PRESENT DAY: IMPEL DOWN.

APPROXIMATELY THREE MONTHS AFTER THE DEATH OF MONKEY D. LUFFY

"But what do you mean less torture?!" Sadi-chan shrieked dramatically. "Screams are the food of my soul! Mmmmmmm! I have to whip! I have to maim! Life isn't worth living if I can't administer a minimum of twelve servings of pain a day!"

Koby blanched, as Sadi sprawled herself across the table, sobbing. He glanced around the table, waiting for a staff member to do…something.

The gathered Impel Down staff all seemed relatively unphased by Sadi's behavior, as if this was your average Tuesday staff meeting. Warden Hannyabal seemed preoccupied with stroking his overly large chin in the reflection of his coffee cup.

"WHAT WILL MY JOB SATISFACTION BE?" she wailed.

Vice Admiral Bastille had cautioned Koby and Helmeppo that his daughter was ' a touch eccentric ,' but 'really quite sweet once you got to know her .' Koby wasn't quite sure that 'eccentric' was the right word to describe Sadi, or the way she had tried to bite his ear when he came to the meeting.

"WHAT WILL I EAT?!"

"Eat?" repeated Helmeppo. "Umm...is there an issue with the staff having adequate food?"

"Oh for god's sake," muttered Domino. The blonde Vice Warden, (whom Koby half-believed was running the prison for Warden Hannyabal), leaned over and whispered something in Sadi's ear, glaring.

Sadi's head immediately shot up and she flushed a deep red that nearly matched her hair, before grinning almost sheepishly at Domino.

"Continue," said Domino, brusquely to Koby and Helmeppo.

Impel Down had lived up to its reputation as a literal Dante's Inferno. The rumors of the inhumane torture were unfortunately true, and then some. In the current government reform, Admiral Smoker had delegated Koby and Helmeppo to essentially...fixing the place.

Surprisingly, most of the staff were professional and likeable enough. They were an efficient, if not quirky bunch who truly just wanted to do their jobs, and for the past decades, their jobs had been literal torture.

"Thank you for visiting my Impel Down!" said Hannyabal enthusiastically after the meeting concluded. Vice Warden Magellan had left twenty minutes early to use the restroom and had not returned. "I say my Impel Down, because I am the warden!"

"Thank you for your visit, Rear Admiral, and Captain," Domino cut in quickly. "Please feel free to continue your tour of the facilities. We will assist in any way we can with the transition process. Oh, and don't worry about Sadi-chan, she just likes to be melodramatic" she added, with a smirk. "I know how to keep her on a tight leash."

Her hand brushed the polished riding crop at her waist and Koby flushed uncomfortably.

"Of-of course!" he stammered, smiling back. "Thank you for having us."

"She's the one running the show," muttered Helmeppo quietly as Domino turned away.

Koby didn't respond. As soon as the staff had turned away, the professional smile had dropped from his face.

"Hey, you okay?"

Koby looked up as Helmeppo placed a hand on his shoulder. He could feel Helmeppo's concern pressing against him.

"Yeah," Koby nodded, automatically. "Just, I'd like to get out of here."

"I know," said Helmeppo. "Let's finish up. You're headed down to Level Four, right? I'll meet you at the exit after Domino shows me the intake process. They apparently throw people in boiling water."

"That's...great," said Koby, feeling very ill.

"That's why we're here, I suppose" sighed Helmeppo. "I'll see you in a bit."

Koby nodded, and returned to his clipboard.

The prison felt stifling to him, his Observation Haki picking up on hundreds of souls, all desperate, sorrowful, vengeful, afraid.

And yet so empty.

Empty of that one, guileless, beaming smile that had laughed even in the darkest depths of Impel Down.

He ducked into the elevator, grateful to be alone to brush the moisture from his eyes.

He tried to bring himself back to the present and ground himself, the words on his clipboard blurring before him.

One of the primary ethical concerns to be addressed was the use of solitary confinement. From what Koby had gathered, solitary was used for two purposes. One was punishment, the other was to seclude prisoners who had potentially dangerous information. The most notable example Koby could think of immediately was Doflamingo. Such prisoners needed to be secluded lest they choose to their disclose compromising secrets to their fellow inmates.

Still, Koby noted, such conditions would still need to be humane. People could go mad in isolation.

He hastily dragged his arm across his face again as the lift clattered to a halt on Level Four, his hand shaking slightly on the clipboard.

He was wishing he had shed his heavy Marine coat as the lift clambered into the suffocating heat of Level Four. The solitary wing for his inspection was marked off on a small map. Helmeppo and a few other Marines under their orders were examining other floors.

Despite the furnace of boiling blood ("Mmmm….What do you mean we can't have a furnace of blood? What are we supposed to heat level four with?!) the corridors seemed to take little light from the blazing fire, and remained dingy and dark.

He slowly made his way down the hallways, sweat beading up behind his neck and under his arms.

As he made his way further down the first marked corridor, he noted that the very least, the heat seemed mildly less intense. Perhaps it was a trade off of solitary confinement: isolation, but secluded from the worst of the heat. Still uncomfortably hot. He would have to determine if such was the same in the Freezing Hell as well.

There were multiple solitary locations across each level, but Koby's Observation Haki immediately alerted him to a presence at the end of this hallway. He would observe their condition and note if anything was compromised about their situation.

"Koby! Shishishi didjya bring me some meat?!"

He spun around, his heart springing.

The cell before him was empty.

He had half expected to see Luffy beaming out at him for a moment.

He shook his head, stared down the inky black hallway.

That wasn't his Observation or any presence he had sensed. That was the voice of his own soul.

The hallway seemed to take forever, the cells empty. The light from the furnace grew dimmer the further down the hallway he walked. A pinprick of light surfaced at the end of the dingy corridor. The cell was lit, which was some comfort to the dank confines of solitude Koby supposed.

Koby's felt his Observation suddenly swell. It was hyperfocused, expanding, as if it was locked onto a familiar scent.

He knew this aura. Something wasn't right.

He had encountered many pirates during his tenure. No doubt this could have been one of the many people he had imprisoned following Rocky Port, or or the countless others during his career, or else…

Why did this soul seem so familiar?

Koby drew up to the cell, his brow furrowed in bewilderment.

It was quite unlike any cell he had ever seen in Impel Down.

A ramshackled little cot was nestled in the corner, with a few worn blankets, and a threadbare rug covered the harsh stone floor. A beaded curtain hung over the toilet and sink. A pile of books sat next to the bed, and a bouquet of fresh flowers sat on a rickety nightstand. In the center was an old-looking couch.

Koby stared at the prisoner reclining on it.

The woman was reading a copy of Medea, the heavy cuffs on her wrists clanking.

Koby froze on the spot.

The woman looked up at him, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well...well, what a surprise this is. Hello there, sailor boy," drawled Alvida.