"This is where we leave you then." Roger clapped Mihawk hard on the back, sending him stumbling forward a foot or two. The man laughed loudly and waved his bare arms around, showing off the new ink on his right arm. It was a black flag with his sigil on it. What better way to hide it's true nature then in the pride and smugness of their crew.
Shanks hopped over, hair pinned back in too many pins to count. He grinned as he tugged Buggy over and the blue haired teen mumbled something too soft to be heard. "Thanks Mihawk! We can still write letters through Severus though, right?" He asked and pointed at the raven that sat stiffly on his shoulder.
Mihawk nodded and chuckled lowly, "Yes. Remember that the tattoos are for absolute emergencies only." He warned them again and paused for a moment when he saw their faces take a more determined look. Mihawk gave a soft laugh and then dragged them both into a tight hug. They were quickly worming their way into his heart…
"We know, we know." Buggy said and he struggled in the hug just for show as he was the last to let go.
"Be safe, Hawky!" Shanks said before both the young teens startled at Rayleigh's loud yell.
A frown pulled at his lips and he let out a heavy sigh as he watched them go into town. He took a different turn though and began walking deeper into the woods. He reached out with his right hand and closed his eyes for a moment. It took longer than he would have liked to pull the line to a plane where he could see it, but it made things easier as it wrapped and coiled up his arm. The golden colored string tugged him forward and deeper into the woods.
It wasn't until dusk when he came across a hut within the woods. Mihawk slowed down and he held his hands out when he saw the silver tiger lying in front of the closed door. The tiger merely raised it's head in a haughty way before slowly stretching to a standing position. It took two steps before it's large back paw hit the door thrice.
"What the hell ya want now, ya mangy cat!" The yell was followed by the door slamming open and a man walked out. There was soot on his arms and his long brown hair was pulled into dreads and tied back behind his head. Gold eyes narrowed at him and the man shook his finger, "Oh no. No, no. He didn't say anything about a brat coming here." The man said and seemed to blend into the darkness around them with skin tone alone. Not to mention the aura he had.
"It isn't exactly mutual." Mihawk said dryly and he walked over, offering his hand to the tiger to smell. "Regardless, I still need you to help me train." He let out a small smile when the tiger, however reluctant it was, let him start petting him and get closer.
"Tsk," The man rolled his eyes and then waved his hand around, "Alright, alright. We start at dawn then. The man left all your crap that you'd need over there." He said and headed back to his hut after giving a general direction.
The door slammed shut and Mihawk raised a brow, "How quaint…" He muttered and then stood, brushing off his legs before looking to the tiger, "Want to come with?" He asked and then laughed softly at the snooty little huff the tiger gave before leading the way.
It didn't take long to find a similar hut in the woods and Mihawk opened the door, letting the tiger in first before following behind. The place was bare bones which suited him just fine. It had a double bed and a dresser with his trunk shoved off to the side. A soft sound left him as he walked over and he hissed the password in soft words, listening as the locked unlatched to allow him in.
The chest was filled with not only clothes that would suit this realm, but potions ingredients and seeds, tools that he wouldn't be able to find, and different metals, stones, and jewels. He had no doubt that people here would pay millions to get their hands on it all, but it was all safely packed and locked away until he reached his castle once more.
He pulled out clothes for the night and changed before falling back onto the bed, arm tossed over his eyes. The tiger jumped up beside him and the bed creaked as the large body cuddled close. A soft laugh left Mihawk and he rolled onto his side, throwing his arms around the furry body.
"Maybe you'll keep the nightmares at bay then?" He said softly and buried his face into the tiger's neck as he slipped into both sleep and meditation. He still had to talk to the demon that was roaming his mind… which was alarming, but not so much all things considered. He was starting to think his mind would never be just his own anymore.
Mihawk sat on the thrown like chair in the great hall. He chuckled to himself as he watched the wine in his glass shift to several different colors. Whenever he phased in like this it always amused him as it was what Death often did when talking to his reapers and the other deities that thought they could challenge him.
He looked up as he took a sip of the dark wine and caught eyes with the shadow dragon that had been lurking the halls of his mind. There was no ill intent between either of them and the dragon simply walked up the steps until they were face to face.
It was no surprise to him when the dragon took the shape of a man wrapped in shadows. His skin was as pale as the moon and golden eyes looked out from under a set of dark horns. Whether they were black or some kind of purple would be a debate between the two for the many years to come.
"Do you know who I am? How honored you should feel that Death tied me to you?" The dark voice whispered out as he moved closer to Mihawk.
A soft sound left Mihawk and he looked up at the demon that was claiming other names, "Don't give yourself too much credit, Asmodeus. Death only offered you this as sanctuary because you upset him once more." He said knowingly and raised a brow in challenge.
He watched as Asmodeus tilted his chin up with a huff before walking closer. The Demon sat down on his lap, stealing his glass with long fingers as he made himself comfortable. "Then you should know he tied me into your animagus form for the time being. A way to contact me easier, but if you think I will give it to you easily…" He said and then a particularly lecherous grin pulled on his face showing sharp teeth.
Mihawk leaned forward and watched the excitement in the demon's eyes… before he pushed him off his lap, glass shattering. Mihawk stood and brushed himself off, "I am the Master of Death. We share traits. What he gets from my humanity I get in my uninterest in things such as you. You cannot sway me, Deo." He spoke in amusement and watched the rage be covered up by a challenging look.
"We will see. For now though, I'll let you sleep." Asmodeus said dismissively despite knowing the situation was reversed.
The demon really did have no power here. Not in his mind or outside of it, because his title protected him from all things. If needed Death and he could merge for a moment and while that was the last case scenario… it did protect him and it made Death furious in such a way that every being in existence would feel the cold chill of his touch.
Mihawk chuckled and he waved his hand dismissively as he fell back into his dreams. They would at least provide better company through the night than a caustic demon that seemed to like to take the form of a pretty boy.
"-Gonna sleep all day?" Mihawk groaned at the yelling and he opened a bleary eye to see the man from last night standing in the doorway waving a stick at the tiger who seemed less than amused.
He let out a heavy sigh and pushed himself to sit up, running a hand through his hair. "Draco, come here." He said and watched as the tiger seemed to judge the name before padding over to them. "Stop yelling so loud." Mihawk added on when he looked at the man once more.
"Name's Lupus. Don't forget it." He snapped back out in response before straightening up. He set a hand on his hip and in the other he had a blindfold and a stick. "Training starts now brat so get up and shut up. We have a lot of work to do in the next few years. Gotta make you go from a stick to a man." He said with a growing grin on his face that didn't instill any confidence in Mihawk…
With a groan Mihawk got up and he pulled on a pair of pants that he didn't really care about before trudging out into the field as he followed his new teached.
"Alright, get in a meditative state. First lesson is gonna be observation Haki. No use training someone who's gonna die from being dumb." Lupus said and motioned for Mihawk to sit as he offered the blindfold.
Mihawk took the strip of cloth and he looked at the man with dull eyes. "You're going to give me brain damage for training…" He said dryly and watched as the man's grin only grew wider. It could probably rival Roger's at this point and wasn't that intimidating…
By the end of a month, both teacher and student were ready to murder each other. Mihawk was grasping the concepts of Observation haki in record times due to his up-bringing, but it didn't help that Lupus started using his own to counteract it. That meant Mihawk ended up with more bruises than he should have had which was driving him mad.
That wasn't including all the drills, running, weights, and general exercise he was being made to do. Something about becoming more in tune with this world so he didn't get thrown off by things like wonky gravity on some of the islands.
If that wasn't enough, he didn't even get breaks in his sleep as Deo would constantly come and harass him. Either with training of the mind and shadows or to just harass him in general. There was only so many time he could fend off the lust filled demon before he just snapped and killed everyone.
Not that he would.
Probably.
"Master!"
Mihawk groaned and he pulled the pillow off his face and sat up. There was bags under his eyes and he was growing the start of a beard from lack of time to simply shave. He looked at the shadow raven for a moment before nodding and held out his hand for the letter with a grunt of appreciation. With letter in hand he hardly paid attention to Draco and Severus starting their bickering with each other.
"Hey Hawky! It's me Shanks! And Buggy! And Buggy. Ha. We got further down a bit. Things are getting really weird though. Someone keeps following and calling Captain and it's really weird. I mean we are still in the first half of the grandline right? Oh! Captain and Ray got higher bounties again! I can't wait till we get our own. Speak for yourself! I just wanna find treasure and gold! Yea, yea, Buggy we know. Hahaha. Anyways. We just wanted to tell you about some of the awesome islands we've found! We were on a desert…"
Mihawk leaned against the wall as he read the letter. A small, soft smile pulled at his lips as he read through their bickering to see what they were really saying. The fact they were being followed by an unknown was enough to set him on edge, but he had to believe in Roger to protect his crew and the two teens he had recklessly let join. In his eyes they were still too young, but… when it's either that or living on the streets he could see the appeal. They were a family after all.
He tilted his head back and closed his eyes for a moment before an itch started forming behind his ear. Mihawk frowned more and he pulled himself up to stand, grabbing his training sword as the bad feeling just grew more and more.
'Deo.' He called out mentally for the demon and got a huffing answer. 'Bring me to them. I can't do it alone yet.' Mihawk ordered in a firm tone, not wanting to wait for his whining hesitance.
'Fine. Be ready, it's your blue-haired brat's.' Deo said and the shadows wrapped around Mihawk before ripping him through the shadow plane to where the sigil was going off.
It was a blinding light to him and he heard Deo's sound of disgust before he was deposited onto the wet floorboards. The sound of a raging storm filled his ears alongside screams and yells. The rain pounded harshly against the decking and Mihawk looked up, eyes locking onto Shanks and Buggy.
Both boys were huddled up under the steps, strapped down to make sure they wouldn't fly off from the storm. It was safer up here. Easier if the ship sunk they would have a greater chance to escape. Not that Mihawk was going to allow that as he sent a silent and forceful push of magic into the ship to reaffirm it.
He crawled over to them and pulled them both into his arms. He could feel them shaking and he looked up to glare at the cause of it all.
Dozens of ships were in front of the ship. All of them armed to the teeth and more than half being taken down below by the raging storm. Among it all stood Roger who fought against a golden maned man. He shook his head and just set his focus back on the two teens in his arms.
Blood smeared against Buggy's sigil and he quickly cleaned it and reset it for the boy before focusing in on the words.
"Buggy kept screaming about the voices!" Shanks said, tears filling his eyes as they turned red and puffy.
"They keep. They keep showing and then d-dying!" Buggy whimpered and buried his face in Mihawk's neck.
Mihawk nodded and he pulled them both closer, squeezing all of them into the corner under the stairs. He pressed his forehead to Buggy's and made Shank's sleep with a simple spell. In Buggy's case, he smothered the boy's aura in his own. He drowned out the teen's observation Haki with his own sense of calm and quiet. While Haki was still something new to him, aura's weren't and they were similar enough that he could cloak Buggy and quiet things.
"Q-Quiet…" Buggy muttered and the shaking slowly subsided.
Mihawk nodded and he pressed a kiss to the teen's forehead, watching as the exhaustion caught up and sent him to sleep.
It felt like hours before the storm lightened and they were out of the danger. The crew cheered and they passed their good wishes and calls for celebrations. Roger himself was egging it on despite the injuries he sustained and the fact the doctor was just laughing along instead of really helping.
The Hawk-eyed man, Master of Death, King of the Hallows, stood. He left the teen's cuddled together in warmth before emerging.
Every step he took, left ice behind. His aura was heavy and harsh as he quelled the entire crew under his glare. Mihawk caught eyes with every single one, watching as half passed out from the glance and aura alone. When he reached Roger and Rayleigh, both had lost their jovial moods.
"Are you done?" Mihawk asked in a low tone. "Are you done celebrating the death's of thousands that your Haki sensitive cabin boy had to bear witness to?" His voice turned colder with each word and he felt the sword in his hand creak and crack under his power.
"Sensitive? The boys are just young. They aren't used to being adults let alone pirates!" One of the crew called out and almost immediately fell to the ground writhing in pain.
"Buggy is sensitive in observational Haki. Train it." Mihawk said as he stepped into Roger's space. "Shanks is gifted in swordsmanship and armament. Train it. I know you know exactly what I mean." His voice was quiet and he saw Roger take a different stance.
This was far from the partying they had down in the East Blue. This was beginning to become serious in ways that could leave some of them dead. "Right… I'll start training the crew." He said and relented under Mihawk's stare.
The man sighed and he stepped back, pulling his aura close as the sword finally gave way to dust in his hands. "Good… I will get the teen's settled in. Celebrate your win after you explain to the crew how dangerous things will begin to get." He said and turned on his heel, scars put to bear. He hadn't bothered getting dressed and he still didn't care as the faded words were hardly anything he thought of anymore.
Mihawk managed to lift both of the teen's in his arms and he carried them below deck to the room that they'd shared. He forced his magic to comply as he conjured pillows and blankets before settling down with them in just a pile of cuddles and warmth and safety. A soft sound left Mihawk as he hit his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
He needed to work on his emotions more it seemed…