Swordtism 007

Entering the Challenge Rating space just before he was about to engage in a serious spar with Elena, Mihawk deducted 10 Match points to face off against Gotham's Dark Knight, Batman. 

Finding himself transported to a gloomy big city alleyway with a thick layer of fog, and large trash bins on the side, Mihawk slowly advanced forward. Batman was nowhere in sight, and a can rustling in the wind just behind him sounded in his ear. 

Moving to draw his sword, a whirling sound pierced the air, so he turned to the side, and ducked. Right where his hand was on the handle of his blade, a batarang passed by, grazing his hat. 

Swinging down from a building, Batman's cloak unfurled as he extended both his legs at Mihawk for a power kick. 

Sword half extended from its sheath, Mihawk was given no time to pull it free as Gotham's protector advanced on him. 

Ordinarily, this maneuver would have truly put him on the backfoot, and instinctively, he would have wanted to jump back, create some distance, and find an opportunity to draw his weapon. However! After training with Elena, and becoming more comfortable with his own rhythm, he found a means to victory in advancing! 

In that split second of decision making time as Batman descended, Mihawk abandoned his grip on the hilt of his weapon, and dashed forward. Moving at his max speed, he just barely made it under Batman's legs, rolled forward, and turned around in a kneel. 

As he raised his weapon from a half circle flourish, he deflected a pair of smoke bombs. Slicing through the object, pungent air started to hiss forth, and his eyes started to water. 

Deflecting yet another batarang, the combination of haze & pepper-like gas in the air obscured his vision so much that the next one nearly hit his knuckles. He only just barely deflected it with his guard, but the ricochet had the batarang hit him in the shoulder, eliciting a sharp pain. 

Then Batman was upon him, running in low, intend on closing the distance in an instant. 

Form IV: Ataru Speed is My Life

Jumping up, and running alongside the wall, he avoided a head on clash, wanting to exit that smoke cloud obscuring his vision. Meeting Batman head on with a sword-while dangerous-was seemingly viable. But remaining in a state where he was actively being debuffed? That was simply asking to die! 

Running along the wall, Mihawk was met by Batman's grappling gun, which was aimed at his ankle. It was surprisingly fast, and he was forced to jump to the opposing wall. From there, he kicked off the old brick building, did a backflip, and then brought his sword down in a mighty vertical slash. 

Form V: Djem-So Power Slash 

Mimicking his move from earlier, Batman rolled forward, dodging under his feet just in time. However, instead of continuing to charge forward, the Dark Knight quickly pivoted, sending one of his armored elbows straight at Mihawk's temple right as he landed! 

Caught off guard, Mihawk barely caught the dark clad figure within the fog, and tanked the hit to the head, sending him into a sideways roll. 

Blood started to dribble down his forehead as he shakily stood up. Stronger than an ordinary Human he may be, given his One Piece body, that was the first solid hit to the head he'd received since transmigrating. 

And unlike a generic villain, Batman gave him no time to recover, and was lunging at him with a flying knee. 

Form I: Shi-Cho Ordinary Slash 

Mihawk erupted with a wide horizontal slash, coming into contact with Batman's reinforced kneepad. Unfortunately, he couldn't cut through the advanced polymers that coated him, but that one strike left a deep gouge, forcing Batman to the ground. As he went for another cut, this time aimed at his weakpoint-that being the exposed section of his mask, where his mouth is-Batman started to uncannily dodge. 

No matter where he stabbed, cut or slashed, the hero would duck, dodge, weave around it, or parry with his armguards. Several times now, Batman had gotten under his guard, and gone for a leg sweep, or punch to the face. Never once was Mihawk tripped up, but his fine features had taken a hit or two. Batman was comparatively better off, however, a long brutal line across his chest exposed a layer of pale flesh beneath. So long as Mihawk struck again in the same spot, he could end this all in one strike. 

Again and again, they met one another, exchanging a dozen combinations in the span of thirty seconds. Each move of theirs became a series of tells, body movements, and a shift of the eyes. Not only was it a battle of the bodies, but a battle of the minds. 

One moment, Mihawk lifted his shoulder, miming a overhead cut, when in reality, he went for a shoulder charge, slamming Batman into a wall. Another moment, during a recovery, Batman appeared to go for a leg sweep, but actually did a reverse hand-stand jump, kicking out Mihawk's jaw with the bottom of his boot. 

Finally, Gotham's alleyway was full of the ragged gasps of both men as they stood apart eyeing one another. Yellow hawk eyes met the narrowed white BatGlare. A sword prepared to meet a balaclava & batarang. One man's armor was chewed up like a dog toy, whilst the other was missing half his mustache, and a trail of dried blood ran down his bruised face. 

No words were exchanged between the two combatants, but none were needed as they shared the same thought. 

Time to finish this. 

Running at Batman, Mihawk cut the balaclava in two, forced to lower his sword as it threatened to ensnare his legs. At the same time, he took a batarang to the shoulder. The metal weapon pierced him down to the bone, causing immense pain. Yet despite this, he did not lose focus, soldering on knowing it was either ‘me or him.’ 

Bringing his messer up low, he acted like he was going to slash into Batman's exposed neck. The Dark Knight, meanwhile, used both of his gauntlets in a backwards motion, and jumped forward into a flip, intending to use the force of the sword to flip over it, then crush Mihawk's head in between his thighs. 

Form II: Makashi Fools Parry! 

Mihawk dropped the sword at the last second, making Batman's flip half as powerful as it ought to be. As the Dark Knight was only halfway up in the air, and still mid flip, Mihawk drew his cross dagger-the one canon Mihawk used to stab Zorro in East Blue-and pierced his heart just as he completed his flip. 

Worn out, and exhausted, he had the heavy body of Batman fall on top of him. The BatGlare was in full effect as his armored fingers tremblingly reached towards his neck. Mihawk felt his bones begin to creak under the power of his grip as Batman looked him in the eye. 

“Do it. Don't make me. A killer.” Batman growled in a weak breath. 

Mihawk-on the verge of losing his life-twisted the knife, and dug around Batman's chest until his heart was naught but pulp and mash, finally putting an end to the caped crusader. 

The scene faded away, presenting him with a screen and a handful of skills. 

Q1) Master Detective 

Q2) Master Martial Artist

Q3) Uncanny Dodge 

Thankfully he had an endless amount of time to make this choice, and settled down his mind before making a choice. Nearly dying like that, and analyzing his fight, Mihawk felt like he was particularly vulnerable without his sword. Or rather, he would like to be able to throw out more punches, knees, and kicks to make himself a more versatile fighter. The sword, of course, is his primary weapon, but if he couldn't even draw it, then that was just asking to die. 

That being said, of the available options, was Master Martial Arts really worth grabbing? Yes, Master Detective was a fun option, but not really pertinent to him right now. Uncanny Dodge was quite useful in its own right. At the end there, for example, when he stabbed Batman in the chest, he was certain he had aimed for the heart. However, he must've been off just an inch due to the Dark Knight's skill. Furthermore, Batman was the only person in history to have dodged Darkseid's Omega Beams. A skill like that was truly extraordinary. 

As he fought more people, learning their martial arts would be an option. But being able to master dodging like that? That was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Clearly, Batman could still be hit, but avoiding fatal damage-even just once-could turn an entire fight around. 

Therefore, Mihawk went with option three this time, and chose Uncanny Dodge. 

Opening his eyes back on the beach, he immediately jumped back in to the Challenge Rating space, feeling that he wasn't quite ready to resoundingly defeat Elena. This time, he went up against a proper swordsman. It was none other than the masked vigilante, Don Diego de la Vega, the legendary Zorro. 

A masterclass duelist, and hero of California, he was a true man. Mihawk hoped to learn much in the way of the sword from him. 

Standing in a warm dusky courtyard, the style of buildings around him would fit right in a movie about rich Cartel bosses, or in this case, the previous mansion of the old Spanish Governor of California. 

With a large water fountain to the side, a masked man clad in black stood across from Mihawk. Tilting his hat, he drew his sword with a flourish, and then gestured for Mihawk to make a move, provoking him. 

Mihawk drew his messer, the sound of cold steel slowly spread across the courtyard into the early evening. 

As the sun set, and the last edges of a blood red sun died, he made his move. Starting with a large diagonal cut, he transitioned the swing into a wide horizontal hit, intending on maximizing his length, and taking advantage of his reach. 

Zorro held one hand on his hip, and met the incoming interchange with not one look of concern. Swiping his wrist downward, he met the tip of the messer with the guard of his weapon, and shoved the longer blade towards the ground, making Mihawk both overextend, and feel pressure on his shoulders as he hurried to raise his sword back up. 

The masked man whipped his sword up just as Mihawk backed up. His thin rapier at first went for the throat, but when it missed by a hair's breadth-thank you Uncanny Dodge-Zorro settled for being a little cheeky…he drew his signature Z upon Mihawk's face, drawing blood! 

“I am sorry, my friend, I couldn't help myself.” Zorro said with a carefree smile, and adopted a ‘harmless’ pose with his sword pointing towards the ground. 

Mihawk's yellow eyes narrowed, absorbing everything the masked man had done. Intending to rile him up, and then instead of pressing the advantage, threatening to over extend himself, Zorro maintained his stamina, played the fool, levied a taunt, and made himself look harmless. All the while, he was like the scorpion on the hare's back, prepared to strike out at any moment. 

“Truly you are a sinister individual.” Mihawk commented, pulling back a step to adopt a defensive stance. 

“And why do you say that?” Zorro asked, taking two steps forward, swiping left and right fast as can be, clearly testing Mihawk's speed & reaction time. 

Form III: Soresu Still as the Mountain 

Using as few movements as possible, Mihawk blocked both swipes, and held his sword at the ready. 

“Unfortunately for you, I know something you don't.” Mihawk smirked. 

“Oh? And what is that?” Zorro asked between another flurry of blows, landing a knick on Mihawk's upper thigh, and a scrape on the forearm during the exchange. 

Mihawk lifted his chin at the ground. 

A big M the size of four men standing next to one another was in place. 

“You are standing in my range.” Mihawk said, meeting the next swipe with a carefully timed counter attack. 

Thanks to the super blocking ability of Form II, Mihawk had had the ‘leisure’ of examining Zorro's attack patterns, and was confident in his next move! Swiping away one slash, he once again moved into a diagonal slash into a horizontal transition. 

“This again? I am afraid you will only fail.” Zorro clucked his tongue laughingly, yet a murderous gleam was in his eye as this time, he went for the kill. 

Mihawk, meanwhile, knew the best way to counter after analyzing Zorro's moves, and when he saw the athletic vigilante step forward with a thrust at the heart, he smirked. 

Uncanny Dodge

Feeling a thin piece of metal nearly kill him, Mihawk spat out a thick glob of blood onto Zorro's face. 

As for the witty swordsman? 

He had a messer buried half way into his body, and was nearly split in two. Zorro's lips moved wordlessly, and he collapsed, dead. 

The pain of nearly dying swiftly disappeared as he returned to the System space. Mihawk reorganized his thoughts, then took a look at the available skills. 

Q1) Blade Control 

Q2) Rapier Mastery 

Q3) Toxic Taunting 

In an anime world, Toxic Taunting was actually a pretty valuable skill. Plenty of idiots had been goaded into abandoning a safe firing line, or exposing themselves unnecessarily. That said, given his need for improvement, Mihawk didn't want to meet Elena with that of all things. Therefore his only real options were between one and two. 

Rapier Mastery would strongly aid his Form II skills, and advance him another tier in that direction. This choice was seemingly a no-brainer, even if he didn't necessarily wield a rapier. That said, Blade Control was something serious. This wasn't like the ‘blade control' of a xianxia with flying swords or any of that crap, but in the most direct sense of the word. How one handled their weapon, the ease with which they wielded it, the comfort of it in ones hands, and the application of force-so light one could carve a letter on someone's cheek or so precise it could cut apart steel without damaging the sword-this was blade control. 

As much as he wanted Rapier Mastery, Elena was right, he was lacking in rhythm. Most of his Forms were exerted on instinct and inherited memories. If he wanted the sword to be his, to truly belong to himself…than Blade Control would be the basis from which that foundation was built! 

Opening his eyes once more on that nighttime beach, and bathed in the afterglow of several life or death duels, an aura of danger suffused his form. 

Elena's smile was legendary as she gave him a big peace-sign. “Woah~ You seem much stronger than a moment ago. Your vibe has changed so much. Wow. Let's have fun now!” 

As the dark-skinned woman jumped back, and then lunged at him with a flying kick, her movements full of powerful green kinetic energy, Mihawk raised his sword high. 

Their spar would be legendary.