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Chapters 343- 346
- Chapter 343:
- So Aoyama has Midoriya meet him all alone in some ruins, telling him about the collapse of Japan and AFO's big plan to take over the world by destroying the pillars of global civilization and cornering the ability to keep society functioning. For his sake and that of his parents...
- All For One himself appears. Thanks to Search and his unnamed lie-detecting Quirk, he knows Aoyama's telling the truth and that Midoriya has no help nearby. He seems ready to take One For All at last...
- Until the Heroes' trap starts to spring. Aoyama attacks All for One, revealing Midoriya's mole gambit... and revealing that the world hasn't given up on Japan just yet because they know All Might's successor still lives. All For One is actually surprised that he couldn't suss out the trickery, not realizing that the Heroes had intentionally kept the Aoyamas in the dark just for that reason!
- Undeterred, All For One calls up Tomura, Dabi, and the rest of the League, figuring there's no way Midoriya can be helped when they're all miles away...
- ...until the aspect of Aizawa's plan unknown to the reader is finally revealed. Monoma utilizes Kurogiri's Dark Gate, and just as suddenly the Heroes appear to even the scales. The final battle begins NOW!
- One important thing to note here: All For One pretends to be mildly annoyed at best... but internally, he's left completely befuddled and at a loss for how this happened. For the first time in the series, the original All For One is unambiguously taken off guard. While he tries to act like it doesn't matter, rather than his previous composed reassurance, it comes off more as him trying to convince himself he's still in control — and that was before the rest of the heroes arrive en masse to show him that, no, he's not going to be dictating how this story goes anymore. From arguably the beginning of the manga, All For One's multiple plans and long-term contingencies have ensured that events have always proceeded along a path that will achieve his ultimate victory one way or another... and that ends right now.
- There's also Aoyama's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to All For One as the other heroes arrive:Aoyama: Maman and Papa told me something else. They told me what it is you fear most, All For One. You fear the world learning that Japan isn't finished yet. You fear the light and hope that will come with recovery. And you fear Japan inspiring the world to unite once more. So, today is that day and this is the place where you fall!
- There's also Aoyama's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to All For One as the other heroes arrive:
- Monoma once complained how unfair it was that the world and the narrative itself seemed to be focused on 1-A all the time, noting that his fellow classmates and himself were equally outstanding heroes. Now, he not only gets to put that into practice, but the very fact that he was Overshadowed by Awesome is exactly why All For One was caught off-guard by his ability to utilize Kurogiri's Thinking Up Portals power, the same thing that made the League such a troublesome opponent in the beginning chapters. Even more than that, Monoma's control over the warping ability means that the second condition for the heroes' victory — separating each villain to a distance of over 100 kilometers each to prevent them forming a united front — is now easily achievable, making him the lynchpin of their counter-attack against All For One's evil, not Izuku. It pays off wonderfully for Monoma, too: he gets to spend the next two chapters gloating and cackling like a deranged lunatic, and he and the audience both know he earned it.
- What makes this all the more satisfying and cathartic is every scene All For One has had in the past few chapters amounted to him bragging and smugly assured his plans within plans made victory in the final confrontation a formality... and then the heroes flip the script and lure him into their trap.
- Chapter 344:
- A quick backtrack to just before it starts going down reveals just how they tricked AFO. First, the Heroes were well aware of AFO using Search, so their little hunt was more a feint than anything, tricking him into thinking they're running themselves ragged looking for him.
- Next, based on what the Aoyamas told them, Yaoyorozu figures out that AFO must have some kind of lie-detector Quirk, and Toshinori adds on that the basis of that Quirk must be voice since the Aoyamas only contact AFO by telephone.
- So AFO's lie-detector Quirk can tell if someone is lying... but not if someone is controlled. AFO couldn't suss out the trick because the Aoyamas, including Yuga, were speaking under Shinso's Brainwashing. Shinso even admits that he's able to perform this action when he was incapable of such during the Sports Festival and Joint Training Exercise precisely because he trained in improving his Quirk's control and limitations in order to better compete with outstanding heroes like Izuku and the rest. Izuku's Rivalry with Shinso brought forth the one weapon that could best play into All For One's arrogance and ego to manipulate him into their trap, the Diabolical Mastermind of the story.
- And then we get the confirmation of Monoma's appearance. Vlad King points out that, in real life, there is no such thing as a side character. This plan has to rely on everyone to work, and since there's no guarantee of Kurogiri being able to help them, the only way to use Dark Gate is to Copy it.
- Leading us back to the present: the start of the big battle. After a brief scattering and exchange, Toshinori and Tsukauchi activate their plan: System Troy. Numerous cells rise up to encapsulate and separate the various parties. AFO wonders why go to the trouble since they should be able to break out quickly... until he figures it all out. The chapter ends with a massive Dark Gate looming over the numerous encapsulated cells, presumably ready to scatter all of them far and wide.
- Of note, Aizawa sadly admits that with one of his eyes destroyed by Tomura, he can barely use Erasure anymore, and won't be able to help out in the war. A brief shot of Tomura when both sides are arrayed against each other shows him reaching down to the ground to activate his Decay Wave... only for his fingers to curl and jerk away from the ground, refusing to let all 5 digits contact the earth. Tomura's silent contemplation of his inability to destroy the allied forces arrayed against them at the cost of his allies' lives implies either one of two outcomes. Either Izuku managed to get through enough to the 'Tenko Shimura' inside of Tomura that he's Fighting from the Inside against All For One's control, along with refusing to harm his friends in the league, or All For One's insane obsession with claiming One For All won't allow him to make any moves that could potentially destroy the Quirk's 'container' before he's ready to steal it. Either way, Tomura might now be potentially stronger than All For One himself but his Battle in the Centre of the Mind with the vestige of his predecessor is severely handicapping his power, in contrast to Izuku, who is only enhanced by working in tandem with his.
- Chapter 345:
- The villains showcase their might by tearing through what looks to be incredibly solid cages in under 3 seconds like papier mâché, with Dabi mocking the heroes if they really thought they could restrain them like that. The Answer? Nope. It was just to delay them long enough for the heroes to position themselves to unleash every wide-range blasting and physical attack they have all at once to force the villains backwards into the massive warp gates behind them. One of the PLF villains lampshades the absurdity of them using so much money and resources for such a simple aim just to gain the advantage over them, only for his opponent to fire back that of course they won't spare any expense. The villains have made their aims clear, and all the heroes are united as one to thwarting them no matter the (literal) cost. Which leads into...
- The villains getting successfully blasted to different locations despite their resistance, where the heroes' remaining forces lie in wait for their arrival to pincer them in a surprise attack. Hawks takes a page out of Thanos' book and goes straight for the head the second All For One arrives, which fails only because of how tough his protective armour is, showing how the Heroes are not playing nice this time. Endeavor even taunts All For One that his own warping Quirk cannot compare to Kurogiri's range, and they've set up their plans to place him well away from Tomura, negating the combat advantage their Psychic Link brings then. Whilst All For One soon turns the conversation back to his trademark gloating he noticeably has to refer to the situation away from his current location, because the heroes have so thoroughly Out-Gambitted him that he can't offer any rebuttal for their preparations, nor how absolutely he's been outplayed.
- This stands out for one major reason: All For One himself has effectively been checkmated. Even if he did manage to kill Endeavor and Hawks, his forces are so scattered he literally can't fix this and regain control of the situation at all. He's stuck there with his forces scattered over Japan too far for him to teleport them back and he can't teleport himself as a limitation on his Warping Quirk. All For One, for all intents and purposes, can do nothing to contribute to his side regaining control.
- This results in the setting for the Final Battle: In addition to All For One vs Hawks and Endeavor at Gunga...
- It's shown that Shoto and Iida are facing off against Dabi and a near-high end at All Might's statue at Kamino, both looking to negate the destructive potential of their opponents despite the danger and Dabi's crazed ferocity in a fight.
- Meanwhile, Tomura is warped straight to the UA school itself... which has been transformed into a massive Floating Continent through anti-gravity engines installed underneath the building, surrounded by a massive forcefield to negate any attempts at aerial escape and with the interior covered by massive cables and floating platforms, all set up to counter Tomura's Decay abilities, leaving him faced off against Best Jeanist and Bakugo as the main-liners to combat him. However...
- Things doesn't go entirely according to the heroes' plan. Toga's insane obsession with Izuku allows her to entangle him with one of her blood-drinking cables despite the chaotic one-sided attack on the villains and yank him backwards into her portal before he can react, the attack so absolute and efficient that Izuku doesn't even have time to activate Full Cowling before he's yanked through. He even comments that Toga was somehow able to bypass his Danger Sense despite it being specifically able to warn him of incoming threats. This leaves Izuku arrayed with Uraraka and Gang Orca against Toga and 2 near-high ends at the wrong battlefield, something that is shown to seriously threaten their countermeasures against All For One's arrayed army. All For One walked every villain on his side straight into a trap through his own hubris and belief in his superiority, and the one that threatens to undo their strategy isn't even him or Tomura, but Toga, out of her desire to settle her complicated relationship with Izuku and Uraraka.
- Chapter 346:
- Tomura attempts to gain the advantage over the heroes by quickly trying to activate his decay wave the instant he makes contact with the Earth, only for U.A. to demonstrate that All For One isn't the only person who can devote massive time and effort into creating a foolproof plan that covers every conceivable angle to defeat an opponent.
- Firstly, the ground that Tomura's crumbling launches up skyward in sections before the decay can spread far, allowing them to harmlessly deteriorate to nothing before the decay can propagate. Tomura is also launched backwards and slams into the electro-magnetic forcefield surrounding the area, badly electrocuting him and temporarily seizing up his nervous system, giving Best Jeanist the opportunity to ensnare him with cables and slam him to the ground. Even if Tomura is now strong enough to compete with One For All's might, it means nothing if his body is temporarily paralysed and unable to utilise his great strength. When Tomura taunts Jeanist if he can afford to be so carefree with the ground Tomura's destroying, believing that it's a finite resource up on the Floating Continent, Jeanist just mocks him that they've got plenty of resources to spare as more undamaged plates are slotted in to fill the gaps Tomura created.Jeanist: Have you truly not figured it out yet, Shigaraki? Is your brain short-circuiting from that shock? This arena was constructed solely to defeat you. It shall be your coffin in the sky.
- Firstly, the ground that Tomura's crumbling launches up skyward in sections before the decay can spread far, allowing them to harmlessly deteriorate to nothing before the decay can propagate. Tomura is also launched backwards and slams into the electro-magnetic forcefield surrounding the area, badly electrocuting him and temporarily seizing up his nervous system, giving Best Jeanist the opportunity to ensnare him with cables and slam him to the ground. Even if Tomura is now strong enough to compete with One For All's might, it means nothing if his body is temporarily paralysed and unable to utilise his great strength. When Tomura taunts Jeanist if he can afford to be so carefree with the ground Tomura's destroying, believing that it's a finite resource up on the Floating Continent, Jeanist just mocks him that they've got plenty of resources to spare as more undamaged plates are slotted in to fill the gaps Tomura created.
- A shot of the interior of the massive building showcases the extensive logistics and cooperation needed to operate it at peak efficiency, requiring multiple characters named and unnamed to contribute their powers and skills into suppressing Tomura's strength and limiting his options whilst the front-line fighters slowly chip away at his vitality. Power Loader oversees the machines providing the disposable plates needed to thwarts Shigarkai's decay, whilst Cementos provides building material to cover the gaps created in the ground. Mei and the support students are physically providing maintenance and on-the spot repairs to keep the machines running, whilst Yaoyorozu is using her Quirk to create a near-limitless amount of plates to supply them with, aided by, of all people, Lunch Rush, using his Quirk to prepare food necessary to power Momo's Quirk to create the plates. Ectoplasm is revealed to have used his body multiplication alongside Cementos and Nezu to construct the Arena in record time, even with the breakdown in supply and logistics caused by the league. The energy powering the electromagnetic forcefield is revealed to be provided by Kaminari, Manganote Yuyu Haya, as well as an unnamed student, showing how it's not just the first-year students taking a stand against the league, but all of them working together as one. It resonates particularly hard with what Vlad King said before, about how there is no such thing as a side character in this story.
- And the capper, Tomura attempts to use his multiple Quirks to blast through the forcefield and destroy those providing power to his cage... only to find out that he can't. Standing atop the power room, safely behind the see-through shield, stands Aizawa, Manual, and Monoma, using his Quirk this time to copy Aizawa's, circumventing Aizawa's own confession that he can no longer use Erasure himself to fight, as well as his own 5-minute time limitation as long as they remain in contact. With Manual repeating his eye-moisturising trick from the Paranormal Liberation war, this effectively means the heroes again have an extended window of opportunity to beat down Tomura without the full force of his overwhelming power in play.
- However, despite all of that, things still aren't fully going the heroes' way.
- Aizawa and the heroes lament Midoriya's absence, noting that their plans were based around having his amazing strength in play at this point to provide the force necessary to beat down Tomura at his weakest, showing how badly Toga's interference has thrown their strategy — that was perfectly placed to capture and immobilise both the Diabolical Mastermind of the story and the World's Strongest Man at the same time — off the rails.
- Tomura then retaliates by using his newly-developed power to grow a grotesque amalgamation of fingers from his left hand to attack Mirko with so fast that Bakugo can't even finish his sentence, voicing his disgust for Aizawa using such cheap tactics to try and weaken him again and claiming he's lost all respect he had for him. To note, by this point, Monoma is cancelling all his Quirks again and leaving him with nothing but the base enhancements Garaki made to his body to allow it to withstand the strain of All For One's power. This implies that, whatever this warped ability is, it isn't a regular Quirk — it's a mutation, which can't be Erased. Aizawa remembering that Tomura's body was imperfect during their last encounter implies that, through The Power of Hate, Tomura has forcibly accelerated whatever process Dr. Garaki had ongoing within him and become something other than human, just to ensure that there's nothing the heroes can do to thwart his desire to destroy everything this time.
- Tomura attempts to gain the advantage over the heroes by quickly trying to activate his decay wave the instant he makes contact with the Earth, only for U.A. to demonstrate that All For One isn't the only person who can devote massive time and effort into creating a foolproof plan that covers every conceivable angle to defeat an opponent.
Chapters 347- 350
- Chapter 347 has two elements of Creepy Awesome:
- First, Shigaraki confirms that his ability to grow parts of his hand like crazy is a body mutation; mutations can't be Erased. Haughtily declaring himself the epitome of Dr. Garaki's foretelling of the "Quirk Singularity", he proceeds to go full AKIRA on everybody: turning himself into a Kaiju-sized monstrosity as large as the UA building, sprouting grotesque fingers all over the arena, pinning down everyone, including Monoma, who has no choice but to keep his eyes fixated on Shigaraki. As the growths are all hands and fingers, each of them has the potential to use Decay. If Monoma tries to switch Quirks, or even blinks, Shigaraki is likely to destroy the entire arena in one fell swoop. When Tomura tried to overcome his weakness of being able to use the AOE decay with only one hand, he didn't settle for half-measures.
- The heroes then get one in turn: they don't care. They'll just beat him down anyway.
- Meanwhile, on Okuto Island, Midoriya is rapidly trying to figure out what's going on, needing to find a way to cross the 200km distance from the current battleground on his own to reach Tomura's battlefield and settle things with his Evil Counterpart. What's complicating the matter is Toga, who seems able to attack him in the chaotic brawl caused by the near High-End Nomu's attacks with her insane physical speed and agility without triggering Midoriya's Danger Sense. He and the vestige of Hikage Shinomori are nearly dumbstruck at the realization: Toga is a full-blown Yandere, attacking Midoriya not out of malice, but out of a maniacally-twisted sense of love.
- Chapter 348:
- The first half of the chapter showcases how, despite her relative fragility against a Lightning Bruiser like Midoriya, Toga is still a massive threat to go up against. She goes from standing in front of him to vanishing from sight the second a wave cause by the Near High End's attacks obscured her from sight, the flying rubble in the background making it clear that she moved fast in almost the time it took to blink. Izuku's unable to keep track of her despite holding a short conversation with her in the chaotic maelstrom erupting from the brawl, right up until she reveals herself after solidifying her resolve to strike down Midoriya and Uraraka after they both 'rejected' her. Toga unveils her upgraded equipment, her blood sucker tubes getting flying stinger-like attachments that she can direct on command, enabling her to attack from multiple angles at once, each one designed to draw blood so she can use her Quirk's upgraded potential against the heroes. When Uraraka get distracted by two stingers coming at her from behind, Toga instantly moves in for the kill, quick enough the even seeing the attack coming, Izuku can't snare her with Black Whip to pull her away from Ochako fast enough...
- Until Tsu gives Toga a taste of her own medicine, blind-siding her with a Camouflaged drop kick from the side before she knows she's there, preventing her from giving Uraraka more than a skin-deep cut, and hard enough to crack one of her stinger attachments. With Tsu providing her backup, Uraraka tells Midoriya to leave the situation to them, setting up one fated confrontation while he starts sprinting to the U.A. battlefield for his own fated fight with Shigaraki.
- The heroes get an understated one that they don't even realize. Uraraka comments that they chose the isolated island to fight Toga in precisely because she's so unpredictable and hard to keep track of, so pulling her to an island severely limits her options and ability to flee the battlefield in their blindspots. What none of the heroes are aware of is that this also limits Toga's ability to activate the Sad Man's Parade as a wide-range threat, the surrounding oceans slowing the 'spread' of Twice's propagation and there apparently being no boats to cross the 200 kilometres to the mainland with. Whilst it won't save the heroes on the island if she uses it, this move has undercut Dabi's plans to use both Twice and Toga's Quirks together to advance his own chaotic agenda.
- Chapter 349:
- The chapter starts with Midoriya demonstrating the ingenuity of combining his available Quirks. He has put together the Not Quite Flight of Float, the charging ability of Fa Jin, and his Air Force techniques for propulsion and balance to achieve outright Flight... at speeds comparable to a motor vehicle. He would be going even faster if the ocean had anything he could tether to with Pseudo-100% Blackwhip, showing again how powerful and versatile he is even with only about half of One For All under his control at present.
- Midoriya briefly chats with the second holder after the latter discourages him from losing himself to his impatience and anxiety and sternly warns him against using his Quirk to try and reach the mainland faster. Though the details aren't revealed, they way both of them discuss the power makes it clear that it's the Dangerous Forbidden Technique amongst all of One For All's Combo Platter Powers. The second wielder comments that, like the other Quirks within, his has been boosted drastically from when he wielded it in the past, but in his case it's become a Deadly Upgrade and it's not something Izuku should use except as a last resort. Considering that One For All's powers include the ability to sport Combat Tentacles on command, godlike speed and reflexes as well as the power to hit beyond even Izuku's maximum % of force, it's clear that whatever said power is, Izuku's usage of it will be a total game-changer for whatever situation forces him to such extremes.
- Dabi cuts loose at Kamino Ward, demonstrating how powerful he actually is by engulfing the buildings all around them in flames visible for miles away, making it look like the whole city is on fire, and trapping Shoto inside a personalized battlefield with a flame tornado to settle his grudge with Endeavor's masterpiece. With Iida unable to interfere from the sheer heat threatening to blow up his engines at a distance, Shoto's only backup is the flame-wielding sidekicks from his father's agency who can withstand the heat with their own Quirks — all of them except Kido. Rather than use any flame abilities to counter Dabi's own, Kido merely uses his Quirk to alter the trajectory of the blazing air away from him, commenting that he's had plenty of practice in Endeavor's agency with such a tactic and refusing to run away from a battlefield that would be lethal to him with just a single lapse in concentration.
- All three sidekicks also make it clear that, despite the issues with Endeavor's past, all of them choose to support him regardless for always preforming his job as a hero, and they're all standing before Dabi to fight him not out of blind trust in Endeavor, but because all of them want to put a stop to the chaos that his insane son is spreading around. When Dabi similarly calls out Shoto for facing him as Endeavor's pawn in this fight, he retorts that said claim would only be true if he still tried to remain a hero without facing Toya and his family's painful history head on — that Shoto refuses to run away from their confrontation not because he's obligated to, but because he wants to stop his crazed sibling's destructive warpath, which Dabi ruefully accepts.
- Dabi demonstrates his sheer tenacity and commitment to his goals, unleashing such destructive firepower despite the visible toll it's taking on his body, the unburned patches remaining on his body slowly blackening and spreading as the damage accumulates, with Dabi acting as if nothing's wrong, even as his own skin slowly disintegrates off him. His cheek tears apart like paper, exposing his raw jaw muscles underneath, but Dabi's so far gone he doesn't even notice, showing that nothing less than death itself will stop him from striving to achieve his warped revenge.
- The chapter starts with Midoriya demonstrating the ingenuity of combining his available Quirks. He has put together the Not Quite Flight of Float, the charging ability of Fa Jin, and his Air Force techniques for propulsion and balance to achieve outright Flight... at speeds comparable to a motor vehicle. He would be going even faster if the ocean had anything he could tether to with Pseudo-100% Blackwhip, showing again how powerful and versatile he is even with only about half of One For All under his control at present.
- Chapter 350 flashes back to eleven years ago, revealing the connection between Toya Todoroki and All For One. The full extent of Toya's Quirk had emerged on that day (cursed by flames hotter than his father but a body weak to flames like his mother). All For One himself appeared from nowhere at the scene of the inferno and had Garaki go to extreme lengths to rebuild him (he was in a coma for three years, and practically all that skin on him was grafted). He, like others at the time, were "damaged goods": people rejected by society and holding grudges like Tenko Shimura for being shunned. Toya was orignally one of All For One's many "backup plans" in case Tenko didn't work out. But Toya was deemed a failure. The reason goes back to his cursed body: his power literally eats away at him. The only thing holding him together by this point, the one thing that drives him even as his body keeps consuming itself, is vengeance. Shoto puts it simply; Dabi has become a living embodiment of the Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Though twisted, the young Toya does get a moment where he utterly rejects All For One's manipulation attempts. The Diabolical Mastermind has demonstrated a skill with manipulating those around him to forward his goals, no matter their relationship with him, whether antagonistic or ambivalent, but despite everything he'd done for Toya, keeping him alive for years and rebuilding his body, not to mention offering him the chance to regain the full force of his potential firepower if he agreed to become a part of the 'family' at the orphanage he'd made to accumulate children similarly abandoned by society, Toya cared nothing for it. The only thing that mattered to him was being trained and recognized by Endeavor alone, and he could accept no other compromise, burning down the orphanage to escape without a second thought, even with a half-assembled body that now took greater damage from his flames than before, and was only supposed to last a month without aid from Garaki's medical surgeries. He tried to return home... only to find out his family had assumed him dead and gone on without him. The day he came upon the memorial shrine eight years ago was Toya's Start of Darkness: the day Toya Todoroki died and Dabi was born: a villain of his own free willpower, in complete defiance of All For One's ability to control everything in the narrative at that point.Garaki: Even the man who had known absolute control far and wide couldn't exploit the boy's obsession with his father.
- Back in the present, Dabi prepares to finish his warped vengeance on his father, pushing his flames to their absolute limit even as they reduce his body to ashes in the process, determined to create a flame so powerful it will obliterate all that Endeavor holds dear, even against his masterpiece. The shot of him standing atop the statue of All Might, burning so hot he starts melting it and looking like a charcoal daemon held together by his own hellfire, is as awe-inspiring a sight as it is hellish.
- Of course, after all that, Shoto manages a succinct Shut Up, Hannibal! toward his elder brother, showing that the Todoroki Family is far from done resisting evil.Dabi: Once I've burned away all that that thing holds near and dear... that'll be the mark I've left on this world!
Shoto: Like I said, big brother-- not on my watch!
- Though twisted, the young Toya does get a moment where he utterly rejects All For One's manipulation attempts. The Diabolical Mastermind has demonstrated a skill with manipulating those around him to forward his goals, no matter their relationship with him, whether antagonistic or ambivalent, but despite everything he'd done for Toya, keeping him alive for years and rebuilding his body, not to mention offering him the chance to regain the full force of his potential firepower if he agreed to become a part of the 'family' at the orphanage he'd made to accumulate children similarly abandoned by society, Toya cared nothing for it. The only thing that mattered to him was being trained and recognized by Endeavor alone, and he could accept no other compromise, burning down the orphanage to escape without a second thought, even with a half-assembled body that now took greater damage from his flames than before, and was only supposed to last a month without aid from Garaki's medical surgeries. He tried to return home... only to find out his family had assumed him dead and gone on without him. The day he came upon the memorial shrine eight years ago was Toya's Start of Darkness: the day Toya Todoroki died and Dabi was born: a villain of his own free willpower, in complete defiance of All For One's ability to control everything in the narrative at that point.
Chapters 351- 355
- Chapter 351:
- Continuing Shoto vs. Dabi, there's a brief rundown on their father's signature move, the Flashfire Fist: how it concentrates as much heat as possible before unleashing it all at once. Now Dabi introduces his own, wild and chaotic spin on the technique, Flashfire Fist: Hell Spider, unleashing chaotic slashes of fire that ravage the battlefield outside their personal duel in the flaming tornado, showcasing how destructive Dabi's powers are now he's finally at the Point of No Return. Which turns out to be just a feint so he can use his flames to propel himself at literally-blistering speeds to assault Shoto up close, targeting his weakness in hand-to-hand combat with punches that are propelled by nearly-solid flame blasts in a one-sided assault, finishing with a point-blank Jet Burn that launches Shoto into a nearby building, showcasing how much force his unleashed powers pack, all the while lambasting his little brother as a spoiled brat who had everything...
- ...but Shoto actually manages to neutralize his brother's nearly-molten heat with his own powers in equilibrium and counters that he was far from spoiled. On the contrary, he had always thought of himself as "half-baked". In fact, the fact Dabi had been keeping tabs on Shoto (rather than just his single-minded focus on Endeavor) delights him, because Shoto has likewise been focusing on Dabi...
- ...because everyone has their fated battles in this war: Midoriya vs. Shigaraki, Uraraka vs. Toga, Endeavor vs. All For One... and Shoto vs. Dabi, at his own insistence so that Endeavor could concentrate on All For One. Shoto tells Dabi to stop burning bystanders and focus his hatred where it matters: upon their own screwed-up family, and at him. At this, Shoto reveals that he has finally found a way to unleash both sides of his quirk in battle, and prepares his own take on Endeavor's move, Flashire Fist: Phosphor!
- Of note, this new move has Shoto using his flames on his ice-using right side, his flames burning so cold the fire turns white and needs Shoto's rapid heating powers to avoid freezing himself in the process. This flame is the opposite peak of what Endeavor envisioned when he hoped of making a Superior Successor... and now Shoto is using that freezing firepower to extinguish the maddened inferno that symbolizes his crazed sibling's own apex of Endeavor's firepower. Thus, this fight is a showdown between two people each capable of surpassing their father as the premier example of a flame-user, and right now, neither has any interest in anything else but smothering the other's flames with their own in a direct contest between the Flawed Prototype and the 'masterpiece' determined to save lives from his all-consuming wildfire.
- In a case of Irony, it clearly takes Shoto a bit of time to charge up both his sides enough to activate his 'Phosphor' move, time which he needs to rely on Burnin and the other sidekicks to deflect Dabi's attacks away from him until he's ready. Helping him in this regard is Dabi's characteristic mid-battle taunting of his opponents, ranting about how much he's been looking forward to killing Shoto and seeing the despair it'll inflict on their father, and mocking his sibling for being so 'inferior' as to rely on help to fight him, rather than stand alone. Whilst this bought time for Dabi to unleash his heat to the maximum, it also allowed Shoto to do the same with his own ultimate move, even if he was slower than Dabi because of the latter's disregard for his own well-being. Despite the beatdown he inflicted on him, 'Phosphor' allows him to counter Dabi's own heat on equal if not greater terms, meaning that Shoto actually turned Dabi's signature battle strategy back on him at last!
- Chapter 352: Shoto and Dabi's battle meets its conclusion:
- In flashback, Shoto clarifies the specifics of Phosphor. Rather than increasing his flames and using his ice to counteract the inner heating problem, Shoto instead alternates heated and freezing blood throughout his body through his heart, achieving an equilibrium that causes the white fire that manifests upon his chest, which has the unique property of not burning anything even when his classmates stick their unprotected hands into it. As Shoto puts it, he's aiming for the opposite outcome of his old man's vision — a cold fire that freezes what it touches, allowing him to manifest ice strong enough to stifle even Dabi's self-destructive hellfire, the symbol of his desire to destroy himself to achieve the heights of power Endeavor once believed he could.
- Shoto's attack unleashed last time sends Dabi flying and crashing into the ground, cursing at the 'masterpiece' that between his heat-resistant body and increased freezing ability, Shoto is the perfect counter to his own fighting style. However, despite the bad matchup Dabi remains ever-focused on killing his brother no matter what he loses in the process.
- He retaliates by unleashing a gigantic torrent of fire hot enough to even burn Shoto, and his inability to maintain Phosphor for long leaves him open to take a devastating hit... before the sidekicks fighting at his side jump between them to mitigate the damage as best they can with their own quirks, blunting the heat enough that Shoto can shrug it off while charging up his finishing blow, thanking them profoundly for their support as he does so. Dabi might be strong enough to win his fights solo, but Shoto's allies and friends are all he needs to even the playing field with his brother's insane firepower.
- As Dabi is left wide open from the previous attack, Shoto launches forwards so fast his brother can't react and lands his new ultimate move: Great Glacial Aegir. It completely extinguishes Dabi's flames and flash freezes every building in the entire area with his 'cold fire.'
- The most impressive thing? Dabi never lands a single meaningful hit the entire fight. The attacks he does land on Shoto are just shrugged off without much reaction and Shoto is in control the entire battle. Dabi devolved into a raging berserker while Shoto remained calm and collected the entire battle. Shoto even pointedly refutes Toya's Redemption Rejection, stating that even if he and his brother are 'a warped rail running in parallel to a straight and narrow one' he'll make sure they can still mingle together regardless, and so he'll stop him right now.
- Chapter 353:
- Shoto's victory over Dabi fires up the remaining heroes still in combat with the Near High-End Nomu, the last standing combatant on their field, making them determined to take it down quickly and lend their aid to the other battlefields, showing just how effective their strategy against All For One's forces has been, that even with Dabi's advantages, he and the assembled villains with him were dealt with swiftly before they could truly unleash as much damage as they could have. All Might and the others at the command centre swiftly broadcast the good news to all of the other battlefields, leading to a mass boost in morale for their side, as the heroes, many of them Shoto's own classmates and friends, are all the more determined to win now.
- And from the looks of things, Pinky and Red Riot are about to face off against the one who killed Midnight.
- Props to Dabi for two things in this chapter: for one, he's still alive even after his self-immolation, and for another, Spinner reveals in a flashback that while he accepted a new Quirk from All For One, Dabi refused him point-blank.Dabi: Like I need any of that crap.
- While All For One attempts a Breaking Lecture on Endeavor, his speech is noticably more angry and frustrated as opposed to his previous composed confidence. The heroes managed to blindside All For One to such a degree that he can't truly regain his composure, showing just how much they outplayed him.
- Chapter 354:
- In flashback to their pre-battle meeting, Hawks outlines that, despite his immense power, All For One's wounds inflicted by All Might are still a massive crippling weakness, no matter how much he tries to hide it, thus giving them an opening to seriously hurt him despite his position as the runner up for the title of World's Strongest Man next to Tomura. Since attacking him with numbers to target said weak spot would only empower him, Hawks points out that they need to hit him with with their most skilled fighters in the smallest possible team, meaning the fighting comes down to him and Endeavor working in concert to combat All For One and blitzkrieg him to prevent him unleashing any wide-range attacks that could devastate all the combats below, hero and villain alike. Endeavor's heat proves capable of pushing through the heat resistance All For One possesses from one of his quirks, Hardflame Fan; as it's a non-physical attack, he can't use Impact Recoil to defend himself like he did with All Might's own blows, showing how much the heroes have learned and adapted to All For One's tactics since Kamino. Even All For One's characteristic taunting fails to work against Hawks, who merely turns his attempts to get a rise out of him back in his face, mocking the Diabolical Mastermind that he's not as capable as he thinks he is if he's unable to fight both of them off adequately.All For One: Since Recovery Girl's efforts couldn't bring you back to your prime, your few remaining feathers need aid from prosthetic ones to bring you up to even this speed.
Hawks: So we're both crippled, huh? - However, All For One again proves his most dangerous power is not his multiple quirks, but his intellect and his ability to worm his way into the mind of his opponents through the simplest of words. Just by observing that Endeavor isn't fully matching up to Hawks' timing during their attacks, he understands that the Number one hero's mind is still distracted by thoughts of his family, digging into that by taunting him again with how he's left his own personal baggage to be cleaned up by his 'masterpiece', mocking him for failing to keep his mind focused on task like the rest of the combatants around the, and then delivering the final blow... revealing that Enji never found Toya's body on the hillside that day because of his interference. This fact genuinely takes both heroes' smooth coordination off-guard, resulting in Endeavor flying into a blind rage that All For One exploits to tear a huge chunk out of his torso with a fanged maw he forms from his hands.All For One: Oopsie daisy.
- All For One then attempts to unleash his air cannon quirk against Hawks at a distance he can't move fast enough to dodge, motivating Hawks to take the hit so long as he can move Endeavor to a safe location to keep his destructive flames in play against All For One... before the attack is blocked by Jiro's Heartbeat Wall move, flown into the battlefield atop Tokoyami using his Black Fallen Angel. Hawks yells at them to get back, because All For One is way out of their league and unwilling to show mercy to his opponents, only for Tokoyami to point out that he and Hawks are equally capable of teamwork, refusing to let his mentor stand alone against a foe than endangers everyone, and willing to do whatever he can to avert the worst-case scenario.All For One: The pesky gnats that swarm around One For All...In the old comic I used to read, there were "jobber" characters who only existed so the demon lord could show what he was made of.
Jiro: How about you save that line until you've actually beaten us, All For One?
- In flashback to their pre-battle meeting, Hawks outlines that, despite his immense power, All For One's wounds inflicted by All Might are still a massive crippling weakness, no matter how much he tries to hide it, thus giving them an opening to seriously hurt him despite his position as the runner up for the title of World's Strongest Man next to Tomura. Since attacking him with numbers to target said weak spot would only empower him, Hawks points out that they need to hit him with with their most skilled fighters in the smallest possible team, meaning the fighting comes down to him and Endeavor working in concert to combat All For One and blitzkrieg him to prevent him unleashing any wide-range attacks that could devastate all the combats below, hero and villain alike. Endeavor's heat proves capable of pushing through the heat resistance All For One possesses from one of his quirks, Hardflame Fan; as it's a non-physical attack, he can't use Impact Recoil to defend himself like he did with All Might's own blows, showing how much the heroes have learned and adapted to All For One's tactics since Kamino. Even All For One's characteristic taunting fails to work against Hawks, who merely turns his attempts to get a rise out of him back in his face, mocking the Diabolical Mastermind that he's not as capable as he thinks he is if he's unable to fight both of them off adequately.
- Chapter 355:
- Hawks turns out to have been using a subtle tactic to take out All For One even with Endeavor down for the count and his own relative lack of strength compared to the Diabolical Mastermind's multitude of quirks — repeatedly attacking the same spot on his mask again and again in precise strikes to chip into his armour, even when having to constantly blitz about him and additionally keep Jiro and Tokoyami away from All For One's lightning-fast attacks on them, showcasing both his preference for outwitting an opponent than outfighting them, and his sheer skill. He even manages to combine the Katana he was using to make up for his impaired performance from Dabi's flames with Jiro's quirk by chapter's end, turning it into a Vibroweapon that, even when it breaks from the strain, successfully cracks All For One's defenses, quipping as he does so that All For One's amassed strength is no true counter for multiple powers truly working together.Hawks: Enough cracks bring any dam down.
- All For One continues to be a terrifying foe, managing to almost effortlessly strike at Jiro and tear off her ear with his vicious attack.
- When Jiro's injured, she manages to make damn good on her promise from last chapter by fully attacking All For One, blasting him with her full power even though she's lost an ear. Though All For One can endure the attack and power straight through it to either steal Jiro's quirk or her life, the vestiges of his stolen Quirks' former users spring from within him and drag him down, holding him back from escaping and forcing him to stand still long enough for Hawks to put the final nail in to pierce through his image of invincibility. Thanks to everybody efforts in opposing him within and without, the "side characters" do what Endeavor, the number one hero, couldn't... and shatter All For One's life support mask.
- Right after All For One rips her ear off, Jiro responds with a brutal Shut Up, Hannibal! speech before unloading her sonic attack on him:Jiro: All you do is talk about who's weak, who's strong, who's special, and who can inspire fear in others. Well I don't give a damn about any of that nonsense! All I know is that YOU MADE MY FRIENDS CRY!!
- Why did the vestiges rebel? Because Jiro's sheer guts and defiance against their seemingly omnipotent jailer did what All Might, Star, the Torch Bearers and no one else was ever able to do and inspire them to rebel against him. In fact, it's because she's not them that such a miracle occurred. By necessity, to oppose All For One's god-like strength, the Bearers and Star herself had to be a level above anybody else around them, making them stand apart for the crowd and preventing anybody from thinking that an 'ordinary' person would defeat the 'demon lord'. But Jiro, wounded, hurt, far too young to be fighting such an ancient evil, nonetheless demonstrated that it can be done, motivating the other faceless 'nobodies' within All For One's Mental World to oppose him in unison — and given they managed to freeze him in place, it would seem that such an outcome is not only unforeseen by All For One, it's arguably more dangerous for him than when New Order was damaging his quirk from within. Now the masses inside him know he can be fought, he can be opposed, and he can be beaten, even without the power of One for All, and they're eager for payback. All For One's 'smile' in the Vestige realm isn't his normal, calm, collected one: it's a forced, frustrated smile. All For One is losing control of the situation, the fight, his body and he knows it.All For One: The Quirks I've stolen in the past...their very wills?! Impossible!! Even New Order didn't manage this! They were spurred on by this?! By the weakness of such push-overs?!
- Right after All For One rips her ear off, Jiro responds with a brutal Shut Up, Hannibal! speech before unloading her sonic attack on him:
- Hawks turns out to have been using a subtle tactic to take out All For One even with Endeavor down for the count and his own relative lack of strength compared to the Diabolical Mastermind's multitude of quirks — repeatedly attacking the same spot on his mask again and again in precise strikes to chip into his armour, even when having to constantly blitz about him and additionally keep Jiro and Tokoyami away from All For One's lightning-fast attacks on them, showcasing both his preference for outwitting an opponent than outfighting them, and his sheer skill. He even manages to combine the Katana he was using to make up for his impaired performance from Dabi's flames with Jiro's quirk by chapter's end, turning it into a Vibroweapon that, even when it breaks from the strain, successfully cracks All For One's defenses, quipping as he does so that All For One's amassed strength is no true counter for multiple powers truly working together.
Chapters 356- 360
- Chapter 356
- Tokoyami takes advantage of the opening Hawks and Jiro created, covering his right arm with his cloak to sidestep his weakness to sunlight, enabling him to manifest Dark Shadow's clawed limb at his full-powered 'Ragnarok' size and unleashing a Megaton Punch straight on All For One's face, the biggest blow anyone except All Might has ever dealt. The blow is so gigantic that, combined with the damage from Hawks and Jiro, All For One's life support mask is completely shattered to bits. Even better, All For One was both too shocked at his mask being broken and unable to 'sense' Tokoyami's approach to dodge, because his quirks rebelling against him also disrupted his ability to use the sensory quirks to keep track of the heroes, leading to him eating a massive attack that he could have easily dodged if he'd been in any fit-for-fighting state. Much as he's desperately trying to hide it, Team Endeavor's efforts are exposing All For One's inherent weaknesses in battle with him, and showcasing how he's far from being the 'invincible demon lord' he dreamed of becoming.
- Showing just how far they've pushed him, All For One's composure finally completely shatters along with his mask and he starts screaming at them while going utterly berserk. All of this has done what All Might and all the Torch Bearers couldn't: make the original All For One completely lose it. However, pushing him this far has arguably made All For One even more dangerous than before —he violently suppresses the rebelling Vestiges within him with an almost feral intensity, appearing to literally devour their consciousness in order to regain control and unleashing his Rivet Stabs in a wide-range attack all around him, both to skewer the heroes who so humiliated him as well as to catch the tiny fragments of his mask, showcasing both his dexterity and control as he reassembles his shattered visage and holding it in place almost with sheer force of will alone, demonstrating his utter refusal to accept defeat at any cost. The only reason the trio weren't killed by All For One then and there was Endeavor's Big Damn Heroes return.
- The Number One hero rockets back into the battle, tanking some of the Rivet Stabs that he can't burn away to protect his allies and pushing ever-forward towards his target even as the strain bodily tears his right arm clean off. Endeavor doesn't let that stop him for a second, reflecting all the while that his real enemy has never been All For One, but his own inherent weakness that he so cursed, admitting that he never had the ability to be a superhero like Izuku or All Might, but regardless, even if he's just another hero, it's his duty to put an end to the fight with the Diabolical Mastermind, forming a blazing fist from his stump to punch straight through all of All For One's defenses with a gigantic fire attack, leaving him ablaze and reeling in the air, his mask now further damaged and irreparably broken along with his image as the unshakeable manipulator of the story.
- Chapter 357
- Endeavor just keeps pushing on, raging and sending himself flying toward All For One even as he begins to burn himself in the process. The "Greatest Demon Lord" even admits that, for all Endeavor's faults, he has truly earned his spot as Number One Hero, making the villain relive the day of his defeat at All Might's hands.All For One: (internal) Wounded heroes... are always the scariest.
- Hawks pulls the same trick he and Endeavor used to finish off Hood, using some of his remaining feathers to propel Endeavor close enough to smash him with a Megaton Punch formed of his flames and blazing rage towards All For One, crushing him to the ground before he can dodge with a massive beam of fire. When questioned on why he didn't unleash Prominence Burn and kill All For One then and there, Endeavor reminds everyone of his Awesomeness by Analysis talents by noting All For One went on the defensive with the intent to burn him out and regain the upper hand.
- Endeavor follows all this with nothing short of an Unstoppable Rage, the other Heroes even clearing the way so he can beat down All For One personally, forcing his full-power fist through All For One's Deflector Shields, grabbing him by the neck and using his flames to propel them both away from the other heroes at literally blistering speeds, dragging All For One like roadkill all the way. All For One notes that the damage done to his life-support system is further compounding his humiliation, his body no longer responding like he wants to, unable to fight off a one-armed man despite all his power. His only response is to attempt to steal Endeavor's quirk, an action that Endeavor quickly shuts down by shooting fires from his eyes like laser beams, despite the pain it gives him, burning All For One's hand to a charred stub, making it clear that he is done with his bullshit for good, vowing to protect the dreams of the next generation as he continues going utterly berserk, even making All For One cry out for him to stop before enveloping them both in a massive aura of fire.
- Despite the odds, the final victory of the chapter goes to All For One. After this brutal fight, All For One reveals this still wasn't him going 100% serious. He regains his composure and, despite being utterly charred and visibly crumbling away, asks Endeavor if he really thought he didn't have a contingency for his lack of a Healing Factor. He even tells his opponent that his body was already going down, and he's got one last trick up his sleeve, drawing the attention of the First and Midoriya while his internal monologue bookends the chapter by noting that villains are also scariest when wounded. The Symbol of Evil, even in the jaws of a true, desperate defeat, is terrifyingly prepared, the visual imagery implying that he managed to absorb a variant of Eri's Rewind quirk from the Erasure Bullets Tomura salvaged from the hospital. Before the heroes' eyes, the injuries All Might inflicted upon him at the cost of his health, the one thing keeping him back from using his full power against them, start to vanish as his right eye and left ear regrow from nothing, compounding his smug Nightmare Face.All For One: Heroes don't have a monopoly on big sacrificial moments, you know?
- Endeavor just keeps pushing on, raging and sending himself flying toward All For One even as he begins to burn himself in the process. The "Greatest Demon Lord" even admits that, for all Endeavor's faults, he has truly earned his spot as Number One Hero, making the villain relive the day of his defeat at All Might's hands.
- Chapter 358
- Back at Tomura's battlefield, the tide is still in his favor, despite all the heroes' efforts to weaken or restrain him. His rampaging fleshy growths threaten to crush his opponents like bugs whilst replacing any damage they inflict against them, all whilst he goes on a Motive Rant that highlight's All For One's sheer god complex, even as it also digs into the various failings heroes have had in allowing the build-up of oppression and discrimination that resulted in an influx of 'villains' that now rally to Tomura's standard.TomurAFO: With this body, and this power, all will come to rest in the palm of my hand. Giving rise to a world of my own, or one beyond me entirely. Appearance, Form, Function... For a world split beyond any hope of a status quo, all that awaits is schism and destruction. These massive disparities give rise to incomprehension. And that lack of understanding in turns leads to dread and rejection. That's the present state of the world, no? But under my rule, all will be exploited as the working class! All will be equal! Don't heroes yearn for world peace? Is it that hard to imagine taking a step towards that?
- However, the heroes won't let him have it all his own way. They note that despite the danger of his fleshy form's mass and regrowth, he's lost the mobility he had during the war reminiscent of All Might's top speed and power. Angered by 'TomurAFO's' constant speeches and pontificating over the morality of heroes, Bakugo loudly yells at him to shut up as he activates some new support gear he had equipped for the battle — Suppressive Heavy Mobile Unit Strafe Panzer, reminiscent in looks of War Machine: a bunch of auto-targeting guns sprouting from his back that use his explosive sweat, of which he had stocked up plenty of whilst dodging Tomura's attacks, to basically re-create his gauntlet explosion blasts multiple times in a single attack. He then tears straight through Tomura's fleshy defenses with his new move: Howitzer Impact: Cluster, paving the way for his teammates to start attacking his real body.
- Bakugo furthermore verbally tears into TomurAFO as well, making it clear to him that he cares nothing for how logical his arguments are or how hopeless the odds are; he just wants to shut the would-be God-Emperor up and stop his madness before he hurts any more people. Bakugo notes that the world doesn't need his twisted guidance to be better, because he himself has already faced and overcome his own fear and rejection through his Character Development with Izuku as his Friendly Rival. This, along with his actions in working as part of a team effort, delights Best Jeanist into using his full hero name as a sign of acceptance for the kind of hero Bakugo has matured into.Bakugo: You want to talk about some big disparity? Lack of understanding? Dread? Guess what- I've long since taken all that crap to heart. And I've seen a real step towards progress with all that. It might take some time, but some people I know are trying to push forward. Thanks anyway but...you can shove your sermon... ya nutsack-faced handy-man!!!
- Back at Tomura's battlefield, the tide is still in his favor, despite all the heroes' efforts to weaken or restrain him. His rampaging fleshy growths threaten to crush his opponents like bugs whilst replacing any damage they inflict against them, all whilst he goes on a Motive Rant that highlight's All For One's sheer god complex, even as it also digs into the various failings heroes have had in allowing the build-up of oppression and discrimination that resulted in an influx of 'villains' that now rally to Tomura's standard.
- Chapter 359
- Despite the chaos of the heroes' efforts, TomurAFO seems to be unfazed even by Bakugo’s ultimate attack, even as it scorches the right side of his face and apparently blinds his right eye, injuries unhealing whilst his quirks are sealed, and instead seizes the boy’s right arm to shatter it and put him down for good, in a sick parallel to the damage dealt to Endeavor. Aizawa calls out for someone to save him, saying that Dynamight needs to fulfill his destiny as the future No.1 hero...
- ...And who should answer the call but Suneater, Nejire-Chan and Lemillion themselves, suited up and ready? After all this time, it’s finally happening – the Big Three are going into battle together.
- Chapter 360
- The Big Three show their flawless teamwork to rescue Bakugo, with Nejire unleashing a lance-like spiral of energy at Tomura, showing dexterous control over the piercing attack to avoid hitting Bakugo when Tomura uses him as a Human Shield. This turns out to be a distraction for Amajiki to discreetly stab Tomura in the back with two scorpion tails, having using an octopus' camouflage ability to sneak close enough whilst Tomura was distracted. Tomura/All For One mocks their efforts as pointless regardless, growing a mouth along his shoulder to spit the poison out and gloating that he'll overcome any tactic they try to pull on him as he attempts to crush the both of them with more fleshy masses... only for the trio to reveal that even that was a distraction, Mirio using his phasing ability to pass right though Tomura's attack and pluck Bakugo from his grasp whilst he's distracted, successfully extraditing him from the grip of a Physical God, however weakened.
- Mirio furthermore takes to the frontlines against Tomura whilst Bakugo recovers, determined to hold him back however long he has to for Izuku to arrive. Despite that, he notes that his phasing provides him an unparalleled defense against Tomura's sheer might, but it also means he lacks the power to put him on the back foot. Instead, Nejire shoots one of her spirals into the chaotic mess from Tomura's thrashing growths and successfully wraps it around Mirio's arm, enabling him to use an Enhanced Punch to knock Tomura backward, showing both her fine handling of her Quirk (as her quirk reveal box noted the spirals were hard to aim accurately) as well as the trio's well-polished teamwork.
- Mirio also starts reversing All For One's favorite tactic back upon his protege/'successor', asking what drives Tomura's hatred and desire to destroy everything around him, and accurately summarizing the root cause of his deep misanthropy with a response that actually seems to get through to the Tomura aspect of the boy buried underneath his mental merging with All For One.Mirio: So, why do you destroy?
Tomura: Because the current framework has failed.
Mirio: Oh, I get it...You've never had any friends.
Tomura: Huh?
Mirio:... otherwise you'd realize, there's plenty worth keeping around!
- As he's preparing to finish him off, the All For One vestige within Tomura's psyche can't resist further tormenting Bakugo, using his helplessness against him despite unleashing his best attack and his rapid improvements as proof that, no matter how much he trains and pushes himself, in a world where he has to contend against the power levels of One For All and All For One, he will never be able to become the number one hero on his own merits, and is doomed to forever be a side-character in Izuku's own story. When Jeanist rushes to him in the aftermath of his rescue to try and suture his arm together to enable him to jump back in the fight, it initially seems like All For One's taunting and one-sided beatdown actually managed to break Bakugo's spirit... until Jeanist listens closer and hears Bakugo muttering under his breath, eyes fixated upon Mirio battling Tomura and analyzing his moves, akin to Midoriya's own Awesomeness by Analysis, trying to understand how Tomura's twisted form moves so he can better fight back even with his injuries. Far from being broken, Bakugo is fired up and determined to make Tomura/All For One regret his mockery of his dreams.
- The Big Three show their flawless teamwork to rescue Bakugo, with Nejire unleashing a lance-like spiral of energy at Tomura, showing dexterous control over the piercing attack to avoid hitting Bakugo when Tomura uses him as a Human Shield. This turns out to be a distraction for Amajiki to discreetly stab Tomura in the back with two scorpion tails, having using an octopus' camouflage ability to sneak close enough whilst Tomura was distracted. Tomura/All For One mocks their efforts as pointless regardless, growing a mouth along his shoulder to spit the poison out and gloating that he'll overcome any tactic they try to pull on him as he attempts to crush the both of them with more fleshy masses... only for the trio to reveal that even that was a distraction, Mirio using his phasing ability to pass right though Tomura's attack and pluck Bakugo from his grasp whilst he's distracted, successfully extraditing him from the grip of a Physical God, however weakened.
Chapters 361- 365
- Chapter 361:
- TomurAFO showcases again just how damn durable he is when Mirio's direct hit on his main body barely getting scuff marks on it, despite the power he took head-on, with Mirio noting he failed to even break the skin. However, despite the lack of external damage, internally, Mirio's words resonate with him in the depths of his fragmented psyche, causing Tomura to snap back in an utterly childish retort that takes both combatants off-guard for how out of character he reacted. To the shock of the All For One vestige, he realises that there's still a part of Tomura that hasn't been assimilated yet, despite having absorbed all of Tomura's hate-filled psyche into his 'Next me'— 'Tenko Shimura', the childhood self of Tomura before his quirk awakened, and now the sole remaining piece of him that can still consider itself to be wholly separate from All For One's mental assimilation. The dominant "TomurAFO" personality is noticeably unsettled by this, realising that despite all his precautions and time spent waiting to create the 'Perfected Demon Lord", there's still some piece of Tomura that rejects him after all this time, and as a result, he's shown up to the Final Battle neither fully in control of Tomura's now nearly-godlike abilities housed in his body, nor mentally unified in preparation for overcoming One For All in a battle of willpower. Notably, he immediately turns his attention back to killing Bakugo upon realising this, having understood that he's not as guaranteed an absolute victory as he believed prior, and despite suppressing any outward signs of panic, is very much concerned for the first time in the battle that he might actually lose if he doesn't ensure Izuku's not also in the best mental state to fight him.All For One: A fissure within! This body was complete! A perfect unification of Tomura Shigaraki and me- or so I thought? It seems there's a component that hasn't quite melded...Neither Tomura...Nor All for One... Shimura. Dragging this out...is not ideal.
- Even better, it's implied that Tenko can resist All For One where Tomura couldn't because despite his father's abusive nature when it came to the subject of heroes, Tenko did have happier memories during his childhood of playing with others and having fun as a kid, and the utterly-sociopathic All For One's inability to understand positive memories and emotions means that he cannot assimilate Tenko because he cannot understand the concepts he's using to keep his individuality from him. Izuku was charged before with the duty of possibly having to kill Tomura in order to stop his destructive rampage, despite recognising the good side of him symbolised by Tenko, still crying out for help in the depth of his psyche. Whilst this mental merging of the two was supposed to be All For One's masterstroke to finally stealing One For All, now instead it seems it will provide the opposite, as All For One has basically absorbed all the 'bad' parts of Tomura's psyche into himself and unintentionally separated the 'good' parts, meaning it might actually be possible for Izuku to 'save' Tenko whilst destroying Tomura and All For One together.
- Mirio and Nejire's attacks on TomurAFO are revealed to be mere delaying tactics to set up their real serious attack on him. As he powers through every attempt they make to stop him as he strolls inexorably closer to Bakugo's prone form, Nejire fires a blast at him that appears to miss... and instead hits Amajiki, who has used the time to Maximise his "Vast Hybrid" technique with about 30+ different fruits and animals parts, forming a massive organic BFG that charges up with Nejire's energy and starts amplifying it to blow TomurAFO away. The duo's voiceover notes that Amajiki's quirk, lacking an upper limit to the amount of objects it can assimilate and fuse together, is the only means they have of creating a blow powerful enough to seriously affect their unstoppable opponent, in an ironic recreation of how All For One's own quirk works.
- TomurAFO showcases again just how damn durable he is when Mirio's direct hit on his main body barely getting scuff marks on it, despite the power he took head-on, with Mirio noting he failed to even break the skin. However, despite the lack of external damage, internally, Mirio's words resonate with him in the depths of his fragmented psyche, causing Tomura to snap back in an utterly childish retort that takes both combatants off-guard for how out of character he reacted. To the shock of the All For One vestige, he realises that there's still a part of Tomura that hasn't been assimilated yet, despite having absorbed all of Tomura's hate-filled psyche into his 'Next me'— 'Tenko Shimura', the childhood self of Tomura before his quirk awakened, and now the sole remaining piece of him that can still consider itself to be wholly separate from All For One's mental assimilation. The dominant "TomurAFO" personality is noticeably unsettled by this, realising that despite all his precautions and time spent waiting to create the 'Perfected Demon Lord", there's still some piece of Tomura that rejects him after all this time, and as a result, he's shown up to the Final Battle neither fully in control of Tomura's now nearly-godlike abilities housed in his body, nor mentally unified in preparation for overcoming One For All in a battle of willpower. Notably, he immediately turns his attention back to killing Bakugo upon realising this, having understood that he's not as guaranteed an absolute victory as he believed prior, and despite suppressing any outward signs of panic, is very much concerned for the first time in the battle that he might actually lose if he doesn't ensure Izuku's not also in the best mental state to fight him.
- Chapter 362: Another massive Wham Episode.
- Bakugo tells Jeanist to take care of the others despite being injured. Jeanist cries out, but it's not enough. Bakugo steps forward, likely knowing exactly what will happen.
- Bakugo opens by noting Tomura's attack... and dodging, much to the shock of everyone around him.
- Bakugo has indeed found a weakness in the enemy's strategy. What's more, he's improved his Quirk this time. By forcibly containing his sweat and letting it all explode incrementally, he manages to give himself a massive boost in power, charging forward and propelling himself at the cost of damaging his own body... just like Izuku, proving that he takes after All Might's successor after all.Bakugo: So, Izuku... can I... still catch up to you?
- TomurAFO can't stop himself from panicking at the charge of Bakugo, admitting that even though he doesn't have One For All, he still terrifies him. In this moment, the fusion sees a vision of the Second's vestige. Bakugo may not have One For All, but he puts the very same fear into All For One!
- When Bakugo talks to a vestige of All Might, he's bizarrely serene, admitting his flaws and noting the only regret he has is not getting an autograph.
- Bakugo's power is too great, and in the midst of his charge, his heart itself explodes from the strain.
- TomurAFO scores the chapter's ultimate victory by striking a decisive blow as Bakugo's heart bursts, sending the Hero flying backward and striking the ground repeatedly like a ragdoll. Still, the hybrid can't help but wonder why Bakugo would charge so readily to his death despite tracking his opponent's movements with pitch-perfect precision beforehand. It's clear that this apparent kill wouldn't have been achieved without Bakugo's own body giving out on him, though TomurAFO takes a moment to call him out as he lays on the ground, a hole in his chest.We came prepared for today... with a perfect demon lord body, ideal for the final boss. Understand yet? What's coming now... is our story. The villains' tale.
- Chapter 363: In the Heroes' Darkest Hour, there should be no doubt that the declaration that this is "the villains' tale" is proven true.
- The chapter opens with a confirmation that Bakugo is dead, with his killer TomurAFO proudly displaying himself before the other Heroes, an overjoyed smugness clearly present on his features. Even Mirko leaping into action only earns her a vicious rebuking.
- No matter how legitimate Shoto's victory was, Dabi once again proves to be Made of Iron in the most nightmarish way possible. He rises from the ground like an infernal demon and starts incinerating Endeavor's sidekicks, having copied Shoto's technique. Dabi isn't just an Ax-Crazy pyromaniac, he's exercising Awesomeness by Analysis to terrifying effect.
- It's revealed that none other than Skeptic has been organizing the battle and serving as the Villains' strategist. Still loyally serving Tomura, he quickly redirects Dabi to Endeavor before beginning to strike at the Heroes' defenses, cutting off their electronic communication with each other whilst mocking that they honestly thought they could cut him out of a system he designed. He then goes onto to start raising all the mobile shelters housing civilians inside them to the surface, intending to wipe out all those who placed their faith in heroes, whilst shots of All For One's various pawns within the civilians are shown communicating with each other as part of his plan to efficiently wipe out not only the heroes, but everything they're putting themselves on the line to protect.
- The last panel: We finally see the nearly-complete regeneration of All For One... and a full view of his madly grinning face!Heroes are those who defend... while Villains violate. Behold, as we plunge headlong toward our dreams!!
- Chapter 364:
- While seeing All For One fully regenerated is terrifying, he also confirms something else: he's not surviving this. No matter how smug of an act he puts on, no matter what he does from here on out, he's only delaying his death. Team Endeavor did what the users of One For All and even All Might couldn't: they killed All For One.
- The chapter cuts over to America, clearly in disarray after the death of Star and Stripe. In the White House, Ackpar is arguing with the President of the United States, who is looking to capitulate to Shigaraki after the debacle with Star put America at a disadvantage in the race between countries to get in Shigaraki's good graces, having utterly given up on defeating this seemingly invincible menace and looking to retain as much of his own power as he can. Ackpar refutes the presidents claims this is for the good of the future, saying the country has no future if Shigaraki is allowed to exist. Ackpar then clarifies the manga's theme of sacrifice and the old generation of heroes inspiring the next generation and so on, stating that perserving the chance of the next generation is the reason heroes wield their powers in the first place. During his speech a sequence of panels beautifully depicts All Might reaching out to Star, who reaches for the next generation in turn, symbolizing her sacrifice giving Japan's heroes a fighting chance.
- Cutting back to UA, a battered Edgeshot enters the scene, declaring Bakugo's to be a life they absolutely cannot afford to lose. Edgeshot screams for Mirko to hold back Shigaraki no matter what, even saying if she's reduced to a severed head to bite Shigaraki's neck out. After some tense dialogue between Edgeshot and Jeanist, Edgeshot reveals his ultimate technique, Thousand Sheet Pierce- Zenith, allowing him to begin to repair and restart Bakugo's heart, seemingly at the cost of his own life.
- Chapter 365: Edgeshot wastes exactly no time getting to work meticulously repairing Bakugo's damage; he quickly assesses the damage to Bakugo's heart and lungs before using his Quirk to suture together and replace Bakugo's ruptured tissue, performing CPR from inside Bakugo's own body and even sanitizing his threads via a bubble from Wash. He does this knowing this technique will drastically carve away his own lifespan, but he does it anyway with ZERO hesitation or regard for himself beyond getting the job done and saving someone. 'Cause that's what heroes do.
- Mirko. She kicks Shigaraki hard enough to make his supposedly invincible head spin, distracting him from leaping at Bakugo and buying Edgeshot crucial time. Even after Shigaraki catches her good arm in one of his hand-mouths, she just rips it off herself to deliver another walloping kick. As she reaffirms with her philosophy of giving absolutely everything she can to die without regrets when her time comes, it's clear nothing short of complete death will prevent Mirko from delivering as much of a beatdown as possible, and with a tourniquet from Jeanist she charges straight back into the fight with a shower of acrobatic kicks called Luna Rush. She can get replacement limbs, but her sheer grit is a cut above damn near anything shown by anyone else in the series.
- Shigaraki's realizing that Mirko's attacks actually hurt and that his invulnerability is somehow weakening. Despite appearing outwardly mostly fine, without his regeneration the damage seems to be stacking up internally. It's then Shigaraki realizes the uneasiness he felt when facing Bakugo was genuine fear, as he subconciously began to realize One For All isn't the only power capable of really hurting him.
- Previously unable to damage Shigaraki even with Nejire-charged fists, how does Mirio contribute? He covers Shigaraki's eyes with his hands. Cue Shigaraki blindly and ineffectually flailing to get Mirio off him while Mirko continues the beatdown.
- In a brief montage showing the heroes, we see Tamaki growing the same mutant fingers as Shigaraki, implying Tamaki literally ate part of Tomura's mass of flesh in order to fight against him with his own upgrades. If he manages to put together another Plasma Cannon, Shigaraki likely won't be able to shrug it off as easily this time.
Chapters 366- 370
- Chapter 366:
- In a villainous one, Shigaraki's accumlated damage causes his Adaptive Ability to compress his mutations into a more compact and maneuverable form, the mutated mass of fingers fusing into armor and the forms of his family forming an enourmous wrecking ball of a fist. This form absolutely wrecks the assembled heroes nearly instantly, including Mirko who was beating him down moments before, and cannot be slowed down by anything they throw his way, cutting the bullshit and running straight for Bakugo.
- However, the heroes get one as the reason Shigaraki assumed this form at all is because, despite all odds, they beat his first form and forced his body to discard it in exchange for pure defense.
- The hilariously apt way Mirio saves the day: Shigaraki has realized Mirio is no threat to him physically and starts to ignore the latter's distractions while incapacitating the other heroes. Mirio is desperately trying to think of how to hold Shigaraki off for the two seconds Mandalay has asked for, but knows he simply cannot produce enough power to do so. He then remembers Sir Nighteye's prophecy of him becoming a great hero and how a world without humor has no future, so Mirio unleashes his final gambit: Mooning Shigaraki. Which actually distracts Shigaraki long enough for Deku to pull off a badass Dynamic Entry in the nick of time.
- Speaking of which, DEKU HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! His entrance is announced via a stunning double page spread of him using Blackwhip to grab the pylons surrounding the battlefield and slingshot himself straight into an unsuspecting Shigaraki. Cue an instant of eye contact between Deku and Shigaraki before Deku SMASHES straight into the villain hard enough to send him spiraling in mid-air. His belated arrival is the first big chance the heroes get to really turn the tide again and signals the final battle has truly begun in earnest.
- Chapter 367:
- It turns out Star's squadron were the people Deku saw coming, having ignored orders to return to the US in favor of helping Japan, giving the young hero a Rousing Speech before taking him to UA.Ethan Drive, Squad Leader: The school bus is here, kiddo! Hop on!
- Immediately after landing the first hit, Izuku follows up with another that sends the near-unmovable Shigaraki hurtling across the battlefield and into the barrier. He realizes Deku has become much stronger than their last encounter, recognizing the energy billowing from Deku as the third user's Fa Jin.
- Shigaraki's plan to break or enrage Deku to the point of him becoming reckless by killing Bakugo seems to work... until Mirio intervenes and tells him everybody still has a chance to survive and not to give in when there's still hope, even tossing AFO's accusation of denying reality with platitudes back by saying heroes turn platitudes into reality. This causes Midoriya to remember the advice from All Might, Banjo, and Star's squad, in particular Banjo's advice on controlling his emotions. Midoriya calms down and not only is the plan AFO/Shigaraki have been trying to put in motion for chapters foiled in moments, it may have backfired since Deku seems to have gotten even more powerful by focusing his anger into a controlled state, the darkness obscuring his face retreating and his still-burning eyes gaining pupils.
- A subtle but powerful one: as Deku is nearly going berserk upon seeing the state of Bakugo and the heroes, Shigaraki tries to goad him into making an excuse to divert responsibility for not being where he was needed most, basically daring Deku to make himself like how Shigaraki views all heroes: people who ultimately ignore or fail to help those who need them most. Deku doesn't take the bait. Even after regaining control of himself, Deku doesn't make any excuse beyond apologizing for freaking out and delivers an Armor-Piercing Response and question in one: Asking AFO if Shigaraki is "still in there", indicating his mission is still to save Tenko, and in the process proving he's the kind of hero Tenko needed this whole time. The cherry on top is the OFA vestiges manifesting behind him as he asks this, indicating they've got his back in this goal.
- It turns out Star's squadron were the people Deku saw coming, having ignored orders to return to the US in favor of helping Japan, giving the young hero a Rousing Speech before taking him to UA.
- Chapter 368:
- All For One tries to bluff that 'Tomura Shigaraki' no longer exists within him, and that the 'Perfect Demon Lord' has achieved a complete melding, mocking Izuku that he won't get his 'ideal pie-in-the-sky' ending, even as the imagery makes it clear that 'Tenko' is still resisting total assimilation within him. Mirio again interferes with his attempts to play his usual psychological manipulation on his targets, bringing up Tomura's earlier outburst and deducing that their mental synchronisation is actually becoming more unstable the harder the fighting got, which visibly irks the TomurAFO personality driving the body. Despite his inability to inflict any meaningful damage to his monstrous opponent in the fight, Mirio's presence has constantly thwarted All For One's attempts to control the outcome of the battle, no matter how hard he rages, and his intangibility means that the Diabolical Mastermind cannot shut up this source of moral support when Izuku needs it most.
- TomurAFO bulks up his legs with masses of finger armour like Muscular's quirk, for a jump so powerful it actually pushes the entire floating battlefield sideways from the force, going for a powerful overhead smash straight onto Izuku that devastates the landscape around him as he swears to steal One For All at last... only for Izuku to reveal he's now strong enough to tank the same kind of blows that were ragdolling the rest of the assembled heroes like flies, threatening All For One to his face that this time, the battle will not go however he wishes.Izuku: Know this, All For One. I won't let you have your ideal ending either.
- Izuku unveils another combination of his Combo Platter Powers, mixing the charged energy from Fa Jin into Black Whip to create a stronger binding weapon capable of briefly restraining TomurAFO's massive strength: Black Chain. Using this, he slingshots his hulking opponent away from him, and when All For One prepares for Izuku to re-create their mid-air collision from the War, he instead dissipates the chain, revealing he's learned from their last encounter not to repeat the same mistakes as before, instead using the space generated to set up his real Finishing Move...
- Having finally reached his destined battlefield, Izuku dispenses with holding back the big guns, and finally reveals the 2nd's Quirk: Gearshift. Able to change the speed of a chosen target up to 4 stages, Izuku amplifies his own speed and attack power all the way straight to 'Top Gear' to hit TomurAFO with a punch that actually breaks the sound barrier, launching him straight into the sky and unable to keep track of his movements anymore. Whilst the 2nd warns Izuku that he needs to finish the fighting and beat TomurAFO within 5 minutes or the war will be lost, it's revealed that this quirk enables Izuku to achieve the same amplification effect as Fa Jin instantaneously without charging, as Izuku rockets up with a fifth gear state: Overdrive, to kick TomurAFO back down to Earth with a Detroit Smash.The 2nd: As Izuku Midoriya would put it, this is 120 out of 100 percent.
- Notably, Izuku's blows are so powerful that, even in a form his body made to amplify his defences against the heroes, TomurAFO vomits blood from the hit, and is as powerless to block Izuku's attacks as the heroes were to stop him just seconds before. All For One is visibly disorientated and even afraid of how one-sidedly he's getting hurt even in his 'perfected' body, demonstrably proving that if Izuku had been fighting Tomura alongside his allies from the start, he had a good chance at overwhelming him in a straightforward clash even with the changes to Tomura's body.
- It bears repeating, but this is what Izuku can do whilst only able to utilise 45% of One For All's base strength by himself. Adding on the amplification effects from both Fa Jin and Gearshift, and Izuku's potential attacking power once he masters One For All is astronomical.
- Chapter 369:
- A flashback to the Second's passing has him display both the same grit and determination that the rest of his successors possessed in defiance of their mortal enemy, even though the power difference was particularly pronounced with him. Without the enhancement of One For All, Gearshift could only affect small objects like bullets in mid-flight, meaning he had to make creative application of his shots in a battle to inflict delayed attacks into his opponent's blindspots. Despite his Last Breath Bullet being casually blocked from behind by All For One without even looking, the Second still went out with a Dying Smirk at his opponent's icy rage towards him, having succeeded in landing a victory against the Diabolical Mastermind that he would then spend decades trying to undo, in the form of reclaiming his brother's quirk after the Second successfully liberated him from his prison.
- Of note, All For One has a uncharacteristic and visibly enraged countenance when dealing with him, glaring with ice-cold anger at him with Berserker Tears actually streaming down his face and too upset to taunt him or enjoy his enemy's death, unlike other occasions where he visibly revelled in the power disparity and hopelessness of others trying to fight him. Even in the present, he refers to the Second with pure contempt and is viscerally upset at how his 'insignificant' power is overwhelming him. Whatever the reason for this, it's clear that the Second somehow managed to earn All For One's pure enmity, to the extent that it seem to even outstrip his voiced hatred for his Arch-Enemy All Might. Not a bad result for somebody with a 'peashooter' of a quirk.
- Back in the present, the Second explains that thanks to One For All's amplification, by the present point, Gearshift's effects have now evolved enough that it can be applied to more diverse targets and even affect living organisms on the cellular level. When applied to a Lightning Bruiser like Izuku with the sheer might of One For All's accumulated strength behind him, his fists now have the power to warp the laws of reality. Izuku then proceeds to demonstrate exactly what this means by unleashing a quintuple Detroit Smash that buries TomurAFO into a crater, moving so fast that not even the sound effects of the Smash can keep up between the pages.
- When TomurAFO, still vomiting blood even through his enhanced defensive form realizes Izuku's powerful attack was still weaker than before, and he's run out of Fa Jin energy, he aims to use his opponent's new speed against him with a counter-attack, even though he admits that he has to calculate when Izuku's heading because he's still too fast for his eyes to follow. However, Izuku then reveals the other aspect of Gearshift — by applying 'low gear' to his movements, he can slow himself down even in mid-air, outright negating his inertia and causing TomurAFO's blow to miss completely. And when the latter winds up for another swing, Danger Sense forewarns Izuku to rocket back into 'high gear' rendering him functionally untouchable by his enemy no matter what moves he pulls.
- Izuku further stacks on the full application of his Combo Platter Powers, blinding TomurAFO with Smokescreen, using Float to rise above him, and then yanking him upward with Black Whip before he can react, all to pull him into range of his final move: having used the multiple Detroit Smashes from before to charge Fa Jin for another 120% smash straight to the chest. The result? TomurAFO's defensive form, designed specifically to enhance his toughness to the point the heroes couldn't even scratch him, is shattered, leaving him with a massive gaping hole in his chest and knocked back to his 'base' form, completely helpless against Izuku's might.
- It took the entire assembled heroes several chapters of inflicting gradual damage against Tomura's enhanced body to defeat his initial Kaiju-sized form. Thanks to his time limitation, with all his stacked abilities working in tandem together, Izuku canonically broke his much-tougher second form in under a few minutes without TomurAFO being able to defend himself in any way. 'World's greatest hero' indeed.
- And while all this is going on, the All For One aspect of TomurAFO is still losing his shit, wondering why he can see the vestiges of One For All behind Izuku and raging at the fact that the Heroes decided to "play dirty": going for a divide-and-conquer approach to deal with his final assault, the U.A. Coffin dedicated arena, having Erasure used on him so that he can't use his Quirks to fight back "properly". Backed into a corner, he starts yelling and appears to be undergoing yet another transformation, the lights of nine vestiges appearing around him as well, then declaring as the scene cuts to the gigantified Spinner continuing his assault to the Central Hospital:All For One: NO, NOT YET!! Indeed, Yoichi!! The entire chain of events up to now will inevitably spell out victory or defeat for all! Not yet!!! Victory is still within my grasp!!
- A flashback to the Second's passing has him display both the same grit and determination that the rest of his successors possessed in defiance of their mortal enemy, even though the power difference was particularly pronounced with him. Without the enhancement of One For All, Gearshift could only affect small objects like bullets in mid-flight, meaning he had to make creative application of his shots in a battle to inflict delayed attacks into his opponent's blindspots. Despite his Last Breath Bullet being casually blocked from behind by All For One without even looking, the Second still went out with a Dying Smirk at his opponent's icy rage towards him, having succeeded in landing a victory against the Diabolical Mastermind that he would then spend decades trying to undo, in the form of reclaiming his brother's quirk after the Second successfully liberated him from his prison.
- Chapter 370: When Spinner and the civilians that have been whipped up into a riot are about to overrun the heroes, Shoji arrives and lays into Spinner despite him having grown to massive size, all the while calling them out on being Hypocrites. Made all the more impactful when he reveals he's badly scarred under his mask and went through the same discrimination as they did.Shoji: What's any of that got to do with attacking a hospital? Back in Jaku, the first thing the heroes did was take action to make sure the patients and staff were safe. What about you guys?! Go on! Tell me, do you have a plan here?! You'd better! Because if not, I WON'T LET THIS STAND!
Chapters 371- 375
- Chapter 371:
- Even after Spinner activates a second Quirk All For One gave him, turning him into more or less a small kaiju, and cutting off one of Shoji's split arms, Shoji just keeps fighting on even ground. In the process, he continues to use the suffering he's gone through to rip into what they're doing in the angriest display we've ever seen from Shoji. The final pages have him using his quirk to form a single massive arm for a Cross Counter with the enhanced and toughened Spinner in mid-air once the latter smacks him skyward. Of note, Spinner's quirk enables him to use the buildings around him as leverage to better attack Shoji, who has no such grounding, but nonetheless keeps verbally tearing into Spinner's short-sightedness along with that of his followers even when forced into a battleground that puts him at a disadvantage. His last words make it clear that, difficult or not, he'll embrace all the hardship and overcome it to save the day, as a true hero, rather than the mutant monster people have seen him as.Shoji: Yeah. This is who I am.
- We find out Shoji's scars come from having been hit in the face with a pitchfork for touching a nonmutant. He has no interest in revenge, he just wants to be a good person due to a good memory of saving someone from a flood. He just wants to do good and prove the Fantastic Racism wrong by deeds. As Tokoyami points out, this makes Shoji a stronger person than Spinner and his entire army can hope to be.Shoji: I'll be the coolest hero the world has ever seen to give good memories to generations to come!
- The Hooded Advisor continues to bad mouth Shoji and keep trying to talk up the crowd... only for Koda to come up behind him with a huge flock of birds. In addition, his head begins to reshape as a horn-like structure starts to emerge, implying his desire to back up Shoji might have made him undergo a Quirk awakening.Koda: Don't you dare mock Shoji!
- Even after Spinner activates a second Quirk All For One gave him, turning him into more or less a small kaiju, and cutting off one of Shoji's split arms, Shoji just keeps fighting on even ground. In the process, he continues to use the suffering he's gone through to rip into what they're doing in the angriest display we've ever seen from Shoji. The final pages have him using his quirk to form a single massive arm for a Cross Counter with the enhanced and toughened Spinner in mid-air once the latter smacks him skyward. Of note, Spinner's quirk enables him to use the buildings around him as leverage to better attack Shoji, who has no such grounding, but nonetheless keeps verbally tearing into Spinner's short-sightedness along with that of his followers even when forced into a battleground that puts him at a disadvantage. His last words make it clear that, difficult or not, he'll embrace all the hardship and overcome it to save the day, as a true hero, rather than the mutant monster people have seen him as.
- Chapter 372:
- It's revealed that Koda's new horns allow him to simply use telepathy to command animals from a far greater radius as he silently orders his impromptu army to shove the Hooded Advisor off the building he was on. It's also shown that Koda's nonmutant father defended his wife's horns from several racist people.
- Koda also does something pretty ballsy with his new power and names his resulting super move Hitchcock's Birds. Not many people can look this heroic while directly referencing Nightmare Fuel.
- Shoji's Octo-Spansion attack proves powerful to crash through Spinner's BFS and seriously damage the hulking mutant, even though his jagged Scalemail Quirk. Despite also taking a deep slash in the chest in return, Shoji's still got enough in him to yell out to the hesitating rioters that if they go through with assaulting the hospital, then the Cycle of Revenge will only continue, and it will be their children who feel the pain dealt out in retribution for their actions. Without the Hooded Advisor spurring them on, this almost convinces them to stop...except Spinner's intense determination to be useful to Tomura enables him to overcome his physical damage and mental degradation, reciting his 'Call to Action' online speech to rile his followers up once more to continue onto the hospital, despite barely being aware of what he's doing anymore. Shoji's shocked that not only is he still going, but he's somehow even stronger after their clash, underscoring how Spinner's relentless willpower is his greatest strength, despite his enhanced powers.
- The greatest moment of heroism goes not to Shoji, Koda, Mic or any of the assembled police or heroes defending the hospital, but to the unnamed doctors and nurses who are caring for the helpless patients inside the walls. When Spinner and his army smashes into Central Hospital, the mutant and nonmutant workers form a living barrier as a last-ditch attempt to block the way, their faces showing both their determiantion not to move as well as their visible exhaustion, making it clear they're been pushing themselves to the limit to care of all those injured or endangered by the current crisis, no matter who they are. This display of silent rejection for the 'nobleness' of their cause stops the rioters dead in their tracks, stunned by what they'd have to do to follow Spinner further. Spinner himself however has his mind too far degraded by his multiple quirks to process anything, and continues onwards straight through his harmless opposition. While they fail to stop a walking armoured tank like him, and it's implied the damage done clearly cost several of them their lives, this display of quiet, selfness heroism from people who aren't even professional heroes finishes what Shoji started and gets his point through to the rioters, resulting in them stopping in their tracks.
- The end result is Spinner left alone as he powers through the hospital's corridors, pursued by Present Mic for a one-on-one clash of opposing wills as both of them call out to the restrained Kurogiri. Mic wasn't able to avert his old friend's death last time he fought a rampaging beast like Spinner's devolved into, or stop his corpse being defiled into a tool of All For One's will, but this time, Mic's clearly determined to prevent his old school buddy from being further twisted by the insane megalomaniac's ambitions.
- It's revealed that Koda's new horns allow him to simply use telepathy to command animals from a far greater radius as he silently orders his impromptu army to shove the Hooded Advisor off the building he was on. It's also shown that Koda's nonmutant father defended his wife's horns from several racist people.
- Chapter 373:
- A minor case, but it's shown that Koda's upgraded abilities don't just limit him to controlling pigeons, but any kind of avian in the area, up to and including have a bald eagle restraining the hooded Advisor.
- Upon witnessing the devastation Spinner inflicted on the innocent in his drive to enter the hospital, the shell-shocked supporters turn around and stand with Shoji, one of them even taking a Barehanded Blade Block from a spear to protect him, admitting that they might be called cowards or indecisive for turning back now, but they can no longer be certain that they're right to hurt others the way they've been hurt in the past. Shoji commends their willpower regardless, admitting that the feelings that caused them to riot were neither useless nor wrong, merely the way they chose to act upon them. The Hooded Advisor curses out Shoji for derailing the momentum of their charge almost single-handedly, and Rock Lock even notes that whilst the assembled heroes were only thinking of protecting themselves, Shoji was trying to protect their accusers from their righteous anger turning them down a dark path.
- Mic's voice blast bowls Spinner over and knocks him down for the count, additionally breaking the phone containing the recording he was planning to command Kurogiri with. His body pushed beyond the point of exhaustion, his mind still slurred from wielding too many powers, his only means of controlling Kurogiri gone, and his supporters having turned their backs on him, it looks like the end of the line for Spinner... and then he sees the remaining charred-black hand of Tomura's that he was holding onto lying on the ground as well. In a villainous moment of Awesome, Spinner manages to summon up enough strength to seize the hand and push it onto Kurogiri's face, begging him to save Shigaraki. Though Mic rushes forwards with another voice blast ready, aiming to prevent his friends being used anymore, its too late, and the chapter ends with Kurogiri standing upright, his face a mixture of Shirakumo's and Kurogiri's as he announces who he is. Even after losing every advantage he had, in the end Spinner's own willpower was enough to allow him to seize the victory he truly desired in the end — saving his friend.Kurogiri: I am... the protector of Tomura Shigaraki.
- Chapter 374: An example of this occurring for all the villains at once.
- A weather news report at the chapter's beginning reveal that the massive cumulonimbus storm clouds starting to cover the entirely of Japan's southwest are being caused by the rapid massive heat spikes caused by the fighting against the villains, the paneling specifically showing Endeavor, Shoto and Dabi as the main offenders, emphasizing how powerful said family line is. The weather reporter points out that the unprecedentedly massive cloud has the potential to ride the jet stream and affect the weather in North America, citing the Butterfly effect and wonders if this sort of chaos was inevitable from the moment Quirks first emerged. However, she then uses this to segue into an open condemnation of All For One and the world's decision to submit to him on national television, pointing out the if the power of these people can have such a massive effect, then correspondingly, all it would take is the power of the right person to stop All For One, despite his apparent invincibility and limitless power.
- Dabi's contrasting durability and frailty get a mention, as despite emitting enough heat to seriously damage even the resistant Shoto, with the damage having conversely almost entirely reduced him to a walking charcoal husk that can barely move, and can only propel himself around by using flames from his feet as propulsion, Dabi still won't stop fighting. He only breaks off further trying to attack Shoto because he factors in the distance he'd have to travel to Gunga in addition to the damage his body can take and realizes he'd never reach Endeavor if he killed Shoto first, implicitly stating that he's still confident of victory against him despite being practically dead on his feet.
- All For One's foresight comes around to screw over the heroes in the worst possible move for them. Despite the obvious recording device being destroyed by Mic, it turns out he also implanted a micro device in Nana's remaining hand, enabling his orders to still reach Kurogiri despite all the heroes' efforts. Kurogiri demonstrates again just how devastating the ability to commit mass teleportion is, warping Dabi straight to Endeavor's location and pinning him between an invincible All For One and his psychotic son with plenty of fuel remaining to destroy them both. The other portal... opens to reveal two clones of Twice emerging, revealing that Toga activated the Sad Man's Parade, and apparently overwhelmed the heroes on the island and is now poised to swarm their weakened forces on the mainland. In a single move, the tide has once again turned and put the heroes in check once more.
- Chapter 375:
- Several villainous props have to be given to Toga's quick thinking in her battle with Uraraka and Tsuyu. She manages to get out of Uraraka's grasp, and baits Tsuyu into thinking she's about to drink blood from All For One, only for it to be revealed to be a drug that attracts High End Nomu, who attacks Tsuyu. And when Uraraka arrives to help Tsuyu, she finds two of the frog hero... As it turns out one of them was Toga, using the moment of distraction to drink Twice's blood, revealing how the Sad Man's Parade was activated.
- However, despite Toga's quick thinking putting the heroes at a heavy disadvantage, a ray of hope has shined. Refusing to let Toga get away, Uraraka (After nearly getting to Toga by calling back to them talking about romance) manages to go after her thanks to a recovered Tsuyu using her tongue to launch her into the portal, allowing her to take part in the battle between Endeavor's team and All For One with Dabi and Toga. And as this goes on, we get a flashback of the news reporter citing the butterfly effect. What went from a horror-implying notice turns into an inspiring notice, showing that while actions can accumulate into a massive moment of destruction, actions can also build up to an equally heroic moment.
- On the heroes' side, Uraraka's group have pretty much won at this point. Only Toga, the Near High End, and a few stragglers on the villains' side are still standing, and the second of those was getting hammered by Gang Orca and the rest of the heroes. Even Toga admitted if it weren't for Kurogiri teleporting her to All For One, Sad Man's Parade wouldn't have even mattered, as she couldn't keep it going long enough and there were too many heroes and not enough villains for her to actually make use of it. Even with Kurogiri's intervention, the heroes in that group seem to have secured a clean victory.
- Special mention goes to Gang Orca grappling with a Near High End and seeming to be holding his own perfectly well.
Chapters 376- 379
- Chapter 376: Hawks manages to intercept All For One's attempt to flee despite the latter's speed, their mid-air collision making Hawks look like he just got hit by a speeding truck whilst All For One has not a scratch on him, emphasizing the sheer power difference between them. When All For One falls back on his normal Breaking Lectures, mocking Hawks' request that Endeavor stop Toya's rampage so they can focus on stopping the Diabolical Mastermind from fleeing, Hawks has a simple Shut Up, Hannibal!. Endeavor already fulfilled his duty of stopping All For One, even with his last-minute gamble buying him extra time: He still actually killed him in the end. This causes All For One's smug demeanor to slip for the first time since he used Rewind as he levels a furious Death Glare. Hawks knows All For One's Berserk Button and knows just what to say to get under his skin, in an ironic reversal of his favourite tactic.
- Hawks furthermore notes All For One's haste to reach Deku's battlefield, even with his existence now on a proverbial timer, and mocks him with his weakness. Even with the current version of himself now effectively invincible, the 'perfect demon lord' that All For One seeks to mould Tomura into throughout this battle is still incomplete, and Izuku still has a chance of stopping him and his long-term plans. Whilst All For One is still deluding himself that events will ultimately play out to his advantage, there's still hope for the heroes to thwart him in the end in the midst of the chaos, something he intends to avert at all costs.
- Enji, even in a weakened state and with his son now effectively burnt to the point of certain-death, his flames at their hottest just before they get snuffed out for good, finally has a chance to try and atone for his role in creating Dabi. The chapter ends with his tired yet resolute face, absent the flaming beard and eye-mask that denoted him as 'Endeavor, the hero', as he prepares to face his son as a father.Enji: This time around, I'm really seeing you.
- Chapter 377:
- Monoma is finally rendered unable to use Erasure, letting the Tomura-AFO hybrid unleash its full power— a power that can destroy the world if UA isn't there to defend it.
- The Vestiges confirm that All For One, despite his claims, has been losing control and unification of himself and Shigaraki... which is shown in vicious detail when Shigaraki himself takes over once more as the dominant personality, literally 'shedding' his upper half into a whole new body as his personality reasserts control, declaring that it won't be All For One's hand that destroys the world, but his own. Whilst not ideal for the heroes, at long last, Izuku and Tomura are posed to have their fated final clash as the present-day holders of All For One and One For All, without All For One's controlling interference, a suitable denial of his desire to remain the story's sole Big Bad. Tomura's wording even implies that he's come to recognise Izuku himself as his Worthy Opponent for his own heroic traits, unlike All For One seeing him as merely a vessel for One For All's immense power, desiring to beat Izuku himself rather than allow his master to decide the outcome.Tomura: What if I told you that it's me here now... what wouldja wanna do? Sit down for a chat at the mall? Hmm? Ain't happening, hero. After all, I am your villain.
- Izuku's conversation with the Second reveals the drawback to Gearshift's massive power boost: with his cells constantly active and sped-up by the quirk, they cannot rest and properly pump oxygen around his body, meaning Izuku cannot adequately breathe as long as he's speeding up. This effectively means he's been beating TomurAFO into a bloody pulp without literally being able to catch his breath during the assault, and despite the drawback, he's thrashed the Diabolical Mastermind so badly, the Second confirms he cannot control Tomura anymore. He orders Izuku to keep up the pressure against his Arch-Enemy for even a second more, as the actions of Izuku's allies also fighting in the various battlefields around Japan will in turn become his power even if his physical strength starts to falter.
- Skeptic has been able to hack into UA’s systems and threatens to drop the school, killing the heroes and civilians there in one fell swoop. However, to his shock, his own systems are hacked by… La Brava! Even more so, she’s working with the Police Force, even if she’s still devoted to Gentle! Skeptic goes from being confident and in control to panic in a nanosecond. Even better is that La Brava implies she was waiting for Skeptic to try this so she could exploit it to turn the tables on him.La Brava: Found ya!
- Skeptic's hacking skills and technological connections have been an invaluable and omnipresent boon to the villains regardless of which organisation he was working for, always providing needed intelligence and communication to allow the villains he supported to proceed with their plans in ways that disadvantaged the heroes, acting as a lynchpin that ensured they always held the edge whilst pressuring the heroes. At the time, it was noted that Izuku's small-scale battle with Gentle was unneeded and unnecessary, and it would have been better for him to seek the aid of the official heroes instead of trying to confront the Anti-Villain by himself. And yet, by empathizing with Gentle's motivations, fighting him to the point he couldn't escape, and convincing himself to surrender to the authorities to protect La Brava from the repercussions of their villainy before their crimes escalated, Izuku's 'needless heroism' ultimately resulted in the one person who can counter Skeptic fighting on the heroes' side when they needed her most.
- Chapter 378: May as well be called 'Karma strikes for Izuku'.
- La Brava reveals that, during her days as a shut-in, she once hacked into Feel Good Inc's servers and replaced all their ads with dancing optic kitty mascots for fun, utterly trouncing Skeptic's prized coding skills as she did so. As he suffers a meltdown from being upstaged by the same hacker again, she then proceeds to rub salt in the wound by flooding his screen with the same mascot dancing tauntingly at him, which really gets under Skeptic's skin. Her hacking is so one-sided, Skeptic is forced to transmute the servers forcing UA to plummet and the Evacuation shelters to expose themselves before she can reach them, and then flee the compromised hideout rather than fight her out, underscoring how all his superiority and resources mean nothing in the face of true skill. Even better, Skeptic once told Re-Destro that he'd only failed in his life once before, with it being implied that La Brava's hacking was that failure.
- Skeptic is even denied the pleasure of thwarting La Brava's counter-hacking with his Rage Quit, as she simply cooperated with heroes in the nearby area to ambush him the second he went above ground, putting a stop to the Villain's technological advantage against the heroes.
- Even with La Brava stopping Skeptic's interference, Tomura's blasting of the UA compound has still wrecked its flight capabilities so badly that its freefall is inevitable: La Brava admitting she can reconfigure the remaining operational system to get it airborne again, but not before it reaches the earth and allow Tomura's decay to potentially spread beyond their battlefield. With the mass of Twice clones literally swarming across the connecting power cables to engage the supporting heroes and technicians with a mass of never-ending bodies, the American fighter jets circling the fighting cannot lend their aid unless they hit their allies too, leaving the situation again looking hopeless... until one of them notices something. A familiar-looking figure bouncing in mid-air in the path of the plummeting arena.
- Gentle enters the battlefield already in Lover-Mode, determined to repay his debt to Izuku for the second chance he allowed him to have. Noting that their time apart has only strengthened the power boost from Lover-Mode note , Gentle then proceed to use it to create a massive air trampoline that covers the entirely of the school building catching it in mid-air. Even better, as Tomura's decay can only affect 'solid' objects, but not solidified incorporeal substances like the air itself, Gentle's quirk allows the heroes to have a reliable means of keeping him airborne even without the personalised battlefield. Gentle flashing back to his failure to save the falling worker makes it clear that this heroic achievement to save Izuku when he most needed help is his redemption for his prior failure to be a hero.Gentle: On that fateful day, I only wished to save someone who'd fallen. Yes, to be of service to others was my hope!
- Furthermore, a flashback to the night of All For One's mass breakout of Japan's prisons reveals the reason why only six out of the seven of them were free of inmates: when given the option to flee and wreak havoc to their heart's content, Gentle alone stood before his fellow prisoners and asked them if they really wanted to go out and add more crimes to their misdeeds despite being utterly terrified out of his wits, recalling the words of the arresting police officer that 'the only ones who say they can't turn their lives around are the ones with no real desire to change'. When the prisoners confirmed that they did intend to rob, kill or do whatever they wanted, it was recalling Izuku's determination to show those like Eri a bright future that convinced Gentle to fight back alone against the entire prison. The aftermath? Gentle single-handedly subdued everyone, resulting in his prison being the sole one that didn't suffer any breakouts. His only price for his aid to the heroes was getting to see La Brava again and helping out Izuku in his final battle.
- However, though Gentle has halted UA's downward plunge, he can't do anything about the revived Tomura, who, lacking his master's desire to steal One For All from Izuku before killing him, just attempts to launch an AOE decay wave to obliterate everybody. Suffering from oxygen deprivation, Izuku can't reach Tomura in time... before a familiar-looking spiralled bullet zips in out of nowhere and blows his right hand clean off. Kilometres away, atop a building in the middle of a city covered in pouring rain and high winds so far away that UA is barely visible, Lady Nagant is providing pinpoint backup support to the boy who reignited her belief in true heroes once again. Tsukauchi sums up best how Izuku's selfless actions have come back to aid him in his greatest moment of need.
Tsukauchi: No matter how far they're fallen, each villain is still a human being. It's on us to recognise that about them. We absolutely have to. To borrow a phrase from a friend, deep within each of their hearts, we'll find their starting point — Their Origin.- A closer look at Tomura reveals that his painful 'moulting' of his upper half as he regained control of himself from All For One also regrew the previously destroyed fingers on his left hand. Whilst obviously bad for the heroes now he can freely unleash his maximum destructive powers with either limb, it's a point in his favour that marks him out as the natural Superior Successor to All For One as the leader of Villains. For years, his master was defined by the unhealable wounds inflicted upon him, to the point that his mental image of himself within his vestige still bears them, and he initiated his plans to become 'the Next Me' partly because he couldn't stand the idea of the 'demon lord' being so obviously disfigured and beaten in his very appearance. Every time he stepped out to battle, he made certain to cover the injuries up with a Cool Mask to maintain the illusion of him being an untouchable imposing evil. And now, out of his desire to beat Izuku and the heroes behind him, Tomura has done in half a year what his master never could, and repaired injuries not even Hyper Regeneration could fix. His master's hold on him is nothing but a handicap that limits Tomura's full potential against his enemies, and this is further proof of that.
- La Brava reveals that, during her days as a shut-in, she once hacked into Feel Good Inc's servers and replaced all their ads with dancing optic kitty mascots for fun, utterly trouncing Skeptic's prized coding skills as she did so. As he suffers a meltdown from being upstaged by the same hacker again, she then proceeds to rub salt in the wound by flooding his screen with the same mascot dancing tauntingly at him, which really gets under Skeptic's skin. Her hacking is so one-sided, Skeptic is forced to transmute the servers forcing UA to plummet and the Evacuation shelters to expose themselves before she can reach them, and then flee the compromised hideout rather than fight her out, underscoring how all his superiority and resources mean nothing in the face of true skill. Even better, Skeptic once told Re-Destro that he'd only failed in his life once before, with it being implied that La Brava's hacking was that failure.
- Chapter 379:
- Nagant is revealed to be firing from atop the Central Hospital, launching her rounds to aid Izuku even as the recoil from firing such a high-calibre destructive projectile that far rips open her barely-healed injures, causing her to gush blood everywhere. Despite the pain and nearly losing consciousness, Nagant holds on just long enough to launch a second round before she collapses, successfully blowing off Tomura's remaining hand before be can launch Decay with it, giving Izuku the opening he needs, noting as she does so that this too, is her own redemption for her past sins.Lady Nagant: Grey skies...I'd been stained by darkness and lost faith in the light, until you and my successor came around to remind me of how I felt back then, with my bright and shining hopes, and of my reason for being. Now, let this reach Izuku Midoriya, from Lady Nagant!!
- Rock Lock, introduced as a cynical older hero who vocally expressed his lack of faith in Izuku's capability, vouches for Nagant and gives her a communicator to keep track of the overall battle, expressing faith that, despite her sins, her heart is in the right place to help their side, because both of them had their opinions overturned by the same boy fighting on the frontlines for them. His brief words highlight how Izuku is carrying everybody's faith on him being able to defeat Tomura's unbelievable power, but despite the fact Izuku is the only one who can carry that brunt of that burden, every hero and past villain he has met is willing to do whatever they can to support him in his heroic efforts.Rock Lock: Listen Lady Nagant. Ultimately, this full mobilisation on our part hinges on our faith in Izuku Midoriya. So if your heart's telling you to take action for that kid, then I'm choosing to trust you.
- The Central Hospital staff get a mention: despite the events taking place shortly after Spinner's destructive rampage straight through several of their overworked staff, what survivors there are are mentioned off-screen to be still tending to those wounded in the fighting, both friend and foe, despite the enormity of the task and the impossibility of being able to save all those requiring attention. True heroism does not require one to fight, merely having the willpower to never stop trying to save others despite the odds.
- Enraged by all the constant interferences getting in the way of his victory, the vestige of All For One can only scream bloody murder in futile denial of the reality of his situation, cursing Nagant for still trying to play 'a noble agent of justice' despite her past sins. At this point, his glorious Humiliation Conga reaches a peak, as his vestige self is literally choked off his tirade by a mass of fingers bursting from his mouth, as the 'Tomura' personality starts to reassert full control over himself, additionally really rubbing salt in the wound over how pathetic and unsightly his master becomes the more things don't go the way he planned, dismissing his master's obsession with One For All and plans to become an 'immortal demon Lord' as irrelevant compared to his own willpower. Mocking his master for how all his efforts to groom him, use his hatred and turn him into a Living Weapon to steal his brother's Quirk have come to nothing in the end, thanks to him keeping his 'origin' deep within his soul to retain his individuality, Tomura's own vestige rips open All For One's from within as the capper to his speech, possibly outright destroying All For One's consciousness inside the quirk and leaving him as Izuku's sole opponent with all his master's accumulated powers. All For One has unequivocally lost his mental fight with Tomura, and has absolutely no means or recovering from this or playing it off.Tomura: Unlike those flip-flopping screwups, my heart ain't wavering. Everything I witness in this world, led to the existence of that house. As Tomura Shigaraki and Tenko Shimura, I've got just one hope. The destruction of everything stemming from that house. That's the only thing that's gonna save me, Hero.
- Though minor, the last thing the All For One vestige does in a desperate attempt to avert his fate is cravenly scream at Kurogiri to warp Tomura's body back to the original All For One so he can reclaim control over his 'Next me'. However, Kurogiri fails to react, his smoky visage transforming back into Shirakumo's as his mentality starts to become dazed and confused once more, seeking out 'Tomura' to protect him and unable to see his charge within the body before him. With the blackened hand knocked to the ground nearby, Kurogiri is no longer directly being controlled to mindlessly serve All For One's interests, and the paneling makes it clear that Spinner's last impassioned plea has awakened just enough of Shirakumo to fight back against the brainwashing for Tomura's sake, denying All For One respite when he needs it most.
- As Tomura returns to reality, it's revealed that Izuku has tackled them both off the suspended UA building, restraining his regenerating hands with Black Whip as they freefall towards the ruined city together. With access to his Quirks restored, Izuku realises that fighting him atop UA only places those heroes and students within in danger, taking on Tomura solo at the height of his power and complete control over himself at last to protect everybody. Despite Tomura reaffirming to his face that he fully intends to destroy everything as his only means of salvation from his pain, Izuku likewise states that he won't ignore his enemy's anguish or desire to be rescued from it, even if there's no other way to stop him but fighting him. The chapter ends on an epic double-panel spread of Izuku and Tomura squaring off in the apocalyptic ruined streets of the city as lightning flashes above the suspended UA building in the background, the stage for their final fight at last.
- Though neither realise it, one of the business course students is filming their confrontation from within UA, as each side prepares to battle it out. Izuku's dream to be a hero started with a video of All Might heroically rescuing civilians and showcasing how awesome heroes are. Now, Izuku's fight with Tomura, the strongest villain in the world, seems likewise posed to become the next source of inspiration for future heroes. After many of his battles were kept out of the public spotlight, Izuku's climatic confrontation with Tomura seems to be the one where the world will finally see him in action as a hero, fitting with Izuku's assertion that this story was about how he became the greatest hero in the world. Furthermore, whilst All Might inspired an entire generation of new heroes, the story hasn't shied away from how this did nothing to help those labeled villains, many of whom would have had a better chance in life if people had been more willing to give them a chance. Izuku's determination to 'save' Tomura from himself, despite being both unrepentant and apparently truly monstrous, will showcase that a true hero sees the humanity and chance of redemption within everyone, even those he fights against.
- Nagant is revealed to be firing from atop the Central Hospital, launching her rounds to aid Izuku even as the recoil from firing such a high-calibre destructive projectile that far rips open her barely-healed injures, causing her to gush blood everywhere. Despite the pain and nearly losing consciousness, Nagant holds on just long enough to launch a second round before she collapses, successfully blowing off Tomura's remaining hand before be can launch Decay with it, giving Izuku the opening he needs, noting as she does so that this too, is her own redemption for her past sins.
