My Hero Academia The 4th User of "One For All" - DESTRO

[Chris Mic]

FIRST OF ALL:
MANGA SPOILER WARNING!!! DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU'RE ANIME-ONLY!​

Ladies, and gentlemen, you heard right. I'm presenting a theory on MHA for the first time! I love MHA too much not to do so as I can't help thinking about it in-depth. And boy do I have a spicy meatball for y'all today.

Introduction: WTF Chris

As we grow closer and closer to finding out the indentities of each of the quirk vestiges stored within One For All, I believe to have discovered who the 4th bearer of this incredible gift. And it is none other than the revolutionary, Destro. Indeed, THAT Destro. In this theory I'll explain evidence for Destro being the 4th user of One For All, his connections to other vestiges, story implications and compare him and his son, Re-Destro. Without further ado, let's begin!

Part 1: Numbering Scheme

My main basis for this theory is how certain characters in My Hero Academia have naming schemes that involve numbers. And, depending on that number, it corresponds to a trait of them. The best (and possibly only tangible one) example of this? The users of One For All. Let us start with Nana Shimura. Nana is literally the word for 7 in Japanese. She was the 7th user of One For All, who passed it on to Toshinori Yagi. Toshinori contains the kanji character for "eight", 八.

Up next, examining Deku is simple. He is the 9th user of One For All and his name, Izuku, the last character of his name, 久, is pretty much homophonous to "nine", which is clearly purposeful. Not to mention, the person who was supposed to receive One For All in place of Deku, Mirio Togata, who then Izuku proposed to bestow ownership of, Mirio Togata, also contains the kanji for the number 10 in his name. That being said, it's clear we have a numbering pattern for the One For All users cause if all that doesn't make it obvious then I don't know what.

Now that we know this, let's examine Destro's real name. "Chikara Yotsubashi". Chikara means Power in Japanese, and his last name, the Yotsu part, contains the kanji for "four" (四ツ). So this is undisputed evidence that Destro was the 4th user, correct? Well we're not quite there yet. Let us examine this case further.

Part 2: Destro, His Son & Their Powers



First of all, this is Destro's appearance. His powers seem unknown, however many assume he has the same as his son, Re-Destro, "Stress", the power to manifest dark marks and energy on yourself to power up. Rikiya Yotsubashi, Re-Destro, displayed this clearly in the manga. One could point out that Re-Destro and his father even share similiar marks on their face, as Re-Destro has 2 black marks on his left temple that seem to take a darker shade on his forehead when using his quirk, making it similiar to Destro's face marks. It's clear they have the same power, right? Well, that is simply nothing more than a misdirect. The marks come from Re-Destro's power, while Destro simply is weaing a mask. Compare the upper picture with these two:

While at first glance you'd assume they're the same thing, they are not. Rikiya's marks are yellowish orange to match his skin, one could mistake them for just skin marks from being a middle-aged dude. In the second image he extends his power from them to a mask similiar to Destro, but that is only an homage. But that's not all. The power to accumulate stress into power? Destro was a visionary, hardcore, the Che Guevara of the MHA world. He was so convicted in his ideologies and beliefs, that when he failed to achieve his goal, he wrote a book to spread his ideology and then killed himself in prison. A man like that seems to have little use for a quirk that amplifies power from stress. One last thing to dispute is, is that we are told his quirk made even his own mother reject him and society was appalled by it. Why would one be appalled by the power to weaponize stress? Destro did have a quirk, but it couldn't have been like the one his son has.

Part 3: One For All & The Vestiges

This is where One For All comes in. Destro's first name is literally POWER. Sounds pretty logical if we are to assume he has the Super Strength (trademark symbol) quirk, right? Especially taking his position as a man comparable to All For One, someone who took on the world keeping to his ideals stronger than anyone. Since we can assume Stress wasn't his quirk this would make sense as well, but there is yet another thing to take note of. Who succeeded him? The 5th user of One For All may give us a hint to the previous user. We assume that the 5th user is that Hellboy looking dude who gave Deku "Blackwhip".

Why him? Well, the 6th user is revealed to be that Tobio Kageyama looking ass who gave Nana One For All. The first user is known too. Users 2-5 are unknown however, and through their silhouettes we can only assume few things. 2 figures are shadowed while the other 2, a man with a scar-like mark on his face and Hellboy, are revealed. The most important ones, probably the elder ones, are being saved as is the rule of shonen to build hype. Therefore it's possible since this guy was revealed early, he's the 5th user. So if Destro was the 4th, this makes PERFECT SENSE! How? Destro was a revolutionary militant. He founded the Meta Liberation Army. His army spent years fighting against the Status Quo for superhuman rights. And what a coincidence, the possible 5th user is armed to the teeth and looks like a commanding presence. I believe Destro, doomed to be captured and imprisoned, passed down One For All to this member of his army.

Now, the vestige silhouettes.



Which of these could Destro be? I believe the hidden one in the right. This person seems to have their hair tied up and be wearing some kind of armor near the shoulder area. We know Destro's hair is long enough where he sports a ponytail. It's quite possible that deeper into his military campaign, rising up to be this world-shaking threat, he had a design like that. Unfortunately, that is all the tangible evidence I have.

Part 4: Bonus - Story Implications

Now, for story reasons, what could come out of this? I believe Destro being the 4th user of One For All would work great for the plot. Deku is working now not only to surpass All Might one day, but his past quirk predecessors are watching over him and will bestow upon him their quirks with time. He has quite the burden to carry and wants to be the best of them all. If that is the case, wouldn't it be incredible storytelling for one of Deku's predecessors to have been the leader of the MLA? A group so feared and taboo that they are nowadays viewed as straight up villains still. Deku is simultaneously working towards Destro's goal, a society with looser quirk using restrictions. However Destro was an absolutist and an extremist, and this is where Deku can show a noble version of this liberation. A CULMINATION OF PAST IMPERFECTIONS INTO A REFINED, COMPLETED QUIRK USED BY A REFINED, COMPLETED OWNER! One For All is completed with Deku, we've been foreshadowed that, and this will only further enhance it!

If Deku was revealed as the owner of Destro's past quirk, it's also possible Re-Destro would also re-evaluate siding with Shigaraki Tomura, believing Deku to be a sign of even truer liberation than the handyman himself. Deku representing true liberation, an evolved and more honorable version of Destro's liberation, while Shigaraki has a dark, monstrous and indiscriminate liberation, wishing to destroy all. This sounds like an engame kind of event where the MLA members split off from the League members and chaos ensues. However, that's a long way from now to speculate and I am merely suggesting how Destro being a past OFA user can benefit the story of MHA.

Conclusion: THANKS FOR READING!

That is all the time we had today! I spent a while thinking about this after simply reading the trivia in Re-Destro's page in the MHA wiki and came across the "four" in the kanji. It just seemed so arbitrary, so unusual, so no-reason-to-be-there-unless-it's-relevant that I wrapped my head around it by rationalizing Destro might've been the 4th OFA user! As such I just had to make this theory. I hope you enjoyed and I gave you some food for thought! Tell me your thoughts or provide more evidence that might refute this theory, feedback is how we grow and lord knows My Hero Academia is a series worth discussing in depth!

Until next time, folks! PLUS ULTRA!!