Author's Note:
The internal prison settings, the torture scenes and their varieties are all heavily based on my own interpretations and original additions. Sorry if anything feels off. Here's Chapter 153, enjoy.
---
Having rejected Magellan's, or rather the Government's, offer, I was naturally thrown into a cell as an ordinary prisoner.
After having my photo taken in front of one of those height-measuring wall things you always see in crime dramas, I was escorted away. The floor I was assigned to was Level 2: Beast Hell.
Specifically, one of the women's cells there. Oh, good... they do at least separate the men's and women's quarters. As one would hope.
The floor itself was shared, but the actual cells were properly segregated. Women only.
...That said, the men's cells were in plain view from where we were, so it wasn't exactly relaxing.
"Hey, new girl! Welcome to hell!"
"Well damn, ain't she a looker! Hey, turn this way!"
"Heh heh heh... Wanna come play with us, sweetheart? How 'bout we kill some time together, nice and adult-like?"
Catcalls like that flew freely in my direction, and they kept leering at me with those slimy grins, treating me like eye candy.
"Don't pay 'em any mind, newbie. Engaging just wears you out."
"Yeah. They'll get bored soon enough. Just ignore 'em."
The female prisoners sharing my cell offered that advice. Well, that was already the plan.
And so, having officially joined the ranks of inmates as Prisoner Number D0472, I found that, surprisingly enough, or perhaps anticlimactically, nothing particularly happened for a while. No torture, nothing.
That's not to say I was completely left alone with nothing happening at all, but... as far as anything being done to me personally, so far, nothing.
Outside the cells here on Level 2, ferocious beasts like Basilisks and Manticores roamed everywhere. Most were enormous and savage, and on top of that, the vast majority regarded humans as prey. If you were caught outside a cell, it would be nothing short of despair.
But as long as you stayed inside the cell, you were more or less safe.
Sometimes the beasts would snarl from beyond the iron bars and glare in our direction, but their fangs couldn't reach us in here.
That said, this went on around the clock, even in the middle of the night, so apparently quite a few prisoners were too frightened and anxious to settle down, unable to sleep at night. That was probably one of the torments of this level.
For me, though, I'd grown accustomed to beasts and exotic creatures of that caliber from my time on Merveille, so I didn't find them all that frightening. They were a bit noisy, sure, but I could sleep through the night just fine.
With Observation Haki, I could sense the presence of all those creatures swarming around, which was distracting in its own way, but... manageable.
...But just because those "anxieties" were the only torment here didn't mean nothing else happened. Of course not.
Prisoners were periodically taken outside their cells by the guards to undergo various forms of torture, separate from the beasts.
Without any prior warning, they'd be dragged out of their cells and taken to the torture chambers.
Then, after a few hours, they'd return in a state of exhaustion, collapsing into a seated position or crumpling onto their sides the moment they were put back in their cells. They'd come back with more wounds than when they left, their prison uniforms sometimes soaked in blood.
On top of that... I said earlier that you were "more or less safe" inside the cells, but that wasn't always guaranteed either.
You see, this too was apparently one of the torments prepared as part of Beast Hell. Every so often, the iron bars of the cells holding prisoners would be taken away without any warning whatsoever.
The bars, it turned out, could retract upward like a shutter.
They'd suddenly slide up with a rattling clatter, and just like that, there would be nothing separating you from the beasts.
And this conveniently happened to coincide with the beasts' feeding time.
Obviously, if you stayed put in that state, the beasts would notice, come over, and make a meal of you.
So the prisoners had no choice but to run for it, dashing to a different cell that had been left unlocked for precisely this purpose. Fall behind, and you'd be eaten. Simple as that.
This too was, naturally, one of the torments of Beast Hell.
It wasn't depicted in the Original Work, but if the only threat was beasts lurking outside while you sat safely in your cell, plenty of prisoners would probably think, 'Well, it's not actually dangerous, so why be scared?' This forced migration was likely designed to amplify the terror of the beasts, serving as a demonstration of what could happen.
I'd already witnessed that life-or-death Move through the bars multiple times.
...Including when prisoners failed and were devoured.
Fortunately, though, so far I had been subjected to neither: not the individual torture sessions, nor the cell openings.
I'd had a vague sense of why that was, but it turned out this wasn't mere coincidence or good luck.
One of the female prisoners in my cell pointed it out.
"Man, we owe you one... Thanks to you being here, none of us have had to deal with the Move either."
"Huh? Why is it 'thanks to me'?"
"It happens sometimes. When the Marines or the Government have someone locked up for some ulterior purpose, they go easy on the torture. You're one of those, right?"
She'd apparently figured it out from the fact that not only had the Move not occurred in our cell since I'd been placed here, but I personally hadn't been taken away for torture even once.
The prisoners in my cell had naturally noticed, and it seemed the inmates in other cells had caught on too. I could feel envious, resentful gazes directed our way from the other cells.
She was probably right. After all, the Government was currently trying to recruit me.
Which meant... was that also why I'd been placed on Level 2 in the first place?
In the Original Work, prisoners with Bounties of 50 million Berry or higher were supposed to be held on Level 3 or above. They must have been going easy on me here too.
...And at the same time, they were implicitly threatening me.
'If you keep being stubborn, things will get worse than this.'
That applied to the Move, and no doubt to the individual torture sessions as well.
Now, do you remember when I said earlier that 'it's not as though I was completely left alone with nothing happening'?
That of course included things like witnessing the Move and being implicitly threatened through having to watch it, but it wasn't limited to that.
Several times, I was taken outside the cell.
But I wasn't tortured myself.
Instead, I was led around to various places and made to observe the torture being carried out on others.
Water torture, for example.
Prisoners were bound so they couldn't move, then submerged in water. They'd be pulled out just before drowning.
But without so much as a moment to catch their breath, before their breathing could stabilize, they'd be submerged again. Over and over.
After repeated cycles, the prisoners' faces would be drenched not just with water but with sweat, tears, and snot, their eyes rolling back from the agony, tongues lolling out as they desperately gasped for oxygen. A wretched sight.
Whipping, for example.
Also bound and immobilized, their bodies were struck with whips. The back was the most common target, though depending on the person, it could be the stomach, chest, or buttocks.
The explosive crack of the whip, the skin splitting open, blood spraying out... it looked agonizing. Men and women alike screamed and wept, with no distinction made between them.
Beating, for example.
Bound in place and struck with a rod. Unlike the whip, the sound was a dull, heavy thud, and the skin would either break open or bruise into deep blue from internal bleeding.
This one seemed to target the stomach and other areas where the impact would knock the wind out of someone, rather than the back.
Occasionally they'd strike a different spot entirely, and you'd hear the sickening crack of something happening to bone.
Suspension, for example.
Prisoners were bound with rope or chains and literally hung in the air. With meticulous care, both the binding technique and their posture were specifically designed for this purpose.
Once suspended, their own body weight would gradually tighten the bonds, the joints screaming in protest while the ropes or chains dug deeper into their flesh.
The bindings would bite into skin and muscle, and any movement would cause them to chafe and grind, which was apparently excruciating. But struggling only made the bonds dig in more and chafe harder. A vicious cycle.
These were just a fraction of what I witnessed.
There were all sorts of other things I was made to see as well, every one of them soul-crushing. But the one that got to me the most, the one I found the most unbearable...
"No, please no! Stop... please, let me go...!"
"Ngh... gah, blech... ugh... I feel sick...!"
"Damn you... you'll pay for this...! Every last one of you, I'll kill you all some... aaaaahhh!"
"Please, I'm sorry, I was wrong... I won't do bad things anymore, so please, please stop...!"
"No... that's filthy, don't... stop, don't come inside... noooo!!"
...Anything more would require an age rating, so please spare me.
'So it's not just material for doujinshi... They actually do this kind of thing for real...'
Watching other female prisoners subjected to that kind of torture, stripped of every shred of dignity, weeping and suffering before my eyes... even I couldn't help but go pale.
The ones playing the other role appeared to be lower-level prisoners.
...If I keep being stubborn, eventually that'll be me too... Ugh, this is demoralizing.
Something dark and sickening pooled in my chest, a thick, churning dread... I suppose being a woman myself made this impossible to ignore.
And to top it off, on the way back to my cell afterward, they deliberately took the long route, parading me past the male prisoners' cells.
I could feel those gazes drenched in that kind of desire boring into me. Whether I wanted to think about it or not, the implication was impossible to escape.
Thorough, weren't they. Quietly agonizing, and devastatingly effective.
That was the kind of daily life I endured for a while.
...Of course, I still hadn't changed my mind.
***
[Third-person perspective]
Some time had passed since Sue's imprisonment in Impel Down, when one day...
In the Warden's Office, Magellan was listening to reports from his subordinates.
The subject was none other than Sue.
"Regarding the Pirate Literary Master... she's shown no signs of defiance and has been behaving quietly."
"She doesn't resist the guards' instructions and follows them obediently. So far, she's shown no suspicious behavior suggesting an escape attempt. There was one occasion when a disturbance occurred while she was outside her cell, and the surveillance and restraint protocols were momentarily inadequate, but even then, she didn't try to flee. She simply waited in place without a word. As for escape attempts, it's possible she's simply given up, but..."
"...Well, if no problems are occurring, that's fine. Regarding that disturbance, implement preventive measures and ensure all staff are thoroughly briefed."
"Yes, sir. However, regarding our 'proposal' to her... we have been making it regularly, but..."
"She still won't agree, I take it."
"Correct. Even when we hint at improved treatment or release, her position remains unchanged..."
Magellan sighed upon hearing that she still refused to budge from her stance that she had no intention of writing books for the World Government or under the Government's direction.
"...Well, that's within expectations. She didn't mince words when facing me down. That much resolve is consistent."
The Government's directive was to get the Pirate Literary Master to say yes to those proposals.
And they had been told that any means whatsoever could be employed to achieve that end.
Of course, since they intended to use her as a figurehead, they'd probably need to refrain from anything that would significantly impair her future activities. But even accounting for that, the range of available methods was vast.
After all, this Great Undersea Prison was equipped with facilities designed to subject pirates to every conceivable form of suffering.
And there were also personnel well-versed in the use of such methods.
"It can't be helped. We'll escalate the 'persuasion' to the next phase... Sadi-chan, if you would."
"Mmm~~~ I've been waiting for those words, Chief Warden! That girl, I can do whatever I want with her?"
"Yes. Within the bounds of the basic directives from the Government, of course. The Government doesn't want her broken. They want her spirit crushed just enough that she'll comply with their demands. As long as you stay within those parameters, do as you please."
"Leave it to me. Let's see... I'll start with light torture and gradually increase the intensity. How much can she endure? What kind of sounds will she make? What expressions will she show me? Mmm~~!! I can hardly wait!"
To be continued...