#but was nicknamed Toshinori cause the Japanese couldn't pronounce his given name

[redrobin-detective]

Toshinori and Nana and One for All

So I??? Invented a backstory for All Might, how he grew up, developed his ideals, met Nana and turned into the hero we all know and love. It's like, 100% made up but I adhered to canon events as best I could. I'm so stoked to hear more about Nana, Torino and young Toshi but until then, here's my dumb thoughts

- Toshinori Yagi was born in the United States, as American as Apple Pie. I personally am liking him being from the American Mid-west, I'm thinking like Kansas (like Clark Kent). I want him to be from a decently sized city but still with that Heartland feel. Toshinori is half Japanese on his father's side (hence his surname, Yagi) but takes after his American mother more with his blond hair and blue eyes. Despite the name and some Asian features, he's not involved with his culture at all. I'm playing with the idea that Toshinori wasn't his birth name growing up in American. Not sure yet but I'm liking the idea of a similar sounding name that people in Japan had problems pronouncing so they just started calling him Toshi which stuck. Once he was more settled in Japan, he changed it to Toshinori. Still working on that.

- Anyway, Toshinori had a good, nice American childhood with loving if maybe distant parents. He grew up on a small farm with his parents, which he both loved and hated because well farm but also he enjoyed the atmosphere and freedom. I see him as being a good, smiley kid with a strong sense of right and wrong. The hero situation is different back when he was a kid, less structured and more like vigilantism. I feel like Toshi would like the idea of heroes as a kid but it's never a big passion. The organized hero biz is still in it's infancy so it's not as big a deal. He, like Izuku, receives trouble for his quirklessness but it's not a big issue for him, he's ok with it as it's a little more common. Anyway, he's happy until, suddenly and tragically, he's orphaned at a young age maybe like 8

- Yeah, typical hero origin. He's got no other family and is shipped off to a city orphanage that just isn't cutting it for him. He takes to the streets, making his own way and learning how to survive on his own. But Toshinori has a heart of gold, he's always helping out others street kids, defending them from bullies, giving out his meager supplies. It's here he really sees how weak and defenseless he is without a quirk and works twice as hard to compensate. He is angry about what happened to him, feeling disillusioned about the state of the world and wanting to better it but he never lets it dim his inner goodness. Despite being a good kid, he becomes bitter about his situation and the so called heroes who aren't doing anything to help these kids. He hates the state of the world but wonders what a quirkless orphan like him can do.

- Years pass and Toshi is now like 10-11 when his life changes forever. Like another quirkless boy will do in the future, there's an incident (I'm feeling a fire in the abandoned building Toshi and his street kids have been squatting in?) where Toshinori rushes in without thinking while cops and heroes stand outside and make no moves to help for some reason. He's trying to save these kids and it seems they'll all die right there when a woman bursts in and tells them it's alright because she is here. She saves all of the kids and smiles down with admiration at the awestruck blond boy. Toshi hasn't liked heroes for a while, but after his first meeting with Nana he is amazed. He's not the only one, Nana saw so much raw potential in Toshinori. When she hears of his situation she can't leave him be. She's a mother as well as a hero and she's already a little smitten with a smart-ass street kid with a heart of gold. She offers to train him and he accepts. She vaguely thinks he might be a candidate for One for All but, at this stage, she's not thinking of a successor.

- Nana is native Japanese but she's a travelling hero. She believes a hero is supposed to be more than someone who punches bad guys, they should be someone who smiles and makes the world a happier place. Despite her incredibly power, she's not much of a fighter. She'd much rather rescue and inspire than exchange blows as she's such an open pacifist. She loves her husband as they work together to make the world a better place. She returns home frequently to see her husband and child and they have a good relationship despite her being gone so much. Also for some reason I hc her husband as a quirkless hero because I do. It's during one of these trips she finds Toshinori and basically adopts him.

- She and Toshi travel for a few months during this time they grow incredibly close. He calls her master but it's clear to everyone they're developing a mother/son bond. Her family and friends are taken aback that she's taken this reckless, not-powered kid under her wing. They all ask if she intends to give him One for All and she laughs it off that she's just helping Toshi out. Toshi himself, while very respectful of Nana, is a little bit of a delinquent. He's used to being completely independent and hasn't had the best education since being on the streets, he can be rude and surly, getting into fights with people he think are in the wrong and generally being kind of a brat. Nana mostly lets him work his issues out but she does stop him when he's gone too far or is in danger.

- After travelling a bit of the US and Europe, Nana gets the news that her husband has died in battle with All for One trying to get to her. She is devastated and tells Toshi she needs to return to Japan and probably stay there for a while, Toshi agrees to go with her. Once home, she puts her child into foster care out of desire to protect them. It nearly breaks her but one thing that holds her together is Toshi. Having him there, with his spirit and big heart, keeps her going. She feels incredibly guilty, as if she's trading one child for another. For the first time she properly considers Toshi as an heir for OFA which she'd kind of ignored out of desire to protect him from that fate. But now she feels she can't justify keeping him around (since she gave up her child to "protect them") unless she's planning on passing her power. She's torn but decides to tell Toshi about OFA, he's surprised but takes to it. He agrees to take the power when the time comes, she delays the transfer as she's not "ready to retire" but also to try and give him more time in case he changes his mind. She knows she's sentencing him to a hard life of brutal fights, that'll most likely kill him.

- Toshi is enrolled in Japanese Middle School while his training increases to prepare him for OFA. It's during this time he meets Gran Torino who is initially very antagonistic towards Toshi and thinks he isn't worthy. Toshi has trouble adjusting to Japanese life, not to mention not knowing the language and culture. He gets into lots of fights and really gains a perspective on how the world is. He comes up with the idea that the world needs a hero to serve as a pillar, an example that heroes and citizens can rally behind. Hearing this, Torino begins to change his mind on Toshi and starts working more with Nana to train him. Like his friend, he begins to develop a soft spot for the cheeky American. Nana meanwhile has put some distance between herself and Toshi, trying to be more of the mentor than the mother. She doesn't deserve to have another chance with a child and, besides, it'll only hurt more when he takes OFA.

- He graduates middle school after about a year. He has a bit of record and not the best grades but he finally has a clear vision of what he wants to be as a hero and has adjusted to living in Japan. Nana wants him to go to UA, the best hero school in the country. Toshi and Torino think it's time to pass on OFA so he get into the hero class and begin working towards his dream. Nana is still unhappy about putting this boy she cares for deeply in that kind of danger (since AFO is still out there waiting for her) and proclaims he's not ready yet. He's admitted to the UA General Department on Nana's recommendation, since his grades weren't the best. This puts him at odds with a lot of the other students, especially once it gets out that he's a quirkless student aiming for the hero department.

- Nana isn't quite a teacher at UA but works out of the school to do her hero work but she stops travelling and operates solely in Japan. She and Torino continue to train Toshi hard in both fighting and smarts and he becomes quite the force to reckoned with. He doesn't have a lot of friends, due to his intense, slightly abrasive personality but he still has Nana and Torino and that's enough. He does become friends with Naomasa Tsukauchi who remains a lifelong friend and grows up to be a detective. As his first term at UA concludes, he begins to wonder if Nana will ever give him OFA. He begins to doubt himself, doubt all the praise and assurances Nana has given him. He believes she doesn't think he's worthy but really she's not ready to put him in danger. This slowly starts to put a wedge in their relationship.

- All for One starts to move again and Nana is out for blood. This man killed her husband and made her give up her biological child. She tries to keep Toshi out of it and search for AFO on her own. This upsets Toshi who, again is feeling worthless and like Nana doesn't think he's good enough. This builds up until finally everything explodes out, they're both yelling and screaming and nothing really gets resolved because neither is willing to open up about what's really bothering them (Toshi and his insecurities, Nana and her protectiveness). The fight has upset Nana and it's during this time she finds AFO who approaches her seeing how off kilter she is. A huge fight ensues and Nana takes serious hits. AFO breaks her with his powers and with his words, breaking her will slowly but surely. She fights valiantly, trying to stay alive long enough to get back to the others and apologize and pass on OFA. But AFO is trying to end her now, knowing she hasn't passed on her quirk yet. He mortally wounds her and walks away knowing she doesn't have much time left.

- Toshi and Torino hear the commotion of this fight and know Nana has to be involved. Toshi, against Torino's warnings, rushes in trying to find Nana. He is so concerned for his mentor and angry that their last words had been an argument. He comes and finds her barely alive in the wreckage. He's trying to help, crying and doing all she can to save her. She's too wounded to say the things she wants to say, instead she uses her dwindling strength to try and put her blood into his mouth. Toshi is too upset at the time note the significance of the action when she dies shortly afterwards. Torino comes across Toshi crying over his mentor's body.

- They take away Nana's body and bury her in a private ceremony. She wasn't a well known hero at all, partially because she travelled so much and also because she wanted to keep a low profile. It's only later does Torino consider if Nana had been able to pass on OFA, but it's unclear if Toshi has actually swallowed enough of her blood. Toshi falls into a depression having lost someone he had been immensely close to, he takes a leave of absence from school and seems lost. It's only when he activates OFA on accident that he realizes that his teacher and his dream aren't gone yet. He's still broken up over her death, always will be, but if he stops now then her death and her faith in him will be wasted. He and Torino train hard for the next few months and come next term, he's easily able to register for the hero course. Torino becomes a teacher  and trains the hell out of Toshi, he's fired for being too tough but by that point Toshi has immense control of his power and can move forward on his own.

- So Toshi was taken in by Nana around 10-11, travelled then came to Japan around 12, went through Japanese middle school and started at UA as a General student around 13-14. Nana died/passed OFA onto him around 15 or so

- To most people, All Might just came out of nowhere. UA seems to heavily emphasize the hero classes with not a lot of attention on the other sections. I feel like our Toshi would have been rather infamous in the General Department (maybe even going under a different name) but none of the other sections really knew about him so they didn't make the connection to the troublemaking, quirkless General student to the strong, powerful prodigy. Once he rose through the ranks in UA, he really developed his hero persona. A lot of his personality is an act, but not all. He does genuinely care for people and wants to save everyone but he puts on a big, blustery show to make people smile and reigns in his more reckless and ideological impulses in order to try and set a good example. He'll mostly deny it, but much of All Might's personality is faked with only the core elements truly belonging to Toshi. 

- Toshinori decides to use all of his experiences to become the kind of hero he wants to see in the world: he thinks of his American upbringing, he thinks of the anger he felt at indifferent heroes only in it for the money and power, he thinks of how sad he was at the loss of so many people and how important a life is, he thinks about how the world needs a symbol to look up to, he thinks of Torino's tough love training that made him strong, he thinks of how Nana thought it was so important to smile and present a strong but reassuring front to the world. He chooses the name All Might because he swears to protect the people of the world with "All of his Might". He puts on a bright costume and an even brighter smile and he makes his debut and swears that he will achieve his goal for Nana and he will avenge her murder if it's the last thing he does. At this time, AFO does not know that Toshi has OFA (and he doesn't learn until much Toshi has grown in power and is able to deal a devastating blow to AFO)

- Years and years later, after many tragedies and triumphs, Toshi runs across a quirkless boy who loves heroes but doesn't have the power to be one himself. He smiles at the boy's spirit, at his astounding amount of compassion and perseverance, and offers his power to him. He has no way of knowing that, many years ago, Nana had looked at him with the same loving eyes. He doesn't quite understand that the pride and warmth he feels for Izuku is close to the feelings that Nana once held for him. Only when he furthers his training, and his bond, with Izuku does he start to properly understand his mentor and why she did what she did. It makes her seem close to him again and that alone is worth everything he has endured. He still hasn't told Izuku because he doesn't want to scare the boy with all that death talk and Toshi is very guarded and not one to open up on something so very personal. Maybe someday he'll tell his student about his wonderful teacher and how she made him into a hero.