Izuku had to give the League credit, they had been thorough imprisoning him. They had slapped Quirk-suppressing cuffs on him. They felt weaker than Sea Prism, and Izuku felt sure he could yank a pair apart if he had to. And if he could break a pair, what was eleven more? Sure, they were tight enough that every twitch of his arms made him bleed, but that was just extra incentive to escape them.

And if the cuffs weren't enough, they had him sitting in a pool of water knee deep. He wasn't sure how the villains found out the weakness of any Devil Fruit, but all he knew was he couldn't risk tipping the chair over without drowning.

Evidently, they didn't even trust the cuffs or the water to do the job, as the entire assembly was locked inside what was essentially a massive, sideways MRI machine. The whole room had a powerful, constantly shifting magnetic field rippling through it. Even with his Devil Fruit nullified twice over, he could still feel his skin itching as the field lapped at his skin like ocean waves, promising with each touch to scatter every electron of his body like grains of sand in the tide.

Izuku had no idea how long he had been locked away. The League never bothered to feed him or give him water. His throat felt like sandpaper, and his stomach had long since given up complaining about the lack of food. The only mercy was that the deprivation meant he hadn't soiled his clothes yet.

Weighed down with exhaustion and fatigue, a dozen cuffs, and the ocean's enmity upon his back, Izuku Midoriya tensed his arms. As feeble as his muscles were, he could feel the cheap metal and plastic in the cuffs warping under the strain. Hairline cracks ran through the material, growing ever so slightly every time Izuku tested his might against them.

He had no plan for how he would escape the pool of water, nor a plan for powering through the magnetic field. He had no plan for fighting his way past however many villains were guarding him, nor of making it back to safety once he freed himself.

And still, he pulled.

The magnetic field flickered away. Izuku went still, relaxing all his muscles. As the door slowly, ponderously swung open, Izuku hung his head and let himself feel the full weight of his exhaustion. He didn't even look up as footsteps echoed across the room.

"Izuku Midoriya," the villain said. Izuku felt an involuntary chill run up his spine. The words had the weight of an Admiral behind them, and the very air felt charged with the villain's power. Izuku didn't need to raise his head to know who stood before him.

"All for One," Izuku whispered, throat raspy. "I'm a bit disappointed."

"Oh? How so?"

"You let your underlings do all the hard work for you. You could've at least beaten me yourself."

All for One put a hand under Izuku's chin. Izuku didn't resist as the villain lifted him until he was looking into the blank, eyeless dome atop the villain's head. "I learned long ago the folly of fighting on the front lines," All for One said. "I had underestimated One for All once. I will not do so again."

"One for All? What's that?"

The villain let out a low, rumbling chuckle. "Oh, child. I admit, it was a well played gambit. You were wise to hide the older Quirks from me. Black Whip or Smokescreen would have given up the game instantly. Using kicks to stay airborne was inspired, but don't think I didn't notice you cheating with Float from time to time. And then there's Danger Sense. Claiming you can sense electrical signals doesn't hold any weight when you can perfectly predict projectiles as well, or how you can tell someone's intentions. No, the only ones you openly relied on were the electric Quirk and the hardening, Quirks from the future. Was one of those your natural Quirk, or did both of those come from future users?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No need to play coy with me, Midoriya. I can only imagine my plan succeeded, and that All Might and the tenth wielder was powerless to stop me. So, once you received All for One, you went back in time to the moment I emerged from hiding, and Nezu stepped in so no one would notice that you were a few years older. Your plan was well played, but you made one fatal mistake." All for One reached into his suit and pulled out a battered, faded DVD case. "I grew up in the rise of Quirks. Much of the culture from the 20th and 21st centuries was destroyed in the upheaval, but I still remember bits and pieces of my childhood. Shield or whoever invented the time machine was very unwise to pay homage to this movie."

Izuku thought at a million miles a minute. All for One knew about time travel. If he went back into the past, there was no telling what damage he could do. He could stop himself from losing to All Might. He could stop One for All from existing in the first place. He could rewrite history, and make himself a global dictator decades before Izuku was ever born.

Izuku couldn't risk testing the cuffs again, not with All for One right there, with any number of sensory Quirks. And even if he snapped them all in one go, he still had the water to contend with. He had to find a way out of this chair. Find a way to reach All for One and finish what All Might started.

No matter what it took.

Izuku forced himself to laugh. "Too late. You made a big mistake capturing me."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"One for All already failed to stop you once. Why would we rely on it again?" Izuku raised his head higher, almost looking down on the villain from his chair. "I'm just the distraction."

"The distraction?" All for One mulled it over. "But if not you then… surely not the girl. She was impressive, almost on All Might's level with her synthetic-Quirk technology, but not an ace in the hole. No, I think you're bluffing."

"You're right that no one can beat you, this time. But we don't have to. We can use the time machine as many times as we want. And each time, Mei will come back with better and better weapons." Izuku raised his head and grinned. "Time travel resets my progress each time, but Mei? She can take blueprints back and make them stronger. Every time, she'll learn more of your Quirks, devise weapons to counter them, and come that much closer to beating you. And since you're here and left Mei behind, guess where she'll be going?"

"To storage room B2-6, underneath U.A."

Izuku's blood ran cold. If he knew the exact location where they kept the DeLorean, nothing was stopping him from warping in and taking it. Even so, he kept the panic off his face.

"Destroying it would set us back a bit, but there's nothing stopping us from rebuilding it."

"Oh? You seem so certain I won't be able to use the one already built."

Izuku clammed up. All for One dug his fingers into Izuku's chin and wrenched his head up. "There's an activation key, isn't there? And it would have to be something I couldn't easily copy or acquire. Something I couldn't torture out of anyone. Something… like One for All."

Izuku swallowed. His whole body felt weightless. He knew what was coming, knew what had to be done, but the finality of it hung over Izuku like an executioner's axe. Luckily for him, All for One took his sudden nerves as a sign that his theory was correct.

"A solid strategy, built off the preconception I can't simply take One for All. I have tried, in the past, but I've never gotten more than a brief moment for an attempt, a punch, maybe a quick wrist-grab to deflect an attack. In all these years, I've never had a One for All user at my mercy, until now."

Still holding Izuku's chin, All for One placed his other hand on Izuku's forehead, digging into his scalp. Izuku wrenched and bucked in the chair as he felt All for One's Quirk pulling at his Devil Fruit.

"And now, at long last, the gift I gave my precious little brother returns to me."

Izuku could feel the tug of war between him and the villain. He could resist, if he wished, cling to his Quirk, break the restraints, and hope for a miracle. He knew, however, he wasn't strong enough. After all the training he did, he knew he couldn't beat Kizaru. He wouldn't be a match for anyone who measured up to him either. Nor did he have the strength to resist the water around his legs.

Instead, Izuku let go. He felt the Rumble Fruit's power wrench out of him like a splinter yanked out of his soul. He nearly passed out, but dug his nails into his palms to keep himself awake.

All for One screamed as electricity coursed up his body. The mask over his eyes flew apart in a shower of twisted scrap. His form flickered, and sparks leapt from his arms and legs as the Rumble Fruit burned through his Quirk.

"What did you do!" All for One roared. "What is this? This isn't One for All!"

Izuku stood. "No it's not, you bastard. That was a gift from the greatest pirate in the world. And you're going to give it back!"

With a roar, Izuku yanked his arms apart, shattering the dozen handcuffs. Haki ran up his entire arm as Izuku pivoted and drove his fist into All for One's face. The villain crashed through the door, landing in a heap of dented metal and snapped floorboards.

The other villains, either standing guard or lounging around at the bar, immediately snapped to attention. Hands went to weapons and Quirks flared up, and yet, the assembled villains hesitated in the face of their foe. Worn down by his imprisonment and deprived of his Devil Fruit, Izuku's eyes burned with a raw malice and fury that froze every villain that looked upon it.

All for One lurched to his feet. He flung lightning, and Izuku batted it aside with a Haki-coated hand.

"Impossible. That hardening… I took your Quirk! There wasn't anything else!"

"You're right. This isn't a Quirk." Izuku braced his legs. "And neither is this."

Izuku flashed forward with Soru and decked All for One again. As the villain crumpled before the Haki-fueled onslaught, Shigaraki shook himself from his stupor. He launched himself from the bar, hands outstretched, and said, "Hands off my sensei, you stupid hero!"

Izuku's foot swept up and kicked Shigaraki into the ceiling. Spurred on by their leader leaping into action, Spinner and Himiko darted in, each taking one of Izuku's flanks. Izuku dodged the sword, let the knives scrape off his Haki, and rammed his head into Himiko's. She turned her fall backwards into a flip and snarled as she wiped blood from her nose.

"That wasn't very nice. I'll make you bleed for that."

"You need sharper knives."

Spinner swung his sword again. Instead of blocking or dodging, Izuku punched through the shoddily assembled cluster of sharp edges. Metal went flying in jagged shards. As Spinner stood transfixed, shocked by his shattered weapon, Izuku grabbed him and hurled him at All for One. He went flying through the villain, getting zapped along the way, and fell in a smoking heap.

As Izuku charged back at All for One, he felt himself tugged backwards. Magne held her magnet up, hiding behind the bar. Izuku swiped a glass off the counter and hurled it at her head. She ducked with a yelp, narrowly avoiding the glass projectile, but it distracted her enough to break her Quirk.

Magne's actions stalled Izuku enough for All for One to regain his bearings. As Izuku charged back at him again, he tried summoning a Quirk, only for sparks to answer him instead. Izuku charged through the sloppy attack and punched All for One into a wall.

"How?" All for One roared. "What kind of trick is this? What Quirk gave you this strength?"

Izuku threw another punch. All for One tried to dodge, and the blow clipped his shoulder. Izuku threw punch after punch, wading after him while the remaining League members hesitated, either nursing wounds or worrying about catching their boss in the crossfire.

"There is no trick," Izuku told him as he rammed his fist into the villain's ribcage. "I was strong before I got that gift. I never needed it. But it is mine, and you are going to give it back."

All for One wheezed with laughter. "You think you're going to make me?"

"Yes."

All for One stumbled away from another punch. Izuku stamped down, pinning him to the floor with a Haki-tipped foot, squeezed the villain's shoulders hard enough to make him grunt, then slammed him into his forehead. All for One decohered, their form blurring into television static, as the blow crumpled his head.

Izuku stepped forward, but a wall of fire rose in his path. He turned to face Dabi, who grimaced as flames danced up his arms. "You might be strong," Dabi said, "But even you will burn if I light you on fire enough."

"You don't have enough fire for that."

Dabi scowled. He raised his other arm, and the air inside the bar grew blisteringly hot. Izuku grabbed a chair and hurled it at him. Flames leapt out and devoured the wood until not even ashes remained. But, behind the veil of the chair's fire, Izuku shattered the floor, swiped a sharp, narrow board, and hurled it like a knife.

The wood splintered as it flew, the air whittling away at it until it made a sharpened point, then Dabi's own flames tempered it into a hardened edge. It sliced the flames, cleaved the air with the sheer force of Izuku's throw. Dabi didn't even see it as it sliced through his own shoulder, whistled past the bar, and buried itself deep in the wall.

With the flames gone, Izuku resumed his assault on One for All. The villain threw larger thunderbolts, trying to strike Izuku down with the raw power of his Devil Fruit, but Izuku's hands darted with lightning speed. Bolts scattered left and right, shattering tables, breaking bottles, and scorching the floor, and the other League members dove for cover.

"I'm going to kill you for this," All for One seethed. "Slowly. After I make you watch as I kill everyone you care about. Your family. Your friends. Everyone at U.A. All your favorite heroes. I'll have you begging to death before I graciously grant it to you."

"I've heard that from scarier people than you."

All for One roared. In both hands, a massive bolt, with all the power and weight the villain could muster, stretched from ceiling to floor. He hurled it, shattering the air with a deafening crash and filling the room with the stench of ozone.

Izuku punched the bolt. Lighting erupted in a fireworks display, and Izuku's fist kept going. Haki crept past his elbow, up his shoulder, and nearly up his neck as Izuku let out his own defiant warcry. His fist slammed into All for One's jaw with a shockwave. Pivoting his feet, Izuku hooked his fist under the villain's head and thrust it upwards with a single, violent snap.

The punch would have decapitated a lesser man. All for One, all too used to fighting bruisers with impossible physical strength, bent his neck and spine in a rough facsimile of Kami-e, spreading the force enough that Izuku's punch sent him flying, rather than killing him outright.

Izuku tsked and readied himself to jump, but a portal appeared above him. Kurogiri flung it down, looking to snare Izuku. A Haki coated elbow slammed into Kurogiri's wispy form. Not expecting a physical blow to affect him, Kurogiri went flying and fell limply on the floor.

As All for One soared into the night sky like a backwards comet, he analyzed the situation. The boy should have been weak from captivity, and yet he almost killed him. After he recovered, who knew how strong the boy would be?

But he was also fighting on a handicap. His Quirks were gone, supplanted by the one he had stolen. Surely he would be stronger once he got it under control.

With that rationalization, All for One vanished into the horizon in a streak of lightning.

Izuku watched him go through the hole in the roof. For a moment, exhaustion swept over him, and he wanted nothing more than to fall to the floor and close his eyes. He almost did, except his Haki picked up a flicker of hostile intent charging towards him. Izuku sidestepped, grabbed Shigaraki's wrist, and flipped him onto a table, splitting it in half.

As Shigaraki blearily tried to get up, Izuku drove a knee into his gut. Kneeling over him, Izuku raised a fist, and punched down. Again, and again. Shigaraki fumbled at him with his hands. Izuku grabbed them both at the wrist, wrenched his arms aside, and kept punching.

A translucent sphere flickered into existence, slamming into the Haki around Izuku's arm. Compress faltered for a moment, arm outstretched, his mask not quite hiding the blatant shock at his Quirk's failure. Izuku flexed his arm, and the Quirk shattered.

In that single moment Izuku was distracted, the League burst into action. Twice sent an army of Spinners and Togas at him. Dabi wrapped Izuku in flames. Magne tried pulling him into the crowd, and Kurogiri pulled Shigaraki through a portal to safety.

Any one of those, Izuku could have dealt with. The combined onslaught was too much for his exhausted state. As he stumbled into a wall of fire and knives, all too aware that the villains were slipping away, Izuku planted his feet and raised his voice.

"I am Viridian," Midoriya boomed. "A member of the Straw Hat pirates, wanted fugitive of the World Government, and a man who sailed with Gold Roger. And one day, I will be the greatest hero alive!"

Izuku felt his Haki unfurl around him. The League staggered under the sudden pressure. Kurogiri's portals guttered out, Magne's head dropped onto the bar, and Twice's clones melted in a pile of mud. The remaining villains sank to their knees, struggling to keep their heads raised.

As Dabi's eyes flickered shut, the villain gritted his teeth and set his entire body ablaze. Invigorated by the sudden pain, he flung a massive fireball at Izuku. Izuku chopped it in half, making a wind blade with the edge of his hand, but it was distraction enough to end his Conqueror's Haki.

Spinner, gripping the shards of his broken sword in both hands, charged with Himiko at Izuku's flanks. Izuku snatched Spinner by the neck and drove him face-first into the floor, while Himiko's knife glanced harmlessly off his back. Stomping Spinner into the floor, Izuku lashed out and punched Himiko halfway across the room.

Dabi leapt at him from behind and wrapped his arms around Izuku's shoulders. As flames licked at both of them, Dabi said, "I've kinda grown to like these idiots. I'm not going to let you kill them, even if I have to burn myself to a crisp."

"Then you shouldn't have wasted your time talking."

Dabi lit himself on fire, but Izuku sprang up. They both slammed into the ceiling at breakneck speeds, but only one of them had Haki protecting their head. Dabi tumbled to the ground, unconscious, and Izuku brushed away the soot on his arms.

On the corner of his vision, Izuku saw a chair crumble into dust. He hastily darted away as he felt the entire half of the bar behind him radiate danger. Shigaraki, nose smashed, one eye swollen shut, lips busted into a bloody ruin, wobbled on his feet and glared at Izuku with palpable venom from his single good eye.

"Heroes…" Shigaraki seethed. "Always ruining everything. You ruined my plan for the USJ. You hurt my Sensei, you beat up all my party members." Shigaraki's hands trembled, and the walls crumbled. "Just die already!"

Izuku thought about doing that. He looked around at all the villains lying on the ground, in the path of Shigaraki's uncontrolled Quirk. If he left, and the Quirk kept spreading, they would either decay or get buried when the building collapsed. Tempted as he was to simply leave them to their deaths, Izuku had decided long ago, on another world, that he wasn't going to let his emotions turn him into a monster.

Hardening himself as much as he could with Haki and Tekkai, with whatever he thought would buy him time against the onslaught of decay, Izuku blitzed forward. He hit Shigaraki with the force of a freight train, snapping his head back and knocking out a few teeth.

Izuku felt Shigaraki's consciousness flicker into darkness before the villain hit the ground. The decay stopped, leaving one wall eaten away and a pile of dust on the floor.

Izuku shook his arm. A patch of skin around his elbow flaked away, exposing raw and weeping muscle underneath. Ignoring his wounds, Izuku cast his senses around the room, making sure the villains were still down. To his surprise, he felt an extra presence nearby.

A knock came at the door, and All Might called out, "Pizza delivery!"

The word 'pizza' bounced around Izuku's brain like a pinball and fell squarely into the jackpot hole. He Soru'd over and opened the door before All Might could punch it down.

"Great, you brought food, I'm starving."

All Might did a double-take as Izuku swiped the box from his hands. "Midoriya, my boy. If you're here, then - that lightning overhead, that was All for One, wasn't it?"

Izuku clawed at the box, realized he was holding it backwards, and flipped it around.

"Yup."

"That means he-" All Might trailed off, horror growing on his face.

"Took my Quirk? Sure did. I'll get it back."

"Get it- Izuku, you can't take a Quirk from him. No one can. And you can't trust him to give it back either. He could add anything else he liked and turn you into a Nomu like the others."

Izuku stood transfixed, looking down in a somber visage of grief. All Might cautiously reached out. "I know it's hard. You might not be able to continue your path of heroism, but there's still plenty of good you can do for the world. Umm… Izuku?"

Izuku let the empty box fall to the ground. "Not a single slice. Not even a speck of cheese or a crumb."

"Wait, are you sad there's no pizza?" All Might asked, aghast.

Izuku closed his eyes, said, "God damn it Luffy," and fell over at All Might's feet.

Setting Izuku aside in a relatively comfortable position, All Might warily entered the villains' hideout, expecting to find some form of resistance. He was not expecting to find the entire ensemble of villains passed out, beaten senseless, and embedded in the walls, floor, and furniture.

All Might, silently awed by the display, and at the implication that Izuku did all of that Quirkless, after being in their clutches for a whole day, thought that maybe Izuku losing his Quirk was fate.

He might have finally found his successor.

A/N: this chapter is coming to you live from my brand new gaming PC! It's nice not having to play games like I'm clicking through a powerpoint presentation.

I also have a new bed, but who cares? I use my PC more anyways.

In other news, I have more furniture now, my doorbell is no longer two wires sticking out of the siding to electrocute people, and about the only herbs I can cultivate are arugula and chervil. Is it too much to ask that I get to put some fresh basil on my pizza?

I also have a million tomato plants I never planted, watered, or even knew existed until my parents pointed them out. The garden boxes are exploding with them. So… yay?