Today is such a good day I'm just waiting for something bad to happen... So I've been reeeeeaaaally good this week and is now TWO weeks ahead of my schedule and will take my next test on thursday :D I've gotten my last pay from my last job, and I've finally gotten through to CSN that my grade from my earlier school IS in fact good enough been accepted into the system to have economical support for students. So I've gotten myself an ice cream, paid my bills, fed the cats and so here's an update XD

Oh, and as you might have noticed; I couldn't finish this part within five chapters as I orignially thought. Worry not, the part will still be finished.

Malin; Before the year is over.

Me; Hey! I've been really good these past week remember!

Malin; Sure. Now you have to be just as good for the week to come.

Me; ... I can do that...


Part 9; Golden Eye

Chapter 3/6; Ruffy, Zoro and the Greatest Swordsman

The restaurant was very quiet after Ruffy's confession, everyone a little confused. Ruffy was staring out at the ocean, seeing how Sun got defeated and captured. Sun was strong, but she hadn't had Shodai. Shodai would have been enough to protect her from that man, but she had given the katana to Ruffy, and the young girl couldn't understand why. Why would Sun give up her strength to keep Ruffy safe?

"Ruffy, have you met the Hawkeyed man?"

"Not really," she answered truthfully.

"But you…" Zoro directed his attention to Gin who now stood. "You saw him when you entered Grand Line?"

Gin only nodded, unsure what was going on.

"So that's where he is then. Good," the swordsman concluded with a satisfied smile. His goal was clear; to defeat The Hawkeyed man, the world's greatest swords master, and take that title from him. Whatever Ruffy's deal with the man was it had nothing to do with that goal or with Zoro. She'd saved his life and he'd teamed up with her because it didn't really matter in the end, but he wouldn't follow her further than his dream.

"What's so good about that?!" Gin asked bewildered.

"That means it's the Grand Line I'm going for, since there is where that man is."

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "You're an idiot," he scoffed. "You want to butt heads with a man who sunk fifty ships? You're just rushing to your death."

"I'm the first to admit that," Zoro shrugged. "But I decided to become the world's greatest swordsman and I'm betting my life on that. So the only one who can call me an idiot is me."

"I want to become the king pirates," Ruffy stated, while she still stared out the broken doors. "That dream and the promise I made to Sun is my only attachment to life."

Sanji puffed on his cigarette, muttering about helpless fools, but Zeff wore a wide grin he couldn't suppress. It was a long time since he saw fools like these who knew what a pirate really was. Seeing these kids was like a breath of fresh air.

"What are you people dallying around for!?" Patty butted in with his loud voice and a giant fork at the ready. "Don't you understand the situation?! We're up against Don Krieg; the strongest pirate of East Blue! Leave the chit-chat to after we've gotten our asses out of the fire!"

Gin left then, back to her own crew. The cooks were preparing for battle against her captain.

They would die. All of them. Sanji-san and Ruffy-san and all of them. They stood no chance against Don Krieg, Gin knew that well. She knew how strong he was. She knew how brutal and merciless.

And Ruffy-san was fighting for a dream!


Don Krieg watched as his men ate like the starved animals they had become, letting his eyes stray from one face to another. He didn't know a single name, which meant none had deserved that sort of attention from him.

Gin appeared and quietly walked to his side where she belonged. It was good to have her back. She was a valuable asset in battle, so he knew that besides himself and Pearl, there was also his most loyal bitch.

"It's been too long now. Celebrate our victory with me later tonight, Gin," he muttered to her.

She made a noise and Krieg took it as agreement. It's not like she had a choice anyway.

"I… I'm alive?"

"Where are we?"

"We escaped the Pirate Graveyard!"

"We survived! We survived the nightmare!"

All around him his men were starting to celebrate as life returned to them. Here and there lay the dried corpses of the ones who hadn't managed. The ones who were too weak to be on Don Krieg's crew. In retrospect, perhaps losing the first round against the Grand Line was a blessing in disguise. Now Don knew these people were strong. The ones who had survived were the strongest.

"Perfect," he spoke over the noise. "Now we can once again set course for Grand Line."

Every man who heard deflated. The ones who hadn't heard and were told by the men who did looked panicked.

"You… you can't be serious, captain. We're not going in there again!"

Don brought out a gun and fired with a pissed look. That was one man he'd wasted food on.

He looked around. All he saw were the faces of the defeated. Well, that wouldn't do. "Anyone else who wants to speak their thoughts?" he asked them sweetly.

It took a few seconds of swallowing, but finally the crew of Don Krieg let out a war cry.

The captain walked out among his men. "Good. We'll start with abandoning this broken ship and take over that restaurant. It holds enough food to feed us for some time. The enemies are only a bunch of measly cooks. Should be easy enough for you to get rid of."

It did sound like an easy job, even to Gin. She had an odd feeling in her guts though. Call it woman's intuition or instinct or whatever, something big was moving the waves around her, and they weren't moving in Don's favour.

Don's crew however only knew one thing; disobey and die. Taking over that restaurant and killing everyone inside was a cheap price to pay for your own life.

Gin suddenly couldn't breathe. It was only a second of absolute silence. The sound of a sword. And then the ship blew up under her feet.

Or no, it didn't blow up, it shattered! Pieces of wood were flying everywhere. Gin grabbed onto a rope and held on for dear life. The ocean exploded beneath her, swallowed her for a moment before it released her, falling back into gravity's hold. Gin spotted the ship through the water and swayed in that direction. It tilted dangerously and was slippery from the water, but the ship was battle scarred to begin with and Gin easily found little cracks and holes as she climbed up on a safer part of the deck. She looked around for her captain, but was quickly distracted by the state of the ship. Or rather, she saw the captain's quarters quickly disappearing under the surface of the water.

It was true the ship hadn't exploded. It hadn't shattered by accident either. But the reason she could see the captain's quarters was because the ship had split in two. And the most frightening thing was that it looked like a giant carpenter had just taken a saw and sawed it apart, that's how clean the cut was.

She remembered that second before this happened. Where she felt like she'd been spotted and heard the sound of a sword being drawn.

The ship hadn't shattered, it had been cut!

It was him!


On the Baratie Chaos was throwing a personal party. He was the only one who enjoyed himself though as the cooks rolled around, most of them clutching their reopening wounds and feeling the bullets still inside them. Zeff was yelling to raise the anchor or they would go down with Don Krieg's galleon. Ruffy, Zoro and Usopp were tumbling around, stumbling over themselves to get out to where the Going Merry was attached to the restaurant. To their great horror though, when they finally made it out there was no sign of Merry.

"Zoro! Zoro no Aniki!"

The trio looked down and found Josack and Johnny fighting the waves and trying to hold onto the side of the bopping restaurant.

"Josack! Johnny! What happened? Where's Merry? And Nami?" Usopp demanded frantically as he and Ruffy fitted their slim bodies through the railing to help the bounty hunters up. Zoro stood above them, prepared to catch the hands that reached for him as his old friends climbed onto the safety of the Baratie.

"W-well, you see. Nami no Aniki… she took off."

"She what?" Zoro demanded sharply.

"We don't know what happened either!" Josack defended himself and his partner. "Or rather, Nami no Aniki was staring at some wanted posters, and then she took our treasures and threw us off the ship."

As if they didn't have enough troubles to deal with! Zoro flew his fist into the wall in frustration, cursing that damn thieving girl who he had just started to trust! Was it really that easy for women to turn on the ones who trusted them?

"I see it!" Ruffy called from the railing. "Over there, it's Going Merry."

Usopp looked to where his captain pointed and nodded. "Yosh, it's her alright," he confirmed.

Ruffy quickly turned to the bounty hunters. "Where's your boat?"

"We had it tied to the restaurant. It's over there."

"Good, prepare it to sail after Merry. Zoro…"

"Forget it," the swordsman growled. "I'm not going after that bitch."

"What about the ship!" Usopp protested. "That ship…"

"I can see Nami too," Ruffy cut her subordinate off, positively shocking Usopp. He was proud of his sight and could brag about his aim without exaggerating… too much, but he could just barely make out the sail over the distance.

Zoro glared at his captain. He really didn't want to follow this order, but unfortunately Ruffy had a look in her eyes that told him she still trusted Nami. And if she could indeed see the thief girl…

The swordsman let out an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Got it."

"Zoro no Aniki! The boat's ready!" Johnny called from the bounty hunters had prepared their little boat.

"Right. Come on, Usopp," the swordsman called tiredly. Usopp moved to follow the taller man but noticed a certain important someone wasn't.

"Ruffy? Aren't you coming?"

"I have to stay behind. Still got a debt to pay here," the girl said distractedly as she stared towards the wrecked ship of Krieg's.

Zoro turned to glance at his captain. There was a lot of noise going on but he hadn't listened to them. Not until he heard the words "…cut the ship…"

"Zoro no Aniki?" Josack called uncertainly when he noticed the former bounty hunter was distracted.

In between the waves and wreckage there was a shadow.

Ruffy suddenly scrambled away in a hurry, but Zoro didn't pay it too much heed, too preoccupied trying to make out what that shadow was, because it wasn't another piece of floating debris. It looked a lot more like a low boat…

"It's him!" he heard someone cry in panic.

"It's the guy who destroyed our fleet! He chased us all the way here!"

Zoro just stared as the little boat leisurely came closer. It was so small it only really fitted one person. And that one person had a broad-brimmed hat with a red plume that covered his face. The person sat in that little black boat of his, sail folded, and looked as if he was asleep.

Until he lifted his head.

There was no mistaking it. It was the Hawk-Eyed man.

Zoro heart pounded as he felt the eyes of that man pass him. He wasted no time. This was his moment. Right before his eyes was…

A sharp tug on his leg stopped him and he looked down. Behind him, standing on all four, holding onto his leg and trying to stop him was Ruffy. The fear was clear to see on her face. What she wanted to say was clear too as she opened her mouth.

Zoro glared in warning, daring the girl to say anything.

Ruffy's hand shook, but she slowly closed her mouth and her grip went lax. Zoro paid her no more heed as he pulled his leg out of the girl's hand. His goal was right in front of him and nothing and no one was going to stop him.

Ruffy sat back and watched her friend leave. She'd made a promise after all; she wouldn't stand in Zoro's way. But she couldn't shake the thought of what that man was doing here. Sun had said Hawkeye was a legal pirate, whatever that meant, and only the pirates whose strength the government recognized could become legal.

The girl turned and hid behind the railing best she could. She couldn't let that man see her, not now when she was so weak.

Usopp, Josack and Johnny were also lingering, wanting to see what happened as Zoro challenged the world's greatest swordsman to a duel.

The Hawk-Eyed man eyed his challenger with a twinge of pity, but otherwise disinterest. He was challenged by upstart swordsmen once in a while and that was the only thing he really knew about those challengers. When, where and how many he hadn't bothered to take note of in this era where the glory-seeking pirates ruled the seas and the marine was hard pressed to keep up with the load of them and honed their skills. This kitten was just another to join the heap of defeated fools Hawkeye had scattered behind him.

"Fool," he told the boy. "You pitiful fool." Still he wasn't one to turn down a challenge, and he had the time, even though this was probably the best way to waste that time. So he calmly walked onto the floating piece of wood that had once been a part of the deck of the ship he'd just cut.

Around them people recognized Zoro. He was famous as the "Pirate-Hunter" after all. Krieg was a little thrown by the discovery since he'd thought the guy was a pirate. If he did win this duel Krieg was going to add him to his crew. He would be a good addition on Krieg's way to become the Pirate King.

Sanji was also surprised. Of course he'd heard about the Pirate-Hunter with the three sword style, but he'd honestly thought such a man would be more impressive than the oaf he'd come to know. And challenging someone who had cut a galleon in half? That was just stupid suicide. The marimo must have been born without a brain.

Zoro stood right in front of the man he'd dreamt of defeating since the day he first heard his name. Hawkeye was hardly as riled.

"If you had any sense as a swordsman it should be clear who is the greatest without the need for us to cross blades. Are you driven by courage or simply ignorance?"

"Ambition," Zoro answered clearly without taking the bait, knowing he just passed the first test in keeping his cool when taunted. "And a promise I made to a friend," he added and bit down on the hilt of Kuina's white katana. "I actually didn't think I'd meet you so soon."

"A waste if you ask me," Hawkeye told his challenger evenly and took off his hat and the cross necklace he wore.

"What?"

The necklace turned out to be a hidden blade. A very small one. "This is East Blue; the ocean considered the weakest of the four seas separated by the Grand Line and Red Line. I won't go all out taking down a little rabbit like you." The look the tall swordsman gave Zoro now said all about what he thought of the green-haired teenager's skill. "I'm sorry this is the smallest blade on me at the moment."

"I can tell you're arrogant," Zoro said and heard the growl in his own voice. Well, he didn't care about keeping his temper down now as he crouched and charged. "Don't regret that attitude on the other side!"

"Little frog croaking at the bottom of the well, it's time you feel the great world," Hawkeye said, standing completely still and unfazed by his oncoming challenger.

Zoro crossed his arms with his blades up. "Onigiri!"

He was blocked.

No, he was stopped so suddenly it hurt. Nobody… nobody had ever managed to block that attack before! It was Zoro's trump card!

The young swordsman stared at the blade, small like a toy that the world's greatest swordsman had used to block him with. The tip of the thing was all it took to stop Pirate-Hunter Zoro's strongest attack.

'It can't be,' Zoro thought as a feeling he'd not felt in a long time started to pump through his veins and he looked his goal in the face. 'It can't be so far away! The world can't be so far away!'

Zoro shifted his weight backwards to get out of his frozen position and attacked again. His normal cool was gone and his attacks were influenced by desperation. His goal was right in front of him in the form of the world's greatest swordsman and Kuina stood right behind that man. A man who was blocking Zoro's every attack with a toy!

Hawkeye suddenly moved that toy blade of his and Zoro found himself flipped and landed hard on his back.

'No. It isn't possible. It can't be real!'

Zoro rolled up and attacked again. He had trained all his life to be stronger than Kuina, to become the world's greatest swordsman, to fulfil Kuina's dream. Not for this! Not to be stopped here!

"You're so lucky to be a boy, Zoro. I want to be the world's best too."

"So let's make a promise. One day you or I will be the number one swordsman in the world. See who can make it first!"

He had to win. He had to!

"Stupid! Don't say things like that when you're so weak."

'No, I will win! I must!'

"Such a violent sword," Hawkeye commented where he stood his ground, blocking three swords with only his small blade in a comfortably loose grip. He'd seen swordsmen like this before; men who got angry and frustrated when they realized the strength they were so proud of couldn't match his. The realization of how weak you really are is painful in a lot of ways, mostly to the pride, but also to the confidence. But there was something more about this particular challenger. Something in his heart that hurt every time Hawkeye blocked him.

"What is your burden?" he asked curiously. "What are you seeking beyond the limits of your strength, you weak man?"

Zoro's eyes widened. He hadn't just said that. Not when Kuina stood right behind him in a place where Zoro could only sense her.

On the deck of the Baratie Josack and Johnny had had enough. They had been cheering their old friend on with all they had, and nobody called Zoro weak and got away with it!

"Take that back! Our Aniki isn't weak" Josack roared, drew his sword and moved to jump into the ocean, swim over there and join the fight in order to protect his friend's pride.

"We oughta teach you a lesson, you bastard!" Johnny yelled with the same thought as his partner to join the fight, sword drawn, but they were roughly yanked back by the back of their cloths.

"Don't interfere," Ruffy snarled and pressed her face against Johnny's back. "This is Zoro's fight. Just stay put and watch."

Usopp stood beside the three of them and stared worriedly at his captain. It was clear that she was hiding, but Usopp couldn't understand why. It was one thing to be afraid of someone who held the title of "world's best", heck Usopp had almost pissed his pants when he saw that guy, but Ruffy was acting really strange. She was watching the battle best she could through the railing while still hiding, as if that man would have any interest in her.

"He's the one who captured Sun."

Usopp looked back at the fight. The guy who handed Zoro his ass in a package right now, he couldn't possibly have come for Ruffy, right? He really couldn't have. Usopp sent a hundred prayers that his captain was not the target of that guy as Zoro once again hit the deck. Surely Ruffy was just scared.

Surely…

Zoro rolled away from his opponent to get into position. For some reason Ruffy had made her way into the front of the jumbled thoughts in Zoro's head.

"Sounds good. The world's greatest swordsman is the least you can ask of a nakama to the king of pirates."

The least Ruffy had asked of him was to become the world's best swordsman…

"Tora…" he started as he prepared his next attack, raising both arms and tried to focus on the battle at hand.

Hawkeye almost rolled his eyes. This youngster had too much to learn if he left himself that open. This had been going on for long enough though, so he took a step forward and forcefully thrust his blade into the younger man's chest.

Zoro stopped, surprised about the pain and looked down. Blood seeped out of the new wound and down his body, dropping onto the deck. Ruffy's face once again entered his mind. She had grabbed his leg to stop him, had wanted to tell him not to go.

She had known the difference between Zoro and Hawkeye.

And still she had let him go.

Because she had promised, and she had kept it against her own wish…

The sense of Kuina's presence was suddenly much weaker.

Surprise crossed Hawkeye's features when his challenger didn't move. He just stood there with his arms down and blade still buried in his chest. Thoughts were flashing in his eyes, and he seemed very uncertain under the pain and confusion.

"Do you wish for me to pierce your heart? Why won't you back down?" Hawkeye asked.

"Well… I'm really not sure…" Zoro muttered. "It feels like… an oath I swore or important promise I made… and a whole lot of other things will be irreversibly broken… if I take even a single step back now."

"That's right. It's called defeat," Hawkeye informed him calmly. He knew the taste of it, remembered it well, and had sworn to never allow it happen to him again.

"That's why I can't step back."

Hawkeye stared hard at the younger. "Not even for your life?"

"Not even for my life," the young man smirked with a fire of determination alight in his eyes.

Hawkeye had seen that look before; the look of a person who had made up their mind and betted their life on their decision. Last time Hawkeye had been humbled to the point he'd even held a private funeral for the woman who sadly hadn't survived.

It was too early for this child though.

"Boy, tell me your name," Hawkeye asked as he pulled the blade out of the young chest and took a step back, putting his small blade back around his neck.

"Lolonoa Zoro," the challenger said and got into a new position, weight at his centre and all three swords held so that to Hawkeye they looked like a windmill.

"I shall remember your name," the elder swordsman promised as he reached for the sword on his back; his pride. "Long have I searched for a strong soul like yours, and to show my respect to you as a swordsman I will defeat you with this black sword."

If Zoro hadn't been so scared, knowing he balanced on the thread between his goal and his death, he might have felt more pleased about Hawkeye's acknowledgement. Sadly his mind was locked on that scale; world's greatest or death.

"Santouryuu ougi…" He started to spin his swords around his hands and wrists in opposite directions. In theory it worked to confuse and hypnotize his enemy. Faster and faster he spun the swords, creating a wind that would conceal him once he attacked.

Hawkeye would never say, but the attack did force him to focus more than normal since his opponent didn't hold his swords exactly and therefore made it more or less impossible to predict how this attack was going down.

Both swordsmen charged.

"…Three thousand worlds!"

There was a loud sound of shattering metal.

The sound of Zoro's two swords shattering along with the sound of his flesh opening and blood spilling out.

'I lost,' Zoro realized, and felt oddly calm. He knew he was going to die, and that was good. He wouldn't have to face Ruffy now. The sense of Kuina's presence was long gone too, because she was waiting at the top of the world, not the bottom Zoro had just hit. She wouldn't meet him on the other side. It was okay. He had been arrogant and proud, and this was the price he paid. At least he still had Kuina's katana, and he would take it with him along with everything else it and he stood for.

Both swordsmen turned towards each other, and once again Hawkeye was coloured by surprise as Zoro spread his arms out wide with a smirk.

"Wounds on the back are a shame for a swordsman," the young man stated clearly, the tight grip he hand on his sheathed katana the only hint he was afraid.

"Well said," Hawkeye agreed with a smile of his own, and wielded his long sword, cutting deep into the young swordsman's body.

Ruffy watched. She had watched the whole thing, and for every second that passed the more her world shrunk. She was already deaf to everything but the pounding of her own heart. If she was still breathing she wasn't even sure of. All she could see was a rain of blood. Aki's blood. Almen's blood. Sun's red hair and the pink water around her.

And Zoro fell into the sea.

Josack and Johnny cried out in despair and dove in to save their friend.

Usopp took the boat and steered it best he could towards the place where his crewmate had fallen.

The cooks and Don Krieg's crew all watched with disbelief. Pirate-Hunter Zoro didn't stand a chance against the world's greatest swordsman.

Sanji grit his teeth. "It can't be that hard to throw away your ambition!" he yelled at the quickly disappearing circles on the water where the green-haired idiot had disappeared under the waves.

Ruffy wasn't aware of anything other than the fact she couldn't hear Zoro's heartbeat anymore. Without warning she snapped completely and blacked out.

An ear- piercing screech rang over the waves.

Hawkeye was the first to realize where it came from and from whom, and he only just managed to raise his sword to block the human projectile that hit him with the weight of a comet that pushed him back several meters.

The new attacker was a young girl dressed in a red top and a familiar straw hat. An attacker that caused Hawkeye's muscles to tense to their limits just to withstand her brute force. He was still being pushed by the pressure of the girl's first attack when she suddenly snaked around his head, hands gripping his shoulder from the front and under his armpit from behind. His name wasn't Hawkeye for nothing though. The girl had a short necklace, and as soon as the pressure on his sword lightened he pulled back his hand, looped two fingers around the necklace and forcefully twisted it, saving his neck from her teeth due to the sudden strangle. Hawkeye took the moment of surprise to grab the girl's jaw, threw her over his shoulder and slammed her against the deck he stood on with enough force to crack the wood, but not enough to completely rob them of this fragile footing.

Golden eyes made of despair and fury stared blindly over an open mouth as the girl struggled to breathe.

"Calm yourself," Hawkeye demanded soothingly. "I let him live."

The girl blinked and looked at him, seeing him, and as her mind returned to her Hawkeye loosened his grip until he let go completely. Her scarred throat was red from his hand and had a deep line where her necklace had dug into her skin. She sat up and crawled over to the edge of the wooden deck, turning away from Hawkeye only when her hand touched the wet edge.

Josack and Johnny resurfaced with Zoro, and Ruffy saw her friend cough. He was breathing. He was alive...

He was alive.

Ruffy slapped her hands over her face to hide her expression and her tears. Zoro was alive. For the first time her friend was allowed to live.

"You let him live," she whispered. "Even though he's my friend."

"I'm a pirate; I face anyone who challenges me regardless of who stands behind them," Hawkeye said matter-of-factly.

Ruffy tried desperately to stop crying. She wanted to be able to see Zoro, but she was just so relieved he wasn't dead the tears just kept coming. But she was a pirate, and pirates don't cry, especially not in front of enemies and there were more than one around.

"Hurry up, get him up on the boat!"

Usopp's voice just barely made it to Ruffy's ear and she looked up. Through the blur or her tears she saw Usopp had managed to sail Josack and Johnny's boat to the three in the water and was now helping to hoist the fallen swordsman aboard.

The young girl captain wiped her face and sniffed, knowing the danger hadn't quite passed yet. There was so much blood. Zoro might be alive right now, but he had to survive too. Even though Hawkeye hadn't killed him, he had still cut him.

"My name is Juraquille Mihawk. It is too early for you to die," the man beside Ruffy spoke clearly. "Know thy self. Know thy world and become strong, Lolonoa Zoro!"

On Josack and Johnny's boat the three men tending to Zoro's wounds best they could were distracted by Hawkeye's voice. Hawkeye wasn't talking to any of them though. He spoke his feelings directly to the young swordsman's soul. "The years may pass. I shall remain the greatest, and I will wait for you there on the top of the world. So keep your wild spirit alight and surpass my sword. SEEK TO SURPASS ME, LOLONOA ZORO‼!"

A strangled sort of cough was heard from the boat and Mihawk took it as his answer. Finally he had something to look forward to. The last time someone had left such a good impression on him it had come too much as a surprise, and their fight hadn't lasted long enough because the blasted marines had interfered, and because of them the swordswoman he'd enjoyed the dance with was dead.

Ruffy could hear both the excitement and the anger in the heartbeats of the man beside her, and the reason for the anger shocked her, but she had much more pressing matters at hand so she couldn't ask right away.

"Hey, Usopp! Is Zoro okay?"

"No, he's not okay, but he's alive. If only barely," the younger boy called back distractedly, as he was to pour disinfection over and dry blood away from the deep wound. Beside him sat Josack and Johnny crying like babies and were completely useless.

Ruffy blinked when she suddenly saw Zoro's white katana lift from the boat and point at the sky.

"Ca… can you hear me, Ruffy?"

It was Zoro's voice.

"I hear you," she called back and strained her ears so she really would catch what her friend wanted to say.

"I seem to… have made you worry. Sorry. But… the world's greatest swordsman… is the least you can ask of me, right?"

Zoro's captain jumped to her feet when she heard another pained cough, but otherwise didn't move. She could hear it in her nakama's heartbeat; he was embarrassed and angry, but above all disappointed in himself. It was a moment he definitely didn't want to be seen, so Ruffy didn't move.

Josack and Johnny cried and begged Zoro not to talk anymore, but Zoro wasn't done.

"I swear!" he cried out at the top of his lungs the best he could in the condition he was in. "I will never lose again! Until the day I defeat that man and become the world's greatest, I swear I will… NEVER LOSE AGAIN! So don't complain, Pirate King."

Ruffy let out a relieved laugh and beamed happily at the small boat. "I won't."

Mihawk smiled too. It appeared his young challenger was in good hands. At least he wanted to think so. There was only one thing he needed to make sure of before he left.

"Hawk-Eyes!"

But that was not it.

The tall swordsman graced his new "challenger" with a bored and clearly annoyed look. Some people just couldn't see past their own noses if you so shoved the truth in their faces like both Mihawk himself and young Zoro had just done.

Krieg was smirking widely, full of himself and knowing that if he took the head of this guy it would definitely spread his name across the world. The deed would also attract pirates to join his crew so he could rebuild his fleet.

"Did you come all the way here for me? For the head of the infamous king of the East Blue?"

"I do see a king of these waters, and so a goldfish like yourself holds no interest," Mihawk scoffed and drew his black sword.

Don brought out his guns, ready to fire. But it wasn't his throat the swordsman held his sword against.

Ruffy had fallen to her knees again, shaky from the adrenaline kick and relief. The feel of the sword under her chin startled her mildly. She looked up and locked her own gold-coloured eyes with the amber ones of Mihawk.

"How did you survive, Golden Eye Rayla?"