Chapter 169 - Chapter 171

At an undisclosed location in the New World, there was a massive gathering of ships that spanned for miles. The ships were docked in a way that they made a circle, and in the middle of this miles wide circle, a large floating stage was located. On that stage stood two men and eyeing each other. These two men were Dracule Mihawk, current candidate for strongest and most skilful swordsman in the world. The other man was Kenshin. The third commander of the Gotei thirteen with a now raised bounty to two and a half billion. That's right! After he cleansed Wano by himself his bounty was raised by about five hundred million. His bounty could now almost be considered entering current emperor territory.

"Sir Kenshin, I have admired you for almost two decades now. I must say before this begins how much of an honour this is for me." Mihawk spoke the truth. He sincerely looked up to Kenshin as he was considered the fastest man walking this earth and one of its best swordsmen by far. According to rumours, not even Admirals had forced Kenshin to take things seriously. During the battle at Marineford when they invaded it sixteen years ago, rumours say he took Akainu's arm before Garp's eyes just as a way to say "I am in control here" Not even to kill him, just to show how confident he is in his abilities.

"I'm flattered, kid. You have heart, great skill and a lot of determination. I admire you as much. Good luck to you." Kenshin spoke to Mihawk as he would to Robin when she was young or any other kid, despite the man essentially also being an old man now. To Kenshin though, no matter how he looked at Mihawk, he couldn't see anything other than a child. Kenshin didn't look old, but like all other commanders, he was quite old. They all had lived two lifetimes worth of time now, with only remembering this one since they were copies of original people from different universes.

"It glads me to hear that. I have waited for this moment for sixteen years, and only now, after almost two decades of crazy training do I feel somewhat confident in beating you." Mihawk wasn't confident at all in defeating this legendary swordsman standing in front of him. For him, the title came second-hand. First of all, his ultimate goal for sixteen years had been to beat this man, and he had felt stuck in his training so he reached out to Kenshin and arranged this match to test how far he had come.

"Not good enough! I didn't come here to beat a somewhat confident swordsman! I came here to fight the man the world declared one of its most skilful swordsmen. Bring that man here, or I am leaving." Kenshin's entire personality seemed to have changed. His demeanour was dark and evil, and killing intent surrounded him and it was so dense that people over at the ships, miles away felt fear build up.

Mihawk stood wide-eyed for a few seconds before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in. When he breathed out and opened his eyes again, he also radiated killing intent and confidence. "Prepare for the toughest fight of your life!" He said and took out his black blade that was famed all around the world.

For several minutes, nothing happened. But from nowhere, Mihawk disappeared and the black blade Yoru sliced the air right next to Kenshin, not because he missed, but because Kenshin had turned his body almost before Mihawk moved. It was almost like he could see Mihawk's actions before they happened. Kenshin kicked Mihawk in the chest at lightning speed making him fly back at incredible speed. "Kid, you have to do better if you want me to draw my sword."

"Better I can do!" Mihawk dashed towards him again, and he reached Kenshin in just a second or two. While running toward him, he released sword slashes powerful enough to slice buildings and ships in two without effort. Kenshin raised his sheathed sword and lightly tapped against the incoming sword slashes to disperse them into nothingness. Mihawk appeared behind him and tried piercing his back, but Kenshin used his sheathed blade to block Yoru's tip coming from behind. "Do better!" He disappeared and hit Mihawk in the stomach with his sheath causing him to spit out blood.

"Get up!" Kenshin said without emotion. Mihawk gripped Yoru tighter and got up. After that, the match started for real. Mihawk swung his sword so fast that only the Gotei commanders among the ships could follow his movements. Kenshin parried everything without ever drawing his blade. Whenever an obvious opening appeared, he would go in with a speed Mihawk couldn't follow, and make him hurt to know he just messed up and showed an opening. To the journalist, this was an epic and historic fight that would go down in the history books. To the strong pirates in the audience, this looked more like a master training a disciple.

One whole hour later, Mihawk was laying on the ground, bloody and exhausted. Yoru was off to the side and he no longer had the energy to even look at the blade. Mihawk could fight for days with opponents equal to him, but Kenshin had delivered a severe beating every time he showed an opening, and this was equal to Garp beating down on a normal Vice-Admiral. That was how large the disparity was between their strengths.

"Overall, not bad, Mihawk. You're skilled so it's not your swordsmanship that's lacking. I am sorry to say this, I am simply stronger and faster. Skill is essential, but if the discrepancy between strengths is too much, the skill will not matter for you. Do you understand?" Kenshin knew Mihawk was forty years old, but to him, he was just another youth he was forced to teach a cruel lesson to.

Mihawk sat up slowly, though he was almost not able to because of how much his body hurt. After sitting up he responded to Kenshin, "I do understand. I understood as soon as I laid eyes on you that I was not ready yet. But thanks to this match, I have ideas on how to progress in my swordsmanship. Thank you for this opportunity, Master Kenshin!" Mihawk said attentively. This was the only man he would ever show such respect to.

"You are very welcome! Now, go and train and in another sixteen years you can come back and challenge me for this title again." Kenshin said and walked away. By the edge of the arena he stopped and looked back at Mihawk, "Take this advice to heart. Taking in a student can sometimes bring more merit then you would first think. Give it some thought, will you." After that Kenshin disappeared and then the event that would soon take the world by a storm had officially ended.

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End