The glowing orange sun crested the horizon, bleeding gold across the rhythmic waves of Takoba Beach. It was a picturesque morning, or it would have been, if the air weren't currently being punctured by the sound of rapid-fire flesh hitting flesh.
Slap-slap-slap-slap!
"Midoriya-shonen! Midoriya-shonen, wake up! Oh my god! Why is this training session already a disaster?!"
All Might, in his gaunt, skeletal form, was frantically patting the boy's face with the mechanical speed of a jackhammer. The poor kid's freckled cheeks were already a swollen, vibrant shade of crimson under the relentless assault of the Symbol of Peace's "emergency awakening" maneuvers.
Midoriya's eyes fluttered open, foggy and unfocused. Above him, All Might looked like a worried ghost, sighing with a heaviness that could crush buildings.
'All Might... is he... is he grieving for me?' Midoriya's thoughts drifted like smoke. 'Yeah, it makes sense. A quirkless nobody like me shouldn't have been trusted with something as heavy as One For All. And that... that Apostle of Darkness... he truly lived up to the title. One touch and I was annihilated. Am I in a soul state now? Do ghosts exist? Wait... can I become a Ghost Hero? Will I have to fight Villain Ghosts? Is there a Ghost UA?!'
While Midoriya's brain spiraled into a metaphysical crisis, a loud, emotional wailing drifted over from the shoreline.
"YA RAB! ALHAMDULILLAH FOR YOUR BLESSINGS!"
A few meters away, the "Apostle of Darkness" was on his knees in the sand. Adam Al Hantakour, having just finished his Salat al-Fajr, had his palms lifted toward the sky, tears of genuine spiritual ecstasy streaming down his face.
"I finally managed to pay off some aura debt! Please Allah, keep the blessings coming! Give me more aura farming opportunities! I've cracked the code, he target audience is definitely kids fifteen and under! I, Adam, will definitely become the most badass, aura-farming Moroccan Muslim hero in the history of fiction!"
Midoriya tilted his head, watching the boy who had "murdered" him pray with such raw intensity.
'He's praying? Praying for my soul?! He truly is the Apostle of Darkness... he offers prayers for his victims to ensure they find peace after he liberates them from their mortal flesh. How... how COOL is that?!' Midoriya's logic took a sharp crooked turn.
All Might watched the scene with a twitching eye. He didn't understand a word of the Arabic, but the vibe was unmistakable. The kid was essentially thanking God for successfully scaring the absolute daylight out of a middle schooler.
All Might's fists clenched, his teeth grinding together as he resisted the urge to deliver a Detroit Smash of Love just to reset the boy's personality. He let out a long, rattling sigh instead.
'It's going to be fine,' All Might lied to himself, his inner voice cracking. 'Don't worry. This training session will be fine. Why? Because I am here! ...I wish I wasn't here!. I should have left Adam-shonen to Principal Nezu. Or a priest. Or a zookeeper. I can't handle this and we haven't even started moving trash yet!'
He turned back to Midoriya, his hand hovering like a lethal weapon. 'I need to use more power or he'll stay asleep until noon.'
Just as he was about to unleash another barrage of slaps, he stopped.
"Midoriya-shonen! You're awake! Thank the heavens!" All Might nearly shed tears. Finally, a semblance of reality. He felt like performing a sujod right next to Adam just to thank god that his day wasn't a total loss.
"H-huh? All Might? You can... you can see me?" Midoriya asked, his voice trembling with disbelief.
All Might's heroic smile froze. A cold sweat broke out on his brow.
'No way. Is it brain damage? Did he catch the "Adam-shonen Sickness" just by being in his vicinity?'
"Midoriya-shonen, what do you mean I can't see you? What's wrong? Does your head hurt? Did your soul leave your body through your ears?!" All Might asked anxiously, hovering over him.
Adam, having finished his dua, heard Midoriya's voice. His eyes lit up like a predator who had spotted a rare loot drop. He stood up and practically glided across the sand toward them.
'My precious aura sheep! My junior brother! I haven't even given him my cool introductory monologue yet! The potential for aura-harvesting is still at peak levels!'
Seeing Adam approaching like a starving, green-eyed zombie, All Might immediately scrambled to his feet, throwing his arms out in a defensive stance.
"Adam-shonen, STOP! Midoriya-shonen seems to have a mental fracture! Please, for the love of everything, do not make it worse!"
"Huh? Mental problems?" Adam paused, looking genuinely concerned. "Are you serious? Let me check him. I know a few tricks to fix the mind. In my country, we say: 'Ask the experienced, not the doctor.' Why? Because the experienced guy has already survived the nonsense. And trust me, I've survived it all—ADHD, Bipolar, Sociopathy, Main Character Syndrome—I'm a veteran of the mental trenches! I can fix him!"
"Adam-shonen," All Might said, his voice dropping an octave into a tone of pure, exhausted desperation. "I think you would be of the greatest help if you just... remained silent. Let him process reality."
The weight in All Might's tone was heavy enough to sink a ship. Adam blinked, the gears in his head turning.
'Ah... I see. I'm being too talkative,' Adam thought, his expression turning solemn. 'A Senior Brother must be a man of few words. If I keep rambling about my medical history, the aura I just built will evaporate. All Might is teaching me the secret of "Silent Aura." As expected of the Symbol of Peace! He's a Master Farmer!'
Adam smiled and gave All Might a sharp, knowing thumb-up.
"Don't worry, Master. Junior Brother Mi-do-ri-ya is in your safe hands. I shall retreat into the shadows."
All Might nodded, his soul briefly returning to his body. 'At least he's obedient... mostly.'
"Midoriya-shonen," All Might said, shifting into a lecture. "You fainted. I don't know why you overreacted so much. Adam-shonen just has a... quirk... for trying to look cool. He was just trying to impress you, but your heart is really fragile! You got scared shitless to the degree of fainting. It seems training your body isn't the only thing I must do. One For All also needs the heart of a lion!"
Midoriya's eyes went wide. He lifted his hands, feeling the bite of the salt air on his skin and the grit of the sand beneath his legs.
"I'm... I'm alive? MOM! I'M ALIVE! I didn't get Hakai'd! YOKATTAAA!"
"Hah?!" All Might nearly coughed up a pint of blood. "You actually thought you were dead?! You thought he destroyed you?! This is hilariously stupid! Do you really think I'm so unreliable that I'd just let murder happen in front of me?!"
Midoriya's joy vanished, replaced by a wave of crushing guilt. Mucus and tears began to flow in equal measure as he started rambling at high speed.
"OMLETTTTE!! I-thought-sniff-you-gave-up-on-me-and-you-chose-Adam-kun-and-because-I-know-your-secret-you-wanted-to-hide-the-truth! Sorry! I shouldn't think bad of you! But Adam-kun... sniff... he was really SCARY!!!"
All Might stood there, taking 99 points of emotional damage. The misunderstanding was so profound it hurt his chest.
"Yooo! That's an impressive Water-style: Great Waterfall technique, Mi-do-ri-ya junior!" Adam exclaimed, watching as Midoriya's tears literally began to carve channels in the sand. "Who said you were quirkless? You're a human fire hydrant!"
All Might sighed and patted the boy's shaking shoulders.
"Midoriya-shonen, calm down. You've got it all wrong. I gave you my word. You are my only successor. I brought Adam-shonen here to train alongside us. He knows nothing about One For All. He's just... a lot to deal with."
The "Waterfall" stopped instantly, like a faucet being shut off.
"T-T-That... All Might-o... I'm so sorry for doubting you!" Midoriya's face turned so red it looked like it might actually explode.
"Don't overthink it, it's my fault," All Might sighed. "Adam-shonen... well, he lives in a bit of a fantasy world. Poor kid. We have to be patient with him. He'll be your greatest ally one day; his quirk is more powerful than you think. I hope the two of you can form a strong bond... even if it's going to be hard for me."
Midoriya looked over at Adam.
The Moroccan boy was currently standing ten feet away, staring out at the rising sun. His head was tilted at a precise 45-degree angle, his negation energy black shroud fluttering in the wind like a lonely sword-saint standing at the peak of a desolate mountain. He exuded an aura of profound, tragic solitude.
However, Midoriya noticed Adam's eyes darting back toward them every three seconds, checking to see if they were still watching his "cool" pose.
If it weren't for the constant, sneaky peeking, Midoriya might have believed he was a lone wolf. In reality, he was just a very eccentric husky.
"Come on, Midoriya-shonen! Let's get you two introduced properly!"
Midoriya nearly scrambled backward, his feet churning in the sand. He offered an awkward, trembling smile, his eyes fixed on the "Husky" that was Adam. He didn't dare approach; he was halfway convinced this strange boy might accidentally—or intentionally—bite him if he got too close.
"All Might... is that... i-is it safe?" he whispered, his voice cracking with the caution of a man walking into a lion's den.
All Might opened his mouth to give his signature "Everything is fine" chest-pat, but his hand hovered mid-air. He looked at Adam, who was currently staring at a seagull with a look of intense, spiritual rivalry.
"Probably... not," All Might admitted with uncharacteristic honesty. He took a deep breath, and with a sudden POOF of steam and a surge of overwhelming pressure, he expanded into his towering, muscular form.
"But don't worry! Why? Because I am here!"
The Symbol of Peace loomed over the beach, his golden hair flickering like a flame. He leaned down, whispering to Midoriya with the weight of a solemn oath. "If he does anything inappropriate, Midoriya-shonen... I swear, I'll give him a taste of a Fist Full of Love. I suspect a well-placed Detroit Smash might be the only thing capable of resetting his brain's wiring!"
Seeing his idol in the form he had worshipped since childhood, Midoriya felt a surge of borrowed courage.
"U-um... okay!"
Nodding fiercely, he tucked himself behind All Might's massive, boulder-like calves, using the Number One Hero as a human—well, superhuman—shield.
From across the sand, Adam's eyes narrowed into slits.
'Hmm? Why did All Might transform? That gaze... it's sharp. Dangerous. His fist is clenched, and Midoriya is hiding behind him like a cub behind a grizzly.' Adam's brain, fueled by years of cultivation manhua and shonen tropes, began churning at high speed. 'Analyzing data... current probability: 98%. All Might is jealous of my superior aura farming. He's afraid I'll steal his prestige and the junior brother's loyalty, so he's trying to establish martial authority. Typical Cultivation sects-style suppression! I have to walk carefully. One slip-up and I'll be turned into a "teaching example." I cannot lose my precious aura now!'
Adam squinted harder, his head nodding in a slow, rhythmic "I see through you" motion as they approached.
'I must take the initiative. I must show them I am a benevolent Senior Brother!'
All Might watched Adam's face contort into a squinting mess. 'What is he planning now? I have to be fast! I won't let him traumatize the boy again!'
When they reached a distance of two steps, Adam's eyes snapped open with a terrifying intensity.
'It's coming!' All Might and Midoriya screamed in their minds. All Might's muscles coiled, ready to lunge and cover Adam's mouth before he could unleash another "Apostle of Darkness" roar.
"Ni hao."
Adam said quietly, He cupped his right fist in his left palm—a traditional, stoic xianxia greeting—without bowing an inch.
"..."
"..."
The beach went silent, save for the sound of crashing waves. All Might and Midoriya froze, their brains stalling as they tried to process this quiet, polite, and completely out-of-place Chinese greeting.
"Ni hao? Ahem... Adam-shonen," All Might said, his voice dropping out of his "heroic" register. "That... that is a Chinese greeting. We are in Japan."
Adam's expression didn't flicker. Inside, however, he was sweating. 'Shit! How do they say hello in Japanese? Think, Adam, think! All those hours of subtitled anime... ah! I remember now! This one is a classic!'
With the same deadpan, soul-piercing seriousness, Adam looked Midoriya in the eye and delivered his second attempt at a localized greeting.
"Itadakimasu."
"..."
Midoriya's jaw hit the sand. He looked at Adam—who had just stoically declared "I humbly receive this meal" as a way to say hello—and his world shifted.
'All Might was right...' Midoriya thought, his heart swelling with a sudden, overwhelming wave of pity. 'Adam-kun isn't just eccentric... he's mentally handicapped. He's fractured!'
Before All Might could even begin to correct the culinary greeting, Midoriya felt a surge of heroic duty. He looked at Adam's serious, unblinking face—the face of a boy who had clearly "gone through things" that made him forget the difference between a greeting and a dinner prayer.
Poor Adam-kun... Midoriya's eyes began to shimmer with empathetic tears. The "Apostle of Darkness" title... it's a shield! He's clearly been through a trauma so dark his basic communication skills have shattered! A hero doesn't just fight villains; a hero saves hearts! I have to show him he's accepted! I have to be his Light!
With a look of grim, burning determination, Midoriya took a heavy step out from behind All Might.
"Midoriya-shonen! Wait, that's dangerous!" All Might warned, reaching out to grab his shoulder.
Midoriya turned back, giving All Might a wide, tearful grin and a shaky thumb-up. "All Might... if I don't go to this hell, who will?"
All Might stared at the boy's tear-streaked face. "Calm down, Midoriya-shonen! It's not that dramatic! He just said the wrong word!"
"All Might, I have the solution!" Midoriya hissed back with the intensity of a strategist. "You're an adult, so you don't see the simple truth of the matter! He needs to be accepted! I understand him because I, too, was an outcast! I longed for my dreams to be recognized, even by those closest to me! He's searching for validation! If we keep ignoring his 'world,' he'll only go to further extremes to get our attention. We have to meet him where he is!"
All Might's jaw practically touched the ground. He glanced at Adam, who was currently squinting at them again as if they were plotting a mid-season betrayal.
'Could it be... that the solution is to play along?' All Might wondered, his logical mind crumbling under the weight of Midoriya's teenage "wisdom."
"What are you going to do exactly?"
"I'm going to tell him he's doing a good job! I'm going to validate his reality!"
"No way that's going to work..."
"Just watch, All Might! There are some things only us teenagers understand!"
"All right... just be cautious! If he starts glowing or shouting, jump back immediately!"
Izuku Midoriya turned back and walked toward Adam, his heart hammering against his ribs.
'Hmm... Midoriya is approaching alone,' Adam noted, his posture stiffening. 'They've reached a shady deal. Is he coming to retaliate? Does he want to reclaim the aura I farmed from him earlier?'
Adam's gaze sharpened. His face darkened with a competitive chill. You could touch his clothes, you could even touch his "tra-la-la ding-dong," but you could never fathom of touching his aura.
'Emerald Lightning Immortal... I should have anticipated your resilience. As expected of the successor to Master Toshinori. I was naive to think he'd surrender the Senior Brother position so easily!'
Midoriya saw the change in Adam's eyes—the fierce, competitive fire. He swallowed hard.
'Calm down, Izuku. He's just sick. He's like a version of me that couldn't accept reality. I need to find the common ground! This is my first true test as a the successor of the number one hero! I'll make All Might proud!'
Midoriya channeled every ounce of his years spent analyzing his idol's spirit. He recalled the exact curvature of the "Silver Age" grin and the specific, shadow-heavy brow of the "Bronze Age" resolve.
Suddenly, Midoriya's face underwent a violent, terrifying transformation.
He thrust a hand upward, splitting his fingers into a sharp "V" over his left eye. His facial muscles contorted, forcing a massive, toothy grin that seemed to take up half his head. Deep, heavy ink-shadows—born of sheer willpower and facial strain—suddenly defined his cheekbones and cast his eyes into a pitch-black abyss of justice. He stood tall, vibrating with an aura of intense, misplaced positivity.
"IT IS OKAY NOW, ADAM-KUN!" Midoriya boomed, his voice cracking violently as he tried to mimic All Might's deep baritone.
"YOU DID WELL!" he shouted in broken, phonetically-tortured English.
He stood there, frozen in the iconic pose, radiating a "golden" vibe, capitalizing on the golden sun behind him, that he was sure would heal Adam's troubled soul.
".."
".."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Adam's stoic "Senior Brother" mask didn't just flicker, it disintegrated. His eyes went wide, his mouth hanging open in pure, unadulterated shock.
All Might had been standing there, watching with a heart full of mentorly pride. He had seen the fire in Midoriya's eyes and the heavy step forward.
'Look at him!' Toshinori thought, his chest swelling with emotion.
'Even in the face of this unique hurdle, Midoriya-shonen is reaching deep within himself! He's finding his own spark of heroism! Is he about to give a heart-warming speech that awaken Adam-shonen from his delusions? Show me, Young Midoriya! Show me your—'
Then, He Saw Midoriya's Transforming into the weirdest mimic of His Heroic smile he had ever seen.
The sheer, anatomical impossibility of the grin—the way the shadows manifested out of nowhere to sharpen his jawline into a jagged shape—it was too much. When the high-pitched, broken English "YOU DID WELL!" hit All Might's ears, the Symbol of Peace didn't just flinch.
"BLERGH!!!"
A violent fountain of blood erupted from All Might's mouth, painting the sand red. His massive, muscular frame hissed and steamed like a punctured tire. In a flash of white smoke, he deflated, shrinking back into his skeletal form so fast it made a whistling sound. He stood there, trembling, his hands hovering near his face in a gesture of pure, unfiltered horror.
'MY LEGACY...' All Might's internal monologue was a scream of agony. 'I wanted to pass on a torch, not a funhouse mirror! Why does he look like a sleep-paralysis demon wearing my face?!'
But while All Might was experiencing a spiritual cardiac arrest, Adam was seeing something entirely different.
Adam's eyes widened, not with fear, but with the raw, sparkling envy of a rogue cultivator seeing a forbidden scroll for the first time.
'WHAT?!' Adam's brain did a backflip. 'What profound Disguise Technique is this?! He completely suppressed his "Mediocre Junior Brother" presence and replaced it with the Patriarch's Sovereignty! Look at the shadow-layering! Look at the Bone-Shifting Art used on the jawline! This isn't just a smile—this is a High-Level Aura Mimicry! Mi-Duo-Li-Ya... you were hiding your true depth!'
Adam stepped forward, his black shroud of negation energy unconsciously manifested around him and started fluttering with excitement. He grabbed Midoriya by the shoulders, his face inches from the terrifying All Might-mask.
"Junior Brother!" Adam whispered in engrish, his voice trembling with respect. "Which manual did you study?! How did you achieve the 'Sovereign's Shaded Brow' so perfectly? I have been trying to cultivate my Aura for years, but you... you have mastered the 'Transformation of the Golden Idol' in an instant! Teach me! Please! I must know how to manifest those ink-shadows on my cheekbones!"
Midoriya, still frozen in his heroic pose, Heard the broken English, he only understood the meaning from it.
He felt a surge of relief so strong he almost fainted. 'It worked!' he thought, his face muscles beginning to cramp painfully.
'He's... he's impressed! He thinks it's a technique! If I can keep this up, I can guide him back to the light of heroism! I'm doing it, All Might! I'm being a qualified successor!'
"It... it is the way of the Heart, Adam-kun!" Midoriya boomed, still trying to keep the deep baritone. "You must... imagine the Justice! You must be the SMILE!"
"Imagine the Justice... be the smile..." Adam repeated, his eyes bloodshot with focus. He immediately began to contort his own face. He used his fingers to pull his lips back, trying to match the terrifying toothy grin. He squinted his eyes, trying to force his Moroccan features into a Japanese glare.
All Might stood there, a skeletal ghost on the sand, watching his two "hopeful" students standing in the trash, facing each other and aggressively mimicking his most iconic and sacred features.
It was a scene of such pure, concentrated absurdity that All Might's brain finally snapped. The gears of his sanity simply gave up. He tilted his head back, his empty eyes staring at the rising sun, and began to laugh.
"Pffft... Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!"
It wasn't the heroic, reassuring laugh of the Symbol of Peace. It was the hysterical, high-pitched cackle of a man who had realized that The two perfect heroic seeds he found ended up having a sever mental problem, even his successor which he had placed hope on, turned to be hiding Adam's diseases.
He stood there, frozen like a corpse, vibrating with laughter, as blood continued to trickle down his chin.
Adam and Midoriya both stopped and looked over.
'The Patriarch is laughing!' Adam thought, his eyes lighting up. 'He is pleased!! It's a sonic-buff technique! I must harmonize with it to increase my prestige!'
'All Might is happy!' Midoriya cheered internally. 'He's proud of us for bonding! I'll join him to show our unity!'
Suddenly, the beach was filled with the sound of three people laughing: One skeletal hero laughing at his own tragedy, one green-haired boy laughing with a face that looked like a wood-carving, and one Moroccan teenager laughing while trying to maintain an All Might's Smile.
"HAh HAh HAh HAh!"
"HAHAHAHA—YOU DID WELL!"
"HA-HA-HA! AURA FARMING SUCCESS!"
The sheer psychological pressure of the moment—the blood loss, and the overwhelming cringe—finally hit All Might's blood pressure like a freight train.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head. With a final, airy chuckle, All Might toppled over backward, hitting the sand with a soft thud, completely unconscious.
'I see now...' were All Might's final thoughts before the darkness took him. 'I thought I had found two heroic seeds with unlimited potential... but I was wrong. both of them have a massive, irreparable crack in the brain. My legacy... is a circus.'
Adam and Midoriya immediately stopped laughing and rushed toward the fallen hero.
"MASTER!" Adam screamed, falling to his knees. "Did he over-exert his Spirit Core?! Is the Tribulation starting?!"
"ALL MIGHTOOO!" Midoriya wailed, the "shadows" on his face finally disappearing as he reverted to his usual, panicked self.
...
Author's Note:
Alright, family, let's talk straight. To be honest, life has been loud lately. I've been busy, I haven't had the peace to write properly, and the mood just hasn't been there. I've been grinding out a few hundred words a day just to finish this scene where Adam and Midoriya bond through the power of pure, unadulterated cringe.
Next up: The Training Arc.
I'm fully aware that the pacing has been a lot "snail-tier." I've actually been working with a specialized "Coach" (a ChatGPT prompt designed to roast my drafts until they cry) to help me condense these chapters. I realized I could write 10,000 words and still not move the plot a single inch because I was too busy having fun with the jokes. I'm changing that approach, Insha'Allah.
I'm also moving toward stockpiling chapters. I want to build a buffer so I can give you a stable update schedule while I take the time I need to live life. I hope I can make this happen soon.
Just a heads-up: Expect zero chapters during the last ten days of Ramadan. If you don't take these final days seriously, you are like a rogue cultivator who stumbles upon a Rank-S Secret Realm—one filled with treasures and zero danger—yet chooses to walk away and let the Sect Disciples take it all. Don't be stupid. This is the time to:
Repent and seek forgiveness. Make a firm oath to cut off your sins, whether they are "small" or "mountain-sized."
Commit to your worship with everything you have.
If you feel like you're drowning in laziness or your Nafs (ego) is winning the battle, use these Two Wings to Soar:
Istighfar: 10,000 repetitions daily.
Salawat on the Prophet (PBUH): 500 of the Ibrahimi version, or 5,000 of the shorter version.
Go into it with a clear, desperate intent:
"Ya Rab, help me. I am drowning. I am falling toward the fire. Help me against my own self, against the demons, and against these temptations."
If you do this with sincerity, I promise you, the next Ramadan will be an entirely different realm for you.
See you soon, Insha'Allah.
Takbir!