Zoro had already made up his mind.
Ever since Yoroimusha told him the night before about the black blade sitting somewhere inside Shie Hassaikai's grip, this had stopped being a piece of passing information. There was a sword out there, somewhere in this city, one whose origin remained a mystery, one whose path into those men's hands still made no sense.
Zoro stood on his balcony, morning light stretching across a face gone quiet, his eyes fixed on some distant point. One hand rested on a sword hilt while his mind stayed locked on a single thought.
A black blade.
He didn't know much about it yet, but he knew one thing for certain: a sword left in the hands of people who don't understand its worth never stays the same.
He turned and walked out of the room.
In another room down the hall, someone else had spent the whole night unable to sleep.
Izuku Midoriya sat on the edge of his bed, his hands resting on his knees trembling faintly before he pulled them into two tight fists. The phantom feel of Eri's small fingers gripping his hero costume hadn't left his mind all night. But the fear and the crushing sense of helplessness that had frozen him the day before were gone now, replaced by something colder, harder.
He got up and dressed slowly, carefully. Stepping out into the empty common room, the place sat quiet except for the sound of measured footsteps coming from the kitchen.
Zoro stood there with a glass of water, his narrowed eyes settling on Midoriya immediately. He caught the shift in the kid's whole presence at once. Yesterday's hesitation and confusion had vanished completely.
Midoriya stopped, looking toward the swordsman. "Zoro..."
Zoro took a drink without saying a word, leaving the space open for the boy to speak.
"About what happened yesterday." Midoriya swallowed, then pushed on, steady. "I know I messed up by hesitating. But I still feel like there was something I could've done, if I'd just moved."
Zoro's answer came flat, almost indifferent, but it carried the weight of real experience behind it. "I told you everything you needed to hear last night. Regret and what ifs don't mean anything on a battlefield. If you already know you were weak, shaking there, don't ask the same question twice. Go find the answer yourself."
Midoriya lowered his head in a firm nod. "Understood."
In that moment, Zoro wasn't thinking about the girl or Midoriya's feelings at all. His mind stayed entirely occupied with what Yoroimusha had told him. The legendary sword Shusui, sitting in the hands of that gang called Shie Hassaikai. This had stopped being some distant legend. The blade existed somewhere real, and now he had his first genuine lead pointing him toward it.
A few hours later, the urgent call came to gather heroes and trainees. Bubble Girl burst into the office where Midoriya and Mirio were working.
"Sir Nighteye wants everyone in the main meeting room. Now."
When Midoriya and Mirio reached the room reserved for secret briefings, it became clear the scale of this was far beyond what either of them had pictured. This agency wasn't operating alone. The room was packed with familiar faces, senior pro heroes among them.
Sir Nighteye sat at the head of the long table. On either side of him sat Fat Gum, wearing an unusually serious expression, the dragon hero Ryukyu alongside her assistants, the hero Rock Lock, and beside them Aizawa, Centipeder, and Bubble Girl. A handful of students sat in the back rows too: Kirishima, Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Tokoyami, all wondering just how big this file had to be to pull together a crowd like this.
Nighteye broke the heavy silence, his sharp voice carrying across the room. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. What we're dealing with is no longer just tracking the activity of some traditional gang. This is a serious threat to the entire structure of hero society."
Before he could continue, the room's heavy door swung open, cutting every conversation off at once.
Yoroimusha entered first, his usual calm stride, dressed in his traditional garb, and behind him came Zoro, walking unhurried, all three swords fixed at his hip.
A brief silence held.
Rock Lock lifted his head, his eyes widening slightly at the young swordsman. "Roronoa Zoro..." Real surprise colored his voice, as though a first year student showing up at a meeting stacked with this many pro heroes hadn't crossed his mind at all.
Fat Gum just studied him for a beat before saying, heavier now, "So this is the student we've been hearing about."
In the back rows, the mood shifted entirely.
Kirishima's eyebrows shot up. "Zoro?! What are you doing here?"
Uraraka's eyes went wide the second she spotted him walking in behind Yoroimusha. "Zoro?!" She blinked, then broke into a small smile, whispering, "Whoa... did not expect to see you here."
Tsuyu, in her usual flat tone, kept her eyes on the three swords at his hip. "I knew you'd be heading into field work, Zoro chan. Just didn't expect to see you in this room."
Tokoyami gave the swordsman one long look before speaking in his quiet voice. "It seems your path has led you straight into the heart of this case."
Zoro didn't answer any of them. He just kept walking behind Yoroimusha until they reached the front of the room.
Midoriya's eyes lifted toward him, a faint smile crossing his face despite the tension gripping him. "Zoro..."
Their eyes met for a second. Zoro raised a hand slightly in a short acknowledgment, then took his place beside Yoroimusha.
Sir Nighteye spoke calmly from behind his desk. "Alright. Now that everyone's here, we can begin."
He switched on the screen behind him, bringing up an image of Chisaki, Overhaul, alongside a microscopic close up of a small metal bullet.
"We now know exactly what Chisaki's been hiding." He said it firmly. "The bullet fired at student Tamaki Amajiki recently wasn't just some rare projectile. Medical analysis confirmed it contains human genetic material, extracted through brutal methods. Its active compound can temporarily wipe out a Quirk, and they're currently working to make that effect permanent."
Shock swept through the room. Kirishima put a hand to his head, stunned, while Midoriya's expression tightened sharply.
Midoriya's mind went straight back to Eri, the bandages covering her small body, the constant silent trembling. He spoke low, voice thick with restrained anguish. "So... those bandages. That shaking. It was never just harsh treatment from her family..."
Nighteye's eyes cut toward him, cold and final. "No. That girl, Eri, may very well be the primary source used to manufacture these bullets."
A hard blow landed in Midoriya's chest. The suspicions haunting him since yesterday had just become a painful reality, but Zoro's words that morning kept his head from dropping again. He fixed his eyes on the floor and clenched his fists hard enough that his nails nearly broke skin.
Sir Nighteye continued. "But there's another element that complicates this further." He turned toward Yoroimusha. "According to recent data and Yoroimusha's own intelligence, the organization isn't just holding the girl and the medical research. They've also gotten their hands on a legendary black blade."
Zoro's sharp eyes snapped toward Nighteye instantly, and the air around him shifted in a single breath, enough that Aizawa turned to look at him with visible caution.
Fat Gum asked, confused. "A black sword? What's an old blade got to do with a quirk destroying bullet project?"
Yoroimusha answered. "From what we know of Chisaki, he's never shown any particular interest in swords or traditional weapons. That's exactly why the blade's presence there remains a mystery."
Zoro stepped forward, his hard voice cutting through the murmurs filling the room. "If you already know the sword and the girl are there, why are we standing in this room trading words? Point me toward their base and I'll end this now."
Rock Lock turned on him sharply, anger in his voice. "Listen here, kid! We don't storm yakuza strongholds off some student's impulse who has no idea what he's dealing with. Moving without a solid plan puts that girl's life directly at risk and gives them every reason to hide the evidence or run."
Yoroimusha placed a hand on Zoro's shoulder. "Calm down, Zoro. This right here is exactly the difference between a blade's edge and the mind that guides it. Cutting force without the right timing turns into a weight that hurts its wielder before it ever hurts an enemy."
Zoro fell silent, crossing his arms over his chest with visible impatience, choosing not to waste his breath on a pointless argument.
Sir Nighteye pressed on with the operational plan. "This won't be a blind raid. We start with observation, intelligence gathering, and preparation. My agency will track the medical shipments and the front companies the organization deals with. Fat Gum's agency will intensify investigation into the black market and the initial bullet distribution channels. Ryukyu's agency will handle field reconnaissance and securing the perimeter. And Yoroimusha, given his prior expertise, will work on identifying the alternate bases Shie Hassaikai might use to relocate their research and their sword."
Nighteye closed the briefing by making it clear that any independent or reckless move would mean immediate removal from the coalition.
Somewhere deep underground, inside Shie Hassaikai's main headquarters, the air hung sterile, thick with the smell of chemicals. Kai Chisaki stood in front of the steel table while his right hand man, Chronostasis, stood beside him holding a file on recent movements.
"Those two heroes Eri ran into yesterday." Chronostasis said it coldly. "We confirmed their identities. Just two young trainees from UA."
Chisaki didn't turn to look at him. He kept wiping down his gloves with a sterile cloth, answering in his low, cold voice. "Trainees are always the real problem. A professional hero calculates every step and stays within the rules. These kids move on false emotion. A hero who doesn't know when to pull back always comes back at the worst possible moment."
He turned toward a long wooden box sitting in the corner of the sealed room. "Speed up the transfer of equipment and samples. The heroes are gathering like flies, and I want zero disturbances until this is finished."
As evening settled and everyone filed out of the meeting room, Zoro and Yoroimusha stood in the empty agency hallway.
Yoroimusha looked at the green haired boy. "From this point forward, the case has grown complicated, tangled with heroes and laws. Do you understand that recovering that sword won't be some simple street fight anymore?"
Zoro answered, adjusting the fit of his sword belt. "Never thought it was. That sword doesn't deserve to sit in the hand of someone who hides in holes. I'll get it back, whatever it costs."
Yoroimusha studied him steadily for a few seconds, then said in a low voice, "You might reach it. And you might find yourself facing choices that force you to pick between it and something else."
Zoro didn't answer. He just gave a sharp look, one carrying an unmoving will.
Late that same night, Sir Nighteye sat alone in his dark office, reviewing maps and reports pouring in from his intelligence network.
Bubble Girl burst through the door fast, holding a newly arrived intelligence file. "Sir Nighteye! One of our surveillance agencies just sent an urgent report on truck movements tied to a front company for Shie Hassaikai."
Nighteye lifted his head and adjusted his glasses. "Have they pinpointed the new base where they've moved a large portion of their equipment and assets?"
"Yes, sir." Bubble Girl answered, setting the map down in front of him.
Nighteye unfolded the map and started reading through the marked coordinates. Then, in a single instant, his eyes went wide behind his glasses, his usually stern features locking up completely.
Bubble Girl caught the sudden shift and asked, worried. "Sir Nighteye? What's wrong? Is the base in a populated area?"
Nighteye set the map down slowly on the desk, his voice dropping to a tight tone she'd never heard from him before.
"The place Chisaki moved his primary assets to isn't some hidden base to us."
Bubble Girl stopped breathing for a second.
Nighteye's eyes stayed fixed on the district name written in red ink. "It's a location under old surveillance. A district Yoroimusha knows very well."
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