Almighty Stick Swinger

The second he saw Zoro rushing towards him, Dante laid down hellfire upon the swordsman, rapidly tapping the trigger of Ebony continuously, forcing Zoro to dash sideways, not willing to try and cut down the projectiles hurtling in his direction.

As Zoro darted to the left, Dante took the opportunity to sprint across the gap between them, being mere inches from Zoro's face as he slammed the blade of the Rebellion down, colliding with the Wado Ichimonji lodged between Zoro's jaws.

The treasured sword rattled, almost being flung from Zoro's mouth due to the force placed against it, with Zoro now on the backfoot as he placed the two swords he held in his hands against the Rebellion, trying to push Dante away.

Dante figured he should at least try and include some lessons over the course of what was sure to be a beatdown, but he still couldn't think of much verbal feedback to give, so he decided to speak the first words that came to mind.

"Lesson one, don't be a one trick pony. If you aren't as lethal with two swords, or even one, as you are with three then you're a liability."

Dante then covered his knee in Armament Haki, pulling the Rebellion back to his side and throwing his armoured knee up into Zoro's swords - still held in a blocking position due to the speed at which Dante had moved- breaking his guard and leaving him exposed.

Zoro, realising the situation he was in now, rotated the swords he held into a reverse grip, firmly holding the blades in a way that protected his exposed chest, jumping back at the same time to avoid any chance at being stabbed.

As he watched Zoro in the air, Dante once again unloaded round upon round in Zoro's general direction, forcing the rookie pirate to try and block the bullets coming towards him.

Luckily for Zoro, Dante wasn't specifically aiming for him, instead wanting to simply put pressure on the pirate, and test his ability to perform under immense stress. To his surprise, Zoro was able to angle his swords to block at least two of the shots.

When he landed, Zoro once again shifted the grip he had over his swords, returning them to a normal position as he began to get frustrated at Dante's lack of respect for an honourable duel through his use of the gun.

"Lesson number 2."

Zoro blinked, and Dante was gone. It was as though he was never there to begin with, simply disappearing from this plane of reality. He looked around in every direction, a bead of sweat rolling down his neck as he struggled to find the half-devil.

Just as he feared the endless possibilities of where Dante could be, Zoro found himself unable to move, the blade of the Rebellion pointed at his neck as Dante walked into his vision from behind, sword still held against his throat.

"Always keep your eyes peeled. If you can't track your opponent, or they're that much faster than you, then you've lost. Plain and simple. Chances are that you won't make it out of that fight."

With his piece spoken, Dante withdrew the Rebellion, allowing Zoro a chance to catch the breath he wasn't aware he was holding. As he was lost in thought, questions piling in his mind over Dante's powers, Zoro found himself victim of a smack to the head with the pommel of the Rebellion, dazing him briefly.

"Lesson number 3. Stay focused. A fight doesn't slow down so you can think."

Zoro looked back up to see Dante sat atop a seat he had formed with spectral swords, floating in a flat panel, with the man himself rubbing his chin atop the chair.

As he did so, Dante had come to the realisation that he had once more become victim to the Uncle Dante scruff having grown back. His woe was immeasurable.

Of course, Zoro hadn't been simply standing still since Dante had his revelation. With an opportunity having been seen, though he was skeptical, Zoro rushed forward hoping to land his first blow on Dante. He tightened the grip on his swords as he ran, blood pumping throughout his system at intense pace while his focus narrowed.

He drew back his arms, twisted his head and prepared to unleash an attack that he was certain would either harm Dante or at the very least catch him off guard.

"Onigiri!-"

Just as the trio of swords were about to make contact with Dante's flesh the half-devil stood up, summoned Abbadon into his hand where Rebellion previously was, and slammed the warhammer into the swords - causing Zoro to lose his grip on them entirely, each blade being flung from him.

Dismissing Abaddon, Dante reared back his fist and punched forward into Zoro's chest, sending the pirate flying back, causing him to roll a few times before getting back up on shakey limbs. He struggled to stand, but when he did, he was pissed.

"Just what the fuck was that, Dante? First a gun, now a hammer!?"

"That, my dear student, was lesson 4!"

Dante paused for dramatic effect, waiting for Zoro to answer for him as if he had any understanding of what the lesson was.

"Lesson 4 is to always fight dirty. You want to have an honourable duel every time you fight? Ain't gonna happen."

He walked towards Zoro and collected each sword as he passed by, unimpressed with the quality of them, until finally he reached the pirate and handed the weapons back, patting him on the shoulder as he did so.

"If you're fighting fair, you ain't fighting to win."

Under his breath, Dante added hastily that it was 'much more fun that way' too. Each of these lessons had been made up as he went along, but Dante was feeling pretty confident that they had helped Zoro in some way.

Zoro, however, was much less interested than Dante had initially expected, coldly pushing Dante's arm off his shoulder.

"I didn't come here for your life lessons, Dante. All I want is one thing from you. Help me become better with the sword."

Just as Zoro was about to walk back to the audience of his fellow crew mates, who were all in mixed states of dread and panic upon seeing the ass whooping Zoro had received, he was rooted in place by a much more firm hand on his shoulder, courtesy of Dante.

"I figured you'd know this already, but I guess I'll have to remind you of something. You aren't just a guy with a sword, you got people to protect, people who depend on you."

Dante paused for a moment to ensure that Zoro would take in the message he was giving, one he expected Zoro to have taken in already. Maybe the man was just feeling angered after Dante had belittled his dream so much and had focused that anger in the wrong motivation.

"I ain't giving you 'life lessons', I'm making sure you don't get your friends killed because you wanna be the world's best stick swinger."

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After that, Zoro returned to the group of Straw Hats, with Dante having a rough estimate of Zoro's strengths and weaknesses, coming to the conclusion that he was very weak. At least, compared to what he had encountered.

There was the usual chatter afterwards, with the crew doing their best to encourage Zoro, reasoning that Dante was so far above them that lasting for even a minute was impressive enough already, so he should be proud.

Zoro was too busy admonishing himself to pay attention. He had already devoted himself to his crewmates safety, and the dream Luffy held, so what caused him to express such a narrow mindset against Dante? Was it how callously he tossed aside his dream, all that it represented, and all that Kuina meant to him?

He didn't get much more time to ponder on such things before Sanji loudly started laughing at the great 'Tragedy of the Marimo' and ridiculed Zoro for not being able to land a swing against the Red Devil.

Were he in a normal situation, Dante would take this opportunity to call Sanji up for examination to curb such an ego, however he had different plans. He wanted to see something.

Dante wanted to know what made Luffy so special. What made him the main character of the series, what made everything surrounding his family so special. After all, the only thing Dante could tell about him was that he had rubber powers and valued his hat.

Just as he was about to call upon Luffy for the next segment of his training, Rayleigh walked into view with grief on his face.

"Dante... We need to talk. Luffy, you and your crew can follow the drills I showed you before. Then, spar for a few hours - no breaks! - and have some food after. Shakky will cook you all something, I'm sure."

Despite the groaning of the Straw Hats, and the glee of Luffy at the thought of Shakky's magnificent skills as a chef, Dante paid neither any attention. He was admittedly concerned. He had never heard Rayleigh speak with such woe in his voice, nor while wearing such a forlorn expression.

Giving the man a nod, he walked over to the old bastard and motioned for him to take them some place quieter so they can discuss what was clearly to be a serious topic.

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"Look, Dante... I don't ask for much from you often, but when I say I need you to do this, I mean it."

Dante raised a single eyebrow at Rayleigh's statement, ready to back away.

"First Zoro, now you? I ain't into guys, buddy."

"No more jokes. Just hear me out."

Skeptical, but nonetheless willing to listen to what Rayleigh was going to request of him, Dante stood and waited.

"Today's newspaper came in. Every day your bounty gets higher, I swear. I'd say I'm proud, but I've barely taught you enough to really feel any sense of pride. Anyways."

He took another breath to compose himself.

"There's this announcement thats been made by the Marines, about the execution order for this kid, name is Portgas D. Ace. He's the spitting image of Roger I tell you, almost thought the bastard had resurrected when I saw him. And get this, Roger's sword was called Ace too."

Rayleigh shook his head for a moment as he thought further on the idea that he could be looking at the order for his treasured friends son to be executed. It was only a spitball theory at this point, but the mere thought that he had failed Roger's son to such an extent, even if it wasn't actually his son, broke his heart.

"You know, after we broke up the crew, Roger spent a year out in the wilds before he turned himself in. Problem is, the World Government had every baby born after Roger's death killed. No children were born for 9 months after his death, so I'm not sure Ace would have survived, but thats besides the point. It don't take a genius to get where I'm going with this."

Dante was beginning to put a few pieces together and had strung together a theory. 'holy shit no way - could this guy be the son of the pirate king!? the hell is Luffy the main character for then?' he thought to himself as he considered the idea, then paused for a moment as he rehearsed Rayleighs words.

"Wait, wait, wait, they killed every single kid?! Every baby born after Roger's capture, for 9 months straight? How the hell do they get away with that kinda shit? Did Sengoku just go along with it? Hell, did Garp?"

Looking up at Rayleigh's face, Dante realised that he had struck a sore spot in the old man with his questioning given the wave of guilt that had crashed into him, which caused Rayleigh to avert his eyes in shame.

Dante could only assume that Rayleigh blamed himself for each of those children's deaths, believing that the actions of himself and his crew caused such a tragic period in history. In respect for the old bastard, he decided to continue the previous line of conversation, sighing briefly at how fucked up this world is.

"So, somehow, someway, you think Ace is Roger's son. Look, Rayleigh, I don't want to bring you down on this but chances are this is just a series of coincidences. I mean, you said it yourself, they made sure he couldn't have had a kid. It'd be damn near impossible."

"Originally, I was gonna let it be just that. A series of coincidences. I thought it was too good to be true myself, I planned to just forget about it. But I can't stop thinking about how disappointed Roger would be if I knew his son was in danger and just watched."

He stopped for a moment and looked up, as if hoping to see some sort of visage of Roger in the stars that would sway his doubts, assure him that he was happy Rayleigh had lived so long. Damn, he missed that bastard. He looked back to Dante and continued.

"It's funny, really. You made me start questioning everything I knew. If it weren't for you, I probably would've moved on with my life and never thought about this again."

He placed a hand on Dante's shoulder, and made an earnest request, even bowing slightly as he did so.

"Please, Dante. Keep this boy safe. Even if he isn't Roger's son, even if he's a boy cursed by circumstances, he means a lot to Luffy. And that boy needs all the help in the world for the future to come if he truly wants the One Piece. He's wearing the Straw Hat after all."

Well, Dante couldn't exactly say no now. Especially considering he already planned to go to Marineford. He doesn't know why Rayleigh won't simply keep the kid safe himself, but chances are he trusts Dante's strength more than his own in his old age, and doesn't want to leave the Straw Hats unattended after Luffy's previous history with Sabaodys Celestial residents.

"Fine. I'll make sure the kid lives, I gotta pay you back for all that Haki training anyway. But, when I'm done, I want you to tell me something. What's so special about that hat?"

"I'll tell you everything you need to know."

Smiling, Dante patted Rayleigh on the back as he began to walk towards the shore so he could spring Ace from jail.

"Great. Now, let's go break into prison! Man, always wanted to do that."

"Wait."

Rayleigh's tone gained an edge to it as Dante turned back, concerned at what irked Rayleigh so much about a simple prison break.

"Dante, I trust you... But I don't trust you enough to break into Impel Down without breaking anyone else out. You'll have to interrupt the execution because - intentionally or not - I don't want to take the chance of you freeing someone we don't want out of chains."

His eyes gained a glint to them that Dante had never seen before, an edge of ferocity. Of fear.

"There are some things that should stay buried."