First Encounter – Mihawk vs Zoro

It was menacing the way the little dingy – was it even a dingy or a tiny boat? – drifted towards the deck of the floating restaurant. The figure occupying the vessel had his face hidden in a lazy slump of his neck, veiled by the sinister tilt of his large black hat.

From where she stood at the front trying to defend the children from Kreig's destruction, albeit ignoring Sanji's loving cries towards her whenever she made water slap someone off their feet, Mia felt an icy breath quiver through her lips. For a moment she was hypnotised by the man, absolutely entranced by his utter presence.

The outline of his form sent chills down her body. Ironically, the atmosphere was jarred by his lethargic arrival.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her niece, Mera, perk up from her position on the deck, the young girl not even older than seventeen years and cradling her broken arm. Of course, if Mia had the chance, she could heal it instantly, but there seemed to be distractions left and right – Nami stealing the ship, Kreig showing up and Luffy just being Luffy made it hard to do her job as a guardian to her nieces. Next to Mera stood her younger twin sister, Nino, a look of concern etched into her young and soft face. Compared to her sister, Nino was an exact doppelganger, the only difference being the shade of their hair –Mera sporting dark blue and Nino a baby blue, closer to her aunt's light blue thick tresses.

Concerned for her nieces, Mia turned back to the new arrival, her hands tightening around her white wooded and ancient staff. It was not a very useful weapon for this world, she was starting realize. At that moment thought, she drew strength from holding it firmly in her fingers.

At the moment she was low on power, trying to aid Luffy in the fight and running around looking for Nami and the ship, she was tired out pretty quickly. To her credit though, she was still a prodigy, although a lady above anything else, but lacked experience in comparison to her older sister, Nera, who gave birth to these to hell spawns that had Mia chasing them around after pirates.

As if it wasn't already a hard enough task keeping them hidden from the World Government and the Marines.

Mia heard Zoro gulp from a few feet away from her. She saw him visibly stiffen as the muscles in his neck contracted. His face froze, betraying shock mixed with an equal amount of fear. Up until now, Mia was certain Zoro was rather composed and she respected him as a great fighter, but knowing this new arrival had him riled made Mia worried.

"That man is …" Zoro sputtered, limbs trembling. Mia's grip on her staff tightened even more. She was so worn out, she had no idea how she'd be able to help the situation.

"He's come this far to kill us!" one of Kreig's crewmembers shrieked as he hung from splintered and destroyed wood in the water. A rush of terror and panic spread amongst the pirates as they scrambled to try and get out of the way. Mia blanched, surveying how the destroyed ships around them echoed the possible unrivalled strength of the man approaching them.

"We're doomed!" Another pirate yelled in alarm.

Luffy was the first to be curious. "Zoro, who is that man?" he asked, unaffected by the obvious fear of everyone and not noticing the waves of fear rolling off the swordsman of his crew. It was astonishing how Luffy could be unperturbed in such a dire situation, but then again, Mia had never come across someone as naïve and insanely brave at the same time as Monkey D. Luffy.

"The man I've been searching for," Zoro explained, voice dangerous. "Hawk Eyes Mihawk."

At the announcement of the name, Mia felt a chill dance up her spine once more. This was the man Zoro wanted to surpass? Zoro was lethal enough as it is, what with having three words and all, but what on earth was this man capable of if he destroyed an entire fleet? Instinctively, Mia slightly widened her stance in defence. For all the youngsters around her she felt protective and responsible. She was the only responsible one on Luffy's crew, for that matter. Not that she considered herself seasoned or experienced, but having to raise a pair of twins as a young adult certainly made her feel like the parent on the ship.

Luffy lowered his hat. "Hawk Eyes Mihawk?"

"The strongest swordsman in the world!"

Mia involuntarily took a step back. The strongest swordsman in the world? Considering how vast and large this world was, Mia could not begin to fathom the extent of his strength just yet. She hadn't been in this world very long, and strong fighters seemed to appear left and right. Travelling the seas in this realm proved to be incredibly unpredictable. She didn't even think they would come across such an opponent so early in their journeys.

"He destroyed that huge ship with that sword?!"

"He's the great swordsman, Hawk Eyes," Zeff relented, eyes focused and his posture sturdy."A swordsman, above all of the swordsmen."

Mia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Obviously, that was what World's Greatest Swordsman implied. Now was not the time to nitpick dialect, however. Despite her annoyance she stood resolute, only listening and already planning away to escape with her nieces if necessary. She turned away from Zeff to stare down her obstacle.

His hat tipped up. The moment his eyes were revealed to her she understood the reference to his name. Those eyes pierced her soul; bore through her body as if the devil himself was looking at her. She fought the slight tremble in her legs, shooting panicked glances to Mera and Nino. Mia could have been wrong, but she was getting the impression that he was focussed on her above everyone else. Trying to avoid his almost hypnotic eyes, she glanced quickly at her nieces once more.

She barely noticed Zoro gearing up for what was probably going to be the most anticipated battle of his young life. Mia took a moment to, again, realize how young everyone on the Straw Hat crew was – she was the oldest, the only liable adult, but at the same time not really part of the crew.

This man, Mihawk, looked older, yet still in his prime judging by the muscles rippling underneath his jacket and his shirtless state. There was no denying he was a striking man. His facial features were strong, and although she did not particularly favour facial hair on a man, she would admit he pulled off his look rather well.

The vessel came to a halt, more of Krieg's crew falling into total panic. Mia would have thought it comical had her own crew not been in current danger as well.

"Why did you attack us?!" one yelled in demand.

Astounded by his resolute poise, Mia saw Mihawk spare the man an ice cold stare with a slight cock of his head. The danger rolled off him in in tumbling waves – Mia had yet to come across an ocean that rivalled such ferocity. His mere manifestation shook everyone present. What on earth was this man even? Was he even human? Mia started imaging wildly what type of devil fruit ability he might have, should he actually have one. However, she was willing to be he didn't. Not that it was much to go on, but Zoro did not have one.

"To kill time."

His voice. Smooth. Dangerous. Mia couldn't suppress her shiver this time, or her quivering breath of ice cold air passing through her lungs. The magnitude of his statement hit her like one of her own infamous water-slaps her nieces were usually the victims of. This man was a killer – could he even be reasoned with? He destroyed an entire fleet of ships just to kill time? What in Neptune's name was she going to do?

"Bullshit!" the same crew member exclaimed, furious at condescending tone in the swordsman voice. In a compulsive burst of anger, he picked up two pistols and aimed them at Mihawk, firing without thinking.

If Mia didn't have a keen eye herself, she would've missed the split second it took for Mihawk to draw his impressively sized sword, tilt it in the direction of the shooter and have the bullets bounce off the surface without so much as a flinch from Mihawk himself.

Mia was speechless. She nearly almost missed it.

Mouths fell open, impressed and astounded at the same time.

"W-what?" the shooter cried, form frozen from the ineffectiveness of his attack.

Mia heard Zoro draw his sword and turned to see his face completely overjoyed by the scene he had just witnessed. Mia blanched. There was no way Zoro could go up against this man and turn up victorious. Mia would admit, Zoro was good. He was very talented and had impeccable potential. But that was it. Though he was regarded as well known, he wasn't the best freakin' swordsman in the world. Mihawk looked like he was experienced beyond years – in his early or mid-thirties perhaps. He travelled in a little boat, for Neptune's sake, testament to the fact that he'd been travelling the seas for years, Mia was willing to bet. Before Luffy, Zoro didn't even like pirates. What the hell was Zoro thinking?!

"Zoro. Don't," she pleaded silently, but her word fell on death ears. Zoro was a lost cause now. Ugh, was she the only reasonable one in this crew? Why couldn't Luffy just 'captain-up' and just keep Zoro under control? Probably because it was the other way around most of the time!

"Zoro!" Nino implored from her sister's side. Mia wasn't surprised hearing her plea from the side. Nino had a soft spot for Zoro. Whether Zoro noticed or not was another argument, but Mia knew her nieces like the back of her hand.

"You've got time to spare, don't you?" Zoro quipped, sword pointed challenging in the direction of Mihawk. "Let's duel, shall we?"

Whispers and remarks ran around everyone. Zoro was the famed Pirate Hunter and Mihawk the alleged greatest swordsman in the world. Mia did not even think to reason with Zoro, because honestly, how could she even stop him? Her power was very low. She impressed herself that she could still stand somewhat steadily. That and Zoro was not really known as a good listener among the crew. When he was awake, that is. Which is less than half of the time.

"Duel?" Mihawk let fall from his lips in an uninterested drawl. He raised his head. "Such a pitiful weakling."

Mia was being very honest with herself now. She was terrified for Zoro. Mihawk was going to destroy him. Zoro remained unyielding, stance stoic and ready. Mia would give him credit – he was being incredibly brave, however, stupidity went hand in hand with it. She admired the fight in his spirit, certainly something meek little Nino could use, but again, he was being an idiot.

In the step of a flash, Mihawk was on the deck and Mia accidently let out a startled gasp at his sudden movement. Mihawk noticed, and she felt herself shrink. She could not help but flush at his attention. Mihawk turned to her, tipping his head in what she assumed was how he displayed curiosity. Suddenly she felt very vulnerable, but at least succeeded in distracting him from Zoro's insane challenge.

"What do we have here?" she heard him mutter intriguingly, and felt another shiver invade her body as he bore into her with his supernatural pair of eyes.

Zoro took another step in their direction, trying to regain Mihawk's attention. "Leaver her out of this. She's the crew's healer, nothing else." Zoro gritted his teeth, frustrated that Mihawk didn't even spare him a glance.

Mia was about to say something, anything, at all to change Mihawk's mind. Perhaps he could be reasoned with, despite destroying a whole fleet on a whim of sheer boredom. In another flash, he was in front of her. Close. Too close. Her silver pair of eyes racked in surprise and she was about to back off because of the closeness of the heat coming from his body, but his swift arm shot out and grabbed her wrist painfully.

"Aunt Mia!" Mera yelled from the side, making a move to try and help.

"Don't!" Mia called back, struggling against the swordsman who didn't even budge a little against her tussle. As if she'd been frozen, Mera halted in her position. Luffy looked like he was about to do something, but Mia shot him a look that warned him to stay out of the way, lest he lose Mera and Nino as part of his crew.

"I know what you are." A ghost of a mutter, but it was enough to turn her whole world upside down.

He knows.

How he knew, she could not fathom. She did not even have a bounty on her head yet. What did he know? That she came from another world? That she was an elemental? That her element was water and occasionally ice?

She couldn't stop her quivering breathing anymore. She feared for the lives of her nieces, whom she loved and cared for more than their own absent mother. If there was one thing her sisters were raised to be brave about, it was sacrifice. And she would sacrifice everything for her nieces, even herself.

"Please," she softly pleaded, no longer struggling against the grip his large hand had on her wrist. "Leave the children." Her eyes grew large and pleading. He bore into them with the eyes of a predator.

Whatever he wanted, whatever his intention was, as long as he left her nieces alone and in one piece, she didn't care what he did with her. She did not even care what he did with Zoro, she guiltily admitted to herself. Of course, she adored the Straw Hats, but her nieces were above them. They were not even really human. Her entire family were considered ethereal. Though even her nieces had not even come to comprehend it, their lives were more valuable than anyone in this realm.

"Admirable," Mihawk whispered in her ear, his closeness reflecting a very uncomfortable scene of intimacy. "I will leave them for now, if you wish. I have no time for children anyway."

"Fight me!" Zoro challenged, agitated.

Stirred, Mihawk turned to Zoro, not relinquishing his possessive grip on Mia. His stared at Zoro, eyes hard.

"If you really were a fine swordsman, you should've been able to judge the difference in strengths without drawing your swords," Mihawk remarked coldly and effortlessly. "Challenging me …Are you that brave? Or simply reckless?"

"This is for my own ambition!" Zoro declared, sweat trickling down his face in anticipation and obviously ignoring Mihawk's criticism. He positioned his third sword in his mouth to emphasize this. "And for a promise to my fallen friend!"

"I see," Mihawk remarked, eyes sharp. Suddenly, Mia felt herself jerked forward into the man's strong and muscled physique, unable to pull away as he released her wrist and snaked the arm around her waist. He held a vice grip on her. Mia felt her body stiffen in the uncomfortable and forced embrace. For a moment she thought Mihawk would actually use her as a shield and dare Zoro to attack him regardless, however he did not even seem to be looking at Zoro even.

She heard protests from Zoro and her nieces, as well as Sanji from the side.

"Hey now, what's the meaning of this?" Zoro inquired, eyes narrowing. In spite of her current predicament, Mia was still impressed he was capable of being audible when he had a thick weapon between his teeth.

Whilst still having on arm secured around her as his captive, Mihawk drew a smaller somewhat dagger-like sword and turned to Zoro with Mia still caught in-between. Her white staff was uncomfortable wedged between them, but she had little room to adjust anything with how strong a grip he had on her. Shyly and afraid, she dared to looked up at his strong jaw line and caught the glint in his impressive eyes. She wedged her other arm between them and placed her fist on his chest to try and create some distance. His grip did not slacken. Her pressure barely fazed him as he pointed the small weapon at Zoro in a degrading form of a challenge.

"I'm unlike those idiots who use their all to hunt rabbits. Though you're famous enough to be called a swordsman, this is the weakest of the Four Oceans, East Blue. Unfortunately, I'm carrying nothing smaller than this."

"Quit mocking me!" The only thing keeping Zoro from charging was the fact that Mia was standing between them unwillingly and completely exposed as Mihawk used her as a shield.

"Let me make you a deal," said Mihawk, and Mia dared to look at him again. "I will accept your challenge, and I shall battle you not only with this toy, but while holding this lovely lady as well. Not only will you learn the difference in our strength, but also learn that I am a man of my word, as any swordsman's honour must let them be."

"Leave her out of this!" Mera raged from the side and moved to lunge, only to be stopped by her sister.

"I assure you she won't get a scratch on her, though I doubt if you'd even be able to get a scratch on me," taunted Mihawk, a small smirk hanging from his lips. Mia's heart pounded at the thought that she was going to be in the middle of a sword fight like a useless ragdoll. What makes things even worse is that Zoro would accept the challenge.

"Please, don't kill him," Mia pleaded softly, hoping Mihawk would respond as a gentleman with his so-called honour. "He's so young."

"As long as you promise to not make this more difficult for yourself and surrender quietly to the World Government," he voiced in a cold voice, catching her pleading stare and seemingly unaffected by her looks. Mia inwardly started to panic.

There was no telling what the World Government would do to her, and she was not as brave as her nieces gave her credit for, but she was a lady and ladies kept their promises. Mortified and completely helpless, she buried her head of soft light blue curls underneath his chin. She thought she felt his stance fidget, but probably imagined it. He was undeniably rigid.

"You have my word," she breathed, afraid that she had just made a deal with the devil. A tear threatened to spill, but she pushed it down. She took refuge in his warm skin against her cold one. This man would surely bring about the end of her.

She'd never see her nieces again.

Without warning, Zoro charged, yelling his attack. Mia wasn't even paying attention, as she found herself between two dangerous pirates, one who could fight with three swords and another that could eliminate a whole fleet of ships that came from the Grand Line. Her body went stiff. She buried her face in his chest, hoping he would live up to his statement that he could fight without getting her hurt in the process.

"Zoro, no!" she heard Nino shriek, along with Luffy and Usopp.

There was a slight jerk from Mihawk and then a sharp clang of metal. Mia dared to turn her head slightly to see the incredibly spectacle that was Mihawk blocking Zoro's three katannas with one tiny blade.

"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you," he assured her in his dark voice laced with velvet. So far so good, he seemed to hold off Zoro without an ounce of effort. Though this was good news for her, it probably meant bad news for Zoro.

"W-what?!" Zoro exclaimed, face strained from Mihawk's strength.

Mia let slip a high-pitched hiccup. Zoro was her last hope in this moment of weakness, even if she predicted he would be defeated. She had still hoped he would surprise as Luffy had surprised her many times in the last few days. It was over now though.

Zoro retracted and attacked in a flurry of blades like razors swift in the wind. Mia squeaked in a very unladylike manner that would let her older sister Nera rebuke her. As if sensing her discomfort, Mihawk effortlessly shifted her in his arm, lifting her feet to dangle off the ground as he manoeuvred without exertion to counter Zoro's reckless attacks. Mihawk knocked Zoro down and when Zoro stood up to retaliate, Mihawk leapt gracefully onto the ledge behind him, Mia dangling uselessly against him. Her legs clumsily bumped against his while he handled her, again, like a ragdoll.

Reacting on instinct, she tangled her arms up to grip around his neck for leverage, as the grip if his arm around her petite frame was starting to hurt. Zoro brought his blade down, only for Mihawk to leap again and land on the deck once more before Zoro even completely destroyed the railing.

Breathing heavily from the adrenaline, Mia spotted a light blue blur move towards them and instantly knew it was Nino. Mihawk probably spotted her as well, but did not react and kept his unrelenting focus on Zoro. Zoro was about to bring the sword in his mouth forward when Nino promptly tackled him from behind and brought them both to the floor. Both hit the surface with a hard 'oof' that startled Zoro so badly, the sword in his mouth fell out.

"Run, Aunt Mia! He might accidently hit you!" Nino called, practically wrestling with Zoro on the ground.

Mia was about to respond, but out of nowhere Mihawk began to swing down the small sword he wielded on the pair on the ground. Zoro reacted, flipped himself over Nino to shield her from the blow and took an unrelenting strike to his mid-back. He cried out in pain, fighting to keep Nino still who wanted to help him.

"Zoro!" Nino called out.

"Your skill is nothing more than raw and unrefined talent," Mihawk concluded coldly. Mia began to struggle, wanting to help Nino and Zoro. "You're unworthy of the title of swordsman."

Zoro quivered, whether from the pain or from Mihawk's words, Mia didn't know. It was apparent that Zoro was broken in an instant. She imagined she saw tears threaten to spill from his dirty face, and her heart ached for him. Zoro was a good fighter. Yes, he was young, but he was still a swordsman nonetheless.

Mia knew she had to stop Mihawk at once, because another blow like that and Zoro was going to die.

"Don't!" Mia harshly whispered. "Even if you strike him down, he'll get back up. If my niece hadn't stopped him, you would've have seen his incredible will. He'd rather pick death over defeat."

Mihawk took a second to contemplate her words, much to her relief. "I promised I wouldn't kill him, and I stay true to my word. However, your niece interfered."

"Just take me and leave! You got what you wanted!" she forced out of her throat, her body trembling against his stronger and leaner form. She pulled her head away from his chest to look him square in the eyes – those eyes had a dangerous effect on her as they caused chilly breath to course through her lungs in a flustered state. She shouldn't be flustered. There was nothing flattering about the situation at all.

"Very well," he conceded, finally letting her go and she quickly caught her staff that was about to tip and hit the floor. After his display of speed, any thought Mia had of running away had quickly dissipated. She could be almost as fast, but she was currently tired and worn out. Right now, she just needed to get this madman as far away from her nieces as possible.

In a surprisingly gentle gesture, he placed the palm of his hand on the small of her back and efficiently guided her towards his vessel which was a few feet away from the edge of the deck.

"Aunt Mia! Don't go with him!" Mera urgently called, moving forward.

"Don't!" Mia ordered, turning to her eldest niece. For a second it hit her that she might never see either of them again, but she pushed the incoming sorrow down for the moment. She wanted to say goodbye more than anything, but couldn't upset them – she couldn't give any indication that she wasn't coming back for them. Instead, she took a steady breath and gave her eldest a stern look.

"Stay with Luffy, no matter what. Do you understand me?"

Mera's lip quivered. Though she was unpredictable and untamed at times, her unshakable loyalty to Mia was what evidently kept her in place. "Y-yes, Aunt Mia."

Shooting another look at Nino, who was crouched over Zoro in a desperate attempt to heal him with only her basis skills, Mia did one of the most painful things ever and turned her back on her nieces. She broke her own heart, but reminded herself she was doing this to protect them. She shot Mihawk a glance to indicate she was ready and he nodded stoically. Without warning or any indication, he swiftly moved and swept her off her feet.

Curdling his arms under her knees and back, Mia let out a soft feminine gasp as the world's greatest swordsmen literally swept her off her feet, soundlessly leapt from the deck and elegantly landed on the vessel without letting it even sway on the water in the slightest. Again, with gentleness that amazed her, he set her down in the seat he previously preoccupied upon arriving.

To her utter embarrassment, her face flushed at his gestures and she utterly failed at trying to hide it.

Mera was now at the edge of the deck. "Aunt Mia!"

"There is no turning back now," Mihawk said with a cold finality that froze her heart. She couldn't bring herself to look at Mera, or any of the Straw Hats for that matter. She shifted in her seat and tried to ignore the pleas and calls everyone threw after her.

Then she set out into the ocean, with the world's greatest swordsman holding her captive.

A/N: Rewritten on 2016/12/07

Did some basic editing, added a little engagement between Mihawk and Mia and I wanted to spend a little more time establishing Mia as a character. There is no denying my first chapter is usually my weakest, but I promise you as an author my writing grows as I continue with a story.

Mia as a character is someone who is trying to be very mature for her age. She is about 24 in physical form, but definitely a lot older as where she comes from time goes by slower.

The straw hats won't be making major appearances from here on out. Zoro and Nino will get a small arc towards the second half of the story. The primary focus is Mihawk and Mia. Here's hoping in turns out okay.

Please do review! Weirdly enough, there aren't that many Mihawk/OC stories. A lot of Shanks/Mihawk understandably. Tell me what you think of this one. I plan on finishing it for sure, even if it takes me years. I always finish a story.

Thanks. Here's to a great journey together. PM me if you want to talk about the story or anything. Lots of love.