Hi, this is my first fic so it might be a bit rough, but I've done my best to keep the characters as in character as possible and the story interesting. I got this idea from Luffy's famous speech in Fishman Island on what it means to be a hero. My roommate just introduced me to the My Hero Academia anime and my brain made an instant connection between the two. I am fully caught up on the One Piece manga and am currently catching up in the BNHA manga as well, so there my be allusions to spoilers for anime only readers in later chapters. I hope to make this readable for any one unfamiliar with either story so a fan of either OP or BNMH may read without confusion. It is so far unfinished and I am open to suggestions and feedback. I hope to update fairly regularly and it is my hope that you enjoy it.
It goes without saying that I own neither One Piece nor My Hero Academia and all credit goes to their respective authors.
Chapter One: The Street Rat
The young man sat beneath the bridge, the grass and concrete were somewhat damp but that was to be expected as the river lay just ten feet away. The storm the previous day had caused the stream to rise up and flood the surrounding area and it hadn't fully dried out yet. That had been very inconvenient as he had had to temporarily relocate all his things before they were completely drenched. They had been mostly ruined anyway by the rain itself and he had to toss most of them after all. The only good thing to come out of it was that the woman running the nearby coffee shop had felt bad seeing him sitting out in the storm alone with his blanket the only thing keeping him warm. She had been so nice and let him inside and fed him warm treats and told him all about how she was going to hopefully win the prize for best pastry at the baking competition that year. He was pretty sure she could do it, they were plenty delicious. He wondered how he could pay her back for the meal. He would keep an eye out and if anyone messed with her he was sure to beat the crap out of them.
"Damn," he muttered as his stomach grumbled loudly. He really wished that he had time to stop for breakfast that morning, now all he had was the bag of chips he was munching on. He had snuck that off of the table of a restaurant when the patron got up to use the restroom, he would have taken a few bites of the sandwich as well if the waitress hadn't chased him out. He chewed grumpily as he considered checking the dumpsters behind the restaurants for leftovers again. The people here were so wasteful, he once found an entire bag of perfectly good fries just waiting to be eaten. It wasn't as good as if it were fresh but it was tasty enough. Honestly it reminded him of when he was a little kid again, fighting for scraps to survive and feeling hunger that made him desperate enough to eat worms and other bugs off of the ground. It didn't bother him how unsanitary or gross the food was, it was either that or starvation and to him the answer was obvious.
His leg bounced as he sat there, impatiently waiting for the damn video he had stolen the tablet for to load. It was freezing a lot out here and it was only making him frustrated. If it didn't load in the next few seconds, he would chuck the useless hunk of metal into the creek and go in search of lunch. Just as he was about to follow through with that the video finished buffering and once more the stream jumped ahead to catch up with the current events. He felt relief and disappointment simultaneously. He had been hoping to see the end of that round but now a new fight was beginning and his frustration melted as it grabbed his attention. The girl on the screen began charging at the boy who stood there patiently bracing himself to counterattack. The boy made his move and a burst of flames and concussive force hit the girl sending her flying back. The young man nearly dropped the tablet as his heart skipped a beat and his muscles tensed. Was that fire? He shook his head, he had had the exact same reaction when he had seen that hero Endeavor. He had to remind himself that quirks were unique and it wasn't what he was thinking of. Nonetheless his mind flashed to two years ago and he took a deep breath trying to calm himself. Finally he turned his attention back to the fight.
"So he has fire…" he watched for a few more seconds before coming to a different conclusion, "No, more like explosions, I wonder what she can do?" The girl was fast and was decently able to dodge his attacks but it looked like she was trying to slap him more than anything. That was strange, he could tell she had a good head on her though as she seemed to be using her environment to her advantage. The boy in the fight continued his barrage of attacks and would hit her every so often which sent her flying. After a few moments the young man began to notice a pattern to the girl's movements, something weird was happening but he couldn't quite figure out what though.
"Looks like she's not resting between attacks despite being exploded!...The poor girl…" The announcer said. The young man watching just smiled, he liked that. She might not look it but she was a fighter and had just as much spirit as the boy in the ring, if not more. Despite how badly she seemed to be losing, he couldn't help but find himself rooting for her. He put another handful of chips in his mouth as he hunched nearer to the tablet to watch the fight more closely. There was another blast, and another. Debris went flying, temporarily blotting out the view of the cameras. The dust cleared somewhat and he could see that the girl was charging once more.
"Yeah!" he exclaimed pumping a fist in the air enthusiastically, "You can do it! Don't give up!" he cheered even though he knew that the girl wouldn't be able to hear him. There was another blast and she was knocked back yet again.
"This is shameful," a voice cried offscreen, "Hey listen kid, if you really want to be a hero then stop being a bully!" The camera panned over to show a man in hero's garb with a headband and yellow cape shouting from the stands, "If you're so good then just send her out now!" The boy frowned at these words. A bully? This was a fight, there was no playing dirty or being a bully. You either fought to win or you lost. He may want the girl to win, but the boy was doing nothing wrong in this fight and he was doing an excellent job. Another explosion rattled the arena as the two fighters ignored the stupid man. "Stop toying with the girl and finish the match!"
"Yeah! You heard him!" A woman called standing up as well. A bunch of jeers and shouts joined in as the crowd began to collectively boo the boy in the arena. The young man watching just stuck out his tongue at them, they were all idiots. None of them understood what a duel was supposed to be.
"The crowd is now booing Bakugo!" The announcer cried, "And honestly I kind of agree with them-ooough!"
"There is the man that started this uproar," a new voice cut in, replacing the previous announcer over the loudspeakers, "Are you a pro, because if you're being serious you can go home and hang up your cape. I'd suggest looking into another career." There was silence as the man's words rang out over the stadium, even the fight in the arena was put on pause for a few moments as the two dueling stopped to listen to his words. The young man covered his mouth as he snickered, finally someone shut them up. He was talking some real smack as well, he appreciated that.
"Bakugo's fierceness is an acknowledgement of his opponent's strength, he knows she deserves to have made it this far, so he's making sure he does whatever it takes to keep her at bay and come out on top," he said. Finally, someone got it. There was a brief silence and the camera refocused on the fight. The two were breathing heavily and he smiled at the look of absolute determination on the young girl's face. No matter the outcome of this fight, she deserved praise for her perseverance and her dedication to winning. It still wasn't clear what her quirk was and he anticipated finding out. He hoped it was something really cool, maybe it was a beam! But wait, no. If she could use beams then she would've used them already...but maybe she was keeping it a secret to catch him off guard! He grinned wildly as he watched to see how the fight would play out.
"I think it's about time," she said and the young man caught his breath, was this it!? Was this the beam!? "Thank you Bakugo, for keeping your eyes focused on me!" the boy named Bakugo blinked in confusion and so did the young man but then the camera suddenly panned up to reveal a sky full of floating rocks. He gasped as he realized that it had been the weird thing he had noticed before. Some of the debris from the explosions had been weirdly floating upward the entire time. At first he had just thought it was some weird illusion or trick of the camera but now he realized it had been what she had been planning the entire time. The feed cut back to the girl as she put her hands together and suddenly the rocks began crashing down on the arena around them.
"A meteor shower!" The announcer cried in disbelief.
"Yeah!" The man shouted as he jumped up pumping his fist in the air. The young girl was charging toward Bakugo and he was waiting for her to kick his ass. Bakugo took a stance and just as the girl was about to get him, released an explosion upward that blew away both her and the raining debris. "No!" he cried in dismay as he quickly realized that Bakugo was probably about to win.
"I figured you'd have some stupid plan to beat me, you are friends with that damn nerd after all," Bakugo said, his voice sounding unimpressed. The girl was still on the ground and her eyes were wide as though she were unable to comprehend that he could have so easily undone all her hard work in just one move.
"Bakugo makes a huge demonstration of power! He blasted up Ururaka's finishing move and remains untouched!" The announcer shouted over the speakers and Ururaka hung her head in defeat.
"C'mon get up! Don't just let him win!" As if she had heard him, Ururaka shakily climbed to her feet, a new look of resolve crossing her face, "Yes, yes you can do it!" he cried as she turned to charge him one last time but it was clear her body couldn't handle it any longer. Her knees buckled out from under her and her eyes rolled back as she fell to the ground.
"Ururaka is down!" The announcer shouted and the man fell to his knees and punched the dirt beneath him.
"Dammit!" he cursed under his breath as he watched her struggle for a few more seconds before going still. A referee came over and signaled for the fight to end. The crowd cheered. "Two faced bastards," he muttered, just moments ago they had been booing him out of the ring, only now after his victory were they cheering Bakugo on. He sighed and folded his arms, he had really wanted her to win dammit! Just then the screen froze once more, he grabbed the tablet and shook it in the air furiously as if that would somehow get it to load. This was the most interesting thing he had seen in days and it was cutting in and out almost every five minutes. It was frozen longer than it played. He felt the urge to smash it into the ground but he stopped himself knowing he would regret doing that.
"Stupid transponder-screen thingy," he muttered, setting the tablet down on the ground and sprawling out to stare up at the bottom of the bridge. He was going to go mad with boredom. This place was so… well he would say dull but there were dozens of people walking around with strange abilities called quirks, so he couldn't quite say dull was a fitting word. There were those with weird body features like gills or antlers or tails while others could walk on walls or turn the color blue whenever they so desired. Not only that, there were heroes, actual heroes that ran about the city fighting crime and saving people. Normally that would be enough to keep anyone entertained. He was different.
Despite the mayhem you would expect quirks to cause, this society was still oddly stifling and orderly. People ignored their quirks, woke up at seven every morning, got on a bus or train and worked in a cubicle until it was dark and it was time to head home. There was so much more they could get out of life, there was so much adventure to be had but only a few actually decided to use their quirks and they were either quickly caught and put in jail or they were the ones putting them in jail. He was too chaotic a man to fall into this pattern, too restless sit still in one place for so long. That was what had him living under a bridge at the moment. He steadfastly refused to stay here and work in one of those cubicles. He was going to make something of his life, and he certainly wasn't going to be a hero, he was much too selfish for that. What was his was his, he wasn't one for sharing or risking it all to save someone he hardly knew.
Actually, he was feeling a bit worn out. It had been a busy day which was good because he was going mad with boredom. Nothing said exciting like a little bit of theft in the morning. When he'd first stumbled into this city he had been much more casual with his thievery. To be honest, he hadn't really considered the repercussions of getting arrested. Normally he wouldn't mind having the cops hot on his trail but given his current circumstances he had come to the conclusion that maybe jail wasn't where he wanted to be. After that he had spent the next several weeks perfecting the subtle art of shoplifting and pick-pocketing. This current prize, this wonder of technology that to be honest he was still trying to figure out, had been his most daring theft yet. He had nearly been caught and he'd spent all morning running around town. Luckily enough he wasn't doing anything bad enough to attract the attention of a hero because that would not have ended well. Apparently using his abilities was strictly not allowed and while that only made him want to use them more, he figured that he would be breaking the promise he had made to his friends and that was something he would die before doing. It had been the most exciting thing he'd done in a while though and his whole body was itching to finally raise a little hell.
He was also a bit annoyed with himself as the whole thing had been done on a whim anyway. He had been wandering around the stores and looking for something to eat for breakfast when he saw that computer store. He had been messing around with those things at the public library and his curiosity led him to wandering inside. It was then that he saw that they were all streaming a video from some sort of hero competition. It was the first thing in a while that actually caught his attention. Without thinking, he'd grabbed one of the damn things and took off down the street. Next thing he knew there were sirens blaring and people shouting. Luckily it had been such a random and sudden theft that no one had been prepared enough to give chase and no one had really seen him. The cops had followed his general direction for a while but he had pretty much lost them.
Now he was just hungry and tired with nothing but a slow functioning tablet to show for it. Though he had to admit it was pretty cool, they didn't have anything like this where he was from. Just wait until he showed...but he couldn't. He sighed. What was he supposed to do? He closed his eyes, his mild malaise turning into full on exhaustion. He wasn't even sure where to begin, he had tried asking around but most people just gave him a sad look and tossed him a couple yen. That was great and all but not really what he wanted. If only...
"Hey kid!" a rough voice called. He opened his eyes and blinked slowly, had he fallen asleep? The light coming from beyond the bridge was much dimmer and redder indicating that it was now late in the evening. The streamed tournament he had been watching had ended hours ago and was now playing back on repeat for people who might have missed it and he could hear the sounds of shouting and cheering playing over the speakers. He lifted his head slightly to see three thugs standing before him. Well this was an unwelcome development.
"Hey what?" he asked, they seemed a bit unfriendly. He hoped they would go away.
"Give us all your cash and that tablet and we'll let you live got it?" he answered and the young man sat up, folding his arms in indignation.
"You can't tell me what to do," he said somewhat annoyed, who did these guys think they were coming in here all uppity and demanding that he give them his things. How unreasonable. Normally he would just tell them that he didn't have any money and go back to ignoring them. This time however, they had the gall to demand that he give up the tablet he had rightfully stolen. These guys would either have to take it from him (which wasn't going to happen) or ask more politely. Honestly, would it kill them to have a nicer attitude? This sort of thing happened at least once every couple of days and the boy was growing sick of it.
"You hear that, he's back talking you," a thin spindly man with deer antlers said, his voice reedy. The heavy weight man in the middle sneered and raised his hand, a weird mud like substance oozing from it.
"I don't like kids, especially ones who don't know when to shut up," he threatened, holding out his muddy hand as though that somehow made him more intimidating. The young man just looked at him unimpressed.
"Good, cause I don't like you either," he pointed out rather bluntly and the man snarled.
"Should we just kill him?" The man on the left said, he sort of looked like he was melting and his skin was all gross and malleable like it was made of putty. "Show him what happens when your lungs get filled with glue?" the man with the muddy substance that was glue apparently, nodded slightly and the putty man laughed. The boy sighed, this was getting boring. If these assholes insisted on taking up this space he would just leave. The tablet was still replaying the tournament stream from the U.A High School and he was really curious to see who would fight next and what their powers would be. Without saying another word he picked up the tablet, got to his feet and walked the other way.
"Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going!?" the reedy antler man shouted and he just shrugged rather indifferently.
"That way," he said casually pulling up the tablet so that he could see what was happening as he walked. Hmm that was interesting. There was one guy who was using an ice quirk, he scratched at his chest absentmindedly as he was once again reminded of what had happened two years ago. He was fighting a smallish kid whose fingers looked bruised and broken. That must really hurt, he himself hadn't broken a bone since he was six but he remembered that the experience was not pleasant. The young man ducked his head casually to the side as a glob of glue whizzed past his ear. These guys were really easy to predict. He dodged his head to the right as another glob flew by. This happened several more times as he watched the fight on his tablet and there was a shout of annoyance from the men behind him.
"Will one of you hold him down!" the glue man shouted and he heard footsteps as they ran toward him. He didn't react as he continued walking, he simply stepped to the side as the gross putty man tried to tackle him from behind. Putty fell to the ground with a weird 'glorp' sound. The boy made a face at that, this had to be one of the grosser quirks he had seen.
"Damn you!" Putty shouted and the young man raised an eyebrow as he melted into a disgusting slime monster and began slithering towards him. He sighed they really were determined to fight him weren't they. Well it was their funeral. He usually loved to spar but these guys were so far beneath him it wasn't even funny, he could honestly beat them without lifting a single finger. And the fight he was watching was just getting good too, they were shouting about using fire or something and the kid with the broken fingers was blasting away the ice and his arms were getting broken too, it was interesting. If they made him miss the end with their bullshit he would kick them into next week.
"Yeah get him!" Antlers shouted and the young man whirled around ready to get rid of them. The weird putty slime man wrapped himself around his ankles and he made a face, this was seriously disgusting he could feel him between his toes. He was so distracted by this development that his senses were disrupted enough that he didn't notice Antlers charging towards him. The next thing he knew the man was on top of him and pinned his arms to the ground. Glue was hovering above him and was laughing as he put his hand over his mouth, ready to begin pouring the foul smelling substance down his throat. Dammit, he had gotten overly cocky. Sure these guys were nobodies and he could easily take them out, but he should know by now not to underestimate people with abilities. He was about to make his move when suddenly a shadow fell over them catching their attention. The putty man unwound himself from around his legs and reformed into a person.
"D-don't tell me…" he stammered sounding terrified. The young man looked up at the source of the shadow and his eyes went wide.
"Do not worry young man, everything will be fine...for I am here!" A voice boldly declared. Standing atop the bridge was the large imposing figure of the symbol of peace himself.
"A-all Might…" the young man muttered, stunned to see him right there in front of him. Before they could do anything the man leapt down and grabbed Glue and Antlers slamming their heads together, instantly knocking them unconscious. He laughed and turned to the stunned Putty and punched him right in the face with what could be described as a relatively weak punch in comparison to what he could normally do. Even then he hit the man with a surprising amount of force.
"Los Angeles Smash!" he announced and Putty exploded flying in all directions. There was a pause and Putty slowly reformed, the once confident expression on his face gone. He fell to All Might's feet and cowered, his hands in the air.
"I-I surrender!" he whimpered meekly. The boy glanced up at the bridge and saw the cops exiting the car that was now parked to the side. When had they showed up, he hadn't heard the sirens or anything. They climbed down the steep ditch and began putting the men in cuffs. All he could do was stare up at them in amazement as he stood in the presence of the world's greatest hero.
"You…" he began finding his words, "YOU'RE SO AWESOME!" he cried his eyes sparkling as he sat there starstruck. Hey, he said he didn't want to be a hero, he liked heroes just fine and All Might was no exception. Never mind the fact that he wasn't all too innocent himself as he was currently holding stolen goods as well as just having eaten a stolen snack.
"No need to thank me young man, I'm just doing my job!" All Might announced heroically and the boy squealed, his composure and disposition doing a full one eighty from the indifferent and facetious boy he had just been mere moments ago. This was only the second hero he had met in his relatively short life, well if he counted his grandpa he could technically say he was the third. He didn't really like to count his grandpa in anything though, he hadn't been an especially fond memory of his childhood. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he wondered if All Might had a theme song. All heroes should have a theme song. If he didn't yet he would ask… no wait he couldn't dammit!
"You're so strong and awesome and you have a cool cape!" he gushed unable to control himself, making wild gestures as he did so, "You totally kicked those guys asses! Wanna be my friend we can totally hang out!" All Might just laughed as he ruffled the young man's hair with his unreasonably large hand. Normally he would be annoyed at that, he knew that he looked a bit younger than he actually was but it was still infuriating, however because it was All Might he let it slide.
"Alas my boy, I'd love to but I must go! Evil never sleeps!" Before the boy could do anything to stop him, the hero took off into the sky and shot off into the distance.
"So cool!" he whispered to himself as he watched All Might vanish from sight. He sighed and got to his feet, brushing the dirt off of himself as he did so. True heroes never rest do they. He bent over and picked up the tablet. Turns out he did miss the ending. He frowned, but shrugged, it was worth it he supposed, to meet All Might might have been a bit better than seeing the end of the fight. His stomach rumbled and he remembered that he had missed out on lunch, he gasped in horror, was there a greater sin? With the memory of that he began to run, ready to find something to eat.
"Hey kid! Wait! Are you alright!?" He heard the police shouting behind him but he paid them no mind as he ran off down the path and down an alley to his right. He laughed slightly as he heard their footsteps as they began to chase after him. Maybe they were looking to take care of him, but nonetheless to have the cops chasing after him felt right.
So this was chapter one, I hope it was a decent length and interesting enough to grab your attention. I hope this serves as a decent enough introduction to the story and that if you choose to continue reading that you will enjoy it. Feel free to leave a review and if not that's fine as well.