Vigilantes Beginnings Arc

The Vigilantes Beginnings Arc is the first story arc in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.

A college freshman named Koichi Haimawari, also known as locally in Naruhata as "Nice Guy" runs into a scenario with some thugs harassing a young teenage idol named Pop☆Step. When suddenly Knuckleduster comes to their aid saving them both from trouble which begins the start of the Naruhata Vigilantes.

Prologue
Heroes are people with Quirks who are authorized to protect society. However, there are certain heroes who protect society independently. These are the vigilantes, who illegally use their quirks to fight villains and protect defenseless people.

The story begins in the city of Naruhata, a few years before Izuku Midoriya met All Might in person.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Nice Man
Koichi Haimawari, a 19 year old college student and a huge fan of All Might, goes to his job at a convenience store. Along the way, an incident occurs in which a huge villain is terrorizing the city while eating a motorcycle. Suddenly, All Might appears and defeats the monster with ease. The public is amazed at All Might's strength. Seeing that everyone is unharmed, All Might takes his leave.

Koichi is in awe of All Might's feat, until he realizes that he is going to be late for his job. Therefore, he decides to use his Quirk, Slide and Glide, to scroll faster. Some of the passersby comment on the suitability of his Quirk although others do not have such favorable comments. However, a police officer stops Koichi and berates him for using his Quirk. Koichi regrets that he was caught by a very stickler policeman who gave him a very long lecture on the prohibition of the public usage of Quirks. After the police officer leaves, Koichi runs towards his next destination and is annoyed that he must follow the rule of unable to use Quirks in public.

When he's about to turn a corner, Koichi crashes into a group of thugs, knocks into Soga Kugizaki, which spills the juice he just bought. Soga, along with his friends Moyuru Tochi and Rapt Tokage, demands Koichi to apologize by getting down and groveling, to which Koichi obeys, causing the thugs to laugh and make fun of him. Soga wants to humiliate him even more and prepares to step on Koichi, but the boy uses his "super move" Kowtow Evasion to slides backwards, surprising Soga. Koichi slides away and escapes, being chased by Soga and his friends until they lose his track.

Koichi sees another group praising a freelance idol, Pop☆Step. Koichi notes that Pop☆Step is taking a big risk in being a freelance idol since she does not have a permit. Despite her songs not being great, the aspect that stands out is her ability to fly which is what attracts some people to become her fans. A police vehicle is passing by, so Koichi warns Pop☆Step, who decides to end her live performance and flies away while Koichi prepares to slide to his place of work.

Koichi finally arrives at his job but the manager is not pleased with him being late and deducts his pay. Customers arrive; however, they are the same group of thugs that Koichi encountered earlier. Soga becomes angry at seeing Koichi again and takes him outside. There, Soga beats Koichi up; Koichi is not able to fight back because Soga uses his Quirk Spike. Koichi ends up getting beaten and humiliated by Soga, Moyuru, and Rapt.

When it all ends and he returns home, Koichi is annoyed that the police don't do anything against guys like Soga and his buddies. Koichi changes into his "suit" which is an All Might-styled jacket with a hood and wears a mouth mask. Koichi decides to deliver justice on his own accord without being bogged down by the law. Koichi starts doing good deeds for the public such as returning dropped items, giving directions, helping people get onto trains, being a cameraman, and recycling. The citizens thank Koichi and refer to him as Nice Guy. Koichi feels overjoyed in helping people as it relieves him of stress and makes him feel warm inside.

With his good deeds done for the day, Koichi begins walking home. Suddenly, a person gives Koichi juice to drink. The person giving him the juice is Pop☆Step. She thanks him for warning her about the police and followed him in order to properly thank him, but mocks him for being weak, to which he defends himself as being poor at dealing with violence. She finds it ironic that he is wearing an All Might hoodie, and she make fun of him for being weak. Annoyed, Koichi explains that he weara the All Might hoodie because it symbolizes his ideal in being useful in his own way.

After they scrutinize each other for their objectives, Pop☆Step begins to leave but bumps into Soga and his friends. The thugs recognize her as the online idol, begin mocking her and even thinking to strip her. Koichi tries to stop them, but Soga's furious glare convinces him to stop insisting. Scared, at first Koichi thinks about leaving Pop to her fate, but seeing her scared face decides to help her without thinking.

Koichi theoretically wonders how he can handle the situation; use his Slide and Glide to trip two of the thugs and take out the leader by tackling him so that Pop☆Step can fly away. Koichi decides to put his plan into motion and slides into Moyuru Tochi, trying to trip the thug but fails. Moyuru throws Koichi to the ground and Soga turns his attention to him, recognizing him as the “annoying guy” from before. Soga attacks Koichi and scratches his face with spikes from his foot. Soga decides to finish off Koichi for annoying him and continue humiliating Pop☆Step.

As Soga prepares to strike Koichi with his spikes, someone crashes down onto the trash which stops Soga. The person gets up from the trash heap, revealing to be a muscular old man. Soga askes him what is his deal but the old man just punches him in the face, which knocks him down to the ground, surprising Koichi. Moyuru and Rapt are shocked at what transpired and ask for the old man's motivations.

The old man tells the thugs that he is called Knuckleduster and specializes in dealing with hoodlums like them. Then he asks them if they have drugs in their possession demands them to show him their tongues. Rapt tries to tell him that he doesn't know what he's talking about but Knuckleduster knocks him out for not obeying on the spot and sticks his tongue out, checking that it does not have any discoloration. After finishing him, he easily defeats Moyuru and verifies that his tongue is not discolored either.

After checking their tongues, Knuckleduster turns his attention to Koichi and praises him for his bravery, telling him that he can become a real Hero if he works with him. Koichi shows no interest, but Knuckleduster can see through his lies and knows he is someone who cannot abandon people in need like All Might. Koichi admits that his Quirk is not useful and could never pass the Pro Hero Exam. Knuckleduster does not care about whether Koichi has a powerful Quirk or license because they have absolutely nothing to do with justice. Knuckleduster believes that true Heroes take action when something rises up before them. Koichi realizes that Knuckleduster is unlicensed.

Suddenly, a beaten Soga gets up, takes Pop☆Step and threatens her. Knuckleduster tells him that he will still attack him even if he holds Pop as a hostage. Soga tells him that she is not a hostage and that he plans claw her face off with his spikes just to make amends. Unable to let him get away with, Koichi charges at the thug and knocks him down, allowing Pop☆Step to escape and Knuckleduster to punch Soga into the wall, which knocks him out. Knuckleduster sees that Soga is not in possession of the drug he is looking for and makes a copy of his ID.

Impressed by Koichi's heroic spirit, Knuckleduster informs Koichi that there are more ways to be a Hero than what the world says; Knuckleduster is a Hero because punishing evildoers is refreshing, decides to adopt Koichi as his disciple. However, Koichi finds Knuckleduster to be dangerous and urns down his offer. After defeating the thugs, Koichi, Pop and Knuckleduster and leaves the place.

Later on, Soga and his friends walk in an alley and are badly injured courtesy of Knuckleduster. Soga is annoyed and angry, promising to kill Koichi and Knuckleduster next time, although Moyuru suggests not to get involved with them. Out of nowhere, a salesman appears before the thugs and offers them "splendid" medicines.

The threat of the drug Trigger
Next morning, despite Koichi's refusal of his offer, Knuckleduster decides to invite himself to his penthouse, much to Koichi's dismay. Knuckleduster does not mind if Koichi calls him "master", but Koichi has no intention of becoming his disciple. Getting down to business, he explains that he is dedicated to hunt down dealers and users of Trigger, a drug that significantly boost the user's Quirk while simultaneously weakening their sense of reasoning; Trigger is therefore a drug that can turn normal citizens into villains.

While Knuckleduster explains this, simultaneously, elsewhere in Naruhata, Rapt Tokage and Moyuru Tochi inject the "splendid medicine" that Mario Kugutsu, the mysterious salesman they met, offered them, which turns out to be nothing other than Trigger. The drug boosts their quirks to the point that their bodies transform, with Rapt sprouting wings and taking on a more pterodactyl-like shape, and with Moyuru growing bigger and empowering his fire quirk. Having seen the enhancements, Mario insists that Soga Kugizaki inject Trigger.

Back at the penthouse, Knuckleduster refuses to let Instant Villains roam about and will not allow that to happen. However, Koichi believes that it is better to let the Police Force or the Pro Heroes handle this situation. Knuckleduster explains that the Police Force and the Heroes are one step behind because it is impossible to distinguish people who have used Trigger, which is why it is up to them to stop these "Trigger Junkies".

Knuckleduster states that their mission is to confront any suspicious person and make them stick out their tongues because Trigger is characterized by leaving on its consumers’ tongues a black discoloration, which is what he was checking for on Soga and his friends. Knuckleduster explains that they will beat them, make them talk about the dealer who gave them Trigger, and cut off the circulation of the drug. Koichi thinks that Knuckleduster is not being serious.

However, to Koichi's misfortune, Knuckleduster is dead serious, and his method of investigation consists of punch first and ask questions later. Knuckleduster tries to beat up some thugs, but Koichi manages to stop him and asks the thugs to stick their tongues out; they do so and their tongues are normal. After the thugs leave, Pop☆Step arrives and wonders what's going on.

Sitting on a park bench, Pop☆Step thanks Knuckleduster for saving her life the other day, although she does not forgive him for the fact he was willing to sacrifice her. Knuckleduster doesn't care. Pop asks Koichi what he are Knuckleduster are up to. Koichi explains that Knuckleduster is searching for people who have taken Trigger and their dealers in order to stop the circulation of Trigger, although Knuckleduster 's methods are not subtle at all, and he basically makes sure that he does not hit people at the first turn.

Pop thinks that they should use their heads instead of violence, and suggests that they should search on the internet for "sudden villain appearances" which will allow them to pinpoint the location of the Trigger Junkies making it easier and more productive to find potential Trigger Junkies.

In that moment Knuckleduster spots a salesman, Mario Kugutsu, who looks suspicious to him, and tries to interrogate him by force. Koichi tries to stop Knuckleduster, and accidentally drops the Mario’s suitcase which has Hero figures. Knuckleduster finds the salesman to be suspicious, but Pop☆Step and Koichi try to stop the old man to no avail. Mario says he works in a toy company but Knuckleduster doesn't believe him and wants to interrogate him.

Before Knuckleduster make Mario spill the beans by force, his arm is wrapped by cloth. Turning around, Knuckleduster realizes that the person who just stopped him is the hero Eraser Head, although neither Koichi nor Pop know who he is. Despite being off duty, Eraser Head believes that Knuckleduster is part of the recent "spontaneous villain" incidents. Both Koichi and Pop get nervous at the idea of ​​being considered villains by a Pro Hero, and are shocked when Knuckleduster decides to attack him, starting a fight between the two.

Knuckleduster does not take any serious damage from any of Shota's attacks and prepares to punch back. Believing that Knuckleduster possess some kind of stamina enhancing Quirk, Shota activates his Erasure. As they continue fighting, Koichi apologizes to the salesman and asks him to declare his and Pop☆Step's innocence to Shota. However, Mario leaves in a hurry. Pop☆Step realizes that she has seen the salesman before; and after seeing some pictures on the internet related to recent villain incidents, Pop☆Step finds out that he has been present in all of them. She tells Koichi to run after the salesman because he is suspicious.

In their pursuit, Koichi and Pop meet Soga,and the now transformed into Instant Villains Moyuru and Rapt. Soga prepares to take his revenge on Koichi and injects himself with Trigger, boosting and becoming too an Instant Villain. Soga and Moyuru chase Koichi while Pop continues pursuing Mario, being pursued by Rapt in turn.

While all of this is happening, Knuckleduster continues battling Eraser Head, who is impressed that the old man does not appear to have lost any strength and continues to fight back, even though he used his Erasure on him. The Pro Hero realizes the truth about Knuckleduster, and that is that he is Quirkless. Knowing this, Eraser Head stops the fight because he isn't using a Quirk for illegal activities, then he falls outside hero jurisdiction. Knuckleduster takes Shota's apology and they go their separate ways. Despite realizing that Knuckleduster is not a villain, Shota still believes that he is a suspicious character. Just in case, he's going to file a report on Knuckleduster to the Police Force to take care of him. As Shota is busy filing a report, they hears screams.

Koichi is using Slide and Glide to escape from the Trigger-enhanced thugs, causing panic in the streets. Mocking his cowardice, Soga attacks him transforming into a spiked ball. Koichi manages to dodge Soga's attack but is confronted by Moyuru. Knuckleduster appears and smashes a brick onto Moyuru's head, knocking him out. Soga attempts to attack Koichi again, but Shota uses his Quirk and his Capturing Weapon to stop the thug in his tracks. Seeing that Erasing Hero is handling the thugs, Knuckleduster and Koichi decide to go and help Pop☆Step.

Pop☆Step is chasing after Mario, but Rapt is right on her tail and kicks her, causing her to fall on the salesman, who drops his suitcase again. Mario picks up the All Might doll, pops off its head, and uses it to inject himself with Trigger, turning into a Instant Villain, growing into a colossal giant with four arms. He grabs Pop☆Step and Rapt with his hands and swinging them about, behaving like a child playing with his toys.

Knuckleduster leg drops the colossal Mario in the face, but he retaliates and smacks Knuckleduster into the ground. However, Mario's hold of Pop☆Step weakens as a result of Knuckleduster's actions and she begins falling. Koichi goes to check on Knuckleduster but sees Pop☆Step is falling to the ground and is not able to stop due to no footholds. Koichi slides up the side of a building and jumps off towards Pop☆Step. The reason Koichi decided to help her is that even though it is far too late to become a Hero, he still wants to soar through the skies like her. Instead of being caught by Koichi, Pop☆Step uses him as a platform for her Leap Quirk.

As Pop☆Step flies onto a building for safety, Koichi begins falling to the ground. The colossal salesman takes notice of Koichi and prepares to palm him. With quick thinking, Koichi decides to slam into Mario's palm and activates his Quirk, shifting the trajectory of his fall and landing onto a pile of garbage, safe and sound. However, the colossal salesman launches a punch at Koichi. Suddenly, Mario starts shrinking and returns back to normal. Shota activated his Erasure which forced the Mario's Quirk to become disabled. Shota wraps his cloth around the villanious salesman.

After this incident, the Police Force arrive and arrest the salesman and the three thugs. Shota thanks Knuckleduster for his assistance but warns him about the dangers of his vigilante activities. Knuckleduster does not mind helping since he is a "virtuous citizen" and thus it is natural to cooperate with Heroes. Knuckleduster believes that Heroes need people like him so that the incident with the colossal salesman and the three thugs will not happen again since he is free to deliver justice without restrictions. Shota finds it ridiculous that Knuckleduster believes his unlawful justice are crimes of conscience and finds him to be a troublesome old man. Knuckleduster is happy to be called a troublesome old man since he gets that all the time.

In a back alley, Pop☆Step is relieved that Koichi is alright, but he thinks that he is not cut out to be a Hero. She tells him to stop belittling himself and turns her back on him. She was going to thank him, but since he is annoying her she does not, while she blushes. Knuckleduster appears and is pleased that Koichi has learned how to land properly like him. Koichi still does not want to be Knuckleduster's disciple since he never wanted to in the first place and only called him "master" when he fell to the ground as a spur of the moment. Knuckleduster knows that Koichi's spontaneous words and actions are actually his true feelings; that he still aspires to be a Hero. Knuckleduster encourages Koichi to chase after his aspiration to be a Hero.

Thus, Koichi's life as a Vigilante began from a lonely back alley and he would eventually go on to reach for greater heights.

The beginnings of the Naruhata Vigilantes
Back at the penthouse, shortly after Koichi finally accepted Knuckleduster as his teacher, Knuckleduster asks him about the speed of his Slide and Glide Quirk. Koichi states that the speed is that of a bicycle and if he goes any faster than that, he will lose control since his Quirk does not have any brakes, displaying a scar on his arm. Knuckleduster gives Koichi protective gloves that motorcyclists use and suggests Koichi to practice the art of falling safely. Knuckleduster also tells Koichi that he needed a new name, as "Nice Guy" will cause evildoers to make light of him. Following his advice, Koichi decides to adopt the name The Crawler. After this, the three decide to go out to patrol the streets of Naruhata.

While on patrol, Kazuho sees two middle schoolers (Ichimoku Samazu and Jube Namimaru) fighting, and reports her teammates to intervene and stop the fight. Koichi is the first to arrive thanks to his Quirk. Having arrived, Koichi demands that the middle schoolers cease their fight, but he goes so fast that he ends up losing control and crashing into a pile of garbage. As Ichimoku and Jube check to see if he is alright, Koichi gets up without a scratch, thanks to the protective gear that Knuckleduster gave him.

The middle schoolers ask for Koichi's identification. Koichi tells them that he is The Crawler. However, Ichimoku and Jube know him as Nice Guy who always picks up trash, which causes Koichi to start repeating that he is now known as The Crawler and not The Cruller. Seeing that this is going nowhere, Koichi tells the middle schoolers to break up their fight, but Juubei just pushes Koichi, who laughs because his padding protects him. Annoyed by his attitude, Ichimoku shoots his Quirk, and between him and Jube they start kicking him.

As the middle schoolers start kicking Koichi, Knuckleduster comes in and prepares himself to punch them, but Koichi tries to stop him as there is no need for him to beat them up. Knuckleduster prefers to beat up on sight as it makes the evildoers cooperate instantly and above all it is refreshing. Koichi tells Knuckleduster that it is not okay to beat up someone because it is refreshing, which confuses Knuckleduster.

Annoyed that it is taking too long for them to stop the fight, Pop☆Step arrives and uses her appeal to stop the middle schoolers' fight which works since both Ichimoku and Jube are huge fans of her. Grateful for their praise, Pop offers to sign autographs. As Pop☆Step is about to give the middle schoolers her autograph, they start to hear screams of panic in the streets.

Turns out a new villain has appeared. Akira Iwako starts attacking innocent civilians with his Trigger-enhanced abilities. Enraged by his enormous strength and endurance, Akira begins to hit buildings to prove his point. The force of impact causes a baby to fall out of its carriage, Koichi manages to save the baby in the nick of time. Knuckleduster punches Akira but fails to inflict any damage, and Akira retaliates with a punch of his own, which sends Knuckleduster flying back.

As Akira admires his great defense and shows his blackened tongue in the process, Knuckleduster gets up and is happy to see that Akira is a user of Trigger. Pop☆Step informs Ichimoku and Juubei about the drug Trigger and that Koichi and Knuckleduster are two volunteers who are trying to stop Trigger from circulating through the black market. Akira kicks Koichi, who recovers quickly thanks to the protectors.

Knuckleduster criticizes the Instant Villain for not growing accustomed to his Quirk and as a result he is full of openings; one example being that his Quirk, having hardened his body too much, has caused his movements to become sluggish and that losing focus removes the hard defense. As Knuckleduster grapples Akira, Koichi slides into Akira's knee, causing the villain to fall. Due to losing focus and thus his hard defense, Knuckleduster begins beating up Akira with a flurry of punches. Seeing that violent beating scares Ichimoku and Jube.

Once his face is reduced into a pulp, Akira loses consciousness and returns to normal. Knuckleduster tries to figure out his identity, but Akira has his face so damage that does not ring a bell to him, and Koichi tells him that it's because he went overboard on him. As Koichi restrains the villain and Knuckleduster searches for identification, Pop☆Step returns the baby Koichi saved to its mother.

Knuckleduster does not find any identification, so Koichi decides to take a pictures of the villain's face and tongue. Ichimoku is confused by the latter, so Pop explains to him and Jube that people who use Trigger have blackened tongues. She adds that the middle schoolers should not take drugs, with which they agree. When they hear police sirens, Koichi and Knuckleduster scram and Pop☆Step leaps away and tells the middle schoolers that she will see them next time. Before they leave, Jube asks who they are. Koichi replies that they are mysterious new Heroes, Knuckleduster and The Crawler.

Police arrive at the crime scene and Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi identifies Akira. According to information, the villain's Quirk is a mixture of Hardening, super stregh and a bit of gigantification. The detective Naomasa notes that Akira's tongue is black, a side affect of Trigger. His assistant Sansa Tamakawa realizes that Akira is an Instant villain. Naomasa wants to know who gave the villain such severe injuries and wants to know the Heroes who responded to this villain's crime. Sansa states that there are no reports of Heroes being dispatched to the area, so Naomasa concludes that the people responsible are unapproved, illegal Heroes; Vigilantes. Sansa is glad that the Vigilantes took down the villain since it works in their favor, to which Naomasa tells Sansa to watch his words as they have something called the law and carrying out personal acts of vigilantism is a crime.

Later, at Koichi's home, Pop☆Step checks the internet and informs Koichi that Ichimoku and Jube are spreading the news of their feat on the web, which excites Koichi as they are starting to get some fame. Pop☆Step says that everyone is calling Knuckleduster and him "Freaky Fist Grandpa" and "Cruller", much to Koichi's annoyance.

Story Impact

 * Vigilantes are introduced.
 * They are people who voluntarily carry out duties usually done by Pro Heroes without paying attention to the law. Due to regulations and laws, however, vigilantism is illegal.
 * The drug Trigger is introduced.
 * It is revealed that Shota Aizawa did not initially intend on becoming a teacher at U.A. High School. He only became one via a letter of recommendation from Nemuri Kayama.
 * Naomasa Tsukauchi's first encounter with All Might, including how he discovered the latter's weakened form, is shown.

Quirks Introduced

 * Slide and Glide: Koichi's Quirk allows him to slide over plain surfaces by emitting a repelling force from his hands and feet, allowing him to glide just off of said surfaces.
 * Leap: Kazuho's Quirk allows her to leap very high.
 * Queen Bee: Kuin's Quirk allows her to take control of a human host, as well as allow her to keep a massive swarm of worker bees in the human host with her.
 * Spike: Soga's Quirk allows him to sprout spikes from his body.
 * Lizard: This Quirk gives Rapt Tokage a reptilian appearance.
 * Flame: Moyuru's Quirk generates a small flame from the top of his head. He can also exhale powerful flames through his mouth.
 * Glide and Slide: The Three Sturm und Drang Brothers' Quirk allows them to make their feet slide across the ground.
 * Eel: This Quirk allows Teruo to transform into an medium sized Eel.
 * Bat: Bat Villain's Quirk gives him bat features.
 * Suicide Bomb: Nothing is known about the exact functions of this Quirk. However, as its name suggests, this Quirk allows Suicide Bomber to blow himself up.
 * Control Horn: Cow Cowboy's Quirk grants him the ability to mind control cows.
 * Beams From His Eyes: Ichimoku's Quirk gives him the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes at his opponents.
 * Wooden Swords From His Hands: Jube's Quirk allows him to generate wooden swords from his wrists. They are roughly the length of his arms.