Horror.
That was the only word to describe the scene. Zoro, the indomitable swordsman, had been cut down, his body falling into the churning sea like a discarded stone.
The Krieg Pirates, who had just witnessed the man who destroyed their fleet, stared in a mixture of terror and grim satisfaction. This was the power of the Grand Line. A monster like the Pirate Hunter Zoro was nothing more than an insect to a true titan like Hawk-Eye.
Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku screamed his name, their faces pale with grief.
Sanji, standing on the deck of the Baratie, was simply perplexed. He couldn't understand it. He had watched Zoro proudly declare his dream, had seen the man deliberately wound himself to uphold his pride. But to stand there and accept a fatal blow? To not take a single step back when it meant certain death? It was a simple equation of survival. Why throw it all away?
"ZORO!" he found himself yelling, a strange frustration boiling up inside him.
But the loudest cry came from Zoro's captain.
A primal roar of pure, unadulterated rage erupted from Luffy's throat. His grief for his fallen friend instantly transformed into a burning fury.
He launched himself at Mihawk.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
His arm stretched an impossible distance across the wreckage-strewn water, his fist a blur of red aimed straight for the World's Strongest Swordsman. The chefs, Krieg's men, everyone who didn't know, stared in shock. Another Devil Fruit user!
Mihawk didn't even seem surprised. He sidestepped the attack with an effortless, almost lazy grace. The punch flew past him, hitting nothing but air.
"One of his friends, I presume?" Mihawk mused, his golden eyes turning to Luffy. "A foolish display of emotion." He then addressed Luffy directly, his voice calm and steady. "Do not worry, boy."
"Zoro is not dead."
At that moment, Johnny and Yosaku, who had bravely dived into the sea, resurfaced, struggling to pull Zoro's bleeding, unconscious body onto a piece of floating wreckage.
Mihawk looked down at the defeated swordsman, and his tone shifted. The boredom was gone, replaced by a strange, almost mentor-like gravity.
"It is too soon for you to die, Roronoa Zoro," he said, his voice carrying across the water. He was speaking not just to the unconscious man, but to the spirit within him.
"Know yourself. Know the world. And become strong."
He raised his voice, a declaration that echoed in the hearts of all who heard it.
"No matter how many years it takes, I shall await you at the top, in my strongest form! Surpass this sword! Surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!"
His challenge delivered, he turned his hawk-like gaze to Luffy. "And you, boy. What is your goal? What ambition drives the captain of such a man?"
Luffy, his rage quelled by the news that Zoro was alive, looked Mihawk dead in the eye, his own ambition burning just as brightly.
"King of the Pirates," he said simply.
A slow, impressed smile spread across Mihawk's face. It was the first genuine expression of amusement he had shown. "That… is an even more arduous path than surpassing me." He seemed pleased by the sheer audacity of it.
On the wreckage, Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku were frantically trying to resuscitate Zoro. "Zoro-aniki! Say something! Please!"
Suddenly, Zoro's hand stirred. Slowly, painfully, it reached for the one sword that had not been broken—the pure white hilt of Wado Ichimonji. With a strength that seemed impossible for a man so grievously wounded, he lifted the blade into the air.
His eyes fluttered open. He looked past his friends, past the wreckage, his gaze locking onto his captain.
He coughed, blood spattering his lips.
"Luffy… can you hear me?" he gasped.
Luffy's eyes widened, tears welling up.
"I'm sorry… for making you worry…" Zoro's voice was thick with shame and pain. "If I'm not the World's Greatest Swordsman… then you'd be in a real dilemma as the Pirate King, wouldn't you?"
Tears now streamed freely down his face, mixing with the blood and seawater. He raised the sword higher, a solemn offering to the sky and to his captain.
"UNTIL THE DAY I DEFEAT HIM AND BECOME THE WORLD'S GREATEST SWORDSMAN…" he roared, his voice a raw cry of pure, unbreakable resolve.
"I WILL NEVER… BE DEFEATED AGAIN!"
"DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT… KING OF THE PIRATES?!?!"
Luffy's face broke into a massive, teary-eyed, joyful grin.
"Nope! Not a single one!"
Satisfied, Mihawk turned to leave. His duel was over. He had found something far more interesting than simply 'killing time'. He paid the fuming Don Krieg no further attention.
"You and your swordsman make a good team," he said to Luffy. "I hope to see you again in the future."
This final, casual dismissal was the ultimate insult to Don Krieg. "WAIT! HAWK-EYE! OUR BATTLE ISN'T OVER!" he screamed, ordering his men to fire on Mihawk's small boat.
Mihawk didn't even turn around. He simply drew Yoru and, with a single, devastating slash, he cut the largest remaining section of the Dreadnaught Sabre in half, the shockwave sending Krieg and his men flying.
When the dust settled, the small, coffin-shaped boat was gone. Mihawk had vanished as silently as he had appeared.
In the aftermath, Luffy leaped back aboard the Baratie. The immediate crisis was over, but their own problems remained.
He looked at Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku, who were now carefully tending to Zoro on their small boat.
"Usopp! Go on ahead!" Luffy commanded. "Take Zoro and the others and go get Nami! We need our navigator back!"
Usopp, his eyes still red from crying for his friend, nodded with a new determination. "You got it, Captain! We'll get her and the Going Merry back!" He then looked back at the Baratie. "You stay here and make sure you get us a cook!"
"When we have five people in our crew," Luffy agreed, "we'll all go to the Grand Line together!"
As the bounty hunters' boat began to pull away, Sanji, who had been watching the entire spectacle in silence, noticed something. The Krieg Pirates, recovering from Mihawk's final attack, were regrouping on the wreckage of their ship, their desperate eyes now fixed on the Baratie.
The battle wasn't over.
Luffy noticed it too. He turned to Zeff, a determined grin on his face.
"Hey, old geezer. Let's make a deal."
"If I get rid of all those guys for you… does that settle my one-year debt?"