The torment via Level 4, Blazing Hell, which had started the other day, somehow wrapped up for today's session.
It was so hot, so scorching, that partway through we stopped caring about modesty altogether, and all three of us ended up half-naked.
That earned us a barrage of vulgar cheering from the surrounding onlookers, but sensation-wise it was considerably more bearable, and we somehow managed to endure the allotted time.
If I thought of it as sitting in a giant sauna, then maybe it was okay... no, wait, the baseline was already dehydration, and with no cold bath or anything to look forward to afterward, having that thrown at us was just plain awful no matter how you sliced it.
On top of that, the torture itself had been embarrassing enough, but afterward I was subjected to something even more humiliating.
After the torture, Vice Head Guard Domino, who had apparently been observing (probably) us three going nude during the session, came over and said, "If you want to be seen that badly, I'll grant your wish."
We weren't allowed to put our clothes back on, and were led away like that. Meaning, completely naked.
What's more, instead of heading straight back to our cell, she deliberately took a roundabout route, parading us past prisoners in various areas. Male prisoners ogling us the entire way. A second helping of vulgar cheering came flying at us.
Walked around, dragged around, paraded around. By the time we finally made it back to our cell, all three of us were utterly spent in body and mind.
For the record, while Beauty and I were predictably mortified, Blume once again showed zero embarrassment, walking with total confidence, practically radiating "look all you want." Strong.
So yes, we returned to the cell sighing about what an awful experience that had been, but that's when I suddenly noticed something.
That presence, those eyes that were practically always on us whenever we were here... gone.
I glanced over at the cell diagonally across from ours.
'...Not there.'
That creepy male prisoner, Kisack, was nowhere to be seen. Still being tortured, maybe?
Well, it wasn't like I minded him being gone. I was just a little curious, that's all. Not like I wanted to see that face on purpose.
Without giving it much deeper thought, I went back to resting and chatting.
But that day, Kisack never came back.
He wasn't there the next day either, or the day after that.
I'd been thinking maybe he'd been executed, or maybe he'd died during torture, when this conversation drifted into my ears.
"Hey, did you hear what happened to Kisack?"
"Huh? Didn't he just croak during torture? He hasn't come back in days."
"Nah, see, the guards were talking about it... something about him being 'dragged into the demon realm' or whatever..."
"Haaaah? 'Demon realm'? Come on, man, what is that, some kind of tall tale?"
Curious, I strained my ears. Apparently, during his torture, Kisack had simply vanished without a trace.
The guards searched the area thinking it was an escape attempt, but couldn't find him.
The torture chamber in question had limited exits, and of course those exits were manned by watchmen, so escaping through them would have been impossible.
And yet, no matter how many times they searched, he simply wasn't inside.
In the midst of all this, the guards had let slip something about "the demon's sleeve-tug."
Prisoners who clearly couldn't have escaped on their own, vanishing without a trace. These kinds of disappearances, they said, occurred rarely within Impel Down, and the guards feared them.
Along with a cheap yet terrifying rumor: that demons and devils drag prisoners into the demon realm to devour them.
Having knowledge of the original plot, I knew this wasn't the work of devils but of Okama.
So that old creep might have gone to Newkama Land. The prisoners' Paradise, located beyond Level 5.
If that was the case, then maybe when Luffy and the others arrived, they'd find that old creep in fishnet stockings, dancing away with boundless energy... ugh, I just pictured it.
...Truth be told, I had also been considering Newkama Land as one possible method of escaping this hell.
The entrances were supposedly scattered all over the place, so I'd been wondering if I could somehow stumble into one.
I had a bit of trauma related to the Newkama, so they scared me a little, but even so, I wanted to escape these days of nothing but pain, humiliation, and confinement. I wanted freedom.
But the thing was, the tortures inflicted on me were almost always conducted with a jailer assigned one-on-one, or under proper supervision. I never got any chance to search for an entrance.
I almost never encountered the kind of torture where prisoners were released into a designated area and left to wander while being chased, like in Level 1's Crimson Hell.
Maybe because I was a prisoner they planned to make use of later, they were actually being considerate so I wouldn't sustain any irreversible injuries?
...Though for someone supposedly being looked after, the tortures felt pretty extreme. My arms and fingers, which were pretty important for a writer, were being targeted too.
There was a possibility they were thinking about it loosely, like "as long as there are no lasting aftereffects, it's fine" or "if the scars can be hidden by clothes, it's okay"... The World Government was rather careless about these things, or rather, I got the sense they viewed it as "usable is good enough."
Or maybe the people on the ground were interpreting it that way. Or maybe Sadi-chan was prioritizing her own hobbies. The troubling part was that any of these seemed plausible.
At any rate, because of all that, I couldn't even search for an entrance to Newkama Land in the first place, and at this point I'd pretty much given up.
...Should I have pushed myself to search around more during the life-threatening Move on Level 2?
Based on what was said in the Original Work, I think there was one inside the beasts' lair...
'There are supposedly still many more types of torture to come, so maybe a chance will present itself eventually... but it feels unlikely. Well, I won't get my hopes up too much. I'll aim for it if the opportunity arises, and basically go with the strategy of enduring.'
***
So that was how I decided to continue enduring the torture for the time being.
The harsh days continued as always, but in the meantime, just as I might have expected, my body seemed to be gradually changing.
And not just the "energy-saving mode" I'd briefly mentioned before.
'Haah... today was rough too... my back and butt hurt...'
Returning from a Whipping torture, I flopped my tired body onto its side.
The backside of my body throbbed with pain. At this rate, it would hurt whether I was lying down or sitting, and I wouldn't be able to relax, rest, or sleep properly, but...
"Suuu... haaa..."
Slowly, a deep breath.
As if to calm my mind, I filled my lungs completely, exhaled, and slowly repeated.
Gradually, the pain receded. It didn't vanish entirely, but it subsided to a level where it didn't bother me. The remainder, while I could tell it was there, didn't really register. At this rate, sleeping soundly would be no problem at all.
I didn't understand the logic behind it, but lately doing this made the pain subside quickly. It wasn't my imagination or some placebo effect.
...Had I somehow gained the ability to release endorphins or adrenaline at will, like the protagonist of a certain martial arts manga?
Until now, being able to ignore or endure pain had been limited to during combat.
Thanks to this, the Whipping and the Beating... well, during the actual torture it still hurt, but once it was over, the suffering no longer lingered.
And the changes didn't stop there.
From enduring the water torture, my lung capacity increased and I could hold out longer.
My breathing recovered faster after nearly drowning to death.
From enduring the bondage and suspension torture, my joints became more flexible and my range of motion increased. That made it a lot less painful.
From enduring the poison Gas and poisoned food, being poisoned no longer made me suffer, and my stomach stopped getting upset. Had I acquired poison resistance?
...Well, the taste was still awful, and the gas still made me choke.
Electric shocks weren't very effective anymore either. ...Had my body's electrical resistance gone up? Could that kind of physical property even change?
Wounds healed faster. Bleeding stopped faster. Inflammation subsided faster. Fatigue recovered faster.
Most of all, it seemed like I was gradually becoming more resistant to heat and high temperatures. I wasn't sweating as much as before.
Wait, not sweating in a hot environment, isn't that actually dangerous? That's what I thought at first too, but there was no sign of it causing any health problems. Had I gained the ability to regulate my body temperature without relying on perspiration, or had my constitution itself become more resistant to heat?
I'd be happy if it was the latter. Heat was my weakness, after all.
Also, as I briefly touched on earlier, the "energy-saving mode" of my body wasn't my imagination. It was definitely happening.
When I stayed still, my energy expenditure seemed to be minimized, and I didn't get as hungry as before. Combined with my heat resistance (tentative), I could tolerate thirst better too.
Incidentally, staying motionless to conserve energy apparently made me look like I was "too weak to move," and the guards and jailers were misled into looking satisfied. Beauty and Blume, on the other hand, got worried about me.
I told them both "I'm fine, don't worry," but... I wonder if they believed me?
'But still... my body responds instantly to every challenge, getting conveniently powered up like something out of a manga... The enhancement modifications Mama made are seriously taking root. ...How far is this going to go?'
The more I was tormented, the more I was pushed to the brink, the more my body overcame it. I couldn't deny being aware of that.
The torture meant to break my spirit had somehow turned into a training arc at some point. It felt like I was acquiring all sorts of skills.
A blessing in disguise, every cloud has a silver lining... was that the idea? It was hard to feel genuinely happy about it since it was the result of being tortured, but no negative changes had occurred.
Thanks to all this, I was getting by with considerably more ease than when I'd first arrived on Level 3.
Blume and Beauty were still having a rough time, so being the only one like this... I actually felt bad for them.
'...Actually, the fact that I can sit here thinking about all this in my head means I've regained mental composure too... Well, it's probably not that my mind has changed, but rather that building up resistance has freed up the mental bandwidth to think about these things.'
Compared to when Sadi-chan's tortures had first begun... things were so different now. In many ways.
On a related note, the "direct physical enhancement" I'd been worried about, along with the accompanying hunger, hadn't arrived yet.
Was it reading the room and putting itself on hold for now? If so, that was a relief, but...
That said, even if this continued as is, it would still be painful, no changing that.
If I refused to break indefinitely, the other side would surely escalate the torture further or unlock new types...
***
One day in Impel Down.
In a certain conference room within the staff quarters of Level 4.
During a meeting being held there, Sadi-chan was relaying various instructions to her subordinate jailers and guards regarding the execution of upcoming torture sessions.
Among the topics, the subject of the three prisoners, Sue, Beauty, and Blume, came up.
"As many of you probably already know, these three... the Pirate Literary Master, Chef of the Winter Sky, and Ghost of the Foggy Sea... are prisoners the Government has taken a particular interest in, due to certain circumstances. In connection with that, we've been making them a certain proposal alongside their torture, but... oh how stubbornly they resist! They simply won't bend, will they?"
"Ma'am. All three have adamantly refused to give their consent."
"That's right, they're still holding out so valiantly. Chief Warden Magellan is concerned about it too. Especially regarding the Pirate Literary Master, there are frequent inquiries from the Government and the Marines asking whether we've gotten a favorable answer yet, so he's truly exhausted, the poor man. At this rate, even if we do eventually get that 'favorable answer,' there's noooo telling when that might be! So yesterday, the Chief Warden gave permission to advance the torture to the next stage."
"The next stage, meaning...?"
"Specifically, bringing the flames closer during fire torture, and introducing blade-based methods... injuries will occur, but treatable ones, right at the line where no permanent aftereffects remain!"
Hearing this, the staff wore expressions mixing shock and dread. "Whoa..." "That's merciless..." But they did their best to lock their facial muscles and suppress their reactions.
Sadi-chan had more to say, though.
"And... in the domain of 'humiliation,' the next level beyond the 'public exposure' torture has been unlocked! Oh yes it has!"
"...!? You mean...?"
The guards and jailers drew in sharp breaths.
The next level beyond "public exposure" torture... they all envisioned the same thing.
"Public exposure" involved stripping a female prisoner of all clothing, restraining her before a crowd, and subjecting her naked body to the gazes of guards, jailers, and even male prisoners, inflicting humiliation.
The shameful spectacle of being put on display, the vulgar jeers hurled at her, unable to cover herself even so... even if she wept and begged for mercy, she would not be released until the allotted time had passed.
For a woman, it meant enduring a hellish stretch of time, but on the other hand, if one simply steeled oneself, it was nothing more than being looked at, with nothing else actually being done.
Effective against those with strong pride or those unaccustomed to others' gazes, but useless against those who'd accepted that it was just being looked at, or those who simply lacked shame to begin with. In practice, it just became eye candy for the male prisoners.
The "next level" beyond that could only mean one thing: "being looked at with nothing else happening" would become "being looked at, and that wouldn't be the end of it."
Not merely being undressed by gazes, but more direct suffering, more direct humiliation. For a woman, it would transform into an even worse hell.
Before the staff could process the implications and start fidgeting, the one fidgeting most eagerly, most expectantly, was none other than Sadi-chan herself.
"Ahhh, I can't wait... what kind of screams will those three treat me to? When I think about how I might hear the most exquisite, despair-soaked, agonized shrieks yet... oh, I just can't contain myself!"
Her cheeks flushed as she imagined the scene, her body trembling.
Then, somehow wrestling her excitement under control, she began issuing orders to her subordinates.
"Attention, guards! I've already cleared this with Domino. Arrange male prisoners who are close to their execution dates! As for numbers, let's see... three per person plus one spare, so... ten!"
"Y-yes, understood. And the timing of the execution, when would that be...?"
"As soon as possible! Let's see, when we do the next schedule adjustment we can propose a date... nnnngh, no! I can't wait that long! Being made to wait like that would drive me mad... today! We're doing it today!"
"T-today, starting now!? But surely the preparations won't be ready in time... and all three of the prisoners in question have already been sent to different torture sessions today, so it's simply not feasible..."
"Nnnngh, how frustrating! Then tomorrow! We absolutely do it tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow... however, tomorrow is scheduled as a rest day..."
"There's no need to be so scrupulous about that with prisoners! The shock of expecting a rest day and getting torture instead will serve as excellent additional torment, I've decided! I'll speak with Domino personally, and if the schedule gets disrupted as a result, I will take responsibility for adjusting it afterward!"
'She's really that excited about this...' thought every guard and jailer in unison, their faces a mixture of admiration and exasperation.
Whether Sadi-chan noticed or not, she was writhing and squirming with anticipation, fantasizing about what was to come with a drawn-out "Nnnngh!"
"U-understood... then we shall arrange the prisoners to serve as 'partners.' Ten men scheduled for imminent execution. Is that correct?"
"Yes, choose ones who are as healthy and well-built as possible. Powerful ones. And don't forget to administer the stamina enhancers and stimulants. Jailers, you handle arranging the torture venue!"
"Understood!"
After the instructions were given, the guards whispered among themselves, out of Sadi-chan's earshot.
"So it's finally come to this... poor bastards."
"What are you talking about? This is gonna be quite the show."
"Stubborn to the end... and now they'll bear scars that last a lifetime. Pitiful."
Guards and jailers they might be, but they were still men.
From the moment Sadi-chan had been speaking, some had been gulping hard, while others couldn't hide the grins spreading across their faces.
Most of them were silently praying to be assigned to positions where they could witness the spectacle.
After all, under the grand justification of carrying out Justice, it would be the most magnificent and most depraved show imaginable.
The meeting concluded, and as Sadi-chan was about to leave the room, she paused as if something had just occurred to her and turned to one of her subordinates.
"By the way, what torture are those three undergoing today? I don't think I saw them on my way through Level 4... and it wasn't any of the tortures under my jurisdiction on Levels 2 or 3 either."
Asked this, the subordinate flipped through documents clipped to a binder, muttering "Let me see..."
"Ah, here it is. Today, those three are... undergoing torture on Level 5, Freezing Hell. It appears it was only recently unlocked."
***
And right around that same time, on that very Level 5.
"Th-this is Level 5! We have an emergency! The W-Wolf Units... the door... r-reinforcements, no, send rescue... AAAAAAHHHH!!"
That an incident was unfolding there was something they had no way of knowing yet.
To be continued...