He wore a horned helmet, though one of the horns had snapped off. His entire body emanated an eerie chill, and his skin had an unnatural bluish-white hue, as if he had just walked out of an ice tomb.
Among the hardened criminals of Level 6—Eternal Hell, there were plenty who had seen and experienced much.
Yet, at this moment, they exchanged uncertain glances—almost none of them recognized this man.
Only Ledfield's eyes narrowed slightly, as if recalling something.
"Acting all high and mighty, huh? I used to—"
A red-bearded criminal spoke up in irritation. Once, he had ruled the New World as a fearsome pirate, but now, barely anyone even acknowledged his presence.
"Mō Mō... 100 times! Booger Cannon!"
The helmeted giant dug into his nostrils, retrieving only a small lump of frost instead of mucus.
Unfazed, he casually flicked the frozen lump toward the red-bearded man.
And then—
Before anyone could react, the tiny piece of ice rapidly expanded midair, swelling into a table-sized chunk—
CRASH!
The ice crushed the red-bearded man instantly, leaving nothing but a mangled mess of blood and flesh.
"World Breaker… Byrnndi World."
Ledfield finally spoke.
After witnessing the distinct ability firsthand, he was now certain of the man's identity.
Waldo was a pirate from an even earlier era than Ledfield himself.
His Mōa Mōa no Mi allowed him to amplify both the size and speed of himself and anything he touched—by a staggering 100 times.
A simple flintlock pistol in his hands outmatched the firepower of a Marine battleship's main cannon.
If Waldo were to take control of a giant artillery cannon, he could obliterate an entire Marine fortress with a single shot.
When the Marines first discovered his ability, they had been utterly terrified.
They had even deployed CP agents to incite a mutiny among Waldo's crew—just to take him down.
Yet now, thirty years later, World looked exactly the same as before.
Seeing this, Ledfield couldn't help but feel a surge of envy.
He had been imprisoned in Eternal Hell for over twenty years, and his body was no longer as strong as it once was.
Aging tormented him.
He wanted his youth back.
He wanted to keep living.
---
"Gentlemen, some of you may know me, some may not. But none of that matters now. What I do know is that none of you want to rot away in this miserable, lightless prison!"
Shiryu stepped forward, still clad in his Chief Warden's uniform, immediately drawing numerous hostile gazes.
But he remained unfazed.
Aside from the strongest among them, the rest were nothing to him. He wouldn't mind cutting down a few of these weaklings before they escaped Impel Down.
"Mururururu! Just get to the point, Shiryu. Everyone here knows you're a heartless bastard!"
Catarina Devon giggled, unconcerned about offending Shiryu.
Among the prisoners, she was one of the strongest, standing just beneath the top-tier monsters.
She had no reason to fear him.
"Fine, I'll get straight to it. Until we break out of Impel Down, I expect all of you to hold back. If you want to slaughter each other, do it after we escape!"
Shiryu exhaled a cloud of smoke, his tone dead serious.
At first, he had planned to escape alone.
But after learning about that man's arrival, even a ruthless killer like him had to take a gamble—freeing the monsters locked within Eternal Hell.
"Hah! Why wait? If we just kill everyone in our way, we'll be free in no time!"
Bullet grinned savagely.
Instantly, numerous hostile eyes turned toward him.
But rather than feeling threatened, Douglas Bullet only became more excited.
This was perfect.
He had just broken out and already found so many powerful opponents.
First, he would slaughter them all.
Then, he would break free—kill the Marine Admirals and Emperors alike.
And finally, he would become the undisputed strongest, surpassing even Roger.
"Such arrogance."
Ledfield snorted coldly.
He could sense the lethal danger emanating from Bullet.
But to say this young upstart could kill him?
Ledfield found the idea laughable.
"I don't care about any of this. I just want to get out… and blow Marineford to hell!"
Waldo growled, his voice low and heavy with thirty years of pent-up hatred.
The Grand Line's oceans wouldn't be enough to wash away his hatred for the Marines.
---
"Hah! Magellan got his ass handed to him. Who's left to stop us now?"
"Haha! Before we leave, I'm going to kill Magellan!"
"That girl! The one with the glasses! I remember her—don't any of you dare touch her! She's mine!"
The Level 6 criminals mocked Impel Down, laughing as if it were already theirs.
Even if Magellan were at full power, he wouldn't have been able to stop this many monsters from breaking out.
"A bunch of brainless fools! You think just because Magellan is out of the picture, no one is left to stop us?!"
Shiryu clenched his jaw.
If he had been 100% confident in escaping alone, he wouldn't have freed these idiots in the first place.
"Hah! What can the Marines possibly do? Even if Senga—"
"Wait, what?"
"The Fleet Admiral?! Back when I was captured, that guy was just an Admiral!"
"What?! That bastard actually made it to Fleet Admiral?!"
As the conversation spiraled into nonsense, Shiryu rubbed his temples.
"Idiots. How the hell do you expect to escape Impel Down if you're just standing here running your mouths?!"
Finally, he lost his patience and shouted:
"Shut up! The one they sent… is Admiral Kizaru!"
Silence.
Aside from a few prisoners who had been locked away for decades, the rest instantly shut their mouths.
Even Ledfield's expression darkened slightly.
Only Bullet grinned even wider.
"Kizaru…? Good… That bastard came too, huh?"
His entire body trembled in excitement.
Not caring for Shiryu's words, Bullet roared and charged toward the corridor—
His goal?
Find Kizaru and kill him in a one-on-one fight.
"That damn idiot!"
Shiryu cursed.
Bullet was one of the three strongest monsters in Level 6, yet all he ever thought about was killing.
If only the rest of them worked together, they could definitely take down Kizaru.
"Fine… for now, we follow your plan."
Redfield spoke softly.
He hated forming alliances. But even the Red Count knew his own limits—
He had grown old.
After years of imprisonment with no training, his strength had faded.
If he faced that Marine monster in this state—
The outcome wouldn't be pretty.
—
"Let me go with you!"
Magellan pleaded repeatedly, desperate to make Kizaru understand—
The prisoners of Level Six weren't just criminals.
They were monsters.
Even the Revolutionary Army—those damn bastards—
Had never dared to release the prisoners from the deepest depths of Eternal Hell.
If it were anyone else leading the escape, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
But Shiryu?
Magellan knew that man's nature better than anyone.
For freedom, Shiryu would hold back nothing.
Without a doubt—
He would release every last prisoner in Level Six.
—
"Stay up here and don't cause trouble."
Kizaru rejected Magellan without hesitation.
"I don't have a second Healing Dandelion to save you."
Then, turning to Gion, he added—
"Keep them here. Don't let anyone come down and get in the way."
Kizaru may not show it, but—
Even he would feel a little heartache if Magellan died.
This man had worked tirelessly for decades—
Like an old ox, silently shouldering the burden of Impel Down.
Even Fleet Admiral Sengoku would feel the loss.
Magellan wasn't just strong—
He was among the best of those below top-tier powerhouses.
But against the monsters of Eternal Hell?
Even a top-tier might not survive.
"…Understood."
Gion nodded.
She was itching for a fight, too.
But following Kizaru's orders came first.
As the Admiral descended alone toward Level Five,
Magellan instinctively moved to follow—
Only for Gion to block his path.
"Vice Admiral Gion! We can't let Admiral Kizaru face this danger alone!"
Magellan was frantic.
But Gion stood firm at the passageway, refusing to let him pass.
"This is Kizaru's decision."
"Unless he revokes the order—"
"You are not going down there."
For the Marines, an order from a superior officer was absolute.
Even if she wasn't engaged to Kizaru,
Gion would still obey the command of a Marine Admiral.
As for Magellan's fears about the Level Six prisoners?
Well—
He should remember just how many of them Kizaru had captured himself.
—-—
Level Five – Freezing Hell
Kizaru walked through the snow-covered wasteland,
his surroundings littered with frozen corpses of criminals—
and the torn remains of guard wolves.
Due to its unique environment,
Freezing Hell was the only floor of Impel Down without surveillance Den Den Mushi.
"So slow…"
Kizaru muttered.
"Do they not understand the phrase 'speed is crucial in war'?"
He leaned lazily against the entrance to Level Four,
waiting for the escapees to come to him.
—
Impel Down's main structure lay deep beneath the ocean.
Level Six, in particular, was practically at the sea floor.
Unless a Devil Fruit user had some very special abilities,
they had only one way to escape—
Through Kizaru.
—
BOOM!
The blocked passageway exploded—
And a hulking figure, inhumanly muscular, charged forward from Level Six.
A roaring juggernaut, aimed directly at Kizaru.
Even from a distance,
Kizaru could feel it.
He was locked on.
"…Only one?"
He raised an eyebrow, amused.
"What, am I not even worth a team effort?"
The charging figure was unmistakable.
Douglas Bullet.
A monster in human form.
But taking on Kizaru alone?
That was a stretch.
Yet Bullet thought differently.
For twenty years in Eternal Hell, he had done nothing but train.
Pushing his body beyond its limits.
Sharpening his Haki to perfection.
Refining his combat instincts to a razor's edge.
He had surpassed his past self.
And soon—
He would surpass everyone.
Marine Admirals.
Yonko.
They were all fated to die by his hands.
"KIZARU!!"
Bullet's roar shook the frozen wasteland.
His fists, wrapped in jet-black Armament Haki,
launched forward like rockets—
Target: Kizaru.
A near-invincible body.
An unbreakable will.
A deadly mastery of combat.
This was Bullet.
The Devil's Heir.
One punch.
That's all he needed.
Even against an Admiral—
Even against Kizaru—
One punch would end it.
He roared.
He laughed.
In his mind—
He had already surpassed Roger.
Then—
A punch came at him.
It looked ordinary.
It was simple.
But—
It was unbelievably powerful.
BOOM!
The moment his fist connected with Bullet's face…
That wild, manic grin froze and twisted in a grotesque manner. Before he even realized what had happened, his entire body was sent flying backward at an insane speed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The speed at which he charged was the same speed at which he was launched back!
Barrett's body—honed for over twenty years—was indeed terrifyingly durable. But even so, he crashed through dozens of massive icebergs, carving a deep trench several meters deep in the frozen ground. After skidding for hundreds of meters, he finally came to a stop.
"Suddenly charging at me like that… so scary…"
Kizaru casually flicked his wrist, his expression unreadable.
It had been a while since he last encountered such a sturdy punching bag. He might have gotten a little carried away with his strength just now.
"Hope I didn't break him."
"Impossible… No way… No damn way I'd lose!"
Lying in the massive crater he had created, Bullet stared blankly at the sky, questioning his entire existence.
Then, after several seconds of silence, his furious roar erupted like an explosion.
Even from hundreds of meters away, the sheer heat of his rage could be felt clearly.
"Oh? Still standing, huh?"
Kizaru raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.
Unlike a certain bald-headed hero who held back for fun, that punch just now was already at the upper limits of what even a top-tier powerhouse could endure.
Even if it were Prime Garp or Whitebeard, they might not have thrown a harder punch than that.
And yet, Barrett had tanked it.
If nothing else, his defensive capabilities were genuinely monstrous. He hadn't wasted those two decades of relentless training in Infinite Hell.
"I am the man who will surpass Roger! There is no way I fall here!"
An overwhelming surge of Conqueror's Haki burst forth.
In an instant, Bullet's entire body was coated in a deep purple Armament Haki, infused with Conqueror's Haki.
Having spent over twenty years in the depths of Infinite Hell, Bullet had accumulated an insane amount of Haki.
His Armament Haki didn't just coat his body—it flooded outward like a tsunami, making his earlier self seem like a mere beginner.
Compared to him, Vergo—who once prided himself on full-body Haki—wasn't even worth mentioning.
Covered entirely in this ultimate defense, Bullet's speed and power soared exponentially.
Feeling the unrelenting strength coursing through his body, a feral grin spread across his face.
A single setback meant nothing.
°°°
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