Hello everyone again^^
Here is already the next chapter. I try to continue with the weekly update.
Critique is more than welcome and I am very grateful for every review and comment.
Thank you all so much, especially krammebamsen, Anana16, and Fairykicks
I really try to do my best.
Till the next chapter ;-)
Sharry
Chapter 6 – Truth
-Miahwk-
It was already late.
Kanan had excused herself for bed already two wine bottles ago. The cursed swordsman lay on the carpet in the living room and was reading the newspaper. Mihawk himself had read through all those books from the library for another time. He would not give up that easily, but once again he did not spot anything good. The last, sleepless night was slowly demanding its toll and with tired thoughts he put then last book back at the tile.
He sighed and emptied the current bottle into the glass of the girl. The pirate nodded shortly before closing the paper in his hand.
"Well, your source sure takes their time." He complained for the probably tenth time.
"I do not believe, he will inform me today."
"Damn." The boy rolled his eyes and turned on his back.
"You got freakin' lots of books, don't ya?" The green haired one said incoherent. Mihawk assumed that the alcohol was slowly getting its better of him.
"Did ya read all of them?"
He shook his head. "No. They were mainly owned and read by my father. He consumed every written word he stumbled across."
"Were?" His guest echoed. "Is he dead?" The question sounded almost untroubled.
"No, but I have not seen him for years. I have no information about his passion for books anymore."
"I see. So did you inherit your talent for swords from him?" Roronoa asked a little bit more composed. The Shichibukai put the newspaper next to the books. It was useless now, he was too tired.
"Indeed. My father was an excellent swordsman. He loved swords, books and games about strategy. My mother on the other hand only cared about art and music."
An agreeing sound came from the other one, getting on his two feet sluggish and walking over to the books, taking a closer look. "Didn't ask about you résumé." The young woman grumped.
"We should head for bed now."
The boy shook his head loosely, the hair swirling wildly, the braiding falling apart eventually.
"Oh no. Don't wanna. Not tired at all."
Slowly he stood up.
"You are drunk, Roronoa. So I am taking you to bed." Surprisingly agile the girl escaped from his hands, taking one of the books from the shelves.
"I'm never drunk. Tried it hundreds of times, never worked."
With his next try he got a hold of the child.
"Might be. But it is still time for you now."
Although the child was protesting loudly he just lifted up this fragile body. With one hand he tried to fetch the book out of this stoic grip, but the pirate would not let go.
"No, wanna read that." What had he taken into this house?
"For all I care." He murmured. "But not before tomorrow. Now you will go to sleep."
The other one looked away angrily, biting his lip. He really was a child, in Mihawk's opinion.
"Can walk by myself."
"Sure, and then you fall down the stairs again."
The pirate in his arms folded his own.
"You're really stupid, ya know?"
"If you tell me often enough, I might remember it." Leisurely he went up the stairs.
"Say, Hawk Eyes…"
"You really like to talk when you are drunk, Roronoa." The pirate laughed softly.
"Dunno, have never been drunk before. But I tell ya, if I had known that one or two glasses of wine would work, I would have tried that before."
"It is not because of the wine, but because of you physical condition."
The other nodded.
"Could be, but the wine really did taste good." Head shaking the Shichibukai made his way into the guest room.
"So, what was it, you wanted to ask me?" He liked those casual conversations with drunken people. It was easy to pull out some information, maybe even secrets, without the other knowing, in the best case not even remembering.
"Oh yeah, right. Why do you spend so little time here? Kanan is just totally nice."
Laughing he tossed the child at his bed. With a little thud and wide eyes the pirate landed on top of the sheets and shortly burst out laughing. He observed the girl once again.
"It is not caused by Kanan."
The pirate went back on his knees.
"Then by what?"
He turned around to pull the curtains close.
"This island is the place of my childhood, Roronoa." He could see the other nodding in the reflecting windows.
"Not the best memories?"
"Quite the contrary, they are." He murmured absent, "But there is not much left except for Kanan."
"So where are you, if not here?"
"Your curiosity might become dangerous for you, Roro… what are you doing?"
Ashamed he turned away. The other one was sitting half naked on the bed, trying to open his bra.
"Don't make such a fuss. I really hope I'm not the first woman you see naked. That would really suck for your age."
"I am not as old, as you may think!" He starred mad at the other one.
"Yeah right. So could the not-so-old gentleman be kind enough to come over here to open that damn hook. This thing starts to hurt."
He could not keep himself from blushing, but stepped behind the other one. This situation hurt his well-mannered heart.
"I am traveling a lot. Besides I found another place to live in peace." He answered finally and turned around again.
"Thanks." The child whispered. "A place without memories?"
He nodded, although the other one could not see it.
"Sounds sad."
"I do believe you would actually like it there." The girl laughed.
"Because you know me so well."
"Well at least I had been right regarding the wine."
He did not receive an answer, so he turned around again. To his surprise the other one was just laying there. Wearing nothing more than the shirt, in which he had found the boy. Head shaking he threw the blanket over the youngster. A second later he saw the book, the other one wanted to read so badly. An ancient collectible from his father. Last remains of an old culture, vanished decades or even centuries ago. But only some few scientist of Ohara had been able to read those writings. The other one must have been pretty drunk. What had he taken into this house?
Softly he closed the door behind himself and went back downstairs; tidying up the chaos they had left. After all it had been quite an interesting day, but even now he could still taste the lust for a fight. A taste he thought himself too old for, too experienced for. He sowed his wild oats ages ago. By now for him a fight could be interesting in the best case, necessary in the worst.
But this boy in a girl's body stirred up his blood, like almost nobody else had been able to. The last one was his red haired friend, before that idiot did decide to become a cripple.
Shrugging his shoulders he emptied the forgotten glass of wine, while finding a scissor in between the couch pillows. This had been the thing the other one stole from the kitchen. Mihawk only needed a second to assume why. Certainly this young pirate was not foolish enough to threaten him with it. Grinning he brought it back to its place, looking forward to that discussion between those two women.
After he dissolved all traces of the day he decided to go to bed as well. Actually he still had a lot of paper work left to do, but in all honesty he simply did not want to do it.
No, he was just glad for another night in his comfortable bed and another unpredictable day.
Which began quite early. But it did not bother him, needing not much sleep. He worked already at his desk, catching up things he had neglected for years, drinking his strong coffee, when suddenly the voice of the housekeeper called out for him. He had not been aware of her being awake already, but it did not surprise him.
Fetching his cup, he followed her demand. If she was not coming upstairs, he assumed that a visitor occupied her presence and he could predict who it was.
"Good morning, my dear Jiroushin." Called person was taking of his heavy boots next to the front door. The Shichibukai noticed the grim contrast of the white coat hanging next to his own black one.
"Gee, Hawky. In what an exceptional good mood you are. Did I miss something?"
With a big smile the housekeeper showed up in the door to the kitchen.
"I am certain it is because of our…"
"Kanan!" He interrupted her harshly and a little bit too loud for his education. "Would you mind to yield something to drink for our guest? Jirou, may we go in the saloon? So we will be undisturbed."
The marine officer shrugged his shoulders.
"It's not like there's anybody else here." But he followed his childhood friend.
"I hope it made you happy, to let me wait for a whole day without even the slightest notification." Mihawk said cool and sat down at the head of the table, folding his arms.
"Next time I would appreciate at least a short message." He added, before he drank his, due to the meantime only lukewarm, coffee.
His friend fell on the chair next to him, throwing his head against the tabletop and staying in this pathetic position.
"Don't make such a fuss. I got my own worries." The fleet admiral replied defeated against the dark wood.
"Is your wife the source of this trouble?" He asked halfheartedly, while the door opened and the tall woman entered with a plate of coffee and biscuits.
"I wished it'd be only that." The blonde answered wailing, lifting up his upper body and reaching for his cup of coffee. Those tired green eyes followed the housekeeper, who realized that her presence was not desired and left soon.
"Is it that bad?"
"Even worse! Fist Lirin got furious about me coming home so much later than usual. She locked me out for half an hour and I had to sleep on the couch. And when I woke up, looking forward to a great, calm breakfast with the love of my life, she was already gone."
He emptied his cup in one go and slumped his head back on the table.
"For the last few weeks she seems really moody."
"And the reason for you being so late was?" He asked the question, the other one wanted to hear from him.
Why did the other one had to come over in person instead of just calling him for the information exchange, he needed? But no, he had to deal with a depressive marine officer. Like if he was not occupied enough with that green haired tomboy.
"At the base everybody is going crazy. Since the G-6 had fallen, all of us try to find out what happened in detail. In addition some pirates went berserk and tried to destroy some bases as well and all of it just because your swordfight wonderboy decided to show off as the 'tragic hero'"
"I thought the navy had already completed the investigations. The files were quite comprehensive. What information could possibly be missing?" He observed his friend in this ridiculous body position. The fleet admiral turned his head to the side, looking at him demoralized.
"Well, for one nobody knows why the pirate hunter was so well-informed about the whole base. You probably read that he and blackleg Sanji were in uniform. Nobody knows how they were able to do so and then there is this mystery about his earrings..."
"But you have to admit it is truly pathetic, nobody recognized those pirates running around. Wherefore is the navy using wanted posters, if no one pays attention to those?"
Enraged the navy man slammed his fist at the table. Dishes and biscuits rattled upset.
"Sometimes you horrify me, Mihawk. Hundreds of good men died; a torturous and terrible death. And all you got to say is, they should have taken a better look at the wanted poster?!"
The Shichibukai leaned back. It was an unusual sight of the marine to get so heated up. Of course it was an emotional matter for him. Not that it was for the pirate, it almost bored him.
"Do not upset yourself, Jiroushin. It is a fact that the successful escape of the strawhats was not caused by their special expertise. They are ordinary pirates, not even dangerous above average. Both of us know that neither of us would have any problem fighting the whole crew alone. At least Hakkai, being a vice admiral, should not have had any difficulties with them. According to the reports of Enies Lobby and Gecko Moria not even the strawhat himself is able to use Haki, not to mention any of his crewmates.
"The only reason, Roronoa Zoro was able to destroy that base, was because the navy underestimated him and his crew. Accept the truth, Jirou, most of the soldiers nowadays are of a different stamp than you and father. The downfall of the G-6 was actually not the fault of those pirates, but the sloppy work of the navy itself."
His friend jumped up furiously, crashing the chair to the ground.
"How can you stay so calm?! How can you still stick up for this dirty dog? He was a monster, Mihawk! A monster! He killed all those innocent humans, for a handful of criminals! And now you're defending him and blaming justice?! Regarding your attitude it's actually good you're no longer part of the Navy!"
Bored he waited for his friend to scream out all his frustration. Exactly because of this reason he preferred the loneliness of Kuraigana.
"You might be right about this and there are probably thousand more good reasons. But this will not change anything about the marine's evidence of incapacity, for putting the blame upon the strawhats instead of searching for their own fault. If you did you could at least learn something out of this experience."
He had not even finished his sentence, when the other one grabbed his collar. Unimpressed he looked down at that hand holding him.
"What is the issue? I have seldom seen you so enraged. Usually you do not enjoy fighting. Is this not the reason for your wife to rule the roost, is it?"
The other one starred at him still furious, but did not say anything.
"Admit it, Jirou. You know I am right. I just cannot comprehend, why you are exaggerating yourself in this fake manner. The fossil administration of the marine has not changed a bit within the last years, after all this time you should get used to it."
The rear admiral let go of him.
"You really are the biggest asshole I know."
Mihawk was slightly surprised by those vulgar words, but he nodded plainly, allowing his friend to picture him as the villain.
"I would just love to give you a knuckle sandwich, you know?" Once again he nodded, without getting up.
"I do not mind. The last appropriate fight was long ago. If you have your rapier with you, we can begin right away. However we do know from better times of the past, that you are still chanceless against me."
He loved it, how those green eyes sparked at him, almost mad again, just like those eyes of another certain one.
"Who knows? The last few years you lazed around quite a bit. I, on the other hand, have been training every week at my base and Nataku is visiting every once in a while as well. I think I'm in a better condition than you are." The voice of the other one was still underlined with anger, but at least he let go of him.
"Nataku? You're still talking to him?" Mihawk said emotionless, straightening his crinkled collar, proud at himself and his conversation skills.
"We're colleagues."
"No good reason, in my opinion. According to that, this maniac Don Flamingo and I had to be best friends."
"Could you guys please argue without being so noisy?"
Both men froze, as a third person entered the room with a grumpy voice.
Hawk Eyes observed the pirate. He was holding his scrubby head, dark circles around his eyes. He was just wearing the shirt Mihawk had found him in. He truly looked horrible. The pale face twisted in pain and every shaking step looked like it took much effort. It was obvious that the other one was suffering from a hangover.
"You should drink something."
"No kidding!" The other one answered sarcastic. "But I'm pretty sure I cannot endure Kanan right now."
"Gee, Mihawk!" The marine officer interrupted with an unusual high voice. Unimpressed the young pirate registered the other one.
"Who is that and why are you too impolite to introduce ourselves."
The cursed pirate raised his head disinterested and looked at both men thinking.
"Hey." Roronoa said expanding after a moment. "Not so loud. My head is pounding."
"I told you, not to intake too much wine." The Shichibukai answered and ignored his friend confidently.
"Well yeah, but you didn't say it would have such drastic outcome."
The girl fell heavily on a chair, reaching for a cup of coffee.
"A reasonable person would stop drinking, when they realize it could have bad consequences." He reminded his guest, who waved it dismissive away.
"Have never been drunk before, so… oh gosh, let's just forget about that, I cannot fight with you right now." The cursed boy gulped down his coffee.
"Maybe you should prefer water instead."
Like a robot the green haired turned his head in his direction.
"Once again. I, headache. Kitchen, Kanan. I, coffee."
The Shichibukai shook his head. It was a useless discussion.
Just in that moment he remembered his other visitor, who put up his chair and sat down across from the girl. All his anger had left his body, too surprised over the sudden presence of a third party.
"Very well. Jirou, this is…" He looked at the pirate, who had been topic of their conversation just a few seconds ago.
"Hawky, don't tell me, you forgot her name?" His friend said shocked.
"No, he hasn't. He is just clueless about how to introduce me." The girl answered a little bit too unnerved. Annoyed Mihawk covered his face with his hands.
"And you are not helping. Okay, Jirou this is Loreen. And for you, my dear Loreen…" The green eyes met his view tired but still quite deadly. "I would like you to meet my childhood friend Cho Jiroushin."
The blonde bowed, still sitting.
"It is an honor meeting you, Lady Loreen."
The girl looked at him seriously bored, but then Roronoa's eyes widened.
"Rear Admiral Cho, the peaceful warrior." He said finally, almost stunned.
"You know him?" Mihawk asked surprised.
"Obviously" The pirate answered in his cup.
"Have we met before?" The marine officer was confused as well.
"You were at the Navy base of Shelltown, when I was…" Suddenly the green head stopped, remembering the situation he was in.
"But how do you know who he is?" Hawk Eyes tried to help his guest.
"I'm not a complete fool, okay?" Roronoa thanked him. "Rear Admiral Cho Jiroushin, with the least combat experience of all navy knights, although no one in the whole world can compete with his rapier skills. However, because of his tactical measures, he is favorably deployed in conflict areas, where a bloody hassle would be unwanted. Rumors say he ended more than half of his disputes before they actually began, through convincing his enemy to give up."
Surprised both men shared a glance, while the girl gulped down another cup of coffee.
"How do you know all of this?" The green haired one looked directly at the marine officer, ignoring the black haired one at all.
"You are one of the five greatest swordsmen in the world, even though you prefer the rapier. Of course I know who you are." Suddenly the young woman rose, probably realizing his inappropriate behavior. "And now I will go and ask Kanan to do something about this headache, before I get nauseous."
Harshly the door fell shut behind this tomboy, leaving both men behind, confused and startled.
"What did just happen?"
"My downfall." The Shichibukai commented roughly taking the last drops of coffee.
"Wait a second." Abruptly the other one starred at him. "It's her!"
Shocked Hawk Eyes choke on his sip. How had the other one been able to find it out? Who would think of such an insane idea? Was it because of the other one not paying attention to his words?
Damn!
"Excuse me?" He asked innocently and cursed himself already for losing his face.
"She's the reason, you're still here!" And all the adrenaline was leaving his body.
"Indeed." He agreed almost disappointed. Once again the other one jumped up.
"Hawky, you're insane! She is almost still a child! Was it too difficult to look for someone your age? What says Kanan about this? She could hardly approve this."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh God, did you filthy pirate lose your last piece of dignity? And don't deny it. She was wearing your shirt! Oh my god, what happened with you?"
A cold laughter came from the door.
"No worries, Rear Admiral Cho. Hawk Eyes is neither my type nor my age class. Additionally this isn't his shirt."
Slowly the Shichibukai was getting annoyed, when the other one showed up again, holding a glass of water in his hand, still wearing only a shirt. What was everyone's deal with his age?
"I thought you wanted to do something against your headache?"
"Kanan gave me a pill, which should work any moment." The girl shrugged his shoulders and sat back down. "But because I do believe, this man is your source of information, I don't want to miss even a second."
The idiocy of his tomboy caused Mihawk already some headache. If this child would continue with his behavior it was only a matter of time until Jirou look through their farce.
But to his great surprise, the girl started smiling softly and sipped at his water, like he had finally realized how dangerous the situation was. The aura to his right changed completely. The bad-tempered morning grump brushed his long green hair aside and became suddenly the charming innocence itself. From one second to another a young lady was sitting next to him, naïve and heartwarming at the same time.
Insecure and slightly blushed the green haired one straightened his shirt and avoided the marine's view.
The officer on the other side looked at the girl with huge eyes. He was already doomed in Mihawk's eyes. His childhood friend was not only sweet-natured and a gentleman, who always cared for the good of the fair gender, but he was overcredulous as well and would never doubt the word of a lady.
Jirou had already forgotten about the dubious entrance of the cursed pirate and was falling for the green haired girl head over heels.
Dracule was fairly curious about how long the youngster was able to keep up with his act.
Almost dreamlike he observed the other one, smiling shy at the rear admiral. A smile, which could contain anything from self-doubt to a secret flirt. It shocked him how easy the other one played his role, he did not expect that.
"I'm searching for some information about the strawhats' whereabouts. Maybe you can help me?"
Mihawk's jaw dropped down. He would have never assumed the other one to be capable of using polite words.
"Of course", Jirou answered immediately, "I would love to be of any help for you."
"Thank you very much, Rear Admiral Cho."
"No, no. Just call me Jiroushin, my dear."
The Shichibukai watched wordless how his friend shook hands with his foe, both smiling overly gentle.
"Did I miss something?!" He asked enraged. This was going too fast and way too far in his opinion. The other two looked at him confused.
He had jumped up, without realizing it, knocking over his chair, slamming his fists on the table. The glass of water was wavering dangerously while the cups of coffee clattered wildly.
"Behave yourself, before ridiculing me!" His guests exchanged a confused gaze and let go of each other hands.
"Don't worry, you're good by yourself." His tomboy commented with a raised eyebrow.
"Hawky, what's wrong with you?"
Just now he realized what he had done. Blushing deeply he lifted up his chair and sank back on it.
Yes, what was wrong with him? He was rationality itself! He was an ice-cold strategist, infected by neither emotion nor conscience. Even his furious friend was at most able to amuse him.
So what had made him lose control just now?
"Very well, Jiroushin, what do I need to know?"
Like being far away, he watched as the admiral pulled out a big, old map out of the depths of his suit, spreading it over the whole table. Roronoa used this time to carry the dishes over to a side table.
What had he taken into this house?
-Zoro-
He breathed a sigh of relief. This damn idiot of a Shichibukai almost let his disguise slip. If he had learned one thing of his female crewmates, then what the most important joker of a lady was.
Helplessness! Well and boobs of course… but most importantly helplessness!
Actually he never understood how this principle worked, because it had never affected him in any way. But every man around him turned into a hero, when Nami broke her high heel or when Robin was carrying a heavy basket. A smile here, a wink there and all men would move mountains for their ladies. Mainly Nami used this trump as often as possible, most of the time against the lovedrunken cook. And this thought brought up his idea. After all, Cho Jiroushin was a man of the marine, a believer in justice, as far as he knew. If this guy found out who he was, Cho would probably love to repay him for the Senichi-Islands himself. And Zoro was well aware that he would not survive a fight in this body.
But an innocent, weak girl would never pose a threat and it was easier to gain the rear admiral's trust. Obviously this man of honor was just as defenseless against a woman's weapon as dart brow was. A thought Zoro did not want to follow while using this dirty trick, which was totally not his style and against his pride, but it was not like he had much of a choice. The spitfire of navigator seemed to have a really bad influence on him.
His head slowly lost its headache and it became easier for him to think. No, if he wanted to return to his crew, he could not fail here. He had to survive and then he would see what else he could do.
For a moment he regarded the man sitting at the head of the table, who seemed to be caught in his own thoughts. The gold-yellow eyes pierced through the middle of the table, without actually seeing it. An unknown curiosity awoke within him. He kind of wanted to know, what was going on with the other one. He was surprised, how strange the greatest swordsman in the world behaved. But then he concentrated again on the rear admiral.
For a second he observed the big map in front of him, he had no idea what it meant. He had never been able to do anything with those strange drawings.
Slowly he looked up to the blonde, who was smiling friendly, even though a hidden anger could be seen.
"Are you certain, Loreen that you want to find the strawhats? They are monsters!"
An unwanted grin crawled on his lips. If the other one knew, who he was talking to.
"Maybe", he said simply, "For starters I just want to know, where they are."
The marine officer met his view serious.
"May I ask why? What would a lovely girl like you want from those pirates?"
A cold laughter interrupted their conversation. Hawk Eyes was back.
"Jirou, believe me. This person here is anything but a lovely girl. Only because of this all of us are here."
Zoro rolled his eyes above so much drama.
"Very well, may we return to the main topic, gentlemen?"
The men exchanged a look.
"Gladly", Cho answered finally and took out some wooden game counters of his pocket.
He placed a small tower on a group of islands.
"This here is the former base G-6 at the Senichi-islands. Except for some ruins it's totally destroyed." The voice of the admiral was dark, filled with never-ending hate. But he did not explain any further, but placed a small boat next to it, maybe an inch away.
"Here are the pirates." Zoro could not prevent himself from straightening his back. The headache disappearing at all.
"Doesn't look like they've come far." He murmured thoughtless.
"Oh, don't be deceived, Loreen. Since their escape they're continually moving."
He put down a second and a third boat.
"This should be their predicted course. I assume they'll need about a month and few days to come here." He placed a fourth boat.
"This appears to be Sarue." The Shichibukai entered the conversation.
"Sarue?" The pirate asked, still not understanding the map. The marine nodded.
"An island neighboring Sasaki. It takes less than two hours with the fair."
With those words he put down a small pawn next to the last boat.
"And this is where we are."
"In other words", the black haired one continued the thought of his friend, "You advise us to wait for the pirates' arrival at Sarue?"
The man in suit nodded.
"The region, where the pirates are right now, is quite difficult to negotiate. Almost impossible without a Log Pose and a skilled navigator. If you really want to meet them, I would really plan to wait until they're closer. That is, if they survive that long."
Caught in thoughts the young swordsman looked at the map with the game counters, not able to read it at all, but realizing something else.
"If the Navy knows exactly, were the strawhats are, why aren't you attacking them?"
A cold shiver went down his spine by the thought, that the marine was maybe following every single step they made for already a long time. Maybe that was the reason why they had been able to surprise them.
Cho shook his head.
"It is not that simply, my lady. The Navy is a highly complex organization structure with strict rules and orders. Every action has to be planned and authorize, to minimize possible incorrect decisions."
Surprised he looked at the other one.
"Seriously? Does one single person of you soldiers actually believe that any pirate would care about this red tape?"
This limitless stupidity of the marine made it almost impossible for him, to keep up the farce of an innocent girl. If they had the possibility to take down countless criminals, why did they not do it, instead of risking that those threads became ticking timebombs?
"This isn't what it's about." The rear admiral disagreed. "It's a matter of justice. Just because pirates violate the rules, it doesn't mean, we could act at random. In addition the Marine has been weakened in the Grand Line by the destruction of the G-6. In this part of the ocean we can only hold up the emergency security. Unnecessary actions are not allowed for the moment."
Zoro wanted to reply, but the Shichibukai was faster.
"Am I right in assuming that the Marine is intending to capture the strawhats at Saure?"
Surprised he looked at the black haired one.
"You know, I cannot talk about secret Navy-operations, especially not with civilian. Moreover we have completely different problems right now, why some of my superiors were already ordered to the headquarters."
Thoughtful Hawk Eyes placed his view back at the map.
"What problems are you referring to, Jiroushin?"
Out of the corner of his eye Zoro could see how the rear admiral slammed his hand against his lips angrily.
"That's top secret as well!" He answered roughly. In this moment the door was opened.
"Loreen! What are you doing here? You cannot sit together with two gentlemen while being undressed. Just look at yourself!" The mad voice of the housekeeper rang through the room, before she rushed inside and took his arm. Ineffective he tried to fight her.
"Kanan…"
"Not one word! As long as you live in this house, you will behave appropriate. You have to be a worthy representative of the Dracule household."
"But I'm not a Dracule!" He protested eagerly, while she pushed him to the door. To his offense he could hear Hawk Eyes snickering silently.
"And now excuse yourself properly so you can take a shower."
-Mihawk-
The door slammed shut loudly behind the two women and he could not prevent a small laughter. It was more than amusing to watch this child being educated by Kanan and her desperate efforts to raise a lady.
"What's so funny?" Just now he was reminded of the other one's present. "I haven't heard you laughing for ages."
A little bit too sudden he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.
"I cannot follow what you are aiming for. So please could you rather explain what is happening within the Marine?"
His friend shook his head.
"Like I said, Top Secret. But who's that girl? Where's she from, and most importantly what's she doing here?"
Surprised he glanced at the other one. He had no idea how to explain the unexplainable. After some seconds the blonde shrugged his shoulders and cleaned the table.
"It's kind of strange, how close you two are. She doesn't seem to be afraid of you. I have seldom seen someone talk to you like she did."
Slowly he looked away, without replying anything.
"Something's special about her. I got the feeling, she could be a worthy opponent to you."
"What are you talking about?" He murmured weakly. "Take a closer look at my guest, who is a child. One slash of my sword and this child was once upon. How can you call this equal?"
Jirou shook his head.
"You know what I mean. Might be, she is no warrior, but she is the first one, who can compete with your bullhead." One forefinger snapped against Mihawk's forehead.
"What are you doing?" He grumped. "All of you are talking nonsense. This youngster is not able to hold a candle to me."
"All of you?" His friend repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Kanan agrees with me?"
He disliked this conversation. Determined he stood up.
"Are you running away?" The other one tried to tease him.
"I am never running away. But this conversation bores me."
Laughing the other one stood up as well.
"You have always been a lousy loser."
"I have never lost to you so far."
The marine officer did not reply, but pulled out an antique pocket watch.
"Well, I have to head for work now. But next time I would love to learn more about your little tomboy."
"You may leave now!" He escorted his friend to the front door.
"How long will you stay here this time?" This question came unexpected and before he could sort his thoughts he was already answering.
"Until the strawhats arrive at Sarue."
With big eyes the other one met his view, while taking his coat.
"I see? Okay then, until next time. Bye."
Helpless he saw the door closing behind Jirou. Why could he not shut his mouth for one single time?! What had he taken into this house?
