Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
A/N: Since I'm in the MihawkxZoro fad right now I hope to post more of these pairings in the close future.
Come MihawkxZoro plot bunnies, come!

After many exchanging arguments over a trifle between a calm master swordsman and a stubborn young swordsman, Mihawk was able to take Zoro back to his home. The World's Greatest Swordsman wondered why it was such a hassle to tell the kid. There weren't any boats around except for his own and he was not going to let the kid borrow that no matter how desperate the kid was. Also he had noticed while he was searching for the kid but by the tracks on the ground the kid had been going around the same place over a million times and still wasn't able to reach the shore. The kid could die stranded in the ocean.

The kid, Roronoa Zoro, threw his body roughly against an antique royal chair and crossed his arms in an angry manner. Mihawk stared blankly at the other swordsman and not saying a word, relaxed into his favorite seat.

Mihawk usually never talked much and it also seemed that the kid was also wasn't going to open his mouth either. The silence was eerie and it was getting on his nerves so he threw the newspaper at the now startled swordsman, "Did you read the newspaper?"

"Keh, that's why I want to get out of this ship!" Zoro scowled.

Mihawk took the paper back in his hands with grace and skimmed through, "Did you know that most of this is a hoax?"

"Yeah I heard but that's true isn't it?" Zoro walked over and pointed to the main headlines. The master swordsman nodded.

"Bartholomew Kuma, if he didn't send me here I would've-" Zoro clenched his teeth and glared at the floor. Mihawk watched the kid in fascination.

"Bartholomew reminds me, have you ever wondered where the others went?"

"Huh?" Zoro raised his head.

The master swordsman folded the newspaper and set it aside next to the empty wine glass, "Come."

Mihawk led Zoro to a doorway which leads to a huge ballroom. The ballroom was wide and every step reverberated through the tall walls. All four corners of this room were filled with old books with the covers torn from age. The room was thinly covered in cobwebs and dust.

"This place is dirty..." Zoro commented. Mihawk snickered and continued on walking. He abruptly stopped at one of the bookshelves and picked up a few books and dropped them onto Zoro's hands without warning. The books kept stacking up until, from Mihawk's view, he wasn't able to see the top of Zoro's hair.

"What are these for?" Zoro asked in mild annoyance.

"It's easier to explain through books. You can read, can you?"

"Duh, I read the paper-hey!" Zoro called out as Mihawk was already at the door. To be honest, he didn't know how they were able to get to this weird room, so returning back would take a hell a lot of time. It was a struggle to follow the other man because he strode rather fast and the books were in the way.

Unfortunately, Zoro lost him. "Damn."

"What are you doing here idiot? Lost?" He glared up at the Ghost Princess Perona, floating just above him.

"No, I'm not."

"What are you doing then?"

"..." Zoro stared at the stack of books, "Reading."

Perona frowned at the obviously lost swordsman and sighed. She raised both of her arms and conjured a tiny ghost. "Follow this. You'll get to the lounging room."

"I didn't need your help." Zoro scoffed but followed after it immediately when the ghost slowly floated away. The princess stuck out her tongue and walked off, continuing her scavenging.

Once he finally entered the lounging room, the little ghost dissipated in a quiet popping noise. Mihawk was already at his chair opening another bottle of wine, "You're late." Zoro didn't retort and slammed the books onto the small table making the bottle shake from the force. The younger swordsman then sat back in his seat and picked up the first book that caught his eye.

Zoro flipped through the yellow pages and read a few sentences. By the looks of the black and white pictures it was a winter island. The island didn't look as close as Chopper's because while the doctor's island looked livable this one was filled with machinery not safe for normal civilians. "Karakuri Island..."

"That's Vegapunk's childhood home." Zoro's eyes widened. Vegapunk, he heard that name before. That insane cyborg Kuma told him he was created by Vegapunk. "I think your shipwright went there." Zoro flipped over to the table of contents to read more about this scientist but it only referred to the island.

Zoro clicked his tongue and switched to a different book when he stopped. "You know where everyone went?"

"I talked to Bartholomew before I left. I was bored and what better topic to talk about than the missing Straw Hat members?" he waved a hand, "Read some of those books and guess who went where. It will kill the time."

Zoro snorted, "Sounds like a stupid game to me." But Zoro went on reading through the books. He picked up some, read through, put it down, and moved onto the next stack of books. Mihawk had to admit, he didn't think the boy would be interested in reading.

A few hours of reading would probably help the kid, Mihawk thought. The kid's mind was probably ambushed by the recent, tragic news. Although the kid did try his best to not show it Mihawk saw it through by the fight with the apes. His control with his swords were slightly off. Plus the injury he received from the Straw Hat boy, he wouldn't be able to survive sailing on his own yet.

Another quiet hour passed and Zoro closed one big book and grinned smugly, "This one," he tapped on the cover of the book, "Greenstone seems like where Usopp would go."

Mihawk lifted his nose from a book he was reading, "Why so?"

"He loves bugs. He had a thrill of a time when we went to the Jaya forest to get a South Bird." Zoro faced the older man, "Am I right?" When Mihawk nodded the swordsman smirked and picked up another. The master swordsman's eyes lingered onto Zoro for a few seconds before returning to his book. Another thing Mihawk was fascinated about: the kid talked casually towards him as if they knew each other for quite a long time. He thought the kid would, at the sight of him, immediately lunge out with his swords and fight with him. The kid had his swords, but he hadn't asked for a battle with him. Probably the kid thought he wasn't ready to clash with him yet or get his crew mates together and then fight with him. Either way, Mihawk let it aside.

From there on, Zoro was able to pinpoint exactly where his crew mates went. It was until he came to the last few books where he had a few problems.

"Torino?" Zoro frowned at the island, "Who would go to a bird place?...I'll just skip that one." Mihawk stopped to look at the book Zoro picked up last. He purposely placed it at the bottom to see Zoro's reaction. The younger swordsman stared at the contents of the book and suddenly laughed, "Ahaha, this seems like the perfect place for Ero-Cook."

"Where is that?"

Zoro showed the book cover. Amazon Lily. "It says on the first line, 'Land where only women live.' Perfect place."

"Unfortunately you are wrong." Zoro lifted an eye, "Monkey D. Luffy went there. How else would you think he was able to go to the Marine Headquarters? It's the one you have on your lap."

Zoro blinked and raised the book to his eyes. "Kamabakka Kingdom? The land full of gays?"

Mihawk nodded and now he waited. What would the kid do? Would he suddenly laugh or make a crude comment towards the island? However long he waited, there wasn't any laughter, sneer, or any comments.

The younger swordsman did not even make any facial expression and huffed, "Huh, seemed like it."

"Hn?"

"Cook seemed like he'll lean toward that. He wears a pink apron all the time and dances like a girl. He probably needed some 'blossoming up', coming out of the closet kind of thing."

"Do you care about that?"

Zoro lowered the book, "Care about what?"

"If your crew member suddenly felt attracted towards the same sex?"

There was silence from the other one. A cough and a turn of a face later, Zoro answered, "I'm gay."

Well, that was a surprise, although it wasn't so much for the master swordsman. "Hou. So maybe that's why your Cook friend went to that island." Zoro raised a confused brow, "-to open his love towards a certain person."

"Who?" Zoro bluntly answered.

They both sat staring at each other for a minute. The windows creaked from the sudden wind outdoors. The walls of the building groaned softly in response. Mihawk scrutinized the young boy's face carefully, trying to find the meaning to those words, but found none. The kid was obviously oblivious.

"Well," Mihawk tried to hide his smile by sipping his wine, "That makes me feel a little bit better."

"Hey, are you going to tell me if I got this one right?" Zoro asked but the question did not reach the other swordsman's ears.

The story of the master swordsman and the soon-to-be-master-swordsman forming an intimate relationship would be a whole different story.

The End

A/N: I can't get a good grip of Mihawk's personality...He needs to appear more...

Thank you for reading!