"There are so many rooms here," Luffy said, looking around. "Are all of these cells?"
"Most likely," jin said. "Otherwise, there'd be no way to hold so many prisoners."
"That makes sense."
"Hm?"
Luffy looked back at jin, who was crouching on the ground, and asked curiously,
"What are you doing?"
Shouldn't they hurry up and find that gate? Why was he crouching here?
"I'm checking whether I can use Earth Release to pass directly to the next level," jin said.
"Right! You still have Earth Release!"
Luffy immediately became excited. He ran over with an eager expression.
"So can you do it?"
If they could use Earth Release to enter the next level, they would not need to waste effort finding that gate.
"The difficulty of using Earth Release has increased, but it can still be used," jin said with a frown. "It's just… I can't directly enter the next level."
Judging from the chakra reaction, certain parts of the floor were made of special materials. His Earth Release could not bring people through to the lower level.
In that case, he could only try using brute force.
However, destroying the floor by force would easily attract the jailers' attention. And since he did not know what was below, if they fell into some troublesome place, that would be bad.
Thinking of this, jin temporarily gave up on the idea.
Then he stood up, looked at Luffy, and said,
"Let's go, Luffy. We'll head to that gate."
"Can you use Earth Release to pass through the gate?"
"Not sure."
jin shook his head.
"Let's go there and check first."
If the ground beneath that area was also lined with special material, then his Earth Release would not be able to pass through either.
But whether that was the case or not, he needed to see it in person.
"Oh."
Luffy scratched his head. Although he did not quite understand what jin meant, since jin had said so, he would just follow him.
After that, jin led Luffy around some surveillance points and ran toward the target area.
"If Earth Release can't burrow through the ground there, then we can only try cutting open the gate," jin said as he ran.
"Yeah!"
At that moment, the two suddenly heard a miserable scream, as if someone had encountered something utterly terrifying.
This change caused both of them to stop instinctively.
"What's going on?"
jin glanced toward the area at the side.
"Did someone escape?"
If someone had really escaped, they might bring danger toward them.
"Should we go over and take a look?"
"Why would we? It's not like we know him. There's no need to care."
After shaking his head, jin pointed toward the side passage and said,
"Let's go this way, so we don't get dragged into that guy's—"
Before jin could finish speaking, he heard a strange sound.
Whoosh—
"That sound is…"
Seeing the shadow beneath their feet grow larger and larger, jin's expression changed. He grabbed Luffy and leapt into the passage.
The next moment—
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Enormous steel spikes smashed into the ground, blasting out one massive pit after another.
The sight left Luffy stunned.
"What the hell was that?!"
If jin's reaction had been even a little slower, he would have been pierced straight through by those giant spikes.
"This should be one of Impel Down's defensive mechanisms," jin said as he stood up.
But… how had this thing been triggered?
He was certain that when the two of them came here, they had not touched anything unnecessary. Even the floor tiles had not changed.
That meant the mechanism had not been triggered because they touched something.
'Could it be that it automatically attacks when it detects people?'
However, the moment that thought appeared in jin's mind, he denied it.
After all, jailers also passed through this place. It was impossible for the mechanism to attack anyone it saw.
Then… did it have some kind of friend-or-foe identification system?
'That's not impossible.'
jin rubbed his chin in thought.
Thinking carefully, if this world could create things like biological weapons, then creating a friend-or-foe identification system might not be impossible either.
With that in mind, jin said,
"Luffy, from now on, be careful. Maybe—"
Before jin could finish, he noticed many small holes appearing on the wall. Then a large number of harpoons shot out.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
jin drew his Kusanagi Sword at lightning speed and cut down every harpoon flying toward the two of them.
"Where did all these harpoons come from?!"
Looking at the broken harpoons that flew past him, Luffy broke out in a cold sweat. He had almost been shot through the head.
Glancing at the purple liquid coating the harpoons, jin frowned.
"They aren't just harpoons. They're poisoned too."
They were ruthless indeed.
But from Impel Down's perspective, doing this made sense.
After all… any prisoner bold enough to escape would most likely be sentenced to death anyway. So killing them directly was not much of a problem.
After scanning the surroundings and confirming there were no more mechanisms, jin said,
"Let's go. We'll leave this area first."
"Yeah!"
Soon, the two crossed the long corridor and arrived at the prison area of Level One, Area C.
"Eh?!"
Seeing the two people appear in the corridor, the pirates inside the cells were dumbfounded.
"Hey, those two aren't jailers, right?"
"They aren't wearing jailer uniforms… probably not."
"Then how did they get outside?"
"I don't know…"
The pirates looked at one another. Then, as if realizing something, their eyes began to shine.
Since those two could escape, then… didn't that mean they could too?
Thinking of this, the pirates shouted excitedly,
"Hey, little brothers, please wait!"
"Please wait!"
"Huh?"
"What is it?"
Luffy instinctively stopped and turned to look at them in confusion.
"Do you need something?"
"Don't bother with them, Luffy."
jin glanced at the cells. Even though they had not directly stated their purpose, he could roughly guess.
'They probably want us to let them out.'
Unfortunately, he had no interest in dealing with these people.
"Don't be so heartless, little brother~"
A pirate put on a flattering expression and said,
"Although we don't know how you two got here, if you want to escape, wouldn't it be better to have more people?"
"That's right! If you let us out, we can help you take down the jailers!"
"Exactly, exactly! We can help too!"
jin did not answer. He only looked at them with some speechlessness.
The jailer from before had said that criminals with bounties over one hundred million would be imprisoned on Level Five, and Impel Down was divided into Levels One to Five… No, if the surface level was included, then it had six levels.
As for these pirates locked up on the very top level… how strong could they possibly be?
Whether their bounties even reached ten million was unknown.
To put it bluntly, they were small fry.
So jin did not think these people would be of any use.
Perhaps sensing the disdain in jin's eyes, the pirates quickly said,
"Little brother, don't look at us like this. We're actually very strong."
"Ah, yes, yes."
The pirates: "…"
jin's casual "yes, yes" instantly left the pirates speechless.
"Luffy, let's go. Don't bother with them," jin said. "Don't forget our goal."
This time, they were infiltrating secretly. Doing unnecessary things would only make them easier to discover.
"Yeah!"
Seeing the two turn and leave, the pirates were stunned.
"Don't go! Take us with you!"
"Damn it! Don't be so selfish!"
"Selfish?"
jin glanced at the person who spoke.
"Do we know you?"
In the end, this was only their first meeting, yet these people were already trying to morally blackmail them?
"Bastard! If you don't let us out, I'll tell the jailers about you!"
"That's right!"
"Little brother, you wouldn't want—"
"Noisy."
jin glanced at the cell where the voice came from, and his eyes immediately changed.
Clang!
A Mangekyo Sharingan-level genjutsu instantly froze them in place.
Then those people let out miserable screams, as if they had seen the most terrifying thing imaginable.
"Don't come near me!"
"I'm sorry… I won't dare again!"
"Kill me! Kill me!"
"Ahhh!"
In the end, those people collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth. A faint smell of urine could even be detected.
Clearly, they had been scared so badly they wet themselves.
The pirates: !!!
Seeing this scene, the pirates in the other cells instinctively took several steps back, their faces filled with terror.
"So scary…"
"What did that man do? Why did they become like that after just one glance?"
"Is he a Devil Fruit user…?"
Seeing jin look at them coldly, everyone swallowed instinctively, terrified that this man would do the same to them.
Fortunately, jin merely glanced at them before withdrawing his gaze, allowing their raised hearts to finally settle back down.
"Let's go, Luffy."
"Yeah!"
Only after watching the two leave did the pirates finally let out a heavy breath.
"Haa…"
"What a terrifying man."
"Damn it. We finally had a chance to escape, only to run into someone like—"
"Idiot, shut your mouth!"
Another pirate immediately covered his mouth and said,
"If you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"
The cell next door had ended up like that because a few bastards talked too much and were killed by that man's single glance.
He did not want to follow in their footsteps.
Looking at the two figures gradually walking away, the prisoners all sighed.
Their chance to escape… was gone just like that.
…
"Damn it! Are these bastards ever going to stop?!"
Looking at the several Bluegori chasing him from behind, Buggy was furious.
He had originally thought he could quietly escape from this place. But halfway through, he had been discovered by a Surveillance Transponder Snail. After that, he had been chased all the way here.
What kind of nonsense was this?!
At that moment, a huge Bluegori rushed up behind Buggy and swung its axe at his body several times.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Several axe strikes sliced Buggy into multiple pieces. Unfortunately, this man possessed the power of the Chop-Chop Fruit. Even if he were cut into strips, he could still return to normal.
"Trying to kill this great me with slashes is absolutely impossible!"
"Yahahaha!"
Buggy laughed arrogantly.
"Look! It's Buggy!"
"That guy actually came back?"
"He must have been chased back here! Hahahaha!"
"Buggy, you bastard, hurry up and die!"
"Hmph! This great me won't be killed by these guys!"
Buggy gradually increased his running speed and shouted,
"You idiots have no idea how strong this great me really is!"
"Yahahahaha!"
Laughing loudly, Buggy quickly left the area and rushed toward the distant corner.
However, the moment he entered the corner, Buggy froze.
Because… he saw an extremely familiar figure.
"S-Straw Hat kid?!"
Looking at the man at the end of the corridor, Buggy's eyes turned red.
"Straw Hat kid!"
"You bastard! Why are you here?!"
"Huh?"
Hearing Buggy's voice, Luffy instinctively turned and glanced behind him.
"This guy…"
Looking at that familiar face, Luffy frowned. Then an expression of realization appeared on his face.
"Oh, it's Buggy."
jin also looked at Buggy with some surprise. He had not expected to meet the trainee from Uncle Rayleigh's ship here.
"Damn Straw Hat kid! Did you just forget who I was?!" Buggy roared.
That bastard's expression clearly meant he had forgotten who Buggy was!
Thinking this, Buggy ran toward them.
However, before he could take more than a few steps, a Bluegori rushed out from a side corridor and split Buggy in half with one axe strike.
Pfft!
jin: "…"
Looking at Buggy, who had been split in half yet was still running toward them, jin's mouth twitched.
"What a bizarre feeling…"
So this was the power of the Chop-Chop Fruit. It really was quite magical.
He wondered if this guy would still survive if he were chopped into minced meat.
"Yahahaha! Chop-Chop Grand Assembly!"
Buggy laughed loudly.
"Slashes don't work on me!"
After saying that, Buggy continued running toward Luffy and the others.
Seeing this, jin frowned.
"He really knows how to cause trouble for me."
Then jin activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and cast genjutsu on the Bluegori.
Clang!
The moment the Bluegori saw jin's eyes, their bodies froze in place.
Then, as if they had received some kind of order, the Bluegori turned around with their giant axes and left.
"Hm?"
Sensing the movement behind him, Buggy instinctively looked back and noticed what had happened to the Bluegori.
Those guys… actually left on their own?
"What's going on?"
Buggy stopped and said in confusion,
"Why aren't they chasing me anymore?"
Looking at the Bluegori running toward the side street with their weapons in hand, Buggy's eyes were filled with confusion.
But soon, Buggy gave up thinking.
Because he could not figure it out.
'Although I don't know what happened, I'm finally saved!'
Thinking this, Buggy let out a long breath. Then he placed his hands on his hips and burst into laughter.
"Yahahaha! Looks like the goddess of luck is still standing on this great me's side!"
"Yahahaha!"
Looking at Buggy laughing with his hands on his hips like a lunatic, jin complained,
"This guy is an idiot, right?"
"Mm… mm-hm!"
Luffy thought for a moment, then nodded in strong agreement.
This guy called Buggy really was an idiot!
Buggy: "…"
Hearing the two of them, Buggy's laughter stopped abruptly.
He looked like a duck whose throat had been grabbed, making him appear extremely ridiculous.
Then he roared with fury,
"Bastards! Who are you calling a red nose?!"
jin: ???
When had he called this guy a red nose?
This guy really did have something wrong with his brain!
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