The Path Forward

Walking through the devoid pathways of Enies Lobby, Dante wonders to himself why the World Government even cares about this place. Sure, he understood it was for processing criminals and placing them on the 'path' so to speak that would guarantee them passage to Impel Down, but surely if they were strong enough they could decide where they wanted a path to be no matter what?

Maybe they weren't as domineering of the seas as he thought. Then again given the fact that there are 4 pirates referred to as Emperors it makes sense, rulers don't often give others titles of a regal nature when they have total control. He thinks.

Moving on, following the ensuing screams of a comical nature which seemed to follow the Straw Hats, Dante eventually found himself in a clearing giving him full view of the 'Lobby'.

Which was placed 'in the middle of a fucking wormhole!? What kinda maniac designed this place?!' His thoughts were certainly calm and focused. He didn't quite know the proper term for it, something like vortex, though Dante preferred wormhole. Made it seem cooler.

Past the initial gate from the station was the wormhole, which was directly beneath the several tens of what looked to be houses of sorts, followed by a direct path between two much larger buildings that led into the 'Gates of Justice'. It was entirely impractical.

If all assumptions were placed, then this 'living area' of the Lobby so to speak was where troops were housed and lived, with the larger buildings being for processing and extradition to Impel Down.

Thankfully for Dante, it seems as though there was a form of Bank Holiday or something because the force they had met up to this point did not match the gargantuan size of the land around them, with only a couple hundred Marine troops being the only opposition. Granted they were regular grunts, but a soldier is still a soldier and they will serve to exhaust the Straw Hats further for the upcoming clash.

'Oh well, less work for me. Just means I gotta deal with the ass monkeys in CP9. Shouldn't be too bad.' Dante mused.

With that thought firmly in his mind, he continued his leisurely stroll through the Lobby, accompanied by the sounds of screams and the sight of the Straw Hats fending off tens of Marines at a time. They were admittedly doing better than he thought, and were surprisingly considerate of lethality given no men had been killed just yet.

Eventually, the time came for them to cross the Gap. Upon reaching the roof and directly facing the next building ahead, he pushed past the line of Straw Hats, each of them equally exhausted from the nonstop battle to reach the gate of the bridge, proud of themselves for having gotten so far.

Taking a page from a great philosopher's book, he shouted out for CP9 to show themselves as they stood side by side on the roof of the entrance to Justice.

"Get down here, you inbred trash!"

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It had been another day of revelling in his own glory, drawing a self portrait, when he heard the first causes of concern. Gunshots, copious amounts of them. He simply brushed it off as a training exercise, perhaps CP9 practicing their speed, or even Tekkai.

The more prominent cause for concern came from an unfamiliar voice shouting from outside one of the windows. He peeked over in curiosity after feeling entirely insulted by the words of this intruder...

And proceeded to almost shit his pants at the sight of the one man he absolutely did not want to be within a 10 mile radius of him. His fingers fumbled, but he could not have slammed his thumb down on the Buster Call faster if he tried.

He alerted his subordinates to gather on his position through Mushi and made sure to have as many bodies between himself and the Red Devil as he could. Realistically, it would never have been enough.

Spandam and his asinine pride however needed to gloat, so in his infinite wisdom the man decided to make sure Dante felt some form of despair at the knowledge that a Buster Call was imminent, despite it most likely being far more effective if the man has no idea it is coming.

And with that, he steps out onto the roof alongside his remaining 3 CP9 officers.

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"Well well, if it isn't the Red Devil. In these waters no less. I figure you would be busy pillaging villages, destroying lives and beating down helpless Celestial Dragons." Spandam's nasal voice rung out across the gap.

"Sorry, but you've got the wrong man I'm afraid. See, this is all a case of mistaken identity. I'm not the Red Devil, my name is Vergil."

To accentuate this point, Dante had slicked his hair back to mimic Vergil's style. Why was he doing this? Shits and giggles. There was no elaborate plan, he simply wanted to see if they would fall for it.

"Wait really? Oh - oh God that is relieving to hear. Man, that really sucks for you, huh..."

One of the CP9 operatives, a man with a positively wolfish grin to him as he watched Dante, whispered into Spandam's ear, alerting him to the fact that he was being utterly duped by the great Dante himself.

"You dare... you dare deceive me!? You can try trick me all you want, your petty deception won't stop the Buster Call I've sent here! 10 ships, heralded by an Admiral! Face it, Red Devil, I am the harbinger of your doom!"

While Robin was having a mini panic attack, being consoled by her crew for the traumatic memories being brought up, Dante was... disappointed to say the least.

"Is that it? Honestly I kinda expected more. I mean I already beat one Admiral, whats 10 ships gonna add to it? Just means more targets."

"Chapapapapa! Your arrogance will be your downfall! Chapap-" Zip-Lips' words were suddenly interrupted by Dante's intervention, having Tricked over and carefully closed the mans mouth with the zipper, ripping the clip off to ensure it could not be unzipped, before returning back to his previous position on the entry building, brushing his palms against one another as the man fell down clutching his now zipped mouth.

"Sorry about that, wasn't about to get talked down at by Zipper Boy over there. Anyways, I reckon we've been talking long enough." He paused for a moment, summoning the Devil Sword Dante. "Say, I figure this place is quite old... could probably use some renovation too. Lucky for you, I'm quite the demolitionist."

On that note, he focused some of his Demonic Power into the blade of the Devil Sword, causing it to glow an eery red that seemingly absorbed the light around, flipping the sword into a reverse grip.

Swinging the Devil Sword horizontally, Dante watched as the blade of pure Demonic energy was drove forward into the building, turning the world Red and slicing clean through with no resistance, followed by two more vertical slashes, causing the building to slowly begin crumbling in on itself.

Spandam and his friend Mr Wolfy had been saved from the Drive, however Zippy and Long Hair were not spared, with Zippy being crushed by falling debris and Long Hair man finding himself directly in front of the energy

blade, his end being much more gruesome than expected.

Luckily for Dante, the rest of the Straw Hats were seemingly ignorant to this, and had no time to notice it by the time the building fully collapsed due to their attention being on Robin and her current panic attack. 'Speaking of which' he thought to himself.

"Oi, Robin!"

She looked up from her self imposed terror to find Dante smiling at her, sword resting comfortably on his shoulder.

"I'll take care of it. Trust. You won't have to worry about a thing."

The trauma undoubtedly remained, however in that moment she distinctly felt safe, more-so than she ever had in her life. She felt hopeful about the situation, fearless even. It was astonishing to her, the impact such a simple gesture had for her, with Robin responding to him with a shakey nod, and a dazzling smile.

"I'm glad you trust me. Now, I reckon we ain't got long before this place collapses too, given the pitiful construction of this place. I'm sorry to say, but you won't survive a Buster Call. This is where we part ways."

"What? But Damien, you can't join my crew if you're leaving now!"

"Luffy, your logic may be sound, however if you would remember correctly I never agreed to join. As much as I want to, I'm afraid it'll have to wait until some business is settled. Save a spot for me though, yeah?"

Having earned a begrudging respect from Zoro for his combat skills, and the same from Sanji for his ability to soothe Robin's troubles, all of the 'powerhouses' in the crew were in agreement that if they could have Dante join the team, life would be made much easier.

Sad as they all were to part ways with him, they were eager to hold him to his promise. The goodbyes were each unique, hell even Sogeking seemed sad to see him leave, and his tears were most certainly exaggerated. He barely even knew the guy.

His parting gift from Robin was a tight hug, one which she used to whisper that she hopes he doesn't abandon her, and a thank you for destroying a symbol of her fears, something which equally made Dante sad as much as it did happy that she was willing to place so much faith in him.

And with that, Dante parted ways with the Straw Hats, the crew themselves having a quick exit from the island thanks to the timely intervention of their trusty vessel, one that was on its last legs and desperate to save its crew.

Cracking his neck, Dante began walking towards the Gate of Justice, hopping between piles of rubble to reach an advantageous position, being entirely uncaring about Spandam's fate after having dropped a building on the man. If he survives, then perhaps God has a plan for the man.

A few minutes later, the shelling of the island began, and tens of cannons begun firing on Enies Lobby. After the mentally exhausting series of events, Dante had no such care for holding back, wanting to dispose of the Buster Call as quickly as possible.

With that, he pulled his Devil Trigger, and the nightmare began.

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Aokiji had authorised CP9 to use a Buster Call, not expecting them to actually need it in the first place, however now he was sorely regretting such an authorisation.

The last call he had with the Fleet Admiral told him something that caused a knot of fear to manifest in his gut. The Red Devil was going to be there. He simply had to grit his teeth and follow through with the Buster Call, though he wanted nothing more than to be relaxed on the bed, or damn near anything he could sleep on. Sadly, he couldn't find a hint of drowsiness in his system anymore.

The shelling of Enies Lobby had proceeded as normal, with the island being reduced to rubble in a few moments. The next event however was of major concern. A single bolt of crimson lightning shot through the clouds, piercing the sky. Anything red was a bad sign by this point.

He had planned to send the order out to retreat, to change position or even to stand by for further information, however before he could make the call his worst fears were realised when something slammed into the boat on his left, with the ship exploding entirely a few seconds later.

From the fire and debris came a creature that would haunt Aokiji for the rest of his life, a winged abomination that he could only describe as vaguely human. Despite having seen hundreds of different Zoan fruits and the alterations they make to the bearer, none had caused such a response in Aokiji. His Haki felt like it was being corrupted, his senses hindered, his breathing restricted.

It grinned at him, and Aokiji connected the dots immediately. Somehow, this... thing was the Red Devil, some entirely unknown Zoan Devil Fruit most likely being the cause. Unlike Fruits, however, this felt... wrong. It felt wicked. Malicious. His Haki screamed at him that he was in danger.

Every second, ships around him would explode into fire and rubble, wood scattering around the waters, the screams of his men would be all he could hear. The demon never once moved. It simply stayed there, now hovering just above the deck of his ship, grinning at him.

Finally, after his boat was all that remained, and his fear reached all new heights leaving him ironically frozen in shock, a much more human Dante appeared from thin air beside the demon.

"Ah man, sorry about that. Knew I was forgetting something. You'd be surprised how hard it is to keep track of these Doppelgangers."

With that, the creature transformed back into the human shape of Dante, being simply picked up by the original and placed over its shoulder, carried away like a mannequin as Aokiji was left stunned and terrified. Alone, surrounded by bodies and broken vessels.

Years of training, years of extensive work as a marine were flushed down the drain, he couldn't even lift a single finger after feeling the raw pressure emanated by Dante's... double? Transformation? He didn't even know.

What was he supposed to report to the Fleet Admiral?

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Having returned to the rubble of what was once Enies Lobby, Dante kicked back for a moment, high fiving his Doppelganger. That is, until he really thought about what he had just done.

"Man... maybe I went too hard on that guy. He was only doing his job, after all. Same for all those other Marines. Come to think of it, they would have happily killed me if given the chance. Can't trust damn near anyone here."

The idea simply came on a whim, he couldn't be bothered to deal with an Admiral in a physical battle, so he decided to win the mental battle and establish what can only be described as 'Diff.'

"Well... now what the hell do I do?"