Chapter 387: The Clown's Fury and Red Hair's Obsession!
Impel Down · Level 1
Just before Saint Somaz kicked down the door, and just before Sengoku announced the execution from his high platform—
The heavy, cold iron bars stood rigid. The gloomy corridor echoed with the sound of dripping water.
Shanks, who had used Celestial Dragon privileges to enter Impel Down, stood alone outside the cell bars, his face dark and somber.
Inside the cell, a figure leaned casually against the wall. He had long blue hair tied into a ponytail, and a conspicuous red ball hung from his nose.
This was the former member of the Roger Pirates, captured after stumbling into a secret Marine base while searching for the legendary "Captain John's Treasure"—
"Buggy the Clown!"
Because he had hidden his Devil Fruit ability, and his combat power had been assessed as absurdly low, he was imprisoned in the shallowest tier of Impel Down, Level 1. But given his abilities, if he truly wanted to leave right now, these iron bars wouldn't be able to hold him for a second.
Shanks took a deep breath, his voice low but laced with urgency. "Buggy, if you don't make a decision soon... Rayleigh-san is going to die."
As his words fell, Buggy threw his head back and burst into laughter. It was a shrill, piercing sound, dripping with absolute madness.
He walked step by step up to the iron bars, his hands gripping the Seastone fiercely as bloodshot veins surfaced in his eyes. "SHANKS!!! I told you a long time ago—don't follow in Captain Roger's footsteps!!!"
"Ever since the old days, I've never understood it—why you, and the rest of those idiots on the ship, had absolutely zero interest in gold and silver!!!"
His voice broke into a roar, growing increasingly frantic. "The so-called 'Treasures' are wealth!! It's gold and jewels!! That is the true essence of a 'Pirate'!!"
"But you people—" Buggy violently hammered the iron bars, sending sparks flying.
"Every single one of you only knows how to talk about 'Fate' and 'Balance'!! Letting yourselves be led by the nose by things that are completely useless!"
"The Captain was like that!! Rayleigh-san is like that!! Gaban-san too!! And the rest of them..."
Buggy's eyes were blood-red, his teeth grinding together so hard they creaked. "Even you... you're the exact same!!!"
"Every single one of you has been driven insane by this so-called 'Mission'!!!"
"You just let the world use you as chess pieces, placing you exactly where you're 'supposed' to be!!!"
Outside the cell, Shanks shuddered. His right arm trembled uncontrollably, and his face turned as dark as iron.
Yet, his eyes burned with a nearly fanatical fire. "Buggy... you don't understand..."
"The 'future' that Captain Roger saw—"
Shanks' voice was low, yet it carried an immovable weight. "That is a path that must be paved with blood!!!"
"BULLSHIT!!!"
Buggy spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the floor, roaring savagely. "Captain Roger was driven to his death by that damn 'future'!!!"
"And now you want to repeat the same mistake?! You're going to drag Rayleigh-san down with you?!!"
He was trembling violently, his emotions nearly out of control. He lunged at the bars, reaching through to grab Shanks tightly by the collar, screaming until his throat tore:
"YOU ARE ALL WRONG!!!"
Shanks' eyes turned freezing cold. He slammed his fist into the iron bars with a deafening crash.
He roared back, "That is why I need your power!!!"
"If we let the Marines continue like this, there will be no more 'Freedom' left in this world!!!"
"There will never be 'Pirates' ever again!!!"
Inside the cell, Buggy's laughter came to an abrupt halt.
He fell silent, but the smile that crept onto his face was colder and more despairing than before.
"Shanks... you've gone mad."
His voice was hoarse, sounding as if it were being squeezed from the very depths of his throat.
"You and I... haven't walked the same path for a long time..."
Outside the cell, Shanks remained silent for a long moment. His fist slowly uncurled, leaving only pain and stubborn obsession in his eyes. Finally, he looked up at Buggy, his voice dropping low, carrying a plea: "I don't have any other comrades I can trust anymore... please. Help me."
Buggy stared at him, unspeaking. The fingers gripping Shanks' collar slowly loosened, the knuckles white from the strain. The air was so heavy it felt solidified.
"What do you want to do...?"
Impel Down · Level 6 · Eternal Hell
The scent of blood and damp cold rolled through the corridor. The grinding of iron chains sounded like the whispers of the reaper.
Shanks and Buggy walked side-by-side into the deepest hell. In the darkness on either side, countless pairs of eyes lit up, peering out like predatory beasts.
Following behind them were two figures—monsters who had just been liberated from Level 5:
"The Newspaper King" Donquixote Doflamingo, and Shiryu of the Rain.
Shiryu licked the edge of his blade, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "There's a top-tier war waiting for me to slaughter in outside... couldn't ask for anything better."
Doflamingo let out his signature, grating laugh. "Fufufufufu... To think the grand 'Yonko' Shanks would be reduced to scrounging for firepower in a prison."
"Has the world outside really become that absurd?"
Shanks remained expressionless, his footsteps never slowing as he left behind a single, cold sentence:
"Your entire Family... has already been slaughtered to the last man by Roy."
"—!!!"
Doflamingo's laughter stopped instantly. The gaze behind his sunglasses sharpened into needles. His fingertips twitched. He maintained the curve of his lips, but his trembling body betrayed the violent turmoil within.
The corridor grew darker and deeper. Whispers and mockery from behind the iron bars rose and fell:
"My, my~ what an interesting combination~"
"A Marine traitor, a Warlord, a Yonko... and a circus clown?"
"Hey, hey~ how did you lot sneak into this hellhole?"
The ridicule and sneers echoed between the iron cells like the howling of wolves.
Shanks ignored them all. His steps were steady as he walked straight to the three specially made cells at the very end of the corridor.
There, three gargantuan figures were bound by countless Seastone chains, wrapped up like prey in the coils of giant pythons. Yet, even so, the oppressive auras they radiated were enough to suffocate the entirety of Eternal Hell.
Shanks spoke, his voice heavy as a booming bell, echoing through the darkness:
"Patrick Redfield..."
"Byrnndi World..."
"Douglas Bullet..."
—Instantly, three terrifying auras erupted like a tsunami!
Redfield's crimson eyes snapped open, looking like a blood moon hanging in the void, freezing the soul.
World's muscles bulged, the iron chains groaning and creaking under his strain as if they would snap at any moment.
Bullet was the most terrifying of all. His Conqueror's Haki swept across the entire space like a raging tidal wave crashing in all directions!
Doflamingo and Shiryu immediately broke out in cold sweat, feeling as if the very air had been stolen from their lungs, their faces contorting in pain. They knew very well—if these three were released into the world, they alone had enough power to overturn the entire global structure!
Only Buggy remained completely unfazed. He lazily picked at his ear and let out a yawn. "So noisy... these old geezers still have such terrible tempers."
Shanks took a step forward, his red hair whipping wildly in the freezing drafts, his eyes burning with an infernal madness.
"—You three."
"Do you want to... go out and cause a little chaos?"
"The target—Marineford · Execution Plaza!!!"
After a brief silence, Bullet suddenly threw his head back and laughed wildly. The sound of him pulling against the chains echoed like hellish war drums. "Red-haired brat!! What are you offering in exchange for our freedom?!"
Redfield spoke in a low drawl, his gaze as cold as an abyssal pool of blood:
"Don't think that just because we're locked up here, we don't know what's happening outside... Going out there right now, how is that any different from seeking death?"
The oppressive atmosphere made the air nearly solidify.
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