"There really isn't anything you can do?" Inko asked.

"I'm really sorry for your loss, Mrs. Midoriya. You do indeed have a case. The HPSC violated several laws guaranteeing your son due process and asylum from foreign prosecution, but our firm lacks the resources to fight against the government. As someone who has seen colleagues and their clients crushed taking cases against them, I must regretfully advise that you move on. At best, they might be willing to settle, but that would require you to give a public statement on their behalf supporting their actions."

With a scowl, Inko set the phone down more firmly than was polite. As silence filled the apartment, the anger ebbed out of her, and she sank into the sofa with a choked sob. Notes on prosecutors and Japanese laws lay littered around her, each one crumpled as they bore no fruit.

The phone rang. Inko wiped away her tears and said, "Hello?"

"Mrs. Midoriya. You have my condolences about your son."

"Who is this?"

"Koku Hanabuta, with the Hearts and Mind party. Would it be alright if I came in for a quick survey?"

Inko went to the window. She saw a lone man waiting in front of the building, wearing a black coat despite the heat and a wide-brimmed hat to hide his face.

"Of course. I'll ring you in."

Hanabuta hung up and stepped into the building. Inko nervously let him in, staying near the kitchen knives while she poured out some tea. The man smiled easily at her and hung his hat and coat on the rack.

"Thank you for meeting me in person, though I do wish it were under better circumstances. The HPSC likely has your phone tapped, and it wouldn't do for them to overhear our conversation."

Inko gave the phone a worried glance. "I see. Then why are you really here?"

"Word has gone around about your attempts to hire legal help. I want to provide that help."

No offense, Mr. Hanabuta, but my impression is that the Hearts and Mind party isn't exactly influential."

Koku smiled. "Yes, it is something of a grassroots movement. Expect to be surprised in the next election, especially if we pull this off."

He accepted a mug from Inko and took a sip. "But it's not the party I'm representing today. I, and many others in Japan, have long been concerned with the HPSC's draconian policies, restricting personal freedoms and infringing on the rights of the people. Your son's unlawful detainment by an unknown foreign power for unproven crimes without trial or due process is but the latest of the HPSC's transgressions. For years, we've been sharpening our knives, waiting for the right opportunity to dismantle their organization, and we believe the time has come."

"You want to use my son's imprisonment as a political stunt?"

"The HPSC is a political entity, one deeply entrenched in an economy and culture driven by hero worship. Any attempt to hold them accountable is inherently a political stunt." Koku shrugged off his coat and stretched his arms. "Fact of the matter is, all the lawyers and resources in the world won't amount to anything if the Japanese government is unwilling to let them lose. But, with how deeply unpopular the HPSC made themselves backstabbing the most popular hero in the nation, the government can't bail them out without risking public opinion turning against them as well." With a genial smile, Koku added, "And the next election is right around the corner."

"What do you need me to do, then?"

"You need not do anything, Mrs. Midoriya." Koku gave her an apologetic look and added, "Of course, the real fight against the HPSC won't be in the courtroom. We need to hit the HPSC where it will hurt the most, in the court of public opinion. And if a distraught mother were to give a tearful sob-story about how she has no idea what's going on, or how she's afraid she'll never see her son again…"

At his words, Inko started crying again. As she wiped them away, Koku hurriedly set his mug down and said, "I do apologize, that was insensitive of me. I fully understand if you're not feeling well enough for the media circus."

Inko sniffed loudly and wiped away her tears. "No. No, I'll do it. I can't just - how soon can we do the interview?"

Koku fashioned his sharp grin into something with smoother edges. "We have some PR experts that can help coach you through it. Once they give you the okay, we can set up a live interview. Late in the evening, for maximum impact." He handed Inko a burner phone and said, "We'll be in touch. In the meantime, I would advise that you continue your calls. We don't want the HPSC to see the knock-out punch coming."

With that word of warning, Koku went back to his car. Ensuring he had the tinted windows rolled up, Koku said into his phone, "Got her onboard."

"Were you followed?"

"No sign of a tail, and the area has poor camera coverage."

"Excellent. I'll send Curious her way."

Koku raised an L-shaped hand to his forehead, thumb pointed towards his skull. "For the will of Destro."

Sir Nighteye nervously tapped his knee as he waited outside Nezu's office. He knew that the rat could see him immediately, knew that making him wait was an intimidation tactic, a way to unnerve him and expose weaknesses, and it was all the more effective for it.

Eraserhead opened the door. As he left, he looked Mirai over and said, "It was nice knowing you."

With the door left open, Mirai took the unspoken invitation and stepped inside. On impulse, he reached for a cup of tea, only to find Nezu hadn't poured one for him.

"You wished to speak with me?" Nezu asked.

"I did."

"And given the context, your tone of voice over the phone and reluctance to mention specifically what you wished to discuss, I assume that you saw something alarming in Midoriya's future, and rather than inform me about it, you instead went to the HPSC."

"You don't understand, he-"

"Of course I don't. You never gave me a chance to."

Mirai adjusted his glasses and steeled himself. "I saw him destroy the world. He killed everyone, even Star and Stripe. I had to do something, even if my Quirk has never been wrong."

"And you couldn't have gone to me?"

"Of course not! He never listens to me! There's no way he would ever believe that his successor-"

"You are mistaken on that front."

Mirai blinked. "Pardon?"

"I let the HPSC believe that he was All Might's successor to hide the fact that his friend invented time travel and a way to access an alternate dimension, and that he acquired anomalous powers from said alternate dimension."

"Wait, then those Marines-"

"Are soldiers with All Might-level powers serving the military dictatorship from said alternate dimension that have come here to expand their territory." Nezu took a pointed sip of his tea. "And we just lost our best defense against them."

Mirai took a calming breath. "Surely it can't be that bad. They're not going to openly declare war on an entire world, right?"

Nezu held up a television remote. "Maybe, maybe not. I imagine this interview will prove most illuminating."

Chitose gave Inko a once-over. A light touch of makeup, enough to make her photogenic while making it look like she isn't wearing any, with some eyeshadow to accentuate those bags under her eyes without drawing undue attention to them. Hair combed, with a lone strand out of place, shirt freshly pressed and one corner sticking out. The perfect tableau to evoke sympathy instead of disgust.

"Nervous?" Chitose asked.

"Very," Inko admitted. "I know we went over this, but I-"

"Don't worry, that's perfect. Any stumbles you make will have people thinking it's the grief coming out. Try not to wipe at any tears, we don't want that makeup smudging, and if you need a break, act flustered and overwhelmed."

"G-got it."

"Knock 'em dead, girl."

Inko gave a hysterical giggle and strode to the interview chair like a death row prisoner.

"And there's the guest of the hour!" their show host called, giving Inko a warm welcome and gesturing for her to sit. "Inko Midoriya, know that our thoughts and prayers are with you as we await word about your son. Has the HPSC or any other government agency told you what's going on?"

Some frustrated tears slip out of Inko's eyes. Chitose grinned. The interview just started, and they're already twisting the knife in the HPSC's belly.

"No," Inko spat out. "I don't even know if he's alive, or what they've done with them. We don't even know who these 'Marines' are and they handed him over like-"

"Like he hadn't saved thousands of lives?"

"Exactly!"

Good improv, subtly reminding the audience of Viridian's exploits. Chitose messaged herself to give the man a raise later.

"And you haven't been allowed to contact him either?"

"When I asked, the police said it was out of their jurisdiction. The HPSC wouldn't even talk to me! I just - I don't even know if he's alive!"

"I wish we could have confirmation one way or another, but these 'Marines' aren't abiding by international law and refuse any and all comments on the matter. Which does make it very troubling that the HPSC turned over the number one pro hero to them in the first place."

"I don't even know why they did it!" Inko shouted. "They said he was a criminal, and the HPSC just… went with it? Why? How do they not know if they're lying?"

"Unfortunately, we can't give your son due process. Any attempts to send him a lawyer to guarantee his rights ended with that lawyer being turned away by these Marines. However, we can bring the HPSC to justice. They violated many of Viridian's basic rights, including a right to fair trial, right to asylum from foreign prosecution, right to legal counsel, and others. I hear that the court date is this Wednesday?"

"That's right." Inko sniffled. "But I don't care about that. I just want my son back."

"And we will, Mrs. Midoriya. But until the government decides to intervene, there's little we can do when a foreign government is involved. In the meantime, this trial will prevent the HPSC from doing this to anyone else. With everyone that calls in and voices their complaints, the government will be pressured into taking action. Then, if the Marines won't turn your son over for a fair and proper trial, we will teach them how this world handles justice."

Chitose kept one eye on the interview while she studied the viewer retention. The initial viewer count was higher than the Japanese population, and it had only swelled as they continued to heap blame on the HPSC. She flagged Skeptic with a request for incoming traffic to the HPSC, police, and parliament contact lines. As those streamed in, one of the interns ran up to her.

"Ma'am!" the young man said. "They, um, the Marines, they're forcing their way in! What do we do?"

Chitose felt her whole body shiver. She looked out the windows. Marines stood in neat ranks while Akainu stormed past the broken shards of the front door.

"They're after Inko! Should we get her out of here?"

This was the moment Chitose had been waiting for her whole life. The assassination of an archduke. The puff of steam from an engine. The first tremulous wail of a glowing infant. Moments that changed the world forever. And here she was, with her fingers on the strings, the puppeteer of the entire planet. Her words, her camera, her very whim would bring about a new era for mankind.

"Get cameras on them, now," Chitose hissed, keeping her voice quiet, "And whatever happens, do not turn them off. Make a show of trying to stop them without getting in their way. And don't stop the interview, let the Marines do that themselves."

The intern nodded nervously and ran off. Chitose sent word to have Trumpet mobilize immediately and settled in to watch the show.

Akainu didn't disappoint. He crashed into the interview with all the subtlety of an unstoppable pyroclastic flow. Inko's face went ashen as the Admiral stomped up to her.

"Your son's guilt is your own," Akainu rumbled. "You made him into the nuisance that defies the World Government. And now, you continue to stir up trouble in his absence. Clearly, your blood is as tainted as Roger's, and you cannot be allowed to live."

Chitose glanced away to see the world's reaction. The internet exploded as hundreds of millions heard the proclamation. Shouts to stop them, to have the heroes step in, that it was unjust and these foreigners had no right inundated the comments.

She texted Skeptic a request to keep the HPSC from intervening as long as possible. A little traffic light manipulation went a long way for most vehicle-bound heroes, and they had Hawks stuck preparing a PR rebuttal.

Inko stood, uncharacteristically composed, and stared her death in the face. "I have done no wrong, and if this is what you call justice, then I know my son was also unjustly accused. You have no right to take me anywhere without permission from the government. I know my rights.."

"I have every right, and you have none. I am Absolute Justice. All those guilty of defying the World Government shall be punished. And since everyone here seems to have trouble understanding that fact, I will show them all, right here, right now."

Akainu's grip burned as it clamped around Inko's wrist. She screamed and pulled, kicking her heels in, but she may as well have been a sapling before lava flow. Akainu ripped her away and carried her outside the news station.

The Marines brought out a pillory, weighted down with heavy stones. Inko kicked and pulled as Akainu forced her head and wrists onto the wooden block, and it slammed shut with a deafening thud. She reached out, and one of the Marines stumbled slightly as she pulled on his belt. A Marine punched her, spraying blood across the interview table, and her hands went limp.

"I came to this world to see what place would spawn a boy as vile and despicable as Viridian." Akainu's voice thundered across the high rises and over the growing crowd recording with their phones. "And I see a world of decadence and luxury, a world that has forgotten what it is to struggle, a people who think themselves kings of their own castles, beholden to nobody, paying lip service to a hollow government ruled by the whims of the weak and cowardly. Your leaders have failed you, letting you spoil like fruit on the vine. You need a proper government, one to put you in your place and make you see how the world really works."

Chitose's lips twisted at that. She'd have to spin the story to make the HPSC look like it's bowing to their whims, and the Marines criticizing them would hardly help.

"The first rule, the first law of how the world works, is that nobody defies the World Government. Inko Midoriya, who had birthed and raised the pirate Viridian, who sailed beneath Roger's banner, who challenges the natural order of the world with every breath he takes, is hereby guilty of sedition and treason. Therefore, she shall face justice. Swift, and immediate."

A Marine strode forward, hefting a massive axe over one shoulder. As she raised it high, Akainu said, "Witness, all of you, your first taste of Absolute Justice."

Mirai went pale as the interview showed Marines storming the news station. He bolted up and said, "You had to know this was going to happen."

"I suspected."

"And you did nothing to stop it?"

"Given it was one woman, even if she was deeply connected with one of my students, I could not compromise the safety of all my students."

"But if this makes him snap, then we're all dead!" Mirai shouted.

"Perhaps. If you had told me all this earlier, I might have done something. Now it is too late."

"No." Mirai straightened his shirt and took his weighted stamps out of his pocket. "The station's close. I can make it."

"You can't win."

"I have to try!" Mirai's hands shook as he watched the television out of the corner of his eye. "I've spent too long watching all my worst predictions unfold. I refuse to let this happen."

Mirai sprinted to his car and swerved out of the parking lot. Immediately, he ran into packed traffic on the streets. Up ahead, he saw the lights firmly stuck on red as traffic piled up in front of him.

"There has to be something I can do. Show me!"

Catching his own eyes reflected in the rear view mirror, Mirai tapped his wrist and watched his future unfold. Honking his horn, he swerved up onto the sidewalk and sped down as pedestrians rushed aside. Parking meters snapped and the passenger side crumpled as Mirai forced his vehicle towards the news station.

Mirai drove his car straight into a Marine. As it flung them to the ground, Mirai unbuckled his seatbelt, crashed through the broken windshield, and brandished his stamps. Staying low and moving quickly, Mirai jammed his stamps into pressure points. Marines fell, clutching bruised shins and nursing numbed arms. An axe swung at him. Nighteye leaned back, kicked up, and slammed the wrist hard enough to break it. With two flicks of his wrists, Mirai flung his stamps as the pillory. The wooden block shattered, and Inko stumbled free.

"Run! Get to U.A.!" Nighteye called as he vaulted over her. He knew even the weakest of the Marines was beyond him. They were stronger, faster, and more resilient. One punch from them would shatter his ribcage. Yet, Mirai ducked and wove, forcing Marines into each other, jabbing their necks and punching into their liver. He felt at once in control and dancing to another's tune, the artist sketching his own movements, the composer and the instrument, crafting the future as he obediently obeyed its every twist and turn.

Akainu flung a glob of magma. Mirai leaned around it, feeling the searing caress of its heat as it passed close enough to singe his hair. He flung one weight. Akainu's face rippled, and the stamp sank into it. Mirai took out his last one and charged. He knew he couldn't win, but he could stall long enough to let Inko escape and then he-

Incandescent pain bloomed across his chest. Mirai looked down. Akainu's arm, blanketed in a glossy black shell, jutted into his chest. He felt the film reel of his future stutter and switch over to a new take, one that ended in flickering embers and a spray of blood.

As Mirai gasped like a suffocating fish, Akainu raised the discarded axe over Inko's head.

"Justice will not be denied."

Mirai couldn't even scream as he watched Inko's head roll.

Kirishima's hands clenched as he watched the news. Aizawa had turned it on the moment he got off the phone, and he stared at them all in cold silence. He heard gasps and grinding teeth, shouts and whispers, but none of it pushed past the blood pulsing in his ears. The world had flipped upside down, and Kirishima was falling away from the world.

"This is what we're up against," Aizawa said, forcibly dragging Kirishima back into the moment. "None of you are ready for it. We teachers aren't ready. This country is not ready. I would encourage you all to hang up your capes and hide, or run, or stay with your families, if they wouldn't come for you eventually. So, for today, go home. Spend time with your loved ones, get some rest, and enjoy one last moment of peace before we go to war. Tomorrow, we start the kind of training I wish I didn't have to put you through. That is all."

Kirishima looked around. A few stricken faces showed that a few might drop out anyway, but most looked solemn or angry. Kirishima had no idea how he felt. All that he knew was that he had to do something.

His feet carried him to a gym. He recognized the stacks of weights and the scrubbed spot on the wall. He barely felt the heft of iron as he shoved one after the other onto his limbs.

"What are you doing?" Tokoyami asked. "He said to go home."

"Izuku told me how he got so strong," Kirishima answered. "Before he got his power, he pushed his body to its limit and beyond, and it put itself back together stronger than ever."

"That shouldn't work."

"I know. I already tried it."

"And you're doing it again?"

"I have to do something!" Kirishima clattered as he stomped over to the next rack of weights. "Midoriya put everything on the line to protect us, and I just sat there and watched while they killed his mother. I can't let that happen again."

As Tokoyami struggled to find an answer, Iida stormed in. "You shouldn't be so reckless. I almost destroyed myself for revenge. I won't let you do the same."

"I would destroy myself just as thoroughly if I refused to protect my friends." Kirishima tested the weights on his body. It was the same amount as last time, but it felt too light. Another pair of barbell plates slipped over his shoulders.

"And you think there isn't any other way, gero?" Tsuyu asked.

"Maybe there is. But, somehow, I have a feeling this is right. I almost made it last time. I was one step away. I still get shivers thinking about that last step. I felt like if I moved another inch, I would shatter into a million pieces." Kirishima grinned at them. "But now, the Marines scare me even more."

As Kirishima reached for the next plate, Tokoyami grabbed it. Kirishima moved to take it from him, until he saw Tokoyami fit it over his own arm. Tsuyu snagged another pile with her tongue and tugged it onto her thighs.

"This is crazy," Iida said. "You know that, right?"

"Our classmate was a pirate in another dimension who got powers from a fruit. We need to be just as crazy to take on that magma dude."

The marker lay where he left it, with a faint layer of dust over it. Kirishima made his first, faltering step towards the other wall. Tsuyu and Tokoyami marched alongside him. Iida prevaricated, looking between the weights and the doors.

"Shouldn't you at least have someone nearby in case you hurt yourselves?"

"I won't need it. I already decided I won't fail this time."

Iida's face twisted as he watched his classmates struggle under their burdens. Slapping his own face, Iida fastened the remaining weights to his limbs. His engines burned as he hurried to catch up with the others.

Kirishima drew the first line. The others tapped the wall with them.

"We're doing this without water?" Tsuyu croaked.

"We won't need it. Don't stop."

A second line joined the first. Dark Shadow dragged behind Tokoyami, struggling under its own armful of weights.

"How many times did you say we're doing this?"

"I didn't. You'll know when we make it."

The others quickly lost the breath for words. Silence fell between them, broken only by the clanking of iron, gasping breaths, and the scrape of marker against the wall. Five became ten, twenty turned into fifty. Marks trailed off and crossed over each other, and the count blurred into oblivion. All that remained was the next step, the agonizing crawl towards the opposite wall, and the steadily growing count of tallies on the horizon.

Kirishima went to raise his arm again. It wouldn't move. He stared aghast at the wall, tantalizingly close, but unable to muster the strength to mark it. A hoarse, silent yell left his throat as he felt his body breaking under the strain.

He refused to give. His arms wouldn't budge, but he could still move his head. He bent down, ignoring the fire in his ribs, and bit the marker. With a slash of his neck, he scraped the marker against the wall. It slipped from his mouth, flying across the mat, leaving a jagged line across a sea of tick marks.

Strength gone from his body, Kirishima fell in a heap of jellied limbs and barbell weights. The others collapsed beside him, heaving for breaths as they struggled to raise their heads enough to see the wall.

"Can anyone tell how many?" Iida gasped out. "I think my glasses slipped off."

Kirishima's vision was just as blurry. He squinted, and the wall came into sharp relief. Twenty… forty… sixty… ninety…

One hundred and thirty six. They had gone beyond Midoriya's challenge.

Bones fractured, limbs aching, stomach howling with an unimaginable hunger, Kirishima let his head fall back and gave a rasping, wheezing laugh.

"So it worked after all."

Kirishima rolled over. Mei stood by the door, tinkering with a mechanical limb next to an enormous covered table. Mei put the limb on, tested the movement of her fingers, and effortlessly yanked the four of them out of their weights.

"Congratulations. I'm naming you honorary Straw Hats. Now eat up. We've got work to do."

The handfuls Kirishima crammed into his mouth tasted sweeter than anything else he'd ever had.

A/N: first, a little announcement, which you might've seen before. If you've been keeping tabs on me the past few years, you might have noticed that I post a lot of stories on Christmas day. I'm still going to do that, but this year will be a touch different.

Starting on the 1st of December, I will release a new short story, with chapters sprinkled throughout the month and a finale on Christmas Day. Let's just say it involves weed, powdered sugar, and property damage. Also on Christmas Day, I will release the first chapter of two other short stories, which will have chapter updates once a month on an alternating biweekly schedule. In other words, Story A will get a chapter, then story B two weeks later. One Small Step will also get another chapter drop Christmas Day, as well as maybe a IMTBJ chapter and possibly another Deku Ex Christmas special if Santa's corpse hasn't rotted too much.

In the meantime, good luck shedding all that weight you've just gained.

Speaking of weight gain, boy have I had a weekend. Had two Thanksgivings, and between them, I made potatoes twice, dinner rolls, pan-fried cabbage, honey glazed carrots that turned out a bit underdone, a sirloin tip roast, and oat milk pudding because I had a guest allergic to wheat, dairy, almond, and soy. Doesn't exactly leave a lot of options on the dessert end of things. Also made buttermilk biscuits and snickerdoodles, with coconut macaroons and thumbprint cookies on the schedule for tomorrow.

Also, just have to say, running is absolutely miserable this time of year, especially that home stretch going up a hill. My god, I swear I'm going to keel over one of these days. I'd get a gym membership, but cancelling a subscription's harder.

Battlesny: "tomatoes don't care about your human concept of when seasons should be."

Bardothren: well, they sure as heck care now. One dusting of snow and they all shriveled into dust.

ViewerPetu: "I really really hope that Mei takes HPSC to task publicly. Seriously, literally stabbing your strongest protector in the back on the words of a foreign invasion force from a government that has committed genoside (buster call) and regularly takes party in literal slavery."

Bardothren: well, in their defense, they didn't know about the slavery bit. But boy howdy, are they going to learn. :)

Omykiller1: "I wonder why is izuku could not just do what Sonic does and dimensionl to a parallel world and get a versions of him to help"

Bardothren: probably because those parallel worlds don't have him in it.

Finchwilliam3: "This was awesome. i didn't expect the HPSC to betray him. and you're right this eill absolutely in no way shape or form ever come back to bite them. it's not like the world government will completely take them over and make them realize just how bad they are. have fun with that you idiots."

Bardothren: the HPSC president, after turning off the live execution in the city, says, "Well, shit."

Mernom: "The timing suggests that Izuku ended up there right about the time Luffy will be breaking out, no? A bit before, perhaps."

Bardothren: that assumes there wasn't some sort of butterfly effect that prevented Ace's imprisonment in the first place, like, say, Crocodile never getting kicked out of the Warlords because of how Alabasta went down, which meant Blackbeard had to delay his plans to become a Warlord.

TheGreatBubbaJ: "Looks like we're back to water world."

Bardothren: dry land is not a myth! I have seen it!

Also, thank you SomethingWitty for informing me that isn't an actual WaterWorld quote.

NoahRed: "Such… disappointing chapter in comparison the rest"

Bardothren: I would've thought that an epic rematch with Kizaru would've been entertaining, but eh. They can't all be winners.

IzuNeet7: "hawks should be turned into chicken wings"

Bardothren: later, Mei strolls into a KFC with a bloody sack

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lie in bed until the pain goes away.