“Woah! Where’s your mouth, kid? That’s freaky!”

Izuku screamed with all his might, but nothing came out. He raised his hands to feel his face. The muscular man was right; his mouth was missing.

Are these people… ghosts? No, it can’t be. I can see them so clearly. This isn’t a dream either, is it?

“Whatever. Don’t sweat it.” The man approached him.

Izuku remained still on the stone platform, his eyes widening in recognition. These figures were the same ones who shook him out of Shinsou’s mind control back at the sports festival. It was them who activated One For All for him in his stead and broke his fingers.

If they can do that, then they must somehow be a part of One For All itself. And that means that they are not shadows or some sort of ghosts. Could they be the past users of One For All?

“It’s some predicament you got yourself into, huh? Well, not to fret, boy. We have just the thing to get you out of this.”

“Maybe we should explain a bit to you,” a warm sounding female voice spoke. She was the only one Izuku could properly recognise, since All Might had shown him a photo of her before. Her name was Nana Shimura, and she was the one who passed One For All to All Might.

“Our individual Quirk factors are mixed in with the core of One For All,” Shimura said. “They’ve been inside of you this whole time.”

“Now, imagine this core resting in the middle of raging flames, or a whirlpool of waves, or something like that,” Muscular man butted in enthusiastically. “Those flames and waves are the cultivated power that we users have added to the original. But now, after so many years, the core is starting to expand and move.”

“The reason for that is because One For All itself is growing inside you,” Shimura finished that explanation, leaving Izuku even more confused than he was before they spoke.

“Why? How?” The boy managed to find his voice, despite being unable to feel himself articulating it.

“Your friend out there. He managed to hasten the crystallisation of your quirk,” the man said. “What should’ve taken who knows how much longer to be ready is now ripe for harvesting.”

“It is a foreign and unwelcome presence, yes.” Shimura nodded. “But his strange power has manifested our quirks and given you the tools to defeat your opponents. Simply put, One For All is close to completion.”

“Which means that you can use all our quirks now!” the man shouted excitedly. “Be careful, though. They’ve got the might of One For All swirling within, so they’re gonna be much stronger now than when they were ours. So go forth! Fight, win!”

Izuku shook his head. “That’s… not what I want. What’s the point of a simple victory if I can’t save him? I have seen his memories, and I know how much pain he is in. But I also know how bloodied his path is. If I don’t even try to save him, how can I call myself a hero?”

“You’ve got heart, kid. Keep stoking those flames.” The man nodded his head, apparently impressed by Izuku’s fortitude. “Listen well. One For All will react to your feelings. You will need control not just over your body, but over your emotions as well.”

Izuku nodded firmly.

“After being passed down through eight people, One For All has become an awesome force.” The man was slowly fading away. “Prepare yourself. You’ll have six more Quirks manifesting themselves soon. Good luck! We’re with ya, kid! You’re the one who will complete One For All!”

The man disappeared as the surroundings seemed to dim as well.

“Control your heart and master One For All using those who live in this power,” Shimura said. “Our powers will come to you when the right time approaches. Take heart. And farewell for now, young hero.”

She blended into the darkness as well, and Izuku drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

~ ~ ~

Felix’s legs were aching by the time he was finally shown a sofa. It felt as though he had been walking for half an hour straight. Or maybe he actually did. Not like he cared at this moment. He was just glad to give his constitution a good rest after all that physical exercise.

“We have been walking in circles underground for thirty minutes,” Shigaraki complained, plopping himself down beside his only companion. “I feel like a damn ant! Are all Yakuza houses this convoluted?”

Overhaul’s eyes squinted, as though he was suppressing a chuckle.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“We don’t know who’s watching or from where, nor do we know what our guests are thinking,” he said. “A number of underground routes lead here. Even this reception room is one of our hidden underground rooms. We’ve only been able to survive for this long because of small details like this.”

“Yes, I can tell. This place is one huge maze,” Felix muttered, leaning back against his seat.

Apparently, Shigaraki had chosen to accept Overhaul’s request for a second meeting, but chose to bring him along just in case things went bad. He left the rest of the villains to tend to Izuku. Felix wasn’t exactly thrilled about meeting up with a mafia boss, but at least it was a good thing that his own boss trusted him this much.

“Anyway, what you said the other day on the phone,” Overhaul continued. “You meant it, right? That you’d join us as long as certain conditions were met.”

“Our conditions, yes.” Shigaraki lounged on his seat, putting his feet on the small glass table separating him from the Yakuza boss. “You guys want the name of our League of Villains. We want to increase our strength. Our needs coincide for now.”

“Put your foot down. You’re dirtying our furniture.”

“Don’t be so rude. You’re forgetting the magic word, young head. ‘Will you put your foot down, please?’ is what you should be saying.”

The gangster kept his silence. Felix stifled a giggle.

“First things first, we won’t be putting ourselves under you. We’ll still be free to move however we want. A joint partnership, if I may.” Shigaraki raised a finger. “Number two, that plan you said you had. Tell me what it is. I believe that’s a reasonable condition. We need to consider whether or not there’s merit in lending you our name.”

Movement shuffled behind the two villains as Shigaraki reached inside his coat.

“Hands where we can see them. Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Kurono’s dry voice whispered from behind. “You’re not in charge here.”

Felix felt a hollow barrel press against the back of his head. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the pointless gesture.

“Yeah! Who do you think you are, punk?” A shrill voice yelled in their ears this time. The man had a small build as opposed to the raincoat wearing gangster beside him, and his mask was also several sizes smaller than that of Overhaul.

“And who do you think you are?” Shigaraki’s eyes narrowed. “Just to be clear, we’re not even. The life of one of your disposable small fries is worth disgustingly less than that of our elite member. And don’t forget, you still owe us an arm as well. If we don’t get some concessions from you, it won’t be worth it for us.”

Overhaul flicked his hand in response.

“Kurono, Mimic. Stand down,” he said. “These men came all this way with their offer. Let’s hear them out to the end.”

The mob boss refilled Shigaraki’s cup of tea and gestured for him to drink it.

“I’m sorry about that. You weren’t finished, right?” He set the teapot down.

“Yes, tell me the details of your plan.” There was a small clink as Shigaraki put his cup down as well. “I have a small idea of what it is, anyway. It has something to do with this, right?”

He pulled out a dart-like bullet.

Felix downed his cup, staring at the bullet. He recognised it, that was for sure. But he sure as hell didn’t understand how it worked. All he knew was that it had somehow temporarily deactivated Compress’ powers. He wondered if it would work on him as well, considering that he wasn’t even from this world to begin with.

“You’re a far cry from the brainless brat the media has painted you out to be,” Overhaul said. “If there’s something I hate the most in this world, it’s sickness. And this society is filled with it. They’re all sick, every last one of them. But I have created the cure.”

“What, so having meta abilities means you’re sick now?” Felix scoffed. “Didn’t take you for the old-fashioned type.”

“Close, but no. Concepts like heroism and villainy are the illnesses themselves.” Overhaul took out a similar looking dart. “This bullet contains a serum that reverses time, effectively removing the quirk of whoever it hits by reversing them to their unmutated state. I’m not just curing Japan; I’m curing the entire world by stripping it back down to its foundations.”

Shigaraki released a loud sigh.

“You’re not fooling anyone, you know? Save your sales pitch for those foolish enough to gobble it up.” He shook his head. “So what you have is essentially a drug. Let me guess, you intend to dominate the black market by mass producing and selling it. And we’re just part of your advertisement campaign, aren’t we?”

Overhaul threw his hands up dramatically.

“If you want to think like that, I can’t stop you,” he said. “I made a promise once. To bring society down by destroying Quirks and return the Yakuza to its former glory. Since All For One isn’t willing to step up, I intend to be the next ruler of the underworld.”

“So that’s your plan? This drug does seem like it’s a game changer…” Shigaraki rested his head between his thumb and index finger, deep in thought. “Very well. How are you manufacturing it? That quirk of yours, you can disassemble and reassemble anything you touch. Is that how you’re doing it?”

“You ask too many questions.” Overhaul leaned back, keeping the bullet in his jacket. “It’s a trade secret. So are you in, or out?”

“Fair enough.” The villain grinned. “Unless you intend to put us in a costume and publicly sell your products on the streets, I don’t see why we should be out.”

Overhaul stared at his outstretched hand for a moment, before a guile smile formed on his lips.

“Before we go ahead with this partnership, I have one condition on my side as well.” He pointed straight at Felix.

“I want you to join the Yakuza.”