Chapter 80

The Strongest Man, Part 1 (最強の男 前篇,) is the 80th chapter of the Bungo Stray Dogs manga.

Summary
Dazai and Dostoevsky kill some time guessing numbers, which concerns Dostoevsky on Dazai's seemingly lax disposition instead of worrying for his fellow Agency members. Dazai tells him that he does not need to do anything after all, except watch over him, while the strongest man in the Agency who has transcended even ability users, none other than Ranpo, can move freely. On the rooftop, Ranpo reveals himself to Fukuzawa as the one wearing the gas mask.

Besides saving the President, Ranpo tells Fukuzawa that he has successfully hijacked the assassination plots on the other Agency members, having brought Kunikida, Yosano, and Katai to safety. Though Fukuzawa becomes worried upon hearing that Ranpo has been shot during the hostage incident, Ranpo assures him that he merely made the police think he was shot, having escaped successfully by taking advantage of the confusion during first response.

From then on, Ranpo studied the enemy's plans and deduced their assassination plots on the three Agency members. He then rewrote their plans by saving the three targets: sniping Kunikida's room lock and releasing a fainting gas to get him out safely; misleading the soldiers guarding Yosano, sneaking in the transport vehicle, and driving off quietly; and having Poe — who reveals himself as Ranpo's companion on the rooftop as his collaborator — transport Katai with his ability to a safe novel through the smartphone tossed at him. Hence, Ranpo asks for Fukuzawa's next instruction, upon which the President orders Ranpo to crush the case once and for all, much to Ranpo's thrill.

In an assembly hall for an interview on suspicions of a famous actress' lover, a reporter voices out her concern to her companion regarding the apparent neglect on the Armed Detective Agency's terrorism acts. Specifically, she is perplexed as to why no one is reporting on the motives of the said Agency on their acts of terror. As she looks at some photographs of the suspects, she recognizes Ranpo seated nonchalantly in front of the assembly hall, causing everyone to panic with a terrorist present among them.

With the interview being broadcasted to the public, Ranpo asks the clamoring journalists to ask him a professional question. The female reporter asks him why they are causing terrorism, which piques Ranpo's interest. He shows the raw footage of the hostage situation six days ago, explaining how the Agency, who had originally come to the place to rescue the hostages, had been "passed off" as the terrorists. He then holds out an envelope full of evidence proving the Agency's innocence, which he has also disseminated to all police-affiliated institutions. As she asks why he has not done so sooner, Ranpo claims that they would not believe the Agency's innocence anyway as stipulated on the page, even deducing that such documents would hitherto already be discarded.

As per his calculations, military police storm the locked assembly hall and corner Ranpo. He then sends a message to the police through the cameras, asking them to think with their souls: to think how many baffling cases he has helped them solve that no one else could solve for twelve years, even helping countless officers currently cornering him in the assembly hall. With such a case, he urges them to think how he can ever make such a simple mistake of getting caught if he indeed is a great detective guilty of terrorism. As he gets arrested, Ranpo issues a final testimony that being a detective is easy if seen with one's own eyes. Inspired with Ranpo's words, Minoura heads out of his office.