July fifteenth is Midoriya Izuku's birthday. It has never been a good day, not since his diagnosis and over the years he stopped looking forward to it.
It had just become another day, one that he would eat some cake and his favorite meal; katsudon.
He lifts a top freezer refrigerator, feeling every muscle in his body tense, and carries it towards the garbage container at the edge of the beach. It was a slow and painful walk, every step was a struggle but a rewarding one.
Four months ago he could never imagine doing something like that but as he pushed the machine over the edge of the industrial trash bin he came to the sudden realization that it was always him. It wasn't his Quirklessness or his bullies or society but himself that kept him on the ground.
Izuku always had the potential to be strong but only when he allowed himself to be.
Turning around, he looks over Takoba Municipal Beach Park and smiles. Close to half of the beach is cleared and soon it will all be restored.
Quirkless Izuku did that.
Deku did that.
A boy with limitless potential did that.
He briefly thought about Toshinori, the only person in the whole world to believe in him. Who saw what he could be instead of what he was and felt immense gratitude for the man.
Izuku would pay it back one day. When he was older and proved himself and the man right about him, he would pay all the support back.
Jogging back onto the beach he continues his training, ignoring his body pleading to take a break.
Hours passed silently as he pushed himself further and further.
"Young Izuku, how did I know you would be here, on your birthday no less!!" Yagi Toshinori happily exclaims as he walks up to the boy carrying a large metal tube.
His protégé comes rushing forward with a large grin.
"You were here on your birthday, Old Toshinori! I'm just following your example."
The man laughs and tussles the other's hair, "You got me there, Izuku." He sits down and pats beside him, the boy follows the silent command. "I can't say enough how proud I am of you, my boy. You've worked harder than anyone I've ever known, you prove everyday why choosing you is the best decision of my life."
Izuku blushes and looks down.
The disguised symbol uncaps the tube in his hands and pulls out a rolled up poster, "So I thought long and hard about what to get you for your birthday–"
"Toshinori you did–"
"And!" He talks over the youngster who puffs out his cheeks, "I know how big of a fan you are of All Might and it became pretty clear what I should get you so," He hands the gift over. "Happy birthday, my lad."
Izuku smiles gratefully at the man and unrolls the gift before gasping, in his hands is a tenth anniversary All Might poster! It was the first poster of the man in his golden age costume, it was never released to the public because it barely had the costume in it! Just the man's face and shoulder.
It was even signed!
"Oh my god! OH MY GOD!" The boy screams in glee, "I'll treasure it always! It'll be a family heirloom!"
Toshinori laughs and brings the boy into a side hug, "Yes, I'm sure."
"This is the best birthday ever!" Izuku smiles widely, returning the embrace eagerly.
The Pro Hero nods, "So what I'm hearing is I nailed it out of the park?"
The preteen nods, "I'm pretty sure the ball is in the stratosphere!"
"Haha!" Shaking his head, "Good, good." He looks around the beach and can't help but feel immeasurable pride for his boy. "You know, these past four months have shown me how strong you are, Izuku. Your willingness to go beyond all expectations and push yourself as far as possible is truly inspiring but it's clear that you don't truly need m‐"
"That's not true Toshinori!" Izuku exclaims, panic clear on his face, "I need you! I definitely need you!" His eyes start watering.
The sickly hero palms the top of the child's head and shakes it around, "Let me finish, please."
Biting his quivering lip he squeezes his eyes shut and nods.
"You don't need my help in strengthening your body, it's clear that you have your own plan in mind and it's working well for you, so instead I'll be using what little time we have together in teaching you to defend yourself."
The preteen's eyes snap open and he can't help the excitement spreading across his face, "Re… really?"
"Yes." The mentor nods, "You keep doing what you're doing but on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays when I would usually be supervising you here I'll instead teach you how to Box."
"Awesome." The boy mutters in awe.
Snorting Toshinori pats the boy's back, "Then it's a plan."
He nods absentmindedly, his head filled with images of himself fighting off hordes of villains with nothing but his fists.
"I can practically see what you're thinking kid and it'll be a long while before you're at the level where you can fight off a single villian but I'll get you there. We'll start next Monday. I want you to be at one hundred percent so I can see where exactly I need to push you; take the rest of the week off and let those muscles heal, alright?"
Izuku blushes at being read so easily, "Alright, Toshinori-Sensei."
~The Heavenly Hero:Celestial~
Izuku did exactly what he was told and took a break.
He hated it.
The boy had gotten so used to filling every inch of the day that time seemed to stand still. So he decided to occupy his days with research about boxing.
Turns out there were multiple styles and it was incorporated in many other martial arts; bare-knuckle boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, lethwei, savate, and much more.
He watched what he was sure were hundreds upon hundreds of videos on the fighting style, studying the way the people in them moved, how they practically danced around each other. The boy also read on the science of fighting, how to best use the body to generate the maximum amount of force.
Izuku filled an entire journal on what he learned, sketching out diagrams on the stances, imagining himself acting them out.
The boy desperately wanted to practice but he made a promise and he planned to keep it.
When Monday finally rolled around he excitedly followed the directions on his phone to the address his mentor sent him. He stands in front of a gym in between a dance studio and convenience store, it's a single story with a fixed panel mirror window with the name of the establishment etched on it with red, white and blue block lettering.
Mighty Gym
Walking in he ignores the chime the door makes and looks around in awe, the floor is a deep blue concrete polished to perfection that it almost looks like the ocean. Off to the side is an elevated boxing ring with red canvas and platform, white ropes connected to corner paddings of the same color while the neutral corners were the same shade as the floor.
On the opposite side is a dual punching bag stand with a pitch black heavy duty bag hanging from one side and a speedball on the other, multi-target pads positioned in sharp angles, and pressed against the wall is a rack of weights that ascended into heavier dumbbells.
'Why aren't there any people here?' The boy thinks in confusion, 'Why is there only one punching bag?'
He sees Toshinori walk out of a door in the back smiling joyfully at the sight of him. The man is wearing a loose black shirt with the compression shirt he gifted him under it and blue basketball shorts to match the gift.
Izuku himself is wearing an emerald green tank top with the words; business suit printed across the front and running shorts of the same color, beneath his work out clothes is a burnt orange compression shirt, pants, and socks.
"Toshinori, where is everyone?"
The man looks confused for a moment as he walks up, "Why wou–" Realization seems to hit him and he shakes his head. "Oh no, no dear boy. I own this gym."
The boy's eyes widened, "You own it? Cool, I had no idea you ran a gym along with everything else." His respect for his mentor grows at the knowledge, juggling so many responsibilities but still finds the time to train him along with everything else.
The hero shakes his head, "No, no. I don't run a gym my boy, I actually bought it for us, I needed a place where I could train you properly. Do you like the name? I thought you would appreciate the nod to All Might."
The preteen feels himself short circuit at the new information, "You… you bought a… What?!"
Laughing, the man ruffles his hair, "Pretty cool right? Pretty cheap too."
"But… but how? I mean we only agreed to start these boxing lessons less than a week ago?!"
"No, I brought up the possibility a week ago, I've actually been thinking about teaching you boxing about a month back, just needed to get everything ready."
His protégé blinks insidiously, stuttering in astonishment.
"Anyway!" Toshinori claps, "I want to start off by saying that I'm not teaching you a sport, I'm teaching you how to fight and fighting is nothing like you see in movies or t.v or even on the news. It's dirty and bloody and scary, especially when you do it for the first time. There are no rules and there is no honor, when you're a hero you'll be in situations where you have to defend not only yourself but others and even the person you're fighting, the goal in every fight is for everybody to come out alive and healthy. "
The boy nods seriously.
"Now, people assume boxing is all about force, about punching as hard as possible but that couldn't be further from the truth. It's all about stability while in motion." The man starts hopping, putting his hands in a loose guard around his head, "Strength is important, vital, but so is agility. If you can take a punch, great! But why get punched when you can avoid it all together." He weaves around an invisible opponent. "Do as I do."
"Right!" Izuku exclaims as drops into his own guard, mimicking his mentor as best he could drawing from his research, though instead of leading with his left side he's leading with his right, he tries hopping from foot to foot. It's choppy and uncoordinated, his guard is wide, his elbows angled out leaving him open.
The pro hero stops moving and looks the boy over, "I see you've done your research. Square your hips more and pull your elbows in, straighten your wrists and unclench your fists a little. Tuck your chin in. Keep it loose Izuku, tensing your body contracts the muscles, reducing the speed of your strikes and the power that is generated from your body, keeping yourself relaxed will help with coordination and increase your reaction time."
The preteen listens to the advice, adjusting his body.
"Better, control your breathing. Breathing is everything, in through your nose slowly filling your lungs and abdomen." He explains, "Right as you punch, exhale sharply through your nose." The man quickly demonstrates which his protégé copies. "What I just did is called a jab, the most basic punch in boxing. There's six punches that make up the fighting style; a jab, a cross, a lead hook, a rear hook, a lead uppercut, and a rear uppercut."
He shows the strikes off quickly, the boy copies as closely as possible.
"Good. Good." Toshinori mutters, "Don't stop, cycle through what I just showed you."
Izuku does as he's told. He has no trouble controlling his breathing but the punches are shaky and riddled with mistakes as he transitions from strike to strike.
"Tighten your stance."
"Lift your shoulder higher."
"Don't watch your feet, that's how you get sucker punched!"
"Remember, the chin. Tuck your chin in!"
Over and over again, his mentor corrects him.
"If you have to go slower to get it right, then go slower!"
The boy nods but refuses to slow his pace down, he knows what he's doing. He just needs his body to follow his mind but that takes practice, patience and he's got both.
"Remember, boxing isn't just about punching, it's a full body fighting style! Power from your punches begins at the soles of your feet, it travels upwards where it gains even more strength from the torque of your hips! Before it finally leaves your fist into your opponent!" The man teaches, "What I'm trying to say is use your entire body!"
"Right!"
"Now as you're punching I want you to call out the number associated with it! Jab is one, a cross is two, a lead hook is three, a rear hook is four, a lead uppercut is five, and a rear uppercut is six."
"Four! Five! Six!" The preteen calls out, "One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!"
The pro hero hums as he watches, as the hour passes they move to the punching bag.
"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! One! Two! Three! Four!-" The bag is constantly knocked back, banging against the stand it hangs from, the leather bending against his fist.
It's clear that Izuku is starting to struggle, his breathing becoming harsher, his stance that he spent the last hour perfecting, loosening and his footwork becoming hard stomps.
"Not every punch needs a hundred percent of your strength, that's how you tire yourself out and fast." Toshinori explains, "Conservation is key! Your best doesn't always mean everything you got, sometimes it means what you can consistently deal out."
The protégé nods as sweat drips from his brow and starts holding back. The effects are clear as his breathing returns to normal and his stance tightens while his footwork lightens.
"Looking good, my boy. I think it's time to get into the meat and potatoes; boxing combinations. Follow as best as you can; one-two."
"One-two!"
"One-two, one-two!"
Izuku follows the commands, slowly they become more and more complicated, forcing his mind to adapt to the random string of punches.
"And let's call it a day!" The emaciated man exclaims, as he does the pre teen drops to his ass and takes a deep breath through his mouth. He crouches down next to the boy and pats his shoulder smiling widely, "Well done, truly! Your training is paying off."
"Thanks!" He huffs out, "That was a good work out, feels like I spent a whole day at the beach."
The hidden symbol laughs and tousles the boy's hair, "It's because you're using your muscles in a new way, engaging more muscle groups simultaneously while also working out your coordination and agility while incorporating intense bursts of cardio. Overall, boxing is a more demanding workout especially the way I was teaching you."
"Yeah?" Izuku asks.
"Usually you would be eased into it, building a foundation of knowledge and fitness before increasing the difficulty but I know you and I know you would do your research, I also know you're in great shape so I knew you could handle it."
The boy feels his heart warm, "Thanks for believing in me, Toshinori-Sensei."
"Always." The pro hero stands up before offering his hand to the other who takes it and pulls himself up.
~The Heavenly Hero:Celestial~
Toshinori sat in his second form wearing a form-fitting three piece banana yellow suit with a matching tie and a navy blue button up underneath. He's sitting on a comfortable reddish leather chair across from a talk show host, the studio he sat in resembled a spacious office with maple hardwood floors and the desk separating him from the host being large and wide shaped in a half-circle.
Usually when he did interviews it was to talk about an important issue of some kind; homelessness, liveable-wages, discrimination, and the like. The man tried hard to use his unlimited social capital for the public.
Even now as he plans to manipulate the world to allow him to enlist a child into the never ending war against evil the symbol of peace was doing it for them.
"I got to ask All Might, what's next? For the man who has done everything, what else is there to accomplish?" The host asks.
"Well," The ultimate hero's bright smile dims into something that resembles a genuine grin, "I haven't done everything. I have spent a lifetime in service to Japan, to the world, and I like to think I've done a good job but I'm getting older and I find myself wondering if I could do more?"
"More?!" The host exclaims in genuine surprise, "Thanks to you the crime rate in Japan has dropped to less than three percent, while the crime rate across the world rarely rises above ten! You have turned calamities into miracles, you have single handedly saved more lives than every other hero in the world combined! What more can you do?!"
"I can prepare the next generation!" Toshinori exclaims with an excited gleam in his bright blue eyes, "People often forget that once upon a time I was but a boy with a dream and it was thanks to my mentors that I had found the strength to become the hero you now know today! I wish to be that for someone else!"
The host's mouth hangs open, "But haven't you done that all ready? If memory serves me right, wasn't Stars and Stripes, the Number one hero in America, your sidekick?"
"She was, briefly, but only because she was blinded by her admiration of me. Stars and Stripes was more than ready to be her own Hero when she came to me, all she needed was a push, a push I was honored to give to such an amazing woman. What I want is to guide someone who truly and utterly 'needs' it."
"Oh wow, well I have to ask; what school is lucky enough to have you join their ranks? Your old stomping grounds perhaps, U.A?"
The disguised man shakes his head, "No, no. You misunderstand, looking back on my experiences I found that having… one on one instruction will best facilitate a child's growth. While I can say U.A taught me how to be a Professional Hero, it was my Masters; Ms. Wonder and Gran Torino that educated me on what it means to be a superhero. So with the Hero Commission's approval I have created a Hero Program where a chosen child will be taken under my wing, basically operating as my sidekick. They will have the best training, the best education, and my undivided attention."
"That… sounds incredible." The host's voice is laced with awe, "Who better than you to teach someone how to be a Pro?"
"Thank you." Toshinori nods.
"How will your disciple be chosen?"
"Well I'll be contacting numerous middle and high schools, even universities to recommend students who represent the values I hold closely; integrity, bravery, and grit. It does not matter their grades, ages, Quirks, or past failures, simply their character."
The interview continues but he has gotten what he wanted, his wants had been made public at least partially. He feels a sticky shame of how many children he was going to have to reject but he needed a solid alibi for when he took Young Izuku on as his apprentice publicly.
In the coming months people will be expecting him to take on a student and as more time passes they'll start to get impatient and disheartened. He knows how the public views him, all but a deity but he's sure in the back of their minds they wonder who could possibly take his place especially after reminding them of his mortality, subconsciously they'll look to who he picks as his successor and when no one is chosen they'll have all their worst fears confirmed.
No one can take All Might's place as the Symbol of Peace.
All Might is special, of course he couldn't find anyone that reached his standards.
He'll cast the net wide so it would look like he searched everywhere. When the time comes and Izuku has his interview showcasing his astonishing feat of cleaning the entirety of Takoba Municipal Beach Park demonstrating true grit, an undeniable pure heart, and Toshinori's gift people won't be surprised at all when he's chosen.
They'll be ecstatic that someone was chosen, someone with similar gifts as his own and when the boy begins hero work, much sooner than he should, they won't be horrified they'll be relieved. Izuku will seem like his second coming and naturally people will see him as something other, greater.
Someone that will protect them.
It wasn't All Might that recruited a pubescent boy into becoming his successor, introducing him to danger no one his age should be exposed to, no it was society.