Zoro stayed hidden behind the rusted pickup truck, his breathing shallow and ragged. His right arm, still pinning the iron beast to his shoulder, was trembling so violently that the metal vibrated against his collarbone. The canvas backpack filled with iron sand felt like it was trying to snap his spine in two, every grain of sand a tiny weight pushing him closer to the earth.
He didn't care about the pain right now. His dark eyes were locked on the scene unfolding in the center of the garbage dump.
The green-haired kid pulled at the thick rope wrapped around his chest. His cheap red sneakers slid backward in the loose sand, unable to find any grip.
"Ahhhhh!" the boy screamed, the veins in his neck bulging as tears of pure frustration streamed down his dirt-covered face. The massive refrigerator he was trying to move didn't budge a single millimeter. It was buried deep in the sand, mocking his efforts.
Zoro watched the boy fall to his knees, gasping for air, looking completely broken.
He's weak, Zoro thought, his vision blurring slightly from his own exhaustion. His stance is entirely wrong. He's trying to pull with his back instead of pushing from his legs. He's destroying his own body for nothing.
But then, Zoro noticed the boy's eyes. Even though he was crying, even though he had just collapsed, he grabbed the rope again. His hands were raw and bleeding, exactly like Zoro's.
"Six seconds!" the giant man suddenly boomed. His voice didn't just carry across the beach; it seemed to vibrate in the air itself. "You lost your footing, Young Midoriya! The entrance exam waits for no one! If you want to carry the weight of the future, you must push past your limits!"
Zoro's eyes narrowed. The entrance exam? This kid is aiming for U.A. too? Suddenly, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through Zoro's right shoulder. A muscle spasm. His grip on the iron beast faltered for a fraction of a second.
Clank.
The edge of the heavy tungsten slab scraped against the metal door of the rusted pickup truck he was hiding behind. It wasn't a loud noise—just a tiny, metallic scratch—but in the quiet morning air, it was enough.
The giant stopped smiling.
In the blink of an eye, the titan turned his head. His bright blue eyes locked exactly onto the corner of the truck where Zoro was hiding. The sheer pressure radiating from the man's stare was suffocating. It felt like a physical weight pressing down on Zoro's chest, heavier than the iron sand on his back.
"Who is there?" the giant asked. His voice was no longer cheerful. It was low, serious, and carried the undeniable authority of someone who had faced death a thousand times.
Midoriya froze, dropping the rope and looking around in panic. "S-Someone is watching us, All Might?"
Zoro knew he was caught. He could try to run, but his legs were numb, and running away was never in his nature anyway.
Taking a deep, painful breath that burned his lungs, Zoro stepped out from the shadows of the garbage pile.
Midoriya gasped, taking a step back.
Zoro looked like a walking nightmare. His white shirt was soaked in sweat and stained with spots of dried blood from the open blisters on his hands. Dark circles hung under his completely hollow eyes. But what made Midoriya freeze wasn't the blood or the exhaustion.
It was the massive, dark slab of metal resting on the boy's shoulder, and the bulging canvas bag strapped to his back.
Zoro didn't say a word. He didn't introduce himself, and he didn't apologize for interrupting. He simply ignored them. He walked past the giant and the green-haired kid, his bare feet sinking deeply into the sand with every agonizing step.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
He found a small, relatively flat clearing near the water's edge, about twenty meters away from them.
First, he reached for the buckle of the heavy backpack. His fingers were stiff and unresponsive, but he managed to unclip it. He let the bag slide off his shoulders.
BOOM.
The moment the canvas bag hit the ground, the sand beneath it caved in, creating a small crater. Midoriya flinched, his eyes widening in shock. How heavy is that bag?! he thought, swallowing hard.
Zoro then grabbed the hilt of the iron beast with both hands. He didn't drop it. He slowly, painfully lowered it until the blunt tip touched the ground.
CRACK.
The solid, compressed tungsten struck a buried concrete block hidden under the sand, instantly shattering the stone into dusty fragments.
The giant—All Might—narrowed his blue eyes, his heroic smile completely gone. His highly trained senses analyzed the sound, the impact, and the sheer density of the object the stranger was carrying.
That is not regular steel, All Might thought, his muscular arms crossing over his broad chest. That density... it's a conditioning weapon. But the weight must be well over two hundred kilograms. And this boy... he doesn't have a strength-enhancing Quirk. His muscle fibers are tearing, his breathing is erratic. He is doing this entirely on human endurance.
Zoro stood in the center of his clearing, ignoring the two pairs of eyes watching him. He took a wide stance, digging his bare toes into the wet sand. He raised the iron beast, his arms shaking violently under the crushing weight.
One thousand swings, Zoro reminded himself, the memory of his master's voice pushing through the pain.
He swung the dark metal down.
It was a slow, agonizingly heavy swing, lacking all the grace of his usual swordsmanship. But the sheer mass of the iron tearing through the air created a sharp, whistling gust of wind that blew the sand away from his feet.
Midoriya watched in absolute awe, his jaw dropping. He looked at his own bleeding hands, then at the stranger who looked like he was fighting a war against gravity itself.
"Hey, kid!" All Might suddenly called out, stepping forward, his massive shadow falling over the sand. "That equipment... If you continue to swing that without proper rest, your shoulder joints will permanently dislocate. You are destroying your own body!"
Zoro stopped. He was hunched over, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his chin onto the iron slab.
Slowly, he turned his head to look at the towering giant. His eyes were bloodshot, completely devoid of fear, filled only with the stubborn, predatory intensity of a cornered animal.
Zoro wiped the sweat from his eyes with his bandaged wrist.
"If my body breaks from just this..." Zoro rasped, his voice rough and dry like sandpaper, "...then it means this was the limit of my potential anyway."
He turned his back to the hero, raising the iron beast above his head once more.
"Don't tell me how to carry my weight."