Izuku's blood ran cold.
Page One was…changing, right before his eyes. His face was growing, extending forward into a muzzle. His teeth were growing longer, sharper. His skin was turning slowly into scales. His body was lengthening, his arms extending, his legs shifting and bending, an enormous tail bursting from his trousers.
He shuddered, struggling against the cold dread rising inside him. He had never felt anything quite like it. He had seen it before with Ryukyu, someone transforming to something entirely... inhuman. But this... even Ryukyu kept some human features.
Page One was…transforming, right in front of him. Into an honest to goodness Spinosaur.
He struggled to master himself, to control the strange, sickening disquiet. He had to think, and fast. If he fought, even if he won, he would only draw attention to himself. But if he ran, he would be pursued; and just end up drawing attention that way.
What was he to do? How could he respond?
In the corner of his eye, Izuku could see the other pirates staring at them; mostly with fear, some with might almost have been pity. He could hear them whispering among themselves.
"...gonna get it…"
"...eaten alive…"
"...dumb kid…"
"You are…" said Ulti, staring at him.
"Dead!" Page One roared. He was by now a dinosaur, red-scaled and yellow-eyed; his head still crowned with long purple hair. Of his clothes, only his trousers and belt remained. He loomed over Izuku, his yellow eyes full of malice, his white fangs bared. Izuku crouched, readying himself to fight.
Then stared, as Ulti flicked up her hand, her fist catching the dinosaur right on the jaw. The roar became a yell of pain, and Page One was hurled skyward, crashing into the ceiling.
"...so CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHH?!" All the pirates around them gawked, arms in the air.
"Huh?"
For a moment, Izuku's mind was blank. He had the vague notion that she had just called him cute, and that she was staring at him with big, bright, gooey eyes. The rest of his mind could not process this fact. It was a fact that just did not make any kind of sense.
"So cute!" Ulti grabbed him under the arms and held him up as if he were a little puppy. "Just look at those manly muscles, and those awesome scars! And that wittle freckled face! It's just so chubby and cute cute cute!"
She pulled him close and rubbed her nose against his giggling like a lovesick schoolgirl. Izuku hung where he was, utterly bewildered. Reality had officially failed.
All around them, the pirates stared in mute, blank disbelief.
"I've decided!" Ulti declared, bouncing up and down on her heels. "You're going to be my boyfriend!"
A cry of shock echoed through the corridor. Followed by a large thud, and a massive shadow as the giant Dinosaur looked down at Ulti, not with anger before but with exasperation.
"Sis!" spluttered Page One, who had managed to get himself down to the floor. "You…you can't just make a random guy your boyfriend!"
"Who says I can't!?" retorted Ulti, rounding on him. "Where else am I gonna find one this cute!? This whole island's full of uglies!"
She jabbed a finger at a random pirate.
"That one's too fat!"
"Hey!"
"That one's too skinny!"
"Huh?"
"That one has buckteeth!"
"I can't help it!"
"That one's bald!"
"I'm not that old! And being a pirate is stressful!"
"And that one…" She said, pointing at a pirate. He blinked, pointing at himself and then looking around. The bluenette sighed as if… disappointed.
"S-Say something Lady Ulti!"
"But this one!" She held him up again. "He's perfect! He's gonna join my creeeeew!"
She began twirling on tiptoe, spinning him around and around and giggling.
"Oh oh oh! I know what we'll do!" She beamed, and Izuku could see what she was thinking in her eyes. "We're gonna go on sailing trips! Go down Dressrossa in a gondola! We'll go shopping and he can hold my bags! We'll hold hands, watch the sunset, dance like passionate lovers, slurp up pasta with the most succulent marinara sauce, and kiiiiiiiiss!"
She hugged him tight, mashing his face into her bosom.
"But…but he touched your boobs!" protested Page One. It should not have been possible for a dinosaur to look crestfallen, but he was managing it. "I'm your brother! I have to defend your honor!"
"Huuuuuuh?" Ulti rounded on him again, the cutesy voice gone, now curt and coarse. "You're saying I can't fend for myself or make my own choices? Pay-pay? That I need to be led around like some dog on a leash and told when to go potty? You into girls eating out of a dog bowl with collars and demanding them to do whatever you want huuuuuuuh~?"
The Dinosaur blinked before the smaller and leering girl.
"Well, uh…that's a bit extreme but-"
"Well I want a boyfriend! And I found him! I don't get in the way of YOU picking a girl to be your woman do I?" She huffed.
"YoU dO tHaT aLl ThE tImE!" He squealed, claws before him, shoulder hunched and face utterly dismayed.
As they argued, Izuku managed to work his face free of her chest, enough to breathe, and to think. Her grip was like steel, and she was showing no sign of letting go. Besides, she was clearly temperamental, and would not respond well to him trying to escape. He would not be getting away without a fight; a fight he couldn't afford.
"You're gonna join my crew lounge for the evening right? Cutieeeeee?" Cheekbones raised with a big grin and eyes wide. Very very wide.
"Ummm...y-yeah…" Izuku babbled, eyes wide and smiling as awkwardly as possible. "I uhh... I'm new here so... Y-You're Lady Ulti, r-right?"
"I am!" She gushed, flipping him up and bringing her arm underneath, carrying him like a child. "Come on, we need to begin our feast! We can sit on the couch, eat yummy food and drink and…" she suddenly faltered, "h-h-h-h…hold hands!"
She had a hand to her cheek, closing her eyes and blushing deeply.
"Oh my we… we may be moving too fast but… the beaty-beaty in my chest is going so fast… Oh! What do I do~~~~. Oh!"
She perked up.
"You know my name but I don't know yours!" She said, eyes wide with fascination and attraction as she was beaming at him. "So what's your name?!"
Name.
What's his name again?
Not Izuku. Don't connect to Yamato in the interim or any place down the road long term when they get out of here.
If they get out of here.
"Uh…Deku, my lady!" It was all he could think of.
"Deku… Deku…. Oh…" She gasped, eyes wide. "So cuuuute Dekyuun! I love it! Let's go!"
She bounded off along the corridor, pirates scattering to avoid her, Page One following after, grumbling all the while. Izuku could only lie in her arms, powerless to resist, as they bounced past a sign on the wall.
VENTILATION ROOM.
"Well shit that was our stop wasn't it." Daigoro mused, and Izuku did his best to keep the smile on despite the sinking feeling in his gut.
(X)
This was not good.
From her vantage point, Yamato could see it all.
She gritted her teeth. Of all the people, of all the cruel, twisted, honourless good-for-nothings for Izuku to run into, it had to be her.
Ulti.
Yamato's lip curled. She had never gotten along with Ulti. In fact, she got along with Ulti a great deal worse than she got along with everyone else on Onigashima. They were opposites, in all the wrong ways. Ulti was fickle, treacherous, cruel, utterly without honor, decency, or even mercy. Her only virtue was loyalty; to Kaido and to her brother, and Yamato sometimes wondered about the latter as the boy of sixteen transformed back to normal.
Ulti was what she could so very easily have become. Yamato did not like that idea. But there were times, when she was alone in the dark, when life seemed cold and empty, that she wondered.
And now Izuku was in that wretched girl's clutches. Izuku…her friend.
Her only friend.
She squeezed her eyes shut. The plan was all but ruined now. If she intervened, she would have to fight Ulti and Page One. Any one of them she could defeat, but even that would drain her. To fight both of them was a risk too far, a chance she dared not take, not with Izuku around. She can defeat them both, but again, would drain her for the fight to come.
But if she did nothing, Ulti would take Izuku to her crew lounge; and heaven knew what dreadful fate awaited him there. To say nothing of the time. She looked at her watch. 10:00. Five more hours until she assaults Kaido's lair for Izuku to get the key. And every second is precious for Izuku to explore the vents and not get lost, even if it means he goes up constantly, he may get lost and try to navigate around until he finds the vent towards Kaido's chambers.
Izuku…
It wasn't fair. She had finally found a friend. Someone whose heart felt as hers did, and yearned as hers did. Someone who understood her, who enjoyed her company, delighted in her ideals, her dreams. Someone who actually wanted to help her; not for his own profit, or out of fear, but because he actually wanted to.
And Ulti had taken him. Ulti, who would drag him back to her lair, amuse herself with him until he bored her, and then toss him aside like a piece of rubbish. And if he actually displeased her in some way…
No! She could not let this happen! She would not abandon him to Ulti! She had to do something! It's what Kozuki Oden would have done!
But…what would he have done?
It would have to be fast. In and out. No prolonged slugfest. Just get Izuku away from Ulti and Page One!
Below, Ulti had come to a stop in front of a refreshment stand. There might still be time, a chance to intervene. But how to go about it? Oden had a knack for coming up with crazy plans on the fly. What would he have done?
Then she knew.
(X)
"Almost there, honey-bunbun!"
Izuku was in despair. What the heck was he supposed to do now? Ulti had carried him right past his destination, and from the sounds of it, they were almost at her crew lounge. Yamato had told him about such places; about how the All-Stars and most of the Flying Six all had their own crew lounges, where they and their officers could meet and relax, or else plot and scheme.
He did not know what sort of place Ulti's lounge would be. And he did not want to find out. Not after what Yamato had told him, and not after having met Ulti.
Ulti stopped suddenly, and Izuku heard something.
And there it was again. A crash, and shouts of confusion, followed by bouts of laughter.
"Wahahahahaha!"
Then he saw it. A tall woman, clad only in a loincloth and a strip of cloth around her bosom, a Hanya mask covering her face. She was capering around the corridor, in what looked vaguely like a traditional Japanese dance.
"I am Oden and I love to boil! I am Oden and I shall not toil! Haha!"
The bizarre figure drew closer, and Izuku's heart clenched as he recognised the hair flowing behind the mask. And her voice.
It was Yamato!
"Wha…"
"Is she doing?" En spoke aloud, finishing his thought in Izuku's head.
Izuku starred, dumbstruck, as Yamato continued her dance. Around her, pirates scrambled to get out of her way, or else laughed and jeered, leering at her performance.
"Wait who the hell is that babe?"
"That's the Young Master, Kaido's son Yamato!"
"Son?"
"Never mind that, he's dancing like an idiot!"
"But that's a she though right? I'm confused…"
"Oh god Yamato's dancing like that loser Oden! He must be sloshed hahahaha!"
His heart sank. They were laughing at her. Laughing, as if she was some kind of pathetic joke. Laughing, the way he had been laughed at, long ago, back in his own world.
Why? Why did they have to laugh at her like this? How could she put up with it?
"Shrrrrrrrrrrr…"
The long, venomous hiss drew him from his anguished reverie. It was coming from Ulti. Her eyes were no longer gooey, but bright with malice, and fixed on Yamato.
Izuku shivered. He could feel the change in her countenance, in her very aura. It was cold and dark, and seemed to emanate from her like a frigid winter wind, chilling him to the depths of his soul.
"Come on Sis," said Page One, suddenly nervous, that aggressive demeanor from before gone, acting like the nervous little brother he was. "He's plastered, that's all. Let's just go on to our lounge, okay?"
"Shhhhhrrrrrrrrr!"
Ulti paid her brother no mind. Her eyes had become reptilian slits, and her body was beginning to change, to transform as his had done, Izuku felt her forearms become scaly.
"Sis!" pleaded Page One. "Come one! He's not worth it!"
Izuku shivered even harder. Yamato had said that they were rivals, that she had beaten Ulti once before. Did Ulti hate her that much?
"Haha! Haha!" Yamato hopped and skipped, drawing closer. "I am Oden and I love to boil! I am Oden and I shall not toil! Aha-aha-aha!"
"Shhhhrrrrrrr!"
"I am Oden and I have no cash! I am Oden and I love to-
Izuku let out a yell as Yamato swung, her kanabo suddenly in her hand.
"SMAAASH!" The mace caught Page One on the side of his head, hurling him against the wall with a mighty crash. The wall cracked under the impact, throwing up a cloud of dust and splinters. Izuku stared, stunned, as Page One toppled over, crashing to the floor.
"THE YOUNG MASTER JUST CLOBBERED LORD PAGE ONEEEEE~!" yelled a pirate.
"Sheeeeeaaaaaaaaarrrrrr!"
Ulti's hiss became a shriek of rage. She dropped Izuku and flung her hand over her shoulder, ripping a long golden morningstar from its sheath. She leapt at Yamato, with a shriek that tore at Izuku's ears. The morningstar swung, clanging like some great bell as it struck Yamato's kanabo. Ulti yelled with rage and swung again, but Yamato was too fast, leaping back as the morningstar flashed through empty air. All around them the pirates scattered; some fleeing down the corridor, others stopping at a safe distance, watching the battle.
Izuku scrambled to his feet, making for the wall, unable to tear his eyes away. Ulti swung again and again, shrieking and raging with every blow. But Yamato blocked, and blocked again, with the ease and grace of a seasoned warrior.
Ulti screamed, and swung at Yamato's head. Yamato dodged, the golden morningstar slamming into the wall, cratering it. Izuku felt a wave wash over him, throwing him back against the wall. Yamato saw her chance, swinging hard as Ulti pulled her morningstar free. She leapt back as the kanabo came down, shaking the floor so hard that Izuku fell down. He scrambled up again, as Ulti hurled herself at Yamato, swinging her weapon around her head. The two weapons clashed, and the shockwave hit Izuku, hurling him back up the corridor.
Izuku staggered to his feet, and stared in amazement. What was that? What kind of power were they using?
They clashed, and he felt the shockwave again, hurling debris down the corridor and nearly throwing him off his feet. They clashed again, and again. Left, right, above, below. The corridor walls began to groan under the onslaught, the floor cracking as if struck by a hammer, more debris and dust kicking up.
He could feel it. This was not merely strength against strength, metal and against metal. Something else was at work, some power he could not see. Could it be a quirk, or something like it.
Izuku stared, entranced by their battle. A battle of titans, like something from a time of heroes and gods. They leapt, and stuck, and dodged, the rest of the world forgotten.
And neither landing a single blow upon each other, parrying and dodging like masters.
Izuku shook his head. This could not go on. Yamato could not get tired out, or their plan was in danger. He had to intervene, to give her some way to break off.
He had an idea. But he needed an opportunity, the right time.
All at once, Yamato moved. She leapt at Ulti, faster than Izuku had yet seen, swinging her kanabo down hard. Ulti threw herself sideways to dodge, but not fast enough, as the mace caught her head a glancing blow. She flew sideways, and Yamato pirouetted on one foot, swinging her kanabo like a baseball bat. The kanabo hit Ulti, and threw her into the wall, so hard that it cracked and groaned. Clouds of dust and splinters billowed out.
And there was his chance. He sprinted into the cloud, activating Smokescreen as he went. Smoke billowed from his body, adding to the already thick clouds of rock dust, filling up the corridor and hiding them from sight. He passed Yamato, close enough that her eyes met his under her mask, her smile wide.
They were bright, full of joy. But there was no time to congratulate her. Izuku met her gaze, praying that she understood what he yearned to say, and then sprinted on through the smoke.
(X)
"Uhhhh…whose ship was that?"
Page One groaned as he sat up, his head swimming. It had been a long time since anyone had hit him that hard.
He blinked, looking around. He was back in his human form, but all he could see was gray. Gray, that resolved itself into billowing clouds of smoke and dust.
What the heck had just happened?
He blinked again, as the dust settled. The corridor looked like a bomb had exploded in the middle of it. All the kiosks nearby were blasted to splinters, and the walls and floor were cratered and cracked.
Had Yamato and Ulti fought again?
He sighed. Well, it looked like it was over now; and that was a good thing. Time to head over to the lounge and feast the night away.
"Where are you, Yamato!?"
Except that wasn't going to happen. Ulti was standing amid the settling dust, fully transformed, much as he had done prior. Her skin was gone, replaced with green scales. Her high-crowned head, on its long neck, flicked back and forwards, blazing eyes staring for any sign of Yamato.
She was really angry now.
"Where are you, you bitch!?" shrieked the green-scaled, blue-haired, dress-wearing dinosaur that otherwise was his sister. "I'm gonna pound you into a fucking pancake if it's the last thing i do! I'll hang your head over the fireplace for me and Dekyun to…to…" Her eyes widened, the fury gone as a realization set in. "Dekyun?"
'Oh god,' Page One sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
She looked frantically around, but there was no sign of her hapless paramour.
"Dekyun! Where dwells my fair Dekyuuun!?" She wailed like a mother who had lost their child.
She darted over to a luckless pirate and grabbed him, lifting him off the ground.
"Where's my Dekyun!?"
"Uh…"
Ulti headbutted the unfortunate man and dropped him. Before he'd even hit the ground, she was grabbing the next pirate in reach. And the next one, and the next one.
"Where's Dekyun?"
"I dunno…ugh!"
"Where's my Dekyun!?"
"Who? Aggh!"
"What've you done with my Dekyun!?"
"Whuh…ooff!?"
"Sis!" pleaded Page One, pulling himself to his feet and staggering after her. "Come on sis! This isn't helping!"
"Wait!" Ulti stopped suddenly. Her eyes were wide with dread. "Don't tell me…Yamato…she's taken him away to…to…to…" Her claws on her cheeks. "Ravish him!"
Page One had a sudden and unwanted vision. A classic case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, if ever there was one.
"You'll pay for this you biiiiiitch!" shrieked Ulti, arching her back in a roar. "He's gonna give me babieeeess!"
"Sis, that is taking things way too fast!" Page One barked up at her.
"WAY TOO FAST!" The few pirates around agreed.
"Give him baaaack!"
The dinosaur-Ulti bounded off down the corridor, pirates scattering to avoid her. Page One dashed after her, sprinting hard to pull alongside.
"Do you even know where she went!?" he called up to her.
"It's this way or that way! Fifty-fifty chance!" retorted Ulti. "I'll tear this place apart until she gives back my Dekyun!"
Page One sighed inwardly. It was the Golden Festival, and he was supposed to be enjoying himself. Instead, he was chasing around after his sister while she chased Yamato who might or might not have made off with her latest cuddle toy.
He wondered why he was even surprised.
(X)
No sign.
Spytand Malice glared down at the floor below. He was standing on the outer edge of the first floor of the castle, which he had just thoroughly searched. There was no sign of the boy anywhere.
He gritted his teeth. Of all the stupid things to go and do; losing sight of him in a place like this. He knew Onigashima fairly well, well enough to know that his search was all but hopeless. The island offered a thousand and one places to hide, to disappear from sight. That kid could be anywhere.
He wiped his chin with the back of his hand. There was blood on it.
Then he heard something. The thunder of heavy footsteps, and yells of surprise and fear. He leaned over the handrail, looking for the source of the noise.
Then he saw it.
"Yamatoooooooooooo!"
It was Ulti, in her dinosaur form, sprinting down the gap between the castle and one of the outer buildings; scattering pirates before her.
"RUN IT'S LADY ULTI!"
"SHE'S ON A RAMPAGE!"
"Yamatooooooooo! Give me back my boyfrieeeeeeeeend!"
"Boyfriend?" The ex-Marine uttered.
He sighed. So Ulti had claimed another victim for the evening. The poor fellow should have counted himself fortunate he hadn't caught Black Maria's eye. He'd keep his sanity in check, at least.
"Wait…" he uttered aloud.
Then it hit him. Yamato. This boyfriend had been taken..by Yamato.
He leapt the handrail and plummeted to the floor. He landed hard, right in front of the charging dinosaur. Taken by surprise, Ulti skidded to a halt; her brother Page One doing likewise.
"What's going on, Ulti?" he demanded, glaring up at her. All around him, pirates fled in any available direction.
"Whadda you care, turncoat!?" retorted the dinosaur, glowering down at him. "You want Dekyun for yourself, is that it!? Are you into boys now!? That's why you don't have a lounge to party, ya take 'em to some dark corner and have ya way with'em? Huuuh~?!"
Malice bared his teeth. He was in no mood to be mocked, especially not by her. He had never fought her before, but he was almost angry enough not to care.
"I have to find my Dekyun! My adorable sweet precious Dekyun! We were gonna cuddle-wuddle on the lounge and feed each other chocolaaaates~"
Ulti clasped her clawed hands together, and started spinning and hopping around, eyes bright with imagining. She looked, for all the world, like a lovesick, over-excited schoolgirl.
"You wanna clue me in here?" he asked, turning his attention to an exhausted and bewildered Page One.
"She saw some guy…and now she wants him…" wheezed Page One. "But Yamato jumped us, and now he's gone."
"Dekyun my Dekyun my Dekyun my Dekyun!" chanted Ulti, twirling around and around in her Dinosaur form, making quakes as she sang to herself, lost in her fantasy.
"She jumped you?"
That wasn't like Yamato. When she wanted to fight someone, she challenged them openly; like that dead idiot Kozuki Oden whom she so admired. He had never heard of her simply ambushing someone. Few people challenged her, most of the time that being Ulti due to her temper. For Yamato to jump her…
Odd.
"Yeah! She was dancing around like Oden used to when we took over Wano! I thought she was plastered, but then she smashed my head in. Hell she maybe I dunno… Next thing I know the place is trashed and that Deku kid is gone!"
"Dekyun my darling! Dekyun my prince! Dekyun my angel!"
Deku…some kid named Deku…whom Yamato had rescued…
"Did this kid by any chance have green hair?" he asked cautiously. "Built, but pretty meh in the face department?"
"Yeah, he did!" Page One gave him a weird look. "Why?" The blond haired marine snarled.
"None of your business!"
Malice turned on his heel and strode away, leaving Ulti to her antics.
Now he knew something was going on. Yamato and that boy were working together. If he found Yamato, he would find that boy, and finally get some answers.
(X)
Safe!
Yamato sighed with relief, as the plank slotted back into place. She was back in the crawlspace, and better still, she had gotten there unnoticed.
She paused for a moment, breathing slowly, peering out of the nearest crack to keep watch. There was no sign of anyone following her, or even looking for her.
Good. She had given those wretched siblings the slip. Knowing Ulti, she would be charging around the island screaming at the top of her lungs, tearing the place apart in search of her Dekyun. By the time she calmed down, and got her crew mobilized to search, it would be far too late.
In spite of everything, she found herself smiling. A part of her couldn't blame Ulti for being taken with Izuku. There was something…nice about him, that she couldn't otherwise put into words.
It made her wonder, for a moment, how she might have felt had things been different. What if she had not been Kaido's daughter, or if he had not been the man he was? What if she had been more like an ordinary woman, with ordinary feelings? What if she had not grown up surrounded by pirates, with only Kozuki Oden's example to sustain her?
Yamato shook her head. No time for that now. The plan was back on schedule, and freedom beckoned.
Her neatly-folded clothes were where she had left them. It took only a moment to pull them back on. This done, she began her journey, through the hidden paths of Kaido's castle, up to the higher floors.
"See you there, Izuku," she whispered, as she began the long climb.
(X)
Free, for now.
Izuku made his way through the crowds, head lowered, eyes straight ahead. No one paid him more than a glance. They were too busy carousing, wandering drunkenly from venue to venue, alone or in groups, pouring down booze, laughing and joking in their alcohol-fuelled bonhomie.
They would not see him. There was nothing to see. He had found a new set of horns and goggles, and even a bandana to cover his face; all care of a group of prematurely crashed-out pirates. He had felt a little bad about it; he had basically mugged them. But this was not Japan, and he was in no position to worry about things like that.
He turned a corner, and headed down yet another side street. He had been following the signs to the ventilation room, but all he found was more of the same. More drinking dens, more carousing pirates. Kiosks, bars, and vendors. He was starting to wonder if the place was anywhere to be found.
His route took him up a set of stairs. At the top, a convenient sign marked his location as the second floor. That was good. At least he was on the right floor. Now he only had to get to the Ventilation Room. From what Yamato told him, it was large enough to be accessed on the first and second floors. With the First floor being prowled by Ulti, the Second Floor should be safe from her, and all he had to do was go down the way he ran on this floor, and he'll come back to the Ventilation Room.
"DEKYUUUN I'M COMING FOR YOUUUU~!"
Izuku let out a shriek, and leapt for the nearest cover he could find; a line of pirates queuing beside a door. He looked around, and his heart jumped into his mouth.
"MY DARLING DEKYUUUUUUUUN~!"
It was an enormous green dinosaur; that was for some reason wearing Ulti's blue and white dress, and had purple hair. It was also screaming in her voice, screaming the name he had given her.
The pirates around him panicked. They started shoving forward, yelling and pushing, struggling to get out of Ulti's way. Izuku was carried along by the throng, unable to stop himself from being carried through the door.
The door slid shut behind them, and the pirates listened in fearful silence, as heavy footsteps thundered past, and faded into the distance.
Izuku eased his way through the crowd, as a buzz of conversation picked up around him. The room in which he found himself was very large, and curiously calm. The lights were turned down low, giving a soft dark feel around the massive room and someone was playing a languid tune on a piano.
He looked around, amazed. It was like some old-style jazz lounge. The clientele weren't dressed in the usual viking-biker getup, but smart suits and similar. It was all very calm, very civilized.
He checked his watch. 10:30pm. He had five, maybe six hours before launching the plan. He could hide here for a little while, then slip out and head for the ventilation room once things had calmed down.
Izuku headed further into the lounge, and sat down on a couch. No one seemed to notice him. He sighed in relief. Good, he could relax and…
"Hey there, buddy."
Izuku snapped his head round, heart hammering.
Something was lounging behind him under a stone shrine of sorts. It looked like a Sabertooth tiger, but he was fairly sure they weren't supposed to be that big. And he was even sure they weren't supposed to be able to talk... or smoke a cigarette.
"You're kinda in my normal seat there. and I'm feeling hungry so... mind movin'?"
Its eyes glowed, catlike. Izuku's blood ran cold, as he heard what sounded like a hiss in the air around him.
He looked around. He saw cat ears, cat tails, cat claws. The well-dressed clientele around him had cat features for accessories; some just ears and tails, others the heads of lions and tiger. Some were entirely feline. A few were entirely feline, as if they were Mink or had consumed similar Zoan fruits.
And their eyes were settling on him, all of them chuckling in the darkness.
Their glowing eyes.
Sabertooth Tiger…
All that to avoid Ulti's lounge and her iron grip, and now he was in Who's Who's lounge.
Staring into the eyes of the Flying Six's strongest.
Inside the literal tiger's den.
(X)
So yeah, we needed some much needed levity... and we are right back to suspense. And Who's Who... is no Ulti.
Big thanks to Juubi-K for writing this up and IKnowNothing for his looking over. It's my turn to bat, and hopefully it'll be more of this length. Or shorter of sorts. Gonna be fun seeing Izuku go inside a literal tiger's den here. How will he get out? Will he get out? That remains to be seen...
Hope you all enjoyed. I do have something a story cover image in mind, but it has some characters on it that could be spoilers. Or I could try for say, a commissioned image of Izuku and Yamato at some point in this arc I could utilize.