Bushido opened his mouth to challenge the World's Greatest Swordsman to a duel. This was a mistake. Before he could uther a word, Yoru was descending towards his face. It was only Bushido's use of Soru that saved him.

The green-haired man flickered behind Mihawk and eyed him warily. "That was rude."

"I am really not in the mood," Mihawk replied, sending an air attack Bushido's way.

Bushido dodged the blow and send his own air attack back. Mihawk deftly blocked it, swinging Yoru in front of it with one hand. "Johnny, Yosaku," Bushido called out as he placed Wado Ichimonji in his mouth, "toss me your swords."

Two low class sabres were flung into the air and he caught them easily. The stance for his infamous Santoryu came back to him easily, like breathing, even after weeks of disuse. He began to analyze Dracule Mihawk. The man was far more sloppy than usual, none of the attacks were that of a world renowned swordsman. They were that of a man out for blood.

Bushido had honestly no clue what he had done to his teacher to anger him this much. "Kokujo: O Tatsumaki," he roared spinning and unleashing a massive tornado towards Mihawk. "May I ask a question?"

The World's Greatest cut through the middle of the deadly tornado with ease and flickered out of existence. Bushido entered the Onigiri pose and blocked Yoru as Mihawk reappeared. "You may," Mihawk said, "though I do not promise to answer."

He jumped back, eying the new cracks in his temporary swords with distaste, and refocused his thoughts. "Why are you so intent on killing me?"

Mihawk dashed forward, aiming the large black greatsword in a horizontal slash. His battle-honed instincts were the only thing that stopped Bushido being decapitated by the move as he ducked under the blade. "Ul-Tora Gari!" He yelled, bringing down his friend's sabres.

Mihawk fell back with a grunt, two thin cuts running down either side of his chest. Bushido smirked, first blood had gone to him. "The reason I want you dead?" Dracule Mihawk said suddenly, "it's quite simple...I want to sleep."

The simple explanation caught the green-haired man off guard and he nearly missed the other swordsman's next move. The other swordsman jumped into the air and slashed hundreds of times in a few seconds over a wide area. Bushido's good eye widened, there was no way he could dodge that. Instead, he dug in his heels and let Haki coat his body

The bombardment of slashes smashed into him and the wooden deck groaned and buckled under him. Bushido sank to all fours and gasped, his Haki had barely held. Mihawk landed down across from him, a gleam returning to the man's tired yellow eyes. "You have Haki."

Bushido cursed as he unsteadily to his feet, Johnny and Yosaku's katanas had been shattered by the attack. He dropped Wado Ichimonji into his right hand, knowing that he had basically lost the battle. "So I do. And I have no clue what you are fucking talking about."

As Dracule Mihawk opened his mouth to retort, Bushido used Soru. "Baki!" He roared, slicing the blade down towards the World's Greatest Swordsman's unprotected head.

Mihawk pivoted away from the fatal blow and swung Yoru towards Bushido's legs. The swordsman used Soru to move back to his old position. The two men watched each other impassively. "Every night." Mihawk began, "I get nightmares of future and past events."

"That sounds pretty crazy," Bushido muttered, his mind racing a hundred miles an hour.

"I didn't think they were true for a second either...that was, until I ran into you here."

"Any idea of what caused it?" The time-traveller's voice was hoarse.

"I think it's my pendant," Mihawk said, "ah, but look at me rambling. Sorry for trying to kill you, I get cranky after running on little sleep for a week straight."

Bushido's palm was slippery as he slipped into a new stance and coated his entire body in Haki. This was the end. "Apology accepted."

There was a ghost of a smirk on Mihawk's face. "Boy, what is your name?"

"Roronoa Zoro."

"As the visions foretold. I will remember it.," Mihawk promised," "let us end this then."

"Shi Shishi Sonson!" Bushido roared as he dashed forward at full speed. Time seems to slow as adrenaline was pumped through his veins.

Three seconds

He could see everything in minute detail. Luffy slowly pushing his rotund opponent back, the man's armour slowly cracking under the rubber boys furious blows. Usopp had stopped firing on Krieg's crew, his horror-filled eyes focused solely on Bushido. Sanji was gaining the upper hand against Gin, pushing the battered pirate further and further back.

Two Seconds

Mihawk was standing perfectly still, Yoru held at his side. The now fully alert hawk like eyes following his approach. Bushido can't figure out what the man's plan is. The laxness is obviously a trap. For a moment he hesitated but, in the end, he pressed on.

One Second

The World's Greatest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk finally acts. He holds out his blade, Yoru, and coats it with Haki. The plan is so simple but Bushido can only gape. The tip of the blade meets Bushido's chest. Both of their Haki's buckle and break.

Defeat

Wado Ichimonji clattered to the ground as time seemed to return to normal speed.

Blood erupted from Bushido's mouth and he gagged as the metallic taste filled his mouth. His vision swims in and out of darkness as his eye finally looks down.

The blade of Yoru is submerged halfway into Bushido's chest, stopping just before the spine. For a second, he is back on the scorched island of Hitsuzen and Mihawk has delivered a fatal wound to him.

He coughed up a piece of bloody phlegm as Mihawk dusted off his coat. "This result was inevitable," the victor announced a the entire battlefield seemed to turn their head to watch the conclusion. "For someone as skilled as yourself, this was obvious. Why did you press on?"

Bushido groaned as his body finally gave in and the only thing keeping him in the air was Yoru. "Because," he rasped, "I made a promise."

Mihawk arched an eyebrow, curiosity gleamed in his amber eyes. "Oh?"

"A promise to beat you no matter what...and If I had backed away today, well that is as the same thing as breaking my promise."

"I see. Any last words?"

A feral grin forced his way onto the time traveller's bloody lips. "I will defeat you someday. I swear it."

Dracule Mihawk leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Roronoa Zoro, meet me at the top." Then he wrenched the blade out of Bushido's chest.

A geyser of blood erupted from his chest and momentarily blocked his field of vision. With no support, Bushido fell into a heap on the deck. He coughed up more blood and tried to stem the flow of blood from his chest.

Yoru had entered his chest horizontally, unlike the one on Hitsuzen: which had been a vertical slash. It was shallower too and he was pretty sure it hadn't done anything more than lightly nick any major internal organs.

Still, it hurt like a bitch.

Bushido was no stranger to pain but this wound was one of the more painful ones he had received, and that was with adrenaline still pumping through his veins. He took in a trembling breath at how much blood was still spurting out through his trembling pale fingers. This was bad, he needed to tell Luffy about Nami.

He spited out more blood as he rose to his knees ignoring the surprised look MIhawk shot him. "Luffy!" He roared, "can you hear me?" Nami's gone after Arlong! Save her!"

The green-haired man fell down, dead to the world around him, as he sank into unconsciousness.


Dracule Mihawk sheathed Yoru over his back, a myriad of emotions flowing through him. His usual mental sharpness had finally returned to him, the mental fog of exhaustion that had dulled his wit temporarily banished.

Banished by the thrill of a true battle.

Banished by Roronoa Zoro.

What little sleep he had gotten over the last few days had been dominated by the weird visions. Many of which had been focused on the splashes the one called Roronoa Zoro made occur in the world. It had been maddeningly infuriating

Then while chasing down the last remnants of the fleet that had dared to annoy him, he had came across the location of his first vision. And a man that looked nearly exactly like Roronoa Zoro (give or take an eye).

Mihawk had, in hindsight, overreacted a small bit. He had blasted the lookalike with killing intent and tried to take his head off with Yoru. Even for the swordsman in the vision, that would have been too much.

But not for this man. He had reacted with the skills and reflexes of a New World Pirate, mastery of the two learnable Haki's to boot. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Roronoa Zoro was one of the greatest swordsman out there.

Just not the greatest.

Dracule Mihawk listened as the defeated man ignores him completely and focuses on his captain, roaring something about a Nami and an Arlong. Zoro finally succumbed to his wounds and fell unconscious. Mihawk smiled and spoke under his breath. "What an interesting man."

He turned and began the walk back to his boat, pointedly ignoring the pissant of a captain he had been chasing threats and boasts of bravado. Maybe his sleep would be less disturbed from now on but he doubted it. The logical part of him still said that just sleeping without the pendant would solve the issue but his pride would not have it.

Whatever the pendant was, he would beat it like he had everything else in his life.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY NOW, YOU BASTARD!"

Mihawk felt his mouth fall open. Apparently, Roronoa's captain was just as interesting as the swordsman was.


Monkey D. Luffy couldn't believe the scene that was playing out in front of him. Zoro had lost, Strong, unbreakable, Zoro had lost. Lost to some aggressive idiot in a stupid hat.

The man had came out of nowhere with his stupid black blade, one currently embedded in Zoro's chest, and tried to kill Zoro.

Luffy hadn't been concerned, why would he be? Zoro threw off an aura that proclaimed that no one could beat him. He was more mature and, Luffy suspected, stronger than him and knew about the world. Hell, he had taught him about Haki, something he had never even heard of before!

Luffy hadn't even followed the duel that closely in the beginning, confident in Zoro's skills and busy with his own opponent. Not that his opponent was skilled, just literally tough. The rotund man, Pearl, was covered in shields. Luffy's punches were slowly cracking the damn things, it would just take a while.

Then all the battles began to ebb as people began to watch Zoro's duel with the other guy, Mihawk. And that's when the rubber boy finally noticed.

How close the fight was.

And much to Luffy's disbelief, how this Mihawk guy was slightly better than the green-haired swordsman. Mihawk jumped impossibly high and swung his heavy sword with dancer's grace, hundreds of slashes raining down on Zoro. And Zoro had just stood there.

Thankfully, Zoro had been fine and the fight continued. Which lead to now: Zoro skewered on that damned broadsword

It was impossible. It just had to be. Zoro was Zoro, he was unbeatable. It was like a law of the universe, like you'd float without gravity or die without oxygen. And yet here it was, Zoro defeated. Luffy wouldn't be surprised to see pigs fly.

And then Mihawk ripped the sword out of Zoro's chest and there was blood. Oh, so much blood. And then Zoro was roaring something about Nami leaving as he collapsed. Luffy felt like everything was falling to pieces around him. He looked at Pearl's smug face and saw red.

He needed to get past this guy. Right now.

Luffy suddenly remembered a snippet of conversation he had had one night shortly after meeting Zoro.

"So a rubber man," Zoro said out of the blue, "how does that work?"

Luffy cocked his head. "Are you an idiot? I'm rubber, I can stretch."

"I meant are you fully rubber," Zoro elaborated from his perch on the railing of their dingy, "like, are your organs and bones rubber?"

Luffy paused. "I think so," he started slowly, unsure.

Zoro's visible eye latched onto his. "Could you make it bigger?"

Luffy spots a cool looking dolphin and jumps overboard after it, all thoughts of bones and rubber forgotten.

Pearl is ranting. "You are going to lose here, you're nothing but gnats under the boot of the mighty Don Krieg."

Luffy bit his thumb. No time like the present to figure out if it worked. He breathed in deeply, imagining the bones in his arm enlarging. A strange feeling spread through his arm as he felt his arm grow heavier and heavier. He swung it behind him, not daring to look, and roared. "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY NOW, YOU BASTARD!"

His arm, now the size of a small cottage, smashed into Pearl. The man's mighty armour instantly shattered and he was sent pinwheeling away through the air, blood erupting from his mouth.

Arm returned to normal size, Luffy sprinted over towards the fallen swordsman. Time seemed to slow as it took ages to reach him...or was that just his legs? Indeed, it seemed that his limbs had shortened, maybe because he had been messing around with his bones. Thankfully, his body returned to normal with a snap as he reached Zoro's side.

The deck was slick with blood and the rubber teen nearly slipped as he knelt down. Zoro's breathing was ragged as Luffy put his hands over the large wound, trying to stem the bleeding. "Doctor," he yelled, "somebody get a doctor!"


"You shitty idiot," Sanji muttered tersely as he watched the choreboy try and stem the swordsman's wound, "you must've known he was better than you, so why?"

He took a glance around: everyone was still mesmerized from seeing a duel of such level. But that would not last for long. He glanced at Gin, who was still looking at Mihawk with something akin to fear, and sighed. This was really not his style.

But, suddenly, the damned marimo was more important than Gin. With a heavy heart, he raised his leg high into the air and brought the heel down upon the crown of Gin's unprotected head. Don Krieg's right hand man went down like a sack of potatoes

"Sorry," he muttered, "but I need to end things quickly." In the current fighting none of the Baratie's few chefs with doctoral training would be able reach Zoro. And that shitty wound wasn't the sorta thing you slept off.

Starting with a running jump, Sanji rushed through the lethargic battlefield, weaving through the men who were just now resuming brawls. Don Krieg was just ahead of him now,

Krieg's eyes widened as he finally noticed Sanji's progress. "Stop that man," he bellowed, pointing angrily at the blond cook. A line of smallfry charged at Sanji, issuing warcries.

The sous chef easily leapt over them with ease, and landed on the deck of Krieg's ruined ship. "Poitrine Shoot" Sanji yelled, smashing his right leg into Krieg's ribcage.

He noted, with immense satisfaction, that the golden armour cracked and shattered under the pressure of his shoe


Roronoa Zoro had been resting in his mental plane when a loud crash roused him. His older self had appeared. But, compared to the man's usual visits, there was a noticeable difference.

He was unconscious. Wado Ichimonji clattered out of the intruder's hand and rolled away. Zoro hesitated for but a moment before coming to a decision. It was his body and he had every right to control it.

He seized the hilt and was whisked away.