"Is that so? I look forward to it."
Shiryu took the cigar, pinched his fingers together, and sparks flared up, lighting it.
"It really has been a long time since I smoked one of these."
"Shall we go?" Roy looked at Shiryu.
"I still need to get my blade back, Captain."
"The Famous Blade Raiu?" Roy remembered. "I also have some Supreme Grade Blades and cursed swords I got from the World Government's core vault. Want to use one?"
"…No. I'd rather use my own sword."
Shiryu looked at his captain in surprise, then gave his answer.
"Is that so?"
Roy's figure vanished in an instant, then appeared again.
There was already a sword in his hand.
"Your sword."
"Thanks, Captain."
Shiryu accepted the blade with a strange expression.
It seemed that even though he had already judged his captain very highly, Shiryu still found himself far from seeing the limits of what Roy could do.
"Then let's go."
After saying that, Roy placed a hand on Shiryu's shoulder and disappeared once again, leaving only a cluster of lightning-made keys scattered throughout the corners of the cells.
"Mine! Mine! They're all mine!"
"Don't fight me for them!"
"Don't move! One at a time!"
Click.
After a frantic scramble, the first cell door was opened, followed closely by the second, the third…
"Hahahaha! I'm free!"
"We can finally see the sun again! We can finally see the sea again!"
"I'm going to kill Whitebeard! I'm going to kill Magellan! Aaaagh!"
Boom!
Just as the escaped prisoners rushed out of their cells and cheered, a thunderous crash rang out. The stone wall Roy had sealed with lightning was violently split open.
"Who did you say you were going to kill?"
A low roar, suppressed with fury, echoed through Infinite Hell.
"Urk!"
The prisoners who had just been cheering looked at the utterly enraged Magellan and the CP0 agent in a white coat standing beside him. Every one of them looked like a duck whose neck had been clamped shut, strange sounds stuck in their throats.
"Looks like the Thunder Emperor has already left… but he killed quite a few prisoners."
The CP0 agent withdrew the hand he had used to push through the wall. With just a quick glance, he roughly understood the scene before him.
He was a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user who had eaten the Split-Split Fruit, which allowed him to split apart anything around his palms.
For an agent like him, who specialized in ambushes and assassinations, it greatly increased his combat power.
Strictly speaking, the Split-Split Fruit was even an inferior version of Buggy's Chop-Chop Fruit.
That was because he could only split objects with his palms, while Buggy could split his own body apart.
Moreover, after eating the Chop-Chop Fruit, Buggy had gained the passive ability to split his own body apart. If he developed it to the highest level, then with a single conscious thought, he might even be able to split sound waves or molecules apart without using his palms.
"The dead include Catarina Devon, Douglas Bullet, Zashimoto…"
As the CP agent read out the names one by one, his voice gradually sank.
"They're all powerful Devil Fruit users!"
Magellan spoke while suppressing his anger. He had also realized the severity of the problem.
"Check whether the other powerful prisoners have been released!"
Magellan roared, and the jailers immediately ran over to inspect the cells carefully.
As for the criminals, they watched the Hydra rising behind Magellan and swallowed hard.
"Report! 'Corrupt King' Avalo Pizarro is still here."
"Warden, 'Hundred-Man Slayer' Doflamingo is still here."
"Warden, 'Red the Aloof' Patrick Redfield is also here."
Hearing this good news, Magellan finally let out a breath of relief.
Until…
"Bad news, Warden! Chief Jailer Shiryu's cell is empty!"
"What?"
Magellan froze. Then another jailer hurried in anxiously from behind.
"Warden, Chief Jailer Shiryu's sword vanished for some reason!"
"Vanished?"
Magellan stared blankly at him.
"Have you already made your choice, Shiryu?"
…
Holy Land Mary Geoise.
When the news that Impel Down had been invaded reached the ears of the Five Elders, the furious Five Elders smashed the office's heavy desk and teacups on the spot.
"As expected, the Thunder Emperor has a unique method for locating Devil Fruits. Combined with his abnormal body, which allows him to eat multiple Devil Fruits, the ability-user prisoners in Impel Down were clearly targeted by him as well."
"By now, he has probably already collected those prisoners' Devil Fruits, hasn't he? According to the intelligence Tsuru just reported, even the Op-Op Fruit has fallen into his hands!"
"That damned Instant Transmission ability is actually this much trouble! To guard against the Thunder Emperor, most of the Celestial Dragons' mansions are now being built with Seastone. This has greatly depleted our already limited Seastone reserves!"
"His abnormal body has allowed him to consume far too many Devil Fruits. I suspect that the reason barely any Devil Fruits can be found on the seas right now is because the Thunder Emperor has taken them all!"
"I believe we can't wait any longer. It's time to eliminate the Thunder God Pirates. Otherwise, they truly will have the final say over these seas!"
"Eliminate them? How? With the Thunder Emperor's current strength and all the Devil Fruit abilities he has eaten, even if we ignore everything else, just eating that many Zoan-type fruits would let him stack his physical abilities to a level we can't even imagine! Don't forget, three years ago, he was already able to defeat Whitebeard and take down Kaido in one move. He is likely even stronger now!"
"That is why, unless Imu-sama personally takes action, there is nothing we can do to him. Unless a second abnormal body appears in this world! Speaking of which, how are Vegapunk's abnormal-body experiments going? We specifically delayed Pacifista research for the sake of those abnormal-body experiments."
"At present, there seems to be no effect. On top of that, our Devil Fruit reserves have sharply decreased because we have been supporting the experiments. Fortunately, we captured Devon earlier, allowing the Snake-Snake Fruit, Model: Yamata no Orochi to fall into our hands. We no longer have any extra Devil Fruits now. I suggest terminating the experiments and using these fruits to cultivate some combat power instead. Under the Thunder Emperor's deterrence, even the situation in the first half of the Grand Line is starting to show signs of instability."
(End of Chapter)
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