"The intruder has already broken through to Level Four. No one has been able to stop his advance. All the jailers in his path have been knocked unconscious," a guard in the surveillance room reported as he stared at Rosinante slowly walking into the fourth level of Impel Down.
They had never seen anything like this before.
This man was invading Impel Down as if he were strolling through his own backyard.
And ever since he entered the prison, they hadn't even seen him truly make a move.
He walked like a king.
And before him, no jailer could remain standing.
Even the chief jailers were left dizzy under the pressure of his Conqueror's Haki, unable to resist his advance.
As for the powerful Jailer Beasts...
They were trembling all over in front of him, utterly incapable of launching any attack at all.
The guards truly couldn't understand it.
When had such a terrifying figure suddenly appeared on the seas?
Why had they never heard of him before?
At that moment, Rosinante's gaze suddenly swept toward the surveillance room.
In the next instant—
The screens inside the monitoring room turned into static.
The surveillance Den Den Mushi had already fainted.
"The surveillance Den Den Mushi has been knocked out! There's no way to monitor him anymore, and we can't stop him at all!" the terrified guard cried, clutching a Den Den Mushi as he urgently reported to Warden Magellan.
Magellan, who was currently rushing toward Level Four, frowned as he listened to the report.
"Warden, should we request reinforcements from Marine Headquarters?" one of the jailers running alongside him asked nervously.
Even through the Den Den Mushi, the jailer could sense how terrifying the intruder was.
"An intruder, and it's only one person," Magellan said coldly. "If we have to call Marine Headquarters for help just because one man invaded, then what are we here for?"
"Conqueror's Haki, is it?"
He snorted.
"No matter how powerful Conqueror's Haki may be, it cannot frighten Marines with strong wills."
"I'll deal with him myself."
"Yes, sir!"
The jailers answered immediately.
They had absolute confidence in their Warden.
Yes, he spent half his life suffering from diarrhea...
But in terms of strength, he was unquestionably a monster.
Especially his Venom-Venom Fruit ability.
No matter how vicious or terrifying a criminal was, once they saw Magellan's poison powers, they all obediently surrendered.
As they spoke, Magellan had already led his men to Level Four.
And because Rosinante was walking through Level Four at an utterly leisurely pace, as if he had all the time in the world, Magellan and the others found him almost immediately upon arrival.
Level Four of Impel Down was the Blazing Hell.
Everywhere, blood-red pools burned with fire.
The entire floor was scorching hot beyond belief.
An ordinary person entering this place would either be burned alive... or drenched in sweat from the unbearable heat alone.
And yet—
Rosinante walked through it as though he felt nothing.
It was as if the heat simply had no effect on him whatsoever.
And in truth... it really didn't.
At Rosinante's current level, even the temperature of Sakazuki's magma would probably struggle to make him feel much heat at all.
After his Devil Fruit reached deep awakening, Rosinante no longer needed to actively use awakening in order to wield the power of annihilation.
At all times now, his entire body was wrapped in a thin layer of annihilation barrier.
Any harmful energy that approached him would be erased by that invisible barrier.
That included extreme heat.
And poison gas as well.
So walking through the blazing inferno of Level Four...
There wasn't even the slightest trace of sweat on him.
"Oh?" Rosinante said with a smile as he saw Magellan and the others rushing toward him. "Looks like I've finally run into someone impressive."
"Who are you?" Magellan barked the moment he reached Rosinante. "State your name!"
"Me?" Rosinante smiled faintly. "No harm in telling you."
Then he looked straight at him.
"Have you ever heard the name... Donquixote Rosinante?"
"Donquixote?" Magellan's eyes narrowed. "What relationship do you have with Doflamingo?"
Although Magellan was not young, he had already been serving in Impel Down twenty years ago.
Most of what he knew about the outside world came only from the mouths of prisoners.
And over the years, the Marines had deliberately erased news of Rosinante's existence.
On top of that, they had publicly announced long ago that Rosinante was dead.
So for a moment, Magellan didn't connect the name in front of him to that Rosinante.
He only thought that the surname "Donquixote" had something to do with one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea—
Donquixote Doflamingo.
Besides...
For the past ten years, Rosinante had been in a deep coma.
For some unknown reason, his body had remained exactly as it had been ten years ago.
So even now, he still looked like a man in his early twenties.
There was no way Magellan could easily associate the young man standing before him with the Emperor-like existence from ten years ago—
The Dragon King.
The captain of the Gray Kingdom Pirates.
The monster whom both the World Government and the Marines had once feared deeply.
"Oh, that guy?" Rosinante said, sounding amused. "Yeah, I guess I do have a bit of a relationship with him."
He smiled lazily.
"To put it simply... he's my biological older brother."
Then he asked casually—
"That guy's doing pretty well these days, huh?"
"A family member of a Warlord?" Magellan said coldly. "By the rules, the Marines and the World Government are not supposed to engage in conflict with a Warlord."
He stared at Rosinante, his expression dark and heavy.
"But trespassing into the world's greatest prison, Impel Down..."
"Even if you're a Warlord's relative, it's still an unforgivable crime punishable by death."
"A Warlord, huh..." Rosinante gave a faint smile. "So that guy really did become one of the Seven Warlords."
Shaxia and the Oathbloods protecting the town had been living in that remote little island for years.
They knew very little about the changes happening in the outside world.
That isolated town rarely even got newspapers.
So naturally, their knowledge of the sea's current events was extremely limited.
This was actually the first time Rosinante had heard that Doflamingo had become one of the Seven Warlords.
But Rosinante didn't care much.
To him, none of that really mattered anymore.
Now that he had returned to this world, he only wanted one thing—
To enjoy life properly.
To make sure he and the people by his side lived better than before.
As for everyone else...
It didn't matter.
If Doflamingo had managed to become a Warlord, then he was clearly doing just fine.
There was no need for Rosinante to concern himself with that.
"Even if Doflamingo is a Warlord, don't think he can save you today," Magellan said with a cold sneer.
Then his killing intent erupted.
"Poison Dragon!"