Hello to all the awesome people who spend some of their valuable time to read this story. And of course those awesome people who leave a review behind to make me feel happier than ever. I'm back with 14th chapter of Tough Trials...and...I know...it's an awfully late update. But please have a bit mercy on me. I hope this chapter is good enough to make up for all the time. So let's start with it then...?

Chapter 14: Hell, Heaven and Hell

Slowly and steadily, Zoro's eye slid closed as a faint smile appeared on his face. Finally, he looked calm after rampaging around like an unleashed beast, an untamed animal, contrasted now by the rare softness of his features.

And that was the matter of concern for Robin. Soon his body went motionless and the stressed woman gasped as thought of something unacceptable happening passed through her mind. Slowly she lifted her hand and moved it to the place on Zoro's chest directly above his heart, simultaneously blooming another arm to hold a few millimeters away from his nose. If it was even possible, her pupil shrunk even more, and everything seemed to disappear from her surroundings as she realized that Zoro wasn't breathing nor she could feel his heart beating. Her lips parted to exhale another gasp, unconsciously, a teardrop streaming from her eye and plopped on his forehead as she blankly stared at the content smile plastered on his face. She tried to call his name, but nothing came out of her throat. It was as if her voice had died. Not knowing what course of action to choose at the moment, for the first time in so long she decided to let her instincts and emotions to take over her. A couple of extra hands sprouted out of her left hand to grab Wado Ichimonji that lay naked beside her.

After freeing Robin from her binds, while facing away from the two victims of recent event, Mihawk lifted the black blade to sheathe it behind his back. But before he could do so, he sensed a considerable amount of blood lust and killing intent approaching him from behind. Without wasting anytime he moved Yoru and blocked a swing from a blade filled with an insuppressible rage approaching from his right side. He turned back, hoping to face the possessed swordsman, or maybe someone else. But the amount of surprise in his eyes evidently showed that he didn't expect Robin to be the assaulter. Quickly, Mihawk pushed her back with a strong swing and jumped back, rotating in air to face her.

"I had the impression that you were a wise woman. Am I wrong? Nico Robin."

Mihawk had this kind of outcome in his mind as well so he guessed the best course of action would be calming the irate woman down by means of intimidation, but as he noticed her lifeless irises, expressionless face, a stream of liquid flowing down her left eye, her blank stare and Wado Ichimonji tightly clasped in her inexperienced hand, he understood that reasoning with her wouldn't work any longer. However, he had already seen enough of the world to be any more surprised by her actions and resolved himself to restrain her by force. Mihawk had to use a way that wouldn't harm her more than necessary. He wouldn't disrespect his favorite, if not foolish, student by denying his earnest request. Unfortunately for Mihwak, Robin had no intention to let him do so. Before he could think of such a way, calmly and slowly Robin lifted her left hand and stretched it out towards Mihwak.

"Die," No sooner had the word softly escape her lips then eight arms sprouted from behind her, each wielding a spear or katana, deadly tips aimed straight for the master swordsman. Lashing like a catapult, each arm launched its weapon at Mihawk, intending to penetrate his body and transform him into a porcupine. Mihawk easily dodged them by jumping further back as the spear and katanas buried into the cracked ground. Robin didn't waste any time; as soon as Mihawk landed on ground, he noticed dozens of arms sprouting out of his own body and he understood that it could get dangerous. He unleashed a powerful slash from right to left at the destroyed concrete as he jumped back once again as if creating a boundary line between himself and Robin.

Impact from this attack was strong enough to break Robin's concentration and all of the extra limbs disassembled into a cloud of petals. However, this didn't stop Robin's assault. Mihawk's feet touched the surface of the cracked ground, knees bent in a crouch as he skidded back a few feet. His unusual eyes did not fail to notice the enormous arm bearing down on him from behind, intending to squash him flat. Before it could sweep the master swordsman along with other rubble of the street, Mihawk poured some force in his legs and jumped in a side flip, avoiding the hand just in time. There was no time to relax as another big hand sprouted out of the building to his right and tried to grab him in midair. Acting on his inhumanly quick reflexes, Mihawk flipped in midair. As soon as the humungous hand got closer to him, he lightly placed his boot on its palm. Using the surface of gigantic palm, just before the hand clasped shut forcefully, he launched himself towards the ground and landed heavily on the cracked concrete.

Just dodging her attacks wouldn't get him anywhere, Mihawk reasoned when several dozens of massive limbs sprouted and approached him from all sides, blooming from the ground and the walls of surrounding decimated buildings as well. Mihawk was getting frustrated of this silly game of cat and mouse and decided to move on the offensive. He tightly clasped his right hand around Yoru's hilt and completely stretched back his right leg while keeping his left leg half bent. He intentionally used the back of his sword as he rotated Yoru's hilt and gripped it backwards, facing its dull side forward and proceeding to align it beside his right leg. He twisted his wrist to face the palm of his right hand backwards while Yoru's sharp black blade faced forward now and let the tip of the blade descend steadily to touch the ground.

As the numerous gigantic limbs approached closer to him, he let his eyes shut close for a tenth of a second to concentrate and synch all the energies that were flowing in his body. Few of the hands were just a few centimeters away from their target when he suddenly opened his eyes and rotated Yoru and his body clockwise, completing two circles with monstrous speed and unleashing a powerful 360 degree shockwave which forced all the limbs to disappear into a humungous cloud of petals and Robin to lose her footing. She stumbled briefly, yet the moment she regained her stance, the master swordsman appeared through the swarm of petals, both hands firmly clutched around Yoru's hilt stretched back to his right side, ready to slash at the archeologist. Robin instinctively stretched out her left hand to sprout some more arms from the center of her left palm and grabbed the first weapon that touched those extra limbs. She quickly pulled the weapon toward her original hand.

Mihawk leapt toward the historian with inhuman speed and precision, twisting his wrists to face the blade upward. Robin could move only few steps backward when she realized that he was already within range, and there wasn't much she could do about it. Not like range actually mattered against such a foe, but Robin knew that he was going easy on her and didn't intend to harm more than necessary. His reasons for holding back were his own, but this didn't convince Robin to stop. She wasn't thinking properly and was acting on pure instincts, her mind clouded with despair and anger, emotions that controlled the mind and senses, turning the most ordinary person into a killer.

After getting close enough, Yoru followed a crescent path from above his head to slash down at its target. Moving as fast as she could, Robin crossed both of the blades, Wado Ichimonji and the second heavier katana she recognized as Shusui, over her chest like she had seen Zoro do on occasion when he was blocking a direct strike toward his chest. She somehow managed to catch the world's strongest blade in the intersection between the two thinner katana. Impact of the clash between the three swords was strong enough to create ripples in the air, yet weak and light enough for Robin to withstand it at the same time. Indeed, world's unrivaled swordsman was going easy on the Straw Hat crew's archeologist, Robin had no doubt now.

Robin may have been able to withstand the initial shockwave, but she was already in a weakened state and wasn't able to bear the aftershock of Mihawk's attack. Her legs betrayed her and she began to crumple under the pressure of world's strongest blade. But she didn't give up. Eight arms sprouted out of her back and lay their palms flat on the ground acting as support for her torso, which bore all the force that Mihawk was exerting on her through his blade.

"Enough with your futile actions. Do you want me to slice you with this very blade?" Mihawk said threateningly, narrowing his hawk-like eyes. Robin gasped as he exerted more force, pushing her further down towards the ground. Unable to bear the force, one by one, the arms that acted as support kept disappearing until only two were left.

"You killed him." She softly whispered, forcefully gritting her teeth, salty liquid flowing in torrents from her azure eyes.

"Do you honestly think that he would die so easily?" Mihawk calmly asked.

Robin clenched her jaws even tighter at his query, which sounded obviously stupid to her at that moment. "His heart has ceased, and he no longer breathes." Her tone became more and more hateful and angered with every word, her voice rising to a scream. "What do you expect me to think!?"

Despite being obvious her words didn't seem to have any effect on Mihawk as he calmly retracted his sword, freeing Robin from the one-sided struggle. He took a few steps back while Robin collapsed to her knees. Letting both of the katanas fall, she took some deep breaths as some more silent tears found their way out of her eyes.

She thought that she had become stronger. Thought that it was different, but everything was still same; until the very end Zoro was the one protecting her. The cruelty and helplessness of the situation had broken her completely. She had lost all her will to live. Heck she even thought of dying for a moment. Once again she felt the same feeling, her emotions even more desperate and influential than her failure in Alabasta. No matter how much she tried, tears found their way out and were flowing constantly. She didn't know what to do. There was no other Devil Fruit that could revive the dead. No death god who could make a deal for exchanging a soul for another. No legend that could bring a dead soul back with a kiss of love. She had tried to do something other than crying, yet failed miserably. She didn't even know who to blame any longer. Zoro, who ended up dead while trying to protect her? Mikumo, who is the reason for this situation and had already suffered death at the hands of a creature that physically resembled the man she loved? Mihawk, who stopped that very creature that was about to slaughter her, leaving its host bleeding on the dirty pavement? She had no one to blame except herself and her own weakness. She was lost, just as lost when her hometown was destroyed by hell wrecking warships of the Buster Call, when her dream came to an end in the underground royal tomb of Alubarna.

For quite some time, ignoring the silent yet strong and painful sobs of the archeologist, Mihawk was staring at Zoro's motionless body. Is he really dead? He wondered silently as a few beads of sweat appeared on his face much against his desire. Sheathing Yoru behind his back, he walked closer to his pupil's limp body and looked down at it for few more seconds. "What is the meaning of this? You said he would survive." Mihawk mumbled as if talking to someone. A frown formed on his face as some soft words landed his ears.

Don't worry. His presence is too heavy to die just like that.

After another second, Mihawk knelt down and placed his right hand on Zoro's chest, trying to feel his heartbeat. He admitted surprise to himself that the woman had spoken the truth that no sign of life pumped beneath his hand. "You sure about it?" He inquired again.

Yes.

"But…"

But…?

"His heart really has stopped…" His frown became even tenser when he didn't get an answer for a couple of seconds.

Maybe… I made a miscalculation.

"Miscalculation?" Mihawk repeated.

Looks like this is all this boy was worth for.

"You have to be joking. There's no way I'll accept him dying like this." Mihawk sounded slightly angered and disappointed as he muttered again. "Are you really dead? Roronoa Zoro?"

In the middle of a dark space that seemed to extend to infinity, green-haired swordsman of the Straw Hat crew, famous former pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro, was floating, his only useable eye half closed and a content smile plastered on his face.

Everything is fine. All those damned bitches are dead and Robin is safe. Something was wrong with me and looked like Mihawk was the one who stopped me. But that's fine, I know him, he wouldn't hurt her or anyone else. He has no interest in any of them. I have done everything I could. Now they have to do their job. I can rest easy, there's no way I'll die. Like always, Chopper will treat me. I can trust him on that. He stopped the train of his thoughts for a moment and let out a relieved sigh. Everything's fine. Everything… is over... for good. Well… for now at least. I think it wouldn't hurt to take a nap.

But much to his dismay, as soon as he completely closed his eye, something hard that felt like a hand grabbed his head and forced his eye open. The very same shadow that he had seen before, that has bothered him before, yet helped him to save Robin, was floating before his very eye, firmly gripping his head in his left claw. For some reason he looked quite agitated and angered.

"You again…?" Zoro inquired, forming a frown of his own.

"Nothing is finished." The shadow answered in his coarse voice, lifting his claw up to his face. "Everything is back to point zero." He thrust his free claw straight through Zoro's chest, piercing the swordsman's heart and sending a wave of excruciating pain through the pirate's entire body.

"Are you really dead? Roronoa Zoro?" Mihawk mumbled as if he would listen to his words. He was about to leave with utter disappointment when suddenly Zoro's eye shot opened. Even Mihawk's eyes were widened in surprise when he saw Zoro's completely blackened eye, much like it had been in his possessed state. The master swordsman didn't get a chance to have another look, for the very next moment, Zoro's back arched in a very inhuman manner and malicious energy was released from his body in the form of powerful shockwaves.

A massive force hit Robin's back and sent her flying a few feet ahead from her current location, skidding painfully over the rough ground. She lifted her head up from the place where she landed just as another person brushed passed her, rolling on ground like a ball. After rolling for a few more meters, the person uncurled and landed in a crouch, an excited glint in his piercing eyes. "See, he's alive after all." Mihawk exclaimed excitedly with a smirk, watching Zoro's body with piqued interest.

Mihawk's statement and the familiar dark energy that hit her took Robin's breath away as she realized the only possible reason of these two occurrences. She turned her almost lifeless irises back and Zoro's image reflected on her wide blue orbs. Coughing and heavy panting of green haired swordsman demonstrated the sign of life's existence in a motionless piece of flesh.

"Zoro…" Robin whispered, tasting his name on her lips. She lurched to her feet and stumbled forward a few steps before breaking into a run, eyes focused on her beloved. She abruptly sat down beside him and cupped his face in her hands. His eye was slightly opened and his breathing was heavy…but he was alive. Robin felt an uncontainable happiness building up within her, and she wasn't sure whether she would be able to contain it or she might explode with all this elation. The most recent few minutes were like a journey through hell for her and finally she was back with him and he was back with her. It was nothing less than a miracle that he returned back to life after being dead for minutes. Nothing else crossed her mind at the moment. Just looking at his breathing face was pure bliss for her. She just kept gazing at him while her silent tears flooded his forehead.

"Looks like his heart just stopped for a few minutes and then restarted. It's normally impossible for a human's heart to restart after such a long break. But he is different after all." Mihawk's words pulled Robin out of her self-inflicted heaven. "It must've been hard on you two," he continued monotonically, striding towards them. "But what I did was necessary in order to save your, his and billions of other lives."

His last statement sounded a bit skeptical to her. It was a bit hard to believe that this warlord actually cared for their lives but the later part about billions lives was even harder to take in. There was indeed something he knew that she didn't and she definitely wanted to know, but at the moment there was something even more important matter that she had to think of. Even though alive, Zoro was still in a dire situation and needed treatment as soon as possible. She would have to use all the force she had left to take Zoro back to the Sunny.

But it wasn't over yet. Fate still had some more surprises hidden for Robin. Just as Robin moved her hand behind Zoro's back and wrapped it around his waist to support him, the earth started rumbling. An unnatural occurrence, this type of rumbling was almost impossible to comprehend. She had faced earthquakes before but they didn't have this kind of effect. And in addition to the ground shaking beneath her, there was an overwhelming feeling. Haoshoku Haki…? She had never faced Hoashoku's power before but somehow she could tell that it wasn't that. This dark and oppressive feeling felt too evil and malicious to be the same power that Luffy also possessed. It was somehow similar to the feeling that Zoro gave some time ago but much more powerful and menacing.

"And looks like I've made someone angry, whom I shouldn't have." Mihawk's words landed on Robin's eardrums. She turned around to look at him, eyes pleading for an explanation. She was stunned to see a few drops of nervous sweat beading the master swordsman's forehead, contrasted by the excited grin curling his lips. The rumbling became even heavier as Mihawk spoke.

Miles away on top of the highest tower of Mayor's office, the black haired person who served the purpose of spectator not long ago, was standing directly behind the stone railing. His eyes were covered with darkness, a few angry veins popping at his temple. Dark waves were constantly being released from his body. The upper half of the tower where he stood was already cracked, all the glass and windows were shattered and trees around the building waved as if struck with a fierce storm. Suddenly, he lifted his blood colored eyes to gaze at the world's strongest swordsman.

"DIRACULE MIHAWK." His coarse and heavy voice was enough to send chills down anyone's bones. He proceeded to lift his leg and place it on top of the stone railing as he yelled in a demonic voice. "YOU DON'T FUCK WITH THE GOD." These words were followed by the stretching of his lips to reveal his sharp beastly canines as he emitted a roar similar to Zoro's demonic war cry.

The waves became even more powerful, starting from the tower where he stood and snapping the stone structures of the building, windows shattering as glass rained, the trees bending even more violently, so much in fact some were uprooted. Just like that, his roar turned into a screech and a moment later he unleashed an enormously powerful supersonic blast from his throat, aimed directly toward the master swordsman. The blast destroyed everything and anything that hindered its path. Trees were pulled out of the ground, the concrete of streets and roads cracked and ripped apart as buildings were broken and collapsed from their bonds. It wrapped all the rubble it destroyed behind it, creating an avalanche of concrete and other types of rubble that followed the approaching shockwave.

Robin didn't have any time to even think of something. Mihawk's eyes widened as a gigantic shockwave rivaling that of Whitebeard's ancient power that he witnessed in the war was reflected on his irises. And now he had less than a second to think of a way to save himself and the other two from this approaching hell.

To be continued. XP

And here we are...with another cliffhanger. I think now I understand the circumstances of a mangaka who updates after a couple of months just to end the chapter with another cliffhanger. I feel very irritated while reading last page of such a manga. So, I'll try my best to update as soon possible. But, I'm also using Santoryuu3's help for beta reading so there is always some unaccounted time involved. Yet, I'll try my best to update as soon as possible.

I know this situation is just getting out of hand and is getting kinda long. But I don't intend to leave any part unanswered. Every single hint and mystery that I've mentioned in this story, I'll definitely give the answers before I end it. In fact, I never imagined that this will reach 14th chapter. I thought it'll be 9-10 chapters story at most. And yet it is still half way through. Damn! I feel like Oda XD

Now then...THANKS FOR READING AND PLEASE LEAVE BEHIND A REVIEW. PLEEEEEASSSSSSSSSS :)