Hello everybody,

sorry for being somewhat late (as I was about to post some kind soul informed me that somebody had copied on of my works and uploaded it on another site without my permission, so I had to deal with that first, sorry, but it was slightly upsetting me so I wanted to take care of it as fast as possible. Thank you again for telling me).

I hope you will enjoy this soft little chapter, we're still in the calm before the storm, so be patient, soon there will be more action, I promise ;-)

Thank you all for your lovely comments (especially from the mysterious guest, who took the time to comment often on this fic and on the prequel) and if you ever have a question or something doesn't make sense, please don't be shy and just tell me ;-) It's a long story, it's hard to remember all that happened, so I will gladly answer all of it in PM (which is sadly not possible if it's a guest comment, but I will explain it in the notes of the next chapter [so here, for you my dear guest: Yes, after leaving the Crew Roronoa only carried Josei with him, which he also used to fight during ambush, while Mihawk carried the other three swords]) ^^'


Chapter 7 - Countenance

-Zoro-

"What's your problem?" He growled as the ghost girl stormed back in. He had just tried to reach Hawk Eyes with his transponder snail.

"Stop being so moody. You get ugly wrinkles from that." She didn't seem to take him seriously. "I just wanted to bring you something to eat. You must be hungry."

The smell of cookies filled the room and his stomach grumbled in agreement.

"What's wrong with you?" He complained to cover the treason of his stomach. "I don't like you and don't need your help, so why are you even here?"

She sat down again on the chair she had left not even two minutes ago.

"I don't really like you either. You're rude and have no manners, and you're anything but delightful, despite your sweet face. But..." The girl hesitated. "But I've been alone for weeks now and although you don't really seem like the brightest candle, at least you're someone to talk to."

She looked away, her large, round eyes shimmering slightly.

"Since this Shichibukai sent me away from Thriller Bark, I haven't been able to talk to anyone. I don't know what happened to Master Moria or how my toys are doing. This castle is beautiful and everything is pleasantly creepy, but there was no one there who could talk to me. Leaving the castle is not an option with these ugly monkeys who want nothing more than to kill you." Her voice trembled and she bowed away under the tray she handed him. "Therefore, I ask you, even if you are a meany, do not leave me alone."

Surprised, he looked at her. She was indeed odd. Then he looked at the tray with a small mountain of colorfully painted cookies.

"I don't eat anything like that," he murmured, watching the undried pink glaze dripping down on the plate. He could almost see the sweet, sticky sugar clogging his veins.

"What?! I made them especially for you."

"I don't like sweet stuff. It's disgusting."

"How dare you?! That's really not nice. When someone makes food for you, you are grateful and eat it, no matter what it is."

He folded his arms.

"Why should I? This crap is unhealthy, and I see no reason to eat something that I don't like just because of your feelings."

"You meany!"

"If you cook something good, I'll eat it."

"Do I look like I'm your kitchen maid?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Then don't. I didn't ask you to."

Angry, she got up and grabbed the tray.

"I liked Lady Loreen from the newspaper much better," she grumbled.

"Maybe that's because Lady Loreen from the newspaper doesn't exist. She and I don't share much more than our appearance."

She looked at him.

"I'm starting to agree with you. Well, fine! I'll cook something different for you, but you better eat that, understood?!"

"If I like it."

"Stop being so rude!"

He shrugged his shoulders again. "Hey, you do all of this voluntarily because you don't want to be alone. Don't expect gratitude from me."

She stamped her foot on the ground.

"I should have left you outside, maybe the monkeys would have eaten you up."

"Yeah, you could have," he replied, "but then you would still be alone."

Angry, she suppressed a small outcry and stormed out.

He laughed softly and leaned back; it was as if he were arguing with a young child.

But then once again he became aware of the situation, he was in. He didn't have time to think about angering that chick.

He pulled out the little transponder snail from under the blanket and pressed the little button again. It yawned widely and then raised its eyes, beeping quietly in front of him, and then somebody picked up.

-Mihawk-

He closed the door with pursed lips.

He had just bid Kanan and her family farewell, who faked to be taking the bedridden Lady Loreen home. Gonu, the family doctor, had promised to contact him as soon as they would arrive safely on Sasaki. The plan was anything but flawless and only needed a somewhat too suspicious official to catch them off guard, but considering how little time he had had, Mihawk was still satisfied. He also trusted Kanan enough to know that the plan would not fail, and even if it would, he was no longer in control by now. He had done what he had been able, had covered up Roronoa's disappearance and had driven Eizen away.

The only thing left for him now was to wait, to wait for Roronoa to reach out for him.

Should he call him again?

No, it was irrational. Roronoa had not been able to pick up before, for whatever reason, yet he had tried to call Mihawk once, so it would be the best to wait for Roronoa to do so again.

Nevertheless, Mihawk held this little snail in his hands again. It was pathetic. A few hours ago, he had decided that the younger one was not supposed to be anything but his student, that their relationship was purely professional and that he would not be distracted by any earnest feelings.

The last few hours had proved the exact opposite.

With quiet steps he returned to his rooms, the little snail still in his hand. What had the other done to him?

The snail beeped quietly.

Before he knew what he was doing, he pressed the button.

For a moment it was dead silent, no one spoke.

"Hey."

He took a deep breath, hearing the voice of his little frog, rough and exhausted, but clearly Lady Loreen. He could feel the tension falling off and he dropped on the next best sofa. For a second, he just took a deep breath before rubbing his face with one hand.

"Hey, are you...?"

"Are you alone?" He interrupted the other wary. "Can you talk freely?"

"Yes, I can, but..."

"What the hell were you thinking, you disobedient, wayward child?!" He was barely able to control his voice. "Without any further notice you just disappear?! Do you actually have a clue what...?"

"Mihawk", the other mumbled, "nothing happened, okay?"

Once again, he rubbed through his face with one hand and took another deep breath. Anger would not help him right now.

"Are you safe?" He asked the most important question.

"Yes, at least I think so," the other replied plain.

"Where are you?" He asked the second most important question.

"Oh, to be honest, no idea."

"Excuse me?" He was surprised by how little that response shocked him.

"Yes, no idea. I am on some island with some castle and... I think there are wild monkeys or something, but like no people."

The Shichibukai paused for a moment; this description seemed strangely familiar, but he did not want to believe in such a coincidence.

"And how did you get there?" He asked, instead of thinking about probabilities.

The other was quiet for a moment.

"Roronoa!" He hissed more urgently.

"Have you... have you heard of my crew?" The voice of the youngster almost broke.

Mihawk sighed as the other confirmed his worst fears.

"You saw what happened, right? What Bartholomew Kuma did?" He replied more serene now.

"Yes," the other whispered softly, and then added, "I shouldn't have left."

But Roronoa evaded to explain what exactly he meant by that.

"Yes, that was extremely foolish of you. How do you come up with the idea of leaving the only safe place within the Holy Land?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," the other grumbled back. "What do you think I should have done? Order me some tea and biscuits and wait for his Lordship Dracule to come back from his oh so important meeting with the fucking Marines?!"

"Yes, you should have waited for me! Then I wouldn't have to search half the world for you!"

"What the hell? What are you talking about? Don't tell me you've left Mary Joa? Are you completely nuts, you have to..."

"No, Of course I didn't leave Mary Joa. Please, Roronoa, do you really think I would lose my countenance so quickly and give up my title, just on a wimp of finding you?"

"Konte... what?"

He sighed. Mutual accusations and teasing might be an entertaining pastime, but certainly not purposeful.

"Roronoa, let us focus. Do you know how you ended up on this island?"

It was quiet on the other side of the line.

"I was looking for Kuma."

This confession did not surprise him much either.

"And you found him." There was no question.

"I wanted to know what he had done with my crew."

"Of course," Mihawk muttered, leaning back. He just questioned everytime he had praised the other as wise, careful, or mature.

"And then he sent me away, like them."

Sighing, he realized that even that did not surprise him anymore.

"Does he know that Roronoa Zoro and Lady Loreen are one and the same person?" He asked.

"What? No, of course not!" Roronoa replied, his voice now even rougher than before.

"And what about the straw hats? Could he see a connection between them and Lady Loreen?"

The other took a moment too long to answer: "No, I... I don't think so."

"You think? That would be something completely new to me."

"Stop nagging around. Nothing has..."

"Do not tell me that nothing has happened." Now he leaned forward. "Do you know what I had to do to make sure that no one notices how Lady Loreen had just disappeared from Mary Joa? Even Eizen asked for you."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you it was horrible for you to put Eizen in his place"

"Roronoa. I was worried about you. How should I know what had happened? You could just as easily have been kidnapped."

The other did not respond.

"It was reckless," Mihawk continued calmly, "it was reckless and thoughtless. You cannot allow yourself such actions anymore. There is too much at stake for such thoughtless behavior."

Roronoa was still silent.

"Although I can understand that you wanted to search for your crew."

The younger one laughed weakly: "Not that I found them."

"I am certain that if they are still alive, they will all try to reach their last meeting place," Mihawk said aloud. A rather weak attempt to soothe Roronoa.

"The Sabaody Archipelago," the other muttered.

"Exactly."

"Then I have to go there."

He sighed, he had already expected that reply. He would have done the same when something like this would have happened to his crew, as he would still do it today, if something like this would happen to Roronoa.

Deeply sighing, he made a decision, betraying every thought he had about keeping the other at distance.

"As you wish; I will take off right away," he said coolly.

"Wait, what?" The other muttered surprised.

"Of course. You want to join your crew, I promised to help you with this intent, so..."

"But if you leave Mary Joa now before the war conference, you would lose your title, right? I thought the order to support the Marines was absolute."

Now that really surprised him. A soft smile crept on his lips.

"Roronoa, think about it a little bit more realistically. You are stranded somewhere only God knows, obviously exhausted as your voice tells me; you have no knowledge about manoeuvring a ship and I don't even want to discuss your lack of ability to read maps. With the help of the Vivre Card I should be able to find you quickly and unlike you, I am able to travel the world's oceans without getting lost."

It was a simple solution, the consequences of which he was well aware of, but he also had sorted his priorities by now.

"You want me to be realistic?" The other grumbled in plain annoyance. "You want to tell me that your strategy is smart? Abandoning your title just because you doubt that I can survive a few days without you? Damn it, what do you think I've done for the last twenty years of my life? I'll be fine on my own."

"Yes, we have already seen how well this works. Let me recall, oh yes, in the East Blue I could have easily killed you, on Thriller Bark Kuma tried it and Nataku finally succeeded, you certainly did not waste any shot you had. So, excuse me if I have slight doubts about your survival strategy."

The other was silent.

"Do you finally understand?" Mihawk asked cold. It was not that he really wanted to give up his title just yet, the consequences could be immense, but if he had the choice between saving Roronoa's life or his title, then...

"No, absolutely not. I actually lack the words to describe how stupid you are," the other snorted scornfully.

"Excuse me?"

"And it seems his Lordship has hearing issues as well."

"Roronoa, this is not the time for jokes but..."

"I'm not joking! You can't leave before the war and you know that. It's stupid of you to put your title at risk so recklessly, just as reckless as it was for me to just up and leave. I thought you were smarter than me."

Stunned, Mihawk looked at the little snail in his hand, but he sighed. The younger one was right and that did not make him happy, not at all.

"Very well, then tell me what do you plan to do, Roronoa? You know that you will not reach the Sabaody Archipelago alive on your own and I can do without a second news of your death. Are you willing to wait until after next week? I did not expect you to be patient."

Roronoa, on the other hand, laughed sarcastically.

"I don't know," he murmured, "I don't think I have any other choice, do I? It's not the best solution and I kind of hate it, but it's probably the smartest one."

The sound of his voice made it clear that Roronoa was everything but happy about this development. But Mihawk agreed with the younger one and was also quite surprised.

"If it helps you," the Shichibukai muttered conciliatorily, "I assume that your crew members will take much longer to arrive. Who knows where they are right now. Presumably, they will not be faster than you."

The other did not respond.

"You should sleep now, Roronoa, you do not sound good. We will talk to each other again later when I have more information for you. It would be helpful if you would use this time to find out more about your whereabouts."

He received no reply.

"Do you listen, Roronoa? Every little detail could be helpful, and do not do anything stupid, at least for once, please. Stay calm and try to gather strength."

A quiet even breathing was imitated by the snail.

"Asleep."

Shaking his head, he listened for a moment to the calm breathing; it had something pleasant, as if it were taking all tension out of his body.

It was only now that he realized that he had not been able to rest for more than a day now and that he appreciated a healthy sleep.

He allowed himself to slide to the side and slowly closed his eyes.

What a stupid, stupid kid and how lucky he was that nothing bad had happened to him.