Dante: "This food is really good," he said, eating lasagna.
Usopp: "You're right, boss," he said, eating seafood.
Luffy: "The best," he said, eating a large piece of meat.
???: "What are you doing here eating? You should be working," said the blond cook angrily.
And with that, he grabbed Luffy by the collar of his coat and dragged him to the kitchen to clean up, still holding onto the meat.
Right now, we're at the Baratie restaurant/ship.
Zoro: "If this keeps up, we'll be stuck here forever," he said resignedly.
Nami was very interested in what was happening since she was eating the dessert she got completely free from the cook.
We've been here for a while now, and as you can imagine, it happened just like in the original story: Luffy destroyed the restaurant, injured Zeff, the head chef, and now has to work to pay off his debt. I could pay for what he did, but the question is, why would I do that?
Out of nowhere, a dying man appeared; he was wearing a tracksuit, which was basically my cue that this part of the story was about to begin.
That was my signal to disappear; while all the chaos unfolded, I went to hide on the Going Merry and waited. After a while, I felt Nami board the ship and set off for what I imagined was Cocoyasi Village.
After the ship had sailed far enough away, I emerged from my hiding place; at that moment, I looked at Nami, who was staring at a specific spot in the sea, unaware of my presence.
Dante: "I see you escaped and stole the ship," I said.
That made her jump in fright, turning to look at me with wide eyes.
Nami: "What are you doing here?" she asked, somewhat panicked.
Dante: "I was resting on the boat when you stole it, and since we're here, you can tell me what it's been keeping from me," I said with a smile.
Nami: "Youuu," she said, narrowing her eyes, then sighed. She sat down with her arms crossed and glared at me. "The mayor of Orange Town said you went there with a woman who looked a lot like me; is that true?"
Dante: "Absolutely true, so what?"
She just clicked her tongue at my indifference.
Nami: "Who was that woman?"
Dante: "A woman I met a long time ago, her name was Nix, and she looks a lot like you; you could be twins if only she hadn't died." When he said that, her eyes widened, but she also calmed down a little, as if a shadow that had been in her heart had been lifted.
Nami: "Do you think she was my biological mother?"
Dante: "Most likely, I wasn't in East Blue at that time; in fact, I was in conflict with some mafias and members of the underworld, which is why I distanced myself from her, but perhaps that was a mistake," I said, making her reflect on my words.
Nami: "So you're..."
Dante: "I have no idea who your father could have been," I said, interrupting her. "I admit I was with her, but it was only for a few days, nothing substantial enough to say I'm your father; most likely your father died with her."
Nami: "But..."
Dante: "Nami, understand that things aren't as easy as you think; in fact, I didn't even know you existed until much later, when I visited Arlong." I lied, but that's not the point; she tensed up when she heard that.
Nami: "You know Arlong?" she asked, already showing her distrust of me.
I just sighed.
Dante: "I met Arlong a long time ago, when he was part of the Sun Pirates."
Nami: "The Sun Pirates?" she asked.
Dante: "Yes, you've seen that symbol on Arlong's men that looks like a sun." She just nodded. "That was a mark they made to cover the brand of slavery of the World Nobles," he told her, which made her mouth open without saying a word. "Their captain, a former slave, escaped and returned to free many of his brothers and one more; he asked me for help, which I accepted in his rescue. That's how I became friends with him and met several fish-men, including Arlong."
Nami: "So Arlong was a slave?"
Dante: "Not exactly. Some fish-men joined Fisher out of admiration and respect, including Arlong and his men. He was never a slave, so I never really understood his hatred of humans." She just nodded, saying nothing. "Look, it's fine that you hate Arlong for what he did to you, but don't hate fish-men as a whole, since their race has suffered a lot. But don't pity them too much either, because there are races or clans that have suffered much more than they have."
Nami: "Okay." And so we remained in a slightly awkward silence. "Hey, I have another question."
Dante: "Tell me," I said, sitting down.
Nami: "If you went to the village, why didn't you help us if you're a hero?"
Dante: "It's a bit complicated to explain. I can only say that things were already done, and I didn't think it was worth intervening. Besides, before I left, I gave him a small warning, so it's not like I did nothing."
And that was the end of the conversation. I didn't know how much longer it would take to reach our destination or how long the others would take when we arrived, but in these situations, all you can do is wait.
After a while, Nami spoke again.
Nami: "We're almost there."
Dante: "Well, then I'll move," I said.
Nami: "You're leaving, aren't you going to help me with Arlong?"
Dante: "No, I have other things to do here."
Nami: "You're going to do the same thing here as you did in Usopp's village." She said, annoyed and disappointed.
Dante: "Not exactly. There should be a branch here, and the fact that they're doing nothing about Arlong means they're all in cahoots and riddled with corruption. I'll take care of that; Arlong will be dealt with later," I told her, and before she could reply, I transformed into my hybrid form and left.
...
I can just imagine how angry Nami must be; I told her I was going to look into the marines' situation, and in the end, I did nothing. I can just picture her face.
The truth is, I was waiting for Nezumi and his corrupt escort to leave their branch, since that's where Luffy and the others would arrive from.
Once all that was over, I finally started to act.
In my opinion, all the marines under Nezumi's command are incredibly corrupt. If they'd sent me to work for that rat, I would have quit, left, or deserted, but they stayed to support his horrible crimes, so there's no redemption for them.
So I came, destroyed the whole place, killed all the marines indiscriminately, and before leaving the place in mere rubble and dust, I searched for all the important documents that detailed this guy's atrocities and saved them; I would send them to Mrogans later so he could do something about them.
The moment the rat returned, he made a huge scene; to me, his attitude and demeanor were worse than a World Noble, believing himself almost untouchable. In the end, I couldn't hold back, and my most bloodthirsty side came out. I tied him up so he could never escape, attached him to a giant piece of iron weighing over 60 kg, and threw him into the sea to drown. I could have done better, but I felt that killing him quickly was something he didn't deserve.
I called Morgans and told him what had happened, so he sent one of his birds to my address, since he still has my Vrive card.
...
I turned around to see Nami, who had a bandage on her arm covering the old tattoo that represented her loyalty to Arlong.
Dante: "What's up?"
Nami: "Well, I wanted to thank you." I didn't understand what she was saying, and I think it showed on my face, because she continued with her speech. "It's just that when it was mentioned that you were here in the village, Arlong got quite agitated, and in the end, one of the men blurted out how you threatened them so they wouldn't touch me or my sister. That's why I'm thanking you."
Dante: "It's nothing." I said, downplaying it, since without my intervention, nothing so serious would have happened anyway, at least as far as I remember.
Nami felt like she wanted to say something else, but she didn't dare.
Dante: "Do you have anything else to add?"
Nami: "Well, it's about my father; from what I understand, you say you're not my father, but there's that small possibility that you are," she said, a little shyly.
I just sighed; everything in my mind pointed to me not being his father, but she wouldn't rest easy until she was sure. I pulled a hair from my head, took her hand, and put it in her palm.
Dante: "With this and one of your hairs, we can see our genetic match; that way you'll know if we're related. Keep this hair, and if you get the chance, check it." She took my lock of hair and nodded. "Well, I'm a little tired, so I'm going."
The next day we were all ready to leave: Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp, with me in between.
Sanji: "So you're a member of the crew?" he asked, taking his lighter so I could light the cigarette he had.
Dante: "No, I'm just asking Luffy to take me to Loguetown."
Usopp: "But didn't you say you could fly?" he asked, since he was nearby listening to our conversation.
Dante: "What does that have to do with anything?" I countered. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again, proving to be more intuitive than he seemed.
Luffy: "Hey, is it true you're Nami's father?" he said, opening a Pandora's box.
Sanji: "You're Miss Nami's father," he said, getting a little excited.
The thought crossed my mind that he was trying to win me over so I'd agree to be with her, or something like that.
Dante: "I'm not," I said, a little annoyed.
Luffy: "Seriously, I thought you could convince her to join the crew," he said, puffing out his cheeks and putting his hands to his head.
Sanji: "Miss Nami won't be joining us; that was 99% of the reason I'm here."
Dante: "If only you had the same experiences I have with women, you wouldn't be like this."
Sanji: "True, a lot of things are said about you regarding women, especially about you being a womanizer. Do you think you could tell me about some of those experiences?"
Dante: "Do you want me to tell you about my traumas?" I said, completely shocked by Sanji's initiative. "And above all, I'm not a womanizer."
Zoro: "I've heard stories about you, and some of them are pretty wild," he finally said, joining the conversation.
Usopp: "Or how could I not have noticed?" he said, slapping his palm as if he'd had a revelation. "Dante is like a fusion of Zoro and Sanji, but he actually achieved his dreams."
The three of us looked at him and tried to figure out how he came to that conclusion.
As we were about to leave, we saw Nami coming and doing her thing. As she boarded the ship, she stole the wallets of all the citizens. Luckily, I left Nami's money with the citizens, or they would have been left without any income.
Many of the others were talking to Nami about joining the crew; she approached me to talk again.
Nami: "Thank you so much for returning the money I collected and giving it to the citizens; also, I heard what you did at the Marine base. you're my savior, Dad."
I just sighed.
Luffy: "I knew you were her father," he said, pointing at me with a smile.
Dante: "I don't remember ever adopting a girl as big as you," I said to Nami, who just responded with a mischievous expression and stuck her tongue out at me mockingly.
...
After much back and forth, we arrived in Loguetown.
Dante: "Well, this is where we part ways. It was nice meeting you all," I said with a smile.
Luffy: "I hope we meet again, and next time you'll join my crew," he said with his trademark grin.
Zoro: "I hope we can face off next time," he said, gripping his katanas tightly. If he hadn't been so badly injured in the battle with Mihawk and Arlong, he would have challenged me to a fight. In the end, I convinced him to wait until next time, since it's very likely we'll meet again, and that put his mind at ease.
Usopp: "You're always welcome to join my pirate crew."
Sanji: "I hope next time we can have a more pleasant conversation, gentlemen."
And when I looked at Nami, she rushed over and hugged me. I was surprised, but I decided to hug her back.
Dante: "If you have any problems, you can try contacting me; by the way, let me know when you have a Den Den Mushi."
She wiped away her tears and looked at me, a little annoyed.
Nami: "Obviously, that's a father's responsibility, especially an absent one like you," she said, then smiled at me.
I knew she'd most likely use that to her advantage somehow, but at this point, if I don't mind them thinking Ace is my son, then I don't mind them thinking Nami is my daughter.
Dante: "So what am I going to do with this self-adopted girl?" I sighed, returning her smile.
And so I walked away, temporarily parting ways, because I need the Straw Hats to do something in the original story, something they wanted to do but left behind. So I won't lose sight of them until that happens.
...
King: "What do you mean you don't know where Miss Yamato is?"
Dante: "Remember, the deal was that I would train her and give her time to prove herself; that didn't mean I'd be there for the final outcome."
Kaido was already searching for Yamato, and when they realized she was nowhere to be found, they called me.
Dragon was by my side, watching everything that was happening in the city.
King: "So how are we supposed to find her?"
Dante: "How about you think for yourselves and try to get inside her head? Tell me what Yamato would do if she were alone and free; if you want, I'll give you a hint: she was obsessed with a specific samurai; you can start there."
King: "...", he remained silent; I just watched as the weather began to worsen rapidly, as if someone were controlling it; I focused my gaze on the people in front of me. "Okay, we'll see what we can do."
Dante: "I'm just saying it's more effective for you to look for her yourselves than to wait for me to find her; with that, I'll take my leave," and I hung up.
Dragon: "I didn't know you had an alliance with Kaido."
Dante: "I only need an alliance with Shanks to have an alliance with all the Yonko," I replied. "And what's the purpose of this meeting?"
Dragon: "We're going to start with your strategy of capturing locations strategically and without attracting the attention of the World Government."
Dante: "Finally, you're doing something I've never seen you do, thinking strategically," I mocked Dragon; he just looked at me with boredom before looking ahead again.
Right now, atop some buildings across from where the Pirate King was executed.
Dante: "You know, you could try talking to him."
Dante: "I don't want to interfere with his journey. I don't want to be associated with him, not like you, who wreaks havoc on Marine bases."
Dante: "I plead guilty." I replied.
At that moment, I saw Luffy arrive at the place where Gold Roger, or rather, Gol D. Roger, was executed. Not to be a bad fan, but I feel that Gold sounds better as a surname than Gol; it's just an opinion and point of view, nothing more.
So I saw that my little intervention didn't change anything that happened in the original story, which surprised me, since Buggy shouldn't have held such a grudge against Luffy. But after seeing how he acted, I feel like he was just taking out his frustrations on Luffy for what I did to him, someone he could actually mess with.
Just as Luffy was about to be executed with a smile on his face, I saw Dragon make a small gesture with his hand, causing a lightning bolt to strike Luffy and Buggy, destroying the place but leaving his son unharmed.
Dante: "Thank goodness he's made of rubber," I said, to which he didn't reply. I saw them being chased by Smoker, someone I couldn't deal with at this point in the story. "It's me or you."
Dragon: "This time it's me; after all, he's my son, not yours," he said, leaping from the building to where they were.
Dante: "At this point in the story, that's debatable," I yelled as I ran towards where the two were fighting.
And so the Straw Hats' East Blue story ends. That makes me think about my next objective, Jaya Island. I also started wondering how long it would take Luffy and the others to get there.
Dante: "What am I going to do in the meantime while I wait for them to arrive?" I said with a sigh, looking at the sky.