Just a quick note – this story has a new first chapter, as of 7/31/22. If you haven't read that yet, go do that first, then come back to this.
Beta-read by mirxae
The first thing Izuku felt as he drifted on the edge of consciousness was the rocking. His sleep-addled brain first thought it an earthquake and dredged up muddled plans to hide under his desk. As the rocking continued and Izuku's brain shook off some of its sluggishness, Izuku realized that the rocking was too rhythmic, and too persistent. Lacking context to understand the strange phenomenon, Izuku's brain decided to shelve it for fully-awake-Izuku to deal with.
The second thing he felt was the pain. The dull, stinging throb of day-old bruises was an old friend of Izuku's, and he could tell much by their character. The absence of prickling burn wounds meant Kacchan hadn't taken a crack at him. His arms took the worst of it, meaning he was protecting something. Probably his hero notes. His legs were also beat up, and he dimly noted the presence of a long scratch along one leg. He tried running first. Didn't get away. Right?
The third thing he felt was the bandage. Not his own clumsy wrappings with the roll of gauze hidden in the bottom of his toothpaste box, but flat, neat, and tightly wound. Realizing that someone had professionally treated his injuries snapped Izuku awake with a jolt of dread.
He looked around. The room was dimly lit, with a lone window at the side, but even in the murky shadows, Izuku could tell the walls were made of wood. The mattress felt odd. Soft, but lacking the springiness of memory foam, and smelling faintly of wet bird.
"Bout time you woke up," a gravelly voice groused.
Izuku turned. A man sat next to his bed. Though the shadows hid much of his features, Izuku could tell, even though he slouched, that the man was short. Five feet at most.
"Who are you?" Izuku asked.
"Crocus. As of now, I'm the ship's doctor."
The word 'ship' bounced around Izuku's brain like a loose pebble. It struck a memory and started an avalanche. An ocean view from atop a mountain. Drowning in the current. The smooth, grainy texture of wood against his palms. The crack of lightning engulfing the DeLorean, a swirling vortex of thunderclouds, the headlights of the oncoming truck.
The DeLorean.
Mei.
Izuku bolted up, and his head swam. Crocus irritably swatted him back down with one arm.
"Take it slow, lad. There's a good chance you got concussed like your friend."
"Mei! Where is she? Is she okay?"
Crocus leaned back, giving Izuku a clear view of the other bed. A clean bandage wrapped around her head. Izuku tried to get up again, but the doctor shoved him into the pillow.
"Rest. She'll be fine. Now, you wait right there, while I get you breakfast."
Breakfast was a crumbly biscuit drowning in gravy, a slab of bacon thick enough to club someone with, and a handful of plump orange berries Izuku didn't recognize. Yet, the first morsel awakened a ravenous hunger in his gut, and he licked every morsel off his fingers.
"Tried to tell the captain that it'd be best to give you gruel, but Roger looked at me like I was nuts," Crocus mumbled as he rummaged through a cabinet. "Not real food? Pah! What else is a man missing half his teeth supposed to eat? Easy on the stomach, quick but steady energy, but no, if it isn't dripping with grease, it isn't food!"
Izuku sat up, slowly this time. Crocus watched him like a hawk, but otherwise didn't move.
"Thank you," Izuku hesitantly said.
"Pah, just doing my job." Crocus held a wooden tube to Izuku's chest. It reminded Izuku of a stethoscope, but primitive. Crocus poked and prodded him in a few places and nodded.
"Right, nothing broken, breathing's fine, no concussion. Now, out you get."
Izuku hesitated at the door. "Could I stay? I want to make sure Mei's alright, and-"
"What do you think I'm here for, decoration?" Crocus roared. "I'll watch your girl for you. Now clear out, before I throw you back overboard."
Izuku scurried out of the office and stopped dead at the sight before him. He hadn't ever seen a wooden ship before, aside from a couple of pictures, but the Oro Jackson felt impossibly large around him.
The masts towered above him, seeming to touch the clouds, and the canvas they carried ballooned out as it caught the wind. Izuku felt a thrum under his feet, a gentle humming of the wood as the ship plowed through the water. Every plank of the ship radiated strength.
Looking down, Izuku finally noticed that he no longer had shoes. Or socks. He wriggled his toes, felt the smooth grain of wood against his skin, and felt suddenly paranoid that he'd end up with splinters all over his feet. The rest of his clothes were gone, replaced by a blue and white striped shirt and baggy shorts that felt a touch too long and loose for him. Twine tied around his waist kept his shorts from falling around his ankles.
A gentle shove sent him sprawling to the deck. Izuku looked up and saw a big-chested man hauling rope past him.
"Clear the deck," the man called back at him. "If you're going to gawk around all day, do it somewhere out of the way."
Heart leaping up to his throat, Izuku nodded and hurried away. More glances of the ship crossed his eyes in a dizzying kaleidoscope of unfamiliar sights. A man clambered up a rope swinging in the wind until he reached the crow's nest atop the mast. A woman jerked on a fishing rod and hauled a fish the size of a small whale out of the water. She held it over her shoulder with one hand while it flailed around. Two men shook dice at a rickety wooden table. One cheered when the dice stopped rolling while the other pushed a pile of gold coins.
The ship lurched. A huge spray of water blotted out the sun before falling in a rainbow shimmer. Izuku scraped his knees on the deck, but the man climbing the rope leaned lazily against the mast as he watched the horizon, the woman chucked the fish below deck without breaking stride, and one man grinned cheekily at the dice, now showing different numbers, while the other cocked back a fist. A lean man with graying hair cuffed them both as he walked towards Izuku.
Izuku stared nervously at the newcomer. Sensing the tension, the man leaned on the railing next to Izuku and stared up at the sky. The ship hit another wave, and Izuku barely caught himself.
"Never been on a ship before, have you?"
Izuku swallowed. "N-no sir."
"Name's Rayleigh, not 'sir'. I don't have time to babysit a pipsqueak like you, so here's what you'll do. Watch. Listen. Learn. And don't get in the way. Got that?"
"Y-yes sir!"
Rayleigh rolled his eyes. "Quit calling me sir, I'm not some damn Marine. I'd threaten to throw you overboard, but you look half ready to jump in again."
Izuku blanched and tried to speak, but he fumbled over his own tongue. With a sigh of irritation, Rayleigh got up and stretched.
"Relax kid, we're not gonna eat you. Roger vouches for you, so you're free to walk around. Don't cause trouble, and we'll let you off at the first safe port we come across."
With those final parting words, Rayleigh left Izuku to his own devices. Having nothing else to do, Izuku did exactly what he said. It took a while to find a spot nobody visited, as every so often members of the crew roamed the railing, hunting for fish schooling near their deck, or adjusting the ropes holding the sails in place.
For a while, Izuku lost himself in the organized bustle aboard the ship. Some men swabbed the deck with long wooden brushes, others sanded down stray splinters, or hauled up kegs and barrels from storage. Most others lounged about on deck, or fought with fists and blunted blades, or played dice games with piles of silver and gold changing hands.
As the novelty of the ship's inhabitants faded, Izuku's thoughts strayed towards home. He wondered how worried his mom must be, before remembering that she wasn't even alive yet. He remembered the shattered flux capacitor, told himself that Mei would fix it somehow. Surely she could find the parts they need, right?
Thinking about parts, Izuku hunted the ship for anything Mei could salvage. Years of dumpster diving at the beach at Mei's behest made him a veritable expert on salvageable scrap, but there was an eerie lack of anything resembling technology aboard the Oro Jackson. No motor at the aft, no GPS systems or speaker systems. The steering looked entirely manual, if the way the man's arms bulged as he wrestled the wheel towards port was any indication. Even among the crew, not a cell phone or gaming system could be seen.
"Maybe there's someone with a powerful technomancy Quirk around?" Izuku muttered to himself. "Or it could be a group that's dedicated to the aesthetic? I think I would've heard about a group like this, but it is forty years ago…"
The ship went dark. A loud cry of "Hailstones!" echoed across the ship. Within seconds, everyone had swords and clubs out. Izuku felt his heart race in his chest and wondered if this was how he'd die.
Izuku stared numbly around him as the crew waited. Hailstones? Was that what they said? Hailstones, when he could still feel the summer's afternoon heat on his arms? Then a sphere of ice the size of his head shattered against the deck in front of him. An icy splinter struck Izuku on the arm. More hit the water with loud splashes.
Eyes wide, Izuku scrambled across the deck. All around him, pirates swung swords and clubs through the air, slicing and smacking the balls of ice into more manageable pieces. Other pirates ran with barrels strapped to their backs, scooping up chunks of ice.
Izuku's heart leapt into his throat as hailstones crashed all around him. He tried a door, but it was locked tight. Panicking, Izuku looked around and saw the gambling table, its dice and cups abandoned. Izuku dragged it over to the wall and huddled underneath it. A hailstone hit the table with a booming thud, but the wood held.
It felt like an eternity that Izuku shivered beneath the table as death rained around him. In truth, it was closer to a minute. The hail stopped, and a dense cloud of fog rolled in.
"Eyes peeled, everyone!" someone shouted. "Heavy fog, watch for rocks!"
Izuku blinked. Rocks? Out at sea? But as he stood, a shadow loomed in the mist. All too quickly, a rock emerged, just feet from the deck. Izuku shouted out in alarm. His shout went ignored, but another pirate called, "Hard to starboard!"
The ship lurched sideways, and the rock scraped against the hull. As they passed it by, another rock appeared. Sailors tugged on ropes, and the helmsman threw himself at the wheel. The ship danced towards port, narrowly missing the rock.
Close to the bow as he was, Izuku noticed another rock, shorter than the rest. When they were nearly on it, without the watchman giving cry, Izuku panicked and shouted, "Another rock! Port!"
The ship barely started turning when it rammed against the rock. The ship bounced in the water, and Izuku clutched at the railing as he flew up and over the deck. His feet found wood, and he scrambled back onto the ship.
"Hey kid!" the helmsman shouted down. "Call it out a little faster next time! Nearly lost my arm on that one!"
"S-sorry!" Izuku shrunk in on himself. He flinched when a hand gave him a gentle slap on the shoulder. A boy about his age, with red hair and a tanned complexion, gave him a grin.
"Don't mind Briggs, he's a bit cranky. Nice job spotting that rock. We wouldn't hear the end of it from Tom if we broke the keel of his ship. Name's Shanks, by the way."
"I-Izuku." Izuku took his hand and winced at the young man's crushing grip.
"Weird name. Anyways! Heard you were above deck with all those hailstones falling. Did you try catching one?"
Izuku gaped at him. Catching one? He would've gone splat if he tried! Izuku fumbled for an answer, but Shanks cut him off with a clap on the shoulder.
"Come on, you gotta meet Buggy! Don't mind the knives, he's just got a bit of a short temper."
"Knives!" Before Izuku could protest further, Shanks dragged him below deck, down some long hallways and past throngs of crew members shoving past. Shanks squeezed around a corner and threw open a narrow door.
"Yo Buggy! Found him!"
As the door slammed against the wooden walls, Buggy leapt up. The knife he had been sharpening sliced clean through his thumb, and the severed digit hit the floor. Izuku turned white as he stared at it.
"Buzz off, Shanks, I was busy! Could you at least knock first?"
"Come on, don't tell me you aren't dying to hear about the future! He's from the future!" Shanks looked at Izuku. "You are from the future, right?"
Izuku pointed at the thumb and stammered, "H-h-his thumb… w-w-we need ice for that…"
"What, this?" Buggy asked with a grin. He picked up the thumb and put it on backwards. He wiggled it back and forth and chuckled at the awkward way it bent.
Izuku's color instantly returned to his face. "Wow, is that your Quirk? Ability to detach and reattach your limbs… and immunity to cutting? You were caught by surprise… is it an aspect of your Quirk? Is it a reflex, or a function of the Quirk itself? Would it work if you crushed it off?"
Buggy grimaced. "Haven't tried it, and I'd rather not break any bones. I'm a Chop-Chop man! Slice me and dice me, and I can beat you up with my pieces." To demonstrate, Buggy cut his arms and legs off and danced a jig on the floor.
Izuku reached for his backpack, only to find it missing. "Fascinating. And is your nose a part of your Quirk as well?"
"M-my nose?" Buggy squawked. "Is there something funny about my nose?"
Izuku faltered. "Well, it is unusual looking. Is it made of rubber?"
"Rubber?" Buggy's face reddened to match his nose. "It's a nose, you idiot!"
"Really? You kind of look like a clown with it."
Buggy's hand crept towards his knife. "And what exactly is a clown?"
Shanks grinned and asked, "Are clowns terrifying?"
Izuku looked up at Shanks and saw an expectant look in his eye. Glancing between the two cabin boys, Izuku hesitantly answered, "Absolutely. People run screaming when they see them."
Buggy's hand stopped. "Really? What do clowns do?"
Izuku first thought of circuses and riding unicycles and getting pie thrown in their faces. And discarded them. He ran through a short list of scary clowns. Pennywise was absolutely terrifying, but also not really a clown. And… that was the list.
Sweat rolled down Izuku's face. Thoughts darted through his head, too fast to process. Rainbow wigs, rubber nose, white face paint… clowning around… scary…
"There was one clown who terrorized an entire city. Robbed banks, blew up hospitals, and lit an entire pile of money on fire."
Buggy looked intrigued at first, then disgusted. "Burn money? Who the hell would do that?"
"Someone crazy. Anyways, there was this one guy that tried to threaten him. He took a pencil, set it on the table, and asked if anyone wanted to see it disappear."
Buggy, skeptically, said, "And that's supposed to be scary?"
Izuku gave him a nervous, forced smile. "He made it disappear in the guy's eyeball. Slam! And then he went 'ta-da!'"
Buggy guffawed. "That's hilarious! What else did he do?"
Izuku quickly ran out of Dark Knight scenes to rehash, and the rest was a confused jumble of Pennywise and regular circus clowns. Halfway through the explanation, Buggy brought out parchment and wrote down everything he said.
"Big tent… and juggling knives on a unicycle. Ooh, how about swords, would that work? And tigers? Lions? Big, dangerous animals! Don't know how I'd fit an elephant on a ship."
And thus, Izuku spent his first afternoon aboard the Oro Jackson wondering exactly what he was unleashing upon the world.
Thoughts of the potential collapse of causality came to a halt with a hefty knock upon the door. "Oi, shrimps! Dinner's ready!"
Buggy and Shanks both sprinted out of the room before Izuku knew what was happening. Having to fumble across the ship on his own, Izuku followed the sounds of cheering and clattering plates until he found the mess hall. And what a mess it was. Dozens of greasy, sweaty men hunched over a long wooden table, snatching food off every plate and cramming it in their mouths while a bemused chef munched on a turkey leg and threw plates into the empty spaces as food disappeared. Gold Roger sat at the head of the table, dragging entire plates towards him like a bear, while Rayleigh plucked choice cuts and steaming vegetables like a heron.
Shanks waved at Izuku from his corner of the table. "Hey, Izuku! Saved you a seat!"
To call it a seat would be generous, given the tiny sliver of space left at the table. Izuku squeezed in between Shanks and Buggy, suffocating in the hot, boisterous atmosphere. Buggy's elbow dug into his ribs as the clown-looking cabin boy dug into a turkey breast. Shanks, mouth full of meat and potatoes, gestured towards the plate and said through his half-chewed food, "Help yourself!"
Izuku watched the flurry of hands and food and felt like an elderly man trying to cross a busy intersection. Everything flew too fast for him to process. He reached for a plate in front of him, and a rubbery hand darted halfway across the room and snatched it. A plate piled high with tuna steaks appeared, and like locusts, entire swarms of silverware descended and devoured them.
All at once, the eating stopped. Pirates sauntered away, belching and patting distended bellies, while a few went around collecting dirty plates. Izuku eyed the chicken bones with strips of meat hanging from them, but he had no appetite after that display of gluttony.
Glumly, Izuku stood and followed Shanks out of the mess hall. Or rather, he tried to. After a turn in a hallway, Izuku got lost and ventured back above deck to escape the claustrophobic network inside the hull.
The sun dipped towards the horizon, casting the ocean in a glittering orange hue, and for a moment, Izuku basked in the sight. Between the salty tang of the sea, the wind blowing through his hair, and the gentle warmth given off by the setting sun, Izuku felt a moment of peace that made his simmering hunger and worries drift away in the Oro Jackson's wake.
A loud cry of "Zoro! Sanji!" broke the moment's tranquility. Izuku turned around and saw Luffy peering over the railing with his rubbery neck, opening barrels, and checking under crates. Luffy leapt over Izuku onto the bow of the ship and leaned around the figurehead.
"Nope, Nami's not here either. Where is everybody?"
Luffy squinted at Izuku, as if seeing him for the first time. Then he said, "Hey, you were in the mystery box too. Have you seen Zoro? He gets lost easily. Sanji, Usopp, and Nami don't normally get lost either, but I haven't seen them all day."
"Zoro?" Izuku asked. "Is he a friend of yours?"
"He's my first mate!" Luffy said cheerfully. "He walks around with three swords and holds one in his teeth, like this." Luffy bit on his arm to demonstrate, and the rest of his words were muffled. "Thee? An he thwing it awound wif hi teef."
"I… I see. They didn't come with you in the, uh, mystery box, right?" Izuku drew in a deep breath and asked, "You know we're in the past, right?"
Luffy gave him a blank look and picked his nose. Izuku took a deep breath and asked, "How old were your friends, when you left them?"
"Eh… I dunno, I never really asked them. Huh, I don't know their birthdays either." With a look of horror, Luffy asked, "Did we miss all their birthdays? I never got to eat their cake!"
"Are they about your age?"
Luffy hemmed and hawed before saying, "Yeah, why?"
"And how old are you?"
Luffy proudly pointed to himself and said, "Just turned seventeen! And now I got to sail out and find my brother!"
Izuku frowned at that tidbit. Had the legal age for adulthood really been seventeen forty years ago? Brushing the thought off, Izuku said, "We're twenty years in the past. What that means is, three years from now, you're going to be born."
Judging by the glazed look in Luffy's eyes, Izuku knew he was fast losing him. Abandoning tact, Izuku said, "Your friends aren't anywhere. They don't even exist yet! If we don't get the time machine working again, you would have to wait twenty years before you ever see them again."
"Got it! Then I'll just wait twenty years."
Izuku stared at Luffy's cheerful grin in shock. "Do you have any idea how long that is?"
"Very long." Luffy's face lost its levity. "Longer than I've been alive. But I know they'll be waiting for me no matter how long it takes."
Izuku tried to wrap his head around Luffy's logic. "You'll be twenty years older when you see them."
"So? I'll still be me."
"And they'll still be the same age. You'll be older than all of them. Twice as old."
Luffy's brow scrunched up again. "How the heck does that work? I've never seen anybody not get old!"
Izuku, finally abandoning attempts to explain time travel, thought about his own situation. He and Mei made two jumps back. Forty years. He would see his mother again, but he'd be older than her. He'd have gray hair and wrinkles!
No longer distracted by the new sights, dangerous weather, and the crewmates, Izuku felt the reality of his situation crushing him. Back in time forty years, no money, his phone had vanished beneath the waves, Mei was in a coma, and the DeLorean had a hole through its flux capacitor.
His head was swimming even as he took frantic gulps of air. His hands shook, and sweat ran by the bucketful down his chest and back. As his vision blurred, Izuku whispered, "I'm stuck here. I'm never going back home."
While Izuku had his panic attack, Luffy leaned forward, his face an inch away without the other realizing it. Frowning and humming to himself, as if endeavoring to solve a convoluted puzzle, Luffy raised one finger and flicked it against Izuku's forehead. Izuku nearly flew over the railing.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"You remind me of Coby."
"W-who?"
"Another friend. He didn't want to be a pirate, though. Wanted to be a marine." Luffy made a disgusted face. "He was stuck with some ugly pirate lady until I beat her up."
Izuku paused, unsure what to make of Luffy's story. He nervously gathered himself and said, "There's nothing that I can do."
"Coby said the same thing. Until he didn't. And now he's a marine. I think. I kinda left after that part."
With a quick laugh, Luffy walked off. As the sun set over the waves and the Oro Jackson sailed for the next island, Izuku asked, "Is there really something I can do?"
A/N: It's been… just over a year, and we finally have a second chapter! Woo! Unfortunately, I was hoping to get a lot more done in the three month hiatus I set aside to work on this, and I… well… didn't. I do a lot of my writing at work, and I've had zero time lately because I've had to train two new people these past couple months. For now, I'll do a chapter a month until I get my free time back, which should hopefully be sometime in September.
Leave reviews. Love it, hate it, let me know. I print out the best ones and put them on my refrigerator.
In the meantime, see you later, Space Cowboy Ninja Pirate Hero.