With the help of the Doa Doa no Mi, Yemu had easily infiltrated Impel Down, a prison famed as a "fortress of bronze and iron," rendering all its guards practically useless. But when it came time to begin his operation and seize the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, he still ran into trouble.
Unlike Levels 1 through 5, Level 6 of Impel Down was known as Eternal Hell.
It was where the most vicious criminals in the world were imprisoned, and the security here was on a completely different level from the first five floors.
The criminals held here were all legendary monsters. Even now, locked away behind bars, the guards of Impel Down still did not dare relax for a single moment.
In truth, executing them outright would have been the best solution, clean and permanent.
But both the Marines and the World Government needed them alive.
The reasons were simple. First, they served as a warning to those still living. Second, many of the monsters imprisoned here possessed powerful Devil Fruit abilities. Rather than let them die and have their Devil Fruits reincarnate, only for someone else to obtain them and endanger the world, it was better to keep them locked up and hold those powerful fruits firmly in their own hands.
Because of that, the guards of Impel Down used every method they could think of to weaken these prisoners and reduce the threat they posed.
For example, they were given thin porridge with barely a few grains of rice in it only once a month. They were beaten and tortured every few days. Their entire bodies were restrained with Seastone shackles.
Yet even under such treatment, these monster-like prisoners did not so much as blink.
To monitor them, a Den Den Mushi was stationed in front of every single cell, ensuring that nothing could go wrong.
That created a major problem for Yemu's next move.
After thinking it over for an entire day, Yemu decided to change his approach.
...
The above-sea first level of Impel Down was where most of the prison's guards were stationed.
Both Impel Down's main control room and the monitoring room connected to the Den Den Mushi spread throughout the prison were located here.
In the enormous monitoring room, a massive Den Den Mushi towered at the center.
One cable after another extended from the giant Den Den Mushi, connecting to countless small screens mounted on the four surrounding walls. In front of those screens, the guards leisurely sipped coffee, glancing at the monitors from time to time and treating it as enough to count as doing their jobs.
Across the six levels of Impel Down's hell, only Level 5, the Freezing Hell, had no Den Den Mushi installed because the temperature was too low for them to survive. Levels 1 through 4 and Level 6, however, were filled with all kinds of surveillance Den Den Mushi.
Of those five levels, Level 6 had the most Den Den Mushi. Ironically, it was also the level the guards paid the least attention to.
The prisoners on Levels 1 through 4 could still move freely within their respective areas, so they needed to be watched carefully. But the prisoners on Level 6 could not leave their cages at all, and aside from the times when they needed to be punished, they could barely even move. Naturally, there was nothing much to worry about.
Among the guards was Hannyabal, who had joined Impel Down at just fourteen years old. By luck, he had been assigned this easy job, and the area he was responsible for was Level 6's surveillance.
Although Hannyabal was only fourteen, his ambitions were anything but small. All he thought about was getting promoted.
Of course, with so many surveillance feeds, Hannyabal could not possibly be the only one in charge. Besides him, there were four others.
But unlike the other guards, who were clearly slacking off, Hannyabal stared at the screens with great seriousness, waiting for his chance at promotion to appear.
Seeing him like that, the other four laughed as if they were looking at an idiot, then settled back comfortably with their newspapers and coffee.
The glow of the surveillance screens shone across Hannyabal's ridiculous face, yet it revealed an unusual seriousness.
He looked at the once-famous great pirates locked inside their cages and began to indulge in fantasy. If he had been the one to capture these pirates, then the position of Director...
Just then, among the countless surveillance feeds in Hannyabal's view, one screen suddenly went dark. Static spread across it, accompanied by a burst of noisy interference.
No one reacted. To them, this was hardly unusual.
Even machines broke down, let alone Den Den Mushi, which were living creatures to begin with.
Hannyabal was the same.
He instinctively picked up the Den Den Mushi beside him and contacted the maintenance staff.
"Hello, moshi moshi. Den Den Mushi 612 on Level 6 is malfunctioning. Please send someone over to repair it!"
"Received. We'll send someone over in a bit!"
After hanging up, Hannyabal did not find it especially strange. He simply sat back down in his chair.
But at that moment, he keenly noticed that something seemed off.
On the surveillance feeds, the prisoners in the other cells on Level 6 seemed to stir at almost the same time.
Although the prisoners on Level 6 were all monsters, Impel Down had deliberately weakened them. In order to avoid wasting unnecessary energy, they rarely made any extra movements. But now...
At that moment, Hannyabal looked at the number 612, and something suddenly came to mind. His eyes went wide.
"612. Isn't that the cell of Shiki the Golden Lion, the monster among monsters, one of the most vicious criminals in Level 6?"
"Could it be..."
Hannyabal almost shouted out what he had discovered, but he forced himself to stop.
First, he had no way to prove his suspicion. If he spoke up and caused chaos in Impel Down for no reason, his career would be finished.
Second, he had his own selfish motives. If his suspicion turned out to be wrong, that was one thing. But if it was true, and he was the first one to discover it, then the position of Director...
With that thought, he did not hesitate. He picked up a Den Den Mushi and stood.
"I'm going down to take a look..."
With that, he grabbed his trident and rushed out of the monitoring room, heading toward the only elevator in all of Impel Down that connected the above-sea first level to Level 6.
The people around him looked confused, but they did not pay him much attention. They simply continued drinking tea, reading newspapers, and eating snacks.
Because of his peculiar and comical personality, Hannyabal was something of a famous figure throughout Impel Down. So although the guard in charge of the elevator was a little curious that he was going to a terrifying place like Level 6, he did not stop him.
After all, Hannyabal's reasoning was flawless. As the guard responsible for monitoring Level 6, there was nothing wrong with him personally going down to check when a surveillance feed had a problem.
Then, just a few minutes later, something happened that made everyone's expression change.
An alarm suddenly blared throughout Impel Down. Red lights flashed, and along with them came Hannyabal's terrified yet excited voice.
"This is bad... Shiki... the Golden Lion... has escaped..."