ZORO VS MIHAWK

Slowly and slowly, the coffin shaped boat approach the restaurant with very suspension, and then Mihawk looked at the occupants standing at the balcony of Baratie with his peering Hawk like golden eyes. Seeing those eyes, everyone's breath caught in their lungs as if they are staring right at a very dangerous predator, except Zoro and Luffy everyone was in a daze. Mihawk then looked at the unconscious Krieg pirates, he can sense a very minuscule amount of Conquerors Haki in the air which he tracked with his own Observation Haki to its user and his site landed on the Luffy. He stared at Luffy for straight one minute and then he looked at his StrawHat, then he slowly spoke, "That StrawHat looks familiar…." Even though he spoke quietly but still his words could be heard by everyone.

Luffy hearing Mihawk talking about his StrawHat said, "Welp, you are right…that tomato head gave it to me!!!" hearing Luffy's words, there was slight twitch on Mihawk's lips, "Tomato head, huh!!??" he then stood up and looked at the Krieg pirates, "Well looks like you've already done my job….it was little bit of fun chasing them!!" Then suddenly Zoro landed infront of him with his Wado out, "Dracule Mihawk, the World's Greatest Swordsmen…I've been searching for you all these years!!!" Mihawk looked at Zoro with bored expression, "And why is that!!??" "I had made a promise with a friend that one day I will defeat you and take your title as the Greatest Swordsmen…"

Mihawk kept staring at Zoro with straight face, "Quite a big promise you made, I must say!!! But tell me…could you perhaps do it!!!" Zoro looked at Mihawk with sharp gaze, "It's my dream and I will do anything to achieve it!!!" Mihawk taunted Zoro, "Well good with that!!!" then he looked at Luffy, "I've been asked from Fleet Admiral himself to test your true strength StrawHat, and I was free so I took it…." He then took off his small golden cross shaped pendent from his neck to reveal it to be a small butter knife, "Try not to die so soon!!!" and with that he suddenly disappeared from everyone's site and appeared near Luffy ready to stab him, when suddenly his small blade was blocked by a sword. Mihawk's eyes widen just a little bit at seeing Zoro also appear infont of him to protect the StrawHat boy.

Everyone else present there couldn't able to see what truly happened, one moment Mihawk was talking to Zoro and suddenly they both disappeared and appeared near the StrawHat boy. Zoro looks at Mihawk with a fierce expression, "If you want to harm my Captain…then go through me first!!!" Mihawk looked at Zoro and praised him a bit, "I see, so you are not incompetent as I thought…" then he Jumped back at Don Krieg's broken ship and put his small pendent back and took out his Sword, the Black Blade Yoru, "With the amount of speed you just showed, maybe you can entertain me first and then I will go for your Captain!!!" he motioned for Zoro to come at him.

Zoro also jumped on the broken ship and then unsheathed Fushigiri, Mihawk looked at the other blade which Zoro held in his left hand, "A very peculiar sword you've there and a crimson blade, I've never seen or even heard about such a thing. Tell me boy, where did you get such sword…" Zoro hearing Mihawk's words just hold Fushigiri a little bit higher, "It is gift from someone!!!" Mihawk nodded at that, "Well then, why don't you show me that blade in action!!" he said and positioned himself for the clash. Zoro grinned and then leaped towards Mihawk and Mihawk did the same as they clashed their blades with thundering sound.

All the chefs, including Sanji and Zeff with Nami, Johnny and Yosaku were all mesmerize by the display of skill shown by the two combatant and even though they could see the difference between Zoro and Mihawk but still Zoro is somehow keeping up with the Greatest Swordsmen. "Amazing….look at them, it's like they are dancing!!!" Nami muttered, "The skill and power behind to do this….I can't even fathom about it!!!" Sanji said, the other chefs nodded at that. While all the other watchers were commenting at dual, only Luffy and Zeff where silent, Sanji seeing this asked Zeff, "Hey old man, what are your thoughts about it??!!" but what Zeff said next shocked everyone, except Luffy and Nami, "They are not even going all out yet!!!"

It's been ten minutes since both Zoro and Mihawk started to fight, both the swordsmen were going at eachother testing their strength and skills, well more like Zoro testing his skill against Mihawk while Mihawk is casually parrying Zoro's every slash. "Stop wasting my time and use everything you've….I know you're holding back!!!" Mihawk taunted Zoro to which Zoro replied, "You yourself are holding back a lot….." but none the less Zoro complied with Mihawk and jumped back a little, he then stabbed both of his swords at the platform and then started to tie his black bandana over his head and then he took out his third sword Mugetsu. Zoro then placed Wado in his mouth and gripped tightly at both Fushigiri and Mugetsu and started to flow his Advance Armament Haki into them. Mihawk seeing Zoro covering his blades with a Advance version of Armament was really fascinated, "You are truly interesting boy, knowing Haki is one thing but knowing the Advance version of it is something else…." He then covered his own blade with Advance Armament Haki and looked at Zoro with a little bit of excitement in his eyes, "Do not disappoint me!!! Now come at me…." And with that both Zoro and Mihawk completely vanished from there spot.

This surprised everyone, because they couldn't see anything except two blurs, one green and other black and an occasional sound of collision but nothing else. Sanji looked at in confusion, "What is happening?? Were they go!!??" Zeff closed his eyes and calmly replied, "There are moving so fast that we can't see them with normal means!!!" everyone was shocked hearing that when suddenly Nami looked at Luffy only to see him staring at the two blurs, "You can see them, don't you!!??" "Yes…" Luffy replied calmly. Zeff looked at Luffy, "I must truly commend you for your mastery over Observation Haki!!!" Sanji looked at Zeff, "Again this, just what is Haki!!??" Zeff looked at Sanji, "It's not my place to tell you about it!!"

Then suddenly the green blur collided with the deck of the ship, everyone saw it was Zoro who was thrown back with many cuts and tear on his clothes and body while Mihawk jumped back to his previous position without a single scratch, he looked at Zoro, "Tell me boy, what is your name!!?" Zoro slowly stand up and shook off some numbness on his hands, "Roronoa Zoro….." he then pointed Fushigiri at Mihawk, "I'm the one who will claim your title for the Greatest Swordsmen" Mihawk hearing this smirked, "You are truly worthy Swordsmen, Roronoa Zoro….but you are still not close at getting me, maybe in two or three years of more training and fighting strong Swordsmen…you can get there" hearing Mihawk praising someone genuinely shocked Zeff, "Amazing, the World Greatest Swordsmen himself praising someone's Swords skill…." The chefs also hearing this were in shock while Luffy grinned at that, "Zoro is still not going all-out!!!" Zeff immediately looked at Luffy with shocked look, "You're joking kid….right???" Luffy didn't answer just kept grinning.

With Zoro and Mihawk, Zoro smirked at hearing Mihawk praising him, "Oh, you didn't thing this is over…do you!!??" then to Mihawk's surprise Zoro sheathed both Wado and Mugetsu, and then he started to coat Armament Haki with Conqueror's Haki. Mihawk looked at the scene with fascination, "So, you are a Conqueror too…." He then did the same with his blade, "You are truly surprising me at every second Roronoa…." He then grinned like beast, "Now…show me what you got!!!" with that both of them started to sprint towards eachother, black lighting dancing on Mihawk's blade while green lighting on Zoro's blade, then Zoro moved Fushigiri at far back and a Red glint can be clearly seen in Zoro's eye, on the Baratie platform, seeing Zoro's stance Luffy started to grin like a madman and started to cackle, "Here it comes!!!" and as he said Zoro did it,

"KAMUSARI"

A large horizontal slash with dark green and red lighting flew towards Mihawk at an incredible speed, Mihawk seeing the slash and the power behind it immediately sent a powerful vertical blue flying slash towards it to intercept it. When both the attack meet in the middle, a very powerful gust of wind was created and the damaged ship of Krieg pirates started to rip apart, the sea started to move violently and skies above darken. This phenomenon made all the chefs and the bounty hunter duo shell shocked, Nami who was holding onto Luffy for her safety was not that much surprised because she had already seen something like this when both Luffy and Zoro fought.

After few minutes when their attacks vanished, everyone saw the condition of the Ship, it was completely in ruins and was falling apart. Zoro jumped back beside Luffy while Mihawk was back at his coffin boat, they looked at the ship sinking in the sea, "Well, I must truly say, that was a very powerful attack Roronoa…." Then he looked at Zoro, "But now you've got my attention, and this battle is not over yet. While coming here I saw a large island nearby just a few hours from here with no establishment!!!" Zoro grinned at that, "My thoughts the same!!!" then he looked at Luffy to which Luffy grinned at him, "Oi Nami, set course for the island Mihawk is telling about…." Nami immediately got to work and with help of Johnny and Yosaku, they were ready to sail, when suddenly Sanji stepped forward and looked at Luffy in his eyes, "I too want to go with you guys to see the final outcome of this fight….and do not think this that I've accepted your request!!" Luffy laughed at that and agreed with Sanji, he then looked at Zeff who nodded at him.

Three hours later they all reached the marked island and both Zoro and Mihawk landed on it. The whole island was uninhabited, covered with mountains and forest. The rest of the Strawhat with Sanji were still on the Going Merry albeit a kilometer away from the island with their binocular.

Mihawk looked at Zoro, "I didn't anticipated that there would be a strong swordsmen in East-Blue, but it looks like the sea still surprises me…Now Roronoa, let's go all out!!!" and with that both Mihawk and Zoro disappeared again with green and black blurs, but this time they looks like streaks of light, moving so fast and their clashes caused thunderous roar. The surroundings were getting destroyed and few of the mountains were already cut down.

Seeing such a magnitude of battle left Sanji's mouth hanging, "Such power….that mosshead is this strong!!!" while Nami was also shocked seeing the battle, she knew that both Luffy and Zoro were holding back but this much holding back, she then looked at Luffy, "Hey Luffy, who do you think will win!!??" this question also caught Sanji's attention, he also want to know, "Even though Zoro is this strong and he is keeping up with Mihawk…..but he will still lose!!!" both Nami and Sanji's eyes were widen at Luffy's declaration about Zoro will lose, they then heard a large booming sound and immediately looked at the battle.

Zoro was once again thrown back by Mihawk, their battle was escalating really quickly and still Zoro was the one with most of the cuts while Mihawk has only a small cut on his coat. Mihawk looked at Zoro with some respect, "Tell me Roronoa, do you still have some tricks up your sleeves!!! If so, then this is right time to use them!!!" Zoro stood up from the ground, he then took off his coat from above and let it hanging to his waist, the tattoo of Strawhat pirates was proudly showing on his back, "This is not over yet!!!" after saying this Zoro got into a peculiar stance with his two swords in cross shape formation and Wado in his mouth, he then started to release an absurd amount of Conqueror's Haki that it can seen as dark green hue aura covering him. The wind started to blew more violently, the ground started to get ripped apart by the pressure and then infront of everyone's eyes, two more heads grew on Zoro's shoulder with four more arms.

Seeing this scene everyone was shocked even the stoic Mihawk's eyes widen a little bit, he then saw a golden silhouette with three heads and six arms floating over Zoro. Nami was horrified seeing this, "What….what is this!!??" while Sanji was shell shocked at seeing this too. Only Luffy was silent seeing such a phenomenon.

"Nine-Swords style: ASURA"

And with that Zoro disappeared from his position, this immediately alarmed Mihawk, as he too disappeared from his position and their clash started again. Soon time flies and it is already six hours since they started their battle and they are still going on, it is already dark the only source of light on the island is from the moon. Sanji already left for the kitchen on the ship seeing the battle will not end anytime soon and also Nami was really tired and hungry, so he cooked a nice meal for them. Only Luffy was the one who is still watching the battle which going on, so Sanji arrived at the deck and placed three big plats of food near him, then took out his cigarette and lit it and took a drag from it, as he too watched the ongoing battle, "How much longer they will be going!!??" Luffy while watching the fight was eating his dinner, "Don't exactly know, but maybe a day!!!" Sanji looked at Luffy, "A day, huh!!!"

A day, it's already been a day since both Mihawk and Zoro started their fight and they are still going on, by now almost half of the island is in ruins and the other half didn't look that good either. On Going Merry, Sanji is serving food to Nami while she sat under umbrella on the deck. Johnny and Yosaku were cheerleading for Zoro to win and Luffy is sitting on Merry's head and looking at the battle with neutral look. To be honest, he didn't thought that Zoro can last that much long against Mihawk even though he had trained in the Chamber, maybe he was down rating Zoro because it is clearly seen that Zoro is not that far away from reaching Mihawk but who knows. Oda never mentioned how strong is Mihawk while going all out?

A day and a half passed and it looks like the battle is about to end, both Zoro and Mihawk jumped back looked at each other, both had injuries and cuts, but Zoro has more than Mihawk who only has few scraps on his face and lots of cut on his clothes, "This battle already lasted too long Roronoa….lets finish this with our last attack!!!" Zoro who was huffing and looked exhausted but still grinned and looked at Mihawk, "My thoughts exactly!!!" both of them then readies themselves for last counter, suddenly Zoro got flashback when he promised Kunia that they will be going for the title for the greatest Swordsmen in the world, then he saw himself standing in Kunia's funeral and his declaration on her grave that he will achieve their dream and finally he saw his new captain Monkey D Luffy's grinning face when he declared that 'The Future Pirate King's right hand man should be nothing less than the Greatest Swordsmen in the World'.

As both the swordsmen were about to clash, a realization struck Zoro, 'For the sake of my promise with Kunia and for my Captain....Guess I might as well become….THE KING OF HELL!!' a sudden shift happened in Zoro as his aura skyrocketed and a very big spectral of death itself emerged behind him, "King of Hell, Three-Sword Serpent!!.....103 Mercies….DRAGON DAMNATION!!!" and finally both Mihawk and Zoro's last attacks clashed with eachother with such power that the ground, the remaining mountains and the forest started to disintegrate, the a bright black and green light shined on the island blinding everyone and after few minutes when it dissipated, they finally saw the result of the battle. Zoro was lying on the ground bleeding but still conscious while Mihawk was standing albeit he is breathing rather deeply, slowly he wiped his index and middle finger through his neck and saw it was red, his blood. He grinned fiercely then he looked at the fallen form of Zoro, "That was most thrilling fight I'd fought in many years!!! Roronoa, you've done something which I thought on one else can do….you had ignited a fire in me which I thought has dwindled after Red-haired Shanks lost his left arm…." He then sheathed his sword, "Roronoa Zoro, I Dracule 'Hawkeye' Mihawk the Greatest Swordsmen in the world declare you the Greatest Swordsmen only second to me!!! But I can say this with absolute certainty, that you are closer than you know at reaching me!!!"

Zoro who was lying on the ground listening to Mihawk's every word, 'Huh…second to the Greatest Swordsmen, that's not a bad start…..Kunia did you heard it, now I am just a one step closer!!!' then he sensed a familiar presence of his captain who knelt down beside him and temporary stopped the bleeding and then slowly lifted him on his back and started to walk back towards Going Merry. "Luffy….?" Zoro asked to which Luffy hummed in response, "Thank you!!!" "For what!!??" "For recruiting me that day!!!" Luffy grinned at that, "I think you'd hurt your head, SHISHISHISHI…" Zoro smiled a little and closed his eyes and soon his exhaustion took over him.