The former king who had lost his throne after committing atrocities far too vile, only to be defeated and arrested by the Marines—the Corrupt King, Avalo Pizarro.
And Shiryu of the Rain, who had been imprisoned on Level Six not long ago, and had originally been the head jailer of Impel Down.
Their brief exchange had vanished after only a few words, because Bullet, who was utterly focused on training, never said a second sentence.
At the same time, in a corner of Impel Down.
"Huff, huff—! I didn't think there'd be a bastard like that in here. What a pain in the ass!"
Teach staggered against the wall, his entire body covered in purple venom.
Beside him were Laffitte and Burgess, likewise drenched in purple poison, their faces flushed a sickly blue-purple.
Because of the battle just now, the two of them had been poisoned by Magellan to the point where they only had one breath left.
Enduring pain twice as intense as an ordinary person's, Teach snarled, "Are you done yet?! Bastard, are you waiting until we're all dead before you make a move?"
"Don't rush me. That poison man's venom is complicated. You should be thanking me for being able to prepare an effective antidote at all."
Doc Q calmly mixed the antidote, then injected Teach and the other two crew members.
At that moment, Van Augur, carrying his rifle, limped his way back.
"How'd it go?"
As soon as Van Augur returned, Teach, who was still being treated, asked nervously.
"Thanks to that old horse, we should have succeeded in holding that poison man down.
"The giant cauldron in Blazing Hell has been completely buried under rubble. Even if he doesn't die, there's no way he can get out immediately."
"That's good. Then move fast. If we don't find a few strong partners on Level Six, we might really die in this damned place."
Teach stood up, baring his teeth in pain.
Not long ago, they had run into the main force of the great prison, Impel Down.
There was nothing much to say about the people, but those few Jailer Beasts were terrifyingly powerful. Their vitality was so tenacious that they were practically impossible to kill, and their strength was also immense.
If he had not been mistaken, those Jailer Beasts should have been Zoan-Type Devil Fruit users, and they had even reached the stage of Awakening.
Yet for some unknown reason, they had failed, and were now being used as tools.
Fortunately, he was a user of the Yami Yami no Mi. As long as he got close, he could draw in Devil Fruit powers. After quite a bit of effort, he had finally dealt with them.
But before he even had time to rejoice, an even more terrifying opponent appeared.
The warden of Impel Down—Magellan!
A bastard whose entire body was poison, and who had nearly wiped out their whole crew.
Before coming here, Teach had never imagined he would run into an opponent of this level.
God knew why someone this strong was guarding a prison.
"No matter what, we still—"
Van Augur had only just begun to speak when his expression suddenly changed drastically.
At some point, purple mist had begun spreading through their location, followed by a sizzling sound.
"Damn it! He wasn't—"
Teach's face changed as he rose, but it was already too late.
"So it was you. No wonder you lot managed to hold out this long!"
The wall near Doc Q's position was corroded by venom. Magellan, his entire body red-hot, stepped out from within and seized Doc Q in one hand.
The venom on his hand released a complex toxin the instant it made contact.
That sickly old man only had time to scream once before his head was swallowed by a mass of venom.
"Pirates, don't even think of taking one step out of here!"
Magellan flung the old man aside with a sweep of his hand.
Then he stood coldly in front of Teach and the others, dragging these stubborn pirates back into a brutal battle once more.
"Poison Dragon!"
A massive dragon-shaped mass of deadly poison filled the narrow space, roaring ferociously as it surged toward them.
"Peh. Old bastard."
After trading insults with Byrnndi World for a while, Patrick Redfield found it boring and stopped.
They had been in this place for decades. They were so familiar with each other that they even knew what the other would curse next.
World was the first to stop. Redfield provoked him a few more times, and when he received no response, he leaned against the wall of his cell.
However, he neither slept nor closed his eyes to rest. Instead, he carefully and seriously activated his Observation Haki.
"That definitely wasn't an auditory hallucination!"
Redfield was absolutely certain of that—the cracking sound that had startled everyone earlier.
His Observation Haki had been powerful since birth, and it had only grown stronger with age, to the point where he could read people's hearts and even their memories.
Because of that, after seeing far too much of the ugliness in the hearts of those around him, he had become a solitary man.
And now, his Observation Haki told him that the sound just now had absolutely not come from any of the people here.
"Something must have appeared… or entered. Not someone from Impel Down. More like an intruder…"
Seastone could seal Devil Fruit powers, but it could not seal Haki.
Redfield used his Observation Haki with all his might to "look," preparing to search inch by inch for the source of the anomaly.
Yet in the next second, he suddenly lowered his head.
At some point, the thick chains binding his body had been wrapped in almost imperceptible thin threads… no, something more like qi.
As if realizing it had been noticed, the other party stopped pretending entirely, laid their cards on the table, and then flipped it over.
The qi threads instantly expanded and lit up, outlining white lines that ran across every visible restraining chain and cell door.
Crack, crack, crack!
That sound rang out again, only this time it continued without pause.
The incomparably sturdy chains were severed as if they had been molded from mud, sending up a series of metallic clatters.
"!"
Redfield's pupils shrank. He immediately looked around.
Within Infinite Hell, every cell—whether occupied or empty—was now being sliced apart by those roaming white threads of light.
Boom—!
A heavy door collapsed. Without a word, Bullet shook off the chains on his body, frowned, pushed aside the debris, and walked out of his cell.
Like him, Jinbe and the other imprisoned great pirates also slowly walked out.
"Booze, booze… booze…"
Vasco Shot mumbled the word booze as he leaned against the wall.
"How unbelievable. Not a sound, and someone actually infiltrated this place?"
Shiryu was the last to walk out. He frowned as he observed his surroundings.
As the former head jailer, he knew exactly how strict Impel Down's defensive level was.
He simply could not imagine someone infiltrating this deeply into the heavily guarded great prison of Impel Down.
"Muruhahaha. Who was it that let us out?"
Catarina Devon laughed as she looked around, but she saw no stranger. After thinking for a moment, she looked directly at the only person who still had not moved from his cell.
Coincidentally, the other great pirates also looked toward that room.
"I was already planning to spend my old age here. I never expected someone would actually be able to break into Infinite Hell and make a move."
Leaning against the wall, Redfield revealed a cold expression as he looked toward the direction of the nearly nonexistent presence in his perception.
"With such a large-scale move, are you planning to do something?"
"Is there someone there?"
Jinbe flexed his wrists as he cast his gaze in that direction, but like the others, he saw nothing.
Only a light laugh happened to sound from that exact spot.
"As expected of Red the Aloof. Your Observation Haki is very strong."
The moment that voice appeared, all the great pirates finally realized that a faint trace of presence remained there.
"Relax. I'm not planning to do anything. After all, if you're not hardworking enough, you might not even make it to Level One.
"Everyone, if you want to leave Impel Down alive, I'll be waiting at the entrance. I won't wait past the appointed time."
Without any further exchange, Ren sank into the ground with his Translucent Body.
"An illusion?"
Pizarro seemed to have made some kind of guess.
"No matter what, he helped us undo our restraints."
Byrnndi World grinned savagely as he looked toward the man beside him. "Head Jailer, are you planning to fulfill your duty?"
"I'm the former head jailer. Now, I'm also an escapee."
Shiryu glanced at him, unwilling to make himself the target of this group of great pirates.
"Muruhahaha. Then let's cooperate and fight our way out together. Magellan is not an easy man to deal with."
Catarina had only just made her suggestion when she saw Bullet wordlessly walk toward the exit.
Once their restraints had been removed, no matter what defensive mechanisms still existed in Infinite Hell, they could no longer stop this group of great pirates who were trying to escape.
A thunderous roar erupted.
The great pirates of Infinite Hell began their prison break.
Ren was perfectly aware of this, and he was happy to see it happen.
He still hated pirates. The pirates inside this place were basically all on his kill list.
But that did not mean Ren, who loved getting multiple uses out of one fish, would do the work himself.
Impel Down's defensive system was very strong. There were the Jailer Beasts—failed Awakened Zoan users—along with all kinds of soldiers, personnel, and combat forces everywhere.
But the truly powerful one was Magellan, the warden.
A Paramecia-Type user of the Doku Doku no Mi, a Poison Human. His strength was powerful enough to completely crush Gear Second Luffy and many other strong fighters.
In the original story, he had practically been an invincible presence in Impel Down. Even Luffy had to escape through trickery, rather than infinitely getting back up until he defeated him.
In later explanations, after Magellan found it impossible to continue chasing Luffy, he went back to suppress the criminals who had escaped from Impel Down, then was defeated and fell unconscious, allowing Blackbeard to successfully complete his objective.
Pay attention.
That "defeat" referred to Magellan fighting until he was exhausted after being surrounded and attacked by a group of Infinite Hell escapees plus the Blackbeard Pirates.
His strength could be called terrifying. Ren believed he was at least approaching the level of a Yonko.
That was also why Ren had taken the initiative to release the Level Six prisoners.
When Blackbeard encountered Magellan in the original plot, he was instantly wiped out!
Although there was a high chance he was strategically pretending to be weak, deliberately not using his Devil Fruit ability so that Magellan would chase Luffy's group instead.
But no matter how much strength Blackbeard had hidden, the fact that he could not beat Magellan was inevitable.
The way Magellan exited the stage was by being worn down through a group attack until his strength ran dry—and even in the end, the pirates had not killed him!
As for what result this operation would produce, it did not matter.
Either way, he would be the fisherman reaping the benefits!
After the escapees left Level Six, the remaining personnel inside Impel Down quickly sounded the alarm.
Magellan, who had originally been locked in battle with Blackbeard, immediately realized that the situation was spiraling out of control. As a result, Blackbeard seized the opportunity.
Using Black Hole to devour the passage beneath his feet, he fled in a wretched state.
Considering the threat level, Magellan attempted to intercept the escapees first. However, before he could communicate for long,
Shiryu invaded the surveillance room, killed the personnel stationed there, and cut off internal and external communications as well as the communication network.
Although he did not know the specific reason, Magellan realized the situation was growing even further out of control. After some thought, he decided to head to Level One underground and block the gate.
(End of Chapter)