Chương 59: Retirement Home Brawl
Dante was thankful to have one less loose end to deal with. Granted, it could be argued that not killing Doflamingo left a loose end behind in and of itself, but realistically what threat could the man possibly pose to Dante? A minor inconvenience at best, especially now that he had no legs.
It wasn't like he could hurt any of his friends either. Yamato would butcher him, Hancock was more than safe given his personality and her powerset, and Rayleigh would slaughter Doffy if he tried laying strings on the Straw Hats. That was all making the assumption he hadn't died yet, killed by the Whitebeard Pirates after being left crippled.
In other news, the war was still moving at staggering pace. Everywhere Dante looked, people were dying for a cause. So far though, not many big hitters had fallen, though it was likely that would change given the fact that the Admirals had started moving. They didn't look very impressive right now. Kuzan was still just regular old Iceman, and Treeguy didn't even have a shirt on. The blind old man though, he was interesting.
Anyways, Dante currently wanted to regroup with Yamato and see what she was up to, maybe find some other people to fight along the way. He'd just been casually going about his way towards her, stabbing and slashing at just about anyone who got close. Suddenly, Dante felt something change in the air, more specifically heard the sound of shattering all across the battlefield.
He turned around and witnessed Whitebeard's legendary power, the Strongest Man currently stood high atop the Moby Dick with a single fist sent forward into the air. The world began cracking and folding, seismic energy collapsing the seafloor around them. It seems like the old bastard wanted to change the tide of battle and decided to rearrange the tectonic plates while he was at it.
After that, he jumped down from his ship and began walking forward onto the ice field. Dante could say one thing for certain, Whitebeard had a certain energy about him, an aura of intimidation he seemed to carry on him like a jacket. Every footstep taken pushed the Marine lines back an inch. Pirate Morale was soaring, with many of them now jeering at the Marines, gloating that victory was guaranteed.
This can only end well.
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It did not end well. Whitebeard's March was stopped dead in its tracks by the sudden intervention of Garp and Sengoku, who both had thrown themselves into the fray and started teaming on Whitebeard, both being far more active in the war than expected.
Of course, Newgate was at an extreme disadvantage now. He couldn't fight back fully, at risk of harming his men who had been surrounding him as a sort of protection. Sure, he had the precision and skill to still fight back somewhat, but against a full frontal assault from two thirds of the High Command, he couldn't find many opportunities to do so without hurting his sons.
The Marines didn't have such reservations. Sengoku and Garp's intervention had come at a surprise, but the momentum had shifted instantly, with the tens of thousands of Marine troops cheering wildly.
The High Command didn't hesitate to destroy any Pirate in their vicinity as they fought. The time for apprehending them had long passed, this was a War on their homeland. Any survivors would only perpetuate more piracy as long as they lived.
So, as they continued to attack Whitebeard relentlessly, several Pirates around them ended up caught in the crossfire. As the both of them tag-teamed Whitebeard, Marine forces began gunning his men down, with some also taking the opportunity to shoot at the legend himself.
The old man was trying his best to fight back with what little room he had, using his dwindling reserves of Haki and his Naginata which would normally be more than enough, however the constant pressure didn't allow him much room for retaliation.
He fought back enough to keep himself alive, but that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted to keep his family alive, but his old bones and ragged joints just couldn't handle a high speed battle like he used to, no longer able to keep up.
Eventually, there were no pirates left in the vicinity, no men to worry about harming. Most had died, the others having ran back to a position of safety. Whitebeard's Division Commanders couldn't help either, being occupied by the now active Admirals. The Whitebeard Pirates could only watch as their beloved father stood surrounded by his dead sons, their blood etching his skin.
Whitebeard's mind felt clouded with guilt, with grief. He had sworn to protect these men, yet he could do nothing but watch as they were killed. His strength was failing him, and his own ideas of himself were faltering. He saw red, saw his legend fall apart, saw his own weakness laid bare for all to witness. His fists clenched hard enough to make his bones creak. His glare caused nightmares to any that saw it.
With great anguish and fury, Whitebeard raised his fist, coated in raw seismic power, enough to shatter Marineford ten times over. He saw the fear in the High Command. He wanted so desperately to destroy this place.
But he held himself back. Whitebeard took a deep breath and realised he couldn't unleash it here, at risk of harming Ace. He lowered the power output and coated both of his fists, moving forward to skirmish with the High Command instead, unwilling to allow them to walk away still breathing. Any respect he had for them as relics of the Old Age had diminished in an instant.
Then, he saw Dante saunter into his field of vision.
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When Dante saw Whitebeard move onto the battlefield, he expected a one man army dishing out punishment. He did not expect to see an old man get tag teamed so viciously. Honestly he felt bad just watching.
But in the end, he was here for Ace. Anything else is just collateral. Rayleigh should've been more specific if he wanted him to carry the Whitebeard Pirates on his shoulders.
Dante kicked aside the limp arm of a now dead Pirate, continuing his walk towards the standoff between Garp, Sengoku and Whitebeard. He walked with confidence oozing in every step, the Rebellion slung over his shoulder comfortably, until eventually he found himself stood a few meters away from both parties.
"Never thought I'd get to watch 3 geriatrics go to town on eachother, but I guess there's a first time for everything."
Whitebeard glared at Dante for his interruption, while Sengoku and Garp glared at him simply by reflex at this point.
"Dante."
Sengoku growled out Dante's name with the same amount of respect one would have for vermin. No, that was too optimistic. Even vermin deserved more respect than Dante in Sengoku's eyes.
"In the flesh."
Dante held his arms out in the open as he spoke, his smile widening as he did so, before lowering them, resting his hand on the hilt of the Rebellion.
"I'm sure you know why I'm here."
Dante raised the Rebellion and pointed it in the direction of Ace.
"You won't be making it out of this base alive. That's the only thing I'm sure of."
In an instant, Garp and Sengoku dashed forward and attempted to attack Dante, skipping the small talk. Whitebeard however was not idle during this time, throwing a punch that sent Sengoku careening through the air, catching him mid-sprint.
With Sengoku out of the way, Garp was forced to attack Dante alone. He coated his fists in potent Armament Haki, sending several punches forward at Dante that created shockwaves on impact.
He was relentless, putting his body and soul into every strike, never losing morale despite constantly being met with the blade of the Rebellion. His targets constantly changed, shifting between liver and head shots, using kicks a few times to try and throw Dante off.
Garp was thrown off entirely when Dante suddenly dismissed the Rebellion and threw his arms up, going into a stance that Garp frankly had never seen before. That didn't stop the old man, who chose to continue attacking constantly, not wanting to allow Dante any room to breathe.
Unlike before though, every attack felt like it was hitting a brick wall. No, it was more accurate to say it felt like he was being forced to hit the handbrake before reaching the brick wall, not a single punch could land.
Suddenly, just as Garp was about to try his luck again, Dante moved. Faster than any being in this world could ever hope to perceive, Dante took all the stored energy from his Royal Guard and unleashed it in a concentrated blast, directly into the old man's chest.
Garp was flung away violently by the blast, blood following behind him through the air, before he collided with the Hull of the Moby Dick, crashing through and landing in a heap inside the ship.
Ah, shit, that was Luffy's grandad.
Oh well. No point complaining now, the old man had tried killing him after all. Every punch he threw was like a damn shotgun blast, frankly it was impressive stuff.
Dante then turned away from the wreckage left by Garp and saw that Whitebeard and Sengoku were still going to town on eachother, though they had long since activated their Devil Fruits. Both men were clearly exhausted. If they were both younger, the spectacle would be far more impressive, but right now it was just two old men using all the gas left in the tank. Two abnormally superpowered old men, granted.
A supersized, golden Sengoku now was squaring off with Whitebeard, who was casually shattering the air around them and crushing parts of Sengoku.
Oh I gotta get that Fruit.
Just as Whitebeard was about to crush Sengoku's legs with his Quake powers, the Buddha landed a devastating palm strike directly on Whitebeard, the man's whole body nearly being eclipsed by Sengoku's hand, only being saved by quickly shifting one of his hands to push against Sengoku's palm with his Devil Fruit.
Sengoku ignored the searing pain from the tremors and instead began squeezing, as hard as he could manage in his Buddha form. After a few seconds, violent crunching sounds could be heard from both men.
Sengoku screamed in pain, releasing Whitebeard while clutching his now shattered leg with an equally destroyed arm, while Whitebeard dropped to the floor and chuckled. His voice was strained, blood leaking from the bottom of his lip, his laughter raspy. His ribs had been shattered by the force of Sengoku's grip, several of them puncturing his lungs.
He didn't care. He was strong enough to shrug it off, for now at least.
While Sengoku was down on the floor, Whitebeard kept moving forward. He didn't pay the Fleet Admiral any mind. While he wanted nothing more than to avenge his dead children, he knew they would want him to instead savour his dwindling life and devote it to rescuing Ace.
Dante was pretty happy with this outcome. Whitebeard was on a timer now, his death was inevitable. And Sengoku was down on the floor, clutching his shattered limbs.
"Bet you never thought it would end like this, huh Sengoku?"
Sengoku looked up and saw Dante's face. He grimaced. Of all people to kill him. No, he wouldn't go down on his knees. He would die on his own terms. Enacting Justice.
"If you think I'll sit there and let you kill me, you're sorely mistaken."
Sengoku slowly began raising himself, his bones audibly cracking as he did so, red hot pain scorching through his body. He didn't care. He focused his will, sharpened it like a sword, coated his fists in his Conqueror's Haki and readied himself for the final battle.
Dante cringed slightly. He was conflicted about fighting a clearly injured elderly man.
"We really gonna do this? I can make this quick and easy, you know."
"I will not die like some dog. Come, Dante! Fight me like a man!"
Dante shrugged and raised his fists. The man did specifically ask for it. At this point, he could've taken the easy way out. If he wanted to die fighting, then props to him.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
emonoc
emonoc Woo. Back at it. Wanted to do a chapter a day but I slept through the time I usually write at yesterday unfortunately. Means I miss out on the dopamine shot to my tiny monkey brain I get from seeing new comments and collections. My biggest struggle writing this is still coming up with titles.
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