"Wait… what?"
Successor? Inheriting his quirk? Numerous questions passed through Izuku's mind as he tried to process what the Number One Hero just said.
"That's right," said Toshinori, pointing at Izuku dramatically as if he was in a sponsor commercial. "I believe you're the one to inherit my power."
"Your… power?" What his idol is talking about is just making him more confused. It was enough to give him a minor migraine.
Toshinori then looked up to the orange sky as if he was following a script to a T and said, "Ever since my debut in Japan, multiple interviews and tabloids have questioned what kind of quirk mine is. Most ask if it is an enhancing quirk but I diverge it by making jokes." He ranked his hair back, flatting the front upper bangs down. "But in reality my quirk was passed down from hero to hero all the way down to me like an Olympic torch. And that quirk is called-"
He swiftly then spread his arms wide open.
" [One for All]!!"
Silence. No sound, not even a pin dropped, was made after the mysticism of All Might's quirk was revealed to the world but with one audience member before him heard the ultimate secret of the new age. Izuku couldn't help but look in awe and try reciting the words of the quirk All Might had revealed as if they were holy words from an ancient but sacred tablet or scroll. " [One… for… All]."
"Yes," Toshinori aimed his view at him, looking more confident for the next thing he was going to say. "And I chose you, young Midoriya, to carry that righteous torch."
That took Izuku off from his amazement. "Wait wait wait, pass it down to me? Does a quirk like that exist? I mean sure people question and debate what kind of quirk All Might's is. Most just chalk it up as a simple enhancement quirk. But there are those who theorize what it really is. Some theorize it is a quirk that allows the person to have total control of the human body. Others say that it was an artificial quirk created by an accidental experiment by chemicals or nuclear explosion. And then there are the outlandish ones such as All Might is actually an alien or demi-god who came down to Earth or a super artificial-intelligent robot built by a mad scientist in some hidden underground lab. But what I think is blah blah blah blah blah-"
Toshinori blankly stared at his soon-to-be-would-be-successor who was muttering so fast the skeletal man thought he was talking in a different tongue from a far-away alien planet or a long forgotten ancient language.
"Midoriya."
"Blah blah blah blah-"
"Midoriya."
"blah blah blah blah blah blah blah-"
"Midoriya."
"blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah-"
"Young Midoriya!"
Jumping out from his muttering spree, Izuku apologized to All Might sheepishly. "S-sorry."
Toshinori just waved it off. "It's all right. But my quirk's ability is actually transferring its power from one person to the other. Starting from the originator, the first user who cultivated [One for All], its power grew when handed down to the next inheritor. That inheritor refines it while saving those who cry out for help. It continues on and on linking the righteous hearts together of the previous users like a crystalline network of power. I'm the current user of [One for All] right now and you, young Midoriya, I choose you to be the next."
"Bu-bu-but why me?" Izuku asked, quickly getting on his feet. "I-i-i mean surely there are other people who're better qualified than I am to inherit your quirk so why me?"
"Tell me," Toshinori said, looking Izuku straight in the eyes. "When that young lady was in trouble, did your body move on its own before you could even think?"
Izuku nodded, remembering his body just moved to save Kacchan from the sludge villain.
"That's why. That's why I chose you. You went straight into danger to save her without noticing it. Most great heroes claim their start to greatness all begin simply by moving without noticing." He answered the first half of his reason and the second half he continued. "That and-" he lifted up the hem of his shirt. The wound that used to look very grotesque is now, while still ugly looking, tolerable to look at even for those who have weak stomachs. "That quirk of yours did wonders. How much it fixed me up I don't know, but I do know someone who can look at it."
He let go. "Your quirk heals this wound of mine where medical science and healing quirks failed to do. I have no doubt in my mind that with yours and [One for All] you'll be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, heroes this planet will ever see. So how about? Do you accept my proposal?"
"Yes!" Izuku yelled, a fierce determined look on his face and the excitement and anxiety rumbling in his belly. To be trained under the greatest of all time is unbelievable. This has to be a dream, even if it is he shouted again while holding down the contents in his stomach. "I accept!"
Toshinori grinned, "No hesitation, nice. Alright then now that's settled, you know where the place called Takoba Municipal Beach Park is, right?"
Izuku nodded, still high on accepting All Might's offer to be his successor.
"Meet me there on Sunday morning, exactly six in the morning. The hard path of becoming the greatest hero awaits!"
A Hero In The Making
Takoba Municipal Beach Park
Takoba Municipal Beach, one of many beaches of Musutafu city. A once beautiful tourist place with a pier and gazebo where people can hang and enjoy.
Once…
And it's where our soon-to-be hero presently is.
It's been a long slow agonizing week for the verdant boy. After accepting All Might's propose of becoming his successor he went straight home only met a jump/hug and a bunch of happy licks to his face from Ranrou who was waiting outside in front of the apartment for him and a bone-crushing hug from his mom who was literally crying a fountain of tears after he open the door dumbly witnessing a literal river stream of tears came out and bends to the direction of the apartment stairs. He double-take when a paper boat was sailing by.
He told her multiple times that he was okay rubbing her back making sure the solace was comforting. Managing to calm down, she gave the son a hard parental stern look, strictly requesting him to make a promise with her of not getting into situations like that ever again. He promised... but he had an odd feeling that wouldn't last anytime soon.
School, one the other hand, was an entirely different case. Multiple students and teachers who saw the news with immense awkwardness that made him look like a sociable person told him they were glad he was okay. Yet some of them won't make eye contact with him, while others quickly scuttle away after he replies he was alright, or both. Knowing they still aren't used to the fact that he, the runt of society, now has a quirk. Izuku doesn't give a second thought to them.
But it does not compare to the awkward tension between him and Kacchan. After the villain incident all school week she ignores him as if he doesn't exist even when the opportunities to insult him show she didn't do anything, just ignore him. Such as when the school bell rang signaling school ended, she'll quickly grab her things and leave the classroom with the two boys who follow her struggle to catch up.
But now that the first school week was over and with much enthusiasm he arrived very early on a warm Sunday morning on the beach All Might told him to be. Wearing a light green tracksuit with a large red heart on the back. Izuku decided to pass the time by doing light stretches as his faithful companion Ranrou, who followed him here, was currently rolling around on a small pile of thrash.
And it wasn't only that pile sitting on the beach. Trash among trash covered almost the entire space of the beach like a small hill range. Various kinds of garbage from the simple trash bags and empty bottles to the questionable things people threw away such as refrigerators and broken down rusty cars and trucks. But it wasn't always like this. Reminiscing the times he would visit here with his mom when he was little. A simple beautiful beach it used to be as he would play around both on the sand and in the water and when it was time to go home a gorgeous sunset would wash the beach with its beautiful hue mixed of red, orange and purple.
But now? It pangs in his heart taking in the unsightly trashy sight.
HONK!! HONK!!
Jumping out of his recollection by the sudden loud sounds of a car horn behind him he turned around and saw a small pick-up truck parked in the much less trash-filled parking lot. All Might, in his small form, got out and closed the front door with one hand as the other hand was holding a… boombox?
Toshinori smiled at the early green bird, approaching him. "Morning, Young Midoriya, nice to see you here exactly on time."
Izuku sheepishly scratches the back of his head. "Actually I got so excited about training under you, I couldn't wait any longer so I came here early instead."
Toshinori chuckled at his eagerness. "Can't blame you. I, too, am excited to train the next successor of [One for All] to uphold peace and justice in today's society."
"Now then," he excitedly clapped his hands together, putting the boombox down beforehand, "The reason why I choose this place is that it will be your training ground to inherit my quirk."
Izuku, puzzled, asked, "Why? I thought you're going to pass it to me right now?"
"Hold your horses." Toshinori said, holding his hand up. "There are two reasons why I chose this place for you to train. One, if I give you [One for All] right off the bat you'll blow your limbs off with its immense power."
"Re-really," said a slightly shaken Izuku horrified at the revelation, the thought of his body exploding in a very graphic and very gorey manner played in his mind.
"Really," said a grave Toshinori as he examined Izuku's stature of one hundred and seventy-two. "Despite your body, somewhat, in good shape it's not the ideal vessel to hold the quirk. With the odd exception of me, the predecessors before us trained their bodies for the bare minimum of accepting the quirk due to how chaotic the country was in their time. When they used [One for All] for the first time parts of their bodies were injured. From the second user, after accepting from the first, the originator, simply had his finger mangled to the seventh, my predecessor and mentor, who had to be bed-ridden for months for her body to heal. Following that thread, if I hand [One for All] to you right now you'll die."
"Which leads me to reason two why I chose this place." He picked up the boombox as he walked to the beach before stopping and turned around facing Izuku, who played at the explanation and slightly had second thoughts about this, as the sun rising behind him gave him a radiant and noble look. "Before I came to this city I looked up locations I might visit when I'm off-duty to enjoy myself before I returned to Tokyo when I came across this area."
He lifted his arm to the side. "This section of the beach has been like this for many years. Trash from the sea washed up here with nobody cleaning it up causing people to leave their own garbage here as well. So I figure why not train you by cleaning up this beach. Hitting two birds with one stone as they say."
He walked up to Izuku before putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Today's heroes would rather do flashy rescues and gain victory over villains but doing mundane tasks such as this can also be heroic. So are you ready to not only bring back the beauty of this beach but take the first step of becoming a hero, Midoriya?"
Izuku steadfastly smiled, a burning gleam in his eyes. Those thoughts dashed moments ago. "I'm ready to take the first step of not just becoming a hero but the greatest there is."
Toshinori smiled in return. "That's the answer I'm waiting to hear. Alrighty, for this to go smoothly I've devised a training regime I called-" He reached behind his back and pulled out a neatly short stack of papers. "The American Dream Plan."
"The… American Dream Plan?"
"That's right, why the name you ask? Because just like those American movies in the ninety-eighties we're going to push it to the limit with this."
He waved the papers. "This plan will help your body develop into a usable vessel for handling [One for All]. It charts out everything for this regimen. From exercising, to dieting and even how many hours of sleep you need."
Izuku bewildered at the training plan, then pointed at the boombox. "And that?"
Toshinori lifted the portable music device. "This? Well if we're going to train with our hearts on fire we might as well play some music to keep it burning bright. There's a cassette tape inside consisting of a mix of music I personally choose. In my younger years I listened to this personal mix of mine when training for and with [One for All]."
Izuku blinked, unaware of the small piece of info of his idol's life, well his hero life really. "I… did not know that."
The blonde nodded, a nostalgia filled smile spread across his face. "Yup, all the way back to college in California in fact. Now let's get down to-" He then felt a small tug on his pants making him look down surprised at seeing a dog, a Sanshu Inu, looking at him questionably as if he was trying to deem him as a friend or not.
"Oh, well hello there boy and who you might be?"
"That's Ranrou." He turned, seeing young Midoriya kneeling down, patting his knees which the dog now identified as Ranrou ran up to Izuku and hugging him, licking his face causing Izuku to happily laugh.
Toshinori smiled from the interaction of Man and their best friend. "Really, how long did you have him?"
"Two years," said Izuku, getting up and Ranrou approaching Toshinori, his tail wagging.
Toshinori got down, putting the boombox on the ground and laid out his hand which Ranrou curiously looked at sniffing it cautiously before happily nuzzling and licking the palm. The Number One Hero became giddy with happiness that the dog accepted him as a friend.
"How did you meet this good boy?" He said, now ruffulling the canine's stroming gray fur.
"Actually." He saw Izuku grab his arm rubbing the limb uncomfortably. "I found him on the street severely hurt and bleeding. I try to save him but I-"
Ranrou, as if he was sensing the boy's discomfort, turned and walked to him. Doing a circle around Izuku before nuzzling his leg.
Izuku beamed, got down on his knees and hugged his dog who in turn hugged him back as much as a dog could. "I tried to think of something to save him but I got so scared that I didn't notice my body started moving, taking in breaths and that's when-" He closed his eyes and breathed.
Just like before, Toshinori saw the golden light with small sparks around the young lad and his dog.
Izuku opened his eyes, having an intense look in them. "That's when my quirk came out and-" He ruffled the dog's fur. "I was able to save Ranrou thanks to it and after that I got my quirk register and unofficially adopted Ranrou?"
Despite the uplifting story Toshinori couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow. "Unofficially?"
Izuku scratched behind his neck. "I live in an apartment building and one of its rules is no pets allowed. So Ranrou lived nearby and I, mostly my mom, took care of him with the basic care for a dog and checkups if we had enough money but he's generally in good health."
"Well that just proves to me that I've made the right decision of making you my successor. To even save an animal's life is a heroic thing to do, even in the eyes of those who view it less of a heroic act beneath them," said Toshinori.
"Th-thank you," Izuku squeaked, blushing hard at his favorite hero's praise.
"Now then," All Might lifted up the boombox. "You're ready for the first step of becoming a hero?"
"Yes!"
Now if something involves her son in any way from being the central involvement to the smallest link one would call Inko Midoriya a distressed worrywart. And she wouldn't deny it. Who wouldn't be when your son, your only child, always returns home from somewhere on a Sunday night and hours after school all exhausted and sweating.
It's been like this for weeks now ever since he came home with a training plan that supposedly will help him get into the UA University. Wanting to make sure if it wasn't a scam of sorts, she diligently and carefully checks the plan, mesmerizing every single detail. Training, dieting, sleeping? The whole thing was too much for her. When she asked him how he got this he avoided eye contact and stammered told her that a personal trainer who has personal connections to All Might, of all people, saw him in a news report clip posted on the internet of the incident with that villain and said he was impressed with him that he offered to train him until the entrance exam.
Now at that point she would have kept asking him questions until he brought up the incident. Remembering watching the news of how her baby boy got tangled with that terrifying villain, Inko was scared to death when a hero answered the reporter's question of why her baby boy rushed in. She listened intently of how he saved a girl away from the villain who, to her pure astonishment, was Katsumi, knowing both of them stopped being friends since Izuku was diagnosed as quirkless. She wasn't delusional nor couldn't deny it but even after the diagnosis and her sobbing saying sorry after he asked her if he could be a hero, something she deeply regretted, Izuku still wanted to be a hero and that day solidified it.
...well solidified even further when he showed her that being his… quirk when he barged back home soaking wet from the rain with a joyous face along with carrying an equally soaking dog which in turn made her recall that moment years ago of the talk with her.
"Be strong Inko. Not just for you but for him. He'll need you."
She loved her son but she never gave any support to his dream. Not when he needed to hear her say yes if he can still be a hero nor when he got [Hamon].
But that's going to change today.
Taking a hold of herself with a calming breath she informs him she'll agree to this American Dream Plan and support him but on the condition he'll call her whenever he goes to train with this trainer who has connections to All Might, which she is still highly skeptical about and wants to meet this person on a later date. He nodded with a brighten look that reminded her of him
'Oh Hiashi, he's just like you. In more ways than I realize.'
She grimaced as she saw her son walk out the door to train with the personal trainer. The similarities between father and son were becoming more and more apparent to her.
'And that just makes me worry even more.'
The freckled boy grunted with each painful step as he was currently carrying a refrigerator on his slanted back, carefully trying not to drop it with each step he took. Sweat poured down his face and dripped off like a light rain. All Might's truck to load the refrigerator in is only a few feet away but to Izuku it looked like it was miles away from him. Slowly and with caution he trudged towards the pick-up holding the fridge tightly as much as his sweaty, slippery hands could grip. Feeling he had a good enough grip he turned his pace briskly. Finally coming to a stop, much to his relief, he now stood in front of the open bed. Flattening his fingers, He turned around and steadily pushed the appliance off his back and placed it onto the bed.
Splaying his arms across the tailgate, Izuku panted hard with his eyes closed and bent wobble like gelatin knees almost touching the ground before straightening himself up with a few pops coming off of his back giving him some form of relief. As he was about to head back and grab the next discarded heavy appliance from the trash pile, he was brought to a halt when the voice of All Might announced.
"That's enough, young Midoriya. Take three."
And just like that he dropped to his knees on the sandy ground, his arms went limp from the constant hours, morning to night, carrying many pieces of garbage. The sea breeze gave him a form of cool comfort as Izuku took in harsh, short breaths. Then a pair of hands linked under his arms and hoisted him up then set him down on the tailgate of the trunk.
"Here, drink this." He opened his eyes hearing All Might's voice seeing his mentor's personal protein shake in front of him. He mumbled a 'thank you' before taking the shake and guzzling it down too fast, causing him to set off a fit of harsh coughs.
"Take it easy young Midoriya. You need to rest properly or else you'll start to become stagnant in your training."
Managing to let out a 'sorry' before the coughing subsided, following him taking a steady set of breaths afterwards. Golden sparks of his [Hamon] danced around him, relieving the aching pain of his body and replacing it with a pleasant soothing feeling. Once the pain was completely gone Izuku gradually drank the sake, carefully this time.
While he was enjoying the sweet drink Toshinori took a seat on the tailgate beside him going through the American Dream Plan, which was soon altered and adjusted after young Midoriya informed him he works part-time, checking the set schedule.
'As of right now we're at a good pace, if not, a little ahead of schedule.' He glanced at his soon-to-be successor petting his dog who woke up from a nap underneath the truck. His lips curved upward at their interaction before going back to the plan. 'Really fortunate I met young Midoriya this soon or else I have to make him power through the whole regime if I met him, say, ten or eleven months before UA's entrance exam just for the bare minimum of his body accepting [One for All]. Glad that didn't happen or else he'll break a portion of his body for even attempting to use its power or worse.'
He shuddered at the self implication when he caught sight of his young protege who seemed to be deep in thought. "Is there something the matter, young Midoriya?"
Shaken off from his thoughts, Izuku put his hand behind the back of his head sheepishly. "It's nothing. It's just..." He looked uneasy at All Might's abdomen. "...how's the wound?"
Toshinori sighed, he was anticipating when the condition of his wound would be brought up so he set the training plan beside him and answered. "Well I checked it out to a friend of mine and from what she told me much of my diaphragm is somewhat restored along with most of the injuries I've acquired throughout my hero life healed but my stomach is still completely gone. She also informed me to use [One for All] for a test run to check the duration until I couldn't use it any longer." He looked at his hand, closing and opening it repeatedly. "And from what we found out is I can use [One for All] for four months before the time limit runs out then what it used to be which was three hours."
He looked at Izuku with a grateful smile. "And it's all thanks to you and your quirk young Midoriya."
"But..." Izuku said with a look of uncertainty and doubt. "... but why keep on training me? If anything I can just use my [Hamon] to completely heal you and then you can continue your hero career so there's no point of-"
Toshinori lightly smacked his protégé's head with the plan, silencing him. "Hey hey hey, where's this crazy talk coming from? Are you still feeling doubtful about this? Where's that burning spirit all those weeks ago when you accepted to be the ninth user of [One for All]?"
Izuku tried to rebuttal again, "But-"
Toshinori cut him off. "But nothing. There's many things that All Might is and selfishness is not one of them. I could have asked you to heal my body to the point that I can handle the full power of [One for All] just like in my prime. But instead I chose you to carry the torch because it's not only your eyes but..." He poked Izuku's chest directly right where his heart was. "...your dream, your heart, your very spirit just screams hero and not just any hero but one who puts a smile on their face like a lone star shining bright in the darkness that brings hope to the people. That's why I chose you to be my successor instead of asking you to heal me fully. Because you, my boy, have what it takes to be the greatest hero of them all."
Tearing up a bit at the hero's words of inspiration. Whatever doubts still linger is now banished; Izuku sent All Might a slight wavering smile filled with gratitude as the great hero saw the bright fire in his eyes. "Thanks All Might. That really means a lot."
Toshinori smiled back before checking his watch to see how much time had passed.
'Only ten minutes. That took too long.'
He then patted Izuku's shoulder, who had just finished drinking the rest of the protein shake to get his attention.
"Time's up young Midoriya, let's resume your training." He then pointed towards a small hill of garbage. "You see those microwaves over there?"
Izuku nodded, putting the empty bottle in a small plastic bag.
"Carry them on your shoulders two at a time, hop to it."
Izuku nodded again with vigorous energy. "Right!"
He jumped off the tailgate and to the small appliances as Toshinori brought up the boombox off the ground and into his lap trying to figure out which song to play next to heighten the motivated ambience that had now settled in.
"All Might."
Perking up, he saw Young Midoriya carrying the two after mentioning microwaves on his shoulders.
"What is it, my boy?"
"Ummm…," Momentarily forgetting what he was going to say thanks to the microwaves almost slipping out from his grasp before quickly regaining them with the steadiness of his hands he resumed talking once he remembered what he was going to say. "Besides me and this friend of yours, who else knows [One For All]'s existence?"
"Not many," he answered, "less than a handful. These people are the only ones, beside you of course, who know the true identity and origin of my quirk and they have my utmost trust of keeping its existence from the public. You'll eventually meet them later on once I inform them of your status as my successor."
'If I tell them that is.' Damn his anxiety jitters.
"Does that include your former sidekick Sir Nighteye?"
He automatically winced. Not expecting to hear the name of his first and only sidekick for a long time. "You know of him?"
Not noticing the wincing Izuku excitedly replied, "Uh-huh, he was your sidekick in your Silver Age days. He was the brain to your brawn. And his quirk, [Foresight], is a really awesome quirk that can look into the future to predict what will happen next so you can know what to do and swoop in to save the day."
"Alright, calm down you fanboy," said Toshinori, stopping the excited boy before he did one of his mumble sprees he was already accustomed to but didn't want to lose track of. "Yes, he too knows of its existence. I made him aware of it after being employed in my agency knowing my trust in him is not misguided once I revealed it to him."
Izuku loaded the microwaves on the truck before "So why didn't you-"
"Make him my successor?" Toshinori said, "Well this was way back before my climatic fight against the one who left me in this state. I was also in my prime so the very thought of having a successor to bear [One For All] didn't even cross my mind. But after the fight we…" He looked away, his expression filled with shame and regret, "...had an argument. He wanted me to retire and find the next successor to the quirk but I needed to keep going as the Symbol of Peace or else a new villain similar to the one who did this to me might pop up. The argument led to our partnership dissolved and him forming an agency of his own."
He then directed Izuku to a pile of short logs after all the microwaves were on the truck and instructed him to carry as much as he could which Izuku did but he was more focused on All Might's words.
He continued. "As for the reason for not choosing him. Like I said this was way back. Nighteye's body, impressive in its own right, was not the right body type for [One For All]. And.." he then had a red shade of embarrassment. "...it's extremely awkward if I just call him out of the blue just to see if he wants to be my successor after so many years of not contacting him."
"But despite all of that," he looked up into the cloudy sky, slightly grinning proudly. "I'm glad he made it on his own as a successful pro-hero, even forming an excellent agency of his own. I had an uneasy notion that he'll fall into obscurity after not being labeled as 'All Might's sidekick' anymore. Fortunately that notion was dash."
As he was about to go down memory lane he then saw young Midoriya stopped halfway through, his face obscured by the many logs he carried but Toshinori could tell he was enthralled at the small bit of his life. Slightly narrowing his eyes in annoyance at the stop progress, Toshinori hollers at him, "Hey! Why are you just standing there? Come on! Move it, move it, move it!"
That got Izuku moving as he jolted and then moved hastily to the truck trying not to drop the logs. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."
"Never stop young Midoriya. The path to being a hero will be difficult. But never doubt yourself and give it your all!"