Part IV
Level three proved to be even slower to cross than the ground level and level one had been. The human guards weren't significantly more challenging here, but the beasts roaming the place and attacking anyone they saw were stronger than the gorilla guards had been.
And it looked as if all of them had been placed in the path between the stairs the pirates had come out from and the ones leading down to level four.
A loud crash made Vista turn and he saw that Jozu and his group had fallen through the hole in the ceiling —and Vista wondered how that had happened. There were two prisoners with his brothers now, and he couldn't see Rakuyo, who had been in that group as well when they had separated earlier, anywhere.
He cut the throat of the human-faced lion he had been fighting —a lion that knew how to talk and had a fixation with repeating names of ramen— and approached the closest of the new arrivals.
Izo had left the control room to help moving the prisoners and ensure no one tried anything stupid. He had his guns out, a clear warning that he would shoot the first person who made a funny movement, and was currently shouting orders at the men and women climbing the stairs up from level one.
They had vacated a marine ship of its previous occupants, and Izo was sending the people in groups small enough that the crewmembers waiting there would be able to easily see everything each person in said group did or carried —mostly weapons taken from the downed guards, though some had stolen clothes and there was a guy who had found a bag of candy and was clinging to it possessively, glaring at anyone who so much as looked at the sweets.
From his position, Izo could hear Rakuyo's voice drifting up from the staircase; he was at the bottom of it organizing the prisoners as they arrived.
It was impressive, Izo thought looking over the group, how many people had been held captive in Impel Down.
"SIR, THIS IS TERRIBLE!"
Magellan cursed under his breath. He was starting to get tired of receiving reports from his subordinates, it was one bad thing after the other.
"What is it now?"
The guard came to a halt some distance away from him, and swallowed audibly before answering.
"It seems Strawhat Luffy has survived somehow, and, along with Emporio Ivankov and Inazuma —two level five prisoners who disappeared years ago— has managed to reach level six and free both Portgas D. Ace and Marco the Phoenix!"
"WHAT?! What are you waiting for?! Confine them!"
"We've tried, sir, but… they escaped through the ceiling."
Magellan clenched his fists, and all the guards around him jumped back when poison dripped to the floor. This was getting worse by the second, they couldn't allow neither of those prisoners to escape.
"Sadi-chan, go to level five and intercept them! Aim to kill!"
As things were now, it was useless to try to save Impel Down's honor. Ensuring justice was carried out was the main priority now. With that thought in mind, Magellan ordered one of the guards to bring him a den den mushi. If honor didn't matter, then they would go all out.
Ace stared at Luffy's okama friend, the one introduced as Bon-chan —and who had saved his little brother's life a couple of times according to Luffy, so Ace liked him a lot already— who was currently spinning madly after Emporio Ivankov had used his powers on him.
"You used that on Luffy, too?" he heard Marco ask Ivankov, who nodded. "That explains a lot."
Ace grinned. Luffy was full of energy, true, and that had seemed weird after the amount of fights he had no doubt been in since yesterday. Seeing the effect of those hormones, Ace had to admit it made sense Luffy was so energetic now.
They were on the freezing level five, where a group of Ivankov's people had met them —and they had brought Ace boots, which was amazing because the snow would've frozen his toes in minutes otherwise. Marco had said he didn't need boots because of his powers, and that he would retrieve his own shoes later. Most of the prisoners' belongings were kept on level four, Ace remembered.
That had earned Marco some incredulous looks from Ivankov's shivering people. Fishnets and corsets weren't appropriate gear for level five. Then again, neither was a paper-thin prison uniform.
"So, what's the plan?" Ace asked Marco and Ivankov, keeping an arm around Luffy's shoulders so that he wouldn't dart ahead of them.
"Ve met vith the Vhitebeard Pirates, I guess," Ivankov answered. "But…" he hesitated, and Ace could see an idea forming in his mind, "ve could shake things up a little, vhile ve're at it." He looked at Marco. "Hov many ships do you have?"
Ace thought he understood what Ivankov was thinking, and judging by Marco's smirk, so did he.
"Enough, probably," he answered, and turned to the large group. "Does any of you have a den den mushi?"
"Here," a man said, walking forward. The guy hesitated and looked down, "….Are you sure you don't want some shoes?"
"No, I'll get my sandals back." Marco took the offered communication device.
Ignoring the guy's pained look at his feet, Marco dialed a number he seemed to know by heart. When someone picked up on the other end of the line, he didn't wait for them to say anything before speaking.
"Hey, Pops, what do you say to a mass break?"
The person on the other end of the line —Whitebeard— laughed. Silence had fallen in their group, as everybody realized just who Marco was talking to.
"We're already on it," answered a booming, amused voice. "It's good to hear you, son. How'd you get out?"
"A crazy kid beat us in assaulting the prison and got to level six."
Whitebeard laughed again. He didn't sound as solemn or serious as one would expect from a Yonko. Then again, very little of what Marco had told Ace about the crew was something one would expect from a crew of such infamy.
"He pulled it off?" Whitebeard didn't sound surprised, and that made Ace pause.
"Wait, you know about Luffy?" he said into the receiver before he could think better of it.
"Yeah, we've heard. You're Roger's kid?"
"Don't call me that," Ace growled, to general incredulity. Some of Ivankov's people were gesturing at him to just shut up. They looked nervous.
"He doesn't like Roger," Marco added.
"Oh, well." Whitebeard didn't sound bothered by Ace's rudeness —to general relief— and instead went into business. "Vista and Jozu are at level three now. We've already vacated levels one and two. Call them and organize things from there."
From behind Marco, Ivankov signaled to his people to start searching the cells. They all darted out, but Ace decided to stay and listen in on what was going on. As he was still holding onto Luffy, he stayed as well.
"What about the marines?" Marco asked.
"The Decalvan Brothers spotted them some twenty minutes ago: they're still two hours or so from here," answered Whitebeard.
When Vista's den den mushi sounded, Curiel shot the opponents aiming for him so he could answer the call without having to worry about other things.
"I hear you're busy."
That voice made every single Whitebeard Pirate in hearing range pause.
"MARCO?!" Vista's yell was echoed throughout the floor, and the fighting around came to an almost complete halt. Everybody, both pirates and guards, wanted to hear what was being said. The only ones who didn't care were the beasts.
"Don't sound so surprised," Marco, voice filled with amusement, answered. "How are things up there?"
"How did you— Oh, whatever."
Vista looked around in time to see Jozu punch the vice warden, Hannyabal, into a wall. It seemed he had tried something. Hannyabal's action was enough to snap most of the guards out of it, and the fighting resumed. Vista walked away from the thick of it to talk to Marco, but he kept his eyes out for any attack.
"We've almost conquered level three. I'm going to send some guys to free prisoners now."
Saying that, he gestured to Blenheim to do just that, and he dragged Mr. 3 and Buggy, who had been masterfully avoiding taking part in the fight, away to the cells. It had taken Vista a while to remember, but Buggy's face had seemed familiar: he was the guy who used to run around with Red Hair back in Roger's crew. Life was curious.
"Yeah, Pops said you were doing that."
So Marco had already talked to Pops. That was good, it must have cheered the guys up on the surface a lot.
"Where are you?"
"Level five."
"Oh, great, can you see if—?" he cut himself, remembering one of the things he had been told. "Wait! There's someone in level five you've got to find!" he exclaimed, and moved out of the way of some bullets. The guard who had attacked him was promptly taken down without Vista having to do anything.
Marco chuckled on the other side of the line.
"Strawhat Luffy is already with me. How do you think I got out?"
"They're looking for me?" a confused, slightly childish voice asked at the same time, and was immediately followed by another.
"Don't interrupt, Luffy."
"Hey, is that Roger's kid?"
"Will you lot stop with that?! I don't want anything to do with that bastard!"
Strawhat laughed.
"Now it's Ace who's interrupting."
"Shut it, Luffy."
Vista felt like he was listening to something surreal in the middle of the fighting, and a look around proved that he wasn't the only one. Everyone in hearing range had a somewhat put out expression. There were two kids in the middle of level five of Impel Down, hundreds of enemies and a battle above them, bickering as if nothing was wrong in the world.
"Stop it, both of you." And Marco sounded more amused than anything else.
"Oh, whatever. Look around to see if there's anyone worth freeing down there and then go up. We'll meet you in level four. I think the strong guys are there, so be careful." He added that more for the kids' sake than anything else, but felt it wouldn't be a good idea to voice the thought out loud.
"That reminds me…" Marco muttered. "Is everybody listening?"
"Yes."
"Good. Stay away from Magellan, all of you. That goes for the commanders, too, I don't care if you can beat him, he's mine."
That earned startled and frankly astonished reactions from all the still conscious guards around. It seemed that none of them could conceive there was someone who would want to fight their boss voluntarily. Not that Vista couldn't understand their reactions —he had heard enough stories about Magellan's powers to know he must be terrifying to most people— but their faces were still amusing.
"Don't take too long, then, or I can't promise anything."
Before either of them could speak, there was a yelp at the other end of the line. It was Strawhat's voice.
"You okay, Luffy?!" Ace exclaimed, sounding obviously worried.
"IT'S COLD!"
"You just noticed?!"
Vista decided to ignore that. Marco was chuckling.
"Hurry up, will you?" Vista said on the receiver, and hung up. If the idiots had time to fool around, then everything was going well on that front.
"Ahhh, I was sick of that cell…" he said, stretching his arms as he stepped out of the space that had confined him for the last few years. "Eternal boredom can make a man want to die… But you'd better not be telling me to work now only to throw me back in a cell later, Magellan."
"You are a death row prisoner on postponed sentence. You get no more chances," came Magellan's answer through the den den mushi.
"I see… I'll keep that in mind."
"Your sword, Head Jailer Shiliew," said one of the guards, offering him his precious weapon.
"I leave the prisoners on level five to you," were Magellan's next words.
"Roger that," he answered before Magellan hung up. He partially unsheathed his sword. "Ah, blade, it has been a while…"
Before the confused guards could react in any way, he had cut them.
That felt good.
A quick sweep of level five later, and their makeshift army had increased considerably. Ace had joined the search after Marco had finished his calls, and had based his decision on whether or not to let the prisoners out mostly on their reactions upon seeing Marco, though he had also decided to let a couple in their cells —plus a few punches— because they had recognized Luffy and laughed at him, surprised that he had survived.
"You were poisoned?!" he yelled at Luffy afterwards, and the brat had the nerve to laugh.
"It's fine, Bon-chan got me to Iva-chan and Iva-chan saved me."
After hitting Luffy —with haki, or the rubber idiot wouldn't have felt a thing— Ace turned to said two okamas and bowed deeply to them.
"Thank you for saving my stupid brother."
"Don't mention it, Ace-boy," Ivankov waved his hand, and then turned to the group. "If ve're done, let's get out of here, my candies!"
Ace paused. He had loved candy as a child, he remembered that, but was unable to remember what it had tasted like. He really wanted to know, now.
"Man, I want to eat candy," he muttered.
Luffy grinned at his side.
"We'll get it," Marco told him from his other side.
Inazuma took care of the doors separating the cells of level five from the rest of the prison, and leaving the frozen place was a relief. Ace suspected the only reason he hadn't been too bothered by the low temperature was the rush of adrenalin running through his body ever since Luffy had shown up at level six. The group came to a halt right outside the door, however, because there was someone waiting for them.
Four beings: three… animals of some sort carrying huge weapons and a tall woman clad in pink leather clothes that didn't leave much to imagination.
According to the panicked reactions of both the newly released prisoners and Ivankov's followers, they were Sadi-chan and three of her four Demon Guards. Ace whistled. He had heard about them, but never actually met them in person. They were rumored to be strong.
Sadi-chan began to say something or another about not letting them escape. There were some moans —really?— and mentions of torture thrown into her speech.
"More animals?" asked Luffy, annoyed.
"You've encountered them before?"
"Yeah, Bon-chan and I beat some weird cow thing on level three."
"You beat the Minotauros?!" someone nearby yelled.
"Whatever, let's not lose time," Marco said, and made to move towards them. Ace grabbed him by the arm.
"Oh, no! You said you wanted Magellan, so leave those for the rest of us!"
Marco paused and looked at him, an eyebrow up.
"You want to fight them?"
"Yeah!" the two brothers answered at the same time, to some comments about craziness from the nearby prisoners.
"All yours, then, brats," Marco said, and smirked.
"Who are you calling brats?!" Ace complained, but didn't waste any time in going for the closest animal, one that looked somewhat like a zebra.
"Hey, Ace!" Luffy called. "Bet'cha I'm stronger than you now!"
"Like hell you are!"
Jozu rolled down the stairs connecting levels three and four, body covered in diamond to maximize the damage he caused.
Once they had opened the door to the staircase, they had found themselves faced with an enormous squad —a thousand, they claimed to be— of mask-wearing guards armed with bazookas loaded with gas. A quick look exchanged between the commanders and they had decided on the quickest course of action to defeat their opponents without giving them time to shoot their ammunition.
Jozu had turned his whole body into diamond and had curled into a ball. Then Blenheim had kicked him down the stairs.
He came to a halt shortly after crashing through the door at the bottom, and stood up to find himself on a stiflingly hot space, its floor hot to the point that it would have burned his feet if he hadn't been wearing shoes, and packed to the brim with armed guards. Farther down in the room stood the imposing figure of Chief Warden Magellan.
"Well," Jozu said, cracking his knuckles, "let's do this."
Marco stood back and let his companions take care of the enemies. Ivankov had gone straight for the woman referred by the prisoners as Sadi-chan, turning himself into a woman in the process. Inazuma was fighting one of the beasts —it looked somewhat like a rhinoceros— and Ace and Luffy were fighting the other two —minozebra and minokoala, according to the baffled audience that didn't seem to believe the guards were actually losing— all the while throwing jabs and compliments at each other.
They weren't half bad.
Ace had a very good mastery of haki, but was in some serious need of muscle mass and also had to improve his reflexes, both expected consequences of the poor diet and of having been limited to training by himself, without even a partner and in such a confined space.
Luffy, meanwhile, was strong and pretty fast for a pirate of his level, but didn't seem to have any control of haki whatsoever. Marco would bet he had it, or would be able to have it easily at the very least, but doubted he had ever been told he could use it.
Deciding the fights were more than taken care of, Marco turned to the watching prisoners.
"Move ahead to level four." He didn't even need to shout the order to be obeyed as, as soon as the fights moved and the stairs up were vacated, the group began to run in that direction.
"GIANT PISTOL!" Everybody turned at that shout, to see Luffy launching a punch at his opponent, his arm somehow large enough that it could have passed as the arm of a giant.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" The yell came from somewhere further up the stairs, but Marco ignored it. He grinned.
Not half bad, really.
Then, his opponent defeated, Luffy shrank back to normal size, and then kept on shrinking until he was a misshapen midget that didn't reach even Marco's knees.
"…Really, what's wrong with this guy?"
"What was that?" Ace, his own opponent fallen at his feet, asked.
"Gear Third," answered the Luffy in an oddly shrill voice. "Let's go!" he yelled, and took off at a run towards the stairs.
"Hey, wait!" yelled Ace, running after him as did Ivankov and Inazuma, who were also done with their fights —Sadi-chan was now hanging from the ceiling, tied up in a decidedly uncomfortable-looking position. Marco moved to follow them, but stopped before he had taken more than a couple of steps.
Ace and some of the others present stopped as well.
"Who's that?" Marco asked. It was a strong presence what he could feel approaching, and he remembered it from level six. That couldn't be good, they hadn't let anyone else out down there.
"That's Shiliew," Ace answered, and he turned around jerkily.
The door to level five was still open, but no one could be seen through it yet, though it was easy to feel Shiliew approach.
"T-The jailer?" someone asked, fearful.
Marco had heard the rumors, but hadn't thought twice of Shiliew's presence. He was a prisoner, after all. Magellan must be truly desperate.
"Who?" asked Luffy, the only one who hadn't reacted to the name.
"Very bad news," Inazuma told him.
Marco turned around and walked closer to the door to level five.
"Go ahead to level four and get away from the entrance as fast as you can."
"What? Are you going to fight him?!" Ace asked, and he didn't look pleased at all.
"Don't worry, I'm stronger." He could tell as much by the presence he felt, but that didn't mean Shiliew wasn't incredibly strong. A fight between them could drag out, which meant he would have to get creative or they risked being still here by the time the marines arrived.
"Okay, I'm staying too," Ace said, which was absolute nonsense.
Marco turned to glare at him. The men behind Ace backed away, but Ace didn't move an inch.
"Don't be an idiot. Go up there and warn Vista —tall, top hat and with an impressive moustache— to get ready. Clear the floor of enemies as fast as you can. We are going to lose some time here." Ace looked like he was going to protest, so Marco decided to use an argument he thought might convince him. "This is my fight, don't butt in."
He didn't look happy, but at least Ace relented.
"Oh, and get my things while you're up there. A golden belt and sandals."
That earned him a glare, but Marco just grinned at him. Ace turned around and began to run up the stairs again.
The group had just disappeared from sight on the stairs when a tall figure started to grow larger in the distance, hard to see amongst the snow inside level five, and it became clearer as the man approached. He was blond and was dressed in a uniform very similar to Magellan's, only that over it, he wore a long white coat hanging from his shoulders.
Shiliew stopped at the threshold of level five.
"Marco the Phoenix…" he said, and sounded pleased at seeing him. Marco could see the bloodlust in his eyes. "Can't say I'm disappointed at seeing you here."
Marco didn't bother to answer, instead moving to attack right away. He was in a hurry here.
The guards, Vista decided, were doing an impressive job of dragging out the fight. For starters, Magellan was staying out of it for now, which most likely meant he didn't plan to attack until everyone else had fallen, and fighting that man was undoubtedly a tricky affair, what with the poison and all that.
The room being so full meant they couldn't all charge in at once, and even then the guards were moving so that immediately after taking down one, another would take their place.
This level, contrary to the upper ones, didn't have any hallways, but was instead a huge cavern with the cells caved in the walls and walkways connecting them, and there was a pit of boiling blood taking up a good part of the central area that limited their movements somewhat, as did the fires burning in various places.
Tired of going one enemy at a time, Vista raised his swords and released a flying cut that got rid of a good thirty of them, emptying enough space for the remaining members of the crew to be able to enter before the guards could move in.
Now, with everybody inside, they could advance much faster.
"Stay away from the center!" he yelled, because he didn't want anyone to be caught off guard and thrown in there.
The guards, too, seemed reluctant to move the fight there, probably for the same reason.
A loud bang startled most of the occupants of the floor and they saw the door that led to what must be the stairs going down to level five burst out of its hinges. It flew into the room and crashed onto a group of guards that couldn't get out of the way fast enough.
Through the opening came what could be defined as a small battalion, quickly filling the somewhat less occupied space over that area. It was led by a man with a monstrously huge head who Vista was surprised to be able to identify as the member of the Revolutionary Army Emporio Ivankov, the boy he could recognize from the newspaper as Portgas D. Ace and… some weird midget that barely stood two feet high and whose proportions were seriously wrong. As Vista stared, the guy grew until he transformed into the form of the rookie Strawhat Luffy.
What the hell…?
Looking around, he frowned when he couldn't spot Marco anywhere, but he did notice the Ace kid making a beeline for him. He moved to meet him halfway, cutting guards out of the way.
"Hey! You're Vista?!" Ace asked, and kicked a guard before coming to a halt next to him.
"Yes."
"Okay, listen. Marco is down there fighting Shiliew, the former Head Jailer who is strong as fuck." Yes, Vista knew of him. That didn't sound good. "He said to tell you to get ready, and to clear this place as quick as possible."
Vista's eyes slid over to Magellan, who still wasn't partaking on the fight. If they were in even more of a hurry than they had already been, that meant a change of plans. There were still hundreds of guards standing here, it was as if every one of them had been put in this room.
"I can help with the second part," Ace said, cutting through his thoughts.
"How?"
"I have haoshoku haki," he said, grinning. He hesitated, "but I don't know if I can differentiate your guys from the guards."
Well, now that was useful, and easy to solve.
"Well, then…" Vista took a deep breath, "EVERYONE WHO'S NOT A COMMANDER GO TO LEVEL THREE! THAT GOES FOR THE NEWCOMERS TOO!" He paused. "EXCEPT STRAWHAT, IVANKOV AND THE SCISSORS GUY!" Said scissors guy was cutting through the stone walls of the cells, circumventing the kairoseki bars to let out prisoners.
The Whitebeard Pirates, as well as the two prisoners they had brought down with them and the newly freed ones, didn't hesitate to follow his order, but everyone else needed a second order from Ivankov to obey before they ran towards the door to level three. The guards were confused by this change of tactic, but tried to stop them, because whatever reason they had to do this probably wasn't a good one for them.
"That's Inazuma," Ace informed him, referring to the scissors guy. Then he looked around. "Hey, where's the chief's office?"
"I think it's on the other end of the floor, why?"
"Because he keeps there the stuff they confiscate from the prisoners, and the idiot downstairs asked me to get his things."
Vista smiled. It looked like Marco had made a friend.
There were a lot of guards in that area, too —according to what Izo had seen on the maps of the prison, the office led to another path down to level five, so of course they would try to protect it— and it wouldn't matter where in the floor Ace was anyway.
"Let's go over there, then. I'm guessing the belt is one of those things, and he'll get pissy if he loses it."
Next to him, Ace snickered.
Blenheim had called to inform about the change of plans, and Rakuyo had now moved to the other staircase, the one that connected level one with levels two and three, to direct the prisoners to the first staircase. Atmos was now at that one, and Izo was still upstairs on the ground level.
He stopped the first of his brothers who came up the stairs.
"What happened?" He knew about the change in plans, but not the reason behind it. Blenheim had been very brief in his call.
"I'm not sure. Vista talked to Roger's kid, Ace, and then told us to leave. Also, Marco wasn't there when the group from downstairs came to level four."
That didn't sound good. Not good at all. He would call them again, but maybe it would be best to wait until he didn't have some two hundred escapees to deal with.
He really hoped Marco was alright.
As soon as the pirates had moved to retreat, Magellan had decided to enter the battle. He hadn't expected it to be easy, and wasn't surprised when his path was cut by Diamond Jozu. The man was annoying, he was fast for someone his size, and was doing an amazing job of using his powers to block Magellan without actually letting his body be touched by the poison.
It was really hard to destroy diamond, and it took much more effort than he was comfortably making in the current situation. He was thrown forward when a powerful shot hit him on the back. Turning his head, he saw another of the commanders —Tenth Division Commander, Curiel— holding a bazooka aimed at him. Of course, he couldn't expect this scum to fight fairly. The man was out of his fighting range at the moment, but if he moved there he would leave his back open to his other opponent.
He always had the option of using the hydra, even the venom demon, but those were last resort attacks at the moment. Magellan was no idiot: this floor was full of people who could take on his attacks with much less trouble than Strawhat Luffy had been able to, and who would also last much longer in a fight. There was also the very likely possibility that some of them —and here his eyes slid to Flower Sword Vista, because he was the most probably option— were haki users, in which case he could even lose.
It was true, however, that the guards were no match for the five Whitebeard Pirates' commanders currently on this floor, but that didn't necessarily render them entirely useless either. Besides, if the guards stayed here, they would all just die anyway.
Maybe he should do the same thing the pirates had done.
"GO TO LEVEL THREE, ALL OF YOU! PURSUE THEM!" he ordered as soon as he noticed his men had been unable to prevent the enemy from fleeing level four.
They never had a chance to follow his order, because then a strong burst of energy swept the place and three quarters of the guards, as well as many of the still imprisoned criminals, lost consciousness.
Turning to the point where the energy had come from, he saw Portgas D. Ace standing there next to Vista, Marco the Phoenix's shoes and belt in one hand and a huge grin on his face.
"Hey, he's good," he heard one of the remaining pirates comment, and Magellan had to reluctantly agree. He had forgotten Garp had taught the brat to do that. At the moment, it hadn't mattered, because he was trapped until his execution and that skill wouldn't be nearly enough if it ever crossed his mind to try to escape, but now Magellan realized letting Garp teach him how to use haki had been a grievous mistake.
"GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" he ordered to the few conscious guards, who hurried to move their fallen comrades out of the way. Strangely, the pirates didn't stop them, but Magellan knew they would if the guards tried to go to level three, and so few wouldn't be able to even reach the stairs. It would be best to wait a little. Until the pirates weren't paying attention.
Besides, level three shouldn't be entirely unprotected by now.
They stood at a standstill after that, and in the silence that filled level four now that all the previous noise had faded Magellan could hear something else that had gone entirely unnoticed before. Through the destroyed doorway to level five, the sounds of a fight reached his ears, and he had barely noticed it when two figures flew in through the open space, taking part of the upper doorframe with them as they did so.
Shiliew fell to the floor and rolled around before jumping to his feet, while Marco the Phoenix flew away from the Shiliew's crashing place, blue flames spreading all over his torso and erasing all traces of an attack that to almost anyone else would have been deadly, but that didn't seem to faze him at all.
"All yours!" Marco yelled, and Magellan barely had time to see all five of the Whitebeard Pirates' commanders that had already been here charge at Shiliew before he had to raise an arm to block a kick that still made him skid back a good two feet.
Looking at the smirking pirate suspended in the air above him, Magellan thought that he should have used the hydra, after all. Now, against this man, his poison was useless.
"Hey, your friend's cool," Luffy, who at some point after the guards fainted had come to stand next to Ace, commented.
Ace had to agree, because he had trouble following some of Marco's movements —he couldn't be blamed, as he wasn't exactly used to watching people fight, much less at such speed.
"I tried to do that when I fought Magellan," Luffy said.
"Huh? Do what?"
"Attack fast so he wouldn't use that hydra attack, but the poison affected me and I couldn't move. It doesn't seem to bother Marco."
"Oh." Ace really didn't want to think about his little brother fighting Magellan. Luffy was fine, and that was all that mattered. "Yeah, well, Marco's power allows him to recover from anything. Poison's useless against him."
"Cool."
At the other side of the room, the rest of the commanders were fighting Shiliew all at once. It wasn't really fair on him, who, surrounded as he was, was having some trouble just blocking all the attacks aimed at him —swords, shots and deadly-looking punches all at once— but it wasn't like he deserved his opponents to be fair or anything, given the reason he had landed his ass in a cell on level six.
There was also the little detail that pirates weren't known for being fair.
The minotaur. The freaking minotaur —that should be in intensive care after its fight with Strawhat— had appeared in the way of the group of fleeing criminals.
Buggy had been very glad —he might even have wept with joy a little bit— when they had finally been told they could leave the hellish level four, and both he and Mr. 3 had been of the first to run up the stairs. Level three had been cleared on their way down, and it should have been simply a matter of running across it and then up the stairs to safety and freedom. But, of course, life wouldn't been that kind and the minotaur had jumped in their way —crushing some poor bastards from level four that had been even faster than Buggy in running— and was now attacking them.
There was no Whitebeard Pirates' commander with them now, and the rest of the crewmembers were having some serious trouble simply trying to fend the thing's attacks off. The Demon Guards were the most dangerous of the guards of Impel Down after Magellan and Hannyabal themselves, and being part of the strongest crew in the world didn't make someone immediately a monster. These guys might be able to take on the average guards easily, but a crazy monster was a different matter.
Some prisoners were helping them fight it —Mr. 2 was spinning and kicking with such an energy it was dizzying to look at him— but most of them were just trying to find a way to escape.
Buggy was currently running —his feet on the ground while the rest of his body floated at a height he hoped was out of reach of the minotaur— and trying to look for an opening to dash for the stairs. So far three groups of prisoners had tried it, but the minotaur was impossibly fast, and they all had been slaughtered.
This didn't look good.
Then he heard some yelling, and saw a group of twenty guards running at them from the direction of the stairs to level four.
"WHAT ARE THOSE IDIOTS DOING?!" he yelled, because how had those guards escaped the monster group fighting them downstairs was something he couldn't understand.
Vista jumped back when Shiliew took advantage of the smallest lull in the attacks to charge at him, taking advantage of the time he had used to dodge to break free from the circle of commanders that had formed around him.
A quick glance sideways proved that Marco had already drawn Magellan far enough that his poison —sans some seriously big attacks— wouldn't reach them. Then he drew both swords up, blades crossed, to block Shiliew's next attack. He sidestepped and moved out of the way as Blenheim aimed his own sword at Shiliew's side.
Shiliew blocked the attack, their blades locked for a moment, and he jumped back, moving farther from them.
"If we were under different circumstances," Vista said, because it had already been established that Shiliew was a very good swordsman, "I would love to have a proper duel with you."
"Feeling's mutual there," Shiliew said around his cigar, "but you guys seem to be in a hurry."
"Hey, what're those guys doing?"
Ace turned to look at where Luffy was pointing and noticed a group of guards slipping through the door to the stairs that went up to level three. A quick look around proved that many of the unconscious guards had been moved out of the way —most squeezed into the few rooms around the level's main area or propped up against the walls— and there was no conscious guard in sight. He could only see Ivankov and Inazuma, who had climbed on a makeshift ramp created by the latter, opening the cells higher up in the level.
"Those bastards…" he growled, realizing they had taken advantage of the fights to leave. "Let's go!"
He grabbed Luffy by the arm and headed for the same door the guards had left through.
Marco noticed the two brothers leaving, and that was when he realized the guards were absent.
He kicked a ball of poison that had been aimed at him into the pool of boiling blood and grinned at Magellan, unhindered by the difficult terrain of level four as he had his arms turned into giant blue wings at the moment.
It could be a problem, he thought, if those guards caught up with the escaping prisoners —and some of his brothers with them, too— before they could reach level one, but he thought Ace and Luffy would be able to handle it. Those two had proven to be strong.
He kicked Magellan on the chest, sticking out the tip of his tongue when the man managed to avoid crashing into one of the many fires spread throughout the floor, and out of the corner of his eye caught sight of some of the remaining prisoners that had been held on level four heading for the stairs, every conscious person carrying an unconscious one. Most of them looked like they would much rather drop their charges, but Ivankov, whose head had grown considerably since the last time Marco had seen him, was doing a great job of scaring them into obeying.
At this rate, if any of those people were fit to fight, Ace and Luffy would have reinforcements in no time, too.
Donquixote Doflamingo was having a splendid day.
He hadn't cared at all about who would win the battle, and if he was honest, he hadn't planned to take much part in it either aside from having some fun here and there. When Sengoku had yelled for everybody to get into a ship and head for Impel Down, he had burst out laughing, surprised at the development.
Now, though he hadn't really done anything, he couldn't say he wasn't having fun. The reports coming in from Impel Down had been each better than the previous one, and watching the marines panic and run around like headless chickens was priceless.
It had been almost an hour, now, since the last report had arrived, and seeing how each one had brought worse news for the government, he could only guess the reason behind the lack of information was that Impel Down no longer had any guards they could spare for the task.
That was an amusing thought, but it didn't change the fact that, without news, things were growing dull. The marines were restless, unable to do anything now that they had reached the Gates of Justice of Impel Down, but couldn't cross them without authorization from the prison, and Doflamingo was starting to grow bored.
A look around showed him that Tsuru —who had been giving him warning looks the entire trip— was busy on the den den mushi, and Doflamingo thought this would be a good moment to have some fun. Locating an unsuspecting marine that would do nicely, he aimed his finger at the man and muttered:
"Parasite."
Time to play.
Fighting guards was easier than fighting the minotaur, Buggy could accept that much, but it was still troublesome. Sure, he had his powers that made him immune to any kind of cutting weapon, but there were still the guns to worry about. And the fact that the only people armed on their side were the Whitebeard Pirates. The unconscious guards on this floor had been cleared of all weapons already by the time their group had arrived, so no one had been able to get weapons. The other prisoners may be from level four, but they were tortured, malnourished and weakened and that was very noticeable. Many didn't even have the spirit to want to fight.
And the guards just kept coming. They had killed some, but there must be forty here still. And the minotaur, let's not forget the minotaur.
Buggy jumped behind the wax barrier Mr. 3 had created, barely managing to get out of the way as the minotaur moved to attack some poor bastard. That thing was fast.
The minotaur flew over him again, but this time it crashed into the bars of a cell instead of landing or attacking someone. Blinking, Buggy and Mr. 3 stood up and looked over the edge of the wax barrier. There stood Strawhat, fists raised and skin a strange shade of pink —was that steam rising from his body?— grinning next to a taller dark haired guy dressed in a prisoner uniform. He had to be around twenty, had freckles and was grinning as well. There was something familiar about that grin.
Was that captain Roger's son?
A scream broke through level four. Ivankov, who had just ensured the most recent group of escapees reached the stairs —not everybody was out, there had been people who they hadn't wanted to free, and even one crazy guy with his chest tattooed who had refused to leave— turned and saw that Shiliew had managed to throw one of the commanders into the pit of boiling blood. Jozu had trapped Shiliew's sword in his diamond-encased hand, and both he and Blamenco —the Sixth Division Commander, who had pulled a giant hammer out of somewhere— were holding him back while Blenheim and Vista, both of them not devil fruit users, pulled a now severely burned Curiel out of the burning liquid.
A flash of blue light made Ivankov turn around. Marco had transformed again into full phoenix form and was wrapped around the upper part of Magellan's body. The hydra was formed but unmoving, and, as Magellan's visible hands twitched, it started to lose its shape and fall.
Ivankov aimed a Hell Wink at it, diverting its descent so none of the heads would fall onto the other fight, and instead the poison flew in the direction of Magellan's office.
"Inazuma, help me!" It was Marco, and as he said it, he took flight, carrying a mostly unmoving Magellan with him, and headed for one of the now open cells. There were steady lines of blood falling down Magellan's body and on the floor, where they sizzled upon impact. There was no doubt the blood was poisonous.
As soon as Curiel was out of the blood —he was breathing, he was alive and that was the most important fact at the moment— Vista charged at Shiliew, who had just managed to free his sword from Jozu's grip. Their blades clashed.
"Blenheim, Blamenco, get Curiel to the ship," he ordered, and then his eyes slid to Ivankov. He had heard the stories about his powers. He didn't know how serious Curiel's injuries were —burns were very tricky— and he would rather make sure his brother was as well as possible. "Can you accompany them, Emporio Ivankov?"
"Of course, vhat do you take me for?"
Inazuma closed the stone walls of the cell and reinforced them with fragments of the surrounding ones, effectively imprisoning a now mostly unconscious Magellan.
Magellan had deep marks of talons on his neck and the upper area of his chest, the wounds still bleeding —he had lost entire chunks of flesh, that had fallen to the floor the moment Marco had let go of him, and if both claws had been aimed to his neck he would most likely have been beheaded. Had he been free, his body's poisonous nature would have begun to stem the flow of blood by now, but they had shackled him with a pair of kairoseki handcuffs left in the cell by one of its previous occupants.
Inazuma guessed Magellan's survival depended on how long help would take to arrive. He couldn't say he cared one way or another.
"Thanks," Marco told him right before jumping down, arms turning into huge wings mid-jump.
Inazuma stood where he was, watching as Iva-san left with three commanders while two more still fought Shiliew.
Marco headed in that direction, and Shiliew was forced to twist around to block the kick aimed at his neck. He was fast enough to step out of the way of Vista's two blades, but a spear made of diamond pierced him through the stomach. Marco grabbed Shiliew's sword with his bare hands before the man could swing it and then, held as he was, Vista cut him across the chest.
Shiliew dropped down.
"I hate using this sort of move," he heard Jozu said after his body was back to normal.
"We're in a hurry," Marco, hands covered in blue fire, reminded him. "Where do we stuff him?"
Inazuma jumped down and cut a ramp up to one of the most isolated cells, away from Magellan's.
"This should do."
Marco grabbed Shiliew by the leg and started to drag him along. Vista, meanwhile, took Shiliew's blade and contemplated what to do with it. Inazuma had the feeling that he was tempted to just throw it into the boiling blood, but finally placed it on the ground again.
Luffy kicked the cow straight in the face before it could get close enough to hit him. He could have used Gear Third, and the battle would have been over in a moment, but he was fighting it alongside his brother and he had missed fighting with Ace, so he stuck to using only Gear Second. He thought Ace was holding back a little, too, because he had beaten the animal downstairs as quickly as Luffy had.
Ace was good. He was strong —stronger than he looked— and dodged attacks with ease. It was almost as if he knew where they were going to hit. It reminded Luffy of what Enel and the priests did back in Skypiea.
Meanwhile, Marco's crewmembers were fighting the guards. Now that they didn't have to worry about the cow, the guards were going down fast. As guards were defeated, some of the prisoners took their weapons and joined in the fighting as well, which made everything go faster.
He heard a commotion, saw some people stop fighting to turn around, and looked in that direction. He saw two of the really strong guys from downstairs carrying a third one who was burned really badly. Iva-chan was running behind them. That distracted their crewmembers —of course it did, if it was one of his friends, Luffy would have forgotten about his own fight too.
He saw them stop for a moment to look at what was going on here, and the cow tried to get past Luffy then. He kicked it and sent it flying, and Ace intercepted it mid-flight and punched it into the ground.
"We got this!" Luffy yelled at them. The others, too, were back to fighting the guards. Even Buggy and Three —and Luffy was glad to see they were okay— had thrown in a couple of attacks. Bon-chan was still spinning around, all energetic and kicking enemies.
Marco flew up the stairs ahead of his three companions, but slowed down when he noticed that the fight on level three was almost wrapped up. Only a few guards remained somewhat standing —and not all that firmly, for that matter— and there was another one of those animal guards knocked out on the floor. Looking at it, one would think it had been used as a punching bag by a monster in training or something. When he saw Luffy and Ace happily beating the remaining guards, Marco guessed that comparison wasn't too far from the truth.
He transformed back into his human form and landed on top of a guard. The guy hit his head when he collided with the ground.
"You done over here?" he asked the crowd as he stepped over the unconscious body.
The response he received was less enthusiastic than usual when they were in a fight. It made sense, of course, because Curiel had already been through here and that must have worried his brothers considerably.
He kicked another guard, and by the time Jozu, Vista and Inazuma caught up with them none of the guards there were left standing.
Whitebeard watched with worry as the nurses urged Blenheim and Blamenco to carry Curiel to the infirmary.
They had moved the ships, and now the Moby Dick was docked right before the gates, because Rakuyo had called as soon as Curiel had passed the staircase he was at to warn them to get ready. The Moby Dick had the best medical facilities out of all their ships.
Everybody had fallen silent at the group's arrival, and he could see his children on the other ships, even the rescued prisoners, piling on the decks to try to see what was happening.
"What happened?" he asked Emporio Ivankov, who had stayed behind after telling the nurses that they had his hormone-altering powers at their disposal if they were needed. For that, Whitebeard was grateful.
Ace stopped right outside of the beam of light that reflected on the floor and came in through the doors leading outside of Impel Down. By then, they had met with Izo's group, and everybody from the crew who remained in the prison was there.
Marco paused, and turned to look at Ace.
"What's wrong?" he asked. Luffy had stopped, too, and was also looking at him.
"Nothing. It's just..." Ace trailed off, eyes fixed on the muted light coming from outside.
And suddenly Marco understood.
This was the first time in seven years that Ace would step outside, that the wind would touch his skin, that he would see natural light —looking at what light entered the building, Marco could tell it was overcast outside, and he thought that was a good thing, as he didn't know how the full force of the sunlight would affect Ace so suddenly.
By then, everybody who hadn't dashed out of the prison was looking at them.
Marco smiled and extended a hand out to Ace.
"Let's get out of here."
Luffy was suddenly at Ace's side, grinning and taking him by the arm. Ace accepted Marco's hand and the three of them moved again.
Ace squinted when they approached the entrance door, but otherwise an expression of utter fascination took over his features.
Marco himself was immensely glad to be able to feel the wind and smell the sea, to see what the world had to offer. He couldn't imagine what Ace must be going through right now. He squeezed his hand.