Some might say that it's foolish to try and fight a man a strong as All Might however I beg to differ. Perhaps if this were a younger him that wasn't missing his respiratory organs I'd consider running away however right now? Right here? I have no reason to run.
Ever since I first watched My Hero Academia All Might really seemed like one of the strongest characters in the show to me, however this was real life and, as ridiculous as this world is, logic still applied to an extent. So logically, realistically how did All Might defeat All For One?
Don't misunderstand me All Might is a ridiculously powerful man but it stumps me how an existence like All For One could possibly lose. Sure One For All is an all-powerful strength Quirk but since when do I have to care about close quarters? All Might shouldn't have been able to win.
However I think I have the answer, All For One had overloaded his body with Quirks.
One hundred and fifty years is a very long time to be alive and if he's anything like me then he would have collected thousands of Quirks throughout that time period, even if our bodies can function normally with such an enormous burden our Quirks can't. Having so many Quirk factors in your body at once is a really bad idea, even if you can live with it, because it's inevitable that your powers will overlap with each other and, by extension, weaken themselves. So All For One ended up being extremely versatile but overall weaker than All Might.
So I've made sure that any Quirks I steal don't overlap with each other, problem solved.
All Might saw that one of his fists was caught by my hand and shifted in place to take his left fist and swings for a mean haymaker that would kill most villains.
But I'm not most villains.
I caught the fist in my right palm with us both fighting for dominance as the wind pressure from the collision caused the ground to crack below our feet.
My friends, seeing that All Might was here immediately understood the situation, two titans weres colliding, they can't help me right now, it's best that they leave so that I can go all out.
"Everyone we need to leave!" Shouko yelled an order as purple mist surrounded her and she opened another Warp Gate for everyone to exit with.
Toshinori saw this and grabbed me roughly by the arm before throwing me into the air behind him and turned his eyes towards my friends, knowing that if the other villains left with the heroes then there's no telling what would happen to them.
He lunged at the Tatara members." Stop right- huh!"
I froze in the air using Air Walk and grabbed him using two Quirks that are perfect for both capture and restraint.
Black Whip + Rivet Stab
The result was a group of long black tendrils that had sharp blades protruding out of the outer layer.
The tendrils grabbed on tightly." Don't have fear-" I pulled."- for I am here!"
After yelling his own catchphrase against him I swung him through a nearby building with such strength that the brick walls instantly caved in. He'd be down. Not for long though.
But it'd be long enough.
Turning to my allies who were shocked at seeing me so casually throw around the world's top hero. I recalled Black Thorns, the name for my combination, and turned back to the holder of One For All." Leave, he's down but he won't be for long!" I yelled as I flew into the air and rocketed towards my new opponent.
Seeing their leader fly off to fight the number one hero made them all anxious however the rebels had faith in their leader and started to exit through the Warp Gate.
I flew amongst some of the buildings in the area, All Might is around here somewhere. How about I find him?
All For One is a power that I greatly appreciate, I can have any Quirk I please, all I need to do is take it. Well any Quirk except one of course.
I used '360° vision' to see everything around my head at eye level, a Quirk that let's me see through walls, a Quirk that gives me thermal vision and a Quirk that let's me see vibrations in the air. Practically nothing can escape my view- ah there you are.
All Might jumped quick as a flash off the ground from behind a building and cocked back his fist."Texas Smash!" I grinned in delight, of this is gonna be good.
I activated 'Tempo' to slow down my perception of the world and flew under his arm before punching the left side of his stomach with all my might.
Wind kicked up behind me but I stayed steady as my fist buried itself in the man's weak spot.
"AAAGGGHHHH!" Okay maybe that was too brutal.
All Might pulled back his left, unused, fist and with all his might slammed me in the chest with a punch.
Despite the terrible position the blow sent me from the air to the ground with 'Super Regeneration' kicking in a moment later to instantly heal my injuries.
However All Might wasn't unfazed by my previous attack, he landed on the ground, out of my painful grasp, his mouth was leaking blood and he held his left side tenderly with a grimace.
"You knew." He spoke with realisation in his voice and an expression of grimness." How did you know about my injury? Did All For One tell you?"
I didn't respond at first. I merely took my time to get off and brush my suit off at a leisurely pace with a serene expression on my face.
He gritted his teeth in frustration at my lack of a response and raised his fist to strike me again." Tell me-"
Suddenly his entire world went dark, he couldn't feel, he couldn't hear, he couldn't see and he couldn't smell, even thinking was a struggle. What did he do-
"Yahgh!" Suddenly he was flying through the air at high speeds with air flowing past him as he crashed into the wall of another building.
He was dazed and confused by what happened, what did he do? It's like his senses all shut off before that strike, another Quirk?
Toshinori was in reality quite nervous at this fight, as much as he hated to admit it he's a shell of his former self, even living a normal life is beyond him, can he really defeat another All For One in his current state?
"To answer your question, yes I do know about your stomach injury, the one you got when you fought All For One." At those words the Symbol of Peace looked forward to see Ryoto looking mostly unharmed from the previous attacks. His face the picture of calmness.
Toshinori tried to hold it back but just looking at the face of this young amn was enough to light a spark of primal anger in him, he looks far too similar to his arch nemesis for his liking. The presence that he gave off was just as similar too, just that is enough to make All Mights blood boil as he stared into the face of the one who killed his master.
"How do you know about All For One?" Toshinori could easily take an educated guess as to how exactly he knows the supervillain, he's no idiot, they share the same Quirk, the same face and the same presence, they're likely related in all honesty.
Ryoto shrugged in response." There aren't exactly many other people in the world that can steal Quirks, as soon as I unlocked my power I started searching for an answer as to where this power of mine came from." He looked at his palms with a dangerous glint in his eyes." Quirks are hereditary, whilst I know exactly who my parents are I don't know a single thing about my fathers side of the family, and eventually, after a bit of research, I found the answer was my father, whilst he didn't have All For One himself someone further up the family tree did. It's surprising really, who thought that the demon lord himself would be a family man, it's really quite funny." Ryoto chuckled to himself in amusement at the thought however All Might was anything but amused.
The idea of more than a single All For One existing was terrifying to him, the man had killed his master- his mother- and committed a list of atrocities so large that he couldn't possibly hope to list them all, just thinking about him is enough to make his blood boil , and Toshinori can't help but compare Ryoto to the evil incarnate himself, as much as his mind tries to tell him that they're two separate people.
"What are your goals?" All Might questioned in a no nonsense tone that all but demanded an answer out of the young man. He needs to know what Ryoto is planning, as much as he'd like to have confidence in his ability to handle him he just can't, he's out of his prime and lacks the incredible power he once boasted, Stockpiling Quirks, like One For All, are reliant on the users ability to stockpile power, so when he lost his ability to eat properly he also lost the ability to use One For All to its full potential. He can only hope that there's hope for this potential supervillain.
Ryotos calm facade was instantly replaced by a serious one in just a moments notice." Tell me All Might do you really think that we live in an era of peace?"
Toshinori was confused by the question. What is he getting at? Whilst he does agree that the world isn't perfect, one man can't be everywhere as unfortunate as that is, he can safely say that growing up, when All For One ruled Japan from the shadows, the situation made this look like paradise, evil had more power than anyone born today could possibly understand, until he brought it all down.
The muscular man frowned and answered carefully." The world isn't perfect, I'll grant you that, however compared to when I grew up in Japan I'd say it is peaceful."
Ryoto nods and closes his eyes for a moment." What was it like for you growing up Quirkless?"
Now that takes the blonde man by surprise. He grits his teeth before speaking." How do you know that I was once Quirkless?"
The white haired man merely ignores the question and simply asks again." What was it like growing up Quirkless?"
Toshinori felt some irritation at his question being ignored but realised that he wasn't really getting anywhere. It's been a long time since he thought about his life before he got One For All in all honesty, growing up Quirkless was... relatively normal for him in all honesty. Whilst yes he was picked on occasionally for it the Quirkless population bas around forty percent back then so he wasn't exactly alone either.
Of course now he does realise that life for the Quirkless is a lot more difficult than when he was younger, close to no newborns are Quirkless in the present, with his goddaughter Melissa being the only Quirkless person he actually knows these days.
He has very few regrets and not being able to help the group that he once belonged to is one of them, however he physically can't do anything to help them, he's been reduced to a shadow of his former self since he lost his stomach, even living a normal life is beyond him, being the Symbol of Peace is all he has left, he just isn't able to help the Quirkless with what he has now.
"The Quirkless population was higher than it is now." He answered carefully, making sure to look his enemy in the eye." So I wasn't completely alone. It was nowhere near as bad as right now." He freely admits that his Quirklessness never really did cause him many problems.
Ryotos eyes merely glanced to the side at the words the Symbol uttered out." I suppose that makes sense. How about I tell you about what it was like for me?"
The words are uttered with a sad glint in the Quirk stealers eyes that actually make Toshinori feel curious as to what exactly his enemy had to endure for him to resort to what he's doing right now. He's not so narrow minded as to think that a villain doesn't have their reasons, be it money, hatred or anger. It's part of being hero to be open minded.
"And what was it like for you?"
At those words Ryoto turned back to the blonde and his eyes seemed to burn with a hatred that Toshinori isn't sure he's seen in a villain before, as evil as All For One was he was also cold, calculating and emotionless for the most part, even if they have the same Quirk they definitely aren't the same people.
"It was horrible. I was five years old, my Quirk didn't come in like all the other kids did, my parents were, for a lack of a better word, fascists that hated those without Quirks or heteromorphs, they believed the Quirkless to be a waste of oxygen and food. Imagine what happened when they found out their own son was one of them?" His words were monotone and robotic as he spoke along.
Toshinori actually felt a twinge of sympathy for a moment." They abandoned you?"
Ryoto nodded at the blondes words." Yes. My own father looked at me with genuine hatred before dumping me in an orphanage. For ten years I didn't make a single friend, if they weren't beating the shit out of me they were afraid of being associated with some Quirkless kid." His words were both bitter and hateful in a way that would make men pity whoever earned such a powerful individuals wrath.
Toshinori instinctually spoke a few words of comfort." I'm sorry that you had to-"
"Don't." The words were like a knife piercing through the air." What's the good at feeling sorry for someone if you aren't actually going to serve justice for the abuse that I've faced, that the Quirkless face. Humans are cruel Toshi, the Quirkless get easier to beat down the fewer of us there are, we're going extinct but we're still people and we don't deserve that." His red eyes seem to bore into All Mights own blue ones." That's the reason that I'm doing this, that we are doing this, because the rest of the population like looking down on us, they think that they can just look down on us, I can't allow their twisted way of thinking to continue, that is the reason for my actions to end the world's hatred." By the end Ryotos expression is stone cold, as though he were a judge in a court.
Toshinori could sympathise with his plight but-
"You really think that this-" All Might gestured to the destruction in the streets that was left in the wake of his group of self proclaimed revolutionists."- is going to stop humans from hating the Quirkless?"
It was just irrational to the blonde man, humans will always hate each other, he doesn't like it but he just can't change some things.
Ryoto evenly responded." I have faith that it's a step forward if that's what you mean."
Those words seemed to light a fuse in the world's top hero as he gritted his teeth and allowed One For All to burn in him once again as he pounces forward with his fist cocked back at a speed faster than the eyes can see." Your insane!"
In response to the has attack Ryoto quickly activated 'Air Wall' with several enhancers, it wouldn't be enough to block the blow entirely however it should cushion the blow somewhat. The results however were disappointing.
The barrier of air immediately caved under All Mights fist and though the barrier was created an angle which changed the attacks trajectory but just the sheer airpressure from such a powerful attack was enough to create a massive tornado that swept me off my feet and forced me to quickly correct myself using multiple flying Quirks to control my position in the air. No more playing around.
I grinned savagely at the blonde who was preparing for another attack." What's wrong old man?! Did you get tired?!" Blue flames ignited on my left arm which I cast towards him, the heat from the flames was so intense that even I needed to activate 'Super Regeneration' to heal the mild burns I would get as a result of creating such scorching hot flames, keep in mind that I have multiple fire Quirks on me which grant resistance to flames. It amazes me that old Dabi managed to live for so long with a body as weak to fire as his.
All Might noticed the attack and quickly changed from attacking to running around the me.
With my multiple sensory Quirks I can already tell that nobody is in the buildings that surround me, I can thank Shouko for making sure to evacuate all the civilians in the area with her Quirk. What a lovely lady she is, with nobody around that means-
My grin widened so much it felt like my face might split. Oh this'll be fun.
"I can finally let loose a little!" Blue and white flames surrounded my hands, condensing and focusing on the fingertips to the point that rays of heat began to form. Sorry Endeavour I'm gonna have to steal your moves.
I twisted in a spinning motion with brilliant blue rays of heat on my fingertips as I performed an ultimate move.
"Flashfire Fist! Hellspider!"
The rays of heat were positively massive when compared to the flame heroes with blazing blue fire rampaging and running wild on my surroundings with everything even remotely close to them melting away with the ground itself melting and breaking.
All Might gaped in shock as he did his absolute best to avoid such a powerful and destructive attack. The heat was so intense that even just standing a few meters away from them was enough to give him a nasty burn and avoiding them took extreme effort.
However suddenly the flames just... sat still in the air, completely suspended.
I activated 'Pyrokinesis', a Quirk which gives its user complete control over fire despite not being able to produce it, and held my fist up and like bees to a hive my flames were sucked into my fist, compressing and condensing to the point that the skin on my fist was burning off. Perfect.
All Might watched in nervousness as I finally threw my fist forward with a mighty scream and the compressed flames bursting out of my knuckles.
"Flashfire Fist! Burning Incinerator!"
The result was positively delightful, a massive beam of highly compressed and ultra hot flames shot out of my closed fist when I punched forward with the skin on my right hand actually melting off as All Might hastily and rapidly dodged the titanic blast that reduced the area in the city behind him into nothing but melted rubble.
'Cremation' is by far the strongest fire Quirk I've ever seen, and likely in the world, but the idea of it being able to literally melt an entire section of a city down is... delightful. For me at least.
"What have you done?!"
Turning my head to look at Toshinori I could tell that he didn't escape such a massive blast unscathed, his hero costume was melted off and his skin was likely burned badly. Fitting.
Toshinori was enraged at the use of such a destructive move right in the middle of a city, there could be civilians around the corner for all he knew!
"Are you insane?! You claim to want to change this society, why are you engulfing in destruction like this?!"
My expression remained unchanged at his words and I couldn't help but wonder how he would behave if I pushed his buttons a little.
I shrugged half-hearted." Sometimes you have to break something down to build it back up." I intentionally spoke in a way that blatantly dismissed the symbols words.
The blonde man looked at me with a glare as he gritted his teeth and yelled out in anger." You won't- aaagh." He started to get angry but ended up falling onto one knee cradling his left side tenderly as blood seemed to leak from it and steam was being emitted from his muscles.
Just from looking at him I could tell that he was clearly in pain, did I accidentally reopen his stomach wound? That could be really bad for him, perhaps even reduce his time limit even lower.
I grinned savagely. How convenient is that?
"Toshinori!" I yelled to grab his attention as azure flames ignited on my arm which failed to affect my fire proof suit. My grin only stretched as the distance between us shortened. He's on his last legs, he's out of time, one more good attack and he'll be two pieces of toast.
I thought back briefly to my biological father for a moment and wondered briefly if he saw the clip. If he did them I hope he's ready for me to pay him a visit.
Toshinori noticed my descent and struggled to his feet, with great difficulty, he ignored the pain before preparing for a punch.
It'd be too late though, with the amount of pain he's in he won't have the focus to attack before me, I doubt this'll kill him but I've worn him down enough for this attack to finish the job.
Toshinori seemed to panic as he came to the same realisation I did.
"Goodbye, Symbol of-"
The flames cut out and I was no longer in Kamino much to my confusion, I was in a realm that was all too familiar to me. The vestige world of All For One.
My movements were restrained and looking around I was unpleasantly surprised to see dozens of tiny people clinging to me, many of whom I recognised.
Suddenly a sinister voice spoke to me." Did you really believe that you could get rid of me that easily. Grandson."
The familiar voice was enough to make my chest tighten as out of the darkness a hand with a hole in it grabbed my face.
My eternally tranquil expression was disrupted at that as the full implications of what was going on finally hit . Are my Quirks-
"Detroit Smash!"
Suddenly the real world collapsed on me all at once in the form of All Mights fist crashing into my chest.
- really rebelling against me?!
If you want to read more then go to my P atreon, The Magician 565, where you can read 8 chapters in advanced to this one at the time of release, more will be available later.