chapter 26- Mihawk

(Shanks POV)

'They are going to kill me!' I thought as I read the newspaper. How was I supposed to know that Luffy was recording the whole thing? I guess he asked some weird questions but still. Weirdly enough I'm kind of proud of him, he wanted to expose the world government and he went all out, he even managed to use me. "Pera-pera-pera-pera" my Den-Den Mushi rang loudly as I readied myself to the conversation that will happen. "Hello" I answered the call, "I believe you already know who it is, we need to have a conversation, and bring Straw Hat with you". "I'll meet you in five days", I said with a serious tone. Despite how I may act with my crew, I can't afford to offend the five elders, if I do it will cause an all-out war between pirates and marines, though thanks to Luffy the war seems to be inevitable now. I better go bring him and also teach him what happens when you use someone and they find out. I sailed towards Luffy with anticipation.

(Luffy POV)

"Hey dad, how have you been?" I asked Dragon as he boarded the Going Merry, "I've never been better, thanks to you, of course, thanks to the video you and Morgans showed the public we have so many new recruits we actually have about thirty percent of the army on standby since we don't have new missions at the moment". "Great, so why are you here?" I asked, "well it's to thank you personally and also my advisors begged me to try and recruit you after they saw you demolish Akainu and Kizaru. I tried to explain to them that you don't want to join but they insisted that I at least try, god knows how many times I did that".

"Hahaha, yea I remember it, correct me if I'm wrong but the last time you tried was the time you had the sea king wasn't it?", "yea, Sabo doesn't stop reminding me of that... He can be really annoying when he tries" Dragon started to complain a little, honestly I never knew he had this type of personality, well I guess everyone acts differently with family. "Don't try and act like a victim!" Sabo exclaimed, "getting rid of that berserk sea king was a pain in the ass, hell even Ivankov laughed his ass off when he heard the story and he agrees with everything you do!".

"Fine..." Dragon remembered how he tried to convince Luffy to join and he realized he wasn't going to win this one, "by the way, I'm sure you noticed but you have a guest, so we are going to leave you alone". I noticed the guest a long time ago, but since he didn't look like he wanted to fight I left him alone. "Hey guys, we have a guest so gather around, especially you Zoro", "wh-" Zoro was about to protest but then he saw our "guest". "So, this is the famous Straw Hat Luffy", Mihawk inspected me, "I have seen your battle at Marineford and I have to say I'm impressed. But with your strength why have you chosen such a weak crew?" Mihawk asked me while eyeing Zoro specifically, he could tell Zoro was about to challenge him and although he could tell that Zoro was weak, he wanted to know his capabilities.

"Dracule Mihawk! I! Roronoa Zoro challenge you to a dual!" as soon as Mihawk finished talking, "very well, weak one! I will test your might" Mihawk answered Zoro's challenge and we went to an island where they could fight. "Begin" I shouted as Zoro dashed towards Mihawk "demon slash" Zoro muttered as he began his attack, Mihawk looked at the incoming attack and calmingly removed his neckless as he revealed the small dagger in it. *BANG* Mihawk and Zoro's weapons clashed as Mihawk effortlessly stopped Zoro in his tracks, Zoro had a panicked expression as he started to understand the gap between him and Mihawk.

Zoro started to attack Mihawk with countless sword strikes to prove that the gap wasn't so big, but when Mihawk continued to block each and every one of his strikes with his tiny dagger Zoro's anger continued to grow, not towards Mihawk but towards himself. For what has he endured Luffy's hellish training for? for what did he set out to sea? his will got stronger as he performed his current strongest attack.

"Secret technique: three thousand worlds" Zoro used his secret technique and even used a little armament haki that he managed to learn while Luffy was at Marineford. Mihawk sensed the haki and nodded in approval as he prepared to block the blow, Although he didn't even need to try to block a strick of this magnitude, Mihawk started to see something in Zoro. The two blades were about to clash, but just before they did Zoro used his sword intent for a small ranged attack to catch Mihawk off-guard.

And his strategy almost worked. Mihawk was very surprised by the fact that Zoro could manifest a sword intent since normally only upper-ranked swordmasters could manage to use this kind of technique, the difference was they didn't have Luffy. Mihawk quickly raised his arm to block the incoming sword intent, but when he blocked the sword intent that was aimed at his head, Zoro aimed his physical attack at his legs. Mihawk jumped to avoid the attack, but Zoro was aiming for that as he tilted his head upwards and swang the sword in his mouth at Mihawk's exposed area{;-)}.

Mihawk smiled as he shifted himself in mid-air and landed a couple of meters in front of Zoro, "you proved yourself Roronoa Zoro, now let me end you with the strongest blade in the world as a show of my acknowledgment" Mihak put the dagger away as he switched to his famous black sword, "let us end this in the next clash" Mihawk said as he and Zoro attacked each other. As the seconds passed, Zoro's sword shattered as he turned around to receive Mihawk's second strike. "What are you doing?" Mihawk asked him, "scars on the back are a swordsman's shame" Zoro replied with a smile. "Admirable" Mihawk replied with a smirk of his own forming, and Zoro received Mihawk's slash