First Level of Impel Down: Due to the fierce battle between Esdeath and Magellan, the environment of the first level underwent drastic changes, with countless shards of ice spreading, forcibly lowering the temperature of the entire floor.
If this continued, the first level might turn into a frozen hell like the fifth level.
At this moment, Magellan, the director of Impel Down who was fighting Esdeath, was covered in wounds, many of which had been further frostbitten.
His proud Poison-Poison Fruit ability was utterly ineffective against Esdeath; no matter how he activated his powers, they were all frozen by her.
If only his Poison-Poison Fruit could be developed stronger, perhaps to corrode the ice, he might have had a chance to resist.
But if he were to blame someone, he could only blame himself for not having a strong enough poison, and his own physical strength and Haki were no match for Esdeath. In this vast disparity, within just a few minutes, Magellan was already on the verge of collapse!
"Ten Thousand Dragons Dance!!"
Magellan gritted his teeth and spewed a large amount of poison into the air, forming dozens of poison dragons. He knew his abilities were being countered, but this was all he had left to fight back with.
Under Magellan's control, the dozens of poison dragons charged towards Esdeath from all directions, with several of them exploding on the spot, showering down countless droplets of poison like heavy rain.
"Meaningless struggle!"
Esdeath scoffed at Issho, ignoring the poison dragons rushing towards her, and her body erupted with the fastest speed, charging towards Magellan.
"Mocha Bote Mo!!"
In the next moment, an unprecedented freezing power erupted from Esdeath's body. The incoming poison dragons instantly turned into ice sculptures before this power, and the moisture in the air was completely frozen, turning into ice shards that fell to the ground.
Even the surrounding space was frozen solid, and even time itself seemed to come to a halt in that instant! In this area, everything was frozen into a still world, with only Esdeath moving at extreme speed to unleash her most powerful sword strike! "Swish!!!!"
The brilliant ice-blue sword light swept across the area, shattering the frozen space, breaking everything that had been frozen in place, and restoring the space and time in this area to normal.
"How did she get behind me!"
When everything returned to normal, Magellan was horrified to see his full-force poison dragon completely turned into an ice sculpture, falling from the sky. Even more terrifying was that Esdeath, whom he had just locked onto with his Observation Haki, had vanished from his sight and appeared behind him.
"How is this possible!"
Just as Magellan tried to turn around to prevent Esdeath from ambushing him, he discovered that a large part of his body had been frozen into an ice sculpture, and he could even see his heart beating in his chest.
There, a terrifying sword wound had torn open his chest, and his hot heart was still beating.
But in the next moment, an extreme cold freezing power swept over him, freezing his entire body.
With his heart exposed, the icy power invaded, and in an instant, Magellan grew weaker and weaker until he finally fainted from the freezing.
"Another fool overly reliant on his own abilities!"
With Shura Sword sheathed, Esdeath said disdainfully, then dragged the frozen Magellan out of Impel Down.
"Is that... Magellan defeated so quickly!"
Shiryu looked at the ice sculpture being dragged out by Esdeath, his pupils shrinking in an instant, for he recognized that it was his former superior, Magellan, the strongest man in Impel Down.
Clearly, Magellan had been captured so easily by Esdeath; indeed, it was a live capture, which was even harder than killing the opponent! "Dad, I've completed the task you assigned!"
Esdeath tossed Magellan's ice sculpture onto the island and walked over to Li Yuan.
Her voice was still cold, but there was a hint of pride in her tone; after all, it was only in front of family that Esdeath reined in her icy demeanor from the outside.
If her suitors heard this, they would likely be shocked, as Esdeath's icy queen personality was well-known! "Well done, once Akame and the others come out, we will leave here."
Li Yuan smiled.
Seeing the change in his daughter, Li Yuan felt quite gratified; at least Esdeath was not cold towards him. Otherwise, he would have doubted whether his parenting methods were flawed.
"Dad, I completed my task too!"
Not long after, Akame emerged from Impel Down with a group of people, all members of the Infinite Pirates, who had gone in to scavenge the Sea Stone inside.
Although the Infinite Pirates were not short on Sea Stone, the World Government was. As long as they could scavenge these Sea Stones, it would give the World Government a headache for a while.
"Since everything is settled, let's go, Koya!"
"John, I've left you three ships; just don't get caught by the Navy again!"
Once all the members of the Infinite Pirates returned to the island, Li Yuan instructed Koya to take off.
As for John and all the prisoners in Impel Down, Li Yuan had no intention of taking them away.
"Yo ha ha ha ha, Li Yuan, thank you! I, John, will remember this favor!"
John laughed heartily.
"Wait for us! We're still down here!!"
"Li Yuan Captain, we want to join the Infinite Pirates, wait for us!"
"Ah ah ah ah ah, the island of the Infinite Pirates is flying away, what should we do?"
"There are still three ships over there, hurry up! As long as we have a ship, we can escape from Impel Down."
Those pirates who had run out of Impel Down saw Li Yuan's island flying away and immediately wailed, pleading for Li Yuan to take them along.
After all, this was Impel Down, surrounded by the sea, with many Sea Kings lurking in the waters.
Many of them were Devil Fruit users who couldn't fly and feared the sea; even if they had escaped from Impel Down, they couldn't leave the waters surrounding it.
"Yo ha ha ha ha, do you want to leave Impel Down? If you do, join my John Pirate Crew!"
"Only pirates who join my John Pirate Crew are qualified to leave this Impel Down; otherwise, you can just stay here and wait to die!"
Li Yuan's decision not to take these Impel Down prisoners was because he looked down on them, which conveniently benefited John, who had just been released.
His pirate crew had long been destroyed, and these Impel Down prisoners were quite strong, perfect for him to rebuild the John Pirate Crew.
"John Captain, we want to join the John Pirate Crew, please take us with you!"
As expected, the vast majority of the pirates agreed to join John's crew; compared to escaping Impel Down, joining the John Pirate Crew was nothing. Some pirates who wanted to seize John's ship were immediately killed by John, their bodies treated as offerings to the pirates of Impel Down.
"Yo ha ha ha ha, from today on, the John Pirate Crew is reborn! Let's go!"
After recruiting a number of pirates, John no longer waited and directly set sail; he hadn't forgotten how close they were to the Navy headquarters. If Sengoku and Garp came to surround him again, he might not be able to escape.
(End of Chapter)