Chapter 35: The Crawler and the Crown
The starry expanse of the Sanctuary Phasing pocket dimension was the quietest place on earth. There were no alarms, no sirens, and no sterile medical lights.
Eri sat on a plush, oversized beanbag chair Rin had materialized for her, clutching a warm mug of cocoa. She stared down at her reflection in the silver glass floor. The small horn on the right side of her forehead was throbbing slightly, a terrifying reminder of the curse that had defined her entire, short life.
Footsteps echoed softly across the glass.
Rei Arata walked over, dressed in a simple, comfortable sweater, his silver moth-mask left on the holographic war table. He sat on the floor a few feet away from her, keeping his distance so she wouldn't feel cornered.
"It doesn't hurt anymore," Eri whispered, her large red eyes looking up at him hesitantly. "But... it feels heavy. The Rewind."
"It's a very big power for a very small person, Eri," Rei said gently. He held out his hand, palm up. A tiny, violet butterfly made of pure cosmic energy fluttered upward, casting a warm, gentle light. "I have a big power too. For a long time, it hurt me. It felt like I was holding a thunderstorm in my chest."
Eri watched the butterfly, mesmerized. "How did you stop it from hurting?"
"I couldn't do it alone," Rei smiled, looking over to where Akio and Kenji were quietly sparring in the distance. "I had to find people to share the storm with. Your Quirk, Eri... it's a miracle. But until you learn how to steer it, it's going to feel like a runaway train. I need to find someone fast enough to catch you if you fall."
Rei looked down at his own hands. The Swarm was powerful, but they were warriors. Kenji was an immovable wall. Giulio was a lethal blade. Tensei was a supersonic missile. Eri didn't need a weapon. She needed a guardian—someone whose fundamental instinct was simply to catch people who were slipping through the cracks.
He needed a seventh butterfly.
Miles away, in a grimy, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Yokohama, the remnants of the League of Villains sat in absolute, suffocating silence.
The television in the corner was playing the news on a muted loop. The headlines blared the same terrifying reality: All For One Imprisoned in Tartarus. Kamino Crater Secured. Hero Commission in Shambles.
Dabi leaned against a rusted pillar, his arms crossed. Toga was uncharacteristically quiet, spinning a knife on the floor. Spinner looked lost.
In the center of the room, Tomura Shigaraki sat on a broken wooden crate. He was staring at his own hands. For his entire life, whenever he had failed, his Master had been there to sweep away the debris. When the USJ failed, Kurogiri warped them out. When the forest camp fell apart, All For One had dragged them to Kamino.
But All For One was gone. The safety net had been violently cut.
Shigaraki raised a hand to his neck, his fingers twitching. The urge to scratch, to tear at his own skin in frustration, was overwhelming.
He dug his nails in—and then, he stopped.
He slowly lowered his hand. The manic, childish rage that usually clouded his red eyes was gone. It was replaced by a cold, terrifying, and absolute clarity.
"The Master is locked in a cage," Shigaraki rasped, his voice rough as sandpaper. "And the Sovereign thinks he has won the board."
Dabi scoffed. "The Sovereign has the board, Tomura. We got our teeth kicked in by a bunch of masked kids. We don't have the muscle to fight them and the heroes at the same time."
"Then we evolve," Shigaraki declared, standing up. The aura of the spoiled man-child vanished, replaced by the heavy, suffocating gravity of a true leader. "The Master treated us like game pieces. But we aren't pieces. We are the decay. If the Sovereign wants to rule the shadows, we will simply disintegrate the ground he stands on. We don't need All For One to hold our hands anymore."
Shigaraki looked at his remaining Vanguard Action Squad. "We are going to find a doctor. We are going to find an army. And then, we are going to dust that winged freak out of the sky."
In the Naruhata district, the rain was just beginning to clear.
Koichi Haimawari—the unregistered vigilante known as The Crawler—slid smoothly across the wet pavement. His Quirk, Slide and Glide, allowed him to repel friction, skating over surfaces as long as he maintained three points of contact.
He wasn't fighting a high-end Nomu. He wasn't toppling corrupt governments. He was carrying a plastic bag full of dropped groceries back to an elderly woman who had tripped on the curb.
"Here you go, ma'am!" Koichi smiled warmly behind his All Might-themed hoodie. "Careful on the wet sidewalks!"
"Thank you, Crawler," the old woman smiled, patting his cheek.
Koichi waved, dropping back onto his hands and knees to slide away into a quiet alley. He sighed, pulling his hood back. He watched the news helicopters flying in the distance toward Tokyo. The world was changing so fast. Gods and monsters were fighting in the streets, and here he was, picking up trash and returning groceries.
I'm doing good work, Koichi reminded himself. Naruhata needs someone looking out for the little guy.
"A noble sentiment, Koichi Haimawari."
Koichi yelped, slipping on a puddle and crashing into a stack of cardboard boxes. He scrambled back to his feet, his eyes wide.
Standing at the end of the alley, blocking the dim glow of the streetlamp, was a towering figure wrapped in a long black cloak. The violet butterfly patterns on the fabric pulsed with a slow, cosmic rhythm. The silver moth-mask reflected the neon signs of the city.
"The... The Winged Sovereign?!" Koichi stammered, holding his hands up defensively. "H-Hey! I don't want any trouble! I'm just a local guy! I don't even have an official license!"
"I am not here for your license, Crawler," Nocturne said, his distorted voice echoing smoothly off the brick walls. "I am here for your heart."
Nocturne glided forward. Koichi flinched, but the Sovereign simply raised his hand. From his palm, a brilliant, glowing sapphire butterfly emerged. It hummed with a smooth, frictionless, and impossibly fast kinetic energy.
"You look at the titans in the sky and feel small," Nocturne whispered, the sapphire light illuminating Koichi's stunned face. "But while the titans fight, the innocent fall through the cracks. You have spent your life catching the people society overlooks. I have a little girl who needs a guardian. She possesses a power that rewinds time itself, and if she loses control, she will accidentally erase herself from existence."
Koichi's breath caught in his throat. "A little girl?"
"I do not need a soldier," Nocturne continued, stepping closer. "I need someone who can outrun time. I need someone who can slide through the friction of reality itself to pull her back from the brink. Will you catch her, Koichi?"
Koichi looked at the glowing sapphire butterfly. He thought of his friends—Pop Step, Knuckleduster—and the community he had built. He wasn't a powerhouse. He was just a guy who liked to help.
But if a little girl was in danger... how could he say no?
Koichi took a deep breath, his fear evaporating, replaced by the pure, unadulterated heroism that had always defined him. He stood up straight and looked the Sovereign in the eye.
"I'll catch her," Koichi vowed.
"I accept your desire."
The sapphire butterfly darted forward, sinking into Koichi's chest.
A shockwave of pure, frictionless blue energy erupted from the vigilante, blowing the rainwater out of the alley. Koichi gasped, feeling his Slide and Glide Quirk forcefully mutate. The limitation of needing three points of contact instantly shattered. The repulsive force in his hands and feet magnified a thousandfold.
Vector Slip. Koichi hovered a full foot off the ground, a soft sapphire aura enveloping him. He wasn't just sliding on surfaces anymore. He could repel the friction of the air itself, allowing him to glide through empty space, maneuver mid-air, and accelerate to near-teleportation speeds without generating a sonic boom.
He was entirely untouchable.
"Whoa..." Koichi breathed, effortlessly doing a mid-air backflip and landing softly on nothing but air. He looked at his glowing hands, a massive grin spreading across his face.
Nocturne turned, his dark cloak swirling as a silver portal ripped open in the alleyway.
"Come, Crawler," the Sovereign commanded gently. "Let us introduce you to the Vanguard."