Chapter 6: The Agency
Summary : Shanks goes to the Might Tower trains the interns, meets All Might, training montage with the boys.
If someone told Shanks 2 weeks ago that he would be walking into a training facility to teach a bunce of young adult how to fight to stop evil, he would have laughed and probably stopped drinking for the night. But alas that is exactly where he is right now. During the two weeks he has been all over the place from training interns to teaching little kids what it means to be strong enough to protect and defend.
He spent his first week at the agency beating up interns and calling it training, his teaching method is to pit a person with someone stronger eventually they will surpass them. A week later the training is starting to pay off. They work on improving physical strength, speed, stamina etc. in the morning. In the afternoon they do one on one spars with their peers; when the spars are done, they analyze themselves and each other. Shanks has realized a long time ago that too much flattery breeds arrogance; adults do not like being told "the way you have done things for years is wrong" or "your fighting style still has too many holes". Shanks will not let these interns go out thinking they are invincible.
When asked why the Interns were pulled off the patrol roster Shanks simply said "the only reason you have survived this long is because a pro was there to bail you out" was it harsh? Yes. Could he have said it differently? Sure. Did he regret saying it? Not at all. He has read the casualty reports of previous fights and was angry that most of these injuries and deaths could have been avoided; if the interns got proper training to defend themselves. He is a firm believer that you can learn from experience, however experience doesn't matter if you end up crippled or dead.
For the next couple of weeks, the interns were subjected to getting their asses kicked, and the arrogance beaten out of them. It was hard and many of them cracked and broke down, some even quit. But those that stayed, that didn't give up, recovered from their breakdowns; could now fight on par with some of the lower rank pros. Shanks believed they were good enough no to defend themselves from low level villains, while also making sure the civilians were out of harms way.
"Alright Interns gather round." Shanks shouts, he gives then a couple of minutes to assemble then continues "I have put you back on the patrol rosters, however do not let this go to your head you need the experience fighting in real situations there is only so much you can learn from training. I will be accompanying you on your patrols, but I will not interfere, I am only telling you this, so you give it your all. Those of you that want to be pros in the future need to understand that; you wont always have someone there to save your asses. Sometimes you must protect civilians and cannot retreat, or you risk innocent lives being lost. Other times your partner may go down and it is up to you to save him, defeat the villain, and protect the citizens. The point I'm making is always be ready to accept help but be prepared to fight on our own. Any questions?"
"Senpai I would like to learn more from you, is there anything else you can teach me?" One of the males asks. Shanks grins savagely "Are you prepared to get your ass handed to you more than you already have to learn a skill?" The male looks at Shanks seemingly thinking about it then a fire sparks in his eyes and replies with a grim of his own "Teach me Senpai".
Shanks grin look borderline feral as he says "Excellent, anyone else want extra training, it will be private those that do not except will not be watching." Shanks looks around and sees a couple of people raise their hands "very well stay behind, the rest of you are dismissed report to Sir Nighteye for your assignments"
As Shanks waits for the others to leave he scans the area with his Observation Haki he only notices the strong presence that has been observing him from that day at the beach he again pays it no mind as the presence is not threatening merely observing. He turns to his remaining 4 students "For now I will be explaining the power I will be teaching you, then a demonstration. First the power is called Haki, I will be teaching you observation Haki: it is the ability to sense enemy's, how many there are and what their next move will be. After you unlock this ability you will be able to go into most fights with an opponent at your level blindfolded and win. This ability is a lot like Sir's, but it is not a quirk. It is the strength of your will. Now I want all of you to attack me head on to see if you can get me to move out of this circle"
Shanks pulls his sash off and ties it around his head covering his eyes "ready, begin" The group charges at him with everything they have punches, kick, feints, combo moves, throwing weapons, and even quirk powers. Nothing is landing and Shanks doesn't appear to be moving at all. They regroup and try to attack simultaneously for different angles but still Shanks evaded all the attacks. This continues for about 20 minutes the Interns panting and out of energy Shanks calls it "That's enough" The interns stop.
"Now that you have seen this power in action, I can see that you are all out of stamina, I don't have a scratch on me, and I didn't expend any energy. This is the type of power you can have if you can handle the training. Imma be honest I plan to beat it into you." Shanks finishes with a smirk. The interns look at Shanks eyes wide thinking 'Maybe this training isn't for me, but if we can do even a fraction of what we just saw will help immensely in battle' Shanks watches as fear, confusion, determination and excitement cross over his interns faces. Pleased he turns to the supply room grabbing two bandanas and two lightly padded training swords.
He addresses the group "Break into pairs" the interns pair off. Shanks hands out one blindfold and stick to each pair "those of you that have the blindfold put them on and sit down. Now clear your minds only focus on the area around you and your partner. Those with the sticks will be hitting you, the goal is not get hit. Ready begin." Shanks starts the timer for 15 minutes watching as the Interns try to dodge sometimes, they get lucky and dodge the blow other times they get hit. The timer goes off "Ok that's enough, switch." Shanks waits as those who take off the blindfold rub their heads and take the sticks. Once they have switched Shanks resets the timer "Ready, Begin"
He remembers his time training Haki with the Dark King, that training is brutal. Watching these interns go through the same training he understands why the Dark King looked thrilled. He shivered remembering all the times he got hit on the head with an Armament infused branch, but he stuck out the training and got to where he was today because of it. If these Interns can still with the training after today, they will see progress after a few days to a week. When the timer goes off again, he calls and end to the training.
"Ok since each of you had a turn can you tell me what you saw or felt?"
"There was a couple of times that I dodged I felt a twinge or something and moved" Intern A said.
"I felt the air shifting a couple of times" Intern B said.
"I didn't feel or see anything" Intern C said.
"I felt a twinge too but when I tried to focus on it, I couldn't get it to happen again." Intern D said
"Good, the progress will not be immediate, for me it took 2 weeks to be able to dodge 100 consecutive blows, we will do this training every day tomorrow the time will increase to 20 mins. You are dismissed."
Shanks puts away the training things and makes his way to Nighteye's office. "Sir I am finish training for the day. I started a class on Observation Haki only 4 interns wanted to do the training."
"Ah, Shanks I'm glad you are here, I have someone here who is interested in your training methods. I must warn you though he is eccentric…"
"I AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON" comes the loud voice of the eccentric man himself.
Used to All Might's strangeness Nighteye pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs out "Idiot. Shanks this is All Might he is the current number 1 hero he wanted to meet you."
"YOU MUST BE SHANKS; I HAVE TO SAY I AM IMPRESSED WITH YOUR TEACHING METHODS. WHAT YOU SAID TO THE INTERNS ABOUT NOT BEING READY FOR THE FIELD WAS ABSOLUTLY CORRECT. I HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOUR TRAINING SINCE THE BEACH AND WANT TO EXTEND AN OFFER TO YOU. FIGHT WITH ME ON PATROLS." All Might booms.
"All Might, you do not have to be so loud, and for god sakes shrink into your normal form" Nighteye deadpans.
All Might shrinks into his true form standing there is a slim version of himself with the same build as Shanks. "Fine, Nighteye you just love taking all my fun don't you"
Nighteye sighs "Just get on with it, and leave my office"
All Might grumbles out "Fine, Shanks in this form address me as Yagi Toshinori, I asked to meet with you today because I need someone capable of fighting off a serious threat to the world. He goes by the name All for One. He has multiple quirks and is the leader of the League of Villains. He has the ability to steal people's quirks and use them at will. Knowing your story, I believe he can not steal your quirk. We are possibly the only two people able to stop him. Will you help me?"
Shanks thinks this over and ultimately says "I will help when are we going to fight this foe?"
"We have time to gather our strength, I would like to learn this Haki from you all you can teach me. We do not know where he is now, he appears to have gone into hiding. I cannot track him, but we will be ready when he emerges."
"Ok come to training tomorrow, Nighteye you once told me you were interested in learning this power is that still the case?"
"Yes, I am still very much interested, I'll be there tomorrow, don't you have to meet the boys soon for training?"
"Shit, I totally lost track of time" Shanks bolts using incredible speed he leaves the building to go down to the beach.
On his way to the beach he thinks about how much the boys have improved over the two weeks. He is equally proud of his students; the results are showing. He has them cleaning the beach for an hour every day to build strength and stamina. He has them to team building exercises by having them team up against him. This memory makes him smile, he has fun taunting the two hot headed boys and watching as Katsuki literally explodes and Ace burst into flames to attack. The first time that happened Izuku tried to get them to calm down while Luffy laughed. After being exploded and burned for his efforts; he managed to strategically harness that anger and unleash it against their opponent. Honestly if it were anyone else, they probably would have landed a blow or few. They are lasting longer, and Shanks is using a little more power every time, he's proud; they are making progress. For only being 5 they are strong, they are going to be the top heroes of their generation that much is for certain.
He arrives at the beach, sees the boys already working on cleaning the beach. By the looks of the clearing they have been at it for at least a half hour. He clears his throat gaining the boys attention "I'm sorry I am late training at the agency went a little bit long than planned" he gets understand looks from the boys he continues "today we will be playing a little game. We will be playing capture the flag Izuku and Katsuki you are a team, Luffy and Ace you are a team. Take this piece of cloth and post it like a flag anywhere on the beach you have 15 mins to find a location and devise a plan. Ready, begin."
Izuku and Katsuki run off "Kacchan, where should we hide the flag"
"I'm not sure what do you think Nerd"
"Well Luffy can stretch so anywhere high and he would get it without getting hit by us. His aim has improved. Up high Ace can't get to it. What if we put it inside a pile of trash and create a choke point? That way if they both come, we only need to hold out so one of us can sneak away to find their flag. Luffy and Ace are very straight forward their flag will most likely be on the tallest pile of trash. When they make their move, I think Kacchan should escape and get their flag, Kacchan is faster, and with my healing I would be better on the defensive."
"Well that sounds like a better plan then my idea of charging in and winning" Katsuki smirks.
Izuku smiles and finds a location he saw the other day and point it out. Katsuki nods halfway up the pile there is a hole big enough for a kid to climb in while walking. Katsuki walks around to the back and waves Izuku over. "Hey, we can move some of this trash to give us an escape route." They start moving the trash and clear an area that Katsuki can slip through. Now they wait. A few mins later they hear footsteps approaching, Izuku gives the nod to Katsuki to go out the back.
Katsuki poke his head out the back, takes in his surroundings. He climbs up to the top of the mountain and watched as Ace makes his way into the pile. He smirks 'perfect, just like the nerd planned'. Quietly he climbs down weaving between the piles of trash making sure to stay hidden and making his way around to the other side of the clearing. He can see Luffy's straw hat sticking out from the top of a garbage pile. He looks at the pile and maps out a way up. He starts the climb as quietly as possible. If he doesn't make any noise, he can sneak up on Luffy and take the flag and make a run for it with out Luffy even knowing. He makes his way up to the top and peaks over the edge, Luffy's back is pointed at him and the flag is tied to a stick behind him. He picks up a small piece of trash and throws it behind one of the other piles. Predictably Luffy focuses on the sound like a dog Katsuki takes the chance to get the flag and book it back to his hide out. Halfway there he hears Luffy shout "Rocket" and watches as Luffy launches himself over to him. His aim is a little off and he crashes into a pile of trash making the pile star falling. Katsuki continues running, soon he hears Luffy trying to catch up to him. He is close now he can only hope that Izuku has managed to keep Ace off the flag. Up ahead he hears fighting. Picking up the pace he launches at the orange flames with a stun grenade. He manages to stuff Ace and land in front of Izuku smiling "I got it, do we still have ours?" He looks behind Izuku and sees their flag a little singed but protected. He gives Izuku a once over and notices he has quite a few burn marks that are healing and his training clothes are ruined. "You good?" Katsuki asks. Izuku nods then looks at the flag in Katsuki's hand "I knew Kacchan would get the flag, we won. Let's get back to Shanks-Sensei."
Leaving the cave and arriving back to the clearing they see Shanks with a massive smile on his face "Good work Izuku came up with a solid plan knowing his opponents well and predicting how they would move, he was also aware that Katsuki is a faster runner, and as a healer Izuku stayed to defend the flag excellent plan. Katsuki you pulled it off perfectly, using stealth to sneak on our opponent, then when you noticed there was a chance he could hear you, you distracted him by suggesting you were in a different spot. You were able to get about halfway back before Luffy even noticed you took the Flag; I also commend you for coming to your partners aid with a stun Grenade. Luffy you get distracted to easily, we will work on that. You are improving on your aim with your rocket, if your aim was perfect you would have hit your target and would have been able to help Ace get the flag from Izuku. Ace you did exceptionally well controlling your fire so you wouldn't collapse the cave you were fighting in. You could work on your planning methods. The plan 'stay here I'll go on ahead' is not always the best course of action." Shanks summarized complimenting their strengths and pointing out what they still need to work on.
Over the next few weeks Shanks sees progress in his students his interns that are learning Haki are starting to be able to dodge about 20 consecutive blows before they get distracted and must start again. All Might took to the training like a champ and seemed to instinctively dodge 75% of the time. Nighteye could do it perfectly with his quirk so Shanks had to find someone that wouldn't touch night eye so he could do it without the quirk. With out his quirk he is about 50/50. All in All, the training is going well, and he is impressed with the progress displayed.
The boys training is focusing on using their quirks, he got permission from All Might to use the quirk gym after Ace almost lost control a couple of week ago. Izuku can heal more damage without being fatigued, Katsuki can make slightly bigger explosions. Luffy's aim has improve greatly with an 8 out of 10 hits making the target. Ace is burning less clothing. The boys are also getting lessons in strategy from Izuku. Katsuki is helping the other in fighting techniques. Luffy giving advice on flexibility and Ace has been helping with speed and strength. Shanks is proud of the boys handling everything he throws at them with determined grins never backing down. Their observation Haki has also improved and during their weekly 4v1 spar they managed to get a hit on Shanks.
The boys have started school and things were rocky at first. Izuku was being bullied by the bigger kids for his ears and tail. The bigger kids would keep pinching his ears and yanking his tail thinking they would come off if they pulled hard enough. Ace lost control of his fire and almost sent the older kids to the hospital with burns.
****Flash Back ****
Izuku comes home from school after being separated from the other boys crying. Inko runs up to him and pulls him into a hug "What's wrong sweetie?"
Izuku tries to choke up his tears "Nothing mom. I'm fine" he swears.
"Bullshit Nerd!" Katsuki yells pissed that Izuku is hiding something from him "Spit it out"
"Kacchan" Izuku cries and runs to his room.
Shanks gets up to approach Izuku's door and knocks he hears a muffled "Go Away Kacchan" Shanks smiles knowing that Katsuki would have been pounding on the door if Shanks did tell him to sit down and let him deal with it. "Its Shanks, can I come in Izuku?" he waits for a few moments hearing shuffling from the other side. Izuku opens the door and lets Shanks in and relocks the door. "What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about its Shanks just some stupid kids." Izuku grumbles.
"Well you don't have to talk about it we can sit here. In my experience talking about things that bother us can help us figure out a way to deal with it." Shanks speaks softly feeling two signatures on the other side of the door. No doubt Ace and Katsuki. He understands Katsuki's worry being soulmates and all, but Ace's behavior is new. He seems to take the roll as the older brother.
Izuku things about it for a few minutes just when Shanks thinks he's not going to speak Izuku softly asks "Am I a monster?"
Shanks breath hitches and Ace and Katsuki's aura lash out "Why do you think you're a monster Izu?"
"Some kids at school keep calling me a monster because of my wolf features. They keep trying to fix me but the fire lashes out and then they beat me up. They try to pull off my tail by yanking it and they have pinched my ears and today the tried to cut of my ears and tail with scissors they cut of my tail but the fire made it grow right back and lashed out. I know my wolf features are made from condensed fire, but it still hurts when they pull on them. I can feel it and they are sensitive. I tried to tell the teachers, but they don't believe me because the damage heals right away. When pulling off tail doesn't fix me, they say really mean things like "your soulmate is going to think you are a monster, freak!" but I already know my soulmate Kacchan doesn't think I'm a monster right? Do you think I'm a monster? Do I need to be fixed?" At this point Izuku has completely retreated into his mind. Shanks hold him and calls out the boys on the other side of the door knowing they heard everything. Ace and Katsuki enter the room with barely contained fury. Rage washing off the both in oppressing waves.
"I'm gonna kill them!" Katsuki growls palms popping seconds away from a nuclear meltdown.
Ace puts his arm on Katsuki's shoulder "I will take care of this, Izuku needs his soulmate to comfort him. He thinks you think he is a monster." Not breaking through to Katsuki, Ace releases some fire enough for the heat to be uncomfortable "You need to calm the Fuck down Kats! Izuku needs you!" As Ace finishes Izuku whimpers out a soft "Kacchan" The whimper distorted by his wolf trying to take over. That does it and like a flip has been switched Katsuki loose all his fury and rage, and his face morphs into frantic worry. He turns to Ace "Give 'em hell for me."
Ace smirks "Was planning on it, I'll be back to check on Izuku later"
Shanks goes to stop Ace from leaving the house, but Ace turns intangible and Shanks doesn't want to seriously hurt him. Instead he follows him out in case he needs to be stopped. Shanks has never seen Ace so protective, sure he has seen Ace worry over the smaller boys Luffy and Izuku. He found it amusing the first he saw Ace go mother hen mode on Katsuki, Ace got an explosion to the face to 'Stop worrying about me Asshole'. Ever since they both have this protectiveness of the other two, but at the same time always fighting with each other. It is definitely a strange friendship between them. Katsuki is an aggressive rival to Ace, but friendly to Luffy, and almost a completely different person to Izuku. It is not odd to see Katsuki cuddling with Izuku or just being close to him. He doesn't push Izuku off when he's being clingy. Most of the time Izuku's tail is wrapped securely around Katsuki's wrist when they are sitting together. It seems the only time they separate is during training and when Katsuki goes home.
Lost in is thoughts he is broken out as he feels a massage amount of power being unleashed. "Shit" Shanks moves in front of Ace body covered in Armament Haki he bear hugs the fire to force Ace to go tangible. Once Ace settles, he looks at Aces face and realizes that ace has passed out. He lays him down seeing the other boys running away. All Might lands in front of him and he tells All Might what happened, with the bulling and why Ace lost control. He also mentions he was told not to train the boys quirks because he doesn't have a license. All Might tells him that he can use the training facility at the agency to train the boys. Shanks nods and turns to pick up Ace to carry him home
***End Flashback***
After that incident the boys were inseparable, and school life got better. Izuku no longer gets called a monster, Ace and Katsuki are like guard dogs on either side of the group with both Luffy and Izuku in the middle. Ace and Katsuki increased their training and pushing the other two as well. Overall training was going well, the boys were improving faster than very few ever do. As impressive as their progress is, they have a reason to be strong that many never find and it is to be able to protect each other.
