Chapter 191: I Stand at the Prison Gates!
Chapter 191: I Stand at the Prison Gates!
On the Grand Line...
Banaro Island
"Hahaha! Ho ho ho ho!"
In a town on the island, Teach kicked a man lying on the ground. He was reading a newspaper and pointing at an article, laughing hysterically.
"Hey, are you kidding me? Saget has been arrested!"
Laffitte peered from behind, chuckling. "Oh ho ho. The man we collaborated with, who had a bounty of six billion berries, the 'Calamity' you deemed powerful, Captain—what a misfortune."
Van Augur, shouldering a spear, glanced at the newspaper and shook his head. "It's all fate's choice."
A man on the verge of death from illness, gasping and coughing, spoke up. "Cough, cough. Captain, since the Calamity has been captured, what will happen to our collaboration?"
"Waha ha ha, Captain! Our bad luck! Just when someone was willing to collaborate with us, they got caught!" Bashas, carrying the spoils they had gathered from the town, laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! He's very unlucky, but this is also an opportunity!"
Teach's eyes gleamed with ambition and greed as he turned the newspaper to the front page, revealing a photo of the Straw Hat Crew and exclaiming with a gap-toothed grin:
"Look, the Straw Hat Crew has also done something incredible! They destroyed Enies Lobby together with Saget. Eh? Would Saget do such a thing? Never mind, the Straw Hats' bounty will surely skyrocket now!"
"Enies Lobby..."
Van Augur lifted his head, his tone indifferent. "It's not far from here, within our hunting grounds. Captain, this too is fate's choice."
"Hahaha! Indeed! The guy I've got my eye on is indeed extraordinary. This time, offering his head in exchange for the Shichibukai will definitely seal the deal! By then..."
Teach turned the newspaper back to the article about Saget's capture, his eyes gleaming. "You'll owe me a huge favor! If he could become my partner, that would be fantastic! I will seize this opportunity!"
Rolling up the newspaper, he clutched it in his hand and shouted to his crew: "Let's go, lads! Let's find the Straw Hat boy!"
"Teach!"
A familiar voice called out from the side, making Teach instinctively turn his head. His eyes narrowed, and a sinister smile spread across his face.
"Oh! Captain! Ace!"
...
Almost simultaneously, at the port of Novelle
The sound from the Den Den Mushi caused the entire place to fall silent.
Lily blinked, suddenly realizing something, and glanced at the two remaining defense captains. "Deal with them."
Whoosh!
In an instant, Mary stepped in front of the defense captain with the giant hammer. Her chest heaved, and with her fist coated in Armament Haki, she delivered a powerful blow to his chest.
Boom!!
With just one punch, his chest caved in, and the impact left an imprint that protruded from his back. His body wobbled before falling to the ground.
Simultaneously, Renee appeared before the defense captain wearing boxing gloves. She raised her mechanical hammer, transformed into a ram's head, and smashed it downward with full force.
The mechanical hammer, crackling with electricity, carried immense momentum as it hammered the captain's head into his chest cavity. His legs seemed to melt under the force, with the bone joints collapsing as if he were a turtle retracting into its shell, and he was blasted into the ground.
"Done!" Renee lifted her mechanical hammer and skipped over. "Is it Saget? Is it really Saget? Hasn't he been captured?! Where is he? Where has he withdrawn to?!"
Then, she saw the newspaper in Lily's hand, the one they had just obtained.
The newspaper had content on both sides. The front page featured a photo of the destroyed Enies Lobby, along with headlines about its destruction.
"Calamity and the Straw Hat Crew Destroy Enies Lobby!"
"The Fall of Enies Lobby!"
"Shipwrecks Near Enies Lobby!"
Headlines like these dominated the front page, with smaller articles conveying how Saget and the Straw Hat Crew had led the attack on Enies Lobby, turning the city of no nights—one of the World Government's three major institutions—into ruins.
However, as the newspaper was rolled up, only a portion of the back page was visible, featuring a photo identical to Saget's wanted poster, providing a glimpse of the full article.
"Confirmed! The Calamity has been captured by the Navy!"
Captured?
Renee's body stiffened, and she stared at the rolled-up newspaper, her mind struggling to process this information, before turning to the Den Den Mushi that had just been connected.
Lily unfolded the newspaper completely and looked at the back page.
Saget's news dominated two-thirds of the back page, with headlines screaming about his capture.
"The End of the 600,000,000 Berry Bounty!"
"The Capture of the Worst Pirate in History!"
"The Navy's Victory!"
The publication date on the newspaper was two days ago.
It was only natural to receive it at different times, considering the worldwide distribution and the unpredictable nature of news birds. As for Lily's pirate ship, they couldn't exactly maintain a fixed connection for receiving these news birds.
But that wasn't the crucial point!
The focus was on Saget!
"Isn't this a recording?" Lily asked uncertainly. "Is there some previous plan that you're informing us about now?"
"Recording? What recording?"
The Den Den Mushi squawked again, "Where are you? Give me your coordinates, which direction are you headed, north, south, east, or west? Or find a place that you can pinpoint, and I'll meet you there."
It was indeed Saget!
Lily's spirit lifted, "We're in the Kingdom of Ssomia, Novelle."
"Who can understand what you're saying? Just give me your damn coordinates! North, south, east, or west? Or find a place that you all can identify, then come and pick me up."
"Saget, where are you?" Lily asked.
The Den Den Mushi simulated that wild face of his, and he said something that left everyone in the room stunned.
"Me? I'm right at the front gates of Impel Down! I just broke out of prison!"
After a brief moment of stupefaction, Lily's head was filled with question marks.
It wasn't that she didn't understand what he said. It was more that the sheer amount of information he conveyed left her unsure if she should understand or not.
Lily was glad to receive Saget's call, but his completely incoherent manner of speaking annoyed her—well, sort of glad.
In her imagination, this phone call would, at most, be about some trouble Saget had encountered, or perhaps he had escaped from the transport ship, or maybe the World Government and the Navy had made a mistake, and Saget hadn't been captured at all.
After all, the newspaper had just disclosed Saget's capture, and now the Den Den Mushi was squawking about how he had broken out.
What had they captured?
The air, perhaps?
"Impel Down?"
Renee tilted her head, "What a familiar name. It shares the same name as the prison under the World Government. Saget, what's so special about this Impel Down that you've discovered?"
The Den Den Mushi's expression turned angry, "Damn right it's the prison! I'm right at the front gates! Hurry up! Find someone to confirm your coordinates; I don't have much time! Magellan will catch up to me soon!"
...
Three days prior.
On the day Saget was frozen, he was personally escorted by Vice Admiral Borsalino, also known as Yellow Monkey, on a third-floor warship. They towed an ice mountain that rivaled the size of the warship itself, entering the Navy-exclusive ocean current known as the Gate of Justice, turning from Justice Island towards Impel Down.
"Yes, we've captured him."
In the office of a warship, Yellow Monkey reported through a receiver, "Our assessment shows he possesses incredible strength, an exceptionally high aptitude for physical techniques, and knowledge of a body art that can greatly compress one's stamina for explosive bursts of power. He's even capable of briefly holding his own against a vice admiral like Monkey D. Garp. He's a troublesome character."
"The failure of the Demon Extermination Order twice before was indeed due to him alone. Now that he's been frozen by Kuzan, we're preparing to throw him into Impel Down. Additionally, we didn't find any blueprints related to Pluton during the battle. They may have been destroyed in the fight, or perhaps his pirate crew has them. Should we continue the search?"
"Mmm."
A detached voice came from the Den Den Mushi, "Norton Saget is a survivor of Ohara. Since he's been frozen, let's keep him thoroughly sealed in ice. Put him in the sixth level of Impel Down. After all, he also possesses the power to decipher the Ancient Texts, and we can use him as a trump card. As for the blueprints of Pluton, I haven't received any news yet. That's all for now. You've done well."
Click.
The call was abruptly ended.
Yellow Monkey looked at the now-silent Den Den Mushi and placed the receiver back inside. He turned his head and gazed out the window at the ice mountain, puckering his lips as he said, "These young folks nowadays are truly fearsome."
Saget wasn't killed, and aside from the World Government's tradition of imprisoning powerful foes in Impel Down, there was also a specific order from above.
The survivors of Ohara were extremely rare, and they certainly wouldn't let such a valuable asset die.
That knowledge and power were something the higher-ups wanted to control.
Early the next morning, the massive ice mountain was towed by the warship through the Gate of Justice, arriving at the main entrance of Impel Down.
Waiting to greet them was the warden of Impel Down, Magellan!
"Welcome, Admiral Yellow Monkey."
A man nearly five meters tall, with wings on his back—whether decorative or natural—and horns on his head, dressed in a pitch-black uniform, looking like a devil himself, extended his hand to Yellow Monkey, who had arrived at the front suspension bridge.
A Navy Admiral certainly warranted a personal reception by the warden.
"Oh~ Warden Magellan, it's been a while."
"Yellow Monkey chuckled and said, "Then I'll leave it to you. The orders from above are to directly incarcerate him in Level Six."
"Understood."
Magellan glanced at the ice mountain being towed at the back of the warship and noticed the ferocious ice sculpture inside, striking a punching pose. He found it strange and asked, "So that's the Calamity? He looks quite different from the bounty poster."
"Yes, it's a peculiar body technique, but that's all there is to it," Yellow Monkey replied with a smile.
"In that case, I'll leave him in your care," Yellow Monkey said.
"Yes, rest assured," Magellan said in a deep voice. "Since I became the Warden, not a single person has escaped from Impel Down, nor has there been any riot. I will continue to safeguard the glory of Impel Down."
The Impel Down Prison, known as the place from which no one could ever escape, was not entirely infallible.
Twenty years ago, when Magellan was still the Deputy Warden, a man had escaped. This was the first time someone had broken out in the history of Impel Down, and it was a stain on the prison's reputation.
However, aside from that man, no one else had ever managed to escape.
Especially after Magellan became the Warden, not only had no one escaped, but there hadn't even been any riots.
This was because he was the strongest man in the prison, and Impel Down was one of the World Government's three major institutions—an absolute authority!
After completing the handover with Yellow Monkey, four jailer beasts carried the massive ice mountain and opened the gates of Impel Down. Together, they lifted it and brought it inside.
Within the gates stood a freakish creature resembling an evil spirit. It pointed at the huge ice mountain being carried by the jailer beasts and shouted, "Warden! Aren't you going to give this guy a 'welcome gift'?!"
"How do you give a mountain of ice a welcome gift?" Magellan shook his head. "This is Vice Admiral Kuzan's Devil Fruit ability. The 'Hell Hot Water' at one hundred degrees Celsius won't be effective, and there's even less need to use anything else on this guy. Even though he's only a newcomer in the first half of his sentence, he's an extremely high-risk individual. You've seen the news too, right? He destroyed Enies Lobby together with the Straw Hat Crew. According to inside information, he also destroyed the Buster Call twice. The higher-ups have ordered that he be imprisoned in Level Six."
"The Buster Call?! You mean the Demon Extermination Order?!"
The freakish creature that resembled an evil spirit took a few steps back, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. "That legendary thing...I've only heard about it, but it turns out to be real! Warden, we must give him a 'welcome gift' with the 'Hell Hot Water' and let him experience the might of Impel Down!"
The creature continued to mutter to itself as if plotting something. "If he suddenly breaks free from the ice, it won't just be a matter of sealing him again. This guy will definitely clash with Warden Magellan, and if, by any chance, the Warden's authority is compromised, I can seize the opportunity to boost my own prestige. Mm-hmm, and then the position of Warden will be mine!"
"Hey, Hannibal, I can hear you!" Magellan shot a sideways glance at the creature.
"Ah! My ambition has been exposed!" Hannibal clamped his hand over his mouth.
"Alright, that's enough. I'll personally escort him to Level Six. Open the elevator," Magellan waved his hand, leading the jailer beasts as they opened the elevator door. First, they descended to Level Four, 'Blazing Hell,' where Magellan's office, the supply kitchen, the pantry, and the interrogation room for prisoners were located.
Below that was Level Five, the lowest level known to the prisoners and the outside world, where over a hundred million bounty heads were incarcerated—the highest incarceration level among the conventional floors.
And below that was Level Six, a prison floor unknown to the outside world, where individuals with extremely high dangerousness were held.
Every person imprisoned in Level Six was infamously evil and notorious enough that the World Government wanted to erase their existence.
For example, there was Crocodile, one of the former Seven Warlords of the Sea, who had conspired to usurp a country.
And now, there was this man sealed within the ice mountain, who had destroyed the Buster Call twice, razed Enies Lobby, and killed several kings, numerous nobles, and a majority of important citizens, severely provoking the World Government.
This man encased in ice.
"Hmm, it's quite fitting to have both of you sealed in ice mountains. Go ahead and put him together with that man," Magellan glanced at the ice mountain and mused to himself.
After the elevator descended, Magellan led the four jailer beasts as they carried the ice mountain to the depths of these prison cages and opened the door to a massive cell, large enough to accommodate the entire ice mountain.
Once the jailer beasts pulled the ice mountain into the cell, Magellan locked the cell door again and nodded in satisfaction before turning to leave.
In the dim and massive cell, one could barely make out two ice mountains of similar size, standing side by side.
The one on the left was older, and within it was sealed a giant man wearing a broken-horned helmet.
The one on the right was newer, and within it was sealed a body in a ferocious ice sculpture.
Rumble...
As the elevator made its ascent, a mysterious crack appeared on the surface of the ice sculpture.
(End of Chapter)
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