Highlights

Deku's mastery of the One For All quirk has made him the strongest hero in My Hero Academia, surpassing even All Might.
Normal methods are ineffective against Shigaraki, who is an incredibly powerful and near-unstoppable villain.
Deku may have to give up the power of One For All to defeat Shigaraki and save him, but this could potentially leave him quirkless in the future.

My Hero Academia has been nothing short of fantastic in the Final War Saga and even though it has had its ups and downs, the last few battles have been nothing short of spectacular. The series is currently focusing on the very last fight, that is, the battle between Deku and Shigaraki. This is a battle that was destined to happen at the end of the series and has now taken center stage, with every fan being incredibly excited for what is to come in the future.

Shigaraki greatest my hero academia mha villain

My Hero Academia: Horikoshi Confirms Shigaraki As The Strongest Villain

Shigaraki is confirmed as MHA's greatest villain by the author himself.

Of course, the battle between Deku and Shigaraki is one that fans are eagerly waiting to see the conclusion of, with most of them rooting for their beloved protagonist, Deku. Naturally, this fight is not going to be easy for him and to defeat Shigaraki, especially in a way he wants, where he hopes to save him, he might have to give up something much bigger, such as the very power of the One For All, which he claimed from his idol and mentor, All Might.

Deku's Mastery Of The One For All

deku assault on shigaraki my hero academia mha 415

Deku, unlike most in the world of My Hero Academia, was born without a quirk. This is made clear to the fans and the very beginning of the story and, from there onwards, his story takes quite an interesting turn as he is acknowledged by none other than All Might himself, the future Number One Hero. At this point in the story, All Might was weakening gradually and was preparing for the quirk transfer. The 9th user of the One For All those already chosen to be Mirio, who fans know to be incredibly skilled, given that he was known as the man closest to All Might.

However, seeing the hero spirit inside of Deku, All Might decided to change the decision. Instead of giving the power of the One For All to Mirio, he entrusted it to Deku. This was quite a shock to him, however, he took the responsibility upon his shoulders fully. Deku grew from a very weak teenager into a very reliable Hero, who, despite all his shortcomings, never thought twice before saving anyone in the face of danger. Deku has risked his life countless times and doing so has made him as great a hero as he is today.

Gradually, Deku has grown to master the powers of the One For All as well and it can be said that right now, he's a better user of the quirk than even All Might. Of course, Deku still struggles to bring out 100% through normal means, however, through a combination of various methods, thankfully provided to him by the vestiges of One For All, Deku can make up for his shortcomings and create powerful abilities of his own that far surpass anything that All Might did in his career as a hero.

By the time of the Final War Saga, Deku has become an incredible master of the One For All. In fact, he commands this Quirk at a level where he's clearly the strongest hero of all and that is a very serious achievement from him. Even Bakugo, who fans know to be strong enough to fight against All For One in one of his strongest forms, is weaker than him, and that in itself sets quite the example of how strong Deku is. The fact is that Deku has made One For All his own power and used it better than anyone else. His incredible willpower, along with his tremendous control over the Quirk and the experience of the vestiges make it so that Deku is nearly invincible in battle.

Yet, against someone as strong as Shigaraki, Deku will have to concede. Defeating Shigaraki is not an easy task and it certainly isn't a straightforward one. For that reason, Deku will have to make some very serious decisions, with one of them being actually giving up the power of the One For All.

Deku Vs Shigaraki and The Loss Of Vestiges

shigaraki mental destruction my hero academia mha 415

As Deku vs Shigaraki continued, it became painfully apparent that normal methods would not work against the monster that is Tomura. He is incredibly overpowered and, for one, possesses a defense that most can't even penetrate. For those who can penetrate them, they are met with an incredible regeneration rate which makes it appear as if you didn't even do any damage in the first place.

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That, coupled with his incredible stamina and, above all, the thirst to destroy everything makes him the strongest villain in the entirety of My Hero Academia. In fact, it is now canonically stated in the manga that Shigaraki far surpasses All For One as he is destruction incarnate and truly unstoppable. Even the vestiges who have previously faced All For One confirmed this directly to Deku and, as a result, taking him down by normal means is borderline impossible. That is why the vestiges have now come up with the plan and that is to weaken Shigaraki from the inside.

For now, Danger Sense has already been transferred to Shigaraki and this means that he's now stronger than ever before. However, other vestiges are planning to follow and while this might actually strengthen Shigaraki, it will then become their job to probe into the deep weaknesses that he has within and make him much weaker. The second vestige to transfer inside of Shigaraki is going to be Kudo and the power of Gear Shift. This will once again allow Deku to fight, erasing his fatigue and, above all, kickstarting the plan of the quirk transfer. After Kudo, it is highly likely that the others will follow, with Banjo and the power of Blackwhip being left for last. Eventually, however, Banjo will also have to leave Deku, leaving him alone with the power of One For All.

Will Deku Be Quirkless?

Deku resumes fighting shigaraki my hero academia mha 416

It has clearly been stated in the story that Deku will have to give up the power of the One For All. However, whether that will actually end up happening or not remains to be seen. It is Kudo’s idea to give up One For All as that would somehow aid Deku in finally getting through to Shigaraki and saving him. Deku himself is not ready to give up this power as of yet, and he does not understand the magnitude of this risk. Yet, it appears to be one risk that he absolutely has to take or face utter destruction. The only way around it is for Deku to actually kill Shigaraki, which is something that he absolutely does not want to do. Taking everything into consideration, it is clear for the fans to see that Deku absolutely must do this and, as a result, lose all his powers.

There is certainly a big possibility for Deku to lose the power of One For All, which raises a very interesting question of how he will be the future Number One Hero. As fans already know, when My Hero Academia began, it was clearly stated that this is his story of how he became the Number One Hero and surpassed All Might. That in itself tells fans that Deku is the number one hero in the future, however, if he loses the power of One For All, along with that of all of the vestiges, then he cannot be the Number One Hero.

There has to be a catch here. Perhaps, after losing One For All, Deku will regain this power, or, Quirks will simply cease to exist at the end of My Hero Academia. Deku will be the number one hero and that is something that gives the fans hope. It is going to be incredibly exciting to see how the story progresses from here onwards, and whether or not Deku will truly become Quirkless.

My Hero Academia is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of My Hero Academia, My Hero Academia chapter 414, is set to be February 18, 2024.