Chapter 34

Beaten and flat on the ground, Hitoshi Shinso watches Izuku Midoriya move on to the second round while his own memories surface. Back at Nabu Junior High, classmates recoiled from Brainwashing because of how villainous it sounded. The stadium cheers for both fighters, and Izuku asks why he wants the Hero Course so badly. Hitoshi answers that a person cannot help what he truly wants to be. General Studies students applaud him and spectators start remarking on how useful his Quirk would actually be against villains. He declares that he will reach the Hero Course one day and prove he can become a great hero, then tells Izuku not to lose pathetically and walks off.

Recovery Girl patches up Izuku's lighter injuries while he tells All Might about the figures he glimpsed under the Quirk's control. All Might admits to seeing something comparable in his own youth and offers a theory: those were traces left behind by the previous holders of One For All. He adds that the imprints did not free Izuku from Brainwashing, since it was Izuku's own will that triggered the power. The explanation does not satisfy him, but All Might waves it off and sends him back to watch the next bout. Once he is gone, Recovery Girl points out that Izuku saw him too, and All Might decides that is a good sign.

Heading toward his match, Shoto Todoroki runs into Endeavor and tries to walk past. His father voices his disappointment, repeats the obligation to surpass All Might, and tells him to stop playing around. Shoto states flatly that his fire will stay unused and that he will fight with his mother's power alone. Endeavor answers that the approach may hold up at a high school level, but sooner or later he will be forced into using everything he has, which leaves Shoto seething.

The second bout of the opening round pits Shoto against Hanta Sero, who immediately binds him in tape and tries to haul him out of bounds. Still burning from the conversation, Shoto answers with an enormous pillar of ice that locks Hanta in place and shreds the tape holding him. Unable to move at all, Hanta is ruled the loser, and Shoto advances. He then walks over to his nearly frozen opponent, apologises and thaws him with his flames. To Izuku, the sight of Shoto using fire to undo his own ice looks profoundly sad.

Hitoshi loses but is cheered by his classmates and the crowd, and vows to earn a place in the Hero Course.

Izuku describes the eight mysterious figures he saw during the fight, and All Might identifies them as remnants of One For All's former bearers. Shoto defeats Hanta Sero to advance to the second round.

The chapter delivers the first on-page appearance of the past One For All users, rendered in shadow, and introduces Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall as a named technique.

Nineteen pages in Volume 4, covered by Episode 20 of the anime. Shoto Todoroki takes the cover. The chapter is followed by the extra instalment Chapter 34.5 as well as Chapter 35.