He had lost. All for One already predicted his defeat, and even if he died he would still einvietably return. He prepared for this, and now the only thing he knows is that was still alive. That was it. None of his senses told him anything about where he was, as if it was a void. His multitude of powers seem to be out of his control, almost completely repressed and out of his reach.
He continued to push, and he still couldn't do anything. Eventually he gave up. Continuing to push his powers while they were like this was risky. The facility he was in could activate its death switch as soon as it notices the signs of a quirk being employed.
Instead he waited patiently. His time will inevitably come. It's only a matter of time before he returns.
There was no sense of time for him while being completely denied of his senses, but it felt like it was a long time. And in an instant he started to see light. This fact deeply shocked him, and he instantly began to see things he never thought he would see. Despite the blurriness, he can still tell a vague figure of a person. He tried stretching his limbs to make some contact visualization, but they felt heavier than they have ever been before.
All for One tried to voice his confusion, but the only thing that came out was a weird confused noise.
"It's a boy!" A male voice exclaimed in excitement.
What?
-POV Change-
Rehan, father of a child, is holding his newborn baby in his hands. The baby had dark blue eyes with short hair across his head, and another defining feature was the size of the baby. The baby felt heavy in his hands and felt at least 10 or 12 pounds. But the baby wasn't that big, definitely not enough to be that heavy.
"It's a boy!" He disregarded this, he has seen weirder in his long life. It's not nearly as important as finally having his first child.
"He looks healthy. What do you think, Rehan?"
"Yup he certainly does, and he'll probably be stronger than me by the time he's fully grown." The man named Shigaraki Rehan playfully tapped the baby's bicep and flexed his own. Anna, short for Annalise, simply shakes her head at his antics.
"Congratulations for having your first child Mr. Shigaraki and Ms. Shigaraki. He's certainly special, I can tell from a glance." A composed and professional voice broke the two out of their antics, this was the doctor who helped Annalise give birth to their first child. Ignoring the conversation, the baby simply looked around with curiosity. Raising its palm to its face and simply staring at the wall for a few seconds. The facial expression is unrecognizable and the baby simply closed its eyes and entered slumber. Annalise couldn't help but coo at the sight of that.
"Ah, he's asleep already. Wouldn't want to wake him up right now doc." The doctor nodded and gently picked up the baby and wrapped him with a towel with all the experience and care of a professional.
Rehan couldn't help but widely smile. They've been preparing for months for this baby, and now that the boy is here his heart just feels so warm. They even got the baby's crib early. Admittedly, they got a little excited and got a lot of things for their newborn child. Unfortunately, a lot of things he couldn't use for awhile. Until now.
"You can put him in now Anna." Rehan gently whispered to try not to awake their slumbering child. They both couldn't help but smile at the sight of their sleeping baby. Is this what it's like to be a parent?
-POV Change-
Life is slow, he still can't do much on his own. Shortly after being born he was named 'Akuno Shigaraki', and the island he is currently on is 'Ohara'.
It's been a week since he first awoken, and it's definitely been confusing to the former villain. Fortunately, he's been able to understand their language and has been able to gather a basic idea of what has happened. He's been reborn and is apparently in another world. Considering all the possible quirks, it could've been possible. Right now he still doesn't know how he got here, and there's no way for him to find out right now. All he can do is wait.
Four months have passed, and he managed to crawl and is starting to try and walk. A large problem with walking is that you lack the strength to support your weight. But with his strength enhancing quirks, he can manage to to stand upright for a little bit. The only drawback he has is that he has trashy motor skills. Despite living for up to 200 years, he still has a lot of adjustment to get used to before he can manage properly walking.
"Rehan! He's walking!" Akuno nearly tripped when he heard his mother's shout and shortly after recovering, he heard a loud crash upstairs.
He only heard a pained moan before ignoring it and continued his slow march. Slowly, Akuno's stride became more confident and he started taking large steps forward. He took one step too far, used to his own staggering height and nearly fell to the ground.
He got pulled into a tight hug by his mother before falling down.
"Don't push yourself! You almost made me have a heart attack." Akuno made another noise and tried to wave his legs and arms. He could only communicate the way a baby would, but without all the extra noise.
Anna only smiled. Even with this resistance, she easily held him and carefully planted him down. He started walking again, but much more slowly. He still almost tripped when he heard his father's exclamation
"Woah he's actually walking? Let me get the camera!"
Akuno couldn't bother giving him the stink eye. It doesn't matter how hard one tries, you can't intimidate people as a baby.
He turned and got to the stairway. Obviously his parents made it baby proof, so the only risk was him tripping down the stairs. He went down to his knees and passed by it.
Akuno wouldn't want to risk brain damage just to impress his parents. Considering Rehan walked up the stairs and stood in front of him, he probably wouldn't even be let down the stairs.
"Anna, help me get a good shot." He whispered, almost as if speaking too loudly would distract Akuno. Anna nodded with a quiet confirmation and guided Akuno to his bedroom. As a baby, there were only toys in his crib. His floor was clear of everything, and made it perfect for him to walk around.
"I can't believe he's walking so early." Both of them were shocked, but it was a welcome surprise.
"Oh! A perfect shot!" His whisper could barely be called a whisper and Akuno heard a flash but ignored it.
"Anna look!" His growing excitement shut down and a nervous expression replaced his previous elated one.
"Were you trying to get a picture of the ceiling?" Anna only dryly remarked, already used to his clumsiness.
Rehan sighed
"This might not be one of the worst pictures i've taken, but it's definitely up there."
This time Anna sighed before lightly elbowing him
"Just try it again until you get it." Anna reassured Rehan who smiled and continued taking pictures. Akuno could appreciate a few of Rehan's jokes. He would never outright laugh at it, but at least he tries to be funny.
Akuno himself was glad he could finally do something. Sitting in a crib with nothing but your thoughts is probably one of the worst types of torture. But he will endure.
One morning he woke up, but today was one of those days where he would go outside. Everytime he exits the house, he learns many things that are very informative to him. He learned that Ohara was a small and simple community, and everyone knew each other.
There's one town and everyone lives together there. Few people live outside of that small community, this small community including himself. His parents wanted to have space and quiet for raising their child, so they moved outside of the small town where everyone else was.
The buildings they lived in were far from modern. He could probably see some stone buildings, and the only thing that stood out was the other building's bright color palette. His parents didn't bother with appearances, because few people would actually be able to see it.
He crawled forwards as fast as his little legs would carry him and started poking the door. He wouldn't stop until Rehan would bring him with him.
"Hey there, Anna is waiting for you in the living room." Akuno made a point to make his next poke louder.
"Do you really want to go outside? It's getting cold and-" He got interrupted from Akuno's rapid poking which actually shook the door.
"Alright alright." Rehan simply sighed and picked him up with reluctance.
For this, Akuno reasoned giving Rehan a smile would make things easier for him.
"Aw, you're just too cute. Let's go." Rehan's reluctance was easily put aside just to see his little boy smile. Akuno sat still as Rehan put him in his cart.
The walk was boring and unimportant, so he lightly dozed. As a baby, it's very difficult to stay awake. A lot of the time in his room he would randomly enter a daze before sleeping.
Rehan took another turn and Akuno looked out and found a large building, with sawdust littering the ground. Men used shovels to pick most of it up, but they didn't have the technology to keep it squeaky clean.
He entered the shop and saw various woodworking equipment, alongside racks of different kinds of wood stored along the walls. It's obvious that some of the wood is brought in from other islands, but this island has its own diverse kinds of wood.
There's trees here that grow for hundreds of years, and when they fully grow they become much harder and sturdier. That kind of wood is particularly good for shipbuilding. Rehan deviated from where the rest of the customers were and went towards the back of the shop.
"How are you today Rehan? And who did you bring with you?" The man spoke casually, so these two must be friends, or at least know each other.
The man himself was a large man, at least 6'3. He wore a hat covering his buzz cut auburn hair. Along that he wore a tight black shirt that clung to his muscles, while wearing cargo shorts.
"It's a pretty good day, and he kept bugging me, so I thought to bring my son out to enjoy it with me. He's always been so curious." On nice days without the inconvenience of the weather, they would enjoy the day together as a family. Their family is small, and so it's best to enjoy each other's company while they can. The man simply looked down to Akuno before looking back to Rehan
"I remember we made a bet a few years ago. I thought you would've never hooked up, you just never were the type to be committed to one thing." The man fondly smiled and broke eye contact, probably thinking back to it.
"Parenthood is a miracle, isn't it?" He didn't bother denying the man's jab. Akuno himself knew he didn't take many things seriously after living with him for three years.
"It sure is. Anyways, I'm assuming you're here to buy my stuff. Whaddya want?"
"Just a bit of wood, enough for a month or two. I also need a Christmas tree, and since you're the professional here I'll let you choose one for me."
"You're putting an awful amount of trust in me, Rehan." The man spoke mockingly and went to where they placed their trees. The trees were all tight knit together, which allowed him to easily see the differences between some trees. They were a few that towered over the others, some were much smaller, or had a really bizarre color pattern.
The man nodded and casually grabbed the tree and lifted it in a one arm hold. He was a little surprised, but it didn't show. He never would've thought someone quirkless could do such a feat of strength so casually.
"Is this tree good enough?" He placed the tree down and shook it, some dust falling off of it.
"This looks pretty satisfac-tree to me." The large man elbowed Rehan while he chuckled. Akuno noted that his father wasn't surprised, meaning feats like this are possible or he just knew beforehand.
"Have a great day Rehan." Rehan always knew how to put a smile on his face. This is why he's his favorite customer.
And then Rehan himself casually pulled a cart with the tree in it, while also having Akuno in a piggyback ride.
The walk back was mostly silent. As much as Akuno wants to prod his father, he can't. But there's clearly a defined limit to his strength, evident by the small breaks he takes during the walk back.
While they were walking Rehan suddenly tensed enough for Akuno to feel it while on his back, making a confused Akuno look around before spotting a little girl just walking down the street. People almost seemed to visibly recoil and step back from her.
"Akuno. Never approach that girl, she has the powers of the devil. She only brings bad luck, it's best to avoid her." Akuno noticed that even Rehan's posture straightened from his usual lax and slouched posture. Apparently he took this as a serious threat, he would rarely clam up like this.
Akuno looked at the girl and they met eye contact. Akuno simply tilted his head. She didn't appear to be anything special, and she was the first one to break eye contact and sped walked away. Why would they be afraid of someone like her?
His gaze lingered on her back and tried to analyze her. It's not the same way as the others though.
It makes sense now. The minority are always the one suppressed by the majority, and in this world people with powers are the minority. It's natural for the common people to be ignorant of the uses of powers simply because they're afraid of it.
The girl clearly hasn't developed her powers fully, or it's a weak power. It could be both. Either way, he no longer can out himself having a 'devil fruit' power to his parents. Even if his parents look past their prejudice, they themselves could be targeted just because of them being the parents of a 'devil child'. With how seemingly primitive the world is, assumptions like that wouldn't be surprising.
There's no point in even giving the girl his pity. The truth is, he's very apathetic to things like this.
Akuno's vision started to darken. Akuno tried to bite his own cheek to stay awake, but it was a wasted effort. Considering it's going to be winter soon, he should familiarize himself with napping for a very long time.
It's been two years, and when he turned four he was able to leave the house without supervision. He couldn't leave too far from the house, but they would never need to know how far he actually went.
"Dad, can I go outside?" He poked his dad in the leg, and gave him his best puppy eyes.
"Of course you can, just don't go too far." It worked, this was a trick he developed and it worked as long as he didn't ask for anything completely unreasonable. Akuno went outside and went straight to the forest.
He stepped over roots from the trees and eventually it got dark. In Ohara, the forest was beautiful and large. If you go deep into it enough, the large trees eventually block out the sun. Wildlife on this island is much more vast than where he was from.
He heard rustling and he slowed down while looking over his shoulder. He found the girl sitting on a log in the middle of the forest, just reading a book. It's not like he was randomly taking a stroll in the forest, he had something he wanted to do. Should he even bother with her? He analyzed her, and his eyes stopped at the book.
'Alabasta's Descent from the Celestial Dragons.'
His eyes widened slightly. Alabasta is an island in the Grand Line. Try as he might, he could never find any books about it from his parents and even local libraries. When he asked the people working there, they said it is something far too expensive to afford, and there are few books about it in the first place.
The only things he knows about the Grand Line is that it's a very different place. 'Pirate Graveyard', most pirates even big time ones have a great chance of dying in it.
He walked forwards and just short of Robin, he lifted his foot a little bit too high and tripped on himself, landing face first into the ground. He heard her get startled.
"Are you okay?" Despite all the mistreatment, she still asked him if he was ok and even held out her hand to support him. Akuno himself stood up and patted down his clothing. Akuno himself is confused on why she would bother helping him after everything that's happened to her.
"Yes, I'm alright. I didn't mean to startle you, I was just interested in the book."
"Are you going to take it from me?" She pulled the book closer to her chest, completely reversing her attitude. He expected her to be less defiant, but she just slightly exceeded his expectations of her in one sentence.
"I wasn't planning on taking it. I was just gonna ask you if I could borrow it after you were done." Akuno can't get violent with her. It would be likely that this book is an important book that people were after, and if this was found in his house, that wouldn't do him any favors.
"Why would you approach me for a book? Aren't you afraid of me?"
"Of course not. Why would I be?" Robin slightly relaxed upon hearing this, but was still clearly tense. Him being afraid of her was an amusing thought. He was a man without fear, and a man who instills fear into others. He wouldn't ever be afraid of the child in front of him.
Akuno leaned against a tree with his hands in his pockets.
"Do you like books too?" Akuno's usual personality isn't very well suited for interacting with children, so he's simply going to emulate a little bit of his father.
"I always liked reading books, especially out here in the forest. I don't have to deal with everything while reading these books. If you want this book I can give it to you..." She opened her book and opened up to her marked page and hummed.
"I can give you this book tomorrow morning. I'm almost done with it and I don't want to put myself on a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers." Robin almost made a face of disgust before going back to her neutral expression.
"Yeah, I can tell. Though I always liked a good cliffhanger, Inspiration of The Ocean has a good one, I'm still waiting for the next one and it's been awhile since I read that one." Akuno himself didn't really read a lot of literature, but he's lived for almost 200 years. He's going to have to find a way to pass the time in his downtime. And during his short time on this island, this story is probably the most relevant one for her. Mostly because one of the main characters has a devil fruit power. This would be a subtle push to show her different perspectives of her power.
Robin herself lit up at the not so subtle recommendation. But Akuno still has to do something much more important than continuing to talk with the girl.
"I don't think my parents would appreciate me being out here for so long, so I'm going to head back home." Instead of heading back to where he came from, he went straight through the dense forest and found an isolated location. It's about time he checks on his more combat oriented powers.
While he was walking, there was something that caught his attention. Climbing up the tree with ease, he moved the leaves away and found a peculiar looking fruit. It was large and white with a swirly pattern all over the fruit.
All for One knew what this was at an instinctual level. His power made his vision tunnel and he was only able to focus on the fruit in front of him. This usually happens during the process of him taking someone's quirk, so this likely the only way to get powers in this world. A devil fruit.
