~About 10 Hours Before the War~
When someone says that they're going to follow instructions to the letter, it means one of two things: either they're going to do exactly what you want them to do, or they're going to do exactly what the instructions tell them to do in such a way as to benefit them and screw the instruction-giver over. Being offered a fraction of something and choosing 4/4, for instance. Being told not to speak to someone and writing to them instead. Or what was going on here, in the supposedly impregnable gaol of Impel Down.
"What…" Warden Magellan growled through the Snail he used to talk to the Marine fleet ringing his prison. "Are you doing here? I specifically stated—"
"That you will not remove him until at least twenty-four hours before his scheduled release to the Marines. And we have arrived within that window. As such, we expect you to immediately begin preparations to sedate Fire Fist for removal. We've even very kindly timed it so that the actual release happens on the exact date it was meant to," Commodore 'Nailing' Isuka stated with just a hint of smugness. "We are abiding by the very protocols you set, Warden, down to the last word. I only ask that you do the same yourself."
Make that a lot of smugness.
"You have the nerve to say that to me?" Magellan rumbled, his entire being trembling with fury. "I said he would leave this prison on the day of his execution. And any fool could understand that I did not mean that you could present yourselves ready to take him at the stroke of midnight."
"Your objections are no longer relevant, Warden," Isuka blandly retorted, void of even a hint of care for his opinion. "Bureaucratic details like that are worthless. Vice Admiral Momonga will join me and Vice Admiral Doberman to escort him back to Marineford for his execution. And do try to remember, Warden, that you're only that. Your prisoners are and have always been the property of Justice, which is to say, the World Government. And if we suspect any insubordination on your part, we can and will take preventative measures. Now obey the rules that you laid down, or we will replace you with someone who will. KA-LICK!"
The Marine's voice was cold, arrogant, and tonally screamed, 'Your opinion is worthless, and there's nothing you can do about it because I'm your boss.' Little wonder, therefore, that Magellan's frayed temper and nerves, exacerbated by lack of sleep, gave out and sent him storming out of his office on a borderline warpath through Level 4. Most of the prisoners had enough sense to stay quiet and out of his way. Everyone who jeered was swamped with a Hydra as fast as blinking, and no guards moved to help them. The movement and slight catharsis of dealing with pain—righteous, justified pain—helped him get his anger under control. By the time he arrived back at his office, he was still furious, but he was coherent enough to quietly issue his orders to the rest of his staff.
Orders… to stand down… and comply with the Marines. AGAIN.
For the next half-hour, sleeping gas blanketed Level 6, ensuring there would be no resistance. The gas was only turned off after Hannyabal and two masked guards retrieved Ace and brought him onto the elevator.
Only one thing kept the resulting meeting with the Marine escorts from turning literally toxic.
"What part of this stunt was supposed to be a good idea?" Smoker fumed, glaring daggers at his fellow Commodore. "It's not enough that you're enforcing orders that stretch legality to the breaking point for no good reason, no, you just have to rub it in the face of one of the most important and dangerous men in the world?"
"And you're one to care about breaking the rules?" Isuka retorted. "I refuse to believe you aren't aware that Straw Hat's infamy and being in the right place at the right time to make a convenient cover story for Crocodile's defeat are the only reasons you weren't court-martialed for disobeying orders and abandoning your post in Loguetown. As for how I spoke to the Warden, it's no different than you: when dealing with a rabid beast with more guts than brains, you need to strangle it until it obeys or breaks."
Smoker almost bit his cigars in half at that, prompting Isuka to raise an eyebrow before continuing. "And fortunately, you both have just enough brains to bow your heads instead of lashing out. It's really an inconvenience when someone decides they could possibly know better than the ones who have been ruling this world for 800 years."
"…Commodore Isuka," Doberman interjected, a sour expression on his face. "You're starting to remind me of Spandam. We have what we came for. Secure the prisoner already so we can depart."
Isuka glanced at him and visibly weighed telling him off as well before settling for a curt nod. "Fine." She looked back at the others. "I'll leave you this reminder of your orders: since matters appear to have developed along a less - than-ideal path, Straw Hat Luffy is to be recaptured alive, and we expect to hear of it if you manage it. Though all things considered…"
She turned on her heel and marched away, her fingers tapping out a harsh beat on her sword's hilt.
"I won't be in the least bit surprised if I'll be seeing him for myself, shortly."
Silence fell until the Marines and their unconscious prisoner faded from sight.
"…Mistress Sadi, I think you may have competition for the biggest bitch in this ocean."
Still silence.
"…a nice attempt, Commodore," the dominatrix responded. And for the first time since he had arrived, the fury in her voice was not aimed at him. "I wish I weren't too angry to appreciate it."
~9 Hours Before the War~
Ace's mouth hung open as he stared at the woman on the other side of the bars of the warship's brig, at his friend on the other side of the law… at the Marine who'd just stated without a hint of doubt or remorse that she was going to kill him.
"Y… You… what…"
"You seem confused, Fire-Fist. I didn't think you were this much of a fool," she said quietly. She sat down on a nearby barrel and drew her sword, carefully tracing her fingers along its edge. "I'm a Marine, you're a pirate. What's so surprising?"
"…what happened to you?"
Isuka scoffed, almost a chuckle. "What happened? What do you think happened? The Voices of Anarchy have made many Marines around the world reevaluate their place in the organization they serve. And now?" She shrugged. "Now I'm just one of many who have realized how the world really works, and thus have decided to change how I did things. Now I've found my true calling."
The Marine stood and turned aside. Ace followed her eyes. Despite his situation, he still blinked stupidly at what looked for all the world like a large… bone leaning against the wall? Isuka raised her sword, and she stabbed the air multiple times, too fast for most eyes to see anything more than a blur. The bone was instantly struck with a case of terminal osteoporosis, becoming as porous as a sponge.
The wall around it was unscathed.
"Only cut what you mean to cut… I've got it down now." Isuka turned to regard Ace once more, staring at his forehead. "And if I can do that to a Sea King bone, I shouldn't have any trouble with iron, or however thick your skull, and more importantly, your neck is."
The wisecrack almost made things seem normal. The cold iron bars that separated them… less so. They stared at each other from their sides of the line, and she broke first, her eyes softening a bit.
"For the record, I am sorry it's come to this, but in all fairness, it's somewhat your fault for being a dumbass and getting caught." And with that, any warmth fled her eyes, and she was back to steel. "So now, this is how things have to be."
And with that, she walked away and left him to stew in his cell.
~About 10 Hours Before the War~
"WHAT!?"
Ivankov grimaced, both from the volume and the galling fact that the pirate before him had been right to worry. The Government's abuse of its own rules was no surprise in hindsight. Still, best not to dwell on that.
"I'll apologize as much as you want later; right now, you need to eat," the okama said, gesturing to the table still laden with food as well as the chunks of meat in Luffy's thin gray hands.
Much to his surprise, however, Luffy's response was to scowl down at the food in his hands and return it to the table.
"There's no time for this. Where's my bag?" he asked.
"You're not going in on an empty stomach—"
"I need Sanji's lunchbox."
Quick as a blade—specifically, one in Zoro's hands—Inazuma sidestepped his superior and set the bag down beside Luffy. The rubber man stuck his hand inside and immediately withdrew a giant bento box, four times the size of any normal case. He broke the seal, and the surrounding crowd had just enough time to catch a scrumptious symphony of smells before Luffy devoured the contents.
To the surprise of everyone watching, he ate relatively slowly, which meant that he took enough time to savour each bite before shovelling in the next one. And as fast as he ate, Ivankov's eyes widened, and his mouth opened at the pace that his pale, emaciated flesh was returning to a normal state.
"'Death's Door Lunchbox' indeed," Inazuma murmured, his mouth hanging open as well.
~o~
As Sanji got to his feet, he rolled his fingers at Soundbite. The snail blinked but nodded, and the next moment, Sanji seemed to speak in his own voice despite the lingering injuries.
"Alright, Luffy, you had better listen to what I'm about to say, because what I put in that bag is the single most dangerous thing that I've ever made."
Everyone seemed to sit a little straighter at that. Dangerous? Food? Sanji? Under normal circumstances, that just wouldn't compute.
"I call it the Death's Door Lunchbox. By normal standards, it has seven days' worth of food, with enough nutrients packed into it to keep an entire army on its feet. By your standards, it's potent enough to bring you back from the brink of death. And toxic enough to send you there."
Sanji locked his gaze with his captain's, even going so far as to lift the hair obscuring his left eye so that he could stare at Luffy with both of them. "I cannot emphasize this enough. Luffy, if you open this box and eat the food inside it in one go, you had better be on the brink of starvation and in need of as much excess energy as you can get. If you're not about to die when you eat this, you will be after eating it. It's for emergency use only. Do you understand?"
Luffy nodded firmly. "I understand, Sanji. Thank you."
Sighing, the chef let his hair fall back into place before stepping back, nodding his thanks to Soundbite.
~o~
Swallowing down the last bite, a fully restored Luffy slammed the box shut, dropped it back into his bag, and then took out his pipe. He opened his mouth to speak… and then shivered all over, almost curling in on himself.
"STRAW HAT!?" half the room demanded.
"I-I'm f-f-fine," Luffy managed as his shaking subsided. He shook his head and flexed his arms before nodding tentatively. "Just… feels like there's fire in my guts… and my veins… and my… Everything…" Luffy's throat bulged for a second before he snapped his mouth open and disgorged a very loud and disturbingly visible belch. With that out of his system, he finally relaxed. "Woo, I almost died, and this time I'm not kidding. Guess I wasn't close enough to dying, whoops…"
CLANG!
Not even Inazuma's jaw remained above the floor, and Ivankov had something of a broken look in his eyes.
"Nothing makes sense anymore…" he wept melodramatically. "Fatally poisoned, loses five years off his lifespan, takes a fraction of a day to complete a two-day operation… and somehow, after all that, he wasn't close enough to dying."
"I mean, I had a good nap afterward?" Luffy offered.
"Nothing makes sense…" Ivankov sobbed.
"M-My Queen," Inazuma cut in (ha), having recovered to his typical state of being the fastest. "Not that I do not agree with you, but we are losing valuable time."
Any lingering amusement or incredulity evaporated as Luffy and Ivankov's expressions hardened. The rubber-man level a determined stare at the King of Queens.
"Where is Ace? Right now?"
Ivankov's eyes flicked to Inazuma and, at the firm nod he got, answered with confidence. "They've taken him up the elevator. Including Momonga, two Vice Admirals and a Commodore are waiting to receive him. Magellan and Hannyabal will see him off, and the escort is composed of the better half of a Buster Call," Ivankov grimly summarized. "The odds are not in our favour, Straw Hat Boy. I know I can't stop you, but for the sake of your father, I still need to try and get this through your head, so listen well! Getting Ace out of here on its own would have been difficult, but going up against all of them at once, even if we did get Ace-boy's cuffs off, would be—"
"I know."
"—nothing short of complete and utter—wait, what?!" Ivankov boggled at the dangerously calm Luffy.
"I hate it, Iva… I really hate it," Luffy bit out, his jaw clenched hard enough to visibly deform. "But I know that it's too late. I still want to rush and get him, but it's too risky. We'll need to save him at Marineford."
"Er… Straw Hat, can I object to this plan?"
All eyes fell on Galdino, who gulped audibly at the attention. "L-L-Look, I'm aware that five Vice Admirals, a Commodore, the Warden, the Vice Warden, and whatever reinforcements that they have is a tall order to overcome… pretty much impossible really, why did I think it was a good idea to work with you?!" the Wax-Man wheezed in a panic.
Someone reached over and snapped their fingers in front of him, jolting him out of the impending spiral.
"Ah, ahem… I'm just trying to say that even those odds seem a lot more manageable than going up against literally every high-ranking official in the Navy, along with the Warlords. Why do you think that's the better choice?"
Luffy grimaced at the logic. But he didn't take long to answer.
"Because that's the option where Ace's Pops—"
"Please don't call him that to his face…" Ivankov groaned, slapping a hand to his face.
"—No promises, and that's where he and his crew and his allies should already be expecting us. Or me, at least. We'll have friends waiting to help us there. We'll have to face an army…" Luffy snorted furiously and pounded his fist in his palm. "But so will they."
"Mmmph… the day I say that Straw Hat has a point about anything, especially about odds and evening them… we really are in hell…" Buggy groused before eyeing Luffy suspiciously. "But that can't be all there is to it, Straw Hat. Waiting until you have a bigger army to fall back on? You've never thought like that; did your flashy tactician really run you through the wringer that much?"
"No."
A shiver went down the spine of most everyone present at the pure hatred Luffy's eyes and voice exuded.
"…there's a bigger reason why it's too late now," the Captain of the Straw Hats said, almost calmly, save for the aura of unyielding rage he was emanating. "It had to be before they took Ace out of his cell. If he's on his way out, then he's on his way here. Which means there are still some things we need to do here, first."
The unyielding rage melted into something a little more manageable as he got off the bed, slowly popping his knuckles. "We're heading for Level 6."
"What? Why?"
"Sabotage and extra help. Especially if Ace's friends are still there." Luffy strode forward, cracking his neck, Newkamas parting around him. "We might not have the army we need to free Ace yet, but we can still get the one we need to break out of Hell."
And with that, Straw Hat Luffy left the chamber, intent on departing from Level 5.5 and back into hell.
At least, he did until he poked his head back around the corner, blinking curiously. "Uuuuh… which way out of here?"
A chorus of groans and facepalms rang out, foremost of them all Galdino, top-knot and all, slumping in miserable defeat.
"…we are all going to die."
-o-
Within his lair in the midst of the raging inferno of Level 4, the one true ruler of Hell sat at his desk, trying his damndest to massage away the migraine rioting beneath his horns. A migraine born of the week of—and the irony was not lost upon him, which only infuriated him more —utter hell he had been subjected to.
First, disrespect after disrespect was heaped upon the ancient prison by their so-called ally, the World Government, with soldiers and uncontrolled monstrosities being forced into the prison that he and his guards were supposed to be trusted to guard on their own.
Then an invasion of that prison by one of the most infamous pirates to live since Roger, a pirate who had pushed Magellan to lengths he hadn't been pushed in years and left a trail of devastation a mile wide through all of Impel Down's floors.
And then, Straw Hat had been captured and locked away to die, but stayed there for all of a few hours before he managed to escape and disappear from right under their noses, which in turn led them to realize that dozens of prisoners they had assumed dead for years had been hiding right under their noses, and were likely planning a mass breakout as they spoke!
And as if all that wasn't enough, the World Government intruded upon Impel Down's jurisdiction, again, and forced them to compromise their own morals, their own laws!
All because it was more convenient for them.
It was just… there were truly no words that encapsulated the morass of emotions Magellan was feeling at that moment. And if even one more thing went wrong, one more thing—!
"Puru puru puru puru!"
Magellan froze, the sound of either his salvation or damnation ringing throughout his office. Not for the first time that year, he stared at the snail on his desk with a gimlet eye, dreading what might be on the other side. Finally, he worked up the nerve to grasp the receiver.
"…unless Straw Hat Luffy has surrendered himself for proper judgment, hang up. Now."
"Er… well, he's not surrendering, but we can confirm he's where he belongs."
Magellan snapped to attention in his seat, his prior haze fully dismissed. "You mean to say that he's returned to his cell!?" The Warden knew the words to be false the instant they left his mouth; he just knew it, but was it so wrong to dream?
Apparently, it truly was, as the person on the other end of the line broke out in a cold sweat. "Not quite, I'm afraid. We have Straw Hat Luffy on cameras, sir, but he… he's…"
"Spit it out, soldier! Where is he!?"
"…Level 6. Monkey D. 'Straw Hat' Luffy has reappeared in and is descending the passage to Level 6. He's headed for the Eternal Hell… and he isn't alone."
And just like that, true, honest shock and terror froze Magellan's blood in his veins.
Level 6. Monkey D. Luffy was charging for Level 6. The forbidden final frontier. Unbreached, unspoken, nonexistent. The sole, singularly sacrosanct location in the entire prison, and he was in it. And if he knew of it, if he was in it… It was no exaggeration to say that a spike of panic pierced Magellan at the mere concept of Jeremiah Cross knowing of the floor's existence. That one, singular hope, that one mercy, ripped away.
And then, just as swiftly as it came, the moment passed, and Warden Magellan returned to form. "That is… Unfortunate. Trigger all the traps and alert the guardroom. It likely won't stop him, but it will buy us time to respond. What is our current status?"
"By your orders, sir, our entire force remains in place and ready for interception at the exits of each Level. The monitor rooms are all attended, all keyrings are in the proper hands, and our pressure points are as secure as we can make them. And, at last inspection, our last guest is right where we left it. Maybe we'll put it to some use after all."
A derisive snort summarized how Magellan felt about that last sentence, but he still nodded in affirmation of the preparations. "Good. Send word to the Chief Guards and tell them that the time is now. There is a chance that Straw Hat will recruit some of the convicts to his escape attempt, and they will undoubtedly be hefty force multipliers. Furthermore, prepare a contingent to re-establish control in the Eternal Hell. I don't want any lingering surprises."
"I-I—! Understood, Chief Warden! Should we restart the gas vents as well?"
"Negative," Magellan denied. "If Inazuma is among their number, then clogging the vents would be child's play. The expected damage to our prison is already bad enough; no need to tack on an unnecessary expense."
With that, he rose to his feet. "Place the elevators on executive lockdown. They are not to leave the floor that I am on unless I am using them. No exceptions or excuses."
"Yes, sir. We'll see to—agh, what? Wait, wha—WHAT?"
"What is it?" Magellan demanded.
A rough form of that answer came in the form of practically every audio-snail in the entirety of the Prison abruptly snapping awake, wailing panicked calls into their speakers. A singular wail of panic and alarm that echoed all throughout hell, and meant one worst-case scenario.
"S-Sir… we're getting movement reports from all Levels, e-even Level 3! I don't know if it's instinct or someone tipped them off, but everyone above the Eternal Hell is trying to riot! Massive cell breaches, they're getting into armouries— IMPEL DOWN HAS BEEN THROWN INTO CHAOS!"
Magellan's jaw clenched, but he shook his head to calm himself and slowly relaxed. When he answered the unspoken plea, his tone was calm and even.
"Ensure that everyone maintains their positions. We deal with unruly prisoners regularly; despite the scale, this is no different. Maintain focus on the ones that are organized in their attempt to break through us. As for the rabble…"
A sickly aura overcame Magellan. As in, an aura so sickening that his desk started to rot from his mere presence.
"I will deal with them myself. Make certain that my orders regarding Straw Hat are carried out. No matter what, I will be ready if it comes to that."
"Y-Yes, Warden Magellan! By your orders, sir!"
"Over and out," Magellan rumbled, picking up his snail even as it hung up and dialling in a new number. As he punched in the last number, he threw open the doors to the office and waited patiently outside as his snail connected to the rest of the snails on the Infernal Hell.
"A-he-hem, test, test. Your attention, if you please," Magellan coughed politely, his painfully calm voice echoing throughout the inferno and grinding the nascent riots to a dead halt.
"Thank you. Now then, I would like to announce to all of our prisoners that Impel Down has entered a state of absolute lockdown. What this means is quite simple: any and all prisoners found outside their cells we have decided have chosen death as their immediate sentence. This protocol will be put into place…"
For the second time in as many days, three liquid Hydras erupted into the scorching air of the inferno, screeching their fury for the entire floor to hear.
"IMMEDIATELY. In bluntest terms…"
Chief Warden Magellan swept his gaze across the depths of hell, and every person who saw him at that time, no matter who they once were on the outside, no matter their past, their power or prestige, all knew a single emotion.
Sheer terror.
"RUN."
Magellan moved to hang up, but then paused as a thought occurred to him.
"But to your cells, if you please. Don't make me have to root anyone out of a hiding spot. You'll find it especially unpleasant."
-o-
Stepping into the Eternal Hell was an entirely different experience from everything else Luffy had gone through thus far.
At first glance, the final floor of Impel Down seemed boring. After all, how else could you describe a mere prison block after wading through a thresher, a menagerie, a desert, an inferno, and a blizzard?
On closer inspection, though, Level 6 was no 'mere' prison. Rather, it was a forest of cells. Hundreds of them, stretching on for miles. It was impossible to even see from one end of the floor to the other, the darkness engulfing the cages in the distance. And where was the wall visible? It simply revealed yet more cages, only these ones were massive, containing truly giant Giants.
And that, perhaps, was the more pressing danger of the Eternal Hell. There was a… weight, to the air. A tension, an unswerving sense of pressure. The lack of any overt threat to the prisoners on that floor was because the prisoners were the threat.
Luffy knew the feeling as he marched through the darkness; he had felt it often while growing up in a jungle, feeding himself by hunting. The sensation of being watched, most typically by things ready and waiting to eat him at the first chance they could get. And yet, the gazes he felt on him were… different.
Now, there was no awe, no fear, nor even banal anger or amusement. Instead, those staring at him were merely acknowledging his presence with a hint of curiosity. Curious in the sense they were wondering 'should I kill him or not', in the same sense one wondered what they'd be having for dinner later that night.
Luffy posed a barely tangible threat to a few, if any, inmates on that floor, and everyone present knew it. Hell, even Luffy knew it, even if he damn well didn't like it. And the weight of that knowledge hung over him like a lead blanket.
It was this heavy, suffocating atmosphere that he absorbed with his mind devoid of a frenzied rush to get to Ace. All it did was re-emphasize that Cross had been right about them not being ready: These were the cells where Gold Roger had spent his last days, without regret. Luffy had been in there for barely five minutes, and he was already eager to be gone.
"Straw Hat… you do realize that you're unnerving everyone with that scowl, right?"
"Yeah, well, I'm angry," he spat. "Ace is already gone, so I'm on my last chance to save him. And that means taking… ugh, what's the thing, taking…"
"…Er, drastic measures?"
"Let's go with that," Luffy accepted. "I'm following a lot of advice to save Ace, I'm doing a lot of things I wouldn't normally try doing, but there's one thing that isn't worth it… almost."
Bentham and Ivankov exchanged unreadable looks and came to a mutual agreement not to press the subject.
"Back on topic," Ivankov simpered, addressing the guard he had appropriated. "Where is the cell where Ace-boy was staying?"
"Wha—I—wha—?"
It took a moment to process the request that he be given directions to a cell whose prisoner had already left. But he quickly remembered that the cell had other prisoners linked to Fire-Fist.
"I-I'm not saying a word!" he said, trying to sound brave. The Okama Queen dropped him on the floor and sharpened his fingers.
"Oh, you will, just not willingly, " he purred menacingly. "EMPORIO… TRUTH HORMONES!"
The needles stabbed into the guard's side, and his whole body quivered with discomfort, if not outright pain.
"Now, just a few seconds for the serum to flood the bloodstream," Ivankov snickered darkly. "And once that's done… which direction is Ace-boy's cell?"
The guard visibly tried to resist, but his mouth moved without his consent: "If you'll keep going forward and then take the third right, the cell's at the end of the row. AGH-damn-it-all!"
"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head about Magellan holding this against you," Ivankov said sweetly, even as he picked up the guard again, carrying him along like a sack of potatoes. "I've had a lot of practice with this technique while interrogating Spanda-boy about the Government's secrets."
"Th-The government's—!? Wh-Where is he now!?"
"Hee-haw! You're the one with the truth serum in all the right places, not me. Let's just say… he's enjoying eeeeverything a place like Impel Down should have to offer, and leave it at that, hm?"
"Sonnuva…" the guard gargled, tugging viciously at the hand around his throat.
Luffy took an interest. "If he has to tell the truth, then how do we get—?"
"No, Straw Hat-boy, don't finish that question," Ivankov stated blandly, drawing looks of confusion. "We're dealing with someone tasked to put his life on the line to stop us. And you would bite your own tongue off before spilling all of those secrets to us, wouldn't you?"
"And die happy doing it," the guard responded venomously.
"Your choice, but not one I'm planning on pushing you to," Ivankov replied, offhandedly examining the needle-nails on his free hands. "We're both monsters, I know that, and you know that, but I'd like to think that I'm the lesser monster here in comparison. So for now, just go to sleep guilt-free, will you, darling?"
"The hell are you—?!"
That was as far as the guard got before Ivankov sank his fingers into his neck again and dropped him. The guard swayed on his feet, falling to his knees before passing out.
And then an IV stand slammed against Ivankov's humerus.
"Why did you do that? I still needed to ask where my brother is!" Byojack barked.
"It's fine," Luffy said, deathly calm, which cut through Byojack's temper quite nicely. "We'll have someone else who'll be able to tell us that soon enough…" He narrowed his eyes. "If he knows what's good for him."
And now that he knew their destination, Luffy picked up his pace to a jog.
"One… two… three!" he muttered as he moved past the cells, barely glancing at any of the other prisoners—
"STRAW HAT!"
—but that voice drew him up short. He debated with himself for a second before turning his head to glare at the offender.
Shiki the Golden Lion glowered up at him. Up because of his special restraints, crucified on a steel cross secured to the ground. Luffy narrowed his eyes at him, but after a moment shook his head and dashed off, not sparing his defeated adversary so much as a word.
"DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME!"
Luffy summarily ignored him, stopping only when he came to a halt in front of the cell where his brother had been.
Two of the people in the cell he knew only from Cross's last-minute notes, independent pirate captains who were loyal to Whitebeard. The woman Whitey Bay looked a lot like Vivi until he got a look at her face. Surprised as she was, her entire demeanour otherwise radiated a sense of habitual smugness and superiority. Not necessarily antagonistic, just a very big ego and personality, she didn't think twice about flaunting. The man beside her, Squard, had a spider-shaped mark on his forehead and a mane of purplish-pink hair. His demeanour was resilient and tough, but also carried a definite edge to it. Luffy's eyes lingered on him for a moment, his teeth grinding in the back of his jaw, but he directed his attention to the last captive in the cell.
One of his new friends was looking at him with a wry smirk.
"Jinbe," Luffy said with a respectful nod and a slightly regretful expression. "Sorry to meet you again like this."
In response, the whale-shark fishman loosed a massive snort through a toothy smirk. "I'm not, Luffy. After all, seeing you here, in this place, under these circumstances? Is the exact reason why I refused to fight."
Half the company, including Luffy, tilted their heads in confusion. The rest of them just stared.
"…I respect the old man enough that I would have refused to fight against him either way," the fishman rumbled, smirk still on his face. "And it just made my choice easier when I knew I could expect you to do something as crazy as breaking in here to save Ace. And from what he's told me and what I've heard on the SBS, I figured you'd need someone watching your back to make sure you don't get yourself killed. So I figured, why not kill two Sea Kings with one punch?"
Several people blinked.
"Oh, please, like it's that surprising?" Jinbe scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Who else would be stupid enough to try this, and lucky enough to pull it off? Seemed like the best thing that I could do was put myself somewhere that could help you out."
"Jinbe…" Luffy started slowly, trying very hard to wrap his head around that train of thought. "That was really stupid."
That dropped Jinbe's expression into a flat, deadpan. "First of all, you're the last person I want to hear that from. And second…" He gave a savage grin. "Warlord or not, I am still a pirate, you know!"
Luffy's response was to grin and then look over his shoulder. "Galdino, get me a key."
"One of the Warlords on our side?" Galdino drawled as wax took form in his palm. "Perhaps we have a good chance after all."
"And you two," Luffy said, looking at the two human prisoners. "I don't really know you. But if you're friends with Ace, that's enough for me. Will you help me save him?"
"Let's see, go into a war to save a friend and kick the shit out of the White Hats, ooooor rot down here for the rest of our lives until they remember we exist and take our heads off too?" Squard drawled, his rugged face giving Luffy a paper-flat stare. "Yeah, gimme a few minutes to think on that, consider all the angles, get us out of here and get me a blade, you raging dumbass!"
"Just don't stop us from breaking our crews out on our way up, and we'll consider the whole thing square, savvy?" Whitey Bay smirked. "Oh, and grab me any cannons or gunpowder in general on the way. Those right bastards scuttled the Eisbahn when they grabbed me and sent my entire collection down to the Locker with the old witch! I need to start stocking up again, and I'm doin' it on their dime!"
Galdino wasted no time in unlocking their cuffs, and once they were free, Luffy nodded before turning around and scanning the surrounding cells. "Now… we still need to find Byojack's brother… and where's Crocodile?"
Luffy's scanning of the area continued for a few seconds, despite not seeing the familiar face/ The sand-jerk should have been speaking up any second now.
Any second now.
… Any. Second. Now…
"…grrr, where the hell are you, stupid SAND-CROC!?" he bellowed.
"Oh? You're looking for me?"
Luffy spun around and blinked in surprise at what he saw.
There stood one of his most hated enemies, looking as well as ever, aside from the black and white striped clothes he wore. The gold hook in place of his left hand was still there, and his typical smug sneer was on his face. It was a surprise to see that he was already out of his cell. But it was a bigger surprise to see the monster beside him. What was left of it, anyway?
The shrivelled husk on Crocodile's right side looked foremost like a chameleon, but with the jaws and tail of, ironically enough, a saltwater crocodile. Metal plates covered much of its form, and what remained of its tongue looked more like a broken sword than an appendage.
"How many of those things do they have!?" Buggy demanded.
"Let's hope that's the last one," Luffy muttered. "So, you broke out on your own."
"As if someone like me would die down here," Crocodile scoffed, wrenching his hand free of the husk's desiccated tail and shaking off the resulting 'dust'. "For all that your tactician considered me arrogant, I'm far better in that regard than most of the failures in this pit. I actually did have a fallback plan for if Baroque Works failed me." The last two words differed only in a biting downward intonation and a scathing stare at Galdino, currently trying his darndest to cower behind an equally cowed Buggy.
"I'll admit, it was more in anticipation of Garp or another Warlord getting involved, but needs must, and the plan didn't really care who triggered it. I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to pick my cuffs' locks and get out of here. And if I can get involved in that old man's death wish?" Crocodile smirked with almost uncharacteristic eagerness. "Well, that's just a wonderful side benefit, wouldn't you agree?"
Luffy's response was to roll his eyes and grace the former Warlord with a look of honest scorn.
"You got sent here in the first place because you were a sore loser who decided to give up on your dreams again after I beat you, even when your workers tried to break you out. And if it weren't for a chance to get a cheap shot at Whitebeard, you'd just be sitting on your ass and watching as we walked out of here."
Crocodile's smile faded, and he raised his chin with the same glower he'd given Luffy so many months ago. "Don't presume to know my designs, brat. Everything I've done has been a calculated risk. Even this hell, even this decision. And just so we're perfectly clear on one matter…"
The world howled with screaming wind and sand, and before anyone could blink or move, the Desert King loomed over the original Straw Hat, his hook pressing against a metal pipe that had spun up to catch the attack, his expression a mask of cold fury.
"Do not," he hissed. "Question my convictions again. Otherwise, I don't give a damn if I die or not, I will kill you."
Luffy stared back at him without flinching. Several seconds ticked by before Crocodile withdrew his hook, and Luffy spoke.
"I still hate you for what you did to Vivi and her country. Honestly, hate is too weak a word. But I can use your strength as much as you need mine. We'll join forces on one condition."
"Oh?" Crocodile drawled. "Let me guess, don't go after Whitebeard since he's your brother's captain?"
"You would never keep that promise if you made it, not that you'll stand half a chance even if you do try." Crocodile's smirk dropped clean off his face at that matter-of-fact statement. "No, it's something you'll have to do before we leave this floor."
"…and I'm supposed to agree before you tell me?" Crocodile huffed before shaking his head. "Tch, then again, coming from an idiot like you… Fine, what do you want me to do?"
Luffy reached into his bag and withdrew a letter. After scanning it for a few seconds, he nodded firmly and returned it to the bag.
"Somewhere on this floor, there's a prisoner who used to work here named Shiliew of the Rain."
Everyone, Crocodile included, looked at Luffy oddly.
"Find him, and kill him. With… uh, one second."
The shock from the listeners faded into a sweatdrop as Luffy pulled the letter out of his bag again and reread it.
"'Extra pre-jelly', whatever that means."
WHAM!
Aaaand then almost the entire company face-faulted, and Crocodile and Jinbe were visibly struggling not to, the former bringing his hand to his face.
"It's 'extreme prejudice,' you idiot," the sandman growled.
"Whatever."
And even he was caught off-guard when he heard the coldness in Straw Hat's voice, his eyes hardened with hatred that even Crocodile was unsure he'd ever seen in them.
"Whatever they are, whatever they mean. You want out of here? Shiliew dies. Now."
Crocodile stared at the young man, visibly confused. It was obvious this wasn't his own idea, but he was deeply invested in it. The veteran pirate considered the implications of that for only a moment before shrugging.
"Consider it done, then," he said, turning in a specific direction and pacing off.
"Iva, can you watch him? I don't care how far I can throw him, I still don't trust him," Luffy asked.
"Very well," the okama consented, looking rather grim as he followed after the irritated Warlord.
"Wait, just a minute! I'm looking for Byrrndi World, where is he!?"
Crocodile didn't even turn back, instead pointing in the direction that they came from.
"We missed him?" Gairam asked in confusion. "How the hell did we do that? We should have heard him from a mile off!"
"Not in the state he's in, you wouldn't."
-o-
The psychopath who had been locked up for the same crimes that the BioMEGAs had committed and had now all been killed for looked up at the unfamiliar breeze. His eyes fell on the rapidly reconstituting form of an ex-Warlord, who had managed such a feat by expertly and meticulously flowing his constituent granules between the bars without even brushing the Sea Stone.
"I knew we shoulda implanted Seastone spikes in you Logias' spines. Only way to be sure," Shiliew of the Rain mused.
There was a brief pause. And the next moment, Shiliew found himself pressed against the wall, a hand around his neck.
"Initially, I was just going to take your head off. But now?"
The ex-Jailer's skin began to shrivel in Crocodile's grasp, and for the first time in a very long time, the faintest traces of fear invaded the sociopathic swordsman's mind.
"Congratulations. You get the special treatment."
-o-
Less than five minutes later, the Desert King and Newkama Queen reconvened with the rest of the prospective escapees, where they were combing over the cell blocks in search of the last recruit for their jailbreak. Luffy turned to face them as they approached.
"Is it done?" Luffy asked.
"If he isn't dead in an hour, I will be both very disturbed and very impressed."
Luffy frowned, clearly skeptical. The sand-man rolled his eyes.
"In case you've forgotten, you are not an appropriate metric of what I can do. And for your record, 'extreme prejudice' means making it as cruel as possible." His eyes sharpened. "There are no miraculous water sources nearby for him to get to, and he's also missing his limbs; he's not walking away from this ."
Several in earshot shivered. Luffy, for his part, glanced at Ivankov, whose grimace corroborated the claim. He slowly nodded in acceptance.
"Gnnnrgh, come on, come on…" Nightin muttered, dashing from cell to cell and growing more frustrated with every unsatisfying find. Finally, she stopped in her tracks and jabbed an accusing finger at Crocodile. "You! Sandy whippersnapper!"
The ex-Warlord slowly turned his head to give the wizened chemist a flat stare. "Repeat that, shrimp?"
"Where the hell is Captain Byrrndi?!" the senior citizen snapped back, either ignorant of or entirely ignoring the implied threat. "You said he would be in this direction, but we've yet to see hide nor hair of him! Tell us where he is, or so help me—!"
"You'll what, gum at my ankles? Tsk, I'm surrounded by idiots," Crocodile snarked, swinging his hook as a gesture. "He's right behind you."
All the World Pirates whirled around in the direction he'd indicated, realizing that they were at the mouth of one of the Eternal Hell's massive wall-cells. Before anyone could say anything, Byojack bolted ahead of the group—and more importantly, their torches, quickly losing himself in the shadows.
"Byrnndi! Byrnndi, are you there?" he cried out as loud as his feeble voice allowed. "Byrnndi, it's Byojack! I brought the crew, we're here to get you out of here! Please, brother, say some—!"
CRACK!
"—OW!" Byojack yelped, reeling back from the hard and cold object he'd just bounced off of. "What the…?"
As the rest of the group arrived, the old man gave the wall he'd just run into a confused once-over. Confusion that rapidly turned to horror when the torchlight illuminated the cell's occupant: A powerfully built man with broad arms and torso but skinny legs, a large green beard and mustache, and still clad in garments proper for a pirate captain. A chain from his right hip to his left shoulder, gold necklaces, a long coat… all a perfect picture, a work of art.
That was all Byrrndi World was at the moment, his body frozen in a small glacier's worth of ice.
The World Pirates could manage no better response than to gape up at their refrigerated Captain, trying desperately to wrap their minds around this devastating occurrence, to think of a plan, any plan, to get him out.
Nothing could have come before the absolute last person they wanted to hear speak, who distracted them quite handily.
"So as you can see, there are a few problems with evacuating this titanic buffoon in a timely manner…"
Furious, Gairam wheeled around, brandishing his hammer. "What the hell is this, you brat?! Why the hell is our captain an ice cube!? What's going on here?!"
Ignoring the blatant threat, Crocodile reached up to his cigar… which he realized, as he was doing so, he didn't have. Snorting in irritation, he replied, "Take a breath, old man. It would be a shame if you had a heart attack."
"Why, you—!"
"It was the only logical conclusion…"
Gairam and the rest of the Worlds froze, the better to listen to their functioning captain. They needed it, too, because at first glance, what he'd just said made no sense.
"B-Byojack…?" Nightin stammered, praying for clarification.
"It doesn't get any simpler," Byojack answered grimly. "It's all a matter of a prisoner you can't trust to behave and a Devil Fruit capable of causing mass destruction extremely quickly. One slip-up, one opportunity, and my brother could use it to bring this entire goal crashing down within the hour."
"Uhhh…?" Luffy slowly looked at the World Pirates' acting captain in confusion. "That… would kill him too. Even I know that."
"You clearly haven't heard of my brother if you think he would have cared for even half a second."
Luffy stared silently at Byojack for a few seconds before slowly speaking. "Your brother… he… wasn't very nice, was he?"
"Picked up on that, did you? The more accurate description would be 'complete monster'. We started out with good intentions, to see the world, to have adventures, and just enjoy ourselves, but somewhere along the way, something got twisted in his head, and all he wanted to do was burn the world. And I hated that, I truly did, and on some level I was relieved when he was captured… but… but…"
He trailed off, and Luffy's expression softened. "He's your brother. You don't need to explain."
"...heh," Byojack chuckled humorlessly. "Not the first time I've heard that these past twenty years. But it is the first time I believed someone actually understands. Still. I'd hoped he'd listened. Hoped he'd heard the SBS, heard you… hoped he might have changed. But… I guess that's just not happening."
A pause…
Byojack stood up fully, calmly dusting his pants off. Turning to Luffy, he gave him a grim but determined expression. "Straw Hat… thank you for helping us get here. Truly. Now go."
"Byojack—!"
"I said go, Straw Hat!" he snapped, his smile falling away. "We came here for different purposes, and we've got ours while yours is on the move! We'll stay down here and work on thawing Byrnndi; once he's free, we'll bust out on our own. Trust me, he's got a skull twice as thick as yours, and I imagine you'll be leaving Magellan and the rest of this hellhole in a sorry state to boot. My brother and I will be fine, yours won't, now go!"
Byojack turned back to his brother's frozen form, and all present could see the trembling that he was trying to hide, the vice grip he had on his IV stand, and the moisture in his eyes that couldn't hide the fire beneath.
"I said it when I got here, and I'll say it again: No matter what happens, no matter how much this hellish prison throws at me, I won't stop until I save my brother! Or my name isn't Byojack World!"
As his declaration echoed through the Eternal Hell, the tiny old captain's trembling subsided. He had made his choice. He locked eyes with Luffy, and the sides of his mouth turned up.
"Go on ahead, Straw Hat. I'll… I'll be right behind you," he said quietly, a tear trailing down his face.
Luffy barely managed to give a sad smile back before turning away. He led the exodus out of the cell, with only the four executives of the World Pirates remaining there to save their captain or die trying. Grudgingly, he pushed Byojack out of his mind to force his focus on his own goal and addressed his allies.
"We're heading straight up and out. If anyone wants to break someone else out on the way, do it fast. When we get to Level 1, someone needs to open the Gates of Justice so we can sail out. Let's go."
"AYE!" was the response. From the okamas, at least.
With that, Inazuma snapped his blades out, crouching down in preparation to slice them a path upwards and outwards to freedom—
And then the world shifted.
The clang of steel striking blazing steel, the shriek of blood-rusted gears grinding against one another, and the hiss of steam and pure, unrestrained power.
The world thrummed and shifted and raged, churning out weapon after weapon, and at the core of it all, there was the beat.
A bone-rattling, soul-deep thu-thump, thu-thump, that struck one and all to the core.
An immortal heartbeat of blood and oil and steel. A drumbeat heralding a never-ending crusade of devastation.
The eternal anthem… of a War Machine.
Nobody on the floor was knocked out, but neither was anyone nearby unfazed. The pressure was massive, crushing, suffocating, and growing heavier and heavier—!
And a blast of primal fury slammed against the machine and broke its rhythm. Pure will was brought to bear against the engine of devastation, strength, and raw power rearing up with a surging roar…
For all of two seconds before the Machine surged again and blew apart the fury like dust in the wind. And then—!
And then there was silence once more.
The entire conflict took place in the span of a second, but it was no less devastating for its short length: swathes of the Eternal Hell's denizens had been laid low and unconscious, and even among the strongest of the would-be escapees, many had been forced to their knees and to the edge of their breath.
"What—no, who the devil was that?!" Ivankov hissed, lowering his hand from his face.
"Like you said, a devil…" Crocodile snarled, rapidly sucking away his own cold sweat before anyone could notice. "But why … that, that beast, the other prisoners said he hasn't moved in twenty years, so why—?!"
"I can take a guess…" Buggy bit out through grit teeth as he kneaded away the migraine pounding in his skull, glancing aside at the one other person around who was still standing.
And Luffy was standing. Not unshaken, but certainly unbowed and unbroken.
"Mmm… so… it is you…"
Unbroken enough that as everyone else recovered, only he really heard the words that rumbled out through the silent Hell and wrapped it in tension too thick to cut.
With everyone else still recovering, Luffy turned and walked up to a nearby cell, staring at the source of the voice and the wave of sheer malice that had engulfed the floor. A man who was on his feet and staring right back down at Luffy through the bars.
The man was, to put it bluntly, as giant as one could get without coming from Elbaf: twice as tall as Luffy, built like a fortress, with long pale yellow hair that clumped at the ends like tentacles. He had a massive scar on his body, a burn mark that extended up from the collar of his shirt and seared across his jawline.
But perhaps his most striking feature was his eyes. His eyes were, for lack of a better word, dead. No rage, no passion, no fire to them, nothing. Just a dead-eyed gaze that stared at Luffy with only the barest hint of interest. And yet that dead stare felt like it carried the weight of an army behind it.
The rubber man stared right back, refusing to be intimidated by the Goliath before him.
"…mmm…" the giant's deep voice rumbled out again, creaky from lack of use. "…or… are you… Are and aren't… which is it…"
Luffy could tell he was talking to himself. But right now, he didn't care about that. All he wanted was an answer.
"Who… are you?" Luffy asked slowly.
That got a reaction from the giant, and he blinked as though he'd only just realized that Luffy was standing in front of him. After a moment, however, he turned his head away to stare at nothing, one of his shovel-like hands coming up to scratch at the side of his skull.
"No… not yet… not yet…" he rumbled out. "One day… someday…"
His head turned back, and his last words were, for the first time, spoken directly at Luffy.
"But not yet."
And with that final statement, the giant fully turned around and shuffled back into the gloom of his cell, sitting back down on his bench and returning to the immobile position he'd held for the past twenty years.
With more difficulty than he cared to admit, Luffy shook off the encounter—or at least, put it in the back of his mind until he could tell it to Cross—and moved back to Inazuma, who wasted no time in slicing a hasty hole up and through the ceiling of the floor.
…and while many of the attempting escapees recognized the juggernaut in the cell for who he was and would remember this moment for years to come, only one man among them realized the exact implications of what had just happened. One of the most dangerous pirates of Roger's generation had set eyes on Monkey D. Luffy, and even without the hat, he had recognized some shade of Roger's spirit.
And it was for that reason that one man lagged behind the rest of the escapees, hesitation freezing his legs, but good.
"Clown."
But it was that cursed voice speaking again that froze Buggy's spine to the core. And though he wished he could do anything else, he turned his head to stare back at Douglas Bullet.
"Demon," the 'small-time' pirate bit out in reply.
"…it is him, you know. Not yet… but it is."
"…yeah. I know. Took me longer than I'll ever admit to realize it, but I know. Why do you think I'm sticking so close to him? What about it?"
"…don't do anything stupid, Clown. Once he's ready, he's mine."
Buggy stared at him in silence for a moment before turning away with a snort. "We'll see, Demon. After all, 'stupid' is all about perspective. Me?"
He started marching his way up the spiral of stone, glaring daggers at the back of the man he knew was leading the charge towards freedom… and madness.
"I call it 'protecting a way of life'."
And with that, the two ex-Roger Pirates parted ways, both of them aware of the strong likelihood that they'd meet again, and sooner rather than later.
-o-
The silence following the escapees' departure and the brief battle of wills lingered in World's cell as his crew worked to set him free.
"…Gairam, fortify the cell. If we're going to make it back out of here alive, we'll need as much of a defence as we can get," Byojack said quietly.
"Aye, Captain," the Cube-Man saluted, exiting the cell and moving toward the stairs.
"You do realize you're going to die down here, old man?"
He stopped and spared a glance at the legless man grinning up at him.
"You do realize that whippersnapper's about to outdo the one remaining achievement you have to your name literally a thousandfold, you washed-up has-been?" he returned.
The captured pirate's eyes widened, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks and his entire body trembling.
"…RAAGH!"
"On the one hand, satisfying. On the other hand, now we're going to be listening to that for hours on end…"
Casually, Gairam bent down and touched the ground around him.
"Cubreak."
At once, the stone lifted up, a circle carved out of the ground around him, and a ring of cubes levitating.
"Cubooster."
And then, with a stationary target out of his mind with rage, he encountered no issue in slipping the cubes through the bars and entombing Shiki beneath them, stacking them to the ceiling.
"Much better," Gairam said as he continued on his way. That didn't stop the has-been from screaming, but the sound was neatly muffled.
-o-
"—and he walked out after that! How was I supposed to know he was leaving the city? Who would leave the city just because we ran out of cherry pie!? Not to mention how he left the city! We're on top of the Red Line for crying out loud! "
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT HOW OR WHY RIGHT NOW, YOU INCOMPETENT WASTE OF SKIN! ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS WHERE! NOW FIND ME MARSHALL D. TEACH SO THAT I CAN RIP HIS RANCID HEAD FROM HIS SHOULDERS!"
The literally incandescent bellow that erupted through the halls of the 'cottage' (which was the size of an average manor), the Warlords were being kept in was but a drop in the river of alarm and panic ripping through every Marine and Agent rushing about the place. And for very good reason.
Anything going wrong at this point was unacceptable. The Navy and Government needed every bit of good luck that they could get if they wanted to come out of this war in fighting condition. And losing a second Warlord after Jinbe's imprisonment was the precise opposite of good luck. Especially when it was one of the more volatile and distinctly more malevolent members of the lot. As such, practically every available soldier within Mariejois was caught up in a manhunt, searching high and low for the Darkness Pirate that had kick-started this entire bout of madness to begin with.
The only ones who seemed wholly unbothered were the other Warlords. Two of them genuinely didn't care and were simply ignoring the ongoing madness. One was quite honestly amused by the panic and mayhem and was revelling fully in it.
And the last two? Their calm was only because they were able to suppress the emotion long enough to relocate to a sitting room. Silence fell for a time…
Until one of Perona's Mini-Hollows melded through a wall and returned to her. She cracked an eye open. "…OK, Doflamingo's focusing on listening to the Nobles, and nobody else is around. So…"
Her calm completely collapsed into a toxic brew of horror and self-loathing, and she grabbed her head, a thousand-yard stare pointed at a random section of wall.
"Now, I'm going to say what we are both thinking right now: We could have stopped him. We watched him walk out of here; we could have done something. We could have—!"
"No."
And swift as a viper, Hancock's frigid statement punctured Perona's panic, knocking the girl out of her spiral. That she was calmly sitting, nursing a cup of tea, certainly didn't hurt in that regard.
"No, Perona, we couldn't have 'done' anything," Hancock continued, staring into her drink. "You saw the same thing I did; half the guards panicking out there are the ones who watched Blackbeard and his band of monsters walk away without batting an eye. It was the commander himself who opened the doors. And as such, we must face facts: Attempting the 'easy solution' of merely cutting the head off the snake simply isn't feasible with that blasted hypnotist on their side, nor is the hard one when—no offence intended—you are currently a liability in a head-on assault. All of which leaves aside the fact that I refuse to draw any more attention to myself than is absolutely required in this place."
Hancock shivered briefly at the momentary lapse in her persistent denial of the fact that she was back in that gleaming white hell. She covered it by shaking her head and sipping from her (already double-checked for poison, of course) tea.
"We may have been able to stall him long enough that he has missed his window of opportunity. I will admit to and hope for that possibility," she conceded, before adopting an expression of cold, steely determination. "But if matters have gone even halfway according to plan, letting him go is the best chance of seeing him dead, on top of the fact that stopping him would turn all of his attention towards us and our kingdoms."
"…so basically, definitely damned if we do, hopefully less damned if we don't, is that what you're saying?" Perona grimly summarized.
"In so many words… yes."
A pause. And then a shared sigh of morose frustration.
"This. Bites," Perona grumbled.
"To quote a certain world-infamous snail," Hancock scowled into another sip. "Word."
-o-
Squard's eyes shot open and, with all the speed of a New World veteran, he surged to his feet and took a step back for the stairs. The solid wall of shivering Newkamas in his way stopped him just long enough for Whitey Bay to ask, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"I'm heading back down there," he snapped, glancing around for an opening in the lines. "And I'm going to—!"
"Get your fool neck snapped by the only monster down there that chooses to stay in its cage?" Whitey finished, her expression distinctly unimpressed. "You're not even armed, Squard, what do you think you're going to accomplish?"
"He was on his crew! He slaughtered over half my men!"
"A., like we've been saying for years, that entire shitshow was your own damn fault for attacking Roger like the hotheaded idjit ya are. And B., Roger could no more control Bullet on a good day than you or I can control the tides. Which begs the question, what more'll you do to him other than ruin his fine eternity of damnation, hm!?"
Glaring and stiff, the man had no response.
"Are you two done?" Inazuma interjected, one eyebrow raised.
"No, we're no—!"
"Yes," Whitey Bay interrupted, grabbing Squard by the neck and firmly shoving him away from the pit to damnation. "We're done. With that, at least. Fer me… well, don't suppose anyone's got a Funeral Bouquet?" Her already sober demeanour cooled significantly as her hands snapped into fists. "I've heard you lot mentionin' Impel Down's new security system on this floor. I've put this off long enough; I'm not going to be defeated by my own element again."
"We put a couple together," said one of the newkamas. "Didn't expect to use them before we got out of here. They're in Straw Hat's bag."
"Oh, those things weren't snacks?" Luffy asked, though thankfully for everyone, he was pulling out a well-wrapped fruit basket as he did so.
"Geez, don't say it like that, I thought you ate them when we weren't looking!" the newkama protested.
"Eh?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion. "Why would I do that?"
The newkama started to answer, before settling for coughing uncomfortably into his fist.
With a final, rueful glance over his shoulder (and a rub at the back of his neck) Squard said, begrudgingly, "Good hunting, Whitey."
Whitey responded with a gruff snort and a quick salute before she snatched the basket from his hand and bolted into the raging blizzard.
"So, uh, what's a Funeral whatsit?" Luffy asked.
"Something of a Grand Line tradition," Jinbe answered. "I'll explain another time, perhaps on the way to Marineford. I believe we should get going before the newkamas freeze."
"Let's goooooo!" Luffy roared, charging off into the blizzard. Jinbe, Inazuma, and Squard followed, the rest of the army joining at an easy jog.
And in the very back, Galdino turned to Buggy and said, incredulous, "Before the Newkamas freeze? Dressed like that?" He jabbed a thumb at Jinbe's thin kimono and Luffy's usual vest and shorts.
"Take it from my personal experience, idiots and those who follow them are totally immune to cold!" Buggy crowded. "Either way, forget it, we're on our way out!"
Silence fell as they jogged through the snow, aside from the wind blowing in their faces. Finally, Galdino had to say something.
"That was a perfect opportunity to say 'Nothing can stop us now'."
"Straw Hat might not have killed me for that two floors up, but I'm pretty sure literally everyone else here will," Buggy muttered back. "More to the point, they're expecting us. If anything can stop us now, we're running straight towards it."
The army encountered no resistance marching through the blizzard. None of the wolves challenged them; any question as to why was answered by howls rising from the direction Whitey Bay had gone. The snow fell harder and faster the closer they got to the stairs, and by the time they did reach them, it was almost whiteout conditions.
Which neatly explained why Inazuma was in the lead and why he didn't spot the seastone-tipped jutte aimed at him until it jabbed him right in the windpipe.
"It's Smokey!" Luffy shouted as Inazuma collapsed to the ground, head on a swivel, trying to find Smoker in the blizzard. Which he very quickly realized was not going to happen anytime soon. Around him, the sound of gunfire and clashing swords erupted, completely unseen. The rubber man did try to will that feeling of Observation back, but no dice.
"Don't worry, Straw Hat, we've got this!" Squard declared, before throwing a sloppy punch into the blizzard. Unfortunately for him, Smoker coalesced in front of him, unharmed, and the block the Whitebeard pirate threw was way too short to stop the upward swing with his jutte. Smoker smashed into his chin.
"Now that's just pathetic. I expected more from a New World captain," the Marine remarked, before Luffy's fist blew his head into fumes.
"Dang it, Smokey, get out of the way!" Luffy snapped, swinging his fist at the cloud that the soldier of 'Justice' flew apart into.
"Sorry, Straw Hat, but I have my pride as a Marine to uphold here!" Smoker's voice snarled out as he coalesced. He then ducked under an Armament-heavy palm strike from Jinbe before turning his foot to smoke and hooking it on one of the fishman's ankles. "I may not be able to stop all of you, but I can damn well try!"
And with that, he yanked hard. With footing awkward on the fluffy powder and underlying ice, particularly for someone as bulky as Jinbe, it was enough to send the fishman sprawling face-first into the snow.
Despite that, Luffy calmed and nodded. "Yeah. I get you."
By now, the blizzard had begun to die down, at least enough for Luffy to see five feet in front of his face. He wound up a punch, but hastily aborted when Inazuma jumped in the way to attack. His breathing was rapid and shallow, and he was noticeably slowed from when Luffy had seen him subdue the guards in Level 6. Smoker had all the time in the world to catch the scissor blades on his jutte and then elbow the Revolutionary in the exact same spot on his throat. Wheezing, he staggered back, panting even faster and shallower.
"Because of course people keep going for my throat on the day it's twice as thick—!" the scissor-man rasped.
Luffy took the opportunity to launch a Gatling at Smoker, which dispersed him back into smoke. And he had to stay smoke to completely evade a palm strike from Jinbe that rippled the air. He could not evade the small wave of snow the fishman awkwardly scooped up and hurled at him, forcing him back.
The setback didn't faze the Logia-user for long, however. In fact, it gave him the opportunity to flow his gaseous mass around and behind Jinbe, solidifying with his jutte raised, and—why was Straw Hat a balloon?
"Gum-Gum!" Luffy squeaked before belting out all the air in his belly at once at Smoker. "Bellows!"
Caught in a semi-gaseous state and already fighting to stay coherent in the blizzard winds, Smoker could do nothing about the blast of wind that scattered him farther and wider than he was used to. Briefly. He did mostly pull himself together shortly afterward, but a majority of his mass was still scattered over a large chunk of the Level, leaving him kneeling with several smoking holes in his body and head.
That situation was bad at the best of times. But what was worse was Squard taking the opportunity to advance on him.
"Hey, Squard! What're you doing?!" Luffy bellowed from the bottom of the stairs, Jinbe already busying himself with laying into the normal guards.
"I'm making sure this guy doesn't sneak up behind us as we climb!" the Whitebeard Pirate declared. He raised a hand, coated with Armament—
And then ducked just in time for the sword he'd just barely noticed in his peripheral vision to swing over his head. What he did not notice was the hammer that smacked into his leg and—
?
—Whitey snapped her fingers in her fellow captain's face, scowling impatiently.
"Hey, you awake yet or what, ye daft blighter?!" she demanded. "Luffy an' the rest of the madhouse are already headin' up, and you're laggin' behind! The hell do you think yer doin'?! And I swear, if the answer is Bullet, I ain't responsible for what's about to happen to you."
"I… er, I dunno," the Maelstrom Spider mumbled with a disturbed grimace before shaking the cobwebs out of his head. "N-Never mind that! What about you? How did your detour go?"
Whitey matched his vicious smile tooth for tooth as she raised her hand and snapped it into a fist, a viciously spiked glove of frost snapping into existence around it.
"Still getting the hang of it and I'm liable to have a hard time drinkin' liquids for the next goodly while, but at least now I'll never be conquered by my own home element again. Now!" She slammed her frosted fist into her equally frosted palm. "Let's go and get me some practice the fun way!"
And with that, the pair dashed up the stairs. With Whitey's hands still pressed together in front of her.
"Er, are you—?"
"Frozen together? Aaaye, gonna have to work on that one…"
-o-
Grunting, Smoker reformed the last of his left leg, standing up with an assist from Tashigi. He still felt twenty pounds lighter in all the wrong ways, but at least he could walk again.
"Clever, Straw Hat," he groused before nodding at his subordinate. "And thank you, Lieutenant. I don't know how long I could have kept that up without actually crippling someone."
"Not as long as you might think, sir," Tashigi answered, warily eyeing the stairs. "Whitey Bay seems to have acquired the Cold-Cold Fruit and was only a few minutes out. She would've been too much on top of the other four."
"Remember to put that in your report, always important to keep track of Devil Fruits," Smoker said, before adding pensively, "This is the endgame, then. I suppose we'll have all the answers we could ever want, soon."
Tashigi grimaced, her hand unconsciously straying to one of her pockets. "Sir, do you think we should risk…?"
"No," Smoker immediately answered. "Not on our own, and not when things could still go bad. We talk to Magellan first. Hopefully, we've endeared ourselves enough to him to at least warrant an answer. For now, we stay here and keep any more inmates from attempting to escape, so that we have an excuse to stay out of Straw Hat's way."
Tashigi nodded in agreement—
"Also, I still need time to recollect the better part of my lower intestine."
—before freezing and adopting a sheepish grin. "Ah. Right. That too, eheheh…"
"Kyuuun…" Popora groaned.
-o-
Throughout Paradise, the calm before the storm was nowhere more uncalm than in Marineford. The soon-to-be-former Fleet Admiral's adjusted patrol routes had allowed them to assemble a formidable army quickly, and one that he was almost confident in.
The recruits from the New World that rumours had nicknamed 'Devil Dogs' pushed it over the line. They plugged the gaps left by units lost because of that never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Jeremiah Cross, but they were a symbol of a war Sengoku didn't want and was increasingly realizing he had no control over.
"Fleet Admiral, all assets are in place and prepared."
Sengoku nodded almost dismissively to the ensign who'd brought that report, his discontent plain. Frowning as the ensign left, he looked over his desk and the many empty bottles on it. Then, to a picture of himself, Tsuru, and Garp. And then he thought back to the question his superior had tried to ask.
For the first time in years, his thoughts turned fully to his son. And against his will, he heard his voice echoing words in his head that he had never spoken.
"Is this what you call Justice? Can you take pride in something like this?"
The desire to cry prodded at his body, but his eyes remained dry.
"…I chose the right time to retire. If I stayed on after this mess, I wouldn't have a soul left to sell."