The intake hall of Impel Down was vast, its high vaulted ceiling lost in cold shadow above stone galleries, colossal pillars, and sweeping staircases. Dust and acrid gunpowder smoke drifted through the shattered outer doors, settling over the broad flagstones where Fleet Admiral Sengoku stood.
"Red-Hair," Sengoku said, his voice heavy with authority. "What are the Red-Haired Pirates doing breaching the iron gates of Impel Down?"
"We aren't here to burn your prison, Sengoku," Shanks replied, his hand resting casually on Gryphon's guard. "We came for a single prisoner."
Sengoku's scowl deepened. "There are no prisoners here for you."
"Norwell D. Renji," Giovanni said, his voice ringing off the vaulted stone. He stepped half a pace forward, pinning the Fleet Admiral with an unyielding gaze. "He's my father. And we're taking him out."
A cold flicker of recognition crossed Sengoku's face. The obscure prisoner misfiled in Level 3, the sudden reclassification file sitting on his desk moments ago, and the reckless target of this attack all fell into place.
"Renji..." Sengoku murmured, his jaw setting tight. "So that is who he was to you." His demeanor hardened into absolute resolve. "Then you will not reach him."
Before the last word faded, Sengoku lunged. Despite his massive frame, his speed was terrifying. He closed the gap in a breath, his right fist hardened with dense Armament Haki and aimed straight for Giovanni's chest.
Shanks moved instantly. Gryphon cleared its scabbard with a sharp ring, its steel darkening with Haki as he interjected himself between the Fleet Admiral and Giovanni.
CLANG!
The collision sent a concussive shockwave rippling across the hall. The stone beneath their boots shattered, sending spiderweb cracks forty feet across the floor. Nearby Marine guards steeled themselves against the gallery railings, clutching their ears as the atmospheric pressure blew out the lantern glass.
"Clear the hall!" Sengoku barked to the perimeter guards without breaking eye contact with Shanks. "Lock the stairwell access and report to Magellan! None of you interfere!"
"Understood, Fleet Admiral!" a lieutenant shouted, waving the guards back into the side corridors.
As Gryphon held Sengoku's fist, Giovanni drove forward into the opening. Swinging Ace with his left hand, he unleashed a fierce diagonal slash aimed at Sengoku's exposed ribcage.
Sengoku shifted his weight back half an inch, bringing his left forearm up. Ace bit into the Fleet Admiral's heavy gold-braided sleeve, clashing against the hardened Haki underneath with a shower of sparks. Sengoku's eyes narrowed as the weight of Giovanni's strike pressed into his arm, and he unleashed a short burst of shockwave pressure directly from his palm.
Sengoku's palm had barely turned when Giovanni shifted off the centerline. The shockwave still caught his shoulder and drove him backward, but he avoided the worst of the direct force. He planted his left foot to counter, but the fractured flagstones gave way beneath him. Stone collapsed into a pit of rubble, throwing his balance off.
Sengoku capitalized instantly, sweeping forward with a heavy backhand aimed straight at Giovanni's flank.
"Gio!" Shanks shouted.
Shanks leaped across the gap, throwing his body between the strike and Giovanni. Gryphon met the full brunt of Sengoku's blow, but the angle was compromised. Sengoku's Haki-hardened knuckles tore past the guard, ripped through Shanks's dark coat, and opened a deep gash across his upper right arm.
Blood splattered onto the white stone. Shanks absorbed the impact, using the momentum to pivot and sweep Gryphon upward in a violent arc that forced Sengoku back.
"Footing, Gio!" Shanks warned, his breathing steady despite the blood seeping down his sleeve.
"I know!" Giovanni gritted out, scrambling clear of the rubble.
The two swordsmen adapted instantly. Shanks took the vanguard, drawing Sengoku's focus with rapid, fluid thrusts that tested the Fleet Admiral's guard. Every time Sengoku reached to counter or channel a shockwave, Giovanni darted into his peripheral blind spots, delivering sharp, precise slashes with Ace that forced Sengoku to divide his defense.
Sengoku parried Gryphon with his right fist and deflected Ace with his left elbow, his brow slick with sweat. The coordination between the red-haired captain and the young swordsman was relentless. They read each other's footwork without speaking, filling the gaps in each other's defense seamlessly. Stray pressure waves carved deep grooves through the floor and shattered sections of the gallery railing.
Realizing standard martial skill would not end this quickly, Sengoku stepped back into the broad center of the intake hall, far from the central structural columns holding up the upper levels.
"You have force, Red-Hair," Sengoku said, his voice dropping into a booming resonance that rattled the iron beams above. "But you will not pass through this hall."
Sengoku breathed in deeply as a blinding golden light erupted from his form. His body gleamed brilliant gold, his hair curling into the distinctive coils of the Daibutsu form, and his frame expanded into a massive, imposing giant.
The Daibutsu—the Golden Buddha—towered over the hall.
"Watch his stance, Gio!" Shanks snapped, dropping his center of gravity.
Sengoku raised a colossal golden palm. The air around his hand distorted, white-hot with compressed kinetic energy. Aiming carefully away from the supporting foundation structure, he thrust his hand forward.
"Shockwave!"
A massive blast of raw force roared across the chamber, turning flagstones into dust.
Giovanni drove Ace deep into the floor at an angle, anchoring himself. Shanks planted Gryphon beside it, both blades dark with Haki. Leaning into opposite sides of the blast, they split its centerline, forcing the pressure around them instead of taking the brunt of the onslaught. The stone around them shattered, but the pair stood firm.
As the blast subsided, the smoke parted to reveal Shanks and Giovanni launching themselves straight through the clearing haze before the giant could reset his stance.
They moved as one. Shanks veered left, his blade trailing a torrent of dark Haki. Giovanni veered right, Advanced Armament gathering along Ace's edge as he drove into a single-handed counter.
"Divine Departure!" Shanks roared, swinging Gryphon in a massive horizontal arc.
"Sea King Clash!" Giovanni yelled, driving Ace forward with all his weight.
Sengoku crossed both golden forearms to absorb the combined assault. The explosive impact reverberated through the entire upper level of Impel Down. The sheer force of the twin strike buckled Sengoku's guard and drove the massive Buddha backward, his giant boots carving deep, smoking trenches through the stone floor before he dug in near the far wall.
Silence settled over the chamber as dust drifted through the thinning smoke.
Slowly, the golden light around Sengoku faded, his body shrinking back to its human form. He stood tall among the rubble, his coat torn at the shoulders. He lifted a hand, wiping a thin trickle of dark blood from the corner of his mouth.
His stern eyes looked across the ruined hall at the two panting swordsmen. Shanks stood with his sword lowered, blood dripping from his upper arm, while Giovanni leaned forward, his left hand tight around Ace's hilt.
"If he's your father," Sengoku said softly, his voice cold and unyielding despite the blood on his lips, "you should have stayed on your ship."
Giovanni didn't answer with words. With a fierce shout, he kicked off the broken stone and charged forward once more.
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