Chapter 57 (Vigilantes)

The Explosive Man (爆弾になる男) is the fifty-seventh chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.

Summary
Due to the explosion caused by Knuckleduster, Number 6 falls to the bottom without having a place to lean on and, therefore, unable to maneuver in mid-air. Hanging on his grappling hook, Knuckleduster informs him that he has not only destroyed the rooftop but also several floors below, putting him in a freefall and making his acceleration worthless. Then, Knuckleduster pulls a shotgun out under his trench coat and aims to Number 6. The villain quickly covers his head to protect it from the bullets, but Knuckleduster shoots his legs, so he can not land properly.

With the shots and the debris that fall on him, Number 6 is seriously injured, and at mercy of Knuckleduster, but the vigilante realizes that the villain has been modified to be able to resist pain. Realizing that the pain will not be enough to stop Number 6, he decides to shoot his limbs to leave him helpless.

Gravely wounded, Number 6 comments that something is fishy with Knuckleduster's latest actions. A few minutes ago, Knuckleduster tried to headshot him, but now he isn't trying kill him. He asks the vigilante why this change of plans is due. Knuckleduster answer that he has just changed the priorities. He admits that killing him was his best long-term option, but now that he had fallen into his trap, it is worth leaving him only badly wounded. Knuckleduster tells him that the building is damaged, and therefore another blast will gonna brign the whole building down, becoming Number 6 tomb. He can’t escape even with his super speed.

Number 6 tells him he is naive, because his decision to no kill him gives him time to recover. At these words, Knuckleduster begins to brutally hit him in his head. Knuckleduster says that taking out a dangerous villain is high on his priority list, but in that situation, he wants to wring some intel from Number 6 about the ringleader of the Villain Factory. The blows to his head are to seal off overclock, being as effective as the oxygen deprivation to the brain as Number 6 suffered before.

Knuckleduster realizes the villain has healing powers, because the shotgun wounds already stopped bleeding. Knowing that this can be a problem, he decides to tie the villain. However, Number 6 taunts him saying he should have killed him when he had the chance. A minibomber comes out of his sleeve, and merges with his left arm. Number 6 confesses to Knuckleduster that he has bomber cells in his body, as parasites, before self-detonating his arm, blowing Knuckleduster away.

Despite making him sacrifice his left arm. Number 6 praises Knuckleduster for his stubbornness, considering him as the best one, much better than the Pro Heroes and even All Might. However, he is here to be better than him, after all, there can only be one O'Clock. Knuckleduster gets up and tells Number 6 to keep dreaming. The explosion maybe injured him but its the same for the villain, even worse. He’s gonna make sure that Number 6 will meet his end here, having made exactly nothing of himself.

Number 6 recognizes that Knuckleduster may be right to consider him a mere copycat, and it is true that he knows a lot more about his old Quirk Overclock that him, However he does not know anything about him and what he is capable of. He can do things with Overclock that Knuckleduster never couldn’t, like accelerating the growth of the Bomber’s cells, and in this way, obtain an explosive arm where before his left arm was. Number 6 also has the bomber cells extending to the right arm, thus obtaining two explosive arms.

With this power at his disposal, Number 6 proclaims that the only thing he has to do is make his escape by blowing up the walls, and Knuckleduster along with them. Without giving him time to finish his speech, Knuckleduster attacks him and proclaims that he will defeat him before he has the chance to blow. Admiring Knuckleduster resolve, Number 6 recognizes that he is certainly the best, before attack him, initiating the final battle between both.

Not far from there, in the dome, Koichi tells Fat Gum that he thinks he heard an explosion. Eraser Head suggests that maybe some of the Mini Bombers might have escaped from All Might's attack, and Naomasa gives an order to check on that. At that moment, Monika Kaniyashiki appears, worried because the "skinny guy" who used to be with them does not appear anywhere, and Fat Gum wonders if he got blown away by All Might’s megapunch. Koichi, Fat Gum and Kaniko search for "Yagi" among the debris, while the real Yagi secretly approaches Naomasa and asks him to got anything for him to wear.

Back to the place where Knuckleduster and Number 6 are, the building where they were fighting now is completely collapsed, with no trace of either of them.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Knuckleduster
 * Number 6
 * The Crawler
 * Fat Gum
 * Eraser Head
 * Naomasa Tsukauchi
 * Monika Kaniyashiki
 * Toshinori Yagi

Trivia

 * This chapter was initially titled Versus, but was amended for the volume release.