Roronoa Zoro was excited. He was immensely excited, and it showed all over him as he bounced around his father like a fly. Today, he was getting his first real sword!

"Dad! You're so cool! Are you kidding? Can I really get my sword today?" These questions repeated again and again until Mihawk silenced him by smacking him over the head.

"You're about to be grounded for a week, now quiet!" He growled inwardly wanting to slice and dice the next thing that appeared in front of him. Tailing from behind them was Perona. He smiled again, "Hey, son, when you're as good as me, you can do… THIS!" He unlatched the sword from his back and halved a building sitting atop a hill far away from the town they were walking in.

Zoro almost exploded with glee when Mihawk added, "Only if you don't bug your father that is." Zoro bowed comically, and Mihawk carried his soldier-like form into the nearest sword shop. The shop owner fell back in his chair, and dropped the newspaper from his hands when he saw Mihawk enter.

Zoro forgot the previous technique and began marveling at all the swords as if he were in a candy shop. "Ooh! I want that one right there! No wait… I want THAT one!" He scuttled over to a glass case where a black katana sat, radiantly drawing Zoro's attention.

The sword itself was bigger than the child and had a skull for a hand-guard with the spine of a human extending the length of the handle. It was laced in crimson ribbon and glowed red.

"Good choice, sunny, that sword has slayed countries of-

"Like hell he's gonna use that!" Zoro's eyes caught ablaze with fire and he turned to his father.

"Don't screw this for me, he's really gonna give it to me!"

"By that, you mean I'm going to buy a 1,000,000 berri display item for you to destroy in one day and complain to me to buy a new one! Shopkeep, what's the worst sword you've got here? I'll take twenty like it." Mihawk narrowed his eyes at the shop keeper tried to push a little further.

"But, daddy, he likes i-

…

"Alright, that'll be 64,000 berri." Zoro whined and began rubbing the display glass longingly.

"Could've been…" He grumbled, and a tear fell from his eye.

"Wait, I'm pretty sure you can make an exception for a shichibukai." Mihawk began to unlatch his sword and the shop-keeper groaned.

"Fine, just take them." He loaded them into a sack and Mihawk put it on his back making him look retarded with an odd bag on his back.

"Wait… Where's Perona!" Mihawk looked around, and Zoro shrugged.

"Didn't you see her walk off like ten minutes ago when we were walking through town?" Zoro said indifferently.

"No, I didn't, and why didn't you say anything you little pipsqueak?" Mihawk tried to keep his voice down, but now his daughter was missing.

"She said she was going to look for something cute…" Mihawk grabbed Zoro and retraced their steps, "I'm such a bad father…" He grumbled.

"Yeah, you are.." Zoro replied but then, for some reason they stopped movement.

"You're gonna tell that to me, who just bought you a surplus of swords?"

"Sure…" Zoro looked away, evident that he was still upset about the other sword.

"Whatever, I will not submit to you!" Mihawk chuckled inwardly that he wouldn't be losing to cuteness.

"There you guys are! Daddy, carry my things will you? My ghosts don't want to anymore." He stood, dumbfounded as a giant bag was dropped onto his back.

"Also, this stuff isn't mine, so you're gonna have to hurry back to the ship so we can escape the marines that followed me."

"Hey, Zoro, want a ride?"

"Sure."

And so there goes his children all safe and sound to the ship the arrived on while he was stuck hauling a ton (Literally) and trying to escape from the Marines. He couldn't get his sword either because it was buried in his daughter's stolen junk.

He almost collapsed in anger but instead reminded himself of a motto he held.

The family door is always unlocked for you to come in until you're in.

For now, he would focus on his escape.