Everyone was running down the corridor on Level II as quickly as possible, including the Blugori and manticores.
"Come on, hurry up!"
Buggy and Mr 3 finally managed to escape the manticores and were now observing everything out of the makeshift wax wall.
"There's a lot of commotion out there," said Mr 3.
"All prison staff, make your way to Level IV now!" said a jailer on a transponder snail. "Repeat all prison staff to Level IV.
"They just made an announcement, but I can hear it," said Mr 3. "Something big is happening downstairs. Hey, take a look, Buggy. All the jailers and Blugori are making a retreat."
"All prison staff, make your way to Level IV now!" the transponder snail repeated.
The prisoners were rather excited when they saw this.
"Whoa, it looks like they're clearing out all the beasts."
"Get the hell out of here, you filthy monsters!"
"Yeah, don't ever come back!"
"Something big must be happening on one of the other levels," Buggy deduced. "Now is our chance to make a break for it, partner."
"It's like a dream come true," Mr 3 cried. "We've been through so much, hunted by the Army Wolves on Level V. Then we were sickened by the lingering noxious cloud of Magellan's poison on Level IV."
"And don't forget about Level III," said Buggy as he began to cry, "having to face off against the sphinx again. And the latest indignity pretending to be part of the floor to escape the wild beasts. We have been stuck in some cruel joke and stuck as comic relief, and we made it all the way to Level II."
"Just a little bit further now and will be out of this hell hole," said Mr 3.
They then broke free from their wax barrier, and Mr 3 began to make keys for the prisoners, which Buggy delivered to them.
"Well, boys, ready to break out?" Buggy asked, smiling devilishly.
"Ready as ever. My compliments to Mr. 3 on these wax keys; there is some fine craftsmanship right here."
There was utter chaos in the observation room as the men there tried to control everything.
"Come in, Vice-Warden; this is the monitoring room; please come in!"
"What's wrong?" Hannibal asked.
"This looks strange."
"What?" Hannibal frowned and assumed they were referring to his headpiece. "Oh no, it's fine. I ordered this headrest to clearly assert my authority once I become warden, that's all."
"I'm not talking about your weird headdress!"
The guards in the observation room notice several shadows running by the prison cells on the monitors.
"We got a visual feed of someone sneaking around on Level II, and they looked like prisoners!"
"What did you say?!" Hannibal yelled.
To make matters worse, the prisoners began freeing one another using the keys Mr 3 had created.
"Thanks, buddy," said a prisoner.
"Don't thank me, thank Captain Buggy."
Hannibal was understandably flustered upon hearing this.
"Round up all the guards left on Level II; get their butts over there now!" he ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
A few guards were going to Level IV when they suddenly got a message on the transponder snail.
"Any guards left on Level II? Anyone, answer me if you're still there!"
"Yes, sir!" said one of the guards.
"Are you doing anything crucial at the moment?"
"Uh, we were just heading down to Level IV as ordered."
"Make a full inspection of Level II instead!"
"This floor?"
The guards then turned around nervously as they heard the sound of cell doors opening, and they heard cheerful, menacing laughter down the corridors.
Buggy and Mr 3 were looking down from a balcony, laughing.
"Now is our chance, partner," Buggy smirked. "You ready? Once the guards are distracted by the riot, we'll sneak out of here and steal a Navy ship."
"We're so close and will go down in history for breaking out of this nightmare prison," said Mr 3. "I'd wager that Dragon, the War Maiden and Mr 2 are already dead by now. Either that, or they'll spend the rest of their miserable lives in this hell."
"Well, that sure is a sad thought right there, but at least we save our own asses."
In the observation room, the guards saw Buggy and Mr 3 walking alongside the released prisoners.
"I've got eyes on Buggy the Clown!"
"And luck is got Mr 3 with him! Level II, look up!"
"Look up?" said one of the guards on Level II.
He looked up and saw what looked like every prisoner on Level II standing next to Buggy and Mr. 3.
Buggy then burst out laughing. "All right, you guys, if you want your freedom back, this is your chance! Now, let's tear this place apart! We've got nothing left to lose!"
The prisoners all cheered.
"Let's kick it off!"
"Let's give it to our Saviour!"
"Yeah, Captain Buggy!"
The guards immediately reach for the transponder snail, utterly terrified by this sudden change in development.
"Come in! Level II here!" said a guard. "I don't know how, but the prisoners are out of their cells and rioting again. They're out of control! We need the Blugori back! Send back up!"
They then heard a scream, and the transponder snail cut out.
"Come in!" said a new message on the transponder snail. "Level IV here!"
"Ugh, what is it now?" Hannibal groaned.
"We have found Mala and Throk. Also, they've got the guy who tricked you with them, Mr 2! They're storming Level IV with an entire mob."
"What?! A mob?!" Hannibal stared.
On Level IV, the guards could barely hold off Hiccup and the others, and soon, Mala began to arrive with reinforcements.
"All forces to Level IV immediately! Every available guard!"
"You're not going to believe this, but the mark they've got with them is all of the missing prisoners. The inmates who have disappeared over the years."
Hannibal looked as if he was about to have a panic attack. "Try checking again! That can't be right!"
"I know what I'm looking at!"
"Okay, I need to know. Can I still be the warden?" Hannibal asked, looking as if he was about to cry.
"It looks like we have finally caught up with you," said Mala as her forces joined Hiccup.
"Hey, Dragon Boy, Astrid!"
"Bon Clay," said Hiccup, pleasantly surprised.
"Looks like you got your juices flowing again," Astrid noted as Bon Clay spun around.
"Yeah, I'm better than ever now!" he yelled.
Viggo then returned and was followed closely by Ryker.
"Hold on, why are you here, Mr 1?" Bon Clay asked.
Ryker just ignored him.
"Do you hear me?" Bon Clay asked.
"You know this guy?" Hiccup asked.
"Wait, I think Toothless fought him," said Astrid.
"That's correct; he took him down back in Alabasta," Bon Clay nodded. "He's also Mr 0's older brother."
"He's what?!" Hiccup stared.
Hannibal had stopped in the middle of the stairs as the reports were too overwhelming.
"Vice-Warden! We need more backup on Level IV!"
"We also need more guys on Level II!"
"This is unfair," Hannibal cried.
"We need backup now!" the two guards cried out in unison.
"Vice-Warden, give us an order!"
"Send the guards to Level IV!"
"No, send them to Level II!"
"Vice-Warden, we need your orders."
Everything was happening so fast that Hannibal could not process any of it.
On Level IV, things were getting really out of hand.
"Imperial Face Grow Synthesis!" Mala yelled, injecting herself.
The guards were completely shocked when Mala's face began to grow about twenty times bigger than it should have been.
"Hell, Wink!" Mala yelled.
She then winked and said her massive shockwave straight at the guards, clearing the bridge and allowing everyone to advance.
"There's too many!" a guard reported. "We can't stop them! They're already vicious enough when we lock them away."
It hadn't escaped the guards' notice that several New Kama citizens were dressed rather unusually. Not to mention, there were fighting rather unusually; one of them was riding on piggyback, firing his guns in all different directions.
"Yeah, they're vicious and super weird now!" a guard nodded.
Of course, they won their main problem; the real problem was Hiccup and the others, who kept on cutting down the guards no matter how many there were.
"There's no time to explain, but we can't stop them!"
"Let's go!" Hiccup yelled as he led the charge. "Straight to Navy Headquarters!"
"Yeah!" everyone cheered.
At the same time, Ace was taking in the sunlight as they continued to make their way to Marineford.
"We've received word from Impel Down," said Gorg as he stood next to Ace. "An unprecedented riot has broken out and shut down the entire prison. The ringleader of this revolt is none other than Hiccup D Haddock. Enjoy the view while you still can. Once you have been shackled onto the scaffold, I can promise you this, you'll never see the sky again.
Ace just remained silent as they had now come in full view of another Gate of Justice that would lead them to Marineford.
"This is Gorg; we are now approaching," said Gorg on transponder snail. "Prepare to open the gate to Marineford."
They then heard the sound of alarms as the gates began to open.
At Navy headquarters, an officer ran into Salem's office, looking rather frantic.
"Fleet Admiral Salem!" he cried.
"How did it go?" Salem asked, not looking up from his desk.
"We still haven't found him yet," the officer panted. "Ace's execution is five hours from now, so we don't exactly have time in our favour. Stoick could launch an attack at any moment now. We need a Warlord on our side! We've searched the whole island, but we can't find Drago. He's gone missing."
Salem was infuriated.
"And this could be unrelated, but we just received word of a Navy ship arriving at Impel Down without any clearance."
"What?!" Salem roared.
"I know, sir, but what are the chances that it's him?"
At Impel Down, everyone there was rather surprised to see the arrival of a Navy ship. They were even more shocked when they saw Drago and his crew disembarking.
"What? Why would he come here?"
"I want you to conduct a further search of the ship they arrived on," said the captain.
"Sir!"
The guards immediately moved to halt Drago's advance.
"Please, wait, we didn't request any reinforcements. And we're in the midst of a state of emergency, so we can't assure your safety. We're waiting to hear back from headquarters at the moment."
"Don't go pissing your britches; we're all on the same side here," said Drago as he walked past them.
"That's not the issue! No pirate is allowed to step foot inside the prison even if you're on—"
He stopped when he found himself sinking; he looked down and saw that he was sinking into some sort of dark void.
"What the?!"
The dark void continued to spread as it reached the sealed gate, and everyone stared, shocked as it shattered. The guard and the broken gate began to sink into the empty void in the ground until they disappeared completely.
"Don't bother holding back with these guys," said Drago to his men. "After all, we're the highest-ranking officials here!"
"Talk about a gloomy place," said Ragnar the Stone.
Immediately, the Marines had just searched the ship that Drago disembarked but found no trace of any Marines on board.
"Captain, there isn't a single crewmember left alive on the ship that Drago came on."
"They're dead?" said the captain and then turned to the Marines standing next to him. "Hey!"
"Sir!"
The Marines quickly disembarked the shipment and aimed their rifles at Drago and his crew.
"Don't take another step!"
Drago merely laughed as he turned around.
The jailers at the entrance behind the door leading into the prison had opened the door ajar, completely shocked by what they saw.
"Liberation!" Drago yelled.
Darkness began to swirl above everyone, and fell out of the darkness with pieces of the gate, several prison guards, and Marines. Every single one of them fell right down on top of the Marines below.
"We have an intruder!" said the Marine captain. "The Warlord of the Sea, Drago Bladvist!"
The Marines immediately began to check on the fallen.
"Hey! Are you all right?"
"Drago sucked them all up and spit them back out."
"The darkness…"
"Drago and his crew are breaking into the prison, and I don't think we can stop them!"
The guards quickly closed the doors, but they all felt that they couldn't stop Drago.
"The darkness… it swallowed me up whole…"
"His motive is unknown! We need your orders, sir! Please hurry!"
The guard behind the door then saw darkness leaking out from beneath the door and found themselves being sucked into the void.
Hannibal was having a mental breakdown, as so much was happening so fast.
"It's over!" Hannibal cried. "My entire life is over!"
He continued to cry as he clutched his spear. 'No, I wish it was over. This is just the beginning of a miserable life in which I never get to be the warden. I am doomed to be the Vice-Warden for eternity!'
He toppled over, and his men caught him before hitting the ground.
"Are you all right, sir?"
"What the hell is wrong with him?"
"Hiccup and his followers on Level IV, Buggy the Clown, leading a riot on Level II and the Warlord Drago busting through the main gates?" Hannibal moaned. "What should I do? How do I even begin to deal with this mess?"
"Hannibal!" said Magellan's voice on the transponder snail. "You hear me?"
Hannibal immediately grabbed the transponder snail, nearly causing the guard holding it to topple over. "Warden Magellan?! Wait, where are you?"
"I'm on Level II," Magellan informed him. "And I have just taken care of these fools; this floor is clear."
Magellan was indeed on Level II, and Domino and the rest of his forces were all wearing gas masks as everyone was filled with poisonous gas. A whole bunch of prisoners were lying on the ground, covered in poison.
"I have blocked off all of the exits on Level II. If the poison hasn't stopped them yet, it will soon enough," said Magellan.
Buggy and his group soon came to an entranceway that was completely blocked off by poison.
"No! We're completely blocked in!"
"The doorway is clogged with poison! What do we do, Captain Buggy?"
Buggy had absolutely no idea. "Magellan! You obnoxious, toxic bastard!"
"Blast, he'll find as if we stay here!" Mr 3 cried.
"As for Drago, I haven't a clue why he's attacking us, but I'm already taking care of things," said Magellan.
"Nice," said Hannibal, relieved.
"It's not something I particularly wanted to do, but I wasn't given any other options."
"What do you mean it's not something you wanted to do?" Hannibal frowned.
Magellan sighed. "Against better judgment, I decided to release Sal to deal with them."
"Are you insane?" Hannibal yelled as his jaw hit the ground.
"Possibly, but we can't ask Navy HQ reinforcements. We are left with no choice but to deal with this ourselves. As for you, put all your efforts into getting Level IV under control. I'll be heading down to Level IV soon enough. Until I get there, it's your mess to clean up."
Hannibal then began to cry, relieved that he no longer had to deal with this mess.
"I love you!" he cried.
Meanwhile, Hiccup and the others were pushing forward towards the gates that would take them to Level III, and now, one on Level IV seemed to be able to stop them.
"Does anyone know where the staircase to Level III is located?" Hiccup asked.
"It's to the left, directly across that bridge," said Throk, pointing.
"Got it!" said Hiccup, flying directly at the guards. "You better get out of my way!"
Meanwhile, down on Level VI, the jailers there were now freeing Sal, though very reluctantly.
"Light," said Sal as he stepped out of the cell.
"Yes, sir!" said a nervous jailer, giving him a lighter.
Sal then lit a cigar and exhaled the smoke.
"Sal," said Magellan over the transponder snail, "feels good to step out of that cell, doesn't it?"
"Oh, yeah, it's nice," Sal agreed. "Lesson learned. All that boredom really makes you long for the excitement of death, but you are not going to use me as your pawn only to toss my ass back in there once you're done with me, right, Magellan?"
"You're a condemned prisoner, but this is your one chance," said Magellan. "Consider it a deferred sentence."
"Yeah, right, fine with me," said Sal. "I'll make sure that I'm on my best behaviour."
"Here's your sword, sir," said one of the jailers nervously, handing him his sword.
"As for Drago, he's all yours," said Magellan.
"Works for me," Sal smiled.
Magellan then cut up the connection with the transponder snail.
"Oh, my lovely sword," said Sal as he looked at his blade longingly and slowly unsheathed it. "It has been too long."
Then, moving faster than the blink of an eye, Sal cut down every single one of the jailers before they had any chance to react.
"I got carried away there, sorry," he said