Dream World, Volcano Island.
Among the multiple different environments of the Dream World, the ocean had a particular charm that was hard to find anywhere else. With its gigantic waves, diverse ecosystem, dangers, treasures, and all the mysteries it hid, the ocean was the dream place for all those who had an adventurous spirit.
The ocean of the Dream World was boundless, by riding its waves, it was possible to chance upon small islands, big islands, continents, and many more different places. None of the islands that could be found in the ocean were the same, they all had something unique to them, and it was the same for Volcano Island, an island that just as the name suggested was filled with volcanos and fire, an island that was constantly burning.
Usually, life was peaceful on the island. Because of its environment, Volcano Island was a suitable place for creatures with an affinity to the fire element like drakes, fire salamanders, fire dragons, and many others to live in. Thanks to the Dream World settings, battles over food were meaningless, so the concept of battles over territories did not exist, all the beings on the island lived in peace and harmony...
Except for one day, when that comfortable peace was suddenly destroyed by a bunch of visitors...
"Gear Second! Busoshoku: Koka! Gomu gomu no... Red Hawk!"
"Rasengan!"
BANG!!
BOOOM!!
The head-on collision between a red burning fist and a destructive sphere of wind was followed by a big explosion that startled the entire island's population.
"Shishishi! Not bad!"
"Yare yare."
On a vast burning plain at the center of the island, the figure of a bare-chested young man with a straw hat strapped to his back and another younger-looking bare-chested young man with blue eyes could be seen rushing madly at each other.
"Gomu gomu no... Jet Gatling!"
Seeing the powerful attack of the straw hat boy coming towards him, the blue eyes boy smiled serenely and opted for defense.
"Tekkai."
BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!
The attacks of the straw hat boy were fast and heavy, but the boy with blue eyes stayed strong and did not move a centimeter, his defense staying solid.
"My turn... Soru!"
Not wanting to let his opponent take control of the fight, the blue eyes boy suddenly accelerated and crossed the twenty meters between him and his foe in an instant.
"Busoshoku: Koka!"
Just like his opponent a moment before, the blue eyes boy's right arm suddenly turned black.
"Plus..."
And that wasn't all, suddenly, the eyes of the boy turned red and his right arm was suddenly surrounded by black and red lightning bolts.
"Haha!"
After the straw hat boy saw that, he too cocked back his right arm and the same phenomenon happened to him.
BANG!!
BOOM!!
The impact of the boys' fists caused a great shockwave that destroyed everything ten meters around them and generated a big cloud of dust, showing how much power was hidden in these simple blows.
.
..
...
After all the dust settled down, the creatures who came to spectate the fight were able to see the two boys standing in the middle of a ten-meter wide and half-a-meter-deep crater.
"Shishishi! Looks like it's a draw, Dante!"
"Mm, thanks for the little spar Luffy."
That's right, the two boys fighting ferociously just a minute earlier were none other than Monkey D. Luffy and the main character of this story, Kuroda Dante.
"Oi, are you guys done? Dinner's ready!"
Just as they were done fighting, they suddenly heard the call of someone.
"Dinner's ready?! Yosha! I'm coming Sanji!"
Seeing Luffy being Luffy, Dante smiled and followed him. Not long ago, Dante suddenly had the idea of exploring the oceans of the Dream World, and today, as he was taking a stroll in the middle of the ocean, he ended up meeting Luffy and his crew on the shore of Volcano Island.
Luffy being the adventure junkie that he was, was not able to stay in place when he was brought to this world. Soon, he answered the call to adventure and took his crew on an unending journey to explore the infinite surprises the Dream World had to offer.
As for the reason why Dante and Luffy were fighting, it was simply because Dante had always dreamed of fighting Luffy in his previous life. Although the fight wasn't a serious one, it still was a fun experience for him, and it was a good time to test his progress.
Soon, Dante arrived at the little camp Luffy and his crew had set up.
"Sheesh, you sure don't know how to hold back, Luffy, Dante! You guys should learn how to restrain yourself!"
Hearing that, Luffy showed a perplexed expression.
"What are you saying Ussop? We were already holding back a lot you know."
Dante quickly agreed and supported Luffy's claim.
"Yeah, if we were to go all out, the island would have been destroyed."
Hearing this, Ussop simply sighed with a defeated expression.
"You guys are monsters... well, it's not like there is not worse than you two, that bald guy Saitama is even crazier..."
"Shishishi! Who cares?! Let's eat!"
.
..
...
After the crew was done eating, Dante took some distance from the others, he wanted to be alone for a bit.
"Eighty years eh? Time sure flies..."
Eighty years... It was the total number of years that went by since Dante and his friends had decided what their quirks and abilities would be, seventy years in the Dream World and ten years in the real world.
"Mm, I would probably be considered a geezer right now in my previous life... Weirdly enough, I don't feel like I'm some kind of wise man or anything like that."
Fifteen years old or ninety-two years old, this was Dante's current situation. One funny aspect of Dante's reincarnation was that in his few years of life, his personality had been greatly affected by his body. This, combined with the numerous years he spent in the Dream World where time was way faster, made Dante quite unsure of how he was supposed to behave.
One side of him had the mischievousness of a child, another one had the fearlessness of a young adult, and another one had the composure of an elderly... At first, Dante was completely lost and didn't know which side of him he should listen to, so sometimes he would act like a child, sometimes he would act like an adult, and sometimes he would even behaves like an old man, all of it being without his control.
"Haha, thankfully I was able to take care of that. Now that I think about it, it was quite the weird experience."
Dante had been aware of his problem for a long time now, and after Hayato had told him about his little meeting with Sun Wukong, Dante had the idea to visit him too.
Since he was this world's creator, Dante had the privilege to go anywhere he wanted. After meeting the Monkey King and meditating under the bodhi tree for multiple years, Dante was finally able to solve that problem of his a few decades ago. The solution to his problem wasn't something magical like the complete erasure of his different personalities, no, what happened was that he managed to learn to live with them and accept them. Now, Dante was able to choose which side of him should surface, depending on the situation he could be fearless, childish, calm, brash, patient, courageous, caring, sharing, or logical. Now, he no longer was a slave of his different personalities, he was the one in control.
Dante's control over his different personalities would then be even more precise thanks to his now strong mind. Forty-eight years ago, or when he reached nine years old in the real world, Dante had gathered enough dream energy to give himself and his friends the bodies they wanted. Other than that, he was also able to enact another one of his plans that was discussed a long time ago, the trauma-eating mind plan.
By using his powers, Dante was able to alter his mind and the minds of his friends, giving them the ability to devour any traumas they would develop, then using the said traumas to strengthen their minds. By doing that, Dante was trying to anticipate different scenarios.
The first one would be brainwashing, by having a strong mind, they would be able to resist any sort of brainwashing method.
The second one would be to avoid having their quirks stolen by AFO. According to the manga, it was possible to fight back against AFO's ability to steal quirks with a strong enough mind. In the manga, Midoriya was able to avoid having his quirk stolen by OFA because he received help from the previous OFA holders. The problem with that was that Midoriya had thanks to OFA, a mind power equivalent to nine people, something impossible under normal circumstances. What that meant was that having a strong mind wasn't enough, one needed to have an extremely strong mind to protect themselves from AFO, if not, Cathleen Bate would not have her quirk stolen by Shigaraki Tomura.
"Although I'm not sure if it will work, having a strong mind is always a good thing, plus, I can always simply dream of their quirks being unstealable, it's just that it's expensive and I would like to do this only if it's my last resort."
Dante wasn't worried about his quirk getting stolen at all, in fact, he would be extremely happy if AFO tried to do it. When Dante was done showing his quirk design to God before his reincarnation, God had been extremely insistent on the fact that under no circumstances should Dante try to give his quirk to someone else, that would only end with the end of his existence and the end of the one he would try to give his quirk to.
Dante's power was extremely powerful, so powerful that it could greatly affect the working of the different plains of existence. To avoid that, the workings of existence could not allow this power to freely roam the different worlds and jump from one user to another.
Endless Dream would be a power that would live and die with Dante. Anybody else who tried to get their hands on this power would simply cease to exist, no reincarnation possible.
"Well, it's not like AFO will be a deadly threat to us. With the progress we have made during the last decades, AFO will really need to bring his A-game if he wants to be a lethal threat to us."
Dante wasn't being arrogant there, he was aware of the threat that represented AFO. In Dante's opinion, AFO wasn't in the category of immediate threats, he was in his list of possible threats. Thanks to his powers, if given enough time and opportunities, AFO could realistically become an extremely strong being. The man could get stronger the more time he was given, he had an entire world full of powerful quirks at his disposition after all... but the thing was, Dante and his friend were really strong, AFO would need to give it his all if he wanted to do anything to them.
Regarding Dante's friends, the truth was that in the last decades, Dante and his friends had not seen each other much. The last time they met in the Dream World was the day they told Dante what their new quirks would be, after that, they all went their separate ways to do their own training. After the incident that almost took their lives, strength became an obsession for them, they understood that strength was essential if they wanted to live as they wish.
Although they didn't talk as much, their relationship seemed to have gotten stronger. Strangely, although they didn't talk to each other, they all knew that the next time they would talk normally again... they would take the world by surprise.
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The next day, Dante woke up and joined the Mugiwaras for breakfast.
"Ah, good morning Dante-kun."
"Good morning Nami, where are the others?"
"Luffy, Zoro, and Ussop are still sleeping, Sanji is cooking breakfast and the rest are doing their own things."
"I see."
Seeing the beautiful young woman in front of him, Dante suddenly thought of the different women he would meet in this new life. In his previous life, Dante, unfortunately, died as a virgin. Although he wasn't particularly bothered by it, it still was somewhat of a stain on his record... he needed to make sure that such a thing would not happen again.
"I need a waifu..."
"Did you say something?"
"Ah, no, I was just saying that it's time for me to go."
"Already? Can't you at least stay for breakfast?"
Hearing Nami's request, Dante smiled and looked into the distance, images of an exciting future seemingly flashing in his eyes.
"I would love to, but... I have an exam to take."