No beta this time, we die like Whitebeard

Izuku's day started with a bucket of water before the sun rose and went downhill from there.

Sopping wet, with a chuckling Buggy trailing behind him, Izuku went above deck and met with Rayleigh. Roger's first mate gave a raised eyebrow at Izuku's thin arms and gangly frame and told him to swab the deck. With a bucket in one hand and a mop in the other, Izuku joined the other cabin boys in pressing salt water into the deck. Shanks gave him pointers, while Luffy drooled and mumbled about meat, half-asleep even as his arms moved.

Rayleigh watched them while they worked. After seeing Luffy's arms stretch to cover the entire deck, he came over with a pair of handcuffs. "You haven't built any muscle for a while, have you?" he asked Luffy. "Wear these."

The moment Luffy touched them, he sagged down to his knees. Tongue lolling, Luffy panted, "It's so heavy!"

"Sea Prism Stone is any Devil Fruit's greatest weakness. Learn to work through it, and you'll grow even stronger."

At any other time, Izuku would've mumbled theories about the foreign terminology, but the burning numbness in his arms made Izuku blind and deaf to everything that wasn't the slosh of water on the wooden boards and the squelching noises of his heavy, sopping wet mop squeezing the dirt out of the wood.

"Don't be stingy with the water," Rayleigh told Izuku. "It keeps the ship watertight and stops mushrooms from growing. The wrong mushroom out in the Grand Line can kill an entire crew." With a swig from a bottle, Rayleigh added, "Or worse."

Izuku felt the difference where he walked. Dry planks rattled under his feet, moving ever so slightly, while the soaked boards hummed, stuck in place.

"Augh, this is boring!" Luffy roared and kicked his bucket. It landed on Buggy's head, and the cabin boy tried to stab him. "When are we going to fight?"

Rayleigh cuffed him on the back of the head. "Doesn't matter how well you can fight if you fall over after five minutes. Now keep scrubbing. Give me any more lip, and I'll make you swab with your feet."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Luffy did a handstand and grabbed the mop with his toes. After a few minutes, Luffy collapsed on his back, panting and exhausted. "Ugh, everything hurts."

Lying down next to his fellow time traveler, Izuku had to agree. Getting beat up by Bakugo hurt, but the muscle-burning exhaustion in every fiber of his body transcended any pain he had ever known before.

A shadow loomed over them. Izuku gulped as he looked up at Rayleigh's bemused face. "It's not naptime yet, little shrimps. Or are you giving up already?"

The thought of giving up crossed his mind. It's not like cleaning ships or hauling barrels would give him a Quirk. As he lay there, staring up at Rayleigh, he remembered the pirate with a club, remembered nearly dying, remembered watching as they carried Mei out the door. Gritting his teeth, Izuku swung onto shaking feet and stood trembling before the first mate.

"I… I'll keep going," Izuku panted.

"Looks like you got some spine after all." He nudged Luffy with a foot. "What about you?"

Luffy scowled at him and crossed his arms. "This is boring and I'm starving. Let me know when there's something to punch."

Rayleigh shrugged and removed the cuffs. "Suit yourself."

Groaning and flexing his sore arms, Luffy wandered off in search of meat. Rayleigh turned his gaze towards Izuku and grinned.

"Seeing that I haven't scared you away yet, why don't we move on to some real training."

"You mean this wasn't training?" Izuku asked, exasperated.

"Oh, it was, but you won't be pushing pirates around by swabbing decks all day. Let's see how well you can throw a punch."

A small crowd of Roger's crew formed a ring around them as Izuku and Shanks squared up against each other. Izuku stood tense, fists balled up in front of him and fidgeting on his feet. Shanks, meanwhile, stretched his arms and leaned back.

"Don't go too hard on him," Rayleigh warned. "I want to see what we're working with first."

"Sure," Shanks said. "Go on Izuku, let's see how hard you can hit me."

"Y-you sure?" Izuku asked.

"I got slapped by a Sea King once. Whatever you got, I can take it."

Izuku edged forward, watching for any sign of movement. Shanks didn't even watch him come closer. Once he was within reach, Izuku wound back a fist and flung it at Shanks. To his utter surprise, the cabin boy didn't even try blocking it. Izuku's wrist throbbed from the impact, and Izuku backed away hissing in pain.

"Eh…" Shanks said, rubbing his cheek. "I'd give that one a four."

"A four?" one pirate bellowed. "I've seen feathers hit harder than that!"

"A four for effort," Shanks added. "He threw his weight into it."

"Lad's ninety pounds soaking wet. Not much weight to throw around."

"Pfft, I could've dodged that in my sleep."

Izuku felt his cheeks flush as the crowd threw more insults at him. Rayleigh shook his head and said, "You've never punched someone before, have you?"

"N-no sir," Izuku stammered.

Rayleigh rolled his eyes. "Kids these days. Well, I guess you're from the future, so this generation gets a pass. You telegraphed that punch too much, and you hurt your wrist by angling it. Punches need to be a short, quick snap, like this."

Rayleigh's fist blurred an inch from his face. Izuku yelped, stumbled back, and fell on his ass, to the laughter and jeering of the crew. Blushing, Izuku leapt back to his feet and copied the punch.

"Better. Now, let's see what happens if Shanks tries dodging."

Izuku stepped forward more boldly this time. He threw a feint, and Shanks didn't even blink at it. Izuku's next punch snapped out. Shanks leaned aside, and the quick jab missed him by a mile. Surprised, Izuku overextended and leaned forward.

Just before Izuku fell, Shanks pressed a fist into his gut, knocking the wind out of him without applying any force on his part. Izuku fell to a knee and gasped for air.

"Wow, you don't have any muscle on you," Shanks remarked. "Guess that means you're on barrel duty for a while."

True to Shanks' words, after some more light sparring and a couple bruises from Shanks' half-hearted counters, Rayleigh set Izuku to hauling barrels of fish, pickled vegetables, and water from below deck. Already sore from earlier, Izuku felt as though his arms would explode every time he hefted a barrel over his shoulder. Sweat matted his hair, and his shirt was drenched by the time the chef told him to grab a seat for dinner.

After a whole day without eating, Izuku's stomach howled at the first whiff of roasted fish. But once again, Izuku found himself stymied by the speed and violence with which the pirates ate. He watched, helpless, as food arrived and disappeared before his chopsticks could even come close to the tiniest morsel.

Izuku's hands shook as he watched food vanish before his eyes. Drool dribbled down his chin, and his thoughts slipped away until all that remained was the maddening hunger driving a stake through his gut.

Izuku dropped his chopsticks. His hand darted at the nearest pile of food like a python and grabbed a handful of meat. He swallowed. His eyes went wide as the food lodged in his throat. As he panicked and clawed at the table, Shanks gave him a hearty slap on the back. Two chicken wings clattered onto his plate. When Izuku went to eat them more slowly, rubbery hands snatched them up. Luffy swallowed them, bones and all.

Put-off by the near-death experience, dinner came and went before Izuku could work up the courage to seize another morsel. Izuku groaned as he rose from his chair, every muscle stiff and aching. He followed the crowd outside and saw Crocus waiting for him on the deck.

"Your friend's up."

Hunger and aches forgotten, Izuku sprinted towards Crocus' room. Mei tore into a biscuit with her teeth as Izuku sat down next to her.

"Are you feeling alright?" Izuku asked.

"Starving. And bored. Grumpy doctor won't let me out of bed."

"That's because you'll fall over before you take five steps," Crocus retorted. "Now, what do you remember? Izuku, I'll need your help making sure she isn't missing any memories."

"We used the time machine, right? I remember a truck…"

"Yeah. We made it back just before we hit it."

Mei looked thoughtfully around the room. "Are you sure we didn't hit it? I thought I hit my head."

"I mean, I guess we did? But the DeLorean didn't have a dent in it, so maybe it was going back that did it?" Izuku told her the rest of what happened, including the second trip back, landing on a ship, and going up a mountain.

"Hmm… hey old guy!" Hatsume said cheerily.

"Piss off, I'm not old yet!"

"Yes you are. Anyways, where are we?"

Crocus glowered and rummaged in his cabinet for his most bitter herbs. "Just past Whiskey Peaks, in Paradise."

"And where is that?"

"The Grand Line."

"And where is that?"

Crocus looked at her like she was crazy. "The Grand Line is the Grand Line, girl. Don't tell me you've never heard of it!" He finished making a tincture and offered it to her. "Drink that, and don't complain."

Hatsume drank it down and clicked her tongue. "Hmm… could use a bit more of a kick."

"Oh, I'll give you a bit more of a kick. Is your tongue made of steel, girl?"

"I wish it was. Then I could mount a rocket launcher on it!"

Izuku put a hand on her shoulder. "Mei, don't get any ideas."

"Aw, come on! You know it'd be cool!"

"Your head would explode."

"As amusing as this conversation is," Crocus cut in, "I have better things to do than listen to you two lovebirds. Either help me with some poultices, Izuku, or you can turn your body to mush with Rayleigh."

As Crocus guided Izuku through the process of making a painkiller out of tree bark, Hatsume checked her phone. "Hey, how come we don't have any service? Aren't we only twenty years in the past?"

"Forty," Izuku said. "Two jumps, remember?"

"Izuku, the satellites are centuries old. Did you never check your phone?"

"I lost mine."

"You didn't try to borrow anyone else's?"

"No one has one. There's no electronics at all on this ship. They're really committed to the pirate aesthetic for a group of vigilantes."

"That, or we're in a completely different world."

Izuku's brain crashed, and the little I.T. person in his head threw their hands up and stormed out. "Another world," Izuku dully echoed.

"We hit a truck," Hatsume pointed out.

"How does that make any sense?"

"It's the ultimate isekai trope." At Izuku's uncomprehending expression, Hatsume added, "You know, guy gets hit by truck, enters another world, and gets a harem of highly marketable anime girls."

As Izuku rebooted his brain and reviewed everything he had experienced, he saw the logic of Hatsume's deduction. No technology or knowledge of it, no knowledge of Japan despite speaking Japanese, impossible plants and geography that defies physics.

"We're in another world," Izuku croaked.

"Looks like it!" Hatsume said brightly.

Izuku put his heads in his hands. "We're doomed."

"Nah, getting back will be super easy, barely an inconvenience!"

Izuku gave her a baleful glower from between his fingers. "I'll ignore that obscure reference in favor of asking how we're getting back."

"It couldn't be simpler, Izuku! All we need to do is make a truck and run into it."

Izuku sighed in exasperation and asked, "What if that just takes us to yet another world?"

"Then we keep doing it until we find our world! That, or we find something along the way to help us aim." Hatsume smothered a yawn and moved her blankets. "In fact, I should get on that right now. Got a few parts in the trunk I can tinker around with, and…"

Prompted by Hatsume's yawning, Izuku echoed her. Crocus gently pushed her onto the bed and pulled up the sheets. "As exciting and existentially terrifying it has been listening to you two catch up, you both need to sleep."

"But… but babies…"

"But nothing. I'll let you out in the morning. As for you," Crocus said, examining the way Izuku's body sagged in on itself, "Don't overdo it. Tear a muscle and I'll give you the nastiest tincture I can make. Got it?"

"Got it," Izuku said around a yawn. His feet felt like lead, and the wooden boards of the deck looked more and more tempting to lie on, but Izuku fought back his exhaustion. As he walked, his thoughts drifted away from the hammock waiting for him and towards the revelation that he was no longer in his own world. Before, he might have been fifty-five, but he would have seen his mother again. Now? He could live a thousand years and never see her again.

He paused before the door down to the below-decks quarters. Before, he had felt exhausted down to his bone marrow, wrung out like a dish rag and limp from lack of food, but now? Now, his body tingled with restless energy, fueled by anxiety and helplessness. A desperate, overpowering need to do something, anything, set aflame every cell of his body.

But what could he do? As much of a knack for electronics Izuku had picked up as Hatsume's errand boy, he couldn't make a calculator, let alone devices meant to shatter the bounds of space and time.

So, what could he do? Izuku's eyes drifted to the piles of cannonballs, still lying abovedeck after their clash with the Rock Pirates. When he put his hands around one and tried to lift it, a fresh surge of agony crackled through his body like a rogue thunderbolt, bouncing off his ribs like a xylophone and hurtling straight into his brain. Izuku flinched away and gasped for air as his whole body shook and sweat poured down his face.

Izuku took one step back. Mei, bloodied, slumped over the wheel of the DeLorean, appeared before his eye. Another step. Three pirates hauled her out of bed. Another. A wooden club, still dripping with Crocus' blood, towering over him.

Izuku stopped. Turned. The cannonball shone in the pale moonlight, its mottled surface riddled with shadowy pockmarks. Izuku ran his fingers over it, felt the cold iron against his feverish skin.

He lifted. Again, his body screamed, but this time, Izuku shut out its agonized voice. He lifted and felt the clumsy weight of the cannonball leave the deck.

Step. His shoulders creaked, and his legs wobbled. Step. Izuku's teeth clenched, and the veins in his neck bulged out. Step. His foot slipped. Izuku's knee slammed on the deck, but he kept the cannonball off the ground. Screaming through gritted teeth, Izuku put his foot back under him and took another step.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Izuku's world shrank to the wood beneath his feet and the iron in his hands. Blood dripped from his fingers as the rough metal ripped his skin. Muscles tore as Izuku pushed them well past their limits. His bones creaked as every movement brought them to the brink of cracking. But Izuku kept walking. Step, by step.

Izuku took another step forward and hit something. Shocked out of his trance, Izuku looked around. He had reached the other end of the deck, and the cannonball had tapped the railing. At his feet was an empty box for cannonballs. He stared numbly at the spot for a moment before setting down his burden.

The moment the weight left him, Izuku experienced a moment of relief, of euphoria, so overwhelming that Izuku stopped to bask in it. To breathe. To feel the radiant afterimage of fire and pain that warmed every muscle from his toes to his neck. For the first time in his life, Izuku Midoriya felt well and truly alive. He exalted in every twitch of his muscles, every beat of his heart, the swish of air through his throat and lungs.

After an eternity and a second, Izuku turned around. A mountain of cannonballs loomed on the other side of the ship. Looking back at that one cannonball Izuku had moved, his accomplishment suddenly felt small and silly. Yet, it had lit a fire in Izuku's heart. A burning, smoldering sensation urged Izuku's feet forward. He picked up another cannonball. Walked back. Set it next to the other one.

Izuku's body broke itself, piece by piece. Skin tore, muscle fibers snapped, and bone cracked. And piece by piece, Izuku's body rebuilt itself. Skin scabbed over, muscles regrew, and bones fused back together. Each time Izuku's body weathered the cycle of the phoenix, it grew ever so slightly stronger.

After the third cannonball, Izuku held them at waist height. By the sixth, Izuku carried them over one shoulder. After ten, Izuku carried two at once. Izuku fell asleep at one point, mid-stride, and woke to find another six cannonballs in his pile. And all the while, the fire in Izuku's chest burned hotter and hotter, burned away his fears and doubts until nothing remained.

As the sun rose, Izuku carried the last cannonball. His arms quivered, and his legs bent awkwardly under the burden, but the metal felt light in his hands.

A door opened. Gold Roger strode out onto the deck. He watched as Izuku heaved the last cannonball high in the air and set it down atop the pyramid.

Izuku stopped. Looked between the pile at his feet and the empty box fifty feet away. Then he saw Roger, lit by the rising sun. In the captain's eyes, Izuku saw the same fire that burned in his chest.

Gold Roger grinned and turned away. As the captain left, Izuku felt a smile stretch his own lips.

Izuku wolfed down breakfast with a fervor that made the other pirates nod in respect. A whole boiled egg, shell and all, disappeared with a crunch. Fishbones ground to powder between his teeth, and he drank down an entire boat of gravy.

"Wow, Rayleigh's working him to the bone," one pirate said. "Lad looks ready to blow away in a stiff breeze!"

"Gotta give the kid credit, he's putting in the work. We'll make a pirate out of him yet!"

Back on deck, Rayleigh waited for him. Buggy and Shanks were already hauling barrels, and Izuku moved to join them. Rayleigh stepped in his path.

"Am I doing something else?" Izuku asked. "Like moving cannonballs?" Izuku thought back to the night, and horror struck them. "Oh no, was I not supposed to move them? I'll move them all back right away!"

Rayleigh put one finger on Izuku's forehead and pushed. Izuku let out a yelp as he landed on the deck, his entire body limp and aching as though he had ground every cell into hamburger.

"Ow… sorry for… whatever I did."

Rayleigh shook his head. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one."

"Huh?" Izuku asked. "What did I do wrong?"

"Take a look at your arms."

"My…" Izuku looked down. His arms were sticky with dried blood, and they had shrunken down so much he could see his bones sticking out. Izuku turned pale as he examined the rest of him. Ribs stuck out of his emaciated chest, and his legs looked like toothpicks. By contrast, his belly stuck out like a giant balloon and jiggled with each breath he took.

"I… oh god, what did I do?"

"Relax, kid, you'll be fine." Rayleigh patted him on the shoulder. "Eat, sleep, and you'll be fit to fight a marine captain in the morning."

Izuku gave him an incredulous look, but he felt too tired to fight the advice. "Alright," Izuku said sleepily, "Guess I'll lie down then."

"Not right here," Rayleigh snapped as Izuku wobbled on his feet. "I'll let Crocus deal with you."

The small shiver of fear Izuku felt woke him enough to make it to Crocus' room. The doctor took one look at Izuku's emaciated frame and smacked him on the head with a bundle of herbs.

"You idiot. You're lucky all your bones are in one piece."

"Am I going to be okay?"

"Should've asked that before you spent the whole night hauling half your weight in cannonballs." At Izuku's horrifed expression, Crocus snorted and said, "You'll live. What kind of doctor would I be if I couldn't treat something so simple?"

He ground together two sets of herbs and steeped them in boiling water. Once it cooled, he handed Izuku a cup. Within seconds of drinking it, Izuku felt his eyelids drooping.

When Izuku woke up again, the fire still smoldered in his chest. Izuku leapt out of bed, brimming with energy. He rushed out before Crocus could stop him and grabbed the nearest barrel. He heaved, and for a triumphant moment, lifted the barrel smoothly off the ground. Then gravity objected, and Izuku found himself crumpling under his own body weight in fish.

Rayleigh lifted the barrel off him with one hand. "What, spent a whole night moving rocks around and think you're invincible?"

Izuku sheepishly took the hand offered him and went to lift more reasonable weights.

Days passed. Mei holed up in the cargo hold with the DeLorean, while Izuku kept training. The barrels grew steadily heavier, Shanks started dodging his punches, and he even lasted a few minutes sparring against Buggy. Izuku learned to climb the rigging, tie knots, haul fishing nets, and clean the bilges. Days spent in the sun tanned his skin, and calluses grew on his palms.

By night, he moved cannonballs. Never to the point where he resembled a skeleton, but he couldn't sleep without working himself to exhaustion. Once Rayleigh realized that Izuku wasn't stopping anytime soon, Rayleigh set him to bringing cannonballs upstairs. He nearly put a hole in the deck one time he tripped, and half the crew cussed him out for waking them up. He dropped another on his toe, and Crocus practically force-fed him a numbing agent that killed all sense of taste for two days with its bitterness.

His labors drew a few curious glances. Buggy muttered about how crazy he was under his breath, while Shanks joined him for a few trips, chatting about places he saw and asking Izuku more about his home in return. Other pirates coaxed him into carrying more and bet on how far he'd make it with six cannonballs strapped to his back. Crocus laid into all of them when he found out.

Luffy watched as well, humming and scratching his head in confusion. After about a week, Luffy stomped up and put himself in Izuku's path.

"Why are you doing this?" Luffy asked.

Izuku blinked. He tried to think, but a reason eluded him. Why was he lugging cannonballs? What was the point? It wasn't as though it would help him go home. It probably wouldn't even help him be a hero.

Probably wouldn't, but Izuku clung to that tiny sliver of a chance. And so, he said, "I want to be a hero."

Luffy's head tilted to one side. "And why do you want to do that?"

That question made Izuku's thoughts stop in their tracks. "Why wouldn't I? It's the right thing to do."

Luffy stuck out his tongue. "Bleh. You sound like my grandpa. Is that really the only reason?"

Izuku wanted to say no. Yet, a small, niggling part of his brain told him the truth. He wanted more than that. He wanted…

"I want to be like All Might." At Luffy's blank stare, Izuku added, "He's amazing. He's saved hundreds of people, and beat tons of villains. His casualty rate is nearly zero, and he's been voted number one for twelve years-"

"Boring!" Luffy shouted as Izuku started rambling. "And protecting everybody sounds like a ton of work. That's like… a lot of people. And heroes don't get meat."

"They don't?"

"Nope! Heroes are supposed to share. That's what heroes do. Other people take their meat, and they never get any! That's why I'm not being a hero. I want all the meat!"

"I guess I don't mind getting any, as long as I got to save people."

"Nope! Don't wanna."

"You don't have anyone you want to protect?" Izuku asked.

Luffy paused. One hand rose to his straw hat, and he picked at a mended cut. "I have my friends. My crew. But I'm plenty strong already! I beat up this one shark guy, and this one super fast cat guy with sharp claws. So, I guess that's okay."

Luffy stepped aside, and Izuku trotted past with his cannonball. As he rounded a corner, Luffy's neck stretched past him, nearly making Izuku drop it.

"Everyone in my crew has a dream," Luffy said. "What's yours?"

"I - I want to be a hero."

"Nope! Too boring. Being a hero's easy. Don't you want to be more than that?"

Izuku stopped. Considered. And that tiny flame in his chest whispered to him. He could be a hero, with that tiny sliver of a chance. So, wasn't there a sliver of a sliver that he could be more?"

"I want to be the number one hero. The best."

"Good. Louder."

"I…" Izuku coughed and looked around. Then he raised his voice. "I want to be the number one hero!"

"Say you will!"

"I will be the number one hero!"

Luffy grinned. "Cool! Good luck with that!"

Luffy's head whipped back to his shoulders. Izuku kept going another few steps, then looked down at the cannonball. He left it on the stairs and ran for Rayleigh.

"Hey, si- uh, Rayleigh. Are there any weights?"

Rayleigh rolled his eyes. "You can play around later. You're getting your first taste of action today."

Izuku looked out. An island, comprised of a cluster of snow-capped plateaus, had a pirate flag waving over its harbor. An enormous vessel shaped like a white whale was beached on its shore.

"More villains?" Izuku asked.

In response, Rayleigh only said, "Whitebeard."

A/N: super tired, so I'll keep this brief. Mirxae's on vacation, so they couldn't get this beta-read. Work's settled down, so this'll get updated every other week from now on.

Reviews are appreciated, let me know what you think.