Location: World Heroes Association – Secret Server Network
Date: One Day Earlier | 08:00 AM
BEEP.
BZZZT.
A massive black screen in a secure underground bunker fractured into fifty different holographic squares.
World leaders, generals, and WHA representatives from across the globe logged in.
It wasn't a quiet meeting. It was absolute chaos.
"How does a whole valley just disappear?!" the Italian Prime Minister yelled, his face red on the feed. "My country! An entire private underground army wiped out in one afternoon and nobody saw it coming!"
"Calm down, we are trying to—"
"Don't tell me to calm down!" the Italian Rep cut off the American General. "The shockwaves shattered windows in three different towns! We have thousands of people hospitalized. The public is terrified!"
"If they crossed your borders, they can cross ours," the French Minister argued, leaning into his mic. "We need a joint military lockdown right now."
"A lockdown won't do anything if we don't even know who attacked them!" the UK representative shot back.
BAM.
The WHA Director slammed his fist hard onto his desk.
The loud noise echoed through the speakers, forcing the dozens of arguing politicians to finally shut up.
"Enough," the Director said. His voice was heavy and exhausted. "Screaming at each other won't fix the crater in Europe. We just finished interrogating a survivor. A low-level mafia grunt who broke rank and ran away when the fighting started."
CLICK.
The director shared a blurry, zoomed-in photo taken from a cell phone. It showed a small glass syringe filled with glowing purple liquid.
"The Gollini family wasn't just hoarding weapons," the Director explained flatly. "They finalized a drug. They called it the God Serum. It's a mix of the Trigger drug and an Overmodification quirk. It gives the user a permanent five-hundred percent power boost."
"Five hundred?!" the UK representative gasped.
"Permanent?" the German Minister leaned forward, his eyes wide. "That's impossible."
"It's real," the Director said. "The mafia pumped twenty thousand of their men full of it."
"..."
"..."
The room exploded into a completely different kind of noise. The fear was still there, but the greed was suddenly very loud.
"Where is the formula?" the Russian military official demanded quickly. "Are there scientists alive? We need to secure the rubble immediately. For global security."
"I agree," the American General chimed in, suddenly very interested. "We need to send extraction teams to pull the data servers from the estate."
"What about the person with the overmodification quirk??"
The Director glared at both of them through the screen. He knew exactly what they wanted.
"You can't," the Director said bluntly, shutting them down. "We already checked the site. All the data servers were manually destroyed. The labs were completely gutted. The owner of the overmodification quirk is gone. And the main family members, including the boss, Valdo Gollini? Also gone."
"Dead?" the French Minister asked.
"No bodies. No traces," the Director shook his head. "Whoever attacked them took the main family alive and destroyed all the research behind them to make sure nobody else gets it."
"So a rival gang took them?" the America Rep asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"No," the Director said. His voice dropped lower. "It was just two people. High-ranking agents wearing featureless grey masks."
"Wait." The Japanese representative finally spoke up, looking completely confused. "Two guys? You just said there were thousand mafia men with a five-hundred percent boost. Two guys wiped them out?"
"Because these two agents weren't normal," the Director said.
CLICK.
The Director pulled up the terrified grunt's combat report on the main screen.
"The survivor saw them fighting," the Director read from the file. "One agent had super speed, engine exhausts in his legs, forced friction, and anti-gravity. The other guy had six massive arms, shock absorption, metal skin, and air cannons."
"...."
"...."
The entire holographic network went dead silent.
The politicians and generals stared at the list of powers on the screen. The reality of what they were hearing finally sank in.
"Multiple quirks," the Japanese representative whispered, his face turning pale. "It's him. All For One."
The American General gripping his pen so hard it almost snapped in half. "He isn't just stealing quirks for himself anymore. He's actually giving multiple powers to his top lieutenants."
"And now he kidnapped the people who invented the God Serum," the Director finished the grim math. "Imagine an army of his multi-quirk subordinates running around with a permanent five-hundred percent power boost."
"....."
Nobody argued.
The greed from earlier was completely swallowed by sheer, suffocating terror.
"Raise the global threat level to Maximum," the Director ordered. "Contact every top hero agency in your countries. The League of Villains just changed the rules."
*-*-*-*
Location: Endeavor Agency – Underground Training Room
Date: Saturday | 06:00 AM
FWIISH.
CRACCKLE-SWIISH.
Endeavor stood right in the center of the reinforced training room.
He wasn't moving. He didn't have wild flames shooting off his shoulders or face.
Instead, his entire massive body radiated a blinding, white-hot light from the inside out.
He had compressed his flames directly onto his skin. It created a superheated vacuum that burned up all the oxygen in a tight circle around him.
The concrete floor under his heavy boots melted into bubbling orange slag.
He closed his eyes.
His lungs were burning. His chest felt incredibly tight.
Maintaining the Sun-Armor technique required him to hold his breath completely. If he opened his mouth, the superheated vacuum would rush into his lungs and kill him from the inside.
Tick. Tick.
The large digital clock on the wall counted up.
Fourteen minutes.
Fourteen minutes and fifty seconds.
BEEP. BEEP.
Fifteen minutes.
FWOOSH.
Endeavor cut the ignition. The blinding white light vanished. The normal air rushed back into the center of the room.
"GAHH!"
HUFF-PUFF.
Endeavor dropped to one knee, gasping violently for air. Sweat poured down his face, sizzling against his hot skin.
He slammed his fist against the melted floor, catching his breath.
He did it.
Fifteen solid minutes. The targeted lung-capacity training the Golden Manager gave him actually worked. He finally perfected the first version of the armor.
CLACK.
The heavy steel doors to the training room slid open.
Burnin walked in.
She waved a hand in front of her face to clear the lingering smoke. She was holding a digital tablet, and she didn't look happy.
"Boss," Burnin called out. "You need to see this. The WHA just pushed a Maximum threat alert to all top ten agencies."
Endeavor stood up slowly. He wiped the sweat from his chin.
"Italy," Endeavor grunted, walking over to her.
"Yeah," Burnin nodded. She handed him the tablet. "The official report just came through. They think All For One sent his guys to steal a quirk-boosting formula. They call it the God Serum. It gives a permanent five hundred percent boost."
Endeavor frowned. He looked at the blurry pictures on the screen. It showed two guys in featureless grey masks.
"And look at the quirk logs," Burnin pointed at the screen. "The alert says we need to be ready for multi-quirk enemies. Those two guys were throwing around dozens of different powers at once."
Endeavor gripped the tablet tight.
If the League of Villains was really making soldiers with multiple quirks, then his quirk development is not enough.
"The agency is running fine on its own," Endeavor said, handing the tablet back. "But I need another proposal for my quirk development. Call Arisaka. Tell him I want to pay for a private commission. I need his brain to figure another development of my ability."
Burnin winced. She rubbed the back of her neck.
"Yeah... about that," Burnin muttered. "I was actually texting Kaito this morning just to catch up. I asked him if he had any free time for a quick consult."
Endeavor narrowed his eyes. "And?"
"He's completely booked," Burnin said quietly. "He signed a new contract yesterday. Exclusive."
"Who did he contract?" Endeavor asked.
"All Might."
"..."
The training room went completely quiet.
In the past, Burnin would have braced herself and expected the temperature in the room to spike.
But now it didn't happen.
Endeavor just stood there.
He had completely changed, which made not just her, but all the sidekicks and personnel at the agency secretly happy.
Endeavor looked down at his massive, scarred hands.
He thought about his fight with the blue-flame vigilante.
It annoyed him because most of his moves were copied. Even the Sun-Armor move he just finished was secretly copied the last time they had a skirmish.
He really can't catch that guy and that annoying Snap move he had that combust explosion instantly.
Then, a slow, fierce smile spread across Endeavor's face.
It wasn't a smile of anger. It was a smile of pure competitive drive.
"Of course he did," Endeavor said, his voice rumbling deep in his chest. "If Arisaka is going to break All Might's ceiling... then I just have to train twice as hard to catch up."
He turned his back to Burnin and walked right back into the center of the melted crater.
"Reset the clock," Endeavor ordered. "I'm doing another set."
*-*-*-*
Location: Egypt – Cairo Hero Headquarters
Date: Saturday | 01:00 PM
WHAM.
Salaam, the Number One Hero of Egypt, slammed his hands onto his massive desk.
He was a tall, incredibly flat man who looked exactly like an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph. He wore a traditional pharaoh headdress and gold bracelets.
"What do you mean he is off the market?!" Salaam cried out, his voice echoing in the large, luxurious office.
His top aide stood on the other side of the desk, sweating nervously.
"I am sorry, sir!" the aide bowed deeply. "We tried to send the blank check to Japan this morning. But his office sent a rejection notice. Kaito Arisaka just signed an exclusive contract with All Might."
Salaam threw his hands up in the air dramatically.
"NOOO!" Salaam wailed, grabbing the sides of his face. "I am a fool! I hesitated! I saw what he did for Star and Stripe. I saw what he did for that giant lion guy in Singapore! I should have booked him months ago!"
"Sir, please calm down," the aide tried to soothe him. "We can still hire top consultants from Europe!"
"Europe just got flattened by two guys in grey masks!" Salaam argued passionately. "I don't want a European consultant! I want the Golden Manager! I want to break my ceiling too! Oh, the tragedy! Egypt weeps today!"
Salaam slumped back into his golden chair, looking completely defeated.
"Keep an eye on the Japanese news," Salaam told his aide, sighing heavily. "When All Might inevitably punches a hole in the moon next month, I want to know about it."
*-*-*-*
Location: The Underbelly – Abandoned Warehouse
Date: Sunday | 11:00 PM
FWOOSH.
A blinding, bright blue light filled the dark warehouse.
Dabi stood in the center of the empty room. He wasn't wearing his black coat.
A thick, superheated layer of blue fire hugged his skin perfectly, creating a tight vacuum around his body.
An Azure Sun-Armor.
He was copying the exact move Endeavor used against him weeks ago.
The concrete under his boots cracked and started to melt. The heat was terrifying.
But Dabi just smirked.
He didn't feel any pain. His skin didn't burn.
Ever since his idol, Hero X, fixed his ruined body, he could handle the blue fire.
He felt great.
SWIISH.
He closed his hand into a fist, cutting the fire off completely. The warehouse went dark again.
"Damn, that move is actually good," Dabi muttered to himself, grabbing his coat off a crate. He slipped it on. "Thanks for the free upgrade, old man."
CLATTER.
THUD.
A few yards away, a group of five street thugs were throwing duffel bags and weapons into the back of a beat-up van. They looked completely exhausted.
"Hey, boss," a thug with a scar on his cheek called out, dropping a heavy crate. "Is this everything? We really have to move again tonight?"
Dabi walked over and leaned against the van. "Yeah. Load it up."
"Man, this sucks," another thug groaned, wiping sweat from his forehead. "That's two safehouses we lost this month. We barely get the TV set up, and suddenly the flaming sidekicks are kicking the doors down."
"That man's new patrol routes are annoying," Dabi agreed, crossing his arms. "They aren't just flying around randomly anymore. They're actually sweeping the grid. We can't stay in one spot for more than three days."
"We're bleeding cash, boss," the scarred thug said, looking stressed. "We keep leaving gear behind. If we don't find a permanent spot soon, the guys are going to start panicking."
"I know. I'll handle the money," Dabi said simply.
BZZT. BZZT.
One of the thugs pulled a cheap burner phone from his pocket. He looked at the screen and frowned.
"Uh, Boss?" the thug held the phone out. "The underground broker just sent a message. Priority."
Dabi took the phone.
[The tea house. Midnight.]
"Who is it Boss?" the thug asked.
"The Yakuza," Dabi said, tossing the phone into a nearby trash barrel.
The thugs looked at each other, clearly nervous. The Yakuza didn't usually talk to vigilantes.
"Keep packing," Dabi told them, turning to leave. "I'll go see what they want."
*-*-*-*
Location: Secret Tea House – Red Light District
Date: Midnight
An hour later, Dabi walked down a hidden staircase under a closed ramen shop.
CREAK.
He pushed past a heavy wooden door. Two massive men in dark suits stood in the hallway. They glared at him.
Dabi just rolled his eyes and walked right past them.
SLIDE.
He pulled the paper screen door open and stepped into a quiet, expensive-looking room.
Sitting at a low wooden table was an old man in a dark green kimono.
He was pouring a cup of hot green tea. It was the Boss of the Shie Hassaikai.
Dabi looked around the room. He let out a dry, raspy laugh.
"Are you guys still playing house down here?" Dabi joked, casually sitting down on the cushion across from the old man. "You got sliding doors and tea sets, while Pro Heroes are flying around with lasers. No wonder the Yakuza is dying."
"....."
The Boss didn't look angry. He calmly set the teapot down.
"Tradition has its place," the Boss said softly. "But I agree. The world outside is moving very fast."
The Boss took a slow sip of his tea and looked Dabi right in the eyes.
"I heard about your fight in Ward Four," the Boss said. "My informants saw the melted steel and the blue scorch marks. You fought the Number Three hero head-on and walked away without a scratch. You've also been clearing out the drug traffickers in the south."
"I don't like scumbags selling bad drugs to kids," Dabi said, leaning his elbows on the table. "What do you want, old man? I have a crew to relocate."
The Boss put his cup down. He didn't waste time.
"I want to hire you," the Boss said bluntly. "Not as a soldier for my group. The Yakuza can handle its own business. I need you as a safety net for my family."
Dabi raised an eyebrow. "Your family?"
"My granddaughter," the Boss clarified. "I have a very ambitious underling running things right now. He looks at my granddaughter like she is a tool for his own goals. I don't trust him."
Dabi tilted his head. "You're the boss. Just fire him."
"It's complicated... I treated him like my own son." the Boss sighed. "If he decides to quietly rebel, I can't trust my inner circle to stop him. I need an outside force. Someone strong enough to break and subdue them, and completely untraceable."
"....."
Dabi stared at him.
He understood exactly what was happening.
An old man trying to protect a little kid from a subordinate-son who wanted to use her for power.
Dabi's jaw clenched.
He absolutely hated people who abused kids to feed their own ambition. It reminded him way too much of Endeavor.
"Alright," Dabi said, leaning back. "What's the payment?"
"Whatever you need," the Boss answered without missing a beat. "I know the heroes are shutting down your safehouses. If you agree to be the absolute last line of defense for my family, I will give you full access to our offshore accounts. Millions of yen. And I will give you secure properties the police don't even know exist."
"....."
Dabi smiled. A genuine, dark smile.
A blank check.
Real, hidden real estate.
It was exactly what he needed to build his crew and finally tear his father's fake, televised life to pieces.
"You got a deal," Dabi said, standing up from the cushion. "If your ambitious underling ever makes a move on the kid, just give me a call."
Dabi turned and put his hand on the paper door.
"I'll burn him to ash."
"No, don't kill him."
"You're so complicated old man... Tsk... Whatever."
*-*-*
Location: Might Tower – Tokyo
Date: Tuesday | 09:00 AM
Four days after the meeting at U.A. High School.
DING.
The private elevator doors slid open. Kaito stepped out onto the top floor of Might Tower.
The place was massive, covered in bright primary colors with huge glass windows looking out over the entire Tokyo skyline.
All Might was standing by a small kitchenette, wearing his usual sharp yellow suit. He was pouring two cups of black coffee.
"Kaito-shonen! You're right on time," All Might smiled, walking over and handing Kaito a mug.
"Thanks," Kaito said, taking the hot coffee.
"Let's sit," All Might gestured to the large couches in the center of the office.
They walked over and sat down.
Kaito didn't pull out his usual thick, three-month corporate binder.
Instead, he reached into his jacket and slid a single, crisp piece of paper across the coffee table.
"Read it over," Kaito said. "No three-month limit this time. We are digging into an eight-generation stockpile. There is no standard timeline for this kind of work."
All Might picked up the paper.
"The contract is open-ended," Kaito explained, taking a sip of his coffee. "It only ends the day you completely shatter your ceiling and master whatever is buried down there."
All Might didn't hesitate. He pulled a pen from his pocket.
SCRATCH.
He signed his name at the bottom and slid the paper back. "Done. So, where do we begin?"
"We start with the history," Kaito said, leaning back into the couch. "Walk me through the stockpile. Your master, Nana Shimura. Did she have her own original quirk before she inherited One For All?"
All Might nodded slowly. "Yes. She had a quirk called Float. It allowed her to suspend herself in the air."
"Okay. And the user before her?" Kaito asked.
"I don't know the exact details of all of them," All Might admitted, rubbing his chin. "But the records Gran Torino showed me years ago indicated that almost all the previous users had their own original quirks."
Kaito looked All Might right in the eyes. "And you?"
"...."
All Might paused. He looked down at his massive, scarred hands.
"I was quirkless," All Might said softly. "I had nothing before she passed the torch to me."
Kaito nodded. "Have you ever read up on the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory?"
All Might frowned. He actually recognized the name.
"That old medical paper?" All Might asked. "The academic board laughed that doctor out of the room decades ago. They said it was just crazy fear-mongering."
"It wasn't," Kaito said flatly. "One For All is the living proof of that theory. Every time the power was passed down, it got denser. The past quirks didn't just disappear when the users died. I believed they got absorbed into the core. You've been carrying other quirks inside you for forty years."
"..."
All Might froze. His blue eyes went completely wide.
He stared at Kaito in absolute shock. "Wait. What? The quirks of the past users? Inside me?"
"Yes," Kaito said.
"....."
All Might sat back heavily against the couch.
His veteran instincts immediately kicked in. His mind raced through thousands of battles.
"If that is true," All Might said, his voice dropping low. "If they are really in there... why haven't I felt a single spark of them in forty years of fighting?"
"Because you were still part of an empty cup," Kaito explained simply.
"An empty cup?"
"You were born quirkless," Kaito said. "When you got One For All, you had no existing quirk factor to clash with it. The raw power just settled into your body perfectly. You adapted to it without any friction."
All Might listened closely, his brow furrowed.
"You are too good at using it," Kaito continued. "You handled one hundred percent of the raw physical strength almost immediately. Your body never struggled. You never faced a wall where punching harder wasn't enough to win. Because of that, your mind never had to dig deep into the core of the quirk to survive. You just skimmed the top layer of the power for forty years because it was all you ever needed."
Huff-puff.
All Might let out a slow, heavy breath.
He finally understood. His own perfection was the wall keeping him locked out.
"So," All Might said, looking back up. "How do we break the wall?"
"We force it," Kaito stated calmly. "We have to create massive internal friction. My training plan for you has two parts. First, the physical compression."
Kaito set his coffee mug down on the table.
CLINK.
"Right now, when you throw a one hundred percent smash or more, you release the energy outward through your fist," Kaito said. "I want you to stop doing that. I want you to generate the full power of a United States of Smash... and keep it inside your body."
"Keep it inside?" All Might repeated, looking stunned. "You want me to contain that much kinetic energy without releasing it?"
"Yes," Kaito nodded. "I want you to blanket your entire body with it. Hold it constantly. While you sit, while you eat, while you sleep. Think of it as wrapping yourself in a highly pressurized aura."
All Might's eyes widened.
As a master martial artist, he instantly knew what that would do to him.
"Holding a localized earthquake inside my veins like that..." All Might muttered. "That kind of pressure will tear my muscle fibers apart from the inside out."
"I know. It's going to hurt," Kaito said honestly. "But the extreme internal pressure of holding that aura will squeeze the core of the quirk until it cracks. We need those hidden quirks to literally leak out under the stress. Don't worry we have Bio-tank ready and we can also call Principal Nezu to request for Recovery Girl."
All Might clenched his jaw. He didn't look scared. He just nodded firmly.
"And the second part?" All Might asked.
"Mental isolation," Kaito answered. "Cracking the shell isn't enough. You have to mentally connect with the vestiges of the past users living inside the power. Right now, your physical presence is too loud. Your heroic drive, your ego, your senses... they block out the noise from the core."
Kaito pointed down at the floor.
"We will order a specialized sensory deprivation tank installed in your lowest basement level," Kaito said. "Complete darkness. No sound. Floating in heavy saltwater. We are going to completely shut down your physical brain."
Gulp.
All Might swallowed hard.
"When the outside world is gone," Kaito said softly. "Your mind will have nowhere to go but down. You are going to sink into the quirk plane. You are going to meet them face-to-face."
"....."
The room went quiet.
The emotional weight of the plan finally hit the symbol of peace.
He looked down at his hands. His voice dropped to a thick, emotional whisper.
"If I go down there... into the power..." All Might stammered slightly. "You're telling me I might see her again? I might see Nana? I might see my master?"
Kaito gave a single, firm nod.
HUFF.
All Might closed his eyes. He took a deep, shuddering breath.
PUFF.
When he opened his eyes again, they were burning with absolute, terrifying determination. He clenched his massive fists.
"Let's go to the basement," All Might said. "Break my ceiling, Kaito-shonen."
.....
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