"Don't slow down on me now, sparks," Mirko called out while she hopped backwards. "We're almost there!"
Izuku gritted his teeth. Running from Musutafu to Hosu was longer than anything he had done before, given most islands in the other world were half that size, but that was nothing to his stamina. But running the whole way while carrying a generator, and simultaneously trying to hold in the power it generated, made Izuku feel nauseous across his entire body. All that extra electricity wanted out, and whenever it built up enough, it lashed out in vibrant arcs around his feet.
When they finally crossed the city limits, Mirko leaned up against a building and said, "That's good, make sure you don't break it setting it down. You'll be doing the same thing on the way back."
Izuku groaned and set the generator down inside some bushes. Stretching out his fatigued limbs, and shaking off sparks in the process, Izuku asked, "So, how does patrolling work?"
"For the day to day, most heroes have an assigned route, that they change frequently so nobody gets too familiar with our patterns. I can't be bothered with that, because they refuse to plot a route that really lets me stretch my legs."
"And for a situation like this one?"
Mirko held up a sheet of paper. "Overlapping patrol routes, circling around the city and identifying any possible hiding spots and ambushes." Mirko ripped hers up. "Definitely not sticking to that."
"Why not?"
"No one knows how this Stain guy gets away with so much. It's possible he has an inside man feeding him information on peoples' Quirks and patrol routes."
"So, if we're not going to do that, then what's our plan?"
Mirko shrugged. "Hop around, get you some parkour training, and run towards anything suspicious that we see or hear."
Off in the distance, a loud explosion and people screaming dimly sounded from inside the city. "Like that?" Izuku asked.
Mirko was already gone. Cursing under his breath, Izuku zipped forward. He arrived just in time to see Mirko plunge from the sky like a spear and flatten a Nomu into the street. When it twitched and started rising, Mirko caved its head in for good measure.
"This thing gave you trouble at the USJ? I barely worked up a sweat."
"I think this one's different." Izuku poked it in the shoulder. "The one I fought had a regeneration Quirk."
"How good was it?"
"It regrew its entire upper torso in under a minute."
Mirko gave a low whistle. "Guess that means there's more of these things."
On cue, eight portals sprang up in a ring around them. The crowd snapping pictures quickly evaporated, leaving only a few foolhardy civilians willing to risk their lives for a glimpse of some real action. A few had the same black-skinned bodies, but most were composed of different materials. A wooden Nomu looked straight from a Tolkien novel, one had a nearly transparent glass body with a pulsing ruby heart, and a third looked like Frankenstein's take on a rubber duck, complete with yellow rubbery skin, an orange duck bill, and beady black eyes.
The Nomu attacked in sync with each other. The glass Nomu opened its chest, and a barrage of glass splinters fire out like a shotgun blast. The wooden monster made a cage with growing branches, and the rubber Nomu charged at him, making rubber-chicken squeaking noises with each step.
Izuku ducked behind the rubber Nomu, letting it take a shower of glass to the back, then used its shoulders as a springboard to vault towards the rapidly closing hole in the wooden dome. Once he's free, Izuku slams on top of the glass Nomu and shatters it like a vase. The ruby crystal pulsed. The glass shards melted and ran in tiny rivers towards it. Izuku pounced at the obvious weakness, but the wooden Nomu flung an entire tree trunk at him, forcing Izuku to jump out of reach as the glass monster reformed itself.
Izuku flung lightning at both Nomu. The glass one came away unscathed, with sparks rippling across its surface like a plasma globe, but the wooden one sported scorch marks where Izuku hit it.
Izuku formed a spear in his hands and folded it in on itself, tempering it like a blade until it shone painfully bright. As he dodged around glass splinters and grasping branches, Izuku darted above the wooden Nomu and hurled the spear directly onto its head. Its entire body lit up like a pitch-soaked torch, burning with palpable heat even as it continued reaching for him. Flecks of blackened bark peeled away from its body, and clouds of white ash puffed out with each breath it took.
The glass Nomu aimed both arms at Izuku. Its limbs exploded in a volley of glass knives, perforating the air around him. Given no time to dodge, Izuku braced himself and weathered the storm. Haki protected his vitals, but his arms and legs took numerous shallow cuts. The few glass shards that bit deep enough into his toughened muscles to stick there fell out the moment Izuku flexed his body.
As its chest opened up, Izuku kicked the ground, flipped a chunk of concrete up with his foot, and hurled it forward. The Nomu screeched like a scratched chalkboard as a crack shot up the side of the beating crystal. Izuku darted forward, coated his fist in Haki, and punched straight through its body. The color bled out of the crimson crystal, and the Nomu shattered into a blinding cloud of glass dust.
Hearing little toots puffing from behind him, Izuku ducked, turned, and planted his fist deep into the rubber Nomu's belly. It let out a long, rubbery shriek, yet despite how much its chest caved inwards, neither its feet nor its head moved an inch. Then its body rubber-banded back into place, flinging Izuku's arm behind his back.
The Nomu swiped at him, and Izuku leapt backwards. He flung more electricity, but the Nomu seemed unfazed by the electricity leaving molten lines across its body.
Izuku cracked his knuckles. "You're out of luck, you ugly duckling. Luffy's way better with his rubber Quirk than you'll ever be."
Izuku threw punch after punch. Sharp smacks of fist meeting rubber, punctuated by shrill squeaks from the Nomu's rubber beak, drowned out the background din of smashed windows and people screaming. Izuku fell into a rhythm, throwing brutal haymakers and dipping aside before the Nomu could hit him. Each squeak felt viscerally satisfying, like popping bubble wrap, and Izuku started smiling despite himself.
"Hey, this is actually pretty fun. Mirko, why don't you try giving this a-"
A rubber fist embedded itself in Izuku's face. Luckily for Izuku, he had plenty of practice dealing with rubber fists to the face.
Izuku snarled. "That's it. Playtime's over." He grabbed the Nomu's wrist, Geppo'd into the air, and with a mighty yell, flung the Nomu into the ground. The Nomu flattened and let out a deafening squeak. When it bounced back up, it disappeared into the clouds.
"Huh. I'll have to remember that trick with Luffy."
"If you're done sight-seeing," Mirko huffed while she sidestepped a Nomu's punch, "Mind taking one of these off my hands?" She swept one off its feet with a low, sweeping kick, and Izuku pounced on the opportunity. He buried it in the street with a punch to the face and fried it for good measure. Once he made sure it wouldn't break out, he found Mirko kicking the last Nomu into a bloody pulp.
Mirko grimaced at the mess the Nomu made on her costume. "Great, I just got this one last week." She wiped as much off on a fallen Nomu as she could manage and turned to survey the others. "Wood, glass, and rubber, all dropped on our heads the moment we take out a Nomu. Those are some oddly specific choices of monster design."
Izuku nodded. "What should I do?"
"If I had to guess, they're testing your Quirk. The smart thing to do would be to keep your head down and try not to show off too much."
Izuku looked around. A lot of the fighting happened in open areas, on wide streets and at intersections. Narrow, dimly-lit alleyways crisscrossed the city.
"Should we split up?" Izuku asked. "I can slip through the alleyways and avoid them. If you're fighting somewhere in the open, they'll think I'm nearby."
"Nezu and the HPSC would both kill me if I let you go unsupervised." With a wink, she said, "That's why it'll be our little secret."
Sharing a smile with her, Izuku raced off into the nearest alleyway. He slunk through shadows and crept through open windows, using everything he learned avoiding Marines and unfriendly pirates to infiltrate his way deeper in the city. Wherever he heard nearby signs of fighting, he found people huddling in closets and hiding under beds, and he guided them towards safer areas.
A few times, a shadow sprang up in his path and spewed out a Nomu. The first few he simply ran away from, but the third had a magnetism Quirk that latched onto Izuku's body. As it reeled Izuku in, Izuku used the momentum to drive a Haki-coated punch through its face.
Unnerved by how well the Nomu's Quirk worked on him, Izuku racked his head for a way to dodge the Nomu. He couldn't tell where they were watching him from, so he had to find a way to slip their notice.
A metal fire escape gave him an idea. Sinking into the metal, Izuku rode the conductive material to the rooftop. He had hoped to find another source of metal, but the only thing connecting the building to other areas were the power cables brimming with electricity.
Deciding to test it out, Izuku forced his way through the insulator and settled into the cable. He felt himself diffuse throughout the city's power grid, giving himself a vague sense of the entire city attached to it, before picking out a discreet spot on the other side of town. He slipped out quietly, and the Nomu stopped dropping in on him.
It was when he was in the middle of trying to find the next person to help and following the scent of blood when he happened upon a startling tableau - pro hero Native, still as a corpse, but not quite gone if the steady trickle of blood from his wounds is anything to go by, Iida, fallen, glaring up the length of a dull, chipped, blood-soaked blade at its wielder, a haggard man swathed in bandages, missing his nose, and staring contemptuously with blood-shot eyes at the child as he raised his sword high to impale him.
Izuku moved. Iida's eyes twitched towards him, widening in surprise, and it was enough warning to make Stain whirl and raise his blade. Izuku punched it aside, and Stain's left hand darted out with a knife. Izuku let the blade pass through him and used the opening to punch Stain in the jaw. The punch connected with a meaty slap that could've passed for a gunshot, but Stain simply bent back, letting the force of Izuku's punch dissipate across his body, then swung his sword back up.
Izuku barely caught the black glint running along the blade. Given no time to dodge, Izuku augmented his own chest and took the Haki-coated blade across his ribs. The blow knocked the wind out of him, but only his shirt was cut.
Stain backed away and lowered his blade, but his stance remained firm, ready to defend at a moment's notice. "You have a strong will. I thought no one else had the strength of mind in this rotten society to ascend beyond their limits."
"There are plenty if you know where to look."
"You had a tutor, then." His eyes flicked over his outfit. "You must be a hero student. With a will like yours, killing you would be a waste. My only interest is in these two fakes. Leave them. They are not worthy to call themselves your peers."
"I wouldn't be much of a hero if I let you kill them."
"Fair enough. I'll try not to injure you too badly."
Stain's arm whipped out. Six gleaming knives shot towards Izuku. Weaving through them, Izuku darted past Stain's sword and hammered his gut. He felt Haki block the blow and nearly lost his arm to Stain's upward swipe.
Punches against swords, knives against flying sparks, Izuku and Stain traded blows. In strength, they were evenly matched, but Izuku could tell that he had an edge on speed. Testing that theory, Izuku Soru'd across the alley, racing faster than Stain's eyes could track and aiming a punch at his kidneys. Stain's Haki sprang up at the last second, but Izuku blurred away before he could bring his sword around.
In response to Izuku's speed, Stain started throwing knives at his two injured victims. Having to deflect a seemingly endless supply of knives out of the air kept Izuku from applying enough pressure to overwhelm Stain.
As the fight progressed, Izuku analyzed the situation. He needed to get Native and Iida out of harm's way, but if he tried to collect one, Stain would kill the other. He could try calling someone else, but the only person he could reach who could hold their own against Stain was Mirko, and if she joined back up with him, the Nomu might appear again.
Time was running out. Neither Native nor Iida showed any signs of getting up. He had no way of calling anyone he could trust against Stain without adding Nomu into the mix. Whatever he did, he needed it fast, and now.
The alley was bereft of cables, but Izuku could feel the power lines crossing the streets all around him. He reached out, but instead of pulling himself along for the ride, he made the current come to him. Electricity burst out of their insulative casings and shoved their way inside Izuku. He felt as though he were a water balloon, filled to the point where the plastic was nearly colorless from being stretched so thin and fit to burst at the lightest touch.
Stain didn't remain idle. In the fraction of a second it took for the lightning to make Izuku balloon outward, he drew a brace of knives and threw them, some at Iida, some at Native, and some at Izuku himself.
Those knives made Izuku focus. He shoved all that power into a tight, dense ball and lashed out. Lightning struck each knife from the air.
Flexing his arms, Izuku felt the dense electricity ebb into his limbs like molten glass. Sparks leapt from his back and gouged chunks out of the nearby masonry. Clenching his hands and jaws, Izuku used Tekkai, Haki, everything he could think of to force the electricity to stay inside. An ebony shell crept from his fists to shoulders, while green sparks arched around his back and chest, writhing like snakes trying to escape Izuku's grasp.
"Gear Third," Izuku rasped. "Rumble gatling!"
Caught beneath the barrage of fists, Stain didn't have any time to throw knives. His arms and legs moved as though he were wading through mud, and his eyes couldn't even track the afterimages of Izuku's movements.
Yet, as his sword blocked a fist, it was already moving to intercept the next three attacks. Patches of Haki hardened the instant Izuku's fist broke through his sword's guard, and vanished the moment Izuku drew away. No matter how much Izuku sped up, no matter how thoroughly he outsped Stain, no matter how much ground the serial killer lost against the raw power of Izuku's punches pushing against him, Stain kept up through an uncanny ability to read exactly where the punches would land the instant Izuku decided to throw them.
Izuku felt his strength waning, felt the dense coils of electricity slipping from his grasp. Gear Second would leave him and the victims wide open. He didn't dare pull in more electricity, not with how unstable he already felt.
He had hit his limit. Now he had to break it.
As he threw even more punches, he shouted between gasps for air, "I. Won't. Let. You. Hurt. Anyone!"
With each word, his punches moved even faster. His fists blurred into a visual anomaly, flickering so quickly that the human eye thought they were moving backwards. The image stilled, then trickled forwards before blurring out of the human eye's ability to perceive.
At first, Stain kept up. The sword wove a looping dance through the air, acquiring more chips as Izuku hammered away at it. More and more punches slipped through. As the Haki had to shuffle around faster and faster, it gradually started lingering, passively guarding vital areas while Haki flickered elsewhere. Those patches grew, and Stain stopped blocking blows to his arms and legs. Eventually, the Haki snapped, like spider silk stretched too far, but even as blood dribbled from Stain's lips, he remained firmly on his feet.
Even as Izuku's punches continue to ravage his body, Stain screamed, loud enough to echo over the static hiss of Izuku's blindingly fast arms, "Why are you smiling?"
Sensing a lull in the fight, Izuku slowed down his punches. He felt simultaneously ready to fly apart and fall over from a stiff breeze, but he took a deep breath and forced his body to hold itself together for a little longer.
"All Might smiles, doesn't he?"
Stain sneered. "His smile is for the people he's protecting. You're smiling because you enjoy this. For all your strength, you're a fake like the rest of them. In it for your own satisfaction."
Izuku raised a finger to his lips. His grin never wavered. "Huh. Guess it's because you're someone I can fully cut loose against. I couldn't even go all out against Mirko. She's trying to hide it, but I can tell she's still recovering from that punch I hit her with."
"So what, you just want free license to use your power however you want? A hero without restraint is just a rabid dog on a leash. Endeavor, Ryukyu, Gang Orca, they're all glorified for crushing lesser men beneath their feet. That's not the kind of hero this world needs."
Izuku felt his vision blurring. Breathing evenly, Izuku fought back the urge to vomit and tried to find a way to end the fight.
"I don't care what you think. I'll do it anyway." Izuku drew himself up, trying to continue the conversation while he funneled more power into his arm. Stain would likely cut him, but an arm was a small price to pay for saving Iida and Native. "I will become the next Number One hero, and I will save as many people as I can."
Stain spat blood. "You're not worthy of his mantle!"
"Neither are you."
Izuku's arm ballooned in size. It filled the entire narrow alleyway, and Izuku had to lean carefully to keep it from crushing the wounded heroes. It leaked electricity like a sieve, but Izuku kept pushing more in as he planted his feet for a punch.
"Gear Second… Thor's-"
Conquerer's Haki slammed into Izuku like a sledgehammer. His concentration slipped, and the skin of his arm burst apart as the power rushed out of it. Cradling his wounded arm and fighting to keep his eyes open, Izuku sank to one knee.
Stain leaned on his sword like a cane. Heaving breaths as he glared down at Izuku, he said, "This is the full extent of my resolve. My Quirk once required the target's blood, but now? Now, I can bring anyone to their knees at will. I won't let anyone stop me from culling this world of fake heroes. Now fall, and may your death pave the way for a brighter future."
Drained as he was, Izuku refused to fall. Conquerer's Will weighed heavily on his fatigued shoulders, but he had felt worse from a cabin boy. Clenching his fingers, Izuku lumbered to his feet. Stain stared in shock as Izuku met his gaze.
"I made a promise," Izuku said, voice hoarse. "That I would be the number one hero. And I'm not going to let a madman like you stop me. I won't let you hurt Iida, or Native, or anyone else, you hear me!"
Stain cackled. "Too late for that, child. Take a good look."
Reluctant to take his eyes off the hero killer, Izuku slowly turned his head. Native and Iida were both barely awake, clinging to consciousness solely through the distance Izuku had pummeled between them and Stain.
Izuku felt his stomach sink. It wouldn't matter whether or not he beat Stain, when passing out meant they couldn't run or call for help. He had already pushed past his limits, and he knew he had at best a minute before he'd pass out, Conqueror's Will or not.
"I'm impressed. Every other hero I've used this on dropped within a second." Stain let his sword drag along the pavement as he walked forward. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're a fake. No way am I letting an arrogant, power-hungry brat like you take All Might's place. Now, fall!"
The weight on his shoulders intensified the closer Stain drew. Izuku could feel the palpable weight of the killer's malice, his hatred and contempt, the literal thirst for blood scratching at the back of his throat. As death walked towards him, Izuku remembered the other times he faced mortal peril, Whitebeard's naginata descending like an executioner's axe, Shiki the Golden Lion and his pirate crew, Kizaru and the Marines. He remembered his promise, shouted over the wind as a maelstrom of lightning carried him home. He remembered his friends, Roger and his crew, Luffy and the other Straw Hats, and Mei, with him for the entire journey and beyond.
He would not fall. He would not surrender. And he would not let anyone die.
Izuku felt something within him snap, like the first bolt of a thunderstorm. Stain's Haki faltered as Izuku shoved it away with his own will.
"I. Will. Not!"
Izuku dimly recognized that the crackling veil encircling him was his own Conqueror's Haki. He wrangled with the unfamiliar sensation, trying to focus it in one direction, but his newfound power bucked like a wild stallion. Every attempt to exert control only resulted in the power growing. And growing. And growing.
When the power finally ebbed out of him, Izuku collapsed onto his knees. A spike of terror shot through him, and he scrambled to raise his head.
Stain stood over him, a crimson figure backlit in a halo from a flickering streetlamp. Izuku smothered a cry of despair in his throat and tried to summon more lightning, but his body was spent, and the power coursing through the city resisted his pull.
As the seconds stretched by, Izuku realized Stain wasn't moving. His eyes were rolled back, and his body swayed slightly in the wind.
Izuku chuckled weakly. "I did it. Iida and Native are-" Izuku's mirth died away. "Iida. Native!"
Izuku dragged his body around. Iida and Native were both on the ground, unconscious, and though there was barely half an alley between them, they may as well have been in another world for all Izuku was able to reach them. His legs refused to move, and he only made it a few feet before his arms gave out.
As he lay there, Izuku heard the tell-tale hum of a portal opening. A Nomu swooped down from the sky and grabbed him by the shirt.
Izuku dimly realized that his fight with Stain had gotten the League's attention, and they had waited until the fight was over to swoop in and take him. With the last of his strength, Izuku gathered a few feeble sparks and stabbed them like a dagger into one of the Nomu's eyes. It barely twitched as the organ ruptured and continued flying half-blind.
As Izuku's eyes started to close, the last thing he saw was a chipped blade plummeting through the Nomu's neck.
A/N: I have officially started the homebuying process. Got preapproved, found a realtor, toured a few places. One suits me almost perfectly – great kitchen, a garage, an exercise room, decent location, good foundation and concrete work, yard just big enough for a vegetable garden. Just needs work on interior doors and upstairs carpeting, there's a few signs of water damage that probably aren't an issue, and I'm pretty sure one bedroom has a popcorn ceiling.
Other house I looked at was a hell no the moment I opened the front door. It was a bad flipjob with ugly hardwood flooring, spray-paint cover-ups, a literal death trap for a wooden patio, and a foul, pervasive odor.
The only reason I might not put in an offer for the first house is I have another four months on my apartment lease. I'll sublet if it comes to it, but there's plenty of other fish in the sea.
Mernom: "I wonder if Izuku will finnaly get an answer for if the OP skills can be learned away from it..."
Bardothren: please stop predicting things I will literally reveal in the next chapter.
Delphinious: "either way, lots of struggle ahead for him"
Bardothren: wouldn't be much of a story if it was easy
NewMystery356: "Lost a little sleep reading this story, it was just that good, and I'm eager to read more in the future. Keep up the great work!"
Bardothren: there are few higher praises than this. Just don't stay up until 3AM like I sometimes do.
UnlawfulGentleman: "Mirko and Hawks I think you got done just about perfect. Just the right amount of casual friendliness, that almost feels tested by their stances in heroism."
Bardothren: thanks for all the feedback!
Skullkingvon: "flips table "stupid cliff hangers strikes again!" great story honestly i'm debating if i want to split mine into separate parts like you did when/if i start posting."
Bardothren: my advice on divvying up story parts ultimately depends on you, but I recommend sitting between 2,000 and 10,000 words per chapter. Below 2,000 often feels too short, and while you can get away with going shorter than 500 (case in point, Deku Ex Machina, or if you think that's no good, Tailax's Sweat and Ginseng), you really need to know what you are doing and write as efficiently as possible. Above 10,000 is also feasible, but you run into the problem of being too much to read in one sitting. Again, not a problem if you know what you are doing, but in my opinion, you're only shooting yourself in the foot making longer posts when more shorter posts will likely attract more readers by staying in the forefront of updated works more often. The one story I can think of with 30-40 thousand chapters that I can't put down would be pirateaba's Innverse, and I don't think it would be any worse off split into smaller pieces.
And that's your PSA on chapter lengths. Some stories have driven me up a wall by putting out 20-30k posts that I just can't. I can't. I'd probably read them if they came in smaller doses. But that? Nope.