Warning: contains spoilers for One-Punch Man chapter #157!
The latest chapter of One-Punch Man proves that Garou the "Hero Hunter" is not the monster and villain that everyone thinks he is, including himself. Despite his best efforts, Garou can't let go of his humanity, and he remains a hero at heart.
Garou was introduced as the estranged pupil of Bang, the martial arts master and S-Class hero known as Silver Fang. Being obsessed with strength, Garou joined Bang's dojo and became his best student, but was expelled after going on a rampage against his fellow students. He then joined the Super Fight martial arts tournament, which he won, and decided that the best way to improve and to obtain his goals was to hunt for professional heroes. Through a series of life-threatening battles, Garou managed to improve at a frightening pace, finally being recruited by the Monster Association, but ended up clashing with them too, suffering a crippling defeat at the hands of "Monster King" Orochi. After that, Garou went through an "awakening," removing his limiter (the barrier that restrains the physical growth of a being.) By doing that, Garou seems to be slowly turning into a monster, and even his outside appearance is changing.
Turning into a monster is actually Garou's declared goal. When he was a child and his friends were playing heroes, he was always made to play the villain or monster, destined to be defeated, regardless of how bad the so-called heroes actually were. He began to see the heroes as nothing more than bullies who prey on the weak and outcasts of society, labeled as "monsters." He even began to sympathize with the monsters from the hero TV shows who, regardless of how much they tried, ended up being unfairly killed in the end. Garou's goal is to become the strongest monster, a being that strikes fear into the hearts of everyone, and thus change mankind's behavior. Garou acts as a counterpart of sorts to series protagonist Saitama, who became a hero to follow his strong sense of justice.
While Garou is usually identified as a villain, his strong but twisted morals mean that he has often displayed heroic behaviors, even while busy killing actual heroes. Due to his past, he has a soft spot for victims and children, which he has displayed many times, saving the life of a kid called Takeo and even sparing the S-Class hero Superalloy Darkshine when the latter, overwhelmed by Garou's strength, displayed childlike behavior.
In chapter #157, it was shown without a doubt that Garou has the values of a hero. While fighting the monsters Sage Centipede and Evil Ocean Water, Garou prioritizes the evacuation of civilians, even letting himself get hit by two powerful attacks to protect them. Finally, he jumps on a news helicopter and appears as scary as possible, in order to persuade the reporters to leave the scene. This gesture is representative of Garou's true chosen path: in the end, his actions are still driven by a desire to protect the weak.
If Garou might be walking towards a brighter path, the main reason is the recent confrontation he had with his master, Bang, who literally tried to punch some reason into his former disciple. Bang lost and was almost killed, but his words and spirit were enough to wake Garou up after he achieved full "monsterization." Garou's latest actions in One-Punch Man seem to imply that he could become an ally of the heroes, even if a future confrontation between him and Saitama will be hard to avoid, as both are seeking a worthy opponent to test their strength.