Daigoro Banjo darted through the crumbling laboratory, his whips knocking away falling rubble before it could strike his head. What about this place was so special that it had attracted All for One's attention? The lab looked like it had been abandoned even before the staff fled, the shelves empty and most rooms dusty. The Hero Public Safety Commission ran this place off the radar, and when All for One had attacked, they'd suppressed the news and demanded only heroes closely affiliated with them be allowed at the scene. Daigoro had ignored direct orders to come here anyway. If All for One had entered the field of battle, then the Fifth Holder of One for All needed to be there. He couldn't have the HPSC defeating his mortal enemy without him! Although after he'd broken in through the window, he'd gotten sort of lost.
The sound of sniffling came from a neighboring room. Someone was still here? Daigoro had been headed to where the heroes were currently fighting with All for One, assuming the HPSC's lapdogs would probably be in need of rescue from someone whose quirk couldn't be stolen. However, a civilian took higher priority. He kicked down the door.
A tiny boy huddled in the corner of a barren room—clearly a cell. He wore a flimsy paper jacket common on patients in doctor's offices. Bandages covered his arms. His hair had been clumsily shaved, leaving white patches and arrows drawn on his head for brain scans. He gazed up with teary red eyes. The kid looked a little familiar, but the memory slipped away.
Rapid thoughts flashed across Daigoro's mind. He knew full well that he was not the brightest of his generation of heroes, but this situation was still sketchy as fuck. It looked like the HPSC was holding a child prisoner and performing questionable medical experiments.
The kid's safety took top priority. Daigoro could figure out what to do once away, since he no longer cared about saving the HPSC from All for One. He approached slowly with his hands raised. "Hey, kiddo. What's your name?"
"En. Are you a hero?" En gazed suspiciously.
Daigoro crouched down. "Yeah, but I'm not with the HPSC." He noticed how the boy relaxed at these words. He held out his arms. "Come on, I'm getting you out of here."
En hesitated, but then the falling ceiling from the neighboring room made up his mind. He leapt into Daigoro's arms.
Whips before Daigoro cleared his path as he blasted his way toward the outside. He ripped down part of the wall to get out. A bad idea to linger here, the building might fall on them. He had to get further away—
All for One dropped down from the sky. The villain was covered in blood (the battle apparently hadn't gone well for the HPSC) and his eyes were crazed. "EN!"
"Dad!" En screamed, waving his arms and trying to get out of Daigoro's grip. Daigoro held on by instinct, because it seemed like a bad idea to let a child go near All for One. Then his brain caught up to what the kid was saying. Oh, so that was why En looked familiar.
Practically salivating like a rabid dog, All for One growled, "If you hurt him, I'll make your death slow—"
"I don't hurt kids," Daigoro interrupted the monologue. Perhaps that hadn't been a smart thing to give away, but what the hell, he didn't want to pretend to be a monster who would take a child hostage. "En, do you want to leave with your father?"
"Yes, of course!" En cried, squirming.
Daigoro had his doubts about All for One's qualifications as a parent, but the kid was gazing at his dad like his savior. The HPSC might be fine with kidnapping kids just because their parents were villains, but Daigoro wasn't. He set the boy on the ground.
En ran over to his dad. All for One picked up the child and cradling him close, whispering soothing words and promises to never let go again.
Daigoro put his hands on his hips and declared, "I can't attack you in front of your kid, it wouldn't be manly. I'll let you go this time, villain."
All for One shot Daigoro a look of pure scorn that rapidly shifted into recognition, then calculation. Daigoro braced himself for a fight. En tugged on his father's sleeve. "Dad, he rescued me."
Glancing down at his son, All for One's expression shifted to adoration. He pressed a kiss to the boy's dirty forehead. Glaring at Daigoro, All for One said, "In light of the favor I owe you, I won't kill you this time."
As the villain and child departed, Daigoro cupped his hands to his mouth and called after them, "Yeah, you'd better run!"
All for One leapt between buildings as he put great speed between them and the laboratory. En shivered as the wind bit into his bare, needle-jabbed arms. Mid-air, All for One ripped off part of his coat and wrapped it around his son.
En knew how much his father loved his coat. He clung a bit tighter.
Finally they reached the roof of a familiar mansion—home. All for One tucked his son under one arm and opened the door. As they descended the stairs, En let it sink in that he'd been saved. No more cruel doctors wanting to experiment on a quirk he didn't even have.
The familiar grey walls with his father's demon king posters made him feel safe. Only one doubt still nagged at En's mind. He whispered, "Dad, you said you wouldn't kill that hero this time. Does that mean you're going to fight him later?"
All for One glanced down at his child. "En, you know that heroes are bad people who want to kill us. I have a particular grudge against that one. He stole something belonging to my brother."
"Oh." En chewed on his lip. "Even if you have to get back Uncle Yoichi's belongings, can you do it without killing him? Because he saved me."
"I'll try."
En pouted. "Dad!" That evasive answer meant a refusal. He narrowed his eyes and spoke in his most adult voice: "Are you saying my life is worth only a little effort from you?"
"My little shadow, I wouldn't have let you die."
"The building was falling down. You might not have gotten there in time."
All for One didn't have an answer.
En crossed his arms. "Promise me that you won't kill him."
All for One sighed deeply. "I won't kill the fool. I promise."
Ten years later, En ran through the streets of Musutafu, feeling colder than ever. His smokescreen wrapped around him, but could not protect him from the winter sleet cutting to his bones. His hair was still a little damp from the black dye. His contact lenses felt strange in his eyes. Even with his disguise, he could not shake the feeling that someone might recognize him. He ran faster.
Finally, En reached a Hero Agency with a black mess of whips painted on the door. He knocked.
Daigoro Banjo opened the door just a crack. "We're closed—" His eyes widened. En knew he'd been recognized by his facial features, all too similar to his father's.
En swallowed. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go. You saved me once, and you've fought with my dad. I know I'm asking a lot. C-can you protect me from him?" En took a deep breath, prepared to spill out his tale of woe about increasingly controlling fathers who did not take no for an answer on villainy and had a creepy fondness for bank vaults. Oh, gods, would the hero think him shameless for coming here after willingly returning to his father once before?
But without even hearing the full story, Daigoro said, "Of course," and opened his door.
OMAKE TIME!
All for One: Daigoro Banjo, the man who rescued my son, is the One for All holder who I respect the most.
Banjo: Funky!
All for One: It was a low bar.
#
En: I'm shameless to come to you for help. I blew my one chance for you to help me.
Banjo: You didn't. You were a kid, you're allowed to change your mind. You can have as many chances as you need.
En: Can I call you big brother?
#
All for One: I've met the first One for All holder who's not a kidnapper, and I'm confused.
Banjo: Second and Third didn't kidnap your brother. They rescued him.
All for One: They removed him from my home without my consent. Aka, a kidnapping.
Banjo: The First was an adult!
#
All for One: Since you returned my son to me, I will spare your life.
Banjo: Does that even count as reward? You're not giving me anything. You're just refraining from killing me.
All for One: I'm refraining from killing you once. Don't make any assumptions about the future. If you want me to continue sparing your life next time we meet then you need to do me another favor.
#
Banjo: Of course All for One recognized me since we're rivals.
All for One: I didn't recognize your face. I don't do faces. But a certain level of funky is unmistakable, like the smell of rotten eggs.
#
Third: Fifth, I'm proud of you for carrying on our tradition of saving our successors from All for One.
Yoichi: I'm not proud! Fifth, how could you give my sweet nephew back to the worst father ever?
Second: Love, be reasonable. You know you wouldn't have been ready to leave All for One at that age either. Should he have locked En up first just to stop All for One from doing it later? That would have been cruel and turned En against all heroes. Besides, Fifth never could have kept the kid because he couldn't have won that fight.
Yoichi: Fair. Fine, I don't like it but I accept that Fifth did the right thing.
Daigoro: Hey! I had All for One running away from me.
#
En: Dad, you promised me to never kill Daigoro Banjo, and you broke that promise just like how you broke all your other promise to me.
All for One: That promise was conditional on him not kidnapping you. He kidnapped you later. Therefore, the deal was off.
En: I left of my own free will.
All for One: I keep telling all my relatives they're not allowed to do that.