Heroes of the High Seas Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Howdy all. Hopefully, in the future, there won’t be as big a time gap between releasing chapters of this work, and hopefully, with that, I w

Howdy all. Hopefully, in the future, there won’t be as big a time gap between releasing chapters of this work, and hopefully, with that, I will be able to keep the chapter length down… Heh. Heh. Heh… I tell a funny…

Anyway, prepare for big battle scenes, some training, a Monkey’s arrival, and some awkward, dirty truths being shared.

This chapter has not been edited by anyone.  Primordial Vortex tried, but RL and his own My Hero Academia Muse having been killed horribly meant he couldn’t get to it. Hiryo never replied to the email I sent him. I hope he will get back to me sometime in the next few days, but if not, I will post the chapter as is over on fanfic as well.  If anyone spots any mistakes, please point them out.

Thanks go to Fox Boss, who reviewed the last chapter over on fanfic and gave me a few DF names to use. I didn’t go with all of them, as Momo keeping her Quirk a secret is still a better idea than trying to act like it’s a DF, but I did use a few, after changing the names to Japanese anyway.

A note for my readers, or rather, two things. One, I found out that the island where Gasparde took his steamboat was called Elena. I will go and change the name of the island with the marine presence to that. Second, Nico Robin never introduced herself to our intrepid heroes. I will also go back and change that in the last chapter, removing the mention of her name.

Chapter 7: Candy Crushed, Shadows Revealed

Gasparde had been having a truly good day so far. His plan to attack Elena and take one of the rare paddlewheel steamships built there had gone off about as well as any plan could be expected to. Better, it wasn’t just any old paddlewheel, but the biggest the yards at Elena had so far built. Of course, the enemy always got a vote too, so the fact that the guard tower was still firing at his original ship, the Greedy Green, was almost to be expected.

That aspect of the plan, to attack the tower from the land along with the marine garrison, had always been chancy. The terrain leading up to the guard tower was supposedly quite open and rocky. Equally, the loss of three of his accompanying pirate ships, filled with all the flotsam he could gather on Gavidon for the chance of looting and rapine ahead of the Dead End Race, was within his calculations.

Not that he’d told the other pirate captains that, though. Why, one of them had already had the gall to accuse him of double-crossing them. The buffoon. What did he expect, after all? Pirate Alliances never lasted. But the three of them and Gasparde’s Greedy Green had sunk the two marine frigates before the other three went down. Better, none of the three ships had been sunk with all hands, remaining above water long enough for the crews to disembark and get ashore.

Nearly six hundred pirates had made it to shore, despite everything the defenders could do. Defenders who were already being torn in different directions.  The first shots from the Greedy Green’s bombards, fixed on the ship for this purpose, had served as a signal to Needless, Gasparde’s second in command, and the captain of the Saint’s Demise, whose name Gasparde couldn’t bother to remember right now. His ship had been the first to be destroyed by the defenders, amusingly enough.

The two of them, along with nearly three hundred other pirates from the various ships Gasparde had gathered for this operation, had been put ashore the night before. They had orders to attack the marine garrison and keep them contained.

However, from what Gasparde could see from here, the marines might have begun to move out from the garrison before Needless and his team could get in position. Strangely, the marines didn’t seem to be trying to hold the whole city. Bar a few marines holed up in a single warehouse on the docks, they had retreated into the city’s depths and seemed to be fighting guerrilla style.  

Still, that will just mean there won’t be as many flotsam trying to fight to get aboard my new ship, Gasparde thought as he strode onto the deck of his new ship, which he had already decided to call the Salamander, while the city burned in front of him. The toughest will survive and make my crew stronger going forward.

“Cap’n, we’ve looked through the hold, but we don’t have a full loadout of coal. We’ve got enough to get the engine goin’, but our engineers think we won’t even go a full day with what we’ve got aboard already,” a pirate with ridiculous pink hair stated, throwing Gasparde a salute.

Gasparde scowled at that but shrugged. “Take half the men already aboard and go out to search for some. Elena is a producer of coal as well as steam ships. It shouldn’t be difficult. Hah, I’m in no hurry at the moment, anyway.”

The man grinned and darted off, eager to obey, flinching a second later as a cannon slammed into the water bast the aft of the ship.

Gasparde turned his attention that way. Gesturing languidly towards the guard tower with a hand, he flexed his arm and everything from the elbow down shifted to become greenish-looking goo. A grimace of concentration, and he lashed out, creating his own version of a trick many marine captains were fond of, the ‘Finger Bomb’. In the original, the marine captain would send a small projectile, either a bullet or a coin, at the enemy, but Gasparde’s Devil Fruit, the Ame Ame no Mi, allowed him to create, change into and manipulate candy, so provided it’s own source of ammunition.

A second later, hard bullets of candy flashed out, crashing into the distant tower. Gasparde watched as the dust and debris tossed up by his attack and the gun smoke from the tower’s cannons dissipated, only to grimace as it looked like the tower’s walls were still intact. “Damn it, still can’t fire them fast enough to hit like a real finger bomb,” he muttered to himself. Is that because I’m not strong enough, or my technique is lacking?

Not one given to introspection, Gasparde shrugged that thought off easily. “Oh well, I have other long-range attacks.” With that, he held up his other hand, and a stabbing lance of candy flashed out. It covered the three miles between where the Salamander was berthed at the end of a drydock slip in the center of the port, flashing toward the distant tower. Nearly a yard high and a foot across, this attack slammed into and through the tower, on one side and out the other.

When Gasparde allowed chunks of the lance to lose it’s solidity, what was left was a gaping hole in the tower. The portion above it began to collapse, but to Gasparde’s annoyance, it didn’t collapse completely. Indeed, the tower kept on firing, and now the gunners up there knew where he was attacking from. They started to direct further fire at the Salamander, and he scowled a second later as he battered aside a cannonball that would have struck his new ship. Well, if at first you don’t succeed…

“Captain! The Greedy Green, the signaler’s trying to get our attention!” one of his sailors, a short, rather square man with a well-trimmed beard, shouted. “And I think there’s another ship moving out there!”

Gasparde waved him away. The Greedy Green was a means to an end, nothing more. “I’m busy. Our fellows know what to do without me staring over their shoulders.” He raised his hand hastily, creating a wall of candy that several more cannonballs crashed into, nearly shattering it as he grimaced. “As for another ship out there, ignore it for now. I’ve got bigger problems to deal with.”

OOOOOOO

As Gasparde ignored their arrival, Shoto powered the ship’s engine to move as fast as it could while Melissa manned the tiller.  Thankfully, thanks to the angle they had entered the harbor from, the enemy was forced to either turn on it’s anchor line, a trick Momo had read about, in order to fire at them, or keep up the barrage on its current targets. After two desultory shots from what Kirishima called chase guns, they were past the enemy ship, which had obviously chosen to keep firing on it’s current targets.

“I wonder if the pirates chose to ignore us because of how odd we look, the lack of guns or just laziness?” Izuku murmured.

“Does it matter?” Momo inquired. She then looked over at Tsu and Kirishima, a stab of worry going through her as she looked at Tsu, who was wearing her modified wetsuit. While the gashes on her back were well on their way to healing, she had still been on light duty for a reason up to this point, much like Tenya, who was still nursing broken ribs.

Yet while Tenya had been given an extra thick set of armor plates over his body, even with her wetsuit being so tight it could act like a wrap all on it’s own, swimming while hauling Kirishima around wasn’t going to be easy, and Momo was concerned. “Tsu, are you—”

“Don’t ask me again if I’m certain I want to take part in this fight, kero,” Tsu interjected in her normal deadpan, reaching up to waggle a long finger in Momo’s face. “I offered to do this, and I will. If I reinjure myself, I’m fine with that, kero.”

The initial plans had changed somewhat as they raced into the harbor. The group hadn’t realized how much destruction the bombard-armed ship was doing, having not understood before this that the pirates would keep firing into a city where their fellows were currently fighting in. But it was. Indeed, even now several cannonballs crashed into different places in the city. The ship’s bombards fired at the guard tower. The rest of it’s guns on the side of the vessel were just firing indiscriminately into the city.

It was the kind of uncaring attitude that Villains back home would have, yet even then, most gangs would care somewhat about their fellows. These pirates didn’t. It reminded Izuku about Shigaraki and his attitude to what he’d called ‘NPCs’ more than once.

The ongoing fire into the city meant the pirate ship needed to be silenced quickly, and they couldn’t take everyone aboard to do it. That would mean they’d need to reembark and then head for the city, during which the pirates would still be rampaging. Their new ship might well get away, meaning they’d have to repeat the process.

Shoto might have been able to solve that problem, but Izuku estimated that if he created an ice walk for them to the docks, he’d have tired himself out significantly.  The pirate ship was nearly two miles out from the shoreline, and worse, the water here was hot, as Elena was a Summer Island.  Keeping an ice walkway frozen in that kind of environment would be much harder on Shoto than creating one in the air, and while Shoto could create massive ice mountains, two miles of ice was well beyond what he could create without tiring himself out.  

Watching the random cannon blasts spreading fires throughout the town, something that all of them had questions about as Mei was certain the cannonballs weren’t explosive, Izuku reluctantly decided to keep with the original plan of splitting the group up at intervals, but to change the various teams. Melissa was needed at the helm for now, while Kirishima and Tsu were easily their best swimmers. The rest could swim, sure (bar Tenya), but not as well as Kirishima. He was also fireproof when he activated his quirk, something that had been discussed over the past few weeks and could be really important.  When they had first entered the bay, the pirate ship had shown signs of being on fire, although that fire had apparently been stamped out by this point. Tsu would transport the two of them to the enemy ship, while the rest continued on their way.

Another reason for sending them both was that only the pair of them would be bale to swim to shore after the fight or if they needed to abandon the pirate vessel and still have any energy left for anything else. There was at least a mile of water between the enemy ship and the edge of the docks.

“T, then good luck, and come back in one piece, please!” Izuku said, his stutter making a return as he stared earnestly at Tsu, then Kirishima. “Y, you’re both way more important than any pirates. Remember that. If, if it’s the choice between them and you--”

“Aye-aye cap’n,” Kiri said with a forced grin, shaking his head, while Tsu grimaced, but nodded. They had all reluctantly gotten used to the idea that in this world sometimes it was just that simple: you or the enemy. With a silent high five from Shoto, Kiri turned and leaped over the side, followed by Tsu.

In the water, Tsu latched onto Kiri with her tongue, and began to pull them forward, idly smacking out at a shark in the water. Oh, that’s not good, she thought, feeling Kirishima doing the same to another shark behind her as she sped through the water. The blood in the water’s attracted sharks. UGH. Still, with Kirishima to watch her back, she figured they would be alright.

Behind them, Jirou had spotted the movement in the water and slowly shook her head as the ship kept on churning along, staring after where Tsu had been swimming a moment before. Damn, frog girl gives no fucks at all, she thought, shaking her head. Didn’t even blink. If I met a shark in the water, I’d panic.

Shaking that thought off, Jirou hefted one of the spare muskets, moving to the prow of the ship. There, she stood with Momo, Tenya and Izuku. All of them had guns, although only Momo looked really comfortable with them. As they closed on the docks, the quartet braced, grabbing onto the gunwale.  There was no time to come to a stop or anything so blasé, and so the group had decided to make a positive out of a negative. Aiming for a part of the port that was controlled by the pirates and where they seemed to be gathering a lot of loot and captives together, the ship charged in, crashing into the docks like a battering ram.

To the pirates on the dock, it seemed as if the ship came out of nowhere. A lot of the waterfront was on fire, including most of the large warehouses and metallurgy factories which had been part of Elena’s claim to fame. That smoke interfered with how far any of them could see, and worse, none of them had been looking out to the ocean.

The Wayward Journey rammed into a portion of the wharf between two docks hard enough to shatter the surrounding wood for yards in every direction. This caused splinters to explode everywhere, taking over a dozen men down, with several dying from the sharp splinters despite their lower speed in comparison to the shrapnel a cannonball could create. Others were just hurled off their feet, losing their weapons or prizes.

More than one captive, although also smashed off her feet, took the opportunity to run.

The pirates hadn’t just been collecting gold, money and riches, of course. They’d also been ‘sampling’ the locals in any way they wished, and many a pirate had decided to bring back a feisty wench or more. Other, more thoughtful pirates had decided that slavery was a good way to make even more money from this assault. They had been dragging their captives towards a few of the merchant vessels in port, their own ships having been destroyed.  Even as pirates continued to die in battles with the locals, looting persisted.

Alas for the would-be heroes, none of them had realized exactly how hard the impact with the docks would be. And while none of the quartet at the prow were hit by shrapnel, none of them were able to keep their feet. Even Izuku couldn’t. The wood under his two-handed grip splintered and he was sent tumbling through the air. “AKK!”

A moment later, he found himself resting on something soft yet surprisingly firm. Oh no, please not this old gag! A part of his mind thought as he woozily opened his eyes, fearful of what he would find even as the rest of his mind realized the contour of this surface didn’t match his worst fears.

This proved to be correct as Izuku didn’t find himself faceplanted in one of the girls’ chests. Instead, he found his face resting on Jirou’s rear where she had barely avoided smacking headfirst into the smoke stack.

That was enough of course. “EEEP!” he squeaked, backing away quickly as Tenya and Momo got to their feet nearby. A second later, Melissa came out of the wheelhouse. Shaking his head rapidly, Izuku decided he didn’t have time to grab up a gun. Instead, he hurled himself over the side, landing on the docks below, his blood going cold as he saw several tied up, tattered women.

One for All, fourteen percent! He growled internally, racing forward. Before several pirates could recover from their shock, he was in among them, blows running fast and furious, shouting, “It’s all right, for I am here!”

Jirou was slow to recover, blushing a bit at how red Izuku’s face had been from his rear-to-face moment but she still injected her words with a bit of her typical sarcastic humor.  “Zuk knows that phrase only matters if the people hearing it know who he is, right? Or All Might, since he stole it from big, blonde and bombastic.”

“With Izuku, I rather think that is more a goal rather than something set in stone,” Tenya stated, looking down at the musket in his hand with distaste. He tossed it aside and leaped after his friend. His engines roared to life a second later, and a kick sent a pirate, still holding a woman captive, into the air. A second later, the pirate crashed into and through the side of a burning warehouse nearby. “Have at thee, villain!”

“Oy, one of them is corny, the other’s so square it hurts,” Jirou muttered, grabbing up a musket and firing at a distant pirate.  Still, I wouldn’t trade either of them for anything, even now.

Many of the pirates on the docks had recovered by this point, and fire began to zip towards the would-be heroes from pistols and muskets alike. That fire was disorganized and wild, as was the whole situation. From here, Jirou could feel the heat coming from nearby fires, and the screams, accompanied by shouts, the cacophony of combat and the sound of the blazes nearby was nearly so loud she wanted to flinch, to get away from it all.

The old Jirou would have. The one who hadn’t been at the USJ, at I-Island, or dealt with the various battles they’d seen in this world would have tried to run away, shouted for a hero to come and save the day. Even now, she couldn’t stop herself from thinking, Fucking hell, we’re first year students! Yet here we are, facing another life-or-death struggle.

But that was the old Jirou Kyoka speaking. This one, faced with threats not only to herself and to her friends but to others, reacted by bearing down. Slamming one of her jacks into her sonic pole, she brought it up to fire. The next instant, a blast of sound two yards across crashed out, diffuse enough not to shatter bones but enough to toss Jirou’s target, a group of five pirates trying to get into cover, off their feet.

“Yes, well, I rather think we’re not going to change either Zuk or Tenya at this point,” Momo answered, bringing up a musket. She fired, lowered the gun, and brought her hand over the top of the still-smoking barrel. There, Momo quickly used Creation to make both powder, shot and a ramrod before going on to add still more powder into the flintlock from her other hand. Within twenty seconds Momo had it raised once more, firing again before dropping the weapon and pulling out a short sword from her ‘bottomless’ pocket, followed by pulling out one of the more advanced, American Western-type revolvers that they had all agreed they could get away with. It was already loaded, and she fired all six shots, hitting a different pirate with each shot.

Above them in the crow’s nest, Mei was also firing at the pirates. She had been tossed around by the impact and nearly lost her super special Laser Baby Mk. 1 over the side of the crow’s nest, but now, used it to fire at a group of pirates in the near distance. Unlike the musket rounds of the others, her laser slammed into and through several of them, killing all but one who lost his hand. The beam wasn’t particularly wide, but it was hot enough to core straight through wood.  Flesh was far easier, and the four pirates had been mostly in a line.  “Boom, four for the price of one!”

Hearing Mei’s exuberance, Melissa grimaced but raised her own musket, a cutlass strapped to her waist just in case. She and Mei would be staying aboard the ship, as part of the plan. While Melissa could fight somewhat, having taken self-defense classes her whole life, Mei was, despite a surprising amount of strength, untrained. In a fight like this one, with the smoke, fires and chaos, the best they could do would be to remain where they were.

Out to sea, the pirate ship fired again. From this angle, Melissa could see the large bombards on the ship’s deck were still firing at the distant tower, where all but a few guns had fallen silent. Why that was, she hadn’t seen, but it was clear from the damage and the smoke rising from the ruins of the tower it had been hit hard. Closer to the Wayward Journey’s position, the enemy ship’s broadside continued to batter the town, cannonballs causing horrendous damage wherever they struck, including right nearby. A factory, which up to this point had only seemed to have taken some damage from the fires around it, had it’s side smashed open, with fires immediately starting within.

“How are they doing that?” She muttered, firing at a pirate who had been about to fire at the speeding duo of Tenya and Izuku.

“Doing what?” Shoto asked as he came out on deck. He looked a little worse for wear having also lost his footing in the crash. He had a bruise on one side of his face that was already turning black and blue, and he was noticeably favoring a leg. But he still looked determined, and even as he spoke to the blonde inventor, he snarled.  Glaring to one side of the ship, he lashed out to with a wave of ice yards wide that flashed up and over several of the nearby fires snuffing them out while freezing several dozen pirates in ice. The attack continued along one side of the wharf to include two of the merchant boats there, creating what looked like a tall ice wall nearly half a mile long.

Grimacing, Shoto shook his head. “I need to work on control. I didn’t mean to freeze so much.”

“As long as you didn’t catch the locals in that attack I don’t think it matters,” Melissa shrugged, firing another musket, watching as shrieks of horror and fear resounded around the dockyard area. The pirates mostly started to flee deeper into the city shouting something. “What is that about a blue pheasant? Weird. As for my question, I meant the fires in everything those cannonballs hit. They don’t explode, but there’s so much fire everywhere.”

“I don’t know, but we can figure that out later.” It was Momo who answered now as she leaped off the ship. She had taken the opportunity to create a gun belt for herself with two holsters, a second six shooter in one of them.

Landing she rolled forward to kill her momentum, coming up and firing her pistol into two pirates who had not run away just yet. They both went down. Shoto followed, capturing still more pirates in ice, which was observed by several pirates who had taken cover around them.  Soon a counter shout of “It’s not the Blue Pheasant!” went up, and many of the fleeing pirates halted in place along the docks and heading deeper into the town.

Not that this availed them anything. Izuku and Tenya had already been taking the fight to them in no uncertain manner. Now Momo joined in, racing forward to engage still other pirates who had been dragging children and young girls along tied together by rope. Jirou followed, covering her back, and soon, the group had a large swath of the docks cleared for the moment, while Shoto, aware of the dangers of his quirk, kept attacking smaller groups of pirates away from his companions.

Within minutes of the crash, a group of marines, about ten strong, barreled out of a pub they’d taken refuge in. Most were armed with cutlasses by this point, but they were still clearly game.  They attacked the remaining pirates in this area of the docks with ruthless dispatch, even killing some that Izuku and the others had left alive.  

Soon, this, coupled with the numerous small ice prisons that Shoto had created gave the crew a second to regroup. 

“Jirou, Momo, head to that steamship and take it over. We don’t want the pirates to be able to get away with any of their captives or add a second ship to their long range bombardment of the city,” Izuku ordered, any trace of his stutter gone now that they’d already begun the fight. “Shoto, we need to start putting out those fires.”

Shoto smiled thinly at that and instantly turned. He began sending out smaller, more controlled ice streams out towards the nearest fires.  And if he imagined each of them was Endevwhore, no one needed to know. “Aye, aye, cap’n.”

“We also need to start gathering up the wounded and the civilians, get them out of the way while creating a safe zone,” Izuku went on, not even noticing the brief smiles that passed over everyone’s faces. It was nice to know that Izuku would always prioritize the safety of the civilians.

“You won’t be alone in that,” one of the marines said as he strode up to them, I’m Bosun’s Mate Dimitri,” the man introduced himself without preamble, smiling happily at the younger men and women who had come to Elena’s rescue. “I don’t know where you all came from, but if you’re here to fight the pirates I don’t care either.

Commandant Jonathan suspected there was something more going on with the attack, and had the mayor start moving civilians to some of the larger mansions on the southern outskirts way before the battle in the bay went against us. I… I thought it was strange to move them away from the marine base and the guard tower, but it’s worked,” Dimitri said quickly gesturing deeper into the city.  “The pirates pincered us but good. A large force came up behind the town, but they mostly hit places that were already emptied of civilians until they hit the garrison.”

When he saw Izuku and the others nodding, Dimitri went on. “We, my group and I, we were supposed to use hit and run tactics after the pirates started to retreat with their booty, but there’s just so many of them. Most of the pirates coming in off their ships broke up into smaller groups, but according to the Den Den Mushi the group coming in from behind have kept together for the most part. They’ve got control of the other half of the port and the that segment of the city, too.”

As Dimitri tried to hastily explain what was going on, behind the goateed man his fellow marines, all of whom looked battered, soot-streaked and exhausted, were staring almost in awe at Shoto, while two of them murmured to one another. While the others couldn’t make out their voices, Jirou could, and she listened intently. “Okay, so that’s not Admiral Aokiji, but then, how the hell is that youngster using ice powers? I thought Devil Fruits couldn’t be passed on like that.”

“Oh, come on you idiot! There’s no way Mister Lazy’s ever had a relationship, he’d think they’d be too much work.  Besides there’s now way that kid with his too-pretty face could be related to anyone with Aokiji’s complexion. Heh, it looks like someone else objected to his good looks though.”

“Ugh, I might be an idiot, but at least I’m not insensitive Bordo.  Keep that kind of comment to yourself,” the first speaker grunted. “So tell me how the hell he’s throwing ice around like that?”

“It’s gotta be another Devil Fruit, something that gives him power over ice? Or lets him create elements, maybe?” Bordo mused.

As the marine in the lead continued to explain what was going on in the city, Jirou moved up behind Shoto while nearby, Melissa and Momo began helping a few of the women and boys free of their makeshift shackles. “You can use your fire if you want,” Jirou whispered.

Shoto looked at her quizzically, and she explained. “Your powers seem to match someone named Aokiji among the marines. Best to show you’re not a copy or something similar quickly.”

Nodding, Shoto took that at face value and instantly launched a hand-sized fireball toward a second story window where a pirate had just appeared. The pirate had been trying to line up a shot towards one of them, but the small fireball struck the man, and he fell back screaming.

The marines all stared wide-eyed at Shoto, but this told Izuku that even the bare minute they had spent regrouping had come to an end. Izuku and Dimitri instantly turned around, shouting orders.

Dimitri gathered up his men and the nearby children and women who the pirates had captured, gesturing them to follow him along the docks in the same way the massive wall of ice that Shoto had created earlier. “That’s the same direction where most of the civilians were sent. We’re bound to find some more marines protecting them too.”

Izuku looked around at his friends. “Shoto, head in the same direction.  Use your ice and fire as best you can to help keep the pirates away from where the majority of the civilians have already retreated.  Your ice power is the best to protect multiple targets at once, and in a city, it can be a tactical resource too.”

“Got it.” Shoto, with another faint smile, moved off into the city himself, heading toward a few alleyways that he had already cleared of fire. He continued to use his ice to put out the fires as he went, and to block several of the alleyways, making it far tougher for anyone to get behind him or attack his flanks. In this manner, he moved away from the direction Izuku and Tenya had raced off.

While Izuku and Dimitri had been talking, Momo had handed out several knives, although she was still careful about keeping Creation a secret. Kyoka and Izuku had made a point to emphasize that practically every day of their journey here, and now a bare millisecond of thought made certain the knives looked different, if slightly, every time. She also made a point of reaching under her shirt for several of them rather than into her pockets, as if she was pulling them from a hidden belt. Now she turned, joining Jirou as the two of them raced down the docks.

 A few marines remained behind, spreading out to help guard the semi-wrecked Wayward Journey, using it as a rally point as they went around to find captured civilians. Melissa did the same for a few moments, before it became clear that the pirates had left this half of the docks to themselves and the marines were handling everything well enough. Better, the pirate ship had stopped firing into the city. Indeed, their guns had gone completely silent, something Melissa noted now, while Mei continued to fire at targets deeper in the city.  

OOOOOOO

By the time that Tsu and Kiri reached the ship bombarding the port, Tsu had to admit her back was bothering her, just as Melissa had warned. There was a big difference between the half-duty she had been on up to this point since their run-in with the lapan, and swimming through the water like this. Dealing with sharks and pulling Kirishima along had only made it harder. Thankfully, her fellow former hero student didn’t need to activate his Quirk to defend himself against the numerous sharks that had swarmed into the waters of the cove. If he had, Tsuyu would have had an even harder time.

Thankfully, no one spotted them as they raced through the ocean. The water of the bay was marked with wreckage and bodies alike, and the two former UA students went unremarked because of that, and because the pirates aboard the ship didn’t have any watchers about.

As she reached the outer hull of the pirate ship, Tsu mentally thanked Momo for a few changes the taller girl had made to Tsu’s outfit. Chiefly, the fact that her gloves now allowed her to cling to the outer hull of the ship, thanks to several suckers that she could pop out at the flex of her wrists. This Tsu did now, climbing up until she could leap up to grab at the gunwale before tugging Kirishima up with her tongue, barely holding in a whine of pain. Who knew that using my tongue like this would pull at my back so much!?

Still, it worked, and Kiri found himself hurled upwards out of the water with a splash sufficient to grab the attention of one of the men on the main deck of the ship. “’Ere, what’s that? Is that Davey Jones-be-cursed tower shittin’ at us agin?”

“Don’t be an idiot. Cap’n Gasparde put paid to the tower but good.  I…” Another pirate began, only to pause as he chanced to look up, catching sight of Kirishima right above him. “What the, we’ve got a boarder incoming!”

Calling on his Quirk, Kirishima had a brief moment to look over the deck midair. In that brief glance, Kirishima realized that the three two bombards, which filled the main deck to the point that there was very little room between them, were probably the only guns able to range on the defender’s tower prior to this point. Moreover, they had been hastily made and nailed to the main deck.

This was proven a second later as Kiri slammed into one at an angle. Kiri’s weight went up about three times when he used Hardening over his entire body like this, something Izuku had helped him figure out over the past few weeks. His impact now caused the large nails that had kept the bombard upright to tear their way out of the main deck beneath.

Kiri grinned, pushing himself off of the badly titled and bend bombard, roaring as he charged forward. “Let’s get Hard baby!”

Instead of joining in, Tsu clung to the side of the ship, waiting for her back to stop screaming at her to the point she could barely keep her eyes open from the pain. Hearing that, she blinked, her face becoming even more deadpan than normal. “What? Just… what? Is that supposed to be Kiri’s battlecry now, kero?” I’m going to have to slap him about this at some point, aren’t I?

Even the pirates looked a little freaked out at that shout, even those who had quickly recovered from Kiri’s sudden entrance. “Oy, that’s not the kind of booty I want!”

“Nope, nope, nope! I’ve heard of the Okama pirates, and I ain’t gonna have it!” Another shouted, raising his pistol and firing at Kiri.

The musket ball ricocheted off of Kirishima’s head, and he laughed wildly as he charged in. His fists, likewise, covered in Hardening, slammed into one of the pirates sending him skidding backward with a groan of pain as ribs cracked. Kiri, like most of the rest of the crew, had learned not to hold back in the battles in this world. Moreover, he was determined to not let Tsu hurt herself again, and wanted to do all the fighting before Tsu felt she needed to join in.

Launching himself forward, Kiri smashed pirates to the deck with every sweep of his arms, even kicking out occasionally, although he knew that kicks were a weakness in his style. He smashed one man against the mast so hard that it began to crack under the impact, and for a moment, Kiri wondered how much damage the ship had taken.  The constant reverberations from it’s own bombards might have caused issues, and it had been hit by cannon fire itself a few times.

As he went, several more of the pirates shot at him with pistols and muskets, but Kiri simply laughed. “Guns don’t work on me, you unmanly dogs of the sea!” the next second a cutlass stabbed at him from the front as another cut at his side, only for both to break upon impact. “Nor do swords! Come on and take your punishment! My Hardness is too much for all of you!”

 “Kiri, just, just stop, please, kero,” Tsu murmured, shaking her head.

“God damn it where did he come from!?” a pirate who had just run on deck from a hatch near Tsu shouted. “Was there no one looking at the horizon behind us?! And what's up with the fucking ice wall that’s replaced half the goddamn port? If that’s Aokiji over there, I’m gonna leap overboard. Better ta face sharks than one of the fucking marine admirals! Somebody signal the cap’n, damn it!”

“Fuck you, Cataba!” Another pirate barked as he was forced to duck under a blow from Kiri while another, high up in the main mast, began to obey. “The captain’s off getting his new prize, and Needless is off with the second attack team, so—”

“None of you useless fuckers thought of keeping watch!?” the man shrieked even as he cocked a large handgun that looked twice as big and as wide as any of the other pistols aboard. Its muzzle was even wider, making the thing look almost like the end of a trumpet. “I’ve got my guns to serve, I can’t be up here cleaning up after your idiocies! I bet you fucking didn’t even notice the ice, did you!?”

The gun in his hand boomed, but not a single pellet it released hit its target. Instead, they flew over the heads of the crowd around Kiri as Tsu’s tongue pulled at it from over the man’s shoulder. “That’s not nice, kero,” Tsu intoned as she released her tongue-grip on the odd gun. Shoot, that probably wouldn’t have hurt Kiri at all, would it? Tsu had been worried by the odd look of the thing, but seeing it in action, it looked like a very cheap, weak version of a shotgun.

She lashed out with a pair of kicks that caught both men in the back of their heads, sending them forward, before she dropped back down over the gunwale, her eyes once more clenched tight in pain. OW. Those kicks had hurt like blazes, and she could feel something hot and wet flowing within her wet suit, too sticky to be the water of the bay.

Well, crud. As a big sister, Tsuyu had been trained from a young age to never curse, even in her own mind. That’s going to get me scolded for certain. By Meli, Momo or Zuk, I wonder? It’s probably going to be all three. Ugh.

She hid there for a moment as more men came up from the gundeck. The ship was so large it had three gundecks, but now, one after another they emptied as men raced up to engage Kiri. With no men to man them, the guns fell silent as the bombards already had thanks to Kiri’s assault. But soon after the second deck fell completely silent and the lowest deck’s guns began to follow, Tsu’s friend started to struggle.

Tsu saw that one of the other pirates had kept away from the fight and was now shouting loud enough to be heard over the fight. She didn’t think he was an officer, but it was clear the man had at least some idea of how to deal with someone who was simply laughing at their best strikes. “Grab him, pile on!  Push him into the fucking sea, boys! He’s a freaking Devil Fruit user, he’ll sink like a stone!”

Evidently, none of the still-fighting pirates had seen Tsu attack the man with the odd gun and the other man, so they didn’t know that Kiri had company. That was fine with Tsu, who snuck up on shouting man, moving around just below the gunwale to stay out of sight as long as possible. When Tsu was in range, her tongue flicked out grabbing the shouter and with a wince, she heaved him up and over the side to splash down in the ocean below.

However, this time Tsu wasn’t as lucky. Several of the pirates who had just stormed up onto the deck and a few others who were fighting to cut out segments of the gunwale for the loud one’s plans turned in her direction. “Fuck there’s a fishman too?!”

Now faced with two dozen pirates charging her, Tsu let loose a “Kero!” and hopped back over the side, grimacing again as the four gashes on her back screamed at her.

Pushing through the pain with difficulty, Tsu swam around the ship but quickly found that sharks in this world were just as quick to home in on blood as the ones back home. After kicking out at one and feeling still more pain from her back, Tsu hastily climbed up the side of the ship again until she was well above the water line.  As she had done so to the starboard side of the ship rather the the prow as previously, doing so brought her underneath the lowest gun deck. Seeing that, Tsu slowly slunk over one of the cannons there through the gunwale.

Inside, Tsu found herself alone and breathed a sigh of relief. Well, that’s good at least. Still, I hate leaving all the fighting to Kiri.

Even though her back was really starting to sting even while just walking, Tsu made her way to the nearest stairs leading upwards. Two floors later however, she stopped and stared at what looked like a wall of flame ahead of her.

Without their officers to command them, the pirates had left many little things slide as the battle went on.  One was the massive brazier used to heat the shots that the Greedy Green had been sending into the city. It had been knocked over at some point earlier in the fight, and had quickly spread, heading towards a few barrels of gunpowder.

“Oh, that’s not good at all, kero.” Ignoring her back, Tsu turned and raced towards the nearest gun hole thingy.

No, Tsu hadn’t bothered to learn the nomenclature. Tsu was not sorry about that at all.

Gripping the sill of the gun hole thingy Tsu flipped herself up and out, hissing in pain as she felt something go ‘plink’ from her back. Oh dear, that was certainly some of my stitches! “Kiri! The ship’s on fire, kero!”

The bombards had severely limited how the pirates could come at Kirishima. There just wasn’t enough room on the deck to attack him with more than five or six men at a time, even if they crawled over the things and tried to stab at him from above or was able to come up behind him. Especially not after the battle had been going on for around fifteen minutes, by which point there were a lot of bodies on the deck to further encumber both Kiri and the pirates.  Those bodies were actually doing just as good a job of stopping the pirates from pushing him overboard as the fact that the man who had thought it up was gone now.

At Tsu’s shout, however, the pirates and Kiri both paused. Those who were close enough to any of the hatches looked down and cursed. One of them even shouted, “It’s too late boys, the fire’s on the main gundeck!”

With that, the pirates began to frantically abandon ship. There were no ship’s boats on deck, they had possibly been discarded to make room for the bombards, and now they just flung themselves out into the ocean. The sharks there welcomed them with open maws, but even so, many of them still began to swim towards the distant shore. Even that was better than being on a ship on fire, which might explode at any second.

Kirishima grimaced, looking around at the wounded and dying pirates. None of the surviving pirates were fighting him now, instead they were pushing and shoving at one another to jump over the gunwales faster. “Tsu, help me get these guys off the deck. Even pirates don’t--”

“Kiri, there’s sharks in the water, Kero” Tsu said bluntly, her own thoughts on this score following his, but having already moved past it to what would happen next. “We don’t have Shoto around to make an ice raft or something for us, and--”

She was interrupted in turn as a booming noise came from below decks. Kirishima’s eyes widened, and he raced toward the gunwale, having no desire to see if he could tank an explosion as big as a ship’s magazine going up. He was too slow though, and even as Tsu leaped away from the ship, diving into the water, the ship, exploded, sending fire, flame and force in every direction, killing all the pirates still aboard within minutes.

Between one step and the next, the blast wave caught Kirishima, picking him up and hurling him away. With a groan of effort, Tsu followed him through the water, grateful, in a horrible sort of way, that the pirates were providing so many easier targets that the sharks didn’t bother with her.

Well ahead of her, Kiri slammed into the water and sank like a stone.

Kirishima groaned, but the moment he felt water, he began to cancel his quirk, letting him start to swim under his own power. Even that much time had carried him well below the surface, though, and he had to fight hard to get up to the surface before he ran out of air.

Bursting out of the water, Kiri gasped in air, treading water as he did. “That, that wasn’t very manly…” he groaned as Tsu appeared beside him.

“Maybe not at the end but seeing you take on all those pirates was kind of hot, kero,” Tsu stated bluntly, causing Kirishima to blush. She began to pull him to shore, noting how badly she was flagging even so. Normally a man’s weight shouldn’t have bothered her at all, even if she could only swim with her legs, let alone her legs and one arm.

Kirishima seemed to be in a bad way too. His face and chest, visible through tears in his clothing from the explosion and the fight before it, looked like he had taken way too much sun, which had nothing to do with his blush at her words.

Still, he turned around and began to swim beside her, lighting her load a bit. Even through the pain of her back, though, there was something that had to be said. “We’re going to talk about your battle cries, Kiri. And you’re never allowed to come up with your own ever again, kero.”

OOOOOOO

Although their abrupt entrance and Shoto’s show of power had brought the dimensionally displaced teenagers some elbowroom, that elbowroom didn’t extend far to their left flank along the docks. Even before Jirou and Momo had pushed a few quays away, the pair came under fire from the pirates who were still on the docks. Worse the pirates the pirates were ready for them.

The teens had dealt with something like sixty or so pirates scattered around the area of the dock they had crashed into in small bands, Jirou and Momo now ran into at least twenty in one prepared position, with another, equally large group behind them in musket range of the first, and still more behind them racing towards the paddlewheel carrying large sacks of some kind.

Skidding to a stop as she saw the mass of muskets thrust out of the various bits of cover ahead of them, Momo hurled herself sideways to put a crate between her and the incoming fire. Beside her, Jirou also rolled sideways, skidding into hiding behind a large piece of metal that had been left there for some reason. She wasn’t quite as fast as Momo, but she still avoided all of the incoming fire except for one musket ball that smacked into her side. However, all of the teens had gone into this fight wearing the semi-Kevlar body armor that Momo had created for them over the past few weeks, and although it stung something fierce, Jirou didn’t think it would impair her movement.

Cautiously, Jirou stuck her staff out, watching as several more musket balls slammed into the corner of her cover, before letting loose with a blast of sonic energy.

The blast slammed into and through the crates that the pirates were hiding behind, shattering them and sending foodstuff all over the place, although it didn’t do any damage to the pirates themselves beyond a few bruises when flying shrapnel hit them, yet even those caused little damage as the pieces weren’t traveling very quickly. Still, it revealed them, and three of them went down to shots from Momo even as the two women moved forward.

Momo now held two Western-style pistols one in each hand and fired them one after another. She couldn’t properly dual-wield, as she had reluctantly told Melissa after Melissa had geeked out on the idea of using that terminology at one point, outing herself as a gamer girl. Yet Momo could fire one after another and was more than strong enough for her wrists to handle the kickback, keeping her aim on target. Several more of the pirates fell as she fired and moved into another bit of cover while the rest retreated, and still more behind them fired towards the pair.

Pausing, Jirou adjusted some controls on her staff, upping the power of the sonic enhancers. The drawback for that kind of thing was that the dimension of the sonic blast shrank, so she couldn’t hit as wide an area. However, this sonic blast slammed into a portion of the oncoming musket ball rounds, shattering them before going on to slam into an away boat that had been left on the docks for some reason. The pirates behind the makeshift cover did not enjoy the experience, and went down screaming from splinters, or from their ears bleeding from the sonic blast.

If they had been closer, Jirou knew, they would’ve had some broken bones to go with their broken eardrums. But that was enough for now.

The next second, both Momo and Jiour were ducking into cover again, this time in the form of a streetlight of some kind that had a heavy wide stone base to it. That base seemed to act as one of the pillars for the dockyard area, but regardless, it was big enough for both of them, if they were willing to get cozy.

Firmly telling her hormones that this wasn’t the time for such things, Jirou tried to ignore how Momo’s chest was pressing into her back, or rather the back of her head. Even crouching down, Momo had a good foot of height on Jirou, making this even worse. Luckily (?) the sound of musket balls careening off stone helped her mind concentrate through her normal Yaoyo-created lesbian disaster frame of mind.

Grimacing, Jirou flexed her earjacks for a second. The fire had just slackened, and now she could hear charging footsteps. It took her but a second to discern that a dozen pirates were now charging towards them, with more coming from deeper in the city, a small band of six, on their left. However, that band of six was out in the open, and within her range. Another wide-angle blast of sonic power hit them, causing all of the men to be flung off their feet as they grabbed at their ruptured eardrums. “We’re about to be charged.”

Grimacing, Momo flicked one of her pistols into his holster on her belt (which she hadn’t had prior to jumping off the ship earlier) then reached into one one of her pockets, which allowed her access to her skin. There, unseen by any, Momo’s skin began to glow for a moment. What Momo pulled out a second later was a primitive-looking grenade, the kind of small black powder grenade the user needed to light with a wick, which wouldn’t have been out of place back in the Napoleonic Era.

The first one, not the one created when a French hero took the name and helped rebuild France, bringing the name back into prominence.

With a wave of Momo’s hand over the wick, she created a small burst of chemicals that reacted with oxygen, causing a flare of fire and lighting the primitive grenade. “Would you mind, Kyo-chan?”

Smirking, Jirou aimed at where she could hear the charging footsteps, hurling the grenade around their shelter towards the incoming pirates.  “Nice.”

The grenade, which inside was a good deal more sophisticated in what type of incendiary it actually had, detonated on impact, sending shrapnel and explosive force everywhere. It caught a little over half of the attacking pirates off of their feet, killing many and wounding all of them.

Two more Yayo-Grenades quickly followed, creating smoke this time. So much smoke that it blinded the pirates ahead of them. They continued to fire, but the fire was wild now, as the pirates assumed that the two would make a break for it. They did, but by charging forward, not to the side or back.

Before the four pirates still on their feet could recover among the group who had charged forward, Jirou was on them. The first one was hacking and coughing from the smoke and didn’t even see her staff’s mace-like butt coming until it slammed into the side of his face with bone crushing force. Jirou grimaced as she heard those bones break and sawtooth fly, but although she had yet to go back to her vibro-sword, like the others, Jirou had reluctantly accepted the level of violence that was necessary to survive in this world. Even as that man was sent stumbling, she whirled, bringing her staff up and blasting a point-blank, if low powered, sonic blast into the others, sending them flying.

Momo raced past Jirou, trusting her to deal with those four.  Her pistols blazed as she ran forward towards the next group. Both six-shooters became empty, and she holstered them on the run, a trick that she had been forced to actually practice while aboard the ship.

Thank you, Izuku, for making us practice some of these combat tricks! Momo thought, a highly inappropriate giggle almost bursting forth as she remembered how much effort it had taken her once to use Creation while on the move, and then not only to use Creation, but also do something else with her hands at the same time, another thing that Izuku had forced her to drill in while on the boat. Just like I trained Kyo-chan in using a staff.

A second later, Momo leaped over the rubble that some of the pirates were hiding behind, dropping miniature versions of the primitive grenade she had created a moment ago, but this time, they were all loaded with Somnambulist. All of them exploded, sending the pirates into sleep. Even as they fell, Momo was rolling as she landed, tossing out two more smoke bombs to cover herself, before pulling her guns back out of their holsters. With a flare of Creation that no one else could see, she reloaded the cylinders one after another.

Momo gave no mind to the wounded pirates. Like Kyoka, she had gotten used to the level of violence in this world. She wasn’t happy about it, but seeing the dead, blank faced expressions of some of the women that they had freed moments ago had hardened her heart to these particular pirates. Indeed, there were a few young boys chained together nearby, hence why she had used Somnambulist. Slaves or toys, it didn’t matter now as their captors were on the ground screaming or sleeping.

Momo knelt, dropped a tiny knife into their hands and ordered, “GO!” before she turned blocking a katana of all things from hitting her side with her forearm. Covered in body armor, her forearm was able to take the strike, and a second later, Momo shot the man point blank, before pushing back to her feet.

A second later, Jirou’s next sonic blast disrupted the smoke to one side of Momo, and as the pair of youngsters raced off, the two women moved forward. They quickly became engaged in hand-to-hand combat as they rounded a larger-than-normal tower of crates and an extremely primitive-looking crane system that had been smashed onto its side. The pirates there, evidently not having pistols or muskets, had waited in ambush, and leapt out from places all around, including alleyways and underneath a few overturned boats that had been pulled up onto the docks.

But if they expected Jirou and Momo to be any less fearsome in hand-to-hand than at a range, they were sort sorely mistaken. Momo quickly dropped her pistols into her holsters, then pushed her hands into her pockets. A second later, they came out with brass knuckle dusters on her fingers, while the first man who slashed at her chest found her his sword bouncing off her armor, doing nothing.

He wasn’t even strong enough to have made that tingle, but Momo was certainly strong enough to remove his jaw the next second with her brass knuckles, although that at last caused her to wince. “My word! But these are effective aren’t they? I’ve always wondered if they would be, even after I saw some videos online.”

“Remember there are a few words we shouldn’t be saying, dear!” Jirou warned, an earjack stabbing into one man’s neck as her staff came around to slap another sword out of a second man’s hand. Her own words registered a second later, and Jirou stiffened, only to remember this wasn’t the time and place to blush at inadvertent comments when a cudgel cracked into her back.

It sent her stumbling, Jirou not having the mass that Momo did (in many ways, something she knew all too well) but it couldn’t penetrate her armor, and she kicked out backwards, catching the man in the fork with malicious intent. He went down with a scream, and several men around them backed off in an instant reaction, winces on their faces.

The battle continued, although now, Mei must’ve seen that the two of them were having a little bit of trouble, as she had turned from firing deeper into the city at any targets she could see there to take the pirates around the two girls under fire instead. Two of them went down, their faces simply removed by the laser blast from Mei’s weapon, and then another went down screaming, having moved just enough to throw off her aim, to the point where he wasn’t hit in the chest but rather the shoulder, which was simply vaporized under the beam of condensed light.

The screams from that man and the deaths of the other two pirates broke a handful of others. Within seconds, they were turned, fleeing deeper into the town or down the docks. Many of the pirates, though, either made of sterner stuff or simply lost to battle fury, stayed where they were, and Momo and Jirou were forced to fight through them.

To one side and out along a dock three hundred feet away form their fight, the steamship began to shift and move in place, preparing to move away from the docks.  The pirates who had held up Momo and Kyoka had done their work, preventing them from stopping still other pirates loaded with coal from getting to the paddlewheel.

Mei was the only one of the crew who was in a position to see this, and cursing, she turned in that direction. From her vantage point up in the crow’s nest of the Wayward Journey Mei quickly scanned the ship from prow to stern, looking for something that she could hit that would ship down. I could take out the wheel, but I don’t know if there’s another way to direct a ship like that. I could shoot the captain I guess?

Gass-guy’s (no, she had not bothered to memorize his name) jacket and overall bearing simply screaming both douchebag and douchebag-in-charge to her, making him easy to spot. But after a second Mei shook her head. That strange power he was using to demolish the guard tower might mean he wouldn’t actually be hurt by my baby.

Instead, after a second, Mei aimed for the paddlewheel that she could see on the side of the ship facing her. Several blasts of concentrated light lanced out, slamming into the paddlewheel and slagging significant chunks of it. With a scream of tortured metal that caused Jirou to grimace and nearly collapse to her knees at the sudden noise, the wheel screeched to a halt.

Mei watched gleefully through her quirk, Scope as the captain’s expression went from confident and sneering to scowling and furious. The next second he turned in the direction of Wayward Journey. Mei had an instant to whisper, “Oh, broken gaskets and goblins,” before a bolt of greenish goo of some kind slammed into and through the crow’s nest. Mei gaged as it slammed into her chest, hurling her backward, breaking her harness with the impact, which causing her back to slam into the other side of the crow’s nest with painful force.

Luckily, the distance and the wood of the crow’s nest had slowed the greenish goo enough that it only felt like she had taken a punch from Izuku rather than punching straight through her. Unlike the others, Mei hadn’t changed into her Kevlar suit, being too busy making some final modifications to her Laser Baby.

It stung like blazes though, and Mei gagged, finding breathing difficult, but she was still alive at least. A second later though, her eyes widened, and she looked around panicking, only to curse luridly as she realized the shot had made her drop her baby. Mei peered over the edge of the crow’s nest, ignoring the ongoing deep ache in her chest for a moment to stare down at the deck, where her baby had hit and shattered, the delicate matrix of crystals and reflective glass shattering on impact, the metal warping. “Dammit!”

Scowling, Mei turned her head to the side and lifted one of the primitive muskets up from where it had been stowed. There were several of them, put there as they had raced into the cove at Izuku’s insistence, along with bag of primitive paper primer tubes and musket balls. “So inefficient and so backwards. This hurts my engineer’s heart to even hold after my baby!”

Lifting it up with all the enthusiasm of an elderly matron disposing of a rat, Mei began the process of loading one of the muskets, grumbling all the while. “Still, at least with Scope, I’ll be able to aim well.”

Even as her hands worked, Mei looked back towards the paddle wheel. The arrogant look in the captain’s face had completely disappeared, although he didn’t seem in any rush to attack her again. He was shouting at his crew, demanding something, and from the look in his face, he was barely holding back his fear. The faces of the other pirates aboard that ship certainly looked fearful, and Mei wondered why before shrugging her shoulders. It didn’t really matter at this point. That ship wasn’t going anywhere now.

However, muskets didn’t have as long a range as Mei’s baby had, nowhere near it, in point of fact. Most musket balls could only fire seventy to a hundred and sixty yards and even then, you had to calculate for a loss of velocity, something Mei had never needed to deal with before, even when she had used them before this. That meant that she could no longer give cover fire to Jirou and Momo, let alone fire deeper into the city. “Well, that sucks,” She muttered, shooting a pirate who had just come out of an alleyway dead. Another, hiding in the rubble of a house, followed. “But at least I can still spread the pain.”

OOOOOOO

By the time Momo and Jirou had gotten about halfway to their objective, Izuku and Tenya had pushed away from the docks so much they could no longer see the ocean through the buildings, fire, and smoke around them. The damage to the city was extensive, with numerous buildings torn apart, as well as the various factories, lumber yards, and large, semi-open structures. Izuku had passed through several of them by this point, and knew now they were communal smithies, which made sense to his analytical mind. Elena was well known to produce steam engines.

And of course, the pair had dealt with several pirates. A lot of them, in fact. Despite the carnage back at the docks and the visible ice wall that had grown up and expanded from where they had landed to the right of the port, the pirate seemed mostly to be too caught up in their ‘fun’ to notice their peril. Or perhaps word had also spread about how Shoto wasn’t the ‘Ice Pheasant’ person that the first pirates who had seen that wall had been terrified of. Regardless, after a first group of fifteen had been dealt with, possibly those who had retreated from the docks, the rest didn’t seem to know the teens were there before Izuku and Tenya coming were on top of them.

Izuku bounced around the streets, entering alleyways, buildings, and rousting pirates from their activities in small groups. Conversely, Tenya stuck to the main road, zooming around it in a series of zips, bouncing into the larger side roads using a certain amount of skill at parkour. Tenya didn’t try to enter any of the buildings, the enclosed space inside them was just too much for his engines.

Seeing Izuku in action made Tenya realize he needed to add to his training. “I’m too overly reliant on my quirk,” he said to Izuku as they met up outside a large inn. Several people, including two men, two older teenagers, and their families, plus three other women and two other men, exited the building behind Izuku, heading towards the right side of the city. With them, they helped along two wounded marines, neither able to move under their own power, but it was evident they, and the men who were armed, had held the inn prior to the would-be heroes’ arrival.

“I think you did train a little too much on your Devil Fruit and not your basic hand-to-hand combat abilities,” Izuku said semi-apologetically, making a point to emphasize the words devil fruit to Tenya who hissed, then apologized by bowing abruptly from the waist.  

The sight made one of the youngest boys giggle, but it also made a shot from a pirate, one of two who were in a nearby building, miss. The other pirate’s shot slammed into Izuku’s chest.

Yet, like the others, Izuku was also wearing a suit made of Kevlar, and the musket ball deformed and bounced away from his chest, leaving not even a bruise. Indeed, thanks for One For All, Izuku’s body had developed a certain amount of durability, which would probably have allowed him to tank simple musket ball shots like that to a tremendous degree. He’d still have a bruise for days though, which was why he was very thankful that both he and Tenya were wearing such suits as more pirates opened fire.

They fired out from buildings lining the street, further down from where Izuku and the civilians were standing, and Izuku realized someone must have seen them coming this time and gotten a gang of his fellows. Even as Tenya and Izuku staggered under more musket shots, more pirates rushed out of those buildings to finish them off, only to skid to a stop as they saw both men were unharmed.

At the same time, two of the younger men dropped to their knees, pointing muskets down the street. They fired and one of the pirates fell, his head disappearing, while the other shot missed. “GO!” shouted one of the fathers, bringing up a wicked looking boat hook in one hand, the other holding a cudgel.

At his shout, the two oldest women got the rest of the civilians moving, but by the time they did, Tenya had already moved, going from bending over and staggering from a few musket shots to a full sprint towards the charging pirates around Izuku. Even as Izuku turned, Tenya crashed into the charging pirates like a bowling ball among so many pins. First one group than another, then another, and soon more than eighteen men had been hurled into the air or simply flattened, Tenya acting the part of a battering ram mixed with a bouncy ball along the street for a few seconds armed with kicks that were strong enough to shatter stone, let alone flimsy pirate bodies.

Seeing that his friend had that well in hand and that the civilians were being rushed away by their menfolk, Izuku charged as well, bouncing off of the ground after a second to leap into the building where the two first shooters had been. He caught them on the staircase trying to retreat and was forced to duck his head to one side is one of them fired a pistol at him desperately, but unlike the pair Momo had, it was one of the normal flintlock pistols with only one shot, and it missed.

The next second, Izuku’s fist didn’t, connecting with that man’s chest and hurling them into his fellow, sending them both down the flight of stairs. Izuku winced a second later as he heard something in one of the man’s backs crack, and saw him twitch, then fall limp.

The other man groaned and tried to get to his feet, but Izuku almost absentmindedly chopped at his neck with a hand. Even without One For All, Izuku had learned he was strong enough to knock a man out like that thanks to All Might’s training way back on Dagobah Beach.

Izuku paused, staring down at the pirate he’d killed for a second before shuddering and moving on quickly. I know I killed a few before this, but, but it’s a lot harder to, to deal with the aftermath when I’m not in direct combat, he thought, before racing on.

Soon, he was blitzing across to another building, ducking underneath and into a doorway, pushing through the already shattered door easily, as a pirate dropped a bottle of some kind from a window above. The bottle hit, and instantly, the flame spread, making Izuku wonder what was inside it. Then he slammed into another, even more hacked-apart door and charged at several pirates standing in what looked like a small shop of some kind.

Behind them a woman lay, and the sight of her half-torn clothing, her vacant eyes and her limp body sent Izuku almost over the edge. He almost forgot to hold back, but even so every blow he landed shattered bone. Not just breaking but shattering them to the point that the bones exploded, as Izuku roared in anger and grief. When he was done, not a one of the pirates was alive, and he raced on, heading to the side of where he’d first com in where there was a set of stairs leading upward. The next instant, he smashed bodily into another pirate trying to flee down the stairs, hammering him back into another room.

Raising a fist, Izuku made to finish him off, but as he did, Izuku heard Nana’s voice, powerful and calming, accompanied by a feeling like a hand on his shoulder. “Easy, Nine! You’re right to be angry, but don’t let it blind you, don’t let it drive you to kill when you don’t have to.”

Forcing back his anger, Izuku looked down at the pirate he’d pinned to the floor. He looked only a little older than Izuku, not even old enough to shave properly, and now he looked terrified. Izuku grunted, then, canceling One For All, he slapped the man in the face so hard he knocked him out. He then grabbed the guy and, dragging him back to the first floor, he tossed him out of the building.

A cynical part of him wondered if he done that just to draw more fire just in case, but thankfully for his own conscience, nothing happened, and the unconscious youngster landed in the road. Izuku followed him out, blitzing across the street into another building where several pirates had been trying to fire it Tenya and the two civilians with muskets. Tenya had moved down the street from where this fight had started, while the two civilians, both teens the same age as Tenya and Izuku, had taken cover where they could, providing what cover fire they could with primitive musket muzzle loaders.

Finishing in that building, Izuku paused near a window, looking out and back toward where he had left the unconscious man, only to see a woman dart out from an alleyway right below where he was at the moment. Like the other woman he’d seen a moment ago, she looked as if she had been… accosted, Izuku supposed was the kindest way to put it. But she still seemed to have a lot of energy, as evidenced by the large cleaver she carried, which was already soaked in blood.

His eyes widening, Izuku made to leap out and stop her, but it was too late. Before he could do anything he she had plunged her cleaver into the younger pirate’s throat. Ignoring calls from the two teens, she turned and raced back the way she came, heading through a few alleyways and out of sight from both the two local teens and the frozen Izuku.

Staring after her, Izuku gulped, shaking his head. “I, I don’t…”

This time, it was Yoichi who reached through his Quirk to place a hand on Izuku’s metaphorical shoulder. “In a way, despite all the crap you personally dealt with, you were really lucky, kid. You and your generation, you didn’t have to live through the sheer chaos I did, or like Two and Three did when quirks were just starting to appear. Scenes like that weren’t exactly common even then, but they did happen. And sometimes, well when you push someone too far, they’re going to break. Don’t blame that woman for what she did, but don’t stop trying to save lives either, on either side of this conflict or any other. If you do, you’ll lose something you’ll never get back.”

The words were somewhat stilted, but they were heartfelt, and Izuku closed his eyes and breathed in a second, centering himself before leaping out. He landed in the road and then sprinted diagonally across towards another building.

The fighting continued for some time in this manner, with the two locals retreating, heading after their families after Izuku and Tenya had cleared out another block of ruined, burning buildings. As they pushed deeper into the city, they encountered more survivors, including both Marines and locals. Like the families from earlier, most of these civilians had picked up makeshift weapons and were fighting alongside the Marines.

Indeed, soon, the pair were running into better armed groups, making it appear as if someone had organized them to a significant degree. There were more and more armed civilians, particularly within the side streets and so forth, coupled with barricades and other makeshift defenses in several places. It was very clear that the local Commandant, Jonathan, Izuku recalled, had planned and organized for the worst even as the battle started. It hadn’t gone perfectly, obviously, but Izuku began to realize that the man’s plans, particularly the manner in which he began to evacuate civilians away from the docks and the outskirts of the city towards the right rightmost area of the city had succeeded in saving a lot of people that might otherwise have been killed in the bombardment or after. There were still far too many bodies around, but not nearly as many as there could have been.

Leaving behind one group of Marines, Izuku once more met up with Tenya, who was taking the opportunity to help some of the locals get a few injured out of the house and onto stretchers. When Izuku joined him, Tenya was just finishing up and smiled briefly at a clap to the back by a Marine whose arm was in a makeshift sling, but who had a brace of pistols thrust into a bandolier across his chest. The man moved off with the wounded, heading towards the right side of the city where they disappeared into an alleyway.

“The fighting is going to grow more intense as we go forward, according to that officer. What we’ve seen is smaller bands up to this point or groups made up from the larger host that came off the ships which sank in the harbor. Ahead, we’ll start running into the pirates that took the city from behind,” Tenya reported. “Also ahead of us is an open crossway, where there was a major battle earlier with portions of that host. The marines tried to dig in there, but were pushed out, although the pirates took significant losses.”

Izuku nodded and looked at his friend closely.  “How are your ribs doing, Tenya?”

“They, they pain me, it is true, but I can deal with it. The painkiller Momo gave me is quite good, I will admit,” Tenya stated, looking down at his armored chest.  “Nor is this the right time to talk about such things.”

“I know, but if they start to hurt more, tell me, alright?” Izuku nearly ordered. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself more, especially if we have to keep on splitting up when I clean out houses.”

At that, Tenya sighed, but nodded agreement. “I suppose that makes sense.  It would not behoove a former student of UA to fall in such a foolish manner.”

Chuckling, Izuku nodded, and the two raced on.

When Izuku thought of a crossroads, he envisioned two roads that were perpendicular to one another, intersecting at a single point to form an open area. This though wasn’t like that. Instead, the road seemed to split into two, one heading on an angle to the left, the other to an equal angle to the right. And as Tenya had said, the whole place was wrecked. Several food stalls had been upended, used as makeshift barriers, most of the buildings around the area looked damaged and were burning out and there were at lest twenty bodies scattered around the area, mostly marines and pirates, with only a few civilians.

After clearing out a few more buildings of pirates in the back streets, Izuku rejoined Tenya in the middle of the crossway. He had dashed down a few of the larger side streets, clearing them out in turn as much as possible, although again, in this area of the city, there were a lot of makeshift barricades that had been thrown up. Neither of them could hear or see any signs of fighting on the road to the right by this point, although when Izuku was in the upper stories of a few of the larger buildings he could still see a few fires in that direction and a lot of dust.

This didn’t mean there weren’t pirates in that direction, but Tenya reported that he had seen a wall of ice appearing along one particularly long side street that also abutted this crossroad. He didn’t see Shoto himself but reported this to Izuku.

“We can leave that flank to Shoto, the Marines and locals who’ve retreated in that direction,” Izuku decided, scowling a bit. “I wish we had asked for a Den Den Mushi from that one group you met which had one, though. I’m getting the impression that the local commander passed out a lot of them to locals given how organized some of their defenses are, but asking the locals for their only Den Den Mushi, even when they’ve seen us fighting the pirates, feels wrong. Still, I’d like to be in on that loop,” Izuku mumbled. “We might also want to look into that for ourselves going forward.”

“So long as you are the one to tell Mei that we will be using the local equivalent of communication devices and not any radio device she and Melissa comes up with, I fully agree with that idea,” Tenya said dryly. “She doesn’t seem to have as big a bee in her bonnet about that kind of thing as wind power, but it is there.”

Izuku stared at his friend blankly. “Did you just use the term ‘bee in her bonnet,’ with a straight face?”

Tenya harrumphed, and then the two men shared smiles before they raced on. Not four blocks later, after several smaller fights and passing through a portion of the city that had been even more heavily bombarded then the previous areas they’d been in outside of the port itself, they started to hear the sounds of shouting and furious battle ahead of them, far more battle and musket fire than they’d been hearing for a bit now.

Taking to the tops of one of the buildings they passed by, Izuku was able to look ahead of them, shouting down a report to Tenya. “It looks like there’s a group of locals and Marines, I’d say fifteen Marines, another sixty or so locals. The locals are fighting in the alleyways as we’ve seen before, and the Marines are slowly retreating down a street. Both sides have snipers on the rooftops and in buildings, and the locals have mobile barricades, heavy carts loaded with lumber they’re moving with a pair of oxen.”

“Hmm… that’s another animal that seems to exist on both our world and this one. I also think that Mei would strongly object to the idea that anyone using a musket but could be called a marksman let alone a sniper, but the point is well taken,” Tenya mused. “Do you think you should go ahead over the rooftops and then down on the pirates while I move up behind the locals?”

That plan made sense to Izuku, who flashed a thumbs up over the edge of the building to Tenya, who instantly took that as a signal to start. He blazed forwards down the streets, and around the corner he quickly saw the makeshift barricade across the main street that Izuku had mentioned a second ago. It wasn’t much by this point, and there was only one ox alive, another having been shot through the side of the head since Izuku had seen them. Civilians crouched along this side of the barricade, and Marines stood tall to fire over against the incoming pirates. Several charting pirates went down as Tenya watched, his own height, which apparently was enough to make him a few inches taller than most people they’d met so far today, allowing him to see over the barricade.

His attention was taken by a group of pirates as they forced their way through one of the alleyways to one side, slaying two of the locals with cutlasses before charging out into the streets. With Tenya there, that proved to be a mistake.

Before they could charge the back of the Marines, one of them fell to a musket ball from a Marine stationed in a building across the way, and the rest turned as Tenya, zooming down the street towards them, shouted “Hold, varlets! You will not get past me!”

With that, he crashed into the group, kicking and punching. His punches weren’t really much to talk about, but they still had the impetus of his momentum behind them at first, and his kicks, powered by his engines as he lashed out in the air, crashed into the pirates with enough force to send them flying. Within seconds he was finished with that group and zoomed down the alleyway they’d come from.

There, he quickly had to leap up and over a makeshift barricade that consisted of a large and quite wide grandfather clock, the sort that would be at home in a hotel somewhere, that had been hacked to pieces. He landed among another group of pirates, punching and kicking quickly, although he grunted occasionally as cutlasses and cudgels found his armor here and there, and one hook nearly raked across his face, opening a cut across his cheek.

Note to self, remind Momo to make us all helmets at some point. I dearly wish I had my old hero costume, but that would be rather churlish of me to request, I think. Despite the gash to his cheek bleeding profusely, Tenya was able to finish off that band of pirates, then, seeing they could only come in one direction, hastily began to kick at one of the buildings, wincing a little internally. We’re trained not to damage public property like this, but I think it’s for good cause.

Within a few moments, he had another makeshift barricade there, far stouter than the old grandfather clock that had been used previously. The rubble he’d kicked out of the sides of the buildings came up to his chest and blocking the way forward somewhat. Zooming back to the main street, he reported this to one of the Marines there, who ordered a few of the locals off of the makeshift barricade to take a position there with muskets and pistols just in case.

Other locals, many of them women, came out of a nearby inn, taking some of the weapons from the Marines, while handing over already loaded weapons.

“That’s quite well organized,” Tenya observed with a smile.

“That’s Commandant Jonathan for you. Ever since he took over a few months ago, he’s had us drilling a few hundred of the locals in how to reload arms like that. He even moved a lot of the spare muskets and portions of our gunpowder stores into the city, setup like little outposts with a few of our ratings at each point,” the Marine he was talking to confessed, watching as Izuku jumped down from a building that he’d already cleared into a group of pirates there were about to charge the barricade again. He dealt with them all, then raced over towards the barricade, hopping up and over it to cheers and back slaps from the civilians and the Marines alike.

He turned back addressing Tenya with a faint smile as Izuku joined his friend. “I don’t know where you all came from, or where you trained so hard to get so strong young man, or what that strange Devil Fruit could be, I’m very glad you’re here.”

“Can you tell us about what’s going on elsewhere in the city?” Izuku asked politely.

 “From the reports we had been getting before my coms officer died and we had to retreat before retrieving his Den Den Mushi, from here to our right is pretty quiet. Did you arrive with someone with ice powers? I had been getting reports about ice walls forming in a lot of the alleyways, and pirates being frozen or burned by someone making his way through that portion of the city.”

When Izuku nodded the man shook his head, smiling faintly. “Two Devil Fruit users in one crew. That’s amazing. Are you all bounty hunters or something?”

“We did a bit of bounty hunting out of necessity, but we’re actually looking to join the Marines,” Izuku said with a smile. “And if you can, you might want to tell someone with a Den Den Mushi to head down to the docks. That’s where our ship landed, and where two of our crew along with a group of Marines down there have created a protected area much like you all have been trying to do to the rightmost portion of the city.”

The marine, who wore some kind of officer tabs, nodded, and barked out an order to one of his fellow Marines. Within moments, he had handed over his rifle to another and raced off, heading back the way Izuku and Tenya had come. “If you two have taken out enough pirates, a runner can hopefully get through to your friends.”

Unfortunately, another group of pirates them down the streets again, causing all of the Marines to move towards the barricade again. At a barked command from one of the other Marines, they all opened fire, downing several of the pirates, but the others came on, charging or firing in turn.

Izuku met them by leaping up over the barricade, charging forward into them. Mattocks, cut-down billhooks and cutlasses lashed at him, but Izuku ducked dodged or parried with his forearms, which like the rest of his body was covered in a Kevlar body suit. Moments later, most of the pirates were down. Many of them were still alive, unconscious at the moment, but alive, and Izuku shouted that out over his shoulder, before getting struck in that shoulder by a bullet that had been meant for his head. He grimaced at the pain, but tracked where the bullet came from, and charged into another house there.

For several moments, as more pirates poured down the streets and through the buildings, Izuku, Tenya and the Marines and civilians were too busy fighting to keep talking, but despite setting several more fires that Tenya and Izuku helped put out made by hurled bottles and even two primitive grenades, that pirate attack ended in failure as well, and Izuku returned to the other side of the barricade. Several of the locals and one of the marines had been wounded, with one dying, but the rest were still in fighting shape, although they looked exhausted.

“As I was saying, our right seems pretty clear at the moment,” the officer began as if the fight hadn’t happened. He looked the least tired of all of them, although he had obviously been in combat judging by the blood on his dirk and the pistol a nearby civilian was reloading for him as he cleaned his other weapon.

“We’ll probably be rooting out pirates for days after this, but the main battle is here or near the barracks. The pirates who came at us from behind, they seem to have come from several crews, and only two of them kept concentrated. The others all split off. The concentrated groups attacked our barracks before the attack on the harbor even began, catching most of the rest of our forces inside.”

The officer grimaced. “Unfortunately, the barracks building doesn’t have an exterior wall and has only one entrance. That let the pirates keep half our troops that hadn’t already been dispersed through the town the moment the Pirates were sighted out to sea in there. I’d wondered at the time why we weren’t concentrating at the docks, but the Commandant must’ve realized that the pirates would also attack us from behind. We’ve been reinforced from survivors off our frigates, but without you and your fellows, we’d have been overrun by this point.”

Glaring up at where smoke curled over the top of the nearby buildings and the distant shrieking and shouts of battles or looting still going on, he shook his head. “You all did great to simply stop the Greedy Green from bombarding us, yet even Devil Fruit users like you can’t be in more than one place at a time. We need more hands for this work.”

He then went on to describe the city layout briefly, pointing directly towards the marine barracks after a second as Izuku told him he could travel by rooftop. “You’ll find the barracks in that direction. If you can help scatter the pirates keeping a lid on our fellows around the barracks, you’ll free up more of our Marines to help here in the city. And for this kind of work, more hands are better than two specialized ones.”

Izuku looked over at Tenya, who nodded. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go there in a straight line, but perhaps if you carry me?”

To that Izuku simply nodded, turned around, and allowed Tenya to hop up onto his back. A second later, with a grunt of 6% effort Izuku was up on a rooftop and racing away in the direction indicated.

Here and there, the pair of them saw evidence that this area of the city had seen a lot of fighting, and a lot more dying. There were Marine bodies, civilian bodies and pirate bodies alike strewn across the streets here. There was also far more damage that had been done to this area of the city then the rightmost area from where they had initially landed. This came from both the pirates and the bombardment from Greedy Green.

Several times, they saw pirates going about their business, but they didn’t see any civilians alive, although at one point, Izuku did stop and drop Tenya off for a second, heading down into the building they had stopped on then across the street into another one where he thought he had heard a woman scream.

He had, but it was a pirate doing the screaming.

For some reason, the sight of the woman in a pirate outfit took him aback, halting Izuku in the doorway, although thankfully he wasn’t spotted just yet. The woman was arguing with a fellow pirate over something, and the woman was stumbling back from a hasty cut by the man, who only then noticed Izuku’s presence.

This let the woman shoot from the hip, catching the man in the stomach. He went down screaming, and Izuku knew that kind of shot was not just fatal, but painfully so.

The woman turned in his direction, gaping for a second, then backed away, reaching for another pistol on her belt, but Izuku quickly crossed the distance, laying her out with a light tap to the chin. He looked around for a second, seeing that the pair of them had been arguing over an extremely pretty-looking music box of some kind.

There were two elderly folk dead on the floor nearby. The pair of them had both been shot multiple times. As he looked at them, Izuku fought down a surge of rage and hate, not for the first time, although this time, it was accompanied by the vestiges arguing in his head, and black tendrils appearing from his hands. “What, what the…” He said gaping down at them.

“That’s my Quirk kid, Black Whip! Normally you’d be getting Float, but you’re so angry, you’re activating my power faster than you should be right now. Tamp it down kiddo, you’re in no position right now to control black whip, and it’s freaking deadly. Awesome, but deadly,” the voice of Banjo exclaimed in his head.

Breathing deeply, Izuku calmed himself for a moment, although, he still wasn’t exactly fully under control when the woman began to groan at his feet. He kicked out lightly, sending her back into the land of unconscious, and quite possibly giving her a concussion, but Izuku couldn’t find it in himself to care. These pirates were worse than villains, they were like rabid animals, the lowest scum of the earth. Even most gangs back home weren’t this cruel or vicious.

But we’re not back home are we? Here, if the pirates can get back out into the open ocean, they’ve got a better than seventy percent chance of getting away with things like this. That’s why we’re going to join the Marines, that’s why we’re going to be heroes here too! We just have to realize that at times, we’re going to have to be a lot more brutal about it.

Once he was fully under control, Izuku left the house, leaping up to where he had left Tenya. The look on Izuku’s face stopped Tenya from inquiring about what he’d found, and the two moved on, traveling over burning, whole and destroyed buildings. Soon, they could see a large, whitewashed building ahead of them. It was a six-story tall building, the topmost of which was lined with cannons, but evidently they couldn’t be aimed downward very well. Several of the buildings’ window slits had muskets poking out of them, exchanging fire with the pirates that had dug in around the building. There were at least a hundred pirates hiding in the buildings around the garrison, with most of them concentrated in a few makeshift barricades facing a large entryway into the large building.

The crackle of musket fire and the explosions of tossed grenades was loud, growing louder as they approached, and a second later, Izuku blinked as he watched a man in a marine officer’s outfit, complete with a coat, battling it out with two other people on the rooftops nearby. The man was tall, well built but older than most of the fighters Izuku had seen today on either side of this conflict. He was heavily tanned and weathered, but his hands and feet moved quickly, blocking and lashing out quickly. He seemed to be having trouble though with fighting on the rooftops.

When one of the enemy’s blows got through, his body would almost seem to flow out of the way, as if it had turned into paper, something that had Izuku itching to make a note of it in his notebook. Yet even so, each time he was forced to do whatever he was doing to dodge like that, it slowed his own attacks down.  

One of the pirates had a brown beard down to his waist and seemed to be able to bounce around the area easily enough. He wielded a large scimitar with some skill despite looking, in many ways, like a man and an egg had merged into one being. He was also cursing almost loud enough to be heard over the constant crack of musket fire, his face locked in a furious glower as his weapons bounced off the marine’s body.

The other man was shaved, looked almost pale, or perhaps gray skinned. Izuku wasn’t certain, and through the smoke couldn’t make out many details beyond that and the man’s weapons, which seemed to be a series of clause strapped to his wrists. Unlike his fellows his lips were closed tight.

Pulling back slightly, Izuku hoped down to the ground, where he let Tenya off his back. “I think you’ll only be able to attack that group right in front of the entrance into the barracks but…”

“That should be enough to let the marines charge out without losing too many of their number, yes,” Tenya grimaced. “Horrible to think in terms of acceptable losses, but in battles like this, I suppose it is a necessity.”

Izuku grimaced as well, but there was nothing they could to but their best. He said so aloud and then, as Tenya crouched down, Izuku leaped back up onto the rooftops, moving to join the fight against the two more dangerous pirates.

As Tenya barreled forwards to engage the pirates behind the makeshift barricade, Izuku came up behind the man with the claw weapon, but he had to hastily dodge the as the man whirled, somehow. Having somehow sensed Izuku coming, he slashed out at him with preternatural speed. “Fast!”

Before Izuku could do more than dodge though, the man had already twisted around, blocking a blow from the Marine officer, pushing it to one side as he lashed out with the weapons attached to his other hand. Again, though the man was somehow able to dodge, a brief murmur of “Kami-E” coming from the man, almost too low for Izuku to hear over the sound fighting.

Some kind of verbal activation, or mnemonic? Izuku thought. Then he was too busy ducking under another blow from the pirate to concentrate on what the Marine officer was doing. Several slashes later, the brown-bearded pirate over extended, perhaps because he felt the other pirate being pushed back, and a kick coming towards his thigh. Regardless, while he was able to sidestep the kick, Izuku was able to grab his wrist before he could pull his sword arm back. A quick pull in, and a blow with fourteen percent of One For All crashed into the man’s chest, hurling him backward to crash into the side of the barracks a few stories up.

Blood spurted from the man’s mouth and his eyes rolled back up in his head as he fell boneless towards the ground. Meanwhile, the marines had already boiled out of the barracks, closing in on the pirates. In a brief glance down, Izuku saw many of them helping Tenya finish off the group behind the main barricade, and others charging into the surrounding houses.

The last combatant who had been fighting the older marine held on for a second as Izuku turned back to that fight. Now he could see that he had the marine mark tattooed over his face, with a large cross tattooed further on top of that. Now, facing both Izuku and the Marine officer, the tattooed man backed away rapidly, then zipped off so fast Izuku blinked in surprise.

However, that proved to be a mistake as the Marine officer lifted a hand. Holding it clenched against his body, he reminding Izuku of a very old but still well thought of anime for a moment before flicking out a finger. “Finger Bomb!”

A tiny projectile spit out, slamming into the pirate’s back, sending him hurtling forward over his head and off the rooftops with a cry of pain, the first noise the man had released since Izuku had arrived o the scene. Izuku went after him along with the Marine officer, and just as the pirate got to his feet, Izuku landed on him feet first, driving him back down into the pavement with enough force to almost crack his skull, but certainly knock him out.

He grabbed the possibly former Marine up, looking up at the officer and trying to salute. “Er, hello, um, Commandant Jonathan?”

“That’s me. And you’re with the kids who came here hoping to join up with us? Devil Fruit powers and all? You’re quite strong, my boy,” the other man said. “I heard about you from one of my men with a Den Den Mushi that linked up with your Sāmo Sāmo no mi user.”

This close, Izuku was able to take in more details of the man. He was middle-aged, with dark pink and brownish hair, a smart little goatee, and the gleam in his eye of a man who was suddenly presented with a mystery and liked it. Honestly, the look somewhat reminded Izuku of his brief interactions with Nezu.

He gazed down at Izuku for a second with that look, before frowning and turning back the way they’d come. “There will be time for introductions later. Let’s help your friend and my men finish off the pirates outside the barracks. They came on us too quickly for us to set up a proper defense around the building, and unfortunately there was only ever one entrance or entryway. I’ll be fixing that for certain after this, and… well, I doubt anyone will argue about my knocking a few of the local buildings down to built up an outer wall.”

Jonathan scowled. “I didn’t think that the pirates would have so many troops assigned to what I had thought would be a diversionary attack. My mistake, I suppose.”

“I wouldn’t say that sir. From what we’ve seen, the Marines you scattered through the city were giving a good account of themselves,” Izuku demurred as he raced after the man.

When they reached the barracks through the streets, which were, Izuku noticed, noticeably quieter than they had been, Jonathan slowed, staring at the mess that Izuku had made of them pirates. There were more than fifty people packed into the barricade facing the Marine building, keeping the marines inside, with more in the buildings around them. But now, his troops were already forming up into squads, with not a single pirate left in fighting shape.

Seeing that, Jonathan smiled, then began to shout orders, quickly sending them out in squads of twelve through the city. “And remember your Den Den Mushi and Identify, aim shoot, don’t aim, shoot, identify! If there is one civilian casualty from a marine musket, I will have that Marine up on charges!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Came the shout for many of the Marines, as still more came out of the barracks. These looked battered and wounded, and Izuku supposed that they had been the Marines who had been shooting at the pirates and getting shot by them in turn in the barracks windows.

With that done, Jonathan turned to look over at Tenya and Izuku. “I don’t suppose either of you have seen someone wearing a Marines officer’s uniform without a shirt on, have you? He’d be a bit taller than me, and, annoyingly, a bit broader, along with far younger, unfortunately. He’s also supposed to have a square jaw, and wide, fat grin. Oh, and he’s also a Devil Fruit user. The Ame Ame no Mi to be exact.”

A part of Izuku itched to reach for his ever-present notebooks again, but for the moment, he didn’t. Instead, he shook his head. “Sorry, we haven’t seen him. Do you have any idea where he is?”

“He was spotted in the city at one point leading an attack on one of the larger factories. But that was early on in the fighting. Since then, I haven’t seen any reports of him, although unfortunately, most of the troops I had spread through the city didn’t have Den Den Mushi. I have to assume that he stayed near the docks, but why he would, I…” Jonathan paused, scowling. “Unless this wasn’t an attempt to conquer this island? Rather, it was a cutting out expedition with a very specific goal…”

The marine officer turned and stared out towards the dockyard area, shaking his head. “If that’s the case, then he’s going to steal our newest steamship and attempt to get away with it. I doubt that he’d even care over much about his allies. Pirate alliances are always weak things, and Gasparde also has built a reputation for ruthlessness since he became a pirate himself.”

Izuku’s eyes widened, and he turned in that direction, scowling as well while Tenya put it into words. “Do you mean to tell me that the leader of this entire operation, a pirate who apparently is strong enough to gather several pirate cruise beyond his own together, and owns a Devil Fruit, is stealing that steamship we saw when we entered the bay?”

“It’s the only thing that fits all the parameters at the moment,” Jonathan muttered, shaking his head. “Dammit, but that makes me wish I was better at Geppo. Freaking bullet to the knee. Kami-E’s the best I can do these days.”

Shaking his head at that, Izuku turned to look at Tenya. “Izuku, do you think---”

“No. There’s no way I can get back there by road from here and carrying me would only slow you down. Go! Yaoyorozu and Jirou-san may need your help.”

Nodding, Izuku clapped Tenya on the shoulder, turned, and leapt up onto the nearby ship rooftops, racing along as he called on One For All, building it up within him percentage by percentage until green lightning flared around him.

Jonathan stared after Izuku for a few moments, his eyes calculating, before he looked over at Tenya, glancing down at the engines sticking out of his legs before shaking his head. “Well lad, if you’re here along with your fellows to join the Marines, that puts you under my control. Now, let’s start organizing and shutting down this disaster…"

OOOOOOO

As they battled their way through what seemed like an unending horde of small groups of pirates who kept on interrupting their progress towards the paddlewheel that was still, thankfully, tied to the docks, Momo was becoming somewhat irritated. It had only been forty minutes or so since they had landed (Momo had an incredibly advanced internal clock, something that had been very useful aboard ship several times) and already keeping to the prerequisite of using her bottomless pockets as a means of covering her use of Creation was bothering her.

Indeed, it was somewhat infuriating, because Momo truly wanted to start using it. If she could create enough gas to cover a large segment of the docks, Momo could and significant portions of this fight very quickly. Even if she would need to provide herself and Kyoka gas masks. True, the pirates would probably adapt as soon as they started to see their fellows dropping like flies. Indeed, Momo had seen several of them, who had seen her earlier use of Somnambulist, covering their mouths and noses with scarfs which would have made the sleeping gas less effective.

Still, there were a lot of other things that she could have been doing, creating in order to end this fight faster. But no.  Izuku’s rules of engagement still applied, and thus she had to hide what she could do.

And doing so was… Well, as Momo ducked underneath a long polearm of some kind Momo likened it to a mix between a mental and a physical itch. It was as if her Quirk was literally demanding that she start using it more effectively. But she couldn’t.

Still, Momo likened it to a training exercise in many ways. Limiting her use of her Quirk in this matter forced her to think things through more quickly. Whenever they saw the taller woman reach into her pocket, the pirates around her started to flinch at this point, knowing that something was going to come out of it, and knowing as well that they didn’t have any clue as to what.

That was somewhat gratifying, as was the efficiency of brass knuckles. Momo had learned throughout this fight that she quite enjoyed smacking people around with them, even if the blood and bits of teeth were a little disturbing. She’d already made a mental note to get with Melissa and me about designing herself a set of brass knuckles that were little more… multi-faceted. I like these even more than my staff, I thinkKK!!

Momo grunted as a polearm she wasn’t familiar with slammed into her knee, causing her to grunt in pain and drop to one knee. Even though the strike hadn’t gotten through to actually cut into it had done a job on her armor and the blow had badly bruised her knee. Reacting quickly, Momo rolled away from a follow on strike then watched as Jirou’s ear jacks stabbed the man in the neck with one of her earjacks

The dimensionally displaced heiress’s eyes widened as blood dribbled out of the hole left as Jirou pulled her jack back. “I didn’t know you could do that!”

Momo had seen Jirou use her earjacks on people several times since they’d met, and not once had they left an exit wound like that. If they had, Mineta would have resembled Swiss cheese.

“I didn’t either,” Jirou said, grimacing a little as blood flew as she twirled in place, both earjacks flashing out. One of them stabbed into another man’s shoulder, and there was a thrum of sound, causing the man to jerk and spasm, before falling unconscious to the docks beneath them. The other one wrapped around the shaft of a mace, tugging it on to one side so that it missed Jirou while she kicked out, taking the man’s knee out from under him like Momo’s had been a moment before.

When she pulled the jack out from the man who Jirou had hit in the shoulder, there was no exit wound again, much like there hadn’t been back before this. “I think it’s all about intent, or the speed I hit with, maybe?”

“We’ll have to ask Zuk about it later,” Momo said, as she rolled to her feet, grimacing at the pain in her knee. Thicker armor on the joints, definitely. The fact that again, Momo could have used creation to do that very thing annoyed the heck out of her, although it would torn apart her current armor in order to replace it. This whole limiting myself to my pockets thing is quite irritating.

The next second, Jirou stumbled, shot point-blank by someone who had almost shoved his pistol in her chest before opening fire. She had backed away as soon as Jirou had seen the man lifting it as he moved around one of his fellows, but even so that blow had stung something fierce. “Have I mentioned how much I love you for these Kevlar suits you make for us? And why are there so many damn pirates!?”

For some reason, Jirou’s words caused Momo’s heart to thump in her chest even more than the battle had, but she couldn’t dwell on it. Instead, Momo punched out hard, catching another pirate in the stomach, hearing ribs crack as she hurled him into several others. Reaching into her pouch with her other hand, she pulled out and tossed a few more Somnambulist pellets in every direction.

The puffs of gas they released weren’t large, but they still caught several pirates, causing them to fall asleep and get in the way of others. The next instant Momo’s hands quickly reached down grabbing at one of her pistols wearing the knuckled dusters interfered with her ability to grip and pulled the trigger, something else she would need to work on, but she was still able to fire well enough to catch several of the pirates in the chest, stomach, thought I, and one in the guts.

They all fell screaming, the one shot in the gut loudest of all, and Momo grimaced, happy that the overall smell of the battle washed away the smell of the man relieving himself in death but very unhappy that the man would be dying so painfully. “Thank Meli-chan and Zuk for insisting on my creating them in the first place,” she said ducking around another cutlass strike. Two more hit her from behind, but she whirled, smashing one pirate’s face in while Jirou dealt with another.

Two more groups attacked them coming out of the city before they were to the quay leading to the paddle wheel. As they had a brief moment to breath, Momo addressed Jirou’s earlier question. “And as for your question about so many pirates, I don’t know. Perhaps the others have turned the tide elsewhere in the town and the pirates are now trying to flee?”

Jirou scowled, twirling her staff in her hand for a second, further down the wharf. “Think they might’ve been called in to man that ship?”

“Possibly. Or possibly just to get away on it, anyway. I lot of that first group of pirates we had to deal with once we split off looked absolutely terrified for some reason.” Momo shrugged and charged forward towards the ship. “Regardless, we still have a job to finish.”

“Yeah, yeah, rah rah,” Jirou snickered, chasing after her best friend and crush, trying hard not to let her eyes lock onto Momo’s ass. Fucking hormones and adrenaline, now is not the damn time… again!

The next second all such thoughts flew out of her head as Momo was slapped by a green tentacle that appeared across the chest as she charged up the gangplank onto the steamship. The blow caught Momo with enough force to cause her to yell in pain as her pistol flew from her hand and the taller girl was sent hurtling over Jirou’s head. She landed among a bunch of the pirates they’d dealt with, causing screams and moans from the wounded, but softening her fall.

Luckily for Momo, her Kevlar body armor protected her from most of the impact force, but the blow still knocked the wind on out of her. Groaning, Momo rolled onto her chest, pushing herself to her knees gasping in air as one hand moved to her stomach to rub where she’d been struck while her other hand grabbed at her second pistol.

As Jirou raised her staff, a man moved to stand by the gunwale, staring down at the girls. He was easily one of the tallest men Jirou had ever seen, perhaps as tall as All Might or Endeavor, or maybe a little taller; it was hard to tell. He was equally as wide in the shoulders as Endeavor at least. Wearing the typical pantaloons of a sailor, gloves and what looked like some kind of officer’s coat worn without anything underneath it over his shoulders, the man’s face was square jawed, his eyes angry as he stared down at them.

“Well, I don’t know why Aokiji isn’t coming after me personally, and frankly I don’t care. Capture them,” the man intoned, his voice deep and almost gravelly. “Hostages like that might force the Marines to surrender, and if they don’t, they’ll at least be a shield as we take one of the other merchant ships. But given that armor, don’t think you need to be all that gentle about it.”

At his command, twelve other pirates appeared lining the side of the ship facing the quay, whereupon they instantly began to fire down at Jirou. Most of them were armed with simple muskets or pistols, but two of them fired nets, although they both flew wide, the men wielding them unused to the weapon.

The fusillade still forced Jirou into cover behind one of the seemingly ubiquitous crates, although this one was filled with gold and piled high with jewelry, the pirates having set it there for some reason as they tried to get the paddlewheel moving. The jewelry and gold, along with the wood of the actual crate, served to protect her from the musket balls, and she returned fire, poking her staff over the edge and creating a wide-angle blast of sound that slammed up and into the side of the ship.

This close, despite being set to wide angle dispersal, Jirou’s attack cracked the gunwale and a few of the planks of the siding, as well as tossing several of the pirates off their feet. Several of them also fell holding their hands over their ears. Jirou didn’t see it, as she was firing blind, but it also disrupted several tentacles of green goo that the man had created from his chest aimed her way, causing him to scowl in annoyance.

The pirate leader, who could only be Gasparde, made to leap off the boat, but as he did, the man paused, eyes widening at the sight of several golf ball-sized grenades that Momo had created in her pockets and hurled forward. Her aim wasn’t all that good with something thrown like that, but she hurled four of them at the same time, and two landed on the deck of the ship, exploding and sending Somnambulist everywhere.

Seeing the closest men to the gas collapse, their eyes closing in sleep, Gasparde blinked in surprise, then his face shifted and changed. It became green goo from the neck up, and Jirou realized that this must be some kind of Devil fruit. What’s the word for the devil fruit that allows the user’s bodies to change like that? Zoan, no that’s the animal thing.

The next second, Jirou yelped as spears of green goo flashed out from his outstretched hand towards both her and Momo. They struck with far more force than any of the muskets had, bursting through her cover, and would’ve probably even perforated Jirou’s body despite her body armor if she hadn’t rolled away.

Momo had dodged most of the incoming attacks as well, although one of them caught her in the forearm, causing her to grimace in pain. Thankfully it was a glancing blow, and the tip of the green goo, which had solidified as it flew from the man to almost resemble the toughness of steel, simply tore away a portion of her body suit and her shirt, although she could already feel a bruise growing there.

She stumbled back, but fired up at the man with her pistol, only to watch in shock as the bullets went entirely through him and out the other side, before his body reformed, leaving him unhurt. “Even his clothing is unhurt, how does that work!?”

“HAHAHAHAHAH! One of the mysteries of Devil Fruits like my Ame Ame no Mi,” Gasparde chuckled arrogantly, more stabbing spears coming from his body as he leapt off of the ship, closing with Jirou.

Having upped the power once more to it’s most concentrated form, Jirou fired her staff at him,. A blast of sound waves around two feet across crashed into the man, and the results were far more satisfying than Momo’s.

The green goo of the man’s body rippled, and he stumbled, his eyes going wide even as he barred his teeth at her. “I actually felt that!”

His arm forming into a scythe, Gasparde cut at Jirou, who dodged, but couldn’t dodge the attack the man launched from his leg a second later, a lasso of green goo that slapped into her legs wrapping around them and pulling Jirou’s legs out from under her. The next second, she was hefted into the air by that same tentacle, then slammed down like a toy into the wood of the quay hard enough to crack them.

The impact caused Jirou to see stars and to drop her staff, which the man grabbed with another tentacle, intent on tossing it away. That tentacle came apart as several bullets impacted it, and Jirou, grimacing, stabbed out with her jacks into the tentacle holding her. “Heartbeat Fury!” She shouted, pumping out her own heartbeat into the moon.

“AGGH…” Gasparde gasped in pain, twitching spasmodically before he almost dissolved into goo for a second, releasing Jirou.

She landed on her feet and rolled away, blinking as she realized that she was bleeding from the back of her head, and that her neck hurt something fierce, but that was all. “Yep, Kevlar armor, lovely fucking stuff!”

“What even is he?” Momo asked as she dropped her useless pistol, scowling as her hand dove down into her pocket. Think, Momo, think, what is this man’s power? Surely Devil Fruits like that have some kind of weakness, right?

“That hurt, blast it!” Gasparde growled, his mouth reforming, before the rest of the goo pile rose shifting until it looked like his physical body, although entirely made of the green goo. “It’s been a long while since I felt actual pain like that!”

Reaching down, he grabbed at the same crate that Jirou had been hiding behind a moment before, lifting it up, and hurling it at at the girl. Even though Jirou tried to dodge, several of the bits of gold and jewelry still hit her hard enough to cause Jirou to stumble and cry out in pain. One particular set of jewelry, looking like a star with jewels set into it caught Jirou along her forehead, opening a gash there which immediately began to bleed into her eyes, blinding her. “FUCK!”

Seeing Jirou in trouble, Momo, panicking slightly, charged in. Not having had any ideas of what to create, she fell back to the style she’d been using throughout the fight. Somnambulist than a small explosive.

A small grenade of Somnambulist arced out, but the man’s mouth and nose disappeared before it exploded on impact with Gasparde’s face. This covered Momo though as she came in from the side, whereupon she slammed a fist into the side of the man’s chest with enough force that she knew should’ve shattered ribs despite how big Gasparde was. Instead, her fist sunk into the man’s body, and she found it hardening around her arm up to the elbow before she could pull it back. Blast it all, if I create an explosive now I’ll burn my own hand!

“You’ve got spunk girl…” Gasparde looked down at her, taking in his attacker’s… abundant… form for a moment, a smirk appearing on his face. “Or perhaps not so little as all that. I might have to keep you around after we get out of here.”

Momo stared up at the man, her mind whirling for second, completely ignoring his comments, and he laughed, raising a hand to cup her face. But Momo had heard worse than that all her life, and indeed, had learned that her family’s security had dealt with more than two dozen kidnapping attempts since puberty had begun to hit. Which was to say nothing of needing to deal with so-called flirting at the various galas her parents had dragged her to.

Think Momo think! What is this man’s form? What is its weakness!? Ame… candy? What can I use against…

A second later, as Gasparde gripped her hair and tugged on it painfully, Momo remembered a conversation she’d had with Sato and then again with the cooks at her family’s mansion coming back to her about how they created various types of candy. Flour! Can it be that simple? And then candy like this, it might also be flammable, even if it won’t be very susceptible to explosive damage…

With that, Momo gritted her teeth as she stared up at the large man and began to concentrate. Even as Gasparde lifted her off the ground by her hair, causing Momo a great of pain, Momo concentrated. The hand that she had punched into the man began to slowly expand as she created a bag of flour.

That too was immensely painful as the candy around her hand had hardened to the solidity of stone, but it was working, causing Gasparde to blink and turn his attention to where he could see her fist inside his body. “What…”

However, before Gasparde could finish the question or react to whatever his captive was doing, Jirou proved that she wasn’t completely out of the fight. The cut across her forehead was worrying as it hadn’t stopped bleeding, but being blind wasn’t much of a problem for Jirou. She could hear Momo’s heartbeat, and even in his candy form, she could still hear Gasparde’s breathing, his heartbeat, and his subtle movements. Jirou’s jacks stabbed out into the man’s leg this time, and she hit him with the same attack she had done so before.

“ARRGHHHHHH!” Howling in pain, Gasparde lost control of his body for the second time, dissolving again into a puddle of goo, allowing Momo to pull her hand out and back away, wringing her hand out and sending small bits of the everywhere.

As she stumbled back, Momo canceled what she had been doing. Instead, she quickly created two small bags in her pockets before reaching into them with both hands, her knuckle dusters dropping from her fingers as she did. As the man reformed, she hurled one of the small, half-open bags at him, causing the contents to explode outward on impact, covering his form. Instantly, the reactive substance burst into flame, covering him and causing Gasparde to howl in pain again. Yet a second later, candy flowed over the fire from all around it, putting it out easily.

Gasparde, reformed, grimacing now, and wiping away some blood from his mouth. Jirou’s sonic attacks had seemingly damage something inside of the man that carried over despite his Devil Fruit. Momo wondered how that was possible but decided to put it down to Devil Fruits being just as bizarre as Quirks.

“Enough of this!” Roaring, Gasparde lashed out with both of his arms becoming long tentacle scythes, crashing into Jirou and Momo alike before either could dodge.

Having been kneeling down, Momo was sent tumbling although her Kevlar body armor was cut open from one shoulder across to the other. The Kevlar of her armor had stopped most of the cutting force of the attack, although the pain was considerable, and Momo knew that she had just been given yet another black and blue mark for the collection.

Not able to sense the attack in time to do anything, Jirou had it worse. She was sent flying with a scream of pain, her Kevlar armor having been sliced through like Momo’s. But Gasparde had put more speed behind that attack than the one on Momo, who had yet to prove as much of a threat as the sound user. A long gash opened there and and blood spurted as she crashed onto the quay again.

Hearing that scream Momo growled, suddenly furious rather than afraid. How dare this, this overly evolved gorilla hurt Kyo-chan!

Rolling away from another attack, Momo concentrated, and once more Creation flared inside of her pockets. Gasparde advanced on her but before he could come close, Momo hurled two more grenades at him one after another, and this time as they burst, a white substance flared out from each small makeshift grenade.

Catching a third grenade, Gasparde paused, staring as he crushed whatever was hurled at him in his grip, watching the white substance flow out from between his fingers. “What is this supposed to be?”

The next second, a dagger was hurled at his chest. Gasparde caught it reflexively with that same hand only to feel it sliced into his fingers and palm. That however was the least of his worries, as the next second, a tiny lighter was hurled in his direction. The flour dust all around him caught fire, exploding and sending him staggering while fire flared all across his body for a second time. “GAAHH, you bitch!”

Even as Gasparde tried to send more candy up and over from the portions of his body that hadn’t been hit by the flour to dose the fire, still more flour pellets hit him, although she was now beginning to feel it. Even though Momo hadn’t been making anything truly large up to this point, she had been using Creation on a small scale almost continuously as the battle continued and that was starting to catch up to her.

But she didn’t back down, the pain she’d heard in her best friend’s voice goaded her on, and Momo charged. In one hand she held a stiletto, a thin punch dagger that would only need to get one good shot in to cripple once Gasparde could no long shift into soft candy. She let the other free to reach into her pockets, which Momo did as she charged forwards, tossing still more flour dust ahead of herself, along with more incendiaries. These ignited the moment they left her hand with one doing so the instant Momo let it go, almost as if she was hurling a fireball forward.

That actually was a little close, and Momo knew that her fingers would be burnt more than a little bit after that, but she didn’t care.

Gasparde gasped in pain as the stiletto opened up a gash across his arms, and he realized that whatever the substance he was being hit with was forcing his body to remain solid, allowing this girl to hurt him. “Cunt! I’ve changed my mind, I don’t want you warming my bed, I want you dead!”

He punched out then kicked, before jumping into the air, bouncing in the one form of the Rokushiki he’d learned as a marine captain before discovering the Ame Ame no MI. Geppo, the Air Walk technique, allowed him to put some distance between them, but the black haired girl danced in between his stabbing needles. The next second, another fireball slammed into his face, causing Gasparde to cry out in pain, which in turn forced him to cancel Geppo, the technique needed too much of his concentration.

He landed aboard the ship with a crash, and Momo followed, racing up the gangplank, tossing still more dust and incendiaries ahead of her, ignoring the growing gnawing pain from her stomach. These burned several pirates who had just come out on deck, Momo’s various incendiaries landing among them, along with the flour powder, causing the incendiaries and the fire they ignited to spread and turn into an explosion.

Men were hurled off the side of the ship, or simply to their knees, howling in pain, rolling to put out the fires as Gasparde pushed to his feet. Spikes appeared all over his body, and he charged forwards.

The number of needles blocked Momo’s attempt to use her stiletto, and she wasn’t fast enough to retreat. Several thick needles slammed into her body, almost breaking through her Kevlar armor although thankfully Gasparde hadn’t been able to build up enough speed to do that. One gouged cross her cheek, while another cut across her upper arm with enough force to rip through armor and skin alike.

An instant later, Momo found herself pinned, several of Gasparde’s spikes all around her body, pinning her to the ship’s wheelhouse as the man pulled back his head, where several more spikes grew, longer and thinner than the others, as he sneered down at Momo. “I’m’ going to kill you, bitch!”

Gasparde’s attempt to gloat cost him though, and his eyes widened as, giving up any pretense of not being able to use her powers in other ways, Momo’s mouth opened, and she spat out a gel-like substance. Napalm was somewhat tough for Momo to make, as it was so deadly she’d never practiced making it, only looking up the composition after going down the rabbit hole online at one point, hence why she relied on other incendiaries before this. But it would undoubtedly be effective.

The gel-like substance struck Gasparde’s face, igniting as it went through the air. It clung there as he screamed, pulling away from Momo, an openhand slap catching her across her face with enough force to cause Momo’s eyes to momentarily roll up in her head as she was hurled into the gunwale facing away from the quay.

“ARGGgggg, ahhh… get it off, get it off!” Gasparde screamed, trying to wipe away the substance, only to to get it on his hands. Desperately he rolled on the deck, pulling up more candy from his lower legs, to cover and smother the flame. This eventually put the fire out, but even as it worked, Gasparde continued to scream.

When the excess candy fell away, Gasparde’s face was badly burned, and his eyes were manic as he stared down at Momo. “Y, you…”

Clinging to the gunwales with one hand, Momo stared back at him, her other hand darting into her pocket. She continued to glare even as more spikes grew over out of the man’s arms and he raised them, ready to bring them down like a massive spiky hammer blow.

Before he could, a voice sounded out, each syllable sounding louder as the owner of that voice came closer, and Momo smiled. “I won’t let you, Villain! Justice Smash!”

Gasparde barely had a second to turn and bring up his arms to defend himself before a fist smashed into him. That blow was so powerful it shattered all of the spikes on his arms, those arms and then went on to catch Gasparde in the chest, shattering ribs and hurling him off the ship with enough force to send him skipping across the waves.

The massive man tried, he tried to get his feet under him, tried to activate his Devil Fruit in order create a tentacle to reach back to the ship and pull him back. Gasparde was even able to transform ne hand into a long whip, which he desperately flung forward. But he was in too much pain, too much agony, and his attempt to use Geppo failed before his feet hit the water before they could, and he lost all ability to controlled his legs instantly. His eyes widened and he screamed aloud “Nooooo!” before disappearing underneath the waves.

Standing on the main deck of the paddlewheel, Izuku gasped in breath, his legs shaking underneath him. He had to push one for all almost to the point where he could feel his bones creaking in order to get here fast enough, but he had done it. “I, are you alright?” he asked desperately, staring down at Momo. “Sorry I got here so late.”

Momo smiled faintly, shaking her head, although she had to wince in pain at that shake. Her head was throbbing, and she knew that her upper arm was at least broken, not to mention her ribs, perhaps the forearm of her other arm, and the various bruises she’d accumulated. “I rather think you got her just in time, as a hero should, Zuk. Although I will say that was entirely unpleasant.”

Blinking, Izuku shook his head as he stared down at the numerous wounds covering Momo’s body, then over the gunwale towards where Jirou had just stood up and was making her way towards them using her staff as a crutch as she stared up at them. “Yaomomo, have wondered if you are perhaps just a little too civilized? I think even Tenya would allow you to get away with a curse or two at this point.”

“Hah!” Jirou shouted before Momo could try to formulate a response to that. “Too civilized? You didn’t see her go all feral before you arrived. That was one heck of a sight, I gotta tell you.”

Momo pouted, looking away. “He hurt you, Kyo-chan. Of course I was going to do my darndest to hurt him in turn!”

At that, Kyoka fell silent blushing heavily, staring at Momo, her eyes gleaming, and Izuku blinked, wondering what all he’d missed, before reaching down to help Momo to her feet. “Well, you two can rest now. I’ll finish clearing up the interior of this ship and make certain that there are no more pirates around. Then we’ll head back to her own ship to link up with the marines there. This fight isn’t over, but it’s certainly dying out now.”

OOOOOOO

Nico Robin, one of the most wanted women in the world, and not in a good way, it had to be said, had arrived on Elena two days before the youngsters she had become interested in did. Indeed, she had arrived so long before them that Robin had begun to wonder if perhaps the Grand Line had defeated them as it had so many crews over the centuries, and she would have to push on. When Gasparde began his attack, Robin continued to watch despite her rising misgivings. The initial bombardment reminded her far too much of the Buster Call that had destroyed her home island of Ohara.

She did not interfere, simply watching, despite a part of her growing heartsick at what was happening. While she disdained the World Government and loathed it and everything associated with it with every fiber of her being, the common citizen didn’t deserve to be slaughtered like this, didn’t deserve for families to be ripped apart as hers had, and not by the World Government in this case, but by ambitious greedy pirates.

Worse, she knew that if Crocodile, her current employer, had his way, Gasparde would be joining them. Indeed, to Crocodile, all of this would seem an excellent show of Gasparde’s usefulness.

Watching via scattered eyes throughout the city, each of their positions carefully chosen to be out of sight unless someone was very lucky, Robin spotted a boy and a girl ran away from pirates. The boy was the older of the two by at least five or six years, perhaps, while the young girl seemed to be only six or seven.

Robin watched as one of the pirates cut at the boy’s back, sending him to the ground with a scream, then grabbed up the girl, only for the boy to kick out hard. The kick caught the pirate in the ankle, causing him to loosen his grip on the girl enough that she was almost able to get away from his grip. The boy screamed something, and the girl wailed, but obeyed, racing away.

When one of the other pirates aimed at the girl with a pistol, Robin couldn’t stop herself. Watching through the three eyes she could see this little drama, Robin summoned up a hundred hands out from behind the six pirates who had been chasing the children. A few clutches dealt with all of the pirates, and then subtle pinches to the nerve endings of the back of their necks sent both the older boy and the younger girl into unconsciousness.

Robin shook her head, leaning back against the tree behind her where she was sitting for the moment at the outskirts of the city. She had a hiding place deeper into the woods that existed between a few of the larger estates that dominated portions of the island, but there was still a limit to how far from her body she could use her Devil Fruit. “What am I doing?”

Robin knew why she helped the two children though. Perhaps because of what happened to her when she was merely seven, she had long since developed a soft spot for children. She did not allow anyone to know about it, of course, such would have been disastrous. But this wasn’t the first time she found herself stepping in when she discovered a child being abused or attacked in some fashion. But Robin couldn’t allow herself to do it too often as not even during chaos like this could her strange powers go completely unnoticed.

“Yet that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything,” Robin murmured, before closing her eyes, her real ones anyway, and concentrating on her powers once more. She hadn’t dispel the multiple eyes that ranged out from her current position deep into the city, and a moments later, more hands appeared around the two children, lifting them up and moving them into an alleyway. Still more hands then gathered up the dead pirates and dumped them one after another into the canal nearby. She watched for several seconds until the current caught the bodies, sending them tumbling down towards the ocean. With no bodies around, the two children would be left with a mystery as to what happened to their pursuers, with no reason or ability to figure out what it happened.

She examined the older boys back for a moment, then determined that the wound wasn’t life-threatening, her attention turned outward.

As the battle continued Robin stepped in, helping this or that child subtly, tripping up pirates here and there, smashing loose some rubble to fall on others, or guiding a young child out of trouble with a hand on their shoulder that dissipated before they could realize it was there. Balancing secrecy with the urge to help such youngsters was difficult, but Robin managed, saving perhaps two dozen children from being discovered or captured by pirates in this segment of the city.

However, as the bombardment continued and smoke and fire began to make her original set of eyes weep, Robin pulled back reluctantly, simply watching once more. More pirates flooded in from the dockyard area, significant portions of the crews of ships that had been destroyed in the harbor surviving to join the battle in the city.

Not long after however, Robin washed in something approaching astonishment as her personal targets of interest arrived.

When she once more saw ice flash out from one of them, Robin held back a flinch, and several minutes later she watched warily as he lashed out with fire from his other half. The boy’s power fascinated her, and she even overheard what they called it, the Sāmo Sāmo no Mi. It was one that Robin had never heard of before, but it was certainly powerful, even if it wasn’t a full Logia type.

Of similar interest were the rest of the crew. The blonde girl, whom Robin had met before, named Melissa, didn’t seem particularly special. Certainly, she did not have any kind of Devil Fruit to call upon, but she was resourceful and obviously intelligent, given their previous interaction. Robin approved of Melissa at least on that score. The girl in the crow’s nest, whom Robin could barely see from her nearest eye, also seemed to have preternatural sniper skills somehow.

The two girls who fought their way across the dockyard area towards Gasparde’s current prize was also very interesting. Sound powers and something else, something that allowed the girl to create small objects. Robin was almost certain that it was another Devil Fruit, but what kind she didn’t know. She certainly isn’t fooling me with that bottomless pocket idea. Further, there didn’t seem to be any kind of limitation on what she could create, or if there was one, Robin didn’t know what it was.

Robin had to smile, feeling a moment of feminine solidarity as she saw the two women fight across the docks. Whatever that power is, they both are very strong and somewhat skilled. And I particularly like the young woman with the… rather gifted proportions. Even from here, Robin could tell the girl with the tricky pockets was almost as gifted in the chest department as she was, despite being four or five years younger than Robin. She’s both smart and can throw a mean punch with those brass knuckles of hers. Although I will admit the sound user’s decision to aim below the belt occasionally is just as amusing.

The two boys who raced into city (and that, more than anything showed their youthfulness in her opinion. Splitting up your crew like that as you enter a fight you don’t know much about? That was the height of foolishness) interested her somewhat. The green-haired youth that she had spoken to before alongside Melissa certainly had a good head on his shoulders, and his physical abilities were incredible. That strength didn’t seem to be the product of any kind of Devil Fruit at first, until she spotted green lightning arcing up over his body.

The second boy had a very strange Devil Fruit or transformation power with strange… things sticking out of his legs that somehow pushed him forward to move faster than Robin had ever seen anything move before. Robin and no idea what they were, but they looked remarkably advanced and powerful to boot given some of the young man’s attacks.

Seeing the lightning from the one youth and those odd metal tubes made Robin remember some comic books she had once read as a young girl about the Germa 66. They were an evil organization who used the power of science and technology to bolster their troops to the point of being superhuman in their fights against Marine Man… or she thought that was the name of the hero, anyway.

Idly, Robin wondered if this group were rejects from that group, then shook her head with a chuckle, watching as the battle continued. She watched everything, including the fight against Gasparde, becoming further entranced with the power shown by the black-haired girl, as well as her ferocity once the sound user had gone down, the younger shorter girl who Robin had spoken to along with the green-haired boy.

Although, I suppose calling them youths isn’t really all that accurate is it? They are younger than me, but they are so strong already. I could deal with them all bar the Sāmo Sāmo no Mi user perhaps, but even so, it’s surprising.

Shaking her head, Robin looked down at the Den Den Mushi she held in one hand. She had told Crocodile about the attack when it started, and she realized she needed to report again. He isn’t going to be happy about my inability to recruit Gasparde, but I am certainly thrilled, Robin thought, as she dialed the appropriate number. “Mr. Zero. I regret to inform you that my trip might well be a complete waste of time. Mr. Candy Cane seemingly over evaluated himself.”

“What do you mean, Miss All-Sunday?” The warlord Crocodile’s voice came back to her.

Robin rolled her eyes. Honestly, the man needs to get better at choosing names! Why not just Sunday, or pick a random holiday from some other island that has no connection to Alabasta? “Candy Cane led an attack on the island of Elena. The local Commandant proved an incredibly wily individual. The pirates have done a significant amount of damage to the city, but I just saw Gasparde fall into the ocean, his prize unclaimed. I feel it is only a matter of time before the rest of his crew and the crews he pulled to together for this assault are all dealt with,” she reported, instead of the truth.

Honestly speaking, she wasn’t certain if the Marines could have rallied on their own without the teens stepping in. indeed, she doubted that they would’ve been able to turn the tide given the bombardment ship and Gasparde’s attempt to take command of the steamship that the locals had built. Regardless, the local Commandant seemed entirely too intelligent for her peace of mind, hence why she wasn’t staying anywhere in the city itself. Robin wasn’t about to trust any kind of disguise with so many Marines around led by such a man.

Crocodile scowled, shaking his head, which was covered through the Den Den Mushi. After a moment, a cigarette appeared for a second before Crocodile asked for a name.

When Robin gave it, he sighed. “Jonathan. That name is known to me. He is a veteran marine. Not up to New World standards, but I think he might have served with Garp the Fist at one point here in Paradise for some time. I certainly could see him defeating someone like Gasparde if he took him unawares. Which I believe he could. I think the man’s nickname among the Marines is the Sly Fisherman. And you are certain you yourself were not spotted?”

Robin snorted at that, hearing not concern for herself in that question, but cold calculation.

“Positive. Ever since I arrived here in order to wait for Gasparde’s own arrival, I’ve gone out of my way to stay hidden. In fact, I’m going to retreat to my permanent hiding place soon. I will remain there until the captured pirates and so forth are dealt with and the port returns to normal. Only when the entire island is peaceful again will I try to make a break for it. I have Banchi hidden deep inland for that very purpose as well,” Robin answered firmly.

Crocodile growled but nodded, the gesture carrying through the Den Den Mushi as all such things did, up to and including the initial transformation the Den Den Mushi underwent to resemble the individual speaking on the other end. “Caution is appreciated. We are barely at the planning stage of my great scheme, and any hint of your current whereabouts need to be hidden, even if associating with me would protect you to a certain degree.”

It would protect Robin only as far as the World Government was willing to let it, and Robin knew it. Crocodile was a warlord, and the normal Marines wouldn’t want to wouldn’t be allowed to mess with her. However, that very connection would bring far more scrutiny down on them from the World Government, something that Crocodile needed to avoid until he had succeeded in his goal and had become too powerful for the World Government to challenge.

Crocodile continued. “But do not take longer than three weeks to get off that island. I have identified the next person we will need to recruit for my plan against the Alabastan royals, and as you know, I cannot be seen to be involved in that recruitment. I’ve also begun to set up Baroque Works in its entirety. I have set up so many middlemen they will soon require someone to meet with and get their orders from in person occasionally. I can only do so much with the Den Den Mushi, and my own identity needs to remain secret.”

“Excellent,” Robin said, rather than what she was thinking, well-used to keeping her thoughts to herself. She knew Crocodile’s plans, and although she had agreed to go along with them, that didn’t mean that she bought into them wholesale.

Others, as they gathered to her and Mr. Zero, the mysterious leader of Baroque Works as they created that organization, might think that she had some ulterior motive. That perhaps Nico Robin was looking to set herself up alongside him as his Queen. Indeed, a few of the middlemen she had already begun to work with on Crocodile’s behalf thought that, and remembering it, Robin had to hold in a shiver. Nope! Nope, all the nope in the world. That is a new definition of nope, in point of fact.

No, her goal was something entirely different. Her dream rather, a dream that had driven Robin all her life, a desire that forced Robin to live on despite the entire world being against her. Let Crocodile think that the ancient weapon Pluton or the location of it exists on that stone, I am after something far more important! Let me access that poneglyph, let me read what is on there, and I will know why Ohara had to die, the secret of the Void Century!

“I can do that, although I will call again once I am off of this island. That way, you can at least direct me to where I need to go next if it isn’t directly back to our base of operations.”

“That kind of efficiency is partially why you are Miss All-Sunday,” Crocodile said, before bidding her farewell and hanging up.

Shaking her head, Robin put the Den Den Mushi away, concentrating through what few of her eyes could see the youngsters that she was so interested in. She watched as several of them, including to who had just made the shoreline, began to work with the locals. One of those, a girl with vaguely froglike features, who Robin put down as being a half-Fishman, was forced by the other one to stay with a group of Marines there in the dockside area as the other one charged off into the city, followed by the green haired youth.

Robin remembered his name as being something like Isaac perhaps? Regardless, the black-haired girl, and the second girl Robin had met also stayed there, while the other one, after what she looked looked to be like an argument, joined Izuku and the black-haired young man, moving out into the city. They didn’t look for pirates any longer. Rather, they looked for survivors, putting out fires, and so forth as they went, with the sound-using girl taking the lead.

She continued to watch, letting most of her eyes around the city disappear, then began to conjure carefully, very, very carefully, a set of ears near where the three girls were being looked after by a group of the locals. The Fishman girl had peeled off her wetsuit, and the other two girls were looking at her back, shaking their heads, before Melissa raced back onto the ship, hurrying back with what looked like medical supplies.

A round of questions began from all of them, making sure that their friends were still all right, most of which Robin wasn’t very interested in. However, it did give her better insight into their character. Then, the half-fishman girl, Tsuyu, who was laid out on a makeshift stretcher of some kind said something that got her attention, causing her to banish all of the other ears in the area, save for the ones that had caught her words.

“-- Violence in this world. Kirishima and I, we wanted to help the pirates off that ship, but it was too late. That hurts, knowing we could’ve saved their lives. They might be pirates, and I know you all told me what they were up to here in the city, but still…”

“We would’ve simply been saving them for the hangman’s noose anyway,” the voluptuous young woman who had used the brass knuckles, whose name Robin had yet to hear, stated, shaking her head as she handed a roll of bandages to Melissa.

And again those came out of her pocket. Amusing.

 “Although I think my I’m getting too used to the violence were seen, and with my Quirk, well, that’s dangerous. My Quirk can be so easily made into a deadly weapon,” the woman finished.

“As you showed when you fought Gasparde after Jirou went down,” Melissa said, shaking her head. “Don’t second-guess yourself, Yaomomo. Judging by the number of prisoners the marines have been gathering, you used a lot of sleeping gas whenever you could and then were forced to fight against Gasparde. He would’ve had both of you, either captured or dead, and given what we’ve seen, capture in this case wouldn’t have been the soft option.”

While she was thoroughly in agreement with the sentiment, Robin wondered if that was a name or a nickname second, before concentrating on the more important thing. What is a Quirk?

“I know, but still, life is so cheap here, the power of law so weak, it’s seriously depressing to think about. There just aren’t enough heroes around I suppose,” Tsuyu said, although her face remained the its normal deadpan expression.

Robin wondered if the girl had trouble expressing herself, or if that was simply because she was part frog fishman. Wait, have I ever actually heard of frog Fishman? Do frogs count as fish? And why the comment about heroes rather than marines? I could swear I heard the capital letter there.

Jirou shushed them all, and the conversation shifted, with Melissa and the newly arrived Mei, talking about a new engine for their ship. When Momo jokingly pointed towards the damaged paddlewheel, Mei rolled her eyes, saying that was so last century. Momo replied that it really wasn’t last century, but more several centuries, causing Mei to laugh.

Robin’s eyes widened. That was another clue to where this group would come from. An advanced island then, very advanced.

This was proven a second later, as Mei went on, her voice rising in irritation.

“I’m still annoyed at the fact we can’t even use gas or even assume we can get coal! What we need is to develop some kind of engine that’ll allow us to burn ocean water instead if we can’t rely on Momo. I refused to let us rely on wind power!”

“God dammit, Mei!” Melissa hissed, shaking her head. “I know you all are just floundering after coming down from the violence, and I get it. But I thought we were all clear about how we didn’t want anyone to know anything about where we came from, and how much of our tech we wouldn’t be sharing!”

Mary subsided, glaring a little from what Robin could see, but a second later she twitched, staring to one side. The search going on around a pub had finished, and some marines were now carrying out bodies. The pirates would be sentenced to the ocean instantly, while the locals were lined up on the docks nearby,

for several moments, Robin watched as the youngsters stared, and Tsuyu spoke up. “I really, really wish we had a way back to Earth right now.”

The others all nodded faint agreement, before shaking themselves, and going back to what they had been doing. Which included the one named Melissa hissing at Tsuyu about the use of the word ‘earth’ for some reason.

Robin canceled the last of her eyes and ears around the trio of girls and back toward her current position in a line, shaking her head faintly. That had given her a lot to think about.

At first, I thought they were from an island which had somehow been completely isolated, which is certainly still possible, but Earth? Why would anyone name their island that? Furthermore, why would they discuss it as if it were an entirely different world, not once, but several times? That has to tie into Melissa knowing multiple languages. Furthermore, why or what is a quirk? How advanced is this society they come from? What was the emphasis on heroes about? Questions abound, and I would dearly like some answers to go with them.

She shook her head then, retreating further away from the city. Within moments, Robin was deep into the forest, moving at an angle that put her well away from the angle from which the pirates had attacked and there were several large mansions. There, Robin found her camp undisturbed, although she waited near the outskirts, conjuring hundreds of eyes throughout the forest to ensure that she was not being observed before closing in on it.

To any observer who didn’t know precisely what they were looking for, Robin’s camp looked nothing so much like a tree log, because that was what was there on the surface. However, at one end of the log, what looked like a clump of roots and dirt had been cut out from the rest, becoming a small door that you could pull out and away to reveal a short, thin bunker hidden underneath the downed tree.

Diggin something like this was something that would take a normal person many, many days, but Robin had created it in a bare few hours thanks to her Devil Fruit. The Hana Hana no Mi took the phrase ‘many hands make light work’ and made it reality in a way that few other people on the planet could contemplate.

Within the bunker was a small incredibly tidy-looking camp, complete with a cookstove at the far end, the outlet of which rose up through another hole made elsewhere along the edge of the downed log. Robin knew, having seen it, that any woodsmoke dissipated quickly through the moss that covered the hole, making even that an impossible avenue through which to find her hiding space. Along one wall of the small thin area was a bed, heavily lined with a blanket that she had brought along as one of her few supplies.

There, Robin settled down, leaning against the outer wall of her makeshift bunker, humming thoughtfully before pulling a book towards her. It was one of several she had acquired during the attack on the city, which she felt was more liberating from their unenviable fate than truly stealing, at the same time she’d been helping children. Robin gazed at the title of the book, then set it aside for now, moving over to put on a pot of coffee. “The Rainbow Mist… another time perhaps? It is certainly possible. I wonder… I will need to be very, very careful with my eyes, but perhaps talking to these young people might be very interesting indeed.”

OOOOOOO

That ‘dying out’, as Izuku had put had, wasn’t nearly as quick as he had thought. He hadn’t reckoned on the fact the pirates would be so good at hiding away, or that there was still, as was counted later, a hundred and fifty pirates scattered throughout the city looting and killing when Tenya and Izuku had broken the cordon penning a third of Jonathan’s forces in the garrison. Or that so few of the marines who had been scattered through the city would be capable of continuing to help.

Momo, Mei, who had actually broken a rib from Gasparde attack, and Tsuyu would sit the rest of the battle out. Momo had, in Melissa’s words, “More bruises than uninjured skin” to go with three broken ribs, a broken radius and ulna on one arm, and nasty gashes to her upper arm and cheek. The cheek one wasn’t, thankfully, going to scar, but the other one might, Melissa wasn’t certain.

Tsuyu, of course, had reopened the gashes on her back. Jirou should also have been forced to stay with the other wounded, but she refused. “This’ll be an emergency rescue situation just as much as it will be about finding pirates, Zuk, and my powers make me the best at finding people in this situations, one way or another.”

This indeed proved to be the case. Jirou canvased the city from the port outward, finding both hiding pirates and civilians alike. Tenya found himself pressed into carrier duty. Once he had seen what Tenya could do, Jonathan had him zooming around the streets with a cart loaded with four Marines to any trouble spot that Jirou or the other teams of Marines reported as Jonathan continued to create a network throughout the city, all of them interconnected via Den Den Mushi.

Meanwhile, as Izuku and Kirishima pitched in wherever they could to deal with pirates or removing debris to help save civilians, Shoto helped by continuing to put out fires and was occasionally called in to freeze whole houses solid along with the pirates inside. Twice, doing so also froze civilians that they had taken hostage in an attempt to, use them as bargaining tools in order to get safe passage off the island. Shoto had to move quickly after that to unfreeze the civilians before it became fatal, but it was still a much faster and easier way of dealing with such situations that Jonathan or the other Marines could’ve come up with, something Jonathan deeply approved of.

Once the trio of wounded on their own crew were dealt with Melissa found herself, with her limited medical knowledge, thrust into a nursing position at a massive aid station set up in the Y-shaped Crossway that Izuku and Izuku had discovered the day before.

The search and rescue went on for two days. The repair efforts would take much, much longer, such was the tremendous amount of damage done to the city, something that somewhat horrified Izuku and the others. “I never realized exactly how much property damage we’re used to seeing at home, but without quirks like Cementoss, repairing it all is a lot harder,” Kiri said at one point when he had come into the hotel rooms they had been given after the last segment of the city had been declared clear of pirates and survivors alike. “Although I don’t think even the worst villain attack I ever saw on TV was anything like this.”

“Maybe but remember that Nomu we fought at the USJ. That thing would probably have been able to do a lot more damage than this if it had wanted to, or even if it had fought All Might in a normal city rather than at the USJ,” Izuku pointed out.

“I’m still wondering about that thing. I know it doesn’t have anything to do with our lives right now, but still, multiple quirks? It sounded more like a biological weapon than an individual to me,” Melissa said, shaking her head, looking down at her hands for a moment.

She’d spent the past forty-eight hours living off coffee and sugar-covered donuts as she helped the various doctors out as much as she could. At the same time, Momo had surreptitiously filled most of their ship’s supply room with painkillers, anesthetics, bandages and so forth. Since Melissa was able to give the ingredients list of those painkillers to the locals, that haven’t raised many eyebrows, although they didn’t have any equivalent to themselves, which meant that Momo’s Creations had saved a lot of lives.

So had Melissa while using them, and in a far more direct manner. That had felt good to the young blonde woman, especially when she could tell a grieving family that their mother, father or what have you would pull through. Yet it had still been bloody, horrific work, and more than once, Melissa’s hands had been stained with the blood of the wounded. And not all of them survived.  

Melissa shivered a second, then looked up at the others, a small wry yet also somehow chilly smile on her face. “Still, we’re getting through it. And can I say how nice it was to know that the locals had doctors specializing in trauma? That was something I really hadn’t expected, but I was really grateful to see!”

All of the others nodded firmly, while Kirishima cracked his knuckles explosively muttering under his breath about how perhaps the Marines had a point about not trying to take prisoners so often. What the pirates had done to some of the women they’d captured didn’t bear thinking about.

“Er, w, well, um, Commandant Jonathan says that while the mayor and he are going to be going over plans for the reconstruction of the city, he’s going to induct us into the Marines, and even will put on the…” Tenya paused, holding up his hands to make quote marks. “Full rigmarole to do it.”

“What exactly does that entail?” Momo asked, grimacing slightly as she pushed herself up in her bed. Beyond using her powers to create medical supplies, Which Izuku had essentially had to sneak her out to do the past two nights, Momo had remained bedridden since the moment Melissa had been able to determine the state of her injuries.

“A full ceremony. We will be given our Marine recruit uniforms then made to swear an oath to the Marines in the World Government. I gather our training after that will be very different than normal. Commandant Jonathan said most marine recruits spend at least a few months being brought up to an acceptable level in terms of mathematics, reading and writing, on top of their combat abilities. We won’t need that, although he will still be testing our combat skills and everything else, of course.”

Tenya flushed a little, looking away from the girls. “There might also be an issue because so many of us are young women, and this base apparently hasn’t had to deal with bringing in any girls. Indeed, Jonathan stated that only one in about a thousand Marines are women.”

Momo and Jirou both began scowling at that, to which Melissa snorted. “Well, at least that’s like the Marines back home. And isn’t there more male heroes than women? I’m not sure why you two’re surprised.”

“We’re not scowling at that,” Jirou said, speaking up for both herself and Momo. “We’re scowling at the fact that there is going to need to be special accommodations. How much you want to bet that the other Marines might…”

She trailed off as Izuku and Tenya both shook their heads. “Y, you are worried about being g, given preferential treatment, right?” Izuku asked, looking at Momo in particular. He knew about her old concerns about how she hadn’t really earned her place at UA due to her parent’s influence. He knew that it was bunk, however, and had told her that several times.

When he went on his stutter, which still occasionally came out when he was talking to Momo and the others, IE, cute girls, had disappeared. “That might be a problem once we’re shipped off to some other training center. This place is a recruitment and peacekeeping garrison, not a real training center. But right now, thanks to our help against the Pirates, none of the Marines here are going to resent anything when it comes to all of you and us,” he explained, before looking a little guilty.

Before he could speak up about what he was guilty about though, Jirou’s ear Jack smacked him between the eyes lightly. “Don’t even think about trying to apologize again for sending us up against Gasparde, Zuk. You had no way of knowing he’d be in charge of taking that ship, and none of us had any reason to think the guy would be that tough anyway.”

“I did that because I thought that the pirates getting a second ship out into open water to help with the bombardment of the city would be a bad idea, but I should’ve assigned Shoto to go with you rather than…”

“If you had done that, at least a hundred and seventy-seven people would have died from fires that I put out,” Shoto said, cutting across their captain’s self-flagellation with all the subtlety of a guillotine. “And several hundred hundred other people would have been attacked or killed by pirates who’d gotten past the various small Marine forces in that area of the city. As it is, while Yaomomo and Kyoka might’ve taken the lion’s share of the punishment in doing so, our splitting our efforts as we did saved several thousand people across the entire city. We didn’t have all the facts, but we did as well as we could. Torturing yourself with what-ifs does no one any good, captain.”

Izuku flushed a bit, looking down at his feet, but he nodded as Tenya put a firm hand on his shoulder, adding his nonverbal agreement to Shoto’s statement while Kirishima and Tsuyu both gave him thumbs ups. “There, there might be a problem later on after we’re shipped off to a training center though. At that point, most of the time recruits are split up into different classes and specialties. Mei and Melissa for example might be split off to a science and technology division from what Jonathan told us. We might have to fight to stay together in the future. That is, so long as—”

“if you’re about to say something like we should let them split us up or something in order for us to help the most people or something, I’m going to smack you with a wrench,” Mei stated bluntly. She then looked away, looking embarrassed for only around the third time she had ever done so since they’d met the girl on I-Island. “Look, I’m not good with people. Babies are way easier to understand. But you all are my friends. Whatever you all want to do, I’m down with. I don’t care one way or another about this whole Marine stuff or the World Government or anything of that nature. So I’m going to be against any kind of attempt to split us up… no matter how much resources they try to throw my way.”

“Me too. I’ll cheerfully take extra classes in nursing since I’ve apparently been typecast as our nurse for now,” Melissa added, her tone ending in a little grumbling that, to which Mei nodded commiseratingly. “But if they try to split us up, I’m not going to have that.”

“That unfortunately might depend on the type of officer in charge of the training center were shipped to,” Tenya said, frowning pensively. “Commandant Jonathan has made it clear he’d more than willing to work with us and accept our foibles and desires in many ways, but a vast majority of marines are far more rule-bound. Something Commandant Jonathan warned me about this morning.”

“Shouldn’t commander? Do we always have to call him Commandant? I thought specific ranks and stuff were only important when there was another high-ranking officer around to tell them apart. If there’s just one, shouldn’t it be just commander?” Kirishima said frowning pensively.

“Given what I’ve been reading in the Regulations, Rules and Procedures of the Marines, you always have to use a commanding officers appropriate rank,” Tenya said stiffly, one of his hands doing its normal chop chop motion. “And as proud inductees into the Marine Corps, it behooves us to follow every regulation to the letter!”

“Unless those regulations tell us our commanding officer has the right to split us up, Kero,” Tsuyu interjected, with the others all nodding agreement. “I’d rather go bounty hunter or something similar before letting that happen.”

Not a day later, the group of dimensionally displaced teenagers stood in front of Commandant Jonathan as he performed the ceremony to induct them into the Marines. This was held in the small, open area to the forest side of the garrison building and doubled for the marines as a training ground.

All around them, nearly two-thirds of the garrison stood in neat rows, resplendent in their dress uniforms. This was much like their normal uniforms but had longer ties and white pants instead of the dark blue of the normal duty uniform. The ties were also secured tightly around their necks, instead of loose, and the sergeants all had gold rope showing on their right shoulders. All the marines also wore caps, their rims shining to reflect the sun, with the first row of marines facing into the open area, holding muskets at port arms. in the center of the area where the teens stood at attention in a line perpendicular to that of the marines, facing Jonathan as he stood in front of them.

One after another, the teams were called forth to stand in front of Commandant Jonathan, place their hands on a folded version of the World Government’s flag and swear an oath to follow the Marine’s regulations, their superior’s orders and the laws of the World Government. Surprisingly, there was no mention of God or anything similar. Instead, it was simply on their own names, the term ‘Justice,' and the name of the World Government itself, on pain of being declared a criminal.

 The moment that became clear, Momo, Melissa and Izuku began to exchange glances. It seemed as if religion didn’t really have any significant place in this world, which was very strange and something they hadn’t realized before this. Even back home, where the Shinto faith still dominated, oaths were given on your ancestors and the gods of the Shinto faith. Here, there was no mention whatsoever about religion at all in the oaths, which was extremely strange.

After they had all been sworn in, the teens were led back down into town to a series of offices on the third story of the Garrison building. There, they were separated and sat at a few desks, where they were all handed a series of tests. “Most of these will be simply for our records, and I’m sorry to have to force them on you,” Jonathan said with a wry smile as he looked at the teens.

He had that same strange discerning look in his eyes as he looked at them one after another, shaking his head. “Judging by the answers you’ve all given to a few questions I’ve asked you over the past few days and Tenya-kun’s information, I predict that most of you will be able to pass the math and writing tests easily. What I’m most interested in is your seamanship tests. That will be two parts. One part will be written, and you’ll take it as part of these tests. The other will be physical training over the next few days. I’ve got Marines setting up a monkey yard to put you through your paces when it comes to sailing ships.”

“Wait, what? Sailing ships?” Mei asked, her eyes narrowing, scope activating for a moment to the point where she could actually count the number of hairs out of place on Jonathan’s face. He hadn’t shaved in the past few days and was looking far scruffier than he had even at the height of the battle. “What do you mean sailing ship?”

“Didn’t Izuku of Tenya-kun tell you?” Jonathan blinked, while Izuku and Tenya stared back blankly for a moment, having known and not needed to discuss how badly this would go over with Mei.

Not realizing this, Jonathan shrugged, wondering why he suddenly felt like he was in danger. “Unfortunately, while this island is famous for its production of steam engines, very few islands can boast coal supplies. Thus, the vast majority of ships throughout the world are sailing vessels. As marines, you need to learn how to operate a sailing ship before you’re even allowed aboard a steamship.”

Mei began to vibrate in place, her Scope going out of control, as her hands turned into fists at her side. “You mean to tell me we’re going to be stuck on a super inefficient super uncool sailing ship!? What the fuck, Wrinkles!!?”

“Mei! While I understand your discomfort with that idea, you are now a recruit in the Marines. It behooves you to act like a proper recruit, and recruits do not talk back to their superior office--” Mei whirled like a striking cat, glaring at him enough to shut Tenya up.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, shall I?” Jonathan backed away rapidly, gesturing them all to the desks. He backed away as Mei began to rant, but became serious as he reached the door, his firm tone cutting through Mei’s words. “And remember. You just signed up for this, come what may. That doesn’t mean you’ll always be happy about it, best to get that into your heads now.”

Wondering idly why that sounded remarkably ominous coming from the normally cheerful man, Izuku sighed and moved forward to help try and calm Mei down.

Momo did the same, while Jirou and Melissa stood back for a moment, along with Tsuyu. “It looks as if Tenya bought into the whole Marine thing pretty quickly,” Jirou noted.

“Tenya likes a lot of structure in his life. I just have to wonder if that’s a good thing, Kero” Tsuyu said bluntly.

By the next day, most of the testing was done, including the run throughs in the ‘monkey yard’, which everyone agreed was a funny name to give a mockup of a sailing ship. Kirishima and Tsuyu passed nearly all of those tests except for the ones dealing with cannons and muskets, while the others hadn’t done nearly as well on the seamanship tests, although of course, Tsuyu, like Momo, couldn’t be tested on the physical side of things. The pair were exempt from the physical testing and put on light duty.

Similarly, the testing for Shoto, Tenya and Kyoka was less comprehensive, given their various injuries. Tenya’s ribs had only been lightly reinjured during the fight thanks to the padding he’d been wearing, but Kyoka had been battered by Gasparde, and it turned out Shoto had sprained his ankle, making it worse as the fighting and recovery went on.

Of the others, Izuku and Melissa proved to be very quick learners, able to work things out as orders were shouted at him while they were working on the mockup sailing ship. Mei had issues with the entire process and had to be calmed down by the others at least three or four times a day as they were walked through those tests one segment of the ship after another.

Once those tests were done, though, bar Tsuyu and Momo, the recruits had to start getting used to life in the Marines and various other matters. Waking up to revile followed by calisthenics in the morning, then lunch with the rest of the Marines at the garrison, followed by training on the various muskets, pistols, and swords. Tenya attempted to object to this, but the others went along with it, although if she hadn’t been exempt form the training Tsuyu might have objected to it too.

In the late afternoons, after a late lunch, had the former students (even Melissa had been a student on I-Island) split up to do work around the garrison or elsewhere in the city. Melissa found herself once more working alongside the garrison’s doctor, learning from him this time, rather than simply helping to deal with the wounded.

Similarly, Tenya’s speed and ability to regurgitate orders quickly and efficiently was in high demand as reconstruction efforts began throughout the city. Mei, Kirishima, Jirou and Izuku also found themselves on repair duty. Mei and Izuku were assigned to help rebuild the guard tower, while Jirou was placed on light duty because of her own injuries. Momo began to act as a secretary to Jonathan and the mayor in a similar manner. Kirishima, who was only a bit stronger than a normal person, simply worked alongside the marines in the city.

Yet surprisingly, when night fell, the teams were allowed some free time. “I’m not strict with my troops in their off duty hours,” Jonathan explained. “I’ve always found that happy marines are efficient marines.”

Tenya might have objected to this out of principle, always believing that more structure was best, but the others did not, even if, for the most part, this just meant the teens found other ways to help pitch in to the reconstruction efforts. These efforts, they quickly discovered, were all being led by Jonathan. While the mayor was a nice enough fellow, he seemed utterly at sea with the need to organize such an effort. He instead took over making certain there was enough food to go around, that none of the civilians took advantage of one another, leaving everything else to the marine commander.

Jonathan seemed to handle this with a fine hand, and at one point, Momo wondered if she should be taking notes. The man had both incredibly good people skills, being able to get the locals to work together despite several loud arguments that Momo was present for, prioritize what needed to be prioritized in the way of rebuilding and get the ball rolling quickly on the most important tasks: rebuilding the guard tower, hence why Izuku and Mei had been assigned there, and making certain everyone had a roof of some kind over their head at night. Over the three days they had been on Elena, it had rained twice, thus this was not a small consideration.

Even better, Jonathan didn’t seem to care about Mei’s lack of enthusiasm for following orders or… well, anything about the normal marine life, really. Something that had become very clear in the past two days given Mei’s daily complaints of everything ranging from Reveille to the lack of time to make babies something they’d had to explain quite quickly.  

Instead of trying to force her to conform, though, Jonathan made a deal with Mei, putting her mind to good use. The very next day, after they had finished being tested in the monkey yard, Jonathan gathered a dozen locals. He then put Mei in charge of creating cranes and small pulleys that could be easily transported around the city to assist in removing rubble and start repairs on the guard tower. In return, Mei’s loud complaints ended, and she went along with the morning training without complaint.

Momo, Tsuyu and Jirou mostly spent their nights at the garrison in the women’s quarters, which had originally been one of the garrison’s offices, but had been turned over to the five girls for their use. Their injuries were still debilitating, to the point that walking around was painful for the three for various reasons. Unlike Mei, who could ignore her broken ribs in the pursuit of more time to built new babies.

Kirishima and Izuku just kept on pitching in wherever they could throughout the city to help with the reconstruction projects. Meanwhile, Melissa, who as she put it, “needed some time among actual engineering rather than this biological nonsense!” quickly took to heading down to the dockyard area and the factories there, either picking people’s brains, or helping in the repairs in some fashion herself.

Tenya spent his time reading the Marines’ handbook or further practicing his hand to hand with one of the local sergeants who had volunteered to help train the teens in “Fucking basic punching, you damn idiots! Whoever heard of being so fucking well trained in kicks and not know the first thing of standin’ in one fuckin’ place and punching someone or using a sword!”

Four more days passed in this manner, before one day, Mei and Izuku were working on the lighthouse. The interior of the lighthouse had been gutted in a fire during the attack, with the primitive searchlight and the beacon both destroyed. Mei had cheerfully agreed to rebuild the lighthouse mechanism earlier that day, while Izuku and a team of civilians and marines had rebuilt the interior. Now, around lunch time, Izuku found himself sitting next to Mei. Convincing her to set aside her tools and the work on the Searchlight baby had not been easy, but he had finally gotten through to her.

Now, however, Mei was frowning, staring through a part of the lighthouse’s lens that she had been playing with in one hand, her sandwich forgotten in the other. “What is it Mei?”

“Something’s out there.” Dialing up Scope, she scowled, then leaned precariously over the edge of the tower, so much that Izuku felt compelled to grab the back of her shirt to make certain she didn’t overbalance. “SAIL HO!!”

Grateful that Mei had at least gotten used to some of the nomenclature back when they had been aboard their ship, Izuku watched as the corporal in charge of overseeing the work on the lighthouse hurried up the steps, gingerly making his way from one floor to the other, as there were still numerous places where the floorboards needed to be nailed down or simply weren’t there yet.

Once there, he blinked, seeing Mei simply looking through a simple piece of glass out into the distance. “Your devil fruit is sometimes amazing, it seems so minor, but you could become one of the world’s best snipers with those kind of eyes,” he muttered, pulling out his spyglass. He didn’t see anything for a few moments, then nodded. “Sailing ship. It’s large, either a barquentine or a brigantine from the the shape and number of sails...”

Izuku thought about that for a second, still not used to most of the naming conventions in this world. Those were two of the largest sailing ship classifications, though, he knew that much and had heard that the Greedy Green had been a barquentine with one of its masts removed to allow for the bombards that it been installed on its main deck. Several of the sailors among the Marines had been remarkably pithy about that arrangement for some reason, but it had worked for certain.

The corporal turned to shout down to one of the other Marines. A second later, he had a Den Den Mushi in hand, reporting the sight of the ship to Jonathan.

A moment later, Mei, still staring at the distant ship, she cocked her head quizzically. “There’s a Marine logo on those flags out there, as well as the strangest looking prow I’ve ever seen on a ship. It looks like a giant dog head.”

At that, the corporal seemed to slump in relief, then grin. “I think your in for in for a treat, then. That’s Admiral Garp’s ship.”

“Who’s that?” Both teens asked as one.

The corporal blinked, staring at them, then shook his head. “Right, I forgot you all come from an isolated island. I suppose you haven’t heard of Garp, the hero of the Marines. The man who took down the Pirate King Gold Roger? He’s one of the strongest fighters in the world, a man almost on par with the Yonko.”

Actually, the common Marines thought that Admiral Garp was on par with most of the Yonko, it was just bringing to bear enough power to deal with the rest of their fleets would horribly weaken the rest of the Marine force that kept the Marines from going after the Yonko one after another. On top of that, rumor said that Garp was friendly with Whitebeard, the strongest of the four Yonko, and wouldn’t act against the man or his fleet. Why that was, no one knew, but that was rumor for you.

With a grin on his face, the corporal called that into Commandant Jonathan, then explained to the two teens more about Garp’s story. By the time he finished, Izuku was practically vibrating, a wide grin on his face. This Admiral Garp sounded a lot like All Might to him, this world’s version of a real hero, and he could not wait to meet him.

He was going to get that chance. Several hours later, the ship finally reached port. It was a sailing ship after all and couldn’t move anywhere near as fast as the steamship that Melissa and Mei had designed.

Izuku stared, shaking his head, as the ship was even bigger than he had expected. It dwarfed any of the other vessels in port, both the surviving merchantmen, only one of whom had left after the battle, and the sole paddlewheel, having far higher sides, being wider abeam, and being longer as well. And like Mei had said, at the front was a dog’s head. It looked like a cross between a beagle and a bulldog, both friendly and fierce, with a bone in its mouth, and it’s neck ending in a studded collar before the neck merged into the rest of the ship.

Jonathan didn’t bother with any kind of ceremony for the Admiral, surprising his surviving noncoms. Instead, he simply had a row of Marines waiting alongside the docks along with himself. There were no cannon salutes, nor even a musket salute despite a few of his sergeants trying to get Jonathan to agree to it. Instead, he had waved them all off though laughing and saying, “Please, Garp is the last person who’d care for that kind of thing! I’ve served alongside the man occasionally, and I know full well he doesn’t have much time for that nonsense.”

True to Jonathan’s words, even as the shout of “Admiral arriving!” was still going on, a man leaped down from the ship, ignoring the fact the gangplank wasn’t set up. “Jonathan! If all the damage I’m seeing is from someone deciding to renovate the city, I’d fire your city planners! What the blue blazing barnacles happened here? And are there any pirates left to punch?”

The man’s voice was a low-key roar, rattling not just Izuku’s bones, but the bones of all of the Marines waiting in line At Jonathan’s orders, Most of the teens were there, standing at attention, even Mei. She still didn’t see the point of saluting, of marching, or standing at attention at all, and even now, Izuku knew that she only did so to humor the others rather than really understanding the point of it all, but she had kept to her agreement with Jonathan since the moment they’d shaken hands on it.

The newcomer’s voice carried across the entire dockyard. This included both the gathered civilians, who were began cheering and shouting Garp’s name, and the pirates being kept in the warehouse that had been turned into a prison. The pirates all looked at one another and began to quake in fear, hearing that shout and Garp’s name.

Yet despite how loud and commanding that voice was, it was nothing in comparison to seeing Garp in person. Izuku had been trained by All Might, he had seen All Might in action against the slime monster and in the USJ against the Nomu. He was used to the idea that there were people who could tower over him, who were literally larger than life both in terms of their body type and presence. Heck, even Eraserhead could exude a certain amount of pressure on those around him.

Garp was on a whole different level. Physically, where All Might stood seven feet, five inches, Izuku estimated that Garp was at least another two feet taller, and even broader in the shoulders. His Marine outfit didn’t show it much, but Izuku also estimated that he was heavily muscled judging by the way his Admiral’s uniform flexed and moved at the shoulders and upper arms as he strode forward. The man had a wide grin, jovial and dangerous looking, and a scar on his face. His hair was gray, going entirely white, and his face was lined, but he exuded a kind of overpowering strength and good cheer that it took Izuku’s breath away.

In his head, he felt the vestiges stir. Most of the time, they were content to let him have his days to himself, only speaking to him at night very occasionally. But now, he could feel their interest flaring. “Damn, I never thought I’d see anyone look stronger and more powerfully built than Toshi does when he bulks up,” Nana murmured.

“Bro doth lift,” Banjo chuckling quietly.

That seems to be a consensus among the other teens too, with Kirishima staring at the man muttering “manly, freaking pinnacle of manliness!” underneath his breath as the man strode forward, grabbed spring forearms with Jonathan. Izuku could not find it in himself to disagree.

“Well, I’m afraid to say that it was indeed pirates who did all this damage, but we won the day. Not only did we win the day, but we stopped them from escaping to boot. I’m happy to inform you Admiral,” Jonathan said, his tone almost jocular, making a joke of the semi-serious words, “that the traitor Gasparde has been dealt with. His body was retrieved from the bay several days back. Although we haven’t seen hide nor hair of his Devil Fruit on the island, unfortunately.”

“Damn. That’s a shame, I wanted to punch that bastard’s lights out myself. Traitors, can’t stand ‘em,” Garp grumbled, before looking at Jonathan keenly. “Still, the Ame Ame no Mi, no joke. And you don’t have Haki, unless you’ve developed it since last time I saw you?”

“Eh, I think I’m on the cusp of Kenbunshoku,” Jonathn answered, causing the nearby Izuku to frown and reach for his notebooks, wondering what those terms meant. He wrote it down quickly then made it disappear so fast that the sergeant in charge of the line didn’t see it, although a few of the other marines in line had, and had to blink, wondering what they had seen.

“No, I wasn’t the one who dealt with Gasparde,” Jonathan continued, gesturing to the line of marines behind him and specifically the teens. “That honor belongs to a few of my newest recruits here.”

Garp’s eyes widened, and he looked over at the row of recruits, seemingly only noticing now that a few of them were girls. Blinking, he took in the five of them, then raised a hand in a thumbs-up gesture. “It’s always nice to see more women joined the Marine. Gion and Tsuru are going to be happy to see you, I suppose. But which of you lot took on Gasparde?”

Jirou and Momo hesitantly raise their hands, with Izuku doing so a second later at Jonathan’s prompting look. Garp looked at all three of them thoughtfully, then laughed. “Well, I can tell one of you has a Devil Fruit, but what tricks did the other two of you come up with?”

“Er, I’m just super strong, sir! I um, I punched him really hard to finish him off, Sir,” Izuku said, saluting as he had been told to when speaking to a superior officer. He then explained how he had come in near the tail end of the fight and caught Gasparde before he knew that Izuku had arrived.

“A punch wouldn’t have done anything to someone like Gasparde when he’s usin’ his Devil Fruit. So that leaves the two of you to have found a way around the Ame Ame no Mi,” Garp mused, staring at the two girls. Somewhat intimidated by Garp’s simple size, as well as his attention being solely on them, Jirou and Momo exchanged a glance, then Jirou explained about how she could send out sound waves from her year jacks, causing Garp to frown a little, then shrug, and move on to stare at Momo.

Here, at least, Momo had a prepared story to fall back on. “Kyo-chan’s attacks had done a magnificent number on the traitor, sir but that wouldn’t have been enough if not for the fact that I was smashed into a large bag of flour and hit upon an idea. I tossed it at him, and Gasparde himself cut into ribbons, sending the flour all over the man. At that point, I tried both to set him on fire and to stab him, thinking that perhaps the flour would solidify his form a bit, and it worked too. Unfortunately, I wasn’t strong or fast enough to deal with the traitor on my own until Izuku arrived.”

“A team effort then. Well, while you lot got lucky to face a Devil Fruit user who coasted on his powers, I still like it! Taking advantage of luck can go a long way, especially if yer aggressive enough about it,” Garp guffawed, slapping his knee with one large hand. A hand, Izuku absently noticed, that was more than large enough to cover his entire face and most of his head besides. “And as for you having superstrength, well, kid, let’s see if you can put your money where your mouth is.”

Blinking, Izuku frowned and was about to ask what Garp meant, before he turned and bellowed, “Someone bring out a barrel!”

At those words, a few of the locals rolled out a large, full barrel of ale, setting it upright where Garp pointed. Garp crouched down to one side of it, holding out his hand and putting his elbow down on the top of it, thanking them, as more of a crowd of civilians gathered behind the line of Marines.

Izuku stared, while Tenya muttered about how a Marine Vice Admiral should not be acting in such a cavalier manner, but Jonathan simply laughed, gesturing Izuku forward. “He’s serious kid, Garp wants to see how strong you are. Show him. The rest of you can fall out, that’s enough ceremony for now.”

“Er, yes sir,” Izuku mumbled while the others obeyed, with Mei letting a loud huff of mixed relief and disdain. The others also calmed down, with Kiri going so far as to smack Izuku’s back, whispering encouragement.

Wondering if Garp was simply as strong as he looked or perhaps had some strength enhancing Devil Fruit of his own, Izuku settled into place across from him hesitantly, clasping the older man’s hand in his own far smaller grip. Seeing that, Garp released his hand, and then poked forward with only three of his fingers. “There, that will make it an even contest, BWHAHAHA!!” Garp laughed.

That made several of Izuku’s friends little annoyed, and Kirishima slapped him on the shoulder again, forgetting the need to keep his voice down. “Get them bro! That guy might be manly as hell, but he’s underestimating how manly you can be!”

“Your friend seems to have confidence in you at least. That’s a good sign regardless of what will happen here,” Garp said chuckling. “Now, don’t hold back.”

Someone in the crowd began to take bets, but Izuku, halfway listening in, was somewhat surprised that none of the civilians were taking his side. Even those that had been saved by him or seen him in action over the past few days, several of whom he recognized in the crowd were betting against him. Although they looked at least apologetic about it when they saw he was looking in their direction.

Something about that actually caused Izuku to frown internally and he grimaced, even as he reached for one for all. He pulled out as much of One For All as he could without the lightning show beginning, settled into place, and nodded at the older man. “Ready, sir.”

“Given us a count, Jonathan,” Garp ordered, his grin somehow widening further as he rolled his neck and flexed his arm a little.

“Contestants ready?” Jonathan waited until Izuku and Garp both nodded and then counted down. “On the count of three, start. One, two, three!”

Instantly, Izuku began to strain against Garp, only to find it was like trying to push against the mountain that was trying to fall on you. Garp’s hand didn’t move at all, and Izuku found his own arm groaning under the strain. What the, how is he so strong?!

Once more, one of the vestiges spoke up in his head. This time it was Yoichi. “We’ve seen evidence before this that even so-called normal people can be a lot stronger in this world than they could ever be back in her old world kid. I don’t think you’re going to be beating this old man by half passing it. And besides, you’ve already shown off the lightning bit before this during the fight. No need to keep it secret.”

Garp stared lazily back it Izuku, then reached up with his other hand to pick his nose for a second, a sight that caused Momo to grimace in disgust while Izuku stared in shock. “Is that it, kid?” He flung the little piece of booger away, sighing and shaking his head. “I mean I know Gasparde was supposed to be kind of weak for a Marine Captain beyond that Devil Fruit, but even so, I gotta assume that your two friends weakened him a hell of a lot for one hit from you to do something.”

The vice admiral broke off as lightning cascaded down Izuku’s body and he stared, as Izuku called up as much of his strength as he could use. I can’t use more than eighteen percent without seriously hurting myself, normally, but for something like this, where I’m just pushing against something, I think I can go up to at least thirty percent without breaking anything, r, right? Even as Izuku thought that, his entire body began to creak and groan, his legs straining, his arm nearly pulling itself apart under the pressure of the power he was now exerting.

And all it did was cause Garp’s eyebrows to raise surprise. “Now that’s more like it! But the lightning, does that mean you’ve got some kind of enhancement type Devil Fruit, too?”

“Yes, sir,” Izuku grunted, his jaw clenching as he forced the words out despite the strain on his body. “It makes my body a dozen times stronger than my base form, but I can’t use it all that often or I’ll just break my body.”

Garp’s eyes widened, then he smiled in delight. “Now that sounds like a training goal to me, kiddo. Is this your limit, though?”

“I, it is without breaking something, s, sir,” Izuku answered, still straining as he pushed his limits further. Thirty-five percent... “I, I can go higher, but n, not without turning my arms into m, mush.”

Throughout this, Izuku had been straining against Garp’s arm as hard as he possibly could, but Garp’s arm hadn’t moved an inch. Despite only pushing against three of Garp’s fingers rather than his palm or full hand, which should have at least given him enough leverage to do something, Izuku was making absolutely no headway.

“You’re young yet, what, eighteen, seventeen? You’ve got time to train. And this will give you a good base. For now, at least I know that you are strong enough to take care of Gasparde, as you said you did. That still means you are a world away from challenging this old sea dog though!” With a laugh, Garp finally exerted himself. His arm strained for a brief second, and Izuku found his hand slamming down onto the top of the barrel before he could even blink.

Of all the teens, only Kirishima knew anything about arm wrestling. He had been watching avidly from the start, his eyes wide as he tracked what muscles he could in Garp’s arms and chest through his uniform. Despite that uniform, Kirishima could tell that Garp hadn’t even bothered trying until now. He had been holding off Izuku with effort equivalent of someone lifting a mug, or maybe a gallon of milk. Then he flexed just a bit and Izuku had lost. How?! How can someone be that manly!?

Izuku yelped in pain, but the blow of his forearm against the top of the barrel was astonishingly gentle, and Garp released him from his three fingered grip quickly. Standing up, he waved at the crowd who cheered and laughed, with many of them shouting about how Garp shouldn’t bully someone so much younger than himself. That just caused Garp to laugh wildly.

Chuckling and shaking his head, Jonathan dismissed the Marines, watching as Garp moved over to a few of the local leaders, shaking hands and talking to them. “Head back to the barracks you lot, we’re done with ceremonies for the day. And I’d wager that Garp’s going to put you all through hell tomorrow.”

Some of the older Marines seemed to shiver at that even as they nodded. They then moved off briskly, intent on getting as much rest as possible. As they went, one of them explained to Tenya that Garp would force them all to train along with his own sailors. “And those sorry sods train at a far higher level than the rest of us. We’ll be forced to keep up with them, or Garp will start handing out punishments.”

“Well of course he should if we cannot match the expectations of this fine institution,” Tenya said, his hand doing it’s normal hatchet move.

Tsuyu, on the other hand, raised her hand as she, Jirou and Momo hobbled along with the others. “Does that mean us three too, and why do I get the impression you mean more than the normal punishments of not getting desert or being forced to do extra exercises, kero?”

“Because I do. Garp’s punishments are mostly either of the humiliating or the equivalent of kissing the gunner’s daughter, with his fists rather than a switch,” the older marine answered, before frowning. “As for you three, that will depend on if the doctor is willing to tell him you should sit out.”

Izuku caught up to his friends, shaking his head and rubbing at his shoulder and upper arm. “W, well that was interesting,” he said lamely.

“How much of One For All were you using?” Momo asked quietly, as they moved through the crowd around the docks, the other Marines moving ahead of them.

“I used around thirty-five to thirty seven percent by the time the admiral um, overwhelmed me. I’m going to be sore for the rest of the night, b, but pushing against Garp like that seemed to deaden a lot of force almost like hitting the Nomu at the USJ, as if he was just absorbing it all! Still, I didn’t want to use more One For All and break myself. But I I get the impression that even if I had, Garp would sit still have overwhelmed me. He might’ve had to take me seriously once I started getting into the seventies are eighty percentile range, but I doubt I could overpower him. That old man is strong!” Izuku answered enthusiastically.

“Manly!” Kiri belted out, laughing wildly.

Elsewhere, several eyes and a few ears disappeared from hidden niche is across the waterfront. In her personal bunker, Nico Robin slowly shook her head, and leaned back down against the wall, determined not to do anything that might attract Garp’s attention, despite all the confusing and interesting bits of information she’d picked up about the teens so far. Unless, unless I can catch them on their own. That might be possible.

OOOOOOO

Soon after dinner that evening, the group learned that Garp planned to stay in town for a few days, at least until the guard tower was repaired and the cannons there had been replaced. The old, destroyed cannons had been removed, and would be smelted down, replaced by the guns taken off the paddlewheel.

Until the tower was repaired, however, the city was still vulnerable. And with something called the Dead End Race happening nearby, Garp it decided that he couldn’t chance leaving the city without some long-range defenses. Although many of the Marines that the teens talked to felt that they probably wouldn’t be attacked even if they didn’t have any defenses. If the Pirates had any idea that Garp was in the area, they would have fled long since, such was the man’s legendary strength.

The next morning, however, was very much not fun. Instead of getting up at the crack of dawn, they were up well before it. The kitchen had prepared a quick breakfast, then the teens joined all the other marines in a series of slow calisthenics, and then, once Garp determined that they’d all had enough time to digest, Garp himself led them through an entire morning of exercise.

Not even Momo and Tsuyu were spared, despite their injuries. Garp had two marines from his crew watching them carefully, making sure that they didn’t strain. Because of that, when both girls had to bow out once the pain from their ribs and back got too much, he didn’t argue. Similarly, Jirou and Mei, who had to quit soon after that due to their injuries, were allowed to do so. “I wanted ta see how much drive you all got, and I like what I’ve seen so far. Don’t worry, soon you’ll have such a high threshold of pain even the idea of quitting a fight just because of a measly broken bone or five will never even occur to ya!”

The boys and Melissa though, received absolutely no mercy. Garp had pushed them until even Izuku, who was a bit of an endurance monster, had collapsed onto his face and had to be carried out of the training area.

“Well, that was fun! I think all of you lot have a wonderful future in the Marines ahead of you,” Garp said. He grinned at Kirishima and Izuku respectively. Kirishima had been one of the first to lag behind in the endurance running segment of the training, but he had more than made up for it when it came to weightlifting, and Garp could just tell that the guy with the Kodo Kodo no Mi would be a fighter like Garp himself was. Although why anyone had thought that naming a Devil fruit the Hard Hard Fruit was beyond Garp. Izuku had a wider range of talents, but even he would probably be a fist-first type of fighter like Garp.

“I’ll be talking to you individually over the next few days and training you individually too. Especially you Kirishima, and you Izuku. I’ve heard that that Momo girl also likes throwing fists, but with her wounds, I can’t train her much just yet, and I might ship out before I get the chance to. The two of you though, congratulations! The two of your styles is almost like mine in a way, and that means that training up the two of you is going to make staying here a lot less boring!”

Still laughing, Garp moved off, leaving Kirishima and Izuku to lay there with they had finally given up the ghost, barbells dropping from arms that felt like noodles, only noodles weren’t supposed to be painful to move. “Bro, why do I think that’s not a good thing?”

“Because even you can only take being manly for so long?” Izuku muttered with a groan.

OOOOOOO

Moments later, Garp stood across from Jonathan in his office, staring at his former tactical officer, his arms crossed as he gazed at the slightly younger man. Jonathan had requested a transfer soon after joining Garp’s crew, but he had still been on that crew for nearly two years before the approval came through. He had by far been the weakest of that crew, all of whom were New World vets, but Jonathan had also been one of the smartest. “So, where did those youngsters come from?”

“Clockwork Island. It’s one of the islands near here that is on a dead branch off from the main route through the Grand Line we’re sitting on,” Jonathan said, lips quirking enough to set his mustache to twitch as Garp snorted. “Which is very interesting, considering the last time we had any reports from that place it was that it had been conquered by the Trump Pirates. I asked the teens about that, and they said they’d fought them before handing of the bounties over to Lord Victor prior to coming here.”

He paused and shrugged. “Where they actually came from before fighting the Trump Pirates? That’s anyone’s guess. You know we’re not supposed to ask questions about someone’s past like that when they show a desire to join the Marines. Especially if they’ve got Devil Fruit powers, as many of these kids do. Or… say they do.”

Garp grunted at that, shaking his head slightly. Jonathan did as well as second later, both men shrugging. They knew a great deal about Devil Fruits. As officers, they even had access to the Devil Fruit encyclopedia, and while new devil fruits were always being discovered, Tenya’s Enjin Enjin no Mi and Jirou’s seemed far too specific to be real Devil Fruits. Those didn’t even fall under the extremely esoteric and muddy waters of Paramecia types.

Luckily, Momo’s secret at least had survived up to this point. No one but the pirates they fought had seen her use anything but her pockets, and in the height of battle, even the survivors that she and Jirou had helped rescue hadn’t been in the right mind to notice anything unusual going on, to say nothing of the pirates.

“What I will say is they have a firm anti-pirate stance, and I think they’ve got a strong sense of justice. They don’t have much knowledge about the World Government although… I don’t know how they’ll react to some of its darker secrets. The kind of secrets that we Marines run into occasionally,” Jonathan said grimly, shaking his head. “I also think that they are liable to quit and walk away if we try to separate them. Which is not going to sit well with a lot of our superiors.”

That was underselling it. The oath was very clear on what happened to a marine who tried to leave the fleet without being first drummed out.

“Particularly when they get a glimpse of Mei and Melissa’s minds,” Jonathan went on. “The two of them are incredibly intelligent, and wherever these teens come from, they come from a highly advanced island. Both of them I think might fit in well with the science division, but getting them away from the others, that’s just not going to happen peaceably. Momo is also incredibly intelligent and fantastic with numbers, but she’s also very combative, something the other two can’t say… unless you mention wind power being better than coal in front of Mei, anyway.”

Jonathan paused, seeing that Garp hadn’t moved for a second. Looking at the older man, he smirked, seeing that Garp’s narcolepsy had finally shown up. “Huh, I think it was corporal Jenkins who had him falling asleep after eight. Darn.” With a chuckle, he reached out, slapping the man lightly – for Garp – across the cheek.

Garp woke up with a start and, ignoring the sight of Jonathan’s arm falling back to his side, continued the conversation as if he hadn’t just fallen asleep.  “Do you think they’re worth the trouble to train ‘em? I gotta say there’s a lot of potential there, but…” Garp shrugged. “I don’t have as much a feel for their personalities or dreams to know.”

“Hah, you and the weight you give to dreams,” Jonathan chuckled. “

Garp guffawed. “Yep. If someone doesn’t have a dream, a goal they’re willing to put their lives on the line to achieve, they’ll never amount to anything, not on the Grand Line, not in life.”

“Well, I think they do have such dreams. They want to make a difference in the world, to become heroes,” Jonathan said. “Most of them are a bit cagey about that, but my noncoms have heard them use that term often enough that I think they all want to work towards that goal.”

“HAH! We’ll see if they’re willing to fight to keep their group together. If they do, and if they have the conviction of that dream…” Garp grinned. There were a lot of mysteries about these kids, and he was very interested in what those mysteries might be, while also thinking that keeping them a secret might be a very good thing in the long run.  “Well, it’s been a long while since I’ve taken on a training cadre. And if they have the heart to become proper Marines instead of government dogs, I’m willing to bend a few rules for it.”

Garp chuckled suddenly, but when Jonathan looked at him, waved him away. It wouldn’t do to have even Jonathan learn about his grandson after all. Or the thought that had just going through his head. That perhaps, when it came time for Luffy to join the Marines, this group could act like his minders. They were older than Luffy by at least three years, but that just meant they would be more experienced by the time it came time for Luffy to take to the ocean.

Yes, Garp thought, I like that idea a lot. It’s a pity those three girls are going to take so long to get back to normal. Until then, I can at least test the others to my heart’s content.

Outside, Kiri and Izuku both froze. They had been making their way slowly back inside, leaning against one another, sheer willpower keeping them moving despite an insane amount of pain they were both going through. Now both fell as a shiver of fear went down their spines. Collapsing on top of one another, the two teens groaned. “Hey, Kiri?”

“Yeah, bro?” Kirishima groaned back.

“Did you just get the impression that you should be questioning your life choices?”

“Yep.”

“Oh… I, I don’t know if that’s better or worse than it being just me…” Izuku muttered.

OOOOOOO

The next morning, Momo woke up as the first notes of revile sounded. She had not truly been a morning person prior to entering this world, but since then, getting up quickly had become somewhat routine. So even a single bugle call was enough to rouse her. Not so the other ladies. Even Mei, who would normally disdain sleeping for very long, hated getting up in the mornings now since she knew she had marine training to get through before she could get back to making babies or at least helping with the construction.

Looking around as she stretched, Momo saw Melissa raise her head, then let it fall back onto her bunk. Melissa was the only one of them who slept on her stomach, and now she began smacking her head into the pillow in a rhythmic expression of despair. Across from her, Tsuyu whimpered, curling up so that only her hair stuck out from above her covers, she was the first to actually voice something. “No. I refuse, kero. My back is killing me, and this time, I am going to follow the doctor’s orders without complaint, kero.”

“I as well,” Momo remarked, blinking as the last girl in their group finally shifted.  Kyoka tried to push herself up out of bed, only to groan, hold her upper chest and fall back. Momo had to snicker a bit at the shorter girl’s bed head. However does it become so wild when it is so much shorter than mine? She paused then, staring for a second, her eyes drawn to Kyoka’s decolletage for a moment. For some reason, the curves there caught Momo’s attention, broken only when Kyoka spoke up.

 “OW. No, sore muscles and tendons and everything, oh my, make that two for two on the doctor’s orders excuse. That old ass has absolutely no chill.”

Momo frowned a bit at the curse but decided that it was justified. Garp had pushed them all to their limits the day before, and although she had been one of the first to bow out, Momo still felt that Garp had been judging for it. “While I agree with the sentiment, Kyo-chan, I think you should remember that the marines will not let us get away with addressing our superior officers like that. It is best to not get into bad habits, yes?”

Grumbling, Kyoka turned to look towards Momo, her words getting stuck in her throat as she watched Momo stretching slowly above and then around. There was very little movement like that Momo could do without her ribs bothering her, but the doctor had talked her through a few stretches so that her range of movement wouldn’t atrophy. However, those movements, along with the fact that Momo was wearing a loose shirt, showed Momo’s chest and toned stomach off.  Accompanying the only somewhat mussed up hair Momo was currently boasting, and the semi-sleepy look to her face, Kyoka felt a little hot under the collar. How can she be so sexy most of the time, and then so cute at moments like this! That’s not fair!

Melissa stopped banging her head into her pillow, absently kicking back so that her covers fell off her body. “I dislike you all so much right now. Even Mei can bow out before me, and you know Garp’s gonna go just as hard on us today as he did yesterday. Maybe even harder now that he knows our limits.”

Momo opened her eyes from where she had closed them during her chest, wincing a little at the pain from her ribs, before having to pull her eyes way from Melissa’s halfway-exposed rear, the other girl’s sleepwear having fallen down her legs at some point. My, she really does have a nice rear, although I have to wonder why I notice such things about Meli-chan and Kyo-chan almost as much, or even more in Kyo-chan’s case, than I do Zuk’s yummy muscles.

Once more, it had to be said. Momo had no idea about alternative relationships beyond that of a man and a woman, and even there, here understanding was somewhat limited thanks to how controlling her parents had been.

“I’m sorry Meli-chan, but I would cheerfully put up with the training if I could,” Momo shook her head, her eyes glittering as she almost seemed to bounce in place. “I think Garp could teach us a lot about hand-to-hand combat, and it would be amazing to learn from such an expert.”

“Especially now that you’ve left the staff-side and joined the punchy types,” Kyoka teased.

Momo giggled at that, before Melissa, who had been slow to get up, flinched at a banging on their door. Below, in the barracks floor of the building, there came a sound like someone had just tossed several trashcans into the room, causing them to clang together. “Shield, get your rear out here! Your friends might be excused from training today, but you’re not! Up and at them, seaman!”

The voice of the noncom on the other side of the door was almost overridden by the shouts and screams from below as Admiral Garp began his brand of training, Garp’s own voice being loud enough to cause Kyoka to wince in pain and the whole building to rattle. “UP AND AT THEM, MAGGOTS!! No food for you this morning except for my knuckle sandwiches if you don’t get moving! We’re going to separate the boys from the men today! The last man who isn’t up and ready for a nice brisk run down to the docks and back will get my foot up his ass!”

“WHY!?”

“Y, yes sir, admiral!” Came Tenya’s voice, the only voice of the garbled mess that sounded halfway awake and all gung-ho.  

“My Everything still hurts, and my ankle feels as if a giant jumped up and down on it. I, I think that Garp might be almost as sadistic as my father.” That was Shoto’s voice, and once more, Momo scowled, wondering if she should have seen some sign of the abuse Shoto had suffered at Endeavour’s hands, but knowing that she hadn’t and that thinking about what ifs was never a good thing, something she and others had gone to some lengths to point out to Izuku, Momo pushed it aside, aided by the ongoing shriek from downstairs.

“Admiral, mercy, mercy!”

“Ugh, I, it’s not manly to, to give up, gotta…”

Then came Izuku’s voice, and Momo smiled, getting out of bed as she heard the drive in his voice, the willpower that wouldn’t let him just lay there and let his body rest when training was offered. “Y, yes sir. Remember everyone, this is to get stronger, to be better heroes, er marines, I mean. PLUS ULTRA!”

“Well, that is rather inspiring. I… I think I will try to join them for the jog down to the docks and back at the very least. My ribs will just have to deal with it” Momo announced, to the groaning of the others. But they soon joined Melissa and Momo in getting dressed (which was somewhat tough for Momo with only one arm), even Tsuyu.

When they all left their sleeping quarters, the corporal who had been sent to rouse them was standing being glared at by the garrison doctor. That doctor took one look at them then, in a tone reminiscent of one that Izuku, had he been there, would have likened to Recovery Girl, sighed. “Fine, damn it! But be back here by noon, and no trying to lift things, no trying to do anything but the simplest calisthenics, and if you, frog girl, pop even a single stitch, I’m going to replace it without giving you anesthetic beforehand!”

Tsuyu flinched, but nodded, and the girls joined the boys outside.

Luckily, Garp didn’t push the kids as much in that run as he could have. Unluckily, Melissa, Izuku, and the other boys were for it in the afternoon. Instead of regular training, they were all ordered to spar with Garp himself.

As Momo watched from Jonathan’s office, taking a break from her own work as his aide-de-camp, Garp picked up a bokken and moved into an open circle marked out by chalk on the sand. “Alright, brats. I know what most of these sorry sods can do.” Garp waved at the surrounding marines, who were all standing at ease as they watched.  “You lot with your Devil Fruits and so forth, I don’t know. You, Peppermint, you’re up first. And if you hold back, I’m gonna use your head as a mop to clean out the bilges at my ship.”

Shoto shrugged, moved forward, and then, having interpreted that as being a sign he should use his ‘Devil Fruit’ power, stamped down, creating a wave of ice. Yet before that wave had grown more than a yard from his foot, Garp moved. Momo, watching, couldn’t follow his movements at all. Between one second and the next he had just appeared in front of Shoto’s attack, his bokken raised.

Before Shoto could register how much closer Garp had suddenly gotten, his bokken flashed, and the ice assault shattered like glass. Shards of ice flew everywhere, and Momo yelped as one came towards her only to be smashed in turn by Jonathan, who had come up behind her. His fist slammed into the ice, breaking the spear of ice into a dozen pieces. “Yare Yare, that youngster’s got a lot of power, but his ice is far more brittle than Aokiji’s.”

“S, sir, I’m sorry I…”

“It’s fine, Yaoyorozu-kun. You’ve already done most of the spreadsheet work I needed your help with today already. Feel free to watch. Garp’s training is harsh, but it works.” Jonathan chuckled dryly. “Trust me on both counts there.”

Momo nodded and turned back to watch as Garp somehow created a blast of wind that wiped out a fireball that Shoto had just shot at him. “If you have to create your elements from your body, then change the shape of them at least. Don’t just throw out a mountain of ice or a fireball, that’s too simple!”

Shoto barely had time to grimace before he was smashed off his feet by another localized wind blast. He rolled with it, but Garp leaped over the ice that he created, then smashed Momo into the ground with his bokken. “And don’t just stand there, ya fool! Your tactics suck, your combat skills are too damn passive, and your footwork is horrible!”

Between each word, he brought down his bokken, lightly, it seemed, but then Shoto created a globe of ice around himself, before it too shattered. “How…”

“A true master can always control the power of his strikes,” Jonathan explained. “I can’t say Garp’s a master of the sword or anything like that, but he is a master of his own body and will to an incredible degree.”

Wondering why there seemed to be depths to the way Jonathan said ‘will’ there, Momo slowly nodded, then watched as a thrust from Garp’s bokken crashed into Shoto’s chest. The blow lifted the kneeling youth up off his feet, hurling him out of the ring into the surrounding marines.

Placing the bokken on his shoulder, Garp guffawed. “Next!”

So it went. And after disposing of the boys, Melissa was called up. Melissa hesitantly asked if she could use guns in the match and then showed off some of her and Mei’s advanced designs. While watching the bullets just bounce off Garp like he was bulletproof.

“Alright, how!?” Momo gaped, gesturing down. She had not been told to go back to work and had watched all the matches. Watching Izuku dance around the training area, darting in and out, trying to do his best with lightning flaring all around him had been… stimulating, but Momo had to admit that Kirishima and Tenya had not put on nearly as good a showing. Indeed, Izuku had even won a ‘not bad’ from Garp before he was forced to eat dirt.

But this was too much. She gesticulated wildly down at Garp with her non-broken arm, staring over at where Jonathan had gone back to his desk. “How is he bullet proof? Is that a, a Devil Fruit?”

Not making any sign that he had heard the hesitant use of the term Devil Fruit, Jonathan chuckled. “Well, there are a lot of ways to be bullet proof in this world. Building on a few of them you can just become tough enough to ignore anything smaller than a cannon. Garp’s just that tough.”

Momo gaped at the man, shaking her head, before smiling at the sight of Izuku, battered, bruised and bleeding, rapidly taking notes in one of his notebooks.  “Well, I suppose we all have a goal to reach, then.” I might be able to Create armor on the fly, but even so, being actually bulletproof would be amazing.

“Hah! Then I suggest you get better quickly. Garp will only take the whole ‘you’re wounded’ reason to get out of training for so long before he insists on you and the others joining in,” Jonathan teased.

Momo gulped, then, looking down at Izuku, his firm, almost excited look, nodded firmly. “I, I will not say I am looking forward to it, but I will not be found wanting.” Not by Garp, not by Kyo-chan, not by Izuku, not by anyone!

OOOOOOO

“BEWWHAHAHA!” Garp laughed as he touched his cheek gingerly. “That, kid with the green hair, damn me but he’s a smart one. Saw through some of my easier attacks and slugged me a good one. It even woke me up!”

“Hah, I almost wish I had an image of Tenya’s face when you fell asleep in your match with him right after catching his leg,” Jonathan chuckled. He then became serious. “Well?”

“Hmm… you’re right that that Shield girl, and heck, even the crazy pink-haired gal, would probably do a lot of good in the science division. But you’re also right they want to stay with their friends. Melissa definitely pushed herself harder after I told her we were thinking of recommending they be split up, and that Scopes gal almost interfered despite her rib.” Garp chuckled again, much lower this time. “Ha, well, I’ll definitely take both of them, Izuku and that Kiri kid. As for the other girls… eh, I’ll bring them along for now. I’ll have to test them when they’re up for it though. I don’t wanna let them cripple themselves, but I do wanna see what they’ve got.”

“Well, that’s all I could ask for, Just so long as they don’t fall in with the Absolute Justice crowd. I don’t think any of them, not even Tenya would be able to deal with that kind of all-encompassing ideal,” Jonathan answered, smiling thinly. “And then there’s the ‘Tenryubito are gods’ crowd.”

“Ugh. Come on,” Garp grumbled, waving a stein of ale. “You’re gonna make my ale go sour mentioning those retarded cunts.” For a moment, his eyes went far away, then he shook his head, banishing whatever he was seeing. “Yeah. Talking to them at lunch, that gave me a good idea of their personalities, what justice is for them. Tenya’s a bit too by the book, but all of them have a certain amount of drive and will. We’ll see if they can take it further, but already… that Izuku kid? He’s got will to spare, for sure. I’ll bet you anything we’ll start seeing some improvements in his combat ability in the next few days.”

OOOOOOO

Several days passed, then a full week as the teens all got used to the new demands on their time. Gone was any time meant to help the repairs. With Garp pushing their training they were forced to spend their free time at night doing that, unaware that doing so simply made Garp more certain they were the kind of marines he wanted under his command. The repairs to the city were moving slowly, but even so, Shoto, Izuku and the others helped out as best they could.

Eventually, though, they got to the point where they had to wait for the carpenters and stone masons to catch up. This allowed Izuku and the other teens who were well enough to have been helping have some real off-time.  

The first night of this new actually free time found Izuku and Melissa walking through the city on an outing that both teens were very carefully not thinking of as a date. The pair of them were the only ones who had decided to go exploring, although Momo had asked them to see if they could pick up any interesting books for her, and Kyoka for a guitar if they found one.

 Tenya had decided to stay in once more to continue memorizing the Marine’s handbook. Similarly, Kirishima had a combat booklet the sergeants had given him to look through with a lot of combat stances and moves. Tsuyu, who was close to getting a few of her stitches removed permanently – only three of the four gashes in her back had opened again in the battle against the pirates – had opted to continue to take it as easy as she could.

At the last minute, Shoto had decided to stay in to talk to Mei about ideas to better use his powers. He had been using the ice he got from his mother so often in an overwhelming fashion that using it in other ways wasn’t coming easy to him. To say nothing of his fire side, which even in this world he hadn’t really experimented with overmuch.

“Personally, I still think Shoto’s a bit annoyed about how he keeps losing to you and Kiri when it comes to weightlifting,” Melissa said as the pair walked through the city.

“Ehh, I think he was more annoyed at how poorly he’s done in the endurance exercises. Without his Quirk to keep him from heating up, he just doesn’t have any endurance.”

“Well, that, and the fact he can’t ‘take a punch’ as Garp puts it.” Melissa shook her head before trying to imitate Garp’s voice. “HAHAHA, you think you’ve got what it takes to be a marine? You fold after one measly fist of training?!” She then went on in her normal tone, giggling. “I still wonder why he calls them Fists of Training.”

“That’s because he’s holding back on us,” Izuku answered quickly. “Trust me, Kiri and I, we can tell he’s still holding back, even with those Air Fists of his. If he wasn’t I doubt even Kiri could hold his own against Admiral Garp.” He frowned a bit. “And I could swear he’s got a reason behind all the leg exercises he’s been making us all do. And is it just me, but is he always watching me or Tenya when we’re doing them?”

“Mmm… maybe? I can’t remember. Mind you, those exercises are a little slice of hell to me. I mean, I prided myself on being fit before everything, but still, so many freaking squats, kicks and so forth, ugh!” Melissa grumbled, shaking her head. “Still, I have to admit I like that we’re all getting so much hand-to-hand training. Especially me.”

Izuku shook his head, knowing where that was coming from, the lack of self confidence and self-deprecating thoughts was just part and parcel of being Quirkless back home. “Don’t be like that. In a way, you were way better trained than I was, and you were the one who got praised for your technique yesterday.  Besides, you know what the commandant and admiral are always saying. Overconfident Devil Fruit users are a dime a dozen.”

Melissa smiled wanly at that, but even so her shoulders straightened at his words. This brought Izuku’s attention to her chest for just a second. Unlike Izuku, who still wore the marine’s uniform, Melissa, like the other girls, enjoyed going out in her normal clothing. In this case, that meant a yellow and white sundress. It was meant to cover everything and not really show off much other than her trim, fit waistline, but Melissa was second only to Momo in the chest department, and her breasts bounced slightly despite her bra underneath the dress.

Gah, you pervert, stop noticing that kind of thing! I can’t believe you have enough energy to have a libido! Izuku thought. Besides, it’s not like Melissa or any of the other girls would ever look at you. You might not be a Deku any longer, but still, they are all so lovely, so amazing they could have their choice of boys. I’m just me.

Melissa wasn’t the only one still dealing with the mental scars of being Quirkless. That meant he hadn’t really noticed, or would be able to understand, the looks that Melissa, Momo, and even, sometimes, Kyoka sent his way. Or that Melissa, at the very least, was thinking of Izuku as prime boyfriend material. Indeed, even now she was checking Izuku out in his marine outfit. Good grief but he makes that look good. Is it just me, or is Izuku’s chest already a little bit wider? I wonder if One For All allows his body to put on more muscle mass quicker than a normal body.

Actually, there wasn’t anything like that going on. Unbeknownst to Melissa, her normal minder, Mei had woken up a few days back and decided to experiment with creating a cloths dryer powered by steam, then convinced the barracks logistics officer to try it. It had worked but had noticeably shrunk a lot of the shirts that he had used it one, one of which was Izuku’s spare. Which he was wearing now as his other two shirts were both sweaty.

“So, um, what should we look for? I, um, I’ve not actually had time to just walk around and um, take in the sights,” Izuku muttered in lieu of something to say to take his mind off where his eyes had gone a moment before. He looked around, frowning a bit. They were in one of the areas of the town near where there were a lot of older houses built in stone rather than wood, many of which were larger than the norm found elsewhere.

Looking around now, he could see a lot of different types of architecture, too. One house looked almost like something the Yaoyorozu’s would use in extremis, while around it there was a few scattered smaller houses, all linked together with tall stone walls that almost looked Grecian, at least according to Momo who had remarked on similar buildings before. Beyond that were a few houses that looked like Chinese houses, heavily damaged now by the pirates. A bar and two stores stood out thanks to their signs, although the bar was noticeably boarded up and closed. A few other people were working on repairing some of the damage to a farrier’s place, and there were numerous people up on the rooftops repairing damage there, particularly in the Grecian section.

Yet at the same time, there were also people just moving around, buying things, talking, joking even. Smiles abounded, and even laughter. Life continues, Izuku thought, somewhat awed at the strength of the people here. I can’t imagine people back home would be acting like this so soon after such a massive attack. Here, though, most of the civilians and marines are just… moving on. Its impressive.

He hadn’t realized he had said this aloud before Melissa agreed. “Actually, I think that a large part of that is Garp’s presence. He… well,” she smirked over at Izuku. “He seems to be the equivalent of All Might in this world. Older, way blunter, and with a few weird foibles, but still, he gives these people a sense of protection just being here that on top of our victory washed away the last of the fear the civilians were still feeling.”

Melissa pointed to the side, where a middle-aged woman was sitting next to a man, watching as a group of younger folk worked on repairing their windows and doors. The two older folk looked sort of listless and wan, a look she had seen far too often when things in the makeshift hospital didn’t go well. “There’s still a lot of grief, especially from families who lost family members and, or, or went through other kinds of losses. But the people here will recover, I think.”

“I agree. On both the fact the people here will recover, and that Garp is like All Might in this world,” Izuku agreed with a nod. “He isn’t as well known, I don’t think, but he…” Izuku shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. “I think he’s kind of become my new goal, you know?”

“I do. I think everyone has that, a role model they want to measure themselves against,” Melissa agreed. “Still, don’t push yourself until you break this time?” she turned, wagging a finger in front of his face, her eyes serious behind her glasses. “And don’t forget there are people who will be very angry if you do.”

Blushing Izuku nodded, his eyes filling with tears for a moment before Melissa huffed, hooked her arm with his, and began pulling Izuku along. “Come on, That’s enough serious talk for now. This is our first real time off in days, and I mean to make the most of it.”

The feel of Melissa’s breasts pressed into his arm had Izuku blushing so hard that it aborted his Midoriya Waterfall Maneuver™ and he could only stammer as he was pulled along, causing many of the people around them to point and laugh at what they assumed were two young lovers. Melissa, meanwhile, blushed a bit, but continued to pull Izuku along not relinquishing her grip on his arm until they came to a small, single person bridge over an aqueduct.

From then on, the pair wandered, sticking to the area at the edge of the city. Significant segments had been damaged in the pirate’s attack, but larger segments had been left alone. The attackers who came at the city from deeper inland hadn’t broken up until they were deeper into the city. The pair entered a few stores, mostly the kind that sold various knickknacks, and one that sold local cheeses. They sampled a few and then moved across the way to look at a small, stone-walled park with, for some odd reason, toy boats scattered around it.

Looking closer, Melissa noticed each of the toy boats were carved to look like individual ships. Some were longboats, some were sloops, other barquentines and everything in between. “Wow, the level of detail is amazing, they all have their own little sails and even strings to look like ropes. And look, they each have a sailor…” Meliss cocked her head, kneeling down to run a finger over one such sailor, frowning a little. “Although the ones I can see all look a little deformed for some reason.”

Trying hard not to stare down into Melissa’s cleavage, Izuku saw an elderly gentleman sitting on a porch that had it’s own entrance into the walled park, “E, excuse me, but what are these supposed to be?”

The elderly man looked up and smiled a gap-toothed smile in their direction. “Ah, I see you like my little carvings. I was Port Master General here before the marines finally put up a full garrison here. This is an old sailor’s tradition, little carved remembrance statues. When a ship comes into port but its too damaged to repair, or is meant for the breakers, we carve one of these statues. Each of them represents the spirit of the ship, the Klabautermann and those who sailed on her but never made it back to port.”

He gestured to a few blocks of wood set to one side of him. “Normally, marines, they don’t go into the old superstitions. But that Jonathan, he’s a good’un. Let me keep on carving the statues after he took over. Even asked me a few days back to make one of for the frigates the marines lost to the pirates.”

“What is a Klabautermann?” Melissa asked, moving up to join Izuku.

This led into a whole discussion, the idea of a ship gaining a spirit through the love and attention of its crew was not a concept either of them had ever heard of before. But it sounded truly amazing. Eventually, however, the two of them continued on their not-a-date. They found two bookstores, but one was a burned-out wreck, and the other only sold fantasy novels of various types. Melissa made a note of it and particularly the fact it had a few bodice rippers on display but decided that out with Izuku was not the time to pick any up for herself or any of the other ladies.

Well, all except Mei. Unless they’ve got a steampunk style romance novel, I doubt she’d be interested. And even then, Mei’s more likely to enjoy reading about the various designs and stuff than the romance, Melissa thought sardonically, before her stomach began to rumble. As Izuku looked at her, she flushed a bit. “Er, sorry, but um, since we all started training with the marines, my appetite’s gone through the roof.”

“I, I can understand that,” Izuku answered, glancing around for a second. Seeing there was no one in sight, he leaned in. “Back when All Might was training me to handle One For All, my appetite changed and grew at least twice over. It was crazy, and I really began to worry about how we were paying the grocery bill.”

Melissa chuckled at that, and they began to look around for someplace to eat. They quickly spotted a small restaurant a hole in the wall place that was literally built into the side of a small hill. The moment Melissa saw it, she was enchanted. “Oh my god, it looks like Bag End made into a café!”

“What’s Bag End?”

Melissa turned to give Izuku such a stare that he shivered and seemed to shrink. “You’ve never heard of JRR Tolkien?” she nearly growled. “The father of fantasy?”

“Um, no, s, sorry…” Izuku whimpered under her glare.

“Hmmpf, I am going to put that down to your Japanese educational system not wanting to teach anything from the Pre-Quirk era,” Melissa grumbled under her breath before brightening and taking Izuku’s arm with her own again. Hmmm, yummy muscles, She thought, shivering a bit as Izuku had rolled up his sleeves to well up his bicep as they had walked around. “Well, whatever, I will explain the story as best I can.”

The restaurant was somewhat small inside, consisting of numerous small grottos that held one or two small tables. This, the lighting, and the almost organic looking interior provided an extremely homey, almost romantic atmosphere, helped along by someone playing the violin.

Actually, it was an entirely romantic place, and Melissa had to hold back a squeal through sheer force of will at how cute it looked. She glanced at her companion and had to hold back a grin as he looked around, staring around him at the couples that already were sitting in a few of the alcoves, many of which were hidden behind strings of hanging beads.

“Er, Me, Melissa is this um…” Izuku began, his stutter back in full force with reinforcements in the way of a blush that was almost red enough to match a strawberry.

She smiled at him shyly, then held up two fingers to the maître de. “A place for two, please.”

“Of course, Miss.” The maître d' smiled, recognizing the two as some of the town's saviors. She gestured for them to follow, and the pair found themselves in an alcove with only one other table inside. A silent waiter followed, leaving them with a basket of breadsticks and two menus, and then the two staff members bowed their way out. “Enjoy your date, please.”

“D, d…” Izuku squeaked, while Melissa smirked. He tried to speak up before the two left, but Melisa hushed him, a flush on her own face.

“Don’t bother, Izuku. B, besides, would that be so bad?” she asked, pouting a little bit at him as she cocked her head to one side. “Or are you saying you wouldn’t like to be seen on a date with me?”

“N, no!” Izuku exclaimed, his voice an odd mix between a shout and strangled squeak. “I, of course I would, any man would want to date someone as wonderful as you, but I, I’m…”

“Then there’s no problem,” Melissa cut him off, shaking her head. I have to remember Izuku has even more self-image issues as I did before my third science fair. Still, that’s progress. “Let’s just look at the menu for now, okay?”

Nodding, Izuku pulled open the menu, looking at what was offered and the pictures accompanying some of the choices. “Is, is this Italian food?” Izuku whispered, becoming sidetracked for a moment. Some of the things looked familiar to him from a time when his mother had tried to make spaghetti. “That doesn’t match any of the architecture that we’ve seen on the island.”

“Just go with it. I’m a bit too happy right now to care, for many reasons she said, smiling at him until Izuku blushed, understanding that part of why she was happy was that she was with Izuku, before flipping her menu around to point at something she hadn’t thought to ever see in this world. “We’ll have a pepperoni pizza with extra pepperoni,” she stated authoritatively.

“Ooh, that sounds good,” Izuku happily agreed, inwardly relieved to not need to try any of the other food on the menu. A lot of it looked interesting, but definitely nothing he was used to. “I’d never had any until we had that sleepover with everyone else at your lab.”

“Hopefully this one will be just as good,” Melissa grinned, then smirked. “Now, let’s see, how to explain the glories of Tolkien?”

The conversation wound on from Tolkien to other fantasy novels Melissa and Izuku had read back on Earth, then to a few they’d found here both on the previous islands. Then it moved on to the training the marines had been putting the teens through, and finally to One For All and Izuku’s recent experiences with it. From there, they took a brief break to thank the waiter for the pizza, which Melissa called Chicago-style, a deep-dish pizza that didn’t look much like the pizza they’d had on I-Island.

After two slices disappeared, the conversation shifted to the ongoing lack of history books they’d found, and their plans for the future. Izuku and Melissa both still had issues with the lack of historical texts, which Izuku now put into words. “

“Hmmm… true. And on a world like this, with so many islands all of them separate and needing to be mainly self-sufficient, the idea of history being suppressed is almost as weird as the idea of using a single language.”

Trailing off, Melissa looked across the table at Izuku, a flush appearing on her face. Come on, Melissa, you know that Izuku’s so socially awkward and everything that there’s no chance he’ll ever be the one to take the first step. Not unless you make it plain that you’re interested. So just do it! “So, I, um, I know we were talking about, um, more important things, but I, I just was wondering, were you telling the truth that you wouldn’t mind—”

Her words were interrupted at that point by a woman’s voice, “I do hate to interrupt this scene, but I feel that you all need to be more aware of your surroundings, especially when talking about history, and other things the World Government might not like you investigating,” a velvety, almost sensual feminine voice intoned.

Both young folk started at that, twisting around to stare at the entrance into their little nook. There, a slightly older woman stood, having entered the room quickly. In one hand, she held a menu, but other than that, Izuku was left wondering how she had entered the room. She wore a hood, but despite that, Both Melissa and Izuku recognized her. “You, you’re the woman from back on that island we were attacked on by the locals. How did you get here before us?!” Izuku exclaimed. ‘There haven’t been any ships in port except for Admiral Garp’s.”

“And you’re certainly not a marine,” Melissa growled, glaring at the woman, although her glare faded as the woman looked back at her apologetically. “Not with the way you were warning us about not asking questions.”

“I did indeed warn you of such. Tell me, have you asked Commandant Jonathan or Admiral Garp the Fist about history, or the World Government? Who runs it?” the woman asked, sifting further into the alcove.

“Your name… you gave it as Mrs. All-Sunday, right, or at least that was what the person on the other end of your call called you,” Izuku remembered.

“Call me Hana,” Robin answered, having had time to think of that over the past few days. “And you haven’t answered my question.

“We haven’t, Miss Mysterious,” Melissa snorted, crossing her arms. “Although why you seem so interested in stopping that…”

“History isn’t taught anywhere throughout this world beyond a certain point. And what is taught is crafted by the World Government,” Robin answered. “I am interested in stopping you because those who look into the history of the world beyond the local level often come to a very dark end, and if you wish to become marines, it behooves you to know precisely who you’re working for…”

What followed was somewhat horrifying to both Robin’s listeners, something they showed in their faces as she explained what the Tenryubito were like. As she finished, ‘Hana’ added, “I will not say the marines are not important. I will not say that they are not a force for good. In the main, they are. But they still must serve their masters.”

“You, you could be lying about this. Why, why would someone like Garp…” Izuku trailed off, staring at Robin in horror and consternation.

“In the world you come from would a general in the army be able to demand his government change? No matter how important Garp is to the marines, he is but one man. The World government and the powers it serves is far too important to change. And far too important to allow anything to bother with.”

“Well, that makes some, wait, what did you say?” Melissa’s eyes narrowed, her face paling a bit.

“I haven’t been following the pair of you today, if that is what you mean. I am insatiably curious however, and I have been nearby when several of your friends haven’t been as circumspect as they should have been,” Robin answered peaceably, holding up her thin, pale hands. “I wish to ask you some questions and perhaps open your eyes to the nature of the marines before you become tied to them too much. Garp is a good man. Jonathan too. Many of them are. But the World Government is about as venal, self-serving and evil a polity as can exist.”

“I… you’re telling us this, but we, we only have evidence of history not being important beyond the local level,” Izuku mused, scowling. “I, I don’t want to believe this, there’s no way a government can be—”

Melissa reached across the table, taking Izuku’s hand in hers. “Izuku, that, that’s not right, and you know it. Japan’s government might not be like that, and America’s isn’t either, but there have been other governments that are just as self-serving as what ‘Hana’ is saying.” Melissa shot Robin a look that told Robin she knew that was a fake name. “And even our governments undoubtedly have secrets that they’ve buried and will never share willingly.”

“I, but, Garp…”

“Garp probably is kept well away from anything shady,” Hana said, throwing the younger man a bone. For all his impressive build and intellect, he seems to have fallen into a bit of hero worship when it comes to Garp. Pity. Still if he had to revere any marine, I suppose Garp is the best choice. Better than that, that bastard Aokiji, anyway. Now, how to get the answers I wish…

“That’s probably true, Izuku. Besides there’s no government that’s ever existed where every hand knows what one another is doing,” Melissa added.

Izuku stared down at their joint hands for a moment, thinking deeply pushing through his automatic reaction not the idea of a government being so evil. There was no other way to describe the Tenryubito. But even as he did so one question remained.

When the verdette looked up at her again, Robin barely held back a gasp at the piercing intelligence nearly blazing from those eyes. “You are not just pathologically curious, Hana-san, nor are you trying to warn us about what we might be getting into with the marines and the World Government out of the goodness of your heart. You are after something, want to know something yourself. What do you want from us and why are you interested in us in the first place?”

For a moment, Robin just stared back, shocked at the change. I knew he was smart, but that is a most discerning look this young man has. For a moment, Robin thought about how to put it, then shrugged. “You are correct. Normally I would not have become interested in any of you, regardless of your powers or skills, but your words when we first crossed paths grabbed my attention. Now that I have gathered more information on you and your… abilities, I believe you might perhaps hold another means with which to answer a question that I have long been searching for.”

“A question about history,” Izuku stated, frowning pensively. There was something else there, too. A vulnerability in Robin’s eyes for just a second that reminded him of Tsuyu’s back in the USJ when Shigaraki attacked her, that reminded Izuku of the moment of weakness Bakugo showed when he was being captured by the slime villain. The look of someone who needed saving. But from what, though?

Aloud, Izuku said, “You’re after something to do with the history you say the World Government is hiding.”

Robin flinched a bit at how quickly Izuku had grasped at the right answer but nodded. That flinch, however, seemed to calm Izuku down, as well as Melissa, who stepped in now. “I’m getting the impression, what with the hood and sneaking in here like you did, that you don’t want the marines to find you. That tells me there’s going to be questions we might want to ask you that you don’t want to answer. But you’ve already given us a lot of information we need to verify. I, I think we can answer your curiosity in the form of a question.”

“And can Den Den Mushi be intercepted?” Izuku blurted out, his earlier wariness overcome by the part of him that wanted, even in this world, to be a hero. “If you need, that is, if we want to keep in contact, then, well, I think both sides might, if you’re right about the World Government, it would help us both to be able to contact one another, right?”

Melissa blinked, staring at Izuku, while Robin also looked at him askance. Now, if I was dressed to impress, or even like I was when we first crossed paths, I might think that Izuku is feeling some manner of a crush. But it isn’t that. His earnestness… is he, is he worried about me? That was, well it had been a long time since anyone had truly worried about Robin, either as herself or whatever assumed identity she was at the time. She put it down to Izuku not knowing who she was, for now, before she answered his question.  

“While on the surface that sounds logical, getting in touch with one another via Den Den Mushi is not going to happen. First, I don’t know if Den Den Mushi can be traced. Second, I do not have an extra. You would have to find one, and then we would need to meet up to pair the devices, which again is not going to happen.”

“Ah um…” Feeling somewhat embarrassed at the look that Melissa was giving him and the sardonic smile visible on Hana’s face, Izuku grabbed on a minor mystery in order to move on from the awkward moment. “Um, as an aside, how exactly is that done?” He asked, and suddenly he was holding a notebook of some kind. “We’ve only had access to a single slim encyclopedia, and Yaomomo told me there wasn’t much of anything about how Den Den Mushi are created, only cared for.”

Once more Robin flinched, staring, a finger coming up to point at the notebook in the verdette’s hands. “Wh, where did that come from?”

Izuku looked up at her, eyes blinking owlishly. “Where did what come from?”

“That notebook! You did not have it a second ago,” Robin nearly exclaimed, keeping her voice down with difficulty.

“I don’t know why people think that. I always have my notebook on me,” Izuku said, shaking his head sadly. “People are just unobservant I guess.”

Robin’s eyes narrowed at that, and her fingers twitched, but she pulled her anger back under control with some difficulty. “As for your question, Den Den Mushi can be paired in multiple ways. Most of the time, Den Den Mushi come in families. The secret of their creation and mutation is one I do not know, although I am aware they originate from the New World. Any Den Den Mushi from a family can communicate with any other, regardless of their location in the world. Distance doesn’t seem to matter at all, unless there is some natural weather-based interference, or something manmade interfering, like there being too much stone or metal between them. They are not common at all. I have not been on an island where more than one or two have come into the hands of civilians, and mostly there they were used by reporters or officials of some kind. Marines however make use of them all the time, as do those with sufficient resources to buy them or have access to the New World.”

That phrase was one that Momo had found in the Encyclopedia and explained to the others several weeks back. The Grand Line was split into two portions. The portion they were in, the first half, was called Paradise by those who had experienced the second half, which was called the New World.

Nodding his head and noting down that this meant Hana (definitely not her real name) either had such resources or the Mr. Zero she had been talking to did, Izuku fell silent as Melissa spoke up. “I don’t think that trying to remain in communication isn’t workable. However, I do agree that we can perhaps answer Hana’s question. She’s given us enough information to be worth paying for.”

The blonde girl bit into another slice of pizza, gesturing Izuku to the meal too. “Ask your question.”

“Hmm… this has taken overlong already, drat it. There is a marine runner coming her to ask the two of you to return to the garrison, I think.” Robin hummed, ignoring the confused and suspicious looks of the two younger folk.

I don’t think I will think of them as young again, not after seeing them deal with everything here and the intelligence and flexibility they’ve shown in this conversation, although Izuku seems, oddly, to be willing to trust me more than he was moments ago, Robin mused sardonically. “Very well. I know you all come from some place you call Earth, and I am wondering about the methodology of that transference, and whether or not you might come from the past.”

Izuku and Melissa both blinked, taking that in, and while Melissa scowled at the sign that Robin had been following them and somehow listening in on conversations, particularly her and the girl’s conversations back when she was redoing Tsuyu’s stitches, without anyone seeing her, Izuku frowned pensively. “I, um, no. I don’t think so. While some of the basic rules of nature, gravity, wind, current, and so forth are the same as back home, there’s far too much that isn’t. Even considering the fact we’re all speaking Japanese, which I put down to parallel evolution, there is far too much that just makes no sense if we try to assume our Earth is the same as this planet.”

“And then there’s the fact my father and I are the ones who built the darn thing that sent us here. It was a hyperspace engine, not a temporal one,” Melissa stated firmly. “We might not have had all the bugs worked out, and the power consumption was way more than we wanted, but that isn’t possible.”

Robin slumped a bit, shaking her head, and Izuku looked at her again getting the impression that this person was someone who needed to be saved. But from what and why he didn’t know.

I knew going into this conversation that it wasn’t a real possibility, and you would think I would be used to it by now, but every time I get my hopes up, every time I think I have a new clue, it is like tearing the scab off a wound that hasn’t healed. Truly, the only clue I have left is the Alabastan poneglyph. Whatever I must do to gain access to it, I must do, for my dream, for the ghosts of Ohara.

“So there was no pink mist, no sudden disorientation?” she asked rhetorically, keeping her voice amused and sardonic with difficulty, a fact she hoped her listeners didn’t notice. Weakness was never something that Robin could allow herself to show anyone.

Yet Melissa still answered. “No, there was a lot of disorientation and the popping of displaced air. Then we were too busy figuring out how to survive a fall from several miles up over the Grand Line. Sorry, no temporal movement there.”

“What is so important about—” Izuku began before Robin shook her head.

“Well, thank you. I suppose that is all we have time for. And unfortunately, I doubt we will be meeting again. Take what I said onboard please. Even if you were not able to help me, I have no wish to see you become simple cogs in the corrupt machine that is the World Government.”

With that she stood up and was out the door before either of the two at the table could do anything. Izuku stood up quickly, moving after her, but by the time he reached the doorway into the alcove, Hana was gone. A waiter was coming out of another alcove and blinked at him. “Sir?”

“Did… did you see a woman here a second ago?” Izuku asked, wondering if maybe Hana had some kind of Devil Fruit power. But what kind of power could warn of incoming marines and also let her disappear like this?

“No sir. Did you want something?”

“Er, no,” Izuku shook his head, ducking back into the alcove to avoid the bemused, confused look on the other man’s face. “Thank you.”

Robin had in actuality kept a series of eyes hidden among the rafters to guide her when she left the alcove. She had ducked into the kitchen area timing it, so no one even saw her moving, and was out the back before more than one or two people wondered why the door had opened. Another dead end. But at least I didn’t get my hopes too high on this one. I wonder why Garp has ordered the teens to be rounded up, though?

“She’s gone,” Izuku reported, shaking his head. “What do you make of all that?”

“I don’t know, really. I also think ‘Hana’,” Melissa snorted, holding up her fingers to make quote marks as she said the name, “Is a very mysterious person. I think we need to verify her claims as soon as possible. I also think some of what she said makes the oddities we’ve seen in terms of historical knowledge and so forth make sense.” She then looked at Izuku closely. “By the way…why did you want us to keep a line of communication open with her?”

Wondering at the strange edge in Melissa’s voice, Izuku answered honestly. “I couldn’t tell you why, really, but sometimes, when she was speaking, it felt like Hana was someone who needed saving.”

At that an ire Melissa was feeling vanished, and she sighed, chuckling. “That’s so you Izuku, its not even funny. Still, I think we need to worry about ourselves and verify what she told us before we worry about Hana. Let’s put it aside for now and see if we can finish this pizza before the marine she says is coming this way gets here, if one really is, anyway.”

Izuku nodded seriously, then sat down across from Melissa again. He dug into his pizza again but had barely gotten hallway through his slice before they were interrupted once more. This time, a marine Seaman First Class pushed the blinds to one side. “Izuku, Melissa? You’re wanted back at the garrison.”

“Commandant Jonathan’s been pretty clear all along that we have evenings and nights to ourselves,” Melissa pointed out. “Why the sudden change?”

“Admiral Garp’s received orders. The Dead End Race is too good an opportunity to round up a lot of up and coming pirates, and HQ wants Garp to catch or sink as many of the ships taking part in the race as he can.” The man suddenly smirked at them, a wry commiserating look. “Garp’s also accepted you all on as a training cadre. He’s leaving seven of the rest of us here under Bogard-san to help Jonathan keep Elena safe until the defenses can be rebuilt and two frigates assigned here. Congratulations, welcome to training hell.”

Bogard was Garp’s second in command on his ship and was a swordsman of some repute. However, because of that, he hadn’t had much to do with the teens’ training up to this point.

Izuku whooped.  For a moment, he forgot his concerns about the Marines and the World Government, ecstatic at continuing to be trained by someone as strong as Garp. Melissa also nodded, smirking a bit. “That sounds both terrifying and rewarding.”

“Yep. That’s about the size of it,” the older man drawled, shaking his head and looking down at the barely half-eaten pizza apologetically. “Sorry to cancel your little date, but you’ll want to take that to go. Garp wants to leave with the tide.”

He turned, ducking out of the alcove, ignoring the blushing and the sputtering from the teens. “I’ll go pay your bill for you, that’s the least I can do.”

The two teens were still a little out of sorts as the three of them exited the restaurant. Eventually Melissa began to recover, and feeling a bit daring, whispered into Izuku’s ear. “Don’t worry, Izuku. I won’t consider that a date. Not until we can have a night like that uninterrupted.”

That caused Izuku dot exe to crash out entirely, but his blushing, stuttering, wide-eyed look at Melissa’s face and then down her body and back, something she doubted Izuku realized he was doing, certainly made Melissa feel good. Like, really good. Yep, I’ve got it bad for Zuk. And I’m not going to wait much longer to make that clear to him, too.

She was surprised though after a few minutes of simply stumbling along staring at her, Izuku hesitantly reached out and took her hand. She looked at him in surprise, and he breathed in deeply, trying hard to ignore the Seaman walking ahead of them. Nana’s voice in his head, which had helped bring him back from his moment of complete mental dysfunction, helped again, giving him courage. “I, I wouldn’t consider it a date either. I mean, I, I didn’t ask you out. And when we do go on a date, I, I will. You deserve that much, and, and me making an effort for it. Okay?”

“Nice, Nine! All girls like to be told they’re worth effort like that, Nana cheered.

Now it was Melissa’s time to blush, and she looked down at their joint hands, feeling shy all of a sudden as well as ecstatic. That means he likes me too, right!? “I, I’d like that, Zuk.”

The two of them continued walking in silence for a bit, holding hands, but then another one of the vestiges coughed in Izuku’s head, making him remember the rest of the world beyond the two embarrassed teens. “As pleasant as it is to know you and Melissa have feelings for one another, that’s personal, not important right now. You’re alone with a seasoned marine, and you need to ask him some questions, don’t you, Izuku?

Inwardly nodding, Izuku tried to push past his personal embarrassment to the revelations Hana had shared with them. “Er, sir, I um, we heard something at one point when we were walking through this area. Something about, um, about the Tenryubito…”

The seaman growled under his breath his previous good humor and amusement at the two youngsters being so awkward disappearing. “Stop right there.” Turning around, he glared at them both. “I don’t know what kind of rumors you might have heard, but I can see from your faces they weren’t good. The Tenryubito exist, and like anyone else, they can be both good and bad. Most of us who know anything about them think they are necessary assholes.”

Both the teens blinked at that, torn between shock and snorts of laughter at the man’s words and he went on. “The royals provide a lot of the money, backing to the World Government, and because of that and the fact they were the people who created it in the first play, they get to live in Paradise on top of the Red Line. We lower rankers don’t like ‘em but can’t do anything about ‘em. And as part of Garp’s crew you won’t have to deal with any of their shit. And after, once you make big enough names for yourselves, well, even the Tenryubito tread lightly around Garp. Make that big a name for yourself, and then maybe you’ll be able to make a difference too. Just never forget they hold the purse strings, and we’re all employees, when you get right down to it. There’ll always be things we can’t do, like taking on the Yonko, or, yes, going after a specific Tenryubito for their… their fucking shit.”

He glared at the two teens. “Now, that’s the last I want to hear about them for now, understand? Garp doesn’t like those assholes, so you’ll have some leeway in how you talk about them, but other marine officers aren’t like that, so you best get used to keeping your mouths shut now, when slipups won’t cost you anything.”

The two teens nodded, and the man turned, striding on. “Now come on, let’s get down to the ship.”

Everyone else was waiting for Izuku and Melissa, something the older seaman that made up Garp’s crew teased them about, along with Garp himself, “But time, tide and dealing with pirates wait for no one!”

Once more, the girls were given their own room, the first officer’s quarters, which Bogard had been using up to that point. Garp acted like a captain, but the ship had a suite for a flag officer which was where he slept, leaving the captain’s quarters for his first mate. The boys were placed in the main bunkhouse with the rest of the marines, taking up the hammocks that those marines being left behind had used previously.

“For now, get your stuff stowed away, and finish that pizza,” Garp chuckled, slapping Izuku on his shoulder hard enough to send him stumbling. “We’ve got some good chefs aboard, but they can’t do Italian.”

Nodding, Izuku looked around and placed the pizza on a nearby barrel that had been nailed to the floor, acting like a small table. He offered some to the other boys, who all grabbed a slice happily bar Shoto, who was watching Izuku carefully. Izuku in turn was glancing at Garp and the hatch as the admiral left. “You’re jumpy for some reason. I doubt it has anything to do with the taunting about your date with Melissa, something I feel is probably coming from jealousy in many cases.”

Shoto ignored Izuku’s flush and turned towards the hatch himself, although he kept on addressing Izuku. “What is it?”

At the same time, Melissa, after dealing with some ribbing from the girls about whether or not it was in fact a date, accompanied by some odd looks from Kyoka and Momo she wasn’t certain she could describe, was holding up a hand for silence. “I, I’ve got some things to tell you, and no, it isn’t about Me and Zuk. We need to keep an eye out, even now that we’re Marines. We need to stop asking questions about history, and about anything unusual we’ve noticed up to this point. The World Government… well… it’s not the force for good the marines try to be…”

End Chapter