"You filthy scum! We should've just tortured you all to death back then. We left you dogs alive, and now you think you can rebel?!"A sharp, venomous voice echoed across the floor—Sadie had arrived.
Renji Kai chuckled and stepped forward lazily, "Hey, sweetheart, you sure talk big. Sounds like you've been stationed here too long—you've got some serious delusions about your strength."
"The last ones who thought like you—Saludes and the Sphinx—I wonder if they're still breathing."
"If you're lucky enough to survive today, make sure you go check on them."
As he approached the frontline, the group of prisoners instinctively cleared a path for him.
Sadie's expression darkened. She wasn't stupid—if this man had made it here, it meant he had already defeated both Saludes and the Sphinx. She gripped her trident tighter, realizing now that this man wasn't some ordinary pirate.
"You really think you can stop me?" Renji scoffed.
And then—Flash Step.
In the blink of an eye, Renji appeared right beside Sadie.
Her eyes went wide in shock. He was too fast—she hadn't even had time to react.
Just as she began to lift her trident in an instinctive attempt to counterattack—
BANG!
A heavy punch smashed into Sadie's face!
With a sickening crack of bone, she was hurled through the air and slammed into the nearby stone wall.
Ding! Congratulations, Host, for defeating the enemy. You have received 10,000 Reputation Points.
Clearly, Sadie wasn't weak—Renji wouldn't have earned so many points otherwise. But that only made the crushing ease of his victory more shocking.
Inside the surveillance room, everyone watching the monitors jumped in disbelief.
Especially Magellan, the Warden of Impel Down. He leapt to his feet in stunned silence.
Just a moment ago, Renji had been standing across the battlefield. How did he move that fast?
And that punch—its force was monstrous. Sadie might not have been the strongest officer in the prison, but she wasn't someone who could be taken down that easily either.
In the video feed, Renji strolled over to Sadie's limp form. He grabbed her by her now-matted blonde hair and looked toward the wall-mounted Den Den Mushi surveillance snail.
"Magellan. Are you really gonna make me break through this entire prison level by level? I don't have the best temper, you know. If I snap and go on a rampage… well, there might not be anyone left standing."
Then he let go.
Sadie's face slammed into the floor with a sickening thud.
Even if she didn't die from her injuries, with wounds like that, she'd never return to her full strength—treatment or not.
In the Warden's Office, the moment fell into a stunned silence.
Then a strange voice broke it.
"Haha! Magellan, this is bad… Looks like that guy's coming for your job. If you lose, I'll finally get to replace you as Warden. Hehehe!"
The speaker wore an Egyptian pharaoh-style headdress and had a grotesquely swollen belly like a demon's—this was Hannibal, the Vice Warden.
"Oh! I-I didn't mean it that way, Warden!" Hannibal backtracked quickly. "I'm just worried about the prison! If you lose, we're all done for!"
"Bastard!" Magellan roared. "Hannibal, you're the Vice Warden! This is the time to focus on stopping the escape! If we're defeated and the World Government finds out, you'll go down with me!"
"Hey, you're the Warden," Hannibal muttered under his breath. "I'm just the backup guy. I'm not the one they'll blame…"
Hannibal had always been an ambitious schemer, dreaming of replacing Magellan as Warden. Anytime trouble struck, his first thought was to dodge responsibility and let Magellan take the fall.
Even now, with Renji Kai tearing through the prison hierarchy, Hannibal didn't seem too bothered.
Magellan slammed his fist down on the desk. "I'm ordering you to take the main force and intercept them on the Third Floor—Hunger Hell. If you don't, I'll treat it as insubordination!"
He didn't usually waste time arguing with Hannibal, but Impel Down was on the verge of collapse, and the Vice Warden's nonsense pushed him to the edge.
Though Hannibal was desperate to take Magellan's position, he also deeply feared the man's strength. The moment Magellan snapped, Hannibal straightened up, saluted quickly, and scurried out of the office, clutching his trident.
After Hannibal left, a graceful woman stepped forward.
She had long, flowing golden curls, deep red sunglasses, and wore a brown jacket over a white shirt with a black tie, matching brown shorts, and tall red boots with crimson gloves. Her hat sat at a stylish angle, shading one eye.
This was Domino, Chief Guard of Impel Down. After Shiryu of the Rain had been imprisoned on Level 6, she had taken his place as Head of Security.
"Warden," Domino said, "why don't I head down to assist Vice Warden Hannibal? I can help stop them."
Magellan looked at her seriously. "Domino. I'm giving you a critical mission. What you do may decide the fate of this entire prison. You must be extremely cautious."
Domino's expression tightened. "What is it?"
"I need you to go down to Level 6. Keep your eyes on the surveillance feed for Level 4. If you see me defeated… then release Shiryu of the Rain."
"What?! Release him? Warden, that's—this isn't just some routine order!"
Shiryu of the Rain had once been the strongest guard in Impel Down—his strength rivaled even Magellan's. The prison's fearsome reputation as an unbreakable fortress was built largely on the backs of these two.
But Shiryu had grown addicted to slaughter. He killed inmates for fun. Eventually, the World Government handed him a suspended death sentence and locked him away in the deepest cell.
Now, Magellan was asking to set him free.
Domino hesitated.
"He might be a killer," Magellan said, "but he's still one of us. Back then, he only killed prisoners—not staff. I believe, in this moment of crisis, he'll make the right choice."