In a world where the majority of people gain powers, abilities and random mutations, it's an ironic twist of fate that the one born completely normal is considered the freak. Meet Izuku Midoriya, wannabe hero and quirkless individual. His quirkless status and strive to be a hero are the two factors that result in him being bullied and becoming an outcast. However, that all changes when during Bakugou's bullying, he discovers his Quirk.
Quirk: Sequencer; the ability to copy an individual's sequence (Quirk) by ingesting their DNA and then combine that Quirk with another person's to make a more powerful Quirk.
Quirk: Sequencer
is a My Hero Academia fanfic by LordCrusade. This story is yet another "What if Izuku had a Quirk" fanfiction but with a twist. On its own, Sequencer is a fairly useless Quirk. In fact, Izuku was deemed Quirkless because he didn't even know it existed for most of his childhood. However, after an 'accident', Izuku not only discovered his Quirk but discovered its potential to become one of the most powerful Quirks in existence.
Quirk: Sequencer provides examples of:
- Abandoned Warehouse: Midoriya uses one to train his other Quirks so he doesn't become over-specialized on Plasma Cannon.
- Adaptational Badass: Izuku, thanks to Sequencer. Though it isn't really made apparent until he's attacked by the Sludge Villain. In canon, he needed to be saved by All Might but in this story, he's actually capable of holding it off. Also shows up in their rematch, in which Canon!Midoriya was practically useless but Sequencer!Midoriya was actually capable of harming it and intentionally causing it to let go of Bakugou. This also applies to the Entrance Exam. In canon, he was only able to get into U.A. on rescue points and failed to score a single villain point, here he manages to get enough villain points to score second place, 63, on top of the 60 rescue points he gets.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Midoriya actually has a Quirk as opposed to being Quirkless like in canon.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- For the most part, Midoriya is a genuinely heroic person but he has started to develop more anti-heroic qualities. He now has a tendency to manipulate others so that he can copy their sequence and on one occasion even deliberately caused harm to an individual just so that he could get her Quirk. He tries to rationalize it as the ends justifying the means but he still feels guilty when he does something not-so-heroic. It's because of this that he doesn't believe he's worthy to succeed All Might. He even mentally admits that he wanted to keep a low profile so that he could have an easier time taking sequences, and so that when he eventually revealed his real Quirk, if anyone had a problem with what he'd done, he'd already have their sequences and wouldn't have to give a damn about their opinions.
- Bakugou. While he retains the same bullying tendencies as in canon as well as not hesitating to use his Quirk to inflict bodily harm on Midoriya, this Bakugou seems to be a bit more brutal. Midoriya is described as being "black and blue" from Bakugou's bullying and one incident has him stealing money from another student.
- All for Nothing: The making of Jet Wings turns into this in Chapter 14. Not only is he unused to the Quirk, preventing it from being adequately helpful in the USJ attack, but Midoriya's classmates were just fine without him, meaning the entire reason he made them was for naught. Also, they throw suspicion onto Midoriya as one of the villains and essentially throw away what was left of his secret.
- Ambiguously Gay: Shirai in Chapter 10. She asks Izuku where his mother (and her good friend) likes to eat and what she'd like to do afterwards all while sporting a huge blush on her face.
- Anger Born of Worry: It's implied that Bakugou's anger at Midoriya's involvement in the Sludge Villain incident was because he put himself in danger rather than because Midoriya decided to help him like in canon.
- Anti-Hero: Midoriya genuinely wants to become a hero but his paranoia regarding his secret Quirk causes him to go about achieving that goal in less than honest methods. He created a Quirk specifically to cut people if there was no other option, trespassed onto private property, melted a warehouse's lock, constantly lied to his mother, and deliberately injured his doctor to get her Quirk.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Ochako gives one to Midoriya in Chapter 14 after finding out the true extent of his powers: "Would Thirteen still have gotten her back shredded to pieces?".
- Armor-Piercing Response: Izuku gives Bakugou one that overlaps with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech after the latter confronts him for the first time in years:Midoriya: You know, I think this is the first time you’ve talked to me in years, beyond growls and grunts… I wonder why that is? You always used to call me a pebble in your path, someone to step over on your way to becoming the top Hero. You say I claim to believe I’m great and powerful, but of all of us here, who went around shouting about his supposed greatness and abilities, hmm? I do believe that I can be a great Hero, and that my Quirk is powerful enough to accomplish that, but I don’t need to go around shouting about it like you do, honestly Kacchan, someday you need to grow up.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Nedzu quickly figures out Izuku's lying about his Quirk by analyzing his Combination Attack and figuring out all the discrepancies between his previous uses of Plasma Cannon. This is all before he spots footage of Izuku creating a raven from the ink on his back.
- Batman Gambit: In chapter 10, Izuku makes sure to tell his mother about just how much damage he took during the Entrance Exam so that she books another appointment for him to see Shirai.
- Big Damn Heroes: Shoji performs an unconventional use of the trope in Chapter 14 but thanks to his timely arrival and his Quirk, he is able to convince the remnants of Class 1-A that Midoriya is actually who he says he is and not a shapeshifting villain.
- Breakout Character: Played with for Shirai. According to
LordCrusade, she was meant to be a small OC character during the initial planning of the story but he liked writing her so much and she was popular with the readers that he felt it was only fair to give her a larger role. - Breather Episode: Chapter 12 functions as this, focusing on the more mundane parts of the story like the class voting for Class Representative but overall not much happens. Considering the next chapter is the USJ, it's fairly justified.
- Class Representative: Izuku is voted as class representative to Class 1-A and he's not happy about it. Unlike canon, he can't even give the job to Iida since Izuku was the one to calm the panicking students down during the media break-in.
- Combination Attack: Izuku uses one against the Zero Pointer. He uses Pneumatic Cannon to get him high enough off the ground, uses Plasma Cannon to generate enough plasma to create a condensed ball the size of a basketball, uses All-Star and One For All to throw the ball with enough force as well as Pneumatic Cannon to give it that extra boost. The result is an attack powerful enough that it is easily comparable to Canon!Izuku's Smash against the Zero Pointer.
- Combo Platter Powers: This is essentially Izuku's Quirk incarnate. By ingesting the DNA of an individual, he can copy their sequence or Quirk. However, he won't be able to use it until he combines it with another sequence. His Quirk combinations are:
- Plasma Cannon Combined Quirks, which essentially allows him to fire off plasma blasts. As this was his first combination, this tends to be Izuku's default Quirk.
- X-Claws Combined Quirks, which allows him to turn his fingers into sharp steel claws.
- All-Star Combined Quirks, which allows him to multiply the strength of a throw or a kick.
- Pneumatic Cannon Combined Quirks, which allows Izuku to condense air and then fire off the condensed air as a projectile.
- Freya's Garden Combined Quirks. This allows Izuku to grow moss onto people to speed up their healing. He can also use it on himself to give himself a bit of a Healing Factor.
- Dark Familiar Combined Quirks. While not actually magic, Izuku can summon and control creatures such as wolves or eagles that are made from the tattoo on his back. Additionally, Izuku can see what the familiars see by closing his eyes. This is the first Mutation Quirk Izuku has and causes Izuku to discover mutation Quirks will cause a permanent alteration to his body.
- Land Mine Combined Quirks. This was the Quirk made with Bakugou's Quirk. It allows Izuku to turn objects into explosives by touching them.
- One For All. Yes despite him already having a broken Quirk in Sequencer, Izuku still acquires All Might's Quirk, albeit this time by drinking his blood.
- Sun's Out, Gun's Out Combined Quirks. Izuku is able to absorb sunlight and turn it into energy to speed up muscle growth and restore stamina. However, the Quirk is only active if he's exercising and if he is in sunlight while doing so.
- Calcium Reinforcement. Combined Quirks. Izuku can use stored calcium to reinforce his bones and muscles. However, the reinforcement only lasts for a maximum of 5 minutes and has a recharge period of 10.
- Jet Wings. Combined Quirks. Izuku gains two large wings that grant him the ability to fly and glide.
- Covert Pervert: While he isn't as bad as the likes of Mineta, Midoriya does appreciate the skin-tight bodysuit that is Ochako's costume as well as Yaoyorozu's Stripperific outfit in chapter 11.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Izuku notes that he's gotten too reliant on Quirks in chapter 9. While they all have different uses and add variety to his arsenal, he's essentially prevented his own body from developing to match note . Because Izuku is hiding all but one of his Quirks, he has put himself in a tough position when he's out in public or in areas with lots of people, and even with Plasma Cannon, he could get arrested for illegal Quirk usage.
- Declining Promotion: Defied; Midoriya wants to give up his position as Class Representative but his feats as a leader make it very clear that he can't.
- Did Not Think This Through:
- Subverted when Izuku finds out the true extent of his Quirk. He's so excited at the revelation that he can make Quirks that he nearly combines Bakugou's Quirk with Clawed Hands to create a Quirk known as 'Explosive Claws'. Fortunately Midoriya gathers his bearings enough to realize that doing so would be a terrible idea:Midoriya: The Quirk is not ideal in the slightest; not only does it lose the cutting power of the claws, but it also loses the versatility that Kacchan’s Quirk offers him. Instead of being able to secrete and detonate explosions whenever you want, this Quirk would force its user to have to make contact with things first. Plus you could hurt yourself using it!
- Izuku in regards to the creation of Dark Familiar. While the Quirk itself is certainly a viable Quirk, Midoriya failed to realize that combining a Mutation Quirk would likely produce a Mutation Quirk, which would cause a permanent mutation to his body. Not quite what he needs when he's trying to be discreet. Fortunately, the mutation in question is just an ink pool on his back which he can shape into tattoos but it's still an unnecessary factor that he needs to take into account when making a cover story.
- In chapter 9, Midoriya calls All Might to ask him questions about One For All without realizing that he shouldn't know to ask All Might those questions in the first place. Fortunately he's able to recover quickly enough to come up with another reason to call but it still makes him look a little suspicious.
- Midoriya underestimated the intelligence of his fellow students and so when they start pointing out inconsistencies in how he uses Plasma Cannon, he's caught completely off guard.
- Subverted in Chapter 14. Midoriya is aware that rushing in to save his classmates by growing a Mutation Quirk that is impossible to hide will have consequences down the line but his secret was already out and he decided he might as well have gone for broke. Double Subverted when his new wings (in addition to his hiding of Sequencer) cause his classmates to mistake him for a villain.
- Subverted when Izuku finds out the true extent of his Quirk. He's so excited at the revelation that he can make Quirks that he nearly combines Bakugou's Quirk with Clawed Hands to create a Quirk known as 'Explosive Claws'. Fortunately Midoriya gathers his bearings enough to realize that doing so would be a terrible idea:
- Discard and Draw: Once Izuku combines two Quirks, they're gone forever and he won't be able to combine them with another Quirk to make more Quirks. For example, he no longer has access to Explosion after using it to make Land Mine.
- Double Jump: Mina compares Plasma Cannon to this whenever Izuku uses it (read: Pneumatic Cannon) to propel himself into the air.
- Dramatic Irony: When she learns about Izuku's true Quirk, Ochako yells at him and asks if he could have done anything to stop the class from being scattered or alerted the school. Thing is, none of Izuku's Quirks could let him alert the school, and Izuku did try to do something and get who he could out of the mist, but failed. All he accomplished from trying to do so was sending Kaminari to the shipwreck zone instead of the mountains with Jiro and Yaoyorozu like in canon, with Izuku landing there with them instead.
- The Dreaded: Midoriya becomes this to Bakugou after finally being able to stand up to him.
- Easily Forgiven: Played with. Jirou admits that she's not as angry with Midoriya for hiding his true Quirk as she thought she should be. Ochako on the other hand...
- Exact Words: Izuku isn't lying when he says he has a powerful Quirk, he's just not referring to the one everyone thinks he is.
- Expy: Luciko, the user of Drop the Beat was based on Lucio from Overwatch.
- Fair-Weather Foe: Midoriya's classmates at his middle school. They had no problem leaving him alone or even participating in the bullying but as soon as he gets a cool Quirk, they all want to be his friend. It goes two ways though as Midoriya only accepts their friendship to gain their DNA, and doesn't let the praise go to his head.
- Fantastic Ableism: Just like in canon, Midoriya suffers because he's a minority by being Quirkless. It disappears after Izuku proves he has a powerful Quirk, but he will never forget it and only pretends to forgive to get more materials for his Quirk.
- Feel No Pain: While inside the spire, Midoriya is immune to physical pain. Justified as the spire is an extension of his mind and not something he can access in the physical world.
- Finishing Move: Izuku creates one against the Zero Pointer called "Sequencer Finishing Move!: PLASMA ARTILLERY SHHHOOOOT!!!"
- Foil: Midoriya becomes this to Bakugou after revealing Plasma Cannon. Both are users of powerful and flashy Quirks, and both quickly gained increased popularity after demonstrating these Quirks. However, while Bakugou becomes arrogant and prideful thanks to his ego being stroked everywhere he goes, Midoriya refuses to fall for these compliments. This was partly because he knew they were only complimenting the Quirk and not the person and partly because these people used to torment him.
- Genius Ditz: There is no doubt that Izuku is an intelligent individual, especially in terms of analytical skills. However, he also has the tendency to overlook things like the fact that metal and plasma don't go together.
- Glass Cannon: Before creating Calcium Reinforcement, Izuku had several powerful Quirks that let him do a lot of damage, but he wasn't any tougher than an average boy his age, resulting in Izuku sometimes hurting himself when pushing his Quirks too far.
- Healing Hands:
- Doctor Chozi's Quirk, Mossy Repair allows him to grow green moss on a person which can heal a person's broken arm in a matter of hours. Played With as in the case with Recovery Girl, it merely speeds up the person's own healing factor.
- Doctor Shirai's Quirk allows her to speed up the rate of recovery for damaged muscles.
- Midoriya qualifies by combining Chozi's and Shirai's individual Quirks to make Freya's Garden.
- Heel Realization: In chapter 13, Midoriya is forced to come to the realization that all of his hiding wasn't necessary and has only made things worse with him and his allies being injured because he didn't want to use his full power.
- The Hero Dies: Subverted. The first chapter leads you to believe that Bakugou has accidentally killed Midoriya, with Midoriya being described as a corpse and Midoriya waking up in a White Void Room. Midoriya's just experiencing his Quirk for the first time with room being where he stores and combines sequences.
- Heroic RRoD: After getting hurt in the entrance exam protecting Ochako, Izuku creates Calcium Reinforcement in order to avoid this happening in the future, though Eraserhead using his Quirk at the wrong moment means that he still gets hurt at one point.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Discussed and Played With in chapter 14. Midoriya notes that Quirks often have instincts tied to them, meaning people often at least know how to use the basics of their powers. However, the finer details of that Quirk often remain elusive to that individual until they sufficiently practice with it. It is for this reason that Jet Wings is almost useless after only using it for 20 seconds.
- Hypocrite: The teachers at Midoriya's middle school are perfectly content with letting Bakugou beat the shit out of Midoriya, writing it off as "boys being boys" but the day Midoriya reveals his Quirk (Plasma Cannon, not Sequencer), not only does the vice principal intervene in the fight but Bakugou finally faces consequences for his actions and Midoriya is allowed to go scot-free. Lampshaded by Midoriya himself.Midoriya: All those years I got beat up, and hurt, no one helped. But, I get a power and suddenly I’m clear of breaking a huge rule… just like Kacchan was all those times!
- I Need a Freaking Drink: A G-rated variant but Midoriya essentially utters this phrase after learning about One For All except he replaces it with Katsudon.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Despite Midoriya refusing All Might's offer, he still ends up with One For All thanks to Sequencer. In the next chapter he also ends up cleaning Dagobah Beach despite not training under All Might though it was All Might who suggested it to him.
- Izuku still ends up breaking two legs and an arm against the Zero Pointer in effectively the same manner as Canon!Izuku did (breaking his legs just to get to the machine and his arm in his attack).
- Irony:
- Lampshaded in the first chapter; "Ironic that in a world of people with powers, abilities, and random mutations, the person born completely normal would be called the freak".
- One reason Midoriya rejects Explosive Claws in chapter 4 is that it forced the user to make contact with an object first instead of being able to secrete sweat that allowed him to detonate an explosion whenever he wanted. The Quirk he actually makes with Explosion does exactly that, but, it has a lot more utility than the original potential combination as he can still control when the explosive detonates.
- Izuku lampshades this in chapter 7, that now that he is capable of showing a powerful and flashy Quirk, he understands Katsuki's behavior much more than he ever could if he remained Quirkless.
- The perfect Quirk combination he makes to help clean the beach is made of sequences he got from people who visited the beach he's cleaning.
- Kansas City Shuffle: In chapter 11, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu come up with one in combat training. Midoriya goes up to the door with the bomb in it and pretends to be a delivery man. Obviously it fails but their true intent was to draw Iida and Kirishima's attention away from the ground which Yaoyorozu blows up.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks:
- Midoriya hates keeping Sequencer a secret because it forces him to do things more underhanded than if he just told the truth. For example, he has to on occasion deliberately injure people to get their Sequence and trespass onto an Abandoned Warehouse because he needed somewhere to train in secret.
- All Might has this opinion in regards to his own secret:All Might: Had I told other Heroes, perhaps today might not have happened. Perhaps by now another Symbol of Peace would have taken my place or maybe the other Heroes would have acted, instead of expecting me to come save the day. (Gives Izuku a sad smile) Perhaps you would not have needed to act in my place.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Izuku, who was kept the true nature of his Quirk secret for five years, is forced to ponder on the fact that a villain almost killed All Might without knowing any of the details as it's All Might's secret to keep. Unfortunately this makes Izuku's already paranoiac tendencies even worse.
- Downplayed in chapter 10 but LordCrusade does bring up the possibility that Calcium Reinforcement failing during the Quirk Assessment Test was punishment for injuring Shirai to get her Quirk.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: After a particularly dangerous encounter with villains at the USJ, Midoriya decides to invoke this and uses the full potential of Sequencer to handily deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle against the villains.
- Logical Weakness:
- Sequencer can copy quirks from DNA Midoriya ingests but Midoriya still needs to ingest DNA for it to be effective. Before he made X-Claws, Midoriya kinda just hovered around kids until they hurt themselves, then escorted them to the nurse's office while quietly collecting blood samples beyond the notice of others. In fact, X-Claws was made specifically to circumvent this as it provided an easier and more effective method of obtaining blood.
- Pneumatic Cannon's is Newton's Third Lawnote . When charging up a massive amount of condensed air and firing it off, the amount of recoil can easily break Izuku's arm. To compensate, Izuku made Calcium Reinforcement to allow him to more easily handle its power.
- Aizawa's Quirk lets him disable another person's Quirk, but if they have multiple Quirks like Izuku, it only turns off one.
- Manipulative Bastard: Izuku becomes more manipulative the more he keeps Sequencer a secret. While he does feel bad about it, making him more heroic than most, that doesn't change the fact that he still takes advantage of his loved ones caring for him.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The prospect of Midoriya and Bakugou fighting each other with Quirks is enough to cause their entire middle-school class (teacher included) to be very very scared.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Downplayed. Bakugou's not a full-blown villain but he is a bully and it was thanks to his bullying that Midoriya awakened his Quirk and later showed him up.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: The Sludge Villain as in canon. Six out of Izuku's seven Quirks either have no effect on him or will damage Izuku in the process. Fortunately superheating the Sludge Villain with Plasma Cannon is something he's not immune to.
- Not Quite Flight: As Izuku demonstrates in the Entrance Exam by condensing the air around his feet, he can push himself off the ground in a manner similar to flight. However, this ends up breaking his legs.
- Once per Episode: Ever since getting Sequencer, Midoriya has made an effort to combine and make a new Quirk at least once a chapter. Averted with chapter 11 where he doesn't make a new Quirk and is typically limited to Plasma Cannon anyway.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Bakugou panics when it looks like he's accidentally killed Midoriya. Whether this is because he's realized the severity of his actions, he's afraid of the consequences, or he was just in shock at seeing a potential corpse at his feet is unknown.
- Midoriya panics in Chapter 5 when it appears Bakugou has figured out Sequencer. Fortunately it's a false alarm.
- Izuku becomes frantic when he realizes Mutation type Quirks are always on once he activates them, leaving him with a large and rather obvious tattoo-like mark on his back after making Dark Familiar.
- Both Midoriya and Shigaraki have one in their confrontation in chapter 14. Midoriya's comes from facing the Nomu who is way more powerful than him. Shigaraki's comes from realizing Midoriya has multiple powers at once.
- Opportunistic Bastard: This is essentially Izuku's approach to collecting sequences. If there is a possibility that he can get a sequence, he will do what he can to take it, be it hovering around kids so that he can take their sequence when they inevitably hurt themselves or rushing to the aid of an old man who burned himself. In fact X-Claws was made to make seizing opportunities easier. Before even getting to the Entrance Exam, Midoriya had acquired over 150 sequences and at this point in time, he had only made seven combinations. Midoriya does genuinely want to help people but he also outright says that if the circumstances were different during the Entrance Exam he'd let his collection desire run wild and try to get as many Quirk sequences as he could. Predictably he uses the Quirk Assessment Test to scout potential sequences.
- Original Character:
- Dr. Shirai is the Midoriya's family doctor after Dr. Tsubasa was deemed to be too cold and blunt towards Izuku.
- In fact most of Midoriya's acquired sequences are generally introduced by Midoriya first meeting an OC, showing their personality before having Midoriya copy their sequence.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Their middle school believes that a fight between Midoriya and Bakugou could level the classroom they are in as well as half the school. The mere idea that the two will fight is enough to cause everyone to go Oh, Crap!. The only reason it didn't is because their teacher threatened punishment to get tensions to de-escalate.
- Point of Divergence:
- Midoriya becomes Class Representative like in canon. However, because he calms the students down during the security breach instead of Iida, there's no way for him to get out of the job and so he is stuck with it for the foreseeable future.
- A minor example but because Izuku didn't face off against Katsuki, as well as the fact that his Hero Costume was better designed, his Hero Costume is still largely intact at the end of the Heroes vs Villains exercise, meaning that he doesn't have to wear his gym clothes on the USJ field trip.
- Izuku's attempt at pushing Kaminari out of the mist results in the two switching where they canonically landed, Kaminari ending up in the shipwreck zone with Tsu and Mineta, and Izuku joining Jiro and Yaoyorozu in the mountains. And while the former group manages fine thanks to Kaminari's indiscriminate electrocution being used on villains in the water, the latter group does far worse. Without Kaminari's electricity and with Izuku hiding his Quirks true capabilities, the group is nearly overwhelmed by the villains, Jiro and Yaoyorozu both getting badly wounded, giving Izuku a Heel Realization and prompting him to destroy the villains.
- Powers as Programs: What Sequencer seems to run on. Izuku can copy Quirks by simply ingesting a person's blood regardless of whether or not the blood is actually compatible with his. The Quirks themselves are collected and stored in some kind of mental plane, which allows Midoriya to combine and analyze them. Even if he copies a Mutation Quirk, Midoriya will not be physically affected. Well, until he decides to actually make a Mutation Quirk, then there's no going back.
- Power Glows: Some of Midoriya's combinations use this trope. Plasma Cannon naturally fires off glowing condensed plasma, while Land Mine makes Midoriya's hand glow with yellow lines as he's using it and whatever bomb he creates glows before detonating.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Inverted in chapter 10. One woman was unable to cut her hair because if she did, she would lose its healing properties. By the time she retired, it was already nearly 30 feet long!
- Power Misidentification: Deconstructed. Izuku deliberately misleads people on what his Quirk is due to the fear of being judged villainous for it, especially since he ingests other people's blood to get materials for his Quirk. Instead he pretends his Quirk is Plasma Cannon and him using other Quirks are passed off as creative uses of it. This naturally causes problems when his real Quirk is discovered.
- Nedzu, having security cameras up during the entrance exam, catches Izuku using some of his other Quirks and puts him in 1-A so Aizawa can monitor him as a result. Once he receives confirmation from Aizawa that he could still seemingly use his Quirk despite Aizawa trying to erase it, Nedzu and Toshinori come to the conclusion that Izuku is a spy if not apprentice of All For One. Toshinori was heavily distrustful of Izuku as a result up until he saw him battered and mangled at the hands of the Nomu, at which point he only saw him as his student who needed help.
- When he shows up to help everyone still at the USJ entrance while sporting a pair of wings, everyone there initially thinks he's a villain with a shapeshifter Quirk, with it taking Shoji and Mina stating they believe it's really him for the others to do so too... which in turn just sends Ochako past the Rage Breaking Point thinking Izuku could have stopped everyone being scattered and Thirteen getting injured, and causes her to lash out at him.
- Refusal of the Call: Midoriya rejects All Might's offer for One For All because he already has copied it and doesn't believe he's worthy.
- Required Secondary Powers: Played with. Each sequence has the required secondary powers for itself, but not necessarily for working well with another sequence (for example, he can't burn himself with Plasma Cannon, but if he uses it while X-Claws are active, the claws will melt). That means Izuku has to be careful when using multiple sequences at the same time.
- Secret Secret-Keeper:
- When Izuku gains One For All using his quirk, while he has no idea how it is used and what it does, he does find out that it is a quirk made from two quirks artificially put together, something Izuku thought only he was capable of doing. This puts Izuku through a minor BSOD when he sees it for himself.
- Nedzu uses good old deduction and footage to find out that Izuku lied about his quirk, having intentionally put him in 1-A so that Aizawa can investigate more thoroughly.
- Ship Tease:
- Ochako is hinted to have a crush on Izuku when she gets jealous of how Izuku and Momo act around each other.
- Momo blushes when she thinks about Izuku on the bus ride to the USJ.
- Shout-Out:
- Shirai mentions a doctor with healing hair that lost its powers if it was cut.
- Midorya gives his Dark Familiar pet names depending on its form. He calls it Ōkami in its wolf form and Munnin in its bird form.
- Spotting the Thread: This is how Nedzu finds out Midoriya's secret. He realizes very subtle details that point towards Midoriya having multiple Quirks. If Plasma Cannon can create thrust, why didn't Midoriya use it to get around the area more? Why did his final plasma ball move faster than the previous ones despite being larger than all of them? Why did he have to throw it when previously he just fired plasma blasts from his hands? The smoke is swirling around Midoriya's legs as if it was being manipulated and then blown away. His plasma blasts are fired off after Midoriya starts flying. He throws black balls around while firing off plasma blasts as if they were actually explosive rather than the plasma blasts. Finding a single frame of video where Midoriya is summoning one of his familiars after Nedzu triple-reviewed footage confirms his suspicions.
- Superpower Lottery: Midoriya wins this big time. He can permanently copy a person's Quirk. While he can't use it as is, he can combine it with other Quirks allowing him potentially limitless possibilities for what he can do (assuming he can find the right Quirk). He can even copy Quirks that are already artificially combined like One For All. See Combo Platter Powers.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Shirai notices the ink on Izuku's lower back and assumes it's a temporary tattoo, Izuku quickly agrees with her.
- Sweat Drop: Played with. It's not actually possible for him to do this but Izuku notes that if it was possible, he certainly would've done it upon hearing Shirai's reaction to his "temporary" tattoo.
- Took a Level in Badass: An argument could be made that Izuku takes a level every time he makes a new Quirk but there are two standout examples:
- The first is before he even made a Quirk. He used to only be able to enter the Spire after ingesting DNA but after months of research, he was finally able to enter it at will.
- The second is after he gains Plasma Cannon. He goes from being the weakest kid in the class to being a serious contender for the strongest student in the school with only Bakugou being able to rival him.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Katsuki Bakugou and it's one hell of a level. He actually encourages Izuku to become more powerful and shows concern over his well-being (in his own way for both). Remember the story starts out with him beating Midoriya black and blue, stealing a kid's lunch money, and blaming Midoriya's potential death on Izuku himself.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The Nomu is this in Chapter 14. Midoriya tries to attack it but does almost nothing to it and for the first time in the story, Midoriya has come face to face with a situation way over his head.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 14: Midoriya's secret is finally out for better and worse, he comes face to face with a villain he can do almost nothing to, and for the first time in the story, Midoriya is almost powerless to stop all that unfolds.
- Wham Line: Chapter 13 gives us an interesting one. The spire describes Midoriya's latest Quirk Jet Wings as a Mutation Quirk. This means that those massive wings of his are permanent and as such not something Midoriya can just hide from everyone else.
- Wham Shot: All Might's Quirk is shown on the third spire meaning it was already pre-made from two different Quirks and revealing that All Might is hiding something huge.
- What Is This Feeling?: Ochako doesn't quite understand why she might be feeling upset at Midoriya and Yaoyorozu getting along so well.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ochako verbally tears into Midoriya for hiding his powers under the impression he could have done more for the USJ incident.
- Willfully Weak: A rare unscrupulous case. Midoriya isn't this trope because he Does Not Know His Own Strength or because he just wants to be normal but because of his own paranoia. He had the chance to reveal Sequencer and subsequently his different Quirks but chose not to because of how it could reflect badly on him. Of course this comes to bite him in the ass in Chapter 11, where he is forced to only use Plasma Cannon instead of any of his other Quirks because his secret would be revealed.
- Winged Humanoid: Midoriya becomes one in chapter 13 with the use of Jet Wings.
- You Wake Up in a Room: After being knocked unconscious by Bakugou, Midoriya wakes up in a room that contains the spires for his Quirk.
