WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 344, "Stars,” by Horikoshi Kohei, Caleb Cook, and John Hunt, available now in English from Viz Media.
From the series' beginning, All For One has remained at least one step ahead of the Pro-Heroes in all matters. Even while imprisoned, his carefree demeanor gave off the impression of one who was fully confident that the events in motion would only benefit them. The Paranormal Liberation War and its aftermath vindicated All For One's boldness, but the master villain might have just made his first misstep in the latest chapter.
Before Shigaraki could recover his full strength, All Might, with several other Pro-Heroes and law enforcement personnel, drafted a plan supposed to lead the heroes to victory in the upcoming war. Their main objective was to isolate All For One from Shigaraki Tomura, a seemingly impossible task. The two had been nearly inseparable since Shigaraki broke his master out of prison, and thanks to their shared consciousness were capable of absurdly synchronized attack strategies.
Separating them required some deception on the heroes’ part. Despite All For One immense power, he was never one to take unnecessary risks. Luring All For One out was a task entrusted to Aoyama Yuga and his parents, but they had some help from Hitoshi Shinso. The hero course prospect successfully brainwashed the Aoyama's into fooling All For One's truth-discerning Quirk and invited the villain to claim One For All for himself. Deku was to be the bait, and he was left seemingly alone with Yuga at All For One's agreed meeting point.
All For One showed up swiftly with his villain army in order to capture Deku, but that goal proved to be much harder in reality. As soon as he showed up, a squad of top Pro-Heroes arrived via Warp Gate. The heroes charged right into battle prompting the villains to do the same and leading them right into the next aspect of the trap. Before any villain could begin attacking, they had all been captured by underground cages that were triggered by their footsteps, including All For One.
It was then that the heroes finally revealed the main focus of their plan. After successfully isolating each villain, their cages were pushed towards several Warp Gate portals Monoma had ready and waiting for them. Each portal presumably leads to a completely different location where other heroes are more than likely standing at the ready and judging from how organized the heroes' efforts have been so far, these teams might be tailor-made for each villain.
Naturally, since the villains haven't been pushed through the portal yet, it's still wishful thinking to assume the heroes' plan will work smoothly until the end. Even as he was entrapped, All For One remarked that he'd be able to easily break free of his cage and likely figured out that this was a ploy to separate the villains. As it stands, Shigaraki's teleportation away from All For One should be the heroes' priority, and they're in a race against the time it would take for All For One to free himself. Unless these cages are reinforced by a genius like Hatsume Mei, the heroes have mere seconds.
