AN: Just a small note to begin with! Since this story is told from many people's perspectives, it's going to sometimes seem swayed to one side or another. Nobody is a perfect narrator, especially since it's told from their point of view. There are bound to be mistakes, or things that differ from reality.
Waking up was… a process; a slow and very painful process. He had drifted in and out of consciousness multiple times. Sometimes he didn't even get to open his eyes before sleep overtook him again, and the realm of unconsciousness embraced him like an old friend.
But finally, after what seemed like hundreds of tries, his eyes finally fluttered open, expecting to find the familiar All-Might decorated surroundings of his room.
But instead, what stared back at him was an overwhelming amount of pale white. Everything from the bed-sheets to the walls, to the ceiling, to even the cast on his hand was white.
Wait, what? When had he broken his arm? He stared, glaring at the hard material that was wrapped around his appendage as he tried to recollect his admittedly extremely hazy memories.
It was his mother who first noticed his awoken state, as he heard a soft yelp of "Izuku!"
Even his mother's demure voice felt overwhelming to his ears. It was only then that he became aware of the constant whirr of machines, and the incessant beeping around him.
He blinked, his head moving sluggishly to meet the sound of his mother's voice.
He saw her hunched over the bed, blinking away tears as she leaned in and very gently hugged him. It was unlike the bone-crushing hugs he liked to receive, but even that soft contact caused his bones to creak in protest.
His mother let go quickly after noticing his small whine of pain.
"Wh-what happened?" he wheezed out, just noticing how dry his throat felt.
His mother immediately gripped a cup of water that was on a small stand next to the bed, and carefully positioned it against his lips. Sending her a grateful look, he opened his lips and started taking small gulps of the liquid.
His stomach felt full before he even finished half of the white plastic cup, but he felt so parched he didn't really care and finished the entire thing.
He softly cleared his throat, looking up at his mother once again and asking the same question. "What happened?" He was pleased with the fact that his voice didn't crack.
She gave him a sad smile. "You kind of…" Her voice cracked, clearly unable to handle the pain of seeing her child in such a condition. "H-hurt yourself when you saved Katsuki."
"Ah." He wheezed softly, looking at his surroundings once more, his mother watching on in silence, seemingly pleased that he was finally awake.
A knock on the door interrupted the pair's pleasant silence, the small doorknob twisting briefly before a fairly built, middle-aged man made his way into the room, a doctor's coat around his shoulders and a small clipboard in hand.
"You're awake." He smiled. "That's very good." His amicable smile put the pair at ease, even as it began to fade as he flipped through the small clipboard in his hands. "Now, as glad as I am to see you up and about, I do have to brief you on your injuries."
From the way his mother's smile faded, he guessed she'd already been told.
"Your most extensive injury is…" The doctor waved his hand, moving it towards Izuku's cast-wrapped appendage, "your arm." He cleared his throat before going through the small list. "We had to administer a quirk suppression serum to be able to treat it, and once that was done, we saw just how damaging using your quirk was to your body."
He saw the doctor's brows raise just a bit before he began speaking once again. "Your radius and ulna have been snapped in multiple spots near the center, and the recoil of using your quirk has caused microfractures over the rest of the bones." He read a bit further before continuing. "Your humerus also suffered a plethora of microfractures, and your shoulder had been knocked clean out of its socket."
"Your skull had a few minor fractures, too." He raised his gaze from the clipboard, staring over Izuku's prone form. "Young man, you're very lucky that you didn't sustain any spinal injuries."
The green-haired boy let out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding in.
If that had happened… God, he would have probably been bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
"With that all being said… you should be fine, but please, do not use your quirk like that ever again. Just because you got relatively lucky this time, doesn't mean you'll be quite so fortunate the next."
Izuku suddenly found the blanket very interesting, as he was unable to meet the doctor's gaze.
"For your mother's sake," the doctor added with a soft tone, "I'll notify the nurse that you're awake, you must be starving."
After Izuku nodded the doctor excused himself and quickly slipped out of the room.
Silence descended on the mother and son pair once more, but Izuku was quick to break it. "Is Kacchan okay?"
Much to his delight, she gave a small nod. Even if he had gotten as busted up as he had, he was still glad that he had saved his best friend of many years.
After a small moment, his mother piqued up, suddenly remembering something. "Oh!" she exclaimed, startling Izuku. She reached for her purse, rummaging through it for a few seconds. "All-Might left you this!"
His heart began racing at the prospect of what All-Might would have left him. An autograph? A poster? An autographed poster?
Wait, what was that beeping? Oh, it was the heart monitor. He was getting way too excited.
Much to his surprise though, his mother pulled out what seemed to be a small envelope containing a letter. 'Well,' he mused inwardly, 'It certainly isn't a poster.'
She leaned over and gently placed the letter in Izuku's lap. He reached for it, his bones creaking in protest as he lightly gripped the letter. He brought it to his lips and used his teeth to tear a hole in the side of the envelope.
It took him a moment to shake the letter out, and his mother watched on inquisitively as he carefully unfolded it and began to read.
It was short, and simple. Nonetheless, his eyes still scanned over it obsessively, taking in every detail of his hero's handwriting
The lettering was large, and the spaces between the letters were even larger. Fittingly, All-Might had written out the letter in English, and amusingly enough, he wrote everything in capital letters.
It was fitting, that loud, confident booming voice echoing in his head as he read the letter.
"YOUNG MIDORIYA.
I WISH TO TALK TO YOU IN PERSON. WE HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO DISCUSS ABOUT BOTH OUR FUTURES.
ALL MIGHT"
Right beneath his signature was a hastily scrawled out number.
Izuku nearly had an aneurism, again.
All-Might wanted to talk to him!? What for?! What could possibly be so important that he couldn't simply write it in the letter!?
Most importantly, however…
HE HAD ALL-MIGHT'S NUMBER!
"Mumbling." His mother's voice halted his hushed speaking. The teen gave he an apologetic glance. She returned his gaze with the same expression. She didn't like to do it, but he had requested her to stop him whenever he started that habit of his.
He sighed. He really could never get rid of that habit.
With Katsuki
The blond felt frustration shooting through his veins, his head throbbing painfully. All these years of training, all those countless hours slaving away training his quirk. Were they all for nothing?
He gnashed his teeth together, eyebrows knitting as he raised his hands up towards his face. He glared at his palms, his irises floating over each and every scar and burn mark that littered his heavily calloused hands.
The largest one was at the very center of his right palm, it was the first one he had ever gotten in fact, from his first use of the quirk.
Over time, the large burn marks, and the circular scars began to narrow. Drawing to a finer point as he gained more precise control with his quirk, and his skin toughened, only scarring at the very center of where he set off his large explosions.
His skin, which was once tender and soft, was now rough and calloused, having thickened considerably from the extensive training he had put his quirk through.
He had told Izuku that his quirk was "nearly perfect", and that was true. His quirk was damn-near perfect. It was powerful, both in an offensive sense, since it could be used for large scale attacks, and a supplementary sense, since he could use his explosions to shoot himself over large gaps.
His quirk was powerful. But he was too weak.
His pride stopped him from admitting that to the green-haired boy, but it didn't mean that it wasn't a prevalent fact whenever he tried to use his quirk.
For many years, setting off the smallest explosion would result in his hand getting harshly burned, getting covered in blisters. He showed up to school with bandaged hands more often than not, but he brushed off his classmates' and his teachers' concerns, simply grinning through the pain.
The only reason he was able to use it without the threat of a third degree burn was because he trained his hands almost religiously. He used to dunk them in boiling water, so he could get used to the blistering temperatures. He set off explosions hot enough to make tears stream down his face, but it was all to toughen his skin.
And he had succeeded in doing so. But in the wave of that success, he discovered another weakness in himself.
His body couldn't handle the recoil. Small explosions would send his arms flying back, and large explosions were so powerful that they had popped his shoulders clear out of their socket on more than one occasion.
Activating his quirk was easy. He could oxidize his sweat and cause explosions in the blink of an eye. Training his body wasn't so easy. It was a long and arduous task, but one that had paid off.
Sure. His quirk seemed strong and simple to use to an outsider, but they didn't know how many times he had bit on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from screaming in pain from the searing heat of setting it off.
Just when he felt confident, just when he got to a point he could proudly, and truthfully, say he was strong, he felt weak all over again.
He was too weak to stop the villain.
He wasn't fast enough to avoid him.
Nor was he strong enough to blast him.
And the thought of that made his blood boil. The fact that his best friend-a brother to him-had landed in the hospital due to his own inability to act was unacceptable.
Deku had been in the hospital for three days, unconscious.
He was told time and time again that the most important quality of being a hero was the spirit of self-sacrifice. Deku, however, took that idea and blew it way out of proportion, damnit!
He felt the edge of his vision begin to cloud, and he felt a slight stinging in his eyes. Fucking hell, was he crying?
He let out a yell of frustration and slammed a calloused fist against the closest wall, cursing loudly once the pain shot through his arm.
Just as the blonde was about to let out a string of curses, the door to his room swung open and his mother stood in the doorway, looking pleased with herself.
"THE FUCK YOU WANT, OLD HAG!?" His voice cracked, and he was pretty sure a few tears were now cascading down his cheeks, even as he glared at her.
Mitsuki's gaze softened as she stared at him. "Izuku?" she asked softly.
"SO!?" He yelled back, using the back of his hand to wipe the tears from his eyes.
"I was worried too, yknow." Wait, was? The fuck did that mean!? "He's awake~" she sang, holding up a hand, showing him the keys that were dangling from her pinky.
"Get changed, fuckface. Visiting hours are almost over."
The green-haired woman turned to the two young men, who seemed to currently be having a staring match. She opened her mouth to speak, but a dismissive wave from the blond's mother quickly made her stop.
The air between them was so thick with tension that a blunted butter knife could've sliced its way down the middle, each swallowing nervously every few seconds, but not breaking eye-contact. She broke her gaze away from the two boys and quickly returned to chatting with Mitsuki.
Izuku had stayed silent ever since Katsuki entered, and the blond had been equally as quiet.
"Th-thanks." Katsuki finally broke the silence. The green-haired boy was quick to respond with a small nod.
"Sorry," Izuku muttered apologetically.
"You better be, you little shit." Katsuki's eyebrow twitched before the blond sighed deeply. "I'm sorry too."
An incredulous scoff left his friend's lips. "Did the great Katsuk-sama just apologize to me?!"
"Fuck you, nerd!"
Izuku started laughing softly, although a sudden pain in his chest cut him off midway as he wheezed.
"Don't do that shit again," Katsuki commanded angrily. "I didn't need you to end up in the hospital because of me."
Izuku softly shrugged. "You'd have done the same had I been in that situation."
The blond huffed in anger but nodded nevertheless, and the two exchanged a slow fist-bump.
The two weeks he had spent in the hospital after that were admittedly very boring.
His mother made sure to pop in during visiting hours, often spending most, if not all that time just looking after and feeding him.
Katsuki made his presence known daily as well, bringing him all his notes and making sure that the green-haired boy didn't get lost when it came to their studies.
The explosive teen was a better tutor than he liked to admit. Even though he complained about it cutting into his "training time." Part of him still didn't believe that the blond trained. Izuku was convinced that he was simply that gifted and good.
He had even worked up the nerve to text All-Might. That had taken a few days, but he had managed to text out a simple "I'm awake!" to his life-long hero.
He nearly had an aneurism for the third time when All-Might replied with a thumbs-up and told him that he wanted to meet with him in person.
The two exchanged messages daily after that. It was mostly All-Might worriedly asking about his recovery, and making sure that he was eating enough, and things of that nature.
It was unusual to him having somebody worry about him almost as much as his mother did, but he did really appreciate the gesture. The man was also really eager to meet him, for some reason that escaped him.
But finally, after two painfully long weeks, he was now taking slow but confident steps outside of the hospital, his mother holding his uninjured hand in a death grip, making sure that he could put his weight onto her should the extra support be needed.
Only once he had stepped out the front door, he realized just how much he'd missed fresh air and direct sunlight.
He took a deep breath, sighing happily as he allowed his mother to guide him to the car. He idly pulled out his phone, smiling to himself as he saw the All-Might lock-screen. He quickly opened up the contact that he had saved All-Might's number in.
"Out of the hospital!" he texted slowly; using a single hand to text was hard.
All-Might's reply was snappy as usual. "WONDERFUL!" being typed out in bold, capital letters.
"Meet me tonight at Takoba Beach, 8 PM. It is of utmost importance" His mother was sure to have a fit, knowing he was going out the same day he left the hospital.
The scene replayed over and over in his head, like a mantra. The green-haired young man had sprinted in. The look of panic crystal clear on his face, but his feet had still moved. Midoriya had acted when the heroes around him failed to do so; when he failed to do so.
Midoriya's plan had been reckless, completely based on the assumption that the villain's eyes were a weak point, and, luckily for him, they had been.
Having bought himself a bit of time, he'd momentarily managed to free the blond hostage. Granted, only his mouth had been released from its slimy confines, but those few milliseconds had been enough for him to suck some much-needed air into his lungs.
It was the visage of the green-haired boy's quirk that had shaken him the most, that which had prevented him from acting as quick as he'd needed to.
Its visage had filled him with fear, much like it had years ago. There were a handful of things that made Toshinori Yagi quake with fear, and that damned quirk was one.
He remembered its name as clear as day: Transmutation. The ability to transmute your own body into whatever you desired.
That villain's words, his monologue had been etched into his memory as if chiseled into stone. He had made sure to explain the quirk thoroughly, laughing as he did while toying with his victims.
He had also done it the last time they fought, just before he had used the quirk's terrifying powers, enhanced with a few other quirks, to tear a hole through his abdomen.
He had been sure that it was going to be the last time he was going to see that damned power; the very one that had also taken his adoptive mother's life. He was sure, that with his last fight with that man, he had destroyed every remaining trace of the quirk that had haunted his memories.
But no, that quirk was still very well alive. And it was flowing through Midoriya Izuku's veins.
While the boy clearly wasn't as experienced with its use as his father was, the transmutation process was the same. That faint glow, and the limbs reconfiguring, the metallic bits creaking as they snapped in place. It was all the same.
His brows furrowed, and his teeth gnashed together. He wasn't even sure if that man was actually his father, but the similarities were certainly there. Those sharp, green eyes, and that curly, wild hair. They were a bit different, and yet, so frighteningly identical at the same time.
Perhaps it was a reach for him to assume that, even unfair to the boy, but he was nearly sure that Midoriya Izuku was somehow related to one of the most frightening villains that had ever lived, All For One.
But that left the bigger question unanswered. If he was truly that man's son, then how come he didn't inherit All For One? Had he even inherited it? Had he inherited all the quirks that All For One had?
That was… a terrifying prospect.
That was why he was so incessant when it came to meeting the boy. He simply needed to know.
The way that he had spoken about his father seemed to indicate that he didn't even know who he was, which honestly wasn't at all out of character for a sociopath like All For One. Had he decided to have a family, before getting bored and abandoning them?
If that was the case, then he had a chance and more than enough reason to step in and show the young boy the righteous path. He could set him on the road to becoming a true hero. He already wanted to be one, but someone his age could still be swayed with ease given the right circumstances. Whether he was the son of a villain or a hero, weak or powerful, Young Midoriya was still a child; a highly impressionable child.
If a villain managed to sink their claws into the boy… that would spell disaster.
A boy with that much power at such a young age would be a frightening villain to face at a later date. The last thing that this society needed was another villain of that man's vast power and intelligence, especially when Toshinori was so close to running out of time.
He wasn't even sure if this was a good idea. To train a random child just because he thought he was related to his greatest enemy? It wasn't the brightest idea, even in his own head.
But the risk was too great. If, by some ungodly chance, he was related to All For One, he couldn't risk that boy growing up to be like him.
It was, what, the hundredth time he had this conversation in his head? But still, unease permeated his being and pooled up in his chest.
Of course, he dared not show his hesitance to anyone, certainly not the young boy. He would still have to, as Recovery Girl liked to say, play the oaf.
He sighed. Midoriya Izuku was going to be his student, not only for his sake, but for the sake of society as a whole.
Honestly, he hadn't known what to expect when he was asked to show up Takoba beach, but he definitively hadn't expected… this.
All-Might, in his lanky, ghastly form, was found sitting on a disassembled car chair that rested atop a pile of trash.
He had been sitting with his arms knitted together, his chin resting atop the small cradle he had created. His demeanor, which seemed oddly nervous, instantly shifted the moment those bright blue eyes caught sight of him.
He gave him a bright, brimming smile, and in an instant, the thin, deathly-looking man transformed into the god among heroes that was known as All-Might. He struck a pose, each hand moving to nestle themselves against his massive waist.
"YOUNG MIDORIYA!" His booming voice was loud enough to reverberate in Izuku's chest.
"Please!" The hero began, and used one of his massive arms to casually lift up a discarded refrigerator that was sitting atop a small pile of metal scrap. With no effort at all, All-Might hefted the fridge with a single hand and then promptly placed it on its side, pointing to it afterward, "Have a sea-GUH!"
Before he even got to finish his sentence, he had coughed up a glob of blood and deflated, the crimson liquid pooling onto his skin.
"I really should stop doing this," the man spoke, before letting out a few wheezing breaths and sliding onto the fridge that he had just placed between himself and the young, green-haired man.
Izuku could feel the proverbial sweat-drop slide down the side of his face at the sight of the deep indentations All-Might's fingers had left in the metal. His power, it was absolutely insane.
He made himself comfortable on the refrigerator right besides his idol, his heart thumping nervously in his chest. The tall man turned to him, and Izuku let out a small breath to calm himself. Even in his deflated form, the man stood well over seven feet tall. His stature was very impressive, and while Izuku was no slouch either, now standing at approximately six feet, the man still towered over him.
That thoughtful expression made him even more nervous. All-Might parted his lips to speak, but before he could do so, the young man interrupted.
"Why?"
He cursed his nervous stutter.
"What?" The older man questioned.
"Why did you want to meet me in person, All Might?"
"Well, as I said, young Midoriya. It's something important regarding both our futures." He suddenly waved a hand dismissively. "And please, while I'm this form, I'm Toshinori Yagi. Please refer to me as such as to avoid any blunders while in public. The nature of my quirk is supposed to be a secret, after all."
Izuku gave a silent nod, and Toshinori continued, "I came here because I have a proposition for you, something I couldn't explicitly say in a letter."
"Ah?"
"How would you like to be my student and train under me?"
Izuku's brain short-circuited. "Why?" Came his intelligent, not to mention incredulous, reply.
Toshinori smiled and placed a gentle hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Because I see potential in you, my boy.
Most great heroes have tales of heroics from their highschool days, but do you know what all those stories have in common?" He paused for dramatic effect. "All of them moved before they could even think.
"But you, you went a step beyond, you willingly put yourself in harms way to rescue a civilian. And that is the most important trait of a hero. The spirit of self-sacrifice. As heroes, we put our lives at risk every single day to rescue other people, and to put a stop to villainous activity."
He knew his actions had been reckless, that it would have been wiser to simply wait for a hero with a more suitable quirk to rescue his friend, but he couldn't simply have stayed still while his friend nearly died.
Toshinori flexed a thin hand. "You were powerful enough to blow that villain away, but from the looks of it, you weren't used to handling such raw power." He waved towards his broken arm, and Izuku let out a nervous chuckle before nodding.
All-Might flexed an arm, which looked a bit silly in his deflated form, and gave him a grin. "My quirk is the same. It gives me unimaginable power, but my body needs to be strong enough to handle the recoil!"
"Erm," Izuku stuttered out, and All-Might paused. "Your quirk…" he muttered under his breath. "You have One For All, right?"
Toshinori choked once again, hacking up excessive amounts of blood as he coughed. His expression became deathly still, and he turned to Izuku, an intense look in his eyes.
"How do you know about that?" His words had an icy tint to them, and a shiver ran up the teen's spine.
"My father!" he burst out. "He had a small library, and he wrote a lot of books about quirks."
That still didn't explain how his father knew about One For All. All-Might ground his teeth together, having his suspicions all but confirmed about the boy being All For One's child.
"What do you know about One For All?" Toshinori eyed him curiously.
"Well, I know that it's just a quirk that allows you to stockpile energy, or power, and then transfer it over to another user." That was the basic gist of it, from what he remembered from his father's writing.
Toshinori nodded in confirmation. "Is that all?"
Izuku shook his head and continued, "It's an enhancement type quirk that allows the user to channel that excess energy stored into different parts of their body. If it's the muscles, it makes them stronger; if it's the skin, it can harden it; and if it's channelled through something else, like a quirk, then it increases its maximum output exponentially." He was summarising and paraphrasing the heavy details that his father had listed, he couldn't simply start listing off the different ways that it had manifested in all the different users like his father had.
His father, he noticed, didn't seem very interested in the people who'd owned the quirks (which was very much unlike Izuku, who was obsessed with heroes). He was simply interested in the quirks themselves. He listed off the ways that a quirk could be used, and even went as far as to mention how other quirks could be combined with it. That was an interesting subject that he couldn't even begin to fathom, combining quirks together. Perhaps his father was a strategist of some sort?
In the case of One For All, it had been a bit different. His father had devoted eight sections to each "Manifestation" as he called it. He had written on it extensively, noting that the power did indeed seem to get stronger with each time it was passed on. He didn't write out any names, simply listing each user as "Manifestation" and prefixing it with a number.
The power started meagre at first, a small energy boost, and a slight increase in stamina, before growing with each person that had inherited it. By the time it had gotten to its "Eighth Manifestation", the quirk had turned from a "meagre boost" into "overwhelming brute strength" in his father's words.
The way he'd described it being used sounded very similar to his favourite hero's quirk. The power to level buildings with a single punch, enhanced speed, and durability. It seemed to fit All-Might perfectly.
Said pro-hero cleared his throat. Oops, was he mumbling again? "That's not a bad way of putting it, my boy… but I'd appreciate if you didn't go around sharing that knowledge publicly. My quirk is a massive secret, known only to a carefully selected handful of people." Toshinori sighed. "And now you as well."
Izuku nodded wordlessly.
"Do you know who your father is?" All-Might questioned.
Izuku shook his head. "I don't really remember him… and I don't think I want to, either," He added the last part bitterly. "My mother said he's in a coma, having lost against a hero in some big fight." His hands tightened to a fist, and his teeth began to grind together. Izuku didn't like speaking about the man. Just the thought of him made his blood boil.
"When was that?" All-Might asked, a suspicious tone in his voice.
"Around…" He paused briefly. "Five years ago."
Toshinori ran a hand across his shirt, gripping the massive puncture scar that lay beneath. It was around the same time that he had gotten his injury.
"My boy," the blond began. "I think I might have an idea as to who your father is."
Izuku's head snapped towards him. "You do!?" Curiosity was palpable in his green eyes, but seeing All-Might's serious demeanour made his expression sober quite a bit.
Toshinori let out a heavy sigh, strong enough to wrack his frame as he composed himself. "I pray that this isn't true, but all the evidence seems fitting."
Izuku leaned in closer.
"You two look alike, have the same quirk… and your father is a villain, who got into a coma around the same time I got my injury. Conveniently, you don't know what he looks like, but the fact that he has information on my quirk is more than enough evidence for me."
He sighed deeply again. "It might not be my place to say this, but you, out of everyone, have the right to know. I have reasons to believe that your father is a villain that I had previously faced."
He was also one of the greatest villains, if not the greatest villain to have ever lived. He wasn't about to just drop that on the young boy, though.
"Not that it matters anymore," he uttered. "He is in a coma, as you said." He was lying through his teeth, and Toshinori knew it. All For One was very much alive and active, although he was making his presence scarce; even he, out of all people, was having trouble getting much news about him.
Quickly switching the subject, All-Might stood to his feet, quickly inflating to his muscle form as he stared at his young, soon-to-be pupil.
"Back to the task at hand!" His voice boomed out once again. "So how about it, young man? Will you be my student?" The second question, which echoed loudly in All-Might's head, remained unspoken. 'Will you prove yourself worthy to be my successor?'
It had taken nearly a month, but finally, Izuku felt confident enough to say he was back to competent quirk usage in the arm he had injured. Having taken off the cast two weeks prior, against the doctor's advice, he'd begun training his quirk immediately after.
He had combined rehabilitation with quirk practice; while he flexed his arm and wrist, he'd transmute random patches of his skin into metal. He needed to be sure he had the precise control needed to perform his complex transmutations before he actively pursued them.
After all, it was one of his complex transmutations that had caused him to be in such a predicament in the first place.
Today, he had finally managed to pass his self-created test. He'd hold his arms up and go through a set of transmutations in a row. Before the first was finished, he'd begin the second one. To an outsider, it would look like his arms contained a strobe-light, constantly shifting between different hues of metal. It was simple in theory, but hard in practice, especially since his previously injured arm seemed to be a tad bit slower than his left.
He had assumed it was a permanent effect of him practically blowing his arm off, but thankfully, with a few hours of rigorous training, he had managed to get his transmutations up to speed again.
Being as eager as he was to prove his worth to All-Might, he had asked to meet the moment he had achieved a result he was satisfied with.
And now, here he was, standing on the dirty shore of Takoba beach, and there was All-Might… flexing his muscles in a ridiculous pose atop a pile of scrap metal.
A brief look of recognition flashed in All-Might's eyes as he saw Izuku's form, but the man didn't react, he simply kept his pose.
Izuku let out a sigh, the top hero always had a flair for the dramatic.
"So…" he began, "Why are we here again?"
"Because, young man, this," All-Might threw his arms out, pointing to the area around them, "is your training!"
"…What?"
His answer was a loud, boisterous laugh, and Izuku couldn't help but grin along, if a bot shakily . His enthusiasm and confidence were really infectious.
"You're going to use your quirk to clear this beach, and while you do so, I will supervise and be drilling you on the basics of becoming a hero!"
Izuku blanked as he glanced at the area around him. Mountains of garbage and small heaps of metal covered practically every inch of the beach. Was All-Might really expecting him to clear this entire beach!?
"You have-BLURGH!" The hero violently coughed into his hand, blood seeping out past his lips. He cleared his throat, before raising two hands up, each holding up three fingers. "Six months," he croaked out hoarsely, his voice always strained after one of his coughing bouts.
Six months? That didn't sound bad at all. Hell, he was sure he could clear it in a half that time!
Not being one to pointlessly dally, Izuku's hands began to glow, and much to All-Might's fascination, Izuku's ears started to give off a dim glow too.
His hands and ears began transmuting rapidly, the transmutation on his hands actually being fairly simple, but his ears were another story entirely. He remembered spending weeks disassembling speakers, microphones, and all sorts of acoustic equipment to manage to get the right balance needed to turn his ears into what was basically an ultra-sensitive sonar.
It had taken a minute, but eventually, his right hand had taken the shape of a black, metal rod with a thick sphere at the very end, and his other hand had taken the form of a flat board, its color an onyx black.
He held out the metallic board and then slammed the rod against it, resulting in a sharp clang. He saw All-Might uncomfortably shift in place as he did, the loud sound causing his ears to ring painfully.
The teen closed his eyes as he proceeded to slam the 'hammer' against the 'anvil'. He did this about a dozen times, each strike coming harsher than the one before.
He kept his eyes closed for a few moments after stopping, his hands giving a dim glow before returning to their normal form. A moment later, his ears also shone for a few seconds as he finally opened his eyes.
All-Might was staring at him expectantly, a curious expression on his face. The question was unasked, but it hung clearly in the air.
Izuku was quick to elaborate, a sheepish smile creeping on his lips. "Sorry." He chuckled. "I wanted to map the place out, and I thought this was the fastest way to do it."
The confused expression didn't fade from the hero's face, and for good reason. To him, all what Izuku did was smack two strange-looking metallic pieces against one another.
"You know how bats use soundwaves for echo-location?" All-Might gave a hesitant nod, "It was sort of like that. I transmuted my ears so they'd be able to pick up the echoes that bounced off of anything solid on the beach."
All-Might's brows raised, not from confusion, but rather, from surprise.
"You know how to do that with your quirk!?" the blond asked, awe clear in his tone.
Izuku gave a brief nod, grinning in response. "And a lot more!"
This time, it was All-Might who mirrored his grin.
Training young Izuku would prove to be very interesting.
Toshinori Yagi had to admit, he was impressed. Very impressed.
Day by day, he watched as Izuku cleared out piles upon piles of garbage from Takoba beach, and slowly, the once-popular location was returning to its formal glory.
He had a good amount of strength. While the green-haired young man certainly had the build of an athlete, All-Might hadn't expected that his lean muscles could put out much lifting power. Glad to have been proven wrong, he could lug around dozens of kilograms like they were nothing, and Toshinori could only assume it was training that was somehow related to his quirk.
After all, a quirk like his required a certain amount of physical prowess; one couldn't simply transform his arms into dense metal without the muscle-mass needed to lift and use said arms.
What was more impressive, however, was how versatile his quirk seemed to be. He watched dozens of times as Izuku had used some transmutation to hoist up a stubborn piece of metal, or the time he had broken down an entire scrapped car using nothing more than a crowbar and a hammer. That'd been an interesting sight to see.
And on certain days when Midoriya was especially eager to please, he'd up and make small items disappear into his hands and either turn them to dust or oxygen. Apparently, he could transmute small items, but didn't do it often because it put too much of a dent in his reserves.
And now, on the eighty-fifth day mark, he came to see the beach completely cleared, Izuku standing proudly atop a filled moving truck, a smug expression on his face, almost as if his face was carrying a sentiment of 'I told you I could do it'.
He had been so excited that he had immediately inflated into his muscle form, hands slapping against one another in an excited applause. Almost playfully, he saw Izuku bow, bending a hand beneath his abdomen as he did so.
The pair shared a laugh afterwards, and the green-haired teen jumped down from his position on the small heap of scrap. The blond saw excitement in his eyes, an eagerness to prove himself once again to his hero. Toshinori had to admit, he loved how unrelenting Izuku's enthusiasm was. In a way, it reminded the man of himself.
He laid a hand on his shoulders, giving the boy a beaming smile. The pair stood, unmoving for a few moments in a comforting silence. It was eventually Izuku who broke it, however.
"So," he said with a big grin, "what's next, Sensei?"
His response came in the form of All-Might's trademarked boisterous laugh, a muscled hand moving to the blond spikes that rested atop his head, and then proceeded to pluck out a single strand of hair.
"Young man!" he started. "I have to say, not only did you pass my test, you did it in a half of the expected time. It's rare that I'm ever impressed, but you… you have exceeded all my expectations!
"This test wasn't simply to see if you were worthy to become my student, but also to see if you were worthy of becoming my successor! Now, I pass onto you this sacred torch, cultivated by generations. You are worthy of inheriting One For All!"
He extended the hair out, holding it for Izuku to grab.
"Now, EAT THIS!"
Izuku swallowed nervously, he knew that One For All was passed on by the transfer of DNA, but still. All-Might asking him to swallow one of his hairs was just weird.
But he had, and now, the number one hero was staring at him proudly. It was strange, and the weight of what happened hadn't fully settled into his head quite yet. He was now the ninth user of One For All, so why exactly didn't he feel any different?
Sensing his confusion, the now deflated Toshinori laughed. "Your body has to digest it before you feel anything, my boy!"
'Ah…that makes sense.' He nearly face-palmed. Of course, it sounded so obvious now that All-Might had said it.
"Now what?" he muttered, staring at Toshinori expectantly.
The man flashed him a kind smile. "For today, you rest. We need to get One For All fully integrated into your system before we do any active training again."
Izuku gave a small nod. "Hey, All-Might-"
Toshinori shook his head, raising a hand up. "What did I tell you, young Midoriya? When I'm in this form, please refer to me as Yagi." His student had the decency to blush; the man had repeated that dozens of times over their two months of training, but it still didn't feel natural to him to refer to his hero by first name basis.
"Hey, Yagi-san?" The man gave an approving nod, and a thumbs up. "Would you like to have dinner with my mother and I after training tomorrow?" Izuku saw a very unusual sight. It was All-Might, blushing and frantically waving his arms about.
"I-I-I-" And the green haired teen thought he had a stuttering problem. "I wouldn't want to intrude!"
Izuku tossed him a bright smile. "Nonsense! We'll be more than glad to have you!"
Yagi gave a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head. "I… I don't see why not."
Izuku's smile brightened upon his agreement. "Great. I'll see you tomorrow?"
The blonde nodded. "Tomorrow."
Izuku had to admit, he didn't feel much different, even long after he had (reluctantly) consumed the hair that All-Might had given him. Just a general sense of unease, but perhaps that was more due to his nerves than his body going through an actual change as it absorbed the quirk.
He had just settled into bed, resting his head against a rather fluffy pillow before he suddenly started feeling… something. Like a strong surge of heat that was flowing through his veins.
It was a pleasant warmth at first, his blood warming within his veins. Then it become slightly stronger, hotter, until it became unbearable and felt as if it molten lava was flowing through his vascular system.
Similarly, his chest felt hot, like somebody had sunk a red-hot brand against his skin. He wanted to grab hold of the blankets, and rip them off his frame; maybe that would alleviate some of the overwhelming heat, but he couldn't. His hands wouldn't stop shaking. He attempted to move a finger, a foot, anything. But his body wouldn't respond.
It was a frightening feeling, almost as if he was trapped inside his own body, unable to control it, but still able to feel everything that was occurring to him. He could move his eyes, and look around, but not much more.
His body suddenly seized, and he began to convulse. The movement so violent that it had sent him barrelling off the side of the bed, and onto the floor, landing with a heavy thump. His pain only seemed to worsen with the impact.
His arms began glowing, the tell-tale sign of a transmutation, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. While his arms were a metallic hue that he was familiar with, it was divided, marred. The spots in his arms where his veins would be located had simply refused to transmute.
Fear coursed throughout his system as they suddenly gave off a dim, red glow. The dim light didn't last long, as his veins now began to glow a radiant, crimson red, the throbbing pain only getting worse in tandem with their brightness.
He laid there frozen, for what seemed like hours as his veins pulsated, the heat getting worse and worse before suddenly, the color of those vein-like markings on his arms changed, turning a faint orange, and then suddenly, a glowing green.
He saw what he swore were arcs of electricity flowing around his arms, curling, and twisting around the appendage, their hue a similar color to the lines on his arms. Then suddenly, everything stopped.
The pain, the burning, it all stopped. He watched in silence as that metallic silver that had consumed his arm began to slowly unravel, unwinding from his fingertips at first, and then slowly running up his arm. It looked like the transmutation itself was being drawn to those glowing veins. And once the metal had faded from his skin, the light show did as well.
His body suddenly felt as if a weight had been dropped on it. He felt tired.
So very tired.
So much that he couldn't help but let unconsciousness overtake him, his eyes fluttering shut, and his head lying limply onto the floor.
AN: Sorry for the long wait, I was going to make this chapter even longer, and include Izuku's training with OFA, but I've decided to break that up into two chapters to not make you guys wait any longer!
Please leave your thoughts.
