Chapter 22 - Return to Sabaody
A moment of silence filled the room, as Aizawa was forced to process just what Izuku Midoriya had just said…
"What if I told you… that there's an island underneath Japan where even slavery is treated as completely normal?"
That was ridiculous, absurd… that's what Aizawa thought anyways. But, then he realized just how frighteningly little he had heard about the Grand Line from his superiors in the past. It took him months just to file for the paperwork to move to the West Blue… but why? His curiosity guiding him, Aizawa decided to press Midoriya further.
"Tell me more." Aizawa responded.
"Before I do… let me warn you." Izuku stated, his face gaining a serious expression, and one with subtle determination underneath, "If the World Government hears that you found out about this, they will try and kill you. Are you still sure you want to hear what I have to say?"
Death? Judging by Izuku's body language, it didn't seem like he was lying… but, that was ridiculous, right?
"Don't think you can weasel your way out of punishment that easily, brat." Aizawa responded, dodging the question, but making sure to answer it all the same, "Keep going."
"Then… Do you know how you enter the Grand Line?" Izuku asked.
"Huh?" Aizawa questioned, "Yeah… you just go above the Red Line, and you'll be in there… easier said than done though, seeing as how most methods of flight don't work, even within the Four Blues itself…"
"That's only one way…." Izuku explained, "You can also enter the Grand Line by going underneath the oceans' seas, travelling through undersea passageways."
"Ridiculous… you don't honestly expect me to believe that, do you?"
"It's the truth." Izuku asserted.
"Then explain why I should trust it."
"Well… once you enter down into the sea, due to an unknown phenomenon, the sea parts into the cylinder shape, allowing for you to travel through it." Izuku continued, "Some islands aren't included in the main part of the Grand Line, so alternate points of entry have to be found… like with the only island I've entered into, the Sabaody Archipelago."
Izuku then looked up seriously at Aizawa, and with a drop of sweat falling down his face, he told him, "For the record… when you stated that there'd be direct punishment from the World Government… for going into the Grand Line as a Seven Continents resident, the punishment is death."
Despite everything, Aizawa felt bad for going so far as to threaten Izuku and his classmates with death during this interrogation. A sense of guilt crept up inside of him, even though he wasn't exactly sure that Izuku was telling the truth.
Aizawa could only manage to get out one thing.
"Sorry about that, at least… I didn't know-"
"It's alright. I understand why you want to know this." Izuku stated, as he then continued once again, "You mentioned earlier I went to elementary school with Straw Hat Luffy. That's correct. Because of that connection, when he was forced to rise out of the Grand Line to make his way to the Sabaody Archipelago, which was underneath Japan, I decided to go with him so that we could catch up."
"He's a pirate though; the equivalent of a villain on the Grand Line."
"Before high school… Luffy was the only one who said and believed that I could become a hero, despite everyone else heckling me due to my quirk not developing yet." Izuku disclosed to Aizawa, "And even despite your statement… I still believe he's a good person. The only reason he's a pirate is because it's his dream."
"Him being a good person doesn't matter… but, what exact proof did you have of him being exactly pure?"
"Well… I can't tell you how, because it involves another person, but each of these stories I'm about to tell you have been fact checked." Izuku began, "Some of Luffy's most well known escapades involve liberating countries from government-endorsed pirates abusing their powers, saving his friends from execution at the hands of the World Government, and most recently, he found himself in the middle of a war between some of the Grand Line's most powerful pirates and the Marines, all to save his brother."
"Government-endorsed pirates?"
"Have you never heard of the Seven Warlords?"
"Not ringing any bells…"
"Oh, basically, they're a group of seven pirates who are endorsed by the government." Izuku explained, "In exchange for having their bounties frozen and being unable to get arrested, they must surrender to whatever orders the World Government tells them to do. It's a system which many Warlords exploit in order to run massive crime operations, with the World Government doing nothing to stop them."
Aizawa then let out a massive sigh once Izuku finished, "What you're saying… if it's true, I understand your reasoning for all your actions, at the very least. Let me ask you a more opinionated question… what are your thoughts on the World Government?"
With such a broad question, Izuku froze for a moment. This is one that he had thought about for a long time, but delivering a straight answer proved more difficult than anticipated. He chose to follow his heart, and answer truthfully.
"They're a corrupt group who masquerades around as peacekeepers… but in reality, they're the ones that people fear the most." Izuku remarked, as Aizawa maintained a straight face, "It's more than that though… the people on the Grand Line, the fear in their hearts… I want to save them! I don't want people to have to live in a world where a man can be executed in front of them on a whim-"
"Hold on… what did you just say?" Aizawa interjected, his neutral face seeming slightly more shocked, "A man was executed… on a whim?"
"Well… it's exaggerated, but yes." Izuku stated, "A slave of the Celestial Dragons, a group of people that are treated as gods within the Grand Line, ran away from their owner. In return, they were murdered."
Previously, Aizawa believed that if Izuku was being truthful, the World Government's model of enforcement was potentially well-intentioned, but horrifically outdated morally. But after Izuku's statement, Aizawa realized that if Izuku wasn't lying, that was inaccurate. This government… they were intentionally making their citizens suffer, and as a hero, Aizawa couldn't allow that to happen.
"You said that the Sabaody Archipelago is below Japan, right?"
"Yes, Sabaody is below Japan."
"...Take me there."
"Huh?!"
After everything he had said, Izuku was shocked by Aizawa's desire to then go to the Grand Line.
"A-are you sure, Mr. Aizawa?! If you get caught… this is a crime punishable by execution!"
"If a brat like you can manage can hide that you've been to the Grand Line, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to."
"B-but… okay!"
His voice cracking, Izuku realized he had no right to prevent Aizawa's entry into the Grand Line, especially not in this situation, and thus, decided that he would take him to the Grand Line.
"A-ah… would it be alright if I informed that other person I mentioned earlier that you'd be coming with us?" Izuku questioned.
"No."
"O-okay… but you might be shocked who it is when you see him!"
A few minutes later, the trio of Toshinori Yagi, Shota Aizawa, and Izuku Midoriya had already left the city of Mustufu, Japan. Currently, they were flying past fields of wasteland below them, on their way to the geyser that could take them to the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Gotta say… I didn't expect this confidant of yours to be All Might, Midoriya." Aizawa admitted, sitting on All Might's back in a disguise so that nobody would recognize him.
"Y-yeah… I did mention you'd be shocked…" Izuku stated, in his attire he previously wore when going to the Sabaody Archipelago. Izuku then turned his attention to All Might, "I'm sorry I got caught, All Might… this secret… I know how important it is to keep up!"
"Worry not, Young Midoriya! With Aizawa's astute mind and past with the Marines, such a secret was sure to reveal itself eventually, whether that be from myself, or from you!" All Might asserted.
"I always sensed a connection between you two," Aizawa noted, "But I guess the fact that you both went to the Grand Line with Monkey's crew explains it."
"Nearly there now…" All Might stated, as he slowly began falling to the ground. Once All Might landed, he then slid along it and came to a stop. The group then approached the button which would call up the Sabaody Geyser.
"What's the purpose of having a geyser which leads up to Japan if the World Government's trying to maintain complete secrecy?" Aizawa questioned, as All Might transformed into his true form and began to explain after pressing the button.
"Well… it's not like any Japanese residents are gonna come all the way out here, seeing as this is private, World Government property." All Might began to explain, "And Shakky apparently mentioned that this geyser is a big way that the Celestial Dragons get down to Sabaody."
"Who's Shakky?" Aizawa questioned.
"A confidant of mine from the Grand Line."
A moment later, the geyser shot up and landed in front of the trio. Aizawa hesitated, but Izuku and All Might got on without a second thought.
"What are you waiting for, Aizawa?" All Might insisted, "You wanted to come down with us, right?"
Not sure what to expect, Aizawa scoffed, walking forward and placing his feet on the Sabaody Geyser. It felt odd beneath his feet, like, he was standing on water, but at the same time, the resin it was made of made the geyser feel oddly stable. It was odd... but, maybe the Sabaody Archipelago wasn't a myth after all.
"Hmph. I guess you're not completely full of it after all, Midoriya." Aizawa stated.
"Admiral Kizaru, sir!" an unimportant marine officer stated, saluting his superior officer as he did so.
"Yes? What is it soldier, I'm busy with paperwork, you see." Kizaru replied sheepishly.
"My apologies sir, but it's important!" the unimportant Marine officer stated, gaining a minimal amount of attention from Kizaru, "The Seven Continents resident that had been requested we put a tracker on, Izuku Midoriya… his tracker has been going haywire recently, right above the geyser from Japan to Sabaody! We theorize that he has gone down to the Archipelago, sir!"
"Ahhh, it seems that All Might didn't listen to my little threat… how careless of him…" Kizaru noted, as he picked up a transponder snail in front of him, "I'm gonna need to have a little chat with Sakazuki… you're free to return to your post, soldier."
"Yes sir!"
Back with Aizawa, All Might, and Izuku, the geyser they were riding on had finally made its way to the Sabaody Archipelago. While not yet at the bottom, Aizawa was still in awe due to his surroundings.
"This place… I can tell this certainly isn't anywhere in Japan." Aizawa noted, as he looked around the archipelago, awestruck by its appearance.
"Yes… it certainly is a sight for sore eyes." All Might agreed.
"Seems you weren't just running your mouth after all, Midoriya." Aizawa repeated, looking over to the boy, "Still… that doesn't mean I can trust everything that came out of your mouth, so you're not off the hook yet."
"Y-yeah! I understand!" Izuku managed to get out.
"All Might… you mentioned earlier you were planning on going to the Sabaody Archipelago regardless of whether or not I called out Midoriya… why is that?" Aizawa questioned.
"Ah, well, it regards Izuku's recent ability he's awakened… we have a confidant that we believe might know more about it." All Might replied.
"Oh, so the pair of you don't know about Haki, then?" Aizawa questioned.
"Haki?" Izuku questioned, "I've heard that mentioned a few times… at USJ, at least, I remember the void villain questioned just how I had Conqueror's Haki…"
"Conqueror's Haki?" Aizawa questioned, raising an eyebrow at Izuku's alleged usage of such a rare type of Haki.
Izuku looked up at Aizawa innocently.
"Huh? You know something about it, Mr. Aizawa?" Izuku questioned.
"Not enough…" Aizawa admitted, "I only know about it because I was going to be trained to become a Vice-Admiral for the Marines due to my Erasure quirk. I decided to come back to Japan before my training could begin, however."
"Oh, I see." Izuku stated.
"Well… we seem to be nearing ground level." All Might observed, "We ought to be careful. If we get caught, we're done for."
"What is it, Kizaru?" An aggressive voice growled through his transponder snail.
"Oh, Sakazuki! It seems you-"
"Skip the small talk, and state your business. I don't have all day."
"Ah, it's just a small thing." Kizaru noted, "That kid you ordered we put a tracker on… Izuku Midoriya, was it? Our men have surmised that he's went to the Grand Line-"
"What?!"
Sakazuki slammed his free hand onto his desk the second he heard Kizaru say that to him, and his face boiled into one of rage.
"What's the big deal?" Kizaru questioned, "It's just some kid…"
"That kid is also our only bargaining chip we have against All Might." Sakazuki barked at Kizaru, "And him going to the Grand Line means that All Might is expanding who he takes to it."
"Yeah?" Kizaru noted, "Then we just have to execute them!"
"All Might is the most well known man in the Seven Continents. We can't just execute him freely." Sakazuki replied, "But at the same time, if All Might is left unchecked… then the ideals of those from the Seven Continents and the World Government will clash! Like Roger before him, All Might could potentially inspire a second Great Pirate Era!"
"It works just like this!" Izuku stated, as he quickly expanded a black tendril out of his wrist, "I don't have fantastic control over it yet, but by stretching it, it can be just as deadly as up to 30% of my potential strength! It's a really handy power!"
"Yep… that's Armament Haki alright." Shakky, who was behind the counter in her bar, stated, "It's interesting though, I don't feel your Haki coming from it…"
"Oh, I wonder why that'd be!" Izuku stated over-enthusiastically, recalling his meeting with the previous user of One for All... in all likelihood, the Haki pouring from Blackwhip was his.
"Right…" Shakky replied, noting that All Might had a similar Haki to Izuku inside of him (she didn't note it last time since Izuku hadn't manifested One for All), "But as you wanted, I can explain Haki to you. It's only fair you boys know it since Rayleigh's been training Monkey in it."
"Woah… he is?!" Izuku questioned, awestruck.
"You didn't hear that from me…" Shakky stated, "But anyways… Haki is a power that lies dormant in everyone to some degree, but very few ever discover it, even outside of the Seven Continents."
"Everyone?" Izuku questioned, as he then recalled his fight against the Sludge Villain, "Wait… when the Sludge Villain temporarily flinched at the point I saved Bakugo… could that have been?"
"Haki allows you to sense energy, or overpower foes who are even stronger than you… and the key to unlocking that strength is the pure force of your will." Shakky explained, "There are three types of Haki… you over there in the black. Attack me."
"What?" Aizawa asked dryly.
"You heard me, hit me with all you got." Shakky ordered, "Just hold off on using your... 'quirk'."
Aizawa seemed hesitant, but once Shakky hopped out from behind the counter and shut her eyes, Aizawa hesitated even more.
"Come on, don't be shy-" Shakky stopped on a dime, "Punch straight at the head."
On a dime, Aizawa launched a punch right at Shakky's head, but she effortlessly dodged. Aizawa attempted several more strikes, but each missed, with Shakky announcing each of Aizawa's moves right before he made them.
"This first type of Haki is known as the Color of Observation, or Observation Haki." Shakky explained, as Aizawa paused his assault, "It allows you to sense opponents, which enables you to do a whole lot. It works better when you have a clear focus on the technique, so it'll be less effective against stronger foes who you'll have put a lot of effort into dodging and attacking."
"That seems handy." Aizawa scoffed.
"For my next demonstration… Toshi. You can take a hit, right?"
"Ah, yes, I suppose… but allow me to transform first." All Might stated, as he transformed into his buff form, "I am here!"
"This'll hurt…" Shakky stated, clocking her arm backwards and turning it black, which Izuku noticed right away. Shakky then launched her arm forwards, and punched All Might. The hero coughed up blood, and was sent recoiling backwards.
"All Might!" Izuku cried, as he quickly utilized Shave and 8% of his power, quickly catching up with All Might and helping him up from his firm place in the wall which had a newly formed crater.
"That's the Color of Armament… think of it as a sort of armor you can coat yourself, or even weapons with. Its powers allow you to go so far as to allow you to attack even those with powers that make them impermeable, whether that be with a quirk or a Devil Fruit power."
"You… you didn't even touch him!" Izuku noted, as All Might slowly got up beside Izuku, now having reverted back into his true form.
"Don't think all I tell you now is the limits of what Haki can do… all I'm telling you is the basics." Shakky explained.
"Even just the basics… can hurt All Might this badly?" Izuku thought, looking over to the clearly injured All Might, who was trying to play off his pain.
"Those two types of Haki are the main powers possessed by most…" Shakky began, as Izuku was somewhat confused. Shakky shut her eyes, "However, there is a third Haki type which very few possess."
Shakky then opened her eye, and a sort of red energy seemed to swirl around it. In an instant, Aizawa and All Might both felt an immense pressure inside of them.
"What the hell… is this?!" Aizawa thought, "My body… it feels… heavy!"
"What kind of power is this?!" All Might questioned, as he recalled how he felt a similar power before, and looked backwards to Midoriya.
He was standing still, seemingly unaffected by the burst of energy which spouted out from Shakky. Aizawa and All Might then began to feel less… heavy, as Shakky then began to exclusively target Izuku.
Suddenly, as if acting on instinct, Izuku's body began pulsating a similar wave of energy to counterbalance Shakky's, as a fierce war of red and black energy pulsated around the both of them… and after a moment, that wave vanished.
"That last type of Haki which you and I just showcased, Midoriya…" Shakky began, "Is the power to overwhelm; the Color of the Supreme King. Most well-known people in the Grand Line possess this power, and it's not one you can directly train, since it's the embodiment of the user's kingly spirit."
"Kingly… spirit?" Izuku questioned, "B-but I'm not a King though!"
"Of course not… but you have a kingly ambition, do you not?" Shakky said with a smile, as Izuku realized.
"My desire to become the next Symbol of Peace…" Izuku thought, "Yeah… I think I do."
Shakky held a slight smile on her face after that, one which All Might also adopted. Izuku then formulated another question in his head.
"Conqueror's Haki can also knock out others, or cause them to flinch, right?" Izuku questioned, which Shakky held her smile because of.
"So, you've used it before, eh?"
"Yeah, and I think my friend Kacchan has it too…" Izuku stated.
"Bakugo too?" Aizawa interjected, "That's insane… back when I was a Marine, they couldn't show me a demonstration of Conqueror's Haki because no Marine in the West Blue even had it."
"I wasn't lying when I said very few possess it." Shakky stated, "The numbers of people who have it are rumored to sit around one in one million…"
"So I'm…" Izuku stated, as he stared down at the floor… unsure of how to process this information. His entire life he was told that he was less valuable than others because of his lack of a quirk, but now, he was being told that he had an ability even more rare and valuable than that.
That wasn't what his focus was on now however, at least not directly. Izuku realized that Haki was a sort of great equalizer in a way, and its addition into the Seven Continents culture could allow for discrimination based on the power behind one's quirk to become non-existent... the pain he had felt in his youth, he could ensure it would never happen to anyone else!
"Yes… you're a special one, Midoriya." Shakky stated, "With you and Monkey running about, it seems I'll have my fair share of people to root for."
"Aizawa," All Might began, but the instant after All Might did so, Aizawa bowed down to Midoriya, surprising both All Might and Izuku, but not Shakky.
"Midoriya! I must apologize for my suspicions which I hastily directed at you!" Aizawa firmly declared, "I also apologize for the threats I directed at you, and the fact that I must have made you feel terrified through my interrogation… as your teacher, it's my duty to make sure my students feel safe, and I was unable to fulfill that mission!"
With confidence, Izuku Midoriya made a serious face, and bowed back.
"Thank you for your apology, Mr. Aizawa, sir!" Izuku stated, "But, the only reason you interrogated me in the first place was in order to make sure everyone else in the class was safe! For that, I cannot thank you enough. I also apologize for ever making you worry about your students safety in the first place!"
Seeing Izuku's maturity in this situation, and his forgiving spirit, the adults of the room smiled once more. Izuku Midoriya was sure to become someone special.
Sacred Mary Geoise sits atop the very top of the Red Line, being the area of land where the Celestial Dragons reside… among them is the Five Elders, the highest authority within the World Government, who currently sit in their sacred chambers.
"...So, that's the solution you've come up with then?" The Marine's recently appointed Fleet Admiral, Akainu, also known as Sakazuki, questioned those that stood in front of him.
"Yes… in light of preventing a second Great Pirate Era… this is likely the best course of action." the relatively youthful Saint Ju Peter answered, who was one of the Five Elders.
"How can you be sure that he'll listen?" Sakazuki questioned.
"We'll give him what he wants… and it's not like he'll have much of a choice." Saint Topman Warcury answered.
"...Fine then. I'll send out the first batch of orders." Sakazuki begrudgingly accepted, "The Pacifista will be mobilized… and All Might will be killed."
Authors Note
Things are starting to get real. One Piece and My Hero Academia's worlds are beginning to clash and bounce off of one another in ways never before explored in this fanfic... but, what about Kill La Kill?
Well, new developments for Kill La Kill are coming soon. At around Chapter 31, the paths of Satsuki Kiryuin and Class 1-A will truly clash for the first time. I hope I haven't disappointed anyone with the lack of Kill La Kill aspects in this fanfic, and I hope you will enjoy how I integrate them going forwards!