Chapter 4: The Next All Might

And so All Might told me what he knew about One for All, and more importantly, about All for One. With some gentle prodding and some leading questions, I was able to draw out everything All Might knew at this point in time. All Might had left out the drama regarding his relationship with Sir Nighteye, and there were some things he was yet to discover, such as the vestiges and the fact that One for All could only be passed to the quirkless, at least without drastically shortening the inheritors lifespan, but those weren't going to come up in casual conversation. His fallout with Nighteye would be broached in good time, and the other topics could wait until the vestiges reached out to me, or until All Might dug into the lives of the past users.

"Now you know everything. The complete history of One for All, and how I got to this point." All Might finished, eyeing me warily, as if he feared his newly minted successor would flee any second.

I had kept a carefully neutral expression throughout All Might's story, making sure not to show any sign that he was simply reciting things I already knew.

"Thank you for telling me all of that, All Might. Knowledge is power, after all." I said, giving him a grateful smile.

All Might tentatively returned it, before asking hesitantly. "You are still willing to inherit this power? To become my successor, even knowing the threat to your own life?"

I nodded resolutely. "Absolutely. Like I said, All Might, no matter what you had told me the dangers were, I still would have accepted. I do have one question though."

All Might gave another proud smile. "Of course, my boy. What is it?"

"You said that you killed All for One, but it seems like you doubt yourself on that. Do you have reason to believe he is still alive?" I asked.

All Might clenched his fists at his side, his features twisted into a frown as he stared out at the ocean. "I don't know. His body was broken and horribly burned at the end of our fight, and his regenerative quirks had been completely overwhelmed. All for One's underlings pulled him away as my mentor Gran Torino rushed me to the nearest hospital for my own life threatening injuries, so we never recovered the body. There has been no sign of him since, and all of his followers appear to have scattered to the wind, forming their own petty gangs or disappearing entirely. There is no reason to believe he lives, and yet…"

"We'll just have to be vigilant. If he returns, we'll be ready." I stepped forward and reached up to place a reassuring hand on All Might's shoulder. "You weren't ready to stand at Nana's side when she faced him, but I will be ready to stand at yours. Together, we will defeat him."

All Might turned to me and blinked in surprise before the proud smile returned to his face. "You remind me a lot of myself at your age, young Midoriya. And you're right, if All for One ever returns, we will both be there to stop him."

Enjoying the sounds of the ocean for a moment, I stepped back and addressed All Might again. "I'm glad we talked about all of this, but I also wanted to discuss my training with you."

If it was physically possible in real life, I have no doubt that All Might would have sweatdropped in that moment. He started to laugh before another hacking cough interrupted and he spit up blood.

At least it's more subdued in reality. If he was coughing up the amount he does in the anime, he'd probably die of blood loss within a day.

Shaking his head fondly, All Might replied in exasperation. "You just never quit, do you kid? I appreciate your perseverance, but you need to go home and get some rest. We've been here for a couple hours already. We'll get into your quirk training regimen tomorrow, I promise."

"Oh no, I'm not trying to start training today, All Might. My questions were more macro than micro." I attempted to reassure him.

It was honestly not a big deal if this portion of the process was delayed by a day, but the sooner I got All Might to work on his part of this, the sooner I could begin my training in full.

All Might studied me for a moment before nodding in acceptance. "Alright, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I had already been thinking about how to handle One for All before you explained a bit about the transfer. You mentioned that I would need to train my body before you could pass it on to me. I take it there's a very good reason for that?" I answered.

"Yes, I'm afraid that the power stored within One for All is immense, especially after over forty years stockpiling within me. When I first inherited One for All, I was able to wield it at full strength immediately and without issue, but One for All is no longer what it was when my master passed it on to me. I was tall and lanky at your age, though not entirely lacking in muscle. With how strong One for All is now, I doubt my younger self could have handled it at even half strength without breaking something. To be brutally honest, you are of far slighter build than I was. It will take everything we can do to ensure you are able to wield this power at all by the time of the UA entrance exam." All Might stated soberly.

Well, this is new. In canon, All Might pretty much told Izuku to 'break a leg'. This definitely falls in line with the 'reality' changes I have begun to notice. Everyone in the anime always talked about All Might having genius level hero intellect. It actually shows in this world.

I brought a hand to my chin and pretended to contemplate All Might's words. I had already come to the same conclusion about why All Might was able to immediately wield One for All long before I came to this world. Luckily, I had plenty of time to come up with a plan during the walk to Dagoba Beach.

"You're right. My frame does limit my ability to wield One for All, but I think I have a solution." As I was about to present my plan, the words caught in my throat as I realized one glaring flaw.

Shit, this will be expensive. I totally forgot that while All Might has contacts, niche specialities like this won't be something he can call upon easily.

"What is it, young Midoriya? It seems like you just realized a problem." All Might asked worriedly.

Well this will be kind of awkward.

"Oh! It's just that… Well, I came up with an idea that could mitigate the risks and provide other benefits as well, but I didn't even think about the cost, and my mom and I don't have that much money…" I trailed off uncomfortably.

I know All Might won't mind, but I still hate to impose on him like this. Once I go pro, I'm definitely going to pay him back. Maybe some kind of crazy advanced stomach and lung reconstruction surgery? All Might did say it couldn't be fixed, but you never know. Maybe I can have Hatsume turn him into a cyborg.

All Might released a bark of laughter which immediately segued into another bloody coughing fit, but quickly recovered and flashed a bright smile. "Young Midoriya, you are my chosen successor! You don't have to worry about anything like that. If you need anything at all to help with your training and development, just let me know. Even recreational items you may want, but those will have some price limits and will only be for things like your birthday or Christmas. That means no motorcycles in order to impress the girls in your class, young man." He finished with a teasing grin.

I laughed and waved off the offer of luxury items. "I really appreciate it All Might, but I'm going to be terribly uncomfortable even asking for the necessities. I could never ask for something just because I want it."

All Might nodded in approval. "I fought Nana every time she tried to help me out financially as well. You really are just like I was at your age." A fond smile came over him as he looked into the distance, no doubt reminiscing about simpler times long ago.

Snapping himself from his memories, All Might motioned for me to continue.

"Right. Well, I was going to ask if you knew anyone who had a quirk that could increase height? The more size I have to work with, the more muscle I'll be able to pack on. It will also help with my image." At that, All Might gave me a slightly concerned look and I quickly hurried to reassure him. "I'm not self conscious about my height or anything! I just figure that if I am going to be your successor, I'll need to be larger than life! That's easier when I am literally bigger than most other people. I'd like to be a fair bit taller, but it doesn't have to be anything too crazy. We also don't know if my body will react to One for All in a similar way as yours did and make me grow an extra foot like you do in your muscle form."

I noticed All Might straighten himself and his demeanor brightened slightly when I mentioned his muscle form. It puzzled me for a moment before I remembered that he always referred to it as his 'hero form'.

Without thinking, I gave him a soft smile and voiced my thoughts. "You're always in your hero form to me, All Might."

God, that was so fucking cheesy. Why did I say that? Izuku's adoration is showing.

While I flushed in embarrassment, All Might flashed the most grateful smile I'd ever seen.

"Thank you, young man." he replied sincerely.

Nodding in acknowledgement, I stood there awkwardly as All Might smiled at me for a few moments before he appeared to remember the purpose of the conversation.

"Right, the height increasing quirk! I don't know anyone with a quirk like that, but I'll reach out to some of my contacts and see what I can find. Even if Japan doesn't have someone with that type of quirk, there's bound to be one somewhere on Earth. That's a good idea, young Midoriya!" All Might said.

"Thanks. In addition to that, I was also thinking about other ways to speed up the process. I know you probably won't like it, and I'm not saying I'm committed to the idea, but I figured we should talk about using enhancers, whether they be quirk based or medical, to improve my musculature. Once I've reached the level of other aspiring heroes my age, we would of course end it there, and I'd continue a standard exercise regimen throughout." I continued warily.

Knowing All Might, he would likely be completely opposed to any type of strength enhancer. Generally speaking, I was as well, but there were multiple incidents early in the school year where it would be nice to be able to use more than five percent of One for All without my bones starting to fracture.

All Might frowned and rubbed his chin in contemplation, giving the idea some thought before replying. "I don't think strength enhancers would be a good idea. Quirk based strength enhancers that affect someone other than the wielder are rare enough as it is, but the few I have heard of are temporary. In addition, they take a significant amount of time to get used to. The same will of course be true for your height, but it will be a boon throughout your career as a hero, so I'd say it is worth the temporary drawbacks. Strength enhancement on the other hand will likely mean you can't train for weeks, perhaps months. It just isn't worth the delay in developing your own routine, not to mention naturally developed musculature will always be superior to artificially provided strength that will be applied on a more general level.

As for the medical steroids, that is a more realistic possibility, but even then, they can cause issues, and we have no idea how they may interact with One for All. If we had more time, I may be more open to the idea, but as it stands, I do believe natural development is your best bet. That said, this will be your quirk, and if you think enhancers are right for you, I will ensure you have the best available."

All Might is so fucking awesome.

Unable to contain my smile, I nodded along with his assessment. "You know far more about this kind of thing than I do, All Might. I gladly defer to your expertise and experience on this."

All Might smiled at my reply and clapped his hands together. "Great! With that squared away, did you have any more questions or ideas for your training over the next ten months?"

Taking a moment to think of anything I might have missed, I shook my head. "No, that's all I was able to come up with."

"In that case, I will see you here tomorrow at 5:00am sharp. That is when your journey to become the next Symbol of Peace will begin." All Might finished warmly.

Author's Note:

Something that always bothered me from canon is that All Might is praised as being a genius by everyone, even Aizawa, but then he does pretty brain dead stuff. Some of it can be written off as changes made by the author that make earlier plot points/actions seem kind of stupid, but others make All Might look like an idiot even at the time, usually for comedic effect. I'm trying to portray All Might as still funny, optimistic, and occasionally clumsy, but nevertheless incredibly perceptive and intelligent. Hopefully that's working out so far and you guys enjoy my depiction of Toshinori.