Episode 72

Suneater ties up Yu Hojo, Soramitsu Tabe, and Toya Setsuno, dosing each with octopus neurotoxin so none of them can move, and collects their masks. The fight ran long and cost him more than he realised; he collapses, unable to follow the others.

Deku and Red Riot worry about him until Fat Gum tells them to have faith, and Eijiro chooses to. Eraser Head notes how quiet Mimic has gone and works out that the Quirk can only cover a single zone at once, and right now that zone is the police upstairs. Checking on the three Bullets, he is startled to find a single hero flattened all of them. Near the entrance, Bubble Girl interrogates her prisoners, who describe what the family was under the old boss and what Overhaul turned it into. They fight on because he frightens them more than any officer does, and they expect him to escape, since a man with no fear of the future cannot be cornered.

Mimic strikes at Eraser Head through the wall; Fat Gum shoves him clear and is punched into a tunnel dropping into a dark chamber far below. Red Riot lands with him, having tried the same rescue. They are not alone. A masked man appears, Eijiro raises Unbreakable, and one punch sends him flying before a torrent of blows batters Fat Gum. The hardened skin on Eijiro's arm sheers away, and he is badly hurt.

Kendo Rappa announces that weapons have no place in a fight, that a man's own strength should decide who lives. Fat Gum swings back and a golden barrier intercepts him as Hekiji Tengai arrives, noting both heroes rely on defense. Another barrage rocks Fat Gum, who is startled by the force behind it and by the fact that neither Quirk appeared on the police list. Hekiji frames it as spears against shields: he and Kendo are one of each, while their opponents are two shields, and a broken Eijiro barely counts. Kendo demands the barrier come down, is refused, and is reminded that Overhaul paired them for that exact synergy; his retaliatory punch is blocked, and Hekiji simply leaves him unprotected.

As the punches keep coming, Eijiro can only watch, and Hekiji sees fear in his eyes and writes him off. He remembers Mustafa Middle School, where he believed spirit could carry a weak Quirk, and where he froze in front of bullies until Mina Ashido handled it. He remembers freezing again on the walk home when a huge man loomed over some girls demanding directions to the Springer Hero Agency, and Mina defusing it once more. Ready to abandon U.A. and any pretense of chivalry, he watched a video of Crimson Riot instead: every hero is afraid, and Crimson Riot feared danger less than he feared the look of someone dying in front of him. Living without regrets is what put Eijiro in the hero course, and Mina, who got in too, spotted the new hair for what it was and kept his secret.

Fat Gum, still absorbing the beating, is working. His Quirk banks the energy of incoming attacks as it burns away his defensive fat, and with enough of it he can forge a spear that no shield stops. Hekiji senses the setup and urges Kendo to finish him, and the fat is running out faster than planned. The killing blow never lands, because Red Riot throws himself in front of it, hardening again each time his body breaks, absorbing the barrage to shield his mentor. Kendo is impressed; Eijiro's counterpunch is stopped by the barrier and dismissed as pointless. Then Fat Gum reappears, lean and glowing, fist loaded with everything he took, and credits Red Riot for forging the perfect spear. The punch blows Hekiji's barrier apart and hurls both villains into the wall. Underestimating a chivalrous spirit, he says, is what lost them the fight.

Eraser Head deduces that Mimic can only occupy one region of the compound at a time, and the captured yakuza reveal how Overhaul remade the family.

Kendo Rappa's Strongarm shatters Unbreakable, and Hekiji Tengai's Barrier turns the fight into a contest of spears against shields.

Eijiro's flashback to Crimson Riot restores his nerve, and his sacrifice lets Fat Gum store enough energy to defeat both villains with a single punch.

Ninth episode of the fourth season, adapting Chapters 142 through 145.

The manga places Eijiro's flashback just before the two villains fall, whereas the anime runs it while he watches Fat Gum absorb the beating.

Some of the flashback material was trimmed for the adaptation.