The air cracked with heat as orange and blue fire twisted into one another above the wreckage-strewn street of Hosu.
Sabo's pipe clashed with Dabi's flaming arm, the metal glowing hot as the collision sent a ripple of pressure through the city block. Civilians screamed in the distance, some trapped, others fleeing. The fire wasn't just wild—it was directed.
"Not bad," Dabi grinned, stepping back, his cloak of flames flickering around him. "But you're not from around here, are you?"
Sabo narrowed his eyes. "I don't need to be from this world to stop you."
He launched forward again, his body propelled by a jet of fire from his feet. Dabi dodged, releasing a line of flame across a row of abandoned vehicles, creating an inferno between them.
"You say you fight to protect," Dabi taunted from behind the flames, "but I see your eyes. You're just like me."
"I'm nothing like you," Sabo growled, dispersing the fire with a powerful spinning kick surrounded by heat.
On the sidelines, Endeavor had just finished evacuating the last civilians. He turned back, preparing to enter the fray—but hesitated.
Sabo was holding his own.
More than that—he was fighting like a pro.
Each strike Sabo launched was calculated. Each burst of fire was aimed to avoid structural collapse. He wasn't just powerful—he was disciplined. In another life, Endeavor might've respected that.
But now, he was just confused.
Where had this boy come from?
Meanwhile, Dabi lunged forward with an unrelenting barrage, flames whirling into a concentrated beam aimed straight at Sabo's chest. Sabo blocked it with a wall of flame, but the heat scorched his jacket and sent him sliding back.
"I can feel it," Dabi whispered as he walked through the fire. "Your heat. It's not like mine. It's alive. Wild. Almost… familiar."
Sabo gritted his teeth. He didn't understand it himself—why Dabi's flames felt so similar, yet completely wrong. His Hiken, Flame Fist, burned with will. Dabi's fire burned with hatred.
"You think that makes you stronger?" Sabo said. "You're wrong."
And with that, he dug his heels in and raised his hands.
"Hiken: Double Jet!"
Twin spirals of fire burst from his fists, twisting together into a roaring helix. It slammed into Dabi's flames, overpowering them and striking the villain dead on.
Boom!
The explosion rocked the area, smoke clouding the air.
Sabo stepped back, chest rising and falling. His shirt was torn, and soot covered his face, but his eyes stayed sharp.
Through the smoke, Dabi emerged limping, a scorched gash across his shoulder.
He stared at Sabo for a long moment. Then, slowly, he laughed.
"That's more like it."
Suddenly, a Nomu dropped from the sky—no warning, just the crash of impact as its hulking form appeared behind Sabo.
Sabo spun around in time to dodge its first swing, but the force of the attack still sent him sprawling.
"You didn't think I came alone, did you?" Dabi chuckled. "Shigaraki sends his regards."
The Nomu roared, charging.
Sabo rolled to his feet and ducked under a blow, slamming his pipe into its arm, but the creature barely flinched. He needed backup.
"Midoriya!" he shouted into his comm.
"We're on our way!" Midoriya's voice crackled back. "Hold on!"
But he didn't have time.
The Nomu grabbed a flaming car and hurled it toward a nearby building still occupied by evacuees.
"No!" Sabo's eyes widened.
Without hesitation, he kicked off the ground and launched himself upward with a burst of fire. He reached the car mid-air and slammed his flame-covered fist into it, disintegrating it in a blast of heat.
The people inside the building watched in awe as the pieces scattered safely to the ground.
Sabo landed hard, just as the Nomu charged again.
This time, Endeavor stepped in, searing the monster with an enormous wall of fire.
"You had your turn," the No. 1 Hero said, eyes blazing. "Now it's mine."
The two fire users stood side by side.
"We'll finish this together," Sabo said.
Endeavor didn't answer—but nodded.
Their combined flames engulfed the Nomu, driving it back step by step. Sabo's precision, Endeavor's brute force. Together, they burned through the creature's regeneration, striking the core of its body.
And with one final synchronized attack—
"Prominence Burn!"
"Hiken: Flame Dragon!"
—the Nomu exploded into ashes.
The street fell silent.
Dabi, smirking from the shadows, turned to leave. "Another time, Flame Boy. Next time, we talk."
Sabo didn't chase him.
He just stared after the villain, fists still warm with fading fire.
Midoriya and Yaoyorozu finally arrived, breathless.
"You okay?!" Midoriya called.
Sabo nodded, then looked to Endeavor.
The pro hero looked him up and down, then said, "You've got fire. Keep it controlled."
He turned and left.
Sabo stood in the wreckage, the flames around him dying down.
In his heart, a question burned hotter than ever:
Why did Dabi's fire feel so familiar?
And what was it about this world—this place—that called to him like home?