Chapter 3
"I can't believe I have to take you with me now," Izuku grumbled as he made his way to Takoba Beach with Kurono walking with him.
"Don't talk about secret shit in public areas then," Kurono countered. The rising sun shined over the pathway, dappled from the trees that lined the side.
"Don't eavesdrop on conversations then," Izuku retorted.
"Let's just agree to disagree, we're nearly there," Kurono replied, ending the argument. And he was right, as the trees began clearing away to reveal the trash-filled sands of Takoba Municipal Beach, and standing there was All Might, who was currently in his powered-down form. He took notice of Izuku and waved, but then raised an eyebrow at Kurono. Izuku jogged over with Kurono behind him to explain the situation.
"Hey, All Might!" Izuku greeted.
"Young Midoriya, I'm glad to see you are here! However, why did you bring a friend?"
"He accidentally overheard what you said while he went for a walk,"
"Oh…uhm…perhaps I should not talk about state secrets in a public area like that?"
"That sounds like a good idea,"
The group stood there in silence for a moment before someone spoke up again.
"Kinda weirds just standing here casually with All Might himself. If The Boss could see us, he'd probably be miffed at what we're doing," Kurono stated. All Might raised an eyebrow.
"Who's this Boss you speak of?" He asked.
"Uh…Yakuza Boss. W-We aren't really involved with that though! I have no idea what The Boss does when we aren't looking!" Izuku explained. All Might sighed.
"Yes, I would not expect a Yakuza Boss to be particularly fond of the man that basically ended his career," All Might groaned. After that was silence again.
"So, what are we doing here, All Might?" Kurono asked.
"We'll be testing out One for All now that Young Kendo should have fully inherited it! Speaking of which, here she is now!" And sure enough, Kendo came jogging up to the trio in her jogging clothes, which made Izuku realize that he should have worn something closer to that than the dress shirt and slacks he was currently wearing. Kendo smiled at Izuku and nodded at Kurono before looking up at All Might.
"Good morning, All Might! What do I need to do?" Kendo asked. All Might smiled and turned into his buff form.
"Today will be a simple gauge of how well my quirk suits your body! Luckily, your body seems to be at a point where you will not simply explode when you try and activate it, so we don't need to do a whole training montage!" Kurono, Izuku and Kendo laughed a bit when All Might said the thing about exploding, but they soon realized he looked dead serious.
"Wait, you weren't kidding when you said it would explode someone who isn't muscular?" Izuku cried out as the others faces morphed into shock. All Might smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.
"Yes, erm, it's mainly because of all the power I've added to One for All from all the years I've had it. Back when I received it wasn't nearly as powerful as it is today!" All Might explained, which really showed just how long the Hero had been working for if they'd added that much power. Kendo sighed and looked at All Might.
"Alright, how should I do this? I doubt it's the same method of activation as my usual quirk,"
"Clench your buttcheeks, and within your heart, scream the word 'SMAAAAASH!" All Might explained, to exasperated looks from the 3 confused youths. Kendo sighed again for the millionth time that day and entered a combative pose while aiming towards the ocean. She cocked her fist back, and on her exposed forearm Izuku and Kurono could see the veins begin to glow red and shine brightly. Then, Kendo released a punch, which created a mass amount of air pressure, which practically parted the ocean ahead as if it were the red sea.
And then Kendo's arm broke into a million fucking pieces.
"HOLY SHIT IT HURTS!" She screamed, swearing for what Izuku assumed was the first time he'd ever heard her swear.
"JESUS CHRIST, THAT DOESN'T LOOK MUCH BETTER THAN HER ARM EXPLODING, ALL MIGHT!" Kurono cried as he looked between the screaming Kendo and the panicking All Might. As this was happening, Izuku used his quirk to disintegrate the glove he was wearing and dashed towards Kendo.
"This might hurt for a moment," He warned as he gripped her forearm. A second later, it disassembled itself, creating a red mist of blood before Izuku repaired it to a state that was even better than before it was broken. Kendo stopped screaming, instead upgrading to heavy breathing, meanwhile All Might let out a breath of relief and Kurono covered his face with his hands. If that was in despair or because he was sick of the situation or a combination of both, Izuku would never know.
"Well, it is certainly good that Young Midoriya was capable of healing that injury. I wouldn't have wanted to explain this to Recovery Girl," All Might said. Izuku snapped his fingers.
"That reminds me, who else knows about One for All? There's you, obviously, and then there's Kendo, Kurono and I. Surely there's a few more, right?" Izuku pointed out. All Might nodded and chose that moment to de-buff himself.
"Very observant, Young Midoriya. A couple of other people know, including Nezu from UA and Recovery Girl," Izuku nodded and sat down on the patch of sand and looked at Kendo, who was now mostly calm, but slightly shaky. And to be honest, Izuku would too if in the same 10 seconds her arm broke in multiple places and was then completely destroyed before being repaired. She tested her actual quirk and, sure enough, it was still there and normal, which caused her to let out a sigh of relief.
"Well…she can't just keep doing that in every fight, she's got to learn how to fix it," Izuku stated, and everyone present agreed with this sentiment. All Might sighed and pulled out his phone.
"There is…one person who may be able to help, but…" All Might said. The looks the 3 teens gave him urged him to continue, "He isn't exactly the nicest teacher, if you catch my drift,"
"All Might?" Kendo asked.
"Yes, Young Kendo?"
"I do not care if this teacher is the modern-day version of Adolf Fucking Hitler, as long as he can stop me breaking my arm then I'll take whatever he throws my way," All Might grinned at this, although it was a little strained.
"That's the spirit, my girl! Now, lets just hope he isn't too cranky when I call him," All Might added. He looked at the 3 teens, "You can head home now, seeing as we can't make much progress if you'll just be breaking your arm. Kendo, Midoriya, I need you back here tomorrow at 6:00 AM" Kurono raised an eyebrow.
"Why not me?"
"Well, think about it Kurono. Kendo has the quirk, and I can heal her if shit goes south. You can just extend your hair and slow people down, which while it is badass, is not useful to the situation," Izuku explained. Kurono sighed and shrugged.
"Fair enough," He replied. And so, the 3 teens left the beach, leaving All Might to make the most terrifying call he'd had to make in exactly 5 years and 8 months, which was coincidentally the last time he had called this person. All Might put the phone up to his ear as he heard it ring a couple times before finally picking up.
"Who's this?" The aged voice of Gran Torino asked.
"Er, it's T-Toshinori," All Might replied.
"Toshinori? Who's that?" All Might groaned mentally about his old mentor playing a prank on him at this very moment.
"I mean All Might,"
"That's better, speaking of which, why don't ya ever call?! Oh, I get it, it's because you've outgrown-,"
"I've found my successor and when they used One for All they broke their arm," The other end was dead silent for a moment.
"You WHAT?!" Gran Torino screamed, abandoning the old man act.
"I-I found-,"
"I heard you loud and clear, you fool! Why the hell didn't you start with that?! Whatever, I'm guessing you need me because you've realized you can't really teach them how to not do that, right?"
"Y-yes,"
"Fine, what time and place?"
"Takoba Municipal Beach at 6:00 AM, sir,"
"Jeez, that's early. Be there by 5:30,"
"Y-Yes, Gran Torino,"
The other end went silent, and All Might realized that Torino must have ended the call. As he put his phone away, All Might sighed; he couldn't imagine spending a full 30 minutes alone with his old mentor would exactly be a nice experience. And with that, All Might flew off towards Tokyo; he needed to get ready for a day of heroics, after all!
When Izuku arrived at the beach the next day, the last thing he expected to see was an old man beating Small Might (a name which Izuku had come up with for All Might's de-buffed form) with a cane as Small Might did nothing to retaliate while Kendo watched. Izuku walked up to Kendo and watched alongside her.
"Uhm, why is All Might letting himself be beat up by an old guy?" Izuku asked, which Kendo shrugged at.
"I think this is the guy that All Might mentioned last night, and now that I see it, it makes a lot of sense as to why he was hesitant about this," Kendo explained. Izuku let out an 'ohh', which was enough for the old man to finally notice him.
"Who are you? Toshinori didn't say there'd be two of you!" The old man yelled at Izuku, which was ineffective against him as back home if Nemoto wasn't yelling at Izuku then Irinaka was yelling at someone else.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya. My quirk lets me heal people, among other things, so it was agreed that I should be present just in case Kendo breaks her arm," Izuku replied. The old man looked at him for another moment before nodding. Then he turned to Kendo.
"Alright, you zygote," He said in a voice that wasn't yelling but just slightly raised and firm, "I'm Gran Torino, and seeing as this brute can't teach anything, It'll be up to me to teach you to be able to use this god forsaken quirk. At this rate, I'll be alive for the god damn 12th user who I'll also have to train, aren't I?" He muttered that last part, but Izuku and Kendo still picked up on it.
"Wait, how many users have there been before me?" Kendo asked, suddenly sounding uncertain.
"8, including Toshinori," Gran Torino replied.
"A-And how young did these users die?"
"…" Gran Torino was silent before he spun around to whack Small Might again.
"TOSHINORI, YOU DIDN'T EVEN EXPLAIN TO HER ABOUT HOW TAKING THIS QUIRK HAD DEEPER IMPLICATIONS THAN JUST SUPER STRENGTH?!"
Izuku and Small Might watched as Gran Torino beat the shit out of Kendo every single time she tried to use One for All, both of them thankful that they weren't on the receiving end of Gran Torino's walking stick.
"So…this is the man who trained you?" Izuku asked as Torino whacked Kendo in the back of the leg for attempting to do an enhanced punch. All Might nodded.
"Yes. He was…very strict, as you can see,"
"So did he have One for All before you?"
"Er, no. He was a friend of my master before she was killed. He simply finished what my master started by training me," There was silence for a moment.
"I'm sorry about your master,"
"Don't apologize, it's not your fault. She knew what she was getting into when she accepted the quirk,"
As their conversation ended, they took note of how this time Kendo enlarged her fist before using One for All. Interestingly, once she used it, her hand and arm were still damaged but far less than earlier. Either way, Izuku walked over to Kendo and healed her, and after she checked her original quirk was indeed still working, Izuku walked back to All Might.
"So, Young Midoriya, may I ask what exactly your quirk is? You said it can heal, among other things, which implies that healing is simply an effect achievable through your quirk," All Might asked. Izuku had to admit that while All Might could be slightly ignorant at times, he was still perceptive.
"Good eye. Or, well, ear. Anyways, my quirk is called Overhaul, and to sum it up as simply as possible, I can disassemble and reassemble anything I touch," Izuku explained.
"Do you have to reassemble what you touch? Or will it automatically be repaired?"
"I can choose to just disassemble something, including…" Izuku suddenly went quiet as he remembered something that happened almost a decade ago. The details were slightly glossy, but the screams…the screams were still as detailed as the night he'd heard them.
"My boy! Are you quite alright? You're breathing heavily and you look panicked!" Izuku was snapped out of his panic attack by All Might, who had grabbed his shoulders and was holding him firmly. Izuku slowly corrected his breathing and barely repressed a sob.
"I…-y-yeah. It's just…I remembered how my quirk manifested…" From looking into his eyes, Izuku could tell that All Might had pieced together most of the story.
"I'm sorry for bringing that up, Young Midoriya. That…that must have been a bad time, I'd assume," All Might said. Izuku shook his head.
'it's…fine. It was a long time ago, and The Boss treats me well. He always made sure I was feeling fine, and he had me homeschooled. Although, now I think about it, maybe that wasn't the best idea, because social interaction isn't my strong suit, and I only really talk with Kurono and Kendo, which means I won't be very good at communication which is vital for heroics" Izuku replied.
"I see no reason why you'd be bad at it, I mean, you get along with Young Kendo and Kurono quite well, don't you?" Izuku shook his head.
"Well, I mean, I do, but Kurono is because we grew up together, and with Kendo I'd put that up to the slight adrenaline and confidence boost from going to fight that sludge villain that led to me being able to actually talk to her. In my current state here? I'd do horribly with most teens," All Might hummed in understanding, and he let go of Izuku's shoulders and turned back to look at Kendo and Torino.
"Well, you have three years to get better at it in UA. By the time you graduate, you'll be fine at communicating, I'm sure of it!" All Might said. Izuku nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could they were interrupted by Gran Torino.
"Medic!" He yelled, obviously meaning Izuku. Izuku sighed and walked over to Kendo, who now had a broken arm that was sickeningly elongated from the elbow down. By the looks of it, he was going to have a very busy 10 months.