Level 4: Blazing Hell
This time, fate was surprisingly kind to Monkey D. Luffy. Though he had been thoroughly defeated and poisoned by Warden Magellan, a miracle was waiting for him in the prison's medical room. When his friends finally dragged his unconscious body there, they found the tools for his salvation already prepared.
The reason for this good fortune was, ironically, the prison's most infamous traitor. Shiliew of the Rain had been hiding in the shadows, observing the chaos. He knew Magellan's powers better than anyone and had prepared an antidote for the Warden's venom long ago as a personal failsafe. With Impel Down collapsing around him, Shiliew had no intention of being buried with his former friend. Seeing the intruders burst into the medical wing, he decided against revealing himself, instead grabbing his personal dose of the antidote and slipping away into the darkness to ensure his own survival. He left the rest of the freshly brewed batch behind.
Of course, when Buggy, Mr. 2, and Mr. 3 first stumbled into the empty room, all they saw was bubbling equipment on a table. They had no idea what it was.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before Emporio Ivankov arrived. As a renowned doctor and miracle worker, she took one look at the steaming apparatus and immediately understood.
"This… this is the antidote for Magellan's poison!" she exclaimed. Though she found the coincidence incredibly strange, there was no time to question it. She immediately set to work, completing the final steps of the process and drawing the finished serum into a large syringe.
Without hesitation, she injected the cure directly into Luffy's system. The effect was almost instantaneous. Luffy, who had been groaning and twitching in agony, suddenly went still, his breathing evening out.
Mr. 2, who had been weeping uncontrollably, burst into fresh tears of joy. "That's great, Straw-boy! You're going to be okay!"
Buggy, watching from the side, let out a quiet sigh of relief. With the immediate crisis over, his own self-preservation kicked back in. "Uh," he began tentatively, "since Straw Hat is all right now, can we… get going?"
Ivankov shot him a look, and Buggy immediately froze, breaking out in a cold sweat.
She didn't seem to notice his fear, assuming he was just another one of Luffy's concerned friends. "Don't be in such a hurry," she explained, turning back to monitor her patient. "We don't know how effective the antidote will be just yet. Straw Hat-boy was poisoned for a very long time."
"I see, I see!" Buggy said with a forced, awkward smile.
No one else paid him any mind; all eyes were fixed on Luffy. All except for Mr. 3, who noticed Buggy slowly, cautiously, backing toward the door. Puzzled but trusting the clown's instincts for survival, he quietly began to follow.
Outside the medical room, Buggy and Mr. 3 broke into a frantic run through the corridors of Level 4.
"Why are we sneaking away?" Mr. 3 panted, confused.
"You idiot!" Buggy shot back, looking at him as if he were a complete fool. A cunning, greedy smile spread across the clown's face. "Mr. 3, you need to remember our goal. From the very beginning, all we wanted was to escape this hellhole. Everything else—sucking up to Kaido's daughter, helping find an antidote for Straw Hat—was just a means to that end. And did you hear? Fire Fist Ace and Jinbe have been released! So has your old boss, Crocodile! With the power of those three monsters, no one in Impel Down can stop the breakout. We don't need to stick around in the danger zone anymore. Why would we stay here when the path to freedom is wide open?"
Mr. 3's eyes lit up with understanding. "You're right!"
As they spoke, they emerged from the administrative corridors and back into the main chamber of the Blazing Hell. The sight that greeted them sent a shiver down their spines. The vast, cavernous level was littered with the bodies of prisoners and guards alike. The great battle between Yamato and Magellan was over; both of them were gone, leaving only silence and death in their wake.
After a moment of initial shock, Buggy's smile grew even wider. "This is great! It looks like the rest of the way will be clear of any real danger!"
"Then stop talking and let's get moving!" Mr. 3 urged.
Their steps became light as they sprinted for the massive stone staircase leading to the upper levels. But as they passed the rows of prison cells, desperate, ghostly voices echoed from the darkness.
"Wait! Let us out, too!"
"Yeah, we can help you fight!"
"I don't want to die in this hell!"
The two escapees froze, turning to see hundreds of prisoners pressing against their bars, their eyes filled with desperate hope. Buggy was about to tell them to get lost—freeing them offered him no benefit—but then, a brilliant idea struck him. A truly sinister, self-serving smile crept onto his face.
"Mr. 3," he said slowly, "let them out."
Mr. 3 stared at him, baffled. "You're feeling kind-hearted all of a sudden?"
Buggy's grin widened. Of course he wasn't being kind. He was being strategic. Releasing these prisoners wouldn't hurt him, but it could definitely help him. He knew that even if they escaped Impel Down, the Marines would launch a massive manhunt for every single escapee. The breakout was too big to ignore. But… if enough pirates escaped, the Marines' attention would be divided. They couldn't possibly focus all their resources on one small-time pirate like Buggy the Clown. With hundreds of other targets running around, he could slip away in the chaos and disappear.
The more he thought about it, the more perfect the plan seemed.
Following Buggy's command, Mr. 3 used his Wax-Wax powers to create keys and began unlocking every cell on Level 4. He even found a familiar face among the prisoners: his old Baroque Works colleague, Mr. 1.
"Did the Boss escape, too?" Mr. 1 asked, his voice a low growl.
"That's right!" Mr. 3 confirmed.
Soon, Buggy was surrounded by a massive crowd of grateful, battle-ready criminals who hailed him as their savior. He climbed atop a pile of rubble and roared with newfound confidence.
"Alright, you maggots! What are you waiting for? Let's all bust out of here together!"
"YEAH! SAVIOR BUGGY! SAVIOR BUGGY!"
The mob surged upwards, growing larger as Buggy had them free the prisoners on Level 3, Level 2, and Level 1. By the time they reached the ground floor, their numbers had swelled into a massive army.
The main gate of Impel Down stood before them. Bright, beautiful sunlight streamed in, a sight so foreign and dazzling that the prisoners who had spent years in darkness had to shield their eyes.
"It's… it's beautiful!"
"We're finally free!"
"CHARGE!" Buggy bellowed.
With a thunderous roar, the army of prisoners rushed forward, tears of joy on their faces as they ran into the light that represented their freedom.
And then…
BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!
Countless explosions rocked the entrance. The joyous cheers turned to screams of terror. The prisoners who had charged into the light were instantly obliterated. The crowd stumbled to a halt, their eyes wide with horror as they took in the scene before them.
The long bridge connecting Impel Down to the warships was a field of death, littered with the corpses of their fellow escapees. Dense, golden beams of light rained down from the sky, piercing through bodies with sickening ease. The air was filled with wails of agony and despair.
In the middle of the carnage, only a few figures were left standing: Fire Fist Ace, Knight of the Sea Jinbe, and Crocodile, fighting back-to-back. Nearby, Ivankov stood protectively in front of Bonney and Perona.
"What… what in the world is going on?" Buggy stammered, his body trembling as tears and snot streamed down his face.
Just then, a lazy, chilling voice echoed from the sky above, carrying over the sounds of slaughter.
"Ooooh, how troublesome. So many more prisoners have escaped. I suppose there's no other way… I'll just have to deal with all of you."
Mr. 3's face turned deathly pale, and he let out a piercing shriek of pure terror.
"Ad… ADMIRAL KIZARU!"
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