"By the way, what’s with that green-haired guy? Did you pick up a new disciple already?"
"No! My only disciple is Chief Petty Officer Tashigi! That green-haired swordsman seems to have made you his target!"
Mihawk turned his gaze on the green-haired swordsman—Zoro—after hearing Rengoku’s words.
"He’s targeting me, is he... and yet he seems far too weak for that."
"What did you say?!"
Zoro immediately clamped a sword in his mouth and drew the other two in his hands.
"Oh? Three-sword style? Rare indeed."
But Rengoku cut off the excited Zoro and asked Mihawk,
"What brings a man like you all the way down to East Blue from the New World?"
"I could ask you the same thing. Why has a famous Marine Vice Admiral from the New World come to East Blue? Surely you weren’t demoted for your skill."
"Marine Vice Admiral?"
Zoro could not hide his shock at learning Rengoku’s rank.
"Hahaha! You really are as free-spirited as ever! I asked first, you know! But I suppose there’s no reason I can’t answer. I merely came on a patrol voyage under orders from Marine Headquarters. Now then, Mihawk, what business brought you here?"
After hearing Rengoku’s answer, Mihawk lowered his hat slightly and replied,
"I was bored."
"What?"
"I said I was bored."
"Hahaha! You really are an interesting one!"
"Hmph."
As Rengoku and Mihawk chatted warmly, Zoro cut in.
"J-just a moment!"
"Hm?"
Mihawk glanced at Zoro out of the corner of his eye.
"Dracule Mihawk, the [Hawk-Eye]! I, Roronoa Zoro, want to challenge you!"
At Zoro’s bold declaration, Mihawk’s mouth curved slightly.
"What is your goal?"
"To become the world’s greatest swordsman!"
Zoro answered as he untied the bandana from his arm and tied it back around his head.
"Heh. Interesting, weakling."
Mihawk moved to Zoro’s side in an instant.
Though they stood on a swaying wooden deck, the fact that Mihawk had come over himself meant he was willing to accept the challenge.
"If you are truly a swordsman with skill, then you should be able to tell the difference between you and me right now. What on earth gave you the courage to stand here, young swordsman?"
Zoro tightened his grip on his blades and glared at Mihawk.
"My ambition! And my promise to a friend!"
"Heh. Truly amusing."
Mihawk drew the cross hanging at his neck.
When he opened it, a small knife was inside.
"Oh? Is that your substitute for a fork?"
Rengoku said, looking at the knife in Mihawk’s hand.
"What? Hey, Mihawk, are you making a joke out of me right now?"
Zoro’s temper flared at the sight of Mihawk trying to face his full strength with nothing more than cutlery.
"A joke? How amusing. If I wanted, I could fight you with wooden chopsticks, but unfortunately this is the only thing I can get my hands on right now. That is what ‘the gap’ means, young swordsman."
'You’re saying I’m worth no more than cutlery...!!!'
Angry at being looked down on, Zoro still did not act rashly.
He only tightened both hands around the blades he held and bit down harder on the sword in his mouth.
"Don’t regret it! Three-sword style... [Demon-Slaying Blade]!"
Zoro struck first with a fierce opening charge the moment the fight began.
But his proud original Three-Sword Style technique, [Demon-Slaying Blade], was stopped far too easily.
"Three-sword style? If having more swords made you stronger, then wouldn’t fishmen’s ten-sword style be even stronger?"
"Shut up! This is my sword! Three-sword style! Tiger Hunt!"
The second attack.
That second strike was also stopped with absurd ease.
Mihawk blocked each blow right in the middle of the sword path, as if he knew the beginning and end of every technique’s trajectory.
At the same time, despair welled up in Zoro.
[Demon-Slaying Blade] and [Tiger Hunt] were the strongest sword techniques he had devised since inheriting the sword Wado Ichimonji in his mouth.
Both of his consecutive heavy strikes had been blocked.
Zoro felt the wall before him.
But he quickly steadied himself and pressed the attack.
'I knew there was a gap between us long ago! But I’ll make you regret looking down on me!'
His goal was not to defeat Mihawk, but to wound the man holding that kitchen knife substitute.
At the very least, he had to make him draw that black blade!
As Zoro’s savage slashes grew more ferocious, Mihawk could not hide his disappointment.
"Your sword path is completely visible, and your style is nothing but brute force."
"Aaaah!"
"Hopeless."
Thud!
Before Zoro’s swordplay could grow any more ferocious, Mihawk stepped forward and drove the knife into Zoro’s chest.
"Ghk!"
"Have you come to your senses, weakling?"
"Hah... hah..."
At Zoro’s ragged breathing, Mihawk tried to pull the knife free.
Clang, clang.
But Zoro’s swords slipped from his hands.
"Hmph. A swordsman dropping his sword? Truly disgraceful."
"Hah... I didn’t drop them..."
"Hm?"
Thup!
"One-sword style..."
He let Wado Ichimonji fall from his mouth and caught it in his right hand.
Then he swung his right arm straight upward.
"Flying Dragon—Flame!"
It was a powerful strike.
But that too was blocked by Mihawk.
Mihawk had sensed Wado Ichimonji falling into Zoro’s right hand and, the instant Zoro swung upward, drew his knife to interrupt the sword path.
"Khh!"
"Your battle sense is good, but your fundamental skill is lacking. Why are you so obsessed? You could have easily widened the distance and evaded earlier."
"Hmph... because then it would feel like the promises and vows I made would be broken..."
"That is called defeat, young swordsman."
Mihawk stepped back and answered Zoro.
"I can’t retreat like this. Even if I lose! I’ll lose by dying!"
Zoro bit down on his sword again and picked up his other two blades, settling back into his fighting stance.
"A man with a fierce will. State your name, young swordsman."
"Roronoa Zoro!"
Mihawk smiled at Zoro.
Shing.
"Oh, so you’ve drawn Yoru!"
"A strong man I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s only proper courtesy between swordsmen."
"How very gracious of you."
Zoro adjusted his grip and began to spin.
Between the whirring blades that spun like a propeller, Zoro saw the world’s strongest black blade.
"Three-sword style—"
"Secret Technique!!!"
"Three Thousand Worlds!!!"
Crash!
It was useless.
His proud Three-Sword Style, the secret ultimate technique he had devised over years, all of it was shattered by Mihawk’s simple horizontal slash.
The only thing that survived was the single sword Wado Ichimonji clamped in his mouth.
'So this is the power of the world’s strongest.
I’ve finally understood the gap between me and the world.
Let me take this as a lesson for reaching a greater stage.'
Clang!
After sheathing Wado Ichimonji, Zoro immediately stood before Mihawk with both arms spread wide.
"What are you doing?"
"The wound on my back is a swordsman’s shame."
"Splendid."
Slice—
"Ghk...!"
Under Mihawk’s serious attack, Zoro lost consciousness on the spot.
Thud.
Looking at Zoro collapsed on the deck, Rengoku said to Mihawk,
"Mm! Rare indeed. I didn’t expect you to like him this much!"
"I merely saw potential."
"For that to be the case, isn’t that wound a little too shallow?"
Rengoku knew Mihawk’s level well. The wound Zoro had just received was extremely shallow for a sword strike from Mihawk.
"It is enough for now."
Mihawk sheathed his knife and returned to his ship.
"You’re leaving already?"
"Yes. I have no more business here."
"Then why did you come all the way to East Blue in the first place?"
"I told you. I was killing time."
Mihawk immediately turned his ship back toward the New World.
"What an eccentric man!"
By the time Rengoku had given Zoro emergency treatment and returned to the Baratie, the battle was already over.
The Baratie was a wreck, apparently from a fierce fight, and both Luffy and Sanji were covered in blood and injuries.
"Zeff of the [Red Leg]!"
Rengoku called Zeff’s name.
"What is it, Marine?"
"Take care of these people here for me!"
"Hmph! I was already planning to. Are you going to arrest the pirates now?"
"I’ll personally arrest anyone with a bounty, but for the rest of the small fry, it would be better to call in other Marines. The ship I brought can’t hold this many prisoners."
"So Mihawk didn’t come here after all... was that because of you?"
"No, it was because of this swordsman!"
"Judging by the wound, it must have been a fierce battle."
"It was fierce all right. Just not for me."
After that, Rengoku summoned a warship by Den Den Mushi, handled the cleanup quickly, and immediately locked Krieg and Gin in the ship’s prison.
"For now, we’ll be leaving! It’s not exactly proper for Marines to linger here any longer."
The Going Merry that had been here earlier was nowhere to be seen.
That might have been fortunate, in a way, but once a Jolly Roger was painted, arresting them was the rule.
Still, the straw-hat boy had once again subdued a wanted pirate with a bounty on his head.
And since the pirate ship wasn’t found, there was nothing to arrest them for.
As for the rude cooks at the Baratie?
With the Baratie already in this state, there was no point in pressing the matter any further.
"Inform the entire fleet! We depart immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
Baratie afterword:
Customer: "Is it true that the sous-chef smokes while cooking, sexually harasses female customers, ignores the guests, and even assaults them?"
Patty: "Ahaha, yes, there was such a guy! But I cut his head off under the head chef’s orders! There’s no such damn cook here! Hahaha!"
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