Chapter 44: Punch Out!
Summary:
The decisive battle of Kamino!
Notes:
So, if any of you missed it, my friend TheSinful wrote an alternate ending omake for this arc. Check it out if you haven't already! Hell, check it out if you have!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"So, this is everyone, Izuku-chan?!" Toga asked happily, gray sludge coalescing around her body, replacing her form with Izuku's as she dodged Yui striking her with her training sword and threw a knife at Ochako, who seemed to move at superspeed and caught it at the hilt, throwing it to the ground. "Oh, they're all so cute! You have good taste AND you taste good!"
The sludge finished forming around her head, completely transforming her into Izuku, only wearing Toga's outfit, strained to bursting thanks to his muscles. In his voice, she said, "It feels wonderful!" as she dove out of Yui's strike.
As she threw more knives, Toga felt something in the back of her head. The combination of being in Izuku's form, having had a bond that was severed, and being interested in the Ennead romantically led to her bond being reignited.
It was only the initial Empathic Bond, restored by tricking the Quirk into thinking she was Izuku. But it was there.
Yui and Ochako twitched, but didn't let up on their assault. Izuku faltered, stumbling a bit, allowing Gluttony to hit him. The rest hadn't stopped their fights in response, but they all felt the girl join their network. Still, they were used to the sensations of being bonded. Toga wasn't.
Toga subconsciously broadcast her love and her dreams to them, shouting it out, like she'd wanted to do after years of repression. But this time, more than learning about Izuku, Toga now learned what she looked like to others.
She'd been used to others feeling fear and disgust towards her, and that was present, but not as much as she'd think. Anger was more prevalent, particularly from Ochako. Her love and admiration for Izuku was so strong it almost hurt, but she found the idea of someone hurting him so awful that she'd fight tooth and nail to stop it. People had hurt him so often in the past, and Ochako felt that hurt like it was being done to her. And she'd felt that way without the bond!
The emotion she wasn't expecting to sense, however, was pity. They thought it was terrible that she was forbidden from drinking blood, that her parents forced her to suppress her Quirk. So many of them empathized with her struggle!
But that didn't matter. Because she hurt others. She'd killed others. And that was unacceptable to them. There were ways to deal with her need for blood that didn't involve knifing someone in an alley. It may not have been easy, and she may not have been aware of it at the time, but it was possible.
They wanted her to get help, not because they wanted her to become "normal" but because they wanted her to stop hurting people.
Toga's world was torn to shreds and rebuilt when she finally gave into her urges and drank from Saito. Now, it started reeling once again as she clearly saw into the lives of other people, how their actions changed because of her, the fear and caution they felt. They were real people. They thought she was a real person. They wanted what was best for her. And they didn't want her in their lives.
The enormity of it all caused her to misstep, and Ochako punched her in the face, causing the Izuku disguise to slough off of her head, severing the bond once more. Her face began to run with tears. As everything hit her at once, Toga turned and ran.
She vaguely noticed that the form Izuku took gave off green energy as she ran, allowing her to run at superspeeds. Ochako began to give chase, but was waylaid by the winged, tentacled Nomu. Once she was a fair distance from the battle, in a secluded alleyway, Toga shifted her appearance to another person she'd taken blood from, then continued to run.
She kept going until she was too tired to keep running. She made her way onto a fire escape, climbing to the roof of whatever building was closest.
Once there, she curled up into a ball and wept.
All Might was so proud and yet so frustrated at his students. None of them were supposed to be there, and All for One was beyond their current capabilities. He couldn't use his full power in the way that was necessary.
"So, you and your vaunted successor require little girls to fight your battles for you, All Might?" All for One taunted.
Smiling, All Might said, "Well, we needed someone with the same maturity as your apprentice, Mugen." All Might was thrilled when All for One flinched at that. "But there would be ethical problems associated with hiring preschoolers."
All for One didn't respond save by blasting All Might with an Air Cannon. All Might looked at the battlefield.
Melissa was currently harrying Tomura, her bulked up form resembling a slimmer version of Star and Stripe, her lightning the same piercing blue as her eyes. That lightning was being used to blast the young man at a distance. At one point, the man dodged, but Melissa countered with a punch to the solar plexus that sent the villain flying.
One of the masked men, Chronostasis, was seemingly being pummeled by nothing at all. Toru made Overhaul's right hand man into her punching bag. It made sense, he had no weapons on him, and the man's Quirk required him to aim precisely and remain perfectly still. Against an invisible foe, he had little defense.
The Nomu brought in to prevent Izuku from flying away had been facing Nejire, who had been pouring continuous beams of energy into it to try and overcome its regeneration. Following Toga's retreat, Ochako slapped it and increased its gravity, causing it to sink to the ground, struggling under its own weight.
As they had done back at the Forest Camp, Dabi and Canopy had teamed up. Unfortunately for them, so had Mei and Momo. Momo was constantly spraying firefighting foam to counter Dabi's flames. Mei was wielding a belt-fed machine gun that fed into Momo's torso and thus, thanks to the scarlet lightning produced by the upper-class woman, had an unlimited amount of rubber bullets. Canopy's shields eventually shattered under the barrage, and the masked man was knocked unconscious. Dabi continued to belch out flames, but the rubber bullets, despite melting, still impacted him, and the foam was starting to coat him and reduce his effectiveness.
Tsu had been handling Gluttony, who was surprisingly fast and strong. He bit down on her tongue with such force that, had it not been for her Blackwhip enhancement shielding it, it would have been cut off. Tsu retaliated by slashing him in the face with one of her claws, causing the man to screech in pain, then start eating into the concrete, eating through the street and tunneling into the ground like an earthworm.
Izuku was doing better now that he wasn't the sole fighter. He kept his eyes closed, trying to use Blackwhip or Laser Disc to aid his girlfriends as they fought. Of course, he faltered when Toga reconnected to the Ennead when she transformed, and that allowed Gluttony to burst from the Earth and attack him.
Acting purely on instinct, Izuku caught the man's wrists in his hands to stop him from attacking him. Once that happened, Izuku blinked, and the man… blinked. It was like he dissolved and popped back into existence. When he returned, Gluttony looked shocked, clutched his stomach, and curled up onto the ground.
"What the hell?!" Chronostasis yelled. He looked at Tomura, "You son of a…"
Whatever Chronostasis was going to say was cut off by a flood of rivets tearing out of All for One's back, like an obscene spider. Several dug into Kurogiri, who began to produce his warp gate. More grabbed onto Tomura, Dabi, and Canopy, digging into them without harming them. One speared through Chronostasis's head, sending out a stream of blood as the red lightning of All for One's namesake Quirk stole Chronostasis' namesake. As the tendril retreated and Chronostasis slumped over, dead, the three remaining members of the League were dragged into Kurogiri's portal.
"No, Sensei! What are you doing?!" Tomura yelled.
"I need to keep you safe. That man would have turned on you. As long as you remain free, there will be another chance," All for One said, while throwing All Might away with Impact Recoil.
"Sensei, don't leave me! We can still kill All Might here and now! We can do it together!" Tomura cried out.
"I'm sorry it has to be this way, Tomura," All for One said, almost kindly. "Don't worry. Everything I'm doing is for you."
With that, the three men were dragged into the portal, Tomura kicking and screaming, before the tendrils left Kurogiri's body and the portal closed.
All Might picked himself up, "That was almost touching. Not that I buy it for an instant. You have the compassion of a leech."
"Well, now that Tomura and what allies he has left aren't in danger…" All for One said smugly. "Now, I can let loose!"
All Might surged forward and decked All for One in the face, "Students, retreat!"
"On it, ribbit!" Tsu said, picking up the groaning Gluttony, still motionless, in her tongue.
Izuku looked to the eight girls, and took a deep breath, and they made their way out.
And, of course, they moved in the same direction as the fallen Heroes. All for One tried to move, but Gran Torino burst in, yelling, "Surprise, bitch!" and distracted him for All Might to punch him once more.
Izuku began by using Diagnosis and Overhaul on Best Jeanist, apologizing for the fact that this was going to hurt, and healed his injuries. Once the denim-clad Hero was up, Izuku moved to Fatgum, then the others. Within seconds, all of the gathered Heroes were conscious.
"We need to provide backup!" Gang Orca cried once Izuku healed him.
"With all due respect, sir, this is beyond all of us," Momo said, taking charge as they fled the battlefield. "Yes, even though three of you are in the Top Ten. That's the man who killed All Might's mother. That's the rumored Quirk Thief. All Might is perhaps the only person alive who's on the same level as him. We need to prioritize any civilians that may still be in danger…"
"What the hell is even happening right now?" Ryukyu said.
"Long story," Nejire said. "If you're lucky, you may be cleared to hear it."
Ragdoll, conscious, but wrapped in Tiger's arms for modesty, said sadly, "I could help you find any civilians, kittens, but my Quirk… he took it…"
Izuku gulped, then pointed to a skyscraper, "There's… there's a woman in that building. Twentieth floor. Broken leg, couldn't evacuate in time. That's the only one left."
"On it!" Mt. Lady said, regrowing to her giant form to get to the woman in time.
As they ran, Ragdoll whispered, "What?"
Nejire giggled, "I just told you, long story!"
All for One now faced a conundrum. Namely that he was limited in the number of Quirks he could effectively use for this encounter.
There were a fair number of Quirks that he'd collected simply so that he could have them. These ranged from cosmetic Quirks to those that could be powerful if he had decades of training and knowledge. He could have spent ten years getting the appropriate education in particle physics to effectively use that one Energy Manipulation Quirk. Instead, he spent that same amount of time and effort obtaining more Quirks and using the good ones to become just as powerful, if not more so!
And now, there were so many Quirks he couldn't use now because of the current state of his body. Quirks that relied on his eyes had been rendered useless to him. Breath Quirks were reduced in usefulness. Toxic Quirks were too risky thanks to damage to his kidneys and liver. Fire, electromagnetic and radiation Quirks were out thanks to interference with his medical equipment.
And, of course, thanks to Overhaul, most powers that relied on his hands were now added to the junk pile.
Of course, that thought was expounded when All Might said, "Now, I was admittedly woozy back then, but I'm fairly certain I didn't do that to your hands. Did you have an accident with a blender or something?"
Keeping his temper in check, All for One chuckled, "You should talk, All Might. What, are you jealous that someone else struck a blow to me? You truly are a brute. The Symbol of Peace, everyone, a violent thug!"
All Might growled at that, "You hypocrite! For two hundred years, you've been Japan's most prolific murderer! The Nerima massacres, the Shibuya disaster, the Hokkaido 'earthquake', the Osaka riots, and those are just the few of your exploits that made the history books! How many lives have you destroyed? How many innocents who just wanted to live their lives were snuffed out for your ambition, your greed, your boredom?!" As he yelled, Gran Torino flew in behind All for One to tag him in the back of the head.
All for One laughed as he slapped Gran Torino away, "Oh, you sound just like the floating girl." All for One loved that his foe's eye twitched at that. "Such a fool that Nana Shimura was. It was a treat to finally shut her up once and for all."
All Might rushed in and punched his nemesis. All for One caught him in Impact Recoil and sent All Might flying. "Oh, you poor deluded fool. Your mentor must be crying in shame right now. Of course, poor Nana had some worse luck than that."
All Might spat, "Is this where you tell me that Tomura Shigaraki is Nana's grandson? Because I've been aware that he was born as Tenko Shimura since the USJ encounter."
All for One felt his brain bluescreen for a second as he processed this. Finally, he only said, "What."
"My apprentice has some good resources and wonderful analytical skills," All Might said proudly. "We also know that he was born Quirkless, until you remedied that. Young Midoriya recognized his brand of shoes."
All for One was apoplectic as his planned reveal, meant to shock All Might and grant him the upper hand in this fight, fell completely flat. And so, calling upon Air Cannon and force multiplier Quirks (curse Kyuseishu for stealing Springlike Limbs, that was such a great enhancer for this combination), he blasted All Might, who tanked the blast and rushed forwards to strike All for One in the face, shattering his imposing mask.
All for One called upon Spearlike Bones to grow from his deformed hands and struck All Might in the chest. And finally, finally, the man began to stumble.
All for One grinned as he saw All Might fizzle and steam. With cameras rolling, he bolstered the volume of his voice, "Now, then, Japan! Look upon your Number One Hero. See what's left of him when his Quirk leaves him! See the powerless, broken form of your… beloved…" he trailed off.
All Might was revealed, lacking any evidence of the grievous injuries left from the battle six years ago. The man was whole. No longer as buff, and his hair limped a little, but Toshinori Yagi was a healthy looking middle aged man.
How and the hell was this even possible… Wait…
How trustworthy were the Shie Hassaikai's reports about Eri? According to them, she was merely a child with fear and hatred of her uncontrollable Quirk. Were they able to work around that? Was his nemesis able to restore himself where he failed?!
All for One devolved into raging gibberish as he sent Rivets after All Might, hoping to impale the man once again.
As they retreated, Izuku experimented with one aspect of his Quirk to make things somewhat less awkward. He released some of his Smokescreen, then wrapped it around Ragdoll's body. The opaque cloud clung to her body like extremely puffy clothing.
"Thanks, kitten," Ragdoll said. Tiger grunted appreciatively and gave a thumbs up, still holding onto Ragdoll, but now solely out of relief that she was safe.
"The heck was that?" Toru asked.
SMOKE MANIPULATION is an Emitter Quirk first held by Saichiro Tabahara before it was stolen by Mugen Shigaraki using ALL FOR ONE. SMOKE MANIPULATION allows the user to shape up to fifty cubic meters of smoke to their wishes. The smoke may take any form the user wishes. A single cubic meter of smoke may be made into solid matter. SMOKE MANIPULATION is unable to create smoke on its own. Any changes to SMOKE MANIPULATION upon being absorbed into ONE FOR ALL require more time to quantify.
"That was Kagami's Quirk, wasn't it?" Daigoro said, sadly.
"Yes," En said, equally sadly.
"Wait, what?" Izuku asked.
"My sidekick," En said.
"I'm sorry, En-nii-san," Izuku said, filling in the blanks on his own.
"Just glad we got the last thing left of him out of that bastard," En said solemnly.
"Wait, your sidekick's Hero name was Kagami?" Toru asked.
Despite not being visible, and despite wearing a collar that hid his mouth, everyone could feel the smug smirk that En was giving them.
Most of them groaned in response. Momo, on the other hand, giggled, "En and Kagami. Smoke and mirrors… that's wonderful!"
They didn't have long to wait before the group of Heroes and students was taken to a hospital for them to be checked on.
All Might, for his part, hadn't expected this. He'd been doing so well… but that was his downfall. With One for All no longer holding him together, and with his restored body now using the last dregs of One for All more efficiently, he'd become complacent. He'd used it more, and hadn't been as careful at monitoring his output.
Now, though? Now, he was painfully aware of how little power still remained within him.
All for One chose to monologue about this fact, and used several Quirks to enlarge his right arm to grotesque proportions, looking utterly horrifying. This had to be psychological. All Might built his career on being someone who could punch any problem and make it disappear. If someone could end All Might by punching him? That would be chaos.
A flash in his peripheral vision gave him hope. Endeavor, Edgeshot, and Kamui Woods had arrived from the bar. Nighteye wouldn't be far. The rescue efforts following this final bout would be underway. All Might had nothing to fear. They were here.
As the determination burned in his gut, All Might felt the power of One for All burn as well. The embers of the torch he passed burned to a massive inferno, as he felt the power within him, the will of Yoichi, Ryouji, Isamu, Hikage, Daigoro, En, and Nana passing down until it reached him, who took their power and cultivated it until passing it onto the boy who would perfect it, the boy who shared that power with those he loved. A category that included him.
And so, for the first and only time in his life, All Might held the full power of One for All. The completed One for All. Izuku's One for All.
As he bulked up into his muscle form, the steam he produced became a Smokescreen, obscuring the two combatants. Sensing All for One's malice like a signal flare with Danger Sense, All Might shot out a thick strand of Blackwhip, engulfing the grotesque arm and slamming the villain into the ground. He leapt over All for One's now prone form, shooting a Laser Disc into the ancient man's back, before rocketing upwards with Float, the force of his flight dispelling the smoke. The kinetic energy he built up gathered into his fist with Fa Jin, alongside the entirety of One for All that All Might could hold.
"UNITED… STATES OF… SMASH!" All Might cried out as he flew down and crushed the villain with his full power. The impact caused a tornado in the wreckage of the warehouse as All for One fell to the ground and did not rise.
Knowing the news helicopter was still present, All Might held his fist up triumphantly. He could feel the cheers of the people across the nation.
Later, as the police loaded All for One, Kurogiri, and the Nomu into their custody, the reporters arrived.
Before they could ask him any questions, All Might merely pointed to the cameras and said, "Now? It's your turn!" before walking away.
The Ennead tried to stay together as long as they could, but they were brought in for questioning by the police and Heroes. And the doctors had to ensure they were all right, particularly Izuku. Not to mention, their families wanted to see them.
Izuku knew what was coming when Inko burst into the room wailing, hugging him harder than the restraints the League bound him in. Eri followed, looking at them.
"Hey, Eri," Izuku smiled. "I'm back."
"You have Chisaki's Quirk now," Eri said. "I saw you use it."
Izuku sighed, "I do. The faceless man took that Quirk before he killed Chisaki. He tried to take my Quirk, but I took others from him instead…"
He healed the Heroes. Hell, he fixed Gluttony. That man's Quirk let him eat constantly, but his hunger was never sated. Izuku used Diagnosis and Overhaul to reform him so that he could feel full for once in his life. It didn't even mess with his Quirk's function! He collapsed, the absence of hunger so alien to him that it seemed to register as pain.
Eri looked at him, and after a second that lasted an eternity, she hugged him.
"Please don't leave me again," Eri said.
"I'll try not to," Izuku said, crying.
"I love you, Papa," Eri said.
"I love you too, Eri," Izuku said. Inko began to cry harder.
There was a brief window of time between the police interviews, doctor's visits, and parents arriving to hug and scream at their children where Izuku was able to meet with Ragdoll.
Eri and Inko were both asleep in his hospital room. Izuku should have been as well, but he was too wired. He walked to the room Ragdoll was in.
All four of the Wild Wild Pussycats were there. Tiger looked surprisingly gentle, Pixie-Bob and Mandalay trying to cheer up Ragdoll, who was lying there, looking up at the ceiling blankly. Kota was also there, looking pensive.
Izuku knocked on the open door, "Hey, there!" he said awkwardly, with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Kota took the opportunity to bolt over to the teen and hug him, tears spilling down his face. His smile turning more genuine, Izuku patted Kota on the head, "Well, it's a better greeting than the first time."
The joke made the Pussycats smile, but Kota just said, "I'm sorry. You beat up Muscular and you saved us and you made sure we got away but they caught you, and-"
"It's okay," Izuku said. "It's the villains' fault. No one else's."
Kota nodded, backed up, and bowed, "Thank you for saving me."
"You're welcome," Izuku said, bowing as well. "And thank you for saving me. You distracted Muscular at just the right time."
Kota clammed up, unsure what to say. Izuku looked at the adults, who were all looking at them with teary-looking eyes. "Um, I'm sorry, but I need to talk to Ragdoll-san alone for a minute or so. It's about something that happened while we were with the League. I'll be as quick as I can."
"Take your time, Midoriya-kun," Mandalay smiled, bowing at him in thanks, then leading Kota away for a bit. Tiger gave him a pat on the shoulder and smiled as he left.
When Pixie-Bob got up, she gave a smirk and said, "If you're looking to confess, I'm sorry to say the four of us are a package deal. Not that we'd be uninterested…"
Izuku, a Hero nerd at his core, blinked as his eyes widened, "So the rumors are true! Wild Wild Polyamory is real!" He then stopped, shook his head, and said, "It's nothing like that. I've got a group of my own, and we're booked solid. Sorry."
Pixie-Bob sighed, "I figured. Ah well, no worries, kitten." And with that, she left.
Ragdoll smiled, "Hey Midoriya-kun. I hope you're doing all right."
"I'm fine. I'm more concerned about you, Ragdoll-san," Izuku said.
She sighed, "I'm as well as I can be. Not much happened to me after they caught me. One of the Nomu had some kind of sedative-injecting Quirk, and when I woke up, All for One was there, and he…" Ragdoll shivered at the memory.
"You don't have to relive it," Izuku said. "Shortly after he did it to you, he tried to do it to me."
Ragdoll gasped, "Oh kitten, I'm so sorry."
"He failed. My Quirk… is unique. And it has a lot to it…" Izuku said. "It can't be taken… so when he tried, it was like a tug of war, and I kind of pulled back, and, well… Basically I took some Quirks from him… and Search was one of them…" his voice got smaller as he said the last one, almost like he was sorry he had it.
Ragdoll looked shocked, and then said, "Oh, kitten… I'm glad it's not in his hands anymore. It's fine if you have it…"
Izuku looked around, "That's the thing, I don't have to keep it…" Ragdoll's eyes bugged out as Izuku continued. "No beating around the bush, my Quirk is transferable. I'm not the first to have it. All of my weird collection of powers belonged to previous users. And it's evolved over the years that I don't have to transfer all of it. I can give out pieces. Which means I can give you back Search."
Ragdoll's face brightened, "You can do that?!" She gave a wry smile, "Are you absolutely sure your group can't fit four more?"
Izuku blushed, "You know there's nine of us already!"
Ragdoll sighed, "Kidding. Mostly. Still, best thing that could happen after that whole brouhaha. How does it work?"
"It's not like All for One," Izuku said, concentrating. He envisioned Ragdoll's vestige as it entered One for All's core, and used that to split it off. He placed a hair between two of his fingers, and it glowed bright green for a second. "It works based on DNA transferring between the giver and the recipient. So, unfortunately, this is the least gross way to do it…" he looked apologetic, "You're going to have to eat this."
"Aww, such a gentleman!" Ragdoll said, taking the hair, eating it, and gulping down some water. "You could've used this as an excuse for a kiss!"
Izuku's blush heightened, "I wouldn't do that! I'm happy where I am!"
"Just teasing you, kitten," Ragdoll ruffled Izuku's hair fondly.
"So, it should take some time to digest and reintegrate into your system," Izuku said. He got up and bowed, "I'm happy I could help you out."
"Thank you so much, Midoriya-kun!" Ragdoll said, beginning to cry, causing Izuku to cry as well. They parted.
Izuku returned to his room. He looked over his mother and Eri's sleeping forms.
Only to realize, as soon as he did, that he could instinctively tell their current abilities and potential weak points. His eyes bugged out, "Did it fail?!"
"No, the stockpile was depleted," Yoichi said. "And you did remove Search! But for some reason, it's still here!"
Upon fusing with ONE FOR ALL, POWER STOCKPILE was modified to collect and replicate Quirk factors. Upon being transferred to ONE FOR ALL, SEARCH was integrated into the core of ONE FOR ALL and its Quirk factor was replicated, and it began to mix with the similar replicated Quirk factors of QUIRK UNDERSTANDING, DIAGNOSIS, MULTITASKING and DANGER SENSE. When SEARCH was returned to Tomoko Shiretoko using ONE FOR ALL'S modification through BONDING interacting with Momo Yaoyorozu's CREATION through a Stage 3 "Sharing Bond", replicas of SEARCH'S Quirk factor were left behind.
"Ugh, parsing that grammar is a pain," Daigoro said. "It's like the Quirk is vomiting words at us."
Izuku sighed, "Well, now that we've got that squared away, I should get some sleep. It's been a trying time, we can figure this out after some sleep…"
And, with that, now that this important task was done, Izuku's body crashed. He fell asleep very quickly.
No time seemed to have passed when he woke, but the light was different, and his mom and Eri weren't there. Ragdoll, however, was, and she looked worried.
"Ragdoll-san?" Izuku said.
"It didn't work out the way we expected," she said.
Izuku winced, "Yeah. I found out afterwards. I've still got a copy of Search in here unintentionally." He tapped his head for emphasis.
"It's more than that," Ragdoll said. "Search is more powerful. I used to only be able to track a hundred simultaneous people. Now it's much more! And I can process it more easily somehow! And I get alerts if they're in danger! And I can sense what their Quirks are! And why's your Quirk named One for All instead of Decade Force?!"
Izuku leaned back on his pillow, "Okay, this just got a lot more complicated…"
All for One seethed. He'd lost much more than he thought he ever would in this encounter. He expected to reveal to the nation a broken All Might, one foot in his grave and the other foot shoveling dirt into it. Instead, while there was shock at the demigod being revealed as a man, it wasn't nearly the shock he'd hoped for.
And All Might's last stand left All for One worse than before! Thank all the gods he took a new copy of Super Regeneration after Kyuseishu depleted his stores. That was the only way he could have survived. And that didn't even help his newest issue.
All Might shot All for One with a Laser Disc that shattered his cervical vertebrae and severed his spinal cord. And All Might wasn't holding back subconsciously like his successor did. Laser Disc burned him, cauterizing All for One's broken spine before Super Regeneration could heal it.
All for One was now a quadriplegic.
He stewed in his cell. Guns were trained on him, but he couldn't move even if he wanted to. He'd intended to wait until Tomura was given his Quirk, then burst out of Tartarus from the inside. Now? He could still potentially do that, but it would be exponentially more difficult.
No, it seemed that, if he was going to get out of here, all of his hopes were riding on Tomura