Chapter 13: Hawkeye's Gentle Side
"Moria-sama?"
Kazuma's mind spun at full speed. He'd never heard that name before, but that wasn't the point right now.
Assault faction.
A faction that actively hunts other players.
And this petite, doll-like gothic girl in front of them was a walking death flag.
Kazuma's muscles tensed. He pushed Gintoki, who was still clinging to him, away and forced himself to calm down. Panic won't solve anything .
"Hey! You creepy porcelain doll!"
Gintoki finally snapped out of his ghost-induced meltdown. He ducked behind Kazuma, peeking out with a single dead-fish eye while pointing at the green spirits floating beside Perona.
"Get these glowing cotton balls out of my face! What if you scare kids? Even if they don't cry, I'm already traumatized, and I'm a good adult!"
Perona didn't bother giving him even half a glance. She tapped the stone floor lightly with the tip of her umbrella, her smile curling into something impish as she looked at the two men huddled together.
"Horo horo horo… pathetic. Compared to that moss-head, you two don't even rank." Her tone lifted with smug delight. "Still, since you're the first batch of 'Reputation Points' I've found in this weird world, this princess will be generous enough to explain."
Her expression suddenly became incredibly excited and longing, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes sparkled with fanatical light.
"As long as I gather enough Reputation, I'll be able to see Moria-sama again! I thought he was dead… but he's alive! He's really alive!"
Her voice trembled, halfway to tears, but the joy shining on her face was unmistakable.
Kazuma and Gintoki exchanged baffled looks. None of this made sense to them, and Perona clearly had no intention of clarifying anything. She was completely lost in her own memories.
Her thoughts drifted back to a few days earlier, to that eerie, sprawling castle on Kuraigana Island — a place gloomy enough to send most people running, but one that made her feel safe.
Ever since she'd dumped that moss-haired, directionally-challenged swordsman onto a ship at Sabaody, only she, "Hawkeye" Mihawk, and a troop of baboons who mimicked human behavior remained in the castle.
Life had been boring and peaceful. She spent her days bossing the baboons around to clean or cook, then found new ways to pester the world's greatest swordsman, who did nothing except drink, train, and read the newspaper.
That day, like always, she snatched the latest newspaper from a passing seagull to check whatever dull headlines the world had produced.
However, a photo in the paper, a name, struck her like a thunderbolt.
Former Warlord of the Sea — Gecko Moria spotted on Hive Island in the New World!
"M-Moria-sama!"
Perona's pupils contracted violently, and the newspaper slipped from her grasp. She covered her mouth, large tears uncontrollably rolling down her cheeks.
After the Marineford War, she learned from the papers that the World Government had erased Moria.
Back then, her world turned colorless. It was the darkest period of her life. She truly believed she would never again see the man who, despite being lazy and arrogant, had taken her in like family.
But now, clear as day, the paper told her he was alive.
"Thank goodness… thank goodness… uwaaaah…!"
She collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably like a child. The baboons panicked, circling her while scratching their heads in confusion.
No one knew how long she cried. Eventually she wiped her face, jumped to her feet, and clenched her fists with fierce resolve.
She would find him. Immediately. No hesitation.
She stormed through the castle and found Mihawk alone in the courtyard, quietly savoring a glass of red wine.
"Hey! Hawkeye! I'm leaving!" she declared with her hands planted on her hips.
Mihawk lifted his sharp hawk-like gaze for a brief moment. He didn't even shift his posture, replying with a flat, "Mm."
"I'm really leaving, you know! For real!" Perona pressed.
"Once I'm gone, no one will clean this castle. No one will wash your clothes. No one will cook for you. You'll rot here all by yourself. Mold! Mushrooms everywhere!"
Mihawk took another calm sip of wine. "Mm."
His indifference made Perona's blood boil. She'd stayed in this godforsaken place for two whole years, taking care of him for two whole years, and this man didn't have even a tiny bit of reluctance?
She puffed up angrily, grabbed her tiny suitcase and parasol, and stomped toward the exit without looking back.
"Goodbye! You cold-blooded block of wood!"
She muttered all the way down the hallway, but just as she stepped through the great doors, a familiar low voice echoed behind her.
"Be careful on your way."
Her footsteps froze.
All the words she wanted to throw at him jammed in her throat.
She was stunned, unable to believe her ears. This man, who had been cold and austere as ice for the past two years, only practicing swordsmanship, drinking wine, and reading newspapers, actually...said such gentle words to her?
A surge of heat rushed to her eyes, and the tears that had just stopped started flowing again.
"Waaaaahhhh! Why would you say something like that out of nowhere?! You jerk, Hawkeye!!!"
She wailed and sprinted out of the castle, terrified that if she lingered, she'd lose the courage to leave.
Dragging her suitcase behind her, she practically fled down the stone steps.
But the moment she stepped past the castle's boundary and prepared to summon her ghosts to scout ahead, a strange force swept around her — irresistible, engulfing her entirely.
The world spun. The landscape shattered like scattered light.
A heartbeat later she materialized inside this abandoned church, with a brand-new "system" lodged in her mind.
Kazuma and Gintoki stared at the girl in front of them, who was crying and laughing, and whose emotions were extremely unstable, and looked at each other in dismay.
"Do you think… her brain's a little messed up?" Gintoki whispered into Kazuma's ear.
"Shut up. She can hear you," Kazuya retorted in a low voice.
Perona blinked away the afterimages of her memories and mimicked what she saw them do earlier, slicing her hand through the air. Her own system interface appeared — a blood-red screen pulsing with an ominous aura.
She tapped open the "Bond Summon" section, searching for the one name her heart longed for.
[Gecko Moria — Summon Cost: 4,000,000 Reputation]
"Four million…" Perona bit her lip. The number stung, but her gaze blazed with determination. "Wait for me, Moria-sama. I'll bring you here soon."
Curiosity nudged her to scroll down. Her eyes widened as she found another familiar name.
["Hawkeye" Dracule Mihawk — Summon Cost: 12,000,000 Reputation]
"Twelve million?!"
"That's three times Moria-sama! Why is that guy so expensive?!"
She grumbled, though she knew perfectly well that his strength justified every point.
Her attention moved again, landing on a certain green-haired swordsman's portrait.
[Roronoa Zoro — Summon Cost: 8,000,000 Reputation]
"Hmph. That moss-headed idiot needs eight million?" Perona pouted, remembering the bitter days of taking care of him every day for the past two years.
Closing the panel, she refocused on the two men huddled in the corner.
Her goal was crystal clear: gather four million reputation and summon the man she cherished most.
And right now, these two trembling, ghost-phobic, visibly fragile men were her first big payday.