Chapter 160: [160] Family Business
[3540 words]
----------------------------------------------
"It seems that wish came true!"
Ares' face was stretched from ear to ear with pride and relief. But that grin warped into a frown as a violent cough ran up his throat.
"Ugh!" The War God lowered his head, coughing a lung into an already bloodied rag.
"..." Damien watched with his arms crossed, seeing his father's single eye turning red from blood.
'His body is giving up on him. The same illness that claimed the future King of the Pirate Roger's life.'
The younger pirate closed his eyes momentarily, his father's repeated coughing echoing in his ears.
An image of the white-haired woman came to mind—always smiling, seeing the good in everything that was bad.
Opening his eyes, he saw Ares breathing heavily, trying his best to stabilize his condition. "For all my life, I wanted to find my useless father who left my pregnant mother alone in this cruel world and beat him to a pulp…"
The father in question looked up with some apprehension, not for his possible death, but for being hated by his only remaining family.
"...But now it seems that the last part is already done."
"..." Ares blinked, trying to understand Damien's expression. His sole widened into a smile, and a laugh howled from his bloodied lips: "Ruhahahaha!"
Damien lightly smiled at the old man's hollering and suggested, "I'm not fully convinced that I don't hate you for what happened… I think I'll figure it out after a hearty meal."
The War God quickly nodded and shot up with newfound energy, but his eyes soon fell on the shackles around his son. "Too bad some annoying Underworld Emperor is sourcing Seastone… they swapped the chains to hundred percent purity now; they're as tough as diamonds!"
Ares clicked his tongue and began thinking of ways to free the Sin Incarnate.
His pondering was interrupted by two loud thuds kicking up the dust within the prison.
"What the…" Ares' jaw hit the ground, seeing Damien rubbing his wrists from the numbness.
Ares missed his previous display of crumpling the cage in his emotional state; only now did he realize the absurdity of the situation—his son's Emission Haki was the culprit!
"S-Seastone should easily diffuse your Haki…"
He looked at his own wrists. Even after twenty years, he couldn't remove the cuffs, even after rusting the chains that anchored him down.
The only real solution was to cut off the limbs…
Damien's words broke the man from his reverie, "The one thing you should know about me, old man," he grabbed the prison gate edges with each arm, "I tend to surprise people with the impossible."
With a light tug and a pulse of flowing red, the seastone door that caged the Sin Incarnate was ripped off its hinges, crying out in a miserable squeak.
"..."
A stunned Ares stood speechless as his son reached for his twenty-year-old cuffs and tore them open with a hearty squeeze.
The lightness of his wrists left him in disbelief. "They really gave you a free ticket to get in here, didn't they…"
"I hear the wolves in the Frozen Hell are considered a rich delicacy," Damien commented, rubbing his stomach in a lost gaze. "I haven't eaten in two weeks… Let's have our fill."
…
[Few Hours Later]
A few alerts were reported to the Warden's office of prison guards falling unconscious at the Fifth Level; meanwhile, the Snail Surveillance was phasing in and out. Yet Ponos was not awfully worried. After all, Impel Down had been inescapable for centuries now, and it wasn't odd for some devices to malfunction here and there due to age.
Over a bonfire, the father-son duo shared some stories of their battles. The main reason was the God of War's keen interest in his son's previous conquests.
Disarming Zephyr, blinding Basara and traumatizing Kong—all feats leaving Ares exploding in laughter; his son was the Bane of Admirals!
Eventually, the two pirates returned after enjoying a feast of 300 wolves, keeping their tracks hidden with unconscious prisoners and glitching surveillance snails.
…
*Creak* The door to Eternal Hell opened again, bathing the recently woken-up prisoners with the burning light.
"S-So brigh–!"
Yet before they could even factor in who it was that had come, a stream of overwhelming weight rushed in from the opened doors, befalling the prisoners with two dense clouds of Haki that would easily send even the most battle-hardened Vice Admirals to sleep.
Black lightning crackled through the air, ringing through the seastone bars with an infernal symphony.
"You both need to stop throwing your Haki around so wildly."
Ares and Damien both paused upon entry and looked at an inconspicuous cell on the other side of the floor.
Ares suddenly grinned, slapping Damien's back, "You probably noticed him before. He's an old rival of mine."
The veteran pirate strolled across the cold floors of hell, reaching the depressing cell. A mischievous eye locked onto the dark silhouette under the blanket of darkness, leaving Ares smiling with nostalgia.
"To be able to ascend into the post of the Commander-in-Chief, a Fleet Admiral must accomplish at least two incredible feats," he told his son, knocking on the bars twice.
Damien made a thoughtful gesture, cupping his chin. "Endou was so dominant that he ticked those boxes sixteen years before the promotion came to him. Before taking you down, he also 'vanquished' Bloodspawn Mors all alone."
The three crimson pupils studied the grim figure with his head down towards his knees.
"That's right, he's also rotting here," Ares confirmed with a grin.
"..."
The man in question slowly raised his head, glaring at the chipper fellow legend. "War God, you have an impressive son."
The voice was rough and hoarse, and it came from a man who had been in a hellish cell for over three decades!
The once-notorious Mors stood up, slowly walking ahead. The thick Seastone chains snapped at the floor, tugging the man backwards.
*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*
His massive frame measured a little over 22' 7" (6.9 meters) and thudded heavily on the base below.
Mors was a titan among men. His burly body was covered in intricate, swirling tattoos that marked both his skin and his past with tales of violence and victory. His heavily muscled body bore the signs of relentless battles, each scar a testament to his unyielding spirit.
A thick, braided beard fell from his rugged jaw, framing a face hardened by years of war. His eyes, shadowed beneath a sharp, pronounced brow, held a fierce intensity that spoke of a man who'd seen countless souls fall before him.
He looked around 70 years old with a weathered face. Yet his eyes were cold and discerning.
"I can smell one of my own off of you…" the Bloodspawn breathed with narrowed eyes. "Looks like a few embers of Polemos lived through the extermination."
Damien naturally knew what the man was insinuating. With a smile fit for a pirate, he said, "It's nice to meet you too, Zenora Mors!"
[Zenora Mors Image (in Discord)]
.
The towering beast of a pirate examined the young sprout before him, but that went both ways.
'His Figures of War are permanently on,' Damien noticed. Unlike Indra, Mors' dark skin was forever marked with red!
A short hum escaped the Warborn's lips before he walked back to sit down.
"You don't want to get out of here?" Damien curiously asked.
The Bloodspawn scoffed—he had seen the absurd sight of Seastone being torn like paper, but the bold fellow before him held all the cards. "And why would you free me?"
Ares leaned in and whispered to Damien from the side, "I've known him for decades. He's always been broody like this."
The younger pirate returned a mysterious smile to the reclusive Mors before turning away: "Perhaps we can work out a deal later…"
…
The father and son duo returned to the homely cell, with Ares left thinking, "I know you have other reasons for coming here. But why don't we take advantage of this indestructible floor?"
Damien's brow furrowed while he analyzed the cheeky grin on his father's face. He had already coughed another lung out during their meal, reducing Damien's trust in the matter at hand: "You want to train me here? In your condition…"
Ares scowled, raising a blackening fist bubbling with molten Haki. "My body is still in its forties. Don't insult a God of War!"
Black cracks opened up along the pirate's body, releasing orange sparks of damnation. "Come on then, let me see what you got, Sin Incarnate!"
----------------------------------------------
The wholesome scene at the bottom of Impel Down was fairly resemblant of the peace that surrounded the seas.
It left the man overseeing the fabled Headquarters of the Navy endlessly satisfied…
…
*Slurp* A tranquil Kong loudly slipped his green tea; the fresh aroma made him smile.
"Aahh," he hummed in delight, leaning back to the leather seat. "What a nice morning…"
It was truly serene. The Fleet Admiral's office, once a mess of papers, bounties and reports, was now clean and tidy with not even a speck of dirt.
Kong's desk needed no replacement since God Valley, and the same could be said for his windows.
Such heartwarming peace.
"..."
*Bang!* The door flew open as a boisterous man waltzed in, shoving crackers down his gullet, "Bwahaha! You should have called me over if you were gonna enjoy some tea, Kong-san!"
Kong's eyes shot open while his fingers dug into the armrests. The top marine calmed his breathing, reciting a mantra, 'He's the Marine Hero, I must tolerate. The world is at peace, I am at peace…'
Kong cleared his mind and brought both arms to rest over his table. "Garp, what brings you here?"
The Vice Admiral paused, glancing at Kong with a curious gaze, even stopping his chewing of crackers.
"..."
The Hero cautiously sat on the chair across the desk, peeking at his superior with doubt. "Kong-san, did you forget your meds today?"
*Creak* A thin crack spread from under the Fleet Admiral's finger resting on the desk, yet his face remained calm.
"If you are so free, why don't you help me with these commands from the Five Elders."
Garp raised an eyebrow, "Oh? *Munch* What's *Munch* that?"
Kong ignored the crumbs quickly decorating his desk and briefly summarized, "The World Government had a high deficit in the past few years, one that quadrupled after the Remote Reverie took place; Rocks really left us clawing for resources."
He then tapped the sheet of paper, nodding at its wise directions, "The World Military Draft pumped us with hundreds of thousands of recruits worldwide, eating up a lot of money. With the New World threats destroyed, we no longer need a vast army… A demilitarization is in order."
Garp oohed and ahhed at the news, inhaling his snacks.
.
Kong leaned his head onto his fist, pondering some things. "Your new mission has been assigned. You'll do it alongside Sengoku and Zephyr."
"And what's it?" the Hero questioned, wiping his face ridden with crumbs.
"Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, Vitalius Shaw, Patrick Redfield and Shiki. All these Level One Threats are your targets. You don't need to vanquish them; just force them into hiding. It's enough to win back the trust of the world."
Garp picked at his nose, commenting on the new mission, "Well, whatever. I just want to enjoy my lifetime supply of rice crackers."
"Though, Kong-san," he suddenly said in a serious tone. "What do you think about Damien? Do you think Impel Down can hold him?"
Yet the insinuating words were immediately shot down by the Strange Beast. "He's amongst two other living legends, and like them, he will rot there!"
Garp crossed his arms, recalling a tale from his days as a fresh recruit. "What if he goes missing like his pops?"
The Fleet Admiral scoffed, his anger flaring at the thought of the War God. "Ares disappeared from his cell nearly twenty years ago. I still remember his sickened body when we vanquished him at Marineford. Even if he broke out from his chains, he's long dead now!"
"As for Einar D. Damien…" Kong's jaw tightened. Subconsciously, he raised his right arm. The metallic clicks and clacks of the foreign limb left the Paramecia-user livid.
Like Zephyr, Tensai granted him a replacement. However, being a Devil Fruit user, the Strange Beast couldn't take on a Seastone arm.
Feeling the cool metal lacking all hints of life, he inwardly raged, 'Even with the Elastium of Arkaos, I can't help but remember that insufferable pirate's face every damned day!'
A boiling hiss escaped the gaps of Kong's jaw while a beastly air leaked from his pores. "I made sure to double the shackles around him. Rest assured, The Undying will forever rot in the Great Prison!!!"
----------------------------------------------
The quaking air around Marineford now resembled Impel Down. As Kong ensured, the Sin Incarnate was indeed still in the Great Prison. Although not in the capacity the Fleet Admiral assumed…
…
BOOM!
Hundreds of knock-out prisoners were flung through the cells, their emaciated bodies clanging at the bars. All but two cells remained untouched by the torrents.
Though the ones responsible could care less.
Damien threw a barrage of Haki-clad fists at his father, sending torrents of air in his wake. Yet not a single one of them connected.
"Sometimes, the future will not be your ally. This is the first lesson!"
Ares' fist blurred before it struck like a thunderclap, the force reverberating through Damien's bones.
*Vvooo!* The undying pirate shot across the floor, his body bouncing off the ground.
"!!!" Damien abruptly stopped in the air, his feet gently clicking onto the ground. The remaining momentum and acceleration sent out a shockwave to rattle Eternal Hell.
"Hmm, it's like Xebec and Roger; they can really throw off my Observation," Damien muttered, caring little for the earlier punch.
Ares blew air at his fist, polishing the scarred weapon of flesh. "What the hell did she feed you to make your bones that hard…" Though his face warped into a smile, "But your thoughts are correct—this technique is called Observation Killing!"
"It allows for control of one's own aura or presence, negating an opponent's ability to see into the future with Observation Haki," Ares explained, releasing a storm of black lightning. "It's an ability in the hands of those who have mastered the Colour of Supreme Kings."
"Alright then, show me your Armement!"
Damien nodded, raging on ahead with clenched fists. Meanwhile, Ares cracked his old bones, readying the defense.
A single left punch rammed into the older man, sending streams of Haki into his body.
BOOM!
The flowing Haki coursed through Ares' body, even rippling through his arms and legs to leave cracks along the cold, hard floors.
They continued a brawl, with Damien taking the lead. Naturally, it also allowed the younger pirate to understand the extent of his father's abilities.
>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<
[Einar D. Ares]
[Age: 66 years, 4 months, 15 days]
[Height: 11' 6"] (3.51 m)
[Devil Fruit: War-War Fruit (Complete Grandmastery)]
[Fruit Rating: 6.5 Stars]
[Skills: Incredible Talent in Conqueror's Haki, Will of D, Primitive Rokushiki, Art of War, Titanic Power]
[Haki: Advanced Mastery of Observation Haki, Grandmastery (I) of Armament Haki, Grandmastery (II) of Conqueror's Haki]
[Strength: Middle Tier Yonko (regressed extensively due to illness and age)]
-----
[Art of War: Convert combat and slaughter into Conqueror's Haki.]
[Titanic Power: Each strike holds devastating power, flowing in harmony with all Colours of Haki.]
>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<
"Your Emission Haki is very solid, not bad at all! But it can be trained a little further."
Ares scratched his stubble, "Your fruit power fits really nicely with Emission of Haki… I bet if you can get it to harmonize, it'll unlock something truly special."
Damien narrowed his eyes. 'Sengoku's shockwaves were the same, granting him his Exalted Emission.'
He slowly nodded at his father's insights, accepting the experienced pirate's teaching without a second thought.
"What about my Observation?"
Ares immediately shook his head as if someone had rubbed salt over his wound. "Your senses are well beyond me." With a sigh, he admitted, "Your talent in Conqueror's Haki should be from me. As for Observation, hmm, it must be inherited from your mother."
The information left Damien puzzled. "She had a talent for Observation?"
With a grin, Ares smiled in memory of his wife, "Hehe, 'talent?' Your mother was born with Observation Haki, which allowed her to sense the goodness in someone. It's a rare thing but it does happen to one in every dozen million people born."
Damien was left dumbfounded. But for one glaring reason, he knew the truth of the statement…
…
"You seem very quiet nowadays, Damien-chan," Nadia said as she admired the glorious night sky.
"I can tell you're dying to ask me something."
The boy looked up at his mother, a little surprised, "How can you tell?"
Nadia giggled, "Hmm, I could always see the grace in someone's heart. It was a little odd growing up, but now I'm glad I have it."
She cupped Damien's nose, "So, go ahead and ask."
…
He could still remember his mother's words from thirteen years ago. After all, it was the day before her death (Chapter 1).
'So that's why my Observation developed Empathy at Grandmastery as well...'
"She really was special…" Damien mumbled in disbelief. But it gave way to more questions: "Who even was she?" he asked his father. "Not only did she kill off their scouting party with a rusty old spear, she even burst out with Haki to keep them down."
Ares took a lonely breath, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face. "I'm not surprised she never told you. Simply put, she was not native to Renaissance."
The son slowly nodded in agreement. "That makes sense. She even knew about Devil Fruits, while the other villagers thought it was some kind of relic that protected them from bad times."
"You can't help but love ignorant peoples' thoughts," Ares rolled his eyes. "Your mother, however, was endlessly satisfied living on that small island."
He looked to Damien and revealed the little he knew, "Nadia's full name is Luciano Valora Nadia, born to Luciano Enzo Vittorio." Ares saw the glint in his son's eyes and nodded, "Yes, Luciano of the Five Mafia Families of the West Blue."
"Mafia…" Damien's distaste for the scummy ilk was evident in his tone, but there was also confusion.
"Heh. She had the same scowl on her face when she told me about it."
Ares crossed his arms, continuing the story, "Nadia, with her Virtue Sense, was brought up with nothing but the scum of Luciano around her. Vittorio was also a tyrant in his own right. She sought distance from such a lifestyle… the simplicity and peacefulness of Renaissance was like a magnet, and she never looked back."
Damien couldn't help but understand. He knew how unnecessarily kind his mother was. "That explains her spearmanship and inheriting Haki… but there's no way they'd let her just leave…"
Ares picked up on the fire in his son's eyes and shook his head, "No. Vittorio did not attack Renaissance, and I know that for sure… because I'm the one who killed him and every single brat in his line."
"The Luciano of today is ruled by some miserable bastard I found begging on the streets… uhh, right! Demalo Brown was his name."
The Sin Incarnate sighed, rubbing his forehead in irritation—another dead end.
"Well. At least she escaped them for some years of peace… No wonder such a fruit found its way to her."
Now, it was Ares' turn to stammer. "What!? Nadia ate a Devil Fruit. Which one!?" he hastily questioned.
Damien found the man's reaction amusing but answered anyway: "Human-Human Fruit – Mythical Model: Dryad."
Ares' mouth went dry as he took a gulp.
The image of the beautiful, white-haired woman came to mind, now further sanctified as a herald of nature. "Dryad… a fitting fruit for her kind soul. I guess the legend of Zoan fruits finding their own wielder has some merit after all."
The man's single eye became rather spirited as he tried to imagine the woman: "I bet she looked even more beautiful in her form. Oh, what I'd do to see her in it!"
Damien rolled his eyes. Although he still felt ambivalent about the past, he was glad to have some more context. However, the dark hand behind the curtain remained mysterious...
Thinking about the imminent future, he looked at his father, suddenly crouching down.
He unloaded a series of coughs, followed by annoyed groans.
"Maybe you should go on ice."
"Ice!?" Spitting out a wad of blood, Ares grinned at Damien, "I have no reason to keep turning myself into a popsicle anymore... I'll die happily ever after once I've taught you what I know."
With a slam of a foot, the God of War stood tall. He tossed aside his shroud, unveiling a chest fraught with scars. "Ruhahaha! Let's pick up where we left off, kiddo!"
To Be Continued…
----------------------------------------------
Author's Corner.
It was out of place for Nadia's calmness when the primitive island was raided—not only did she kill the intruders without hesitation, but she also ensured Damien's safety through the mess in her sickly condition. Her now-revealed past with the Luciano Family sheds some light on that.
Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q
Chapter 161: [161] Liberation
[3350 words]
----------------------------------------------
The Undying spent the next two weeks under the guidance of the God of War. With Ares' combat sense and life of strife, he could unload an arsenal of knowledge and techniques.
*Krrrr* *Szzzzz*
In the depths of Eternal Hell, a shirtless Damien stood like a tempest forged from molten fury, his presence unsettling even the darkest corners of Impel Down. His body pulsed with newfound, seething energy—a harmony between his Armament Haki and the Pulverization Fruit's raw power. This fusion manifested as a molten-like Haki that coursed over his skin, blazing in fiery, red-orange cracks that seemed to breathe with a life of their own.
"Ruhahahaha! It looks like your Armament Haki was waiting for a little push to evolve. It really is impressive!"
Ten days of war under Buddha shockwaves and a primal ape's explosions, alongside Ares' two weeks of training, had also sharpened his appearance—the striking resemblance to the War God was unmistakable!
[Current Damien Image (in Discord)]
.
Damien breathed in his frenzy state. With a flex, he flooded his left arm with the energy, allowing it to concentrate along the limb.
*Fwwm!* It was similar to the usual black sheet but filled with cracks of atomizing power. A callback to his very first power-up, but so much more.
'Where my Empyrean Release held the pulverizing energy in place, requiring double the energy… this Haki has both flowing in harmony and becoming one… an Empyrean Haki!'
Simultaneously, a blue screen flashed in his mind.
[Armament Haki Mastery has reached the Grandmastery (I) Stage.]
As per reaching Grandmastery, Damien unlocked his version of the Ultimate Skill alongside his {Empathy}, {Destiny Perception}, {Natural Dread}, and now {Empyrean Haki}.
[Empyrean Haki: Perfect harmony between Ryuo and Atomizing energy.]
[New Haki Image (in Discord)]
.
Damien savoured the feeling, only to be graced with a thunderous smack. *Bang!* Ares tattooed his hand to his son's back, laughing out loud, "I've never seen anything like that. As expected of my boy!"
The Sin Incarnate reined in his new Colours of Arms, his mind stuck on another thought: "I'll need some more time for Observation Killing, though," he sighed with pity, shaking his head.
"..." Meanwhile, Ares' smile twitched from the comment, "Hey, hey, don't be so greedy. You know that Conqueror's Haki can't be trained like that–"
He suddenly felt a sharp, throbbing pain run down the left side of his body. With a grunt, Ares hunched over, clutching his heart.
Damien quietly watched his old man panting through the pain. "How long can you hold on?"
"Heh," Ares chuckled, looking up with bloodied teeth. "I still have a couple months left. Why? Are you feeling sad about your dad? Come, let me give you a hug!"
Bam!
A sizzling boot smacked the older pirate, throwing him across the floor and crashing into a wall, his hand slamming on a diamond-hard bar with enough force to shatter a normal man's skull.
"I want you to meet a few people," Damien explained in the direction of the dust cloud.
Ares found his way out of the crash zone, seeming quite curious. "Oh, my son's trusted companions?" Though his eyes suddenly became playful, "And someone a little more special than that…"
Damien shrugged at the insinuation, "You could say that."
Ares shot up from the floor, standing roughly eye-to-eye with Damien, squinting as if to read his very soul.
"Ruhahaha! As expected, my son is popular with the ladies. Reminds me of myself!"
However, he suddenly froze. For some reason, Ares thought he was missing a few pieces of the puzzle. "More than one?" he blinked.
Damien nodded candidly.
Ares felt his mouth dry up, "Your mother would kill me if I tried something like that…" Though his face turned cheery once again, "Ruhahaha! I look forward to meeting my daughters."
There was relief hidden under the glint of his single eye. Relief that his eventual grandchildren would have a better father than he ever was.
"So," Ares solemnly said. "When do we plan on leaving here?"
Damien looked at the darkness around him, feeling all the knocked-out prisoners. "The World Government has made quite the dent in the pirate population in the past half-month. I suppose it's time to spice things up…"
The Sin Incarnate's crimson eyes flashed with mischief as he approached a gloomy cell.
"How 'bout it, Mors. You wanna get out of here?"
The frightening words resounded in the dark enclosure, reaching the ears of the aged pirate. Two cold eyes fell upon Damien, almost as if trying to decipher his every intent.
"What's in it for you?"
Damien smirked. "Well, though I'm ready to break out, my fellow companions are not prepared to take on the full brunt of the World Government," the young pirate explained. "So I need a few people to take some of that heat."
Mors breathed deeply as he considered the options. But his silence didn't last long…
Clang!
The thick chains snapped as the titanous man stood up and walked to the gate, looking down to meet the undying pirate eye-to-eye.
"If you wanted that, you could just break open all the other cells in this entire floor, let alone this prison. So what else do you want from me?"
Damien grinned at the man's speculation; his skepticism was warranted.
"One added condition for your release," he offered, studying the monster before him. "You will give me your Devil Fruit when you are about to die, whenever that may be."
Mors narrowed his eyes, glaring into Damien's very soul.
*Fwooo* An ominous breeze picked up while the Bloodspawn's thick braided hair and beard floated in the air, strand by strand, crackling with black lightning.
Boom!
A seething reddish purple field of Haki suddenly raged out, enveloping the younger pirate. The air was screeching in pain, releasing sharp frequency sounds like scratching your nails on a chalkboard.
Ares watched with interest from the side, smirking at the sight of the unmoved Damien.
"..."
"Morararara!"
The tense atmosphere crumbled within seconds as the hulking pirate burst into deep laughter.
He gave a devious smile that resembled a rekindled flame. "I am already at my life's end, so going down under the flames of war is far more inviting than rotting away in this cell."
With a firm nod, he promised, "You can have my fruit when I'm at death's door, even if I have to come back from the afterlife to give it to you!"
Damien was pleased, a smile stretching across his face.
He placed his hand on the Seastone door, and with a little force, the metal warped around the fingers.
*Krrr* Boom! The gate was ripped off its hinges, allowing Damien entry. The thick chains were broken with similar ease, granting freedom to the pirate who had been locked up for over thirty years!
.
Ares, who was outside the cell, squinted his sole eye, exhaling a dangerous breath: "Bloodspawn, you better not try anything."
Mors walked out of the cell, stretching his muscles.
"Don't insult me, Ares," he scoffed, cracking his neck from decades of stiffness. "A Warborn always pays his debts."
The father of the year hummed and turned to Damien, who had walked up to another cell with the same scheming smile.
.
"Looks like Linlin and Shiki left you in quite the mess…" the young pirate muttered, knocking on the cell to announce his arrival.
The woman within looked up with eyes the colour of the infinite sky. Her pale blonde hair cascaded down the prisoner garb, but it didn't detract from her beauty.
"How about it? Do you want to go and take revenge on those who threw you in here? 'Fallen Angel' Herja!"
The once-feared threat, Captain of the Valkyrie Pirates. Her silky hair was unsullied even after two years.
"You were the one who took down Enigma, the Sin Incarnate," she softly said. "What happened? Did Rocks leave you to die?"
Damien almost laughed, "Rocks? He's dead."
Herja's eyes widened, and her jaw fell open.
Meanwhile, the undying pirate took the time to tear open the door again.
The warped metal door crashed to the side, allowing Damien to enter and remove the woman's cuffs.
Herja looked at the thick shackles on the floor, the echo still drumming across the Eternal Hell.
"Why?"
Damien met her bright eyes and casually replied, "Shiki left us for dead at God Valley. Give him my hello."
The woman narrowed her eyes, almost as if she were trying to read her liberator's thoughts. "Very well."
Boom!
The woman suddenly burst with a flash of white, bringing the day to a perpetually dark Eternal Hell. It was as bright as the sun, and the light had a comforting warmth attached to it, like a warm blanket.
Moments passed to reveal a changed Herja.
The woman stood poised with timeless grace, her golden armour glistening like liquid sunlight against her flawless skin, each polished plate echoing the elegance of a warrior goddess. Her long, platinum hair cascaded down her shoulders all the way to her feet, framing a face of ethereal beauty, both fierce and serene, with eyes that held an intensity capable of piercing the soul.
Though her armour exuded an aura of strength, her beauty remained undeniable, making her appear both as a vision of battle and a symbol of divine allure.
Sure enough, she was true to her moniker as the most beautiful woman in the world!
[Herja Image (in Discord)]
.
As of now, there were four endlessly dangerous prisoners outside their enclosures, and the guards of Impel Down were none the wiser.
Damien hummed a tune, walking to a few more such cells.
Boom!
The doors were thrown off one by one, allowing the ones inside to walk out. At first, they were reticent, fearful of the monsters at the center. But their personalities soon made their debut:
"Oh, freedom at last. They locked me away, tried to bury my art, but you can't cage brilliance, sorry thank you," a dark-haired prisoner said. Her eyes widened, a deranged smile twisting her face, wild and gleeful. "Now, I'll finish what I started… flesh, bone, screams—all mine again, sorry… thank you."
"Carmelion Nera," Damien addressed her. "You drove many species to extinction with your experiments while you were under the Government… eating them whole."
While Nera giggled to herself, the pirate's gaze settled on Hou P. Lace. A lanky, scarred man covered in wounds at every stage of healing, his face twisted into an eerie, tearless grin that echoed with his unsettling "haehaehae."
Born unable to feel pain or shed tears, Lace had always been an outcast, craving the comfort he never received. That craving twisted into sadistic cruelty, leaving him a deranged shell of a man—a fool doomed to rot wherever he ended up.
"Although you're batshit crazy, you have an interesting power."
Lace tilted his head with his permanent grin.
[Lace Image (in Discord)]
A third prisoner left Damien speechless with his attitude.
It was a sharp youngster named Lin Feng with sword eyebrows and jade skin: "Jie-Jie-Jie! After fifty years, this young master is free!"
The three prisoners were awfully lost in their liberation, giddy beyond belief.
.
"What are you planning?" Ares whispered to Damien.
Yet all he got in return was a smirk. "You three, don't get too comfortable now, I didn't free you to let you be free."
"..." The words caused a deafening silence and flared the trio's instincts.
Nera's form twisted and grew, scales rippling over her skin as feathers burst from her limbs, merging with fur in a chaotic blend of nature's fiercest predators. Her stuttering breath turned into guttural growls, and her once manic gaze burned with feral intensity, green eyes glowing like embers. She extended her clawed arms, wings stretching wide as her voice cracked into a mad cackle, "Sorry, thank you… for this… sorry, thank you."
[Nera Image (in Discord)]
Boom!
Lace's harrowing gaze remained grinning while his hands materialized yellow cages floating atop his palms, each holding a power that focussed on the mind rather than one's physical defenses.
Unlike the others, Lin Feng extended both arms without flair, each swirling with a cold metal glint. *Click* Clack* A moment later, they turned into giant machine guns!
Damien hummed in approval under the three's malicious gaze. Each having lost many screws either before their capture or while rotting in Impel Down for decades.
"All you Level Six prisoners are monsters of your times," he applauded. "But how long can you remain standing?"
An overpowering burst of Haki screamed across the floor, swallowing all three of them in its weight.
Thud!
Boom!
Bam!
They were brought to their knees, their faces planting to the cold, hard floor of Eternal Hell. The paralyzing Haki threw them out of their fruit powers, making them feel the cold embrace of death that was moments away.
"I only ate people for the good of the world…!"
"I-I can't die yet! I have to wear your face first!"
"Thirty years in Hedong and thirty years in Hexi, don't bully the young and poor!"
.
They each had a sales pitch under Damien's dreadful Haki, but it didn't amount to anything.
"You three barely add up to a bounty of a billion. Do you really think I have any use for washed-up rags of a forgotten era?"
The blunt words forced them to gulp in budding fear. Damien's undisguised glare scanned through them, reading out a few facts.
"Carmelion Nera, the user of the Glut-Glut Fruit. You give a new meaning to the saying, 'You are what you eat.'"
"'Hou P. Lace. The damned son who tortured and brutalized his own family in their minds, leaving their bodies untouched—the Psyche-Psyche Fruit."
"'Jade Arsenal' Lin Feng – Arms-Arms Fruit user who transformed himself to bomb Marine Bases."
"Amongst the hundred or so scum on this level, you guys have fruits well beyond your worth. The government hopes to keep power abilities from entering circulation so they can let you rot here."
A devious smile appeared on Damien's face as he dropped the bomb, "It's almost like they left you guys here for me."
The healthy complexion of the Sin Incarnate's arm began to grey out as a white fern-like pattern arrived. He extended the palm toward the three pirates as an ominous stream of energy came.
"Ughhh!"
They each croaked and screamed as if their own hearts were being pried out from their chests, ripping them straight out. Yet what came out wasn't an organ; it was a fruit, three of them.
Thud!
Each patterned fruit fell to the floor, the pirates mirroring the motion with their collapse.
*Fwooo* The air shook as Damien placed the prized fruits in his inventory, leaving silence behind.
Mors and Herja were both flabbergasted, looking as if they had seen a ghost. Ares' eyebrows were raised, his mouth forming an "O" shape.
"…"
"So that's how you intend to take my power at my death, aye?" Mors managed to say.
Herja shook her head in disbelief. "Such a power can turn the world upside down. Why take the risk by showing it to us?"
Damien heard their words and shrugged them off. "Do you think anyone will believe a long-standing fact being broken from two pirates?"
*Zap* With a wave of a hand, the de-fruited pirates were dusted away.
"Feel free to make your way to the surface; we'll join you in a bit." He looked at Herja and said, "Do as you wish with those who remain."
Damien and Ares made their flamboyant exit, their bodies quaking with synergizing Haki to strike down any opponent before they could speak.
Herja remained at Level Six, looking at the desperate inmates with disdain.
"I've spent years enduring the lustful remarks of you infernal dogs."
"W-Wait, wait! T-That was a joke!"
"Yeah… we were just praising your beauty!"
The beautiful woman scoffed, looking down on their pathetic responses. "Miserable scum like yourselves deserve only one end."
She raised one hand, flooding it with a pale light.
.
"Heaven's Fall!"
.
The dark Eternal Hell was lit with light beyond what the sun could produce. As the new dawn calmed down, it revealed all but two people still standing.
"You just undid decades of the Government's work," Mors surveyed his surroundings with a smirk. "You have my respect, Fallen Angel."
…
While the combined force of the Bloodspawn and the Fallen Angel made their way up the different Hells, another duo strolled through the Starvation Hell.
…
Most prisoners in the Starvation Hell had bounties of over fifty million Berry.
The heat from Level 4, the Blazing Hell, would endlessly seep up and into this level. That, in tandem with the sparse food and water, kept Starvation Hell's prisoners in a near-death state.
The temperature alone had left the floor to appear like a desert: dry and littered with breathing corpses across its endless sea of cells.
Soft steps echoed along the dunes of the layer, made by the father-son group of the Einar D. family.
Ares remained in his dusty, twenty-year-old shroud, but Damien had thrown on a new shirt.
A fitted black shirt adorned with intricate silver designs clung to his muscular frame and accentuated every sharp line of his physique. Crisp white pants contrasted sharply against the dark surroundings, with belts and buckles adding a rugged elegance to his look.
[New Clothes Image (in Discord)]
.
"Hmm," Ares pondered, his boots sinking into the sand every step. "I wonder what could be so special to divert your attention here, Damien."
The younger pirate's eyes glanced at Ares before returning to the floor's sandy slopes—unnecessary suspense for a cliffhanger.
They walked through, kicking away sand and creating dusty trails as they went. The weeping cries of half-dead prisoners left the place awfully spooky, but it was nothing more than background music to the duo.
"Not 'what,' but 'who,'" Damien corrected; his target here was long-set. "I'm looking for a certain someone with an array of skills beyond simple combat. One that every crew needs…"
His words piqued Ares' attention. They walked ahead, ignoring the blaring alarms growing louder by the second.
…
After a good ten minutes, Damien stopped. He stood before an inconspicuous cell that was like all others: covered with the dead and dying, skulls and bones decorating the edges of the enclosure.
Of the thirty prisoners in the cramped cell, only half were breathing.
They looked past the humid air and onto the figures that blocked the light. The two silhouettes resembled mirages created from the sand. Yet amongst the dozen eyes was a sole pair of firm eyes.
The owner of the eyes was like a dried corpse; the only thing that showed life was the fact that his chest was ever-so-slightly expanded and constricted from respiration.
.
"His eyes are rather sharp for a man at death's door," Ares examined.
Damien nodded, scanning the gaunt figure slumped in the cell. "It wasn't easy tracking down the right list of prisoners—the updates are few and far between. But I'm glad to see you're still breathing," he remarked, a hint of impatience in his voice.
The nearly-dead man had no strength to reply, his gaze fixed in silence, too weak to respond.
A faint smile touched Damien's face as he continued, "I once had a fateful encounter with a man named Quentin Hammer. He built a Titan of a ship for me... or, rather, for the crew I was with back then…"
The words sent a ripple through the prisoner, leaving him visibly shaken.
The former Fourth Division Commander leaned closer, his voice laced with a rare hint of sympathy. "The Titanic he forged was a true monster of a vessel," he said quietly, almost to himself. "But even she fell from grace, abandoned, with no one to tend to her."
Damien's piercing gaze bore into the man's eyes as he delivered the final revelation: "Hammer told me, just days before he was killed, that his son was enslaved before his very eyes. That son… that's you, isn't it? Quentin Kraft!"
To Be Continued...
----------------------------------------------
Author's Corner.
Chapters 22 and 23 provide the backstory of Quentin Hammer, the man who forged the Titanic. I suggest reading those chapters to recall Kraft's past for the coming chapter of the jailbreak. Having a ship and a proper shipwright is essential for any crew... Oro Jackson, Moby Dick, Going Merry, Thousand Sunny, etc.
Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
142 Power
stone You may also Like
Paragraph comment