One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifteen

-Chapter Three Hundred and Fifteen-

-Zoro's P.O.V-

"Please!" I begged, down on my hands and knees as I pressed my forehead hard against the stone-cold floor. "Will you train me as a swordsman?!"

"You disappoint me" Mihawk sighed. "Stand up—I can't believe you would ask your enemy for instruction, have you no shame?" he asked. "Get out of here, this is pathetic—a pity perhaps, but I overestimated your worth" I didn't care for his jest as I continued to bow, listening as he poured himself another drink. "I said stand up, you're making a fool of yourself" he frowned.

"Please! Help me!" I pleaded.

"First of all, the baboons beat you and after that, you couldn't even make it out to sea" Mihawk pointed out. "I can't help you—it's hopeless."

"They didn't beat me" I corrected, ignoring the pain in my chest as my wounds started to bleed once more after reopening during my last fight. "You're the only one left to take down, but I'm just not good enough to win against you the way I am now—anybody can see that" I confessed.

"I don't follow" Mihawk admitted. "Clearly you still consider me your enemy...yet here you are bowing down, begging for my help—what do you mean to do?" he curiously asked.

"Kill you, of course" I truthfully answered as I finally sat up, watching as his lips twitched in amusement before he burst out into a hearty laughter.

"You admit you want to kill me and you expect me to assist you in that?" he inquired, amusement dripping from his voice. "You're strange—what a ridiculous request. Aren't you the least bit embarrassed? Perhaps your priorities are different now, Roronoa" I clenched my jaw, watching as he turned his attention towards Perona who silently floated close by. "You, the Ghost Woman, go take care of his injuries" he ordered.

"What? Why on earth would I take orders from you?" she frowned.

"We'll begin after you recover" I couldn't stop the way my lips tugged upwards into a bright smile at his words, pleased to know that he'd be willing to train me after all.

"Mr. Fancy Pants...treating me like some kind of maid..." Perona quietly growled. "What are you waiting for? Let's go, stupid!" she snapped as I followed her out of the room and allowed her to treat my wounds. "3D is crossed out and 2Y is under it?" she questioned as she curiously stared down at the newspaper in her hand, now seated on the chair by my bedside after she finished patching me up. "You're right, I see—it's like a tattoo on his arm!"

"A while back, the whole crew promised we'd meet up at a certain place in three days" I explained, staring down at the Vivre Card Rayleigh had given me. "But we just couldn't" I closed my eyes at the memory.

"So let me guess, 3D means three days—right?" she asked. "Then the 2Y is probably...um..." she trailed off, not quite grasping the meaning of the word.

"Two years" I told her.

"I knew that" she quickly defended, embarrassed at not having gotten the meaning behind the words as quickly as she would have liked.

"So the meeting is going to be two years later, alright" I told her. "It means he pulled that stunt in Marineford knowing that it'd get him in the newspaper, that way he could make sure each of us got the message—that was smart, especially for Luffy" I praised. "But none of us has what it takes to survive in the New World, that's why we have to train, so we'll all be stronger the next time we meet."

-Later-

"Hey! Didn't I tell you to rest up?" Perona scolded, following behind Mihawk and me as we left the castle and stepped outside. Silently, I cast a small glance at the man beside me, huffing before I stared forward once more and began to think back on that day that I had first met Luffy and the vow I had made after my defeat to Mihawk.