Mihawk's POV

I sighed as I lowered my dull gaze to the city below me from my old mansion on the northern mountain side, where nothing grew or prospered except more and more freezing snow.

A thick fog rolled around the busy, colored landscape underneath me, making me huff at their meaningless rushing, despite all my efforts, the aged wine that I sipped still didn't taste anything better than bland and tasteless water.

Perhaps my taste-buds were finally loosing their touch.

Oh how I longed for something to change me- change something in the least, to change all of this even, my life that never gave me anything fruitful or pleasant aside from my success, the life that had me escape out here to just find some tranquility away from the dozens of fools on this planet.

Especially that Redhair.

The darkness always surrounded me and kept the warm light at bay- just how I preferred it to, making it elude me and frost over my empathy, my strength in swordsmanship was unrivaled and all worthy competition disappeared long, long ago, while there were few who showed promise, it was easy to tell that they were still far from ready to be considered anything near my league.

My once young and bold self was now transformed as this empty, uncompassionate man who was left into solitude not by being exiled, but by choosing to be elusive.

Honestly the transition wasn't as depressing as others assumed, the bold recklessness of youth never persisted long, and once I was humbled in the art of the blade, everything else just came naturally.

Soulmate city, a place where I once had the smallest of hopes in finding a soulmate and finally ending my eternal yearns for companionship, but alas my dreadful luck, I came up short- having long since passed the time of my prime.

I quickly grew bored of watching the synthetic bright colors flash through the obnoxious and chipper town, but as I turned away I suddenly felt something warm bloom in my chest.

It couldn't possibly be.

It was faint, very faint in fact, but I could just sense the small warmth, like a spark of light made from flint and steel- it ignited, slowly growing in intensity.

Something I just had to have was down there, no, it was a someone, an adrenaline rush that I haven't felt in ages sprung into my veins as I wielded my trusty blade, placing it onto my back and immediately headed for the door.

My soulmate is down there.

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Normal POV

You smiled at all the towering buildings standing before you, blinking excitedly, you took the last step out of the airport and wiped a (H/L) hair strand away from your face.

Deciding to move out of your small, cramped apartment and into Soulmate city to live with Shirley had to be the best decision of your life.

You were first introduced to Shirley when someone accidentally gave you the wrong mail, you two kept sending letters to one another, Shirley kept telling you how amazing Soulmate city was and you eventually had to come see it for yourself after seeing that last mail with the pictures.

The buildings were covered in bright flashing screens, the streets were bustling with citizens everywhere, and shops of all kinds were spotted everywhere!

You caught sight of a teenage girl with short orange hair, alone in a cab waiting for any takers and immediately called her over while clumsily clutching your luggage.

"Hi! I'm (Y/N)! Can you drive me over to-" you took a quick look at the letter your new friend gave you and read it word for word with squinted, narrowed eyes, "-nìevlozerra street?"

She blinked for a moment before saying she never heard of that street, but could find it with her improved log-pose model GPS.

With a small smile you thanked the girl before handing her some bills and entering the vehicle just before it zoomed off from the airport, and as you two got caught in traffic she decided to try and make small talk, "so this is your first time in the city?"

You eagerly nodded in excitement looking at all the pretty colors flash around everywhere like an overwhelmed pigeon, "mhm! This place looks so pretty too!"

The girl nodded and hummed in delight, "yep, but there are some things in life you gotta look out for, even in this town" your smile froze as that made you feel nervous for a second, looking at the severity in her brown eyes.

"See, there are plenty of crooks in this town- if not all of them are, but out of the very corn in the crops, the worst baddies gotta be the four mafia bosses, the eleven rookie gang leaders and the seven mob bosses" each name made a terrible feeling coil in your gut.

She looked back to you with a serious frown as the light finally turned green, "mafia bosses run all of the biggest crime groups and are behind all the big shit stuff in the entire city- drugs, trafficking, gambling- you name it, each one runs one part or two of the city so don't get into anything troublesome anywhere"

You nodded your head as she took a hard turn left, "the gang leaders are a bunch of young newbs around their twenties that have been recently making news- kinda more like terrorists sometimes though, and one is even in their late teens, they're blatantly new to the backstreets, but from what rumors go around, they are hardcore naturals at it"

Then she finally stopped at a red sign as some slow motorbike started to back out of a driveway in front of the taxi, taking this chance she absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder letting you catch a glimpse of a red shark-like tattoo with a jagged pole-like nose on her shoulder.

You wondered what that symbolized.

"Finally the seven mob bosses, they're a very strange bunch, they made a deal with the authorities way back when- like some treaty, so they get to do what they want as long as they don't harm any civilians and follow certain rules, some of them have the connections of a mafia while few have only themselves as a companion- but I wouldn't mess with them if I were you"

These criminal people sounded very scary indeed from this girl, maybe this place wasn't as safe and cheerful as you thought, and how Shirley made it all out to be..

A small buzz went off on her compass shaped screen startling you out of your thoughtful daze, "w-what? What does that mean?"

The woman furrowed her brows and irritably sighed, she took a very sharp turn and parked at the side of an empty sidewalk as some dark, ominous clouds started to roll in.

"It means the place you're looking for doesn't exist, now get out" your eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and your jaw almost dropped if you didn't catch it in time.

"D-doesn't e-exist? No there must be some mista-" "listen girlie I have no time for lost happy-go-lucky people like you, according to my map there isn't even a single place that sounds remotely close to yours, so please get out" you froze.

That last growl of her's frightened you, so you spent no time swiftly pulling the door open and stepping out into the now slightly foggy street, windows everywhere were smashed and building doors were boarded up on every block, catching sight of a rusted sign you found out this was part of some place called, the New World district.

With an uneasy frown you watched as she slammed the door shut and sprayed dirt into your face as her tires screeched off, "hey wait! You forgot my..my luggage" you dropped to a mumble seeing her car speed off.

You glared at where her car disappeared into the thickening fog and sighed, there was nothing really in your bag anyway, just some books, your passport, a diary and some snacks, and you didn't really need that passport anymore since you weren't welcome back home anyway, everyone there hated you.

Feeling frustration bubble up deep inside, you ripped out the letter from your pocket and unfolded it, with two blazing eyes you glared at the street name in the letter.

Nìevlozerra......

Niev lozerra........

Niev lozer.........

Naive loser.

The whole world froze around you, it was like time stopped and everything was just becoming a bad dream, you felt like you were deaf as a terrible ringing noise sounded in your ears and wouldn't stop, not even when you weakly covered them up.

You were set up.

Tears threatened to spring from your eyes, but you quickly fought them back down with sheer will, you may be quite naive but from all the books you've read your entire life you knew how to keep your cool and to stay collected, you must hide your weakness and stay brave.

The situation was salvageable, you couldn't go back but you now know you have nowhere to go here, all you simply had to do was take up a motel for maybe a day or two with the money you brought until you find a job that came with a place to live.

Problem solved.

But then as you reached into your back pocket you were met with a wide gaping hole that wasn't there before a moment ago, 'what?' You internally asked while your eyes twitched.

You tried again only to accidentally stick your whole hand through the gap and felt a freak-out coming on.

Your totally cool demeanor was immediately thrown out the fucking window as you desperately started to search all your pockets, only to come up completely empty, not even your gummy wrapper was left behind.

She was a pickpocket.

You were all alone, penniless, hopeless, betrayed and in a town full of crooks that you only just entered.

Finally to make your day even better, some random silver car with a grumpy raven man inside drove by and splashed a shit load of sewage water on your clothes, making you chilled to the bone in the unbearably cold humidity.

You immediately collapsed onto the ground as it passed by the corner with a defeated look in your eye.

You always had nothing, nobody liked you or your family, back at home they treated you guys like pesky vermin, but your mother always told you that you should never let anyone in that town define you, let what others thought of you control you, that you should never stop trusting people and that there will be that one person.

...She was a fool- no, but she always wanted the best for you...

Not being able to take the swirling and conflicting emotions inside, you collapsed onto the foggy sidewalk, legs weak and your mind lost in a haze, with no one there to help you, left teary eyed and defenseless.

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He didn't like it when there was a sudden pang in his chest, Mihawk unconsciously fisted his cloak, directly over where his heart was, that feeling felt bad, they were in distress- he just knew it.

Mihawk continuously ran with most urgency down the misty streets of the New World, effectively ignoring all the frightened cries of the citizens that noticed him rush by before either fainting or alerting the press and police.

His one and only top priority was to find his soulmate, so he didn't care whatsoever what happened around him, he just had to save them from whatever was causing his heart to ache so badly.

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You wearily opened your eyes to find yourself back on the empty sidewalk, still alone, weakened, and unbelievably exhausted, but you didn't even try to move.

This was finally it, you couldn't bring yourself to continue fighting on, not while you were all alone, not in a city full of people who will only take advantage of your instinctive trust and kindness, your naivety too, not when the memories of your mother would never allow you to fall into the darkness and join in on the criminality of this twisted place, a place obviously not for the kind hearted.

You couldn't survive here.

With a small sigh you slowly closed your eyes only to hear a distant click clack of combat boots stomping into puddles, aggressively moving through the water like a driven beast.

Scrunching your eyes together you concentrated on the sound, it sounded like the owner was nearly frantic to get somewhere, but at the same time each step was still proud and precise, with a bit of restraint kept on them, almost like hesitation in a way.

You kinda felt warmth spike in your chest hearing the clap clapping of the soles of their shoes.

The sounds finally stopped when you guessed the owner found you by the proximity it became, now they would probably search your body for any valuables or maybe perhaps finish you off themselves.

But you were greatly shocked when two strangely gentle arms reached down and urgently scooped you into a strong chest with a delicately fluttering heart beating against your head in a reassuring manner.

For some reason you felt safe and relaxed as the person now calmly carried you from which they came bridle style, not being able to deny your curiosity, you weakly looked up and was met with two beautiful golden eyes...this person was your- soulmate, wasn't he? Shit his face, oh god no, he wasn't ugly, jesus no he had the face of an angel, or perhaps a demon from the way the man dressed.

"Y-You're my soulmate, aren't you? Heh, actually, you have much too beautiful eyes to possibly be mine" you jokingly laughed sadly, your mind was still very weak so you couldn't see very well, but you thought he smirked sadly as well- almost bitterly, "and you have such a pretty smile, I've been waiting to meet you for a very long time, miss?" You tiredly blinked blindly and half smiled up at your savior and new life partner, "(Y/N)" maybe, things would turn out alright after all?

You quietly passed out in his arms as he continued down the empty main street, along with confused and shocked people soon crowding the sidewalks following with the press and police taking photos and reports of this strange event, "I am Mihawk, Dracule Mihawk mi amor" he softly purred down at your unconscious body, softly letting a ghost of a smile catch his lips.

This, this was the beginning of something lovely indeed.