AmaiBat

AmaiBat is the slash ship between Sweet Mask and Metal Bat from the One Punch Man fandom.

Canon
Both Sweet Mask and Metal Bat seem to not have particularly good relationship with each other as especially Metal Bat has shown his dislike towards Sweet Mask’s pompous attitude towards heroes who don’t meet his expectations of a “perfect hero”. However, due to Metal Bat’s little sister (Zenko) being such a big fan of Sweet Mask, Metal Bat is quick to throw his feelings aside if his sister wants something from the man. The idol on the other hand doesn’t seem to think much about Metal Bat, as he has not shown special interest towards anyone other than those who he thinks are worth his respect as heroes, which seem to be few and far between. In general, Metal Bat doesn’t seem to have any deep hatred towards the guy and they have kept their mutual hero relationship as neutral as possible.

Chapter 37
After Saitama defeats Boros and his spaceship crashes, Sweet Mask arrives at the site of the completely destroyed A-City and wonders how it happened. He then remembers that there was a S-Class meeting at the Hero Association headquarters. He sees Metal Bat and demands answers from him, but Metal Bat asks where he came from. The idol says that he was filming a drama in a neighboring city and after hearing a rumble, he came to see that A-City is in ruins. Metal Bat in turn tells him how the monsters in the spaceship destroyed the city, but it's over now. This doesn't sit well with Sweet Mask and he starts to get mad at Metal Bat for thinking it's just "over". He asks if the teenager really believes this can be called a victory and Sweet Mask continues by saying how amazed he is at their incompetence.

Metal Bat starts to get mad at him and questions whether Sweet Mask is picking a fight here as he was the one to show up late. Sweet Mask admits he was late, but they were already here. Atomic Samurai joins their conversation, saying how they were in a S-Class meeting and when they came out of the building, the city was already destroyed. Sweet Mask continues to condemn the S-Class, telling them that they are a disgrace and should quit if they can't be of any use. Metal Bat then decides to throw away his bat and menacingly walks up to Sweet Mask's face and tells him that he has no problem smashing the idol's head if he doesn't let it be. Sweet Mask in turn tells him that the reason he hasn't moved up to S-Class is to make sure no more losers like Metal Bat get from A-Class to S-Class. Before this escalates, Metal Knight suddenly appears and starts to inspect the previously crashed spaceship.

When Metal Knight mentions to Genos that they need more strong weapons for peace so he needs the spaceship for that, Sweet Mask brings up that despite them having weapons they should look around them (because they didn’t protect the city and the people in it anyway). In anger, Metal Bat tells him that he and Sweet Mask will settle this later.

In the volume 7’s second omake, it continues the chapter 37 story a bit with Metal Bat wanting Sweet Mask’s attention after his disrespectful display towards the S-Class heroes. He asks where the idol is going as he isn’t done with him. He then asks who Sweet Mask thought was the loser. Sweet Mask simply sighs and tells Metal Bat that he may be bored, but the idol himself is busy with other responsibilities as before he came to check what had happened, he was filming a TV drama. Metal Bat tries to provoke him by saying that he is running away and is just all show. Sweet Mask answers that he is busy, but gives Metal Bat one minute. He accepts it as it’s all he will need.

The idol notes that Metal Bat is younger than him so maybe he needs a lesson in respect. Metal Bat simply decides to use his bare fists, however, their almost fight is interrupted when Sweet Mask’s phone starts ringing. Metal Bat mentions his phone seems to need attention, but Sweet Mask tells him to ignore it. Suddenly also Metal Bat’s phone starts ringing and he answers it when he realizes it’s his sister. While Metal Bat seems to talk with his sister, and suddenly apologizes a lot to her for not being there to watch her play in the piano concert (because of the S-Class meeting and what happened after that), Sweet Mask witnesses his apologizing, but eventually has to start leaving as he is very busy. Before the idol manages to get too far, Metal Bat calls after him and asks for the idol’s autograph for his sister.

Chapter 160 (online)
As the night is coming and it is getting really dark to see, Sweet Mask has found an unconscious Metal Bat after he fought with Garou against Sage Centipede. The idol is carrying him through the wasteland of the former Z-City and wonders what happened to the other heroes and were they all defeated. However, he soon sees a monster (Manako) doing something to Flashy Flash and thinks it’s trying to kill the S-Class hero. Sweet Mask almost manages to hit the monster, but suddenly a massive aircraft carrier comes between them and sends Metal Bat and Sweet Mask, and Manako and Flashy Flash flying to opposite directions. Soon a massive ocean water wall follows the carrier and swallows the heroes and the monster with it. Sweet Mask is still seen keeping a tight hold onto Metal Bat’s hand so he doesn’t wash away. The water then brings them to where the other heroes are, and Pig God ends up saving them all from drowning by swallowing all of them whole.

Chapter 169 (online)
When the Tank Topper Army and other heroes were beating Garou up after Saitama defeated him, Metal Bat interrupts it by shouting at them to stop beating him up as he is already injured. The heroes start questioning where his loyalties lie. Sweet Mask in turn takes hold of Metal Bat’s shoulder as a warning and tells him that the “human monster” has already gone full monster so his execution has been decided unanimously. Metal Bat strongly disagrees with it. In the end, Garou manages to escape and Sweet Mask doesn’t take it well.

Fanon
Since Metal Bat and Sweet Mask’s interactions in canon are few and far between, and due to the fact that Metal Bat is 17 years old while Sweet Mask is 24, AmaiBat ship doesn’t have such a big fan following and is considered as a rarepair ship. However, sometimes this ship is used in fanfics or otherwise either as a side story or in really rare cases as a main story ship. The fans of the ship find Metal Bat’s and Sweet Mask’s dynamic rather interesting, and since Zenko (Metal Bat’s sister) seems to also be a big Sweet Mask fan, it gives more ideas for the shippers to have fun with.

Due to Metal Bat being mainly shipped with Garou, and Sweet Mask with Zombieman, AmaiBat’s main rival ships are Batarou and ZombieMask. However, AmaiSai and DoMask can be considered as another rival ships for the ship.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION