章節 1: chapter 1
Thwarted Plans
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8 a.m., the day before Fire Fist execution, Impel Down, stairway connecting level two and level three
Level one was a mess.
Level two was in shambles.
Level three was in chaos.
And all because of this god-damn rookie pirate Strawhat Monkey D. Luffy. Nobody knew how he invaded the prison, but he left a trace of destruction in his wake. Cells were crushed, and prisoners ran all over the first three levels. Words have it that Strawhat, accompanied by three other escaped prisoners, has already left level three and was now causing mayhem in level four.
Taking two steps at once, guard Look was following his colleague down the stairs from level two to level three. The team of 20 guards had been called in hours before their regular shift started to assist the other teams with recapturing the prisoners again. A dangerous and gruesome task nobody looked forward to.
Guard Look grinds his teeth.
Pirates and their god-awful timing!
As if there wasn't enough tension within the staff because of the upcoming execution of one Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace, fucking second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Impel Down was considered a high-risk target for an attack by the emperor's crew for as long as the high-profile pirate was imprisoned within its walls.
No, some wet-behind-the-ears rookie thought now was the right time to tour the prison and throw everything into mayhem!
Bursting through the doors leading into level three, guard Look could already hear fighting. Then, gripping his bludgeon tightly, he ran toward the fight. The prisoners were using everything they could find as weapons. Some even obtain bludgeons - probably from the downed guards - and axes. A furious-looking prisoner rushed guard Look, swinging an axe, which suspiciously looked like it originally belonged to a Blugeon.
Ducking out of the way, guard Look swung his bludgeon and managed to hit the prisoner in the chest, followed by a hit on his head, knocking him out. Even before the man hit the floor, another prisoner took his place, attacking guard Look. Blocking the incoming hit, he pulled the prisoner closer and kneed him in the groin. Groaning, the man fell to his knees. An additional blow on the back of his head sent him into dreamland.
Guard Look ducked as another prisoner lunged for him.
Seconds later, a round of bullets cut through the prisoners.
Guard Look suppressed a sigh. Thankfully, his haki skills were top-notch, or he would have been one of the unfortunate victims of these bullets just now. Silently, he thanked his former instructor for mercilessly beating these skills into his stubborn head.
"You idiots!" an angry voice shouted. "You are shooting at us, too!"
A prisoner with blood oozing from a bullet wound on his left arm closed in on Look while he was still crouching on the floor. With an unimpressed face, Look looked up at the prisoner, and in the next moment, a bullet hit him in the neck, blood splattering every way.
"Are you idiots deaf?" the same angry voice screamed again.
Blood ran over Look's face, slowly seeping into his carefully maintained blond beard, which covered most of the lower part of his face. Suppressing a sigh, guard Look rolled out of the way of another prisoner attacking.
That was shaping up to be a fucked up day!
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At roughly the same time, Impel Down, lift, level six
With a low click, the elevator doors opened, and a wave of stale air hit Boa Hancock.
"This way, please, Miss Boa!" the chief warden purred.
Raising her head a little bit higher and squaring her shoulders, Hancock confidently stepped out of the lift. She had an important message to deliver. All she needed was something to distract the vice-admiral and the prisoner administration.
Luffy was counting on her!
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11 a.m., Impel Down, a hallway leading through a cell block in level three
Guard Look swiftly walked through the prison, a scowl on his face. The riot in the upper levels was nearly extinct; most prisoners were returned to their cages or went straight to torture. Chief warden Magellan had managed to stop Strawhat's advance in level four – even though many guards called in to assist in stopping the rookie captain got poisoned in the process – and two of his three aides had been apprehended, too.
The only missing one was an okama that somehow managed to trick vice-warden Hannyabal. So, there was a standing order for all guards not needed in restoring order in the four messed up levels to help with the search for the okama, while chief warden Magellan took a toilet break and vice-warden Hannyabal went to check something in level five.
Guard Look carefully scanned the halls of level three for a trace of the runaway okama.
"This damn okama!" cursed his colleague while studying the info sheet on the prisoner. "He even has a devil fruit, which allows him to change his appearance."
Guard Look grumbled something his colleague took as agreement and continued ranting about the okama, the other escaped prisoners, and Strawhat.
"You must have the worst impression of us, Look." he suddenly said.
"What?" asked Look, his attention on a dark, narrowed path between a row of cells. Was something moving down there?
"I said, you must have the worst impression of us here. With all that shit going on because of this fucking Fire Fist and his execution.", the other guard repeated himself. "Normally, things are a lot calmer. You choose a terrible time for transferring."
"Oh, well…" Guard Look moved closer to the narrow path. "It's not like I got much of choice in the matter. The meds and higher-ups thought that after my shoulder injury from the fight with Whitebeard's second division, it would be too much of a strain on my shoulder to return to my unit again. Without my skills in haki, I would have been discarded and not transferred to do duty as a prison guard. "Guard Look shrugged. "I think something is going on down there. Let's check it out."
"Well, it must be very satisfying for you to know that Fire Fist will be dead in a day." the other guard laughed as he followed guard Look into the dark, narrowed path.
"Yeah… very." guard Look answered with a toneless voice gripping his bludgeon tighter and touching the edge of the burn scar nearly entirely hidden by his sunglasses with his other hand. Concealed behind the dark-tinted sunglasses sky-blue eyes glinted with determination.
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At roughly the same time, Impel Down, level 5.5, rebuild monitoring room
"Vell, my sweet candies… looks like the shov is over."
Ivankov, the Queen of the Kamabakka Queendom and commanding officer of the revolutionary army, clapped his hands before standing up from his comfortable chair. Watching Strawhat boy causing mayhem through four levels of Impel Down had been truly enjoyable. But with Magellan poisoning the poor sweetie pie, his trip found an untimely ending. And while watching the guards cleaning up the mess of Strawhat boy was funny, it wasn't as entertaining as Strawhats action.
"Let's have a magnificent lunch!"
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Shortly before 2 p.m., Impel Down, level four, office of the chief warden
"Sir! Yes, Sir! I will let the others know, Sir!"
Guard Look saluted one last time before rushing out of chief warden Magellan's office. Nobody has been willing to tell the chief warden that his vice-warden hadn't been seen since he went into level five and had missed his check-in. And with no surveillance, because the transponder snails froze in the icy temperature, nobody knew if anything had happened to the vice-warden.
So, everybody, including the other jailors, danced around the topic until guard Look finally volunteered to inform the chief warden about the situation. The jailors seem relieved, while most colleagues send him pitiful looks. Cowards!
But guard Look had a reason to volunteer for that task: it gave him an excuse to get away from the ranting of his colleagues. All this talking about the upcoming execution of Fire Fist was grinding on his nerves. He really needed a break. Going to the chief warden's office with an important message was the perfect excuse to walk around alone in the facility and ignore all requests for assistance.
Patting his trouser pockets one last time, he searched for chief guard Sadi to relay chief warden Magellan's orders.
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Same time, Impel Down, level five, a cell block
Breathing hurt.
And the cold air hurt even more.
Still, he fought for every breath.
He couldn't give up!
"Good – dead – no – alive – "
The words of the other prisoners sounded faint, like they were far away and not just a few meters from him.
A groan.
He had to keep going! He had to keep fighting! He still had to find Ace!
He couldn't give up here!
Luffy still had to free Ace!
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5 p.m., Impel Down, somewhere in level five
Clothed in the thickest coats and heavy boots, guard Look trampled through the icy cold of level five. His breath had started to slowly freeze in the masses of his tamed blond beard long ago, forcing him to occasionally break off tiny pieces of ice. How did the prisoners in their thin prison uniforms survive this icy cold?
Guard Look took a deep breath.
He had to focus.
He had a task to fulfil.
"This is crazy!" one of the other guards in front of him grumbled. "How are we supposed to find vice-warden Hannyabal if we don't even know where he wanted to go? All we are doing is freezing off our balls."
"It's the order of the chief warden.", answered the leader of their little search troupe. "We have to find him!"
"Imaging how cold the vice-warden must find it." Another guard said and turned around, smiling deviously. "He never wears a coat."
Everybody laughed.
"But seriously, who does he think he can impress with shit like that?"
"No idea."
"Come on! He probably has a coat hidden somewhere that he grabs once nobody sees him anymore."
More laughter.
"Guys, I will take a short piss break over there." guard Look interrupted the small talk of his colleagues and pointed to a group of trees a few meters away.
"Are you crazy? You wanna take a piss in this cold?"
"Yeah, wait until we are back for our check-in."
"But I need to take a piss now, not in two hours.", argued guard Look.
Their leader looked doubtful. "Make it quick.", he sighed.
"You can go on. I will catch up to you in a few." Guard Look started to walk to the trees.
"We can't, idiot! We must stay together.", countered the leader.
"Yeah, make it quick! I am not interested in becoming frozen to the spot.", one of the guards taunted.
"And watch your balls, or they will get frozen!" another jeered.
Guard Look flicked them off before vanishing between the trees.
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At roughly the same time, Impel Down, level five, in another area
His lungs burned from the cold air.
Ice covered his skin.
His body felt stiff, turning moving around into a slow process.
But he didn't have time to waste! For some reason, guard units were searching level five. So, he had to move quickly! He had to find his friend and help him!
Not like these two ungrateful cowards, Buggy and Mr. 3.
Oh, he would give them an earful should he see them again.
But for now, he had to focus on finding Strawhat-chan and bring him to Emporio Invankov. He sure would be able to help Strawhat-chan so that they could rescue Strawhat-chan's brother afterwards.
Determined, Bon Kuri took another step.
In the name of their Friendship, he would not leave Strawhat-chan alone!
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At roughly the same time, Impel Down, level six, cell block of the death row
"Please, Luffy… stay away!"
Jinbe felt his heart go out to the young man chained to the wall next to him. For hours now, Ace repeated the same word over and over and over again. Like a prayer. An incantation.
If he repeated it often enough, it would keep his little brother away.
"Please, Luffy… stay away!"
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3 a.m., day of Fire Fist execution, Impel Down, level 5.5, a secluded cave
Pain tore through his muscles.
Through his bones.
His veins.
It felt like his whole body got torn apart at once.
The very first time Luffy heard Ace laugh, he froze, astonished at the clear sound of his big brother's laugh.
He screamed and screamed, twisting and arching against the chains securing him to the table. They dug into his hurting flesh, becoming slippery from all the blood seeping out from wounds all over his body, but they still kept him in place. He could taste iron in his mouth.
His world only consisted of pain.
Ace's bright grin as he waved at them from his little boat, which drifted further and further away, taking him away from Luffy.
He has experienced a lot of pain in his life.
But he knew only one kind of pain that was even more hurtful than this body-shredding-close-to-death-pain.
The pain of losing a dear one was the worst kind of pain. It was a pain he never wanted to experience ever again. He would gladly suffer any type of pain just not to feel the pain of losing a dear one again.
Losing a dear one was more painful than dying.
Ace, looking so proud, so happy, crouching on the railing of the Flying Lamb and smiling at Luffy.
He could survive this!
He would survive this!
No matter how much it hurt, there was no other option.
He would endure it, and he would rescue Ace!
A wall of fire, where just moments ago a whole fleet of bounty hunters had been, created by Ace's potent attack, and Luffy couldn't help but be in awe of the power his older brother wielded now.
The pain threatened to overwhelm his mind, but he held on to all his memories of Ace.
To remind himself why he was going through this world of pain.
It was for Ace!
He would survive this for Ace.
And Ace would live, too!
And then they would laugh together. Again!
Ace wasn't a person to give hugs – unlike Luffy, who loved giving hugs – so it was quite a surprise as his older brother suddenly hugged him. And it was the best hug in the whole wide world if anybody were to ask Luffy.
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Same time, Impel Down, level four, office of the chief warden
"Chief warden Magellan! We have a problem, Sir!"
A guard rushed into Magellan's office in the wee hours of the morning. Irritated, the chief warden looked up from the paperwork he was doing. "And that would be?"
"Strawhat Luffy, who was put into a cell in level five- he disappeared!"
"What?"
"And a search troop for missing vice-warden Hannyabal was found knocked out and tied up in a group of trees in level five by another search troop."
Magellan's eyes widened.
"How are they? Did they tell what happened to them?"
"They were all brought into the sickbay and are still unconscious, sir."
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Same time, Impel Down, somewhere else
"Fuck! It's cold. Where is the god-damn door?"
Ice crushed under heavy boots.
"Seriously, who is supposed to find anything with this god-awful description?"
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