Swordtism 004

Walking back towards the carriage, and leaving behind a now smoldering bomb-collar factory, Mihawk mentally went over the prior fight, and concluded he needed to improve his physical strength & stamina. 

His sword skills also required further honing. Although that high intensity fight had brought the best out of him, and revealed several flaws in his combat methodology, as well as improved his own understanding of the sword. 

Additionally, he now had a total of 187MP, and was now able to challenge a D-rank opponent. Although there was also merit in facing the pinnacle of F-tier, Batman or Shredder. Neither of them possessed any supernatural qualities, yet their sheer expression of skill was praiseworthy. Overcoming them wasn't so much to acquire their skills, so much as it was to test his blade against two worthy foes. Furthermore, he was likely to be transported to dark, gloomy cityscapes. Perfect places to hone his night time fighting abilities. 

Originally, he only had 87 points after defeating those mooks, but Alex netted him a whole 100 points! Showcasing that the big man was at least a D-tier combatant. Speaking about that blonde hulk…

“Hawk Eyes, right? I'm Alex. Look, I know we started off on the wrong foot, but please, I'm begging you. Do you know where they took Patricia?” Alex-bruised to hell & back-asked from behind. 

Mihawk sighed, then cut down a fruit, and tossed it to the big man. “Eat your fill. Once you've healed up, we'll go find her.” 

“Thanks, Hawk Eyes.” Alex muttered as he practically ate the entire fruit in one bite. 

“Name's Mihawk. Wake me up once the purple's gone from your face.” Mihawk said, then found a spot under a shaded tree, and covered his face with his hat. 

“You're going to trust me, just like that?” Alex asked in disbelief. 

‘You want your sister back, right?’ Mihawk thought to himself, his lips twitching in amusement. However, what he said aloud was different. “You seem like the trustworthy sort.” 

“Yeah…” Alex weakly smiled, then turned off to the side with a wistful look on his face. “Patricia, I will rescue you.” 

Mihawk ignored Alex, and closed his eyes to rest. The fight against the blonde hulk had dealt some damage to his internal organs, and each breath felt like an elephant had cracked his ribs. As a bonafide anime man, he knew there was no better cure for an injury like this than sleep. So that's what he did. 

Some time later, Mihawk was awoken by some thunderous snoring. When he opened his eyes, it was past midday, and there was perhaps an hour until dusk. His bones no longer ached, and the sleeping ‘beauty'had healed from any lacerations he had accrued earlier in the day. 

Taking out a somewhat hefty coin pouch, he tossed it onto the pro-wrestler's chest. The overly muscular guy jumped up from the ground in a crouch, seemingly ready to ‘power bomb’ Mihawk's head into some trees. 

“Let's go.” Mihawk said, and with a flourish of his cloak, departed for town. 

“Huh? Hey. Wait up!” Alex blinked in confusion at the sudden awakening, and jogged over with the bag of money. “What's this for? You're the one helping me, so I should-” 

“Save it. Once the girl is rescued, what then?” Mihawk casually asked whilst his eyes were constantly scanning his surroundings. 

“Well, uh, we'll go back to live with old Tom, and-” Alex got out, trying to explain before he was interrupted again. 

“Naive. The family behind this slave collar factory will have connections. Powerful connections. Once we do what we're about to do, a bounty will be placed on our heads. Everyday you stay with her will be putting her life in danger. So. Keep it.” Mihawk explained. 

Alex furrowed his brows, opened his mouth, hesitating to speak as a complicated emotion spread across his face. 

“Why are you doing this?” Alex whispered in a quiet voice, halting in place. 

Mihawk stopped his steps, and cocked his head to the side. “Like I said. You seem like a trustworthy sort.” 

“Bullshit. I'm just some guy who jumped you in a factory because I was jealous of your look. Be honest, why help me?” Alex asked. 

Mihawk nodded to himself. Credit where credit was due, no one was stupid enough to think others would help them for no reason. Although he had a bit of a protagonist halo, he was no Luffy, whom everyone would go along with for…no reason. In fact, he was happy to see that despite his rough exterior, Alex wasn't some muscle brained buffoon. Proof that men with muscles could be intelligent too. 

Mihawk slowly turned around, and stared Alex in the eyes. 

“The truth then. You deserve that much.” Mihawk nodded, tipping his hat. “You are the strongest person I have ever fought. I want to fight you again. I want you on my crew. I want you as my First Mate.” 

Alex rapidly blinked, as if stunned. Then a wide, confident grin spread across his face. “And who says I can't be the Captain?” 

Mihawk raised an eyebrow, and glanced at his sword provocatively. 

“Alright, alright. You can be the Captain!” Alex laughed, and roughly shoved Mihawk's shoulder with one of those ham-sized hands. “But seriously, please, let's save Patricia first, then we can talk about whatever, whenever.” 

“Agreed.” Mihawk nodded along, then resumed his journey. 

“And uh. Where would that be?” Alex weakly asked. 

Mihawk pulled a map out from his bosom, then pointed at a spot just outside of town. 

“I took this map from the factory before setting the explosives off. This location seemed particularly important. I think we'll find your girlfriend there.” Mihawk finished. 

“What are we waiting for? Let's go!” Alex excitedly grabbed towards Mihawk as if to carry him over his back like a gorilla. 

Dodging forward, Mihawk felt his eyelid twitch, and started to sprint forward, leading the way. 

So much for conserving energy. 

Before long, the two men reached the bottom of a small hill. More accurately, it was a small plateau with only one path up. Otherwise, they'd have to scale a vertical surface. Not that it couldn't be done by either of them, but it would be unnecessarily slow, and they would expose themselves up to gunfire. At the top of this geological formation was a walled manor with a ‘castle' aka a tall round tower at the center of it. 

Meeting Alex's eyes, they nodded at one another as if they were on the same wavelength. 

A frontal assault it is, then. 

Mihawk had a feeling that ‘frontal assault’ was going to be something of a common theme in his crew. When you had absolute strength, why sneak? 

Walking up the mountainside with the sun to their backs, a golden ray of light blinded the guards in front of them, and made both Mihawk & Alex appear extraordinary. 

“Guests from afar, how may we address you?” One of the guards-a more formally dressed butler looking guy with a stiletto sheathed at his waist-asked in a formal tone. 

Mihawk didn't even say a word as Alex grabbed the guy with one hand, then tossed him into three more, creating a sprawl of groaning limbs. 

Drawing his messer, and using both the angle of the sun & the surprise attack to his advantage, he easily cut down six goons before they could so much as raise their weapons. 

Before long, the ten man squad that was outside the manor had been defeated. 

Just as they were about to advance past the open gate, a series of sharp whistling noises pierced the air. Glittering in the sunlight, a dozen lethal shuriken came spinning at the duo. 

Eyes going wide, Mihawk saw them all. 

“Watch yourself. Some of these shuriken are decoys.” He grunted, not able to say more as he was forced to focus. 

Adopting a defensive stance, he met the spinning black rings of death head on. 

Form III: Soresu Still as the Mountain

Deflecting one shuriken after another, Mihawk was internally stunned by how much power was behind them! Although he wasn't being knocked back, his hands were feeling almost numb due to the continuous attacks! Furthermore, whoever was doing this was an expert, as they had hidden a shuriken within the shadow of another thrown weapon. 

Thanks to his keen eyesight, he had made it out in one piece. As for Alex…

“Tch. They have a skilled sniper up in that watch tower, let's go take them out!” Alex roared as he pulled a bloody tipped shuriken out of a spot near his shoulderblade. 

Mihawk wordlessly charged towards the tower, however, what awaited them was beyond surprising. 

His first step into the unknown was greeted by a rope trap. Foot entangled by a rope, he was dragged towards a pit full of spikes! Acting fast, Mihawk swiped his blade, and using the momentum of the rope, vaulted over the pit of spikes. 

Alex lunged across Mihawk’s path and caught a shuriken that was about to hit the back of his head, then tossed it back up the tower with incredible force. 

High above them, a man in a nondescript blue shinobi's uniform, with a long plume of brown hair covering one eye, and a full mask covering his face crouched on top of the tower's shingles. This was the sniper from earlier, a background character from Street Fighter V that Mihawk barely recognized. 

Ninjutsu: Python Bind!

No words came from the ninja’s mouth as he did his best to kill them. Although he did not boast, or intentionally show off, his special attack made the air tremor, doing all the talking for him. 

Ropes erupted from his sleeves, descending from the tower like a ball of baby snakes roiling about in their spawning pit. 

Yellow eyes going wide, Mihawk absorbed their current trajectory, and instead of fear, felt himself gripped by courage, and a burning desire to test himself. 

“Heh. I know that look. I feel the same way. Let's beat this bastard rotten!” Alex said from the side, then stomped on the ground, striking a pose by Mihawk's side. 

Form I: Shi-Cho Ordinary Slash 

Mihawk moved with an almost insulting economy of motion. Wide sweeping AOE slashes brought down one rope after another, cutting them to pieces with ease. He advanced without breaking stride, his golden eyes fixed upon the blue-clad ninja. 

Alex, likewise, chose the direct approach. He caught two ropes around his forearms, planted his boots and pulled.

Geki jerked forward atop the tower, struggling to maintain his balance. 

“Got you!” Alex roared.

The ropes suddenly went slack, and Alex staggered backward as Geki released them. 

A moment later, ropes rose from muddy gutters, dropped from windows and tightened between the surrounding walls. Within seconds, Alex and Mihawk were like flies caught in a spider's web. 

Shinobi Art: Tripwire Maze

Alex tried to regain his balance, but another cord swept behind his knees. He crashed onto his back, and a shuriken plunged toward his throat. His glove snapped up, angrily swatting it away like a perpetual drunk presented with alimony paperwork.

A trio of shuriken followed, making Alex roll beneath one, block another and allow the third to scrape across his shoulder rather than bury itself in his chest. Blood darkened his shirt, but he forced himself upright.

Mihawk jumped upon the maze, and ran along it like a performer at the circus. As a shuriken hissed toward his eye, he tilted his head by less than an inch and let it pass. All around him the rope net tightened, attempting to restrict his movements, and direct him towards dead-ends, or other pitfalls. All the while more and more ninja-tools would whirl at him from both the front and the back. This bottom tier grunt from SFV was truly determined to kill them. 

However, Mihawk’s eyes had seen enough. 

Each stroke of his blade severed a point upon which the maze depended. One rope snapped, then another. Tension shifted through the trap. Knots loosened. Lines sagged. In three measured cuts, the shinobi's elaborate web collapsed into a useless heap.

Mihawk looked up at his enemy, staring silently at him, as if to ask is that all? 

Pulling his hands apart and then together, the ninja rapidly formed hand seals as if he were from a different franchise. However, instead of jutsu, he was actually rapidly folding together thousands of tiny strands of rope fiber. Whilst Mihawk was jumping up several ropes, and jumping up the tower to confront the ninja, the man finally released his attack. 

Iron-Knot Strike

Mihawk twisted aside as a giant rope knot the size of a double-decker bus came roaring at him. The knot smashed into the wall beside his head, pulverizing part of the tower, and sending it slightly askew. Reversing the rope with a sharp pull the ninja sent the knot sweeping sideways.

Alex intercepted it, jumping at the knot with a courageous roar. The reinforced plates of his gloves saved his hands, but the blow still lifted him off his feet and hurled him into the manor wall, leaving a human shaped imprint in it. 

That little distraction was all the time Mihawk needed to close the distance, and finally land on top of the tower. Mihawk’s messer struck out, slicing through the ninja’s sleeve and opening a shallow line of crimson along his forearm. Pulling back, the ninja drew a short sword with one hand, and wielded a rope whip with the other. 

Cutting aside the rope, Mihawk was surprised by his foe's speed, only barely managing to hold on. During their clash, a rope smashed out from the bottom of the ninja's foot into the tile of the roof, and had gone unseen by Mihawk. Much to his surprise, this rope sneakily penetrated the tile beneath him, holding him in place. 

The ninja's eyes squinted in satisfaction as his plan had come together. Yoinking Mihawk off his feet, the shinobi dashed forward for the kill. 

Bruised and bleeding, Alex hauled himself onto the roof, and launched a Slash Elbow, forcing the ninja to parry with a rope hand. However, he was determined to finish the mission, and plunged his sword down at Mihawk's heart. 

Form II: Makashi Fools Parry 

Using the awkward angle of the fall, Mihawk took advantage of Alex's distraction to counterattack! His sword parried aside the shortsword, and completely cut off the arm that was wielding it. 

Covered in his own blood, the blue-clad ninja was extremely decisive in his actions, and had closed the wound tight with a series of ropes. Then, flipping backwards over Alex's next elbow, he held a hand up towards the sky. 

Escape Rope

Launching a rope into the sky, it shot straight up until it attached itself to a passing cloud. Within seconds, the ninja vanished into the white mist.

Alex stared upward, breathing heavily.

“Sonnuvabitch! That damned bondsge bastard better not have touched a single hair of hers.” The big man raged. 

Mihawk sheathed his messer, then had his attention brought to a den den mushi that was wearing an all white, familiar mask. When it spoke in a 

“My, my, a fight for love.” A contemptuous voice began. “How utterly disgusting." 

Mihawk glanced at the transponder snail, and arched an eyebrow. He was fairly certain that it was the ‘Spaniard’ Vega speaking. One of the ‘Four Heavenly Kings’ of a criminal organization bent on taking over the world, he was one of the antagonists of the Street Fighter franchise. And from the sound of things, this operation to produce the slave collars for the World Nobles fell under his jurisdiction. 

“It appears we have made enemies with an assassin.” Mihawk casually remarked towards Alex. 

“Hm.” Alex grunted noncommittally, as if it didn't concern him. 

“My thoughts exactly.” Mihawk agreed. 

“Ignoring me then, is it, ‘Hawk Eyes?’ Very well, although Geki could not finish you, I am another story. Whence you view my beauty, it shall be the last thing you ever se-” 

Alex's big hand directly hung up the call, interrupting the den den mushi mid sentence. 

Mihawk shared a look with him and wordlessly nodded, then glanced off into the sunset, admiring the port town and gentle ocean waves below. 

100+ MP richer, today was a good day.