Naruto: Copy System#613+614: Mihawk’s Crushing Defeat, Akainu’s Gamble

With a casual slash, Shin shattered Mihawk's sword aura. The icy battlefield Monet had created was now a ruin of shattered ice and churning sea.

Mihawk knelt on a piece of floating ice, clutching the hilt of his Supreme Grade sword. The other half of the legendary blade had already sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Mihawk's Yoru had been broken by Shin. Even reinforced with his formidable Armament Haki, it could not withstand a single blow from Shin.

“Mihawk, do you understand the gap between us now?” Shin asked calmly.

“My strength is no match for yours,” Mihawk admitted, his voice devoid of its usual confidence.

The defeat had been purely in terms of swordsmanship. In truth, Shin's power had reached a level he could not even begin to comprehend.

From the start of the fight, Shin had not used a single intricate sword technique—only casual slashes—yet, these simple attacks had torn through all of Mihawk’s moves and ultimately shattered his blade.

This was complete domination.

Mihawk could not even force Shin to use his full strength.

They were not on the same level... The more they fought, the more unfathomable Shin became. Even Mihawk’s legendary conviction was shaken—for the first time in decades, he was starting to doubt his own power.

“Challenging me was a mistake,” Shin said, his tone matter-of-fact.

Right now, Mihawk had almost no ability to resist. Shin could kill him with a single strike.

Fighting an evenly matched opponent could help a warrior discover his own flaws, but fighting an opponent who could effortlessly crush him would teach nothing...

It would only break his spirit.

————

Shin looked at Mihawk and knew the man had been deeply affected.

His sword was broken, and for a swordsman, his blade was his life. Mihawk was as good as dead—his body was intact, but his spirit was shattered.

However, if Mihawk could overcome this trial, it would forge his spirit into something stronger. It all depended on whether his will was strong enough.

If not, this defeat would be the end of him.

Nearby, Zoro’s expression was dazed.

The very man he had been chasing, his ultimate goal, had just been defeated so utterly before his eyes. It was a crushing, effortless rout.

Besides Mihawk himself, Zoro was the one most affected. He stared blankly ahead, his eyes dull and lifeless, as if he had lost his purpose.

“Zoro, are you okay?” Luffy noticed that something was wrong with him and grabbed him by the neck and shook him.

Seeing the dazed Zoro, Luffy was really a little worried.

Usopp was in a similar state, though his was a paralysis born of pure terror.

Luffy paid him no mind, knowing he was simply scared.

————

“Mihawk is far beneath Shin,” Hancock said calmly. Her gaze shifted to Shin, her eyes shining with boundless pride. He was her man—and her greatest source of pride.

“Mihawk challenging Shin was definitely biting off more than he could chew," Olvia observed. At this point, she felt confident she could take on the world's greatest swordsman herself.

Having mastered her Rumble-Rumble Fruit to perfection, she'd also picked up swordsmanship—and turned out to have serious natural talent for it.

She was now a formidable swordswoman in her own right, powerful enough to make waves on the Grand Line even without her Devil Fruit abilities.

————

“Kill me,” Mihawk said, closing his eyes.

“Oh? I didn't expect you to be such a coward. Can't even face losing?" Shin sneered. "I'm not interested in killing someone who's already given up."

He looked at Mihawk with open disappointment. Shin had never intended to kill him, and seeing him in this pathetic state only reinforced that decision.

Shin’s words seemed to strike a nerve.

Mihawk swayed slightly before opening his eyes to meet Shin's gaze. A spark of life flickered back into those empty depths.

Propping himself up, he stood and held his broken sword. Mihawk said in a deep voice, “I will challenge you again.”

Seeing the change in Mihawk’s eyes, Shin knew the swordsman had shaken off his despair.

“If you challenge me again with the same level of strength, don’t bother coming.”

After Shin finished speaking, he turned and left, while Mihawk simply watched his retreating figure.

Mihawk could not move, his body was so severely injured that he could not even walk.

“Owner Zeff, this is for the meal.” At Shin’s signal, Olvia left a bag of Berries on a table.

“The food here is excellent. We’ll be back if we get the chance. Let’s go,” Shin announced.

Then, the crew returned to the Pluton, which began to sail into the distance. The sea was still littered with shattered ice.

The sheer force of Shin and Mihawk’s battle had decimated the frozen landscape Monet had created. The ice had simply not been hard enough.

Had it been Shin’s Ice Release, Mihawk would not have been able to break it.

————

“They’re gone. Whew!”

Zeff watched the Pluton depart and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Having the Kuja Pirates here, even for a moment, had subjected him to an indescribable pressure.

Though they were gone, another problem remained: Mihawk. Although he was grievously injured and looked half-dead, the aura he exuded was not to be underestimated.

As Zeff looked at the broken swordsman, Mihawk’s sharp, eagle-like eyes met his. Feeling that piercing gaze, Zeff immediately looked away.

“I’m going over there,” Zoro said to Luffy, then began walking toward Mihawk.

Luffy watched his first mate approach the dangerous man, his heart tightening slightly. In the end, he did not stop him. He knew Zoro had a reason.

“What is he doing? Is he suicidal?” Zeff’s face sank.

“That’s right, why approach that dangerous guy?” Usopp shouted. Although Mihawk was defeated, he was not someone they could afford to provoke.

“I don’t know what Zoro is going to do, but he must have a reason,” Luffy said with a wide smile.

Zeff glanced at Luffy. 'Silly-looking... is he really Vice Admiral Garp’s grandson? Hard to believe.'

Forget it. Whether they wanted to throw their lives away or not, as long as it didn’t affect his sea restaurant, it wasn’t his concern.

<><><><><><><><>

After leaving the sea restaurant, Shin and his group departed the East Blue.

Shin’s main goal had been to find Nami, but to his surprise, Nami had sought him out herself. After a satisfying meal at the Baratie, his purpose in the East Blue was fulfilled.

However, as they passed through Loguetown, Shin’s ship was intercepted.

Looking at Smoker standing on the warship in front of him, Shin's face showed a playful smile. 'Wasn't the lesson he got before enough?'

————

Standing beside Smoker, Tashigi was trembling slightly.

Although she despised pirates and would arrest any she encountered, she knew this was different. Rushing headlong against an enemy you could not defeat wasn’t bravery, it was foolishness.

Right now, Tashigi felt her commander was being incredibly foolish, but she had no choice but to follow his reckless lead.

“Shin Uzumaki, did you capture Hina? Release her!” Smoker shouted, his voice thick with anger.

Shin then understood why Smoker had the courage to stop him.

It was because of Hina...

“Hmph,” Hancock scoffed. She drew her sword, a flash of steel preceding her single, decisive slash, and sheathed it in the same motion.

Smoker collapsed onto the deck. Even with a Logia Devil Fruit, he could not resist a strike imbued with Armament Haki.

“...” Tashigi stared at the unconscious Smoker, at a loss for words.

“Get out of the way,” Hancock said calmly. Sparing them once was already mercy. If they blocked her path again, she wouldn’t hesitate to send them to the bottom of the sea.

“MOVE ASIDE,”

Tashigi ordered through gritted teeth. With Smoker unconscious, she was the highest-ranking officer.

Looking at the departing Pluton, Tashigi breathed a sigh of relief.

————

Soon after, Marine Headquarters received word that Smoker was unharmed. Relief spread quickly. At the same time, they received another piece of intelligence: Mihawk was in the East Blue and had been seriously injured.

“Fleet Admiral, I believe we should take this opportunity to arrest Mihawk,” Akainu proposed to Sengoku.

Upon learning that Mihawk had been wounded after challenging Shin—Akainu saw a chance to eliminate a thorn in their side.

“Mihawk is still a Warlord. We cannot move against him,” Sengoku said, casting a glance at Akainu.

“Still, his presence in the East Blue is suspicious. Was he targeting Shin Uzumaki, or was there another reason? We need to investigate.”

“Aokiji, this investigation is yours,” Sengoku commanded.

When Sengoku assigned the mission to Aokiji, Akainu’s expression darkened. Lately, Sengoku had been favoring Aokiji, and voices within the Marines calling for him to be the next Fleet Admiral were growing louder...

“I'll take my leave.” Akainu exited the office.

Kizaru and Aokiji followed soon after.

————

Garp put down his rice cracker and said to Sengoku, “Akainu's getting more frustrated by the day. You thinking about what's gonna happen between him and Aokiji?”

Sengoku went quiet for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh. Of course he knew about it. The tension between those two had been building for years.

But if forced to choose, he'd back Aokiji—though losing Akainu would be catastrophic. Truth was, the Marines needed all three admirals to survive.

“If only they were all as easygoing as Kizaru,” Sengoku lamented.

Garp’s expression turned strange. All like Kizaru? That would be a disaster... Kizaru was lazy on another level. Aokiji might be relaxed, but he was nothing compared to Kizaru.

“If you had become the Fleet Admiral back then, I wouldn’t have these worries,” Sengoku couldn’t help but say.

“Tch, easy for you to say. If I'd actually gone after that position back then, you might not have been so eager to hand it over," Garp shot back before walking out.

————

After leaving the office, Akainu returned to his ship and pulled out a Den Den Mushi to contact Crocodile.

When the call connected, Crocodile tensed up. 

Have the Marines figured out his plan? He was still scheming to locate Pluton and use its devastating power to conquer the world.

Little did he know that the ancient weapon he desperately sought was actually Shin's own ship—a truth that would've sent him into a complete meltdown.

“Admiral Akainu,” Crocodile’s hoarse voice answered.

“Crocodile, I have a mission for you," Akainu said coldly, his tone making it clear this wasn't a request.

Crocodile's jaw tightened, but he kept his mouth shut. Pissing off Akainu and the Marines would bring heat he couldn't afford. His Warlord status was too valuable to throw away over pride.

“What mission does Admiral Akainu have for me?”

“Deal with Mihawk. Kill him.”

Akainu's plan was straightforward: let one enemy take out another. He'd use Crocodile as his attack dog, then have a perfect excuse to arrest him afterward.

The cigar dropped from Crocodile's mouth.

Fight Mihawk? He knew damn well he'd get slaughtered. That bastard was in a completely different league.

“Mihawk's badly hurt. He picked a fight with Shin Uzumaki and barely survived. You can finish the job." Akainu laid out the situation.

If Mihawk were at full strength, he never would've sent Crocodile—that would be suicide. The Seven Warlords had a clear hierarchy, and Crocodile sat near the very bottom.

“Mihawk actually challenged Shin Uzumaki...” Crocodile said, surprised by the news.

“Fine, I'll go after Mihawk. But I can't promise I'll be able to kill him," Crocodile said after weighing his options. He knew he didn't have a choice in the matter.

Refusing Akainu would just give the bastard an excuse to hunt him down.