Chapter 406: Get a Grip on Your Quirk!!

The Counter-Force runs through the state of every front. Central Hospital's riot is contained, the wounded are being treated and prisoners moved. Okuto Island's Nomu and villains are beaten. Fighting drags on at Takoba National Stadium, while rescue crews work the ground zero left by Operation Troy. Skeptic is in custody and under escort. Jaku Hospital Ruins is fully secured. The evacuation from U.A. to the Shiketsu blocks is finished and the civilians are clear. Kurogiri remains unaccounted for, as do Eraser Head and Present Mic. Somewhere in recovery, Lady Nagant's thoughts drift to Deku.

All Might watches Dynamight's speed with astonishment while Edgeshot observes that on the brink of death the boy even outran Tomura, and looks close to grasping something fundamental about his own Quirk. Standing over the crater he blasted All For One into, Dynamight tells himself to lean on the side effect and never let up, while the villain decides he will handle him later.

Tomura tears free of Blackwhip, promising to break Deku's hold over and over. Deku has been using Danger Sense to keep his spacing, yet he still has no answer for Regeneration, Decay, and that reinforced body. His next Gearshift will genuinely be the last, since the blowback will end his mobility, so the fight has to close now. All four square off, braced to go beyond.

Rocketing onward, All For One shoots straight past Dynamight, who takes the snub badly. The villain's reasoning is that this boy is weaker than Endeavor, weaker than Dark Shadow, and nowhere near All Might, so he can wait; a mere pebble underfoot will not be allowed to hurry the rewinding along. Meanwhile Dynamight uncovers what governs his Explosion: pain. Sweat stored in his palms shoots through his body, and the ache at each detonation interval is what lets him time his follow-up blasts.

Twisting himself at absurd speed, he closes on All For One, remarking that he is moving too fast to stop, while the villain wonders what exactly he is dealing with. Dynamight senses that right now he might even pass Deku. Sheltering at the evacuation center, Mitsuki and Masaru Bakugo have the feed on. Masaru cannot bear to look; his wife insists they must, since their kid is surely wearing the grin he always does.

Puzzling over why a pebble angers him more than All Might ever did, All For One sees the Second User flash before him again and recognizes the resemblance. He remembers strangling the man, who told him Yoichi was gone because he had killed him. Hatred, he concludes, is what drags these memories up, and all of it traces back to himself: had he never extended a hand to Yoichi, none of this would exist. Another Explosion knocks him back, and he finally names the person he hates most, screaming at Kudo that the blame is his. Dynamight writes it off as senility and introduces himself as Kacchan Bakugo.

The Final War's other battlefields are accounted for, with most fronts secured and Kurogiri, Eraser Head and Present Mic still missing.

Deku commits to a final Gearshift against Tomura, knowing it will leave him unable to move afterward.

All For One tries to bypass Dynamight entirely to reach Tomura.

Dynamight works out that pain governs his Explosion timing, letting him keep pace with a villain who had been outrunning him.

All For One realizes Dynamight reminds him of the Second User, whom he hates more than anyone, and that man is finally named: Kudo.

Horikoshi's four hundred and sixth installment fills 15 pages of the fortieth collected volume, placed within the Final War arc.

It ran in issue 50 of 2023, published on November 13, and is adapted as Episode 162 of the anime.

The cover assembles a large group of heroes including Tentacole, Anima, Gang Orca, Ryukyu and Thirteen, alongside a Near High-End Nomu and the Tartarus escapee Gashly Eijiju.