The atmosphere was tense in the meeting room. With the Shichibukai now gone, back into the ocean to continue their business, all that remained was Marine High Command.
An ensign had recently entered to give them a report about the damages Akainu had suffered, one that left them foaming at the mouth with rage and sorrow. Tens of bones shattered, internal hemorrhaging and a complete removal of the lower jaw.
If not for the advanced scientific and medicinal technologies they held thanks to Vegapunk, Sakazuki would have been forced to retire in shame, or worse, die a slow and painful death at the hands of the Red Devil.
"He walked all over us. You saw it, the same as I did Sengoku. We shoulda took him down the second he walked in here."
Garp's gravelly voice was undercut with barely held back fury, his fist clenched tightly. He wondered how he let himself go so far that he would allow a lowly Pirate to walk into the Jewel of the Marines as they pleased.
"And bring down the whole fortress with us? Sakazuki didn't stand a chance, if we fought him everyone else would be in danger. Hundreds of lives were at stake, we couldn't move without risking them. Though... I shudder to imagine what Vegapunk will do to Sakazuki now to 'fix' him."
The mere idea of Vegapunk being given free reign to experiment as he pleased with an Admiral made Sengoku weak in the knees, the only saving grace was that it would keep Sakazuki in service.
"I stand by what I said. Should've nipped this in the bud, not let him walk."
Sengoku merely scoffed and stood up from his seat in the conference room, passing by a silent, still shaking Tsuru. All the strength and experience she held hadn't prepared her for being so close to death, she could still feel the phantom chill of cold steel against her skull.
Im contrast, by this point Garp had all but abandoned the serious atmosphere and returned to his free spirited self, though still held onto the discussion. The tense nature of conversation was offset by the loud smacking of lips and crunching of rice crackers.
"But what do I know. I ain't the Fleet Admiral."
"...Maybe we should have. All we can do is deal with the consequences now."
Stood against the window, Sengoku began to brood. Silence reigned, only broken by the occasional crackle of rice. Truth be told, Sengoku was still thinking about the last piece of information Dante had left them with before leaving.
"To think, the death of Gekko Moria, the destruction of Thriller Bark, the butchering of Big Moms children... all of them link back to one man. I find myself thanking the stars that it was Dante who showed up at our doors, and not Vergil."
Even despite all of this news being given, Sengoku refused to lessen his immense hatred of Dante, and for good reason. All this had left him with was another target for his ire, and that was all. He despised the brothers.
"Tsuru, get the World Government on the line. Chances are, they don't know about Vergil. Given his relation to Dante, they'll either place a bounty on him in an instant or chastise me for not alerting them sooner. Probably both."
Sengoku heaved a sigh that carried the weight of the world within it. In the last few hours, he felt exhaustion creeping up on him, and realised that retirement now seemed nothing more than a pipe dream.
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Dante had a choice to make, and to be honest it was an extreme easy one too. A guy with terrible dental care, or the man with by far the most extravagant clothes he's seen yet.
He went to talk to Doflamingo. He also wanted to know more about the mans Devil Fruit, and his aggressive nature to boot. For a man who oozed 'laid back', he was quite quick to try and slit Dante's throat.
With a spring in his step, Dante went about making his way to Doflamingo, making sure to Trick around each volley of String that was sent his way, as Doflamingo seemingly groaned in annoyance at his persistence, eventually giving up on the strings entirely.
"Hey, Doflamingo! Say, quick question, do you value your life?"
"...What? Is this some kind of fucking joke?"
With no amount of hesitation, Dante summoned his Devil Sword, dashed into Doflamingo's personal space and placed the tip of the sword at Doflamingo's chest, mainly on account of the height difference not allowing a clean shot at his throat.
"No. I'll ask again. Do you value your life?"
Doflamingo was shocked briefly, before rage overtook his features. He sent out a a hand that had been coated in several millions of sharpened strings, and his own Haki, so as to kill Dante instantly upon contact.
To his immense surprise, Dante dismissed the sword, held his arms up in an odd formation and coated them in crimson energy the very second his attack would have landed, leading to a total nullification of force upon collision.
All of this occurred within a fraction of a millisecond, so fast that no living creature could comprehend the sequence of moves, with the sudden deprivation of force behind Doflamingo's right arm leaving him both shocked and confused.
From there, Dante used the opportunity he had made for himself to send a Summoned Sword straight through Doflamingo's open hand and pin it to the brick wall behind them.
"Agh! You piece of shit!"
Through gritted teeth Doflamingo continued to shout obscenities at Dante, tried to attack with his left hand only to find it blocked once more by that infuriating stance that seemingly nullified anything he sent at it.
"Third times the charm, do you value your life?" Dante had remained collected throughout the entire 'conversation' if it could be labelled as such.
"Yes! Yes, I do, now are you done? I don't much appreciate being nailed to a goddamn wall."
"Good. I had to make sure, because - you see - most people who try slit my throat like that don't often value their lives, especially if they try to waste them by going after me."
Dante paused for a moment, letting the words sink in for a brief few seconds.
"D'ya get what I'm saying? Look around. All those Marines, they're piss-pants scared of me, too scared in fact to try and help you. None of your Shichibukai friends would bother either, I reckon. I could send this sword straight through your chest right now, and you'd be dead on the spot. Nobody would bother to help. You're helpless."
Dante leaned in as close as he could to ensure Doflamingo, who was now sweating profusely, would understand.
"Next time you try slice me with them strings, just remember this moment."
And suddenly, as if undergoing a complete 180° in tone, Dante began chuckling, dismissing the Summoned Sword and his own Devil Sword and offered a handshake.
"Nah, I'm just fucking with you. If I really wanted you dead, I'd have killed you already. Just wanted to give you a little scare after what you pulled in the meeting."
Doflamingo decided in that moment that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Dante, and made the smart decision to slowly walk away, and ignore the offered hand.
"Pleasure meeting you, Doflamingo! I expect you'll see more of me in the future. If you ever wanna talk business, gimme a call!"
And with that, the now traumatised Doflamingo made his hasty exit, having found another reason to leave and never look back in the face of future dealings with Dante.
The only reason said business was even offered was because Dante had made the assumption that since Doflamingo looked as though he spent several millions on his outfit, he had some damn fine business opportunities.
At this point, Dante would take just about anything as a job, but he was certainly leaning toward hunting bounties while he travelled. Either that, or he'd have to resort to simply banditry, God forbid.
Looking at his new watch that he most definitely did not steal from one of the offices he perused in Marineford, Dante figured that he had spent enough time here, and made his way back to Sabaody. He wanted that Haki training, after all. Nobody ever complains at free abilities.
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"Oi! Old bastard! I'm back, time to train."
Rayleigh stilled for a moment, as a voice he never expected to hear was echoing throughout the Grove they had used as an improvised training area.
"Dante... you son of a bitch! How'd you even get to Marineford so quickly?"
"I know a few shortcuts. Anyways, guess who just made the entirety of the Marine High Command piss their pants? That's right, me."
"I don't care. Stories can wait, you got some training to catch up on, pal."
A pause.
"Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say Marine High Command? Well I'll be damned, this old man never expected you'd be entangled with them so quickly. This just means more reasons to train your Haki, hell I'm getting excited just imagining the looks on their faces when they see you use it."
With that, Dante's training began anew. Rayleigh had plans for the man, he wanted to test the limits of how far Dante could push his Haki. With any luck, he'd soon be a Conqueror. He certainly held the disposition for it.
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Holding the paper in his hands, Vergil looked at it in confusion. He knew not why the world seemingly wanted him brought in as a criminal, after all he was doing them a favour by murdering pirates.
Granted, he had killed a Marine squadron in his acquisition of Mammon, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Nothing beneficial comes without downsides.
Without care for the newspaper, Vergil simply threw it away. All this did was prove to him that the World would not allow him any quarter over Dante, even his bounty was not as grand as Dante's. It infuriated him.
He kills one man, and becomes an instant manhunt target, yet thousands lie beneath Vergil's feet and still it isn't good enough? Vergil's frown deepend ever so slightly. 450 million is a pathetic amount, an utter pittance compared to the target he has.
One of the main crimes on the bounty was simply 'Brother of the Red Devil', as if they wanted him to hunt them down himself for such disrespect against his name.
"Focus. Retribution can wait."
Chastising himself, Vergil once more focused on the three assurances he had in this world: himself, his blade, and his skills. The slow destruction of the Charlotte family tree continued in earnest, and his speed would not waver in the slightest.
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By now, a few weeks had passed uneventfully. Though, on this day one thing Dante had not expected to hear while in the middle of his Obersvation Haki training was the ringing of his own Den Den Mushi, but he was even more astonished as he watched the facial features of Doflamingo manifest on the snail, yet also creeped out.
He picked up the phone and began to chat with Doflamingo, all the while dodging several hundred strikes from Rayleigh's slippers with a newly placed blindfold on.
"Well, Doflamingo, I didn't expect you'd call. I take it this isn't a social call?"
"No. There won't ever be a social call. This is strictly business. There's an auction happening soon, on Sabaody, and some of Kaido's goons are looking to buy. I'll pay you handsomely to... dispose of them."
Doflamingo, despite what it seemed, had a plan. His plan was to get revenge on Dante by having the man gain the direct attention, and ire, of Kaido through this disruption and eventually die in battle with the Dragon. Sure, it was far more roundabout than Doflamingo would have liked, but he could not take revenge himself. The fear engraved in his heart would not allow it.
"Say less my friend, it just so happens that I'm already on the island. All I gotta do is step on Kaido's toes? Easy money."
And so, Dante would send himself head first into another precarious series of events, all for some cash. This time, though, the stakes would be much higher.