章節 48: Steady Hand

A few hours of walking had come and gone with little fanfare, with nobody tracking Dante to speak of. His mind was elsewhere all the same, tracker or not.

From what Batman had said, the Beast cared for his kin than Dante initially expected. A maniac of his calibre doesn't seem the type to be a family man, and given the fact that nobody had ever seen Yamato in person chances were he's kept under lock and key.

Good. Would be pretty easy to manipulate him into leaving the island all things considered. A few promises of the outside world, a declaration of friendship and Kaido wouldn't have a son nearby any longer.

When Dante thought on the matter deeper, he came to the conclusion that this was entirely justified, and not petty. A man colludes with your business partner to have you killed, so you deny him the pleasure of a fight and steal his firstborn. It all added up.

Simple calculations bring simple results. The plan was utterly perfect.

The only thing left to do from there was find Yamato, which seems like a pretty easy task. Kaido wouldn't trust anyone near or even let a person get close to his most prized possession, so Onigashima was more than likely where Dante would find them.

'Well, that can come later. I got more than enough time to raid the place. Right now I gotta find the prison Batman mentioned.' Mentally rehearsing his current goals, Dante continued along his trail South, eager to finally break into prison.

Well... chances were he was going to end up destroying the place in a big ass battle. He wasn't so much there for a noble reason like 'saving the oppressed' or 'freeing the enslaved'. No, it was much more simple than that, he was there for some fun sightseeing.

He had long since learned that his old Earth ideals meant jack shit in this world, so he abandoned them, clung to his false persona of Dante in the face of unfamiliarity with everything around him. It was the reason why he hadn't just obliterated Mariejois and called himself a hero to the World.

'...Just getting sidetracked now. No use reminiscing.' Dante yawned and stretched his arms, feeling a new presence enter his Observation range the second he did so, followed by two more. 'Christ, you'd think they'd learn their lesson.'

"Alright, back to business."

He cracked his knuckles and turned to face the oncoming opponents, finding himself observing 3 samurai quickly approaching him. Alongside the different dress they had, these new foes seemed more nimble and skilled. Dante made these mental notes to himself as if they held even a modicum of a chance against him in a fight.

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Walking forward to the array of men ahead of him, Dante held his arms open and approached with a cheerful tone.

"Gentlemen! What brings you out here to these lovely Barrens?"

Of the three, only one stepped forward, with his compatriots slowly moving to either side of Dante as they readied their blades. The large, horned Samurai made slow measured steps as he unfurled a piece of parchment, specifically showing Dante's face though crudely drawn, with the label 'Wanted' atop it.

"By order of the Grand Shogun, Orochi, you are to be arrested for the slaughter of several Wano Samurai. After, you will be brought before the Shogun, who will personally handle your execution. I, and my fellow Samurai, Fujin and Raijin, have been tasked by the Shogun himself to ensure your capture."

Dante admittedly stopped listening after the first few words, but he caught execution and arrested, words which he took great offence to given that any charges accrued were in the name of self defence. That, and any poster with his face on it usually meant trouble.

"So, what you're saying is that you three-"

Dante points to each man surrounding him, one by one as they exchange confused glances, having expected a ruthless killer and not an attention loving buffoon.

"-are gonna bring me in all by yourselves?"

Dante took one last appraising look of his opponents, coming to the conclusion that 'They ain't shit.' and began to work.

Summoning the Yamato - 'Man, that's gonna get confusing soon.' - into his hand, Dante began assaulting the Samurai to his left, Fujin. He swung the blade three times, the first cutting through the sword his opponent tried to defend himself with.

The second came after Dante lunged forward, aiming low and slicing across Fujin's legs, severing them both at the knee. For the final swing, Dante held the Yamato with both hands, twisting the blade upwards and slashing Fujin into two halves, bottom to top.

Sensing a presence rapidly approaching from behind Dante Tricked upwards into the air, taking a moment to unleashe a Judgement Cut on Raijin, who had hastily attacked him in fury over his partner's demise.

Within milliseconds the once proud Samurai became a pile of flesh, lacerated several hundred times over and torn at the seams. The poor man was carved into pieces.

As the Judgement Cut connected, Dante Tricked back down and kicked a chunk of flesh over at the final Samurai's head, disorienting the man long enough that Dante could simply Trick forward and plunge the Yamato deep into his chest cavity, twisting the sword afterwards.

It had taken less than a few seconds at best, but Dante wasn't pleased, lamenting his lack of creativity with one of the most powerful swords in all of creation. Either way, the inconvenience had been dealt with, and Dante now had a new name to etch onto his list. Orochi, the Grand Shogun.

Seems like everyone with control over Wano wants Dante dead. At this point, he wasn't surprised. Though, one thing he didn't appreciate was how much these people seemed to underestimate him. Regular ass Samurai? To arrest him? What a sick joke.

Dismissing the Yamato, Dante finally got back on track with his original goal, though now amended for a visit to the Capital: Check out the prison, pay Orochi a visit, and steal Kaido's prized possession from right under his nose. He still had a few days time until he needed to be at Marineford, so he could enjoy himself and take his time with this.

That was one thing Dante could be thankful for at the very least. And finally, when this was all over, he would go back to Kuja Island and just relax for a few days. In Dante's eyes, he'd earned it.

Plans to kidnap a man's child aside, life was good for the half-devil.