Two days later, in the early morning, at Dagoba Municipal Beach Park. The ocean breeze carried the faint scent of salt and rust as waves lapped gently against the shore. The horizon glowed with the first light of dawn, but the beach itself was far from picturesque, mountains of garbage stretched as far as the eye could see.
Izuku Midoriya, dressed in a white 'All M' T-shirt, light blue track pants, and red shoes, grunted as he strained to pull a large refrigerator across the sand. Sitting comfortably atop it was none other than All Might, wearing a black T-shirt, black track pants, and white sneakers.
"Hey, hey, hey! It's really comfy up here on this fridge! How you doing down there, young Midoriya?" All Might called cheerfully, his usual grin wide and bright.
"People move these things every day, you know! Most of them don't even have super strength!" he added, looking off toward the beach's entrance as Izuku slipped, face-first, into the sand.
"Ugh… well yeah," Izuku groaned, pushing himself up and wiping dirt from his cheek, "you add an extra two hundred seventy-four kilograms up there, it's kinda hard!"
All Might chuckled. "Nah, I lost some weight, I'm only two hundred fifty-five kilograms now! In this form, at least."
Izuku deadpanned. "Great. Much better."
He glanced around at the sea of trash before sighing. "Anyway, why am I dragging garbage around the beach again?"
"Hahahaha! It's because, you know, you're not yet a proper vessel for my Quirk," All Might said while casually taking pictures of Izuku with his phone.
"Huh? But I thought you said I was worthy!" Izuku's eyes widened, panic rising.
All Might walked over, holding up his phone with a grin. "I'm talking about your weak body, young man."
Izuku blinked, confused. "Huh?"
"My Quirk, One For All, is the combined physical power of many people gathered into one. In short, it's a lot to handle," All Might explained, crossing his arms. "An unprepared body cannot inherit it fully. Your limbs will come right off, and your body will explode!"
"My limbs will what?!" Izuku shouted, horrified, shaking his arms in alarm. "Then, I'm picking up trash in order to train my body? And you're my trainer?"
"You got it!" All Might gave him a big thumbs up. "But that's not all."
He knocked on the fridge beside them. "After some research yesterday, I discovered that this section of Dagoba Beach has been in this condition for years. Because of the ocean currents, objects drift here constantly, and people take advantage of that to dump their trash illegally. The locals don't even come near anymore."
Izuku gazed around the mounds of rusted metal and plastic bottles. "That's… awful."
"Heroes these days are all about showing off and catching flashy villains," All Might continued, placing a hand on the fridge. "But originally, being a hero meant doing volunteer service, helping others even if no one was watching."
With a sudden burst of power, he compressed the fridge in one hand, flattening it completely. The resulting shockwave scattered loose trash into the air, revealing a glimpse of the sunrise behind him.
"You will restore the horizon for this entire section of beach!" All Might declared, the light gleaming behind his heroic silhouette. "That is your first step toward becoming a hero!"
Izuku stared in awe. "My first step… Clean… this? All of it?! But that's impossible!"
"Impossible, you say?" All Might laughed, pointing toward him. "You want to go to U.A., right?"
Izuku looked down at his hands, clenching them tightly. "Yes… yes! Because it's where you went! So if I'm going to go, it has to be U.A.!"
"You're a real go-getter fanboy!" All Might teased. "But I've told you before, it's not something you can do easily without a Quirk. U.A. is the hardest hero course in the country to get into. In other words…" He turned toward the sun, eyes shining.
"In the ten months before the entrance exam, you must complete your training!"
All Might pulled out a stack of papers. "That's where this comes in, the Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan! It's a training regimen designed to help you clean this beach and prepare your body for One For All!"
Izuku flipped through the papers, his expression growing increasingly overwhelmed. "Even sleep time is included…"
All Might leaned in close, whispering dramatically. "Frankly, this is a super hard schedule. Can you follow it?"
Izuku gave a nervous but determined smile. "Of course! I have to work harder than anyone else, or else I can't do it!"
"Great!" All Might grinned proudly, giving another thumbs up. Then, turning toward the entrance, he noticed two figures approaching, one familiar, one new.
"Ah! Young Hoshino!" All Might waved enthusiastically. "Care to join us in our training?"
Kagami Hoshino approached the sand, wearing a white T-shirt with a black floral-print shirt over it, gray shorts, and black-and-white slides. His long split-colored hair was down for once, his golden eyes partially hidden beneath a pair of sunglasses.
"You know, when you said we were going to the beach, I didn't think it was to pick up garbage," Kagami muttered dryly.
Behind him stood a man in his mid-twenties with curly violet hair, holding a closed umbrella in one hand and a paper bag in the other.
"Oh, come now, young master Kagami!" the man said cheerfully. "We drove all this way, you might as well join them!"
"Absolutely not!" Kagami folded his arms, looking away in mild disgust. "This body was not built for touching garbage! Besides, I'm already fit enough. You can thank my grandfather for that."
All Might chuckled. "Ah well, I can't force you if you don't want to!"
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, letting out a small laugh.
"But I must ask," Kagami said suddenly, glancing toward All Might. "Does this schedule of his include his martial arts training?"
He sat down on the cold stone steps leading to the beach. Any normal person would've shivered, but his red aura gently surrounded him, keeping him comfortably warm.
"I know your fighting style mainly consists of punching," Kagami continued, "but Izuku's been attending martial arts classes for about a year now. It'd be a shame for him to stop."
All Might nodded approvingly. "Not to worry, young Hoshino, I've included that as well!"
Yano smiled proudly behind his young master. "See? No excuses, my boy."
Kagami rolled his eyes but smirked faintly. "Tch. Fine. But don't expect me to touch any trash."
All Might beamed. "Suit yourself! But heroes don't pick their battles, they clean them up!"
As the morning went on, All Might guided Izuku through stretches and heavy lifting exercises. Kagami remained seated at first, idly watching the boy drag old tires and rusted bikes through the sand. Yet, as time passed, Izuku's unwavering determination began to show. His arms shook, his legs ached, but he didn't stop. Not even once.
Kagami's gaze softened behind his sunglasses. "He's really doing all that… just to earn someone's power."
Yano's voice was gentle. "Dedication, young master. That's the difference between wanting to be a hero… and becoming one."
Kagami sighed, standing up and stretching his arms. "Alright, fine. But I'm only helping because watching him do it wrong is unbearable."
He extended his right hand, orange aura flaring briefly as small metallic scraps lifted from the sand and stacked neatly to the side. Izuku looked up in surprise, smiling through his exhaustion.
"Thanks, Kagami!"
"Don't get the wrong idea," Kagami replied, crossing his arms. "I'm just making sure you don't bury yourself in trash before you get strong enough to lift it."
All Might laughed heartily, hands on his hips. "Now that's the spirit of teamwork!"
As the sun climbed higher, the three of them worked together, one out of duty, one out of willpower, and one out of reluctant curiosity. Slowly, the mountains of garbage began to shrink, revealing patches of sand and glimmers of blue water.
Hours later, Izuku collapsed, panting heavily. Kagami sat beside him, offering a cold bottle of water that Yano had brought.
"If you keep this up for ten months," Kagami said quietly, watching the waves, "you'll be unrecognizable."
Izuku smiled faintly, voice trembling with exhaustion. "That's the plan. I'm gonna be strong enough to stand next to All Might one day."
Kagami looked at him, then toward the horizon. "Standing next to someone like that… it's not easy. You'll have to lose more than just sweat."
Izuku nodded, determination burning in his tired green eyes.
Behind them, All Might watched silently, the corners of his mouth lifting in pride. The setting sun painted the ocean gold as three silhouettes stood against it, a mentor, a dreamer, and a boy caught somewhere in between.
[Info]
Orange Aura- Controls magnetism allow him to move and shape metals.