Capítulo 23: Chapter 23: License Exam!
Chapter 23: License Exam!
Luffy was seen running. Where? I don't know. Luffy doesn't know, not even God knows. Luffy just knows that about one crapload of balls were headed straight to him. Now, any normal person in Luffy's sandals would try to use some conqueror's haki, knock out everybody nearby, and score some easy points. But we all know Luffy doesn't fit the description of a normal person. The only thoughts in this entity's mind right now are 'I wonder where Momo is?' and 'I wonder where that blood girl is?' Thankfully for him, he's going to get the answer to one of those questions very soon.
"Uraraka!" Sero signaled for Ochako to come out of hiding and jump the 'blood girl,' as Luffy would put it. Ochako was seen popping out from behind Sero with a battle-ready frown.
"Release!" she yelled as she fell and attacked the fully naked girl, with clay covering her private parts. Ochako went in for the punch, but Toga, still disguised as the Shiketsu girl, dodged. *Damn! What reflexes!*
"Oh man, and here things were just getting good." Toga said as she squatted down on the broken terrain, looking rather proud of herself. "I really–"
"Oh, hey, it's you," Luffy said nonchalantly, as if he weren't the nightmare to her sleep. Toga would have given herself whiplash with the way she spun her head around to see him.
"Luffy!" "Rep!" Izuku, Ochako, and Sero exclaimed happily upon noticing him. They all appeared healthy, albeit a little tired from overusing their quirks to protect themselves from the balls. Only Izuku had a small cut under his right eye.
"W-Well, this has been fun, kiddos, but it's time for me to leave!" Toga said, fear clear in her voice as she kicked up a quick dust cloud and left the 'kiddos' alone.
"Aw, man! We should go after her," Sero said as she simply vanished from their sight. Luffy looked around, stretching his neck high, with one hand shielding his eyes from the sun, even though his hat already provided shade.
"Don't go after her! It might've been her quirk, but she wasn't wearing her targets, it's not worth it!" Izuku gave a quick explanation, and he thought everybody listened. Keyword here being 'thought'.
"I see her!" They heard Luffy's voice from above. "I'll chase her down." Before they could even respond, he had already vanished, leaving only an exclamation of "You go get her!" and a warning of "Don't!"
Toga's Point Of View.
The chase ended sooner than Toga would have liked. For the record, she wishes it could have been endless. Despite suppressing her presence, she couldn't exactly turn invisible. Soon, she reached the city section of the vast exam arena and made a quick left, darting into an alleyway. Using a wall for support, she panted from non-stop running and the use of her presence eraser. After regaining control of her breathing, she cautiously peered over the wall, hoping to see Luffy looking lost.
"Whatcha looking at?" Toga felt Luffy's words right beside her ear.
"Kyaa!" Completely jump-scared and triggering her fight-or-flight response, she ended up slapping Luffy across the face. The most unsettling part for Toga wasn't just the fact that Luffy had practically cornered her in an alley or that his neck was stretching to an ungodly length, to the point where she has no idea where his body is. It was the fact that after slapping Luffy, his head didn't even move. He simply stood there, and she slowly removed her palm from his iron jaw.
Before she could say anything else, Luffy's body jumped from the fire escape with a 'hup!', where he was apparently hidden, and came back down to his head.
"Sorry" was the first thing Toga thought to say. Luffy took steps towards her, and Toga mirrored this by stepping back, hoping this alley stretched indefinitely. "Well, wow! Look at the time. I've got to, uh, go back to baby the sit—no, sit the baby—wait, no! I meant..." She hit the inevitable wall, and her heart rate doubled. Luffy's face was unchanging—not mad or happy, just neutral. Which was the last thing Toga needed, How was she supposed to read his face that way?
Not knowing what to do, she glanced down, realizing her lack of clothes, and an idea sprung to mind—her last ace. With a brave gulp, she took Luffy's arm and started gently caressing it. "Well, would you look at these muscles? Are you sure this is flesh and not carbon fiber? It must make all those dumb broads at that fancy school cry from their legs~ Am I right?"
Soon, she felt Luffy's arm lift from her hands and move towards her. She tightly closed her eyes and subconsciously clenched her entire body. *Welp, this is how it happens. Bye bye, v-card! I'm gonna miss you.*
To her surprise, Luffy didn't reach for the stress balls as she expected. Instead, he went for her neck, pushing her against the wall and lifting her from the ground. Her eyes shot open, coughs barely escaping her mouth, her nails attempting to cut into Luffy's hand—which now felt like actual carbon fiber—and her legs kicking Luffy repeatedly in the stomach. She barely even noticed that her disguise was melting apart, revealing her actual appearance for the world to see.
Seconds felt like hours to her as her life flashed in front of her eyes. All the good, the bad, and the really bad in her life. She experienced instant relief as Luffy released his grasp, causing her to fall with her back scraping against the cement wall. The air felt like a gift from heaven as it rushed into her lungs. Before even being able to understand what just happened, she heard Luffy say.
"The only reason you have freedom is because I let you have it." Toga couldn't see his face, as it was shadowed by the sun behind him. "The same goes for your little buddies playing villains, I can take it away the same way I'm giving it."
"?!" Toga stopped coughing and stopped thinking about the pain in her back. Right now, the only thing she was focused on was Luffy and the sheer terror he emanated.
"Now let me make something clear. I'm a pirate first and a hero second. So, If you hurt any of my friends, I'll probably find you one day and give you the same hurt you gave them, many times over." Luffy said it firmly. After speaking, he squatted near Toga, getting up close and personal. "But if you even go anywhere near Momo, I'll hunt you down and crack your head open."
Crack!
Toga's eyes darted toward the noise. Her gaze landed on Luffy's hand and the shattered rock that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Soon, gravel began to fall from between his fingers until he opened his hand entirely, and the remaining cobblestones fell to the ground, right next to her leg. She started hyperventilating. "Something like that."
"Am I clear?" Toga heard Luffy ask, but she wasn't in a state of mind to provide him with an answer. Fear completely clouded her thoughts. She continued to hear Luffy saying something, but she was incapable of comprehending his words. That was until she felt a sharp pain on her cheek. It turned out that Luffy had slapped her, bringing her back to reality.
"I said, Am I clear?" Luffy asked again.
"Ye-Yes, yes, yes, sir." Toga shakily said, nodding aggressively up and down.
"Good." Luffy said and got back up, leaving a terrified Toga on the ground with her back against the wall. He started walking out of the alleyway, and right before he left, he said. "Don't let me catch you here again." (1)
Toga was left all alone in the alley, still processing this core memory that had just developed. While tons of thoughts were popping up in her head, she was able to voice only one. "Fuck. We're so fucked."
.
While Toga was contemplating her life choices, Luffy was scanning the area, searching for an easy opportunity to score some points. "Oh man, if only there were some guys that nobody cared about and that could earn me some easy points." Fortunately for him, it seemed like fate was on his side.
"Hey guys! It's that rubber guy from the tournament, that idiot probably lost his classmates. Let's go and score an easy point." A strangely colored man in a strangely colored suit called out to his fellow strangely suit-wearing compatriots.
"Bingo."
Momo's Group.
"So far, 66 people have passed, don't panic, but do consider that your time is almost up. Good Luck."
Momo and her group, consisting of Shouji, Tsu, and Jiro, were currently positioned high up in an office-like building, surveying from a distance. Shouji was using his quirk to look for nearby classmates, not knowing he had just missed Luffy. Jiro was scanning the building for potential enemies and/or classmates. Tsu was there for emotional support, that's about it, but she's doing a great job.
"Having any luck, Shouji?" Tsu asked, hoping for classmates rather than the opposite.
"It's no use. I can't see anyone from our class." Shouji responded.
"Maybe they're in another area." Tsu said.
"Most Likely. Yaoyorozu, you heard that, right? Less than half the spots remain." Shouji said, redirecting his attention to Momo.
"We should probably give up on finding everyone. We need to fight for ourselves and make sure we pass." Tsu added to the conversation.
"Yes. That would be wisest." Momo came to the conclusion.
"Shh. I hear 4 people climbing the stairs, 10 floors below." Jirou announced. "They're headed up here!"
"Are they planning to attack us?" Shouji asked.
"I don't understand why there's only 4 of them if that's the case." Jirou responded. "Yaomomo, can't you use your haki thing to see what they want?"
"No, unfortunately. My observation haki isn't on the same level as Luffy's, I'm afraid." Momo said, with a bit of a disappointed look.
"Hmm, maybe they're here to look for refuge?" Tsu asked.
"That can't be it. They don't sound like they are stopping on any of the lower floors." Jirou answered, looking more and more worried as the seconds passed.
"I'm afraid this could be a distraction, or maybe something worse–"
"AAAAAAHG!" Jirou's shriek of pain stopped Momo's further musings.
"Jirou?!" "Are you okay?!" Momo and Tsu went for her aid as Shouji went to check for enemies in Jirou's stead.
"There's music playing. It's not so bad for me, but hearing it suddenly must've been a huge shock for her." Shouji said, still hearing the loud rock music. Then it dawned on them all. "This was a planned attack."
"Yes, they knew Jirou's quirk and made a special attack for her." Momo concluded. "We're deaf right now, and they could attack from any point. Jirou, let me see."
Jirou proceeded to remove her headphones, and Momo saw a small trail of blood leaking from her ear. "It doesn't look like anything too serious, but you should stop using your quirk for now and let us handle the rest." Momo was lying here, this is a very serious issue, but panicking her friends now wouldn't do any good, for now she would have to fight with a man down, or woman in this case.
"But–"
Jirou's protests to keep fighting were stopped short as the windows suddenly broke.
"What?!" Shouji said alarmingly. With each second, more and more windows broke—not enough to break completely but enough to cloud them, making them blind.
"Run for cover!" Momo said, and everybody hid behind a pillar. "They're trying to blind us."
"What do we do now?" Tsu asked rather calmly, in contrast to this whole situation.
"Ok, let's analyze what just happened. They know about our quirks and have attacked our weak spots, and I don't think they'll just stop there. I think they're trying to trap us in here." Momo quickly arrived at that conclusion. "We have to escape before they trap us completely!"
"Sounds good to me!" Jirou said as she moved for the door, but was stopped by Momo before she could even make a step. "Huh?"
"You're in their line of sight." Momo said as she pointed at the windows. Before anybody could say anything else, the iron shutter on the windows started to close, leaving them in a dark room.
"Now we're in the dark. What do we do now?" Tsu asked, feeling the temperature getting rather cold—colder than she would've liked.
"Now?" Momo asked rhetorically as she made a few interesting items. "Now it's our turn to attack."
"I like the sound of that!" Jirou exclaimed.
The Group Fighting with Momo's Group.
Saia Academy.
"Momo Yaoyorozu has a finite ability in how much she can create. We'll deplete her abilities, and then all of their quirks will be rendered useless. This is my equation for success," Saiko Intelli contemplated as she sipped on some tea. A second-year student, her quirk is named 'IQ'. When she drinks tea and closes her eyes, her IQ multiplies. She already possesses an IQ of 150, but after a few sips, she becomes a true genius. Also, different kinds of tea have different effects on her abilities.
"Now use your quirk, Yaoyorozu, It will be the beginning of the end for you and your friends!" In a not-so-hero-like way, she exclaimed, which definitely impressed her fellow classmates.
Now her strategy might've worked if this was a regular, no-Luffy-in-her-life Momo. But this one's a lil bit different.
Bam! A heavy thud reverberated through the Saia Academy halls as a sledgehammer broke the locks on the door to Momo's room, which had been locked shut by one of Saiko Intelli's henchwomen. This took Saiko completely off guard, leaving her stunned. Suddenly, a cylinder-like object was thrown out of the hole.
"Watch out!" Saiko realized, but it was too late for her friends. In an instant, the entire room was enveloped in an intense, blinding light, powerful enough to blind anyone looking at it for more than half an hour. Saiko, the only one who managed to shield her eyes from the brightness, had the fortune of witnessing Momo kick the door open, with Tsu leaping from behind and managing to catch a good number of the Saia Academy girls. Shouji arrived slightly later but quickly enough to apprehend the remaining stunned girls. Jirou came out a couple of seconds later, looking mean as all hell, even though her quirk was useless right now.
"I'm guessing you were the one who trapped us in there." Momo said it with a proud glare. She was proud that she was able to get herself out.
"I almost passed out." Tsu said it with a slight shiver in her voice. Now she was using duct tape to apprehend the girls.
"What are you doing?!" Saiko yelled while pointing an accusing finger at Tsu.
"It's flex tape." Tsu simply said.
"Don't you think you have other concerns right now?" Momo menacingly said as she produced a metal bat in her hand.
"Tsk, you used your quirk to attack, not defend. Very high risk. I can't believe U.A. students would choose such an aggressive strategy." Saiko said, fear evident in her words, cold sweat started to appear on her forehead.
"See, now that's the problem." Momo said as she closed the distance between herself and Saiko. "This isn't a skill I learned at U.A."
"Give up." Momo said as she rested her metal bat on Saiko's shoulder. "You're completely defeated."
"..." Saiko still had a look of rebellion and anger in her eyes. Momo thought that things were about to get a little bloody until she saw Saiko raise both her hands up. "I'm smart enough to know when I'm defeated."
"Good call." Momo said as she removed her metal bat from Saiko's shoulder and twirled it in her hands.
Soon after, every Saia Academy girl was left up in the office building, with each and every single one of them disqualified.
Anteroom.
"Something wrong, Yaomomo?" Tsu asked as she followed Momo into the room filled with participants who had passed the test. Alongside Momo, Shouji also entered the room, while Jirou had to go to the nurse's office.
"No, I'm just wondering–"
"Momo!" They heard Luffy very excitedly and very loudly say this across the room, startling a few other students who were just peacefully trying to catch their breath. He ran fast—faster than anybody should run inside a building—and stopped right in front of Momo's group, making a small dust cloud in the process.
"Lu! You shouldn't run like that!" *Cough* *Cough* Momo and the others started coughing; thankfully, it wasn't anything serious. "That aside, I'm glad you made it."
"Yeah, Luffy, It's comforting to see you here." Tsu said, relieved that Class 1-A's powerhouse made it here. "Did you see any of our other classmates?"
"Fireice was already here when I got here, Kalimari, Spikyhair, and Boomboy also just made it, and I'm pretty sure Greenie is nearby." Luffy responded like he was answering an age-old question, with a finger on his chin. "Dunno know where the rest are."
"Aha, we should go and greet them." Shouji chimed in. Wanting to see how the other teams did.
"Yeah, I'd like to know how they managed to pass." Tsu spoke Shouji's thoughts. Momo nodded in agreement.
"Yosh! Let's go see them." Luffy started walking, and the rest followed. That was until Momo snatched his arm and stopped him.
"Please, go on ahead. Me and Lu have some things to talk about." Momo informed the group, Luffy didn't look bothered by it, Tsu and Shouji were confused but didn't complain.
"No problem. We'll probably be with the rest of our classmates." Tsu said this before staring at Luffy. "..."
"..."
"..."
"...Oh by the way, Fireice should be near the big screen." Luffy finally remembered to tell them.
"There we go." Tsu said, looking unbothered by the weird staring match that just transpired.
"That was faster than I thought." Shouji commented, and Tsu seemed inclined to agree, based on her nod.
.
"So, what's up, Momo?" Luffy asked as they moved to a more secluded area of the room. Not that you can get a lot of privacy in a room filled with students, but still.
"What happened to the girl from Shiketsu High?" Momo asked, knowing it does no good to beat around the bush, especially with Luffy.
"Who?—Oh, you mean that girl?" Luffy looked clueless for a moment before recalling putting the fear of God into said girl.
"Yeah, her. Because I remember you looking specifically at her during your little stunt in front of this building. Also, I don't see her anywhere around here, and since she's in a school of the same caliber as U.A., I don't think she got eliminated. So, she's either injured or you kicked her out." Momo unloaded this theory that had been forming in the back of her mind ever since Luffy's 'stunt'. "Am I wrong?"
"Wow! You're so smart, Momo! You could become a teacher or something." Luffy said, genuinely impressed. Momo didn't look in a mood for games now, so Luffy quickly quieted down. "Look, It's not like I hurt her or anything. At least I hope I didn't."
"So, you did do something?" Momo said as she crossed her arms and shifted her weight on one leg. "Who was she?"
"Remember that weird girl with blonde hair who looked like she was going to school? She also really liked it when I had blood on me for some reason." Luffy tried to explain with the help of some gestures, but they didn't help much.
"No, I don't." Momo responded, she wasn't there for that, she was fighting Nomu. She was growing increasingly worried. Not because she didn't trust Luffy to make a stupid mistake. No, actually, it was because she didn't trust Luffy, and who could blame her? Luffy tends to jump to conclusions too quickly, which could be good in some cases and terrible in others. She just hopes Luffy didn't make too big of a mistake. "Explain."
"Ok, umm, remember when we went to the middle of the forest and there was a camp and I trained everybody?" Luffy asked.
"Kind of hard to forget." Momo responded, her brows furrowed.
"There was this girl among the villains, she used knives to cut people up, and she liked blood. She can also counter my observation Haki." Momo was following along until that last statement. That really surprised her.
"What?!" Momo couldn't imagine someone, much less from this world, with a stronger haki than Luffy. "Her haki is that strong?!"
"Nah, don't think so. At least, I didn't sense an immense amount of Haki from her, just the regular amount, maybe a bit more than a regular guy," Luffy said with his thinking face on.
"Regular amount? What do you mean?" Momo quickly got sidetracked.
"Didn't I explain this? Everybody has Haki—animals, plants, every living being. Like how me and you have Haki, the same goes for those guys," Luffy said, pointing to a group of students chatting. "The only difference is that ours is way stronger than theirs."
"Because we trained it." Momo got the picture and got back on track. "Okay, so you're saying that the villain from our camp was here?"
"Yep, and I couldn't see her 'cause she suppressed her presence. I don't know how, but she did." Luffy said, and Momo thought it was concerning. One of her biggest weapons is useless against this villainess and who knows how many more? "It took me a while to recognize her because she looked completely different. But then I pieced it together! She has a power that lets her transform into other people, like Bon-chan!"
"Who?" Momo asked while tilting her head.
"Oh, just an old friend of mine." Luffy looked completely confused.
"I see. So, what did you do to her?" Momo asked, getting to the part she's the most worried about. "Nothing too bad, I hope."
"Ah, nah, I just told her to stay away from our friends, unless she or her villain friends want to get hurt." Luffy said, and Momo breathed out a huge sigh of relief.
"That's good-"
"Also, I told her I'd crack her head open if she got near you." Luffy said it like he was delivering the morning weather reports.
"...What?" Momo didn't believe what she just heard.
"Yeah, I just really hope I made myself clear, she looked pretty out of it after I shattered the rock in my hand." It seemed Luffy failed to see the look of absolute 'Wtf did I just hear?!' on Momo's face right now, rather, he seemed pretty proud of himself.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Momo, you good?" Luffy asked, finally seeing her face.
"...Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, wait, wait. Let me just... process what I just heard." Momo said after taking a huge breath in through her nose and an equally big one out of her mouth.
"Is there something wrong? 'Cause if you think the message wasn't clear enough, I can go track her down." Luffy looked like he was about to go do it, even if she said no.
"Y-y-y-y-you just… Stay. Don't talk for a second." Momo said, and Luffy quietly did as he was told. A couple of seconds passed, and Momo seemed to have gone through the 5 stages of grief.
"..."
"Okay, first things first. You aren't going to go around and crack heads open like they're walnuts, right?" Momo's first question centered around Luffy's core, wondering if, how, and why he had changed.
"Obviously! I'm not gonna just kill anybody who comes near you." Luffy seemed almost insulted that Momo thought that of her. "Just those who deserve it."
"Oh god. What have I done." Momo ran her hand down her face. Looks like she got an answer she didn't like. "Ok, Lu, I'll make it very very clear right now. You can't, under any circumstances, kill anybody."
"But–"
"Ever." Momo said with an edge so sharp you could cut yourself. "Look, I get it, I'm your sister now and I get that you have that brotherly instinct to protect–"
"No! You don't get it! You're not just my sister, you're my only sister and probably my only sibling, as far as I know." Luffy's glare started to pop out.
"Lu, that's no–"
"And I'm fine with that thought, 'cause you made me realize and accept it. The least I could do is protect you. It's my duty, as an older brother, to protect my family!" Luffy said more angrily and louder than he thought he did. The nearby students saw Momo and Luffy arguing and decided on a wise course of action to avoid them.
"First of all, I'm the older sibling." Momo didn't realize it in the heat of the argument, but some of Luffy's less 'civilized' accent was spilling into her words, saying it in the same way Luffy would. " And I don't need your protection, okay? I didn't train all this time just 'cause I liked it, you know?!"
"Obviously, dummy! I know that better than anyone, but that doesn't mean I can't also protect you. Two is better than one, no?"
"Sigh… There's a difference between killing and protecting," Momo said, feeling half of her anger dissipating with that sigh and double the stress coming in. "Also, didn't you think about the fact that that warning would've just encouraged the villains? Since they now know I'm a weak spot for you, What are you going to do then?"
"Ok, well, It's not a warning, it's a fact." Luffy received an eye roll for that comment. "And that girl looked pretty scared when I left, so I don't think she's going to want to come here. And even if they do, we'll see whose hands are red at the end of the day."
"Ha! You know, you talk a lot about killing, like it's something you do on a regular basis." Momo said it with more of an exhale than a laugh. "Killing is hard. Not anybody can do it, and I doubt you can, you're too pure hearted-"
"I killed before," Luffy interrupted, and Momo had the second bomb of the day dropped on her, this time looking like that blast did more damage than the last. "Not with my bare hands, but I did it." (And yes, yes. I know that 'canonically' Luffy didn't kill anybody, but I call bullshit on that. I've seen Luffy wreck houses and sink ships with hundreds of people. I think that Oda's just trying to make Luffy as kid-friendly as possible, but not in this fanfic, here, all gloves are off.)
"...What?" Yeah, Momo's gonna need a bit of time to process that bit of information.
BRIIIIIIIIIIIING! All of a sudden, a deafening alarm sounded throughout and it barely pulled Momo out of her stupefied state.
"What's that for?" Luffy said as he looked casually around while every other student started to get agitated and/or excited.
"Yaomomo! Rep!" Jirou and Izuku yelled as they quickly approached the still-stunned Momo and Luffy who didn't have the happiest expression in the world as he usually does.
"Greenie? Earphones? When did you guys get here?" Luffy asked and before they could answer, they all heard.
"Villains have performed a large-scale attack spanning all of [Insert City Name Here], since most buildings collapsed there are many injured." They heard Mera announce it over the speaker.
"Hey Greenie, what's happening?" Luffy calmly asked a distressed Izuku.
"You weren't listening?!" Izuku asked rhetorically, hearing Jirou murmur 'Of course he wasn't.' Izuku was more surprised at the fact that Luffy hadn't heard any announcements until now. "The next test is starting now!"
"We have to save the bystanders." As soon as Jirou was done saying this, the walls of this room started to open up again.
"Due to the heavily damaged floors, the first responders have unfortunately been delayed for the time being. Until emergency services arrive, the heroes in the area will lead the rescue operations. Your task is to save as many injured as possible." Mera announced.
"See?" Jirou said with a wave of her hand.
"We've been looking everywhere for you! Tsu said that you guys went to talk, a-and that didn't really help us to be honest." Izuku said and Momo finally looked like she was back on earth.
"Kyoka? Midoriya?" Momo asked them, herself looking confused but not as confused as Izuku and Jirou were.
"And with that, Begin!" Mera said, which made everyone run straight ahead in the now completely demolished exam arena.
"Just run!" Izuku said, and all of them started running to the demolished urban area. "Yaoyorozu! Did you hear? What we have to do?"
"Yes, I know, we have to save the injured people, correct?" Momo said as she ran alongside Jirou. She looked like a complete pro right now, not bothered by her earlier conversation.
"Correct. I think our best bet is to head to the city and use Luffy to find and rescue as many people as possible." Izuku quickly proposed a plan, which everybody agreed on. "That's also where the rest of our class is."
"Understood." Momo said with the rest. "By the way, Luffy, this isn't over. We still have a long, long conversation when we get home."
"...Okay." Luffy didn't need mastery over observation haki to sense that he wasn't going to like that conversation at all. Izuku and Jirou shared a glance with each other but didn't question it.
.
.
The Fake City.
Due to Luffy's Haki, they managed to quickly regroup with the rest of the class.
"Rep! Yaomomo! They're coming, guys!" Mina shouted as she spotted their arrival. "What took y'all so long?"
"It doesn't matter now, what's the situation?" Momo asked, subconsciously positioning herself at the forefront of the group. That was when Iida came up to greet them.
"Most of us are trying to look for injured civilians, while some of us are waiting for the injured to appear. Unfortunately, Bakugo went on by himself again and Kirishima and Kaminari followed after him… again."
"I see," Momo said as she moved to the middle of the group, immediately grabbing everyone's attention. Some of the students noticed a slight edge in her demeanor and on her face, but now wasn't the time to ask about that. "Everybody, gather around."
"...This is what we're going to do." Momo said it loudly and clearly. "We will split into groups. Uravity (Ochako) and Cellophane (Sero) are going to come with me and look for survivors. Deku will take Straw Hat and Pinky (Mina) to look for survivors. Ingenium (Iida) will take Earphone Jack (Don't think I need to say who this is.) and Tsukuyomi (Tokoyami) to look for survivors. Froppy (Tsu) will take Tentacole (Shouji) and Todoroki to also look for survivors. If any problems appear, contact me immediately."
Momo spoke with steel in her voice as she conjured several walkie-talkies and handed them out to each student. "I trust you all to utilize your companions to the best of their abilities. Everybody else who's not in a group will search for survivors individually, if they are in need of assistance, they will contact the other students using the handheld receiver." As she delivered her plan, it seemed as if she had suddenly become the sole ruler of the class. Everyone was looking at her with varying levels of astonishment, ranging from admiration and respect to confusion.
Noticing the odd stares her classmates were giving her, she took one look to the left and one to the right, shook her head, and followed with, "If somebody has a problem with my plan, they can very well ignore it, but they should not expect any help from me. Am I clear?"
"Yes!" "Yes ma'am!" "That was Awesome!" "Exceptional!" "I'm turned on." and other various shouts of approval sounded out throughout the group.
"Good then, any survivors will be taken to the special perimeter set up by Shiketsu High. Do not falter, act as soon as you can, but only with a secure plan in mind, use our hero name, do not be afraid to ask for help from other schools, treat each survivor as you would treat a real one. This exam is made to imitate reality, so we will treat it as such. Was that clear?" Momo's words were as hard as iron, and her classmates definitely noticed the change, but this was neither the place nor the time to ask about it.
"Yes!"
"Then go!" Momo ordered, and every group, with a little reluctance from some, went in different ways. Izuku, however, was stopped by Momo for a split second, whispering in his ear, she said. "Listen, Do not let Luffy, under any circumstances, fight or run around. Keep him on a very tight leash. If he tries anything out of the ordinary, contact me immediately."
Now, Izuku being Izuku, he never had a girl be that close to him and whisper directly into his ear, much less a girl like Momo, so for the first few seconds he was still dazed, but he managed to understand what Momo was telling him, and that got him worried. In a loud voice, he said "Wait, are you-"
"Shhh!" Momo silenced him.
"Are you telling me not to trust Luffy? Why?" Izuku asked, quieter this time.
"...Just do what I told you, and everything will be fine." Momo coldly shut him down, and Izuku had no other choice but to obey. They split off, and Momo was sure most of the class saw their little exchange, but there was nothing she could do now except go through this exam and hope Luffy's not a mass-murderer.
Izuku's Group.
"What was that all about, Greenie?" Luffy asked as they all started running alongside each other. "What did Momo tell you?"
"N-Nothing! Why would she ask me something?! There's nothing that we talked about." Izuku lied—obvious to Mina, not so much to Luffy.
"...Well, if you say so." Luffy said, with a hint of doubt in his voice. Izuku heaved a sigh of relief. He can tell from Izuku's aura that something's up, but he's not going to press him for an answer, not here.
"Well, anyway. By the way, Luffy, can you use your haki to sense any nearby survivors?" Izuku asked. Luffy nodded
"Oooh! Is that why Momo put us in these weird trio groups?" Mina asked with an 'Oh' face. "Then why am I here?"
"Found one." Luffy asked and completely changed directions, Mina and Izuku changed with him.
"Think about it: each of us has a job here. Luffy can find people with his special power, and you can use your ability to tear down broken buildings. Every team has someone who can find things and someone who helps out, even if they're not exactly meant for that. And there's usually someone leading the team," Izuku started rambling. Mina was amazed at how fast he figured this out and admired Momo's quick decisions. "But I'm not sure where I fit in with all this," Izuku added.
"Yeah…" Mina seemed to agree. "Wait, what?" Then she actually registered what he said.
"Well, Pinky helps out with the rubble, And Luffy can search and make the decisions." Izuku said this and failed to notice the oscar worthy faces of confusion.
"..."
"...What?" He noticed them.
"You know, for someone who's so smart and strong, you have some serious self-esteem issues." Mina said it with a disappointed tone and a shake of her head.
"W-What's that supposed to mean?" Izuku asked, flustered.
"She means that you should have some more confidence!" Luffy patted him on the back, almost making him trip over and face-plant the concrete. "We're here, by the way. So give your orders, captain."
"W-Wait! S-Seriously?" Izuku asked in disbelief.
"Only for the test, though. Haha! You're not my captain." Luffy said with a laugh, as if the idea of him sailing under Izuku's flag was the funniest joke he heard. Mina also laughed.
"This isn't really helping my confide–" Izuku was interrupted by an middle-aged man in a kid costume.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" The 'survivor' that was stuck under a giant piece of rubble yelled at the students' antics. The trio didn't even notice him because a conveniently placed piece of rubble was pretty much hiding his entire body, with his arms and legs barely poking out. "This is literally the worst day of my life, and you all are laughing?!"
"S-So sorry about that, sir! Let's get you out of the rubble!" Izuku said it with multiple bows before turning to his friends.
"Ok so, since I'm going to give out the orders…" Izuku stopped himself for a second and looked at Luffy and Mina, as if asking if they really were okay with him giving out orders. Mina nodded, and Luffy, after looking at Mina, also nodded. He was not really sure why, but he did. "The way that man is trapped, we can't just pull him out, we'll have to remove the piece of rubble that's in front of him and use something as a brace as a support."
"I'm pretty sure I can melt that piece of concrete and get him out. A small problem is that I'm going to get crushed to death, so maybe not." Mina's plan seemed to fall apart as it came out of her mouth.
"No, that's actually what I was thinking, but we'll have to use something as support." Izuku said before slowly turning his head to Luffy. Mina's doing the same. "...Or someone."
"Oh? And who's that?" Luffy asked, confused.
.
"Hey, Straw Hat! Everything good over there?" Izuku yelled out as Luffy made his way towards the survivor. Luffy struggled to squeeze through the rubble, calling it a claustrophobe's nightmare would be an understatement. "You could have always said no! Actually, maybe you should have! There's probably an easier way anyway!"
"Don't be an idiot! If you're going to make a decision, make sure to stick with it! You can't half-ass it!" Luffy yelled back. "Hey, dude, what's up?"
"Is that seriously supposed to comfort me?!" The survivor asked, in complete disbelief. Unfortunately for him, Luffy didn't seem to pay any attention to the man.
"Can you shut up for a second?" Luffy grumbled as he hoisted the couple-of-tons-heavy rubble with one hand. Gradually, he squatted down, essentially lifting the weight of an entire building onto his shoulders. The 'survivor' didn't know what to be more impressed by—the fact that this guy in a straw hat is lifting tons of concrete or that he's actually going along with this bold plan. A plan only someone with superhuman strength could carry out. "Okay! We're good!"
"Wow! It's actually working." Izuku said in disbelief as he watched a hill of rubble shift. "Okay, Pinky, it's your turn. I'll say the same thing I said before, if you're scared, you can always say no."
"Nah, why would I be scared? I trust you boys." Mina asked as she started crawling. Izuku felt his blood pressure rise as Mina disappeared from his sight.
"Hey Lu- Straw Hat. So, what's the situation?" Mina said as she arrived. Quickly adjusting to the darkness. She went from a crawling position to a squatting one, similar to Luffy, and due to the very, very limited space in the rubble, Luffy was one step away from hugging Mina. She spotted the pillar that was trapping the 'survivor'. "I'm guessing this is the one."
"Think so." Luffy said, looking pretty relaxed given the entire situation.
Now starts the slow process of dissolving the pillar while also trying to not cause a massive collapse, killing everyone under the rubble, besides Luffy, and giving Izuku a heart attack. A minute passes, and Mina is starting to sweat—a lot of sweat. Luffy, sensing her discomfort, asked. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, please, don't speak. I'm struggling to stay conscious here, and I can literally feel your abs digging into my back. Please, just let me concentrate." Mina struggled, finding it tough to sustain and control her quirk for an extended period, worsened by the lack of oxygen. Initially surprised that the 'survivor' remained silent, she figured he probably aimed to let them focus on their tasks.
A minute more has passed, and Mina's about 99% done with her task. Just before she finishes, she stops. Mina, completely drenched in sweat and limp in Luffy's body, says. "Let me just... huff, catch my breath... puff, Luf, I'm almost finished. Once I'm done, you'll probably feel about twice the weight you're feeling now, so I'm just giving you a heads up."
"Don't worry about me, I'll keep you safe." Mina would have blushed at this if she had the mental capacity. "Both of you."
"Smooth, ok, ready?" Mina let one of her thoughts slip.
"Yep!" Luffy said, not looking all that stressed about it.
With a single finger, Mina destroyed the remaining pillar. Suddenly, every piece of concrete began to shift, multiple sections started to fall, and she instinctively clung tightly to Luffy, seeking shelter in him. It was like experiencing your home implode around you, yet somehow feeling secure in the chaos.
Luffy, hands cladded in Haki, did put his back into it this time. He would be lying if he said that it wasn't difficult, but not impossible, at least not for him. A couple of seconds passed, and the rubble started to settle, finding its place again.
As the debris settled, Mina opened her eyes and noticed it was still pitch black. Her face felt oddly soft, as if buried in a pillow. It took a moment before she realized the darkness came from being nestled against Luffy's chest, horns and all. Slowly, she released her tight grip on him and moved away. Later that day, she would be seen screaming into her pillows out of sheer embarrassment from this moment. However, in the present situation, the near-death experience took priority over any humiliation she might feel.
"Everyone alright?" Luffy said, looking not too bothered by Mina's face.
"Yeah, I'm good." Mina said as she took a look around. "Wait, where's the old guy?"
"Who are you calling old? I'm still at the prime of my life." A human shaped boulder started speaking. Slowly, the rock turned back into the middle-aged man from before. "My quirk is the only reason I even accepted this job, I didn't think I'd need to use it today, though."
"...Anyway, I'll be taking you out." Mina said as he took a firm hold of the 'survivor''. "Luf, what're you gonna do?"
"Don't worry about me, just get out of here." Luffy said, and Mina, unwillingly, did as was told.
"You better make it out of here alive." Mina said as she started crawling with the survivor in her hands. The closer she got to the light, the harder it was for her to see. In no time at all, she made it out of the rubble and saw Izuku very nervously pace back and forth.
"Pinky! Thank God I thought you were done for!" Izuku said it with tears in his eyes. "I-I'm so glad you're alive."
"Yeah, yeah. Here, take this guy." Mina said worriedly as she gave the crying 'survivor' to Izuku, who in turn started to comfort him, as a hero should.
Crash!
Mina and Izuku's hearts fell to their stomachs when they saw the hill of rubble collapse with thundering noise. "Oh no." Mina said, in disbelief, as her hands moved to subconsciously cover her mouth.
Izuku was a step above, and he was already 100% sure that he just got Luffy killed and that a special seat in hell was being reserved for him at this very moment. Even the 'survivor' stopped his act to look at the rubble.
A couple of seconds pass, and Mina and Izuku notice a blackened hand pop out of the rubble. Mina and Izuku breathed out a huge sigh of relief they didn't even know they were holding. Izuku, after realizing he didn't commit murder, ran to help Luffy out and, with a quick use of his quirk, managed to get Luffy out of the rubble.
"Cough! Cough!" Luffy coughed, completely covered from head to toe in dust. "Thanks, Cough Greenie."
"Oh, thank god." Mina and Izuku said it at the same time. "Are you alright?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Wait!" Luffy suddenly said, scaring the two for a brief moment. He reached around his head and grabbed his hat, giving it a full inspection. "Okay, we're good. I thought I ripped it."
"You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days." Izuku shook his head, a little annoyed but mostly happy.
"Why would I give you that–" Luffy was interrupted by the 'survivor'.
"I hope you didn't forget about me." He said, coming up to the trio. Izuku completely forgot about him when the rubble fell.
"Ah, n-no way." Izuku said as he scratched the back of his head.
"Listen, what you kids just did was incredibly dangerous, reckless, and downright stupid." The middle aged man said.
*Wait! The survivors are our examinees!* It finally dawned on Izuku. "We're–"
"Let me finish. It was stupid, this case was supposed to be an incredibly difficult endeavor, something that should've been realized with 30 people, not 3." The middle aged man said. "That being said, since my case was very high risk, the rewards should be equivalent."
"You see, every survivor has a priority list, and based on the team, the points will be distributed equally." The 'Survivor' said with a small smirk on his face.
"Wait, does that mean?" Izuku asked, feeling as if he just hit the jackpot.
"I'm not promising anything, all I'll say is congratulations." The 'Survivor' said and a huge feeling of accomplishment washed over Izuku and Mina. Luffy will understand what the 'Survivor' meant later on after being carefully explained by Izuku. "Now stop standing around like a bunch of puppets! I have an owie, and I miss my mommy!" The 'Survivor' quickly got back into his role as a scared kid.
"Oh right! I'll get you to–" A flashback of what Momo said popped up in Izuku's mind right now. "Actually, Pinky, can you get the 'Survivor' to the perimeter set up by Shiketsu?"
"Umm. Sure, I guess." Mina said as she grabbed the 'Survivor' in her arms.
"We'll wait for you here." Izuku said and they both watched as Mina nodded and started running, slowly disappearing in the distance.
"..."
"..."
"...So, What now?" Luffy asked as he plopped on the ground.
"W-Well, we wait, I guess." Izuku was pretty surprised, He usually feels pretty safe and comfortable around Luffy, but after Momo's last words to him, he feels as if Luffy's a lion and he, the mouse.
But Luffy's trustworthy, right? He saved us countless times, Izuku thought. So, there shouldn't be any reason not to trust him. But, oh, wait, Momo's also trustworthy. Without her, half of this class would've failed their tests, and she did help them with different enemies. So, what is Izuku, the hero, supposed to do? Ignore his classmates' warning and let Luffy loose, or continue following Momo's warning and restrict Luffy. A true conundrum he has found himself in.
Meanwhile, Momo's Group.
"How many is that?" Momo asked as she and Ochako ran towards another survivor. In the distance, Sero could be seen running with a survivor in his arms.
"That makes 10." Ochako says, panting while trying her best to keep Momo's pace. "Hey, don't you think we should take a break? I mean, don't get me wrong... huff I want to pass this test and all, but It's kind of hard using my quirk so much and non-stop."
"If you can't keep up with me, then maybe you should've followed Bakugo." Momo coldly responded. Ochako gave Momo a worried look, not that Momo saw it. I mean, sure, she's also dead tired, being forced to use her haki when she hasn't even gotten to a basic level yet and making multiple complex structures to save as many people as possible ought to tire you out. *But that's better than thinking about it…* Not wanting to think about it, she started to think about it funnily enough.
"Creati?... Creati?!... MOMO STOP!" Ochako yelled at Momo. This dragged Momo forcibly out of her thoughts and was met with a metal pole straight to the forehead. Not only did this hurt like hell, but falling on the broken concrete also didn't help. "Ow, ow, ow!"
"Jeez, Momo." Ochako said as she kneeled in front of Momo. "Are you okay?"
"...Yes, I'm fine. I managed to create a bit of armor right before it hit my head." Momo said as she rubbed her back, that's the part that hurt her more than anything, honestly.
"Ok, good. That's good." Ochako said as she helped Momo up to her feet. "Then care to tell me what's your problem?!"
"Excuse me?" Momo was still reeling from her hit.
"Oh No! You Excuse Me! Ever since this exam started, you've been cold as Ice and mean to everyone who didn't meet your stupidly high standards!" Ochako said as she aggressively poked Momo. "Remember when you cursed Sero to hell and back?"
"All I did was motivate him." Momo said as she crossed her arms and adopted a frown on her face. The moment they're talking about is when a 'Survivor' was trapped in an apartment building, and the only way to get him out was through the window. "It's not my problem that he can't aim his little duct tapes."
"It was the 20th floor! I'm pretty sure he started crying!" Ochako further berated Momo. "Sero isn't like you or Deku! He doesn't want to be a top hero, he just wants to be a regular hero!"
"...Maybe, just maybe, I was a little too hard on him." Momo admitted it through clenched teeth.
"Sigh Ever since this exam started, It's like you turned into a whole different person, and it's worrying me." Ochako said as she softened her expression and placed her hand on Momo's shoulder.
"Let's go. There isn't a lot of time until the exam ends." Momo said as she shook off Ochako's hand. They started walking again.
"Fine. But after this exam is over, we're going to have a talk about what's happening, Okay?" Ochako said. Of course, she only wants what's best for Momo, but that doesn't seem to match with what Momo wants.
"..."
"Okay?!" Ochako said as she grabbed Momo's hand and stopped her from walking.
"...Sure." Momo said, pretty obviously, that it was a lie.
Unfortunately, for the 'Survivor', multiple booms and explosions were happening everywhere, all at once. The remaining buildings were destroyed completely.
"Great, What now?" Ochako said in a tired voice as she went back-to-back with Momo.
"Villains have performed another large-scale attack."
Momo and Ochako heard the announcer say and watched as a giant explosion opened up the wall to this whole exam arena. Out of the hole, the pro-hero Gang Orca appeared menacingly with a bunch of goons. Gang Orca was a hero, almost the size of All-Might, whose strength was feared throughout the criminal network.
"H-Hey, this is part of the exam, right?" Ochako said a little fearfully, after all, who wouldn't be afraid of the rank 10 pro-hero who's also in the top 3 in heroes who look like villains? "Hey Momo–"
"Deku?! Do you hear me?!" Momo frantically switched her channel to Izuku's walkie-talkie. If asked, Ochako would say that Momo looked like a mom who just found out her kid got hit by a bus. "I repeat, Do You Hear Me?!"
"I hear you!" Izuku's voice was heard from Momo's walkie talkie.
"Do Not Let Luffy Out Of Your Sight!" Momo pretty much screamed over the receiver.
"Umm… Yeah, about that..." That was all Momo needed to hear before she started running at speeds that would leave even Iida impressed. "Look! I tried, b-b-but he's Luffy!-"
"Wait! Mom– I mean Creati! Wait for me!" Ochako said as she tried her best to keep up with Momo, and props to her she made a pretty good try, just not good enough.
Aizawa and Ms. Joke.
The terrorists have appeared and are continuing to sweep the area. Hero candidates have to continue their efforts to rescue civilians while also suppressing the newly arrived villains.
Aizawa watched from the bleachers, along with Ms. Joke. "Even for a pro-hero this would be difficult. Is what I would normally say."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Ms. Joke asked, a hint of concern in her voice regarding her students facing Gang Orca.
"Just watch, he should come up any second now." Aizawa said. Ms. Joke would normally crack a joke at this, but she felt a chill down her spine instead.
Meanwhile, with Iida and his group.
"They want us to fight and rescue at the same time?!" Jirou said, a little outraged by the tone of her voice. "Isn't this a little much?"
"It is rather vexing, what should we do?" Tokoyami asked with a bead of sweat down his face.
"Hold on! Don't do anything rash!" Iida said with as much authority as he could. He had his walkie-talkie in hand. "I will contact Creati and request her input."
"Creati?" Iida asked as he managed to reach her channel, a little harder than he hoped. It looks like Iida wasn't the only one trying to reach Momo.
"What?!" Momo yelled in her walkie-talkie so loudly that Iida almost dropped it. The sounds of her huffing and panting were pretty loud, loud enough for Tokoyami and Jirou to hear.
"I-I was just wondering what we should do regarding the recent developments?" Iida asked, scared not to upset Momo again.
"Huff… Huff… Luffy and I have it handled. Just do your jobs… and tell that to the rest of the class." Momo said before she went silent. The trio exchanged looks of concern.
"..."
"..."
"...Well, you heard her." Iida said, and they collectively went back to do what they were doing, with Iida having to call every single walkie-talkie that Momo made.
Luffy.
Shiketsu's Perimeter.
"What's this? Only one hero to protect the civilians?" Gang Orca said, the only thing that stood between him and a bunch of injured 'Survivors' was a 1st year student in a straw hat.
"I didn't know they had fishmen here." Luffy said with a smile as he cracked his knuckles. "I thought my message was pretty clear, but I guess not. Looks like I'll have to send another one."
"L-Let us help you! You can't take them all on by yourself!" One of the students that were aiding the civilians said. He was accompanied by 6 more. As they were talking, a swarm, big enough to create a dust cloud, made out of Gang Orca's goons, was approaching them rapidly.
"Don't get in my way, you're only going to annoy me." Luffy said, and the students were about to protest, but Luffy took one look at Gang Orca's army. One second, they were running full speed ahead, the other, they were knocked out on the ground. "I don't need any help."
"Understood!" The students were more than happy to go back after seeing what Luffy just did.
Aizawa.
"Whoa! What was that?!" Ms. Joke nearly jumped out of her seat as she watched Luffy knock out dozens upon dozens of goons with only a glance.
*So, he's finally showing his cards for the world to see.* Aizawa thought with a stone cold face. *Why?*
Back to Luffy.
"I don't know what happened to my henchmen, but don't think I'll go down that easily." Gang Orca said as he came out of the dust cloud. The first thing he saw was a fist.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy yelled as he punched Gang Orca right into a broken wall, a good distance away from the perimeter.
*What… the hell was that?!* Gang Orca thought in horror as he looked around for Luffy, not seeing him at all. That was until he heard him and looked up.
"Gomu Gomu no Stamp!" Luffy's leg almost knocked Gang Orca out if he didn't dodge. But he did.
Unfortunately for him, Luffy grabbed him by the head and planted him straight into the ground, breaking it in the process. Luffy lifted him from the ground.
"Whip!" Luffy roundhouse kicked him into the arena wall. With a quick shave, he reached him before Gang Orca could tell up from down. "Didn't she tell you?"
"Bazooka!" Not waiting for a response, Luffy bazooka'd him back to where they started, near Shiketsu's perimeter. As he watched Gang Orca fly through the sky, he activated his second gear and jumped to him.
"Gomu Gomu no Jet Rifle!" Luffy said while in the air. He punched Gang Orca so hard that his body made a crater in the ground, scaring to death some of the students and 'Survivors.'
Luffy came down and pulled him out of the crater. By now, Gang Orca was already knocked out, but to Luffy, that didn't seem important. "Don't worry, I'll make this message loud enough so that everyone can hear it."
He activated his haki and grabbed Gang Orca by the top of his head. What Luffy was about to do would have been recorded as one of the darker days in Hero Society history if it weren't for Momo, who intervened just in time to save the day.
Thanks to his Haki, Luffy managed to move just in time to dodge the throwing star that was aimed at his head. He looked in confusion at Momo, the one who threw that throwing star.
"THAT'S A HERO! HE'S NOT A VILLAIN! HE'S JUST PRETENDING!" Momo yelled at the top of her lungs, glad that Luffy stopped and even more glad that he dodged.
"Huh?" Luffy took a look at Momo. "Huh?" and one at the knocked out Gang Orca. "Ooooooooh."
"Goddamn idiot." Momo muttered as she marched to Luffy and grabbed him by the ear.
"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow! That hurts!" Luffy said it in pain as he was dragged away by Momo. The students and the civilians watched in absolute confusion and horror as the man, who single-handedly and effortlessly defeated the top 10 pro-hero Gang Orca, was being dragged away like a misbehaving child at the mall being retrieved by his mother. In the back you could see a very confused flying Shiketsu student.
Aizawa and Ms. Joke.
"..."
"..."
"...What?" Aizawa said, finally sick of being stared at by Ms. Joke.
"Oh nothing. I'm just waiting for an explanation for whatever that was!" Ms. Joke said, referring to the elephant in the room.
"Sigh… Luffy is…" Aizawa couldn't find the words. "Let's just say he's special."
"Oh, so you got a class of those too, huh?" Ms. Joke said, feeling sympathetic.
"Not like that." Aizawa quickly said. "...For the record, I don't think he was trying to kill Gang Orca."
"I didn't say anything." Ms. Joke said, she did think about it, though.
"I'm going to have to talk to him later." Aizawa said with his eyebrows furrowed.
"Probably a good idea." Ms. Joke said as she got back to focusing on her students.
Luffy and Momo.
"Ow, ow, ow, you can let go of my ear now–" Luffy said, but was interrupted due to Momo throwing him into a broken wall. They were now in a secluded spot, away from prying eyes or ears.
"What the hell's wrong with you?!" Momo yelled at Luffy, anger and frustration very visible on her face.
"..." Luffy had the look of a dog getting a scolding from his owner. He realizes what he did was wrong, plus the fact that Momo's the one scolding him means he doesn't have a lot of ground to stand on.
"I-I mean, where do I even start?! You almost killed somebody! And not just anybody—a pro-hero! One that's in the top 10 of all of Japan! I mean, do you even realize how messed up what you almost did was?!" Momo raged on, it seems like with every word she took a step closer to Luffy, making him cower in the wall.
"First off, jail! You would've gone to jail! That pea-sized brain knows what jail is, right?! That means no more U.A, no more becoming a hero and no more–" Momo's words seemed to get stuck in her throat.
"No more me… But that's not even the worst part, it's the fact that you were going to do it and then go on to eat like 100 burgers! Don't you have a moral compass or nothing?! Well, that's not true, I know you have it! You told me countless stories where you went to help some kingdom for basically no reward! Unless those were lies–"
"They weren't lies!" Luffy found some ground—not a lot, but some.
"I'm not sure anymore! Since it seems I'm discovering new things about you!"
"I wouldn't lie about that."
"Do you even want to become a hero? To me, it looks like the word 'hero' means nothing to you!" Momo proceeds unrelentingly.
"I don't!" Luffy said, finally tired of getting scolded and pushed past Momo, not boxed in anymore. "I never wanted to become a hero in the first place! I just want to get back to being a pirate, cause that's what I am—a pirate! Always have been and always will be!"
"Oh! I'm sorry, Mr. Pirate, I couldn't tell!" Momo said it in a mocking tone. "So what, You're going to go on a killing spree? Just go around and kill everyone who you don't like?" Momo didn't take her eyes off of Luffy, while Luffy couldn't keep his eyes on her.
"Obviously not!" Luffy said, looking straight into her eyes for this one. He sounded outraged.
"Then where's the line? Is there even one?" Momo said, dropping her anger a bit. "How many?" Luffy turned away at this.
"..." Luffy looked ashamed.
"How many?!" Momo did not stop.
"Mumble."
"What was that?!"
"I never counted!" Luffy wouldn't normally be ashamed to admit this, but this new relationship made Luffy reconsider a lot of things, or so it seemed. "I never thought about killing as stopping someone's life or journey, I only saw it as a way to continue mine, I figured there was no point in counting. So, I never did." Luffy, weirdly enough, felt good after admitting that. But the look on Momo's face far outweighed the good.
"…Oh my god." Momo was at a loss for words. The realization struck hard: Luffy, the man she idolized, respected, and considered a brother, had taken countless lives without remorse. He would've willingly killed hundreds if it meant getting one inch closer to his goal, and he did it without any guilt, like he were some sort of... "Psychopath… You are… a psychopath." she muttered. It finally clicked for her.
"What's that?" Luffy, clueless as ever, asked.
.
"Luffy, tell me one thing. Do you take pleasure in killing?" Momo asked plainly, and her face returned to a neutral, cold look.
"Not really, I mean, I kind of like it when I beat someone really strong," Luffy said, an image of Kaido flashing through his mind. "But I never did it because I liked it."
"Good, that's good." Momo muttered it with a small sigh of relief. "I can work with that."
"Briiiing! All of the 'Survivors' who were deployed have been rescued from the disaster zone. With this, the official licensing exam has officially been completed!" The announcer said over the speaker with as much motivation as he had, which wasn't that much. "After we tally the scores, we will announce the results here in the arena at the board that will be installed soon. Anyone injured should go to the infirmary. Anybody else should feel free to change clothes and wait wherever you like."
"Umm, Momo?" Luffy asked, a bit scared of her response.
"Let's go and change. We should be here when they tell us our grades." Momo said with an aura of mystery around her, one that not even Luffy could tell.
"Okay." Luffy followed without another word. The little journey to change their clothes went on without a single word exchanged between those two, and the same went for anyone who tried to talk to them—just worried silence from Luffy and a cold one from Momo.
The Board.
"Okay, everyone, thanks for your hard work in today's exam. Now, before I announce the results, I should probably explain the way we evaluated you. Between H.U.C. and the hero's public safety commission, we had a two-fold demerit system to be used to determine your total scores. In other words, we evaluated you based on how few mistakes you've made in a crisis situation. Anyway, the names of the people who passed will be displayed here in alphabetical order." The announcer said this as the huge board lit up and showed a lot of names.
As a lot of students searched the board frantically for names, one didn't look all that interested.
"We passed Luffy, congratulations." Momo said, finding their names almost instantly.
"I'm up there! Just call me a hero!" Mineta celebrated.
"I did it." There I am!" "Alright." Jirou, Iida and Shouji celebrated mildly.
"I'm on the board!" "Thank goodness." "What a relief." "Good." Ochako, Sero, Ojiro and Tokoyami felt more relieved than anything else.
"Magnifique!" "Yeah!" "Ribbit!" Aoyama, Mina and Tsu also celebrated.
"I passed! I passed!" "Killed it!" "Sigh." Toru, Kaminari celebrated loudly while Todoroki didn't look at all phased that he passed.
"Right on! But–" Kirishima was also happy that he passed, but more so scared that Bakugo apparently didn't.
"No way!" Bakugo yelled in frustration.
"Hey! All our classmates passed!" Sero was happy that everyone had passed. "Well, maybe except–"
"Shut your mouth before I blast you all to hell." A very controlled Bakugo said he was one comment away from going nuclear on the whole arena.
*I'm scared to talk to Kachan,* a frightened Izuku thought as he inched away slowly. *But now I can tell All-Might that I've finally become a licensed hero!*
"Next, we will give you the details of your results. They will include the exact details that you will need to improve going forward." The announcer said that as a group of men handed out a sheet of paper to every student.
.
Each student wanted to know what they got and what their friend got, as proved by a very annoyed Bakugo and Kirishima. Meanwhile, Luffy barely glanced at his paper, he only saw his score. "53 points." He muttered, and Izuku was close enough to hear it.
"Wow! That means you barely passed! I got 80 points, which is pretty weird seeing as how you stopped Gang Orca and everything. By the way, I wanted to ask you, what happened to him? With Gang Orca, I mean." Izuku asked as he showed Luffy his own breakdown of the exam.
"I beat him, that's about it." Luffy said, not looking all that interested in talking about it.
"...I see." Luffy said but thought. *Obviously there was more, seeing the difference in our points, Yaoyorozu's message, and the way you act. But I'll just keep my mouth shut for now. I'll let her deal with you first.*
"Moving forward, you will be able to act as a pro-hero during emergency situations, such as villain attacks or saving victims from criminal acts. Keep in mind that with every action you take, a deep responsibility will be tied to it, and the world will be watching you. I'm sure you're aware that All-Might, our greatest hero, no longer has his incredible power, one of the reasons crime in this country has been so low is due to his presence. With that deterrent gone, crime will be sure to skyrocket. Expect the balance we currently have to be destroyed and for things to change quickly. We expect a great deal from you, so make sure not to disappoint us and our current society. You're all still just rookies but you have so big shoes to fill, so make sure fill them fast and fill them good. For those of you who didn't pass, we don't have time to wallow in your self-pity, instead, we offer you a chance to redeem yourself at the 3 month long special course and attend a special test. So, don't keep us waiting, the streets of Japan are ready to be filled with young and promising heroes. We will be watching you all, so make sure not to disappoint."
"See man? It's not a big deal, you're just going to be 3 months late." Kirishima said with a friendly pat on Bakugo's back.
"Move your hand before I break it." Bakugo threatened, but Kirishima only laughed at this. Bakugo wasn't any less mad, but at least he was relieved that it wasn't all over for him.
And with that, the exam is now officially over for some, for others, they still feel like they're in the arena.
The Front of the Building.
As students called their parents to celebrate and others were dancing with joy, 2 students walked together to the bus. As Luffy and Momo passed Izuku, they heard an interesting conversation.
"Hello!" Izuku excitedly asked, with a pen and paper already in hand, one of the Shiketsu High students, the one covered in hair.
"Huh?" He responded.
"I want to know more about the training you do to erase your presence!" He excitedly asked, and Momo's ear twitched at this.
"We hadn't learned anything like that." The student responded confusedly.
"Huh? But that girl, the one in the bodysuit, did it. I wanted to ask her more about it, do you have any idea where she might be?" Izuku asked, and Luffy's muscles tensed.
"Bodysuit? Oh, you mean Camie, I haven't seen her at all since the start of the exam, it's becoming a bit of a concern within our class." The student responded worriedly.
"Oh, is that so? I hope you find her. I really wanted to talk to her." Izuku offered his sympathies.
"Yeah, thanks. I just hope nothing too bad happened–" The student was interrupted.
"I saw her." Momo was the one who interrupted, this spooked Luffy a bit.
"You did?" The student asked.
"Yes, we talked, and she told me that she didn't feel too well, so she had to go home. She says she's sorry." Momo lied without an ounce of fear in her voice, just complete confidence.
"...Sigh Normally, I wouldn't believe you, but she has been acting strangely, especially these last few days. Thank you, I just hoped she would've told us." The student said it with a resigned sigh.
"She does too." Momo said, and with a small nod, they saw each other off. Izuku was left with Momo and Luffy.
"So, how do you know Camie?" Izuku said, trying to make small talk.
"No offense, but can you go on ahead?" Momo said it with an apologetic voice. "Me and Luffy have some things to talk about."
"Oh, Okay." Izuku said, sounding pretty worried about this talk, but he didn't complain. Now there were two, just Luffy and Momo. Momo, who was pacing back and forth, and Luffy, who was watching Momo like somebody would watch a bomb with a timer.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So, Momo–"
"I don't like it, I'll make this clear from the jump." Momo stopped pacing. "I don't like your lack of empathy towards your enemies."
"Well–"
"Let me finish, I don't like it, but I'm not going to make the mistake of abandoning you, so you're going to have to promise."
"Promise?"
"Exactly. Promise me that from now on, no matter who it is, you won't kill. No matter how tempting it may be or how much they may deserve it, you're not going to do it anymore."
"I promise!" Luffy didn't care all that much about killing, he was fine with putting them in prison, but he was happy that he didn't destroy his relationship with Momo.
"Good. And I promise never to let you cross that line again. As long as I'm alive, every enemy you face will end up in prison, not the morgue. Deal?"
"Deal!"
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder