a certain move Denji does in this chapter is inspired by the fic Nerve Ape, which i HEAVILY recommend! and always give me your likes/dislikes about this chapter!

Denji really hoped that he wasn't making Pochita disappointed. He had just joined a group called the League of Villains. His heartbeat stayed normal the whole time he walked over and had that talk with that hand– Shigaraki, so at the very least Pochita can't be mad at him, right? If it all goes to shit, he can probably just go chainsaw crazy on everyone and go live in the woods again. He still wanted to be a hero, it was just… He dealt with the government back home already.

Looking around at the fancy room he was in, Denji sighed. The room was pretty nice. He got a bunch of really fancy clothes to replace that comic book one or whatever he was wearing before, and the room was a lot nicer than even that Hokkaido inn…

It was too spacious for his liking though. Felt too empty.

…Denji really missed Meowy.

Well. He definitely couldn't go out right now. Some weird black sludge appeared in front of Giran and him, and suddenly he was in a different place. Big ol' stuffy concrete walls surrounded him in a hallway he or Giran couldn't see either end of, with just some weird ass rat or something scurrying away after the goop vanished. Everything else was fine after that, just Giran taking a bit of his blood for security or whatever and throwing Denji some keys and telling him this was his temporary residence while pointing at a door.

His nose can tell that the air's a little stuffy, even with those fancy big fans he saw in the hallways, so they're probably underground or something. Kind of weird to make an apartment inside a mountain or cave. Maybe there were some games or whatever in here.

…

LOVChat

New User: dneji has entered the chat (14:52).

dneji (14:54): This screen i stoo small too read

Grandmaster Tomura (14:56): the fuck is that you denji

Grandmaster Tomura (14:56): have you never used a modern phone in your life

dneji (14:57): Hard to read screen

Grandmaster Tomura (14:57): what

dneji changed their nickname to Denji (15:07).

Denji (15:07): Figured it out

Grandmaster Tomura (15:08): you know this is a gc right did you text to complain or what

Denji (15:08): Why does a crime organization have a group chat

Denji (15:08): And why is your nickname Grandmaster Tomura

Grandmaster Tomura (15:10): we have more members than just kurogiri me and you

Denji (15:11): Geran told me there were video games but all I found was this phone

Grandmaster Tomura (15:11): the computer has league of legends, there might be other apps on the phone dont ask me anything else

Grandmaster Tomura (15:11): also its fucking giran

Denji (15:12): ok

old man kurogiri (15:15): This communication channel is for mission use and emergencies only, please don't clog it up Denji. If you need help with your phone, we left a manual in the cabinet next to your bed.

Denji (15:16): i found the video fames :thumbs_up:

…

It was pretty weird to have an all glass phone with no buttons, but Denji took it in stride. Mainly because he didn't want Shigaraki to think he was dumb. That's how he spent the next few hours, messing around with the cool hi-tech device on his bed, half of it being spent trying to figure out how the damn thing worked. Easier to do that than ponder on what the hell to do now. It was cool, but he wasn't used to playing video games by himself, which really only dragged bad memories back to his side. Something that wasn't easily remedied by playing flappy bird.

Denji closed his eyes on the couch.

Denji's eyes brought sight to him faster than hearing, the momentary surge of confusion and fear at waking up in an unknown environment replaced by mental flashbacks.

"Aye! Aye open up in there, or I'm gonna go wiiiiiiiiiiild! I'll kill you, man! I'm not jok– Oh the door was unlocked the whole time, I'll just wait outside!"

Denji opened his eyes and stared at the guy who just entered his room and completely ruined his much needed rest. And also his door apparently, there was definitely a dent in it now. His tired eyes almost did a double take seeing a buff dude in a bodysuit standing around with his arms on his waist.

"Are you part of the uhh… league of villains too?"

"Nah!" he nodded.

Maybe this world did have fiends, after all, this guy seemed pretty fun. Pushing the phone off his body, Denji stood up slowly and half yawned out, "Did I fail the blood test or somethin'? I liked my door…"

Exploding into a blur of random movement and poses, he struck multiple poses before responding, "No need to worry! I am the mightiest and strongest member of the League! I am the almighty… TWICE! And I came here to see the new guy, I hate not being the newbie anymore!"

Oh yeah… Shigaraki mentioned other people in the league. "Names' Denji."

Drooping down in exaggerated sadness, Twice made a horrible sobbing sound as he cried out in total anguish. "No dude! I wanna know your frigging villain name!"

Coughing slightly at the mention of the villain, Denji put some pep in his voice. "Alright… Then I'm the totally goretastic her– villain, CHAINSAW MAN!"

Pumping a fist at Denji's wide smile and declaration Twice roared out. "YEAH! Now that's more like it!"

The two brothers from another mother smiled and raised their hands in unison, their veins flexing in sheer testosterone befo–

"Will you two boys please stop pretending I'm not here? It's getting ridiculous."

Both of his hands slammed back to the sides of his head, Twice screamed in shock. "Big sis Magne! I didn't even see you there, you need to warn a guy!"

Standing there in the hallway past the dented door was a tall and muscled woman, who flashed a smile at Denji as he glanced at her in momentary surprise as well. Her angular glasses slid down the bridge of her nose slightly, and she introduced herself. "You're the newbie, right? I really wish more ladies would join the team, but ah well... Name's Magne, 'cause I can magnetize things~!"

Deciding to ignore the red hair resting on her shoulders, Denji (sadly) retracted his arm from the magnificent dap up that was to be finished as he lost the enthusiasm, much to Twice's sheer heartbreak, and waved at Magne. Looking around to see if any more members were behind her, Denji asked, "So, did you guys break my door to say hi…?"

Swinging his arms down wildly, Twice shook his head, "Nah, we were meant to check up on you cuz you slept like…" He counted his fingers for a few seconds, before finishing his sentence, "Like twenty hours!"

"And I volunteered because I wanted to meet the newest recruit; me and Twice were the only other members in the league besides Shiggy and Kurogiri. But still! I didn't expect someone as old as a student to join our ranks," Magne exclaimed.

Slamming one of his hands around Denji's shoulders, Twice rocked back and forth unsteadily and said, "Yeah! Now that we know you're alive, we can get you all geared up!"

Denji blinked. "Wait, what?"

A twinkle in her eyes appeared as Magne broke the coolness factor of her appearance and started gushing, "Your villain costume! And we'll get to see your quirk in action, isn't that so exciting? Giran really praised your quirk, me and Twice are super excited to see you in action!"

"I also totally need your measurements!"

Denji looked at both of them and promptly said, "Can I brush my teeth first?"

…

After tiredly brushing his teeth and resisting the urge to hop in the massive bathtub, Denji walked out to see Twice sprawled out on his couch waiting for a grand total of three minutes, and Magne inspecting his dented door. He'll deal with that later.

Shifting his eyes between the duo, Denji motioned toward the door. "Lead the way."

Jumping out in a stiff pose, Twice spun in 360 degree circles nearly half a dozen times as he slid out to the concrete hallway and Magne followed after him. Walking down the hallway of exposed tubing and dimly lit purple walls reminded Denji of the prison that Public Safety kept on lockdown. He'd only seen that place through photos, from Miss Makima telling him how he'd be locked up for the rest of his life and the key thrown out if he didn't act obedient… Dang. He just lost his good mood.

"So, do you guys already have a costume for me? I haven't even gone chainsaw in front of anyone 'sides Giran, kinda ruins most clothes."

Shaking his head at breakneck speeds, Twice quickly replied, "Naaah! We're at some old geezer's place that Shigaraki is connected with or something right now, we're gonna look at your quirk and put in some requests for a suit. Don't get your hopes up man, Shigaraki's the only one the guy gives a shit about."

Putting her hands in her pockets as she walked forward with Twice, Magne giggled and continued on from where Twice left off, "Yeah, the guy doesn't even show his face to us. I gave him my quirk and some costume ideas and all he did was make a giant magnet for me, and a ruler for Twice. And I didn't even get a costume, these are just my clothes, the only cool thing I got were these shades."

Taking in the exposition of the mystery benefactor, Denji nodded before huffing mentally. "So I don't get a cool super suit…? Well that smarts."

Twice scratched the back of his head and shrugged, "Sheesh, I can just SMELL your disappointment from here. Who knows man! Maybe your quirk will interest the dude or whatever."

Denji stopped as the duo in front of him paused in the seemingly endless twisting hallway in front of a random door, Magne turned slightly to Denji and nodded. Which was something Twice apparently didn't see, as he promptly kicked the door in after a few tries.

"All right! We're in!"

Magne stood still in complete silence before robotically entering the room, holding in her urge to caress her forehead. Following in after the already exhausted woman, Denji walked into the plain looking room that had one corner full of destroyed mannequins, and in front of the dirtied room, a group of them menacingly staring at him. Why some random underground laboratory/bunker had a room full of clothing store dolls, Denji decided not to ponder.

"Wooo! Alright Denji, go show off your quirk man! Go loose! Let us collect the data~!"

Looking at Magne, who was still standing completely still in exasperation of the habitual door kicker, Denji shrugged. Hand over his ripcord, he let loose a dark sneer and pulled, and his heart pumped.

Twice's eyes bulged nigh comically under his mask and even Magne broke out of her stupor upon seeing his head saw ripped through his skull and out of his head in an eruption of blood and bone fragments, and devil-steel slid up his neck and closed down onto his face in an instant. A saw on both arms burst through on both ends before he crouched low on his knees. His whirling saws in his arms brought close to his chest, and he began to build strength in his legs.

Denji completely stole this move from that one katana asshole from so long ago, it was a showstopper though and he wasn't good enough at performing them to probably use them in a fight with someone smart or someone faster than him. Denji needed to cheat a little with some mini saws on his feet, but he could still pull it off on his own without any help. But back when Pochita was in control, he'd do crazy moves like this all the time, might as well live up to his hype.

"Woah, holy shit, Denji are you supposed to be bleeding that muc–"

The dark sneer on Denji's transformed visage shifted to a manic smile, and he vanished into a burst of air and left behind shallow scratches on the ground from his saws.

"Damn," said Twice and Magne in unison as all seventeen mannequins were cleaved cleanly in half, leaving only a proudly standing Denji with his tongue leaking out from his pearly whites and his saw arms formed in an x-shape as they slid down onto the ground in thuds.

Smiling with his blood soaked fangs and (now) ruined pair of clothes, Denji's saws dripped off into liquid and his arms returned to their previous normal shapes.

"How'd I do?"

Denji blinked a short moment after his rhetorical question, and Twice seemingly teleported in front of him with a retractable tape measurer and rapidly got his dimensions. Appearing and disappearing from Denji's eyes, he silently got every measurement of his body. Only stopping when Denji's chainsaws stalled did Twice realize he did not say a single word before immediately getting out his ruler and examining him.

Coughing slightly, Twice quickly let out an apology and explanation. "Sorry man, you were just fucking totally crazy out there, and I need measurements for my quirk, y'know."

Denji stared at him until he elaborated.

"My quirk bro! I can make copies of anyone I want!"

Shifting her eyes to Twice for a few seconds, Magne decided to elaborate. "Twice needs the exact measurements of any one person to make a double of them, and I guess your show there got him pumped up. Just let him do his thing for a bit and he'll stop going crazy."

"Alllrright! I got your measurements all locked up in my mind, buddy oh pal of mine, now I just gotta know. What's your quirk man? It's fucking metal as hell!"

Standing smugly, Denji laughed very mechanically and confidently said something that didn't answer the question at all, "I can do chainsaw stuff."

A small beat of silence happened as Twice tried to mentally decipher that statement.

Cocking her head, Magne crossed her muscular arms and hesitantly asked, "...You sure that's it? I don't think a normal chainsaw quirk… makes you bleed that much."

Scratching the back of his head, Denji's eyes wandered off as he looked up, thinking. "Well I guess.. I can heal from pretty much anythin' with some blood, and uh… shoot out chains from my chainsaws and whatever. I dunno."

Twice, who apparently while Denji and Magne were conversing had been poking and prodding at the bisected mannequins, chimed in excitedly, "Yeah, yeah whatever dude. Your quirk is fucking rad! I'm jealous, the doctor is totally gonna give you some cool suit."

Any dreams of Denji being in a totally rocking and smoking hot mecha armor suddenly got interrupted by Twice's remark. Turning right slowly, Denji croaked out, "...I don't get to choose what it looks like…? I thought you said if my quirk interested the geezer I'd pick…"

"Hehe… my bad?" Twice awkwardly shrugged as he dropped the top of half of the doll, noticing Denji's disappointment and Magne's facepalm. Walking up and slowly patting the shoulder of the younger man, he tried his best to comfort him. "Maybe he'll like… give you something you haven't thought of yet? Like a bunch of guns? Guns all over you? You could be a walking warmachine man!"

A spark of hope reignited in his soulless eyes, "That sounds… fucking awesome. Holy shit, you're a genius, Twice!"

Magne stared at the two as they frolicked around delusionally. A slight grin on her face formed. Maybe this whole league stuff would be decent, after all.

…

The ASSOCIATION of nefarious individuals

New User: Denji has entered the chat (13:12).

Denji (13:12): i thought the other gc was the league one

magne 3 (13:12): naw this is the REAL gc

magne 3 (13:12): kurogiri is really strict abt that one being 'emergency only" so we just made this. mainly just me begging twice to pick up shit for me here since my identity is known

Denji (13:13): swag

magne 3 (13:13): im so glad i taught you that word

2XTWICE2X (13:13): DENJI you gotta hang with me and mag more

2XTWICE2X (13:14): doc is gonna give you the absolute bangiest suit and we can go fuck up shit

magne 3 (13:14): yeah thats bullshit im pretty sure he's gonna give you. an orange hoodie and that's it

magne 3 (13:14): girans the one who usually gets our shit, the doc just gives him suggestions

Denji (13:14): Please don't say that

magne 3 (13:14): ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

shiggy wiggy (13:16): why cant i change my nickname

magne 3 (13:17): shiggy wiggy

shiggy wiggy (13:17): im not fucking joking

2XTWICE2X (13:18): shiggy wiggy

shiggy wiggy (13:18): I AM going to kill YOU

Denji (13:18): shiggy wiggy

shiggy wiggy (13:18): i swear to FUCKING GOD

magne 3 (13:19): why dont you go play lol to calm down

Denji (13:22): hey so why did i just hear someone running down the halls

Shigiraki dusted off his hands and closed the door on Magne in her room. Kurogiri elected to not acknowledge the unconscious woman with a now massive red bump on her skull and quickly brought his young charge back to the league bar through his mist. It wasn't very professional for their leader to tussle with one of his followers, but they seemed… marginally enjoying the scuffle as it happened. Well, he thinks so. It was hard to tell with all the screaming and yelling between the two.

Even Kurogiri was amused at the situation, if not for the absurdity itself, but for the rare smile on Shigaraki's face. And also for the progress in Shigaraki's wrestling skills.

"Kurogiri?"

He blinked. "Yes, Tomura Shigaraki?"

Shigaraki sat down slowly on a bar stool, staring at a broadcasting monitor in the fake bar room that was running a newsreel on a recent hero's death. Seemingly thinking back about something, he finally answered, "What do you think made Stain not want to join the party?"

Ah, so that was what Shigaraki was mulling over about. He would have to inform Master preemptively if Shigaraki wished to go after the hero killer again, their previous conflict was far too close for comfort. "Perhaps it was simply due to our greenness. We could not afford to so readily give out our contacts and connections, so all he had seen was just us two. A bigger presence may be needed for him to give credence to our goals."

Underneath the hand of his father, Shigaraki thought back to the latest recruit. His tired eyes faded back into recent memories and a lightbulb appeared in his head as he smirked. "Say, Kurogiri? Why not knock out two quests at once?"

His misty black hands paused as he looked up in confusion, interrupting his instinctual bottle polishing. "What do you mean by that?"

Chuckling slowly, Shigaraki tilted his and signed in contentment. "Denji is supposed to be impressive right? And he's got a grudge or whatever against the yakuza? Tomorrow, while All Might is teaching those brats at school, we'll go out and fucking decimate the small time gangs. Make a name for ourselves."

Surprised, Kurogiri took time to respond as he nodded, "Very well then, but you should know that such action would likely draw Stain's attention."

Scoffing, his young charge rebutted. "Only reason he got a drop on us was his bullshit quirk, with the whole league, he'll be wiped. We could even set an example of him with the Nomu, let some of the low-level yakuza noobs join us for the next big event."

"Very well then, I shall instruct the rest of the league to prepare for tomorrow, and I shall inform the doctor of our request."

Shigaraki nodded, and then said, "Oh, and tell Denji that we got his temporary costume ready for him."

Kurogiri coughed in surprise. "What? I was under the impression that the doctor was still working with the information that Magne and Twice gave him for Denji's costume."

Oh god. Shigaraki was in a devious mood.

"Well, I can't exactly scare off Denji when he just joined, but I had an idea. It's simple, we'll just have him wear that orange hoodie."

…

Denji stared slack jawed, not purely out of shock but also in a growing boiling rage at the orange hoodie that cloud dude Kurogiri gave him before vanishing instantly as if he knew what was in the package. Now, to be fair, Denji liked orange. He liked wearing orange, he liked orange things, he liked the fruit orange. He really liked orange, so it was hard for him to say this, but…

"What the FUCK IS THIS!?"

Denji looked at the neon orange hoodie with baby blue highlights and a dark red swirl in the back and wept. It was almost cool. It almost was. But the texture felt like a carpet, and the orange was too fucking bright, and the hoodie was too small. It was basically just a crop top. He can't wear this… All the chicks are gonna think Chainsaw Man is just some kid if he wore this. Chainsaw Man always wore cool jackets and suits, not children sized clothes… His costume was supposed to be finished way later, why was–

…No… It couldn't be.

"...TOMMMUURRRRRRAAAAAA!"

Down the hall, Magne and Twice turned to each other at the yell. Magne shrugged and Twice looked back at the now despondent Denji in his room. It was really depressing seeing him mumble the words "babes" and "super suit" over and over again while holding up the neon hoodie. It looked fine, to be honest.

"Man, he must really not like Naruto."