Chapter Four: The Tremor
They were here, the notorious prison of Impel Down. Once it had a reputation of being inescapable, but they had been amongst the ones to tear that reputation down to the ground. Never had they thought to return here one day, and yet they had. Fate had some crazy ways, it seemed.
Even so, this was something that had to be done. Everyone on board with this rescue mission agreed on that, without a second thought.
They all waited with bated breath as they floated closer and closer to the ominous-looking building, which was even bigger underneath the ocean's surface. Far bigger, in fact.
It did not take long for the prison's experienced guards to take notice of the unusual hostile activity. They had encountered many things protecting this place, but a series of floating ships? That was a definite first.
Sirens started to go off as more and more guards rushed outside to help defend the entrance, some more heavily armed than others.
"Well well well, it seems the boys are very alert~!" Ivankov remarked casually, as if they weren't about to break into the world's most secure and dangerous prison.
"No surprise there, as I'm sure you know." Jimbei agreed.
Once they were within firing range, they were hit by a large barrage of Sea Prism Stone bullets.
"Deploy the shields boys!" Ivankov ordered as his crewmates formed a wall of solid steel shields at the front of the Sunny to ward off the rain of bullets. It would have been foolish of them if they hadn't prepared for this.
Slowly but surely, they lowered altitude the closer they got to the prison entrance. Some of Jimbei's crew rushed into their positions to prepare the Sunny for the next phase of the plan.
"Undo the chains!" Jimbei roared as the men did as ordered. The chains holding the ships together were released, making the ships behind the Sunny veer off to the side and out of the way of certain destruction.
The Thousand Sunny stayed on its course right towards the main entrance as it got closer and closer to the water.
When the ship got into the perfect position, Luffy grinned before giving the next order. "FIRE!" he shouted for the top of his lungs.
The Straw Hat captain's roar was followed by that of his ship as the lion's mouth opened and the Gaon Cannon was unleashed upon Impel Down's gate. A Coup de Burst kept the ship in place now that the other ships were no longer in its range.
The bright beam blasted right through the steel gate of the defensive wall and the actual gate to the prison hundreds of metres behind it, stunning enemies and allies alike with its sheer force.
The force of the blast shook the massive prison itself to its very core, from the levels above to even those deep underneath the sea's surface. The tremors travelled through the entire building as if to let the whole prison know of the attacking party's arrival right at its doorstep.
Luffy smirked when the blast died down and he looked at the two massive holes that were crumbling at the edges.
'Just you wait guys… We're coming for you.'
Blood… Blood everywhere… That was all that had been filling Chopper's mind lately. He didn't run into other inmates very often, and when he did, they were always covered in it, just like the razor sharp trees and grass were.
As a doctor, he felt completely helpless. He had no way of helping these people, let alone himself. He had no medical supplies and even if he did, each wound treated would just be replaced by three new ones in an instant.
There was just no end to it…
When he first arrived, he was constantly tortured by the never-ending, excruciating pain. Who knows how many days later, it was like his mind had grown dull. He still felt it, but it was almost as if he didn't care anymore.
One thing he never did stop caring about, however, were his friends. Were they alright? Were they better off than he was? Were they scared?
Mulling over those many questions swimming through his head was painful, knowing that he currently had no way of answering them.
One particular question did bring him some comfort. In fact, this question already had an answer because there was no doubt it wouldn't happen: Was Luffy coming to save them?
Of course he was, their captain would never leave them behind. They were going to finish sailing the New World together and find the One Piece. Luffy would never give up on his crew. He would come, soon.
Chopper's pondering was abruptly interrupted when the whole level started shaking. It almost felt like an earthquake. It made the countless crimson needles move around as they stabbed into him, creating worse wounds, but he didn't worry about that right now. What on earth was happening?
The screams echoing throughout Impel Down's Crimson Hell ceased for the first time since the previous breakout of two years ago. Inmates stopped and stared in shock, wondering if someone had come to end their suffering.
Could it be? Was someone attacking Impel Down? Was someone attempting to break into it?
A smile slowly but surely crawled onto Chopper's blood-smeared face.
"I'm right here, captain…"
It seemed there was an end to it after all…
On level 2, Usopp was back in his cell after a day of trying to find Nami and running from the various beasts keeping the prisoners on their toes.
The sniper panted in an attempt to catch his breath, lying flat on his back on the cold hard floor.
He had always been a decent runner, but his stamina couldn't handle running almost constantly throughout the day. Whenever he'd had the chance, he did try to rest, but those brief moments had been rare as the floor was crawling with monsters.
The monsters were terrifying, and his cellmates loved pestering him, but Usopp knew he couldn't complain.
Compared to the majority of his crewmates, he had it easy. And honestly, the floor above him actually seemed worse to him. He knew for sure that Chopper would be there, considering his low bounty and the Marines mistaking him for a pet rather than a full-fledged pirate. At least on this floor you had moments of relative peace.
Suddenly, strong tremors shook him into full awareness, making him bring out a surprised squeal.
What the hell was that?!
The shaking seemed to affect the entire floor as the shocked silence was quickly replaced by confused murmurs and yelling once it stopped.
Usopp swiftly sat up and pressed his face up against the iron bars in a futile attempt to spot anything that might have caused the quaking.
"What just happened? Did we get hit by a seaquake or somethin'?" one of Usopp's cellmates muttered in confusion.
A giant and grey-haired inmate scratched his lice-infested mop of hair. "Nah, in the many years I've been stuck in this shithole that's never happened before." He grumbled.
"Hey, ya think someone's trying to break in?" another whispered.
After a solid minute of silence, the group burst into roaring laughter.
"As if! You'd have to be really crazy to even attempt that!" a young but sly-looking man exclaimed, his voice coated with amusement. "Sure, there was that mass escape two years ago, but even they weren't stupid enough to just burst in through the front door!"
Someone really crazy coming in right through the front door, huh?
Usopp's eyes lit up and a hopeful smile slipped onto the sniper's face.
'Luffy!'
The heat was unbearable. It was absolutely awful and it made it difficult to think straight. When he got out of here, Sanji would be very tempted to just crawl into the Sunny's fridge and stay there. Tempted to, because he still had his pride as a cook and would not let the food that should be in that fridge get ruined and wasted.
While carrying what felt like his millionth log of that day towards his assigned area to keep the fires burning, Sanji nearly toppled over when everything started shaking out of seemingly nowhere.
Briefly, all hard labour stopped as everyone tried to regain their footing and process what had just happened.
How had such a strong tremor occurred so deep under the ocean's surface?
The level's guards, all veterans through and through, quickly recovered from the momentary confusion and barked out orders to get back to work. Those who did not obey them quickly enough got whipped, including Sanji himself.
Cursing under his breath at the sting, the cook continued his murderous task. His mood, however, quickly changed as he threw down his log in the right place with a smirk.
It seemed the one they'd been waiting for had decided to make his grand entrance.
"Took you long enough, you idiot…"
Deep in the darkness of the Eternal Hell, Zoro was shaken from his nap by a weird shaking. It wasn't very strong, but it was still enough to wake him up and be noticed by the entire level.
"The hell was that?!" Arlong exclaimed in confusion. "Nothing ever happens down here!"
Before the fishman could really start thinking over the possibilities, a low chuckle came from one of the nearby cells. A chuckle that royally pissed him off.
"Roronoa! The hell you laughing for?! You know something, don't you?!"
"As if I'd tell you anything." Zoro responded bluntly, effectively blocking him out.
The swordsman ignored Arlong's irritated complaining as he looked up to his cell's cracked ceiling with a smirk.
'Did you want to make sure everyone would know you're here, captain? You've chosen one hell of a way to do it.' Zoro thought to himself, already looking forward to getting the hell out of here and cutting up anyone who'd dare to get in their way.
"Queen! Queen!" someone shrieked in surprise as they ran up to the bar. "Did you feel that shaking just now?"
"Of course I did honey, everyone felt it~!" a cheerful voice responded in a sing-song tone. "Did you have a look at the surveillance feeds and see what happened?"
The okama nodded in confirmation. "We did, Queen. Our Den Den Mushi at the main gate saw ships flying in with gigantic balloons! Then one of the ships seemed to be charging some kind of laser-like attack and next thing we knew, the Den Den Mushi died!"
"Oh! How interesting~!" the supposed Queen exclaimed, leaning closer. "Did you see anything that might help us identify the attackers?"
"We couldn't really make out any faces, but the ship that launched the attack had a skull with a Straw Hat on the sail!"
The 'Queen' abruptly shot up from his seat with a bright smile. "A Straw Hat you say~? And it's not a joke~?" he pressed on excitedly.
"Without a doubt, Queen!"
"Oh! What a wonderful day~! Friends have come to turn this place upside down once again!" the 'Queen' brought out as he danced around on the bar's counter, bringing about enthusiastic laughter and cheering from the many colourful people gathered in the café-like hall.
"Continue with the ongoing plan to locate our recent targets and prepare to aid our newly arrived friends!"
The patrons at the 'bar' cheered even louder as they brought out a toast to the news.
"Un, Deux… TROIS~!" the 'Queen' counted down before bursting out into song and dance with his fellow okama.
'Straw-chan, welcome back! I promise, things will be different this time! Let's save your friends together!'