Mihawk stared at them with crossed arms. He was going to get answers. How did Roronoa Zoro get a technique he created and hadn't used in ages? How did he learn Haki in East Blue, where there's next to no one who knows it? And something that made Mihawk really curious, what was the cause of the nostalgia feeling in the man's aura? He wasn't known as Hawk-Eyes for nothing. Let's see how they try to hide things under his gaze.
"So?" Mihawk insisted. "I'm waiting."
At that moment, a person they had forgotten was there, unfortunately for said person, interrupted.
"Hey! How long are you going to ignore me?!" They turned to see Don Krieg glaring daggers at them. Mihawk itched to slice the man for interrupting him, when he felt something he hadn't felt since the last time he met Red Hair. A wave of willpower made the pressure drop, almost like time was slowing down, and all of Krieg's men were knocked down. Unconscious.
'King's Haki' Mihawk thought in wonder, along with Zeff and turned at Luffy, who was glaring at Krieg with narrowed eyes. The boy sighed and laid Zoro down. Yosaku and Jonny came swimming fast calling Zoro's name, then stayed beside their mentor, crying their eyes out.
Krieg was gawking in fear at the straw hat kid. He could feel it was his doing that all of his men were down. He took a step back. Then another and another. He couldn't find the courage to even lift his weapons, let alone fire them. It wasn't as though Luffy left him out of his Haki. The only reason he was still standing was because the Haki was weak.
Luffy took some steps forward, widened the gap between his legs and put his fist down, his head facing the ground.
"Gear Second." He mumbled, loud enough for Mihawk to hear it. Luffy's entire body turned red, steam coming out of him. What Mihawk saw seemed to happen in an instant.
Luffy disappeared, leaving a cloud of smoke, then became visible again in front of Krieg who yelped in shock, his body trembling in fear. Luffy delivered a stronger punch than the one before in the restaurant, this one also infused with Haki, and instantly turned Krieg's armor to shreds. Blood came out of Krieg's mouth, as his pupils disappeared and then he was out cold.
For a moment, there was a horrible silence with gaps and disbelief stares, then cheers and cries of joy. Nami was left staring, and couldn't help her lips turn into a smile. She dared to think that maybe, just maybe, Luffy could beat Arlong.
Sanji was also staring at Luffy, who stood smiling like the idiot he was. 'That guy...' He thought in amazement.
'...As if I'm gonna abandon my dream just because people tell me it's impossible...' Luffy's words echoed in his mind and he also smiled.
"Look at him, Sanji." Sanji turned around and found Zeff smiling at him, which was indeed rare. "That's the strength of a human fighting for his dream." Sanji tch'ed and looked down. He had a feeling where the old geezer was going with this.
"So," Zeff continued, walking towards Sanji and putting his hand on Sanji's shoulder. Sanji turned sharply, surprised by the movement. "Why don't you also fight for your dream? Stop wasting your time at this old restaurant, but go and live freely."
Sanji's eyes welled up with tears, as he sniffed quietly. Zeff squeezed his shoulder to give him comfort. Unknown to them, there was also a cook that stood leaning on the wall behind them. Patty tch'ed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He wasn't crying. Nope, he definitely wasn't.
Luffy on the other hand, came back to Zoro and found him patched up with Jonny, Yosaku staying at his side and Mihawk staying in front of them, cross armed, observing Zoro in a bored yet interested expression. When hearing footsteps, the Warlord looked at his left, his expression leaving Luffy to understand that he was in for a looooong explanation. Luffy scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Hahah, I bet you are wondering how I know King's Haki." Luffy thought, maybe for the first time in his life, that he really was dumb. He had just used the strongest of Haki like it was nothing in front of a Warlord and on the same day, a no name swordsman wields his technique like his own. Luffy'd be shocked if Mihawk wasn't curious.
Mihawk rose an eyebrow, movement which seemed foreign to his own face. "I'm surprised you can tell!" He said sarcastically.
'Okay, sarcasm reaaaaallllyyy doesn't fit well with Mihawk.' Luffy thought, more than a little nervous.
"Let's get somewhere private for this." Luffy requested and at Mihawk's nod, he went over to Zoro, placed him on his back and, choosing to ignore the yells of the two bounty hunters, took off to the back of the Going Merry, where Nami and Ussop were staring open mouthed.
"Ussop, Nami, why don't you rest for a bit? After we're done here, we're going to have a little bit of business with a certain fish." Ussop didn't understand, but compiled anyway, while Nami shook uneasily. To comfort her, Luffy let his hat rest on her head, move that startled the girl, knowing that he let no one touch his hat.
"Take good care of it, 'kay?" Luffy wasn't going to give her that hat when she stabbed her arm, he wasn't going to let her do it this time. Nami nodded her head silently.
After the duo left, Luffy welcomed Mihawk on one of Merry's rooms, where he laid Zoro on a bed, so he could rest and offered Mihawk a seat. Mihawk obligated.
"So, where to begin?" Luffy said, his eyes losing that excitement and now holding serious and almost lone features.
"Maybe from the fact of how that young man knows my secret technique, one that I have not used since a decade ago." Mihawk stated the matter that he was most interested in. He didn't expect the captain to chuckle lightly.
"Why, is it so weird for a teacher to give his ultimate technique to a student he is proud of?" The look on the swordsman's face, Luffy had to admit, was priceless. It was rare for something to shock Mihawk, and Luffy noticed he was in the way of stepping the right buttons.
"What are you implying? I have not even thought of taking on an apprentice, much less one that I do not even know." He asked, leaning closer, his hands curled together on the table. It turned out this conversation was going to be more interesting than expected.
Luffy let his head rest on his left hand, smirking lightly while trying to find the right way of telling Mihawk. He'd have liked to tease the swordsman more than to let him on the loop instantly, but he knew better. He wouldn't like a blade go through his body, thank you very much!
"Know that what I'm about to tell you is all true, no matter how unbelievable it may sound. But I assume that a pirate like yourself, who has faced the wonders of Paradise and New World, can believe even something like this." The tone of his words, Mihawk noted, was as though he knew what a true pirate was and as though he knew what the Grand Line had in store. Now that he thought about it, he used the word 'Paradise'. Not many pirates referred to it as that.
Mihawk then formed an idea. An impossible one, but still an idea. He looked at Luffy, at his eyes. Now that his face hadn't that cheerful mask that he always wore, Mihawk could see the pain in his eyes. A pain too big for someone his age, and that only backed up his theory.
"Did you perhaps meddle with time?" Luffy didn't expect Mihawk to say that. His head lifted up quickly to stare at Mihawk, and that confirmed Mihawk's theory.
"How did you-!"
"Your eyes." Mihawk interrupted. "You have the eyes of someone who had nothing to lose, they have too much pain for someone so young." Luffy laughed, taking the swordsman off guard.
"Hawk eyes, huh? Truly fitting for you. Weird how little you have changed." Okay, now Mihawk was truly curious. It wasn't everyday that you got to meet a time traveler. Of course he knew that getting too much information from the future was risky, but hey! They were pirates for a reason.
"I take it we know each other in the future," Mihawk said and glanced at a sleeping Zoro. "Given as that young lad is my student." Mihawk still couldn't fully apprehend that.
"Yeah, we do. Last time I saw you was when I invited you to a party my crew and Whitebeard's threw to celebrate me becoming a Yonko." That caught Mihawk by surprise. Was this kid really that strong? Or perhaps the standards for a Yonko in the future had gotten lower.
"How old are you really?" He asked.
"I'm 19"
A Yonko at 19!? At least the bomb had fallen. There is no way this kid could tell something that would shock him more, no way in-
"Oh, and I just reached Raftel, right before coming here." Luffy added with a smirk, fully aware of Mihawk's surprise.
-Aaaaaannnd his thoughts came back to bite Mihawk. Great. But really, how could this kid drop info just like that?
"You became Pirate King?" Mihawk asked, awe evident in his voice. At that, Luffy's smirk faded, his face now had a somber expression, or rather sad. He sighed.
"In fact, yes, but I wouldn't call my dream of becoming Pirate King complete. And that's where the story begins." And so Luffy told him about his crew dying, about Whitebeard dying in the War Of Best and bringing out a new era of pirates, about Zoro becoming his student, about meeting Gold Roger's spirit. About everything. By the end of the story, Mihawk had a new respect for Luffy.
'A true carrier of D.' He thought in awe. 'To choose his crew over the most wanted treasure in the world, typical.'
"One more thing, Straw Hat." Mihawk spoke, referring to him by his pirate name, cause he thought it'd be disrespectful to call Luffy 'a kid', he certainly wasn't a kid anymore.
Luffy nodded, showing he was listening. "Why are you telling me this?" And that was a good question. Why was the future Pirate King telling him that? Even if in the future he knew they were allies, what's in for him to tell Mihawk, when he barely knew the man?
"Two reasons: You are a Warlord, and I'd need a connection with the government. That plus you're a friend of Shanks, and on that lies the second reason." Luffy said, grinning the signature D. grin.
"Hooooohh?" Mihawk smirked. He was beginning to think his days wouldn't be so boring anymore...