Chapter 148: Decisive Battle! The Last Hope! (Requesting monthly tickets)
"Cough..."
In the air, the Red Earl coughed up a mouthful of purple poisonous liquid.
Magellan, an opponent on par with an admiral, took advantage of the confined space. His Poison Giant Soldier, combined with a cloud of venom, quickly filled the Burning Hell with poison.
Seizing this opportunity, Shiryu escaped.
Magellan, fighting two against one, still managed to heavily injure the Red Earl.
Three antidote needles were stuck in the Red Earl's neck. Old and debilitated, he was already a spent force.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Feeling the antidote in his body battling the internal poison, the Red Earl sighed, "If only there was a way to make people young again in this world."
Ren Arakawa's memory flickered.
The aging Red Earl, in order to restore his peak strength, had sought the Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Vampire Model—a Devil Fruit that could absorb the lifespans of others—to restore his youthful physique.
Isn't this the plot of a movie?!
However, this Devil Fruit wasn't among Ren Arakawa's targets, so they weren't competitors.
"If it were me in my younger days, this poison-user..."
"Enough, say no more." Ren Arakawa flapped his wings. Right before him was the grand gate of Impel Down.
Ren Arakawa had spent a full seven years before seeing this gate again.
Finally, finally, it was time...
"ROAR!"
Behind him, a spine-chilling sound echoed.
"Stay right where you are!!!"
In the dimly lit corridor, a colossal and terrifying figure was rapidly closing in on Ren Arakawa.
It was the terrifying giant formed from Magellan's poisonous liquid!
It stood dozens of meters tall. As its massive body moved at high speed, the ground actually trembled slightly.
Its red skeletal face seemed like a fiend that had crawled out of the abyss of hell. Eerie ghostly light flickered in its empty eye sockets, and from its gaping maw, foul-smelling red poisonous liquid continuously dripped. Each drop that fell to the ground instantly corroded a deep pit, emitting a pungent, thick smoke.
The Poison Giant's speed was extremely fast, catching up to the flying Ren Arakawa in the blink of an eye.
Ren Arakawa sensed the danger behind him and quickly ducked, trying to evade the giant's attack, but a significant amount of the poisonous liquid, splashing like a rainstorm, still landed on his body.
Ren Arakawa felt a searing pain on his skin. The poisonous liquid seemed to have a life of its own, rapidly spreading across his flesh, attempting to corrode his body.
At this moment, the Impel Down gate before him, representing hope, was within reach. Ren Arakawa's eyes flashed with resolute light. He gritted his teeth and, disregarding everything, flew towards the gate. There was only one belief in his heart:
Charge out!
However, Magellan seemed to have anticipated his intention. Just as Ren Arakawa was about to reach the entrance, a massive ball of poisonous liquid, like a cannonball, shot out from the giant's hand, flying directly towards the gate!
The moment the poisonous liquid touched the gate, it rapidly spread, completely covering the entire gate, as if a nauseatingly viscous slime had completely sealed a dry window screen!
Ren Arakawa's escape route, like that of a mosquito, was completely cut off.
"Don't even think about escaping! Stay in Infinite Hell!"
At the gate, Ivankov and Lightning, who were waiting to greet Ren Arakawa, were stunned.
Ivankov cried out in alarm, "You scheming brat! Hang in there! Hang in there!"
But her voice could barely penetrate the viscous poisonous liquid. Ren Arakawa only heard fragmented words.
Lightning tried to use her abilities to cut through the thick Impel Down gate.
However, cutting through this several-meter-thick gate would require a lot of time and effort.
In her anxiety, Lightning accidentally got some poisonous liquid on herself.
She grunted, pulled an antidote from her waist, and injected herself, which kept her from collapsing.
Ren Arakawa looked at the gate sealed by the poisonous liquid, a surge of despair rising in his heart.
But soon, this despair was replaced by the burning rage in his eyes.
It was already the final moment. He only needed to hold on a little longer, only needed to endure this one last time, and then he would see... the endless ocean! The azure sky! Infinite possibilities!
I cannot fall here!
A glint of resolve flashed in Ren Arakawa's eyes. The Earth Grudge Fear masks on his body instantly stirred!
These two masks rapidly drilled out of Ren Arakawa's body, transforming into two bizarre, linear creatures woven from black threads!
These two creatures were robust in form and charged directly toward the gate, which was completely covered in poisonous liquid.
As soon as they arrived, they quickly unleashed Wind Release and Water Release techniques.
The blue, wind-elemental mask-creature took a deep breath, then violently exhaled a strong gale that howled toward the thick layer of poisonous liquid, attempting to blow it away. The other, green-colored mask-creature continuously sprayed a torrent of water from its mouth, striking the poisonous liquid in an attempt to dilute and wash it away.
However, Magellan's red poisonous liquid was far too viscous, like a powerful adhesive, clinging firmly to the massive gate.
Although the two creatures tried their best, they only managed to carve out a small hole in the poisonous liquid. Before they could expand on their success, a continuous stream of viscous poison poured down from above, threatening to cover the hard-won opening once again.
Seeing this, Ren Arakawa's heart burned with anxiety!
He looked at the Red Earl, who was already at his last gasp in his arms, and an idea suddenly flashed in his mind.
Without a second thought, he tightly grabbed the heavily injured Red Earl and, using all his strength, fiercely flung him toward the newly formed hole!
The Red Earl's body shot through the hole like an arrow released from a bow. However, the space around the opening was extremely narrow, and his body inevitably scraped against the poisonous liquid at the edges.
The foul-smelling red poisonous liquid clung tightly to the Red Earl's clothes and skin like viscous glue. His cloak was instantly soaked with poison; its once splendid black fabric became stained and patchy.
The Red Earl's face was not spared either. A few strands of his hair, soaked with poisonous liquid, stuck to his cheeks, and his skin was dotted with venomous traces. His hands, stained with poison from his desperate struggles, trembled slightly, as if enduring immense pain.
Despite this, the Red Earl, relying on his stubborn will and formidable strength, endured the burning sensation brought by the poisonous liquid and forced his way out of the venom-filled hole.
His figure, looking somewhat disheveled, appeared outside Impel Down, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Ivankov, Lightning, and the others quickly rushed over.
Ivankov, without hesitation, pulled an antidote from her clothes, then quickly knelt down and injected it into the Red Earl's body.
As the antidote was slowly administered, the Red Earl's face, originally pale from the poison, gradually regained a hint of color, looking slightly better.
At this moment, the Red Earl, always known for his calm and profound demeanor, felt his eyes redden slightly.
This reaction was truly surprising. After all, he had possessed the ability to read people's minds since childhood and had long seen through the darkness and ugliness of this world. His heart was as hard as steel.
But at this moment, he was deeply moved by Ren Arakawa's righteous act.
Listening to the sounds of fighting from within the gate, the Red Earl rushed toward the sea and jumped in.
Lightning was bewildered. "He... he just ran away like that?"
Ivankov frowned. "No, I don't think so..."
As soon as they spoke, a figure leaped out of the sea once again.
The Red Earl had stripped off nearly all his clothes, and the poisonous liquid on his body was washed away by the seawater.
Ivankov, Lightning, and the Red Earl exchanged glances.
At this moment, the jailbreak plan had become the Ren Arakawa rescue mission.
At the gate, the two Earth Grudge Fear mask-creatures, covered in poisonous liquid and on the verge of being dissolved, drilled back into Ren Arakawa's body.
Ren Arakawa clutched the last antidote on his body, desperately dodging Magellan's poisonous liquid attacks.
"Absolutely no mercy! Absolutely no mercy!"
Magellan's current mental state could only be described as frenzied.
So many years of painstaking management, only for it to end like this.
By his estimation, this jailbreak riot had allowed at least one-fifth of Impel Down's prisoners to escape.
And most of them were from Infinite Hell and the Freezing Hell—notorious pirates with bounties exceeding 100 million!
"Unforgivable!" Magellan's Poison Giant Soldier threw a punch at Ren Arakawa. After he barely dodged, his body was once again stained with poisonous liquid.
Magellan's poison would greatly weaken a victim's five senses and paralyze their mind. Even with his Cursed Seal, Ghoul power, and second-stage gene lock active, Ren Arakawa's movements gradually slowed.
"Your sins are monstrous!" Magellan roared, attacking with both his fists and his words. "Do you know how much suffering you'll cause by doing this?!"
"Heh, heh, hahahahahahaha!"
Ren Arakawa suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter, leaving Magellan stunned.
"Guilt-tripping me with morality?" His three-tomoe Sharingan gazed at Magellan. "That means you know I was wrongly imprisoned and that my true nature isn't that of a pirate, right?"
Magellan smashed his fist down, shouting, "Your sins are unforgivable!"
"Not denying it is the same as admitting it. I get it, I get it!"
Ren Arakawa dodged while looking into the abyss of Impel Down. "It's a shame I didn't see the pirates who tied me to the ship. Otherwise, I would have definitely gotten to the bottom of what they did to get a simple laborer like me thrown into Impel Down to suffer such torment!"
"Insolence! Suffer your punishment!"
Magellan's eyes were bloodshot, his face a mask of rage and madness. He violently spread his arms, and the poisonous liquid on his body surged like boiling magma, rapidly converging before him to form a giant Poison Cheetah!
Magellan roared, and the Poison Cheetah pounced toward Ren Arakawa like an arrow leaving a bow. Its speed was incredible, kicking up a black poisonous mist. Wherever it passed, the ground was corroded into deep grooves!
Ren Arakawa's gaze turned cold. He stomped his feet violently, and his body shot to the right like a black flash of lightning.
The Poison Cheetah missed its target, slamming heavily into the wall behind Ren Arakawa and instantly corroding a huge pit into the solid stone. Debris flew everywhere!
"You, a criminal, cannot escape judgment!"
Ren Arakawa flapped his wings, hanging from the ceiling, and continued, "Sin? What sin have I committed? It's like you're asking a person tied to a railroad track to choose: die yourself, or let the person on the other track die?"
"Hahahahaha!"
Madness flashed in his eyes. A feather was infused with Armament Haki, and at the same time, it was also covered in a lightning-attribute Chakra cloak!
He unleashed the hypnotic power of his three-tomoe Sharingan on Magellan!
Ren Arakawa gritted his teeth, his voice echoing within the hellish confines of Impel Down.
"I won't choose either track!"
"I choose... for the people on the train to die!!!"
With that, he threw the feather!
"Lightning Feather: Armament Reinforcement!"
"Incorrigible! Poison Giant Soldier: Death Sentence!"
(end of chapter)