Luffy was embarrassed when Zoro and Sanji were a lot better at getting clothes on, all of their shirts cut for their wings to exit. They wore the undershirts still, too. It was fine. Living with them was awesome so far. And when one of them might want to take a break, Marco had had couches put in the floor below Ace and Sabo's flat, so they could chill in there if necessary. They had everything prepared for the two to live with them.
"Ready?" Luffy asked, the portal open in the park around the school. Close enough that they wouldn't be in danger, but far enough that they wouldn't be seen materializing. They were all nervous, but nodded. They had to get it over with. They couldn't hide forever. "Be ready for tons of stares."
"As long as ladies look at my awesome wings, I'll be happy," Sanji said. Zoro said he wasn't weak and stares wouldn't bother him. They walked through the portal and then to school. They couldn't wear their backpacks anymore, so Zoro did what Luffy had, with the sling backpack while Sanji had a tote bag.
When they entered the gate, the three of them walked, ignoring the many stares of shock. Everyone knew of them from their fights at the sports festival, so they knew Zoro and Sanji definitely did not have wings before.
When they entered the classroom, they sat down, regardless of the stares. The room was silent the moment they were seen. Zoro put his feet on the desk, like usual. He hadn't been bothered by the minor inconveniences with having wings.
"Wh- what happened?!" Kaminari screeched. "Where'd you get those?!"
"Are they fake?!" Ashido shouted. Zoro moved them around and said, "Nope," simply, not bothered by the reactions. "But… how?"
Sanji said, "Nobody will believe us." Nami demanded they tell them. "Turns out quirks can be contagious."
"WHAA?!" the class shouted. Midoriya's face was white, and Luffy wondered why. He asked if Luffy gave them the wings. "No, they've been developing for a while for them. Just nobody saw them."
Hagakure asked if they would catch it, too. "Nah. We've been friends for ten years. You've been a few months. There's nothing dangerous for you." Then he grinned. "But they're awesome. We'll learn to fly soon."
Yaoyorozu asked if that was why they weren't in the dorms. "No, we're already in a safe place, so we don't have to move into the school. Besides, it's probably more dangerous being here than at the agency where there's always a pro-hero present. Marco, Ace and Sabo lives there, and now both of us are living there, too." Kirishima complained that it wasn't fair they had heroes to tutor them. Luffy added, "Marco will only help teach them to fly. They've never tutored us."
Sanji said, "Besides when they beat the crap out of us. Marco is brutal." Luffy and Zoro nodded. They were asked if it hurt, when they grew. "Yeah, it hurt really bad. But they don't hurt anymore. We can move them just fine."
Aizawa walked in and pretended to be shocked by the wings. Kaminari said, "Luffy said his quirk is contagious. Or at least the wings were." Aizawa did lie, saying there had been rumors from a long time ago for this happening.
"I just didn't know it would happen again," he said, and then got to business. "Since the training camp was ruined by the villains, even though they were mostly defeated, we will be practicing here. This is for the provisional hero license exam, which will let you work as heroes if you pass. It has a 50% fail rate. You'll need to be strong.
"The other schools are older students. You will be the youngest, and the most inexperienced with your quirks. Which is why we're having you develop at least two supermoves. Here to talk about it is Midnight," Aizawa finished. The trio were already grinning in excitement about going up against older students.
Midnight basically told them you need supermoves to be a hero. Or you'd suck at it. Not in those words, but she drilled into their heads that they'd be failures if they didn't have supermoves. Aizawa then piped up that they won't get to go to the exam if they didn't have two super moves.
Luffy raised his hand. "Is this a trick again?" he asked bluntly.
"Who knows," Aizawa said in a lazy voice. "Now, get changed and go to gym gamma." They all stood up, and Zoro and Sanji were faced with a dilemma.
Their costumes weren't right for their wings. "Fuck," Zoro said. Luffy said they might need to wear their gym clothes for this. "We can just wear the shorts and undershirts," the green haired teen said. He and Sanji took off their uniforms and got their gym shorts, while Luffy was wearing his suit. They walked out, and when Aizawa told Sanji and Zoro they needed to wear their costumes, the two explained that their costumes were impossible to wear yet. They'd need to get them edited to fit the wings.
"Make a request change and you should get new outfits just fine. I don't want you three destroying anything. I know you all have supermoves already, so focus on practicing flying or at least fighting with your wings. They might get in your way during the exam."
Zoro and Sanji looked horrified. They ran to the open field, Luffy behind them. Well, their running wasn't hindered with the wings. "Luffy, teach us to fly. We'll heal if we fall. We need to learn."
"O-okay. I'll catch you if you fall."
"If we're part demon, then this should be fine. We learn quickly with everything else," Sanji said, making Luffy nod. They turned to the side and saw Yaoyorozu standing there, close enough to hear. "Fuck."
"Ah, I didn't hear anything," she said nervously. Luffy put his face in his hands. Everyone was finding out. Sanji walked to her, and asked her to please not say anything about it. She looked afraid a little bit. Sanji gave her a smile. "You already know us. And that we'd never hurt anybody we care about."
Her expression softened and she didn't look afraid. "I know. I'm not afraid. Not even of the beast version of Luffy." She bowed. "Thank you for saving us. That nomu would have killed us if you hadn't been there. I won't tell your secret. I swear that with all my heart. It is nobody else's business, and I am sorry I overheard you."
Luffy smiled. "Thank you, Yaoyorozu. I trust you to keep your word." She smiled back and nodded.
"I don't think you're demons. Not the way we see them."
Luffy replied that they just called him that because of his appearance. "Nobody knows what I am. So, nobody needs to be afraid. I was in complete control in camp, right? I didn't hurt anybody but the villains. And I didn't kill them. You can't tell anybody about that part or I might get in trouble. Nobody knows how everyone will react to the truth. I trust you to keep my - our - secret."
She nodded, and walked back to the gym. Luffy sighed. "Well, that sucks. But let's get back to practicing." Zoro climbed up the building, and Luffy was next to him. "Ready?" Zoro nodded. "Spread your wings really wide, but facing down so the wind doesn't blow you back. Bend your knees and jump," he said, doing the same as Zoro. He was wobbly, and Luffy told him to flap, going too slow will make him fall.
He nodded, and flapped his wings, flying for a short distance before he tilted too far to one side and wasn't balanced enough. Luffy was under him, and pushed him upwards. Like a mother whale pushed their babies up to the surface to breath.
They flew across the campus, and Luffy said they should turn around. "Tilt just to one side, like this," Luffy said, showing turning. Zoro tried, but failed and fell before trying to catch himself. Luffy caught him again and flew them back.
He landed with Zoro on his back back at the gym. "That was amazing!" he shouted. Sanji clapped, saying he did good. He was grinning, excited for his turn. Luffy flew him up to the top of the building, and did the same. He went faster than Zoro had, but still failed at turning. Luffy supported him up, but not kicking off made it hard for him to catch himself. It ended the same as it did for Zoro.
For the next three hours of the training, they practiced flying. Zoro and Sanji were amazing. Luffy was pouting. "That's not fair. It took me forever to learn how to fly!" Zoro said that he had started when he was young. "Still! I'm the original!" They laughed and left to get some water.
Luffy was still grumpy, arms crossed. "C'mon, be happy! You don't have to waste a ton of time teaching us anymore! And we can fly together." Luffy told them he wouldn't let them fly over the city yet. Too dangerous. They agreed, probably feeling bad for him.
"Okay, now you have to practice fighting while in the air." And this, they utterly failed at. Zoro fell into a tree and got stuck until he sliced it in half, which got him in trouble. Sanji face planted a few times. They grew frustrated, and Luffy felt much better about it.
"Don't look all smug at our failures, jerk," Sanji grumbled.
Luffy replied, "Well, there's no requirement to fight while flying. You just have to be able to fight with your wings not hindering you. Now, bring it." He had a grin on, and fought with both of them, dodging and getting good hits in, scratching them. Once Zoro brought out his swords, Aizawa saw this and shouted at him that he wasn't allowed to use that.
He swore under his breath and turned them into bats. They both got good hits in on Luffy, and their wings didn't bother them at all. "You guys are so cool," he said once he got a bad hit from Sanji's leg on his cheek. They both beamed.
"All cause of you," Zoro said. Luffy smiled back happily. Then Aizawa called them over, as it ws time to stop. There were some tears in their clothes, but no cuts. So they'd say they just barely got out of range. Luffy's costume was perfectly fine.
When they gathered back, switching with class 1-B, who stared at Zoro and Sanji, Yaoyorozu smiled at them. Especially Sanji, who had been so kind and the three all said they trusted her. Apparently it made her really happy. It was nice to see. That she wasn't afraid. Maybe Luffy really impressed her with saving them from the villains. She was the only one who thanked him and didn't seem afraid.
It was a relief. Luffy was never close with her, barely talked to her, but it was nice that it was like this.
"No flying home."
Sanji and Zoro crossed their arms angrily. Luffy didn't back down. "I'm the first winged one, you listen to me." They scowled, but walked into the park. Luffy listened and closed his eyes. Nobody was around. They had to start making sure nobody was around when they said anything about their situations. He created a portal and walked through, it closing behind them. He changed the subject when he announced he'd make the anonymous tip today. They were surprised.
The three walked inside and Luffy found Whitebeard, since Marco was on shift. "Pops, can you get me one of the disposable phones? I'm gonna report where Shigaraki is." Whitebeard knew of what happened at the training camp when nobody else knew. Besides Thatch and Marco. But those were the only three.
Whitebeard nodded, and walked to the desk before pulling out one of the trac phones that they could dispose of easily. Sometimes you needed those types of phones. He went upstairs, and the three looked at the portal to the League of Villains' base. Well, what used to be the group. Now all of them were in prison besides the leader and Kurogiri.
He hadn't seen him in the woods at all. He wasn't with any of his victims when he went to them. Luffy made the window move around, unable to be seen if he didn't want it to be. He went out of the door and around the building the pub was in. He saw the front of it, and wrote down the address.
He dialed the police station he knew had the guy that investigated the league back at USJ. He knew which one it was, having looked it up on his normal phone. "I have an anonymous tip on where the League of Villain base is. It has Shigaraki and Kurogiri." He gave the address.
"Thank you." He didn't ask who Luffy was. Good. Luffy hung up and crushed the phone in his hand easily, destroying it. Then he formed a hand portal in the channel not too far from there and dropped the phone into the water.
"Hey… that pub was pretty far from the training camp. Did your distance improve?" Sanji wondered. Luffy raised his eyebrows not thinking about that.
"I don't know. Maybe," Luffy replied. Zoro insisted they go practice again, and so they went to the park Luffy learned to fly at, and stayed at the shore of the lake that Luffy fell in over and over when he was big enough to fly. The portals really were convenient. Though it wasn't too far from home. Zoro and Sanji flew across the lake, slowly and carefully learning to turn in circles. Not tight circles like Luffy could, but slow and gradual turns.
Neither of them fell in the water. Luffy was proud, but also irritated. When they landed back, they saw Luffy's angry pout. "You're a good teacher," Zoro said.
"Marco was a better teacher and I sucked," Luffy countered. Sanji said he should be proud of them. "I am! It just makes me feel like a slow learner and you guys just breezed through it." Zoro said that he should be happy they could fly together sooner rather than later. Luffy deflated, knowing that was true.
"Plus, learning faster will let us intern with Hawks a lot sooner than if we were slow learners," Sanji added. Luffy said, "Oh yeah! Good job!" They grinned and said they should get back home, since it was getting to be dinner time. Luffy nodded and they were soon back through a portal.
Sanji asked if he could help Thatch cook. "Absolutely!" And Sanji beamed, helping Thatch who made him hands on. If Sanji messed up, Thatch would change whatever it was into a good dish, even if it wasn't what he'd originally planned to do. Thatch was overjoyed that Sanji was living with them so he had somebody to teach. He had fun with that, when he wasn't playing with the kids.
They still had lots of kids there, but Luffy stayed away so they didn't get scared of his appearance. He wasn't bothered by that and understood why. Zoro went upstairs and filled out the paperwork to change his costume. Sanji did his earlier. They would turn them in tomorrow.
They sat on the couch, both sinking into the comfy furniture. It was very high quality. "Do you like living here so far?" Luffy asked, sounding nervous.
"Yeah. I feel a lot better here than at home. I don't have to tiptoe around certain words, showing the more markings I get," Zoro said. "I feel like I can be myself around people who know everything. Why this stuff happened to us."
"Do you ever feel like I ripped your family apart?" Luffy asked quietly, not making eye contact. "It's me that made you have to keep secrets."
Zoro said, "I don't feel that at all. It sounds cheesy, but ever since I saw you, how cool you were, I thought that I would have a fun life with you. I'm sure Sanji feels the same. Besides, my life would be hella boring with all this shit. The risk of being caught is worrying but also thrilling. Besides, even without all the demon stuff, you and Sanji are family. A pack, as you called us. I do feel closer to both of you than I ever have with my biological family."
Luffy asked, "Do you think you only wanted to be friends because you, like, imprinted or something? Like you got trapped into being friends?"
"Dude, you were barely five. I doubt you had the power for imprinting. Why would a tiny and young child have the power of imprinting? That aside, I don't ever think I just stuck with you cause of some invisible bond or some shit. And Sanji only hung out with us because he wanted friends. He wanted to be both of our friends. Meaning he didn't imprint on me, too. If we did at all.
"It was our choice to be your friend. And when you showed us your beast form, neither of us were afraid at all. I hate it when you think we don't want to be your friends except because of the demon stuff. Even if I didn't have all this cool stuff happening, I'd still be friends.
"I like being in your pack," he finished sincerely, pretending not to see the silent tears.
-x-
Luffy fought Zoro and Sanji in the air over UA, kicking, scratching, whipping with his tail. They fought back, Zoro hitting Sanji and Luffy with the baseball bats, throwing them off before they caught themselves and retaliated, Sanji slamming Zoro down, but he caught himself and shot back up. They fought until they were exhausted and landed, laying on their backs.
"That's hard. I don't understand how you're so good at it," Sanji said, looking to Luffy.
"Years of practice. Plus, my body is more flexible and lighter than yours," Luffy replied. They heard Aizawa call them over, as training was over for that day. They got up and ran over, Zoro and Sanji's wings sore. Luffy felt perfectly fine, a little tired, but nothing hurt or ached.
Zoro and Sanji were wearing their new costumes, the same as before besides the wing holes and zippers. Luffy was frustrated they were so good at getting them on and Luffy still needed help. They headed to the changing room in the main building and then got into class. Everyone was tired from the training.
The three hadn't seen anybody's super moves since they stayed outside the whole time. Luffy asked what their super moves were. They all had diverse ones. Midoriya realized he did, in fact, have legs. His was the biggest improvement. Nami was able to shoot her hot and cool balls faster, and when they hit someone, it burned them or made them cold enough to shiver. It was hard to improve her quirk.
Usopp was able to eat solid things and shoot them out. Which was weird when he ate rocks. But it didn't hurt him at all. Strange, very strange. Everyone else had improvements, enough that, if Aizawa was being honest, none of them would miss the provisional hero license test. It was two days from then, and everybody was pumped or terrified.
"How did you guys go?" Jiro asked.
"Zoro and Sanji learned so fast. Faster than I ever did," Luffy said sourly. Then he sighed. "But learning fast is better so we can intern under Hawks as soon as possible. Hopefully, if we do more internships."
They all talked about what they thought they test would be, speculating everything, even things that were ridiculous. Well, maybe not ridiculous. Nobody knew a thing about it. "What about your brothers? How was it for them?" Luffy was asked.
Luffy shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm not gonna ask. In case I start thinking that's what we'll do and I'm wrong." He was excited for the test though. Lots of pressure. But he'd pass no matter what. And he knew Zoro and Sanji would as well. They were skilled enough in many areas to not lose at anything thrown at them. Plus, all three could adapt easily to any situation. They proved that at the training camp. None of the three were scared there. Luffy had acted immediately, changing into beast form.
That had been the best option he could have done. He saved students all while not letting anybody find his human body. It was a good plan and he'd gotten no consequences. But he was irritated that his tip had not been acted on. You'd think they'd do it fast. But it had been days. Sure, the students were safe at campus and the agency, but still. And the members were in prison, but still! Shigaraki could be dangerous!
Luffy had checked on him a couple of times, though he didn't say anything again. The guy was scared out of his mind, and the warp guy, Kurogiri was trying to calm him. So was the voice over the TV screen, who he didn't know who it was. Some sort of leader, the father/master of Shigaraki. So, dangerous, but he had no idea who.
