Rewinding to the day before, Luffy formally issued the rescue commission to Charles.
Without mercy, Charles pried open teary-eyed Nami's fingers, snatched the money chest, and set off.
Impel Down's location isn't a secret. Shakky even had an Eternal Pose pointing there.
This time Charles didn't even bring Stella and flew straight over Impel Down on Zhongming.
Impel Down is a seven-tier tower, six of which lie below the sea and form the main prison.
The single surface level houses the Marine garrison and various systems.
From high above, the buildings on the surface look like a fortress, Marine warships moored all around it.
Who built Impel Down is an unsolved mystery. Most likely it's a legacy of the Great Kingdom eight hundred years ago, later seized by the World Government and used as a prison.
It's not that Charles looks down on the World Government, but they simply don't have the engineering chops to build an architectural wonder like this.
It's not that the World Government lacks overall capability, but the technologies they prize are all weapon-related.
Vegapunk invented so much black tech on Egghead that any single item could change this world's level of civilization. In the end, all they fielded were the Pacifista, the Seraphim, and the enigmatic Mother Flame.
Building something like this just to hold criminals is clearly unlikely.
But Impel Down is indeed ideal as a prison. It has held countless pirates who once rampaged across the seas. On record, only that madman Golden Lion ever escaped, and no one has ever invaded from outside.
Charles certainly had the confidence to assault it head-on, but fighting from the surface entrance all the way down to Level 6, Eternal Hell, then breaking Ace out and fighting back up would be a hassle.
Worse, unexpected incidents were likely. Who knew what mechanisms Impel Down had that never appeared in the original story.
So this time Charles would do a perfect infiltration—definitely not the kind where you kill everyone who sees you.
To infiltrate, you have to come in from where the enemy least expects.
So Charles spread his arms on Zhongming's back and took a leap of faith, diving straight into the sea.
That's right—Impel Down has more than one entrance besides the front gate.
Even with the Gates of Justice generating currents from Enies Lobby or Marineford to Impel Down, sailing the Calm Belt was extremely dangerous before Vegapunk invented Seastone-lined ships.
So Impel Down couldn't rely entirely on external supplies. It has always hunted sea beasts, even Sea Kings, for food.
There is a passage in the open sea that the hunting guards use to come and go.
On the one hand, that passage is tightly controlled and can only be opened by internal mechanisms.
On the other, its entrance is underwater, with large numbers of Sea Kings lingering nearby.
Aside from a special Impel Down species called Blugori, pretty much no one can move freely here.
Charles put on a metal mask—a magic tool that filtered oxygen from water like gills.
The low temperature, high pressure, and darkness of seawater didn't affect him. He shot into the depths like a fish.
Like a shark, he caught the trace of blood still present after filtration and gave chase.
Ignoring a Sea King's feeding scene, Charles finally found his targets.
They were blue from top to bottom, lighter above and darker below, with shaggy lower halves and bald upper bodies and heads, their faces bearing only a skull.
These were Blugori, Impel Down's prison enforcers, known as the ocean's brawlers.
They looked a bit goofy, but each hefted a massive bardiche and ferociously butchered the surrounding sea beasts.
Though only the size of an ordinary brown bear, the Blugori could cut down sea beasts over ten meters, even dozens of meters, long.
After a bout of fighting, they carried off their spoils. They even left some scraps behind to lure new prey for next time. Clearly, they weren't mindless animals.
Charles doubled his caution and quietly tailed the Blugori. Spotting the layered carapace of a carcass one of them carried, he had a flash of inspiration, slipped in close, and wedged himself into the cracks of the plates.
The Blugori didn't notice the extra weight in its hands and carried Charles through Impel Down's underwater entrance.
Everything went smoothly. Once out of the water and after moving a short distance, Charles sensed only three auras outside.
A butcher in charge of processing blinked as if something flashed before his eyes, then saw nothing. While he told himself he'd imagined it, Charles was already gone.
Thus the first phase of the perfect infiltration was completed.
Leaving the kitchen and entering a corridor, Charles hadn't gone far before he spotted a special creature clinging to the ceiling.
It was a special Den Den Mushi that transmits whatever it sees elsewhere, used as visual equipment on the high seas.
In a prison, surveillance is a must. Impel Down has a large number of surveillance snails installed to ensure nothing slips by.
That surveillance snail seemed to notice Charles and was about to turn its gaze.
"Mana Field: Dragon's Nest!"
The dragon's majesty crashed down on the snail with a single message: don't be stupid!
Unlike machines, surveillance snails are living beings. Even if their intelligence is low, they have basic survival instinct.
So it tactfully turned to look elsewhere, leaving a very obvious blind spot for Charles.
Satisfied, Charles strolled through the corridor into the central area.
He had felt the heat since entering Impel Down. The magma and blood pools ahead only confirmed his guess.
This was Level 4, Blazing Hell—which meant he was very close to his goal.
It was also where Chief Warden Magellan's office was. He was probably battling diarrhea in the bathroom and not worth worrying about for the moment.
There are two passages from Blazing Hell to the next level, Freezing Hell: an employee elevator that leads straight to Level 6, Eternal Hell, and another unmanned route.
No one here would let Charles hitch a ride, so he could only take the unguarded route.
Fortunately, Impel Down's layout isn't complicated. He soon found the passage. With the "cooperation" of the surveillance snail, Charles reached Level 5, Freezing Hell.
As the name suggests, it's a frigid ice field, so cold even Den Den Mushi can't survive—hence no surveillance.
He could even see many cells around him holding nothing but frozen, stiff corpses. The place truly deserved the name "hell."
He hadn't found the entrance to Level 6 yet, but he first spotted a group in bizarre outfits fighting the ferocious native beasts—the Army Wolves.
They were clearly men, yet wore women's camisoles and tights; some even wore skirts and fishnets. If Charles was right, these were underlings of Emporio Ivankov, the Okama King.
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