The night before the exams, Izuku holds a quiet study session. Katsuki, Ace, and Shoto help the Elemental Nation's Ninja understand Heroic Law and the academic portions of the finals. Kirishima almost feels bad for the Ninja in Katsuki's group. He has studied under the explosive teen's tutelage before, and he thinks he still has the bumps on the back of his head as a reminder. But as Kirishima looks at Katsuki's group, the teen is calmly reviewing all the academics they have gone through over the month. None of the weaponized textbooks Kirishima still has nightmares about insight. In fact, Kirishima witnesses a sort of softness coming from Katsuki that he rarely sees directed at anyone other than Izuku as he gently explains quirk theory to Gaara, Shinso, Sasuke, and Neji. He answers their questions without the put upon sigh Kirishima himself has received.
A thump that sounds like someone has given up and slammed their head on the table, breaks Kirishima out of his observation. A whine sounds coming from the bright blond ninja sitting across from him. "I don't understand any of this!" Naruto whines pathetically.
Izuku, who was previously leaning over Kaminari and Ashido, looks over. "What's wrong, Naruto?" Izuku tilts his head to the side.
"Everything!" Naruto dramatically flails.
Izuku chuckles, "Alright, let me see if I can help you make sense of it."
Naruto brightens relieved as he nods, and his motivation comes back to him. Izuku moves over to the distressed teen, apologizing to Ashido and Kaminari for leaving them. He sits with the blond and starts to draw out an explanation for whatever is troubling Naruto.
Naruto nods along with an understanding glint in his eyes. From what Kirishima can see of the diagram, he is even more confused. But Naruto grabs the pencil from Izuku and does another question. Izuku nods along and corrects the slight miscalculations with a smile. Izuku pats the teen on the shoulder when the teen finally understands what he was working on.
"Kirishima," Shoto calls for his attention.
Kirishima snaps his gaze to the hot and cold teen, He rubs the back of his neck while chuckling nervously at Shoto's icy glare. "Sorry, Shoto."
Shoto's glare intensifies slightly, "Pay attention." And Kirishima shivers at the cold tone. Never has two words seemed so threatening, so he nods and focuses on his own studying. Kirishima feels like he should be used to these types of study sessions, being subjected to Katsuki's brutal studying methods and all. But typically only Izuku or Katsuki tutor him, while Shoto helps Ace and Luffy, and it's rare when Shoto directs that level of iciness towards a pack member.
As he focuses on his own packet he sympathizes with Naruto. Don't get him wrong, since he joined the pack, he can admit he is smarter than he ever thought possible, but it's hard to study something he doesn't care about. He's the type of person that would run into a situation and literally tank it. He has never thought of the theory behind the different quirks, all that mattered was could it break through his hardening. But Kirishima realizes he has been thinking more about the way quirks interact with each other. The way something might harm one of his packmates, and Kirishima would never forgive himself if he caused his pack to be injured because he didn't think that quirk would be effective against him. He has to remember that it is not just him anymore, that others depend on him to be aware of the situation just as he depends on the others.
By the time Kirishima is about to fall asleep at the table, he believes he has a good understanding of quirk breakdowns and theories. He feels confident he will at least pass the exam tomorrow. He closes his textbook with a sigh, it's late, and he honestly can't cram any more information into his brain. He turns to Luffy who spent most of the night fidgeting until he finally stopped. Kirishima smiles softly at the sleeping rubber teen snoring softly next to him. That must have been why Luffy stopped fidgeting. Kirishima chuckles fondly at the sleepy mumble of meat leaving his soulmate's mouth.
He focuses on putting his books away and piling Luffy's book in the teen's backpack. He smiles gratefully at Ace when the teen grabs Luffy's bag with a grumbled sigh. Entirely too used to picking up Luffy after study sessions, Kirishima maneuvers the rubbery teen onto his back. He whispers his goodnights to the other still awake teens as he leaves.
It's approaching midnight when Izuku ushers the last of the teens still studying to go get some sleep. Izuku spent most of the night flitting from one person to another answering questions and trying to explain things differently. And by the end of the night, he is confident that not a single one of them will fail. Izuku looks over at Katsuki, the teen is half asleep with Gaara sleeping against his shoulder. Izuku chuckles fondly at the scene, receiving a glare from his soulmate. Izuku notices Katsuki has his tail wrapped around Gaara as the other teen's bushy tail is wrapped around them. And Izuku wants to coo and cuddle both of them because Gaara looks adorable curled up to Katsuki. And Izuku always wants to cuddle his Kacchan so it's not that alarming.
Izuku helps pry the sleeping teen off his explosive soulmate, chuckling at Katsuki's sleepy glare. It's only a little difficult to maneuver both the teens, but he manages to carry Gaara and support Katsuki's sleepy weight. He makes his way towards Gaara's room and waits for Sabo to answer the door. The sandy blonde had already taken their bags to their room, and he was going to come back for Gaara, but Izuku decided he was going that way anyway. Sabo opens the door shocked to see Gaara on Izuku's back. The shock passes quickly, and Sabo opens the door a bit wider. Izuku steps into the suite following Sabo's directions and gently placing Gaara down on the bed.
Izuku smiles fondly as Katsuki decided to lean against Sabo instead of following him to put Gaara to sleep. Sabo looks a little panicky as Katsuki decided to use the teen's shoulder as a pillow. Izuku wraps his tail around Katsuki and pulls him slightly. Katsuki moves easily switching to Izuku's shoulder instead. Sabo breathes out a sigh of relief as Izuku bids him goodnight.
Izuku leads Katsuki to their room and gently guides the teen to their bed. He lays the teen down and removes his shoes, not receiving any help from Katsuki. The only help he receives is the lifting of Katsuki's hips when he takes off his sweatpants. Once Katsuki is as prepared for bed as he is willing to be, Izuku climbs in next to him.
Izuku holds back a chuckle because even though Katsuki is basically asleep, he still manhandles Izuku into a perfect position to use him as a pillow. Izuku doesn't mind, all he does is run his fingers through Katsuki's hair and down his back. Relishing in the feeling of Katsuki going boneless in his grip. Izuku places a small kiss on the top of fluffy, soft hair, "Good Night Kacchan. "
Katsuki mumbles something that is a possible response, and Izuku accepts it with a soft chuckle and a whispered, "I love you, Kacchan."
Katsuki's response to that is to snuggle deeper into Izuku's chest while squeezing tighter.
***Next Morning***
Morning comes a little too fast for Katsuki's liking. He felt like he just closed his eyes like 5 minutes ago. His face is buried in Izuku's chest, and he groans as the alarm clock is a little too far away from him. He hopes glaring at the loud device would shut it up before it wakes up his Nerd, but that was wishful thinking. Izuku chuckles slightly as Katsuki is trying to glare the alarm clock into submission, with no success.
Izuku reaches over, slightly disturbing Katsuki's hold on him, and shuts off the alarm clock. He stretches slightly before he lays back down to let Katsuki continue using him. After about 10 minutes of cuddling, Izuku tries to convince Katsuki that it is time to get up. He understands Katsuki's reluctance about getting ready for the day, and if it wasn't finals today, Izuku would have no problems staying in bed with his Kacchan. They have not had a lot of time together lately except for the moments they wake up and before they go to sleep. Before the Underground Course, their days will filled with training in Class 1-A then training the Ninja while avoiding spending any length of time in the Hights Alliance dorms. After the festival pack needed them to be strong after seeing Jiraiya in such a state. And when Jiraiya recovered enough to leave Kakashi's bed, Izuku was so deep in planning it started to affect his sleep.
Even when they came home from the Pain Invasion, Izuku and Katsuki were trying to get the others settled, teaching the two untrained hosts to control their Gods. Not to mention teaching the 10 new shinobi Haki preparing for the finals and training for their return to the Grandline. Even though Izuku and Katsuki spend every night together, they are so worn out that one of them usually has to be carried to the room. On the rare occasions that they are both awake when they lay down, they don't have enough energy to do anything more than gentle cuddling.
"Good morning, Kacchan," Izuku greets with a sleepy smile.
Katsuki grumbles, "Morning, Nerd."
Izuku chuckles at his cranky soulmate, "Come on Kacchan, we need to get ready for the finals."
"Don't wanna," Katsuki grumbles, "just wanna stay in bed all day."
"Me too, Kacchan," Izuku agrees. After a short pause, Izuku smirks dangerously, "What if I gave you incentive?"
Katsuki hums, "What do you have in mind, Nerd?"
Izuku smirks and flips their positions, so Izuku is now caging Katsuki against the bed. Katsuki shivers against Izuku's hold, eyes wide in interest. Izuku leans to nibble on Katsuki's neck making his way to his soulmate's ear he nibbles lightly on the earlobe. Katsuki lets little breathy sounds escape him. Izuku releases the earlobe by dragging his teeth over the abused flesh. He smirks down at Katsuki's pleasured face, "I was thinking of a little stress relief to celebrate passing the exams."
Katsuki's eyes dilate in want, "yeah?"
Izuku nods, "yeah." His smirk turns dangerous, "but we need to get up and pass the exam first."
Katsuki closes his eyes with a groan as Izuku's wandering hands have a habit of hitting all of Katsuki's weak spots. Lighting all of Katsuki's nerves on fire, Katsuki thinks he would do just about anything to keep this going. Just as Katsuki is about to get lost in the pleasure Izuku pulls away with a devilish grin.
Katsuki growls and tries to use his speed to pin his Nerd under him, but Izuku is quick and alert as he dodges Katsuki's grabby hands and makes a dash out of the room. Katsuki's head hits the pillow, he would normally chase after the nerd and catch him in the stairway, but as he tries to calm his arousal, he realizes his nerd is right. They have exams today, and he would be disappointed in himself if he didn't do his absolute best. He may be exhausted, and he wants nothing more than to sleep for a week, but he knows Izuku would be upset if Katsuki didn't give his all.
So with a lot of grumbling, and a bit of stalling he finally untangles himself from the blankets and heads to the bathroom to do his morning routine. He takes a quick shower, Izuku is probably using the common showers in the gym. When he is done with his shower, brushing his teeth, and trying to tame his hair, he sends the nerd a text that he will meet him in the common area for breakfast.
He makes his way down to the kitchens, not really surprised that there are so few people down here. Kakashi, Aizawa, Asuma, and Gai sit at one of the farther tables. From the slight whispers, he can hear from the table, Asuma, and Gai seem to be teasing the Masked Ninja. Aizawa seems to be holding him to his spot, so the man can't maim his 'friends.' Katsuki chuckles to himself, he decides he trust Shota to handle it without anyone getting seriously hurt. He looks at another table, it seems Itachi has gotten closer to Kushina and Minato as they are talking quietly between them.
Neji, Sasuke, Shinso, and Shikamaru are trying to go over the study material with Kiba, and Naruto. Shoto and Ace are literally dragging Luffy and Kirishima to the studying table to do a last-minute cram session. Luffy whines, complains and struggles to keep moving to the food line to get more breakfast meat. Ace uses Haki to negate Luffy's rubber forcing the teen to snap back and collide with Ace sending both of them sprawling to the ground. Katsuki shakes his head, this is a normal enough occurrence that he doesn't bother to make sure they are uninjured.
While waiting in line the cafeteria slowly fills up with Ninja, Pirates, and Hero hopefuls. The noise blends together to create a white static. He still can fully tune out all the additional sounds he can hear, but it no longer causes agonizing headaches. His phone vibrates in his pocket, most likely the nerd responding to his message. He makes sure to grab a plate for his nerd, he finds a table close enough to the chaos that he can watch over the pack, but far enough away he doesn't get dragged into it.
Izuku, Gaara, and Lee stroll in not long after Katsuki picked a table. Izuku spots him and makes a beeline for his table, he flashes Katsuki a blinding smile as he sits down. Izuku watches the chaos that is the pack with fond eyes, knowing in a couple of days uncertainty, and unease will be thick in his pack's scents.
Breakfast doesn't take too long, and all too soon everyone is in their classroom to do the written portion of the exam. Kakashi stands in front of the students, waiting for the students to get to their seats. As the class settles Kakashi clears his throat, "This exam is a test on your ability to gather information and plan successful missions based on the information you receive. Due to the diversity of the students in this class, Aizawa and I have decided to test you a bit differently. Regardless of the profession, you have training for, information gathering is a useful skill. Successfully gathering the correct intel could mean the difference between life and death. Teamwork is also important, so after I have finished explaining the test, you will be put into teams determined by myself and Aizawa. There will be 9 teams of three people." He pauses to let this information sink in, "now the test is 10 questions, everyone starts out with 10 points, for every question wrong one point is deduced. The second rule … is a team test; meaning if one of your teammates gets a 0 all three of you fail." Kakashi smirks as recognition blooms on the Ninja's face. "The third and final rule, anyone caught cheating will get 2 points subtracted for every offense."
Izuku ponders this information, there is a feeling rising in the room not deceit, but deception almost. Kakashi isn't lying, but he is leaving out information or being intentionally vague on the parameters of the exam. He is not worried about his own ability, but Naruto, Kiba, Luffy, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Ashido are not as smart as them. Not to mention it seems there would be some Shinobi questions mixed in with Heroic academics. If one person gets a zero all three students fail, so Izuku needs to know who is on his team so he can figure out a way to help them without getting caught.
Plans run through Izuku's head, if he is grouped with the Shinobi, they should know morse code. He could pulse his presence to give the answers away. But that might not work, if Kakashi catches on he could lose points. His information-gathering skills are pretty top-notch considering he doesn't need to be in the same room to pick up the conversations happening around him. he has a way to help Naruto since Naruto has enhanced hearing due to Fujin sealed in him. If Izuku whispers his answers, as if he is mumbling to himself, he is sure Naruto, Gaara, Katsuki, Fu, and Rin would be able to hear him.
Ace has a way to help Luffy since he has helped Luffy cheat before in the past. Izuku is unsure how Ace has managed it, over the years but they were never caught before. However, Kakashi and Aizawa are more observant than their middle school teachers were, so he doesn't know how effective it will be.
Kakashi flips over the board, with a list of names Izuku guesses are the team names. "If you look here on the board, you will see who your teammates are."
Team 1: Izuku Midoriya, Naruto Uzumaki, Gaara
Team 2: Katsuki Bakugo, Fu, Luffy D. Monkey
Team 3: Shoto Todoroki, Eijiro Kirishima, Kiba Inuzuka
Team 4: Shikamaru Nara, Denki Kaminari, Fumikage Tokoyami
Team 5: Hitoshi Shinso, Neji Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha.
Team 6: Ace D. Portgas, Shino Aburame, Lee Rock
Team 7: Mina Ashido, Tsuyu Asui, Kato Tenjin
Team 8: Mezo Shoji, Choji Akimichi, Konohamaru Sarutobi
Team 9: Sabo Outlook, Rin Nohara, TenTen Tanken
"You will have an hour to complete the exam. After you are finished the exam, turn your test over and stay silent. Any talking will be considered cheating." Kakashi notifies as he begins the timer.
Izuku looks over the questions, looking over the test. Some of these questions are hard, harder than most of the class will be able to answer. So Izuku looks deeper into the questions, some of the questions require him to decode the message. He takes a moment to work through all the known codes he knows and works it out, so the question makes sense. He starts to mutter his answer quietly, using his wings to hide his mouth moving. As he pauses his muttering to work on the next question, he can hear Naruto thanking him and writing his answers down.
Katsuki does the same thing, so not only are they helping the hosts they are bouncing their answers off each other. Sasuke and Neji have their dojutsu's activated copying Izuku's writing style. Gaara uses his sand to help those next to him. Regardless of if they are on his team or not. Kiba has Akamaru sitting under the table, giving him the answers. Shikamaru uses his shadows to possess Kaminari, and Kirishima to force them to copy him.
Kakashi watches with a stern eye, he is taking in all the creative ways the smartest students are helping the weaker students. He is impressed that if he was a lower-ranked Shinobi, he wouldn't pick up on most of the cheating. Basically, Aizawa and Kakashi came up with a sure way everyone should pass. Considering that the ninja has their skills in espionage and information gathering, they could use that to their advantage. Aizawa was on board with the plan, knowing that the ninja would struggle with the Hero laws and have only had about a month to learn everything the hero students had all year to learn. Besides Academics are not really the focus of their teaching. Aizawa actually considered not giving them a written exam, but instead, doing a survival practical. But Kakashi smirked at him as he relayed his idea, and Aizawa is soft to that particular crooked grin. And he saw the logic behind it, they are not teaching their students to be spotlight heroes. Information gathering, planning, and strategy are what are going to be needed in the future. Adapting to new situations in unfamiliar worlds spotlight heroics will only fail them in the long run.
Basically, the teams are a logical ruse. Aizawa put that in to see how they would react. He wanted them to be prepared to work with anyone randomly. He wanted to see if they would help others outside their assigned group. And it seemed Izuku caught on immediately as he started mumbling softly to himself. But as Aizawa watches Naruto, Gaara, Rin, and Akamaru start writing as Izuku started mumbling; Aizawa smirked. Izuku was telling them the answers utilizing the enhanced hearing of the hosts and ninja dog in the room. While being quiet enough that if Aizawa didn't know what to look for, he wouldn't have noticed. Katsuki taps softly at the bottom of his desk, it takes Aizawa a moment to realize he is using morse code. And the closer students start writing their answers. Shikamaru treads his shadows under the tables, following the lines in between the tiles to connect to the weaker test takers. The only reason Aizawa noticed was because of the slight darkening of the cracks and shadows. But Kaminari, and Kirishima both start writing at the same time Shikamaru does. Shikamaru releases the shadows on the two other students right before he turns his test over.
Sasuke uses his Sharingan to copy the movements of Izuku's pencil. Neji uses his Byakugan to see through people's papers, to copy down what the others are writing. Gaara uses his sand to help those next to him, transferring information from Izuku to the other.
Aizawa notices a green flash, at first, he ignores it as a trick of the light. But it happens again and Aizawa smirks. It seems Izuku has found another way to relay information between the class. Izuku is using a small amount of full cowling on his finger and shocks the metal legs of his desk in a sort of Morse Code. Sabo taps his chin in an almost unassuming way, but Aizawa looks closer and notices he is tapping and signing the answers on his chin for anyone who can see him.
And while both Kakashi and himself see the obvious attempts to help the others, nothing in the rules said they couldn't. And it seemed like those helping the others have caught on. The only rule was if they were caught cheating, they would fail, but technically it is not considered cheating if someone else is giving you the answers. And the fact that they have developed a way to communicate without words regardless of the distance is impressive.
It seems they overestimated how long it would take to finish the exam. They were given the hour, but everyone has turned their tests over with 20 minutes left. Aizawa watches the way they communicate silently with each other, and smirks. The students were only told to be silent, talking would be considered against the rules and result in failure. Some of the students struggle to be quiet, Luffy anxiously bounces his legs up and down. Kaminari fidgets in his seat eyes darting rapidly to everyone. Kiba pets his dog to keep his partner from making any noise.
Izuku does something that only people who have been trained in Haki would feel. But was subtle in a way, a small wave of calm drifted in the room soothing the anxiousness everyone was starting to feel. It work for a while until the silence started getting to people again. Izuku repeated his pulsating calm until the timer that signifies the end of the hour rings. The class lets out a collective sigh right as Kakashi takes the front of the room again.
"Good job getting through the first half of the exam," Kakashi drawls. "The second part of the exam will last 5 hours."
"5 hours?" Izuku mumbles. The other classmates look shocked.
Before the class can break into murmurs Kakashi raises his hand. He glares at the students, "Let me finish." The class immediately shuts up, Kakashi sighs, "Now as I was saying the practical part of this exam lasts 5 hours. You can not complete the exam early. There will be "Villains" in the area that will need to be subdued. Possible bombs in the area as well, the scrolls you will be given are the general locations of the bombs. There will be civilians that will need to be brought to the safe zone and defended. The "Villains" will have scrolls that will have the disarm codes in them. Your mission is to capture the villains, disable the bombs, and defend the evacuation point until back up arrives in 5 hours."
Aizawa makes his way to the podium, "it is up to you if you want to use your hero gear. You will have 30 minutes to prepare with your groups."
The class nods, Izuku raises his hand, Aizawa nods for him to ask his questions, "How do we fail?"
Kakashi drawls, "if the bombs go off, you fail. If the safe point gets compromised, you fail. The death of the civilians you fail. Both scrolls are required to pass for each team. Even if you all decide to work together every team needs both scrolls to pass." Kakashi narrows his eye at the group, "you will pass or fail as a team."
Aizawa sighs, "Any more questions?"
The students shake their heads, everything seems self-explanatory. The exam seems to be using the combined skills of both the Ninja and the Heroes without giving them two different tests. Izuku feels excitement flare-up in him, this will be a new experience for the Hero students. And for the Ninja, it seems to use their skills in capturing intel and defending their targets.
Kakashi smirks as Aizawa opens the drawers in the wall, "Grab your suits and follow us."
The class move as a group grabbing their hero costumes and support gear that Kato and Izuku have made over the last month. Even though Aizawa said it is up to them to bring their costumes, it seems obvious that they will. Considering they don't know exactly what is in store for them. Aizawa takes the students to the Beta Grounds locker room.
Aizawa meets up with the other teachers at the gates to Beta grounds. With Shanks still in the Grandline, Aizawa called Hawks and Nighteye to help evaluate the Hero hopefuls. The adult ninja, Hawks, Aizawa, and Nighteye prepare themselves to hide in the mock city to sabotage the students.
Kakashi, Minato, Gai, and Kushina make 20 hendged shadow clones to pose as civilians. The clones have clear instructions to not interfere with the exam. They will not be able to help the students find the 'Villains' and if they get dispelled the penalty is 5 points. They also will not be able to defend themselves from the villains.
Kakashi, Sakumo, Gai, Itachi, and Iruka each take 4 of the clones to keep as hostages. While Aizawa, Yahiko, Genma, Kushina, and Minato guard the bombs, the rest patrol the area with the scrolls needed to pass the exam.
Meanwhile, in the locker room, the students get their gear on. They have 30 minutes to plan a strategy for this part of the exam. Kirishima drapes himself over Izuku's back, "what's the plan, 'Zuku?"
Izuku hums, "The parameters of this test include civilian rescue, multiple bombs that will need to be disarmed, Intel retrieval, villains, and defense."
The students nod, and Katsuki sighs, "we also need 9 scrolls for everyone to pass."
"Thank you, Kacchan." Izuku smiles for a moment. He looks at the others and smirks as a plan starts to come together in his mind. "Kato, have you figured out how to change the frequency on our headsets so we can talk to each other without the villains knowing?"
Kato nods, "Yeah, give me the headsets. I'll have them done in a few minutes."
Izuku smiles and takes off his headset to hand to Kato, everyone else follows. Izuku hums, "Ok here is what we are going to do, Teams 1, and 2 are the air strike team. Fu and I will circle above the city to find the civilians and locate the villains' hideout. Teams 4 and 5 you are the ground strike team. Your jobs are to clear the buildings and locate the bombs. Defeat the villains guarding the bombs and wait for the bomb squad to disable them. Teams 7 and 9 you're the bomb squad. Teams 3, 6, and 8 are the scroll retrieval and defense squad. If you need assistance call over the headset, we are all in this together. Once the objectives are complete, we will meet up at the safe zone and defend."
Once the finer details of the plan were finished, Kato handed over everyone's headsets. Izuku flashes his classmates a determined grin, "Let's get this shit done and pass."
The others cheer their agreement, well almost everyone, Katsuki smirks ferally, Shoto nods determinedly, Sasuke, and Gaara smirk as well. Izuku leads everyone out to Ground Beta, he flashes everyone a nod as he starts to shift, his and Katsuki's team leap onto him as he takes off to the sky.
Sasuke's and Shikamaru's team split up, an unspoken agreement that they will cover more ground doing so. They start clearing the buildings to make sure there are no civilians that need to be evacuated. Every building they clear they call over the headset. It takes a while to start getting any leads on where the civilians are being held when Neji stops his team from moving any farther.
Neji holds his arm out across Sasuke's chest, his eyes bulging with evidence of his Byakugan activated. "There appears to be 5 people in that building. 4 of them seem to be shadow clones with civilian level reserves."
Sasuke nods, "Can you tell who the villain is?"
Neji shakes his head, after a moment of studying the signature, "I can't tell, it's possible I am not familiar with the villain's signature. Though it feels familiar," Neji looks almost ashamed for not being able to tell exactly who they are up against.
Shinso puts a hand on Neji's shoulder, "It's fine, Neji." When Neji looks at Shinso the teen smirks, "it doesn't matter who is in there, it doesn't change our objective."
Sasuke smirks as he activates his Sharingan, "Let's do this."
Neji nods, regaining his confidence and leading his team into the building. He stops right before the room where the signatures are, "we should create a diversion. Lure the villain out to us. One of us goes to free the hostages while the other two detain the villain."
"Good idea," Sasuke agrees.
Shinso nods along, "I can try to brainwash the villain. Make them stand down, then one of you detain him and we can rescue the hostages."
Sasuke hums, "let's try Shinso's way first. We can't afford to fight where the civilians can get hurt."
Neji agrees with a nod. Shinso activates his eyes and sends a nod to his two teammates. Neji blasts open the door, and Sasuke uses his Sharingan to deflect the Kunai headed towards them.
Gai stands in the room, boasting loudly about their demise, "It is unfortunate that it has come down to this." He points accusingly to the Heroes, "I the green beast with take you down heroes!"
"Green Beast!" Shinso shouts to get the man's attention. Gai's eyes connect with Shinso's and the teen smirks as he can feel his mind connect with the Villain's. Once the connection is secured Shinso gives a nod to his team, "Green Beast, lower your weapon." Gai lowers his weapon. "Take four steps away from the hostages!" Gai follows the order immediately. "Sit down!" Shinso orders. Sasuke whistles as he uses the capture tape, they were given to tie up Gai.
Neji moves to untie the Civilians, "You are safe now."
"Thank you, Heroes!" One of the shadow clones cheers.
Once Sasuke has finished tying up Gai he turns to the civilians, "Are any of you injured, or need immediate medical assistance?"
The civilians shake their heads collectively, "We are fine. Nothing more than a few bumps and bruises."
Shinso calls in over the headset, "Defense team, we found four civilians for pick up."
"What is your location?"
"Building 23" Shinso responds.
"Team 3 is heading your way."
Shinso nods, "Let's get you out of here, there is a recovery team on the way, they will take you to the safe house."
The shadow clones nod impressed and follows the team's lead out of the building. Once outside Neji activates his Byakugan when Team 3 is visible. Shoto and Kirishima do not have chakra, so their Identities are confirmed. Kiba approaches with Akamaru trailing next to him, since Neji has worked with Kiba and Akamaru before (during the Sasuke Retrieval Mission) he can verify their identities as well. He nods to his teammates when they get closer.
Shoto nods as he accepts the civilians, "Let us know if you find any more." He waves over his shoulder as he departs. Neji leads his team to continue searching the area for more civilians. It takes them another hour until they find another group of civilian hostages. Neji stops the two before they can enter the room, he knows Shinso's mind control will not work against this villain.
"Who is it?" Sasuke asks.
"Your brother, Itachi," Neji responds. "By the feel of the chakra, and the concentration of chakra around the eyes I believe he has his Mangekyo Sharingan Activated."
Sasuke hums, "Toshi's mind control won't work on him."
"So what should we do?" Shinso asks.
Sasuke glares at the door, as if looks alone could break it down, "I'll face him. If I let him pull me into a Genjutsu he won't be able to fight back. Neji can then restrain him then disable his Tenketsu points. Toshi can untie the hostages."
Shinso nods, "I'll notify Shoto that another group has been found. I'll let them know we are engaging the villain so if anything goes wrong, we will have back up on stand-by."
Neji activates his Byakugan again, "Alright let's get this done."
Sasuke activates his Mangekyo Sharingan and burst into the room, facing his brother with a glare.
Itachi looks slightly surprised that Sasuke is the one to engage him, but he quickly buries his surprise. He has to play the villain, and while it grates at him that he has to, he understands that he needs to test the younger students. He hardens his gaze, "foolish little brother."
"Itachi," Sasuke snarls pulling up the old rage he felt when he was chasing his brother. He knows this is only a test, but he knows his brother's strength and he doesn't believe for a second that Itachi will go easy on him. So he prepares himself to be thrown into a Genjutsu.
As soon as Sasuke locks eyes with Itachi he feels like he is 7 again, training until the sun goes down and the stars start their twinkling light show. And he wishes he doesn't remember this night; he wishes he doesn't remember the bloody corpses that line the once lively Uchiha compound. So he makes his way to the Compound, hoping to stop his brother from killing the clan. Using the speed he has honed for the past 8 years he is soon clearing the wall that surrounds the compound.
And instead of the streets being lined with their clanmates, he lands on the deserted main road. The Uchiha Compound looks like it did every night after the massacre: A ghost town. On top of a street lamp post, Itachi crouches, the blood-red moon hangs massive behind him washing out his face. The only details Sasuke can see are the slowly spinning glowing red Mangekyo Sharingan. Itachi perches on the lamp post for several moments until he stands and Shunshins in front of Sasuke.
As Itachi stands in front of Sasuke, he can see the pain his brother is in. Itachi sighs, "I planned to show you that night, but I can't." Sasuke tries to move, but he finds himself strapped to a cross. He struggles trying to break his bonds. Fear starts to cloud his mind as Itachi unsheathes his sword. "Within the realm of Tsukuyomi… Space… Time… Matter… Everything… is under my control… for the next 72 hours…" He impales Sasuke on his sword, "I will continually stab you with this sword."
"GUAHHH!" Sasuke screams.
"71 hours, 59 Minutes, 59 Seconds remaining," Itachi states coldly. This time he makes a clone of himself before he stabs Sasuke again. Sasuke screams again as this is repeated again and again. It feels like hours have come and gone, and he wonders when Neji is going to break him out of this Genjutsu. The only sound in Itachi's Tsukuyomi is the sounds of Sasuke's screams, and the occasional reminder or the remaining time.
Sasuke feels like he is going to blackout from pain when suddenly the world starts to pixilate, Evident of Neji cutting off Itachi's chakra. And the last sight that registers in Sasuke's mind before the world goes black is Itachi's confused and saddened face.
Sasuke breathes heavily as he falls to his knee, he notices he is in the room with the hostages. Neji is busy untying the hostages as Shinso catches Sasuke. "What happened in there?" Shinso panics.
Sasuke shakes his head, "Nothing."
Sasuke is so close to blacking out, he doesn't notice Neji call for assistance over the headset. Neji approaches him, eyes wide with worry, "We need to get you to the safe house. I have already notified Izuku that there is a casualty."
Sasuke wants to fight; he wants to stand and insist he can continue the mission. But he knows he can barely stand on his own. So he nods and accepts Neji's and Shinso's help to lead him outside. Team three waits for them outside the building with the hostages. Neji leads him to Akamaru, asking Kiba if Sasuke can ride the dog to the safe house.
"What happened to him?" Kiba asks worriedly.
Neji sighs, "Itachi's Genjutsu."
"Infinite Tsukuyomi?" Kiba asks, "Kurenai-Sensei told us about it. Itachi used it on Kakashi once. The man was bedridden for a week until Tsunade arrived in the village and healed him."
Neji nods, "I think so. I have already notified Izuku that Sasuke needs to be healed. Kirishima, can you replace him on our team until Izuku can heal him? There are still civilians we need to save."
Kirishima looks like he wants to argue, but Shoto cuts him off, "This scenario is common out in the field, they are probably testing how we handle the situation. I know this is just a test, but the chances of someone getting injured in the Field is likely. Luckily, we have a healer in our midst, Sasuke should be up and running in no time at all."
Kirishima nods, "Alright, I get it."
Shinso's shoulders are tense as he looks at the downed form of Sasuke, "Take care of him?"
Shoto smiles a small reassuring smile, "Of course, now go I'll keep you both updated on what is happening."
Shinso, Kirishima, and Neji wave and take off again searching for more civilians. Shoto watches them leave before he turns to Kiba, "let's go. Izuku is waiting for us."
Shoto and Kiba run to the safe house, running into Ace's team with another group of civilians. Ace gives them a searching glance, checking them for injuries. His eyes fall on Sasuke, and he gasps, Sasuke's breathing is heavy and pained. And Ace looks at Shoto for answers.
Shoto sighs, "Izuku is on his way to heal him."
Ace nods and helps Shoto carry Sasuke off the dog and lays him down. Once Sasuke is laid out on the ground, Ace turns to Shoto, "how many civilians have been rescued?"
Shoto hums, "This is the second group we picked up from team 5. What about you?" noticing the group trailing behind Ace.
"This is the first group from Team 4" Ace reports, "but Team 4 also gave me 2 scrolls, my team took out a patrol group and found another scroll."
Shoto hums again, "So we have 12 civilians, and 5 scrolls between us."
Ace nods, "how much time has passed?"
"Almost 2 hours," Shoto states as he checks his watch. "We still have to find the rest of the civilians, find 4 more scrolls, and disarm the bombs. Then we can all defend this location; it'll be easier to defend if Izuku and the others transform."
Fuji lands behind Shoto and Ace, he spreads his rejuvenating flames over Sasuke's form. Katsuki leaps off Fuji's back and walks over to the two teens, "Icy-hot, Matchstick," Katsuki greets.
Shoto nods his greeting, Ace smirks, "How's it going, Blasty?"
Katsuki smirks ferally, "We have secured 2 scrolls and 2 bombs have been disarmed." 4 civilians leap off of Fuji, "We also took out Kakashi and rescued a group of civilians."
Shoto hums, "That means we found 16 civilians, 7 scrolls, and 2 bombs."
Gaara drifts off Fuji's back using his sand, "from the intel, we need to find 4 more hostages, 2 more scrolls, and 3 bombs." He checks his watch, "We still have 3 hours left of the exam."
Ace smirks, "it seems, the civilians are held in groups."
Fuji yips, Katsuki translates, "The nerd is finished healing Sasuke."
"How bad was it?" Shoto asks.
Fuji shifts into Izuku's form, "Whatever happened in Itachi's Genjutsu attacked Sasuke's chakra, he was dangerously low on chakra. But with my revitalizing flames, I was able to replenish most of his reserves. I suggest he stays here to defend."
"We need a hostage pick up."
Izuku answers the call, "This is team 1, what is your location?"
"Building 62" a lazy drawl sounds on the other end of the headset.
"Alright, Team 1 is on the way." Izuku states. He turns to Shoto and Ace, "Stay here and defend, we'll go get the civilians and Shika's team. I'll check in with the other patrols on my way back."
"Sounds good," Ace confirms.
Gaara lifts himself and Katsuki onto Fuji's back using his sand. Katsuki pops a couple of explosions to tell the Nerd to take off. Izuku pumps OFA into his wings and beats them down taking off in a leap. He senses for Shikamaru's team, he finds them near the building All Might did the Battle Simulator during their first week of class. He hovers above the roof where he senses Kaminari's presence closest too. He flares his presence alerting Kaminari and Shikamaru to his location. It doesn't take long for the team to join them on the roof. Izuku studies them, looking for any injuries, he rumbles pleased when he doesn't find any.
Gaara uses his sand to make a platform for the civilians so they can get onto the wolf. Katsuki holds out his hand to steady them as they land on the wolf. Once the civilians have been secured Izuku rumbles again. Katsuki sighs, "According to the intel this is the last group. We will give you a lift to the safe house."
Shikamaru nods and leaps onto the wolf. Kaminari and Tokoyami follow the lazy genius's lead, sighing in exhaustion as they soak in Izuku's warming revitalizing heat. Shikamaru lays on his back gazing at the sky, "What's left?"
"2 scrolls, and three bombs." Katsuki answers.
Shikamaru sighs, "One scroll, we ran into a villain on our way here."
Katsuki raises an eyebrow, "Do you know who they were?"
Shikamaru shakes his head, "I've never met him before, but he was troublesome."
"How so?" Katsuki asks.
"He seemed to know everything we were going to do, like Observation Haki but better." Shikamaru almost pouts, "kept throwing these little weights at us."
Kaminari butts in, "We faced Nighteye."
Katsuki perks up, "Oh? How did you defeat him?"
"Possessed him with my Shadows, then Kaminari electrocuted him," Shikamaru smirks. "I got zapped before I released my shadows, but it was less troublesome than actually fighting him."
Katsuki laughs, "Oh man, I would have loved to see that."
Kaminari smiles an innocent smile, "He did not look too happy when we left him," his tone is anything but innocent.
Izuku lands at the safe house again, he grumbles out something as the others dismount his back. Katsuki stays on Fuji's back and calls down to the others, "We are going to check on the other teams. Stay here and defend, Gaara, Naruto, and Fu transform into Gods."
The three hosts nod and do as told, standing in front of the building Shoto cleared out. Fuji leaps off again, circling around the air searching for Shinso's crew, and Kato's crew. Katsuki calls out over the headset, "Team 5 what is your location?"
"Building 76," Neji's voice responds.
"Alright we are on our way, all the civilians have been evacuated," Katsuki informs.
"That's good, we ran into a villain. He has red wings and flew off before we could search him for the scroll." Neji reports.
"Don't worry about Hawks, head to the safe house. Chances are he is perched somewhere. If you can't fly you will have no way to defeat him." Katsuki informs.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you. He was last spotted in this area." Neji informs.
Katsuki smirks as he shifts his head to the side, dodging the red feathers aimed at him. "Don't worry about it, he found us." Katsuki dodges again, "Go find Team 7 and help with the bombs." Katsuki cuts the transmission once Neji confirms. His smirk widens as he turns around to face Hawks with a feral grin, "bring me in close, Nerd. This chicken is going down!"
Izuku rumbles something that sounds like a laugh as he releases several of his feathers. They have faced Hawks before, so they know exactly how to defeat him. Izuku channels OFA through his wings to increase his speed and gives him the power to fly straight up. He dodges Hawks' feathers as he flies above the winged 'villain.' He angles his body in a way that the Sun is directly behind him blinding Hawks. He folds his wings in to increase his speed gaining on Hawks. Katsuki leaps off Izuku once he is close enough and uses his Stun grenade to further disorientate Hawks. Izuku uses that moment to launch a couple of his Paralyzing Feathers at the winged villain.
Katsuki yelps as Hawks latches onto him as he loses control of his flying. With Katsuki's arms pinned to his sides, he can't use his explosions to keep them in the air. He sends a desperate look towards Izuku. Izuku folds his wings tighter, increasing the speed in which he falls to the ground. As they are reaching the tops of the buildings Izuku is slightly below the pair. He spreads his wings out and slows his descent as the pair land on his back with a thump. Izuku straightens himself out and coasts to further reduce his speed. Katsuki is the first to regain his breath, he starts to search Hawks for his scroll. Inside his jacket, on the right side, his hands close around a cylinder-like object. Katsuki pulls out the object with a triumphant grin.
"I've got the scroll. Let's drop him off with the authorities and move to the safe house." Katsuki calls.
Izuku yips as he starts his descent to the ground, Izuku lands near the fountain in the center of the mock city. Katsuki picks up Hawks and blasts himself off of Izuku's back landing silently on the ground. He props Hawks up to lean against the fountain, waving over his shoulder as he leaps back onto Izuku's back.
Faint sounds of fighting gradually get louder as the duo make their way to the Safe House. Izuku picks up speed again and releases his feathers as he gets close enough to see what is going on. Gaara, Naruto, and Fu are fighting off Itachi, Iruka, Gai, Sakumo, Kushina, and Genma. And Izuku is proud of his kin for keeping the destruction to a minimum. Shukaku uses his sand to wrap the Safe House in a dome-like shield. Naruto uses his tails to keep the attackers at bay, while Chomei uses his wind to push them further back.
Izuku circles the area a couple of times, watching the attackers regroup to come up with a plan. Itachi's body breaks into a murder of crows aiming to penetrate the sand shield. Izuku intercepts with his feathers blocking them from doing any damage. Sakumo summons his wolf pack to battle with Fujin, and Shukaku. While the wolves are smaller than Fuji or Fenrir, Izuku can tell they are powerful in their own right. Izuku lands between the battling Gods and the attacking villains, his feathers swirling around him waiting to be commanded.
Izuku sends his feathers towards Sakumo and his wolf summons, Sakumo dodges the paralyzing feathers, but half his pack goes down. Izuku growls down at the attackers and releases a wave of moderately powerful Conqueror's Haki. Kushina, Iruka, and Gai have slight troubles standing on their feet as they take a knee. Izuku uses this moment to Paralyze them.
The growl Sakumo lets out impresses Izuku, he growls back. Katsuki leaps off Izuku's back to engage in combat with Itachi. Katsuki has never fought Itachi but that does nothing to erase the dangerous smirk on the explosive teen's face. Itachi activates his Sharingan, not wanting to actually hurt the teen. Besides, he already used his Mangekyo today, even though his eyes are healed, Izuku told him to take it easy.
They engage in Hand-to-Hand combat first, Itachi wanting to test the Uchiha Interceptor against Katsuki's fighting style. Itachi is impressed that the teen is able to keep up with his speed, and still counter and deliver blows too fast for the Sharingan to react to. Itachi disengages and pulls out a few kunai and shuriken.
Katsuki smirks, pulling out a dagger strapped to the small of his back. He channels Haki into it turning the once silver blade obsidian and holds it in a reverse grip. He widens his stance a bit as he studies his opponent. Itachi's finger twitches just moments before he launches a barrage of Kunai and Shuriken towards Katsuki. Katsuki uses his observation Haki to dodge most of the thrown blade, he repels the others with his blade knocking them off course. Katsuki licks his lips, a predatory gleam in his eyes as excitement floods his veins. This will be the first time he has faced the Sharingan head-on and the thrill of it makes him vibrate.
Katsuki uses his explosions to launch him toward his adversary, raising his weapon to block Itachi's kunai from stabbing him in the chest. He pushes harder against Itachi's blade to get the man to disengage. Itachi leaps back to create distance, hands flowing through hand signs as he brings them to his lips and takes a large breath inward. Itachi releases his Jutsu in the form of a massive fireball heading right for Katsuki. Katsuki internally panics, with such a short distance between him and Itachi there is not enough time for him to escape unscathed.
Suddenly the fireball shrinks in size and Katsuki is confused. Part of him wants to rage that Itachi is taking it easy on him by pulling back his move, the other part is thankful he won't be burnt to a crisp today. As the Fireball clears, Katsuki notices Ace standing in front of him. It wasn't Itachi that held back, Ace protected him, and Katsuki doesn't know if he should yell at Ace or thank him. He settles for growling at the teen to get out of his way.
Katsuki launches himself into the air, using his explosions to rotate his body inside of a fiery vortex. When he has enough speed and power behind the attack, he collides with Itachi in a massive explosion. Itachi's body breaks into another murder of crows and reforms on the other side of the battlefield. Katsuki growls out frustratedly and launches himself back into Itachi's personal space. He spots Neji just to the right of Itachi so he feigns going left so Itachi will dodge to the right.
Neji watches Itachi dodge, as Itachi lands in front of him Neji smirks, "You are in my range: 8 trigrams 64 palms" He starts to attack the man's Tenketsu point to disable the man's chakra. Itachi tracks the movements and dodges most of them. Neji glares at Itachi, "8 Trigrams 128 palms." He doubles his speed to attack Itachi. While Neji can see Itachi following the movements with his eyes, Itachi reacts to slow to dodge.
Once the Jutsu is over Itachi collapses to his knees, breathing heavily, and unable to continue fighting. Neji's guard continues to stay up until Izuku uses a paralyzing feather on the older Uchiha. Itachi falls to the ground on his stomach, and Neji drops his stance for a moment. He deactivates his Byakugan to conserve energy. The sound of flesh hitting a tree steals Neji's attention from the downed Uchiha. He looks at the source of the noise, and witnesses Izuku picking himself up from being launched into a tree.
Neji guesses Izuku split his focus to paralyze Itachi and took a hit from Sakumo. So Neji observes the battle-ready to step in if needed to take down another threat. But Izuku wipes the spittle off his chin and flashes determined eyes at his opponent. Green lightning crackles the air around Izuku, turning his hair and eyes a bright green. Neji is not sure what Izuku did, but it reminds him of the stories he has heard about the Yellow Flash. One moment Izuku was standing shakily next to the tree, and the next Izuku is right in front of Sakumo to engage him in Tai-Jutsu.
Izuku's fingers are curled reminding Neji of his own Gentle fist. Neji activates his Byakugan to observe the blows. While Izuku looks to be copying Neji's fighting style, he is not he is attacking pressure points and using his flames to target nerves to disable Sakumo's ability to move certain parts of his body. Izuku grabs the man's right wrist and twists it behind him as he disables the use of the man's leg forcing him to be brought down to the ground. He shifts his weight slightly to reach behind him, grabbing a golden feather from his wings. Izuku jabs the feather into the back of the man's neck. He waits a moment until Sakumo slumps bonelessly. Izuku removes himself from the man's back before he covers the man in his flames to heal the damaged nerves and pressure points.
Izuku takes a moment to make sure the villains are secured before he enlists Katsuki's and Neji's help to prop the villains up against the trees. For extra security, Izuku uses his capture tape to tie the villains to the trees. Once the villains are secured, Izuku turns on his headset. "We have neutralized the villains' attack on the Safehouse. All Civilians are accounted for."
"Team 7 has just disabled its second bomb. I need the location and disarm codes for the third."
"Team 9 has disabled our second bomb as well."
Izuku hums considering their plan, and who has been defeated so far, "Team 7 you are closer to the bomb's location in building 32, I'll be sending Team 5 to assist. Team 9 come back to the safe house."
"Roger," both teams respond to the orders.
Izuku slumps relieved, "we have found all the scrolls, rescued all the civilians, and disable 4 of the bombs." He glances at his watch, "We have a little over an hour left, one bomb to diffuse and to protect the civilians."
"What should we do with them?" Neji gestures to the villains.
"It is unlikely they will be able to escape, but we will leave a guard with them," Izuku states. "We'll put Kaminari, Gaara, Sabo, and Shikamaru on guard."
Izuku watches over their prisoners with Kacchan, until Neji can arrive with the guard team. It doesn't take very long until Neji is leading the group back to Izuku. Izuku gives each of the guards some of his paralysis feathers. He gives them instructions to use them only if the villains escape. He shifts into his wolf form allowing Neji to hop on.
He picks up the other members of Neji's team, Kiba still replacing Sasuke, and drops them off close to team 7. Before he leaves, he uses his Observation Haki to find out who is guarding the bomb. Neji and Shinso are powerful enough to take on most threats. But that is not what worries Izuku, from the intel he has gathered, Minato, and Yahiko are the only villains unaccounted for. Hawks, Kakashi, and Aizawa were all taken out by his and Kacchan's teams, they have been paralyzed and propped up against the walls of their domains. Itachi, Sakumo, Kushina, Iruka, Gai, and Genma are closer to the safe house and paralyzed.
From the feel of the presence guarding the bomb, Izuku is sure it is Minato. He knows the man is fast, faster now than he was in the Elemental Nations. If Minato uses his Flying Thunder God Technique, Izuku knows Teams 5 and 7 will not make it out of the encounter unscathed. So he lands on the roof, yips a warning to Katsuki that he is going to shift.
Katsuki grunts out an affirmative sound and leaps off Izuku's back landing in a crouch. He waits for Izuku to shift. Izuku shifts soundlessly and takes a couple of moments to reign in Fuji's instincts. He throws out his senses and Haki to get a better feel of the building. Team 7 is still on the ground floor, appearing to be searching through the building for the bomb. Team 5 is just entering the building heading for team 7. Izuku hums as he reigns in his Haki, Minato is on the Third floor, in a center room.
"Minato is on the third floor, center room. Team 5 and 7 are about to meet on the ground floor. If we head down, we should meet them on the third floor. I don't want them to face Minato, let them handle the bomb."
Katsuki licks his lips at the predatory gleam in Izuku's tone, "let's go."
Izuku leads the way to the third floor, he waits at the stairwell for the others. He stops Neji from going any further on the floor. "Minato is the guard for the bomb. Kacchan and I will distract him. Kato will disarm the bomb. Neji and Shinso will stand by just in case he breaks through our guard."
Izuku and Katsuki clear the entryway, Full cowling already activated and crackling the air around them. Minato watches them, spinning a three-pronged kunai on his finger. He releases it towards Izuku, hoping the boy will dodge the unique blade. Izuku smirks as he swipes the kunai out of the air and throws the Kunai back, increasing the force and speed in which the blade travels. Minato dodges, Izuku feels something like shock? Maybe surprise coming from the older man.
Minato changes tactics, he throws another Kunai towards the pair, aiming for Katsuki. Katsuki dodges with a smirk. Minato is confused, either this is a trap, or Katsuki doesn't know what these Kunai are meant for. He decides not to think too much about it, the smirk could mean nothing, so he follows the tug of the seal on the Kunai, readying another to aim at the boys' throats. The nearly instantaneous movement blurs the room around him, and suddenly he is behind the two boys.
Well boy, Minato notices, as only Katsuki is where he left the boy. Confusion again sparks through him, he can't get a read on Katsuki, nor can he sense where Izuku is. He feels something prick his neck and he realizes he screwed up. Somehow, Izuku has managed to intercept him and disable him without him knowing. And he starts to lose feeling in his legs, he knows he is about to collapse. Something slows his fall, and as he is placed on the ground gently, he realizes somehow Izuku got behind him, or perhaps Izuku got to Minato's location first. And Minato thinks with a small amount of fear, that shouldn't be possible. Noone in the Elemental Nations could catch him, well except maybe Tobirama. But somehow, Izuku managed to move without Minato noticing.
"How?" Minato croaks.
Izuku blushes embarrassed, "I may have been inspired by your Thunder God Technique." He starts to mumble how he wanted a way to travel like that, and by using his feathers and altering his flames he can sort of mimic the Thunder God Technique. "I wanted to test it out today to see if it would work as intended."
Minato whistles, "Impressive. You'll have to show me how it works later, maybe I can give you some pointers."
Izuku brightens, "Of course."
The beeping of the bomb being disabled rings through the room, and the students in the room give a collective relieved sigh. "That's the last bomb, Izuku," Kato calls wiping the sweat off his forehead.
Izuku removes his eyes from Minato's downed form and turns his still glowing green eyes towards Kato, "that's everything then. We have all the civilians, scrolls, and disabled all the bombs."
"All we have to do is defend the safe house." Katsuki reminds, "How much time do we have left?"
Izuku smirks, "35 minutes."
Katsuki sighs, "how much do you want to bet they are going to attack us full force?"
Izuku chuckles, "there are only three villains I know of that have not been paralyzed. Hawks, Kakashi, Minato, and Aizawa are out of commission. Along with the ones who tried to attack the Safehouse before."
Katsuki's eyes narrow, "Nighteye is still out there, Shady encountered him before we picked them up."
Izuku hums, "That leaves Nighteye, Raidou, and Hayate. I'm sure we can take them down if they try to attack." He finishes his observation with a smirk. "Nighteye will probably try to free the others, but the Paralysis can not be removed without my fire." He looks back down at Minato, "we'll take Minato to the others and wait for the authorities to retrieve them." He looks at Team 5 and 7, "head to the safe house. Kacchan and I are going to fly overhead and round up the downed Villains."
Katsuki heaves Minato off the ground as Izuku transforms, lifting the man into a fireman carry and blasting himself on top of Fuji's back. Izuku takes off in a powerful leap and a quick burst of power from his wings. He circles around the city to find the villains he paralyzed. His senses are thrown out to pinpoint his targets.
The first person he finds is Kakashi, leaning against the crumpled ruins of a building. Katsuki leaps off Fuji and carefully picks up Kakashi, he lays Kakashi down next to Minato. Izuku takes off again to pick up Aizawa and Hawks. After 5 minutes Izuku has secured the three villains he paralyzed, he circles the city again, eyes, ears, and senses extended and alert to find the three unaccounted for villains.
Izuku lands in front of the Safehouse with about 20 minutes left to the final exam. Tensions start rising, as anticipation for a last-minute attack grows. Izuku throws his senses out in heavily concentrated waves over the mock city. Curiously, he doesn't sense Nighteye in the city. Raidou and Hayate do not appear to be heading their way. In fact, it seems like they are actually leaving the city, or at least moving farther away from the Safehouse.
Izuku ponders what this means, maybe the villains' attack before was meant to distract them while they still had objectives to complete. Maybe now that all objectives have been completed and Most of the villains indisposed the low-ranked villains are fleeing. It wouldn't be too far from the norm; it happens all the time in the real world. Once the stronger villains get captured or defeated the weaker villains will scatter like cockroaches.
Izuku refuses to let his guard down though, there is an equal chance that Raidou and Hayate fleeing is a ruse. A plan to have Izuku lower his guard, it is no secret that Izuku is the best sensor, regardless of not being able to sense chakra. While Chakra sensing alone is powerful, it is not without flaws. One is that Chakra can be suppressed, disguised, or otherwise hidden depending on the elements of the chakra and what is around it. But Izuku senses souls, senses life and presence, and auras with just Fuji's power alone, add in his Haki nothing escapes his range. With his range concentrated on the city, the absence of Nighteye's presence means he is not in the city at all. While it is true that most Shinobi have been trained to shrink their chakra to make them seem farther away from their position, nothing outside of death can shrink a soul. Izuku senses them at the edge of the city, that is exactly where Raidou and Hayate are.
The 20 minutes drag on to feel like a tension-filled eternity. Each minute that counts down, drags the next minute out longer. But still, Nighteye remains outside the city, and Raidou and Hayate hold their positions at the edge of the walled city. The comms have been quiet, though Izuku knows Katsuki checks in on the guards. Izuku can also feel the sluggish slow-moving presences of the paralyzed villains, unmoving and in exactly the same spots they were left in.
With less than 2 minutes left, Izuku perks up as Nighteye reenters the city. Izuku growls out a warning as Nighteye meets up with the other two villains and starts to make their way towards the safe house. Izuku narrows his eyes, the speed they are traveling in would land them here either right as the 5 hours are up, or with seconds to launch an attack.
Izuku growls out that they have incoming, watches as everyone stands on edge, brandishing their fighting styles, weapons, or growling in response. And just moments before the timer goes off, Nighteye drops out of the trees. Izuku bares down on the new arrivals not willing to let his guard down, even after the alarm that signals the end of the exam right through the city. He growls warningly at Nighteye and unleashes small amounts of Conqueror's Haki down on the man.
Nighteye unleashes a shaky breath holds up his hands in surrender, "Your exam is over!"
Izuku narrows his eyes and studies the man intently, reading him for any signs of deceit. It takes a few moments, but Izuku finally breaks eye contact and shifts into his human form. With Izuku shifting, the other students relax with relieved smiles on their faces. Izuku turns to the group, "Let's give our teachers the antidote."
In a flurry of motion, everyone grabs the antidote feathers from Izuku, they move to unparalyze their teachers. Neji unblocks Itachi's chakra, apologizing to the older Uchiha. Sasuke hovers behind Neji, a little twinge of fear increasing his pulse. Itachi waves off Neji and as soon as he can he stands to face his brother. He can see the small amount of fear gripping his brother, the subtle shake in his shoulders, the almost quivering of Sasuke's bottom lip. And it hurts that his brother is afraid of him again. If he faced anyone other than his brother, he would not have used his Tsukuyomi, but he knew his brother could handle it. He wanted to see what they would do in the event that a team member went down.
He reaches his hand out to Sasuke, connects his pointer and middle finger with his brother's forehead, "Little Brother," he whispers with a small fond smile on his lips.
Sasuke relaxes with Itachi's forehead poke, it is one of the ways Itachi uses to show his affection to his brother. Something only they have, and Sasuke lets the corners of his mouth twitch at the familiarity of it. "Nii-San" Sasuke whispers, apparently forgiving his brother for making him relive his trauma.
Itachi reaches his hand behind Sasuke's neck, cupping the younger's neck. He pulls the younger Uchiha towards him until their foreheads touch. Something he has only started doing since they have been reunited. His way to prove to Sasuke he is still his Older Brother is still Sasuke's Nii-San.
During their moment the other adults have regained their mobility. The students stand in front of the safe house, waiting for the final remarks from the adults. Kakashi, Minato, Gai, and Kushina call back their clones, making sure they are all accounted for. All 20 of the clones step out of the building. Kakashi dispels his and receives the memories of the battles from them. The other adults also dispel their clones to receive the memories of their time in captivity.
"Let's debrief," Kakashi drawls. "I have received the memories of my clones, and I have to say I am impressed with the strategies you have come up with to rescue them and make sure they weren't in danger during the rescue."
Gai chuckles, "I commend Neji, Sasuke, and Shinso. The way they came up with a plan to rescue the civilians without expelling unnecessary energy, and without putting them in danger was impressive. Shinso's control on his ability proved exceptionally useful in this situation."
"Thank you, Gai-Sensei," Shinso blushes at the praise still not used to it.
Sakumo steps up to the front, "I had a Nara on my team when I was Konoha's White Fang, he was an exceptional Shinobi with unheard of control over the shadows he wielded. However, what I have witnessed today from our young Nara, I am thoroughly impressed. Shikamaru used his shadows as an extension of himself, and due to my ignorance of this, I was captured. I did not know it was possible for a Nara to wrap their shadows around their fists. The fact that you made them thin enough that I believed it was armament Haki further impressed me."
"Troublesome," Shikamaru grunts at the praise.
"Sasuke, Neji, and Shinso faced me," Itachi begins. "Out of the three, the best person to face me was Sasuke. Neji used his Byakugan to identify me without putting himself or his teammates in danger. He was able to figure out that I had my Mangekyo Sharingan activated. If Shinso faced me we would have trapped each other, and while the Byakugan is on par with the Sharingan; only someone with blood ties to the person wielding the Mangekyo Sharingan has a chance to break out. Once I had Sasuke in my Tsukuyomi, I wanted to see what the others would do if a team member went down. I wanted to see how they would deal with one of their own being trapped in a Genjutsu. Neji closed off my Tenketsu points supplying Chakra to my eyes to break Sasuke out of the illusion, saving him from any further damage."
Kakashi winces in memory of the time Itachi trapped him using that move, it was not a pleasant experience. "How do you think they handled the challenge you set for them?"
Itachi hums, "While Neji was freeing Sasuke, Shinso freed the civilians and escorted them outside. Neji assisted Sasuke in leaving the building after he called something out on his headset. I assumed they brought Sasuke to Izuku for healing, or to the safe house. The only thing I don't agree with was leaving me unguarded after you freed the civilians."
Neji, Sasuke, and Shinso nod in understanding, "we saw Sasuke go down, and we reacted to get our teammate out harm's way. In our panic to do that, we forgot to at least tie Itachi up."
Aizawa hums, "it is better to learn these things in training. All of the villains you failed to secure teamed up and attacked again. If you tie up the villains or turn them into the authorities, the chances of them teaming back up to attack significantly decrease."
The students nod.
"That being said the way you handled the massive attack was impressive. Izuku's use of Conqueror's and his feathers weakened the villains enough for them to be restrained. Izuku's decision to put a guard on the captured villains was a great strategy. Even though it is unlikely a villain would break out of Izuku's paralysis, you never want to be in a situation where you are caught unaware." Aizawa instructs.
Kakashi takes lead again, "After reviewing all the memories from my clones, and my own witnessed accounts; you all have exceeded my expectations. The way you broke down your teams and communicated without giving yourselves away is a skill most people spend many years trying to achieve. Izuku the way you put everyone in the best roles saved time, energy and prevented unnecessary casualties. Everyone did their parts, and the mission was a success."
Izuku flushes, "Thank you, Sensei."
"Now, go get some rest." Kakashi dismisses, before a thought comes to him, "oh, make sure you switch the headsets back to the original frequency." Izuku tilts his head. Kakashi gestures to the headsets, "Shanks has been trying to contact you."
Izuku nods and takes off his headset, he hands it to Kato. "That's right, I wonder if the ship is done." He turns to the others, "go get some rest, I'll relay the information from Shanks as soon as I get it. Use this time to pack."
Kato finishes the adjustments to their headsets. Once Izuku gets his back he turns his headset on, "Shanks?"
It takes a moment before the familiar crackle of the connection from the other side rings in Izuku's ears, "Izuku, your ship is ready for you."
Izuku's eyes sparkle in excitement, "Thank you, Shanks. We just finished our finals here. Everyone passed."
Shanks cheered on the other end, "that's great Izuku, I'll congratulate you when you get here."
"Should be tonight, if everyone is ready, at the latest tomorrow morning," Izuku informs, he holds up his hand to stop everyone from leaving. "I'll let you know so you can contact your crew."
Izuku disconnects the headset and turns to everyone, "Our ship is ready."
Most of the others cheer in excitement for going somewhere new, Tokoyami and Shoji look a bit nervous. Naruto, Luffy, and Lee practically vibrate in the spot, "When are we leaving?"
Izuku hums, "Does anyone still need time to pack?"
Headshakes break out, and Izuku hums again, "I would like to leave tonight so we can get familiar with the ship, get our things settled, and get a good night's sleep. It would be best to leave port first thing in the morning."
Murmurs of agreement break out from the group Izuku senses the excitement, Katsuki sighs, "Let's leave after dinner. That will give us enough time to get everyone ready."
Izuku nods, "I'll let Rayleigh know we are setting out tonight, he should be able to wrangle the others."
Izuku would be worried about setting out so fast, but he has been preparing everyone for the trip during the past month. Most of the Ninja are going with Yasopp to meet up with Shanks, Shanks has a smaller crew plus the Ninja have met and spent time with the man. Even the few shinobi brought back from the Pain invasion at least have talked with the Red-haired man. Yasopp, Mihawk, Nagato, Yahiko, Konan, Kushina, Minato, and Jiraiya are going to be traveling with Shanks. Rayleigh, Gai, Genma, Raidou, Roshi, Han, and Asuma are going to be picked up by Dragon. Kakashi, Aizawa, and Iruka are going to be with Izuku's crew. Aizawa and Kakashi are going with Izuku because of Eri, she needs to be with Aizawa, and Aizawa needs to be on this mission. Inko will be traveling with Shanks for a while, only for the appearances that she will be close to Eri as a mother figure. Eri was given the choice if she wanted to be with Inko and Shanks, or Izuku and the Pack. Eri wanted to spend some time with Fuji and Kacchan, so she decided she was going to stay with Izuku. Kakashi's bond to Aizawa is still rather new and they don't want to be separated, Izuku gets it, anything could happen on the sea. For Iruka, he wanted to continue teaching the students Chakra control, and since this will be the first time the Ninja go to the Grandline he wants to make sure the students are safe.
As the group head to their dorms, Izuku slows down to walk with Kakashi, "Kakashi?"
Kakashi lifts a silver brow in question, "What is it?"
Izuku smiles, "can I borrow some sealing scrolls? I want to seal our hero gear in case we need it."
Kakashi hums, "Sure before we leave bring me the things you want to be sealed, I'll take care of the rest."
Izuku smiles blindingly, "Thank you, Kashi!" He bolts to catch up with the others, "bring your hero costumes, we are gonna seal them."
Kato looks at Izuku with a faint embarrassed blush, "do you think I can bring some of my tech, and my tools?"
Izuku smirks, "bring anything you think will be useful for our journey, though I am unsure how anything electrical would work on the ship. If anything, between you and me we should figure out a power source." Izuku hums, "wait, Kato, do you still have your solar-powered generator?"
Kato smirks, "I do."
"Bring it," Izuku grins.
Kato nods, "I'll ask one of the ninjas to come with me to my labs, it would be best to seal the stuff now."
TenTen overhears the conversation, "I'll help, I already sealed all my stuff, along with Ashido's, and Asui's." TenTen hums, "I'll come by to everyone's room before dinner to seal everything. Then we can unseal the things on the ship."
"Thank you, TenTen." Izuku cheers.
Kato leads TenTen to his labs, waving to the rest of the group, "I'll see you at dinner."
Izuku nods and follows the other towards the dorms. Everyone goes their separate ways to finish packing and making sure they have anything they could possibly need. Izuku leads Katsuki towards the Kitchen to meet up with Sanji and Thatch. From the sound of commotion in the kitchen, they have already started on prep, "Hey Sanji, Thatch!" Izuku shouts as he enters the kitchens.
"What is it, Izuku?" Thatch asks curiously.
Izuku smiles disarmingly, "We leave for the Grandline tonight after dinner. Thatch, I have contacted Whitebeard already, you will be heading to the new world on Shanks' ship. Sanji, your still ok with being my chef?"
"Yea, someone's gotta make sure you all survive," Sanji smirks, a little jab at a comment Izuku told him when they first met. He sobers a bit, "besides I want to see my old man again."
Izuku smiles softly at the cook, "of course." He hums, "have you come to a decision? Are you staying with me? Or are you gonna go back to the Baratie?"
Sanji hums a small smile on his face, "it's peaceful here. I would like to stay, but…" he trails off for a moment something sad flashes in his eyes, "it would be nice if I can convince the stubborn old man to come with us."
"I'm sure we can convince him." Izuku smiles warmly.
Katsuki huffs, "if you need time to finish packing, I'll help Thatch with the prep work." And it is almost said as if the words physically pained him.
Sanji shakes his head with a small grateful smile on his face, "that won't be necessary, Katsuki. I have already finished my packing."
Katsuki grumbles something under his breath as he turns to stomp off, Izuku chuckles slightly at his retreating soulmate. Sanji raises an eyebrow at the teen. Izuku waves it off, "don't worry about it." He hums, "I need to make sure everyone is ready. I'll see you at dinner? And if you see Zoro, can you tell him?"
Sanji nods, "yea, I'll let the Marimo know."
Izuku thanks the man and runs off to find the others, he spends an hour going to everyone and telling them of the departure. Everyone so far seems excited to be going back to the Grandline, back to their crews (Law, Marco, Thatch) their bar, (Rayleigh), or just sailing on the open ocean again, (Mihawk) Robin is content to stay here for the time being. Even though Izuku feels bad for leaving her behind, she assures him that she will not be lonely since she spends afternoon tea with Nezu. Though Izuku promises he will take her the next time they go to the Elemental Nations. Robin agrees with a small smile and a nod.
Soon enough dinner rolls around, everyone packs into the cafeteria excitement buzzing into the air. TenTen has sealed up everyone's belongings, so everyone comes to dinner with a smallish backpack with them. Dinner proceeds with the normal amount of Chaos. All Might hovers around, wishing everyone a safe trip. And he frowns slightly that he can't go, but he understands his weaker form would only hold them back. Still, he promises to keep Robin company and agrees to assist her in finding the mole.
TenTen, Izuku, and Katsuki finish dinner first, they move into the kitchen to seal away the food and utensils to take with them. Izuku and Katsuki help Thatch wash and dry the dishes before they get put into the sealing scroll. Everyone finishes eating, passing their dirty dishes to Izuku to be cleaned. Izuku tells everyone to go to their training room. They will be departing soon.
It only takes an hour to finish sealing up the kitchen, Izuku leads the rest of them to the training room. Izuku tells Shanks they are on their way and will be in the Grandline in a few minutes. Shanks tells them he is close to the ship on a deserted island. Izuku and Katsuki both transform so everyone gets teleported at the same time. Ace rides on Katsuki's back, the headsets built-in locator locked onto Shanks. Shoto copies this on Izuku's back.
Izuku growls out his signal to the pair and the room starts to blur around them. Izuku will never forget the sensation of teleporting to another world. If he had to put it into words it would feel like a string being unraveled, then being reformed. It's a strange feeling, a little disorienting, and it takes several moments for the world to right itself. Soon enough Izuku blinks his eyes open and transforms, "Where are we?"
Shanks (who was just pounced on by an excited Inko) turns to the group. He pulls a map out from behind him and unfurls it, "right now you are in the East Blue. The island you are on is called Dawn Island, the former home of Luffy, Ace, and Sabo. This island has been deserted since the Island fire." There is terrible grief in Shanks' voice and posture.
Izuku moves to hug the man, "I'm sorry, Shanks."
Shanks returns the hug, regaining his control after a few moments, "It's ok, Izuku. This was the safest place to build the ship. And it's good to see that nature has reclaimed the island, makes it better."
Izuku senses the guilt of not being able to save more people, he knows thousands of people died in the tragedy. So he changes the subject, "so can I get a tour of my ship?"
Shanks smirks, "spoken like a true Captain." But nods and disengages from the hug Izuku still has him in. He leads Izuku onto the deck, everyone follows behind. The deck is beautiful, there are gardens lining the railings and Izuku can make out some of the herbs and plants. Most have culinary uses, some of them have medicinal uses. There are a few trees on deck as well, a couple of oranges, apple, and pear trees. It seems like Shanks took plants that would be of use to them from the island. Izuku is unsure how he managed to transplant fully grown trees, but he decides it was probably a devil fruit. The deck seems perfect for lounging around when the days are nice and sunny. Also, there looks to be enough room for cuddle piles.
Shanks takes them to the Kitchen/dining area. Sanji and Katsuki basically salivate over the newer appliances, the open space, and the plentiful storage areas. Sanji has TenTen unseal his scrolls, content to stay here and make the kitchen his.
The Bridge is stocked with copies of maps, which Izuku assumes are from Shanks' personal records. There is a round glass-top table with a built-in Log pose, compass, and a detailed world map under the glass. There is a fathometer and a chronometer. Windows that look out into the open waters. There is a GPS receiver, and radar as well. All in all, Izuku thinks the Navigation room is well stocked. Maybe Kato can upgrade some of the equipment.
Under the Bridge is a large conference room, a large round table capable of seating 30 people comfortably sits in the middle of the room. Comfortable-looking chairs surround the table with extras lining the walls.
Next, they head under the deck, the first floor has all the extra rooms. There is a well-equipped med-bay with at least five beds in the room. The equipment is a little outdated, but with Izuku's flames and Law's devil fruit, they don't need the top-of-the-line equipment. The medicine cabinets are stocked with common medicinal remedies to treat illnesses on the ocean. Antibiotics to treat infections, anti-inflammatories, Pain killers, vitamins, burn creams, suture kits, and more.
The next few rooms are storage cabins, most are empty except for the medical one. This storage cabin has two doors, one that leads into the hallway, and the other connects to the med bay. This extra room is for additional beds during the event multiple people need to be treated. The other stocked storage cabin is the armory, this cabin has extra cannons and cannonballs. One of the storage rooms has lockers in them, Izuku thinks it is for their hero costumes if they want to store them there.
The next room Shanks leads them to is a mechanics dream. Extra materials used to make the ship stored here. Plenty of room for Kato (and Izuku) to tinker. Toolboxes line the walls, a table large enough for Izuku's many blueprints. Bookshelves and cabinets provide enough storage space (for now) for all of Kato's (and Izuku's) equipment upgrades, manuals, and smaller pieces of equipment. Kato makes an excited squeal, and Izuku chuckles as he understands the excitement coming from his fellow tinkerer.
At the end of the hallway, Shanks opens a door that leads to a massive training room. Equipped with training dummies, weights, cardio equipment, and a large open space for sparring. Shanks is quick to tell him that they built this room using the same material that their own training room is built with. Meaning it's durable enough to withstand the force of their normal training.
The next floor is lined with cabins, bedrooms to be exact. There are two beds in each room, two desks, and plenty of storage space, in the form of bookshelves, dressers, nightstands, and closets. Each room has its own small bathroom with a standing shower, sink, and toilet.
Shanks leads them back to the deck, there is a smirk on his face as he heads to the opposite side of the bridge. He opens the door to a steam-room, equipped with a large soaking tub, sauna, and other relaxation things one would find in a spa. Shanks tells them there is a smaller one on the other side for the girls.
Next to the Spa is the Captain's Cabin. The room is larger than the others, but not by much. The captain's room looks more like a one-bedroom apartment than the studio-like apartments of the rooms below deck. It is clearly meant to be an office and living space. Shanks smirks, "I have taken the liberty of making all the rooms soundproof. There are intercom systems that connect from the Bridge to the bedrooms in case of emergencies."
Izuku blushes, looking almost like a strawberry, "thank you, Shanks." He mumbles out embarrassed at the teasing smirk Shanks gives him.
After a few parting words Shanks leaves as the Red Force draws closer. Shanks takes the adults that are going to the New World. Izuku watches from the top of the figurehead as Shanks and the others depart an hour later. Izuku takes a moment to sit on the figurehead, looking out to the open ocean. The surface of the ocean is reflective, mirroring the setting sun and casting shades of warm purple, pinks, oranges, and reds across the deep ocean. The ship Shanks made for them is beautiful, the figurehead depicts a fiercely protective wolf, ready to leap out in defense of her crew.
The sound of footsteps approaching breaks Izuku out of his thoughts, the footsteps are cautious but purposefully loud as to not startle Izuku. Izuku smiles softly as Katsuki makes his way to sit next to him on the figurehead. "Nerd?"
Izuku's tails reach out for Katsuki, wrapping around him in ways he has done since they were kids. Grounding, comforting, safety, and reassurance, Izuku knows as long as he has Katsuki by his side nothing can stand in their way. This has been proven time and time again during their decade together, and he knows whatever trials they have to go through during their journey; they will conqueror them all. Izuku hardens his posture an air of seriousness taking over him as he plans the next few days in his head. Tomorrow they will set out, sailing to the next island. There are two people he must find here in the East blue, Usopp and Redleg Zeff. But Izuku thinks, it wouldn't hurt to stay in the east blue for a couple of days to find a few more people.
A few hours later when everyone has settled down a bit Izuku calls everyone to the deck. He waits for a moment until everyone arrives. "Take tonight to settle and unpack your belongings. Get familiar with the ship because tomorrow we set sail. Tomorrow he begins our journey through the East Blue, there are two locations we must stop at, Syrup Village to pick up Usopp, and the Baratie to convince the seafaring chefs to come with us. However, we have time to stop at a couple of other islands to find more people."
Shoto hums, "Where are we going first?"
Izuku studies the heterochromatic teen, "if you don't want to use this time to rest, you can accompany me to the Navigation Room." There is excited energy coming from Shoto as he nods.
"It would be best to familiarize myself with the maps before we set sail," Shoto states logically.
Izuku smiles softly at the teen, "then let me show you the navigation quarters." He walks off with Shoto in tow to the Bridge he leads the teen to a table in the center of the room, a map already laid out on top of it. He points to an island on the map, "This is Dawn Island, we are here." His finger traces to the west of the island, "This is Gecko Islands, the home of Usopp. Yasopp asked us to pick up his kid, so this will be our first stop." He then traces a circle to the southwest of Gecko Islands, "The Baratie will be in this location, we are going to try and convince Red Leg Zeff and his chefs to join us." He points to the last two islands, "we will need to stop at one of these islands for provisions before we get to the Grandline."
Shoto hums as he studies the map, "Why can't we go through the calm belt to get into the Grandline?"
Izuku shakes his head, "the Calm belt has no wind, or currents to traverse through. Not to mention the Calm Belt is the nesting area for Sea Kings. If we try to traverse the Calm Belt the Sea Kings may attack us."
Shoto nods along with the explanation, "I see, so how do we get into the Grandline?"
Izuku pulls out another map, this one is a close-up of Polestar Islands and the redline after it, "the only entrance to the Grandline is here," he traces a small river-like line that cuts into the red line. "There is a current from polestar Islands that will take us up the Redline and down into the Grandline."
"Then we should stop at Polestar to get provisions before heading to the Grandline?" Shoto asks.
Izuku shakes his head, "the main base of the Marines in the East Blue is in Logue town. He points to a small circle on Polestar Island. "Pirates who stop here end up never making it to the Grandline, they get captured while getting provisions. It would be best to try and avoid that island." A smirk takes over his face, "I'm sure we could take the Marines on that are stationed there, but I would rather the Marines be ignorant to us until we are in the Grandline."
"Makes sense, so let's plan on getting provisions on Konomi Islands?" Shoto asks.
Izuku nods, "yes, I had TenTen seal all the treasure we took the last time we were here. Besides, we are pirates and if we come across any bounties, we could claim them. And while I won't allow us to rob or pillage islands; the other pirate crews, Marines, and bounty hunters that attack us are fair game."
Shoto hums as he memorizes the route they are going to take, "I understand. I have been training to be the Navigator for months now, but I am still nervous."
Izuku pulls Shoto in a hug, "we are in this together, if you need help, Kacchan and I know a bit about Navigation to assist you."
Shoto returns the hug, "Thank you, Zuku" he releases his hold on the other teen, "I think I am feeling a bit more confident, and a little less restless. I'll go see if Ace wants to help me unpack our room."
Izuku laughs a little at Shoto's slightly blushed face, "go have fun Shoto."
Izuku's chuckles increase in intensity as Shoto blushes hard enough for a small flame to burst from his cheek. Mortified, Shoto turns and runs out of the navigation room to find Ace. Izuku smiles warmly at Shoto's retreating back, glad that the teen is going to seek Ace out to help him calm down. Izuku leaves the navigation room and searches for his Kacchan. He finds his explosive soulmate standing near the figurehead.
Katsuki looks serene as he stares out over the gently lapping waves. A small content smile graces his face, making his ruby eyes appear soft. Izuku comes up behind him and embraces him, Katsuki leans into the comforting weight pressed up against him. Izuku buries his face in the crook of Katsuki's neck, slightly inhaling the scent of caramel that clings to Katsuki. Katsuki hums contently as he continues to look out over the water.
Izuku places a nipping kiss on Katsuki's neck relishing in the shiver, "shall we check out our room?"
Katsuki groans and nods his head enthusiastically, "yeah."
So Katsuki lets himself be dragged to their room, blushing slightly when he remembers Shanks' teasing comment about soundproofing. He would be lying if he said he was curious to test that, and he shivers anticipating and looking forward to what Izuku has planned for them.
Izuku is forceful when he pulls Katsuki into their room, he closes and locks the door. He turns to Katsuki with a smirk on his face, "we passed the exams."
Katsuki swallows thickly, "yeah, we did."
Izuku hums as he places a line of lingering biting kisses on Katsuki's throat, reaching Katsuki's ear he whispers huskily, "it's been a while since I had Kacchan like this."
Katsuki shivers against him. Arousal flooded his veins making every inch of his body buzz. And Katsuki thinks the hunger in Izuku's eyes is probably the sexiest thing Katsuki has ever seen. Izuku continues to bite little marks on the skin of his neck and collar bone. And Katsuki thinks he can be forgiven for letting Izuku take control of him. And when Izuku kisses him so intensely, stealing Katsuki's breath away, Katsuki melts against him. Katsuki didn't realize Izuku spread his leg open enough to slot his knee in between until Katsuki's hips twitch and his awakening erection grinds into firm muscles of Izuku's thighs.
Katsuki moans and repeats his grinding looking for friction for a heat he has had to suppress for such a long time. Izuku groans, "does Kacchan want me to take him apart?" he pushes his thigh into Katsuki letting him grind against him again. "Or does Kacchan want to take me apart?"
Katsuki groans at the images of Izuku whimpering and moaning under him, and it's almost painful how much he wants to wreck his nerd. But the fire in Izuku's eyes is dominating, powerful, and Katsuki suddenly feels empty and wants to be wrecked. He wants Izuku to take him in whatever way Izuku wants him. Mind made up Katsuki goes boneless against Izuku, "I'm yours to control."
Izuku smiles dangerously, "bed, now." He commands lacing a little power in his voice. Katsuki whimpers needily at the command but follows nonetheless.
Katsuki lays on the bed, body shivering in anticipation. Izuku moves purposely to the bed, ripping off his clothing so he is down to his boxers when he reaches the bed. He pulls out the lube from his bag next to the bed. He hands Katsuki the bottle with a smirk, at Katsuki's confused pout Izuku smirks wildly, "you're gonna open me up, then I'm gonna ride you."
Izuku smirks at Katsuki's shocked face, and while Katsuki's brain has malfunctioned and needs to come back online, Izuku starts to take Katsuki's clothes off. He kisses and licks all the new skin available to him, he reaches Katsuki's chest giving each nipple his full attention. He sucks marks into the flesh of Katsuki's pecks, licks at the hardening buds, scrapes his teeth against them causing Katsuki to hiss. He makes his way down Katsuki's body licking, biting, kissing, marking Katsuki's abs. As he reaches the waistband of Katsuki's pants he pauses, to move so he is on his knees next to Katsuki. His ass is in the air as he works Katsuki's pants open to get access to his cock. He takes his time kissing and licking Katsuki's thighs and hips.
Izuku starts to lose his patients as Katsuki hasn't started touching him yet, so he bites down on the softer skin on Katsuki's hip. At the whimpering moan and the jumpstart into action, Izuku sucks a mark on Katsuki's hip. Feeling Katsuki pull down his boxers to expose his ass, Izuku groans. And at the feeling of a wet slick finger circling his entrance, he licks up Katsuki's cock.
The first finger breaches him easily, Izuku is excited and relaxed, fully in control of the situation. So he continues his quest of driving Katsuki mad with pleasure. He licks at the open slit of his cock before he lightly sucks the head into his mouth. Katsuki's breathing is heavy, and he starts to open Izuku with vigor. To reward Katsuki, Izuku circles his tongue around the head of Katsuki's cock before engulfing the length in his mouth, almost hungrily. Once Katsuki is satisfied at the ease with which his finger slides in and out of Izuku, he adds another finger. Izuku moans sending vibrations up Katsuki's cock, he works his throat open, not caring that Katsuki bucks into his mouth. Katsuki curls his fingers in Izuku to find the teen's prostate and when he does Izuku moans and takes Katsuki to the back of his throat.
Katsuki moans at the feeling of being in Izuku's throat, the convulsing of his throat trying to swallow him down. Katsuki takes his fingers out of Izuku and reapplies lube, ignoring the needy whimper coming from Izuku. His fingers sufficiently coated he plunges three fingers into his Nerd, he angles them, so he hits the Nerd's prostate dead on. The vibrations on his cock when Izuku wails is almost enough to send him into an orgasm. He slows down his thrusting fingers and uses his free hand, which has been tangled in Izuku's hair to lift the boy's head off his cock. Izuku gives him a curious look, and Katsuki smirks, "I thought you wanted to ride me?"
Izuku's eyes shine in understanding as he moves to straddle his explosive soulmate. He hovers just above Katsuki's cock before he reaches behind him to grip firmly at the base. Izuku's hips start to descend, he groans blissfully when Katsuki breaches him. Izuku steadily lowers himself on Katsuki's cock relishing in the feeling of being full as he bottoms out. He takes a couple of moments to adjust and slowly grinds his hips in a circular motion.
Katsuki groans at the slow stimulation of Izuku grinding down on his cock. He puts his hands on Izuku's thighs squeezing slightly before he slowly drags his hands up toward Izuku's hips. Izuku lifts his hips until only the head of Katsuki's cock is inside him, then drops back down with the assistance of gravity. "Ah…Kacchan" Izuku moans.
Katsuki groans as Izuku uses him to find his pleasure, riding him like he was born to. Katsuki can do nothing more than hold onto Izuku's hips and buck up every time Izuku drops down. Izuku moans and babbles his pleasure loudly, and Katsuki is grateful for the soundproofing. Every time Katsuki tries to turn them over, Izuku slams his hips down, impaling himself. So Katsuki gives up and just enjoys watching Izuku's face twisted in pleasure.
But then Izuku's thighs are shaking, he starts to slow down, grinding to find his release, but it is clear to Katsuki that he is struggling with the buildup. Katsuki takes this moment to hold Izuku to his chest as he bucks his hips harshly chasing his release. Izuku is content to moan in Katsuki's ear and kiss and nibble on Katsuki's neck. And it doesn't take long for Izuku to cum, shaking in Katsuki's hold and arching his back as much as he can.
Katsuki continues to fuck into Izuku, working him through his orgasm while he picks up his thrusts to chase his own. Izuku doesn't seem to mind because he is wailing at Katsuki to go harder and faster. So Katsuki picks up his pace, thrusting wildly into Izuku. And it is not long until Katsuki holds Izuku down on his cock as he thrusts up and finds his release. He gently rocks his hips to milk his orgasm and holds Izuku firmly to his chest.
Izuku is boneless against him, as he mutters his praises to Katsuki. And Katsuki can tell Izuku is about to fall asleep on him, from the sleepy slur of his voice, "love you, Kacchan."
Katsuki feels the bone-deep exhaustion start to pull him under and he kisses the top of Izuku's head, "love you too, Nerd."
Izuku's breathing slows as sleep claims him, and Izuku is so comfortable on top of him. Katsuki never wants to let his nerd go, and he wonders if this is what Izuku felt when Katsuki rode him. Soon enough Katsuki starts to fall asleep, they can worry about the clean-up tomorrow.
Izuku wakes up in the morning still on top of Katsuki's chest. He starts to squirm in Katsuki's hold but soon realizes that Katsuki is still inside him. He blushes hotly and shifts his hips slightly. He moans at the feeling of Katsuki moving inside him. He does it a few more times before a devious smile breaks out on his face. Izuku starts to gyrate his hips with intent, wanting to wake up his sleeping Soulmate but also wanting to see how long he can do this without Katsuki waking.
Katsuki groans in his sleep, but he doesn't wake up. Instead, it seems like reality has morphed into his dreams, and he shifts his hands from Izuku's back to his hips, helping Izuku rotate on his cock. Izuku moans at the grinding force to his prostate. Izuku starts to bounce on Katsuki's cock, moaning loudly and quickening his pace. He is not going to last long, maybe it is because he is still sensitive from last night, or because it is thrilling to ride his Soulmate when he is asleep. Katsuki thrusts his hips up and helps Izuku bounce on him, squeezing Izuku's hips tightly enough to leave marks. Katsuki's hands are hot, searing as he grows harder in Izuku, Izuku thinks Kacchan is close. So he picks up his pace and chases his end.
Suddenly Katsuki holds Izuku's hips down, preventing Izuku from bouncing. And Izuku whines needily. Katsuki's eyes are still closed, and he fights the smirk that threatens to prove he is awake. He is sure Izuku is so caught up in his pleasure he can't tell Katsuki is awake. Izuku tries to get friction, tries to get some relief by grinding, but Katsuki firms his hold on Izuku's hips to stop him. "Please Kacchan," Izuku begs with a whine.
This makes Katsuki open his eyes, feigning ignorance he steals his face to a stoic expression, "What are you doing Nerd?"
Izuku gasps and clenches down on Katsuki, "please Kacchan."
This time Katsuki feels like teasing his nerd, "are you so needy, that you would ride me while I'm asleep?" He moves his hips back and thrusts up harshly, "What were you gonna use me until you were satisfied and then leave me wanting?"
Izuku whines, "I'm sorry, Kacchan." His whining pleas are broken and needy, tears in his eyes, "I needed Kacchan, but I didn't want to wake you."
"Oh?" Katsuki raises an eyebrow and removes his hands from Izuku's hips. He places his hands behind his head and smirks at Izuku's confusion. "Well don't let me stop you, you want to cum so bad, do it yourself."
"But Kacchan," Izuku whines as he squirms on Katsuki's lap.
Katsuki chuckles, "nope, you're on your own, Nerd."
The need to cum forces Izuku's hips to move and he eagerly rides Katsuki bouncing on his cock. And Katsuki enjoys watching Izuku lose himself in pleasure. Katsuki refuses to thrust up, refuses to help the nerd bounce, all he does is angle his hips, so every bounce connects with Izuku's prostate. Izuku reaches for his own cock, his hole twitching as a sign of his oncoming release. Katsuki lets him jerk himself to the speed of his bouncing. And soon enough Izuku is wailing his pleasure as he cums across Katsuki's chest.
Izuku collapses onto Katsuki, shaking in the aftermath of his orgasm. Katsuki gives Izuku a moment to calm down after his orgasm. When the shaking stops, he pulls out of Izuku and pushes him slightly until he is on his stomach next to Katsuki. Katsuki smirks as he makes his way out from under Izuku's limp and boneless arm. He maneuvers himself behind Izuku and puts his hands on his hips. Using his grip on the nerd he pulls Izuku's hips up in the air to position him. Izuku whimpers but does nothing to stop him. Katsuki grabs the discarded bottle of lube and wastes no time lubing himself up.
Sufficiently coated Katsuki grips Izuku's hips tightly and yanks him firmly onto his cock. Izuku whines at the intrusion, "Kacchan…Wha- ah-t …?" Izuku trails off into needy whiney moans as Katsuki begins a ruthlessly fast pace.
Katsuki groans, "Did you think I was through with you?"
"Haah…Kac-chan… nugh," Izuku moans. Katsuki is already worked up from his dream, then watching Izuku pleasure himself that he knows he is not going to last long. But he keeps his pace, getting drunk off the feeling of having his Nerd at his mercy. He allows his hands to heat up to an almost detonating temperature. He knows how much Izuku liked when he used his quirk on him before, but he holds back. He smirks as an idea comes to mind, and he wants to try it. He lets a little Haki out, enough to harden him farther but not enough to dampen the sensation of being inside Izuku.
Izuku wails as Katsuki sends a forceful, Haki-enhanced thrust to his overstimulated prostate, "Haah… Mmn… ah Kacchan!"
Katsuki groans as Izuku gets tighter around him, "Did you like that nerd?"
"Yes… Kacchan, so good." Izuku wails as Katsuki does it again.
Katsuki feels his end coming quickly so he picks up the pace and his grip tightens on Izuku's hips. And for a second, he loses control of his quirk, and it sears Izuku's hips as he finally releases into his Nerd with a Haki enhanced Thrust to his prostate.
Izuku cums with a wail of "Kacchan!" The hardness of Katsuki's direct thrust, his orgasm, and the explosion to his hips causes his vision to white out as he cums.
Katsuki slips out of the Nerd and shakily moves to get a wet towel from their bathroom. He returns and cleans Izuku off before he cleans himself off. He throws the towel off to the side and lays down next to Izuku. He pulls Izuku to cuddle with him and studies the Nerd's face. Izuku's face is the perfect expression of fucked out, his eyes are glossy, his lips swelling and red, a nice healthy blush on high cheekbones. Izuku breathes heavily as his body still shakes with the aftershocks of his orgasm. Katsuki runs small circles up and down Izuku's spine, helping him calm down faster.
It takes a few moments, but when Izuku is calm enough he smiles blindingly, "that was amazing Kacchan."
Izuku's voice is raspy and cracks as he praises Katsuki. Katsuki blushes, "yeah? It wasn't too much?"
Izuku hums and snuggles into Katsuki farther, "Nah, I liked it."
They spend a few moments just laying with each other, soaking in their afterglows. But soon they need to get up and get the crew ready to set sail. Izuku lets a bit of green mist flow out of him, no doubt healing himself a little bit. Izuku lets it flow over Katsuki as well, healing minor muscle stiffness, so they are not sore later today.
After getting detaching himself from Katsuki, stretching his stiff muscles and getting ready for the day, Izuku pulls Katsuki to the deck to meet with everyone else. The sun is barely above the horizon, so it is pretty early in the morning. The only fully awake people (besides Izuku and Katsuki) are Sanji, Kakashi, and Aizawa. But Izuku can hear the slight commotion for the others waking and getting ready for the day, no doubt the promise of food getting everyone in gear.
Sanji has started to prepare breakfast and when Izuku comes to ask him if he needs help Sanji waves him off. "Breakfast will be ready in about an hour," Sanji informs.
Izuku nods and heads back out to the deck, he faces his crew and clears his throat, "Sanji said breakfast is in an hour. I want to leave port and be on our course before then."
Shoto nods and leaves the group to head to the Navigation room. Sabo and Ace follow to assist Shoto as the helmsmen. The others prepare to raise anchor, adjust the sails, and tie everything down so there are no hanging ropes or loose gear. Soon enough Izuku is telling the helmsman they are ready to set sail. Kirishima and Luffy lower the sails to catch the wind when they are a few feet away from the docks. The sails catch the wind, and the Ship starts to gain speed away from Dawn Island. Shoto steps out of the navigation room once their course is steady, "if we keep at this speed, we should reach Gecko Islands around dinner tonight."
Izuku nods, "Thank you Shoto. Go get breakfast for you, Sabo, and Ace. I'll keep watch for you." He turns his head to watch out into the ocean for several moments, watching Dawn Island shrink as the ship makes the first leg of her journey. He heads to the Nav. room, double-checking their course and speed. Satisfied with everything, Izuku makes his rounds to the others.
Most of the group is still eating breakfast, but there are a few people scattered on the deck. Zoro has his eye closed as he leans against the railing, looking like he is taking a nap, but Izuku can tell he is alert. Neji, Sasuke, and Shinso are sitting in the shade under the fruit trees. Itachi leans against the mizzenmast watchful eyes scanning the area. Eri and Konohamaru are talking quietly near the stern of the ship, Katsuki watches them close by. Iruka flits around anxiously not used to the quiet moments in the morning.
As more people finish their breakfast, they start to head to their rooms in groups to finish setting everything up. Kato flits around muttering about possible upgrades he can do on the ship, jotting his thoughts in a notebook. The teens close enough to Kato to catch his madman-like energy back away in almost fear that the Genius will recruit them for labor.
Neji shouts something off the lookout tower, "Izuku, there are two ships just ahead of us."
Izuku hums, "can you identify if they are merchant, pirate, marines, or civilian vessels?"
Neji looks again and shouts the results, "Looks like a pirate ship attacking a cruise ship."
Izuku nods and clears his throat, "Shoto full speed ahead we are gonna intercept that Pirate ship." Shoto shouts an affirmative and Izuku looks to the others, "everyone else prepare to defend the ship."
A few minutes later Izuku can see the cruise ship on the horizon, and his senses pick up a weak but smug presence coming from behind a rock formation. It doesn't take long for the very pink eyesore of a pirate ship to leave the safety of the rocks. And the ship seems to ignore them, but Izuku notices they start to gain on the cruise ship. The loud screeching voice of the captain orders her crew to attack. The rising bloodlust makes Izuku growl. He finds it hard to keep control of his transformation at the thought of the Pirates robbing a civilian ship.
As their ship gets closer, Izuku commands most of his crew to intercept and disable the attacking pirates. Izuku and Katsuki head to the pirate ship to deal with the captain. Izuku and Katsuki charge the incoming pirates, and it is pretty pathetic how weak they are. Izuku and Katsuki make it fun by having a little competition among themselves. By the time the captain makes herself known they are tied on how many pirates they have taken down.
"I'm winning Kacchan," Izuku teases.
Katsuki glares, "Huh?! Do you even know how to count?!"
Izuku smirks, "Kacchan is just jealous that I have taken out more pirates." He sticks his tongue out for good measure.
Katsuki growls playfully, "you wish, Nerd!"
In the middle of their playful argument, a massive, spiked club swings towards their heads. They both tilt their heads slightly to avoid being struck. But it stops their argument, Izuku blinks at the large woman, "Who's the cow?" he points his thumb at the woman and asks Katsuki with a smirk.
The woman growls, almost animalistic enough to be impressive, "who are you calling a cow?! I am Alvida the most beautiful woman on the Sea!"
Izuku tries to keep his chuckles to himself, as he shakes his head, "Sorry, sorry. That was rude of me." He bows slightly, shoulders shaking from holding his chuckles in, "I shouldn't have called you a cow." He lifts his head with a smirk, "that was unfair to them."
Alvida howls in rage and raises her mace over her head, and with a speed that would be impressive if Izuku wasn't training she slams it down on top of Izuku's head. Izuku coats his head in flames and Armament Haki. She starts to boast to her crew how beauty equals strength and she must be beautiful because she killed the intruder.
Izuku is done fooling around, and he releases his conqueror's Haki to bare down on the ship, "That's not going to work."
Alvida shakes and stands there frozen, "Impossible… who are you?"
Izuku only answers because he is impressed, she hasn't passed out, granted he used just a small amount of his Haki, but still. "I'm Izuku, Captain of the Wolf Pirates."
Alvida tries to bury her fear, now noticing the wolfish features on the two teens, "Devil Fruits? I thought they were a myth." She shakes her head in defiance, "it doesn't matter, you are an enemy captain. I will take you down!"
Izuku blasts his full force of Haki on the woman, and she falls over foaming at the mouth. He turns to Katsuki, "she is a pirate captain with a moderately sized crew she must have a bounty."
Katsuki nods, "she's too big to fit on our ship."
Izuku smirks, "there is a Marine ship nearby, we are unmarked we can turn her in with them."
Katsuki nods again, "yeah, we haven't made our flag yet. I highly doubt they would recognize us."
"Have the crew raid the ship for anything valuable," Izuku mutters, he has felt an unknown presence on his ship since they came across the cruise ship. And the girl is searching for something, he doesn't mention anything yet, he will do his own investigation.
It only takes a few moments to raid the ship, the Alvida pirates do not have much as far as valuables go on their ship. They only have a couple of treasure chests that Kirishima and Luffy grab. And by the time they are done searching the ship, the Marines have gotten close enough to spot them and change their course to investigate.
After 15 minutes the Marine Lieutenant boards the ship, Izuku senses his caution. "Who are you?" The Marine asks.
Izuku smiles innocently, "just a passing bounty hunter, came across Alvida's crew attacking a cruise ship."
The marine studies him for a few moments before he sighs, "where is your ship?"
Izuku points to the ship behind him, and the marine studies the ship and the sails to find any signs that Izuku is lying to him. Not finding anything out of the ordinary, except the ship looks like it can survive the harsher waters of the Grandline. He nods, "Alright then, Alvida is now under the custody of the Marines."
The Marine turns to board his ship, when Izuku releases a bit of his presence, "what about the matter of her bounty?" he holds out her bounty poster, she is worth 5,000,000 beli. The Marine shakes and turns around to face Izuku, the teen's face is the picture of innocence. And most would be fooled by the act, but Izuku's eyes are hard and the Marine gulps.
"Of course," The Marine stutters, "I'll have my officers prepare the funds."
"Thank you," Izuku smiles blindingly.
A half an hour, and a treasure chest of money later, Izuku is back on his ship watching the Marines leave with a smirk on his face. The Cruise ship left the moment the marines came to investigate, now Izuku turns his senses to his ship. The unknown female is still lurking around below deck. He tells Sanji to start preparing lunch, as he makes his way below deck.
He follows the female, she has short orange hair, brown eyes, she wears a white and blue tee-shirt and an orange skirt. Izuku is close enough to hear her ranting, almost frantically searching for something. She opens storage cabins, lockers, ammo crates, and anything she can search. Izuku decides to make his presence known, "What are you looking for?"
The girl startles and hits her head on the lid of a crate she is digging into. Izuku senses the fear coming from the girl even as she smirks challengingly. "I'm looking for your treasure!"
"Oh?" Izuku hums, "what were you going to do with it?"
The girl huffs and crosses her arms over her chest, "I'm a thief who steals from pirates! My name is Nami."
"I'm Izuku," Izuku smiles in greeting. "So Nami why are you looking for my treasure?"
Nami huffs again, "My goal is to get a hundred million beli."
Izuku raises an eyebrow, "What do you need it for?"
There is a pang of sadness, guilt, and rage in the girl as she tenses, "I'm gonna buy a village."
Izuku hums, "you are gonna have to steal from a bunch of pirates to make that."
Nami nods, "that's why I'm going to the Grandline! There is sure to be plenty of wealthy pirates I could steal from."
Something protective flares in Izuku at the woman's declaration, if Nami goes to the Grandline on her own, she is going to die. She is not strong enough to fight off even some of the weaker pirates. So far, she has relied on the element of surprise and sneak attacks to rob low-level pirates in the weakest ocean. They are basically civilians. Izuku forces the growl down, "how do you plan to get to the Grandline?"
Nami hums, "There is a Pirate Captain by the Name of Buggy, he should have the map and then I'll be good to go." She pulls out a piece of paper she must have found while raiding some other crew treasure. The paper reads "Stolen by Buggy"
"In that case, join my crew." Izuku rationalizes.
Nami startles again, "Huh? Your crew?"
Izuku nods, "yes I'm the captain of the Wolf Pirates." Something in Nami goes dark and radiates rage and anger. Izuku continues, "we are going to the Grandline to put an end to the corruption in the Government."
Nami glares, "how can I trust that; you're a pirate!? Pirates are despicable, liars, they think they own everything, attack Islands because they want to!"
Izuku nods, "yes, most pirates are like that."
"There is nothing I hate more than Pirates!" Nami declares.
"I understand," Izuku placates. "you have been wronged by a pirate crew, and now you think all crews are the same. But let me ask you something?"
"I don't have to answer anything you say Pirate Scum." Nami refuses.
Izuku chuckles and sits on a crate, "humor me?"
Nami huffs a sigh, but her aura is intrigued, so Izuku continues, "So there's two five years old's living on an island. One is the son of someone the Marines want dead, the other carries the blood of the dead Pirate King. The Marines catch wind that these two boys live on this island, and they come to investigate. Once they find out that the intel is true, they search the Island to capture the two boys. They find out that the boys are hiding in the forest and decide to set the Island on fire to smoke them out. All the civilians on the Island burned to death, but the boys escaped. My question is who is the bad guy, The Marines that killed over a thousand people so they could murder two children, or the Pirate that went out of his way to save the two children and take them somewhere safe?"
Nami scoffs, "the Marines at least would have put the boys out of their misery. The Pirate probably kept them as slaves."
Izuku shakes his head, "Nope, the Pirate took them somewhere where they could grow up and be kids with other kids their age. Where they could attend school, a choose what they wanted to become. Where they found family and love, and people who cared about them. They were given freedom."
She scoffs again, "that's impossible the Marines would have found them. And no pirate would treat a child like that!"
Izuku shrugs, "well it's true. The Pirate Emperor Shanks saved Luffy the Son of the Revolutionaries and Ace the Son of the late Pirate King. They became my brothers, and because of Shanks, they were able to grow up and choose what they wanted to be. We may be pirates, but we have no interest in raiding islands, all we want is to end the corruption in the Marines."
"That doesn't sound very pirate-like!" Nami points out with a haughty huff.
"Well, I have no problem with raiding other crews and the marines that attack us," Izuku smirks.
Nami huffs, but Izuku can sense her stance wavering.
Izuku stands up, "Well you're stuck on this ship for the time being. You are free to do what you want; I'll drop you off at the next island." Nami glares but she doesn't refute Izuku's logic, Izuku holds open the door, "you might as well come to eat some lunch, and introduce yourself to the others."
Nami glares at Izuku's back, "I refuse to eat anything you give me!" her conviction falls a little flat with her growling stomach.
Izuku shrugs, "suit yourself. Though it's not a good idea to waste food when you're on the ocean, you don't know the next time you are going to eat." Izuku leaves the girl in the storage room and heads above deck.
The other give him curious looks, Izuku sighs, "we have a stowaway."
"What are we going to do about them?" Neji asks curiously.
"Nothing, if and when she comes up don't crowd her." Izuku warns, "Something happened in her past, and she despises Pirates because of it."
The group nods, knowing Izuku long enough that they know whatever is going on with the girl, Izuku will get to the bottom of it and save her if she needs it.
