So Ace went down below, and the rest of us just watched from above.
"You're Magellan?"
Magellan glared at Ace for a mont, then spoke. "So it's you. Never mind sneaking into Impel Down — not only did you take out the surveillance Den Den Mushi, but you also freed prisoners and did that to the guards!"
"That's right. Soone important to is imprisoned here. I had no choice."
Magellan laughed in disbelief. "Ha… Ever since the rchant King, Impel Down's reputation has hit rock bottom. To think we'd allow another intruder… You will be summarily executed!"
Magellan was extrely angry that another intruder had appeared in Impel Down since that day. Watching him, Ace took a relaxed fighting stance and said with a confident smile, "I doubt it'll be as easy as you say."
To be honest, I was curious too — how would Ace fare against Magellan? Ace certainly had the advantage in Haki, and the elental matchup was in his favor. But the downside was that Ace hadn't had his Devil Fruit for very long, so his proficiency was low. If he got poisoned, it was hard to say what would happen.
'Let's see…'
Just then, Galdino, who had been watching from the side, asked , "Shouldn't we help him?"
"Let's watch for now. If others join in, then help. Magellan is a [Poison-Poison Fruit] user — the more people there are, the harder it is to deal with him."
"I see…"
"I'll warn you in advance — if you ever have to face Magellan, aside from Galdino's [Wax-Wax Fruit], you won't have any real ans to counter him. And even that will only buy you ti. So if you ever run into Magellan without or Ace, your best bet is for Galdino to use his ability to block the path and buy ti while you run."
Galdino swallowed hard. "Ah, understood."
While we were talking, Magellan attacked Ace first.
"Poison Dragon!"
Purple poison began flowing from Magellan's back. The poison coalesced into the shape of a dragon and lunged at Ace.
"Fire Fist!"
Ace, not backing down, extended his fist and actively used the [Flare-Flare Fruit]'s ability.
SSSSSSS!!
When fire and poison clashed, the poison instantly evaporated and vanished. As expected, the elental matchup favored Ace.
The funny thing was that the poisonous vapor created by the evaporation was sucked up by the giant fans installed between Level 4 and Level 3, blowing it straight upward. Moreover, the intense heat of Level 4 actually worked in Ace's favor. Ironically, even the environnt was helping Ace.
Magellan was visibly shaken. "Damn, a Logia user… And fire of all things…"
Ace replied triumphantly, "Sorry, but it looks like I have the elental advantage."
Honestly, I kind of wished Ace would struggle a bit. Because that might cure so of his show‑off‑itis. But contrary to my wishes, things seed to be going the opposite way.
'Honestly… I want to prevent the donut ending… but I'm starting to root for Magellan.'
In any case, Magellan seed to realize Ace wasn't an easy opponent. He coated his entire body in purple poison, preparing to go all out.
"Poison Cloud!"
Magellan breathed out poisonous gas, obscuring the view, then created and fired multiple poison droplets at Ace.
"Poison Blowfish!!!"
Ratatatatat!!
"Whoa, that's dangerous."
But Ace had Observation Haki. Even with his vision obscured, dodging wasn't a problem. He jumped around and evaded all the poison droplets.
Magellan then pulled off his own horns and equipped them on both arms, quickly closing in on Ace and unleashing a barrage of thrusts. His horns were apparently both decoration and weapons.
Shwoosh shwoosh shwoosh!
Pak pak pak!
But Ace dodged even those attacks and stepped back. Magellan's strikes only hit empty air and the floor.
SSSS~!
The poison was so potent that the floor began bubbling and slowly lting. Seeing that, Ace frowned. He seed to realize instinctively that every blow could be fatal.
"Sigh… poison that even lts stone… Makes it hard to counterattack. Fine! From now on, every attack will be Fire Fist!"
Ace's Devil Fruit application skills were clearly still lacking. With only Fire Fist as his move, it was crude, but under the circumstances, it seed the most appropriate thod.
Magellan attacked first again. Ace dodged and landed a counterpunch to Magellan's abdon.
"Fire Fist!!!"
Puk!!! WHOOOOSH—!!!
"Guhk!!"
Not only did Magellan take a punch to the gut, but his entire body caught fire. He flailed and frantically tried to put out the flas with both hands.
"Gahahak!! Hot!!"
He rolled several tis and slapped his body desperately, barely managing to extinguish the fire. But his whole body was already scorched, and the clothes around his abdon had burned away, leaving a round hole. The sight was so ridiculous that I couldn't help but smirk.
"Grr… damn it…"
Still holding his abdon from the damage, Magellan grimaced and glared at Ace.
"Hahahaha! That was entertaining. If you don't want to end up like that again, why don't you call it quits? I don't really enjoy bullying the weak."
This guy — if I hadn't given him the fruit, he'd be on the receiving end. He talks big.
"I'm not done yet!"
Magellan took his stance again.
"Hah!! Poison Giant Soldier!!"
Suddenly, with a shout, red poison — not purple — began erupting from Magellan's body, forming the shape of a giant. It slamd down hard on the floor where Ace had been standing.
CRASH!!!
"Whoa!"
Ace, montarily stunned by the sight, barely dodged by jumping back. But Magellan's attack wasn't over. The giant's fist bounced across the floor like a wave, chasing after Ace.
"So this is how you want to play! Fine!!"
Ace stopped retreating, leaned his upper body far to the side, and began gathering flas around his arm.
"Maximum Output Fire Fist!!!!"
FWOOOOOOSH—!!!!
A colossal pillar of fire clashed with the poison wave Magellan had created, the two forces struggling against each other.
KABOOOOOOM—!!!!
But Ace's Fire Fist, with its elental advantage, began pushing back the poison wave with overwhelming force.
Then an unexpected problem arose. The intense collision generated a massive amount of poisonous vapor, which spread beyond what the fans could handle, gradually covering the entirety of Level 4.
I was immune to poison, so it didn't affect , but Bentham and the others were in danger. I took gas masks from my inventory and tossed them to the group.
"Use these. It's dangerous."
"Ah! Yes! Yes!"
We hurriedly put on the gas masks and looked down. The poisonous vapor slowly cleared, revealing a scorched Magellan and Ace, who was breathing heavily. It seed Ace had won.
"Th-this… I lost…"
Thud.
As Magellan collapsed, Ace raised his fist high in a triumphant pose.
"Waa~! I won!"
"Amazing! To defeat Magellan!"
"I think I'm falling for him!"
Bentham and the others cheered, overjoyed.
We gathered again and congratulated Ace. He seed a little embarrassed, scratching his head happily.
"That was amazing!! So cool!!"
"Haha! It's nothing. Still, he was a tough opponent. The poison made it hard to fight up close, which is my specialty."
I was happy that Ace won, but I was also worried — his confidence might grow too much, only to bring the donut ending closer.
In any case, we passed through Level 4 and went down to Level 5. Sadie and the jailer beasts were nowhere to be seen — probably because they knew Magellan would release poison gas and evacuated beforehand. I'd wanted to see Sadie's face, so that was a bit disappointing.
"Aaaah!!! Why is it so cold here!!!"
Buggy shivered in the cold of Level 5. Bentham explained again.
"This is the Freezing Hell. I heard they imprison prisoners with bounties over 100 million here. Officially, it's designated as Impel Down's lowest level."
Indeed, as Bentham said, Level 5 was a place of blade‑sharp cold winds. The floor was covered not with snow but with frozen clumps, and everything was frozen solid.
"Then why do you look so happy?"
Buggy looked at Bentham, puzzled that he seed cheerful in such cold.
"Because soon I'll get to et the Queen of Newhalfs — Emporio Ivankov~"
Sothing about the way he said it made not want to et Ivankov. Imagining these kinds of people gathered for a dance party gave chills.
"Hey! Snap out of it!"
Suddenly, Ace, who had been behind us, staggered and nearly fell. Galdino quickly ran over and supported him. Ace, with a hand to his head, looked frustrated.
"Damn… I must have inhaled too much poison vapor."
I checked Ace — his lips were turning blue, showing signs of poisoning. The rest of us wore gas masks, so we were fine, but Ace, who had been fighting, couldn't avoid the vapor and had breathed it in.
"This is bad. He's poisoned. He won't last long."
I could heal him, but since things had co to this, I decided to follow the original and et Emporio Ivankov. I wasn't thrilled about it, but I also needed to help the Revolutionaries escape.
"Get on my back."
"Sorry. I didn't want to be a burden…"
I decided to carry Ace. He must have judged that he couldn't move on his own, so he obediently climbed on. I had a few things to say to him, but I didn't want to scold soone who was sick, so I just said sothing nice.
"Still, you took down Magellan, so at least we won't have any more annoying enemies."
After saying that, I spread my Observation Haki wide and began searching for the entrance to Impel Down's Level 5.5.
Level 5.5 exists between Level 5 and Level 6 — a paradise for prisoners called "Newkama Land." It was created over a hundred years ago by Morley, a Revolutionary Army commander imprisoned in Impel Down, who used his [Push-Push Fruit] ability to dig tunnels and escape, leaving behind a network of burrows. Emporio Ivankov later discovered it and turned it into the prisoner paradise "Newkama Land." However, for so reason — perhaps because Morley never revealed it — Ivankov doesn't know that Morley created Level 5.5.
Because they can sneak in various supplies from each level through small holes, the environnt is very wealthy. Sohow, they've even managed to smuggle in all kinds of flashy costus, party supplies, and even alcohol — things the prison would never allow.
But they can't contact the outside world, so they're very vulnerable to outside news. They only learn information from newcors or the occasional World Economy News, so their latest information is poor.
The guards are completely unaware of Level 5.5's existence. Because the severe cold of Level 5 makes it impossible to operate surveillance Den Den Mushi, there are limits to monitoring Level 5. And on Level 5.5, they have snails identical to the video snails in the monitoring room, allowing them to gather all the prison's information.
"Why are you just standing there…"
Buggy asked as I paused for a mont.
"Be quiet. I'm looking for sothing."
"Ah, yes…"
I thought that by using Observation Haki to filter out the military wolves and imprisoned prisoners on Level 5, I could find whoever was guarding the entrance to Level 5.5.
"Found it. This way."
My hunch was right — aside from the prisoners, there were other presences within my Haki range. I imdiately started moving toward them.
"Um… there are wolves chasing us…"
Galdino said as he followed. I was wondering why the military wolves hadn't appeared — they seed to be following us now that we were moving.
Military wolves are very resistant to cold, ferocious, have huge appetites, and hunt in packs. Because of these traits, when they were placed on Level 2, they ate all the other monsters, causing problems, so they were moved to Level 5. In fact, according to the lore, if they had stayed on Level 2, they would have even eaten the Sphinx, the area boss.
"Tch! Looks like we'll have to deal with them."
At my words, we stopped and faced the pack of military wolves.
"You all join in too. You have to earn your al."
"Yes."
The military wolves were white and about the size of real wolves, but the problem was their numbers. So many that the ground seed to rumble.
'Is this what the Great Rabbits in Re:Zero feel like?'
Galdino also looked overwheld, clicking his tongue. "Ugh… that's too many. This will take a while."
Buggy stepped forward confidently. "Good! This is my ti to shine. Watch closely — my secret weapon, the Muggy Ball!!"
"Huh? Muggy Ball?"
When Galdino asked, Buggy kindly explained in detail.
"I have a powerful, large cannonball called the 'Buggy Ball' that my crew uses. It's kind of my trademark."
"Judging by your na on it, you must be confident. So what's the difference between the Buggy Ball and the Muggy Ball?"
"I've improved it to be small enough to hide on my body while maintaining the Buggy Ball's power. That's my new secret weapon — the 'Muggy Ball'!"
"I-I see… But I think the wolves are about to attack! If you're going to use it, use it now!"
"I was about to even without being told!"
Buggy extended his leg toward the densest cluster of military wolves.
"Special Muggy Ball!!!"
As Buggy shouted, a black ball no larger than a pinky knuckle shot from his toe. It flew straight toward one of the wolves.
KABOOOOOM!!!!
An enormous explosion instantly devastated the surrounding area. Galdino and Bentham were shocked, then praised Buggy.
"Wow~! That's incredible!"
"Not bad!!"
I was equally surprised. I never imagined such a tiny bomb could have that much power.
"That's impressive."
"Heheh~! It's nothing special."
When even I praised him, Buggy looked very embarrassed. I had to admit — Buggy's talent for making bombs was truly sothing.
Energized by Buggy's single shot, Galdino and Bentham took their stances, ready to fight. About a quarter of the military wolves had been killed or wounded in the explosion, unable to fight anymore. Even the remaining wolves hesitated for a mont.
"Now it's our turn."
"Right."
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