Hey everybody!

Hope you're having a good start into the new week! Here comes another chapter, I hope you will enjoy it, although our dear Mihawk will not be present... yeah, I heard that sigh of relief in the background; it was probably Zoro, right? ;-)

Have fun^^


Chapter 39 - Venture

-Zoro-

Silently, he continued his work, put the powder tassels aside, and took the cotton cloth, which Josei preferred to rice paper, very different from his other swords. He could feel those stern eyes staring at him but decided to ignore them. As long as the other did not speak, there was no reason for him to interrupt the silence.

Early in the morning Mihawk had left to visit his father and during the day Zoro had been able to move again, but after a brief discussion Jiroushin had refused to start training with him today, as long as Zoro did not manage to return to his original form.

Zoro was almost impressed by how unquestionable the otherwise good-humoured soldier had sounded; he must have talked to Mihawk about Zoro's training for a long time.

So Zoro had done his usual morning routine, as every day, and now he sat on his sofa and took care of his swords, aware of the Vice Admiral's eyes.

Perona had showed up several minutes ago and had mentioned that dinner would be ready in half an hour. She was the last to learn that Jiroushin would step in for Mihawk, but she seemed delighted. Obviously, she liked the Marine, probably way more than the Shichibukai.

"Oh, I just can't get used to it," Jiroushin groaned. "Can't you finally transform?"

"It's not possible yet," Zoro replied absently as he continued to examine his sword. "Believe me, I don't run around like this voluntarily."

"Argh!" Now he looked up as the blond rubbed his hair. "How could I have missed this? How have I ever thought that Loreen - that you! - could be some sweet, gentle soul? I mean, the harsh expression, the rough manner, how could I have missed all of this?"

"Not your fault," Zoro said only, brushing over Josei one last time before putting it away. "It's the same for everyone until they know who Lady Loreen really is. So don't rack your brain about it, won't do anything good."

The steps of the other echoed through the room as he walked up and down. Zoro, meanwhile, decided to take another look at his Wado-Ichi-Monji, which he had, of course, taken care of at the very first, but he felt guilty that he hadn't been allowed to train with it for so long. Only to clean them, Mihawk allowed him to carry his swords, with the exception of Josei, which Zoro took along whenever he was on the road as Lady Loreen.

"You take the whole thing pretty calmly," the Marine murmured.

"Well, what do you expect? No matter how much I resist, after little more than a day I just change, and if my Haki is exhausted then even faster. It's not great or anyhing, but after a few months you get used to it. Actually, I should be grateful that I can transform at all. Would be quite annoying if the cook couldn't look me in the eye while arguing."

"The cook? Are you talking about your crew?"

Zoro nodded only as he fixed his eyes once again on those few fine lines, he had let his sword suffer.

"But your crew doesn't exist anymore, right?"

For one moment, Zoro's gaze lingered on the finest scratch, then he looked directly at the other.

"I think it would be better for you the less you know as a Marine, but I only have 18 months left to train with Mihawk."

He could see these bright eyes getting even bigger. But then Zoro turned his gaze away and decided to focus on his sword again.

"So, two years," he heard the other mutter, "do you really think that two years in total will be enough time to defeat Hawky?"

"How am I supposed to know." Zoro shrugged and put his sword away. "How would I know how strong I need to become? After all, I've never really seen this bastard fight."

He collected his swords and looked at the soldier. Although the atmosphere between them was tense at the moment, he still liked to talk to the elder.

Even then on Sasaki, they had spent many hours exchanging not only about the sword fight, but also about the special whims of the Shichibukai, a problem shared was a problem halved after all. In addition, Zoro had noticed that it was relatively easy for him to open up to Jiroushin – which he had initially very much disliked – even though he did not know exactly why. Perhaps because the blond often reminded Zoro of Luffy, or because Jiroushin was Mihawk's best – and only – friend and Zoro trusted him. He couldn't say what the real reason was and didn't really want to worry about it.

"Sometimes during training or other situations there's a little moment when I think 'oh, that's his level', only to find out that I can't grasp his skills at all yet, even after half a year." He slightly hit the armrest. "I'm pretty annoyed that he simply does not want to fight with me."

Now Zoro rose and began to clean up his cleaning materials.

"During our first fight, I was able to estimate pretty well how strong you are, Jiroushin. The same with Homura, although he was still miles ahead of me back then. I thought I could figure out how much Mihawk is ahead of you, but he claims that even the both of you together wouldn't stand a chance against him."

How it all annoyed him. It was as if he wanted to blindly try to sort stones by color while the Shichibukai watched him laughing.

"But how can I estimate how strong he really is when he never fights with me, if he never does anything more serious..."

"So, he didn't explain it to you."

Surprised, Zoro looked up. Jiroushin stood at the other end of the room, turned towards the dark window with his arms crossed, but now he looked over to Zoro.

"Why doesn't it surprise me. Such an egoist."

"What didn't he explain to me?"

The soldier sighed. "Did he never explain to you why he can't fight you?"

"Roughly a thousand times," Zoro grumbled unimpressed, "always something about that he could hurt and kill me. Some kind of excuse that he couldn't hold back."

Now Jiroushin smiled softly. "Well, to be honest, it's not an excuse, it's the truth. The reason you've never seen Hawky fight properly is because he almost never can."

This confused Zoro.

"Why shouldn't a swordsman want to fight?"

"Oh, it's not because he doesn't want to - believe me, he's yearning for a true fight - but he can't. Not as long as he doesn't have a real opponent with whom he can fight properly and use all his strength."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

Zoro didn't understand a word. Of course, a strong opponent could spur one on; tease something out that wasn't there before, but one could fight otherwise. Even the little skirmishes against the cook could be fun without Zoro having to go all in. What kind of sad excuse was this?

Jiroushin watched him and then tilted his head slightly to the side.

"It's actually quite simple, you know. For Hawky, there are only two types of a fight, those worthy of his time and the others. Most opponents spark no interest, no fire. He can fight them without any problems – well, except for the problem that such fights usually bore him. Opponents who do not stir up his blood Mihawk fights without using even a fraction of his true power. I have fought him countless times, but I tell you, if the day ever comes for Mihawk to show his bloodlust to me, that day will be my death sentence."

"What are you talking about?" Zoro murmured, leaning against the back of the sofa. "Why would Mihawk want to kill you? Even if he enjoys a..."

"If Mihawk fights properly..." Jiroushin interrupted him but looked out of the window again. "... then it's no longer about fun, enjoyment. If Mihawk fights properly, there is no restraint, no control. Probably one of his attacks would be enough to kill me directly and I don't even want to talk about you."

Zoro stared at the soldier in dismay. The strength of which the other spoke did not really shock him; he hoped that the Shichibukai was so incredibly strong that it took one's breath away. But what worried him was the way Jiroushin talked about it.

"Does the term mental self-regulation tell you something, Roronoa Zoro?"

He shook his head.

"It's actually quite simple to explain. The human body has a lot of force, enough to break, for example, its own bones or jaw. Therefore, our brain limits the power of our muscles and prevents us from using all of it; regulates, for example how much force we need to lift an empty bucket so that we don't use as much as if trying to lift a horse. Do you understand that?"

Slowly, Zoro nodded. He had never heard of it, but it made sense. Of course, if he were to grab the cook's plate with the same force he would grip his weights, he would pretty soon have a pretty annoying problem.

"Well, the thing is, if Mihawk starts fighting properly, then this mental self-regulation no longer exists." Slowly, the soldier turned to him. "In a real fight, a fight in which Mihawk's bloodlust awakens, he loses the ability to control his attacks, even his blocks are as hard as attacks. Even though he doesn't look like it, even though he's well aware of everything he's doing, he's completely losing control, a well-civilized, well-mannered maniac you could say."

Jiroushin began to wander through the room again.

"To survive a real fight with Mihawk, you have to keep up with his raw, unrestricted power, and not many can. The red Shanks was one of the few. Although he is not a real swordsman, he too is able to put aside his mental self-regulation and fight with all his strength. But since he gave his arm for your captain, Mihawk has refused to fight him."

Zoro tried to understand what all this meant.

"There are not many people who manage to overcome this mental self-regulation, it usually requires a lot of training and both a high level of intelligence and concentration. Besides Shanks, I would only think of a handful of people, like Whitebeard or Gol D. Roger and Silvers Rayleigh." Even before Zoro could interrupt, the other continued: "They all have one thing in common, something that sets them apart from Hawky. They have all learned it as some kind of technique, just like you learned to use Haki or cell coating. Hawky, on the other hand, has never learned it, he just fights like that and that's why he's so incredibly dangerous."

Zoro was no longer sure if Jiroushin was still talking to him, as the other was staring only at the ground.

"To be honest, it's really scary to see him like that. He always says things like that he just wants to hurt his enemy a little bit, just a small cut, just one more strike, just enough to impress the other, but he never does just that. He can never hold back, he talks about just intimidating his opponent, but in the end, he kills them all mercilessly and painfully." Suddenly the soldier looked up again and stared at Zoro. "Are you really sure you want to become such a monster just to defeat Mihawk? Don't get me wrong, I don't care what happens to you, but Mihawk has taken a fancy to you and I don't know what will happen to him if he kills you. Nevertheless, I can't condone that he wants to make you a monster, losing control like this..."

"What are you talking about?" Zoro folded his arms while Jiroushin looked at him with big eyes. "So, you mean that in order to defeat Mihawk, I have to overcome this mental self-regulation or what the hell that was called?"

Jiroushin nodded: "Yes, but haven't you listened to...?"

"And that's all?"

"What?"

Zoro tilted his head slightly.

"Well, it's not that special, is it? It's just to release all the strength in the body until the muscles tear apart and you feel that just tightening your muscles is enough to break your own bone, isn't it?"

The Marine looked like he was about to throw up.

"You want to tell me you have overcome the mental self-regulation already?"

Zoro shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, it doesn't always work, but when the fight gets exciting enough... Of course, I want to win. And as I said, it's not that special now. Luffy does this regularly when he fights, I think even the stupid cook sometimes does it, no idea, his fights are mostly boring. But if that's..."

"What the hell...?!" Jiroushin stared at him stunned. "You want to tell me that your captain, black-leg Sanji, and you have learned a technique that only the strongest and cleverest can do? You are far too weak for it!"

"Excuse me?" Zoro growled, taking a step forward. "What are you talking about technique and stuff? I don't think any of us have done that consciously or anything like that, at least I don't. If the opponent is stronger you just have to get stronger yourself. To be honest, I thought every fighter can do that."

Shaking his head, the blond turned away and started walking again.

"Monsters," he muttered, before suddenly pointing to Zoro, "you and these other two, you're real monsters!"

Quietly, Zoro shrugged his shoulders again.

"I know, as I said, you worry for nothing. We can take care of ourselves and if I'm honest, I can't wait to fight against Mihawk."

"What? Although I just told you..."

"That makes it even more exciting. All I have to do is control my power so that I don't go crazy again and get even stronger and then when I finally fight him, he will fight me with all his strength, with everything he has. He will not hold back; he will not spare me. It will be a life-and-death battle, either I am strong enough to defeat him or he will defeat me." In the background, the door opened and Perona came in with the food cart, but Zoro barely noticed her when he beamed at Jiroushin. "Why did you just tell me all this? Now I am even more impatient than before. I can't wait to fight him!"

The soldier eyed him suspiciously, but then he shook his head and laughed out loud.

"You're really some weird guy, Roronoa Zoro." Jiroushin looked at him. "But I have to admit that you just remind me a lot of Hawky. I think he would look forward to such a fight as well."

Now the soldier wandered over to the dinner table.

"Not that I could understand that. It is incomprehensible to me how one willingly wants to fight in a life and death matter and inflict painful injuries on each other. You're insane."

Zoro followed the other to the table.

"But if you're really going for defeating Hawky, you still have to work a lot on your Busoshoku Hako."

"Yeah, I know. My armor must be stronger than Mihawk's otherwise he will break my swords again."

"Or you break them yourself."

Surprised, Zoro looked up as he took his seat. Perona, diagonally opposite of him, rolled her eyes. Probably because they completely ignored her and talked about something, she couldn't have a say in. Jiroushin shrugged his shoulders and began to load tons of potatoes on his plate.

"Why do you think Hawky has Yuro? It is the strongest sword in the world and indestructible beyond. A normal sword would immediately break under Hawky's true power. Shank's sword is also extremely resistant, otherwise he could never use all his might; the risk of breaking a normal sword is simply too great."

Zoro reached for the rice balls.

"You have good swords, but they can't keep up with Yuro, even Josei can't. Of course, you need to harden them to protect them from Mihawk's and Yuro's power, but don't forget that the stronger you get, the more power you use on your swords."

Thoughtfully, Jiroushin looked over to Zoro's swords.

"It's almost a small miracle that you haven't destroyed them yourself yet."

Zoro pondered what the other was talking about. He had often felt that he had overcome this strange mental self-regulation or whatever that was called, to defeat his opponent – the first time against Mr. One, if he was honest. But he had never felt that he would endanger his swords. Even in the toughest fight, they had never complained.

"Jiroushin." The soldier looked at him with raised eyebrows. "After the meal, I will transform myself. Can we train then?"

"I've already told you that I will not..."

"I know, but I'm fine, I recover quickly, but we only have a few days until Mihawk is back and I want to get stronger. Besides, it's just a matter of learning to distinguish the different Haki, it's not necessarily physically exhausting."

The soldier seriously eyed him as he feasted on his potatoes.

"You're really strongminded. We fought almost the whole day yesterday and this morning you couldn't even move and now you want to go on again? At some point you have to take a break."

Unimpressed, Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"Say, how old is Mihawk?"

"He turned 42 in March, why?"

Zoro nodded thoughtfully.

"And do you think he's at the peak of his strength at the moment or has he been stronger?"

He could see Jiroushin watching him suspiciously as he placed his fork next to the empty plate.

"What's your point, Roronoa Zoro?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Zoro took the next rice ball.

"Obviously I'm twenty years younger than him. We're all getting older and at some point Mihawk will start to get weaker. Not overnight, of course, but at some point his power will decrease, like with Rayleigh. Of course, he is becoming more and more experienced and will probably be outstanding even in old age, but I don't want to wait until he is old and grey. I want to defeat him while he is still at the peak of his power."

Perona eyed him and Jiroushin with big eyes, but did not say a word, but excitedly stuffed the fried mushrooms into her mouth. Jiroushin, on the other hand, had his arms folded and examined Zoro with a serious facial expression, but Zoro did not let himself be disturbed by it as he took the last rice ball. Then he saw the soldier grin slightly.

"It's weird. You are so similar and yet so different."

Zoro said nothing. He didn't care how much he resembled the Shichibukai or not, after all, he wanted to surpass him.

Jiroushin sighed.

"Well, fine, for all I care. But we're just doing a bit of theory today and trying it out, okay? Hawky doesn't want you to accidentally go berserk while he's not here, so we want to avoid you absorbing too much Haki, understood?"

Zoro just nodded. He had achieved what he wanted, they would continue to train, he was happy with that. The main thing was that he could get better. After what Jiroushin had told him, the desire in him to finally fight Mihawk had grown. Of course, he still had a few years before Mihawk would lose strength, but he didn't know if he could wait that long.

If he could, he would challenge him right now.