Chapter Text
Aizawa hated field trips of all kinds but trips for heroics were always the worst. Trying to wrangle a class of twenty was hard enough at the zoo or a museum where they at least couldn’t touch anything. It was a special kind of hell however to lead the investigation trip. A terrible event that only Nedzu enjoys.
It was held whenever there was a good opportunity. It was supposed to teach kids how to properly investigate a crime scene and search a house. This can’t just be any house either. No, this was UA so they just had to investigate an actual smuggler’s house instead of putting one of their fake cities to use. Of course the mansion was already thoroughly investigated beforehand, but that didn’t make it any less terrible, just boring.
He was just about to fall asleep when Uraraka started to shake him. “Aizawa, Aizawa, Aizawa!”
“What is it? Are villains attacking.” God he hated what a valid concern that was these days. None of his previous classes were attacked but this one attracted villains like moths to flame
It wasn’t just the league of villains he was worried about either. The smuggler had an extremely loyal and powerful second in command who would be taking over his business and rumored to be capable of splitting ships in two with a slash of her sword. Hopefully she wouldn’t have any reason to interfere here. After all the previous investigation turned up with nothing and even his wife Shizuka was ignorant to her husband’s crimes thinking that he was merely a merchant.
“No but we found a secret room in the basement. There's a gigantic pirate ship down there!”
A pirate ship that was odd, not impossible though. Smuggler and modern day pirate Piet Hein was known for his almost supernatural skill at sea; he could predict the weather at a glance and maneuver effortlessly through any storm. It was said that he once sailed through a hurricane as a simple short cut. This skill was not able to save him however when he drowned in a still unexplained incident.
It was strange. You would think that someone who spent so much of their life at sea would know how to swim.
Perhaps the pirate ship was a memento or a former favorite ship. Either way it was not previously searched. This could be dangerous, “Uraraka, show me the ship.”
Uraraka led him past ransacked rooms. Places that once held the finest of luxuries were bare either from the police seizing assets, or judging by Uraraka bulging pockets, other opportunists. Eventually after going through gaudy room after gaudy room they reached the cellar. Empty casks of wine were stacked against the wall already drunk at some celebration, perhaps one at Piet Hein’s death. Spiders were already making this forgotten place their home.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?”
“Don’t worry I'm not pulling your leg just wait there.” Uraraka walked to the back of a room and there where there once lay a barrel of wine was an outline of a small trapdoor. It must have been mistaken for just a crack in the floor but when Uraraka placed her hand on it it rose and opened.
“Good job catching this, by the way, how did you find it in the first place?
“Um… That doesn't matter” With that she jumped through temporarily escaping the conversation and Aizawa followed after her.
When he exited the long shute-like passageway he expected to find a rather large stuffy room full of broken knick knacks, precious personal belongings and an unseaworthy ship. There would be minimal light, and it would be full of nosy teenagers. The nosy teenagers were the only part of that assumption that was correct.
The sound of running water crescendoed as he exited the cramped passageway. Stepping onto the sand below. Light poured through the back of a waterfall and unlit torches illuminated the beach below. Most impressive of all was the ship.
It was gigantic taking up most of the cavern. ‘The Western Wind’ was painted onto the side in golden caligraphy. Its hull was a bright jewel blue, with what seemed to be gold railings and stained glass windows. This was clearly the crown jewel of Piet Han’s armada. Except… the Western Wind had never been part of one. It must be unseaworthy somehow if he didn’t use it.
“Where are the other kids?” Aizawa said.
“Oh they are probably on board the ship!”
“Shit.” Why couldn’t they exercise the smallest bit of caution instead of charging into what might be a dangerous adventure. Oh right they’re teenagers.
With a sigh Aizaway quickly climbed up the plank and entered the ship.
“Uraraka stay behind on the deck. I don’t need you getting lost or separated.”
“Got it Sensei.” Urarake said giving him a thumbs up.
It was pretty clear where everyone had gone. He could see moving figures behind the stained glass of the upper deck.
The room they were gathered in wasn’t a normal captain quarters, or navigator’s room or a library or some other dusty room and it was no wonder that it instantly caught the kids attention.
The room was full of odd technology that he could not recognize and Aizawa had been to I-Island and worked at a school that treated robots like they were disposable. Cylinders of green liquid lined the room and pipes zig zagged the ceiling and floor all leading to a circular orb. Which sad on a base of curving metal, dials, buttons, and levers as well as a strange circular compass casually sat on top it.
Did it serve some sort of purpose or was Piet Han just really into late 20th century art movements? (The introduction of quirks inspired some truly bizarre art) Well that would be a question for the police to answer, not him. More pressingly he had finally found his wayward students. Midoriya, Ida, Sero, Bakugou, Kirishima, Todoroki and Mina were all here literally poking around the strange machine. Hopefully that was everyone on the ship.
“Stop charging off on your own you guys are still students. How did you find this place anyway?”
“It was all Deku’s fault for-” Bakugou said, or perhaps screamed, it was hard to separate the two volumes with Bakugou.
“N-no I didn’t do anything wrong, the barrel broke on its own '' Midoriya stuttered waving his arms and baking away from the explosive teen and tripped over a lever. For a moment nothing happened. Then suddenly everything started to glow, green liquid gushed through the pipes, electricity crackled around the blue orb, and everything started to hum. Someone screamed. There was a jolt like everything shifted at once then stopped.
Bright light blinded him which was impossible, in a cavern. The air was wrong too. It should not have been this dry, it shouldn’t smell of salt and fish, it shouldn’t be so warm, it shouldn’t be so different from an instant before.“What happened”
“Deku tripped over the lever and the machine went on.” Ida said, stating the obvious.
“No, What happened.” He strode out of the room and was greeted by an azure sky stretching across the horizon. They had been in a cave only moments before. They had been floating on a hidden lake not sailing the ocean. Aizawa slammed the door shut. Only for it to be opened by Uraraka.
“What happened. We were in the cave and then everything spun and for a moment there was an abyss between the stars, and now we are in the ocean.” So it wasn’t just him that was hallucinating he thought numbly as he was pushed out of the way by frantic teenagers.
There was a moment of silence and they all tried to comprehend what they were seeing and then Bakugou started to swear. Midoriya mumbled incoherently. Mina just started to laugh and soon Sero joined her. Todoroki was silent but the temperature began to fluctuate around him. Kirishima hardened his skin instantly on guard. Ida wildly chopped his hand back and forth. Everyone was stunned at the endless blue sea before them.
Aizawa took a deep breath. It seemed like this was somehow real. Everyone hallucinating the same thing would be improbable, best to treat this as reality, for now at least. “Calm down, we have been transported on to an ocean somewhere somehow. We will just call for help and explain the situation.” He pulled out his cell phone and began dialing Mic’s number so that he could explain the disappearance to the rest of the class.
“Let's call our parents too!” Someone said but Aizawa wasn’t listening, there was absolutely no connection. He dialed number after number but the only response was that there was nothing but an automated message. His phone was specifically built to be able to call from anywhere in the world. Were they…. No, that is truly impossible. It must be a malfunction.
“Listen there is no signal, so we should count what supplies we have and prepare to sail for land.” Aizawa said hoping his worry didn’t show.
“Oh I can sail” Sero piped up, “I work on my Grandfather’s boat over the summer. The ship is different, but I can figure that out” Aizawa couldn’t help but sign in absolute relief at that.
“That is good, anyone else want help Sero on figuring out how to sail?”
“I will help,” Todoroki said.
“I will too. I have some experience fishing if that will help.” Kirishima said.
“It probably won’t.” Sero said, “But I would love the help.”
“Good, the rest of us will split up and search the ship for supplies and anything else that can tell us about our current situation. Midoriya you will go with Ida and Uraraka. Bakugou, and Mina you are with me.” Best to separate those two,”Do not mess with the machine for now. We can deal with that when we have more information. Wouldn’t want to accidentally break it, or get us sent somewhere worse than this peaceful ocean.”
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“Sorry guys I tripped on the lever and got us sent here.” Midoriya couldn’t help but blurt out.
“And I am sorry that I sneezed.” Uraraka countered.
“That was involuntary.” Besides who would have thought that a sneeze would have helped set off the chain of events that lead to the discovery of the ship.
“So is tripping. You didn’t mean to do that. You didn’t know what would happen. It would be stupid to blame you for something that you have no real control over.” Yeah but that wouldn’t stop Bakugou from doing just that. He could get angry over just about anything.
“That is right Midoriya. Do not blame yourself. You didn’t do anything wrong, besides mistakes are to be learned from.” Ida said chopping at the air for emphasis. His friends were truly the greatest.
“You are right I am being stupid. Hey, we should make a list of what we find and map out the ship?”
“Excellent idea Midoriya!”
With those worries out of his mind he examined the ship. It was incredibly with golden chandeliers and high ceilings custom built for a man of Piet Han’s ridiculous nine foot stature.
The most impressive part were the paintings there were in a variety of styles but Piet Han clearly loved portraits. They were strange featuring incredibly strange people, royalty, a simple sketch of his wife, mermaids, and one life sized portrait of the man himself.
He was dressed like a king complete with a crown and scepter. Everything from his stance to his clothes to his slightly altered features exudes an aura of power, wealth, and nobility. Piet Han wasn’t royal in fact in this modern age of quirks no one was. It was strange to commission such a strange portrait.
Though honestly everything about this place was strange.
The Western Wind was never ever used when it could seemingly teleport, a power that would be invaluable to a smuggler. Maybe it was never spotted? But it was ridiculously showy and Piet Han wasn’t really reliant on stealth, not when he could overpower any hero or villain that came after his through the sheer power of his quirk, crew, or his skill at sea.
Perhaps it was an unseaworthy ship? But that didn’t make sense either, he could just transfer the teleportation equipment to another ship. Where did he even get that power too? While it was often said that anything is possible in the age of quirks such technology is unheard of.
How did he gets his hands on such a machine? Was it a question of fuel? Was it somehow quirk powered? Just who was Piet Han really? How were they going to get home? Just where did they end up?
Midoriya Izuku felt utterly lost.
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This is probably one of the coolest things that had ever happened to Sero if he was being honest.
Finding a lost ship in a hidden cavern was just awesome and he would be able to sail it too! Yes being stranded god knows where was a bit terrifying but it would only be a matter of time before they got home. Heroes would be looking for them and they had Aizawa with them. This was honestly the least dangerous and confusing field trip that they had ever been on. No villains attacking, no kidnapping, and most important of all no being graded on his performance.
The best part about this adventure was definitely the ship. It was just so cool like it came straight out of a pirate adventure that he used to read about.
Luckily it was less difficult than he expected to navigate, thanks to his Grandfather’s firm teachings and love of old ships. This ship was anything but old though in anything but design, it was probably built in the last decade, it glided across the water needing little guidance, and it caught the wind easily somehow outsailing more modern craft. The Western Wind was truly a wonderful ship.
“Oh!” said Kirishima as he began to search his jacket for something, “I think that I have a compass with me. My sister got it for me for my birthday.”
“That would be really amazing” Using a compass they would be able to sail a straight course, once they knew where land was. Kirishima found what he was looking for and proceeded to stare at the compass for far too long.
“Hey man, what's wrong? Are you okay?”
“It… it's not pointing north”
He must not be holding it right. “Give it to me”, he said, taking the compass and held it steady. It kept spinning, showing no sign of slowing down. He tried to hold it still. He set it on the deck, but it just kept rapidly spinning. Compasses work because of the world's magnetic poles and stuff right? What could cause one to spin in circles?
“It must be broken somehow” Sero laughed hopping that the panic didn’t seep into his voice.
“I don't know man it was working perfectly fine hours ago…”
“Maybe that portal thing messed it up somehow” Sero said grasping at straws, “Maybe that is why our phones aren’t able to call people either, it messes up technology.”
“You are right that is probably why” Kirishima said, relieved at any explanation even if Sero was not quite certain if it was true. If that portal messes with technology then he wouldn’t be able to access his downloaded music and any damage would be more visible. Especially if it somehow broke a compass.
He wasn’t the best student or that smart but something was wrong here. Sero was starting to suspect that they were a long way from home. For the first time since they got sent here Sero was scared.
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Aizawa regretted not sending Bakugou and Mina to explore the rest of the ship until he remembered that they would just cause ten times more trouble elsewhere. At least Iida could be relied upon to try to keep order even if Midoriya attracts trouble. Bakugou would definitely start another fight with Midoriya or destroy something important and Mina would just make things worse. By the time they got to what must have been the Captain's quarters he was already nursing a headache.
The captain's quarters were just as gaudy as Piet Han’s house. He had a massive bed with gold bed sheets and jewels embedded into the frame. It also had what must be the best view on the entire ship; an entire wall was a massive stained glass window looking over the ocean. Another wall was massive mural of an island lovingly rendered with bright colors and intricate detail.
As Mina began to raid his closet for clothes and Bakugou was screaming about something unimportant. Aizawa wandered over to Piet Han’s pristine desk and nearly overflowing bookshelf. Hopefully they would be able to find some sort of instruction manual for the teleporter here.
He picked out the first book that stood out to him. It was an encyclopedia on devil fruits. Out of curiosity he paged through the book it was filled with scientific illustrations of clearly fantasy fruits.
He stopped to read the passage on one. It was called the Mera Mera No Mi apparently eating this would cause you to be able to turn into fire. So this must be some sort of fantasy novel index or something. Aizawa didn’t read fantasy novels. Despite how rational that explanation was he couldn’t make himself believe it. The book was really old, handbound, hand drawn, and hand written. It would take years of painstaking care and practice to create. Perhaps it was just someone’s passion project, people are weird after all, but it didn’t feel that way. He kept reading.
It was on the Jemu Jemu fruit, apparently once you ate it you could be able to turn into sapphires. That was Piet Hein’s quirk. It was rather legendary and extremely distinctive, allowing him to withstand countless battles without a scratch until he was accidently knocked into the ocean and drowned.
Aizawa almost missed what was written in the margin, ’Never expected to have to eat a devil fruit. I will miss swimming, but that is a small price to pay. With this my country and I will have a rich future.’ If this was real then it would be able to explain Piet Han’s drowning, after all gems can’t drown, but it couldn’t be. Eating something can’t give people power let alone stop one from swimming.
He set the book back and grabbed another.
This one was an atlas on some place called the west blue, perhaps a lake somewhere. He flipped through maps of island after island after island and he didn’t recognize a single one. Perhaps it was an old faulty map from when people were still exploring the world, which would explain the multiple illustrations of sea monsters.
That doesn't explain how new these maps are. It definitely does not explain the notes on the margins, about where they will go next, and how they were delayed by a storm getting here, on how this map is inaccurate, and how Mettle is now occupied by the navy and they have to move fast. He threw aside the atlas and grabbed another book.
This time he tried something simple and reliable, a history textbook. He would be able to confirm the information in this book at least. There was no mention of the formation of heroics or anything about the age of quirks, something that no textbook would be without. Instead he read about the age of piracy, and of a World Government with no mention about how that formed at all. It was not only a fake textbook but a bad one as well. Who wouldn’t explain how their nation formed?
He grabbed an old newspaper. On the front page was an article about some revolution that he had never heard about. Apperantally Dragon instigated it personally. He had no idea who that was though the article clearly expected him to. Aizawa flipped through an ad from some shipping company, and an article about how the marines captured Caterina Devon.
Strangest of all there was an article about Piet Han the Corrupt King. That was never a title given to Piet Han but that photo was definitely of him if a decade or so younger. Why would there be a fake article about him?
Aizawa was distracted by his crisis by a sudden loss of light. He looked outside and the shining sun was blotted out by dark clouds that began to hail. To somehow make things worse it began to thunder as well.
“What the fuck. It was sunny a literal second ago” Bakugou screamed. He was currently decked out in too much jewelry and a bright red pirate coat obviously too big for him. Mina was dressed in a similar ridiculous fashion except in blue.
“Come on, we should go and help Sero and the others get inside. There is no steering in this storm” It’s not like they had a course to start with after all. They hurried outside. The weather was somehow worse wind whipped the ship to and fro. Sero was trying to do something with the ropes and Todoroki was sheltering him with a wall of ice.
“Come inside” He shouted hoping that they could hear him over the storm
“I can’t. We could capsize in this storm.” Sero said, rushing to another position on the ship. Aizawa felt helpless, at least he knew what to do with villains, but he could do nothing to help his students in the ocean.
“Fine. How can we help?” Aizawa said.
“You can-” Sero stopped and looked behind them wide eyed frozen with terror. Aizawa looked behind him but only saw Izuku Iida and Ochako rushing to them. No threats. Aizawa stepped onto the deck and out of the corner of his eye saw what terrified him.
It was a sea monster. And not something like a giant squid that could be explained away, no this was more like a dragon, a serpent, with fangs larger than him, giant glowing eyes and body ad big as a building. It was also for some ungodly reason patterned like a zebra.
The monster was lounging on top of the portal room and Aizawa could only pray that the machine wasn’t broken entirely. It lunged for Sero and he was unable to do anything but watch utterly useless as his student was almost eaten. Luckily Todoroki blasted the beast away with a fountain of fire. He didn’t have to watch a student die yet.
The rest charged in their past experience with danger making them incapable of hesitation. Midoriya led the charge, punching it with as much power that he could muster without shattering bones; it didn’t do much, same with Iida’s kicks and Kirishima’s valiant efforts. Uraraka failed to lift it. Unfortunately it didn’t shrug of Bakugou’s and the beast’s anger was directed at him.
The monster with a horrible cracking sound as he crushed the room underneath it went for Bakugou, ready to swallow him whole. Right before Bakugou would have died Uraraka managed to make contact and Midoriya punched the monster's hide.
It worked. The monster was sent flying into the ocean.
Midoriya and Uraraka both crumpled onto the ground, Midoriya's arm was shattered and Uraraka threw up before falling unconscious. Aizawa rushed to their side not even noticing the hail pelting him.
“Iida, Kirishima, carry them inside.” They would have to splint the wound and try to help it heal. God they didn’t even have pain killers. More than ever he wished that Recovery Girl or someone else was here to help him. There was only him.
The students didn’t quite understand what happened yet in the rush of battle but, the the damage was clear to see even in darkness. Perhaps it was crushed the moment the monster rested on top of the ship, or when it charged forwards to eat Bakugou, or when it was blown back. It didn’t matter. The teleporter, their only way home, was crushed.
In the ruin’s of what might be their only hope at returning home Aizawa collapsed and shed unseen tears. The rain and cold soaked into his bones. He couldn't remain here. Midoriya was injured and needed splits. His students needed his guidance. He could not give into despair just yet.
The damage might seem less in the morning and perhaps they would find a way to repair it themselves. It would be a long time until dawn came but it would.