The moon hung low over the industrial outskirts of Shizuoka, Japan.
The Yakuza headquarters stood tall; thirteen stories of dark steel and concrete. The building's glass windows gleamed with a bluish sheen under the moonlight, some lit from within, others dark. A Kanji sign marked its entrance reading, "Loans." The building fit perfectly with the other tall buildings, hiding this Yakuza organization in plain sight.
Gray stood silently outside the front gate, wearing a high-collared black shirt and matching shorts. A tight leather mask covered the lower half of his face, bearing a lipless mouth with large gnashing teeth. It was a mask Natsu had given him for christmas because it was "cool"
He approached the lone guard stationed at the entrance. He was wearing a full black suit, much like a typical businessman would wear. Ordinary citizens would think nothing of him as Yakuza and assume he was a regular security guard. The man narrowed his eyes as Gray drew near.
"Is this the Juichi Kenryukai (Eleven Swords) branch?" Gray asked, his voice calm and even beneath the mask.
The guard stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "Who's askin'?"
His gaze dipped, noticing Gray's youthful frame. "You lost, kid? This ain't no playground. Get outta here before you get hurt."
"How many are inside?" Gray asked, unfazed.
The guard scoffed. "You got a death wish or somethin'? Beat it."
Gray kept walking.
The guard's hand reached for his radio, but before he could even lift it, a sudden rush of icy wind overtook the air. Frost crystallized up his boots, then surged upward. His eyes widened, but he didn't get the chance to scream. In an instant, he was frozen solid, encased in a glimmering sculpture of ice from head to toe.
Gray stepped past him without a word.
—
Inside, several Yakuza members sat around a long table, cigarettes smoldering in ashtrays, piles of yen stacked beside folders of shady contracts. Their conversation was casual until a distant voice called out from the hall:
"Who are you?!"
Every man in the room turned their head toward the door. There were several screams and shouts cut short and turned into silence.
Then came the sound: slow, deliberate footsteps on tile. The temperature plummeted. Frost formed on the doorframe. Then, the door creaked open.
Gray stepped inside.
"Is that…?" One thug's eyes widened.
"I swear I read a manga with that guy!"
"Shut up and shoot!" barked another.
A gun was drawn, and a shot rang out. But the bullet didn't reach its target.
It froze midair.
The others opened fire in a panic. One shot. Two. Five. Ten.
And so each round stopped in its tracks, suspended in the air. With Gray's awakening, not only could he generate ice from his body, he could generate ice outside of his body too, freezing the bullets in place. As a clear wall of frozen air in front of him shattered like glass.
Gray slowly raised his hand.
"Ice Make: Reversal."
A burst of cold radiated out from his fingers. Instantly, every thug was coated in ice, a shimmering layer that locked them in place.
With a deafening crack, they were flung by a kinetic force. In one huge group, the yakuza were launched from the building. Windows shattered. Bodies flew through the air, hitting the ground far below with dull thuds as they lay unconscious in the courtyard.
One of them dropped a piece of paper that caught his attention. It looked like a cheat sheet for a new recruit to learn the names of his superiors. Gray quickly read the paper.
'Huh…so they call themselves the Eleven Swords.'
Then just as Gray had felt before when he accepted this mission, he felt it again. Elation welling up inside of him. This felt like he was fighting against a Dark Guild.
A low hum filled the third floor of the Yakuza tower. Pale moonlight filtered through the dusty windows, casting a faint glow on the hardened eyes of the sword-wielding gang members stationed around the corners of the wide room. Their grips tightened as the steel of their blades caught the light.
Standing at the center was Dokugan, one of the Eleven Swords. His jacket was stained in hues of dull green and deep purple, with tubes running from a respirator at his mouth to a compartment on his back. His sword dripped with a faint haze that sizzled as it touched the floor.
"My Quirk infuses this steel with poison. A single cut, and it's over. That's why they call me the Poison Blade of the Eleven Sword Society."
Gray raised an eyebrow.
"Really? You're just gonna tell me who you are and what you do?"
Dokugan frowned.
"You wouldn't understand the pride of being a Yakuza, let alone one of the Eleven Swords."
Gray stepped forward with steady steps, a blade of ice forming in his hand, clear and sharp.
"So I guess I'm just going to have to fight eleven clowns then. Sure I'll play your sword game. I got blades of my own."
Dokugan narrowed his eyes, sensing the challenge. He lunged. Gray blocked with his ice sword, the two blades meeting with a clean metallic crack. At the moment of contact, Dokugan's weapon began to crystallize, frost racing across the poisoned steel.
"You're not bad." Dokugan muttered, surprised.
Gray didn't answer. He shifted his stance and drove his blade forward, piercing Dokugan clean through. The poison user froze in place, encased entirely in a jagged prison of ice.
"Sorry but I won't lose to anyone at swordplay unless their name is Erza."
The other yakuza soldiers dropped their weapons in shock, but Gray was already moving. His hand swept across the room.
"Ice Make: Silver."
They were encased before they could scream.
Gray left the room in silence.
The next floor opened into a long chamber, dimly lit and empty save for a single figure leaning against the far wall. Gray recalled what he saw on that paper. Kagerou, known as the Mirage Blade, wore flowing gray robes. His short black hair was slicked back, and his eyes seemed half-closed, as if disinterested.
Kagerou began to speak.
"Each of us lives, dependent and bound by our individual knowledge and our awareness. All that is what we call "reality". However, both knowledge and awareness are equivocal. One's reality might be another's illusion. We all live inside our own fantasies that we call our world."
Kagerou stepped forward, and suddenly the hallway distorted. Copies of his form walked on either side, fading and reforming without sound. His voice echoed through the chamber.
"So tell me. Whose world are we standing in now? Show me your reality."
Gray raised his right hand.
"Let me show you the world of ice."
A greatsword of ice formed in his hand. He jumped up into the air, swinging it in a wide arc. A wave of frost covered the entire room like a blizzard. Kagerou stood in the middle of the room, frozen solid with his arms out in front of him.
Gray sighed and walked past him.
"All that talk and he went down that fast."
When Gray emerged onto the next level, the stairwell behind him was already iced over.
Waiting for him in silence stood Yukihana, called the Silent Frost. She wore a robe of silver-white, her long icy-blue hair falling down her back. Her sword was delicate, crystalline, and gleamed faintly in the cold.
"So... another ice user. Interesting. Do you ever think about how ice and flowers are alike? Their beauty lies in how brief their bloom is."
She smiled softly.
"You are strong. That much is clear. So let me honor you with my best technique."
She dropped her sword. It shattered into petals, which scattered across the floor and began to swirl.
"Vibrant Display of One Thousand Ice Blossoms!"
The petals shot forward in a deadly storm.
Gray met the assault with a low stance.
"Ice-Make: Rosen Krone."
A crown of spiked roses formed in a spiral, spinning outward. The petals were shattered. Yukihana fell to one knee, frost crawling up her legs. She looked up at Gray, breath slow.
"That move… It's beautiful. Was it yours?"
"My master's," Gray replied.
She fell unconscious. Gray let out a sigh and continued onward. This wasn't as fun as fighting a dark guild. And even if it was, he was by himself. The only person who could possibly understand him was off doing his own thing.
"Enough of this. I don't care if this attracts too much attention! I'll finish this fast!"
Gray stood in the stairwell, fury building and losing his patience. Ice exploded beneath his feet.
"Ice-Make: Geyser!"
A towering pillar of ice launched him upward, bursting through five floors, freezing everything in its path.
Gray landed on the twelfth floor, coated in frost. Three figures stood before him.
Gekkamaru, the Moonlight Executioner, had a long white coat and a katana strapped to his back. His black hair was tied into a high knot, and his body absorbed the glow of the moon streaming in from the window.
Raidenja, the Thunder Howl, was crouched low. His armor flickered with arcs of lightning. Sparks danced across his sword.
Shien, the Ember Widow, had red eyes and wild black hair. Her blade crackled with heat, the metal glowing at the core.
Shien observed Gray's appearance with the mask.
"Ghoulish isn't he?"
Raidenja dashed forward, sword crackling at lightning speed.
Gray molded a blade of ice just in time to parry, but the edge shattered as lightning overloaded it.
Shien lunged with a burning strike. Gray summoned two new swords, one for each hand, locking blades with both opponents. Raidenja destroyed one blade but Gray reformed it instantly.
Shien's attacks met with a resistance she hadn't expected.
"Why isn't it melting?" she demanded.
Gray didn't answer.
From the corner of his eye, he caught Gekkamaru raising his sword, the blade shimmering under the moonlight.
"The moon may be unreachable for me," Gekkamaru said. "Savor it in my place."
He leapt high. The downward slash sent out shockwaves of radiant force.
Gray was thrown across the floor. Blood traced down his chest, marked by three slashes carved into his skin. Ice had already formed in the wounds, stopping the bleeding.
Shien and Raidenja continued their charge at Gray, their blades drawn at blinding speed.
Shien wrapped her blade in flames swinging upward.
"Rising Sun!"
Raidenja unleashed his sword in a quick iaido style draw.
"Thunderclap!"
Gray weaved his body between the slashes, one of the blades just barely trimming his icy white hair. His body gracefully flipped through the air as he spun around, slashing both Shien and Raidenja. Ice erupted from their wounds covering their bodies entirely.
Gekkamaru jumped up into the air, his sword drawn. Gray slammed his hand onto the floor.
"Ice Make: Geyser!"
A torrent of ice encased Gekkamaru, his sword never fully swinging and his feet never touching the ground.
Gray let out a sigh. The floor fell silent once more as Gray ascended to the final floor.
The top floor of the Yakuza tower opened into a vast, cavernous office space.
The ceiling stretched high overhead, supported by thick steel beams wrapped in exposed wiring and faded banners from an older era. The walls were stripped bare. No portraits. No bookshelves. No personal items. Everything had been cleared out.
Except for one thing.
At the very center of the room stood a single black marble desk, untouched and out of place in the emptiness. Its surface gleamed, perfectly clean, save for a single sealed envelope placed neatly in the middle. Behind it was a leather chair– turned slightly toward the moonlight.
From the moonlit chair, a man remained seated.
He stood slowly, adjusting the cuffs of his sleek black suit. Silver embroidery shimmered across the fabric like falling rain. His dark hair was slicked back, and his pale Gray eyes, nearly translucent, locked onto Gray.
The man gave a polite bow.
"You are quite the devil to have taken out my men with such ease. The Eleven Swords are quite competent fighters yet you dealt with them like nothing."
Gray narrowed his eyes. "Me? A devil? You're mistaken. You guys are the devils. And I'm a devil slayer."
The villain gave a slight smile. "And who might you be?"
Gray pondered for a moment what to call himself. He immediately ripped his shirt off as an idea popped into his head.
"Fullbuster."
"Okay then Devil Slayer Fullbuster. I am the leader of the Juichi Kenryukai. Both my colleagues and heroes know me as Mistblade."
A confident smirk formed on Mistblade's face.
"And I will be the last thing you ever see. But before you die, I must know. Why are you here? Why go through all the trouble defeating my men and risking your life. I can tell by looking at you you're just a teen, albeit a well trained one. And why are you only in your underwear?"
"That's none of your concern." Gray said.
Mistblade frowned and sighed.
"No matter. Dead is dead."
Mist swirled at his feet. In the blink of an eye, a blade of condensed mist formed in his hand. The air thickened. Then he vanished, reforming as vapor.
He struck with blinding speed.
Gray ducked under the first slash. The second whistled past his shoulder. The third came even faster, but Gray managed to twist away, barely dodging it. And at that moment, an opening.
"Ice Make: Hammer!"
He swung the hammer, but the blow passed harmlessly through Mistblade's vaporous form.
Mistblade smirked as he phased in and out, dodging attacks like a ghost.
"Ice Make: Partisan!"
A dozen icy spears shot toward the villain but again, they phased through his misty form. Not a scratch.
Gray grit his teeth. Frost spread from his hands, but no matter how cold he made the air, Mistblade's body refused to freeze.
"You're wondering why your ice can't touch me," Mistblade said, calmly sidestepping another attack. "It's simple. I control the state of my mist. I won't allow it to freeze. Your power can't alter what I won't let change."
Gray shot out several more ice partisans, thinking of his next plan. 'If I can't freeze him, I'll just freeze everything around him.'
Gray bent his knees and took a wide stance, creating an "X" shape with his arms. Frost started to form on his bare shoulders and traverse down his arms as he channeled his power.
"Ice Make: Frozen Eternity."
The room stilled. The very air began to freeze. The sound was dulled. Color faded. Mistblade's confident smirk vanished. With Gray's quirk awakening, his degree of temperature control vastly increased. Since his awakening he's experimented with this and was able to achieve a temperature that could freeze the very air itself, -220C.
"What…?"
Before Mistblade could retreat, the space around him condensed into a perfect, transparent sphere of frozen air. Mistblade's form struggled, then solidified. His limbs twitched. His body flickered. then froze. It was cold. Too cold. Ice so cold it burned like a flame.
No escape.
No breath.
Silence.
Within seconds Mistblade collapsed inside the frozen prison, unconscious. Severe frostbite covered his body. The air suddenly cracked, shattered like glass as its temperature was brought back to normal.
Gray's legs trembled and he shivered. All of his clothes had snapped and froze off of him. This was the first time Gray had used this technique for a prolonged period at its lowest temperature. He turned to face Mistblade. His eyes were barely open, his tears frozen solid. He was alive but his face was numb, unable to make a single expression. All he could do was look straight at the naked man who had downed him.
Gray turned toward the shattered windows. He froze as he heard footsteps walking from behind him.
'From behind? I beat everyone on the way up…and this is the top floor. Who the hell?!'
Gray turned around. Standing in front of him was a man with slicked back black hair. He had black line tattoos under his eyes and running down the side of his face. His piercing green eyes lit up as the moon shined on them.
"Who the hell are you?" Gray exclaimed.
The man swiped his hand. Gray suddenly felt a sharp pain across his chest and blood gushed out.
'The hell just cut me?' Gray questioned.
"Oh? I underestimated you. I expected you to be cut clean in half from the chest but your muscles aren't for show I see."
Gray smirked and the wound on his chest froze shut.
"An invisible sword huh? Is that your theme?"
The man smirked back.
"Call me the hidden blade of the Juichi Kenryukai. Shuten Doji. I'm not a part of their numbers. I watch them play their little money game then go about my day slashing apart those who stand in our way. Of all the blades, I am the strongest."
Gray laughed.
"The strongest huh? You couldn't even cut me in half. If we're gonna fight, that makes you the challenger."
Doji scoffed.
"Damn naked punk."