The express train's compartment shook steadily as it cut through the darkness of the night at a furious speed toward Kanagawa Prefecture. Inside, the silence was heavy and tangible, broken only by the faint hum of the electric engine.
Yaoyorozu sat gripping the small receiver with both hands, her eyes fixed on the red dot blinking steadily over the digital map. Beside her, Midoriya sat interlocking his fingers with anxiety, while Todoroki and Iida sat in the seats across from them exchanging silent looks that carried the weight of the decision they had made. Across the aisle, Bakugo had retreated to the window seat with his back to everyone, his jaw clenched tight, while Kirishima sat beside him with an unusually serious expression.
Yaoyorozu broke the silence and raised her head. "The receiver's coordinates point to the Kamino District, Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture. Since we're departing from Nagano, it will take approximately two hours. We should arrive around ten o'clock tonight."
Todoroki exhaled slowly and turned toward his companions. "You all know that what we're doing is selfish. If our other friends knew, none of them would want us to do this." He paused. "You can still withdraw if you want."
"Tch."
A sharp tongue-click from the direction of the window. Bakugo turned with half his face, his red eyes burning with suppressed fury. "Shut your mouth, Half and Half. Who do you think you are telling me whether I can withdraw or not? I don't withdraw from anything."
Kirishima cut in quickly, looking at Todoroki with firm resolve. "If I was hesitant, I wouldn't have said I'd do this in the first place. We all know Zoro is extremely strong and won't give in or let them do whatever they want with him." He stopped. "But leaving him there and just relying on others, for me, that's not something a man does."
Todoroki tilted his head slightly and moved his gaze directly toward Midoriya, who was sunk in his thoughts. "What do you think, Midoriya?"
"I..."
Midoriya's voice wavered for a moment. Memories flooded his mind all at once. All Might's old words, the ones that had built the core of who he was as a hero: going beyond when you don't need to is the essence of being a hero. Then came the memory of All Might's private conversation with him about Zoro's mysterious power, the Haki, and his stern warning that Zoro would be in absolute unimaginable danger if All For One or the villains discovered the secret of that power.
Midoriya's expression changed completely. The uncertainty vanished from his face, and he raised his head to meet Todoroki's eyes directly with a steadiness that seemed to settle into the seat beneath him. "I can't withdraw."
Todoroki smiled a faint smile that was barely visible and gave a slow nod. "I understand. Alright."
When the express train stopped and its doors slid open, the six students stepped out to find the scale of what lay before them overwhelming.
Kamino was alive with noise. A wide street stretched as far as the eye could see, surrounded by soaring skyscrapers glowing with neon lights, and massive crowds of pedestrians flowing in every direction. A dense human roar that made the mystery surrounding what they were walking into feel even deeper.
Midoriya turned left and right and swallowed hard. "So the villains are hiding somewhere inside this enormous city?"
Bakugo and Kirishima surged forward with rapid, nearly running steps. Bakugo turned as he squeezed his fists, the veins in his forehead prominent. "So where is he, Yaoyorozu?! Where is that mossy-headed idiot?!"
"Wait a minute!"
Yaoyorozu called out sharply behind them as she tried to hold back their momentum. Kirishima stepped back while Bakugo turned with impatience. "From this point on we need to be extremely careful. The villains know what we look like and who we are. Do you remember what happened at the camp? We also need to keep in mind that we could be attacked at any moment if we're discovered."
Midoriya quickly raised both hands toward his face and started making awkward contorted expressions trying to shrink or hide his features. "So we need to disguise ourselves somehow!"
Todoroki looked at him with complete composure. "That makes you more conspicuous, Midoriya."
Yaoyorozu sighed and turned, pointing toward one of the large stores on the opposite side. "I have an idea, let's go to that clothing store and..."
"Yaoyorozu." Bakugo cut her off with a sharp tone. "You're wasting our time. Why don't you just use your ability? Make us something to disguise ourselves with right now and let us go. We don't have time for stores."
Silence settled over the group and everyone looked at Bakugo who was breathing with visible agitation.
Midoriya stepped forward and looked at Yaoyorozu with serious eyes. "Kacchan has a point here. We need to move now and buy as much time as possible. We don't know what Zoro is facing right now under their hands."
Yaoyorozu nodded with understanding. She retreated two steps toward the shadow of a dark alley and with a quick activation of her ability produced from her body several dark cloaks and masks and simple hats that covered their features completely. Everyone put them on in a flash and they set off tracking the blinking signal through the crowds.
As they walked with careful steps and immense psychological pressure, a sudden sharp scream burst from the crowd near them.
"It's UA!"
All six students' bodies went rigid in the same fraction of a second. Yaoyorozu jumped from where she stood in alarm, Midoriya's eyes went wide and his pupils darted with apprehension, while Iida's hand moved instinctively to the frame of his glasses thinking their identities had been exposed to the public.
But the eyes of the crowd were not directed at them.
The crowds were pressing and gathering densely in front of a massive electronic screen hung on the facade of one of the skyscrapers. The screen was broadcasting a bold red news banner: UA High School Emergency Press Conference.
On the screen, a long wooden platform appeared with Principal Nezu sitting behind it, and beside him Aizawa and Vlad King.
The six students moved forward slowly, immersed in the human crowd with their eyes fixed upward. Midoriya murmured with bewilderment and sadness. "That's Sensei Aizawa." And Yaoyorozu added from behind her mask. "And Principal Nezu too."
The press conference hall on the screen was packed with cameras whose flashes didn't stop, and journalists who resembled hungry wolves waiting for their prey to fall.
One journalist in the front rows pointed his finger in direct accusation toward the platform. "The public has completely lost faith in you! You left underage children facing professional killers in the forest! And worse than that, this student who was kidnapped, Roronoa Zoro! Reports say he possesses strange behavior, and a police record confirming he was carrying bladed weapons he had no license to carry in public streets! He behaves like a mercenary or a killer far more than a student who wants to become a hero who protects people!"
Murmurs of agreement moved through the crowd in the street. Kirishima ground his teeth in anger as he listened, while faint sparks flickered from Bakugo's hand inside his pocket.
"We have here a live testimony from one of the reporters." The journalist continued.
A young reporter rose from his seat in the hall and stood before the microphone, his features still carrying traces of shock. He swallowed with difficulty and began speaking, his voice carrying through the towering screen.
"We were all gathered in front of the school gate after news leaked that All Might was teaching there. And suddenly we saw him approaching, that student, Roronoa Zoro."
The reporter breathed slowly and his eyes seemed to return to that moment with genuine fear. "He was walking calmly, his hands in his pockets, his expression showing clear irritation from the crowd. The three of us stepped directly in front of him to block his path. I brought the microphone up and asked him about All Might. But he didn't answer."
The conference hall fell quiet. The silence spread into the street as well alongside the reporter's tone. "But he stopped. And then he slowly raised his head and looked at us. I've been a journalist for many years. I've covered hero incidents and dangerous villain attacks. I've even seen Nomu creatures with my own eyes. But I have never in my life felt what I felt in that moment."
The reporter's hand trembled as he held his papers. "He didn't draw a sword. He made no aggressive movement. But he looked directly into my eyes. The air at that moment changed completely, it became heavy and cold and suffocating to the point of death. My entire body and every instinct inside me started screaming: run right now or you'll die. The microphone fell from my hand without me noticing, and even the people and reporters standing beside me stepped back instinctively, and the path in front of him opened completely within seconds."
The reporter lowered his voice so that his terrifying whisper reached the students' ears on the street. "And then he said it quietly in a way that made my blood freeze. 'You're in my way.' That single sentence was more dangerous and more frightening than any shout or threat I've heard in my life."
The reporter stepped aside and returned to his seat. The first journalist came back and directed his decisive blow toward Nezu and Aizawa. "Isn't it obvious now that the villains specifically targeted this student because they saw in him a dark nature that resembles their own?! You brought danger to your students by accepting a person carrying this killer's nature into your academy!"
In the street, Midoriya bowed his head with his eyes shining with sorrow. Iida tightened his fist. "How dare they say this? They don't know anything about Zoro-kun." Todoroki remained silent but his left eye glowed with a faint warmth.
On the screen, a heavy silence settled. Vlad King sat beside Aizawa with his eyes turned toward his colleague, afraid that Aizawa might lose control in front of the cameras.
But Aizawa, with complete cold composure, rose from his seat.
He raised his head slowly. The usual tired, lazy look had vanished entirely from his eyes, replaced by a sharp, steel-hard gaze that made the entire hall and the street behind it fall silent like graveyards.
"You're speaking about things you don't understand." Aizawa began in a low voice that carried a weight which shook the foundations of the room. "You speak about his appearance and his gaze to justify the villain attack against him and to smear the reputation of a victim. Let me tell you who Roronoa Zoro actually is."
He leaned slightly toward the microphone. "When the attack at the camp began and the blue flames started consuming the forest and the poisonous gas spread to every corner, Zoro didn't run to save himself. He stayed alone at the top of the mountain to protect a small child who was present there. He faced the villain Muscular alone, a professional killer classified in the extremely dangerous category, and defeated him decisively to protect that child and only that child."
Shocked murmurs and surprised gasps moved through the journalists, but Aizawa didn't give them an opening to interrupt. "And that wasn't enough for him. Despite his severe injuries, he descended into the depths of the forest and confronted a genetically modified Nomu. He knew clearly that he was the first and primary target of the kidnapping operation. He could have pulled back and hidden, but he deliberately chose to be the bait. He chose to take the blow himself and absorb the pain, so that no other student among his classmates would be taken."
Aizawa brought his hand down lightly on the table, and his words fell like hammers on everyone's heads. "If you see in his sacrifice and his protection of his companions something dark, then you know nothing about what it means to be a hero."
Not a single journalist in the hall dared to speak another word.
In the street, Bakugo looked at the screen and the sparks disappeared from his hand, replaced by a severe stillness. Kirishima felt his tears almost escaping from his eyes as he whispered: "Aizawa-sensei." And Midoriya felt his heart beating with a new resolve. There was no longer any room for doubt. Zoro had to be saved now.
Far from the noise of the street and the press conference, the Nomu factory was submerged in a gloomy quiet broken only by the sound of bubbles in the glowing green liquid inside the cylindrical containers.
All For One was walking slowly, speaking through a private encrypted line with Doctor Garaki.
The old doctor's voice, full of scientific curiosity, came through the hidden audio devices. "My lord, are you truly serious about what you told him? Will you kill him and be done with him when you return? His body, that Quirk-free genetic code that withstands all that spiritual pressure! It's a perfect specimen unlike anything I've seen in my entire life! It would be an enormous loss to the world of research!"
All For One released a quiet, cold laugh that caused the tubes of his medical mask to vibrate. "Don't be foolish, Doctor. We cannot allow someone who possesses that will and that forgotten legacy to die so easily. Death is the choice I gave him so he could see despair, but my real plan for him goes much deeper. If he won't submit to Tomura willingly, then we'll make his body submit to our methods in your own particular way." He paused. "Prepare your equipment. We'll need him alive."
And just a few meters away, in the middle of the shattered concrete ring, Zoro was still held down on one knee against the floor. The heavy steel chains coiled around his body like serpents. The blood had dried on his torn uniform, the deep wound on his left shoulder was still slowly dripping, and his broad chest with its enormous scar rose and fell with labored, exhausted breaths.
He had lost enormous amounts of blood and his energy was approaching zero. His eyelids were nearly forcing themselves shut from the savage exhaustion bearing down on him.
But he refused to fall.
With tremendous effort he raised his head slightly. And from between the strands of his green hair soaked in sweat and blood, a sharp, burning, unyielding look fired from his eyes.
He moved his gaze slowly toward the dark corner where his three swords lay, where the white blade of Wado Ichimonji rested on the floor at a short distance from him.
He wasn't thinking about death. He wasn't thinking about submission.
His mind was focused on one thing only. How to reach his blades and cut this damned chain.
.
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For Advanced Chapters:
Chapter 92 is Available Now
The Weight We Carry Together
As Zoro tries to go back to the battlefield, Aizawa and his mentor Kenji stop him, revealing their past and making it clear his part in the fight is over for tonight.
At the same time, All Might finds his strength again thanks to his allies and a child's voice, just as other heroes show up—proving he's no longer fighting alone.
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