Chương 3: Start Of The Journey (3)
Leaning back into the chair, I sat next to Gaoh-jiisan who fiddled about with his walking stick while a similarly old doctor sat across from us while looking over some test results with increasing widening eyes.
Was coming to a off-the-books doctor with an extremely strong old man the best decision I'd ever made? Not really. Did it effect me in any negative ways? Not really. Did it make me question my survival instincts? Very much so. Apparently I was the easily trusting type but at least I was self-aware enough to acknowledge it.
Gaoh-jiisan brought me here shortly after we met. Why? Because even he didn't really believe I was Quirkless. Well, I don't think *believe* was the right word. I don't think he was entirely sure I was Quirkless. Not that I could blame him either. Knowing the genetics I had and the way they'd show themselves right now and even more so in the future, I'd also had some doubts I was still completely Quirkless. I definitely had some quirks after the change but not in the way this world would want me to.
"I..." the doctor put down the clip board in his hand and trailed off just as he started, choosing instead to take off his half-moon spectacles and rub at his eyes like what he'd just read had hurt them somehow. "He's definitely Quirkless, Mukaku. Despite such an absurd physique...he's definitely Quirkless. Has the joint in his little toe and everything," he looked Gaoh-jiisan dead in the eye as he slipped his glasses back on, "Where on Earth did you find him?"
The old man in question didn't dignify that with a response as he clapped me on the shoulder hard enough that I felt my bones shake, "Ha! I didn't doubt you do a second, brat!"
...He most definitely doubted me for a lot longer than a second.
Regardless of my thoughts, I met his enthusiasm with a smile, "What now then?"
"Now?" he smiled rather sinisterly, "Now, we figure out your limits and push you enough so you break 'em!" he laughed again as he pushed himself up with the walking stick I was becoming more and more sure of that he didn't need. He was just too lively to need it. I joined him in standing up and gave a polite bow to the still seated doctor who looked at me like I was some sort of anomaly. Disregarding the doctor's gaze, Gaoh-jiisan leveled a pretty serious look at the glasses-wearing man, "I expect the results of these tests to be gone the moment we leave this room. If any of it gets out, you'll be getting a much less amicable meeting with me soon after."
The atmosphere went pretty heavy and tense when he said that but the doctor gave a smile and waved it off, "What kind of man do you think I am, Mukaku? I've been doing your check-ups for the last two decades. I'd gain nothing from messing a kid about you old coot," he said before whipping out a lighter and holding it under the paper he pulled from the clipboard which soon went up in flames. "Happy?" he asked and the old man next to me gave a nod and a grunt before turning to leave.
Following after my new teacher and exiting the room into an empty lobby, I wondered aloud, "Where are we gonna train?"
"First I've gotta teach you the most important lesson of all; how to breathe. So, we're going to the beach. Then for a little break we can use the uneven terrain of the beach to work on that lousy footwork of yours--oh and a bit of sparring for that uncoordinated flailing you call a strike! Ah, I feel a few decades younger already!" he listed off a few things and while I felt a little daunted by it, more than anything I felt excited for the challenge.
My first steps on my path to becoming a Pro. The start of my journey.
. . .
"Hm...As I thought," Gaoh-jiisan hummed as he scratched at his chin, his walking stick not being used to support his body but instead being used to poke my body, "Two things about your muscles; One, they're top quality. Strong, fast, durable and while your stamina seems a bit low that could be more to do with your cardiovascular health...but secondly, they're so naturally robust that most training is going to be ineffective." He brought his cane away from my arm and pressed it into the loose sand below and he shrugged, "Oh well, just have to amp the intensity up to the maximum, won't I?"
I'd been expecting it. The lack of feeling from push-ups and the handstand variant had been a clue to what he'd just said but I'd thought he'd have some super secret workout. Turns out I had my hopes up for both a payoff and slight letdown at the same time. His super secret workout? Just add more intensity to the original.
...I guess it works. He's the martial arts master, so who am I to question it?
"Will it be a problem or a hassle to work them out to their peak?" I asked curiously and Gaoh-jiisan nodded in reply before stopping and holding up a hand in a 'kind of' gesture.
"A hassle, sure. But not a problem. I just need some time to get the proper weights which is why for now, we're working on technique. The thing you," he pointed his cane at me for emphasis, "sorely need."
I nodded in agreement. I didn't need to be a martial master in my previous life as Jason to understand my lacking technique in this life. The lack of muscle memory was really messing with me but I didn't dwell on that for too long and just smiled brightly at the person in front of me who I hoped/knew could fix that glaring flaw, "Let's get on with it then!" I said with a pumped voice.
I'd always loved martial arts. My favorite scenes in anime even outside of the martial arts genre were always the call fight scenes as well. I'd been obsessed with them ever since I first watched Dragon Ball as a kid and I'd never looked back since - at that point I knew I wanted to be like my heroes on the screen but normal world logic forbade me from following my dreams fully, forcing me to relegate my desires for working out and martial arts in favor of things like school.
But not here. Not now. Here and now I could fully delve into my passion. So my passion and excitement were overflowing within me and I couldn't help but show it.
"Sit your ass down then, brat," Gaoh-jiisan huffed before slowly dropping himself to the ground with an 'oof'. I followed and sat ramrod straight with eyes focused on my teacher and my ears focused so I wouldn't miss a second of his teachings. "First things first, I need to teach you the Nil Kata. It's not exactly applicable in combat as it has no moves but it's by far the most important Kata out of the five I'll be teaching you. It's a compilation of breathing exercises that will train your lungs and diaphragm so as to make sure you don't mess up and lose your breath during a fight."
I nodded and he continued, "The fighter who keeps his breath for longer and better, wins. It's a basic rule of fighting. An opponent who can't breath, can't fight, and the same applies to you. Air is your fuel and you need all you can get in a fight. Now, follow after me," he set his cane across his lap and set his hands down on his knees.
Unsure whether or not that was needed, I copied his posture as well as I could and watched the rhythm of his breathing. It was a mixture of rapid but deep inhaling, then holding it and exhaling it slowly. The first few rounds were easy. So easy, in fact, that I wondered where the training was supposed to come from. Then I felt it. The pressure. It slowly but surely got harder and harder to hold the breath in while controlling the exhale. Resisting the pressure made my internals sore but that didn't stop me. That's just a sign that it's working!
"The pressure's uncomfortable, ain't it?" Gaoh-jiisan spoke while still doing the weird breathing and I nodded, completely unconfident I could replicate the feat. He smiled and nodded, "Good. This type of breathing will improve your lung capacity and the efficiency at which your blood is diffused with oxygen. Don't use this breathing technique in a fight, you hear? It's a training Kata for a reason."
Again I nodded, knowing that even with a load of training this wouldn't really be applicable in combat just like Gaoh-jiisan said. Even now I could feel the rawness in my chest as my lungs got more and more overloaded by the seemingly normal breathing pattern.
Yet I pushed on. Half-assing it never got anyone anywhere. I'll stop when I drop.
It continued like this with the old man giving me tips and gruff encouragement for another half an hour before I finally had to give up as my diaphragm began spasming. Gaoh-jiisan jabbed his cane into my solar plexus which hurt like a bitch but stopped the spasming. I still gave him a 'was that really necessary?' glare which he replied to with a condescending 'Yep' smirk. As I caught my breath and ignored the feeling of weirdness at returning to breathing normally, I looked to my teacher, "So, a bit of rest and then back to it?"
"Ha!" he laughed before nodding and appraising me with something akin to a proud look in his eyes, "Exactly, brat. You get one minute recovery and then we're back into it. Three more rounds and then we're moving onto something a little harder." I raised an eyebrow at that which he returned, "What? Not up for a little challenge?" he challengingly said.
I met his tone with an eager smile, "You wish! Bring it on and I'll do it! Nobody got anywhere without putting in the effort!" I repeated my earlier thoughts and Gaoh-jiisan gave a wide smile as eager as mine.
"Never lose that attitude, kid! It'll take you farther than anything else!" he laughed triumphantly and I got focused on recovering. My lungs were gonna be burning after the next three sessions, I was sure of it, but I'd not have it any other way. My recovery period felt short as he slapped his knee and said, "Time's up! Back to training, Midoriya brat!"
Nodding, I settled back into the breathing exercise with total abandon.
As I thought, I was right and by the second time around my lungs and chest felt like they were on fire as the starting pressure continued to build even with the recovery time in between. Getting through the last round, I felt my face was covered with sweat and my abdominals were twitching and spasming like there was no tomorrow but I pushed on. Despite a normal person, my willpower and determination to complete the task never wavered--in fact, it only ever grew as I continued. It was like having an internal generator that constantly churned out motivation.
I'd never felt anything like it before. Either as past Izuku or Jason. In the end, I marked it down as a product of the merging of two different souls. Not paying it too much thought, I rapidly took in air as I hunched over a little. That last round of breathing exercises had really pushed me to the edge, regardless of my determination to continue. Though it was nice to know my body *did* have limits; it showed I could still get stronger if I did what Gaoh-jiisan asked of me.
"Recover for five minutes and then you're getting in that sea!" Gaoh-jiisan laughed like a kid on Christmas before standing up with his cane and stretching his body, mumbling about 'old bones' this and 'worn muscles' that. I would glare at him for complaining about his condition in front of me when I was a heaving mess but I didn't have the energy to focus on much other than recovering.
And recover I tried to do. I refrained from any deep breathing and just focused on trying to let my lungs rest a little. As I did so, my teacher rolled up the legs on the pants he was wearing and kicked off his sandals and socks before he walked into the sea until it was up to his knees. Soon after he gestured for me to follow him in.
I rolled my cargo shorts a little more, did the same with my sneakers and socks, then pushed myself up. God bless whatever gives me such insane recovery speed because I already felt a decent bit better after five minutes of rest.
Walking into the somewhat cold sea, I stood next to Gaoh-jiisan and looked to him for instruction.
"Footwork is as equally important to a fight as breathing," he started, "For instance, when that teleporting brat got behind you, you couldn't move in time to dodge his hand despite full well being able to react to it. Why's that?" I thought he wanted an answer but apparently it was rhetorical because he answered his own question soon after asking it, "Because your stance was all wacky. You can have all the speed in the world and the reflexes necessary but if your feet aren't in the position to move in the appropriate ways, it's useless! In the same way a sprinter has to have a starting position to maximize their speed, you need to be taught *your* starting position."
His explanation did make sense, so I just nodded along. After all, you can't go from standing straight up to sprinting forward unless you had time and in most fights you don't have much of that at all. Even I knew that, as limited experience as my experience is.
The old man jabbed his cane through the water and into my foot nearest to him. I struggled from yelping at the sudden 'attack' and Gaoh-jiisan chuckled, "But members of the Niko Style don't have stances. The Niko Style is applicable to real combat and in real combat, you won't have the time to settle into some pretentious form," he shook his head in disdain, "No! You need to be able to move no matter your positioning! No matter where your feet are! No matter your balance and whether it's good or not!"
"Uh, and how do we do that?" I asked, causing him to smile a smile that looked far too excited to be concerned with my well-being in the near future.
"We develop dexterity in your feet so you can move regardless of their positioning, endurance and strength in your legs so you can move with power and keep doing it and those instincts in your head so you know when to move and by how much, of course!" he laughed like a madman, "I'm gonna start attacking you now, brat! Only with my cane though, so don't worry too much! If you leave my range or both feet leave the water at the same time and I've got an interesting piece of 'training' ready for ya!"
...Something tells me even I won't like the so-called 'training' he's talking about as a punishment.
Still, I was eager for the challenge and looking forward to learning everything I could, so I nodded and got ready to dodge whatever he'd throw at me.
The first cane strike went for my back foot and I hurriedly moved it out the way before a quick follow-up slammed into my front leg as my balance was all off. The only thing keeping me standing on the wet and uneven sand was the unnatural balance I had.
"Make smaller movements!" Gaoh-jiisan barked in admonishment before striking for my front knee this time. Sliding across the sand, I barely dodged the faster strike but my balance was far better off than the hastier movement from before had left me with so I lifted my foot up and above the next cane strike that aimed for my front leg again. When the next strike came for my supporting legs toes, I knew I'd fucked myself by bringing my feet out of the water. Now I didn't really have much of a way out--
But I did. I realized that I did.
Swinging the leg that was out of the water to the side and behind me, I used the momentum to spin my supporting foot around so my toes weren't in the path of destruction of that damned cane anymore. Though just as I was about to celebrate mentally, a ruthless cane strike to the back of my knee brought me down onto it in a kneeling position. Goddammit.
"Good improvisation, Izuku brat, but never turn your back to the enemy! You should've completed the spin so you were facing me! Try again!" he laughed like a demon and I turned to look at him. Right now? He looked like a demon too.
Breathing out steadily, I pushed myself back up out of the sea water. Thankfully I'd left my phone with my shoes and socks. Still...wearing soggy cargo pants just isn't it chief.
I put an end to my thoughts as I turned to face Gaoh-jiisan fully. Back to dodge practice it is then.
. . .
"You've done well for your first day of training," my teacher said while standing above me on the beach as I took in harsh breath after harsh breath. I could barely feel my legs and my chest was on fire. Not to mention the places he hit me with that damn cane. "As expected, I was right about your talent you little martial arts sponge. You'll pick up the basics in no time," he piled on the praise but it was hard to take it when all I'd done for the last two hours was get hit with a stick and when I broke the rules he'd make me do a harder version of the Nil Kata...I shuddered at the thought of that 'training'.
He prodded my chest with his cane and I winced in reply, "Are you listening to me, brat?" he asked with a fed-up tone, "Your teacher's giving you praise by the bucket and you're wearing a face like you just sniffed shit!"
"Just," I took in a deep breath as I pushed myself up into a seated position, "Just wondering what that 'training' was aimed for earlier, is all. Seemed a bit...much, I guess is how I'd put it," I shuddered once more.
The 'training' in question was basically the Nil Kata. Controlled breathing that gets progressively harder the more you do it. But with the add on of only having two seconds to get all the air you need and then spending a minute and a half under WATER. We went through five rounds of that each time I broke the rules. Advice: Never break Gaoh-jiisan's rules.
"Sometimes you need to know how to hold your breath in a fight," he shrugged in reply, "Better to know how and not need it than to need it and not know how." He turned to look me straight in the eye before smirking, "Helps build character in overly talented brats too," he said before chuckling to himself after seeing my look of disbelief. Groaning a little as I pushed myself up fully and stood up, I looked over to the old man as he spoke, "Do the Nil Kata every morning from now on. Four rounds of thirty minutes each and one minute of rest in between each round. Every two weeks, add five minutes to each round. You remember the yoga poses I taught you?"
I nodded - he'd done them not five minutes ago, so how would I forget? My body certainly didn't - so he continued, "Do those every day too. Before or after the Nil Kata, it doesn't matter, just make sure you do them and don't miss a day. They'll help with muscle control, flexibility and that uncanny balance of yours. That first part is a major part of the Niko Style, understood?"
"Yes sir," I fired off a mock salute and he laughed in reply at my obvious change in attitude from in the alleyway to now. The reason for the change? The guy could easily have killed me if he wanted to. That I was sure of. So acting like I was at immediate risk would just be me being a coward.
Hence the change in attitude. As far as I could tell he seemed to appreciate this more than the extremely docile and respectful kind of attitude anyway.
Seeming to realize something, Gaoh-jiisan pulled out a notebook and a pen before writing down something on it before ripping the page out and handing it to me, "This is my phone number. Don't go ringing it like some clingy kid, you hear me? Send me a message now so I have your number and I'll contact you a time and a place for our training sessions. To save my old fingers the trouble, be here tomorrow at 7:45 in the morning. Don't forget it, brat."
Nodding, I took the piece of paper and picked up my phone from off the top of my sneakers and put the details down in my contacts. My very, very bare contacts. Literally just mom's number there. Jeez, that's sad as hell.
Ignoring the sudden feeling of loneliness I was assaulted by, I also set up a few alarms for the next morning so I could wake up nice and early to do the training ascribed to me before heading out for my training with the old man.
"You mentioned something about being 15, right?" I nodded to his question - I think that might've been when I was accusing him of child abuse - to which he asked another, "So you have highschool weekdays?" I nodded once more, "Alright. We'll figure out a proper time for weekday training but weekends will always been 7:45 in the morning so you might wanna jot that down somewhere." Taking the advice, I decided to make the alarm I'd set for tomorrow a recurring one for every weekend ad infinitum.
Looking at the time, I saw it was just before noon. I'd been training for since around eight and I'd been touring the immediate surroundings of my house for a dojo before that - so I was ravenously hungry right now and I'd only just realized it because I hadn't been so focused on training. Huh.
Slipping on my socks and shoes, I held my phone in my hand because putting it in my wet pocket would only end badly. Looking to Gaoh-jiisan, I started to say my goodbyes for now, "I'm gonna head-on home them. We are done here, right?" I asked to clarify and he simply nodded in response. "I'll see you tomorrow morning then, old man!" I smiled and started jogging away while thinking about a nice warm shower followed up by a massive meal.
Ah~ Bliss~
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
Bruh_Moment_2806
Bruh_Moment_2806 A bit of bro/pseudo martial arts science but it's an anime fanfic, so what did you expect?! I did practice kickboxing as a kid and I even placed in a few tournaments--but I'm far from some mystical martial arts master and I mostly practice nowadays to stay in shape and so I have a hobby, so don't expect 100% realism from me. I really don't know why you would but I'm covering my bases here.
Plenty of pseudo science will be shown in future chapters. Just in case one of you tries it and injures yourself and to make sure I'm not liable for it: DO NOT TRY THE CRAZY SHIT I'M GONNA HAVE THE MC DO! PLEASE! I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO WITHSTAND A LAWSUIT!
Jokes aside, mess about responsibly. Dodge about in the sea with an old man hitting you with his walking cane all you want but know when to stop lmao.
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