Luke felt sleepy.
Too much had happened in the span of a few hours.
He had advanced to Sequence 6 Faceless of the Seer Pathway. Before he could have even stabilized himself, Mr. Fool had struck him with lightning, purging Amon's Worm of Time, parasitizing him.
Then, he had gone to the Gray Castle and discussed Amon in detail.
It didn't consume his Spirit Points, per se, but it was mentally taxing, to say the least. It was especially so given the nature and weight of the matters that the Tarot Club discussed while guiding him.
Then, right after coming from the Gray Castle, he helped Nyx advance to Magician.
Knowing that all the Apostles were waiting for their Advancement Potions, too, Luke had decided not to make them wait longer. With the threat of Amon lingering over their heads and the worsening situation of the world, it seemed best to raise the Apostles' strength as fast as he could.
So, for the next few hours, Luke had spent all his time bringing Iwao and Kazuho to the Headquarters, brewing Potions for them and Melissa, and then later conducting the meeting, letting them know of the danger lingering outside The Boundary.
He should have called it a day, then, Luke realized now.
But… the Law of Beyonder Characteristic Convergence worked in mysterious ways. Even if it wasn't this law that had made Luke decide to visit the Vestiges after the meeting, he had solid reasons to believe that Amon had somehow manipulated or influenced it.
Surprisingly, the Radiant of Hope, Yoichi Shigaraki, had taken him on a journey, showing him a grave secret regarding Singularity and One For All.
Something had gone wrong, then, though.
Conformity had arrived in that place formed of memories and had connected to its future self, the same happening to Singularity in retaliation.
Luke had been knocked out of Midoriya's mind and had almost mutated for good.
However, Amon… who had been waiting for him, had parasitized Nyx and had saved him before taking him to the space and attempting to go past The Boundary using Descorrer.
When that had failed, they had arrived back on Earth, which later resulted in a face-off between Mushroom-nimi and Amon, the latter being purged out of Nyx by Mr. Fool — only hours after He had done so for Luke.
So, when Luke arrived at the Headquarters, all he hoped was to admit Nyx to a medical ward and sleep.
But when he found Gran Torino, peeking around, Luke knew rest… wasn't written in his fate.
That irony made him chuckle behind the mask, making the color drain off the old man's face even more.
[Stop taking out your anger on him,] Miss Justice reprimanded Luke. [He's so old! He's so old… and in pain. And no more jokes about his legs. It's not very gentlemanly.]
Luke's mouth twitched.
"So… it was you…" Gran Torino hissed through clenched teeth. "Why… What do you want to do with me?"
"Turn you into a Nomu, of course," Dr. Blessed said amusingly. "Isn't that what you have already concluded?"
[Luke…]
"Cough!" Luke cleared his throat as Gran Torino stared at him with a mix of dread and resolve. "Just joking… I am a doctor, you know. And you needed help."
"…" Gran Torino's mouth flattened into a thin line. He would have preferred if it had been the Villain who must have assisted All For One. At least then, things would have been easier to predict. Dr. Blessed? Forget about predicting what this man wanted; it would be a miracle if he got a single, straight sentence out of him.
Still, Gran Torino needed to give it a go. "What did you do to Toshi… All Might?"
The Pro had no idea what had happened after All For One's attack had made him pass out, Luke knew. He grabbed the wheelchair's handles and turned it around, taking the old man back to his room.
Luke lifted the man and put him on the bed, and began taking off the bloody bandages.
"I asked…"
"All Might is alive," Luke said. "He won the battle against All For One. He lost One For All…"
Gran Torino's heart sank. He knew Dr. Blessed knew about the One For All, but learning this fact from this masked monster made the news even graver.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Gran Torino remembered what All Might had said about Dr. Blessed.
He saved everyone's lives that day, All Might had admitted. Including mine…
Was he misunderstanding the situation? Gran Torino asked himself as Dr. Blessed began working on his bleeding legs. Did Dr. Blessed bring him here just to save his life, as he claimed?
But then what about those Nomus?!
Smack!
Whoosh!
Gran Torino's eyes popped out.
Dr. Blessed had just smacked the stumps of his legs, making a current of intense pain shoot up to his mind.
Gran Torino was about to curse the man when he noticed something incredible.
Dr. Blessed's white lab coat was flapping as if someone was blowing air on it.
And then Gran Torino remembered hearing the whoosh… His widened eyes widened even more, making him look like a toad. "How… How…"
The old Pro already had a small body.
So, just by leaning forward a little, he saw the legs he had been ignoring all this while.
They were cut just below the knees, but the flesh beneath them wasn't bound together. Small discs, with several holes, were now sewn there, making it impossible to tell if he hadn't been born with them.
"It… can't be…" Gran Torino muttered, shocked beyond belief.
Dr. Blessed cleaned the drops of blood that had shot out of the discs' holes, along with air.
"Your Quirk, Jet," he said, taking out a fresh roll of bandages from a drawer and wrapping them around the old man's legs. "It's actually just a set of air vents, connected to your lungs. Hmm… like blood vessels, but designed to increase the pressure and velocity of the fluid.
"Most of the power of your Quirk did originate from your soles, but it wasn't as if losing half your legs meant losing your Quirk Factors. I did what I could to give you some means of mobility. You won't be as fast as before, but… well, you can definitely act like a wrinkled balloon. Haha…"
As Gran Torino looked at the clownish mask, Nana Shimura's face suddenly flashed across his mind.
Miracles happen when you expect them the least, she had said, smiling wildly. All you can do is… not lose hope.
Gran Torino's vision blurred.
"The next time you wake up, you will be at a proper hospital," Dr. Blessed said. "Let a few doctors look at you. They will know what to do."
Then, the masked monster walked away, yawning.
"… Thank you…" Gran Torino said, his voice breaking. "… I…"
Luke shook his head, closing the door behind him, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly under the mask.