Uff,
let's all just ignore that it took me a whole month to upload the next chapter, can we^^'
Have fun with it ;-)
The Fountain of Youth – Part 3
-Sanji-
They almost made it!
At sunrise, Robin had emptied her watering can over the torture stake, as she did every morning, and water had been flowing out of all but the last skull. Only a few more hours and this curse would – hopefully – vanish into thin air.
And Sanji was very grateful for that. The first few days it might have been kind of funny, but now it was just exhausting. There were so many things that hadn't happened in this fledgling's head, and it was really hard to keep that in the back of one's mind all the time.
Even worse it had been when the brat had found out that Robin was from Ohara and then had to tell her about his visits there. It had been difficult to maintain this relaxed atmosphere at lunch.
Besides, Sanji had noticed one more thing. He didn't really know how to describe it, but he couldn't help but think of Nami's admonishing words, and he had the feeling that their swordsman wasn't going through it all quite as smoothly as he pretended to.
"Hey," he grumbled, holding out the kitchen towel to Zoro, "you're helping."
"Wha...?" Zoro yawned loudly and with his mouth wide open.
"No, I won't allow that," Hawk Eyes1/3 objected and looked at Sanji condescendingly. It was really amazing how well he had already mastered that look and that he actually meant those words. "Zoro will be with me for..."
"When will you finally realize that you have nothing to say in here," Zoro grumbled and grabbed the shrunken swordmaster's hair, pushing him down slightly. "I can't play your babysitter all day. As a crewmember, I do have work to do."
Sanji refrained from commenting, but noticed that everyone present — namely Brook, Robin, and Usopp — quickly bit their lips and looked away, as if they had all been thinking the same thing.
"But..."
"No buts. I already told you yesterday that you have to improve your core posture first, before that we won't do anything. A thousand sword strikes with a lunge, then we'll talk about another fight."
"What?" Stunned, the brat stared at him. "That's way too..."
"Brook, do me a favor and keep an eye on him, for every average sword strike he makes an extra hundred repetitions and for every bad execution, he gets to repeat the basic steps a thousand times."
"WHAT?! What kind of slave driver are you?! I'm going to need days for that."
The next moment, Zoro bent down to the boy, his dangerous grin on his lips. "I'm not your teacher, Mini-Dracule, you don't have to do anything." Then he straightened up again. "But if you want to fight me, you go for it. Shouldn't be a problem, right? After all, you're so good."
"Asshole!"
Silence
"Oh my," Robin said, "be careful, your lordship, or you'll turn into a true pirate."
With a soft laugh, she walked out, followed by the others, while Brook tried to calm the fledgling down.
Finally, it was quiet while Zoro cleared the leftovers from the table and then took the tea towel without hesitation. Unusual.
"So? What's going on?"
"What?" Surprised, he stared at Zoro.
"Oh, come on. We both know that stupid look you're always giving me. And you haven't asked me to help you the last few days. So let's just get it over with. I trust Mihawk to take less than ten minutes to get rid of Brook."
"It's really strange."
"Huh?" Zoro looked at him questioningly.
"You're reminding me a bit of Hawk Eyes right now. He also always recognizes immediately what you want and sums it up as casually as if it was obvious."
Zoro looked at him in surprise before continuing his work.
"Great, now this bastard is rubbing off on me."
"Well, a little more intelligence wouldn't hurt," Sanji teased.
"Ass," came the rather weak return.
For a moment there was silence between them.
"How are you? Can you handle it?" Sanji was well aware that this was not their usual way of dealing with each other – at least not during the day, late at night before the night watch, or early in the morning before breakfast, if no one noticed, it might be different, but right now it was just after breakfast – but this time he didn't want to play games.
Zoro was silent before sighing softly, "Geez, you guys are so annoying. As long as it's all over tonight, we don't have to make a bigger deal out of the situation than it is."
"Well, you know us," Sanji tried to take it lightly and held out a plate to Zoro. "We know too well how quickly small things can turn into really annoying problems."
"It's going to be one way or another," Zoro grumbled dryly. "How exhausting do you think he's going to be when all of this is over?"
"I can't imagine him being any more nerve-wracking than he always is."
"You have no idea."
Again they were silent.
"So you're holding out?"
"As long as I have to, you know me."
"Mhm, okay, then get out and play the babysitter. I'll do the rest on my own."
Zoro looked at him in surprise. "Are you sick?"
Sanji kicked him from the side. "Just go, before I change my mind."
"Okay, okay." Waving it off, Zoro wiped his hands and left.
"Hey, Cook."
"Yes?" he admonished, glancing at the other at the door.
"Thank you."
Sanji was clearly too good-natured. There were times when he did the dishes on his own, but he had forgotten how much work it was. So he had spent quite a bit of his limited free time with this chore.
On the other hand, maybe it had been worth it, he wasn't sure.
He was enjoying his well-deserved cigarette and watched the Marimo as he circled around his former teacher who made the same movement over and over again and Zoro corrected him incessantly. He seemed to be an unyielding teacher. It only took a few minutes to understand that Zoro was actually giving the same instructions over and over again, every time the fledgling made the same mistakes. But Sanji also had to admit that he didn't exactly understand most of it, and he didn't really see what Zoro was criticizing, not that he actually paid attention to it.
But then he saw the difference. Zoro cautioned the kid to take a break and then slowly made the movement as if he had been hit by Foxy's slow beam and that's when Sanji actually saw it. It wasn't necessarily that Hawk Eyes1/3 was doing the movements uncleanly or incorrectly, it was more that he was setting the priorities wrong. As if he had copied the movement without really knowing how it should feel.
Swordsmen were truly an odd species.
Well, not that Sanji cared. Shaking his head, he put his cigarette out and headed back to the galley to start lunch.
He hadn't been there long when the door opened behind him.
"Lesson already over?" he asked coolly. "If you're trying to shirk it, the Marimo will show you no mercy."
"He wants me to take a break and have a drink," the fledgling snapped with a haughtiness that was almost impressive. "Such boring training methods. I bet he won't let me fight again today."
"Well, but they seem necessary. When even an amateur like me notices the difference between your movements," Sanji remarked, putting a glass of water in front of the other, noticing the other's big eyes.
"I'm just a kid. I'm still growing, my muscles are still growing, so not everything can be perfect yet," the other immediately reacted offended, making Sanji grin.
"Well, and that's why you have to train if you want to beat our Marimo at some point."
"I could train better in a fight."
Sanji examined the offended boy.
"Well, don't take it personally, but I'd rather bet on the swordmaster than the apprentice." The pissed-off face was totally worth the annoying babysitting. "Besides, the Marimo would never do that if he didn't think it was best. After all, there is no one on board who loves to fight as much as he does, especially against good swordsmen."
"Do you mean me?"
"No, actually I meant..." Sanji fell silent, had become inattentive to those big childish eyes.
"You mean that other swordsman." And all of a sudden, there was a striking resemblance to Hawk Eyes. "That old man, the one who doesn't remember Zoro anymore."
Sanji swallowed.
"The Marimo told you about him?" he asked calmly, while the other sounded rather serious. It didn't really surprise him that Zoro had let something slip at some point, he was much more surprised that the kid didn't seem to know who Zoro had been talking about.
"He did. He said that he really wanted to fight him again, and that this old man had once, before my time, been the best swordsman in the world." Then those burning eyes looked at him and Sanji got hot on the back of his neck, this conversation was delicate. "He seems to be a great swordsman. Do you know him?"
"A little bit," Sanji murmured defensively, reaching for his pack of cigarettes. "Pretty arrogant asshole, if you ask me, can't stand him at all, but he's also a damn good fighter, significantly better than you, little brat."
Hawk Eyes1/3 blew a raspberry while Sanji lit a cigarette. He'd really like to put this conversation to an end quickly before it got more dangerous, but if he was to be too conspicuous, this know-it-all might notice it as he stared at his glass again, seriously.
"Zoro seems... it seems to bother him that the old man doesn't remember him. Are they friends?"
Sanji hesitated but decided that staying close to the truth was the best way to lie. Besides, Zoro was now to blame for the following, as he was the first one to let something slip. "Didn't he tell you?"
"What?"
"Well, who this bastard is?"
"No, he..."
"He trained Zoro."
"What?" The fledgling looked at him wide-eyed.
"Mhm, the methods Zoro uses to teach you are the ones the former best swordsman in the world used to teach him back when our Marimo was still a total novice." He smiled slightly, could see the other thinking about these words, about the hours and days that had passed. "Do you know that even as a small child, the Marimo dreamed of becoming the best swordsman in the world? It was quite important to him to defeat his former teacher. This guy may be an absolute ass, but without him... He's the reason Zoro is able to teach you so well today, so maybe you shouldn't act quite like a spoiled snotty blip when you're training."
"Wow," the kid muttered, not even knowing that Sanji was telling him his own story. "Zoro said I can't know him because I'm too young, but what's his name? I can't imagine I've never heard of his name."
Oh, shit!
"Oh, he has many names and titles," Sanji dodged, taking a puff of his cigarette. "Does Shichibukai or Navy Hunter mean anything to you?"
"Navy... Hunter?" For a moment, he seemed almost anxious, while Sanji inwardly praised himself for this good distraction. "Sounds brutal."
"Oh, he is," Sanji murmured, rolling his eyes at the thought of past events, "cruel bastard. Has threatened me with death several times – and being serious about it – just because I was in a fight with the Marimo. Other people don't have much value to him, a bit like the world aristocrats. He hates it when people point out he's a pirate, but believe me, he's cruel enough."
The kid processed Sanji's words – which he knew he would soon regret if the other turned back and would remember everything – but then the boy flinched slightly, as if he had stumbled over his train of thought and looked at Sanji puzzled.
"But if he doesn't care about other people, why does he care if you and Zoro argue?"
"Oh." Sanji rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment; he had brought this on himself. "Well, they're not just rivals, you know."
"Yes, that's what Zoro said, they are fighting and training partners."
Sanji laughed a little nervously.
"Well, they're partners apart from that, too," he muttered, feeling quite sure that he shouldn't be the one to have this conversation with their fledgling.
"What? Sorry, but Zoro doesn't seem bright enough to make a good business partner."
"Not in that sense," Sanji remarked cautiously, watching as the boy thought about his words and understood them after a few seconds, his face a picture of bewilderment.
"But... but... I thought the guy was very old?" he looked doubtfully at Sanji. "And he was Zoro's... teacher and... They are... men! None of this is acceptable! There are social rules, according to which..."
"Well, don't ask me what's going on between these two. It's really weird, the whole thing." Sanji shrugged his shoulders and then leaned over the counter to the boy. "But your oh-so-nice rules don't apply out on the high seas, get it? I didn't tell you this so you could condemn anyone here. For whatever reason, the Marimo has decided to help you with your training, even though he's in a really shitty situation right now. So behave, you hear me. Because the Marimo is our crewmember, and we look out for each other."
Highly concentrated, the hawk eyes slid on him and all shame about the past conversation had slipped from that childish face.
"A few days ago, Zoro warned me about the smarter members of this crew. I didn't think he meant you."
"He didn't," Sanji remarked coolly, turning back to his task. "Believe me, I'm not one of those you need to be wary of. After all, I'll tell you quite frankly what you're dealing with. There are others on board who are far more dangerous than I am. When you go out, let the others know that lunch will be ready in an hour."
The other snorted in amusement.
"What? Do you think no one here on board could compete with the oh-so-puffed-up Dracule Junior?"
"Who knows," replied the boy. "But it's funny, Zoro's warning a few days ago was almost identical to yours. You're both idiots."
Sanji didn't say anything while the other left, he would have his sweet revenge should the other turn back and remember everything. Oh, he'd enjoy teasing the puffed-up Hawk Eyes with his own horror at his partnership, even willing to put his life in danger for it.
-Zoro-
It was late. The sun had already set, and except for the dim light from the library at the stern and the lantern on the mainmast, it was dark.
He had just nodded to the Cook, who had finished his clean-up and was about to go to his bunk. Zoro guessed that Jinbei was in the library, since Robin had wanted to go to bed early, but he didn't really know. He wouldn't go to sleep, but he wouldn't train either, as usual. He was too unfocused for that and simply lacked the leisure. He wanted it to be over, but it wasn't, and that sucked.
He had come to terms with the fact that Mihawk was a little boy, surprisingly naïve and childish – he had always thought this bastard had been born old – quite strong, but far from being an opponent. He had come to terms with the fact that Mihawk didn't remember him and their past, he had meant his words, it wasn't great, but there were worse things; he could handle it.
But what he couldn't handle was the web of half-truths and lies they had spun. Whether or not it would eventually collapse, whether or not Mihawk would transform back and remember, Zoro didn't like it, really didn't like it. He didn't like lying to Mihawk, even for his own protection.
So here he leaned against the railing, the coffin boat behind him, listening to Yoru in the depths of the wooden belly. His own swords had been suspiciously quiet the past few days, even Josei – which Zoro had also brought into the belly of the coffin boat for safety – but right now Zoro would rather they all screamed and tried to overrule Yoru, but as it was, he stayed on this ship in this rare calm, watching the darkness of sea and night, just Zoro, just the wind, the waves, and Yoru.
Almost.
"It's no wonder you sleep so much during the day. Are you a vampire or why do you stay up all night?"
Zoro gave the other a grin and could see how it intimidated the kid.
"Shouldn't children be asleep at this time?"
Mihawk looked at him condescendingly, without replying, clearly showing his arrogance, almost more clearly than in the past few days. Was he still angry that Zoro hadn't fought him today? Yes, he was, of course.
"Are you going to fight me again tomorrow?" came the reason for his presence as the boy walked past Zoro and sat down at the stairs to the bow.
"I don't know," Zoro replied, examining the coffin boat. "Probably not."
Mihawk snorted angrily. "Why?! I did everything you wanted and..."
"I'm not doing this to annoy you," Zoro sighed, not at all in the mood for this discussion, which he had had so many times before, but never from this side. "Believe me, I understand you, I also prefer to fight and learn much faster that way; I don't like theory. But the quality of your movements, both offensive and defensive, depends very much on your mood and you have to turn that off, otherwise any enemy will have an easy time with you. And if you can't do that in dry runs, you won't be able to hold your own against opponents like me."
"Tze," the other snapped so familiarly.
"Annoying, isn't it?" Zoro recalled his own training.
"It's rather shocking when you don't sound like a fool," Mihawk replied with his usual arrogance.
"And yet you want to fight that fool," Zoro said simply, not in the least offended.
With a wordless sound, the other agreed, and then they were silent.
He didn't know what else the other wanted from him, the kid had gotten his answer, but Zoro didn't care. He had no interest in scolding him if he didn't want to go to bed. At the same time, Zoro didn't feel obligated to have a conversation with him either. He wasn't in the mood for it and enjoyed the silence.
Eventually, the world got a little darker when the lights went out in the library, which was a bit unusual because Jinbei liked to stay up until dawn, but it was pleasant, just the lamp of the mainmast and the darkness of the night.
"Can I ask you something?", Mihawk broke the silence and Zoro rolled his eye inwardly. By now he was so used to this question from the other that he wondered what was left for this know-it-all to ask him about. It felt like he had told him everything Zoro knew. "That old swordsman who trained you and can't remember you."
"What about him?"
"That's me, right?"
He looked at the other, who looked back so calmly.
"I'm the Shichibukai you fought and who can't remember you, right?"
Zoro opened and closed his mouth, swallowed, met that clear gaze.
"How did you come up with that? You're a child."
"But I'm not stupid and I absolutely don't like it when adults try to lie to me. So tell me the truth. This boat there, that's mine, isn't it? I arrived with this boat and that's why you're holding on to it. And the sword in there, which has been calling out to me all the time, is mine too, isn't it? I'm this formidable swordsman who comes here just to fight you – after all, I'm already a lot smarter and a much better strategist than you – but something happened and the reason Doctor Chopper lends me clothes is because mine don't fit me anymore, right? Because I'm a kid now and I can't remember my adult life. And the only reason you're so nice to me is..."
"No," Zoro interrupted, shaking his head slightly in disapproval, "don't jump to conclusions. I'm neither nicer nor less kind to you than I am to anyone else."
Sighing, he closed his eye and felt the tightness in his chest of the last few days slowly dissolve.
"But you're right." He looked at the other, whose eyes grew larger with every word. "The truth is, you're not Mini-Dracule, not Dracule Junior, or whatever. The others call you Hawk Eyes, I... call you Mihawk."
Mihawk took a deep breath.
"That means... I am... I'm the old swordsman?" he asked, although he had just said it so confidently.
Zoro nodded.
"Oh, thank God." Mihawk breathed a sigh of relief, closed his eyes, and leaned forward.
Zoro watched him, a little surprised by this rather positive reaction. "Somehow, I was expecting something different. Thought you were going to freak out."
This caused the other to look up. "You knew I was going to find out?"
Zoro sighed but couldn't help but smile. "At least it doesn't surprise me. After all, I know what a know-it-all you are. However, I don't understand why you're so happy about it."
"Well, isn't that obvious?" the other said, staring at his hands. "All I want is to grow up and finally live my own life, make my own decisions, and now you're telling me that that's exactly what I've done? The boat looks almost exactly like I always imagined it. I'm a swordsman, I'm strong, I have my own sword, and I...!"
He didn't say anything, and Zoro didn't say anything.
"You said the old swordsman was the former best swordsman in the world, but at the same time he never won against my sister." Zoro was silent. "That means my sister must have died before I became strong enough to defeat her."
There was no question.
"Yes, I think you were 12 or so when she died."
He didn't know what was going to happen now. All he knew was that Mihawk had lost control because of that event.
"Did she fall in battle?" came the monotonous question.
"Yes."
"What about the victor?"
"By now, devastatingly beaten."
"Was it me? Did I take revenge?"
"No, after all, you had..."
"... promised her that I would never take revenge if someone killed her," the other whispered.
Zoro was quiet and there was silence for a long time.
"Somehow... I imagined adult life differently," Mihawk continued, much too calm after the euphoria of a few minutes ago. But Zoro remained suspicious, expecting a nervous breakdown or something along those lines. "It seems more like a nightmare than the fulfillment of all my dreams."
He stood up and took a deep breath, shaking his head.
"My sister is supposed to be dead before she grew up, and I'm supposed to believe that? Instead of an admiral, I am supposed to be a persecuted pirate? People call me Navy Hunter? And then I'm supposed to have been defeated by a fool I trained myself? This has to be some bad joke," he snapped now, as Zoro was all too familiar with. "And as if all that wasn't bad enough, I am supposed to have thrown overboard what little dignity I had left and given myself to my student? A pirate? A man? A complete idiot? I don't know what's the worst of it - but you're really not smart, do you know that? – and if the whole thing wasn't so abstrusely ridiculous, so utterly absurd, I'd be convinced that all this is just a stupid lie and you're making fun of me."
Zoro crossed his arms and shook his head slowly. That sounded much more like Mihawk.
"But I'd know if you were lying — unlike Sanji, you're terribly bad at it — and he's a much better liar and wouldn't come up with something so utterly implausible, so it must be the truth, right?" He exhaled loudly, as if he had washed it all down in one breath, he had spoken fast enough for that. "But why? What's the point of all this? Maybe I turned back into a child for a reason, a second chance not to end up like this pathetic version of me. Yes, exactly, this has to be it. That is, I..."
"Could you please shut up?" Zoro looked at the other. "You're a pretty arrogant asshole, do you know that?"
The other snorted.
"Are you telling me to look forward to this deplorable future? To be happy about it? Nothing you said about this old swordsman — about me — sounded edifying in any way. This sad impression of a life would be an insult to any Dracule."
"I'm just saying you're an arrogant asshole," Zoro grumbled, unphased. "You know, it's true that you've been through some tough times, and you are an annoying bastard and sometimes you make really stupid decisions. But..." He showed a faint grin to the other's frustrated face. "I think you're quite happy right now."
"Because of you?" Mihawk snorted sarcastically. "Which of us is arrogant now, pirate?"
"Still you," Zoro wasn't really impressed. "Honestly, I don't feel like justifying your own vita to yourself. Believe me or don't believe me, it doesn't change anything about the current situation anyway."
"That's right," the other murmured defiantly. "How long does this curse last? When am I going to be my pathetic grown-up self again?"
"I don't know. Do you see the torture stake over there? That's what triggered it. Actually, I thought it would be over tonight, but you're still a kid. So I don't know."
"And that's why you pulled off this stupid act and tricked me?"
Zoro nodded.
"Because you think I'm too weak."
"No," he replied simply, "but it's never easy to learn of the death of a loved one, no matter how strong you are."
That's when he could see it for the first time. The golden eyes shimmered in the light of the lamp. But Mihawk took a hard breath and interrupted whatever had been growing within him.
"So that means I'm not turning back?"
"Maybe," Zoro shrugged. "Maybe Robin was wrong, and the skulls were a time limit within which we should have broken the curse."
"And then what?"
Zoro sighed and turned to the sea.
"Then it's up to you to decide how you want to live your second chance. We can't just take you back to Sasaki. But I think we could contact Jiroushin - he works in the Navy - and we would probably be able to meet him somewhere." He glanced sideways at the other. "You could join the Navy and become an admiral, bring honor to the Dracule name."
"Nonsense, if people know my name, know my story, they won't respect me, even if I don't remember it, and otherwise it would be difficult to assimilate my rightful inheritance."
"Oh, we'll find ways and means," Zoro remarked half-heartedly. "Maybe even your father will help us. I can imagine that he would also be happy about a second chance."
For a moment the other was silent.
"Why are you suggesting this?" he asked, extremely suspicious. "From all I know, I'm your... partner and the person you want to fight more than anything. So why would you allow me to become a soldier?"
Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Because it's not my decision to make? You are neither my partner nor the swordmaster I want to fight. You are the child he once was, and if you're right that this should be your second chance, then you deserve to use it as you see fit."
Mihawk stared at him wide-eyed.
"That sounds pretty selfless of you," he murmured, to which Zoro just shrugged. "Is that really okay with you?"
"It is what it is, and I can't change it. But neither my memories nor my feelings depend on yours. It's alright, and if you take a path that makes you happy, well..." He couldn't help but smile. "... then I guess I'm happy, too."
The other's eyes widened even more.
"And who knows, maybe in a few years you'll be strong enough to defeat me. It would be a lot of fun." With folded arms, he looked out to sea. "So, Mini-Dracule, what do you want to do with your second chance? Where do you want us to take you?"
The night was quiet. The sky was overcast. Like the last few days. Zoro didn't know if they were really the only ones on board not sleeping, but at least no one bothered them. Tomorrow he would have to deal with the others, because he hadn't kept up with this stupid act. Tomorrow they would all have to accept that they now had a new problem, which maybe wasn't a problem at all. Depending on what kind of future Mihawk wanted for himself.
"I've never been asked that by an adult," the other said after a few long breaths. "I've never been asked what I wanted to do with my life. My path was given to me with my name."
"Well, there's a first time for everything. So?"
"I... I don't really know. I've always wanted... to go to the Navy, to... No, actually I just wanted my father... Huh, how strange, I've never seen it like that before."
Zoro raised only one eyebrow while the other muttered to himself for minutes.
"I've made a decision."
"That was quick."
"It's pretty simple, too."
"Oh?" Zoro looked over at Mihawk, who nodded slightly.
"Of course. All I really want is to fight with the sword. But... you're a fool and have absolutely no experience – and talent – in teaching. And yet, without my sister, only with my father, who is considered the best teacher of the Navy, but still so... weak." It was a strange feeling when Dracule Mihawk, an elitist brat, bowed to him. "I hate pirates and I never want to become one, but you are my best chance to become the swordsman I want to become. Therefore, even if I am not the man you know, who knows you, be my second chance, teach me."
It was calm except for the wind and the waves.
"Are you sure? If you're with pirates like us, you'll also be labeled a pirate whether you like it or not. And we're often involved in fights, so you might face death sooner than you'd like."
Zoro turned to the other, who was now grinning broadly, showing a bit of the Mihawk Zoro knew.
"I've decided that I want to be the best swordsman, come what may, no matter the price. I want to be so good that my sister can be proud of me, so good that my pathetic version knowing you is nothing more than a faint memory." Then Mihawk showed an almost childlike radiance. "Who knows, maybe I'll even achieve perfection."
Zoro couldn't help but smile, because this time it wasn't arrogance, but what Zoro would call a dream. Then he looked up at the sky. A drop had fallen on his cheek.
"Seems like Nami is right, as always," he murmured as it began to drizzle. "As she predicted, it's finally starting to rain. That means tomorrow it's going to be windier again."
"Are you happy about that?"
He met the gaze of the kid who had made himself his disciple without really asking Zoro.
"Wind means action and adventure in the air, and what would a pirate life be without adventure?" He turned and gestured to the other to follow him, the few drops slowly turning into real rain. "Come on, it's the middle of the night. Let's get you to bed before you get soaking wet."
And as soon as he had put the other to bed, Zoro would need to get some exercising. Let out whatever was in his muscles.
"What in God's name...?"
Zoro froze. To his left a soft green shimmer enlightened the sea as the candles on the coffin boat flared up. Within half a second, his body began to shiver. For another second he stood there, held his breath, and then he turned.
In front of him stood Mihawk, staring at him perplexed, Chopper's clothes not torn, but strangely distorted, as when Chopper changed his shape.
"What... what is going on, Roronoa?"
His lower lip trembled, barely noticing the rain as he approached the other. He stopped in front of Mihawk.
"What...?"
"On which island have you trained me for two years?"
"What? Kuraigana. Roronoa, what is this...?"
He took a deep breath and Mihawk interrupted himself as Zoro took another step forward and then slammed his forehead against Mihawk's chest.
"Roronoa? What…?"
"I'll explain everything in a second," he murmured without moving, "but... just give me a moment. The last few days have been tough."
"Well... alright," Mihawk said, confused. "However, you really do have a lot to explain. Starting with these clothes."
"Mhm," Zoro said, not moving, not wanting to think about the why, the how. He would leave it all to Robin, and whoever else wanted to think about it. He just wanted to stand here.
"Mihawk?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
Mihawk laughed, almost surprised. "What is the matter, Roronoa? Didn't you say yourself that these words... Oh, of course... oh... I see."
Zoro didn't react, and then he felt Mihawk put his arms around him, embracing him, holding the back of his head. He stayed there, not moving, while Mihawk hugged him.
"I am sorry," Mihawk whispered, holding him tight.