Dinner was only more peaceful that night because everybody was so tired. The food was not great, but tasted good enough for a trade off on fighting. They bathed, though Luffy didn't go with anybody. The girls were all fine being in the bathhouse together, but Luffy refused. Shanks was understanding of him and let him use the upstairs shower.

Law was not given that courtesy, he was told he could bathe after the other guys were out. Luffy felt bad for him, but didn't argue or anything. He came back down nice and clean, even though his first pair of sleeves smelled bad. At least he had extra pairs. He slipped his next clean ones on and made his way to his sleeping bag.

Somebody in the room smelled bad despite showering. He buried his nose in his pillow. His head area smelled good because the shampoo that they were all given smelled nice, and Law's head was right next to Luffy's. He was glad he didn't smell, or that would be so embarrassing.

Luffy woke from a bad dream, only it had nothing to do with his past or flashbacks. There was a demon looking through the window right at him. He jerked awake and upright but of course there was nothing at the window. "You okay?" Sanji asked quietly, having woken up from Luffy's jerking movement.

Luffy nodded, and signed he'd had a creepy dream. He didn't say nightmare since that usually meant something to do with his trauma. This was just a scary dream. He was uncomfortable sleeping again, kept seeing the monster staring at him through the window until Zoro took his hand.

"Nobody will let something happen to you," he said quietly, tiredly. Luffy took some calming breaths and nodded, laying back down and falling asleep. Zoro's hand was not joined when they woke up. When they were eating, Sanji asked what had happened last night. Law didn't know what they meant since he hadn't woken up.

I had a dream there was a monster staring at me through the window. It was really freaky looking. Zoro raised his brows and Sanji smiled. He was no doubt glad it wasn't a trauma related nightmare. Law seemed kind of left out. It's okay. I just jerked awake and woke them up. I'm glad I didn't wake you up.

"Yeah…" Law said, but didn't sound happy.

Training was different that day. First they had to do a work out around the forest. But, what they didn't say was that there were huge animals inside the woods waiting for them. Screams echoed through the forest while they attempted to make it to the place they were supposed to be. Luffy was keeping himself out of reach of them while the other three fought them off.

Zoro's was the most effective at wounding or killing the animals. Sometime during the fights, Law decided his power wasn't doing enough. He found a jagged rock and made a room, trying to switch the large and violent rodent over so he could stab it, but instead, it cut it into many small and writhing pieces. He screamed in shock, and Luffy's eyes widened.

The other animals around fled. Zoro walked over and crouched down, poking the body parts. "Better not use that with any of us in your ROOM? Okay?" Law nodded, and pocketed the sharp rock.

That's really freaky but really cool. You're power's so awesome. I'm jealous, Luffy signed. Law's face turned red as he returned awkward thank yous. I wonder what else you can do with it? He was excited to see how it turned out.

They ran into another monster, and Luffy teleported close enough to touch it and send it fifty feet into the air, and fell from that height and through the branches of the forest, landing hard on it's side. He wouldn't be okay with killing the animals if he didn't know they were from a quirk and were not actually living creatures.

But it worked. "Hey, a new attack!" Sanji exclaimed excitedly. Luffy nodded in agreement, happy to improve with something. "We're gonna be in last place," the blonde said when they noticed how quiet and deserted their area was now. They got distracted too much. So they began sprinting, avoiding the animals as they were no doubt going to be in last place.

But, there were two improvements, so losing the race wasn't that big of a deal. Even for Zoro and Sanji, they were happy for their friends. And they were indeed last. Because of that, they had to do a second lap. It was much quicker this time, and they came out of it starving for lunch.

-x-

Luffy needed a break. Desperately, he needed a break. He was becoming very quickly overwhelmed. It was dinner and everyone was so loud and the tables were crowded. He felt unsafe, uncomfortable. He scarfed down the little food he ate and then ran upstairs, only to disappear to wherever Ace was.

He landed on the wall with Ace, who was napping. Luffy tapped him awake, and sat down, leaning into him with his knees to his chest. Ace put his hat on and wrapped one arm around Luffy's shoulders, pulling him closer. "Just two more days. You've done amazingly, Lu. I'm so proud of you," Ace said softly. Luffy sniffled and signed, They're all so loud and close and there's no space apart. "I can see that. And I can see how this isn't a fun summer camp. I mean, the wall makes it look pretty unfriendly." Luffy nodded in agreement.

Do you know if there's been any more movement from the alliance? "Dad said they've skipped over countries that don't have hero schools. Other than those, all of Asia has been targeted." Ace sighed, and rested his cheek on Luffy's head. "I wish things could go back to normal. We could both be home together with our family." Luffy nodded.

I want to go home. Ace sighed, but didn't say anything. Luffy knew he agreed with him. Luffy ended up staying on the wall with Ace all night, asleep while Ace was on watch. He had a pillow brought to him by Marco, though, once the pro hero found out where Luffy had gone.

-x-

The third day they were there, a hike was happening. They had exercise clothes and hiking gear. This was the only camp-y part that Shanks had made them do. Going on a long hike up the hill and mountain. Luffy wasn't worried about himself falling, but a lot of the others weren't happy with this. Even Kid wasn't happy about it.

"What, are you scared?" Zoro taunted?

"No arguing," Shanks said in the front of the line. Luffy was in the front, not wanting to be left behind and knowing he wouldn't slow everybody down. Law and Sanji were next, with Zoro fourth. Luffy followed directly after Shanks. It was fun! Luffy actually enjoyed it. He rarely did outdoorsy stuff like this.

Maybe he could do it more. He glanced to the side to see Law was looking at the ground in deep concentration. He seemed nervous about falling. When they stopped for a water break, high up the first mountain, Luffy signed, I won't let you or Zoro and Sanji fall. I'll save you. Zoro grinned and ruffled his hair, saying he wasn't worried, but thanked him.

Law just smiled lightly. When they resumed their hike, he seemed to be feeling happier and more relaxed, no longer analyzing every single foot step. Nobody fell and got hurt. Hancock was pissy that her expensive, white tennis shoes got dirty, though. This was more for fun and not training, so that was nice.

Luffy walked to the ledge and looked at the view. They could see everything from up there, but were still planning on going even higher. He looked up the trail and smiled internally. He was actually having fun with this. The most fun he'd had since they came here. Which wasn't saying much, but still. It was a nice change.

They resumed the hike, and soon others were tiring quickly. All but the fittest of them, which were the four, Franky, Robin and Tashigi. Even Kid and the Three Jis were becoming tired. Zoro looked uncomfortable, and Luffy knew he was keeping taunts and insults from coming out at Kid and the three assholes.

"Do we need to go back already?" Shanks asked, unable to hide the disappointment. "We still have a long way to go, you know." He was frowning.

Nami said, "We didn't know it would be this much or we'd have declined coming!" Vivi and Kiku nodded in agreement, all three of them sitting on rocks and trying to catch their breath. Zoro pointed out that Shanks had pointed to this mountain. "But we didn't see how tall it was from there!" she snapped back.

The teacher was thoroughly disappointed. He brought out his phone and called Marco over, who arrived quickly. "I'm gonna go back down the mountain with the ones who want to stop. Will you continue with the others?" Marco agreed easily, and told the seven of those who wanted to continue that they'd be going a long distance.

"Turn back now if you can't handle it," Marco said with a sneaky smile. The guys grinned and told him to bring it. So, they made their way quicker up the mountain. When they reached another peak, Luffy took out his phone and took a photo. All seven of them asked Marco to take photos. This group wasn't the most close knit, but they were teammates right now.

Sanji and Zoro had said they thought Franky had a thing for Robin. But he felt they were only good friends. Since Law looked at Luffy how Franky looked at Robin sometimes, Luffy was sure nothing else was going on.

Luffy was the downer in the photos, not smiling. But he did give hand signs, trying his best to look happy. They did a lot of pictures. One was with Luffy standing on both Zoro and Sanji's shoulder with his fists in the air. When he'd tumbled backwards, photo time was over and they continued. Of course Luffy didn't fall, he brought himself back onto the ground easily. But they got some pretty good pictures!

He put his phone back in the zipper pocket of his shorts. They went higher and higher until they came across of chasm keeping them from going forward. Law created a ROOM and transferred all 8 of them to the other side. The group wasn't done yet. They would go as far as they could possibly go. It would be a long walk down.

They finally stopped once they got to the peak of the real mountain Shanks had been pointing to. "More picture time," Robin said lightly, not out of breath at all. Franky smiled at her. Luffy took out his phone and they took more group photos, some including Marco now. The view was incredible. The sun was still high in the sky. They'd left camp at 9:00, and that was four and a half hours ago.

"Alright, ready to go back down?" Marco asked. Zoro complained that he was hungry but had eaten all of his granola bars.

"I might have low blood sugar as well," Tashigi said. Zoro made sure they knew he wasn't having blood sugar, he was just hungry. Like it was a weakness. Sanji slapped the side of his head. Luffy went back to the main house and grabbed a full box of granola bars before reappearing with them. "Nice!" Franky said, and the group finished off the box before heading down.

It took much less time going down than it did going up. They were quiet in concentration, and Luffy really enjoyed it. It sucked he wasn't allowed to leave campus to do something like this. When they got back down, dinner was already ready, and they scarfed down the food before going to bed, their bodies exhausted. The soreness burned, but it was satisfying.

-x-

Luffy did it! He made it through the trip without a single flashback or panic attack! He wanted to dance, but people were around, so he obviously didn't. But Ace did, when they were both back on campus, Luffy told Ace about the good news, and his brother danced in a circle and hugged Luffy tightly, proud and happy for him.

He went to his room and changed clothes, putting on the cheaply made sleeves since all the other ones were dirty and he wasn't going anywhere besides around the dorm. He texted with Sabo and mom, too, about his time there. Roger said he didn't want Luffy coming over for now. It hurt Luffy's feelings, but the same treatment was given to Ace.

The man said it wouldn't last long, though. He was just uneasy about some sort of news that had happened. He wouldn't tell Luffy at all, which bugged him. But it meant one thing: he didn't want Luffy to panic. Meaning whatever had happened to change his view had been bad. He tried not to think about it.

But it wasn't hidden much longer, as the next day, Shanks arrived at the dorm in the morning before school started. It was weird. Unusual. They were eating breakfast, which was cereal or toast, Sanji not making fancy breakfast food. He knocked on the front door and Hiyori answered it, and she and the teacher walked inside and to the living area.

Everyone went quiet when Shanks arrived, solemn and subdued. Very different from how he usually acted. He gathered everybody around, and spoke in a sad voice. "Students are not allowed to leave campus for any reason. Luffy, I know you go to your home sometimes, but you can't do that anymore."

Nobody looked surprised that Luffy ditched campus sometimes. "Why? Did something happen?" Sanji asked, sounding worried. Everyone reflected those worries. It was seen in everybodies expressions. Even the Three Jis couldn't hide their worry.

"A student snuck off campus yesterday in two schools. Both of them have been killed by villains," Shanks said, getting right to the point. The class gasped in horror. Luffy felt very upset he couldn't go home anymore. But he didn't want to die. He was stranded there, away from his precious family. Ace was still there. He still had Ace. "The villains who did it match the descriptions of villains from the Alliance," Shanks added.

They just want us here, Luffy signed, putting his toast down. "It seems that way. Until we have more information, we will be sending more heroes here." What about in the city? "The heroes are being spread very thin. But common crimes like theft and public damages are seen as less important in the lives of the next generation.

"To enforce no students leaving campus, we're adding extra measures. Luffy, you won't be able to be recognized as leaving, but you need to stay for your own safety. For now, internships are postponed. The provisional license exam will be taking place next week. After that, there will be a wait period while the world figures out what to do."

"The world? I thought it was just Japan," Killer said. Rare, since he rarely talked to anybody but Kid, and Luffy had never heard him laugh.

"America and the ten most populous countries in Europe were hit while we were all at camp," Shanks replied. The class gasped again. Luffy's hands were shaking, but he fisted them. He clenched his teeth together, trying to calm down. But now it was even scarier. The villains wanted the students to stay at their school campuses. They were planning something else!

Sanji was at his side and took one hand while Zoro took the other. Law watched out of the corner of his eye with a light frown. Luffy calmed down a bit with the attention from his friends. Tashigi asked how the other schools would be getting from their schools to UA.

"A portal has been constructed by Germa 66 technology. A limited number of people can use it, just enough to have the exam." The Three Jis looked haughty before Shanks added, "The parent company first designed the tech and then Germa took over and provided what was needed."

Zoro snorted when the Three Jis scowled at hearing it was not just their family who came up with it. But Luffy didn't like this plan at all. He took his hands from his friends' and signed, Why are we putting all of the hero students together in one place? Won't that be what they want?

"The provisional license exam is only for first years. In total, since there has been a rapid decline in students, there will be five classed including this one. Usually, there are at least ten classes taking place. So it will be scaled down much more."

"In other words there's nothing normal about this year. We've been cheated out of a normal first year and now we can't go or do anything," Hancock said. Tashigi told her that they were all upset, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Shanks nodded. "Even if you'd gone to a hero school abroad, you'd be in the situation regardless, just in a different country. There are over 10 million students in this situation right now. It's not just us." Hancock deflated. The whole class didn't have an appetite anymore. Then Shanks gave another sigh and spoke more. "I want each of you to wear this pin," he said, bringing out a bag of pins from his pocket.

"They're trackers. In case anything happens, we want to be able to know where you are," he explained, and handed out the pins. They just had the UA logo on it. Like irregular buttons. "If there's an emergency, press the pin tightly." The class looked very upset and worried about this.

Law said, "So, we're not safe on campus either, then?" Shanks said it was just a precaution. Law didn't look convinced, and neither did most of the other students. Hiyori had tears down her face with Robin rubbing her back softly. They took the pins when they were given, and looked at them before fastening them to their shirts.

"Do we wear these to sleep, too?" Sanji asked. Shanks said they didn't have to then. Only keep it on when they leave the dorm.

He said there were going to be cameras live around the dorm. "What?! You're going to film us?" Nami demanded angrily. "Are we Big Brother now or something?! You can't film us without our permission!" Everyone was surprised with the reaction, but it was justified. Being filmed sounded uncomfortable.

Shanks quickly backtracked. "I meant cameras in the entrance and exits, as well as outside of the building. Not inside, only outside and the entrance. And there is already a security system in place, so we're not worried about anything happening while you're in your dorms. Though there is a pro hero that will be monitoring the dorms at night. Ace is on this one. He'll be awake and on the roof of the building," Shanks explained quickly, trying to diffuse the situation.

Luffy was so happy Ace would be there, too. Once he knew Shanks was done speaking, he threw the rest of his food away and went upstairs to his room. He went to the balcony and sat down on it. It was early but they did have class that day. He only wanted some time to cool down before getting dressed and going to class.

Then somebody dropped down next to him. "Yo, Lu. Got the pin?" he asked. Luffy showed it on his shirt, looking very depressed. "How are you feeling?" Ace asked, sitting next to his baby brother. Scared. "Yeah. I'm worried, too. But, I'll do what I can to keep you safe. And your classmates, too."

Luffy leaned into Ace's shoulder, who heard when Law came in, knocking on the open door. "Uh, Shanks wants to show us the new security system. Now," Law said. Luffy nodded and stood up to put his shoes on. He was still in pajama pants, but so was Law. So it wasn't only him not putting on his uniform. Ace said he'd see him later, and Luffy nodded.

He walked next to Law down the hall and to the elevator. This is scary. I never thought anything like this would happen. "Me neither… I don't feel safe, even with heroes around and the cameras and security system," Law confessed honestly. "I didn't expect high school to be this way." Luffy nodded sadly.

I'm really glad we're friends. Not only just having Zoro and Sanji is nice. Law smiled slightly and simply said he was happy they were friends, too. "I don't like what happened to you, but I am glad that you're not shallowly happy all the time." I could have been. I'm not sure. But I know what you mean. Happy people all the time make me feel ashamed for always feeling sad.

Law just nodded in agreement, understanding what that felt like. They met up with the rest of the class, who were not in good moods either. There were other students around, other than their class, all of them looking upset and scared and angry, too. They were all led to the front gate, which was pretty far from where they were, and saw the massive and complicated looking security system.

Shanks picked up a rock and threw it up over the wall, but it only sizzled into nothing when it hit it. The dome looked invisible but very dangerous. "We're lucky UA has so much money. Other schools can't afford this," Shanks explained. "Everyone should be safe here. After all, the forcefield covers underground, too. A large sphere all around the campus.

"So if any villains try to come from under, they'll be fried, as well." Luffy didn't ask about the ones who had portals. How they were protected from them. He didn't want to hear that they just had to hope that didn't happen. Had to hope they'd be fine.

He looked up at the sky, no doubt separated from their school. He didn't like the feeling of being trapped in a bubble. For the last 3 years, he'd been free to go anywhere at any time. Well, not anywhere, but he was able to leave the house. Now he was trapped, 24/7 locked up. He sighed and clasped his hands together.

The students were all told to get dressed and make themselves to class. Luffy didn't understand how they thought the kids could all focus with the knowledge they were essentially trapped, in danger constantly and doing what it seemed the villains wanted them to. The enemies were in complete control of the situation. He didn't know why they'd target kids.

He didn't want to think about it anymore and teleported to his room to get dressed. It took longer for the others to get back, Zoro saying he wished he had a quirk like Luffy's. I can't really use it anymore how I want to. "Still, it's convenient no matter where you use it." Luffy knew that was right.

The four of them walked to class, and Luffy noticed Law was touching his hat a lot. Luffy assumed it was a sort of fidgest or comfort item. And it made him all the more grateful and touched that he'd let Luffy hold it during the PTSD flashback at USJ. He looked down, remembering how long he'd let him wear it. "I just think you underestimate how much Law does care about you."

Ace's words ran through his head, and he looked back up at his newest close friend. Luffy felt happy that he was important to another person, the only person who only knew this him. The current him. The probably more real version of himself. He looked back ahead, and felt a smile in relief inside himself, though not strong enough to breach the surface and be shown to the world, or to himself if nobody was around. The only people who had seen him really smile were his brothers and his two best friends. His mom and dad had never been there, when a very unusual and shocking smile made its way out.

Everyone was subdued during class, many unable to help fiddling with the new buttons they wore on their shirts. Shanks explained that the provisional license exam was coming up soon, just not too soon. So, they were to continue practicing their supermoves. Luffy didn't have any, but Marco and Shanks were understanding the limits of his quirk.

The day went by excruciatingly slowly, nobody really paying attention. When hero training came, and everybody was in their outfits, they meandered to where Marco was waiting for them. But Ace was there as well. He looked nervous, being right next to Marco. Luffy could see it, but everyone else probably couldn't.

"Everybody, you've already met Ace, but he'll be keeping an eye out for anything suspicious while we work. Please don't distract him," Marco said. Everybody nodded, and Ace winked at Luffy quickly. He walked away a bit and jumped into a tree, going to the highest branch and keeping a lookout.

"Today we'll be doing evacuation training," the pro hero said. Luffy wasn't too surprised by this. Kid groaned, but everyone else was silent. Marco ignored Kid's reaction, and explained that it was extremely important to be able to know how to evacuate smoothly, not causing a panic. He turned to the side and Luffy was surprised to see the other hero courses were coming over. The second and third year students.

They were all in their own outfits, all looking fairly unique. Luffy had his face shield on, hiding his face so nobody could see his expressions, or lack thereof. The other teachers were Kyros, an intense but strong former pro hero turned teacher. Then there was Riku, the oldest teacher on the staff. They were both the hero training teachers, along with Marco.

Only Marco was a guest one, the other two were permanent. The students were all a bit apart, but the five classes were there. Most of the second and third years had stayed while those enrolled in the first year had left. Leaving one class instead of two.

Riku took over, explaining what they'd be doing. They were going to ground beta and were all putting themselves in one building to evacuate. They were timed. If they didn't make it out in time, then they had to redo until they made it, no matter if it took the rest of the day. The students weren't happy about it, but understood why it was important.

They filed into one of the buildings, the top floor, and once they were ready, and unnerving noise was made. One that inflicted panic in Luffy. The siren sound for natural disasters that seemed to freak everybody out. They hurried to the stairs, but it was bottlenecked and everyone was pushing. Shouts were made to calm down and go neatly, but it didn't work out.

They had three minutes to get out, but barely one class of the five got to the first floor, but even they didn't make it out on time. They were told to start over. With every try, the siren got louder. Some were so panicked they started to cry, including Tashigi. It was the cruelest activity Luffy thought they'd done so far.

It took three hours and 30 attempts, each one lasting six minutes before they made it out. And they were told they'd continue it each day until they got out on their first try. It angered the students, but the three teachers didn't budge. They weren't going to change their minds on this. There was truly nothing to look forward to anymore.

The class spirit was deeply down, and dinner was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everybody. They all retired early, not looking forward to the next day.

It took three days for the classes to be able to evacuate safely and quickly. Other classes were in the other parts of ground beta, since there were plenty of buildings, and everybody needed to know how to evacuate in a desperate situation and panicked behavior. Even though the hero schools were targeted, it didn't mean only the hero course students were in danger. That much was clear by the killing of those non-hero course students from other schools.

What also became clear in the two weeks that followed was that information was scarce on the internet about what was happening in the rest of the world. Either the entire public was lacking information, or it was just the students. So Luffy got his information from his dad. Which wasn't much besides more and more schools going into isolation and lockdown around the world.

For schools who couldn't afford that, the governments were giving out the money as an emergency action. But they were distracted by that when the provisional license exam was coming. The next week it would come. All of the first years of all six schools would gather at UA in a building that they could see being built from the dorm windows. It was big, and the students were curious about it.

The night before the exam, Luffy had a flashback. It was triggered by a cut from falling and skinning his arm on his desk corner. It would have usually been fine. He was able to get light cuts and bruises. But this one overlapped one of his scars completely. He stumbled to the ground and curled into a ball, making a loud noise as his chair was knocked over.

There was a knock on his door and he let out a loud gasp and whimper. Whoever was on the other side came, opening the door slowly. Luffy could hear them, but not see them with his flashback of a nightmare he'd had when he woke up. All of his blood was seeping out of his body, covering the entire hospital bed red and dripping on the floor.

Then there was something soft and furry in his hands. "You're okay, you're in your dorm with your friends. Your brother is close, always here for you. You aren't there, you're safe. Come back, Luffy," the voice said. He clutched the furry object in his hands as he slowly stopped rocking and came to, tears down his cheeks.

He was shaking and looked down to see he was wearing Law's hat. Law took it from him and placed it on Luffy's head, giving him a soft and reassuring smile. "Would you like me to call Ace over?" Luffy shook his head. "You can keep that tonight if you want," Law offered, gesturing to his hat.

Luffy's hands had stopped shaking. Isn't it important to you? "Yeah, but you're my closest friend. I trust you not to damage it," Law said honestly. Maybe because Luffy had just had a flashback. Law saw the cut, and asked if Luffy had first aid things in his bathroom. He nodded, but couldn't stand. Though his hands had stopped shaking, his legs hadn't.

Law got the rubbing alcohol and cleaned the cut and then put cream on it and a bandage. Luffy had tears in his eyes and reached to hug Law, so thankful he helped him. Twice now. Law didn't hesitate to hug him back, rubbing his back. Luffy pulled away first. Law asked him if he was sure he didn't want Ace. Luffy shook his head. "Do… you want to talk about it?" he asked hesitantly. Luffy deliberated for a moment before he felt the hat on his head.

It was the cut. It's over one of my worst cut scars, Luffy signed. Law frowned. "I'm sorry. I wish you could forget everything that's happened, but at the same time, it's what's made you you." I'm broken. "Not to me. Not to your friends and family."

Luffy sniffled and nodded. "Do you want me to bring you dinner?" Law asked. Luffy shook his head, and cautiously stood up. His legs weren't shaking. He was going to take a nap, so he'd taken off his sleeves to sleep, but he knew he couldn't sleep directly after a flashback. Law got them off of the bed and handed them to him, who put them on and then walked out with Law.

-x-

There were at least 200 kids there. They were all in their hero outfits. Luffy had just given Law's hat back that morning, sleeping with it, so soft and fluffy. He loved the hat, wished he had one, too. He wondered why it was so important to him. There was a lot about Law he didn't know about. He wanted to know more, but not pry. Not be insensitive and bother him about it.

He'd had trouble sleeping at first the night before. Wanting to fall asleep but only thinking about Law and how kind he was to Luffy, and how rude he could be to the other classmates besides their shared friends. He didn't think it was a pity that Law was nice to him.

But he couldn't focus on that. The building was like an arena, but infinitely bigger than the sports stadium. It had taken a month to build, which was still amazing in its own right, but not much compared to the three days the dorms were built in. Though those had been much more important than this place.

The students from their school and the others were buzzed. The first 1-A class had the buttons somewhere on their costumes, still. Luffy couldn't see anything like them on other students. He was glad he had his face shield on, covering every part of him. It was 10:00 when the doors were open and the students filed in.

In any other year, Luffy was sure that they'd all be excited, the area full of chattering students. Now, it was dead silent besides footsteps and the sound of rustling clothes. It wasn't very uplifting, knowing everybody was equally depressed and sacred. He did hear whispers, students asking each other if this event was even safe.

They all knew to be concerned about being all together in one place, concentrated. Villains already had shown their interest in the students. When they entered a sort of lobby with a big TV screen, and a podium with an older woman with gray hair in a ponytail. Everyone was quiet without being told to be, waiting for her to speak, as she obviously was there to.

"Welcome, first year students. We at the Hero Public Safety Commission are very sorry that your first years have turned into this, but we will continue on as normal as we can be while still being safe. Those who get their license will be able to intern and work with pro heroes with more than just office work. However, things may be postponed this year due to obvious circumstances.

"Now I will talk about this event itself. One hundred of you will pass. The rest will need to try again next year. There will be three tests. The first will be different than usual. It will be team based. You will partner with somebody else, someone you know. You must place one ball to a target in each group.

"After the first fifty groups pass, those who did not will have been considered failing. Usually the tests are more independent, but in these times, teamwork is a must and will keep you safe. You have to use your quirks at least once each." Marco had done everything team based from the start, so they should be fine. He was sure his class would pass. Law looked to Luffy with a questioning expression, and Luffy nodded.

He heard Zoro offer to team up with Sanji, so they were a pair. Since the others in their class were scattered about in the crowd, Luffy didn't know who the other pairs were. It was just lucky there were four of them or somebody would be left out, which would be upsetting for all three of them.

"You will also have a harness that connects you. You must communicate well under pressure. Choose your partners well." Law put the target on his head to keep Luffy's face hidden since it wouldn't fit over the face shield. Luffy appreciated it. The harness was six feet wide and was connected to braces over their abdomens. Luffy couldn't help thinking that he should have paired with Zoro or Sanji since they were still thinking of working together. Though maybe Law would want to come along, too. Luffy wasn't sure, he'd only known him well a couple months where Luffy had been friends with Zoro and Sanji since they were six. A big time gap.

They all started out in different places, and everyone was on the move already. Law protected Luffy, watching behind him to guard the target as they silently searched for a pair that wasn't in their class. They found them soon, but a lot of the pairs were already against others. So they skipped those. When someone came up from behind them, Law nodded and Luffy teleported to them from behind.

When they turned around. Luffy teleported again and Law used his room to bring them up to them and the taller stuck the target on the enemy's headset. Luffy gave Law a small high five. He passed the first test. Two more to go and he'd make his family proud. He had to.

The two of them headed to the winning room, where they found Zoro and Sanji had already made it. A handful of others from their class were there, but most so far were not from UA. But, as the fifteen minutes passed, the rest of their class trickled in. Luffy was proud that they all made it. Maybe the class would all be a success.

The ones who passed showed some happiness, extremely bright compared to the atmosphere before. They all waited until the time ran out or the limit was reached. It was reached with two minutes still on the clock. The harnesses and targets were taken off and put in a bin.

The head of the Commission, Tsuru, was back and explained the next activity. The next test. It was a rescue task. "There will be paid actors playing victims scattered around the area. They will be your judges. Don't mess up and do your best to save them," she said in a clipped voice, followed by loud rumbling noises. There was a screen that showed that the terrain in the arena had crumbled.

They were let out into the disaster area and got to work. Luffy signed, I'll find them and you lead? "Yeah," Zoro said, Sanji agreeing. Law said he'd work on getting people out of the rubble, but would be with their team. Luffy nodded and popped to the nearest wreckage. He saw three people, one of them a child actor. He popped back to his friends and led there where he'd been. Law was able to get them out of the rubble, and Zoro and Sanji started bringing them to the already-designated first aid station. Luffy didn't know a thing about medicine, so he'd just work on the rescuing.

This was what he wanted to do. Maybe not in this way, but he wanted to rescue people, so this was good practice. When his friends were taking the crying actors away, Luffy knew it would be useless to just wait for them to come back with empty arms, so he picked up a girl and started running to the first aid.

"Are you going to say nothing?" she snapped, sounding much older than she looked. Luffy couldn't reply so he kept running. "Minus points! Be charismatic!" Luffy was begging to get there faster but she kept docking points at not responding, so he started to set her down. "Don't put me down, I'm injured!" she scolded, taking more points.

Luffy was biting his lip hard to not cry. She docked him more points for stumbling when a rock gave way under his foot. "Don't cry, you're supposed to be a hero!" He finally teleported her there and set her down, not caring if she threw up.

He was trying to calm himself down, and Sanji ran over, asking him what was wrong. She docks a bunch of points cause I couldn't speak back. "What?! That's a handicap, she can't do that!" Sanji raved.

"Oi! Argue later, rescue now!" Zoro shouted from a big block of stone on top of three people. Luffy was nervous, now. Unsteady. But he helped get the rock up and hold it up while the others got the paid actor victims.

Luffy attempted another rescue of an elderly woman, complaining about her leg hurting, though he knew it was just acting. He nodded, all he could do with his hands full. "What's happening?" she asked in a frail voice. Luffy didn't know what to reply. Nodding and shaking his head wouldn't work. He did the next automatic response, and shrugged.

Big mistake. "What do you mean you don't know?! Minus points!" He flinched and his lip was bleeding now. He brought her to the area and then teleported to the wall, leaning against it and trying to bring himself back together. This was what he wanted to do! He had to do his best. He couldn't cry! But he also couldn't speak to them. He couldn't and risk a flashback. That would prove he was truly unfit to be any sort of hero. He popped back to his friends and guided them on where to go, though he was shaking in embarrassment and shame about being unable to do what they wanted him to.

To be nice and assure them that help was near, they'd be okay. "Oi, are you okay?" Zoro asked, grabbing his arm when he saw the tear tracks and drop of blood. He looked very worried. I keep getting docked points for things I can't control! "Stick with me, we'll work as a team, okay? I don't know where Sanji and Law went. C'mon," Zoro said nicely. Luffy nodded and they went to the next round of victims.

Zoro was brash and blunt, but when he was rescuing he said calm reassurances. His voice didn't sound kind, necessarily, but composed. And here Luffy was completely silent, his face covered by a mask. He took the face shield off and it didn't help because he couldn't smile.

"You could at least try to seem friendly," he was told in a disappointed voice. Docked points again.

"Hey! Just cause he can't talk doesn't give you the right to be a jerk! He's saving you!" Zoro snapped. Luffy shook his head, not wanting to drag him down with him. The person in Luffy's arms looked surprised, but didn't dock points from Zoro. Luffy was feeling out of control, his emotions bubbling up. Emotions of shame and embarrassment. Little self-worth.

Then he fell, but managed to contort himself so he landed on his back. He was docked points for jarring her "hurt ankle". He wanted to dump her and try somebody else, but that would just make it worse. He teleported her there, and he saw a vomit stain on the ground from the last person he'd teleported. And none of them were actual children, so they did get sick.

He was messy and scared and emotional. But he just kept being bombarded with scoldings and cold looks and disapproval. Like he was not worthy of any respect. Just because he had no way to communicate with somebody in his arms. He couldn't talk and couldn't smile.

Villains were attacking, so he stopped the rescuing and went to fight the villain, his face mask back on. It had been off for only a second before he realized having it off would be just as bad as hiding his face. The villain was Garp the Fist. Not a villain, a hero playing one. Luffy fought him all right. He didn't get hit, he landed some blows. But he didn't get hit.

Fighting Garp didn't include insults and shouts at him not doing a good job. Not a good enough job even if he was saving them. Even if he was finding and directing the heroes to the wounded actors. He had been playing a part and worried if anybody saw him doing so. He did manage well against the villain, but it wasn't what he wanted to do, so he didn't want to be recognized for that.

As long as he had enough points to pass, then that was fine for now. But he was feeling panic and fear bubble up in his chest. His heart beat rapidly besides the exertion from fighting Garp. then the bell rang, and Luffy teleported out of range again, landing next to Law. His hands were shaking and he was trying to calm down.

"Whoa, you okay?" Law asked in deep worry. Luffy nodded his head frantically. "Are you sure?" It was clear he was lying, but Law wasn't pushing. Zoro hurried over, looking pissy.

"You were doing a great job and all they were saying was rude shit!" Zoro raged. He glared at some of the paid actors in a threatening way. But the point scoring was over, so he wouldn't be hurt by that. Please don't get in trouble fighting for me. I'll… I'll be okay. I did good fighting the villain and finding the people. Zoro looked sad, but just nodded.

He put his arm around Luffy's shoulder as they walked back inside, over the messed up ground. They were all in the same room they'd already been in twice, and waited for the results. Luffy was pacing back and forth a few steps. Others were nervous, but not as bad as Luffy was. Then the scores went on the screen.

Luffy saw everybody's name there. Besides his own. They were given scoring sheets. Luffy was underwater 10 points. He got 40 out of 100. His scores were docked heavily because:

- emotional

- unempathetic

- didn't respond when spoken to

- tripped when rescuing

- quirk made others sick

Luffy felt all feeling drain from his body. There was a ringing in his ears as his eyes burned. He felt empty and cold and worthless. He couldn't even pass the most important part of his desired future. He wanted to help people, yet he couldn't even do this right. He couldn't hear what anybody around him was saying.

Zoro and Sanji came over and were looking at him in regret. Zoro hugged him, but he was still cold and empty. He didn't respond. Law put his hat on his head, but even that didn't help. Luffy was worthless and an embarrassment to his family. His dad was a pro hero and his brother graduated the top of their class.

And Luffy didn't even pass the provisional license exam. He pulled away from his friends and gave Law his hat back. He walked to Shanks on numb legs, and signed that he needed to go to Ace. Be away. Shanks looked at him in sympathy. "There's always next year," he said, but Luffy didn't hear, couldn't hear over his own hateful thoughts.

He didn't appear in front of Ace, he went to his room and fell apart. What was the point? He didn't know that he came across as such a cold person. Yeah, he didn't smile. But he didn't look mean! He didn't know how to look mean. His eyes burned painfully with all of the tears. His nose ran and his sobs turned into hiccups.

Finally, he couldn't do it alone anymore and appeared to Ace, who was heading back to the dorms since the students were already on UA premises. He appeared in front of Ace, whose grin immediately turned into a worried and horrified look. Luffy's ace crumpled again and he hugged his big brother. His strong, charismatic, successful brother.

Luffy handed him his paper, and Ace read it with angry eyes. "The commission was told about your handicap, inability to speak. This shouldn't have passed the test. You can't hinder somebody with a disability in this kind of thing," he hissed. Luffy didn't want denial, he just wanted to feel comfort.

He wanted his mother. His mom was the only non-hero in the family. The only one he didn't need to live up to. But he didn't want to get in trouble for leaving. Even if it was instant for him, it was still ditching campus, misusing his quirk. Ace wrapped his arm around Luffy's shoulders.

I'm sorry. I'm an embarrassment to everybody. I don't know why I even tried. "Hey, hey, no," Ace said firmly, standing in front of his little brother and holding his shoulders. "Do not let this derail your dream. Most years, the exam isn't even made for first years. I got it in my second year." All my classmates made it. "They didn't have asshole judges. They got lucky." Luffy wasn't convinced.

I want to see mom. I want to see Sabo. In person. Ace sighed. "I can't let you leave campus, and you can't see them in person," he said sadly but honestly. Luffy knew that was the answer. And he was lucky enough to have Ace. He hugged him again and Luffy cried quietly.

It was three hours later, a lot of self-hatred, harmful thoughts, insults at himself, that he returned to the dorms, walking through the front door. He was still in his hero clothes. The room went quiet when he entered and those inside saw him. Sanji hurried over, leaving his food, and Zoro came, too, hugging Luffy.

"I'm so sorry you got shitty judges," Zoro said, voice sympathetic but angry at those who had hurt his best friend. Luffy nodded, not wanting to get into an argument. He wanted his phone and to see his mother. But she and Roger no doubt expected him to have passed. And he didn't. He was the bad one in a proud family. A stain on their name and record.

I'm going to my room, Luffy signed. He wasn't hungry. The rest of the class was weirdly quiet. Nobody was making fun of him. Not even the Three Jis. Meaning they all pitied him, the weakest of them. He'd scored high on the sports festival, but got barely any offers, and now didn't pass the provisional license exam.

Both for the same reason. He. Couldn't. Speak.