Impel Down Sea Level; Main Entrance
"Nyhahahaha! There aren't even any fighters left up here worth calling enemies." Bon Clay happily jumped with excitement upon the bodies of the Marine soldiers and spoke.
"Don't let your guard down, you amateur!"
Mr. 1 spoke with a cold tone.
"What?"
Bon Clay asked.
"Ten Marine Battleships are waiting outside, each conditioned with eight hundred Marine troops. I don't know exactly what kind of welcome they have prepared for us."
"But stealing one of those battleships means making enemies of all ten. This is no time to relax."
Hearing those words, Bon Clay froze and became a bit more thoughtful.
"All right.. Get ready, everybody! I'm opening the door!"
"Ahh! Finally, the light of the high!" One of the prisoners started crying.
Seeing this, Buggy turned back and shouted.
"Dumm! We haven't escaped this place yet! If we beat the Marines, we're in Heaven! If we lose, it's back to Hell!"
"I don't care how many thousand men they might have… We are gonna smash through the lot of them and make it out to sea!"
"Bring it on!"
"Hell yeah!"
Those prisoners started screaming while raising their weapons.
"Here goes nothing, Men!"
"Attack!"
Just when they opened the door, all they saw was an empty sea.
There was nothing left there.
"No battleship?"
"There is not a single battleship here to steal!"
"And not a single marine soldier as well!"
"No way! How are we meant to get anywhere like this?"
Those prisoners started crying and shouting.
"I see.. So the enemy is not as foolish as we expected. The ocean is filled with Gigantic Sea Kings. The Calm Belt itself is Impel Down's Greatest Defense."
Crocodile spoke.
"Humph! They are not that far away." Bullet snorted.
Hearing his words, many of the prisoners shouted.
"Take a look! Off in the foggy distance, you can still make out the shape of their sails!"
"You're right, but so what? They're still too far away for us to do anything?"
At this moment, Jinbei spoke.
"Not to worry! You have me. I will handle this myself."
At this moment, they started preparing a large plank and put it on the sea. They also took out a transponder snail and said.
"Here! This is a mini-den-den-mushi! I picked it up earlier! Take it with you, okay?"
"Are you ready? We travel at speed…" Jinbei asked.
"Just get moving." Crocodile spoke.
Bullet also landed on the plank alongside Buggy, Galdino, and Mr.1.
At this moment, inside Impel Down.
"Huh? Why is Bon Chan moving towards the fourth floor?"
Luffy was running towards the main entrance when he sensed the presence of Bon Clay. This stunned him.
He didn't know what Bon Clay was going but he wasn't going to let Bon Clay stay here.
He quickly caught up to Bon Clay and shouted.
"Bon chan, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Galdino and Buggy?"
Bon Clay was stunned by his appearance.
"Ahh-hoh—eeh— I can't say it."
Bon Clay struggled to get the words out, but he couldn't say it. He knew what Luffy would do if he said that.
Luffy instantly became serious and held Bon Clay by his shoulder.
"We are friends, right?"
Bon Clay immediately nodded.
"Friends do not lie! So, tell me, why are you going down?" Luffy asked.
Suddenly, Bon Clay felt deflated as he explained.
"Even if we do leave this place, there is a gigantic door outside blocking our way. It can only be opened under the order of the Chief Warden."
"I need to stay here to help you escape, Straw Chan. You need to save your brother. Don't forget the mission!"
Hearing his words, Luffy's expression darkened.
He was beginning to realize something parallel here.
If he didn't have the strength, his crew would've been separated for some reason.
He would then meet Hancock and somehow make her fall in love with him. With her help, he would reach Impel Down and infiltrate this place.
Since he wasn't going to die, even if he fought Magellan, Ivankov would still heal him.
Because he has a friend.
A friend named Bon Clay!
This is a friend who would never give up on him.
He wasn't like Buggy and Galdino.
He was a man among men. He was a chad who would sacrifice his life for his friends.
He suddenly wondered why he let Bon Clay of his world enter New World so early.
But realizing this, he understood that if he wanted to escape, he would be supported by Crocodile thanks to Ivankov and Jinbei thanks to Ace.
In other words, throughout his journey, he would need help from every single person, whether they were his enemies or acquaintances, or friends.
At this moment, he was happy.
Despite all of those torturous days where he couldn't play and do whatever he wanted, he achieved the level of strength that his former self could never do in such a short time.
This time, he didn't need to rely on others. This time, he didn't need to sacrifice his friend.
"Bon Chan, you are my friend. I will not leave my friend behind. No matter what the situation is, we will leave together."
"As for the problem you mentioned, it's not a problem if you have enough strength."
"My friend once mentioned a man who broke through it. So, just believe in me, Bon Chan! I will take you out of this place."
Luffy said while patting his chest.
Although all of this could be nonsense, Bon Clay believed it.
Because this was what his friend said.
"Straw Chan!"
Bon Clay hugged Luffy and cried. They circled together and danced while running towards the entrance.
While running, something bothered Luffy.
He didn't pause, but he contemplated this issue.
'What's going on? I feel like Liam told me about that person, but now that I think about it, Liam only told me about his crew and how he was defeated.'
'But it feels like he did tell me those things. Could it be Robin? Did she tell me these things, and I unconsciously attributed it to Liam?'
Luffy nodded his head, and as his confusion faded away.
'That must be it. Otherwise, there is no way I can explain this.'
...…
Outside the sea;
Bang!
"Aghhh! They've spotted us."
Buggy and Galdino shouted together.
"Our fire was evaded. They're fast!"
"Don't think of him as a simple fishman! That's the King of the Sea, Jinbei!"
"Fire at all!"
"If we sink Jinbei, the rest of them are done for!"
Soon, with the help of Jinbei, they managed to capture the first ship.
As soon as they landed there, Bullet released his Conqueror. He targeted only Marines this time, so the prisoners and others weren't affected by it.
When those people fell, Jinbei brought the ship closer to Impel Down, and those prisoners got on board the ship.
At the same time, they saw two people running towards the Main Entrance.
"It's Straw Hat and Mr. 2."
"Straw Hat defeated Magellan. He has returned."
"Great! We can escape now."
Soon, they started boarding the ship.
"It seems like Magellan is much weaker than I anticipated." Bullet showed a look of disbelief when he saw Luffy returning unscathed.
On the other hand, Crocodile narrowed his eyes.
'How strong has this brat gotten? Magellan might not be equal to an Admiral, but he is by no means a weak person, especially with his Devil Fruit.'
Luffy walked up. Hearing Bullet, he grinned and replied.
"Because Haki transcendence everything. Devil Fruit powers can be overwhelming sometimes and have weird abilities."
"But only those with strong Haki can conquer the Sea."
Hearing his reply, Bullet frowned but soon grinned.
Although he wasn't good with the advanced version of Haki, his Armament Haki was pushed to the extreme limit.
"You are right. Haki is indeed the strongest."
"Humph!"
Hearing them discuss Haki, Crocodile snorted.
He was specifically irritated by their conversation because his Haki was almost non-existent.
It's not like he didn't know Haki. He was able to match Bullet a long time ago.
How could he not learn about Haki?
It's just that years of living in Alabasta curbed his Haki. Slowly, it started fading away until he simply relied on his Devil Fruit to fight weaker enemies.
Seeing his mood, Luffy felt especially funny.
Simply because this guy messed up Alabasta.
"Do you regret it now, Crocodile? If you had tried relying on your strength instead of the weapon that you didn't even have, you might have been as strong, if not stronger, than him."
Luffy chuckled as he asked.
"Shut up, Straw Hat!"
Crocodile angrily roared.
Luffy shrugged his shoulders and said.
"What? I am not wrong, am I? You just lost your hand and returned to Paradise like a loser."
"On the other hand, Shanks lost an entire arm but returned to the New World to become the Emperor."
"Once you lose your confidence, you lose the power to conquer the Sea. That's the true might of Haki."