Chapter 119 (Vigilantes)

Until Then I'm... (だから俺が) is the one hundred and nineteenth chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.

Summary
Number 6 unleashes his destructive punch, seemingly engulfing Koichi in the flames, leaving behind only the remains of his costume. All For One reflects on how the powerful blow left Koichi open and that he won’t be walking away after that, although lamenting no body means no sample to retrieve. Despite that, he considers it as a whole to be a worthwhile experiment, discovering Koichi’s latent potential, even though it couldn’t best Number 6’s tenacity. He congratulates him on his victory, and even though he’ll soon lose control of the combustion process and burn away to nothing, he’s shone a glorious light on his future.

As Number 6 screams out in agony, he imagines in his head his younger self, going out to the playground to play hero with the other kids, however they all leave, causing him to be all alone, until one kid shows up. He and All For One are then surprised when they see Koichi is still alive, sliding along the street with his right leg broken, thinking about how he is way past his limits, and despite nobody blaming him for running away, for some reason he’s still here.

Hearing Number 6’s roar, he thinks about how he usually hears those screams from villains and criminals, when their Quirks go wild putting people in danger. Normally when he hears the sound, he just can’t stick back and instinctively heads toward it. Part of it is to save the innocent bystanders, but also that he seems to see them in need of help too. Either way, he thinks all he needs to do is have faith in the heroes, and know they’ll find a way to make things right. But until then, he’s still here with him.

Back in the imagination, a young Koichi appears with an All Might figure, as Number 6 takes out his O'Clock figure to play. In the real world, the monstrous Number 6 once again blasts Koichi away, as the Narufest gang look on in horror seeing the fiery kaiju in front of them. While the child Koichi and Number 6 continue to bounce back and forth playing around with each other, the real Koichi and Number 6 continue to endlessly fight to the death.

Chapter Notes

 * All For One commends Number 6's part in his experiment, even despite his impending death.
 * Koichi manages to barely survive Number 6's devastating attack, and continues to fight back keeping him at bay.
 * As the battle goes on, Number 6 imagines him and Koichi as children, playing hero on the playground.

Trivia

 * This chapter was initially titled I'm Still Here (ここにいる) but was amended for the volume release.