Chapter Text
He woke up feeling very, very wet. His clothes were weighing heavily on him, merely trying to move a finger produced a wet squelch. One almost drowned in the thunderous noise of a waterfall coming from somewhere near.
When he opened his eyes, he realized that he wasn’t in some very odd afterlife, but in a cave. One that was damp, and quite dark. Illuminated only by some fluorescent growths on the wall.
Oh, right. He did fall into the Hellgate Labyrinth. His present surroundings made perfect sense. What didn’t make sense was that he was still breathing despite being carried down by some underground river, which probably included at least a few waterfalls.
Also, nothing was presently trying to munch on his flesh. That was… surprising.
“Why is my life like this?” He decides to ask himself while checking if he could actually feel his legs. Turned out that he could. Another positive surprise of the day. Seriously, how is he even alive?
“Ribbit?” He hears. He turns his head towards the source of the voice. Part of him hoped that it was some giant, murderous frog that would eat him and end this unfortunate existence that he was.
Except, it was a girl.
Long, messy green hair. Way too big eyes. Busy crouching at the edge of the water a few meters away from him. There was a large and clearly blind cave fish in her hands, still wiggling lightly, frozen close to her mouth when she heard him.
Oh, and she was absolutely and totally naked. Calm yourself, oh virgin heart of mine.
Some sort of frog-morph beastfolk. A rare morph, it was honestly the first time he ever saw one. Could be even described as ‘cute’, if you were to go past the slightly odd face and the whole ‘was about to eat a still struggling fish raw’.
He also had no idea how to judge her age. Anywhere from 16 to 20 was a fair game.
“Are you, perhaps, a cannibal?” He decides to ask. Let’s establish some ground rules. “If so, you’re free to eat me.” He craves oblivion right now. Because this sounds much less painful than trying to crawl back from whatever place he was in right now. The Labyrinth has a… reputation.
“What’s a cannibal?” She asks, tilting her head a bit. “Is it tasty?” It was honestly an incredibly funny reply, although probably it wasn’t intentional on her part.
Good news - she could speak. Bad news - she could speak. Also he still wasn’t sure if eating him wasn’t on the table, since the girl didn’t mention that part. Then again, if he was going to die, he could at least be turned into nutrition for someone actually nice looking, right?
Wait, that came out wrong.
“It’s complicated.” He replies, still lying face-up on the rocky surface of the cavern. “How did I end up here? Did you pull me out of the water?” He certainly didn’t get there on his own.
“Yes. Ribbit.” She announces. She feels faintly smug about that. “I left you there to dry. Two-legged meat tastes weird when wet.”
Okay. So she probably WAS a cannibal. On the other hand, what were the chances of ‘two-legged things’ on this depth being in any way, shape or form related to humans? Does he even want to know what else dwells in those caverns?
“Well, thank you for the save.” He replies, because thanking a person that decided to save you is an honorable thing to do. Even if you were alright with dying. And even if they wanted to eat your corpse afterwards. “So, who are you?”
She gives him an odd look.
“I am me.” She replies. “You are you. Ribbit.” So, she probably didn’t even have a name. Wow. Actually trying to fight his way out of this dump only to kick her parents in the face suddenly sounds like a good idea. Unless her presence here was an accident, like his own.
Alright. She is probably good in water. There is a rainy season on the surface right now. He can work with that.
“I pronounce you Tsuyu.” He announces with his most serious, regal tone. Which probably sounds pretty damn weird when you are lying face-up on the cavern floor, looking like a shipwreck survivor.
“Tsuyu?” She tilts her head a bit. “What’s that? Is it tasty?”
That was going to be an uphill battle, wasn’t it?
“I’m Izuku. Izuku… Midoriya.” He replies after a split second of hesitation that she seems to not have noticed. His family matters are… complicated. “So when someone wants to refer to me in a talk, they can call me Izuku. I just decided to refer to you as Tsuyu.”
She seems to be processing it for a moment. Midoriya lets her do that. He has all the time he needs right now.
“Alright.” She announces. Then she eats the still struggling (although faintly, lack of air was getting to it finally) fish. Now that’s a mind image he wasn’t ready for. She then ribbits, and it sounds like she is happy with herself. Must have been one tasty fish.
Alright. What to do now? Jump into the water and hope for the next waterfall in line to finally end him? What depth is he even on? What if there is something actually horrible down there? Dying isn’t the worst option out there.
“Why are you here?” She asks and that degree of proactiveness is actually surprising. Is she actually curious about him?
“Disagreement in a family concerning the inheritance of…” He sighs when she gives him a confused stare. “Someone tried to kill me, I fell into the water, the water brought me here. Somehow without breaking all my bones and/or drowning me in the process.” That she clearly can understand.
Alright, so he had two options now. Option one was the simplest. It was to stay there and die. Get eaten by her, get eaten by something else, honestly he wasn’t picky about what was going to happen to him after he died. He could be even reanimated as an undead for all he cared.
Option two was to motivate himself into standing up. He could then proceed to try to get out, in order to the standard routine of people that ended up in his position. Retrieve what you lost, kill the guy who did it to you (and he is almost sure that he knows who was responsible for it), be happy.
Except there were some very scary people involved and he was super weak. Even if he managed to get out of the Labyrinth, he’d probably still end up dying. It wasn’t his first assassination attempt rodeo, although that one worked surprisingly well.
He could also attempt to crawl out of this hellhole only to immediately bolt out of the country. Either to finally live in peace somewhere on the other side of the Dragonclaw Mountains. But he would have to work, and he doesn’t feel like he qualifies for any honest trade.
He read a lot of stories about becoming an adventurer and amassing harems of oddly one-dimensional girls of varied racial background, each of them with a body and aesthetic fitting one of classic female character archetypes to the T. After all, he was a teenager with way too much money on hand and way too much free time.
He is, however, fully aware of the actual casualty rate of adventurers in the field. Those stories are bullshit. Also women are scary, and he is genuinely terrified of most of them.
Oh, decisions.
Alright, it’s time to refer to an age-old method of dealing with situations like these. You don’t know what to do, draw lots. You’ll at least be able to blame the gods for your subsequent screw-up.
“So, Tsuyu.” He asks, and the frog girl looks at him again. “Have you ever heard of the surface?”
“What’s that?” She asks. “Is it tasty?” Alright, this is slowly getting ridiculous. But it’ll work in this particular case.
“It’s a place way above us.” He says. “Open spaces, various types of food, also the stars. They are pretty beautiful.”
“Beautiful? What’s that? Ribbit.” She asks. She looks curious about it. Huh. Well, let’s see where it goes.
“It means that it’s tasty but for the eyes.” He decides to speak her language. It makes her very confused.
“Weird.” She says. “I want to eat that.” Alright, the lots have been drawn. She wants to see the stars. He has a goal that’s actually (probably) achievable. And heroic, even! Yes, that sounds pretty cool. They’ll probably all die, but at least it’ll be a death for a cool cause. Yay.
He raises up from the ground, letting out a faint yelp when the bruises catch-up to him finally. Ouch.
“Well, if you’ll follow me, I’ll try to help you with that.” He announces while looking around. The cavern’s a bit smaller than he thought, but there is clearly a way out of it. It’s a bit roundy, with a river going through it. One waterfall to the left, then the river goes around a small patch of rocky land, and then goes down another waterfall.
“Ribbit.” She announces. “Sounds tasty. I’ll follow.” She clearly had to talk with someone at some point, or was abandoned after learning only the basic language skills. Riddle for another time.
She jumps at a nearby rock, then suddenly extends her tongue into the water. When it goes back to her, there is a large fish at the end of it. Huh. That’s some incredibly dexterous ton… okay, stop that.
Can’t human men go from the child stage directly into full adulthood? Being a teenager sucks, especially in his situation. Just flip the switch, gods, and be done with it, sheesh. Why make things complicated?!
Wait. Her being there, at the top of a rock, deep underground… This sounds familiar. He read the classics, after all.
“Excuse me for asking…” He says, and Tsuyu looks at him questioningly. The newest fish is still in her hands. “But do you perhaps own a magical ring of fabulous powers?” She almost lets the fish escape into safety in surprise. She puts a finger at her lips, looking at him weirdly.
Why did he even say that? No way she ever read a book in her life. Stupid Izuku. Does she even know what a ring is?
“I don’t, ribbit.” She replies. She is either a mind reader or actually knows what a ring is. What a surprise. “I know where you can find a magic sword, though.”
Oh, alright. There is only a magic sw… what?
“Come again?” He says, blinking at her a few times in shock.
***
She agrees to show her magic sword to him. Midoriya agrees to follow her after making a quick inventory of his belongings. There isn’t a lot.
Short sword in a sheath with the emblem of his (old) House - still there. If only he knew how to use it, it would be pretty great and maybe even useful.
A belt with some pouches, with basic traveling supplies inside - still there. Small knife and the flint are still there, although the latter will have to dry before being useful (and it’s not like there is an awful lot of wood around him). Everything else, gone. No, wait, there is also that small metal cup. Useful for cooking water so that it’s actually drinkable.
His standard traveling attire - yesn’t. He lost only the parts of it that he didn’t like (like the fur collar and the cloak). What’s left is a shirt and pants that certainly didn’t scream ‘I’m wealthy!’. Which was good, because it would be a massive bother. Of course, they were still woven from steelweave, so they were very tear-resistant.
He was deep underground, so it was rather warm. Which is pretty damn good, all things considered. At least he won’t freeze to death before starving to death or dying due to drinking bad water.
Those clothes also protected his dignity, and that’s what mattered the most.
Boots were solid, traveling ones, made from wyvern leather by some really good craftsman. They could take way more punishment than this. Also they were pretty easy to dry, and it didn’t risk damaging anything. Hell, he could just put them at the edge of the fireplace and they would be good as new after a few hours.
Of course, he didn’t have any fireplace down here. The squelching sound his footsteps made as he followed Tsuyu through some tunnel were… ugh. Horrible. And guaranteed to attract predators eventually.
He was also hungry. Not enough to just eat a fish raw, but he was probably going to get there. Obtaining some source of food asap felt like a very good idea, but he decided to do that after checking out the ‘magical swor…
Oh.
There was an actual sword there. Lying on a rock. Looked decent enough. Not rusted at all. No sheath, though. It was a longsword, with a simple cross handle. Double-edged. He didn’t know enough about weaponry to pinpoint what part of the continent it was from. Didn’t look like it was Kunirenaian in origin, so how did he even show up here?!
Oh, well.
He would have tried to check what sort of magic sword it was, but it was already long-ago established that Midoriya Izuku had a mana-sensitivity of a dried-up potato. So, naturally, he can’t even goddamn inspect it.
Yeah, he isn’t touching it. Weird woman fishing him out of the river and then leading him to some out-of-place looking sword lying on a rock extruding over a pond in one of the most god-forgotten places in the world? He isn’t stupid. He isn’t touching it.
“Wow, that’s a real sword.” Midoriya announces. Tsuyu gives him an odd stare. “Why do you think it’s magi…”
He doesn’t have the time to finish it, because the sword suddenly flings toward him. Midoriya deftly dodges the attack. He also immediately realized that while the sword was certainly magical, it didn’t feel friendly.
Tsuyu was also surprisingly deft. She was clinging to the wall ten meters away from him in a heartbeat. Ribbiting worriedly.
Then, the sword immediately changed its trajectory mid-flight. Midoriya has enough time to yell “THAT’S BULLSHIT!!!” before the sword’s handle ends up in his hand.
“Welcome, oh new chosen hero.” He hears a disembodied female voice in his head. “You have been…”
He does the smartest thing he can do in a situation like that. He promptly yeets the sword into the lake. Except it vanishes mid-flight and appears in his hand again.
Oh, crap. It soulbonded to him.
“That was rude!” The female voice comes to him again. “Do you have the tiniest idea what sort of blessing you’ve just been giv…” He tries to throw the sword again, but this time it doesn’t even leave his hand. It’s glued there, because the sword is also clearly sapient and has refused to let go. “Stop that!”
Ugh.
“Look, miss sword.” He decides to do the second smartest thing after chopping his hand off - he’s going to try diplomacy. “The whole deal is giving me serious ‘stranger danger’ vibes. I’m not interested in wielding you, and I’m not interested in being a chosen hero of anything or anyone. Please, let go of me.”
“C’mon!” The sword doesn’t let go. Tsuyu is still observing him from a safe distance, clearly confused. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime offer! Do you know how much power I have?! I’m like the strongest artifact in this land!”
He KNEW that not letting Tsuyu eat his corpse was a bad idea. Ugh. Why did he even bother standing up?! He should have rolled into the water and let the current carry him downstream.
“The ‘like’ in your last sentence was redundant, and an atrocity to kunirenaian speech.” He promptly replies. “I’m utterly disinterested in the deal and I demand you to let me go. I don’t trust swords that I know nothing about, ESPECIALLY when they talk and offer me some fabulous powers.”
“I’m called One for All!” The sword lady says quickly. Holy shit, that name was also an atrocity. Who the hell calls a sword that way?! Were all cool names like ‘Headsplitter’ or ‘Slayer of Thousands’ already taken? “I was forged by Yoichi Shigaraki, the legendary founder of Kunirenai! Don’t tell me that you didn’t hear of that name?”
Of course he did. He might have looked like a wet rag, but he knew a lot of things. However, he absolutely never heard of any sword by that name, and as far as his knowledge goes, Yoichi wasn’t even a smith. So something’s suspicious.
“Look, it’s a very nice story…” Midoriya decides to, once again, be diplomatic. “... but absolutely every odd, talking sword could tell me the same thing. Do you have any evidence for your claims?”
“E…evidence?!” The sword sounds actually appalled by the fact that he actually asked for something like that. “Wh…”
“As I said, let go.” Midoriya continues. “You’re just making it ridiculous now.” He can only hope that she won’t try to stab him in the guts for this. It sounds like she has a real attitude. “Have some dignity and realize that I’m not interested in the ownership of any magical, talking swords.”
“At least bring me up to the surface, please!” The sword suddenly changed the tone. “Look, do you have the tiniest idea how long I’ve spent here?! Years! Decades! No one ever came, except for that frog girl, but she actually tried to bite me! Can you believe this?!”
He absolutely can. Tsuyu ribbits at him from her distant position at the wall. He has no idea what it was about, so he promptly ignores it. But he probably know how did Tsuyu knew that the sword was a 'magic sword' now. One for All probably told her that. When he spoke about magic ring, she recognized the 'magic' word.
Ugh. Decisions, decisions.
“Alright, so what can you actually do?” He decides to ask before making any decisions. “Aside from, you know, stabbing, cutting, maiming and probably woodcutting if I really put my back into it?”
“W… woodcutting?!” The sword sounds like it almost choked at the idea of using it for something so mundane. “Listen, I’m handed from one wielder to another, stockpiling their powers and transferring it to their successors and…”
He promptly tries to throw the sword into the lake again. It didn’t work, naturally. Tsuyu ribbits at the spectacle. It sounds like she was finding his struggles funny. Not funny enough to get any close to him.
“Why?!” The sword sounds borderline outraged at the treatment. “What did I do wrong this time?!”
“Look.” Stay calm, be assertive but not too much. Ugh. “You just told me that you are drawing power from your wielders. This sounds like you’re some sort of power parasite…” There is a sudden choking sound from the sword. “... and that I’ll end up weaker than I already am once I give you up. That’s not healthy at all.”
“It’s not like that!” The sword yells. “Look, I’m just taking the unused surplus off you! You won’t get weaker than you would be without me once you hand me over to someone else, you’ll only lose the stockpile access! And there is more! Some of my past wielders ended up ascending to demigodhood! I can give you access to some of their blessings, just…”
The sword actually sighs this time. Because yes, he actually tried to throw it into the lake again. It probably wasn’t going to work if it was truly soulbonded, but maybe it wasn’t? Maybe the sword had to do it manually, and so, there was a chance that it would work? He just had to dodge faster next time and run to the exit.
“What was it this time?” One for All asks. It suddenly sounds extremely tired all of a sudden.
“I don’t want anything to do with demigods that I probably never heard about earlier, and whose worship hasn't received an official stamp of approval from the Kunirenaian religious authorities.” He announces authoritatively. “Do you have the tiniest idea how many demigods are downright assholes, just pretending to be good to gather more influence?!”
“Do you have the tiniest idea how many of those my wielders slew over the ages?!” The sword shots back and okay. If it wasn’t lying, it was kind of cool. Still, Midoriya had standards. “I swear to the gods, you’re the most paranoid person I have ever met.”
“And you’re the most… uhm… straight person I ever met?” Midoriya tries to retort, but oddly enough, it ends up fizzling on him. Ugh. Stupid talking sword. “Alright, let’s approach it differently. Who was your last wielder? Did they do anything notable?”
“Yes! My last wielder was Toshinori Ya…” And once again, he tries. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”
“He is still alive!” He shouts back. “And way too strong to just randomly lose you in a fight. He probably threw you into the river to get rid of you. Also, HE IS STILL ALIVE SO YOU WEREN’T LYING HERE FOR DECADES LIKE YOU SAID!”
Tsuyu ribbits. Her finger, once again, at her lip. Seems like some odd expression of confusion.
“I JUST DIDN’T WANT TO STAY HERE ANY LONGER!” The sword yells back. “ALSO IT FELT LIKE DECADES, SO IT’S NOT A LIE! JUST AN EXAGGERATION! And he DID lose me in a fight! If you get me back to him, he’ll reward you greatly! I’m actually his mentor in a way, and…” Another throw. “STOP DOING THAT!”
“His mentor was Nana Shimura, kunirenaian hero of the Hellfire War.” Midoriya replies. He knows that for a fact. “Not you. So it was a lie.”
“That was me, thoug… STOP THAT DAMMIT!” The voice shouts back at him, as another throw attempt is made. “What the hell’s your problem this time?!”
“You just told me that you are Nana Shimura.” He replies, staring angrily at the sword. “You’re either lying and defacing a national hero, OR she was your wielder. But if it’s the latter, then it means that you stockpile your owners as well, and that’s a nope in my book. Leave me alone!.”
“That’s completely optional!” One for All/Nana Shimura shouts back. “Look, I can give you a System-enforced quest about getting me out of this dump. I’ll set it so that you’ll be able to nope out of absolutely EVERYTHING in One for All if you want to, and I’ll have to tell you the full truth about any new functionality whatsoever before making the decision. Just please, don’t leave me here. Please!”
Ugh. Someone’s a really needy magical sword. But if it can actually give a System quest, it should protect him from any direct repercussions, for as long as they word things correctly. And if it’s truly in any degree or shape connected to Nana Shimura (and Yagi Toshinori), then having it would be a massive asset in getting out of Hellgate.
“So, do you have any… mission? Or a goal?” He asks. “You started with some ‘chosen hero’ stuff, so I prefer to make sure that I won’t walk into some ancient threats to the world or anything like that. I have enough problems as it is. ”
“One for All has only one mission!” Nana sounds audibly reassured that he seems to be considering it. The relief is almost palpable. “It’s to protect the ruling family of Kunirenai from all threats, so that they can in turn protect the people of… WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” She yells as he tries to throw the sword again. “Do you hate this country or…”
“I AM FROM THE RULING FAMILY, DAMMIT!” He yells back in a newly found righteous fury. “I AM IZUKU MIDORIYA, HEIR TO THE THRONE OF KUNIRENAI! CURRENTLY STUCK AT THE LOWEST LEVEL OF THE WORST HELLHOLE IN THE COUNTRY! YOU HAVE ONLY ONE JOB AND YOU SUCK AT IT!”
The sword, once again, lets out a choking sound. This time it’s much more intensive.
“Gods above, you’re Inko’s son!” The sword is clearly panicking now. Midoriya isn’t surprised by that at all. “Look, I’ll help you get out of here in one piece, I promise! It’s literally the cause of my existence to help you! I just need to…”
“Absolutely not!” Midoriya shouts back. Hopefully their banter won’t attract anyone’s attention. Regardless of that, he has so much pent-up anger that he just has to do it or he’ll explode. “I’m going to get out of here on my own. I’m going to tell Yagi where to find you so that he can come here on his own. Now get off me, this instant!”
“You won’t make it out of here alive without me!” One for All shouts back. “I can help you! You’re going to need a proper weapon, and…”
“I already have a weapon!” He shouts back and pulls his sword from his sheath. Unfortunately, he didn’t do that during his earlier check-up of his gear. He would save himself the embarrassment of saying those words and then drawing a sword whose blade promptly falls off, leaving him with only the handle.
There is a dead silence in the cavern, interrupted only by a slightly worried ribbit of Tsuyu. Eventually, Midoriya faces the dreadful realization.
“... let’s get back to the System-enforced quest bit.” He deadpans. He can’t tell, but he is almost certain that the sword is giving him a smug victorious smile. “Tell me more.”