Hello everybody and a happy new year!

I hope it started for all of you in the way you hoped and that it will become your best so far!
Thank you for your sweet words. I was really nervous posting the last chapter and how you guys would receive it, so I'm soooo glad over the positive feedback. Thank you! I hope I will do you guys justice!

Have fun with the next chapter and see you monday ;-)


Chapter 49 - Beginning

-Zoro-

"Too much knee," Zoro corrected himself in annoyance and repeated the step to the side.

Since the early morning he had been training, repeatedly the same steps, repeatedly the same exercises, the same movements, to perfection, up to a thousand repetitions of perfection. It was a tedious job, boring and exhausting, but of course Zoro didn't stop.

Two days ago, he and Mihawk had returned from the headquarters and since then Zoro had been training on his own. On the way back, the Shichibukai had a flash of inspiration and since then had spent his time reading countless books in the library, leaving Zoro to himself. He had noted that it would be necessary for Zoro's future training and that Zoro would be able to cope for a few days without his supervision.

That was probably true, Zoro couldn't fight without a suitable opponent – and of course the Shichibukai refused to be available as a training partner – and therefore he did not have much left but the dull dry exercises that he had already practiced the last few weeks. Repetition was the key to success here, only with many repetitions his physical condition would steadily improve. Zoro knew he was getting better, that this training made sense, but there was one problem.

"It's boring!" Groaning, he fell to the ground and rubbed his sweaty face.

He was dissatisfied; he knew that training was not always fun and that he had to bite through, but he didn't like it at all. He had no problem with discipline, perseverance, and thousands of strenuous hours that did not bear any fruit. He had no problem falling into the dirt a thousand times and getting up again. He had no problem with being scolded and corrected a thousand times. But it didn't change a small thing: Zoro was craving for a fight.

Sighing, he pulled on his hair.

"And now I sound like this fucking bastard!"

He never thought he would miss fighting so much. Yes, he liked to fight - who didn't? – but Zoro would not have thought that he would behave like the damn cook on nicotine withdrawal. However, he had to admit that it was also a cold withdrawal for him, moreover, his current constant bad mood was certainly not beneficial.

Before his life on Kuraigana Zoro had fought almost on daily basis and if the days on the Sunny or Merry had become too long the stupid dart brow had only too gladly joined a little banter. Sometimes it had been exhausting – oh, who was he kidding, the cook was always exhausting – but tacitly they had agreed to let off steam on each other and that was sometimes really necessary during weeks on the sea with the same faces day in and day out.

Here on the island Zoro had enjoyed his first days fighting the Humandrills and after the Shichibukai had arrived, he had made sure to keep Zoro busy and just when he had started to get bored, Jiroushin had turned up and had been only too happy to fight with him.

But now the Vice Admiral was back home and Mihawk refused to fight Zoro, plus he was suffering under his unusual mood swings, so he slowly lost his patience like an addict.

Zoro wanted to fight.

Slowly, he understood how frustrating it had to be for Mihawk not to be able to fight. Zoro almost didn't care who his opponent was, whether weak or strong, whether just a friendly quarrel or a battle between life and death, he would have his fun one way or another, in doubt he would make sure he was having fun.

For the Shichibukai, however, it was different. Apparently Mihawk could only fight properly if his opponent was strong enough, otherwise it wasn't even a real fight for him.

So how much time had passed since his last real fight? Jiroushin had once mentioned that his last equal sparring partner had been the red Shanks before he had lost his arm for Luffy. Zoro barely endured few weeks, how would he feel after more than 15 years?

"But that doesn't get me any further now," he murmured, getting back on his feet and continuing his exercises. It was frustrating, he knew how much quicker he would improve if he had a counterpart to fight with, but according to Mihawk, Jiroushin wouldn't be enough anymore - whatever that meant - and so Zoro had no one left to compete with. No one, except the damn Shichibukai who did not want to fight him.

But how else should he improve his Haki control?

His movements were good, not perfect yet, but good. But he realized that the strength and flexibility of his torso muscles were not yet what Mihawk wanted them to be. He also knew that his balance was still expandable, but the longer Zoro repeated the exercises, the more certain he became that this was not the right way to go.

Yes, he improved, but it wasn't enough to be able to control his body only in static movements. A battle was not a sequence of the same movements again and again, but unexpected moments, sudden impulses, and unpredictable influences.

None of this would be learned by Zoro in his dry exercises. In order to prepare for fights, Zoro had to practice controlling his body in combat, just like his Kenbunshoku Haki, which Zoro could practice much easier in peace than if he had to concentrate on something else.

Mihawk would not fight against him, but Zoro alone could only partially recreate a fighting situation. He needed an opponent, a counterpart, a... partner.

For a second, he just stood there, smiling at his absolutely ridiculous and pathetic idea, and then he ran off.

He almost stumbled into the library.

The Shichibukai had just gotten up, a finger still on a page, and looked at him in surprise. There were countless books around him, most of them opened and then abandoned.

"Roronoa," he explained mildly surprised, "are you already done with your training?"

"No," Zoro replied loudly, "I have an idea!"

Now the elder tilted his head slightly and looked at him attentively.

"An idea for what?" He asked, and then closed the book he had just read.

"How you can train with me without having to fight, so I can get better. We both know that these dry exercises aren't good enough anymore."

"Is that so?" Mihawk remarked, slowly stepping towards him.

During the last days he had behaved odd, Zoro thought, but it didn't really bother him, the other had such phases, Zoro knew that. Nevertheless, the Shichibukai had been in a relatively good mood the last few days as well, which had surprisingly made it easier for Zoro to control his own mood. Still Zoro had his issues not to drown in his own negative thoughts.

Not only had Zoro noticed how the other had become more careful in his choice of words; he often asked questions – like this one – rather than simply saying what he was thinking. Since their return, he had been very polite and rarely demanding. In the beginning, Zoro had thought that the elder was trying to be considerate about Zoro still struggling to control his demon, but something was off.

Shrugging his shoulders, he ignored this thought.

"You once told me," he said, breathing deeply before continuing, "that a good swordfight is like a dance."

The eyes of the Shichibukai widened a trace.

"Well, so let's dance."

"Excuse me?" A nasty grin crept over Mihawk's face. "You hate to dance."

"I know," Zoro grumbled, raising his hands unnerved.

"Besides, we did that at the beginning of your training, and you did not seem..."

"That was something else. I didn't understand, okay? " Zoro approached the other and stopped right in front of him. "Back then it was only about Kenbushoku Haki, but you must have noticed that I can't really improve the stuff with balance and flexibility the way I'm doing it right now."

"The stuff?" Mihawk repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh damn it, you know what I mean and you know I'm right. These stupid standard exercises don't really help me get better. I have to train my weaknesses, but in these exercises, I don't have any. If I'm not supposed to make mistakes while fighting, I have to practice the situation of a fight. I won't be able to control my body perfectly at any time in combat if I'm not used to something unexpected happening."

"And you think you could learn this best by us dancing?"

"No," Zoro growled at the other, and was about to pull him down by his collar. "I think I would learn best by us fighting or if I was fighting with anyone, but..."

Mihawk waved it off. "I know you like to fight, Roronoa, but training with a weaker opponent will not help you, even if it may feel like it would, so Jiroushin..."

"I know!" Now Zoro did pull the other one down to eye-level. "Just listen to me, you bastard!"

He huffed in irritation and looked directly at the other, who only raised his eyebrows and otherwise remained silent, not even resisting Zoro's hands.

"I accept that there will be no fighting, okay, but I need the unpredictability of an opponent to train and if that's not possible in combat with you, then..."

"... maybe in a dance," the Shichibukai finished his sentence thoughtfully, but now he broke free of Zoro's grip.

"Exactly." Deeply inhaled, Zoro took a step back, watching the other evaluate his proposal.

Mihawk crossed his arms and looked at Zoro, his yellow eyes seemed to notice everything about him, seemed to be able to capture how Zoro had spent the last hours of training. Zoro liked this look, it filled him with a mixture of pride and curiosity.

"Well," Mihawk said with a soft nod, "it probably is worth a try."

A relieved smile slid across Zoro's face until he realized what he had just persuaded the Shichibukai to do.

"Fine, Roronoa, let us see if your idea really makes more sense than your current workout."

Mihawk walked past him and suddenly it was Zoro running after the other.

"But weren't you searching for something?" He muttered as they rushed through the castle and walked up some stairs.

"Just when you came in, I found the answer I was looking for," explained the elder, "fortunately, I would say, after all I cannot recall ever spending so much time at once with research. So boring."

"Did you stay up all night?" The previous evening Zoro had eaten only with Perona because the other had been sitting in the library.

"Pretty much," the other yawned, "I wanted to get it done quickly so that I would miss as little of your training as possible."

"Where are we actually going?" Zoro ignored the strange remark, which was perhaps meant to be praise. "I thought you're going to train with me, but I feel like we got lost somewhere."

"I do not get lost, Roronoa," replied the other coolly, but with a harsh undertone," and we will not go outside for training, we go dancing and where do you do that best?" They reached the top step of the long staircase and the Shichibukai opened the awaiting wing doors. "In a ballroom."

"We have a ballroom?"

Zoro glimpsed past the other in the... hall, there was no other way to describe it. They stood at a huge gallery, from which, at the sides and in the middle, stairs of white marble led down to a huge dance floor, almost as big as the hall where the Marine ball had taken place.

"Of course, Roronoa. This is a castle, in the past balls used to happen here, hence the ballroom."

"Aha…"

In the twilight of the day, which illuminated the room more or less through the huge, dusty windows, the hall did not look as impressive as Mihawk probably intended. Abandoned spider webs hang from once golden candlesticks and chandeliers, heavy wall curtains looked monotonous and grey due dust.

"Well, Roronoa." Suddenly the Shichibukai bowed deeply in front of him and offered his hand. "Do you give me the honor of a dance?"

One second, Zoro stared at the other in confusion.

"Oh, drop that," he murmured, leaving the other one behind and walking down the stairs to the hall.

"Tze, impossible." The elder's steps followed him. "Are you really sure you want to do this?"

"With every word you say, less," Zoro replied grinning, turning to the Shichibukai as they arrived at the end of the steps. "But I want to get better, whatever it takes."

"So outrageous." Mihawk offered him a hand again. "What a bold disciple you are."

Instead of answering, Zoro reached out this time and allowed Mihawk to pull him into a dance position.

"You enjoy this way too much," he growled, putting his free hand on the shoulder of the Shichibukai. Once again, he noticed that the smaller size difference made it easier than in his other form.

"Oh, just a little bit." At first, he smiled, but then the elder got serious. "I have no preference whether you want to practice Haki or not in this exercise as well; it would probably make more sense, but as you said, the main focus is that you keep your body in perfect harmony even in unexpected movements, in order not only to react but also to act."

With his elbow, Mihawk pushed Zoro's arm up.

"That is why I expect you to keep a perfect posture. Rather resign from using Haki than that your posture lacks because of it and focus on it only when you no longer make any other mistakes. I want you to dance as well as if this were the most important part of your life, as if you wanted to make Kanan proud."

"What?" Mad, Zoro looked up to the other. "Listen, I know what the point of this exercise is - it was my damn idea - but I don't have to like it, okay?"

Disapprovingly, Mihawk clicked his tongue.

"You do not seem to understand, Roronoa, even though it is your idea. As long as you resist, you cannot embrace it and every resistance in your mind becomes a resistance in your body, you know that."

Damn, that sounded understandable.

"Okay," Zoro grumbled, scolding himself for his own shitty idea.

"Now, stop sulking, Roronoa. I like your idea; it is a useful way for me to represent your fighting partner without putting you in danger."

"Yeah, great," he commented sarcastically.

"Oh, Roronoa. You are right, swordfighting and dancing are not dissimilar. A good fighter is usually also a good dancer and vice versa." The other grabbed Zoro's hand more firmly. "And I am the best swordsman in the world."

Things happened fast. Before Zoro knew what was happening, the Shichibukai dragged him through the room. This had nothing to do with the dancing Zoro had known so far. Until now, they had repeated steps to a steady beat and repeated them until Zoro had memorized them.

But now the Shichibukai hardly seemed to pay attention to him, simply pulling him along and hurling him through the room. In one second, they were at the stairs, in the next directly at the other end of the dance area.

"Be careful about your legwork, Roronoa, my job is not to drag you around."

Zoro huffed in a quiet laughter, he hardly had the feeling of being able to touch the ground at all, so quickly they rushed across the ground.

"Do not look down, you twist yourself too much."

"Slow down, I can't keep up."

"No." The next moment, the Shichibukai pushed him away, only to pull him back in the same breath. "Your job is to keep up. I am not going to adapt to your skills. You want to get better? Then get better."

What kind of training had Zoro bestowed on himself?

Within a few minutes, he was out of breath and sweating all over his body. The training of the morning seemed like nothing more than a small stretching exercise in comparison. Why was dancing suddenly so exhausting?

"You are too tense," Mihawk said, as if reading his thoughts. "Your approach is wrong. It is like you said, I am your opponent, superior to you by miles, throw yourself through the room as it suits me, and what are you doing? Thinking about possible dance steps? Trying to listen to the rhythm of some non-existent song?"

Out of nowhere, the Shichibukai slapped his cheek without his hand seeming to leave Zoro's shoulder blade for even the shortest moment.

"Wake up, Roronoa! We are not dancing on some kind of ball; this is our first real fight!"

It was like a lightning strike. It had been an idea – just some stupid idea – and now Mihawk was totally serious. Although he had only heard of it less than half an hour ago, he already seemed to have a plan, and Zoro could hardly believe it. But it didn't matter. This was not a dance, no training idea, no dry practice, no practice; it was just as Mihawk said, this was their very first fight.

Zoro's heartbeat slowed down and for a moment the world became quiet. Exactly, it was like a fight, a fight against a hopelessly invincible opponent. Slowly a grin crept over his lips, such fights were his favorite. For a second, he closed his eyes and slowly absorbed everything, sharpening his senses, awakening all his abilities, opening his mind.

"So Haki it is," the Shichibukai muttered, but Zoro ignored him. "Well, I will not make it that easy for you."

The next moment Zoro stumbled and was about to fall, but the other pulled him up again. Evil grinned Mihawk down to him.

"Come on, my little frog, jump."

So, he did enjoy it. Zoro immediately recognized this grin. It was the same as when Mihawk had realized that Zoro was Lady Loreen, the same grin as when Mihawk had lifted him into the air and almost crushed his throat. It was the same grin as when Zoro had asked him if Mihawk had enjoyed fighting his demon.

"Who's bold now?" He grumbled, grabbing the other more firmly, almost simultaneously putting an invisible armor over his skin.

"Is this armor on purpose?" Mihawk asked directly. "Otherwise stop it. It is of no use for the moment, you won't be able to hurt me one way or another, and you are not ready to focus on it."

Zoro remained silent, he also had no breath to answer, while he tried to follow the steps of the other. Clearly this wasn't dancing, he just tried to touch the ground in time before he would stumble.

"Are you not listening? No armor."

He had to adjust his breathing otherwise he would lose it and his heartbeat would become hectic, which would make calm thinking difficult and he had to be calm if he wanted to analyze and defeat his opponent.

"Roronoa!"

Suddenly they stopped, somewhere in the middle of the room. Angry, the Shichibukai stared down at him.

"Concentrate, will you?" Mihawk let him go. "Otherwise this will not work."

"What?" Why was the other suddenly angry? "What's your problem?"

"My problem is that you do not listen. This is not harmless, understood?"

"You just said that you don't care if I use Haki or not, so..."

"I wouldn't have a problem with it if you had deliberately chosen to use your Busoshoku Haki, but you did not, right?" Mihawk grabbed his hand and placed the other on Zoro's shoulder blade. "Roronoa, your strength - your talent - is your incredible control over yourself. You will only be able to defeat me if you get better in the one thing that I have not perfected."

"Kindness, respect, empathy, modesty, pa..."

"Control!" The Shichibukai barked, blushing.

Zoro just grinned at him.

"You bold child, what I am telling you is important, so do not make any jokes about it."

He stopped grinning when the other looked down at him almost disappointed. He didn't like it; he didn't want to be a disappointment - not a waste of time.

"Roronoa, you have to understand. This is not just about you; this is also about what I want. I know exactly how good you are, and I know exactly what you are missing and your only advantage against me is your control, so it may never waver if you ever want to be a match for me."

"Why are you suddenly so serious? I know all that."

The Shichibukai sighed heavily. But then he smiled.

"Alright. Let us move on."

"No."

Mihawk had already taken the first step and was visibly struggling to interrupt himself.

"Excuse me?"

Zoro took a deep breath. He had thought that the Shichibukai had acted weird, but now he was exactly the same again, quickly slipping from one mood to the other. But what just happened was...

"You're lying."

"What?" Now the elder looked at him almost shocked.

"When you get so angry for no reason, there's usually a reason I don't know."

"Are you listening to yourself?" Mihawk tried to interrupt him, but Zoro continued to speak.

"Why are you stressing this? Why are you so angry that I didn't pay attention to my Haki for one second? You act like it's a bad thing, but why should it? What are you hiding from me?"

Laughing, Mihawk let him go and turned away. He walked a few steps away before turning back to Zoro.

"Roronoa, you do scare me sometimes."

"That means I'm right."

The elder nodded and went into the starting position. Zoro sighed, then he stepped towards the Shichibukai and took his hand. Surprisingly slowly they turned; the first time Zoro was able to keep up with the elder's step sequences.

"For people like us, control is absolutely essential," Mihawk explained calmly, "we have powers that others can only dream of, strong enough to destroy others and ourselves."

Zoro listened attentively. He had no idea what the other's point was; it wasn't as if Mihawk hadn't explained something like this roughly a thousand times, but the way he sounded now, the way he had behaved the last few days, all this made Zoro listen.

"What did Jiroushin tell you about me?" The elder asked abruptly.

Confused, Zoro looked up, but Mihawk's gaze was not placed on him, those yellow eyes seemed to look at something in the far distance.

"That you can't control yourself. That by nature you don't have any self-regulation."

Once again, the elder smiled.

"Oh, good old Jiroushin, he is probably not that much off the way." Then the Shichibukai looked at Zoro. "And yet he is wrong."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, Roronoa, is that not obvious? I used to be like you. "

"What?"

Once again, they turned.

"Oh yes, I was not always this uncontrollable monster the whole world is afraid of. I was a very talented swordsman and did not shy away from any fight that could be interesting. My control was one of a kind and even as a child I was better than most adults. Of course I could never get close to Sharak, but I certainly did not need to hide in her shadow and yes, there was hardly a fight I did not want to lead, even against the weaker, as long as they were worth it."

"And what happened then?"

"My sister died, my mother died, and my control did not matter anymore." Mihawk tilted his head slightly. "I was not quite honest with you; you will probably be able to defeat me even if you do not perfect your own control. But that would be a fate I would like to spare you from."

"Why?"

"Because then your only hope for a real fight will be a bold child, who you have to train yourself in the constant worry of killing him by mistake." The elder was still smiling almost too softly. "Control is not about absolute strength, Roronoa. It may even be a hindrance; I am probably much stronger because I can never fully regulate myself."

Zoro turned within the arms of the other.

"But if you become the best the same way I did, Roronoa, then it will be a lonely burden. Believe me, I know exactly what I am talking about. "

Silently, he pondered about the other's words.

"I'm not going to let that happen," Zoro grumbled resolute, grabbing the other man's hand tightly.

"I've long since decided that I don't want to defeat you just once." The other's eyes became big, but Mihawk said nothing. "I want to fight you a thousand times and win every single one and then I want to defeat you a thousand more times as Loreen and since I don't want to kill you by accident, that means I will perfect my control, no matter how difficult that may be."

Mihawk turned his gaze away.

"You are indeed impossible," he muttered, looking up again. "You know you just confessed to me that you do not want to kill me in our all-important battle?"

Zoro snorted with a laugh.

"Did you really believe that after all that happened, I would still do that? You're really annoying and sometimes I wonder how I can even stand you, but I'm not going to kill you because of that."

Suddenly the elder picked up the pace and Zoro realized once again that, despite his big words, he was far from where he wanted to be.

"And once again I underestimated you, Roronoa," laughed the elder, "so come on, get stronger and defeat me."