Chapter 6

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As the crowd cheered for the victor, as well as grumble at how much money they lost on the match, Deku let a twisted grin spread across his face.

He was perfect!

La Brava typed energetically at her laptop, her eyes glued to the screen as she searched the net. She was so deep in her hunt, she nearly didn't notice Gentle walking up to her side and handing her a cup of tea. "I say, La Brava, what has you so engrossed, my dear?"

"There was something on Deku's computer that he didn't want us to know about," The girl explained without looking away from the rushing widows on her panel. "Something called 'Underground Masquerade. It's been bugging me all day, so I figured I'd find out what it was on my own."

The flamboyant thief frowned slightly at this. "My dear, we may be criminals, but I think it's rather rude to go snooping into other's business, don't you think?"

"I understand, Gentle..." The girl stopped typing for a moment until she returned to her frantic searching with renewed determination. "But I just can't help it! I'm worried he might be getting himself into some serious trouble!"

"Oh, come now, my dear, this is Deku we're speaking of!" Gentle smiled calmly. "He wouldn't do anything to put himself in harm's way on purpose. Perhaps this masquerade is some sort of secret party! A gallant ball filled with grand festivities!"

La Brava clicked on a link, and her face went white. "...Or, its an underground fighting circuit, where fighters are allowed to use their quirks, and the battles don't end until one of the competitors is laid out on the mat in a bloody, broken heap!"

The sharp-dressed man shot over to the screen, his eyes bulging in horror. "WHAT?!"

"There's a tournament being held outside of town right now, and it's being streamed live as we speak!" La Brava quickly made an account and tuned in for the broadcast. The dazzling duo tuned in, where they saw the Rappa landing blow after high-speed blow on his latest opponent so fast, his arms were a visible, blistering blur.

"My goodness!" Gentle recoiled in horror. "How could anyone see such barbarism as entertainment?!"

La Brava winced as the combatant-turned-punching bag fell to the ground with a painful thud. "I think the better question is, why is Deku so interested in this?"

The crowd thundered in celebration for the wild bruiser, as he kept pumping his fists over his head in his high of conquest.

"Well, that's just about all the action we've got for you tonight, so-" The announcer began, only to have the Strongarm man suddenly snatch the mic from out of his hand. "Hey, what the-?!"

"I'm not ready to call it a night yet, folks, how about you?!" The masked mutilator bellowed into the mic, receiving a roar of agreement from the crowd. "Tell you what...How's about I take on anyone here who's got the guts to step into the ring with me, right here, right now?!"

The crowd hollered in approval.

"Alright!" The bruiser grinned. "So, who's first, huh?! Who's ready to take on the Rappa?!"

"Um...I will!"

Kendo looked to the open gate of the cage, spotting a small boy in a green hoodie making his way inside. The boy gave the bruiser a shy, friendly smile and wave.

"Holy cow, it's Deku!" La Brava lamented as she grasped her hair in grief. "I knew he was up to something crazy!"

"What the devil is he doing there?!" Gentle despaired as he gripped at the girl's chair.

Rappa looked the skinny boy up and down before giving a humoured chuckle. "I think you're a little outside your weight class, kid. Run on home before you get hurt." The Strongarm man then turned away to grab a water bottle.

"You said you'd take on anyone who'd step into the ring." Deku reasoned with a smirk. "Are you going back on your word right now?"

The crowd 'reacted eagerly at the boy's boldness. Rappa turned back to the boy with narrowed his eyes under his hood. "Kid...I don't know what kind of quirk you have that makes you think you have any kind of chance against me, but-"

"Oh, I don't have a quirk." The green-haired boy quickly chimed.

"...Wait, what?" The strongarm man asked in bewilderment.

"I don't have a quirk." Deku repeated,

A moment of silence came over the hall...until the whole hall exploded with laughter. The crowd heckled and pointed at the quirkless child. Rappa looked around at the jeering crowd before turning back to the green-haired boy.

Deku merely looked around at the insulting crowd, a small dark smile on his face. His eyes seemed uncaring to their mocking as if he'd heard all of it before, and he simply didn't care anymore.

"Those lousy, cold-hearted...RRRAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" La Brava hoisted her laptop over her head, ready to launch it across the room.

Gentle had to grab hold of the girl and wrestle her for the high-tech device. "La Brava, stop! That computer has all our videos on it!"

The crowd continued to laugh, the young analyst still taking it all with an uncaring grin on his face.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Rappa's roar made everyone in the warehouse pipe down in an instant.

"I don't see how anyone of you milksops out there, have any right to laugh at this quirkless kid when he's the only one who had the stones to step up!" The Strongarm man pointed out, with no one daring to defend themselves.

Rappa gave the crown one more glare before turning his attention back on the green-haired boy. "Listen, little guy. I don't know if your crazy or gutsy for coming in here, but you gotta understand that you don't stand a spit of a chance against me."

"Oh, I'm well aware of that, Mr. Rappa." The boy noted in the agreement. "I was hoping I could persuade you into taking me on."

"'Take you on?'" It took a while for Rappa to figure out what the green-haired boy was getting at. "Wait, are you saying...?"

"That's right." The boy smiled. "I want you to teach me how to fight."

The two viral villains gaped at the screen. "...Huh?"

The crowd was as bewildered at the offer as Rappa. He looked around at the crowd, hearing the numerous voices talk about if he was going to take him on or not. "Why would you even want me to train you?"

For the first time since he stepped into the arena, Deku grew nervous. He took a breath through his nose to gather his wits. "Because I have been on the receiving end of this world for not being like everyone else my whole life. I don't want to just lay back and let everyone do whatever they want with me any longer. I can't do it!" The image of an explosive blonde with a vicious smirk came to mind, his palms open and smoking, ready to blast. The young analyst clenched his fist. "I can't be defenceless...not anymore."

The brawler and the crowd were stunned silent by the boy's words, as well as the dazzling duo watching online.

"You're the kind of man who respects those who can take punishment as much as giving it out." The boy continued. "So allow me a chance to prove myself." He then raised a finger. "One round. If I can remain on my feet after being in the ring with you for one round, you have to train me."

La Brava was gripping at her laptop, the device cracking under the pressure. "Is he out of his mind?! That monster's gonna flatten him!"

The flamboyant thief held the girl by her waist as he tried to pull her off her computer. "La Brava, please...!"

Rappa dropped his arms, along with his jaw, at the madcap offer. The audience muttered louder, thinking the boy was out of his mind to try something like that. The bruiser glanced around at the crowd before looking back at the boy.

Above the cage and the crowd, a lone security camera with a blinking red light focused on the boy in the ring. Its lens zeroed in on the greed-hooded child with a glimmer of intrigue in its blank gaze.

A moment passed before the Strongarm man barked with laughter. "Alright, little man! I'll play along!" He began cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "And if you can stay standing after one round with me, I'll teach you everything I know!"

"Woah, Woah, Woah, hold on a second!" The announcer stepped in between the two. "There's no way we can-" A crackle in his ear interrupted him. "Huh? What's that? Uh-huh...ok...ok..." After finishing his one-side conversation, the announcer cleared his throat before speaking into the mic. "I just got word that our sponsor has given us the 'ok' for this challenge! What say you, folks?!"

The crowd roared to life in approval.

"Aaaaalllllllllright! We got ourselves an endurance match!" The announcer declared. "For those of you tuning in, our reigning champ, The Rappa, is about to take on...Uhhh?" The announcer scampered over to the boy and leaned in to whisper. "What's your name kid?"

"Deku." The green-haired boy declared naturally.

The announcer pulled his shades down in complexity. "Wait...seriously?" The boy's answer was a simple nod. The announcer shrugged his shoulders at the name. The kid seemed weird anyway, why not have a weird name to boot?

The announcer cleared his throat. "As I was saying, The Rappa is about to see just how much punishment our brave challenger, 'Deku', can handle!"

A small window of time passed as people started placing bets on how long Deku could last the round. As for the boy, he couldn't stop bouncing on his heels. for some reason that he couldn't fathom, he just felt so eager to get started.

Rappa began stretching his oversized arms for the upcoming match. "Are you really sure you wanna do this, little guy? It's not exactly a secret that I can hit pretty hard."

"That's okay..." The smile on the villain-in-training's face grew larger and darker, his eyes being shadowed under the shining spotlights above.

"I've had a lot of experience in getting hurt."

Rappa found himself a bit jarred at the kid's revelation. This boy was definitely not all there.

The announcer stepped between the two adversaries. "Alright, are the competitors ready?"

Deku nodded as he braced himself for the next five minutes.

Rappa raised his arms in a natural fighting stance.

The announcer raised his fingers. "Let the challenge begin in 3...2...1...GO!"

The announcer immediately dived out of the way. Rappa rushed toward Deku with his left fist pulled back. The boy did nothing but stand in place as the enormous bruiser came right at him.

"Deku, no!" La Brava wailed with unshed terrified tears.

"Don't look, La Brava!" Gentle cried as he clamped his hands over his accomplice's eyes.

Rappa threw his fist forward, aiming square for the boy's temple. For as long as he'd been a fighter, Rappa had learned how to pull his punches over the years. As much as he loved dishing out pain as he did to receive it, he decided to show the kid some mercy, and knock him out as quickly and painlessly as possible...Only for Deku to duck out of his path, and let the Strongarm man hit nothing but open air.

Rappa was caught off guard by the boy's sudden dodge, but then refocused himself and went for another clean hit. The green-haired boy seemed to predict this, and move out of his fist's way again.

Gentle's jaw had dropped at the sight of Deku's quick reflexes. La Brava, after not hearing the coming impact from the screen, peeked through her beloved's fingers and saw that the green-haired boy was all right. She moved the man's hands off her face and watched with as much astonishment as the flamboyant thief did.

Deku had to thank Gentle the next time he and the thief met. After all of the Elasticity man's training, the young analyst had learned to be quicker on his feet. With every swing of Rappa's massive blows, Deku managed to dodge and weave past the masked man's attacks.

Rappa let out a roar as he lunged forward with a massive haymaker that would devastate Deku on impact. But thanks to all the acrobatic skills he'd learned from Gentle, the boy was able to leap over the Strongarm man's fist. Time seemed to slow down as Deku soared over Rappa's head.

But before the young analyst could land on his feet, Rappa turned and delivered his first hit. He struck the boy in the stomach, launching across the arena and slamming him into the cage fence, and falling to the floor with a hard thud. The boy gasped as he clenched into a ball as he nursed his aching ribs.

"It took real courage to do what you did, kid, but this is too much for you." Rappa turned his back on the green-haired boy, waiting for either the clock or the kid to tap out.

"Deku..." Gentle watched the boy slumped over in agony as he brought a hand to his face in pity and contempt. "What were you thinking, my boy?!"

La Brava said nothing as she merely stared at the screen until she saw something that made her brighten up. she began tugging on her beloved's cape to get his attention. "Gentle! Gentle, look! He's getting up!"

The flamboyant thief snapped his eyes back to the laptop, disbelief thick across his face. "What?!"

Rappa kept on walking until he heard the boy's groaning grow louder. He stopped to look back, and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Deku struggled to get to his feet, managing to stand back up and give the Strongarm man a valiant smile.

"What the...?" Was all the underground fighter could say.

Deku huffed for breath as his grin remained in place. "Beleive me or not...I've had worse."

Rappa was stunned by the boy's questionable words until his vicious grin came back. So, the kid was tougher than he looked. The Strongarm man decided he wanted to see how tough, as he raised his hands in a fighting stance once more.

What followed next was one of the most brutal and astonishing things the Underground Masquerade had ever seen...and the crowd was loving it!

Rappa started to put more speed into his punches. Not as much as he would when facing an opponent who could take his full power. Well, as much as one could against him. But just enough to give the kid enough of a chance, without going as easy on him as before.

Deku used all of the acrobatic skills he'd learned from Gentle Criminal in his life-threatening game of 'tag' from Rappa. However, with Rappa being the professional fighter he was, the boy ended up taking more hits than avoiding them.

But no matter how battered he got, no matter how many times he hit the mat, Deku always found the strength to get back up again. The audience was blown away by how much willpower the quirkless boy had. People who bet against him started trying to change their deals without results.

The clock counted down until it reached the thirty-second mark. Deku was covered in bruises and cuts from the Strongarm man's vicious punches. He wiped a speck of blood off his chin as he kept his eyes on his opponent, waiting for whatever attack he'd make next.

Rappa was surprised to find that he was actually winded. The match had gone on a lot longer than he thought t would, and it was all because the kid he was wailing on either didn't know when to stay down, or he enjoyed getting hit as much as he did.

Every breath the green-haired boy took was haggard and strained, but his smile remained in place. "Is that...all you got...?"

Rappa gave the quirkless child a chuckle. "Kid, are you sure you don't have a quirk that's nullifying all that damage I'm giving you, and you just don't know about it?"

"I don't..." Deku affirmed tiredly. "Believe me...I've checked..."

"Well, little guy...I'll admit...you've impressed me," Rappa clenched his fists tight in front of him. "But the clock hasn't run out yet. If you can get back on your feet after this last punch...I'll be more than happy to train you."

For a brief moment, Deku's grin turned a little less manic, showing a tinge of thoughtfulness. "Thank you..."

With the final pleasantries out of the way, Rappa moved in for his final attack. for the first time since the match started, the Strongarm man used his quirk. His arms began slinging back and forth at a rapid pace, building up speed the more he threw his fists.

The crowd had gone dead silent, waiting in anticipation for the final blow to be struck.

Gentle and La Brava covered each other's eyes to spare the other of the last brutal attack.

The young analyst saw it as a way for Rappa to catch the boy off guard, moving his hands so quickly, he wouldn't be able to guess which one was coming, leaving him no chance to avoid it at the last second.

...And he didn't.

A right hook rammed across Deku's jaw, rocking the green-haired boy's world, and cutting a gash across his cheek. He spun on his feet until he fell to the ground. Everyone in the crowd bemoaned loudly at the heavy hit. Gentle and La Brava were frozen in horror at the unmerciful strike. Deku laid on the ground, a dark red gash across his cheek from Rappa's unpredicted punch.

And he wasn't getting up.

"twenty seconds counting!" The announcer called out.

Rappa folded his arms, giving the unmoving boy a condoling smile. "Deku...you were more of a man than I thought you were; quirk or no quirk. Sorry for doubting you." The man closed his eyes in reverence for the boy's bravery. "But this is as far as you go."

...He heard a groan.

Rappa shot his eyes open, and low and behold, Deku was back in the land of the conscious, and he was getting back up.

The boy was visibly shaking as he picked himself up off the mat, blood dripping from his fresh wound and pooling onto the floor. The crowd was stupified. Gentle and La Brava were gaping at the boy's painful attempt to simply stand, and Rappa had dropped his arms in disbelief.

The announcer's shades nearly fell off his face with his dropped jaw, until he spied the clock and snapped out of himself. "T-Ten seconds left on the clock! Ten!...nine!..."

"Eight!...Seven!..." The crowd started counting along with him.

As Deku continued to struggle to get back on his feet, he began to hear something else from the crowd other than the final countdown.

"Come one, Deku! you can do it!"

"You already made it! You just gotta get up!"

"Don't quit on us now, Deku!"

The green-haired boy couldn't believe what he was hearing. Were people...cheering for him?

"Five!...Four!..."

The countdown made itself known once again. But with the calls of encouragement coming from the audience, Deku found a newfound strength within him.

"THREE!..."

He placed his hands on his knees...

"TWO!..."

He sucked in as much air as his burning lungs could hold...

"ONE!..."

With a cry of pure force, and his muscles screaming in distress, Deku lifted himself upon his feet, standing as tall as he could.

"ZERO!"

The crowd went wild as the final buzzer went off.

"HE'S DONE IT, FOLKS!" The announcer cried, his voice carrying more on itself than the mic. "Deku, the kid without a quirk, has survived a single round against the reigning champ, KENDO RAPPA!"

"HE DID IT!"

La Brava was hopping up and down in her seat, dancing her little legs in mid-air with each leap. "He did it, he did it, he did it!"

Gentle gave a proud, hearty laugh to his young student. "Well done, Deku my boy, well done!"

When the green-haired boy heard that he had finished the match, he was beyond relieved. It was also the exact moment he lost all feeling in his legs. But as he began to fall to the ground, a large hand grabbed him by the wrist and lifted his limp body in the air.

He turned his head and saw the masked brawler was the one holding him up. Rappa lifted the boy even higher, causing the crowd to erupt even louder, and began to cheer his name.

"DE-KU! DE-KU! DE-KU! DE-KU! DE-KU!"

The green-haired boy looked out at the audience. He never thought anyone would ever cheer for him in his entire life. They all knew he was quirkless, but they didn't care, not anymore. A warm feeling spread inside Deku's chest. His swollen eyes stung with tears threatening to fall, but before he could break down, Rappa lifted him onto his shoulder.

"A deal's a deal, kid-I mean...tough guy," The Strongarm man corrected himself. "I'll teach you everything I know."

Deku beamed happily. "Thank you, Mr. Rappa...sir."

Rappa shook his head at the formal name. "Call me coach."

As the quirkless child basked in the praise of the blood-thirsty audience, one of the cameras recording the whole match zoomed in on the batted boy, his reflection mirrored in the device's blank gaze...

The large bright screen was the only light in a dark room. Wires and tubes littered the floor, running toward a single chair, where a large tank ventilator pumped at a slow, steady rhythm to one side. There in the chair, a figure shrouded in the darkness rested.

The light of the screen shown upon his face, if that was what one would call it. A hideous, mangled scar was all that could be seen of the figure's top half of his head, his eyes and nose nowhere to be found. The only resemblance of a living being was the pair of lips curled into a sadistic grin.

"Deku...How intriguing..."

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If u like this fanfic Join my discord for more fanfics and faster release:- https://discord. gg/qxvX7Tvpqp (without space)

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