A Different Dragon
is a Fusion Fic between Worm and Like a Dragon by Tokoz on Spacebattles.com.
In a twist of fate, Kazuma Kiryu gains the powers that Kenta would have had as Lung after Daiichi's gang runs into him while he's out shopping for groceries. This results in a plethora of changes as Kiryu enters Brockton Bay, and absolutely no one is ready for the chaos that will ensue as the legendary Dragon of Dojima sets up shop in his new home.
This fic contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Kiryu cracks a grin at a skinhead blurting out that he thought the Japanese were supposed to be short.
- Adaptational Badass:
- Kiryu, who is already quite badass without superpowers, gains the ability to transform into a massive Draconic Humanoid after he triggers while trapped underneath a support beam from the building he and Contessa were fighting in.
- Wen Hai Lee possesses Oni Lee's Self-Duplication powers.
- Kenta gains the ability to transform into a metallic tiger after the Yangban tried accosting him and his mother at their new home in Los Angeles.
- Adaptation Deviation: Per
Word of God, the incident that got Kiryu sent to jail happened in the middle of 1989 rather than on October 1, 1995, with his release happening much earlier in 1996 after a Thinker on the police force determined that Kiryu was not involved in that incident. - Adaptational Heroism:
- Oni Lee is not a sadistic psychopath due to his identity being that of the well-intentioned Wen Hai Lee.
- Sherrel never gets involved with the Merchants ever since her relationship with Skidmark and efforts to join that gang fell apart, instead joining the much more heroic Yaju Clan.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- Instead of going by Squealer, Sherrel Bailey is christened Wanyudo after she triggers.
- Kenta is named Bai Hu on account of his tiger-based abilities.
- Marquis takes up the moniker of Odokuro after he decides to join the Yaju Clan.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Sherrel and Skidmark are no longer a couple after they broke up thanks to Skidmark's dickery.
- A Father to His Men: Kiryu and Daigo look out for their men in the Yaju Clan like they're family, a sharp contrast to how Lung saw his minions as pawns.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Sure, the Yaju Clan are still a criminal organization, but they do not kill or target civilians, treat their employees well, and are not afraid to take on the nastier criminals plaguing Brockton Bay, especially when E88 is concerned.
- Bloody Murder: Haruka's superpowers allow her to control blood from her own body and other people to form armor and claws around herself.
- Body Double: Shinji Tanaka served as Marquis' shadow to ensure that the supervillain would not be captured by the authorities, using a power that Marquis gifted him to fool New Wave into thinking he was Marquis himself.
- Brandishment Bluff: A member of the Graveyard Krewe attempts to intimidate Kiryu with the revolver he has in his hand. It doesn't work on account of Kiryu being made of sterner stuff and the gun his assailant has not having any bullets in it, making that gangster's threat quite hollow.
- Bullying a Dragon: Many criminals in Brockton Bay make the mistake of thinking they can easily take on Kazuma Kiryu, few ever learn from that error even after the beatdowns he lays upon them for their troubles.
- Canon Character All Along: Oni Lee turns out to be none other than Wen Hai Lee, who somehow survived the car bomb set up by Sagawa in exchange for losing a good chunk of his memories from the injuries he received.
- Category Traitor: The Empire dubs Sherrel a traitor to the Aryan race by being friendly with foreigners.
- Celebrity Cameo: Michael Jackson shows up as the guest performer for the Brockton Bay Hinamatsuri festival thanks to Kiryu helping him out with filming the music video for "Thriller" sometime during the 80's, with Kiryu noting that the singer managed to survive being in Kamurocho during that time period.
- Commonality Connection: Kiryu and Sherrel strike a friendship over both being passionate about Pocket Circuit.
- Crime-Concealing Hobby: Nishida spends a morning conducting the crew of Fortress Construction while they're singing loudly enough to get noise complaints to hide the screams from the struggling E88 goons they have captured.
- Crossover:
- In addition to the characters from Like a Dragon, Balalaika and Hotel Moscow from Black Lagoon show up in Brockton Bay as a result of the chaos from the rise of parahumans forcing them to leave their old stomping ground of Roanapur.
- Kari Yoshinari is one of the fishermen selling his wares at Brockton Bay’s fishmonger’s market.
- Code Name: Kiryu and Haruka use Ryu and Jubokko as their parahuman aliases.
- Death by Adaptation: Contessa is accidentally killed by Majestic 7th during the Yaju Clan's Hinamatsuri festival as a result of 7th's shot missing its actual target Kiryu.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Skidmark is riddled with bullets by Balalaika's men after he focuses on blocking the shots from her pistol, leaving him wide open for the others to kill him.
- Ear Worm: The Fortress (read:Majima) Construction anthem is so catchy that a police officer tells them the local office workers have started singing it.
- Famed In-Story: Hilariously, other than the whole "Dragon of Dojima" thing, Kiryu is also famous as a legendary Pocket Circuit racer several years after he last raced.
- Henpecked Husband: Mark Dallon is basically a worn-down, chronically depressed shell of a man from his wife's controlling behavior, something Majima notes when he does his search through the Dallon family's house for info on Amy.
- I Gave My Word: Oni Lee promised Kiryu that he make sure that his men would not bother Haruka nor invade his home, and he carries through on that vow after Kiryu bests him in their duel.
- Internal Reveal: Kiryu, due to Trauma-Induced Amnesia, at first doesn't remember he's a Parahuman. He remembers it just fine when an E88 goon shoots Haruka in the heart.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Kaiser orders the remaining E88 gangers to retreat after Purity informs him that the Yaju Clan outnumber and outgun him by a sizeable margin.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Kiryu is dead-set on making sure that Haruka never knows about what happened between him and Mika during his Pocket Circuit days due to how embarrassing the whole thing was.
- Meaningful Name:
- Haruka has the alias of Jubokko, with her blood armor taking on a lanky, willowy appearance not too dissimilar to that of a tree.
- Goro Majima's moniker of Nurahiyon definitely counts as one due to how he's able to mess with others' perception like the aforementioned yokai with his superpower.
- Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: The modus operandi of the Yaju Clan, who provide much-needed protection and job opportunities to Brockton Bay's Asian residents.
- Papa Wolf: Marquis is highly protective of his daughter Amelia and is willing to enlist Kiryu's help in recovering her from the Dallons, who have been neglecting her ever since she was adopted by them.
- Perception Filter: Majima's power revolves around the concept of how he is perceived by everyone around him, and he can manipulate the level of attention other people pay on him.
- Point of Divergence:
- Kazuma Kiryu getting caught up in the Cauldron deal that saw Daiichi's gang wiped out after they stumbled onto it results in him gaining the draconic abilities Kenta would have had as Lung, which makes the Azn Bad Boyz a good deal weaker than their canon counterpart.
- As a result of the ABB being so much weaker compared to canon, the Yaju Clan takes its place as Brockton Bay's pan-Asian criminal organization in response to the Empire 88’s wanton cruelty.
- Pragmatic Villainy: When Kiryu and Daigo discuss territory, Kiryu says that they should just ask the local businesses if they want the Clan's protection or not. As he points out to Daigo, forcing protection on areas that don't want it will only spread them thin and make an enemy out of the populace.
- Red Baron: The Yaju Clan's superpowered heavy hitters are dubbed the Hyakki Yagyo by the PRT after Itako has a vision of an army of yokai from Japanese legend rising in Brockton Bay to take on the Empire 88, which are represented by evil knights in iron armor.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The Yaju Clan’s parahuman members are all named after Japanese yokai.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Several people believe that Kiryu is a Parahuman because he's strong enough to lift motorcycles. He is a Parahuman, but he was this absurdly strong long before his Trigger event.
- Side Bet: Haruka and several ex-Tojo Clan members have a betting pool over when Kiryu will have his first major fight. Haruka wins the pool with "within two weeks, against a Parahuman gang leader, and will win within thirty minutes". Kiryu returns home just in time to hear Daigo yell "FUCK!" over the phone.
- Skewed Priorities: Kiryu's Trigger event had him trapped in a flaming building... And when he gets home he's just glad he left the groceries out of said building. Haruka just sighs.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Wei Han Lee doesn't die from the car bomb, but he does get amnesia.
- Starting a New Life: Kazuma Kiryu moves to Brockton Bay with his remaining friends and family after Leviathan devastates Japan, with Kiryu stating that it's supposed to be a fresh start for all of them.
- They Know Too Much: Murdoch's men are exterminated by Ryu and Jubokko to ensure that they won't reveal their civilian identities.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia:
- Oni Lee suffers from amnesia caused by the car bomb planted by Sagawa to kill him, Makoto, and Majima.
- Kiryu doesn't remember his original trigger event or the first time he used his powers afterwards due to his memories being fragmented. The first time he barely survived being trapped in a flaming building, and the second was during the Leviathan's attack. As a result, he spends a few years not knowing he's a Parahuman.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Par for the course in Worm thanks to how Trigger Events work.
- Kiryu awakens his draconic powers after getting trapped in a burning building from his fight against Contessa, first unleashing them during Leviathan’s attack on Kyushu.
- It's heavily implied that Haruka's blood-based superpowers awakened in an incident so brutal that Kiryu still has flashbacks to that event.
- Wen Hai Lee is implied to have gained his powers following Sagawa’s car bomb, which had left him badly injured and missing a chunk of his memories.
- Sherrel gains her Tinker powers after she finds out that Frank had no intention of honoring the deal he made with her over her father's motorcycle, which, combined with Murdoch's men attempting to murder her and finding her father's bike destroyed with a sledgehammer, causes her to snap.
- Wretched Hive: Brockton Bay is infested with gangs and supervillains causing all sorts of problems for the authorities, yet, as Kiryu notes, it beats living in what remains of Kyushu after Leviathan's attack since conditions there are still livable, unlike the post-apocalyptic wasteland Japan has been reduced into.
