A thing that I forgot to make clear; This story will later contain M/M, or yaoi, or slash, or whatever you like to call it. But that will be then.
Shanks smiled sheepishly at the swordsman, who stared down at him coldly eyes shadowed by the brim of his hat.
"You did not just call me here from the other side of the damn sea to have ice cream with you..." Mihawk narrowed his eyes at the red head pirate and crossed his arms over his chest which was covered by a black shirt. Over the shirt he had a dark gray jacket instead of the usual long black one. His appearance was missing the six foot sword on his back.
"Ice cream is fundamental! But no I didn't call you here solely for its deliciousness. I do have something to tell you." Shanks shoved a spoonful of pink ice cream in his mouth and continued "You need a rival." he stated like he had invented cure for cancer.
"...I see."
"I've got just the guy for you."
"Not duelling you."
"Not me it's-"
"Or the freaky fish guy."
"Don't dis the fish! It's not him either."
"Then who is it pray tell me."
Despite the dark haired man's evident lack of interest Shanks grinned smugly.
"Roronoa Zoro!" he exclaimed proudly.
"..."
"Ro-ro-no-"
"I heard you."
"Then give a reaction dammit! So, I've only heard some rumours about him. He's totally a rookie but I heard he went and took on a pretty big fish a while ago."
"Yes, Roronoa. Good potential. Fought him already."
"What! Too fast!"
"You're too slow. Since when you have been authorized to choose my rivals anyway? Now that I still remember, I saw your hat back then."
"Luffy!"
"... Bless you?"
"No! It's his name, Luffy."
"You named your hat?"
"Geez! Do they take your brains when you become a shichibukai? The boy who has the hat is named Luffy."
"It appears that Roronoa is part of his crew."
"Really? Luffy has his own crew... kids grow up so fast..." Shanks leaned on his arm and a fond smile spread on his face. So Luffy had a guy who had apparently had enough guts to challenge Juraquille Mihawk travelling the seas with him? Very promising. He began to wonder what the rest of Luffy's crew was like. He knew the kid's nature and it was sure that he would have a bunch of great nakama by now.
"I'll leave you to your emotionality if that was all." The swordsman turned to leave.
"You still haven't had any ice cream!"
"You are a dumbass Red-Haired Shanks." Mihawk stated dully and stepped out closing the door after him.
"What! Oi come back here you stupid..." the red head dashed after him slammed the door open and stormed out to the street. The shichibukai was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn that guy. How does he do it?" Shanks wondered and went back inside. From behind the closing door a very squished shichibukai slumped on the ground with a bleeding bruise on the back of his head.
Oblivious to the near knock out he had managed Shanks returned to his seat and ice cream. Roronoa Zoro, Shanks didn't know much about him besides that he used three katanas and people called him the pirate hunter. The pirate captain was excited. Mihawk was definitely curious. A wide grin crept on his face. Mihawk was a jaded man - no words of praise were to be expected to come from his mouth. He would often make a harsh comment when talking about a challenger but not now. Hawk-Eyes was anxious for a rematch.
Maybe he wouldn't need to bother the swordsman so much anymore if he would have someone else to share the job with - though he doubted that he could resist the temptation. He had far too much fun trying to gauge a reaction from the other man. Benn kept telling him that he should cut it out, since a captain with a self-destructive hobby wasn't generally such a good thing, but Shanks just wanted to see the faint spark of feeling in Mihawk's eyes when he tormented him.
Those eyes - the eyes which could make the strongest men falter with a single look - there was no fire in them anymore. That kind of eyes were meant to be alight with the breath of passion. The first time he had seen them they had been brilliant blazing gems. Now they were frozen gold. Another layer of ice had crept there when Shanks' arm was lost. The red head now tried to do what he was no longer able to do physically in other ways but it just wasn't enough. Shanks could get him to drink. He could also get him to frown. There were times he could make him smile. Certainly times when he could piss him off. Still he couldn't get him fired up. Maybe a worthy rival could freshen up the other man's spirit.
-
The man in question had meanwhile peeled himself off the street surface and after a brief displeased glare in the inn's direction began walking away, with every intention to get as far away from Shanks as possible. Mihawk took a turn to a small alley, wanting to go as unnoticed as possible. The back of his head was hurting and he was contemplating what action to take regarding the injury when he registered someone observing him.
Ahead him were two figures. A man and a woman. Marines. They did not seem particularly interesting to him, although the young lady seemed to carry a low grade named blade. The white haired man met his gaze.
"What business does a shichibukai have here, I wonder..." he said, clenching two cigars between his teeth. The woman locked her alarmed eyes on the stranger.
"Shi-shichibukai...!?" Her hand travelled instinctively on the hilt of her sword.
"My business is my own." Mihawk stated dryly.
"Isn't it bad for a swordsman to be walking around without his sword?"The man said, undoubtedly referring to the absence of his distinguishable Kokutou Yoru.
The swordsman cocked his eyebrow and swung his hand back, unsheathing a hidden plain blade. When looked upon very closely the blade carried a delicate inscription, however quite unreadable from afar. With a graceful move he flicked the blade to point at the burly marine.
"I have not come here to fight. I do not wish to attract attention but if you so wish I shall aquaint you with this sword very intimately."
"...That won't be necessary." The marine said.
"Taisa, this person...he is..."
"Yeah. Hawk-Eyes, Juraquille Mihawk." He grabbed a wanted poster from the hands of his subordinate.
"Question; This Strawhat seem familiar to you, warlord? I hear you have a knack for knowing things." The poster had a picture of a familiar smiling youth with an even more familiar strawhat on his head. He looked disgustingly like Shanks in that photograph.
"You could say that. Why so?"
"Monkey D. Luffy and his crew - including Pirate Hunter Zoro - made a mess at Logue Town." said the young lady with glasses, gingerly speaking Zoro's name. "They are a potential threat. Just a short time ago they defeated Arlong and left his base in shambles. We believe that they might make a stop here and we have a good chance to capture the Strawhat."
"Roronoa... Already like that, even with the wound?" Mihawk mused aloud thoughtfully, processing the information.
"Wound?" The young officer's eyes widened.
"Did I go too easy on the kid? He was almost in two pieces... Well, it doesn't really matter." The swordsman sheathed his weapon and walked past the two marines.
"Smoker taisa, could it be that they fought him?"
"And were left alive? Don't be ridiculous Tashigi." Smoker frowned. He wasn't that sure of his words, but if the strawhats would have attacked the warlord their bodies could have just as well been put into coffins through a blender.
His thought were interrupted by two ensigns running towards them.
"Taisa! We have reports about suspicious events at the harbour." Two ensigns rushed towards them. "Several people have heard a noise they described to have sounded like and explosion. It has most likely come from somewhere along the coastline. It might be linked to the Strawhat."
Mihawk frowned overhearing the news. As he turned around a corner he couldn't help but wonder what the marines wanted with Shanks' hat.
"You were at the harbour this morning. Did you hear that noise?" asked one of the marine ensigns from the other as they hurried to inform the others of Smoker's orders.
"Yeah I definitely heard something. Didn't sound like a ship cannon or a gun but it was a booming sound."
-
The ensigns' conversation caused brief awkwardness in a group of five that passed by. The Strawhats had had another chaotic morning. Zoro was trailing after the others on the city streets. He would have liked to sleep a little more but it couldn't be helped.
The day had bound to be horrible from the start. The breakfast had exploded. That's right. All of the delicious warm food had been splattered on the kitchen walls. And on Sanji, which was delightful, but not enough to make up for the crappy leftovers they had to eat. It was all Usopp's fault. He just had had to juggle with his weird ammunition. One had fallen into the frying pan and caused massive destruction. The idiot-cook had of course been furious and the rest of the crew was now banned from the kitchen while he was preparing food.
Zoro grunted and lifted his eyes of to ground to glare at the blond's back but to his surprise he couldn't see any of his nakama.
"Eh? Where did everyone go?" he scratched the back of his head. Well they had been headed for the central plaza next to the huge ice cream shaped building. He decided to go straight to left since the building was in that direction. Soon he found himself to be wandering in a maze of empty alleys. It soon began to feel like walking in a ghost town. Everyone must have gone to see the stupid ice cream competition. Zoro stopped for a moment when he came across a bigger street. Tall buildings towered over him and blocked his view. He couldn't tell which way to go. He was getting seriously pissed.
Another figure emerged from a small alleyway, stopping just before he reached the street upon seeing the green haired man's form. Mihawk cocked his head slightly. Roronoa? It really was him. There weren't many people carrying three swords around. His curiosity aroused, the master swordsman observed the young man. The youth was just standing there, looking around him with a rather unhappy look on his face. A smirk appeared on the dark haired man's lips. Lost?
"Shitty cook! I don't know how but this is your fault somehow!" Zoro spat. He did not notice that he was no longer alone on the street.
"Roronoa Zoro! You are under arrest!" Tashigi shouted out as soon as she recognized the man. She was backed up by a bunch of other marines.
'You've got to be kidding me! Out of all things to happen why does it have to be this?" Zoro thought and quickly weighed his options. If that Smoker guy was here too it was really dangerous. He should probably get to the others as soon as possible, after getting Tashigi off his back… Running away wasn't his thing but the others needed to know about this. So, he braced himself and started running, hoping that he would somehow find the rest of the crew.
The marines were persistent. He tried to lose them by turning again and again and he was getting sick of it. There also seemed to be more of them now. Maybe there was some profit after all - the others might be safer now that the marines were focused on him. The swordsman stopped as he noticed that he was suddenly facing a dead end. He was now on some kind of inner court. He could hear the marines' footsteps coming closer and closer. Where to now?
"Hey, you! Come over here!" a voice called from an open ground level window. Zoro looked at the owner of the voice with a frown. It was a young woman.
"Drag your ass here already! Come on!" Zoro was suspicious but still jumped in through the window. The woman closed it and drew a set of curtains to block the view. A moment later Zoro's pursuers arrived in the court.
"He must have entered the building! Secure all exits, inform Sergeant-Major Tashigi!"
The whole block would soon be swarming with marines. Zoro grunted in annoyance and took a better look at the other person in the room. The woman was wearing a scarf over her light hair and… a towel. After staring stupidly at her for few seconds and processing the information that there was a half naked woman in front of him he turned around, his back now facing the other.
"…so, uh, what's up with saving me?"
"Turn around and face me while talking to me you pansy! You never seen a woman before?" the towel clad one said and crossed her arms as the swordsman turned to face her.
"As for saving you I owe you one. You've helped my lil' bro a lot haven't you, Zoro-aniki? I'm Trud. Johnny's sister." she explained.
"Eh? How did you know who I am?"
"How couldn't I? He kept going on about how cool Zoro-aniki was the whole time when he last visited." Trud grinned. "You seem to have some unwanted attention. We have to do something about that don't we? If I could find you a disguise… That's right! None will ever notice a thing! You'll pose as one of the staff!"
"Staff?" For some reason Zoro was getting really worried.
"Yep. I work at 'The Dan Green' inn which is in this same building complex. You'll be hiding in plain sight! I'm a genius, you see who taught Johnny his mad skills now, ne?"