DISCLAIMER: EIICHIRO ODA OWNS ONE PIECE, I OWN THIS STORY
Mihawk was bored. He was very bored. He was asleep. He got bored of being asleep. Nothing ever interesting happened in Paradise. Why did I come here again? He stared dully into the sky and closed his eyes, I forgot.
Then ten big galleons came, parading all their (disgusting) glory. At first, the Number One Swordsman didn't care. Then, one idiot shot a cannon at him. Mihawk stared at the burning remains of the ship in revulsion, I was having such a nice dream. How dare they interrupt it?
Casually, easily, deliberately, he cut down ship after ship, training his eyes on the one (bigger than the rest) galleon in the middle. And slowly, he advanced, and left a trail of broken bodies behind him. Everything passed by him in a blur, the man himself not bothering to remember what he was doing.
One moment, he was in the Grand Line, and the next he was in East Blue, drifting on the seas, following the galleon on his Haki radar. Once he got in range, he unsheathed Yoru and then re-sheathed her. A quick technique. One meant as a one-shot kill. But he wouldn't be using it to kill anyone.
He was bored. He wanted to play with his prey first.
Everything else passed by him. Went in one ear, and out the other, that is. It wasn't until the green haired one stepped on the field that he actually started paying attention. A challenger? Mihawk stared disinterestedly at Zoro, For the East Blue he's strong, I'll give him that. But it's East Blue. The weakest.
"Oh, what's this?" Mihawk tilted his head mockingly, "Another weakling coming to challenge me?" Let's see if he can keep his temper.
The green haired one simply grunted out a yes. Ah. He at least has a bit of control. That's good. Mihawk fingered the necklace dagger he was wearing slightly before unsheathing it. Shanks had given it to him. Said that Mihawk could use it for cutting butter or something. Well… cutting down opponents was the same as cutting butter, right?
Mihawk had to fight to keep a grimace off his face. If Whitebeard's Fourth Division Commander ever heard him say that, whether or not Mihawk was Number One would not matter in the face of Death and Vengeance.
"Here. This is what I'll fight you with. Unfortunately, I do not have any blade smaller than this, my apologies." Mihawk felt genuine regret as he was saying this. He had used this knife to cut onions earlier today, and he didn't have time to clean it. Besides, this guy's katanas were pathetic. Mihawk eyed the training katanas with mild disgust. That kid really thought he could take on Mihawk without good Katanas? Maybe he really truly did deserve the onion knife… even if it was Mihawk's favorite…
"HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME!" The green haired one roared, putting his third katana (the actually good one) in his mouth and charging over to Mihawk. For a few seconds, Mihawk's mind stalled. His mouth. He put a katana in his mouth. What the [chocolate fudge cake].
"Onigiri!" the man growled, running forward, his three swords connecting at one point. That attack would be strong… but he's so… Mihawk stared at him unimpressed, slow. Leisurely, he thrust his arm out and met the three swords with his one small dagger easily.
"Is that all you've got?" Mihawk felt slightly let down, "What a shame."
The kid growled and leapt backwards before flipping around and slashing at Mihawk over and over again. Mihawk idly dodged an attempted slash at his stomach, and parried another aimed at his arm. Whoever this kid is, he's broadcasting his movements too much. Mihawk frowned a little, What was I even expecting to be this disappointed?
The kid murmured another move, and left his heart open, and without thinking, Mihawk plunged his blade in. Not enough to graze the organ beneath the skin, but enough to make his opponent feel the pain. (Which was doubled, because, again, he cut onions with that knife and forgot to clean it.)
"Why aren't you stepping back?" Mihawk questioned, mildly confused. The kid was no doubt in agony right now, so why was he torturing himself? Why doesn't he just step back?
His opponent smiled a bloody smile and panted out, "Because I feel that… if I step back… I'll be losing something great… Breaking a promise I made so long ago to a dead friend… It is the last thing I want to do."
"Yes." Mihawk said simply, "That is defeat."
The kid closed his eyes, "Defeat eh? Then I'd rather have death."
Mihawk felt a small candle of what could only be described as respect ignite itself within his being. "I see." He stated, sheathing his special knife, "Then I will end you with my sword." He unsheathed his sword and held it in place of his knife, "Yoru."
The kid smiled and stepped back, putting his katana into a windmill-esque position. "Santouryuu ougi… Three thousand worlds." And he jumped forward at the same time Mihawk did, both of them passing at one point. Mihawk felt a cold breeze on his arm, and almost smiled before realizing that he was wearing long sleeves.
Slowly, he looked down and saw a slight tear in his clothing. Cautiously, he fingered it, as if to check if it were real or not. Once he confirmed that, yes, it was real, and yes, a kid from East Blue was able to cut him with those two pathetic katanas, he turned around to finish the duel. (Also, to get his mind off of the fact that oh wow, this kid actually was able to land a hit).
Mihawk raised his sword for the final blow, but almost dropped it when the kid turned around and bared his chest to Mihawk with a grin. "…Why?" Mihawk questioned, instead leveling the sword evenly with him.
"Because scars on the back… are a swordsman's shame." All of a sudden, Mihawk felt like the world had stopped, and it was just the two of them for a few moments. When the world started up again, all his boredom was washed away, This kid is going to be the one who will dethrone me from the top. He decided, No one else.
"Well said." Mihawk praised, as he raised Yoru and cut down, a cut that would never heal. A reminder. A reminder that Zoro (he later learned the kid's name when he first got the bounty poster) would have to return one day and take revenge. Finally. Mihawk mused, Something interesting.
He watched as the kid crumpled into the ocean, and his friends went down to save him. All of a sudden, he felt a slight spike in aura. Cautiously, he poked around the area with his Haki, and found Zeff plus one other… child? Adult? Ancient?
He saw the unknown's eyes widen as he took in Zoro's condition, and all of a sudden, the aura that seemed to be bubbling under wraps was finally ripping out. Mihawk nearly trembled under the weight of what could only be described as Power.
Then, the pendant on the unknown's chest glowed a little, and the entire aura was pulled back. Clarity seemed to return to the unknown's eyes as they met the gazes of everyone at the area, before meeting Mihawk's, and all of a sudden, in the now muted aura, Mihawk could've sworn he sense a bit of surprise and dread.
"Who are you?" he questioned, leveling Yoru towards the unknown.
The unknown tilted their head, "I… am Luffy. Monkey D Luffy. I know you Dracule Mihawk." The unknown returned.
"Ah, you're Shanks' boy." Mihawk murmured, staring at Luffy suspiciously, "If you're so strong, what are you doing in East Blue?"
Luffy shook his head, "That is my business, not yours. But if you truly must know, I'm finding my irreplaceable crew once more."
Mihawk tilted his head at the strange wording, "Once more?"
Luffy nodded, "Aye, once more."
"CAPTAIN!" the kid shouted out, raising his one good sword to the sky, tears streaming down his face, "THIS IS ME FORMALLY JOINING YOUR CREW! I PROMISE YOU! I WILL BE NUMBER ONE!"
Luffy relaxed, and called back, "Good! As the Pirate King, I will accept no less!" he replied easily, laughing a little.
"Pirate King?" Mihawk questioned, surprised, "That's a fate even harder than Number One. One that will be very tough to reach."
Luffy shrugged, "Eh, I find it pretty simple; I make it or I die."
Mihawk nodded slowly, "A gruesome way of reaching your goal." But respectable.
"Anyways." Luffy hummed, rocking back and forth on his heels. It was best Mihawk left as soon as possible. A butterfly effect was not needed at the moment. Not when I've finally made it this far. He thought grumpily, "Are you done playing? I kinda need to pay off a debt to Old Man Zeff here and defeat Don Krieg."
Mihawk raised one brow elegantly, "This weakling?" he nudged his nose over to where Krieg was yelling indignantly, "He talks too much. But I suppose you could play with him now. My boredom has… been sated."
Luffy grinned, "You know, for someone who has the Gothic 'I don't talk much' look, you're actually a pretty chatty guy!"
Mihawk looked at his clothing forlornly, "Do I really project that image?" he murmured, "Ah well, I like my wardrobe too much to care. I'll see your crew again, I believe. Until then." Mihawk tipped his hat, and swung his sword around in a graceful arc, making the water around his coffin boat rise up and engulf him. When the water receded, he was no longer there, and neither was his boat.
"Huh." Luffy commented absently, seemingly oblivious to the wide-eyed and gaping stares being sent his way, "That guy likes his theatrics, doesn't he?"
"Finally!" Don Krieg huffed.
Oh that guy. Almost forgot about him. Luffy stared at Don Krieg uninterestedly, Whenever I look at this guy all I can imagine is celery. Mm… must be the teeth. Luffy eyed them with mild disgust.
"Now that we're uninterrupted by that monster…" Don Krieg leveled a gun at Luffy, "I can crush you!" he crowed.
Luffy stared at him, attempting to comprehend, "What." He said flatly, "You think you can beat me?"
"No." Krieg said imperiously, and Luffy could see Gin slap his forehead in exasperation, "I know I can."
Luffy stared at him again, "That… was kind of pathetic, and cringy, and corny, not gonna lie." He said truthfully, "But then again, your idiocy kind of makes all those things reasonable."
Zeff masked a chuckle with a cough. Erm—multiple coughs. "Zeff!" Patty cried, running to the old man, "Are you okay? Everything fine? You're not in a life-threatening situation right now which we can't fight off?"
"Look. Around." Zeff growled, "Now shut up. I want to see this. Oh, and get Sanji."
"You called?" Sanji huffed out a smoke, striding up next to Zeff.
"Yeah." The old cook grunted, "Take a close look. This isn't quite what I wanted you to see, but it's a close second." He grumbled.
"I don't understand." Sanji tilted his head questioningly.
"That kid in the straw hat." Zeff murmured, "Is on the level of the people of the Grand Line. If you ever wish to find All Blue." He jerked his head over to where Luffy was standing, completely unbothered by the barrage of bullets flying towards him, "That's the level you need to be at."
Back to Luffy—
He stared boredly at the bullets being flung his way. These weren't Grand Line bullets. They weren't made of kairoseki. They were just bullets. And he was rubber. Luffy sighed, How annoying. This guy isn't even going to last five minutes, is he?
Luffy felt 18 or so of the 50 bullets attacking him embed themselves into his skin. The rest glanced off into the water. He snapped his head up, Nope. I suppose not. And the bullets returned to Krieg at double the speed.
Krieg raised an arm and blocked his face, his bullets bouncing off his armor like it was nothing. Once the reflected barrage was done, he removed his arm and glared Luffy down, "You have a Devil Fruit." He said disgustedly, "Of course."
"Ah yes." Luffy returned sarcastically, "Of course. Are there any other revelations you would like to share with us Captain Obvious?" he snarked, before pausing, I think Girashi rubbed off on me…
Krieg's face turn red and he attempted to sputter out a reply in order to save face with his crew. When he couldn't settle on anything, Luffy decided to rub it in.
"Wow. The strongest man in allllll of the World cannot think back up a reply to me?" he drawled, "So, uh, eloquent." Dang it. Almost forgot that word there.
He felt Zeff's aura rise up and bubble with amusement, before it immediately wilted in dread. Why? Ah yes, that was because…
Why is he opening his mouth? Luffy's mood soured as he stared at Patty yell.
"Hey Krieg? Would you like some ice? Cuz you just got burned! HAHAHA!" the bulky man guffawed in laughter, entirely oblivious to the menacing aura permeating the air.
Luffy frowned, This isn't good. He internally growled, I can't let Sanji's precious ones die here. Not now not ever. He crouched down and stepped backwards a little, ready to launch off his front foot and deliver a straight kick to Don Krieg's galleon.
Unfortunately, it was at that moment, Pearl-dude chose to butt himself into the picture. Luffy growled in pain, and clutched his hands to his ears. What kind of demonic sound is that? He glared at the armored man who seemed to be gloating his victory against the Straw Hat.
"Would you just stop banging those… shields together?" Luffy grounded out, "You're making me want to… commit murder."
"Ha!" Pearl-dude sneered, "Then murder yourself."
Luffy stared at him uncomprehendingly, before speaking to him gently, as if Pearl-dude was a toddler, "No, Pearl-dude, I can't do that. Who will become Pirate King then? If anything, you should die, it's not like you'll amount to much anyways." Luffy muttered the ending callously.
Pearl-dude gasped indignantly and started banging his shields together even more vigorously, "How dare you!" he screeched, "I will not—"
"I have had enough." Luffy snarled, grabbing Pearl-dude by the throat, "I have been in the same place for the past three days to find one member of my crew. Nearly lost another. And I'm in the process of saving my Navigator. I do not have the time nor the patience to deal with people like you." And slowly, started the tedious process of crushing the windpipe of one Pearl-dude who seemed to just begin to realize how much danger he was in.
"DANGER DANGER!" he hollered hoarsely, but by that time, Luffy was already well on his way to permanently disfiguring his vocal cords. And even if he could catch fire… well… Luffy's brother was Ace, and that was enough in and of itself, wasn't it?
Luffy finally snapped Pearl-dude's neck with a resounding snap and let go of the now limp body. Blankly, he met the eyes of everyone here, looking into their very souls, and into their very secrets. In most of the crew, he saw fear or sickness. In Gin's he saw horror and pain, no doubt from a comrade lost. And in Krieg's?
Luffy narrowed his eyes in rage.
He saw nothing.
Slowly, he stalked towards the ship, before abruptly shifting into Gear Two (even if it shortened his lifespan, it was much more satisfying to feel the heat under his skin as he destroyed his enemies on his own terms) and sped over to Krieg, launching a devastating kick at his solar plexus.
Krieg let out a little mmph and slid backwards. Luffy didn't give him any time to recover, instead lunging forward once more and tearing off Krieg's armor, bit by bit, piece by piece, entirely impervious to the spikes, the bullets, and, oh, was that a stun gun?
Luffy smiled humorlessly, No matter. It will do nothing against me.
True to his word, everything just bounced off his metallic blackened skin, and he just kept on ripping at Krieg's armor. Once Krieg was finally able to get some breathing room (mostly because Luffy let him) he jumped back and took great, heaving breaths.
"You." He finally snarled, pointing one, swollen finger at Luffy, "I will make you pay."
Luffy rolled his eyes, "Yeah." He said sarcastically, "Sure you will."
It was at that moment, Krieg unleashed his exploding spear, and really, all Luffy could do at that moment was yawn.
"Is that seriously all you've got?" Luffy grumbled, this time dodging the spear, "I think I forgot what East Blue was like."
Krieg growled, and Luffy felt a little bit of vindictive satisfaction seeing the man squirm under the pressure. Then, all of a sudden, Luffy's Observation Haki failed. What. Luffy's eyes widened, and he felt panic rising underneath his skin, No… not now… I already reached my limit?!
Krieg saw Luffy slowly start panicking, and smiled, "Aw, you finally realizing that you will never be able to beat me?" he asked cockily, unexpectedly flicking his wrist up and making the spear hook right above Luffy's chest.
How delusional can this guy be? Luffy stared at him dryly, No matter. Guess I'll end this… now… his eyes widened as he belatedly felt the explosion touch his collarbone, scald his skin, and burn the line of the pendant he was wearing.
Luffy numbly watched the pendant fall closer and closer to the ground, as the horribly familiar haze creeped up on the edge of his mind and take over his consciousness. And then, he was dragged back, kicking and screaming, to Omatsuri Island.
0~o~0
Luffy blearily opened his eyes and found vines curl themselves around him. Vines? That's new… Why was he here again? He closed his eyes tiredly, I don't remember.
Nothing came rushing back this time. It was quiet. No one was there. His crew… Where were they? What were their names again? Why was he… forgetting?
Luffy's eyes screwed shut and he grimaced, as the vines tightened around his body, Why can't I remember?!
He kept questioning himself. Questioning his memory, as more and more of it disappeared and left gaps in his character. His pain senses were numbed, so he couldn't feel anything… But if they weren't…
Then maybe he'd realize that he was being eaten alive.
AN: So, uh, heyyyyy... In my absolutely justified defense, school has been E. And I have to factor in one more class into my schedule and also dedicate my entire Saturday for extra Math, and well, my time has really been cut down. To The Matriarchy (guest): THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME. I needed that, like seriously. You guys reminding me to update shows me that my story is being loved, and that I'm doing well. So thank you, thank you all for being patient. I hope you liked this chapter! Post a review down below, and favorite/follow!
Uh, yeah, one more thing... The first half of this chapter was written when I was stressed about multiple things, so please tell me if anything sounds weird or if there are any inconsistencies! I will fix them. Sorry about the long wait and the short chapter. ;v;
~~Oracle