Izuku was 10 years old when his eyes were opened to the dangers of the hero world. He witnessed it through the experience of his older brother and he understood just why his mother would worry sometimes when it came to their dream of being a hero.
In no time at all, Zoro moved up from his 1st year to his 2nd year of high school with Zoro already earned good experience on field. With him gaining a reputation in close groups about the UA student that's training under Mihawk his skills fitting for him to be under the feared hero of the underground.
Currently, Zoro is going through his patrol route…as best as he could, though he's already wandered off course. He turned a corner where he believes he's gone through before but decided to go through it nonetheless. In the alley, he saw two suspicious characters talking. He hid and listened in. And not to his surprise, their subject was about the dangerous substance of trigger.
Zoro took Yubashiri out still with its sheath on. Peeking in to assess the situation, and seeing a very suspicious briefcase be exchanged for another one he took their distracted state and ran to them swinging Yubashiri at them knocking them out. He gathered the dropped briefcases and set them aside before restraining the two people and contacting authorities.
It didn't take long before he heard sirens started to arrive. "Roronoa Zoro?" A man dressed like a detective he's seen in shows.
"Yes, that's me."
"Detective Tsukauchi. I'll be taking this case from now on." As they talked, officers carried the knocked out criminals.
"Detective? Ah probably cause of Trigger? It's over there, other briefcase is probably money. Haven't opened it, but I did move it there." Zoro pointed with his sword before returning it in his sash.
"That's fine, you did good work. You're under Mihawk right?" when Zoro nodded, he chuckled "Already leaving you on your own, I see." Tsukauchi gathered the briefcases with a gloved hand. "That's to be expected, he did the same with the Ghost Princess hero too."
"Yeah, he sure has a lot of office in different cities. He just dropped me here and left the office in my hands."
"Look at it in a way that he trusts that you could handle yourself. I mean it makes sense, you've been a big help when Mihawk put you here for your internship."
"I guess." Zoro shrugged
The detective looked at Zoro "Have you not seen the news?"
"Not recently, no."
The detective tapped away on his phone before handing it to Zoro. As Zoro read what he's shown, his eyes widened.
"Villain Hunter!" Izuku exclaimed watching the news and dragging Inko to watch.
"The up and coming hero, a UA student was recently been seen in Hosu and criminal activity has diminished and all the apprehended villains were all taken down by Roronoa Zoro recently dubbed as the Villain Hunter. He's a hero that's always at the right place at the right time walking into villains in the middle of their actions and inevitably stopping their heinous plans." A female news anchor informed.
Just then a male news anchor "Breaking News, UA student recently stopped a drug deal from taking place." On screen, a photo is shown where Zoro was talking with Detective Tsukauchi.
"Nii-chan!"
"A drug deal?!" Inko's hands flew to her mouth in shock.
"Nii-chan's a hero mom!"
"Y-yes," She's proud, but can you blame a mother from worrying?
The news anchor continued "Unfortunately, Roronoa Zoro has already left the scene before we could get an interview, but we are able to interview civilians he's saved all in this one night."
The scene cut to a woman who looked like an office worker "I was cornered by a group of thugs looking to get some money out of me, but he swooped in and looked like he took them down in one strike. He even escorted me to the nearest police station."
The screen changed again to a man manning a convenience store "Oh that kid? I think he was on break and was looking for a snack when an asshole barged in and declared a robbery. Kid knocked him out swiftly and had me ring his food up." The man laughed "I told him it's on the house but he left money before leaving dragging the asshole by the foot."
Inko found herself calming down when news of his rescues was shown "That's my baby!" it's then she realized something "Izuku, are you recording?" she looked at him who was holding the remote.
"Nii-chan is so cool!"
"It's already on the news?"
Inko and Izuku jumped and looked behind them and saw Zoro in his uniform having just got home. "Nii-chan you were on the news! You saved so many people!"
"Well someone has to put those villains behind bars." He said putting his bag down.
"You sure have a lot of work even when you're only on your second year."
"That's UA for you."
"Nii-chan where are your swords?"
"I left them in the office. I need to get there early in the morning anyway so I can get it then." Zoro sat beside Izuku and flipped through channels trying to see anything without him being the subject.
"Early to the office again tomorrow?" Inko said in concern.
"Don't worry mom. I just need to close it down, today's the last day of internship again. Regular classes again for me."
"As regular as someone in a class with only you as a student." Izuku teased Zoro put his hand on Izuku's face his hand covering it entirely and effectively silencing him.
While roughhousing, breaking news interrupted the show that none of them were paying attention to. "All Might is currently battling a villain that has been wreaking havoc recently Toxic Chainsaw."
"What?!" Izuku exclaimed snatching the remote from Zoro and increasing the volume, the screen is now showing All Might exchanging blows with Toxic Chainsaw with the surrounding area sawed off. "All Might." Izuku said in worry.
While Izuku was busy watching, he fetched themselves some drink from their fridge. When he returned, Izuku was still focused on the news, watching the fight intensely his brow furrowing as a result.
Zoro pressed the cold can of drink on his furrowed brows, surprising him "Nii-chan…"
"What's that worried look for, this is All Might we're watching." He said in an attempt to comfort Izuku. He opened the drink and gave it to Izuku before opening his own and drinking it and sitting on the couch's arm rest beside Izuku.
The two of them continued to watch the live battle of All Might and Toxic Chainsaw, before the battle could be drawn out, All Might smashed the villain in the ground with his fist. All Might looked at the camera with his signature smile. Izuku smiled wide "Fear not citizens, no villain will not face justice, why?" Izuku leaned forward and waited "BECAUSE I AM HERE!"
And just like that Izuku celebrated "Yay! ALL MIGHT DID IT!" he said jumping up and down on the couch. His drink spilling a little on Zoro.
"Told ya," Zoro wiped himself clean.
Izuku already has his notebook out writing everything he could remember from it. "It's been a while since I saw him have a serious fight! But All Might always overpowers his enemies!" he said pausing his writing and looking back on the TV. Unfortunately it was only the anchors talking about the fight. Though Izuku listened intently.
Inko checked in on them "What's got Izuku excited?"
"All Might just had a fight with a villain. He won of course." Zoro exclaimed pointing to Izuku who was still furiously scribbling.
That had Inko giggling "I should've known."
Later that night, Zoro jumped in his bed low-key celebrating that it's his last day of internship after a week straight of work all on his own. Though as he's starting to doze off, he heard his phone's familiar ping. He initially planned to handle it tomorrow but his gut feeling told him to check it, so he did.
Sure enough it was from Mihawk. And it says…
…
His internship will be extended and that he'll start the next week. He'll handle everything else with Aizawa and to just get some rest.
…
He should've just handled this tomorrow.
During his classes the next day, he slumped in his seat still feeling some lingering exhaustion and the oncoming extended internship.
"Tired little listener?" Present Mic paused his lesson figuring that his only student in the room needed the break.
"Very."
Present Mic laughed at that "I keep seeing you on the news the whole week during your internship, you've made a name for yourself already. Be my guest star sometime in my radio show!"
"I don't mind." He drawled.
"Now say that in English." Zoro flinched, 'Right we're still in class.'
His tired demeanor remained even during lunch. He would sometimes sit with some 2-B students, but not right now.
"Zoro-san"
He looked and saw the familiar pink haired boy and the blond guy with a strange chin. "How are you?"
"Tired."
"You've been hard at work all week." Koby commented and the blond guy— which Zoro now remembered was Helmeppo—looked around the cafeteria and saw every student trying to get a glimpse of Roronoa Zoro the Villain Hunter.
"Got popular, too." Helmeppo said catching a group of first years especially one from 1-A looking at Zoro with fear in their eyes since he's a living proof that their homeroom teacher's expulsion threat was very much real.
Zoro himself felt the stares of the first year students. He turned to look back at them, but they were quick to look away.
"Well internship season is over, you can get your rest." Koby said.
Zoro groaned and let his head fall on the table. "Zoro-san!"
"It got extended." He mumbled
"What?"
"It got extended."
"Eeehhhh?!"
The week has passed and now he's on the train on the way to the middle of nowhere, where Mihawk's secret base is. He hopes it's not as gruelling as that week.
He started his trek to the base, but instead of getting there instantly, he's still walking around. Thankfully, Zoro's been here quite a few times and there are spots where he recognized so he was able to get to his destination and the sun is still up! At least he didn't have to deal with Perona's ghosts and accidentally walking into an unsightly scene.
Zoro shudders at the mere thought of his past experiences in this location. He's somewhat thankful his recent internship was in the city. During his reminiscing, a floating pink haired girl looking at him and preparing a ghost.
Perona sent her hollow ghost to Zoro as fast as she could but Zoro simply dodged it "Nice try." He said and continued avoiding the ghost from touching him.
"You're no fun." She pouted and entering Mihawk's base with Zoro following her, his grunts and yelps echoing with his continued dodging activity.
The ghost was still after him even when they're in front of Mihawk. He does a good job ignoring the big movements from Zoro and the ghost; jumping from wall to wall, sliding all over the place, his body bending in different ways to dodge close calls of the ghost touching him.
"Before I start, these were in the mail for you." Mihawk tossed six letters towards Perona. Zoro would've looked, but he's still occupied by a ghost chasing him.
Perona scanned the letters and ended up with three letters for her and another three for Zoro. "I didn't expect a letter addressed to me, it would make sense more if all of these were sent to Zoro—considering the ruckus he's done with the news."
Zoro was stopped in his tracks when three letters were smacked to his face. He tripped and he waited for the inevitable ghost from reaching him, but he heard Perona call it back. "Finally." He said and looked down on the three letters.
One of the three letters was written neatly, one was a little crude but he can make out the contents with the writer trying to be polite, and one that's even more messily written and littered with misspellings. The content varies, but it expresses one message, their thanks and how strong he was that time.
Perona peeked over his shoulder and noticed the similar penmanship from the letters she received. "Looks like they remembered us."
Zoro looked at her set of letters and indeed saw the same handwriting. "Didn't expect that. I thought we would most likely be an afterthought to them cause of how much was going on." Zoro looked at the letter again before pocketing it. He dived for the ground and successfully avoided another ghost zipping past him.
"Tch"
"You two can talk about that more later, we have work to do."
The two stood in attention when they heard Mihawk's serious voice instead of a deadpan one. "There were sightings of a high profile villain roaming around here. Other heroes are on their way here, but they stated for us to check around much earlier."
"High profile how?" Zoro inquired
"I'm not really sure. All I know is that the hero commission asked us to be part of it."
"Won't keeping us in the dark be a bad idea in these operations?" Zoro wondered out loud.
"They could be getting comfortable since All Might is on the case."
"ALL MIGHT?!" His two interns exclaimed in disbelief.
Mihawk promptly ignored their outburst and continued "We're also treated as back up, nevertheless if they weren't willing to disclose such a thing then it's a tell tale sign of something they want to be covered up."
Perona perked up in realization "They asked for your help because you're an underground hero!" she stated.
"It's a combination of underground and limelight heroes, though there aren't a lot in total. A handful of heroes maybe."
"Are the other heroes in the forest already?" Zoro asked unsheathing his sword and doing a double check on their condition.
"No, we'll look around and try to pinpoint the location of the villain as close as possible and send the location to the others." Mihawk looked at Perona.
"Horohorohoro! My hollows are perfect for finding someone in this forest!" she summoned as much ghosts as she could and sent them in different corners of the forest.
"Get ready," Mihawk said grabbing his sword and hat putting it on him. "This will by far be your most difficult mission in your student career, maybe even your hero career."
"Mihawk," Zoro took his bandana and tied it to his head. "You trying to scare us away?"
"No, it's a warning. A high profile villain earned that reputation for a reason." Mihawk walked to the two of them and placed his hands on top of their heads. "I technically am your guardian right now. I naturally will worry for you two."
Perona and Zoro found themselves flushed pink at the unexpected affection from the stoic man.
Perona puffed her cheeks and pouted "You're not my dad." She mumbled
Mihawk looked at her with a straight face "Did you think of me as one?"
Perona sputtered before hurriedly floated out. That left him and Zoro in the room "Zoro—"
"I'll get dressed." He cut him off and rushed out of there.
The light atmosphere from earlier was quickly erased by the time they got out of the agency. The looming feeling of great danger radiating off of the forest they frequented.
The three of them scoured the forest as a group and in a slow pace, letting Perona focus on her quirk and to finding a suspicious figure. While she's busy, Zoro started up a quiet conversation.
"Do we really not know much about the villain?"
"Male, usually seen with a formal suit. That's it."
"Could've told me that earlier!" she complained then going back to focus.
"You would've had more energy if you didn't have a ghost chase me around." Zoro grumbled but unfortunately did not go unheard for Perona.
"Why you—" Perona was about to give him a piece of her mind but gasped and stopped herself, focusing to one of her ghost's finding.
"Find anything?" Mihawk inquired.
Perona pointed at a direction. "Deepest part of the forest north from here. He's just sitting around!"
Mihawk's eyes squinted at that "Looks like he's looking for a fight, or a negotiation." He pondered it a bit before saying "You two follow me a few meters behind; I'll head over there myself."
"Feel free! That guy was terrifying, I'd rather him not go anywhere near this pla—" Perona cut herself when she saw the very same guy behind Mihawk "M-m-miha—" she couldn't even finish when the guy grabbed Mihawk's head and smashed it to the ground, a big crater forming around them.
Zoro looked beside him and saw the sudden cause of the crater. And when he caught sight of the guy that matched Mihawk's description, he was frozen stiff. Perona herself was frozen stiff too sensing the immense bloodlust the man was exuding.
In their silence, the deep voice of the man reverberated in their surroundings, the vibrations of his voice shaking their insides. "Mihawk, you have an interesting quirk, it saddens me that only you could utilise it as such. It would be a shame to take it from you."
Zoro quickly drew his sword and slashed at the hand holding Mihawk down severing it. "Oh no, that's unfortunate." He said nonchalance in his voice.
Zoro watched as the man slowly turned his head towards him. To his horror, the man held his arm up and watched as he re-grew his hand right in front of him. "Oh the villain hunter." Zoro wanted to puke.
"This is a pinch, I wouldn't want to be hunted now would I?"
Zoro tried to go into stance, but the fist on his stomach made him pause and suddenly he was flying through the air and felt the hard impact of tree bark on his back. He landed on the ground but kept to his feet, grunting in pain and holding his stomach looking at the villain.
He couldn't get a clear look, but he held his sword out into position. "Santoryu: Oni—" Zoro dashed forward…except he didn't. He looked down and found his feet stuck in something. He struggled against it but it didn't budge.
Looking up, his eyes found the villain who was the most likely person responsible for his state "Stay put, I'll handle you later."
"WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PLANNING?! ANSWER ME ASSHOLE!"
Zoro's screaming was ignored as the man walked towards Mihawk and placed his hand on him again. "If I can't get your quirk, then work for me. I'd love to have you."
The green haired swordsman saw the man doing something to his mentor and tried freeing himself again. Zoro sliced the thing that was keeping him in place but his sword barely made any damage, he slashed and slashed but nothing came of it. He looked up and still saw the man doing something to Mihawk "STOP IT. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Zoro tried slashing down again putting all his strength into it but still came to nothing.
The man stood up from kneeling on Mihawk with the latter following him. "MIHAW—" Zoro gasped when he saw his eyes were now pure blank and him looking out into nothing.
The man looked towards Perona who was still frozen stiff and now there were visible tears falling down her face. "Little lady, you know it's rude to spy on other people, right?" he placed a hand on Mihawk's shoulder "Teach her a lesson why don't you."
Mihawk didn't even respond, he just grabbed his sword and pointed it towards Perona.
"RUN PERONA-SENPAI! RUN!"
Zoro's voice snapped her out of her stunned state and came back to reality where she found a significantly different Mihawk pointing his gigantic sword towards her.
A whimper forced its way out of her throat before she let her reflexes kick in and flew away from Mihawk's sudden downward slash. His attack was quickly followed by another slash across; she had to go to the ground to dodge since she wasn't intangible in her physical body.
Perona grunted as she gathered her footing, once she's collected herself, she made a move "Mini Hollow!" she summoned tiny ghosts which flew out of her hand and flew towards Mihawk's hands, sticking themselves there.
"Forgive me Mihawk. Ghost Rap!" Perona snapped her fingers and detonated the tiny hollows into exploding. She's trained against him a few time and Mihawk never took any severe damage from this move, but she could at least hope that it was able to blow away his sword and disarm him.
She waited for the smoke to clear out, but she only saw Mihawk's blank face and still firmly holding his sword which is now positioned to perform another attack. Unfortunately this attack was too fast for Perona to react to. She tried to dodge but the sword managed to graze her on her shoulder, her blood spilling along with her scream from her mouth.
"PERONA!" Zoro, pumped with adrenaline took his sword and started to slice his foot off of what's holding him down. Zoro screamed his lungs out as a distraction from the pain of trying to sever his feet, but the sound of a deep voice's laugh made him stop and look up to the man who was responsible of all this. "What's so funny?" he asked, voice shaking in anger "WHAT THE HELL'S SO HILARIOUS HUH?!"
The man's laugh stopped and looked at his direction. Zoro found himself shaking but stood his ground from the man's attention. He started to slowly walk towards Zoro. Every step echoing in Zoro's mind making his fight or flight act up and he's very much up for a fight.
When he was a few paces away, a voice called out "Toku Hollow!" and in time, a large ghost appeared in front of the man, he looked at the large ghost in curiosity before it combusted in a huge explosion allowing for a smoke screen to cover Zoro from his sight.
Zoro looked on, baffled and almost failed to notice small ghosts wrap themselves on what's holding his feet stuck on the ground. One by one, they exploded with more small ghosts still coming and eventually exploding, chipping away the material. Zoro raised his sword starts slicing on the brittle parts the exploding ghosts did.
With the help of the mini hollows, and Zoro's slashes, he's finally free. He looked at his bloodied ankles where he attempted to cut them off and didn't feel any pain. He shrugged it off for now and started to look around. The place was filled with smoke from the explosions but at least the asshole won't able to locate him.
Fate appears to want to fuck him over because the man lunged in his direction from the smoke. Zoro successfully blocked him before he did any damage, but the impact of his hit has him blown away. He caught himself on his feet and faced him.
"Who the hell are you?"
The man flashed him a mad grin "All for One."
Zoro racked his brain if he recalls the name from before but was unsuccessful. But if an underground hero doesn't have a villain of his calibre in his records, then it's something that's way out of their league.
Zoro knows that his abilities are far inferior from this man, now known as All for One. But what he did to Mihawk and Perona being on the receiving end of it. Blinded by rage, he lunged for an attack raising Yubashiri to slash down on him.
To his shock, All for One caught his sword with his bare hands, and from his hands, the sword started to rust away. Zoro pulled the sword away, but it was too late. He looked at the sword in his hand and saw the remnants of Yubashiri the only thing that stayed intact was the hilt the rest of the blade is rusted brown. Zoro looked at it with sadness in his eyes but decided to mourn for it in another time, sheathing it and taking Wado Ichimonji from his mouth and had it occupy his now empty hand.
Looking at him, he noticed that the smoke has slightly cleared up and it's then that Zoro caught sight of Perona passed out with a few more cuts on her other than the shoulder wound on the ground and Mihawk's sword raised to do the finishing blow.
In Zoro's point of view, he was only looking at them, but then he blinked and he's now in front of Mihawk his swords positioned to stop the gigantic sword from descending upon them. He felt his legs and his bloodied ankle throb in pain from his sudden movement.
A loud clash of the swords rang Zoro's ears, sparks flying as Mihawk forces his sword down to break his defence. As he was struggling, slow clapping momentarily took his attention but was forced to turn his attention back to his current opponent.
"Well, well, what a hero you are. Reminds me of a certain annoyance." He stopped his clapping and looked at Mihawk "Get rid of him."
Zoro managed to deflect the clash of swords and distanced himself from Mihawk. He raised his sword and did a downward slash. Zoro managed to dodge it his eyebrow rising in realization. It seemed to be the case for All for One too. Mihawk repeating the same move with it not containing his full strength only meant one thing.
"And here I though, such a quirk would be useful. What a waste-well in his case." He turned to the still underground hero "Slice him with all your strength, after that, do the same with the girl."
After hearing that, Zoro moved to act "Nitoryu: Oni" Zoro dashed forward but Mihawk blocked him with ease "Giri!" he tried his best to bypass it but ultimately failed when Mihawk adjusted his sword and thrust forward stabbing his chest lightly "Urgh!" blood slowly dripped down his chest that had him kneeling.
The controlled Mihawk walked over the now down Zoro looking down on him with his blank pitch black eyes. Zoro tried to stand up by sticking a sword in the ground and using it as a crutch to keep him steady when he's up. He was now panting, the pain of his wounds taking its toll in his body. The wounds on his ankles making it harder for him to stand, the earlier punch he received starting to bruise—or was it internal bleeding?—and the recent stab in his chest. Unsettling him how it was so close to his heart.
He tried to will his body to move, but all his leftover strength is being spent on keeping himself upright. So when Mihawk raised his sword above him, no matter what he tries he doesn't have the strength to retaliate.
"Not backing away, Villain Hunter Roronoa Zoro?"
"You bastard. Someone like you wouldn't understand. How can a bastard like you who could only use this man's swordsmanship in such a perverse way understand what we swordsmen's pride?"
All for One raised his eyebrow in question "I'm not running away, I'm not turning my back. Not when people's lives are at stake." Zoro looked at Mihawk and thought about Perona's state.
Zoro stood up from his slouched posture to standing straight facing Mihawk "A wound on the back is a swordsman's shame." He declared and as if on cue, the gigantic sword slashing against his chest, Zoro took it with gritted teeth before falling down on the ground.
He tried to assess his condition, and was surprised when he found out he's still intact. He assumed that when he is to 'slice him with all his strength', he would be split in half. Zoro tried to lift his head to look at Mihawk and saw his eyes were flickering from pitch black to his normal hawk like eyes "Well…said…" he said struggling to fight it.
"Finally awake huh?"
Mihawk did a practiced side slash towards All for One, but he jumped up from the devastating blow with Mihawk's move slicing the trees reaching a few kilometres away.
"No wonder All Might is on this mission." Mihawk said looking up to All for One who was still in the air.
Before he could respond, All for One received a powerful punch in his face, blowing him away from the three. "Mihawk!" All Might called down.
"I'll be fine, I'll take care of these two, GO!"
He nodded before propelling himself to the direction where All for One landed. Mihawk looked at the two very injured students of his. He took out his first aid kit and performed first aid on them where they aren't close to death, taking greater attention to Zoro being the one who suffered the most damage.
He hauled Zoro on his back and carried Perona in his arms and ran to the entrance of the forest. He looked back to Zoro who was starting to lose consciousness, "Hey kid, hold out for a few more it'll be easier to tend to you with you still awake." Zoro only nodded and looked back to the loud banging of strong moves being exchanged from strong individuals.
'It's All Might' Zoro thought 'He'll be fine.'
When they got to the entrance, he noticed a few heroes waiting there, all of them looking at them with worry. What took his attention though was "Principal Nezu" he rasped.
The small principal approached him "No talking, not after you're stable." Nezu looked around the group of heroes and pointed to one. "You!"
That startled the hero for a bit before smirking "What is it?"
"You have the strongest legs out of everyone here. Take these two to the nearest hospital as fast as you can."
"What? I came here to fight, not rescue."
"Well these kids are fighting for their lives. You can return here for more action when you've brought them to a hospital."
The hero grumbled but took Zoro and Perona from Mihawk "Take good care of them." The hero only nodded before taking off.
Zoro was awakened when he felt fuzzy things tickling his nose and sneezing awake. "Huh, where are we?"
"I'm taking you to the hospital kid." Zoro looked at what was the fuzzy thing and saw bunny ears. He observed the hero and saw the familiar white hair "Mirko?"
"You recognize me?" she smirked, proud that her name was already out there.
"My little brother…he's a fan." He said remembering Izuku watching the news about her.
That had her laughing "I'd love to meet him then, only if you keep yourself awake."
Zoro groaned in response before he looked back to where he thinks All Might and All for One was and what he saw made his stomach drop, "ALL MIGHT!" he screamed in concern.
There in the sky, All Might was paralyzed with the enemy's fist buried in his stomach. 'He'll be fine, he's All Might' he repeated in his mind trying his best not to worry. 'He'll be fine.' That was his last thought before inevitably passing out on the hero's back.
Izuku was doing his homework quite late that night; he was too distracted taking notes on a new hero he saw on the news. When he finished, he looked at his clock and yelped in surprise when he saw it was already 2:00 AM. Izuku scrambled to pack his homework in his bag and other supplies that he'll need for school.
As he was about to get ready for bed, Inko burst in his room. He took note of her frazzled look "Mom?"
"Get dressed, Izuku. We're going out." She said pulling out a few of his clothes and stuffing them in a duffle bag before pulling out clothes for him to change into. "Pack some stuff you'll need for a few days, too." She said before taking the bag to Zoro's room.
Izuku was stunned confused, but did as he was asked. He got dressed and decided to take his school bag but adding some of his All Might action figures and notebooks. He walked out of his room with the little ghost still following him.
The two of them went out to a dark early morning, his mother carrying a large bag that has his clothes, Zoro's, and most likely hers too. Inko rushed them to the train station and quickly boarded the train. Once they were settled, that's when Izuku decided to ask "Mom, what's wrong?"
Inko looked at him, and he noticed the visible eye bags on her face. She placed a hand on his head and sighed "Zoro…go rest for now." She changed the subject. "I'll tell you after you've slept."
He nodded before leaning his head on his mother, hugging his bag. He was wide awake, but eventually Izuku's little body succumbed to the day's exhaustion took over and he was sleeping on his mom not much later.
Inko looked down and kissed Izuku's head before looking out the window, her thoughts full of worry about her other son's state wishing that he was in her arms like Izuku.
When he felt something wake him up, Izuku looked around confused to where he was. But then he remembered when he saw his mother's worried face. A few minutes later after being woken up, they arrived at a station where he saw was already 4:00 AM. Izuku rubbed the sleepiness off his eyes before taking hold of Inko's hand and they walked away from the station.
In their walk, Izuku was still confused. He didn't have to wonder that long though, because they stopped in front of a hospital. Inko crouched down to Izuku's height and placed her hands on his shoulders "Izuku," she ran a hand on his hair and continued "your nii-chan got hurt."
Izuku visibly paled his eyes wide in surprise He looked at the hospital in front of them and browsed the windows, trying to find his brother.
"Izuku," her call got his attention on her again "When we visit, he'll be resting. So we need to be quiet so he can recover okay?"
Izuku couldn't find his voice to respond so he only nodded before they entered the hospital. He watched as his mother talk to the lady behind the tall desk and followed her and the nurse who was leading them. The nurse then opened the room and it was dark inside.
The two of them peeked inside before entering. And the sight of Zoro sleeping on the bed has them barging in there and running as silently as they could to his side. "Zoro." Inko whispered her eyes tearing up when she got a closer look at his bandaged chest. She leaned forward and gave him a light hug before kissing his forehead.
Izuku stayed on his side looking at his brother's state. He may look like he's sleeping, but he could see the exhaustion in his body, he walked closer and took a firm hold on the hand that was on Zoro's side.
He noticed the nurse talk to his mom in his peripheral, but his focus was still on Zoro, trying to see if there's still anything wrong with him. "Nii-chan" he whispered. Inko placed a comforting hand on his bag when she took the bag on his back and setting them aside.
Izuku was 10 years old when his eyes were opened to the dangers of the hero world. Being a hero is not just cool moves and saving others, it's also saving yourself to save more people. Izuku didn't notice that he was crying until he felt himself sniff.
Inko hugged him and cried with him, their teary state the only thing heard in the silent room.
Morning came and the nurse knocked before entering the room, carrying Zoro's breakfast. The nurse gave the tray to Inko who promised to wake him up and feed him. Inko silently walked through the room so as to not wake up Izuku who stayed awake next to his brother until falling asleep just a few hours ago.
Inko touched Zoro's shoulder before gently shaking him. When he didn't respond, she got a little worried, but remembered how her son could be quite a heavy sleeper. She tried again "Zoro, wake up breakfast."
Zoro groaned and squirmed "A few more minutes." He said before shifting to his side, but the movement had him feel some pain waking him up. He opened his eyes and saw white walls and Inko "Mom?"
Inko looked down at the bed and adjusted it so he's sitting up. "Breakfast." She said and placing the tray on his lap. He looked at it for a while before digging in, his nose scrunching at the taste but still ate it.
Inko watched him eat and she'd noticed him wincing sometimes, but he reassured that it was fine and it was just his stitches. When he finished his meal, he looked at Izuku sleeping on a chair. "What time did you guys get here?"
"Around 4 AM"
"Mm" Zoro leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
An awkward silence manifested with Inko waiting for him to talk and Zoro staying silent, so she decided to just ask first. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Zoro looked at her before looking down as if bowing his head in apology "I can't. There's a lot that shouldn't be in public."
Inko stared at him and sighed, giving in "Alright."
"Mom," Inko looked at him "I promise I won't end up like this again."
Inko smiled at that feeling relieved a little. She stood up and gently grabbed him into a hug with Zoro returning it. "Nii-chan?" they both looked at Izuku who just woke up.
"Hey there, squirt." He greeted ruffling his hair "Thanks for the visit."
Izuku stared at him with sleepy eyes which widened when he realized that Zoro was up "NII-CHAN!" Izuku ran to his bed and climbed up giving him a big hug.
Zoro received his hug with a grunt which had Inko panicked "I-i-izuku! Don't be so rough on him!"
He only laughed as he adjusted Izuku beside him on the bed. "It's fine, he's just a growing boy." Zoro gasped a little when he felt Izuku hug him from his side.
Izuku looked up at him his eyes tearing up again, but Zoro pinched his cheek, distracting him and stopping the tears "What's with the crying?" he pulled away from the hug and leaned away a little "I'm fine, see?"
His little brother looked at him, eyebrows furrowed in doubt. As a test, Izuku held a hand out and slightly poked him on the chest. Zoro maintained his smiling face, but Izuku felt his silent grunt. "You sure?"
Zoro put his hand on Izuku's face to shut him up. A muffled giggle and "Sorry" came from Izuku before Inko decided to interrupt.
"That's enough you two. As for you Zoro, you'll be staying here for the week. And they said no strenuous activities. So no exercise or work out unless the doctor says so."
Zoro was about to protest but was met by Inko's glare and that alone made him shrink "Y-yes." Izuku poked his cheek to cheer him up.
"Zoro, go back to rest. Izuku and I will watch over you." She said adjusting the bed so that he's lying down again. Izuku giggled at the bed's movement before finally jumping off.
Izuku opened his and took an All Might action figure and the little ghost flying free from his bag. "Me, mom, and All Might!" Izuku handed the toy to Zoro which he received with a smile.
When Inko busied herself calling Izuku's school, and Izuku scribbling away in his notebook, his smile dropped and looked at the All Might toy in his hand then looking out at the forest which was visible from the hospital's window and recalled the sight of All Might taking a harmful blow. In Zoro's worry, he didn't even realize he's gripping the toy hoping for the best for the hero.
A few days have passed and Zoro is bored beyond belief, he couldn't even sneak a few push-ups with his mom hovering over him the rest of his hospital stay. But his boredom was interrupted by a knock.
Inko opened the door, and there waited Perona "Oh, hello, is this Zoro's room?"
"Yes it is."
"Perona?"
"It's senpai to you!" she turned to the surprised woman before bowing "Sorry, your son is a handful. I'm one of the interns at the agency he works at."
"Woah!" Izuku walked up to her with the little ghost following him and looked up to see her.
Perona gasped when she saw the cute kid whom she recognized "You must be Izuku!" she squealed kneeling down to him "Did you like my gift?" and to that Izuku nodded.
"Oi! Who were you even visiting in the first place?!"
She looked at him and walked up to get a closer look, it's then that Zoro saw the stitches on her shoulder, "How are you?"
Inko and Izuku took that as a sign to give them their space and stepping out.
"Hm? Oh this?" It's completely fine now. Cute right?" she showed off her shoulder.
"Only you find stitches cute."
She looked him over and took note of his wounds "A lot happened huh?"
Zoro touched his chest "Quite a lot."
"That's a conversation for another time then. Let's just do our best to be on top shape again." She said ruffling his hair
"Hey!" he barked at her but only received a tongue out from her.
"Let's not worry your family again. I can't believe you're related to a cute brother and a beautiful mother."
"Wow, really appreciate it."
"I'll spare you from my hollows for now. But next time we see each other no mercy from me."
"Just try it" he said with a smirk.
Perona returned the smirk before walking out and there she saw them "Thank you ma'am." She ruffled Izuku's hair and bowed to Inko
"Thank you for looking out for him too."
"He's my junior, I'm essentially his babysitter." The two of them laughed at that "I'll be off now."
"Bye bye nee-chan!"
Perona waved at him as she walked away. When she was not in their view anymore, Izuku rushed back in along with Inko. But just a few minutes after the first visitor, another knock startled them.
Izuku was the one to open it this time and his jaw dropped, because right in front of him was none other than "MIHAWK!"
The man was a little startled at his loud voice but collected himself "Hello there."
"Mom! It's the hero Zoro studies under!" Izuku stepped aside and opened the door to let him in.
Mihawk walked in and saw his student and his mother. "How are your injuries?"
"I'll be fine, they say I'll make a full recovery."
"That's good news then." Mihawk walked up to Inko and did a 90 degree bow which startled Inko into stuttering "I sincerely apologize for what happened to him under my supervision. It's the unfortunate result of a mistake I made."
"N-no! I mean i-it's alright. I've heard how you did your best to keep him safe. Please stand straight, everything's fine."
The next few minutes was full of Inko's stuttering and Mihawk's apologies until they relented and he's now seated in the room with Izuku raining a barrage of questions at him. He tried his best to answer what he could and deflect ones he can't.
Inko and Zoro watched in fascination with Izuku's interviewing skills. An hour…maybe two has passed and Izuku is still questioning him. "Izuku, I'm sure sir Mihawk here has some hero stuff to do. Why don't you wrap it up."
"Oh! Ok ok thank you sir! Oh and thank you for teaching my big brother. He's such a cool hero! And he'll be the greatest swordsman!"
A small smile made its way on his face. "I wonder." He said and stood up. "Thank you for your time everyone. Zoro, feel free to find a ne-"
"Your next missions better be as thrilling as this one." Zoro challenged
"Zoro!" Inko exclaimed in worry
That actually got a chuckle out of him, "Alright." He bowed to all of them before taking his leave.
All three of them took a deep breath, relaxing. "That better be the last visitor for the day." Zoro said slightly tired from the interactions.
"ZORO-SAN!" a pink haired boy barged in carrying gifts.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN DOING OUT HERE!"
Koby scratched behind his head with a sheepish smile "I was an intern with one of the heroes that's part of the whole forest thing. But All Might already handled everything when we got there." He said setting down some gifts "These are gifts from class 1-B…well from me since the mission is pretty confidential but as representative, this is from 1-B."
Zoro looked and it's mostly just snacks and drinks which he's grateful for. "You have my thanks."
"I saw you in the sports festival!" Izuku exclaimed
That startled Koby looking around before looking down "Oh, yeah, you probably have. But I wasn't in the game that long though." He smiled at the kid somewhat reminded of himself back then.
"You have a really interesting quirk!"
"O-oh you really think so?"
As expected, Izuku pulled out his notebook and showed him a detailed analysis of his quirk. As the two busied themselves, Zoro helped himself to a drink Koby brought while Inko decided to snack to one of the snacks in the stack.
"Wow! You got all this from watching me? I wasn't even shown that much." Koby proceeded to read his notebook and his face slowly morphed into one of epiphany "Um, may I borrow this notebook?"
Izuku looked at the notebook "Sure! You can hand it to nii-chan when you're finished with it."
"Thank you very much; you have a bright future ahead of you." He said motioning at the notebook.
"I'm gonna be a hero!"
"With this kind of talent I'm sure you'll be a great one." He looked up at Zoro and Inko "I'll make this visit a short one. Get well Zoro, I'll make sure my classmates won't bother you about what happened. Thank you ma'am." He bowed to Inko.
She smiled at him glad to have met one of Zoro's friends again. With that he opened the door and proceeded to leave, "Oh! Thanks again Izuku, I'll take these advice to heart." He held his notebook with care before closing the door and finally leaving.
Zoro emptied his drink, and brought his arms under his head and closing his eyes. Inko smiled and kissed his forehead. "A few more days and we can go home."
The day has come, Zoro was now free from those white walls and he's now basking in the winds outside as the Midoriyas were walking to the station. The travel home took quite a while since they were stopping at some points to eat and spend some time.
When they finally got home, Zoro took in the familiar environment before bending down and taking off his shoes it was then that Inko let out a screech. "Mom?" Izuku asked.
"What's wrong?" Zoro asked looking up.
Inko pointed at his ankles that were also covered in stitches "What happened?!"
Zoro looked down then back at her "It's one of my injuries."
Inko's maternal worries were then reignited from that point on, and not letting Zoro walk around in the house much.
"I technically did this to myself." He told himself on his bed.