Chapter 6 - The Clash of His Two Heroes
Events Not Covered:
- When Luffy & Company found their way to Shakky's ripoff bar, the events proceeded mostly as normal, afterwards however, Izuku and All Might decided to search for Rayleigh in more lawless lands, being introduced and given a transponder snail from the Straw Hats in the meantime. Nothing extremely interesting happened during their visit to the lawless lands.
- Izuku and All Might get the news that "Fire Fist" Ace is to be publicly executed in Marineford before Luffy and his crew do. Luffy informs All Might that they know where Camie is via Transponder Snail. They decide to vacate the Sabaody Archipelago.
"I still can't believe that Luffy's brother is going to be publicly executed…" Izuku repeated, shocked by just what he had read previously.
"A public execution is quite barbaric, though I can't say I'm surprised considering what we've seen on the Archipelago so far." All Might thought aloud, "This incident… I wonder if it'll reach Japan?"
"It can't!" Izuku cried, "I mean, a public execution?! There'd be an outrage!"
"The World Government operates in strange ways… you never know."
While All Might thought with the knowledge of a veteran hero, Izuku acted with the optimistic hope of youth. Both perspectives were the perfect foil to one another, with Izuku's youth giving All Might hope, and All Might's experience helping Izuku stay rational.
"Whatever the case, we'll just have to see how this unfolds…" All Might said, clenching his fist, embarrassed by his new realization of just how powerless he was in the grand scheme of things.
Suddenly, the transponder snail which All Might held began ringing, just like a telephone. All Might picked it up, and heard a voice come out of the snail.
"Hello, hello?" an unfamiliar voice stated.
"Y-yes… what do you need?" responded All Might.
"Hmph, seems you are All Might. You probably don't know who I am, so I ain't gonna bother tellin' you." the voice alleged with a slight arrogance to his voice, "All you need to know, is that I'm a Vice-Admiral on the Marines, and since you somehow stumbled your way onto Sabaody, we're gonna request your aid."
Izuku was in shock. Somehow, the Marines knew that All Might was here… how?! Does that mean that they knew that they had ties to the pirate, Straw Hat Luffy? What did that mean for All Might's hero career?
"This is all my fault!" Izuku thought, his face breaking into a cringe, "If I didn't insist on coming to Sabaody…"
All Izuku's concerns would be put to rest in an instant once All Might simply put his hand up, signifying for Izuku to not intervene.
"If I may ask, just how did you find out I was here?" All Might questioned.
"Well, I suppose I can tell ya, you're the Seven Continents' number one hero after all. Basically, a trick we Marines use to track people who live on the Seven Continents is to hone in on a slowly fading and scrambling electrical signal which'll trigger while they fall down the Sabaody geyser; You must've brought your cell phone with you." The voice explained, "And we figured out that you were All Might because we picked up on your signal distorting and matched it with the Seven Continents databases before the signal completely vanished."
All Might froze, as he realized that he should have been more cautious. Sabaody was hidden to those in Japan, and he should have surmised back then that the World Government clearly wanted it hidden for a reason.
"Since you're the Hero of the Seven Continents, the government will be forced to go easy on you… but I'm warning you All Might, the price for people originally from the Seven Continents going down to Sabaody normally is execution."
Those words caused every inch of Izuku's body to freeze.
"What do you need?" All Might swiftly responded, wanting to quickly end this conversation, and save his pupil from any further hardships.
"Straw Hat Luffy… has for an unknown reason, punched a Celestial Dragon." All Might and Izuku's eyes turned to shock, as they both knew that meant that the most powerful forces the Marines had to offer would be coming for their friend, but the worst was yet to come.
"We've sent an admiral, one of the navy's strongest forces, to round up my gra- I mean, Straw Hat, but, they're gonna take a while and men are probably gonna be dying in the process. So… we're gonna need you to stall Straw Hat for as long as you can, as well as any other pirates, for that matter."
Izuku wouldn't know what to say, but without a second to lose, All Might responded quickly.
"Got it."
"Good luck, All Might." the vice admiral said, as the transponder snail clicked off a moment later.
Both Izuku and All Might remained silent, as tears began forming in Izuku's eyes… he was overwhelmed by all that had occurred. Seeing Izuku's reaction, All Might flashed Izuku his signature smile.
"Worry not, Young Midoriya. All will be okay…" All Might said, as in an instant, a puff of smoke appeared, and gone was the true Toshinori Yagi, and in his place… was All Might, the strongest hero in the world, "Because I AM HERE!"
Izuku, his eyes wide, wiped away his tears, as those words felt so reassuring in a time where nothing at all made sense to him, and everything he had ever known was turned on his head.
"Izuku… One for All should be within you now." All Might whispered, "Get to the geyser, and get out of here. Should you need to use One for All on your escape, simply brace every part of yourself, and excite your own heart until you're able to release all that pent up energy… from the bottom of your heart, yelling out… SMASH."
Pausing momentarily, but not wanting to slow down his hero, Izuku quietly shouted, "Okay! I will!"
But… he remembered Luffy.
"All Might." Izuku began, as All Might paused momentarily, looking back over his shoulder, "You're… you're gonna have to fight Luffy, right?"
All Might hesitated to respond, but regardless of the time he took, he didn't formulate a lie in the end, and simply said, "Yes."
No tears fell from Izuku's eyes, for he knew that he had to be strong in this moment; both him and All Might were ready to shatter from an information overload. Thinking of the advice All Might would give him, as well as thinking of the advice that Luffy would give, Izuku readied a response which he had carefully prepared.
"Good people can do bad things… much like bad people can do good." Izuku began, "Sometimes, those bad things make someone a villain, and sometimes, those good things can make someone a hero."
All Might understood where Izuku was going, but nonetheless, the teen still elaborated.
"And… regardless of whether or not those definitions are flawed, and regardless of whether or not we'll fix them in the future… Those are still the definitions we go by." Izuku continued, "Right now, Luffy is a villain, and heroes…"
Izuku choked on the last word, for it was one that even he didn't want to hear, but knew that All Might needed to, for it was the hard truth of the situation.
"Stop villains, and save people."
All Might, understanding the meaning of Izuku's words, simply responded.
"Thank you for the reminder, kind citizen! Now please, evacuate the area, posthaste! Stay safe!" All Might stated, as he pressed his legs into the ground, and went flying off to fight the villain who needed stopping today.
Izuku was left behind, air pressure hitting his hair from the incredible force which All Might exerted upon launching himself into the air.
Staring at his hero as he flew away, he finally let tears fall from his eyes.
"T-this isn't what I thought being a hero would be like…" Izuku cried, for underneath that confidence he showed off earlier, was none other than a scared boy who was exposed to the darkest underbelly of the world far too soon.
"…I'm an utter failure as a teacher." All Might thought, flying above the Archipelago and looking back at where he once came, "But… I have a job to do now."
Looking down, All Might saw what looked to be an extremely large man in a bear hat fighting against a red haired man and yellow-shirted, polar bear-hatted man… or at least, that's what he assumed, as he was going so fast that everything seemed to be a blur, even with his extraordinary vision, enhanced by One for All.
Nonetheless, All Might was given an order to act as a hero… and he knew just where to go…
"Hey, do you want to go to the amusement park?" Luffy said to his crewmates.
"YOU SHUT UP!" They shouted back at Luffy, but their bickering was interrupted, as from the sky, an extremely large man with golden hair, shaped in a 'V' arrived. His muscles were so large that they looked to be cartoonishly exaggerated... due to the ideal which he held in his heart, his text was even written in a different style than everyone else's; he was almost like an American comic book character had come to life.
No words were spoken once All Might landed, but Luffy and All Might locked eyes with one another. In Luffy's eyes, All Might saw the same determination that was possessed by his successor, and in All Might's eyes, Luffy saw the same greatness that his old friend would one day possess. There was a silence, and in that, Luffy understood all that he needed to.
"Don't hold anything back."
Suddenly, Luffy used the Shave technique, rushing towards All Might in an instant and attacking him with a Gum Gum Bullet, but All Might effortlessly blocked the attack by grabbing it with his hand.
"Wait...?!" Nami shouted, "Luffy… why are you attacking Toshinori?!"
"Ain't it obvious?" Zoro said, unsheathing his swords, prepared to join in on Luffy's fight, "He's a hero, and we're criminals."
Suddenly, arriving beside them would be none other than Bartholemew Kuma.
"Seems like we've got bigger problems than Toshinori right now!" Usopp cried out, as the Straw Hat crew prepared to battle Kuma.
Meanwhile, Luffy was engaged in a fight against All Might.
The two moved so fast that the land around them shook, with every blow from both parties having only the goal to try to end the fight they were engaged in.
"TEXAS… SMASH!" All Might shouted, landing a punch on Luffy. Even despite his rubber body, Luffy still flew backwards from the impact and took minor damage, crashing into tree after tree before regaining his composure and retreating to the ground, sliding against it. Luffy realized that All Might was stronger than him as he was now, but nonetheless, couldn't hurt him as easily.
"Not bad." Luffy said, smirking, "Now, Gum Gum… PISTOL!"
All Might attempted to dodge Luffy's attack, but to the hero's surprise, it seemed almost as if Luffy had intended for All Might to dodge, as it curved towards the position where he dodged. The attack hit All Might square in the face.
"His power… he's undoubtedly weaker than me." All Might surmised, "But still… there's no doubt that his skills make him a pro in his own right!"
From this altercation, only one thing was clear to both parties… this fight would not be one that either could win that easily.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Zoro and Sanji readied to enter the fight against Kuma after Franky had used his Coup De Vent.
"Three Sword Style…"
"Now serving…"
Both Zoro and Sanji began.
"Oni… GIRI!"
"GIGOT!"
Sanji kicked Kuma's kneecaps, and Zoro sliced Kuma's chest. The battle seemed over before it even began, as the pirate fell apart.
"That seemed… too easy." Zoro commented, but right after he said that, a red thread seemed to swirl around Kuma, as in an instant, he regenerated all the damage he had taken.
"What?!"
"Great, just had to jinx us, huh mosshead?!" Sanji shouted.
"Shut up, crappy cook!" Zoro shouted right back.
Izuku had nearly made his way back to the Sabaody geyser, but it wasn't exactly an easy journey. Everything on the Archipelago was chaotic, and Izuku had to dodge numerous pirates and other criminals causing chaos and battling against Marines in order to make any progress forwards… it was an awful sight to behold, but Izuku had to focus on the task at hand, and not let anything get in his way.
"Almost made it to the geyser!" Izuku thought, "Just a little bit more…"
"SOMEBODY… HELP!"
The voice rang through Izuku's ears, as he looked behind himself. A large pirate with green skin was holding a Marine by the face. As the pirate did this, a smile appeared on his face, and the few other Marines surrounding the pirate were terrified.
"Put him down!" A female Marine shouted, pointing her rifle at the pirate. When she did so, the pirate only laughed in response to this.
"Ja jajaja! Fools, do you not know who I am?!" The pirate stated (with a noticeable lisp I might add), "I am the great Tambo of the Flute Pirates, possessing a bounty of 26 million berries! You won't order me around if you know what's good for you!"
"...They're Marines! I'm sure they can handle themselves just fine!" Izuku thought.
"HELP! PLEASE!"
"My my… someone's getting impatient!" Tambo asserted, "How's this then? I'll kill everyone else here… then you can all go to the afterlife together-"
Before Tambo could continue his assault, a boy with green hair was right in his face, a fist behind himself.
"No… I can't run here!" Izuku thought, a stern look appearing on his face, as a shocked look appeared on his opponents, "If I do leave these guys behind… even if they're Marines…"
"DETROIT… SMASH!" Izuku yelled, as he punched Tambo directly in the face.
Unable to even get out a single word, Tambo was instantly knocked out and thrown to the ground. A massive crater was left from his impact with the ground, as the Marines surrounding the area were utterly shocked by Izuku's sudden intervention.
"I could never call myself a hero!" Izuku exclaimed in his head, as thanks to the recoil of his own attack, Izuku was propelled upwards and into the air. The gust of wind from his attack also caused the Marine who was previously held captive by Tambo to fly backwards a small amount.
"Vince!" the female Marine shouted.
Rushing over to 'Vince', who was lying on the ground, she knelt over to match his height and propped him up with her hands.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Vince stated, his voice straining. The female Marine breathed a sight of relief, and let go of Vince, as he was able to sit up himself.
"I'm not the one you should be worrying about, though…" Vince said, pointing towards Izuku.
"Oh… right!"
Realizing that she hadn't even thanked the one who saved Vincent yet, as she ran back to him to do so… but only one thing came out of her mouth when she slowed down in order to get a good look at the boy.
"...Your arm…" the female Marine noted, as Izuku was breathing heavily on the ground. In order to save the Marine, he had broken not only his right arm, but his right leg as well.
"I-it's alright…" Izuku stated, wincing as he began to prop himself up with his left arm.
"There's no way you're alright, not with those injuries!" a Marine from the crowd which was around Tambo before stated, going to help Izuku up… but Izuku pushed his arm away with the only non-broken arm he had, struggling to keep balanced on his left leg when he did so.
"It's all… alright." Izuku repeated.
"Come on, don't be so stubborn!" the Marine who had helped him previously muttered.
"Yeah kid… you did good! We'll take you over to the hospital now." the female Marine stated.
"No… it's… alright." Izuku repeated once more, now standing on his one leg and beginning to limp away.
He knew that One for All had done a number on his body, but even so, he couldn't accept help... not just yet. He had to get back to Japan.
The female Marine put her hand on the boy's arm.
"Kid-"
"Let the boy go… he clearly has somewhere he needs to be."
Turning around, the one who had been grabbed by the pirate earlier stood there, a stern expression on his face.
"Lieutenant Vince!" the female Marine called.
The moment later, the Lieutenant bowed to Izuku.
"Thank you for saving us! We're the Marines, and meant to stand for justice… so it's embarrassing you had to step in!" the Lieutenant shouted at Izuku, "But still… we'll never forget the fact that you're the only reason we're alive! We will become better! Thank you!"
A brief moment of silence ensued after the Lieutenant finished his speech. The atmosphere was tense, as the group of Marines were unsure of how to respond to what Vince had just said. Responding in his own way, Izuku merely flashed an innocent yet pained smile.
"Don't mention it."
Facing towards the Sabaody geyser once more, Izuku began to limp away. Having leapt into action without thinking, he had gotten a taste of his power; a taste that seemed to have been wished in from a monkey's paw. Despite the overwhelming pain he was in, Izuku trekked on with determination… and only one thought crossed his mind.
"...I'm sorry All Might. I couldn't even stay safe like you wanted."
Back with Luffy and All Might, their fight continued to rage on… the match barely progressing from the previous instant.
"GUM GUM… GATLING!" Luffy shouted, as All Might countered with his own flurry of blows.
"I'm not gonna get anywhere like this!" All Might thought, as he knew that due to his injury, he'd be losing stamina faster than Luffy was.
Realizing his predicament, All Might then jumped backwards. Luffy stopped his Gum Gum Gatling, and analyzed what All Might was doing. All Might crossed his arms into an X-shape across his body, and then began running at Luffy.
"CAROLINA… SMASH!" All Might shouted, throwing his crossed arms outwards to attack Luffy. Due to the long startup of the attack however, Luffy was able to swiftly counter All Might's blow, bending his upper body to dodge as he extended his head outwards, shouting out,
"GUM GUM… BELL!"
Luffy's head quickly launched into All Might's chest, causing the hero to cough up blood… but, that was the least of All Might's worries at the moment.
"I still haven't even fully recovered from that time spent giving Young Midoriya my quirk, and that time spent hiding my true form from these folks!" All Might noted, "I don't have much time left! I have to fight with all my strengths now, and I have to win!"
Suddenly, All Might accelerated at faster speeds than ever before. This swift movement surprised Luffy, and left him not enough time to dodge All Might's unnamed punch attack, being sent flying backwards as a consequence. With a quick bit of creativity, Luffy used this to his advantage, grabbing onto some nearby trees as he was flying back.
"Now for a counter attack… Gum Gum… ROCKET!"
Luffy yelled this out as he rebounded off of the trees, shooting his way back to All Might. The hero in question was shocked by Luffy's swift return, but he had to do something to try and counter attack.
"DETROIT…"
"GUM GUM…"
"SMASH!"
"BAZOOKA!"
Thanks to the powers of his extending arms, Luffy was able to hit All Might directly in the chest without the hero's blow even reaching the pirate.
With a heavy impact, All Might was shot onto the ground below, dragging across it as he fell backwards and moved a noticeable distance.
The entire surrounding area shook from the impact, an event which would have been notable if not for the fact that the rest of the Straw Hat crew were fighting someone who was even stronger than All Might was, that being the Pacifista, PX-4.
Luffy, respecting All Might's dedication to being a hero, walked up to him.
"You really pushed yourself back there, but, you should know that Shave's a technique which most people have gotta train before using…" Luffy calmly told All Might, "And trying to utilize the principles of my Second Gear to push your own power beyond your limits… all that was doing was draining your stamina for a minimal boost in power."
"I know…" All Might admitted, slowly reverting back to his true form, with steam pouring out from his body, "I also knew… that I couldn't beat you... but as Japan's number one hero, it was my responsibility to do everything I could… to stop a villain like you."
Luffy was silent for a moment, giving himself time to process this, and All Might time to follow up.
"I couldn't even force you… to use your gears." All Might said through a tearful chuckle. There was yet another pause, in which after, Luffy took it upon himself to speak.
"Someday in the future… we'll meet again. Before that day comes, I'll get a lot stronger… and I want you to be strong as well." Luffy spoke, "Because if that happens… then we won't have to fight again."
Luffy walked away from All Might, crouching and putting his hand on the ground afterwards. Entering into Second Gear, he was now ready to face off against a foe his friends were struggling against... only serving as a further reminder to All Might that in the grand scheme of things, he was weak.
"Hah… some number one hero I am." All Might said, with a slight smile on his face, "Young Midoriya… I'm sorry."
All Might drifted into the realm of unconsciousness... and as he did, many things changed.
For one, the Straw Hat crew, through the powers of Bartholemew Kuma, were scattered across the globe after experiencing true hopelessness for the first time, some in different locations than the original story! Despite this, most events would happen just as they did originally, albeit with minor differences… but soon enough, those differences would stop being so minor… but, that's for the future. As for now, what happened to All Might?
All Might awoke in a dark room somewhere within the Sabaody Archipelago, still injured from his last battle, but he was in a stable state. Together with him was none other than Kizaru, an Admiral of the Marines, sitting adjacent to him.
"Ah… hello." All Might drowsily said.
"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble by coming down here, All Might." Kizaru declared, "Lots and lots of paperwork has been added to my desk… just what motivated you to come down here anyways?"
All Might paused, thinking about what to say. He couldn't just tell them about his involvement with the Straw Hat Pirates, besides the fact that it meant he had associated with criminals, it would also endanger his student! So, even though All Might didn't like to lie, he did so with a purpose, which made the act all the more bearable.
"I came down here because I heard about it from several passersby." All Might stated, "With my abilities, you tend to hear a lot of rumors and gossip… but after enough time, I decided to investigate into the Sabaody Archipelago, going to a… geyser of sorts, and descending down here."
A short pause was contained between All Might finishing his answer and Kizaru's next question, as the Marine took his time to decide what the perfect angle to attack was.
"I take it that you don't like how we do things around here?" Kizaru asked, but All Might remained silent, "It's okay if you don't… most people who come from Japan tend to not."
After sighing, All Might decided to answer Kizaru's question, "Of course I don't."
"Well, that's okay! You people from outside the Grand Line have your ways, and we inside it have ours." Kizaru stated, with a sort of casual tone that All Might couldn't believe, "But, I'm gonna have to ask you to keep your mouth shut about everything that happened down here, and about the Grand Line in general, 'kay?"
"Of course… I never had any intention of revealing such information to anyone." All Might stated with barely a hint of honesty, but Kizaru couldn't tell such from his conviction.
"Alright then, we're good then. Oh yeah, one more thing, I've been ordered by the higher ups to tell you that we're gonna have to establish some ground rules to ensure you don't talk." Finishing his statement, Kizaru then showed All Might a picture, and suddenly, his eyes grew wide in shock… as the picture was of none other than Izuku Midoriya, "This is the inheritor to your quirk, One for All, right?"
"How do you-"
"The Navy has their ways, All Might." Kizaru slyly responded, "Now, here's the deal. You're gonna keep your mouth shut about this whole fiasco. Don't say a word, and well, then your friend here will be just fine."
All Might stared straight at the ground. This is a man who was from the government he had never questioned for years… he thought that the World Government was ensuring the safety of everyone in the world by hiding the details behind the pirate infested Grand Line, but now, he saw that couldn't be further from the truth. The only people they were keeping safe were scumbags, criminals, and those that benefitted them and their cause.
"You're free to go now." Kizaru stated, pointing to the door behind him, "I trust you know your way out."
All Might got up, and began to walk to the door. He wondered if Young Midoriya made it up the geyser all right… but, in order to confirm something else, he had to ask one more question.
"That Straw Hat boy I was fighting against… what ended up happening to him?"
"Oh? You're curious about Straw Hat?" Kizaru said, curious.
"Yes… he defeated me quite easily, so I was wondering if you all were able to defeat him alright." All Might clarified.
Kizaru just scoffed at this, "Don't underestimate us Marines, All Might. We're hundreds of times stronger than you could ever be."
End of Chapter Notes
Sorry for the delay on this chapter, and I'm also sorry to say that this is probably gonna be more consistent than I would have hoped. Simply put, I've been very busy as of late for a LOT of reasons, and I have things to prioritize other than Kill One Hero at the moment.
This doesn't mean that this FanFiction is over, just that things are gonna be coming out a lot slower. I'll try to publish batches of chapters as opposed to just one when I have the time b/c of this.
Thank you all for reading despite this, by the way!
I hope this chapter has been quite enjoyable for you all. Personally, this is one of my favorite chapters due to it's advancement of the plot; it doesn't get much better than this until Chapter 20 (yes I am that far ahead)!
The Sabaody Archipelago arc isn't over just yet. The next chapter up deals with the aftermath to the Sabaody Archipelago arc, sort of like a Post-Enies Lobby or Post-Marineford deal... honestly, it might be even better than this chapter, now that I think about it. Best of all, we get introduced to Satsuki Kiryuin for the first time, who is just so fun to write... but I'm getting ahead of myself. You'll see what that's all about in the next chapter, named '3D2Y'!
[SHOCKING QUESTION SHOWCASE]
I think this chapter will have answered why a lot of the things you brought up wouldn't work in the story I'm trying to tell at the moment, MaximumRhapsody. They're all good ideas, but just not plausible within my own vision.
To answer your questions though, I think I do want to adapt most of the OVA's and movies from all 3 stories… just as non-canon material in order to expand on elements that I couldn't touch on in the main story.
Shipping is a little bit of a different story however. I'm not inherently against shipping, it's just that any ship needs to have three things to them:
A. Both characters have to have genuine chemistry together, and feel like they would actually be romantically interested in each other in a realistic setting. (examples are like Izuku and Ochaco, as Ochaco has shown feelings for Izuku before in canon material, and a non-example is anyone with Luffy, as Luffy has never shown the slightest bit of romantic interest with anyone)
B. The ship has to be warranted in the story and bring out the best, or maybe even worst, in both characters; they have to be affected by the relationship.
C. The relationship between them also has to be exclusive to them; no other characters have the same chemistry with our paired members.
Generally, this does mean no shipping… but if there's a situation where I think it would work, especially after the main story ends, then yeah, I'm not opposed to shipping.