WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 340, " The Story Of How We All Became Heroes, Part 3” by Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook and John Hunt, available now in English from Viz Media.
Chapter 340 of the My Hero Academia manga ends with an optimistic plot to stop All For One while rekindling the lost faith in some of the young heroes. However, All Might’s belief in his plan blinds him from the low approval of the police force and non-hero allies who are barely holding on to a glimmer of hope. It seems like Shigaraki’s triumph over Star and Stripe has caused more emotional damage than the heroes would like to acknowledge.
Aoyama Yuga’s traitorous reveal may have been a setback, but that doesn’t mean he’s the only uncovered threat the heroes need to worry about. It seems plenty of individuals are not in the right mindset to approach a new war quite yet, and that could be the deciding factor All For One intended on after all this time. Let’s dive into some key elements of All Might’s plan from Chapter 340 that could play into All For One’s favor.
For starters, when All Might presented his idea for splitting up All For One and Shigaraki, none of the police agents seemed interested or demonstrated any kind of enthusiasm. It’s almost as if the plan was stressing them out more because they feel as though All Might doesn’t grasp the complexity of what he’s asking of them.
The Pro Hero knows the task will be difficult and makes it very clear that in order for it to succeed, all the villains must be taken down one by one. However, this only makes the others further question their belief in the mission's success. As things stand in My Hero Academia, the police force’s energy and hope are hanging by a thread -- which could potentially lead to one or a few of them turning against the heroes so they don’t have to suffer under All For One’s conquest.
The key component of All Might’s plan is to split up All For One and Shigaraki, but that might not be possible. The heroes are still unaware of All For One’s plan for Shigaraki’s body, and he probably keeps close tabs on his whereabouts. Aside from Deku, it's unlikely anyone else is strong enough to even face Shigaraki -- which means All For One will know where Deku will be if the heroes decide to split up their forces. Not to mention that each hero squad that goes after an individual villain will be faced with a horde of escaped convicts from Tartarus and Liberation Army allies. The heroes' numbers are shrinking, and facing All For One with a split force may not be the best call to take on the evil overlord.
The heroes are still unaware of the shaky relationship between All For One and Shigaraki. There is a chance All For One knows that Shigaraki could lose, which might be the ideal moment for him to fully take over the latter's mind and body. Even if the heroes manage to split them up, All For One must have a way to locate and teleport to Shigaraki on a moment’s notice. He has been able to anticipate the heroes' moves every step of the way, so the idea that splitting them up will incite victory is insulting to his name.
If by some chance Shigaraki was able to absorb and control the New Order Quirk, then no divided team of heroes will possibly stand a chance against him. It would take a united front to face him, and if All Might’s plan is to succeed, they need to eliminate All For One first somehow.
As things stand, the heroes continue to plan a strategy with only half the picture in front of them. My Hero Academia may be approaching its final arc, and many of the veteran heroes are approaching their last curtain call. If All Might’s plan backfires -- and there is a good chance it will -- could he live with himself knowing he led so many of his comrades to their untimely deaths?
