Chapter 304

Izuku Midoriya and Toshinori Yagi (と) is the three hundred and fourth chapter of Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia.

Summary
All Might tries to sense the presence of One For All within Izuku Midoriya, while Izuku himself thinks back to everyone who took part during the fight with Tomura Shigaraki, wondering if they are okay. He emerges in the vestige world, where most of the One For All users are sitting on chairs ready to talk with him, with the 2nd and 3rd users facing the wall behind them.

All For One’s Brother, the First User, mentions how originally they were only able to interact with Izuku during specific instances within his consciousness, but that in the last four months, the power has been growing exponentially, and has reached the point that the vestiges are now able to more freely communicate with each other, even moreso after All For One’s attempt to steal One For All.

Daigoro Banjo reassures Izuku his privacy is safe, but then remembers he still doesn’t have a mouth. However, Izuku realizes that his voice has been slowly manifesting, and finds a way to communicate with the users through muffled speech. He is approached by the 4th user, Hikage Shinomori, who mentions being shocked at Izuku’s sudden emergence of his Quirk, Danger Sense. Daigoro pokes fun at Hikage for being a hermit who shunned society and lived alone, before he then asks Izuku about his age and cause of death. Izuku recalls that he was 40 and that All Might had scratched out his cause of death in the notebook, which Hikage reveals was “old age”.

Hikage revealed that through All Might and his research, he realizes that One For All is no longer able to be held by an “ordinary person”. He continues that other than All Might, he possessed One For All the longest out of everyone, and that for 18 years he evaded All For One while training his power in secret, knowing that he would never be able to beat him in his state, and just had to nurture it until someone else could. However, it was in his final years that the Quirk started to break his body. At first he believed it was some sort of disease, but after All Might rediscovered his medical history and autopsy, he realized the truth, that possessing multiple Quirks ate away his life.

Izuku reacts in shock, but is confused considering how much longer All Might has held One For All for, and how much stronger it became for him. The First User adds that All Might realized the same thing, and that since all the other users died young and in battle, there wasn’t much to compare to other than himself, realizing what the difference between him and Hikage was, which Izuku also figures out: that All Might was Quirkless.

The First User explains that while All Might still lives, everything he learned was passed onto the other users through All Might’s vestige, and it was through the encounter with All For One that their theories were confirmed. While they initially believed that the spirits of the predecessors resided within One For All, in truth, it was a result of the Quirk Factors of the 2nd to 7th successors, with All Might being the sole exception due to being imbued with One For All as a true piece of his consciousness, as his only Quirk.

He continues that a vessel with an existing Quirk could not receive One For All without it warping and spilling over, and attempting to force it results in a shortened lifespan, like what happened with Hikage, and that All Might managed to hold onto One For All for 40 years because it perfectly fit his previously empty vessel, and became his Quirk. They conclude that due to these circumstances, the true value of the power can only be wielded by those who lacked power to begin with, with Izuku following up that especially now that the previous user’s Quirks have started manifesting, One For All can’t be transferred anymore. The First User says that due to Quirkless individuals slowly vanishing each year, it was fate that Izuku managed to be the one who was bestowed the power, and that if they had a way to contact him sooner, they could’ve prevented people from dying. Daigoro adds that Izuku may end up being the last successor of One For All.

After Izuku’s contemplation of this revelation, Nana Shimura turns to Izuku, asking if if he can kill Tomura Shigaraki.

Chapter Notes

 * Izuku emerges within the One For All vestige world to talk with the predecessors.
 * The 2nd & 3rd users are seen un-silhouetted for the first time, albeit with their faces still covered.
 * The First User reveals that the growth of One For All has allowed the users to communicate with each other.
 * The 4th user, and original wielder of Danger Sense, is revealed to be named Hikage Shinomori.
 * He possessed One For All the second longest out of all the users, for 18 years.
 * He lived alone, hiding from All For One to train and nurture the power for the next user.
 * He died at the age of 40 due to "old age" (the information All Might scratched out of the notebook), and reveals it was due to One For All breaking his body.
 * The users realize that One For All is too powerful for someone who already possesses a Quirk to handle, and that All Might being Quirkless allowed him to hold onto it for 40 years, and execute the full strength of the power without straining his body.
 * They also reveal the vestige of All Might within One For All has been sharing the users the information the real All Might has been learning.
 * The users state that due to the in-frequency of new Quirkless people in the world, Izuku may end up being the last successor of One For All.
 * Nana Shimura asks Izuku if he can kill Tomura Shigaraki.