A Crushing Defeat

"Dragon Flame: Cannon!" A ball of fire like a laser cannon shot from William's beast-man mouth, boiling a layer of steam off the sea's surface.

While studying his Devil Fruit abilities, William had accidentally discovered that he possessed fire-based powers. Though he could only spew flames from his mouth, if used well, it could become a powerful unexpected move.

"Silent Shave!" During this time, William had successfully integrated Silent Step into the Six Powers' Shave and Geppo, turning them into truly silent killing techniques.

"Four-Sword Style Slash!" Although Four-Sword Style had originally been a technique used by CP9's Kaku, William, who had also mastered the Six Powers and Two-Sword Style, had naturally grasped the essence of Four-Sword Style through his own training. Holding two swords in his hands while turning his legs, capable of using Rankyaku, into two more blades—that was the defining trait of Four-Sword Style. Only a Two-Sword Style swordsman who had mastered Six Powers: Rankyaku could use this technique.

However, William's Four-Sword Style was not yet fully developed. His own strength had only recovered to around half of its former level, though using his Devil Fruit abilities could multiply his power several times over. Of course, against an opponent on Hawkeye Dracule Mihawk's level, no number of cheats or multipliers would matter. How many moves William could withstand depended entirely on Hawkeye's own willingness.

"Rankyaku Shuriken!" Cannon-like Rankyaku Shurikens were continuously kicked out from William's legs. Yet, in the face of William's unending attacks, Hawkeye casually evaded every one of them, as though none of William's techniques were worth a single swing of his blade.

The greatest weakness of William's beast-man form was his long neck. Since he rarely used his Zoan transformation, he was temporarily unable to retract his neck like Kaku could.

Such an obvious weakness was apparent not only to Hawkeye Dracule Mihawk, but even to everyone present besides Zeff—including Luffy, Zoro, Krieg, and the others.

With a casual swing, Hawkeye sent an incomparably powerful slash cutting horizontally toward William's long neck. Had William not hurriedly thrown his body backward, his head and body would have already been separated.

"So strong! This is practically a battle between monsters!" Whether Krieg's subordinates or the restaurant's chefs, all of them were stunned by William's techniques. Yet such terrifying attacks had not even touched Hawkeye Mihawk's clothes, making it impossible for them to imagine just how strong Hawkeye Mihawk, a monster beyond the monstrous William, truly was.

Krieg's subordinates in particular were overwhelmed by despair when they learned that Hawkeye had cut apart their five warships simply because he was bored. The fact that he could slice apart a Giant Battleship was already beyond belief, and the thought that Hawkeye had casually destroyed all five of their warships was nothing short of a disaster.

Among everyone present, perhaps only Baratie's owner and head chef, "Red-Leg" Zeff, could calmly watch the battle. Was it because he believed Hawkeye would not attack his restaurant? Or did he think he had the strength to stop him?

"He's strong, right? William's my partner!" Seeing everyone's dumbfounded expressions, Luffy said proudly.

"As expected of the man I'm going to defeat. And that bastard William was holding back all along!" Although Zoro had sparred with William in swordsmanship several times, William had always used Two-Sword Style. Now that Zoro saw William not only possessed abilities that boosted his strength, but was also a Four-Sword Style swordsman, he naturally did not feel very pleased. If Hawkeye had not been his only goal right now, he might have drawn his swords and cut William down himself.

"What a messy sword style!" Perhaps Hawkeye had grown tired of playing around, for he suddenly swung his blade at William.

"William?" When Luffy and the others saw Hawkeye finally swing his sword, they had not expected William to be severely wounded without even being able to withstand a single move.

Although William had done his best to keep his vital points from being struck, Hawkeye's casual slash possessed terrifying power. It not only broke the two swords in William's hands, but left him badly injured. If not for the beast-man form's larger body, that slash would have cut his human form in half.

Is this the strength of the world's strongest swordsman? Despair filled William's heart. He knew that slash had merely been a casual swing from Hawkeye, yet he had not been able to block it. He had only barely avoided a fatal wound.

This was the first time William had suffered such a life-threatening injury since coming to the One Piece World, and he was unwilling to accept it. To live freely, he had pretended to die in a shipwreck and escaped the Marines; to evade the Marines' pursuit, he had chosen to join the Straw Hat Pirates. Yet he could not avoid a casual attack from one of the Grand Line's strongest figures.

If Hawkeye truly got serious, perhaps William would not even notice his own death.

"You asked me just now what my reason for fighting was? Then I'll tell you: even if I have to become enemies with the whole world, I will live freely!" William's roar shook everyone present. No one knew what William had experienced in the past. Even the Straw Hat Pirates, his companions, did not know. Yet his words—"Even if I have to become enemies with the whole world, I will live freely"—made even Hawkeye, the world's greatest swordsman, look at him in a new light.

"I see!" Hawkeye had also heard about William offending the Celestial Dragons. After all, an incident that had mobilized a Marine Admiral and one of the Shichibukai was something even someone as arrogant as Hawkeye would take notice of.

"Lizards have four legs!" William suddenly said something utterly baffling. Everyone stared at the injured William in confusion, and even Hawkeye was curious about what he was doing.

"Rankyaku: Lizard Turret!" This technique had also been inspired by Kaku. By having all four of a lizard's legs unleash Six Powers Rankyaku at once, William could still use Four-Sword Style attacks even without swords.

Although the number of Rankyaku attacks had doubled, Hawkeye neither dodged nor moved aside. He simply swung his blade and effortlessly neutralized William's "Rankyaku: Lizard Turret," as though he were doing something completely ordinary.

"Dragon Claw Fist!" Since long-range attacks were ineffective, William decided to attack Hawkeye in close combat. Unfortunately, in the instant they passed each other, William's Dragon Claw Fist failed to hit Hawkeye. Instead, his shoulder was struck by the sword energy of Black Blade: Night, sending him flying as his body reverted from beast-man form to human form.

"The technique is good, but you yourself are too weak." Hawkeye could tell at a glance that the Dragon Claw Fist William had just used was no ordinary technique. However, the current William could not even bring out one percent of the true Dragon Claw Fist's power.

"It's good that I met you here!" Although William's right hand had been crippled, he was no longer lost or afraid.

This was William's first time fighting one of the One Piece World's peak powerhouses, but he was fortunate that he had encountered Hawkeye here. Hawkeye had no intention of killing William. Whether it was because Hawkeye could not be bothered, or because of Luffy's connection to Shanks, William had at least been made to recognize once again the gap between himself and the Grand Line's powerful figures.

"It's time to change opponents! You don't mind, do you?" Zoro, who had long been unable to hold himself back, stepped in front of Hawkeye and spoke.

"Fine. Though you are weak, to show respect for a swordsman, I have decided to defeat you with this black blade, 'Night.'" Hawkeye saw ambition in Zoro's eyes. His words also showed that he thought highly of Zoro, proving that Zoro possessed potential worthy of Hawkeye's attention.

"Usopp, hurry up and take this bastard to bring the navigator back. That's the captain's order!" After watching William's battle with Hawkeye, Zoro already knew he could not defeat Hawkeye.

But like William, he had a reason he had to fight. Otherwise, he too would become lost and would never be able to take another step forward. So he could not retreat here. Even if he was defeated or killed, he had to challenge the world's greatest swordsman once.

"Hey, shitty swordsman!" Enduring the pain from his wounds, William panted and barely shouted, "Don't you dare die. We still have to go to the Grand Line together and find the One Piece!"

"I'm not going to die that easily!" Though Zoro said so, he had already prepared to stake his life on this.

"Come, boy! Let me see your ambition!" Hawkeye shouted. Even on the Grand Line, many fairly powerful swordsmen had failed to earn even a glance from Hawkeye. Yet the only two swordsmen in the tiny Straw Hat Pirates had both been acknowledged by him for their potential.

Everyone present believed that if these two did not die, they would surely become renowned figures in the future.