Summary
Tenya Ida undergoes a shocking and brutal family ritual to improve her Quirk, Engine by removing her exhaust pipe. This painful process causes Ida’s exhaust to become more powerful, allowing him to use his ultimate Recipro Burst for a period longer than 10 minutes. Ida’s increased speed becomes crucial during the Final War arc, but the intense training comes at a price when his exhaust explodes, temporarily putting him out of action.
IN My Hero Academy, there aren’t too many ways for one to improve their Quirk, other than learning how to use it better. However, for Tenya Ida, it turns out there is a family secret on how to improve their abilities, but what it requires of him is surprisingly brutal.
Tenya Ida is known for his ability, Engine, which manifests as motors in his legs, complete with exhaust pipes, that somehow allow him to run very fast. The Quirk stands out in his family, being the signature ability of Ingenium, a legacy hero title formerly held by his brother Tensei. Tenya Ida took the name Ingenium after Tensei encountered the Hero Killer Stain, as Tensei survived but he was no longer qualified to do hero work. However, this new name comes with new responsibilities and a desire to live up to the reputation that the Ingenium name holds. To accomplish this, Tenya performed his family’s secret ritual, which included removing his exhaust pipe.
Ida’s engine grew stronger again
In Chapter 204 of the Joint Training arc of My Hero Academia, where Classes 1-A and 1-B are pitted against each other, Ida recalls being told about this secret ritual by her brother. By removing the exhaust pipes in his legs, he was told they would grow back stronger, capable of providing him with even more thrust and power. However, this is not done surgically; instead, Ida is shown tearing them apart with her bare hands in the middle of the forest, and it clearly hurts. However, it’s hard to argue with the results, as Ida’s ultimate move, his Recipro Burst, now has the ability to last for 10 minutes instead of 10 seconds at the serious speed he can achieved before.
In fact, Ida was so fast after doing this brutal training method that he actually couldn’t control himself completely at top speed. This increased speed continues to play an important role in the Final War arc of the manga, when Ida lends her speed to Shoto Todoroki to help him reach Dabi’s new battlefield in time. Ida’s speed was said to have greatly exceeded the speed of sound, but this came at a heavy cost as the exhaust actually exploded afterward, putting him out of action for the remainder of the battle. Although this family secret seemed crazy when it was first revealed, its success is beyond doubt.
It’s unclear whether Ida’s exhaust pipes will grow back or not, but it seems likely that given enough time they will. It’s certainly one of the strangest methods of growing stronger that the series has created and is even more brutal than Deku’s frequent broken bones. There was no one else in My Hero Academy had to go through such a painful process to become stronger, but this harsh method was the ultimate proof of Ida’s commitment to becoming a hero.
