Manga Spoilers for up to 257. Read at your own risk.

Toshinori smiles as he locks the door of his pickup. A swift breeze blows through his hair as he walks up the steps to Gym Midoriya.

Gran Torino's two days were up, and now Toshinori would see how well they worked. Knowing Gran, Young Midoriya was probably beat until he figured something out, which, while a bit inhumane, was probably necessary. U.A only accepted the best of the best, after all.

Pulling out his key and reaching for the doorknob, Toshinori realizes that the front door is ajar. He furrows his eyebrows. Midoriya isn't due at the gym for another ten minutes.

Looking over his shoulder and stepping inside, Toshinori grows to his hero form and closes the door behind him. Better to be safe than sorry.

The first floor looks intact, though there are some weights in the wrong places. Midoriya probably worked out some since he saw him last. Toshinori would have to teach the boy to keep the weight area tidy.

The door to the basement (which is really just a seven by seven by seven hole in the ground) is open, which is even more worrying. Nothing's in there yet, and the door had been locked tight. Toshinori had plans for an office or file room down there to keep track of the boy's progress, which may never come into fruition if there's an intruder problem.

Typical hero protocol stated that in a situation like this, the person searching the house should go from floor to floor, bottom to top, so Toshinori makes for the basement. The steps are very creaky, and barely able to support his weight, but Toshinori still makes it down and stops.

"What on earth?" The basement had been turned into a makeshift bedroom, with a space heater, a soft Persian rug, and a twin sized bed that was drowning in blankets. There's even a small dresser and a fridge, though both were empty. The walls are partially painted a dark grey from the ground to about four feet up, like some kind of hobbit wanted to remodel.

Was somebody squatting in Gym Midoriya? Or was the boy himself living here now? Both were equally worrying.

A loud thump two floors up shakes Toshinori from his thoughts. Someone is definitely here. He races up the two floors of stairs and runs right into the cement floor. There, Toshinori sees a pair of blurs, one yellow and one green, chasing each other midair.

One seems to take notice of him and makes a turn right in his direction. In a split second, All Might, the world's Symbol of Peace, is flat on his back, coughing blood.

"You're late!" a gruff voice reprimands. "The boy and I were just getting warmed up."

"Gran..?" Toshinori wheezes, slimming down and sitting up. "You're still here… you're still here!" He shoots to his feet, hurriedly brushing off any dust from his shirt.

Gran Torino scoffs, "You say that like it's a bad thing, you overgrown zygote." He turns around and cups his hands around his mouth. "Kid, stop for a moment and say hi to your idiot teacher!"

The green blur, which hadn't stopped bouncing around the room, stopped. It landed on the floor in a sloppy roll, and straightened out. There, dressed in a worn out Bronze Age All Might hoodie and a pair of sweats, was Young Midoriya. "Hi, All Might!" The boy waves cheerfully.

"Now get back to work! That roll was awful!" Gran Torino orders, turning around and ignoring a bright 'Yes, sir!'

Toshinori took a moment to pick his jaw off of the floor. "He learned all of that intwo days?"

"Yep. He's not perfect yet, but between you, me, and whatever UA has up their sleeve, that boy's gonna be a real monster one day." Gran Torino sneaks a glance over his shoulder. He almost looks impressed, which is horrifying.

"Wait," Toshinori swallows, "'between you and me'?" he quotes, fearing the answer.

"Eh, I figured why not," Toshinori feels his heart palpate at his teacher's words, "I've got nothing better to do, and the boy's kinda great—just don't tell him I said that."

"But what about your hero duties? This city is really dull, and you'll be leaving your old post a man down!"

"Pssh, that part of the country's as sleepy as a nursing home, just like this one. Not to mention there's plenty of pros," Gran Torino argues. "Besides, bullet trains exist if I need to get somewhere, andIget a Senior discount."

Toshinori, unfortunately, can't find a fault in the man's logic and wearily looks up to his successor for a distraction. The boy does a twirl midair, followed by a summersault, and lands with a roll. Then, he pushes up and leaps to the ceiling. He bounces off of it and ricochets off a set of pillars.

"Oi, quit showboating!" Gran Torino yells, "I told you to build good habits for real fights, not practice showing off for girls!"

"Sorry, Gran!" Midoriya apologies, slowing down. Toshinori idly wonders how fine his control over the power is. "It's so fun! I've never moved this fast before!" He does a barrel roll and nearly faceplants into a wall. "Whoops!"

Gran Torino sighs heavily. "I suppose I can't fault him, I was the same way when I could use my Quirk freely. Luckily, I grew out of it."

"Yes, sometimes I forget he's only fifteen," Toshinori agrees. "He works so hard and is very mature. At least, when it comes to thinking like a pro. Come to think of it, has he shown you his notebooks yet?"

"No, he hasn't. What are they, full of autographs?"

"Yes and no," Toshinori says, looking away from Midoriya, "I think they started as a way for him to show his adoration for heroes. You know how kids are these days."

"Hey, All Might, Gran? Can I get some help?" Midoriya asks from afar. He's ignored.

"Boy, do I ever. I'm old as dirt, and Istillget ankle biters bugging me while I'm on patrol just 'cause I've got a cape. Wasn't like that back in the day, not at all."

"Uh, All Might?" Midoriya asks again, sounding much more worried.

"Yeah. But Young Midoriya's notebooks are full of insightful entries on heroics as a whole. Costume design, super moves, catchphrases, fighting styles, Quirk laws, rescue protocols. The boy's a fanatic."

"All Might, help!"Midoriya shouts shakily.

Toshinori and Gran Torino look up and around but see nothing. They look on the floor. Still nothing.

"I'm up here..." Midoriya says weakly.

Toshinori looks up. There, in the middle of the room, hovering fifteen feet above the floor, is Midoriya.

"What on earth..." Toshinori mutters. Beside him, Gran Torino says the roughly the same, albeit much more vulgarly.

"I can't"—Midoriya shoots off to the left before stopping suddenly—"control"—he shoots up and then down, stopping with the soles of his shoes a half inch from the cement—"myself!"

Then, Midoriya's eyes roll back, becoming a milky white, and he collapses to the floor, unconscious.

[x]

He scratches his head and opens his eyes, but he's assaulted by a blinding, multicolored beam of light. He quickly covers his face with one hand and sits up. He opens his eyes again, slowly this time. It takes a while, but eventually he's able to see through all the colors.

The first thing he notices is that he's on a beach. The white sand is a comforting, familiar ground to lay on. The second thing he notices is the sky. It'sdifferent.There are still stars, but they're faint and tiny. There's no moon, and the vast majority of wherever he is is dominated by eight spheres.

The one furthest to the right is the smallest. It glows a soft white, like the North Star.

The second is almost twice as big as the first, shining a beautiful cobalt blue. It's relatively close to the first, and the two seem to bleed into each other.

The third is a lush, ruby red. It's far from the second, and bigger, too.

The fourth is close to the third, glowing a harsh acid green. It's the same size as the third.

The fifth is a warm orange and close to the fourth. It's bigger, too, but not by much.

The sixth is a soft lavender. It's bigger than the fifth but shines nearly as bright.

The seventh is purple, too, though a rich, royal looking one. It's comforting and shines the second brightest.

The eighth is by far the biggest. It's a bright gold and dwarfs the others by a mile. Still, it's not brash like the fourth. It feels… hopeful.

"Ah, I see you've made it here. Congrats. It took me years. You must be special."

Midoriya scampers away, startled by the voice in his ear. "W-what?"

The voice laughs. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here, can't you feel it?"

"I… I can," Midoriya agrees. "W-where are you?"

"I'm here," the voice says from behind. Midoriya whirls around to see… a woman? "Not what you were expecting?" She cocks her head.

"Nonono!" Midoriya defends, "it's just… who are you?"

The woman looks like a pro hero. She's tall and muscular, with a white cape, yellow pants and boots, a black bodysuit, and a red sash that's tied around her waist. Her hair is put up in a messy ponytail, and her eyes are a bright, intelligent grey. There's a beauty mark on the left side of her chin, and her smile is soft and fond.

"Me? I'm the Seventh," she says, "it's nice to meet you, Ninth. You can call me Nana."

"Seventh? Ninth? Wait, wait, wait, does this have to do with One for All?" Midoriya scratches his head. What even is this? A hallucination? A fever dream?

"Yes. Ask Toshinori about it later, but right now, I have a job to do," Nana says. Then, she shoots into the air and over to Midoriya. "MyFloatis a great Quirk. When I was still alive, I used it to save many people." As she spoke, the beach started to glow a bright white, and everything began to fade.

"Wait, you're going too fast!" Midoriya says, trying to grab hold of Nana. He barely gets half a finger on her cape.

"There's no time, kid, you're waking up," Nana hushes. "Anyways, it's a lot stronger than it used to be—you can thank Toshinori for that. When I was in my prime, I could only suspend myself and move slowly in one direction. Now you could probably use it to fly."

"Fly?! What are you talking about?" Midoriya shouts. Everything's starting to get really hazy, and he's losing his balance.

"Fly, kid. I meanreallyfly. Like a bird, but better," Nana says a bit impatiently. "Anyways, wear a helmet when you practice, and find out what triggers it for you. Bye, Ninth. And… good luck."

Everything fades to black, and he wakes.

[x]

The first thing Midoriya feels is a large, callused hand repeatedly smacking him in the face.

"Kid!" a voice shouts, "Midoriya, wake up!"

"You can't justslapthe boy, you justice-obsessed oaf! He could have a concussion!" another, slightly angry sounding voice says.

Midoriya cracks open one green eye and tries to sit up. He falls back down with a huff. "What… happened...?" he asks.

"You tell us, kid," Gran Torino says, "you've been out for ten minutes."

"Yes," All Might agrees, "I'd like to know why you were floating like my master." He lets out a soft curse as Gran Torino snacks him with his cane and tells him to be more patient.

"Your master?" Midoriya asks, rubbing his eyes and propping himself up on his elbows. "Wait! I had a vision!"

"A… vision?" All Might questions, shifting away and cocking his head to one side. He looks thoughtful.

"Yeah, uh, there was this beach, and eight suns, and a woman," Midoriya lists, "I think her name was Nana, and she told me to wear a helmet, and something about triggers? And—"

"Kid, slow down!" Gran Torino stops him, looking about ten years older than he did just a second earlier. "Start from the beginning and goslow."

Midoriya nods and stands up before recounting what he saw in the vision. Some things are a bit fuzzy, but he can remember perfectly how the stars felt and looked, along with the woman. Her words aren't as clear, but a few stick.

Nana, Float, Seventh, Helmet.

"And that's all you remember?" All Might asks, leaning against a hunk of concrete. He looks like he desperately wants to push for more, but doesn't.

"Yeah, I think so," Midoriya says, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie. "Do you know what this means, All Might?"

His mentor regards him for a long moment, looking thoughtful. "About the visions? No. My master only mentioned them once offhandedly and didn't go into detail." All Might looks Midoriya deep in the eye. "But I have had one. The day I got this." He taps his left side and flinches.

"Who is she?" Midoriya asks. "The woman, I mean."

"Shimura Nana," Gran Torino answers. "The seventh wielder of One for All."

"Seventh..." Midoriya mutters. "Is this normal?"

"No, everything about this—getting more Quirks, visions—is actually quite spooky," All Might answers hollowly, "but considering the origins of One for All..."

"It's not exactly a surprise," Gran Torino finishes.

"What are you guys talking about? Origins? What evenisOne for All?" Midoriya rapid-fires.

All Might and Gran Torino exchange glances. They nod. "It's better if we sit down for this. Let's go downstairs," the older one says.

It takes some time for his mentor to gather his thoughts, but the contemplative expression disappears from his face.

"Young Midoriya, you know that One for All can be passed down?"

Midoriya nods.

"And you know that you're the Ninth."

Another nod.

All Might takes a deep breath. "It all starts with two brothers at the dawn of an era…

"You see, after the Luminescent Baby, people everywhere started to get powers of all kinds. At first, nothing really changed. There just weren't enough people with Quirks around to shake things up. But after the years went by, more and more children were born with abilities.

"Twenty years after that first Quirked baby was when things really started to change. There were riots, protests, battles in the streets, massacres. Those without Quirks started to fear and were consumed by it."

"'Had it not been for Quirks, humanity would be vacationing among the stars,'" Midoriya quotes. "I read that in a textbook once."

Gran Torino grunts. "The wars started pretty quickly after they passed Quirk laws. Those with abilities either saw themselves as betters being oppressed or as cursed. They fought back or endured the hate. But one man rose to unify the Quirked."

"All for One," All Might says softly. He covers his left side with one palm. "He started and led several revolutionary groups, gaining many followers with his ability, which he shared a name with.

"With his power, he could give and take Quirks."

Midoriya feels his lips move, mouthing a swear his mother would have fainted at.

"Yes," All Might agrees, "it's very concerning. But, this man, All for One, had a frail younger brother. He was Quirkless, but had a strong sense of justice. He tried to stop his older brother, but was defeated."

"Whether it was out of pity or a move to force his brother to submit, All for One forced a Quirk onto his sibling," Gran Torino continues. "It was a stockpiler that allowed the user to build up mass amounts of power and use it to make their body stronger."

"But the younger brother, as it turned out, wasn't so Quirkless." Midoriya's head snaps to look at All Might. "Yes, the younger brother had the ability to pass down Quirks. It's rather useless on its own, but once it merged with the stockpiler…"

"It made something new," Midoriya breathes, "One for All."

"And that's the origin of this power of ours," All Might finishes, "something born of evil, but changed by the heart of a hero to destroy its creator."

The three of them sit in silence for a moment. The air is thick with emotion, worry and fear being most prevalent in Midoriya.

"This All for One, is he still around? What happened to the other holders? Are we safe?" the boy asks.

"All the previous users were killed by All for One, except Toshinori," Gran Torino speaks, gazing at his cane thoughtfully. "The bastard's gone now, thanks to ye old Symbol of Peace."

All Might smiles sadly, "I beat him, but at a cost. He's the one that forced me to take this form."

Midoriya tries to imagine what that fight must've been like. Faster than the eye can see, he decides. Fast, but at the same time drawn out and brutal, something that should be in a history book or made into a movie. Just imagining what someone could do with hundreds of years of Quirks gives him shivers.

"So what now?" Midoriya asks. "What's the point of this power if its objective is complete?"

"I may have finished off All for One like the power was meant to," All Might says, "but the world's not safe. I'm weak now, and I'll probably have to retire in the next five years or so. But the world will still need a Symbol.

"This power, it's not meant to eliminate anymore, but instead, it's meant to make the world safe, and keep it happy. You're the next me. I trust that you'll fill my shoes well, Midoriya Izuku."

They sit like that for a while, Midoriya in amazement, All Might in contemplation, and Gran Torino in memory.

But then, Midoriya realizes something. "So I probably haveeightQuirks!?"

"Not eight," Gran Torino corrects, "Toshinori was Quirkless, so seven at most, if you count One for All. We don't know much about any of the users but Nana, but we'll work on that." Then, after a pause, "If you ask me, the first couple probably didn't have Quirks."

Midoriya must look absolutely distraught, because All Might rushes to comfort, "It's not that big of a deal! I never showed any signs of the Quirks of the previous users. You might only get Float, or maybe this was a one-time thing. It'll be fine. The physical enhancement aspect will be plenty for you to take my place as the Symbol of Peace!"

"It's just kind of a lot to handle since I've never had a Quirk before, but I'm sure I'll manage with you two, but what will people say if I suddenly show off more than one Quirk? Will they think I'm with All for One? No, he's dead, but what about his followers? It's just so stressful—"

"Midoriya!" All Might gives him a firm chop to the shoulder. "Quit word vomiting! It'sfine.We have plenty of time to figure this out, and if we don't, UA will probably help. What's important is that we keep training and figure out how Float works for you." He turns to Gran Torino. "You'd know more about that then me."

The old man rolls his eyes, "You think just 'cause Nana and I were good friends, we knew everything about each other's Quirks?" The silence that followed was telling. Gran Torino huffs, "I know a little, but this is something he'll have to work on mostly alone."

They train for weeks after that. It's hard, backbreaking work for Midoriya, but every second feels amazing. Even when Gran Torino suddenly amps up the speed of his attacks, or All Might blindsides him with a backhand, his smile never wavers. Every day he gets better, and that itself is a reward.

Whatdoesthrow him for a loop, though, is when Gran Torino throws him into a mildly dubious fighting area in some shady section of Tokyo. Apparently, if Midoriya only fought Gran Torino and All Might until he got into U.A, he'd end up with bad habits, and apparently his older mentor wasn't against the morally grey.

He gets his butt kicked, obviously. But he learns a lot about different fighting styles from the two occasions he got talked into going. All fighting was done Quirkless and with gloves, which is nice because according to Gran, some places throw two people in a cage and wait until one comes out.

Midoriya keeps weightlifting, too, focusing on building up as much muscle mass as possible. All Might shows him no mercy on that front, constantly coming up with more and more difficult exercises. Such exercises include but are not limited to, hanging upside down from a bar, bent at a ninety degree angle at the waist, one handed push ups while training his grip strength, andwalking around the building with All Might on his back.

That last one is the worst by far, and Gran Torino gets a lot of pictures of Midoriya being crushed under All Might.

Float never makes another appearance. It bums Midoriya out at first because he can tell that both of his teachers want him to use it. But it just never heeds his call. No matter how long he bounces around with Full Cowl (All Might changed the name from Gran Bounce because apparently he sucks at naming things along with analogies) or meditates with One for All active, or envisions himself soaring through the air, he just can't Float.

All Might and Gran Torino comb through thousands of records for all of the previous holders of One for All and even make a notebook for him. They promptly hide it and only let him look over the information on Float because they don't know if he'll show any other Quirks.

But soon, almost in the blink of an eye, February 26th arrives, and with it, the U.A entrance exam.

[x]

Bonus! Midoriya's Quirk Files.

Subject: Gran Torino

Quirk: Jet

Desc: Allows the user to shoot out jets of air from the soles of the feet. The jet comes from the air the user breathes.

Strengths: Amazing linear acceleration, speed, turning, and adaptability. Excellent for close quarters combat and hitting hard fast. Works best with hit-and-run tactics and against disorganized opponents.

Weaknesses: Limited flight duration. Making curves. Wear on the body (the user is just a normal man, albeit tough and experienced, but still feels the force of impact on a target).

Counter Strategies: A strong hardening Quirk or a robust shield and a net would be great for stopping Jet. However, the person taking the force would have to remain upright. If they can do so, then all they have to do is push the Jet user into a net or capture device. After that, the best way to secure would be to cover the holes on the feet. Shock absorbing or shock redirecting Quirks would also be ideal.

Ranking: On its own: B.

Combined with the user's skill: S