newbobooks Chapter 179 176 Forces
Chapter 179 176 Forces
News of Kamino did not stop at Japan's borders. In the following days after the major battle in Tokyo, recordings of the battle, the prison breaks, and the subsequent breakdown in public order were circulating through the same private networks used by smugglers, arms dealers, and organized crime groups around the world. The conclusion was obvious. All For One, was dead and gone. And All Might was no longer in a position to act as a hero after that fight. With the two greatest deterrents gone, the stirring darkness that followed was quite normal.
For decades, the balance of power surrounding Japan had rested on two opposing figures. One stood at the top of hero society and served as a visible warning to anyone considering expanding their operations into the country.
The other ruled the criminal underworld from the shadows and kept many of the world's most dangerous elements in check through fear, alliances, and sheer force.
Neither man had allowed the landscape to descend into complete chaos. Now that both were gone, the effect was immediate. Across the world, individuals and organizations who had long treated Japan as untouchable began reassessing that position. Smugglers reviewed shipping routes through Japanese ports.
Private military contractors accepted unusually lucrative offers. Information brokers quietly sold reports on the state of the Hero Public Safety Commission and the National Police Agency.
In a smoke-filled penthouse overlooking the neon skyline of Hong Kong, a silver-haired broker muted the television and turned to his associates.
"Hero society is destabilizing faster than expected."
One of the men adjusted his glasses. "Japanese ports are already under strain. Customs inspections have become inconsistent."
"And the heroes?"
"Overextended."
The broker smiled faintly. "Then it seems there's finally some room open in the market, Suno. This pleases me."
_
In a communications room in a mid-tier criminal organization operating out of Busan, three people sat around a screen and ran numbers.
"The agencies in the western prefectures are running at sixty percent," the man with the tablet said. "The ones in Tohoku are worse. There are three major trafficking routes that run through Niigata that haven't had a significant hero interdiction in eight days."
The woman across from him said nothing at first.
"Well then. Who else is moving?" She asked.
"We .. cannot say yet, my lady. Many are still waiting for someone else to make the first move."
Those words seemed to bring a smile to her face. "Well, how thoughtful." Her gaze lingered on the news reports..
"Well, since they're generous enough to wait for us to take the first bite, then we should certainly oblige."
The woman rose from her chair and walked to the panoramic window overlooking the harbor. Below, cargo vessels moved through the night like dark silhouettes against the lights of the city.
For years, Japan had been a market too costly to challenge directly. Too many heroes. Too much scrutiny and way too much risk. Now however, things had delightfully changed for the better.
"Mobilize our Osaka and Fukuoka contacts," she said.
The man with the tablet blinked. "Immediately?"
"Immediately." She folded her arms. "If the heroes are as overstretched as these reports suggest, then every hour we delay is an hour someone else uses to establish themselves."
"And our domestic partners?"
"Inform them that our rates have doubled."
The man nodded quickly. "Understood."
She turned back to the screen. "Send a team to assess the ports first," she added. "I want to know which customs officers are taking bribes and which ones are too frightened to say no."
_
Thousands of kilometers away, in a fortified compound hidden in the mountains of Eastern Europe, another organization was conducting its own assessment. Unlike the syndicates and trafficking networks now studying Japan's vulnerabilities, this group had little interest in ports, narcotics, or conventional crime as their actual goals lay in more ideological areas.
Rows of monitors displayed translated news reports from Tokyo. All Might's final battle. The prison escapes. The accelerating breakdown of order. Men and women in dark identical suits watched in reverent silence.
Humarise, an extremist movement that viewed Quirks as a ticking catastrophe for humanity. At the head of the chamber, Flect Turn observed the reports with his usual composed expression. One of his senior followers stepped forward.
"The final report from the Far East has been compiled, Leader," a soft, monotone voice spoke from the shadows of the arched doorway. An associate clad in the immaculate, white robes of Humarise stepped forward, holding a sleek tablet. "Forty-two of their highest-ranking biological anomalies," the associate continued, his voice echoing slightly against the stone walls. "All stripped of their artificial status. The one they called the Symbol of Peace has been reduced to a fragile, decaying shell. The creature known as All For One is dead. The Japanese societal structure is currently under heavy pressure to maintain the status quo."
Flect Turn remained motionless.
For years, Japan had stood as one of the greatest symbols of modern Quirk society. A nation built around the belief that heroes and powers were humanity's salvation.
And now that symbol was faltering.
"How ironic," Flect said softly.
The room fell silent. "The nation that placed the most faith in Quirks now trembles because of them."
Another subordinate approached with a tablet.
"Our recruitment numbers in the Americas and Europe have surged by forty percent since the broadcast. The wealthy, unmutated classes are realizing that no amount of money can protect them if their own law enforcement can be erased on live television. Should we accelerate preparations?"
Flect considered the images of panic and disorder.
"No."
The subordinate looked surprised.
"No?" he repeated.
Flect turned away from the screens. "Chaos is not our objective. But instability creates opportunities." He clasped his hands behind his back. "Continue monitoring the situation. Expand our assets within Japan. If the current deterioration continues, our work there will become significantly easier." To the rest of the world, Kamino was a geopolitical shift. To him, it was a prophecy fulfilled.
The subordinate bowed. "At once." Flect's gaze lingered on the image of Toshinori Yagi's ruined form. "Perhaps," he murmured, "the world is finally ready to listen."
To think he had once considered this man to be a major obstacle to his goals. Now it seemed he had clearly been overthinking.
_
Musutafu, Japan, U.A. High School, Wild, Wild Pussycats Training Camp
The forest thundered with activity. Explosions echoed in the distance. Ice and fire crackled constantly. Stone erupted from the ground, and sweets were eaten.
In the distance, students shouted, groaned, and occasionally screamed. In his current location, the clearing was far enough from the main training area that the sounds of everyone else's work would have come through differently had it been someone without his senses. Yuta Akutami walked beside Shota Aizawa along a narrow trail, hands in his pockets.
The rest of Class 1-A was scattered throughout the camp, each student enduring their own personalized brand of suffering. Which left one obvious question. Yuta glanced sideways at his teacher.
"So… what exactly are we doing here?" Aizawa did not answer immediately. That, by itself, was mildly concerning.
Yuta followed him into a secluded clearing and studied the terrain. It was maybe thirty meters across. Flat ground. Sparse trees. Enough open space.
Yuta looked at the clearing. Then at Aizawa.
"We're this far from everyone else."
"Yes."
"Because whatever we're doing here would be problematic in proximity to the others?"
"In a way, yes." Yuta folded his arms. After all, in his view, the current training methods being used on the rest of the class were functionally useless to him.
In terms of raw strength and speed, he was already operating well beyond what ordinary conditioning could meaningfully improve.
In terms of versatility, his earth manipulation provided offense, defense, restraint, mobility, and ranged attacks.
His quirk allowed him to regenerate. His Uzumaki physiology granted stamina that bordered on absurd. He could slow his own perception even without relying on the Sharingan. He could harden his skin to new heights, had enhanced senses, and could fly.
In practical terms, there was no single category where simple drills would provide dramatic improvement. Telling him to do push-ups to become stronger would be like telling All Might to do squats. The stimulus wasn't there.
Hence, he was quite curious about why Aizawa had brought him here and what they planned to do for him.
The moment after that thought, the teacher stopped.
Then stepped aside. Yuta blinked. On the field, was a large case. About the size of a travel trunk, matte black, with reinforced corners Aizawa crouched beside the case and entered a combination. The locks released.
Inside, nestled in foam cutouts, were support gear items that looked nothing like standard issue.
Weighted bracers. Leg cuffs. Thick wristbands with metallic housings. A weighted vest with adjustable locking mechanisms. Even from a distance, Yuta could tell these were not standard gym equipment. The first thing that came to mind? 'Is that bondage equipment?'
Yuta's eyelids twitched. 'Weights,' His mind went into overdrive and suddenly blew a lightbulb after proper scrutiny. Why? Because the design was unmistakable. "…Hatsume."
"She says you should come to the design lab when we're back," Aizawa said, standing. "Her exact words were 'before I come find him myself.'"
He paused. "She also asks how was the land of the dead."
Yuta's lips twitched harder. Aizawa of course, couldn't care for his internal thoughts as always. He gestured at the case. "Pick it up. Try the vest first."
Yuta lifted the vest out of the foam. It was heavier than it looked. Significantly heavier. The weight distributed through internal panels that weren't immediately visible from the outside. He turned it over.
Then his memory clicked. In canon, the teachers had used similar equipment during the final exams against the students.
"Density adjustment panels," he said.
"Variable. You can increase or decrease the load within a range. For today, it's set to its base configuration." Aizawa crossed his arms. "Put it on."
Yuta put it on. The weight settled across his shoulders and chest.
"The bracers and cuffs add to it," Aizawa said. "Full kit is approximately four times your current body weight in added load."
Yuta looked at him. "Um… Sensei?"
Aizawa stared back with his usual dead-eyed expression.
"What?"
Yuta held up the weight.
"Why do I need this?"
"Isn't it obvious? Your body processes physical stress differently from a normal person's. Standard resistance is negligible to you because your physique self-corrects the adaptation continuously. Hatsume's gear is designed to create load conditions that fluctuate faster than your body can normalize." He paused. "The weight isn't constant. It shifts. Increases when you accelerate, decreases when you stop, redistributes when you change direction. It's designed to force continuous micro-adjustment rather than a single adaptation point."
Yuta processed this. So this was support gear aimed to place stress on his Quirk's control ability? It was, he acknowledged internally, actually clever. His body's self-correcting physique would be running constantly rather than locking onto a stable state.
"How did you come up with this?"
"The principal thought this up with a bit of help from Ragdoll."
"Ragdoll?"
"The Pussycat that was invited to take a look at you all the day before you left for the training camp."
'Oh yeah.' Yuta remembered that such a thing happened. Ragdoll was in fact here supervising the training of everyone else.
Aizawa adjusted his capture scarf as the wind stirred the clearing.
"While everyone else is training to improve their quirks…" He pointed toward the equipment. "Your training is close combat. We're picking up where your internship left off."
Yuta looked down at the weights. Then back at Aizawa with a raised eyebrow.
"Alright."
__
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