A/N: Read 30+ chapters ahead at {patreon.com/Glivaria}
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"You are going to die right here."
Warden Magellan raised his massive, venom-drenched arms. The colossal, three-headed dragon of purple sludge hovering behind him let out a terrifying, bubbling hiss that echoed over the churning lake of boiling blood.
Poison Dragon: Hydra!
The three massive heads lunged forward simultaneously, their jaws unhinging to swallow the Straw Hat vanguard whole. The sheer volume of the toxic sludge completely filled the width of the narrow iron bridge.
Luffy widened his stance. Steam violently erupted from his red, flushed skin as he shifted into Gear Second. "So I'm going to kick your ass!"
"Don't touch it, you rubber idiot! It's highly corrosive!"
A terrifying, high-pitched scream tore through the blistering heat. Galdino, driven entirely by absolute, primal survival instinct, threw his hands forward, his face pale with terror.
Doru Doru Arts: Candle Wall!
A massive, incredibly thick barrier of pure, hardened white wax erupted from the iron grate, forming a solid wall between the pirates and the incoming venom.
The three heads of the Hydra slammed into the wax with a violent, deafening SPLAT.
The purple sludge hissed furiously, aggressively bubbling as the corrosive acid tried to eat its way through the barrier. Thick, toxic fumes rolled off the impact site. The wax held for a moment, but the ambient heat of Level 4 combined with the boiling acid was already causing it to warp and melt.
Magellan's eyes narrowed in genuine surprise. "Wax...? A clever trick. But futile."
The Warden opened his mouth and exhaled a massive, dense cloud of tear-inducing poison gas that immediately floated over the melting wall.
Chloro Ball!
The gas bubble detonated, showering the vanguard in a blinding, suffocating mist.
"Scatter!" Zoro roared, coughing as his eyes watered.
The swordsman didn't retreat. He burst straight through the melting wax wall, coating his blades in a dense, invisible sheen of Armament Haki to protect the steel from corroding. He swung both swords in a horizontal arc aimed directly at Magellan's massive torso.
Nitouryu: Nigiri - Maguma! (Two-Sword Style: Double Slash - Magma!)
Two vacuum-sharp wind blades, reinforced with spiritual pressure, ripped through the purple fog. Magellan didn't even try to dodge. The Haki-laced attacks slashed across the Warden's chest, drawing a sudden, shocking spray of real blood.
Magellan grunted in pain, stumbling back a half-step. "Haki?! You rookies possess Haki?!"
"Don't underestimate us, you giant slug!" Sanji yelled, vaulting off the iron railing. His right leg was a blazing inferno, wrapped tightly in his own invisible armor.
Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot!
Sanji delivered a devastating, fiery kick directly to the side of Magellan's head. The impact cracked like a rifle shot. The flames instantly incinerated the layer of poison on the Warden's cheek, and the Haki forced the massive man to actually stagger sideways.
But Magellan was the absolute ruler of Impel Down for a reason. He didn't fall.
He swung his massive, venom-coated arm, catching Sanji mid-air. The cook blocked it with his burning leg, but the sheer volume of the toxic sludge splashed against his trousers. Even with his Armament Haki acting as a barrier, a few drops of the highly concentrated acid burned right through the spiritual armor, searing Sanji's skin.
Sanji cursed in agony, flipping backward to put distance between them, his leg violently smoking. "Dammit! Even with Haki, the sheer toxicity eats right through it if you maintain contact!"
"Out of the way!" Luffy roared.
Luffy blurred into existence directly above Magellan, his fist pulled back and coated in the thickest, most concentrated layer of basic Armament he could muster.
Gomu Gomu no... JET GATLING!
A hyper-fast barrage of Haki-infused fists rained down on the Warden. The sheer kinetic impact of dozens of high-speed blows battered Magellan, forcing the giant to his knees. Blood mixed with the purple sludge dripping from the Warden's face. For the first time in a decade, Magellan was actually taking damage in his own prison.
But Luffy was paying the price. Every time his fist struck Magellan's venom-drenched body, the purple sludge splashed back. The corrosive acid hissed violently against Luffy's invisible armor, slowly eating away at his Haki reserves and burning his knuckles.
"You insolent... pests!" Magellan roared, his eyes glowing with absolute, murderous rage.
The Warden slammed both his hands onto the iron bridge. The entire structure groaned as a massive tidal wave of purple venom erupted from his body, threatening to completely submerge the bridge and flood the corridor.
"He's flooding the floor!" Bon Clay shrieked, backing away. "Straw Boy! If we stay here, we'll drown in acid!"
"We can't win a battle of attrition against a guy who bleeds poison!" Zoro yelled, sheathing Sandai Kitetsu and gripping Wado Ichimonji with both hands. "Fall back!"
Zoro turned and swung his blade at the heavy, reinforced stone door blocking the stairwell to Level 5. The Haki-coated steel completely shattered the massive iron lock, blowing the heavy stone doors right off their hinges.
A violent blast of freezing, icy air instantly howled out from the dark stairwell, clashing with the blistering heat of Level 4 and creating a massive cloud of thick condensation.
"In! Everyone, in!" Sanji yelled, grabbing Bonney and shoving her toward the door.
Bon Clay grabbed Buggy by the collar, dragging the screaming clown into the stairwell. Mr. 3 was already halfway down the steps, running for his life. Luffy landed on the grating, his knuckles raw and his chest heaving. He glared at Magellan, deeply frustrated, but he knew Zoro and Sanji were right. A prolonged fight here would kill them before they ever reached Ace.
"I'll be back to kick your ass later!" Luffy yelled, sprinting after his crew.
They threw themselves down the spiraling stone stairs just as the wave of venom washed over the spot where they had been standing. The heavy, suffocating heat of the Blazing Hell vanished entirely, replaced by a biting, agonizing cold that physically hurt to breathe.
Luffy hit the bottom of the stairs, his sandals skidding wildly against a thick layer of solid ice.
Level 5: The Freezing Hell.
It was a massive, sprawling underground tundra. Blizzards howled through the dark, icy corridors. The prisoners locked in the frozen cages here weren't begging or screaming; they were completely encased in frost, missing fingers, toes, and ears to severe frostbite.
"I'm freezing!" Buggy shrieked, his teeth chattering uncontrollably as a layer of frost instantly formed on his prominent red nose. "F-f-from an oven to a freezer! What is wrong with this stupid prison?!"
"Keep running!" Zoro grunted, his breath pluming in thick, heavy white clouds. He crossed his arms tightly, the sudden drop in temperature sending a violent shiver through his muscular frame. "If we stop, the poison catches us, or the cold kills us!"
The vanguard became a blur of sheer desperation. They didn't care about the biting cold. They were driven entirely by Luffy's burning, singular objective.
From the shadows of the howling blizzard, the glowing red eyes of the Unit Wolves—vicious, massive, starved beasts that roamed the frozen tundra—began to emerge, blocking their path.
"Wolves!" Mr. 3 cried, his wax hair now frozen solid into a brittle spike. "They're going to eat us!"
"Out of my way!" Luffy roared.
He didn't even stop to throw a punch. His dark eyes flared with an intense, unyielding resolve.
A raw, untamed burst of Conqueror's Haki exploded from his body. It wasn't refined like Light's, but the sheer, overwhelming weight of the Straw Hat captain's willpower slammed into the corridor like a physical shockwave.
The pack of massive Unit Wolves froze mid-stride. Their eyes rolled back into their heads, and they collapsed simultaneously into the deep snow, foaming at the mouth.
Bon Clay stared at Luffy's back, shivering from the cold, his eyes wide with profound respect. That's... that's the one-in-a-million Conqueror's Haki, isn't it?!
They tore through the Freezing Hell. The cold was numbing Luffy's rubber body, making his movements slightly sluggish, but he refused to slow down.
"There!" Bon Clay pointed a shaking, frostbitten finger through the blizzard. "The final descent! The doors to Level 6!"
A massive, imposing set of black iron doors stood at the far end of the tundra. They were completely unmarked and unadorned. There were no guards stationed in front of them, because no guard wanted to be anywhere near the monsters locked below.
Luffy didn't wait for Zoro to cut them. He slammed his Haki-coated shoulder directly into the center of the heavy doors. The frozen hinges violently snapped under the sheer kinetic force as Luffy bulldozed straight through the barricade.
The vanguard stumbled forward out of the blizzard, tumbling into the dark.
They rushed down a long, incredibly steep flight of ancient stone stairs, leaving the howling wind and the biting ice of Level 5 behind them.
As they reached the bottom of the long descent, the atmosphere changed for the final time.
Level 6: The Eternal Hell.
There was no extreme heat here. There was no freezing cold. There was no bladed grass, no boiling blood, and no starving beasts.
There was only an absolute, crushing, terrifying silence.
The air was stagnant, heavy, and smelled of ancient dust, rusted iron, and profound despair. The central corridor was pitch black, illuminated only by a few sparse, flickering torches mounted on the walls. The cells here weren't iron cages; they were massive vaults carved deeply into the bedrock itself, secured by thick bars of solid Seastone.
This was the floor the World Government had erased from history. The dumping ground for the monsters the world was supposed to forget.
Luffy didn't look at the shadows in the cages. He didn't look at the glowing, terrifying eyes of the legendary pirates staring back at him from the dark.
He just started sprinting down the central corridor, his voice tearing through the absolute silence of the abyss.
"ACE!" Luffy screamed, the sound echoing endlessly down the stone hall. "ACE! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
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Deep inside Level Six, a blue fishman was tied to shackles. His eyes occasionally reached to his fellow prisoner, whose head was down, as if devoid of hope. A few freckles could be seen on the sides of this prisoner's nose.
This voice...
am I hallucinating now?
The freckle-faced prisoner wondered.
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