Nice work ya did

You're gonna go far kid

~You're Gonna Go Far Kid; The Offspring

"Your stance is still sloppy." Mihawk said in disapproval, lashing out at the redhead girl. Well, young woman.

She was older, taller; it had been seven years since she first arrived on Kuraigana Island after all. A lot had changed since then.

Mihawk was anything but lenient. He didn't care that she was a girl, that she was a child, all he needed to know was that she was his student. The man was never unnecessarily cruel but he didn't treat her any differently than if she were a grown man. Rosie respected it, even appreciated it despite the cuts and bruises it gave her.

Due to her teacher's hellish training, she had improved in leaps and bounds. After training with practically every type of sword known to man, Rosie and Mihawk agreed that butterfly swords were best suited for her personality and stature.

"And you're still a stick in the mud." Rosie shot back, dodging Yoru and returning with an attack of her own.

It gave her a sense of accomplishment that Mihawk felt her worthy of Yoru. It took years before he used the black sword against her. Though it made training more difficult, it served to motivate her even more.

"Insolence." He replied with a scowl, blocking her attack and pushing her back. Anyone else would have missed the small upturn of the man's lips, but not Rosie. No, she had been living with Dracule Mihawk for seven years, saw him practically every day, she knew him almost better than she knew herself. Rosie knew though he may not act like it, he was fond of her and he was the father figure she didn't know she needed.

"It's why you loooooove me." Rosie teased, a mischievous smile on her face. She was pushing it. No matter how fond the man was of her, he was no nonsense when it came to training.

Mihawk didn't reply, choosing to pick up the pace in lieu of a response. Rosie tightened her grip on the blades in her hands and darted forward. Playtime was over.

The black sword swung at her and she deftly countered with her right sword, dashing underneath to slash at Mihawk's torso with her left sword. Before she could make contact, he changed directions and she cursed before hooking her right arm around his and swinging herself up.

Rosie's fighting style took a lot of work to perfect. Her stature and gender were against her. Most people would be stronger and taller than her, she needed a way to combat that. She took a page from one of her favorite fictional characters from before, Natasha Romanoff, they even had the same color hair.

To take down an enemy bigger and stronger than her, Rosie had to be faster and smarter. She had to get in close, and the 'Black Widow'-esque style of fighting was perfect for that, for wrapping her body around then and slitting their throat before they had a chance to retaliate.

Her relationship with killing was...complicated. Like her relationships with most things. It took her a while to remember what she did after the Marine's killed her mother. She seemed to have blocked it out, but after refusing to let Shanks brush her off, he filled in the blanks. The part that unsettled her the most was that she didn't regret it, Rosie knew without a doubt in her mind that if given the chance she would do it again. Years of 'thou shall not kill' were trumped by the simple necessity of the act. If she was going to survive in a world where people were willing to torture a seven-year-old, she had to be ready to take lives.

With her right arm hooked around Mihawk's, she wrapped her left leg around his torso and tossed her left butterfly sword in the air. With her left hand free, she wrapped it around the man's bare neck. When her hand make contact with his flesh, a red, crystalline substance began spreading up his neck and onto his face.

Before Mihawk could throw her off, she placed her other hand on his shoulder –careful not to stab him-, and pushed herself into the air. Rosie grabbed the butterfly sword she had spinning in the air and flipped backwards out of the way of Yoru.

It was a funny sight to behold, Mihawk scowling with rubies spread across his neck like a stain. In actual combat, the goal was to cover the target's airways, leaving them unable to breathe. It did work, Rosie had tried it on herself many of times, she even passed out one time. Mihawk thoroughly reprimanded her after that little stunt.

"Red really isn't your color Hawkie."

Rosie knew she fucked up the moment the nickname slipped from her mouth. The redhead knew she could get away with a lot when it came to her stoic instructor so she liked to push her limits, to see just how far he would let her go. Nicknames never went over well, especially when training.

Mihawk quickly brought Yoru down, sending a brutal air slash her way. Rosie really liked to test just how many lives she had to spare. She quickly dodged to the left and internally cursed when she had to jump back to avoid getting sliced in half. Mihawk really didn't like 'Hawkie' apparently. Noted.

Rosie's arms trembled as she blocked Yoru, having to use both of her blades to keep the black sword from ending her life. Despite all the strength training Mihawk put her through, he could still easily overpower her. The pair focused more on her legs, being that she needed to be fast.

"There's the birthday girl!" An obnoxious voice shouted and Rosie grimaced. She grimaced even harder in the next moment when Mihawk overpowered her and sent her flying across the clearing.

"You shouldn't let an interference distract you from your opponent." Her teacher reprimanded, not even waiting for her body to stop rolling.

"Do you have to be so hard on her Mihawk?" Shank's asked and Rosie muttered a curse. She didn't know if she was more annoyed at the man's appearance, the fact that he was able to practically sneak up on her and she didn't sense him in the slightest, or that because of him she'd have a great new bruise across her stomach.

"Leniency does nothing to improve one's skill." Mihawk replied unamused as Rosie walked over to the men, irritation playing across her face.

"More importantly, Rosie! My angel! Look at how big you've gotten!" Shanks gushed to Rosie's eternal annoyance. The redheaded man only visited once a year, as no one wanted to draw attention to one of the most notorious pirate on the seas dropping by to visit a Shichibukai. Without fail, he appeared on her birthday.

"Hello Shanks." She greeted stoically, arms crossed and wanting nothing more to be out of the presence of the man. Years hadn't made Rosie's heart grow fonder of Shanks. She despised a part of herself for how she treated the man, he was good, and kind, and came back year after year despite that fact that she never so much as gave him the time of day, yet every time she looked at him she couldn't push the image of her dying mother from her mind.

"I can't stay too long this time, but I couldn't let my little girl's birthday pass by without getting her a gift!" Shanks exclaimed, pulling a small box out from his black coat. He moved it just enough for her to see the stump of where his arm used to be.

The first year that the man visited, minus an arm, Rosie was...uncomfortable. She knew it would happen, knew he lost the arm saving Luffy, but she had been so focused on other things that she completely forgot about it. It simply slipped her mind. Rosie couldn't help but wonder if she could have somehow saved Shanks from losing an arm, maybe if she had stayed on his ship, traveled to Foosha with him, she could have kept an eye on Luffy or something.

The guilt that she was feeling, it was exactly what she didn't want. So much tragedy happened in One Piece, she didn't want it to be her responsibility to stop it. She had suffered enough at the hands of her new world, she wanted to stay out of it.

"Thank you." Rosie said, only to be polite as she took the small box from Shanks. Her curiosity was peaked for once. Usually, the man brought her outlandish, expensive, giant gifts. This one seemed more subdued, and for once, he looked nervous.

"I hope you like it." He said quietly as she unwrapped the small box. It seemed to hold jewelry of some kind, interesting.

The minute Rosie opened the box and saw what lay inside, she froze.

Pictures were sort of a rare occurrence in her world. They weren't as easily accessed as they had been in her old world, mostly they were used for bounties, so Rosie didn't have any pictures of her mother, only what she could remember.

There, nestled in the box was a sunflower pendent and, in the middle, a snapshot of her mother. She was younger in the picture, couldn't have been that much older than Rosie currently was. A bright smile lit up her face as she looked past the camera, at something unknown.

Tears pricked at the back of Rosie's eyes as she stared at the picture.

"It's from her first bounty poster, wasn't easy to track down." Shanks laughed a bit awkwardly as Rosie's hands began to shake.

"Thank you." She whispered, tenderly running a thumb across the picture as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"I'm glad-"

"Thank you." Rosie repeated again, sincerer than she had ever been as she looked up into Shank's eyes.

"You're welcome kiddo." He replied with a sad smile.

"Mihawk?" Rosie questioned as they watched Shanks begin the trek back to the shoreline. The man in question had been silent during the whole exchange.

"Yes?"

"I think I'm ready to leave this island, go out on my own yanno." She said, clipping the pendent around her neck.

"Do you think you are, or are you?" He challenged and Rosie took a deep breath.

Being on her own wouldn't be easy. She knew people were after her, she had to be able to defend herself against the forces that be. On Kuraigana island, she was more or less safe, she had Mihawk's protection. Out on the ocean, she only had her own protection and the ocean was an unforgiving place. The next time she drew her blades would be a life or death scenario, she wouldn't get away with merely a few cuts and bruises.

Despite all that, Rosie knew it was time for her to set off on her own. She couldn't stay under Mihawk's care forever, not if she was going to keep the promise she made to her mother.

Live freely.

That's what she planned to do.

"I'm ready." Rosie said seriously, hand on the pendent hanging from her neck. "It's time for me to leave the nest, spread my wings, if you will."

Mihawk cracked a rare smile and Rosie felt a pang of sadness run through her. She would miss her stoic companion, miss rising with the dawn to help him till the land, miss the gleam of pride in his eyes when she managed to land a hit on him, she hoped he would miss her too, no matter how much of a pest she was.

"Many powerful people want you dead Walker D. Rosie, that red hair of yours is akin to a bright red target." He pointed out and Rosie nodded.

"I know."

"The smallest mistake will mean death on these seas."

"I know."

Mihawk paused. "I will have a boat ready for you tomorrow."

Rosie grinned.

Rosie didn't have many belongings, so putting her things into the small boat Mihawk prepared for her was easy. It was harder than she had though to clear out her bedroom in the castle, to say goodbye to the place she had called home for seven years.

"Here." Mihawk said, handing her a satchel and Rosie raised an eyebrow in confusion as she took the bag. Peaking inside, she had to stop herself from gasping as she saw the stacks of Belli inside.

"Mihawk I can't-"

"Consider it compensation for helping me care for the castle if you will, I want no further argument." Rosie snapped her jaw shut and nodded. The man had given her a small fortune.

"One more thing." He said and this time, both of Rosie's eyebrows went up. In the seven years they lived together, Mihawk had never given her a gift, now in the span of five minutes he was giving her two.

Rosie's jaw almost hit the floor when he grabbed two ornately crafted butterfly swords from his coat. The handle had red rose embellishments and a gold grips. They were gorgeous.

"A swordsman's swords are a reflection of the wielder themselves. Take care with these, they are your truest comrades on the battlefield." Rosie grabbed them, still in awe at the beauty. She turned them over in her hands, admiring the craftsmanship. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes and she had to will herself not to cry.

"Thank you Mihawk, for everything." Rosie said, holding the blades close and looking up at the man.

"Go Walker D. Rosie, sail the seas, do what you fought so hard for. This world is your oyster to do with it as you see fit. However, be warned. Should we see each other on the seas, we will meet as enemies and I will not disgrace you by being lenient."

"When have you ever?" She smiled back, tucking the blades into her thigh holsters and swinging the bag of Belli over her shoulder before stepping into the boat.

Taking a seat, she grabbed the oar and pushed herself away from the dock.

"Goodbye Mihawk." She said fondly as the man stood tall, arms crossed as she drifted farther away.

"Goodbye Walker D. Rosie."

Rosie could swear she heard the man's unique laugh as she turned and set her sights on the great, wide, ocean.

A/N: And so it begins! I'm actually starting to get to the end of my story plan so I need to get my life together. Rosie's on her own now, so many great characters get introduced in the next chapter I'm so excited! Hope you all enjoyed, love ya.