A/N: Okay, so I find writing form Mihawk's POV far more entertaining. It's been a while since I've seen the first few arcs, so I might miss something important if I try to write too much of Luffy's reactions and context. No matter, we have Mihawk's POV this time:

Third Letter - Luffy

'To: Mystery Swordsman

From: Luffy

Is calling you swordsman okay? You are a swordsman, so it fits! You don't want to tell me your name, but that's alright, it just makes it more fun to find out again! You have a mystery name! I won't eat the messenger bird. Promise. But I don't get it. It's MEAT!

Of course you are my pen pal. That's what Usopp and Sanji and Nami said you were and I have not done this before. They're my nakama so they wouldn't lie. Duh. What's a 'juvenile'? Can you eat it?

And I took down Arlong. He made my navigator cry. You can't just make my navigator cry, obviously. So I had to kick his ass. I didn't even know who he was. I just thought he was just another fish guy like the other ones who had there their asses kicked by Zoro and Sanji. But I have a super cool bounty poster now! Usopp is in the back of the photo! And thanks for being happy for me! Nami was angry at first because now we will draw attention... But that's half the fun, neh?

Also thanks for not killing Zoro, I guess. You must be really strong! And he's gonna be the World's Greatest Swordsman one day! Even though he can't beat you yet. But you know all that already. Yoru is very cool too! Tell her that for me, will you?

Shanks is the one I made a promise to. Because of him I wanted to be a pirate! He saved my life from a Sea King and gave me his hat. Only… He lost an arm. I thought I was strong. But I wasn't. Anyway, I am going to be the King of the Pirates, and then I will return the hat to him!

My nakama are awesome. Of course I'll tell you about them!

Ok, so I met Zoro when he was chained to a pole and about to be executed for helping this little girl from a weird blonde idiot. I got him his swords and then he joined my crew! We also beat up this dumb marine with a hammer hand! Can you imagine a hammer hand? You can't eat meat like that! We took a small boat and then we met Nami. She tricked me into a cage and we helped a dog and also there was a guy called Buggy with a really ugly nose and a Devil Fruit that made him into many different parts! Nami tied him up while I kicked his ass.

Then we met Usopp and he said he had a million minions but he didn't, I was so shocked! There was a girl called Kaya and her bastard butler whose name I don't remember who used to be a pirate. He had cat claws.

We set up a trap to kick his ass because he wanted to take Kaya's money. It worked and I kicked his ass. I don't get why his crew was so surprised, he was weak. I met Sanji at the Baratie, and I wanted him as my cook so he got kicked out of his restaurant and now he's my cook! I also met you there! Only Nami took off with our ship and then we had to kick Arlongs' ass.

Oh yeah, I also got to attend my own execution in Loguetown. It was cool, I suppose. That day was Cool, we met a cool marine called Smoker who also ate a Devil Fruit! Three guesses what he could do when you look at his name!

We just got to the Grand Line! There was an island that had real good food and a party but then at night they tried to kill us all so I kicked their asses with the help of my nakama!

Do you have nakama? Friends? Family? If you tell me about your family I'll tell you about my brothers, shishishi! Do you have a pet? Oh, wait, do you have a pet bird? Like a messenger bird? That would be so cool! You could be best friends! Also Nami says that they're too expensive to use often and it would be really cool if you had your own bird.

What is your bounty? It must be, like, ultra-high! What do you do? Sanji is my cook and Nami is my Navigator. What do you usually do when you're on a ship?

No dream is silly, you silly. I told you my dream so you have to tell me yours. That's how this works! We're friends now!

Luffy.

Ps. What's Haki?'

He sat in the very place he had been when the first letter arrived when the messenger bird had flown through the open window. The thing was lucky the windows had not been shut. On a whim, the swordsman had decided to let in some, how you say, 'fresh air'. Not that the air in Kuragaina was of any notable quality, smelling faintly of blood and earth, the bone-dry gusts of wind entering through the small opening leaving a bad aftertaste in his mouth.

The harsh gales that taunted the ruined lands outside merely caused the candles in the room to flicker, casting a mixture of golden-and-green light on the elaborate wallpaper and whispering curtains, shadows flickering and dancing.

Overall, the scenario was an uncomfortable reminder of one of the people that made for deformed caricatures of 'colleagues'. Crocodile.

He didn't even want to know what the Sand user was up to. The leader of Baroque Works – if his information network was to be believed – had been up to all sorts of unsavory practices in Alabasta Kingdom.

His fellow Shichibukai were mostly filth, though naturally, any committed crimes had been conveniently swept under the rug for the sake of the image the public held of the 'Government program' he himself had become part of.

If only to get the overzealous, weak, lowlife do-gooders off his back.

…If the Strawhat's account was correct, his pirate crew would soon reach that island. Hopefully, they did not cross paths with Crocodile. The boy would die. As would Roronoa.

And that would just take away all his entertainment and make sparing the green-haired novice a moot point.

Pity.

And speaking of the Strawhat pirates and their captain…

He still did not know what possessed him to reply to the boy's initial letter. The moment his eyes started skimming the words, written in the hurried and jagged scrawl of one who does not often put pen to paper, he had a feeling he should.

Acting on his instincts had, so far, never caused him to be led astray, and to be fair, there was not much harm in a single letter. Or so he had thought.

Now, the boy appeared to be under the illusion that their relationship could be classified as… 'friends'. How distasteful. He would have to caution the child against it in his next letter. However, he would be keeping up the correspondence. The way the boy immediately decided to attempt to include Yoru into their correspondence as more than an object, as his partner, was… A pleasant surprise.

Something made that Strawhat-wearing boy, Monkey D. Luffy… Special. Unique. A new wind in a stagnant age, or perhaps he was not, and the swordsman was reading too much into the situation. Maybe the child merely had the potential to grow out to be such, and was not yet capable of handling what Paradise might throw at him.

Perhaps, in order to preserve his entertainment and his investment in Roronoa, he could tell the upstart pirate to exercise caution..?