#RUCTION KILLING DESTRUCTION KILLING DESTRUCTION

[fruit-kick]

every month im like i need to get weirder and more unhinged and everytime im like "haha okay." (peacefully leaves) STOP IT. STOP. KILL THEM. KILL THEM NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gofancyninjaworld]

Where’s the story going next?

Future story lines

Found an old post of mine from earlier on in the year on Reddit, just before ONE started updating the webcomic again. I thought worth updating here. I'll do a follow up February 2020 to see where we're at six months on.

The easiest one: who is still in the Hero Association and what are the new hero rankings? Are there any shockers? Will there be ructions caused by them?

We still don’t know precisely who is who or what their rankings are, but we do know that at least four Class S heroes have left or retired.  Metal Bat is a bit of a shocker in the webcomic, but less so in the manga as he was royally pissed off by being assigned bodyguard duties and he takes his time very seriously indeed. As Child Emperor’s experiences at the MA raid continue to evolve in the manga, his quitting the Hero Association in frustration is less and less surprising. I’m quite heartened that most of the Class A heroes who we saw participate in the Day of Chaos in the manga seem to have come into at least some promotion.   

Neo heroes. Who are they? What are they actually like? How the hell are they funded and have they gotten the money to build so quickly? How much trouble are they going to be?

Still no idea!  They seem to have a lot of resource behind them if their facilities and their promise of being able to train up new heroes rather than just recruit already active heroes is true.  Where’s it all from?  What are the motivations of their backers?  What are their strategies going to be? We wait and see.  But I hope against a stupid ‘civil war’. 

Zombieman. What's in that basement of Dr Genus's? Will it change him and if so, how much?

Haha, nope!  We still don’t know!

Ninjas! We used to have just the one obsessed ninja and now we have four (five if I count ShadowRing, but she appears to not be nuts). What's the deal with that village? Why did Flashy Flash massacre his classmates? Why did he spare Sonic? Is this where Sonic's disdain for heroes comes from? What's the connection between those two?

Horee fuck, did this deliver!  So many ninjas have come out of the woodwork it’s kinda scary, along with a harrowing backstory. The Village has turned out to be nothing less than an industrial scale facility for enslaving and brainwashing boys into a very high value product.  I won’t get into this, but it captures the essence of coercive control and a plausible economic model chillingly well.  Flashy Flash killing his classmates is at least undertstandable -- no love nor trust fostered between classmates.  Why spare Sonic?  Well, it’s not exactly that he spared him...   It’s not like Sonic has become a better person, but it’s rare for a character to be more quickly rehabilitated in the eyes of the readership.  And as for what’s going to happen next, oh boy!  All we know is that a punch will be involved.  

Why are there so many monsters? Why are there more now? What solutions can be practically found?

No answer yet.

As others have said, the Mecha Underground. There's a lotta mecha around here, from the giant machines of terrifying destructive power we're sure Metal Knight is caching, through mechanised people and to battle-suits. A lot of it is organised, regards human life as just another tool, and stands to make a lot of money. How does it all fit together?

No answer yet, but if the ninja arc is anything to judge by, when the time is ripe, it’s going to explode into the foreground in a big way.  I have a feeling that whatever the competing ideologies of the various parties involved, like the ninjas, money and power will never be too far away from the forefront.  Pure finger-in-the-wind speculation, but I wonder if the reason Genos hasn’t found the ‘Mad Cyborg’ is that he’s not yet worth the while of the organisation behind said cyborg. If/when he does something insane like slay an officially-acknowledged dragon-level monster (ha! The Hero Association hates, hates declaring disaster levels to be dragon) live on TV and makes it look easy,  I’d not be surprised to find the Mad Cyborg show up the next day... With friends in tow, to collect on the extraordinary machinery Genos will have developed. 

Whatever happens, this is most teased of storylines better deliver in blood, breakages and feels. 

When Saitama asked Genos if the latter was sure he wasn't strong enough yet, it wasn't an idle question coming from Saitama. The pressure for Genos to settle is going to be intense -- it's hard to see how any cyborg, however mad, is going to be much of a problem for him. So why is he still so obsessed with getting stronger? Unless he anticipates having to wade through Metal Knight to get at him... hmm...

...all things considered, the Blonde Cyborg is being pretty subdued so far.  He’s only driven one hero away, hasn’t broken the separating wall between his flat and Saitama’s and has even suffered Flashy Flash to sit under the same roof.  He’s thinking.  That’s probably not a good thing. 

Speaking of Saitama, he's not any happier, is he? How is the story going to move on his finding meaning in life?

Call me weird, but I think the next jog to Saitama changing his outlook on life is going to be via Sonic.  The pang of sympathy Saitama appeared to feel when he looked at the desolate building Sonic called a dwelling raises some hope that he might be able to reach this very lost ninja -- and vice versa. 

While I'm at it, of all the heroes who have gone off to rebuild/recuperate, how are they going to be when they come back? More humble? Stronger and more resolved? Less sure of themselves? I wanna know!

Still no idea!  No one who has gone off has yet come back.  I have a feeling that some might stand to eat a bit more humble pie before they’re ready to grow.

Most importantly, when’s the next chapter, ONE?  Hungry webcomic readers need to know!