Izuku itched to return home. First, it was waiting for his mangled body to patch itself back together. Then it was helping Mei jerry-rig Rocketman, the DeLorean, and the monster truck together to make an interdimensional battering ram. When Mei ogled the docking system Franky was working on and insisted on helping him out, Izuku held the wrenches for her. Marines ransacked the town searching for them, and the Straw Hats sent them packing with colorful masks, dusty bedsheets, and colorful commentary from Usopp about legions of undead and the displeased souls of pirates executed by the Marines.
Months went by. Mei and Franky treated the rising ship like their personal playground, adding soda-powered rockets, energy beams, grappling hooks, and flamethrowers until Nami beat them both black and blue for crowding out the living quarters. Izuku and Luffy trained, honing Haki and experimenting with their Devil Fruit powers, while Zoro and Sanji drilled themselves on Rokushiki and worked on unlocking their own Haki. Every time Izuku thought of home and felt guilty over waiting so long to return, he reminded himself that they had a time machine. They could wait as long as they wished and return the second they had left.
Mei had somehow found an oversized tarp to cover the entire ship. They knew well enough what it looked like, after helping hammer the deck together, but watching the finished ship glimmer in the sunlight as Franky and Mei hurled the tarp off the ship took Izuku's breath away.
The Thousand Sunny had a majestic bearing, reminiscent of the Oro Jackson. Every plank of it exuded a quiet strength that promised to bear its crew across the stormiest of seas. Yet, the ship had quirky touches from its makers, including a goofy, derpy-eyed lion figurehead that they hadn't quite kept Luffy from putting his artistic flair into, giant spinning wheels that served double duty as emergency propulsion and as docks for smaller vessels, giant vents out the back for a Coup de Burst, and a tangerine grove shrouding the upper decks in greenery.
As the Straw Hats marveled over their new vessel and ran to check their personal spaces, Izuku and Mei hung back. The ship had space for them both, an extra workshop next to Franky's, and another desk in the medical room, but they both knew they wouldn't be sailing along with them.
"What's the matter?" Chopper waved from the ship's deck. "Aren't you coming up?"
"It's time we left," Izuku said.
Luffy's head swung around from the figurehead. Chopper went still, and called back, "What are you talking about, silly. There's plenty of room on board. We can bring your time machine and send you back anytime you want."
"We have to go really fast for it to work," Mei explained. "And there aren't any other trains in the world. Here's the only place we can make it work."
Tears poured down Chopper's face, but before he could make any more protests, Zoro put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Guess we better say goodbye then."
Luffy leapt up and shouted, "Goodbye feast! Goodbye feast!"
Zoro chuckled. "You heard the captain, shitty-cook."
Sanji swatted Zoro with a foot. "Yeah, whatever. Give me a bit and I'll have something whipped up."
The Straw Hats hurried for tables. Zoro cut the meats and vegetables, with Sanji constantly heckling him for making uneven sizes, while Nami went out to haggle for more meat. Within a few minutes, Sanji had ham rolls, deviled eggs, and cheese slices carted out by the Franky family, with the smell of roasting meat and fried fish promising heartier dishes later. Franky rolled out giant kegs of soda, while Zoro hauled a keg of beer over each shoulder. Usopp posed atop a keg, regaling everyone with tales of his heroism, Chopper marveled at Sanji's sugary confections, Nami swept through the crowd swiping wallets, and Robin hung back, reading a book while Sanji raced to refill her martini glass.
As the sun dipped towards the waves, the smells of the party reached the city. Most people were still wary of the pirates, but once the shipwrights of Galley La came down to admire the Thousand Sunny, hunger and curiosity gave way to fear. Soon, the humble get-together turned into a city-wide party. Enterprising innkeepers and barmen rushed barrels of liquor down from the city, while butchers and cooks hauled down roasts and shanks and huge piles of meat. As the sun set, the beach side roared with laughter and cheers as drunken townsfolk and shipwrights mingled with pirates and brigands.
The sun had long set by the time the party wound down. Some people dragged themselves home, while others lay where they had passed out. Even most of the Franky Family was down for the count, but the Straw Hats remained awake, sitting around a small campfire, roasting sausages, mushrooms, and marshmallows over the flames and sharing stories. Chopper oohed and aahed at every triumphant lie Usopp told, Robin told everyone about Ohara and the researchers there, and Izuku shared the more mundane details of his world, the heroes he liked, school, cellphones and cars and other modern conveniences.
Once the embers died down, Mei made some final adjustments, while everyone else gathered around to say their farewells. Sniffling, Chopper ran and wrapped his tiny arms around Izuku's waist. "You better come back and visit, you hear?"
Izuku laughed and ruffled his hair. "We have loads of trucks back home. We'll come back again sometime."
Nami wrapped Izuku in her own hug. "Don't forget to pay back the interest you owe me when you do!"
"My wallet's in my shoe," Izuku said dryly.
"I know. Already nicked the Berries out of there this morning."
Izuku cursed under his breath, until he remembered the currency wouldn't work in his world anyways. "You couldn't even let me keep some as a souvenir?"
Nami's cheeks puffed out. "You're already bringing back a bunch of gold. You don't need any more."
Usopp wrapped an arm around his shoulder and said, "You better tell everyone you meet about the Great Captain Usopp, leader of eighty-million men!"
"Which part? The part where you got drugged and had to get rescued like a princess, or that time the bedsheet got caught on a door and you jumped off the boat."
"That was totally a ghost and you know it!" Usopp shouted. "Bedsheets don't moan and grab at you!"
Sanji flicked his cigarette onto the ground. "If there's so much as a scratch on Mei-swan next time she visits, I'm taking it out of your hide."
"You'll have to be able to hit me first."
"Yeah, laugh it up you Logia cheater. I'll have Haki mastered by the time you're back."
"Same goes for me," Zoro promised. "In fact, I'll master it way before the Marimo does."
"Bold words for someone who can't even find the bathroom, mosshead."
"Not my fault you guys keep moving it, curly brows!"
As Zoro and Sanji fought in the background, Robin chuckled and said, "They're a lively bunch. Guess it won't be too much quieter around here without you around."
"Want me to bring back some books from my world?"
Robin's eyes widened in surprise. "That would be lovely. Seeing another world's history would be a fascinating perspective."
"Screw books!" Franky shouted. "Bring back a giant robot!"
Chopper's and Luffy's eyes both lit up. "Giant robot! Giant robot!"
Mei patted the cobbled-together mecha that had weathered Alabasta and Enies Lobby. "Sure will! And it'll be way bigger and way shinier than this one."
"Will it have lasers?"
"Lots!"
"Cool!"
Franky pulled the whistle and fired up Rocketman's engines. "Next stop, another world!"
Rocketman had the DeLorean directly in front of it. On a separate car, attached with rigging around the side, was the monster truck. With the flip of a switch, the truck would detach from the rigging and bump into the DeLorean.
With one final round of goodbyes, Izuku and Mei clambered into the DeLorean. The engines puffed and belched steam as the wheels churned and laboriously pushed the heavy load forward. The Straw Hats kept pace, at first walking, then running as Rocketman gained speed.
One by one, the Straw Hats fell behind. Robin contented herself with waving from afar, Usopp tripped and face-planted into the sand, Nami lost a shoe, Chopper morphed into Walk Point only to flounder in the sand, and Zoro and Sanji got into a fight over who stopped first. Luffy, with Second Gear active and blitzing forward with Soru, raced neck and neck with Rocketman as the DeLorean's speedometer ticked steadily closer to eighty-eight.
"Oi! Izuku, Mei!" Luffy called. He waved his hat in the air and shouted, "Go kick some butt and bring back lots of meat!"
Izuku leaned out of the window and shouted back, "You got it, Luffy! You better be the Pirate King when I get back."
"And you'll be the number one Superhero! With lasers coming out of your eyes and everything!"
"What is it with you guys and lasers?" Izuku asked. "Have they even been invented yet here?"
"This is the captain speaking," Mei called out. "We are now approaching dimensional warp velocity. Please keep your heads and arms inside the vehicle, turn off all cellular devices, and buckle your seat belt.
Izuku gave Luffy and the others one last wave before ducking back inside the car. He felt giddy and anxious all at once as he watched the needle steadily climb closer to eighty-eight.
"Do you think they'll let us skip a grade because we're older?" Mei asked.
Izuku groaned. "We'll be lucky if they don't hold us back. We haven't studied in almost two years."
"Pfft, what do you need to know that stuff for anyways. Why bother memorizing all that junk about world wars and trigonometry when we have babies made to memorize all that stuff for us?"
"You're still mad they made you go to school?"
"Of course I am! Do you have any idea how many babies I could've made with the time I spent at a desk? At an average rate of one baby per eight hours, and you know I can do faster, that's two-seventy per year, times eight years is-"
Izuku experienced a lung-squeezing sense of pressure as an electric charge suffused the vehicle. Mei grinned. "Here we go! That, or we die."
"Wait, what?"
Mei pressed a button. The monster truck detached itself from the makeshift rigging and slid backwards into the DeLorean. The moment it made contact, Izuku felt himself squeezed through a tiny tube, just like the first time. After a second stretched out for an eternity, he popped back out. He floated in his seat, and wind whistled through the cracked window.
"Of course we're falling. How did we forget about the falling?" Izuku asked.
"Actually, that's better than what I thought would happen."
Izuku gave Mei a deadpan glare. "Explain."
"Well, when we came into the other world, we were a mile above ground, right? Since we returned to this world from the other world's sea level, it stands to reason we might have appeared a mile below ground."
"And you didn't think to tell me that?"
"You worry too much. Besides, if we had tried coming back from a mile above ground, we'd be two miles up over here.
Izuku slowly breathed in and out. "Okay. Fine. But if something you're doing could get us killed, I would appreciate it if you let me know."
"I mean, anything I make can spontaneously explode, so…"
"Besides that."
"Oh. Okay then."
For a while, they sat in the car, looking out at the vista of clouds. Then Mei said, "So, are you going to do something about the whole gravity situation?"
Izuku groaned. "You didn't pack a parachute?"
Mei patted a giant power drill in the back. "Thought we'd be below ground, remember?"
"What about oxygen? Did you even think about that?"
"This baby could dig a hole to the U.S. before we'd run out of air."
"And if that didn't work?"
"Then you could punch our way out."
Izuku pinched his nose. "Through a mile of rock."
"With how fast you can punch and how much rock each punch can displace, yes."
With a sigh, Izuku said, "I hate that you might be right."
"You want to try testing it?"
"Absolutely not."
"Fine. I'll make a punching baby next and I'll punch a hole to the U.S."
"What is it with you and the U.S.?"
"Are you going to stop us from turning into a DeLorean pancake or not?"
Izuku rolled his eyes. Once Mei rolled down the window, Izuku hopped out. They had just breached the cloud cover and had a clear view of Japan. Izuku nudged the car until they were angling towards Musutafu. As they got closer, Izuku hopped underneath the car and used Geppo. His legs burned under the strain of kicking on air hard enough to lift a car, but with a bit of Haki infused into his legs, Izuku powered through it.
After a few hops, the car fell at a more leisurely pace. Izuku looked down and saw a very familiar vehicle darting through the streets.
"Mei!" Izuku stretched his head through the window. "I thought you said you adjusted the time correctly!"
"To the day! We should have gotten here right after we left."
"Look down!"
Mei did so. "Huh. I guess the two worlds' days are just a tiny bit off. Whoops."
"What do we do? We got lucky with Luffy, but right now there's two of us! We remember that not happening!"
"Relax. We're about to leave, see?"
Izuku watched. It felt utterly eerie seeing that truck barrel towards them. He felt the flash of electricity as the DeLorean took them on their fateful journey to another world.
He also saw the truck veer wildly off course and swerve towards a sidewalk full of pedestrians. Most people scrambled out of the way, but one person tripped. They watched, frozen in terror, as the truck careened towards them.
Izuku swore under his breath. He hurled the DeLorean up, blitzed over to the ground, and Soru'd the pedestrian out of harm's way. Then he anchored his feet into the ground, firmed himself up with Tekkai, and grabbed at the truck. He grit his teeth as he redirected the truck's momentum upwards, hoisted it over his head, and made it stop before setting it back onto the road.
All the while, he fought to keep his head from exploding. Every wire, every cellphone, every car and building was a labyrinth of electrical circuits, ringing around him in a discordant cacophony. Izuku felt like he was surrounded by cats scratching on chalkboards.
Once he deemed everyone safe, Izuku leapt back into the air. The DeLorean fell into his outstretched arms. He kicked frantically, stalling out as much of its momentum as he could before they hit the ground. The concrete cracked underneath his feet, but Haki kept Izuku from breaking, and he eased the DeLorean back to the ground.
Izuku flopped onto his back. Mei hopped out and tapped him with her foot. "What gives with that landing? Those electronics are delicate, Izuku."
Izuku groaned. "Your fault for not making it fly. Or, you know, adding a parachute."
Mei huffed, then looked around and saw traffic stalled around them. "Yikes. What happened here?"
"We happened. You drove onto the wrong side of the road, remember?"
"Oh. Oops."
Izuku grunted and hauled himself back onto his feet. A whole crowd was gawking at the scene, and a few people had cellphones out. There was even a gaunt, blonde-haired man staring at him like the second coming of Christ.
"Everyone alright?" Izuku asked. "Sorry about that, just a mishap with a new invention."
"Very impressive!"
Izuku jumped, startled by the voice behind him. Hawks stood atop the DeLorean, eyeing him while playing with a crimson feather.
"Oh my gosh it's Hawks," Izuku gushed. "Can I have your autograph?"
Hawks blinked. Then he laughed. "Got something for me to sign?"
Izuku felt around for his hero notes, before realizing his notebooks hadn't weathered another world particularly well. At his crestfallen gaze, Hawks said, "Eh, cheer up. You might get another chance."
"Really?"
"Yep. I gotta take you in for public Quirk usage, after all."
"But I don't have a-" Izuku paused, halfway through the words that had tumbled from him out of habit. "Oh. Whoops."
Hawks didn't bother waiting for a patrol car. He simply walked Izuku and Mei to the police station two blocks down. The officer manning the front desk shook his head seeing the pro hero walk in. "What was the point of sending out that dispatch if you weren't going to wait for them?"
"They're just kids. No trouble handling them myself."
The officer sighed. "Fine. Get them in the holding cell. Their parents are on the way."
Izuku's stomach fluttered. He was finally going to see his mom again! It might be from behind prison bars, but after being stranded in another world for two years, he'd take it.
Once the bars slid shut, Hawks slipped Izuku a piece of paper with his signature on it. "Don't trade it away for cigs and toilet wine, alright kiddos?"
When they were alone, Izuku said, "I'm having an intrusive thought."
"About busting out of here?" Mei added.
"Feels weird not doing anything when people say I'm under arrest."
After half an hour, an officer in a tan overcoat opened the doors for them.
"That was fast," Izuku remarked.
"Just getting your statement," the officer said. "We have a lot of conflicting reports about what happened."
He led them to an interrogation room. Izuku helped himself to the water and granola bars left out, while the detective straightened out his notes. "Izuku, Mei, I am Detective Tsukauchi. Before we begin, I am obligated to inform you that I have a lie-detection Quirk. While this isn't a formal interrogation, I have no ability to turn off my Quirk and will be able to tell if you lie to me. Do you understand?"
"Can it tell if someone is lying even though they believe they're telling the truth? What about partial truths? Does it work through electronic devices? Or what about habitual responses like when someone says they're good when-"
Tsukauchi held up a hand. Barely holding back a smile, he said, "I'm not allowed to divulge any of that information. Good questions though."
Izuku's face reddened. "Uhm, thanks?"
"So, who was driving the vehicle?"
Mei raised her hand.
"And how exactly did your vehicle end up in the air?"
Izuku and Mei exchanged a glance. Neither of them had thought about what they would tell everyone when they got back, and neither of them thought that spreading news about time travel and dimension hopping was a good idea.
"The car was a new invention of mine. It malfunctioned and teleported us into the air instead of where we were supposed to go."
Tsukauchi nodded. "And what was this vehicle of yours supposed to do?"
Mei hesitated. Before she answered, a knock came at the door. Izuku almost didn't recognize the Pro Hero walking in, but between the goggles around his neck and the capture scarf bundled around him, it could only be Eraserhead. Perched on his shoulder, nearly hidden in swathes of scarf, was the principal of U.A."
"Detective, I thought you knew better than to interrogate minors without parental consent."
Tsukauchi bristled at that. "I'm just getting a basic statement."
"I see. Well, I'm sorry to inform you that, as a student of U.A., details of Hatsume's inventions are protected by U.A.'s patent protection program. Given that the speeding is a minor civil offense and the only criminal charge is for one count of Quirk usage by a minor in a life-threatening situation, you lack the grounds to inquire further."
Tsukauchi nodded. "I'll let the chief know. So long as U.A. is willing to take responsibility, I see no issues with it."
"Excellent. If you'll excuse me, I would like a word with my new students."
Once the detective left, Eraserhead took the detective's seat, while Nezu hopped onto the table. Izuku asked, "Are we really students at U.A.?"
"As of fifteen minutes ago. I got a call from an acquaintance asking me to look into your situation, and I'm glad I did. Last thing the HPSC needs is access to a time machine and whatever Quirk-giving resource you found."
Izuku felt the blood freeze in his veins. "How did you-"
"The authorities overlooked the context of your vehicle, but I happen to know what an enterprising young inventor would use a DeLorean for. The only mystery is how that ties into a Quirkless young man ending up with flight, super-speed, and super strength."
Izuku kept his mouth firmly shut. Nezu laughed at him and said, "Your hesitation shows you've got a good head on your shoulders, Midoriya-kun! If you're going to be secretive about it, I'll find the answer on my own. In the meantime, I'll have to confiscate your DeLorean. U.A. property, you understand."
Mei bristled at that. "But I made it!"
"It's that, or the police impound it. And when they look inside…"
Grinding her teeth, Mei backed down and crossed her arms. "Fine. But you better let me have it back when I graduate."
Izuku raised a hand and asked, "Could we at least keep the gold?"
Eraserhead raised an eyebrow, but Nezu just chuckled. "Of course. In the meantime, I imagine you want to get back to your parents. You look a few years older than your school pictures."
It took one raised eyebrow from Nezu's beady-eyed face to make the attending officer gulp nervously, rush through their documentation, and hurry them out the front door. Eraserhead had a car waiting, and with instructions from Nezu, dropped Mei off at her parents' house before driving over to Izuku's apartment.
Once Izuku got out of the car, he hesitated. The apartment steps seemed so familiar, yet so distant, like a half-remembered dream. He had fantasized about this moment for years, but now that it had come, he hardly knew what he would say. 'Oh hi mom, you just saw me this afternoon but for me it was two years and oh by the way I have a Quirk now' sounded way too casual a box for literal years of anxiety, homesickness, and life-threatening adventures.
"Will you hurry it up?" Eraserhead asked dryly. "I have a patrol coming up, and I can't in good conscience just leave you out here."
"Oh. Um, sorry." Izuku gulped, climbed the stairs, and rested his hand on the doorknob. Taking a deep breath, Izuku stepped inside. Inko had the dinner table cleared away. She sat in a chair, facing the door with a stern frown on her face.
"Izuku, what's this about you and Mei getting arrested for reckless driving and-" Inko froze. Her eyes widened as she took in Izuku's tanned skin, his lightened hair, and his taller, stockier body. "Izuku? Is that really you?"
Izuku didn't fight the tears falling down his face. His tongue felt too stiff to answer her, so he simply nodded. Inko got up from the chair and wrapped her arms around him. "Izuku, baby, what happened to you? You look like - did someone use a Quirk on you?"
Izuku shuddered as he felt his mother's fingers trail across his back and brush through his hair. He hugged her tight and said in a hoarse, shaking voice, "It's been two years."
"Two - Izuku? What are you - you just left this morning!"
"Time machine. Mei made a - it sent us to a different world, mom. It was almost all ocean, wooden ships everywhere, and pirates. I sailed with pirates, mom." Inko's hands went still. She gently pulled away and stepped back to get a closer look at him.
"Pirates? You mean like a villain?"
Izuku grimaced. "Didn't have much of a choice when their version of police officers shot at me when I first saw them."
Inko gaped, then shook herself. "Well, at least you're home now."
"Yeah. Oh, and I have a Quirk too."
When he showed her the lightning trailing across his arms and flickering in his hair, Inko giggled hysterically, her eyes rolled back, and she promptly hit the floor.
Izuku looked at his hands, then back at his mom. With a sigh, he said, "This is not how I imagined it."
A/N: breaking news, ffnet is still broken. If anyone figures out how to fix it, please send instructions in a glass bottle because I'm more likely to get it that way than from a PM on this site.
In other news, I'm made a spooky thing for a Halloween competition, realized I went over the page limit (curse you, dialogue) and rewrote it into a second thing. I intend to post one or both of those on Halloween, so keep an eye out for that. I'll put up a semaphore tower or something, idk, how the heck did people communicate before the internet? Carrier pigeons? Shouting at the sky?
Keep sending in reviews. Maybe if there's enough of them, they'll burst free from the website like a broken dam.
