Chapter 12 - Mihawk

Chapter 12



Jasmine and Katherine walked around the town, large smiles plastered on their faces. It was about noon, maybe a little earlier, and the girls were happily exploring the town they'd docked at that morning. Nami was making the boys scrub the decks until there was no sign of banana anywhere, while Robin helped the boys with her many hands. Jasmine and Katherine, far too eager to explore, left without the others.

The Grand Line did seem dangerous, the girls quickly observed. Everyone they passed had some kind of weapon with them, and many people on the streets where suddenly attacking each other. The girls weren't really intimidated by this. They were armed as well. Jasmine had her Sais, and Katherine… smart people just don't attack her.

Now, unfortunately, the girls didn't have the `List of Things to Buy', so all they really did was walked around in circles for some amount of hours, until they saw Luffy and Zoro walking around with the List in hand.

“Luffy… what does this mean?” Zoro asked, pointing down at the list.

“It says salami, Zoro.” Luffy sighed. “Can't you read?”

“S-O-L-I-J-N-I-E doesn't spell salami.” Zoro told him. “You'd make my life a lot easier if you learned to spell.”

Giggling, the two girls walked over to their crewmates.

“Our captain can't spell?” Katherine laughed.

“I can so!” Luffy frowned. “Salami's a hard word to spell!”

“Mm-hm.” Katherine grinned. “Sure it is.”

“Well, I can't read this.” Zoro announced, ripping up the list. “So we'll just have to guess what was on it.”

“We know salami was on it.” Jasmine said. “And we passed a store with meat in the window.”

“Many, many times.” Katherine added.

“Good. Lead the way.” Zoro said, and the pirates walked through the random violence in the streets.

It wasn't too long until Luffy suddenly stopped walking, staring to the side. He nudged Zoro sharply in the ribs.

“Hey! What the he-” Luffy just pointed, and Zoro instantly froze up.

Jasmine and Katherine looked around, trying to see what they were staring at. Following Luffy's finger, they saw a man walking down the street. Looking closer, they noted he was wearing a large black hat and a long jacket, a cross necklace, that he had a huge black sword on his back, and piercing golden eyes… like a hawk, almost.

“Hawkeye Mihawk…” Zoro said under his breath.

“Is it… too soon?” Luffy asked him, suddenly very serious-looking.

Zoro shook his head. “No. I don't think so. Take the girls back to the ship.”

“Right.” Luffy nodded.

“Um… what?” Katherine blinked.

“We don't want to go back! What's going on?” Jasmine asked.

“Come ON!” Luffy said, picking both girls up and running all the way back to the ship.

“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?” Katherine demanded, when Luffy dropped the girls on the recently-scrubbed deck.

“You're back soon.” Chopper observed. The entire crew was still there, except Robin. They all were scrubbing the deck, except Nami, who was watching, and Sanji, who was giving her pink lemonade. (Filled with love, no doubt)

“What happened? Where's Zoro?” Usopp asked.

“Mihawk.” Luffy replied. Everyone gasped at the same time, sucking all the air out of the area, except for the new pirates, who where just confused.

“What's a Mihawk?” Patrick F asked.

He was ignored.

“Mihawk's HERE?' Nami asked. “I-is Zoro ready for this?”

“He said so.” Luffy replied. “So yeah.”

“What're we talking about?” Phillip asked.

“Moo?” Steve asked.

“Just… let's wait for Zoro.” Usopp said.

The wait was probably less then an hour, but no one was counting. Zoro returned on the ship, silently, to find everyone sitting on the abnormally clean deck waiting for him.

“Tomorrow.” Zoro said, and the original Straw Hats nodded. “Sanji, could you wake me up at five?”

Sanji nodded. “Yeah. Just don't hit me in your sleep, Zoro.” Zoro nodded, and walked off without another word.

Now, right away, the new pirates knew something was up. When Sanji and Zoro called each other by their names, something was very, very wrong.

After that, the three new boys (and Steve) spent most of that day looking through dictionaries for a `Mihawk'. This irritated them quite a bit, since they couldn't find them in any dictionary they found on the ship. The girls were going to ask Zoro himself, but they didn't see him all afternoon. He didn't come to diner either. Diner was a very slow, quiet period. No one was talking at all, except for Sanji's usual asking the girls if they needed anything else, and so on.

“I wonder what's wrong…” Jasmine asked Katherine right after diner, as they sat on their hammocks, alone in the room.

“I dunno. We should ask Sanji.” Lately, that had been Katherine's answer for everything. Though now, it seemed like a logical plan to Jasmine.

“Alright.” Jasmine said, and the two girls jumped off their hammocks and walked down to the kitchen, where Sanji stood doing the dishes.

“Sanji? Can we ask you something?” Katherine asked immediately.

Sanji turned around, drying his hands on his shirt. “Of course. Should I sit down?” he asked.

“Uh… sure.” Katherine replied, and the three sat down at the kitchen table.

“Okay. What can I help you with?” Sanji asked.

“What's wrong with Zoro who's Mihawk and what's going on?” Jasmine blurted. Sanji sighed, and leaned back.

“Alright. We all know Zoro wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world, right?” The two girls nodded. “Well, Mihawk is the greatest swordsman in the world, currently. So it's Zoro's life dream to defeat him.”

Jasmine and Katherine both nodded. “He didn't look so tough.” Katherine stated.

“Don't let that fool you, K-chan. You don't look tough either.” Sanji warned her. “Zoro actually fought Mihawk once before, when I first met him.”

“Really?” Jasmine asked eagerly.

Sanji nodded, putting his hand in his pocket, looking for something. “Oh, wait. I'm off those now.” He told himself. He twitched, then turned back to the girls.

“Anyway, that was back when I worked on Baratie with the Old Man.” He continued.

“Oh! My Mom went to Baratie once, when I was little!” Katherine exclaimed. “She said the food was great, but the people there were pretty rough.”

Sanji smiled. “That about describes it. But while I was working there, Luffy, Nami, Usopp, and Zoro came looking for a chef. Luffy instantly decided I was in the crew, against my will.” He grinned, remembering.

“I still didn't join for a while, though. Not until after Mihawk showed up there, and Zoro challenged him. Zoro was fighting his hardest, and Mihawk was fending him off with just a tiny knife.” Sanji leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “During the fight, Mihawk finally got a hit to Zoro's stomach. But Zoro just stood there. He said that if he should take a step back, that would be losing, and breaking his promise. And that he'd rather die then lose.”

Sanji sighed. “Mihawk respected that, and stepped back. Then he decided to use his real sword. Zoro attacked him again, and Mihawk actually broke his two swords. Then Zoro just stood up faced him. He said that it's shameful to be attacked from behind. And Mihawk… smiled, and cut down Zoro's chest, and Zoro fell in the water. He would have drowned there, if his two friends didn't jump in and get him.

“I remember thinking that it was stupid of Zoro to die there, and give up his dreams so easily. But Zoro lived through it, and vowed that he'd never lose to anyone again, until he defeated Mihawk. And now, he's ready to try again.” Sanji looked down, to see the two girls in tears.

“Th-That's terrible!” Katherine sobbed.

“B-But one thing…” Jasmine sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “Zoro's promise to who?”

Sanji shrugged, getting a box of tissues for the girls. “I don't know. He always said that being the greatest swordsman in the world was his dream, and his promise to his best friend.” He looked down at the slowly calming down girls. “Why don't you two go to bed now?”

The two girls nodded, and left the kitchen. They went back to their hammocks, and once again, were the only ones in the room.

“What if… what if Zoro loses again?” Jasmine asked slowly.

“I don't think he will.” Katherine brushed it off, lying down.

“But he could get hurt again!” Jasmine exclaimed.

“He knows what he's doing. I think he can handle it. Have a little faith.” Katherine said. “Now just go to sleep, and we'll cheer him on tomorrow.”

“Sure. Sounds good.” Jasmine said, though she was thinking something very different.

Within the next two hours, the other Straw Hat Pirates (minus Zoro) came to bed. Katherine had fallen asleep, and Jasmine was pretending to sleep. It wasn't until far later, when Jasmine was sure everyone was asleep, did she move. She rolled out of her hammock, and quietly walked over to the sleeping Sanji on the ground. Kneeling down next to him, she carefully took off his watch, grabbed a pillow, and walked into the bathroom. She put the pillow down in the bathtub, and lay down in it.

If Zoro lost to Mihawk before, then there was no way Jasmine would sit by and watch it happen all over again! She'd go and fight that Mihawk person herself! That would teach him for hurting Zoro before!

Jasmine sighed, lying in the cold, slippery tub. This was going to be a long night.

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