Dante, staring at his three opponents, merely snorted and smiled (an imaginary smile). He took out a cigarette and lit it with a lighter.
The three of them looked at him with great irritation, but there was a tension, one that said if they attacked, Dante would counterattack twice as much; that's why none of them had moved an inch.
After taking a drag on his cigarette, he looked at King, Queen, and Jack, who were standing there doing nothing.
Dante: "This seems like the beginning of a bad joke: a sadomasochist, an obese man, and a brat who was given more supplements than he should have; it makes me laugh."
Queen: "Like, obese. If I lost weight, I'd be too handsome; that's why I'm like this." Dante just glanced over and ignored him, making Queen want to kill the former hero even more.
King: "I guess I'm the sadomasochist?"
Dante: "You dressed like one, so you could say you are," he said lightly as he took another drag on his cigar.
In the distance, a spectator could be seen watching and listening to the four, mostly wondering how Dante could smoke with a mask and no mouth.
Jack: "I've had enough," he said, drawing his curved swords and lunging at Dante. He had Queen and King; he wasn't worried about losing, so he launched an attack without much thought.
King: "Wait," he said to Jack, but it was too late.
Jack tried to cut Dante in half, but Dante just dodged without looking at him.
Dante: "It's a pain; they don't let you smoke in peace these days." And enlarging the scythe, he hit Jack between the sickle and the handle, quickly spinning it and throwing him to the ground, causing him to bounce in King's direction.
King caught it, but the force of the throw sent him backward, colliding with the broken wall.
Queen wasted no time and fully transformed into his brachiosaurus form. He extended his robotic tail, fur, and fur; he began firing laser beams. Dante simply dodged it like the plague; with a simple trot, he reached Queen.
Seeing that he was facing Dante, Queen tried to cut him in half with his saber, but Dante transformed his scythe into a giant mace and with one blow broke Queen's weapon and, consequently, hit him in the side, throwing him a little close to the spectator who was watching all this.
At this action, the spectator became slightly frightened and started running away.
Dante couldn't pay much attention to this, as Jack leaped forward again with great fury, this time trying to hurt Dante as if the fight where his opponent was clearly giving him a humiliating beating had never happened.
Dante: "I already said I don't like fighting with a brat." After all, Jack was a brat, one with many steroids and strange supplements, but he still stood out from that category like Ulti or Page One.
And with that, Dante punched him in the jaw, sending him flying away with the intention of knocking him unconscious. He then dodged a slash that came from where Jack had arrived.
King arrived with his sword ready to attack, but he paused for a moment when he saw he was alone against Dante. King was no fool and knew that if he wanted to achieve anything, he had to be serious from the start.
He lit his sword on fire and launched himself at Dante. Dante generated chains that flew in the direction of the Fusion Sword he'd set aside when he arrived to attract it, but the chains didn't disappear.
Dante was about to respond to King's attack, but at the last moment he pulled his sword back, sending King slamming into the air and ground, only to see his opponent spin around and kick him in the ribs.
He felt pain; the damage was minimal, but Dante didn't kick too hard; he was testing how much force King could withstand. On the other hand, Dante felt like he'd hit a compressed ball of steel. This was something he could break, but with strength and Haki, he stubbed his toe.
King tried to slash at Dante, but Dante jumped ahead, leaping at the first Beast Pirate Commander, who could only block the attack horizontally with his sword. The moment he strikes, it feels like Kaido has hit him with a sledgehammer while drunk and out of control.
He feels his limbs ache enough to make him kneel. Dante, seeing this, falls to the ground after the attack and, spinning his sword, lifts King into the air. He uses his sword again to block Dante's slashes, causing him to spin again and sending him flying in the opposite direction from where he sent Queen.
Left alone, he pondered what to do next; he didn't want to fight that monster Jack. King was going to chase him no matter what, so the only option left was the one who was currently slinking away like a rat. With that decision, he went after Queen.
Elsewhere, Queen is running out of transformation, looking around for a place to disappear to. He's a little panicked, so he can't think with his head full of energy. He's holding the side where Dante hit him with the hammer; it hurt enough that he can't walk properly.
As he walked up some stairs to reach the next floor, he saw Dante standing there, playing with a half-smoked cigarette.
Dante: "I think you missed the main hall since you're done here and left the main show, but don't worry, I'm already here," he said mockingly.
Queen: "You bastard, I'll use you as research material and divide you into seven parts to study you." She said in a voice of utter fury, her eyes red and her body impatient.
Dante said nothing; he just stared at her, wondering if she was being too mean to him. She only came to annoy and make all this spectacle as compensation for those who opposed Orochi, and he had to kill them while acting as their general. There weren't many, since he saved quite a few, but he still had to do it so he wouldn't suspect him of his infiltration.
To sum up, he didn't want to create too much enmity with the Beast Pirates, but he felt things might be getting out of hand.
Dante: 'It doesn't matter; what's done is done. if they're going to be like this, then maybe he'll do more than he should.'
A few floors below, someone could be seen running around, not knowing what to do. He didn't know whether to hide from all this, whether to take advantage of the opportunity to escape and fulfill his dreams, or whether to try to help King and the others; he was undecided.
Out of nowhere, he felt the palace shake, only to see the roof collapse a few feet away, flooding the place with smoke and debris.
When the smoke cleared, he saw Queen lying face up on the ground, with wounds on his body; blood was coming out of his mouth. Above him was Dante, holding his sword, staring at his opponent, wondering what he was going to do next.
Queen: "I'm b-a-a-a-d-i-n-g," he moaned as he fell unconscious. Thus, Dante defeated Queen, with some difficulty, since the great advantage all these guys have is their great defense. But Dante can evade it, ignore it, and simply destroy it, so defeating them was no big deal.
Once he saw Queen unconscious, he jumped to land beside him; he was no longer interested in this guy. He shifted his gaze from the person standing not far away, the person who had been watching for much of his confrontation with Kaido's three strongest subordinates.
The spectator wasn't sure of the identity of these people, but upon seeing him head-on and his sword, he knew who it was: Dante, the hero. He knew nothing about this person; he'd only seen a bounty poster for him that King had brought back a while ago—nothing more—but the word "hero" stuck with him. Why would a pirate be called a hero? That did stick in his mind; that's why he remembered the person on the poster with that iconic sword.
Dante: "Who are you?" he asked the spectator.
This person came out of his shock upon hearing the question, stood still for a moment as if considering what to say next, only to lift a foot, strike a ridiculous pose, and speak loudly.
???: "I am Oden, Kozuki Oden," he said while striking the pose.
Dante: "Hooooo," he exclaimed, as if he saw the astonishment, but it didn't really shock him much, only to ask again. "But isn't Kozuki Oden dead?" That question made the person in front of him freeze. "Why would Kozuki Oden be at the Beast Pirates' base?" That question became smaller. "Kozuki Oden is a man, but you're a woman, aren't you?" That caused him to abandon his ridiculous pose, letting his limp arms fall in the air. "How can you be part of the Kozuki family if you're an oni? You're an imposter?" That made him shrink even more than he was. "If you're Kozuki Oden, why haven't you gone to find your allies and tried to defeat Orochi?"
With that last question, the spirits of the people in front of Dante dropped to the subterranean level. He knelt down, staring at the ground, and began to make circles on the floor, saying things I couldn't hear.
Dante: "So who are you?" she asked again.
Dante knew who she was, as he remembered almost the entire plot of One Piece. He only did this so that she would say certain things herself and so that he wouldn't sound like a psychic or someone who knows things he shouldn't.
???: "My name is Yamato, and I'm Kaido's son," he said in a dejected tone, as if only a whisper.
Outside the main base, King could be seen walking slowly in the direction where Dante had fallen. He went to see the Tobirropo, who had been defeated by Dante. He didn't care what happened to the other pirates there, but these people were important members of the group, and since he was in charge, he had to check on them, since he didn't know their condition.
If it were up to him, if Dante was looking for something or some object, he'd make it quick and leave so he could get rid of this headache and see all the damage that had happened to the base.
Eventually, he reached where all the Tobirropo were, except for Sasaki, who was quite far away. He could only sigh and hope that the madman who was doing all this would go away. This thought was mostly that Dante hadn't killed anyone, so he didn't care much about the others who might pass by; he just wanted him to leave and be done with it.
Since he was here, he would take advantage of the opportunity to wake up the three who were sleeping as if there weren't an intruder in the base; seeing them like that made his blood boil.
Inside the palace, the conversation between Dante and Yamato continued.
Dante: "So, what? You're a huge fan of Oden?" Yamato just nodded as if Dante's words were flattering. "And you want to be like him?" She nodded again. "Then why don't you go?"
That stopped her, and she looked at her wrists.
Yamato: "My father has these chains on me that explode the moment I leave Onigashima; I'm not sure if they're real, but I'd rather not risk it." She also didn't really want to know if that was the case, as she couldn't bear to know that her father doesn't care about her safety; after all, she's still a young teenager.
Dante: "Hmm, you know, I heard something about Kozuki Oden outside Wanokuni."
Yamato: "Really?" she said excitedly.
Dante: "If it turns out he was the second-in-command of the Whitebeard Pirates, an old man I know very well, if you want, I can take you to him so you can hear more about your idol from his captain and follow in Oden's footsteps." He said as he detransformed and gave her a smile.
Yamato just stared at him, and something inside her told her this man wasn't a bad person; the word "hero" in his title must mean something, but she still had doubts.
Yamato: "Are you sure? And can you take these chains off me?" she asked doubtfully.
Dante: "I can do it, but you must be sure that you won't regret following in Kozuki Oden's footsteps." He said with little acceptance. He didn't like seeing someone follow in someone else's footsteps, something he tried to do and ended up losing himself, following in the footsteps of a hero, causing his great friend to die for that stupid thought, but it was Yamato's life, and he wasn't going to try to change her mind.
Yamato just nodded with great determination. Dante only looked at her briefly before grabbing her wrists and inflicting internal destruction on them. Suspecting what was going to happen, at the moment of destroying her, he threw him as far away as possible from the two of them and from Queen, who was still unconscious.
Not far away, Jack could be seen running around the place looking for Dante; he had already found him, so he headed in his direction, only to feel a huge explosion, causing him to cover his eyes because of the light.
In that direction, Dante and Yamato were seen jumping out of a room, only to see a fire and a half-cooked queen flying through the air.
Dante: "Shit," he said, seeing all the destruction. He underestimated the explosion those chains would generate; it was about 100 times stronger than the ones used by the Celestial Dragons' slaves. Not far away, Yamato was seen falling to the ground, his stomach full of fear, thinking that if he had wanted to leave Wano, he would most likely have died, and it would all have been his father's fault. In that moment, the little affection he had for Kaido vanished.
Jack: "There you are," he said, ignoring everything that had happened as he looked at Dante and threw himself at him.
Dante just clicked his tongue as he saw him rush to where he was. He didn't like hurting women or children, but there were situations where he had to act, because if he did nothing, the situation could end much worse.
Dante: "My right fist wants to dedicate a lullaby to you," he said, dodging the attack to apply double the power of the previous punch he had given him before, only instead of throwing it far away, he sent it crashing to the ground.
With the blow, Jack's head traveled rapidly to the ground, destroying the ground in a 5-meter radius around him, destroying his mask and some bones along with a tooth and a horn. Thus, Dante defeated Jack, leaving him unconscious on the ground, not far from Queen, who was also unconscious with part of her body burned by the explosion.
Dante glanced to see if she was okay. Excellent, they weren't, but it was something recoverable; in the process, he was settling her mind so they could start thinking before acting as if they were invincible.
And so, he left the palace looking for his last opponent; Yamato followed him from behind as if he were an unconditional follower.
Shortly after, outside the building, he met King, who had already awakened Black Maria, Ulti, and Page One.
Dante: "What's up, is everything okay?" he asked the others, who looked at him as if he were a freak.
King: "What happened with Queen and Jack?" he asked Dante.
Dante: "I live sleeping in a dream to soothe my headache and excessive heat." He said, playing with the Fusion Sword as if it were a thin wooden stick.
King: "Tell me, why did you come here?" At that moment, he asked the right question.
Dante stopped playing with his weapon and looked directly at King.
Dante: "I only came to fight you. I may have arrived a little crazy, and I apologize for that, but as soon as I arrived, they didn't even ask why I came; they all automatically started attacking me; I just acted out of default."
King didn't quite believe his explanation, but there wasn't much he could do about it. No matter how untrustworthy Dante was, taking action against him was something the beast pirates would do, so he could only sigh at everything that was happening.
King: "You just came to fight me and nothing more?" Dante nodded like a puppy. "After that, you'll leave," he nodded again. "Fine, follow me; the others, stay far away."
And with that, King went to a secluded spot on Onigashima, followed by Dante and the others. After about five minutes, they arrived at a desolate place with no one around.
King and Dante stared at each other for a few seconds. The rest of the Tobirropos stood far away, staring; Yamato was elsewhere, a little closer, doing the same.
Dante: "I hope you don't hold back, as I'm going all out," he said as wings sprouted from his back; one of his eyes turned blue, and a blue aura appeared around him along with his Conqueror's Haki.
King didn't reply; he just got into a counterattack stance as his sword was engulfed in fire.
Dante quickly pressed a button on the Fusion Swords, causing six swords to fly out of the main blade. Dante simply grabbed a longsword or a shorter one and launched himself at King at top speed.
King couldn't use his Observation Haki at 100% due to Dante's Haki and his own nervousness. He only narrowly dodged a slash aimed at his shoulder.
Dante: "Excellent reaction; I think I should go faster." That alerted King, who received a kick to the ribs.
He couldn't think about the pain in his two broken ribs as he flew at a speed that was beyond supernatural. He didn't know if staying on the ground was a better option than flying, but he had to block Dante's constant attacks.
From the right, then from the left, from one side, from the other. It came from all directions. King looked like a rag doll, moving from one side to the other as he took Dante's blows, which he could barely block.
With his sword, he generated a wall of fire, hoping to give him some respite, only to see Dante simply cut through it, using his blades to block the fire and launch a slash that he couldn't block, knocking him far from his initial position.
As he fell to the ground, he immediately got up, only to see his abdomen bleeding, realizing that Dante was serious. At this, he opted to extinguish the fire on his back to gain more speed and be able to escape Dante's attacks.
The moment Dante reached him, King flew upward with his wings, resembling a rocket exceeding the speed of sound. And to his horror, Dante quickly caught up with him.
Dante never trained an attack technique or special attacks; for him, it was unnecessary. For him, two things were most important, and he trained them as much as he could: one being strength and the other being speed. If Kizaru is the fastest person in this world, then Dante would be the second.
They barely saw the two silhouettes colliding one after the other, only to see one fall to the ground. This happened in just 46 minutes since they began flying through the air.
Dante, seeing an opening, launched two slashes at King, who met him head-on, sending him to the ground at great speed.
He saw King stand up while clutching the wounds on his body, but without letting go of his sword; in the process, he relit the fire on his back. He realized he couldn't beat Dante in either speed or strength, so he could only be as defensive as possible and use every trick up his sleeve.
King launched an energy attack at Dante; He did the same. You could see how the attacks met halfway between the two, canceling each other out. Until one of the attacks Dante launched destroyed King's, quickly heading toward him.
King managed to dive to the side, dodging the attack. Only to see Dante just stand there, watching him and doing nothing. This irritated him, as it showed there wasn't really going to be a fight; he wasn't taking this fight seriously.
Dante stared at King, wondering what to do next. He could engage in swordplay, but before all that, he'd proven he was more skilled than King; now he'd proven he was stronger and faster. The only thing left to do was to see if he could get through King's final attack, so he kept wondering if he was going to do it.
King was already out of this fight, but he still had to give it his all to avoid losing face with the others. So he raised his sword, which caught fire, only to open his eyes to see Dante face-to-face.
Dante may have been thinking about running through King's final attack, but he always believed that only an idiot would let his enemy complete his attack against him; so, using his speed and his soru, he reached King.
And with a punch to the stomach, Dante sent King flying. They both dropped their swords, one from the blow and the other because he wanted to end this with a fistfight.
As King bounced off the ground, Dante came up behind him, stopping him and kicking him in the face, lifting him into the air. Then he grabbed King's arm like a bride holding her boyfriend and began hitting him consecutively with his free arm.
A punch to the face, another to the broken rib, another to the stomach. He did this until he let go and, with a single blow, sent King to the ground, just like Jack, only King didn't faint immediately.
King remained on the ground, trying to get up, but his body hurt so much that he couldn't move it the way he wanted.
Dante walked slowly to his side, summoning Murasama and pointing it at King.
???: "Stop." A voice was heard. It was Yamato; these people may be Kaido's subordinates, but they had cared for her all this time despite her rebellion. She didn't mind fighting and knocking him out, but killing was something else for her.
Dante looked at her for a moment and then back at the dejected King.
Dante: "I didn't plan to kill him, just to incapacitate him so he couldn't do anything else for a few weeks," he said, placing his sword on top of Kin, then ducking down as he raised his arm and punched him in the face, knocking him out.
[You have defeated Kaido's first commander; your reward is 30,000,000,000 LP.]
Dante: "Maybe I should have a friendly match against Marcos one of these days to accumulate more LP," he said upon receiving the system notification.
Once he was up, he stretched a little as if he had just finished exercising.
Dante: "Well, we're off," I said, looking at Yamato.
Yamato: "Huh?" she asked, only to realize that Dante had grabbed her by the hip and, with a single leap, had flown away with her.
Black Maria, Ulti, and Page One stared around the room, not knowing what to do next, leaving everything silent.
With Dante and Yamato, the latter was uneasy, as this was unexpected for her.
Yamato: "Wait, stop carrying it like that, like it's a crutch," she said.
Dante: "So how do you want me to hold you then?" he said, continuing to fly in a particular direction.
Yamato: "Some other, less humiliating way." He said to her,
Dante: "You know I'm going to let you go," he said directly.
Yamato: "Wait," she said, immediately upset upon hearing that. "I'm a Devil Fruit user, so yes, AHHHHH." She tried to speak, but he had already let her go.
Yamato fell, her eyes watering and screaming in panic, only to land on something solid. Ignoring the headache from the impact, she stared at where she fell.
It was a boat, a long one, with no cabin and only oars and sails to navigate. Her panic turned to confusion, only to see Dante land neatly beside her.
Dante: "Welcome to my ship, the Skíðblaðnir; make yourself comfortable," he said as he took the helm. "Our stop is on the outskirts of Wanokuni."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the delay in the chapters; I've been busy with academic matters, but I'm now stabilizing, and therefore, I'll be back to writing chapters as before.
I also made this chapter longer to compensate for the lack of chapters these days.
I also want to make it clear that Dante and Yamato won't have a romantic relationship; their relationship will be something else, which will be revealed in the upcoming chapters.
Without further ado, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and for those who live in Venezuela, Merry Christmas.