Batarou

Batarou is the slash ship between Garou and Metal Bat from the One Punch Man fandom.

First encounter
Garou and Metal Bat's first encounter was during the Monster Raid Arc in chapter 57. Garou (known as Hero Hunter) was interested in hunting one of the S-class heroes, Watchdog Man, until he heard the city announce a disaster level of Demon and that Metal Bat was busy fighting monsters. He decided to pay Metal Bat a visit. At the same time Metal Bat was fighting monsters known as Rafflesidon and Senior Centipede. He and the monsters seemed to fight on equal ground, but after Rafflesidon's unsuccessful attempt to completely get Metal Bat to succumb to it's gas technique which would make anyone else to lose control of their movements and fall asleep, Metal Bat defeated both monsters with a single strike each. As things were calming down, suddenly a dragon level monster known as Elder Centipede emerged from ground. It's massive form hard to miss and it's target being Hero Association's sponsor and the sponsor's son - who Metal Bat was assigned to protect - that forced Metal Bat to take action. Metal Bat is fighting Elder Centipede until he gets launched hundreds of meters across the city. It's also when Garou arrives on the scene when Metal Bat flies past him. Initially thinking Metal Bat was defeated, Garou decides to go after Watchdog Man then, but Metal Bat casually just walks past him and is going back to fight Elder Centipede. Garou stops Metal Bat by being absolutely delighted to know that Metal Bat is fine that he tells him he is now "hunting him". As Metal Bat and Garou are fighting, Garou keeps dodging Metal Bat's attacks and manages to hurt him a lot. Despite this Metal Bat keeps on going. Garou is surprised by Metal Bat's persistence despite his numerous injuries. He still thinks Metal Bat is at his limit, but Metal Bat keeps drastically rising his power and speed until Garou's attacks aren't even fazing him. Garou asks Metal Bat how he's able to remain conscious after such horrific injuries, to which Metal Bat gives the simple response that his fighting spirit was keeping him going. The concept makes Garou confused and curious. Garou then throws a manhole cover at Metal Bat and while Metal Bat deflects it with his bat, it gives Garou enough distraction to reach and attack him again. Metal Bat tries to hit back, but none of his attacks land. Garou keeps mocking Metal Bat and asks him if he's going to persist until he dies. Metal Bat retorts by saying he'll fight until he wins and proceeds to initiate a killing move. Garou still manages to repel his killing move and hits a blow at Metal Bat's chest that leaves him laying on the ground.

While Garou falsely thought Metal Bat was just another brute that bragged about his power, he suddenly notices how his own hands are shaking and realizing that Metal Bat may have been far more powerful than he initially thought. He thinks Metal Bat may have had a chance in defeating him. He decides to go hunt for Watchdog Man finally, but suddenly a girl is heard yelling "Big Brother!" and Garou looks over his shoulder to see Metal Bat looming demonically over him with his bat almost hitting Garou's head. Garou is absolutely shocked by this surprise attack and Metal Bat's power. Metal Bat doesn't hit him as Zenko, Metal Bat's little sister, is right there. Garou hits Metal Bat hard so that there is distance between them and then he is walking towards him and bragging by ending this. He attacks, but Zenko is suddenly there and stops Garou and Metal Bat's fight. She tells Garou that the fight is over because Metal Bat promised to not fight in front of her. First Garou wonders why he should respect her family promise, but Zenko then glares at him and Metal Bat is watching right behind her. Garou then scratches his head and remembers he really needed to be elsewhere and respects their promise. Metal Bat gets back up and reminds Garou he was the one who wanted trouble first, and Garou nonchalantly waves his hand in the air, walking away and telling Metal Bat he got lucky. As Garou leaves, a conversation with Zenko makes Metal Bat realize he needs to get back to fight Elder Centipede, but Zenko is not having any of it. While she tries to stop him and hits him in the head, exhausted Metal Bat falls unconscious on the ground. Zenko tries to wake her brother up.

While Metal Bat is unconscious, couple monsters notice this. Phoenix Man, a member of the Monster Association, sees this as a perfect opportunity to attack him. Another monster, Sludge Jellyfish is already emerging from the nearby sewer and thinking aloud that he will kidnap Metal Bat's sister. Unfortunately for him Garou unleashes a sudden deadly attack on him from behind. As the monsters were earlier watching him, Garou tells the monster that he hates being observed. Phoenix Man joins the conversation and tries to invite Garou to join the Monster Association, unsuccessfully. Sludge Jellyfish remarks he will not forget what Garou did to him. The monsters leave.

As unconscious Metal Bat and Zenko are in the background, Garou is hidden behind a nearby building, his face is hidden in the dark while he says "Disgusting."

Chapter 85
We get to see (presumable) a first glimpse of Garou's version of "fighting spirit" while he is fighting Bang and Bomb, and is in huge disadvantage, but he then gets the strength to turn the tides a little and breaks the ground to get them to back off him. Then when he grabs a huge tree off the ground and holds it as a weapon, it's shown how a mysterious aura - similar to Metal Bat's - is flowing through him. Bang (and Bomb) is loudly asking where does that power come from when Garou is also in such a bad state.

Chapter 94
Garou is held down by Gyoro Gyoro's psychic powers and can't move until he overcomes it by first moving his feet. Garou says he is slowly getting used to the psychic powers. This surprises Gyoro Gyoro and he is wondering how he can move. Garou then thinks about Metal Bat while he wonders if "this is the so-called fighting spirit".

Official Viz translation and volume release have translated this as "Maybe I'm just pumped up" - not mentioning "fighting spirit" (it's mostly an OPM fandom's preferred translation from Japanese).

Chapter 126 (online)
While Garou is fighting against S-class hero Superalloy Darkshine, it first seems like Darkshine has the upper hand in the fight, thanks to his immacuable hard tank-like body and powerful attacks. However, soon Garou starts to become faster and hit harder which Darkshine notes. This seems to parallel or is similar to the moment when Garou noted Metal Bat's increased power and speed back in their first fight.

Chapter 131 (online)
Metal Bat escapes the hospital while not fully healed yet to go help the other heroes in the fight against Monster Association, though it's shown that Metal Bat is especially interested in going after Garou "the Hero Hunter".

Chapter 149 (online)
Metal Bat finally arrives on the Monster Association fight scene and comes across four powerful Black Sperm monsters who he then asks about "the Hero Hunter's" whereabouts. They are confused by Metal Bat's presence and then attack him which leads to Metal Bat perfoming a counterattack on them. It kills them instantly. He then realizes he got rid of them before getting any answers.

Bad Boys (chapter 157)
They finally meet again after monster Garou has started to take on a gigantic monster known as Sage Centipede. As the centipede tries to attack the escape/rescue helicopter, that also has Tareo in it (Garou's important child friend), that forces Garou to take action and protect it by trying to distract the centipede. It doesn't go as planned and the centipede manages to hurt Garou with his ally, Evil Ocean Water. After Saitama deals with Evil Ocean Water, Sage Centipede decides to charge at the escape helicopter. Garou goes instantly after him, but notices someone else charging and jumping to attack the centipede on the head.

Metal Bat is then seen jumping and attacking with one of his fighting spirit techniques at the centipede's head, paralleling the moment when he was fighting Elder Centipede before Garou and Metal Bat first met. He is then in similar manner thrown off and flies down on the ground. Garou notices this and is surprised to see Metal Bat there and as Metal Bat is also rising back up from the ground, he too notices Garou running towards him and recognizes him instantly. He then starts to yell angrily and thinks Garou is there to again ruin his fight with another centipede. As he attacks Garou, the monster dodges the attack and continues to run past him, after Sage Centipede. Metal Bat is not having any of it and runs after him and continues to yell at him also. Garou thinks he is just "another pain in the ass" and seems to not want to deal with him.

They are running on the Sage Centipede's back when suddenly a helicopter with news crew inside flies close-by and the centipede tries to attack it. Metal Bat reacts fast by running past Garou and then jumping in the air to deflect the attack before it hits the helicopter. As he does this, Garou then jumps on the helicopter to yell at them to beat it and they are scared of the half-monster so badly that they retreat fast and gets to safety. Metal Bat takes notice of this and is confused by this. Then after Garou jumps off the retreating helicopter, he charges towards Metal Bat with a kick and Metal Bat is ready to deflect, but then Garou goes fast past him at the Sage Centipede and attacks him. Metal Bat takes also notice of this and is more confused than ever.

They both are then dropping down on the ground to stand to their fighting stances, back-to-back. Metal Bat asks Garou "what the hell is going on". He tells Garou the obvious: that he is protecting a helicopter and then attacking a monster after turning into a monster also. Metal Bat then tells him he seems to be more mentally "straight" after becoming a monster than what he was before. Garou just answers calmly at him to "shut up", and tells that he only helped the helicopter so they can tell the world how terrifying he is.

Garou then continues to point at the escape helicopter in the distance and tells Metal Bat that the "giant-ass thing" (Sage Centipede) is after the escape helicopter. He then continues to tell Metal Bat that the brat he and the other idiots (heroes) are protecting is there so Metal Bat should act as a decoy like a "nice little hero" even though Garou himself isn't expecting much from it. Metal Bat then kicks Garou in the face and yells at him about how he dares to order him around like that. He then continues to argue with his own take of how he doesn't understand why Garou now tries to act like a "good guy", but that there is no way he is teaming up with a monster who before "smacked him out of nowhere". He then says it's Garou's fault he couldn't finish off Elder Centipede before and that he will take this new centipede alone so Garou should back off.

Then Garou starts to angrily argue back at Metal Bat. He tells him he was the one who "tore him to shreds before so why is he trying to act tough" and that "saving the brat should be a top priority" so why is Metal Bat just trying to stroke his ego here. He then yells in anger that Metal Bat calls himself a "damned S-class hero" (and for what).

While they argue Sage Centipede thinks aloud that they are noisy little insects and tries to kill them, but both are absolutely furious so that they just attack the centipede together in anger and shout at him to "shut it".

Fanon
Batarou is not the most popular ship in One-Punch Man fandom as the characters first interacted only in one scene where they were mostly fighting against each other. A hero versus hero hunter/monster-to-be. Despite this fans of the ship noticed a spark between these two characters.

The ship was introduced to public in year 2015 when the manga chapter with Garou and Metal Bat's fight was first released. After that its popularity started to rise and many fans created a bunch of fanart of them. Few fanfics were also created and especially even today in AO3 diligent writers like to post fanfiction of them. But due to the manga's slow update schedule and the story still ongoing with many different elements happening same time, the ship's popularity has quietly declined over the years. Though even today there are few that still keep posting and following Batarou content and new people still join to quietly enjoy the ship's dynamic.

But now, thanks to chapter 157 (Bad Boys), after Metal Bat and Garou met again and after their very "old married couple" styled arguments and absolutely hilarious, but wonderful dynamic in the chapter, Batarou has managed to again bring back interest to the ship and fans are loving it.

Shitty Teen Squad
The One Punch Man fandom has also created a "Shitty Teen Squad" which basically includes Garou, Metal Bat and Genos doing silly things together as friends. Usually Metal Bat and Garou has been introduced as this chaotic duo that Genos tries to keep up with (or he is just done with them), but there are times when Metal Bat and Genos are the more mature ones and Garou tries to (or manages to) cause chaos. Other variations can also exist.

There are also versions of this where Garou and Metal Bat are pining for each other in romantic sense and Genos has to deal with them. In some stories or fandom posts Genosai is usually written with Batarou.

Fandom
FAN FICTION


 * Garou/Metal Bat tag on FanFiction.net
 * Garou/Metal Bat tag on FanFiction.net

ART


 * ガロ金 tag on Pixiv.net
 * ガロ金 tag on Pixiv.net

TUMBLR



TWITTER



Trivia

 * Before Garou met Metal Bat, he mostly learned physical techniques by stealing other heroes fighting styles, so when he met with Metal Bat and fought against him, he was fairly confused by Metal Bat's so called "fighting spirit". Garou didn't learn how to use such a power until much later. It's most likely also been a very helpful key to unlock Garou's monster form.
 * Both Garou and Metal Bat has been shown showing a more softer side of themselves towards children.
 * They also seem to be soft towards animals (especially cats): There is an extra comic page in volume 17 where Metal Bat and his sister Zenko are shown walking until Zenko notices a box floating in a river where two cats are meowing. Metal Bat runs and jumps in the water to save the cats, but as he reaches the box he notices that Garou has also reached the same box. They start fighting in the water while one of the cats flies to Zenko and the other flies to Tareo, Garou's child friend. Then both Metal Bat and Garou return to their respective children while drying themselves. Metal Bat and Zenko officially also have a pet cat named Tama, which they love a lot.
 * It could be said that while Metal Bat is Zenko's actual big brother, Garou could be thought as Tareo's big brother figure.
 * Garou and Metal Bat have few other similarities between them that lets fans believe they could be compatible as partners.
 * Example: They both don't want to give up on anything and nobody. They both are also stubborn and proud in their own way. They also seem to not want to hurt innocent civilians.
 * Their personalities in general seems to fit very well together as they hold similar principles, yet differ in some - which only makes the characters feel like they are from the same coin, but different sides (like soulmates).
 * Their color palette has suspiciously been similar also (red, black, white). In manga it clearly is seen as Metal Bat has black hair, white shoes. While Garou's hair was white during their fight and the shoes were drawn black. Metal Bat and Garou's colors in clothes also were mostly opposites.
 * In webcomic version Metal Bat wasn't involved with the Monster Association situation. In manga version he is added to shown to be looking for Garou. ONE once said in Niconico interview that if Metal Bat was around during the situation against the Monster Association (in webcomic version), it could have been fairly different so we will see how different it will be in manga now.
 * There is also interesting parallel between Garou in manga and Metal Bat in webcomic:
 * As Garou fought and lost to "Monster King" Orochi, his unconsious body was then chained and he was then tortured by the Monster Association's "Monster Princess" Do-S.
 * In webcomic in different story arc (that has yet to be adapted to the manga - spoiler warning!) Metal Bat was investigating Neo Heroes' two security guards weird behaviour and when he got too close to comfort for the answers, suddenly two brainwashed heroes attacked Metal Bat who the security guards didn't stop when Metal Bat asked them to. Learning that they will try to catch him and perform unethical cyborgification to him, he then fights back. He is moment later put to sleep with tranquilizer darts and his unconsious body is chained up to a solitary room. Unlike with Garou, Metal Bat's unconsious body is left alone to heal so he would be in perfect shape for operation. Both Garou and Metal Bat also break free from their chains in their respective stories.
 * Also: In webcomic in the same story arc Neo Heroes are after Garou and when they found him, they try to use the same tranquilizer darts at him too, unsuccessfully.