Swoosh—
Mihawk's face went dark, his razor-sharp eyes blazing with killing intent. The sword on his back was instantly in his grip, sweeping horizontally at Aus in a vicious slash.
Aus kept that shit-eating grin, not dodging or blocking as he watched the blade pass straight through his body without drawing a drop of blood.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I seriously didn't do it on purpose. No need to get so pissed."
"Your face says otherwise."
"Pfft... Hahaha, that obvious?"
Watching Mihawk keep talking while sneakily shuffling his feet, trying to scrape the crap off his shoes, Aus finally lost it and cracked up.
Fucking with young Hawkeye gave him the same rush as messing with baby Shanks back in the day.
Seeing Aus drop all pretense and laugh his ass off, Mihawk swung Yoru even harder. But this time, Aus didn't phase through the attack. Instead, he whipped out Ace from his waist and blocked the murderous strike head-on.
"One of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords—Ace?"
Mihawk recognized the blade.
So that rumor was actually true?
Originally Pirate King Roger's sword, passed to his successor after death—Doctor Aus!
The reality was way more mundane—Aus had just grabbed it while helping take care of family stuff. Pure memento. He'd ditched Nether Crow simply because Ace was sharper, tougher, and felt better. Power-wise, it didn't boost him much.
Both men faced off across the clearing, black blades in hand.
"Since this is supposed to be a swordsmanship duel, I won't use my Devil Fruit. Otherwise you'll just whine when I kick your ass."
Clang—
Aus slowly coated his blade with Armament Haki, totally casual about it.
Young Hawkeye wasn't about to back down. He held Yoru horizontally, its edge gleaming with cold light as he spoke with ice-cold determination:
"Without your Devil Fruit, can you even dodge my blade? My Yoru has been baptized in countless opponents' blood—it's become razor-sharp!"
"My Ace cuts just as deep!"
Both fighters wrapped their weapons in thick Armament Haki, glaring at each other with deadly seriousness.
Aus could tell young Mihawk was legitimately strong. The guy was 19 now—same age as post-timeskip Zoro. No reason he'd be any weaker.
Combat instincts, Haki, swordsmanship...
Using only blade work and basic Haki, Aus found himself dead even with young Hawkeye.
Taking a slow breath, Aus gripped Ace one-handed. The Haki coating the blade started flowing like liquid, the crimson Armament Haki as beautiful as falling cherry blossoms.
But the trail the blade carved through air was pure darkness.
"One-Sword Style: Cherry's End: Black Light!"
Ace blazed with flowing Armament Haki, yet unleashed pitch-black sword energy. The massive slash, dozens of meters long, ripped through the air and carved the earth in half.
Mihawk frowned but didn't panic. Two-handing his sword, he slowly raised Yoru overhead, then brought it down with crushing force!
BOOM—
Instantly, an emerald sword slash that looked even bigger than the black-red one exploded skyward!
The two energies slammed together, wrestling and grinding against each other. The green slash was sharper and larger, but Aus's superior Haki kept eating away at it.
After one exchange, they were still dead even.
But Aus wasn't paying attention to that. Something else had caught his eye.
Watching Mihawk silently prep another attack, all cool and composed like some master swordsman, Aus felt his blood pressure spike.
Why the fuck didn't you call out your move?
You made it look like I threw some ultimate technique and you casually swatted it away with a basic attack. Think I'm stupid?
That sword slash was clearly your full power too, asshole!
If I ever shout attack names again, I'm a goddamn dog!
Feeling played, Aus's mood went to shit. His urge to mess with Hawkeye evaporated.
Terrifying red light flashed in his eyes as Aus charged with his blade, done holding back.
Time to beat some manners into you, Mihawk!
Seeing Aus suddenly flip like a switch, Mihawk was genuinely confused.
What the hell set him off?
But that was his personality—faced with fiercer attacks, he wouldn't waste time asking questions. He just raised his sword and met the assault head-on.
Clang—
Their blades collided, shockwaves cracking the ground around them. This was a fight between great swordsmen—sword energy flying everywhere.
Trees got sliced clean through, animals that wandered into the battlefield were instantly cut in half, even earthworms got split vertically underground.
"What monstrous strength..."
After several clashes, Mihawk's sword hand trembled slightly. Should've stuck to ranged sword beams.
With his ridiculous physical power backing it, Aus's swordsmanship wasn't just swordsmanship anymore—he was swinging that blade with the force of a warhammer.
They kept going at it, mixing sword energy exchanges with close-quarters blade work.
Strike after strike, they battled from the island's south end to the north. You couldn't find a single unbroken pebble left anywhere.
Three days and nights passed without a winner.
Shit... this hawk's technique is rock-solid. No matter how I attack, can't find a damn opening.
Aus scowled at young Mihawk—breathing a bit hard but still sharp-eyed and determined.
Guess this really was the future world's greatest swordsman.
Even with his natural talent plus everything he'd learned from Captain Roger and Uncle Rayleigh, he could only manage a draw.
Mihawk was a few years older, but this proved the weight behind that "world's greatest" title. At least in pure swordsmanship, the bastard's talent matched his own.
Gradually, Aus ran out of patience.
Time to cheat.
Rumble...
Terrifying aura exploded outward as black-red lightning crackled along Ace's edge. His overwhelming presence was completely different from before.
Aus almost reflexively started shouting "Divine Departure," but caught himself and swallowed the words.
In that instant, those hawk eyes contracted as deadly intuition screamed in his mind.
"This is... that move from Loguetown?"
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