Journey to One Piece

57. A beautiful duel (2)

Mihawk, seeing the cough could easily tell that these techniques tended to take a toll on the user's body or in this case the body of Zoro.

"Seems like you wanted to reach for things that you yourself haven't grasped yet." Mihawk commented. Zoro just shook his head as he leaped back.

He wasn't going to give up just because he couldn't complete the sun breathing forms. Zoro took out the other sword that he hadn't been using, with two swords in hand and he started running towards Mihawk.

"Eighth fang : Explosive Rush"

"What a fool!!" Mihawak commented as he saw the fast run of Zoro. Hawkeye lifted his sword high in the air and made a vertical slash towards Zoro in order to stop Zoro in his tracks, but Zoro got enough time to dodge to the right side.

The forward fast momentum propelled Zoro towards the Mihawk left's side when he dodged and he got close to his body. Mihawk had already expected this to happen and he moved his sword to defend against the attack of Zoro which was going to come.

What Hawkeye didn't expect was that Zoro would perform a technique that could be labelled as self harm.

"Ninth Fang : Extending Bendy Slash"

This move made Zoro dislocate the joints of his arm to increase the range of his attack, and then unleashed a fast swinging forward strike. Mihawk was accounting for the normal distance between them but Zoro went a step ahead to dislocate his arm to cover up the distance.

And for the first time Zoro's move landed on the side arm of Mihawk. This trick looked both beautiful and horrifying at the same time. The spectators could hear the dislocated arm that Zoro forced himself just to get an extra edge over his opponent.

"What the?"

"Did he just dislocate his arms? Are there such horrifying sword techniques?"

"He landed a move on Mihawk's body for the first time!!"

After performing this move Zoro landed sideways on the ground as the pain was too much even for him to land on his feet. He held his side arm with his other hand and looked at Mihawk with a sense of victory.

From the start itself he had a feeling that he might not be able to win, but he didn't want to give up. He had sacrificed so much just to reach at this point and no matter the result he would strive for his dream.

Since he couldn't win, it was better to do something more courageous and thus he took that step. But when he saw the arm of Mihawk he was dumbfounded to see no blood. Not even a scratch was there in his arm.

Zoro just sighed and laughed.

"You have surprised me once more, kid."

"I am glad that I could provide you with some entertainment." Zoro said as he walked towards Mihawk and lifted one of his arms wide.

"What are you doing?" Mihwak was confused by Zoro lifting his arms wide and standing in front of him.

"I have already lost the duel and a scar on the back of a swordsman is a shame. Go on!!"

Mihawk now was more impressed by Zoro and his deeds. He admired his strength, his courage, his ambition and even the fact that he was ready to throw everything away just so that he could get an edge and hope of winning over his opponent.

Mihawk shook his head!!

"What? You don't think I deserve a scar from the greatest swordsman of the world?" Zoro's eyebrows creased a bit when he saw the refusal of Mihawk.

"No it's the opposite. You have my respect. What you did just now was not something which I had expected. You forced me to use Haki twice and this is from a person who doesn't even know Haki. This in itself is commendable. If you want a scar from me then fight me again when you think you are worthy and if that time you lose, it won't be just a scar. It might just lead to your death!!"

Zoro, hearing this, was stunned. He didn't expect such high evaluations from the person he considered as the ultimate rival. After understanding the ins and out, Zoro smiled as he backed away.

Luffy, Ken and others were more surprised which conspired in the last few minutes. Zoro proved himself in the duel though he still lost at the end. Ken was the one more shocked as he already expected a huge scar across the chest of Zoro which was iconic in its own way.

His insertion in the story had already started taking effect. Of course, Zoro's arm still needed medical attention but it wasn't as severe as the one which he was supposed to be attended to.

Mihawk looked at Don Krieg with boredom in his eyes as he returned to his usual self. All this time he had been chasing these people just for fun and now he had filled his quota of excitement and it was time to go back to the Grand Line.

He took a leap and landed the coffin sized boat which started sailing by itself towards the direction he came from. It was all very enigmatic for the people present and even for the people present.

Zoro was back while holding his arm and giving a wry smile to his friends. He had failed and he was ashamed.

"King of Pirates, is there any problem if I become the strongest swordsman of the sea? I promise that I will never lose again.."

"Hehehehe.. Of course. I will help you reach that goal too." Luffy smiled as he was happy that his friend was fine. Don Krieg and others were just spectators at this point.

They had seen one duel that was so beautiful and grand that when they grow old, they would speak of this legendary battle to their grandchildren. Luffy turned his head and looked at Zeff.

"Hey, if we defeat the Krieg Pirates will you let us take Sanji?"

"Of course!! You can take him away if you can't defeat Krieg!!" Zeff announced. He had already seen the potential of this new pirate group and he was more than happy to let Sanji chase after his dream with these pirates.