Chapter 16: Aftershocks
Summary:
As the winners of the Sports Festival receive their medals, several people contemplate the aftermath.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"YOU IDIOT!" Recovery Girl hollered. "You'd been so good! You were almost smart! Why would you do this to yourself again!"
"Well, I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds that I was making a horrible mistake…" Izuku said, ducking his head down. "And I went ahead and did it anyway."
Recovery Girl threw up her hands. Izuku activated Full Cowl to reduce the stamina loss as her lips extended and she kissed his arm. "I suppose I should be thankful this was the only time you showed up here today, but you can't treat my Quirk like it's a cure-all. If you repeatedly break your arms like that, you could easily become unable to use them!"
Izuku nodded, gulping in dread at that proclamation, "Got it. I just… I didn't know if I could win without going all out. And after yelling at Todoroki for not holding back, it didn't seem right to do it myself..."
Recovery Girl sighed, "You've been having sessions with Hound Dog, right?"
Izuku nodded.
"Perhaps this needs to be said in addition to whatever you discuss with him," Recovery Girl looked him in the eyes. "Not everything is a life-or-death scenario. Particularly not in a school setting. If you can't win without breaking yourself, it would be better if you lost. Lives weren't on the line today. If they were, you'd be justified, even if I'd prefer you not have to do this to your own body. Here, for a competition? This wasn't necessary."
Izuku looked at his arm in contemplation, then to Recovery Girl, suitably chastised, "Understood. I'll do better."
"Good, now get out of here, I need to fix what you did to the other boy," Recovery Girl made shooing motions for Izuku to leave the room.
Izuku could scarcely believe he was here. After years of watching the U.A. Sports Festivals, he had participated in one! He had WON one! He was quaking as he stood on the first place podium…
"You face down a guy who can shoot glaciers easily, but you're anxious about being on a podium?" Hitoshi looked at him oddly.
"I may have wanted to get this far, but I never expected I actually would," Izuku said, managing to not stutter.
Hitoshi nodded, "Yeah, that's a familiar feeling."
"Great, now that you've reminded me, I'm feeling nervous," Ochako said, sharing the third place podium with Hitoshi.
"Don't be, Occhan, you're amazing!" Izuku said warmly.
"Well, so are you, Izu-kun!" Ochako said, happily.
There was a cough from the second place podium, as Todoroki asked, "So, I misinterpreted one of your relationships today and would prefer not to do so again. Are the two of you dating?"
Both Izuku and Ochako blushed, but nodded, goofy smiles on their faces.
"So then my loss was guaranteed," Todoroki said simply. "Particularly after seeing Uraraka-san thoroughly embarrassing your childhood bully."
Hitoshi looked at Izuku, blinking, "You are just living the dream now, aren't you?"
Izuku laughed, "Absolutely."
Hitoshi shook his head, "Oh, and what was that about misinterpreting relationships?"
"Oh, I was under the impression that Midoriya-san was All Might's son," Todoroki stated bluntly.
"To be fair, that's not so much wrong as imprecise," Ochako said, grinning at Izuku, who blushed further.
"What," Hitoshi stated flatly.
Izuku sighed, "All Might's my mentor, he trained me so I could use my Quirk, and while it's completely unofficial, he's kind of my stepfather now…" his voice got quieter with each word he said.
Eyes wide, Hitoshi asked, "How did you manage to get All Might to adopt you?!"
"Well, I met him at an inconvenient time, I interrupted his day, told him my backstory, and basically he became immediately attached," Izuku said, glazing over a lot of it.
"Hm," Todoroki said. "If those are the criteria, would that mean you're my stepfather now?"
"WHAT?!" Izuku blurted out.
Ochako burst out into giggles, and Hitoshi asked, "How can you say that with a straight face?"
"Hey, I certainly could use a different one," Todoroki said.
Ochako's giggles stopped, and Hitoshi said, "Ah. Yeah. That."
Both Izuku and Todoroki looked at them questioningly.
"Y'see, some of our classmates had overheard bits and pieces, and wanted to know what was going on, so Yaomomo and Mei-chan made some equipment to enhance Jiro-san's Quirk, so everyone in the 1-A stands kind of heard everything the two of you were saying to each other…" Ochako mumbled out.
Izuku looked like he found a spider under his toilet seat. Todoroki blinked, "Huh. Well, at least it's not my class that learned that."
"Actually, it turns out that the guy with multiple arms overheard and told them what was going on. So they eavesdropped on our eavesdropping," Hitoshi added.
"Oh. That's much worse," Todoroki replied, blunt yet affectless.
Before they could comment on that, the dais was raised, exposing them to the crowd.
Midnight announced to the roaring masses, "And to present the medals, who better than-"
"I AM HERE! With the medals!"
"-the Number One Hero, All Might!"
The two pro Heroes looked at each other as they spoke over each other. Ochako held in a laugh. Izuku smiled and shook his head. Hitoshi looked at them with a deadpan and tired expression that was eerily similar to Aizawa. Todoroki's expression was blank as ever.
After a quick attempt to apologize to each other, All Might turned to the recipients. He placed the first around Hitoshi's neck, "Young Shinso, you have proven yourself, in my eyes at least, worthy of entry into the Hero Course. Your Quirk can be used to do so much good."
Looking emotional for the first time, Hitoshi said, "I couldn't have done it without my friend's help. He deserves this more than I do."
"Everyone relies on others for their accomplishments," All Might said, patting Hitoshi on the back and embracing him. "Rest assured, young Fuki proved himself as well. Consider that medal your shared prize."
He turned to Ochako, with the second bronze medal, "Young Uraraka, that was a fantastic display of power and determination. I am in awe."
"I had a few sources of inspiration there," Ochako said.
All Might smiled warmly, embracing her as well, "I look forward to seeing you thrive as a pro Hero."
The silver medal was taken to Todoroki. "Young Todoroki, it was amazing seeing you embrace your flames. I'm happy to have witnessed it."
Todoroki gave the faintest ghost of a smile, "I had an eye-opening experience."
Nodding, he embraced Todoroki before turning to the first place medalist. "Young Midoriya… You've grown so much since I first met you."
Izuku's tears fell freely, "I tried my hardest to make sure that the world knew that I am here…"
"You've succeeded, gone beyond my expectations," as he embraced Izuku, he said, "I'm so proud of you, my boy."
Izuku suddenly had a flash of insight, from the vestige of All Might in his head, "Are you going to finish off by saying Plus Ultra?"
All Might blinked, "No, I was going to thank you all for your hard work…"
Izuku shook his head, "I think everyone's expecting one last Plus Ultra…"
And, as All Might let go and addressed the crowd, he took his protege's suggestion and capped off with a Plus Ultra, on which the crowd pre-empted him.
After the ceremony ended, the four medalists made their way towards their classes.
"Oh my god, All Might's a massive dork," Hitoshi whispered.
"He really is," Izuku agreed warmly.
"You would know best, dad," Todoroki said, causing Ochako to giggle.
"Please don't call me that, Todoroki-kun," Izuku winced. "For all I know you're older than me."
"I was born on January 11," Todoroki stated.
"July 15," Izuku murmured in defeat.
"Maybe I'll get you a joint birthday and father's day gift," Todoroki said.
"Todoroki-kun…" Izuku grumbled.
There was a pause, "I'll stop calling you dad if you stop calling me by the bastard's surname."
"Done. I appreciate it. You can call me by my first name as well, Shouto-kun," Izuku said with a smile.
Shouto smiled, "Of course… Izuku-nii."
Izuku sighed, utterly tired, as Hitoshi grinned and Ochako belly-laughed in response.
From his seat, attached to his life support systems, All for One pondered the situation.
It was obvious that his naive little brother's Quirk had been removed from that insufferable meathead All Might and transferred to the Sports Festival's champion. Tomura had been clear that one of the students present at the USJ could fly and beat a Nomu single handedly.
He'd thought that perhaps All Might had chosen a boy who could fly the way the Seventh could, but that hypothesis died when the boy was televised. Sure, he couldn't actually see the television screen (he had no Quirk that would grant him that ability yet), but his innate ability to identify Quirks in others wasn't limited to sight, and could work through broadcasts. No, the boy was using Float, alongside Danger Sense, and at the end, Blackwhip.
One for All had finally grown enough in power to reach singularity. Oh, what a prize it would be when it was back in his own possession.
Though… there was an odd feeling… another Quirk, one simply named Bonding, an old one he remembered taking, and didn't remember giving, but that somehow wasn't among his collection. That was odd, he wondered how…
Wait…
The stockpiling Quirk he gave his brother! Its original owner was the lover of Bonding's original owner! He'd been so careful to keep Stockpile separate from his own Quirk, to prevent it from creating an All for One outside his control, that he never bothered to make sure the rest of his collection was equally protected!
And even if he did, could it ever have worked in that specific case? Bonding was a Quirk that strengthened a relationship between two interested parties, eventually empowering them as their relationship grew. Quirks had their own personalities, vestiges of their original owners. Bonding and Power Stockpile would have been as inseparable as the lovers he took them from!
All for One's heart rate momentarily spiked until he remembered that Bonding would return to him when he eventually reclaimed One for All. And, even if that failed, it wasn't really a Quirk that he cared for. He only took it on a whim. He scarcely noticed it was missing.
Though it still galled him that he managed to give away a piece of his collection without intending to do so.
All for One turned his attention to his protege. A great deal of the bar had been reduced to dust thanks to Tomura's tantrums. Still, he could tell from the bar's thermal cameras that he was currently holding something in his right hand, using all five fingers, and it wasn't disintegrating.
All for One cursed again. Reattaching that finger had been a bitch. Unfortunately, Decay interacted poorly with healing and regenerative Quirks, and removing Decay from his ward... he couldn't afford to do that. Not even temporarily. The Doctor's talent was all they could rely on to restore Tomura's right hand to any functionality. And while the reattachment had worked, Decay had a ten to twenty five percent chance of failing when used with his right hand.
Honestly, All for One had weighed the pros and cons of killing Tomura and starting over. He decided that he might as well keep the boy. If his plans succeeded, a single slightly-misbehaving Quirk wasn't that big of an impediment.
"Tomura, have you worked this out of your system?" he asked the young man.
"That little…" Tomura stewed, before he paused. "I've been looking at this all wrong. This isn't just a quest. It's a PVP server and a war between two factions. The green-haired brat isn't a mid-boss, he's Player Two."
"An astute observation," All for One so enjoyed the game metaphors his protege used. In addition to making him view others as the pawns they truly were, it reminded him of his fool of a brother, back before he decided to fight against him. "What makes you so certain that he's the player you need to worry about, however?"
"Because he's being trained by All Might and trying to follow in his footsteps, just as I am to you, Sensei," Tomura said, the last part fondly, before the boy scowled. "And if All Might's my final boss, you'd be his."
All for One chuckled, "Excellent deduction, Tomura. Now, how do you plan to use this information?"
Tomura sat down, thinking, "The brat was trying to increase his rep. We need to do something similar. The USJ failed, but it did give us a rep. And the brat slandered me, so I can't let that go…"
All for One grimaced. Having Tomura compared to a toddler throwing a tantrum was unfortunate. Though, considering how Tomura reacted to that speech, it was rather apt.
"Wait, he wasn't just using the fights to earn rep and grind for XP!" Tomura cried out. "His opponents weren't just bosses, they were recruitable units! He's gathering his party before venturing forth!"
And All for One grinned widely at that. Yes, Tomura was progressing nicely.
"The last time, I merely tried to zerg rush them with trash mobs and a few elite units," Tomura said, scratching his neck with nervous energy. "For this next mission, however, I'll need quality over quantity…"
All for One smiled. Another domino fell. Soon enough, his brother's Quirk would return to him, where it belonged.
This had been a taxing day for Izuku, but this was something he needed to do. The five girls were assembled in this classroom, and he gulped as he looked at all of them.
"So, Occhan is already aware of all of this, but I want to make it absolutely clear that this has to be kept secret, no matter what. Today, Mei and I learned that my Quirk's bonding isn't permanent. The bonds can be frayed, and that should mean they can be cut. If any of this makes you uncomfortable, we can end this here," Izuku said.
"I'm still in, ribbit," Tsu replied bluntly.
"I want to know more!" Mei said enthusiastically.
"After Nezu gave us that speech on operational security, I think I'm good," Toru added.
Momo looked at Izuku, and blushed as she said, "I wish to know more as well. I… do not think I will be dissuaded from this."
"Should we put Melissa on call to get her in on this," Toru asked.
"She knows everything already, because All Might was willing to let her know immediately," Izuku said.
"Knew it," Tsu croaked smugly. "Ribbit, I mean that it involved All Might, not that Melissa already knew."
"Makes sense," Toru added.
"It's an easy assumption to make," Momo contributed.
"Yeah, neither of us are very good at lying," Izuku said. "Although, it does help that the actual truth is so bizarre that no one would think of it. I might as well begin with the truth, that All Might and I are both genetically Quirkless."
Everyone save Ochako stared at him in shock.
Finally, Mei said, "Oh, right, the toe joint. That almost always means you're Quirkless. Particularly if your parents have Quirks."
"Yeah," Izuku said, "The reason why All Might and I have powers now actually goes all the way back to the Dawn of Quirks. The story begins with two brothers named Mugen and Yoichi Shigaraki."
Tsu, Momo, and Toru gasped upon hearing the surname. Izuku told the story of how Mugen, taking the name All for One, rose to power, was opposed by Yoichi, and gave his brother a Quirk to hopefully pacify him. That Yoichi had the power, useless on its own, to pass his Quirk to another person. How the Stockpile and Transfer became a Quirk he called One for All.
"So, a Quirk that could stockpile strength and be passed down from person to person," Momo said. "So, All Might didn't think he was Quirkless until he was fifteen. He was Quirkless until he was fifteen. He was given his Quirk by his mentor… and he gave it to you…"
"But then how do you have all those other things that All Might can't do! He can't fly or sense danger or make those tentacles you pulled outta your butt at the last minute!" Toru shouted.
Izuku kind of chuckled, "Are you guys familiar with Quirk Singularity Theory?"
"That's the thought where, as generations pass, Quirks become too powerful for the human body to handle?" Mei asked.
"Yeah, well, after gaining enough power over nine generations, One for All hit a point like that," Izuku clarified. "Turns out that One for All wasn't just stockpiling physical strength. It was storing the Quirks of the previous users. Danger Sense belonged to the fourth user, Hikage Shinomori. Those tentacles are called Blackwhip, which belonged to the fifth user, Daigoro Banjou. And Float belonged to Nana Shimura, the seventh user and All Might's mentor. Once it was transferred to me, it had enough power to manifest those Quirks as well."
There was another pause, and then Momo asked, "How did you learn all of this? And how do you know it's the truth."
"Well, we told him!" Daigoro stated in her mind.
Momo squeaked in shock.
Daigoro-ji-san, Izuku scolded, causing Ochako to giggle. "Momo-chan, what you just heard was what I've been hearing since the day All Might gave me One for All. The memories and personalities of the previous users are stored in One for All as well as the Quirks. They've been giving me help and advice ever since."
Momo seemed shocked. Tsu and Toru were looking back and forth in disbelief, and Izuku could feel that they didn't know what to think.
Mei, on the other hand, did. "That's really cool! You've got eight heroes inside your head giving you advice! I'd be glad to have eight great inventors to talk to!" Mei then paused, "Wait, no I wouldn't. I already know about their inventions and they'd probably have old ideas about how things should be that would make making new stuff harder."
"You're taking this really well, ribbit," Tsu said, still a little baffled.
"Well, we all can tell Izuku's being sincere!" Mei said, gesturing to him. "Besides, if he was lying, Momo wouldn'ta gasped and he'd have probably chosen a less crazy thing. Plus, it's not like he was really lying to us before? His Quirk is kinda weird and we know it's a stockpile. It's just stockpiling something we didn't think of!"
Izuku's eyes welled up with tears at that, "Mei…" he said affectionately. He needed someone like her in his life for years. At least he had her now.
DING!
"Whoa, I just dinged!" Mei said, happily. She looked quizzically at everyone, "So, when I thought that if I could have Izuku look at me like that and say my name like that for the rest of my life, I would, I guess that counts as being in love?"
"I'd say that counts," Hikage replied. "Wouldn't quite know, never found the time or the appropriate partner."
Mei blinked, then said, "Oh, that's one of your ghosts! Which one are you?"
"Hikage Shinomori. Fourth host of One for All. Former vigilante and hermit. And the user through which you and Izuku are bound."
"Wait, the bond works through your ghosts?"
"As far as we can tell. We're not entirely sure. The Bonding Quirk didn't belong to us, the Stockpile ate it while it was inside All for One," Hikage replied.
Mei considered that, "Huh, maybe the Bonding's supposed to work with only one person, but your Quirk-ghosts work like facets of a prism to refract it and make bonds with multiple people?"
Izuku blinked, "That's as good an explanation as we have…"
Tsu looked at them, "Mei-chan reassured us, ribbit, but hearing her have a conversation with someone we can't see is making this easier to swallow."
Izuku looked at Toru, "How about you, Toru-chan?"
The invisible girl was vibrating, and upon being responded to, shrieked "Eeeeeeeeeeee!" She leapt up, "This is so adorable! I want your Quirk to ding me!"
Ochako let out a "Pfft." and giggled. Everyone else followed suit.
"Okay, yeah, that sounds dirty even if it doesn't make much sense," Toru admitted when things quieted down.
"Izu-kun?" Momo asked, "How do we form the mental wall? I'm sorry, Mei-chan, but you have a very… active train of thought. It's more than a little distracting."
Mei blinked, "Oh. Sorry?"
Momo shook her head, "It's not your fault, Mei-chan! Your thought process should never be something you should apologize for!"
Izuku nodded. "I can go over the basics, but Yoichi-jii-san will need to discuss things with you in person to make sure you can do so properly."
"How do you meet a ghost in your head 'in person', ribbit?" Tsu asked.
"You fall asleep within ten meters of Izu-kun," Ochako said. "Possibly more, we'll need to test how much changed with two more Stage 2 Bonds."
"And how close did you two get?" As they blushed, Toru giggled. "So what's it like?"
"Fair warning, because I neglected to give one to Occhan and I deserved it when she smacked me," Izuku said. "You'll be in a featureless, misty place with at least one of the past users. Most of your body won't go with you."
"I was a mess of black stuff below my nose!" Ochako said indignantly. "I didn't have a mouth, but all I could do was scream!"
"It's been a few months and I could only form a mouth last night," Izuku added.
"I had to try and go back to sleep knowing I'd be going back to that!" Ochako cried out. "It was nerve-wracking!"
"I'm sorry," Izuku bowed again. "I'd been doing it for so long by then that I forgot how unnerving it was!"
Ochako gave a small pout as she said, "You're forgiven," out loud. In Izuku's head, she continued, "As long as we continue that kiss after dinner at your house."
Izuku was so happy that Momo and Mei didn't hear that part.
Enji Todoroki sat in the middle of his destroyed home gymnasium.
The cost of replacing his equipment was of little consequence to him, and the soundproofing he had installed meant that he would not bother his children with the noise as he worked out his aggression. Once he had, he was deep in thought. And his thoughts weren't pleasant.
Watching Shouto's performance in the Sports Festival was an exercise in frustration. The first two events and his first two tournament rounds, it irked him to see that his youngest child was choosing to weaken himself for stupid reasons. Then he almost lost his semi-final match, only winning because his opponent's (admittedly impressive) move had exhausted her. If he had used his flames, he would have easily won.
And then there was the final match. The match with the Midoriya boy. A match where Midoriya spent most of it not taking things seriously, taunting Shouto by using his own power at a reduced strength.
Enji had heard many saying that Midoriya hadn't been using his Quirk at all, but anyone who had experience could tell his prowess was above that of a Quirkless person.
And then, Midoriya's goading had finally gotten through to Shouto! He'd used his flames! His son took up the power that Enji had gifted him, had spent so long cultivating so he could produce a great hero!
And Shouto still lost.
And thus, Enji thought back to when he confronted the green haired boy. At first, he'd been angry at the impertinence. Then, he dismissed the boy's words as foolish, that he didn't know what he was talking about.
As time went on, however, and he turned the words over in his head, Enji was unable to shake the feeling that the boy had a point.
Perhaps some of it wasn't correct. Heroic legacies existed, after all. The Iida boy was one such example. But individual members of heroic families could become lost in the shuffle. Ingenium's father and uncles and grandfather were all pro Heroes, but Enji couldn't remember their Hero names off the top of his head. And honestly, would Enji want to be known in history as an afterthought? As Shouto Todoroki's father, nothing more? Would that be satisfying?
Once upon a time, yes, it would be enough, because a legacy would be more than what All Might was leaving behind. But, now? It was clear that Midoriya was All Might's legacy. Possibly a secret lovechild, definitely an apprentice.
And, as a final nail in the coffin, was the speech Midoriya gave to Shouto. There was no official audio feed, and most wouldn't have heard it, but one observer did manage to record it, beginning with the boy shouting that All Might wasn't going to be around forever.
"If All Might died tomorrow, how many people would look at Endeavor and say, 'Everything's fine, I still feel safe'?"
The entire speech had gone viral. And, thus far, consensus was that if that scenario came to pass, very few people would believe that they would be safe if Endeavor was around and All Might wasn't.
And so, Midoriya's words were proving themselves true. Enji valued strength, trained to use his strength to the best he could, and wished to use his strength to reach the apex of Heroics, to attain the Number One spot.
But strength alone wouldn't be enough. Couldn't be enough.
Enji's strength couldn't make his son budge in his stubborn refusal to use the entirety of his Quirk. All Might's disciple could.
At the rate he was going, would Shouto even be Enji's legacy?
Enji sighed. It was clear that things needed to change. Unfortunately, he had no idea where to even begin.
From an abandoned building in Hosu, the Hero Killer Stain was watching the clips of the U.A. Sports Festival on a burner phone.
He needed to be aware of the new trends in the world of Heroes. He had to see who might emerge to become the newest fake he would need to cull.
There was one child who was making waves. At first, he felt that the boy would be a prime example of a false hero, if the claims that he was going to be the next All Might were any indication. After all, the son of the worst so-called Hero was among their number.
Then, he heard the speeches.
The opening speech was a wonderful surprise. Deliberately telling the fat cats that they were making a tactical error? Wishing to eschew glory in exchange for keeping his classmates safe? Challenging his peers to go all out not for prestige, but to scare villains? This boy seemed to have the right instincts.
That only intensified when he saw the boy sacrifice his lead to help his classmates during the race, and clear a minefield to prevent his peers from being caught in the explosions.
When he heard the last speech, the speech to the second-generation false Hero, Stain was convinced. He cared not for his own glory. He wanted to better society as a whole! He was a true Hero! One who wished to breed more true Heroes! It was a shame he wasted his time trying to convince the fake, but, as the boy said, even All Might had his faults.
As he saw the boy and All Might embrace on the winners' dais, Stain knew, in his heart, that this one was special. The kind of Hero who must be protected. The kind of Hero who needed to thrive.
So Stain would continue his mission. He would bloody his own hands to save the future, weed out the fakes who would prevent this young man from spreading his roots and flourishing. He would bring about a better world.
And when his work was completed, if not All Might, this boy was clearly worthy of killing him.
Following the extremely long day, coming home to a crying Inko, a crushing bear hug for both him and Ochako, and a long overdue makeout session, Izuku finally, mercifully, went to sleep.
As Izuku slept, he felt himself pulled into the realm of the vestiges within One for All. He looked around, and, being able to form a mouth now, he called out, "Hello?" to whoever was within.
Two unfamiliar silhouettes came from the mists. Both seemed to be wearing variations on military body armor. One of them was dressed more for mobility, it seemed, and wore a headband with hair in a topknot. The other was wearing thicker armor, and had two cannon-like gauntlets on his hands. When he first got a glimpse of him, particularly his spikey hair and eyes, he blinked.
Bakugou? He thought for a second until the vision became clearer. No, despite looking somewhat like his old acquaintance, at least an older version of him, the hair was the wrong color, and his face was shaped differently. He looked down on Izuku appraisingly.
"Well, nice to finally meet you," Izuku said, smiling.
"Hmm," Not-Bakugou looked down at him, a scar across his face, between his eyes. The voice was that of the second user.
"Chief," Three said with some exasperation.
"All right," Two replied. "Listen, Nine, I'll admit, you've been impressing us. I still think Yoichi and our successors are coddling you, but you're definitely scrappier than I thought. You're a bit naive, but you've got potential."
Izuku sighed, "Let me ask you both something; how am I naive? Is it just the fact that I don't want to kill?"
"Look, Nine, we get it. Killing should always be saved for when it's necessary. Sometimes, though? It is necessary. And you shouldn't take it off the table," Two responded. "And to boot, you live in paradise compared to how the world was back in the Dark Ages."
Izuku breathed in, "You're aware of the fact that I was basically considered expendable by society before I got One for All, right? That if I died at the hands of that sludge villain before All Might saved me, very few people would have mourned me? I know for a fact that the world isn't all sunshine and goodness. Maybe it doesn't compare to what you've been through, but I have some knowledge of man's inhumanity to man."
"You're right that it isn't comparable," Three stated. "But you're also right in that you're not completely naive."
"If you're worried I'll try to convince Mugen Shigaraki to give peace a chance, don't," Izuku said. "He killed people I love. That I met them after they died is irrelevant. Once I get a hang of One for All, I'll take him out. Permanently."
"And his cronies?" Two asked.
"I mean, I'd try and see if I can't take them in legally. If it's a choice between them or the innocent, I know who I'll pick, but I'm going to try and be strong enough to avoid having to make that decision," Izuku answered.
Two sighed, "We'll see how long your ideals last out in the field."
"If they crumble to pieces at the first sign of trouble, then I don't have ideals at all," Izuku responded.
There was a pause, and Three broke out into a grin. "Screw it, I guess we're uncles now."
"Given that I'm sure my sister's somewhere in that Bakugou brat's family tree, I'll say this is a better option for a nephew," Two responded, faintly smiling.
"Oh, so I wasn't imagining the similarities," Izuku sighed in relief.
Three turned to Izuku, "I'm Isamu Mitsunami. As I said earlier, my Quirk is Fa Jin."
Two looked at Izuku, "Ryouji Futatsuya. I call my Quirk Laser Disc." He held out his hand, showing off a blue, glowing disc about the size of a yen coin. "I could make these little discs of energy and hurl them away from my body," he repelled the disc away, and it made it about five meters or so before it fell.
"Wow…" Izuku said in awe.
Two - Ryouji - snorted, "Of course you're impressed. But that was a seriously weak attack right there. I could make them larger, but they'd be harder to launch. And it'd take time to gather enough energy for them to grow. And while gathering energy, they could easily be shattered."
"Most of us who fought All for One back then had weaker Quirks, both because we were first generation, and because anyone with more powerful Quirks had them taken by All for One," Three - Isamu - said.
"That's why I had these things," Ryouji patted one of his gauntlets. He formed another coin-sized disc, and it slid along the back of his hand into the gauntlet's opening. He concentrated, and Izuku could see the disc grow, until it was about the diameter of Ryouji's hand. The gauntlet then launched the disc like a slingshot. Izuku couldn't even see it land.
Izuku's eyes boggled. "That's such an ingenious way to overcome a Quirk's limitations!"
Ryouji laughed, "Yeah, you'll have to get your inventor girlfriends to make something cool."
"Assuming that growing for two centuries in One for All hasn't made it stupid powerful, Chief" Isamu added.
"We'll see how it turns out," Ryouji said. "Get some rest, Izuku. You earned it