Ch. 3- A Reunion in Hell


One Piece © Oda

Blizzard © Me


When we last left Luffy and Blizzard, they had successfully infiltrated the Great Prison, Impel Down with the help of Hancock, who is on her way to see the Head Warden, Magellan. With only 32 ½ hours left until Ace's execution, the two Straw Hats proceed with their rescue mission.

Outside the prison, or rather, underwater, a huge striped Sea King was seen swimming by, just minding its own until…

GRAAAAAAARRR! The huge beast suddenly roared in agony before it fell limp…dead.

Large chunks of its flesh were seen falling off and were being carried off by these strange, burly, masked, gorilla-like creatures that wielded double-sided axes and wore blue cloaks with a black skull painted where their faces should be.

The creatures swam up to an opening that led back inside the prison.

"The Blugori Jailers have returned. Food collection compete."

"Open the hatch."

The creatures, now known as "Blugori" jumped out of the water and shook themselves dry.

"Good work," said one of the staff.

XXX

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Sirens were blaring all around and red lights were flashing on and off.

Inside the monitor room…

"There he is! I found him!" said one of the staff as he picked up a Transponder Snail. "The missing inmate, Buggy the Clown, from Level 1, Group Cell No. 4, has been sighted in the corridor near Solitary Cell No. 22! Capture him, immediately!"

XXX

In said corridor, a shadowy figure was seen sneaking about until the alarms went off.

"Damn it!" he cursed. "They spotted me!" He turned a Surveillance Transponder Snail and somehow shot his fist at it to punch it. "You damn flashy snail!"

XXX

Inside another cell, a group of inmates were laughing at an escaper's expense.

"You hear that? Sounds like Buggy got caught!"

"That's what he gets for trying to escape without us!"

"They're gonna torture that son of a bitch for sure! Hee-hee-hee!"

TMP! TMP! TMP! A large pack of Blugori were seen charging passed the cells, earning cheers from the inmates.

"Whew! There go the Blugori!"

"Yeah! Go get him!"

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

XXX

Meanwhile, Luffy and Blizzard were following the direction of the Vivre Card, but all it kept doing was pointing downward, not to mention lead them to a dead end.

"Damn," Luffy cursed. "Why does the Vivre Card keep pointing down? We just ran into another dead end!"

Maybe it's trying to tell us that Fire Fist is below us, Blizzard thought.

"I thought we'd be underwater by now," Luffy said.

While Luffy was wondering about their current situation, Blizzard's ears suddenly twitched at the sound of footsteps and voices, and it sounded like they were coming from the flight of stairs to their right.

"It's Prisoner No. 8200."

"He has Devil Fruit powers, so don't forget the sea prism stone."

"He won't get away from us, easily. No prisoner has escaped Impel Down alive! Well, expect for that one time."

"Uh-oh," Luffy muttered. "Quick, Blizzard! We gotta hide!"

Blizzard nodded in agreement before Luffy grabbed him and then jumped up to the rafters, just as the guards came down, armed with rifles.

KREEEK! The large door that Luffy and Blizzard ran into opened, thus allowing them to sneak in, unnoticed.

"Sweet!" Luffy whispered. "We're in, buddy!"

The guards ran through the door and split in two separate groups, hoping to corner the escaped prisoner.

Luffy and Blizzard had just entered Level 1, the Crimson Hell. Why it was called that, the two didn't really see, and right now, they didn't really care.

Nothing seemed crimson around here, anyway.

The two pirates stood up on a higher level above the guards as they ran through the corridor.

"Man," Luffy whispered. "This place is huge!"

Yeah, Blizzard agreed in thought. Way bigger than the Mayor's house.

"Anyway," Luffy began, "we better keep going."

Blizzard nodded in agreement before they ran down the corridor. Along the way, they could hear the agonized, horrified screams of the tormented inmates.

"Screams…?" wondered Luffy.

Good lord…! Blizzard thought.

"Aw, well," said Luffy, just shrugging it off. "We gotta keep moving!"

"Psst! Hey, kid!"

Luffy and Blizzard soon braked to a halt, the former jogging in place, and turned to a group of prisoners.

"How'd you and the wolf get out?" asked one inmate.

"Out?" Luffy repeated, questioningly. "What are you talking about? Blizzard and I came from outside! See ya!"

"No! Wait! Don't lie to us, you little weasel!"

"Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"Yeah! You don't look like one of the guards!"

"And your wolf doesn't look like he's one of the Wolf Unit."

The Wolf Unit? repeated Blizzard in thought. Who're they?

"Hey, you guys wouldn't happen to know where Ace is, would ya?" Luffy asked, quickly.

"Ace?" the prisoners repeated in disbelief.

"You mean 'Fire Fist' Ace?"

"Yeah," Luffy answered. "He's my big brother, and Blizzard and I came to bust him out."

"Ha! Do you guys hear this kid? He's nuts!"

"Yeah! Coo-coo!"

"Screwball!"

You guys have no idea, Blizzard thought.

"I heard he got thrown in here," said an inmate in the cell behind Luffy, "but odds are he's in Level 5, where the ones with bounties of over 100 million Berries are being held. It's impossible!"

"Hey, kid, while you're down here, you think you and the wolf can go to the guard's room and steal the keys to the cell for us? Huh? What do you say?"

"Yeah, c'mon kid! Please!"

"Be a pal!"

"What are the chances of us meeting in this great, big world, eh? You've gotta be a godsend! C'mon!"

You've gotta be kidding me, Blizzard thought in disbelief. Hell no!

"What's Level 5?" Luffy asked, completely ignoring the prisoners' pleas.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Luffy and Blizzard turned upon hearing that scream and turned to see a group of the Blugori chasing after the same shadowy figure from before.

What the hell? Blizzard questioned in his head. What are those things?

"They're chasing that guy!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yikes! It's the Blugori! Run for it, kid!"

Blue what? Blizzard thought.

"Hey, kid! You and that wolf of yours better run for it! Those things will you both in a heartbeat!"

UHOHO! A Blugori grunted as it grabbed the escaping prisoner by the shoulder. It pulled out its axe and SLASH! He cut the guy vertically in half!

"Whoa!" cried Luffy. "Blizzard, quick! Let's get outta here!"

Blizzard nodded before he and Luffy turned tail and ran like there was no tomorrow as the Blugori gave chase. Following behind them was the guy who got cut in half.

It was revealed to be none other than Buggy the Clown, one of Luffy's many nemeses, struggling to run, but due to him being split up, his halves could only hobble.

"DAH!" Buggy cried. "I can't run like this!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?" Luffy questioned.

How is that guy still alive? Blizzard thought as he turned to Buggy.

SHLUP! Buggy's halves soon rejoined, making him whole, again.

"Ha-ha!" the clown pirate laughed. "No one cut a Chop-Chop man, you stupid Blugori!"

A Chop-Chop man? Blizzard repeated in thought as he kept running. So he ate a Devil Fruit? No wonder!

At that moment, Buggy finally noticed that he was running alongside Luffy.

"GAAAAAAH!" he screamed, his body splitting apart. "Straw Hat? What the hell are you flashily doing here?"

"Huh?" Luffy muttered. "Oh! It's you, Buggy! Long time, no see!"

"Don't give me any of that crap!" Buggy barked. "So, they finally caught you, eh, Straw Hat? Serves you right!"

"What are you talking about?" questioned Luffy. "Blizzard and I didn't get caught! We broke in!"

"What?" Buggy yelled. "What kind of a flashy fool would break INTO a prison? Unless…" He suddenly became tearful. "Unless you heard about me being in here and came to rescue me!" He shook his head in disbelief and returned to being angry. "BAH! That's bull! What a revolting thought! You coming to save me!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Luffy yelled. "I promised Hancock that Blizzard and I wouldn't cause trouble, and look what you've gotten us into!"

GRAAARR! Blizzard growled out.

Yeah! Thanks a lot!

SMASH! The three narrowly escaped getting slashed by an axe.

"Do you think I'm doing this for fun?" shouted Buggy. "My great Buggy-Sneaky-Escape Plan has been ruined, too!"

"Whatever," Luffy said bluntly.

"WHAT?" Buggy questioned.

Blizzard snickered.

Up ahead, more Blugori were seen blocking their path.

"Uh-oh!" Luffy said. "Here come more of them!"

"Damn!" Buggy cursed.

Now what? Blizzard thought.

"We don't really have to run, do we?" Luffy asked.

"Are you out of your mind?" barked Buggy. "If they catch us, they'll torture us! You don't how ruthless these flashy freaks are!"

Who're you calling "freak", freak? Blizzard thought.

"Blizzard and I can't get caught," said Luffy. "We're in a big hurry, right now. Well, guess there's no point in sneaking around, anymore. We've already caused a ruckus, huh, buddy?"

RUFF! Blizzard barked.

Buggy just heaved an exasperated sigh.

"That's just what I hate about you and that red-headed bastard friend of yours," said Buggy. "You and your devil-may-care attitudes!" He raised his head up. "Fine! You win! I'll do it! We'll change this escape plan from sneaky to flashy!"

"Sounds good to me!" Luffy agreed.

GRR~! Blizzard growled, going into a fighting stance.

UHOHOHO~! The Blugori lunged at their victims.

"Gum-Gum PISTOL!"

"Chop-Chop CANNON!"

Bullet FANG!

WROING! BAP! WHAP! POW! Luffy and Buggy punched two Blugori in the face while Blizzard bit another in the gut.

It appeared that an unlikely had just joined up in their rescue mission.

TO BE CONTINUED...


All right! Buggy's here!

Review, please!