The Rubber Hero

In a dojo...

Standing on a wooden stump in the courtyard, a black-haired boy was maintaining his balance, his eyes covered by a black blindfold.

Using total concentration, the boy could feel everything around him.

From the knocking of the shishi-odoshi to the rustling of the trees, the sounds spread out like waves across the entire perimeter.

A shadow crept up behind him, raising an iron club, ready to strike.

Sensing the danger, the boy jumped to another stump. But the attacks didn't stop.

The strikes and swings grew stronger, but the boy calmly reacted, dodging each blow until one nearly hit him from the other side, forcing him to fall to the ground.

He felt a gust of wind rushing straight toward his head. He rolled to the right and sensed a second gust, making him tumble backward to avoid a heavy strike.

He heard the bat he had been dodging make a strange sound.

— Hey, did you put your whole strength into that strike, sensei? –

The black-haired boy said, standing up and removing his blindfold.

— Huh? Oh... Heh-heh. – chuckled the red-haired man with a small beard – Sorry, Luffy. I just wanted to remember the times when I used to beat you until you passed out. –

The club was bent and scuffed from the force of hitting the ground.

— Hah... – Luffy exhaled, wiping off sweat – You're a demon, as always. –

Hm... How much he's grown... Muramatsu smiled.

— These past three years, I even grew a beard while teaching you. –

Luffy had grown taller during this time, his hair had gotten longer, and with daily training, he had become leaner.

His neck had thickened, and his chest muscles had become more defined.

His abs were more visible, and his face had lost its so-called baby fat.

Above his abs, on his chest, there was an X-shaped scar he had received from a villain during childhood.

Currently, he was wearing sweatpants and a yellow belt.

— Hah... You could've just shaved instead of blaming me. –

At that moment, Itsuki suddenly burst in.

— Luffy! We have a consultation with the teacher today! –

Luffy paused, not understanding what she meant, until he looked at the paper in her hand.

— Damn... Right. – he remembered, then dashed inside the dojo – I'll change, you go without me! –

— What?! But how can you— –

— Go on, daughter. Or I'll punish you. – Muramatsu said with a "kind" smile, and sweating, Itsuki ran off. –

Luffy wiped off all the sweat and refreshed himself with water from the bathroom sink. Then, putting on his school uniform, slipping on his sandals, and grabbing his straw-made hat, he stepped out into the dojo, where his sensei was waiting.

— Thanks for today. See you! – he said, and stepping into the yard, easily jumped over the stone fence. –

Muramatsu stood watching his student head off to school while getting himself ready.

— He acts like he's part of our family... – the red-haired man grumbled. –

— Yeah. – His wife approached from behind – Luffy has become almost like a part of our family. –

— Hah... He may be rough, and sometimes thinks too highly of himself, but... he's a determined and kind boy. – Muramatsu said as his wife hugged him – And to think, I thought he wouldn't last a month, so I tried to kick him out. – he smirked. –

— You seem to have gotten attached to him... I'm glad. You finally found a student who brought back the old you. –

And so, the two parents went back into the house.

...

Jumping over the fence without even touching the tiles, I ran toward the school.

It had been three years since I arrived in this strangely amazing world where 80% of the population had various abilities.

Bit by bit, I settled into the role of the previous Luffy, becoming stronger while learning martial arts under my master.

A lot had happened during that time, and it was hard to believe that three years was such a short period.

Let's start from the beginning...

The first year was extremely tough for me in every way...

The training was harsh... Hellish!

At 5 a.m., I had to wake up and start with a 10-kilometer run, followed by warm-ups with 50 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, and 100 squats.

And how do people in some novels even endure this kind of training?! They even did 100 of each, as I remembered.

After the morning warm-up, I was made to hit the punching bag using Armament Haki. The recoil from it was extremely painful, believe me. The bag was always covered in blood, and my knuckles would break to pieces more than once.

After that, I would eat a lot to replenish my calories and return to training. During lunch, Muramatsu taught me his family's martial arts, which were similar to karate but also included boxing and judo techniques. You could say it was mixed martial arts with a touch of mastery.

In the evening, sensei would feed me, and I would happily eat everything. Then I would return to the orphanage and fall asleep, but not fully. I had to focus and use Observation Haki in my sleep, which was incredibly difficult.

Because of the exhaustion, I would pass out after five minutes of using it, barely making any progress...

And so it went in circles.

Every day was the same. The same actions. The same training... Until a year had passed.

I started to realize how to safely cover myself with Armament Haki to avoid the recoil while still minimizing the force of impact. And during sleep, I used a typical alarm clock to wake myself up... along with the rest of the orphanage... and continued spreading my Observation Haki.

Thanks to this, the radius increased.

As for Conqueror's Haki, I didn't learn much about it, but in the anime, if I remember correctly, they said it depended solely on the person. The stronger their will, the stronger it became.

In the end, during the first year, I focused only on Armament and Observation before it was time to train my rubber abilities.

And damn it... That red-haired devil was a real sadist!

He made me hold a 40-kilogram weight over a cliff. My arms stretched so much they looked like spaghetti... I had to skip a few dojo and school sessions.

During that weekend, I realized that my bones were rubber too, but they hadn't lost their density. In other words, my arm could still be broken if enough force was applied, but I didn't have the courage to test that theory.

Well... at least the kids were happy to play with my noodle arms...

And so, for a whole year, I learned to use my quirk.

And in the third year, I had to learn everything together to create my own fighting style.

While studying my quirk with Muramatsu, I also had to go to school. Even if I didn't want to study...

In the end, under Muramatsu and Touma's instructions, I started attending school. And after I enrolled, Kendo and I ended up as classmates.

What a strange system of education and fate... Purely by fate, I became classmates with my sensei's daughter, who could kill me for talking to her.

Well... Our relationship became closer. Like childhood friends, though her energy sometimes annoyed me.

Because of her attention, a ton of problems fell on my head.

First, I couldn't make friends with the guys... Damn it. They said since I was friends with a girl, they didn't want to have anything to do with me.

Second, she always dragged me to arcade machines, making me late for training, and I got beaten with a wooden stick several times because of it.

And lastly, there was her "responsibility," which she decided to dedicate to me... If I missed a day of school due to the red-haired man's beatings, she would scold me. If I forgot to do my homework, she would make me... She really took after her father in stubbornness.

So... I had to catch up on many topics I missed during my coma for the entire sixth grade...

And so, after finishing elementary school, we moved on to middle school, where even more problems piled up on my poor head...

You know... school is that period when kids take their first step into adulthood. Well, here it was, adulthood.

As soon as I entered the school, someone decided to lay down their own rules.

Kids without quirks were beaten up, while those with quirks were left alone.

You know, I'm not the type to get involved in other people's business. I just ignored all of it and focused on studying hard. I'm not a hero or a villain; I'm just a guy who decided to live by his own rules.

But those guys who were causing trouble went too far... For some reason, they wanted to gang up on me.

And the result? They all passed out. I didn't even want to waste time on them, and I couldn't use my fists back then because my arms were noodles from training.

Hah... Even though I often fell asleep during classes, I wasn't punished for it and only received warnings. Considering I had good grades, it's unlikely anyone would say anything to me.

And so... I continued living my new daily life.

The orphanage expanded after major renovations. The children who came to our orphanage became those I promised to protect.

Many of the older kids left the orphanage once they turned 18.

The government provided us and the kids who graduated with money so they could live comfortably.

The kids got used to me since I spent most of my time with them, acting as an older brother.

The director, though old, still held on, until the time came for him to step down... Yeah, that sounds too dramatic.

Saya, who had turned 20, took his place. After graduating, she completed the certification to become the orphanage director, even though it was tough for her.

The director still lived in the orphanage, telling the children stories, helping them with homework, and sometimes sharing fairy tales.

While I was flipping through the memories of everything that had happened over these three years, I reached my school.

— This time, I won't let you in! – shouted the P.E. teacher standing at the closed gates. –

— Sorry, old man, but let's do this later. – I said with a smile. –

After that, I flung my arms backward, and as they stretched out and rebounded from the momentum of my shoulders, they shot toward the fence ahead.

— Gomu Gomu no... – I grabbed on – ...Rocket! – and like a bullet, I flew upward thanks to the stretch. –

— Monkey D. Luffy!!! – the teacher shouted from behind. –

I was flying straight toward a window until someone opened it.

Bursting into the classroom, I couldn't stop and crashed into a bookshelf.

Bang

A cloud of dust rose, and I saw the class, the teacher, and Itsuki, who had opened the window for me.

— Monkey D. Luffy... – the teacher muttered. –

— Shi-shi-shi. I'm here... – I smiled at them, and then a thick book fell on my head – Ow... –

— Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! – the whole class burst out laughing, and the teacher just sighed tiredly. –

Well... Looks like today is going to be an important day for me.