At point-blank range, that slightly calloused hand looked enormous to Saka—like the sky itself folding down, the lines in its palm blown up beyond reason.
No way out.
In the next instant, darkness swallowed him whole.
To the other prisoners in Eternal Hell, the scene looked like this:
"Super Strength" Saka froze as if his body had turned to stone. The black-haired youth didn't even move particularly fast, yet Saka could only stare as that hand settled against his face.
Then—
A sharp light flashed in Darren's eyes. His fingers tightened, and the muscles in his right arm surged like molten rock, swelling so violently they tore through his sleeve.
The fabric burst.
Under a sea of horrified stares, Darren drove Saka's head straight into the floor with one brutal slam.
BOOM!
The impact roared through the level. The entire sixth floor of Impel Down shook as the ground collapsed, brick and mud exploding outward.
Dust billowed.
When it cleared, Saka—"Super Strength" Saka—was half-buried in the crater, blood smeared across his face, eyes rolled back and unfocused.
Hiss—
A collective inhale rippled through the cellblock. Even the monsters winced.
Impel Down, the deep-sea prison built to hold the world's worst, was made to be far tougher than Marineford—its walls forged from materials stronger than steel, its core structures considered nearly unbreakable. Under normal circumstances, even Marine Headquarters' heavy artillery would struggle to leave a mark.
And yet…
That crater at Darren's feet silenced them.
More than a few prisoners swallowed hard, throats bobbing.
Too terrifying.
That kind of power wasn't human.
Compared to this thing, the Strength-Strength Fruit might as well have been a toy. Saka looked like a rabbit trying to bite a tiger—pathetic, meaningless.
It wasn't just raw strength. The gap in explosive force, in technique, in control… it wasn't even on the same scale.
And while their shock still hung in the air—
A figure appeared behind Darren.
No sound. No warning. Like he'd simply stepped out of thin air.
Even Observation Haki struggled to catch the motion.
"Your strength is impressive," the gaunt man rasped, laughing softly, his body flickering as faint afterimages shimmered around him. "But what does strength matter against absolute speed?"
"The Speed-Speed Fruit!"
"It's 'Ghost Shadow' Kake!"
"His speed—he's even faster than before he was locked up!"
"What a monster…"
Whispers burst out, sharp and breathless, as Kake's presence split and rejoined like a mirage.
A Devil Fruit that granted extreme speed—ambushes like a phantom, attacks too fast for the eye to follow.
Kake's hands shifted into razor claws, and a storm of slashes poured down on Darren.
A sinister red glint sparked in Darren's eyes.
Violet arcs of electricity erupted across his body, snapping his reflexes past their natural limits.
Thunder Armor!
Zzzzzz—
Sparks snapped and hissed as Darren's lips tilted into a smirk. His body moved as if it knew what was coming before it happened.
He slid sideways, then again—short, sharp shifts—barely clearing each swipe. He flowed through the storm, never quite there when the claws arrived.
Kake's gaze stiffened.
Horror slowly crept into his face.
He was dodging everything.
Every single strike.
And the worst part—no matter how hard Kake pushed, no matter how much he wrung his Speed-Speed Fruit dry, it didn't change. He'd get so close he could smell Darren's cigar smoke… and still, nothing.
Always a hair's breadth.
Always empty air.
The reality settled into Kake's chest like ice.
He couldn't find the kid's limit. Couldn't force him to slip.
That relaxed posture—those lazy eyes—Darren didn't look pressured at all.
"You freak!"
Kake's fear finally snapped into panic. He screamed, shrill and ragged, crimson light flaring around his body.
He stopped attacking and bolted without hesitation, becoming a blood-red blur that shot toward the gate.
"Damn it!" Magellan's face darkened.
His Observation Haki wasn't refined enough to track that shadow. He had no choice but to cover everything.
"Poison Dragon!"
Magellan's body melted into venom, and a colossal purple dragon surged out with a roar, rolling forward like a tidal wave of death and sealing the corridor.
But the crimson blur found a sliver—an impossible gap—threading through the poison's sweep and bursting past it.
"Hahahaha! I don't even need to fight you!"
Free. The gate to the fifth level within reach, Kake's laughter turned manic, his face twisting with wild triumph.
"Once I'm out of here, with my speed—"
A flash of black-purple lightning cut across the air.
Moving at twice the velocity of Kake's Devil Fruit, Darren crossed Eternal Hell in an instant.
"Speed is strength," Darren said coldly, the words slamming down like iron, "but compared to that sleazy bastard, your speed is nothing."
The grin died on Kake's face.
A gleaming black military boot appeared in front of him, filling his vision—blocking the path to freedom completely.
"Thunder: Divine Speed Kick!"
BOOM!
A white shockwave detonated.
Kake's face twisted grotesquely. Blood sprayed as he rocketed backward like a cannonball, crashing straight into Saka—who had just begun to drag himself out of the crater. The collision tangled them together and hurled both bodies into the deepest wall of the level.
Rumble!
The wall and floor shuddered again. Dust rained down in sheets.
By the time anyone blinked, the black-haired youth was already back where he'd started, as if he'd never moved at all.
"So…" Darren asked, exhaling a slow plume of smoke, a faint smile on his lips, "who's next?"
To be continued...