Author: Verrix
Quotes:
"It is tragedies that give true strength to man."
— All For One, My Hero Academia (manga) Chapter 421
"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind."
― Friedrich Nietzsche
***
A world where Quirks and unique abilities were commonplace, and everyone used them to highlight their individuality. A world where villains and heroes clashed, both destroying and creating. Another life was about to begin in this cruel and dangerous world. Do not underestimate this wondrous new reality. It will not simply accept you; it will grab hold of you in the brutal grip of reality, tearing at your flesh, grinding your bones to dust, and building a city over your grave, as it has done for countless others who perished before...
***
11 years before the Canon Timeline.
Long ago, before the rise of U.A. Academy and before the era of All Might truly began, a secret plan took shape in the mind of Doctor Kyudai Garaki (Ujiko). It was an ambitious, desperate gamble: a plan to clone a human being from the flesh of All For One himself, aiming to produce an heir with an enhanced version of the legendary Quirk.
In those days, the Doctor rarely had direct contact with All For One. He sensed that his master's power and time were slowly ebbing away. To ensure the survival of Sensei's will, Garaki turned to this secret experiment. In a remote laboratory filled with equipment worth many millions of dollars, the Doctor spent months experimenting with All For One's cells, attempting to isolate the core Quirk mutation and multiply it within a sterile nutrient medium.
The process was grueling, involving dozens of generations of cellular selection. Using a technique called Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS), Garaki took the master's DNA and reprogrammed it back into a primal state, capable of becoming any cell in the human body.
Why didn't he just ask All For One for a direct sample? Garaki knew better than to bother the Demon King with a project that had yet to show results. He preferred to present his master with a finished masterpiece, not a work-in-progress. His freedom of action was absolute, supported by the latest cutting-edge technology and a singular, lucky find: a strand of Sensei's hair, complete with the follicle, discovered after a general meeting with his pawns.
Ujiko stood before the incubator, staring at dozens of Petri dishes labeled JX-001 through JX-100. He stretched his aching back, sitting down to review the plan scrawled on a sterile form:
1.Extract DNA. [Crossed out]
2.Multiply and preserve samples. [Crossed out]
3.Cellular selection.
4.Fertilization of artificial gametes.
5.Incubation and growth of biological objects.
6.Initiate Artificial Selection.
He took his pen and added two more points with a steady hand:
7a) In case of success: [...]?
7b) In case of failure: Destroy the objects.
His hand twitched slightly as he set the pen down.
— Okay. Focus... Pull yourself together.
The task was unprecedented. All For One had never pursued romantic relationships; he was consumed by power and influence. He had no sons because he was too stubborn and perhaps too arrogant to see the end of his own era. But Garaki saw it clearly, and he was already building the replacement.
To avoid the risks of the black market or surrogate mothers, Garaki chose a "purer" path. He would use All For One's cells to create both the sperm and the eggs. De facto, the future offspring would have only one parent. They would be children of the test tube, born of a single god.
A week later.
Out of a thousand samples, not a single one survived.
Garaki stared at the dead cultures, his reflection in the incubator glass looking tired and gaunt. He wasn't a master of pure genetics, but he possessed a fanatic's intuition.
— The transfection method is wrong. We need to increase the scale... Five thousand samples. Yes, that might work.
He adjusted his glasses, a manic glint in his eyes.
— Wait for me, my new heir. You will be the strongest, born from a furnace of competition. You will harbor incredible rage, for emotional shock is the catalyst of Quirk awakening.
Driven by this dark enthusiasm, Garaki could spend years in the lab without ever seeing the sun. His hospital in Jako was run by staff who hadn't the slightest clue about the "Demon King" or the horrific experiments occurring beneath their feet.
Two months later.
Success. From five thousand samples, Garaki bred a hundred survivors. Serene Japanese music played softly in the background as the Doctor began the delicate process of crossing Sensei's artificial eggs and sperm. His gloves sparkled under the cold, clinical lights.
By the end of the day, the zygotes were formed and placed into ectopic incubators—artificial wombs that lined the walls of the basement like glowing, amber pods.
Now, all that remained was the "small" matter of time. For the next several months, Garaki would monitor their growth, filtering out the weak. He planned to select only the ten most promising candidates—those with the most stable indicators and no genetic deviations.
Diagnostic devices hummed 24/7, collecting data on the developing fetuses. In the very first week, several were deemed "unstable" and were summarily removed from the list. Garaki balanced his public life at the hospital with his secret life as a creator. On his office monitor, hidden behind a firewall, he watched the vitals of the All For One heirs pulse in the darkness of the basement, their tiny hearts beating in mechanical unison.