The Eternal Hell, Part II

Jinbe opened his eyes to the gloomy darkness that passed for illumination in level six of Impel Down. He hadn't slept much, just taken a short nap when his body's protests had become too much for him to remain conscious. It was something both he and Ace had come to do in the time they had shared this cell, falling asleep for short periods of time when they couldn't take it anymore. Never at the same time, because no matter how powerless they were right now, they still felt the need to watch each other's backs.

And the World Government expected Jinbe to fight to ensure that Ace died? Even if the war hadn't been against the Whitebeard Pirates, Jinbe would have refused. He'd never sacrifice a friend to ensure his own wellbeing.

"Morning," Ace told him from his end of the cell. "Or whatever time it is," he added, and somehow managed a grin, even if it wasn't a very bright one. He was still bloodied and battered from his fight with that scumbag, Teach. Jinbe's blood boiled whenever he looked at those wounds.

Jinbe looked at him again, at that disturbingly calm face. Because, much to Jinbe's shock and horror, Ace had accepted his upcoming death. Jinbe had expected to find him spitting mad and defiant when he'd been dragged here —that was the Ace he knew, the one who'd fought him for five days before trying to take Pops' head— and instead he'd found Ace quiet.

Hell, Ace had even chided Jinbe for his refusal to fight at the war. Ace had said that Jinbe didn't have to actually hurt anyone if there was a fight —if! As though he wasn't sure there would be one— and had called Jinbe stubborn for refusing the summons and getting himself imprisoned.

Damn, Jinbe had wanted to punch him then.

Something crashed in the distance, and then the entirety of the prison area was shaking as though something was rocking it. If not for the chains holding him to the wall, Jinbe would have fallen to the floor.

"What the—?" he began, his voice drowned out by those of the other prisoners.

Then, an indistinct yell reached his ears above the ruckus. It grew clearer as it got louder, but made no sense at the same time.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Something —someone— crashed into the closed wrought kairoseki gate that separated the cells from the hallway beyond and fell to the ground. It was a person. A small, living person that stayed dark and unfocused in the dimness.

Level six had gone deathly silent.

The yell finally made sense.

Jinbe, his eyes blown wide open, turned to look at Ace.

Ace, whose skin had gone ashen, his hands clinging to the chains holding him hard enough that they were shaking, and who had a completely disbelieving expression on his face.

A laugh boomed through the cavernous area. A loud, very characteristic laugh that Jinbe would recognize anywhere.

It can't be—

Those doors made a horrid, screeching sound whenever they were opened, and that sound stirred level six back to life.

Because the Great Pirate Whitebeard was here, and over half of the prisoners in level six wished to see him dead. The noise —the yells, the insults, the threats— drowned any words Jinbe might have spoken. To Ace, or to Whitebeard, he couldn't say.

He could just stare in utter bewilderment as that same tiny figure from before darted into the cell area as soon as the doors were open. A second one followed and grabbed the first one by the back of what Jinbe realized was a shirt. They came to a halt in one of the brightest areas of the level, revealing that they were nothing more than two human boys Jinbe had never seen before. Two human boys that were arguing; the second one was trying to hold back the squirming first one.

Then it was Whitebeard, really Whitebeard, who walked in. He glanced around with that unimpressed expression Jinbe had seen often enough on his face, and punched the air. The shockwave, mild enough to keep the prison's structure intact, was sufficient to send nearly everybody crashing to their backs, silencing them. Jinbe noticed Whitebeard hadn't hit the kids.

"Will you calm down, brat? You'll knock yourself out if you run into another kairoseki cage," Whitebeard said, presumably to the first kid. He then looked behind himself, back to the open door. "Now, where are those keys, Rayleigh?"