Five minutes before the secret was revealed.
All Might was still driving All For One's head into the shattered asphalt with crushing force. And amid that fury, the tyrant spoke a single name.
"Shimura Nana."
All Might froze in place for a moment. Time stopped in his mind and memories of his past with Nana began flooding through him. Her smile. Her warm words. And the will he had inherited from her.
All For One exploited that hesitation and spoke in a muffled voice beneath All Might's grip, dripping with mockery.
"She screamed about justice."
"About protecting people."
"About creating a better future."
"You know..."
"She sounded just like you."
The tyrant laughed quietly and provocatively, then added the words that lit the fuse.
"And she died exactly the same way."
Those words made All Might explode with a fury unlike anything he had felt before. He pressed harder on All For One's face into the ground until the concrete cracked around them, and he screamed a scream that tore his own throat as he drove a devastating punch directly into the tyrant's face.
"Don't say her name!"
In that moment All For One defended himself. Red and black sparks launched from his body and a terrifying storm-like atmosphere suddenly formed with a massive air pressure that struck All Might like a hammer. The pressure sent All Might flying away through the air with sweeping force, coughing hot blood from his mouth.
His body nearly slammed into the rubble, but in a sliver of a second, Gran Torino shot through the air like a projectile, grabbed his student with strength, and they shifted trajectory together to land safely on the broken ground.
Gran Torino stood with sternness and looked at All Might with warning eyes. "Don't get swept away by his words. He's provoking you deliberately to scatter your focus. He's extremely cunning."
But All For One didn't fall silent. He floated slowly into the air and responded to them both in a quiet voice carrying a lethal poison.
"Why?"
"Because it's true?"
"You inherited her dream."
"You inherited her power."
Then he raised the corner of his mouth into a sinister smile.
"And now..."
"You've inherited her failure too."
All For One raised his mangled arm and flexed his muscles in a terrifying way. Red and black sparks began gathering from it in dense waves.
Gran Torino shouted, directing his words to All Might standing gasping beside him. "He's going to attack again! Dodge and counter!"
All For One replied as he directed his charged right arm toward a specific direction with precision. "Will dodging alone be enough?"
In the same moment All Might's eyes widened. He quickly discovered that there was a victim behind the rubble in the direction the tyrant was aiming. A woman leaning her arm on a large rock trying to stand up with desperation.
All For One had directed his attack toward her deliberately.
"You filth!" All Might snarled and surged forward.
Gran Torino launched into the air at a frantic speed toward the victim, shouting. "Behind you!"
All For One said coldly as he released his energy. "I'll steal the things you've been protecting until now."
A massive, immense attack launched by the tyrant generated heavy, intense air pressure heading directly toward the victim. All Might moved in the same direction at full speed to take the blow with his own body.
The sky lit up with a terrifying white flash. Red sparks scattered everywhere, followed by a catastrophic explosion that created a storm-like atmosphere consuming everything in its path. Very thick smoke rose to cover the entire area, accompanied by a massive sound that deafened every ear.
Amid that thick smoke All For One appeared standing calmly. "First, the self-respect that you've maintained despite your injuries."
The smoke began clearing slowly. All Might's arm appeared very weakly with smoke rising from it. And as the dust continued to dissipate, All Might appeared in full. His body was thin, frail, and emitting smoke. His left fist raised to protect whoever stood behind him, covered in blood, and his head bleeding. He stood before All For One stripped of the armor of muscles he had always worn.
Above him in the air, All For One was floating, continuing his speech with amusement. "Now show the world your pitiful true form, symbol of peace."
In that moment, All Might's image appeared on the giant screen in the city in this frail state he was in. And at the same time, All For One told him in a cold, amused tone:
"You keep speaking about saving people."
"Yet how many have you truly saved?"
He gestured with his hand toward the destroyed city.
"Nana died."
"Your body is broken."
"And now your era is ending."
In the streets, people froze as they stared at the massive screens.
"What is this? What's wrong with that skeleton?"
"Does everyone see this?"
Midoriya and Bakugo could only hear those terrified voices, their gazes completely fixed on the screen. Everyone was asking in confusion, not knowing that the thin man was the same symbol of peace they knew.
Midoriya's face went completely pale and he began sweating heavily. "All Might. The secret has..."
He couldn't finish the sentence.
Back at the battlefield, All For One looked at his adversary and said with enjoyment. "Now you look better. This is your true form, isn't it?"
All Might looked at him with a sharp gaze, his eyes burning with a will that hadn't gone out. "Even if my body has deteriorated and become weak, even if you tried to reveal this form, it no longer matters. That won't stop me from completing what I started here. And just as you protected your followers from us, I'll ensure my students are protected from you."
All For One laughed quietly. "Of course you have those who are interesting. But that boy, Roronoa Zoro, is the most fascinating of them all."
His smile paused for a moment and he said in a strange tone.
"When I looked at that boy..."
"For a moment..."
"I thought I was seeing Kenji again."
All Might froze completely in place. "Did you know him?"
All For One smiled again.
"Knew him?"
"No."
"I watched him grow."
"The same eyes."
"The same will."
"The same impossible stubbornness."
All Might thought of Zoro and thought of Midoriya. He told himself with a heart that ached: a sacrifice must be made now for the sake of the future.
He closed his left hand covered in blood with force, then looked directly at All For One, cutting off his psychological games. "You will never reach what you're after." He paused for a moment, then continued with absolute conviction. "The symbol of peace will remain in the hearts of people. And that is something you cannot steal even a fragment of."
All For One replied coldly. "You all share this stubbornness. And you all end with pitiful fates."
"We simply don't do your dirty work." All Might responded with pride.
"Ah, I nearly forgot entirely." All For One raised one finger as if remembering something trivial. "You see, Tomura Shigaraki is Nana Shimura's grandson."
All Might stayed silent, stiffened in place, showing no reaction at first.
All For One continued with mockery. "I kept thinking about what could hurt you most."
The words began absorbing into All Might's mind. "No. That's not true. You're lying."
"It's the truth." The tyrant replied. "Why would I lie?"
All Might's entire expression changed. What All For One had said shocked him to the degree that his spirit nearly departed his body.
All For One laughed intensely, drawing a sick smile across his disfigured face. "What's wrong? Where is your smile?"
All Might whispered in shock and lost confusion. "Why. Why."
All For One said without mercy.
"Tell me, All Might..."
"If Nana could see him now..."
"Would she call him grandson?"
"Or monster?"
Then he laughed loudly and the sound filled the entire space.
"You filth!" All Might replied in fury, tears of anguish filling his eyes.
All For One continued his blows.
"Everything she sacrificed to protect..."
"I turned into my successor."
"He's a relative of my teacher! What have you done?!" All Might screamed, his nerves shattered from everything he had just heard.
He let out a thunderous cry that carried a deep pain, as if he himself had been the cause of what happened to Shigaraki. Absolute regret and suffocating pain across his face. As if he had grasped his own helplessness, his inability to prevent every terrible thing from coming to pass.
The sense of failure and despair tore through his entire being. His strength collapsed and he fell onto his knees, his eyes looking downward at the shattered ground.
Everyone watching the event through their screens didn't understand what had actually happened or what had been said. All they saw was the symbol of peace falling to his knees, defeated and broken.
The crowds before the screens began whispering in terror.
"No. Impossible."
"All Might."
"If he can't win, then who can?"
"Even if he looks different, All Might is All Might. Right?" said a girl with tears in her eyes.
Midoriya and the others could only watch the people and what they were saying, unable to respond or comment.
Bakugo stood there biting his teeth with such force they nearly cracked, still refusing to accept what had happened to All Might. He could only watch and hear what the people around him were saying.
One citizen suddenly shouted. "Weren't you always able to save us somehow? All Might!"
Then the voices began rising and merging to form a roar of desperate hope. They all began shouting together.
"All Might, you can do it!"
"Don't lose, All Might!"
Iida, Kirishima, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu also just watched the people gathered around the screen. No one knew what to say.
Midoriya began shedding tears in great waves, then started wiping them with his hands forcefully while whispering. "No. No. All Might. This can't all end this way."
Bakugo clenched both his fists until his knuckles went white. "All Might never loses! He can't fail out there! Come on, stand up! Don't stay on your knees! Come on, get up!"
At the same moment, both Midoriya and Bakugo screamed at the top of their lungs toward the screen.
"Win! Win! All Might!"
In Yokohama General Hospital, Zoro was lying on a bed asleep in one of the quiet rooms. His body was completely bandaged. The television in front of him was on with low sound broadcasting the catastrophic event, and beside him a nurse sat watching his condition with focus and providing the necessary medical care.
Suddenly Zoro woke up. He opened his eyes slowly, but his mind was still clouded with the effect of the strong medical sedative. He looked around the entire room to examine it. He looked at the nurse beside him, at the medical devices connected to him, then at himself.
He saw no blood.
He saw no wounds.
And he saw no swords.
Here the sedative flew from his head and he erupted screaming with a rough, terrifying voice. "Where am I?! What happened?! Where are my swords?!"
His violent, sudden reaction frightened the nurse to the degree that she dropped her file and rushed outside without looking back, leaving him alone in the room gasping with fury.
While he was questioning and shouting searching for his swords, his gaze finally went to the open television in front of him.
He saw that scene. All Might in his true thin form that he had always hidden, on his knees with blood flowing from his mouth and hand and head.
He gave no reaction at first. His eyes widened in shock and he whispered to himself. "No. This isn't real. I'm only imagining this."
He wiped his eyes with both hands forcefully to push away the sedative's haze, then looked again at the screen in front of him. The screen hadn't changed. What he was seeing was real.
Immediately he erupted in fury with the veins of his face prominent. "What happened to All Might?! Why does he look like that?! Did that filth get to him? Was he defeated?!"
He slammed the bed with his fist. "Damn it!"
"What am I doing here?! Why did they bring me here and what exactly happened to me?!" He tried to gather his scattered memories. "The last thing I remember is that dog Shigaraki's face."
He looked at the devices connected to him with fury. "I'm leaving right now. I can't lie here watching television."
Zoro began pulling off the heart monitor devices and yanked the IV needle from his hand with violence, indifferent to the blood that started dripping.
In that moment pain returned with a brutal blow. He felt a burning pain in a rib on his side, then a severe, lethal pain swept through him from the deep wound in his left shoulder. He bit down on his teeth to ignore the pain, trying to rise from his bed at any cost.
And suddenly the room door burst open with force. The frightened nurse entered, but this time two people entered with her.
One of them stepped forward, placed his hand on the door handle to close it behind him, and looked at Zoro with a cold, stern voice.
"You're not going anywhere."
.
.
For Advanced Chapters:
Chapter 100 is Available Now
The Trial of Section Seventeen
Zoro's second day inside the Alliance A-1 It's a completely different feeling from living with Kenji in the dojo. But waking up early and training is a constant rule for him wherever he goes.
In Gamma, all students will soon begin training.
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