One For All: First Man!
"Hello." - Dialogue
"I am here!" - All Might/Special Character Speaking
"Detroit Smash!" - Special/Signature Move
What's happening?- Character Thinking
"Izuku!"- Phone call/Flashback Dialogue
Random Location – Random Time…– Time and Place
Chapter 9: The Truth Behind Real Heroes – Hisashi Tells All!
AN: Hey! A chapter so soon? Yes. I worked on this chapter as soon as I finished the draft of the previous one, so by the time I posted the chapter, I was finished with this one. I hope this chapter goes well because this is mainly an exposition dump. I hope I succeded in making this not boring.
Enjoy!
The Next Morning – Midoriya Residence…
When I woke up after what I considered to be the best sleep I've had in a long while, I was having a hard time believing that yesterday happened. Truthfully, I started to believe that my dad returning was just a dream. The best dream, mind you, but one that I would inevitably wake up from. I wanted yesterday to be real, but doubt crept in. Strong doubt. The only way to prove it was all real was to look into my parents' room. If he really came back, then he would be with my mom in their room.
It was quite early, as this was the time I would wake up and go to begin my training with All Might, but I had to check first. I kept my steps light to not disturb Mom from her sleep. She didn't wake up this early, so I was used to keeping silent at this time. With each quiet step, my heart began pounding in anticipation. Was he there or was yesterday just a long moment of wishful thinking? I knew that I would find out as soon as I reached the master bedroom.
The door stood in front of me. I couldn't tell if it was the dimness of the early morning or my anxiety causing the door to be much more imposing than usual, but I pressed forward either way. My hand silently glided to the handle and discretely turned it. The door opened, but not without a creak. A creak that I hoped would not stir Mom awake. When the door fully opened for me to look into the room, I was met with…
…my mom alone in bed like every other morning. It was just her sleeping solo in a bed made for a duo. Just her, like it had been for the past seven years. Nothing changed. It was what I expected, but the very thing I hoped wasn't the case.
This sight dropped my heart to the pit of my stomach in despair; however, this pain wasn't as strong as you would think. It was a familiar pain that came to me before. This was not the first time reality clashed strongly against my hope of seeing Dad again. There were dreams where my dad came home earlier than we expected and we were all happy. Then the next day I would find that he wasn't there. I desperately woke up Mom to ask where Dad went, and she would tell me that he hasn't come back. This was more prevalent when I was younger – quite soon after Dad left.
Well, I thought, this isn't the first time. He'll come back. Just not yet. I can't let this stop me from training. My mind quickly rebounded from this emotional damage and I prepared myself for the training I decided to undergo with All Might. She was waiting for me at the beach, and I wasn't going to make her wait any longer. After finishing my preparations, I made my way to the Dagobah Municipal Beach.
Early Morning – Dagobah Municipal Beach…
The pain from earlier still lingering, I finally arrived at the beach. It still had an abundant amount of trash that piled around this once beautiful beach. I began to search for All Might nearly ten minutes after arriving. This was strange because she would find me nearly as soon as I got here. She wasn't here like usual. Then another bizarre thing happened. There were voices.
I could hear two people speaking in a certain direction. From where I was I couldn't distinguish the voices much, but I could tell they were different. This prompted me to make my way to where these two people were. On my walk there, a sudden thought shot through my mind.
Wait, if there are people there, does that mean they saw All Might here once and are trying to catch a glimpse? I sure hope not. That could compromise our training. I must find out. With this in mind, I sneaked my way into this conversation.
The closer and closer I got, the more clear the voices became, and so their differences became clearer. One was male and the other was female. I could assume that the female voice was All Might, but that was just an assumption. No such thing could be done with the male voice, so I needed to find out as soon as possible. Their voices were quiet, but not whispers. I could hear this quiet talk because the beach was silent in the early morning. The waves were currently weak, so even a quiet conversation could be heard among the trash piles and minimal waves. Because I hid behind some trash pile, I was able to get close enough to hear what they were talking about.
"Sadly I wasn't able to find anything," the male voice said.
"Not even old documents," the female voice asked. A silence followed. Since I couldn't see the man and woman having this conversation, I could only assume that the man responded with a shake of his head. "Did he even leave behind any research for us to find?"
"He certainly did. We all know why he didn't just tell us where."
"I just wish that we got some clues," the woman sighed.
"Maybe we have…" My curiosity got the better of me as I leaned further and further around the pile to gain a peek at the two speakers. Before I could see who they were, I slipped and fell onto the sand. This created a commotion that caused the others to stop their conversation. I would normally try to get up, but I couldn't. I had this fear crawling over me because I was eavesdropping on a conversation that I shouldn't have.
Footsteps crunched on the sand. One of them was heading my way. I wasn't able to tell if it was the man or woman because I was too afraid to check. My fears, however, were completely unwarranted as the voice of the man, who could now be heard, spoke in a familiar tone.
"Hey, Son! Glad you made it," he exclaimed. My eyes flew wide open to see before me my father, kneeling on the floor. He had this wide smile on his face. One that was so striking. His teeth were on full display and his eyes were closed.
After recovering from the shock I experienced, I finally realized what was actually going on. My dad was here, but of course, my doubts returned. This could just be another dream; however, I couldn't let that linger like before. Dad suddenly grabbed me and stood me up forcibly. He quickly dusted off the sand from my clothes.
"Was wondering when you'd get here," he frowned, "are you okay?" My tears were quite visible to him as all I could do was stare in disbelief. "Wait, I see what's going on. You're thinking this ain't real, eh?" He gave me a slight smirk and lightly flicked my forehead, although it stung quite a bit, that was the key. It stung. "Is this real enough for ya?" The only thing I could do was give my father a huge hug.
"Dad! I'm so glad you came back," I blubbered out between sobs. Suddenly my dad let out a hearty chuckle and lifted me onto his back. This reminded me of those nights when my dad would put me on his shoulders to see the stars and the moon. Those nights were so much fun. I found myself joining in my father's merriment. "I love you, Dad."
"I love you, Izuku," he dropped me onto the sand and pointed behind him, "Now, let's get down to business." Turning to where he pointed, I saw none other than All Might. This made me remember what I was sneaking around for earlier. I heard two voices talking to each other. Now I knew who they were. This was also a reminder of what I was doing here in general: my training.
"Right, though some explanations are needed for the young boy, Hisashi," All Might added. "I think you should explain everything to him."
"Thank you, Nana. Alright, my boy, we got lots to talk about. Grab a seat right there," he pointed to a pair of empty beach chairs. I took his prompt to sit down and did so. I decided to take my seat on the middle chair and made myself comfortable. I had a feeling I was going to be here for a while. "You comfortable?" I nodded. "Okay, alright… Let's start with a question. What is Real Heroes?"
"It's a non-governmental organization that does a variety of different things to help men all around the world," I confidently answered.
"That's true," he chuckled. "Half true." I raised my eyebrow in interest and slight confusion. "When I say half, I really do mean half because that is only the public half of what we do."
"The public half," I puzzled. "There's a private half?"
"Well, that's one way to put it. I would rather say that it's the secret side," Dad explained
"What does this secret side do?"
"To put it simply, we've been fighting a nearly one-hundred-fifty-year war against one woman and her forces: All For One!" This answer only scrambled my brain. Instead of satisfying my curiosity, I was left with many more questions.
Two-hundred years? War? All For One!? What in the world is going on!? My mind fumbled trying to make sense of this heavily loaded answer to my question. I don't know what I was expecting when I asked my dad what that private did, but I wasn't expecting this.
"I can see that you're taking this well," my dad sarcastically chimed. "Don't worry, Izuku, I'll explain it all. That's the point of me being here after all!"
"… okay," I mumbled.
"First I'll address who All For One is. This woman has a terrifying Quirk: All For One. Yes, I know, we're calling her by her Quirk, but that's 'cause we don't know what her actual name is. This Quirk has the ability – as far as we can tell – to give and take Quirks away." My mind raced at the implications of being able to take a woman's Quirk. Did that mean she could give a man the Quirk of a woman? did that mean she could give anyone a bunch of Quirks all at once? Did that mean-
"Uh, Son? You're muttering again," my dad notified me.
"Oh, I was? Sorry," I spluttered.
"That's alright, Son. I can see that my telling you this activated your mind. There are indeed many implications involved with her Quirk Many that we have yet to fully understand. One thing we do understand is that she is terrifying. Nana here can attest to that."
"That's right. You know the scar I showed before, kid?" The ghastly image of her stomach flashed in my mind.
"Yes," I grunted.
"You remember how I told you that we hid the fight that caused this scar? That fight was with All For One, herself." Surprisingly enough, I wasn't shocked at this answer. It made sense that someone like whoever this Villain was with her Quirk could do some serious damage to the Number 1 Hero of Japan.
"So, you can tell that this woman is a force to be reckoned with. Now, the one-hundred-fifty-year war," he began to address. "All For One is quite the old lady. She's way over one-hundred-fifty years old. This is due to her having some sort of aging Quirk that let her live this long. Why have we been engaging in a war with her? That has to do with the founding of this organization. The sole original purpose of Real Heroes was to defeat All For One. This public side developed later, coming about around a hundred years ago."
"Wait a minute. The private side was the original?"
"Yup. Now, our founder. This is the key to understanding the motivation to create a group bent on taking down this Villain. Our founder was a man. A man by the name of… Yoichi Shigaraki, All For One's brother!"
"No way! Her brother!? Why would he do that?"
"Before I get into that, I want to provide some context. In their time, many women started to use their Quirks to commit crimes, as you already know. This was a period of chaos and disorder. All For One used this chaotic era and her own Quirk to take control of what the outcome would be. She molded that violence into something that she could use to achieve her own goals.
"What were her goals? The total domination and control of men by women. She utterly despised men. She felt that women controlling men would be justice for how men controlled women in the past. Her brother opposed her beliefs.
"Yoichi stood for a much more harmonious relationship between men and women. He thinks that viewing their relationship as one of domination in either direction is the wrong way to view it. To him, it's more of a complementary relationship. He sees it as them completing each other. Now, there is a lot to unpack with Yoichi's perspective, but I want to focus on explaining things.
"At the very least, he understood that All For One wanting to enslave men was a bad thing and defied her. On his path to standing up to her, he gathered to himself other men that were willing to fight back against this threat. These were the founding members of Real Heroes. Of course, he also gathered women with Quirks, but his gathering guys first was a statement. At least, we believe that to be the case," Dad lectured.
If I could put how I felt when being told all this information in a few words, they would be floored, curious, and a little overwhelmed. I couldn't believe that there was some big Villain that was hidden in the shadows that was responsible for how men are viewed today. It was crazy that there have been people fighting against her in the shadows, trying to stop her plan in many different ways. I wanted to know more about how that secret side of Real Heroes even worked, how my dad fit into all of this, and where One For All is relevant in this. There were still more questions that needed answering.
"Okay," I sighed. "I have some questions, Dad."
"Wait. I'm not finished explaining. I know that was a lot, Izuku, but don't worry too much. I'll probably end up answering any questions you have." He gave me a reassuring look. I accepted what he said and nodded.
"Alright. That was more of the history of this group, so let's talk about how we work, and, yes, I am a part of this secret side. You are already aware of how the public side functions, so I won't discuss that. This secret side is quite the hierarchical organization.
"At the very top, we have the Commander. This is the man who is in charge of the whole group. What he mainly does is lead the different Region Leaders and give them commands. He is also responsible for picking who Region Leaders are and overseeing larger operations that we undertake.
"The Region Leaders are the next down the chain of command. These are people assigned to a certain region; this is usually defined by country, but some countries are large enough that they need to split that country into several regions. That means that certain countries can have several Region Leaders. They manage the region they are assigned to and oversee operations that happen in their region. They are also in charge of Captains.
"Captains are the ones who lead the basic unit of Real Heroes: Squads. They command each member of their squad and take charge of each mission they are assigned to. Each member of the squad is known as an Agent. To clarify, an Agent is what all members of this side of Real Heroes are known as.
"If you would like to know my position, I am a Captain. I don't have a Squad at the moment, but I will very soon."
Learning all about how Real Heroes works was so fascinating. The fact that they were very structured stood out to me. Creating a clear chain of command revealed how the founder was very serious and intentional in creating a group like Real Heroes. This group wasn't just some random group of friends coming together for a fun adventure. He had a goal – a heroic one, at that – and was trying to achieve it.
What Dad finished his explanation with made me curious. "What do you mean you'll have a Squad soon," I asked.
"That is a perfect question to transition into what I want to tell you next," he remarked as he snapped his fingers. Then he gasped in realization, "Ah, wait I have to tell about how One For All fits into all this first." He moved his attention to All Might. "Actually, why don't you explain this, Nana?"
"Sure, Hisashi-kun," replied All Might. "I am also an Agent in Real Heroes, but with a very special status. As the wielder of One For All, I am classified with the special rank known as the 'Symbol of Peace.'"
"Wait," I interrupted, "You being the 'Symbol of Peace' comes from your status in Real Heroes?"
"Yes," she answered. "The title was coined by the first wielder of One For All, who… let's just say was closely tied with the founding members of Real Heroes, so every successor of this Quirk from then on were members with this special rank."
One For All being this closely tied with a secret organization that was fighting a long war against a Villain who was the one that caused so many of the evils of this world left me speechless. All of this information was so much to take in. Both my dad and All Might were able to tell that I was having difficulties trying to process everything fully, so they gave me some time to let it all sink in. What I first thought was a simple charity group was far more complex and deeper than that. They did all that charity stuff while somehow keeping this other side hidden from the world. Part of me wanted to ask how they could do that, but I decided to find out later.
They were also around since the early start of the Hero Era that we lived in currently. They fought tooth and nail against this All For One Villain away from the spotlight for so long. Despite things being terrible for men at this time, it seemed that All For One's plan has not succeeded yet. Fighting for all this time probably prevented her plan from fully going through. Men are not completely enslaved. There was still hope. These people, I think, had been doing a great job idespitehow things were.
With what felt like an hour passing, I fully allowed all of this information to settle in my mind. "Okay, I think you can finish explaining, Dad," I announced. My dad replied with a grin and continued.
"Good. Now to explain where you come in. You are going to be an agent," he stated.
I did a double-take in shock, "What!?"
"Well, yeah!" Dad shrugged as if this was something obvious. "You are going to inherit One For All, right?"
"Oh, right," I recalled.
"So of course you're gonna join as an Agent," he restated
This caused me to worry, "Wait, then who will be my Captain?"
"I did say I was going to have a Squad," he remarked.
"No way. is it…?"
"Yup. Me! You're gonna join my Squad!"
"Really!? That's great," I cheered as I went to hug my dad. "Are we going to do any missions?"
"Not exactly. We have a particular mission because you will inherit One For All: Training."
"Training?"
"Yup, training. I am to train you. Not your body, like what All Might is doing. I will train your martial art skills. All Might and I have already discussed how that will work between us. She will train your body to be stronger, I will ensure that your strength can be honed properly."
"Why martial arts, Dad," I inquired.
"It'll make you a better Hero," he answered. "Knowing how to fight will give you an edge over many Villains. From what I've seen, they all fight like sluggish street thugs who have no finesse or skill in their combat. All they do is swing their arms and legs around and use their Quirks. I refuse to let you be that way, so I was able to convince the Region Leader of Japan to let me train you."
Well, I think he has a point. If I can fight with more intent in what I do, then my strength and my powers could be used more effectively. While pondering on my dad giving me martial arts training, the ruffling of a bag sounded out. My attention was diverted to the sound and there I saw my dad with a stapled stack of papers.
"Here, Izuku." He handed me the papers, allowing me to observe what was on them. On the front page was the title: "AIM TO PASS: REVISED AMERICAN DREAM PLAN." It was made clear that this was the new version of the schedule that I was given beforehand. "Izuku, you can look over that in detail later. Right now, you gotta do your training with Nana."
"Right, but I do have one more question. Why were you in America? Was it because of your work in Real Heroes? I remember you told us that you were simply working abroad," I interrogated.
"I had a mission in America from Real Heroes. What I told you years ago was a cover explanation that I had to give you for a few reasons: you were too young to understand, it was not a good idea to bring you into any of this at the time, and I thought you would never get involved in this long war, so I felt that there was no need to bring you in it."
While my dad lying bothered me, I understood why he had to. It was for the better during that time. At the very least, I know the truth now. Now that my questions were answered, I began to wonder what my dad was going to do next. "Are you going home, now?"
"Nope," he smirked.
Whaddup? Did you like this dump of info? I hope ya did. The next chapter will be the final chapter in this introduction arc that I shall name "First Man Origins!" I kinda came up with that right as I was writing these Author Notes, so it's probably not that good. Ah well, that's fine. I could always change it later down the line, or you could come up with something far better!
Either way, read it, review it, and criticize it. Do that last one in a good way that helps me as a writer, please? Thank you. Have an excellent day!
Posted on 8/1/2023