#drculeeyed

Pspspspspspsps

DRACULE MIHAWK && SIR CROCODILE

independent. priv. selective.

@drculeeyed && @sircrocodillian

While he wasn't usually concerned nor known for tact in his questionings, he was still somewhat embarrassed to have just blurted out that question. It was completely nonsensical rumor stemming from the boogeyman tales they would tell young recruits back in the day.

Speaking off which—, his brow furrowed, one side lifting in disbelief, "These days? No, that was back in the day. They stopped using you to scare recruits after you became a warlord. There are new boogeymen around." And if they were all pirates, he wouldn't use that word.

"You know how to use that sword?"

His tone suggested that Zoro didn't think the man did know how to use the giant sword on his back. He looked the man up and down for a moment, disdain on his tiny face; finally he turned away and went back to smacking the log with his stick the way he'd been doing before the interruption.

“...Sir Mihawk,” Shamrock said, letting the title linger enough to remind them both it was honorary at best. “Do come in. The floor is newly polished; try not to leave footprints.”

Shamrock finally raised his eyes. Cold carmine irises amusedly regarded Mihawk as he stepped forward regardless, then stopped exactly where Shamrock preferred him: three paces short of the dais, close enough to loom, far enough to have to look up.

“Lord Saint Jalmack requires a nuisance removed from the Red Line’s eastern trade ledger. A certain merchant in Goa Kingdom has forgotten whose sky he breathes under. Taxes unpaid, mouths too loud. You will remind him. Quietly, permanently, and,” teeth flashing as he half-smirked, “with that famous elegance of yours.”

Shamrock leaned forward, elbows on the carved arms of his chair, voice dropping to the silky register he saved for these moments. “I could send one of the full knights. Sir Shanks might even enjoy the excursion, provided there was decent sake afterward. But Shanks is…indulgent. You, Dracule Mihawk, are surgical. And I do abhor mess.”

He let the silence stretch, savoring it as he pointedly added, “But you already know all about that, yes?”

"At least you don't hide behind pretending to be." Mihawk tutted in response. "There is no such thing as 'good' or 'bad', Roronoa. There simply 'is' and the actions one takes. Pretending to justify your choices by such outdated and mundane codes beyond your own is a worthless action."

"Yeah. Not really the point I was trying to make." He's not gonna lie, some of the stuff Mihawk says goes in one ear and out the other. Well, mostly just his monologues; when he decides it's time to ramble a bit and teach Zoro some sort of life lesson he didn't really ask for. Everything else he pays attention to. You know. The sword stuff.

The off-weight of the red wine swishing around in his glass proved a fine distraction for Mihawk to fiddle with as he listened to the young man before him spout on a usual semblance of nonsense. Mihawk was oft one who had a need to do something with his hands, be it as a form of meditation when necessary. The stillness of ones self hardly meant the stillness of the senses, but he was finding that it was a happy distraction.

"After all this time, young Roronoa, and still so quick to stumble face first into something that could be accomplished with other means." He tutted as he closed his eyes, tilting his head back to let the last traces of the wine touch his lips. "Not that I would blame you. That man might talk tough, but you could easily have him on his knees in no time. Is it worth the effort to take down one who would hardly be a threat?"

Is it worth the effort to take down one who would hardly be a threat?

"Well I wouldn't have to hear him talk anymore, for one."

The obnoxious bragging was really starting to get to him. That, and the obvious exploitation. They'd only reached this market less than fifteen minutes ago and Zoro's been watching this panhandler trick various innocent people not only out of money, but out of some of their most prized possessions. He's half a mind to yell out to the crowd and make a scene to make the whole thing a bit more obvious but he refrains — for now.