Chapter Text
Chapter 10 | "What the hell is this, Hawk-Eyes!!
At a faraway island in Grand Line, where there were more trees than men, resided a group of diverse individuals. Though despite their numbers, they were so silent that if you ask anyone, they wouldn't have thought that those people were a group of one of the strongest crews in the seas — one of the four Emperors of the Sea, to be exact. Furthermore, they didn't look like much as they're currently recuperating from a hangover as a result of drinking all night long just the day before.
The silence didn't last long, however, as a loud shout echoed throughout the land — worsening the insistent poundings in their heads, much to their misery.
"BOSS!!!"
One of the newer recruits, Niles, ran deeper into the forest and landed heavily on his knees. He huffed heavily to cater for his need of air and was grateful when a glass of water was placed in front of him, which he guzzled down in a blink.
"I–I–It's!" Niles stuttered, oblivious to the approaching swordsman behind him, "It's Hawk-Eyes!" It was only then that the man noticed the shadow to his right. Turning around, he yelped in fear when said man had appeared right after his shout.
His captain, Red-Haired Shanks, looked up from his slouch and grinned tightly at their sudden guest. "Yo, Hawk-Eyes. What a rare visitor." He commented, his cheery tone falling a little flat due to the headache he's sporting, "I'm not feeling good at the moment. Have you come to fight me?"
Mihawk looked down at his friend's state, not at all hiding his judgement-filled gaze as he could easily deduce what had the man indisposed at the moment. "I don't have any intention of settling things with you now that you've lost your left arm."
"I came here because I found an interesting pirate. He reminded me of a story you used to tell." Mihawk then took out a flyer out of his coat and unfurled it for Shanks to see, "A story about an interesting boy from a certain small village."
All of the Red Hair Pirates inner circle seemed to be more alert when they realized justwhohe was talking about.
"No way!"
"Is it him?"
"Luffy!"
It was obvious from their reactions that they hadn't had the chance to see it themselves as they were probably too busy drowning themselves in liquor.
"So, you've made it, Luffy." Shanks grinned as he took in the wanted poster for the Anchor. The sentimentality brought out a rare moment of Shanks looking sombre. However, it was a quick little thing before the man went back into his happy-go-lucky front.
"Well, in that case, Hawk-Eyes, I can't just let you leave now." Shanks grinned at his long-time rival, "LET'S PARTY!!"
"WHOOO!!!"
"PARTYYYY!!!"
"YEAHH!!"
"Drink up, Mihawk! Come on, today's a celebration!!" Shanks cheered. Yet Mihawk merely sipped his beer, despite Shank's insistent goading to chug it down rang loudly by his ear.
The party was back on high gear. All of the Red Hair Pirates were laughing left and right, somehow recovered out of their headaches at the prospect of having another party. Sometimes, Mihawk wondered if the requirements for one to join the ranks of Red Hair Pirates included for them to be an alcoholic.
"Say, what happened to your hat, Mihawk?" Shanks asked curiously, taking notice of the cut slitting its edge. He whistled when he realized how clean the cut was, "That could only be done by a blade— Don't tell me someone managed to get the jump on you, Hawk-Eyes! Tell me, tell me, who's it?" The man pestered tactlessly, unbothered to the possibility that he'd picked on a sore spot of the proclaimed unbeatable swordsmaster.
"It is of no importance." Mihawk jutted his chin out to show that he wasn't miffed at the fact that he had been caught off guard, "But if youmustknow, I stumbled upon a remarkable swordsman in the East Sea and asked her for a spar."
"Ooooooooh." Shanks, as well as a couple of others in hearing shot, said loudly.
"Awoman, huh Mihawk?" Shanks wiggled his brows obnoxiously, but the swordsman remained unperturbed.
"Yes. She is quite the formidable opponent and is currently travelling along with the boy." Mihawk acknowledged before fishing out another flyer to show to the Red Hair, "Though I assume you'd already know about it as you used to talk about Scarlett."
Shanks seemed to sober once more at her name and squinted at the picture printed on the yellow parchment. He then let out a soft, melancholic chuckle, "She really did it, ey. She actually waited all these years for Luffy."
Staying quiet at the rare bout of vulnerability, Mihawk waited for the man to go back to his usual boisterous self and took another swig of the beer in his hand.
It was good, he must admit. Red Hair has quite a great taste in alcohol.
"Oi!"
The shout was the only warning Mihawk had before Shanks hooked an arm around his neck, jostling his mug enough to make his liquor spill onto his pants. Shanks then shook the bounty in front of him, "What the hell is this, Hawk-Eyes!!" Shanks exclaimed joyfully, looking so giddy that he evencackled— which was definitely not a good sign for Mihawk.
"What is what?" Mihawk grouched, taking a moment to eye the stain made on his pants before trying to see what the drunkard was referring to in the bounty.
His eyes roved over the print.
It was but a simple portrait of Scarlett sitting idly inside of the Sea Restaurant he visited not long ago. Though there was nothing out of the ordinary at first glance, if one focused enough on the window's reflection, they would be able to see his side-profile calmly sipping on a wine glass and openly staring at her from across the table.
As soon as he saw it, Mihawk couldn't help the sigh that came out and resigned himself to whatever story the idiot had concocted up in that alcohol-induced brain.
"You sneaky ol' dog!!" Shanks continued loudly, wagging his finger at the man, "How dare you try to put your slick moves on our lil' Scar! She's basically myniece, you dirty old man!!"
The thing about Shanks was that he's a loud drunk. So when he spouted that horrid sentence,everyonein the vicinity could hear him.
"Mihawk and Scar? Now that's a swordsman's worst nightmare. "
"Damn girl, get it!"
"Bahahaha! When's the wedding?"
Mihawk simply took another swig of his alcohol.
It was going to be a long day for him.
✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧
True to his belief, Mihawk found himself still rooted on his spot in the past five hours, where the Red Hair Pirates partied for the second time in the span of twenty-four hours. Almost every each of them finally collapsed at the fifth hour — whether it was from exhaustion or alcohol poisoning, the warlord couldn't tell, though it was none of his problem as the man he had business with was coincidentally the last one still with a functioning brain despite having consumed an unfathomable amount of alcohol.
It was at times as such when Mihawk morbidly wondered whether liver failure would be the one to do the man in.
"So whas'it, Taka no Me?" The tipsy captain asked, his eyes managing to stay sharp despite the slurry speech. "You must've wanna ask me sumthin' really bad if y'er waiting the whole day for me."
Mihawk was silent for a moment, taking the time to sip on the umpteenth glass of beer in his hand. "It's about Scarlett-san."
As though a switch had been flipped, Shanks's posture straightened. The man regarded his long-term rival with a piercing look — a look that Mihawk hadn't been under of for a long time since they grew to have an amiable relationship.
"Hm? What about Scar?" Shanks asked with casual nonchalance, which Mihawk didn't fall for. Even when the man's lips widened into a smile, Mihawk was not one bit fooled by the man.
"I know who she is."
The statement seemed to have stunned Shanks enough that he broke out of the haze he sported from all of the alcohol. "She told you?" Shanks asked with obvious surprise.
Mihawk nodded in response.
"Huh." Shanks looked over his friend in a different light. "I wonder what you did to gain her trust."
Not knowing the answer himself, Mihawk didn't deign to give him a guess to take a swig out of his beer instead.
"Oh yeah, where the hell is your pendant, Hawk-Eyes? Thought you said that you'd never go without it since it's hard to find someone that could replicate it accurately?"
This time, Mihawk plain out groaned.
He had hoped that the red-haired emperor wouldn't be able to notice the subtle displacement of his outfit.
"Hey! What's with the reaction?" Shanks asked, quickly pouncing on him and probably not going to let go until he got what he wanted.
"Hey, hey! Tell me, Taka no Me!!"
✧ ◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧
On the other side of the world, speeding through the vast seas was a boat that was small enough to be called a raft. Standing by its edge was a lone man, unbothered by the fact that his boat was tilting on one side as he shot flames out of his fingertips as some kind of boost to propel watercraft forward. He's Portgas D. Ace — or, more known as the infamous Fire Fist — the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, who's currently searching for his wayward underling to seek answers as to why he would kill a fellow member.
With one hand pointed at the sea, Ace used his other hand to gesture at a passing seagull.
"Oi, news bird! Over here!" The call successfully caught its attention as the avian turned its trajectory to fly towards the pirate where it gave him today's newspaper for a couple of Berries.
"Thanks." Ace said almost automatically to the bird, which chirped back in delight.
With one hand boosting the boat and the other holding the newspaper open, Ace scanned through the newspaper for any hints of his former underling. However instead of finding Teach, what he saw surprised him even more, "Wait, is that—?" Ace let his eyes rove over the wanted posters and took in the familiar faces that he's missed for a couple of years now.
Ace let out a chuckle, humour that had voided him for the two years he ventured away from his family suddenly came in an unexpected way. "They actually did it. Luffy, Scar-nee..." He grinned as his eyes continuously switched between the bounties. He then hummed to himself, "Maybe a detour to the Grandline would give me a new lead."
As he changed the course of his boat, Ace eyed one of the bounties thoughtfully. "I thought nee-chan wanted to lay low for as long as she could... wonder what changed her mind." He mused, before shrugging and letting out a smug smile.
"Well, at least her first bounty is lower than mine this time."
