It's been close to 200 years since the first emergence of metahumans, but it wasn't until roughly 150 years ago, when the mother of all quirks got murdered, that they finally publicly announced their existence. The people became divided and caused a 50-year-long war between the quirked and the quirkless.

By the early 1900s, the first heroes emerged, with the most influential one being General Freedom - quirk Absorption. His noble values resonated with the Japanese people as he fought bravely to ease any public worry that people may have had with quirk users. He became a template for heroes of his time, popularizing the idea of announcing one's attacks, declaring one's intent, and the long flowing scarf. Despite his efforts, the public still feared quirk users and ostracized them, resulting in multiple individuals hating their gifts. Not wanting to see his fellow metahumans suffer, he began absorbing the quirks of those willing. Believing that he was contributing to the greater good of his country, he continued to take these abilities until he began to absorb the quirks of those who he judged as undeserving of their abilities, causing his power to evolve into All for One.

Yoichi Shigaraki, General Freedom's quirkless younger brother, slowly noticed the changes in his once-noble older brother. Unable to watch the monster that General Freedom is becoming, Yoichi tries to stop his brother and epically fails. Hoping for his younger brother to understand his ideals, General Freedom tried to implant an ability in him as an experiment and was surprised by its success. Realizing the potential of his ability, General Freedom became a judge for all quirk and quirkless alike.

Drunk on the authority he obtained by giving and absorbing quirks. General Freedom began to favor those he deemed beneficial to him and his ideals and ostracized them — eventually turning his once-righteous virtues into corrupt ideals.

Realizing that he still can't stop his brother despite gaining a new quirk, Yoichi hid the fact that he was a metahuman all along and that his brother's gift assimilated to his own, creating One for All. He then decided to pass it down to his successor, hoping one day that it would grow strong enough to stop his brother.

Years passed as General Freedom - now calls himself All for One - continued to gather abilities from different people, causing him to further deviate from his original purpose and forget who he was. Without being aware of his younger brother's death, he continued building his influence as a powerful idealist who demanded like-minded individuals to build his ideal world.

With only 40% of the population being quirk users during the mid-1900s, villains started creating large criminal organizations that overwhelmed the dwindling number of heroes, causing many civilians to bring matters into their own hands. Civilians began to form mobs and lynch heroes and villains alike while the government took a more proactive approach by creating regulating laws for heroes. Hero licenses became a requirement to determine which individuals suit hero work. Unfortunately, despite these measures, it didn't lessen public fear. Aside from All for One's looming threat, some 'heroes' were too violent in their methods to solve problems that they were often pursued by law enforcement and taken into custody.

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Believing that he already had Japan under his control, All for One decided to spread his influence in the nearby countries, and his first target was Korea. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't the only villain who had been amassing their strength and influence. While most of Japan feared him, another terrifying existence settled in Korea - the Braeden's. Possessing quirks similar to vampires, they gained longevity, regeneration, strength, speed, reflexes, blood manipulation, etc., by consuming blood.

All for One believed himself as invincible as he challenged the Breaden clan's patriarch Braeden Alarick. They battled for months against each other as he attempted to steal or absorb Alarick's quirk to no avail. All for One eventually settled with a draw after three years of continuous battle and returned to Japan to recuperate, regain his forces, and remember a lesson - the world is vast.

Fortunately, despite All for One's growing strength, there were still people who realized the dangers of his twisted ideals and came under one banner to form a resistance movement against him - the successor of One for All. Without realizing the power flowing in the resistance leader's body, All for One stood his ground and eventually eliminated the resistance. He, unfortunately, was unable to stop the transfer of One for All from different successors as he didn't recognize its strength at the time. It wasn't until the late-1900s, when All for One faced the fifth successor of Yoichi's unique quirk, that he realized how powerful One for All could be.

Although society began to trust heroes once more by the late 1900s, especially during All for One's brief absence, he continued to become an influential villain who drove the dark side to prosper and crave the light. When he finally met Daigoto Banjo - One for All's fifth successor - All for One spared no effort in attempts to absorb it. He believed that with One for All in his arsenal, not only would defeating Alarick be a piece of cake, but creating his ideal world would be within reach. Unfortunately for him, despite his continuous efforts to kill the succeeding users of One for All, not once did he achieve his dream of obtaining it.

Entering the 21st century, after another grueling battle with Nana Shimura - One for All's seventh successor - All for One finally decided to lessen his pride and create an organization in his name that would help him. While plotting out his plans to make the ultimate organization, he sent out his intention of inviting a particular bloodsucking patriarch to become his partner, only to learn that his bloodline has ceased to exist because of a massacre that happened 50 years ago.

Despite his regrets, All for One retreated to the shadows, biding his time to gather his chess pieces before launching an all-out attack that would secure his seat as the world's king. Now that he has acquired the perfect candidate for his proxy king, all he would need would be a suitable queen, and everything else will fall into place. Little did All for One know that in a palace hidden away in South Korea, a particular teenage girl finally woke up from her long slumber.