#society.

watching punk win:

Yeah, he did pass it on before fighting AFO; every OFA wielder managed to pass it on before their death by AFO's hand. Only Banjo and En (excluding All Might and Midoriya) still held it when they fought AFO, so Bruce would've been like the others: fighting with the Ability/Quirk already passed on.

For reference, the excerpt from that volume extra with Banjo's face on it;

"All the predecessors besides the Fourth were indeed killed by All For One, but each one managed to pass on the Quirk before their death."

All For One killed them. But they passed on the Quirk before they faced him.

But also, Shinomori went into hiding to avoid society, I don't think he'd actually join the fight of the Resistance when they're fighting AFO's side—he's at the top of their chaotic land. It's a fight with the one who governs current society. The "demon lord". Most of the Resistance died with Kudo, so Bruce fighting AFO was either with whoever was left, or he was completely alone, and those are old corpses.

At Bruce's fight and eventual death with AFO, I think he might've gone back to where Kudo and the rest died. Whether he did or not, he took the last members with the Resistance for a last stand, if any remained. They probably did have some left; Kudo shouldn't have left Bruce to fight him and continue OFA, with no one on his side. Cruel, and a small platform for Bruce to stand on. The platform of the vestiges was already small compared to AFO when doing a symbolism of the power difference. Imagine Bruce on his own.

(This was when Nana and Yoichi pushed AFO+AFO/Tomura out of the vestige world)

Plus, since the Resistance started out of "our Leader [having] misgivings about the future", Kudo wouldn't have brought everyone to fight AFO. If he did, the Resistance ends right there; there has to be a chance their will and cause continues into the future, neverminding Bruce and OFA. I don't mean Yoichi's will here—I mean the Resistance's. Don't bring everyone to the death march.

But look at how we only see two others when Bruce died, and even after Bruce is clearly dead, AFO still tries getting an answer from him. He wouldn't have left any survivors in this fight, let alone Kudo's.

Since Shinomori got OFA when he was 22, I think he and Bruce had been something of colleagues before, especially since Bruce knew where to find him in the forests. Since Shinomori had run into the hermit life to escape society and its weirdos, citing it as a "horrible era"

Bruce could just trust him with it and ran back to the city. He knew where to find him, they're close in age, one decided to fight to restore society while the other ran from it for what it became...

He didn't choose a member of the Resistance. But Bruce made a smart choice for who the next successor would be. He chose fast (enough that AFO was still mad about Kudo and Yoichi to bother interrogating a corpse), and chose the guy who:

● lives off the radar

● has a will against AFO/society, driven enough that he went off to hide

● has an Ability that senses danger, so he can always escape or be warned in time

● can evade AFO and his influence repeatedly

● is cautious, if not careful

● isn't tempermental to go get himself killed, with enough fear to know to step back

● would be unknown and non-existent to AFO, because he avoids society, where the big evil lurks

Shinomori knew the instant he received the Quirk that he wasn't strong enough. Bruce would have to have been present to at least pass it on, so Bruce probably knew Shinomori's decision too, to build up the will.

Until En with his hair, each transfer was probably blood, since that was the OG method between Yoichi and Kudo that worked for sure.

When Bruce passed it to Shinomori, he chose a guy who didn't have an offensive Ability like him or Kudo (who managed to use his offensively when it was just small objects at his time). He chose a guy who could keep the wielder and Quirk safe, and would pass it on once he was done with his turn. I don't know if they knew Quirks stockpiled in OFA, but if they did, Bruce made a smart choice. If they knew or not, Bruce still chose well to ensure the will continued into the future, away from AFO's reach.

So yeah. Bruce passed One For All before fighting All For One, and likely knew Shinomori's intention. The reason he smiled could've been because he knew AFO would take another loss today, but the only details we got of his death are few. He smiled, fought, and died impaled, with dead comrades around, and AFO trying to get an answer out of him for Yoichi's whereabouts.

I'm still curious on why Bruce smiled because there are reasons we could put together, and reasons we don't know. Was it because he got one over AFO? Did he enjoy the fight? Because he was facing death in the face and couldn't help but smile? Because somewhere, One for All was growing to screw AFO over in the future? We don't know much of the fight's details itself beyond [AFO participated] and [Bruce was killed].