Chapter 564: Gathering Strength
Impel Down — once counted alongside Navy Headquarters and Enies Lobby as one of the three great institutions under World Government authority.
Though of course, almost no one used that description anymore. Navy Headquarters had been completely destroyed, and the upper echelons of the Navy had been branded as traitors. They had broken away entirely and become enemies of the World Government. Impel Down still stood, however. In the windless Calm Belt, the supposedly impenetrable prison continued its vigil.
And at this moment, something rather interesting was happening inside.
"Be grateful, you scum. Grateful to the government, to the Five Elders, and to Imu's generous mercy."
Deep in the lowest reaches of the prison, a floor so secret that most of the outside world didn't even know it existed — Level 6, the floor they called Infinite Hell.
This was the layer that housed the world's most irredeemably dangerous criminals, the layer the World Government had simply erased from all official records. Right now it was brightly lit.
Several CP0 agents in white robes and masks stood at the center of the prison floor. The one at the front was speaking loudly. Before them stood a group of bizarre-looking individuals, all wearing prisoner's uniforms. These were, without question, the inmates being held here.
These were people deemed so dangerous that the government had simply removed any acknowledgment of their existence. And yet, to a one, they were now smiling broadly.
Because they were being released. Released by agents sent by the World Government itself.
"Your crimes have been pardoned. In exchange, you will fight for the government in the coming war."
"Hahahaha! So we're basically becoming Warlords, are we?"
A woman whose figure even a prison uniform couldn't hide, but whose face was something else entirely, threw her head back and laughed with both hands on her hips.
Catarina Devon — one of the most infamous female pirates in the world. She had been locked in Infinite Hell for a very long time, and she genuinely hadn't imagined she would ever see daylight again. Let alone that the World Government would be the ones to come and free her.
"That's one way to look at it," the lead CP0 agent said. "Help the government win this war, and we can offer you more than a Warlord position. Making you part of the new Navy is not out of the question."
"The Navy, huh? Hahahaha." A middle-aged man with a pair of horns on his head and blue hair let out a low chuckle. "I'd rather be a noble than a government dog. How about handing me a country?"
"That can be arranged."
The CP0 agent said it without missing a beat.
It was an empty promise, of course. If the war was lost, everything was moot. And even if it was won, Imu intended to cleanse the entire world afterward — so what did it matter how much they promised now?
"Hahahaha! Then leave it to us!"
The blue-haired man, known across the seas as the Evil King, Avalo Pizarro, laughed heartily.
"Good."
The CP0 agent gave a small nod, then turned to look at the two cells still occupied — the only two inmates who hadn't yet responded.
"That leaves just the two of you."
He walked to stand before those reinforced cells. "The Demon Heir, Douglas Bullet. The Crimson Solitary, Barrolik Redfield."
"You are the only ones who haven't given an answer."
The two men in those cells could not have looked more different. One was a white-haired, thin-framed old man. The other was a powerfully built middle-aged man sitting in seastone restraints, doing push-ups in silence.
Neither of their faces told you much at a glance.
But Demon Heir and Crimson Solitary — even after all these years those names had been absent from the seas, the moment they surfaced again, the entire world would feel the tremor.
To put it plainly: every other prisoner here was decoration. These two were the entire point.
"Work for the government? Really." The white-haired Redfield shook his head slowly, sounding less annoyed than he did tired of dealing with someone saying something foolish. "The younger generation really does have something wrong with their heads these days."
"You said the Navy has defected?" Bullet looked up from his push-ups.
His voice was hard as iron.
"Not all of them. But the majority of the senior command has defected, yes," the CP0 agent said. "Bullet — you were defeated by the Demon Elimination Order led by Garp and Sengoku. Don't you want your revenge?"
"Sengoku is dead, but Garp is alive and well. He's the Fleet Admiral of the New Navy now."
"Not to mention their ally — a man called Brett."
The CP0 agent's tone carried a thin edge of amusement. "That man is without question the strongest person alive in the world today."
"Before the Navy defected, he defeated Fleet Admiral Sengoku and all three Admirals simultaneously. Even Roger couldn't have done that."
Douglas Bullet's eyes had gone wide.
Then.
"Ha. The strongest, is he?"
He slowly sat down cross-legged on the floor of his cell. The corner of his mouth curled upward into the most reckless grin imaginable. "Someone who surpassed Roger!!"
"Now that is interesting!"
He looked straight at the CP0 agent outside the bars. "Hey, trash. I want to fight that man."
This had been Bullet's obsession his entire life — surpassing Roger. But Roger was dead. There was no way to measure himself against the man directly. He had been forced into indirect methods: doing things Roger had never done, like defeating the Demon Elimination Order in a straight fight. That had been his goal.
But now it was different. An actual person who had gone beyond Roger had appeared. How could he not be excited?
"Absolutely." The CP0 agent's voice carried unmistakable satisfaction. This man was a genuine monster — one who likely wouldn't be overwhelmed even fighting Admirals or Emperors. "Then what about you, Redfield?"
The CP0 agent looked toward the Crimson Earl.
"I have to say." Redfield sounded almost wistful. "The world has someone that frightening in it now, does it?"
"Even so — not interested."
The old man shook his head, just as unmoved as before. "I have no intention of fighting for the World Government."
"Understood."
The CP0 agent gave a quiet nod. "In that case, you're of no use."
Some time later, on the port at the very top of Impel Down, at sea level.
The lead CP0 agent was wiping blood from his hands. He turned to the man beside him.
"Chief Warden Shiryu — are you certain you want to come with us to the war rather than stay here at Impel Down?"
"I have had more than enough of a dull life," said the man known as Shiryu of the Rain, smiling broadly. "It's time to go do something interesting."
"Welcome aboard."