Leo Simon
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All For Myself Chapter 26
🕑 Added 2023-06-21 21:51:56 +0000 UTCAll Might felt the strain of maintaining his muscle form cause his stomach injury to flare up but he did his best to ignore it, having long grown used to the pain at this point.
He has to face facts now. He can no longer be a Hero like he used to. He's constantly been pushing himself to keep up with the crime wave that's attacked Japan since Ryoto's attack two years ago. He can only maintain his muscle form for two hours a day, he realises that passing on the Quirk will lessen his time even furthed but now wasn't the time to hold onto 'One For All'. Now is the time for him to pass the torch on.
Maybe things will be better this way. He can finally retire and allow the world to remember him only as the Symbol of Peace who ushered in a new era of prosperity for Japan. The people will know who he is for centuries to come and he will likely still have the people's respect even when he isn't the no.1 Hero anymore.
Not the number one. He can't deny that sentiment left a bad taste in his mouth. He's been a Hero for so long that the thought of him not being All Might anymore was... unimaginable.
He shook his head as he tried to look presentable for his possible successor.
No use lamenting on what he will be or what he was. All that's important is what is. That's what he tries to tell himself anyway.
He knocked on the door of his old sidekicks agency and after hardly a moment the stoic eye of Mirai answered the door.
Looking inside of the place he could tell that it was extremely professional. That's good. Nobody who had the privilege of serving under him could be anything less than extremely respected in their own right.
The golden eye of his sidekick stared into his own shadowy ones and he spoke in a monotone voice." Come inside All Might, it's time."
Toshinori internally flinched. It's not like he's dying or anything, he's just losing his Quir- okay fair enough. This was a day for him to mourn, afterall without his power he's just Toshinori Yagi but with 'One For All' he is All Might, the allmighty Hero who fearlessly saves the day with a smile on his face, who vanquishes all the villains on his lonesome with absolute ease, the strongest of the strong, a person everyone looks up to. But Toshinori Yagi?
He's a broken man who spends entire nights awake sweating and groaning in pain and discomfort, a skeleton who tries to reassure himself by putting on a mask of omnipotence and a coward who want the world to need him. He wants to stay All Might for as long as possible. Until he dies he wants the world to look at him with awe.
And he wants to finish what he started.
He frowns at the thought of All For One. He had killed that man years ago yet even in death that Quirk always seems to cling to life on a new vessel. This new All For One is no different than the old; he's sure of it. He's just a monster hiding behind a mask of morality and All Might wishes more than anything to finish what he started and erase that cursed power from existence.
But alas he is weak. This supervillain, unlike him, is in the prime of his life and has undoubtedly stolen lots of powerful Quirks to empower an army of foot soldiers to do his bidding. As much as it wounds his pride he doubts that he can beat that thing on his own.
So the only smart thing to do is pass on 'One For All' to an unwounded body and hope that they can bring down All For One once and for all- even if he secretly wishes that he could be the one to carry that burden- so for the greater good he will bite the bullet.
Doesn't mean he has to like it though.
He walked with Mirai through his old friend's agency and they soon arrived at his office with the door closed.
Toshinori took a breath of air that was felt through his single remaining lung to help prepare himself to meet the boy who would inherit 'One For All', the one who would be the next Symbol of Peace and the one who would be the next him. It was terrifying in a strange way, how ironic is it that he can defeat villains with ease yet he's afraid to meet his successor. Well possible successor.
Mirai has told him a lot about Mirio, the boy sounds like a worthy inheritor of 'One For All' and Toshinori has no doubt that he'll go far with the Quirk. Quite frankly just the idea of his original Quirk and 'One For All' put together might be enough to make the boy surpass even him.
However, even after all of that Toshinori can't help but feel like giving it to the boy might be a mistake, he's bitter about losing his power but that isn't it, whilst Mirio is a fine young man and will undoubtedly become a great Hero... it just feels like he's lacking somewhere. That he's missing a quality that would make him the ideal successor. The flames of 'One For All' burned inside him with rejection at the idea of giving it to the young boy, maybe it would be better to-
All Might shook his head. He's being paranoid. He can't chicken out of giving his Quirk away because of some hunch, it's unbecoming of the number one Hero to act in such a way, he has to protect his image of dignity in front of others. So with that in mind he let himself feel relaxation and resignation at the fact he's be giving his Quirk away in order to steel his nerves and do what needs to be done.
Mirai stared at him with hidden sympathy and then asked." Are you ready All Might?"
After a moment Toshinori let out a loud sigh. It's time.
"I am."
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Alright it looks like All Might is about to pass his Quirk onto Mirio. Lucky me.
Unlike that idiot I already know about 'One For All's' side effects and giving it to Mirio will probably kill him within... three years? And that's not even accounting for the sheer instability of his original Quirk. I wouldn't be surprised if using them both at once will just tear the boy in two.
'One For All' is a unique power, however those original wielders don't really seem to understand exactly what it is. That's what I'm here for.
If I remember correctly All Might said that 'One For All' was created when 'Stockpile' and 'Transference' fused together however given what was learned about the power later in the story that doesn't really add up to me.
Nobody can really claim to understand Quirks. I can do so better than most since I can interact with the Quirk factors of others, however even I can't claim to know everything. But knowing your enemy is the key to victory, that's why I've been winning this war and they've been losing.
Unlike my Quirk 'One For All' can take in any Quirks that it comes into contact with, absorbing Quirk factors and storing them but there are a few questions that I have about how 'Stockpile' really functions.
Quirks that stockpile power actually aren't terribly rare. Several powers call upon pools of energy in order to function. If 'Stockpile' wasn't being passed down then I doubt it would even be all that strong. So the big question is-
Just what in the hell is that thing stockpiling? All of that energy has to come from somewhere, so is it fat cells? The sun? Or something else entirely.
I have a few theories as to what exactly it's stockpiling but I'd really love to verify them by taking a look at the Quirk itself. I never really scanned 'One For All' before, it totally slipped my mind in all honesty, I was far too busy trying not to get my head smashed in like AFO.
But what's really concerning to me is why the lifespans of any Quirked holder of 'One For All' is slashed down so drastically. It's explained that someone already holding a Quirk can't hold the power since they're cup is already basically full but the thing is... even if they already hold a Quirk it shouldn't really make that much of a difference.
'One For All', if going by the anime's logic, should have taken in so much power and Quirks that having a Quirk or not just won't make much of a difference, like I've explained a Quirkless person can take a lot more memory than a normal person but if you have eight Quirks in total attached to a power it just won't make that much of a difference.
So the question is, just how did a 'One For All' holder just not become a mindless doll even with all of those Quirks?
But then I had a thought, just who comes to mind that can naturally have as many Quirks as they want without any backlash?
Me. A holder of 'One For All' must be similiar to me in the fact that the holder instantly has their body adapted to hold as many Quirks as they want without backlash.
But then that also raises another question, just why exactly are it's holders lifespans being cut down despite what the Quirk should be doing.
I have a possible answer but... I honestly want to confirm it.
'See Me Not' is a really handy Quirk for spy stuff. I was literally looking down at All Might and Nighteye yet they didn't seem to notice me at all.
Looking at his emotions I could tell that All Might was feeling a whirlwind of negativity at having to give up his power. Sadness, bitterness and resignation were just a few of the emotions that clouded his mind as he took a seat in his old sidekick's office and powered down to his small might form. Awww, is someone sad that they won't be the number one Hero anymore? How fucking tragic.
After that I turned on Quirk vision to take a look at the antithesis to 'All For One' only for me to instantly recoil in disgust at what I saw.
The acidic taste of vomit clouded my mouth as vile raised to my throat and I had to hold myself back from vomiting my guts out at what I saw and how... absolutely disgusting that Quirk was.
Goosebumps littered my whole body as a massive wave of rejection hit me, it was like my Quirk was going into fight or flight, either destroy that disgusting thing or get as far away from that thing- calling it a Quirk felt wrong- as possible.
I've seen some disgusting Quirks in my lifetime. Unfortunately 'Warp Gate' does come to mind when I think of that, that power was so wrong when I received it that I had to modify the many Quirk factors that were mixed inside it into something more natural before I even thought of passing it on to another person. Yet 'One For All' was was-
There's no words to describe the horror of what I saw. It was like looking at a sewn up amalgamation of Quirk factors that were all latched onto a single core that seemed hold onto them all with vicious greediness that surpassed that of my own Quirk. It was so violent in nature that just the thought of it made shivers dance up my spine.
One thing that I hate about looking exactly like 'All For One' is how I'm constantly compared to him. I am nothing like that egomaniac. I steal but my Quirk also seems to take it's time to those it give to, it likes giving as much as it does taking, any Quirk I give is instantly adapted to suit it's holder like a mitten and as long as they don't resist there's zero discomfort.
'One For All' though? That thing was a vicious, greedy and savage beast that took in everything that it came into contact with, it was just like the old 'All For One'.
But what's worst... I saw all of the Quirks inside of that thing and somehow that made this power even worst.
First I saw 'Gear Shift'. An amazing ability that can increase speed whilst ignoring inertia, since that's all that's stopping someone from going at lightspeed or even beyond the laws of physics are that things toy to bend and use.
Second is Fa Jin. It allows the user to store up and release immense amounts of kinetic energy.
Third is Danger Sense. A useful power that detects intent and attacks from others, the perfect passive Quirk.
Fourth is Black Whip. The user can create tendrils of energy from anywhere on their body and strong emotions such as anger will amplify it's power. Versatile and incredibly useful.
Fifth is Smokescreen. A power that can let the user expel smoke. Nothing else. Not the strongest but still rather convenient since it has no drawback and you can obscure yourself with ease.
Sixth is Float. A power that lets the user fly very slowly. This on it's own isn't all that impressive but if you add in 'Stockpile' then suddenly it becomes an ideal mobility Quirk.
Seventh is Transference itself. This is a violent abomination that takes everything that it finds like a monster. Taking the Quirk factors it comes into contact with before moving onto someone else, never satisfied as it forever continues it's conquest for power. Like a cancer that someone can pass on.
Eighth and last is Stockpile itself. This power is so... wrong. It feeds on the lifeforce of it's wielder in order to empower itself and grow stronger and bigger.
I swallowed the bile in my throat with a bitter grimace at my theory being proven correct. 'One For All' doesn't kill it's user because of the multiple Quirks stored inside of it, it's 'Stockpile', that power is feeding on the lifeforce of it's holders in order to grow stronger as the generations pass. And it does so even now.
Quite frankly I'm surprised that All Might is still alive, with his body's condition and that thing sucking the life out of him I'm certain that pure willpower is what gets him out of bed in the morning. He almost has my respect for such stubbnorness. Well almost.
At any rate the explanation as to why Quirkless holders last longer is... well hard to explain. Whilst 'Transference' and 'Stockpile' aren't exactly one they almost have a... symbiotic relationship if you will. One latches onto the Quirks of others and the other saps the life right out of them like a parasite.If the holder doesn't have a Quirk then 'Transference' has nothing to anchor onto so 'Stockpile' can't take their lifeforce as quickly as before. It still does though.
Makes me wonder what would happen if someone were to have both Quirks housed within them like I plan on- planned?- will the Quirks fight it out to take what the other has and the holder's body will become a battlefield for the two Quirks? Will they merge? Or will something extraordinary happen?
I almost don't want to find out.
Regardless All Might doesn't have long to live, if he keeps the Quirk then he'll probably die within a few years and if he passes it on to a Quirked person then 'Transference' will suck them dry within a few years.
If I wait it out a few years then I win in summary. I've never been a patient man though.
I genuinely feel pity for Mirio though. He has no idea what he's doing and that thing will split him in two. If he accepts the power then he'll die a young death.
What a pity that he has to die.
