7 Chapter 7: The Fool messes with Time

Dante sat on top of his throne in Sefirah Castle looking into a bright red star pulsating with power. The star held the image of a young man with long black hair tied neatly behind his back.

He wore a black and red kimono, red gloves, and the black blade Shusui on his hips.

The image depicted in the star soon retreated showing more of the landscape the youth was currently in. It was a breathtaking sight, a city built in ancient Japanese style with cherry blossoms decorating the city. On the horizon, a giant tree twisted around a castle marking it as the lord's residence.

"Wano... How should I approach this? If I defeat Kaido and take him away to Vegapunk, the threads of fate will forever change. Luffy won't be able to awaken his devil fruit and he won't learn the secret to advanced conqueror's haki. If I take Kaido away, I'd need to replace him with something that could keep Luffy's fate on the right track..."

As Dante pondered on how to act, he visited countless stalls, trying their food and buying all kinds of trinkets and souvenirs. 

He sat down on the roof of a house, taking in the breathtaking beauty of Wano's capital. Famine and despair hadn't yet reached the point of the manga when Luffy arrived but he could see traces of it already happening. Every now and then a skirmish happened between the Samurai and the Beast Pirates leaving a trail of destruction and pain behind.

With a sigh, Dante made his decision.

"I guess, I'll have to become the obstacle instead... What alias should I take? Sosuke Aizen? Johan Liebert? Hmm... Well, there's still a lot of time left, I'll leave that for future me! First, I'll have to get rid of Kaido."

...

Dante appeared in front of the old ruins that once were Oden's palace. He took in the sight of the seven graves representing seven of the nine red scabbards that apparently died in the great fire back then.

"Well, let's see if it works." Dante guided his mind to enter the historical void. He saw the scenes of the palace's downfall, the raging fire enveloping everything in its proximity. In the center of the fire, on the highest floor stood a beautiful woman with long green hair holding her two children in her arms. 

She shielded them from the burning fire, taking the brunt of the heat. Dante saw her send away Momonosuke into the future, accompanied by some of the red scabbards while Kawamatsu took Hiyori away. Her last words proclaimed a prophecy and the return of the Kozuki.

"You are the moon unaware of the dawn... may your purpose be fulfilled and cast nine shadows on the night woven of 10 years... and you shall know the brilliance of the dawn brought by the Fool!"

Hearing her words, Dante fell from the historical void and returned to the present. His forehead sweating profusely and a cold shudder went down his back.

"Again?! How... And more importantly: Why?!" The prophecy had changed, the people of Wano weren't just waiting for the dawn anymore but for the appearance of the Fool as well. 

"Something's not right here... My divinations still proclaim Luffy as the savior, he remains the warrior of liberation that will free the people of this world... So why do the people of the past keep mentioning me?"

But then another problem arose from it.

"The Fool was mentioned several times now but how come other than Robin, nobody else recited my name? Did those connected to ancient history only preserve the title, not the entire name?"

Dante shook his worries and distraught thoughts away and focused on the matter at hand. He willed his powers over the fool pathway and focused on Toki's power. Despite her saying that the prophecized time was ten and not twenty years later, he'd rather not take any chances and try to graft the destination point of the transfer to the present.

The advantage of knowing the past came into play as he easily discerned the flow of time being altered by Toki's ability. He forcefully grafted the destination and five figures appeared in midair.

The five of them fell at breakneck speed before Dante stole their momentum, making them land gracefully on the ground. The four samurai and the Kozuki heir looked around in astonishment, witnessing the miracle that Toki Kozuki performed.

"Mother!! I will avenge you!!" The young Kozuki heir balled his eyes out. 10 years might have passed for the rest of the world but for that young child his mother died but a few moments ago.

The four samurai instead surveilled their surroundings not noticing Dante watching them from a few meters away. He had stolen their perception of himself thus making him essentially invisible. In the distance, he felt a small army approach their location, probably due to the disturbance of their teleportation and Toki's prophecy.

"Lord Momonosuke, we need to leave! We need to hide for now before they find us!" Kinemon, Oden's first retainer, pressured the young heir.

"Don't worry, you're safe." Dante's calm yet soothing voice startled the group. The four samurai unsheathed their swords pointing them towards the figure of a samurai standing right next to them.

"Who are you?! And how did you sneak up on us?!" Kiku, a young girl in a man's body exclaimed. Dante could see the lingering pain and suffering all of them had gone through just a few hours ago. 

Dante raised his arm enveloping the surroundings in a thick layer of gray fog, concealing the area from the small army approaching them. 

"My name is Byakuya Kuchiki. I am here on my lord's orders to reclaim the lost land of Wano and help the rightful heir to sit on the throne." Dante, now Byakuya, was slightly embarrassed posing as his own executioner but at the same time he felt oddly excited about it. Dante had always loved to roleplay.

"I've never heard of a Kuchiki family! And which lord do you serve?!" Kinemon replied, his voice holding a mix of anger, confusion, and distrust. 

"I serve the kind and undeceitful, the one who opposes all evil, the great Fool!" Dante tried selling it with the conviction of a true follower, but he feared he put on too much air. 

None of the red scabbards reacted the way Dante had anticipated, instead, they all looked at him in confusion.

"The Fool? And who's that supposed to be?" This time it was Kanjuro who spoke out, the traitor had remained silent until now.

But before Dante could understand their ignorance and try to explain who the Fool was, Momonosuke, who regained his bearing, spoke in between sobs.

"The Fool?!... 'Sniff'... The one mother and father would always talk about?... Is he really here?... Is he really here to save Wano?!" With each question, the young heir regained more and more confidence. His voice also rose in decibels as he gathered his courage.

Dante, looking at the child who knew about him and the four scabbards that didn't, pieced the things together. 

'So Oden and Toki kept my existence a secret even from his retainers? Does Hiyori know or was she kept in the dark as well?'

"The great Fool only awakened a while ago but rest assured, I'm more than enough to handle Kaido and his goons." It wasn't the fact that the mysterious Fool had been mentioned and that Momonosuke knew about him, but rather the confidence and certainty with which Dante proclaimed Kaido's imminent defeat.

"Mother said that one day the Fool would wake up and once he does, I should recite something," Momonosuke muttered as he tried desperately to remember his mother's words.

"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era;

The mysterious ruler above the gray fog;

The king of black and yellow who wields good luck."

As Momonosuke recited the Fool's honorific name, the gray fog around them stirred, shifting violently and taking all of them into a faraway place.