With a shaken confidence he was trying desperately to hold onto, Shigaraki raised his reddened eyes toward Gran Torino, the hysterical smile still twisted on his face as he asked with triumphant mockery about the reason for the symbol of peace's absence.
Gran Torino didn't give him the luxury of waiting. He stepped forward with a cold, dry tone that dropped its weight across the entire bar. "All Might is busy somewhere else right now."
Shigaraki's body went rigid. The shock made his pupils widen in sudden terror. He hadn't expected the heroes to split their forces, hadn't expected his leader's location to be known. He stepped back and screamed with a voice starting to crack. "Kurogiri! Hurry! The gate!"
And in that exact second, a thin red thread, precise as a needle, flashed through the air. The thread pierced Kurogiri's body with startling speed, and before he could even activate the black mist, his head snapped back and he fell to the ground completely unconscious.
"What?!" Magne screamed in panic, retreating. "Stop! Did you kill him?! I didn't see anything at all!"
The red thread began coiling and contracting at its tip into the shape of a precise snake's head, returning to its owner. It was a part of the pro hero Edgeshot's ability.
Edgeshot directed his thread toward the faces of the remaining villains. "I manipulated parts of his internal body slightly and made him lose consciousness. He's not dead." His full body appeared as he pulled his threads back. "Ninpo: Thousand Sheet Pierce. This man always manages to change the course of things. I'll make his sleep deep now."
Gran Torino stepped forward again, pressing his presence against the villains' fear. "There's no escape for any of you now. Kenji Hikishi, Sako Atsuhiro, Shochi Iguchi, Himiko Toga, Jin Bubaigawara. This is where it ends."
Shigaraki began scratching his neck with frantic violence. His nails dug into his skin until they nearly drew blood, tension consuming his mind.
Gran Torino gripped him by the collar and repeated his question with a sharpness that shook the bar's walls. "Shigaraki! One more time. Where is Zoro?! And where is your leader?!"
"Stop! Stop! Shut up!"
Shigaraki exploded, his nerves gone entirely. Thoughts collided in his mind like a storm. How did they know those names?! Why didn't All Might come himself? Is Zoro not that important to them? Or are they playing a dirty game with us?!
And amid that chaos, his mind drifted toward the shadows of the past.
He saw himself again. A small child alone in the middle of a street with blood covering his hands. Everyone walking past him, ignoring him, leaving him as if he didn't exist. And then that gloved black hand extended. All For One's warm hand, and his reassuring voice: "It's alright, Tomura. I'm here for you."
Shigaraki returned to reality and looked at Gran Torino with eyes filled with tears and madness. "This doesn't make sense. This doesn't make any sense at all!"
"Where is he right now?" Gran Torino replied with a composure that shook him to his core.
"Damn all of you! This is just a pathetic act! Not convincing! Not convincing at all! Disappear! I hate all of you!"
Boom!
Suddenly the floor and walls split apart in several corners of the bar. A thick, disgusting black viscous substance began flowing heavily, and from inside it massive gray bodies began emerging. Nomu, not ordinary ones but of the large, combat-enhanced type. They burst out without warning to attack all four heroes.
The heroes fell back in shock from the sudden horror.
Kamui Woods shouted trying to protect himself with his branches. "Nomu?! They came without any warning!"
Tiger added, taking a defensive stance. "What is this?! Where did they come from?!"
Gran Torino turned quickly. "Edgeshot! What about Kurogiri?!"
"He didn't do it." Edgeshot replied while dodging a strike from one of the creatures. "He's still completely unconscious!"
"They keep coming from nowhere!" Tiger shouted in fury.
Gran Torino grasped the danger of the situation. "Kamui! Keep your branches wrapped around Shigaraki and the others! We can't lose the villains or allow any of them to escape!" Then he turned to the others. "Edgeshot, call the rapid response team immediately! Tiger, help me hold back these Nomu!"
Quickly Gran Torino pressed his radio device connected to Detective Tsukauchi. "Tsukauchi! Send backup immediately! We've captured Shigaraki and his companions but we've come under sudden attack from multiple Nomu!" Then he shouted with a trembling heart. "Tsukauchi! What's the situation on your end?! Did you find Zoro there?!"
Tsukauchi's voice came through the radio, distorted by the sound of distant explosions and screaming. "Yes, but the situation there is very dangerous, the..."
The connection cut off suddenly with a sharp burst of static.
Gran Torino froze in place for a second, the shock paralyzing his thinking as he stared at the radio, unaware of the nature of the hell unfolding in Kamino.
And amid the overwhelming chaos and fierce fighting against the Nomu, Shigaraki was still bound by Kamui Woods' solid branches. He looked up at the ceiling and whispered in a grateful, childlike tone. "Sensei. Sensei."
In that exact moment, the black viscous substance began surging violently from the mouths of Shigaraki and the other bound villains. The substance surrounded them at tremendous speed and they began disappearing inside it one after another as if drowning in an invisible swamp.
"Damn! They're escaping!" Gran Torino shouted and launched like an arrow at lightning speed, trying to grab Shigaraki's collar before he vanished.
To no avail.
The villains sank completely and disappeared from the bar as if the earth had swallowed them whole.
"I'm deeply sorry. I lost all of them!" Kamui Woods screamed in intense frustration, staring at his empty branches.
Edgeshot leapt into the air and drove his red thread through a Nomu's skull to bring it down. "That wasn't your fault. We couldn't do anything either. This is a power that exceeded our calculations."
In the Nomu factory in Kamino, the dust was thick and the smell of ozone and blood filled the space after the devastating destructive attack All For One had unleashed.
When the dust cleared slightly, the scale of the catastrophe became apparent.
The number four hero, Best Jeanist, was lying on the ground with blood flowing heavily from his body. And a few steps away from him, Mt. Lady had also fallen among the rubble without movement.
As for Zoro, he was on his knees, leaning with all his weight on his sword driven into the ground, coughing blood violently.
In the last moment before the direct attack could hit them, Best Jeanist had moved with courage and remarkable speed. He twisted the fibers and threads from his clothing and transformed them into flexible yet extremely strong ropes, using them to grab Zoro and Mt. Lady and hurl them away from the main center of the explosion, absorbing the full devastating force of the strike himself.
The echo of slow applause began reverberating through the space again.
All For One walked with calm steps through the destruction. "As expected from the number four hero, Best Jeanist. You heroes always perform those pitiful sacrifices trying to protect and save others. A good effort. But it carries no value whatsoever."
He looked toward the empty space where Gang Orca had fled with Ragdoll moments earlier. "That girl you tried to save, even if that whale manages to drag her exhausted body outside, it's too late. What was of value in her, I've already taken from her." He released a quiet, repulsive laugh.
Zoro understood what he meant. He took her Quirk. He took her essence as a hero.
Zoro spat blood from his mouth and looked at the tyrant with pure disgust. "Filthy. And cowardly."
All For One's black mask shifted to direct its gaze toward the exhausted swordsman. "As for that boy beside you, I still have very important work to do with him."
On the ground, Best Jeanist was trying to open his eyes weighted down with blood. Terror was trembling in his depths after feeling the absolute, cold power of this man.
"This man." He murmured in a faint voice.
He remembered the secret police reports that had been read to them before the mission: his power directly compares to All Might's. If he isn't certain his safety is completely guaranteed, he will never show himself.
Despite the terror, despite his shattered body, Best Jeanist gathered every last trace of courage he had as a hero and tried to rise from the ground shouting in a broken voice. "We won't allow you to!"
He tried moving his fingers again to control the threads and attack All For One once more.
But the attempt was suicidal.
Without even turning toward him, All For One raised a single finger.
Pfoom!
A swift pressure beam launched. The attack pierced Best Jeanist's abdomen directly, blood scattering through the air around him, and he fell to the ground completely unconscious, breathing through a thin thread between life and death.
All For One lowered his finger and said with contempt. "I have no interest in your ability. It doesn't suit or align with Tomura's inclinations and fighting style."
Behind a half-shattered concrete wall at the edge of the factory, the six students were hiding.
The terror was a real paralysis that had seized their bodies. Their complexions were white as ghosts, cold sweat pouring from them. Except for Bakugo, who was burning in a different way, his eyes wide with hellish fury rather than fear.
Todoroki whispered with obvious trembling in his voice. "Who is this man?! What just happened in the blink of an eye?!"
Kirishima added, holding his head in two shaking hands. "He wiped them all out in a single moment! Pro heroes fell like toys. I can only wonder how Zoro stayed alive this whole time on his own!"
"We need to run right now." Yaoyorozu said with tears nearly escaping her eyes from the pressure. "Staying here is suicide."
Midoriya was pressing his chest, his teeth clenching together. "My body won't move at all. What is this spiritual pressure? Could this actually be him, the person All Might told me about?"
Iida whispered with a tone of regret and responsibility. "Didn't I tell all of you that we were making a grave mistake by coming here?"
Bakugo alone, despite the terrifying scene, felt none of what had paralyzed his companions. He was looking at All For One with contemptuous eyes. "His way of speaking irritates me. Too confident. Who is this damned person? Who does he think he is?"
All For One began moving again. His steps were slow, heavy, and deliberate. He didn't run, didn't hurry a single pace. "A man who possesses all of time has no need to rush."
He approached very slowly toward Zoro, who was still on his knees, gasping, his eyes trying to focus on him. His body had reached its absolute limit.
The tyrant stood before the swordsman. And in a humiliating gesture, All For One raised his foot and placed it on Zoro's back, then pressed slowly to bring his body down toward the ground. He wasn't pressing out of a desire to cause physical pain, but as someone placing a mark of ownership, as someone subduing a feral beast.
He didn't raise his voice as he spoke, and that was what made the words feel like knives. "You are the remains of an age that died before you were born." He pressed slightly with his foot. "Kenji. Shimotsuki. Everyone who chose a sword over an ability." He paused for a moment, then continued with a tone full of cold mockery. "Refuse that understood where this world was heading, and you chose their dead inheritance."
Under the weight of his foot, and despite the blood filling his mouth, Zoro's chest began to tremble.
It wasn't a trembling of fear.
Zoro began to laugh. A quiet, raspy laugh that rose to become a mocking, confident smile spreading across his blood-stained face.
From behind the wall, neither Midoriya nor the others understood why this smile appeared in this suicidal situation. But All For One felt something wrong. He felt a sudden concentration of Haki in the atmosphere, and felt a change in the external air pressure.
Zoro looked at All For One's masked face and said with killing composure. "The king has arrived. To hell with you."
A heavy silence stretched for three full seconds. The silence that comes before the storm.
And suddenly All For One raised his head toward the sky rapidly, and his calm tone changed for the very first time. "You're here. Again."
BOOOOOOOOOM!
In a fraction of a second, the front wall of the factory disappeared entirely. It wasn't merely cracking or shattering. It disappeared because something had pierced through it at tremendous speed with a force that made breaking a luxury no one had time for.
From among the flying rubble and the dust that parted like a sea, a line of golden and blue light surged forward.
It was him.
He shouted with a voice that shook the foundations of Kamino, a voice carrying fury this world had never witnessed before. "RORONOA!!! I'm deeply sorry that I was late! But I am here now!"
All Might.
All Might's golden fist drove through the air toward All For One's face at supernatural speed, as if trying to rewrite everything that had happened and erase this tyrant's existence from the earth.
With terrifying speed, All For One raised his palm and caught All Might's fist directly.
But the shockwave born from the collision didn't stop. A terrifying counter-wave exploded and struck the factory from within, ripping away what remained of the ceiling and walls, and shaking the ground beneath the students' feet behind the wall like a devastating earthquake.
The two stood face to face, hand in hand. All Might's massive fist held inside All For One's palm.
The students peered from behind the rubble at their teacher's face. The symbol of peace.
All Might was not smiling. His expression was furious, serious, and full of blood ready to confront until death.
And All For One didn't release the fist but kept it gripped with force. "You still come."
All Might replied, his eyes gleaming with a burning heroic light. "Always."
.
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