It was something to see the 'smiling hero' no longer smiling in a dire situation but there wasn't a lot of time to take in the view. In less than a second, All Might went from standing at the entrance to grabbing Izuku, delivering a small hit on Tomura, and then grabbing Sakura under his arm as well. Not forgetting the injured colleagues he passed on the way in, but it seemed that they were at least brought away from danger.
"You two get to the entrance," Toshinori ordered after putting them down.
Izuku and Sakura just stared at him for very different reasons, one was out of concern, and the other skepticism.
"You shouldn't have come," Sakura said calmly. "They're specifically here to kill you,"
Izuku added on, "It's true. That brain guy took One for-" he glanced at the pinkette, "He took a punch that didn't break my arm but he didn't even twitch."
"And I've been fighting that guy before you came and he hasn't been phased. He has more than one quirk. Shock absorption to take your punches, regeneration, and physically he's on another level-
"Young Haruno! Young Midoriya!" Toshinori interrupted, looking back with a smile. "It's fine! Thank you for telling me but I got this!"
'Oh god,' Sakura sighed. He was going to be stubborn about this even after her explanation. In his eyes, they were just helpless children and it was obvious he wouldn't be taking the hand they offered.
She wouldn't be able to kill that thing now and Izuku was still here. If she insisted on staying, he probably wouldn't want to leave either and they didn't need conflict on their side. For now, a retreat was looking like the best course.
'I need to get him back first,'
Grabbing Izuku's wrist, Sakura started pulling him towards the exit, "Let's go,"
She didn't give him much of an option as she pulled Izuku away from what was about to become a fight scene.
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Soon there was crashing, tremors and curling noises from Nomu heard as he and Toshinori began to brawl. Sakura was keeping an eye out for Kurogiri and Tomura in case they decided to make a move to attack the two, but it didn't seem like they were interested after All Might, their goal appeared and everything else had vanished from their vision. As expected, he was fighting as he always did. With his fists even after Sakura told him about the shock absorption.
'Perhaps he wanted to test it out for himself?'
A pained cry came from Izuku that drew her back to the freckled boy, "S-Sakura, my-my fingers are-
She quickly let go of the hand wrapped in his elbow protector instead of his glove. "What happened here?"
"I broke my fingers at the shipwreck zone. It was the only way I could think to take down the villains,"
"Sorry, I'll help you out with that when we're back at the entrance,"
If she could just get him there, then she'd be able to get back to help the hero. Sakura was already aware of his condition from the other day and she couldn't help but wonder exactly how long he would be able to keep up the pace against an opponent that would be able to absorb the force of his attacks and regenerate against damage taken. There had to be a limit there somewhere but the question of who was going to hit that limit first was what worried her the most.
Toshinori had discovered that he couldn't just punch the villain out no matter where he hit. He had to listen to Tomura's bragging about the bird-like villain about his quirks even though Sakura had already informed him. It was as if he truly believed that showing off in this fashion wouldn't lead to any downfalls. And that was a terrifying train of thought to have.
With so many failed punches, Toshinori thought to immobilize the villain, by grabbing Nomu around his torso and falling back to slam him into the ground, giving him a shallow grave. The force was so great Izuku and Sakura was able to feel the tremors.
"What did he just do?" Sakura looked back.
"All Might….?"
For a minute everyone's hopes were high, thinking that the number one hero had defeated the villains and would bring an end to this chaotic day. However when the cloud of debris cleared it gave a horrifying picture for the heroes in training. Nomu holding All Might, his sharp nails digging into his skin it broke through on one side as he held on with a grip that was vice. Beneath them, the dark swirl of Kurogiri's warp gate in two parts, one for where Nomu's head would have been buried beneath the gate and the second acting as the exit for the upper part of his body consisting of his head and arms that were holding Toshinori.
Sakura knew first hand that Nomu had a powerful grip and he was really digging his claws into the hero's flesh. Even so, he attempted to play it off. Always playing the part.
"Impressive for first-time offenders but prepare yourselves!"
Kurogiri spoke in his wisp of a voice, "I can't say I like the idea of having blood and guts insides my gate but if they're yours, I'll happily oblige. You see it's Nomu's job to get around that blinding speed of yours and hold you down. And it's my job to close the warp gate while you're halfway through. Thereby cutting you in two,"
They weren't far enough not to hear that unfortunately and Sakura easily realized that she couldn't get Izuku back to the entrance and hope to return to help. She was thinking of a way to counter this situation but Izuku had left her side and was rushing towards the villains with tears in his eyes, distressed and dosed with adrenaline.
"ALL MIGHT"
He was just running ahead, without clearly knowing what his next move would be. In turn, Sakura wasn't going to keep still and let the villains get a hold of Izuku too. But as she thought to step ahead and emerge, she saw something in her line of vision.
Three figures, nearing, Katsuki, Eijiro, and Shouto, a brief estimation of time and space had her make a clear determination. That Izuku who was about to become a casualty was now serving as a decoy.
All of the attention was on the dark-haired boy, as he reached towards his hero, but Kurogiri raised his body to block his path and sight. That's when Katsuki set an explosion at the side of the mist villain and watched with a sadistic smile as he brought him down.
Like a chain reaction, Shouto also attacked, using his ice to travel through the warp gate, freezing half of Nomu's body, stopping short of his hand allowing the grip to loosen and Toshinori to escape. Eijiro then appeared to attack Tomura but he simply avoided the mid-air strike and stepped back.
"Dammit! I didn't get to show off!"
"Stop acting so stuck up, foggy nobody!"
"The Symbol of Peace cannot be killed by the likes of you,"
Sakura walked over to join them, with this development she wasn't sure what her next move was going to be or what the villains might attempt. Carefully she observed Shigaraki, suspicious of his calm demeanor.
"You've pinned our way out, well this is a problem. We're in a pinch,"
Katsuki smirked, letting out small explosions from the palm resting on Kurogiri's neck brace, "You careless bastard. You're just what I'd thought you'd be. Only certain parts of you can turn into a misty warp gate. The fog covered your actual body right? If you were completely made of mist and physical attacks couldn't hurt you you wouldn't have said, 'that was close,'"
"Not bad for a guy whose head's full of hot air most of the time," Sakura admitted. He had even grabbed hold of the silver neck brace to make sure Kurogiri couldn't attempt anything.
Katsuki shot her a dirty look, "What you say Fivehead!?"
"Anyway, good timing," Sakura said looking at Eijiro.
"Seems like you beat us here though," The red-head replied.
"Marginally," She smirked back at Katsuki.
"Don't get cocky, you didn't take out these guys!"
Tomura allowed the teens to enjoy their short victory, but he wasn't deterred. "Not only have you beaten our level, but you're all at full health. Today's kids really are something….our League of Villains should be ashamed," He glanced at the villain, still frozen and stuck between warp gates. "Nomu, take out the explosive brat. We need our escape route back,"
The sound of the ice breaking with Nomu's deeply frozen body was like listening to the shatter of glass as he climbed out of the portal, lopsided with his missing arm and leg that was lost to Shouto's attack. Nomu's eyes rolled back, before straightening again.
Everyone watched awestruck, Izuku asked. "How is he still moving with his body like that?"
"Get back everyone!" warned Toshinori.
The ice on Nomu's body broke away as tissue and muscles began forming, moving together to extend a regenerated arm and leg.
'He's regeneration ability is stronger than I thought,'
"What do you think All Might? Nomu is a super-powered living sandbag designed to take you on at a hundred percent of your power. Go Nomu,"
That regeneration didn't seem to take away from his speed, as he rushed ahead. Ignoring everyone near, his goal clear as Tomura had instructed. Free their escape route. Katsuki wasn't able to react, as Nomu neared him, preparing a punch.
And then, the ground rumbled, stability was lost and everyone lost their equilibrium, blinded by debris that uplifted from the ground that it was impossible to tell what had happened.
"Kacchan!" Izuku called in alarm when he saw the Nomu getting to his feet and Kurogiri free from the explosive boy's grip. His panic was brief because Katsuki was found on the ground sitting upright on his right completely unharmed and uninjured. He just seemed, stunned.
"Kacchan? You dodged that?"
"No! Shut up scum!" Although his words were harsh, fitting of Katsuki, his tone was much softer, underlined with shock.
A soft chuckle caught their attention, as Sakura stood up from leaning down, removing her fist where the impact began. She looked back at the four boys raising a brow. "You almost get killed and you still have time to throw insults?"
The debris cleared completely and that's when everyone was able to take in a clearer picture. Nomu, Tomura, and Kurogiri on one side unharmed, Toshinori on the other unharmed and right where the damage began, Sakura.
"Good work young Haruno," said Toshinori. He had leaped in front of Katsuki to get him out of harm's way, and that's when the ground split into parts, which threw Nomu off balance just as he was about to land a punch and in those few seconds, he was able to get back before it could attempt to strike again. He had also been thrown off by the tremors, but he quickly regained balance and moved.
The destruction led all the way to the edge of the water zone in that area. Toshinori had heard that the pinkette had super strength, he just didn't realize to what degree. And seeing it in person, he was impressed.
'Stature like hers and she's able to produce this much power with a single punch?' Those with strength quirk's often needed to have built up their physique to handle their power, but Sakura was one of the most nimble students in class 1-A.
"What insane strength," observed Shouto.
"Whoa, so it was you Sakura?" Eijiro gaped. "I didn't know you were this strong!"
'You haven't seen anything yet,' Sakura thought but smiled back at Eijiro coyly. Katsuki looked like he didn't know what to say at the moment and she felt a twinge of satisfaction, even though she should have been getting it from the villains that she just interrupted again.
Toshinori glared back at Tomura and the other villains, "He wasn't going to hold back in that attack, was he? Even though these are just kids,"
"It was to save our comrade and you want to talk about holding back? You should tell that to your student's All Might," Tomura narrowed his eyes, pointing to the pinkette, and Izuku. "Earlier, that plain one came at me with everything he had to save that girl. And she was fighting so hard, she even stabbed Nomu. But violence in the name of saving others is admirable isn't it hero?"
Sakura frowned, was he seriously attempting to spin the situation, no it sounded more like he was reading from a script he didn't believe. This Tomura put Sakura more on edge than the Nomu he commanded.
"You know what All Might? I'm angry," He extended his arms, "I'm angry at this world that categorizes the same violent acts as heroic or villainous, deciding what's good and what's bad. Symbol of Peace? Ha. You're just a device to repress violence. Violence breeds violence! The world will know this once I kill you!"
Sakura blew some hair out of her face, and Toshinori spoke. "That's preposterous. Idealistic criminals have a different sort of fire in their eyes. But you're just enjoying yourself."
He sneered behind the hand on his face, "You got me,"
Getting that feeling of another attack the four boys prepared themselves for a brawl.
"It's three against six," stated Shouto.
Izuku nodded, "Kacchan already exposed the fog guys weakness,"
"These guys are brutal but if we back up All Might, we can push em back!"
'They're pretty eager,' Sakura thought. It would be advantageous to fight in a group that is if everyone was able to hold their own and prevent getting captured or hit by Nomu. If he was as strong as All Might then the boys couldn't take him in a head-on fight, even together. She had already figured out Nomu's weakness, she wouldn't second guess her actions but the situation was different now. It was the price she may have to pay for her actions that kept her front doing in Nomu.
"No!" Toshinori exclaimed, "Stand back all of you!"
Shouto then pointed, "You would've been in trouble if I hadn't done anything earlier right?"
"He's not wrong," Shrugged Sakura.
"That was a different story. Thanks. But fear not! Sit back and watch a pro get serious,"
'This could also be interesting,' Sakura thought before she began walking towards the hero. 'But first,'
Toshinori looked at the pinkette standing at his side, "Young Haruno, don't-
"I'm not going to interrupt if you think you can bypass that shock absorption and regeneration. Then you'll at least going to need to be in better shape than this,"
Placing her hands over the flesh wound on Toshinori's side, her hands glowing with chakra, she began sealing the wound, at the same time, she was giving stamina. There was still the matter of his weaker form being exposed to these villains. Sakura wasn't sure how well this was going to work or what the hero's plan was to defeat the villain, but she would be ready to step in if things were looking too bad. It was a shame that adults were so stubborn.
"What are you doing Fivehead?" called Katsuki in a demanding tone.
"She's healing his wound," said Izuku.
Eijiro and Shouto looked at him in surprise, the red-head asked, "Healing? She can do that too?"
Tomura became livid once again, "That's unfair. They have a healer in their party too and she's strong enough to stand against Nomu?"
The wound closed quickly. And Toshinori was amazed, not just that his wound was healed, but at how was feeling. From earlier today, he hadn't joined the group for their rescue training because he had spent most of the morning doing hero world all around; dealing with villains and incidents that when he got to school he had run out of time to remain in his muscle form and reverted. He attempted to get the last few minutes of the lesson when principle Nezu stopped him from going out. Even though he hadn't been able to get through to the other teachers, he still didn't think anything wrong until he found Tenya rushing to the school to call for help.
Still, he had been pushing his current form, but after Sakura's healing, he was holding his form with much more ease.
'What would happen if I asked her to keep healing?' No. He couldn't do that. Not when there were villains to take down and Sakura hadn't explained fully how her healing ability worked. All quirks were just physical abilities. There was a limit. And she had been fighting before that against Nomu no less. Yet there were no injuries to speak of.
'Now I can give it my all,'
"Thank you, Young Haruno,"
Sakura gave a firm nod and went back to the group.
Tomura wasn't willing to wait any longer to destroy the Symbol of Peace, at the same time his fingers twitching to grab a hold of the pinkette by the neck and watch the life leave her eyes. Taking pleasure as it filled with shock and terror right as she took a final gasp of air.
"Nomu, Kugoriri get him. I'll take care of the children." With that he moved, his eyes gleaming dangerously, "Let's clear the game and go home!"
"He's coming! Get ready guys!" said Eijiro.
Tomura wasn't able to reach the five students and Kurogiri hadn't been able to get to Toshinori because the instant that Nomu and Toshinori clashed fists, the wind pressure was so great it knocked them all back.
They clashed, again and again, their punches meeting one another in a dance that was becoming more vigorous. The force continued to hit them from all ends. It was hard for anyone to keep on their feet without anchoring themselves.
Eijiro looked around, "Where is Sakura?!"
Shouto looked around for a moment, before seeing her. "Over there,"
The pinkette was soon spotted, but it instantly put her classmates on alert when they realized why she was harder to see. She hadn't moved from her position further down where All Might was battling Nomu. The wind pressure seemed to have no effect on her, as she held herself upright, only keeping a hand near her face to prevent getting hit with particles of dirt.
It was fascinating, there was no other way to describe it. Watching the fight between the two, as they clashed, Sakura watched their fists collide again and again. There was an intensity she was drawn to. She hadn't seen a fight of this magnitude in this world before. And she wanted to see it as close as possible.
Toshinori had figured something out about Nomu's quirk. He realized that if it was indeed just shock absorption, not nullification. Then going by the name there had to technically be a limit. All he had to do was reach it before time ran out for him.
"Built to counter me you say?! Made to withstand everything I got!? Then I'll just go beyond that!"
It didn't take as long as he anticipated, he still pushed his body beyond its limit each punch going past a hundred percent, depleting his strength but even so he was seeing the effects of his efforts quicker. There was the taste of iron in his mouth and he felt blood begin to trickle from his mouth. Still, his fists began moving faster against Nomu until the villain was no longer able to keep up.
And then he prepped the final blow, "Tell me, villain. Do you even know the meaning of…."
"PLUS ULTRA"
The force pushed force with his swing, his fist flying hard into his chest, and then Nomu was no longer on the ground. He was flung completely out of the USJ facility, breaking through the ceiling it shook the place.
"Wow,"
"He just smashed his way past the shock absorption,"
Toshinori coughed, feeling his limit. "Yep, I'm slowing down. In my heyday, five punches would've been enough. But that took over two hundred,"
Sakura felt the malicious intent directed at Toshinori as Tomura glared at him, his limbs trembling. Like a child on the verge of throwing a tantrum.
Even though he was at his limit, he knew that he couldn't drop his face just yet and continued to stretch his lips in a smile. "Well, villain. How about we hurry up and finish this?"
"You cheated!"
Sakura covered her mouth to stop her snort, it was a tantrum. She didn't want to drop her guard, but it was hard to keep up with the mood swings of the villain. One moment he would be calm and collected, then he wants to tear down everything in his path instead of savoring destruction. Besides this wasn't the time for laughing.
"He's not weak at all! They..they lied to me!"
There was still dust and debris being picked up into the air, hiding Toshinori's form, but he was already finished. If he moved recklessly, it was likely he would revert to his weaker state. He wanted to get the villains now to either surrender or flee, the best-case scenario right now would be to stall long enough for his comrades to arrive.
"Well coming to get me? What happened to clearing the game?"Toshinori had an intense glare that made the villain tremble, "If you can take me then bring it on!"
'He's bluffing,' If he was determined to take on the villains himself, then he would've moved by now. He was straining, she could see that easily enough from where she stood.
"That's All Might for you, looks like we're not even players anymore," She heard Shouto say. It seemed that his bluff was working well enough to lull the boys into a state of security. Well most of them.
"Sakura, come back already, just let All Might deal with those guys!" called Eijiro, but she didn't budge.
The throat scratching stared again for Tomura, his fingernails leaving visible lines across the base of his neck. "If only Nomu were here! That guy would be able to go up against him without thinking about anything!"
Kurogiri leaned towards him, "Tomura Shigaraki, calm yourself. Looking closely, I see that he has definitely weakened from the damage of Nomu's attacks." The scratching stopped. "It would appear the children are frozen in fear. There are likely only a few minutes before reinforcements come. If you and I work together, we still have a chance of killing him."
It was like watching an adult coax a child, "Yeah….yeah…..yeah…..That's right….we have no choice but to do it. I mean we have the last boss right in front of our eye-
The sight of a kunai landing right in front of them, caused Tomura and Kurogiri to back up. They saw the pinkette standing with her arm stretched out, her eyes covered by the shadows of her hair.
"Young Haruno,"
"All Might, you can sit back for this one," Sakura smirked back at the villains. "Leave these two to me,"
He didn't have a choice anyway, he couldn't move let alone stop her from fighting. Even so, he was too willful not to try. "Don't! It's dangerous!"
Sakura scoffed softly, she was well aware that they weren't like the other villains she faced. She couldn't blame him for the concern. No one knew what she was capable of.
'Time to give them a peak,'
Tomura clicked his tongue, "Right this brat isn't frozen like the rest. Kurogiri, let's kill her first,"
"As you wish, Tomura Shigaraki,"
The wave of killing intent caused Izuku swallowed heavily. He knew that All Might wouldn't be able to fight these villains because he had run out of time. But to have one of his classmates go against those villains, didn't feel like an acceptable arrangement either.
"Sakura….."
Eijiro spoke up then, "If she's gonna fight then we should-
"You four stay there!" All might instructed loudly, "Young Haruno drawback now!"
It was too late for that. Sakura was already beating her feet against the ground running towards the two villains. She didn't rush towards the villains, despite how it appeared. She kept her eyes focused on the villain's forms, watching as Tomura's fingers twitched as the mist of Kurogirir's body shift.
'Here it comes,'
The swirling mass of black mist appeared right in front of her, an open palm looming over her face.
"SAKURA"
From the other's perspective it looked like she had been caught, it was impossible to take their eyes off, gripped with anticipation and anxiety. It was in that heightened moment when someone was ready to move, that she vanished from sight.
"Surprise!"
It wasn't easy to process when Sakura appeared mid-air next to Tomura, her right leg landing a swift yet powerful kick to the villain that had him gliding through the air.
Tomura gasped for breath, barely able to draw one in, before he saw a flash of pink next to him and a heavy weight pressed against his back, lifting him higher into the air.
"SHIGARAKI," Kurogiri called in alarm. It had all been too fast for him to keep track. One moment, the pinektte was about to fall into their grasp and decay into nothing and then Tomura was no longer at his side.
Sakura appeared in the air waiting for Tomura to reach her height, a small smile on her face. Her plan had been simple but effective. They had attempted to use this attack on her before with Nomu. Typically when someone went on the offense, they would create openings to strike. All you had to do was bypass the attack quick enough to take your opponent off guard. That's what she did.
The moment the villains thought they succeeded, she countered quickly. Relentless in her attack.
"Take this!" Her leg raised high into the air above Tomura, the final blow. The back of her heel dug into his stomach for an instant before the force sent him back to earth. She kept her chakra until control to avoid killing, but the damage taken with those hits would be enough to knock him out.
And while falling, it was clear he wasn't conscious anymore.
She was waiting for him to land, but it wasn't on the ground. A portal appeared below where Tomura would have landed, and he was sent through. Still, in the air, Sakura glared at the warp villain. Seemed he finally managed to take some sort of action.
Gunshots curved her attention back to the entrance. Someone was firing in the direction of the mountain zone. One of the U.A. teachers. And he wasn't alone. The entire faculty seemed to have entered the fray. Just as they were drawing to a conclusion. Tenya was standing next to them, calling out to his classmates that he had returned with reinforcements.
"Better late than never," Sakura grinned.
With their underlings beaten, Nomu lost and the leader currently out cold, Kurogiri saw no need to remain. He began to swirl into himself, growling a final greeting. "This isn't over heroes! Make no mistake!"
And then he vanished.
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When Sakura's feet met the ground again, things had taken a drastic change for the better. The teachers began moving to apprehend the villains and gather the remaining students who were still likely fighting. Though this wasn't entirely satisfactory, not with the ring leader escaping. But she still had more to do.
One of the teachers Ken Ishiyama, also known as the pro-Cementos went over to the five students at the plaza and ordered them to head back to join the rest of their classmates. No one fought the teacher's orders, and went to the gate, leaving him to deal with All Might.
It was a few minutes before they would reach the exit and Sakura would have been content walking there in silence but it seemed that wasn't going to happen with Eijiro there.
"Haruno, I didn't know you could fight like that! You totally wasted that villain!" Eijiro exclaimed. "Why wouldn't you use that power during the combat training?"
"I didn't need to," She answered simply. "Besides did you want me destroying the building?"
"Oh, good point. Then what about your quirk, you can heal too?"
"Well yeah," She answered sheepishly.
"If you're that strong why'd you bother using weapons like throwing stars?"
"As Aizawa said, you can't be a pro with one trick," She gave a crooked smile.
Izuku chimed in, "And you can make-
"Izuku, I almost forgot give me your hand," Sakura stopped him before he revealed that she could make clones.
"Ow," Izuku winced when the pinkette took his hand.
"Sorry, give me a minute," She gently clasped his wrist, removing the covering from his hand. Tenderly, she held her hand over his broken middle finger and thumb. Both were swollen, bent at odd angles with traces of blood. Sakura's hand glowed with chakra, the bones of the boy's fingers began to mend. They weren't shattered too badly so she could still heal him. When the swelling was gone, she wrapped his fingers with bandages.
"That feels so much better, thanks"
Katsuki scoffed, storming ahead of the group. It seemed even a villain attack wasn't going to bend his attitude. That would have been more admirable if he wasn't sour.
'At least it's over for now,'
The police sirens continued to blare when the students left the USJ, it seemed no one bothered to turn them off arriving on the scene. Villains were escorted in handcuffs to vans, an ambulance had left a while back with Shouta and Thirteen. Sakura again saw the detective Naomasa but didn't engage since he was handling the cleanup. The Nomu had been located and retrieved as well with little effort and everyone was more or less without injury. They had a roll call to ensure everyone was present and then they were put on the bus and sent back to school.
No one spoke the entire way.
"Tomura Shigaraki," Kurogiri called to the man laying unconscious on the wooden floors of an old bar. A poster of All Might slashed on a brick wall near a curtain leading to another room. A table set with a chair turned upside down unused. A computer monitor with feed saying 'Sound Only'.
He could see the villain's chest moving, but otherwise, he didn't respond.
"What happened?" A dark voice asked from the monitor.
"We failed. Nomu was defeated by All Might, and our underlings were taken down by Eraser Head, Thirteen, and those hero course students. Shigaraki is injured as well, he isn't awake yet. We've underestimated them,"
"We were not prepared enough, good thing we did it under that cheap League of villains name."
A new voice entered from the screen "What of Master and my joint creation Nomu? Have you retrieved him?"
Kurogiri took a moment, stepping forward "No. He was blown away."
"What!?"
"Without precise coordinates, there was not enough time to find him."
"After all we did to make him as powerful as All Might!"
"Well, I suppose it can't be helped. That's unfortunate. Did the heroes injure Shigaraki badly?"
Kurogiri hesitated for a moment as if contemplating if he should admit anything but decided to do so in the end. "Not exactly. It was a student. Someone who had been able to stand against Nomu before All Might arrived. She was able to heal Eraser Head and All Might's injuries and create a clone. She had enough strength to go against Nomu and her speed seemed to be like All Might's."
"Oh? Sounds interesting, tell me more,"