One's Justice
Four months after receiving Hawks' warning, the Hero Public Safety Commission has gathered the forces necessary for an all-out strike against the Paranormal Liberation Front, and they launch their attack.
Main Summary
The arc starts with the students returning from their internships, and being asked to show what they've learned thus far. They are surprised to find All Might, not Aizawa, waiting for them.
Eraser and Mic have been called by Tsukauchi to help investigate their current prisoner, Kurogiri. Through interrogation, the detective has concluded that Kurogiri is a Nomu, and his Quirk is a mixture of multiple others, with the base belonging to Aizawa's supposedly deceased friend, Oboro Shirakumo. Aizawa interrogates him one on one, and as he recalls their past, Kurogiri begins to unravel. Briefly breaking through, Shirakumo mentions a hospital before passing out.
Elsewhere, Hawks and Twice learn about their new organization, while Dr. Garaki performs a gruesome surgery on Shigaraki.
At U.A., Class 1-A shows off the new skills gained from their internships; All Might, proud of Midoriya for his strides with Black Whip, invites him and Bakugo for tea, to share his findings about the previous users of One For All. The boys learn of the deceased predecessors' identities, including that of Black Whip's user, Daigoro Banjo. It turns out that most of the previous users died in battle with All For One, and had little time to develop their Quirk. All Might tells Midoriya he will shortly be awakening Nana Shimura's Quirk, "Float".
After returning from his interview with Kurogiri, Aizawa is approached by The Big Three, and learns that Eri is unwell; her horn has grown a lot and is hurting her. After making a decision, he supportively tells All Might he can still help students greatly despite not being able to fight, and that he will start training Eri soon.
Four months later, "all the Heroes have vanished from the streets".
Hawks had leaked the structure and hierarchy of the Paranormal Liberation Front, as well as their plan: to level many major cities with the empowered Shigaraki and Nomu, and use Redestro and Trumpet's assets, along with Overhaul's Quirk-destroying bullets, to promote "liberation in name of self-defense" among the public. This would upend Hero society and allow Tomura Shigaraki to assume a ruling position from the shadows, much like All For One.
In response, all Heroes were summoned in a large joint attack on the Front, with many students of UA called to assist in evacuation efforts.
The Heroes split into teams, with Endeavor leading a large group (including Aizawa, Mic, Mirko and Crust) in a raid on a hospital in Kyoto where the Doctor, Kyudai Garaki, had been working in secrecy. They are able to quickly find him and start an evacuation of the hospital. Using Aizawa's Quirk on the man immediately makes him age decades, revealing that he possesses a Longevity Quirk, but they quickly find that they were facing a clone, while the real one tries to escape.
Mirko quickly takes the lead and races to the Doctor's underground laboratory, killing a score of Nomus and cutting off the fleeing man in the nick of time. In a panicked attempt to push Mirko back, the Doctor releases five unfinished High-End Nomu. Four immediately attack Mirko, one of them managing to destroy her arm, while the fifth blocks off Crust from interfering with the fight.
Meanwhile, in the Paranormal Liberation Front's hideout (a mansion overlooking a massive underground bounker), a large-scale attack is launched. Cementoss uses his Quirk to dismantle the mansion, a group of interns are stationed to intercept anyone trying to flee, while a large group of Heroes (including Midnight, The Lurkers, Fat Gum, and Gang Orca) joined by Tokoyami and Kaminari, invade the base. As the high-level Advisors muster a response, Hawks isolates Twice, attempting to peacefully subdue the villain.
Fat Gum, Tokoyami and Suneater close off the entrance to the underground lair, but Dark Shadow warns of a monstrous being underground. Meanwhile, Hawks destroys all of Twice's clones in a duel. Despite his pleas for him to surrender, Hawks sees Twice won't budge and readies to kill him, but is attacked by Dabi. The three fight and Hawks' wings are burned off, but he manages to catch a fleeing Twice and land a killing blow. His last clone manages to save Toga and Mr. Compress from a Hero and return Toga's handkerchief, melting away in her arms, signaling Twice's death.
Enraged, Dabi brutalizes Hawks, who asks for his identity, as he was unable to determine his and Shigaraki's background. Dabi amusedly responds, though his words are obscured from the audience. He moves to finish Hawks off, but the Hero is saved at the last minute by Tokoyami. Meanwhile, Mirko is struggling against the Nomus as they acclimate to battle, so she decides to rush down the Doctor before she dies. She manages to reach him just as Endeavor comes to her aid, accompanied by other Heroes, and attacks the tank holding Tomura Shigaraki.
While Endeavor treats her severe wounds, Aizawa, Crust and many other Heroes subdue the Nomus, while Present Mic knocks down the Doctor and destroys the tank before Shigaraki can be awakened. Shigaraki's body is thrown to the ground and Pro Hero X-Less confirms he isn't breathing. The Doctor, in tears, explains that Shigaraki was put into suspended animation to withstand the trauma of the procedure, and this premature release will kill him.
Present Mic takes the Doctor with him to neutralize the remaining Nomus, and orders X-Less to guard Shigaraki. Realizing that Mic was friends with Shirakumo, the Doctor reveals several truths to the hero: he mentions that his original target for Kurogiri's creation was Aizawa; he claims to be the author of what is now known as the "Quirk Singularity Theory"; he explains that he gave his original Quirk to All For One to slow down his aging while replicating an artificial version of the Quirk for himself; and finally, he reveals the truth about All For One's plan — he knew that he would be defeated by All Might and chose to leave everything to his successor, so much like the Doctor before him, he gave up his original Quirk and left it to Shigaraki.
Meanwhile, Shigaraki awakens in a dream-like realm. He meets echoes of his family, making amends with his sister, placating his mother and destroying a giant version of his father that confronts him. Suddenly a vestige of All For One appears before him, much like the One For All vestiges that Midoriya had met, and urges the boy to join him and complete his transformation. Shigaraki is halted from walking to his mentor by his family, including his grandmother Nana, who desperately try to reason with Tenko. He is unmoved, destroys their images, and joins All For One. Watching over his body, X-Less destroys a machine that was hidden behind the tank, which causes one of the dangling electric cables to fall into the liquid surrounding Shigaraki. After a jolt from the wire, Tomura suddenly contorts and awakens.
Down in the city, the citizens are being evacuated with the help of the students, on the chance of a large scale battle between Heroes and Villains. As this takes place, Midoriya suddenly feels a connection through the vestiges and hears the First User of One For All speak in his mind, telling him that a monumental threat is coming and needs to be stopped.
Shigaraki, now fully conscious, kills a stunned X-Less and takes his cape. As Present Mic leaves the lab with the Doctor in his custody, he senses that something is wrong. He looks over his shoulder, and sees a massive wave of Shigaraki's Decay heading straight for them. Just as they are about to be destroyed, Gran Torino arrives and saves them by lifting them off the ground. He rushes to escape, alerting all Heroes to flee the lab immediately. Endeavor carries Mirko and a sidekick as he propels himself through the air, while Ryukyu carries Rock Lock and other Heroes using her dragon form. She goes to rescue Eraser Head, but a Nomu grabs his leg and tries to drag him down, and only by Crust sacrificing himself does Aizawa manage to escape.
Back with the students, Midoriya quickly directs their attention to the hospital, and within a few seconds, they witness the entire building crumble to the ground, quickly followed by the surrounding structures. Wash is able to evacuate patients that were confined to their beds by using their Quirk, but many Heroes are instantly reduced to dust upon contact with crumbling objects. "Decay" expands far more rapidly than before, reaching the city in the span of seconds. Pixie-Bob creates a barrier around the city limits, but her efforts are innefective. The Doctor, back from the brink of despair, proudly shouts that Shigaraki has been miraculously awakened and that he will destroy everything that the Heroes have built. Midoriya uses a 45% St. Louis Smash Air Force to briefly fend off the Decay, while Burnin tries to get a hold of Endeavor. Unable to stop the Decay, all the students rush to get people to safety.
Gathering his belongings, Shigaraki notices that the machine X-Less had destroyed contained the Quirk erasing bullets they had produced, most of them now ruined. At the Villa, a maddened Toga is killing Heroes in vengeance for Twice, while the Liberation Front manages to rally itself with Geten at their head to push back the Heroes. The structure of the mansion shakes, and a giant hand bursts from the ground as Gigantomachia is summoned by Shigaraki, with orders to bring his lieutenants to his position. Tomura then cheerfully greets Endeavor, who has emerged to engage him.
Shigaraki easily keeps Endeavor at bay using several new Quirks. He begins, however, to hear a voice in his head, and feels an unfamiliar urge. He mumbles the words "One For All", and escapes in pursuit of the Quirk. Confused, Endeavor repeats the words before giving chase. Midoriya overhears this and realizes that Shigaraki is coming for him, and he and Bakugo quickly decide to leave their group to lure Shigaraki to a clear spot. Tomura quickly ambushes them, but they are rescued by Gran Torino, as Endeavor, Ryukyu, and Aizawa (supported by Manual and Rock Lock) converge upon the villain. He responds by summoning a group of "Near-High-End" Nomu from the collapsed hospital to cutoff reinforcements, and Midoriya and Bakugo join the Heroes in battle against him.
At the Villa, Gigantomachia has snatched Shigaraki's Lieutenants and is attempting to stampede to his position. Mt. Lady fights to stop him, but isn't strong enough; Midnight attempts to halt him using her Quirk but is stopped by the Villains on his back. Cornered by the Front on the ground, the teacher puts Yaoyorozu in command of the first-year students stationed around the Villa, and instructs her to devise a way to sedate the rampaging giant.
Yaoyorozu quickly formulates a plan. Each member of the group is given a vial with enough anesthetic to put the monster to sleep, and at least one of them needs to put it in his mouth. They create a trap of quicksand and explosives in which Machia drops, and Mt. Lady seizes the opportunity to force him to open his mouth with her bare hands. Only Ashido is free to use her anesthetics on him. However, she realizes that Gigantomachia is the same man she saved a few girls from when younger, and terrified, slows down enough for him to retaliate, but Kirishima saves her. Red Riot then climbs on the rising behemoth and is able to throw Ashido's vial into his mouth.
Back in the city, the combined assaults from the Heroes have managed to injure Shigaraki. The Villain quickly returns to the fray, after a speech against Hero society; he dodges Endeavor and maims Gran Torino, turning his attention to Eraserhead. The Heroes intercept him, and he reveals a trump card; two Quirk-destroying bullets. He hits Aizawa in the leg with a bullet, forcing him to amputate it to stop the drug from taking effect. The pain of doing so stunts his Erasure, and Shigaraki takes the opportunity to go in for the kill. He is only stopped by the timely arrival of Todoroki, but with Aizawa rendered unconscious, he has begun to recuperate.
Back at the evacuation site, Ida, Uraraka and Asui are notified of an incoming calamity — Gigantomachia is still at large and making his way to his master. Yaoyorozu's plan has failed to contain the giant, and her fellow schoolmates are sent away from the area by the pro Hero Majestic.
Meanwhile, in the city, Shigaraki prepares to attack again, but suddenly suffers a horrendous injury. A large wound opens in his chest leaving him in agony — realizing that his augmentation surgery was not completed properly. With Endeavor cooling down and Aizawa being tended to, Midoriya goes for another attack. Before Shigaraki can use Decay again, Midoriya leaps into the air, grabs all combatants with Blackwhip, and holds them all in levitation — the innate Quirk of Nana Shimura, Float, has finally awoken within him. As he pummels the Villain with his full power, despite the risk to himself, Midoriya decides to stop Shigaraki immediately.
In a flashback, Midoriya trains with Sero, Uraraka and Asui: Uraraka because her Zero Gravity is similar to the Float Quirk, and Sero because his Tape is analogous to Blackwhip. Bakugo and All Might watch from the sidelines. Bakugo notes how the fourth user's Quirk was scribbled out, probing the retired Hero for answers, unsuccessfully. All Might shows worry for Midoriya, and hesitates on the possibility of revealing the truth about One For All to the public, as Midoriya's additional Quirks are becoming all the more obvious to scrutiny.
In the present, Midoriya attacks Shigaraki ceaselessly, injuring himself with increasing severity. Bakugo, realizing Midoriya is in danger, launches Endeavor at Shigaraki in an attempt to destroy him with a point-blank Prominence Burn. The attack succeds, catching Shigaraki unaware and nearly killing him. He is only saved as All For One's vestige forcibly takes over his body, using his Rivet Stab Quirk to stab Endeavor and interrupt his attack. When he unleashes the same attack on a helpless Midoriya, Bakugo pushes him out of the way and takes the impact himself.
Midoriya is driven into a pure rage, and attacks mindlessly. This lands him too close to Tomura's body, and All For One initiates the process of stealing One For All. Deku is taken to the vestige world of One For All, unable to move, where he witnesses All For One restraining his apprentice to retain control of his body. Nana Shimura and Yoichi Shigaraki arrive to help Deku, and engage in a confrontation that All For One loses. The villain ascribes his defeat to the incomplete augmentation of Tomura's body, with Midoriya and Shigaraki fainting in the real world.
Meanwhile, as Gigantomachia continues to lay waste to cities in his path, Toga stays behind in search of Uraraka or Deku, wanting to scope their opinions on Twice's death. She manages to lure Uraraka away from evacuation efforts into a secluded area and ambushes her. After a brief squabble in which the two discuss their opposing views, Uraraka puts forth that Toga must accept the consequences of her actions. Seemingly disappointed by her answer, Toga runs away.
Back at the ruined city, Todoroki saves Midoriya from a deadly freefall and prepares to administer first aid. Shigaraki, outraged over his master's intrusion, refuses to retreat; he is suddenly repelled by Hado, accompanied by Ida, who came to check on Deku. Just as they arrive, a booming rumble and a tidal wave of debris swoops the scene: Gigantomachia has finally arrived at Shigaraki's location, carrying his allies. The colossus catches Shigaraki's body just as he falls unconscious, and remains motionless without his master's orders.
As Endeavor and Shoto struggle to come up with a plan, Dabi emerges, addressing them. He seizes the moment to reveal his identity: Toya Todoroki. At this moment, a doctored broadcast is airing on live television, where Dabi discloses the story of Endeavor's domestic abuse, which his mother Rei and other siblings also happen to be watching. It shows a blood test as proof of his claims, as well as edited footage of Hawks killing Twice framed in a worse light. Initially disbelieving, Endeavor realizes the truth of the situation, and is left broken and catatonic. Dabi prepares to finish off his father, lunging through the air, and Endeavor is only saved by a returning Hero - Best Jeanist is alive, and coming to the rescue.
Declaring himself a "thread of hope", Jeanist launches himself out of a plane and ensnares the entire League of Villains, along with Gigantomachia. Though shocked that the hero is alive, Dabi quickly frees himself. Spinner realizes that Gigantomachia will not act without commands from his master and desperately tries to reawaken Shigaraki. Nejire-chan attempts to stop Dabi, but the villain blasts her with his flames.
Spinner wakes Shigaraki for a moment, who orders Machia to attack, and the beast surges with a burst of power that forces Jeanist to struggle. A group of Near High-Ends break away to aid Gigantomachia. Shoto tries to reason with his brother, as Dabi gleefully readies to murder his younger sibling. As the Near High-Ends arrive, the battered Midoriya desperately tries to put up a fight, knowing that Best Jeanist's fall would set Gigantomachia free. Suddenly, a familiar face pokes his head from the ground and pushes back against the Near High-Ends; Mirio Togata — Lemillion — is back in action, with his Quirk restored, thanks to Eri.
However, even Lemillion is overwhelmed by the Near-High-End Nomus approaching Best Jeanist. His call for help is answered by Nejire-Chan, Ida and Bakugo, the latter finally announcing his hero name: Great Explosion Murder God, Dynamight. As the Heroes fight back, Dabi grabs Shoto into a hug and begins to scorch him to death, while Endeavor watches helplessly. He's thwarted by Midoriya using Black Whip in a new "Froppy Style", projecting it from his mouth. As Midoriya rescues Shoto, he refutes Dabi and affirms his support for Endeavor, rallying the injured Hero. Gigantomachia nearly breaks free, but Endeavor leaps and blasts the giant, who collapses to the ground and becomes unresponsive. Though long overdue, the Villa group's plan to bring him down succeeded.
With Gigantomachia sedated, Best Jeanist tightens his hold on the remaining League members, hoping to knock them out. Though completely restrained by Jeanist's cables, Mr. Compress springs to action. With the heroes distracted by the Nomu and Dabi, he uses his Quirk to wound himself, loosening his bonds enough to break free and recover Spinner and Shigaraki. He then dashes for Gigantomachia's prone body, saving Skeptic and calling out to Dabi, who effortlessly dispatches Shoto and withdraws. The magician then announces that he's the great-great-grandson of the bandit villain Oji Harima, fully unveils his face for the first time, and tells the Heroes he intends to make a daring escape.
On the ground, Midoriya wakes up after being briefly knocked unconscious by Dabi's flames, and feels a sharp pain in his temple. Midoriya recognizes the feeling from previous encounters with mortal danger, and realizes it must be "Danger Sense", the Quirk of the Fourth User of One For All. Up on Machia's back, Lemillion captures Mr. Compress while the wily magician monologues, as per his plan: the "escape attempt" was merely a ruse to buy time for Spinner to awaken Shigaraki fully and have him rescue them. Leaving Dabi's marble within the folds of Spinner's scarf, he notes that he is merely the assistant to the main act.
With limited time to act, Spinner recalls Shigaraki's account of his feelings when he his "family" is wrapped around him. Finding the last remaining hand burnt up in Shigaraki's clothes, Spinner places it over his face just before Lemillion reaches them. Shigaraki suddenly snaps awake, and his body releases a pulse that blasts all of the heroes back. He starts speaking, but the words make it clear that All For One is in control, as he compliments Tomura's allies and notes that the rage within his aprentice's heart is what allows his mind to be controlled. Suddenly, all of the Near High-End Nomu abandon their battle with the heroes and begin carrying Shigaraki and Spinner away, as All For One commands them with a Quirk. When Spinner protests that they are abandoning Mr. Compress, Machia, and Toga, All For One overrules him and affirms that Tomura must be punished for his own defeat.
The Heroes are completely unable to prevent the villains' escape, and only Midoriya can make a token effort to attack All For One. The old villain mocks Midoriya once more, and promises that when Tomura's body is complete, they will meet again. As Midoriya is blasted away, he calls out to Shigaraki, musing on how desperate the younger villain looked when overpowered by his captor.
Narration reveals that the survivors of the frontline forces and evacuation efforts tried to halt Shigaraki's escape, but could only take down three Nomu, and Shigaraki escaped. Gigantomachia, Mr. Compress, Re-Destro, Geten, Trumpet, and 16,929 other members of the Paranormal Liberation Front were arrested, but 132 members, including high-ranking advisors, were able to escape in the rampage.
Uraraka, Asui, and others continue to save as many people as possible from the rubble. The consequences of Shigaraki's rampage are dire - many cities have been leveled, and at least eighteen Pro Heroes, including Midnight, have been killed. Despair causes many Heroes to resign, and the public is shaken by Dabi's revelations. However, a far worse event looms over the horizon as All For One, still completely in control of Shigaraki's body, orders his remaining Nomus to break him out of Tartarus.
The breach is a success, All For One is set free, and he stages prison breaks on other jails to clear his tracks, flooding streets with escaped convicts. He then has Tomura rest, to restore his broken body and refine his augmentations.
Some time later, Hero agencies across the country are shutting down, Heroes resign in droves, and the Hero Public Safety Commission is in shambles. Civilians begin to belittle and smear the Heroes that remain, and start taking matters into their own hands, using support items to fend off Villains, but their lack of experience leads to greater damage done. Recovering, and released from his Commission duties, Hawks finds that Dabi and his henchmen had extracted information on him from his mother, and leaves to help Endeavor.
Many injured Heroes, including the students, are recovering at Central Hospital. All the students, save for Midoriya, are fully conscious. Endeavor awakens, and grasps the scope of what's happened. As he falls into despair, he's visited by his family - now including his wife Rei - to face the consequences of his actions. Recounting everything that led to Toya becoming Dabi, they surmise that all of them save for Shoto were at fault, and that they have to face him again together. They're joined by Hawks and Best Jeanist, who resolve to help subdue Dabi. Hawks inquires Endeavor about "One For All", and his response clues the two to Izuku Midoriya. While Bakugo is safely restrained from barging in on the injured Midoriya, Ida informs Hawks that All Might has asked to be alone with the boy. In actual fact, Midoriya isn't waking up because he's meeting with his predecessors.
Their meeting brings great revelations.
First, the fourth user of One For All, Hikage Shinomori, is revealed to have passed away at 40 years old (having carried it for 18) from, apparently, "old age". The wielders conclude that One For All exerts too much pressure on those with Quirks of their own, eating away at their lifespan, and note that any future bearer of One For All would have to be Quirkless, like All Might and Midoriya. Nana Shimura then confronts Izuku on whether he can kill Tomura Shigaraki. The vestiges point out that the only thing that can stop One For All from being stolen is a firm willpower on the bearer's behalf. She warns Izuku that, though Tomura is her grandson, he seems impossible to save, and killing him may be necessary to end All For One. Izuku doesn't disagree, but notes that despite the hatred and rage Tomura projected, he felt a crying boy begging for help deep within him, and he wants to try and save his soul, because One For All is meant for saving the destitute. The predecessors are moved by his altruism, and the First User, Yoichi pledges to have his back, inviting the Second and Third users to lend the boy their strength.
All Might is called outside by Hawks and Best Jeanist, who inquire about One For All; deciding to trust the two, All Might promises to tell them everything in private. Later, a press conference is held where Endeavor and Hawks acknowledge Dabi's accusations; in addition, it's announced that with the declining ranks of active Heroes, hero training schools will become shelters for students' families, as well as civilians, until all villains are detained. When inquired about One For All, Endeavor claims ignorance, to protect All Might and Midoriya.
A month later, in April, Class 1's second year of studies begins. At Heights Alliance, each student receives a letter from the absent Midoriya, where he explains that he gained his Quirk from All Might, and will be pursued by All For One and Tomura for it. Thus, he decides to drop out of U.A. to keep his friends safe from danger. A weary Midoriya, with a shredded costume and Gran Torino's tattered cape, watches over a city and prepares to stop a "giant villain".
Eraser and Mic have been called by Tsukauchi to help investigate their current prisoner, Kurogiri. Through interrogation, the detective has concluded that Kurogiri is a Nomu, and his Quirk is a mixture of multiple others, with the base belonging to Aizawa's supposedly deceased friend, Oboro Shirakumo. Aizawa interrogates him one on one, and as he recalls their past, Kurogiri begins to unravel. Briefly breaking through, Shirakumo mentions a hospital before passing out.
Elsewhere, Hawks and Twice learn about their new organization, while Dr. Garaki performs a gruesome surgery on Shigaraki.
At U.A., Class 1-A shows off the new skills gained from their internships; All Might, proud of Midoriya for his strides with Black Whip, invites him and Bakugo for tea, to share his findings about the previous users of One For All. The boys learn of the deceased predecessors' identities, including that of Black Whip's user, Daigoro Banjo. It turns out that most of the previous users died in battle with All For One, and had little time to develop their Quirk. All Might tells Midoriya he will shortly be awakening Nana Shimura's Quirk, "Float".
After returning from his interview with Kurogiri, Aizawa is approached by The Big Three, and learns that Eri is unwell; her horn has grown a lot and is hurting her. After making a decision, he supportively tells All Might he can still help students greatly despite not being able to fight, and that he will start training Eri soon.
Four months later, "all the Heroes have vanished from the streets".
Hawks had leaked the structure and hierarchy of the Paranormal Liberation Front, as well as their plan: to level many major cities with the empowered Shigaraki and Nomu, and use Redestro and Trumpet's assets, along with Overhaul's Quirk-destroying bullets, to promote "liberation in name of self-defense" among the public. This would upend Hero society and allow Tomura Shigaraki to assume a ruling position from the shadows, much like All For One.
In response, all Heroes were summoned in a large joint attack on the Front, with many students of UA called to assist in evacuation efforts.
The Heroes split into teams, with Endeavor leading a large group (including Aizawa, Mic, Mirko and Crust) in a raid on a hospital in Kyoto where the Doctor, Kyudai Garaki, had been working in secrecy. They are able to quickly find him and start an evacuation of the hospital. Using Aizawa's Quirk on the man immediately makes him age decades, revealing that he possesses a Longevity Quirk, but they quickly find that they were facing a clone, while the real one tries to escape.
Mirko quickly takes the lead and races to the Doctor's underground laboratory, killing a score of Nomus and cutting off the fleeing man in the nick of time. In a panicked attempt to push Mirko back, the Doctor releases five unfinished High-End Nomu. Four immediately attack Mirko, one of them managing to destroy her arm, while the fifth blocks off Crust from interfering with the fight.
Meanwhile, in the Paranormal Liberation Front's hideout (a mansion overlooking a massive underground bounker), a large-scale attack is launched. Cementoss uses his Quirk to dismantle the mansion, a group of interns are stationed to intercept anyone trying to flee, while a large group of Heroes (including Midnight, The Lurkers, Fat Gum, and Gang Orca) joined by Tokoyami and Kaminari, invade the base. As the high-level Advisors muster a response, Hawks isolates Twice, attempting to peacefully subdue the villain.
Fat Gum, Tokoyami and Suneater close off the entrance to the underground lair, but Dark Shadow warns of a monstrous being underground. Meanwhile, Hawks destroys all of Twice's clones in a duel. Despite his pleas for him to surrender, Hawks sees Twice won't budge and readies to kill him, but is attacked by Dabi. The three fight and Hawks' wings are burned off, but he manages to catch a fleeing Twice and land a killing blow. His last clone manages to save Toga and Mr. Compress from a Hero and return Toga's handkerchief, melting away in her arms, signaling Twice's death.
Enraged, Dabi brutalizes Hawks, who asks for his identity, as he was unable to determine his and Shigaraki's background. Dabi amusedly responds, though his words are obscured from the audience. He moves to finish Hawks off, but the Hero is saved at the last minute by Tokoyami. Meanwhile, Mirko is struggling against the Nomus as they acclimate to battle, so she decides to rush down the Doctor before she dies. She manages to reach him just as Endeavor comes to her aid, accompanied by other Heroes, and attacks the tank holding Tomura Shigaraki.
While Endeavor treats her severe wounds, Aizawa, Crust and many other Heroes subdue the Nomus, while Present Mic knocks down the Doctor and destroys the tank before Shigaraki can be awakened. Shigaraki's body is thrown to the ground and Pro Hero X-Less confirms he isn't breathing. The Doctor, in tears, explains that Shigaraki was put into suspended animation to withstand the trauma of the procedure, and this premature release will kill him.
Present Mic takes the Doctor with him to neutralize the remaining Nomus, and orders X-Less to guard Shigaraki. Realizing that Mic was friends with Shirakumo, the Doctor reveals several truths to the hero: he mentions that his original target for Kurogiri's creation was Aizawa; he claims to be the author of what is now known as the "Quirk Singularity Theory"; he explains that he gave his original Quirk to All For One to slow down his aging while replicating an artificial version of the Quirk for himself; and finally, he reveals the truth about All For One's plan — he knew that he would be defeated by All Might and chose to leave everything to his successor, so much like the Doctor before him, he gave up his original Quirk and left it to Shigaraki.
Meanwhile, Shigaraki awakens in a dream-like realm. He meets echoes of his family, making amends with his sister, placating his mother and destroying a giant version of his father that confronts him. Suddenly a vestige of All For One appears before him, much like the One For All vestiges that Midoriya had met, and urges the boy to join him and complete his transformation. Shigaraki is halted from walking to his mentor by his family, including his grandmother Nana, who desperately try to reason with Tenko. He is unmoved, destroys their images, and joins All For One. Watching over his body, X-Less destroys a machine that was hidden behind the tank, which causes one of the dangling electric cables to fall into the liquid surrounding Shigaraki. After a jolt from the wire, Tomura suddenly contorts and awakens.
Down in the city, the citizens are being evacuated with the help of the students, on the chance of a large scale battle between Heroes and Villains. As this takes place, Midoriya suddenly feels a connection through the vestiges and hears the First User of One For All speak in his mind, telling him that a monumental threat is coming and needs to be stopped.
Shigaraki, now fully conscious, kills a stunned X-Less and takes his cape. As Present Mic leaves the lab with the Doctor in his custody, he senses that something is wrong. He looks over his shoulder, and sees a massive wave of Shigaraki's Decay heading straight for them. Just as they are about to be destroyed, Gran Torino arrives and saves them by lifting them off the ground. He rushes to escape, alerting all Heroes to flee the lab immediately. Endeavor carries Mirko and a sidekick as he propels himself through the air, while Ryukyu carries Rock Lock and other Heroes using her dragon form. She goes to rescue Eraser Head, but a Nomu grabs his leg and tries to drag him down, and only by Crust sacrificing himself does Aizawa manage to escape.
Back with the students, Midoriya quickly directs their attention to the hospital, and within a few seconds, they witness the entire building crumble to the ground, quickly followed by the surrounding structures. Wash is able to evacuate patients that were confined to their beds by using their Quirk, but many Heroes are instantly reduced to dust upon contact with crumbling objects. "Decay" expands far more rapidly than before, reaching the city in the span of seconds. Pixie-Bob creates a barrier around the city limits, but her efforts are innefective. The Doctor, back from the brink of despair, proudly shouts that Shigaraki has been miraculously awakened and that he will destroy everything that the Heroes have built. Midoriya uses a 45% St. Louis Smash Air Force to briefly fend off the Decay, while Burnin tries to get a hold of Endeavor. Unable to stop the Decay, all the students rush to get people to safety.
Gathering his belongings, Shigaraki notices that the machine X-Less had destroyed contained the Quirk erasing bullets they had produced, most of them now ruined. At the Villa, a maddened Toga is killing Heroes in vengeance for Twice, while the Liberation Front manages to rally itself with Geten at their head to push back the Heroes. The structure of the mansion shakes, and a giant hand bursts from the ground as Gigantomachia is summoned by Shigaraki, with orders to bring his lieutenants to his position. Tomura then cheerfully greets Endeavor, who has emerged to engage him.
Shigaraki easily keeps Endeavor at bay using several new Quirks. He begins, however, to hear a voice in his head, and feels an unfamiliar urge. He mumbles the words "One For All", and escapes in pursuit of the Quirk. Confused, Endeavor repeats the words before giving chase. Midoriya overhears this and realizes that Shigaraki is coming for him, and he and Bakugo quickly decide to leave their group to lure Shigaraki to a clear spot. Tomura quickly ambushes them, but they are rescued by Gran Torino, as Endeavor, Ryukyu, and Aizawa (supported by Manual and Rock Lock) converge upon the villain. He responds by summoning a group of "Near-High-End" Nomu from the collapsed hospital to cutoff reinforcements, and Midoriya and Bakugo join the Heroes in battle against him.
At the Villa, Gigantomachia has snatched Shigaraki's Lieutenants and is attempting to stampede to his position. Mt. Lady fights to stop him, but isn't strong enough; Midnight attempts to halt him using her Quirk but is stopped by the Villains on his back. Cornered by the Front on the ground, the teacher puts Yaoyorozu in command of the first-year students stationed around the Villa, and instructs her to devise a way to sedate the rampaging giant.
Yaoyorozu quickly formulates a plan. Each member of the group is given a vial with enough anesthetic to put the monster to sleep, and at least one of them needs to put it in his mouth. They create a trap of quicksand and explosives in which Machia drops, and Mt. Lady seizes the opportunity to force him to open his mouth with her bare hands. Only Ashido is free to use her anesthetics on him. However, she realizes that Gigantomachia is the same man she saved a few girls from when younger, and terrified, slows down enough for him to retaliate, but Kirishima saves her. Red Riot then climbs on the rising behemoth and is able to throw Ashido's vial into his mouth.
Back in the city, the combined assaults from the Heroes have managed to injure Shigaraki. The Villain quickly returns to the fray, after a speech against Hero society; he dodges Endeavor and maims Gran Torino, turning his attention to Eraserhead. The Heroes intercept him, and he reveals a trump card; two Quirk-destroying bullets. He hits Aizawa in the leg with a bullet, forcing him to amputate it to stop the drug from taking effect. The pain of doing so stunts his Erasure, and Shigaraki takes the opportunity to go in for the kill. He is only stopped by the timely arrival of Todoroki, but with Aizawa rendered unconscious, he has begun to recuperate.
Back at the evacuation site, Ida, Uraraka and Asui are notified of an incoming calamity — Gigantomachia is still at large and making his way to his master. Yaoyorozu's plan has failed to contain the giant, and her fellow schoolmates are sent away from the area by the pro Hero Majestic.
Meanwhile, in the city, Shigaraki prepares to attack again, but suddenly suffers a horrendous injury. A large wound opens in his chest leaving him in agony — realizing that his augmentation surgery was not completed properly. With Endeavor cooling down and Aizawa being tended to, Midoriya goes for another attack. Before Shigaraki can use Decay again, Midoriya leaps into the air, grabs all combatants with Blackwhip, and holds them all in levitation — the innate Quirk of Nana Shimura, Float, has finally awoken within him. As he pummels the Villain with his full power, despite the risk to himself, Midoriya decides to stop Shigaraki immediately.
In a flashback, Midoriya trains with Sero, Uraraka and Asui: Uraraka because her Zero Gravity is similar to the Float Quirk, and Sero because his Tape is analogous to Blackwhip. Bakugo and All Might watch from the sidelines. Bakugo notes how the fourth user's Quirk was scribbled out, probing the retired Hero for answers, unsuccessfully. All Might shows worry for Midoriya, and hesitates on the possibility of revealing the truth about One For All to the public, as Midoriya's additional Quirks are becoming all the more obvious to scrutiny.
In the present, Midoriya attacks Shigaraki ceaselessly, injuring himself with increasing severity. Bakugo, realizing Midoriya is in danger, launches Endeavor at Shigaraki in an attempt to destroy him with a point-blank Prominence Burn. The attack succeds, catching Shigaraki unaware and nearly killing him. He is only saved as All For One's vestige forcibly takes over his body, using his Rivet Stab Quirk to stab Endeavor and interrupt his attack. When he unleashes the same attack on a helpless Midoriya, Bakugo pushes him out of the way and takes the impact himself.
Midoriya is driven into a pure rage, and attacks mindlessly. This lands him too close to Tomura's body, and All For One initiates the process of stealing One For All. Deku is taken to the vestige world of One For All, unable to move, where he witnesses All For One restraining his apprentice to retain control of his body. Nana Shimura and Yoichi Shigaraki arrive to help Deku, and engage in a confrontation that All For One loses. The villain ascribes his defeat to the incomplete augmentation of Tomura's body, with Midoriya and Shigaraki fainting in the real world.
Meanwhile, as Gigantomachia continues to lay waste to cities in his path, Toga stays behind in search of Uraraka or Deku, wanting to scope their opinions on Twice's death. She manages to lure Uraraka away from evacuation efforts into a secluded area and ambushes her. After a brief squabble in which the two discuss their opposing views, Uraraka puts forth that Toga must accept the consequences of her actions. Seemingly disappointed by her answer, Toga runs away.
Back at the ruined city, Todoroki saves Midoriya from a deadly freefall and prepares to administer first aid. Shigaraki, outraged over his master's intrusion, refuses to retreat; he is suddenly repelled by Hado, accompanied by Ida, who came to check on Deku. Just as they arrive, a booming rumble and a tidal wave of debris swoops the scene: Gigantomachia has finally arrived at Shigaraki's location, carrying his allies. The colossus catches Shigaraki's body just as he falls unconscious, and remains motionless without his master's orders.
As Endeavor and Shoto struggle to come up with a plan, Dabi emerges, addressing them. He seizes the moment to reveal his identity: Toya Todoroki. At this moment, a doctored broadcast is airing on live television, where Dabi discloses the story of Endeavor's domestic abuse, which his mother Rei and other siblings also happen to be watching. It shows a blood test as proof of his claims, as well as edited footage of Hawks killing Twice framed in a worse light. Initially disbelieving, Endeavor realizes the truth of the situation, and is left broken and catatonic. Dabi prepares to finish off his father, lunging through the air, and Endeavor is only saved by a returning Hero - Best Jeanist is alive, and coming to the rescue.
Declaring himself a "thread of hope", Jeanist launches himself out of a plane and ensnares the entire League of Villains, along with Gigantomachia. Though shocked that the hero is alive, Dabi quickly frees himself. Spinner realizes that Gigantomachia will not act without commands from his master and desperately tries to reawaken Shigaraki. Nejire-chan attempts to stop Dabi, but the villain blasts her with his flames.
Spinner wakes Shigaraki for a moment, who orders Machia to attack, and the beast surges with a burst of power that forces Jeanist to struggle. A group of Near High-Ends break away to aid Gigantomachia. Shoto tries to reason with his brother, as Dabi gleefully readies to murder his younger sibling. As the Near High-Ends arrive, the battered Midoriya desperately tries to put up a fight, knowing that Best Jeanist's fall would set Gigantomachia free. Suddenly, a familiar face pokes his head from the ground and pushes back against the Near High-Ends; Mirio Togata — Lemillion — is back in action, with his Quirk restored, thanks to Eri.
However, even Lemillion is overwhelmed by the Near-High-End Nomus approaching Best Jeanist. His call for help is answered by Nejire-Chan, Ida and Bakugo, the latter finally announcing his hero name: Great Explosion Murder God, Dynamight. As the Heroes fight back, Dabi grabs Shoto into a hug and begins to scorch him to death, while Endeavor watches helplessly. He's thwarted by Midoriya using Black Whip in a new "Froppy Style", projecting it from his mouth. As Midoriya rescues Shoto, he refutes Dabi and affirms his support for Endeavor, rallying the injured Hero. Gigantomachia nearly breaks free, but Endeavor leaps and blasts the giant, who collapses to the ground and becomes unresponsive. Though long overdue, the Villa group's plan to bring him down succeeded.
With Gigantomachia sedated, Best Jeanist tightens his hold on the remaining League members, hoping to knock them out. Though completely restrained by Jeanist's cables, Mr. Compress springs to action. With the heroes distracted by the Nomu and Dabi, he uses his Quirk to wound himself, loosening his bonds enough to break free and recover Spinner and Shigaraki. He then dashes for Gigantomachia's prone body, saving Skeptic and calling out to Dabi, who effortlessly dispatches Shoto and withdraws. The magician then announces that he's the great-great-grandson of the bandit villain Oji Harima, fully unveils his face for the first time, and tells the Heroes he intends to make a daring escape.
On the ground, Midoriya wakes up after being briefly knocked unconscious by Dabi's flames, and feels a sharp pain in his temple. Midoriya recognizes the feeling from previous encounters with mortal danger, and realizes it must be "Danger Sense", the Quirk of the Fourth User of One For All. Up on Machia's back, Lemillion captures Mr. Compress while the wily magician monologues, as per his plan: the "escape attempt" was merely a ruse to buy time for Spinner to awaken Shigaraki fully and have him rescue them. Leaving Dabi's marble within the folds of Spinner's scarf, he notes that he is merely the assistant to the main act.
With limited time to act, Spinner recalls Shigaraki's account of his feelings when he his "family" is wrapped around him. Finding the last remaining hand burnt up in Shigaraki's clothes, Spinner places it over his face just before Lemillion reaches them. Shigaraki suddenly snaps awake, and his body releases a pulse that blasts all of the heroes back. He starts speaking, but the words make it clear that All For One is in control, as he compliments Tomura's allies and notes that the rage within his aprentice's heart is what allows his mind to be controlled. Suddenly, all of the Near High-End Nomu abandon their battle with the heroes and begin carrying Shigaraki and Spinner away, as All For One commands them with a Quirk. When Spinner protests that they are abandoning Mr. Compress, Machia, and Toga, All For One overrules him and affirms that Tomura must be punished for his own defeat.
The Heroes are completely unable to prevent the villains' escape, and only Midoriya can make a token effort to attack All For One. The old villain mocks Midoriya once more, and promises that when Tomura's body is complete, they will meet again. As Midoriya is blasted away, he calls out to Shigaraki, musing on how desperate the younger villain looked when overpowered by his captor.
Narration reveals that the survivors of the frontline forces and evacuation efforts tried to halt Shigaraki's escape, but could only take down three Nomu, and Shigaraki escaped. Gigantomachia, Mr. Compress, Re-Destro, Geten, Trumpet, and 16,929 other members of the Paranormal Liberation Front were arrested, but 132 members, including high-ranking advisors, were able to escape in the rampage.
Uraraka, Asui, and others continue to save as many people as possible from the rubble. The consequences of Shigaraki's rampage are dire - many cities have been leveled, and at least eighteen Pro Heroes, including Midnight, have been killed. Despair causes many Heroes to resign, and the public is shaken by Dabi's revelations. However, a far worse event looms over the horizon as All For One, still completely in control of Shigaraki's body, orders his remaining Nomus to break him out of Tartarus.
The breach is a success, All For One is set free, and he stages prison breaks on other jails to clear his tracks, flooding streets with escaped convicts. He then has Tomura rest, to restore his broken body and refine his augmentations.
Some time later, Hero agencies across the country are shutting down, Heroes resign in droves, and the Hero Public Safety Commission is in shambles. Civilians begin to belittle and smear the Heroes that remain, and start taking matters into their own hands, using support items to fend off Villains, but their lack of experience leads to greater damage done. Recovering, and released from his Commission duties, Hawks finds that Dabi and his henchmen had extracted information on him from his mother, and leaves to help Endeavor.
Many injured Heroes, including the students, are recovering at Central Hospital. All the students, save for Midoriya, are fully conscious. Endeavor awakens, and grasps the scope of what's happened. As he falls into despair, he's visited by his family - now including his wife Rei - to face the consequences of his actions. Recounting everything that led to Toya becoming Dabi, they surmise that all of them save for Shoto were at fault, and that they have to face him again together. They're joined by Hawks and Best Jeanist, who resolve to help subdue Dabi. Hawks inquires Endeavor about "One For All", and his response clues the two to Izuku Midoriya. While Bakugo is safely restrained from barging in on the injured Midoriya, Ida informs Hawks that All Might has asked to be alone with the boy. In actual fact, Midoriya isn't waking up because he's meeting with his predecessors.
Their meeting brings great revelations.
First, the fourth user of One For All, Hikage Shinomori, is revealed to have passed away at 40 years old (having carried it for 18) from, apparently, "old age". The wielders conclude that One For All exerts too much pressure on those with Quirks of their own, eating away at their lifespan, and note that any future bearer of One For All would have to be Quirkless, like All Might and Midoriya. Nana Shimura then confronts Izuku on whether he can kill Tomura Shigaraki. The vestiges point out that the only thing that can stop One For All from being stolen is a firm willpower on the bearer's behalf. She warns Izuku that, though Tomura is her grandson, he seems impossible to save, and killing him may be necessary to end All For One. Izuku doesn't disagree, but notes that despite the hatred and rage Tomura projected, he felt a crying boy begging for help deep within him, and he wants to try and save his soul, because One For All is meant for saving the destitute. The predecessors are moved by his altruism, and the First User, Yoichi pledges to have his back, inviting the Second and Third users to lend the boy their strength.
All Might is called outside by Hawks and Best Jeanist, who inquire about One For All; deciding to trust the two, All Might promises to tell them everything in private. Later, a press conference is held where Endeavor and Hawks acknowledge Dabi's accusations; in addition, it's announced that with the declining ranks of active Heroes, hero training schools will become shelters for students' families, as well as civilians, until all villains are detained. When inquired about One For All, Endeavor claims ignorance, to protect All Might and Midoriya.
A month later, in April, Class 1's second year of studies begins. At Heights Alliance, each student receives a letter from the absent Midoriya, where he explains that he gained his Quirk from All Might, and will be pursued by All For One and Tomura for it. Thus, he decides to drop out of U.A. to keep his friends safe from danger. A weary Midoriya, with a shredded costume and Gran Torino's tattered cape, watches over a city and prepares to stop a "giant villain".
Tropes
- Adventures in Comaland: In the aftermath of the battle, Midoriya is seen comatose and All Might can feel he's talking to the vestiges of One For All.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Twice's death is hard to swallow, even for Hawks; he saw Twice as a genuinely good man and wanted to help him find a way out of villainy. However, Twice stubbornly refused to back down and forced the hero's hand, which resulted in his death. Hawks deeply laments this decision.
- All for Nothing:
- Despite the U.A. students feeding Gigantomachia anesthesia, the giant Villain still managed to get past them into the city, resulting in untold destruction, leaving the students feeling that their work was in vain. The anesthetic finally takes effect in 293, and Gigantomachia is brought down.
- Endeavor gaining the public's trust by defeating the High-End Nomu in Kyushu and trying to make amends for the horrible things he did might as well be entirely in vain - Dabi reveals himself as [the presumably dead] Toya Todoroki, and he broadcasts his abusive history on live television, in hopes of crushing any credibility the Number One Hero had.
- Amputation Stops Spread: After being hit by a Quirk Destroying Bullet in his right leg, Aizawa cuts the leg off, preventing the drug from taking effect.
- Anger Born of Worry: Bakugo furiously marches towards Midoriya's hospital room, vowing to "kill him if he thinks he can die on me".
- Avenging the Villain: Following Twice's death, Toga becomes mad with grief and starts killing as many Heroes as she can for revenge. Ironically, none of them were responsible for said death.
- The Bad Guy Wins:
- The raid was actually going very well until Shigaraki entered the picture, at which point the fight became a losing battle. But even then, hope wasn't totally lost that Hero Society would endure...until Gigantomachia began his rampage through Japan. Pretty much every event after that was more about survival than victory because the day was pretty much lost.
- Even though many of the Front's members have been detained, the consequences are dire. All For One, by implanting his original Quirk into Tomura's body and taking control of him, has escaped Tartarus and sent many other villains back into freedom; Dabi's slanderous broadcast about his past, Endeavor and Hawks has reached the public and taken effect with the populace at large, as they become hostile to the Heroes they once looked up to; Gigantomachia's rampage has leveled several cities and left thousands homeless, and Midnight and seventeen other Heroes were killed during the war. To add salt to the wounds, many Heroes have retired amid the crisis, and Midoriya is forced to drop out of U.A. to protect both One For All and his classmates. In a sense, Tomura accomplishes his initial goal of toppling or destroying hero society as people know it (though, he is in no position to celebrate) and, after this battle, things won't be returning to normal any time soon.
- The Bait: Midoriya realizes that Shigaraki will hunt down One For All, something nobody in the field except him and Bakugo knows about. Realizing that his presence endangers everyone, since he can be localized by Shigaraki's "Search", Midoriya runs away intending to attract Shigaraki towards himself alone.
- Bathos: While the scenes in the hospital are very grim, they feature funny-looking doctors reminiscent of Yoshi, Toad and Super Mario, who are meant to pepper the scenes with occasional humor.
- Beauty Is Bad: During All For One's raid on Tartarus, Lady Nagant is seen among the inmates.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Unlike the Internship Arc, this one mercilessly subverts this trope given what's at stake. While some female heroes get away with the usual scrapes and burns, others suffer varying degrees of injury (Mirko losing an arm and leg, for example). There are even a few that actually die (on or off screen) by the time the dust finally settles.
- Berserker Tears: Witnessing his old master and teacher brutalized by Shigaraki, Midoriya attacks the Villain, screaming in rage, and with tears falling from his eyes.
- Betrayal Insurance: Dabi had some of the Front's soldiers track down Hawks' mother to get compromising information on him in case he betrayed the Front. When the time comes and Hawks is revealed to be the spy for the Heroes, Dabi releases Hawks' background as the son of a criminal, and uses his name to throw him off during their confrontation for Twice.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: The Paranormal Liberation Front, as the fusion of the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Chapter 267 sees a twofer: Tokoyami and Endeavor rescue Hawks and Mirko respectively.
- In Chapter 275, Gran Torino snatches Midoriya and Bakugo away from Shigaraki. Eraser Head also stops Shigaraki from decaying Ryukyu at the last second.
- In Chapter 280, Kirishima saves Ashido from Gigantomachia in the nick of time.
- Chapter 282: Shoto makes a giant glacier just in time to get Shigaraki where Midoriya can hurt him.
- Chapter 291: Just as Dabi is about to strike Endeavor and Shoto with a Prominence Burn, he and Gigantomachia are restrained by carbon fiber cables. Best Jeanist is back, and delivers a stylish Pre Ass Kicking One Liner."Apologies for the delay! As of today, Best Jeanist is back on duty!"
- At the end of Chapter 292, just when the Nomus are about to attack Best Jeanist, who is unable to fight back, Lemillion appears to help, having regained his Quirk.
- Bakugo blasts back into the scene in 293.
- Blood from the Mouth:
- Midoriya spurts out a hefty amount when Shigaraki elbows him in the gut.
- Mr. Compress coughs up even more, to the point that his whole mouth is stained when he removes his mask.
- Body Horror:
- After Endeavor's Prominence Burn, Shigaraki looks like a burnt corpse, with no visible eyes or hair, his face looking like a skinless skull.
- After getting hit in the face by a full-powered smash from Deku, Shigaraki's skull cracks, and All For One's face can be seen in the crack. Later on, after fully taking over Shigaraki's body, All For One's face has been superimposed over Tomura's.
- Breaking Speech: Dabi delivers a very sadistic one to Endeavor and Shoto when he unveils his true identity.
- Broken Tears:
- Let down by Uraraka disagreeing with her on a fundamental level, Toga runs off with tears in her eyes. The aspiring hero looks genuinely sympathetic towards her.
- Young Toya, obsessed with overcoming All Might, doesn't take it well when Endeavor tries to dissuade him from the path of a hero. He resorts to maddened crying and attacking his newborn brother Shoto, desperate for his father's validation.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Kurogiri re-enters the plot, imprisoned in Tartarus after being apprehended by Gran Torino and Tsukauchi at the tail end of the Hassaikai arc.
- Almost every pro Hero that has appeared throughout the series shows up to take part in the raid on the Paranormal Liberation Front. Notably, there's Takeshita (who had only appeared in Gentle's flashback), Ms. Joke (who hadn't appeared since the Hero License Exam), The Wild Wild Pussycats, Rock Lock, Death Arms (all of whom last appeared in the Pro Hero Arc), Native (who Stain tried to kill in the Hero Killer Arc), Selkie (making his Manga debut after first appearing in an Anime filler episode), and X-Less (who took part in the Kamino Ward raid during the Hideout Raid Arc). Several background pros also show up, like the Heroes from the sports festival who booed Bakugo during his fight with Ochaco.
- After a long absence of almost 200 chapters, Best Jeanist is finally back.
- With Tartarus breached, many of the villains from previous arcs, including Hero Killer "Stain", Muscular, Moonfish, and Overhaul, are once again at large.
- Call-Back:
- Shigaraki calls Eraser Head "cool" after the Hero stops his power from working on Ryukyu, repeating his words from the USJ attack. He repeats the sentiment when he sees to what extent Aizawa is willing to keep fighting after he hits him with the deleter round.
- When Bakugo sees Midoriya being targeted for a potentially fatal attack by Shigaraki, his body "moves on it's own" to get Midoriya out of the way, mirroring Midoriya's actions to save him in the introduction arc.
- In Chapter 292, Once Toya's unveiled his true identity and is no longer holding back to conserve himself to have a deathmatch with his father and brother, he makes the claim that his flames are Endeavour's own flames in essence, which is the same viewpoint Shoto held towards his own fire powers back during the sports festival, except Touya takes the opposite viewpoint and embraces this perception, sicne it means that everybody he kills with his flames were essentially killed by Endeavour. In 293, Izuku also gives a flipped variant of his small speech to Endeavour during the same arc about how Shoto isn't him, shouting at Dabi that no matter what he claims, Endeavour isn't Touya, and he's better than his psychotic son because he acknowledges and accepts his mistakes, whereas Touya gleefully embraces the negative perception of the circumstances of his birth to hurt others, deflecting all blame for his actions onto Enji for 'creating' him.
- In Chapter 295 Spinner recalls Shigaraki's conversation with Dr. Garaki during the Meta Liberation Army Arc, where he explained how his family's hands both calmed and enraged him.
- From the same chapter above, Midoriya notes to himself that in spite of everything Shigaraki has done, after seeing All For One try to consume him in the vestige world, he thinks that Shigaraki looked like he needed saving. This is the exact same thing he said in the series first chapter when Bakugo asked him why he tried to save him from the Sludge Villian.
- Chapter 300: When seeing her husband, Enji, face-to-face for the first time in over ten years, Rei carries a flower in her hand - the same kind of flower that Enji would send her before leaving.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Eri has been well taken care of ever since she was rescued and has been spending a lot of time training her Rewind Quirk. Before the operation began, Mirio asks Eri to help restore his Permeation Quirk so he can join the battle as Lemillion again, and she is happy to oblige. While not at full strength yet, he is able to back the other heroes up nonetheless as the battle reaches its fever pitch.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- The initial attack on the Doctor's secret lab catches him unprepared, with him struggling to come up with any real resistance.
- Gigantomachia deciding to actually fight the Pro Heroes rather than barrel through them ends in his favor decisively, as, despite swallowing an anesthetic vial which should have weakened him on exertion, he still floors everyone trying to stop him, only missing the interns because they were sent away.
- Dabi effortlessly brings Shoto down when they square off in Ch. 294.
- Darkest Hour: Of the entire series thus far. A good portion of Japan is in ruins, public trust in the Heroes has shattered following Dabi’s revelation of Endeavor’s past, and All For One has broken out of Tartarus, making it clear he's not going to give the Heroes any breathing room to recover. Even the Heroes themselves start to break, as Uraraka sees a Hero paralyzed during rescue efforts saying that he wants to quit his job.
- Daddy Didn't Show: This is shown as the final nail in the coffin for why Toya Todoroki became Dabi. Toya wanted to show his new power to his father, Enji, but out of a general confusion with how to talk to him, he didn't show up. Toya started crying, and his Quirk was triggered uncontrolably, which caused his supposed death.
- Deadly Hug: Dabi attempts to kill Shoto by pulling him into an embrace and burning him with Cremation's full power. Only Midoriya's timely rescue stops him.
- Death Glare: Midoriya gives a very furious one to Shigaraki in Chapter 283.
- Degraded Boss: Justified with the new High-End Nomus. The first one released, Hood, was so powerful that Hawks and Endeavor together had a hard time bringing him down. The five seen in this arc are handled with much less difficulty, with Mirko initially taking on four at once and killing one. This is because they were released without preparation by the panicked Dr. Garaki. As they awake and acclimate to battle, Mirko cannot keep up, and is forced to make a break for it, sustaining massive injuries in the process.
- Despair Event Horizon: One Hero is broken upon sight of the war's damage and ultimately gives up, deciding to find a new job. Many other heroes follow suit, the most shocking example being the no. 9 Hero, Yoroi Musha.
- Despair Speech: Hiroshi Tameda's shark-like friend seems to have bought into Dabi's fabrications.
- Didn't See That Coming: The Paranormal Liberation Front didn't expect to be discovered and attacked before they were ready.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Twice's last clone, the last remaining trace of him, melts in Toga's arms.
- Downer Ending: Of the Pyrrhic Victory and Nothing Is the Same Anymore kind. While many Paranormal Liberation Army members were captured, several of them still managed to escape and remain at large. 18 heroes are confirmed dead, including U.A. teacher Midnight and Top 6 Pro Hero Crust. Due to Gigatomanchia's rampage, at least 20 cities are in ruins, with thousands of civilians either dead or injured and left homeless, and several heroes have been demoralized by the battle and are retiring. Due to Twice's clone of Re-Destro, the Public Heroes Commission is fractured and unable to help maintain public faith in heroes, which has reached an all-time low thanks to both the destruction of the war and Dabi's video broadcast, with even more heroes quitting their jobs because of society's criticism. At the same time, All For One has managed to escape Tartarus, taking with him several villains with dangerous Quirks, later causing mass breakouts at six other prisons, leading to even more criminals being back on the streets. As for the main characters, Hawks's Quirk won't be useful anytime soon due to damage received from Dabi, the positive reception Endeavor has been attempting to gain recently has been lost thanks to Dabi revealing the truth about his family life, and the Class 1-A students have essentially become Child Soldiers with them being trauamatized, with Midoriya being forced to drop out of his dream school to protect his friends, starting his villain hunt with help from All Might and Top 3 Heroes. The villains don't exactly have it easy either since the majority of the Liberation Front has been either arrested or killed, Toga has become depressed over Twice's death, and Shigaraki's body has been taken over by his master, meaning that his entire quest to became the next Symbol of Fear has been tarnished. Pretty much only All For One and Dabi got anything to celebrate.
- Dramatic Irony: From the start of the series, Midoriya always wanted to attend U.A. and become a Hero, but had no Quirk until All Might deemed him worthy of inheriting his. That same Quirk is now considered a giant target on his back for Shigaraki and All For One, and so he is forced to drop out of his dream school at this point to protect everyone close to him.
- Evil Gloating: Dabi's Breaking Speech and utter ecstasy in seeing his father and brother undergoing a Heroic BSoD is all over this trope.
- Evil Laugh: During the climactic fight, Dabi is seen Laughing Mad several times.
- Exact Words: At the start of the arc, before the attack on the Paranormal Liberation Front, the narration notes that "Heroes vanished" at the end of March. At the end of the arc, the narration clarifies that, if the term "Hero" is defined as someone the people look up to and rely on, then the heroes really did vanish that day.
- Face Fault: The Doctor experiences many throughout the raid, as his plans are systematically dismantled by the Heroes.
- Fan Disservice:
- Normally it would be rather titallating to see Mirko's muscular form, Mt. Lady's rather large rear end or Midnight's curves presented to the reader. Much, much less so when they're all battered and beaten. Mirko in particular is a bloody mess after her battle with the Nomus.
- One Of the Nomus resembles a pronounced humanoid female, but its monstrous head and means of attack detracts from her figure.
- Foreshadowing: While talking about the history of One For All, All Might mentions that in the time when All For One was in power, it was an extremely dark era, with evil greater than Midoriya and Bakugo could even imagine everywhere. Following the Paranormal Liberation War, those dark times return, greater than ever.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse:
- A hero named Eel Boy tells Toga and Compress that their pasts, whatever they might hold, don't justify the harming of others."You people might have your reasons, but once you start taking it out on society, we heroes can't allow you to have your way!"
- Toga's confrontation with Uraraka sees her accosting Ochaco the Heroes' "failure to save" Twice and how the villains have been rejected by society. Uraraka fires back that as tragic as their circumstances are, they cannot justify the misery they've caused other people, or shield them from the consequences of their actions.
- Dabi genuinely believes that he has the moral high ground over his abusive father (granted, he also admits that he is messed up beyond belief). However, Midoriya rescues Shoto from him and states that Endeavor acknowledges his mistakes and is trying to make up for them, rather than ignoring them, making it clear he gives no sympathy to Dabi.
- A hero named Eel Boy tells Toga and Compress that their pasts, whatever they might hold, don't justify the harming of others.
- From Bad to Worse: By the climax of the war, several Heroes are dead, wounded, or disillusioned with the profession, public faith is at an all-time low, and All For One, the Symbol of Evil, has taken control of his protege's stronger body. However, not content to allow the Heroes a chance to breathe, All For One sends his Nomus out to break his original body out of prison too, along with dozens of other villains from other prisons to keep everyone busy while he recuperates.
- Go Out with a Smile: As he's being consumed by Shigaraki's Decay, Crust gives an All Might-like smile while flashing a thumbs up to Eraser Head.
- Godzilla Threshold:
- With Gigantomachia on the loose and herself badly damaged, Midnight realizes he can't be stopped with force, but must be stopped by being put to sleep. She orders Yaoyorozu to use her Quirk to create anesthetics and lead the interns into stopping him, even though creating this substance would be illegal for her.
- With Eraser Head down and his Quirk no longer taking effect, Shigaraki is able to use Super Regeneration once again. However, he also experiences some physical duress from the uncompleted transplant of All For One; these are the reasons Midoriya opts to defeat him for good in the immediate moment with all his power, regardless of the harm he causes to himself.
- Good Is Not Soft: The Heroes have pulled out all the stops in this mission. This is especially shown by the fact that this has the first death of a character at the hands of a Hero, with Hawks killing Twice.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Midnight's body after giving her last order is only seen once, at a decent distance. When the UA students find her, the audience doesn't get a look at anything besides her hand and mask. The implication is clear that whatever the PLF did to her, it's better that we don't see the aftermath.
- Great Escape: All For One commandeers Tomura's body and uses it to launch a coordinated assault from the inside and outside of Tartarus prison. All For One and many of the inmates escape. Later he orders assaults on seven maximum security prisons, destroying six of them and breaking out prisoners. All For One uses the ensuing chaos across Japan to conceal his tracks.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Dabi reveals that he sent Starservant and Ending to Endeavor and his Hero agency in the previous arc, making him The Man Behind the Man.
- Gut Punch: After receiving a nasty sucker punch attack from Compress, we last see Midnight telling the U.A. students to keep fighting before a hoard of Villains descend upon her, her fate is left on a Cliffhanger for several chapters until toward the end of the arc, where her students find her dead body. The next page confirms her death by listing her first among the casualties.
- Hannibal Lecture:
- Tomura Shigaraki's monologue in Chapter 281:"You Heroes pretend to be society's guardians. For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn't protect and swept their pain under the rug. It's tainted everything you've built. That means your system's all rotten from the inside with maggots crawling out. It all builds up, little by little, over time. You've got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected. And the brave guardians who created the trash that need coddling. It's a corrupt, vicious cycle. Everything I've witnessed... this whole system you've built has always rejected me. Now I'm ready to reject it. That's why I destroy. That's why I took this power for myself. Simple enough, yeah? I don't care if you don't understand. That's what makes us... Heroes and Villains."
- All For One's tirade to his brother in Chapter 287:"Brother! You claim you've chosen this?! No point in bluffing when I know the truth! I've seen it all, through Tomura's eyes! This incredible power has been wasted! Wasted on one who could protect neither friend nor teacher! They were forced to defend him, in fact! What's more, like his master, he's given himself over to blind rage! He finds himself immobilized, squirming about, helplessly watching on... Conferring your power to someone so worthless was a mistake!!!"
- Dabi gets in on the fun as well following The Reveal of his identity:"You were finally Number One! It's all you ever wanted! But it must've weighed hard on you, right?! Or was all the praise and admiration like chicken soup for your soul?! When, at long last, you could stare your kids in the eye, didja finally feel the warm and fuzzy bonds of family?! You must've thought, "As long as I face the future, I can be better!" I can tell you're at a loss for words, so here's the answer! The past never dies! Get it yet!? Y'reap what you sow! Let's tango, you and me - Enji Todoroki!! A dance with your son, here in hell!!"
- Tomura Shigaraki's monologue in Chapter 281:
- Hard Truth Aesop: The arc goes out of its way to make a point that taking a hard line on crime without addressing the underlying social issues that fuel it will only make things fester into something even worse.
- Heroic BSoD: Endeavor is so dumbstruck by finding that Dabi is his son, Toya, that he can't bring himself to move. First, he reflexively denies it, then becomes completely catatonic when he hears about Hawks' details.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Crust saves Eraser Head from Shigaraki's Decay at the cost of being caught in it himself.
- Bakugo takes an attack from Shigaraki meant for Midoriya. He's back in action a few chapters later.
- Heroic Second Wind: After rescuing Shoto from Dabi, Midoriya manages to snap Endeavor out of the aforementioned Heroic BSoD and spurs him into action against Gigantomachia, who was breaking free of Jeanist's cords.
- Hiding in Plain Sight: His charred/stitched body and former hair dye notwithstanding, Dabi shoots down Endeavor's constant denial about his reveal by stating that despite fire-based Quirks being so common, the Pro never stopped to think about how close he was to him until now.
- Hijacked by Ganon: Following his defeat by All Might during the Raid Arc, All For One has been sitting comfortably in a maximum security prison while entrusting Shigaraki to carry on his Villainous Legacy. That seems to change by the time this arc ends; his consciousness hijacks over Shigaraki's body to escape Deku and the other heroes, then breaks into said prison to retrieves his own body, becoming the main antagonist once again.
- Hope Crusher: Things were already going poorly for the Heroes with their failure to prevent Gigantomachia from reaching Shigaraki and thus the mass carnage both unleashed. However, Dabi proceeds to drive the final nail into the coffin when he publicly broadcasts his life's story to the world, ruining both Endeavor and Hawks' reputation in the process. Best Jeanist even notes that Dabi waited until the public's faith had already been shaken before delivering the one-two punch to break it entirely.
- Hope Spot:
- A villianous one: when Twice shows up to save Toga and Mr. Compress during the Paranormal Liberation War, the audience is led to believe that Jin managed to evade or at least survive Hawks' attack. It's only after "Twice" mentions that "he" fell on the solid concrete floor from a pretty high balcony fall that the reader is able to piece together that the one talking is just a clone, with the real one having died already.
- After successfully raiding Jaku Hospital, stopping Shigaraki's surgery, and capturing the Doctor, the Heroes declare that All For One's dream has finally ended. Unfortunately, Shigaraki ends up awakening anyway due to sheer hate and unleashes a destructive display of his Decay to show he's now more powerful than ever, killing at least several Heroes in the process and destroying big part of Jaku city.
- The Paranormal Liberation Front at the same time is on the back foot from the surprise attack by the Heroes. However, the advance is stymied by Geten launching a massive ice wave that allows the Front to get its footing and start a counter-advance, and then Gigantomachia reacts to Shigaraki's call to assemble them at his location to finally take them to the field himself.
- At the end of Chapter 280, it looked like the Heroes had succeeded in stopping Gigantomachia before it was too late and were about to take him down. At the end of Chapter 282, after two chapters focused on Midoriya and the others fighting Shigaraki, it's revealed that Gigantomachia had managed to get by them and reached civilization.
- Humanizing Tears: Endeavor, shockingly, delivers a Manly Tears of Remorse variant of this trope. After such a long time of being played up as an Abusive Parent and an all-around Jerkass, then trying to atone for those mistakes, his grief at finding that his past is still haunting him is played in a much more sympathetic light than the old Endeavor.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Gran Torino is gored by a single punch through the midsection at the hand of Tomura Shigaraki.
- Instant Sedation: Subverted. To stop Gigantomachia, the heroes have to make him ingest canisters of powerful sedatives. Unfortunately, because they were only able to throw in one, it takes until he reaches Shigaraki eleven chapters later for it to finally take effect.
- Internal Reveal:
- While Shigaraki knew his grandmother was a Hero, he only learned she was a previous bearer of One For All when he saw her Vestige in the Quirk space, almost 200 chapters after it was revealed to the audience.
- In issue 306, Midoriya reveals the truth about his powers to his classmates, while All Might does the same with the other heroes (at least Hawk and Best Jeanist).
- Ironic Echo: The manga began with a panel of Midoriya among a crowd of onlookers watching heroes in action, and excitedly exclaiming "A giant villain!". Fast forward 305 chapters later, at the end of ch. 306, a weary, saddened Midoriya prepares to take on "a giant villain...", with the cheerful spark gone from his eyes.
- It's All My Fault:
- Twice experiences this when he realizes taking Hawks into his confidence has put the Liberation Front in danger.
- The Todorokis all acknowledge that their inaction has led to their eldest son, Toya, becoming the supervillain Dabi.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: After Shigaraki awakens from the surgery to give him All For One, the Heroes consistently refer to him as "that thing" to symbolize how his new power no longer makes him human anymore.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: After recovering from the battle, Midoriya drops out of U.A., leaving notes to his classmates explaining the real nature of his quirk and the fact his enemies are after him for it, leaving them all unsettled. Uraraka in particular is deeply upset by this decision.
- Jerkass Realization: Of all characters, Bakugo has one in Chapter 284. In a flashback, as Midoriya trains with Sero, Uraraka, and Asui, he sits with All Might and remarks how Midoriya's always been self-sacrificing, how he didn't understand it and resorted to harassment and bullying to keep it away from him. When All Might asks if this is a means for Bakugo to atone for that, he doesn't deny it but looks on solemnly.
- Karma Houdini: By the end of the arc, most of the villains manage to make their escape or get away with their actions against the heroes and civilians. Of note, Dabi with exposing Endevour's past and Shigaraki for killing Crust. While most of the PLF soldiers who murder Midnight are never seen again, making them either this or What Happened to the Mouse?.
- Killed Off for Real:
- Twice by Hawks, making it the first time a Villain is killed by a Hero.
- Crust, the Shield Hero, saves Eraser Head from a Nomu while he was fleeing from Shigaraki's Decay at the cost of being caught in it himself.
- By the end of the war, Midnight and sixteen other Heroes besides Crust were confirmed dead.
- Killed Offscreen: We don't see how Midnight has died, only getting few students reactions to her death.
- Locked Out of the Loop: The rest of the Front's top brass were completely in the dark about Dabi's heritage, judging by their reactions. When they find out, however, they don't seem to be bothered.
- Logical Weakness: Shigaraki's augmentation being cut short before completion has very rapid consequences — after overexerting his injured body in the fight, a massive wound opens on his chest despite his hyper-regeneration Quirk being in effect.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Chapter 290 has Dabi arrive along with Gigantomachia to help Shigaraki and finish off the heroes. As he approaches Endeavor, he reveals that he has a great name: Toya.
- Magical Defibrillator: After Present Mic destroys his life support tank, Shigaraki is on death's door due to being left in a near death-like state for the procedure. Unfortunately for the Heroes, a falling wire lands in his life support liquid and shocks him, restarting his heart. Subverted in Chapter 296, where it's revealed the shock was too weak to be sufficient and Shigaraki actually came back to life through his own hatred and tenacity.
- Major Injury Underreaction:
- Shigaraki starts suffering from this after experiencing multiple high-impact explosions, burns, punches, and kicks, which would usually incapacitate or borderline kill most people after he has his Quirks erased thanks to Aizawa. The Heroes are even dumbfounded that Shigaraki is still going when he should be in too much pain to move.
- When he's hit by a Quirk-destroying bullet, Aizawa is forced to amputate his right leg below the knee. He follows through noting to himself that doing so is the most logical solution to the problem at hand.
- Man Bites Man: In Chapter 282, Shigaraki bites down hard on Midoriya's arm when he tries to incapacitate the Villain with a 100% Wyoming Smash, which has the nasty effect of smashing his teeth to pieces. He ends up recovering his lost teeth after he stops Aizawa's Erasure and starts healing again.
- Midoria himself returns the favour in a variant later one, biting straight through the tendrils extending from Tomura's fingers to aid in tearing through them to get to him after he hits his Rage Breaking Point from the AFO-vestiage's derisive moments towards the pointless actions of others to protect him.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!":
- The Paranormal Liberation Front was not expecting a massive Hero raid on their bases.
- The U.A. student group tasked with bringing Gigantomachia down can only look in horror as their endeavors fall apart, and the giant still rages on (while he does fall, it's only after he left a major trail of destruction behind him).
- Meaningful Echo:
- Chapter 285 gives us a really bittersweet one, in which Bakugo says he's saving Midoriya for the same reason Midoriya gave for saving him in the first chapter:Bakugo: "At that moment, there were no thoughts in my head. My body just moved on its own."
- In Chapter 293 Midoriya tells Dabi that he is not Endeavor referencing the same line that he told Endeavor during the Sports Festival about Shoto showing how far Midoriya's respect for Endeavor has come since that day.
- Chapter 295, like 285, has a similar call-back to Midoriya saving Bakugo. In the first chapter, Midoriya said Bakugo looked like he "needed saving," and in Chapter 295, Midoriya says the same of Shigaraki.
- Chapter 285 gives us a really bittersweet one, in which Bakugo says he's saving Midoriya for the same reason Midoriya gave for saving him in the first chapter:
- Moral Myopia: Dabi frames his abuse at the hands of Endeavor as a justification for his turn to villainy.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: After reviving from his surgery Shigaraki calls Gigantomachia up and tells him to bring everyone to him. Gigantomachia then proceeds to bring all of the former League members to him... as well as Skeptic. Even Skeptic doesn't know why he got drafted though to be fair he proves to be very helpful to the League.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Upon realizing that Shigaraki got his twisted view of Heroes from his father, Gran Torino's last thoughts just before being brutally injured by Shigaraki was the realization that Nana Shimura made a horrible mistake in abandoning her son, Kotaro.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: As Shigaraki is revived by a shock, Midoriya (due to the One For All vestiges) can sense his awakening, and that Shigaraki has become a bigger threat than ever.
- Never Found the Body: The reason Toya was believed to be dead was because it was assumed his body was burnt to ash in a training accident in the mountains, with the only part of him recovered being his lower jaw.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: Heroes Best Jeanist, Nejire, Iida, and even villains Mr. Compress and Spinner all have varied, but overall negative reactions to Bakugou's new Hero name. Mirio is the only one who supposedly likes it because it's funny.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Lampshaded and defied at the end of the battle when All For One takes control of Shigaraki's body and orders the Nomu to aid the villains who are free in escaping, while Spinner protests leaving behind Gigantomachia, Mr. Compress, and Toga, but is overruled by All For One who declares that the loses are Shigaraki's fault and he must be punished for them.
- No-Sell: Even though Gigantomachia was force-fed anesthetic by the U.A students, the giant isn't affected by it, and instead manages to overwhelm the heroes and reach civilization. However, it turns out that the sedative just took a while to take effect since they could toss in only one, and it finally starts affecting Gigantomachia once he reaches Shigaraki.
- Not Helping Your Case: The aftermath of the war leads to many Heroes retiring early and Hero Agencies shutting down under the weight of public scrutiny. When the former #9 Hero Yoroi Musha, announces his sudden retirement, the press accuse him of avoiding responsibility for what's to come; since most had treated their job as a way to make money, such accusations may not be unwarranted.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Pretty much from the end of the arc, the story gets noticeably more darker. Probably biggest shown with how Class 1-A became Child Soldiers and Deku's leaving his dream school to help other heroes in hunting villains.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Shoto sees a likeness between his former, sullen self before Midoriya helped him out of his misery, and Dabi, festering with hatred for his father; he surmises that he'll have to fight his older brother again.
- Not So Stoic: Shoto, of all people, breaks into tears while begging his father to move out of the way of a devastating attack from Dabi.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Midoriya uses his teeth to snap Shigaraki's Combat Tentacles into pieces at one point in Chapter 286.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: After Gigantomachia retrieves the various members of the League, and Skeptic, Re-Destro, Geten and the other members of the Paranormal Liberation Front stay to take on the Heroes at the villa with Re-Destro squaring off against Edgeshot and Geten against Cementoss. When the arc cuts back to the Villa again in Chapter 296 the members of the Paranormal Liberation Front have been defeated but there are notable battle scars on both sides, showing that it was not an easy victory for the Heroes.
- Off with His Head!: High-End Nomu can only be killed by destroying their head. Mirko realizes this makes them easy to kill for her.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Skeptic makes a terrified face, immediately freaking out when he realizes their secret base is under attack and wondering whether Hawks has anything to do with it. He does it again when he sees the mansion coming undone thanks to Cementoss's Quirk.
- The Doctor clearly loses it when he sees the Heroes breaking into his hospital, all very aware of what he has been doing.
- Midoriya has one when he can feel Shigaraki's presence and realizes that the Villain has gained the All For One Quirk.
- Shigaraki panics after realizing his body is falling apart and that his procedure was interrupted. In the following chapter, he's very visibly frightened by Midoriya's newfound power.
- All Might is visibly shocked when he realizes Hawks has caught wind of One For All. Fortunately, his secret remains a secret.
- Earlier, Midoriya is shocked after overhearing Burnin and Endeavor mention One For All during the Pro's fight against Shigaraki. Sensing Shigaraki, Midoriya comes to the conclusion that not only Shigaraki has some knowledge of the quirk, but now has a way to track him down.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Normally, Midoriya would look to subdue and restrain the Villains he's out to capture. But not Tomura Shigaraki — given how abominably powerful he's become and how he's grievously injured Gran Torino and his teacher Eraser Head, the teenage Hero-in-training decides he'll give him no quarter and opts to beat him until he stops moving, uncaring whether Tomura survives or not. To emphasize how OOC this really is, in the aftermath of the war Midoriya comes to the realization that he doesn't want to kill Shigaraki at all.
- Open Secret: Bakugo and All Might discuss how Midoriya is further training One For All and come to the conclusion that the secret of his Quirk won't be secret for much longer. Because of all the mention of One For All during the battle against Shigaraki, the public is soon, at least, now aware of its existence through it spreading across the media. This leads to Endeavor, Best Jeanist, and Hawks to interrogate Toshinori about the true nature of One For All. Realizing he can't avoid the secret getting out for much longer, he tells them the truth. During a press conference, Endeavor feigns not knowing what One For All is for the sake of keeping society stable. Afterwards, when Izuku recovers, he sends letters to his class telling them the secret of One For All as well.
- Passing the Torch: A Villainous version: it's revealed that All For One passed his Quirk down to Shigaraki and had been using a duplicate the whole time. Shigaraki also gained every Quirk previously stolen by All For One.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Dabi had been planning retribution on Endeavor for the abuse he suffered for years. Originally he had planned to kill Shoto but after Endeavor finally became the #1 hero, Dabi opted to change his method of revenge. He instead waited until Endeavor became comfortable in his newfound role, being the one who sent Stargazer and Ending his way, and when Endeavor attempts to reconcile with the rest of his family only for Dabi to then finally reveals his identity nationwide - in this, he deeply hurt not only Endeavor and Shoto, but his mother, Rei, who was scheduled for a release from the psychiatric clinic. When he sees Endeavor has managed to recover during the press conference later, he only laughs that he didn't go "far enough".
- People Jars: Before the Heroes' raid, Shigaraki had been placed in a capsule in suspended animation by the Doctor to help stabilize his power-up surgery. Unfortunately, before the Doctor could wake him up, the Heroes destroy the container, leaving Shigaraki at death's door. Unfortunately for the Heroes, not for long...
- Plot-Based Voice Cancellation:
- When Hawks asks who he is, Dabi replies with a completely black speech bubble.
- At the end of Chapter 295 Deku calls out to Shigaraki and vows to do something but the readers aren't privy to exactly what he says.
- Poor Communication Kills: As much as Endeavor was concerned about Toya's well-being, he did not do a very good job of asserting his authority with his stubborn son. When Endeavor hoped for more children in the hopes of gaining one with the right combination of Quirks to get the perfect power, Toya eventually caught onto it and only doubled down on his self-destructive training. It eventually led to Toya's Sanity Slippage and him assaulting his infant brother unprovoked.
- The Power of Hate:
- The vestiges of One For All believe that the quirk can be stolen if the one attempting it has enough hate in their hearts to override the collective wills of the vestiges. They believe this is part of the reason All For One reared Shigaraki up to be the "ultimate evil", using his hatred of hero society in hopes he could take the quirk.
- This is implicitly how Tomura is able to continue fighting even though his body should be in too much pain to move: His sheer, unrelenting hatred of Hero Society gives him the drive to fight like hell and to kill his enemies so he can get on with destroying everything around him.
- Prim and Proper Bun: Uraraka is shown having her hair tied like this during the flashback.
- Pyrrhic Victory:
- While the heroes succeeded in apprehending a large number of the Front's men, including high-ranked commanders, several of their members and most of the former League of Villains (along with several Nomu) are still at large. In the aftermath thanks to a combination of Dabi's broadcast, Gigantomachia's rampage, and seven successful prison breaks by All For One, faith in heroes is at an all-time low. And as revealed in flashback, thanks to a clone of Re-Destro, most of the Hero Public Safety Commission was either killed or severely injured, meaning that there is now no one to coordinate the remaining heroes, many of whom are quitting due to the severe public backlash.
- On the villains' side, Tomura managed to succeed in turning hero society on its head, thanks in no small part to Dabi, and civilians are now taking up arms and using their Quirks freely to defend themselves, which was the goal of the Meta Liberation Army side. Unfortunately for them, a good portion of the Front is either captured or killed, and Tomura loses control of his body thanks to All For One.
- Rage Breaking Point: As if Midoriya wasn't already incensed enough, the AFO-in-Shigaraki's derisive comments about Bakugo, who just took a hit meant for him definitely make him snap. After a never-before-seen Death Glare, his eyes become devoid of irises, and he snaps Tomura's tendrils with his hands and teeth. It's implied later on that this might have been Invoked as a means of AFO testing for Midoiria's weak points in order to mentally grind him down when locked in a mental struggle for control of OFA, as well as a means of luring him closer so he could initiate said struggle
- Redemption Rejection:
- After spending so much time with Twice, Hawks feels that he is a good person and that he had been dealt a bad hand in life. During the raid, he attempts to offer Twice a chance to turn his life around, but Twice, who was loyal to the League of Villains, refuses. Hawks, knowing that Twice's Quirk made him too dangerous, has no choice but to kill him.
- Shigaraki undergoes a mental one when visions of his family arrive and plead with him not to follow All For One (including Nana Shimura, his paternal grandmother), with his mother even asking him if he still wants to be a Hero. Shigaraki however, now fully succumbing to Villainy, confirms that he is fine now and destroys their spectral images before joining his master.
- The Reveal:
- Kurogiri, one of All For One's previous lieutenants, is found to be a highly intelligent Nomu.
- All For One has been using an artificial duplicate of his Quirk for years. The original has been implanted into Shigaraki.
- Dabi is Toya Todoroki, and wishes to destroy his father as revenge for all years of abuse he put him through.
- Mirio returns to action because Eri has been trained well enough that she undid the damage Overhaul did to him.
- Bakugo's hero name is finally revealed: "Great Explosion Murder God: Dynamight".
- Mr. Compress is a distant descendant of an infamous villain known Oji Harima, the Peerless Thief one of the three legendary villains mentioned by Gentle Criminal, and vows to stay true to that legacy.
- Save the Villain: Discussed. When Nana Shimura asks Izuku about his stance towards Tomura, he replies that he wants to understand his circumstances and try to save him. However, he does consider the possibility that he might not succeed in saving Tomura and may have to kill him as a last resort.
- Scenery Censor: When Midoriya enters the vestige realm of One For All, he's mostly visible from his waist up, but seems to be unclothed.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The aftermath of the war hits many novice Heroes extremely hard. They are so disillusioned from the public backlash and harsh reality, that they hang up their capes and costumes and quit, while numerous agencies close down. Even long-standing Pros like Yoroi Musha, ranked #9 in the JP Hero Rankings, choose to retire when the pursuit of fame is rendered moot. And all this during a time when villainy is on the rise and citizens need Heroes more than ever.
- Self-Harm: Compress is forced to tear large chunks of his own flesh just to be able to escape from Jeanist's clutches; first from the large fibers that held Gigantomachia, then when from the manipulated fibers of his costume.
- Secret Test of Character: When the vestiges of One For All inquire Midoriya about Tomura Shigaraki and whether or not he can bring himself to kill the villain, it's a test of his resolve to do good. Much to their gladness, Midoriya responds that he wants to try and save the crying child deep within Tomura's heart and that One For All is a power that was made to save lives rather than take them.
- Ship Tease: Between Kaminari and Jiro. Midnight tells the former to focus on the things he holds dear to his heart when the attack starts, and the scene immediately goes to Jiro. A small flashback shows him praising Jiro's passion, too.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!:
- When Shigaraki, in the midst of fighting Midoriya, complains that One For All is the only thing getting in the way of his dreams, Midoriya furiously shouts back that One For All's exact purpose is to crush All For One.
- In Chapter 287, All For One resorts to his usual method of insulting and dishonoring his opponents to coerce them into rash action, but his younger brother has none of it."No. It wasn't (a mistake). Someone who exploits people, like you, could never understand what drives this boy to shed blood. He rages for the sake of others. For them, he does his best until he can do no more. This young man is possessed by a drive to save others that eclipses all common understanding. Our power is his, and we shall follow him."
- When Toga tries to pull a "Not So Different" Remark by relating her failed attempts to suppress her Blood Lust to Uraraka's suppressed feelings for their mutual crush, Midoriya, Uraraka cuts past it and tells Toga she has to accept the consequences of her selfish actions. What Uraraka realizes immediately later is that Toga was genuinely seeking an emotional connection and her lack of sympathy, even though entirely justified, only reinforced Toga's belief that Heroes don't care about the lives of Villains.
- When Dabi voices his frustration with Midoriya thwarting his devious ideas, the young Hero retorts sharply, calling Dabi out on his hypocrisy."It is my business! 'Cuz Todoroki's my friend, and Endeavor's my mentor who's made me stronger! Sure, the past never dies, and that's why I'm watching Endeavor real hard as he tries to be better! And guess what? You aren't Endeavor!"
- Shut Up, Kirk!: When Hawks has Twice at his mercy and desperately offers him a chance to redeem himself, Twice rejects it tearfully:You people ain't heroes. Never are. Never were. None of ya. You throw us to the wolves. All of us downtrodden folks.
- So Proud of You:
- Rei acknowledges that even after he's endured so much suffering in his life because of Enji and herself, Shoto was able to forgive her and found purpose and meaning in his life; she even notes that he's the family's hero.
- After Midoriya tells the former One For All users his belief that their Quirk has evolved beyond its initial purpose in slaying All For One and that he wants to use it to save Shigaraki many of the former users look on with pride. With special mention to Nana Shimura, who internally notes that despite their mistakes she and Gran Torino raised splendid apprentices, and the vesting form of Toshinori how cries Tears of Joy at Midoriya's resolve.
- Stunned Silence: Endeavor and Shoto's reaction to Dabi's true identity can be summarized under this.
- Super-Persistent Predator: After gaining his master's Quirk, Shigaraki finds himself obsessed with gaining the One For All to complete his power and seeks out Midoriya to take it from him.
- Sympathy for the Devil:
- Midoriya is fully aware of the extent of Shigaraki's malice and considers his deeds inexcusable, but even so, he had pity in his heart for him after seeing All For One use him, as shown in his internal monologue.You killed so many of us, and hurt countless others. That is unforgivable. It's unforgivable, and yet... back there, when you got swallowed up by All For One... At that moment, the look on your face... you looked like you needed saving!
- In chapter 305 Midoriya relates to the other One For All users that despite the hatred emanating from him he could still sense the sad boy Tenko Shimura inside the malicious Tomura Shigaraki and vows that he wants to find a way to save that boy.
- Midoriya is fully aware of the extent of Shigaraki's malice and considers his deeds inexcusable, but even so, he had pity in his heart for him after seeing All For One use him, as shown in his internal monologue.
- Tears of Remorse: In a flashback, it's seen that while Nana Shimura followed through with her decision to send Kotaro into foster care, she is devastated by it. By the end, she's seen crying in anguish, with Gran Torino giving her a Cooldown Hug.
- This Cannot Be!: Hiroshi Tameda, the famous "Can't You See" kid flies into frantic denial when he views Dabi's manipulative broadcast online.
- This Is Unforgivable!: When Gran Torino is fatally wounded by Shigaraki, Midoriya rushes in, screaming in rage and telling the Villain he'll never forgive the likes of him. Tomura coldly responds that he won't forgive anyone.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Sato's blank, shocked face upon seeing his teacher dead can only be described as this.
- Time Skip: At the end of Chapter 257 the arc skips ahead three months to near the end of March showing the Heroes' beginning their attack on the Paranormal Liberation Front.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the midst of battling Shigaraki, Midoriya finally awakens Nana's quirk, Float, which he uses in conjunction with Black Whip to rescue everyone from Shigaraki's Decay. And for a while, he thrashes the Villain.
- Took a Level in Kindness: This arc shows that Bakugo's come a very long way since the beginning of the story. The boy who used to harass and bully Midoriya now shows open concern for his well-being, and even takes a blow that would have killed his rival, noting how his body moved on his own.
- Tragic Dream: Toya, it was revealed, had inherited Endeavor's determination to surpass All Might and pushed himself to the limits in his training. Unfortunately, the Hero Commission informed his parents that the nature of his Quirk made it so that not only was he unable to surpass All Might, he couldn't even become a Pro Hero.
- Trauma Button: Gigantomachia's voice/face causes Ashido to freeze up before she can toss her jar of anesthetic into his mouth, as this is the second time she encountered this monster. Luckily, Kirashima steps in to help.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Once again, an untrained power from the fourth wielder of One For All - Danger Sense - manifests itself in a very nasty way, as a throbbing pain in Midoriya's head.
- Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: The Doctor, in a moment of desperation, sends out the High-End Nomus before they are ready. In a more reasonable example than most, he is sending out more versions of a weapon that is proven to work already and is sending the weapons out in a moment of desperation that he admits isn't the best move. The High-End Nomus are able to fight but prove nowhere near the threat Hood was since they were sent out before they were ready.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The populace of Japan: after such a long time of looking up to heroes as their protectors, the moment Dabi's broadcast aired, they've turned to belittle them as if they never truly understood what they stood for in the first place. Wash in particular is subject to plenty of harassment, and someone hung an "I AM NOT HERE" signboard about the neck of All Might's statue in Kamino. Granted, in hindsight, absolutely no one was prepared for the devestation the war bought.
- Unreliable Narrator: Dabi/Toya claims that he was a Child by Rape and put under Training from Hell before being discarded and his siblings were other "failed" attempts, but Endeavor's own flashback remembering Toya's apparent death and circumstances beforehand show that Toya was eager to train and learn from Endeavor despite his handicap (and if anything, it was Endeavor who showed more concern for his well-being) plus the reveal Fuyumi was mutually conceived by himself and Rei to give Toya a sibling to be supported by as much as to try and get a child with a balance of their Quirks. However, it should be noted that Enji is a man who justified his horrific abuse of Shoto and had no remorse for that or his abuse of the rest of the family for years, and Rei was terrified of him eventually- there’s no reason to assume his memories aren’t biased. He shows edited footage of Twice's death by Hawk's hands to paint the hero completely as a villain rather than someone forced into a no-win scenario, and mentions that Hawks killed Best Jeanist.
- With all this above, "Can't You See-kun", an avid fan of Endeavor, refuses to believe it and insists everyone will do the same. A friend of his feels differently because Dabi spoke out first and has enough evidence to back it up. Even if people don't believe him now, they will at least think about what they have witnessed, which is enough to cast doubt until Endeavor responds.
- Villain Decay: In the Paranormal Liberation Army arc, it was a back-and-forth fight against Re-Destro and Shigaraki, with Shigaraki coming out on top. In this arc, however, he is easily beaten by Tokoyami, a school student, albeit a well-trained one. Granted, the metal leg replacing the decayed one he severed in the former arc didn't help.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Once it becomes clear that Shigaraki can't defeat the Heroes on his own All For One tries to convince his apprentice to order Gigantomachia to take him away from the battlefield though Shigaraki stubbornly refuses. As the Villains are on the edge of losing, Mr. Compress helps free everyone still able, allowing Spinner to help wake up Shigaraki. In Chapter 295, after All For One takes over his body, he takes the decision out of Shigaraki's hands and forces him to use the Radio Waves Quirk to summon the Near High-End Nomus to drag him, Spinner and Dabi out of there.
- Villain Has a Point:
- Dabi gloated at Endeavor that "he was reaping what he's sown", implying that Endeavor's tyrannical treatment of Toya was what turned him to evil. Several chapters later, when he's in hospital, Enji realizes that this is, indeed, true.
- Stain's claims that the current Hero Society was oversaturated with glory hounds obsessed with their own fame over protecting the innocent gains more weight when, at the end of the war, many Pro Heroes quit their jobs due to the criticism being leveled at them by the public. The narration of Chapter 300 even notes that now that many heroes have to acknowledge criticism instead of just being universally adored many are folding and giving up.
- Villainous RRoD: Shigaraki suffers one in Chapter 283, when his shoulder suddenly begins to tear apart on its own, a consequence of overexerting his new abilities, the cumulative damage he already suffered, and the fact that his augmentation surgery was interrupted at 75% meaning he isn't fully capable of handling the All For One Quirk yet.
- Villains Act, Heroes React: Inverted. Knowing the kind of damage they would cause if the Paranormal Liberation Front was allowed to initate their plan, rather than wait for them to make the first move, the Heroes launched a full-scale raid on the Front's headquarters', with the villains being the ones to counter. Unfortunately, it still resulted in a lot of devastation and death.
- War Arc: Between the heroes and the villains. Lots of casualties in the aftermath.
- War Is Hell: Chapter 296, rather appropriately titled "Hellish Hell" is all about the aftermath of the war, and true to its name it is just as devastating as you could expect with large-scale death, destruction, and the loss of innocence for our underage cast.
- We Will Meet Again: Before escaping at the end of Chapter 295, All For One tells Midoriya that once Shigaraki's body has been perfected, the two would see each other again.
- Wham Episode: The arc manages to pack in eight within a short span of one another.
- Chapter 266: After a prolonged skirmish between the two, Hawks kills Twice in cold blood when he is unable to convince the latter to surrender.
- Chapter 270: It's revealed that All For One has been using an artificial duplicate of his Quirk this whole time and that the procedure Shigaraki has been undergoing is to implant the original All For One Quirk inside of him. The chapter ends with him being shocked back to life and Midoriya realizing that Shigaraki has awakened.
- Chapter 274: By gaining the All For One Quirk, Shigaraki has access to every Quirk his master had stolen, and now wants One For All, with the Heroes finally learning about its existence, followed by Shigaraki sensing and seeking out Midoriya.
- Chapter 281: This one has us behold a raving, incensed Tomura Shigaraki attacking Gran Torino by impaling him on his fist, before moving on to attack Aizawa with what appears to be a Quirk-destroying bullet. Given that the previous augmentation has rendered him nearly as strong as All Might, all he has to do is flick it in the right direction.
- Chapter 282: Aizawa is hit by a Quirk-destroying bullet and has to cut his own leg off to keep it from taking effect. However, the strain is too much for him and he passes out, leaving Shigaraki free to use his Quirks again. To add insult to injury, Gigantomachia hasn't been defeated.
- Chapter 287: Shigaraki shrugs off all the attacking Heroes and attempts to steal One For All, but the vestiges of One For All repel All For One's power, as was stated in the past by All Might to be the case (even though All For One believes it was due to the incomplete Quirk transplant).
- Chapter 290: As Gigantomachia and the rest of the League of Villains arrive to retrieve Shigaraki, Dabi drops this bombshell on Endeavor and Shoto as they all finally meet: he is actually Toya Todoroki, the long-lost son the rest of the Todoroki family thought was dead years ago. With Skeptic's help, Dabi hijacks TV transmissions across the country to broadcast his life story, which includes a blood test for proof, implications of Endeavor being an Abusive Parent and smearing Hawks as no better than a villain.
- Chapter 304: It is revealed that One For All slowly kills whoever is using it, the only exceptions being Quirkless individuals like All Might and Izuku. Furthermore, the decline of the world’s Quirkless population means that Izuku will likely end up being the last bearer of One For All.
- Chapter 306: All Might finally reveals the nature of One for All to the other heroes. Also, Endeavor and Hawks confirm to the public Dabi's claims and the circumstances of Twice's death, though they decline to inform them about One for All. Finally, after leaving his classmates notes explaining the truth about his Quirk, Izuku leaves U.A. to protect everyone.
- Wham Line:
- Chapter 290 gives us a whopper:"I have a great name... call me Toya."
- Not a line in the chapter itself but the name of Chapter 306:No. 306 - The Final Act Begins.
- Chapter 290 gives us a whopper:
- Wham Shot:
- In Chapter 270, Tomura is being grabbed by his family who try to prevent him from going to All For One in all the same places that their hands used to touch his body... including Nana Shimura grabbing the back of his head, confirming where the spare hand All For One gave him came from.
- In Chapter 296, after witnessing the city on the verge of collapse we cut to the Villa... and see the children there hovering over Midnight's body. And if you were under any delusions that Midnight might still be alive the next page shows her face next to eighteen other Heroes who lost their lives during the war.
- What the Hell, Hero?: At Endeavor's lowest, when he's crying in anguish and hopelessness, Rei arrives and responds that she and the children have endured a lot more regrets and guilt than he and that he has to face responsibility for what he's done if he wants to move on.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Toya was Enji's firstborn son and initially his chosen successor because of his superior firepower; however, he was born with Rei's resistance to the cold, instead of Enji's resistance to fire. Consequently, Enji stopped training Toya and turned to trying to have a child with the right balance of power, which was what he got when Shoto was born. Enji lamented Toya's lost potential and truly believed Toya could have succeeded him if it weren't for his Quirk's crippling drawback.
- Why Won't You Die?: Endeavor laments of this when his Prominence Burn fails to kill Tomura at point-blank range.
- Worf Had the Flu: The only reason Shigaraki is truly struggling with the Heroes is because Eraser Head is keeping his Quirks sealed up. And even with that, he's holding his own with nothing but his augmented physicality.
- World-Wrecking Wave: After awakening from his surgery, Shigaraki unleashes his Decay, which not only devastates the entire hospital but spreads out to the city beyond it. Deku, Endeavor, Eraser Head and other heroes present spend their time fighting him while preventing him from using Decay again, whether by keeping him off the ground or disabling his quirk.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Dabi's initial plan to humiliate Endeavor was to wait until Shoto became a famous Pro Hero and then kill him. Due to All Might's unexpected retirement allowing Endeavor to finally become the #1 Hero, Dabi decided to focus on targeting Endeavor directly by revealing his true identity to him and broadcasting a smear campaign to discredit him before delivering the final blow with his own moves. While Best Jeanist prevented the worst possible outcome, the aftermath severely damaged Endeavor's reputation.
- You Are Not Ready:
- When Shigaraki corners Midoriya and Bakugo and it looks like they have no choice but to fight, Gran Torino swoops in to save them, saying Shigaraki is too powerful for them at their current level.
- When Midoriya finds himself in the vestige realm after Shigaraki tries to steal One For All, he tumbles and falls as he tries to move. Nana Shimura appears from behind to dissuade him from it and assures him that she and the previous bearers will handle it.
- After being ejected from the vestige realm, All For One tells Shigaraki that it is because the augmentation process was interrupted and he won't be able to steal One For All right now. He encourages his protege to retreat for now and recuperate before he tries again.
- You Did the Right Thing: Even after hearing from Dabi about how Hawks killed Twice, Tokoyami doesn't buy into the manipulation, instead reassuring his tutor that what he did was right.
- You Remind Me of X: All Might remarks how Bakugo's coming to terms with who Midoriya is and how he behaves reminds him of his conversation with Endeavor and his consequent change of heart.
- You Shall Not Pass!: One For All's previous wielders succeed in repelling All For One from stealing the Quirk, with Yoichi declaring that they'll stay with Midoriya.
- Zerg Rush: In the above cover art, Twice and his clones are shown swarming Hawks, who defends himself with a feather blade.
