"Is it really okay? Leaving her alone on that island."
The evening breeze stirred, making Mihawk's white shirt flutter gently.
Getting farther from the coastline, he could now only make out a tiny black dot on the shore still waving desperately.
"You seem pretty worried about that little brat?"
Aus crunched on potato chips, eyeing Mihawk's back as he faced the coast, voice teasing.
"..."
Mihawk stayed silent, saying nothing as he carried his sword toward the stern.
Aus's voice followed him:
"I left her a Vivre Card, and my Observation Haki swept the whole area. This town doesn't have any gangs or scumbags.
Besides, you should trust her survival instincts, little hawk."
Mihawk didn't turn back to respond, but his originally slow pace finally picked up after Aus finished talking.
Stubborn as hell... Mihawk.
Aus chuckled softly.
Daily life aboard the Oro Jackson didn't change much with little Robin's brief addition and departure.
After finishing dinner at the table, Aus slumped in his chair, rubbing his belly.
Suddenly remembering something, he grabbed his little notebook and glanced at it:
"Oh right, little hawk, don't toss that Ohara Log Pose in the trash. We'll need it."
Hearing this, Mihawk frowned, looking puzzled.
Though he hadn't gotten around to throwing the pose away yet,
Ohara was destroyed—what use was a Log Pose to a dead island?
Aus propped his legs up on the now-spotless table:
"We'll chill at home for a few months, then hit Ohara again. Some very interesting bastards will show up there~
I already told Sami to have her people watch the place.
Getting two people I want to find in one spot—that's not easy to pull off."
Mihawk listened carefully, not asking why or who these people were.
This was a man he respected. Wherever Aus wanted to go,
forget Ohara—even if it was Mary Geoise, Mihawk would follow him there.
"You can decide stuff like that yourself... But what I'm more interested in is—will there be swordsmen stronger than you in the New World?"
Mihawk's sharp eyes locked onto Aus.
Mihawk had heard New World rumors for years, but before coming of age, he'd wandered Paradise and the Four Blues.
Before witnessing Aus's strength, he'd thought he'd reached swordsmanship's peak.
But seeing Aus made him realize
this world was way bigger than he'd imagined.
If there were swordsmen stronger than Aus, his future definitely wouldn't be boring...
Hearing Mihawk's question, Aus rubbed his chin thoughtfully:
"Well... in the New World, there are definitely swordsmen who could be called great swordsmen.
But stronger than me? There really might not be many."
In Aus's head, if he had to think of swordsmen in this world whose skills might exceed his own while still being in fighting shape,
there were probably only a handful like Rayleigh and Garling Saint.
Golden Lion was probably fucked—with a ship's wheel lodged in his skull and swords strapped to his feet, he'd be lucky to retain half his sword skills.
As for other New World monsters, most weren't even swordsmen anyway.
You could say that at this stage, twenty-something little hawk, with his insane talent in swordsmanship, was already close to entering the top tier.
He probably just needed to awaken Conqueror's Haki and learn to coat with it.
Talking about the New World,
Aus clearly had tons of ideas brewing, or rather had been cooking up these thoughts for a while:
"Hey hey, little hawk, I've actually had this idea for ages."
He propped his elbow on the table, leaning forward to look at Mihawk who was sipping wine, pulling his scattered attention back.
"What?"
"Well... I want to control the entire fucking underworld!"
As for becoming a Yonko, Aus showed zero interest.
Carving up the New World and playing territory wars didn't suit someone with Aus's personality.
Following Captain Roger's dying wish, using overwhelming power to balance the seas—
wasn't Shanks already handling that shit?
If Aus joined in, it'd just be overkill.
Though he had the talent and strength, Aus didn't want to become the New World's next Rocks.
Controlling the entire world's trade and economic lifelines, becoming the real puppet master behind the whole underworld—
his influence would probably rival the World Government's.
He could live like a king while keeping his street cred.
Aus was damn satisfied with this plan.
Hearing Aus's entire scheme, even Mihawk broke out in a cold sweat:
"If you really do that, you'll be facing pressure from the entire world."
Not that he was scared—Mihawk was just instinctively shocked by Aus's insane ideas,
though the man himself seemed oblivious to how crazy they sounded.
Aus grinned, not giving a shit:
"What's the problem? Don't you trust my strength? Besides, I don't need to recruit armies and conquer shit~"
He clenched one fist, black-red lightning crackling faintly:
"I just need to beat the underworld bosses into submission. Think they can run?"
A wicked smile curved this "King's" lips, his gaze turning dangerous with hints of crimson in his pupils:
"I don't believe anyone in this world can escape my grasp anyway."
On this point, Mihawk had zero doubts.
Because he knew that if Aus really wanted to find someone, there was probably no way anyone could escape.
Unless they hid on some insanely remote island, never making outside contact for their entire lives.
Otherwise, once Aus built his intelligence network, combined with his tens-of-thousands or even hundred-thousand-meter Observation Haki range plus the Warp-Warp Fruit's power,
even hiding in the deep ocean, Aus could teleport them out.
Mihawk believed in Aus's power, but he also believed in his own strength.
Mihawk set his wine glass down, grinning at Aus:
"Then along this path, we'll definitely run into plenty of powerful swordsmen."
Maybe by fate's design, or because history loves repeating itself,
in just a few casual words, a major event that would reshape the world's future was decided with laughter by two powerful men,
just like the previous owners of the Oro Jackson.
Actually, thinking about it,
Aus realized his original reason for joining Roger's crew wasn't really bullshit after all.
Because he definitely had the power to flip this world upside down now.
The key was, this didn't clash with Captain Roger's dying wish.
Roger's will inheritor sailing freely, chasing his dreams—
what the hell did that have to do with Aus becoming the boss who controlled the world?
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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