Hearing Shigaraki's words, Muscular said nothing.
He merely turned his head to the side and clicked his tongue.
Understand?
He understood better than anyone.
After all, he had clawed his way up from weakness himself.
When he was younger, his Quirk had been laughably weak.
Not only did it lack its current monstrous power capable of smashing stone and tearing apart steel, it had even been classified as an ordinary enhancement-type Quirk.
Average.
Forgettable.
Weak.
Because of that, he had been mocked countless times back in school.
After all, compared to the flashy Quirks other kids possessed, his looked like trash.
Of course, Muscular was never the type to quietly endure ridicule.
So afterward, he simply beat those people until they cried and begged him to stop.
More than once.
After that, no one dared laugh at him again.
At the same time, he never stopped training in secret.
He copied every Quirk-development method he could find online and pushed his body relentlessly.
Day after day.
Year after year.
Only after years—decades—of brutal training did his Quirk finally evolve into what it was today.
And Muscular never regretted any of it.
Because that was the road most Quirk users had to walk.
Except for a tiny number of naturally gifted monsters.
Seeing Muscular stay silent, Shigaraki didn't mind.
He simply continued.
"Precisely because developing Quirks requires so much time and effort, Teacher eventually chose another path."
"That path is cultivation."
He spread his hands casually.
"After all, Teacher's energy is limited. Even if he were immortal, personally developing every Quirk himself would still be unrealistic."
Shigaraki paused briefly before continuing.
"Generally speaking, Teacher uses two methods."
"The first is cultivation."
"He finds Quirk users he's interested in, raises them, nurtures them, and waits for their Quirks to mature before harvesting the result."
"Of course…"
He smiled faintly.
"That method is actually crueler than simply stealing the Quirk immediately."
"Because Teacher's methods are… rather rough."
"He kidnaps people."
"He trains them."
"He breaks them mentally."
"Torture, manipulation, threats, fear… whatever works."
"All so they'll desperately chase strength and continue developing their Quirks."
"And meanwhile…"
"All Teacher has to do is wait for the fruit to ripen."
"Then he plucks it."
Muscular listened quietly.
His expression didn't change much.
But his eyes narrowed slightly.
"The second method," Shigaraki continued, "is for Quirks with unusual growth conditions."
"In those cases, Teacher first steals the Quirk, then transfers it to certain 'lucky individuals.'"
"And because those people desperately crave power, most of them happily accept the gift."
Shigaraki's smile deepened slightly.
"As for what happens afterward…"
"I'm sure I don't need to explain."
Muscular sneered.
"Being noticed by your teacher really is eight lifetimes of bad luck."
That was what he said.
But truthfully, he didn't feel much sympathy for those people.
There was no helping it.
They were weak.
And in Muscular's eyes, weakness itself was the original sin.
If they weren't strong enough to resist All For One, then naturally their lives belonged to him.
As for whether they resisted?
Muscular didn't even need to ask.
Of course they had.
Nobody wanted their life controlled by someone else.
But resistance was meaningless.
Because against the former ruler of Japan's underworld, those people had never stood a chance.
Hearing Muscular's words, Shigaraki raised a finger and shook it.
"No, no."
"You misunderstand Teacher."
"Teacher is actually a pretty good person."
Muscular's mouth twitched.
Shigaraki ignored it and continued seriously.
"Think about it."
"He gives resources to people who otherwise would never become strong."
"He trains them."
"He grants them power."
"What a selfless and noble spirit."
Truthfully, Shigaraki genuinely did think All For One was a good person.
Well…
good to him, at least.
Whatever he wanted, All For One gave him.
Even when he caused trouble, his teacher cleaned up after him without complaint.
Honestly, it bordered on absurd favoritism.
If the age difference between them weren't so massive, Shigaraki might've suspected they were related by blood.
As for how All For One treated everyone else?
Heh.
Did that matter?
Obviously not.
Those people had nothing to do with him.
Why would he ruin his relationship with Teacher over strangers?
Besides, he himself was one of the beneficiaries of All For One's cultivated Quirks.
Hearing Shigaraki's completely shameless argument, Muscular genuinely didn't know whether to praise his eloquence or curse his lack of shame.
"Heh."
"Yeah."
"Your teacher really sounds noble."
"So noble I'm practically moved to tears."
"I'd admire him even more if he didn't harvest everything in the end."
"Not harvest it?"
Shigaraki rolled his eyes.
"Since when does this world hand out free lunches?"
"If those people accepted power that never truly belonged to them…"
"Then they should've been prepared for the day it was taken back."
That was what he said.
But deep down, even Shigaraki knew he was mostly arguing for the sake of it.
No matter how he phrased things, nothing changed the reality.
All For One was a genuine villain.
And honestly?
Shigaraki had no intention of trying to "redeem" his image anyway.
After all—
All For One had long since passed the point where redemption even meant anything.
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