It was an overwhelmingly one-sided fight—like an ant challenging an elephant. This was Roronoa Zoro against Dracule Mihawk.
The duel ended within a minute not because Mihawk rushed it, but because he allowed it to last that long. And in the end, impressed by Zoro's resolve, he spared his life.
'Things always seem to work out for Luffy… don't they?' Leo thought.
"I acknowledge your strength, Roronoa Zoro," Mihawk said calmly. "But you are far from reaching your full potential. Travel the world, grow stronger… and one day, challenge me again, I will be waiting for you at the very top."
With that, he turned to leave but a sharp wooden stake, torn from the Baratie's railing, shot toward his head.
Without even looking back, Mihawk tilted his head slightly. The stake missed him entirely, streaking past and splitting a massive slab of drifting wreckage in the distance.
"I suppose… I can entertain myself a little longer," he murmured, turning his gaze toward the source.
"You're not a swordsman," Mihawk said, looking at the white-haired boy with a short ponytail and gleaming blue eyes, both wrists bound in seastone cuffs.
"What do you want from me?"
"I'd like to have little fun as well," Leo replied, stepping off the Baratie and landing lightly on the broken deck.
"After coming all this way to the East Blue, wouldn't leaving now be a waste? Dracule Mihawk… one of the Seven Warlords, the world's strongest swordsman."
Truth be told, Leo had no real desire to fight him—not yet. But if there was anyone capable of cutting through his seastone cuffs, it was the man standing before him. Asking for help wasn't how pirates operated… but fighting, that was something Mihwak wouldn't turn down.
Mihawk's lips curved slightly, as if he had already seen through him.
"You wish to entertain me," he said. "But how do I know you're worthy? I don't fight every challenger… however, defeat that fool, Don Krieg, and I may indulge you." That only made things more interesting.
"I was gonna fight him!" Luffy shouted.
"Hey, Luffy! I'm taking this one," Leo stressed. "I'll settle your debt with the old man later."
"You think this is a game, Mihawk?!" Don Krieg roared, stepping forward in his golden armor. "I am the mighty Don Krieg, the man who conquered the East Blue!" A barrage of bullets erupted from his gauntlet and armour, tearing through the air toward Leo.
Leo didn't rush.
With subtle shifts of his body, he avoided most of them. A few he caught barehanded his fist coated in Armament Haki. When he opened his hand again, the bullets dropped to the deck, crushed and warped beyond like metal scrap.
"Let me show you what a real pirate looks like," Leo said, stepping forward. "You wannabe pirate captain."
"Hm… how did he dodge and crush those bullets with his bare hands? His Devil Fruit powers are sealed, aren't they?" Luffy wondered aloud, a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"That's not a Devil Fruit ability, kid," Zeff replied calmly. "That's Haki."
"Haki? What's that? Can I use it too?" Luffy asked, eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Ask your friend later," Zeff muttered, his gaze fixed on Leo.
Out on the wreckage, Leo stepped forward, ready to move when the deck beneath them suddenly cracked open.
A strange figure emerged slowly from below, clad in huge steel plates used as a shield and layered with pearls, his figure heavy and annoying as he stepped onto the battlefield.
"I am the second division commander of the Krieg Pirates—Pearl the Iron Wall. If you wish to face the captain, you'll have to get through me first," the oddly built man declared, his tone dripping with misplaced confidence.
"Gum Gum Rocket—!"
A faint smile tugged at Leo's lips as he heard it. From the distance, Luffy stretched his body and launched forward like a cannon, crashing straight into Pearl's shield and sending him skidding across the shattered deck.
"I'll handle the nuisance!" Luffy declared.
Don Krieg's eyes widened in shock, the straw hat wearing boy had Devil Fruit powers.
Nearby, a knowing smile appeared on Dracule Mihawk's face as he observed the boy wearing straw hat and the clash between Baratie's cooks and Krieg's pirates unfolding in full.
Meanwhile, Roronoa Zoro was carried away by his underlings, with Usopp following close behind, as they boarded a small sailboat to tend to his severe injuries heading somewhere.
"Brat, do you think you can stop me?" Don Krieg roared. "I'll take that ship, rebuild my fleet, and conquer the Grand Line, I'll be the Pirate King one day!"
Leo didn't even bother looking at him. Casually picking his ear, he flicked the dirt into the sea and spoke to Mihwak.
"Watch closely, Dracule Mihawk," he said calmly. "I won't be using Armament Haki to deal with him." Mihawk's bored gaze sharpened little.
"I'll give you a painful death for underestimating me, brat!" Don Krieg snarled, raising his shield. The skull emblem split open in the center, revealing a small hidden cannon that fired a boxing glove-shaped projectile.
Leo expected a blast upon impact but mid-air, it split into a storm of razor-sharp spikes.
The sudden shift caught him off guard, his skin prickling with danger.
His eyes narrowed, a cold glint flashing within them. In the next instant, he vanished sideways, moving at full speed as the spikes tore past where he had stood. Snatching a few out of the air, he twisted 360 degrees and hurled them back.
They struck the shield with a sharp clang, leaving shallow dents but not breaking through.
"Is this how you plan to become Pirate King?" Leo said, his voice dropping, laced with contempt. "Relying on nothing but cheap tricks…"
He stepped forward again, his gaze turning chillingly sharp.
"I won't kill you… but I'll make sure you never call yourself a pirate again."