Zoro's hand, pressed firmly against his hilt, trembled slightly.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
He tried to steady his racing heart with deep, rhythmic breaths, but it was futile. This wasn't the tremor of fear; it was the frantic screaming of every cell in his body, ignited by pure, unadulterated excitement.
He hadn't expected it to be this soon... he hadn't expected to face him so early in his journey.
A fierce, burning fighting spirit erupted in Zoro's eyes, hot enough to scorch the salt air. The moment of the promise... had finally arrived.
Beside him, Viktor caught the flash of fanaticism in Zoro's eyes. Seeing the swordsman wound up like a spring, ready to embrace death for a glimpse of the summit, Viktor felt a rare tug at his own heart.
"Is this... what they call ambition?"
Viktor looked up at the vast, indifferent sky.
And what is my ambition? Endless gold? Survival in this chaotic world? Or the pursuit of absolute power?
He caught the scent of tobacco from the blonde cook nearby and felt a sudden, strange urge to try the taste of a cigarette. Perhaps, when one is contemplating the meaning of life, that acrid smoke serves a purpose.
"Luffy! I need a favor!"
Zoro's voice cut through Viktor's introspection like a blade. He pointed to a large, relatively intact section of the floating wreckage ahead of Hawk-Eye's boat. "Send me there!"
"Oh! Leave it to me!" Luffy grinned, adjusting his straw hat. His arms snapped out, grabbing Zoro's back. "Gum-Gum—Rocket!!"
On the other side, amidst the floating remains of the Krieg galleon, terror continued to fester.
A small-time pirate captain, eyes bloodshot and body failing him, roared at the man on the coffin-boat. "You bastard!! What did we ever do to you?! Why hunt us across the sea like this?!"
"Calm down, Boss!" his subordinates pleaded, pulling at his sleeves. "Boss, shut up! He'll kill us!"
The response was absolute silence. Dracule Mihawk sat perfectly still. Those golden hawk-eyes didn't even deign to flicker toward the shouting man. Silence was the ultimate insult.
"BASTARD!!"
Infuriated by the dismissal, the pirate captain snapped. He drew a flintlock from his belt and opened fire in a crazed frenzy. Bang! Bang! Bang!
Mihawk didn't move. He didn't even stand up. He simply reached back with his right hand and drew the massive Black Blade: Yoru.
With a slight flick of his wrist, the giant blade traced an elegant, effortless arc in the air.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
There was no devastating slash. He simply used the broad side of the blade to parry the incoming lead. The high-speed bullets had their trajectories altered with surgical precision, bouncing harmlessly into the sea and kicking up tiny plumes of water.
"How... how is that possible?!" The captain dropped his gun, his jaw quivering. "I aimed... I aimed right at him..."
"He used the edge of the blade to gently redirect the bullets' path."
A deep voice spoke from behind the pirates.
"What?!" the captain turned in terror. "How can a human do that?! Those are bullets!"
Zoro didn't bother answering the frogs in the well. He pushed through the crowd of pirates, his heavy boots thumping against the broken deck. Seeing the three swords at his hip and the green haramaki, several pirates gasped.
"Three swords... that outfit..." "Is it...?"
Zoro ignored them. He stared intently at the man on the small boat, a wild, feverish grin stretching across his face.
"A heavy blade that looks like a clumsy slab of iron, yet in an instant, it showed such fluidity... I've never seen swordsmanship like that."
Hawk-Eye finally turned his head. Those piercing eyes swept over Zoro.
"A sword that has only strength has no true power."
The words were calm, yet they carried the weight of absolute truth.
"This massive ship... was it also cut by that sword?" Zoro's hand clamped onto the hilt of the Wado Ichimonji.
"Indeed," Mihawk replied flatly.
"Heh..."
The fighting spirit in Zoro's eyes surged. His blood was boiling. "Truly the World's Strongest."
He slowly untied the dark green bandana from his arm and bound it solemnly around his forehead. His gaze became as sharp as a whetted blade, locking onto Mihawk.
"I set out to sea just to find you."
Mihawk looked at the young swordsman. A flicker of interest finally appeared in his eyes. "Oh? And your goal?"
"To defeat you!!"
Zoro roared, drawing all three blades in a flash of cold steel. He pointed them straight at the pinnacle of the world. "And then—to become the strongest!!"
"Since you seem to have some free time, let's have a go at it!!"
The declaration caused an uproar among the spectators.
"Hey!! That guy is Zoro!!" "What?! That's the famous pirate hunter of the East Blue—Roronoa Zoro!!" Pirates looked on in shock. "Is he insane? He's actually challenging that monster!"
On the Baratie's deck, the chefs were equally stunned. "Who the hell are these people...?" Patty's mouth hung open. His world-view was being shattered by the hour.
Sanji stood by the railing, staring intensely at the green-haired figure. His cigarette burned down to his fingers, unnoticed.
Below them, Usopp was shouting in a panic: "Luffy! Viktor! This isn't the time for a duel! The fog is getting thicker! We're losing sight of the Merry! Nami is really going to get away!"
Luffy held his hat down, looking at Zoro's back. "It's fine. Zoro is having a duel."
Viktor raised his arm, signaling the circling crow above. "Kray, stop watching the show. Go catch up to the Merry. If you lose them, I'm having crow for dinner."
"Caw-caw! Master! Leave it to Lord Kray!" Kray squawked, flapping his wings and streaking through the sky like a black bolt of lightning toward the receding speck of the ship.
Then, Viktor turned a smile toward the anxious Usopp, gesturing to the battlefield. "Don't be so anxious, Usopp. This is a duel between true swordsmen. It's rare to see this on these seas. Watch closely."
Usopp sighed, defeated, and leaned over the rail. "Man... you guys are something else...
In the distance, Hawk-Eye Mihawk looked at Zoro's battle stance. His expression didn't change, as if he were looking at a particularly spirited ant.
"A pitiable weakling."
With a light hop, his body landed as light as a feather on the deck in front of Zoro. "If you were truly a first-class swordsman, you wouldn't need a clash to see the overwhelming gap between our strengths."
Mihawk stood still, his eyes boring into Zoro's soul. "Under the gaze of these eyes, your probability of victory is—Zero."
"So... weakling, why initiate a duel that can only end in death?"
Faced with that soul-piercing question and the crushing weight of Mihawk's presence, Zoro bowed his head. His body was trembling—not from fear, but from his instincts screaming at him to flee from an invincible predator.
Then, he began to chuckle. A low, raspy sound.
"Heh... hehe..."
"Probability? Zero? Leave those boring numbers to the mathematicians. They have nothing to do with me."
Zoro snapped his head up. There was no hesitation in his eyes, only a absolute, suicidal resolve. "It's not a half-hearted question of 'can I win.' It's... that I must stand here!"
Zoro gripped his hilts until his knuckles turned white. "Behind me, there is a promise I must keep! An ambition I cannot abandon even in death!!"
Kuina's face flashed in his mind.
"If I retreat even a single step because I 'can't win'... all those past vows, the weight of that promise, would shatter in an instant and crush me!!"
Zoro bit down on the Wado Ichimonji, his voice muffled but thunderous: "To me, a defeat born of retreating is more terrifying than death itself!!"
"So... don't you dare underestimate my ambition!!!"
"Because behind me—there is no road left to take!!"
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