Chapter 277

Gran Torino and Eraser Head barely have time to register Deku before the student drives Tomura Shigaraki backward. Deku has been doing the math: the Near High-Ends are tying up every other hero, so nobody can capitalize on the fact that Tomura's Decay is currently sealed. The scenario he dreads most is not the one Gran Torino named, it is watching the teacher who backed him from the very beginning die. Eraser Head has no answer for that, and remembers telling this same boy he had no future as a hero.

Katsuki opens with AP Shot: Auto-Cannon, which Tomura brushes aside like a fireworks display. Blackwhip fails to pin him, and he reels Deku in instead, informing Katsuki that he simply does not matter right now. Endeavor arrives and blows the villain clear of both students, then asks after Shoto and learns the boys came alone. Tomura, delighted the number one hero still has something left, draws a warning from Gran Torino about how far beyond understanding his power has grown, while Rock Lock insists nothing be allowed near Eraser Head. Endeavor puts a number on it: this is All Might's league. Aizawa answers that the advantage stays theirs for as long as his eyes hold out.

Told they no longer need orders, only to guard Aizawa and each other, the students brace as Tomura lunges for One For All. What comes out of his mouth is a demand aimed at a "little brother," and it baffles everyone, himself included. Endeavor answers with Hell Spider while Tomura works out that his master's ego is still riding inside All For One. He rejects it outright. The man he once thought of as the ruler of darkness fell to a single opponent, and Tomura, grateful as he is, refuses to end up the same way. He wants to be the greater one. He tears the hallucination apart and claims the will as his own.

Gran Torino's boot finds Tomura's face. The old hero rages at him for dragging Nana Shimura's memory through the mud, and gets only a blank "Who...?" in reply, confirming his private view that this creature exists to cause suffering. Tomura breaks straight for Deku and walks into the bait: Katsuki drops on him from above and empties his gauntlets. Endeavor, recalling All Might's advice that he need not imitate anyone to be the next symbol, closes the distance and lands his new Ultimate Move, Vanishing Fist, dead center in Tomura's chest. Far away, Mt. Lady squares off against Gigantomachia at the Gunga Mountain Villa, five League members riding the giant: Dabi, Mr. Compress, Skeptic, Spinner and Himiko Toga.

Deku and Katsuki enter direct combat with Tomura Shigaraki, and Gran Torino joins the fight alongside them. Endeavor returns to shield the students and reveals that Tomura's raw strength now measures up to All Might's.

All For One's lingering will attempts to seize control from inside Tomura, who breaks the influence and declares the ambition his own. Gran Torino invokes Nana Shimura's name and gets no recognition at all, confirming that Tomura does not know his own grandmother.

Endeavor debuts the Vanishing Fist. Away from Jaku, Mt. Lady stands as the sole obstacle between Gigantomachia and his master.

The chapter runs 19 pages in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 31 of 2020, collected in volume 29, and belongs to the Paranormal Liberation War arc. Its cover features Deku, Tomura Shigaraki, Gran Torino and Eraser Head. The material is adapted in Episode 120 of the anime.

Kohei Horikoshi's author comment for the issue is an apology for botching Gran Torino's Japanese self-reference, admitting he confused the character with Professor Agasa.

Story threads carried forward here include the Jaku Hospital Raid and the Gunga Mountain Villa Raid, with the clash between the villa raid team, the trainees and the Paranormal Liberation Front beginning in this installment.