Chapter 21 - Chapter 21

"Long time, no see, Luffy," said a man standing on a coffin-shaped boat. Luffy smirked before he answered.

"That's right, Hawk-Eye," said Luffy while looking at the man named Hawk-Eye. All of the cooks had exited and were now standing behind Luffy and Zeff, who were standing there watching Hawk-Eye's interaction with the Kreig Pirates. Zoro, who was on Luffy's right, looked at Hawk-Eye with a very excited expression.

"There he is... the world's greatest swordsman," thought Zoro as he placed his hand on his sword. "I didn't expect to meet him so soon, but I won't back down now," he thought with conviction.

Before he could continue his thoughts, a voice from one of the cooks snapped Zoro out of his thoughts.

"How did he split that gigantic ship in half?!" asked or screamed the cook there. Zoro also wondered how someone could split a ship of that size in half.

It was at this point that Luffy chuckled before giving everyone the answer to the cook's question.

"He cut him off," said Luffy as he narrowed his eyes at Hawk-Eye, while the others stared at him, waiting for him to explain further, but Luffy never did. Zeff saw the confusion on the faces of the chefs and Zoro, so he decided to try to explain in more detail.

"That man over there is Dracule Mihawk, also known as Hawk-Eye. "He is the greatest swordsman in the world," said Zeff, surprising the cooks. Mihawk is a tall, thin man with black hair, a short beard, a mustache, and sideburns that point up.

His eyes were a strange yellow that resembled an eagle's. He wears black and red ornate clothing with a cross pendant, which gives him the appearance of a Spanish swordsman.

Her outfit consists of a black wide-brimmed hat decorated with a large plume and a long black coat with red flowered sleeves and collar. He wore light purple pants supported by an ornate belt and tucked them into boots that were too big for his feet.

"And in case you were wondering what he cut that ship with... he cut it with the sword strapped to his back," Zeff said, causing everyone to look at Mihawk's back to see the blade. The blade is an ornately decorated, very long blade. On the hilt, the blade is shaped like a cross.

The blade itself was jet black with an intense sheen, a single-bladed long sword with a slight indentation on the tip of the blade. Overall, the blade looks like a large black cross.

One of the chefs looked like he was going to say something about Mihawk's sword, but as he was about to speak, Mihawk stretched out his hand and grabbed the hilt of his sword, getting ready to use it, the motion causing Luffy to narrow his eyes and place his hand on his sword.

Get ready to defend yourself if necessary. Everyone held their breath waiting to see what Mihawk would do. Luffy was about to ask Mihawk what he wanted to do, but before he could speak, Zoro walked up from behind Luffy and then stood beside Luffy with a green bandana tied around his head.

Luffy turned around and looked at him to see what he was planning, but with one look, he already knew what Zoro was planning. As Zoro was about to jump from the restaurant and head for Mihawk, Luffy grabbed his shirt from behind and threw Zoro behind him.

Zoro was surprised by Luffy's action; he then stood up and shouted at him.

"Why did you do that?" Zoro asked/shouted. Luffy kept his eyes on Mihawk and didn't even turn to look at Zoro as he answered.

"You will die in vain," said Luffy, angering Zoro.

"What does it mean?" Zoro asked angrily. "Are you saying I can't beat him!?" He is screaming. Luffy, who still had his back to him, spoke in his usual emotionless tone.

"That's exactly what I said," said Luffy, shocking the pirates and cooks there. "You have no idea how big the ocean is, and you are just a small fish in this ocean," said Luffy as he drew his sword and raised it in the air before he continued speaking.

"If you can't even do this, you're not ready to challenge it," he said. As he finished speaking, Luffy lowered his sword in one swift motion, aimed at the Kreig pirate ship, which was already in two.

As Luffy's sword came down, the next thing everyone saw was the two halves of the pirate ship splitting in half right down the middle, causing the ship to split into four pieces.

Zoro and the chefs stared at the scene with eyes the width of dinner plates. The pirates, along with Kreig, who was still on the ship, screamed and grabbed the pieces of wood that had split off from the ship to keep them afloat.

Kreig himself managed to climb back onto the intact part of the ship and stood there, soaked and glaring at Luffy with a look of loathing. Luffy didn't mind it; instead, he turned towards Zoro and spoke.

"Still think you have the ability to fight him?" he asked. Zoro looked at her for a moment before he tightened his bandanna around his head and spoke.

"Only one way to find out," he said before he jumped out of the restaurant and landed on the broken piece of the ship. Luffy sighed and looked at Mihawk before he spoke.

"I want him to come back alive, Hawk-Eye," said Luffy with a sigh. Mihawk looked at Zoro for a while before he turned around, looked at Luffy, and spoke with a chuckle.

"I'll try," Mihawk said, causing Luffy to narrow his eyes. Zoro then pulled out all of his swords and spoke to Mihawk.

"Dracule Mihawk," he said, getting everyone's attention. "I challenge you to a duel for the title of the world's strongest swordsman," said Zoro confidently, causing Mihawk to climb down from his coffin-shaped ship and jump into the split part of the ship before he could speak.

"Luffy's right. "You don't know how big the world is, and you're just a small fish in the ocean," Mihawk said, making Zoro angry. Zoro was about to run towards Hawk-Eye, but before he could, everyone heard someone scream from their right.

"LLUFFYY ANNIIKII!" came a familiar voice to Zoro and Luffy. Everyone looked to their right and saw Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku in a small lifeboat rowing towards them. One thing Luffy noticed was that Nami wasn't with them.

"What's wrong, and where is Nami?" Luffy asked as he walked aside to meet them. Usopp, after he finally stopped screaming and calmed down a bit, started talking to Luffy.

"Nami, she threw us off the ship and got away with it," said Usopp. As soon as he said that, Luffy turned his head quickly towards Zoro and shouted.

"I thought I told you to keep an eye on her!" Luffy shouted at Zoro. Zoro took the sword in his mouth and answered Luffy.

"I watched him the whole time before he left to move the ship," Zoro shouted back. "How did I know she was going to steal the ship?" Zoro asked. Luffy was about to answer, but Mihawk spoke before he could say anything.

"Wow, it looks like you've had a mutiny in your crew, Luffy," Mihawk said while laughing, making Luffy annoyed. Soon, sparks of blue electricity could be seen around Luffy's body, the wind picked up, and the sky above darkened and was completely covered in thunderclouds.

Suddenly, a loud thunderclap sounded above the bazaire, making everyone scared—even Mihawk was a little worried. Luffy then turned towards Zoro and spoke in a cold tone.

"Hurry up with whatever you want to do there and then go get my ship back while I'll recruit the chef and kill Kreig," Luffy said, causing Zoro to nod his head in agreement. Luffy then turned toward Usopp and spoke.

"After Zoro is done, I want you to follow Nami and get the ship back. I will be right behind you, and I will deal with Nami myself," said Luffy, making everyone there have the same thought.

"I feel sorry for Nami," they all thought. Luffy then turned towards Zoro and Mihawk to watch their fight, which had already started. Mihawk was fighting Zoro with a small dagger, which Luffy could tell from the cross pendant around his neck.

Luffy could see Zoro trying his hardest but couldn't match Mihawk's skills. He was also annoyed that Mihawk was using a small dagger instead of a real sword.

Luffy and everyone there watched as Mihawk stopped Zoro's strongest attack with no trouble at all.

"Welcome to the real world, Zoro," thought Luffy as he saw Zoro starting to question his strength after his attacks were stopped. Everyone around couldn't believe what they saw.

They couldn't believe that even a famous bounty hunter like Zoro couldn't beat Mihawk. Luffy didn't pay attention to the muttering going on around him; he kept watching Zoro.

The next thing that happened shocked everyone, including Luffy. Mihawk stabbed Zoro in the chest. From the angle Luffy was standing at, it looked like Zoro had been stabbed right in the heart.

But even though he was stabbed, Zoro didn't back down; he didn't fall down. Instead, he increased his defense and attacked Mihawk again. Luffy could see that they were talking to each other, but didn't pay much attention to it.

Whatever Zoro said to Hawk-Eye, it made him smile before picking up his main sword and slashing at Zoro, causing the two swords in his hand to be cut and his chest to be hit by Mihawk's sword. Zoro then fell into the sea, causing Usopp and the bounty hunter duo at the restaurant to scream.

"ZORO!!" they shouted, then they jumped into the sea to save Zoro. Luffy unsheathed his sword while looking at Mihawk, who was looking back at Luffy with a grin on his face.

The next thing everyone saw was Luffy disappearing from where he was standing, causing the pirates' and the chef's eyes to widen with the speed he had.

The next thing everyone heard was the sound of metal clashing against metal, along with a huge shock wave that caused debris to fly all over the place. That shock wave also caused several cooks and pirates to faint or kneel on the verge of fainting, while at the same time breaking the glass all over the baratie and throwing the remaining pieces of the krieg ship in all directions.

At first, everyone was confused about where the shock wave came from. Until they checked where the center of the shock wave was coming from and saw Mihawk and Luffy standing there with their swords clashing. Luffy looked into Mihawk's eyes before he spoke.

"Not that I said I wanted him to come back alive," said Luffy before he pushed away Mihawk's sword and jumped to put some distance between him and Mihawk. Mihawk raised his guard before he answered Luffy.

"I guess I got carried away," Mihawk said. When he said that, Luffy moved and ran faster than an ordinary person's eyes could track. Mihawk barely had time to raise his sword to block Luffy's slash from below.

When the two swords clashed, it created another shock wave that caused many pirates and cooks to fall over. Kreig stared at the two swordsmen with wide eyes before he whispered to himself.

"Such power in just one swing of the sword," whispered Kreig as he looked at Luffy and Mihawk, who were dueling in the midst of everyone. Sanji, whose eyes also widened because he saw the strength of the two men, couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Are they human?" Sanji asked out loud. Zeff snorted and folded his arms before he answered.

"That's what the Grand Line is," he said before he tapped Sanji on the shoulder, causing him to look at Zeff. "Look at the sky," he said, pointing to the sky.

Sanji and the rest of the cooks, along with the pirates Kreig and Usopp and their company, looked up into the sky and saw all the thunderclouds that had formed before now split right down the middle, creating a kind of trench in the sky.

Clouds from both sides seemed to be rising over the moat, but none of them crossed the moat. Everyone looked up at the sky in disbelief.

(The sky is split as a scene of White Beard fighting Shanks on White Beard's ship.)

"They split the sky..no, they split heaven into two," said a frightened cook in a shocked voice.