Smokeless War - One Piece

(31)

Did I believe he was civil before? I thought vaguely as I blocked his sword's slash over my head sending a powerful shockwave that threatened to send me to the ground.

Swiping my finger across an oozing cut he'd managed to give me near my collarbone, I just barely saved myself from another inhumanly quick stab of Yoru. Still, I would not give into glowering yet, even if my muscles screamed and the growing rain stung my eyes and robbed me of my sight.

He'd only gotten more fierce since the last fight in the forest though perhaps this was his way of making up for lost time. Now we barely would do the whole ritualistic sword fighter dance I found we did most spars. Maybe it was going backwards but I dreamed of us using wooden training swords instead of the real, very sharp blades.

In my thinking and automatic moves I'd been making due with, finding my feet and sword entwined with his, in no time and I found myself in a hard fall to the soggy forest floor. With a frustrated exhale I barely grabbed hold of the nearest thing, the chain attached to my mentor's neck and instead of it breaking it took the both of us down.

Momentarily winded, muddy and stabbed with dead branches I finally opened my eyes as my vision cleared from the rain and Mihawk almost certainly glowered at me as his head blocked most of the fat rain drops.

"Ah, what a terrible talent I have." I murmured with a meek smile in return, fighting the urge to look at the arms caging me in and the even more inappropriate view in front of me.

His muscled chest and necklace slicked with rain, because Mihawk never sweats and cannot bring himself to wear a collared shirt buttoned all the way. I closed my eyes at the sight of him because I could take it no longer and I dared to look, to which he gave what I can only assume was an irritated sigh.

"Forgive me sir, please. I will not look any longer." I warily spoke into the silence of the pattering rain when he hadn't said anything yet. I itched to slide my now very dirty hair out of my eyes but I dared not move after pulling such a stunt, at this rate he'll think me a pervert!

I opened my eyes a moment later at the sound of his chain as he moved and found his sword sunken easily into the wet earth. I'd be upset he didn't help me up but I was probably still glowing with shame from being the reason our sparring stopped again.

After I brushed myself off to the best of my ability and had a few moments for the small injuries to sink in and truly start to ache I noticed he'd disappeared into another direction.

Nothing clicked in my mind as the seconds dragged on and I followed where he led, back to those secret gardens of his.

"I must tell you," He paused as I quickened my pace to head under a beautifully sculpted arch. I turned, everytime he did this the suspense ate at me all the same.

"The person who poisoned you and that pirate girl, is still in our midst. It is possible as well, that they may have outside help."

The prospect startled me, someone possessing a means and the will to end our lives. For me, it's not an impossibility, but for the young girl it made my stomach turn.

I'd almost forgotten entirely about it, but at the weight of the small transponder snail in my pocket, I felt assured. If there's anything I can take seriously, it's Mihawk's words.

"You may have already come to the conclusion," I spoke softly, the cool wind both caressing and sending short pieces of hair into my face to which I constantly swept back before I went to put it back into a clean bun as I was used to. "But I don't think Bella was the target at all."

"Yes, even if unwillingly, she may have been the one to administer it." He replied to my dismay. The fact he could very well be right was unsettling. "Did she give you anything before you started feeling the effects?"

"Yes." I hesitatingly answered with barely a pause. The thought wasn't far from my mind. "A piece of bread."

At my words or the sparring from earlier, I looked up at him and found his hands smoothing back his dark, obsidian colored hair. Perhaps Samara was having a bad effect on me.

I used to be able to go an entire day without eating but now I felt hunger within three hours of eating breakfast. Having fought the terrain around me, the greatest swordsman I could find and the urge to ask if I could get a snack, I tried to avoid matching my expression with the gloomy weather.

"From now on, unless you've cooked it yourself, or you've received it from me personally, I don't want you eating anything from that pirate crew." He stated with a finality I dared not think of fighting and I tried not to look too sad. I dreaded to imagine the reaction of Olly when it was revealed I couldn't eat her food anymore.

"Yes sir, I understand."

"We'll have a short break then and resume until sundown."

******

"What! He doesn't want you eating unless it's you've cooked it?!" Samara shouted so loudly I thought everyone in the castle had heard it before I'd managed to shush her.

"Or.."

"Or!" She demanded an explanation and I didn't want to use the excuse but it sounded better than what I'd just spent the last few minutes explaining.

"Or if he cooks it.." I barely finished my sentence when she gave me a dark look and resolved herself to give me a literal pat on the back.

"He really must like you, I'm so jealous. He's so protective I'll keep comparing him to my potential suitors and he might be the reason I'm going to be single forever." She frowned but at the sight of my own expression she lifted her eyebrows in surprise.

"Hey! I'm not coveting your man seriously! I just want the relationship you have."

"That sounds like the same thing, hm. And we're not in a relationship Samara." I barely held back a huff but the look in her eye made me purse my lips and rethink my statement.

"Oh this makes me miserable. I can't even tease ye about this because even if you're not honest in conversation, your face is a dead giveaway, poor lass."

But she did, she teased me ever so slightly and it was making me crazy trying to not fall into the traps she'd lay in her words. And then the break was over as soon as it started.

"Oh no! I'm supposed to meet him in a few minutes and I'll just make a fool of myself if I rush into the forest and fall on my ar-" I'd slipped my boots off a few moments into coming into the lounge nearest to the kitchen to sit comfortably and now I was in the middle of tying them in knots, practically, and Samara was busy shoving a large slice of buttered bread into my mouth.

And Mihawk was busy adjusting his perfectly tidy outfit and standing in the doorway, an amused look in his eyes as I immediately looked at the floor and wondered if there was a way to be swallowed up by it.

Barely swallowing a chunk of bread, I placed it in my shirt pocket thoughtlessly and momentarily panicked at the thought of breaking the rule he'd made earlier already.

"She made it." Samara blurted after a moment. "She made that bread it wasn't me I swear. I couldn't make a slice of toast."

I think I felt a little blood drain from my face at those words. Cooking, yes I was quite confident I could successfully conjure a meal without hurting anyone but baking! I was almost completely unprepared as I'd never been taught.

With a small smirk, he seemed to ponder her words for a moment and come to a conclusion, one I cursed Samara for.

"A useful hobby. I should hope, madam, that you'll enlighten me tomorrow."

"What?" I felt my fingers automatically go for my lips, to fidget uneasily. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," His eye contact made me more fidgety. "Instead of sparring, I would rather you teach me how to bake."