Hiccup struck Drago and sent him smashing into the wall before hitting the ground.
"Captain!" Grimmel yelled.
Drago then cried out in pain and rolled across the ground in anguish.
"I am not going to let my brother die!" Hiccup vowed.
Astrid frowned. "This guy took on Ace, but Hiccup sent him flying with a single punch. I expected him to be a lot tougher than this."
Drago picked himself up, and they could see that he was suffering from a nasty nosebleed. Darkness began to cover his body, and Hiccup flew into the air and opened his mouth.
"Plasma…"
"Black Vortex!" Drago yelled, extending his palm.
His hand then turned into darkness, creating a vortex that drew Hiccup towards him and grasped him with his hand.
Everyone immediately gasped.
"Dragon Boy!" Bon Clay yelled.
Drago then slammed Hiccup into the ground, and despite his dragon scales, he actually felt the impact and began to bleed.
"Blood?" said Viggo, surprised. "Dragon scales are harder than steel."
Hiccup returned to his human form and began grasping his head in pain. He then jumped back and transformed into his Beta Form once more. He then placed his hand on his head and noticed that his forehead was bleeding.
"Blood?" he stared.
Drago laughed. "You don't even realise what the hell I just did, do ya? That dumb look on your face is the same expression your brother had. With this power, I was able to break your brother. Now, just like him, your Devil fruit powers are just as useless as money to a dead man."
"So what?" said Hiccup. "Do you really think that matters?"
Hiccup then launched himself at Drago, but Jinbe jumped in front of him and stopped him.
"Hiccup, that's enough," he said. "Calm yourself."
"Hiccup, Jinbe is right, but it is not worth it," said Astrid, running up to him. "I know you want to avenge your brother, and I will want nothing more to help you, but we do have other places to be."
Jinbe nodded. "For as long as I've known him, Drago has always been a mystery. Even when he was a nobody on your father's crew. I do not know where the cretin got his powers from, but not even your invincible brother was strong enough to overcome that terrifying darkness. It is pointless for you to waste your time and energy fighting him, and it sure as hell not gonna do Ace any good. You can't save your brother if you get yourself killed."
Hiccup finally calmed down and reverted back to his human form. "You're right, both of you."
Drago gave a small chuckle as he brushed the blood off his face. "You are stronger than I expected, Dragon. You've got more Haki than last time."
"Your name is Drago Bludvist," said Viggo, looking down at him. "Then you're the nameless pirate I've heard so much about. The one that was part of Stoick's crew until you took my place as Warlord, but this is rather odd. Surely, they summoned you to Navy headquarters for the execution, so why are you here? It is clear how much you coveted the title of Warlord, so why would you risk losing it to come to this dump?"
Drago chuckled. "It's all part of my grand scheme. If you're that interested, I suppose I could lay it out for you."
"No, I'm certain I'll be able to figure it out eventually, and I would hate to ruin the surprise," said Viggo dismissively.
Drago laughed. "We certainly wouldn't want that, would we."
They then heard an explosion behind them.
"Whoa, what the hell?" Bon Clay yelled. "What's happening now?"
"Warden Magellan is here!"
"We're out of time," said Mala, looking back at Hiccup. "Hiccup Haddock, you need to get out of here! You can't take the risk of Magellan poisoning you again. You were lucky the first time around, but you won't survive another one!"
"He's going to be here at any second run!"
"Come on, guys, let's go!"
"Warden Magellan is here?" said a guard.
"We're saved," said a jailer. "We're finally saved."
"Magellan," Drago smiled. "So I finally get to meet the monster."
The prisoners immediately made their way towards the stairs as quickly as they could.
"To the stairs!"
"All the troops have cleared out. There's nothing in our way now!"
Mala was about to follow them, but Sadie swung her whip, which wrapped around her arm.
"Mala! You're not getting away from me!" she said. "I never got that scream out of you, and I don't like being kept waiting."
"Be careful what you wish for," Mala smiled.
She then began to spin like a top and headed straight towards her. Sadie had no choice but to release her to avoid getting kicked by Mala.
"Not my whip!" she yelled. "Give it back, Mala! I mean it!"
Mala merely laughed as she began to crack the whip in her hand. "Actually, why don't we try a little role reversal instead. Since you're such a manner screaming, let's hear yours. You may be a princess, but I'll show you why they call me Queen. For your first lesson in advocate, for now on, call me mistress!"
She swung the whip, and Sadie quickly jumped around to avoid getting hit. Her strikes were way more powerful than hers, which was rather concerning.
"How dare you!" she yelled.
The prisoners were making their way towards the staircase.
"Hey, Dragon, hurry up and up those stairs. Get to Level III, okay."
"He's right, we can't stay here," said Astrid.
Hiccup glared at Drago, and you would want nothing more than to take him down right here and now, but Ace was his immediate concern at that moment.
"We appreciate you scattering their defence on the staircase," said Jinbe reluctantly. "I must at least give you your due on that one."
"You helped us out too, you know," Drago acknowledged. "This would have been a hell of a lot harder without all the panic you caused."
The prisoners were now rushing towards the stairs, as nothing was in their way in their bid for freedom.
"It's clear! We've got a straight shot to Level III!"
"Freedom, here we come!"
They all cheered and began running up the stairs, but then they heard giant footsteps making their way down the stairs. Then, stepping out of the shadows, Minotauros, who had bandages wrapping his head after his battle with Hiccup, was still rather formidable.
The prisoners all screamed as he raised his bludgeon and slammed it down upon them.
"Crap, they've got another Demon Guard! It's Minotauros this time!"
"What?!" Bon Clay panicked. "M-Minotauros? I could have sworn that we already beat him to a massive amount of hamburger pancakes."
"It doesn't really matter if you did," said Viggo. "Each one of them has Awakened Zoan Type Devil Fruit powers. They were already strong, but now they are practically invulnerable."
"What?! Are you serious?" Bon Clay stared. "Those monsters ate a Devil Fruit?"
"We need to hurry this up. Who knows how much time we have before the other three recover?" said Viggo as he looked down at the unconscious Demon Guards. "Also, if you're going to piss your pants down, wasted on them because we already got the boss of hell hot on our tails."
That much was true, as Magellan was almost there and had already taken down a few stragglers with his poison.
"Warden Magellan, sir!" said a jailer running beside him, holding a transponder snail. "I've already received a report that Drago Bludvist has infiltrated this floor! And he's at the staircase at Level III as we speak."
"I put that lunatic Sal in charge of holding them back!" Magellan roared. "Was he defeated?"
"This is the monitoring room!"
"What now?" Magellan growled.
"We've got a problem, sir. We have lost the visual feed, and all of our monitors broke the vision receiver transponder snail. If that wasn't bad enough, all communication channels to Navy HQ have been cut off."
In the monitoring room, every single monitor looked as if they had been slashed to pieces by a sort, and all the guards were either dead or unconscious. Sal then started to approach them silently as he drew his sword. He then swung his sword down, taking out one of the guards.
"So we can't even contact…" the jailer stopped when he saw Sal approaching him. "W-what's going on here?"
Sal then cut him down.
"Hey, keep talking! What's happening? Do you know who is behind the blackout?"
Sal sheathed his sword and cut the connection. "Can't have you blowing my cover. I want this to be a surprise for the boss man."
Magellan was deeply troubled with the lost connection from the observation room and even more troubled that Drago was admitted all the way down to Level III, considering that he blocked all the entrances on Level II.
"We lost communication with communications!"
"Get someone up there to find out what's going on," Magellan ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
"It just keeps getting worse," Magellan growled. "The only way Drago could have made it to this floor is if he overcame the toxic blockades I placed over the exits on Level II. And that would make Level II defenceless. None of our plans are working; we were careless enough to let two rats in, and now we're up to our necks in vermin."
Sure enough, Buggy and the rest of the prisoners had finally made it to Level I, and all of them were jumping and dancing for joy.
"Make way for genius!" Buggy laughed. "We made it, guys. We fought like hell, and here we are, Level I!"
All the prisoners cheered.
"All right, it's good to finally feel the sun on our skin. Who do we have to thank?" Mr 3 asked.
"Our great and brilliant saviour, Captain Buggy!" they cheered.
"I still can't believe that poison block vanished when it did," Buggy whispered to Mr 3. "We are some lucky SOBs, you know that."
"And they think that you did it," Mr 3 smiled. "Lucky SOBs indeed."
Unfortunately, the prisoners couldn't reach Level III on the staircase, as Minotauros blocked it. He continued to slam his bludgeon at any prisoner who got anywhere close to him.
Hiccup continued to stare at Drago with immense hatred as the prisoners kept on rushing through towards the staircase.
"I'm saving Ace, I will find a way," said Hiccup.
"I'm not going to stop you, boy," said Drago. "You give it your best. Nothing is impossible in this world after all, but I've already told you that. Remember Sky Island?"
Hiccup merely walked past him without saying a word.
"Just like Sky Island, the One Piece is really out there," Drago continued.
He then laughed as he and his crew continued to make their way through Level IV.
"I can't wait for you to see what we've got in store," he said. "Trust me, you're going to be impressed. In a few hours, we're going to put on a show that is so explosive it will take the whole damn world!"
"Ignore him, Hiccup," said Jinbe. "Come on!"
"We really do need to move," said Astrid.
Hiccup was deeply concerned by what Drago had just said. He goes through all the trouble to capture Ace and become a Warlord, which is the only proper way to invade Impel Down. However, that was a problem for a later date, so he joined the others as they made their way up the stairs.
"Keep moving!" Mala ordered as she had returned from her fight with Sadie. "Head straight to Level III."
Sadly, that was easier said than done as Minotauros still refused to let anyone past him, no matter how hard they tried.
"Crap! We're dead! We can't defeat him; we're trapped on this floor!"
Minotauros had managed to push the prisoners all the way back to the bottom of the staircase, and Hiccup slowly approached him.
"The further he comes down, the more he keeps pushing us back!"
"No, we're helpless against him! What do we do?"
It was then that they noticed that Hiccup was approaching Minotauros.
"Wait, Dragon, you don't want to frighten that beast."
Minotauros roared angrily.
Hiccup, however, was not deterred and continued to approach him without a shred of fear.
"Hold on, Dragon boy, I can help," said Bon Clay, but was then stopped by Jinbe.
"Back off," he said.
Bon Clay stared at him.
"Just wait. The last thing you want to do is step on his path now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Bon Clay asked.
"It means Hiccup has a lot of anger to blow off, and I feel sorry for Minotauros," said Astrid.
"You're in my way," said Hiccup as he approached Minotauros.
Minotauros looked at him and recognised his face and was still rather furious about the beating Hiccup had given him. He raised his bludgeon without hesitation and swung it straight down at Hiccup.
Hiccup instantly took on his hybrid form and took the attack head-on.
"Dragon Boy, no!" Bon Clay cried.
However, Hiccup blocked the attack and soon transformed into his Beta Form.
"Beat Mode!" he said, throwing Minotauros' attack off him. "Dragon Champion Fist!"
Hiccup moved with blinding speed and punched Minotauros in the chest, sending him flying into the wall.
"I'm coming, Ace!" Hiccup roared.
The prisoners just stared in shock.
"Did that just happen?"
"He finished off that monster with a single punch? I heard he was tough, but this is plain crazy."
"Nice, Dragon Boy," said Bon Clay and then looked at everyone. "Okay, that's that. What is everyone just standing around for? Let's skedaddle!"
The prisoners cheered.
Magellan had found Sadie hanging from the ceiling, bound in her own whip, and wasn't too happy about it. The guards just stared at her, mesmerised as she did look rather kinky, much to her annoyance.
"Warden!" she yelled. "Can you please get me down from here?" She then glared at the guards. "Stop staring, you creeps! Help me!"
"Calm down," said Magellan. "Tell me what happened to you, Sadie."
"That damn, Mala," said Sadie through gritted teeth. "Beat me and tidied me up, just get me down. Do you know how humiliating it is to do this to a dominatrix?"
"Help her, man," said Magellan and walked off. "I don't have time to deal with this."
"Yes, sir! Right away!"
Magellan then continued to make his way across the bridge to the staircase, where he met Drago and his crew halfway.
Drago gave a small chuckle. "I'm taking a wild guess that you're Magellan," he said.
"And I'm guessing your Drago Bludvist," Magellan assumed.
"You hit the nail right on the head."
"Hydra!" Magellan roared without a moment's hesitation.
He then unleashed his poisonous dragon and struck Drago and his crew before they had any time to react. He made sure to cover every single portion of the body with his poison, and they instantly fell to the ground.
"I'm too busy trying to run this prison to even bother asking what you're doing here," said Magellan as he walked past them. Every single one of them was brought out in pain as if their bodies were on fire.
"Damn it, what is this stuff!" Drago roared. "It's got to be some kind of poison!"
Magellan finally reached the staircase when he found Hannibal flat in a bloodied mess on the ground.
"Hannibal," said Magellan as he knelt towards him. "I'm impressed with how long you held out. I'll take the rest from here."
The guards then showed up.
"Is the Vice-Warden all right, sir?"
When they got there, they were shocked to see the mess that was Hannibal.
"Oh no, he looked terrible."
"Quick gawking and help him out!" Magellan barked.
"Yes, sir!"
Magellan got back up and proceeded to the staircase.
"Vice-Warden, just hang in there, okay! Can you hear me, sir?"
'You can't die, Hannibal,' said Magellan. 'You're the only one who can possibly take my place.'
He soon reached the staircase when he found several unconscious guards and Minotauros flat on the ground. He was still rather perplexed that Hiccup managed to survive his poison.
'Dragon, how the hell could you have possibly survived after I poisoned you?' Magellan growled. 'There is no doubt that he is the one that caused all this mayhem, him and the War Maiden. The next chance I get, nothing will stop me from taking their lives.'
"Dragon!" he roared.
He yelled so loudly that everyone climbing the staircase could hear him and practically shook the foundations.
"You hear that? Magellan is coming."
"That came from the foot of the stairs; we'll all be dead if he catches up to us!"
"It's him," said Hiccup as he looked behind him.
Everyone was more desperate to reach the top of the stairs now.
"Our promise you this Dragon!" Magellan yelled. "You will never escape this prison."
He then unleashed his poison and centred straight up the stairs and then used it to swim upwards.