Rolling My Way to Pirate King (One Piece Chaos Gacha) (Patreon)

Chapter 20: Ambition

The silence stretched even longer after my casual mockery of the man. Some of the cooks looked at me with pale faces, as if I was already a dead man.

“Tsk, I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. But just be aware that if you’re still here when I return to take this ship, consider yourself dead.” Krieg said with a scoff before turning back to the cooks, who shrank back in fear.

“Now where is the food I asked for!?”

Shaking my head in amusement, I shrugged carelessly with my arms crossed. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“Please stop antagonizing him, Luffy!” Usopp whisper-shouted at me with a panicked look on his sweaty face.

Ignoring him, I watched Krieg’s face twitch and contort in anger once more. Luckily for him, the wooden peg of Zeff caught his attention as the old man walked up carrying a huge bag.

“Here. That’s enough food for about a hundred men. Use it to feed your crew. Now get out of my restaurant.” Zeff grunted with a frown and crossed arms. The other cooks — except for Sanji — looked surprised that he actually followed the order.

“Heh, seems someone actually knows how to listen.” Krieg huffed in amusement as he picked up the bag.

“None of you better be here when I return if you want to keep living.” He looked around at everyone as he spoke.

Before leaving, he shot me one last look full of bloodlust. “Oh, and I’ve changed my mind. I’ve decided to kill you after all, so enjoy your last moments of living, kid.”

Rolling my eyes at his pathetic attempt to intimidate us, I placed a hand on Tiche’s shoulder before she could kill him where he stood. The look she was giving him made it clear she was ready to move.

“I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve brought you, Sanji-san.” Gin said with an apologetic look. “Please leave this restaurant as fast as possible.”

“I can’t do that.” Sanji said calmly, already back on his feet after the cheap shot from Krieg. He took a puff of his cigarette. “This restaurant means the world to the old man. So once you guys return, don’t expect any mercy from me now that you’ve been fed.”

Gin grimaced but didn’t say anything more. He left the restaurant immediately, and the place burst into noise.

“Why would you do that, Zeff-san!? He already said he plans to kill us if we don’t hand over the ship!”

“Yeah!”

One by one, many of the cooks voiced their complaints. Zeff listened patiently for a few moments before raising his voice and silencing everyone.

“All of you idiots, shut up already! Have you ever felt what it’s like to be on the brink of starvation!? Losing food and water on this grand ocean… Do you know how scary it is!? Do you know how hard it is!?” Zeff exclaimed passionately.

“Enemy or friend, people get hungry. I’ll feed anyone that wants to eat! We’ll worry about the rest after!” he declared with a gruff tone. “Now, if you have time to grumble, leave through the back door already!”

By the end, all of the cooks were looking at the old blonde with admiring expressions. Slowly, determination settled on their faces.

“I’ll stay and fight.” Patty exclaimed as he raised a huge fork.

“I’ll stay too! This is the restaurant where I work.” Carne spoke up next, the only other cook I had paid much attention to.

After them, the rest of the cooks made their own declarations. The mood turned positive as everyone prepared themselves for a hard fight.

“Yo, old man.” I spoke up loudly, catching their attention as I directed my gaze at Zeff, who looked at me silently.

“I hope you don’t mind if me and my crew also join in. The man clearly declared his intentions to kill me after all, and while I may be willing to let it go, some of my crew are not as nice as me.” My gaze turned to a silent Tiche, who was still radiating a deadly aura while her eyes remained hyper-focused outside where Krieg had left.

“Hmph, do what you wish. Not like you’re the type to be ordered around after all.” Zeff grunted in approval, making me smile in amusement.

“Shishishi, caught me there.” I laughed before patting Tiche on the back in a friendly manner. “You ready to give—”

I suddenly stopped what I wanted to say to her as my body froze at the feeling of a monstrous aura slowly approaching.

‘…That aura. There’s only one person it could belong to. Seems I haven’t affected the timeline so much yet.’ I thought silently.

My crew immediately noticed my stiff posture and became wary. Zoro’s hand came down on one of his swords while Tiche pulled out her dagger.

The only clueless ones were Usopp and the other cooks, who just blinked in confusion.

“What is it, Luffy-sama?” Tiche asked as she started looking around the restaurant for potential threats.

Pulling myself together, I frowned but instead of answering her I turned to Zoro with a serious look. “There’s a really strong presence approaching. Get ready, Zoro. You might actually get that fight you wanted.” I revealed calmly.

Zoro’s eyes widened as he immediately realized who I meant. A grin of excitement lit up his face along with a look of pure determination.

“Seems that our trip here paid off after all.” Zoro muttered with a small chuckle before looking at me from the corner of his eyes. “Remember your promise, Luffy.”

Not letting my frown disappear, I nodded once with a serious expression. “Right.”

While we were talking, the other cooks were still looking at us along with Usopp and Tiche, who didn’t have any idea what we were talking about.

With nothing more to say, Zoro started walking toward the exit and I followed closely behind, a determined but still nervous feeling in my chest. Tiche quickly followed my lead and caught up, leaving Usopp behind blinking at us.

Unlike the original Luffy, I actually had a healing ability at my disposal, so as long as Zoro didn’t die today, everything would be fine.

“W-Where are you guys going!? I thought we were going to wait for them to make the first move!?” Usopp exclaimed with his hands on his head.

“Change of plans. Just follow us.” I said over my shoulder and continued forward, forcing Usopp to follow along somewhat reluctantly.

As we walked outside, we were just in time to see Krieg’s galleon be swiftly cut down the middle. Panic erupted among those still on board as the ship capsized and they were forced to abandon ship.

The cooks who had followed behind us became surprised as well at the sudden attack. None of them had been able to see the blade of wind that had cut the ship down.

“W-What just happened!?” Sanji asked in surprise. “Was it another attack from a rival pirate crew?”

“No, that attack was done by a single blade.” Zoro answered with an excited smirk as his grip on his katana tightened. “So he might be here after all.”

“What!? A blade!?” Sanji asked in surprise.

My gaze was already focused off in the distance where a small boat shaped like a coffin was drawing near.

“There’s no doubt about it. That’s him, alright.” I said, causing the others to turn and see where I was looking.

The man in question had a fancy black and red coat along with a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large white plume and white pants.

Unfortunately, bringing down such a big ship caused huge waves to form, and we were forced to balance ourselves as the cooks panicked behind us.

“Raise the anchor! Or we’ll be swallowed along with the ship!” Zeff immediately took charge and gave orders as the other cooks did as he asked.

While that was happening, Mihawk was now close enough that everybody could see him clearly.

“That man is…” Zeff muttered with a surprised tone.

“Th-That son of a bitch! He followed us!” Krieg shouted as he got up from some wreckage of his ship while sweating in fear.

“Hawk-Eye.” Zoro muttered with a bit of a nervous grin now and some sweat at the back of his neck. “His aura is massive.”

“Aura?” Sanji asked questioningly, but he went ignored as the other cooks started talking about the man while Zeff briefly explained what he knew about him.

Without uttering a word, Zoro tied his bandanna around his head before walking ahead as Mihawk finally arrived, sitting casually in a throne-like chair while evading gunfire from Krieg’s crew.

“I’ve never seen a sword moved so gently…” Zoro casually said to Mihawk with a smirk as he stood on some floating piece of the destroyed galleon that served as a foothold.

“There is no strength in swordplay based only on force.” Mihawk answered as he regarded Zoro briefly from the corner of his eye.

“I came out to sea to meet you.” Zoro declared as he slowly pulled out his three swords, ignoring the comments coming from the Krieg Pirates who had recognized him.

“What’s your goal?” Mihawk asked calmly while still sitting without a care in the world.

“To become the strongest!” Zoro declared strongly with a big grin on his face.

“Hmph… How foolish…” Mihawk scoffed somewhat mockingly with a small smirk.

“My Captain already told me you’re beyond me at this point, but there’s no way I can stop myself from seeing that with my own eyes when you’re standing right in front of me.” Zoro said as he boldly pointed one of his swords Mihawk’s way.

“Fight? Hmph! How pitiful. If you already know the disparity in our strength, then what is it that causes you to turn your sword on me? Is it courage or ignorance?” Mihawk asked as he got up from his seat and jumped to the broken part of the ship Zoro was standing on.

“It’s my ambition!” Zoro declared with an even bigger grin. “And it’s also because of a promise I made to a dear friend!”

=====

While that was happening, Tiche, Usopp, and I stood a distance away at a good vantage point along with the cooks.

“What the hell is Zoro thinking!? Is he really thinking of challenging the world’s strongest swordsman to a duel!? Is he crazy!? Luffy, stop him before he gets himself killed!” Usopp exclaimed as he started shaking my shoulder back and forth with a panicked and worried look on his face.

Swatting his hand away without removing my eyes from the duel about to commence, I scowled and looked at Usopp from the corner of my eye, causing him to freeze.

“Are you asking me to stomp on Zoro’s pride, Usopp?” I asked a bit harsher than I intended, causing the teen to flinch back as if hit.

“He has already declared his intention of wanting to become the world’s greatest swordsman, and now standing in front of us is the current holder of that title. Stopping him from challenging him is akin to asking me to kill him. For what is a man without his dream and pride?” I stated seriously with narrowed eyes as I felt my heart start beating faster from the adrenaline.

“R-Right! Sorry I asked.” Usopp immediately apologized while wildly waving his hands back and forth.

“Then shut up and let’s watch this until the end.” I stated before unconsciously tightening my fists in nervousness.

I paid no mind to the words of the other cooks or what they were saying and focused only on the upcoming duel.

The duel started exactly like I had remembered, with Mihawk pulling out that tiny knife from his chest while mockingly telling Zoro that he didn’t have a smaller one. His reason being that one did not hunt a rabbit with a cannon.

Zoro, while frustrated and angered, took the deepest breath I had seen him take so far. He drew plenty of oxygen into his lungs, accelerating his blood flow and heartbeat, causing his bones and muscles to become more excited.

Pushing Total Concentration Breathing to the highest he had so far, Zoro narrowed his eyes and in the next moment disappeared from most onlookers’ eyes.

I got the satisfaction of seeing Mihawk’s eyes widen for a moment before narrowing immediately, taking the fight more seriously as they clashed.

Because he was not using Armament on his small knife, it immediately shattered after their first clash as they stood apart once more. This time though, Zoro had a small smirk on his face while Mihawk looked down at his broken knife with a small frown before looking at Zoro again with a different expression from before.

“Hmph, it seems I underestimated you a bit. Very well, let me apologize for my mistake by using the world’s strongest black sword, this Yoru.” Mihawk declared as he threw the knife away and pulled out his huge black blade from his back, gazing at Zoro with a bit of respect in his eyes now.

“Now we’re talking.” Zoro smirked in excitement before concentrating once more. A sheen of black overtook Wado Ichimonji, causing Mihawk’s eyes to slightly widen this time in clear surprise.

Then, with a hidden signal, the duel began once more. The sounds of blades clashing was heard by everyone as no one dared to utter a word while the duel went on.

With a frown on my face, I watched the duel go on, being one of the few people here able to actually see what was happening, the other being Tiche, as Zoro and Mihawk clashed over and over again.

Even with all the training Zoro had done, and with how strong he had become in such a short time using Total Concentration Breathing and his recently awakened Armament and Observation, it just wasn’t enough.

Mihawk expertly and elegantly evaded all of his attacks without any effort, only causing Zoro to become more frustrated and thus lose concentration on his Haki.

‘Damn it! Concentrate you idiot!’ I thought silently as my fists shook by my side in anger at not being able to do anything but watch as Zoro was overwhelmed by the more experienced and powerful swordsman.

After one more clash, their forms became visible again. Mihawk stood without a scratch on one side, while on the other was Zoro, who had multiple small cuts along his body and was now breathing heavily with sweat running down his forehead.

“S-So this is the distance between us. Luffy had already told me, but some part of me didn’t want to believe it was this big.” Zoro muttered while panting harshly.

“You have a wise Captain then. I admit that I didn’t expect someone from the East Blue to be this strong, but you are still a frog in a well that has yet to experience the real world, young man.” Mihawk said calmly before tilting his head.

“What now? Now that you have personally seen the distance that divides us, will you retreat?” Mihawk asked with a blank expression, though curiosity lingered in his eyes.

“No.” Zoro answered immediately without any hesitation. “I don’t know why, but… if I withdrew even a step, I feel like those various important things such as pledges and promises in the past will be shattered, and I won’t be able to come back to where I am now…”

“Yes, that’s what defeat is about.” Mihawk declared with narrowed eyes.

“Heh, then all the more reason I can’t withdraw…” Zoro smirked confidently.

“Even if you’ll die?” Mihawk asked.

“I’d rather die.” Zoro declared without any hesitation or fear. “What do you say we finish this in one final move while I still have strength in my body?” he proposed.

“Very well. Before that, what is your name?” Mihawk asked calmly, with no more trace of mocking in his expression.

“Roronoa Zoro.”

“I’ll remember it.”

With their intentions declared, the air became tense for a moment before it was over in the next instant.

The sound of flesh meeting blade reached my ears as I felt my knee shake at seeing Zoro’s two regular swords completely shattered and a deep gash appear on his chest where Mihawk had slashed him.

It wasn’t over though. Zoro sheathed Wado while throwing the remaining broken katanas into the sea and extended his hands to the sides, presenting his front to his opponent.

“What are you…” Mihawk asked in confusion.

“Scars on the back are a swordsman’s shame…” Zoro smirked with a bloody grin, not looking scared or worried in the slightest.

I ignored Usopp’s pleas behind me to rescue Zoro and the way Tiche tensed as she tightened her hold on her dagger. I kept repeating in my mind over and over again not to act rashly and crush Zoro’s pride.

‘Come on, come on, come on! End it already!’ I thought desperately, my whole body tensed and a bit of my Haki leaking out as Mihawk finally took the offered blow and slashed down at Zoro. A spray of blood flew everywhere as Zoro fell into the sea.

“Zoro!!!”

Without any thought, I slotted in Impulse, immediately went into Gear 2, unsheathed my blade, channeled all of my Haki into it, and disappeared from my spot.

The next moment a literal explosion was heard as my blade came down on Mihawk’s Yoru. The resulting Haki clash blew everyone around us away as I growled down at the strongest swordsman in the world.