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The following contains spoilers from theOne Punch Manmanga
In the world ofOne Punch Manso far, there appears only to be one certain truth: that Saitama will always carry the day while barely even trying. The reason for this is that Saitama’s strength outclasses his opponents to an insane degree that it seems like it would be impossible to lose.
However, in Season 2, we are given a glimpse of the hidden potential of the S-rank hero known as Metal Bat. During his fight with Elder Centipede, it is revealed that his fighting spirit ability allows him to get stronger as he continuously fights. This power, if permitted to grow unchecked during the course of a battle, might allow him to growstrong enough to rival Saitamain a future fight.
Metal Bat’s Fighting Spirit
An Underrated Ability
During Metal Bat’s fight with Elder Centipede and subsequent scuffle with the hero hunter Garou in season 2 ofOne Punch Man, his fighting spirit ability’s mechanics are revealed.
“I’m not that easy to kill. I fight until I win!” -Metal Bat
When Metal Bat gets pumped up during a fight, his fighting spirit allows him to deliver unexpectedly powerful attacks. It appears this fighting spirit also boosts his speed and durability, allowing him to handle attacks he previously couldn’t and stand up to superior foes.
“Did his attacks pack more punch than I thought? -Garou during his fight with Metal Bat.
Despite initially being on the back foot against Garou, Metal Bat was able to use his fighting spirit to eventually shrug off his attacks, nearly killing the hero hunter before he was distracted by his little sister showing up.
With so many heroes inOne Punch Man, a non-flashy ability like Metal Bat’s fighting spirit may go under the radar. However, this ability may end up being the thing to keep Metal Bat relevant to the story as the threats in the show continue to accelerate beyond the current power levels. One could easily imagine a scenario where every other hero becomes helpless by the scale of a future conflict., while Metal Bat’s ability is the only thing keeping him in the fight.
One Swing Man
What Would Happen if Saitama and Metal Bat Squared Off?
The anime, manga, and webcomic have not yet established any hard limits to the power Metal Bat can gain from his fighting spirit ability that seems to defy traditional logic. This makes it entirely possible that in a long enough fight, Metal Bat could gain enough power to deserve the title of “one swing man.”
In a hypothetical altercation between the two,Saitama’s personality of always holding backwould be a great asset to Metal Bat. He would continually get stronger with each attack he survives, leading Saitama to hold back a little less each time. Before Saitama knows it, his fight with Metal Bat could accidentally make the S-classone of the strongest charactersin the series at that moment.
While it’s highly unlikely that Metal Bat would ever truly defeat Saitama in a fight, it is possible that his power output while continuously boosted by a Saitama-enabled fighting spirit could compete against theOne Punch Manhimself. It’s also possible that Metal Bat could find a way in the future to exploit his ability to gain great power. He could let an opponent slowly beat up on him to let him emerge powerful enough to catch someone like Saitama off guard.
However, the tricky part is that even if Metal Bat could obtain overwhelming power, Saitama’s durability is still an unknown factor. The series so far has not even hinted at the possibility that Saitama can receive damage from an attack. Also, while the Caped Baldy often pulls his punches, his durability is something that never seems to weaken. We never see examples ofSaitama intentionally letting an attackcause harm to him, almost as if his durability is constantly on no matter what he does.
