Chapter 2: Soul- Bound
Summary:
The boys go to Izuku's house and get ready for dinner. They find out about Soul Marks and get to know the other boys a little better.
After a short walk they reach a beautiful Shoin. Opening the gate Izuku leads the group to the Genkan. "Wait here I'm gonna get my mom" Izuku states. He casts a look at Katsuki, nods and heads inside. Katsuki takes the strangers to the Zen garden. There are a couple of stone benches around a coy fish pond. At the back of the pond there is a three-tier water fall fountain. Around the pond is a variety of different trees, bushes and flowers. "We can wait here" Katsuki sits down on one of the benches.
Inside to home Izuku shouts to his mom "Tadaima"
"Okaeri" Inko responds "I'm in the Kitchen"
"Mom, I was at the beach with Kacchan and saved a couple of kids and a man that washed up on shore. They look lost so I invited them over to try to help them find out where they are. Can I show them the map? Can you help me? Please Mom." Izuku starts rambling.
"I have a map in the study go ahead and grab it, then we'll go greet you friends" Inko says with a soft smile.
Izuku beams and runs to the study. After a couple minuets searching, he finds what he's looking for grabbing the maps and the laptop, Izuku bolts his way to the kitchen. Inko is sitting there with a smile "you grab everything?"
"Yup" Izuku is bouncing excitedly "Let's go"
"Kacchan!" Izuku calls out.
"We over here in the garden" Katsuki shouts out. Izuku and his mom go out to the garden. Inko opens the shoji and sees three strangers, two boys and an adult. "Hi there, Welcome to the Midoriya House, my name is Inko Midoriya. My son informs me that you are lost. Is that correct?"
"Yes Mam, I'm Shanks. The boy in the straw-hat is Luffy, the grumpy one is Ace."
"'M not grumpy" Ace pouts.
"Then that must be your resting bitch face" Katsuki taunts.
"You wanna go asshole" Ace growls while fires start to burst out from him.
"You on, Matchstick" Katsuki lets popping explosions out of his palms while butting heads with the other boy.
Luffy and Izuku are snickering while trying to separate the two boys. "They are very similar, aren't they?" Inko smiles fondly at the boys.
"Yea, I guess" Shanks sheepishly rubs the back of his head.
"We are not similar Jiji / Hag" Ace and Katsuki shout and glare simultaneously. Luffy giggles more "Izuku was right you two are alike" Ace and Katsuki glare at each other look away and pout.
"Let's take a look at those maps, let's see where you need to go again?" Izuku asks.
"We were escaping the East Blue to meet up with the rest of my crew" Shanks stated.
"Here takes a look, I don't see anything called East Blue on the map, does anything look familiar to you?" Izuku hands over the map.
Katsuki pulls the laptop over and starts it up "Maybe it's called something else, do you have a name of a city we could look up?"
"What about the Grand Line, is that on the map?" Luffy pipes in.
"No, this is strange nothing here looks familiar to me" Shanks is confused and has a bad feeling churning in is gut. "What about Logue Town, that's a very famous place."
Katsuki types in Logue Town in Google, he reads out loud "Logue Town is a city on the polestar islands in the East Blue, covering nearly the entire island it is on, save for a few steep hills. The town is also known as "The town of the beginning and the end" because the former Pirate King Gol D. Roger was born and executed there."
"That's the place, how do we get there from here?"
"Umm, sorry Shanks I don't think we can get there. As strange as this sounds, I think you are in another dimension. All the maps I'm seeing of the Grand Line do not match anything I ever seen before. They do not look like our world maps." Izuku state forlornly. Seeing Shanks and the boys look dejected Izuku continues "I'm so sorry Shanks I really wanted to help". Izuku starts to tear up Katsuki pulls the destressed boy into a comforting hug.
"Izuku, its going to be OK, you tried your best. The boys told me you healed us. Is that true?" Shanks tries to comfort the kid.
"Izuku did you really heal them, How?"
Izuku remembers what happened at the beach and tells his mom "With this" he concentrates and summons a green flame on his palm.
"But how, when the doctors said you wouldn't be getting a power How is this possible!?"
Izuku shrinks back and starts explaining what happened at the beach today and the strange fruit he ate. Inko looks at him sadly "Can you show me how it works?"
"Um to show you someone needs to be injured, all I know so far is that the fire heals"
These flames look familiar to Shanks. He only knows of one fruit that uses green fire to heal. 'If this is what I think it is then he has a powerful fruit. I could stay here a train the boys in their powers. I wonder what fruit Katsuki ate." Shanks pulls his dagger out and slices his palm open "Can you heal this?"
Inko gasps and starts to get up, most likely to run inside to get the first aid kit. Katsuki grabs her arm, when Ink looks at him, he shakes his head and points to Izuku. Izuku is sitting there with his eyes closed. The group watch mesmerized as the flame grows. Izuku opens his eyes and gestures to Shanks to give him his hand. Shanks complies and watches as Izuku hovers the flame above the cut. In seconds the flame transfers to Shanks's wound and starts healing it. A few seconds later the cut and fire are gone and Shanks stares at his hand deep in thought 'This is it, I have felt this before, the kid got his hand on a Mythical Zoan: 10 tailed spirit beast, model: wolf, name: Fuji. Incredible.'
"Wow Izuku, that's incredible. Your dream to be a hero doesn't seem so far away now" Inko beams and hugs Izuku.
"Kacchan and I will be the best hero duo the world has ever seen, but I feel like there is more to the power. I wish I knew how to train it."
"Izuku" Shanks calls to get the boys attention. "I can train you; I have seen this power at its most powerful. Your right there is more to it then just healing flames. It is the power over souls and life. If the person you are healing dies you can save them by calling their soul back. Though be ware there is a time limit the soul must still be on this plane of existence if it passes over to the other side you can not call it back. There is a Mythical aspect to it as well. With training I will help you unlock your final form the Spirit Wolf: Fuji. Would you boys be willing to train, Katsuki I do not know much about your devil fruit power, but I can teach all of you swordsmanship, and different fighting styles. If you want to be heroes, it will be best to learn how to properly and safely use your powers."
"Are you sure Shanks? Don't you want go home?" Izuku asks not wanting to get his hopes up.
"Well, to be honest I don't know how to get back home and I'm pretty sure the currency I have won't be any good here. So, for now I'll need time to get on my feet again and find somewhere to work and live. In the meantime, I can stop by here to help train"
Inko watches the interaction 'It would be nice for the boys to get proper training, I'm not sure there is anyone better to help Izuku learn these new powers.' Making a decision Inko speaks up "Shanks you and the boys can stay here until you are back on your feet. We have more then enough room for you. You can take the guestroom; the boys can bunk with Izuku for now. There is another room, but it is full of storage."
"Inko-san are you sure I do not have a way to pay you for lodging. My money is probably useless here. I can train the boys, and upkeep the home until I find a job that matches my skill set"
"No worries, Izuku take the boys to your room and wash up, we will be in the kitchen preparing dinner. Katsuki are you staying, or do you need a ride home?"
"Yea. I'm staying the old hag thinks I'm sleeping over here. She's out of town for a week at a convention. I told her I was gonna be staying with Izuku, if that's ok?"
"Of course, Katsuki, you are always welcome to stay here, now go wash up with the boys."
Katsuki runs to Izuku's room and grabs some clothes. "Come on, Aunty said for us to wash up we should go take a bath."
Ace and Luffy look nervous "umm we can't, we might pass out from the water"
"Oh, is this something to do with devil fruits and sea water?" Izuku tilts his head and asks.
"Yea the water we use at home comes from the ocean. So, we can't bathe fully without someone to make sure we don't drown." Luffy confirms.
"Well I don't think our water comes from the ocean. This house was built on a natural hot spring so I don't think it will affect us. If it does Kacchan will save us."
"I saw those explosions before, are they not from a devil fruit"
"No, my explosions come from a quirk. I sweat nitroglycerin and make my palms heat up then boom. I didn't eat a fruit to get my power" Katsuki smirks.
"So cool" Luffy squeals with stars in his eyes.
"It is decided, we are gonna take a bath, Kacchan will save us if we are going to pass out, after we will watch hero videos you know for education on the world" Izuku cheers.
Katsuki teases with a knowing smirk "You just wanna watch All Might videos again. Huh Izuku."
"Kacchan, of course, All Might is the best" Izuku grins.
With all boys in agreeance, they get in the bath. Izuku gets in first "Ace, Luffy this doesn't feel the same as the time at the beach. My energy is not being zapped. I feel relaxed and a little sleepy, but I don't feel like I am weak."
"Luffy, I will get in next I have had my devil fruit the longest, maybe it takes a while for the full effects to appear. Remember that time with the bandit shortly after you ate your fruit. He threw you in the ocean and you didn't sink right away."
"Oh yeah, thanks Ace."
Ace steps into the bath and moves a little deeper, a look of understand crosses his face, Izuku was right he doesn't feel weak in this water. "Come on Luffy. The water is great."
Luffy and Ace turn to see Izuku and Katsuki with their backs turned to them. Ace notices a tattoo like drawing on bother the other boys' backs. It's beautiful, there is a massive explosion like a supernova with every color exploding out. In the middle of the explosion there is a spirit wolf with green fire wings, and 10 fire tails. The marks appear to be glowing faintly. "Hey those are amazing tattoos you have."
"Huh? What are you talking about we are only five we can't get tattoos"?
"Look at Izuku's back Katsuki" Katsuki sees the mark on Izuku's back and instinctively traces the tattoo with his fingers. It's warm "What is this? This wasn't here yesterday"
"Not sure, but you have the same one on your back"
"Really I wanna see" at Izuku's excited gleam Katsuki turns around and shows Izuku his back. "Kacchan this is beautiful" Izuku whispers as he reaches out to touch it. The boys watch mesmerized as green flames come to life on Katsuki's back following the movements of Izuku's fingers. Katsuki feels a comforting warmth spread out on his skin, he wishes this never has to end.
"We should probably finish washing up, we can look this over later" Katsuki suggests.
The boys finish washing up and go to leave the tub. Izuku notices when he sees Aces back that there is a mark on him shoulder blade. His mark is a sun yin-yang one part is blue ice and the other half is orange fire. There is a circle on each half, the blue half has a silver color and the orange half has a blue color.
"Ace, you have one too. It's a Sun but different" Izuku tries to explain in detail what it looks like. Luffy investigates the mark "So cool Ace, it looks like your flames with ice. Lucky" Luffy pouts and looks down in thought.
"Luffy, what's wrong?"
"Um do I have a mark?"
Understanding blooms on Izuku's face "Turn around, let's see."
Luffy turns around and the boys gasp as they see a make come to life across Luffy's shoulders. It's a mountain range surrounded with a red glow and black lightning. "Luffy, it looks so cool"
"I wonder what they mean?" Izuku ponders.
"Let's dry off and use the computer to look it up" The boys quickly dry and head to Izuku's room. Izuku pulls out some clean clothes for everyone to change into. Katsuki enters with the computer and sets it up on Izuku's bed.
"Let's see, how do we search for this"
"Try matching marks"
"OK" Katsuki enters the information on the search bar and reads the results out loud. "Soul-mate marks also called Soul marks developed as a mutation involving quirks to show those who are fated to be together. Soul Marks appear when both parties receive their quirks. It is very rare to be born without a fated match, but it does happen. Scientists are unsure what causes people to be markless. If a soul mark loses color it means the bond has been rejected on either side. Rejecting a soul mark is extremely painful for both parties, the party rejected usually becomes depressed, refusing to eat or sleep. All reported cases of soul mate rejection show the rejected committing suicide. If a mark turns black it means the soulmate died."
Izuku hums "Devil fruits must work like quirks and alter the DNA that would explain why we all have a mark." Izuku mumbles. He pauses for a moment and goes wide eyed "Kacchan is my soulmate?" He whispers almost too softly for the boys to hear it but being so close to the shocked boy they heard. Izuku has tears going down his face his eyes still wide. Katsuki is scared thinking Izuku doesn't want to be soulmates, he shuts those thoughts out Izuku wouldn't reject a soulmate.
"Hey Izuku, why are you crying? You already know your soulmate, are you not happy that it is Katsuki?" Ace ask sending Katsuki a concerned glance. They may have just been at each other's throats but if the reports are accurate, he doesn't want the older boy to get hurt.
Izuku looks scared and wipes his face furiously "Umm its not that, umm how do I put this? Kacchan is my soulmate, but umm does he want to be my soulmate?"
Katsuki growls "What do you mean, Idiot? Do I look heartless? Do you really think I would reject my soulmate? Do you really think that lowly of me?"
Izuku flinches "No Kacchan is amazing, kind and the best person in the world. I like Kacchan. But I thought you would be upset with me because you will be stuck with me forever"
Feeling guilty for making Izuku flinch Katsuki moves closer to Izuku and drags him into a hug and buries his face in those green locks. "What did I tell you a long time ago, we are always going to be together, forever. Granted at the time I believed we would just be hero partners. I'm glad you are my soulmate, Idiot. I would never deny you our bond. You're my Nerd." Katsuki whispers softly into Izuku's ear.
Tears form anew rolling down Izuku's face but this time he has a beaming grin "My Kacchan"
Luffy and Ace watch the exchange smiling "This world doesn't know about devil fruits what do we do about this?" Ace brings the conversation back to Izuku's mumbling.
"We should probably keep this a secret. To prevent unnecessary confusion, we should probably just say our powers come from quirks."
"I like that, are quirks named?" Ace asks looking at Katsuki.
"Yeah typically the name is what the quirk does. Mine is quirk- Explosion"
"Um ok how about Luffy quirk- rubber"
"That's good Luffy. What about you Ace?"
"What about Quirk -Phoenix Fire?"
"Sounds so cool"
"Izuku, what should we name yours?"
"Well if Shanks is correct, I can transform into a spirit wolf. So, I think I will call mine Quirk- Spirit Wolf model Fuji"
"Ok, sounds good we don't have to keep the names, we can change them before high school. We should probably tell Aunty and Shanks that we are going to call all the powers quirks. For now, I think Izuku wanted to watch hero videos"
"Yeah All Might videos." Izuku shouts in clear excitement. Katsuki smirks if there is one thing that can always cheer up Izuku it's All Might. Katsuki opens YouTube and puts "All Might" in the search bar. He clicks on All Might's debut video knowing it is Izuku's favorite.
Izuku smiles big "Isn't he so cool, look at him save all those people with a fearless smile. That's the type of hero I want to be. I'm gonna be a hero that can save everyone with a fearless smile on my face."
"He's strong. Are there other heroes? How do you become one?"
"There is a lot of other heroes. To become a hero, you must go to a hero academy. Me and Kacchan are gonna go to U.A. the most prestigious hero academy. All the top heroes went there even All Might." Izuku excitedly explains.
"Ace, this place probably doesn't know our families. We won't have people hunting us because they won't know our dads!"
"Can you tell us some of your world? What was it like?"
Ace narrates the story of the Great Pirate Era, the corruption of the world government, the celestial dragons. How their other brother died because he passed in front of the noble man. He explains how him and Luffy were being hunted because someone told the noble who their dads were. Ace explains that their fathers are the most wanted because they are trying to overthrow the corruption in the world. He explains the only way to live free is to be a pirate. He tells them how he is the Son of the late Pirate King. He tells them how he was raised by bandits because the government killed all pregnant and new mothers for a year after the pirate king's execution. Ace tells them that their grandfather Garp betrayed them to keep his job as a vice admiral in the Navy. He finishes telling them that Shanks saved them from a massive fire on the Island used to try to smoke them out of the woods, to pay for the crimes their fathers committed.
"Your Dad was the Pirate King?" Izuku asks.
Ace stiffens thinking he probably should not have said that 'are they gonna wish I died too?'
Luffy sensing Ace's distress answers for him "The Pirate King never backed down from a fight, he always made sure his crew got to safety. He was the bravest man I ever heard of. I wanted to be just like him. The person who is the freest in the world is the Pirate King! Ace isn't the only one that is the Son of a Devil my dad is the leader of the Revolutionary Army; he Liberates and protects islands that are not under the governments control. The world is the real bad guy, why did they kill a six-year-old for being a kid?"
"It's ok Luffy, we understand it sounds like your world is run by villains. We don't look down on either of you. We do not know who your fathers are. We are smart enough to know you are not them. We are friends, right?"
Luffy and Ace calm down. "Yea we are!"
"Hey, I have an idea" Izuku starts. Getting questioning looks from the other boys he continues. "You already know that me a Kacchan are gonna be a hero team, what about if you stay hear with us. We can all be heroes together and open a hero agency when we go pro. If your soulmates are planning to go pro to, we will have six of us from the start." Izuku suggests excitedly.
Katsuki smirks 'Nerd is already trying to save them might as well be on board' "I think it's a great idea, I don't think you should go back to a place that will hunt you because of who your dads are. Assuming there is a way back, if there is and you want to go home then we will help you get there."
"That's a great offer, we accept if Shanks can't find a way home, we will be free to be heroes"
