The sudden appearance of Magellan instantly led to the worst possible situation and placed upon Mala and Throk.
"I barely managed to survive the poison; I don't think those two are going to be as lucky as me," said Hiccup.
"We need to move and fast," said Astrid.
Jinbe then noticed several guards above them were talking for a transponder snail.
"Yes, sir. Are you sure? I understand, but that's really what you want?"
"Yes," said Magellan, who was talking to them through his own transponder snail. "Set up everything just as I explained and do it as quickly as possible."
"Yes, sir!" said the jailer, immediately turning to his men. "All right, we've got our orders from Warden Magellan. Get backup security. We're going to need the help!"
"Sir!"
They then moved out, and Jinbe realised what they were planning.
"Damnit, so that's what he's got up his sleeve," said Jinbe.
"Something wrong?" Bon Clay asked.
"We need to get to the upper level now!" said Jinbe.
"But what about Magellan?" Hiccup asked. "I very much doubt he's going to let us run off, and we all know just how deadly he is."
"I know," Jinbe nodded. "Things are looking good for us, but we're paying too much attention to Magellan as it is."
"You mean that the something worse up ahead?" Astrid frowned.
"Possibly only hope that I'm wrong, but it is a logical move," said Jinbe.
Outside, every single Navy ship had received new orders.
"Don't worry, I've got it," said a Navy officer. "We'll put the plan into motion right now."
He then cut off his transponder snail and turned to his men.
"All right, men! On the ready, get to the all position!"
"Yes, sir!"
The men then began to scramble.
Some of the prisoners were now aiming their rifles at Magellan, though they had very little effect.
"If you got a gun, keep firing and put some bullets into Magellan!"
"Shoot him!"
They began firing everything they had at Magellan, but none of their attacks were effective.
"We need to start running," said Bon Clay. "It's pointless. Those guns aren't even going to slow him down."
They then noticed that the hydra heads began to move.
"Uh-oh, here it comes!"
"We need to go now!" Jinbe yelled.
They then began to make a run for it.
"Hydra!" Magellan roared.
His hydra head then headed straight towards them.
"Heads up, you guys!"
Everyone began to run, but the Hydra was practically on top of them, and it looked certain they were done. However, a wall of wax suddenly erupted out of nowhere and blocked the attack, causing the Hydra to shatter upon impact.
It didn't take long to figure out where the wax wall came from, as everyone was now looking at Mr. 3.
"Candle Wall!" he said.
"That was unexpected," said Hiccup.
All the prisoners immediately cheered.
"He stopped Magellan's hydra right in its tracks!"
"Don't get the wrong idea, Dragon," said Mr 3, without looking at him. "I may have saved your life, but that doesn't mean I want to be friends or any of that mess. Honestly, I'm just sick of owing you a damn favour, that's all."
"I like you even more now, Brother 3!"
"Devil Fruit powers, huh?" said Magellan looking annoyed. "Is that wax?"
"Yep, precisely," said Mr 3 proudly. "I ate the Wax-Wax Fruit and gained these handy powers. This wall might as well be made of iron. I can promise you this; your venom is not getting through it."
Viggo smiled. "That whimpering fool actually proved to be useful. It just goes to show that every power has a use somewhere or another."
"Go!" Mr 3 yelled. "Get out of here, damnit. I don't plan on keeping this up forever."
"Meddlesome twit," Magellan growled.
He then launched his Hydra around the side of the wax wall, only for another wall of wax to be blocked as well.
"Why are you standing around for?" Mr 3 baked, noticing that no one had left. "This won't hold much longer!"
"All right, I'll leave the charge out of here," Buggy smiled as he turned to the other prisoners. "You heard him, let's go!"
The prisoners cheered as they followed Buggy to the staircase that led to the entrance.
"The power of yours is indeed handy," said Hiccup, looking at Mr 3.
"Outside the Burning Hell at least; now go, and I'll be right behind you!" Mr 3 ordered. "Get a head start. Clear out the path for us."
"This is our perfect chance to make a getaway," said Astrid.
"We've already wasted too much time as is," said Jinbe.
"You two go on ahead. I'm going to stay here," said Hiccup.
Astrid stared at him, bewildered. "Are you crazy?"
"Hear me out; the only way this is going to work is if we still have a Navy vessel, and we have a better shot of acquiring one if I help hold Magellan back," said Hiccup.
"That may be true, but…" said Jinbe.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," said Hiccup.
"And you're confident in it?" Jinbe asked.
"Leave it to me."
"Hiccup has never let me down before, I doubt he's gonna start now," said Astrid.
"Very well be trying to stay alive," said Jinbe as he went after the others.
Hiccup then walked up to Mr 3. "Let's get this fight going, Mr 3."
Mr 3 looked at him, alarmed. "No! Hell no! I don't want to fight that monster! I was only trying to buy some time so we could run away!"
Things got even more complicated when some prisoners ran up with cannons.
"Brother 3, we are the stronger way here to help you!"
"You guys have got the wrong idea; that's not what I want!" Mr 3 yelled.
Hiccup pulled him alongside. "Look, getting our hands on a Navy vessel is not going to be easy. Have you forgotten how many Marines are out there on each ship? We need to buy time for everyone to get onto one, and things will go a lot easier if Magellan is not on our heels."
"That's… that's actually a good point," Mr 3 conceded.
"Good, because I need you to do something for me," said Hiccup.
The hydra heads then regenerated and got ready to launch another attack.
"Get ready! Here it comes!"
Hiccup had just finished explaining what he wanted Mr 3 to do.
"Can you do it?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, yes, I suppose it's possible," said Mr 3.
"Good, because I'm counting on you," said Hiccup.
"Oh, no pressure or anything," said Mr 3 sarcastically. "Wax-Wax: Candle Armour!"
Hiccup instantly transformed into his hybrid form, and Mr 3's wax began to coat his arms, legs, and tail. It did look as if he was wearing armour, and it had the added bonus of being light, meaning he could still fly.
"This should even the odds now," Hiccup smiled.
"I almost hate to admit it, but I can't help but admire your tenacity, Dragon," said Magellan reluctantly.
"Before we get started, how will you tell me what you did to Mala?" Hiccup asked.
"I executed her, of course," he said cold-heartedly. He then took note of Hiccup's enraged expression. "But do not worry, you can join her soon enough in the afterlife."
He then clenched his fist and covered it in poison.
"Here it comes," said Mr 3.
"Hydra!" Magellan yelled.
He then swung his fist, which took the form of a hydra and flew straight towards them.
"Mr 3!" Hiccup yelled.
"Right, I'm on it!" said Mr 3 as he jumped in front. "Candle Wall!"
He then created another wall of wax blocking the attack.
"Keep trying, but you're not getting through!" he yelled.
Hiccup then took into the air and flew directly at Magellan, who created more hydras to attack him with. However, Hiccup nimbly dodged each one of his attacks and then raised his fist.
"Armoured Dragon Fist!" he yelled.
Magellan quickly raised his arms to block the attack, which did make contact, and it was clear that he was struggling to withstand it.
"It worked. I can touch him," said Hiccup, quickly putting some distance between them.
The prisoners had now settled the cannons, and Mr 3 had provided them with shields.
"All the cannons are loaded and good to go!"
"And we got candle shields!"
They then fired at Magellan, who braced himself.
"Take that! We've got the bastard!"
"We can do this!"
Hiccup, however, knew that he would take more than that to take down Magellan and quickly readied himself for another bout.
Meanwhile, the remaining guards on Level I quickly set up a barricade against the prisoners as they rushed up the stairs that led to the entrance.
"Listen up, we've got a whole these guys back and buy some time!"
All the guards were nervous when they heard the prisoners approaching them, and Buggy was leading them.
"Here they come! Open fire!"
They quickly fired their rifles at the prisoners, but they didn't seem to care.
"So what if they've got guns," said Buggy. "Keep running a break on through!"
The prisoners easily managed to overpower the guards and kept on going towards the entrance.
"We're getting close, everyone! Don't slow down on me now!"
"One final push!"
"Freedom, here I come!"
Meanwhile, Magellan was walking through the smoke, looking completely unfazed by the attack that had landed upon him.
"What?! None of it worked?"
"Magellan won't go down easily; give it everything we've got!"
They quickly fired another volley at Magellan, who had one of his hydras eat the cannonballs.
"What the?!"
Magellan looked upon them furiously, which sent shivers down the spines. Hiccup was the only one not to show an ounce of fear as he raised his fists.
Meanwhile, the rest of the prisoners were close to the entrance and faced little opposition.
"We've beaten all the top guys, which means we can finally relax a bit," said Bon Clay.
"You're letting your guard down," Ryker scoffed. "Don't act like such an amateur."
"What?!" Bon Clay glared.
"Going by my last count, there are at least 10 Navy ships waiting out there, and each one has 800 Marines on board. I do not know the configuration, but stealing one Navy ship means we're still going to have content with the rest of the fleet. Does that sound relaxing to you?"
"Uh, yeah, you've got a point there," Bon Clay admitted.
"And that's not the only problem we've got," said Jinbe, joining up with them.
Buggy had finally led the rest of the prisoners to the main entrance.
"There are no more guards to get in our way; all that is left now is the front door," said Buggy.
The prisoners looked at the main entrance with their eyes filled with tears.
"We finally made it."
"Didn't think I'd see it again, but there's the entrance to Impel Down. I'm sure every last one of us here remembers the day we passed through the gates of hell."
"How many years has it been?"
"Are we here? Is this really happening? I'm having trouble believing any of this is real."
"And I think I almost passed up breaking out of this joint," said Viggo.
"The World Government is going to have a fit with this many prisoners escaping at once," said Astrid.
"All right, ready weapons, everyone," said Buggy. "It's time to open this door!"
The most powerful-looking prisoners then place their hands against the door.
"Get ready… and push!"
All the prisoners then pushed as hard as they could against the door.
"I finally get to go home."
"Shut up," said Buggy. "We're not done yet, so don't jinx it. There's one last joint hurdle waiting for us out there. A whole Navy fleet, so we've got a ways to go."
Jinbe had just finished explaining the major hurdle they still had to jump over to Ryker and Bon Clay.
"I suppose I see your point," Ryker conceded. "Though this is going to be more challenging than I thought."
"Yeah, but it's not like we should give up just after coming this far," said Jinbe. "We might as well push as hard as we can."
Bon Clay just stood there contemplating.
The rest of the prisoners were slowly opening the doors, and they could see sunlight shining through them.
"It's sunlight!"
"I can taste the freedom!"
"Get ready for the fight of your lives," said Buggy. "I don't care how many thousands of Marines are waiting for us; we're going to push right through and head towards the sea."
The prisoners cheered.
Eventually, the doors were wide open.
"It's now or never!" Buggy yelled. "Let's go boys!"
The prisoners cheered as they raised their weapons.
"Follow me to freedom!" Buggy yelled, leading the charge.
The prisoners followed him enthusiastically, but they then suddenly came to a stop. The moment they got outside, they saw that there was no trace of any Navy vessel.
"What the hell?" Buggy stared as he looked around wildly for any trace of a ship. "Is there some kind of sick joke? There's not a single Navy ship insight."
"But weren't we going to steal one of their ships to get away?"
"There's no guards, not even one Marine."
"But this means… we're just trapped as we always were!"
Many of the prisoners dropped their weapons and fell to their knees in despair as any hope of freedom they had dreamed of floated away like a flock of birds.
"It's not fair. What do we do?"
"The only option left is just waiting and hope Magellan tells us mercifully and quickly."
"Damnit! This can't be happening!"
"They got us," said Viggo, folding his arms. "Gotta give them credit for not being as stupid as I thought they were."
"So this is what Magellan planned," said Astrid. "Gotta give him credit; that was a cunning move on his part."
Viggo nodded. "The water around here is filled with giant Sea kings. As the saying goes, the Calm Belt is the greatest barrier protecting Impel Down."
"We call all the way up out of the depths of hell with our very fingernails just for this."
"Damnit, now we're going to get dragged back into the flames and be tortured."
"We don't have time to sit here moping," said Jinbe as he arrived.
Everyone immediately turned their eyes on him.
"Yes, the Navy is gone, but they only played out because Magellan told them to, and they're not far. Look, and you can see the shadows of their sails in the fog."
He then pointed to the sea, and everyone looked towards the horizon and saw the shadows of Navy ships in the mist.
"He's right! But there's still too far off. There's no way we got the chance to catch them."
"We're dead. Just accept it's too late."
"It's never too late!" Jinbe barked.
Everyone then turned back towards him and could see the determined look in his eyes.
"You got me here, right?" he said. "So stand back and let me handle this."
He turned back towards the entrance and approached one of the doors. Everyone quickly got out of his way as he grasped the door and pulled it off its hinges.
"Holy crap!"
"How fricking strong is he?"
Jinbe returned to the water while carrying the door with his hands outstretched.
"He's carrying that door like it's a bag of feathers!" Buggy stared.
"So that's your plan," said Astrid, realising what you planned to do.
"I can't carry many, but they should do," said Jinbe. "We can use it to sail out to one of those ships. If you want to keep moving, hop on."
He then jumped into the water, and everyone soon realised what he planned.
"You really think we can sail out there on a door?"
Without hesitation, Astrid, Viggo, and Ryker hop on the door.
"Viggo?"
"The War Maiden, too?"
"What, just the three of you?" said Jinbe, sounding disappointed. "Fine."
"Hang on," said Buggy. "Don't pretend like you forgot about the hero here, you big blue turd. I'm sure you guys will need me, so I'm coming too."
The prisoners smiled broadly at Buggy.
"You've got some guts, huh?"
"That's our Captain Buggy for ya."
One of the prisoners then handed Buggy a baby transponder snail. "Take this baby transponder snail I found, just in case you needed it."
"Right," said Buggy, taking it.
"Come on, can't we leave him?" Viggo asked.
"It's not like he's going to be useful," said Astrid.
Buggy then jumped on the door. "Now, let's do this."
"You ready?" said Jinbe. "Then here we go!"
Jinbe then began to swim at an extraordinary speed straight towards the Navy ships.
"Yeah! He's wearing like a shark with that thing on his back."
"Now that the true captain of the Fishman Pirates!"
"Oh man, this is going to be crazy. I can't wait to see how the Warlords get to fight."
"Plus, Dragon's right-hand woman, the deadly yet beautiful War Maiden!"
"Not to mention our saviour, Captain Buggy, right beside him."
"I can't help but feel a little hopeful here."
Buggy smiled broadly, but when you look back at the prisoners, you see that he was filled with glee.
'How stupid are they?' he said. 'It's a hell of a lot safer to stick with a Warlord than stay behind to face off against Magellan on your own. Idiots.'
However, his gleeful expression was interrupted when a cannonball shot right past them.
"Ah, they're shooting!" Buggy cried.
Jinbe quickly swirled out of the way.
"Seems like they've spotted us," said Viggo.
"And figured out what we plan to do," Astrid added.
"He dodged it! He's too fast!" said the Marine.
"That's not just a Fishman; that's the First Son of the Sea Jinbe."
"All forces opened fire!"
"As long as we can sink Jinbe, the rest of them finished."
They then began to aim the cannons directly at them.
"Here they are," said Jinbe. "An entire fleet of ships."
The Marines fired upon them, forcing Jinbe to swirl around the water to dodge the cannonballs.
"I'm going to launch you guys onto the deck," Jinbe informed them. "So hold on tight now."
"Huh?" Buggy stared. "Wait, you're what? You might want to run that plan past us one more time, Fishface."
However, Jinbe had already died beneath the water's surface, leaving them floating in pure view of the Navy vessels.
"What the?!" Buggy panicked. "That bastard's gone! What the hell is going on?"
Cannibals were now being fired and missed them by just a few metres.
"I see; he left us here as bait and swam off on his own," said Buggy, horrified. He then began to run around, yelling at the top of his voice. "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!"
"Why the hell did you come with us?" Ryker asked, rolling his eyes.
Jinbe had not abandoned them. In fact, he was swimming as deep as he could just below them. Once he was deep enough, he turned to face the door.
Buggy was still crying his eyes out. "Jinbe! How could you leave us like this? We're sitting ducks out here. They're going to blast us."
"It might help if you stop screaming," said Viggo.
"Just get ready for a rough ride," said Astrid as she braced herself.
Buggy frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"
Jinbe was now extending his wet hands. "Fishman Ju-Jitsu: Water Heart!"
He then grasped a chunk of water, folded it into a sphere and used it to propel himself back up towards the surface.
The Marines had finally got their range right and fired cannonballs directly at them, and this time, it didn't appear they were going to miss.
"It's coming straight towards us!" Buggy cried.
"Ocean Current Shoulder Throw!" Jinbe yelled, thrusting the water upwards.
The water then created a spiral column directly beneath the door, lifting everyone up into the air and straight towards the nearest Navy vessel, dodging cannonballs.
"We're flying!" Buggy yelled as he cleaned the door for dear life.
The Marines were shocked by the water but suddenly shot into the sky.
"What's with that water column? It's moving like it's alive."
"You have any idea what's causing this?" a Marine asked a Navy officer.
"Not the foggiest, but I can see people on the tip, and one of them is Viggo," he said.
Astrid, Viggo and Ryker jumped off the door while Buggy was flung off it, and they landed on the Navy ship.
"They're going to try and hijack the ship! Stop them! Attacked them with everything you've got!"
"They've got Devil Fruit powers; just throw them in the water!"
However, the glares coming from both Viggo and Ryker were enough to shake the Marines in their boots. The two of them, along with Astrid, then jumped down onto the deck.
Hiccup, meanwhile, was fending off Magellan and charging at him at full speed.
"Did you learn the first time?" Magellan growled. "It's a lesson you only get once!"
He fired poison bubbles directly at Hiccup but quickly countered with his plasma blasts, destroying them before they made contact. He then flew right through the smoke and continued his way over towards him.
"I learned plenty," said Hiccup. He opened his mouth and began charging a powerful plasma blast. "Plasma Cannon!"
Magellan braced himself as Hiccup fired an attack that was more powerful than his plasma blasts, and he was pushed right back.
"So be it," said Magellan. "If you are so insistent on defying me. Then suffer ignorance and find your lesson in death!"
He then unleashed his hydras, and Hiccup flew at him once more.