Hey, what is up my fellow readers~! I am back and am here to provide~!

I am deeply sorry for not posting a new chapter for this story in forever, but I hope this will at least make up for it just a tiny bit. If there's one good thing that came out of this quarantine, it's that I have time to write now! Nevertheless, my prayers are out to all of you who are suffering out there due to these unforeseen circumstances and I wish you all the best.

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Disclaimer: One Piece, I do not own. One Piece, I do love. One Piece, always surprising us it does. One Piece, only fools dislike.

Chapter 24: Uncertain Serenity

There is an awkward silence that permeates through the air as soon as Arasval leaves the scene after basically incinerating Don Krieg like nothing. Every single one of the Straw Hats looks at each other with slight uncertainty wondering what to do next.

"So…" Nojiko begins speaking to the slumped man in Kuina's arms. "What's your name?"

"…Gin" The disheveled man replies as he tries to compose himself, Kuina dropping him on his feet. "Is… Is there anyone else that survived?" He asks.

"Let's see here…" Usopp answers as he uses his Observation Haki to search around the destroyed ships for any survivors. "I found one over there!" Usopp points towards some wreckage where a man with bulb-shaped headgear begins climbing out of the wreckage, only to be then permanently thrown back in there as a mast suddenly collapses on top of him, not unlike a hammer to a nail. "Well… there was a survivor…" Usopp presses on, looking at Gin with hesitance evident in his eyes.

Gin looks on for only a couple of seconds more before sighing in resignation, the truth that his entire crew has been annihilated finally cementing itself into his mind. "…Whatever… I guess this means my life is in your hands now… Do what you wish…" Gin says sullenly, looking lifelessly towards the ground, though there is a hint of sadness in his eyes if one were to see them.

"Nojiko, why don't you lead Gin into the dining room and get him something to eat and drink." Luffy softly commands, to which Nojiko nods and guides Gin into the dining room.

With Nojiko and Gin…

As Nojiko sets down some tangerine tea for Gin as he stares aimlessly at the ceiling, she stops to get a good look at the man in front of her.

He is incredibly dirty, caked with a mixture of dried blood and dust and that's not mentioning his ragged clothes, which have definitely seen much better days. The bags under his eyes and the fact that she could tell he is incredibly malnourished just makes her pity him even more.

"Lady, don't you dare look at me like that. Unfortunately, that's just how it is on the Grand Line from what I can see, A true pirate's graveyard." Gin states a little heatedly as he now stares at Nojiko.

Nojiko herself raises a brow at his statement. "Well that may be true for most crews out there, but I believe in my captain when he told us that we are more than ready to take on whatever challenges we may come to face." Nojiko proclaims as she takes a seat near him and then sets down some fruit for Gin to eat, which he somewhat begrudgingly takes.

"How can you be so sure? Unless this isn't your first time here I doubt that you would be capable of fighting someone who is capable of annihilating an entire armada of pirates like it was just a daily stroll to them." Gin retorts, making Nojiko let out a small chuckle.

"Perhaps not, but that doesn't mean I don't have crew members who aren't capable of the same." Nojiko responds back, leaning into her chair before giving Gin a challenging smirk. "Who knows, maybe you'll be able to do the same given enough time."

Gin looks down towards his tea with a solemn expression, his reflection slightly distorted by the tea's rippling. "Maybe… Maybe…"

Nojiko then turns her attention towards the two people who have remained in the kitchen once they saw the galleon sized ships getting obliterated like no one's deal. "And when are the two of you going to stop cowering and get out of the corner? You two are not guests here remember?" Nojiko chides as she levels a stare at them with a raised brow.

"We'd rather deal with the consequences later than deal with what's going on outside." Mr. 9 replies as he spreads some jam on a piece of bread before handing the jar of jam to Ms. Wednesday.

Nojiko's eye twitches.

A couple minutes later the two Baroque Works agents are made to wash the dishes after getting 'disciplined' by Nojiko as she watches on, never taking her sight away from them.

Gin, distracted by what he was seeing, now realizes that he hasn't even touched his tea yet. Hesitantly he lifts the cup towards his lips and he takes a sip.

Euphoria.

Gin's eyes widen significantly, never in his life has he ever had such delicious tea before. He begins gulping it all down in a split second as if he were dying of thirst. "Delicious…" Gin breathes out, looking at the teacup in his hands with wonder.

"Right? It took me a while to get the recipe right, but with enough trial and error and the right ingredients, I was able to get it down nicely. Nami especially loves to drink it after a long day of drawing charts and reading those books of hers." Nojiko replies as she refills his cup with more of the wondrous elixir.

"I've hated tea for as long as I can remember…" Gin whispers out, making Nojiko pause, ready to retort before noticing the hollow gaze in his eyes turning into something more. "As a child in the wreck that I called home, we would always drink the stuff because our source of water was not clean enough to drink by itself. So the adults would always boil the water and collect the vapor in buckets and add whatever was edible into it to give it flavor." Gin clutches the teacup tightly as he begins to tremble slightly. "It was absolutely disgusting and yet…"

Tears begin to fall from his face and into the tea, ever so silent for a while before letting out a choked chuckle. "I… I have no words to describe it…"

Nojiko silently ponders before a gentle smile appears on her face, handing Gin a paper towel before patting his back. "You're in good hands now." Nojiko states, making Gin look up to her.

"Thank you." Gin says earnestly, such compassion shaking his beliefs of the world and that good things can come to him after all.

Before Nojiko can say anything else, Sanji walks into the sight of a completely new face drinking some tea and Nojiko attending to him.

"Nojiko-chan what are you doing!? You shouldn't be doing any of the menial work! Leave it to-hurk!" Sanji couldn't even finish his sentence as the sudden sharp pain in his abdomen made him hunch over.

Nojiko sighs. "Sanji you have to take care of yourself. We can't have our cook be out of commission longer than he needs to be due to some reckless sense of chivalry."

"Nonsense-"

"You were nearly killed when we left Loguetown by that weird animal monster guy. Please get some rest as a normal person would've been killed by such injuries. You're lucky we got a wonderful doctor who took everything into consideration and was able to get your heart back up and running." Nojiko chastises Sanji about his total lack of worry for his injuries. "And even then, that's not to mention your shattered rib cage and fractured spine. Even if they are healing much, MUCH faster than a regular person's you still can't move around so much unless the bones heal improperly."

At that Sanji admits defeat. "As you wish Nojiko-chan."

Nojiko wordlessly nods and is about to turn her attention towards Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday when there is a sudden boom that rocks the ship around.

'What was that?' Nojiko wonders to herself, leaving the kitchen to go see what is happening outside.

Only to find her captain's fist clashing with The World's Strongest Swordsman's blade.

A while back with the crew…

As Nojiko leads Gin into the kitchen, their attention turns back to Dracule Mihawk, who looks slightly disheveled after his bout with Arasval. 'He's certainly done a number on him.' Luffy thinks to himself seriously. He's seen the man before him fight in The War of the Best and being completely unscathed before he passed out so for the man to look this haggard in just an hour in what was between the two merely just a competition turned spar is making him rethink his original thoughts and deductions of strength on this blue-haired bounty hunter.

Especially considering how he was acting just before he left after Kuina confronted him.

He didn't even need to be a master of Observation Haki to sense how his emotions were in complete disarray while masking it when he went to talk to Kaya and Usopp.

While Luffy is pondering to himself, Brook approaches Mihawk nonchalantly, twirling his cane sword without a care in the world. "Well it certainly looks like you have had some fun Mihawk, Shanks not giving you enough attention?" Brook inquires teasingly.

Mihawk's eyebrow slightly twitches, evident that the question slightly got under his skin. "Shanks is busy doing other things, and as much as I like to duel him from time to time, it would eventually get repetitive 'Unbound King'." Mihawk remarks, soon walking away from the crew as he heads towards his small ship.

"Hold up." Two voices speak in unison.

Mihawk tilts his head slightly to see who spoke to him, noticing Zoro and Kuina looking at him with steeled determination. "What is it?" He questions, tugging on his necklace slightly as if he is just readjusting it.

"We would like to face you for the title of World's Greatest Swordsman." They again respond in unison, pulling out their respective blades.

"You young ones have only begun your journey, and yet you challenge me to a duel?" Mihawk questions, adjusting his hat as he straightened himself, now looking towards the two with his arms crossed. "You will die." He responds, noticing their captain in the back had engulfed his right fist with haki for a split second before it left the moment he mentioned the potential death of Zoro and Kuina.

"So be it." Zoro responds as he puts Shusui into his mouth.

"There's so much for you to do, why risk it now?" he asks as his piercing gaze narrows on them.

"Because if we pass this opportunity, there is no way we would live with ourselves and it would stamp us as fakes who won't take the risk when the opportunity arises." Kuina remarks as she pulls out her wakizashi from its scabbard, dual-wielding her blades.

"I see… Well then I look forward to seeing what determined youngsters are capable of." Mihawk states as he pulls the blade out of his necklace, pointing it towards Zoro and Kuina steadily.

"Wha-?… Is this some kind of a joke to you!?" Kuina exclaims, her hands trembling with anger.

"I take all of my sword battles seriously, I just know when I actually need to bring out Yoru." He mentions as if he were just talking about the weather.

Zoro grits his teeth. "So you say we aren't enough of a threat for you to warrant the use of your sword!?" Zoro snarls.

"Would you use a cannon to kill a fly?" Mihawk remarks.

At that, both Zoro and Kuina feel their anger skyrocket at the fact that the World's Greatest Swordsman is not taking them seriously. Zoro steps forward first, intending to strike Mihawk down for underestimating him. In a sudden burst of speed Zoro is now in front of Mihawk, Yubashiri poised to stab the man's heart. Mihawk flicks the blade away from him with his own small blade, with Zoro's eyes widening for a moment before narrowing and launching another strike.

Once again, the strike is deflected, with Zoro receiving a slash on his bicep for his troubles, making him wince slightly before continuing his barrage of attacks with even more fury behind each strike. 'I can't be that behind to the World's Greatest Swordsman! I have not wasted years upon years of training just for it all to end now!' Zoro screams internally as he lets out an animalistic roar, crouching and slashing at Mihawk's legs in a sweeping motion with Sandai Kitetsu.

Unfortunately, the attack misses once more as Mihawk is now in the air, now going for the offensive as he slashes at Zoro with his small knife. Zoro uses the momentum in his attack and turns it into a dodge, though the blade still hits its mark but it's not as deep as it would've been had he not dodged.

Zoro grits his teeth but merely presses on his assault as he sees an opening and goes for it, swerving his blades upwards to strike him.

Unfortunately for him, the difference in both power and skill between the two of them is like night and day.

The small knife slices deeply into Zoro's left hand making him drop Sandai

Kitetsu and lose focus for a quick moment. This makes his situation worse as Mihawk slices under his right arm's wrist while Zoro is distracted, making him drop Yubashiri.

At this point, Zoro's arms are damaged significantly, falling limp on each side as the only blade left on him is Shusui in his mouth. Even so, he still glares at him, determined to make Mihawk draw Yoru and take him seriously.

"Have you gone mad young one? Both of your arms can't even hold a blade properly now and yet you still intend to continue this farce?" Mihawk questions, genuinely wondering if this guy is extremely foolish or suicidal for wanting to continue.

Zoro subtly glances towards Kuina before looking back at Mihawk. "Can't say I'm known for having the brightest mind around here." Zoro remarks, his hands trembling as he takes Shusui out of his mouth and falls into an Iaido stance known as Sha No Kamae. "But even so, I can't fall just yet, knowing there's so much out there for me and my nakama. So I can't back down from this, not when there's so much at stake for me." Zoro states, infusing his blade with haki.

Mihawk's face turns serious, noting the amount of power emanating from the rookie before him. Silently acknowledging his request he puts his little blade away and pulls out Yoru. "This next attack will kill you. Why don't you stand down and accept defeat, it would be a shame to have to end such a promising individual such as you." Mihawk states matter-of-factly as he prepares his attack.

"Because… If I step down, It will be as if all those important oaths, promises, and many other deals 'til now, will all go to waste and I'll never be able to return before you ever again." Zoro says, body tense and ready to strike.

"Yes, and that's what losing is." Mihawk responds.

"And that is why I cannot stand down." Zoro replies.

"Such conviction to the very end. Preferring death over defeat even when the outcome has always been clear since the beginning." A small smile breaks out of Mihawk's face. "What is your name youngster!?"

"Roronoa Zoro! Remember it!" Zoro shouts, launching himself towards Mihawk, already moving Shusui to slash.

'I will.' Mihawk silently responds, he himself stepping towards Zoro with Yoru ready to slice him down.

In less than a millisecond the result of such a clash of blades between the new and old generation is decided. Even as Zoro's torso is sliced deeply from shoulder to hip, he still refuses to go down. "I've underestimated you Zoro. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for you." Mihawk states as he looks down at his coat, finding a deep gash in it and a cut on his waist, minuscule and yet deep enough to draw blood. He relaxes, putting away Yoru as he turns around to face Zoro, pausing slightly when he sees that Zoro has yet to move from. "Even when unconscious you still refuse to fall. You have my respect." Mihawk states taking a good look at Zoro before turning his attention to Kuina.

Kuina can feel her throat tightening up at the sight of Zoro's condition. Seeing him in such a state is something she never wants to see again. She walks towards Mihawk determined to leave her mark on him just as Zoro did.

Even as she now heads toward Mihawk, she can see Usopp and Kaya heading towards Zoro's aid as Usopp picks him up gingerly from his statuesque position while Kaya begins to diagnose her rival and best friend.

'You better get well soon Zoro. If this brings you down I won't forgive you.' Kuina mentally chides her friend before turning her attention to her end goal.

"Now then, let's see if you can live up to the level your rival set." Mihawk states as he looks at Kuina striding towards him.

Kuina merely stays silent until she suddenly blitzes Mihawk, sending out a battle cry that tells Mihawk that their duel is about to begin.

The moment their blades meet, Mihawk already notes that there is a stark difference between her and Zoro. A couple more strikes and parries and he can tell that while Kuina may be more skilled and fluid, she doesn't have Zoro's raw strength and tenacity, making her a more methodical swordswoman compared Zoro's aggressive techniques.

"You are skilled I'll give you that, but it takes more than skill if you think you can best me." Mihawk chides as if talking to a child, not putting up any genuine effort to push her blade back.

"Are you mocking me!? Do you think that just because I'm a woman that I am not capable of taking the title from you!?" Kuina rages, invigorated by his words and ready to prove him wrong.

"Far from it, I have known my fair share of strong swordswomen." Mihawk states, an image of Big Mom with her sword Napoleon coming to mind along with a Marine he's known for a long time.

Kuina grits her teeth as she redoubles her effort and begins striking in what would appear to most as erratic sloppy strikes, but in reality, she is merely testing for any weak points.

Sadly there are none.

A parry here, a deflection there. Whatever idea Kuina comes up with to try inflicting some sort of wound to Mihawk never seems to work, the swordsman too fast and experienced to fall for any of her ploys.

'What is it with this! No matter what I do I just can't seem to land a hit!' Kuina mentally screams to herself as she gives herself some breathing room, Mihawk not at all interested in retaliating against her, completely fine with her catching her breath. 'Was… Was my dad right all along?' she begins to think negatively before shaking her head. 'No! I have been able to defeat Zoro many times before and he's able to land a hit on him! I just need to find my own way!' Kuina reaffirms to herself, changing her stance to what seems to be an entirely different style.

"My name is Shimotsuki Kuina! You'd best remember the one who will take you down!" Kuina proclaims, her haki radiating from her blades.

Mihawk raises a brow at her new stance. Her wakizashi Wado Chīsai extends diagonally towards him while her other blade the Wado Ichimonji is poised near level to her eyes as the tip of the blade is pointing towards him. She then slightly crouches, lowering her center of gravity and profile, making her a smaller target. 'Interesting… I pray that she doesn't disappoint me after all of her bravado.' Mihawk slightly smirks as he readies his blade to meet hers head-on.

She crouches before springing herself towards Mihawk, not unlike a cannonball, the wind around her roaring as she whizzes through it. Once within range, she lashes out, her Wado Chīsai slicing downwards before being deflected once again by Mihawk.

To his slight surprise, Kuina uses the strength he used to deflect the attack to increase her own momentum, with Kuina counter-spinning rapidly and striking with Wado Ichimonji much faster than normal.

Again to test to see if he is right he instead parries the attack instead of merely reflecting to see if she is indeed using the energy he puts in his parries to further add to her own strength.

He is proven correct.

Her attacks have gotten significantly faster and stronger and he is forced to put a bit more effort into this battle than he was with Zoro. "What an interesting style you have there. I would like to see its limits." Mihawk compliments as he continuously keeps parrying her strikes and therefore making Kuina increase the tempo of the battle.

Kuina doesn't respond, too entirely focused and concentrated in keeping the ever-increasing pace up as she feels the side-effects of this style.

While it indeed gives her a near exponential growth in both speed and power so long as she keeps at it, it is also a double-edged sword at the fact that it relies on how strong her body is.

Due to keeping it up for a good while now, Kuina can feel her bones creaking in protest to the amount of stress she is putting them through, not to mention both her muscles and organs are slowly but surely tearing themselves from the amount of momentum her body is containing.

Even so, with her sight becoming blurry and her brain being shaken up like a bottle of cola, she still fights on, using her Observation Haki to its utmost limit in trying to land a strike on Mihawk, who is now genuinely taking the fight seriously.

In his mind, her physical capabilities have skyrocketed, with her speed and power now reaching late Paradise swordsmen levels. Even when he begins to strike back, he has to be continuously increasing his strength more and more to still retain the upper hand against Kuina.

'Most impressive. To be able to take advantage of your opponent's own power and add it onto yourself to overwhelm them. To think that one so green such as her is capable of making me take this seriously. Now I definitely have high hopes for those two.' Mihawk mentally remarks to herself before noticing something from his opponent.

She's unconscious.

And yet even so her body continues on to fight on even though the glazed, empty look in her eyes and the blood freely flowing from her nose tell a different tale altogether. This might come to her advantage as since she is now unconscious, her technique has become much more dangerous due to her attacks having no 'thought' into them and therefore Observation Haki is completely useless here.

Even so, Mihawk has seen enough and decides that it is time to end this duel since there is no pride in fighting an unconscious opponent.

He side-steps out of the way, Yoru swung upwards as he briefly speeds up and Yoru hits its mark as the blade slices through Kuina's abdomen.

Unfortunately, at the same time Kuina's unconscious body closes the distance, completely ignoring her self-preservation as she unleashes all of her momentum in one attack and in turn making Mihawk's slice more of a stab.

Mihawk's eyes widen slightly as an incredibly powerful wind blade appears in front of him mere centimeters apart from his face as his body immediately begins to move away from the projectile.

The wind blade cuts just deep enough into his chest to draw blood before Mihawk evades the rest of the attack as he also pulls back Yoru from Kuina's body as when she pressed forward the blade went in her body much deeper than Mihawk intended.

Obviously this has some consequences due to Kuina's actions.

When he pulls back, her intestines escape the wound as well, leaving her there on the broken debris of ships, losing blood rapidly as her body has finally stopped moving.

Since Kaya and Usopp are still busy with Zoro, Nami and Marguerite Rush towards Kuina's fallen form, many of them now taking note of the massive elephant in the room.

Luffy.

And he is incredibly livid.

Not unlike Doflamingo, the veins in his forehead become visible as the anger in him skyrockets, his haki being the biggest indicator as the environment around him becomes increasingly violent, with the wind picking up and black lightning occasionally moving out of his body before striking out at whatever is near him.

Immediately Mihawk unleashes all of his strength in order to block the fist coming towards his face. Even so, the fist continues on its course as Luffy sends Mihawk flying into the sky, much to the surprise and shock of the crew considering that this is the World's Strongest Swordsman and Luffy in mere moments not only just launched Mihawk into the sky with just a single punch, but the swordsman's body breaks through the sound barrier multiple times.

Obviously this renders many of his crewmates speechless.

"Did… Did that just happen?" Nami utters out, her eyes wide to see her captain do something that just should not be even possible.

Does his captain live by a set of rules of reality that is completely different from their own!?

"It… It appears so…" Responds Marguerite, since while she has seen much more feats of strength from Luffy compared to her other crewmates, She still doesn't have a complete grasp of Luffy's full power, only knowing that he is stronger than her empress Boa Hancock and that by itself is already telling of his great strength.

"Well I'll be… I never would've thought that one as green as your captain would be capable of doing that to young Mihawk." Brook remarks, truly caught without breath (despite the fact that he has no lungs) at the sight of seeing someone whom he has known since his youth growing up to become a prominent figure in the world suddenly be on the receiving end of an assault from a man who just came from the East Blue!

Back with Mihawk, he's actively on the defense as he keeps deflecting all of Luffy's attacks, albeit just barely and the attacks are keeping him in the air as Luffy is moving around and all over the sky as if it were a completely normal thing one does.

Suddenly Mihawk slashes downward at Luffy's leg, chopping it off cleanly before suddenly getting hit in the gut and being sent back down towards the ocean below them.

He is able to maneuver himself so that his body skips over the water not unlike a skipping rock before landing on some of the debris still floating, glaring at a fully healed Luffy as he falls from the sky before bluish gas slowly emanates out of him, keeping him afloat and looking down at Mihawk with a glare of his own.

"Are you done with your tantrum?" Mihawk questions, making Luffy's glare intensify.

"You hurt Kuina." Luffy replies simply.

"She did that to herself and you know that." Mihawk states, and before Luffy can respond he continues, "And don't act oblivious, I've seen your type before. You knew that they were of no match for me and you still let them duel me. Why?" Mihawk questions Luffy as he puts Yoru back in its rightful place.

"…It is their dream to become the strongest swordsman in the world, as their friend and captain I want them to succeed in their goals and aspirations." Luffy replies earnestly after a small moment of silence. "And while I am still furious about what happened to Kuina, I'm more angry at myself for letting it go too far."

"You're their captain, not their parent. Contrary to what Whitebeard thinks, you can't always bail out your crewmates whenever they're in trouble. Let them take this as a lesson on patience." Mihawk says, noticing his small boat floating nearby.

He jumps across the debris before landing on the boat. "One more thing before I leave if you don't mind me asking." Mihawk says, taking a good look at Luffy.

"What is your dream?"

"To become the King of the Pirates." Luffy responds automatically.

"That's not the truth, or at least not the whole truth. If that indeed is your goal, for all of your strength and skill there is no way you are going to achieve it the way you are now. I can see it just from the look in your eye. The fire in it has been all but flickered out. So tell me, what is your dream?" Mihawk remarks, his eyes narrowed on Luffy's facial features.

Luffy is silent once more as if pondering on what to tell him. Mihawk says nothing and merely turns away, sitting down on his boat's chair. "If you can't even find your answer, then what's the point of sailing? All you will do is just lead your crewmates to their death at this rate." and at that Mihawk is ready to leave.

"My friends."

Mihawk stops, interested in what Luffy is going to say.

"I want them to succeed. I want them to become the best they will ever be. I want my swordsmen to become the best the world has ever seen. I want my navigator to succeed in creating the best map of the entire world. I want my sniper to be known as the very best at what he does. I want my chef to find his paradise. I want my doctor to be able to save any life that is in their hands no matter the difficulty. I want them to discover all the mysteries in the world and to share that knowledge with everyone. I want them to live their life to the fullest and to be free to do whatever they want." Luffy says, his voice slightly cracking as he gives his heartfelt statement.

"I just want them to be happy."

At that, Mihawk didn't need to look back to feel the raw emotion coming from the man who gave him the wake-up call of a lifetime. "Tell your comrades Roronoa Zoro and Shimotsuki Kuina that I will be waiting for them in the New World, no matter how long it will take, that I will await them at my strongest and they better surpass me if they indeed want to take my title as The World's Strongest Swordsman." Mihawk states, confident that those two younglings have the capacity to surpass him.

Nothing else needs to be said and Mihawk merely takes his leave, his mind pondering on all that has happened to him today.

'It seems that it is all falling together now. Everything is now being set into motion now that they have entered the Grand Line…' Mihawk thinks to himself, fingers crossed in worry as he looks towards the sky in front of him with slight trepidation.

'I pray that he isn't right about what is to come in the future.'

Back with Luffy…

As Luffy watches Mihawk leave, he turns his attention towards his crewmates, many of which are still surprised by the amount of power Luffy was hiding from them. Out of all of them, Brook is the first one to get out of his funk and welcome back Luffy, though he doesn't seem to be in a talkative mood as he immediately heads towards the medical bay of the ship, completely ignoring the dumbfounded looks that Sanji, Gin, and their two 'guests' have.

As Luffy walks down the stairs to the bottom floor and heads towards the medical bay (Originally it was two bedrooms before being fused together via Kaya and Merry a few years ago when they noticed that Neos had forgotten to add one.) and enters, he gets a good sight of the wounds on both Zoro and Kuina.

'Looks like Zoro got the same scar as last time.' Luffy thinks as Zoro is barely conscious as his wound is being stitched up by Usopp before his eyes widen when he catches sight of Luffy.

"Hey, Luffy… I bet I look so pathetic in your eyes…" Zoro hoarsely says, chuckling despondently before continuing, "To proclaim that I will be The World's Greatest Swordsman and yet I lose to him without even scratching him…"

"You actually did. Both you and Kuina managed to cut him, which is something not many swordsmen can say they have done when just meeting Hawk-Eyes for the first time." Luffy interrupts, making Zoro's eyes widen at being told that he indeed landed a hit on the man.

"So… I didn't just imagine that? I actually landed a hit on him?" Zoro asks, with Luffy wordlessly nodding, though a smile is etched on his face as he does so. "After everything… I thought it was just a hallucination. Even so, I failed you captain. So I swear from here on out, that I will never lose again! I will be the strongest swordsman for the strongest pirate! Isn't that right, Pirate King?" Zoro grits out, tears leaking from his eyes.

"Of course Zoro! We will turn this world upside down! You have my word!" Luffy grins before subconsciously dodging a metal canister that is thrown at him.

"Luffy will you please tone it down! Kaya needs to concentrate!" Usopp hisses at his captain who meekly apologizes for his outburst, before going back to bandage Zoro's wounds now that he has finished stitching them all together.

Luffy looks at Kaya, who seems to have a grim look on her face as she wordlessly raises her hand towards Nami, who is holding a tray full of tools and grabs a pair of forceps to help assist her in moving Kuina's intestines back in their original place after she is done cleaning stitching up the wounded areas.

Luffy has to hand it to Kaya, since he knows he wouldn't be capable of keeping himself together if he was the one to fix his crew members if they were in this state.

Not after everything.

"Is she going to be okay?" Luffy softly asks, not wanting to break Kaya's concentration, but still wanting an answer.

"For the most part. Just some rest and not too much strenuous activity and she should be fine." Kaya reports though it looks like she wants to say more, but is keeping silent.

"Is there something else that I should know about Kaya?" Luffy asks, since he can feel the hesitation in her.

This catches Zoro's attention, as the thought of there being something wrong with Kuina, no matter how small, twists his gut.

Now with everybody paying attention to her Kaya can now feel the sweat bead down her face. "It's not anything that will affect her as a swordswoman if that's what you all are worried about." Kaya responds, multitasking as she tends to Kuina's wounds while talking to her captain and crewmates before continuing, "Though it's not a big deal in fighting, it might be a big deal for her when I tell her."

"W-What is it?" Zoro questions, wondering if Kuina will be upset by the scar that will most likely be left behind after being healed.

"Sorry, but that is confidential, even to you captain. As a doctor I have to keep all of my clients information as confidential as possible." Kaya states seriously. If there's one thing she's learned it's that a doctor should take her client's private information very seriously and never share it.

Even if that person is her captain.

Seeing the conviction in her eyes, Luffy nods and turns to leave. "Just one more thing Zoro. Mihawk wanted me to pass you and Kuina a message." Luffy suddenly says, catching his attention. "He says that he will wait for the both of you in the New World and that you both better be ready when you take his title." Luffy glances behind him and sees that Zoro is sitting upright, ignoring Usopp's pleas to lay back down, meeting Luffy's eyes with his own.

The grin on both their faces is the only confirmation they need.

With Kuina…

"Uggghhhh…" Kuina begins to stir, groggily waking up as she stares up at the white ceiling as she smells the sterilized air around her. As she tries to sit up, the sudden pain on her abdomen causes her to yelp, making her raise her shirt to see the bandages wrapped around her wound. "What happened?" She asks herself more than anything.

"You almost got yourself killed, that's what." A soft, serene voice responds.

Kuina looks at the person who answered her question only to find Kaya sitting at her desk, organizing papers into files before putting them away into a cabinet beside her desk. Kaya stands up, looking at Kuina before sighing. "While I understand you have your pride as a swordswoman, when the going gets tough, there's no wrong in retreating to fight another day." Kaya advises, hoping that Kuina will at least heed her advice.

She unfortunately doesn't take to the advice well. "Something your teacher taught you?" She questions grumpily, catching Kaya's brow twitch at her assumption. "Doesn't matter, can you give me the details of my fight?" She inquires.

"Well, from what the others have told me, once you started using that strange style of yours Mihawk had to start taking the fight very seriously, moving at speeds that I doubt Zoro could match." Kaya explains.

And before Kuina can puff her chest out in satisfaction, Kaya continued, "Of course you then lost consciousness soon after, making Mihawk speed up and slice you in an attempt to get you to stop. Though I guess you wanted to beat him so much that your unconscious body pushed through and made his attack more a stab. You actually cut him by the way, so congratulations." Kaya finishes, making Kuina look at her with wide eyes.

"I… I actually landed a hit?" Kuina says, not believing the words coming out of her mouth. "YEEE-OW!" Kuina celebrates prematurely before the pain in her gut kicks her back to reality.

"So about your injury…" Kaya inquires.

Kuina looks at her questionably. "What about it?"

"There's more to your injury than what I initially told everybody who was here to help me." Kaya replies. "Because I am a firm believer in confidentiality I want you to be the first to know as it may or may not affect you depending on what you want in the future." Kaya explains further.

"W-What do you mean? Will this affect my capabilities with the sword!?" Kuina shouts in worry.

"Calm down, you don't need to be worried about that. Given enough time and rest you should be right as rain." Kaya assures. "It's something entirely different…"

"Well out with it! No need to beat around the bush." Kuina says, frustrated and still slightly worried about what she may say next.

"You're right, you're right. I can't keep stalling forever, it's just I have no easy way of saying this but…" Kaya pauses for a brief moment, a grim look appearing on her face once again. "When Mihawk's blade stabbed into you, not only did it slice through many of your internal organs, but it severely damaged your ovaries as well." Kaya states, noting the frozen look on Kuina's face.

"You're likely to never have any children."

And that is a wrap my fellow readers~!

How will Kuina take the news? Will any of the other crewmembers find out about her predicament? Or will she keep it a secret?

Who knows? I know! But you will all have to find out later now, won't you!?

Or maybe even never!

...Yeah, let's hope it doesn't turn out to be never.

Anyhow, like always thank you all so much for taking the time out of your day to read my story and make sure to leave a review and/or follow and favorite! I always appreciate the feedback you guys always give me and hopefully the next chapter that comes out will not take as long to make as this one :P

Anyhow, see you all soon and stay safe out there~! (God willing.)

Sincerely,

Forzarismo

April 8, 2020