The Tomb on the Hill
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There is a grave on top of the hill.
The villagers don't know who is buried, only that the person that rested there was well loved. Is well loved. It is very well tended, no weeds or trash, flowers growing all around it.
The grave has no name, it is only etched with one flower: a lily.
That is how they know it is a woman's grave, by the stylish etching that borders the tombstone and by the woman's brown hat left there once.
The grave is called UN's grave. Unnamed.
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It is the village children that notice first.
They play by the hill and see that, every month, there is a new flower planted.
The mayor investigates and notices by the marks on the soil that it is a man.
The Grave and the Visitor becomes a story.
Everyone keeps watch and wonders.
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Pirates dock on the bay.
When the mayor sees the Jolly Roger, he turns pale. But the captain, a red-haired man, assured them that he means them no harm.
His men settle in the nearest bar and watchful eyes track him to UN's grave.
The children following him go back when they see him kneel in front of the grave and weep.
His sobs are quiet, his tears genuine.
Though it is the chance to solve the mystery of UN's name, the children report to the mayor and he tells them to leave the pirates alone.
The pirate leaves behind a pistol and a knife. He buries it by the tree that watches over the grave.
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It takes them a while to notice, but it is only because everybody avoids the hill in Winter.
The flowers that are planted, however common they are, don't wilt from the cold or the frost.
It is a fascination and it would have garnered a pretty sum if they sold it right.
But nobody quite dares to uproot the flowers. Something just stops them.
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The red-haired captain and his crew visits several more times and each time the captains pain lessens, his tears tapering off earlier and earlier.
While his crew drinks, he sits on the bar and the barmaid coaxes little tidbits of the mystery of UN's grave out of him.
"I don't like coming here," the captain mutters. "But she deserves a visitor. Needs someone to keep her up to date too."
It is confirmed that UN is a woman. The barmaid knows that she has won the bet from the mayor.
"She has a visitor," the barmaid says, trying to get the man to loosen up some more. "But we never really know who it is."
"What?" the captain mutters. He is blinking his astonishment.
"The flowers. Someone planted them," she says.
The captains kind, happy face darkens. "I thought he wouldn't dare, after what he last told her."
That is the last that the barmaid manages to get.
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It takes years. The grave loses its mystery but new things occasionally crop up to keep it interesting enough.
The flowers have overtaken the hill; there is a path through it. The lone tree that watches it is wreathed in vines.
It paints a beautiful picture, a paradise in an otherwise boring island.
Somehow, it doesn't attract the attention of the World Government, the Tenryuubito, or the pirates.
It is a secret paradise, containing an unnamed grave, guarded by a secretive visitor.
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Peace is a commodity, that much the people know.
There are pirates, marines and bounty hunters. There are Tenryuubito and thieves. There are devil fruits and other strange abilities.
The island is finally attacked, strange how that hasn't happened since UN's grave is erected.
They are pirates, uncouth, arrogant and rude and so very very different from the Red-Hair pirates. They attack, ransack and pillage, laughing like barbarians.
The screams stop when the pirates go still, the way a rabbit does in the face of a terrifying predator. There is a presence in the air, a dark and angry presence that presses down at the pirates and brings them to their knees.
They see a dark figure with a wide, sweeping black cloak, a wide brimmed hat with an elegant plume on his head. All eyes are drawn to the gigantic sword strapped to his back.
He is very angry.
"Mi-Mihawk," one of the pirates stutter.
"Rookies," he says, deep voice rumbling from his chest. He sounds inches away from growling. "Leave this island. It's under my protection. Come back and you will be shipped out without your heads."
They all leave so quickly that it would have been comical if it wasn't so frightening.
The World's Greatest Swordsman leaves as well, headed towards the hill.
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It is the barmaid that connects the dots.
A slow and gradual thing, but the barmaid realizes that their mysterious, secretive grave visitor is the World's Greatest Swordsman.
However, that leaves more questions than anything.
None of them can quite dare to ask Dracule Mihawk.
They just manage to muster enough courage to watch, discreetly, as he pays his respects to the grave of a woman.
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Mihawk has dreams and he cannot quite help himself.
He wishes to stop dreaming, so he can move on with his life.
He wishes to never stop dreaming, so he can remember her face.
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It is the color red that Mihawk wakes up to.
He knows this is a memory, because it is carved into him that she is dead, but he allows the memory to play out.
They are in a shore in one of her favorite islands, water lapping at her heels and her eyes shining with laughter even if she cannot quite manage a smile.
Her red hair, a color that is a deep burnished copper, waves in the wind, loose and waving wildly. Her skin is fair and freckled, scars standing out on her body, but it does not detract her beauty.
She is a siren and she does not know it. But that is why he loves her.
"Mihawk," she whispers. It is somehow heard over the sound of the waves and wind. "There are dolphins in the far side of the island."
He didn't remember what he answered, but the memory continued. "Shall I carry you there?" he asks. "It is a tricky path."
A look of affront crosses her face. "No. You shall lead me, but you shall never have to carry me," she says proudly.
Mihawk remembers that she does not like being thought of as a burden.
He wakes up and there is a heavy weight on his chest, like there was a sea king sitting on it. But he does not cry.
He had wept enough and he did not need to cry. What he did need was to stop dreaming about dead women.
She would never come back.
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He looks at the tomb, and the paradise he had created around it.
He leaves with almost unnoticeable hesitation.
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One shot with possible other chapters if I get an idea later...
R & R.
~Hallen
UPDATE 5/5/2015: Prequel Published titled: "Strength of the Ocean"