The Inescapable Prison

Enma tried to calm down. The fact was that in a few minutes Zesiro and the rest of them would arrive and cause a commotion when they did so. They would immediately start looking around for Enma and Maria, the problem was if they did that they would be found out. Enma turned around and peeked past the corner of one of the cells at the prison guard.

The Longarm didn't seem to notice Enma or Maria yet. He just stood there, examining his prey for another few seconds before letting out a yawn. "Man, I'm just too freakin' bored to care about this guy…he'll just stay here for now. Moving him would be too tiresome. I'll just leave him. Surely, Tashio knows I killed him by now…well, will you look at the time. It looks like it is time for my sixth nap of the day." The Longarm paused and looked in both directions before shrugging. "The upper levels are so much nicer. Down here are all of these heartless beasts. I need to talk to the guy who built this prison to install small sleeping chambers for me on every floor that way I don't have to climb all these flights of stairs just to get a decent nap…" he paused for a second and looked around him. "I'm talking to myself again." He wiped his hair out of his face and turned to go up the stairs leaving this floor to the prisoners.

Enma remained quiet for another few seconds as he tried to listen for the footsteps of the guard leaving. He paused as he tried to relax, but he just couldn't. This prison definitely wasn't his ideal location to be in right now. After seeing that Longarm's might, he could only think about what the other jailer's levels were…then again with any luck that Longarm might just be the strongest one out of the bunch…then again when did they have ever had good luck? If they had true good luck then they wouldn't have been in this mess to begin with, but they were here and they were in trouble. Enma took out his small medicine supply box and already decided that what they had probably wouldn't be enough to take care of anything. He sighed as he closed it back up. Regardless of if he has enough materials to take care of his crew, he didn't have any choice. Going back would set them back a whole other half an hour. They would just have to tough it out.

(-at the top-)

Five floors above Enma's own predicament, the jailers of this impenetrable fortress had one of their own. The room was a small place, it wasn't very well decorated, but in it were two people. The warden of this prison was present sitting behind his desk and glaring at the man across from him. The warden was a big man, in terms of both height and muscle size. He was tanned and had short black buzz-cut hair. The man's eyes were hidden beneath a pair of dark sunglasses that sat on his nose, the rest of his body was also hidden beneath a camouflage and camouflage pants. The only thing that was clearly visible was a large sword that rested on his back in its sheath.

The man across from him was just as intimidating. He had an imperial look about him, he was dressed in a nice dark blue suit with a hat on his head, tilted slightly downwards shadowing his sunglasses, which covered his eyes. In-between the man's fingers were a large cigar and he brought it back to his pale lips, took a deep puff, and then let it all out as he started up the conversation, "I understand where you are coming from, so I hope you, too, are understanding and won't over-react when I say that your decision is a bad one."

The warden leaned forward and pounded his fist onto the table, making it shudder with immense force, but his conversation partner didn't seem impressed. "I don't need to understand where you are coming from. I'm in charge of this prison; anything short from a direct letter from the World Government themselves won't get me to repeal my decision. Your crewmate will just stay locked up until then. I don't care what you say, he's staying behind MY bars in MY prison and YOU don't get a say in it. He's a pirate, as far as I'm concerned you are as well so consider yourself lucky I'm not locking you up with him!"

The man didn't seem unfazed by the warden's threat. "Listen, um…you said your name was Taisho, right?" offered up the man. The warden nodded and leaned back into his chair, although he kept his gaze constant on the man's forehead. The well-dressed man continued his speech, "listen, Taisho, I appreciate you doing your job. I know the life of a working man isn't easy. I can only imagine how hard it is for someone who is in charge of a prison, but my boss is worse than you…my boss is worse than your boss." The man stood up and brought his cigar down onto the table, rubbing it out on the hardwood top. "Surely you've heard the news through the grape vine.

"My boss is 'Ghost Hook' Kraven, the newest Shichibukai. His strength is top-notch, but he and the Marines are already on good terms, which is why I'm sure they'll get our crewmate out without even raising an eyebrow. So let's face the music, you're giving my boss no other options. He'll contact your bosses, who'll at which point will drag your ass all around in broad daylight and free my brother. So, let's save you the embarrassment and why don't you let my brother out right now, eh?" He sat down and crossed his legs; he pressed each of his fingers on one hand against all the fingers on the other hand in confidence. His hand gesture not only showed off his confidence, but also the numerous rings that decorated his hands. He smirked as he looked over at Taisho as if saying 'your turn'.

"Hmph," Taisho grunted to himself and smiled, "then call your boss and let's see how this plays out, huh?" The man looked a little bewildered, he froze and his mouth hung open as he stared at Taisho. "Face the facts and leave." Taisho drew his sword and pointed it at the door. "There's the door, you'll see a Den-Den Mushi to the left." The man grunted as he stood up and with a flourish of his arms, he took his jacket off and draped it on the chair he was using, indicating that he'd be back. With a huff he turned around and left Taisho to his own devices while he contacted his boss.

Taisho slumped back into his chair and crossed his arms. There was no doubt in his mind that the guy could get his boss' approval and no doubt his boss could get approval from the Marines. His boss had become a big gun in the Grand Line nearly overnight. His boss 'Ghost Hook' Kraven was a Shichibukai whose legend would go down in history, Taisho was sure of that. Kraven brought the head of another Shichibukai into a meeting of Shichibukais. He had ensured that not only was a position open, but that it would almost positively be offered to him. This brazen confidence and obvious strength was something that would make him a legend amongst new pirates. However, despite the fact that Taisho knew this plan was doomed to fail he would keep this man in his prison for another few hours. A pirate was always a pirate. If anything these recent events proved his point.

He thought back to Trevor being approved to be a Shichibukai, how come nobody tried to point out the failings then? If somebody had then the Marines wouldn't have had to suffer so. He was a pirate through and through and so were these Mafia gangsters. No matter how many allowances the Marines made for them. He thought they would've tried a little harder to repeat these mistakes, but here they were already stumbling into another. All pirates should be his prisoners! They all should be locked up behind these stone walls. He knew that for a fact, but the Marines refused to listen to him! He would keep this one pirate in his prison as long as he could, it was the least he could do to help protect the innocent civilians outside.

The suit-wearing man barged back in. "Heh, heh, heh! It looks like I got permission from boss so if you don't mind I'm just going to go down stairs and put some things in order for now." Taisho was about speak up, but the man cut him short again. "I know, I know, I know. You can't let him out of the prison until after you get your phone call from the Marines, chances are after that there is paperwork, nonetheless, I'm going down to say hello to him. And give him a cigar," the man produced another cigar and put it in his mouth.

"Be careful, the feral beasts that circle this prison can occasionally break in and attack people inside," replied Taisho with a little resentment behind it. "If one of them decides to attack you it may be a minute before one of my guards jump in to defend you." All of his guards had to pass the simple test of being able to beat two of them back-to-back without getting too tired, all of them passed with flying colors. Taisho, the Vice Warden, the Head Jailer, and the Longarm did so without even breaking a sweat. The guards of this prison were the finest crop for miles around.

"Don't go bullshitting me," laughed the man as he removed the cigar from his mouth once more and glared over at Taisho. His body underwent a slight metamorphosis. His head grew out into a beak and reptilian scales coated his body. From the looks of it, he was only allowing a part of his body to transform. A highly skilled Zoan-Type user perhaps, but regardless Taisho couldn't quite place what kind of animal it was. "If your guards get in the way of me and my target, I'll just crush them as well." The man swiftly turned around and left.

Taisho shook his head. It was quite possible that if that man was allowed to run amok in this prison. It would take a lot of the jail's power to stop him. At the very least it would mean full-action from Taisho would have to be taken and he didn't particularly want it come to that. He needed to resume watch over the entire prison.

Honestly, the only reason why Enma and Maria had gone undetected so far was because Taisho was, on top of Warden, the main security of this prison. There were numerous Den-Den Mushi's dotting the prison, but even they didn't cover the entire prison. As a matter of fact security here was more lax than any other prison the Marines had built, namely because Taisho knew the level of security he could provide was much more than that of any machine. He walked over to the center of the room, which was also the center of the entire prison. The prison was a bunch of circles layered on top of each other. The top floor, his floor was smaller than any other floor, because it was only his room with one staircase on each side. Going directly down was the biggest floor which rested on the ground level of Skypiea. The next two levels were in the clouds, with the remaining two levels jutting out beneath it and hanging in the air. That was the layout in which it was designed, however, it was Taisho's order that the topmost layer, his room be built.

And it was for the sole reason of security. Face-to-face his sword was a fateful and destructive force to be reckoned with, however, he had another weapon. His Devil Fruit. With it he had complete control of anything beneath him, which was one of the only reasons this prison's record was so pristine. He could see, protect, or attack anything that happened below him once he was in place. It would take a little time for him to get back around to it, so any disturbances especially one like that man was a major hindrance to him. Nonetheless, he would go back about his duties. "Plant."

(-With the crew-)

It was only a few more minutes until Hiro-Shu arrived. The latest arrivals of Mikoto and Ridley were still trying to re-adjust to change of air pressure. Sage and Zesiro who had already arrived adjusted the quickest, Sage probably due to her Devil Fruit and Zesiro due to the fact that he was used to high water pressure from swimming deep below the sea. They both had come to normal rather quickly. Mikoto was about ready to adjust and he'd probably be all ready by the time Hiro-Shu touched down, Ridley would probably finish by the time Hiro-Shu had. In the meantime Enma was quickly informing them; figuring that Mikoto would probably need two run-throughs anyways and Hiro-Shu may already be informed. However, he left the news of the Longarm defeating the large snake to himself because he knew the crew would probably take that as an invitation rather than as a warning.

"This prison was made to break people's minds?" quivered Rosa, she had already put it together. The fact that this prison wasn't made to break the bodies of the prisoners, but to break their hopes, spirits, and wills. From what Enma had seen it was pretty darn effective at what it did. The prisoner's didn't raise a fuss at the slightest as a matter of fact that seemed overly content in their cells. It was a saddening sight for him.

"Don't worry, Rosa," said Maria offering words of encouragement to her, "Lily is a new face to this prison. Chances are she has barely been introduced to any of the works here. She's probably just a normal here, if anything they may have realized their mistake and are filing her discharge papers now." Enma nodded, although, at this point it was more for hollow support than to express what he was actually thinking. He stayed by what he thought earlier more than likely while Lily was probably on the upper floors, she may have broken quickly. However, he had to try and stay as encouraging as possible if they were to have any hopes to drag her through this entire prison.

Then again…Enma's previous trepidation towards her crept back up. Rosa could still be manipulating them. After all the Infinity Pirates have been through this wouldn't be an entirely new situation. They've been betrayed before and talked into attacking a Marine Base. However, if this was a repeat and Rosa left them out to dry…Enma didn't want to think of it. They were already at the prison, no real use in thinking about it now. Besides who else would decide to back him up on this witch-hunt. Mikoto and the rest of the crew didn't share his skepticism about her that much was for sure.

"I want to look around on this floor as well," stated Rosa with a determined look on her face, the look on Enma's face was one that mixed anger and shock. Did she not trust his eyes? He was looking for a little girl amongst burly villains, it certainly wouldn't be hard to pick her out amongst the crowd. "If she's here and we miss her then we would have to fight our way back down here after we made it to the top." Enma couldn't hold back his own scoff, if they made it all the way to the top they would have to take that chance and leave immediately they wouldn't be fighting their way all through this bunch again.

"Especially when we don't know if she's even here," brought up Ridley. Eloquently put, but regardless it wasn't really the time to bring everyone's spirits down now. If anything they needed a pep talk before braving the perilous journey set out before them.

Mikoto sighed and quickly transformed into his full coyote form. "Hop on," he growled due to both his beast form and also apparently a growing agitation. Rosa paused for a second looking at him as did the rest of the crew. "I'm the fastest person here even if I am going to be carrying her. Besides Hiro-Shu is still going to be another ten minutes what is the point of us waiting around here." In truth be told Mikoto was already starting to go stir crazy. Everything about this place was setting him off. He could smell blood, pain, and fear wherever he pointed his nose. A primal ringing in his brains made his hair stand on end as he sensed the strong foes waiting for them higher up. Never before had he ever felt this agitated.

Rosa crept towards Mikoto. She had ridden Lily before, but somehow this was different. Whether it was due to her consciousness telling her Mikoto was a human being or if it was just that she was looking at his lithe and wiry body and just didn't believe it was capable of carrying her, but she just couldn't summon the courage to sit down on his back. Luckily, she didn't have to. Mikoto quickly swiveled around and did a complete circle. Running through Rosa's legs, he quickly swept her legs out from beneath her, forcing her to plummet down onto his back. With that they were off.

Discovery!

Edit: Some grammer corrections have been made. Oh, and Taisho is once again the work of Labyrinth-Designer.

Almost didn't post this today...it doesn't feel like Monday...I guess that's a good thing though...

The crew just arrived in the prison and it looks like they still need proof that Lily is not here on this floor before Rosa decides to move on. I know, I know a rather low-level chapter compared to what I had promised, but I can promise you that next arc things get kicked up a notch and slides into the twisted world of a true prison including all the dangers and hatred that are sure to follow.