As Izuku Midoriya and the students of Class 1A pick up the pieces and begin to plan their counterattack on the villains, more has come to light about the Vestiges present in One for All. While All Might hadn’t mentioned them much before, after Izuku’s unlocking of Black Whip and subsequent experiences in the Paranormal Liberation War bringing out more, the Vestiges have become an important part in the history of Izuku’s inherited Quirks.
All-Might explained after Deku discovered Black Whip that each of One for All’s previous users were still present in the Quirk, leaving behind some of their own power for the future wielder it gets passed down to. Now, Izuku has managed to unlock and utilize every Quirk held within One for All, with each giving him a different advantage in battle.
Bestow/Stockpile
- Originally Wield by: Yoichi Shiguraki
- Stockpile was gifted to Yoichi by his brother, All for One
- While originally assumed Quirkless, his Bestowal combined with Stockpile to form All for One.
Yoichi was the original wielder of One for All, and the unfortunate brother of All for One. While Yoichi tried to be better than his brother, he was assumed Quirkless thanks to his Bestowal not being obvious, he was given a Stockpile Quirk out of pity by his brother, which fused with his already existing one to form One for All. While it was still relatively useless for Yoichi, who was sickly and weak compared to his brother, he was able to pass it on to the unnamed Second User, and began the accumulation of strength thanks to the Stockpile ability.
Gearshift
- Wielded By: Second User
- Passed on during the initial resistance against All for One.
- Allows the user to alter the speed of anything they touch.
The second user is still mysterious and unnamed, though their Quirk Gearshift is one of the most powerful building blocks in One for All, no doubt thanks to how early it was acquired. This Quirk can alter the time of anything the user touches, which in turn gives them a chance to either increase how hard they get hit or hit something, or making the enemy lose control and hurt themselves in the process. With the enhanced strength it’s gained from being passed on and enhanced by every user after, Gearshift has become one of Deku’s most dangerous Quirks during a battle now that he knows how to use it.
Fa Jin
- Wielded by: Third User
- One for All was passed to him during the same Resistance movement from the Second User.
- Allows user to store up kinetic energy by making repetitive movements, releasing it when they choose.
The Third User was a member of the same Resistance cell as the Second User, and while his Quirk was certainly much stronger in combination with Gearshift and an evolved One for All, it wasn’t enough to take down the still rampaging All for One. Unfortunately he didn’t live for very long, but was still able to contribute his Fa Jin Quirk to the Stockpile, strengthening the kinetic energy storing ability and allowing it to come out as even more ferocious blasts or even giving the user a temporary speed boost.
Deku also combines Gearshift and Fa Jin frequently in order to enhance the damage of both or help him outrun a bullet from Lady Nagant.
Danger Sense
- Original Wielder: Hikage Shinomori
- Passed on to Hikage just before the Third User was killed.
- As basic as it gets, this Quirk only allows the user to sense impending danger.
Hikage was given One for All by the Third User only minutes before his death at the hands of All for One, taking the Quirk and using his own Danger Sense to go on the run and into hiding. Hikage knew he was no match for the villain, who had already been on a genocidal rampage that would make Eren Yeager blush and was determined to get One for All, so he hid away and trained his strength, hoping it would all pass to the next user when the time came to pass it on. All of his time in hiding led to the discovery of a drawback to One for All though, that it would slowly destroy the body of its user.
Deku uses Danger Sense constantly, especially during his Vigilante arc when notorious supervillains are loose around every part of the city. In essence, it’s just Deku’s own version of Spidey-Sense! The Spiderman parallels for Deku continue with the next Quirk, as Hikage passed his on to Daigoro Banjo, otherwise known as…
Blackwhip
- Original Wielder: Daigoro Banjo
- Passed on by Hikage before his death.
- Allows the user to create dark tendrils of energy that have multiple uses.
Blackwhip was the first Vestige of One for All Deku discovered, coming upon it by total accident during the Joint Training Exercise arc before needing to be subdued by his classmates. Daigoro, the original wielder, was one of the most resilient users of One for All and even resisted one of All for One’s attempts at stealing the quirk through willpower alone. He’s also the first Vestige that talks to Deku, filling him in a little bit on just what the hell is going on with his Quirk (more than All-Might did, anyway).
While Deku originally used Blackwhip as a faster method of traversal (another Spiderman tribute) it soon is replaced by Float and instead used for restraining enemies or to move civilians during battles. Although Daigoro had tremendous will and strength, he would eventually be hunted down by All for One, passing the Quirk along to En as he took his last breaths.
Until now the Quirk had been passed along by eating the previous user’s hair, so how did that work here since Daigoro is bald? Some questions are better left unanswered.
Smokescreen
- Original Wielder: En
- Bestowed by Daigoro as he was dying.
- Allows the user to produce smoke from their body.
This is another Quirk that’s useless on its own normally, but with the combined powers of One for All becomes a strategical ace up Deku’s sleeve. En wasn’t much of a fighter during his time with the Quirk, and assumedly didn’t live for too long after inheriting it, but the ability proves useful as a distraction to enemies and way to escape, which no doubt kept him alive long enough to meet the next wielder.
Deku uses Smokescreen in a few fights during his Vigilante arc, mostly to obscure his opponents vision so he can either rescue someone else or lose their attention for a moment. As usual, the power of En was stored along with his Quirk, which Deku uses even better in conjunction with En’s successor and the grandmother of Tomura Shigiraki.
Float
- Original Wielder: Nana Shimura
- Bestowed by En before his death at All for One’s hands.
- Allows the user to fly, though not necessarily fast on its own.
Nana Shimura was a loving mother who only wanted peace and safety for her family, leaving her son behind at a young age to spare him the wrath of All for One. Unfortunately her life would come to an end by All for One’s hand, and her family would meet devastation by her grandson Tenko, who would unlock his quick and accidentally kill his entire family. While Nana was both a strong fighter thanks to her training and One for All’s strength stockpile at that point, her Float ability made her a more difficult fighter thanks to the improved mobility.
Float saved Deku at the last possible second during his fight with Shigiraki during the Paranormal Liberation War, allowing him to stop just above the ground being affected by an Awakened Decay Quirk crumbling everything that set foot. While Deku would take a while to get used to the flying mobility, he would combine it with his other stockpiled Quirks to great effect during the battle.
All-Might
- Quirkless User
- Bestowed by Nana Shimura before she was slain by All for One
- One for All manifested in All-Might as enhanced speed and strength.
The Symbol of Peace himself was born Quirkless just like Izuku, with a dream to grow up to become a Symbol that could make save people with a smile. All-Might in turn became the inspiration to not only Deku, but millions of others with his strength and speed allowing him to solve all sorts of trouble and rescue those who others could not. His strength was legendary, with signature moves named after the US states he had visited abroad.
Deku didn’t just inherit the strength and stamina of All-Might, but the indomitable willpower to succeed as well. Though it could be said he possessed that before meeting the Number One Hero, Deku has since turned the power into his own through a mix of training, style, and inventions from faithful friends.
Each of these Quirks combine into the One for All currently used by Deku in the final episodes of My Hero Academia season five, with each past User being made known while he refines and enhances the Quirks left for him. Using his smarts instead of just his strength, Deku manages to combine the abilities at his disposal to take down villains old and new in the city streets before joining back up with the rest of class 1A, who help him train the different aspects they’re each familiar with leading up to the final war against All for One’s forces.
While My Hero Academia’s fifth season ended earlier this year and no release date has been set for the sixth, the manga is currently deep into the final war, with fights breaking out all over Japan as the heros make a coordinated attack on All for One’s armies, though nothing goes quite as planned. With that in mind, fans may expect to wait a little longer for the sixth season as the manga approaches its end. Remember, it’s better to wait for enough material than to get a ridiculous filler arcs like Naruto and Bleach.
