Author's note: I totally ship Tashigi and Zoro, but it drives me nuts that even though she got stronger after the time skip, she's still far below Zoro's level. When Oda introduces someone like that, who desperately wants to prove herself as strong in spite of being a woman, you'd think she'd get much stronger than she is now.
Strength aside though, I personally think that if Tashigi and Zoro had a positive relationship, it would have to include them having mutual respect for each other's skills- in that Zoro acknowledges that Tashigi is capable of handing herself and not a weakling damsel in distress. Tashigi is prideful enough that she wouldn't take it if Zoro disrespected her like that. I'm certain that she already has respect for Zoro's skills, and Zoro might have a little bit of respect for her after Punk Hazard, if you squint really hard. Also, according to the Wiki, Zoro does not seem to be as concerned with her appearance (probably because it's changed) and (in my opinion) seems to respect her more as herself now. However, I wanted to address this before her appearance changed.
In any case, this fic is definitely sort of AU, not only because Tashigi probably didn't see Zoro on Mihawk's island, but also because, I'm quite certain, the kind of master that she had (who I made up here) would probably have made her much stronger than she is in Punk Hazard.
By the way, Mihawk may probably seem kind of OOC in this. Sorry!
I do not own not own One Piece; Oda does. Only Erika is my character.
She's not Kuina
Chapter One
A Beautiful Lady Swordsman with Meat
"Roronoa," said a commanding voice.
Zoro stopped his kata for a moment and turned. He'd been practicing his kata right outside the castle as post-breakfast warm-up. He moved his eyes upward to look at his master, Dracule Mihawk, who was coming up from behind.
"How many kata was that?" he asked.
"I think around one thousand so far," Zoro replied, taking advantage of the moment to scratch his head.
"Do another two thousand. I'm off to get more wine. When I'm back, we'll do some sparring-"
A dark shape hurtled out of the island's everlasting fog and slammed against the castle wall, hard enough to crack it. Afterwards it crashed to the ground. When the dust settled, it was revealed to be a giant mandrill wearing armor.
"Gyaaaaaah!" screamed Perona. She'd been sitting outside drinking tea and keeping an eye on Zoro make sure he didn't overdo it…well, any more than he usually does, and was sitting quite close to the spot where the giant mandrill fell. "Where did that come from?"
"The Humandrills must be fighting each other," surmised Zoro. Due to mimicking humans fighting with weapons, the Humandrills were very strong, and, as Zoro himself could testify, were hard to go toe-to-toe with in a fight. For all he knew, only he, Mihawk and Perona were on the island, and few people ever came here.
"No, they usually aren't so close to castle when they do that," countered Mihawk, his ever-present frown deepening.
Perona tried to hide a grin. Because they know that he doesn't like to be disturbed.
Mihawk's unnerving yellow eyes narrowed. "Be quiet," he ordered the other two, unsheathing the massive cross-shaped sword on his back. Zoro's eyebrows rose in surprise, and held his sword before him, alert. Mihawk was never this serious, even when sparring with him… although, that was understandable, considering that he was in no way close to Mihawk's caliber.
"Sorry about that," called out a female voice in the fog. Zoro could only make out the shape of a slim figure coming through. Behind, he could see a larger, less distinct shape.
He opened his mouth to give a warning, but Mihawk held his hand up, covering his mouth. "There's no need. She does not need your help."
The words were barely out of his mouth when another Humandrill came flying out of nowhere to smash into the castle in the same place. From there, the Humandrill fell on top his fallen brother.
"Sorry," repeated the voice, "But honestly, Mihawk, why did you have these monkeys around? They'll scare away visitors!"
"That's the point."
The fog cleared a little to divulge a tall, lean woman with a long black braid sprouting from the back of her head, at the top of it. She wore a plain, long-sleeved white shirt with slightly baggy sleeves and white pants that were slightly baggy at her calves, and black boots with short tops. She had black, confident, yet stern eyes, and a tanned, almond-shaped face. On either hip rested a katana in a white sheath.
"Hmph. If it isn't Erika," said Mihawk. He did not lower his sword. Zoro almost frowned; did he just hear something of a smile creep into Mihawk's voice? "I was wondering where you've been after all these years."
"'All these years?' It's only been two since our last fight," the woman retorted. She closed her eyes halfway and gave him a cocky smirk. "What, did you miss me?" she asked almost mockingly.
Zoro's eyes widened. What was this woman doing, talking to Mihawk in such a provocative way?
"It's hard to find a good opponent these days, ever since that Shanks lost his arm," Mihawk replied, sounding… almost wistful.
"I see. Well, I feel for you, but I have better things to do than to fulfill your wish for a good fight," said the woman.
To Zoro's surprise, once again, Mihawk let out a choked laugh, then burst out laughing. "Of course! I'm not surprised; you never fight without a good reason," he replied when he settled down. He became serious again. "What sort of business would you have here? You left the Marines five years ago."
"Wh-" Zoro tried not to show his surprise. "She's from the Marines?"
"I was," the woman corrected, giving him a glance. She raised an eyebrow, and returning her gaze to Mihawk, she said, "Well well, Mihawk, and what have you here? Roronoa Zoro, one of the missing Straw Hat crew."
"You knew he was here already," Mihawk replied. It was a statement, not a question. "Roronoa, this is Erika of the Star Blades. She's one of the best swordsmen the Marines have ever produced, but right now she's a bounty hunter. I consider her to second best to me."
The woman glared at him. "There you go, ranking again."
Zoro was torn how to react. Of course he'd heard of Erika of the Starblades, a well-known and distinguished swordsman, but he was shocked that Mihawk praised her so highly. He learned quickly during the first few weeks of his training with Mihawk that the stern man did not give praise easily.
He also knew that as a Marine she was posted in the West Blue, and although he heard she'd left the Marines, he hadn't heard of her whereabouts and assumed that she must still be in the West Blue. Hearing that she became a bounty hunter was news to him though; and considering that the Marines were probably still on the lookout for him, he put up his guard.
Mihawk seemed be thinking along the same lines as Zoro. "I suppose you came for Roronoa's head."
She shook her head. "No. Well, yes, in a way, but not in the way you think." Before either man could say anything, she turned and called, "Hey you two! Don't hang back there unless you want to get eaten by the monkeys! Come out here and introduce yourselves!"
Two more figures behind her hesitantly stepped out of the fog, and Zoro nearly dropped his sword.
"You-you…" he stammered.
Staring back at him in surprise, while clutching her precious Shigure, was Tashigi, that blasted Kuina look-a-like from the Marines, with her short blue-black hair hanging just like Kuina's and wearing her rectangular glasses. She wore a purple jacket like the one she wore in Alabasta, along with black slacks and shoes, as usual. She was trembling- though in fear or excitement in meeting "Hawk-eyes" Mihawk, the Greatest Swordsman in the World, or in rage towards him, Zoro wasn't sure.
Beside her stood her superior officer, Captain Smoker, who, per usual, had two cigars in his mouth and wore his tattered grey jacket. He seemed as tense as ever.
"Mihawk, this is Commodore Smoker and his subordinate, Lieutenant Tashigi. You might remember them from the battle at Marineford."
Zoro raised an eyebrow. So, those two had been promoted.
"I do remember Commodore Smoker, but I do not remember her," said Mihawk bluntly. Tashigi blushed in embarrassment. Zoro was not surprised- Mihawk was the type of man who only remembered anyone who he saw as strong enough to be worthy of his attention. "Why did you bring them here? You know I hate company."
"Mmm-hmmm," Erika responded, glancing at Zoro and Perona. "Training."
"Training?"
"Yes. You see, after Marineford, Smoker hunted me down and asked me to train Tashigi. I agreed and started her training a couple of months ago. She's been doing well but- come now, why don't you put your sword away? Let's talk in private."
Mihawk gave her a long, studious look, and then, without taking his eyes off of her, slid his sword back in place on his back, then turned and walked some way away from the others. Erika nodded and grinned, and she turned to follow him. "Why don't you two chat?" she suggested, turning to look back at Zoro and Tashigi. "I'm sure you have some things to catch up on."
"Don't act like we're friends!" Tashigi and Zoro snapped in unison.
Erika simply laughed, waved a hand, then walked over to Mihawk and pulled him further to the side.
Both Zoro and Tashigi stared. Finally Zoro said, "Mihawk never lets anyone touch him. Are those two-"
"No way!" exclaimed Tashigi, trembling with fury at the insinuation. "She's a Marine!"
"She was in the Marines," Zoro corrected. "She's a bounty hunter now."
"That still doesn't make sense!" insisted Tashigi.
"Yeah, you're right." For the sake of having something to do, he unsheathed the sword he was holding and inspected it. "I've heard that those two have crossed swords before, but this… I guess they respect each other a great deal."
"You think?"
Zoro could tell what she was thinking- that perhaps Mihawk acted like this because he was a man and Erika was a woman. He rolled his eyes. "He's much more condescending towards Perona," he said, jabbing his finger towards the pink-haired girl. "The way he talks to this woman though- I'd say they're like equals."
Tashigi gasped. "'Ghost-Princess' Perona is here too? Smoker-san-"
"Hold on a minute," said Erika, stopping her personal chat with Mihawk and stepping over. "Let me make this clear to you, Tashigi. You too, Smoker. We are here strictly on training business, not to capture Roronoa or Perona here. You both know that the Marines are not supposed to mess with the Shichibukai's crews. Currently, those two are part of Mihawk's crew. Do not try anything funny with them."
"That's crap!" protested Tashigi. "Everyone knows that Zoro is part of the Straw Hat crew, and Perona is part of Moriah's crew! Furthermore, Mihawk does not even have a crew!"
"Yes, but right now they're his temporary crew," Erika insisted. "Isn't that so, Mihawk?" she asked, glancing back at him. Mihawk slid his sharp yellow eyes over to Zoro, where they rested on him for a moment, then over to Perona. Both felt somewhat uncomfortable. Then he gave an almost imperceptible nod, which was enough for Smoker to catch. He grunted in acknowledgement. It was good enough for him.
"In any case, I highly doubt he'll be happy if we tried to mess with them." Erika said. "So, no arresting anyone."
Tashigi opened her mouth to protest, but Smoker said, "Tashigi, let it be. She's right; if Mihawk considers them his subordinates, we can't do anything. We're not here to do that anyway."
Tashigi groaned and stomped over him. "But, Smoker-san-!"
"She seems a little childish," Mihawk muttered to Erika out of earshot of Zoro and Tashigi. "Are you sure about taking her on?"
"She's got guts and potential, and I want to see how far she can get through good training," Erika replied, turning back towards him to resume their private conversation. "However, she has her own problems. As a woman in the Marines, she has a complex about whether the other men see her as weak, simply due to her gender. She feels that she struggles to get respect, and even wishes that she was born a man. That's no good. She won't advance in the marines or in her training if she continues to think like that. As a Marine, she's got more important things to worry about than respect or her gender."
"If the men don't respect her, they won't follow her," Mihawk pointed out.
"True, but if she works hard and proves herself capable, it's enough," Erika told him. "At the end of the day, all swordsmen have their pride and wish for respect as swordsmen, but the only ones who have the luxury of worrying about either exclusively are the lone, unattached ones. Like you and me." She grinned.
Mihawk folded his arms. "If that's her problem, then why bring her all the way out here?"
"She's fought with him before. He bested her easily, but not only did he not kill her, he didn't even hurt her. She was pretty insulted by it and thought that he didn't fight her seriously because she's a woman."
Mihawk frowned. "If he really does think like that, the New World will eat him alive. There are plenty of strong women over there."
"Exactly. But I think that he has more of a weakness for her than for women in general. Tashigi also told me that he told her that she looks like a dead friend of his, and I guess that's why he spared her. So you see, that woman is his weakness. If he can't get over it, he'll have trouble if he meets a strong opponent with his dead friend's face. The same goes if his enemies learn about it and try to take advantage of it."
"Why are you telling me this? That boy wants to kill me one day."
Erika snorted. "As if you would be so low as to use that kind of weakness against him," she retorted.
Mihawk shrugged. She knows me too well.
"It still does not explain how it would benefit your student."
"He is an enemy, and has no reason to hold back against her. I could try and train that complex out of her by pitting against the stronger swordsmen in the Marines, but if she thinks that they are holding back because of her status, or because of her gender, or because she is a fellow Marine, she would not take any victory she makes to heart. I could pit her against other pirates, but I know that there are some who would not take her seriously because she is a woman or who would not want to fight her because she is a woman. If Zoro does not think like that, and if we get that complex about her similar appearance to his friend out of the way, she may have an opponent against whom she can truly measure herself."
Mihawk sighed. "You keep talking about those complexes as if they're so easy to get rid of. They're not, you know."
"I know. But it might be easier to solve his than to solve hers- at least in relation to her, anyway. What he needs to is realize that she is not that other woman, and fight Tashigi as Tashigi. And I have a few plans as to how to solve that. All in all, we shouldn't be here for more than two weeks. I'm betting it'll be much less though."
"Do you seriously believe I'd let you stay here so that your student can solve her problems?" demanded Mihawk, unsheathing his sword. Erika took a few steps back, far enough that when he lifted his sword and pointed it at her, it nearly touched her neck. "Such a woman is hardly worth my time or Roronoa's, no matter whether she is his weakness or not. Tell me, why would I find this worth my time?"
Erika sighed. Then her black eyes stared hard into his yellow ones, with a confident smile on her face, as if the long black sword pointed at her neck didn't exist. "We'll have another match once this is all over."
Zoro and Tashigi, who were paying attention to the conversation once Mihawk took his sword out, both exclaimed, "What?!"
"Hm. You're willing to go that far?" Mihawk asked.
Erika said nothing. She continued to stare into his yellow eyes.
"Interesting. Perhaps this would be more worthwhile than I thought, if you're that serious." He re-sheathed his sword, and the tense atmosphere that had built up when he removed it finally dissapated.
"Good. I thought you would like that. By the way-" she bent down to slide a backpack off her back, then opened it and rummaged around, eventually taking out a wine bottle. "I ran into Shanks at some point before Smoker caught up to me. He said to give you this." She handed it to him.
Mihawk took it and glanced over the label. "That carefree fool," he sighed. "I can never understand him. Speaking of which-." He turned to the woman. "What were you doing, being on such friendly terms with Shanks? You're a bounty hunter, aren't you?"
The woman chuckled. "Unlike you, he has a crew, and since I'm not really in it for big money, I don't care to risk my life having an angry crew come after me. Besides, he's not a bad man." She brought out some other packages. "I brought some steaks too. Good thing I decided to bring extra; I didn't know that girl was here."
"Now that's a surprise. You usually know everything."
"That explains why you never asked how I knew Zoro was here."
"I've long learned that it's more pointless to ask whether you know something rather than whether you don't know something. What do you plan to do first?"
Erika grinned. "First things first. I want to duel with him, and see whether he's as much a softie towards women as Tashigi claims."
Author's note: About the chapter title- well, what can I say? Based on one of my favorite lines from the series. Please read and review!
Author's note: Polyamory pointed out that Mihawk is kind of OOC, and while I do plan to make him like that around Erika, his dialogue in and behavior in general did not sound like him, so I tried to change that a bit. Please tell me if you think I captured him better here, and please give suggestions on improvement. Thanks, Polyamory!
Update: I realized I got Smoker's rank wrong; by the Marineford Arc Smoker is a Commodore. Since his rank is two ranks below Vice -Admiral, I thought he might take more time to work his way up to those higher ranks. In the space of two years, though, Tashigi makes a huge leap from Ensign to Captain, which are five ranks apart, so I thought I would bring up Tashigi's rank a few notches.