Chapter 10 - Remember It All

『 Midoriya's POV 』

「 "Please help us!! Please save our home!!" 」

'I've almost forgotten about it.'

As I stood still while staring at the kid below me, the dark memories that I had buried at the back of my mind when I met Luffy resurfaced once again.

「 "Useless... so, so, so useless! You are so useless that you are better off dead." 」

The smell, noise, and emotions that I felt from those times made themselves known to me once again.

'No...'

The memories of how Shigaraki Tomura slit the throat of a kid that welcomed me with open arms and a huge smile.

「 "Onii-chan, help us!!" 」

'Stop it...'

The unforgettable sight and smell of the burning bodies of the children and their caretakers.

「 "You won't leave this place alive, Endeavor!!" 」

'Don't do it...'

The way All for One butchered each hero that trapped him on a bunker before he exploded to nothingness.

「 "No!! Please stop!!" 」

'Let them go...'

The way Shigaraki's villainous doctor did whatever he wanted to the innocent civilians just to achieve their goal.

「 "Izuku, it's okay... I'm prepared for this." 」

'I'm not...'

And the way every person I loved suffered by the hands of All for One's successor, Tomura.

「 "Oh, Izuku, my baby... promise me you'll come back home safely." 」

'I'll find my way back home...'

Just remembering each and every one of those memories of mine had already made my blood boil like never before.

「 "I don't need your worry!! Just get out of here, you damn extra!! It's finally my time to explode!!" 」

'... And once I do...'

Because of that and my burning anger, my hands had already turned into a fist, and my fingernails had already begun digging themselves deep into my palms.

「 "It's my mistake, I miscalculated... I'm sorry." 」

'...I'll finish what my predecessors and teachers had started!'

Making me drop some of my blood onto the ground, but I didn't care about that as I continued to say my oath in my mind.

「 "Survive and win, Midoriya!!" 」

'That, I promise!!'

I promised myself that, as I finished remembering every torturous thing that I experienced by Shigaraki and his colleagues' hands...

*Tag!*

*Tug!*

*Thad!*

... Unaware of the fact that I gained a new ability and accidentally used it.

"Wh-what's happening?"

After I hurriedly caught the kid's body that was about to fall onto the ground, I worriedly asked the only person who was left awake aside from myself.

That person was none other than the short old woman who explained how I got myself into this place.

*Tag!*

*Tug!*

*Thad!*

*Tag!*

*Tug!*

*Thad!*

Though, although I tried to, I failed to do the catch the other people around us, and so, they all made quite a lot of noises as they fell.

"Kid... who are you?"

But instead of answering me, the old woman just asked a question of her own to me.

"Izuku... Midoriya Izuku, and you?"

Although I was hesitant, I still answered her random question as I could feel that something serious was about to happen.

"I was once called Madame Adeline but can just call me Adeline, and... Izu-kun... it seems like we'll need to have a long talk."

Although she replied to my question, her words are mixed with mystery in them.

And before I could even ask again, she stood up and then she suddenly bumped her fists on each other.

And the second that she did so, quite a large volume of smokes suddenly erupted around us, and what came out of it was... four copies of herself?

"But for now, help me bring them to their own bed as I tell you above the thing you just used to them."

"Let's carry each one of them with a partner just to be safe."

Now full of genuine curiosity, the only reply that I could give to her was a nod of my head before I did what one of Adeline's clones had just said.

『 Omniscient POV 』

Going back to half an hour ago, a few moments after Luffy heard the cannon that hit him and Izuku.

"Who are you people?"

Asked the old man to the trio who is now surrounding the dog whom Luffy was previously arguing with.

"Hi, my name is Nami. I'm just passing by in this place but some pirates took something from me, so I plan on getting it back."

"I'm Luffy, and this is Zoro, we're looking for our friend. He's lost."

Nami and Luffy answered the old man's question before the later person asked back the same question to the old man.

"My name is Boodle, and I'm the chief of this village!"

"The chief? Where are your people? I've run around this whole village for hours but you are the only person that I met here... other than this girl."

Curiously ask Luffy as that question had been bugging him while he was running around the town.

"About that... we are currently hiding in our shelter site to avoid a conflict with the Buggy Pirates."

"Oh, right! Luffy, you have to be careful, I met some members of his crew, and they said that this place is Duggy's territory."

Boodle's answer to his questions was supported back by Zoro's words, and so, Luffy nodded his head even when...

"Duggy Pirates? Who are they?"

... he doesn't know who they are talking about.

"It's Buggy Pirates!! Not Duggy Pirates!!"

Nami exclaimed when she couldn't bear to hear them saying the wrong name of her target's correct name anymore.

"It was a pirate crew that is led by a pirate named Buggy. It was said that he once destroyed a village with his cannon because some kids made fun of his nose. Also, there are rumors that say that Buggy has some strange power."

And although she was shocked to learn that Luffy doesn't who know the Buggy Pirates are, despite them being infamous, Nami still managed to recover from her shocked state rather quickly to explain to the ignorant fool the things that she knew about them.

"Is he really that scary? That Pirate called Nami?"

Though, it seems that her efforts are for nothing as Luffy still asked that question.

"I'm Nami!! And the pirate is Buggy!!"

Nami screamed in frustration when when she heard how Luffy mixed up her name with the real pirate.

"But you said you're a pirate, right?"

"I said I'm a thief who only steal from pirates! Not that, I'm a pirate!!"

*Bonk!*

"That doesn't hurt."

This time, screaming did not cut it for Nami as the wrathful woman suddenly hit Luffy's head.

"Anyway, where are the people living here?"

"I just told you that we're hiding to avoid a conflict with the Buggy Pirates!!"

Ignoring Nami's ineffective hit, Luffy suddenly asked a question that he had already asked.

"Buggy Pirates?"

"I just explained who they are!!"

After Luffy's repeating questions successfully made Boodle and Nami scream in frustration, Zoro began to laugh loudly as he watched the whole thing happen on the side.

"Aha! So because there's no people here, you've come to steal their things!"

Exclaimed Luffy when he remembered that Nami was supposed to be a thief.

Unbeknownst to him, his words seemed to be an energy that charged Boodle's anger, as he yelled at Nami to explain.

"That's despicable!! Didn't I already say that I'm only stealing from the pirates?!"

Nami yelled out her defense as she felt that if she did not, Boodle would give his life just to make stop her from stealing his people's stuff.

Which she really did not do... or even plan to do.

"My goal is to collect a hundred million belli and then buy a certain village!!"

Faced with Boodle's still doubtful eyes, Nami was left with no choice but to come clean with her goal.

"Okay, I'll believe you. Don't make me regret this."

After seeing that she was being truthful, Boodle said those words before he fully calmed down.

Zoro, on the other hand, looked at Nami with a doubtful gaze when he heard her words.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

But when he was asked by Nami, he just turned his gaze away from her while saying his response.

Though if he is being truthful, then Zoro would have asked if she was the one who stole the treasures of the pirates that he had met earlier.

"Anyway, I'm going to steal from this Buggy guy... then I'm going to the Grand Line using this map!"

Ignoring Zoro's odd action, Nami continued to tell them her plan.

"And from there, I'll begin to steal from greater pirates who carry more treasures!!"

"Ridiculous!!"

Exclaimed Boodle when Nami finished saying her plan.

Though, Luffy and Zoro seemed to be taking her words seriously as both of them stopped laughing.

"Hey, you said that you only steal from pirates, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"So that means you know how to navigate?"

"Of course I do!!"

Luffy's questions seemed to be increasing Nami's frustration as he kept going on.

"Don't you dare understatement my navigation skills! There are not a lot of people who know more than I do! Especially since I love the sea!!"

Though, it seems that talking about navigation somehow calmed her down, and so, she spoke with a smile when she said those words.

"Ohh! Isn't this great, Zoro!"

"Yes, it is, Luffy."

"O-oi, what are you two talking about?"

As she was getting a bad feeling about what was happening in front of her, Nami nervously asked the duo who were smiling weirdly.

"We are also going to the Grand Line! So it just feels great that we found a good navigator like you!!"

"Really?"

"He's right."

Although Nami still have some doubt towards them, she still chose to believe in them...

"Yeah!! I've decided! Hey, you, do you wanna join as a member in our pirate crew as a navigator!?"

"No way!!"

... just to yell those words out of her mouth with deep resentment inside them.

"Woof! Woof!"

Thankfully, something, or someone, took away Luffy and Zoro's focus from the way Nami acted.

"Shushu, what's the problem?"

Boodle asked the dog who had been sitting on the ground the whole thing the four of them had been talking.

"What's that thing?"

And before the dog could bark again, Zoro suddenly spotted a shadow slowly coming out of the small alley, which is not far from their right.

Few moments later, the owner of the shadow finally revealed itself, and what came out of it was a huge lion.

"Oh, so all of you are here~"

"Huh? Who are you?"

After a moment of looking around, Luffy found the owner of the voice sitting on top of the huge lion.

The owner of the voice is a man with a weird hairstyle and an odd choice of clothing material.

"I'm the vice captain of Buggy's pirate crew. Mohji, the beast tamer!"

"I don't care."

"..."

But despite the dramatic entrance, Luffy and Zoro did not react in any way... unlike Nami and Boodle, who had already left them behind.

"So neither am I!! I only came here for Zoro's head, so it's your best interest to not get in my way!"

Mohji exclaimed when he saw that he was not being taken seriously by the men in front of him.

"Rest for now. Let me handle this."

Deciding that it is better to let Zoro rest more as he has yet to fully recover from being starved close to death, Luffy took it upon himself to fight the opponent that wants to take Zoro's head.

"... Okay."

And despite not wanting to, Zoro is forced to agree to his decision as he knows that his strength hasn't fully returned yet.

'Just two... no, four more days, and I'll be back to normal... just a little bit more.'

Thought the wounded swordsman...

*Rumble~!*

... before his stomach and Luffy's body made some noise and lost some strength because of their lack of nutrients.

"Oh no, we forgot to eat!"

Exclaimed Luffy before he noticed that the lion's paw are already in his front.

'!!'

'Damn you Luffy-!'

Those were Zoro's last thoughts before Luffy was sent towards his direction.

Few hundreds of meters away from where Zoro and Luffy's place, Nami can be seen carefully hiding while thinking of a plan to save herself.

'Is that the only way?'

She thought to herself as she bites her bottom lip.

"Fine... I'll just go with that!"

And after some minutes of reconsideration, Nami's patience finally snapped before she screamed out her frustration...

'Hopefully, I can make them agree to my plan!!'

... and ran towards the direction where Luffy and Zoro was sent to.

××× 『 Adeline's POV 』 ×××

It took me, my four clones, and the kid named Izuku Midoriya a quarter of an hour to bring everyone to their living areas.

'I've grown really old.'

I thought to myself when I think about how it took us some time before we actually finished doing that.

'If I'm just several months younger than today, I'm sure we'd be able to get things done quicker.'

And although I don't doubt that the kid could actually do it all by himself, I chose to use my Devil Fruit ability and helped him to make him curious about what I have to say.

"Ugh... what happened?"

"Are you alright?"

"Kyaaa!! Get away from me!!"

Then not long after we brought the last one on to her bed, one by one, all the people that had been knocked out began to wake up.

"Where is he?"

"He's here!!"

That's why, when they realized what had happened, a small chaos once again erupted.

"Go away from this place, you monster!!"

"Wait, calm down you lot! Let me explain!"

And although they were genuinely scared of him, thankfully, they still listened to my words and calmed down after hearing them.

"This child right here had just awakened a powerful ability and he doesn't have a single clue about it. That's why he used it to you all, I hope you all understand."

"Is that true?"

"Y-yes! I'm sorry for scaring you!"

Asked one of the men who now carry some pipe metals and many more things as their weapons.

"... Okay, we understand. But that doesn't mean that we'll forgive you just because of that!"

But still, understanding the reason why that happened did not mean that they had forgiven Izu-kun's action to them.

"Itadakimasu!!"

And so, right now, here we are in my usually full of children kitchen with just the two of us, me and the kid, Izu-kun.

... Thankfully, there are already some food served on the table and so, we wouldn't have to cook for them anymore.

Although Izu-kun acted like the previous words that he heard earlier had not affected him, I knew that he flinched when they were said.

'But it's not my business and I'm sure he wouldn't tell me anyway.'

I thought to myself as I watch Izu-kun eat like there's no tomorrow, in front of me.

"Gwhya qaren'th youa qeating?"

Then as I do so, I suddenly saw a familiar image overlapping his own; as he eat.

The image is that of a tall, bulkier man, green hair like his, but the facial features of the man, excluding his eyes and toothy smile, were being covered by shadows.

But then, the familiar image suddenly disappeared when the lost kid looked at me and asked that.

"There, there, there, you should eat slowly Izu-kun. Your foods are not going anywhere."

Ignoring his inaudible question, I say that to him with some concern in my voice.

"Sorry... it's just, I had to get used to eating quickly if I don't want my food to be eaten by my friend."

"It's okay, just take your time. Your friend is not here and no one would even try to steal food from you after what you've done earlier."

I'm not sure if my words worked but thankfully, his eating speed decreased for a bit... lessening the chance of him dying because of eating.

"I guess you are right... but still, I kinda wish that my friends are here with me right now..."

"Not all wishes of a single person will become true."

Hearing his words, I couldn't help but a smile wryly as I said my response.

"Right... Hopefully, they managed to find some food for themselves too."

Although Izu-kun only whispered those words, I still heard them despite my old age.

'I will hope for that too.'

And thus, I also silently wished for his wish to come true.

Shortly after that, I also began eating my food and by doing so, a silent and peaceful atmosphere was produced by us.

"Thanks for the food! They were delicious!!"

Several minutes later, we finally finished every dishes on our table and cleaned them up... and so, the time to talk about the important matters had finally come.

××× 「 A. N. 」 ×××

All right, imma be honest with you lot and say this, I initially don't like this chapter... but even then, I decided that I will still go with this one as this is the easiest way to give Deku the reason why he should sail with Luffy till Laugh Tale as well as the easiest way to warn him of the danger of the W. G.

But after several times of editing it, I've come to accept it as some new ideas suddenly popped up in my mind, which... made the plot of this fic much larger and complicated, lol.

Hopefully, I can deliver the ideas I have for this fic smoothly.

As for its ending? Well, I just don't care anymore because all I want was to write something... so if this fic turns out bad at the end, then its a flop but if its outcome are good, I will take that W.

Which I really wanna have.

And lastly, although Deku had already unlocked Conqueror's Haki, it doesn't mean he'll start spamming it right away.

Remember how Ace got to unlock his Conqueror's Haki at a young age but didn't managed to actively use it even after a decade and a half had passed?

Yep, that shows unlocking it and using it are very different matters.

Just wanna make that clear so you guys don't attack me for giving Deku the Conqueror's Haki this early in the fic.

Anyway, that's all for now... see you

××× 『 END 』 ×××