Gern did not immediately respond to Hawkeye's unequivocal declaration.
Instead, he raised his teacup and took a gentle sip, an understanding smile appearing on his face.
"Keeping our promise..." he repeated quietly, his gaze seeming to pass through Hawkeye toward somewhere farther away.
"Come to think of it, some of the things I did and said back then really seem to have changed the course of quite a few things."
There was a trace of wistfulness in Gern's voice.
After all, according to the hazy course of events in the original world, Dracule Mihawk would already have suffered some grave betrayal by now.
He would have stopped trusting anyone and begun hunting Marines with such ferocity that he earned the name "Marine Hunter."
He would have become a powerful, fiercely independent pirate who operated in a moral gray area, sailing alone in a small boat and pursuing the pinnacle of swordsmanship, rather than being like this...
Gern's gaze refocused on Hawkeye. "By rights, perhaps you should be called the 'Marine Hunter' by now, a lone pirate who gives the Marines endless headaches.
"But now..." He smiled. "You seem to have been following in my footsteps all along, even going off to challenge the opponents I challenged back then?"
Gern had heard at least some news of Hawkeye's progress over the past ten years.
A flicker of confusion crossed Hawkeye's eyes when Gern said he would have become the "Marine Hunter," but he paid it little mind and continued instead.
"The reason I challenged 'them' was that... only by doing so
"could I measure the gap between us most clearly. It was also the most effective path to the summit."
As he spoke, Hawkeye's gaze involuntarily settled on Black Blade: Eight Desolations, which Gern always wore at his waist, wrapped in