Learnt Lessons

The blade came sideways at the speed of lightening and Zoro knew he had to dodge now or risk having his torso cut in two. He eyed the blade and evaded, barely dodging it but still managing it with only a thin slice to his right side (although 'thin', in Zoro's vocabulary, meant a giant, life-threatening gash to other people).

The other swords came towards him, one aiming at his left thigh and the other at his neck; he angled Wado Ichimonji while blocking the attack on his thigh with Shusui, cutting down another humandrill that came to close for his comfort with Sandai Kitetsu.

Zoro didn't even have time to take a breath before there was a sword coming towards his head, another to his stomach and two humandrills racing forwards to aim for his unguarded back. He grit his teeth tighter on Wado's white hilt, jumping into the air before cutting down the humandrill nearest to him that had tried to aim for his stomach mid-air. He hit the ground and bent his knees, smoothly moving towards the left and just narrowly missing the blade swinging over his head before turning his body and swinging his swords towards the humandrill to create three vertical lines all across the human-monkey hybrid's chest.

The shrill shriek was drowned out by the clang of Wado meeting the sword of the humandrill going for his head, the force nearly hard enough to send the sword flying but staying when he clamped his teeth harder together. There was a tense second of strength against strength before they both sprang away from each other.

Zoro breathed through his teeth, tasting the sweat and blood, the metal and white leather of Wado's hilt. He was more tired than he cared to admit; his jaw ached and from somewhere there was blood dripping from him (he didn't care to find out). He eyed the humandrills and felt a chill down his back.

He heard a sound and his eyes widened before he turned sharply, weakly bringing up Kitetsu and Shusui. The face of another humandrill met his line of sight and there was a flash of silver from above that he just about saw. He knew that if that slice made contact with him, it would cut his head in two. He managed to dodge unharmed and grinned to himself.

And then there was pain.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.

He'd heard Perona's voice already a long way down the hall, shrieking about one thing or another (he couldn't care enough to find out). Mihawk was sitting in his seat, looking like a king in his throne more than anything else and obviously ignoring the girl (nearly a woman, really—not that she behaved like one much) while flipping through his newspaper.

The yellow eyes did the nickname 'Hawk Eyes' justice as his teacher glanced up from the paper, glancing over Zoro's bandaged left eye before looking at him in the eye. Perona stopped talking, looking in between him and his teacher with a displeased frown on her face.

"Roronoa," Mihawk said smoothly, nimbly folding up the newpaper before setting it on the small mahogany table to his right.

Zoro only grunted in response, waiting.

Mihawk sighed before standing up in one fluid motion. His teacher jerked his head ever so slightly, telling him to follow along. Zoro raised an eyebrow (never mind that nobody could see his other eyebrow) before he trotted behind his teacher.

"Oi! Don't leave me here on my own! How rude!" Perona screamed behind them, flying above their heads with a huff before going silent again.

Zoro waited.

"You only use your eyes to see," Mihawk said finally, his voice cold and unforgiving but smooth as silk. "That makes you weak."

Zoro grit his teeth in frustration and anger, but said nothing. He knew he was weak ("ZORO!" the horror in their voices broke his heart but all he felt was pain and his own weakness), knew he was not good enough to beat Mihawk or be the strongest swordsman in the world; it was the reason why he was here (despite his broken heart and his screaming heart because Luffy), why he could not return to his captain's side (after all, how could he protect others if he couldn't even protect himself?).

So, he let the comment wash over him, bleed into his mind and into his soul, because it was another thing he had to learn in order to be the best. He let the comment sink into his brain, the dull ache on his left eye immediately becoming more noticeable to him.

Zoro gave a grunt, turning his head slightly to the left in order to look at his teacher, glaring at him. "And how do I change that?"

One side of Mihawk's lips twitched upwards, and almost sadistic glint coming into his teacher's eyes before his teacher reached out and opened one side of the oaken doors wide. The humandrills stopped and looked at them all at once, swords and fangs and armors gleaming.

"Start your training over." Mihawk said fiercely, almost cruelly, slamming the oaken doors closed with a final 'boom'.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.

Light flooded the place, yellow beams that made him grit his teeth, remembering and remembering (Kizaru's light smashed the mountain; it didn't escape Zoro's notice that the strike would have hit him if he hadn't been so damn lucky—he was weak). He lifted Shusui, half-heartedly trying to shield his eye.

"If you can't see, you won't be able to dodge my strikes!" the fishman boasted, over-confidence and smugness pouring out of his body like sweat. "Take this!"

Zoro closed his eye.

He heard the shotel whiz through the air, the smack of skin against hilt unmistakable to his ears. He felt the shift in the wind, felt it through his Perception Haki, a slice coming from the left, about to cut his chest in half. He crouched down, smoothly evading the blade with practiced ease.

Zoro waited until the light faded.

The fishman chuckled to himself, self-satisfied and confident.

And Zoro moved.

The first cut was done with Wado, tilting his head for a clean slice and cutting through the lightbulb—Zoro heard the breaking of glass—the plaza was silent for a moment. The fishman made a noise of surprise as he slowly came up from his crouching position. Shusui and Kitetsu followed, more glass falling onto the floor while the fishman spluttered and Zoro opened his eye and brought up Shusui's blade.

"You only use your eyes to see," Zoro said dangerously low tone, remembering cold yellow eyes and two years of shadows and darkness. "That makes you weak."

He grinned inwards, exhilarated and overwhelmed because he was fighting (and they were right there), raising Kitetsu to prepare his next attack.

"Start your training over!"

And the fishman was sent flying.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.

Author Note:

I am sorry, it is 3 am in the morning and I've tried to write this down throughout the whole day already. So if it's bad, blame it on that (whatever that is).

Anyway, I thought that scene was pretty epic. He made Nuru look like an amateur (which, admittedly, he probably was), and his words at the end were awesome. Although the words actually screamed Mihawk to me, and not Zoro. Sorry, but Zoro doesn't seem like the kind of person to say this unless it's to take some kind of glee out of it. I'm apologize if I don't make sense right now.

Besides that, thank you all very much for reviewing! The feedback on the last chapter was amazing and I'm glad that you all seemed to have enjoyed it.

Thank you for reading and please review!