Lingering on the Brink of Death

The fusion of their two souls was actually completed by a twist of fate.

When he first entered this world, his soul was extremely weak. If he had faced the soul of a normal person, he would have been completely unable to consume them.

With no other choice, he had to settle for the next best thing. When Wang Gao was on the verge of death, he devoured his soul and stabilized the Devil Fruit Wave that was about to dissipate back into the body.

That's right, it was a Devil Fruit Wave.

While in his soul state, even though it was only for that brief moment when Wang Gao was on the verge of death, he had felt that peculiar Devil Fruit ability.

After stabilizing the Devil Fruit ability, the body, fused by the three, radiated a faint vitality once more, allowing him to survive.

However, this Devil Fruit ability of his...

Alright! It was the Chain-Chain Fruit.

No, to be precise, it was the Chain-Chain Fruit, similar to Doflamingo's String-String Fruit.

If his memory served him correctly, this Devil Fruit should have been eaten by that Treasure Hunter.

Although it seemed like a trash ability, things like Devil Fruits had a lot to do with the user's intelligence, knowledge, and existence.

To put it bluntly, many Devil Fruit users simply suffered from a lack of education.

However, upon feeling the weakness of his body and the dull ache of his wounds, Wang Gao's brain began to think.

The reason he still called himself Wang Gao was simply for convenience, and he had no nostalgia for his past life; he was nothing more than a tech otaku and a delusional patient.

The most urgent task now was to deal with the Seastone Shackles on his wrists, and then find a way to escape Impel Down.

Fortunately, this was before the Golden Lion's prison break. Devil Fruit user prisoners were either only wearing leg shackles or handcuffs; the measures hadn't been upgraded further yet.

If it were after the Golden Lion's prison break, the security measures in Impel Down against Devil Fruit user prisoners would be further strengthened.

A plan like the Golden Lion cutting off his own feet would basically have no chance of success.

At the same time, through this incident in the interrogation room, Wang Gao had already guessed some possibilities regarding the Golden Lion's escape, explaining how the Golden Lion could have cut off his own feet in a cell without weapons.

The reason was very simple: the Golden Lion likely didn't break out from his cell, but from the interrogation room, because that was the only place with weapons.

However, this escape plan had little reference value for Wang Gao. After all, he didn't have the Float-Float Fruit; if he cut off his own hands, he still wouldn't be able to escape.

The current Impel Down not only had Magellan, Shiryu of the Rain, and Hannibal, but also a Warden named Columbus whose strength was unfathomable.

Wang Gao's bounty before he was imprisoned was 72 million Belly. After being ravaged for so many years, coupled with long-term starvation and dehydration, he would be lucky if he could exert even one-tenth of his strength.

Relying on this level of strength to try and force his way out of Impel Down was nothing more than a pipe dream.

However... for now, he should focus on healing his wounds first.

Sweltering heat and hunger permeated Hunger Hell. All the prisoners were deathly quiet; although Impel Down would not kill them outright, it certainly wouldn't make life easy for them.

The prisoners in Hunger Hell were all individuals with bounties exceeding 50 million Belly, or those possessing special talents, such as Devil Fruit users.

To ensure the prisoners would not resist while preventing them from dying, those in Hunger Hell were typically fed only once every five days.

However, today seemed to be an exception. Two jailers carried an iron bucket and opened Wang Gao's cell. After inspecting his body and discovering he hadn't breathed his last, the bearded jailer teased:

"Consider yourself lucky. You didn't get killed by Chief Warden Shiryu after all."

The other one-eyed jailer remained expressionless. He scooped three large ladles of a mushy substance from the iron bucket, placed it into the feeding trough at the side, and then turned his head to speak to the bearded man:

"Let's go."

The two jailers locked the heavy door again, and the cell fell silent once more. Wang Gao opened his eyes, climbed to his feet, and crawled laboriously toward the feeding trough.

Like a pig on a farm, he lowered his head and ate the mushy substance from the rock-hewn trough.

Dignity didn't matter.

He only wanted to survive now. Without replenishing food and water, the wounds on his body would heal very slowly. Wang Gao did not want to experience that feeling of helplessness—of being at someone else's mercy—like he had this morning ever again.

He wolfed down the food, licking the trough clean, and lay back down on the floor. The scorching ground meant he didn't have to worry about catching a cold or anything of the sort.

Perhaps out of consideration for the severity of his injuries, the jailers hadn't thrown him into one of the communal cells, but had instead found a vacant solitary cell.

If he had been sent to a communal cell while in that near-death state, he would likely have been eaten clean within half a day.

He quickly hypnotized himself into a state of deep sleep. This was a small skill from his past life, which seemed to have been strengthened after his soul merged.

A moment later, Wang Gao in the cell entered a state of deep sleep.

Time slipped away. In the blink of an eye, three days passed, and it was time for the routine feeding that occurred every five days.

It was the same two jailers. The bearded man pushed a cart carrying a large iron bucket, while the one-eyed jailer held a large ladle, placing the mush into the feeding troughs of each cell. Each prisoner received only one ladle, roughly equivalent to a standard bowl.

The usually silent Hunger Hell finally had some noise with the arrival of feeding time.

The one-eyed jailer arrived in front of Wang Gao's cell. Seeing him sitting up, he knew he had recovered significantly. He casually scooped a ladle of food, placed it in the trough, and walked toward the next cell.

Wang Gao felt not a shred of embarrassment; he simply lowered his head and licked the food in the trough clean.

After eating, he sat on the floor with his back against the inner wall. He briefly checked his wounds and, seeing that they had almost recovered, couldn't help but marvel that the humans of this world had recovery abilities on a monstrous level.

He could finally think about how to escape.

His gaze swept across the cells opposite his. Between them lay a corridor about 15 meters wide. In the opposite cell was a member of the Longleg Tribe and three white bones; clearly, those three unlucky souls had ended up in the other's stomach. The Longleg had already lost one leg.

He could observe three cells in total on the opposite side, which meant that they could likewise observe his cell.

However, due to the obstruction of the buildings in the corridor, the front half of this cell was clearly illuminated, while the back half remained in shadow.

The Den Den Mushi surveillance camera installed above the corridor was also unable to monitor the back half of this cell.

Furthermore, Impel Down did not prioritize comprehensive coverage for its internal lighting system, resulting in sparse and scattered lights along the corridors.

In contrast, the "Sea of Sand" outside the cell area was not only scorching and arid but also bright and sunny. However, the composition of this sea of sand was somewhat peculiar; the sand within was actually formed from the weathered bones of prisoners.

From this, one can see how many prisoners have died miserably here on the third level of Impel Down over the past eight hundred years—enough for their remains to weather into an entire desert.

He sat at the very back, staring at the opposite side for a moment, yet he was unable to observe the interiors of the three cells across from him.

Of course, this also had a lot to do with the fact that prisoners generally suffered from nyctalopia. Impel Down was no charity; they didn't care if the prisoners' lack of vitamins led to night blindness.

They might even be happy to see it happen, as it made management easier and weakened the prisoners.

After observing his surroundings, he focused his attention back on the Seastone Shackles on his wrists. For the past three days, aside from resting, Wang Gao had been studying these shackles.

Not wanting to cut off his own hands (and lacking a blade), Wang Gao's brain raced. Rather than relying on brute force, he actually had at least three plans to get rid of these Seastone Shackles.

However, the execution required further consideration. If he didn't think everything through, even if he managed to remove the Seastone Shackles, he would still be unable to escape Impel Down.

Based on his observations just now and his previous memories, among the three cells opposite him, aside from the disabled member of the Longleg Tribe directly across, the cell to the left was empty, while the cell to the right held a sharp-featured, monkey-faced Devil Fruit user.

The Longleg Tribe member had been imprisoned even longer than Wang Gao and must certainly have developed severe nyctalopia by now. As long as he stayed hidden in the shadows at the back of his cell, he shouldn't be discovered.

The only person he needed to worry about was the "monkey" in the cell to the right. That guy had been imprisoned for about a year, so his nyctalopia likely wasn't too severe yet.

Because he was a Devil Fruit user, the monkey was also kept in solitary confinement. Impel Down likely feared that these Devil Fruit users would be treated as food by other prisoners.

That was why they chose to isolate them, to avoid the deaths of too many Devil Fruit-using prisoners; it was one of Impel Down's strategies.

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