Chapter 31: Monsters and Heroes
The air in the Central Plaza suddenly grew heavy. The two dozen villains surrounding the green-haired teenager had expected an easy kill. Instead, the moment Zoro tied the black bandana around his head and placed the pure white hilt of the Wado Ichimonji between his teeth, a suffocating, terrifying pressure washed over them.
"What the hell is this kid?" a thug with spiked knuckles muttered, taking an involuntary step back.
"Who cares! He's just one brat!" another villain roared. "Rush him!"
The horde of villains charged forward simultaneously. Zoro didn't flinch. He widened his stance, his muscles tensing like coiled steel. He took a deep breath, and his entire body twisted like a tightly wound spring.
Three-Sword Style...
"DIE!" the leading thugs screamed.
"Tatsu Maki!" (Dragon Twister!)
Zoro spun with explosive, earth-shattering force. A violent, spiraling tornado of razor-sharp wind pressure erupted from the sheer physical force of his blades. The concrete beneath his feet instantly shattered as the hurricane of slashing winds expanded outward.
The villains didn't even have time to scream. The spinning storm of blades caught the entire charging mob, lifting them violently off their feet. Steel weapons snapped like twigs as the thugs were carried twenty feet into the air inside a massive, roaring cyclone.
Thud. Crash. Bam.
Over two dozen villains rained down from the sky, crashing onto the hard concrete of the plaza, completely incapacitated.
A few dozen yards away, Aizawa snapped his head toward the deafening roar, his eyes widening in absolute shock. What is that?! A wind Quirk?! No... that's just pure physical force!
Near the fountain, Shigaraki Tomura stopped scratching his neck. He stared at the mountain of unconscious thugs, locking his red eyes onto the green-haired student.
"What is this?" Shigaraki whispered, trembling with rage. "You're telling me a kid just one-shot an entire mob of my pawns? He's a glitch. A cheat code. I hate cheats."
Aizawa vaulted over the remaining thugs, landing near Zoro. He was panting heavily. "Roronoa! Get back to the entrance immediately. You're in the way!"
Before Zoro could respond, the air shifted. Aizawa's hair suddenly dropped to his shoulders. He had blinked.
"Don't look away, Eraserhead," a raspy voice whispered.
Shigaraki had crossed the distance in a fraction of a second. Before Aizawa could react, Shigaraki's hand gripped the hero's right elbow. Instantly, the fabric of Aizawa's sleeve and the flesh beneath it began to crumble and decay into dust.
Aizawa grunted in immense pain, throwing a desperate punch, but the hulking Nomu suddenly blurred into existence. With unnatural speed, the bird-monster slammed Aizawa into the ground, effortlessly snapping both of the hero's arms like dry twigs with a sickening CRACK.
"AIZAWA-SENSEI!" Midoriya's horrified voice echoed from the nearby shipwreck zone. Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta were hiding in the water, watching the brutal scene unfold.
Before Zoro could rush in to help his teacher, the dark mist warped into existence beside Shigaraki.
"Shigaraki Tomura," Kurogiri's polite, deep voice spoke.
"Kurogiri... did you kill Thirteen?" Shigaraki asked, his red eyes locked on Aizawa's broken body.
"I incapacitated the rescue hero," Kurogiri reported. "However... there was an unexpected complication. One of the students managed to escape the facility using his immense speed. He is likely calling for backup right now."
Shigaraki froze. He slowly reached up and began scratching his neck furiously, drawing blood.
"Kurogiri... you idiot," Shigaraki gasped, his breathing erratic. "If you weren't our warp gate, I'd crush you to pieces. We can't fight dozens of pros. It's game over. Let's go home."
In the water, Mineta burst into tears of joy. "They're leaving! We're saved!"
Even Midoriya felt a massive weight lift off his chest. But as Shigaraki turned to the portal, the villain paused, slowly turning his head toward the water where the three students were hiding.
"But before we leave..." Shigaraki's eye gleamed with absolute malice. "Let's leave a scar on the Symbol of Peace's pride."
In a blur, Shigaraki crossed the distance to the water's edge. His decaying hand reached out, inches away from Tsuyu's face.
NO! Midoriya's mind screamed. Operating purely on instinct, Midoriya leaped out of the water, his legs glowing with raw power. He pulled back his right fist, channeling 100% of One For All.
"SMASH!" Midoriya roared, driving his fist forward with hurricane-force power.
The shockwave blasted the water away, creating a massive crater. As the dust settled, Midoriya looked down at his arm. It wasn't broken! For the first time, he had used a 100% smash without shattering his bones!
But his hope died instantly.
Standing directly in front of him, having taken the full force of the Smash without moving an inch, was the Nomu. Its exposed brain pulsed slightly, but the monster was completely unharmed.
"A good punch," Shigaraki noted dryly. "But Nomu has Shock Absorption. You can't hurt him."
The Nomu slowly reached out its massive, muscular hands to grab Midoriya and Tsuyu. They were completely paralyzed by fear. Death was staring them right in the face.
CLANG!
A deafening shockwave of ringing metal echoed through the plaza.
The ground beneath the water's edge shattered, caving in by several inches. Midoriya and Tsuyu gasped, looking up.
Zoro stood directly between them and the beast. He had moved with blistering, instinctual speed. He didn't use any flashy powers. He simply crossed the Sandai Kitetsu and his ordinary sword in an 'X', physically blocking the Nomu's massive, descending fist.
Zoro's boots slid backward, carving deep trenches into the solid concrete. His arms trembled violently under the sheer, apocalyptic weight of the monster. This wasn't a Quirk. This was raw, terrifying physical power that rivaled the strongest creatures Zoro had ever faced.
"Guh...!" Zoro grunted, his jaw clamping down hard on the Wado Ichimonji. The physical strain was immense, but slowly, a terrifying, bloodthirsty smile spread across his face.
"So heavy..." Zoro growled around his blade. "Finally... a real monster."
"Z-Zoro?!" Midoriya stuttered in utter disbelief. How was a Quirkless student physically holding back a monster that just absorbed a 100% Smash?!
Before Shigaraki could order the Nomu to crush the swordsman, a deafening explosion ripped through the entire USJ.
BOOM!
The massive, heavy metal doors at the entrance were completely blown off their hinges, crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust and smoke. The entire facility fell dead silent. Everyone—villains and students alike—turned to look.
Standing in the doorway was a towering, muscular figure. He wasn't wearing his usual smile. His face was shadowed with pure, unadulterated rage.
"It's fine now," All Might's deep, booming voice echoed through the facility, shaking the very air. "I AM HERE."
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