Chapter 25

I was thinking about what All Might wanted to talk about. The way he said it, the discussion would be a serious one.

At that moment, I was changing into my school uniform in the boy's locker room.

"After being away for so long, I really worked up a sweat."

"Man, I need to work on my mobility."

"We'll fall behind at this place. I'm really jealous of Midoriya and Sero."

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Suddenly, Mineta frantically waved at me and exclaimed, "Hey Midoriya! Come over here! I just made a discovery of the century!!"

Pointing towards a small hole in the wall, he continued, "Look at this hole! Just like in Shawshank! Our predecessors must have worked really hard to make it!! And the next door is, you know what right? The girl's locker room!!"

The stupid horny midget!! There was no need to shout!

I saw Iida moving towards Mineta to stop him but I stepped in before he could do so and said, "Mineta, you know the girls can hear you right? Yaoyorozu and I will talk to Cementos and he'll plug the hole. You just ruined the efforts of our predecessors. They'll be very disappointed in you."

I dramatically shook my head to show my disappointment. Then, with a gloomy expression, I loudly whispered, loud enough for the girls on the other side of the wall to hear, "Now that the girls know what your intentions were, they will start wearing baggy clothes just so that you can't oogle them. They might even start dressing like Thirteen. You took the glamour away from our class Mineta. This is the biggest crime against us boys. What do you have to say for yourself?"

The midget got so terrified at the thought of it that he began foaming from his mouth.

My mouth twitched as I could hear muffled laughter from the boys in the locker room.

"Midoriya, I think you broke him."

I looked back at Kaminari and replied with a smirk, "Well, intimidation may work every time but playing with someone's weakness is always very amusing. It's like the saying goes, 'You reap what you sow'."

Sure enough, the girls understood what I wanted them to do and came out of their locker room wearing costumes just like Thirteen's. Mineta couldn't handle it and fainted from shock and horror.

(BNHA)

I entered the teacher's lounge and saw All Might in his skinny form sitting on the couch. There no jovial air around him, it was tense and very serious.

Without looking at me, he said, "Take a seat Midoriya. You've been through a lot lately, and I'm sorry I wasn't there to help."

With the way he was talking, I was a little unnerved.

"There's no need to apologize... All Might. I am more curious about what you wanted to tell me."

All Might sighed and began, "One For All is a unique quirk, in that sense, it has a unique origin story. Because it was derived from a completely different quirk."

As I listened closely, he continued, "All For One, a quirk that lets the bearer steal quirks from others, as well as grant quirks to people."

I frowned, "All For One, means everything was for the bearer to take?"

All Might breathed out and said, "This was at the advent of the exceptional. A time when society still hadn't managed to adapt to the changes. Back then, the norms of what it means to be human collapsed, and with that, the law became meaningless and societal progress halted. It was catastrophic. In that age of confusion and disorder, one took the initiative and brought people together. You may have heard about this. He stole quirks from people and with his overwhelming power, he spread the influence of his organization. He was responsible for manipulating so many to commit wicked acts, which was his intent. Before long, he took over Japan, as a supreme overlord of evil."

It was difficult to digest and think that such a man existed.

"Yes, All Might. I've seen speculations about it on the internet. But I thought that was all made up. There's nothing in the textbooks about it."

All Might replied with a hollow chuckle, "The books also don't tell you what the yakuza are up to, do they? When a person has power, they instinctively think of ways to use it."

I understood what All Might was saying but...

"How is that related to One For All?"

"I mentioned that All For One could 'grant' quirks too. With that ability, he could gain the trust of others, or force them into submission. However, the load was too much to bear for those who recieved those quirks. Many would end becoming puppets, unable to even speak. Just like those Nomu..."

My eyes grew wide with shock and sudden realization, "Wait! Do you mean that after all these years, All For One is alive?! Or someone that has his quirk, his descendant?"

All Might looked at me with a hint of surprise and said, "I will get back to you on that. Let me finish telling you about One for All. As I said, All for One forced quirks on people to make them submit. But there was one such case, where his granting of a quirk caused a mutation. All for One had a quirkless younger brother who opposed his ideals. So the elder brother gave his younger brother a power stockpiling quirk by force. But, the younger brother actually did have a quirk, though it was useless as it was. The quirk allowed him to pass it on to others."

I looked at All Might in surprise as he nodded, "Yes, the original quirk of the younger brother and the power stockpiling quirk blended together. That's how One for All came to be."

I took a few moments to digest all of it.

Before All Might could continue, I concluded, "So All for One was opposed by his younger brother but the younger brother couldn't defeat All for One. To continue opposing All for One, the younger brother passed One for All to the next person so that they could continue fighting against evil. And since All for One could steal quirks, he could have stolen some regeneration quirk that allowed him to never grow old."

All Might nodded, "That is right, young Midoriya. It was my generation that finally brought that evil man down. Or so we thought... He survived and now he's the brains behind the League of Villains. The sole purpose of passing down One for All was to oppose and finally defeat All for One. Which means that someday you will have to fight him."

I finally understood. The will that I had felt in all the Nomus belonged to the mastermind who was pulling the strings of the League. Shigaraki was a puppet of All for One and was being used as the face of the league to draw in villains. All for One was making his move. Slowly bidding his time. The USJ attack, it was just a test. He knew All Might was losing his power. It was only a matter of time before All for One made an appearance once again to fight All Might.

With determination burning in my eyes, I said, "I'll do my best, All Might! I'll master One for All and I'll be ready when the time comes! As long as you are there to guide me, I'll be ready for anything."

It looked like All Might wanted to say something but refrained from doing so.

In the end, he just said, "Thanks..."

How naive I was to believe that... I should have known better...