3rd person POV:

As the Sports Festival came to a close, onlookers and heroes alike left the stadium and began heading to where they needed. In the ordeal, the Whitebeards had obtained a rather unique pair of guests on the Moby Dick.

"So. What do I owe the pleasure, Little Ryu." Ryukyu knelt down in front of Whitebeard somewhat annoyed of the nickname she was given back when she joined.

"I came to discuss about your newest son."

"Izuku? What about him?" Whitebeard pulled the top off a barrel of alcohol and passed it to Marco to give Ryukyu. Hado and Lola stood in the back with the other members of the pirate crew watching in unease. "In all this time you've left, you've never taken an interest in any of our family that has recently come. What's so special about this one?" Whitebeard opened up another barrel and began chugging the contents.

In a similar fashion, Ryukyu grabbed the barrel and chugged the contents for Lola to look shocked at how easily her boss can hold her liquor. 'JUST HOW MUCH CAN SHE DRINK!?'

"Pwah! Thank you for the drink sir. And to answer your question, he's peaked my interest." She tosses the barrel aside to have it shatter. "You haven't taught him Haki yet, have you?"

"It would've been a halfassed effort. By now, he has enough strength where if we were to teach it to him, he'd have the basics in like a week."

"Then consider me a teacher for him. Out of all the crew, you can't deny that I was the one that excelled the most in Haki control. In your younger days, you even said I'd give you a run for your money alongside Roger. As such, I want to personally make sure he succeeds."

This peaked the interest of everyone there including Whitebeard. "Why do you wanna invest so much in this boy? Any special reason?"

"Let's just say, he's shown merit in what he wants and I want to see his goal get reached."

As she walked away, Marco spoke up trying to get her attention. "You know, the 4th Division Commander spot is still open. I'm sure everyone would enjoy having you return to your post."

Ryukyu felt enraged hearing this before calmly answering. "Until I have that bloated imbecile that killed Thatch behind bars or dead with his neck between my hands, I refuse to come back. He broke the solemn vow of our crew and needs to be taught a lesson. So until he does, consider my spot in the Whitebeards on hold indefinitely."

Ryukyu, Lola and Nejire walked off the ship with Whitebeard opening another barrel. "So. We've got three spots on the list. Any specific ones you all want?"

"I have an offer I'd like to put on the table." Ace spoke up while holding a picture of Todoroki up. "Shoto Todoroki. Chances are, his firepower isn't well controlled and he needs training. Meeting his father earlier today, I wanted to punch him in the face. So I thought maybe learning from a different perspective could be beneficial to his growth."

"I like the idea." Squard was somewhat happy while looking down the offers as well. "This Shinso kid seems promising also. Maybe we can put him in as a maybe."

"Agreed." Marco placed the info to the side with Whitey Bay finding another she'd be interested in.

"Perhaps Momo Yaoyrozou-"

"NO!" Marco and Ace both shouted in annoyance that her name was even brought up.

"Then since we're not taking Izuku as an offer, maybe as a third we can do-"

"I want the little lady that is nice to my son to intern with us." Whitebeard spoke up before reaching and grabbing a paper holding Ochako's face on it. "This little lady has a good heart and is really nice to Izuku. Make sure one slot goes to her."

"Understood." Marco put Ochako's picture next to Todoroki's with them going through the rest of the offers to have a few other maybes and making a final decision on their third through voting. "Alright. We'll put requests for these three tomorrow. With hopes, we'll have them all intern with us, so be ready to show these rookies the ropes!"

"YEAH!!"

The next day, Izuku POV:

After a treatment from Recovery Girl, I was able to return home. Since my injuries were kinda severe on my hands and on my insides, I was kinda shoved into a deep state of sleep where I don't honestly remember coming home. "Urgh. My head hurts." I got up to see the bandages on my hands and have little complications moving around with my torso. Beside me was a note that looked like Ace's penmanship.

Don't push yourself kid. Recovery Girl said you might wake up really groggy, but you should make a full recovery. She couldn't though fix all the damage right away in your hands, so make sure to change the bandages after you wake up. Stay hydrated.

Ace

P.S. Thank Jozu for bringing your sorry ass home after the Sports Festival.

'I gotta make sure to do something nice for Jozu when I get the chance. I wonder if he has a sweet tooth? I'm sure if I make something aunt Pudding taught me how to, he'd be grateful.' I smiled a bit under my mask before going into the kitchen. The lights were off for me to find another note on the counter.

Had to go in early cause of an issue. Please make sure you eat something and change your bandages. I worry.

Love, Mom

"Alright. Guess I'm gonna start by grabbing something to munch on." I glanced in the fridge to find some leftover miso and fried rice. "It's 11 anyway, so why not." While it heated, I glanced down at my torso to find a few new scars to go with the old ones. "The fucking bitch did a number on me. Guess I'm gonna need to get stronger so this doesn't happen again." The microwave dinged for me to pull everything out and start eating. As I ate, I heard someone knock at the door. "Alright. Hold your horses." Opening it, I noticed All Might in his scrawny form.

"Young Midoriya. How are you feeling today?"

"Sore, but nothing I can't handle."

"That's good." He glanced at the door for me to see a bunch of crap people put on once again. "May I come in?" I opened the door for him with the pro walking in calmly before I shut the door.

"Can I get you something to drink? Tea or something?"

"If possible, tea would be lovely." I grabbed the kettle from the kitchen and started heating it.

"Make yourself comfy. TV remote is on the table in front of the couch if you wanna put something on." I heard the TV go on shortly after with some news reporter talking about the fight I had with Todoroki and how I 'stole' it from him. 'People can't accept that I'm able to be a hero, can they?' I pulled the tea off when it was ready and placed it into two cups. "Here." I walked into the living room and handed All Might a cup before sitting down beside him to watch the news with him.

"Thank you. They really don't like you, don't they?"

"You get used to it." I took a sip of my tea before looking at All Might. "So what did you come here for?"

All Might let out a sigh before answering. "Young Midoriya. I hate to ask you this again, but I do hope you reconsider this time around. Might you be willing to accept OFA?"

"I'm sorry All Might, but I still think I don't deserve it."

"Why?"

I took another sip of my tea before answering. "Because it would be wasted on me. The world we live in. You and I know that they still don't see me as a hero. Look at the news right now. They can't even give me the dignity of actually having my win against Todoroki. The power you want to give me is a gift. And a gift like what you want to give me needs to be given to someone that the world respects. Don't get me wrong, I"m flattered you still think I should, but the world doesn't think I deserve it. I don't think I deserve it."

I could tell this was hard on All Might since he most likely had me set in his mind. "I understand. But I want you to know that you're more worthy than you think and giving it to you wouldn't be a waste of time." He patted my head and smiled. "Whitebeard didn't think you were a waste of time. UA doesn't completely think you're a waste of time. And probably the most important thing is, I don't think you're a waste of time. Have a little confidence lad." All Might went towards the door after finishing his tea. "I'm sorry if I was an inconvenience today."

"Don't worry. It's not a big deal."

He walked out the door before stopping. "Before I forget. Here." All Might gave me a medal that was labeled 1st. "Since you couldn't get the medal during the ceremony, I thought it would be fair if I brought it to you."

"Thank you sir." He gave me the medal around my neck before walking away.

"Try to take it easy today. Recovery Girl might've healed you, but a lot of stamina was needed. Don't overwork yourself."

"I'll try not to." When he left, I looked at the door to see some of the graffiti people put on it. "I should probably clean this off. Easier on mom if she doesn't have to come back to this." I went inside and started to get some cleaning stuff to get the garbage off. About half an hour into cleaning, I heard somebody come up beside me to have someone tap my shoulder.

"Hey Midoriya. Whatcha doing?" I glanced over to see Uraraka and two people beside her.

"Cleaning slander off my door."

"Oh my. Such horrid words for such a young boy." Taking a closer look to the two behind Uraraka, I noticed they looked a lot like her.

"I guess a little introduction is in order. My name is Tousa and this is my husband Maruki. We're Ochako's parents"

The man came up to me looking down before I stood up and towered over him. "You are a tall one I'll give you that."

"Uhh....thank you sir." From what I could tell, the graffiti on my door was not coming off for me to bring the bucket inside. "Would you like to come in?" They nodded for me to go right into the bathroom to dump out the bucket and look for some paint to go over the crap on the door. When I couldn't, I sent mom a text saying if she could before returning to the Urarakas. When I came back, Uraraka seemed to find a photo catalog of me somehow. "Where'd you find that?"

"On the table over there." She pointed to the table near most of our family photos to have me smack my face. "Aww, you look so cute here Midoriya." Uraraka showed a picture of me in the hospital as an infant with mom and Katakuri.

"Who's the man beside you and your mother? He reminds me of that Katakuri fellow." Mr. Uraraka spoke up for me to answer.

"That's because it is him." This seemed to surprise both a bit. "Go ahead. If you've got something to say, might as well. Nobody else has a filter, so you shouldn't be bothered either."

"....I hope he's at least a nice father. Villain or not." Mrs. Uraraka spoke up with her husband continuing to look through the photos with Uraraka.

"Look. You don't have to be nice on my account. Honestly, I'd prefer you be straight with me instead of try and make up an excuse to be nice to me."

"It's not an excuse kid. As far as me and my wife are concerned, you're actually a nice kid in our books. You saved Ochako during the entrance exams. You fought for her protection and everyone else's during the USJ attack. You even tried to lift her spirits from what she said during the Sports Festival when she lost. As far as we're concerned, we have no reason to be mean to you."

"Wow....just, wow."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing Mrs. Uraraka. I'm just....surprised is all."

"Hey Midoriya. Who's this little girl beside you in this picture?" Uraraka showed an elementary school picture with Yaoyorozu pushing me out of the picture while I still had bandages on from her little 'act'.

"That's Yaoyorozu. We grew up together. Unfortunately, she didn't see the logic you all have. Must be hard for people to see it or something."

"That's sad."

Uraraka immediately stood up and gave the book to her father before walking over to me. "Midoriya. Was Yaomomo the one who did this to you?" She placed her hands on my face over my covering. "Tell me the truth."

"What difference does it make?"

"I'm your friend.Please just tell me the truth ok."

I remained calm while answering. "Yes. But don't bother getting mad. It's done and I'm over it."

"Kid. Let me ask you this." Mr. Uraraka got up before patting my shoulder. "How much trust do you have in Ochako?"

"....Enough to give her the respect she deserves from me."

"Which is?"

"Giving her my honesty. I've made peace with what happened to me. I'm not proud of it, but I won't deny it happened. The goal I have requires me to be strong, so I can't afford to be weak with spite."

"Midoriya. You don't need to be strong all the time. You're still a boy....even though you look like a full grown man." Mrs. Uraraka commented for it to kinda not feel much better. "Look. My daughter told me about how hard you fought in the USJ attack and how badly you want to stop the Charlotte family. But if you keep that ice cold demeanor around people, it'll just hurt yourself. Let people on the outside in."

I felt someone hug my side to see it was Uraraka. "We won't hurt you, so please let yourself trust us."

"Maybe I have been a little too secluded to myself. Thank you...Uraraka." I patted her head for her to flash a smile at me.

"What are friends for." We continued to talk a bit with each other for a while and I eventually found out this was more Uraraka's parents trying to find out about me. They found out about the arranged marriage bullshit too and wanted to just know I'm not some kind of asshole. I explained to them that I had no intentions of complying with the arranged marriage because I don't necessarily see something like marriage in my future yet, much less with Uraraka in particular. They understood and we used the rest of the time to get to know each other. Eventually though, they had to leave with it not being that much of a problem since I had to make sure my bandages were changed and also do a little training of my own for the day so I don't get soft.

"Uraraka's parents seemed nice." I talked to myself in the bathroom while thinking of the arranged marriage thing. "T-that's not gonna happen." I kept my head down a bit before hearing mom come through the door.

At the Yaoyorozu estate, 3rd person POV:

"How pathetic you were. To be beaten by someone that doesn't even hold Haki." Akainu was in the back of the Yaoyorozu estate with his fists turned to magma facing off against Yaoyorozu who seemed to be beaten rather brutally.

"If I just have a little more time to train with Haki, I'm sure I can-"

"You won't waste my time anymore than you already have. It was pointless leaving the Charlotte boy to you." The Fleet Admiral walked away clearly angry. "Starting from now on, I'm going to take the rings of something you clearly can't handle and put an end to Katakuri's bloodline once and for all."

As he walked away, Yaoyorozu was enraged to the state she couldn't see. "GODDAMMIT!" She threw a metal staff she had on the ground before punching the dirt. "FUCKING! MIDORIYA! I'LL GET YOU BACK FOR MAKING A FOOL OF ME IN THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!"

And that finishes this chapter. So to clarify, Akainu knew of Izuku but didn't see him as a threat to leave him to Yaoyorozu to deal with. More will be explained about this later in the story. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.