Himura (MHA)

After a week or two, Nobu gradually got used to the surrounding pressure of Anandaman. Working as a flunky at various points and providing assistance, he knew the entire camp inside and out. In the new clothes that replaced the torn rags, it was much more comfortable.

However, Nobu even began to find his situation positive and successful, he was not subjected to violence, was not beaten and was fed more often, he had access to a shower and slept in comfortable tent barracks. Anything is better than barracks and a pile of rags on the floor. Starting to read and learn Burmese, there were many difficulties, but the main problem was pronunciation.

Since Burmese belonged to a completely different language group than Japanese and English, it was much more difficult to start speaking it. Understanding and speaking their language is a prerequisite for surviving in this camp. He had to read every word in the dictionary and work on pronunciation, fortunately, cartel fighters who were resting in the barracks sometimes helped him to put the stress correctly.

The manifestation of cruelty became commonplace, the motive for this cruelty was only one - to instill fear, despair and break these people, only then they would become slaves. Decorative snowflakes in Nobu's pupils, as a manifestation of the Frost Breath quirk, disappeared along with the ability to spew arctic cold and now he lost one rather strong trump card.

Nobu occasionally looked at how cartel fighters fired machine guns at an improvised shooting range, it was very rare to see how they tied a guilty person to a tree and shot at him. Often they hit the limbs, causing the victims to scream.

"Skill in shooting and close combat would greatly help to replace the lost ability. While there was Frost Breath, there was no need to waste energy on it, now the circumstances have changed. Maybe the Expansion will show itself yet."

Nobu was interested in mastering shooting, but he was allowed to shoot a few times, even at a tied slave, whose screams were carried around the area. Nobu developed a tolerance for this cruelty in order to continue to exist in such conditions. He knows what the law of the jungle is. He came to the conclusion that for now he cannot get out of the country without the help of the cartel, therefore... "You need to become one of them, gain trust and become stronger by mastering shooting, close combat and your abilities."

The smell of spent gunpowder and oily metal began to please him, not paying much attention to the man screaming in pain. Nobu found shooting at a person quite practical in terms of improving skills and gaining experience. So to speak, to develop shooting skills, and not for the sake of sadism, fun or other disgusting traits of the cartel fighters around him.

"In the end, no matter what your quirk is, one bullet to the head will be enough." Unless you're an AFO or a person with a defense quirk. With that thought, he stopped the screams of pain from the man tied to the tree by shooting him in the head. His entire bleeding body sagged and stopped twitching.

The dead man's lips barely spoke into the void - Than-k you-

"Bullseye."

*Crowd indignation*

- That was the last one we were allowed to take!

- That's it, kid, get out of here! Get to work, now.

Nobu gradually began to understand whole sentences in Burmese, he put down his machine gun and left in search of work. Of course, he could turn to Bucephalus or Shin, but one of them is currently not in the camp, as far as he understood, he went to gather more people, and Shin is simply busy.

While walking around looking for work, Nobu looked at his baggy and saggy clothes and remembered how his grandmother sewed up some holes in her torn clothes. "We need to sew up the clothes, Shin should have a needle and thread." On the way to Shin's infirmary, he met the guy with the Fire Breath, Nobu learned from Shin that he was called Fire Spitter. It was as simple and banal as that.

Fire Spitter is a tall guy of about twenty-five years old with short hair. In the camp, many fighters wore balaclavas, always put them on during work and on sorties for people, but few of them had tattoos that determined their rank among the cartel fighters. Tattoos of a lotus (padma) inked on his forearm - as the rank in the cartel increased: blue, green, yellow, red and black were the colors of its petals.

They were known only within the cartel itself, and the traitors had their hand cut off where the padma was tattooed. In Anandaman, one could distinguish oneself not only with combat, practical (medicine, information gathering) but also entrepreneurial skills.

Firespitter, who had a green tattoo on his forearm, did not chat much, knowing that the boy did not know the language, but shook his hand as a sign of respect for his quirk, since he was amazed by his meekness and dexterity. Nobu also hoped that there was no hidden grudge against him, the stay in the camp should be as optimal as possible.

Only Bucephalus knew about his fight with Firespitter and another man with frostbite, but soon rumors would circulate about this story. Nobu noticed that Firespitter was walking with him to the infirmary, where Shin or his assistants usually hung out. As they approached, the same man came out of the tent. Seeing Nobu, he got scared and hurried to hide. Firespitter only grinned at this. "Did I really scare him that much?"

-...I've never seen such hypothermia, I was afraid that his fingers would have to be amputated... - Shin's assistant talked to one of the fighters. The man was lucky not to lose his limbs and after such a long time he was able to recover. Of course, Bucephalus knew about this.

-This probably happened during the last mutiny, apparently one of the escapees had a nice quirk. - Nobu approached the assistant and said only one word in Burmese.

- Needle...

- What? Needle? Why do you need it? - after a few seconds, Nobu remembered the word.

- Sew up. - and pointed to a hole in his clothes.

- Ah... I see. Here, take it. - Nobu was amazed by their behavior. They treat slaves cruelly, without sparing them, but they did not threaten the little boy in any way and behaved as if nothing had happened. "This is the power of respect and fear." Apparently, he stood out well at that execution, and Bucephalus made it clear to everyone that Nobu was now under his care. "It is better to use this, but you can't stand out too much, it is still dangerous to be among them." For the next few hours, Nobu sewed clothes, at least tried to, waited for Shin and orders from some of the other guys.

He had no experience in this craft. However, he realized that if you create stitches and secure a knot at the end, you can create a strong thread structure that will hold the fabric well.

Nobu was ready in more or less comfortable clothes, the seams from the white threads were visible on the clothes. However, Shin had to wait too long, during which time Bucephalus returned and the man with the strength of a bull called Nobu. On the way, trucks unloaded people in whatever they could find, shocked and not understanding where they were brought. Among them were two brothers Nai and Dinai.

Arriving at Bucephalus, a dialogue began.

- Long time no see, kid. Ready for training? You will traning. - he repeated in English. Nobu liked the shooting from a firearm, a little deafening, but you can get used to it, however, what Bucephalus had in mind was slightly different from Nobu's ideas.

Four years had passed since the day he fell into the hands of Anandaman. Nobu turned fourteen. They managed to fill his padma in recognition of his work. He went through the rite of acceptance, where he had to eat a person's heart, as a sign of dominance over him. They also wanted to demonstrate with this rite that the eaten heart symbolizes strength and the removal of the quirk from the defeated. Of course, this did not happen, it is just symbolism. He was also transported between camps, he was taught some methods of beating out information, and observed the torture and was even trusted to guard the slaves with a machine gun.

Bucephalus made him part of this cartel.