Chapter 381

Arriving at Gunga, Seiji Shishikura carries a private grudge: All For One murdered his father during the Tartarus breakout. Revenge tempts him, but he refuses to be ruled by hatred and chooses instead to protect, as his father did. The rest of the Shiketsu students bring worse news. Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki have broken out of the U.A. cage, so the chaos has to end immediately. They pin down Himiko Toga and the Twice Doubles and turn every ranged attack they have on All For One.

Naomasa Tsukauchi radios Keigo Takami to explain that the school had already mobilized before the request for backup went out, and repeats the stakes: Gunga decides the war, and the villain cannot be allowed to leave under any circumstances. All For One privately notes the flaw in their courage. His theft requires skin on skin contact, and where two attackers once kept their distance to deny him that, desperation has made the whole group reckless. The thought makes him laugh.

Thorns unfurl from his back and loose a huge laser blast that flattens the ground below. The heroes hold anyway, tightening their defense and pressing the assault now that he has stopped fleeing. He answers with a lecture: they lost the only man who could meet him head on, and not one of them belongs to his golden age. A few watched All Might climb; most were born while All For One reigned unchallenged.

He describes that time fondly. People shook at whatever moved in the dark, and suspicion, resentment, exploitation, and prejudice stained everyone. A golden dark age, as he calls it. Inasa Yoarashi replies with a Whirlwind and a correction: they may not know the man, but history class taught them the era. He has thrown his support behind Enji Todoroki and Shoto Todoroki, convinced that hot blooded passion outlasts fear every time.

Attacks keep pouring into the wind. All For One tries again for a theft, unleashing Rivet Stabs that carve part of Inasa's face open. Inasa only notes that his Quirk sharpens on windy days, and that he would rather watch the people he is rooting for build something new than admire any relic of ancient glory. Hawks, listening, thinks about growth being cultivated, and about how a lattice of power has bound people's hearts together much as One For All does, with Endeavor having added his share.

What irritates All For One is the look in their eyes, staring straight past him, feeding a fire whose light has supposedly died. He tells them it changes nothing, since fear of losing their Quirks keeps them at arm's length, and then falls silent as an enormous "Dark Shadow" swells behind him. Seeing Fumikage Tokoyami like this, he finally understands what put him on edge at their first meeting.

Tsukuyomi tells him that shadows come in many shades, and that they have already swallowed the filthy darkness he delivered, revealing the beast's colossal form. Cloud cover has choked out the sunlight, the rainstorm has smothered the flames, and Ryuko Tsuchikawa buried him in earth to heap darkness on him, letting Dark Shadow reach Total Release. He repeats All Might's insight, that a touch cannot steal Endeavor's Hellflame, which is exactly why supporting them was his assignment. Hawks reflects on his own part in that support as Dark Shadow, riding Inasa's Whirlwind, drives Black Abyss: Light of Baldur straight down and slams All For One into the earth.

Seiji's father, a Tartarus guard, is revealed to have died at All For One's hands during the assault on that prison.

The heroes and their Shiketsu reinforcements throw everything at All For One, who cannot steal a Quirk without touching its owner directly. His Quirk combination counterattacks fail to break their assault.

Once Inasa engages him with Whirlwind, the villain is blindsided by Tsukuyomi's monstrous form, achieved by exploiting the darkened sky and the darkness packed into the ground.

Dark Shadow combines with Inasa's winds to land Light of Baldur, hammering the villain down into the earth.

The chapter runs fifteen pages and was published on February 27, 2023, in issue 13 of 2023. It belongs to Volume 38 and the Final War arc, sitting between Chapter 380 and Chapter 382. Chewyee, Pixie-Bob, Tsukuyomi, Gale Force, Shishikross, and Twice share the cover.

Episode 155 of the anime adapts the chapter, whose action stays entirely within the Gunga Mountain Villa ruins. Horikoshi's author comment mentions using Zebra's mechanical pencil repair service and receiving a warm note along with a replacement.