Say something?
Say what?
Facing a ring of heavy hitters, Bon Clay felt his hand trembling under the cloak in spite of himself. With monsters like these packed together, it was a mercy no one had unleashed Conqueror's Haki yet, or he might have fainted on the spot.
That tiny flinch, squeezed out by sheer presence, did not escape those with honed Observation Haki.
"How utterly dull."
Mihawk tipped the brim of his hat. Feeling his time had been wasted, he raised the black blade Yoru across his body and took calm steps forward.
At that, the other prowling predators shrank back a half pace, eyes turning wary.
"Going to do it yourself?"
"He is the Black Emperor's right hand. Cleaning this up is only proper."
"But if he moves, we lose our chance to make a point."
Yoru leveled as Mihawk walked in. Not a soul dared to block his path.
For two straight years, Dracule Mihawk had shown the seas an absolute strength that needed no boasting.
King remembered it with painful clarity.
A year ago.
In Wano, the Seastone trade had somehow kept bleeding money. Kaido got drunk and tried to force Donquixote Doflamingo to yield more margin on the SMILE business. He haggled too hard over the transponder snail, and Doflamingo flatly refused. Enraged, Kaido swore he would make Joker pay and started a drunken rampage.
Young Master begged for help.
A man with a great black cross-blade on his back sat in the sunflower field outside the Dressrosa palace, swirling red wine as he waited for Kaido.
"Wororororo."
From a sky black with storm, a vast dragon's head pushed through, looking down on the island. Wind howled. Rain hammered. The people of Dressrosa fled in panic. Some recognized the monster.
"That is Kaido of the Beasts."
"Why here of all places? A Yonko in Dressrosa"
"This is Lord Ozz's sphere. How dare he"
The azure dragon looked down on the scurrying ants with disdain. Half drunk and seething, Kaido bared his fangs and roared.
"Oi. Where is Joker. Come out and face me."
Heat coiled in his maw, compressed to a spear of light.
High on the palace plateau, Doflamingo stared into the storm, feathers soaked through, a deep line on his brow. He worried whether the man he had called could really stop Kaido.
It was not Ozz himself, after all.
The torrent in Kaido's mouth swelled. A blast that could level a mountain lanced down toward Dressrosa. The air itself seemed to warp.
"Blast Breath."
Then
Footfalls drummed. From the plateau a figure sprinted, drawing the black blade from his back. Hawkeye's keen gaze fixed on the oncoming fire.
Hands wrapped the hilt. The sword rose over his head, then dropped.
A vast emerald slash carved the sky, splitting the Blast Breath down the middle. Heat peeled away and thinned to steam.
Bootheels clicked upon a rooftop. Under the hat's shadow, the swordsman's eyes were ice as he glared into the clouds.
"The dragon's fire was cut."
"That man is"
"Hawkeye, Dracule Mihawk."
"Like King Doflamingo, one of the Warlords of the Sea."
"We are saved."
The edge had found its mark, and Kaido felt it. He ground his teeth.
"Hawkeye. You"
"A swordsman who cannot carry through his will never reaches the summit."
"If a mere Yonko kills me, then I amounted to nothing."
A dangerous pressure rolled across Kaido's scales. It was the fighting spirit of the world's greatest swordsman. The last man to give him this feeling already sat a throne.
"Oi, Kaido."
Steel sang.
Lightning crackled and crawled.
"I gave my word to Ozz. No one touches the Black Emperor's territory."
Haki coiled along Mihawk's arms. The already peerless blade seemed to turn deeper black, veiled in its own mystery. Black and crimson sparks wrapped the edge. A hawk's sharp gaze shimmered along the steel, as if the sword itself answered its master.
Even in his fury, Kaido's pupils tightened. The great body shrank as he dropped to the ground and took his hybrid form. He lifted his spiked kanabo and stared at the distant swordsman whose killing intent was bare and honest.
"You too"
"Conqueror's Haki."
Steel and iron crashed. Again and again the black and red lightning arced.
Aside from Doflamingo, no one saw the end of that battle clearly.
They only knew this.
Mihawk vanished from the headlines for a time.
And Kaido, Emperor of the New World, wore a new scar over his chest that would never fade.
…
"If that man moves, the rest of us are moot."
The crowd watched Mihawk stride toward "Ozz," all cold-eyed spectators. None were confident they could leave alive if they stepped into range of that blade.
Even Bon Clay knew he was done.
Then so be it. At least I have vented this insult for Lord Ozz.
Steady with that resolve, he faced the oncoming shadow without fear.
Mihawk bent his knees for the leap. Yoru rose for the cut.
Steel rang.
The clash shocked the square. Hawkeye's strike had been stopped.
All eyes flew to the figure braced against him.
"That is"
"The Desert King, Crocodile."
With a hook of sand hardened like iron, Crocodile knocked Yoru aside. The two faced one another.
"Why."
Mihawk looked at her calmly. He could not see why Crocodile would interpose herself. Had he used his full strength just now, she would already be in two neat pieces.
"Exhale."
The notorious coin-flip spoiler took a slow drag and breathed out smoke. In the shadowed calm of a crime lord's face, Crocodile met his gaze.
"We have known each other many years, Mihawk."
"When I act against my nature, there is only ever one reason."
At that quiet line, Mihawk paused, then as if recalling a certain figure, let the faintest smile touch the corner of his mouth.
"I see."
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