One's Justice
Chapter 3
Aftermath of the fight against Vaccine Man:
Izuku remained sitting on the ground in awe of the sight he witnessed. He saw a man with an unimpressive look annihilate, in mere seconds, a monster that took down three Pro-Heroes and Kacchan. His state of staring into space was disrupted by the arrival of more heroes. Among them was Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, newly arriving Slugger the Baseball Hero and… Izuku could not believe his eyes at the hero at the front. ALL MIGHT?! Izuku screamed in his head as his idol and inspiration for wanting to be a hero suddenly ran up to him.
"Worry not my boy! We heroes who protect the innocent from the vile scum who worship evil are here! But it seems that we missed the show, unfortunately for these brave souls as well as your friend there." All Might said, looking at the battered heroes before finally pointing at Kacchan as he said the last part.
Oh, it's actually HIM! Izuku could only think. The Number One! Oh man, he looks so much cooler in person. Izuku thought this while a glimmer of light shined from All Might's Teeth.
"Yeah, looks like we missed a hell of a party. And it looks like the monster's gone. Guess that means the ambulances can get here." Mt. Lady said. "All right boys, it's safe for you to show!" She shouted at the emergency services. Since she was very tall, they could see and hear her from the safe distance they were staying at until Vaccine Man was dealt with.
While Backdraft stayed behind to deal with the remaining fires, Mt. Lady helped clear rubble to rescue other survivors while paramedics tended to the injuries of Kacchan and the other three Pros. Meanwhile, All Might, Kamui and Slugger surrounded Izuku to get information on the events that happened while they were busy.
Before Izuku could inform them, All Might noticed Izuku's shimmering stares at him and felt that the boy wanted to ask him something. All Might looked at his notebook and got a thought in his head. Ahh, I've seen that look plenty of times! I know what the poor boys wants first! "Excuse me my boy, can I borrow your book for a second?" He asked, while Izuku rapidly held out his notebook wondering what his idol was going to do. He instantly got a pen he carried around for autographs, took Izuku's notebook and rapidly signed his name onto the middle pages before handing the notebook back.
Ugh. Really All Might? Now? Look it's nice to give loving fans autographs, but I feel we should get some answers first. Kamui though. Even though he admires All Might like the rest of the world, his tendency to give gifts like that to the fans could be a little inconvenient at times.
Izuku, on the other hand, was overjoyed by this. Oh, he signed it! He screamed in his head while his eyes practically popped out of his head. "Thank you, sir! This will be an heirloom passed down in my family for generations!" The fanboy exclaimed as he bowed his head in respect.
"Okay, Okay, now that we've gotten the usual autographs out of the way, can you tell us what happened here young man?" Kamui asked.
"Yeah, we've all noticed that the monster responsible for all this is nowhere to be found. He didn't just run off. If he did, there'd be way more explosions popping up somewhere else." Slugger said.
"Yes child, I think we should really get an explanation young...?" All Might trailed off, obviously wanting the child's name.
"Oh, I-It's Izuku Midoriya sir." He responded.
"Well, Young Midoriya, did you happen to see where the monster disappeared to?" All Might asked.
Instantly, Izuku recalled the moment when Saitama saved him and Kacchan from certain death. Excitedly he said, "Oh you won't believe this! The monster, Vaccine Man I think he said, was about to blow me and my friend Kacchan up, when suddenly, this bald man in a yellow suit and awesome cape showed up from out of nowhere and took the blast!"
There other heroes were first horrified at how close the boys were to death's door, then shocked that someone could take Vaccine Man's attack head on. They continued to listen.
"Then next, Vaccine Man transformed into this scary looking state with claws, sharp teeth and spikes! But before he could attack, the hero, Saitama is his name, he just blew the monster away in one punch!" He finished while throwing a punch mimicking Saitama's.
The heroes stared in shock when he said the last part. "One punch? How is that possible, these men most likely gave it their all, but from the state we've seen them in, they were beaten down hard. If there was a hero that strong, we would have heard of him." Kamui said skeptically.
"Yeah, if there was a hero strong enough to take out what was a Dragon threat level monster, he would have shown up in the Hero Association's ranks by now. But as far as I know, there's no hero that fits your description." Slugger backed Kamui up.
Izuku looked at them in confusion while All Might thought back to what he said about this Saitama character being bald.
That manager also mentioned a bald man wrecking her shop and the sludge creature. And that blast earlier looked like to same one from that store. Could it really be the same man? He must very powerful if he could take those monsters out in one punch. He thought while rubbing his chin with his finger.
"But I'm telling you, that's what happened! That man is just that strong, I wouldn't make something like this up." Izuku insisted.
"Well look kid, maybe this 'Saitama' guy did take out that monster in one hit, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's as strong as you say. What most likely happened was that Death Arms, Lightning Max, and Smile Man, three KNOWN heroes, weakened this 'Vaccine shot' enough for this 'mystery hero' to take him out." Slugger said.
"In other words, we're dealing with some spandex wearing amateur who finished what real heroes started. An amateur who used his quirk in public, which is strictly forbidden." Kamui said, frustrated with Saitama's apparent lack of respect for the law and other heroes.
All Might heard Kamui and quickly interjected, "Hold on there! It is not against the law to use your quirk in public as long as you're acting in self-defense or protecting another from being harmed."
"Oh, I apologize All Might, I had forgotten." Kamui said in shame. Of course, Kamui wasn't done yet. "But that doesn't explain why that man thought it was okay to show up. From a distance, this was obviously a job to be left up to Pros! A civilian unregistered with the Hero Association can not take it upon themselves to move in on a crime scene. He could have been killed if the other heroes didn't soften the monster up for this Saitama to use his quirk!" Kamui defended his rather unreasonable attitude towards Saitama.
"Look, the point is this Saitama character saved the day! He prevented two innocent boys from dying and stopped that fiend's rampage." All Might said in support of Saitama. "And as for his strength, I can tell you that-" All Might stopped when he realized some small steam was coming from his body. Damn, time's running out. He thought. "Never mind, we'll have to continue this discussion another time. I just remembered I have an appointment with another S-Class." That was the only excuse he could come up with.
Just before he was about to jump away, he turned to Izuku. "Thank you for the information young Midoriya, you were a lot of help. Well, gotta blast!" He said, then jumped away at lightning speed, leaving behind a cloud of dust. Wait, I have a lot of questions for you All Might! Izuku wanted to say while reaching out with his right hand, but it was too late, for All Might was already gone.
"Anyway, what were YOU doing here in the first place boy?" Kamui asked Izuku.
"Well, I wanted to see the fight, but I saw Kacchan was in trouble, so I ran in to save him." He explained.
"You what?! Are you crazy?! You can't play hero like that, that purple freak was going to kill you!" Slugger berated Izuku, who stepped back in surprise.
"That's right, you got lucky this time, but the worst could have happened to you!" Kamui yelled.
Izuku looked at the ground in defeat as the heroes chewed him out. It didn't matter though, he had to find Saitama and find out more about his power and why he isn't a pro.
In a neighborhood at sunset:
Saitama was walking down the street, thinking back at how wrong his grocery day went. Looks like even my shopping, one of the few joys left in my life, is starting to take a turn for the worse. That reminded him of the boy named Izuku. That kid really was brave, he probably wants to help people out, just like a hero would. Like I want to. Saitama thought to himself. Suddenly, he heard fast footsteps behind him.
"Hey, wait up please! I need to talk to you!" A familiar voice called out to him.
Saitama turned around to see Izuku running up to him, then stopped right in front of the bald man while taking quick, heavy breaths. "Oh, hey there, Izuku right?" Saitama greeted.
"Yes sir! I'm glad I found you, all I could do was go in the direction you left and hope you didn't go any other way. I hope you don't mind, but I need to talk to you Mr. Saitama." Izuku said while looking up hopefully at him.
Saitama thought for a moment, then nodded. "Sure, what do you say we talk over some burgers? My treat." He suggested.
"Oh okay, thank you." Izuku straightened up. But before they could go, a loud voice called, "Deku!" Huh? Izuku thought.
It was Kacchan running down the street with a cast around his right arm (The paramedics wanted to get him home, but he ordered them to move out of his way or he would, naturally, blow them to pieces.) Hey, it's that other kid. Saitama thought. "Listen, I don't owe you anything! I would never ask a weakling like you for help. You're just a quirkless failure who won't even cut it as a rent-a-cop! Don't ever look down on me, or else!" He yelled. "Stay out of my way." He angrily said as he walked away. Saitama and Izuku looked at him in surprise, though Saitama also had felt frustrated at the way Kacchan treated Izuku after helping him.
"Uh, sure." Izuku said, though Kacchan couldn't hear him.
"Well, that was pretty ungrateful of him." Saitama told Izuku who turned around to look at him. "I mean, you saved his life, so the least he could say is 'thank you'. I'm all right when people don't thank me, but it was a little frustrating seeing it happen to you."
"Well, don't worry. I'm used to him being that way towards me. I feel good knowing that I saved his life. Even if he doesn't thank me, he can live to see tomorrow and that's good enough for me." Izuku replied. "Oh and by the way…" He bowed to Saitama respectfully, "…thank you for saving both of us. I will always be grateful to you for doing that." Saitama smiled warmly, feeling glad that he was thanked for once for saving someone.
"You're welcome. So, what do you say we go have that bite?" He asked.
"Yes Mr. Saitama!" Izuku answered happily with his own smile.
"Just Saitama will work." Saitama said with a shrug.
"Oh, okay Saitama" Izuku said using Saitama's name just a little more casually.
Outside a MOS Burger Restaurant:
Izuku and Saitama were sitting within the restaurant eating a couple of cheeseburgers with sides of fries and nuggets. Izuku stopped for a second to ask, "So what's your quirk, Saitama? Super strength?" Izuku asked eagerly.
"Actually, I don't have a quirk." Saitama said like it was no big deal.
Izuku was left speechless, clearly confused with Saitama's answer. "No…Quirk? B-But that's impossible! You need a quirk to have that kind of strength and endurance that you showed with that monster." Izuku argued as he put his hands on the table and stood up.
"Normally yeah, but my case is different. I gained my strength by doing 100 push-ups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats and 10 kilometers running every day, and never once used A/C. After a year and a half, I suddenly got super strength, I could run at really high speeds and started blowing monsters away through buildings and knocking villains out cold." He said with a confident smile, expecting Izuku to be in awe.
"That's a complete joke." Izuku said with a blank face. This bland rejection took Saitama by surprise. "I'm sorry, but I can't believe that's how you got your so strong. It's a really simple exercise, no one can gain strength like yours that way." He reasoned. "Could you please stop joking and tell me your quirk?" He pleaded.
Saitama closed his eyes. "Look Izuku, I get why you don't believe me, but I promise I'm not lying to you." He reopened his eyes. That's really all I did. Think about it, some monsters turn the way they are for the stupidest reasons, like spinning around so much that they turn tornadoes. Is it really so out of this world for me to get super strong the way I did?" He asked.
Izuku was taken aback by his reply, then considered. Maybe, I have heard of monsters being born from weirder reasons. He looked at Saitama in the eye, and for some reason, Izuku could see that he was a man that couldn't tell a lie. Even though he had doubts, Izuku decided to take his word for it. "Okay, I guess it's possible." Was his only response. Saitama nodded, knowing this might have been the best he could expect without showing the boy.
"So, what's up with jumping in front of that Piccolo guy? You have to know that was pretty dangerous." He asked.
Izuku looked up from his food, thinking about how to answer. He decided to go with what he was thinking at the time of the fight. "Well, I saw Kacchan lying there helpless, with that monster closing in on him ready to blow him to pieces. I couldn't just stand there and watch him die, I mean I had to do something. But I wasn't really thinking through of what I should have done. I…. I just reacted." He lowered his head.
Saitama looked at him thoughtfully. "I can understand that. Truth is, three years ago I acted exactly how you did when I fought a monster." He said.
Izuku looked up at him in surprise. "Really? W-What happened?" He asked as he leaned forward.
"Well…" Saitama began his explanation.
Flashback:
Saitama was walking down the street having been rejected from another job. He was going home expecting tomorrow to be the same, when suddenly, a mysterious being was on a rampage. Its upper half of his body was that of a humanoid crab, while the rest from the waist down was human. Declaring its name was Crablante, he expressed his intent to kill Saitama, but was surprised when the rejected salaryman revealed that he didn't feel like running away. Crablante decided to spare him because the two of them had the same dead eyes. The monster moved on to look for other prey. As Saitama was walking past a park, he noticed an eight-year old girl cornered by Crablante. She had tears in her eyes and was screaming, "Please someone help!"
"Don't worry little girl, I just want to play!" Crablante said as he was about to strike with his left claw. Suddenly, Saitama jumped in, grabbed and carried her to safety in his arms. "You again?! Get the hell out of here! That little runt called me ugly! Anyone who insults the way I look gets killed!" Crablante exclaimed.
Saitama looked at him in disapproval. "You're really gonna kill a little girl over a little remark like that? Well, let me just say that in this age of declining birth rates, I can't just let you kill a kid." He said when suddenly, Crablante struck him straight in the gut, sending the brave man flying through a bathroom wall. Crablante returned his attention to the little girl but was stopped from attacking when Saitama emerged from the rubble and threw a rock at the monster's head. Both Crablante and the girl looked at him in surprise, then he said, "You know, when I was a boy, I wanted to be a hero who could take down rotten monsters like you in one punch. Not some businessman." Saitama took his tie with his left hand. "But you know what, screw looking for a job! Bring it on!" He challenged. Crablante struck him in the left cheek and sent him crashing into the ground. "Some hero you are! You're pathetic, you quirkless jackass!" He walked up to Saitama to finish him off, but when he struck, Saitama jumped above the strike and wrapped his tie around Crablante's right eye. With all his strength, Saitama pulled out the monster's eye, which also brought all of his organs blasting straight out until the beast fell down dead. Saitama fell to the ground unconscious, causing the little girl to run towards him, desperate for her savior to be okay. Team Water Hose arrived, having followed the trail of dead bodies, only to see Saitama knocked out with the girl pushing on him.
"Little girl, are you okay? What happened here?" Mrs. Izumi asked. The child could only stare with her mouth hanging open, too shocked to say what happened. "Poor girl, she's so traumatized that she can't speak." The Mr. Izumi deduced. "Let's get an ambulance for this gentleman here and find this little one's parents." Mrs. Izumi said. The girl simply looked at Saitama. Thank you! I-I'll never forget this, my hero! She gratefully thought.
The Present:
Izuku looked at him in amazement. "Whoa! So you beat that monster by yourself, even though you're…quirkless?" He asked.
"Yeah, it wasn't easy, and I ended up staying for a week at the hospital, but I came out with a new conviction. I knew that I couldn't beat stronger monsters without dying, so I decided that I had to get stronger to protect people better and be a real hero. So that's when I started my training and three years later, here we are." Saitama said.
That made Izuku wonder about something. "Um Saitama, can I ask you something?"
"Shoot." He said.
"You see, ever since I saw footage of All Might's debut, I wanted to be a hero too. To save people's lives, give them reason to hope and to do a lot of good for society. But then I learned that I was quirkless, so everyone started taunting me, saying that I was useless without a quirk. My mom would always try to comfort me, but I can tell that she doesn't think that I can be a hero. But since you don't have a quirk, and you're powerful, d-do you think that…. that…." He formed tears saying the last part, "that I can be a hero too?" He struggled to finish.
"Sure" Saitama said normally. Izuku looked up in shock, expecting an immediate 'no'.
"As long as you've got the determination and drive, you can make any of your dreams come true kid. If you've got the will to be strong, then you don't need some cheesy power to be a hero." Saitama explained. Izuku's mouth widened at his words, feeling his spirits lift as Saitama told him that his dream was possible. "Truth is Izuku, you're just like me when I was your age. I wanted to be a great hero, but no one expected me to be one because I was born quirkless like you. But on that day with that crab monster, none of what anyone said mattered to me. I knew I was needed, so I jumped in without a care for my life except for the person I was helping, just like a real hero should. Just like you did today." He slurped some soda. "And I don't do this stopping-bad-guys thing for popularity or riches, I do it because I want to, to do good. Doesn't matter to me if people are cheering, booing or don't even notice, as long I get a kick out of what I'm doing, that's all I really care about." He finished.
I-I've never had anyone really believe in me before. Believe in my dream. Izuku thought. He gripped his hands and had tears streaming downs his cheeks, all because he finally had real hope that he could fulfill his life long dream. "Jeez, don't be such a crybaby. If you want, I can walk you through the same training I did, and you can be super strong like me." Saitama suggested both to put an end to Izuku's crying, and because he had something else that he hasn't had in a while: a new purpose. To help Izuku fulfill his dream of being a hero like Saitama has (without the too-strong baggage).
Izuku was astonished by Saitama's offer." You'll-you'll make me your student? Help me be a hero?" He asked, unsure if this was real or not. Saitama smiled and nodded. "If you want Izuku." He replied.
"YES PLEASE!" He jumped up with eagerness and excitement. Then he thought. "Wait. We might need to get my mom's permission though."
"That's actually what I had in mind. Think she'll go for it?" Saitama wondered.
"She might find all of it to be a tough pill to swallow, and then the 'no A/C' part might be a hard sell, but I think she will!" Izuku answered.
"Great, then we're off to you place then." Saitama said. After throwing away their trash, they headed off to Izuku's apartment to begin Izuku's journey towards becoming the world's greatest hero.
Author's note: While meeting Izuku's mom, we'll also see what All Might was up to after leaving. I'll also bring up Blast's status next chapter, and introduce the character that will inherit One For All. Since Izuku will become strong by taking Saitama's path, there's really no point in him getting All Might's Quirk. One more thing, I just found out that this story has the same name as the video game of my hero academia, My Hero One's Justice. I didn't know, honest. So I hope no one minds the title. Till next time!