11 Chapter 11: Preparations for the Seraphim

On the deck of the legendary ship, Moby Dick, Dante, and Whitebeard continued their negotiation, as Dante liked to put it.

"He wants my devil fruit? And what do you mean you can replace it without my notice? You think of me as such a weakling that I wouldn't even notice my devil fruit disappearing?!" Whitebeard's voice boomed across the deck, startling even his own crew members who had moved to the back of the ship or on top of the other ships surrounding the main one.

Dante didn't reply but answered with his actions instead. He raised his hand in the colossal pirate captain's direction and with a swift motion, a blue and uniquely shaped pear-like fruit appeared on his palm.

"It's as easy as that." With another swift motion, the fruit disappeared returning to Whitebeard who was left speechless. The fruit had looked exactly like the one he had eaten ages ago and he felt the power of his tremor fruit disappear in an instant.

"Is that ability your own or was it a gift from the Fool?" Whitebeard clicked his tongue as he witnessed the incredible sight of a consumed devil fruit being stolen.

"All of my powers belong to the Fool, and so does my whole existence. I was given life by him and as such I shall give it back if he so wishes." Dante seemed to revel in the new role he had taken, his earlier embarrassment and awkwardness disappearing.

"Whatever, I'd rather die a free man than serve someone else." The finality in Whitebeard's gave was clue enough for Dante to stop any further attempt at scouting the sick legend.

"I see... A shame but I'll respect your decision." Once again Dante bowed exaggeratedly.

Whitebeard felt the power of the tremor fruit disappearing while at the same time, the blue fruit appeared in Dante's hand.

Suddenly, gray fog enveloped the fruit and once the fog dispersed, the fruit was gone.

"The great Fool follows the principle of equivalent exchange." Dante entered his hand into the historical void and pulled out an exact copy of the tremor fruit and a small piece of paper. He threw both of them toward the wisened pirate captain before continuing.

"Although I called it a copy before, you may think of it as the same as the original. That piece of paper contains the Fool's honorific name, recite it if you ever need a wish fulfilled, it's your payment for the fruit."

Dante stood up, the couch on which he sat dispersed into gray fog while he performed another bow. His body slowly dispersed and vanished from his spot, his voice still echoing on the deck of the ship.

"May you find peace in life and glory in death, Edward 'Whitebeard' Newgate."

Whitebeard looked at the fruit in his hands, a myriad of thoughts going through his mind. He had witnessed many actions one could call a miracle, yet the acts performed by his latest guest were far above any he had seen. His observation haki had warned him about any attack he planned while his continuous use of conqueror's haki didn't even bother him at all.

"The Fool... Roger, did you know?"

...

Dante sat on his throne inside Sefirah Castle, his eyes landed on the ancient table situated in front of him. There were five fruits in varying colors and shapes neatly placed next to each other.

"Kaido's dragon fruit, Whitebeard's tremor fruit, Luffy's Nika fruit, Marco's phoenix fruit, and Kuma's paw fruit... I already gathered the most powerful ones, but there are still a few I want to add like Big Mom's soul fruit and Law's op fruit. Abilities like the barrier fruit and the float fruit would be neat as well...

I wonder what the limit is that Vegapunk can integrate? Maybe I can fool the process to add a couple more? Well, let's see what he's able to do with the ones I already have."

Dante blinked into the prepared lab that Vegapunk refused to leave. He had to kick him out every now and then or his cover would be blown and the world government would start being suspicious of him.

"Dr.Vegapunk, I've brought some of the items I need you to add to the Seraphim." Dante placed the five devil fruits on top of one of the empty tables, each was properly labeled.

Vegapunk read the labels on it and once he reached the purple Hito Hito no mi: Model Nika, his eyes nearly burst out of his head.

"I-is this the real one?!"

Dante simply nodded and left the genius scientist who was about to start one of his lengthy rants about the current topic. Dante had no interest in spending the next two hours, listening to his ramblings and the following dozens of theories about said subject.

He walked across the lab and took in the sight of two prototypes lying on operation tables. One of them was completed while the other had the chest open revealing several wires connecting the different parts.

"The first one was a failure... He can't speak and communicates using sign language! What utter failure!!" The genius scientist was on the verge of crying as he was forced to admit his failure.

"Is that the only problem?" Dante didn't mind the language problem, once he used it as his marionette he would be able to speak through it no matter if the original marionette could or not.

"What do you mean 'only'?! That's as far away from the goal line as the sun is from us!! How could I call myself a scientist if I were to accept that as a successful prototype?! Never!!" 

Dante decided to just go with the flow, despite not caring about his so-called 'flaw' Dante just joined him in bashing the prototype.

"Now that you mention it... He truly is a hideous creature... To think that he couldn't talk..."

"Exactly!! Have you finally embarked on the path of true science, lord Fool?!" Despite knowing and understanding that Dante was a true deity, the eccentric genius still treated him like a fellow human, although one with higher authority. Dante didn't mind it.

...

"Let's see... I should go after the fruits that haven't been eaten yet. The magnet fruit and the barrier fruit should not have a user right now."

Dante focused the powers of the door pathway to locate the two devil fruits. Replacing both of them with historical projections, Dante focused on another part of his goal. 

"Vegapunk has seven devil fruits to add to the Seraphim... Gathering more won't do any good, instead, I should give him the time he needs. I think it's finally time for me to enjoy the world! But, I've messed up already... I've used too many different personas and even the honorific name I gave out wasn't always the same..."

Dante was mulling over whether he should go around replacing the memories of those who had interacted with him already but he decided against it.

"What's done is done..." He shrugged it off as being the first world he visited.

"Should I go visit another world while I wait for time to pass here?"

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[A/N: Hello, my dear readers! As you can see, this chapter is a bit smaller than usual (+-150 words difference). That is because Dante has basicaly reached a point where he isn't able to do much in the world, for now at least. He could go sightseeing but I'm not sure how many of you want to see that?

Therefore, I wanted to make a quick poll here!

Sightseeing in the One Piece world.

Moving on to the next world until the One Piece timeline has reached the start of 'canon'.

Please let me know what you think about and feel free to make any suggestions on where Dante should go in the future!]