Things around UA Academy were starting to return to normal after god knows how long. What many considered to be the end all, be all of fights began to feel more and more like a distant memory with each passing day.

Considering how taxing everything felt for everybody, not having to save the world every few months was a saving grace everybody accepted wholeheartedly.

Class courses picked up as normal while the students started to mellow out from the past year of events. No terrorist organizations, no villains with visions of grandeur; nothing came up for some time as the students of UA were allowed to just be students for the time being.

Even Izuku found it strange how peaceful things were for the time being.

He had time to study and complete his course work without incident. There weren't any interruptions in his life that were extremely time consuming. For once, he was allowed to just be a kid and enjoy his young life as a regular student.

Although things were just as Midoriya wanted them to be, he couldn't keep his mind from wandering back to his former mentor.

There were things that Izuku did on a daily basis that constantly reminded him of his father figure. Everything from how he organized his apparel to the way he would help prepare dinner kept dragging back memories of Haru back to the surface. Everything he learned from that man had shaped the individual that now could call himself a hero worthy of being called one by the masses.

One morning, at the crack of dawn, Izuku came downstairs before anybody else for a cup of coffee. Looking at the empty kitchen only filled Midoriya with an immense sense of loss. At this hour, the previous dorm mother would be hard at work preparing the many meals of the UA students at breakneck speeds without breaking a sweat. Now all that remained was a cold and untouched kitchen that no longer held any of the warmth or life that made it special.

Izuku remained stoic in the face of his personal demons. He proceeded to retrieve the necessary instruments to make a decent cup of coffee; getting the french press and coffee beans out for his morning beverage.

Something he noticed immediately when he got the french press was how warm it felt to the touch. It had just been used a little while ago and had been cleaned and returned to its proper place. Izuku knew that Iida was one who liked his coffee in this manner, but he would only do so after preparing for his day. There was only one other person who he knew of that would prepare their coffee this way without exception.

Twelve Minutes Later

"Thought I'd find you out here."

"... Hm…"

Izuku and Bakugou sat in comfortable silence with their piping hot cups of coffee while admiring the first light of dusk. They idly sipped at their cups while just enjoying the peace that was being offered to them at that time. Neither would dare take these moments of peace for granted for how crazy life had been for them in recent memory. Still, they only acted this way towards one another when nobody else was around to disturb the peace and quiet.

Only the sounds of their occasional sipping could be heard as the dawn slowly crept over the horizon. It was a perfect spot to see the first rays of sunlight start to wash over the trees and landscape. Life all around them slowly started to wake up for the new day and all of its possibilities.

"... His coffee was better."

Katsuki spoke the truth when he mentioned their drinks.

Neither of them could ever reach the perfect balance of flavors that their mutual mentor could effortlessly do on a whim. Both of them knew that the biggest elephant in the room for them was none other than the man whom they once thought of as their own father.

His actions were inexcusable. He murdered thousands for his own goals. Death followed his actions wherever he went. And yet…

"Heh, yeah."

Both young men took a simultaneous sip of their mugs. Spending time with the person they knew could understand their struggles allowed Izuku and Katsuki to bond in a strange way.

"... Y'know, he's still out there."

"... I know."

Bakugou knew what Izuku had been alluding to with that one statement. Things were only peaceful at a surface level for them with the knowledge that he was still out there. Knowing that Nakamura remained at large kept both young men on edge.

It felt odd. Taking down evil once felt so cut and dry in the past. Hell, there used to be a big bad villain that seemed to be the one the heroes needed to stop at all cost. Having their end villain be killed by something that seemed to be downright impossible to stop put the world in a strange predicament. Strangely, these two weren't as put off as they initially thought they would be.

Their mentor had taught them better, after all.

The irony that the one who was now the one they needed to stop had also prepared them for whatever difficulties in their lives. His lessons shaped the men they were today. Now the same principles that set them on the path of life were the same ones that would inevitably force them to eventually face the man who now stood against everything they believed in.

As they both sat in silence while enjoying their coffees, a strange revelation came to them from out of the blue. They wondered whether or not this was the end goal of their mentor when he first met them. These thoughts were ones that they dare not ponder on now. There was still too much bad blood remaining for them to draw conclusions at this point.

"We'll be ready for him."

Bakugou then lifted his mug with his left hand towards Izuku. The other young man knew what his friend wanted to confirm between them.

"... Yeah."

With that, they toasted their mugs and made a pact in silence. When the day came when they would inevitably cross paths with their mentor, they would be ready.

With the dawn on a new day, these promising heroes looked forwards and swore something sacred. No matter what, they would become men worthy of being called the world's greatest heroes.

Saudi Arabia, Southern Coast of the Red Sea

Giving his lighter a quick flick, Nakamura pulled the flame through the tip of his cancer stick before savoring the flavor of his preferred nicotine brand. He exhaled nice and steadily while tilting his head up towards the ceiling, lazily watching the plumes of smoke float aimlessly through the air. His mind seemed to be in a different place while he kept staring at the dark ceiling with a blank expression across his face.

"... Do you know why I use guns?"

Bringing his cigarette back to his face, the bloodied glove he held it in partially stained the white paper wrapped around the cheap tobacco in his smoke. Haru took a shorter drag and spoke while the smoke in his lungs slowly leaked out with every word that came past his lips.

"For years, humanity developed these curious tools that were used for our survival. Billions of lives, dollars, and hours were put into making these weapons more effective with each passing generation. So much history for something that is little more than a metal tube with a piece of lead shot out of one end…"

Pinching the still lit cigarette in his lips, he pushed himself up back onto his feet. There were a few wet squishes as the bodies he had been sitting upon shifted slightly with the change in weight.

Rounding the larger pile of corpses, Haru took another drag of his smoke as he stepped over the many dead bodies littering the floor. One could see the full extent of Nakamura's presence if they simply were to look out the bloodied windows overlooking the entire port. From the control center, all the dead bodies and burning infrastructure covered every visible square inch of the docks.

Burning carrier ships that were both halfway sunk and engulfed in flames were slowly wasting away in their docks. Buildings reduced to ruins while those still standing were well on their way to becoming rubble had plumes of black smoke billowing out of their broken windows. All of this destruction had only been enhanced with the sight of countless dead bodies that were staining the concrete like an anthill after a sadistic child had their way with the helpless insects. Almost everybody had been eradicated without mercy.

Almost everybody.

Kneeling in horror inside of the port command floor were the remaining survivors of the massacre that claimed the lives of thousands of workers and soldiers. Several men and women were all frozen in fear with their arms held behind their backs while the man who commanded them to kneel there started to slowly approach them.

Some of them were praying to their gods for mercy under their breath while the rest were perfectly silent. Almost a dozen military staff, yet only one held their nerve steadily enough to not completely give into their fear.

The commanding officer held his gaze on the one who mercilessly butchered his men without hesitation. Watching this man render a small army into rotting meat in less time for the night to pass forced the experienced soldier to obey this individual.

Never had he seen someone so effortlessly kill so many well trained soldiers. This port had some of the best the military had to offer, seeing how it was Saudi Arabia's major port into the red sea from international waters. Keeping this place safe from foreign powers was the primary reason the government required this port to be so well funded and staffed. All of it went up into flames in just one night.

"But when we all started to become imbued with all these strange and unique powers, humanity all just threw its hands up at the idea of weapons. We were finally touched by a higher power with abilities once thought to be nothing more than fantasy."

Each step the man took while passing by the terrified soldiers could be felt in their teeth. They were forced to listen to this speech in silence; out of fear that they would end up like their comrades scattered all over the floor.

"With these powers, we became fixated on our own presence in this world. We thought ourselves more advanced, more evolved than anything else in the history of human life…"

There was a pause as Nakamura stopped walking after passing the last living soldier lined up to his right. None of them knew what had happened to make him stop so abruptly until he took another drag from his blood stained cigarette.

"By doing so we forgot something. Something that so many people forget about on a daily basis."

All the soldiers dared not look up at the man as the unbelievable amount of cruelty that could be felt from him forced their gaze to the floor. Nobody did a thing as a gunshot went off and another dead body hit the floor out of eyeshot.

"We all die the same."

What little relief they got from him backing off from being so terrifying only cemented how truly fucked they all probably were. It became clear to them that he didn't need to keep them all alive.

"We forgot how delicate we really are. Before, all you needed to kill somebody was a gun and the right opportunity. Even a child could kill someone with a weapon."

This humbling rant on the fragility of human life petrified the men and women held hostage by this mass murderer. The stench of human blood following Haru made everyone else sick to the stomach as he paced the room.

"... We forget. No matter how many times we experience things over and over again as a species, we forget history and end up making the same mistakes over and over again."

His voice softened as he spoke that last sentence. Only the commanding officer could hear the edge of disappointment in Nakamura's voice.

"Everyone has forgotten their mortality. They think themselves free from the difficulties of life and have squandered their gifts with their egos."

Just then, something could be heard coming from the single entrance leading into the bloodied command deck. About three of the soldiers noticed this before the door burst open with soldiers wearing all black military equipment. That little half second of hope became dread when they couldn't recognize the uniforms as any of their own country's.

"So it lands upon me to guide the mindless masses."

Taking command of the port, these mysterious soldiers all started taking command of the building while several armed men aimed their rifles at the surrendered Saudi Arabians.

"If this world would rather cannibalize itself over and over again, then disciplining this rabid beast is the only proper course of action. Don't you agree?"

Turning to the soldiers still kneeling in the pooling blood of their fallen comrades, even the commanding officer felt his stomach drop at what he saw in Nakamura's eyes.

Those eyes were looking right past them all. He didn't even treat these soldiers as people while he rambled on without a care in the world. All he wanted was to vent his thoughts to a living ear before tossing it to the side after he was done. The truth was that he never intended to let them live in the first place.

"Kill them."

Turning away heartlessly, only the sounds of screaming and gunfire followed Nakamura as he exited the room while flicking his spent smoke into a puddle of blood.

There was far too much work to be done for the world he wanted to create. Something as taking charge of a country's international trade remained to be just a small step in his plans to secure his desired future. No matter the cost, his work couldn't be stopped anymore.

Leaving the dead soldiers as he made his way back to the ships docking into the now deserted port, there was some level of relief after he vented his darkest thoughts to them.

After all, the dead rarely ever spoke.