It's a Small World

Light of Baldur has All For One pinned, and the heroes press in to keep him away from Deku and Tomura. Dark Shadow winds up again and is blasted back along with the supporting heroes by energy laced with Radio Waves. The villain dismisses anyone relying on raw force, but something has changed: the man in his prime is now a teenager.

He flies off again, and worse, Gigantomachia is charging toward him, somehow loose from his containment in Jaku. All For One orders him to crush the heroes and instead watches him tear out a slab of ground and throw it, then picks out two figures riding the giant's back, Red Riot alongside Hitoshi, who is adjusting his Artificial Vocal Cords.

The Jaku front is filled in from Dabi's first defeat onward. The heroes were struggling against enemies floating on purple gas, and the Liberation soldier tied to Midnight's death used a sonic device that grounded them and risked rousing Gigantomachia, since its frequency imitated the master's voice closely enough. Rule tossed Mt. Lady a giant wrench, but her swing came too late; Gigantomachia burst out and rammed her from behind. Red Riot ran for Hitoshi, hidden for exactly this job, and found him being swallowed by the Sludge Villain. Mt. Lady was beaten down and about to take a lethal swipe from Mole claws when Pinky arrived, driven by her memories of Midnight and her shame at freezing before this monster in the first war, and splashed the claws with Acidman: Alma, corrosive enough to eat his hide and her own skin thanks to extra training she asked of Shoto and Dynamight. She used it on the Sludge Villain too, forcing him to release Hitoshi and flee, and someone calling out to him drew a reply that Brainwashing froze on the spot. Hitoshi swung over with his Capturing Weapon and used Persona Chords to imitate All For One's voice and take Gigantomachia, who then dismantled his own comrades for Mudman to restrain, winning Jaku. Dehydrated, Pinky collapsed into a worried Red Riot, who apologized for not doing more; she called them even for the time he covered her failure to sedate the giant, and he answered that no debt ever existed, because she has been his hero exactly as much as he has been hers. Mt. Lady's status updates then sent the whole group here, to stall the villain until Rewind erases him.

All For One blasts Gigantomachia to break the Brainwashing, and the heroes brace for the giant to be turned on them. Instead he says the scent is his master's even if the face is not, and asks why he was abandoned in the first war before attacking again. Hitoshi realizes this is not his Quirk holding but the giant's own feelings overriding the control, much as happened to Deku at the Sports Festival, and the assault resumes. Not far from the floating campus, two helicopters push a worldwide livestream out over Gentle's channel, showing Deku holding Tomura down. One carries the NHA reporter who once chased Class 1-A for comments about All Might on Deku's third day of school, astonished at the year's distance; the other carries the woman who berated Endeavor at his post-war press conference, now acting on her regret to give the world some hope for Japan.

A partly regenerated All For One gores Mt. Lady's hip with another head on a Rivet Stab neck, lasers Gigantomachia's shoulder, and, younger still and losing his grip on his darker impulses, blows Dark Shadow apart with an Impure Beam that sends Tsukuyomi and Hawks crashing down. He beats Gale Force, then treats himself by stripping Hawks of Fierce Wings, promising Dark Shadow is next because the boy impressed him. The newly Quirkless hero notices his arsenal has not shrunk with age; the wounds the heroes inflicted are keeping the stored Quirk Factors from vanishing. Fierce Wings proves unusable anyway, its Factor too damaged, and his gloating stops when a Pop Off sphere sticks to his clothes. Grape Juice warns that taking Tsukuyomi's Quirk will only make him a cringey emo edgelord and recommends Pop Off instead for both a new power and a great hairstyle, then begs in tears that he leave his classmate alone. Done answering the cries of the weak, All For One drops Hawks, rises, delivers a parting verdict that the heroes have failed and will lose the public again, and speeds toward Tomura. Hawks struggles up, clinging to the hope that they can still win.

Rewind regresses All For One from his prime to adolescence while leaving his Quirk stockpile intact, since his injuries prevent the stored Factors from disappearing.

Hitoshi Shinso brainwashes Gigantomachia with Persona Chords, and Pinky's Acidman: Alma secures victory at the Jaku ruins.

All For One steals Fierce Wings, leaving Hawks Quirkless, and breaks through the Gunga line to reach Tomura.

Adapted from the back of Chapter 382 through the opening of Chapter 385. The Sludge Villain's confrontation with Red Riot adds a flashback to Katsuki's hostage incident, and Pinky's training with Dynamight and Shoto gets a brief flashback of its own.

The broadcast draws guest appearances from Melissa Shield, the Souls and the Shimanos, and the anime seats two more viewers among the evacuees in U.A.'s residential area: Giulio Gandini and Anna Scervino, both out of You're Next. Overusing her Quirk also turns Mina's acid purple, most likely a nod to the color it carries in the manga.