Chapter 3: New Dreams

Summary: The boys have dinner with Shanks and Inko. Talks of training, soul-marks, devil fruits, ETC. basically setting the information ground work down.

In Izuku's room the boys are talking. Luffy and Ace do not want to make any promises to the other boys about the future. Luffy is staring down at his lap, his outburst defending Ace has left him feeling raw. Luffy takes the straw hat off the top of his head and silently contemplates his promise to Shanks.

"Luffy, what's on your mind?" Ace asks.

"Sorry Ace, I'm just thinking about my promise to Shanks. I made a promise that I would be the Pirate King on this hat, now I'm not so sure I can keep it. Will I have to give Shanks back his hat?"

"Good question, I guess we can wait for dinner and talk about it."

"Hey Luffy, why did you want to become Pirate King?" Izuku questions.

"Well the Pirate King is the man with the most freedom, He doesn't follow the governments rules he doesn't oppress those below him. He goes on the best adventures."

"That's a very admirable dream Luffy."

"Boys, dinner is ready!" Inko shouts.

The boys shut the laptop and leave the room. Luffy puts the straw hat back on his head and follows the boys to the kitchen. Reaching the kitchen Izuku asks "Hey mom do you need any help with anything?" Inko smiles at the boys and directs them to grab the dishes of food and to follow her. Each boy grabs two platters and heads to the dining room. Shanks is finishing setting up the table.

"Hey boys put the plates down and take a seat" Shanks greets.

The boys place the food down and sit on the tatami mats. Luffy is sitting next to Ace on one side of the table. Izuku and Katsuki take up the other side. Shanks and Inko take up the ends of the table. When the boys settle, and food has been placed on the plates Shanks clears his throat grabbing the boys' attention.

"Luffy, Ace we are going to be stuck here for a while. I will be enrolling you into school this is nonnegotiable. I will be considered your legal guardian. What you call me is up to you; Shanks is fine however; I am not opposed to a more familial label. This world does not know who your biological parents are, nor do I believe they will care. It is up to you if you want me to disclose this information to Inko-san. I will be training the three devil fruit users for the foreseeable future. Inko has already explained to me Quirks so I have a general understanding of this worlds power system. I extend my teachings to you as well Katsuki, if you want." Shanks informs the table.

Katsuki considers getting real training from someone who looks like a competent fighter. "What can you teach me?"

"That's simple first I need more information on your quirk, what activates it? What are the limits? Can we pass them? What is the toll on your body to use the quirk? We need to find out what the weakness are and how to over come them. That is what you and I will work on together. As far as group training, we will work on teamwork, and partnership using friendly competitions. We will work on combo skills, and support tactics. Each of you will be required to use and master a weapon of your choice my personal favorites are swords and bow staves. I will also be teaching you different styles of hand to hand combat for both defense and offense. If wills and spirits are the same here, I will also be teaching you Haki or at least going through the basics." Shanks rambles his training plan to the boys. Katsuki soaks all this information in and decides that he will not pass up this opportunity to get stronger and nods his head in agreeance.

"Um Shanks where will we be training. I don't think can train here at the house. Also, we have decided that our devil fruits will be referred to as quirks for our own protection and to prevent confusion." Izuku adds.

"Why do you think you will need protection, Izuku?" Shanks wonders wanting to see the boys thought process.

"Well this world doesn't know about devil fruits right, if someone were to know that a power can come from a fruit, they might take us away to a research facility to learn more. That would cause us unnecessary pain and stress. Quirks here vary in ability, people will not turn their heads if a man bursts into fire, or someone can stretch farther then physically possible. Even my power can be referred to as a quirk, transformation type quicks are very common. Kacchan has an emitter type quirk. I would fall into transformation type quirk and emitter type. There is also the mutant type quirk that can't be turned off like Luffy's rubber and Ace's fire. Those are the most common type but there are others. Therefore, it makes sense to refer to our powers as quirks." Izuku explains.

Shanks whistles impressed, Katsuki smirks "If you need to know anything about quirks talk to this Nerd. He can analyze and break down weaknesses faster than most pros and we are only five." Shanks soaks this in and tweaks Izuku's training schedule "Thank you for the information, Izuku I think you should be the one to help me identify Katsuki's weaknesses and your thoughts of improvement. Also do you think you can analyze fruit powers for the same limitations?"

Izuku blushes "I already have a notebook on Kacchan's quirk it includes weaknesses ways to improve, training tips, support items, and costume designs. Theoretically it should be possible to analyze fruit power to the same scale, but I would need Ace and Luffy's help since I do not know much about them."

Katsuki is surprised "I have only had my quirk for a day and you already have a notebook filled with ways to improve?"

"Sorry Kacchan, I was going to give it to you for your birthday. Before I got this power, I was desperate for anyway that I can help you be the best hero ever so you could fulfill both our dreams. I'm sorry Kacchan." Izuku looks down ashamed. Katsuki doesn't know how to respond so he asks, "Can I see it after dinner?" Izuku looks up and blushes, "Its not finished yet but yeah you can see it."

"That's so cool, can we see it too. While we are training you can analyze our powers." Luffy states excitedly getting an agreeing nod from Ace.

They finish their meals in silence. They boys clear the table and set the dishes aside to be cleaned later. The group go back to the dining room and sit back down the boys have decided to tell the adults about the marks that have shown up. "There is another think about quirks you should know Shanks." Izuku starts.

"What is it?"

"When a person's quirk manifests, they get a mark, scientists believe that these marks will appear when two fated souls receive their quirks." Izuku continues gaining the attention of bother Inko and Shanks.

"How do you know about the marks, Izuku?" Inko asks worriedly.

"Well, um we all have a mark. Everything we looked up states that the marks are liked to Quirks, however that does not explain why Ace, Luffy and I also have marks. So, that leads me to believe that devil fruits and Quirks affect the DNA of the person. I think that when you came here Ace and Luffy already had their Devil Fruits and since the DNA was altered, they received a mark. When I consumed my fruit it also altered my DNA like a quirk would. We were in the bath when Ace asked us about the tattoo on our backs. Being only five I can't be a tattoo. Leaving the bath, we saw similar marks on Ace and Luffy. Regardless of how they appeared, I think this will help us sell that our powers are quirks. It is very uncommon for a quirk user to not have a Soul-mark. All the documented research shows only ten quirked people do not have soul-marks."

"What does your marks look like can we see?" Inko asks.

The boys stand up and take off their shirts and show their backs to the adults. Inko gasps as she sees the beautiful marks on Izuku and Katsuki's backs. She wants to touch them but stops her hand before she can. It is frowned upon and causes pain for people other than the persons soulmate to touch the marks. She always assumed Katsuki and Izuku would be soulmates, when Izuku didn't get his quirk she thought Katsuki would be markless. She has tears running down her face she is happy that the boys are fated to each other. She looks over to Luffy and Ace and see their marks that a beautiful as well but smaller than her boys. Shanks reaches out to try to touch Inko shouts "Stop, don't touch".

"Huh? Why?"

"It causes pain to the person if someone other than their soulmate touches them."

Shanks pulls his hand back like he was burnt "Sorry Ace, Luffy I didn't know." He apologizes to the boys. He looks over at Izuku "As fascinating as this is, is there a reason you brought this up. Is this going to affect training at all?"

"I don't know much about soulmates but from what I read and understand there is no better team then soulmates. They will fight side by side and protect each other's weak spots. They will automatically know when their partner is injured or distressed. They will also feel a pull toward their partners direction to help find them. As far as I know there are not many down sides to training with your soulmate, I think it will only make them better as a pair. I would also like to state the individual training should not be neglected for the sake of teamwork. Soul mates should be able to protect themselves if away from their soul mates."

"Ok, I can work with this."

"Shanks?" Luffy asks to get Shanks attention. Shanks looks at Luffy "What's up Anchor?" Luffy pulls the straw hat off his head and holds it out to Shanks. Shanks raises an eyebrow and takes it "Why are you giving me this back?"

"You gave it to me to hold on to until I become Pirate King. I don't think I can keep this promise here. So, I am giving you your hat back." Luffy explains while looking at the ground. Shanks sports a sad smile.

"Luffy, do you have a dream?" Shanks asks still holding the hat. Luffy nods but doesn't elaborate yet. "Well this world, or that world promise me you will become something great. The Pirate King was my captain when I first sailed. He was an honorable man, and always made sure his crew was safe. For the safety of his crew and allies he never backed down from a fight. He fought fearlessly, with a smile to protect those that were weaker than him. The title Pirate King was given to him, he did not set out for the reason to be king. He set out to be free, to have adventures, to meet new people and make friends. That is what being a Pirate was for him."

Luffy is silent with tears coming down his face, Ace looks conflicted only hearing negative things about the pirate king. Izuku and Katsuki look deep in thought "sounds like All Might" Izuku blurts.

"If my dad was such a great man why was I being hunted? Why did everyone want me to die? Should I have been born at all? Why did I grow up alone?" Ace screams tears of confusion, sadness or frustration, perhaps a combination of those emotions streaming down his face.

Inko, Izuku, and Katsuki are shocked. Inko gasps and holds a hand to her mouth eyes tearing up from sympathy for the young boy no one should have to live like that. "Oh Ace, you are not alone now."

"Ace, I understand how you feel, your father had a lot of enemies. I am sorry about not being there for you. I didn't know if you survived the purge. I didn't know Garp had moved you to another island. I wanted to take you into my territory to raise you. But Ace do you really think the pirate king's enemies would feel sympathy for a child or be honest about his reputation." Shanks pulls Ace into a hug. "Don't let anyone ever tell you, you should have never been born. I will always be here for you boys. At least here they will form their own opinions on you based on how you present yourself."

"Luffy is your dad the pirate king too?" Inko asks.

"Nope, my dad is the leader of the revolutionary army."

"Inko, boys, where we come from the world is governed by the Celestial Dragons. 900 years ago, there was a war the 20 kingdoms banded their armies together and won the war. The war lasted 100 years and all history from that century was lost. Today that era is known as the void century. The Celestial Dragons are the descendants of the 20 kings, they live above us, they do not breathe the same air as us, they do not walk or shop among us. They will not hesitate to kill a child for walking to close to them, or even sometimes if they see the child at all. The only time they come off their mountains is to pick out new slaves, to replace those that are broken. We are worth no more than cattle to them. The Navy caters to them, anything they want from slaves to assassinations they get. Before we arrived here word got out to the Celestials who Luffy's and Ace's fathers were. The Celestials fear the blood that flows through their veins. They tried to smoke them out of the forest possibly killing hundreds of people in the process. The best-case scenario if caught would have been death on sight. Most likely they would have been captured by the Noble and branded as a slave where they would have been worked to death or used as entertainment. The Celestials are not above raping a child if it will break the child's will. I assure you being a slave is a fate worse than death. The laws that we abide by are in place to keep the Cattle controlled. The revolutionary army is taking steps to dethrone the government and make everyone equal. I was near the Island at the time and gave them a way to escape. I did not bring my whole crew or my ship to avoid detection. The plan was to get them out of there without being seen so the world would think they were dead. I was an Emperor of the Sea called a Yonko, there are four of us our purpose is to keep the balance of the New World to prevent another war. With the execution of the Pirate King started a new era. People were becoming pirates some for freedom, others for power, either way a new king needs to be crowned to keep the balance. The only way to not be hunted for who you are is to think like cattle, bow to the whims of the people above you. I couldn't live like that, Roger, and Dragon also could not live like that. The sea called out to me as it does with pirates searching for their place in the world. I answered that call and met Roger." Shanks gives a brief history lesson, hoping that Ace and Luffy will be able to grow up like normal boys without fear of being labeled as criminals because of their fathers.

Inko is crying holding on to Izuku not being able to imagine a world like that can exist. Even if only half of what Shanks said was true, it sounded terrifying. She is glad that two innocent lives were saved but the heroic deeds of one man who saw them as children. She couldn't imagine Izuku or Katsuki having to live like that. She cried harder at the thought that if Shanks didn't come to the rescue the two boys would be dead or worse being sold as sex slaves. She can't help but agree that death would have been better for the boys, if not for Shanks. She thinks she could give the boys a good life here if they stay.

Izuku and Katsuki stayed quiet for most of the story and can not believe their ears. Compared to Luffy and Ace, they were living the worry-free life. They do not need to learn how to fight just to survive, they want to learn how to fight to be heroes. "When I become a hero, I promise to save as many people as I can. To make sure our world does not end up like yours." Izuku vows eyes burning with determination as he stands up out of Inko's hold. "I swear I will train every waking minuet of the day if that means I can protect my friends. Luffy, Ace you are my friends now I will protect you!" Izuku finishes his declaration with a growl. Shanks looks at Izuku and notices his eyes are glowing green with pupils constricting to fine points, his fangs and nails are getting longer as well. The tone of Izuku's declaration is borderline instinctual. If nothing is done, he might start transforming. Shanks gets up and slowly approaches Izuku with his hands in view and calls out "Izuku, you need to calm down, you are about to transform into your wolf form." Izuku shoots Shanks a warning growl as green fire starts lashing out around him. 'Shit he is mostly acting on instincts right now, I wonder if he considers us as his pack yet' "Izuku, your pack is safe, we are at your home in the kitchen everyone is safe." The green fire settles to a protective dance around Izuku's arms and torso. His inner wolf growls in content knowing that the pack is safe and there is no danger. The fire recedes to form ears and a tail behind him. His features do not go back to normal there is still a glow around his eyes and his fangs are elongated. Shanks finally gets Izuku back to his senses but the changes to not revert. He needs to start the boys training and soon.

Katsuki sees the tail and lightly puts his hand on it. His eyes widen as he realizes that the tail is made of an almost solid fire. He watched as the fire tail flicks out and wraps around his wrist in a tight but not uncomfortable way. Katsuki doesn't realize he is smiling softly as he free hand lightly strokes the tail. Katsuki pulls his hand back when he hears a small yip. Izuku whimpers missing the comforting touch of his tail being pet.

"Will the tail and ears ever go away?" Katsuki asks out loud curiosity lacing his voice.

"I'm not sure his type of devil fruit is a Mythical Zoan, it has been said that the person will take on some of the animals features, But I think with enough training he might be able to suppress the changes, Izuku can you tell if your eyes and ears enhanced or are the cosmetic?"

"I can see auras and ear the bugs outside. I can also move my tail and I think my sense of smell has gotten better."

"Can you describe what you smell?"

"First, I smell burnt sugar and smoke coming from behind me probably coming from Kacchan, Ace smells like a campfire. Luffy smells like new shoes. Mom smells like flowers maybe lavender with a little vanilla. Finally, Shanks smells like the ocean."

"That is impressive Izuku. Can you smell anything else?" Shanks asks.

"Nothing that I can pinpoint"

"Still, that is amazing Izuku, we will work on training your senses. We want to prevent sensory overload."

"Right"

Seeing Luffy and Ace struggling to stay awake, Inko calls out "It has been a long and emotional day today, we also have a lot to do tomorrow; shopping for clothes for Luffy and Ace, registering your quirks, and getting you boys enrolled in school."

The boys agree and say their good nights to the adults, Izuku leads the boys back to his room and turns on the light. "I only have one extra mattress how do we wanna sleep?"

"I'll share with Luffy, we have shared a bed for a long time." Ace said.

"Ok, looks like I'm bunking with you Izuku"

"Ok, Kacchan can you help me get the other mattress set up" Katsuki nods and helps Izuku pull the mattress out from under the bed. Grabbing extra blankets from his closet he hands them to Ace. Once all the boys are in bed Izuku turns off the lights and crawls in next to Katsuki.

"Hey Kacchan" Izuku whispers softly. Katsuki hums in response "I think Kacchan smells the best" Izuku states while curling closer to Katsuki and wrapping his tail around Katsuki's arm.

"Don't say such embarrassing things, Nerd" Katsuki blushes and turns his head away from Izuku.

Izuku giggles "Good night, Kacchan" he says softly.

"G'Night Nerd" Katsuki grumbles back.

The night is calm as the boys drift off into dreamland. For as emotional as today was it is safe to say over all the boys had a good day.