The moment the floating islands came into view, the Marines responsible for watching for enemy movements sounded the alarm at full speed.
At once, the shrill alarm shattered the silence of the Night Color, echoing across the entire sea.
"They're here!"
Hearing the alarm, the Marine elites who had already made their preparations all looked up at the islands approaching from the distant sky.
Some of the older Marines revealed strange expressions.
The incessant shrill alarm ringing in their ears, along with the threat pressing down from the sky—
The information gathered through their eyes and ears made them involuntarily recall the scene of the Golden Lion attacking Marine Headquarters all those years ago.
Some horrific memories surged into their minds of their own accord, bringing them faint pangs of fear.
But they quickly suppressed the turmoil in their hearts and glanced back toward Impel Down.
The overall structure of Impel Down was actually quite similar to Thriller Bark.
Its bird's-eye view was roughly as follows: ⊙
A ring of towering walls surrounded the outside, with only a drawbridge entrance reserved at the main gate.
Inside those walls stood another ring of even higher inner walls, enclosing the tower-top castle of Impel Down.
Above the castle, however, was a lush forest that almost hid the entire castle beneath its greenery, leaving only three towering watchtowers rising above the trees.
There was not much room to stand throughout Impel Down.
Therefore, nearly all the forces deployed by Marine Headquarters were aboard the fifty warships surrounding Impel Down.
In addition, thirty pirate ships belonging to Columbus were mixed among the warships.
Originally, Marine Headquarters had demanded that Columbus bring all fifty-six of his ships, but how could Columbus possibly agree to such an unreasonable demand from Marine Headquarters?
Even so, he had