A Little Early To The Party

What option did Dante have other than to willingly spring the trap? It would be silly not to, the only other option was let Doffy think he didn't want any part of the payment he was owed and ignore the mans calls.

But Dante would never do that, he had no reason to be afraid of the trap in the first place. No, his thoughts were occupied instead by how insulted he felt that Doflamingo thought such an obvious trap would work.

The employer wants to switch the venue so he feels safer? So, in this 'employer's infinite wisdom, they hash the deal out on Kaido's territory? The same Kaido they supposedly hate and wanted Dante to kneecap through his crew? Bullshit. Doffy either got sloppy, or is on the backfoot.

But, thats only a benefit for Dante. He never trusted Doflamingo, hell chances were nobody on the planet actually did. Dante was still left wondering what exactly Doflamingo had to gain from this. He had no ties with Doffy, and he doubted the man would claim the bounty on his head, he probably has more in the bank than 12 of Dante's bounties added up.

'Eh, ain't my problem anymore. I'll deal with him when the time comes, right now I gotta pay Wano a visit. Heard the folks are lovely.' He thought to himself as he kicked his legs up onto the desk. He'd been travelling damn near all over the world the last few days it felt.

At least he'd be able to experience the reverse mountain for the first time, worst part about living in such a wide open world was when all the interesting parts were in one single route across the damn planet. He didn't need to see the rest of it.

He leaned further back into the chair, closer to laying down now as he closed his eyes and let the Deadweight continue her journey. He didn't need to, but it was relaxing to take a few hours away from the world. It gave him time to think about things.

Then again, he didn't like thinking much. Slowing down, taking time to reflect. He still hadn't confronted the fact that he was dead, a cold corpse, and is only alive now because of a generous God and a shitload of willpower.

But, as mentioned, Dante hadn't confronted it and didn't intend to. It was a can of worms he didn't want to deal with any time soon. Right now he had more important things on his mind, since things from the Old World don't matter anymore.

He had a time limit on his business in Wano. 4 days until the scheduled execution of Ace, plus he had to make sure Hancock wouldn't blow a fuse while he was gone. Then again, Quicksilver meant he could never be late for any business he had.

Ah, he couldn't wait. Dante couldn't wait to see the look on Doffy's face, it almost makes him sad that he'll have to kill the little rat. Almost.

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The voyage had been pretty quick all things considered. While navigation was always an issue, Dante was slowly beginning to learn how to get around the inconsistent weather of the Grand Line, brute force.

The real issue came through getting around the Red Line, and take his first few steps into the New World. Of course, Dante didn't quite know that the conventional route was through Fishman Island, so his grand idea was to simply throw his ship over the landmass. It had worked swimmingly before, and it worked just as well this time around.

From there, it was relatively smooth sailing across the calm belt like usual. He'd taken a few notes from the Marines, started lining the bottom of the Deadweight with seastone, which he stole from a few Marine garrisons that were cruising past him.

Eventually, he found himself met with a raised island surrounded with stone, and a single waterfall in the centre. Dante wasn't in the mood to drag the Deadweight up a waterfall and have it live up to its namesake, so he decided that the best option was to leave the boat at the bottom and go on foot from there.

He stood on the deck, lowered himself for a moment and jumped into the air, giving him an extensive view of Wano. From what he had heard, the place was once a beautiful island of unparalleled splendor. Now?

Well, suffice to say it looked like a shithole. The only real area of the island that still held any life in general was to the West, which at least had plants. The rest of the island was... dead, rotten, corrupted.

What stood out most to Dante was the giant skull fortress in the center, which he would bet big money was Kaido's own personal space. With this view, he could understand why the borders were closed, and he heavily doubted tourism here was making good business.

Well, if there was one thing Dante lived for it was the journey. He did want to enjoy his time at Wano at the very least, and going straight to Kaido wouldn't allow for that, so he settled for exploring the place beforehand. Hopefully Wano was a lot more pleasant than it looked.

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Well, it most definitely wasn't more pleasant. Turns out the Beast Pirates take the 'closed borders' assignment way too seriously, acting as some asinine border control and not hesitating to try and kill Dante the second they saw him walking in from the shore. They didn't last very long, with the same being said for the local wildlife. He wasn't going to allow himself to die at the hands of an oversized monkey, that much was for sure.

This same pattern repeated multiple times, with Dante walking around and finding patrols of Beasts and actual beasts time and time again, until he walked into a village of unimaginable beauty. He was astonished, blinking his eyes several times over as if to test that it was an illusion, but Bakura Town was as real as could be.

In complete contrast to the previous sights, this area was filled with vibrant colour, blossoming fauna and breathable air. Dante was confused about how exactly there was such a drastic shift in aesthetic, but he would find answers for his questions later. As of now his priorities lied in finding Doflamingo, and exploring this island fully.

Sadly, it seemed as though these folks also took the assignment of no outsiders much too seriously, as he was quickly met with opposition to his existence. What surprised him most of all was the fact that there were samurai, working alongside Beasts, something he never expected to see in this world.

"Vagabond. You have broken the laws of Wano, and unlawfully entered our kingdom. Stand down, and die an honourable death."

"Ah, my bad, my bad. Kinda got a bit lost, you know how the water is around these parts. Surely you won't kill a man for getting lost."

As he was speaking, one of the Beast pirates began to inspect him, scrutinising Dante's appearance as he pulled a scrunched up piece of paper out of his pocket, eyes widening in shock as he shakily pointed a finger.

"It's Dante! The Red Devil is here!"

In a last ditch attempt to deny the claims of this lowly pirate, Dante did the first thing that came to mind, he shook his head.

"Nuh-uh!"

And was promptly ignored entirely.

Several cries of fear came from those in the vicinity, those who had been walking past or wanted to see what the commotion was.

"The Sinner? He should be hung!"

"Execute him! He has no right to be here!"

"Shame on you, Red Devil."

"Pathetic. Pirates have no tact."

Sighing, Dante slowly began to unholster Ebomy and Ivory, questioning how it always ends up with someone dead whenever he meets new people.

"Was worth a shot. Oh well, same shit different day."