"You look bored. Let’s have a match."
Zoro challenged Mihawk.
"How pitiful. Such a weakling."
"A skilled swordsman can discern the gap in strength without even crossing blades."
"Is your courage to point a blade at me born of willpower... or simply ignorance?"
"It’s because of my ambition. And a promise I made to a friend."
Zoro drew his three swords.
But Mihawk pulled out the tiny dagger hanging around his neck.
"Hey. What the hell did you pull that out for?"
"Unlike a beast that goes all out to hunt a rabbit, I do not need everything I have."
"Even if you make a name for yourself here, this is only East Blue—the weakest sea."
"Unfortunately, I don’t have a sword any smaller than this."
"Don’t push your contempt for people too far..."
"Don’t regret it after you die!!"
"Demon Slash!!"
With that one tiny dagger, Mihawk struck a single point and blocked all three of Zoro’s swords.
Apparently frustrated by the far greater gap between them than he had expected, Zoro shouted and swung his swords wildly.
"Zoro!! Get a grip!! Even if you lose, fight without regrets!!!"
Perhaps my words reached him, because Zoro briefly stopped attacking.
"Giving up?"
"No."
"Haaah!!"
Zoro swung his swords again.
They still could not reach Mihawk. But they were swords swung with everything he had, swords without regret.
"Tiger Hunt!!"
Mihawk’s tiny blade slipped past Zoro’s swords and stabbed him in the chest.
"Why don’t you step back?"
"Because if I take even one step back, it feels like my vows, my promises, and so many other things will break... and I’ll never be able to return here again."
"Yes. That is defeat."
"Then I can’t retreat any farther."
"Even if it means death?"
"Death would be better."
"State your name, brat."
Mihawk pulled the tiny blade from Zoro’s chest and asked.
"Roronoa Zoro."
"I will remember it. It has been a long time since I encountered a strong opponent... As a courtesy between swordsmen, I shall finish this with my black blade."
Luffy was doing everything he could to stop himself from rushing in front of Zoro.
"Go on, then. Try to dodge it."
Mihawk swung his sword, telling Zoro to evade.
But—
"Three-Sword Style Secret Technique!!"
"Three Thousand Worlds!"
Zoro chose to clash with him.
The two swords in Zoro’s hands shattered.
Zoro sheathed the sword clenched in his mouth and turned toward Mihawk behind him.
"No?"
"A scar on the back is a swordsman’s shame."
"Splendid."
Then Mihawk slashed diagonally across Zoro’s chest.
"Zoro!!"
"Zoro!!"
Luffy and I immediately used our Devil Fruit powers to move in front of Mihawk.
"You are the companions of that young swordsman... You, too, watched him through to the end."
"Don’t worry. He’s still alive."
Johnny and Yosaku rescued Zoro after he fell into the sea and hauled him aboard the ship.
"My name is Dracule Mihawk!! It is too early for you to die. Learn about the world. Know yourself. Grow stronger, Roronoa."
"For years, decades if necessary, I will wait for you at the seat of the strongest!"
"Climb over me, Roronoa!"
"What are your goals, brats?"
"Pirate King!"
"Adventure King."
"A treacherous road. More so than climbing over me..."
"Mister... this time, you’ll have to entertain me."
"Luffy... I probably won’t have any strength left after this fight."
"It’ll be fine to leave that bastard Krieg to you, right?"
"Shishishi, got it."
"Don’t waste too much time on a guy like Krieg..."
I drew the sword Shanks had given me.
"That sword... What is your connection to Shanks? Now that I think about it, that straw hat is Shanks’s as well."
"Who knows? He entrusted this sword and that straw hat to us."
"And we promised to return them when we met again at sea."
Luffy and I answered together.
"Very well. Come at me."
I reinforced my body with Observation Haki and the energy I had accumulated through Absorption, then formed wings.
Then I used [Darkness Spreading].
Though the sun was up, I poured out every bit of energy I had and spread darkness with all my might.
The surroundings became so dark that it was impossible to believe it was daytime, and I could hide within that darkness.
"Interesting."
I knew that even with all this, winning would be difficult anyway.
Still, I could not pass up the chance to fight the strongest swordsman and become stronger. I also wanted to remind myself not to get complacent after looking down on my recent Observation Haki and Armament Haki training, and after defeating the small fry so easily lately.
Though honestly, I was mostly just pissed off.
I knew Nami and Zoro would end up like this, but that did not mean I wasn’t angry.
They were not just characters from a comic book. They were companions who were out here adventuring with me.
I was starting with my finishing move.
[Serious Slash]!!
Continuous barrage!!!
When I used [Darkness Spreading], I could launch flying slashes in a manner similar to Armament Haki, though it was not actually Armament Haki.
There was a reason I had used it against Mihawk, who could clearly use Observation Haki.
But it was only possible by using both my innate energy and the energy I had absorbed so far.
If either one ran out, I could no longer use it.
I fired a flying slash with [Serious Slash], then immediately closed in on Mihawk with Shave and my wings’ flight ability.
As I swung my sword, I imbued my wings with energy as well and unleashed simultaneous flying slashes.
I had hoped at least one of them would hit, but Mihawk blocked them far too easily.
But I was a man who always had a Plan B.
Bracing myself with the opposite wing, I swept the ground with my leg.
To avoid my attack, Mihawk had no choice but to leap into the air.
I immediately took to the air as well and launched a continuous barrage of flying slashes with my blade and wings.
Then I got directly behind Mihawk, grabbed his neck, and activated Absorption.
I grabbed Mihawk’s neck and used Absorption with every ounce of strength I had, but I only managed to absorb an utterly minuscule amount before I was slammed straight into the ground.
[Darkness Spreading], my wings—everything vanished.
The explanation was long, but not even ten seconds had passed.
So ten seconds is still my limit...
"As expected, you possess the makings of someone Shanks would entrust something to..."
"Damn it. I thought I was a little closer, but you’re farther away than I thought, mister."
"Would you follow me and learn swordsmanship?"
"!!!!!"
"Mihawk is making an offer like that!!"
"Unfortunately, I already have a teacher. Besides, I haven’t even had the chance to learn from Shanks yet, so I can’t."
"Your teacher is... Roronoa?"
"That’s right. I haven’t learned much from him yet, though."
I had already expended all my strength and could not even remain standing.
"Luffy... Jin... can you hear me?"
Lying on the deck, Zoro spoke while holding up the one sword he had left.
"Yeah."
"I can hear you..."
"From now on, I will never lose again!!"
"Until the day I defeat Mihawk and become the world’s greatest swordsman, never again!!"
"I won’t lose!!"
"Any objections, Pirate King and Adventure King?"
"Shishishi, none."
"Me neither..."
"A splendid team. I am sure we will meet again."
"Luffy, I’m counting on you..."
"Shishishi, rest easy."
With the last of my strength, I made my way to the small boat carrying Usopp and the others.
"Hey, Hawk Eyes! Didn’t you come for my head?
The head of Krieg, the ruler of this East Blue."
For some reason, Krieg spoke with a smug expression.
Ah, that small-fry bastard was such a small fry that he had no idea what sort of battle had taken place inside [Darkness Spreading].
"Well, I had thought of doing that for amusement, but I’ve had enough fun. I have no interest in small fry."
"Small fry???!!! Die!!!"
Guns emerged from Krieg’s armor, firing a massive barrage of bullets.
"Truly annoying, just like small fry should be."
Mihawk cut through the surroundings and vanished.
The aftermath sent violent waves crashing around us and shook everything.
"Usopp!! Go on ahead!!"
"Got it!! We’ll bring Nami back, so make sure you recruit the cook!"
"Once we’re all together, let’s head to the Grand Line!!"
Luffy’s POV
I sent Jin, Zoro, and Usopp on ahead.
I could understand how Jin, who had been with me since childhood, felt.
He had been dissatisfied with how I had not been training that thing called Haki lately.
If our companions had lost to someone other than Mihawk today, would they all have survived and been given another chance to grow stronger like this?
I had thought I was strong enough after fighting our recent enemies.
I had known Jin, with his talent beyond imagination ever since childhood, was strong. I had thought this much was enough, but today I could feel my temper starting to rise.
"Old man!! If I chase those guys off, can I quit being the errand boy?"
"...! Do whatever you want."
"All right!!"
"Gum-Gum Rocket!"
"Gum-Gum Giant Scythe!!!"
First, I took care of the guys who had gathered together, since they were easy to clear out all at once.
I remembered Jin saying he was jealous of attacks like this because they were useful for dealing with small fry.
I didn’t know exactly what "small fry" meant, but it probably referred to weak guys.
Then I saw the fish head of the sea restaurant detach itself and launch forward.
"That’s awesome!!!!"
The fish head then fired the cannon in its open mouth at the pirates.
"Open the fins!!"
A platform rose from beneath the sea in front of the sea restaurant.
"No way!!!"
As I watched for a moment, Sanji cleared out the "small fry" on the platform and was fighting a guy carrying strange shields.
Normally, I would have watched Sanji fight for a while.
But Jin asked me to do this. And against Krieg, who had neither Mihawk’s strength nor conviction, I didn’t want to have one of those battles where you stake your beliefs against each other.
"Gum-Gum Rocket!!"
"Gum-Gum Gatling!!"
I shot straight toward Krieg with Rocket, then smashed his annoying face to pieces with Gum-Gum Gatling.
"Everybody stop!!"
Gin snapped Zeff’s prosthetic leg and pointed a gun at the old man’s head as he lay facedown.
"Sanji. I don’t want to kill you."
"Please leave this ship."
Hmm...
"Gin!!! Look at this!!"
As if to show Gin, I started punching Krieg, who was already unconscious and bleeding.
"Luffy!! Stop, or Zeff dies!!"
"Hmph. You let Zeff go. Until then, I’ll keep punching him!!!"
"!!!!!!!"
"Stop! At this rate, he’ll really die!!"
Krieg’s other officers rushed at me, but I ran around carrying the unconscious man, striking Krieg whenever I found an opening—and making sure every blow landed.
"Yeah, he’ll die at this rate, so hurry up and let Zeff go!!!!"
The battle at the sea restaurant ended that day thanks to Luffy.
Later, Sanji told me he had witnessed that a threat could be defeated by an even bigger threat.
Huh???
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