"That… that was really done by human power!?"
On the Baratie's fin-deck, the chefs invited by Luffy to watch stood frozen, eyes wide in disbelief. In mere seconds, Luffy had frozen the entire surrounding sea, a sight that struck awe straight into their hearts.
"This… this is what pirates on the Grand Line are like?"
Sanji, standing beside Zeff, stared blankly at the frozen expanse before him. His pupils trembled violently; his lips quivered as he muttered under his breath.
He simply couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"I should've remembered sooner!"
Zeff, who was seated on the deck because his prosthetic leg had been broken, suddenly spoke, instantly drawing Sanji's attention.
"That walking skeleton…! I saw them in the papers over two years ago!"
"The Seven Warlords of the Sea! From the Starry Sky Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy!"
"The Seven Warlords… that kid!?"
Sanji's voice trembled in disbelief as he stared at Luffy, who was leading his crew back across the icy field toward the ship.
Zeff continued, explaining to Sanji and the others:
"The other man… he's not ordinary either."
"That black blade of his, if the rumors I heard on the Grand Line are true…"
"No, looking at this now, it must be true!"
"He should be the one known as the World's Greatest Swordsman, a fellow Warlord of the Sea, Dracule Mihawk!"
The Seven Warlords of the Sea!
To those in the small East Blue, such titles felt as distant as another world entirely.
"What could men that strong possibly want…?"
Sanji lit a cigarette, his expression complex as he gazed toward the frozen sea.
"Who knows… The world of the strong can only be understood by the strong…"
Zeff glanced down at his empty right leg, the leg that had cost him his dream. Remembering Sanji's stunned expression moments ago, he smiled faintly where no one could see.
If he could go back in time… he would still make the same choice.
He had never once regretted it.
"The strong… huh…"
Sanji stood silently, blowing out a ring of smoke as he watched Luffy and the others slowly make their way back over the ice, something like yearning flickering deep in his eyes.
========
"To be honest… I want to win."
Zoro drew his three Zanpakuto one after another from his waist, facing the man before him, Mihawk.
Mihawk replied calmly, "In this world, no one wants to lose."
"You're right."
Clenching the hilt of Phantom Spirit between his teeth, Zoro's aura changed instantly, part ferocious beast, part ethereal dream, part god and demon combined.
The mysterious power of the Zanpakuto began to surge through his body.
Even in this brief moment of preparation, Mihawk felt a pressure that seemed to come directly from Zoro's soul.
That sensation, it had been so many years since Mihawk last experienced it.
Even the hand holding the Yoru trembled slightly, not in fear, but in excitement.
Battling the strong had always been Mihawk's way of moving forward.
He never turned away a challenger.
But ever since he had ascended to the title of "World's Greatest Swordsman," fewer and fewer dared to set their sights on him.
Life had grown unbearably dull.
So he roamed the Grand Line in his coffin-shaped boat, aimlessly drifting, slicing through boredom one day at a time.
The Krieg Pirates had simply been unlucky, they'd spotted him steering with Yoru, his black blade, and so he'd chased them down to silence them.
Who would've thought that here, in the weakest of the four seas, he'd stumble upon such an unexpected delight, Luffy, another Warlord he could actually talk to, and a duel worth accepting.
The scorching sun hung overhead.
The two stood poised upon the strangely heatless frozen sea, their auras steadily rising.
"I heard from your captain, you haven't even entered the Grand Line yet?"
Just before the clash, Mihawk asked his final question.
"If your goal is to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, staying in this small East Blue isn't exactly wise."
"Ha~?"
Zoro, speaking clearly even with a sword between his teeth, replied:
"The World's Greatest Swordsman? That's my friend's dream, not mine."
"I'm just… finishing the job for him."
"Oh? Your captain told me otherwise."
"He laughed and said, one day, one of his crewmates might just take my head."
"Tch, then he probably, "
"Got it right!!!"
"Three-Sword Style, Wolf Fang!"
BOOM!
Without warning, Zoro vanished!
Across the shimmering ice, a shadow streaked forward, a blur like a demon wolf racing through the midnight woods.
His speed surpassed the limit of human sight; only two streaks of lightning-blue eyes marked his path as he lunged straight at Mihawk!
That speed, beyond anything ordinary men could track!
CLANG!
Yet Mihawk's golden eyes followed him perfectly.
With just a slight motion, Yoru swung horizontally, effortlessly blocking the strike.
"Santoryu: Sanzen Sekai!"
Zoro showed no surprise that his first blow had been stopped.
Using the black blade as a springboard, he flipped through the air, twisting his body until he loomed a head taller above Mihawk.
The white sword blazed, the black one shimmered with deceit, and the blood-red one pulsed with madness.
Three different sword energies burst forth as Zoro spun, crashing down toward Mihawk below.
CLANG!!!
A deafening ring split the air, echoing across heaven and earth.
The combined strike of three blades met the edge of the black sword, sparks flying like stars.
Zoro's face trembled from the force; Mihawk's expression turned solemn.
A duel between swordsmen…
Every strike carried life and death.
"Heh…"
Dangling mid-air, Zoro gave a crooked smile toward Mihawk below.
"Actually… Luffy got one thing wrong."
Mihawk tilted his head slightly, sharp eyes locked on Zoro, waiting.
Zoro met that gaze with blood-lusted ferocity, his words low and grim:
"There's no such thing as sparring between swordsmen."
"Every battle…"
"Is a fight to the death!"
Mihawk suddenly lowered his head.
The brim of his hat hid his eyes, leaving only his chin, and the faint curve of a smile.
"You're right."
Power surged from Yoru like a storm. The sudden force flung Zoro's suspended body away.
Mihawk's aura burst forth; his wine-red coat billowed though there was no wind, his presence radiating overwhelming might.
As his killing intent soared, he raised Yoru high, and brought it crashing down toward Zoro!
A razor-sharp slash shot skyward, piercing the clouds themselves as it roared toward its target.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, the strike swallowed Zoro whole, then continued upward, unrelenting.
The heavens split. Clouds churned violently and parted clean in two beneath the force of that single cut.
In mere moments, a gaping chasm split the sky itself.
========
"This… this is, what kind of power is that?!"
Sanji, Zeff, and the other chefs watching were utterly stunned, their pupils shrinking to pinpoints as they stared at the unimaginable spectacle.
For the first time in his life, Sanji felt like a frog trapped in a well.
He had never realized… just how vast the world beyond truly was.
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