HOLAA913: That's just the beginning lol.
This was a super fun chapter to write. I now have five completed stories to post, with two of them edited. So since some of my current stories will be wrapping up at the same time, I'll have more to replace. Enjoy~
"Um, Ace? You said you learned hand to hand combat first, right?" Freckles asked after class, where Ace just threw balls at the kids and then had to dodge. He didn't go easy, again. He threw the balls so hard they knocked people feet behind where they had been. But he always aimed for the part of their stomach that would do no damage. Not the face or limbs.
"That's right," Ace replied while he carried the big crate of heavy balls above his head. "Why do you ask?"
He fidgeted and said, "Well, the teachers don't have time to tutor all the time. All Might is busy a lot of the time, and the others have classes and duties. So I was wondering if you'd tutor me sometime? My quirk is almost impossible to use right now, so I think it was a good idea to learn combat without my power at first." His face was red, and Ace agreed.
"Sounds fun," Ace commented. "How about after school is over? I'm not allowed to leave campus, so it'd be here somewhere." Freckles grinned and thanked him. He asked why he wasn't allowed to leave campus, sounding bothered by it. "Pro-heroes probably don't trust me, since I'm powerful but aren't exactly here to become a great member of society. Being a hero just isn't my thing."
Freckles asked another question. "You don't like using your powers for good, helping people?"
"Nope. I do what I want. I'll help who I want, but not complete strangers. Things don't work like that at home. Not even the marines protect and save people. They bow down to tyrannical nut jobs who keep slaves and are allowed to burn islands down and kill whoever they want," Ace said simply. Freckles gasped. "So, it's either for the marines, or against them. I chose the latter, not wanting to follow rules that would make me do anything I didn't want to."
"So, you fight the marines? The government?"
Ace said, "Sometimes. It's not my goal to take marines down or anything. I just want to be the freest person I can be. So, I have no desire to be a hero," Ae finished. "How about I meet you out on this field at 3:30?"
Freckles didn't seem bothered by Ace not wanting to be a hero, but more about how corrupt the government was. "Don't tell anyone about what I said. They might get the wrong idea about me." Freckles nodded, promising he wouldn't, and then hurried off to his next class while Ace put the crate in the correct room with equipment for class.
"Was that fine? To help out Freckles?"
All Might nodded. "Don't go too hard on him the first time." Ace promised he wouldn't.
At 3:30, he was waiting on the field, lying on his back with his arms behind his head. He really wondered why nobody had said a thing about the jolly roger tattoo. Especially the adults. Did pirates just never exist here? He hadn't heard the word once, so he hoped they didn't and never had existed. But All Might had recognized the jolly roger. It was strange and confusing, but as long as nobody else found out, he'd be fine.
Freckles ran over in his gym outfit, backpack on. He dropped it far from Ace. Ace stood up and Freckles looked nervous. "I'm not gonna go hard, just give you tips and help with the movements," Ace assured him.
"First thing first in this world. Don't get into a fist fight unless you have to. And if there's no other choice, you should be the first to hit. If you don't, your opponent will have the upper hand from the start," Ace started.
He gave him helpful tips that Ace had been taught by his crew or had learned as a kid. He moved Freckle's arms in slow motion for how he should be punching or kicking. Where to kick that wouldn't hurt you, like the front of the shin or the toe of your foot. "Since you already seem to break your body all the time, it doesn't mean you'll always be around Recovery Girl."
Ace did his best, and showed Freckles how to swipe under legs, and stomp their crotch or face depending on the gender. "Kicking the nuts is always a good move," Ace said simply. Freckles did get sore from Ace pinning him to the ground and moving his arms in ways they hadn't before.
It was sunset by the time Ace thought Freckles had had enough. "Quiz time," Ace said, and asked him the main points Ace had told him. He aced it. "Nice! You did pretty good. When you do learn to use your quirk, if you use hand to hand as well, you won't just need to kick or punch. You could throw someone, slam them into the ground, break their bones.
"I know it sounds violent, but don't heroes fight villains for others?" Freckles nodded, looking extremely happy. "Well, depending on how long I last this time, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in class? I also recommend you learn about joints so you know weak spots to take advantage of."
Freckles grinned at him. "Thank you! I really appreciate it! I'll write everything down to memorize," he vowed.
Ace replied, "Don't just read. My brother told me drawing step by step for something helps. And practice the moves by yourself. Think of them until they become muscle memory." Freckles nodded and bowed to him.
"Can we do this again?" he asked nervously, losing the grin, but it came right back when Ace said he was fine with that, in two days in case he was sore. Freckles got his backpack and ran off, exuding happiness and excitement. Ace knew he was one of those who had the most useless quirk right now, as he couldn't use it at all without breaking bones. He'd read about when he had fought the robots in the entrance exam.
It sounded so fun. It would have turned into a massive competition with his family. Thatch was gonna make fun of him for helping a random kid he barely knew. Well, if he was going to be stuck here and unable to go anywhere else, why not make the best of his time?"
The next day, Ace just watched while the kids sparred, this time without their powers. Without their powers, many were much weaker. He looked forward to seeing Freckles fight, just to see if he'd learned anything. He didn't expect him to, as it had only been one session and one day.
The one who was the best of them so far was Kirishima since his quirk already used hand to hand combat with punching and kicking. Ace was sitting on the grass a bit away, watching and looking lazy.
When Freckles came up, he looked determined, and was with Bakugo. Bad match up, they seemed to hate each other. Even Ace could tell that and he'd seen them only a handful of times. Freckles seemed to want to be friends with the guy, and Ace couldn't understand why. With him and Luffy, Lufy tried to be his friend because he had no one else at first. Here, there were plenty of kids to be friends with, and Freckles did have friends.
The fight was evenly matched, though Bakugo went for more obvious punches and kicks while Freckles defected them, swiping his foot under Bakugo before he kicked him in the crotch (not too hard, just enough to surprise him) and then turned him over and pinned him down. Bakugo was furious, and Freckles walked back to the group, everyone completely shocked.
The kid's eyes glanced to Ace, who gave a smile and wink. "And the winner is young Midoriya. Good work, both of you."
As soon as class was over, everyone demanded to know how Midoriya suddenly was able to fight. He sputtered, "Y-YouTube videos." Ace snickered, though he didn't know what youtube was.
All Might said, "You're a good mentor. He had confidence he hadn't had before. What did you say to him?" Ace shrugged, saying he gave some tips he'd learned from, and had told him to draw everything he'd learned and study joints so he can someday take advantage of that as well.
"His quirk is a goddamn mess. I can't believe it's broken his bones. Recovery Girl isn't always gonna be there. You have to fight like if you lose you'll be completely incapacitated. I think he gets that after the entrance exam I read about," Ace said and then gave a small smile. "This is a good way to pass time. I was back home for two weeks, so I don't know how long I'll be here this time."
All Might clapped his shoulder. "Even though you scare some of the kids, you are pretty likeable."
Ace laughed, saying that wasn't always the case, but he was a better person than he was when he was a kid. He walked inside, as class was over, to get something to eat. Ace did work with class 1-B, but they weren't nearly as interesting as class 1-A. But, he still did his best, just didn't smile as much.
When he wasn't helping All Might out, Ace explored the campus, sneaking around the grounds where fighting was. It would be a great place to train, and he knew he had to keep in shape since he wouldn't be sparring with his brothers multiple times a week, or fighting all out against marines and pirates.
He went to a wrecked, cement town place, not remembering its name, and ran through it, jumping from roof to roof, going as fast as he could, and then went to climbing stairs, jumping from another building and climbing those stairs. After that, he did one handed handstand pushups, 20,000 of them, and then crunches with a weight on his chest. Then he got to push ups with a huge chunk of cement on his back as he did so. He did another 20,000 of them, before jogging back to campus, soaking in sweat.
He walked inside and passed Ectoplasm. "Training?"
Ace nodded. "The broken building area is a great training area. Don't worry, I didn't break anything," Ace assured, and then went to shower all of the sweat off. It was weird using individual bathrooms instead of one bathhouse. He dressed in his shorts instead of the gym shorts he'd been given and never wore, and then went to take a long nap. Kids were all in class, so nobody saw him covered in sweat and red in the face. Even if he was made of fire, when keeping himself solid under pressure like he did, even he got tired.
When he got up, it was for dinner. He walked through the halls, able to tell the building was pretty empty, meaning there were no students. Nobody was eating in the cafeteria, so he was left alone to eat as much as he wanted. He missed Thatch's cooking. Damnit, the sadness was back. But, they had a plan. This wouldn't last forever. That thought made him feel better, but still missed their company.
The loudness of the galley, everyone having almost zero manners and just stuffing their faces. He looked down at the ramen, and clenched his fist around the fork, breaking it in half. "Damnit," he muttered, heating up his hand and fusing it back together. Well, it was ruined now. Oh well, they had a billion more to use.
He looked out the window, no more appetite. He threw the food away, including the broken fork, and put the spoon and bowl in the sink. He left and headed to his room to sleep or mope, whichever.
He ran into Cementoss, someone he hadn't spoken to much, since he rarely spoke in general whenever Ace was around him. "Ace, you have to find All Might early tomorrow morning. Earlier than normal," and then he walked away.
Didn't even wait for him to give a reply. "Okay," he said, but didn't know if the teacher heard him. He headed back to his room, changing again and sleeping under the covers this time, not going outside. He felt like being under blankets and not on itchy grass.
When he got up, All Might was the one to find him, not the other way around. "Eat up, Ace-san, we have a big day ahead of us!" he said cheerfully. Always cheerfully. Ace wished he could be like that here. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes, stretched and agreed. He went downstairs to eat quickly as All Might looked impatient. Not angrily, but more like he was excited.
After putting his dishes away, All Might told him what they were going to do for the day. "Sadly, you will not take part in today's activities. It's been planned far before you arrived. It's an exercise that will teach our young ones how to rescue people from wrecks and natural disasters. No fighting is needed," he explained. Ace nodded, hiding a pout.
"Can I at least watch?" he asked. If he couldn't, he'd be both bummed and bored. All Might nodded, saying that the entire ceiling was made of glass,so he'd have a good view. "Thanks!" After all, falling off of the building would do nothing to hurt him.
Ace was outside waiting for the kids by the bus they'd be taking who were being briefed on what would happen that day. He already knew about it. When the kids did come out, they had their costumes on, and it was only just now that Ace saw the similarities in Freckles' and All Might's images. He held in a chuckle. Maybe Freckles saw All Might as Luffy saw Shanks. Though Luffy never copied Shanks' image.
When they came out, they all headed to the bus, with Eraser Head as well. "Is there room on the bus or I can sit on the roof of the bus and be fine." Eraser Head counted how many people were inside.
"Stay on the roof. Don't fall off," he said in his bored voice. Ace said okay and jumped on the roof of the bus, laying down on his back so there would be zero chance of wind resistance. They got there pretty quickly, Ace just paying attention to the clouds. When the bus stopped, Ace walked off to not be a distraction.
He headed to the building and jumped up, climbing to the top of the dome. Thirteen didn't acknowledge him at all, already knowing they'd have a spectator. He couldn't hear what was being said from up there, but did look down and see the massive area with a bunch of different sections.
Ace thought, in his world, if this happened, one of the areas would be swarming with sea kings. That would be a fun challenge. He moped, thinking all of this looked fun. He wished he could take part, but he wasn't very good at rescuing, but causing more damage. So, he wouldn't be good at this exercise.
The thing had barely started before he sensed presences that weren't supposed to be there. He punched a hole in the glass ceiling. "ERASER HEAD! VILLAINS!" he screamed, voice echoing loudly, he pointed to the area he could feel them coming before they appeared. A black void that they'd seen before.
Hand-Guy came out, along with at least another hundred people. And a nomu. This one was stronger than the other. But Ace had a good idea, he just had to get close for it to work. He dropped down and landed in front of the students. "Thirteen, can I help?" he asked, shoulders already on fire.
"Yes," Thirteen said simply. He wasn't going to rush in, wanting to come up with a strategy, try to gauge who was strongest besides the nomu. God, he hoped his plan worked. If it didn't, he'd punch it in the brain again. Hopefully that would work.
He walked next to Eraser Head. "How can I help?" he asked.
"Try to focus on the nomu. Take anyone out you need to get there. That thing is bad news and you already defeated one of them." Ace nodded, watching the nomu carefully to see where it would go. Ideally, Hand-Guy wouldn't be near it. He knew the creep was strong, and didn't know what his quirk was. Other than being damn creepy. Those hands… Those were ridiculous.
"Permission to kill?" Ace asked, not knowing if he'd get in trouble.
"No, incapacitate or heavily wound. Only kill the nomu," he said. Ace slowly walked forward, fire hands out, looking terrifying. He was trying to, wearing an evil smirk, making sure it didn't show to the kids. A few backed up but Ace started sprinting. Maybe the nomu would come to him.
He punched out the first one, breaking his cheek and teeth with a haki covered fist before torching her legs, moving to the next one, kicking his nuts and then bending his head down to knee his face with a haki covered knee, he was out.
He fought like he was surrounded by pirates, unable to stop the grin. Fighting was a joy, especially when he didn't know what to expect. He had to be quick on his feet. All Might wasn't there yet, Ace didn't know where he was.
But, with him fully healed, he could fight better now than before. Probably. Hopefully. He was strong during their last fight when he was ill, so he would be stronger now. He just hoped he'd come soon. Ace wasn't paying attention to Eraser Head, fighting on his own, but there seemed to just be endless amounts of them even though no more were coming from the portal.
"Fire fist!" he shouted, and blasted a huge plume of fire at the nearest group, making them scream until he released it, all of them burned enough to not be able to move. Then he saw the vortex guy move, and felt his presence behind him, at the students. Ace lifted his hand and formed a fire wall around the students, giving them a ring to stay safe in.
But that didn't matter as the vortex guy walked right through it. Ace released the fire wall, and cursed when he saw the students scatter. "ACE! Nomu!"
Hand-Guy saw him. "Nomu, get him, now! Bring him here, render him close to death!" He was really pissed about the last time. "We're taking him!" He could hear the craziness in his voice. And Ace was about to piss him off more.
When the nomu ran at him, everyone else fled. Ace stood his ground, and he heard students telling him to run from the distance. When the nomu was close, Ace's pupils dilated and he sent out a strong wave of conqueror's haki, making the mindless beast follow any sort of fear instincts it still had deep down.
Ace smirked. "Nomu, attack your own people. Especially him," Ace said strongly and pointed to the guy. "After that, rip out your own brain!" The nomu turned around, and the battlefield went quiet before the beast sprinted to the nearest villain and injured them beyond recovery, since Ace had not said "kill".
"What?!" Hand-Guy shouted. "Nomu, stop!" It didn't, and made a roaring sound as it leapt after him. He had to run. Ace grinned and ran off to save some kids. The nomu would take care of his share of villains. He had sent off a strong enough wave that it would last a while. Eraser Head looked shocked when Ace ran past him "Don't get distracted!" Ace shouted as he ran towards the nearest area, the rocky one. He jumped down to see the kids fighting their own, but still outnumbered, and blasted a fire fist at all of them, making the villains shriek in pain and the three kids scream in fear.
"Guys, do not leave the fire circle!" he shouted once they realized that the fire wasn't burning them, and Ace made a fire curled around them, fifteen feet. He didn't want to admit it, but using the haki had taxed him.
Finally, he heard people shout All Might's name. Finally! Where the fuck had he been? He was talking, angry, but Ace wasn't hearing him, taking out as many villains as he could and leaving their legs or arms inpaired. He was not told to keep them healthy, he was told to keep them alive. Missing a couple arms or legs didn't mean they died. Especially since the fire cauterized their wounds and kept them from bleeding out.
The portal man had left the front, going to save Hand-Guy, who was still being chased by the traitorous nomu. He was in a vortex, and the nomu paused, it's mission confused. "Nomu! Do it!" Ace screamed.
All Might had been heading towards it when it dug its claws into its own head and ripped its brain out, killing it instantly. He felt bad he'd taken that from All Might, but what had he expected? He wasn't there.
Ace made another fire circle around another group before he reached the ice zone. Todoroki seemed to have it under control. "Do you need help?" Ace asked, hiding his fatigue.
"No." Ace nodded and told him to stay there. "All Might is here now, you did a good job," Ace said, and sprinted to the next group. But suddenly the portal guy was in front of him and hang-guy came out.
"I'm going to kill you!" he roared, definitely having lost his cool. Ace didn't know his power and saw that he was going to grab his arm, so he covered it in haki. Whatever was supposed to happen, didn't. "What are you?"
Ace said, "A pirate," quietly, smiling sadistically before he punched the guy in the face so hard he was knocked unconscious, only the vortex guy caught him, and they were gone. A few of his hand things had fallen off. The villains screamed about the leader leaving him. He reminded them of bad pirates who would abandon their crewmates.
The villains that weren't already out due to the kids being pretty strong and hadn't been taken out by Ace, All Might or Eraser Head surrendered. So many were screaming and crying over the wounds that they had gotten, most of the more gruesome ones from Ace. But he was fire, what did they expect? For him to go easy?
He released the fire walls protecting the kids and stumbled forward, absolutely exhausted, but happy with the fight. It was awesome, he rarely fought in such a large area. "Ace-san!" All Might said, hurrying over. "Are you alright?"
Ace nodded. "Need to sleep," he said, and fell unconscious. How embarrassing, but using the haki had taken a lot out of him. He rarely used it as it was uncomfortable, and cheating. He only used it this time because it was on an animal, not just taking out people who he could have fought.
Ace's haki reigns supreme! He continues to troll Shigaraki in the future lol.