Chapter Three

Release the Prisoners: Twenty Minutes Remain!

"Attention all staff, attention all staff. You are requested to leave the grounds IMMEDIATELY. The ships are leaving Impel Down in fifteen minutes. The Buster Call is in one hour. I repeat. Attention all staff, attention all staff. You are requested to leave the grounds IMMEDIATELY. The ships are leaving Impel Down in fifteen minutes. The Buster Call is in one hour."

"What the hell is going on?" Usopp asked, eyebrows furrowing. "What do they mean by Buster Call!?"

"Well, a Buster Call is—"

"I know what a Buster Call is!" Usopp screeched hysterically. He pressed a hand to his chest as his breathing sped up and tears filled his eyes. "How are we getting everyone out of here in an hour!?" Shaking his head, he crouched and forced himself to take deep breaths. However, the movement seemed to have made him hyperventilate instead of calming him. "We can't do this. It's impossible. We are all going to die!"

Limejuice knelt beside him and took him by the arms, shaking him roughly. Usopp swayed limply with the movement, his eyes going blank as he muttered angrily to himself.

"Usopp, calm down. It's going to be okay." Limejuice pulled Usopp against him and waved his free hand in front of his eyes. "It's like he isn't even here." He muttered to himself.

Usopp's face scrunched, and his head shook wildly, growling as he continued with his personal monologue. "No, no, no, ugh, I'm so stupid. That'll never work, but maybe— NO, ugh." Usopp pulled at his hair and gritted his teeth. "That's never going to work." Usopp rocked back and forth, not noticing that Limejuice had pulled him back into a standing position.

"C'mon, kid, we have to move."

"No, no, no, this is all wrong," Usopp muttered while following Limejuice on autopilot out of the elevator. It was freezing, but even that was not enough to snap Usopp out of it, as lost in his thoughts as he was.

Limejuice pulled the earpiece from Usopp's ear and pressed it into his own. "Is anyone there?"

"Who are you?"

"Limejuice, listen, something is wrong with Usopp."

"What's wrong with him?"

"He heard the Buster Call and suddenly started muttering to himself. He's not responding to anything I say or do."

"It's a new way of coping that he recently adopted. He will shut down for a couple of minutes, figure out something in his head and then come back. You'll just have to wait him out. If you try to break him from his thoughts, you'll activate his fight or flight response, and you don't want to do that." Limejuice frowned, swearing he heard the words 'unless you want a fork in your neck', following that sentence, but thinking that he surely heard the person wrong.

Limejuice sighed heavily, "Thanks, I guess." He pulled the earbud from his ear and shoved it in his pocket, glancing around the winter hell that was Five. Everything looked the same, covered in a thick blanket of snow and ice. If he squinted, he could just make out the large black letters of Floor Five, Cell Blocks 1-10, with a giant arrow pointing left on the snow and ice-covered wall in front of him.

He hoped Usopp would come to himself soon. It would be difficult to walk with the cold air biting at his skin, making his limbs numb and difficult to manoeuvre as burning and still as they were.

Limejuice took a deep breath and slowly began to move them towards Cellblock Eight. They tripped and slid across the floor, and he silently prayed that none of the Level Five creatures would choose that moment to attack.

He almost fell to the floor with Usopp's sudden movement, and he almost cried in relief when Usopp turned to give him a grim smile. "We have to move fast, but we should be okay." Usopp started to stalk away from Limejuice, indicating with his head where they were going. "Plans may have to change a bit, but as long as we don't hesitate and keep moving, we should be fine."

Limejuice stared after him, flabbergasted, as the kid started talking as if nothing had happened. Shaking his head, he quickly followed him, careful not to trip over the large human-shaped mounds of snow blocking his path at various points on the floor.

"Oi, Sanji!" Usopp called, cupping his hands over his mouth. He quickly scanned the cells that he passed, frowning as he kept coming up short. "I hope he wasn't moved."

"Hongo!" Limejuice called, cupping his hands over his mouth.

"Limey, is that you?"

"I told him to stop calling me Limey," Limejuice muttered to himself as he followed the sound of Hongo's voice.

"Usopp!?"

Usopp turned to his left and smiled in relief. He quickly made his way to Sanji's cell and scanned his body for injuries. There were none, from what he could see. In fact, the only thing off he could see about Sanji was him in full prison garb— Sanji could not pull off prison strips.

He reached out to touch hands with Sanji, wincing at the iciness of them as his fingers curled around the blond's to help warm them.

"Hey, we don't really have time to catch up." Usopp let go of Sanji's hands and knelt down to dig through his bag. "We have less than an hour to get out of here."

Sanji sighed heavily, leaning his forearms on the bars so that he could look down and see what Usopp was doing. "We heard. It explains why all of those shitty monsters have suddenly been disappearing. We haven't seen one down here in a week."

"Hmm." Usopp suddenly growled and dumped the contents of his bag into the snow in front of him, spreading out all of his items. "Where the hell did that pick go?" He turned to Limejuice, "Limejuice, do you have it by any chance?" He asked hopefully, sighing heavily when Limejuice responded in the negative.

He shoved things to the side and was about to start throwing things when the pick revealed itself between the pages of his Journal. He handed it over to Sanji and allowed him to start working on the lock while he quickly gathered everything back into his bag.

"This isn't my forte," Sanji said sheepishly when Usopp looked up at him expectantly after he finished closing his bag.

Usopp chuckled under his breath and took the pick from him. He frowned and poked the pick at the lock. "The lock is completely frozen over. This isn't going to work." He hit his forehead against the cold metal of the cell as he thought, stopping only when Sanji put a hand between his head and the cell to keep him from hurting himself. "I'm assuming you've already tried to kick down the bars?"

Sanji shook his head, mouth in a grim line. He pointed to where the metal was bent several inches from Usopp's head on the inside of the cell. "My kicks haven't been getting through them."

"If I remember correctly, the steel used here only becomes brittle at -100°C. In your weakened state, you likely wouldn't be able to get through it." Usopp rolled his shoulders and pulled his Black Kabuto from his shoulder. He placed it on the floor and rifled through his bag to look for his ammo. "Okay, I have another idea. It may or may not kill everyone here."

"Usually, you'd be freaking out about that," Sanji reminded him with a small smile.

Usopp shrugged, "The Buster Call will kill us anyway. Hmm... ah, yes! There they went." Usopp twisted on the bottom extension of his slingshot, giving water to the plant living inside from the bottle he kept in his bag.

It quickly grew into a large carnivorous plant. It wiggled impatiently for a moment before turning to the jail cell's bars. It opened its mouth, and Sanji took a large step back just before it chomped down on the bars.

The plant whimpered and pulled away from the bars, shaking its head as pain radiated through its mouth.

Usopp patted the plant's head, "I'm sorry, are you okay!?" It buried under Usopp's hand and whimpered more. Usopp laughed nervously and pet it until it stopped quivering. "Can we try on the stone above the cells?"

The plant peered up from under Usopp's hand, looked back down at the cells wearily and looked back at Usopp.

"It's just stone and ice, I promise."

With a heaving sigh, the plant reached up and bit through, chomping happily on the ice and stone. Usopp sighed in relief. "Watch your heads," he warned the other jailers in Sanji's cell as rubble started to fall.

He handed his slingshot over to Sanji and pulled out the map he and Limejuice had prepared. He flattened it on the ground and flipped through the pages until he got to the fourth floor. He glanced at the map and flipped it, looking for the markings on the 5th floor that matched the picture. "Okay, that could work."

He cracked his fingers and took back his slingshot. He bit his lip, studying the terrain. He had to hit the area just right for it to work.

"Ready?" He pulled back, and the plant released the barrage of rubble in its mouth to the spot in the ceiling that Usopp indicated. Chunks of ice and rock began to fall from the ceiling, causing many of the jailers in the area to cry out in alarm.

He allowed the slingshot to eat again before repeating the process several times. Little by little, the ceiling began caving in. Hot wood began to fall, sizzling as it hit the ground, sinking deep into the snow.

"What exactly are you doing?" Limejuice asked. He had been watching Usopp for several minutes but couldn't figure out what he was trying to do.

"So, the area I've been hitting is right below the pot of boiling blood on the fourth floor. I am weakening the ceiling so the cauldron will fall through the floor. Upon hitting the floor, it will tip over and spill its contents. Due to the tilted floor, it will start running down this way, which will melt the snow and ice. In theory, it should heat up the cells enough to melt the ice and then we can unlock the cells."

There was a sudden loud crack, and the fire and caldron came crashing to the floor. "I'd climb up if you don't want to be roasted alive. It'll still be quite hot when it makes its way over here."

Sure enough, a large wave of blood began running down the corridors. Agonised screams from the prisoners ahead of them had everyone in Cell Block Eight heeding Usopp's words. Everyone in the blood's path scrambled up the jail doors and cell walls, most just barely missing the scorching liquid as it sizzled its way through the floor. It was still so hot that it ate through the snow and ice straight to the stone floor.

"You're fucking insane," a prisoner growled, causing Sanji to turn to him threateningly.

"Talk about him like that again, and I will kick your shitty ass so hard you will wish you got caught in that shitty boiling blood wave."

"Ignore him, Sanji. Chances are he won't be getting out of here before the Buster Call anyway." Usopp set himself down gingerly, making sure to stay only on his tiptoes. He squatted and touched the floor with the back of his hand, a frown on his face as he considered the situation. "You should be okay to step down." He grimaced and wiped the cooled blood off on the clothes he wore. "There will never be enough therapy to cover all this." He muttered to himself as he reached for his pick again.

It slid in easily this time, and soon Sanji was free. Usopp then threw the pick to Limejuice to release Hongo and Yasopp from their cell. "Are you okay to move? We have to get downstairs for Luffy and Zoro." He made a vague gesture towards Limejuice, "And his captain."

Sanji stretched and kicked out his leg. "I'm fine."

Usopp looked over his shoulder at Limejuice. "You guys won't be much help without your weapons. You should go ahead to Floor 5.5 while I take Sanji down to six and get the others." Usopp looked at his watch, "We shouldn't take more than twenty minutes— all of the Marines should be boarding the ships leaving if they haven't left already. If we are more than twenty minutes, have Jinbe take you to the Thousand Sunny."

"Oi, what about us?" Several of the prisoners called out.

He looked over at the prisoner with confusion etched into his features. "What about you?"

"Aren't you going to help us out of here?"

Usopp scoffed, "So you can kill us and take our weapons, then try to take over our ship?" Usopp laughed, "Yeah, I don't think so. If you want to get out, you will have to figure it out yourself."

The prisoner snarled and slammed against the bars of his jail cell, causing Usopp to raise an eyebrow at him. "Behaviour like that is probably why you are here in the first place. Maybe you should work on your anger management issues."

Sanji rolled his eyes and pulled Usopp behind him, "No need to taunt the dead man. Why are you only this brave when people are behind bars or otherwise tied up?"

"Because then they can't do anything to me, duh."

Sanji slapped him upside the head, "Don't duh me, you're not Luffy."

Usopp grumbled and turned to the other three men standing beside them. "We will see you in twenty minutes. You guys are heading to the large tree closest to Cell Block Twenty." Usopp reached into his bag and pulled out a small prying tool, handing it off to Hongo and then handing over a small closed metal container to Yasopp. "You should be able to open the door at the base just fine, but it won't hurt to gather some of the hot blood and pour it over the cracks."

The men scrunched up their noses but nodded in understanding.

"If Luffy is correct, Bon Clay should still be running it. I don't know what is happening now with the Buster Call, but let him know what's up if he's there. If not, wait for Jinbe— he should have your weapons.

"Oh, and Dad?"

Yasopp looked up at Usopp with wide eyes. He was certain that Usopp wouldn't acknowledge him as he hadn't up until that point. "Yeah, Usopp?"

"I'll see you on the other side."

Yasopp made a strangled sound and reached out to grab Usopp, but his fingers merely grazed his arm. Usopp waved and started off towards the steps that led to Floor Six. Sanji stared hard at Usopp's back before sighing and following him. He would have to have a talk with him later.

Yasopp and Hongo looked after them in bemusement, the tools Usopp handed them clenched to their chests.

"So, that's Usopp."

Yasopp frowned, humming in acknowledgement of Limejuice's statement.

"Something wrong?" Hongo asked, following Limejuice as he led them towards Cell Block Twenty.

"Those were his mother's last words before I left."

"I was wondering about that." Limejuice stopped in front of the cauldron and dipped low to grab some of the hot but much cooler blood from the floor several feet away.

"It was her way of telling me that she would see me on the Grand Line."

"Ah, so he wasn't saying he would see you when he died," Hongo said with a laugh.

Yasopp rolled his eyes, "Of course not." He looked behind him towards where Usopp and Sanji had disappeared to. "I have to wonder, though…"

o0o

"Who was that shit-head?" Sanji asked, skidding to a halt at the top of the stairs leading to Floor Six.

"Limejuice," Usopp said absently. "C'mon, the others are down here."

"I didn't mean his name," Sanji said blandly as he followed Usopp down the steps two at a time. "Where did he come from?"

"Cell on Floor Four."

Usopp stopped at the bottom of the stairs and kneeled, peering around the corner into the dungeon. He looked around, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the sixth floor. The stoned walls and cobblestoned floors were wet and slippery.

The smell of death permeated through the floor. Even through Usopp's nose plugs, he could smell it, reminding him of what he was wearing. "Hold this," He threw his bag into Sanji's arms and pulled off the shirt and pants, dropping the offending articles onto the floor and kicking them away. "Disgusting."

He took back his bag and started stalking through the dungeon, muttering angrily to himself. He ignored the jeers from the prisoners. They weren't his problem. They'd be dead in under an hour. "Luffy!" He called out angrily.

"Usopp!" He followed Luffy's call, rubbing his cheeks and neck where they felt itchy. "It'll never go away." He muttered to himself.

"Where'd you get the prisoner outfit?" Sanji asked, glancing over his shoulder at the discarded clothes by the stairs.

"We. Are. Never. Speaking. Of. It." He said through gritted teeth, scratching at his arms.

Sanji grabbed his hands as they came to a halt beside Luffy's cell. "Stop scratching. You'll wind up with an infection."

Usopp growled, rubbing his hands through his hair. "Ugh, I still feel it on me." He shuddered and gritted his teeth, roughly shoving his hand into his bag and pulling out the lock pick. He made quick work of the lock and stalked inside, throwing the pick at Sanji.

"Go release Zoro. Luffy and I will catch up." Usopp indicated with his head to the next cell. "Should be right beside us. Although, he's probably sleeping."

Usopp knelt and made quick work of the restraints on Luffy's shackles. He poked him on the cheek, "You okay?"

Luffy grinned widely, "Of course!" Luffy leaned over to give him a hug and quickly leaned back, nose scrunching in disgust. "You stink."

Usopp's stomach lurched, and he leaned away from Luffy to vomit. "Ugh. Thanks for reminding me."

"Usopp, are you okay!?"

"Ugh, I did some very gross things that are catching up with me." Usopp leaned down, coughing and vomiting again. "Let's just not talk about it, okay?"

Luffy stood and pulled Usopp with him, "We are almost out of here."

Usopp remembered the Buster Call and leaned down to vomit again. Luffy grimaced, this time it got on his feet. "Ugh, gross!"

"Sorry." Usopp didn't sound very sorry.

"Oi, let's go, Shit-heads. Buster Call is in twenty minutes." Sanji and Zoro were leaning against the bars of Luffy's jail, eyebrows raised.

"Oh fuck off," Usopp groaned, shoving past them to get out of the cell. "We have one other person to get, and then we will head up to Floor 5.5. The others should be waiting for us." Usopp turned to Luffy, "Where Shanks?"

Luffy glanced around and started off towards the other end of the dungeon.

"Oi, wait up!" Usopp grabbed his pick from Sanji, and the three of them quickly followed Luffy, their footsteps echoing through the floor, catching the attention of the prisoners.

Usopp thought it strange that he didn't hear many asking to be let out when, on Floor Five, that was all he heard from many of the prisoners. Perhaps that was merely one more difference between the floors.

"Shanks!" Luffy's voice echoed through, catching Usopp's attention.

"Anchor, long time no see."

"Usopp, he's here." Usopp whipped around a corner, and sure enough, there was Red Haired Shanks attached to the wall of a worn-out cell, Luffy hanging off the top of it.

"Yeah, yeah, the entirety of Impel Down heard you." Usopp swatted Luffy away and leaned down to open up the lock. "Just stay out of the way, you menace."

"Bleh, Usopp's mean!" Luffy said, sticking out his tongue while doing what was asked.

"Mmhm," Usopp shoved the door open, ignoring Luffy's pained cry as it hit him in the face, and walked inside. "May I approach?"

Shanks nodded and shifted to give Usopp better access to his shackles. Usopp kneeled and touched the ones on Shank's ankle, a frown on his face. "What is this?" He muttered to himself. He shook his head and sighed. "This might take a bit. I'm not familiar with the construction."

He breathed heavily through his nose, fingers shaking while he worked the tools through the keyhole. After the fifth time of it slipping and Shanks' snide comment asking him if he had ever used a lockpick before, Usopp threw it down and dug through his bag.

"Luffy, I will throw you in the fucking ocean in the middle of the night if you keep laughing," Usopp growled, turning to throw one of his pop-greens at Luffy's head.

A large plant popped out and happily began to chew on Luffy's head, causing the Strawhat Captain to fight with it. He fell to the floor, and the plant began to wrap around him like a snake trapping its prey.

"Yes, got it!" Usopp pulled out two small vials— one with bright green liquid and the other with a vibrant red.

Luffy growled and pushed the plant away from his face as he turned to look at Usopp from where he lay on the floor outside the cell. "Usopp, don't melt Shanks!"

Usopp rolled his eyes at Luffy's antics. "I am not going to melt him. I am going to melt the chains, though." He looked up, eyes holding Shanks' gaze. "You need to keep very still. If even a little bit gets on you, it'll eat you right to the bone."

"What is a kid doing with something like that?"

Usopp merely smiled at him and unstopped the cork. "Ready?"

Shanks shifted and hesitated just a bit before nodding. "I only have three limbs. I prefer to keep them."

"If you don't shut up, you might not be left with any."

"Noted. It seems you did not get your personality from Yasopp."

Usopp snorted and took a deep breath. He leaned down and studied the lock closest to him. Taking a solidifying breath, he carefully placed a drop of the concoction to the topmost part of the lock. "This is a lot closer to your skin than I wanted it to be," Usopp admitted as the liquid hissed and the lock in that area turned bright red. He pressed a steadying hand to Shanks' knee. "Stay very still." He reminded him, watching as the liquid ate through the metal.

Shanks gritted his teeth as the metal heated up almost unbearably but did not move. Usopp quickly opened up the other vial in his hand and liberally dropped the red liquid onto the melted part of the metal, stopping the acid in its tracks. As the area cooled, Usopp repeated the action on Shanks' other shackles.

Usopp rolled back onto his feet and stood, capping the vials and placing them safely back into his bag. "Move your ankles and wrist. It should cause the shackles to come right off."

Shanks twisted his wrist, and sure enough, the shackle fell off with a loud clanking sound that echoed through the dungeons. He took Usopp's hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. He carelessly kicked the shackles on his ankles off, and they, too, fell off without too much difficulty. "Nifty stuff," he commented, rubbing his wrist against his hip. "Burns like a motherfucker, though."

Usopp gave a small smile and crossed his arms over his chest. "We could have cut off your other limbs instead."

"Thank you," Shanks said firmly.

Usopp turned to Luffy, his body suddenly deflating. "I did enough work. It's your turn to get us the rest of the way out."

"You did great, Usopp!" Luffy nodded his head to the left, a large grin on his face. "Let's get going."

Usopp checked his watch and grimaced. "Let's make it quick. I told the others to leave without us if we weren't there in five minutes."

The group hurried through the dungeon, stopping only when they nearly collided with a wall.

"Oh, Luffy. Did you lead us to a dead end? You're as bad as Zoro!" Usopp whined, pulling on his friend's shoulder and shaking him.

Luffy frowned, his fingers grazing the wet stone. "Give me a minute."

"We're going to die here," Usopp muttered to himself, wincing when Sanji elbowed him in his ribs.

"Here it is!" Luffy pushed on the thirteenth brick down and the fourth to the right. The sound of gears being activated met their ears before a secret door opened to an uneven stone stairwell.

"Let's go!"