One-Punch Man (Volume 8) - His Name is King...

Saitama and Genos bump into S-Class hero, King on their way home from buying groceries. Then a giant robot attacks, demanding to fight King. However, King runs away leaving Genos to fight. Saitama follows King to find out why?

One-Punch Man (Volume 8) – His Name is King…

What happened?

The robot was huge and only wanted to fight King, the strongest hero. King, however, just wanted to go home and play his video game. He didn’t ask for this. So, he told the robot that he needed to use the bathroom or else he wouldn’t be fighting at one hundred percent. Determined to analyse his fight style, the robot agreed, giving King ten minutes. Every minute he was late, however, it would kill ten people. Well, it turned out that King was terrified. He actually wasn’t very strong and had only gotten to where he was by a series of coincidences.

Genos stepped in and fought the giant robot while Saitama followed King home. King was sorry for running, but he would have been killed. Saitama tried to work out why King didn’t fight. Was it possible that he was so strong, the idea of fighting had become boring – a problem Saitama, no doubt, faces? Saitama sat down to play video games with King while he waited for Genos. Then, a giant monster bird flew into King’s apartment building, smashing its head through his balcony doors.

King was sure that it ate Saitama, but when he opened his eyes he saw that Saitama had stopped it. Saitama then asked him if his strength and battle history was all a lie. King couldn’t believe that Saitama had figured it all out, but then it hit him. Every time he had been recognised as defeating a monster, it had been Saitama. Would Saitama be mad at him for taking his glory? Not really. He said he’d be back to play more video games and then asked King if he wanted to get strong.

One Punch Man Volume 8 King looking serious

What did you think?

I loved this volume. It was so surreal and wonderfully insightful. Of course, Saitama has been running around fighting monsters in the hero-for-fun stage of his career, but it makes it even funnier that each time, King had been one of the sole survivors and as such was recognised as having defeated them. So much so that he was fast-tracked to S-rank along with the prestige and money. Ever since then, he had tried to keep his head down and not draw attention to himself.

Of course, you might expect Saitama to be annoyed with King, but that’s not his style. Rather than making a big deal of it, he pretty much befriended him and asked him if he wanted to get strong. He didn’t judge him and if King had said he was retiring, I doubt Saitama would have held it against him either. He really is the ideal hero. He’s not looking for fame or glory. He often goes out of his way to give that to someone else when he thinks they need it more, often belittling himself in the process. I think his attitude is one of my favourite things about this series.