All Might is cornered by two thugs, they are scared away by his sheer tenacity refusing to leave Deku behind. Deku swings through the city to reach Lady Nagant's location, only to be caught off guard by more bullets coming from behind him, realizing she was given an extra Quirk by All For One to lure him closer to her. With no other option, Deku unleashes Smokescreen on the ground and begins to build up energy in his legs, which the third user recognizes as him using his Quirk, Fa Jin. He warns him about using it since he has no experience, but he's successfully able to feint out Nagant in the smoke and use the energy boost to blast through a building and grab her. He demands to know why she follows All For One despite originally being a Pro Hero, and as she continues to shoot away at him, she explains her history. She was an assassin sent out by the Commission to kill corrupt heroes taking advantage of the system, as well as villains before they committed any crimes. All of the blood on her hands began to eat away at her mentally, considering everything about their society to be a sham. When she confronted her superior about this, he threatened her with silence, so she killed him in retaliation; this incident was covered up by saying she killed a fellow hero in a dispute. In response, Deku admits that everything isn't as black-and-white as he initially believed, but that's why he still intends to land a hand. To catch him off guard, Nagant suddenly aims her rifle at the nearby Overhaul; he had provided her information on who Deku was in order for her to take him to his Boss. She shoots at Overhaul, but with no hesitation, Deku uses the power of Fa Jin to become faster than a speeding bullet, knocking him out of the way, and uses his remaining strength to defeat Nagant. He saves her from falling, asking her to join their fight, believing she still has the heart of a hero within her. But before she can respond, her body suddenly explodes from within, due to a failsafe All For One left inside her. Hawks arrives just in time to rescue her, and with her last remaining strength, tells the Heroes of All For One's location. Endeavor apprehends Overhaul, and after hearing him rant about apologizing to his Boss, Deku says he will follow Nagant's promise if he shows that same regret to Eri as well. As he sees Nagant's charred body, rage towards All For One begins to swell up within Deku.

Deku attempts to escape from his classmates, so they all try to restrain him. During their struggles, each Class 1-A student reminds Deku of something he had done for or said to them in the past, and how much their friendship means to them, but Deku refuses to listen, not wanting them to be caught up in his battle against All For One and get hurt, as his way of "protecting" them. After almost every one of their attempts to talk or pin him down fail, Deku prepares to execute Faux 100 Percent to blast himself away for good, but Class 1-A combine all of their abilities to create a massive ramp which they use to blast Iida into the sky at blistering speeds, catching up to Deku and grabbing his hand. Iida repeats what Deku had said to him in the past when he saved him, that helping without being asked is the essence of a hero, causing Deku to start to give into his exhaustion. On the ground, he once again tries to keep his distance from everyone, but Bakugo confronts him, admitting the reason behind why he bullied him in the past. He sincerely apologizes for everything he said and done, telling him the class doesn't want to reject who he is, but support him to help save everyone. Deku finally gives in and apologizes himself before passing out. He wakes up in front of the now heavily fortified U.A., only to be met by a mob of angry civilians demanding Deku not enter, aware that he is the boy Shigaraki is after. Deku is about to leave, but is stopped by Ochaco.