All For One/Synopsis

Early Life
The introduction of Quirks to the world led to a period of societal collapse and an age of upheaval. During this time, a man with an overwhelmingly powerful Quirk called All For One arose in Japan and decided to take advantage of the chaos. He stole many Quirks, attaining immense power and influence. Using his incredible might, the man gathered and unified dozens of people under his command. He then manipulated the people he gathered like pawns to further his plans and eventually became Japan's ruler. It's suggested that he ruled from the shadows, as most of his actions in the present day are only known as rumors on the internet. He also started grooming other powerful individuals who he deemed to have a lot of potential, such as Gigantomachia, who became his personal bodyguard, though when this happened is unknown.

All For One's younger brother opposed his evil as All For One tried to show him that he was helping people by ridding those who believed themselves plagued and giving strength to those who were helpless.

All For One's brother saw through All For One's claims, deeming that he is only trying to amass people who owe him into servitude. All For One defended this by stating his Quirk is able to return order to the world that has lost its humanity at the hands of Quirks. All For One's brother refuses to give in to his brother's manipulative statements and tried to rebel but was stopped by All For One's personal bodyguard. All For One berated his brother for not having a Quirk but says that he still loves him as he is his only family and imprisoned him.

When All For One visited his captive brother, he saw how thin he became due to not eating. All For One tells his brother about how a group who refused to join him were killed, simply because his followers interpreted his desires as instructions to kill them. All For One's brother was disgusted and voiced his defiance. Enraged, All For One used his Quirk to forcibly give his little brother a Quirk that could stockpile power. What no one knew at the time is that All For One's younger brother already had an innate Quirk which could only be transferred to others. The two Quirks mutated, blending together, and would later become known as One For All.

It was during this time when he met Kyudai Garaki. Kyudai theorized the "Quirk Singularity", according to which someday Quirks will become so powerful that they will be uncontrollable. But society scoffed at this theory, so he disappeared from the public eye. However, possibly due to the nature of his own Quirk, All For One believed his theory and lended Kyudai his aid. Since then, Kyudai has been working for All For One. As a gift of loyalty and appreciation, Kyudai duplicated his Life Force Quirk, and gave his original quirk to All For One, keeping the duplicate. Thanks to this, both he and All For One continue to live to this day.

Battle against the One For All's users
All For One's younger brother was not strong enough to defeat him even with his new Quirk, so he passed it on to the next generation in the hopes that one day One For All would be strong enough to defeat his older brother. All For One would fight these successors, while trying to obtain One For All but always failed, since the Quirk was passed on.

Seven generations later, the 7th torchbearer, Nana Shimura with her pupil and 8th bearer Toshinori Yagi, and her friend Gran Torino tried to stop him. However, despite their best efforts, All For One still overwhelmed them. Aware that they could not defeat him, Nana pushed Toshinori out of harms way and Gran Torino flied away with Toshinori as the young man cries for his master. Nana departed some final words of encouragement onto Toshinori before standing against All For One one last time. The villain thanked Nana for providing quality comedy and finished her off with a large flash of black lightning.

Many years later, after Tenko Shimura murdered his family, All For One met him under a bridge and granted him a home and safety. He provided Tenko guidance and help to overcome his violent urges. After Tenko murdered the two street punks, All For One provided him with his costume consisting of the hands of Tenko's dead family members and he named him Tomura. All For One went so far to give his own surname Shigaraki to Tenko. After this, All For One began grooming Tomura as his successor and as the Symbol of Terror. All For One is aware that Tomura is suppressing his memories and his Quirk.

The threat of All Might
Toshinori Yagi, Nana's disciple, returned to Japan after a long absence in the United States, and soon became All Might, Japan's No. 1 hero and symbol of peace. All For One attempted to stop All Might with his soldiers and accomplices, though All Might was able to best all of them, and with his actions, All Might began to dismantle All For One's criminal empire.

All For One began to suspect that he would eventually be defeated, so he took several contingency measures in case this would happen, such as sending Gigantomachia away into the woods. Likewise, in collaboration with Kyudai Garaki, All For One duplicated his own Quirk, keeping the duplicate for himself while his ally preserved the original with the goal of having it transferred to his disciple Tomura Shigaraki when the time comes.

At some point, All For One recovered the body of the deceased Oboro Shirakumo, and had Kyudai turn him into the Nomu called Kurogiri. All For One assigned Kurogiri with serving and overseeing Tomura’s development. He also warned Kurogiri to use Gigantomachia once he believes to no longer be capable of ensuring Tomura's safety.

The Underground Masquerade
A few years later, in the city of Osaka, All For One organized an illegal fighting event known as the Underground Masquerade. The event helped him move illegal drugs, test different variants of Quirk-booster uppers on the fighters, search for interesting Quirk worth stealing, etc… His activities attracted the attention of Hero O'Clock, who infiltrated the tournament by posing as a fighter, obtaining evidence of drug trafficking. It also attracted a young Rumi Usagiyama, although she was more interested in fighting, defeating everyone who dared to face her.

All For One, who had been watching the fights from the security room, decided to harvest some Quirks. He released a gas that empowers the Quirks, making those who breathe it go on a rampage. To prevent anyone from fleeing, All For One, deployed his subordinates, including a Hood in pre-High End stage. Then, with the help of Kurogiri and his Warp Gate, he steals those Quirks that interest him.

All For One was especially eager to get hold of O'Clock's Quirk, Overlock. The hero allied with Rumi and Kendo Rappa, one of the underground fighters, to escape from there. Their escape was interrupted by Hood, leading to a battle between them. All For One is annoyed at being unable to see a clear view of the battle, due to most of the security cameras being destroyed, as well as the panicking spectators getting in the way. He contemplates clearing the arena himself, but Kurogiri disagrees as he believes any further escalation might summon All Might to the place, further irritating All For One. He decides to let the situation settle on its own.

When realizing that Hood was too difficult a foe to defeat by his own means, O'Clock put in motion an emergency plan, which consisted of Rumi escaping and warning his allies outside to request the assistance of All Might. The plan worked, and All Might immediately left his hero office to help out in Osaka. Kurogiri informed All For One that since All Might is on his way, they should retreat so as not to lose their valuable test subjects, as well as O’Clock, but All For One, annoyed that he couldn’t watch the fight between O’Clock and the Hooded Man, instead requested Kurogiri to assist him in buying some time.

After explaining to his Kurogiri the dichotomy between heroes and villains, All For One places his hand on several of the unconscious individuals, utilizing his Quirk on each of them to boost their powers, transforming them into violent villains who rampaged the city streets. All For One was satisfied with the results, because even All Might would waste time protecting everyone and reestablishing order, but Kurogiri tells him that he has gone too far with his action, because the incident would serve as a clue that leads back to them. All For One didn't care about it, arguing that it is a risk well worth the chance to get the Overclock Quirk.

All Might shows up and defeats all the villains in the blink of an eye. Kurogiri relents that All Might's actions barely bought them anytime, but All For One gleefully responds that it bought them "three seconds", more than enough to be able to get Overclock. However, the unexpected intervention of Rumi, who returned to help fight the Hooded Man, spoiling the plan, Which leaves him frustrated and displeased. With All Might closing in, Kurogiri uses his Quirk to quickly retrieve the Hooded Man.

Once in the hideout, Hood rampages around, yelling that he can still fight, when he is stopped and restrained by All For One. He expressed his disappointment on him, as his strength, agility, and regeneration had greatly weakened after just a few minutes of battle, initially believing his martial arts skills would’ve got the job done, but that his commitment to brawling messes with his new Shape-Shifting ability.

Using his Quirks to shut him down, All For One tells Kurogiri to transport him over to the Doctor for further modifications. Despite the failure, All For One keeps his calm and reflects that he can be patient, since every step leads him closer to All Might, though still states that getting his hands on Overclock would’ve furthered the cause, saying that it will be his eventually and he already knows how he’ll put it to use.

The Fall and Rise of All For One
All Might eventually fought and critically injured All For One, but he similarly received a debilitating wound in the process. Incapacitated by his defeat, All For One went into hiding as he attempted to heal from his injuries. He would later create the League of Villains (where he took on his "Sensei" identity) and continued grooming Tomura Shigaraki as his successor. He was well aware that Tomura was really the grandson of Nana Shimura and wanted him to use this to his advantage.

At some point, the hero O'Clock infiltrated one of his lairs, coming face to face with the Villain, who snatched his Quirk Overclock and wounded his face, leaving a distinctive scar. Overclock would eventually be acquired by Number 6.

U.S.J. Arc
After failing in their attempt to assassinate All Might, Kurogiri warps himself and an injured Tomura back to their hideout at the last second, allowing them to escape from being turned to dust. Tomura complains that his body hurts and all their subordinates were eliminated, Nomu was defeated and All Might is still alive, further complaining that everything went wrong. However, All For One, speaking on the monitor says that nothing went wrong and that he was simply over optimistic.

All For One says that it is too late to mourn and that they should gather a new group hand picked for efficiency, saying that they should take all the time they need. All For One says that Tomura is a symbol of importance and that next time he will show the world the horror of his existence.

U.A. Sports Festival Arc
A recuperating Tomura was seen watching the Obstacle Race with his computer and he sees that Izuku took first place. Later on, before the battle between Izuku and Shoto begins, All For One tells Tomura to pay close attention to Izuku and Shoto's match as they might become obstacles for him in the future. Tomura responds by telling the Sensei to not make him laugh.

Vs. Hero Killer Arc
All For One, using the monitor to speak through, orders Kurogiri to allow Stain and Tomura to continue talking, saying that Tomura's meeting with Stain (an experienced infamous villain) will stimulate Tomura's growth. Before he leaves for Hosu, Tomura asks All For One to let him borrow some Nomu because he does not like the "Hero Killer" Stain and that destroying things he does not like seems alright. All For One decides to give Tomura three Nomu, hoping that Tomura will make the opportunity a learning experience.

All For One is surprised that the Hero Killer Stain was captured but is still happy that things are going as he has foreseen. He exclaims that Tomura's position is to supervise and unify the new villains who have come to join the League of Villains. All For One's doctor expresses doubt that Tomura can do his job and says that if All For One stepped in things would be proceeding faster. All For One asks the doctor to patch him up faster. All For One says that he will let Tomura do all the hard work so that he may become his successor as Tomura was born to do so. All For One tells All Might to rejoice in the "transient" peace while he still can.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
Although he does not appear in person, it is revealed that he aided Wolfram with the incident that occurred on I-Island by providing him with additional Quirks to fight All Might.

Hideout Raid Arc
Some point after stealing Ragdoll's Search Quirk, All For One had Doctor Garaki replicate his Quirk, and received a copy of the All For One Quirk, knowing that he would be defeated. It would be revealed that he intends for the original All For One Quirk to be passed down to Tomura when it's time.

After Katsuki attacks Tomura, Tomura understands that mere words alone won't convince Katsuki to join them and decides to ask for the "force" of his teacher, All For One, to help him convince Katsuki. All For One, who has been watching Tomura on his computer, commends his apprentice for his wise decision.

The League of Villains is apprehended by the Pro Heroes and Police Force. All For One decides to take action himself and appears at the League of Villains' warehouse and apologizes to Tiger, explaining that Ragdoll is in a comatose state because he stole her Quirk, Search, which he found to be quite useful. Best Jeanist restrains All For One with his Quirk and orders his fellow pro heroes to not let the villain do anything.

Before the pro heroes can act, the entire warehouse is completely destroyed and the surrounding area suffers extensive damage as well. It is revealed that All For One unleashed a blast wave that has seemingly killed the pro heroes, destroyed the warehouse, and dealt significant damage to the surrounding area in less than a second. All For One is livid with the pro heroes for interfering with his apprentice, Tomura who has started thinking for himself as well as leading others by himself and hopes they no longer bother him. All For One decides to quickly resolve the mess created by the pro heroes.

All For One uses a Quirk to produce black liquid at the League of Villains' hideout; the black liquid summons dozens of Nomu inside and outside the hideout, forcing the pro heroes and Police Force to confront the legions of Nomu. This black liquid also teleports Katsuki away.

All For One sees that the pro heroes survived his attack. All For One claps and praises Hakamada for using his Quirk to pull his fellow pro heroes out of the way in order to reduce the blast's impact on them. Despite his heavy injuries, Hakamada attempts to fight back and begins sending fiber strings. However, All For One impales Hakamada from afar. The mighty villain mentions that he does not need Hakamada's Quirk because it does not suit Tomura’s personality.

Katsuki's materialization from the black liquid in front of All For One catches the attention of Izuku's group. All For One apologizes to Katsuki as Tomura, Kurogiri, and the Vanguard Action Squad materialize from the black liquid as well. All For One sees that his apprentice, Tomura, has failed again. However, All For One is neither angry nor disappointed with Tomura and encourages Tomura to try again since he still has the Vanguard Action Squad and Katsuki whom he deemed important. All For One implores Tomura to continue trying as many times as he likes since everything is for his sake.

Suddenly, All Might appears above him and attacks him. However, All For One blocks All Might's attack. All Might declares that he will take everything back while All For One wonders if All Might will attempt to kill him again.

All Might and All For One clash, which creates a shockwave that sends Katsuki, Tomura, and the Vanguard Action Squad backwards. Both All For One and All Might criticize each other for becoming weaker. All Might declares that he will save Katsuki and will not repeat the same mistake as he did five years ago and this time he will definitely put All For One behind bars along with the League of Villains. All Might charges at his arch nemesis. However, All For One sends a huge blast wave at All Might, causing the Symbol of Peace to be sent flying away with great force. All For One's blast wave attack not only hits All Might but destroys several buildings in the process.

Katsuki becomes concerned, but All For One tells Katsuki not to fret since his blast wave attack is not strong enough to kill All Might. All For One orders Tomura to escape along with Katsuki and comments that his black liquid warping Quirk will not help Tomura and the League of Villains escape. All For One uses a Quirk that forcefully activates Kurogiri's Warp Gate, which causes a portal to open. All For One orders the League of Villains to escape into Kurogiri's portal. Suddenly, All Might reappears onto the battlefield, refusing to allow the arch villain to escape and charges at him. Before heading into battle, All For One tells Tomura that he can still grow stronger.

All Might and All For One clash once again. Meanwhile, Katsuki is fending off some of the Vanguard Action Squad; All Might attempts to help Katsuki only for All For One to intervene and stop him. Suddenly, Izuku, Eijiro, and Tenya appear above in the air; All For One sees the trio and attempts to attack them, but All Might intervenes by punching him.

Katsuki manages to escape along with Izuku and his friends. Now that the tables have turned, All For One sees that they no longer can secure victory due to Katsuki's rescue and that most of the Vanguard Action Squad is unconscious. All For One decides to save Tomura and the Vanguard Action Squad. All For One forcefully activates Magne's Magnetism. Before Tomura can attack Gran Torino, he and the Vanguard Action Squad are magnetically pulled into Kurogiri's Warp Gate. As he is being sucked into the Warp Gate, Tomura calls out to his teacher concerned for his safety. Before Tomura teleports away, All For One tells Tomura to continue the fight. Tomura and the unconscious Kurogiri are teleported away by the Warp Gate, causing the portal to disperse.

All Might charges at All For One, but All For One uses his Warping Quirk to teleport Gran Torino in front of him, using the elderly Hero as a human shield which causes Gran Torino to take All Might's attack instead. All For One expresses his hatred for All Might as he is the one who brought down his comrades in the past and while he descended into darkness, All Might rose to the top as the Symbol of Peace. All For One prepares to fire his blast wave move, intending to blow away Gran Torino and All Might at the same time. However, All Might pulls Gran Torino away and uses a Detroit Smash to cancel out All For One's blast wave move.

All For One sees that his destruction of the city has brought chaos and decides to put the innocent civilians in danger so that All Might will not be able to fight at full strength. Furious with All For One's sadism, All Might grabs his arm while throwing Gran Torino away for safety. All Might admonishes All For One for all the despicable crimes he has committed and for his misanthropy.

All Might punches All For One in the face, shattering his mask; however, All Might's punch was not strong enough to finish off All For One. As Gran Torino calls out to him, All Might's face reverts to its true form. All For One says that All Might would not be the first to criticize him as he has heard those same lines before, from the previous One For All successor: Nana Shimura.

All Might is angry at the arch villain for mentioning her name. All For One notes that Nana was all bark and no bite, only going on about her ideals, and was not even strong; he mocks her for her uselessness and mentions that she died in an embarrassing, shameful way. Furious, All Might prepares to attack All For One. However, All For One uses his blast wave technique against All Might, causing the hero to be blasted into the air. Gran Torino catches All Might and lands him to safety on the ground.

All For One decides to finish his apprentice's hard work and sever the trust in heroes once and for all. He once again expresses his hatred for All Might due to taking something away from him and wants him to die in the most gruesome way possible. He fires another blast wave attack at All Might, who, seeing that an innocent civilian is trapped under rubble behind him, blocks All For One's blast wave attack and saves the civilian from being harmed. However, All Might expends the last of his power and reverts to his true form. All For One relishes in the fact that All Might's true form has been exposed for all to see.

Everyone around the country sees All Might's true form and begins panicking. All For One mocks All Might for the pitiful state he is in. However, All Might does not care about his rotting body nor his exposure to the world and declares that his spirit burns strongly which is what truly matters. Wanting to break his spirit, All For One reveals that Tomura is Nana's grandson. All Might is demoralized and refuses to believe, but All For One tells him that it is the truth. All For One wonders why All Might is not smiling and sarcastically remarks about All Might's smile, which is something Nana would always do. All Might's spirit is greatly demoralized by the mockery while All For One continues relishing in All Might's pitiful state.

Invigorated by the civilian, All Might activates One For All throughout the right side of his body, transforming it into its hero form. All Might smiles and states that Heroes have many things to protect which is why they do not lose.

All For One deduces that All Might will unleash his final attack, commenting that wounded Heroes are the most terrifying of all. All For One's comment causes him to reminisce about their last battle where All Might delivered the final blow to him and admits that the look on All Might's face during that last attack has still haunted him to this very day. All For One prepares to fire his blast wave attack. Suddenly, flames strike at the mighty villain, but All For One uses his blast wave attack to swat away the flames with ease. All For One is surprised that the dozens of Nomu he sent were dispatched with haste even though they were mediocre and should not have taken Enji's No. 2 rank so lightly.

Annoyed with Enji and the other pro heroes' interference, All For One prepares his blast wave attack again. However, Edgeshot uses his Quirk and great speed to attack, but All For One dodges the attack. Growing tired with the sentimental talk, All For One blasts Enji and Edgeshot back and activates a number of his strongest Quirks in his right arm, causing it to become an enlarged mutated arm filled with numerous deadly screws and hardened minerals.

All For One charges at All Might with his heavily empowered and mutated arm. While heading towards All Might, All For One knows from battling him that All Might no longer has One For All. He tells All Might that he knows to whom he gave One For All: Izuku Midoriya, having deduced it from Tomura's report about the boy. All For One taunts All Might by saying that he has also failed as a teacher towards Izuku due to his apprentice's recklessness.

Both All For One and All Might clash by punching each other with their enhanced fists, which creates a huge shockwave that devastates a great portion of the city. As they struggle, All For One uses his Impact Recoil Quirk to revert all the damage to All Might. However, All Might transfers One For All to his other arm, sacrificing his right arm but renders Impact Recoil ineffective. All Might says that he must indeed criticize Izuku for his actions.

All For One is shocked that All Might would go to such lengths to protect his leftovers of One For All and admits that he miscalculated. All Might refuses to die until he has finished bringing up Izuku. He then counters by throwing his empowered left arm and punches All For One who has left his guard open.

The punch, however, was meant to lower All For One's guard, and All Might transfers One For All to his right arm and prepares for his final attack, United States of Smash, which creates a great shock wave when it hits All For One. After the dust clears, All For One is in a crater, badly beaten and unconscious. Later, Enji and All Might watch All For One being placed in the iron maiden.

The next day, All For One is incarcerated into Tartarus, a special prison for criminals for whom the death penalty is not enough. All For One, in a wheelchair and on life support, wonders where he is, much to the prison guard's annoyance who is pushing him to his holding cell; the prison guard tells him his location. All For One apologizes, causing the prison guard to assume that he is unable to see. All For One reveals that for the past six years he has been using an Infrared Quirk to sense his surroundings as a way to compensate his blindness, but due to all the sensors he is unable to sense anything and apologizes to the prison guard. The prison guard is flabbergasted that All For One fought All Might in such a condition.

While being pushed to his holding cell, All For One is not angry or upset for losing against All Might. Instead, All For One is happy because his defeat at All Might's hands will grow Tomura's hatred for All Might as well as his regret for being unable to save his sensei, which will motivate him to gain experience and become much stronger.

All For One smiles, knowing that even though he lost the battle, he still will succeed at being the better teacher than All Might. All For One says this to himself, implying that Tomura is the successor who will inherit the All For One Quirk.

Provisional Hero License Exam Arc
During the Hero License Exam, All for One receives a visit from All Might. All For One comments on the severe strictness of the prison he is being held in. Even if he were to try and activate a Quirk, he'd be put down instantly. All Might assures All For One that he will never escape nor is he getting out anytime soon from this prison of hell.

Moving along, All For One questions again what All Might wants. The former hero All Might wants to know the whereabouts of Tomura Shigaraki. The villain answers that he doesn't know and unlike him he has already let Tomura carry on. Then, All Might asks him about his motives, but the villain claims All Might is never going to be satisfied by his answers. All For One makes his answer simple; both he and All Might are the same. All For One wishes to be the king of evil in the same way All Might wants to be the symbol of peace.

All Might asks if All For One wanted to live forever being utterly evil, then why does he need a successor. All For One finds All Might's question funny; answering that All Might took everything away from him, leaving him in a regrettable state to the point he needs complex devices to survive. Because of this his influence and ideals had become limited thanks to him, so he has been grooming Tomura Shigaraki to become his successor and carry on his legacy.

The security inform All Might that he has three minutes left, much to All For One's disappointment as he still has much more to say. Due to All Might's retirement, the villain ask about the state of the outside world, but the security inform All Might that he cannot tell him any information that is going on in the world. All For One decides to make a hypothesis then: With All Might's retirement, Endeavor has become the new number one Hero, however, it does not seem that it will be enough to contain the anxiety and concern of society, and sensing the growing insecurity in the world, the villains will rise up and take, thinking that they have their chance to change society.

In this situation, Tomura and his allies will grow in power and influence to reach the top, although they will have to clash other organizations that also intend to do the same, clashes in which All Might will be unable to do anything. All For One mockingly asks All Might how it feels to be absolutely powerless.

His words make All Might angry, who replies to All For One not to presume everything. All Might understands that he chose Tomura as his successor because he was the grandson of his master Nana, but he will not allow All For One's twisted vision to be realized and he won't let himself be killed by Tomura. All For One wonders if All Might came here to tell him that. As he leaves, Toshinori tells All For One he will smash his plans as many times as it takes, and he will pass the rest of his life in prison. As the prison cell begins closing, All For One chuckles at All Might final statement.

Pro Hero Arc
All For One claims he is willing to restore Ragdoll's Quirk back to her but that it would require activating his own Quirk to do so. The authorities determined the safest approach is to not let him do anything while investigating the number of Quirks he has stockpiled.

A few days later, Izuku Midoriya experiences the vestiges of One For All where he views a flashback between All For One and his brother, the first user of One For All. He witnesses All For One transfer the stockpiling Quirk on his brother, out of kindness as well as to force him to submit. All For One claims that he was creating a reality just like the one in the comics the brothers used to read as kids. He also tells his brother that by acquiring a Quirk he would start seeing the reality as it is. It is later revealed that All For One's brother was actually communicating with Izuku.

Joint Training Arc
All For One seems to set off the alarms in Tartarus by moving inside his cell, claiming to hear the voice of his younger brother.

Paranormal Liberation War Arc
While investigating and analyzing Kurogiri, Naomasa and Gran Torino find out that he is a nomu created from the corpse of Oboro Shirakumo. When they ask All For One about his methods to create the Nomu, the villain simply responds with a metaphor in which he compares the creation of the Nomu as producing wine: trampling grapes (people) to extract the juice (Quirks), and letting them ferment into wine (Nomu).

Later, Naomasa and Gran Torino ask Shota Aizawa and Hizashi Yamada for help to awaken Oboro's consciousness. Although it was an emotionally painful process, they succeed and obtain vital information. This, along with other data obtained by Hawks, allows us to locate Tomura Shigaraki, who is in Jaku General Hospital, undergoing a complex and extensive operation at the hands of Kyudai Garaki to obtain more power, transplanting the original All For One Quirk to him.

To avoid this, the heroes raid the hospital a month before the operation ends, as well as other bases of the Paranormal Liberation Front. Not without great difficulties, the heroes manage to reach the secret laboratory under the hospital and prevent Kyudai from awakening Tomura prematurely, destroying the machine that kept them alive. even Kyudai himself believes his master's dream has finally ended since Tomura appears to be dead.

While Tomura is in this state of apparent death, he enters a dreamworld where he sees and interacts with representations of his relatives, until a shadowy version of All For One appears, telling him to come to him. Tomura's family reappears to stop him, even his grandmother Nana appears to prevent her grandson to walk over to All For One's darkness. Despite their pleas, Tomura rejects them and embraces his master.

Tomura unexpectedly awakens, and immediately uses his empowered Decay to destroy the hospital, killing dozens of heroes in the process, and even destroying much of the nearby city. After this, he orders Gigantomachia to come to him, bringing the members of the League with him, but he also begins to hear a voice inside his head that orders him to go get the One for All quirk. Tomura begins to be attacked by Endeavor and other heroes, but impelled by the voice inside him, he uses his Search Quirk to locate Izuku Midoriya, heading towards him.

Tomura manages to reach Izuku starting a bloody battle between him against Izuku, endeavor, Shota Aizawa, Gran Torino, and several other heroes. To prevent more heroes from interfering, Tomura summons a group of Nomu to confront the reinforcements. While all this is happening. All For One is seen smiling in his cell.

While facing Izuku, Tomura ends up calling him his "little brother"; a statement that leaves both of them confused. This allows Tomura to realize that the mysterious inner voice comes from the ego of his master that exists within All For One, who tries to take over his will. Tomura thanks his master from for raising him from the bottom of his heart, but refuses to controled by him, as he wants to be greater than All For One was, and breaks free from his image in his mind.

After Tomura gets severely injured by Endeavor's Prominence Burn attack, All For One reaches out his hand and suggests Tomura hand his body over to him. Tomura appears to do so as suddenly he attacks both Endeavor and Deku with the tendrils of his Rivet Stab Quirk. Endeavor gets impaled, but Katsuki pushes Deku out of the way, and gets impaled instead.

Tomura grabs Deku and Deku is sent into the void where he sees that All For One is holding Tomura down. Tomura demands All For One not interfere, but All For One sneers that if it weren't for his intervention, Tomura would be dead. Suddenly Nana Shimura appears alongside Deku.

All For One tells Tomura that his dead grandmother has joined them. He goes onto say that when he stole quirks, he could hear their voices, which caused him to feel guilt. However, once he relinquished the quirk, the voices would go away. It wasn't until he me Dr. Garaki that he realized it was the vestiges of the previous owners he had heard, similar to how organs and cells contain a person's DNA.

All For One admits he thought he was the only person he could do this and realizes when his quirk merged with his younger brothers, it granted him and anyone else who had One For All the ability as well. One For All starts to crumble, and All For says Tomura's rage is overwhelming One For All's will. He notices he is starting to crumble and notes that Tomura hates him as well.

All For One is pleased as this makes Tomura worthy of being the Symbol of Chaos, but All For One's younger brother appears and helps to push back Tomura's rage. The younger brother asks All For One if Tomura is the next person he is manipulating. All For One says he wishes he had made his brother his, but the younger brother says they won't join him.

All For One has Tomura combine their powers together to take One For All, stating that Deku is unworthy since he couldn't protect his friends or teacher. The younger brother says they deem Deku worthy and All For One will never understand why as he and Nana counter All For One and Tomura, causing Deku and Tomura to separate and regain consciousness.

All For One tells Tomura he must retreat and let his body reach 100%.Tomura refuses and decides to stay and fight against All For One's insistence that he flee. All For One takes note of Gigantomachia's arrival and states that he came just in the nick of time, before Tomura falls unconscious.

Spinner, who is tending to Tomura, remembers what his leader said before about the hands of his deceased family bringing him a sickening rage and puts one of those hands onto Tomura's face. This allows Tomura to reawaken, though All For One is in control. He remarks on how his successor found himself some truly great allies, and that the hatred in Tomura's heart serves as a power that gives the vestige of All For One an even greater hold over Tomura's body.

All For One uses his Radio Waves to order the Near High-End Nomu to take Tomura's body and retreat. When Spinner reminds All For One of their allies still fighting, the villain coldly states that since Tomura lost, it is only fair that he pays for that loss and subsequently abandons the remaining members. Just before they leave, Izuku attempts to stop All For One, but the villain easily blasts him away with an air cannon and tells the hero that they will meet again once Tomura's body is perfected.

The vestige of All For One retreats with the remaining ten Near High-End Nomu, accompanied by Spinner and Dabi. The surviving heroes try to stop them, but All For One dispatches three Nomus to confront them. The Near High-End’s distraction tactics ensured that he, his allies, and seven others escaped while three were destroyed.

A few hours later, in Tartarus, the real All For One is able to sense the condition of Tomura's body, noting that while his expectations were slightly off, it wouldn't be much longer. In the forest, All For One remarks that the heroes won't get a tomorrow or the chance to get a moment's rest, since it is his turn to lead. He then orders his tireless Nomu to invade Tartarus to free his real body. All For One in Tomura's body alongside the Near High-Ends start to invade Tartarus. They destroy the Bronze Gate, as the bridge is lowered halting them from entering. The Near High-Ends deal with the defending drones, while All For One flies over on a flying Nomu. Tomura starts to wake up, leading to an argument between the two over control of the body. All For One reminds him he's doing everything for his sake, because Tomura will become "the next me". As All For One struggles to break through, due to the immense amount of security in Tartarus and Tomura's increasingly-failing body, he figures the only way to success is through a coordinated attack inside and out, and that he'll need help from villains.

Tartarus is hit by a sudden EMP attack on the outside by All For One/Tomura, shutting down the prison's security, followed immediately by another EMP attack on the inside by All For One in his original body, unlocking his and all the other cells on the floor, as the previously captured villains quickly disposed of the armed guards. The freed (albeit still on life support) All For One finally reunites with Tomura Shigaraki, in front of the rest of the prisoners, telling them to join him on his path of devastation, to become the greatest demon lord.

All For One orchestrates another large-scale attack, using both the Nomu and the freed prisoners to attack six different prisons all to distract the authorities and make it harder for them to track him. All For One is seen sitting with Tomura/All For One and asks Spinner and Dabi to stand guard over him while his body recovers. Spinner asks who Tomura really was, stating All For One wasn't the person he chose to follow. All For One tells Spinner not to worry, saying he has the greatest respect for Tomura's will and that once his body recovers, both of their desires would come to fruition.