[Third-person perspective]
Forced back into fighting shape through Ivankov's Healing Hormones and Tension Hormones, Luffy charged into Level 6, where Ace was being held, together with Ivankov and Inazuma.
But Ace was already gone. They'd missed him by a razor-thin margin; he had already been escorted away.
The prison's countermeasures trapped them on Level 6, but they freed Former Shichibukai Crocodile and Shichibukai Knight of the Sea Jinbe from their cells, adding them as combat strength, and broke free. As originally planned, they gathered on Level 5, joining forces with fellow inmates from across Newkama Land who wished to escape, and set their plan in motion: to smash through this prison by brute force and break out.
The plan was simple. Start a riot, raid the Guard Room, seize the keys. Use those keys to free prisoners from Level 5 on up, one floor after another, swelling their numbers, growing the riot bigger and bigger, and overwhelm the prison's defenses through sheer weight of numbers. That was all.
Even so, the number who'd actually succeed in escaping would never be large. Many would fall along the way, and anyone recaptured would face brutal torture. Knowing this full well, the prisoners took up arms in pursuit of true freedom.
"We're gonna cause a Nassible great Panicable in this Great Prison!!"
"OOOOOHHHHH!!"
Listening to the roar of the prisoners, the Candies, Ivankov suddenly noticed something.
"...? Come to think of it, where's Literary Girl? She doesn't seem to be here..."
Ivankov realized that Sue, who had arrived in Newkama Land fairly recently, was absent, and on closer inspection, Blume was nowhere to be seen either. Wondering whether they intended to stay behind, Ivankov tilted his head, and Alice and Beauty answered.
"Oh, Sue? Well..."
"Mom said she had something to take care of and went on ahead. Blume-san went with her. She said to go on without them and they'd catch up later."
"Hmm, doing their own thing too! Hee-haw!"
"They don't appear to have gone with Luffy-kun and the others, though..." said Inazuma, recalling how Luffy had simply announced "I'm going on ahead!" and taken Jinbe and Crocodile with him, climbing up to Level 4 before everyone else.
Only those three had been there at the time. Sue and Blume were not among them. Had they left at a slightly different time?
Inazuma puzzled over it, but thinking wouldn't produce answers, and there was no time. For now, the decision was made to head for Level 4 alongside Ivankov and the others, chasing after Luffy's group of three, together with the Newkama Land companions and the Level 5 prisoners they'd freed and recruited.
And at that very moment, as for Sue...
A riot had broken out on Level 2 at the same time Luffy and the others started their rampage on Level 4.
Level 1 prisoner Buggy the Clown and Level 2 prisoner Galdino, commonly known as Mr. 3, had unlocked Level 2's cells, and the prisoners had begun running wild. This Kickoff was timed precisely to coincide with the moment nearly all of Level 2's forces had been redeployed to suppress the Level 4 riot.
On top of that, immediately after Ace had been handed over to the Marines, Shichibukai Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach, and his crew arrived at the prison's main entrance and launched an assault, breaking through the defenses and forcing their way inside. The timing couldn't have been worse: the warship for Ace's escort had just departed, and Magellan had already gone back inside.
All these reports hit Vice Warden Hannyabal at once. He was foaming at the mouth in a panic, completely overwhelmed, when a call came in over the Den Den Mushi from Magellan, who had just finished overseeing Ace's transfer.
"Can you hear me, Hannyabal!"
"Ch-Chief Warden!? Wh-where are you right now!?"
"Level 2. I've heard the reports from this end too. I'll suppress the idiots on this floor immediately. Don't worry about that. As for Blackbeard at the main entrance... I have no idea what he's after, but I've already taken measures. It's a desperate move, but I've released Shiryu to handle the suppression."
"Sh-Shiryu the Head Guard!? Th-that's... well, but if it's the Head Guard, then it's a sure thing."
"Yeah. I won't waste time on this floor either. I'll finish up as fast as I can and head for Level 4. Until then, the defense is in your hands. You're authorized to commit every remaining combat asset. Until I get there... hold the line!"
"...!! Understood, Chief Warden! Even if it costs me my life!"
On the other end of the call, Magellan could sense that Hannyabal, for once, was genuinely and seriously resolved to fulfill his duties. Chief Warden Magellan ended the call and set down the Den Den Mushi receiver. Then, with a "Now then..." he turned to face the prisoners standing before him.
"You heard. My subordinate is going to buy time at the cost of his life. I must rush to Level 4 no matter what, so that his resolve doesn't go to waste."
Or more precisely, he was addressing one prisoner in particular.
When Magellan had heard the report of the riots, his original plan, before contacting Hannyabal, was to instantly suppress Level 2's riot with poison and then call in simultaneously with a message of "This side's handled."
In truth, with his level of strength, the prisoners of Level 2 posed absolutely no threat. Suppressing the riot would have taken only a few minutes at most. Rendering every last one of them unable to fight might have been tricky, sure, but by scattering poison liberally, filling the corridors with Gas, and then plugging the exits with masses of poison to eliminate any escape route, every prisoner in the area would have been immobilized before long.
At that pace, he should have been able to finish in the blink of an eye and give Hannyabal a reassuring report.
If not for the unexpected interference.
The large, open hall on Level 2 where Magellan now stood. Within visible range alone, hundreds of prisoners were packed together, drenched in cold sweat.
They'd started a riot readily enough, but within minutes the Boss of hell himself had appeared, and the sight of the poisonous Gas rising from his body and his Hydra had plunged them into despair. Then a single prisoner appeared immediately after, generating a gale that blew away all the Gas at once and effortlessly slicing through the Hydra, saving them before they even understood what was happening.
Magellan had been equally surprised. He'd launched several more poison attacks, but every one had been countered and blocked.
Realizing this wouldn't be easy, that it certainly couldn't be dealt with quickly, he decided to report to Hannyabal first. For whatever reason, the person before him and the prisoners had waited for him to finish. Then again, the rest of the prisoners, Buggy and Mr. 3 included, probably just lacked the courage to step between the two figures facing each other.
"I'll ask, just to be thorough. You wouldn't consider surrendering peacefully, would you... Pirate Literary Master?"
"Of course... not!"
A flat, decisive rejection from Sue.
Paper Wings sprouted from her back. A jade-colored sword in her hand. As if in provocation, or perhaps a declaration of war, she leveled its tip at Magellan and held it there.
[Sue's Perspective]
Goes without saying, but the single greatest obstacle to escaping from Impel Down is the existence of Chief Warden Magellan. One hit from any of his attacks means guaranteed critical poisoning and total incapacitation. The sheer viciousness of his Powers meant that no matter how many people the jailbreak team gathered, they were always forced into a desperate, razor-thin fight.
In the Original Work, including the people Buggy's group freed, prisoners from Level 5 down to Level 1 were released en masse. Must've been hundreds, maybe thousands. And if I remember right, the number who actually made it out was... around 200? That kind of reduction speaks to truly terrifying suppressive power.
Of course, some of them were taken out by the Guards, the Jailers, the Blugori, and the Jailer Beasts, but the vast majority were Magellan's doing. I'd bet on it.
Even Crocodile, though it was never stated outright, feared this man enough to avoid fighting him. The poison itself is horrifyingly lethal, obviously, but there's another factor: his poison is a liquid. Since Crocodile's weakness is moisture, anything that solidifies sand, the matchup is terrible for him. Even during the Arabasta Arc, when he fought Luffy, he took damage not just from water but from blood hardening his sand.
Whether this guy is in the picture or not drastically changes the difficulty of a successful jailbreak. And I believe that also affects the difficulty of what comes after, in terms of combat strength.
So I've decided to pull off one massive Original Work deviation right here.
I'm going to defeat Magellan. Right here, right now.
Which is why I'm currently on Level 2.
Since Iva-san and the others need to free prisoners floor by floor, they're working their way up from Level 4. But I took the supply route shortcut, the one only a small number of people can fit through, and came straight to Level 2. After taking care of a little "something I needed to do," the riot organized by Buggy and Mr. 3 kicked off at the perfect time.
Magellan showed up to suppress it, and that's when I made my entrance. That's where things stand.
Oh, and one more thing: my current outfit is, obviously, not the cheerleader uniform anymore. I changed properly.
...I mean, fighting in a miniskirt designed for maximum panty-flashing and a midriff-baring top would be a bit much, right?
What I'm wearing now is, well, another battle outfit of sorts. One of the cosplay-esque costumes from Newkama Land. Where do they even get these things, anyway? Handmade? In any case, I picked one that was reasonably sturdy and easy to move in.
...But now I'm starting to think the "virginity-killing outfit" was maybe a step too far.
Not the backless sweater type or anything with excessive skin exposure. It's a white blouse with a black High West skirt. The original virginity-killing outfit. Probably.
Look, I didn't have time to browse. This was genuinely the least bad option. Caught me off guard. The other outfits I'd had my eye on beforehand, the military-style one and a few others, had all been borrowed by the other Newkamas today of all days. You know how they switch clothes and accessories based on their mood each day, singing and dancing...
As a result, right before departure, Alice nearly jumped me. You're not a "first-timer" on either front, you know. And even now, I feel like I'm getting weird stares from the prisoners and from the Guards behind Magellan... N-no, don't think about it. Focus on the fight that's about to start. This isn't an opponent I can afford to let my mind wander against. That much is certain.
Magellan, for his part, let out a heavy sigh.
"Then there's nothing for it. I too must fulfill my duties as the Boss of this place. Given the situation... you don't expect me to go easy, do you?"
As he spoke, poison began secreting from every surface of his body. He donned an armor that meant lethal injury from mere contact, and the Hydra I'd just cut apart moments ago was reformed.
"What a shame, truly. I've worked at this prison for quite some time, but having to lay hands on my own 'favorite author' is a first for me, I'll admit."
"And this might be my first time doing fan service with this sword. For your grave offering... how about a new book I'll publish after I've broken out?"
"Don't get cocky, criminal! Not a single one of you is getting out of here! Starting with you, Pirate Literary Master... by the authority of Impel Down's Chief Warden, I hereby execute your sentence on this spot!!"
The next instant, the Hydra reared its head and lunged. At the same moment, I beat my Paper Wings and took flight.
To be continued...