Yamato couldn't believe what she had just heard.

She sat there, stunned, trying to process it. Not just the words, but what everything in them, in Izuku's countenance, in his eyes, seemed to mean.

He wanted to help her. He wanted to help her escape, to fly with her away from this place.

He wanted to help her.

It wasn't possible. It made no sense. Since when had anyone actually wanted to help her, to do anything for her? She had been served before, but that was always out of fear or deference. Nobody had ever done anything for her because they wanted to.

She couldn't believe it. She didn't dare believe it. It couldn't be true.

But it was true. She knew, somehow, that it was. She could see it in his eyes, just as Oden had said. She knew somehow, as she had known when she saw Oden die, and when she found his logbook. He meant every word that he said.

But…

"Don't say that, Izuku."

He could not say it. She could not bear for him to say it. She could not let him attempt it.

"I mean it!" insisted Izuku, eyes as bright as ever. "I'll get that key, and we'll leave this place together!"

He smiled a gentle smile, a smile that made her feel warm and soft inside; in a way she couldn't remember feeling before she had met him. It was the sort of smile he might have smiled to soothe a frightened child.

"You don't have to stay here anymore," he said. "You don't have to suffer like this anymore."

Yamato let out a sob, and tears welled in her eyes. Tears of shame.

"I can't just leave, Izuku!" she wailed. "It's not that simple!"

"But it is!" insisted Izuku. "Yamato, I know you're scared. I know you feel like you can never leave. I know that you feel like there's no hope, that things will only get worse. But it's not true, Yamato. You can leave this place."

His eyes were still so bright. He believed it. He really did believe it.

Yamato sniffed, and cuffed her tears with her sleeve. She hated herself for her tears, for her weakness. She had waited for so long, wanted it for so long, yet here he was, offering her heart's desire.

And she was afraid.

"Izuku…you don't understand," she croaked, a lump in her throat. "You don't know what my father is… what he's capable of."

She shivered, her blood running cold at the memories. She had seen Kaido fight, seen him kill and destroy. For all his strength, and his great heart, she knew that Izuku was no match.

"You haven't seen me fight," replied Izuku, grinning. "I've faced some pretty powerful villains in my time and-"

"Not like him!"

The words came out as a shriek, making him falter. Yamato gulped down the lump in her throat, trying to master herself.

"He has an army of pirates at his command!" she screamed, her stomach churning as old memories arose. "He has enough warships to destroy a fleet of Marine battleships, and level whole cities! But when he destroyed Kozuki castle, he didn't use any of those! He did it himself!"

Izuku's eyes widened. Now, at last, he was starting to understand.

"He did it on his own!" she went on. "He burned it to the ground and killed everything inside! All by himself! He can incinerate entire Marine fleets, level entire towns and mountains, all with a single breath! That's what he is, Izuku! That's what I've been fighting! My father he's… the strongest creature on the planet… And all these years I've been fighting him and failing…ever single time…"

Izuku sagged, his face falling. Yamato's heart clenched to see it, and she hated herself for crushing his spirit. But she had to make him understand.

"That's why you have to leave," she insisted. "In two days, there will be the Fire Festival. The false Shogun and his entourage will come here, to thank my father for his help, and to feast with him. All the other pirates will be celebrating, except the ones manning the Great Torii Gate. It'll be the perfect time for you to escape."

And it would. She had seen enough Fire Festivals to know for certain. While the common folk of Wano drank sake, prayed to their gods, and hoped for better times, the Beast Pirates would gorge themselves on food and liquor; much of it harvested and prepared by those same common folk. Onigashima would be awash with merrymaking, but for the unfortunate souls condemned to man the Great Torii, lest some attackers dare to strike.

Yes, he could escape then. He had to escape. It's the perfect opportunity.

"I can't."

Yamato gaped like a goldfish, and then realized that he had indeed refused.

"You have to!" she pleaded, desperate. "You have to escape!"

"I'm not leaving!" Izuku replied, his face screwed up with anger. "I'm not leaving you in this place!"

…

Why?

Why wouldn't he understand? Why was he going so far for her sake?

No one has ever gone this far for her… not since the three Samurai and…

She felt her heart clench in a Vice.

"You must!" she wailed, feeling emotions she has never felt before. "I can't let you die here, not for my sake! He is my burden, my responsibility! If he killed you, I could never bear it!"

"And I can't bear this!" He retorted on the spot.

His cry stunned her into silence. His green eyes hard as he stared back to her wet orange ones.

"I can't just leave you here!" he pleaded. "I can't fly away and leave you here like this!"

"But…"

"You've done so much for me," Izuku went on. "You could've left me to die on the beach, but you didn't. You brought me in here. You fed me, and took care of me, and talked to me. And you told me your story, and about your dreams."

He faltered, and sniffed as he drew a breath.

"There's someone I knew, not so long ago," he said, his voice hoarse. "Remember that girl I saved from that villain Overhaul? Her name was Eri. She was only a child, but her guardian kept her locked up, experimented on her, all so he could use her in trying to change superhuman society for his ends and ideals..."

He sniffed again, and Yamato saw that terrible pain in his eyes once again.

Pain…and shame.

"She was broken. She thought there was no hope, no way to escape. She couldn't imagine being free, being happy, being loved. And I…I let her down."

He gulped.

"I came upon her by chance, and I knew something was wrong. I could have carried her away, there and then. I could have saved her there and then. But we had strict orders not to spook Overhaul, not to let him realize that he was being tracked. If he had, he would have disappeared, and we might never have found him again. I knew that, and my partner knew that. That's why…we let him take her back."

He had a pained expression as his gripped his fists, and Yamato's heart ached. His world was certainly no idyll, and its cruelty had hurt him, she could clearly see.

"We let him take her back, and she was so terrified of him, of what he might do, that she went back with him on her own. She didn't believe anyone could save her, and I proved her right in that moment."

He sniffed, and stared straight at her.

"That's why…that's why I can't walk out on you, Yamato. Even if you weren't the person I know you are, I couldn't do it. I can't do that again! I… I want to help you, not just… as a friend. But because it's the right thing to do." He took a deep breath, gazing back at her. "Besides… saving others when they don't want to be saved… that's what a hero is." He smiled softly. "I was reminded of that not too long ago… and that's why I will save you Yamato."

Yamato thought her heart would burst. She wanted so desperately for him to run, to get away from Onigashima and all the dangers it posed. But no matter what she said, he just wouldn't go.

He wanted to stay. He wanted to help her. He actually wanted to help her.

To save her.

"Izukuuu!"

She flung herself upon the unsuspecting Izuku, wrapping her arms and around him and pulling him close.

"No one ever said what you said!" she cried, hugging him tight. "No one ever did what you've done!"

She pulled back, holding him by the shoulders. His face was bright red for some reason.

"Izuku…thank you, thank you!" Her old fire was blazing once again, lighting up her weary heart. "I never dared to dream I would meet someone like you! Someone with a pure and true heart like yours!"

"Uh, uh, right!" Izuku seemed to master himself, that determined self gone and replaced by that charming bashfulness. "So, uh, we need to make a plan to get you out of here!"

He was bouncing on his knees, shaking his clenched fists up and down, a mad grin on his face. Yamato saw it, and in spite of everything she giggled.

"So, you were saying about a festival?" Izuku asked, coming back to himself.

"Yes, the Fire Festival," said Yamato. "It's the perfect chance for us to escape, but it's only two days away."

"Two days, huh." Izuku seemed to think about it, hand cupping his chin. "I'll need to get in shape by then. But your medicines have done a really great job."

He flexed his arm, the muscles rippling as he moved it back and forth. "I feel a lot better. I'd better start training again."

"Training?" Yamato was surprised. "But you're not fully healed yet."

"It's okay, I know what I'm doing."

Izuku stood up, and started to stretch his arms and legs.

"Nngggh… Just a little bit to loosen up. I haven't moved much for days."

Yamato watched as he continued his calisthenics. He moved with the practiced ease of a trained warrior, one movement flowing smoothly into the next, and then the next. He was moving well, and without any sign of discomfort. It looked like he was getting close to being healed.

"There," Izuku said, smiling brightly. "Now, for a little something I've been thinking about while laid up here…"

He stood still, and then narrowed his eyes, concentrating hard. Yamato felt the air in the room shift. Something was happening.

"I had an idea…. bring out my full power," Izuku went on. "Then dial it down to what I can manage."

Yamato stared, amazed, as Izuku's muscles bulged, and green lightning crackled around his body. The room was getting hotter, and the air in the room was suddenly heavy, and oppressive. This was a power indeed, a wondrous power. Not from a cursed Fruit… But from his Quirk.

"Izuku, your body!" Lightning was crackling all about.

"It's okay. Dialing it down."

The pressure in the air faded, and the lightning fizzled and vanished.

"I can't go all the way as I am," Izuku said, still smiling. "If I went up to one hundred percent, I'd probably bust my limbs..." He looked at his fist. "As I am right now I… can handle and move fine at fifty percent. I'm halfway there…" He mused, clenching his fist.

Yamato let out a sigh of relief as the power faded, and his body settled back into its previous form, the lightning gone.

"Oh, and we're gonna need some stuff too. We'll need a compass, two pairs of goggles, two backpacks, non-perishable foods, and two jackets. Can you manage all those things, Yamato?"

"Oh?" Yamato blinked, caught off-guard. "Yes, that should be easy!" Just a quick visit by the Quartermaster should do it!

"Great! We'll need to leave in a hurry once I get the key to your shackles. And we should have everything we need for a long journey. Oh, and I'll need a disguise as well, something to sneak around the island in!"

"Yes, indeed!" Yamato felt a surge of enthusiasm. "Equipment and supplies for a long journey! I can…!"

Then she faltered, as she realized what he had said.

"Wait…Izuku…did you say…?"

"Your father does have the key, right? And it's the only one, isn't it? I just thought, because if there was another key, you'd have just taken it and left. So it had to be the only one, because that's an added incentive for you to keep fighting him, and…"

"Wait!" Yamato exclaimed, silencing his babble. "You…you're going to take the key?"

"Well, yeah. You said he's too strong to defeat, so I'll just have to steal it instead." Izuku grinned. "No one knows me here, right? So if I've got a disguise, I can take a look round with no one noticing. Once I've got my routes figured out, I can sneak in and out after the party when he's crashed-out drunk. He does like to drink, right?"

Yamato stared at him in amazement. Had he come up with that plan in the moments since she had told him all that?

"Yes, he does, all the time actually" she replied. "But he can hold his liquor better than most men. The Fire Festival is the only time he ever drinks enough to get sleepy, and even then he won't be helpless."

She knew that better than most. She had never been able to sneak up on Kaido, or past him. His Haki, the mysterious power that lay within every human heart, made sure of that. There was only one way this could work.

Heck, while he may have been more open to attacks while drunk, he also hit harder too… His Shuron Hakke martial arts was far more harder to predict than when he's sober.

"You may succeed, but only if I distract him."

Izuku looked worried.

"Are you sure you can do that?" he asked. "I don't want you getting hurt again."

"I need to!" insisted Yamato, her heart blazing with that old, familiar fire. "It's what Oden would have done! It's the least I can do!"

"Yamato…"

Yamato opened her mouth to repeat her insistence, and then saw the pain in his eyes. It was the same pain as when he had described the child Eri.

There was no way around it. If she owed him that service, then she owed him that truth too. It was the only way he would understand.

"Once, when I was younger, my father imprisoned me in a cave with three samurai," she said. "He had imprisoned them there to starve them, to break their spirits and force them to serve him. He gave them food enough for one person, and swords to fight over it with."

She paused, gulping down her pain, and her shame.

"Rather than fight over food, they gave the food to me instead. They even cut my chains, and showed me how to read Oden's logbook. Then, after ten days, they broke out of the cave and attacked my father, and died together."

The look in Izuku's eyes almost made her want to cry again.

"I was the daughter of their enemy, the one who had crushed their country and locked them in that cave. I was afraid that they would kill me. But instead they showed me kindness, and chose death before dishonor; just as Oden would have done."

She looked him in the eyes, her smiling coming back.

"They gave me hope, Izuku, as you gave Eri hope. They showed me what honor and dignity were, as you showed Eri the love she had never known. They showed me what sort of man Kozuki Oden was, as you showed Eri what a hero is."

She paused, mastering herself. She then gave a confident smile, feeling sure of his strength. She's fully healed since her clash against her father before meeting Izuku. She can take it.

"I'm not a helpless child like Eri, Izuku. Even with these chains, I can fight. Even if I can't beat my father, I can distract him; just long enough for you to get the key. That's all we have to do, Izuku, and then..." The words felt foreign, yet she felt hope fill her core. "We can get out of here."

Her smile broke into a big wide grin, as her passion blazed.

"I want to do this, Izuku! You're the first friend I've had since those three samurai, and I would rather die than forsake you! So then, let's do this together, Izuku! The way Oden would have wanted us to!"

She held out her hand, praying that he understood her meaning. For a few heartrending moments, Izuku hesitated. Then he grinned too, and grasped her wrist.

"I guess that makes us partners, Yamato!" He beamed. "Let's do our best!"

"Fine by me, Izuku!"

The plan's outline is set. Now to finish getting healthy, the right amount of stuff, and off we go.

Hope you all enjoyed. Wonder how they'll execute their plan to get up to Kaido's domicile... and if they encounter anyone else along the way.

Note that Izuku knows little of the Poses, hence asking for a compass.