Chapter Text
Torino Sorahiko, otherwise known as Gran Torino, held many expectations when it came to his old student, and as far as the old hero was concerned Toshi met each of them perfectly.
Now this wasn't to say he didn't have his moments, after all, no matter how much a bumbling buffoon improves he will always be a bumbling buffoon. So when his old student called him, much to Sorahiko's surprise, telling him about how he found the next inheritor of One For All and a promising hero candidate to boot, well to say he was hesitant to take his old protégés words at face value.
In order to see these "promising potential hero's" as soon as possible, as well to ensure that they got proper training for as much as Gran Torino believed in his old student he had zero hope that he'd be even a remotely capable teacher, he booked the first train over to Musutafu the next day.
As he walked to Takoba Municipal Beach, the place Toshi had decided to use to train his two students, Gran took a moment to get lost in his thoughts. It had been a long time since he had seen his student, nearly 3 years actually, man how the time fly's. Sorahiko clearly remembered the day he had first met Toshi, Nana had begged him to help him train this naive little boy that wanted to be a hero even without a quirk. Sorahiko had felt like it was all some big joke that Nana had decided to pull on him, there was no way a little punk like him could do anything more than trip over his own shoelaces. Years later Gran Torino has never been more happy to be proven wrong in his life all these years later, Toshi not only met all his expectations for being a good hero, but CRUSHED them, and every time Sorahiko attempted to move the flagpole further down the track Toshi would get back up and meet it once more.
Gran Torino wasn't conceited enough to not admit that he was proud of his and Nana's student after all he had accomplished, not that he would ever tell Toshinori, after all Gran Torino had an image to protect. But even with all that pride and all that Toshi had accomplished as All Might he was still human, All Might was a great hero but Toshinori was practically incompetent in anything other than heroics. Hell, once he had spent a weekend over at Toshi's place due to having to work on a case that happened to be in the area so instead of staying at a hotel Sorahiko opted to crash at his students place. The big lug in an attempt to be a good host tried to cook them up some food one night, key word being tried, not five minutes later and Torino had to dash to get the fire extinguisher before they were burned alive. Safe to say they had take out the remainder of his time there.
The old hero shook his head to clear out his thoughts, a fond smile on his face as he finally put the beach Toshi had told him to meet them at within his sights. Gran Torino was mildly impressed, he had done research on this place and all the junk that it held and yet the mountains of junk he expected to still be lying around were replaced with a handful of small-ish, relatively speaking of course, hills with a great majority of the space closest to the stairs leading down to the beach being cleared of any trash that could inhibit the young men and one hero from training safely.
The veteran hero analyzed the three figures down below, first was obviously that big, blond, baboon All Might who was currently in his powered down form wearing sparring pads on his hands as he led one of the zygotes through some much needed sparing practice, though from what Gran was seeing All Might barely taught the boy any actual fighting skills and opted for his usual ham fisted, incredibly inefficient, bar brawl style that he usually fought with, while the other little hero hopeful ran around the beach in a haphazard track outlined by the what remained of the trash, occasionally letting loose a powerful explosion which couldn't have been safe with all that junk around him.
Said zygote was not someone who Gran imagined holding One for All's immense power but then again who could have guessed that a mini-dragon would hold one of the worlds strongest quirks in their claws. Surprise aside, Gran was actually looking forward to training the brat, his eyes radiated this feeling of determination that he appreciated, though his form was a bit lacking but if he was taught by someone who knew how to fight he was sure to excel in no time. Gran also took note of how thin his body was, Gran was able to get his hands on these boys medical files so he knew somewhat what he should expect from the zygotes it was still somewhat jarring to see his lean frame and read about how he could easily shatter a brick wall just by running into it.
In the distance the old hero watched as a young blond boy blasted forward once more easily keeping his footing while only knocking down a few small bits of trash, to which the blond boy responded by belting out a curse to which somehow surpassed the volume of his explosions. As he watched, the veteran hero started to understand why the young man was running through corridors of random junk, the young zygote was trying to weaken his explosions enough to not disturb the trash while releasing the largest blast he could for as much forward momentum he could safely get!
Honestly Gran Torino never had to worry too much about managing how much power he put into his quirk, as long as he didn't break some poor sobs neck with a poorly placed kick then the hero was satisfied, however not every hero had a quirk as weak or simple as Gran Torino. Take Endeavor for example, the man was a great hero by nearly every standard but with how powerful his quirk was he nearly had as many collateral damage cases as the Canadian hero Breakdown who nearly brought a small city down with his Amp-Up quirk! But that was neither here nor there, the point was it was always important for young hero's with incredibly powerful quirks to get into the habit of mitigating as much possible collateral damage as soon as possible, so to say the old hero was happy to see All Might training the boy in something other than smash it with a full powered attack till it goes away was relieving in a way.
After taking his time watching how hard these boys were working the old hero immediately put on his "Ass-Kicking Face™" and got to work.
"What is this!" Gran exclaimed, openly smirking as the symbol of peace nearly jumped straight out of what little skin his small form granted him, the other two hero-to-be's snapping their heads over to look at him, the blond instinctively sending a blast forward with a little too much power halting his forward momentum causing the brat to curse under his breath as a few pieces of trash fell upon him. "You're over here playing in that sand while leaving this old man to walk all the way here by himself! What if I had been attacked by a mugger on my way here or had gotten lost? Huh, what would you have done, you big ape!"
"M-M-Master!?!??! I-I'm sorry I didn't m-mean to have you walk all the way over here! If I had known you were arriving today I'd have come to pick you up!"
"So you're saying it's my fault, huh? A poor helpless old man who can hardly take care of himself is the one at fault for not planning for my arrival?!"
"N-Never master! It was my fault! I should have been better prepared for your arrival!" Toshi looked to have nearly suffered a heart attack at his mentor's words, much to Gran's amusement.
After their little back and forth Gran looked towards his two new students, getting a better look at them from up close. The blond boy had well chiseled features and what looked to be a resting bitch face, his blond hair seemed to be doing its best to vacate the young lad's head in as straight forward of a manner possible making the young man's head look like it was on the brink of blowing up. His hands were also something the senior hero acknowledged, they had a hardened look to them which spoke of their level of resistance training they had undergone throughout the young man's life time, with hands like that he'd do well in learning a few hand-to-hand moves, with their durability he was sure to pack a punch... Pun not intended. Then came the focus of both heroes present, a young green dragon-man who seemed to be glaring at the older gentlemen.
The boy had a long snout as was common with those with dragon based quirks, he had forest green scales which glimmered in the evenings rays giving the young draconian a healthy glow to him, he had sharp teeth which he occasionally flashed as he got into some kind of mutter storm that Torino wanted no part in translating, and a long thick tail which mindlessly waved around in a relaxed manner. His hands, though freshly trimmed, looked like they were made to tear into flesh, and his entire body seemed to carry with it a confident strength within his unassuming frame, born from being an apex hunter, even when he tried to make himself as small as possible to look like less of a threat. That was something Gran Torino was going to have to beat out of him, wasn't it? On the top of the boy's head was a small crown of horns which stood proudly atop his head. Though he mostly had lizard traits the dragon boy also had a large lion's mane of green hair which draped across his shoulders. The oddest thing about his appearance however was the odd spike that jutted out of his back for no apparent reason.
As he looked the boy over he continued to glare down at the veteran hero. "Got a problem with me kid?"
"Huh?" The kid looked like he had just woken up from a trance before he immediately stuck out both of his hands in a placating way. "Wai-Wait a moment! I wasn't meaning to stare, I was just trying to remember who you were! Normally I'm pretty good at remembering heroes but for whatever reason I don't remember learning about you?" The last bit was said in a questioning way as the young dragon started to glare at Gran Torino once more, this time with even greater intensity.
"Well I'll be damned, guess I own Aunty 5000 Yen and a new handbag. Who would have thought, a hero even the nerd wouldn't know of." The blond one, Bakugo Gran Torino's mind supplied, growled out, an amused smirk on his face as he watched the young dragon glare at the old hero.
In response to the tease the scales around the dragon boy's face immediately changed red, ' Is this kid part squid too?', while throwing his hands all about, stammering to explain himself.
After a moment Gran finally interrupted. "It doesn't surprise me that you wouldn't have heard of me, I haven't been fully active since you were probably born, not to mention I've never been one to look out for my public appearance compared to most heroes nowadays. Anyhow, I heard that you zygotes needed someone to beat you both into shape before U.A. starts up, is that correct?"
"Yes sir Mr..."
"Gran Torino, just call me Gran Torino, that's my hero name kid."
"Yes Gran Torino sir. You can call me Izuku, Midoriya Izuku, and that's my friend Bakugo Katsuki." Gran only rolled his eyes at the boy's use of honorifics. "All Might sensei thought that you would be able to help us train to become even better heroes than what All Might could do alone." The young dragon pushed his chest forward, a proud look on his face, like he had answered a difficult question at school.
"Indeed, I was asked by this big lug here to turn you from some D-list hero into an actual threat! So tell me, what exactly are you two hoping to achieve in the next few months I'll be working with you?" It was important that Gran knew what these kids were aiming for in their training so as to maximize their time together, he already had a few plans for both of the boys but he wanted to make sure that he wasn't training these boys improperly.
The blond one took the lead in answering the old hero's question first. "I want to work on controlling my explosions. The nerd thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to use my explosions in a cramped environment like hallways and crap without bringing everything down around me. I don't really need help making my explosions bigger, I can do that well enough on my own." Gran Torino gave a small nod before catching something in the boy's sentence.
"So the whole thing with you running around, blasting around piles of trash was Midoriya's Idea?" The blond gave a curt nod, Gran looked over to All Might with a glare which only intensified after seeing the proud look on his face. "I'm glad someone was able to think about teaching you boys some restraint. " Upon noticing his master's glare All Might noticeably paled and ducked his head down, back still straight as a board. ' Good, glad to see he hasn't let all those years between us affect how much he should fear me, especially after getting my hopes up that he'd learned anything other than smashing things.'
"Thank you sir?"
"Don't mention it brat, now then let me ask you something." At the teens nod the old hero continued. "How far along have you gotten in controlling One for All?"
At the hero's question the dragon boy's only response was to tilt his head in confusion like a scaly puppy. Seeing the boy's response Gran felt his heart stop for a moment.
"Are you seriously telling me... that this," Gran Torino shoved his cane into the number one heros face as he continued. "Absolute buffoon hasn't already given it to you!? For what reason did you neglect to give it to the damn boy!" It took all of Gran Torinos willpower to not start swinging his cane at his old student.
"W-Well if I were to have given it to him prematurely it would have surely killed the boy!" By the end of his sentence his voice filled with conviction once more, assured that his reasoning was sound.
IT WAS NOT.
With a twirl of his cane the world's strongest hero was smacked in the back of the heel, quickly and efficiently bringing him to his knees.
"Have you even read the boy's medical history Toshi!? Because if you had then you would have been surprised to discover that the boy has not shown any significant muscular growth in over a decade! Not that he needs it, just because he's not as ridiculously swole as you doesn't mean that he's lacking in muscle, if anything he's perfect to inherit One for All!"
All Might's shock was apparent as his old mentor spoke. "What!? A Decade!? I hadn't even realized... I..." All Might turned to face his protégé and bowed his head. "I'm sorry young Midoriya, if I had realized sooner I would not have wasted so much valuable time on strength training when I could have been focusing on training your ability to handle One for All or proper fighting styles." His head was low at a near perfect 90 degree angle as he sincerely apologized, much to his students horror as he attempted to wave off his heros sorrow.
If there was one thing that Toshi could do that made Gran Torino impressed no matter how many times he had seen it, it would be his ability to apologize. Even after becoming the most powerful man in the world he never seemed to forget his roots, sure he'd screw up at times but whenever he did he always strived to make up for his mistakes. Hell even now he did not apologize for not looking into his student, WHICH HE SHOULD HAVE, but instead apologized for wasting his students time on meaningless endeavors. The moment was ended however as a brash sounding voice sounded out behind the duo.
"There's no need to apologize Twigmight, training the nerd on how to control his strength without an overpowered god quirk was for the best anyway, kami knows he could afford to learn a bit more control as is." The blond boy gave a look somewhere between a scowl and a smirk as he spoke, playfully cocky as he glared down at his draconian brother.
"Wah! Kaachan, I have plenty of control over my strength already!" The green scaled boy howled out sounding even more mortified at his explosive brother.
"Tell that to auntie's and the old man's favorite glass plates nerd!" At that Gran dot to watch as the originally green boy turned completely red at his friend's remark, 'Even the brats' hair is starting to turn red.' Gran muttered to himself under his breath as he watched the two boys quickly get into an argument over fancy glassware.
After a moment of bickering Gran cleared his throat to catch their attention. "Ahem! Now with all of... That out of the way I'd like to commend you brat for pointing that out to me. Indeed I suppose it would be a good idea to know your base before healing you into the deep end of all of this, and I'm sure learning how to restrain yourself now will help in learning how to control your strength when you obtain One for All when you inevitably get it. So even though Toshi here could have given it to you sooner, I suppose it is for the best that you didn't." At that the three of them grinned at each other like a bunch of morons, thankfully Gran Torino had an excellent way to get all of them realize that they shouldn't test his ability in making them regret ever choosing him as an instructor. "With that said... I do believe it's important I get some idea how well you two brats are able to actually fight before I get into training you."
While All Might immediately paled for his two protégés, the two zygotes instead held either a confused look or a very eager look... 'That's his first mistake so far.' Gran thought to himself humorously. "Gran Torino sir, I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but... what do you mean by that?" The mini-dragon questioned.
"Well how else am I supposed to test your skills?" The hero Gran Torino's face took on a malicious grin as he spoke his next words. "By kickin you zygotes around until you can't move anymore!"
Ah yes, this is why he agreed to train these kids, to see them quickly learn to fear his hell training.