Why Couldn’t Tomura Shigaraki Take One For All from Deku?

Episode 123 of My Hero Academia allowed us to see the events that transpired after Endeavor used his most powerful attack to try to kill Tomura Shigaraki but failed to do so as the villain attacked and severely injured Bakugo. In that regard, an angry Deku attacked Shigaraki with what he had left, only for the villain to finally touch him to steal his Quirk. But the one thing we saw was that he failed to actually steal Deku’s Quirk. So, why couldn’t Tomura Shigaraki take One For All from Deku?

After Shigaraki failed to take One For All from Deku, All For One told him that he was yet to fully bond with the All For One Quirk. That meant that he was yet to become powerful enough to take a Quirk as strong as One For All. As such, he isn’t ready to try to absorb One For All as of yet.

The fact that Shigaraki was able to actually try to steal the Quirk was one of the most suspenseful moments of the episode because we know for a fact that he has the ability to steal quirks from others because he now has All For One. But the fact that he was yet to fully bond with the All For One Quirk was what held him back, as he now has to find another opportunity to take the Quirk from Deku.

Why Does Shigaraki Want One For All?

When the Paranormal Liberation War arc began, what was clear was that the heroes had only one thing to accomplish, and that was to take Tomura Shigaraki into custody after preventing him from waking up and becoming an incredibly powerful villain that could quite possibly threaten the entire world. In that regard, they did succeed in attacking Jaku Hospital, where Shigaraki was being held while he was still in suspended animation. However, he still woke up from his coma and managed to become so powerful that he destroyed a third of the city in one attack and even killed a lot of pro heroes in the process.

Of course, upon waking up and realizing that he was already incredibly powerful, Shigaraki’s only goal was to find Izuku Midoriya and then steal the One For All Quirk from him. That was why he proceeded to try to chase Deku, who understood what the villain wanted and tried to keep him away from populated areas. So, why does Shigaraki want One For All?

The reason why Shigaraki wants One For All is that it is one of the most powerful Quirks of them all. One For All originated from the combination of two Quirks, as it was first thought to be a somewhat useless stockpiling Quirk that All For One passed on to his brother decades ago. However, what they didn’t know was that All For One’s brother had a unique Quirk that allowed him to pass on his Quirk to another person. As such, the two Quirks combined to become One For All, which became stronger while it was being passed down because it continued to stockpile power.

Of course, Shigaraki wants this power because the spirit and influence of All For One was governing his thoughts after he had acquired All For One’s Quirk. All For One wanted to reunite with One For All because it would have allowed him to continue to “live” on while passing his power to another person while allowing all of his Quirks to grow in strength. And because All For One craves power more than anything, he wants to take Deku’s Quirk and make himself more powerful than ever.

Why Couldn’t Shigaraki Take One For All From Deku?

Tomura Shigaraki faced a number of pro heroes while he was attempting to steal Deku’s One For All Quirk. In that regard, he had to face Endeavor, Eraser Head, Ryukyu, and Gran Torino, among others, all while trying to steal Midoriya’s Quirk. After knocking Shota Aizawa out to remove him from the battlefield and cancel out his Erasure Quirk, Shigaraki proceeded to fight with Deku.

In episode 122, we saw how Endeavor, Shoto, and Bakugo combined to deliver a powerful attack on Shigaraki in an attempt to kill him once and for all. However, the villain survived Endeavor’s most powerful attack when he allowed All For One to take control over his body momentarily, as this led to a surprise attack from Shigaraki on Deku. But Bakugo used himself as a human shield to protect his ally.

Then, in episode 123, All For One, through Shigaraki’s body, noted that all of the blood that was shed in that fight was useless, as this angered Deku because of how a lot of people lost their lives trying to stop Shigaraki. That was when he proceeded to attack the villain with whatever he had left, only for Shigaraki to finally grab onto him and proceed to take his Quirk.

As Shigaraki tried to take One For All from Deku, both of their consciousness were transported to the inner world of One For All, where Nana Shimura was present as she was there to confront both Shigaraki and All For One’s spirit. An inner battle to try to take One For All from a restrained Deku happened, as Nana and the first holder of One For All both worked together to try to prevent Shigaraki from taking the Quirk. And the first holder, who happened to be All For One’s brother, noted that he and the other holders had no plans of leaving Deku because they wanted to be with him due to his desire to protect everyone using his Quirk.

While Nana and the first holder appeared to have failed, Deku’s willpower allowed him to overpower his restraints to attack Shigaraki, as they were all ousted from the inner world of One For All, with the villain failing to take the Quirk away. Of course, we know that All For One has the power to take Quirks from others. So, why couldn’t Shigaraki take One For All from Deku?

After Shigaraki failed to take the One For All Quirk from Midoriya, the spirit of All For One told him that he was yet to fully bond with the All For One Quirk because of the fact that his transformation process in the hospital was never completed due to the interference of the heroes. As such, his body was yet to fully adjust to the powers of All For One, and that made it difficult for him to steal such a powerful Quirk like One For All.

Of course, the inner struggle that we saw in the inner world of One For All was a metaphor for the fact that Shigaraki was yet to fully bond with the All For One Quirk, similar to the fact that Midoriya’s body is yet to be strong enough to use One For All at its full potential without any setbacks. As such, like Deku, Shigaraki needs to become strong enough to be able to fully harness the powers of All For One.