Izuku was still wondering if he was dreaming. After all, he'd never heard of a power that could be passed from one person to another. But it was clear that whatever the energy in Toshinori's hand was, it had nothing to do with increasing muscle mass. The skeletal man couldn't help but laugh at the boy's reaction before becoming more serious.
"Don't worry, I won't force this on you. It's your choice to do it or not. But if you accept, both a great honor and heavy burden will be passed on to you."
"But...surely there are others who could be more worthy than me? Like Monika, Yuri, Sayori, Natsuki, Bakugo or Saiko?"
"My boy, out of all of them, I feel like you are the one who deserves to inherit this sacred torch the most."
"Just from my actions earlier?" Izuku asked as Toshinori nodded.
"Yes. You jumped into action while the rest of us stood idly by. While one of the world's best heroes was helpless to do anything but hold the enemy off. You acted like a true hero out there, a rare attribute in our current society."
Izuku looked at his eyes, weighing his options before sighing deeply, knowing what he needed to do now.
"I trained to harness my Quirk when I first got it. I studied every chapter of the One Piece manga so I could understand every single character's power. I trained with Kaachan, Monika, Natsuki, Sayori, and Yuri every day so I could become stronger. If this power can take me further... if it can help me save more people...Then I'll accept it!"
Toshinori smiled. "No reluctance...Heh, you remind me of myself when I was your age. Before we begin, you should know that [One For All] could tear apart whoever inherits it. Luckily, from what I'm seeing, we shouldn't have to worry about that. You already have the right sort of body to handle the power.
Izuku may look scrawny at first glance, but that hid an impressive swimmer's build, his muscles being thin yet strong.
Toshinori brought Izuku to Dagoba Municipal Beach Park, which was completely filthy and covered in trash. Toshinori had decided to allow Katsuki and the Salvato Sisters in on the secret as well since they were trusted friends of Izuku. Katsuki was only slightly miffed that he got passed over for such a powerful Quirk, but did admit it would be better suited in Izuku's hands. As for the Salvato Sisters, they were content with what they had by themselves.
"As you kids should know, [One For All] stockpiles power much in the same way as Young Yuri's sunlight absorption," All-Might clarified. "And we are about to get into some serious training so you four can be ready for the UA High Entrance Exams."
"We are so ready!" Natsuki said excitedly with stars in her eyes.
All-Might proceeded to pull out a strand of his golden locks. "NOW EAT THIS!"
"We are so NOT ready!" Natsuki backtracked, her eyes shadowed over in an anime style.
All-Might awkwardly cleared his throat. "Sorry, I forgot to explain. There are two important factors in passing on [One For All]. The first is that the current holder must want to pass it on. That's already covered, of course. The second is that the one inheriting the Quirk must swallow a sample of the holder's DNA. I just thought a strand of hair would be the least gross way to go about it."
"No, that's pretty goddamn gross. Couldn't we have done a blood trade?" Monika said with a gag.
Izuku sighed as he simply took the hair from All-Might and swallowed it as hard as he could, shivering as he felt it go down. Sayori and Natsuki covered their mouths in disgust while Katsuki, Yuri, and Monika looked away, wincing in sympathy.
As soon as Izuku finished ingesting the hair, he felt it. Energy began flowing through his body, his muscles hardened as steam started to come off him.
"I think it's working," Katsuki said as he watched this happen.
"And from the looks of it, it's agreeing with him," All-Might added.
Soon, it stopped as Izuku began breathing heavily, having felt an intense rush go through him.
"Wow...That's a rush. I didn't get this strong."
Deciding to be safe, Izuku used the power of Luffy's [Gum-Gum Fruit] and channeled the energy of [One for All]. With a cry, he threw a stretching punch, unleashing a shockwave that cut a line through the ocean before it realigned itself. However, Izuku had been sent flying back, his rubber-fied arm wobbling like crazy but relatively intact.
"I think something might still be wrong here..." All-Might said as he saw what happened as Katsuki and the Salvato Sisters helped Izuku up.
"What were you even trying to do?" Monika asked.
"I thought if I used [One For All] throughout my whole body it might be too much at first. So I tried focusing it on one arm." Izuku said while flexing his fingers. "I didn't know if it would work or not so I used the [Gum-Gum Fruit] to make my body rubber and absorb the energy output if it backfired."
Katsuki facepalmed. "You fucking shitty Deku! If All-Might's Quirk were strong enough to tear your whole body apart while using it, you wouldn't be flying back from kickback. You'd be tiny pieces scattered all over the place."
"You'll need to learn how to control [One For All] throughout your whole body," All-Might noted. "But I'm not the right person to be teaching you that. After all, I was something of a prodigy when using it for the first time. Luckily I know someone who can help."
The next day Izuku, Katsuki, and the Salvato Sisters were gathered at Dagobah Beach again. However with them was a elderly man with spiky white hair and a large mustache. He was dressed in a simple black turtleneck, plain white pants and kung-fu shoes. He was Bang, better known as The Martial Artist Hero: Silver Fang. His Quirk was [Ki Control], this gave him the ability to manipulate his Ki. He used his Quirk in conjunction with his signature martial art, Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist
"Long time no see, Yagi. So, you chose this young man as your successor, huh?" Bang asked as he turned to Izuku, who shyly waved at him.
"Yup, and I feel like it would be best if you were the one to get him up to speed on handling my Quirk!"
Bang chuckled as Izuku shrunk back in embarrassment while Katsuki and the Salvato Sisters grinned, all of them already getting excited about the days of training ahead.
Dagoba Beach was right at the edge of local ocean currents, picking up anything that got washed out to sea. Plenty of illegal dumpers took advantage of this. During one point in their training, the teens saw a Hero that didn't take kindly to that; The Environmental Hero: Captain Planet.
Captain Planet was a Hero who did his best to keep any forms of pollution, both to the planet and to humanity, in check. His Quirk, [Planeteer], granted him control over the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and most important of all; Heart. He could fly, had superhuman strength, could transmute matter, and even alter machinery. With ease, he took out the dumpers, largely Villains hired by factories who were using less than scrupulous methods.
"This is a good lesson to you kids." The Environmental Hero said as he finished tying up the Villains while noticing the teens having witnessed his heroism in action. "Not all evil-doers are supervillains. They come in all shapes and sizes."
Fortunately, Captain Planet was one of the people in the know-how on the secret of [One for All], so he was able to offer some pointers to Izuku alongside Toshinori and Bang.
"Here's a quick question...What's the difference between a Criminal and a Villain?"
"A villain will always act in their own self-interest. Especially if it inconveniences others." Izuku answered.
"But criminals typically try to break the law without hurting others in the process," Katsuki added.
"Right on both counts," All-Might said, impressed. "Expect questions such as these on the written portion of the exam. A Hero has to know when a crime is considered justifiable and lessen the amount of force used to bring them in. This is important to know because sometimes criminals will be desperate enough to attack, rather than surrender, while a Villain will sometimes know when they're beaten and surrender outright."
"You've certainly picked a good bunch of kids, Toshi. Kinda like my own." Captain Planet said with a smile as All-Might chuckled proudly.
Ten months passed slowly, but surely, and before long Dagoba Beach was quickly becoming resort-worthy again. At one point Monika had brought up the possibility of hidden bodies, prompting Toshinori his friend on the force, Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, just in case, but it seemed corpses were one thing no one was desperate enough to dump on the beach. So the training passed without incident.
The ten months of training also helped Izuku get more used to [One For All]. At first, he started using just 5% when moving the junk. Now he could consistently hit 10% without his body getting overtaxed and could even combine Devil Fruit powers now, provided it was only one of each of the three classifications; Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia.
Katsuki and the Salvato Sisters had also improved considerably. Katsuki was now able to generate his nitroglycerin-based sweat on command, Yuri had adapted to exposure to pollutants, Sayori discovered more species of spiders to use the abilities of, Natsuki found creative ways to use her Quirk, and Monika improved the control of her Quirk
"I gotta say, I'm impressed," Toshinori said, looking over the beach, "I only set aside a small area to clean, but you kids cleaned up the entire beach."
"The view is amazing. Just like it was when I was a young man." Bang said with a fond smile as he reminisced. "I can feel the ocean breeze, and there's fresh saltwater hitting my nostrils instead of smog and rust. You kids did well."
"Thanks, Bang-Sensei," Izuku said with a bashful smile at being praised by his teacher.
"We've already sent in your application papers for UA. The rest is up to you. Remember this as you take your exam...There is a difference between being lucky and being deserving. Don't get the two confused. You should get going. It'll look bad if you're late." Toshinori said.
The seven kids nodded and headed off to get ready.
"Hey, Deku," Bakugo said as the four teens approached the exam hall, "What do you think All-Might was talking about back there?"
"Well, when you think about it, All seven of us were lucky to be blessed with powerful Quirks in a district that otherwise doesn't have noteworthy Quirks. But at the same time, we mastered our Quirks through hard work and determination, so us being here...We earned this ourselves. In that way, we could be considered deserving."
"Yeah! I can transform into all sorts of badass forms depending on the element or item I come in contact with but I needed to figure out how to work each one out individually!" Natsuki said.
"But Izuku can do that too with his Logia Devil Fruits!" Sayori pointed out as Natsuki huffed with a pout.
"And I've had to put through the wringer in order to adapt my body to certain situations. Remember that time I was hit by a truck and sailed three feet in the air before crashing into a lamppost? Any ordinary person would've died but my Quirk is definitely not ordinary." Yuri giggled.
Izuku smiled at his friend's excitement but then tripped over his own two feet like an absolute klutz.
"THIS IS IT! THIS IS WHERE I DIE!"
However, Izuku realized he wasn't hitting the cold, unforgiving ground. He was then helped to his feet by an unfamiliar hand as he turned and blushed at who he saw. It was a cute girl with a plump but attractive figure, brown hair in a bob cut, and rosy blush marks on her cheeks.
"Are you okay?" The girl asked. "That could have been a nasty fall."
Izuku tried to recite his vowels in a trance as Katsuki and the Salvato Sisters all smirked. If there was one weakness they knew Izuku had, it was cute girls that weren't Inko, Mitsuki, the Salvato Sisters, or their old currently missing friend Saki.
"I stopped you with my Quirk. Sorry, I didn't ask first. I just felt it would be a bad omen if someone fell on the first day." The girl explained
"Heh, good foresight, Fluffy." Monika chuckled. "If it was me falling, you wouldn't have had to worry, I can manipulate gravity as well."
The girl giggled. "You have some really cool friends. Anyway, guess I'll see you inside."
As the girl headed into the building, Izuku continued staring at her leaving form, a bright pink washed over his freckled cheeks as Natsuki laughed and picked her friend up with surprising strength coming from a girl of her size.
"Come on, Romeo! Let's not dilly-dally!"
The exam orientation was being overseen by Hizashi Yamada AKA The Voice Hero: Present Mic.
"WHAT'S UP, UA CANDIDATES!? THANKS FOR TUNING IN, SO LET ME GIVE YOU THE LOWDOWN ON THIS THROWDOWN!" The Pro said in a loud and eccentric style befitting a DJ. "THE PRACTICAL EXAM WILL CONSIST OF TEN-MINUTE MOCK BATTLES IN SEVEN DIFFERENT SIMULATED URBAN SETTINGS! ONCE I DROP THE MIC, YOU'LL HEAD TO YOUR DESIGNATED ZONE!"
Katsuki and the Salvato Sisters looked at each other's and Izuku's cards and noticed they were in different battle zones. Izuku had Zone B, Katsuki had Zone A, and the Salvato Sisters had Zone C.
"So they split us up so we can't work with friends. Must be why Old Man Bang suggested we train individually as well as together." Katsuki said.
"NOW YOU'LL HAVE THREE TYPES OF VILLAINS IN EVERY BATTLE SETTING!" Present Mic explained. "EACH IS WORTH A DIFFERENT NUMBER OF POINTS BASED ON THEIR DIFFICULTY. SHRED THOSE BADDIES USING EITHER YOUR QUIRKS OR OTHER COMBAT CAPABILITIES LIKE A RAD GUITAR SOLO! REMEMBER TO KEEP THINGS HEROIC, OF COURSE. ATTACKING OTHER EXAMINEES IS A BIG FAT NO-NO AND GROUNDS FOR IMMEDIATE DISQUALIFICATION!"
A young man with glasses and neatly cut blue hair stood up and raised his hand. "Excuse me, sir, but I have a question! The printout lists FOUR types of Villains, not THREE! If this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful! As exemplary students, we expect the best from Japan's most notable school!"
He then pointed to Izuku. "And you. You've been muttering this entire, so stop that. If you can't take this seriously, leave."
"Shut the fuck up, Four-Eyes!," Katsuki called out in defense of his friend, "If you were really paying attention as much as you said you were, then you'd realize that Deku was analyzing everything Present Mic was saying. He just has a habit of doing so out loud! And there was no error on the handout. The fourth type of villain ain't worth jack-shit for points!"
The young man was aghast at Katsuki's bluntness, but Present Mic took it in stride.
"THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! THE FOURTH VILLAIN TYPE IS WORTH ZERO POINTS! NADA! ZILCH! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! YOU'LL FIND ONE IN EVERY BATTLE CENTER. YOU COULD BEAT IT IF YOU HAVE TO OR EVEN WANT TO, BUT IT'S PREFERABLE TO JUST AVOID IT!" Present Mic then decided to finish off his announcement with a bang. "AND REMEMBER AS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE ONCE SAID; A TRUE HERO IS ONE WHO OVERCOMES LIFE'S MISFORTUNES! GIVE ME A PLUS ULTRA!"
Everyone in the auditorium gave a resounding "PLUS ULTRA" in response to the Voice Hero's word.
Midoriya had slipped into a tracksuit and was now standing with several dozen other candidates outside Zone B, one of them being the girl from before as well as the young man with the glasses.
"This is it. Time to go beyond. It's time to show what years of training can really do. Wait for me, guys. We're getting into UA together!"
In Zone D, a girl was wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants. Her eyes perked up when he turned and noticed the green-haired girl Izuku, Katsuki, and the Salvato Sisters rescued from the Sludge Villain ten months ago. She was currently doing squats in preparation for the exam while the axolotl boy she was friends with was writing on a large pad of paper.
"When I was a little kid, I didn't have interest in being a Hero...but when Izuku stepped in to defend me, it inspired me to join him and give Heroism a try...guess I made the right call." The girl in the hoodie thought with a small smile.
The Salvato Sisters, Monika, Natsuki, Yuri, and Sayori were in Zone C. Natsutki was looking around excitedly as she waited for the exam to begin, Sayori was stretching, Monika was meditating and Yuri was doing breathing exercises. Nearby was a girl with orange hair, freckles, a red beanie, and black headphones who was jogging in place.
"Alright, this is it! Time for us to be heroes! The sisters collectively thought.