Rayleigh split open Shiki's cage with a single swing of his blade, then stepped inside and slashed at the chains bolted to the wall, giving Shiki back at least half his freedom.
Shiki jumped to his feet, thrusting out his hands.
"Quick, unlock them!"
Rayleigh asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Unlock what?"
Shiki boasted.
"My Seastone shackles! Take these off and no one under heaven can stop me!"
Rayleigh replied with perfect confidence.
"I don't have the key."
Shiki: ???
Before Shiki could even react, Tiger—who had been silent the whole time—finally lost his patience. What was this guy whining about like some half-dead spirit? I'm in a hurry to go burn down Mary Geoise. Who has time to waste here!?
Tiger stepped forward, grabbed Shiki, hoisted him over his shoulder, and said,
"Whatever you want to say, say it outside. We're in a hurry."
Seeing Shiki slung over Tiger's shoulder like a confused little chick staring blankly at him, Rayleigh couldn't help but laugh.
"No point dragging this out. Let's move."
Shiki finally came back to his senses, struggling and roaring,
"Put me down! Do you know who I am!? I'm the Golden Lion!"
But after so many years locked up, with a ship's wheel stuck on his head and Seastone shackles weighing him down, Shiki was no match for Tiger's brute strength. His weak struggling only irritated Tiger further. After a few useless attempts, Tiger simply shifted Shiki from over his shoulder to under his arm like a sack of grain.
Rayleigh watched from the side, his old face blooming with amusement. He never imagined he'd see Shiki looking this pathetic. This trip was already worth it.
The three of them soon reached the elevator. Shiki, seeing several injured jailer beasts collapsed near the entrance, had stopped struggling entirely. Instead, confusion crept onto his face. Why… why were there so few guards on Level Six today? Why… when the alarm had clearly gone off, was the elevator still operating normally? Even he knew something was wrong!
Shiki felt a mounting sense of unease. But when he looked up, Rayleigh and that damn fishman were both completely relaxed, as if they were out window-shopping. If he didn't know this was Impel Down, he would've thought they were on a casual outing.
"Hey, Rayleigh, something's not right!" Shiki warned urgently.
Rayleigh gave him a strange look.
"What's not right?"
Shiki asked quickly.
"Isn't Impel Down's security way too lax today? And how is the elevator still running under these conditions? Doesn't that strike you as suspicious?"
Rayleigh fell silent for a moment. Under normal circumstances, yes, it would definitely be suspicious. But this time… nothing about the situation was normal. Inside and out, top to bottom, Impel Down was filled with their own people—everyone except the one being "rescued." How could anything be wrong? The only problem here was Shiki.
"Relax. It's fine," Rayleigh said, unable to explain, so he simply tried to calm Shiki down.
But Shiki grew even more anxious at Rayleigh's casual tone.
"What are you doing!? When those elevator doors open, there'll be guards out there with guns ready! The second we show our faces, we'll be turned into Swiss cheese! You two might be fine, but I'm helpless right now! Can you take this seriously for once—wait… no, why did you press the button for the fourth level!?"
Just as Shiki was working himself into a frenzy, the elevator jolted to a stop. The doors opened. Shiki tensed, peering outside… and found nothing.
Aside from the blast of scorching heat from Level Four, there wasn't a single guard in sight.
Shiki: ???
That didn't make sense.
Rayleigh and Tiger, however, remained completely calm. They stepped out and headed toward the corridor they had come from.
Shiki regained his bearings and asked, baffled,
"Wait, what's going on? Where is everyone? Why isn't anyone trying to stop us? Don't you think it's strange?"
Rayleigh gave him a baffled look.
"You're the strange one. Isn't it good that no one is stopping us? Why would you want them to?"
Shiki opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but Rayleigh's reasoning actually sounded reasonable. Yet the whole situation still felt wrong, eerie even, and he couldn't find the words to express it. His thoughts were a mess.
After turning the corner of the elevator hallway, Rayleigh and Tiger both suddenly stopped, a hint of confusion flickering in their eyes. Shiki looked ahead and instantly understood.
"I knew it—no wonder no one came. You two killed them all!"
Sure enough, scattered across the passage ahead were heaps of jailers, lying motionless like corpses.
Rayleigh and Tiger exchanged a glance, then continued walking without hesitation. Unlike Shiki, who had been sealed and rendered powerless, the two of them could easily sense—even from a distance—that those "corpses" were only pretending to be dead.
"It's truly a shame that Impel Down cooperated with us like this..." Rayleigh thought to himself.
Soon, the group began moving through the area strewn with corpses. Shiki looked at the fallen guards, feeling a rush of satisfaction, and burst into wild laughter.
"Shihahahahaha! In the end, you bastards still got taken out! But consider yourselves lucky. Once I'm out and back to full strength, I'll return to Impel Down. Next time, I'll make sure every last one of you scum understands what real hell feels like..."
But in the middle of his gloating, Shiki suddenly noticed a dead guard not far away twitch. His expression tightened. After taking a closer look, he shouted in alarm.
"That bastard's playing dead! He wasn't killed! Quick—"
"Enough! Just cooperate and keep that nonstop yapping of yours shut. I promise you'll get out of Impel Down!" Tiger snapped, clearly irritated.
Ever since they'd dragged him out of the cage, the guy hadn't stopped running his mouth. His endless chatter was giving Tiger, already in a foul mood, a splitting headache. He'd even considered putting Shiki down early—after all, bringing back a corpse was still bringing him back, wasn't it?
But remembering Ortoren's repeated instructions that he wanted to see Shiki again, Tiger forced himself to bear it.
Stunned by Tiger's outburst, Shiki froze for a moment. He turned to Rayleigh, furious and indignant.
"Who the hell is this fishman? Doesn't he know who I am? Shiki! I'm Shiki the Golden Lion!!!"
"Whatever. We'll talk outside," Rayleigh brushed him off as they continued quickly through the passage.
Shiki seethed inside. Was this how you treated someone you needed? Once they got out, he wouldn't let this slide!
And those damn Marines too. What was that lightning crackling brat's name again? Benn Ortoren... Right, that was it. Once he got out and recovered, he'd send Impel Down flying first, then hunt down that damned Marine and kill him!
Just as Shiki was stewing in his thoughts, as if perfectly synchronized with Rayleigh and Tiger's little act, the moment they left that area, the sound of footsteps chasing them echoed from behind. Then came a sharp cracking noise—gunshots from somewhere. A group of guards charged out, shouting, but before they could even take two steps, Rayleigh released his Conqueror's Haki. The guards toppled instantly, dropping to the ground without a sound.
The seamless simplicity of the scene left Shiki completely stunned. Wait… that was it?
Impel Down? The Fortress of Steel? Not a single competent fighter? Where were the officers? Why hadn't any of them shown up? Did they also have some policy where the higher-ups evacuated first when something happened!?
Watching Rayleigh and that fishman act as if everything were normal, a creeping sense of dread rose in Shiki's chest. Something was off. This was absolutely off.
He could practically smell a conspiracy closing in on him!
"Rayleigh!" Shiki suddenly roared.
Rayleigh, walking quietly through the passage, jolted from the sudden shout. He turned and shot Shiki a glare.
"What now!?"
"You bastard! You're hiding something from me! A conspiracy—you're definitely plotting something! This whole prison break has felt wrong from the very beginning..." Shiki accused, eyes burning with indignation.
"What nonsense are you spouting? We're about to get out. Don't start making trouble now," Rayleigh replied, still brushing him off.
Shiki struggled and yelled, "I'm not leaving until you explain! Even if I get out, I won't help you—"
But before he could finish, Tiger slammed a heavy punch into the back of Shiki's head, knocking him out cold.
After delivering the blow, Tiger let out a long, satisfied breath. "Quiet. Much better... Honestly, Mr. Rayleigh, you're way too polite. You should've hit him the moment we met, just so he understood that a prison break has nothing to do with his will. It's up to us. Golden Lion, Silver Lion—what nonsense. Sitting in Impel Down this long must've fried his brain. Times have changed!"
Looking at the unconscious Shiki, Rayleigh nodded with a hint of reflection. "Yeah, times have changed. Fighting and brute strength don't get you very far on the seas anymore. Now it's about strategy, connections, relationships... Society's gotten complicated."