Zero looked up.
The man in the black coat turned toward him and lifted his glass.
The dim flickering light of oil lamps cast a troubling shadow over his face, disfigured and half-covered by a long tuft of hair which didn't entirely hide the missing eye's patch.
His heart raced as if trying to get out of his chest.
Harlock!
He already knew how his appearance had changed in those years: he had seen his pictures in the news and his photos on the wanted posters, yet, to see in the flesh how time had changed the young pirate he had known many years earlier gave him a strange sensation.
His brain told him it was him, but to his heart he looked like a stranger.
He got up and joined him at the table, his hand on the holster below his long officer jacket.
He sat in front of him.
- Hi, Zero - Harlock emptied his glass in one gulp - Don't you want to drink with an old friend?
- Not until you explain what you're up to, Harlock.
- There is nothing to explain. I do what I have to.
Zero stood up, slammed his fist on the table.
- What you have to? You're no longer the person you were, Harlock: blowing up a colony full of civilians, shooting your friend Tadashi and trying to kill Yuki and Tochiro's daughter... little more than a child! What the hell came over you?!
- Keep your voice down, Zero. You don't scare me - Harlock looked into his eyes, a cold light in his one pupil – You and I, alone, in the Death Valley. With Gravity Sabres.
- Harlock...
- To the death, so you can adjust our old score. Or at least try.
Any lingering doubt about his identity disappeared.
Only Harlock could remember that far away promise.
- There's no other way?
Harlock shook his head and stood up. Zero followed him toward the rear exit of the Saloon.
They walked side by side in silence in the light of a blood-red sunset.
Soon, on the rocks of Heavy Meldar, it would have flown for real: his or Harlock's.
Perhaps it was written in fate that day would have arrived.
He remembered Emeraldas' words: "I feel that one day this man will try to kill Harlock with all his might."
Yes, he would. And then he would cry for a friend... or never ever shed a tear again.
The Death Valley was not far from Gun Frontier, but it looked like another world.
A narrow and quiet gorge, surrounded by high cliffs.
At the bottom of it, scaffold's strings swayed ominously in the wind; there was the smell of death in the air, for real.
It was there that he and Harlock had met in the flesh for the first time, on a starry night like that promised to be.
That's fair. Here it has began and here it will end. I will fight fairly, but I must do my duty, even if I shouldn't make it.
He pressed a button on his clock. He prayed that Ishikura, Grenadier and Eluder were far away from there and arrived when all was said and done, however it would have ended.
He wasn't proud of what he was doing; he deserved a punch like the one he gave Ishikura that night of fourteen years ago.
Harlock stopped, unsheathed the Gravity Sabre. He did the same.
They saluted and then hurled against each other.
Zero took a sudden lunge*, but the only thing he obtained was to tear up a little more the already tattered cloak of Harlock, who dodged with a quick shift to the right.
He had expected it: he had responded that way even the first time they had duelled and, in his place, he would have done the dame move: their fighting style was very similar.
He remembered reading in Yuki's files that, before he decided to rebel against the system, Harlock was an officer like him. Perhaps he had even attended his same school.
He couldn't even imagine him in uniform.
He turned.
Harlock attempted a cut-over *, the left leg slightly bent, the bust following the direction of the arm.
Zero downed and the blade, instead of cutting his throat, whipped the air above his head.
His hat fell to the ground.
He means business.
He counter-attacked with an upright * from bottom to top, but Harlock parried it without difficulty.
Zero stood up and grabbed the Gravity Sabre with both hands. He pushed with all his forces until their faces were so close that he could feel his opponent's breath.
- Give it up, Harlock! It's better for you!
He didn't answer. He stepped back, the weight poised on the right leg and pushed him away.
Zero stumbled and fell to the ground.
He rolled to one side just in time for not being pierced from side to side.
He heard the hiss of Harlock's blade behind him as he tried to stand up.
Still on his knees, he placed his his right hand ninety degrees near the blade and the knob on the left, tilted the sword on his shoulder to form a window from which he could see his opponent and parried the blow of Harlock just in time.
He turned around and hit mezzano* aiming at the legs of his opponent.
He jumped back and resumed his on guard position. Zero stood up.
He was panting, but the same was true for Harlock. The light and the sweltering heat were declining: soon the sun would have gone down behind the rocks. He wondered how much time had passed since they had left the Saloon and where his men were.
At that time, Eluder should have noticed his absence and alerted the Karyu.
He attacked again, a furious series of blows in all directions: slash, mezzano, ridoppio, imbroccata and sgualembro strikes*, he gave the bottom of his entire repertoire. Harlock didn't spare himself too.
Their blades emitted sparks in the more and more darker air every time they crossed.
He was good, he had to admit that... a true master, agile, fast and precise, very self-confident.
He was also strong: he fought mainly one handed, and Gravity Sabres were weapons heavy almost as rifles, only better balanced.
Zero despaired of managing to disarm him: although disadvantaged by his blind eye's reduced visual field, Harlock parried all his shots while he felt more and more tired.
He decided to risk his all: he lowered his guard, threw his sword away and flew at his opponent. He wrapped his arms around his knees hoping he hadn't the readiness to hit back or cut his throat.
It went well; he managed to surprise him and threw him to the ground.
As he had hoped, Harlock brought up his weapon in an instinctive defence move.
Zero went above him, clenched the more he could the hand with which Harlock drew the Gravity Sabre and grabbed the blade with the other.
He screamed in pain when the edge of the sword cut off his palm and fingers, but he gritted his teeth and tried to block his opponent with his neck under the blade.
A trickle of blood drippled down the throat of Harlock when the blade, sharp as a razor, touched his skin.
- Enough of this madness, Harlock! Give it up!
He moaned for a moment, bent his right leg until his foot was on his sternum and pushed him away with a kick. The violent blow sent him flying several meters.
The rough impact with the ground and the blow he had received just below the diaphragm left him breathless.
Harlock got up and ran toward him. Zero backed away.
He threw himself to the side and was lucky: he avoided the thrust of Harlock and ended near his Gravity Sabre.
He grabbed it and struck.
He injured Harlock to the knee, not deeply but enough to slow him down.
He stood up, ready to return to the attack.
The handle of his weapon was slippery with blood, his hand was hurting.
He thought he might be forced to fight with the left.
He gritted his teeth. He was on the spot.
Harlock walked over to him.
He was limping a little, but Zero knew that now he was dangerous like a wounded tiger.
In the absolute silence of the valley, the unmistakable noise of a laser gun being armed reached his ear. He saw a glint in the rocks above them.
From the cliffs, someone shot.

* SLASH: Stroke given vertically, from top to bottom; it strikes the head or shoulders
upright/uppercut: Stroke given vertically, from the bottom up; it strikes the "intimate" parts
MEZZANO: Stroke given horizontally with the blade plate; it strikes shoulders, hips or knees.
SGUALEMBRO: Stroke given obliquely from top to bottom with an angle of 45 °; it strikes shoulders, hips or knees.
RIDOPPIO shot: Stroke given at an angle from the bottom upwards, with an inclination of 45 °; it strikes shoulders, hips or knees.
LUNGE: Stroke given horizontally, it strikes the torso.
IMBROCCATA: Stroke given horizontally, it strikes the neck or face.

Perhaps all these notes are a bit boring, but Zero is a skilled fencer (and a very punctilious officer) and I thought it was more realistic to make him use "professional" terms (which happens to be mostly italian words, it seems: I looked for english synonyms but found nothing)!

Disclaimer: fanfic based on the world and the characters of "Captain Harlock" (Uchu Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku "and" Cosmo Warrior Zero "(Zero Kosumo Wōriā), created by and © Leiji Matsumoto.
All rights to these characters are © Leiji Matsumoto, Toei Animation, Enoki FIMS and probably a bunch of other people. Their use in this story does not imply support, approval or permission from their part. Since this story was conceived and written by a fan for other fans, please do not plagiarize it, give me my credit as author when publishing elsewhere and do not to redistribute it for a fee. Thank you!