And the final arc has come! Though it's still over 130 pages long. A lot happens and it just gets so sad for a certain someone I put through so much. Hawks is more involved in this arc than the other ones. See you next week! Review, please!
"You're back! You're better!" Nobody had heard from him in days because he couldn't reach his phone how he was. Uraraka was excited, the girls happy with the guys fist bumping and shouting about them being glad he was back. Todoroki walked up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
Luffy nodded with a smile. "I'm sorry to worry you. I know it must have been hard to see me like that," he said sincerely. Sero asked what they were talking about. Luffy looked at them and away from his closest friend. "He was the only one to see what was really happening when I was replaced with the clone in class."
"What do you mean?" Midoriya asked.
Todoroki said, "He was going out of control in the bead and nobody knew, really. Either screaming or passing out. His clone was able to stay calm somehow." They were all horrified and Kirishima lamented that he hadn't known. Luffy put a hand up to stop them.
"It was better that way. I would have been upset with myself if I was a distraction in that way. But I had a different surgery and the illness is gone. I had my wings' nerve removed because it was infected and started to crumble and interfere with the others. My wings are gone for good this time. I don't want to talk about that part.
"My doctor said I have to train all of my powers equally to keep the nerves in the same condition. Most of the time, I'm not using any of them. Most of the time, I'm normal," he explained. "So I need to keep all of their uses equal. Hawks is buying a plot of land out away from everybody and building a dojo of some sorts out there."
"Where?"
"On a mountain, somewhere nobody can get to unless they fly," Luffy replied. He wouldn't give out the real destination, even to his friends. Kirishima said that was so badass. Luffy said it would be very helpful. "I won't use any of your quirks outside of training them equally."
"I have no problem with it," Jiro said, and most of the rest of the class agreed. Then Ashido changed the subject.
She asked, "Is nobody gonna talk about him scoring number six on the Hero Billboard Chart?" Luffy looked uncomfortable, and said he'd had no idea he was picked until he got there and was just told he was to go out on stage as number six. "Is was awesome! You looked really nervous, but your speech was great!"
Luffy confessed that it was terrifying. Being in front of so many cameras and people. In front of the world. "And I was in clone form, too, so I was worried I'd poof in front of everybody. Mirko clapped my clone on the back too hard and it disappeared. So some of the pro-heroes knew about that problem, even though it passed."
"How's Baku-?"
"Shut up, dumbass bird!" Bakugo roared the moment he entered the room, glaring at him furiously. Looked like he didn't handle Luffy's new position well, after all. But, this may be fun. Make him entertained and lighten up. It had only been two days, but Luffy felt… good. He felt weird, but was no longer worried about his quirk nerves being a problem. At least, not any time soon.
"I didn't say anything to you," Luffy said simply.
"Fuck, your presence annoys me. Go get sick again," Bakugo yelled.
Luffy replied calmly, summoning the side of him that Hawks had drilled in. "I'm not going to get sick like I was before," he said in an easygoing voice. He was glad he was taught how to be calm when Bakugo clearly wasn't. Someone as laidback as Hawks had helped make Luffy into a person who didn't get angered easily.
Bakugo was raised to explode (literally and figuratively) and argue, unable to stay calm in any situation. While Luffy disliked what he knew about Hawks' life before him, it had drilled some helpful tendencies and habits into him that he then helped Luffy with. Even Hawks said those years were useful before he broke ties completely.
Blackmail wasn't exactly the mature way to go, but it'd worked out.
"Yeah, you say that now. Maybe you'll get out of control again and kill somebody," Bakugo snapped.
"That's rich coming from someone who touts the phrases 'I'm gonna kill you' and 'fucking die'. Did I hurt anyone? No, I got away from everyone and locked myself in a tiny ball for days so nobody would get hurt," Luffy shot back, though his voice was still calm. This pissed Bakugo off.
"You think you're so strong and smart because you placed number six-"
"An approval rating got me there. People like me. It's not shameful to be nice to kids, give out autographs for them when they ask, to bring an abandoned baby to someone to take care of it. If you don't like my approval rating because of those things, then you are against them and that is shameful," Luffy said, voice strong and eyes intense as he stared at Bakugo.
Luffy had to say, that was a good come back. "So, when you can control your own behavior, you can talk to me about my own." He sat back in his seat, the class silent until Aizawa came in. He hadn't been there for the big blow-out.
"Luffy, I'm glad to see you back. All fixed up? Good. And congrats on your placing in the Billboard charts. You made UA proud." Explosions came from Bakugo's desk, but Aizawa completely ignored them. "We're doing another quirk assessment test today, to see any progress from our training and the time that has passed since the first.
"This time, wear your costumes and meet up at the same place as before." They said they would and got up to get their costumes, which were put away at the beginning of each day and then taken home at the end.
Midoriya looked at Luffy in his outfit, and said, "It's weird looking at you without your wings," honestly. Luffy said it was weird not having them out, even though it had been months since the first one was ripped off, and months since both of them were destroyed.
The conversation went flat and Luffy made sure those around him didn't pity him. "I'm done mourning them. If I want to fly, I can use Hawks'. They've changed colors and I don't use his feather powers, so they don't look like copy cats anymore. Though little kids thought my glowing wings were awesome, but the glowing is over."
Kirishima exclaimed, "That's so manly!" Bakugo demanded to know what was manly about glowing wings. So, he was listening to their conversations, even when he wasn't near them. "Nah, his way of thinking! He lost something important and he's totally cool with it!"
Luffy said, "That's not true. I was distraught. Crying all the time. I'm not ashamed of it because they meant a lot to me, but I wasn't strong about them. C'mon, you all saw what I was like after the nomu ripped my wing off. I was a mess! I'm just not a mess anymore," he explained truthfully."
"Man, stop it! Admitting that makes it even manier!" Kirishima shouted, and Luffy laughed. Feeling… happy. And relieved. They were finally at the field, standing where they had so long ago. They were all at least a little taller, many more muscular. So, the first thing they did was the softball throw. Luffy went first and took a deep calming breath before he threw the ball with all his might, feeling lighter and stronger than before. And more stable than his recent bout of super-super strength. He hadn't noticed it at the time, but he did now.
17,000 meters. The class gasped, and Luffy was shocked. He looked at his hand. His body felt energized and light. He closed his hand in a fist, grinning. They all looked shocked and Bakugo furious. "I really do feel different after my wings were permanently taken away."
Aizawa hid his shock well. It was 14,000 meters more than last time. He'd been missing so much strength. Luffy and Hawks had thought he was using the quirks to their full capacity. They both seemed to have been wrong.
Bakugo had improved, too, but nowhere near how far Luffy's went. Midoriya was the one who was surprised by his change. While he'd had 700 meters last time, his throw was less than before. But he grinned and held up his perfectly fine fingers. The last time, he'd broken one of them. So it didn't show any improvement in strength, but in control.
Most of the others did well, too. Even those who couldn't use their quirks to throw had improved at least somewhat. They all did well in the other tasks, Luffy being faster than before with Hawks' lighter wings.
Luffy was content.
When he got home, he talked to Hawks all about his day, more enthusiastic about school than in months. Hawks was smiling the whole time. He thought Luffy's comeback was brutal, but was proud he was so chill about it. Luffy declared he was going to get the mail, a skip in his step. Even though his wings weren't out all the time anymore, all of his shirts had the hole in it, and he'd keep them that way. It was easier, now, though. He didn't have to put them on around his wings, his back was flat and he could just pull the shirt over his head easily and then take his wings out.
He found they had more sketchy mail and brought it up. He was sure they'd thrown away the HBC letter. Oh well, he did alright even with it being so sudden. He put the mail down and then took the sketchy letter and opened it. This time it was more concerning and angering. It was a photo of him this time. Of his back and there were red marks on his shoulder blades where his wings had been.
In all the letters they'd sent so far, trying to piss him off, this was the only one that got him. But after some calming breathing, the anger was gone and replaced by irritation. Hawks was angry when it was handed to him to look at. He flipped it over and saw the message. We will keep it up, and you'll fall right into our lap.
"Arg! Who are these annoying people?!" Luffy exclaimed. Hawks said he really had no idea. Luffy picked up the ball and made it weight less, starting his daily or nightly practices, rotating through his quirks. He used the smaller balls for the ones that would ruin them. They were cheap and he was able to use his powers inside like that.
"I have no idea, but I agree. It's annoying," Hawks said, tossing the photo on the coffee table. "I think we should get somebody to look into this, finally." Luffy asked who as he covered the ball in fog, keeping it wrapped around it. This really was like physical therapy. And until he could use the dojo or training ground Hawks had already bought and arranged to happen, he did small "exercises" like this. Doctor's order.
"Detectives. By now, this is more than just a stupid prank. And by sending this one, it shows they're either getting desperate or annoyed or both." Luffy picked up the photo again and scrutinized it for anything helpful. He used his advanced eyesight to look for any clues, staring at it closely.
Hawks didn't interrupt him. Then he looked at the envelope, opening it up and looking at the inside, sitting down against the wall, Merry on the desk, but neither of them could care to make her get off. As long as it wasn't on the kitchen counter, she could go anywhere.
"There's a tiny black ink mark on here. Right there," Luffy pointed. Hawks couldn't see it. He asked what it looked like. "Two triangles, looks kind of like an hourglass, but the triangles don't touch." Hawks' eyes narrowed.
He asked if it had a single white dot in the middle. Luffy walked to the desk and put light directly on it, narrowing his eyes. "A white dot in the middle, yeah. Why? What do you know about it?"
Hawks leaned his head back. "They've gotten sloppy," he sighed. "That's the mark of approval for anything leaving the Commission's headquarters."
Luffy narrowed his brows. "The commission? You think this is from them?"
"They've always been skilled at mind games, manipulating people, even if it took months or years. The question is why they are doing this and why to you. And why now?" Luffy pointed out that they started sending them months ago, before he got chosen for the number six spot. So it couldn't be because of that. "That's not necessarily true. They could have predicted your progress when that fanpage was first posted. The Commission is smart and deliberate."
Luffy asked what the point of the shitty photos was. "To make us dismiss them, maybe. I don't know, honestly. And I don't know why they'd target you and not me. After all, I'm the one that ditched them. But they can't blame that on you since it happened before I found you. Even if it was only a month before." He groaned. "Dude, it's been seven years. Why now?"
"Maybe they want me. Maybe they see me as a danger," Luffy hypothesized. He was now keeping the ball suspended between both fingers with his magnetism power that he'd pretty much forgotten he had until the list was printed again.
"If that was true, they would have tried to snip the bud earlier and more forcefully. This is… uncharacteristic, is how I would define it. Maybe things have changed since I left, but I honestly don't believe that."
Luffy sat down bouncing the ball on spongy fingers. "They could be using me to get to you. If I went off on my own and got kidnapped, then they could tell you that they'd help you look if you joined them again," Luffy said simply. Hawks sighed, and said that could be true. "But I'm not stupid. And the best chance they had was when I was injured. I was publicly injured, unable to get away. It would have been easiest to get me when I was unstable and couldn't escape. Now, I'm stronger than ever, mentally and physically."
Hawks said he wasn't going to make contact with them, they would see how the cards played out, keeping their new theories in mind as they waited for more letters.
As the days passed, they got better for Luffy, but worse for Hawks. He was stressed. Probably about the commission. Luffy asked him about it. "I don't want you getting mixed up with them. They're evil, I don't want you having to deal with them." Luffy said he had no choice if the letters kept coming.
"This could be their intent, Hawks. You said they were good at mind games. They might know that we'd figure this out eventually, and you'd grow nervous and worried and do something reckless or desperate. They were terrible, but they taught you how to think rationally, like you taught me how to do," Luffy said sternly. "Think rationally."
Hawks took deep breaths, eyes closed and his face relaxed. "You're right. The best thing to do is to not show them we're bothered. Pretend they aren't bothering us, or that we're just stupid. And I want you to burn the envelopes and letters from now on. We can take photos of them easily, but they might have listening devices in them."
Luffy nodded, glad he'd gotten through to Hawks. They'd left him, and by extension, Luffy, alone for seven years. It was weird now besides Luffy's rise in popularity and recognition. And it looked good, Hawks was no longer panicky or apprehensive about it.
But the letters got more and more disturbing. But, one letter really gave them something to seize. Luffy unfolded the envelope and smelled something like copper. He looked closer, almost zooming his eyes at the black speck. Luffy enlarged the speck to show a computer chip.
Luffy immediately put it in a compressed bead. "Some random stalker or freak wouldn't have this kind of tech," Luffy said, holding the bead. "Is there a way to track it or something?"
Hawks said he was rusty with computer hacking but it would be easy to get back into. The two of them headed downstairs to the computer room that was made just for those reasons. He took the clip out and made it large enough to fit into the computer slot. Did they not know of that power? Luffy rarely used it. Well, never really used it. But he was glad now that they had it.
The pro-hero's fingers were thrumming on the table. "Hawks. You're already losing to them," Luffy said bluntly. Hawks looked startled. "You're letting them get in your head! I don't know just how bad it was, or what they did, but you moved on a long time ago! Don't let your demons crawl back out."
Hawks glared, but not at Luffy. "I'm weak."
"You're not weak."
"I'm totally letting them get into my head, and I shouldn't. You got past your childhood-"
"Hawks, I don't remember any of it. The situations are not comparable," Luffy said simply. Hawks nodded, agreeing. He bit his lip, frowning deeply.
"I don't want them having anything to do with you. I don't want any aspect of your life touched by those fuckers."
Luffy smiled self-deprecatingly. "I've been tortured. And I've moved on. I had my wings ripped off twice. I moved on. I was homeless and hated the world. I moved on. I'm not mentally weak. Now that I've accepted my wings are gone, I feel more mentally stable than I have in many months. I'm not seven, and I'm not who you were." Luffy smiled a more true smile. "Have faith in me. I'm not going to worry you by rushing off or doing something stupid. If you want, I'll drop the night patrols."
Hawks looked at him with wide eyes, and then smiled. "I took in a pretty amazing stray, huh?"
"I'm only like this cause you saved me. I'd probably be dead or in jail if you hadn't found me," Luffy replied. "We'll deal with this together, okay? Don't not tell me this stuff, okay?" He nodded. "Promise?"
"I promise."
Sadly, they couldn't track the chip anywhere, but if it was a bug that listened, they hadn't heard anything since Luffy had made a bubble around the computer that blocked sounds coming from the inside or coming from the outside. Their conversation was private and nobody heard them.
But now that they were positive it was the Commission doing this, they could be more rational and calculating. Over the next few days, it was clear the Commission was becoming impatient. They sent more letters. Luffy burnt them in the lobby after taking photos of them, documenting what they were.
Hawks had gotten them to back off and let him go with blackmail before, he could do it again. But now he had Luffy. And he wasn't desperate like before. School went on like normal, nothing was odd. The end of the school year was approaching, and then they'd have a break.
Tokoyami noticed a change in Hawks and Luffy. He wondered why they both went on patrols together exclusively. You wouldn't see either on the streets without the other. They didn't give the truth, just saying they missed doing patrols together. Tokoyami didn't believe them, but he wasn't nosy. He accepted their words even though he recognized the lie in Luffy's voice. Hawks was perfect at lying, so it threw Tokoyami off.
Hawks did feel bad about it, but their situation couldn't get anybody else involved. Both of them were already in danger, they just didn't know how much or in what ways. In danger of their lives? Or their futures as heroes. Especially Luffy's. Hawks was well known and had his own large agency. If anything huge changed with him, everybody would know.
Luffy was popular, but it was known that he sometimes took long absences. That fact might be good for the Commission. If he suddenly disappeared, they could claim any excuse. But that was why Hawks stuck with Luffy, so that didn't happen under his watch.
"I don't want you hurting any of them if they come to you. They could get you to go to jail, and then, if they wanted to get to me, they would say you'd be let out if I returned to work for them. Whatever they want from me, there must be some sort of threat they need me for. Want me to help them with," Hawks said while they were eating lunch on a Sunday.
Luffy wondered what kind of threat would make them so worried. And why Hawks? "I'm specifically trained in deception and espionage. Maybe they want me to infiltrate somewhere," he replied. He moved Merry's head away from his food. "Though they might think I'm a bit rusty. Besides, they have to have other people trained like me, as replacements."
"You're quirk is an advantage for anybody," Luffy replied. Hawks frowned. "What?"
"You have my quirk. You have a stronger quirk than anybody. Oh, I bet they really regret not finding you back then," he said. "The more we think about it, the more confused I get. Do they want my past skills or your hopeful future? I don't think you'd be easy to brainwash, thankfully. But still, they usually get what they want and we won't let that happen." Luffy nodded firmly.
Luffy said, "I'm sorry that you had to grow up under them. You did a good job with me even though you didn't know what the hell you were doing at first." Hawks laughed, saying that was very true.
"Sometimes I still feel like I don't know what the hell I'm doing."
"Wel, lucky for you I'm not stupid or impressionable and will call out your bullshit. Nicely, of course. But I've never felt the need to criticise you for anything like that," Luffy replied easily, getting another sandwich. "I don't want my quirk to ruin my life, not for anybody or anything. I may dislike it in the long run, but even if I wanted, I can't get rid of all of my quirks. They'd just grow back. I'm stuck with them, I have to deal with that."
Hawks smiled, saying he was proud Luffy had grown so much in just a couple of months. Terrible, awful months, but a short time regardless. Luffy smiled, saying he was glad something positive had come out of everything. He felt better and lighter after going through his struggles and saying goodbye to his wings.
They helped him be who he was now, but they weren't him. He could live without them. He wasn't chained to checking and fretting over their safety.
After lunch, he got right onto his art project he'd put off, going out shopping on his own, at a department store and then a hardware store to get the supplies he needed. He worked tirelessly until it was right. His wings in a spread position on a block of wood. All of his feathers were there. He had enough to make it perfect. And now the huge piece of art, covered with glass, hung behind the couch near his desk at the window.
He looked at it and was a bit sad, but was glad he would always have proof that those wings had existed. How they helped him grow as a person. He didn't hate them for all of his health problems. Not at all. It wasn't their fault, it was Luffy's. No, it wasn't anybody's fault. It was an unfortunate and inevitable outcome, but he couldn't go back in time.
-x-
Luffy sat on the roof of the building, eyes closed and ears open to anywhere in their vicinity. He could reach out a mile from there and pick apart sounds he was focusing for. Sifting through the noises of traffic or the wind up at the top of the building. Hawks was on patrol, taking a relief night where he could just be a hero and not have to worry about personal problems.
Luffy heard the sound of something being thrown at him. He easily caught whatever it was. It was a box. He wasn't stupid, and went to the lobby to scan it. It was safe, no weapons or chemicals. He went outside and flew back up onto the roof, sitting on his comfortable outdoor couch. He opened it, and found a hologram disk. Similar to the one he got with his response from UA about whether he was expected or not.
He pressed play. It showed Hawks chained to a chair swearing at them. "Don't come, Luffy!"