Izuku Midoriya had always been told he was Quirkless. For fourteen years of his life, he'd believed it, accepted the cruel taunts from Kacchan, the pitying looks from teachers, and the quiet disappointment in his mother's eyes whenever the subject came up. He'd dreamed of being a hero anyway, analyzing every Pro Hero's techniques with obsessive detail, filling notebook after notebook with strategies and observations.
But everything changed on that fateful day when he met All Might.
Not just because the Symbol of Peace had chosen him as his successor—though that was world-shattering enough. No, the real shock came three weeks into his training at Dagoba Beach, when his supposedly non-existent Quirk finally manifested.
It started small. Izuku was attempting to lift a refrigerator, his muscles straining under All Might's intense conditioning regimen, when suddenly the appliance felt lighter. Not because his strength had improved—though months of training had certainly helped—but because the refrigerator was actually floating.
"Young Midoriya!" All Might's voice boomed across the beach. "What's happening there?"
Izuku stared in bewilderment as the refrigerator bobbed gently in the air, defying gravity. His hands were glowing with a faint, shimmering outline—the telltale sign of an active Quirk.
"I... I don't know!" Izuku stammered, nearly dropping his concentration. The refrigerator wobbled dangerously before he managed to guide it safely to the ground. "I thought I was Quirkless! The doctors said—"
"Sometimes," All Might said, his voice uncharacteristically gentle as he powered down to his deflated form, "Quirks can be late bloomers, especially when they're... complex." His knowing look suggested he understood more than he was letting on.
That evening, Izuku sat in his room, staring at his hands. He'd managed to make several small objects float during the remainder of their training session. The sensation was strange—like reaching out with invisible fingers, grasping onto the very essence of gravity itself and convincing it to let go.
When his mother called him for dinner, Izuku was still processing the revelation. Inko Midoriya's own Quirk allowed her to attract small objects to herself—a minor telekinetic ability that she'd always described as "pulling things." But what Izuku had done was different. He wasn't pulling or pushing—he was negating gravity entirely.
"Mom," Izuku said hesitantly as they sat down to eat, "I need to tell you something."
Inko looked up from her katsu, concern immediately creasing her features. "What is it, Izuku?"
"My Quirk manifested today."
The words hung in the air between them. Inko's chopsticks clattered to her plate.
"That's... that's wonderful!" she said, though her voice carried a note of confusion. "But the doctors said you were Quirkless. How is that possible?"
Izuku demonstrated by making his glass of water hover above the table. Inko gasped, her own Quirk activating unconsciously as several small items around the kitchen began floating toward her.
"It's like yours, but different," Izuku explained, gently setting the glass down. "You attract things to yourself. I can... cancel gravity? Make things weightless?"
Inko stared at her son, then at the floating utensils orbiting around her. "Izuku," she whispered, "this is incredible. But why now? Why did it take so long?"
That night, Izuku lay awake researching late-manifesting Quirks on his computer. Most articles suggested that extreme emotional stress or physical trauma could sometimes trigger dormant abilities. His training with All Might certainly qualified as physical stress, but Izuku suspected there was more to it.
The next morning brought another surprise.
Izuku was walking to meet All Might when he passed a construction site. Workers were struggling with a small fire that had broken out in a pile of debris. Without thinking, Izuku reached out toward the flames—not to touch them, but with the same instinctive motion he'd used for his gravity Quirk.
The fire responded.
Not by going out, but by bending toward his outstretched hand like a living thing seeking attention. The workers stopped and stared as small tongues of flame danced between Izuku's fingers, completely under his control.
"Hey, kid!" one of the workers shouted. "Be careful with that!"
Izuku quickly dismissed the flames, his heart racing. Two Quirks? That was supposed to be impossible, unless...
The realization hit him like a truck. His father, Hisashi Midoriya, had a fire-breathing Quirk. His mother could attract small objects. And now Izuku seemed to have inherited abilities from both parents—but evolved, more powerful than either original Quirk.
He rushed to Dagoba Beach, where All Might was already waiting.
"All Might!" Izuku called out breathlessly. "Something else happened. I think I might have two Quirks!"
All Might's expression grew serious as Izuku explained about the fire incident. When Izuku demonstrated by creating a small flame in his palm while simultaneously making a piece of debris float beside it, the former Number One Hero fell silent for a long moment.
"Young Midoriya," All Might said finally, "there's something we need to discuss. Having two Quirks naturally is... well, it's almost unheard of. Combined with One For All..." He trailed off, looking troubled.
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, though a cold dread was building in his stomach.
"One For All is a Quirk that stockpiles power and passes it on. But it does more than that—it can interact with other Quirks in unexpected ways. The previous users each had their own abilities before receiving One For All, and those Quirks were... preserved within the collective power."
All Might sat heavily on a nearby rock. "I've been Quirkless since birth, so I never experienced this phenomenon. But you, Young Midoriya... if you truly have two Quirks of your own, plus One For All..." He shook his head. "The potential power involved could be astronomical. And potentially dangerous."
Over the following weeks, Izuku threw himself into understanding his newfound abilities. His gravity manipulation—which he decided to call "Zero Point"—allowed him to negate the gravitational pull on objects and people, making them weightless. With practice, he learned to create localized fields where gravity behaved differently, or even reverse its direction entirely.
His fire Quirk, which he dubbed "Ignition," was more straightforward but equally versatile. Unlike his father's simple fire-breathing, Izuku could generate and control flames with remarkable precision. He could create intense heat without visible fire, shape flames into complex forms, or even absorb existing fires into his body.
But it was when he began combining the two abilities that things became truly extraordinary.
By negating gravity on the air around him and heating it simultaneously, Izuku could create powerful updrafts and downdrafts. He could launch himself into the air using thermal columns of his own making, or create devastating flame tornadoes by spinning heated, weightless air.
And through it all, he could feel One For All pulsing within him, a vast reservoir of accumulated power waiting to be unlocked. All Might had warned him to be careful, to build up his tolerance slowly, but Izuku could sense that his dual Quirks were somehow making him more compatible with the inherited power.
Three months before the U.A. entrance exam, Izuku had his first real test.
He was walking home from a late training session when he heard screaming from a nearby apartment building. Smoke was pouring from the third floor, and he could see people trapped at the windows.
Without hesitation, Izuku sprang into action.
He used Zero Point to launch himself up the side of the building, his body weightless as he guided his trajectory with precise applications of his gravity field. When he reached the third floor, he found a family of four trapped in their living room, the hallway blocked by collapsed, burning debris.
"Stay back!" Izuku called to them, then turned to face the inferno blocking their escape.
He activated Ignition, but instead of adding to the fire, he began absorbing it into himself. The flames flowed toward him like water, drawn into his body until the hallway was clear enough for passage. The heat was incredible, but somehow manageable—as if his dual nature allowed him to process and contain far more thermal energy than should have been possible.
"This way!" he shouted, using Zero Point to make the family weightless so he could guide them quickly through the smoke-filled building. Within minutes, he had evacuated not just that family, but six others, ferrying them to safety with a combination of gravity manipulation and thermal updrafts.
By the time the Pro Heroes arrived, the building was empty and Izuku had vanished into the crowd of onlookers.
That night, footage of a mysterious figure with fire and gravity powers rescuing civilians played on every news channel. The media dubbed him "The Phantom Hero," and speculation ran wild about his identity.
"Young Midoriya," All Might said the next day, his voice heavy with pride and concern, "what you did was heroic. But you took an enormous risk. If you had lost control of either Quirk in that situation..."
"I know," Izuku replied quietly. "But I couldn't just stand there and watch. And All Might... when I was using both Quirks together, I could feel One For All responding. Not fighting against them, but... harmonizing with them. Like they were all part of the same system."
All Might's eyes widened. "That shouldn't be possible. One For All has never—" He stopped himself, looking thoughtful. "Then again, you're already proving that many things we thought impossible are simply... unprecedented."
As the U.A. entrance exam approached, Izuku refined his control over his triple-Quirk combination. He learned to use Zero Point defensively, creating gravity fields that could deflect attacks or immobilize opponents. Ignition provided both offensive capabilities and utility functions—melting through obstacles, creating light and heat, or even propelling himself through controlled explosions.
But it was the integration with One For All that truly set him apart. Instead of the bone-breaking, self-destructive power that All Might had warned him about, Izuku found that his inherited Quirk seemed to enhance and stabilize his natural abilities. Zero Point became more precise and powerful, allowing him to manipulate gravity across wider areas or with greater intensity. Ignition burned hotter and more controllably, and the combination of all three created possibilities he was only beginning to explore.
The day before the entrance exam, Izuku stood on Dagoba Beach—now completely cleared of trash—and looked out at the ocean. All Might stood beside him, no longer the skeletal shadow of his former self but not yet at full strength either. The months of training had been good for both of them.
"Are you ready, Young Midoriya?" All Might asked.
Izuku clenched his fists, feeling the familiar tingle of his Quirks responding to his emotions. Zero Point made his feet barely touch the sand, while Ignition warmed his hands against the cool sea breeze. And underneath it all, One For All hummed with potential energy.
"I think so," he said. "But All Might... what if someone recognizes what One For All is? If they figure out I have three Quirks instead of one?"
"Then we'll deal with that when it happens," All Might replied firmly. "But remember, Young Midoriya—having power doesn't make you a hero. It's what you choose to do with that power that matters. You've already proven you have the heart of a hero. Tomorrow, you'll have the chance to prove you have the skills as well."
Izuku nodded, watching the sunset paint the sky in shades of gold and crimson. Tomorrow would change everything. Tomorrow, he would step into U.A. High School not as the Quirkless boy who dreamed of being a hero, but as someone who might just have the power to reshape what it meant to be heroic.
But tonight, he was still just Izuku Midoriya—a boy who had spent his whole life believing he was ordinary, only to discover that ordinary was never really an option.
As if responding to his thoughts, a small flame danced across his knuckles while his feet lifted gently off the sand. Somewhere deep inside, One For All pulsed with the accumulated dreams and determination of eight previous wielders.
Izuku smiled. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.
### Chapter 2: The Exam
The morning of the U.A. entrance exam dawned bright and clear, but Izuku's nerves were anything but calm. He stood before the imposing gates of U.A. High School, his hands trembling slightly as he adjusted his backpack straps for the dozenth time.
"You can do this," he whispered to himself, feeling the familiar warmth of Ignition responding to his emotional state. "You've trained for this. You're ready."
The written exam had gone well enough—months of hero analysis and All Might's strategic lessons had prepared him thoroughly for the theoretical aspects of heroics. But now came the practical exam, the real test of his abilities.
As he walked toward the assembly hall with hundreds of other hopeful students, Izuku couldn't help but notice the variety of Quirks on display. A girl with pink skin and small horns was chatting animatedly with a boy whose arms ended in engines. Another student had a bird head, while someone else seemed to be made entirely of tape.
"Out of my way, Deku!"
Izuku turned to see Kacchan shoving through the crowd, his red eyes blazing with their usual mixture of anger and determination. Katsuki Bakugo had been Izuku's childhood friend turned tormentor, the explosive blonde who had coined the nickname "Deku" and spent years making Izuku's life miserable for being Quirkless.
"Oh, hey Kacchan," Izuku said, instinctively taking a step back. Old habits died hard, even when you'd gained incredible power.
"Don't you 'hey Kacchan' me, you worthless nerd!" Bakugo snarled, small explosions popping from his palms. "What the hell are you even doing here? Last I checked, Quirkless losers don't get into U.A.!"
Izuku felt a flash of anger, and the temperature around him rose several degrees. Several nearby students glanced over nervously as the air began to shimmer with heat waves. For a moment, Izuku was tempted to show Bakugo exactly how wrong he was about being Quirkless.
But no. That wasn't what a hero would do.
"I'm not Quirkless anymore, Kacchan," Izuku said quietly, forcing his Ignition under control. "My Quirk was just... late to develop."
Bakugo's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh yeah? What kind of shitty Quirk did you finally—"
"WELCOME, LISTENERS!"
The booming voice of Present Mic echoed across the assembly hall, cutting off Bakugo's interrogation as all the students hurried to find seats. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he settled into an auditorium seat, grateful for the interruption.
Present Mic's explanation of the practical exam was straightforward: students would be divided into groups and sent to different mock cities, where they would fight robot villains for points. Three types of robots worth different point values, plus a massive zero-point robot that served only as an obstacle to avoid.
"It's a simple battle simulation," Present Mic announced with his trademark enthusiasm. "Take down the villains, rescue civilians if you find any, and show us what you're made of! The top scorers will earn their place at U.A.!"
Izuku studied the layout of Mock City B on his information packet, his mind already working through strategies. The urban environment would actually work in his favor—plenty of vertical surfaces for gravity manipulation, enclosed spaces where his fire powers would be most effective, and multiple escape routes if things went wrong.
A tall, serious-looking boy with glasses and an engine-like Quirk stood up to ask a question about the zero-point robot, criticizing another student for muttering during the presentation. Izuku sank lower in his seat, recognizing that the "muttering" student was probably him.
Soon enough, the students were loaded onto buses and transported to their respective testing sites. Izuku found himself in Mock City B, along with about sixty other examinees. As they gathered at the entrance gates, he could feel the nervous energy radiating from the group.
"All right, listeners!" Present Mic's voice crackled over the loudspeakers. "Your test begins... NOW!"
For a moment, nobody moved. Then Izuku remembered All Might's words about real battles having no countdowns, and he was off and running.
Using Zero Point, he launched himself over the crowd of confused students, his body weightless as he soared toward the mock city's skyline. Behind him, he heard Present Mic commenting on his initiative, but there was no time to feel embarrassed.
A one-point robot rounded the corner ahead of him, its mechanical arms swinging in wide arcs. Instead of landing and engaging it directly, Izuku activated Ignition while still airborne, sending a concentrated blast of superheated air downward. The thermal column caught him like an invisible elevator, lifting him higher while the robot below sparked and short-circuited from the intense heat.
"One point," he murmured, already scanning for his next target.
The beauty of his Quirk combination became apparent as he navigated the mock city. Zero Point allowed him unprecedented mobility—he could run up walls by reversing gravity's pull, leap impossible distances by making himself weightless, or even fly by creating localized gravity fields. Ignition provided both offense and propulsion, letting him melt through obstacles, blind opponents with sudden flashes of light, or rocket himself around corners using controlled explosions.
A three-point robot emerged from an alley, its cannon-like arms tracking his movement. Izuku dropped straight down, using gravity to accelerate his fall, then reversed the field at the last second to cushion his landing. The robot's shots passed harmlessly overhead while Izuku placed his hands against its armored chassis.
"Ignition: Meltdown," he whispered, pouring heat directly into the robot's internal systems. Metal began to glow cherry-red, then white-hot, until the machine collapsed in a puddle of slag.
"That's three more," he said, wiping sweat from his brow. The constant use of both Quirks was draining, but not as much as he'd expected. If anything, they seemed to complement each other, Zero Point keeping him cool and mobile while Ignition provided raw power.
As he continued through the mock city, Izuku began to notice that his Quirks were affecting each other in subtle ways. When he used Zero Point to manipulate gravity, small flames would dance around the distortion field, as if the space itself was heating up from the gravitational stress. When he used Ignition, the flames seemed lighter, more responsive, influenced by the same force that let him defy gravity.
And underneath it all, One For All hummed with potential. He hadn't dared to activate it yet—All Might had warned him about the destructive power—but he could feel it there, ready to amplify whatever he chose to do.
By the halfway point of the exam, Izuku had accumulated thirty-seven points—more than enough to pass, if his estimates were correct. But he wasn't content to just pass. This was his chance to show the world what the new Izuku Midoriya could do.
That's when he heard the screaming.
A girl with brown hair and a determined expression was trapped under a piece of debris, one of the two-point robots bearing down on her with obvious malicious intent. She was trying to use what looked like a zero-gravity Quirk to lift the rubble, but her power seemed to have limits his didn't.
Without hesitation