History#
Hikage Shinomori lived during the era when society was in chaos and All For One was at his prime. He became the fourth user of the One For All Quirk after receiving it from Bruce Lee before he was killed.
Hikage was 22 when he inherited One For All, along with the mission to defeat All For One. However, Hikage was aware that, given the huge difference in their combat abilities, he could never defeat the villain, so he chose to cultivate One For All in seclusion instead of facing All For One. For the next eighteen years, Hikage strengthened his Quirk with rigorous training. When he turned 40, however, his body began to deteriorate and showed signs of old age. Confused by the rapid aging, Hikage entrusted One For All to Daigoro Banjo before passing away.[1]
Synopsis#
U.A. Sports Festival Arc#
During the fight between Izuku Midoriya and Hitoshi Shinso in the tournament of the U.A. Sports Festival, Izuku is brainwashed by Hitoshi's Quirk, who orders him to walk out of bounds. Although Izuku tries to resist, he cannot disobey the order, but when he is about to cross the edge of the ring, Hikage and the rest of the previous users appear to Izuku as shadowed mental figures. They uncloud his mind and allow Izuku to use One For All in his fingers, allowing him to escape the trance and win the fight.[2]
Pro Hero Arc#
After Izuku Midoriya falls asleep after an exhausting training session, he experiences the vestiges of One For All. Hikage and the other users of One For All appear in his dream, showing Izuku the horrible tale of Yoichi and the origins of One For All. After the dream concludes, he is seen with the other predecessors blessing Izuku.[3]
My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising#
During a devastating battle between a villain with a copy of All For One's Quirk, in a last-ditch effort to defeat him, Izuku transfers One For All to Katsuki Bakugo, even at the cost of rendering himself Quirkless once more. Through the dual power of the One For All's, the two manage to take the villain down, even as the remaining embers of One For All seemingly disappear from Izuku. However, Hikage and the other users, wanting Izuku to continue to harness the power, and recognizing his heroism of willing to sacrifice his power to save everyone, only temporarily transferred the power over to Katsuki, while the full essence of One For All remains within Izuku. Toshinori tearfully thanks the predecessors for staying with Izuku.[4]
Paranormal Liberation War Arc#
In the aftermath of the Paranormal Liberation War, when Izuku is rendered comatose, he speaks to all the vestiges within One For All. Among them, Hikage approaches Izuku and introduces himself and his Quirk that Izuku happened to awaken during his battle. Daigoro explains that Hikage was a weirdo that shunned modern society to live the life of a hermit while playfully attempting to tag him with Blackwhip, but Hikage insists that he lived in a terrible era, and society had the weirdos. Hikage then asks Izuku about his age and cause of death, which Izuku recalls that he was forty 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, they realized 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 eighteen 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 at his life.
The discrepancy with All Might led Hikage to wonder if there was something that All Might had that he didn't, Izuku realizes the difference between Hikage and All Might: All Might was Quirkless.Yoichi proceeds to explain how 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 forty 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, and with the increasing lack of Quirkless population, Izuku will most likely be the last successor of One For All.[1] After this, Nana Shimura approaches Izuku asking if he has the resolve to kill Tomura, the users agreeing that one must have an incredibly strong will and overbearing emotions in order to override the basic principle of One For All, which means All For One is using Tomura's hatred to complete the job.
Izuku proceeds to state his belief that One For All is a Quirk meant to save not kill, that All Might taught him that, and that he and all the other users who have helped grow and cultivate the power, have in the process saved and brought hope to countless people. He accepts the real possibility that Tomura can only be stopped by killing him, and he doesn't know how he will deal with everything exactly yet, but he still wants to try and save "that little boy", all the while briefly transforming into his child self.
Moved by his words, Hikage and the other users agreed to aid Izuku, and help instruct him of how their Quirks work while Yoichi tries to convince the Second and Third users to join them.[5]
Dark Hero Arc#
In the aftermath of the Paranormal Liberation War, All For One has escaped from Tartarus, and proceeded to break into several more maximum security prisons, liberating the inmates. Due to the chaos inflicted by Gigantomachia and the mass breakout of prisoners, the whole country entered a state of total chaos and anarchy. In addition, many heroes resigned and called it quits because of the massive criticism of their work, and the destruction spreading unchecked.
Izuku decides to leave U.A. and his friends behind in order to protect them so he can hunt down the Villains, with all the users on his side ready to back him up.[6]
However, over the course of about a month, Izuku starts to tire out as he becomes increasingly obsessed with solving every problem all on his own, even ignoring the other Heroes' suggestions to take it easy. Hikage and the other inheritors of One For All try to convince him to rest before Danger Sense warns him of another threat and heads off, ignoring their words. In the vestige world, Nana fears that her emotions are getting the better of Izuku, while Hikage and the other inheritors assure her that by going over his limit, he's acting like a true hero would do.[7] It is all through his former classmates that Izuku is finally able to rest easy knowing that they still got his back.[8]
My Hero Academia: You're Next#
During the Gollini Invasion, Deborah Gollini manages to sleep and trap numerous civilians and several U.A students in dreams thanks to her Day Dream Quirk. When they tried to help them, Izuku and his ally Giulio Gandini also ended up falling asleep. Izuku finds himself back in his youth, surrounded by his All Might memorabilia, and having fun with All Might himself. However, he is brought back to his senses by the vestiges of One For All, making him realize it is all a dream.
They tell Izuku that everyone affected by Day Dream are interconnected with each other, as Izuku can see brief snippets of several of his classmates' fantasies. They remind him that everyone has dreams and desires they've always wanted, with Izuku wanting to be a Hero, but a Hero isn't something like becoming All Might or a Symbol of Peace, but to do what All Might wants him to be: a Hero to save people, and to reach out for those who are in need. However, they warned that even if he realizes that he's dreaming, he's still under Deborah's spell, she he must find a way to break it.
Despite this, Izuku manages to wake up and escape from the dream.[9]
Final War Arc#
As the final battle between the heroes and villains commence in the Final War, Izuku prepares for his final encounter with Tomura. While a snag in the plan delays his arrival, he eventually makes his way over to the U.A. Floating Fortress designed to contain Tomura to fight him.[10] After regaining his bearings after seeing the other Heroes' comatose bodies, Izuku confronts Tomura, who over the course of the battle has transformed himself into a hulking beast covered in fingers, and addresses him as "All For One", asking if Tomura is still within him.[11]
"Tomura" claims that he no longer exists, as he and All For One's psyches have melded together into a perfect new being. However, Mirio Togata reveals that during their battle, the villain reacted to one of his taunts like that of a child, believing them not to be as melded as he thinks. Seeing the faces of the Shimura family on his left hand confirms this thought, and the battle resumes.[12]
Izuku activates the Quirk of the Second User, Gearshift, and now with all the Quirks unlocked, unleashes the full power of One For All upon Tomura, overpowering him, with Hikage and the other predecessors right there behind him.[13] After Izuku destroyed Tomura's absolute defensive Form, Tomura releases the pent-up damage in an explosion which weakens All For One's influence over him, allowing Tomura to regain control of his body. Izuku drags Tomura out of the U.A. Floating Fortress to confront him now with his Quirks returned.[14]
Over the course of Izuku and Tomura's battle, the real All For One attempts to reach them and retake control of the body, but fails, and is rewound to death due to the effects of a special drug he took.[15] With him now out of the picture for good, the users discuss amongst themselves in the vestige world, with Yoichi telling them not to cling to sentimentality, as now the fight has passed on to the successors, and bringing down Tomura is their entire reason for existing.
During the fight, Tomura goes on the offensive and attempts to touch Izuku's face, but he is just barely able to dodge using Danger Sense to slice his fingers off. However, in that brief moment of near contact, Tomura managed to successfully invade the vestige realm. Hikage is the first one to sense the sudden danger thank to his Quirk, as he turns around to see Tomura's giant hand appearing above, about to consume them.
The other vestiges are so focused on the battle outside that they do not notice the intrusion, so Hikage stands in the way and pushes the rest of the bearers out of the danger zone to save them, consequently being caught by the gigantic hand. As the hand retreats, Hikage tells the others that the Ninth is in their hands, before disappearing. Soon after, his chair crumbles too, with Tomura now in possession of Danger Sense.
Daigoro warns Deku that Hikage and Danger Sense have been stolen, while Tomura recognizes the "inherited might" of power that his master was obsessed with, reiterating that he doesn't care about it but will take it if it means destroying Deku. In the vestige realm, they notice Hikage's chair crumbling away, with Daigoro annoyed how Tomura was able to break into their space and get one over of them like it was nothing.[16]