Zoro became excited as he felt the aura, it was a peculiar aura it was like he was looking directly at the sun, Kuina and Nami paled at the aura that they felt while Zoro got excited, the difference between them could be seen by their actions after they felt the aura.
Kuina shook her head as she thought:
"What a powerful aura, who could it be?"
Nami didn't know what to say as the powerful aura stunned her, suddenly aura felt Zoro and the others aura and it started to shrink itself by a lot.
It seems the aura's owner felt them probing around with their Observation and decided to lower his output to not damage their spirits, overexposure of someone's strong aura could damage the spirit of the one that felt it.
Zoro thought to himself:
"Well, at least he is considerate towards the others." He looked towards Kuina and Nami, they were still pale but they were recovering. The aura was seemingly waiting for them as the other smaller auras around him started dying out, their voices snuffed out, the relatively bigger aura but not my much, if the smaller auras were ants the bigger aura was like a beetle bug and the gigantic aura was like the sun!
The Going Merry was sailing towards Baratie, Luffy, Kaya, and Usopp didn't know anything about what happened as they weren't trained in observation haki, they all thought they were going to eat at a fancy sea restaurant. Luffy was already drooling thinking about the food at the restaurant when his senses suddenly felt something wasn't right. It wasn't haki, it was his perfectly honed senses that were trained through the special survival training given by Garp.
Luffy looked around him but he didn't see anything wrong yet as they didn't get in visual range to see what happened to the Baratie.
As they got closer and closer they could see a giant galleon cut into smaller pieces a purple-haired man who wore a gold plated battle armor was clutching his throat as he looked at a man who wore a purple fedora, purple jacket white pants, and black boots he had a giant black sword on his back with an encrusted handle. His eyes were yellow and patterned looking just like a hawk's, he had a french mustache and beard on his fair white face.
He shook his head as he said out loud:
"This is all the best of the east-blue could give? You wouldn't have survived in the grand line anyway, I did you a favor by chasing you back here and ending you."
Suddenly out of nowhere his eyes targeted Zoro who was standing near the ship's railings watching him from afar.
The cooks of Baratie were cheering at Don Kreig's death while the remainder of his crew didn't know what to say, a lot of his people died but his main lieutenant Gin didn't die as he was on the Baratie when Mihawk attacked.
Zoro jumped from debris to debris as he already left the ship his eyes were serious as he directly tied his bandana around his head and he announced out loud:
"Roronoa Zoro, I challenge you to a duel, Mihawk!"
Mihawk shook his head at Zoro's words then said:
"You are like a sea-king infant in a lake, it seems you know a bit about Haki but at best you are at a beginner level of the new world, what are you even doing in east-blue?"
Zoro responded to him:
"To be honest with you, I think I should have left a long time ago, but my sensei told me that I should get along with some people instead of going alone, he said that it would help me a lot on my journey."
Mihawk nodded at the words, they made sense, a sensei would want the best of his student so him having someone around that could help him would be better than him going alone.
But Mihawk still shook his head and said:
"You are quite strong but still weak compared to me, you won't win if you fight me, why challenge me then?"
Zoro said while he unsheathed his swords:
"To be honest with you I never felt like I had a chance of defeating you, but you are already in front of me and I want to see how far I am from reaching the world's strongest swordsman title."
Mihawk chuckled as he said:
"Have you thought that if you challenged me now you wouldn't be able to in the future?"
After his chuckle a dangerous aura started to gather around Mihawk as his Haki started to manifest outside his body, thunder clouds started to gather around the skies of Baratie, the cook crew looked up and Sanji's cigarette that he just lit fell out of his mouth as he realized that Mihawk was controlling the surroundings without doing anything visibly.
Zeff watched Mihawk with a peculiar gaze as he commented:
"It seems the kid from back then grew a bit but to challenge that monster... It's still too early!"
Zoro heard Zeff's comment but decided to not say anything against it as it was true, Mihawk also wore a cross necklace on his neck which he opened and a dagger came out of it, Zoro eyes narrowed dangerously was Mihawk looking down on him so much?
Mihawk looked at the dagger then assessed Zoro again then put the dagger back into its slot then said:
"To be honest with you I could have killed you already with that dagger, but I decided to fight you with the best sword in the world Yoru, do you know why? You remind me of someone I fought in my youth, those eyes of yours, that will you exude, ah it's just like I'm going back in time, I will accept your duel Roronoa Zoro."
Zoro smiled at Mihawk's words as Mihawk took the giant sword from his back Zoro tensed up as his muscles swelled and he directly activated Armament Hardening. Mihawk chuckled as he activated his Armament making his black sword even darker than it was indicating that he activated his Hardening, he was using the same amount as Zoro.
Zoro and Mihawk clashed in mid-air between two pieces of the galleon as they slashed at each other it was obvious who had the advantage, Mihawk was faster stronger and had better control of his Haki than Zoro, his sword technique was superior in all aspects, his body and technique were balanced in such a way that it seemed he reached the apex of swordsmanship.
And this was him without using one hundred percent of his strength!
Zoro struggled to dodge and counter-attacking Mihawk's slashes, one slash here and his head almost fell, his cheek cut and bleeding he growled as he pushed himself in front of Mihawk and all three of his swords were pushing against his throat as he said:
"Three sword style: Throat targeting demon!"
Mihawk smiled at Zoro's attempt of slashing his throat as his word immediately appeared in front of his throat and he deflected Zoro's three swords with pure strength.
Zoro staggered backward almost falling in the waters surrounding the piece of debris he was standing on but fortunately he stopped himself a few centimeters before he fell in the water.
Mihawk suddenly flashed and appeared in front of Zoro his sword poised to cut Zoro in two and end his life, Zoro's eyes widened and he tried to dodge but it was too late.
Kuina wanted to go down there and help him but Nami put a hand over her shoulders and shook her head there was nothing she could do anymore.
Zoro's eyes turned scarlet as suddenly two more heads appeared along with two more sets of arms, his swords multiplied as well somehow.
Mihawk's eyes widened as he looked at Zoro's transformation and muttered:
"Have you unlocked that aspect of Haki? no, your Haki still isn't there.. this seems like a mutation of some sort..."
While he was distracted by Zoro's transformation Zoro used all his arms to deflect the slash that was going to cut him in two by the waist and he growled in a demonic voice:
"Nine sword style: Asura decapitation!"
A dark aura started to appear around Zoro as his power increased seemingly something was ready to come out of his being and show itself to the world but it's power increase suddenly stopped after it reached a certain amount, the thing that wanted to come out remained inside.
Zoro appeared behind Mihawk as the sword that was in his mouth shattered he smiled to himself as a slash appeared on his chest, a thin cut appeared on Mihawk's cheek, Zoro's transformation reverted he looked at Kuina and said out loud:
"Kuina lend me your sword for the last confrontation."
Kuina nodded her head and threw Wado Ichimonji to him, Zoro unsheathed the sword and put the sheath on his hip, he put the sword in his mouth.
Mihawk put a hand over the cut on his cheek and the cut suddenly disappeared, Mihawk chuckled as he looked at Zoro:
"You are the first one that hurt me in quite a while, well the first one with such a meager amount of power, whatever, this will be the last slash you will see from me, come!"
Zoro smiled as Yubashiri and Kitetsu started to spin at extremely fast speeds and he started to run towards Mihawk, Mihawk ran forward as well as they met in the middle of the debris, they both muttered their sword skills at the same time:
"Three sword style secret technique armament enhanced: Thirty thousand worlds!"
"Sword breaking technique: Star of destruction"
They both were now where they were previously staying, Mihawk was in Zoro's place and vice versa. Zoro chuckled as he looked at his swords, fortunately, armament saved them from being destroyed, Mihawk broke through his armament and injured his soul but all three of the swords were ok.
Mohawk looked down at his chest as a thin slash appeared on it which immediately healed itself afterward due to his use of Life return.
He looked at Zoro as he sheathed all three of his swords and then he threw Wado Ichimonji back to Kuina.
He approached Mihawk and opened both of his arms wide, Mihawk looked at him with a curious look on his face as he asked:
"What are you doing?"
Zoro smiled as he responded:
"I lost, and a scar on his back is a swordsman shame!"
Mihawk smiled at Zoro's words then said:
"Well said!" Mihawk suddenly slashed with his Yoru cutting Zoro over the chest, Zoro endured but he still fell to his knees, Luffy suddenly shouted:
"ZORO!"
He used his Gum-Gum rocket to jump directly on Mihawk and try to attack him but Zoro caught Luffy before he could attack Mihawk which opened his wound further, Luffy immediately came forward to support Zoro, Zoro accepted the help as he looked at Mihawk and said:
"Is this all?"
Mihawk smiled as he said:
"You wonder why didn't I kill you? I saw some interesting things from you today, especially that transformation of yours, I want to fight you again in the future, I want to see how much you can grow, I want to see if you can truly surpass me, I see the potential hidden deep within you *Mihawk peered with his eyes at Zoro seemingly seeing through him* and I see something that excites me, It's something that I haven't seen in a long while, It looks like a challenge."
Zoro chuckled as he said:
"Being at the top is lonely eh?"
Mihawk took a more serious look at Zoro's question and he answered directly:
"Yes, unlike you I was always alone, from the moment I started swinging the sword to the moment I became the best, I have few friendly acquaintances and it gets boring to fight them over and over, getting to fight someone new would be interesting, so don't disappoint me next time we meet Roronoa Zoro!"
Luffy didn't say anything as he supported Zoro, he wanted to beat this guy's ass for hurting Zoro so hard but he decided against it, he felt extreme danger from him and Zoro himself stopped him from doing anything that meant Zoro didn't want him to attack Mihawk.
Mihawk left using his coffin boat, as the mist started to engulf him he disappeared, Zoro flinched as his wound bleed, Kaya shouted towards Luffy:
"Get him to the ship immediately, he is bleeding severely and he needs to be patched up!"
Kaya immediately went to work on Zoro the moment Luffy took him back to the ship, Zoro was already holding himself back from passing out when he was sure he was going to be ok in Kaya's hand his world went dark.
While Kaya was working on Zoro, Luffy decided to go to the restaurant so he could eat something, Kuina decided to wait for Zoro to wake up, so only Nami Luffy and Usopp got to the restaurant.
Luffy waited at a table as Nami instructed him to, Usopp was handling himself like a noble somehow, seemingly knowing about table manners and such things, it seemed he wanted to get a good impression on the cooks here for some reason.
Luffy didn't care about such things as he picked his nose like he wasn't in a restaurant at all, Sanji was the only one who could still cook during such conditions as there weren't many supplies left and only he could make things that tasted good with almost no ingredients while the other cooks were too lazy to take orders now.
Sanji started to swoon around as he saw Nami and he became immediately infatuated with her, Nami as always being the scheming woman she was made him get her free food and desserts. Of course, Luffy and Usopp still had to pay for theirs.
When the food entered Luffy's mouth it seemed like an explosion of flavor was entertaining his taste buds, stars appeared in his eyes as he exclaimed:
"SO GOOD!" He ate like he didn't eat in days, Luffy ate twenty minutes before entering the restaurant.
Usopp had the same reaction as Luffy, while Nami's reaction wasn't as exaggerated as theirs she still put a hand over her cheek as she ate seemingly taking pleasure in each bite.
Luffy called for Sanji over and he asked:
"You made this food?"
Sanji took a puff of his already lit cigarette and said:
"Yes, you shitty costumer do you want seconds?"
Luffy smiled as he said:
"I have decided you join my crew as my cook!"
Sanji eyes became as big as onions, did this guy have any shame? The first thing you say to a stranger is to ask him to join your crew? Can't you at least buy me dinner first?
Sanji shook his head several times as he said:
"No, no, The old man still has a long way before he dies, I need to remain on the ship."
Suddenly old man Zeff came from upstairs as he glowered at Sanji:
"Talking about my death are you, you goddamn little eggplant!"
Sanji's eyes seemingly transformed into fire as he said:
"Who are you calling eggplant you shitty old man!"
A peg leg was suddenly found on Sanji's head, hitting him several times over it creating a bunch of bumps on it, Zeff continued:
"You didn't want to follow the guys that came some years ago and now you don't want to go with these guys, you don't understand already? I'm telling you to go!"
Sanji's eyes widened as Zeff told him the truth directly in his face, the old man wanted him to go?
Sanji looked at Zeff and he asked:
"Old man.. why?"
Zeff seemingly took a reminiscent gaze as he looked at Sanji and he responded to his question with another question:
"Do you remember our dream?"
Sanji suddenly remembered and he said:
"But old man wasn't the restaurant your dream?"
Zeff sadly shook his head and said:
"This is the dream of an old man who can't sail anymore, don't bother with me Sanji, go with these young lads, they are good kids, that Zoro guy is also plenty strong and he can take care of you."
Sanji seemed annoyed at the mention of Zoro and he said:
"Do I have to go old man?"
Zeff just answered:
"If you want to accomplish both of our dreams if you don't just stay here."
Then Zeff left upstairs doing god knows what in his room. Sanji left for his room as he remembered his past. How Zeff took him in, how the ship got attacked and they ended up on a rock with very few supplies, on how they shared their dreams, on how Zeff gave him his last food so he could survive and how he ate his leg.
He needed to, no he had to accomplish their shared dream, he had to find all blue, and even if he couldn't he had to try!
Sanji started to pack his things and after a few tens of minutes he was done, he packed quite a few cigarette packs and all his clean suits.
Luffy was ready to leave the ship as he already ate and paid, well Kuina gave Nami money so she could pay for all the boys would eat so technically Kuina paid for the food.
Sanji suddenly ran and he asked Luffy:
"Have you ever heard of all blue?"
Luffy shook his head and said:
"Nope!"
Sanji came forward to Luffy and started to explain to him about all blue, Luffy's eyes turned into stars as he said:
"Wow we surely have to go there one day, fishes from all the seas, that sounds yummy!"
Sanji chuckled at Luffy's naivety and he asked:
"What's your dream Luffy was it?" Sanji already heard Nami and Usopp mention Luffy's name as Luffy mentioned Nami's and Usopp's as well.
Luffy puffed up his chest as he said:
"I'm going to become the king of pirates!"
Sanji chuckled then it turned into full-blown laughter:
"The marimo wants to be the world's strongest swordsman you want to be the King of Pirates and I want to go to all blue, this is an interesting crew, what about you mademoiselle, and you uh Usopp?"
Nami said:
"I want to make a map of the world!"
And Usopp said:
"And I want to become a great warrior of the sea and meet my father which is an officer of the Yonko!"
Sanji's eyes widened at Usopp's mention of the Yonko, his father was an officer on such a ship?
He took a double look at Usopp but he only looked average at best, while his physique did get better with Zoro's training it didn't get to the part he looked that well made.
Sanji continued to chat with the trio as they walked towards the ship.
Zoro suddenly woke up as Kaya finished patching him up and Kuina was near the bed where he placed holding his hand. Kuina smiled as Zoro woke up but Zoro suddenly said something that puzzled her:
"I feel something isn't right!"