Zoro had dragged the cage through town until he couldn't anymore, letting it go and sitting down to rest. Luffy was gnawing on the bars, trying to eat his way through them I guess. Nami had disappeared, and me? Well my arm wasn't going to stop bleeding anytime soon and I was getting lightheaded. I guess that's why I didn't notice the dog at first, until it bit Luffy. I ignored it for the moment and sat down. Zoro gave me a curious look and then asked something. I'm guessing it was, 'Are you alright?' I can't say for sure, it sounded fuzzy and far away. I looked at my arm and saw the blood pooling next to me on the ground. There was…a lot of it. I finally gave in to sleep, falling back, the last thing I saw was a flash of orange hair, and then everything went black.

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Darkness…all consuming darkness, and then from nowhere, light! It was blinding, making me blink my eyes as I tried to get them to adjust to the sudden change. I felt weightless, like I was floating and it actually worried me a little. It didn't help much when I realized how cold I felt, or that the light seemed to have vanished just as quickly as it had come, but not completely. I couldn't see far, and my eyes must have been still adjusting to the sudden changes, because my vision swam.

What had happened? I was…doing…something…it was hard to think clearly, my focus shifting too often between where I was now and the thing I was trying to remember. Which to focus on? It was decided for me, because I reacted to something where I was. A looming shadow approaching me, my swimming vision making it look all the more foreboding. Then I remembered…the hand coming at me…Luffy!

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I bolted up and looked around. I was inside a house, but where I didn't know. A throbbing pain in my arm grabbed my attention and I looked at the wound. It was tightly bandaged, a little red showing through the cloth. Looking down at myself, I was still covered in my own blood. A quick glance led me to find some clothes folded neatly on a table next to the bed. I looked around and saw Zoro sitting against a wall, sleeping with his swords cradled in his arms. "Lazy bastard," I muttered as I began to change clothes.

I was rather pleased with the new getup. It fit well and I felt like it was something I'd wear if I were a pirate…which I guess I am now. There were brown trousers, a light blue shirt with a split at the collar that went a few inches down, revealing my chest just under my neck. Then to finish it off, there was a rather old looking brown trench coat that matched the pants. I slipped it on and found a mirror, giving myself a quick look over. My hair was brown, wild and messy, though a bit longer than I remembered, reaching to the bottom of my ears. I was still as pale as ever, if not paler because of the very recent blood loss. And I was still as scrawny as ever, or...actually, I looked a bit...bigger than I remembered. I shook the thought away. Over all, I thought it was something I could definitely get used to. Go figure, the first time since I've been in this world that I find something I feel at ease with, and it gets beaten and battered the second I turn around.

KABOOM!

I was slammed to the ground by the force of the blast as the house broke into hundreds of pieces and rained down on me. I brought my hands up in a vain attempt to shield myself from the debris. That must have been done by Buggy, which meant the clown was still alive. I wasn't about to pretend I understood how he'd survived, hell I didn't understand how I'd survived!

As the clattering of parts came to a halt and the dust settled, I heard Zoro nearby say, "That's one helluva way to wake a guy up."

I had to agree with him. I pushed at the debris on me and slid out from underneath, hearing something tear. I looked around and saw the bottom of the trench coat had snagged on something and when I pulled away, it had torn a large rip up the side. I rolled my eyes and shrugged it off. It was old anyway. I stood and heard Luffy's voice, "Dante!"

"You survived too?" Nami said, the shock evident in her voice.

I just nodded weakly and coughed as the remaining dust in the air agitated my sinuses. I noticed the old man that was standing with Luffy and Nami, but decided to wait until things had calmed down a bit to ask questions about what was going on. The old man was shouting to himself before trying to take off down the road. Nami tried to stop him, telling him it was a reckless thing to do.

"I KNOW IT'S RECKLESS!" he shouted. I looked up and saw the man take off down the street. I'd never heard anyone say anything quite the way that old man had just done. Behind the words, in the tone of the voice, I could make out several distinct emotions; pain, pride, anger, determination.

"The Mayor…was crying," Nami said.

Luffy smiled, "Really? I didn't see anything."

"This is starting to feel fun," Zoro said. Luffy laughed in agreement.

"How can you laugh?" Nami shouted.

Luffy turned to her with a smile, "Don't worry. I like that old guy. I'm not gonna let him die!"

"How can you laugh in a situation like this? Where does your confidence come from?" Nami said.

"Our destination is the Grand Line, so we're going to steal that map back!" Luffy said.

Map? What map? I didn't have a clue what Luffy was talking about, but then again, I'd been out cold for who knows how long, so I wasn't going to question it.

Luffy held his hand up and spoke to Nami, "Will you help us? You need the map too, and the treasure."

"I'll never become a pirate," she said coldly before a devilish smirk crossed her lips, "But I don't mind teaming up for a while. Traveling with you seems profitable." She clapped his hand.

I sighed. I was too tired to even think about all that was going on around me, so instead I just followed the others, keeping quiet as they talked. We closed in on the building Buggy was on top of and could hear jeering and shouting. We picked up the pace, making our way to the source of it all. I was dumbfounded at first when I turned a corner and saw the Mayor floating in the air, struggling. I looked up and saw Buggy and realized that one of his hands was missing. He was choking the Mayor!

Luffy acted first, quickly running toward the Mayor, who shouted, "FIGHT ME!"

Then Luffy grabbed Buggy's hand and ripped it away from the Mayor. He smirked and looked up to Buggy, "I told you, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

And there's chapter 5! Thanks for reading and reviewing! It's great motivation to keep working on this! As for those who want some answers, NONE will be forthcoming until Kuma shows up. BUT, you'll be getting plenty of hints and peeks into what was done to Dante, through his dreams, as things progress. Please R&R!