Tokyo Central Park.
Seiki.
When All Might first arrived on the scene... Seiki debated whether to help him or not.
Because with a slip of Konan in the Titan's ear, with Seiki guiding the Symbol of Peace to victory, with two Titans working together against a third...
There could only be victory.
But with this being the first go around, Seiki opted just to sit back and watch.
And what a sight it was.
"DELAWARE... SMASH!"
Every punch was generating winds so strong that he nearly fell over— Ragdoll actually fell over, funnily enough. And with Eraserhead keeping All For One's Quirks under control, All Might landed punch after punch on the Kaiju's jaw, beating the demonlord into the ground. And even if the outcome of this fight was pretty much guaranteed...
"Mandalay, warn him," he muttered.
>ALL MIGHT! That's the Quirk Thief! Don't let him touch you with his bare hands!<
But the man didn't falter, no... he simply smiled.
"HAHAHA! DO NOT WORRY, PUSSYCATS! I KNOW... EXACTLY WHO I AM FACING."
Seiki watched as Japan's Symbol punched the air, redirecting himself around All For One's swipe, only to instantly land a massive uppercut, making the demonlord topple backwards. All while moving to fast for Seiki to follow, even with liberal use of Save & Load. He could barely follow the moments of impact.
All from a Quirk that simply granted strength.
"TO THINK THAT YOU WERE STILL ALIVE! BUT NOW THAT YOU'VE APPEARED BEFORE ME, WE CAN SETTLE THIS MATTER ONCE AND FOR ALL."
And then All Might vanished upwards into the night sky...
Only to come crashing back down.
"JUSTICE... SMASH!"
In just two minutes... All Might wins.
The demonlord, the boogeyman with a Quirk for every situation, defeated by... punches. Incredibly powerful punches, yes, but punches nonetheless.
Knocked out like a villain on a Saturday morning cartoon.
Because unlike at Kamino, this All Might has yet to push himself for five years straight— no, just for a single year. One For All still burning brightly within him. And All For One, despite managing to survive death itself, will only continue to heal thanks to Kyudai Garaki's influence... but that time frame had been cut short.
And unlike at Kamino, this version of All For One had been ripped from his lair, and promptly stripped of every advantage that he could possibly have.
All Might... could only win.
Then the Symbol of Peace soared through the air, landing right in front of them.
Smiling.
The one Titan that Atlas does not fear, because no matter his overwhelming strength, Japan's Symbol of Peace can never defeat Seiki Yamazaki.
But before All Might can open his mouth—
'Load1.'
*
Earlier That Day, Yuuei Conference Room.
"Hmm..." Nezu muttered, staring right at him with a face Seiki couldn't read. "Let me guess. All Might showed up, yes? Like you planned? And then he... won?"
"...Yeah..."
"But you're back here." Nezu continued, his voice flat. No judgement, as far as Seiki could tell, but the rat was almost overflowing with curiosity.
Seiki said nothing.
"Because you want to find the victory that suits you best, right?"
'Save1. LoadS.'
Laying in bed next to Rinka and Konan, Seiki pondered Nezu's question.
This was Seiki's first victory. It was a rather messy victory— they managed to avoid any casualties, having evacuated the park before hand— well, maybe one or two people got caught up in All For One's vibration attack. But given their opponent, it honestly could've gone so much worse.
And all it would require, really, was All Might and Eraserhead. Just those two heroes, as well as Seiki's crew, would end All For One's reign in a handful of minutes.
However...
In that scenario, All For One still lives.
He would almost certainly end up in Tartarus, but Seiki doesn't think escaping that place is as impossible as it is to be believed. Not when he himself can escape it with a single thought— no, All For One would never let himself be confined to a prison cell. Not forever.
And then there was the fact that, well, he really, really doesn't like Atlas after that. Like... Atlas would probably be his first target were he to escape. And while Seiki could definitely redo the encounter in a way that All For One can't connect the ambush to him, as well as just not taunt him so brazenly, that was still not the best outcome.
And even then...
He would prefer to do it without Nezu's help. Without anyone's help. Without anyone know it was him who did it.
And to do that...
Five months from now. Japan's International Hero Summit.
If Seiki were to wait until then, to lure the demonlord through his lieutenant's portal to the day of the event, or maybe even just the night before... then make him go berserk? Force All For One to make an attack on the world stage, on live television? Force the world at large to acknowledge his existence?
'Better... but not good enough,' he eventually decided.
Seiki still struggled to believe that All For One even existed... so unless the truth of the matter was physically spat in their faces, the public would eventually forget about it. Especially if All For One went down so easily— then he would just be thought of as another villain, and if he did lose, there was a decent chance that he'd still only end up in prison.
And if he couldn't rely on Nezu, or on Erasure...
He would have to rely on something else. Something like Trigger.
And after watching how All For One reacted to using so many mutant Quirks at once, Seiki was almost certain that Trigger would do the exact same thing— if not make him worse. And with some of the most common drawbacks of Trigger being the increase of range limitations, as well as the forcible activation of the users Quirk— or Quirks...
It would be an international disaster.
People would lose their Quirks live on television, right on the doorstep of Japan's heroes. Right in front of the world's heroes. There wouldn't be any Titans present, but after an act like that...
Japan might have to welcome a fourth Titan.
Because such a move could simply not be ignored, and with the resulting international pressure... All For One might not even make it to Tartarus.
And All For One would fall for it.
Because if All For One could not tell that Seiki had lured him so close to All Might, that meant that even if the demonlord could locate Number Six via his Quirks... All For One could only find his pawn's location as a highlight in a void, and not in relation to his own.
And with five months until then... Seiki could tag both of All For One's teleporters. Map out all of All For One's connections slowly and methodically, and then gut all of the demonlord's underworld infrastructure on that very same night. Pulling the rug out from the boogeyman's feet in a way he was pretty much guaranteed to lose.
So as of now, he has two win conditions.
Win 1A: Ambush him with All Might and Eraserhead. All For One loses.
Win 1B: Force All For One to the world stage. Set him up to lose.
The second option still needed seeing through, since giving the Quirk Thief Trigger of all things was certainly an idea, but he could simply test that from a distance. The same way Konan had tested AFO's Quirk just the day before. Not to mention that going down such a path would mean inflicting a massive loss of innocent life, deliberately... Seiki's done a lot of things over the years, but he wasn't sure if he could take that step.
And now it was time to see win condition 2A to the end.
Win 2A: Total matter annihilation. All For One dies.
'Load1.'
"You're right..." Seiki admitted. "But can you blame me? This fight will decide my future."
"I understand completely," Nezu said. "If you defeat All For One in such a way, you would be forced to trust me, to trust Eraserhead, to trust the Pussycats, to trust All Might."
"Nah, just Eraserhead and All Might. They'd be more than enough."
"Ah... even with his 'Kaiju mode'?" Nezu asked, before nodding. "Yes, that makes sense. All Might is quite powerful, and such powerful support would only ensure his victory. But... aren't you already rather fond of Pixie-bob?" Nezu asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
To which Seiki narrowed his eyes. "Hey... we just met for the first time like, 20 minutes ago. And I haven't even met that chick in real time."
"Yes, but you lingered on her name for a micro second— which wasn't enough to confirm anything on its own— but then you confirmed it for me just now!" Nezu cackled.
Seiki just shook his head. "Ugh... yeah, I'm fond of her. I'll probably just make a move on her somewhere down the line, and not have it connected to this."
"Hmm, she was always such a feisty student. Make sure to treat her well."
"Don't worry, I'll treat her very well indeed..."
"That is not what I meant."
Seiki chuckled. "I know, I know. And now... now we have to get in touch with another Quirk that All For One fears, but, ugh," Seiki let out a pained groan. "The fucker who has it is so goddamn annoying..."
"Oh?" Nezu asked, leaning forwards in his seat. "Do tell, do tell!"
*
Mid Afternoon.
Overhaul.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise," Overhaul says, three of his eventual eight bullets standing behind him.
When one of his grunts said that there were heroes standing outside their front door, he thought that maybe the jig was up. He had literally just started experimenting with Trigger, trying to exploit the way that the drug targets the Quirk factor to disastrous effect... such as overtaxing a Quirk to the point that it no longer functioned.
He was essentially growing war crimes with the intent to test them on the street, so it wasn't surprising that the heroes would come for him. No, he was just surprised by their freakishly quick response time.
Impressed, really.
But no. These weren't heroes.
Overhaul looked over at the people sitting across from him— Atlas, Deathclaw, and Firestarter instantly recognizable. He had been trying to get in touch with the latter two for ages, but literally no one had any valid information on them. The chitin covered mutant was also unfamiliar, as was the woman that appeared to be Atlas's... mom, and last but certainly not least...
Nezu.
The principal of Yuuei highschool.
"Atlas, fancy seeing you here. I've been meaning to get in touch with you, but not only are you practically impossible to find, it's almost like you've been avoiding me," he said, his voice laced with mild annoyance. "And I see that you've brought Deathclaw and Firestarter with you—"
"Shut the fuck up. Please, please shut the fuck up..." Atlas said, and while Kai would normally take offense to such a statement, Kai was taken aback by just how exhausted the boy sitting across from him sounded, resting his face in one of his palms as he pinched his brow.
Only for Nezu to let out a strangled cackle, as if he understood exactly what was happening.
"Thank you for letting us in to your abode!!" Nezu thanked him. "Don't worry, young Kai Chisaki. We're not here for all of those people you killed."
Kai tensed.
"Well, you might've reassembled their flesh and blood in the exact same way, creating perfect copies of them, but we're still not here for that."
Kai let out an annoyed grumble. "The Star Trek Transporter theory..."
"Exactly! But I wonder... just what are your thoughts on such a scenario?"
"It doesn't matter. After all, I use it on myself, if need be."
"Oh, I understand," Nezu nodded. "It can't matter, because if it did, then you would have to acknowledge the fact that you're a copy of a copy of a copy..."
"Can... can we talk about something else?" Overhaul found himself asking.
"Of course! We need to get to the heart of the matter, after all. We need your help."
And before he could ask...
"Because only you, young Kai Chisaki... can kill All For One."
Kai blanked. Then he laughed.
"Haha... HAHAHA! Oh, man, you're serious! Really! So that's what this is, some sort of elite strike team to take down the demonlord?" Kai shook his head. "Look... sure he hasn't made any big moves in a while, and maybe he hasn't taken my Quirk because it'd just end in a double suicide, both of us killing each other in the process... but. I am not going to antagonize the man who's ruled Japan's underworld for the last 300 years."
"Hmmmm, I thought you might disagree," Atlas spoke up, someone that Kai's mostly written off by this point. "Luckily, I can be very persuasive when it calls for it."
"...Was that supposed to be a threat?"
"Not in the slightest," Atlas said, raising his hands in surrender. "No... I'm just going to tell you my Quirk. And then you will work with me on principle."
"Really," Kai drawled. "And what's so great about this Quirk of yours?"
"I call it Save & Load. It lets me save points in time, and then send my consciousness back to them with just a thought. There is no real limit to my Quirk, except for the time it takes me to achieve my goals."
Atlas's declaration... it was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. But... was time travel really all that more ridiculous then any of the other Titans through out the world?
And if Atlas was telling the truth...
Then Japan has a hidden third Titan. Sitting right in front of him.
"Nemoto," Overhaul briskly ordered.
"What is your Quirk?"
"I just told you," Atlas replied, only to blink in surprise. "Huh, I didn't mean to say that. Is that your Quirk? Forcing people to confess?"
Everyone on Overhaul's side of the room stiffened, Overhaul included.
And Kai Chisaki immediately understood.
It was as if Atlas was saying, "if you don't help me, you won't remember this conversation. And then you'll have pissed someone off much, much stronger than you, that can wipe you off the board before you even realize that you have such an enemy." Atlas might not be any physically stronger than a Quirkless, but he was the most dangerous enemy to have. Because the moment Atlas desired it, he would become a complete unknown.
And he's... he's spent the last few months repeatedly trying to poach Atlas's posse...
'Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck...'
"W-What's your most embarrassing secret?!"
'No! Don't antagonize him...!' but it was too late. Confession had already activated, a minor inconvenience for the Titan sitting across from him, one that could only fuck Overhaul over in the future, or the past, or whatever, all without Overhaul himself ever knowing about it.
And then the Titan's lips moved on their own.
"I want to fuck my mom."
Silence.
And a few seconds later, from Atlas's mom herself... "S-Sei-chan?"
*
*
*