"I'm afraid this is as far as I can take you," Toad said sadly as the three reached a yellow pipe.
"What? Why?" Mario demanded.
"Well," Toad said as if it was obvious, "Mushroom Men don't breathe underwater."
"Wait," Luigi asked, "this yellow pipe takes us INTO water?"
"Yeah, overseas."
"I thought you meant the pipe went from one continent to the other!" Mario shouted.
"Well, there's a bit of manual work in between. Not that big a distance, man. Take you an hour, at the very most."
Luigi was walking in a circle, asking himself why he joined this adventure.
"Toad, humans don't breathe underwater." Mario explained.
"Here they do! Princess swims all the time! She'll be underwater for hours sometimes, is what my pop told me."
"Really?" Mario asked. He thought for a moment. "Luigi, I'm gonna try out the water. If it's not gonna work, the pipe will be right there. I won't drown."
"You're a dead man walking," Luigi uncharacteristically told him. Mario heeded the words with great pondering, and hopped up into the pipe.
When Mario saw a cool ocean blue, he was scrambling back into the pipe. But then, he realized there was no struggling with his body systems. He was totally fine.
"Yo," he spoke to himself, and water entered his mouth, but it was more of a drinking-water type situation. He grinned, then swam back into the pipe, taking him to the underground system and Luigi and Toad once more.
"Oh my God, Luigi, the water is totally fine."
The Mario Bros. gave their goodbyes to Toad, perhaps their last, and entered the pipe.
"113 of my angels."
"113 of my angels are dead."
Bowser growled to himself as he read a report involving the underground system and a massacre of his fine troops.
"Any dolt with half a brain could see your plan is falling apart!" Peach discouraged the monster.
"Any dolt with half a brain?" Bowser repeated, "any dolt with half a brain could see that mushroomkind has gone insane." He continued reading the report, over and over, checking to make sure he missed no detail.
'During our weekly scan, we found the army you had based in the underground system was destroyed, counting a death toll of one-hundred and thirteen. At the sight, we found a Mushroom Man who seemed incapable of the massacre, but we believe there are accomplices. The Mushroom Man, who has been identified as Toadshipp of the Toads family, has been taken into questioning and will thereafter be placed in prison. We are sorry for your loss.
-Lakitu Barry'
"I cannot believe my eyes," Bowser murmured, "how the world is filled with filth and lies." He cleared his throat and spoke louder. "I will purge this realm of the trash." Bowser began stomping out the room.
"And where are you going?" Peach demanded.
"To see the end of the world."