𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗻.

sixteen.

016 ⎯⎯⎯ the duel.

   "Zoro you have to call it off!" I urge.

   "I won't do that."

   "You can't beat him!" My voice raises in desperation.

   Luffy and Usopp come into the room, Luffy taking place beside Zoro, "what's going on?"

   "I'll tell you what's going on! Your big, bad, marine grandpa sent a warlord of the sea to bring you in and instead of getting the hell out of here when he had the chance Zoro challenged him to a duel." Nami explains, irritated.

   "Which he accepted," Zoro remarks.

   "You are a fly to him," I glare at him, "he'll kill you just to spite-"

   I stop myself, a knot forming in my throat. I swallow carefully, "please Zoro."

   He looks up at me and our eyes connect

   "Please don't do it."

   "I'm going to win," he says confidently.

   "No you're not," I turn to Luffy, "tell your swordsman he's gonna get himself killed!"

   "Tell your first mate to butt out!"

   Luffy shrugs, "maybe this isn't such a great idea Zoro."

   "When you met me on that cross, what did I say?"

   "What makes you think I wanna play pirates-" Luffy repeats.

   "No the other thing-"

   "I kill your kind for a living-"

   "No-"

   "Oh!" Luffy grins, "that you made a promise to someone a long time ago to be the world's greatest swordsman."

   "The only way to do that is to beat Mihawk in a duel and take his title. I intend to do just that!"

   "Even if you die in the process! Luffy do something!"

   "It's his dream," Luffy smiles, shrugging nonchalantly, "I can't get in the way of someone's dream."

   Zoro grabs his swords and I can feel my eyes glaze over. "What's it gonna take? You want me to say you're the best? You're the best, okay! But you won't win!" I start to glitch from left to right, my crew mates looking at me worried.

   "Why do you even care?" He turns back to me. His stern eyes glare into mine and I feel myself crumble a bit.

   A tear slips down my cheek but it quickly glitches away, "because I know how this ends. And you're my friend and I don't want it to end that way for you!"

   "What do you know-"

   "I fought him every day of my life since I was eight years old! I watched armies fall to him! I know him!" My voice cracks and I feel like I'm suffocating. I glitch around the table to be in front of Zoro, my face no doubt all sorts of colors. 

   Everyone in the room is silent.

   "Sora," Luffy starts, "how do you know Mihawk?"

   I let out a breath, my strength collapsing. "He's my dad, okay? He's the reason I ended up on the seas. He's the reason I know how to wield a sword. And he's the reason I'm stuck with this stupid power!"

   I look back up at Zoro, finding him staring wide eyed at me. "How're you gonna beat him if you can't even beat his creation?"

   "I'm fighting him. End of story."