[Multiverse]: A Hero's Journey [EN]

Third-person POV.

During the two weeks Dante was in a coma, the world continued to move. Especially at the events revealed by the first news report provided by Mogans.

People around the world went crazy upon learning of an event never before witnessed: the slaying of a celestial dragon, and none other than by the hands of the great hero Dante.

In the East Blue, an old marine is seen looking at the newspaper with great concern.

Garp: "This is bad; if the information is true, then Dante will never be able to become a marine, but right now I'm taking care of Ace and Luffy with my sister-in-law at the same time." "I'll have to wait a few days to prepare and go there."

Garp was seen thinking about what to do next.

Garp: "I think some bandits have just settled in the center of the forest; I'll go first to look around and extort them a bit before continuing."

And with that, I set off to find those bandits who would, in the future, take care of Ace and later Luffy, with a little addition named Sabo.

Elsewhere, specifically, Amozane Lily, a woman, is seen pacing.

Amazon 1: "Calm down, Tritoma-sama."

Amazon 2: "Yes, how about you go out for a walk with Luna-sama instead?"

Tritoma: "I can't calm down knowing my man is injured; you didn't see his wounds in the newspaper. I have to go see him."

Amazon 2: "And what about Luna-sama?"

Tritoma: "I'll take her with me; having her with me, he won't be able to reject me."

???: "You can't do that; are you crazy?" A slightly old voice was heard.

Tritoma: "I see your age is getting to you, you old hag." The lady in front of her was Gloriosa, former empress and former member of the Rocks Pirates.

Gloriosa: "I came because I heard about your condition. I see that lovesickness affected you, but in reverse, and with a gift included."

Amazon 1: "What do you mean, Gloriosa-sama?"

Gloriosa: "She was with the man first and then fell in love." "When she thought she had the man in her hands, the illness worsened a bit and then disappeared." "This affected her brain a bit, but there's no need to worry, as long as we're not that man."

Gloriosa wasn't in Amazon Lily; she was on the outskirts. She came when she learned Tritoma was pregnant, and she arrived not long ago; she just hadn't come to the palace since everything is fine so far.

Tritoma: "I am, in fact. I've never been better than I have in years." "Now if he comes here to stop me, then I'll just have to take you down and follow my heart to where he is."

Gloriosa: "Be rational. Apparently, he's probably recovering at some marine base right now. We can't make ourselves any bigger targets than we are; besides, you don't plan on going around every marine base you find just to make sure he's not like this. Knowing those guys, he might even be at Marineford."

That stopped Tritoma; she may be madly in love, but she's still the empress and the captain of the Kuja Pirates. While he's in that position, he can't just think about himself.

At that moment, a baby's cry was heard. Tritoma ran to see his daughter. Just to see her and reconsider his actions. He couldn't put his daughter in danger; Dante wouldn't forgive him.

Tritoma: "I think all I can do is wait."

Elsewhere, a man is seen looking at the newspaper, only to be interrupted by another.

Ivankov: "Have you seen the Dragon newspaper?"

Dragon: "Yeah, I've only been missing for a few days, and already something happened that I never thought would happen; the people in the Holy Land must be going crazy."

Ivankov: "We should try to recruit him; with his influence and knowing what happened, I don't think the World Government will let him go."

Dragon: "That would be ideal, but seeing his final condition, he's most likely currently being held by the Amrina, so he only has two endings: imprisonment in Impel Down or assassination in the Holy Land."

Ivankov: "I see; it's a shame."

Dragon: "But we can use this as proof that celestial dragons aren't invincible."

In the Holy Land, things weren't looking good. The news of Ramses Manmayer's death by the hero Dante wasn't well received. Only a few realized who Dante was, but that didn't stop him from dying at their hands, something only holy knights could do.

In a mansion, three people sat in complete silence at a dining table. None of them had touched their food.

Alex: "What have you heard about Ramses's body?"

Anna: "He was found in the depths near the kingdom where he died. They said they would arrive in two days so we can make the funeral arrangements."

Alex: "Good." Silence returned, but not for long.

Dianna: "Really, Dante killed the older brother?"

Anna: "Apparently, yes, but it was inevitable, since all Ramses wanted was to kill him. But I'm surprised Dante did it first. I didn't think he would kill him."

Alex: "It can't be helped. You saw how Dante looked. In fact, he almost died. He had to do it to survive, and from what I understood, he gave him a chance to live, but Ramses attacked him anyway."

Dianna: "How do you know that?"

Alex: "When the newspaper was published, the government removed the rest of Morgan's photo." "The photos ended up in a father's position, from what I could see." "Speaking of him, where is he?"

Anna: "He was summoned by the elders; I was conversing with him when he was summoned."

In the castle of Pangea, the five elders are seen talking to each other.

Mars: "I can't think of anything that would most effectively appease everyone."

Peter: "If he hadn't written those books, maybe we could send some knights to assassinate him."

Saturn: "Or at least bring him back." He turns to face someone. "Tell me a solution to fix this problem you caused."

In front of the five elders was Ares. His eyes were closed, and he looked thoughtful, only to change to a somewhat malevolent smile.

Ares: "It's not that complicated; you just have to tell the truth."

Nusjuro: "What do you mean?"

Ares: "Just say that Dante is a celestial dragon and that the battle against Ramses was to decide who would be the heir to the Manmayer family. That way, we can let Dante's growth take its natural course, avoid messing with Imu-sama, and avoid affecting the status of the celestial dragons."

Mars: "That's not a bad idea."

Warcury: "If you didn't know how to fix your mistakes, we would have already kicked you out of the Holy Knights. I just hope your experiment with your son doesn't take its toll on you and that everything turns out well."

Ares: "Don't worry, I've got everything under control."

At that moment, a figure appeared, only a silhouette. Beside her, a woman with heterochromatic eyes and a bandage covering her mouth.

The figure was reading a book, which was the Arthurian legends.

???: "Hehe, Merlin."

(Note: This is the book Dante wrote about the legend of King Arthur from the Fate/Series; it contains the various stories of most of the Knights of the Round Table, including Merlin.)

After that day, the World Government went to find Morgans to create the new newspaper and deliver the information agreed upon by the Five Elders.

Morgans immediately agreed to do it; he didn't care that he might be screwing his business partner; all he cared about was creating a spectacle, and this, to him, was art.

And so the second newspaper was published, which dealt with Dante's lineage as a celestial dragon and why he fought Ramses.

Somewhere, in a smoke-filled office, a woman was being fed, and a man was massaging her feet, another her shoulders, and a woman her free hand.

???: "What a surprise! No wonder he looked so familiar."

???: "What's wrong, Miss Adeline?" The woman being pampered was Adeline, one of the current bosses of the underworld.

Adeline: "Only the great hero Dante happens to be my nephew."

???: "How is that possible?"

Adeline: "My sister was sold to the celestial dragons a long time ago by my father to pay off a debt; after that, I never heard from her again; I only knew that she was bought by the Manmayer family." Then she returned to the newspaper. "When I saw that he had blond hair and red eyes, I had a sneaky suspicion, but this more than confirms that he is my younger sister's son." "I have to somehow find him and make him mine; he's a specimen that can't be wasted."

???: "But he's your nephew, my lady; it wouldn't be incestuous."

Adeline: "All celestial dragons are second cousins or something like that, at least most of the first cousins, so there's no real problem with that; it wouldn't be tempting to have a celestial dragon in my menagerie, anyway."

Elsewhere, a large woman is seen, surrounded by other people. This woman could be mistaken for a giant, with pink hair and very, very large.

???: "Ma, ma, mama, what happened this time?" This woman was Big Mom, now surrounded by her older children.

???: "Mother, it has to do with the photos we got the other day and sold on the underworld black market; you better see for yourself," said a tall man with a big tongue sticking out.

Big Mom took the newspaper and read it herself. As she read, her expression changed from normal to surprised.

Big Mom: "I see. I want you to find him and invite him here. I want him to participate in the next tea party, and if possible, make an alliance with him, and if possible, have a child with him."

???: "It will be, Mother," she said.

At that moment, a young girl of about 15 came out; she addressed Big Mom.

???: "Mother, about that, I'd like to talk about the hero Dante."

Big Mom: "Mama mama, what does Galette have in mind?"

Elsewhere, on a ship, a few pirates are seen celebrating, and among them is a redhead. In his arms, he carried a little girl with two-tone hair, one white and one red.

At that moment, one of the pirates arrived at his side.

???: "Captain, look at what came out in the newspaper. It's a continuation of the previous one."

The redhead took the paper, a little disinterested, only to begin reading it with even more surprise. He opened his mouth but then closed it.

???: "This has nothing to do with us now. The important thing is to take care of Uta until she's old enough to return to the Grand Line."

At that moment, another person was heard speaking to the redhead.

???: "Directions, Captain."

???: "To East Blue."

Elsewhere, in G8, while waiting for Dante to wake up from his coma, the others were going about their lives, not so peacefully due to his condition. But for the moment, they couldn't do anything, so they decided not to think about it too much and carry on as if he were fine.

At that moment, Arthur was in a training room waiting for someone; meanwhile, he was playing with a machine that looked like a maze. He was so focused on the game that he didn't notice someone appear from behind him.

This person hit him on the head with a piece of paper, causing him to lose focus.

Arthur: "Hey, why did you do that, Doll? I was about to finish the game; now I have to start over."

Doll: "That doesn't matter now; did you know your leader is a celestial dragon?"

Arthur: "I did know. Now that you're here, we can..." As Arthur stood up, Doll's words were just beginning to sink in. "Wait, how do you know that?"

Doll: "So you knew that. I imagine the others know it too, so this news won't surprise you." At that moment, she hands him the newspaper, which was the piece of paper that hit him.

Arthur begins to read it, only for his eyes to widen in surprise and disbelief.

Arthur: "What the fuck? half of what's said here is a lie."

Doll: "Only half?"

Arthur: "We can train later; I have to find the others." "I'll tell you everything afterward, since it's better to know the truth than only half the truth."

And so Arthur left, leaving Doll confused by his last words.

*Present*

Dante's POV

Dante: "Actually, you asked me how ranks work among the world nobility."

Sulli: "Yeah, it's something I've been curious about since I learned you were one of them."

It's been a day since I woke up. Not much has happened, other than some people treating me with a lot of respect or simply avoiding me.

Another thing is that Marie found out I had another child with another woman, which filled her with rage and a little bit of madness. I tried to get the information out of us about who it was, but no one told her anything. Right now she's probably somewhere letting off steam.

Meanwhile, I'm babysitting Gil, who's playing on my bed with a marine doll and a pirate doll. I have no idea where they got these dolls or why they even exist, but it's best not to think about things like that too much.

Everyone was there too, including Doll, for some reason, but I wasn't going to kick her out; I liked her.

Dante: "You could say that within families there are three levels, ranks, or whatever you want to call them." "The first would be those who come from the main line; they are the descendants of the head of the family, including him and their wives." "An example would be me and my siblings, since my father is the head of the family." "Then comes the secondary family, which would be the cousins or uncles of the main heir." "Another example would be if my older sister became the head of the family; automatically, my other siblings and I would become the secondary family."

Trini: "What's the difference between the two?"

Dante: "More than anything, it would be responsibilities." "And finally, there would be those of the third rank, who would be those who only have celestial blood; they are not part of the family but are world nobles, as they are descendants of one. Gil and Luna could be considered of this rank, unless I become the head of the family; then they would become the main family, but that will never happen." "There are also other things like the Holy Knights and the Five Elders, but that's a separate matter."

Isis: "Holy Knights, Five Elders?"

Dante: "Ignore that. It's none of our business, and we shouldn't have to deal with it."

Not to mention Imu and our family's position as the main servant of this same family.

Sulli: "I see. It's a bit complex, but not very complicated."

Trini: "And now with your brother's death, what will happen to your family?"

Dante: "I have no idea. I'm next in line, but since I'm not here, that position should be filled by Alex, if Ramses didn't have a son and is planning to train him to inherit the position."

Arthur: "That's possible."

Dante: "Perfectly possible. When I left the Holy Land, Ramses was a year away from getting married, so it wouldn't be unusual for him to go five years without having one or more children."

Silence filled the place, as killing the father of a child isn't a pretty sight, but it's not a big deal either, as many pirates go through the same thing; the difference is that there's more certainty that it's true, at least in this case.

And so the days passed, where I spent time in bed because I couldn't move. During the days, I was able to remove some bandages, and from what I saw, there were only two significant scars: the first being the one that almost split me in two, and the second, which was Ramses' final attack, a scar on my neck.

The good thing was that together they were able to treat me very well, recovering my vocal cords and my lung, but as a result, I was left with the two scars, which I'll surely have for the rest of my life.

Nah, that's a lie. They could perfectly well take them off, but I decided to keep them to remember the fact that I killed my own brother. I wasn't going to forget the past, but I didn't want to hold on to it either. So I decided to stay and remember Ramses' last words forever.

All was quiet. Isis wandering around, Trini doing something, and Sulli following her subtly, but not so subtly, and Arthur and Doll's rare interactions. I wasn't planning on getting involved there, so I just ignored it. Then there were the moments I had with my son, who's not even a year old yet... and his mother. If it weren't for the fact that he was outrageously hurt, maybe I would have tried to have another child, or worse, tried to get married.

Look, I'm not planning on getting married. In fact, I wasn't planning on having children either, and this is for one obvious reason: I'm planning on leaving this world. Tell me, how could I leave here with a wife and a child I had to abandon? It would be the worst kind of garbage ever.

Well, what's done is done; I'll see what happens in the future.

The important thing is that I was barely getting up to walk; it's worth mentioning that Gil and Hun were just in the room. Everything was fine until the door suddenly opened and a voice was heard.

Garp: "What's up, brat? I heard you ended up bedridden, so I came here to train so you don't get stuck while they keep you out of Impel Down."

Silence.

Then we heard Gil crying, startled by the loud bang on the door and the sudden appearance of a strange giant gorilla.

*Transition moment*

Garp: "I see. I didn't think you'd be a father by now. I see he's the same age as my grandson. Could you give him to me so I can train him alongside Luffy and Ace and turn them into great marines?"

Dante: "I look crazy; I'm not going to give my son to you. I know how you train others, and it's not normal. Besides, Marie will be taking care of Gil, so I don't have much to do with that."

He was a little discouraged by the first thing I said, but for some reason, he perked up again with the second. Just to take out a den den mushi and dial a number.

Garp: "Hey, it's me."

I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying, since I was rocking Gil to keep him from waking up. I had to calm him down and put him to sleep so I could talk to Garp calmly.

Garp: "There, almost everything is ready." This gives me a bad feeling.

Dante: "What a thing, everything is ready."

Garp: "I spoke with Comil about transferring Marie from G2 to my command; this way, Gil can be cared for by his mother and trained to be the next and greatest Marine."

I had planned to have Gil follow his own path, but I think fate and Garp didn't want that.

Garp: "Hey, I was also told you were going to make a live announcement to people around the world." "What are you planning to say?"

Dante: "Nothing too important, just that I'll renounce my World Noble status and the Manmayer family as well."

Garp: "Nani, are you sure?"

Dante: "Live for six years without that status; I'll be fine. Besides, it's the best way to regain people's trust. That way, they won't fear me and stay away from me, which is the main reason I hid my last name."

And so I talked with Garp until nightfall.