Zaraki stepped through the gate into Level Six.
The pressure that had seeped out earlier didn't weaken after the doors opened; instead, it grew denser, gathering around the group from every direction until breathing itself felt heavy.
The corridor stretched into darkness, lit only by the sickly, cold green glow of embedded Seastone that barely outlined the iron bars of the surrounding prison cells.
Inside those cells, countless gazes opened.
Some were numb from years of imprisonment, some clouded by madness, and others carried a hatred so thick it felt alive.
They didn't look at the visitors with curiosity, but rather measured how long their flesh would last if torn apart piece by piece.
Smoker's jaw tightened around his cigars. He had walked through Marine battlefields, pirate dens, and the aftermath of massacres, yet the pressure here felt entirely different.
Every step scraped against the mind.
If his will slackened, those gazes might drag him into the very abyss where their owners had rotted for years.
Beside him, Tashigi's face went pale, though her hands remained locked around Shigure's hilt.
Isuka stayed quiet, her eyes darting from cell to cell with the caution of a swordswoman surrounded by invisible blades.
Zoro, on the other hand, looked more awake than he had since boarding the ship.
The corner of his mouth lifted as his fingers rested against Wado Ichimonji; the crushing pressure had sharpened rather than frightened him.
Zaraki walked at the front with both hands in his pockets, looking relaxed compared to the rest of the group. His gaze swept over the dark cells, lingering whenever he sensed something with a bit more bite.
The thick stench of old blood, resentment, iron, and powerful beings buried alive made the hunger inside him stir.
This is where the strong are buried.
His blood warmed.
Magellan stopped before a prepared cell and gestured for the jailers to bring Crocodile forward.
The former Warlord had regained enough consciousness to glare at the darkness, but the Seastone restraints left him powerless to resist.
As the jailers dragged him past the other cells, several prisoners laughed from the shadows.
"Isn't that the sand brat?"
"He got dragged in like a corpse."
"Warlord, huh? Looks like the Government's dogs are eating each other."
Crocodile's eye twitched, but he lacked the strength to answer.
The jailers shoved him into the cell, locked the Seastone door, and checked the restraints before retreating.
Only after confirming the transfer did Magellan continue forward.
"Level Six holds criminals whose existence is too dangerous to remain in public record," his voice echoed through the corridor.
"Some were once famous enough to shake the seas. Others vanished before history could record their names. To the outside world, most of them are dead."
He stopped before a cell. "Crescent Moon Hunter, Catarina Devon. Once known as the most vicious female pirate imprisoned in this facility."
A towering woman stepped into the faint green light.
With her long nose, bright red lips, and a twisted smile, she made Tashigi take an instinctive step back.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho… Magellan, you brought such fresh faces today." Catarina Devon's gaze roamed over Smoker, Zoro, and finally Zaraki, lingering on him with delighted malice.
"This one looks lively. Smooth skin, sharp eyes, dangerous smell… did you bring him down here as a present?"
Her shrill laughter stirred the other cells, prompting low chuckles, muffled growls, and mad giggles to rise from the surrounding darkness.
Magellan's brow tightened.
A poisonous mist leaked from his shoulders, silencing the laughter almost immediately.
Zaraki barely glanced at her.
A toy?
The thought passed through his mind and vanished. Her provocation carried too much hunger and not enough strength to interest him.
Magellan moved on. "Heavy Drinker, Vasco Shot."
A massive man leaned against his cell wall clutching a huge gourd, so drunk his eyes couldn't focus.
Yet, the pressure radiating from him still made several younger jailers shift uncomfortably.
"Colossal Battleship, Sanjuan Wolf."
Deeper in a specially reinforced section, a giant shape slept inside a cavernous cell, his snores rolling through the floor like distant thunder.
"Corrupt King, Avalo Pizarro."
A man with horns and cat-like whiskers pressed close to the bars, baring a grin filled with sharp teeth.
The way his pupils tracked the visitors made him look less like a prisoner and more like a beast waiting for a cage door to rot.
Each name made Smoker's expression heavier. Ordinary Marines never saw these criminals; their names existed only in sealed files, whispered among high-ranking officers and buried behind strict classification levels.
Officially, these men and women had vanished from the world.
But here they were, breathing and waiting.
A slow clap echoed from a cell further ahead.
The sound was quiet, yet it cut through the corridor cleaner than any shout.
"Impressive tour, Chief Warden."
A tall man sat in the shadows of a reinforced cell with a cigar clenched between his teeth.
Even behind bars, his posture remained casual, his eyes holding a coldness alien to ordinary prisoners.
A long blade rested near him, sealed behind an additional restraint mechanism—close enough to see, but far enough away to serve as punishment.
Shiryu of the Rain.
Former Head Jailer of Impel Down.
Magellan's expression darkened. "Shiryu."
Shiryu smiled around his cigar, smoke trailing from the corner of his mouth. "Don't look at me like that. You were introducing all the celebrities down here. It would be rude to skip an old colleague."
His gaze shifted from Magellan to Zaraki, and his smile widened.
"So this is the one everyone has been whispering about. The special envoy from Marine Headquarters. The brat who dragged Crocodile here before Impel Down even had the chance to break him."
The prisoners stirred again.
"Special envoy?"
"The one who cut down the sand crocodile?"
A heavy clang rang out from a deeper cell as everyone turned.
A muscular man with a terrifying aura stepped closer to his bars.
His chained arms flexed, the entire cell groaning beneath the movement.
His eyes locked onto Zaraki with the sharp intensity of a predator smelling worthy prey.
Douglas Bullet.
The Demon Heir.
"Not bad." Bullet's mouth split into a grin. "The sea outside must be getting pathetic if a half-grown Marine can stir up this much noise."
Magellan's eyes narrowed. "Bullet. Step back."
Bullet ignored him. Keeping his gaze fixed on Zaraki, his grin turned wild. "Tell me, kid. Do you carry the qualities of a king?"
Before the final word faded, a violent invisible force erupted from Bullet's cell.
Conqueror's Haki surged through the corridor like a hurricane trapped in a sealed tomb.
Dust was crushed flat, the Seastone bars hummed under the strain, and several weaker prisoners foamed at the mouth before collapsing in their cells.
Magellan roared, venom rising from his body to form three ferocious dragon heads.
"Bullet!" The poison dragons hissed, potent enough to melt steel and stone alike. "Hydra!"
Just as the venom surged toward Bullet's cell, Zaraki's hand clamped onto Magellan's arm.
"Stand down."
Magellan turned his head.
Zaraki's voice remained calm, almost lazy, but his eyes had finally brightened.
"If this is all he has, it isn't worth you stepping in."
He walked past Smoker and the trembling jailers, stopping directly in front of Bullet's cell.
The Conqueror's Haki slammed into him head-on, yet the pressure broke apart around his body as though it had struck something too heavy to move.
Bullet's pupils contracted.
Zaraki tilted his head. "Not a bad eyes."
The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk. "But if your kingly qualities only amount to this much… they're cheaper than I thought."
The air changed as Zaraki simply let the restraint around his own will loosen by a fraction.
A strange tremor passed through Eternal Hell.
Black-red lightning erupted between the two men, splashing wildly across the floor and walls before being caught between two invisible domains.
Bullet's will struck like a storm trying to crush everything in its path, Zaraki's answered with a silent, crushing weight vast enough to silence the old monsters watching from their cells.
For a heartbeat, every sound in Level Six disappeared.
The rattling chains, the hiss of Magellan's poison, the breathing of the prisoners, and the distant groan of the prison itself—all sank beneath the collision of two monstrous wills.