At the same time.
Just as the "Okama King" and Kizaru were still in discussion—
The video feed switched.
The third segment—the official broadcast of the "Background King" rankings—began airing at last—
The screen flashed.
The first thing that came into view
was a pitch-black underground cave, dim and lightless, with no sign of illumination anywhere, and with its location clearly concealed.
And at this moment,
Ivankov's enormous figure appeared at the center of the frame.
And in front of him—
where his gaze was fixed—
there was, unmistakably, a massive stone bed…
and on it lay a young boy whose entire body was smeared with purple, highly toxic fluid,
whose condition looked like he was on his last breath.
It was none other than the protagonist of this round of the ranking—
Luffy, the "Background King" himself!!!
"...Sigh."
"This is really bad..."
"Straw Hat boy… the poisoning is way too deep! Magellan, that bastard… he went way too far…"
Under his giant afro,
Ivankov knitted his brows tightly and spoke in a gravely serious tone.
And when those words
were transmitted through the ranking video and carried into the real world—into the ears of the powerhouses now watching from within the Pirate World—
it immediately caused an uproar!
The audience's expressions instantly turned subtle!!!
"Hm?"
"Magellan?"
"Isn't that the one from Impel Down prison?! So it looks like… in the future, that Straw Hat Luffy brat…"
"He didn't just get arrested and imprisoned in Impel Down… he even got hit with Magellan's poison execution!!!"
Even though Kizaru wasn't a "transmigrator"
and didn't know the Pirate World's future plot in advance,
just from the name "Magellan," and the nature of the poison injury ability, it was immediately identified as the warden of the prison—
and a Paramecia-type "Venom-Venom Fruit" user!!!
So they quickly deduced that
in the near future, Luffy not only failed to show up in the New World, but had somehow ended up inside Impel Down instead.
And judging by the current situation, it even looked like…
he was about to die right here!!!
"Inside Impel Down, targeted by Magellan, huh—" Akainu let out a cold laugh and sneered. "Anyone who ends up like that will die forever behind those heavy gates."
Even though
Garp was sitting right across from him,
Akainu didn't care in the slightest and still spoke bluntly.
And in truth,
Akainu wasn't wrong.
Over the past years, ever since Magellan took control of Impel Down,
his venom ability
and his brutally merciless personality
had quickly turned that deep-sea prison into a hellish existence!
Anyone—
any prisoner at all—
from the moment they stepped into Impel Down,
their life was no longer theirs to command. It was completely… controlled by Magellan!!!
And moreover,
in terms of combat strength—
and especially given the special terrain of Impel Down's narrow corridors—
Magellan's fighting power was terrifyingly strong!
He was almost comparable to a Marine Admiral!
And that purple venom he produced—if you were unlucky enough to get contaminated by it—
the final outcome
was violent ulceration and rotting of flesh all over the body.
Unless you had a specially made antidote, and detoxification began immediately, it was only then possible—before the poison fully erupted—
to prevent dying on the spot!!!
But everyone knew it.
As the source of that poison,
Magellan would never hand out an antidote to anyone—least of all prisoners.
On the contrary, he'd rather they died on the spot,
reduced to a pile of bones, until they were completely dissolved by the toxic fluid!
Therefore,
under those circumstances,
in Akainu's eyes, Luffy's fate next—
was death without question!
Not to mention—
based on what he remembered,
the "Okama King," Ivankov, wasn't a doctor at all.
So how could he possibly save a dying Luffy under such harsh conditions?!
As Luffy's grandfather,
Garp remained silent from beginning to end, looking weighed down with worry.
Under his pale hair, his brows were tightly furrowed.
His aged gaze even couldn't bear to keep watching the screen!!!
As one of the Navy's top brass,
Garp naturally understood Magellan's strength and Devil Fruit power better than anyone.
Right now,
Luffy's injuries—
from head to toe—
were already completely covered in that purple venom.
Which meant—
the time left to treat him was a race against the clock, every single second terrifyingly urgent!
But…
within the frame,
across the entire cavern,
there was only the Okama King present!
With only that strange outcast here, could there really be a way to save Luffy?
As for that—
as his grandfather,
no matter how desperately Garp wished for a miracle,
he knew in his heart that wishing didn't make it so.
He simply couldn't imagine how, with Ivankov's abilities and methods, Luffy could be saved.
Maybe…
the only option was to "cheat" the system.
———
At the same time,
while Garp's thoughts
were sinking into disappointment and anxious dread,
the video continued.
After slightly shaking his head, although the Okama King—just like the Navy's higher-ups—also believed Luffy was doomed,
still—
out of sympathy, he decided to try.
He would test whether, by using the power of the "Horu-Horu Fruit" to inject hormones into Luffy's body, he could bring him back from the brink!
Very quickly,
after making his decision,
under the video's lens and the gaze of the live broadcast,
Ivankov slowly raised his hands.
His ten huge fingers—each nail as sharp as a needle point!
Then—
with a swing of both hands, he stabbed downward with force!
In an instant, those nails, like syringe needles, precisely pierced into Luffy's body at several of the most severely injured areas!
And so,
in the very next second, a heart-rending scream of agony
exploded from the mouth of the unconscious Luffy:
"AAAAAAAH—!"
Screaming. Wailing.
His expression contorted in extreme pain.
Already badly wounded, Luffy had massive hormones forcibly injected into him, causing his condition to become even more chaotic for a time.
However,
fortunately, the process
didn't last very long, and the treatment quickly ended.
And because he couldn't endure the pain,
Luffy—once again—fell unconscious.
Ivankov then fixed Luffy's body in place again.
He even
used a great number of iron chains
to bind Luffy up from head to toe, tying him up tight and restricting him completely.
Next—
under the video camera's capture—
after silently finishing all of this, the Okama King turned and left the room.
This also meant that, from here on,
everything could only be left to fate!
Whether Luffy could live—
would depend solely on his own tenacious willpower!
And even
if a miracle happened,
and he truly survived in the end,
the injuries caused by the venom would still require at least several days—maybe half a month, maybe months of treatment—
before he could fully recover and heal!!!
(End of Chapter)
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