….
Ten Months Later.
….
The past ten months had been brutal for Izuku Midoriya.
Every morning at 5 AM, Dabi would be waiting at Dagobah Beach.
Whether the sky was hemorrhaging rain or a typhoon was churning the coastline, the schedule was absolute.
A sixty-second delay in arrival resulted in an additional hour of training.
Despite his easygoing appearance, Dabi was a silent, unrelenting spectre of discipline, which is sothing Izuku learned quite early into his training.
Mastering [Total Concentration Breathing] had been hell.
"Deeper, Midoriya. You are breathing like a civilian." Dabi would rasp, his eyes glowing with an analytical coldness as he watched the boy struggle with a rusted refrigerator.
"Your lungs can hold roughly six liters, so use all of it and draw the oxygen down until it floods your capillaries and your blood feels like liquid fire."
He forced him to hold his breath while sprinting through the sand, pushing his brain into a state of hypercapnia to force his nervous system to adapt to low-oxygen environnts.
"This isn't a technique you 'activate.'" Dabi explained, standing over a trembling Midoriya in the eighth month.
"It is a manual override of your autonomic nervous system. It has to beco as instinctive as your pulse. If you have to think about it, you are already too slow."
By month three, Midoriya could maintain the breathing technique for several hours straight.
By month six, he could use it reflexively during physical activity.
By month ten, the transformation was visceral. The scrawny, trembling boy had been replaced by a young man with dense muscle fibers and a resting heart rate that would baffle a cardiologist.
Dabi had also addressed the boy's greatest weakness: his reflexive paralysis in front of real danger.
In controlled, high-intensity sparring, Dabi moved with terrifying efficiency.
He forced Midoriya to maintain Total Concentration while dodging blue-fla-heated strikes.
Quite literally, he beat the hesitation out of the boy's soul.
As the morning of the Entrance Exam was just a day away, Midoriya stood atop the now-clean beach, his chest rising and falling in a deep, resonant cadence.
He wasn't the master Dabi was - he couldn't maintain the 'constant' in his sleep - but he could sustain it through the most grueling physical combat.
But it was enough. More than enough, actually.
Dabi wasn't sure if Midoriya could score points in the entrance exam without using One For All's power. The robots were designed to be challenging even for quirk users.
But at the very least, the kid wouldn't be standing on shaky legs, terrified of tin cans.
There was sothing else Dabi was curious about though.
How would Midoriya control One For All after learning the "[Total Concentration Breathing] technique?
Because breathing technique was fundantally about body control. Controlling your oxygen intake, your muscle movents, your energy distribution.
If Midoriya had that foundation before receiving One For All, would it change how he wielded the power?
Would he have better control from the start?
Or would it make no difference at all?
That was sothing only ti would tell.
….
On the day of Inheritance.
The D-Day.
–where Izuku Midoriya would inherit One For All and officially begin his journey toward becoming the Pro Hero.
And Dabi wasn't there.
He had deliberately chosen not to attend. This was a mont between All Might and his successor. A passing of the torch that had been carried for generations.
Dabi had no place at that mont.
All Might had understood, though he had looked slightly disappointed.
So instead, Dabi was doing sothing else entirely.
Currently, Midoriya was probably at the beach, staring in shock and horror at the single strand of hair All Might had plucked out.
….probably freaking out about having to eat it.
….probably questioning every life decision that had led to this mont.
Dabi almost wished he could see the kid's face.
But he had other priorities today.
….
So what was Dabi doing instead?
Standing outside a large, traditional Japanese-style compound with Rumi beside him.
The Shie Hassaikai Compound. Secret base of the Yakuza, controlled by Kai Chisaki - better known as Overhaul.
Rumi looked up at the imposing structure, then at Dabi. "So this is the date you were talking about?"
"Co on, Bunny." Dabi said with a slight smirk. "What's a better date for you than taking out so really strong opponents?"
Her ears perked up imdiately. "There are villains here?"
"Yep." Dabi's expression darkened slightly. "And they are doing sothing that needs to be stopped. Today."
He had weighed the decision for days - whether to intervene now or allow events to unfold as they once had.
In the original course of events, Midoriya had grown imnsely from his battle with Overhaul. He had pushed One For All to higher percentages, refined his fighting style, saved Eri, and stepped fully into the role of a hero.
But that growth had co at a cost.
Eri had endured months more suffering. Sir Nighteye had lost his life. Several heroes had been gravely injured… a person also lost his quirk.
Midoriya could grow in other ways. There would always be stronger opponents, harsher training, new trials to overco.
There was only one Eri, and she was being tortured.
The decision was made itself.
Dabi laid everything out for Rumi - the Shie Hassaikai's operations, the developnt of the quirk-destroying drug, and, most importantly, the child they were using to manufacture it.
Rumi's red eyes blazed even brighter. The whites were actually turning red with fury. "Then what are we waiting for?"
The compound was completely gated off, requiring soone to buzz in for entry.
Neither Dabi nor Rumi cared about that.
Rumi simply kicked the gate off its hinges, sending it flying into the courtyard.
Dabi vaulted over the wall, blue flas already dancing around his hands.
Their dramatic entrance grabbed the attention of everyone inside the compound imdiately.
"Do we have permission for this operation?" Rumi asked as they landed in the courtyard, Yakuza thugs already rushing toward them.
"No." Dabi admitted. "But that's why I brought the Number 5 Hero with ."
Rumi grinned, showing teeth. "Thought so."
She didn't complain. Just launched herself at the nearest group of thugs with devastating kicks that sent them flying.
Numbers weren't enough to stop them.
Rumi fought like she always did - aggressive, powerful, relentless. Her rabbit-enhanced legs delivered kicks that cracked concrete and shattered bones. She moved through the Yakuza thugs like a hurricane, leaving unconscious bodies in her wake.
Dabi took a different approach.
Long-range fla attacks to control the battlefield. Hand-to-hand combat when enemies got close. Throwing debris and using the environnt as weapons.
He wasn't trying to show off or prove anything - just efficiently neutralizing threats with minimum effort.
The courtyard was cleared in minutes.
They moved into the building proper. Ground floor first - decorated to look like a regular Japanese office, but Dabi knew better.
They encountered one of the Eight Bullets. Toya Setsuno - a blonde guy with a cocky attitude that disappeared quickly when Rumi grabbed him.
"Where's the girl?" Dabi asked.
Setsuno spat blood but said nothing.
"Loyal. I can respect that." Dabi said. Then punched him again. "But I don't have ti for it. Where. Is. She."
Setsuno still wouldn't talk, even after Rumi threatened to break every bone in his body starting with his fingers.
But he didn't need to talk.
Dabi found the hidden switch beneath a decorative vase. The wall slid open, revealing stairs descending into darkness.
"An underground labyrinth." Dabi said. "Villains and their dramatic lairs."
"At least it's not sewers this ti." Rumi muttered, following him down.
The underground network was massive. Multiple passageways stretching for what felt like miles. Rooms for various purposes - storage, eting spaces, an infirmary.
And sowhere down here, a little girl was being held prisoner.
They moved quickly but carefully, taking out guards as they went.
They encountered resistance, of course, more yakuza mbers and few of the Eight Bullets - Overhaul's elite enforcers.
Each fight was brief and brutal.
Shin Nemoto with his Confession quirk tried to force Dabi to answer questions truthfully. Dabi had simply set him on fire before he could finish asking.
Kendo Rappa, the battle-junkie with the strongarm quirk, had been excited to fight Rumi. That excitent lasted about thirty seconds before she kicked him through three walls.
Hekiji Tengai's barrier quirk was actually problematic - until Dabi realized barriers didn't do much against superheated air. Cooked him from the inside.
The Yakuza had numbers, but none of them were prepared for two Pro Heroes - one of them a top-ten ranker - tearing through their base.
Finally, they found her.
A reinforced door at the end of a long corridor. Two guards standing outside - not regular thugs. These were higher-ranking mbers based on their confidence.
Chronostasis. Overhaul's right-hand man. B-rank villain.
Mimic. General manager of the operation. Also B-rank.
"I will handle them." Rumi said, cracking her knuckles. "You get the girl."
She didn't wait for a response. Just launched herself at both villains with a flying kick that forced them to scatter.
Dabi stepped past the shockwave of impact and drove blue flas into the door. The tal warped, locked lting under concentrated heat, hinges giving way seconds later.
He kicked it open.
The room beyond was sterile and cramped - a bed bolted to the floor, a tal chair, scattered dical equipnt.
And in the far corner, pressed against the wall, was Eri.
She was tiny.
White hair, red eyes, a small horn protruding from the right side of her forehead. Her arms were covered in bandages, and beneath them, Dabi could see the marks of repeated injuries and healing.
She looked up at him with eyes that had seen too much. No fear in them - just empty resignation.
A child who had learned that adults only brought pain.
Dabi was in his Hero suit - dark colors, face partially covered by a mask that left only his eyes visible. To a frightened child, he probably looked terrifying.
But Eri didn't look afraid.
Just... tired.
"Please don't co near…." she said quietly. Her voice was small, defeated. "I don't want to hurt you."
Behind him, Dabi heard the sounds of Rumi's fight. A crash. A yell. Then a devastating kick that probably sent soone through a wall.
Rumi had paused for just a second when she heard Eri's words.
Then her next kick ca even harder, fueled by rage at what these people had done to make a child think she was dangerous.
Dabi knelt down, making himself less imposing. "Don't worry. You can't hurt . And even if you did–"
He t her eyes through his mask. "–I have been through worse. Way worse."
Perhaps it was the calm certainty in his voice, or the quiet resolve in his eyes, the only part of his face she could clearly see, but whatever it was, she recognized the truth in him the mont he spoke.
"That's sad… I am sorry."
Eri apologized again, her voice small but sincere, because she sensed that this was soone who understood pain, soone who had endured it and co through it, and who did not recoil from hers.
"Heh, you don't have to be sorry." Dabi chuckled at the innocence. He then extended his arms. "Actually, I am sorry that you had to go through this…"
Eri didn't step back. Instead, she jumped forward, small arms wrapping around Dabi's neck.
"I am so afraid of this place." she whispered. "Mummy isn't here. It's dark. It's... it's..." She couldn't find the words to express the horror of her captivity.
"There, there… I am here to take you away from it." Dabi said gently. "And anyone who tries to stop us isn't going to make it out in one piece."
That's when the temperature in the hallway dropped.
Dabi stood, carefully lifting Eri with one arm while blue flas ignited around his other hand.
A figure erged from the shadows at the end of the corridor.
Kai Chisaki. Overhaul himself.
He wore his signature plague doctor mask and white gloves. His golden eyes were cold, calculating, and utterly devoid of human warmth.
"That's my property you are holding." Overhaul said, his voice clinical. "I will need you to return her. Along with compensation for the damage to my organization."
Rumi appeared beside Dabi, slightly bloodied but grinning. "Your 'property' just beca evidence in a child abuse case. Along with whatever the hell you have been cooking up down here."
Overhaul's eyes narrowed. "Mirko. The Rabbit Hero. Number 5, if I recall. And you…."
His gaze shifted to Dabi. "I don't recognize you. Underground Hero?"
"Does it matter?" Dabi asked, positioning himself to shield Eri.
"I suppose not. You are both trespassing in a private residence. I have every right to defend my property." Overhaul's gloves ca off. "And since you have already seen too much, I am afraid I can't let you leave."
His quirk activated. The ground beneath them began to spike upward, concrete and earth reshaping itself into deadly weapons.
Rumi jumped, her powerful legs carrying her clear of the attack.
Dabi created a wall of blue fla, lting the spikes before they could reach him and Eri.
"Hold on tight." he told Eri quietly. "This might get rough."
And the real fight began.
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
Author Note:
Visit Patreon to instantly access 1 chapter for free, available for Free mbers as well. For additional content please do support and gain access to 12 more chapters.
-->patreon/WrightBrothers
User Comments
0 comments from readers