I was wary of posting this since I want to finish Coup d'Etat before starting another multi-chapter fic, but the inspiration came to me and this came out so much better than expected that I figured I'd put it out there and see the response. If the reaction is positive, I'll continue it, though I can't guarantee exactly when that will be.
Best Jeanist was utterly awestruck by the sight. Nestled in the base of an ancient crater in the secluded mountains, the mystical and unnatural spectacle was discovered by a couple of hikers. The swirling, vertical disk swished together a range of blues and purples as it illuminated the bank of the crater on one side; the portal was all but transparent on its rear. The military was setting up a mile-wide cordon as a precaution. The closest thing the heroes had to an expert on vortices, Thirteen, was also en route, though it was unclear what the black hole user exactly could offer.
"Have you seen anything come through it?" the hero asked a military officer.
"No, sir," answered the commissioned soldier. They had no proof as yet that the vortex could actually carry a person through. The government would have to weigh the risks of sending someone through the spiral to investigate its other side—if it had one. For now, Best Jeanist was here this starry night both out of an abundance of caution and for reassurance of the mostly quirkless soldiers.
And then several people as well as the pro hero became on edge. The portal's tremoring rim began pulsing before its contour took on a near sinusoidal texture. The meshing blues in the center began to pulsate with reds and greens, and the entire colorful façade altogether became estimably psychedelic. Best Jeanist took the lead in crouching, ready to respond to whatever the portal might produce; his guardedness prompted the two dozen soldiers to aim their weapons at the portal from the rim of the crater. Solid, faintly yellow light began to pool in the wormhole's epicenter.
After the central yellow light became brighter and brighter, at last it burst forth from the two-dimensional wheel, expanded to the size of a six-foot diameter sphere, and arced 30 feet high before settling in the crater's base a short distance in front of the portal. Squad leaders barked orders to stay alert as three like spheres surged out of the vortex and lined up side-by-side in a second row behind the first sphere.
"Don't shoot!" Best Jeanist bellowed. They still had no clue what this alien phenomenon was, and the pro hero held out hope it could be friendly.
A few seconds later, the lead sphere was noticed to be shrinking until it finally took on the shape of a crouched, humanoid person coated in a suit of luminosity. The three other spheres also began to shrink at a slightly delayed pace until they too adopted humanoid outlines. Best Jeanist gnashed his teeth as the light faded from the fore individual, leaving behind a crouching, muscular figure that then stood. The man towered at least six feet tall, bearing a loud, yellow striped suit and golden sunglasses on an unmistakable, oval head.
The man scanned the horde of armed soldiers all around him. He did not recognize the weaponry they employed, which resembled some kind of high-powered rifles. To a normal human being, Admiral Kizaru suspected they could be quite lethal.
Borsalino then laid eyes on a blue-clad figure directly opposite the wormhole by which he had entered. The man glared back with a mix of severity and unease. The person, whose lower half of his face was covered by what appeared to be the collar of a denim shirt, nevertheless seemed faintly familiar. Kizaru took a thick paperback the size of a catalogue from inside his suit and, as if oblivious to the many nervous gazes, flipped through the front pages. Then he stopped on one showing a picture matching the professional hero.
"Ooh, Best Jeanist?" he read. His eyes zeroed in on the figure. "So you're the number four hero?" he continued slowly, putting the book back in his suit, his mouth forming into a beaming grin.
"Fire!" screamed the commanding officer. Best Jeanist hadn't given the order but did not object. Behind the mysterious, yellow-clad man the coat of light was fading from the three aft figures, all of whom were crouched as well.
Hundreds of bullets opened fire from all directions. In a flash, Kizaru knelt and catapulted out of the field of fire. The other three figures weren't as unaware as the soldiers anticipated, as just as instantly the three leapt in various directions away from their apparent leader. The latter three figures bounded past all of the guards as if they were trying to escape without a fight. If not for Kizaru's next actions, the myriad soldiers would have paid more attention to these unknowns making a break for it.
Instead, all eyes were trained on the lead invader who instantly materialized in front of Best Jeanist and kneed him in the jaw. The hero spiraled backward until colliding into and splitting a boulder.
The soldiers gaped. Their commanding officer—who was now scarily close to Kizaru—shuddered and barely refrained from shrieking as he darted to create some distance. The grinning Borsalino prepared to take another step when suddenly his body couldn't move.
The admiral could feel microfiber restraints all around his body but could not see the spider thread-length strings on his person. When he looked up, he saw the professional hero suavely pacing towards him.
"Now you can't move, so why don't you explain who you are, where you came from, and where you got that book that told you who I was?" Best Jeanist interrogated. Kizaru squirmed uselessly against the threads, unsure how he had been detained and not really concerned with the specifics anyway. Instead, he peered at his opponent.
"We are looking for All Might," the admiral boasted. "We will defeat him and replace you heroes with Absolute Justice. Because…if you have justice, you don't need heroes." Best Jeanist's eyes dilated at the obnoxious claim, and Borsalino smirked. His answer had also worked to misdirect his foe from the twinkle of light forming at his fingertips.
Instantly a beam of light like a laser shot forth from the admiral's restrained hand and pierced the hero's chest. Best Jeanist collapsed forward and caught himself on hands and knees, heaving heavily. Instantly the threads restraining Kizaru fell limp. The admiral took the chance to teleport above his foe and issued a knockout kick to the back of the head.
Kizaru took another moment to admire his handiwork only to give the soldiers time to form a tight encirclement around him. The officer marched behind the tight siege, all machineguns ready to kill.
"Forget about his motives. Eliminate him!" ordered the vengeful officer. Bullets sprayed from all angles and then just as quickly ceased after only a few rounds as all of the soldiers collapsed in pain. Somehow, each round literally passed through their target and despicably pierced the bodies of soldiers on the opposite side of the circle. Every gunner dropped, groaning, and the officer trembled as Borsalino marched towards him.
"Now tell me: where is All Might?"
"You will never defeat All Might," defied the officer.
"Oh, really?" and Kizaru fired a blast from his foot at a nearby mountain, exploding its rock face instantly. With his opponent paralyzed in fear, Borsalino effortlessly smacked him across the head, sending the officer tumbling down to the center of the crater unconscious.
"Come! Now we go find All Might!" the victorious admiral proclaimed aloud and peered towards the portal where his three cohorts should have been waiting. Instead the only person was the recently dispatched army officer.
Borsalino blinked a few times as if confused.
"Ooh, you blew the coop?" He turned and faced the nearest pass in the mountains. He'd worry about the scofflaws later; right now, he had more important business. "Well, I'll find All Might myself." And crouching down, he leapt over the pass at the speed of light.
I may rename the fic since I was struggling on a good title, and the current title doesn't fit the story as I currently envision it. I want to clarify this though: this will be a mostly MHA-centered fic; I only plan to have five One Piece characters appear. As far as spoilers, in the One Piece timeline, this takes place shortly after Marineford-with a couple of story liberties taken, so it's arguably AU in that regard. In the My Hero Academia world, this occurs immediately after the end of season 2.
That's all for preliminary stuff. Let me know your thoughts and then I'll see about getting more chapters up. I don't have the whole story planned out just yet, but I have enough material for a whole gob of chapters already.
Also, any guesses on who the other three people to come through the portal are?
Update June 2018:
This took a lot of thought and I'm going to beat myself up over this, but I have to make a decision. Unfortunately for the fans who've held out hope, this fic is going on permanent hiatus. After considering several factors, I have no plans to continue writing the story in the short- or long-term.
I'm sorry for getting anyone's hopes up by hinting about this announcement; what my decision would be wasn't set in stone at that time. I feel extremely bad about starting a fic and then abandoning it. I made this choice after an assessment of RL and fic priorities, my available time, and my creative direction. Thank you for some of the wonderful remarks I received regarding this fic. You're an awesome and lively fandom whom I would have loved to have written for, and I wish I had thought more carefully before publishing a fic for you all that I couldn't finish. If, somewhere out there, there is an aspiring reader-writer who'd like to continue this fic in my stead, message me on tumblr or FFN. Otherwise, I am so sorry for letting you down, because I have.
Till next time,
Stylin' Breeze