Hey, I'm here to complain again, since I made a horrible mistake. I downloaded Stardew Valley again, and consequently, I spent a whole day playing nonstop, which put me even further behind than I was, and you don't know how much I regret this. I have to study ED, I have to study probability and statistics, I have to fix my research, I have to write reports, I have to fix the chapters, and I have to write new chapters. I have a lot of things to do, besides the basics like cleaning my room, the dogs, etc. I feel overwhelmed. But hey, I just have to cry quietly and keep going.
Well, that's it; I get some relief.
I want to add that I'm planning on writing two more chapters of this part of the story so I don't keep dragging this out and get to the multiverse and all that. I already have the worlds Dante will travel to planned, and they are as follows: One Piece -> Fate/Television -> Naruto -> BNHA -> Mixed World (TBD) -> MCU.
Now I could add other series, but that's up for discussion, since Dante is already too strong for a specific series, like Demon Slayer or Avatar: The Last Airbender, and other series I haven't seen or don't remember anything about their plot, like OPM or Bleach, so consider it as a small possibility.
With that said, continue with the chapter.
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*In the G-8*
Dante's POV
Right now, I'm walking with Arthur through the halls of the G-8; we're going to see a particular character who's deep within this building. She's here because she could be useful to our situation, and that's why they haven't taken her.
Arthur: "Hey, Dante, are you sure you're doing all that? I mean, working with the Navy." I kept thinking, walking.
Dante: "Honestly, I don't like it, but looking at it objectively and thinking about us, it's the best option."
Arthur: "I think only the six of us can do something, as it always has been."
Dante: "It's not as simple as you think; the situation is more critical than you can see. Think about it this way: You'd jump into a bottomless pit with your eyes covered."
Arthur hesitated.
Arthur: "Most likely not."
Dante: "See, it's not that simple. If we go straight for Hades, without planning and without help, we're going to end up in a bad way. It won't be much different from the situation I just told you about." I let Arthur think for a moment before continuing. "You know almost nothing about Hades, his strength, his allies, where he will be, and most of all, if he will be alone when it's time to fight. The people of that world aren't well known for their noble fighting; in that sense, they're no different than pirates."
The topic ended there, as Arthur didn't know what else to say. As much as I would like to do everything on my own, I couldn't; I'm not strong enough to do everything alone, which is why I found companions I can trust, and I am currently the leader of this group. So I have to think about taking the paths that will result in the most benefits and the least losses, and that path is this one.
We walked for a few minutes; in fact, we were lost for a while until we found a marine who gave us directions.
Once we reached our destination, there was an old man waiting for us.
Monsalves: "It's about time you arrived; my bones can't stand this cold anymore."
Dante: "Then I don't know what you're doing here; you should retire and go to a more Caribbean place."
Monsalves: "I still have a lot of energy, brat. I don't plan on retiring until I finish this. This will be my last job, and I plan to do it until the end."
Arthur: "He reminds me of Garp, just as reckless and grumpy; they must be brothers."
Dante: "They don't look alike; maybe they were raised in the same place."
I don't know if he heard us or ignored us, but he continued with what he was doing. In front of him was an interrogation room, with glass on one side only, allowing you to see what was going on inside, and the entire place lined with steel; inside was someone who wasn't captured long ago.
Monsalves: "They think they'll manage to get something out of him."
Dante: "It doesn't hurt to try; wish me luck."
I entered the interrogation room; the room looked gray. There was a table and two chairs, one for me and the other for the victim—I mean, the one who needs to be interrogated. On the chair was a blonde woman chained at the wrists and calves with sea stone. From what I understand, this woman I'd never seen before was one of the hitmen who tried to kill us, Marie, if I'm not mistaken, who was pulled from the water after being defeated by Isis with Sulli's help.
Marie: "It's about time someone vi—" She trailed off as she saw I was the one who walked through the door. She must have been in shock when she saw me; that's normal, given my incredible presence and looks. I think it's time to show off.
Dante: "I know it's me, but don't exaggerate. I can't give you an autograph since we're in an interrogation. But if you behave and help, I could take a picture co-" I couldn't finish because I heard him yell at me.
Marie: "Youuu! It's all your fault, you stupid bastard." What do you mean, it's my fault? "If only you had let yourself be killed, I wouldn't be in this situation." Oh, that's it.
Dante: "What sane person would let themselves be killed by someone? Don't you know how to think?"
Marie: "I don't care about that. My job was to kill you, or I'd pay the consequences, and since I didn't do my part, the moment I get out of here, he'll kill me one way or another."
Dante: "I had nothing to do with your poor work; besides, he probably thinks you're dead, so you'll be fine."
Marie: "He'll know; one way or another, he'll have someone kill me or poison me in prison, and that's more merciful than suffering his fury in person."
Dante: "And if I tell you you can avoid all that and remain anonymous?" That caught his attention.
Marie: "I imagine you want me to talk about certain things to gain that benefit."
Dante: "I see I'm talking to someone intelligent; I say this as someone also intelligent. Intelligent people understand each other, don't they?"
Marie: "If you think your lies will make me talk, then you're wrong." I see no progress.
I looked out the window; there was my reflection and Marie's.
Dante: "Vice Admiral, there's a chance you can keep her in G-2 anonymously."
The Vice Admiral's voice came from a speaker next to the door.
Monsalves: "If she talks and behaves well in G-2, there's no problem staying there for a while."
Dante: "Look, if you talk and help us, you can be safe with us. You'll be under house arrest, but it's better than being in prison."
She thought about the whole situation. After a while, she finally spoke.
Marie: "Okay, but I have two conditions."
Dante: "We're listening."
Marie: "First, I want to fight you. If you can beat me, I'll talk; if not, they can't force me to say anything."
Dante: "No problem, what's the second condition?"
Marie: "That's something if you manage to beat me on the first condition."
After that and talking to Monsalves, we moved to a somewhat secluded spot so we could fight calmly.
Right now I'm standing in front of Marie, both of us unarmed; it will be a hand-to-hand fight, since if I used the Fusion Sword, it would be very unfair to her.
Arthur: "Are you both ready?"
Dante: "Yes."
Marie: "More than ready."
Arthur: "Then let the battle begin."
As soon as the fight started, I used Soru as fast as I could, getting in front of Marie, and with a punch to her stomach, I sent her flying across the arena.
Smoke rose from the spot, but Marie's silhouette was seen getting up while clutching her stomach, blood pouring from her mouth.
Marie: "Are your fists made of seastone?"
Dante: "No, it's pure physical strength, nothing more." It takes a lot of strength and endurance to carry my pure adamantium sword; it's kilos of adamantium, and that mineral is anything but light. Proof of that is Logan, who can't run fast because of his adamantium skeleton. I don't know what scale my strength is on in this world, but it's definitely not low.
She lunges at me, trying to hit me with her palm, trying to use her fruit, which I learned from Isis.
Before she realizes it, I'm in her space; grabbing her arm, I lock her in a headlock and throw her to the ground, grabbing her arm. The pain in my stomach must not have disappeared for me to be half-distracted.
I make a gun sign with my fingers and put it to her neck.
Dante: "You lose."
She stood with her hair covering her face, said nothing, and didn't move at all. I let go and stepped away from her.
Dante: "The first part of the condition is met; what's the second?"
Marie gets up from the floor and jumps on me; for some reason, the situation left me somewhat puzzled, as I didn't sense any ill will.
Marie: "The second condition is that you marry me."
Silence. No one said anything. I said nothing. Arthur said nothing. Monsalves said nothing. The guy mopping the floor nearby said nothing.
Dante: "What did you say?"
Marie: "That you marry me and we have lots of children—that's been one of my dreams, and you have all the qualities to be my husband: you're strong, attractive, have good genes, and have a good personality. If you want me to rat out my former boss and colleagues, you'll have to marry me."
*Scene Break*
Right now, we're on our way to a specific island; according to Marie, it's the lair of one of the seven leaders of the underworld, of which Hades is the main leader.
If you're wondering what happened to Marie, well, let's just say we came to an agreement: she's half saved, half unsaved. Don't get me wrong, the woman is pretty, quite beautiful, but she's crazy. I have self-respect, so I'd like to avoid those types of women. Trini and Isis are exceptions: Trini is crazy, and Isis has her quirks.
Come to think about it, Nix is also a bit of a front for a factory; everyone has a problem, whether psychological or physical. I wonder if there are any normal women.
At that moment, I saw Arthur picking at his nose, and he started to stare at me with hunger.
I'll take back what I said: it's not that women aren't normal; we're all crazy in one way or another. Since I only looked at women, I didn't see the problems men had.
Dante: 'System, why am I surrounded by weird people?'
System: [Every person in this world has a certain peculiarity, whether physical or psychological; it can also be both, but, seeing your side of crazy couples, it's a liability you have. Everyone has one, like Arthur being able to do almost no math or Trini being very fickle when angered; yours is that you attract women who aren't very sane.]
This revelation left me speechless. No wonder every woman who approached me alone had something that made me rethink whether it was a good idea to be with her. Nix was no exception; she's literally a succubus; there were days I thought I was going to die from her milking me so much. I don't know why she came off as such a nymphomaniac, but it made me briefly reconsider running away and staying in a cave just for a day to rest.
Dante: 'That means Trini is attracted to me. I see her as my sister; I couldn't possibly see her as my partner; I'll have to think about how to reject her.'
System: [Trini isn't categorized as crazy or demented; that's just your perspective, but she isn't. She's just grumpy, and you annoy them at the worst possible times; don't be so narcissistic, it doesn't make sense.]
The system's response left me speechless. I think I'm going to go back to thinking the system doesn't exist before it humiliates me like this again.
Trini: "Hey, are you sure about this? That I can take your word for it?" She came up to me and spoke to me.
Dante: "Honestly, not much, but if it's a trap or something, it won't change anything we're going to do; it'll just save time."
Trini: "Are you so sure it's going to turn into a conflict?"
Dante: "That's what always happens."
Trini: "Something tells me it won't be like that this time, and I'll have to act differently this time."
It most likely will be, since we're going to that place.
Dante: "How did it go with the bullets?"
Trini: "Costo, after a few failures, we managed to recreate an exact replica so the AT can use it; that'll make up for the fact that bullets can't be imbued with Haki."
At that moment, Doll arrives to give us a warning.
Doll: "We're almost there. Since we're on an unclassified mission and on a non-navy ship, we'll have no problem parking at the dock, so get ready." We both nodded.
After a few minutes, the four of us got off the boat—Trini, Doll, a guy named Kadar, and me. The others stayed on the boat because we didn't want to attract too much attention. Isis was going to get lost and do other things, given how distracted she is; Sulli will be like stone and won't do much, if anything at all. And with Arthur, he's no good at these things.
Trini: "So this is Gran Tesoro, very attractive, really."
Kadar: "Be careful. This place is a neutral zone. Anyone could be here, like the Celestial Dragons. If so, we'll have to show them the utmost respect, like the Marines we are."
I tensed up a little at the word Celestial Dragon; honestly, I wouldn't want to run into one.
Dante: "We'll be careful, and we're not Marines to show respect to those people." With that, I entered the ship with Trini following me, ignoring the guy.
Inside, there were different types of entertainment, food, drinks, women, men, and the place we were going, the gambling den.
Dante: "We'll have to get the attention of the owner of this place, so do what you have to do. You're free to do it. Just try not to get kicked out."
Trini didn't look at me, just smiled and walked forward, followed by me. I wasn't planning on gambling; I'd rather give her all the money and let her play. The two marines who accompanied us went to meet up with some of their other comrades, who would be backup in case anything happens.
And so time passed. Trini swept through most of the games she played: poker, blackjack, craps, etc. After two hours and having lost almost 60,000,000 in pure bets, a guard came to speak to us.
Guard: "Nice to meet you. Sorry to interrupt your fun, but you've been called to the VIP room, where Lord Zero is waiting for you."
Bingo, Zero is the man Marie mentioned, one of the seven leaders of the underworld. Just to keep track, we know three of the seven, the first being Morgans, whom I tried to contact, but he didn't say anything, as he wanted something in return and didn't have anything important to barter. I could have used the system, but it wouldn't make sense of where I got the item. The second is Hades, the boss of these guys and the one trying to kill us, and the third is this one, being Zero.
Once we arrived at the room, we saw that the room was decorated with a lot of gold. In the room, there were four large armchairs, all in a circle, with a round table in the middle. In one of the seats was a man with long hair, a few gray strands, showing his age. If I could describe him, he would look like a guy from the Ming Dynasty, with his build and a hime-sama-style haircut, despite being a man. But the most striking thing is that he was wearing a gas mask, which is black, the same color as his hair.
Zero: "I wonder what people like you do in this place; I didn't think you'd be so poor as to come here. Have you run out of low-bounty pirates to capture?"
Trini was about to say something, but I grabbed her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, sending the message that there was nothing there. With that, we both sat down on the armchair opposite Zero.
Dante: "If I'm honest, no. We still have money, but money isn't the only thing we need." I looked him straight in the eyes.
Zero: "I see how this goes. They need information from me. What makes you think I'll give them something for free?"
Dante: "So you can spill the beans about your other fellow leaders?"
Zero: "Obviously, there's no loyalty between us; it's just business, and in business, you can't trust just anyone. If the deal's good enough, I'm willing to sell my soul to get what I want."
Dante: "And what is it that you want?"
Zero: "Maybe it's because I'm so old, which makes me a bit sentimental, but I'll tell you anyway: what I want is peace and quiet. My current position gives me the life I want."
Dante: "But it's not easy to maintain, is it?" He just looked at me.
Zero: "Let's get down to business. I have all day to do anything, but I don't really feel like being with you."
Trini: "We want the possible location of Hades." Zero frowned.
Zero: "That's dangerous. It's not information I can give away lightly. Tell me why you want it, and depending on that, I'll ask for something in return."
Then we began to tell him what we had planned. Seeing how little loyalty he had for Hades, I risked telling him this just to get him to spill the beans.
Zero: "I see. When the disaster starts, the Marines will take advantage of it to act against us. It's convenient enough not to."
Trini: "What are you talking about?" Zero didn't seem to understand what she asked, Trini.
Zero: "I'll give him the information in exchange for something."
Dante: "And that would be it."
Zero: "When their operation begins, don't do anything to me; let me leave that place alone."
Dante: "What do you mean?"
Zero: "You can do it, or you can't." I was hoping for more, but this is so far; if I talk to the vice admiral, I should be able to do it.
Dante: "Okay, it can be done."
Zero: "There's not much guarantee on this, but you can get this information from elsewhere, but not as specific as what I'm going to tell you."
Trini: "I'm kind of lost in this conversation."
Dante: "You're planning your escape route; basically, you don't care if your teammates get attacked as long as nothing happens to you."
Zero: "That doesn't matter; let's continue." He stood up and searched for something in a closet in the living room; there he pulled out a map and threw it onto the table. "In a week, Hades will build a coliseum to look for people who will work for him and be loyal to him. He asked the six of us to find candidates to fight in the coliseum; he'll make the best of the best his men. The seven of us will be there, and it'll be a perfect place to infiltrate without being discovered. What I want is for you to have a clear route; then I'll be able to leave the place without anyone bothering me, that's all I ask. If you can kill some of those bastards, it would be a gift for me."
We looked at the map; it was an island I didn't know, but it was large, with only one city.
Zero: "That would be all; you can go now."
After that, we exchanged den den mushi numbers in case of any changes or emergencies, so we could call each other.
With this, we have the two things we need. The first is to be able to incriminate him, namely the attack on the navy, along with some details Marie gave us. The second is the specific location of where Hades might be. With this, we can carry out the operation to capture Hades.
Dante: "I see you were right. We don't need to fight this time."
Trini: "See, I'm always right."
Dante: "It's normal for you to be right if witches use dark magic to see the future and ruin others' luck. Otherwise, how could you have won all the bets you made?"
At that moment, I felt a murderous pressure bearing down on me. I looked at Trini, who was glaring at me furiously. At that moment, only one thought crossed my mind.
Run.
*Later at Marineford*
In the Fleet Admiral's office, Kong was on a call, with Garp and Sengoku by his side, waiting for him to finish speaking.
Kong: "Be here in three days then; when you arrive, we'll create a plan to address all of this." He hung up, then looked at his companions.
Sengoku: "Then the operation will be carried out."
Kong: "Yes, we already have what we need; this could be a chance to remedy what happened with Shiki. A victory for us could boost the morale of the Marines."
Sengoku: "The only good thing about that is that there were very few Marines killed."
Garp: "I'm not going; remember, you gave me the month off to do whatever I want. I need to get back to East Blue. You can take Kuzan if you want."
Kong just sighed, turning his gaze to Sengoku.
Kong: "I'm going to need you to go. We need an admiral-level marine. Zephyr has already retired and is giving his position to Sakazuki; that's in progress, so we can't take either of them for now. Tsuru is busy with Big Mom right now, and Tensei can't act since God Valley; only you can go on the operation."
Sengoku: "Understood."
Kong: "When the G-2 and the rest arrive here with the information, we'll make an operation of how we'll carry out this plan and who will participate."
And with that, the two left the office; Garp left, and Sengoku waited three days for Dante and the rest to arrive, along with most of the G-2.