AN: Guess who's back?
After a moments passing, Dante and Yamato had finally stopped snickering and focused back in on the warzone around them. Whitebeard and Ace were currently staring down the Marine Admirals, the last remaining pillar of their forces, with Crocodile awkwardly hanging around them.
"Stand down, Newgate. You're in no shape to fight. Do you really want your legend to end this way?"
Kuzan's face was littered with small sprinklings of ice, his breath chilled and his tone cold. In the chaos of Sengoku's death, he had taken the role of acting commander, though whether he would be able to handle the pressure is yet to be seen.
"Is there a better alternative than to die protecting the lives of my beloved children?"
Despite Whitebeard's stalwart resolve, Ryokugyu seemed to be quite pleased with the outcome, eager to finally put an end to the old bastards life.
"Just what I wanted to hear. Come on, Whitebeard, put up whatever pathetic resistance you can."
While Whitebeard was in his standoff, Dante had motioned for Yamato to go over and make sure Ace made it back to the Whitebeard Pirates, being his bodyguard once more while Whitebeard stood his ground and stopped any Marines reaching them.
The Old Man wasn't in good shape, and Dante doubted he could keep Ace safe while the rest of the crew recovered and repaired the Moby Dick.
Ace resisted for a few moments, unwilling to leave Whitebeard behind, but Yamato quickly hauled him over her shoulder and began running to the Whitebeard Pirates, shouting something about how 'lucky he is to have a father that loves him'.
With the main objective complete and Ace finally in the Moby Dick, or at least on the way to it, Dante smiled. Then, he moved forward, making his way over to Whitebeard so he could get in on the action.
"You're talking a lot of shit for a stand-in Admiral, you know that?"
Dante's voice caught the attention of all those around him, specifically Kuzan who felt cold dread seep into his veins as the half-demon walked into his field of view. Ryokugyu on the other hand maintained his dismissive attitude, overconfidence beaming from his person.
"Tch. Was hoping you'd gone home, not that I'm complaining."
"You think I'd miss out on all this? No way. This is the best show I've seen in years."
"Then it'll be the last mistake you ever make. All I need is one good hit, and I've been itching to take you down."
"Oho? Well then, go ahead. Take me down."
To emphasise his point, Dante held his arms out, dismissing his Devil Sword and leaving himself entirely defenceless. The Admirals looked to eachother in confusion, but ultimately decided to not fall for the bait, knowing of Dante's lackadaisical character.
At least, two of them had. Ryokugyu instantly took the chance and ran forward, his hand shifting into a gnarled spike of Haki infused wood, his goal being to skewer Dante through the chest.
His superiors in the World Government had already told him several times that if he is ever given the chance, Dante must die. Now, he was following those orders, his loyalty outweighing his rational thinking.
His cool demeanour shifted to one of glee as his spike inched closer and closer to Dante's heart. He made sure to look the Red Devil in the eye as he killed him. Ryokugyu could already imagine the prestige he would get from such a feat, the money, power, respect. Everything would fall at his feet...
"Uh, buddy? You missed."
Dante's voice echoed out from a few meters away, snapping Ryokugyu back to reality and away from his blissful delusions. His weapon was embedded in the ice, nowhere near where Dante had been before.
Of course, this wasn't Ryokugyu's fault. Dante had used Quicksilver just as Ryokugyu was about to connect and moved him a few meters away with a Doppelganger.
However, to all those watching, it had looked like Ryokugyu had fumbled somehow and missed out on a chance to take down the Red Devil, one of the worst pirates to emerge in recent history. It was catastrophic for his reputation, catastrophic to all who witnessed such an event.
A clean shot. A free hit. The whole world watching. And he whiffed. Already, there were theories speaking of collusion. Surely he wasn't that incompetent? The only other alternative is that he wants Dante to live. Are they allies? How scandalous.
Dante himself was doing his absolute best not to burst with laughter, watching the confusion and horror on the Admiral's face as he realised he had missed. His lip started twitching and he almost lost all of his composure.
"Well, I gave you a free shot. Not my fault you missed."
Absolutely his fault. But that didn't matter, Ryokugyu quickly recovered and shifted his spike into a collection of roots, all sprouting from his hand and arm with the intention of binding and skewering Dante.
Whitebeard then stepped in, sweeping his naginata across the ground and severing the roots before they could reach the Red Devil. He then raised his blade and pointed it at Kuzan and Fujitora, an impromptu sign that the battle had started between them.
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To say the Marines are like a well oiled machine would be, while demeaning, an apt description. Even after Sengoku got put on ice, they kept their momentum, never stopped fighting and maintained hope.
It was actually quite admirable. Maybe in another life, Dante would have spared the old bastard out of sentimentality. It was only out of respect that he hadn't turned the man into a new weapon for his arsenal.
A sudden assault from a vine against his shoe snaps Dante out of his retrospective musing.
Who even hired this clown? Must be a real tough day for the recruitment office.
Dante thought absentmindedly, paying no attention whatsoever to the Admiral who was currently trying to skewer him with ~70 spikes of wood, simply gliding around the ice as Ryokugyu did everything in his power to connect a single blow.
"You done yet, kid? I got places to be, brothers to kill, whole lot of women in between. Can you at least make it snappy?" If there was ever an award to be given for most smug bastard, Dante was the poster child.
"Stop... fucking... MOVING!" Each word came alongside a laboured breath from Ryokugyu, who was fighting as if his life was on the line.
Come to think of it... I guess it is.
Dante hadn't considered killing any more people, the act got samey after a while, but if this green haired bastard didn't stop trying to stab him that sentiment would quickly change.
"Look, you had your chance and you missed, simple as that. You don't gotta take it out on me."
Ryokugyu doesn't respond with words, just roaring in frustration, deciding in his infinite wisdom that close combat would work this time as opposed to the 4 separate times it failed.
Dante smirked. The second Greenie got close enough to throw a punch, Dante had ducked low, manifested his Haki and summoned Balrog, the flaming fist impacting square against Ryokugyu's chest.
Greenie flew across the battlefield like a bird, his body rolling on the ice several times. The only sound that came from his prone form was slow, hoarse breathing. Dante shrugged and moved on, having shattered the poor Admiral's pride enough as it was.
Stay down, Hogyoku. Rokugyo? Ronnie.
With the newest addition to the Marine roster in a heap on the cold floor, Dante went about speeding up the war, having already decided in his mind that if he couldn't have Sengoku's Devil Arm, he'd take the whole island of Marineford for himself instead.
Granted, there's probably not going to be much of it left after the war, but Dante's nothing if not resourceful. And what speaks to his prestige more than taking the literal home-base of the global authority? It's almost written in the stars.
"Dante!"
"Wha- Yeah? What do you need, Yamato?" Lost in his thoughts, the half-demon hadn't noticed his impromptu protege approaching.
"Ace has been secured!" She shouted, leaning on the handle of her kanabo, saluting as she did so.
"Good, that's one less loose end. Now, you can uh..."
Dante didn't actually know what to do with Yamato. Didn't know where to send her, what orders to give her, or if he should even bother given how close the war is to ending.
"Go... raid the rest of the outpost?"
He sounded more confident as the words came, realising something nobody else seemingly had.
"I'm pretty sure every Marine this side of the Grand Line is out here, with us, so it should be pretty damn easy all things considered."
"Alright then!" She shouted with a surprising degree of enthusiasm, only to follow up a few moments later.
"Anything in particular you want me to steal? I mean there's a lot of stuff in there and-"
"Just go in the headquarters and destroy shit, spook the spooks, get everyone left in there to evacuate. Once you're done, go fix up the Moby Dick, I guess."
"Yes sir!"
And just like that she was gone like the wind. What was the saying? Love to watch them leave, hate to see them go? Something similar. Dante hadn't exactly been able to hear those modern day phrases round here.
Fortunately, his thoughts were yet again cut short.
"I won't let you!"
...why didn't you just stay down like I asked, Reggie?
Ryokugyu surged forward, having most likely tried to play dead, several tendrils surrounding his body sharpened to a razor. He moved with all the strength left in his body, desperate to get at least one hit in.
Dante watched, an eyebrow raised in mild amusement, as Ryokugyu sprinted forward, blades poised to cleave him in twain. Surely this wasn't the limit of his Devil Fruit?
Oh well.
With all the grace of a ballet dancer, Dante dodged each of the blades, his nimble movements leaving the Admiral increasingly desperate, uncaring for accuracy.
Seconds passed as the strikes kept coming, from above, below, even from the ground around them, but Ryokugyu still couldn't even scratch Dante's pristine coat. The Red Devil even yawned in indifference.
"You done yet? Didn't you hear me the first time? Places to be and all that?"
Words were no longer forming from Ryokugyu's lips. No, it was more animalistic grunts and mouth-frothing that followed. The few Marines still left on the battlefield looked on in mild disgust as spittle flew from his mouth.
"Alright, that's just nasty. They teach you that at the Academy?"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Finally, someone had said the words on everyone's mind, a sentiment shared by every Marine and Pirate alike who had long since grown tired of Dante's attitude.
"Oh come on, Greenie. You're gonna make a poor Devil cry. You don't gotta be so cruel."
"I AM GOING TO FUCKING BUTCHER YOU! YOU AND EVERY INBRED SHITSTAIN YOU'RE ALLIES WITH!"
...yikes. Gotta tighten his leash, Gorosei.
"Looks like someone needs nap-time."
Noticing quickly that Whitebeard was on the backfoot, Dante decided that Greenie has had enough fun.
Abandoning his previous grace, Dante slipped forward between the several hundred tendrils of wood and bark that lashed out at him from the ground and ran his fist into Aramaki's face, destroying the Admiral's perfect aviators. His nose too, but that's besides the point.
Just to be sure, Dante dipped low, kicking his foot out and tripping Ryokugyu, getting up only a fraction of a second later to drop his elbow on the Admiral's head as he fell, slamming him down hard enough to make the ice-floor tremble.
Better luck next time, Greenie. I'll be rooting for you.
Dante couldn't help but smile after that thought, utterly unashamed at the cheesy one-liner. His smile was immediately wiped away as he remembered he was in the middle of an active warzone.
With a spring in his step, the Red Devil slinked forward through the battlefield and, upon getting a good view of the main event, watched with mild interest as Fujitora stepped away a few paces, muttering something to his sword.
As if a signal had been sent, Kuzan stopped fighting up close, instead jumping away and sending blast after blast of ice at Whitebeard's feet, the poor old man doing everything in his power to shatter the glaciers as they enveloped him.
His Rumble-Rumble Fruit worked overtime, his withered soul pushing the last embers it had to bear. With a grunt of anger and frustration, Kuzan threw all his might into one last freeze-wave, intent on keeping Whitebeard still.
Dante idly wondered why the Admiral was trying so hard to keep Whitebeard from moving, until he looked around and noticed the apparent lack of Marines in the vicinity. His interest piqued, Dante looked at Fujitora once more and saw the Admiral sweating in exertion despite being unmoving.
Huh... ain't that something.
Then, like clockwork, he felt a shift in the air. An almost imperceptible change of the wind. With a grin on his face, Dante glanced up and saw the cause, a-
Giant fucking meteor! Oh, yes!
They didn't just want to kill Whitebeard. This went beyond murder. They wanted to eviscerate him, and every pirate on this landmass.
With Whitebeard occupied defending against Kuzan, he couldn't handle the meteor without leaving himself exposed to a killing blow. It was a brilliant play by the Marines, and one hell of a spectacle.
Of course, that meant that Dante just had to ruin it. The only question is how?