I'm With you, Forever, The End

by Katsuki-1x

In the world of quirks 90% of the population has a quirk. Scientists believe that soulmates and quirks are somehow linked. Izuku and Katsuki are training at the beach when Izuku finds a fruit. Izuku eats the fruit and gains a power. On the beach the boys save a group of strangers that have washed up on shore. Izuku finds out what is power is and what it is called when the stranger

61. Chapter 61 Lawless

This story has continued on "Archive of our own" Personally I do not like the formatting of posting on this site.

Here is a link to the AO3

I am with you, Forever, The End - Chapter 64 - Katsuki_1x - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]

For those of you that do not want to read it on AO3, I apologize for the slower updates.

Xiao was able to leave the infirmary after a full day's rest, and he was able to pick out his room. His room is located at the end of the hall, between Kazuha's and Albedo's rooms. Across the hallway, Zhongli picked his own room. It's a quiet section of the hallway, away from the more rambunctious pack members.

Meeting the rest of the pack wasn't as stressful as Xiao thought. In a way Shoto was right, the entire pack is chaotic, but while they were clearly excited to meet Xiao, they did respect his boundaries and kept their introductions short.

In Xiao's opinion, Kaminari, Lee, and Naruto are the Chaos trio. They seem to have more energy between the three of them to power a major city. And taking in Kaminari's quirk, Xiao doesn't think he is exaggerating too much. But they were friendly and respected Xiao enough to back off when he was beginning to be overwhelmed.

On the other side, Albedo, Neji, and Kazuha are the quieter ones. In fact for the two days Xiao has been on the ship, he can normally spot Albedo sitting by himself sketching something on board. From the looks of it, and Xiao's own observations the sketches are of the different shenanigans the crew pulls on deck.

Today, Xiao sits by the figurehead, watching Izuku and Katsuki spar, while Aizawa explains the different fighting styles and moves the two are using. Albedo was sitting beside him, sketching the two sparing teens, with matching thrilled grins as they collided in the middle of the scene. Albedo captures the moment they collide while their fists are cocked back, the sparkling embers of Katsuki's quirk about to be ignited, and the crackling lightning around Izuku's fist. It is such a great image Xiao can't help but watch the image come alive with awe.

Albedo clears his throat, so Xiao blushes and looks away to return his attention back to the spar. Willing his embarrassment away and hoping Albedo didn't just catch him staring, his mind switches gears to the ever-vigilant trained weapon he was raised as. He inspects the two sparing teens, looking for holes in their defenses. "Their defenses are remarkable," Xiao mutters quietly.

"Yes, I would agree," Albedo hums.

Xiao looks over to the Alchemist with wide eyes, he was not expecting the reserved teen to actually talk to him. He was only observing the two and didn't realize he spoke loud enough to be heard. Albedo makes eye contact with Xiao, "Sorry, it was not my intention to startle you or anything."

Xiao clears his throat a little embarrassed and unsure of what to do in this situation, so he blushes, "no it's fine, just not used to anyone responding to my mutterings."

Albedo smiles a little at Xiao's awkwardness, "their training is intense. I have watched them spar a few times. They seem to be perfecting their fighting style and incorporating new moves and abilities."

Xiao turns his gaze back to his brother and inspects the spar a little harder. He can see after a few moments that Albedo is right. Katsuki attacks Izuku, targeting weak points and forcing the healer to defend against the explosive blows. It doesn't take long before they switch and Izuku is using the same moves to attack his partner, forcing Katsuki to figure out Izuku's defense. "It is an impressive way to train," Xiao nods impressed.

"It only works if there's a dedicated partnership. Izuku and Katsuki, while they are no doubt adaptable to other fighting styles, they wouldn't be nearly as efficient with another partner." Albedo hums in consideration, "though if they did have to work with other people, I do not believe it would take them very long to adapt and copy the other's fighting style."

Xiao cocks his head curiously, because most of the observations being pointed outcome from a trained eye, "what fighting style do you use?"

Albedo looks at him studiously, "for the most part I am a self-taught swordsman, I use the Favonius Bladework-Weiss style. I am suited more to support my teammates using the art of Khemia."

"Khemia?" Xiao hums, "isn't that an ancient art of alchemy?"

"Yes, the last known master of the art disappeared 500 years ago. She successfully created artificial life," he pauses as he digs through his satchel for a handful of what appears to be dirt, "this is dust, the most basic form of complex life." He closes his eyes to concentrate, taking a few deep breaths he opens them. He slowly opens his hand, and from the dust spouts a flower, "and this is new birth."

As Xiao is stunned silent at the beautiful flower, Albedo digs a small hole in the nearby garden bed. He delicately plants the flower and leans back. Xiao finds his voice, "incredible."

Albedo shrugs, "creating a flower from dust is simple. If I did nothing to the dust, it still would have sprouted, eventually. I still have a long way to go if I am ever going to be considered a master. Khaenri'ah was an underground realm, with precious few natural faunas. So its alchemy focused heavily on the creation of life. They discovered that soil had all the necessary building blocks for complex life. And with alchemy, they were able to stimulate those building blocks to make plants and animals to sustain themselves. Thus the art of Khemia was born."

"I see," Xiao states a bit awkwardly. "What flower did you grow?" Xiao asks

Albedo fiddles with the newly planted flower's petals, "a Cecilia. It's a flower that only grows in a specific area called Starsnatch Cliff."

"That explains why I have never seen it before," Xiao mutters.

Albedo hums and returns his attention to his sketchbook. Seemingly done with his current drawing of the spar, he turns the page. He taps his pencil to his chin as he decides what to draw next. Albedo looks around, searching for something that interests him enough to immortalize it on paper. His eyes fall on the other groups of pack members, doing their own activities or otherwise causing chaos. He dismisses them as he has drawn them already. His teal eyes flit to his conversational partner and his eyes widen. Xiao sits next to him, with a soft look as he gazes at the created flower.

Finding his muse Albedo begins to draw the teen. He studies the teen; he starts with the relaxed posture the teen is sitting with. Xiao's shoulders are tension free and unguarded. Once Albedo has the basic shape of Xiao's body, he works on the teen's face. He starts with Xiao's unguarded and soft expression, capturing the pleasant light in the teen's eyes. Xiao's hair is tucked behind his ear leaving the shorter strands to frame his face. Albedo notices markings around the teen's eyes, and he wonders where Xiao got the makeup, or if maybe they are the markings of his devil fruit. Then he draws Xiao's smile, it's small and barely noticeable, most likely subconscious, but Albedo notices it is real and softens the other teen's face.

Once Xiao realizes he is being sketched his eyes widen and he blushes embarrassed. He hears Albedo grunt, and he is overcome with shame, "sorry for ruining your drawing."

Albedo hums but doesn't stop drawing, after a few moments Albedo looks up, "it's fine. It's finished." Albedo pauses for a moment, "do you want to see it?"

Xiao's blush deepens and he looks up from the flower and nods hesitantly. Albedo passes him the sketchbook and Xiao cradles it in his hands as if the book is the most fragile thing. His eyes widen in awe as they flit across the page to take in every detail. Xiao didn't know he could look like this, soft and content, clean and pure. The sounds of the spar cover up the hitch in his breath, "this is how you see me?" His voice chokes with emotion.

"Yes," Albedo nods. "Do you not like it?"

"NO!" Xiao panics slightly at the hurt he hears in the other teen's voice. He clutches the sketchbook to his chest, in fear that the image will be taken away from him. When he notices Albedo is not about to take his sketchbook back Xiao blushes and releases his hold on the book. "It's nice," Xiao mutters softly.

Albedo hums, "you can have the drawing. If you give back the sketchbook, I can tear it out for you."

Xiao clutches the sketchbook tighter to his chest, his eyes widen with a tinge of disbelief and fear, "you can't."

"Alright, I won't tear it out," Albedo smiles softly. "I can make you a copy of it."

Xiao's eyes shine with the compromise, and he returns the sketchbook, "ok."

After sitting there and watching Albedo draw a copy of the image on a piece of parchment, it is dinner time. Xiao realizes he has sat next to Albedo for most of the day, completely unaware of everything else around him. He didn't notice when Izuku and Katsuki finished their spar, he didn't notice the soft looks his brothers gave him as he watched Albedo draw with intrigue.

Izuku watches Xiao from his spot leaning against the railing with Kacchan. His brother is completely absorbed in the alchemist. Every once in a while, Albedo will engage Xiao in a conversation almost too quiet for Izuku to hear. But Xiao's face is open and intrigued, so Izuku smiles happily that his brother is opening up to the other pack members. He studies their interaction a little more closely, looking for any signs of discomfort coming from either teen. He knows the alchemist prefers solitude, and on the very rare occasions he is on deck with everyone else; he keeps himself apart from everyone, content to draw or write in his notebooks. Sometimes Albedo can be seen sitting with his sister in companionable silence as he draws something on deck. But Izuku realizes this is not the first time Albedo has been comfortable in Xiao's presence.

The first time was when Xiao was first rescued, and Albedo retreated to the med bay. Izuku wasn't sure if it was because he was intrigued by the healing of sea stone poison, or if he was looking for a quiet place where he could draw. Regardless of the reasons, Albedo seemed perfectly content sitting on the couch with his sketchbook. Typically, Albedo sticks to his labs, and he never goes anywhere that is overly crowded unless he has to, and when there is no other choice; Albedo's frame is tense and slightly guarded.

The second time was when Izuku was healing Alatus, halfway through the healing of the Adepti, Albedo popped his head in to check upon them. He didn't stay long that time, but he left with a satisfying aura around him. Izuku was too focused on healing the Adepti that he couldn't dedicate any brainpower to figure out why.

The next time Albedo seemed comfortable in Xiao's presence was when Izuku woke up after healing the Adepti, and Xiao was still peacefully sleeping. Izuku raised an eyebrow at the alchemist's presence. Albedo held out his notebook that must have had his research notes on Sea Stone Poisoning and Devil fruits. However, instead of leaving and allowing Izuku to read the results of the experiments, Albedo sat quietly on the couch and pulled out his sketchbook. Albedo seemed content to just sit there and draw long after Izuku returned his notes. It wasn't until Xiao started to wake up that Albedo retreated to his personal labs.

At first Izuku brushed the interactions off as mere coincidence but now observing the two talking peacefully, Albedo sketching a portrait of Xiao, and their apparently content closeness, Izuku realizes Albedo is intrigued with Xiao. Maybe intrigued is not the right word for it, but Izuku can't deny the sort of magnetic attraction between the two.

Sometime during his observation, a shadow blocks his line of sight to the two whispering teens. Izuku snaps his gaze to address the person blocking his view, only to stare up into the eyes of Itachi. Izuku clears his throat, "Itachi, what can I do for you?"

There is an almost hidden smile on the older Uchiha's face, "there is an Island just on the horizon, we should be making landfall early tomorrow morning."

Izuku nods, "thank you, Itachi."

Itachi bows slightly and walks away without another word, Izuku watches the older man walk away, with a soft look on his face. Sometimes he can't help but worry about the older man. He doesn't seem to interact much with anyone besides his younger brother. And Izuku can feel the longing blooming in the older Uchiha for someone of his own. And while the man has his younger brother and the pack to help with his loneliness, Izuku fears it is not enough. Izuku needs to help Itachi find his soulmate. He has theories about who it is, as with Aizawa's mark, he has seen Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan on someone else's body before he ever went to the elemental nations. But Izuku feels he is missing a piece of the puzzle, neither one of them uses blue fire. So Izuku concludes Itachi most likely has two soulmates. Seeing as Sasuke has two soulmates, Izuku thinks it is common for Uchiha to have multiple soulmates. Though Izuku only knows of one person who uses blue fire, and it worries him. Dabi was involved in the kidnapping of Kacchan, and Izuku doesn't know if he could forgive that. He knows Dabi is also Shoto's brother, and if his visions are to be believed, Dabi switches sides during the Calamity Wars. So he is conflicted, on one hand, Dabi is a criminal. On the other hand, he is Shoto's brother, forced into the life of villainy because of the torturous training from Endeavor. So in a way Dabi is like Xiao, the only difference is Dabi didn't have anything to help him fight off the corruption. He was plagued by his hatred of his father, and the abuse he suffered. So isn't it Izuku's responsibility to at least attempt to try and salvage what he can of Dabi's soul? Maybe deep down the caring boy Dabi was, is still in there, clinging to hope that someone would save him. Maybe his acts of villainy are a desperate cry for attention to finally be heard and to ensure Endeavor is brought to justice.

Before Izuku can fall too deep into his mind, a soothing heat rubs over his mark between his wings. His mind goes blissfully blank as the comforting heat continues and he slumps into Katsuki's hold. Izuku hums in contentment and lets himself be taken from his thoughts.

Katsuki looks down at his relaxed Nerd, "what are you thinking about?"

Izuku blushes, "I think I know who Itachi's soulmates are."

"Oh?" Katsuki pushes, "isn't that a good thing?"

Izuku hums, "I don't know, I know for sure Hawks is one of them…" He pauses for a moment to release a heavy breath, "I've seen Hawks' mark, he bares Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan. But his wings are also on blue fire, I know neither Itachi nor Hawks can use blue fire."

"I see," Katsuki stiffens, "are you sure?"

Izuku looks at him with concern swimming in his eyes, "not 100 percent. But do you know anyone else that uses Blue Fire?"

"No I don't," Katsuki sighs. "But there is no sense in worrying about that right now. Besides, in your vision, he switches sides to protect Icyhot, so there must be some good left in him."

"I guess you are right Kacchan," Izuku smiles slightly at Katsuki.

"I'm always right," Katsuki smirks. The seriousness of their conversation is broken by Izuku's soft chuckles. Katsuki blushes, "didn't you want to talk to Shanks tonight?"

Izuku's eyes brighten, "I almost forgot!"

Katsuki chuckles as Izuku attempts to flail out of his grasp. Katsuki helps his Nerd to a sitting position before he stands up and offers the other teen his hand. Izuku takes his hand with a blinding smile and Katsuki leads him to the conference room to escape the chatter. They spot Shoto and Ace leaning under the trees. Izuku flashes a quick glance at Xiao before his eyes flit to Shoto, "if Xiao starts looking for us let him know we are in the conference room talking to Shanks."

Shoto nods and turns his gaze to watch the older brother, it makes him miss his own older brother. But before he can start longing for a brother who might be dead, he shakes those thoughts out of his head. Knowing Izuku if he caught wind of these thoughts, he would feel guilty he was reunited with a brother he thought dead, while Shoto has not. And while no one could replace Toya in his heart, the feeling of grief lessened over time and with each additional member of the pack. So he steals himself to watch over Izuku's older brother, while Izuku is doing his duties.

Izuku smiles gratefully at Shoto, knowing the stoic teen would watch over his brother just because Izuku asked him to. Shoto is a sweetheart and Izuku vows to himself to knock some sense into Dabi. Izuku doesn't agree with Dabi's choice to expose Endeavor, but he does agree that Endeavor is a piece of garbage and should be punished for everything he has done. He shakes his head of those thoughts and pulls Katsuki to the conference room.

Once seated Izuku turns on his headset, he really wishes he paid attention to Kato's theory about isolating one of the headsets. Alas, the one time his mind was not focused on possible upgrades and tinkering, he was so overwhelmed that his brother is alive. He takes a few breaths to settle himself before he feels confident, he pushed down the hysterical tears bubbling up again.

"Shanks?"

The other end crackles to life as Shanks' worried voice breaks through the headset, "Izuku? What's wrong?"

Izuku smiles softly, his voice must have given something away, and leave it to Shanks to figure out something happened. Izuku shakes his head again, "We are a few hours away from Jaya… I heard from Koala that you, Whitebeard, and Dragon are meeting up in water 7?"

A sigh reaches Izuku's ears, "yes. We intercepted some intel that CP-0 was heading there to confiscate the blueprints to make one of the ancient weapons. If the Marines get their hands on that weapon…" Shanks trails off.

Izuku hums, "the best thing we can do is make sure those blueprints are destroyed. Even if we could use the weapon… it doesn't mean it won't fall into the wrong hands."

Shanks sighs again, "yes that would be the best-case scenario. We are investigating the authenticity of the blueprints, and if they are legit, we are going to convince the shipwright to join us."

Izuku hums and doesn't respond he trusts Shanks' judgment, if Shanks believes he can convince the shipwright to join their cause, then who is Izuku to deny him. Even if the blueprints are destroyed there is no guarantee that the shipwright didn't memorize them.

Shanks' voice breaks him out of his thoughts, "you haven't told me what was wrong yet?"

"Dad," there is a hint of vulnerability in Izuku's voice that Shanks hasn't heard since the boy was seven.

Shanks' breath hitches in concern, while he knows the boys view him as their dad, they never address him as such. "What is it, Izuku? Come on, talk to me?"

"Can we meet? Before we get to Water 7?" Izuku pleads.

Shanks hums, "From Jaya to Water 7, you are looking at close to three days travel time."

Izuku nods even if Shanks can't see it, "If CP-0 is on Water 7 it would not be wise for us to land there. Even lower rank, east blue Marines know Fuji. I bet CP-0 would target us the moment we land. I am pretty sure I also have a tail; he's been following me since Louge town, but he's always on the edge of my range."

"Who?" Shanks' voice hardens into his protective father persona.

"A man of Smoke, definitely Marine. But I do not sense anything hostile from him." Izuku informs.

Shanks hums consideringly on the other end, "probably Smoker. He is probably one of the most trustworthy Marines in the force. It could benefit us to have him catch up to you when we meet."

"Yeah, that is what I sensed. When I saw him a Louge Town I was busy saving a samurai from being executed. The entire thing was staged as a ploy to try and catch me. I was going to speak with the man there but figured it is more interesting to have him chase us." Izuku finishes with a smirk.

Shanks chuckles on the other end, "only you, brat."

There is a lengthy pause and Izuku starts to fidget again. Shanks must pick up on the rattling because he sighs again, "Izuku, why do you want to meet?"

Izuku sighs and rubs his temples, "I want it to be a surprise for mom. A year before you came to Japan, I had an older brother. My biological father told us he died in a training accident, and when my quirk refused to come in, he left us." He pauses for a moment to choke down the emotions wanting to be expressed, "last week I was in the void again. This time I was able to move on my own and there were voices around me, so I followed them. The voices were coming from a figure wrapped in shadows and chained down. As I got closer to the figure the shadows started to claw at me and tried to dig under my skin, but with my determination to save the figure in front of me and Fuji's power, I was able to break my binds. I used Fuji's power to banish the shadows wrapped around the figure. He called me something I haven't heard in over 10 years, not since my older brother disappeared. I healed him as much as I could and apparently, my brother ate The Golden Winged King: Alatus' fruit. The devil fruit materialized in front of me, he recognized Fuji's power and told me where to go to save my brother."

Shanks hums soaking up all the new information, "Where is he?"

"On my ship," Izuku smiles softly. "We rescued him from Nanimonai Island three days ago. Alatus informed me that my brother was enslaved by a being of darkness. The calamity tried to corrupt his soul, and forced him to do truly evil acts. The being of Darkness found out my brother ate a devil Fruit and sealed Sea stone inside him so he couldn't escape. He shredded Alatus' wings so he couldn't fly them away. Alatus told me that Fuji's friend Morax the Geo Archon and the God of Contracts saved Xiao from the being of Darkness and sealed the darkness under Nanimonai Island. For the last 5 years, until three days ago, Morax, his host, and my brother have been fighting the corruption on that island."

Shanks stays silent while Izuku recounts what happened, he can tell there is something weighing on Izuku's mind, something Izuku finds troubling. It doesn't take too much longer for the almost vulnerable voice to break through the speaker, "Shanks, I think my father is the being of Darkness. Why else would he lie about my brother's death and then leave me a few months later?"

"It is possible, but it is not something we can worry about right now." Shanks tries to placate.

"But what if he passed something down to us that makes corrupting us easier?" Izuku internally panics.

"I don't think that will happen," Shanks states. "You are good, Izuku. The purest soul I have ever met. So what if the being of Darkness is your father, he is not you. You are caring, kind, and always willing to help people in need. Maybe the void is something created to Corrupt you and your brother, but you both are strong enough to resist it. And when you are not you can count on us to give you that strength. Just like Katsuki gave you the strength to fight it the first time, and just like you gave your brother the strength to fight against it."

"Shanks," Izuku gasps with tears in his eyes.

"Tell you what, I'll leave CP-0 to Dragon and Whitebeard. Inko and I will sail to Long Ring Long Island. We can catch up; you can introduce me to the new members of your pack. We will have a party and continue the mission the next day." Shanks offers.

Izuku nods again, "we need to restock provisions on Jaya. So we should meet up in 3-4 days."

"We can make it there during that time," Shanks agrees.

"Don't tell mom yet," Izuku pleads. "I want to keep it a surprise."

Shanks laughs, "I can do that, Izuku. I'll see you when you get here."

"Thank you, Dad," Izuku breathes out relieved.

Shanks chuckles again as he bids farewell to Izuku. Izuku turns off his headset and leans into Katsuki's strong form. Katsuki rubs his back lightly heating up his fingers to relieve Izuku of the tension he is feeling. After sitting there for a moment, Izuku lets Katsuki pull him up to lead him back on deck. The smell of food suggests it is close to dinner time, and Izuku's appetite has been erratic at best, so he can't deny that he is starving.

Izuku feels a bundle of nerves rise up in him, tonight is the first time Xiao will be eating with the rest of the crew. For breakfast, Kacchan got them food and brought it down to the infirmary. Izuku doesn't think Xiao ate anything for lunch. He wonders if it is too soon to expose Xiao to the chaotic mess every meal turns into. But as Sanji calls them for dinner, Izuku notices Xiao doesn't hesitate to get up and follow Albedo into the dining area.

Izuku and Katsuki are the last two to enter the dining hall, Izuku smiles as he looks around the room. Shoto, Ace, Sasuke, Kazuha, Neji, and Shinso place themselves between Xiao and the rest of the chaotic packmates. Luffy pouts and Izuku guesses he wanted to spend some time with Xiao, but Usopp and Bennet are quick to distract him and pull him into some sort of game. Kirishima and Kaminari join the game as well to keep Luffy's attention off Xiao. Shikamaru has his fingers tented in thought as his eyes flit between Izuku and Xiao, Izuku smirks waiting for Shikamaru to piece it together. With a sigh of "troublesome", Izuku guesses Shikamaru figured it out.

The food is laid out on the table, lots of meat for the carnivores of the group, Luffy and Kirishima. There are a few nutritious salads spaced out on the table, and numerous sides like steamed veggies, mashed potatoes, and fruits. Izuku also spots a delicious smelling soup, the soup is a light chicken and rice with small bits of soft carrots and celery. Light enough for someone who has eaten nothing but nuts for 5 years, while also being nutritious to help reverse the malnutrition Xiao suffers.

Albedo ladles soup into two bowls, one for himself and he slides the other to Xiao. Xiao's nose scrunches up at the savory scent wafting from the soup, and a small flash of disappointment flashes through his golden eyes. Albedo chuckles warmly and pokes Xiao's puffed-out cheek with the end of his spoon. Xiao's eyes widen at the interaction and his face inflames to a nice tomato red.

Izuku chuckles quietly as he watches Xiao take a couple of hesitant bites, probably to rid himself of the embarrassment. But Albedo pretends he doesn't notice as he continues to engage Xiao in conversation. He pokes Xiao's cheek when he notices the other teen has stopped eating. Izuku chuckles as Xiao doesn't realize he falls for Albedo's trap and begins eating again, the pleased smirk on Albedo's face going unnoticed.

The rest of dinner continues like this, Xiao gets distracted while listening to Albedo, before he gets a poke and continues to eat a couple more bites. Luffy, surprisingly keeps his chaos to a minimum, only stealing food off Kirishima's and Ace's plates when they aren't looking. The other packmates are engaged in light chatter, melding together like a gentle hum. As the night continues, most of the packmates retreat to other areas of the ship. Kazuha, Shoto, and Ace head to the bridge to start the night shift. Itachi and Sasuke head to the crow's nest for their night watch, their eyes are second only to Izuku's own when it comes to seeing at night. Most of the others retreat to their rooms, others like Law, Albedo, and Kato retreat to their personal domains. Izuku flits between the crow's nest and the bridge to check on their route and determine if there are any obstacles in their way.

Xiao retreats to his room after dinner, going unnoticed by the majority of the crew. He told Albedo that he was still exhausted from healing and that he was going to go rest, but the truth is he is not tired, more overwhelmed with all the positive energy he has been exposed to today. Focusing on Albedo helped, the other teen was attentive to Xiao's discomfort and allowed him to retreat with only a small smile.

Xiao spends some time standing in his room, there is a small mirror in the bathroom. He looks at his face, taking in his cat-like eyes, the markings that circle them, the faint scar on his forehead where the sea stone used to be, and his choppy green-black hair. He remembers the image Albedo drew of him, his eyes were soft, his face softened out of its usually stony scowl. Albedo drew him like he was something special. He wants to believe the picture is how Albedo sees him, all he can see is a monster, a weapon pointed at the wielder's enemies. He takes the drawing and slides it into the small metal frame around the mirror. Maybe one day, he can look in the mirror and see himself the same way Albedo drew him.

As he gets ready to go to bed, he stiffly pulls off his clothes. He only spares a quick glance at the numerous scars that litter his body, (like a spiderweb of cracks in fine China) he can't look at them for long, they disgust him. They serve as physical reminders of the suffering and torment he has had to endure. He fingers with the hem of his gloves, he hesitates, these gloves hide his soul mark. His soul mark has always been different, when it first appeared it resembled a sprout of some kind. His mark grew with him, maturing enough to form a bud when he was ten. Sometimes he caught himself running his fingers gently over the sepals that encased the bud like a gentle protective blanket. Before Zhongli saved him, it was his only source of comfort in the darkness. His soul mark proved someone out there still wanted him.

But as time dragged on and the corruption tried harder to ensnare him, the mark changed again. The bud started to wilt, decay, and shrivel. Xiao assumed it was because somehow the mark knew his match would never accept him for the crimes he was forced to commit. So he covered it, and refused to look at the wilted evidence of his soul. As he removes the gloves, his curiosity peaks and he catches himself glancing at the once shriveled soul mark.

His eyes widen, not expecting the new state of his mark. In awe, he traces the healthy stem to the delicate Calyx. The top of the bud is opening slightly, but Xiao knows it is not mature enough to bloom. The tip of the bud shows the Sepals opening to show the Corona inside. Xiao stares and caresses the delicate flower bud with his fingers, shocked because his mark has never done this before. His mark has never been so close to opening. To be honest, he has never heard of a Soul Mark behaving like this, then again, he didn't have anyone to ask, and he doesn't know if Zhongli has one. Even if he knew, this is not something a slave would bring up to their master. It didn't prevent him from doing his duties, so he ignored it.

But now things are different, he is not a slave. He is not forced to sit and endure and fight never-ending battles of corruption and suffering. He has a family now, people who care about him. People who would want to help Xiao, maybe he can find the courage to bring his mark up to his brother. Izuku would at least be fascinated by his mark to help him figure it out, without judging him for having an unusual mark.

He lays down on the comfortable bed that was already in the room he chose, his mind racing with thoughts ranging from unease, and awe. Unease because part of him believes this is all a dream, and he is going to wake up in agony if he goes to sleep. Awe because if by some miracle this is not a dream, then it is real, and he doesn't really know how to process this. There is a warm fuzzy feeling blooming in his chest at the thought.

He looks at his mark again, afraid that if he looks away for too long, the mark will return to the wilted, dying flower bud. His fingers delicately trace the mark over and over again, memorizing its progress. He wonders what flower would bloom, and if he would recognize it. Part of him hopes it would take the form of a Cecilia.

When he finally drifts off to sleep, succumbing to the comfort of his renewed mark, the comfortable bed, and the knowledge that he is not fighting demons or his corruption tonight, he dreams. He dreams of white flowers, beautiful mountains, and sunsets. He dreams of peace.

Morning comes too quickly for Izuku and Katsuki, there is a knock on the door that sounds impatient. Izuku groans as he detaches himself from Katsuki and takes a few lazy moments to get his clothes on. When he feels decent enough, he reluctantly answers the door. The pre-dawn sky is still dark, the horizon shows barely a crack of orange and pink. Itachi fidgets slightly in front of his door, Izuku stifles a yawn and raises an eyebrow at the quiet man. "What can I do for you, Itachi?"

Itachi looks a bit guilty, but he manages to push it down in order to report to Izuku, "we are closing in on the next Island."

"Ah, Thank you Itachi." Izuku nods toward the man. "I'll start waking everyone up then." He watches Itachi go back to the crow's nest to prepare the ship to dock. He gently prods Katsuki awake, chuckling at his sleepy grumbles. It doesn't take too long before Katsuki is grumpily going through his morning routine. He chuckles slightly in amusement at his soulmate's grumpiness and decides to wake the others before he pulls his gremlin of a soulmate back to bed for forced cuddling.

On deck Luffy, Kirishima, Bennet, Denki, and Asui are already preparing the ship to dock, Naruto and Lee arrive to assist them. Izuku makes his way to the bridge to check on the Navigators. Ace, Shoto, Kazuha, Shikamaru and Gaara are already at their stations. Izuku approaches Shoto and Kazuha, "How long until we are at the docks?"

Kazuha hums, "Should be in about 30 minutes."

Izuku hums, "Any problems last night?"

Shoto covers a yawn, "Nope it has been pretty quiet."

Izuku spreads his Haki out over the ocean, the same ship that has been following them is about a day away so he hums and calculates how much time he can afford to spend here. "I think we can afford to spend a few hours docked and let everyone stretch their legs." He mutters out loud, "any longer than that and they will catch up to us before we meet up with Shanks."

Katsuki enters the bridge and interrupts Izuku's muttering thoughts, "we won't let them catch up to us until we meet up with Shanks. They are far enough away that spending a couple of hours on the Island isn't going to make much of a difference."

Shoto makes a confused questioning sound, "Who are you talking about?"

Katsuki sighs, "A marine vessel has been following us since Lougetown."

"Why?" Shoto questions impassively.

Kazuha hums, "My execution was bait to trap Izuku."

Shoto raises an eyebrow, distrust trying to raise in him, but his rational brain pushes the feeling down. "You were being executed as bait?"

Kazuha nods, "I had a deal with Vise Admiral Doberman's son Pincer that for killing his pet I was to be his prisoner for a month with no food or water. Or he would transfer my crimes to the little girl and her mother, so I played along. A week into my sentence I overheard my guards talking about the Demon Wolf and that my sentence was upgraded to execution to lure him out. I was chained to the execution stand for two days while the Marines secured the area waiting for Izuku to show up. Doberman decided to use me to distract Izuku and enclose the area before he could escape."

Izuku glares at the floor, "the Marines didn't realize I could fly, or they forgot. I used my Conquerors on the Marines in the crowd and on the Perimeter, used the chaos to launch onto the execution stand, and cut through Kazuha's chains."

Kazuha chuckles slightly, "the storm broke in that moment and lightning ignited the wooden beams. Izuku used the cover of fire and smoke to transform. By the time the Marines were starting to get up, Izuku took off to the sky."

Izuku nods along, "ever since we left that island, Smoker has been following us. So far, he has been staying at the edge of my range, and I don't sense any malice or corruption in him. I brought this up to Shanks and he knows the marine, so we decided to let him catch up to us when we meet up with Shanks."

"Is that wise?" Ace asks a bit hesitantly.

Izuku shrugs, "It doesn't really matter, Shanks apparently trusts him so we will see. Shanks used to tell us not all marines were corrupt, some actually do want what is best for the civilians. Besides, Sabo mentioned the Marine helped him liberate Alabaster and denied taking the credit for it. So if nothing else he at least has honor."

Katsuki smirks, "It's not like he would try anything with Shanks there."

Izuku nods in agreement, "That being said, it doesn't matter if he catches up to us before then, so we can only spend at most four hours on this island."

Shikamaru approaches, "as far as provisions go, we really only need medical supplies. With the amount of healing we have done since entering the Grandline… our stocks are pretty low. If something happens between now and meeting up with Shanks, we might not be able to do anything."

Izuku hums, "I agree, between Gaara, and Eri's sickness, and healing Alatus and Xiao we have burned through a lot of our consumable medical supplies. The plants that make most of our medicines are not mature enough to be harvested. I will have Chopper, Law, and Barbara get what they need. How are our food stores?"

Gaara hums, "with the current size of the crew we have enough food on board to comfortably last another week. We are low on grains and vitamin-rich fruits, but our meat stores are good thanks to Sanji and Zoro's hunt on Little Garden."

Izuku hums, "we should still get some fresh meat, the meat on board will probably spoil in a week or so. I will have Kato work on making a freezer to put extra meat into to preserve it a bit longer."

Ace hums, "What about a curing room?"

Izuku's eyes brighten, "Shikamaru how many empty cabins do we have?"

"For kitchen use," Shikamaru hums as he considers the layout of the ship and the different storage compartments, and the needs of the different departments. "The ship has 30 storage cabins, 2 are used for medical, though I would like to add at least two more. 2 are used for Kato, and the engineers of the crew, I will have to talk with Kato to see if that is enough for him. We have Albedo's lab, the treasury, the armory, the extra pantry, and the locker room. That leaves us with 19 empty storage cabins, if we give the kitchens 3 extra cabins, we will still be left with plenty of empty space."

"Ok, I will have Kato and Usopp shop for any supplies that would be needed to make the upgrades. A curing room is a perfect solution for preserving not only meat but fruit and vegetables as well. Hopefully, Luffy would stop stealing other people's food if he has access to jerky and other snacks."

Ace chuckles, "I wouldn't count on that, Izuku. Luffy's a bottomless pit."

"Like your one to talk, Matchstick!" Katsuki barks.

"At least I can control myself!" Ace retorts.

Izuku chuckles and holds Katsuki back as Shoto holds back Ace before they can start a brawl in the middle of the bridge, "Either way, a curing room would be a good idea. We could take the cured food when we travel to different islands." He really needs to find some deserted island that Katsuki and Ace can spar on, light hand-to-hand combat is not enough for these two. Izuku thinks with a smile, that they both need to let out some steam, and the restlessness of everything that has happened is not helping. So Izuku plans for them to have some time, maybe when they meet up with Shanks to have a no holds barred spar.

Izuku does the only thing he can to relax his soulmate, he heats his fingers up, wraps them in soothing green-gold flames, and presses them firmly into Katsuki's mark. He moves quickly to catch Katsuki as his knees give out with a startled moan. Once secured he deposits Katsuki's puddle-like form onto the couch where he can use Izuku's legs as a pillow. Putting his hands in soft ash blond locks and turning Katsuki into the likes of a lapdog, Izuku finishes giving out duties to the rest of the crew.

It doesn't take much longer for Itachi to tell him they are finished docking. Izuku nods at the older Uchiha and turns his attention to Katsuki, "Kacchan, we are docked at the Island."

Katsuki grumbles something that sounds whiney and like disapproval. Izuku chuckles as Katsuki tries to snuggle even farther into Izuku's lap. So Izuku tugs firmly on Katsuki's hair, "Come on, Kacchan. The faster we get what we need on this Island the faster we can come back and cuddle." It takes several attempts to pry Katsuki's boneless form off of him. Katsuki makes it even more difficult by nuzzling into Izuku's stomach while rumbling a happy-sounding growl. But eventually, Katsuki pries himself away with a pout.

It takes the sound of an explosion followed by the shaking of the ship to finally get Katsuki moving. He follows Izuku out of the bridge to investigate if they are being attacked. Off the side of the ship is a little girl dressed in a pretty red dress with little four-leaf clovers decorating her hat and belt. She throws a shimmering silver-like ball into the water, and the power released by the explosion is enough to shake their ship dangerously. Katsuki smirks at the clear excitement on the little girl's face and stomps up to her.

"What are you doing, squirt?" Katsuki smirks as he gets the little girl's attention.

For the girl's credit she only looks a little remorseful, "Klee and Dodoco are fish blasting!"

"Fish Blasting?" Katsuki asks amusement in his voice.

The little girl smiles and nods, "Klee is useful, Klee is fish blasting to get food to bring home."

Katsuki assumes the girl doesn't have any money to purchase food from the island's vendors. So he watches the girl pull another intricately made bomb out of her backpack and throw it into the water. Katsuki grimaces as the explosion shakes the ship again. He doesn't really know what to do in this situation but luckily Eri and Izuku are heading for them.

Eri runs to the little girl radiating happiness that she is meeting someone her own age. She stops as she almost collides with the little girl, "I'm Eri!" She greets with a smile.

The little red-dressed girl stops throwing bombs into the ocean and turns to look at Eri, "I'm Klee, and this is Dodoco."

Eri's eyes sparkle in curiosity, "Dodoco?"

"Dodoco is Klee's bestest friend!" Klee explains.

Eri nods understandingly and pulls out her own best friend, "Hi Klee, Dodoco, this is my best friend, Mei. She's from the moon."

Izuku smiles warmly as the two girls engage in conversation with the occasional explosion coming from the water. After a while, Klee stops when a Marine soldier watches her, "Klee hates the uniforms."

Eri moves to crowd the little girl, "What's wrong, Klee?"

"When Klee goes fish blasting the Uniforms put Klee in Solitary Confinement. Mr. Dark Knight has to come to get Klee." Klee curls into herself, "But then Mr. Dark Knight has to spend all his money on Klee, and we can't afford food. So Klee is useful and goes Fish Blasting again."

Izuku hums, and crouches enough to be at eye level with Klee, "Do Klee and Dodoco want to go on an adventure?"

"An adventure?!" Klee exclaims.

Izuku nods, "First we need to go to my ship and get some food, then we can go ask permission from Mr. Dark Knight."

Klee nods, "Ok, Klee and Dodoco would love to go on an adventure."

Izuku smiles, "You are going to need to step back Klee."

Klee looks confused but follows Eri several paces away. The nice Green-haired man starts to shift into a really big wolf. Klee is scared for only a moment because Klee's new friend isn't scared. So Klee grabs the other girl's hand and squeezes a little for comfort. Her new friend cheers excitedly at the appearance of the big wolf and she looks at Klee. "That is my big brother Fuji. He is really nice even though he looks scary."

Klee watches the big wolf as he lays down in the sand, the blond man steps up to the wolf and pets him. Klee has seen people pet the stray dogs around town in sort of the same way. Klee's new friend starts to walk toward the wolf, and Klee wants to stop her, so she doesn't get hurt. But Eri pulls Klee towards the wolf and stops in front of the wolf's giant head. Her new friend puts her small hand on the wolf's nose and smiles sweetly, "Good Morning Fuji, this is Eri's new best friend Klee."

The wolf grumbles out something Klee doesn't understand. The blond smiles, "Fuji said 'it is nice to meet you Spark Pup."

Eri smiles, "Fuji told me that we give nicknames to our precious people, so your nickname from Fuji is Spark-pup." Then she hums, "Eri needs to come up with a nickname too."

Katsuki smiles as he watches Eri comfort the little girl. Soon enough Klee is running her small shaky hands on Fuji's head. Katsuki smiles, "Do you want to ride on him?"

Klee looks shocked, "I can ride on him? Klee has never done that before."

Katsuki nods, "Sure. Fuji can fly."

Klee gasps, all her fear forgotten, "Can Dodoco come too?"

Izuku makes a rumbling sound and Katsuki smiles, "He said Dodoco can come too."

Klee cheers in her excitement and Katsuki smiles fondly at the little girl. He crouches in front of Klee so she can climb up on his back. When Katsuki stands back up, he holds his arms out for Eri to jump in them. Securing both of the little girls Katsuki gives them a warning, "Hold on tight."

Klee doesn't have the time to process the warning, because soon she hears an explosion, and they are launched into the air. She squeals excitedly and tightens her grip on the blond man's neck. They land softly on the wolf's back and the blond man gently puts her down. Klee feels the small flames licking her ankles and she giggles out, "It tickles!"

Eri sits and pulls on Klee's hand, "we have to sit down while riding on Fuji's back, if we don't, we can fall."

Klee nods and sits down next to her new friend. The blond man makes another explosion sound, and Fuji starts to stand. Eri grips Klee's hand tightly stealing the girl's attention, "Kacchan makes explosions with his palms."

Klee's eyes sparkle, "Really that is so cool!"

In only a few short strides the group is making it to the ship, Kacchan turns to the two girls, "Wait here, I am going to get some food for our adventure."

Receiving nods from the two girls, Katsuki leaps off Fuji's back and heads to a small group of people still on deck. Ace and Shoto raise an eyebrow at the sight of Katsuki leaping off Fuji's back. Katsuki grunts that they picked up a stray and if the two of them can watch over the two kids. Receiving nods from them Katsuki continues to the Kitchen. Sanji is sitting at the counter doing a last-minute check of anything he might need to pick up on the island. Katsuki coughs to get his attention, "Sanji, is there any food that is going to spoil within a week?"

Sanji hums, "I have a lot of meat from Little Garden that needs to be cooked soon. Some vegetables that need to be used, and some fruits that maybe can last a few more days. Why?"

Katsuki grunts, "I need as much of the food that you can spare." He explains the situation of the little girl fish blasting because they need the food. While she didn't say she was going hungry, she implied that her guardian spends a lot of his money to get her out of trouble and she feels guilty and continues to fish blast to be useful.

Sanji nods and starts to fill up a sack with food. And he makes a few quick snacks to give to Katsuki for their adventure. He hands over the sacks of food and smiles as Katsuki grunts out a thank you.

Katsuki heads back to the deck and pauses as his nerd is surrounded by packmates. Izuku lays down on his belly as Ace, Shoto, Xiao, and Albedo sit on top of him engaging the two girls. He can hear Eri introducing them to Klee as Shoto supplies the girl with their real names. When Katsuki approaches Fuji Ace and Shoto leap off with fond farewells. Xiao and Albedo continue to sit on Fuji's back, and Katsuki raises an eyebrow.

Xiao looks away almost defiantly, "Eri said you're going on an adventure."

Katsuki nods wondering why Xiao sounds like he is pouting, is it possible Xiao wants to come too but doesn't know how to ask. Katsuki looks at Albedo. Albedo smiles fondly while glancing at Xiao, "There could be dangers on your adventure."

Xiao's eyes flash determinedly, "I will protect you on your adventure."

Katsuki smiles fondly and lets it be, if Xiao wants to come with them on their adventure, then that's fine with Katsuki. Even if Xiao is implying that they would need his protection, Katsuki feels like that is the only way Xiao can convince himself to come along.

Eri pulls on Katsuki's arm, "Guardian wants to make sure nothing happens to Eri, or to Eri's new friends; Klee and Dodoco."

"I see," Katsuki smiles fondly at Eri. "Alright, I suppose an adventure can be dangerous. It's a good thing we can count on Guardian and Bedo-San to protect us."

Eri smiles, "Matchstick and Halfie said they were going to get Melody to fill in for them. Eri asked if they wanted to come, but they have duties to complete. Halfie didn't want to leave until we agreed that Melody can come with."

Katsuki sighs, as Fuji rumbles out amused. "Fine, I suppose we can wait for Melody."

"My apologies," Kazuha whispers as he lands gracefully and silently on Fuji's back. Barely a gust of wind to announce his arrival. "Little Star requested my services."

Katsuki grunts amused, how can one 6-year-old have the strongest members of the pack wrapped around her pinky. "It's fine. We still need to ask Klee's guardian for permission to go on our adventure. So let's go."

Klee cheers again as this time Izuku takes to the sky. Katsuki asks Klee for directions, and she leads him to a small tavern at the edge of the town. Izuku lands outside the establishment and Kazuha and Xiao help Eri and Klee off Fuji's back. Katsuki grabs the back of food and leaps off Fuji's back and waits for Albedo to join him. Izuku shifts back into his human form with a smile, "did you have fun, Klee?"

"Big Brother Fuji is so cool, he's so soft. And it was like swish." Klee animatedly runs around with her arms outstretched and imitating flying sounds and gliding. "That was so much fun!"

Izuku laughs brightly and happily, "I'm glad you had fun, Klee." He holds out a hand and waits for her to grab it. She leads him into the establishment and runs off to a red-haired man.

The Bartender has a panicked look in his eyes as Klee barrels into him. He watches as what looks like a teen with green hair and glowing green eyes follows with a smile on his face. "What can I do for you?"

Izuku flashes green eyes to the bartender, "Are you Klee's guardian?"

The man sighs with a nod, "Yes, my name is Diluc. What has the little terror done now?" The question is asked with fondness and a touch of expecting the worst of a situation.

Izuku smiles, "Nothing too bad, though I think the fish in the ocean might have some complaints."

Diluc sighs and grumbles under his breath, "Fish Blasting, again."

Izuku nods and hums, "is there somewhere we can go that is a little quieter?"

Diluc sighs again, "Charles take over the bar for me." And upon receiving a nod Diluc leads Izuku to a door that leads to the back of the Bar.

Izuku, Xiao, and Katsuki follow the man, the man starts to pull out money to pay them. Izuku waves it off, "I didn't come here for restitution."

"Then why are you here?" Diluc asks confused.

Izuku hums, "I just made port today, and an explosion shook my ship. Imagine my surprise when I came out of the bridge to Investigate and saw a little girl throwing bombs into the ocean. Naturally, I was curious, so I asked what she was doing. She said Klee was being useful by fish blasting. We were having fun until Klee suddenly froze. My little sister asked what was wrong and Klee told us the Uniforms put her in solitary confinement for fish blasting. She also said you have to pay a lot of money to get her out, so she has to continue to fish blast."

Diluc sighs again, "yes that is pretty accurate from a child's point of view." He makes eye contact with Izuku and there is a tired exhausted look of someone trying so hard to provide for his family. "Mock town is a lawless town, well it used to be. About three months ago, a group of Marines came to the island. At first, business slowed because the pirates that frequent this place were cautious. They were wary that the Marines would start arresting people, but the Marines didn't. They extort the businesses on this island under false laws that they can increase taxes because we serve pirates. Whenever Klee is caught Fish blasting, they take 80% of my sales money. Between that, and constantly repairing the tavern from rowdy pirates I am left with barely enough money to support Klee."

Izuku listens with a critical mind, something is not adding up, "How big is the group of Marines?"

Diluc hums, "Only about 8 people, but they are strong. The first time Klee was caught fish blasting, my wife went to the base. I don't know exactly what transpired but she never came back. It was apparent, that some sort of fight that happened, I am unsure if she fell in battle or was captured and taken as a prisoner. I have seen my wife wipe the floor with some of the rowdiest pirates that come through here. It is hard to imagine 8 marines were capable of defeating her."

A rumbling growl echoed in the room, "what does your wife look like?"

"She has choppy, unevenly cut, shoulder-length light blue hair. She has multicolored heterochromatic eyes that fade from a dark purple to a pale yellow. She is a few inches shorter than me." Diluc describes, that he hands Izuku a picture of his wife.

Izuku stares at the picture, "Eula Lawrence." His eyes are glassy and fond.

Diluc glares, "you know my wife?"

Izuku shakes his head, "Yes and no, I have memories of her, but I haven't met her yet."

"What does that mean?" Diluc grunts confused.

Izuku sighs and briefly tells Diluc about his visions from a few months ago, he talks about his memories with her fondly. "In my visions, I save her from a fire. She is alone and searching for someone, but I don't remember who that person is. All I know is we don't find them; she is heartbroken and devastated. But she agrees to help me quell the Calamity saying she needed to make sure I was safe so she can enact her revenge on me for saving her."

Diluc chuckles, "Indeed, that does sound like Eula. She doesn't like being cared for, so every time I do something nice for her, she declares it an unacceptable grievance." There is a small fond smile on his face, "she accepts the gifts easily though, she says they are evidence for when she exacts her revenge." The happy air saddens, "you think she is alive?"

Izuku hums, "It is possible, I do not know what happens before the fire. And I have learned my visions are more of a possibility of what could happen. Me being here might change things so that the fire does not happen. Or me being here is the reason for the fire."

"What do you mean by that?" Diluc ponders.

"Three months ago a war took place on Marine Ford. The war was the Marines against Whitebeard. I recognized Whitebeard, and Marco from my visions and I couldn't leave their survival to chance. By the end of that war, I Killed Akainu because the safety of my packmates required me to do so. We left Marineford and went to the New World where I could get home to Japan. A month ago I left Japan and started my journey in the East Blue, there were people there I needed to convince to join me. When I was at Louge Town an innocent Samurai was to be executed as bait to draw me out so I could be captured. It is possible the Marines that are stationed here are waiting for me to make an appearance. They could do something to the island to draw me out."

"Who exactly are you?" Diluc glares.

"I go by many names, the marines that were present at Marine Ford call me Demon Wolf. But I share my soul with the Wolf God of Life, Fuji. My birth name is Izuku Midoriya." Izuku explains. "It is possible that the Marines corrupted with the Calamity have recognized Fuji and are waiting for me."

"Nerd," Katsuki huffs as he puts the food down on the ground.

Izuku's eyes flash toward Katsuki and nods, "we will send a team to infiltrate the base, and see if we can find Eula. If I'm their target, it would not be wise for me to show up."

"We promised Klee an adventure." Xiao pouts.

Izuku smiles and turns to Diluc, "I promised Klee we would explore together to keep her out of trouble. The Marine that was on the coast may have recognized me. It might be safer to keep Klee around us. Even if the Marine didn't recognize me, we can keep her away from here to keep the marines away from the tavern." Distrust flares Diluc, but before he can start protesting Izuku smiles ferally at him, "8 Marines are nothing to me, they are gonna need to come at me with the full force of the Marines to stand a chance. I would have sunk all of Marine Ford if I didn't need to get my packmate to safety."

Katsuki matches Izuku's smirk with one of his own, "We would feel a force that big, long before they can reach us."

"If something happens, I will protect Klee with my life. If nothing happens, then Klee is out of your hair for the day, and you don't have to worry that she will be taken by the Marines." Izuku smiles warmly.

Diluc seems to be contemplating his options, he has heard stories about the Demon from other pirates and from what he has been able to gather from the papers. But the image painted by the rumor mill portrays a blood-thirsty beast, a ruthless killer. But Diluc is not sensing any of those qualities in this young teen. So he nods and flashes a glare at the boy, "Keep Klee out of trouble." The 'Or else' goes unsaid but heavily implied.

Izuku flashes a smile and a nod towards the man, "of course, she'll be too tired to cause trouble."

Katsuki huffs again, "lets go Nerd!"

Izuku chuckles at Katsuki's impatience, "right Kacchan, Let's grab Klee and Eri and head out!"

Diluc leads them back to the Bar, as he opens the door Izuku can hear the sounds of a fight breaking out. He is about to blow it off when his nose picks up the smell of salt and a tiny amount of blood. He growls out as he smells Eri's distressed scent followed by the anger in Kazuha and Albedo. Izuku flash steps in between his pack members and a pirate. In a blink of an eye and surrounded by restless black-tipped green fire he has a Haki coated feather drawn across the pirate's neck. "Give me one good reason why I should let you live." Waves of conquerors radiate off him, and the patrons of the bar freeze before a wave of calm seems to bubble around them.

Klee's small voice rings out, "Dodoco…"

Eri simmers with rage, "they hurt Dodoco!"

Kazuha sheathes his sword and approaches Izuku calmly, "Little Star was helping Shining Star do her chores so Shining Star can play faster. This pirate grabbed Shining Star's backpack, when she wouldn't let go of the backpack, he pushed her. Shining Star fell and scraped her knees and Dodoco got ripped off her backpack. Little Star tried to get the backpack back and when the pirates taunted her, she used her power."

"SHE KILLED MY FIRST MATE!" the pirate exclaims.

"Yes, that happened." Albedo states with a glare on his face.

Kazuha sighs, "Little Star panicked, and the Pirate tried to cut her down. I got Little Star out of the way, but she has a small cut on her cheek."

Izuku is finding it really hard not to cut this scum's head off his shoulders. His features are shifting, and he knows if he goes full Fuji right now, he is going to destroy the tavern. Somewhere in his rage-clouded mind, he hears Katsuki growling out an apology, clearly knowing Izuku is about to lose it. He still has enough common sense to use his tails and bat the pirate out of the tavern through the wall. He stalks menacingly out of the hole he made, shifting with a growl.

Standing in front of the downed pirate is a spectral version of Fuji, snarling menacingly down at the man. The Man cowers before him, his original plan was to scare the shit out of him and let him live. But the asshole activates his devil fruit in a fit of blind rage and targets Eri and Klee. Izuku loses it and uses his deadly claws to remove the man's head before he can even launch his attack. Izuku growls at the remaining crew members.

Katsuki translates, "Leave or Die."

The crew hesitates for a couple of seconds before they scurry like roaches away from the killer wolf. Izuku stays transformed for a few moments trying to reign in Fuji's presence. It takes Kacchan blasting him with Conquerors for Fuji to settle. Izuku manages to transform back into his human form and walks back into the tavern from the hole he made. "Sorry," he whispers guiltily. He slowly approaches Klee and Eri, afraid he scared the two children. He berates himself that he forced the two to see him in berserk mode.

Eri doesn't let him wallow in self-hatred for long as she approaches the crouched Izuku. She places a hand on his head and smiles, "Fuji protected Eri again."

Izuku chokes on a sob, "Chimichan?" He remembers the cut on her cheek and lights two fingers on green fire. With his hand shaking, he reaches out softly to stroke her cheek over the cut, healing the shallow wound in milliseconds.

Eri smiles affectionately at Izuku as she reaches her hand out to hold his hand. When Eri has secured Izuku's hand she helps him out of his crouched position. She leads him to where Klee is still sobbing while holding onto Dodoco. Klee's knee is scraped pretty badly, so Izuku goes into healing mode. "Klee?"

Klee looks at him with wide tearing eyes, her bottom lip tucked in between her teeth. She is trying to be brave; she saw what Fuji did to the bad man, and while she knows she should be afraid; she isn't. Fuji protected her. Her new friend protected her as well when she fell. And Klee knows her friend panicked because she lost control over her power, Klee knows Eri didn't mean to kill that guy she touched. Not with the way the girl was shaking earlier while looking at her hands in fear. Albedo moved Klee out of the way of the pirate's revenge-filled attack on her friend. Kazuha moved Eri out of the way as well protecting Eri from being cut in half.

Klee doesn't know why the pirates were trying to take her backpack, it doesn't have any treasure in it, except her bombs. Maybe they wanted to play with Dodoco. If that is the case, they could have asked her nicely. She might have even said yes! Now because they didn't ask, Dodoco is injured, his tail barely hanging on. Fuji approaches her and crouches to get closer to her height. His hands reach out to Klee's scratched knee. "Can I heal your wound?"

Klee's lip wobbles, because she is fine, it is Dodoco that needs healing, "What about Dodoco!?"

Izuku smiles sadly, "My healing doesn't work on Dodocos." He stops to think for a moment, "But there is a doctor on my ship that will fix Dodoco up in no time." He has seen Nami fixing up the other girls' clothing from time to time, and she has fixed Luffy's straw hat on a couple of occasions.

"Really?" Klee asks.

Izuku nods seriously, "But Klee needs to get her wound healed so we can take Dodoco to the doctor. Dodoco would be upset if you were injured when he wakes up."

Klee's eyes widen, "ok, Mr. Fuji. Dodoco would be sad if I didn't get healing when it is offered to me." She squeezes her eyes close as the small flame on Izuku's palm hovers over her knee. After only a couple of seconds of warmth Izuku calls out, "Klee I need your other knee."

"Huh?" Klee's eyes open and she inspects her injury. Typically when she falls down her injuries take a few days to heal and start feeling better. This only took a couple of seconds, and her knee doesn't even look like it was wounded in the first place. With determination flaring in her heart she lifts her other knee.

This time she watches the little green flame hovering over her knee. Right in front of her eyes, the scrape stitches themselves closed. It is gone in just a couple of seconds; the minor stinging pain is gone. All that's left of her wound is a slightly pink spot where the new skin has grown. The small flame leaves her skin, "there, all finished." Izuku smiles softly.

Izuku turns to Diluc, "I'm sorry for wrecking your bar, I'll send someone over to do repairs and cover the cost of materials." Then he rubs his neck sheepishly, "Can I take Klee to the ship, I have someone that can fix Dodoco for her?"

Diluc sighs, he saw what the wolf was capable of and while he should be terrified about leaving his daughter with someone so dangerous, he knows the boy only did what he did to protect Klee and her new friend. So with a nod, he states, "If she still wants to go, she may."

Klee's eyes widen happily she thought for sure her father wouldn't let her keep playing with her friends. But she can get Dodoco healed so she nods too, feeling confident that Fuji will protect her and excited that she will be able to fly on Fuji. "Klee wants to go with Fuji."

Izuku smiles, "Alright." This time when he leaves the tavern, he exits through the actual door. Giving himself some room to shift, he shifts with a rumbling growl. He bows his head for the others to get on. Katsuki allows Klee to climb on his back and uses his explosions to blast them to Fuji's back. Kazuha picks up Eri and with a little gust of wind, he leaps onto Fuji. Albedo seems to have a flower-like platform to lift him onto Fuji's back.

Katsuki pops firework-like explosions into Fuji's neck. Fuji spreads his massive wings and lets OFA crackle the air around him. Katsuki smirks because Izuku is just showing off right now, but Klee and Eri have massive, awed expressions on their faces. They also share bright, excited smiles as they cheer happily. When Fuji blasts himself into the air with a powerful downward burst of his wings, Eri and Klee cling to each other with happy squeals.

They are not in the air for long, maybe only 5 minutes before Izuku is starting his descent to their ship. Landing on the shore, Katsuki, Albedo, and Kazuha help Klee and Eri onto the deck. Izuku shifts soundlessly and lands on the deck with a graceful leap. Before Eri and Klee can run off and explore the ship Izuku stops them with a smile. "We should go find Nami, to fix Dodoco."

Klee's pout turns into a frown before she smiles happily that someone can fix Dodoco for her. Eri grabs her hand and leads the group to find Nami. Kazuha smiles fondly, "I think Nami is on the bridge with Shoto."

Eri takes off dragging Klee behind her bursting into the bridge, and almost crashing into Shoto. Izuku chuckles at the happily confused look on Shoto's face. Eri chatters to Shoto a mile a minute so the teen flashes confused eyes towards Izuku. Izuku approaches with an amused grin, "we are looking for Nami."

Shoto nods and moves to the side pointing behind him where Nami is bent over the desk drawing a close-up map of the island. Izuku nods and approaches, making his steps purposely loud, he doesn't want to startle her and have her make a mistake. She lifts her head and blinks owlishly at Izuku, "Captain? What can I do for you?"

Izuku groans at the title, "Nami, you don't have to keep calling me Captain." Nami smirks cheekily and Izuku pouts, it seems like Izuku is not going to be able to get her to stop with the formal title. He shakes his head fondly and flashes a smile at the woman, "Are you busy?"

Nami raises an eyebrow, "that depends."

Izuku smiles, "my friend Dodoco has an injury." He tilts his head to Klee, "and you are the only person that can fix him."

Nami looks at the little girl, she is holding a small cute stuffed animal. And Nami can tell the toy's tail is ripped and the little girl looks so miserable. So she nods and stands up. She makes her way to the little girl and crouches, "Hello, I'm Dr. Nami."

The girl looks up with wide eyes, "I'm Klee." She holds up her toy, "and this is Dodoco." Her voice croaks as she introduces the toy, "he got hurt protecting Klee." She flashes watery eyes at Nami, "can you fix him, Dr. Nami? He is Klee's bestest friend."

Nami smiles gently at Klee and hums, "let me see him?" She makes a show of inspecting the toy, "ah, yes I see." She flashes a grin to Klee, "how about Klee explores the ship for a little while? When you come back Dodoco will be all better."

Klee takes a little convincing from Eri, but soon she is excited to explore the ship and meet new people. Izuku chuckles before he looks over to Shoto, "Shoto can you watch them, I need to assemble a team for something."

Shoto nods and follows the two out of the bridge onto the deck. Izuku makes his way to Kakashi and Aizawa. Both the Adults are watching the two girls running around on deck. Aizawa takes one look at his problem child and sighs exasperatedly, "What kind of trouble are you brewing, Problem Child?"

Izuku's smile is anything but innocent, "there is a marine post here."

Aizawa raises an eyebrow, "isn't this a lawless zone?"

Izuku nods and a fire lights in his eyes as he explains what he learned from Diluc and his own observations on the island. "I think they are waiting for me."

"Makes sense," Kakashi hums. "This seems similar to Logue Town. Using a civilian to bait you."

"What are you going to do?" Aizawa glares.

"Me, nothing." Izuku smirks, "I need a team that can infiltrate the camp and rescue someone." Izuku hums, "I don't know anything about the camp so it would be best for Neji, and Sasuke to be part of the team. Asui has her camouflage so she can sneak in undetected. Diluc said there are about 8 powerful marines stationed here. The woman that was captured is strong enough to take down moderately strong pirate crews. So I think this is a specialized team of Marines, possibly Cipher Pol."

"Like the group that attacked Ace and Luffy?" Aizawa hums.

"Yes, I believe they have been here since the war. The Marines don't know where we fled to after we escaped Marine Ford. Nezumi probably told headquarters we were in the East Blue. I have foiled Vise Admiral Doberman's plans to capture me in Logue Town, so it is only logical that they would be waiting somewhere in the Grandline for me."

"Why not earlier?" Kakashi asks.

Izuku hums, "As you know there are 7 different paths, we could have taken at the start of the Grandline. Chances are they could have been waiting for us on any part of our journey, but I doubt it. If we go off the map Shanks gave us; then Jaya connects to multiple starting paths. So it's likely they'll place groups of Marines on the islands that have multiple paths leading to it."

Katsuki huffs, "I'm surprised they didn't send an admiral here."

Izuku smirks, "Nah, I don't think they would put an admiral here. If anything there is something much more dangerous, they can use."

"What's that, Problem Child?" Aizawa sighs.

Izuku hums, "I have visions of the girl we are rescuing today. But the vision is slightly different than it is playing out right now. When I meet her, the area is surrounded by fire, and she is looking through the wreckage for someone. Probably her family." Izuku glares out into the ocean, "the only thing that can do that much devastation to the island is a Buster Call. I have a feeling the unit that is here is capable of calling one, and they might use it on the island to capture us."

"Do you think they would really go that far?" Aizawa hums.

"Oh definitely, this island is Lawless. All they would have to tell the public is the Island as harboring dangerous criminals. When the Island refused to give up the pirates, they ordered a buster call. It wouldn't be the first time they destroyed an island over a few people. Ohara, Flevance, and Dawn Island, just to name a few. Chances are they will make some excuse to justify their actions." Izuku theorizes.

"So what is your plan?" Kakashi sighs.

Izuku hums, "if they order a Buster Call, there is not enough room on our ship to save everyone. The only option we have is to minimize the damage to the actual village, the people can rebuild if necessary. We can have Gaara and Shoto shield the actual town, all the villagers should stay in the town as well. If this is like Louge Town, then I can only assume I'm their target. The marines at Louge Town didn't try to stop Kacchan from leaving when I told him to round up everyone. Maybe the Marines didn't recognize him. I'll need Itachi to stay on the ship and watch for the attacking fleet. I think Shanks mentioned if they issue a Buster Call, they'll send 10 Marine warships, I'll need Itachi to tell us when they are on the horizon. I'll need Kakashi to watch the other end of the Island just in case they try to come from the other direction. I'll distract the Marines, while the infiltration team frees the prisoners."

Aizawa nods along, "How are you gonna distract the marines?"

"We are gonna go Fish Blasting with Klee," Izuku smirks.

"Fish Blasting?" Aizawa questions.

Katsuki smirks, "Klee throws bombs into the ocean, and then catches the dead fish. Klee calls it Fish Blasting."

Izuku smirks at the terrified look on Aizawa's face, "the Marines capture her every time she is caught Fish Blasting. We are gonna use that as bait to lure the Marines to the other side of the Island. When I sense the Marines coming, we are gonna go to another area and continue Fish Blasting. Basically, we are going to play tag with the Marines, we are gonna keep them busy chasing us. Then when the infiltration team releases the prisoners, we'll meet back up here." Izuku pinches his chin in thought, "my visions are only a possibility of what can happen. If the Marines never catch up to us or see me, they might not order the Buster Call."

"Who is going to be part of the distracting team?" Kakashi wonders.

"Kacchan, Kazuha, Xiao, Albedo, Eri, Klee, and me. I promised Klee we would go on an adventure, so I was going to fly around a little bit to get a birds-eye of the Island and have Kacchan relay the information. If the Marines really are after her, what better place for her to be than with me."

Aizawa hums, "That is logical."

Izuku smiles innocently, "With my observation Haki and normal sensing, I'll know the moment the marines start following us."

Aizawa nods because he knows Izuku's sensing range is by far the best of their crew. His max range is something like 10 miles in all directions, but that far out it is hard to pinpoint separate intents especially if Izuku doesn't know the presence he feels. If for example, Izuku was keeping track of someone he is familiar with like Katsuki his range exceeds that. He knows Izuku was able to pinpoint Katsuki when he was kidnapped the moment AFO teleported him to a new location. From Aizawa's understanding, Katsuki was teleported 30km away which is a little over 18 miles. The Island they are on right now is maybe 5-6 miles in diameter, so it is easy for Izuku to keep track of everyone on the island.

While Eri is excitedly introducing Klee to everyone on board, Izuku and Katsuki round-up Sasuke, Neji, Shinso, Asui, and Naruto to go infiltrate the marine base. He relays his plan to them, and they agree to wait until the Marines leave the base to infiltrate. Izuku hands over the picture Diluc gave them of the woman he believes is still being held captive.

Izuku waits patiently, as his infiltration team starts to gear up. He watches as Eri starts to drag Klee to the bridge to check on Dodoco. Before Eri and Klee reach the bridge Nami arrives on deck with a huge grin on her face. Eri skids to a stop in front of Nami, causing Klee to run into her back and almost toppling them both to the ground. Nami crouches and braces Eri's tiny unstable form from crashing face-first onto the deck. With the disaster averted Eri smiles blindingly at Nami, "Big Sister!"

Nami smiles softly down at the little girls, "I have come to share the news of Dodoco's operation."

Klee's eyes shine with unshed tears, "Is Dodoco going to be ok?"

Nami smiles brilliantly at Klee, "Dodoco's operation was a success. He has made a full recovery!"

Klee's eyes shine brightly, "Really?! Dodoco is really, ok?"

Izuku strolls up to Klee as Nami promises that Dodoco is all better and that if there are any problems Klee can always come back to her. Izuku drops his hand on Klee's head, "you ready to go on our adventure?"

Klee cheers excitedly and starts to pull Eri and Izuku away from Nami. Izuku chuckles and lets himself be dragged to the railing where the rest of the adventure team is. With one last look at the infiltration team and the lookouts, he starts to shift.

Katsuki turned his headset on as soon as Izuku shifted. He helps Klee jump onto Fuji's back, while Kazuha picks up Eri. Xiao and Albedo gracefully land on Fuji's back giving Katsuki a nod when they are settled. Katsuki pops a couple of explosions into Fuji's neck receiving an excited yip as he spreads his wings. With a powerful downward burst of his wings, they are back in the air. Klee squeals her excitement and Eri giggles happily.

Katsuki has to hold onto Klee because the little terror keeps trying to peer off the side of the wolf. Katsuki doesn't want the kid to fall and end up getting hurt. Eri spots this and calls out to her friend, "Klee! When we ride on Brother Fuji's back, we have to follow the rules."

"Rules?" Klee tilts her head in confusion.

Eri nods, her little face morphed into a furiously serious face. "Fuji said if we ride on Fuji's back, we need to be very still. Or we could fall off. We also can not get too close to his wings, because it is dangerous. And rule number 3 is we always have to listen to Kacchan!"

Klee looks down guiltily, she didn't know she was breaking the rules, "Klee's sorry."

Katsuki looks at the squirming girl, "the rules are in place for your safety. It is very dangerous; we don't want you to fall off and get hurt."

Klee's face turns serious, "Ok Kacchan, Klee understands the rules now."

Katsuki grumbles out at hearing another kid calling him Kacchan. But he supposes that is the only name the girl has heard him being addressed by. Maybe he can convince the tiny terror to come up with another nickname for him. He doesn't want too many people calling him Kacchan. A rumbling growl from Izuku notifies Katsuki that they are approaching the Marine Base.

Katsuki hands over Klee to Xiao and Albedo and uses his explosions to get a closer look at the base. He relays that the base is in the woods and is on the coast of the western shore. It looks to be small with only 1 ship in the bay. He cautions that there might be additional ships that he can't see inside the base. He spreads his Haki feeling 6 decently powerful signatures, 2 strong signatures, several weaker signatures, and one powerful but fading signature. He zeros in on the fading signature, they seem like a prisoner, the person has a strong will, and strong spirit, but the person has been weakened by malnutrition and confinement. He believes this is the signature of Diluc's wife Eula. He relays to the infiltration team that this signature is deeper than the other weaker prisoners, possibly from being deeper underground.

Once he relays everything, he can from his Observation Haki, he blasts himself back onto the Nerd's back. He winces as that explosion was a little louder than he intended, and 8 of the signatures are now alert. But after a moment of internal panic, Katsuki smirks. They wanted to get the Marines' attention, well they have it now.

Izuku growls excitedly and increases his speed to the other coast on the northwest side. He lands and growls at Katsuki that he is going to stay in wolf form while he takes Klee fish Blasting.

Katsuki smirks and leaps off Izuku's back with Klee, "we are going to play a little game with the Marines."

Klee looks at him confused, but there is an excited shine in her eyes, "what kind of game?"

Katsuki smirks, "tag."

"Oh… Klee loves tag!" Klee cheers. "Who is it?"

"The Marines are it. But they don't know they are playing. For us to win we need to make as much noise as possible without being captured by the Marines. The nerd is going to stay in his wolf form, so as soon as he senses the Marines are getting closer, we are going to fly away to a new spot." Katsuki explains to the two girls.

Eri ponders, "how do the Marines win?"

"The Marines win if they catch us." Katsuki smiles at Eri. "Or if they recognize Fuji."

"Why is it bad if they recognize Fuji?" Klee asks as she tilts her head.

"Because the Marines are trying to capture him. To make him a weapon to use against anyone that doesn't like the Marines. If they recognize Fuji but can't capture him, they could do something bad to the island." Kazuha explains.

Eri perks up understanding what the adults are not saying, "so we need to protect Fuji?"

"Then why do we want the Marines to chase us?" Klee asks still confused.

Katsuki smiles at the little girl, "we need something in their base, so we are going to distract the marines while the others look for it."

Klee's face is excitedly confused, but she drops her questions in favor of Fish Blasting. "Ok, Klee wants to play tag with the Marines."

Katsuki smiles at Klee, "Ok, the only way we can win is if you listen to me. If I say we need to go, you need to get on Fuji so we can go to the next spot."

Klee nods excitedly and runs to the coast. She rummages in her bag and pulls out a bomb. "Yay! Fish Blasting!" She excitedly cheers as she throws the bomb into the ocean, and it explodes. Izuku watches Klee for a moment before he sniffs the air and throws his observation Haki to cover the island. He focuses on the Marine base, and he doesn't feel any fluctuations in their auras. Izuku growls, perhaps they can't hear the explosions from there?

Izuku grumbles at Katsuki to echo Klee's explosions. Katsuki times his blast with the bombs underwater, Klee looks at him with a star-eyed expression. She cheers loudly at the explosion that comes from Katsuki's hands. Katsuki was expecting something closer to fear from the girl, so he is not too sure what to do in the face of her excitement.

Suddenly, Izuku rises and growls warningly. Katsuki picks up a giggling Klee and leaps onto Fuji's back. Kazuha and Xiao follow with the latter picking up Eri. Izuku trills happily as he flies to the other side of the island.

*** Marine Base,"

Outside the Marine base, Neji crouches with his eyes activated. He listens to the loud distant explosion and keeps a keen eye on the group of people he believes are the Marines Katsuki sensed. There are 6 people grouped together in what appears to be a lounge. The other presences in the building are underground and do not appear phased by the explosion. Farther underneath the Base is a single presence, flickering weakly but defiantly. Somehow, their group is going to need to make it down there and save the person. Neji has Naruto make a few clones and henge them into rats so they can recon the base.

It takes another explosion, louder this time to alert the group inside. Neji watches them scurry around like cockroaches, gathering their weapons and rushing out of the base. Neji waits until the Marines are out of sight before he signals his team to continue the mission. Neji leads the way into the Marine base, using his Byakugan to scout the rooms ahead to make sure all the Marines left the building. The ground floor is empty of marines and prisoners. Neji finds a door that leads downstairs to the prison cells. He signals his team to stop, while he instructs Asui to use her Camouflage to scout ahead.

Asui scouts ahead of the team, her frog abilities and Camouflage allow her to move unnoticed through the hallways. She pauses as the sound of footsteps echoes down the hallway, getting louder with every step. Asui jumps into the rafters waiting for the Guard to get closer, without alerting the man to her presence. Izuku, Shoto, and Katsuki have been helping her train her water Manipulation. At first, she accidentally dehydrated Luffy, she was nervous and ended up pulling a lot of water out of Luffy's rubber body. Luckily, there was no lasting damage to the energetic rubber boy, Izuku prepared for this to happen and had a tub of water close by to rehydrate the other teen. With practice, she was able to stop the blood flow to certain areas of the body.

As the guard slowly approaches her hiding spot, she closes her eyes. Feeling the water that flows through the pipes in the wall, feeling the blood that runs through the guard's veins, she concentrates on the guard. She subtly pulls on the water in the guard, blocking the blood from traveling to the brain. The guard stumbles before he faints to the ground. Asui removes her control on the guard and checks to make sure he is still breathing.

With a nod of satisfaction, she pulls out one of the Paralyzing feathers Izuku gave her. She jabs it in the back of the guard's neck and notifies the others on the comms, "the guard is down."

Neji's soft voice rings from the other end, "Naruto's shadow clones discovered two more guards. One is patrolling a lower level; the other is standing guard outside the target's cell."

Asui hums and activates her camouflage, "I'll move on ahead. I'll leave the release of the prisoners to you."

Neji's voice seems to soften with a touch of worry, "be careful, Tsuyu."

Asui croaks her thanks and mutes the comms, and a soft smile spreads on her face. She understands the worry the Ninjas have; they are trained for stealth and infiltration. They know how bad the situation can be if anything goes wrong. But Asui has been training to be a hero, and while that requires different skills, it is not like she is going in with no training at all. She has trained her stealth in her camouflage mode and so far, only Izuku and Katsuki have been able to find her. Possibly from a mix of wolf enhanced senses and observation Haki. Izuku once told her that her presence flows like water, if he didn't know what to look for his mind would brush her off as a puddle.

She travels using the ceiling, so she doesn't tip off the next guard, she follows the stairs and makes her way through the levels. On the third level, she finds the guard. He seems to be asleep in a chair guarding the stairs to the lowest level. She creeps up behind him slowly, making sure not to displace the air. Once she reaches close enough to use a feather on him, she quickly jabs it into the back of the man's neck. The man stirs in his sleep, and twitches as all his muscles tense slightly before relaxing entirely.

Asui releases a breath of relief when the guard doesn't wake up. Cautiously, she still makes her way silently past him. She quickly makes her way down the stairs; she pauses at the doorway and observes her surroundings. This room is bare, except for the single cage in the middle of the room. A guard stand alert in front of the cage door. His eyes are closed, but she can tell by his breathing that he is alert. She has witnessed Izuku, and Katsuki looks like this when they throw their Haki out. She makes her way to the ceiling and unmutes her comms. "I am at the lowest level. The guard is already alert and spreading his observation of Haki out. I need a distraction."

"I'm sending Naruto's clones down to help you," Neji responds.

Asui sighs relieved and continues to observe from the rafters. It only takes a few moments before she hears the scurrying of mischief of rats. It seems like Naruto has made use of the walls in order to sneak in behind the guard. One of the rats drops his henge and starts to gather Chakra in his palm. The guard turns around to investigate the whirring sound.

"Rasengan!" Clone Naruto smirks as he plants his Rasengan into the guard's stomach.

The Guard is thrown into the opposite wall from the cage. The commotion alerts the prisoner, "Who's there?"

Asui drops from the rafters, jabbing a feather into the side of the Guard's neck. She quickly searches the guard for the keys to the cell, she finds them with a triumphant croak. She approaches the cell and checks for alarms or traps. She doesn't notice anything suspicious, so she unlocks the cell door. Inside the cell is a woman with white-blue hair. The woman is handcuffed in a kneeling position, tethered to the wall and floor. She looks battered and bruised, blood oozing out of what appears to be a head wound. Luckily, Izuku predicted that the woman would be injured and gave Asui a couple of healing feathers. While Asui doesn't think it will be enough to completely heal the woman, it will heal the woman enough to get her to the ship.

The woman's posture is tense, guarded like she is expecting to be hurt. Asui croaks as she clears her throat, "is it ok if I remove the blindfold now?"

The woman's posture stiffens not recognizing the voice in the cell with her, "Who are you?"

Asui smiles softly, even though the woman can't see it, "Tsuyu Asui, I'm a friend."

The woman relaxes slightly, "why are you here?"

Asui hums, "my captain was asked by Klee-Chan's father to rescue you."

"How do you know my daughter?" the woman asks a bit coldly.

"I'm not sure what happened, but my Captain said he got permission from Klee's father to take her on an adventure. Before he left, he assembled a team to rescue you, while he distracts the Marines." Asui briefly explains.

The woman appears to be thinking about her options. Eventually, she nods to herself, "my daughter is safe?"

"Don't worry, once Mido-Chan decides to protect something, nothing short of the apocalypse will stop him." Asui croaks out. Her tone while light and friendly is also stern and serious.

The woman hums consideringly, "Ok, I have no choice but to believe you."

Asui hums, "I am going to approach and remove the blindfold now."

The woman nods and tries to relax. She can feel the fabric of the blindfold loosening as Asui works on untying the knot. Her hair is caught in the knot, and she hisses as a few strands are pulled out of her scalp. Without losing too much hair, the blindfold eventually slips off her face to pool in her lap. She blinks her eyes open attempting to adjust her vision after so long being deprived of light. It takes several moments for the images to clear from indistinguishable blurs of color to shapes she can recognize.

She glances around the cell, there is not much worth observing around her. There is a single flickering light that hangs above her head, an uncomfortable plastic-looking mattress, and a simple toilet bolted to the wall. The girl that removed her blindfold is wearing an all-green tight jumpsuit. The features of her face are reminiscent of a frog, as she has a wide mouth that dips down a little in the middle, and large oval eyes with large black irises. The girl's Hair is dark sea-green, the length reaches past her waist and is tied at the end with a bow of hair. The girl, Asui is crouching in a frog-like way, patiently waiting for the woman to gather her senses.

"I am Eula," the woman identifies.

Asui croaks with a nod, "it's nice to meet you, Eula-San." Asui fiddles with the keys in her hand, "let's removed your chains and get you out of here."

Eula nods and allows the teen to undo her bindings, the cuffs clank to the ground heavily. Eula rubs her wrists to get the blood flowing again, her shoulders hurt from having her arms tied behind her back for so long. She stretches her stiff muscles and carefully tries to rise into a standing position. She fails, as her joints have locked up and her muscles are working against her.

Asui hums and clears her throat with a croak, "Mido-Chan predicted you would be in no shape to move on your own. He is a healer, so he gave me something to help with the pain." She takes one of the green feathers and stabs it in the woman's leg.

"What?!" The lady begins to rage, but before she can fully commit to acting out her rage, she feels a soothing warmth spread through her body. The pain in her locked joints and diminished muscles faded in a matter of seconds. Asui holds out a hand to Eula to assist her in getting up.

Eula hesitates for a moment, but with a huff, she takes the assistance and firmly grabs Asui's hand. Asui helps Eula stand up and drapes Eula's arm around her shoulders. Eula grumbles something about seeking vengeance for the assistance. It takes a while, climbing the stairs is a slow process, but soon enough they are meeting up with Neji, and the rest of their team. Gaara has made a large platform of sand that will carry all the rescued prisoners to the ship for healing and food.

Neji calls over the headset, "The mission is completed, all prisoners are freed, and Eula has been rescued."

The gruff voice of Katsuki grunts from the other end, "any injuries?"

Neji glances at the prisoners, "nothing life-threatening. Eula is suffering from malnutrition, exhaustion, and general weakness."

Asui croaks to add additional information, "I do not know how long she was chained up, but I found her blindfolded and chained in a kneeling position. Her muscles and joints are stiff and weak, she could use some additional healing."

Katsuki hums on the other end, "I'll let the Nerd know, we are heading to the tavern to get Diluc, then we will meet you at the ship." There is a slight pause before Katsuki continues, "Lazy-Sensei, have Sanji start preparing some food. Icy hot, start rounding up the rest of the crew that are still on the Island. The Nerd wants to set sail as soon as possible."

Sounds of affirmation echo through the headset, "There appears to be a fleet of ships heading to the Island from the southside," Kakashi warns.

"Fuck!" Katsuki curses, ignoring Aizawa's reprimand for swearing, "Rin, transform into Isobu and investigate the fleet. Take Matchstick with you. Matchstick, light them up if they are the Marines. Destroy their cannons and disable their ships."

"You got it, Blasty!" There is a smirk in Ace's voice as he responds.

It doesn't take long to reach the ship while traveling on Gaara's sand platform. Law and Barbara work on healing the injured rescued prisoners, while Chopper dresses superficial wounds. Sanji has prepared several large pots of rice, and soup for the prisoners. Sanji, Iruka, Luffy, and Kirishima help dish out bowls of food for the rescuees. A rumbling growl sounds from a short distance away, and the civilians tense in fear as the figure of a giant wolf comes into view.

The wolf hovers above the deck, Katsuki holds onto Klee as he uses his explosions to land safely and softly on the deck. With a gentle breeze, Kazuha lands soundlessly on deck, his hold firm on Eri. In a show of impressive alchemy Albedo creates a flower-like platform, Xiao helps Diluc onto the platform and steadies the man while Albedo slowly drifts to the deck. With a growl the wolf starts to shift, his fire condensing into the shape of a teenage boy.

The teenager has a commanding aura around him as he observes and catalogs everyone on deck. He watches as Law, Barbara, and Chopper runs around on deck offering aid to the injured ex-prisoners. He pulses his healing flames outward to cover everyone on the ship, for a moment, those that do not know about the healing properties of the teen's fire start to panic. One-by-one, everyone starts to relax as they feel their bodies repairing themselves.

Once everyone has been healed, the teen pulls his flames back into himself and clears his throat, "I'm Izuku Midoriya, Captain of the Pack Pirates." The whispers and murmurs blend into a static of fear and panic, Izuku cuts through the tension with a smile. "I have no intentions of keeping anyone here against their wills. Once you are fed and healed you may return to your families and homes."

Klee runs to Diluc, "Mister Dark Knight, this is Eri-Chan."

Diluc smiles down at the two girls, "It is nice to meet you, Eri-Chan."

"Klee taught Eri how to Fish Blast!" Klee cheers excitedly miming explosions. "Eri-Chan is Klee's bestest friend!"

Diluc smiles amused down at Klee, "I thought Dodoco was Klee's bestest friend?"

Klee opens her mouth to respond automatically before she pauses, closes her mouth, and hums in thought. For a second or two she is silent, deep in thought with a concentrated frown on her face. She comes to a decision soon enough and beams at Diluc, "Klee thinks Eri-Chan, and Dodoco can both be Klee's bestest friends!"

A chuckle steals Klee's attention away, her eyes brightening as they land on Eula, "Mom!"

Eula gives the girl a soft smile, as Klee collides with her legs in a tight hug, "I missed you too, Klee."

Klee starts to ramble on the older woman's leg, her tears soaking in Eula's pants. Eula lets the girl ramble and catch her up on everything she missed in her months of captivity. "Klee is sorry!"

"Klee," Eula speaks softly, cutting through the relentless apologies. Klee looks up to the older woman with teary eyes wide, her grip on Eula's leg loosens enough for Eula to drop to her knee so she can hug the girl properly, "Klee has nothing to apologize for. What happened was the consequences of my own actions." Eula wipes the girl's cheeks and smiles at the girl, "Mommy was exacting her revenge on the Marines for daring to take my daughter away."

Klee sniffles and glances at the older woman, "Did mommy get her revenge?"

"Of course, she did," Diluc pats Klee's head.

Eula huffs and grumbles something about still needing to take vengeance on the marines but drops it in favor of holding her daughter. It takes a while for Klee to calm down, but eventually, she releases Eula and smiles blindingly. Klee starts to tell Diluc and Eula about her day, and how they played tag with the marines. She tells them how Kacchan helped make her explosions even bigger. She finishes by imitating how Fuji flies, spreading her arms like a plane and running around her parents.

Diluc and Eula laugh fondly at Klee's excitement. The sound of a throat clearing forces the adults to tense in alert. Diluc recognizes the green-haired teen and relaxes his defensive stance. Eula tenses, faced with an unknown stranger.

Izuku smiles softly and crouches so he is at eye level with Klee, "Hey Sparkler, can I borrow your parents for a moment?"

Klee pouts and looks hesitantly at her parents for a moment, "Can Eri-Chan and Klee explore the ship?"

Diluc hums in thought, "stay where we can keep an eye on you."

Izuku chuckles at Klee's pout, "I think if you ask nicely, Mr. Cook will make you a yummy snack."

Klee's pout disappears and she drags Eri to the kitchens to ask the chef to make her a snack. Izuku smiles fondly at the two little girls and tells Shoto to look after them. Eula shouts out, "no explosions, Klee."

Shoto nods seriously, a determined look on his face. Izuku chuckles, "don't worry about her, she is in good hands with Shoto."

Diluc clears his throat, "thank you, for rescuing my wife, and keeping Klee out of trouble."

Izuku rubs the back of his neck, "actually I didn't rescue Eula. All I did was distract the Marines long enough for a few packmates to free the prisoners. To be honest, we used Klee and Kacchan as bait to lure the Marines away." Izuku senses the rising anger in both the adults, but before they can yell at him, he clarifies, "my observation Haki's range can easily cover the island. If I am in wolf form my range is even more sensitive. We took Klee Fish Blasting to cause a disturbance and force the Marines to leave their base. Klee's explosions were too quiet under the water that the Marines didn't investigate. I had Kacchan make louder explosions to get the Marines's attention. Once I felt the Marines leave the base, we flew away. The Marines never got anywhere near us."

"I see," Diluc mutters his anger dissipating.

"Have you given my proposal any thought?" Izuku asks.

"What proposal?" Eula glares suspiciously.

Izuku takes several minutes to explain his visions to the woman. He also tells her his theory of why she was captured. He believes she was captured in a plot to bait him into revealing himself to the marines. He tells her his original vision of their meeting. "In my vision, you declare vengeance on me for saving you. You agree to help me so that when the calamity is defeated you can have your revenge." Izuku smiles fondly, "I offered Diluc to come with me, you won't need to worry about providing for your family and dealing with the Marines."

"Daring to treat me like some sort of damsel in distress, despite knowing who I am… I'll remember this insult." Eula declares.

Izuku smiles warmly at the woman, "does this mean you'll help me, Eula?"

Eula huffs and crosses her arms over her chest and tilts her chin up, "in order to exact my revenge on you… I need you to live a long and healthy life. It would not do to have the Calamity take my revenge away from me."

Izuku nods gratefully, "Thank you, Eula." He turns to Diluc waiting for his response.

Diluc sighs, "can you promise me no harm will happen to Klee?"

Izuku takes a moment to really consider his response, "we are heading into some very rough times. If you stay here in the Grandline… the majority of your population will perish in the next five years. With the Calamity Wars on the horizon, I can not promise that everyone will survive. I am only one person trying everything I can to save as many people as I can from three different worlds. That being said she has a higher chance of survival under my protection." His eyes flash dangerously, "I have already claimed her, she is mine. I will protect her until my last breath."

Diluc studies the teen intently for any signs of deceit, but he only finds conviction and honesty. Diluc sighs, "I suppose we don't really have a choice. It would be good for Klee to have friends her own age. If Klee wants to stay, we will stay."

Izuku presses a button on his neck, "Shoto, can you bring Klee out to the deck?" He pauses for a moment before he smiles blindingly, "alright, Thank you." He turns his attention to the two adults, "Klee will be out here in a moment."

It doesn't take long for the pitter-patter of tiny feet to run out on deck. Klee runs to her parents with a massive smile on her face, and what appears to be a whip cream mustache. Diluc crouches to catch the giggling child and softly cleans her face with a handkerchief. Klee wiggles and glares adorably trying to get away from the cleaning. Once away from the wipe, she turns her innocent eyes towards Diluc, "Why did Mr. Dark Knight call for Klee?"

Izuku turns his attention away from the family so they can discuss Izuku's proposal. He makes his way over to the railing when Itachi and Sasuke approach him. "Ace and Rin have engaged the fleet," Itachi reports.

"The hot head lit the fleet on fire," Sasuke adds.

"Good," Izuku smirks. "That takes care of the Buster Call threat."

"Wouldn't they just send another, after we leave?" Sasuke reasons.

"It is possible," Izuku hums in thought. "But I don't think they will. They already suspect that I was here. I am sure the survivors of the fleet will recognize Ace. Chances are they will focus their strength on catching us somewhere else."

"If we leave the island soon, they will have no reason to initiate a Buster Call on the island," Itachi theorizes.

"Exactly, once Ace and Rin get back, we will set sail," Izuku declares.

Itachi and Sasuke nod, "most of the ex-prisoners have left. The only ones still here are the little girl's family."

"Yes, they might be joining us," Izuku hums.

Klee sprints to Izuku in her excitement, "Can Klee really stay here? With Fuji, Kacchan, and Eri-Chan?!"

"If that is what you want," Izuku chuckles at the girl's excitement.

"Klee wants to stay!" Klee cheers.

Izuku looks at Diluc and Eula, "alright then. I need to talk to your parents for a moment. Shoto and Eri will help you pick out a room for you and your family." Izuku watches as Klee runs off to join Eri and Shoto, cheering to her new friend that she can stay. Eri matches Klee's excitement and grabs her hand to pull her below deck. Eri promises Klee the room next to hers. Their voices begin to muffle as they head below deck. With a chuckle, Izuku approaches the adults, "is there anything you need to get from your home before we leave?"

"Yes, our weapons, clothing, and other things," Diluc states.

Izuku nods, "alright. Let me give the crew their duties, then Kacchan and I will help you." Receiving nods from the adults, Izuku turns to the packmates on the deck. "Kacchan and I are going to help Diluc, and Eula gets the stuff from their house. I want to set sail as soon as we get back, we need to put some distance between us, and the Island before the Marines can initiate another Buster Call."

Nods and murmurs of agreement sound from the crew as they move to their stations to perform their duties. Izuku transforms into his wolf form and yips at the adults to get on. Katsuki sighs as he translates and with a controlled explosion leaps onto the wolf's back. Eula and Diluc climb onto the wolf and sit near Katsuki.

Izuku takes off heading to the tavern. Diluc and Eula live on the floor above the tavern, so it does not take too long to get there. When he lands, he waits for his passengers to dismount before he shifts. "All our cabins are fully furnished. Each cabin has two bedrooms, a lounge, and a bathroom with a standing shower. There is a freshwater hot bath on the deck, once we get back to the ship, I'll give you the tour."

Without needing to grab furniture, it does not take very long to grab the things they need. Diluc packs a trunk with his clothing and other personal items like books, pictures, etc. He carries a large two-handed sword that seems to whisper to Izuku, he can't make out what the whispers are saying, but there is no denying that this is a powerful sword. The sword has a black cast-iron hilt, a red blade, and what appears to be claw marks scratching the surface. Eula also packs a truck of her things; she blushes slightly as she carefully puts all the 'evidence' she has of Diluc's transgressions into the trunk. A smaller trunk is packed with Klee's belongings. After she is finished packing, she grabs her sword, this sword has the appearance of ice and gives off a faint blue glow along the blade.

With everything packed and outside, Izuku shifts back into Fuji's form. Katsuki helps put the trunks on Fuji's back. Diluc and Eula hold onto them, so they don't fall. When everyone is ready, Izuku takes off carefully, so he doesn't cause the trucks to slide off his back. It doesn't take very long to get back to the ship. Katsuki enlists Luffy's help in grabbing the trunks off Izuku's back so Izuku can shift.

Izuku shifts back into his human form, taking accountability of everyone on board. Ace and Rin have returned sometime after he left to help Diluc and Eula. He spots Klee waiting impatiently by the door that leads below deck. Izuku picks up one of the crates and gestures with his head to follow him. Katsuki picks up the other trunk and follows Izuku below deck.

They follow Eri and Klee to the room Klee chose to house her family. It is at the end of the hallway between Zhongli's room and Eri's room. Izuku places the trunk he was carrying in the lounge and turns towards the adults. "I'll give you the tour after dinner, take the time to situate yourselves and unpack. If you need anything at all, let me know. If we don't have it on the ship, we will pick it up at Water Seven."

"Thank you, Izuku," Diluc responds.

Izuku is about to walk out of the room when he remembers something, "oh before I forget, there is an intercom in every room, so if you're still down here when dinner is ready, we'll let you know." Receiving nods from the two adults Izuku leaves them be. He makes his way onto the deck to make sure everyone is ready to set sail. He approaches Ace first, "Ace, how did the mission go?"

Ace smirks, "the fleet was definitely Marine warships. I lit them on fire, while Rin disabled their rotors. We left the lifeboats intact so if they were smart, they would have retreated."

Izuku smirks, "I wouldn't call the marines smart by any means."

Ace laughs, "true. After all, the marines know what you are capable of… and yet they still only send trash to capture you."

Izuku tries not to chuckle at the expense of the marines, no matter how true Ace's statement is, instead he smirks amused, "To be fair we have been training under Shanks for almost a decade. How could the less experienced Marines even hope to confront us?" Izuku's face turns serious as he checks over Ace, "any injuries?"

Ace smiles softly at Izuku's worry, "Not a scratch on me, or Rin."

"Thank goodness." Izuku slumps relieved. He turns to walk towards the bridge, and Ace follows behind him. He opens the door, finding Nami and Kazuha bent over the map. Izuku approaches, "everything is ready to set sail."

Nami perks her head up, "we can set sail as soon as we have a destination, Captain."

Izuku smiles at the teasing tone and bends over to observe the map. "We are meeting Shanks on Long Island."

Nami hums in concentration as she plots the course, checks, and double-checks the log pose to be sure she is following the right needle. On the upgraded Log pose the left needle is moving chaotically, and the middle needle is pointed slightly to the left and completely still. The right needle is still pointed to the sky. According to the map, she has to follow the middle needle. "Alright, I've got our course set. I managed to get some information from the island. Apparently, there is a phenomenon called the Up Stream, according to the locals it happens once a week."

"Did the locals tell you the last time it happened? Or where?" Izuku ponders.

Nami hums, "I have a general idea of where the upstream occurs. According to legend, the knock-up stream destroyed half the island. I took a look at some antique maps that show the other portion of the island, and they do show another landmass that used to be attached to this island. I think instead of the island sinking… it was actually blasted into the sky."

"That is true," Izuku nods. "If it wasn't blasted into the sky, the log pose wouldn't be pointing to the sky."

"Exactly," Nami's eyes sparkle. Leaning over the map in excitement, "according to older maps…" She draws a faint circle next to Jaya, "this is where the landmass used to be."

"Meaning the knock upstream would most likely be in this area," Kazuha finishes.

Izuku nods along and looks at the route, "our route passes right through this area."

Nami nods, "exactly. There is a way around it… but it will increase our travel time."

"Alright, I'll let Shanks know," Izuku nods in agreement. "There is no way to guarantee the safety of everyone on board if we are unfortunate enough to hit it. There is no telling how big it will be, how long the signs will last, or if we would be fast enough to change course."

Nami nods along, having already considered those possibilities, "We will keep you updated on the route."

Izuku nods, "thank you Nami." Izuku turns to Ace, "set sail."

Ace nods and commands the crew to unfurl the sails and raise the anchor. It doesn't take long before the ship starts to gain speed. Nami shouts directions to Ace to get them on a route that will pass the area the UpStream is theorized to occur. Izuku leaves the bridge and decides to check up on everyone else. Sasuke, Neji, and Shinso are in the crow's nest. Itachi is sitting with Iruka, Aizawa, and Kakashi appearing to be taking a nap. Albedo is diligently writing in his notebook, and iLaw and Xiao sit curiously nearby. Some of the crew are not out on the deck, he can feel Luffy and Kirishima in the training room sparring. Asui is practicing her water manipulation abilities by forcing the water to part before the ship cuts through it. Shikamaru lays in the shade while cloud watching, listening to Naruto ramble about something with a fond look on his face. Gaara and Sabo are practicing with their sand, making little animals prance on deck, while Chopper watches with a star-eyed gaze. The girls, with the exception of Nami, Asui, Eri, and Klee are sitting out in the sun gossiping and drinking fancy drinks made by Sanji. Some of the Ninjas are practicing their Jutsu, Kiba tries to make more than one shadow clone, but the attempts are failures. The additional clones look sickly, pale, and weak, Izuku wishes he knew how to help, but he figures this is something Kiba needs to figure out on his own. Izuku smiles as Akamaru barks his encouragement, renewing the determined spark in Kiba's eyes. Shino has his bugs swarming around, investigating the different energies on board. Izuku believes he is trying to teach his hive to learn about everyone for his future hives, while also getting them used to the different energies while traveling on the Grandline. Lee seems to be teaching Konohamaru different Tai-Jutsu stances, excited to be passing on his knowledge to someone that is equally excited to learn.

Kato, Usopp, and Bennet work on the upgrades for the fridge, freezer, and curing rooms for the kitchen. Izuku will spend some time later when their course is stable to help. He misses drowning out with Kato on a project, emptying his mind of everything except experimenting and creating support items. The itch to tinker is almost overwhelming, but he is excited he has never had to design a fridge, freezer, or curing room. But Izuku pushes down the urge in favor of checking over everyone.

Izuku smiles as he spreads his Haki out sensing everyone's moods, he is not surprised at the rising feelings of curiosity rising in his pack. Usually, he introduces new additions to the Army before they pick out their rooms, but he figured the adults would like to be settled in before he introduces them to the chaos of the pack. Satisfied that everyone is more or less settled in, he makes his way to where he senses Katsuki.

Katsuki is in their cabin, sitting on the couch looking peaceful and relaxed. He cracks an eye open when he hears the cabin door open. Izuku plops down on the couch, just shy of a tackle, and cuddles into Katsuki's side with a dramatic sigh. Katsuki chuckles as he looks at Izuku with fond eyes, "what's wrong, Nerd?"

"I'm tired," Izuku admits with a whine. "Since we entered the Grandline I have not really rested. Between Gaara and Eri getting sick, then the void and finding my brother, and making sure Xiao and Alatus were completely healed… it's been draining, and stressful." His mind has been working almost non-stop for the last two weeks or so, and it is strange that there is nothing for him to worry about. It makes him jittery and paranoid that something bad is going to happen.

Katsuki hums and runs his fingers up Izuku's back, carefully tracing little circles on his soul mark with heated fingers. The tension in Izuku's shoulders and back fade as he releases a shaky breath. Katsuki knows how exhausted his nerd is, it is why he retreated to their cabin. He wanted to force Izuku to hide away with him for a little while, unwind, and cuddle. Izuku basically goes boneless against Katsuki's side, and he can't help but smirk in accomplishment. He pulls out his laptop, careful not to disturb the puddle his soulmate is reduced to. He opens his video collection and clicks on a video playlist he knows is Izuku's favorite.

The sounds of the laptop playing the intro music cause Izuku to tense slightly in alert. But as the familiar sounds register in his brain, he relaxes again. It takes more effort than Izuku is willing to admit, to move his head to watch the video, but he manages to plop his head down into Katsuki's lap instead of his side. Katsuki maneuvers them so they are both comfortable and places the laptop on the coffee table. Their new position is Katsuki laying on the couch, propped up by the armrest, while Izuku lays his head on Katsuki's chest. Izuku's arms are wrapped tightly around Katsuki as he snuggles deeper into Katsuki's chest with a content hum. Katsuki drapes his arms over Izuku's shoulders to continue drawing mindless circles on his back.

Katsuki doesn't know exactly when Izuku's breathing evened out signaling that the nerd has fallen asleep, probably between the second and third video clip. But it doesn't really bother Katsuki, he continues to draw, and run his fingers along Izuku's back, humming contently. He lets the playlist of videos continue as background noise. His hands never stop their mindless doodles, as he slips into his thoughts. It is nice to shut the world away for a little while, he hates when Izuku runs himself into the ground. He hates that Izuku cares so much for everyone, but cares so little about his own health and wellbeing. It has gotten better, at least since the U.S.J. incident and the sports festival.

Izuku has expended so much energy since Panda and the Squirt got sick from Little Garden. Katsuki didn't know what happened when he was knocked unconscious during the avalanche, but it could not have been easy to carry all three of them up a mountain. Not to mention the extreme cold would have prevented Izuku from flying. During the Nerd's recovery, he was pulled into the Void where he witnessed his long-lost brother being ensnared by corruption. Even facing a foe like Wapol should have been cake for Izuku, but Katsuki knew his Nerd was not fighting at his best. His movements were sluggish, and predictable, though Katsuki thinks Wapol never noticed.

During the three days it took to get to Xiao, Izuku was a jittery mess. Constantly on guard, weighed down by guilt, sadness, and impatience. He couldn't allow himself to rest, he would never forgive himself if he rested and caused Xiao to be consumed by madness. So for three days, he paced and planned, muttered, and mumbled, all in an attempt to release the anxiousness building in his heart and mind. When they finally rescued Xiao, Izuku healed not only his brother but Xiao's devil fruit as well. Law helped, and so did Chopper, Albedo, and Barbara but it wasn't enough to keep Izuku from draining himself. When Izuku finally slept after the healing, it was more like passing out from exhaustion. A deep sleep closer to unconsciousness, rather than a night of restful sleep.

Katsuki thinks that up until now, his nerd was unable to process that nothing needed his immediate attention. It is like his overactive, exhausted mind would let him calm down until he was absolutely sure that everyone was safe. But it seems that their fun day exploding innocent fish, and just allowing Izuku to be in wolf form somehow settled his restlessness. Katsuki looks down at what he can see on the nerd's face, and it's peaceful. Izuku's breathing is deep and even, evidence of restful sleep, Katsuki smiles softly and plants a kiss on the top of Izuku's curly hair.

He makes them comfortable, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch to make sure Izuku stays warm and comfortable. With one of his hands, he carefully turns off the light on the end table, shrouding the room in the low light of the setting sun. He relaxes against the cushions of the couch, silently declaring retribution if anyone dares to wake up his Nerd.