A/N: Hi all! Finally, another chapter is up… This story is coming to an end soon, about 2-3 chapters remaining? Damn, even I feel sad as I really enjoyed writing this story. It was planned to be something like a mini arc, so I didn't really want to make it that long. After this, I'll focus more on my other stories, so be sure to check them out if you haven't! And as always, remember to read and review. Enjoy!
On the way to Impel Down
Marines were scampering about the Marine ship that was bound for Impel Down. They did not want to make a mistake and suffer the wrath of Akainu. At this point in time, the ship was nearing the Gates of Justice, where it would travel the special current to Impel Down, reducing the travelling time by days.
"Send a message to headquarters and ask them to open the Gates of Justice!" yelled Akainu from the bow of the ship. He wanted the Gates of Justice to be open as soon as possible so that he could get to Impel Down quicker and stop the escapees.
"YES SIR!" The Marines saluted, before hurrying about to carry out his order.
A few minutes later, the Gates of Justice began to open. Akainu glared at the gates and clenched his fists tightly. "Straw Hat Luffy… You will not escape me again…"
XXX
Impel Down Level 6
Chikyu woke up to herself being dragged on the floor. She was still drowsy from getting shocked by electricity. She tried to raise her hands up to massage her temple, but found them tightly bound by her side. Figures… She still has the whip wrapped around me and is dragging me to some cell, probably.
Fortunately, Sadi was completely oblivious to the fact that Chikyu was awake. She continued to walk forward without even turning back once, using her whips to drag Chikyu on the floor. Chikyu sighed, "Guess it's time for me to use that again."
Chikyu's hands, even though bound, were still in reach of the pockets of her jeans. She reached into it and pulled out two syringes with injection needles attached to it. One syringe contained bright green liquid, while the other contained a liquid with a fiery red color. Without hesitation, she stabbed them in her thighs.
For a moment, Chikyu lay on the ground motionless. Without warning, she reached up and grabbed the whips pulling her, and swung the whips in the other direction, causing Sadi to fly and hurtle into a wall. CRASH! The wall of Impel Down crumbled as Sadi crashed into it at full speed, slumping down to the ground.
Meanwhile, Chikyu stood up and dusted herself. She then grabbed the whips and unwrapped them from her body. Sadi stood up and looked at Chikyu with a shocked expression. "But… how? How are you still standing after taking a 10000 volt electric shock?" she cried.
Chikyu smirked and held up the syringes. "Did I ever mention that I am a doctor? I injected a healing liquid and an adrenaline liquid into me."
Sadi's expression immediately changed upon hearing that Chikyu was a doctor. "A doctor eh? People like you should know your place and not pick fights with people stronger than you."
"Pfft… Says the one who can't even handle a 10000 volt electric shock," Chikyu threw back.
"You bitch…" gritted Sadi.
Suddenly, Sadi took out a whistle from her chest area. "Prepare yourself, doctor," she mocked before blowing hard into the whistle.
Chikyu looked in amusement at the scene before her. Sadi was obviously blowing the hardest she can into the whistle, yet no sound was being produced. Or so she thought. Within seconds, she heard rumbling coming from every side of Impel Down Level 6.
Shit… what are causing those noises? She suddenly felt a presence behind her without warning. She had no time to think or react. Instinctively, she ducked down as a huge club flew over the place where her head was a few seconds before. The strength of the swing was so strong that it produced a huge wind which caused Chikyu's hair to fly around wildly.
Chikyu panted, aware of the fact that she could have died if she had paused to think of what to do. Turning around, she was faced by one of the weirdest and most hideous creatures she had ever seen. It was a mix between a Minotaur and a cow, yet it still managed to look really ugly.
Chikyu then felt two more presences appearing beside Sadi. To her left was something that looked like a… chihuahua? It held a rope in its hands, apparently wanting to use it as a weapon. To her right was a mix between a minotaur and a koala, another animal that looks ridiculously ugly. It wields two spiked knuckles in his hands, a weapon that would bring devastating damage if it manages to hit. Chikyu surmised that Sadi's whistle must be the one who called these animals over.
Sadi laughed out loud. "Behold, my Demon Guards! They will pummel you and kill you without any mercy. Attack!"
The three Demon Guards advanced towards her. Chikyu knew that she was surrounded and it would be hard for her to escape their attacks if they attack her together. Chikyu needed to find a way out of this situation.
The cow-like minotaur swung its club at her, however, it was at a really slow speed and dodging it was a piece of cake for Chikyu. As she jumped up to dodge, she saw the spiked knuckles flying at her. Chikyu narrowed her eyes as she did a backflip in the air to dodge the spike knuckles. PISH! Chikyu suddenly felt a burning sensation on her back. Sure enough, there was a deep cut running from her shoulders all the way to her buttocks.
She cursed as she realised that the chihuahua had done that. It was skilled enough to control the rope such that it acted like a whip. Chikyu gritted her teeth as she attempted to bear the pain. She knew that she would probably black out from the pain if she suffered from another hit like that.
Think Chikyu, think! There has to be something that I can do to defeat these guys! If I can't defeat the pets, then… I go for the owner!
Chikyu managed a grin as she realised that all she needed to do was take out Sadi, and these pets of hers would be aimless when there was no one to lead her.
She stood up and collected herself. She activated her brilliant ability of compartmentalization and pushed the pain to the back of her mind. She stuck a hand into her jeans pocket and focused.
"Soru!" Chikyu yelled. In a mere second, Chikyu had managed to dash past all of the Demon Guards and appeared right beside Sadi. Sadi was caught off guard and did not know how to react. In that short time span that Sadi blanked out, Chikyu grabbed Sadi's neck with one arm and pulled the other arm out of her jeans pocket. Her hands was clutching onto yet another syringe with an injection needle, however, the liquid inside was dark green and it was bubbling vigorously. Chikyu stabbed the needle into Sadi's neck and pressed down the syringe as hard as she could. As the liquid from the syringe entered Sadi, Chikyu knew that the fight was over. As soon as Chikyu let go of Sadi, she fell to the ground, unable to even stand. As expected, the Demon Guards immediately stopped coming for her and went away, presumably back to the areas where they were patrolling before they got summoned.
Chikyu shook her head. As a doctor, she wanted to help save lives, and not take them. However, some situations required her to kill. As such, she came up with a special kind of poison, a slow lasting one that can allow one that got poisoned to be saved within the next twelve hours.
As Sadi spasmed on the ground, white foam coming out of her mouth, Chikyu said, "The poison I just injected in you takes effect instantly. It prevents you from speaking and will give you some spasms. There might also be excruciating pain from time to time. However, be glad that this poison is slow lasting. You will live for the next twelve hours, and you better hope that someone finds you and saves you. Goodbye."
As Chikyu walked off, she stopped abruptly as she remembered something. "One more thing, I think I forgot to tell you that even though I am a doctor, I am a strong one."
That was the last thing Sadi heard and registered. She could not even hear the footsteps of Chikyu walking away as she went through her torturous ordeal.
XXX
Impel Down Level 4
All hell broke lose on Impel Down Level 4. By this time, Nami had already unlocked every single cell on this level, and all of the prisoners were rioting and attacking the guards. For them, every guard they take down means an additional weapon to aid them in their escape. Even though reinforcements were raining down from the above levels, the Level 4 prisoners were determined to escape this hell and were doing a good job of retaliating. Even the oppressive heat were unable to slow them now.
Nami was unsure where to go now. The most logical way would be to go up and towards the exit, yet Nami did not want to escape without Luffy. Nami made a choice. She started to run, away from the prisoners, away from the exit, away from freedom. Instead, she ran to the stairs to go downwards. Towards Luffy.
XXX
Impel Down Level 5
Ring was doing a miraculous job of keeping the three men in Level 5. Even though the stairway was in sight, the three of them could not get pass Ring. Ring managed to catch Luffy even when he used Gear Second to dash past him. Ring managed to hit Tengoku back when he tried to teleport behind him. Jigoku got it the worst. He tried to pounce past Ring, however Ring got a direct hit on him and used a metal ring to lock Jigoku down to the floor. No matter how Jigoku squirmed and struggled, he still could not escape the ring.
"Give up," Ring said. "There is no way you are getting past me. Prepare to be caught and sent back into your cell."
"Rings of Cerberus!" Ring roared. He conjured three rings that were floating menacingly behind him. They were poised to strike, ready to attack at high speeds anytime.
Luffy gritted his teeth. His Gear Second was one of his fastest moves. If he could not get past Ring using that technique, he knew his opponent was of considerable power. As of now, the three of them were trapped.
"You sure you like the odds?" Tengoku asked. "There are three of us, and one of you. The one trapped is you, not us."
Ring chuckled at that statement. "I did not become the warden of Impel Down because of nothing, you know. My power far surpasses that of the previous warden, Magellan."
As if to prove his point, the three rings behind him started to move at a faster speed, to the point where it was hard to see it with the naked eye.
Luffy activated his Observation Haki. He could sense the hostility of the rings and their intent to kill. However, his Haki was strong enough to sense when and where the ring would attack.
Luffy then charged at Ring. As expected, the rings flew towards him with lightning speed. However, Luffy already knew where they would hit due to his Haki. He ducked down and the first one whizzed by him. He swatted the second one away with his hand, while kicking the third one down into the snow.
"Gear Second!" Luffy yelled. Patches of pink appeared on his skin and steam started to pour out of him. He feinted a punch towards Ring's torso, but at the last minute dashed past Ring with the speed granted from Gear Second. As he pivoted behind Ring, he coated his right arm with Armament Haki. "Gomu Gomu No… Jet Pistol!" Luffy roared. As he shot a lightning fast punch towards Ring, it looked like it was going to connect for sure. However, just at the last moment, the three rings which Ring conjured managed to get in the way between the punch and Ring, taking the full force of the attack. Upon contact with the rings, they immediately dissipated into nothingness. However, they had done their job and stopped Luffy's punch.
Luffy narrowed his eyes at the fact that Ring was skilful enough to manipulate his rings such that they stopped his punch. He immediately knew that if he wanted to beat this guy, he had to go all out. The only problem was, he was still in Impel Down Level 5, and there were way more enemies waiting on the above levels. If he went all out here, his chances of escaping would go down to near zero.
Suddenly, Jigoku, who was pinned down the whole time, let out a huge laugh. "Wahahahahahaha! You think such puny rings can beat us?" He began to grow smaller and smaller as he changed back into his human form. Now that his size was considerably smaller, he was able to slide out of the ring with ease. As he stood up, a maniacal grin appeared on his face. "It has been long since we fought such strong opponents, let's have some fun shall we?"
Tengoku smirked, "I guess we have to show this warden the impeccable teamwork of the Punishers then. Luffy-kun, leave this to us. Head to the upper floors and clear the way."
Luffy stared a them for a moment. A grin started to emerge on his face. "Yosh! I'll leave this guy in your hands then!" He then made a beeline for the stairway to level 4.
"Oh no you don't!" yelled Ring. He conjured another ring and sent it flying towards Luffy, aiming to pin him back down.
All of a sudden, a dark ring appeared behind Luffy. Tengoku sprang out from it and caught the flying ring effortlessly, before crushing it in his hands, causing it to dissipate. "Oh yes he does," Tengoku smirked.
Ring clenched his fists in frustration. He had let one past him. However, he could still make amends by subduing the two that were still on level 5. He made a vow to himself that they could only get past him over his dead body. The real battle had just begun.
XXX
Stairway between Level 4 and Level 5
Nami had finally got to the stairway. It had been relatively easy, as all the guards were either unconscious or had gone to the upper floors to help. She only met one or two guards which posed no challenge to her. As she sprinted down the really long flight of stairs, she was rewarded with a heartwarming sight. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. For she saw a raven haired boy wearing a straw hat running up the stairway, with a huge grin on his face. She was delighted that they were finally going to be reunited in this hellish place and they can continue this ordeal together.
However, that was not to be. BOOM! CRASH! Suddenly, the roof of the stairway collapsed, the rubble falling everywhere, catching Nami in it and separating Nami from Luffy.
A/N: Ah shucks, a cliffhanger. I'm really sorry for that. What will happen to Nami? Will Nami and Luffy get back together? Find out in the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review if you enjoyed it! (Haha. Like anyone enjoys cliffhangers). I apologize that it was a bit short, but I'll make it up with a longer next chapter! See you next time! Signing off, Shironira-kun.