Chapter 305- Izuku Midoriya and Toshinori Yagi

'I can feel One for All active in him.' Toshinori thought to himself. From his spot next to the young man's bed, he was holding Midoriya's arm, eyes closed in deep concentration as he let the warm feeling in his chest flow to the rest of his body. 'It's faint, but I know… You're talking with the others, right?'

Toshinori grimaced as he received no response from the unconscious body. The room was dead silent beyond the quiet beeping from the monitors hooked to Izuku's right arm… the same arm that, according to the doctor, would see no more use from the boy. He had been warned by the doctors last time he had gone all-out with his power, and though he had grown much since then, his body simply couldn't hold up this time. The bone had completely shattered, and even with all the fragments removed from the arm, it would never make a full recovery.

Deep down, Toshinori believed he was quite lucky, only losing use of one limb. When he had initially seen his injuries, he almost feared the boy would never walk again, but the medical advancements the Central Hospital had made allowed them to save his other limbs with relative ease.

Much of the operation had been performed with assistance by Recovery Girl, who had no witty or angry remarks to make at the situation like she had before; she had only given Toshinori a tired look when she left the surgery room, her job complete.

"That boy has pushed himself way too far this time." She had mumbled, her own energy drained from how much healing she had performed in the past week. Despite her old age, she was making every effort to heal as many wounded heroes as she could every day. She looked even more aged than ever, her eyes dark and sunken.

Midoriya would be in a coma for at least another day, according to her and the other doctors. Toshinori had refused to leave his side after he received this information; he needed to be here when the boy woke up. He knew this would arouse suspicion in many who would see him sitting in the room, but he couldn't give a damn about that anymore.

The warm feeling in his body grew even warmer, and he could feel a faint heat radiating from Midoriya as well. He knew that Midoriya had found the predecessors within him, and they were now talking. He couldn't fully understand what was happening in the young boy's mind, but he prayed silently that the discussion was going well. They could tell him so much… So much that he never could.

'Midoriya… Master… Everyone… I'm here. Help guide this young boy… Help him…'

Darkness surrounded him, nothing but pitch black consuming his peripheral. There was no sound, no smell, no feeling of any kind. He couldn't tell if he was floating or standing… He didn't even know if he was breathing.

Midoriya tried to focus, but his mind was also clouded with darkness, unable to process any type of thought in his mind. He tried to listen for his own heartbeat, but it was almost too faint to pick up on.

'A nightmare?' Words finally formed in his mind.

Memories came rushing back to his mind, and his mind immediately rushed to all those who had been injured in the wake of his fight against Shigaraki…

Hado, Ryukyu, Gran Torino, Aizawa, Endeavor, Todoroki…

Kacchan.

All of them had been injured by the villains on the scene; he could hear Hado's screams as she was burnt by Dabi's blue flames, Endeavor hyperventilating as he watched his sons fight to the death right before his eyes, unmoving and eyes full of panic.

He could see the images of Gran Torino having a fist shoved through his chest, Aizawa nearly having his face ripped off and having to cut his own leg off to save himself from the quirk erasure bullet. He could see the wicked smile on Shigaraki's face as he nearly killed them both, his horrible laugh replaying in his head.

He could see Kacchan getting pierced in his stomach, All for One's disapproving tone narrating how pointless it had all been as his friend fell from the sky, unconscious as blood flowed out of his wounds.

Deku wanted this all to stop, but more than that, he wanted to go back and save all of them. He wanted to tell his past self to forget Shigaraki, lead him away somewhere the others won't be in danger, do anything OTHER than let others get injured for his sake…

He felt tears pricking at his eyes, but he inhaled sharply and kept them from leaking out. Crying wouldn't change anything; he needed to take action. He needed to wake up and apologize to everyone who had been hurt because of him. He needed to…

Squeezing his eyes tightly, he shook his head, hoping to maybe wake himself up with this action. Realizing its futility, he finally opened them and was greeted by a new sight-

The eight previous holders of One for All, all in a room together with him. Six of them were seated in what looked like thrones, each staring at him. Behind the chairs two men were facing the wall, not even giving Midoriya a glance.

Midoriya recognized some of them from his previous dreams and visions, as well as All Might's notes. Banjo, En, Shimura, and Yoichi were all giving him kind looks, but there was a hint of sadness across each of their faces. A man he didn't recognize gave him a stoic look, two scars running along his right eye; a yellow apparition made of clouds sat in the last chair, no doubt being the spirit of All Might.

"Before you wake up, kid, we need to talk." Banjo spoke. His usual gusto was gone, replaced by a serious tone.

"We won't take too much time." The stoic man spoke. "But there is much to discuss."

"Banjo has already told you a bit about this." En piped up, his legs tucked onto his seat. Shimura stayed quiet, staring at the floor.

'All of them are here… Even the ones I couldn't see before…' Midoriya thought to himself. He tried to speak out loud, but saw black clouds where his mouth should've been, just like last time.

"Before, we could only ever interact with you in fleeting moments." Yoichi explained. "Like when you lose consciousness, or are asleep in a dream much like you are now. But that limitation no longer exists." Midoriya gave him a wide eyed look. No longer exists? Did that mean they would be able to talk freely with him? "Correct, Midoriya." Midoriya almost balked until he remembered that they were in HIS mind; of course they'd see what he was thinking. "About four months ago, One for All began growing rapidly; along with that growth, the vestiges of the predecessors within One for All took on more solid forms, and are now able to communicate with each other."

"In the earlier battle, All for One's power drew us out by sheer force." En continued. "But this allowed us to appear before you more easily as well."

"Don't worry, kiddo! We'll still give you your privacy when you need it!" Banjo chuckled. Midoriya only stared at him blankly. "Oh right, you don't have a mouth."

Midoriya recalled being able to call out in the earlier battle, when he tried to rush to the aid of the others in his mind. His mouth hadn't fully formed at the time, but his voice still managed to emerge from where it should be. If he could focus on the feeling he had at the time…

"Wh-wh… D… eed… ell me?" He had meant to ask "what did you need to tell me", but he supposed that would do for now. It had taken a lot more effort than he thought it would be just to get those noises out. Banjo at least seemed excited by the development, giving him a wide smile and clapping.

"Allow me to explain." The stoic man stood up. "I was the fourth wielder; my name is Hikage Shinomori. In the last battle, you drew upon my power without meaning to."

'He's talking about Danger Sense!' Midoriya realized. The sharp feeling that pierced his head before Shigaraki had unleashed his attacks… Like an early warning detection system. That was the fourth's ability then!

"That came as quite a shock to me." Shinomori explained with a grimace. Midoriya mumbled out an apology. "I get the sense that it would've been better for you to discover Danger Sense in a better setting."

…Was that a pun?

"Shinomori here was a weirdo who shunned society for the life of a hermit." Banjo explained, attempting to clap the shorter man on the back. Before he could do so, Shinomori avoided it gracefully and repositioned himself further away from Banjo. Banjo scowled. He didn't like that.

"Mine was a terrible era. THEY were the weird ones, not me." Banjo unleashed Black Whip suddenly and began making the tendrils poke out at Shinomori, who dodged each one as he kept the conversation going at a natural pace. "Do you happen to know how long I lived for, and what killed me?"

"You… died… forty… years… old…" Midoriya forced out. "Not… sure… killed you…"

'Come to think of it, in All Might's notes something HAD been written, but it looked like he erased it out… I never asked him about it.'

"I died of old age."

"Old age?!" Midoriya echoed. But he had only been forty!

"Banjo and I had no way of knowing how I died, not until Yagi did his research and showed us." Shinomori continued with a grimace. "But that brings me to my point… One for All cannot be wielded by a regular person."

Midoriya didn't understand, still trying to process the details of his predecessor's death. A regular person can't wield One for All?

"I possessed One for All the second longest, after Yagi. For 18 long years, I had devoted myself to training the quirk up in hiding, evading All for One's forces from the moment I inherited it. I knew I could never defeat him with its power at the time, so I spent my "turn", so to speak, amassing as much power as I could in secret. But in my final years, these cracks appeared on my face." He lifted his bangs out of his face to show Midoriya the full extent of the cracks on his face; they ran from the top of his forehead all the way over his eye and down to his mouth. "I thought it was some unknown disease at the time, or perhaps I had not trained hard enough, but when Yagi dug up my medical history and autopsy report, it became clear. I say I died of "old age" because possessing multiple quirks ate away at my life span."

"Ate away your life…?" Midoriya asked. He could now speak full sentences, but his mouth still hadn't formed. "But hang on… didn't One for All only grow stronger after your time? All Might managed to hold onto it longer than that!"

"And that is what we must tell you." Yoichi said. "When Yagi realized possessing One for All places a terrible burden on the body, he thought the same thing. The others never held it for too long, and since they died in battle, Yagi's only other point of comparison was himself. Which is why he thought about what he had that Shinomori- and all of us- lacked."

Midoriya thought about what separated Yagi from the rest, aside from being alive. The others had inherited the quirks of those who came before, which combined with their own quirk ate away at their lives…

Wait.

Their own quirk?

"All Might was quirkless." He said out loud.

"Yes." Yoichi nodded. "Yagi still lives, but the knowledge he gained was passed to us via his shadow in here." He looked at the yellow cloud, vaguely shaped like All Might. "He couldn't be entirely sure, so he didn't want to tell you, but what my brother said confirms it. He spoke of how a person's essence is hardwired into their quirk factor… But then why would Yagi appear here when he never had a quirk of his own? At the time, we believed that it was our raw spirits of us predecessors that allowed us to remain here, but in truth those fragments of consciousness came about with our quirks, at least from the second to the seventh users. THAT is what One for All contains. Yagi is the sole exception. Only he imbued One for All with a true piece of his consciousness.

"Think of it like filling a glass with water. A vessel with an existing quirk could not receive One for All without warping and spilling over, like a cup of water receiving more water from another cup. Attempting to force those quirks together in one body results in a shortened lifespan, as the fourth experience. For forty years, Yagi maintained his grip on One for All. It was a perfect fit for his empty vessel, and as such it truly became HIS quirk. By some twist of fate, that power that must pass from one to the next wound up being meant for those who lacked power in the first place. They are the ones who can draw out its true power."

Midoriya stayed silent as he processed all this information. Those with quirks were unable to hold One for All because it would overlap with their own quirk and slowly kill them… But those without quirks, like him and All Might, could receive its full power because they never had anything to begin with.

"So… Now that all of your quirks are manifesting in me, I definitely can't pass this on to a regular person anymore. One for All can't be transferred anymore- that's what you're saying." Midoriya concluded. Yoichi was silent for a beat.

"Quirkless individuals have all but vanished in your generation, and you're unlikely to come across another who needs such power. None of us knew any of this at the time, but as fate would have it the quirk passed down from his hands into yours. If we had found a way to interact with wielders sooner… So much pain and suffering could've been avoided."

Midoriya thought back to Sir Nighteye, and his unwavering belief that Midoriya was not fit to become the vessel for One for All. Sir Nighteye had spent his time raising Mirio to be that vessel, and now Midoriya was being told that it would've been impossible for anyone BUT him to have it. Guilt wracked him; if he had known, Sir Nighteye would've never had his falling out with All Might. Perhaps, even, he would still be alive…

'I may be the last wielder of One for All.'

He knew the others heard what he was thinking, as each of them broke their contact with him. Banjo returned to his seat, his eyes cast to the floor. Yoichi closed his eyes, giving a somber nod.

"That's the real issue." A voice that had not been heard all this time finally spoke up. Midoriya turned to face Nana Shimura, who had finally begun to look at Midoriya. Her face was hardened, and her eyes were distant; a far cry from the soft gaze he had always seen her with. "If you are the last, then we will never get another opportunity to stop All for One. So tell me-"

Midoriya felt chills run down his spine as Nana's eyes grew even colder, her brows furrowed in determination. Her voice didn't even waver as she finished her question.

"Can you kill Tomura Shigaraki?"