The air was filled with a heavy feeling of awkwardness and tension.
"What's all this noise in front of my door so early in the morning?"
Aiden stood there looking very annoyed. The bottom of his loose pajamas moved gently in the wind. His feet were not even fully inside his slippers, and his heels were hanging out.
He held a silver fork in his left hand. On the tip was half a bitten, hot sausage. In his right hand, he held a simple steak knife. With the white napkin still tucked into his collar, he looked like a young noble who had just been taken away from his breakfast.
"My fried eggs are about to get cold."
Aiden swallowed the food in his mouth. He looked at the angry young man in front of him with clear dislike. "Do you know what temperature means to a perfect breakfast? Letting a runny yolk turn hard is a crime."
Mihawk: ( — _ — )?
A muscle moved on Dracule Mihawk's usually cold face.
He had imagined many ways this meeting would happen.
Maybe it would be on a ship during a storm, or on a battlefield covered in bodies. The opponent should have been holding two legendary swords, showing a terrifying presence, and facing him in a life-and-death battle at the peak of swordsmanship.
But the reality was this.
A man in pajamas, eating breakfast.
The feeling of being ignored like this immediately made Mihawk very angry.
"You are Aiden?"
Mihawk's voice was low and quiet. In his sharp golden eyes, a strong will to fight was burning. "I am Dracule Mihawk."
"I don't care if your eggs are getting cold. I crossed half the sea to get here just to challenge you."
Clang!!
With a clear clinking sound, the blade of Yoru, one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades, moved in a sharp curve under the morning light. The tip of the sword pointed straight at Aiden's face. The pressure from the sword was so strong that it even cleared the mist around them.
"Draw your sword, Aiden!"
Mihawk shouted. His power kept rising, like a blade reaching for the sky. "Let me see your true level of swordsmanship, the kind that can split the sky and the sea!"
Faced with that sharp pressure, the soldiers nearby were forced to step back again and again. Smoker's face looked serious as he prepared to move in at any moment.
However, Aiden only gave a slow yawn.
"Yawn..."
"Mihawk? Who is that?"
Aiden shook his head, his tone full of dismissal. "I'm in a good mood right now, and I don't want to see blood this early. While I'm not angry yet, go find somewhere else to go."
Mihawk was speechless for a moment. No matter how much talent he had, in the eyes of someone like Aiden, who had just killed Golden Lion, he was only an unknown challenger.
"You won't draw your sword?"
The fire in Mihawk's eyes burned even hotter.
For a swordsman, having a challenge refused was a great insult.
"If you won't draw your sword, then I'll force you to!"
"Slash!"
Mihawk stopped talking. He gripped the sword with both hands and rushed forward.
Even though he was still young, his swordsmanship was already very good. There were no tricks in this strike. The giant sword moved through the air and chopped straight down at Aiden's head.
"This kid has some skill."
Smoker narrowed his eyes as he watched from the side.
However, facing that heavy and powerful strike, Aiden did not even try to move out of the way.
He only gave a tired sigh.
"Kids these days really have no manners."
Aiden slowly raised his right hand.
And all he held was a tiny breakfast knife.
Ding!!
A very sharp metallic sound rang out.
At that moment, time seemed to stop.
Mihawk froze in his attacking pose. The giant Yoru had actually stopped just above Aiden's head.
And the only thing holding it back was the tip of that tiny, simple breakfast knife.
"Wha... what?!"
Mihawk's eyes shook.
He felt as if his sword had hit a mountain. No matter how much force he used, he could not push it even a little bit further.
"What? Are you surprised?"
Aiden stood there. He had not even put down the fork in his other hand.
He looked at Mihawk's shocked face, his tone as flat as if he were talking about the weather. "This is the smallest knife I have."
Aiden lightly shook the little knife. Its silver surface showed Mihawk's angry face. "But for dealing with you, it's enough."
"You!!!"
Mihawk felt hot blood rush to his head. He felt shamed.
"Are you making fun of me?!"
"Even if you are the man who killed Golden Lion, you will pay for this!"
"Hraaaah!!"
Mihawk roared. He suddenly pulled his sword back, spun in the air, and used the force to slash again.
This time, the pressure was even stronger, and it even showed a bit of green sword energy.
"Too slow."
As Aiden spoke, he put the other half of the sausage into his mouth and chewed twice.
Clang!
He casually moved the small knife and hit the side of Yoru, easily pushing Mihawk's attack away.
"Your strength is not focused."
Aiden took a small step to the left and avoided Mihawk's side attack. Then he used the back of the small knife to tap Mihawk's wrist.
Smack!
Mihawk felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He nearly dropped the sword.
Mihawk attacked Aiden again and again.
He tried to cut, block, and stab.
Every move used all his strength. Every strike was meant to kill.
But Aiden looked as if he were walking in his own yard.
Wearing slippers, he moved only a little bit. The small knife in his hand seemed to come alive. Sometimes it blocked like a shield. Sometimes it struck out like a snake.
Ding, ding, clang!
The fast sounds of metal hitting metal never stopped.
No matter how fierce Mihawk's attacks became, Aiden could always use that tiny knife to find the weak point in the force. Then, with a small movement, he made the attack disappear.
This was the level of a Great Swordsman.
In Aiden's eyes now, young Mihawk's skill was sharp but full of openings. He looked like a child who had just learned to write, trying to show off in front of a master.
"Too stiff."
Aiden swallowed the sausage. He even had time to use the napkin to wipe his mouth. He gave his opinion in a casual tone. "That's not how a sword should move. Your style is too rough."
Clang!
The small knife held back Yoru again.
"Too much anger."
Aiden shook his head. "You want to win too much, and that makes it easy to see what you will do. Real swordsmanship should be as natural as breathing."
Smack!
The small knife moved past and left a red mark on the back of Mihawk's hand.
"And..."
Aiden narrowed his eyes and looked straight into Mihawk's angry but clear eyes. "Your sword is crying."
"Why do you swing your sword? For fame? For a promise? You have too many other thoughts."
"Huff... huff..."
Mihawk jumped back and landed a few meters away, breathing hard.
His clothes were wet with sweat. The hand holding the sword shook slightly.
Since he first went to sea, he had challenged many swordsmen and broken many famous blades. He had never lost.
But today, in front of this man in pajamas, he felt like a baby who had just learned to hold a sword. He was being played with like a toy.
What made it even harder for him was this.
The man in front of him, who was a Great Swordsman, looked even younger than he did.
"How does this guy train? Why is he this strong?"
Mihawk stared hard at Aiden's young face.
That man was clearly younger than him, yet he had such terrifying strength and skill. That truth felt like a mountain pressing down on him until he could barely breathe.
The most hopeless part was that Aiden had not even used Haki on that small knife.
He was winning with skill alone.
"Is the gap between us... really this big?!"
Mihawk stared at Aiden. His voice was weak and full of despair.
This was not the equal fight he had imagined. This was a huge gap.
Aiden looked at him coldly. "If you were really strong enough, you wouldn't even need to fight to see the gap between us."
"Trying to hit me... is that courage, or just being foolish?"
He raised the small knife, which still had a bit of butter on it. His tone was very arrogant. "You are weak."
Those words broke Mihawk's spirit.
"Aaaaaahhh!!!"
Mihawk let out a roar like a hurt animal.
Shamed and angry, his eyes turned red. He almost lost his mind.
But just as he was about to lose control, he saw Aiden's eyes.
They were completely calm, without the slightest trace of doubt.
In those eyes, Mihawk saw no mocking and no pity. Only cold indifference.
It was as if, in Aiden's eyes, the version of him that was losing his mind was worth even less than before.
"Your heart is messy."
Aiden spoke again. His voice was not loud, but it sounded like thunder in Mihawk's ears. "When the heart is messy, the sword becomes dull. Right now, you don't even deserve to make me raise this breakfast knife."
Hum—
Those words were like cold water poured over Mihawk's head.
The hand holding his sword stopped.
Anger and shame moved through his chest. But in the end, he forced them down because he was a swordsman.
If he rushed forward without control now, he would truly lose everything.
If he wanted to prove his path, he had to be calm.
He had to strike with the strongest move of his life.
Even if he died, he could not die in a state of rage.
"Huff... huff..."
Mihawk's breathing slowly calmed down little by little.
He closed his eyes. He pushed all the shame deep down and turned it into a will to fight.
When he opened his eyes again, the madness was gone. His gaze had become firm and steady.
He pushed away all other thoughts. In his eyes now, there was only the man in front of him and his own sword.
He understood now that he did not know how big the world was.
But he still had the right to swing his sword.
"This is my strongest strike!!"
Mihawk raised Yoru high with both hands. All his strength reached its peak in that one moment.
Green sword energy shot into the sky and cleared the morning mist.
Without holding anything back, Mihawk rushed at Aiden with everything he had.
"Oh?"
A bit of surprise showed in Aiden's eyes.
For the first time, his casual look disappeared, and he became a little serious.
"Good eyes."
Even so, Aiden still only held that small steak knife.
But this time, pitch-black Armament Haki covered the silver blade and turned it into a strong black knife.
"Since you have this determination, I will show you."
Aiden moved and met him.
The two figures crossed in the middle of the area.
Clang!
Squeltch!
The sound of a blade entering flesh rang out.
Everything stopped.
Mihawk froze in his pose. Blood began to pour from his chest.
Aiden stood behind him. Blood dripped from the small knife in his hand.
Clatter.
The giant sword slipped from Mihawk's hand and hit the ground.
Then the young swordsman's legs gave way. He fell backward into a pool of blood.
He had lost.
He had lost completely.
"So this is the level of a Great Swordsman?"
Smoker watched from the side, shocked. He did not even notice the cigar falling from his mouth.
Aiden turned around and looked down at the wounded Mihawk.
In that final move, he had avoided the heart. For Mihawk, this wound would not kill him.
"Why didn't you step back?"
Aiden asked. "In that final move, if you had chosen to step back, you might have taken less damage."
Mihawk lay on the ground, staring at the blue sky. A painful smile appeared on his lips.
"Step back?"
"If I had stepped back, then my dream to become the World's Greatest Swordsman would have become impossible."
That was a swordsman's pride.
It was more important than life.
"Heh."
Aiden laughed.
"Good eyes."
He leaned down, and the look in his eyes changed.
"Kid, do you really want to become the World's Greatest Swordsman that badly?"
Mihawk struggled to turn his head and look at Aiden. The fire in his eyes still burned.
"Too bad."
Aiden shook his head and said something even worse than the defeat. "That's impossible."
"As long as I'm here, for the rest of your life... you'll only ever be number two."
Mihawk's pupils shrank.
"Give up."
Aiden tapped his own face and whispered. "I'm younger than you, stronger than you, and even more talented than you."
"Even if you want to wait until I die of old age? There is no chance in this life."
Pfft!!
The damage from those words was greater than the wound in his body. Mihawk's anger reached its peak, and he spit out a mouthful of blood. He almost fainted from rage right there.
He was breaking the man's spirit.
Seeing that Mihawk looked close to dying from anger, Aiden laughed loudly and stood up.
He had no plan to kill Mihawk.
Because keeping this man alive would make things more interesting in the future.
Aiden turned and walked back, leaving a strong figure behind.
"See the world for what it really is, Dracule Mihawk."
Aiden's voice came from the distance. "See yourself, see the world, and see the gap between us!"
"Get stronger! Do what you must to survive!"
"When you feel ready to make me draw my real sword, come find me again."
Aiden waved his hand and walked into the shadows. "As for the title of World's Greatest Swordsman..."
"I'll keep the seat warm for you for now."
"Don't make me wait too long, weakling."
The morning light fell across Aiden's back and made his shadow very long.
Mihawk lay on the ground, staring hard at that retreating back. His fingers dug into the dirt.
Tears mixed with blood fell from his eyes.
"Ai... den..."
He promised in his heart.
One day.
I swear it.
One day, I will defeat you.
To Be Continued
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