Inside the elevator, Cyrus watched quietly.
Whitebeard and the other four looked at the scene before them with strange expressions.
Something had happened on Marine territory that even the Fleet Admiral himself could not detect?
Anyone with eyes could tell that the scene before them had exceeded Fleet Admiral Sengoku's expectations.
It seemed there really was a problem within the Marines.
The two Admirals who had followed them down in the elevator, one magma and one ice, rushed out from both sides toward the direction the attack had come from.
Impel Down was enormous, and the passage on the second level was extremely long, but the attackers were not weak either.
The Admirals arrived in the blink of an eye.
However, once they arrived, no fierce battle broke out.
Garp stopped and drew back his fists.
On the ground before him, at least several hundred Seastone bullets were scattered everywhere.
"World Government standard-issue weapons, using Seastone bullets. Even the Marines are restricted from using weapons like these."
Garp raised his hand, pinching one of the bullets as he spoke to Sengoku.
Sengoku nodded when he heard that, then looked toward Cyrus.
He found that Cyrus, along with Whitebeard and the other four, seemed to be watching a show.
"My apologies for allowing something like this to happen."
Sengoku offered an apology, though it was hard to tell whether he truly meant it.
"Jihahahaha! Sengoku, you don't need to apologize. It doesn't have much to do with us anyway. But the relationship between the Marines and the World Government…"
Golden Lion suddenly laughed aloud, looking delighted by their misfortune.
"Even so, it's still better than you, Golden Lion! This time, you'll be staying at the bottom of Impel Down forever."
Garp glared at Golden Lion, his tone unfriendly.
"If I could get out once, I can get out a second time."
Golden Lion tossed his head, speaking with great arrogance.
It was as though he was not the one who was about to become a prisoner.
Cyrus watched Garp and Golden Lion argue without speaking.
He turned and stepped out of the elevator, walking toward the direction the attack had come from.
The enormous second-level passage was dozens of meters tall, and everywhere one looked, there were sturdy black stones.
Sengoku, Garp, Whitebeard, and the others followed as well.
After quite a while, Cyrus and the others arrived at the place where Akainu and Aokiji were standing.
Dozens of lifeless bodies lay scattered across the ground, with long-barreled firearms strewn around them.
However, none of those people had any sign of life left.
"Fleet Admiral, they had already committed suicide by the time we arrived. There was no hesitation at all."
Aokiji reported in a low voice.
"I understand."
Sengoku nodded calmly.
Not only him, but Cyrus and the others could also see what kind of situation this was.
These people were dead men.
Abandoned pieces.
Their role had been to launch this attack.
This was Impel Down, after all, so even if they succeeded in their assault, their chances of escaping were not high.
In other words, their only purpose had been this attack. Once the attack was over, no matter the result, they would kill themselves.
'A special secret force belonging to the Celestial Dragons.'
Sengoku sighed inwardly.
As expected.
He had already guessed who was behind all of this.
The commander of God's Knights.
When he thought of that arrogant red-haired figure, Sengoku could not help frowning.
He had met that man before. During the battle at God Valley, that man had led God's Knights against the Rocks Pirates.
However, after that, Sengoku had never heard much about him again.
He only knew that after that incident, the man became a hero among the Celestial Dragons.
"Let's go. Finish this matter as quickly as possible. Cyrus, you should also want to receive your bounty money sooner, right? The Hunter Guild is developing too quickly, so its funds must be very tight."
After taking a deep breath, Sengoku changed the subject and spoke to Cyrus.
Cyrus had no intention of digging too deeply into this incident either.
After all, it had not affected him much.
Moreover, now he could sit back and watch the Marines and the Celestial Dragons fight over power.
Perhaps when the time came, he would not even need to make a move before either the Marines or the Celestial Dragons collapsed first.
Although the Celestial Dragons were suspected to be consumables raised by Imu, the authority and status they held were completely real in the eyes of outsiders.
As for the Marines and the Celestial Dragons, or rather the World Government, they were supposed to support each other.
Now that cracks had appeared internally, Cyrus could enjoy watching the show.
However…
Cyrus suddenly turned his head toward a certain direction, and firelight flashed in his eyes.
Then a sudden scream rang out, only to vanish in the next instant.
Everyone looked toward the direction of the scream in surprise.
A human-shaped piece of charcoal was burning with flames.
It looked humanoid, but it had a long tail. On the black stone wall beside it, a scorched imprint of a human figure with a tail had appeared.
"You hid well. Unfortunately, not well enough to fool me." Cyrus spoke softly, then continued walking forward. The passage to the next level was at the end.
The others exchanged looks.
Because they truly had not noticed that someone had still been hiding nearby.
"It should be due to some kind of Devil Fruit ability."
Sengoku walked over to the burning humanoid charcoal and lowered his head to look at it.
"We didn't discover it, but Cyrus did."
Garp picked his nose. He looked frivolous, but his tone clearly carried a trace of seriousness.
Akainu and Aokiji's expressions grew even more severe.
It seemed the gap had widened greatly again.
"Again?"
Golden Lion's expression turned ugly.
Cyrus's move had made him suffer quite a bit before.
Although he could not sense anything around him, Golden Lion felt that invisible flames must have been burning all around them this entire time.
Back on Whole Cake Island, Cyrus had used such a method before.
Not only could he use those flames to move instantly, but he could also create terrifyingly hot flames out of nowhere.
Golden Lion had nearly been burned to death.
But since he had already lost once before, losing again was not impossible to accept.
On the rest of the journey toward the lowest level of Impel Down, Sengoku and the others remained on full alert.
This time, however, everything was quiet.
It seemed the attack had stopped.
Or rather, the person behind the scenes had only planned that one assault.
After all, after that one attack, the goal would be achieved if it could be achieved. If it could not, then continuing to act had no real meaning.
Of course, if the attack had been able to kill Cyrus, then anything would have been worth it.
Unfortunately, they could not do that.
…
Following the normal route through the levels of Impel Down was not particularly difficult.
However, to leave normally, one had to face Magellan, the user of the Venom-Venom Fruit, who was said to be invincible inside Impel Down.
Or rather, within Impel Down, Magellan alone could wipe out most of the life in the entire prison.
That was the combat power of the Venom-Venom Fruit in a confined space.
"You seem very familiar with this place."
Garp walked beside Cyrus, watching as Cyrus smoothly arrived at the sixth level.
"I wouldn't call it familiarity. Observation Haki can sense the space here. However, something seems to be interfering with Observation Haki. What is it?"
As Cyrus spoke, he turned his head curiously and asked.
On the sixth level of Impel Down, Observation Haki was indeed suppressed within a certain range.
If one wanted to pierce through the structure of the sixth level, they needed to pour in even more Haki.
"Seastone."
Garp raised his hand and touched the wall beside him.
"Can't you sense it? Here, ability users are fully suppressed."
As Garp spoke, he turned his head and looked seriously at Cyrus.
Sengoku and the other two Admirals silently shifted positions, seeming to surround Cyrus.
"You want to fight? Or have you already considered the consequences? Do you think this place, built with Seastone, can restrict me?"
Cyrus noticed their movements, but his expression did not change.
The flaws of his Devil Fruit had disappeared the moment he ate it.
The suppressive effect of Seastone on ability users meant nothing to him.
However, the Marines—or rather, the World Government—really were extravagant.
A rare material like Seastone had actually been used to build an entire prison level.
Although judging by appearance, the purity of this Seastone was not high, and its suppressive force was not especially obvious.
Even so, this was still an entire prison level, and it was the great underwater prison, Impel Down.
For a tower-shaped prison, this lowest level was the largest in area.
If this entire level was made from Seastone, how many years had it taken to accumulate this much?
Perhaps the entire sea's production of Seastone had been used here, sustained over hundreds of years.
"No. We have no intention of fighting."
Sengoku weighed the situation quickly in his heart.
He admitted that making a move against Cyrus here was extremely tempting.
Because if they succeeded, both the Marines and the World Government would be completely freed from their greatest problem.
Keeping Cyrus here forever suited everyone's interests.
Everyone's except Cyrus's.
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