Because of Kuma and Bonney's reunion, coupled with the Straw Hat's overall improvements, and three of them awakening their Devil Fruit abilities,
Luffy gathered everyone for a grand banquet that night, celebrating all the good things that had happened.
Many people from Nine Snake Island, gradually letting go of their reservations towards the Straw Hat and with Empress's consent, also joined the banquet.
At the banquet, Kuma, along with Bonney, taught the others Nika's drumbeats and dance moves, leading them in a joyful dance unique to Nika around the bonfire.
After such a wonderful night, only four days remained until the execution!
The deadline given by Mongoose had arrived, yet there was still no sign of Empress.
Helpless, he could only grit his teeth and dial a den den mushi.
The call was answered quickly.
"This is Sengoku!"
Hearing that voice, Mongoose reported in a deep voice.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Boa Hancock has not responded to the summons!"
On the other end of the den den mushi, Sengoku frowned upon hearing this news, gritting his teeth, his eyes filled with rage.
Suddenly, he couldn't help but roar in fury.
"What's the point of having these Shichibukai anyway?"
"When it matters most, every single one of them betrays us!"
"Jinbe, Kuma, Empress!"
"Out of only seven Shichibukai, three have betrayed us!"
"And Moriah can't even make it!"
"These damned pirates..."
Sengoku's tone was extremely furious as he spoke these words.
Even through the den den mushi, Mongoose could hear him grinding his teeth in anger.
After a moment of silence, Mongoose suddenly said.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! Yesterday, I saw what seemed to be signs of battle within Nine Snake Island from the outer sea."
"And the aura emanating from those battles was particularly powerful."
"However, due to the Shichibukai agreement, I did not approach to investigate."
"I suspect something unexpected has happened on the island."
"Perhaps Boa Hancock's absence is also related to this incident."
Upon hearing this, a look of confusion appeared in Sengoku's eyes.
But at the moment, he didn't have the time to think about it so much.
"Forget it! Don't worry about it!"
"Right now, besides Whitebeard's matter, put everything else aside."
"Hurry back!"
"Now that four Shichibukai are gone, we cannot afford to lose any more combat power!"
Sengoku's tone sounded extremely grave.
Mongoose also knew how significant the blow of losing four Shichibukai was to the Marine, so he immediately responded.
"Yes, Fleet Admiral Sengoku!"
After hanging up the den den mushi, Mongoose intended to immediately return to base.
However, looking at the ship full of petrified Marine, he was stunned.
Without Empress, no one could undo the petrification of the others.
How could he return alone?
But at the moment, he could only grit his teeth, single-handedly managing multiple tasks, and painstakingly maneuvering the warship towards Marineford.
Meanwhile, on Sengoku's side.
He immediately reported this news to the Gorosei.
After all, the Shichibukai were an indispensable fighting force, and now with only three remaining, Sengoku's pressure was increasing, and he could only place his hopes on the Gorosei.
...
Holy Land Mariejois!
When the Gorosei learned of Sengoku's report, the entire room fell into an incredibly oppressive silence.
After a long silence, Satan Saint suddenly spoke.
"There's no other way!"
"How about..."
"We activate that ahead of schedule!"
Although Satan Saint didn't explicitly say it, the other Gorosei immediately understood what he was referring to.
Saint Warcury frowned and said,
"But didn't Vegapunk say that wasn't finished yet?"
Pitte Saint said in a deep voice,
"That person demands too much of his research subjects!"
"Anything that doesn't meet his ideal perfect state, he considers a failure!"
"We don't have that much time now."
Saint Mars said coldly,
"I agree!"
"This is a special situation; suddenly losing four Shichibukai is too great a loss for both us and the Marine."
"Even after the war ends, it will be too difficult for us to fill the void left by four Shichibukai."
"I think this is a perfect opportunity to test that!"
"If it works, we can implement the policy of abolishing the Shichibukai system earlier."
Saint Nasujuro nodded upon hearing this and said in a deep voice,
"Indeed!"
"Even though those Shichibukai joined us, they are too uncontrollable!"
"This incident is a lesson."
"We must grasp a force that can replace them and unconditionally obey our commands as soon as possible."
After a brief discussion, the group unanimously agreed with Satan Saint's proposal.
Soon, Satan Saint, as a representative, made a call to Vegapunk.
When Vegapunk heard Satan Saint say he wanted to activate that thing in advance, he immediately exclaimed in refusal.
"No!"
"The Seraphim are currently still in the testing phase!"
"There are still many uncontrollable data points and too many unknowns."
"Moreover, they are all too young now; if we accelerate their growth for the sake of forced participation in battle, it will cause irreparable damage to their bodies."
"They are the strongest humans of the future that I have researched."
"I cannot risk letting them fall on such a battlefield before they have even grown up."
Facing Vegapunk's stern refusal, Satan Saint coldly said,
"I am not discussing this with you, Vegapunk!"
"The current situation is already not optimistic."
"The loss of four Shichibukai is a huge weakening of our power, and it will also affect the future world order."
"We urgently need a powerful fighting force to fill these vacancies."
"And if you think about it carefully…"
"If the Marine suffers too heavy losses in this battle, do you think you will still have that much funding to continue your research?"
Satan Saint's words left Vegapunk speechless.
He was only looking at the problem from a researcher's perspective, so he was unwilling to let the Seraphim participate in the battle prematurely when there were too many uncertain factors.
However, just as Satan Saint said, if the Marine truly suffered heavy losses or even lost the war, then he would no longer have the funding to continue these researches.
After struggling for a long time, Vegapunk finally gritted his teeth and reluctantly agreed to Satan Saint's request.
"Alright!"
...
Nine Snake Island!
In the forest!
"Dad, you're going to Deep Sea Great Prison?"
Kuma had originally planned to bid farewell to Luffy and the others.
Before saying goodbye, Bonney asked Kuma about his next plans, only to learn that Kuma said he wanted to go to Deep Sea Great Prison first, and then return to the Revolutionary Army.
Hearing Bonney's question, Kuma nodded and said,
"Yes! A good friend of mine from the Revolutionary Army was captured and imprisoned there!"
"I want to rescue him and return to the Revolutionary Army's base with him!"
Luffy immediately realized that Kuma was probably talking about Ivankov!
Meanwhile, Bonney said with a worried expression,
"But isn't that where the Marine imprisons criminals?"
"There must be a lot of defenses, right?!"
"It's too dangerous for you to go alone, Dad!"
Looking at Bonney's worried expression, Kuma gently stroked her head and softly said,
"Before I came here, I received news that Fire Fist Ace has already been escorted to Marineford!"
"It is said that the Marine was afraid that Whitebeard's crew would go to Deep Sea Great Prison to break him out in advance."
"If a battle were to break out there, those vicious criminals imprisoned inside might be released by Whitebeard's crew, becoming uncertain factors affecting the course of the war."
"So, if I go there now, I won't encounter many enemies."
"Once the war begins, the Marine won't be able to spare any support!"
"At that time, when I take action, I will only need to deal with some of the guards there."
Even so, Bonney still looked very worried and said,
"But the most vicious criminals from all over the world are imprisoned there, so the guards responsible for watching them must also be very powerful!"
"It's still too dangerous for you to go alone, Dad!"
Facing Bonney's worries, Kuma was at a loss for what to do for a moment.
This was the best chance to rescue Ivankov; if the war ended, trying to rescue someone from there would mean facing the support of the entire Marineford.
But even if he tried to contact the Revolutionary Army now, there wouldn't be enough combat power to reach here in such a short time.
Just when both Kuma and Bonney were in a difficult situation, Luffy suddenly spoke up.
"Let's go with you!"
Hearing Luffy's words, Kuma was very surprised.
Bonney, on the other hand, looked pleasantly surprised.
She didn't want to see Kuma sad, watching his good friend captured and unable to be rescued, but she also didn't want Kuma to be in danger.
So, when she heard Luffy say he was willing to help, Bonney was very happy.
"Really, Luffy?"
Stars twinkled in Bonney's eyes as she looked at Luffy with anticipation.
Luffy couldn't help but smile slightly at Bonney's appearance and nodded.
Seeing this, Bonney immediately beamed with joy and thanked him.
"Thank you, Luffy!"
Kuma, however, looked puzzled and asked Luffy,
"Why?"
"You're going to save Ace, right?!"
"If you delay there, you might miss the timing."
Luffy, hearing this, smiled and shook his head, saying,
"Don't worry!"
"We will finish quickly."
"And I also have something I want to do there."
If nothing unexpected happened, Jinbe was also imprisoned there now.
If Jinbe wasn't rescued, he might never get out.
And there was another point Luffy cared about.
That was, Blackbeard's crew was very likely to go there as well.
Not only would letting Blackbeard go unchecked add many powerful fighting forces to him, but Jinbe might also be killed there.
So, it was still worth Luffy making a trip there.
Besides that, Luffy also had something he wanted to experiment with.
That was, he wanted to see if Franky could obtain Bullet's Combine Devil Fruit ability.
From the original work, Franky showed a certain talent for combining.
···
For example, when he first joined the Straw Hat, he demonstrated a humanoid combining robot with a few members of the Straw Hat at Thriller Bark.
Later, he even developed the combinable Franky General.
From these aspects, it is possible that Franky could obtain this powerful Devil Fruit ability.
Hearing Luffy's words, Kuma no longer refused.
After seeing Luffy's Nika form, he and Bonney already had an unconditional trust in Luffy.
Afterward, Luffy took the Straw Hat to train together for two more days, helping them make more improvements.
Usopp and the other two's mastery of their awakened abilities had become extremely proficient with the help of Luffy's heaven-defying comprehension.
During this period, Empress also announced to the citizens that she would soon join the Straw Hat, and that Marigold would temporarily take over as the new Empress.
Although this news initially surprised everyone when the citizens learned of it.
But in the end, after Luffy and Empress explained to them what dangers Empress leaving the Shichibukai would bring to the island, and that Luffy's flag would protect the island, they accepted the decision.
After hanging the Straw Hat's flag on Amazon Lily and bidding them farewell, Luffy led the Straw Hat crew, along with the newly joined Empress and Kuma, and under Kuma's guidance, headed towards Deep Sea Great Prison.
...
Two days passed in a flash.
With Vivi and merry go alternating their progress, Luffy and the others finally arrived at Deep Sea Great Prison on the day of the execution.
Looking at the sea fortress close at hand, Kuma said faintly,
"It's six in the morning now!"
"Ace's execution time is three in the afternoon!"
"To get from here to Marineford, if we can catch the Marine's exclusive ocean current…"
... ....
"Based on merry go's speed, it will only take less than an hour to arrive."
"So, we only have a maximum of eight hours."
Because Vivi's stamina needed to be preserved, Kuma calculated using merry go's speed.
Hearing this number, Luffy nodded and said,
"That's enough!"
With Karu, they could easily move straight up and down inside the prison, which would greatly save them time.
All they needed to do was defeat the guards and find the people they needed to rescue.
They didn't discuss any tactics at all.
Upon arrival, Luffy and the others immediately charged in.
At this point in time, Whitebeard could appear at any moment, so the Marine would not be able to send anyone to support them.
When Luffy and their figures appeared in the sight of the guards at the prison entrance, those people were immediately stunned.
The Straw Hat combined with two Shichibukai, what an exaggerated combat power!
Soon, the alarm in the guardroom blared throughout the entire prison.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"All units, attention!"
"Traces of the pirate Straw Hat and former Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma, as well as Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, have been found at the main entrance of the prison. All guards immediately prepare for battle."
"All units, attention…"
Luffy had originally planned to just take down whoever he saw.
But when he heard this broadcast, he couldn't help but be delighted and temporarily spared the people in the guardroom.
Keeping them would allow this message to spread throughout the entire prison.
This would allow Ivankov to show himself voluntarily when he heard the news.
This would save them a lot of time.
It was just as he expected.
The continuous alarms echoed, quickly spreading throughout the entire prison.
Upon hearing this shocking news, all the criminals inside the prison became completely insane, clinging to the prison railings and cheering wildly.
Pirates attacking the Deep Sea Great Prison—this was an unprecedented major event!
However, some pirates were momentarily stunned when they heard the alarm.
Jinbe on the 6th floor, Ivankov who established the Okama Paradise on the 5.5th floor, Buggy who was escaping from the 2nd floor, and some other pirates who knew these individuals, were all drawn and shocked by the news.
"Kuma?!"
Upon confirming he hadn't misheard, Ivankov couldn't help but exclaim Kuma's name.
Afterward, he gathered all the Okama he had assembled in the prison and rushed towards a conspicuous location.
At the same moment, Magellan, who was suffering from diarrhea on the 4th floor, received a den den mushi call from Chief Guard Hannyabal.
Magellan's expression was extremely pained; he endured the diarrhea and said to Hannyabal,
"I've already heard it!"
"You lead your men to intercept them first; I'll be there immediately."
With that, he forcefully suppressed the urge to relieve himself and quickly rushed towards the 1st floor.
Hannyabal was incredibly flustered upon receiving Magellan's order; facing such a formidable enemy, he had no confidence whatsoever, but he could only agree.
When Luffy and his Straw Hat crew easily dealt with some guards and broke into the prison.
Hannyabal led a large group of guards and blocked their path.
"St-Stop!"
"Do you know what place you've just broken into?"
"This is…"
Hannyabal wanted to stall for more time, but Luffy punched him away.
They had no time to waste here.