Saldeath paced in front of the massive doors leading to Level 3, currently locked tight and guarded by a company of his best Blugori, decked out in heavy armour and doped up with enough combat stimulants that a drop more would induce fatal overdose. And a medical team on standby to treat the heatstroke they'd be suffering in about an hour.
That was fine. Frankly, given the list of prisoners that had been "demoned away", if even half of them had survived all this time, the door was likely to delay them longer than this army. So be it. They had to at least try. And maybe, just maybe, they had a chance to actually thin their numbers a little.
The ground rumbled, the roar of a few hundred throats wafting up from the stairs down. Saldeath stamped his trident on the stone, his Blugori standing a little straighter. Now, what did they… face…
The vanguard of the army crested into the Blazing Hell, and, faced with not only the expected arrival of Straw Hat Luffy and two Revolutionary commanders but also two Warlords of the Sea and Whitebeard ally captains apiece, there was really only one logical response.
"Oh, bother."
-Two Minutes Later-
Buggy shivered at the piles of Blugori scattered about. Eight people had done that. And half of them had been too slow to get into the action. What the flashy hell was he doing, following these guys?!
Oh, right, they were monsters aimed at getting everyone out of this prison. Dammit.
"Alright, let's break this door down!" Straw Hat declared, biting his thumb, only to be stopped by Inazuma's hand on his shoulder.
"I do not recommend brute force, Straw Hat," she (currently) said. "Too much force and we risk bringing the entire prison down on our heads. A risk baked into this hell's design, even, to prevent just this sort of escape attempt. Even with a Devil Fruit, old Morley had to be very careful carving out Level 5.5 lest he collapse the entire gaol onto his head."
"Good thermal shock would work, but I just got these powers, and it's taking all I've got to not collapse," Whitey Bay laughed heartily, even as she abruptly swayed on her feet. "Speaking of, can we get a move on already? Please? I'm no Logia, but I swear to Boreas I'm about to melt over here…"
"Working on it as we speak," Sir fucking Crocodile said… standing a ways back from the door.
"Uh…"
"Wait for it."
Luffy rolled his eyes but trusted that he had a plan. That was one thing he could rely on with Crocodile. And if he couldn't, he still had some of Robin's explosives. He glanced around, perhaps to get an idea of what the sand-man had planned, and saw something that gave him pause.
"…Magellan."
Aside from Crocodile, everyone froze up at the muttered name. They followed his line of sight to the Hell surrounding them and saw the violet stains painting the walls.
"He was here, yes."
The more paranoid in the group jumped at the deep, unfamiliar voice echoing out. The more sensible looked around in confusion, trying to find the source.
VRRRRR— KRASH!
Nobody found it until the source walked clean through one of the nearby walls, revealing itself to be a musclebound man with a buzzcut. He calmly stalked toward the army as if he hadn't just walked through a solid foot of brick, his gaze as cold as the blades that were his forearms.
"Mr. 1," Bentham and Galdino muttered and whimpered respectively, one in mild surprise and the other with knee-knocking trepidation.
"He's using the elevator, so he could be anywhere," Daz Bonez continued. "I would advise we stay on the move if we can; otherwise, he might appear from out of nowhere and kill us all."
"Don't say that so calmly!" Buggy and Galdino roared indignantly, with the newly liberated prisoners joining in. A mass of shouting that, ultimately, was entirely dismissed by the more experienced ex-convicts. Namely…
"I've missed your candour, Daz, truly I have," the former Mr. 0 said, his voice actually sincere and devoid of his usual condescending sarcasm.
"As you say, sir," the former Mr. 1 said, inclining his head before stepping over to the door and sharpening his arms. "This won't take long."
Hearing that, Buggy noticed Luffy eyeing his bag and decided that he was better off putting some distance between himself and the Straw Hat. Now, how to do that…
His eyes fell on the unconscious Saldeath, and he grinned. "This is payback for Level 3, you little rat bastard," he whispered, before standing and shouting, "Hey! Anyone want to help me string this guy up? And not the usual way, we don't want Straw Hat on our asses!"
-o-
Saldeath felt consciousness return to him, which was honestly a surprise. Doing so hurt like the dickens, which wasn't a surprise, and he felt lightheaded, and there was something on his face, both of which were sort of a surprise. Opening his eyes, the little devil-man found himself upside down, wrapped in chains over the drained blood vat, and several prisoners in fishnets and one with a big red nose holding up a mirror in front of him.
Oh, they'd scribbled on his face. How original. Saldeath glanced 'up' at the empty vat with a cocked brow. "I understand hanging me in chains, that's fair…" He looked back 'down', his flat expression perfectly displaying the… decorations that had been made to his face. "But were the scribbles really necessary?"
"Be happy Straw Hat's got a thing about killing, twerp!" the red-nosed prisoner—right, Buggy the Clown, the one they were going to put on suicide watch or (more likely) tear to pieces and feed to his Blugori—shouted. "You don't wanna know what he does to people he wants dead!"
If it was at all possible, Saldeath's expression reached an entirely new dimension of flatness. "In light of your atrocious penmanship, I honestly think I might prefer it. The word on my forehead? You spell that with an E, you dunce."
One of Buggy's eyebrows twitched, much to Saldeath's satisfaction. "Nothing really fazes you, does it?"
"The one thing I dread is growing taller and attracting Sadi's attention."
From the look on his face, Buggy the Clown didn't want to touch that topic with a barge pole, and Saldeath couldn't blame him. Grunting, he got himself spun around a bit, spotting both piles of his unconscious Blugori and Daz Bonez—one of the more docile yet dangerous newcomers—who had rejoined Crocodile and were nearly finished sawing the door open. Numerous other prisoners on the floor had joined them, and he recognized enough faces to gather that the Witch and the Spider had rescued their crews.
The invaders were going to advance to Level 3, and between the amount of force they had at their disposal and their apparent recruitment rate, they were going to get to Magellan at the end. It was inevitable.
A twinge of unfamiliar emotion shot through him. He didn't like it. And perhaps that was what compelled him to speak up.
"Straw Hat."
Gratifyingly, the rubber pirate looked up at him, head tilted curiously.
"I… know I'm in no position to demand anything, and that leaves me no choice but to beg… so beg I shall," Saldeath 'bowed' his head, as much as he was currently able. "Straw Hat, Magellan is the only thing standing between the world and the evils still locked in this prison. You understand that, yes?" From his expression, Straw Hat did, if extremely reluctantly. It would have to do. "Then please… whatever you do, if by some unholy misfortune you surpass him… just don't kill him. For the sake of the world, Warden Magellan cannot die."
Straw Hat looked away, and after an uncomfortable pause, said, "No promises."
Hang it all, that was the best he was going to get, wasn't it?
"Just go," Saldeath sighed, defeated, right before the assassin sheared through the last of the hinges to the door impeding their way. And then the army was on the move again up the stairs.
-o-
There was no warning, no sign, no way to predict it.
And yet, the impact was momentous nonetheless.
A single message, spoken from one mouth to one ear…
And then all at once, so many, many miles away, ships began to move. Dozens of them, nearly a hundred, with hundreds of souls on board.
In the dead of night, the fleet awakened and snapped straight into action. No hesitation, no question. Only determination.
The news shook the world soon after, rousing it from its fitful slumber.
The Whitebeard Pirates were on the move.
-o-
The Newkama army, freshly bolstered by the scarce few prisoners from Level 4 who hadn't been envenomed, burst out of the stairs onto Level 3.
This time, between the light and the desert terrain, the poison was more easily seen and more abundant. Whatever prisoners dwelled on this floor that hadn't yet lost the will and strength to fight were now gone one way or the other.
That was the least of their concerns, however. Luffy's miracle operation had given the guards the time they needed to repair Level 3's new mechanisms, as made obvious by the way the air began to gleam and distort around the shifting stone.
And then the lead elements of the Newkama party fell to a barrage of bazooka shots to the face. A score or so of Newkamas crumpled to the ground in smoking ruin, their fellows behind them now cautious about proceeding. And the shots fired? Impel Down's bazooka squadron is hidden in the shifting cells.
"Move, you idiots," Crocodile growled, flowing ahead through more bazooka shots before pressing his hand to the sandy ground. "Sables!"
A sandstorm screamed to life around the entrance to the stairs, detonating the next salvo of bazooka shots. The Newkama army and the prisoners behind them took the opportunity to dress out in relative peace.
"Clever bastard," Crocodile reluctantly stated. "Alright, boys and girls and whatever the hell else, we've got two options here: we can either take our time grinding through every one of those strong points, or we can leave the weaklings behind and press forward with everyone who won't be bothered by bazookas."
"Luffy already went on ahead," Jinbe pointed out.
"Which doesn't materially change the situation," Crocodile smoothly retorted. "I have no objections to him rushing ahead and clobbering the Vice Warden, but we still need to make a decision."
"Aye, that we do," Whitey Bay stated, holding her hand out. "And I say we go with Plan C: abuse the ever-loving shit out of our wide-scale Devil Fruit powers! Deep Freeze!"
-o-
Hannyabal frowned through his binoculars atop a raised tower that gave him a vantage over the whole Level. He could see the escapees charging out of the sandstorm Crocodile had thrown up, and despite frantic movement, his troops weren't firing. He'd bet his chances to become Warden that the ice that was somehow coating everything had something to do with that.
"Company Zulu, report!" he barked into the snail he'd brought with him.
"Vice-Warden, Whitey Bay froze our gunpowder! Our weapons won't fire!"
Hannyabal grit his teeth in frustration. "Company Zulu, fall back to the last line, restock your powder. Company Yankee, expect hostilities in two minutes!"
"Yes, sir!"
Going back to his binoculars, Hannyabal watched as Zulu fell back in good order, though the stronger prisoners still caught many of them from behind. They were stymied, however, by more cell blocks slamming into place and Yankee unloading a full alpha strike.
Stymied very briefly. Crocodile advanced, uncaring of the fire, and with a touch of his right hand dissolved several cell blocks into harmless sand. A barrage of… winks… sent his troops either flying or ducking for cover, and just like that Yankee crumbled.
"Gum-Gum Sickle!"
The Vice-Warden hastily swung his binoculars around to where he'd heard the voice, right in time for a stretched arm to slam right through them and knock him ass over teakettle through the people-dust and into one of the cell blocks, cracking the brick. Groaning, he hauled himself up to find Straw Hat up in his face with a fist drawn back. Desperate, the Vice Warden slammed the shaft of Kessui into Straw Hat's side as hard as he could. Being rubber, Luffy stretched with it, but the Vice Warden had put enough force into the attack that the rubbery recoil still threw the punch out of alignment.
Something he was very grateful for was watching Straw Hat yank his fist out of the stone wall.
Hannyabal rolled, springing upright in position to actually react to Straw Hat's next charge. Kessui flashed out in a whirlwind of slashes and thrusts. Nothing actually hit Straw Hat, but it aborted the charge and put him on the defensive.
For all of two seconds. Straw Hat's sandal consummated a date with his gut, and while that spot was cushioned, it was not nearly enough. Hacking up spit, Hannyabal doubled over; he didn't clutch his gut, but with both hands gripping Kessui to keep him upright, it didn't especially matter.
"Gum-Gum Bullet!"
Straw Hat's fist slammed square into his nose and sent him tumbling again, this time not stopping until his back hit one of the larger dunes. Blood dripped from the smashed orifice, and his breath still came in laboured wheezes, but still, Hannyabal stood up.
"I… fight… on…"
The next charge was met not with Kessui but with a spray of sand the naginata threw up. Straw Hat recoiled, throwing his hand over his eyes, and Hannyabal rushed in. His first thrust tore a line in the pirate's side. His second was a thin cut on his left shoulder.
No third ever happened, because by then Straw Hat had his eyes open again and he popped a punch right in the Vice Warden's kisser. It was quick, without a lot of power, so Hannyabal just staggered back with all his teeth.
"Gum-Gum Bazooka!"
Once again, Hannyabal found himself tumbling across the sands, and this time it took a considerable effort to haul himself to his feet.
"I fight on!" he declared, readying himself for Straw Hat's attack.
Then he saw Straw Hat stretched out on a convenient bit of shattered cell block.
"Oh, bugger me sideways."
"—ROCKET!"
Too fast. Way too fast. Hannyabal had only a moment of resignation before Straw Hat plowed into him head-first. Something broke under the impact, and he blacked out for a second, coming to with Kessui out of reach, Straw Hat above him, and the distant cries of the escapees audible. But none of that mattered. He could not let these pirates escape the confines of Impel Down! He needed to buy as much time as he could, no matter how broken it left him!
"I… FIGHT… O—!"
WHAM!
~o~
Luffy frowned as Hannyabal crumpled to the people-dust of the Starvation Hell. "I could've handled that, you know."
"You were taking too long," Squard absentmindedly replied, most of his focus on the new naginata he'd appropriated from an arsenal room. "Impel Down may be a hellhole, but they sure don't skimp on the weaponry. Doubly sweet that it's one of this prick's backups!"
The rubber man exhaled and looked back. The strongest of their number had already arrived, and the rest were on their way. It was honestly a bit of a surprise that all of them had managed to catch up this fast, though more than a few of them looked dishevelled.
"Matching wits with Crocodile in the pseudo-desert? Not smart," Bentham remarked.
"Lacking a competent second-in-command? Less smart," Ivankov agreed.
"Getting past the labyrinth was a cinch," the sand-man rumbled. "But I could have done without having to deal with… do you realize how much I'm struggling not to fly into a tirade about how wasteful you're being with your powers?" he snapped at Whitey Bay. The woman narrowed her eyes at him even as the party proceeded towards the stairs, and she readjusted the new bazookas she'd 'acquired' and strapped to her back.
"I'm not a Paradise rookie—no offence, Straw Hat—so I know what a complacent Ability-user looks like. Excuse me if I'm not getting the hang of these powers right away, but I got them as a last ace in the hole, not the main focus of my fighting style—again, no offence, Straw Hat."
"It's fine," Luffy answered, not paying much attention.
"Also, in case you missed it, I'm a Paramecia. That means I don't have delusions of grandeur that lead me to commit unholy genocide in the name of soothing my ego."
"It's not delusion if you're capable of achieving it."
"And of course that's what you protest."
"Enough. We can pick on Croco-boy later—"
"And just like that, the days of every person here become numbered."
"But for now, we need to get moving. And as such, Croco-boy. Where's the exit?"
If looks could kill, the glare 'Croco-boy' levelled at the Emporio would have made the latter cease to be biology and instead become physics. As looks could not kill, after a moment Crocodile closed one of his eyes and let a trail of sand flow skywards from his head. A few seconds later, he re-integrated his eye and jabbed his remaining thumb to the left. "That way. The guards are scrambling, so we have a clear shot to the top. Now let's move, before anything else can go wrong."
"Are you trying to make things bite us in the ass?!" Squard barked.
"Yes, so that it happens now rather than later."
"…fair point."
While nobody said it, lest the state of affairs come to an abrupt and likely lethal end, everyone who marched off behind Crocodile was surprised at the mostly smooth sailing thus far. Halfway through the prison and solid though the defences had been, the addition of a few more powerhouses had rendered the grunts happily superfluous. The remaining forces on Level 3 still tried to attack them on their way to the doors, but they were too discombobulated without their overseer.
And the door to the stairs itself? Barely locked, probably assuming that it wouldn't slow them down enough if it were. Aside from the lingering veins of venom on the ground, there wasn't anything to impede them.
And then, midway up the staircase, the army ran headlong into a different group of interlopers, hopping down the steps two at a time. Interlopers that were most certainly not 'friends'.
Time seemed to slow as the groups passed one another. Surprise and amusement glittered in the eyes of the leader of one, while unbridled hatred blazed to life in the eyes of the other. Their eyes conveyed to each other all that they needed to know.
And then the moment passed, and they continued on their way, Luffy deftly seizing Whitey and Squard in his arms to keep them from turning back. Nobody else moved to stop the intruders, either too stunned by the sheer idiocy of trying to descend Impel Down in the midst of a mass breakout, or accurately gauging just how monumentally dangerous a threat said intruders posed to, well, literally anyone and everyone in their way.
Once the intruders were well away, Jinbe and Ivankov took over for Luffy, being more suited to restrain New World-grade strength.
"Who was that?" the fishman demanded, firmly stuffing the cussing and writhing Maelstrom Spider under his arm.
"The entire reason Ace's life is in danger," Luffy snapped back, his face a mask of fury.
"…you're a stronger man than I am, Straw-boy," Ivankov noted as he held Whitey's flailing frost-encased fingers well away from his own body.
"Not really, I'm just hoping that if I did things right, he's going to die screaming."
"That bloated arse should be dying at OUR hands! LET US GO!"
Luffy looked back at Whitey, still scowling. And it only intensified when he saw the unflinching resolve in her eyes.
"Any other day I'd let you run off and get yourselves killed, and I'd probably be right there with you, but Ace comes first," he said, his tone brooking no argument. "He's not going to die because two of his friends weren't there to help save him."
The surrounding temperature dropped, and Whitey Bay sighed angrily. "Fine… fine, fine! " she snapped, jerking her arms to try and get them out of Inazuma's grip. "I won't do anything stupid, now lemme go!"
Squard, for his part, still looked mutinous, but Luffy was out of patience and, glancing at Jinbe, slashed a hand over his throat. With a sigh, the fishman slammed his palm against the back of Squard's head, knocking him out at once.
Once he'd released Whitey so that she could run properly again, Ivankov gave Luffy a nervous look. "That's… harsh, even for you, Straw-boy."
"Don't ask me why. Even without Cross telling me who he is, something about him's always just pissed me off."
Buggy glanced over his shoulder and shivered, having a very good idea where the instinctual animosity came from.
-o-
In a corner of Marineford, a group of Marines sat in sombre silence. Any possibility of averting the war had passed; their own laws and the government's inadvertent countermeasures prevented them from simply removing the source of the conflict. All that remained for them was to execute their master plan and, as Cross had so grimly summarized, sift through the ashes to see what remained after.
And so it was that these scant few Marines—two Captains and two Vice Admirals, select subordinates sitting on crates and barrels around them—met in person before the war. Whatever happened over the next few days, it would be the last time that they could meet like this for many years. On the table in front of them sat small cups filled with sake, to mark the occasion and to take the edge off the churning anticipation in their guts.
"I knew it would come to this, in the end," Vice Admiral Tsuru said quietly. "I had hoped that I was wrong, that somebody somewhere would come to their senses, or that Straw Hat would once more do the impossible… but nobody has, and he couldn't." She sighed, leaning back in her seat. "So now, we're left with this."
"Seriously, how fucked is this world when our best chance to stop a new wave of chaos from engulfing the seas is to work against our own flag, the flag of what should be 'Justice', to save an infamous pirate from execution?" Seaman Recruit Fullbody demanded.
"A lawbreaking pirate is spreading the truth while the lawful Government is spreading lies. That's enough fuckery for me," answered the woman sitting nearby behind Tsuru, one Vice Admiral Gion.
Murmurs of assent around the room, before Jonathan took the floor. "Well, a final review. The Damned?"
"In their places: Goat, Ox, and Rabbit are focusing on their respective bases, while Monkey, Tiger, and Rooster are waiting on Sabaody until attention is sufficiently diverted for them to approach without raising suspicion. Puppy is waiting in Mariejois, and the latest intelligence on the Whitebeards has them surfacing on this side of the Red Line an hour ago. So… that's all that covered," Drake recited.
"Cancer and Pisces are still within Impel Down, and they'll be working to stem any further madness or chaos that could slip through the cracks. Capricorn doesn't envy them in the least…" Hina grumbled sourly as she finished one cigarette and immediately switched to a fresh one.
"Jormungandr is standing by and ready to demonstrate the fruits of their labours," Seagirl Apprentice Yoko said, grimacing at T-Bone's side. "And the question of which 'Justice' we will abide by has been decided."
"You're a strong girl to take on that responsibility," Gion said. "But you are not alone; we'll all be there in the dark to help you."
Yoko sighed and nodded, T-Bone and Knalf patting her shoulders.
"And our agents are in place," Jango confirmed, folding his arms. "Deliberate and otherwise. Komei in particular, I have ready to take a long walk off a short pier if he starts getting any ideas."
"Capricorn would like to reiterate that we will not be using such tactics with any regularity," Hina said with a frown.
"Yes, Captain," Jango responded.
Silence had the floor, and there wasn't much else to say. They had spent every spare moment they'd had going over the plan, the skeleton set in stone and the rest hopefully flexible enough for whatever circumstances the war threw at them.
"Then if there's nothing else, I believe it's time to begin," Tsuru said, rising to her feet.
The remainder stood also, Yoko climbing up on the table to put herself at the proper height.
"For the sake of those whom we dedicated our lives to protecting, even Justice is forfeit. Death shall take us before we forget this again."
The four leaders and six subordinates of the Zodiac of the Divine raised their glasses as one, the vessels and their contents shimmering in the green haze around them.
"To the man who reminded us of what it is to be a decent Marine."
"Kanpai," the Marines intoned together and drained their cups.
-o-
The temperature finally evened out as the prospective escapees charged onto the second floor, one level away from freedom. But with the BioMEGA and its infected minions slaughtered, the Wild Beast Hell belonged again to the beasts.
Considering this, it was quite odd that for the second time, silence greeted Luffy's emergence into the canals and corridors.
"Crap, not again," he groaned. "Last time sucked, how could they make it worse without that thing!?"
"Let me answer that with another question: why is all of the water purple?" Buggy pointed out, already sauntering over to the nearest cell. "Oh, boys? Buggy's back to break you out!"
"Captain Buggy—! Ah… sorry, but I think we'd rather take our chances here," one prisoner said. "Sadi is waiting over by the stairs, and every beast that's lasted through the monster and the riots is with her… led by the Minotaurus."
"No sooner said than dealt with!" Buggy said gleefully.
"This is starting to get silly," a newkama spoke up. "If they keep putting all of their best forces in one place, we'll just keep smashing into them. This can't be the best strategy to stop us."
"It doesn't mean a thing unless we can get past Magellan," Inazuma retorted. "And, perhaps more pertinently, it still puts all their best forces in the best place to stop us, while also delaying us significantly every time. So with that in mind, they've actually done depressingly well."
From the sour faces all around, nobody liked that observation.
A few minutes of canal-hopping, cell-navigating, and key-dropping later, the stairs came into view. The Basilisk and Sphinx lay ready beside them, while Sadi and the Minotaurus stood a ways in front.
"I'll take her on," said Ivankov, having already shifted to female. "And I think my candies can handle what's left of those beasts."
"Mmmm, or you could just shut up and listen. Neither of us wants to lose more muscle on our side than we have to," Sadi retorted. She tossed her hair and cracked her whip across the ground, a line forming in the stone. "Straw Hat. My darling Minotaurus owes you for earlier, so you'll be fighting him. No tricks, no backup, just the strongest fighter left on this floor against you. If Minotaurus wins, the rest of my beasties and I jump in for a free for all against your friends. Mmmm, but if you win fair and square, the rest of us will stand down. You will all be permitted passage to Level 1, without resistance."
She smirked.
"Except, of course, that Warden Magellan is already waiting for you at the top. Mmmm, so, what'll it be?"
To nobody's surprise, Luffy stepped over the line and approached alone.
"Very good," Sadi purred. "Now, just so we're clear, if anyone or anything else crosses that line without you winning, you forfeit the duel. But for fair treatment, no beast or guard on my side will interfere. Mmmm, or they get the boo box."
A shudder ran through Galdino, as well as every other prisoner who had spent time on the Beast Hell the last year. "I swear, I will kill that unholy snail for giving her that idea…"
The promise of vengeance went unheeded as Luffy and Minotaurus began to circle around each other, each sizing their opponent up. The only sounds were Minotaurus's club scraping on the ground and the distant screams of prisoners. The Jailer Beast made the first move, lunging toward the pirate with its club raised, with speed shocking for anyone. On the towering Minotaurus, it was positively electric.
Luffy still rolled out of the way of its club. Pumping his legs, he blurred from sight. With a cry of "GUM-GUM JET BAZOOKA!", he slammed his fists into the Minotaur's midsection. Beasts scattered, letting out panicked cries, as their strongest demolished a few cell blocks along the way.
The pirate did not let up. A Jet Stamp crumpled its snout. A Jet Bell left it reeling and clutching its skull. A Jet Rifle folded it around Luffy's fist like an accordion. And then, finally, a Jet Axe embedded itself a few feet into the stone floor.
It did not move.
Luffy stepped back, panting, to the open-mouthed gaping of almost all of his audience. Minotaurus losing had been at least a possibility for everyone present, but for it to happen so fast… Some wondered why Straw Hat was still there and not bounding his way to the top of the prison.
That question was answered quite decisively by Minotaurus planting a hand and using it to lever itself to its hooves. With a bovine bellow that shook the floor, the Jailer Beast lunged for Luffy, not slowed in the slightest by a pounding that would've pulped an entire city block. Luffy, on the other hand, was plainly slower than when he'd opened the fight.
"Tch. Damn Awakened Zoans," Squard bit out.
"Then this resilience is normal?" Ivankov queried.
Whitey Bay snorted, frost blooming ahead of her nose. "This? You ain't seen nothing yet. If that dominatrix there hadn't threatened to sic Magellan on us, I'd be telling you all to help us gang up on the thing."
Back in the fight, Luffy finally retaliated after several frantic dodges, kicking Minotaurus square in the legs to try and knock him off-balance. Tried, and failed, the beast stamping on his outstretched leg before he could reel it back. Despite a frantic dodge of the spikes on the club, the spikes still tore a strip out of his arm. Kicking off, Luffy wrapped himself around that same leg, again and again, until he was wound extra-tight.
"Gum-Gum… Bowgun!"
And then, he released it all at once.
It didn't do much against Minotaurus' bulk. But it did enough. The Jailer Beast's leg kicked out and, top-heavy as it was, it took a spill right onto its back, and off of Luffy's leg. He wasted no time, throwing his arms out and grabbing Minotaurus by the cheeks as it leaned up, arms slightly twisted.
And then he heaved.
"Gum-Gum…"
Minotaurus was too heavy for the spinning that this move normally involved. But the enormous Jailer Beast was nonetheless lifted off the ground and into the air. Grunting with exertion, Luffy heaved down.
"Gavel!"
Slamming Minotaurus head-first into the ground, and also ducking under a thrown club that, on impact, obliterated another cell block.
Once again, the mighty bovine was embedded several feet into the floor, shaking the entire level with the impact. This time, Luffy turned toward Sadi and her remaining beasts, clearly ready to move on from this. But finely-honed instincts prompted him to turn around, where Minotaurus had gotten its hands under itself again. With a muffled bellow, it hauled itself out of the floor.
Whitey Bay scowled. "Actually, when I think about it more? We've been tricked. I don't think I've seen anyone able to outlast an Awakened Zoan in a battle of attrition."
"You're saying it's impossible? Because, as I recall, that doesn't mean much for this specific rookie," Ivankov dryly responded, though she nonetheless mentally prepared herself for a fight.
Frustration sprouted on Luffy's features, and he carefully placed himself between Minotaurus and its club, clearly inviting it to try and get through him to get to its weapon.
There was, of course, only one response possible. Minotaurus leaned over onto its hands, hooves pawing at the floor behind it and billowing snorts spilling from its bleeding snout. With Luffy obligingly just standing there, it kicked off like a sprinter, bellowing as it bull-rushed Luffy's horns first.
Too late, Sadi saw that the pirate was biting his thumb.
"Mino, look out—!"
"Gum-Gum Giant Pistol!"
A brief lesson in physics: all objects in motion have momentum, which in layman's terms measures how hard it is for the object to stop. Momentum is a function of mass and speed, and Minotaurus was both very large and moving very fast indeed. And hooves, for all their utility for actual speed, were absolute pants at generating the traction needed to stop something as large as Minotaurus.
The point being, despite the warning, Minotaurus had exactly zero chance to stop before Luffy's enormous fist very abruptly reversed its momentum. Several more cell blocks were demolished before the punch stopped, leaving Minotaurus lying insensate in a pile of rubble. Luffy briefly shrank but was soon back to normal.
By this point, nobody was surprised when Minotaurus hauled itself upright for round four. This time, though, it was wary in its approach, putting the fight on pause.
"So this is what it's like to fight me," Luffy remarked, frustration colouring every syllable. "Man, I'm annoying."
"FEEL OUR PAIN, BASTARD!" Galdino and Buggy both bellowed. And, even more stunningly, Crocodile actually nodded along.
Finally, either annoyed by the noise or simply tired of playing it safe, Minotaurus charged in again, trying to get at its club.
Proving that the damage was doing something, a Gatling knocked it down.
Again, it got up.
Luffy pumped his legs and laid a Jet Bullet into its torso.
It got up again.
Luffy grabbed its own club and socked it in the face with it, sending the beast down again.
And when it still began to get up, something in Luffy… snapped.
"ENOUGH!" he bellowed, a tangible pressure sweeping over the battlefield and sending Jailer Beasts, guards, and the weaker Newkamas alike to their knees. "YOU CAN'T WIN! SO JUST STAY DOWN ALREADY AND STOP WASTING MY TIME!"
And, wonder of wonders, it did, kneeling down in an obvious sign of submission.
Not just the Minotaurus, even. Slowly, one of the onlooking Manticores also knelt its stubby legs and lowered its head to the ground. Soon after, one of the Puzzle Scorpions flopped on its side, legs twitching spasmodically, foam bubbling from its jaws.
And then this phenomenon repeated itself, over and over. First one at a time, then in threes and fives, and then dozens at a time, a wave of motion.
Until finally, the beasts of Level 2 of Impel Down unilaterally surrendered, either bowing their heads in acknowledgment or collapsing in complete submission before the might of Monkey D. Luffy.
Slack jaws and bug eyes were the general response. A handful, like Crocodile, managed to keep their mouths closed, but they still stared, in surprise and awe alike… though for some, there was no small amount of hostile incredulity thrown in as well.
"…I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it," Luffy muttered before lifting his head and glaring at the pink-clad woman. "I win. Are you going to keep your promise?"
Sadi scowled back, flexing her whip in her arms as she visibly, thoroughly thought over her chances of actually surviving the army of thoroughly motivated individuals who wanted to rip her limb from limb. Her conclusion was to sag over and let out a defeated sigh.
"I would be a fool not to," she ground out, stepping away from the staircase. "Go on, then, the Warden is waiting. Mmmm~, but try attacking us on your way out, and we'll strike back, so please, feel free to try your luck~."
Ironically, that comment did wonders for saving Sadi and her remaining guards' skin, as the prisoners all did their level best to put as much distance between themselves and her as they ran up the stairs to freedom. For her part, Sadi had to restrain herself at the sight of so many prisoners leaving the depths of her prison, escaping her reach. And she had to outright dig her teeth into her own whip when several dozen of the prisoners that had been intimidated into behaving ran out of their cells to join up with the other escapees.
It was infuriating to see so many prisoners making a bid for their freedom. But at least the burn was soothed with the knowledge that even as the mass of prisoners ran, all they were running toward was the opportunity to attain their freedom.
In the end, Impel Down's motto would hold out. A rarely spoken phrase, to be sure, but one that has ever and always held true throughout the centuries.
Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.
-o-
Bentham dashed up alongside Luffy, giving his dearest of friends a worried look. "Is everything alright, Straw Hat? Uh, besides the obvious, I mean…" The okama winced at the flub before continuing. "It's just, you've been quiet for a while now. What's going through your head?"
Luffy's already present frown deepened into an outright scowl. "I'm… worried. I don't know what to do next."
"Um… beat Magellan, get us all out of here, save Ace?"
"But how do I beat him? Even if I'm strong enough, which I really don't think I am, he's like that damn Bull. Like me. He won't know when to stay down either."
"So? Just keep putting him down again and again!"
"But unlike the Bull, he can die! And I… I don't want to do that!"
"The jailer is the key."
"GAH!" Luffy nearly jumped out of his skin at the rabbit-headed newkama invading his personal space with an unblinking stare.
"Kill him, and you'll be free," the rabbit-head continued to drone.
"Usakkov, for the last time, you didn't build Impel Down!" another newkama barked.
"Then why do I feel so guilty?!"
"Because you've been hitting the good stuff again."
"…whoops."
"…Ignore them," Bentham said, shaking his head. "Why are you even worrying about this, Straw Hat? You've always been about the bottom line: you need to save your brother, and he's in your way. Even if it does come down to killing him to win—and by your track record, I doubt it will—why are you thinking about it so hard?"
Luffy sighed in frustration and tugged his ears down.
"Because if I'm not looking at the bigger picture, someone else has to worry about it for me."
Bentham and everyone else in earshot blinked.
"I don't want to care about it, I just want to focus on Ace and forget about what happens besides that. But I get enough that if Magellan goes down and stays down, a lot of bad guys who should be here are going to get out. I'm already breaking out one person that I never wanted to see again." Luffy shot a vicious glare over his shoulder to no reaction from the scarred reptile. "I'm not eager to let any other monsters out of their cages."
Luffy snapped his head back around, his expression as grim as it had ever been.
"I'm already ready to burn the world to free Ace… but that doesn't mean I have to do it."
-o-
There was a shift felt around the world as Jeremiah Cross's declared deadline ticked ever closer.
Whether they were waking up or preparing to sleep, young or old, all could tell: the atmosphere of the world had changed.
And why wouldn't it have? The World Government had spared no expense in spreading the word to all corners of the globe: War.
War between the Marines and Whitebeard.
War between the two pillars that upheld the world.
Some were eager, rife with anticipation to witness the oncoming clash between titans and to live in whatever age came next.
Others were terrified, people half the world away fearing that the ripples of the battle itself, much less the consequences, would rip the world asunder. Fears that were not without merit to anyone with even a passing knowledge of geopolitics.
Some children sang and laughed, spouting songs about how Whitebeard was coming, unaware of the devastation that was about to be wrought. Senior citizens looked upon the caps they'd kept after retirement with fondness, in a final lingering display of solidarity.
All across the oceans, the world tensed, preparing for the first waves of the storm that would soon come to rock the seas to their very cores.
-o-
A short way into Level 1, the group met their final opponent in a most unexpected setting. Far from the stairs that led back to the front door, but along the only path that they could take to go forward, with walls of venom blocking all other passages.
And the setting in question? A large dinner table with several plates of food laid out, including an abundance of meat on the far side. That is, the side facing Luffy. It was a small banquet and a table set for two, with Magellan in the opposite seat. He raised his head to regard them and nodded respectfully.
"Ah, Captain Luffy. I've been expecting you," he said in an almost friendly tone. "Come, I have some food prepared. Sit and eat for a bit. Enjoy your last meal. Before your execution, I believe we need to talk."
"…yeah, Warden Magellan. We do."
It was before a sea of twitching eyes that Luffy took his place at the table and began to eat as Magellan did the same.
"…Queen Ivankov? Did you spike the punch?"
"No," the okama answered curtly. For all the surreality of the situation, it was no less tense. For several seconds, the only sounds were the two eating.
"…So," Magellan said, daintily wiping his mouth. "You knew about Level Six from the beginning."
"Cross knows a lot of things," Luffy responded neutrally, taking a bite out of a mass of ham.
Magellan processed that and closed his eyes. "He said nothing about it on the SBS. I had assumed that whatever source he had was not that comprehensive, but he kept it hidden for another reason." He opened his eyes and took another drink. "I would dare to assume that his reasons are the same as ours, but you went out of your way to free one of the very people that you were responsible for sending there in the first place, the one responsible for causing your crew so much harm. Tell me…" he stared down at Luffy. "Has your decision been worth it so far?"
"Can't tell you yet…" Luffy said, staring right back. "I wasn't able to save who I came here for while he was here, so now I need to follow him."
A sharp spike of irritation shot across Magellan's face before he schooled his expression back to neutrality. "Portgas D. Ace… a single prisoner that has caused me almost as many problems in twenty-four hours as you yourself… and now, it appears he has a hand in your presence as well. If you would be so kind… indulge me as to why you think that that single man is so worth the uncountable damages you have caused to me and mine."
Luffy didn't even hesitate as he tore a fresh strip of meat off a bone. "He's my brother." And that was that.
Magellan's brow twitched sharply, and after a second, he settled for a weary sigh as he picked up his glass and took a deep draw. "Yes, that would be how my luck would turn nowadays, wouldn't it…"
The two sat in tense silence for a few seconds more before Luffy broke the peace.
"I hate it, Magellan," he said. "I hate that I had to come to this place, and what I've had to do. What it'll lead to. But I'm going to save Ace, and I needed the sand-bastard's help to get this far, and to get through where I'm going."
Both ignored Crocodile's chuckles behind them, and Magellan levelled a glaring eye on Luffy. "Do you truly have any regard for your actions at all? How many criminals are you risking letting back out into the world, all just for the sake of one pirate?"
Luffy was silent for several seconds. Then his eyes closed, his face reddening as he attempted to recall something.
"…Barabbas," he said at last.
The Warden tilted his head. "What was that, Straw Hat?" Magellan asked.
Luffy's eyes remained closed as he concentrated. "It was a few days ago when we found out about Ace…"
~o~
"KINDA SEEMS LIKE THE PASSION, don't it?"
"You know my stance on that, Soundbite," Cross bit out.
"Passion?" chorused several people. Cross sighed loudly, putting the snail on the table and walking out of the room. Soundbite grimaced as he suddenly found himself in the role of storyteller, with everyone's attention on him.
"OK… so, some people back in Cross's world DON'T BELIEVE most of this, but OTHERS DEDICATE THEIR LIVES AROUND IT… meh. I'LL JUST GIVE the context-less version."
The snail shifted his jaws around for a few seconds. Then, settling on a voice, he spoke.
"A long, long time ago, when medicine was young and swords were the strongest weapons you could find, there was a man named Jesus. He travelled the world, gathering followers and helping others as he went. He became famous for the good he did for others, but at the same time, he was preaching about the right way to live your life. Those in command of the country supposedly followed the same rules he was teaching, but were more inclined to pay lip service and live the cushy life of rulers. Jesus went on doing his thing for a few years, then the government arrested him around the time of an annual holiday, when the head judge released one prisoner. The case against Jesus was built on lies, and the main judge of the land couldn't find anything that he'd done wrong, so he wanted to release Jesus. But the government stirred up everyone who would listen, and the crowd forced the judge to do what they wanted…"
~o~
"Ignoring their own laws, the government made him free Barabbas, a revolutionary and a murderer, and they tortured Jesus to death for the crime of doing more good than they could and pointing out everything they were doing wrong and lying about."
Most of the prisoners were gaping in poleaxed astonishment when Luffy finished his story, probably mostly at the fact that Luffy could remember that much.
Magellan, however, was frowning in confusion. "I fail to see your logic. You can't possibly compare one of the most infamous pirates in the world to a martyred saint."
"Ace isn't a saint," Luffy confirmed. "Neither am I, and neither is the rest of my crew. But we've never been the ones who attacked first, and Whitebeard…"
"Is one of the strongest and yet most benign pirates in history," Jinbe cut in, folding his arms as he regarded the Warden without a moment's doubt. "Jeremiah Cross lectured on this exact situation months ago: the old man's flag ensures peace and safety for dozens of islands along the Grand Line, and if the Government takes him out of the picture, the wrong kind of pirates are going to try their damnedest to step in and destroy that peace. And the Navy doesn't have the resources to stop them, especially now." The fishman frowned, giving Luffy an odd look. "That said, I have to agree that Ace doesn't fit in that story."
"He's a criminal, and he's done enough that his execution is just in the eyes of the law," Magellan decreed. Wiping his mouth one last time, he stood, a purple sheen slowly coming over his body as he pushed the table away. "And that is why I stand here against you, Straw Hat. The evils that enter this prison only leave with Death or on their way to meet him."
Luffy, meanwhile, didn't move, his head bowed in silence until he spoke. "Warden Magellan… do you know why they're trying to kill my brother?"
Unseen to anyone, Buggy's eyes widened as he connected the dots.
Magellan, for his part, paused at the question. "With a bounty of more than half a billion beris on his head and ties to Whitebeard, the answer is obvious."
Slowly, Luffy worked his way to his feet and raised his head, glaring at the Warden.
"But that's not why. None of that matters to them. There's only one reason that they're doing all of this, and it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But that doesn't matter to me. They want to kill him, and I'm going to save him. And you're not going to stop me this time."
He swung his bag forward, burying his hands within it. He withdrew them, setting two thick bundles of cloth on the ground and stepping into them, then withdrew two more masses around his fists.
"Let's see your venom break through these," the rubber man growled.
"You think cloth will protect you from my poison?" Magellan scoffed as a Hydra sprouted and shot at the pirate. Luffy swung an arm forward as hard as he could—and the dragon head splattered. Luffy pulled back his arm, and the cloth covering melted away, revealing something shiny underneath.
"No," Luffy grunted, slamming his armoured fists together with a resounding CLANG! "But gold will."
~o~
Nami's expression was solemn as her iron cloud deposited four thick bundles before Luffy.
"I didn't want to have to do this. But I'd trade all the treasure we have if it meant keeping you or anyone else on this crew from watching someone you love die before your eyes. So take these."
She pulled back the cloth on one of them, and some of the crew stared at the familiar sheen beneath.
"I'm no Usopp, but I know my way around gold, and I reinforced these as much as I could. They'll help you pack more of a punch, and they'll stand up to Magellan. Almost no poison is strong enough to break through gold. But don't use them if it gets too hot, or they'll melt."
She covered them again and pushed them forward, her expression firm. "Do whatever you have to, Luffy. They're all yours."
Luffy nodded with the utmost gravity. "Thank you, Nami."
~o~
Magellan's eyes narrowed, and his scowl grew. Gold gauntlets, of all the tricks he could have pulled out, and he had to concede it was an effective one. The only venom in his arsenal corrosive enough to break through gold was the Venom Demon, his last resort. Oh well. That just meant he had to keep Straw Hat at a distance, and that was very doable.
Taking a deep breath, Magellan breathed out a plume of poison gas. This one, though, wasn't the sickly green of chlorine. In fact, whatever Magellan had just breathed out, it was colorless. Luffy immediately clamped a hand over his mouth and stepped back, as did the rest of their small army.
"Crap," Luffy said, nasal. "Does anyone have a gas mask or something?"
"I don't think it would help, Straw Hat," Crocodile answered, a hint of trepidation in his voice. "I've never heard of a colourless poison gas. It's very likely gas masks would be completely ineffective."
"Oh. Well, I'm open to ideas!"
"Well, let's see how it handles the cold!" Whitey Bay declared, lashing her hand out and shooting a freezing breeze at Magellan. The gas in the air promptly condensed into a liquid that fell into a puddle on the floor, turning Magellan's venom coating into ice.
"Nice!" Luffy crowed, charging in, winding up a punch. "Gum-Gum—!"
"Gold boots will only help so much, Straw Hat," Magellan intoned with palpable menace. "Let's play a new game. I believe it's called 'The floor is lava'."
And with that, Magellan released twin hydras in each direction along the narrow corridor, flooding it with knee-deep venom. With a yelp, Galdino raised a wax lip that blocked it from flowing too far down. Luffy had to go up.
"Oh no ye don't!" Whitey declared, raising her arm again. "I—aghk!"
The pirate descended into hacking coughs and streaming tears as Magellan calmly stowed away a small blowgun, empty of ammunition but for his own poisonous spittle. He then nimbly slid away from a punch Luffy aimed at him. A Hydra reared up, and though Luffy leaped away, it engulfed his perch and began to melt it.
Magellan promptly melted Luffy's new perch as well, but this time, when the pirate leaped off, he landed atop the small lip Galdino had put up and pumped his legs. Then he leaped off in a blur of Shave.
"Gum-Gum Gold Jet Rifle!"
This was faster than even Magellan could react, even on his slick venom floor. So he did the next best thing: he pumped out a thick, gelatinous venom over his skin. Luffy's fist impacted, and though it shoved Magellan back, the gold only barely got through the layer to tap Magellan. But one word stopped the warden from taking advantage of the point-blank distance:
"Reject."
A colossal burst of force erupted from the gauntlet, shattering it and wedging pieces of the gold in both of them, though Magellan got the heavier end. Luffy's new wounds bled freely as he leaped back, shaking off as much shrapnel as he could, and landed near his watchers.
"Galdino!" Luffy shouted, holding up his bare fist.
The man started, then hastily whipped a stream of wax around Luffy's hand, Dial and all. His gauntlet was back in place.
Magellan could not shake off this attack; both fighters were panting now, each scanning the other in search of what they'd do next. The Warden's first instinct was to deploy his Venom Demon at this stage, sentence them one and all to a final death, but he allowed that impulse to pass. That was the logical route, the sensible route, and time and again, that route had proven to be a mistake against this pirate.
"Hydra."
So, instead, he opted for a more unconventional strategy, allowing a trio of liquid dragons to blast out of his back and infusing a new aspect into them. As Straw Hat and his companions watched them writhe and thrash in the air, he prepared his technique, constricting it.
"Burst Breath."
At the word, all three heads surged for Magellan's target in a massive, explosive column of gas, the pressure wave sending Straw Hat flying back and buying Magellan the room he needed to disengage and move to his ideal position.
"Get back here!" Luffy raged, sprinting after him as quickly as his gold boots would let him. A decrease in speed, but worth it when the floor was toxic.
"GAH!"
Then he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. As he reached up to grab the offended area, his hand hit something. Wrapping his fingers around it, he quickly realized it was an arrow.
"Sniper, in the rafters. And armed with a crossbow," Jinbe growled, glaring daggers up the shadowed roof of the hallway.
"Bolts dipped in poison, no doubt," Crocodile added. "Clever trick. That far away, they're actually able to back him up without worrying about getting in his way." He raised his hand, a vortex coalescing in his palm. "Doesn't put them out of my way, though."
The sandstorm was just ready to be launched when Crocodile abruptly dropped his arm, letting out a confused grunt. "They just… retreated?"
"Because she accomplished all I needed her to do."
The escapees' attention snapped back up to Magellan. The Warden had retreated further into the level and had ascended the sole staircase that led up to the surface. There, at the peak of the prison, the ruler of Hell glared down at the would-be escapees, looming between them all and any possible chances of freedom, his Hydras swaying and hissing menacingly.
"I required Domino to give me a moment to position myself optimally, and she has done so. And now, Straw Hat Luffy, one way or another, I intend to end this," the Warden intoned, the already ever-present haze of his coat of venom thickening into an outright miasma. "There is no way you can defeat me. I would use my strongest against you, Straw Hat, but I cannot shake the suspicion that you would still survive it. Allow me to raise the bar, just for you."
A tall order indeed, and one that Magellan had reflected on for much of the past day while he awaited this confrontation. After almost forty years exploring the limits of the Venom-Venom Fruit, he was confident that nothing his powers could produce was deadlier than his Venom Demon.
Any poison, no matter how potent, no matter how deadly, could have an antidote. But he knew a method to circumvent that failing.
A method he'd employed on Luffy not too long ago.
The Devil of Impel Down clapped his hands together and lowered his head in reverence. "To all that have come before me and given me sustenance, I now give thanks. And now, I beseech you once more…" He snapped his head up, hellfire flaring in his eyes. "One final time, lend me your strength! Poison Goetia!"
The words themselves seemed to carry power. A change swept across Magellan's body. Where once he had simply been covered in his typical layer of indigo neurotoxic venom, the Warden's protection abruptly shifted in hue, a spectrum of shades splashing and roiling across his body like oil atop water. Here, a splash of sickly yellow, there, a trace of gut-churning red. Noxious greens, toxic blues, and every other nauseating shade of colour in between. The Warden's body had become the canvas to a veritable rainbow of pollution.
And those colours were not content to simply writhe and swirl across his body, oh no. Rather, they coalesced into different forms. An emerald centipede slithering over his shoulder, an azure octopus squelching its way across his gut, a crimson snake slithering down his arm. A veritable menagerie of vicious, viscous, venomous venom-animals, squirming their way across the murky ooze that covered Magellan's body.
Ivankov boggled in realization at the Warden. "He's… those must be the different poison meals he's eaten, distilled into their purest forms! But why—?!"
Magellan was quick to answer that question by clapping his hands once more, a lethal aura of serenity overcoming his body.
"Thank you for the meal."
And with that statement, Magellan parted his hands with aching slowness, his right hand trailing down to hover over the center of his abdomen—
GLORP!
—where he sank his fingers into his own polychromatic poison. A few seconds later, he slowly withdrew a massive, wriggling, spine-covered fish of bloody-red. Gripping the faux-fish in his palm, he raised the creature up to his mouth.
"Lionfish Bouillabaisse."
His pointed fangs ripped into it. Without a trace of manners, Warden Magellan devoured the false-fish, ripping it apart 'fin' from 'fin', and scarfing down every last scrap and fleck of the literally poisonous fish.
It was only once he was finished, and his hand started reaching for another hue, that the beri finally dropped for the would-be escapees, striking a pure, soul-crushing sense of terror into the hearts of them all, rookie and veteran alike.
"I do believe that we have officially struck the good Warden's last nerve," Jinbe nervously noted, a sheen of sweat on his fishy face.
"…he's mixing his poisons. All of them. At once," Crocodile breathed in legitimate horror.
"All of them and likely in both liquid and gas forms, Straw Hat Boy, you have to—!"
"GEAR SECOND!"
Luffy beat Ivankov to the punch, turning red and blurring out of sight. He became visible again a moment later, a look of horror and anger on his face as a pillar of ballistic venom blasted into the ground where he would have been a second later. High above, the same three massive Hydras that had been looming over Magellan the whole time hissed and snarled as their putrid essence dribbled and drooled from their slavering maws, preparing yet more volleys to impede the Rubber-Man's charge.
Luffy snarled back, rolling onto the balls of his feet to charge headlong into the barrage. Unfortunately, that was right when it occurred to him that if he dodged the poison blasts, plenty of other targets behind him would be wide open. Indecision kept Luffy's feet for a moment.
"Don't hold back on our account, Luffy!"
He looked over his shoulder at the source of the bellow. Jinbe, his palms clad in thick white boxing pads, stood in a defensive stance at the front of the escapee army. And he wasn't alone. Hovering around him were several flying masses of wax that were intercepting any stray droplets of poison.
"You are not alone in this fight, Luffy! Trust in us, we who have the power to stand on our own!" Jinbe declared.
"We're too close to getting out of here, I'm not letting you screw this up for me, you raging dumbass! Kill him before he kills us, Straw Hat, or else I swear I'm going to kill you!" Buggy also swore… as a disembodied head hovering at the back of the army.
That less-than-encouraging bit of support aside, Luffy now had the assurance he needed. He gave them all a nod before turning right back around and barreling headlong into the barrage of poison that awaited him.
"Centipede Skewers."
And all the while, Magellan continued his noxious deed, purifying and re-devouring his own poison. An endeavour that, while unique in its occurrence, had not been conceived on the spot. Rather, being the perfectionist that he was, Magellan often thought long and hard about means and stratagems through which he could improve his abilities as Warden of Impel Down. And one of the foremost and most obvious methods he could conceive? The recombination of his poisons into deadlier substances.
Oblivious to the Warden's introspection, Luffy continued pummeling through the volleys, numerous, widespread, and variable enough that even with Second Gear, he struggled to blast his way through. He had to keep low to avoid the toxic air and dodge left and right every other second to avoid the projectiles he couldn't punch or kick out of the way. Being surrounded by bullets wasn't normally this much of a problem for him! Honestly, first he had to fight an opponent almost exactly like himself, and now he had to deal with normal people's problems?! This prison really was hell!
PSHAM! "GRGH!"
And suddenly, the sheer hellishness of the gauntlet was reinforced as Luffy was a second too slow in a dodge, and his left leg was ensnared in a ballistic pillar of venom. Luckily, his armour managed to protect him from the poison… but at a cost: the sheer force of the blast had torn at his armour and stripped it clean off, leaving his leg bare. And just like that, the danger of this endeavour was redoubled: If any of those attacks struck him, he'd have far more serious problems than being poisoned to worry about. And charging back to get another wax replacement would take time he didn't have and create a risk he couldn't take.
But then again, Luffy hadn't hesitated before charging headfirst into hell before, and he sure wasn't about to start now! A determination he displayed as he continued his charge, drawing ever closer to his target.
"Fugu Sashimi."
Another venom devoured, another catalyst for devastation. But as simple as such a concept sounded, it was far easier to conceive than to accomplish. Each of Magellan's poisons was more than a deadly liquid; it was a curse given physical form, hazardous to be in its mere presence. Mixing even two of the poisons promised disaster, and the dangers only escalated exponentially from there. The foremost issue was that, to recombine the poisons, a vessel was inevitably required for the unholy fusion to occur. And yet, the combined poisons were too corrosive, too destructive for any such vessel to take place in. Any vessel, save one.
PSHAM!
Luffy bit back a curse as another pillar of venom tore at his other leg. Part of him wished that Nami were with him. If anything could scare this guy, it would be her seeing what he was doing to her golden gifts. As it was, it solved one problem. With only one leg armoured, he had been off-balance, but with both feet bare now, he was able to properly exercise Gear Second. He glared forward at the Warden, still charging forward, even as he noticed that Magellan looked like he was sweating even through the poison.
"Frog Étouffée."
To use his own stomach as a crucible for the mother of all poisons was a daring feat, but also a double-edged one. Even with his powers, Magellan could only just withstand the blowback of his meals on a good day. To experience them all at once wasn't just risky. This technique presented a very real, very present danger to Magellan. In fact, one bad combination and it could outright kill him.
And yet.
PSHAM!
Another punch lashed out to silence one of the Hydras, but this time the venom construct acted more like a hunting dog than a snake, biting hard against his last gold armament and refusing to let go. Luffy swung his arm around with all of his strength, but the venomous fangs wouldn't let go. Another Hydra dove in, and he attempted to slam the first one into it, but the grip redoubled as his gauntlet sank into the venom, ripping it away. The Hydras reconstituted quickly, leering hungrily at the wax replacement that was Luffy's only remaining armour.
"Jellyfish Pie."
And still, Warden Magellan continued his feast. In spite of the risks, the dangers, the threat to his own life, Magellan continued to eat, poison after poison falling into the pit of his stomach, and roiling into an even deadlier and deadlier beast.
He continued down this dangerous path for the same reason that most anyone ever did anything life-threatening: because of his pride. His pride as a Warden was to ensure that not a one of the criminals arrayed before him ever saw the light of day again. His pride as a leader was to see to it that the pains, the woes, the determination of his underlings were not in vain.
"Spider Steak. Octopus Noodles."
And above all else, his pride as a man. To give nothing short of anything and everything he had to offer in the face of this insane, this idiotic, this impossible, and, somehow, incredible pirate before him.
Magellan sent his remaining two Hydras spiralling into a double helix in a bid to destroy the last bit of armour his opponent had. The instant he made the move, Magellan braced himself—
"REJECT!"
—for the explosion of venom that came from Luffy's last trick. The force was enough to splatter the dragons beyond any chance of instant regeneration. But as a trade-off, Luffy was left armorless, and now—
"And lastly… Snake Wine."
Now Magellan was ready.
The moment Luffy came into view—annoyingly with enough shards of wax and gold left from the burst to cover the front of his fist—Magellan felt the final pieces of his vile alchemy blend into perfection. He felt his stomach lurch and heave, and with the final breath he could spare, Magellan spoke two words.
"Typhon Genesis."
For Luffy, time seemed to freeze, for in that instant, he saw the face of the Devil himself. Luffy saw Magellan's face, up close and personal, as the Venom-Man's expression twisted with pain. But more immediately, he also saw the jaws of that face visibly unhinge and drop down, opening his tooth-filled maw to reveal a gaping abyss.
And when Luffy stared down that gaping abyss, two violet eyes of pure evil and HATE stared back.
Time crawled by on a moment-by-moment basis for Luffy, each instant flashing by in a heartbeat.
An instant where he ground his feet into the stone, to bring himself to a halt.
An instant where Magellan's gut heaved to spew the liquid hell within his stomach.
An instant for Luffy's free, unprotected hand to shoot behind his back, and withdraw the final tool he had on hand that could turn the tide once and for all.
An instant to aim the rubber band he had wrapped around his hand.
"Usopp Elastic Wonder of Doom!"
THWAP! "GWARGH!?"
And snipe it right into Magellan's left eye.
Things moved very fast after that, because in the same second that Magellan's jaw instinctively slammed shut and he slammed his hands over his face, Luffy moved. He performed two actions simultaneously, dashing forward to put himself less than two feet away from Magellan's gut while throwing his still-armoured fist as far back and away from the Warden as he could manage. And then from one second to the next, his fist snapped back and rejoined him, so that it could punch clean through Magellan's lingering armour and blast a crater into the venom-man's stomach.
"HRGHRGH!"
Magellan's hands hastily relocated from covering his face to his mouth, what little of his expression that was visible warping into a mask of pain and terror as his cheeks bulged from the premature and very much involuntary discharge of what should have been—and technically still was—his coup de grâce.
His task accomplished, Luffy backed up and put some space between himself and his opponent in case of any further disaster.
BOMF! "GNNNNNRGH!"
This proved to be a very prudent move, as Magellan's entire body abruptly and violently distended, a cloud of rank fumes filtering out from between his fingers. For a few seconds, the Warden swayed drunkenly on his feet, his eyes blank and rolled up in his skull. Then, he snapped back to consciousness with a shudder and a very distinct shade on his bulging cheeks. And then—
"HOOOORGH!"
The infamous Warden of Impel Down, Master of the Six Hells and all within, fell to his knees, and proceeded to, to put it bluntly, puke like a freshman.
SSSSSSS!
What had been deadpan stares at the rubber band collapsed into mortal terror at the spray of venom that was proof of exactly how lucky they were that the attack had backfired. The resulting cloud alone threatened to reach the rafters, and even as far back as they were, the group still warily took a few steps back.
Only a few, though, because none of them could take the situation as seriously as it deserved, thanks to one simple detail.
"Er…" Galdino piped up. "Pardon my ignorance, but should the hellish concoction that was about to turn us all into soup be, well… rainbow-colored?"
"Logically, no," Ivankov mused before shrugging. "But Straw Hat Boy is involved, so I do believe that sanity is very much dead at the moment."
"Dead? I don't think sanity even exists right now," Crocodile snarked, shaking his head.
When the smog cast off and kicked up from the upchuck subsided, the image it revealed was of Magellan bent over and panting over a gaping hole in the ground that looked to lead straight down to Level 2. Not a melted hole, but a clean hole that had bored clean through the stone. And if the sizzling sound wafting up from the hole was anything to go by, the hellpuke wasn't satisfied with 'just' one floor, either.
Despite all this, despite the ordeal of composing such an unholy concoction, the misfire thereof, outright fighting Luffy one-on-one and taking no small number of hits? One thing was abundantly clear: Magellan wasn't exhausted. He was barely tired. A little winded, perhaps, but truly damaged? Not in the least.
But as he slowly hauled himself back up to his feet and stood tall once more, it could not be said that he was truly unaffected. Magellan's face burned red from something other than anger. To be defeated in a battle of attrition or even overpowered by a mere rookie would have been one thing, marginally acceptable even. But to have an ultimate attack such as that, the apex of all poisons, get cancelled out by the usage of a glorified rubber band and a sucker punch to the gut?
There was no honour in that. Only humiliation, and a final straw.
"…so be it."
Luffy and his fellow escapees tensed in terror as another purple Hydra grew from Magellan's back and loomed on high. But despite the hungry leer with which it regarded Luffy, it did not move to strike, merely swaying in the air.
"Straw Hat," Magellan rumbled, drawing Luffy's attention back down to him. "You spoke of Barrabas, so let me return the gesture. Have you ever heard of Icarus?"
Luffy frowned in thought. "I… think Robin told me that one. The wing guy, right? With the wax?"
Magellan nodded solemnly. "Heedless of the warnings he received, he flew too close to the sun. Its heat melted the wax that held his artificial wings together, and with no more force to support himself, he fell to his death. With the benefit of hindsight, I've drawn something of a parallel to our own conflict."
As Magellan spoke, the hydra ceased swaying and lunged… but not towards Luffy, nor towards his fellow escapees. Instead, it flew straight down the hole, its long purple neck remaining attached to Magellan. The Venom-Man continued to speak, his stance slowly relaxing.
"My responsibility, as it has ever been, is to ensure that criminals never leave this prison except on their way to their execution, and your rampage thus far has left a massive mess for me to clean up to avoid any other criminals coming this close to escape. And now, as I stand before you, humiliated, I see that, if I so desired, I could defeat you. Kill you all, send you back to your cells… I have that ability, Straw Hat Luffy." The Warden's visage darkened considerably as he cracked his knuckles, the air around him shimmering with gaseous death. "And you know it."
Luffy's expression remained impassive as he nodded his head in acknowledgment.
Abruptly, Magellan relaxed. "And yet, while success would be mine, at what cost would it come? Would I be able to continue in my duties? To quell the madness you have left in your wake, and safeguard the rest of my domain? Potentially, yes… but there remains a chance. A chance that I could fail. And in the process, leave the world exposed to a danger greater than what even you represent. And a chance such as that? I cannot abide.
"And so, here we now stand. I realize now that while this is a blow to my pride, my attention is better spent elsewhere. After all, you've stated that you're determined to save Fire Fist Ace, and that no amount of danger will dissuade you. So why, pray tell, should I stop you? If you're so intent on foregoing your miraculous chance of escaping the Government that you would walk straight to the headsman's block, then why should I waste one second more getting in your way?"
Luffy relaxed as well, a nod over his shoulder signalling his companions to approach. And as the army of stripe-wearing criminals hesitantly advanced, the Rubber-Man's eyes lingered on Crocodile for a moment, and then he turned back to look up at Magellan. With respect… and regret.
"…Magellan. I get that I'm the bad guy here. And even if this is what I have to do… I'm sorry for it," he said softly.
"A sincere apology? I'm surprised," the Warden responded, his words belied by his unflinching expression. Still, he did pause to bow in respect. "Congratulations, Straw Hat Luffy. You and yours have now utterly conquered two of the islands considered sacred by the World Government." He turned away and shot a deadly stare over his shoulder at his rival. "But rest assured, no amount of luck or endurance will allow you to succeed where you're going; Marineford will be your grave, and that is a fact. Best not to keep your executioners waiting. They were adamant that you arrive there alive. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
And just like that, Magellan's entire demeanour became enshrouded in a miasma of sheer murder as he crouched to leap into his own Hydra.
"I have a new set of problems to worry about."
"Fair warning, their leader's a D. too," Luffy said gravely.
That struck a chord with the Warden. He stumbled and snapped his head around to boggle at the Rubber-Man. At the complete lack of deceit in Straw Hat's dour expression, his face went slack, and he glanced up in tired despair.
"… Damn today to Tartarus …"
And with that final resigned groan, Magellan shot up-and-down the Venom Road and disappeared into the depths of his domain.
Just like that, the battle of Impel Down came to a close.
There was no greater ceremony than the escapees opening the once-impenetrable gates of Impel Down.
No struggle as they commandeered a conspicuously unmanned battleship.
And no impediment from the Gates of Justice that solemnly swung open, as their vessel sailed out into the tub current.
Three hundred eighty-five criminals, pirates, and other assorted deviants sailed out and headed straight for war. And not one of them was left behind.
Not one remained to see the end of an era.
IMPEL DOWNFALL