AN: The song for this chapter is "Keep Your Eyes Open" by NEEDTOBREATHE. Go ahead and look up a fan-made music video set to this song!

Level Five was, true to its "Freezing Hell" moniker, cold enough to give the Land of Snow a run for its money. I'd never been to the Land of Snow personally, though some of Kakashi's ANBU missions (that I wasn't supposed to know about) had taken him out there more than once. What little I was allowed to learn about the country painted a picture of endless snowfields, mountains, intermittent tundra, and a shinobi population that was all too well-adapted for their environment. Their chakra armor ran off of high levels of ambient energy, making them effectively immune to the cold and annoyingly hard to kill unless the cores on the suits were cracked first. That was the extent of my knowledge.

I honestly could have done with some highly illegal chakra-fueled snowsuits of some kind, because even my Drum Island gear was deeply insufficient for this kind of chill. It seeped straight through the thick fabric and fur like seawater, numbing my extremities and raising goosebumps everywhere else. Chopper's thick coat of fur kept him safe from the worst of it, to the point that I was jealous.

"It's so cold!" Luffy complained, shivering and hopping from foot to foot. With the straw sandals he tended to wear, it was no wonder. A doctor would have probably been surprised to learn he could still feel his toes.

"Just don't touch anything made of metal, Luffy," Chopper suggested, nudging his captain forward as we trudged through the snow. "And don't complain about how cold it is."

Luffy frowned abruptly, still rubbing his upper arms with both hands. "It's…not cold. It's not cold. It's not cold." He took a deep breath of the freezing air, then shouted, "It's not cold!"

I didn't want to ask where the mantra had come from. There was a subtle extra weight in Luffy's words that worried me, but there were so many worries jockeying for position in my head already that I didn't have time to dwell on it.

"It's not cold at all!" Brook agreed, as though weighing less than a hundred pounds despite being nine feet tall didn't give him a ridiculous advantage during snow travel. Same thing went for his total lack of flesh, what with being a skeleton and everything.

"Un, deux, trois! It's not cold!" added the newest addition to the adventuring party.

Mr. 2 Bon Clay, who also had a much less clunky name that Luffy didn't remember (and it was certainly not "Bon-Bon"), was probably the second-weirdest addition to our party if I didn't count myself. Or Brook. Or… What the hell, we were all weird. Luffy's friend's tendency to pirouette everywhere had thrown me off, though, and so did the fact that he declared us friends when I fished out a jacket for him to borrow for the trip into wintery hell. It wasn't even my jacket—somehow, I'd acquired Yugito's while frantically packing for this particular adventure—but that didn't seem to deter him.

I was never going to get used to pirate behavior.

"Chopper," I began, while the rest of our party continued to try and shout about how not cold it was, "can you track things by scent when it's this cold out? If you have a sample like this hat?"

"Of course I can." Chopper twisted his neck around to look at me, then asked, "But how long have you been carrying Ace's hat?"

"A few days, by now," I admitted, as I took it off and held it out for him to sniff. "And I've been underwater while carrying it a couple of times."

"Then it might not work," Chopper said. Still, he stepped closer and pressed his blue nose against the material, frowning in concentration. After a few careful whiffs, he just shook his head. "I'm sorry, all I'm getting is saltwater and your scent."

Of course it wasn't that easy. "Drat. Thanks for trying anyway."

"I remember Ace's scent from Alabasta, though," Chopper went on, and lifted his head as he pawed at the ground with one hoof, testing the depth of the snow. "It's cold, but I should still be able to smell him if he's on this level. It's not nearly as big as Drum was."

That was not a good sign, but I didn't know enough about how scent behaved in the cold to make any sort of argument against Chopper's assessment. Nor did I know how sharp Chopper's nose was. Maybe Ace just hadn't been brought in this way? There was still an elevator we'd never really located…

I pressed my cold-cracked lips together, then just sighed. "Thanks for trying, Chopper. We'll just see what happens as we get farther in."

In fact, it just got colder. As we approached the structures toward what looked like the middle of the level, I got the distinct impression that the prisoners on this level were kept in the literal least hospitable part of it. Sure, the cells opened with relatively little effort, but in a gulag what did it really matter that they were free to wander? That just meant they were allowed to die in the snowfield. Given that the ambient temperatures were well below the tolerance of any surveillance snail I'd ever heard of, it wasn't like the staff could or cared to monitor anything down here. They probably didn't even know when inmates died.

Luffy kept his brother's vivre card in hand as we went, though I wondered if he knew how to really navigate with it more than once. He frowned like a thunderstorm as we trekked onward, crossing the meager stone structures and the central tower courtyard more than once.

And we also attracted a few unfriendly eyes along the way. Out of us, Bon-Bon was the only one wearing the Impel Down striped outfit in any capacity, so the rest of us stood out like sore thumbs. Not that most of us cared, mind. The inmates were unilaterally affected by the cold, while only half of our group was. While being unsubtle wasn't a great advantage, we had enough others that we could afford it.

"Does anyone want to try asking for directions?" I asked finally, when we looped around the tower for the fifth time. I'd also stubbed my toe on what passed for food down here—a half-frozen block of something that might've been gruel once upon a time.

I was done with the "aimless wandering" part of the program.

"I've been trying to locate Ace's scent when we pass by the cells," Chopper said, after kicking an inmate in the face with his rear hooves. Really, given the local conditions, I wasn't surprised that they were trying to eat him. I just wished they'd do it later, when we weren't trying to concentrate.

I stomped on the inmate for good measure, eliciting a groan of pain from him and the sound of shattering icicles. Must've had a full beard of them. To Chopper, I prompted, "And?"

"And nothing. It's like he was never here." Chopper turned and nudged Brook's leg with his antlers. "Brook, can you see anyone in the upper cell block who isn't too frozen to talk?"

"I can't, and I can't even say it's because I don't have eyes!" Brook's lack of a cheery follow-up laugh at his own joke didn't fill me with confidence.

"Why don't we just ask this weird guy, then?" Luffy asked, squatting next to the guy I was still using as a footstool. "Hey, weird guy, do you know where Iva or Ace are?"

I still didn't know who Emporio Ivankov was, but Bon-Bon described him—her?—as more or less the greatest person in the history of the world. Assuming that we found Ivankov, I was curious to see how Ivankov compared to Whitebeard, who was the only other person my traveling companions seemed to put on a pedestal. And even then, that was Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates for the most part. Luffy couldn't remember the man's name.

But hey, if Bon-Bon wanted to find Iva, then he and Ace were coming along for our grand escape.

His response, somewhat muffled by the snow, was, "Go…to…h-hell."

I dug my heel into his back. "Answer the captain's question. And this time, be polite. "

"Th-the forest…"

"I smell wolves out there," Chopper said, and though he seemed the slightest bit nervous, he didn't waver. "Not people."

"Wolves aren't that tough," Luffy replied, shooting back to his feet. "We're still trying to find the right spot, but if we get some wolf meat along the way, it'll still be fine."

"And the wolves are probably gonna try to eat Chopper and Brook, not to mention us," I said since, well. Reindeer and a skeleton. Not much of a logical leap there. But instead of belaboring that point, I just changed the topic with, "Check the card again, Luffy."

Luffy blinked, holding up the slightly-scorched paper again. It wriggled around in his palm, then seemed to twist at a strange angle. "Ah! It's not pointing toward the forest!" As I stepped back, Luffy hauled the frozen inmate to his feet and said, "Hey, old guy, your directions are bad. Give us better ones!"

But alas, the prisoner had fainted. Or else died. I wasn't sure I cared which. As it was, we left the guy inside one of the cells and had to hope for the best.

Bon-Bon spun in place as we regrouped, more to avoid the cold than because he wanted to. I swore I saw him flip between faces as he spun, fussing. "Now how are we going to find Portgas D. Ace and Emporio Ivankov?!"

"This will work! Ace said so!" Luffy held the vivre card out, stretching his hand this way and that despite the cold. His face fell all of a sudden. "It's not… Ah, why does the mystery paper keep not wanting to point to Ace?!"

As Luffy's palm and the vivre card shot past my face again, I sighed. "Luffy, stop moving the card around for a second."

Luffy froze. "Why?"

"I want to see what angle we're being told to follow." I held out my hand, taking hold of Luffy's wrist. "Now, concentrate. Tell me when the card is pulling the hardest."

Luffy nodded, and I slowly changed the angle of his hand manually, because he'd proven that his focus for this kind of task was incredibly short. When I had his arm at about a forty-five degree angle, he said, "There!" and I stopped.

"There?" Bon-Bon pirouetted closer, then peered at the card. "Straw Hat, why would the vivre card pull strongest at that angle?"

"It's a mystery," Luffy said, though he didn't move his hand.

"Actually, it means we need to head down." I frowned, free hand on one hip before I let go of Luffy's wrist and mirrored with my other hand. Then I sighed again when a cynical thought came to mind, a bit overdue. "Of course. What kind of self-respecting corrupt government lists all the levels in their supermax prison? There was always going to be some pit too deep to dredge out."

Chopper cocked his head to one side, pawing at the snow in a nervous gesture. "So Ace really isn't on this level. But what about Ivankov?"

"I have no idea." Ivankov could have been literally anywhere, and without a vivre card for him there was no way to be sure.

"Why don't we ask this gentleman, then?" Brook asked, and the rest of us blinked at him.

Then we blinked at the seven-foot-tall man in a perfect split-toned fur coat that matched his hairstyle, down to the even split between the orange and white halves of the clover-like pompadour. He even had a wine glass in hand in a level where nearly every other available liquid was doing time as a solid. But he wasn't wearing the Impel Down prisoner uniform or any regalia that made me associate him with the staff, insofar as I could recognize the latter. After all, Magellan employed a pink dominatrix. Uniforms were only for the fodder.

"Ah! An orange person!" Luffy tucked the vivre card away in his hat's band again, then waved his arms. "Hey, hey, can you help us find Iva and Ace?"

Behind his shades, I wasn't sure what our newest friend was thinking. Or if he was our newest friend at all. But all he said was, "Follow me."

The Straw Hats and Bon-Bon, of course, jumped on the opportunity. I hung back, eyes narrowed against both the glare of the snowfield and in deep suspicion. I would still follow them, of course, but I didn't plan on taking my hand off my katana for the rest of the trip.

Again, Magellan employed a pink dominatrix. I still wasn't sure what part of that idea I found most objectionable.

Other than threatening everyone with death? She did seem sadistic.

You've been quiet lately, I commented, rather than addressing that statement directly. I didn't want to have to explain BDSM the way that woman seemed to pursue it. What's going on up there?

Shukaku has pinned down Kizaru and the Warlord Kuma at Sabaody Archipelago. Isobu sent me a vague impression of the distances involved, as assessed by his bond to his sandiest sibling.

It was well outside of the Tarai Current, but that could only assure us of so much. Kizaru was the guy who could turn into light, right?

Isobu didn't wait for a reply. But so far, Kuromushi has heard nothing from Aokiji or Akainu. They may be headed our way.

And that'd be Ice Capades and Utakata's next punching bag. I frowned, recalling Fū and Gaara's story about being nearly frozen solid when the Straw Hats had encountered Aokiji before reaching Water 7. The youngest of the Marine Admirals was nothing to scoff at, but I was fairly certain his abilities would run directly up against Matatabi's and suffer for it. Akainu would take at least as severe of a beating if Saiken wanted to run him through the wringer. Put Matatabi on it, unless one of the others wants first shot at him for some reason. You or Saiken get Akainu. I don't even know if they'll show up, but…

Better safe than sorry, particularly now.

I nodded silently, while my group charged on ahead.

Isobu's clone clambered up on my back until it could see over my shoulder, keeping its tails mostly wrapped around my waist otherwise. You have not located Ace, yet?

Not yet, I told him, but we will soon enough.

Find him and get out of there. The longer you stay in this metal box, the more I feel the need to tear into it. He paused, and his clone's grip tightened on my shoulders as he thought of another detail to inform me of. Thus far, Yugito has Level Three under control, while Fū and Gaara have secured Levels Two and One. Utakata is still fighting the warden, but the floor is effectively ours. Naruto continues to hold the stairwell. Get out soon.

I only had to extend my chakra sense upward to confirm what Isobu was telling me. Utakata and Yugito's immense chakra signatures were still going strong, bouncing from point to point on Level Three and Four and never giving an inch in the face of a concerted counterattack. Matatabi and Saiken must have been focusing their attention on their partners, too, or else they wouldn't know when they had to stage a rescue in one form or another. And the others were hardly facing resistance worth noting.

Still, we needed to make this quick.

"Hei, are you following us?" Luffy called back.

"Sure thing, Luffy. I'm just going a bit slower," I said, forcing cheer into my voice.

Nothing else for it, I supposed. We were off to see the wizard.

The orange creamsicle person turned out to be named Inazuma. Ducking down into some kind of horribly iced-over basement, our new party of six trekked down into the sewers below Level Five. Once we left the apparent permafrost layer behind, the stone tunnels below were cold but manageable. Without gigantic fans making wind whip across our souls, the chill was just that. And the further down we went, the less it mattered.

After a certain point, we started to hear…music. A little further down the winding tunnels, the faint echo of many conversations became audible under the dulcet tones of what sounded like electric guitars. Which I had not heard for well over twenty years, because my hometown didn't have the technology for them. And neither should this place—especially not in the middle of the local equivalent of Alcatraz.

Am I hallucinating?

You are not under a genjutsu, was all Isobu said. Terribly helpful.

"Can we go faster?" Chopper asked, now in his smallest form instead of his full reindeer one. "If Ace or Ivankov need medical attention, we need to get there as soon as possible."

"Ivankov is not in danger," replied Inazuma, not missing a beat.

Fine, then.

"Bon-Bon," I said, while we were still following Inazuma, "it sounds like you're going to be able to meet your idol. But if this takes too long, I'm not sure what I'm going to have to do."

The first idea that came to mind involved breaking the floor like the Straw Hats' Monster Trio had done three floors above us. Not exactly a winning strategy for minimizing casualties.

"I'm sure Queen Ivankov will be able to help us find Straw Hat's brother," Bon-Bon replied, somehow keeping up with our walking pace despite moving on the points of his toes. Wherever he'd learned to be a ballerina clearly made their trainees' feet into solid steel. "Queen Ivankov is the greatest okama the world over! He's the legendary miracle worker!"

I blinked, then had to just shrug. Far be it from me to keep people from idolizing others. I'd withhold judgment until I met the guy. But if he really could help us, then I could accept anything. "If you say so. I guess if there's someone who'd know about an extra level in Impel Down, it's someone who set up shop in the basement."

"Exactly!" And Bon-Bon did a little twirl, again.

"Luffy, what are we going to do if Ivankov can't help us find Ace?" Chopper asked, as Inazuma strode on ahead.

"We'll go back to following the vivre card and breaking things until we find him," Luffy said, as Inazuma stopped in the middle of a dead end.

Nice to know he was apparently a mind reader. Then again, perhaps I'd lost enough subtlety that it was obvious even to the perpetually-unobservant Luffy. The simplest answer, however, was simply that strange minds thought alike.

Before any of us could protest, Inazuma raised his hands ahead of him and did…something. I saw scissors the size of swords pop out of his sleeves and flash once, slicing through a stone wall as though it was made of mere paper. There was a tunnel beyond it, of a different style than anything else in Impel Down thus far, and Inazuma beckoned to us. "This way, please."

And once we were all in the tunnel, it closed behind us like origami.

The music was louder on this end, too.

Inazuma led us wordlessly into a hidden chamber, through another maze of corridors and repurposed sewers. The chamber was loud, populated, and completely at odds with everything else I'd seen in Impel Down thus far.

Despite wearing shinobi mesh armor for most of my life, I had honestly never seen so many sets of fishnet stockings in one place before. The crowd of people in the massive cavernous room nearly all wore fishnets with either briefs or booty shorts, and many of them had somehow acquired pumps, boots, and other forms of high-heeled shoes. Some were seated at low, round tables that reminded me of the ones in fancy hotels or restaurants a literal lifetime ago, of the sort that had its own house band. A club? Everyone had full plates of food or mugs of beer or both, and they smiled and laughed in the midst of their many conversations. The lights were low here not because of a lack of power or care, but instead because that was what clubs were like. It was downright surreal.

Given the sheer misery I'd been seeing ever since our assault on Impel Down began, the place stood out all the more as a…hm. A diamond in the rough, perhaps. Whatever the exact term, I automatically respected this place and its proprietor. Carving a slice of heaven out of hell couldn't have been an easy feat.

"Food!" was Luffy's succinct response to this display.

I automatically grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides rather than letting him live up to his reputation as a bottomless pit.

It probably would have been more energy-efficient to tie him in a knot or two, but the idea occurred to me only after a pair of stage lights illuminated a ten-foot-tall afro-sporting figure on the catwalk at the opposite end of the chamber. By that point, all of us were more or less hypnotized by the proceedings, and as the crowd around us started cheering.

One thing I'd noticed over time, among the various people who were far larger than anyone back home, was that their physical proportions tended to be unusual. Other than Whitebeard, who was just plain big, they tended to have features like larger or smaller hands or torsos, or large feet, or something else that just didn't quite work according to what my medical training told me about human anatomy. Most of the time, it just inspired a momentary double-take, and then I wrote the observation off as just something that happened in this world.

True to this trend, the person on stage had a head-to-torso ratio I'd last seen on a pair of twin witches that ran a bathhouse for spirits. In a movie. That, combined with the pink bodysuit and knee-high boots, the purple afro and the plush-looking crown, meant that whoever-they-were cut a distinct, flamboyant, and unmistakeable figure.

Honestly, the Wizard of Oz comparisons just kept coming. Pity about the lack of a yellow brick road, but I wasn't willing to speculate too hard on what they might've had to use to make such a thing down here.

"So you're the little pirate crew making such a racket in the upper levels," purred probably-Ivankov from the stage, into a stand microphone. "I'm starting to like your style."

"I like our style, too!" Luffy replied, as I finally let go of him now that he'd been distracted from food.

"Mmmfufufu…" A performer to the core, almost-certainly-Ivankov still didn't turn to face us as he laughed.

Well, at least it wasn't Orochimaru's laugh. I had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to that noise, even after everything else I'd been through before and since meeting him.

As definitely-Ivankov shook his hips onstage to the sound of the opening electric guitar riff (which still confused me for half a dozen reasons), I tapped Bon-Bon's shoulder and whispered, "I think we've found Emporio Ivankov."

"You do?" Bon-Bon's eyes snapped to the stage again, as though riveted there. Given that he didn't need an answer, I remained silent. Even when he side-hugged me out of sheer emotion, dragging Brook into things with his other arm.

And then Ivankov's stage show started, which distracted everyone enough that I forgot to start throwing elbows.

I think Kokuō told me of small animals strutting like this on land, Isobu commented, but I do not believe this is intended as a mating dance.

Thank you for that mental image. I sighed internally. Still, Isobu wouldn't have said something just to distract me. So, how is everyone else doing?

Thus far, Aokiji and Akainu have not made any appearances in Kuromushi's range. Isobu gave me the impression he was tilting his head to one side, thinking. But we have started to hear whispers from pirate crews, or so the Straw Hats think. One would assume they would be more intelligent than to deliberately sail into this deathtrap, but I already know that is faulty thinking.

It's an understatement for everyone in here. I glanced up at the ceiling as the stage lights continued to flash. So, any idea what crews might be involved?

Fū and Gaara are discussing the Heart Pirates, but I do not think they are the crew operating in this area. Naruto is badgering them for stories.

Remind me to do that sometime.

Discuss the Heart Pirates?

Badger people for stories, I told Isobu with a grimace. I'm getting sick of how much goes on without me knowing up from down. And we've been out of News Coo range for more than a week, so hell if I know what's going on now.

You may need to fix that, then.

The problem with zoning out to talk to Isobu right when something was happening was that I couldn't recall a damn thing afterward beyond sketchy details. Ergo, that Ivankov was indeed the purple afro guy, that his power over hormones was completely brain-breaking, and that he had absolutely no interest in going any deeper into Impel Down when he already had a perfect position to do whatever he needed to. Later, I was surprised I'd gotten that much.

And that was about when I came back to the conversation, after Bon-Bon had finally put me down and after Isobu stopped taking up my concentration.

"Kei, are you all right?" Chopper asked, tugging on my pant leg. When I looked down, he said, "You stopped responding to anything."

"I'm fine, Chopper," I said, after cycling my chakra through my body again just to make sure nothing had fallen asleep while I was checking in. "Isobu and I just have an…unusual form of mental communication. And I guess he didn't want me to see Ivankov's show."

Chopper blinked. "But why not? He has a really interesting Devil Fruit power, and Inazuma doesn't mind being a woman at all."

"I have no idea." And I'd need to ask Ivankov later if his ability to change a person's physical form was permanent or not. I could think of a few people who'd be interested in that. Regardless, I coughed to clear my throat and said, "Anyway, what's going on?"

"—Even so, the big man's still waiting things out." Ivankov crossed his arms, still smiling and perhaps a bit smug. "Of course I'm referring to my comrade, the leader of all Revolutionaries in the world."

Luffy, Brook, and Bon-Bon were staring openly.

I blinked. This is the person Naruto said got arrested and chucked into Impel Down? He has to be. And yet the sheer coincidence…

I feel as though someone's uncanny luck has rubbed off on us.

"You may know him," Ivankov continued dramatically, raising his voice to a new level of smug, "as Dragon!"

Chopper put a hoof against his face.

I was too busy staring. "Dragon" was his actual name? Naruto had been completely on the money, then. I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or find the person who'd named the guy and shake their hand. As it was, I did neither.

"Oh, you're talking about my dad," said Luffy, as completely unable to read the atmosphere as ever, and I stared at him.

Chopper hit himself in the face with his hoof. Twice.

What.

This is starting to remind me of that story you me told about that other Naruto.

I thought it over. A cheerful, charismatic rookie with a penchant for certain ornamentation and a massive appetite, ridiculous combat ability or style, and the power to charm Tailed Beasts. Also, the son of a notorious killer or hero. Add in the combination of potential and ambition, all aimed toward being the best of the entire world at…something, and you got both Naruto and Luffy.

I hate my life.

Ivankov didn't appear to notice me joining Chopper in the facepalm competition. Instead, he whirled around dramatically, making his fishnet cloak flare out. "Yes, that's the plan. When your dad makes a move with that army of his, then I can do some maneuvering of my own." He put a hand on his hip. "Think of it as my grand comeback tour."

"…He does know that this isn't so much a break-in as a rampage, right?" I whispered to Inazuma.

Inazuma glanced at me, then nodded.

"Good. Yugito would be pissed if no one acknowledged that part."

"If I escaped now, I'd just end up on a sea of wanted lists," Ivankov concluded. And then stopped.

And blinked.

Luffy didn't so much as twitch.

And then the penny dropped.

"D-D-D-DAD?!" Ivankov stammered, as two and two made four.

Luffy continued staring.

And then, as though they were converted to an eldritch chorus, every single non-Straw Hat, non-me person in the chamber shrieked, "DRAGON'S YOUR DAD?!"

Ivankov hurled himself backward, smashing into a wall afro-first and cratering it quite thoroughly as Chopper and I winced. Even if he had quite a bit of body mass to absorb the impact, that could easily bruise. "Your…your dear papa…" Ivankov slid to the floor. "And I never knew…"

He looked about as cognizant as I'd felt a few minutes ago. Which, given how Isobu's conversations were distracting as all hell, did not bode well. Oh dear.

And then Ivankov face-planted on the floor.

He really did have a knack for drama.

Brook tapped my shoulder. "What is a Revolutionary?"

I shrugged. Naruto was the one who had spent time with them, not me. "I don't know for sure. Naruto said their goal was basically to tear down the World Government."

"Their leader is considered the World's Most Dangerous Criminal," Chopper provided, from about knee-height on me and ankle-height on Brook.

…Why could I hear the capital letters there? And really, those kinds of monikers got handed out like candy by the World Government, so I was kinda going to take that with a whole truckload of salt.

"D-d-don't be ridiculous!" Ivankov tried to snap at Luffy, once he'd gotten to his feet again. "Dragon doesn't have any children! That's just crazy talk."

Luffy crossed his arms, then tilted his head to one side. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything." Head tilt going the other way. "But Grandpa didn't keep it a secret." It was like watching a metronome at work. "I don't really know that much about him. It's not like I've ever seen his face before."

"WHAAAAT?!" Ivankov shrieked in disbelief. And then he froze. "Wait, please tell me where you came from?"

"East Blue," was Luffy's nonchalant response.

And then Ivankov was off to anime-flashback-land. Oooookay then.

I'd had enough of this detour. The idea of allying with the Revolutionaries was tempting for about five seconds, since they were about the only faction who would benefit wholeheartedly from the mess being made of Impel Down. Ultimately, though, finding allies down here was more of a hindrance than a help because of the way we'd decided to pursue this plan of attack. Between Utakata still beating Magellan into the ground and the Straw Hats still holding the other floors, we hardly needed more people to look after. The plan was much less complicated when our only goal had been to find Ace and get him out, and let the rest of this place burn.

Or drown, really.

I stepped forward, feeling my eyes start to itch with Isobu's chakra and turn gold.

"We don't need your help," I said, while Ivankov recovered. Ivankov's heavily painted eyes shot in my direction for an instant, while multiple trains of thought jockeyed for priority in his head. Perhaps I could hijack one. "The only reason we're here is because Bon-Bon wanted to meet you, because you're his hero. And because we don't know exactly where it'll be safe to enter Level Six."

And because Naruto would probably be pissed if it turned out we killed a bunch of Revolutionaries by accident when he owed them his life. At some point, I would get the whole story out of him, and then know for certain how callous I was being at this exact moment.

But that was for the future.

"There isn't a safe, conventional, undetectable route," said someone, and I squashed down the tiny urge to quail at having acquired an audience. There were too many eyes on me, and when I was channeling Isobu's chakra, any lingering traces of fear turned into aggression.

"If you don't want to help us reach Ace, then we won't demand it," I went on as I forced myself to bow to Ivankov, showing sincerity and keeping myself contained, "but consider this fair warning that you will need to evacuate. None of us want to see the Revolutionaries suffer for the World Government's actions."

"Oh, so that's your serious face," Luffy said, nodding to himself. "Right! Iva, help me find out where Ace is, and we'll smash our way straight to him! You can just do whatever you have to!"

I wasn't sure what Ivankov saw in our expressions, but he didn't miss a beat. He flung out one arm, like a commanding king. "Inazuma, help our guests find the entrance to Level Six while we prepare for our exodus. It's time for action!"

"Right away," Inazuma said, bowing without disturbing the wineglass.

"It would be helpful if you could reinforce the Straw Hats on Level Five's stairs," I suggested, before everyone could get to gung-ho about storming the next level down. "Level Six… By the time we leave there, Impel Down will be sinking if anyone so much as dares to put up a fight. I'm done playing."

"Not without me, you won't!" Luffy said, holding out his hand to stop me. "We do this together!"

Brook and Chopper raised their arms along with the Revolutionaries (both in fishnets and not) and Bon-Bon as they all gave a shout of agreement.

"GUM-GUM BAZOOKA!"

"BIG BALL RASENGAN!"

What could I say? Luffy was insidious.

There were no direct passages to Level Six from Level Five-Point-Five. The tunnels ran all over the rest of the prison, up through walls and support structures all the way through Level One, but Ivankov had never seen the need for a Level Six passageway. The prisoners in Newkama Land could even get current newspapers from the trash on the upper levels, and most of them had also recovered their clothes. It was all thanks to the dozens of boltholes and pathways hidden here and there across the prison. But Level Six just wasn't in Ivankov's plans. Its prisoners tended to be too violent, notorious, or who-even-knew-what-else for recruitment.

So Luffy and I took a page out of the Raikage's book. Doors were for people who didn't understand that the shortest path between two points was a straight line, no matter what had to be busted down to make way. Like the Fire Temple monks said, "Where no opportunity lies, make one."

Or something like that. My brother was the one who'd actually visited long enough to pick up philosophy.

Luffy ran on ahead while I…dealt with the occupant of the cell we'd just remodeled. With my Rasengan already having punched a hole through the front of the cell, it wasn't like anyone could stop him, or me. And as much as Luffy was going to raise hell by running around, I had no more interest in loose ends than ever.

The prison staff has noticed that Level Six has been breached.

What are they going to do about it?

Precious little. They cannot access the stairs with Naruto's group in the way, and passing through Level Four at this moment would be fatal. There was an elevation device, but Utakata accidentally destroyed it. Isobu's massive chakra signature sat just beyond the external wall, nearly level with Luffy and me, and I did not want to know what he was planning to do if all other escape routes were compromised.

So much for Yugito's search. Using the new corpse as a footstool, I climbed over the blown-out cell door and into Level Six. Isobu, are there any self-destruction options for the Warden or other staff members to use in case of a breakout?

I do not know. No one has mentioned such a thing on any of the baby transponder snails, or at least not in a way that Kuromushi can detect.

All right. Then we just have to get this done fast. Then I devoted my attention to looking around.

Level Six was honestly more in line with what I'd expected of the "giant underwater prison" part of how people described Impel Down. It was made of granite with sea prism stone accents, iron and steel for flavor, and the pervasive aura of evil that really ought to have accompanied the entire place. The level was dark, despite some effort made at providing rather terrible ambient lighting via lamps and torches, and every inch of the place that wasn't a pathway belonged to a hundred different cells.

And some of the cells were fucking huge. There were vast dark shapes moving in some of them, and suddenly I was very glad that my entire combat role was based on giving me the strength to punch well above my literal weight class. Luffy probably didn't even notice.

It occurs to me just now that I never did figure out what made that giant footprint back on our first island.

I would hazard a guess that your answer is "giants."

I hate it when I'm right just because the universe likes irony, I thought, and jumped down from our starting cell to the floor far below to join Luffy.

"This place is huge!" Luffy complained, standing in the middle of the pathway between the seemingly endless cells. "It's going to take forever to find Ace."

"Luffy, vivre card!" I barked out, making him snap his hand back to his hat's band. Honestly, the number of reminders this kid needed…

"Right!" And lo, we were on our way again.

The problem with vivre cards was that they didn't compensate for walls. The best we could do was run around the cells of the various inmates who neither deserved to be freed nor were worth killing. And given Luffy's desperation to finally find Ace again, I didn't have to cut all that much off my non-modified speed to give him a modest lead. Even if the kid hadn't already been a one-person wrecking crew, it was quite clear that once we were so close to our goal, the gloves came off.

It made cannoning into the few guards and running them into the floor before they could call for help a lot easier.

Along the way, Isobu was able to provide status updates.

The prison is undergoing a full-scale riot. Yugito's position has become the rallying point for a new cult, and Fū's group has subdued all hostile prisoners as well as the beasts. Gaara, likewise, has somehow recruited Level One prisoners to the cause. Isobu paused, thinking that over, then added, Or at the least, Level One prisoners are more interested in escaping than fighting us.

And Utakata? I asked, as Luffy slammed a guard into a cell wall so hard that there were two imprints. One of them was his fist in the stone. The other wasn't a good idea to contemplate on a full stomach, though I doubted Luffy noticed.

Currently, Utakata is attempting to drown the warden in the lake of boiling blood, with Saiken's advice, Isobu said, as though commenting on the weather. He only sounded annoyed that it had taken them that long to remember that blood was mostly water and that Devil Fruit users couldn't swim. While I was busy kicking a guard into a cell and shutting the door behind him, he continued blandly, Everything else on Level Four is either unconscious or dead due to the combined influence of their chakra and the warden's poisons, even disregarding genuine misdirected attacks. Some prisoners may have escaped into Level Three, for all the good that does them.

The effect's not airborne, is it? Shit, and I'd left Naruto downhill of all that—

Not to my knowledge, else Level Three would be depopulated. Nor is it easily spreading toward Level Five—our friends are safe, particularly after closing the Level Four doors. Isobu sent me a thoughtful-sounding noise, then he said, That said, I will tell Saiken to clear a Marine ship. It seems that you are leaving with more than a few tagalongs.

And leaving behind a whole bunch of corpses, I thought with a grimace.

Not that I especially cared for every person in Impel Down as an individual—I would have been a hopelessly naïve bleeding heart if I did—but I was going to be responsible for those deaths. Yugito might have come to this place without my prompting, since she knew Ace, but Utakata wouldn't have bothered. And I was still leading this mission in some way, even this late in the game. Those lives and the utter ruin brought to this place? My responsibility, in whole or in major part. Even Luffy's crew would never have made it here in time to participate if not for my link to Isobu, and Isobu's to Shukaku, and Shukaku's proximity to Chōmei and thus an actual method to get to Impel Down.

I still wouldn't have made another choice, other than to prevent Ace from being captured in the first place.

My thoughts were punctuated repeatedly by noise while Luffy and I ran on, because the surveillance transponder snails on Level Six just kept sending warning after warning. Not that they were being heeded fast enough.

"Was that a woman?"

"Come here, girlie! I can show—"

"Get back here, you fucking—"

"Who's that brat?"

"Hey, bitch, get yourself a real—"

Oh, and catcalling. To various degrees of blatant sexism. There was something darkly hilarious about how some of the only people able to tell I was a woman at first glance were all lifers in a supermax. Seriously, what the fuck?

If I hadn't been on a mission to rescue someone from the depths of this hellhole, I probably would have poked my head in exactly long enough to hear that kind of bullshit and then punch a hole through a vital wall with a bomb. Given the prevalence of sea prism stone, no Devil Fruit powers could provide a last-minute save down here. And it would serve all of them right.

But there were more important concerns.

Luffy and I dashed through Level Six, checking the vivre card at my insistence whenever we hit an intersection. After the third time, Luffy didn't bother being his version of subtle at all. Though we still smacked into and trampled guards with the same frequency as we had before, from that point on, our progress was punctuated by Luffy shouting for his brother. If the prisoners had any doubts about our goal, that little tidbit dispelled them.

This, of course, resulted in still more unhelpful commentary.

"Long way to come for a booty call!"

"Hah, and with just enough time left for a kiss goodbye!"

I heaved a sigh as we finally hit the fifth blind corner, and subsequently punched the guards out. While wiping blood off my hands and onto on a guard's uniform, I complained, "If the others didn't need him, I'd have picked Chopper to come along. This feels like we're going in circles."

"We can't be going in circles! There are too many corners!" Luffy insisted.

I paused. He wasn't…wrong. Then I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Luffy, card."

He held out his hand, and Ace's vivre card was still the same size as before. The edges were a little fried, but at least it hadn't learned to spontaneously combust, right? Dammit, I wished I'd gotten a better explanation of how these things worked.

"It says…go this way!" And he was off again.

But the eleventh time was indeed the charm.

Luffy led the way through another hall with cells stacked high on both sides, complete with a giant-sized cell at the back. "AAAAAAAACE! ACE, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

And out of the cell on the end, approximately the size of a modest house, a familiar voice said in a breathless tone, "It's impossible, but…"

"I told you miracles could still happen," rumbled a much deeper voice.

"Yeah… You did." A crackly, disused laugh followed before dying in a ragged gasp. Then, "You…were right, Jinbe."

Luffy actually ran past the correct cell, snagging a stone lip on his way with rubbery fingers and then rocketing right back to where he'd lost track of things. I confirmed it was the right stop when he smacked into the bars and bounced off, but didn't run onward. To his credit, he was on his feet again by the time I took my first look into the cell, from a bit farther back.

The first thing I noticed, thanks to proximity and size, was a slightly rounded hulking shape sitting just against the right wall. Though I'd pushed Isobu's chakra back for the sake of my endurance not being overridden by dependence on Tailed Beast chakra, I could still make out a huge fishman in the cell, dressed in a red kimono and covered from shoulders to webbed feet in heavy chains. He looked back at me, more surprised than hostile despite the blood still seeping down his face, and I dismissed his presence entirely as a concern.

"Ace," Luffy repeated, hanging onto the bars of the cell though I could see his muscles tremble from touching sea prism stone directly. "Ace, I found you!"

Ace looked up when I was still a bit out of view, and my eyes immediately itched as I reflexively pulled on Isobu's chakra even more than before.

As much as I'd overused the phrase recently, my initial assessment was still that Ace looked like hell. His ankles and wrists were chained, using the same battleship-grade chains that were on the fishman. His arms had been pulled back into what was possibly the least comfortable orientation possible, with only two links between his wrists and the wall. Either a head or shoulder-wound (or both) left blood dripping down and onto the floor, pooling around his legs.

My hand found the bar that ran across the cell, about at waist height, and I closed my fingers around it. I met the fishman's eyes again, and he didn't flinch.

Good for him.

"Luffy… What are you doing here?" Ace asked, his voice still far weaker than I was used to.

"We're here to rescue you!" Luffy replied, grinning widely. "Even if we had to fight the entire prison!"

"…What? Who's 'we'?"

Ace's voice still sounded off, from disuse or pain. But I couldn't do anything about that from the outside of the cell, and neither could Luffy.

"We brought everyone!" Luffy said, while I kept silent.

I elected to focus instead on how to break into a sea prism stone cage without hurting any of the occupants. I'd gotten more practice suppressing both my chakra and Isobu's in the last few months than I had in the past ten years before that. Tightening my control and preventing our power from just radiating outward and being wasted had never been so important before now.

This far, and no farther. I refuse to lose control.

I walked slowly forward along the front of the cell, my hand encased in bubbling orange-red energy and then shifting to deep blood-red as Isobu's chakra cloaked my arm to my shoulder and didn't let go. I dragged my hand along the cage as I went, my new scales making faint scraping sounds.

"Kei?" I heard Ace ask, but it was as though his voice was coming from underwater. Tone and pitch warped into nearly meaningless data.

"Luffy, stand back."

As soon as he obeyed my Isobu-enhanced voice, the way was open. I yanked on what I could still manage of the V2 cloak, barely keeping it away from my head and left shoulder while the rest of it anchored me to the floor for balance. And my hand tightened on a joint between the vertical and horizontal sea prism stone bars, just to the left of the door's hinges.

Sea prism stone didn't have any give, and I'd never figured out if it was just something coating metal or if it was magic in its own right. Or if my coral could mimic its most useful properties. But when practically percolating in rage and Isobu's chakra, all that really mattered was that the stone around it wasn't strong enough to hang on.

The granite became powder. The front of the cage was liberated from its anchor points. I staggered for a second as the intact sea prism stone and its weight shifted my center of balance on the backswing.

Then I planted my back foot and twisted, flinging the entire setup at the massive cell across the way. The thunderous crash sent a shockwave across the prison that was followed by unnerving silence from the nearest fifteen or so cells. The rest hadn't been close enough to see what had happened, and were demanding answers in increasingly anxious voices. Even the occupants of the aforementioned cell seemed to have flinched back, though the sea prism stone structure wasn't large enough to threaten them.

"What happened?" demanded someone from the next cell, whose request went ignored.

I powered down to nothing again, careful to pull all of my and Isobu's chakra back inside my coils and tamp down on any last-second flares, then followed Luffy into the cell as the dust settled.

"ACE!" Luffy shouted joyfully, and latched onto his brother like a limpet. He was at least careful to avoid open wounds, but Ace still let out a tiny gasp of pain when Luffy's all-encompassing hug put pressure on his ribs. "Ah! You're hurt. And this is…" Luffy touched the chains, frowning, and then withdrew his hands with a grunt and a snap as they returned to normal shape. "It's that sea-stone stuff. And we don't have a key for this one."

"Hah," Ace managed, though his breathing hadn't evened out again. There was a mass of bruising along his ribs and stomach that I eyed with deep suspicion, but there was nothing any of us could do about it for now. "Nothing but the best for me."

"It's not a good look for you," I remarked quietly, while inspecting one of the chain-ports. I still wasn't sure why this much sea prism stone was being used in a set of chains when no one native to this world could break any amount of it, but I didn't intend to break this. Didn't need to. "Let's get you out of here."

I could feel Ace's eyes on me, and I didn't know if I wanted to meet them.

"Kei?" Ace asked, and I found myself looking down toward his face. From his end, the angle looked somewhat uncomfortable, but I was only focusing on that so I didn't think of any head wounds Ace might have had that were definitely going untreated down here. And the second he saw my glowing Isobu-like eyes, he went on, "I… I thought you were dead. Is Yugito…?"

"All of us are alive and well," I replied. I flicked my gaze pointedly toward the ceiling, then said in a somewhat wry voice, "Yugito and Utakata are helping cause trouble on the upper levels. And the others are all over the place."

Ace's shoulders sagged in relief. "That's…"

"A miracle?" the fishman in the other corner prompted, now openly amused.

"Already gave you credit for that one," Ace told him, while I reached down to poke him in the forehead. "What?"

"Introductions," I said, before turning my attention back to the shackle. "Who's your friend?"

"Oh," Ace said, though the idea still seemed to take a second or two to percolate. He'd had a lot of shocks in the past week, so I didn't blame him. "Luffy, Kei, that's Jinbe. Jinbe, these two are Luffy and Kei."

I gave a little nod toward the just-identified Jinbe, then got to work puzzling over the actual problem.

Naruto, being an enterprising young man with more than a handful of horrible role models (of which I was just one), was a fair hand with a set of lockpicks. He could even make his own. Upon realizing that our mission was to break someone out of prison, he presented Yugito, Utakata, and me with our own sets after a day or two of work. Yugito had handed hers off to Nami while citing her nails as the ultimate skeleton key, much to the confusion of the Straw Hats' navigator, but I still had mine.

The locks themselves couldn't even pretend to be any good. Mass-production was the only way to have enough sea prism stone cuffs for all the inmates, and I'd mastered all of the Academy's lessons on sneaky skills long ago. Hell, that was half the reason that shinobi villages all had more exotic security methods than mere mechanical locks. I considered it a form of environmental pressure toward more and more specialized adaptations.

In short order, the cuff popped open and Ace was able to relax his left shoulder for the first time since being effectively nailed to the wall. I didn't know how long that had been, but it was already too long.

"Next one," Ace suggested, even as Luffy grabbed his forearm and started inspecting him for any hidden injuries that the angle hadn't made obvious. Besides his wrist being rubbed raw, anyway.

"Chopper's gonna need to look at this, Ace," Luffy said, while I stepped around him to follow through on the request. "He's gonna be the best doctor in the world, and Sunny has a lot of stuff to help him with that."

"I've had worse," Ace scoffed, but without much feeling. Instead, he reached forward with his free arm and hugged Luffy around his skinnier shoulders. "How'd you even end up down here, Luffy?"

"We knocked the front door down and started fighting everyone," Luffy said, in a tone that made the unspoken "duh" louder than he could have otherwise. He hugged Ace back, careful not to touch any injuries this time. "Our whole crew is here and fighting the whole prison at once. And we're winning!"

Ace gave me an incredulous look over Luffy's shoulder.

I just nodded, and Ace's eyebrows shot toward his hairline when that hit home. His mouth was half-open to protest, but Luffy cut him off with an epic retelling of the descent through Impel Down, hitting most of the highlights I remembered. Thus, I tuned him out.

"—And then Yugi played rock-paper-scissors with Sanji and Zoro—"

"Yugito did? Are we talking about the same person?"

That said, whenever I found the one who'd worked Ace and Jinbe over with a spiked club, I'd spend a bit of time practicing my ability to tear human faces off underlying bone. The skill could still use some polishing.

And then the fourth chain finally fell open, allowing Ace to finally stand up again with his brother's hand still on his arm. After a brief sigh of pure relief, he stepped forward and grabbed me in a quick hug.

"Thanks for coming after me," Ace whispered to the top of my head, before letting go.

I rested one hand against his unbloodied shoulder and spoke softly, with real warmth breaking through my mission persona. "No problem. I know you'd do the same for me."

Though I hope you'll never, ever have to.

The very tips of Ace's ears darkened, and he turned his face away before he said in a slightly choked voice, "Get Jinbe loose, too. Please."

Jinbe had stayed silent and patient the entire time I'd been undoing locks and Luffy had been bouncing in place. And now he inclined his head as far as he could with the chains trapping him against the wall, and said, "Greetings. I'd bow, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment."

"You've got that right," I said, as I checked my lockpicks for integrity once again (ironically enough). "So, what are you in for?"

"Disobeying orders," Jinbe replied, shaking his head slightly. "I have to say, it's nice to finally meet the people young Ace has been speaking about so much."

"I hope we made a decent secondhand impression," I said, while inspecting the first lock.

Behind me, the rest of the cell glowed orange as Ace checked to see if he'd shrugged off the sea prism stone's effects.

"You're fire again!" Luffy enthused.

"Yep!"

"Your first impression was most impressive, too. Most people wouldn't be willing or able to come this far into Impel Down, to say nothing of demolishing the front of this cage," Jinbe said, as I undid the lock for his left wrist cuff. "Did Whitebeard send you?"

About that… "I think the closest I got to permission was when his division commanders gave us directions," I admitted, reaching for the next shackle. As I started to twist the tumblers around, I went on quietly, "I'm not a Whitebeard Pirate, so they can't give me orders."

"Sure you aren't," Ace piped up, and I steadfastly ignored him. Free from his shackles, he was clearly feeling better if he could make jokes like that. "Didn't you get that jacket from Izo?"

Unbeknownst to me, yes.

"I see. Whichever it is, thank you." Jinbe's wrists didn't have the same marks as Ace's did. How long had he been down here? Or was it a question of fishmen having different anatomy than humans did? "With any luck, the World Government won't get the war they've been pushing for."

"A war… Oh, because of Captain Whitebeard." When the first ankle cuff finally popped open, I sat back for a second so Jinbe could flex his joints, and looked over my shoulder.

Ace had Luffy in a headlock, of course. Insofar as it mattered to a boy entirely made of rubber.

"That young man is one of Whitebeard's sons," Jinbe explained patiently as I got to work on the last cuff. Perhaps he thought I hadn't displayed enough knowledge with my remark. "I know the old captain very well. There's no way he wouldn't retaliate for what the World Government has done to one of his children, no matter the risk." He glanced up at the ceiling of the cell—or what remained of it—and sighed. "If I'd been faster, I could have done more than just protest being called to fight under the World Government's banner."

"Then you'd be dead instead of down here with us, Jinbe," Ace reminded him. When I turned to give him my best blank expression, he added, "Jinbe's the only half-decent Warlord out there. The two of us fought for five days straight and we're both still here. Can't expect that out of any of the others."

"…Huh," I said, and then the last cuff clanked to the floor. I mentally revised what "endurance" meant to these people once again, because I was fairly sure the Third Raikage died of chakra exhaustion after three days.

"A Warlord? Really?" Luffy asked, darting over to Jinbe as the fishman finally got to his feet as well. "I fought two Warlords. Am I gonna have to fight you?"

"No, Straw Hat," Jinbe replied.

Luffy nodded seriously. "That's good, then."

"I'm surprised you didn't notice our neighbor, Luffy," Ace said, idly jabbing a finger over his shoulder. "But then, Croc's been pretty quiet…"

"Eh?! Crocodile's here?" Luffy immediately stretched his neck out like…uh, some animal that didn't exist, peering around the corner of the cell and into the next one. Then the rest of him followed.

Ace trailed along afterward, waving at the unseen cell block neighbor. "Hey, Croc, what were you saying earlier about silver medalists? 'Cause to me it looks like you're coming up short all over again."

There was a metallic clang as something slammed into the sea prism stone front of the cage, while Luffy complained about Crocodile shouting at them.

I just sighed, but Jinbe's wry smile kept me from making it too heartfelt. It still worried me a little that there was blood running down his head, but I'd never been able to restock on medical supplies. I'd even forgotten to ask Chopper.

Still, our little group made it out into the main floor without anything being destroyed. The random chatter from the inmates was beginning to form a dull background roar as multiple parties demanded to know what the hell had happened, and one of the voices from that mess had been the one in the next cell.

I strode around the corner to inspect the neighboring jailbird.

Crocodile, the former Warlord that Luffy had faced in Alabasta, turned out to be the kind of man I would have pegged as a misplaced gangster. He had a scar wider than Iruka's running across his grayish face, and the scowling mouth below it was nearly as broad. While he wore the striped Impel Down uniform like almost everyone else down here, his ankles and wrists were chained together with enough links to still allow him to garrote someone with them, in a massive security oversight. Sure, one hand was a golden prosthetic hook rather than a flesh-and-blood appendage, but that was just window dressing.

I got a thoroughly assessing look in return, as though he viewed me as a threat despite being almost two and a half feet shorter and apparently unarmed.

Smart man.

"You're the brains of this operation, aren't you?" Crocodile asked, but it wasn't much of a question from his tone.

"I also go by Kei," I responded, staring back. "Did you want something?"

"Straight to the point, huh?" A faintly amused smile spread across his face again. "Fine then. I won't mince words." He lifted his hand and his hook, palm up. "Let me out of here. I'll make it worth your while."

"And what do I need from you?" I asked in a mild voice, only briefly glancing at the cuff around his right wrist. Looked like another mass-produced job, which wouldn't take any time at all to open.

"You aren't seriously considering this, are you?" Ace demanded, one hand landing heavily on my shoulder. "Kei, he's the type who'd go after Pops if we gave him half a chance."

Luffy skipped the intermediate point and just shouted directly at Crocodile. "Don't screw with us! You're that bastard who tore up Vivi's whole country!"

I glanced at Jinbe, who was the only person who hadn't said anything thus far, and he asked, "What are you thinking, Kei?" The lack of accusation in his tone was refreshing, really.

"I'm past anything to do with Alabasta, Straw Hat. It's old news," Crocodile told Luffy, looking bored. Then his gaze snapped back to me. "I could open a hole in the ceiling for our escape. You do need to get out, don't you?"

"Pass," I said flatly. While Crocodile's expression turned into a faint frown, which was the only indication he was at all taken aback by the remark, I elaborated a bit, "I already have an exit plan that doesn't depend on a Warlord. Try again."

"It sounds like you want to be convinced," Crocodile commented, radiating an aura of pure smug.

Ace bristled, flames crawling along his shoulders in a protective surge. "She's one of us, Croc, not—"

"I just ripped a sea prism stone cage apart bare-handed, and prior to that, I helped organize an invasion of Impel Down to rescue a Whitebeard," I reminded everyone, somewhat annoyed. To Crocodile, I just said, "I don't have a good record with Warlords, either. I'm not sure I shouldn't add to it."

"Oh? Do tell." Crocodile's expression was a bit more cautious. Sea prism stone was supposed to be the next best thing to indestructible, and he didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know that trivializing Impel Down's most comprehensive security measure was not supposed to happen. Particularly not casually.

And besides that, he was quick enough on the uptake to know when he was playing with fire in a literal and figurative sense, even without Ace imitating a furnace at my side. To my front and left, Luffy made a show of cracking his knuckles, but in both cases I was sure they weren't necessary for Croc to get the message.

But just for a final touch, my eyes glowed harshly enough to supplement the lamps. "The last Warlord to cross me vanished without a trace."

"Kei—" Ace began, before his brain caught up with his mouth and his realization quieted him. I didn't want to discuss what had happened with Teach just yet, so I let him draw whatever conclusions he liked. I needed my mission persona too much to give an inch.

"Without a trace, hm… You must have gotten all of him, then. His crew and…" Crocodile paused as he weighed his options, then said, "But perhaps the World Government will find my Devil Fruit after you leave me to die, like they've probably found his."

What? "…I don't follow. You already ate it."

"Didn't you know?" Crocodile leaned forward, so his face was nearly even with mine. "Devil Fruits reincarnate when the user dies. Usually onto the nearest fruit of the same type. The World Government has a grove or two for catching them."

So Teach's Yami Yami no Mi could be…

My eye-glow died down as I turned to my resident expert on Devil Fruits. "Ace, is that true?"

Ace grimaced, but he nodded anyway. "Yeah, it is. Croc's Devil Fruit could end up anywhere."

I returned my attention to Crocodile. "Aside from your rap sheet and the powers from the Suna Suna no Mi, what do you have to offer me?"

Inwardly, however, I was in a much less composed mood. Motherfucker. I need to track down the Yami Yami no Mi now. I hope Thatch remembers what kind of fruit it was…

This is similar to what happens when a jinchūriki is killed. Only Devil Fruits have no will of their own.

And it's probably instantaneous…

"Hm…" Crocodile tilted his head slowly to one side. "Though the idea of taking Whitebeard's head still appeals to me, you've made your position clear enough. You have my full cooperation as long as the situation is… Unresolved. A war sounds like a good use of my power in the meantime." He grinned. "Or maybe ten years of World Government information works a bit better for a woman like you?"

If it did, I wouldn't still be sitting on a goddamn filing cabinet full of the stuff. Ivankov will make more use of both than I ever will, but even so… If that was the strongest card Crocodile could think of, then this was pointless. "Bye, then."

"Where are you going?" Crocodile demanded, the veneer of politeness shattering entirely. He tried and failed to loom over me, growling, "Answer me!"

"You're hostile to the Whitebeard Pirates, you don't have anything to offer the breakout effort that we can't pull off ourselves, I don't need information, and I don't trust you," I replied, then turned to Ace and his widening grin of slightly evil glee.

"What?" he asked defensively under my gaze, while Crocodile sputtered in impotent rage. "I knew you'd come through."

"This isn't the end of this!" Croc snarled, while we darted away and into the darkness of Level Six. "I can leave any time I—"

Whatever. Not our problem.

"Kei," Ace asked, while we made our way past more familiar cells, "is that my hat?"

"Here," I said, and unhooked the hat from around my neck. I held it out. "I got your holster too. And the dagger."

Ace took the hat, immediately situating it back in its rightful spot on his head. And then he winced at the contact with whatever scalp injuries he'd acquired, settling for hanging it by its cord like I'd been doing. As soon as he did, I handed over the other two items immediately.

I could see a hundred questions forming behind Ace's eyes from this reminder, and we really didn't have time for them. Especially when Isobu's subsonic growl finally echoed through my mind.

Status update, I thought, bringing my hand to my temple. Distantly, I heard myself say, "Sorry, Ace, hang on a second."

Yugito has stopped fighting, Isobu began, and begun organizing a mass egress to Level Two.

What changed?

She has subdued the level, and having as many bodies in her cult as she does will make it difficult for the remaining guards to pinpoint any one escapee. Isobu paused for a split second, then added, Likewise, Gaara has secured Level One and Fū's group finished with Level Two. Level Four belongs to us by default, as does Five—though through the Revolutionaries. Each position is asking for the next step in the plan.

Then it's time to leave. We've accomplished our mission from this end. All that's left is the loose ends. I snapped my fingers, drawing the group's attention back to me. I didn't think Ace's had ever left.

"You spaced out again," he said, crossing his arms over his chest despite his injuries. "Isobu?"

I nodded. "All of the teams have accomplished their goals. We're done here."

"We need to get Iva and Bon-Bon and everyone else out, though," Luffy put in. "Wasabi doesn't get to sink this place with us still in here!"

I would not, Isobu corrected, though no one else could hear him. Though I will certainly sink this place after you leave.

That is so not the point. Regardless, I gave the order that our friends had been waiting on. Transmit to all clones: We're leaving. I don't care how many tagalongs we have, but have Saiken keep at least one battleship for the Marines. And find a snail.

May I ask why?

We're going to need some way to deal with the public fallout. Might as well be on our terms.

Some of the prisoners on Level Six may have shouted for us to let them out of their cells. But we were already running.

While Luffy had no head for directions, the rest of us could follow the trail of damage Luffy and I left in our wake the first time through, as though they were breadcrumbs. As we ran, I made sure to watch Ace and Jinbe for any sign of weakness, but either they were too stubborn to let anything show or they really hadn't been badly hurt. The hecklers from before tried to start up again, but a massive burst of Ace's fire silenced the more cowardly of them, and scorched the rest into screaming.

When I looked askance at him, he just said, "They need to watch their mouths."

I rolled my eyes. Everyone down here would die anyway, so I didn't see the point.

We reached the cell Luffy and I had breached in order to enter Level Six, and Inazuma was there waiting for us. As we climbed over the blasted stone and maybe the corpse we'd left behind earlier, he said, "Queen Ivankov has completed the evacuation of Level Five-Point-Five."

"Then let's GOOOO!" Luffy cheered as he bounced forward, which kept Ace from reflexively immolating Inazuma for popping up out of nowhere.

Once we were through the hole, I stopped exactly long enough to watch Inazuma rearrange the cell wall we'd busted through, with his strange scissor powers, and then we were off. While the evidence of our passage was still obvious on the outside, Inazuma was still obligated to make some attempt at stealth. Unlike the rest of us, apparently.

I approved.

Ivankov has something interesting to report regarding Crocodile. It turns out that he did, in fact, have blackmail on your new "friend," though it hardly matters now, Isobu said, as we dashed through the sewers and crawl-spaces to Level Five. And Utakata says he will be leaving Impel Down immediately to limit the chances of exposing the group to Magellan's poisons. The sea should be able to dilute them.

And the lake of blood won't work. As the first traces of cold started leaking through the walls, I just sighed internally, then said, Tell him to go ahead. The rest of us will be fine.

There will be a delay around the Level Five-slash-Four staircase, though. Naruto only just got the new plan and is trying to herd the group with Shadow Clones.

Acceptable, I thought, then glanced toward the front of our pack of escapees where Inazuma led the way. Ivankov's people know ways to all the other levels through the tunnels. Check and see if we can't find a way to get out while avoiding Level Four and the contamination.

Isobu went silent, conferring with his clones, the people with his clones, and his fellow Tailed Beasts. I didn't interrupt, concentrating instead on the people running alongside me in the immediate area.

"How did you even get here?" Ace asked Luffy, between somewhat-uneven breaths.

I made a mental note to have Chopper and Ivankov check on him if I could, because I sure as hell couldn't do anything.

"Shumai heard from Wasabi that you got caught and stuck in here, so Coconut picked up Sunny and we flew all the way here from, um…" Luffy paused, clearly not certain of the name of his crew's last populated location. "Shabondy? Salisbury? The bubble place!"

"Sabaody?" Ace guessed. When Luffy nodded, he said, "That's a long way from here. And you flew?"

"Yeah! Coconut has these big orange wings!" Luffy said, which didn't help.

Ace looked at me for confirmation and in basically total confusion.

"'Wasabi' is what he calls Isobu," I said, holding my hands up helplessly. "And I'm pretty sure 'Coconut' is Chōmei, the Seven-Tails."

"He's big and green!" Luffy added. "And blue and orange, and he says 'lucky' a lot."

"And he's a rhinoceros beetle the size of Isobu," I put in, when Ace looked even more confused and Jinbe seemed like he wanted to ask a question. Then Ace's eyes widened. "Yeah. He's the partner to 'Silkworm' Fū, who's been on Luffy's crew since…" I trailed off uncertainly.

"We went to a Sky Island and that Enel bastard was throwing lightning at Coconut all the time, and he was a jerk and made Conis cry," Luffy explained, which was no help at all. "So I beat him up."

"Since then," I concluded, though that really sounded like an adventure I needed to hear about. Isobu had mentioned a Sky Island before, but it still seemed impossible.

"And Hatchan and Hatchan's friend met us right before the bubble island, and we had to break up a slave auction," Luffy went on, while Ace and Jinbe looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "One of those Celestial Dragons tried to buy Camie and shot Hatchan, so I beat him up, too. Rayleigh was looking after them when we left."

Ace choked, Jinbe stared, and I could have sworn that Inazuma flashed a smile for a split second. Luffy just grinned, oblivious to everyone else's reactions.

"So, Kizaru was there because he was chasing you?" I asked, for clarity's sake. "I'd wondered why Shukaku was dealing with an admiral at all, but since I think Sabaody and Marineford are pretty close…"

"Maybe!" Luffy didn't seem bothered, at least. Behind him, Ace kinda looked like he wanted to literally twist his brother into a knot and wrap him in bubble wrap for the rest of his life. "Shumai said he'd distract the monkey guy so we could get away, and Gaara said he's still there when I asked last time. He might still be there when we get back!"

"Like hell you're going back there!" Ace snapped, and for a second I was almost certain he would strangle Luffy before we got out of Impel Down.

Akainu has changed heading, Isobu reported, cutting across my thoughts like a sword. Marineford is abandoning the fight against Shukaku in favor of stopping a mass breakout from Impel Down.

"Took them long enough," I said, as the rest of my group wondered who the hell I was talking to. Therefore, I repeated Isobu's words for their benefit.

"Akainu…" Jinbe's teeth gave him a ferocious scowl, and he made use of that gift. Thankfully, he saved it for the Marine instead of wondering who Isobu was or how I could contact him. "So the World Government has finally decided to cut their losses."

I grimaced at the thought of the impending shitstorm, but said to Jinbe, "There's a plan in place to confront Akainu if we have to."

Twelve percent of a plan is not a plan.

Five Tailed Beasts is, though. And a giant inoperable gate sitting squarely in his way would be sure to help.

…You are not wrong, at least while Saiken is among us.

"And probably Kizaru, if they're giving up on fighting at Sabaody," Ace guessed, while Inazuma checked our way forward and briefly drifted out of sight. "Shukaku probably can't swim any better than before, so if the Marines are really heading here, he's stuck."

"What's that mean?" Luffy asked, blinking.

"It means we chose a good time to leave." I bit the edge of my thumb, thinking quickly. "Even if the Marines can get past the Gate of Justice—which is iffy—they're not getting through the squad posted outside. Still, they are all Logia users, right?"

Inazuma, having reappeared, nodded.

"So I'm thinking we're gonna caught up in a battle of long-range bombardment at best, and Impel Down isn't as solid as an island," I concluded grimly.

"Too bad for them that we're getting out whether they want us to or not," Ace said. "Preferably before they get here."

Showtime, then. Above our heads, chakra signatures re-positioned themselves well outside of Impel Down. I felt Fū land where Chōmei was hovering, rather than anywhere near the last location of the Thousand Sunny, but Gaara was in the right spot. Utakata was closer to the Gate of Justice, while Yugito was making her way through the prison the long way.

Naruto is gathering the Revolutionaries for a single trip. He has enough clones to link the entire group together. Isobu flicked a tail, and Yang Kurama's chakra started to move in response. They will land on Yang Kurama's back, but he wants them on the battleships as quickly as possible. I will go make sure they do not all drown.

Good, I thought, just as Naruto's chakra vanished from Level Five with a pop. I waited for a tense ten-count, just to be sure everyone had landed, then asked, And a head count?

We have everyone we care about, and some we do not. Isobu's massive chakra shot toward the surface of the ocean, abandoning the five of us just for a second to get a better position. We'd leave the instant I was sure half my group wouldn't instantly drown.

Then I finally directed my attention to my companions. "We're the last ones. Everyone, you'll need to be in contact with me for this to work."

Ace, who had actually been through this process before, paled noticeably. "This shit again?"

"Yes, because it's the fastest way out. No more stairs or running, just us on the outside of this pit." I held my hand out more insistently. "Hurry up."

Luffy latched onto me immediately like a rubbery limpet, and Jinbe rested one massive hand on my shoulder. Inazuma hesitated, then grabbed my other hand.

Ace, however, took a deep breath. Then another. Jeez, was this process really that unpleasant? "…I'm ready."

I quirked one eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Hell no," Ace said, shuddering theatrically for a second. Then he met my eyes, a weak smile on his face. "But I trust you." With that, he grabbed Luffy's flailing arm in one hand and mine with the other.

I grinned.

Reverse Summoning Jutsu.

AN: I wrestled with the idea that the characters could take Croc with them, but in the end it came down to in-character pragmatism over a potential time bomb of a teammate. Crocodile was never gonna contribute that much to this version of the Impel Down Arc anyway, especially with Gaara right there.

Goodness gracious I hope everyone is still in character during all this. I keep agonizing over minor sentences and one-liners and flailing at my keyboard.

(Also, holy crap. 14k words?!)