Dante gave the order, without a hint of hesitation.. "Open fire the cannons at the Admiral."
For a moment, there was only stunned silence. A Marine Captain ordering his men to open fire on an Admiral? The Marines on deck froze, their shock mirrored by the dumbfounded expressions on the faces of the Donquixote Family executives.
But the men of the 16th Branch were elite, and their hesitation was brief. With a shared, almost giddy excitement, they swiveled the cannons, taking aim at the figure frantically pedaling his bicycle away from the shore. It wasn't every day you got to fire on one of the Marine's top commanders.
A few moments later, the bicycle that had faithfully served Kuzan for years was blasted into pieces.
Just as the Admiral was about to make a run for it on foot, Dante's voice cut through the air, laced with mockery. "You wouldn't want another case of a Shichibukai usurping a Member Nation to be exposed, would you? Especially not one that succeeded."
Kuzan stopped. He pressed his fingers to his temple, massaging away a headache that refused to fade, then walked back with the look of a man who had just swallowed a bag of nails.
There was no helping it. The Alabasta incident had already embarrassed the World Government and Marine Headquarters hard. If something like that surfaced again, before they even had an answer ready, Marines dignity would be in shreds.
Dressrosa had, in fact, already been taken. That much was true. But there was a difference between quietly fixing a disaster, then explaining it, and having the mess dragged into the open while it was still unresolved.
And this one sounded especially troublesome.
He thought with resignation settling over him like a shroud. 'I really, really don't want to know any more about this.'
As for the Donquixote officers: at this point, anyone who needed to be arrested had been arrested. Anyone who needed to be taken into custody had been taken. The heavily damaged ship was already being towed back.
Viola, the exposed princess of Dressrosa, stopped pretending to be a loyal to Donquixote family. She followed Dante without a word.
She had no idea how this shady Marine Captain knew so much. It no longer mattered. Right now, there was only one thing she wanted from him.
The truth about Dressrosa.
And more than that...
He had said he could save Dressrosa. For that, she was prepared to do anything. If saving her home meant indulging the strange whims of a corrupt Marine, then so be it.
Soon, the group arrived at the 16th Branch base. After seeing to the processing of the prisoners and evidence, Dante led a grim-faced Kuzan and a quietly determined Viola into the base's dedicated conference room.
The sight of the familiar room, the same furniture, the same sofa, made Kuzan's stomach sink, it wasn't even Deja Vu at this point, it was just history repeating. 'I shouldn't have come here, I could've gone to fight Kaido or something,' he thought, resisting the urge to slap himself. 'Why did I have to get involved with this kid?'
He let out another heavy sigh and slumped onto the sofa he'd occupied during his last visit. He planned to pull his sleep mask over his eyes and pretend to be asleep, listening in just enough to gauge how much trouble he was really in.
"Someone, look!" Dante announced loudly, seeing right through the Admiral's act. "Our guest is so exhausted he's dozing off. Hurry up and get some tea! The esteemed Admiral has to go save a nation later, after all!"
He then turned to Kuzan with a grin full of false enthusiasm. "Here, Admiral, please! Have some tea!"
The sarcasm was so thick that Kuzan could only remain silent. He knew this was payback for their earlier encounter.
Viola, standing off to the side, found the scene bizarre but pushed it from her mind. She looked at Dante, her lips parting as if to speak, but she hesitated, unsure how to begin. After a moment, she lowered her head and finally asked, her voice trembling slightly, "Captain Dante... could you please tell me everything you know about Dressrosa?"
"Of course," Dante replied instantly, his expression shifting to one of righteous indignation. "I actually acquired this information from Baroque Works not long ago. When I learned of the tragedy that had befallen a member nation, I was utterly enraged! However..."
He let out a long, melancholic sigh. "I am just a simple Marine Captain in the East Blue. It's a struggle just to maintain order here, so how could I possibly stand up to the pirates of the New World? But then..."
His tone suddenly brightened, cutting off whatever Kuzan had been about to say. "The Admiral arrived! As long as he is here, Dressrosa can be saved! The Admiral is here, and the people of Dressrosa have hope! I am certain he will bring justice to your kingdom!"
Kuzan stared at him. There were quite a few things he wanted to say, most of them curses.
Before he could form get a single word out, Dante continued, his voice taking on a narrative tone. "The incident in Dressrosa can be traced back to couple years ago..."
Without giving the Admiral a single chance to interject, he laid out the entire secret history of the kingdom. As Dante spoke, the truth slowly unfurled. Viola's eyes grew red with unshed tears. Kuzan cradled his head in his hands, and when the story was finished, he let out long exhale. He stared at Dante, who was now calmly sipping his tea as if he hadn't just dropped a political bomb in the middle of the room.
'Honestly,' Kuzan thought, 'how does a kid who's never left the East Blue keep digging up these secrets about the Warlords?'
"So that's what happened," Viola murmured, her head bowed as tears finally began to fall. "Father... I knew it. I knew he would never do something like that. And my sister... everyone..."
"Wait, wait, wait," Kuzan cut in, a sudden realization dawning on him. "If I remember correctly, after the Alabasta incident was over, Baroque Works basically became your organization, didn't it?"
Viola looked up, her expression a mixture of grief and confusion. 'Baroque Works? The 16th Branch?'
"That's not the point, Admiral Kuzan," Dante said, his face perfectly serious. "We are discussing the Dressrosa incident. Alabasta is in the past. We must look to the future!"
Kuzan's eye twitched. "What does that have to do with anything?" He let the point drop, slumping back into the sofa. "Fine. I don't know where you got your information, but according to Marine Headquarters, King Riku was overthrown by his own people. There might be some secrets there, but from what we've seen, the kingdom has warmly welcomed its new king. Since Donquixote Doflamingo took the throne, the people of Dressrosa have been happy and prosperous."
He spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "I can't stand the guy, but I have to admit, he's a competent ruler, and his people respect him."
Before Kuzan could relax, however, he heard Dante declare, his voice once again ringing with righteousness, "That's not a problem!"
He leaned forward, a sly glint in his eye. "Because I know another secret."
'There's more?' Kuzan thought, a fresh wave of exhaustion washing over him. 'How do you know everything, you damn brat!? Does Boroque works has informants in Cipher Pol too?'
===============
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