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After Mihawk said those words, Luffy and the others finally reached them.
They all stared nervously at Zoro, whose breathing was faint. Luffy was already bawling his eyes out.
"Alright, alright, can you guys not act like Zoro's already dead?"
Bai Ye looked at them helplessly.
"I get it if Luffy forgot, but Nami, Usopp—you two seriously forgot I have healing pills?"
As soon as he said that, Nami and Usopp snapped out of it.
They quickly moved aside, and one of them even clamped a hand over Luffy's mouth to shut him up.
With a quick flick of his wrist, Bai Ye pulled out two pills—one to heal injuries, one to restore stamina—and popped them into Zoro's mouth.
Moments later, the wounds began closing rapidly, and color returned to Zoro's face.
This miraculous scene made Sanji gasp in awe. "Wait—is that some kind of magical ingredient?!"
"Kinda," Bai Ye nodded, helping Zoro sit up."But more accurately, it's called a 'dan medicine.' It's something we in the Daoist sect craft using special methods."
Sanji nodded too—he got the hidden message in Bai Ye's words:
Secret recipe. Don't even think about learning it.
Mihawk's pupils narrowed. As one of the world's strongest, he instantly understood just how insane this "dan medicine" could be in real combat.
Imagine—fighting to the brink of death, barely standing… and then the other guy just pops a pill—
Boom! Back to full health.
Wouldn't that drive you mad?!
"Dan medicine? Daoist sect?" Mihawk silently pondered. He was sure he'd never heard of either of those things before.
He glanced over at Bai Ye again. From the way he'd frozen water earlier, Mihawk already knew—
This kid was no weakling either.
As Mihawk considered whether to visit Shanks in the New World and ask about it, Zoro suddenly opened his mouth again.
"Luffy, Bai Ye…"
"Sorry for making you guys worry. Haha… I'm really weak, huh."
His voice was a little choked.
"If I can't even become the world's greatest swordsman, I'll just hold you all back."
Then, in the next second, Zoro suddenly raised his head and looked at Luffy and Bai Ye beside him.
"I won't lose again!!"
"Before I beat him… before I become the world's strongest… I absolutely…"
"...won't lose again!!!"
Zoro shouted with all his might:
"You got a problem with that? From the future Pirate King and the Vice-Captain!!!"
Of course, the Pirate King here means Luffy. When Luffy heard that, a big grin spread across his face, and he seriously nodded:
"Hehehe, no objections here!!"
As for the Vice-Captain, that naturally meant Bai Ye.
That title caught Bai Ye a bit off guard, but he quickly softened and looked at Zoro gently, saying quietly:
"Of course not, future world's greatest swordsman, Roronoa Zoro~"
"You've already gotten a taste of what being the world's strongest feels like. Now, keep striding straight toward that goal."
Bai Ye handed the still exhausted Zoro over to Sanji, then turned to head toward Mihawk.
"Hey, where are you going?" Sanji asked anxiously.
Without even turning his head, Bai Ye replied:
"Well~ since I've been called Vice-Captain, I guess I gotta act like one, right?"
"It wouldn't be right for the Vice-Captain to just stay quiet when a crew member's been attacked."
As he spoke, he flipped his wrist and pulled out a treasure sword — one that had been forged but never once used until now.
Known as a martial arts prodigy who appears once in a century, Bai Ye's Wudang-style swordsmanship was naturally at an extremely high level.
He stepped forward calmly, cupped his fist toward Mihawk, and said softly:
"Wudang Bai Ye, Vice-Captain of the Straw Hats, wielding Taiji swordsmanship — please teach me!"
The moment Bai Ye drew his sword, Mihawk's eyes lit up because he sensed a sudden change in the man's aura.
If before, Bai Ye's presence was that of a peaceful soul uninterested in worldly conflicts,
then gripping that sword made him feel like a blade ready to strike at any moment.
His energy was restrained, but every second it gave off a sharpness that seemed like it could cut down everything.
Interesting~
Mihawk grew a little excited. He hadn't expected that just out of boredom, he'd meet two fascinating swordsmen here.
This was the so-called weakest sea, East Blue, after all.
Without hesitation, Mihawk raised his black sword.
In the next second, he was above Bai Ye's head, the black sword falling with overwhelming power.
But in Mihawk's eyes, Bai Ye's aura deepened even further—
Bai Ye sidestepped just slightly, dodging the strike aimed straight for his head, then their swords clashed and instantly parted.
Then Bai Ye swept his sword in a curved arc like drawing a circle, slashing diagonally in one direction.
Just that one move made Mihawk's pupils shrink.
Because the direction Bai Ye's sword pushed toward was exactly where Mihawk's black sword was headed.
Mihawk knew this wasn't some kind of future sight.
At the moment their blades met, Bai Ye's sword influenced the path of Mihawk's black sword.
Rather than Bai Ye predicting Mihawk's move, it was more like he was guiding it.
This style of swordsmanship — interesting~
Mihawk's interest was clearly piqued.
Clang clang clang!!!
Their swords rang out.
Then, to better feel the subtlety of Bai Ye's techniques,
Mihawk chose to only exchange sword strikes — no haki or natural strength.
Sure, this made the fight less destructive, but their speed just kept ramping up, until to everyone else they were just afterimages.
Their back-and-forth left everyone around completely stunned.
They had no idea Mihawk was doing this on purpose.
From their perspective, this young man was holding his own against the world's greatest swordsman.
"Is this… some kind of joke?" Hoppo from afar etched the scene deeply into his mind.
Is another swordmaster about to rise on the seas?
Bai Ye seemed calm and composed on the outside, but inside, he was silently struggling.
His swordsmanship might be complex and profound,
but when it came to spirit energy, haki, and natural power, he was still just a bit outmatched.
The combination of both factors naturally created a huge gap in strength.
At this point, Bai Ye had roughly figured out his own power level.
Yeah… not strong enough to take on the top, but definitely better than the average.
But Bai Ye had one big advantage—he had the entire Daoist Techniques Collection to himself. And when it came to combat, the number of tricks he could pull off from that book was seriously insane.
That alone gave Bai Ye a major edge from the get-go.
Like right now—if he really went all out, using his Qi Men techniques, talismans, and even his weapon-crafting skills...
He might just catch Mihawk off guard and pull off a crazy reversal.
But honestly? It just wasn't worth it. No need to push it that far.
So after the two had clashed over a hundred times, Bai Ye suddenly seized the chance to create some distance between them.
And before Mihawk could even say a word, he spoke first:
"Gotta admit, you really are the world's number one swordsman!"
Sure, he lost—but considering he walked away without a scratch and held his own for so long, there was no shame in that.
In fact, since Bai Ye was pretty much unknown before this, his popularity was about to skyrocket.
At the very least, Hoppodi had already decided to report this to HQ.
Seeing that Bai Ye had no intention of continuing the fight, Mihawk looked a little disappointed.
Still, he didn't dwell on it. After all, he'd already seen most of what he needed to.
Plus, as a top-level swordsman himself, when it came to other advanced sword techniques, he was more into observing and learning than actually adopting them.
No way he'd just copy someone else's moves.
So Mihawk quickly adjusted his mindset, gave Bai Ye a nod, and said:
"Bai Ye, huh? I'll remember that name."
Then, with a flash, he returned to his ship.
One slash later, he cut through the ice beneath and sailed off.
As for Bai Ye—when he turned around, he was met with the stunned, wide-eyed stares of his crewmates.
"....."