"...Huh?"
Hannibal instinctively took a step back, looking genuinely startled.
Kid, I'm just a loudmouth with delusions of grandeur.
You're actually trying to make them happen?
"I think… you're being a bit too aggressive. Ahem."
Stuffing Ian's transfer order directly into his pocket, Hannibal waved stiffly.
"Come. I'll show you around my Impel Down first."
Ian followed behind him into the fortress.
The moment they stepped through the gate, a chorus of agonized screams echoed from the side.
"Beautiful cries, aren't they?"
Hannibal smiled with great satisfaction, gesturing toward a fenced-off area.
"All prisoners sent to my Impel Down are first brought across that iron fence.
They must strip completely and enter the 'Hell's Hot Bath'—
boiling water heated to 100 degrees — for sterilization."
"A baptism befitting our great prison."
Ian nodded calmly, then asked with feigned curiosity:
"Chief Guard Hannibal, why hot water though? Why not boiling oil?"
Boiling… oil?
Hannibal's smile froze.
Kid, are you trying to fry them alive?!
"Because… it's tradition," he answered, wiping cold sweat away and trying to change the subject.
But Ian didn't let go.
"If you become Warden in the future,
could you change 'Hell's Hot Water' to 'Hell's Hot Oil'?"
Kid, you're not aggressive — you're a maniac!
At last Hannibal understood completely.
This is why the Navy transferred this boy here.
Hell is empty — all the demons joined the Marines!
"R-rookie, not every prisoner here is on death row."
"Why?" Ian asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Is the World Government keeping them alive so they can break out later?"
"Break out?"
Hannibal nearly laughed himself to death.
"Impel Down is made of iron walls and reinforced hellsteel.
The world's highest-security prison!
"No one has ever escaped!"
Ian gave him a look, then casually dropped a name:
"Golden Lion Shiki?"
"…Ah."
Hannibal froze again.
A painful memory resurfaced —
Not only had he personally witnessed Shiki's escape,
Shiki had even asked him where Impel Down stored his famous swords, Oto and Kogarashi.
Being cornered repeatedly by a newcomer…
Hannibal's face was collapsing.
"Rookie! Impel Down has rules! Subordinates are not allowed to talk back to superiors!"
Sure, buddy. I totally believe that.
Ian resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
If that rule were real, Hannibal would've been thrown into Level 6 on his first day of "I'll be Warden someday."
Still, Ian found Hannibal's fake-menace attitude oddly likable.
When Hannibal's temper began to boil, Ian made a "zip-the-lips" gesture across his mouth.
Satisfied, Hannibal continued leading the tour.
The first floor of Impel Down wasn't large.
Hannibal showed Ian everything —
the Baptism Room, power generators, the infirmary, surveillance center, guard dormitories…
Near the guard cafeteria, Ian saw a squad of massive blue gorillas hauling slabs of meat into the kitchens.
At the front of the group was a woman in a pink leather outfit, with long wavy orange hair.
"My dear Sadi!"
Hannibal waved enthusiastically.
"How's the food supply today?"
"Perfect, of course."
Though her bangs covered her eyes, Sadi's senses were sharp.
Her attention immediately shifted to Ian.
"Hmm~? So this is the new recruit coming to replace me?"
As she spoke, she twisted the long-handled trident in her hands.
The forked head detached — revealing a long, pitch-black whip.
PAH!
The crack echoed sharply as she flicked it.
"Rookie. What's your name~?"
"Ian Adrian."
Ian stepped forward.
"Chief—?"
"Call me Sadi-chan!"
Before the sentence even finished, Sadi lashed out.
Her whip technique was leagues above Peacock's.
The black whip gleamed with a cold sheen, faint barbs glinting along its length.
A hit from that thing would be… unpleasant.
But Ian didn't even blink.
His skin rippled with pale waves—
A white clay serpent shot out from his body, lunging at the incoming whip.
PAH!
Sadi's strike exploded the clay serpent's head,
but instead of dying, the serpent disintegrated—
—and instantly reshaped into a wide clay net, wrapping around the whip.
Ian guided the clay like a living chain, engaging Sadi in a tug-of-war.
"Stop—! Sadi! Adrian! Enough!"
Hannibal shouted desperately.
"If you keep fighting, the Blugori will go berserk!"
Sadi froze.
She turned her head—
A massive blue gorilla was already charging toward them.
These Blugori — huge, brutal, skull-patterned "marine fighters" —
were notorious for rampaging when agitated.
And this one's eyes were locked on its target:
Ian.
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