t notice Garou touch his cock until he presses a finger presses past his lips. It’s only when Badd swirls his tongue he realizes that he’s tasting himself, that Garou is playing with the tears of arousal that are building up and dripping down the length of him. 

“I...really fuckin’ missed ya, Garou,” he whines, when his mouth is free again. “Seriously.”

“You think you were the only one?” That’s as close as he’s going to get the words back. It’s fine. He’s not with Garou because of his romantic streak anyway. Maybe he’s not with him at all, but even if he isn’t, it’s pretty clear they are both not-with-each-other together. That’s enough for now.

Badd gives him a kick when Garou pushes him down and grabs for his discarded pants. “Swear to god, if ya fuckin’ did all that just to run off…” He knows he won’t, but he’s still frustrated. He wants to keep going. He wants more. 

Garou holds up a travel-sized bottle of lube, and Badd actually laughs. “I just like to be prepared, okay.”

Badd isn’t really given an option on what position to take. Garou takes his legs on his shoulders like it’s nothing at all, shoving two slick fingers inside, both stretching him and strangling out a moan from his throat.

“G, am I...fuck, am I too heavy? Ya don’t gotta…”

“Stop that.” His voice isn’t even strained. “You’re perfect.”

Badd flexes his abs to sit up just enough to snag his wild hair and pull him into a kiss. His prize is a sound of feral pleasure, like a dog having the perfect spot scratched. And that’s not including the third finger inside of him, crooking and seeking the part of him that’s sending his toes curling in the grass.

“Get in,” he groans, reaching out and down between his legs. “Garou, I need it…”

“Okay. Okay, fuck, hang on.” Badd watches him pour lube on his cock, so much that it drips in strings onto the ground, and then he’s shoving it in so hard and so fast that it’s a good thing Badd didn’t give him a hard time about the mess because fuck.

He’s trying not to think of the grass stains. Or the bite marks on either of them. Or any of the other marks that Garou is leaving, deep and passionate, as red as his trademark shirt. He wants to say he’s missed this, and he knows that Garou has too. Their kisses start tasting coppery. It’s like their first fight all over again, but some dreamy version, one that Badd never, ever thought possible.

Garou is so big it feels like he’s splitting him open, and maybe he is, because the flicker of his Fighting Spirit is keeping his stamina up with the (former?) Hero Hunter. “Garou…”

He doesn’t answer. His pupils are tiny sunspots lost in a golden glow.

He should have asked about a condom. Because when Garou comes, he can already tell he’s going to be dripping all the way home, until he gets to the bath. But that thought isn’t stopping him from curling up into a tight ball and then exploding between them, all over their fronts. If anything, it actually makes him come harder than he had thought possible. 

Usually, Garou is ready to go, after he finishes. He’s out the window, or zipping down the hall, or whatever...but right here, in one of the most dangerous places they could be, he stays. A cold marble spoon against his back, a bit sticky, and clutching him in a way, but...he stays.

“I should go,” Badd says after some time, even though long arms are criss-crossed around him like straps. Garou makes a sound like an unhappy cat. “C’mon. Jus’ headin’ home. You can come too.”

Okay, the Human Monster seems sated, and he’s about to pull his pants on when something hard and wide goes into his ass, which is still stretched but also elicits a noise from him. 

“What the fuck is that?!” It’s not his cock. Or his fingers. Badd reaches back and feels the curved end of a plug that’s been rather unceremoniously shoved inside of him. “Where the hell were ya keepin’ that?!”

“While I understand that you like to wear pants that don’t have pockets,” he snarks, slapping one of his asscheeks and making the entire thing move inside of him, recharged electric heat coming from his toes and up to his eyes, “not all of us feel the same way. They are very helpful for carrying things like lube and toys and whatnot…”

Badd glares, and he’s not sure why, but he pulls his pants up the rest of the way. The walk to the train isn’t easy, and when someone offers ‘the best hero Metal Bat-san’ a seat, Garou shoves him into it, and for a second, his eyes roll up into his head.

Zenko isn’t home yet, thank god, and Garou backs him up into the bedroom. “You said so yourself,” he points out. “It’s been two weeks.” It’s only because he actually does sound somewhat longing that Badd doesn’t tell him to fuck off so he can go take the thing out and grab a shower.

Garou doesn’t remove it, though. He pushes Badd onto the bed facedown and tears the hakama off (which is fine, since it was never properly put back together). He pours more lube all over him, creating a layer of sheen so thick it catches the afternoon light in the window.

And he’s so glad they are alone, because Badd howls when Garou shoves the beast that is his cock in beside the toy. The bed, freshly clean, is quickly a mess of arousal and lubricant, pouring all over the sheets, not to mention the drool coming from the side of his mouth as it remains perpetually open. 

When Garou comes, his fluids explode in all directions, and he wrenches his head up to kiss him like it’s a punch in the mouth. They’re both all in when it comes to making up for lost time.

[neo-ally-spl]

One-Punch Man

I read this pretty early on (when it was being translated + the webcomic) and I've talked about his elsewhere but now I want to put my theories here too!

I'm just going to list every one of my speculations first and then explain my thoughts. Also the sentences in italics was my original opinions, just in case that's not clear. Or usually I will say, "I wonder", "here I wrote down", "I had said", etc.

Mar. 2018:

"Scary thought but the manga might not be very long?.". So I don't exactly remember why I thought this but there is a substantial amount of webtoon contnet to cover so I don't think it will end before say 250 chapters. Interesting that I thought this.

"Monster king Orochi is just like Saitama and he could be the most formidable opponent. Or he's just another one hit kill and there's a better opponent in the future." - so he literally was just the latter. I had thought three years ago that maybe he was actually Blast and that's why he couldn't be contacted. But the outcome is so much better. Honestly for a villain he was pretty cool, the only thing about this manga that is sometimes boring is that you know that none of the characters will die. Nobody loses powers either. EDIT: haha I had to make an amendment here. In chapter 143 a hero loses an arm and it seems as if Tanktop Master was crushed. Like- I was wrong lol. Also Darkshine loses his hands not too long after..soo whoops.

The next thing that I posted on twitter said, "what if Blast was manipulated and made into Lord Orochi". And then I had an accompanying image where Psykos confirms that Orochi was once a human being and was "gruesomely perfected". - he is definitely not Blast that's for sure. Blast's introduction was pretty cool. I was shocked for a few hours, it was good. But yeah I don't know who Orochi once was, but that's not true lol.

Oh about my first bullet point, I found another tweet while looking through my twitter and I had said that I thought this was the last arc because it seemed to be the major conflict, but ever since my re-read of the webcomic I think that's no longer true. Not 100% sure though.

The last thing that I said in March, was "what if the final boss is God himself"? This manga is a satire on heroes as it is, but that would be wild and funny as hell. I don't feel like it will happen but idk. Would be cool and totally on par with the insanity of the series lol

April 2018: I guess around this time was when I was able to read the Elder Centipede chapter. Because I mentioned that Blast "fought with it two years ago." At this point I was still running with the idea that Blast died or something else happened. Maybe he was frustrated with the fact that no one else could match up to him. Which now since his reveal in the manga is just not true, he's fighting somthing that's messing space, time and gravity itself.

I think I was just really excited imagining that Blast was greedy or something lol

I also wondered if his "disappearance" was just a big plot hole. Because how was the Hero Association able to know that Blast doesn't want to come into work? Like who was he talking too???

Also the fact that Child Emporer and Metal Knight have outside communications. (Which now we learned was because C.E was his assistant). Made me wonder who was speical enough to get into contact with Blast, it wasn't Tatsumaki because she would have been all haughty about it. lol

June 2018:

Psykos kidnapped a child or maybe a human. I still really wanted to know who Orochi was 😂

I also wondered if someone was looking for him, like they were close friends or if he had a wife and she'll never be able to know what happened. 😟 I don't know what chapter it was but there was a scene where there was a shadow talking to another human. Idk I would've liked that information. :/

March 2021:

This is where I did a big re-read of the series (webcomic and manga). At this point I had been waiting a long time for updates so I forgot a lot of important key details. Like Tatsumaki and Gyoro both say "bald guy" meaning that she heard about this mysterious person (Saitama) and kept that to herself.

Around this time is when I stopped having big speculations and it was more questioning about future chapter events. And then I was just very excited about each new chapter and it mostly turns into reactions.

Before chapter 135 I wondered just how important Fubuki was going to be. I thought it was really interesting that she can sense other life forms, and maybe that her powers were evolving. I still don't know how important she is.

I literally lost my shit at chapter 135 LOL. Like in my notes all I put down was, blast face, BLAST FAEC!!1! And then I also really enjoyed the development between Sweet Mask and Zombieman in this chapter.

Ch. 138 notes: What the- I've got no words. Ya'll need to experience reading this chapter. It has the coolest lore I've seen from this manga yet. Like they connected to another dimension. Can you tell that I was really excited at this point? lol

Ch. 139: *screaming* and that's it, that's the notes lol jk. Here I wrote down about the group worshipping something far underground, like if that is the next enemy? Or is it the dissolution of the H.A from the webcomic?

Ch. 142: Tatsumaki caring about information about Blast was really sweet to see. But if I didn't read the webcomic I wouldn't understand why he means so much to her. I hope ONE and Murata have her backstory in the manga as well. I literally spoke too soon about this because two chapters later we get that information. :O || Sweet Mask got such a bad injury that it makes me believe that he died. Not sure tbh. Something that happens differently in the webcomic is that it's revealed that he was a mysterious being. Like he has the ability to alter himself. He gets harassed by everyone (mostly the public) because they didn't expect him to be an ugly monster. And this kickstarts the public not rlly trusting heroes. And a lot of other shit happens.

Also about Ch. 142 I wondered why Watchdog man wasn't there. Was his city safe? Also I liked the fact that we actually get dialogue from Pig God.

Ch. 143: I don't like Drive Knight anymore lol. It seems like Genos could've actually died for real this time. And lastly Fubuki is a queen. She's turning out to be a really good character.

Ch. 144: It seems like a death flag sprung up for Tatsumaki. Also I kind of understand her thinking because to tatsumaki, blast was the only one that could/would save her. It's not a curse but more like a deep scar on her heart. ;-;!! I wouldn't trust others if that happened to me either. || When I seen the council of swordmasters I thought that they would betray the heroes, lol. || And finally in my notes, I said that it seems like TTM is down for the count too.

Ch. 145: I went back to re-read it and I just noticed in one panel, Pig God says that in the prophecy he needs to save up is power? Is he OP too?! I guess he'll be the savior maybe, that is if Saitama doesn't show up anytime soon. I'm starting to really like Pig God's character a lot too now.

Ch. 146: Ooh! Looks like the spotlight is on Darkshine now. I hope he continues to be a hero because in the webcomic he completely loses his confidence. It's really nice to see. I had some really bad foreshadowing, all I'm going to say is rip darkshine. He didn't die but oof. I also said that it was nice to see that the S-Class could actually hold their own. It wasn't looking promising there for a while.

Ch. 147: oh saitama is on the cover will he finally show up? He in fact didn't. 😔 also I liked the interaction between Atomic Samurai and Bang, he said that it was his job as the master to right his wrongs. I like that he's no longer looking down on him because of Garou. Like how could you expect someone to just be able to make a decision right away and deal with their own student? Like he obviously was important to Bang. That's such a hard thing to do. || Also about Garou he gets a new form 👀

Ch. 148: before I read the chapter, I wrote down that I had different expectations. Because in the webcomic Saitama comes out and supports Garou, he isn't okay with him being killed. Also around this fight is when Sweet Mask gets "revived" and is in monster form. Saitama is the only one that doesn't have a major issue with him. In the webcomic Saitama wasn't missing from the fight but he also wasn't playing a major part yet. || Anyways so the chapter ends with bang appearing to start the fight.

Ch. 149: I felt really bittersweet reading this chapter because the council was wiped out. It would've been cool to understand why there were so few of them left. The lore about the two swords was really cool though. So many events within the last ten chapters veered off from the original plot in the webcomic. I have no way to know what to expect, but I'm not complaining, I like going into these chapters newly experiencing them.

From here on out this is all new observations. Like today i just re-read 150. I would've had a reaction to 151 but it's not out, in fact I feel like I've been waiting a long time for that to release, the last time I checked was early july...

Ch. 150: Poor Darkshine. Also Metal Bat comes back!! I missed his character :o || Haha King is still being caught up in misunderstandings, i can't wait to laugh my ass off in the next chapter. because I know it'll be funny between sprm and king.