Arlong released Jinbe's beard abruptly, causing the whale shark fish-man's head to snap back.
"It's not just me here," Arlong said. "The others didn't want to leave you in this pit either."
Jinbe looked around, taking in Kuroobi, Hatchan and Chew as well. He shook his head.
"This… This cannot be true. It must be a dream—"
"IT'S NOT JUST A DREAM!"
Those words came not from Arlong or any of his friends, but from Luffy, who was going through a similar conversation with his brother.
"One of the rare times I agree with a human," Arlong said. "Isn't that what you always wanted me to do more of, Jinbe? Now…" One of the Straw Hats held out a key to Arlong, who accepted it without looking to see who it was. "We're getting you out of here, and you are not slowing us down with your stupidity!"
"Now, now, Arlong, you don't have to be so rude to him," Hatchan said.
A second later, Arlong had unlocked the shackles. Jinbe stood up slowly.
"Th-Thank you…" Jinbe said.
Arlong looked Jinbe up and down. "Why did they beat you up? Was it for betraying the World Government, or for being a fish-man, or both?"
"Hmph, I think it was pure sadism," Jinbe replied. He looked at the others inside and just outside the cell. "So they are the Straw Hat Pirates. Young Ace did tell me of his foster brother, while we were passing the time here. But he never wanted him to attempt anything like this."
"To avoid risking his life?" Arlong said. "Hmph, then Whitebeard's second commander is an idiot as well. Straw Hat and his crew literally attacked Enies Lobby to rescue one of their own, then got away with it. Even if me and the boys hadn't joined forces with 'em, they might've pulled off this rescue by themselves."
"Don't speak as if it's already complete, Arlong," Jinbe warned. "Even if I am no longer in chains, we're all still at the bottom of the world's most secure prison. There's still many obstacles between us and freedom."
"Then we'd better get going," Arlong said. He turned his head. "Straw Hat, Fire Fist, it's time for us to leave!"
Luffy looked at Arlong with an angry, tearful, snot-stained expression. It would have looked comical had the situation not been so serious.
Zoro approached Luffy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's right. You can leave the emotional reunions for later."
"Still can't believe this is happening…" Ace said, also with tears on his face. "Fine. If you came this far, then it'd be waste if I didn't come along…"
They stepped out of the cell. But before they could even leave the corridor, they began hearing an ear-piercing screech.
"What!?" exclaimed several people.
"It's the alarm!" Arlong said, more out of instinct than necessity. "Dammit, just where did we screw up!?"
Arlong had only heard Impel Down's alarm once before. That had been during an attempt by several other prisoners to escape. Said attempt had failed, and the prisoners were then used for a demonstration of why nobody should try to imitate them.
Seeing those unfortunate souls begging for mercy, even as they were eaten alive by ravenous beasts, had caused even the hardened Arlong to vomit. It had utterly crushed the escape plan that he'd been forming until that point.
"Unless…" Arlong's gaze fell on the prisoners still within their cells. "Which of you did it!?"
The prisoners of Level 6 either smiled silently or cackled loudly. "What do you mean?" said one prisoner. "Pretty sure it's you guys' fault for messing up somewhere!"
Grr… there's a hundred ways they could have triggered the alarm! Arlong thought. Trying to bend or saw through their bars in view of a snail, or throwing something to knock down a snail—the details don't matter at this point! What matters is that the full might of Impel Down is heading for us!
"W-W-What're we gonna do now!?" Usopp said, holding his face in despair.
"We never planned for getting discovered this earlyyy!" Chopper wailed.
That, Arlong reflected, wasn't quite true. Prior to this mission, they'd planned for all kinds of situations. However, there was little hope of escape if they were discovered on the lowest floor of Impel Down, the furthest from the surface, so they'd hoped with all their hearts that it wouldn't happen. Arlong couldn't blame Chopper for forgetting in the heat of the moment.
That said, not everyone had forgotten.
"Time to give up on subtlety…" Nami said. "Fog Tempo!"
Nami produced a dense white fog from her Clima-Tact. Within seconds, the corridor was foggy to the point Arlong could no longer see more than ten metres away, and could no longer see clearly for more than five or six metres.
"Hey, how're we supposed to watch your pathetic ends now!?" one of the Level 6 inmates complained.
"Shut it!" Sanji said. "And excellent work, Nami! Now, let's move while their surveillance network is down!"
They rushed towards the elevator shaft again, the faster members carrying those slower. But when they actually reached it, they skidded to a stop and let out cries of dismay.
A massive door had slid down over the shaft. There were no handles, locks or other mechanisms that might be used to open the door. And it was a uniform dark grey colour, one that everyone here would be able to recognise.
"Seastone!?" Arlong exclaimed. The material's effect on Devil Fruit users was irrelevant to him, but its nigh-indestructibility was very much relevant. "The whole thing's covered in Seastone!?"
Franky approached the door and rapped it with his fingers. "No, this isn't just covered in the stuff, it's a solid slab of Seastone! If it was just a covering, we could've tried breaking the underlying material, but this? Not a chance."
All the other shafts will be locked down the same way, Arlong thought grimly. And they won't open until the jailers arrive on this level.
Can we wait until then, and try to beat 'em as they come? But they'll be sending in their heaviest hitters, won't hold back at all against intruders who could get to Level 6. We might win, with Jinbe and Fire Fist on our side… but it'd take time, enough time for reinforcements to arrive…
While Arlong contemplated their options, he saw Luffy slam two fists into the Seastone barrier. Those fists immediately and weakly slumped to the ground. However, Luffy raised his fists again and prepared for another attack.
"Stop, Luffy!" Ace said, grabbing his foster brother by the shoulders. "You're just wasting energy!"
"I'm not giving up here, Ace!" Luffy roared. "Not after coming this far!"
"There may be a better option."
All eyes turned towards Jinbe, who was eyeing the door—no, Arlong realised, the stone frame around the door.
"Would the ceiling collapse if I destroyed the frame?" Jinbe asked.
"HUH!?" Franky said. "Uh… probably not… but can you really pull off something like that? If the World Government splurged enough to get solid Seastone doors, then they won't have cheaped out on the masonry either! Can you really do it in time—"
"All of you, please step back," Jinbe said.
The Arlong Pirates were already moving away from the door before Jinbe had finished this sentence.
"Move it, we don't have time to waste!" Arlong snapped.
The Straw Hats quickly stepped back as well. Jinbe closed his eyes and let out a breath.
Fuck… now that he mentioned the possibility, I'm wondering if the ceiling's really going to collapse on us all…
A small part of Arlong was fine with that possibility. It would be a quicker and less painful fate than if they were captured by Impel Down's staff. However, the rest of him hoped that they could still escape successfully.
Time for you to make up for your stupidity, Jinbe!
After several seconds of preparation, Jinbe opened his eyes and thrust his right fist—now darkened with Armament Haki—forward.
"TEN THOUSAND BRICK FIST!"
It felt as if a cannon had been fired at close range. A deafening boom struck Arlong's ears, and a shockwave washed over his body with enough force to make him flinch.
And the stone frame around the door was now marred by a hundred cracks.
"Hmph… I've grown dull after my time in that cell," Jinbe said casually. He pulled back his right fist. "Then one more… TEN THOUSAND BRICK FIST!"
The next blow shattered the frame completely, sending chunks of stone flying in every direction. Now deprived of its supporting structure, the Seastone door toppled backward, hitting the floor with a resounding crash.
"…As expected from one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea," Robin murmured in awe.
Kuroobi grinned. "He was always the strongest in our crew, Brother Tiger himself acknowledged it!"
"Now is not the time for this," Jinbe said. "We must advance!"
They thus walked over the Seastone door and into the elevator shaft. Immediately, Arlong saw the ropes moving and heard creaking from above.
"They're coming down for us," Zoro said, his three swords at the ready. "We'll have to literally break through them."
"Then it's my time to shine," Ace said.
Bright orange flames billowed out from the Whitebeard Pirate. The flames caused no pain or injury when they touched Arlong, yet he still couldn't help but feel nervous, being a native to the watery depths.
"Waitwaitwait!" Usopp cried. "There has to be a better way than thiiiiiiiiisss!"
Suddenly, Arlong and the others began rocketing up the elevator shaft, propelled by a rising tide of fire.
This isn't natural… maybe we need to move as fast as possible, but it's not natural for a fish-man to be riding fire!
Within seconds, Arlong saw a wooden surface above him—the floor of a descending elevator.
"GYAAAAHHH!" Nami screamed. "We're going to get crush—"
Then they reached the elevator, and—it was reduced to ash in a fraction of a second. Arlong saw a dozen jailers appear and just as suddenly disappear into the flames. Among them were two hulking creatures even taller than Arlong himself, and with the head shapes and hides of animals.
The Jailer Beasts? Arlong thought. And to think I used to be scared of these thugs, all those years back…
Arlong still remembered the beating he'd received shortly after being imprisoned in Impel Down. He'd constantly bickered with the humans in nearby cells, causing one of the Jailer Beasts—Minotaurus, he recalled now—to enter his cell to administer "discipline" via an iron club.
As I am now, I could probably pay the bastard back… but that's not what I came here for.
Then Arlong saw a stone ceiling come into view above him. His ascent, and that of the others, slowed to a stop. They were now next to a grate of bars, through which could be seen the fiery landscape of Level 4.
"Damn, and here I was hoping we could shoot all the way to the top in one go," Ace said. He extended a hand and emitted a jet of brilliant blue flame, cutting a large hole in the grate.
"According to the map of the prison, only one elevator goes to all six levels," Robin said. "And, obviously, it's the most guarded. Using that was never an option."
It was a sensible security measure, considering the sheer threat of Level 6's inmates, but it was tremendously inconvenient for Arlong's group. They'd now have to fight their way through Level 4 until they found another elevator shaft to take them up to the surface.
For now, Arlong's group passed through the hole in the grate and landed on the floor of Level 4.
"I can't believe you carried us up here using fire!" Hatchan said. "What if you'd turned me into grilled octopus!?"
"Hey, I can control my flames so they don't burn what I don't want to burn," Ace protested. "Otherwise I'd be turning my own clothes to ashes all the time! And we're in a—"
"There they are!"
That shout came from some jailers on a nearby bridge.
"…hurry," Ace finished.
The jailers began aiming rifles at Arlong and his allies.
KABOOM!
There was an explosion on the underside of the bridge where the jailers were. It wasn't strong enough to destroy the bridge, but it still managed to make them stagger. And before the jailers could regain their balance, they were knocked down by a rapid-fire barrage of lead pellets.
"Wasn't supposed to be this way…" Usopp mumbled. Despite his apparent pessimism, he was already reloading his oversized slingshot. "We're never going to get out now…"
"How about we try to escape before giving up?" Zoro said.
"The nearest elevator shaft is just over there!" Nami said, pointing off into the distance. "It's not far!"
Unfortunately, Arlong heard more shouts, saw dozens of figures converging on their position. There were both humans and blugori, the latter conspicuous with their large bodies and blue cloaks.
"Even if it's not far," Chew said, taking a pouch filled with a certain liquid from Usopp, "they'll make us fight every step of the way, choo!"
Usopp detonated more of the bombs he'd set up previously. Chew gulped down the liquid and shot it out with the force of a cannonball, the resulting projectile creating a huge explosion on impact. Nami rained down lightning bolts from afar. Franky fired a full-auto barrage from his left arm.
After that opening barrage, Arlong's group began running across the network of stone bridges.
"Can't you carry us again!?" Sanji asked, ignoring the looks of dismay from several others. "It would be faster than having to run!"
"That'd be risky in this open space!" Ace shouted back. "If I fly you guys again, everyone with a gun could see us and take potshots at us! And not all of us are immune to bullets! Better to hoof it for now!"
"GROOOAAAARGHH!"
They ran into a horde of blugori, all carrying their signature double-bladed axes. During his previous time in Impel Down, Arlong had been unnerved by these beasts, each almost as strong as him.
Right now, Arlong didn't even have to lift a finger. Jinbe knocked down the blugori with a single sweeping kick.
Hmm?
Arlong picked up one of the blugori's axes and felt its weight in his hands. It was different to the Kiribachi that had served him well for years, but it was still a decent weapon in its own right. And having a weapon was almost always better than fighting bare-handed. He could always drop it if it proved inconvenient.
Now equipped with a weapon, Arlong resumed running with the others. After perhaps thirty seconds of this—
"Watch out!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Arlong saw a colossal eel-like monster, like a juvenile Sea King, hurtling towards him from the side. He prepared to dodge, only for orange flames to fill his vision.
Seconds later, the flames died down. The monster's head had been burnt away—no, boiled away without a trace. Now that Arlong had a closer look, the monster's body was composed of a viscous-looking purple liquid. And even as he watched, that liquid was bubbling forth, regenerating the head that had been destroyed.
"…Oh dear," Brook said quietly. "We'd been hoping to escape without running into the chief warden…"
Arlong turned his gaze towards the "tail" of the strange monster, which lay on a different bridge. On that bridge were two more monsters, their long bodies curled up instead of stretched forward. And in the middle of them all was…
"No prisoners can be allowed to leave Impel Down!"
It was a human male who would have towered over Arlong himself, had they been standing next to one another. Curved horns sat atop his head and batlike horns spread out from his back. The same purple liquid covered his entire body from head to toe.
Arlong had never seen this man in person. But he'd heard countless rumours and whispers during his stint in this prison, and while those differed in many details, they all had one thing in common.
Fear of an overwhelming force.
"…Chief Warden Magellan," Jinbe said, calm as the sea depths. "I'm afraid it is time for me to leave this prison. I appreciate the hospitality you've shown me so far."
"You were placed under my watch because of your choice to refuse orders," Magellan growled. His eyes turned towards Ace. "And now you've chosen to do worse still, both attempting escape and assisting in the escape of another Level 6 prisoner. There is only one punishment for such crimes!"
The head of the first eel-like monster had fully regenerated. It rose high into the air, while the other two diverged to left and right.
"Not on my watch!" Ace shouted. He thrust out his hands, both of them blazing like miniature suns.
Three walls of flame appeared in mid-air, blocking the triple assault from Magellan's Hydra. Meanwhile, Luffy began winding up for a punch.
"No, you idiot!" Sanji said, grabbing his captain by the shoulder. "He's the user of the Venom-Venom Fruit! His whole body's covered in deadly poison!"
"If I only touch him for an instant—"
"You'd still get a severe dose!" Chopper said, grabbing Luffy by the other shoulder. "Leave it to the ranged attackers!"
Chew, Nami, Usopp and Franky began shooting at Magellan with all manner of projectiles. The barrage struck the chief warden head-on, splashing away purple poison with every hit, yet he did not even flinch, not even from a bazooka blast to the chest. It was as if he was made of solid steel.
And then Arlong noticed something else. There were no other jailers in sight, save for the bodies of those his group had already defeated.
They're not helping their boss? Sure, his poison's a hazard to them as well, but they could still support him by shooting at us…
…unless he's planning something. Something so dangerous that they can't be anywhere nearby!
Arlong threw his axe using all of his strength. The double-bladed weapon spun through multiple revolutions before reaching its target, who parried it with one arm.
"Looks like we'll need more power than that," Ace said. He drew back one hand. "Saint Elmo's Fire!"
A long spear of compressed flame appeared in Ace's hand. He threw it, and the incandescent projectile pierced Magellan through the chest.
"Guh!"
Magellan fell to his knees. His poison armour steamed at the point where Ace's spear was piercing him. Yet despite being literally burned from the inside, he still had a resolute look on his face.
"There… can be… no escape… from Impel Down!" Magellan said. "VENOM DEMON!"
A new poison began gushing from Magellan's body, deep crimson instead of vivid purple. And when some of it dripped onto the stone beneath him, that stone cracked and discoloured at a fearful pace.
"Against foes of your level," Magellan continued, "it's become clear I can't hold back! The World Government may wish to execute you publicly, but if the alternative is escape, I shall end you here!"
"I'm not dying for the satisfaction of those bastards!" Ace shouted. "I'm—"
Magellan's crimson poison formed a giant-sized monster, with horns and wings and a skull-like face. Furthermore, the fiery spear in Magellan's chest had now disappeared.
The giant thrust one of its hands, big enough to crush a small house, forward. It reached across the gap between Magellan's location and that of Arlong's group.
"A SON OF WHITEBEARD!"
Ace's stepped forward and punched the giant's hand with his own, now glowing a brilliant orange. The giant's hand boiled away, crimson liquid becoming also-crimson vapour.
And when that vapour enveloped Ace, he screamed and fell to one knee.
"ACE!?" Luffy gasped.
Ace swung one of his hands forward, creating a pulse of flame that blew away the vapour so it didn't touch anyone else. But the effort proved too much for him, and he collapsed.
A rubber arm stretched out and grabbed the Whitebeard Pirate, pulling him back to the rest of the group.
Ace was now in a terrible state. His eyes were bloodshot, he alternated between retching and coughing, and his limbs spasmed.
"Ace!" Luffy shouted. "Chopper, you've gotta do something!"
"It'll have to be done on the run!" Franky said, picking up both Ace and Chopper with his arms. "Let's move!"
They all began running. Jinbe stayed put a moment longer than the rest, just enough to fire off a shockwave with a punch—an advanced Fish-man Karate technique.
"NO ESCAPE!"
Magellan's Venom Demon was pushed back slightly by the shockwave. It recovered after a few seconds and began pursuing Arlong's group.
"D-Dammit…" Ace said. "I held my breath… and put up my Haki… when I hit that thing… How…" He coughed again, and Arlong saw droplets of blood, "can it affect me… this much…?"
"Don't talk!" Chopper said. He pulled out various medical supplies from a bag and reached across Franky's back to administer them to Ace. "It'll just worsen your condition!"
He's a commander of Whitebeard's, and a Logia user to boot, and he ended up like this after one attack! Arlong thought, moving his own legs as fast as he could. That poison would be instant death to the rest of us, if we're hit!
Usopp looked over his shoulder and screamed. "He's getting closer!"
Indeed, the Venom Demon was now on the same bridge as Arlong's group, advancing with frightening speed.
Nami twirled her Clima-Tact. "No matter what poison he makes, all things slow down in the cold! Blizzard Tempo!"
A wave of arctic cold blew out from one component of the Clima-Tact. Arlong, despite not being the actual target and being in the superheated Level 4, still felt chilled to his bones.
The actual target did slow down upon being hit. However, Magellan returned to his normal speed after a few seconds.
"NO ESCAPE!"
"This bastard's as terrifying as an actual demon!" Sanji said. He raised one leg and kicked down at the stone beneath. "No wonder he was chosen to lead this place!"
The stone cracked and produced multiple fragments, several the size of a man's head. Sanji kicked the largest fragments at Magellan. However, the warden brought down one of the Venom Demon's hands as a shield, never stopping his advance.
"We're seriously going to die!" Usopp wailed. He fired something backwards from his slingshot. "We can't beat him!"
Usopp's projectile exploded in a flash that was dazzling even to Arlong. Magellan, who was far closer to the source, gasped in surprise.
Smart. Even if he's covered in poison that can dissolve anything, he's still using his eyes to see!
There was another roar of "NO ESCAPE!" from behind. Arlong redoubled his pace.
At last, the elevator shaft came into view. This one was also barricaded—fortunately, by a steel door instead of one made from Seastone.
"We're getting out!" Luffy said. He brought a thumb to his mouth. "Gear Third!"
Luffy's arm swelled up to comically huge proportions. But there was nothing comical about the punch he delivered next, which smashed through the door as if it was made of paper.
"We'll need to slow him down more!" Zoro said. "Great Buddha Slayer!"
With forceful slashes of his three swords, Zoro cut through the stone bridge in between himself and Magellan. The bridge immediately began to creak.
"Bring it—DOWN!"
Arlong and his three friends stomped down on the bridge on the opposite side of the cut. The strength of four fish-men pushed that section of the bridge beyond its limits. A fifty-metre span of bridge began plummeting into the burning hell below, carrying Magellan with it.
"I WON'T FALL THAT EASILY!"
The Venom Demon's hands reached out, trying to grasp the end of the bridge that was still standing.
"Once more… Blizzard Tempo!"
There was another wave of cold, and the hands of the crimson giant slowed in mid-ar. Then it fell out of sight completely.
"We… We actually did it…" Usopp said.
"He won't be out of commission for long!" Jinbe warned. "It's time for us to ascend again!"
Arlong turned back towards the elevator shaft. He spotted Luffy, now reduced to a comically small size, and stopped moving in surprise. Then he heard another roar of "NO ESCAPE!" and hurried into the shaft.
Arlong's group hurried up the elevator shaft by jumping off the walls repeatedly, or being carried by someone who could. They moved slower than they would have liked—all that fighting and running in Level 4's heat had taken their toll on them.
As they neared the top of the shaft, Arlong saw crimson liquid flood into the shaft's bottom.
"I… will not… fail in my duty!"
"This bastard just won't quit!" Arlong said, doing his best not to sound panicked.
"But we're almost there, captain!" Hatchan said.
Finally, they reached the top of the shaft. There was no security door here, just the basic grate which was trivial to break out through.
They were now on the surface level of Impel Down, the one above the ocean's surface. There were a few jailers up here, none of them strong-looking.
"Th-They got past the chief warden!?" one jailer said.
"Run!" said another jailer who was already following her own advice.
The jailers fled. However, that still left the main threat.
"POOORTGAAAS! JINBEEEE!"
"He's still gunning for us—hey, you hold these two!" Franky said, handing Ace and Chopper over to Arlong. "I'll buy us some more time!"
Franky returned to the elevator shaft and brought his arms together. The forearms of both inflated, like agitated pufferfish.
"Coup de Burst!"
There was a deafening boom and a rush of air. It seemed that Franky had pushed Magellan back down the shaft.
To cap it off, Zoro grasped one of his swords tightly, let out a breath, and sliced into the floor in front of the shaft. A multi-tonne chunk of stone slide down at an angle and fell down on top of Magellan.
"Okay, we're almost free!" Luffy said. "Now we just have to steal a Marine ship and get out of here!"
As they began moving again, Ace laughed weakly from within Arlong's grasp. "Can't believe this is actually happening… my idiot brother pulling my ass out of the fire for once… in Impel Down's first breakout…"
"There was no way I could leave you down there, Ace!" Luffy said. He was now crying from happiness again.
"And it's not the first breakout," Arlong said. Seeing a locked door up ahead, he casually smashed it down.
Ace paused for a moment as Chopper fed him some medicine. "Wait… seriously?"
"You weren't in here long enough to hear, but I once spent years in this pit," Arlong said. "Long enough to hear an old rumour of the one guy who got away… had to cut off his own legs to do it, and only succeeded because of some Devil Fruit ability he had."
"Heh… glad I didn't… have to do that…"
"Even with our help, you still almost died!" Chopper said. He opened up a container of some other medicine and began smearing it on Ace's right hand and arm, which were covered in chemical burns. "It seems your fire denatured the poison somewhat, and that's the only reason you managed to survive! And you'll still need days, if not weeks to fully recover!"
"Then… I'd appreciate if you guys… could keep me free long enough… for that…"
A minute after reaching the surface level, they burst out the front gates of Impel Down. Arlong could feel the sun on his face again, taste the salty breeze of the sea.
My "last chance", Captain Frederick? Looks like you got ahead of yourself there…
The escape wasn't over yet. There was still more fighting to come, as illustrated by the Marines on their docked ships, shouting in alarm at the sight of Arlong's group.
Even so, a tinge of hope entered his cynical heart.
AN: My original plan had Magellan be defeated by the combination of Ace and Jinbe. I changed my mind when I started writing that part. If Logia users still need to eat and drink and breathe, it makes sense that they can still be poisoned. And in canon, a group including Jinbe, Crocodile (another Logia), Ivankov and many others still couldn't defeat Magellan.
Blizzard Tempo is an original technique for Nami I made for this fanfic. It's an extrapolation of what she'd be able to do using Cool Balls.