Extra Chapter :D

Wealth, Fame, Power…

Chapter 27: Eyes Of The Hawk

Apparently, the universe hated the Krieg Pirates right now, because today just wasn't their day. Their captain was beaten by a child, one of their commanders was dead, while the other one was completely helpless. And as if things weren't already bad enough, the guy who had completely wiped them out before was here now too. They really couldn't catch a break lately.

They also couldn't seem to find the courage to swim away either. But then again, where were they supposed to swim off to? Their ship was just sliced in two, and the person responsible was already too close for them to escape.

As the newcomer's single-seat boat came to a stop in between the two large pieces of the Dreadnaught Sabre, everyone was finally able to get a decent look at him.

He was wearing a black wide-brimmed hat with a green plume coming out of it, matching the color of his long jacket that went all the way to the ground. The only part of the coat that wasn't black was the sleeves, which were red with ornate patterns on them. Underneath the large coat was nothing but a crucifix hanging around his neck. His lack of a shirt showing just how lean and powerful his upper body was. But even without that, he still had a very frightening appearance overall. With a never ending glare adjoining his face being amplified by his bright yellow eyes. They looked so focused, and his beard, mustache and sideburns complimented the intimidation factor beautifully.

Standing there with perfect posture and a large black blade still being held over his shoulder, the man's calculating eyes scanned the area. His gaze eventually landed on the fainted form of the man he had been chasing since the Grand Line. Taking notice of the condition Don Krieg was in, the man spoke out, searching for answers to the numerous questions growing in his head.

"Who did this?" The mysterious man asked, looking around again for a response.

"What are you talking about!?" Luffy questioned, letting go of the mast he was holding onto and landing on bow half of the galleon. "You're the one who cut his legs off!" The boy didn't know who this guy was, but he was definitely giving off an uneasy vibe.

The yellow-eyed man continued his glare, this time aiming it at the straw hat teen. His sharp orbs already taking in the boy's unsettling appearance. "I advise you not to test my patience boy, now tell me what I want to know."

Luffy was about to bite back and continue butting heads with the man, but the cooks back on the platform decided to speak up right this second.

"Hey guys look, It's Hawkeye!"

"Woohoo, it's good to see you Mihawk!"

"Yeah! Thanks for coming to save us but there's no need! That straw hat kid just pummeled Don Krieg!"

"We can still serve you though! You want the usual?"

Taking the information he was getting in stride, the man now identified as Hawkeye turned back to the boy who responded to him before. Narrowing his eyes a bit, he noticed a familiar looking piece of headgear hanging from the boy's neck. Well I'll be damned. This must be the boy Shanks never shuts up about.

"I see, so you are the one who eliminated this threat from the Baratie?"

Having found out that this guy was friends with all the cooks, Luffy dropped his guard. "Yeah, that was me."

Not showing any emotion whatsoever, Hawkeye continued his tangent. "How impressive, if my memory serves me correctly, I believe there is only one other pirate in this sea with a higher bounty than Krieg. Still though, that shouldn't really come as a surprise, the East Blue is the weakest of the four oceans, and seventeen million is still childsplay."

Luffy blinked a couple of times, staring at the man with a blank expression painted on his face. This guy sure did talk funny, it kinda reminded him of Kuro in a way. "Uhh, thanks, I guess."

Reading the boy like a book, the yellow-eyed man turned back to face Krieg. Raising the black sword off of his shoulder in the process. "Forgive me for not getting to the point. I have been following this scum for a while now, but I never would have guessed he would end up at a place so dear to me. I thank you for not allowing him to damage it, but now I shall end his miserable existence once and for all."

Seeing what he was about to do, the rubber man couldn't help but cry out to him. "No wait!"

Hawkeye stopped his weapon just short of his target's neck, craning his head sideways at the interruption. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, there is," Luffy panted. "I'm not just gonna let you kill him."

This made the swordsman draw back his blade temporarily and turn his whole body towards the boy. Was this a joke? "You can't be serious."

Continuing his heavy breathing, the straw hat teen explained. "Don't get me wrong, I know he's a horrible person. But he does have a point, he never actually hurt anyone here. And he won't ever get the chance again, not without his legs anyway."

"You're willing to let him go for such a simple reason?"

"Well, yeah. His pirate dream may be crushed, but who knows, maybe he can find a new one. Like the old man, he opened a restaurant after he stopped being a pirate."

"Well what if I decide not to take your advice? What will you do then?" Hawkeye challenged.

Bending his knees and taking a sluggish battle stance again, Luffy prepared himself. "Then we're gonna have a problem."

Hawkeye had to consciously stop himself from showing shock on his face at the boy's actions. Why would he go so far for such a trivial reason? He looked like he could barely stand up straight, and he had clearly seen the power that was displayed in cutting the ship in half. So there was no logical explanation as to why he would throw away his life for an enemy like this.

Liking something about the boy's charisma, the swordsman allowed a small smile to grace his lips. Casually raising his sword and sheathing it onto his back. "Very well then, if that is what you wish, I will allow it. Take it as my thanks for the protection of the Baratie, I cannot even begin to tell you how much I enjoy their vast and glorious wine collection."

All of the sea restaurant's chefs smiled proudly at the man's statement. With Patty voicing what everyone was thinking. "Oh yeah! We'll always be here to serve you Mihawk! You're our most loyal customer!"

Zoro could believe this nonsense! The guy that he aspired to defeat his entire life was a fan of that crappy excuse for booze!? Grabbing the black bandanna off of his arm, the pirate hunter proceeded to tie it around his head. This was about to get serious.

With his mind made up, Hawkeye brought his attention to the bystanders that were treading water in the ocean at the moment. "Did all of you insects hear that? Due to this boy's generosity, I will be letting you all live. So I suggest you come pick up your Captain and leave promptly, before I change my mind."

All of the remaining Krieg Pirates didn't need to be told twice. Getting their acts together, they all began swimming rapidly for the stern half of the demolished ship. Hoping and praying that their captain was still breathing.

Once they got to him and checked that he was at least alive. The Krieg underlings crammed themselves and their captain onto a lifeboat in record time. Priority number one right now was to put as much distance between themselves and the terrifying swordsman.

However, right before the very packed sailboat could depart, the crew had to do something first. It wasn't a matter of safety for this specific part, it was a matter of loyalty.

"Commander Gin! Lets go!" One of the pirates called out.

Gin was ready to tell his men to just forget about him and go, and he was about to do just that, until he felt a pressure lift off of his back. Looking up, the pirate commander noticed that Sanji had released him from the foothold. "Sanji, what are you doing?"

Exhaling smoke from his mouth, the blonde man stated the obvious. "What does it look like? I'm letting you go of course."

Standing up slowly, Gin looked at his friend hopefully. "So does this mean that you'll join us?"

The sous chef had to put in some serious effort to not burst out into laughter right then and there. "Nice try, but the answer is still no. Besides, I'm not sure you even have a crew for me to join anymore."

With a sly smile on his face, the injured commander accepted the answer he was given. "That's fair, but don't think I've given up on you. If you do end up deciding to go out to sea one day, then we'll meet again. And when we do, you will join my crew, because we're gonna be stronger and better than before."

Sanji continued to look at the man blankly, no emotion shown on his face at all throughout his small monologue. "Yeah, good luck with that. And especially good luck with Krieg. Trust me, I've seen a man try to get used to wearing a pegleg, and it wasn't pretty. I can't even imagine what it's gonna be like getting used to two of those damn things."

Not really finding amusement in the blonde's humor, Gin scowled one last time before running off to join his crew on the small sailboat. He would keep his promise to the blonde no matter what.

Zeff on the other hand managed something he hadn't done in a long time, a bellowing laugh. Understanding the irony, as well as the truth behind his apprentice's pegleg joke. "Good one brat, I haven't had a good laugh in a while."

"Yeah? No one asked you, damn geezer."

Now that the Krieg Pirates were all sailing away and off to who knows where, Hawkeye decided that he had lingered around long enough. "Well then, it seems that my presence is no longer required. I don't want to impose on you all at such a vulnerable time. So for now I will be taking my leave, see you next time Zeff," the swordsman concluded. Taking a seat in his small coffin-like boat and preparing to disembark.

"Stop right there."

Both Hawkeye and Luffy turned to see Zoro approaching the middle gap in between the two halves of the ship, stopping when he reached the spot right next to his captain.

"Zoro?" The rubber man asked curiously. "What are you doing over here?"

"Luffy, do you remember what I said to you after the marine base about my own ambitions and goals?"

Seeing the teen nod, Zoro continued. "Well this is what I was talking about. The man you see in front of you right now is a living legend. His name is Hawkeye Mihawk, and he's the world's strongest swordsman."

Under normal circumstances, Luffy didn't usually care about titles like that unless it was the King of the Pirates. But this was an exception, the boy knew full well how much this meant to his comrade, and how seriously he took his dream. "Well in that case… I know what you have to do, and you can go ahead and do it. I'm with you on this Zoro."

The green haired swordsman smiled widely at his captain's approval. In truth, he was going to do this even if Luffy wasn't on board, but it still felt nice getting the support from a man that he was really growing to respect. "Thanks Captain, after this fight, my loyalty is all yours."

Mihawk could help but chuckle at the conversation he was hearing. "How amusing, you talk as though you would walk away alive from a duel with me."

Stepping forward and unsheathing all three of his swords, Zoro took his stance. "That's because I don't intend on losing today."

"My my, you're actually serious about this," the yellow-eyed man mocked in surprise. "Very well then, I shall humor your death wish."

Luffy watched as Hawkeye stepped off his little boat and onto the stern half of the galleon, taking this as his que to leave the area. Using the little amount of energy he had left, he jumped up to hug the secondary mast again. Climbing up to the top of it so he could at least sit down and take a breather up on the crows nest.

Now that some time had passed since the slicing of the ship, both the bow and stern halves had sunk down just enough to appear as just two platforms. No longer did it look like two parts of a vessel, just two perfect battlefields parallel to each other.

Drawing his abnormally large blade off of his back, Mihawk commented slyly. "Your Captain has left me in a good mood. So out of respect, I will be using my full power right away if that's alright with you."

Wincing at a sudden spike of pain from one of his broken ribs, Zoro did all he could to not show his weakness in his response. "Heh, that sounds perfect."

"Confident, are we? Be careful boy, there is a fine line between confidence and cockiness. One of them is a swordsman's greatest strength, while the other is their biggest weakness."

Having just about enough of the chit chat, Zoro leapt off his platform and onto his opponents. "I don't call it cockiness, I call it higher ambition! Three sword style, tiger trap!" He yelled, Bringing down the two blades in his hands on both of the man's sides. One of these was guaranteed to hit considering his opponent could only block one of them.

Hawkeye let petty yawn escape his lips. Waiting patiently until the very last second before the swords would make contact with his body. And when that moment arrived, he had his sword up to block in the blink of an eye. But the man did not settle for only blocking one of Zoro's attacks, because he was easily holding off both of his swords with just one of his arms.

Zoro was in shock at the failure of his foolproof attack. The only thing that was more unbelievable than his mishap was the irregular way that his swords were blocked. Somehow, Mihawk was holding his own sword by the center of the blade, using the tip to block Zoro's left arm, and the hilt to block Zoro's right arm. What the hell!? How did my attacks not break his grip!? It can't be that easy holding off two of my attacks with just one arm!

"Ah, I see now," Mihawk began. "You thought that would be a problem for me because you are holding more swords. Well let me be the one to tell you this now boy. Gimmicks like these may be useful against the smallfry you'll find in these waters, but they are nothing in the face of true strength."

Noticing how much danger he was in, the pirate hunter swung his neck rapidly in a last ditch effort to save himself with his last mobile sword. But alas, his enemy saw this coming and ducked the attack. All of a sudden Zoro saw his life flash before his eyes, seeing images of his haunting past shutter through his vision. When they finally ended, he felt his mind turn off as he raised the two swords in his hands and blocked the heaviest attack he'd ever felt.

Now holding his sword properly as he pressed down his attack, Mihawk smiled. Finally seeing some potential shine through in his adversary. He's definitely got the talent, his body practically moved on its own just then. What he needs is time to grow, and I know just the way to make him realize that.

The green haired man struggled with all his might to try and stop the giant swords from coming down on him. His face was turning red from how heavy the thing was, and his ribs were aching like crazy. There was also this weird feeling to Hawkeye's sword that he couldn't make out. It was almost like he wasn't actually connecting with the blade. Like there was a thin layer of something powerful in between their swords, preventing the metal from clashing

Just when the pirate hunter was about to run out of steam, the sword he was blocking backed off. Apparently Hawkeye really was feeling generous. "So, you could block that. How interesting… Shall we continue?"

Zoro gritted his teeth in frustration, trying to find the resolve to move forward. What the hell is this guy!?

As you guys probably already noticed, I've made a few tweaks to Mihawk's character. I've made him a little more of an asshole, which isn't that big of a deal right now. But trust me, it will be more important to the story later on. I've also made him a loyal customer of the Baratie, which I think is pretty funny. But in all seriousness, I've always wondered why Johnny told Zoro that Hawkeye hangs out around the restaurant and then it's just never explained. This is how I chose to do it. Let me know what you think.