There's a joke that tells of a hunter, who about to be devoured by a bear, prays to God and asks Him to make the bear a Christian. Only to watch in horror as the bear takes a moment to pray and give thanks to God for the meal it was about to receive. In giving the chapter the same title as one of Holtz's most famous works, you have to consider for whom the jolly time is intended.
Lots more under the cut: be warned, this is a rough chapter.
Story
Well, it's a jolly time all right: for the monsters. The chapter opens to Homeless Emperor 'conducting' a dense skein of light balls at Tatsumaki, chasing her hither and thither.
Tatsumaki manages to decoy the light stream and comes to find where Fubuki was. She's in god awful shape, literally more kept upright by spite than any actual physical strength. Finishing off Psykos-Orochi has wrung her dry. Despite Fubuki pleading with her to not go back alone, Tatsumaki instead binds Fubuki, Bang, and Bomb and returns to battle.
As Fubuki collapses in despair, Genos quietly gets up, finds where he'd stashed his designer jacket and we're treated to the incongruous sight of a naked guy draping a clothed woman in clothes, but the gesture isn't lost on us. Yes, despite having been on death's door just a few minutes ago, Genos intends to go back to help Tatsumaki, even if it means being her shield.
Bang follows along to lend his strength, wondering as he does so just what is up with this young man's seemingly inexhaustible appetite for self-destruction. He hasn't been privy to Genos's thoughts (but more on that in the meta).
Forgive me: I'm contractually obligated to include this panel!
Gums has wasted no time in grabbing Tank Top Master and Pig God saves him by ramming into the monster. They recover only to realise that their problems have taken yet another turn for the worse: Fuhrer Ugly is standing over the mercenaries. As they watch, he picks one of them up and starts pulling the hapless man to pieces. Tatsumaki stops him from smashing his victim to pieces, giving Pig God the chance to swallow the mercenaries and Tank Top Master to hurl Pig God clean out of the battlefield.
Fuhrer Ugly is so enraged at losing his prey that he breaks free of Tatsumaki's bind, hurling her into a large slab of rubble and knocking her clean out (at least we hope she's just knocked out). He pours his range onto Tank Top Master, smashing the latter's arms, then the hero's entire body as Tank Top Master continues to defy him. Then Gums eats him.
We leave the chapter to Fuhrer Ugly approaching Tatsumaki with some evil intention in mind. I really, really do not like where this could be going.
By the by, the Council of Swordmasters, Spring Mustachio in tow, have now arrived at the scene. We have yet to see what contribution they have to make. I hope it's not to become yet more victims!
Meta:
'like a curse laid across her heart'
I was so glad to see Fubuki try to reach Tatsumaki and get some more background on the sisters -- it feels apposite here. Like all things between these two sisters, their problems with each other began a long time ago. I have remarked before that one welcome change from the webcomic is that in the manga, Fubuki hasn't been so scared of her sister as to refuse to come out at all because she's more scared of Tatsumaki than she is of the monsters. It's not that she hasn't fear of what her sister can do, but between the terrible state that Tatsumaki is in and the way Saitama has challenged her to actually be strong (as opposed to delude herself with its trappings), Fubuki is doing her best to protect Tatsumaki, trying her best to have her sister understand that she's not alone in this. Call me sentimental, but I got a couple of tears in my eye.
Helping people in need is an easy thing to say and a rewarding thing to do, but there is a very toxic corollary to it: it's all too easy to divide the world between helpers and helpees and never shall the twain meet. When one makes such a distinction, it very quickly becomes a shameful thing to need help. Even in mutual aid associations, you find volunteers who won't avail themselves of aid even though they need it, because they see themselves as the helpers. An equally troublesome thought strain is there are people who are too strong/smart/competent/etc. to need help. Tatsumaki has received a double dose of the toxic culture around receiving help, both Blast's exhortation that the strong shouldn't look to receive help *and* the reluctance to ask for help from others that'd have come anyway from being betrayed by her parents.
It's very easy to think of weaker heroes, like Mumen Rider, getting help from stronger heroes, but Genos has looked at Fubuki trying to reach her sister and come to a more radical decision: that no one is undeserving of help, even if they're stronger. Yes, he has been helping Tatsumaki since the beginning -- almost by default as he's the only one who has been available enough, strong enough, and versatile enough to do so. However, now he's explicitly decided that this is what he's going to do as Saitama's disciple, even though you can see that he's aware that he's in for a world of hurt. He hasn't much left to give (safely), but he's going to give it all, even if it means doing it alone -- thankfully Bang comes along.
Those famous words of his from the webcomic being included was welcome, but how much more mature and considered the sentiment behind them is... hoo, goosepimples. Little by little, he's growing up. Please don't die here.
dauntless courage
If heroes are brave, then the reason that they have to be so has to be clear. We've long known that monsters positively enjoy making people suffer, but Fuhrer Ugly takes it to that whole new levels of nastiness. If people were thinking that ONE had gone soft in having Iaian save the mercenaries from Amai Mask, perhaps we should have asked what he'd saved them for. It's grisly watching Fuhrer Ugly rip off Nori's arm like he's a cheap articulated doll.
Normally the sight of a fat guy gobbling up a bunch of people and rolling up to be launched like a ball should be a funny sight. In this context, it's a desperate and incredible move that tells us both how brave and selfless the heroes are under fire and how amazing they physically are. It's not even slightly funny here.
And the horrific punishment Fuhrer Ugly metes out to Tank Top Master for defying him is the stuff of nightmares. That too is part of being a hero: there's a damn good reason most people don't act heroically as the backlash is often outrageous. I'm hoping against hope for Tank Top Master and hoping that help arrives pretty damn quick for both him and Tatsumaki.
If you wanted to understand why these monsters were described by Sludge Jellyfish as 'miraculous creations', you have your answer. Completely evil, freakishly strong and full of surprises, they're not easily quelled by normal means. Yes, they wouldn't have been long for this world if Tatsumaki was in good shape, BUT YOU FIGHT A WAR WITH THE TROOPS YOU HAVE. With the most troublesome heroes now ground down and the rest scattered, they're wasting no time in laying waste. Even though there's no love lost between the monsters, they have a strategy of sorts.
Things are looking bad for the heroes right now.
Incidentally, manga chapters 143 and 144, as well as webcomic chapter 140 have all had a slumped and bleeding figure as their final panel. I really do not like where ONE is going.
