292 Akainu's Quirky Adventure
The void was lightless and empty as far as Akainu could tell. His observation haki told him so anyways, though he didn't believe he could trust it any more. Not when the whispers came and it revealed no one even when they sounded so close.
The void was timeless as well, at least he thought so. He felt like an eternity had passed since that bitch threw him in here and he didn't feel any different than he started..
Or perhaps "out here" was more appropriate? He didn't know and didn't think it mattered which one it was.
At some point Akainu found that he would long for the whispers, for they were the only thing that broke up the monotony of an eternity of nothing. His favorites were the ones that he couldn't comprehend. The ones that he could understand almost never had anything good to say.
"There's a hole in the world like a great black pit and it's filled with people who are filled with shit and the vermin of the world inhabit it… but not for long…"
That one had been so full of madness and hate that it made himself look like a well adjusted optimist. Despite that, it sounded so human. He wished whatever that was wouldn't ever be inflicted upon the world.
In any case, the whispers were the only thing that kept him sane, or sane-ish anyways. The only lighthouse in this great storm of nothing.
*rumble*
His body vibrated suddenly. He latched onto the feeling with all his being. It was the first new sensation he'd felt in forever or a moment.
*crack*
Akainu tumbled and fell into an open dumpster. A cat hissed and clawed his face, only to yelp and flee as its claws were automatically burned off by his devil fruit. The cat didn't possess armament haki after all.
Akainu laid in the heap of trash and refuse for a moment, savoring the feeling of just existing. It was a feeling that by its very nature was taken for granted, and he'd learned this lesson the hard way. Even lying in garbage was better than NOTHING.
"Is this real? Or have I completely lost it?" Akainu muttered to himself.
A memory of one of the whispers came to his mind. "I think, therefore I am. Mm. It doesn't matter if this is real; it's real enough to me."
Akainu stood up and clambered out of the dumpster and inspected himself. His clothes were just as they were before; a dark red suit with a black overcoat bearing the Neo Marine emblem. Strangely, his wounds from the fight with Cherry seemed to have healed over.
*growl*
His stomach growled angrily at him. He turned back to the dumpster and took one of the discarded fruit there. An apple, relatively fresh with just a single bite taken out of it. He ate it in three bites; it would tide him over until he could get something proper to eat.
Oh, how he missed food.
*boom* *boom boom*
"Cannon fire?" Akainu wondered aloud.
There were other, unfamiliar sounds in the distance as well. He needed more information about his location, so he would head straight toward the action.
Akainu made his way out of the alley, brushing off remnants from the dumpster as he went.
Stepping out into the street, the first thing he noticed were unusual vehicles. They were reminiscent of the contraptions that Vegapunk often made, but this place was definitely not Egghead.
The second thing he noticed was the people. Many of them had features that he had never scene before and a few even looked like Minks or Fishmen. One man in a suit and carrying a briefcase even had a lizard's head.
Akainu had never heard about a reptile-like race before, so his guess would be a devil fruit. However, the people around didn't pay the man any mind, as if it was perfectly typical to see such a person.
In fact, more people were paying attention to Akainu. That wasn't terribly unusual either, given that he towered over them with his 3 meters of height, but he was far from being the largest example of humanity.
The people spoke the same language as him; though the accent was unfamiliar, which was both helpful and unhelpful as it ruled out many possible locations.
*boom*
Akainu marched towards the fray.
…
"Why aren't the heroes doing anything? That villain has had that middle school kid for over 10 minutes!" a bystander said.
Midorya Izuku's heart dropped when he heard those words. He had barely endured 30 seconds of that sludge villain trying to suffocate him!
When Izuku saw that the kid the sludge villain caught was his childhood friend (and bully) Bakugo Katsuki, he rushed forward from the crowd without a thought for his own safety.
He bought a breath of air for Bakugo by throwing his backpack at the sludge villain, but his clawing at the sludge afterwards didn't do much good.
Then a wave of heat washed over them. Izuku half-expected to see Endeavor standing there when he turned his head to the source of the heat, despite this not being anywhere near his area of patrol.
Instead they saw a herculean figure of roiling, molten rock. "Let the boy go, or I'll boil you until there's nothing left."
Izuku, Bakugo, and the sludge villain believed him. The man's overbearing presence demanded nothing less than obedience and promised a painful death otherwise.
The sludge villain spat Bakugo at the man, who caught him effortlessly, and tried to escape. Only for All Might to appear out of nowhere and blast the sludge villain with a massive punch. Akainu's eye twitch at the sight of it went unnoticed.
Akainu set the blond boy down onto his feet and steadied him before releasing him.
Bakugo scowled at him, but Akainu recognised a sparkle of admiration in his eyes.
'Does this boy have the power of the bomb fruit? Didn't one of Crocodile's goons have that devil fruit? The same with that swamp fellow, I'm pretty sure someone else should have that logia power. Am I in some distant future?' Akainu questioned in his mind.
The tall buildings and common motorized vehicles would suggest a more technologically advanced society than he was used to.
"Thank you for the assistance, citizen!" All Might said with a thumbs up. His smiling expression was clearly well practiced, but his genuine gratitude and unmistakable caution were apparent.
*Tsss Tsss Tsss*
Raindrops started to fall and sizzled on Akainu's skin as he picked apart All Might's words.
'He called me a citizen, which means he is likely part of an organization with higher authority than the average person. It also means he doesn't recognise me, which means he can't be part of the marines or revolutionaries. A local army perhaps?' Akainu thought.
Of course, those conclusions were predicated on the assumption that he wasn't in a distant future.
"If you're thankful, answer a question for me." Akainu said, the domineering aura about him easing but not completely vanishing.
"Ah, well, I'm quite busy… just a quick one I suppose." All Might said, clearly in a hurry to leave for some reason.
"Which ocean is this kingdom located in?" Akainu asked straightforwardly.
"""???""" All Might and everyone else who heard the question were dumbfounded by it.
"Err, the Pacific Ocean?" All Might answered. He did agree to do so, even though the question turned out to be so strange.
'Kingdom?' All Might thought as he turned to deal with the press quickly and deal with the sludge village.
"Are you some kinda illegal immigrant? How do you not even know where you are?" Bakugo asked his mysterious savior.
"His Japanese is good, but his accent is so old-fashioned. He seems to not know where he is in the world, why would that be?" the shaggy haired boy with freckles muttered away to himself.
Akainu looked at the two boys with a frown. "What is the 'Pacific' ocean? Is that a colloquial name for one of the North, South, East, or West Blues?"
The two boys both stared at him incredulously, one with more disdain than the other.
*growl*
Bakugo glanced at Akainu's stomach from where the sound came. "Just come to my house. I'm sure my mom would be happy to feed you after helping me a little bit. I'll answer your questions there."
Bakugo gathered up his things and blew off the pro heroes trying to suck up to him. One of the heroes, Death Arms, got a real nasty glare from the boy after insinuating that Akainu may not be trustworthy.
Seeing no better options given the unique circumstances Akainu found himself in, he followed the explosive blond. It wasn't because he was hungry, no sir; he just needed information.
Izuku watched the two leave with a conflicted expression. He planned to search for any lava related quirks later to see if he could find out more about the man.
