Time flew, and a week passed.
Inside Impel Down, Level 3, the Starvation Hell.
It was no longer a place where pirates wailed from hunger.
It had become the exclusive training ground of the G-3 Marine Branch.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and rust, mixed with the final screams of dying pirates, forming a cruel and merciless symphony.
For an entire week, the G-3 forces unleashed a blood-soaked purge throughout Impel Down.
Level 1, the Crimson Hell.
Level 2, the Beast Hell.
The two floors that once held tens of thousands of pirates had been almost completely cleared out, leaving only a small number behind. They were the so-called lucky ones, spared only to endure agony.
The rest were wiped out by this iron-blooded army undergoing a terrifying metamorphosis.
"First squad, flank left!"
"Second squad, maintain formation, suppress fire!"
"Third squad..."
Marine soldiers moved in a precise battle formation, like a flawless meat grinder.
Wave after wave of pirates were released from their cells on purpose, only to be divided, encircled, and crushed in an ordered process.
Occasionally, a fierce and desperate pirate would break through the formation with brute strength or a Devil Fruit ability, seriously injuring a soldier.
But the next second, a whip wrapped in jet-black Haki snapped down from above, striking the pirate's skull with absolute precision.
The crisp sound of bone shattering echoed clearly.
Above them, Peacock stood with her whip, her expression cold and merciless.
Bang!
Another pirate attempting a sneak attack had his head explode, red and white matter spraying outward.
From a distant vantage point, Skylark lowered her sniper rifle, a faint trail of smoke rising from the barrel.
Azure lightning flickered around her faintly. The shy and gentle look she once carried was gone, replaced entirely by the detached focus unique to snipers.
Both of their Devil Fruits and personal abilities were growing rapidly in this battlefield of blood and fire.
"Injured soldier! Move, hurry!"
Medics carried a Marine whose chest had been cut open and sprinted toward the rear.
There, Bartholomew Kuma stood silently. He placed a massive hand gently on the soldier's body.
"Padon."
A transparent paw-shaped bubble mixed with blood, pain, and exhaustion was slowly pushed out.
The wound on the Marine's chest healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His eyes snapped open, and he leaped to his feet, roaring as he charged back into battle.
"Kill!"
Not far away, Zoro and Sanji leaned lazily against a pillar, bored.
To them, the prisoners of Level 3 offered no training value at all.
In front of them knelt a neat row of fully broken pirates, trembling uncontrollably, eyes empty and lifeless.
Kuma pushed the transparent paw bubble toward the row of kneeling pirates.
Zoro glanced at the one in the front, a pirate captain once infamous in Paradise with a bounty of twenty million berries.
"You. Do you want to die?"
The pirate jerked his head up, eyes filled with desperate longing and frantic joy.
"Please! I beg you!"
"Let me die! I want to die!"
These Marines were not humans.
They were demons.
Over the past week, he had suffered a hell far worse than death.
They were released from their cells.
They thought they were being freed.
But that was when the nightmare began.
They were defeated with ease, and then... he personally witnessed it.
The most arrogant pirate among them was taken by that young Marine Rear Admiral.
With an unbelievably refined technique, he struck the pirate again and again.
Not lethal, but breaking every bone in his body.
Then the pirate was thrown back into his cell.
No treatment.
No supplies.
Nothing.
He screamed for three days and three nights.
Blood dyed the stone floor dark red.
But still, he did not die.
He clung to life in perfect consciousness and indescribable agony, lasting until the fifth day before finally perishing.
Then the Rear Admiral did it again.
Another so-called lucky one received the same treatment.
He was the devil.
No one knew who would be next.
Whose bones would be shattered.
Who would wait for death in despair.
That fear of the unknown was worse than any torture.
Now, quick death had become their greatest wish.
Sanji blew out a smoke ring and nodded coldly.
"Yes. Thank you, thank you!"
The pirate captain scrambled forward, throwing himself toward the hovering paw bubble.
He opened his arms, smiling in release, willingly embracing the condensed pain.
His body froze.
Black blood seeped from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
He fell straight to the ground.
"Next."
Zoro's voice held no ripple, no emotion.
The second pirate rushed out eagerly.
One after another, until the paw bubble finally dispersed.
Those who were not chosen instantly turned gray with regret and terror.
They collapsed, devoured by hopelessness.
As the Marines grew stronger, their cooperation became seamless, and injuries became fewer.
Which meant less pain would be extracted.
Which meant fewer deaths would be granted.
Which meant...
Their chances of being chosen by the Rear Admiral for five days of bone-shattering torture had increased.
Renn Hawk looked down at all of this indifferently.
Suddenly, his Den Den Mushi rang.
Hawk answered. Sengoku's voice erupted, unable to conceal his excitement.
"Hawk! It's me!"
"Good news!"
Sengoku's voice trembled.
"Vegapunk has solved every technical issue for the Deep Sea Recovery Project!"
"The first fleet of submarines has already entered mass production!"
"Very soon, the Marines will enter the era of harvesting treasure from the ocean floor!"
Hawk's lips curved slightly.
He knew it.
Money motivated Kizaru.
Research funding and scientific dreams motivated Vegapunk.
This move had been secured from the very beginning.
"Not only that!"
Sengoku continued like cannon fire.
"Thanks to the full cooperation of the Alabasta Kingdom, the first batch of gold has already been converted into food, fabrics, top-grade steel, and military funding!"
"Our military factory project has already broken ground!"
"Before long, the Marines will no longer depend on the World Government at all!"
"Excellent."
Hawk nodded.
The undersea treasure harvest was acquisition.
Alabasta was conversion.
One dug wealth from history.
One transformed it into strength.
Together, they formed the foundation of a new Marine force.
A war machine growing in secret, accumulating power faster than ever before.
Then Sengoku's tone shifted, lowering.
"But Hawk, Tsuru and I discussed it."
"What we are doing will eventually be discovered by the elders of the World Government."
"If they tear off their masks and strike back, we must be ready for the worst."
"The worst?"
Sengoku spoke firmly.
"Abandon the New World. Abandon Marineford."
"Retreat the entire military to G-3. Seal the Red Line and fortify Paradise."
"Let the Four Emperors stand at the doorstep of Mary Geoise. Let the Celestial Dragons and the Yonko tear each other apart."
"The Marines shift from offense to defense, drawing strength from the Four Seas, waiting for the moment to sweep the world."
Hawk's eyes flickered.
Using the Four Emperors as a weapon against the World Government.
Cruel.
Ruthless.
Brilliant.
"But that is the worst case."
Sengoku sighed.
"If we can avoid abandoning the people of the New World, we will. You don't need to worry about this yet."
"How is the trial in Impel Down?"
"Very smooth."
"Good. Once you're done, return to HQ. See the new face of the Marines."
The call ended.
Hawk opened his system panel.
Remaining Justice Value: 383,520.
In just one week, his fifty thousand points had skyrocketed to nearly four hundred thousand.
The pirates on Level 1 and 2 were weak individually, but there were tens of thousands of them.
Three hundred eighty thousand Justice Points.
Enough to raise Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and physical combat technique all to Admiral level.
Then he would save up one million Justice Points and raise Conqueror's Haki to its pinnacle.
Only then, with full Conqueror's coating, would he truly stand among the strongest in the world.
Hawk closed his eyes and whispered in his mind.
"System, add points."