My Hero Academia May Have Revealed Deku’s Greatest Weapon Against All For One

Warning: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Chapter 330, "Me and Myself," by Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook, and John Hunt, available in English through Viz Media.

My Hero Academia Chapter 330, “Me and Myself,” introduces a new key element to the fight against All for One. Star and Stripe, the No. 1 Pro Hero in America, can use her Quirk New Order to bend reality to her whim. This Quirk of hers can change the flow of the current war, which is why "Shigaraki" wants it for himself. Stealing New Order seems near impossible for how powerful it is, but every Quirk has its weaknesses.

Even if New Order ends up in the wrong hands, it may not mean the end of the world. Because Deku’s own Quirk One For All could have a way to counter it. Finding this counter will require a deeper understanding of New Order, All For One, One For All, and the nature of Quirks.

Star And Stripe assigns rule to Shigaraki in My Hero Academia

First of all, here’s how New Order works: Star and Stripe can impose a “rule” on any two things she touches and invokes the name of. This allows her to perform unbelievable feats, including erasing space, holding lasers, and stopping hearts. She generally uses one rule to impose super strength on herself, but the versatility of New Order more than makes up for that handicap. Despite the near-infinite capabilities of New Order, it still has weaknesses. The biggest shortcoming is that Star and Stripe cannot impose rules on someone whose name she doesn’t know. When she tries to stop "Tomura Shigaraki’s" heart, she fails because she’s technically not fighting Shigaraki. Or All For One for that matter. This trip up could easily lead to her Quirk getting stolen.

Currently, Shigaraki has the Quirk All For One implanted in him. However, implanted Quirks carry a sort of will or vestige of their previous user within them. Shigaraki having the Quirk All For One causes a vestige of the villain All For One to exist in his mind and partially control his actions. In a sense, Shigaraki and All For One have become a coexistence in the same body. When Star and Stripe failed to stop Shigaraki’s heart, it’s because she’s actually dealing with an entirely new being who is neither Shigaraki nor All For One. The presence of multiple personalities in one body creates a loophole that circumvents New Order.

Should New Order become a part of All For One, Deku may also be able to circumvent New Order through One For All. Like All For One, One For All carries the vestiges of its eight previous wielders. If Deku can invoke the wills of One For All’s vestiges and become a new being himself, New Order wouldn’t work on him either.

Deku’s ability to invoke the will of One For All’s previous users is hinted at during the U.A. Sports Festival arc. In this arc, Deku gets brainwashed while fighting Shinso, but the vestiges snap him out of it. They break two of his fingers to do it, but the key takeaway is that the vestiges show at least partial control over Deku’s body and mind.

If Deku and One For All's vestiges can form a coexistence like Shigaraki and All For One, they would be able to handle whatever’s thrown at them. In fact, it should be even better than Shigaraki’s since Deku won’t have to fight the vestiges for control of his own body. Even if Shigaraki takes New Order and turns it on Deku, if Deku’s true sense of self is also blurred, then the rules won’t affect him. Between this and Deku's ability to resist All For One, Deku still has a fighting chance.

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