Fuck it, I have ad a really stressful couple of days.
---
Ruby was sitting outside the Baratie when Luffy and Zoro came out at dawn. The swordsman drew Wado Ichimonji off his hip as he did, "They been doing that long?"
"About an hour," Ruby said, "I count fifty men, not counting the lieutenants and Krieg himself. Probably all they could get up with the food Zeff gave them."
"Couple more and it'd be good practice," Zoro said, slotting Wado Ichimonji's tsuka in between his jaws, drawing his other two swords.
"You fight with a sword in your mouth?" Ruby asked in confusion.
"And you fight with a giant red scythe, you're not allowed to talk," Zoro snarked around Wado Ichimonji.
Fair enough.
"I'll take the guy in the gaudy armor," Ruby said, pointing at the large man with pearl embedded armor. Before they could say anything, the sound of a match lighting up echoed behind them and they glanced back to see Sanji lighting up a cigarette.
"You see the guy with the tonfa?" He said, "He's mine. It's personal."
"I'll take their boss," Luffy said, cracking his hands.
"And that leaves the small fry to me," Zoro said, "Ready?"
"Something's coming," Ruby said quietly, a feeling in her gut.
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked
"Just… A feeling. Something's coming. I can feel it on the air, can't you?"
"No?" Luffy said.
"We'll deal with that when it comes to it," Zoro said, "let's go."
Ruby transformed into her iron wood form, launching forwards with the rest of the group.
—
Pearl watched the wooden woman step between the ships, silver orbs drilling into him as she pulled a metal box off her back. She spoke then, wooden lips clacking against each other like a doll, "One warning, to all of you. Turn around. And walk away."
Don Krieg laughed, "We're the Krieg Pirates! We have over a hundred men and survived the Grand Line! What can you do?"
"And we're the crew of the man who will be King of the Pirates," Pirate Hunter Zoro said, "even if you did have a hundred men, which if you aren't lying, looks like half of them are below deck starving to death, we'd still beat you!"
"King of the Pirates!?" Krieg laughed, "You think anyone on your crew will be King of the Pirates!? That's what I'll be!"
"Somehow, if you couldn't survive the Grand Line," the wooden girl said, "I doubt that. it's here… He's here… What is he?"
The last part was said detachedly, eyes looking past Pearl to stare at something past the crowd and over the edge of the ship. As he turned to look, as they all did, Pearl felt his heart stop in his chest.
Floating towards them was a deceptively simple, coffin shaped raft. Big enough for one person, and Pearl recognized the person perfectly well. His chest exposed to the world, a black and wine red long coat over his body and a black feathered hat sat on his head covering his eyes. As he looked up, sharp, orangish eyes stared out at them, and then he stood up, drawing the sword off his back.
"We- we sailed through the Calm Belt to escape him!" Pearl said, failing to keep the quaver out of his voice, "how is he here?"
"One of the Warlords of the Sea," Don Krieg breathed.
""Hawk-Eyes" Dracule Mihawk," Pirate Hunter Zoro said, pulling the bandana off from around his bicep and tying it around his head.
—
Ruby had seen beautiful swords her entire life, how could she not, when she went to a Huntsmen academy and had a special appreciation for weapons of all kind? Qrow's Harbinger, Blake's Gambol Shroud, Weiss's Myrtenaster, Pyrrha's Milò, Yatsuhashi's Fulcrum, Zoro's Wado Ichimonji. Blades that had been forged with love and care to be the best weapon they could be for their wielder. Compared to the sword she was staring at right now, they might as well have been children's toys.
The hilt alone, from pommel to guard, had to be over a yard in length, with the blade another two. It had to be, as the man who drew it off his back was by no means short and it still stood above him like a banner, the golden, gem embedded crossguard standing even with his head.
The blade was ramrod straight, except for a one way curve at the tip of the blade, which was blacker than night. Blacker than anything Ruby had ever seen. And where it touched the water, Ruby wasn't sure how she could even see it at this distance, a small but noticeable void formed, like even the water was afraid to sully a perfect blade like it.
And it was clearly perfect for the man wielding it, for "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk. Perfectly weighted, perfectly balanced. Perfectly everything. Uncle Qrow had taught her every blade had a flaw, but for the life of her, Ruby couldn't see what the flaw was in this one.
Then Mihawk raised the perfect blade so it was so it was above his head and swung it.
One thing Ruby had noticed about this world was that there seemed to be a lack of Aura. Zoro didn't have any, despite being a trained swordsman on par with a Beacon graduate, and Luffy didn't have any despite coming from a bandit clan. Luffy made due with his rubber body and Zoro with his monstrous strength.
If that was true, someone had failed to inform Mihawk of that. And if it wasn't Aura… Well, Ruby didn't want to consider how strong the man was.
The ship below their feet shook and fell with a crash as the shockwave hit it, splitting it in two. Ruby felt her stomach drop as she realized what it meant. If Krieg wasn't lying, over fifty starving men had just been dumped into the ocean.
And she could do nothing about it. Because she couldn't swim. Suddenly, having a Devil Fruit sucked.
"You," Zoro said, walking past the men collapsed with fear, "Hawk-Eyes."
"Hmm?" The man grunted.
"My name is Roronoa Zoro, and I challenge you to a duel."
What was that idiot doing!?
—
Zoro stared at Mihawk, who stared back with his orange eyes. Finally, the World's Strongest Swordsman said, "You're challenging me?"
"That's what I said," Zoro said.
"It appears the frog in the well truly knows nothing about the sea," Mihawk said lightly, "You do realize this is the weakest sea in the world?"
"So?" Zoro said around Wado Ichimonji. Mihawk sighed, pulling off his cross shaped necklace and drew a two inch knife from it.
"Zoro," Ruby called, voice serious, "This isn't a fight you can win."
"I'd listen to your friend," Mihawk said, "She clearly has a better head on her shoulders than you.
Rather than listen to either of them, Zoro got ready for the fight he had waited so long for. Crossing his arms, he launched himself forwards, "Oni Gir-!"
The tip of the small dagger hit all three swords at the exact moment they crossed, stopping all three with the smallest exertion of force. The blades shook as Zoro fought to keep from being pushed back.
The gap between them couldn't be that big, could it? Zoro had trained with blades his entire life, yet…
No, it had to be luck, it had to be!
Zoro launched into a flurry of attacks, losing track of what direction he was sending them from as he did his best to leave so much as a scratch on Mihawk. And each one was parried with as much effort as a child.
"Take. This. Seriously!" Zoro gritted out.
"I dueled one of the Four Emperors before he lost his arm," Mihawk said, inflection not even changing, "taking you seriously would end with you sprayed across the deck of this ship, but if you insist, I'll take this slightly more seriously."
Zoro leapt back, spinning his nameless katanas as Mihawk drew his black blade off his back and charged towards the World's Strongest Swordsman, "Three Sword Style Secret Technique, Three Thousand Worl-!"
Mihawk vanished, and the next thing Zoro knew, his nameless katanas had shattered to pieces.
"Secret Technique?" Mihawk asked from behind him, "Then I take it that was the strongest you had?"
Zoro turned, offering his chest to Mihawk as he walked forwards.
"I'll leave you with a warning, Roronoa Zoro," Mihawk said, drawing back his sword, before a flurry of rose petals began to surge towards them. Mihawk swung out a black covered hand and backhanded the top of the mass, slamming Ruby into the ground, "don't interrupt and disgrace his swordsman honor, girl. I won't kill him, just leave him with a mark to remember this loss by."
Then Mihawk swung his black sword down, Zoro's body screamed in pain as blood exploded out of his chest, and he collapsed as Mihawk walked away and Ruby scooped him up.
—
