Promotion

This Time's prisoner riot at Impel Down resulted in the deaths of 427 prisoners, including the ringleader, Grizzly Boom, and others.

Additionally, 18 Devil Fruit Ability prisoners were recaptured.

After reading the report, Columbus could not help rubbing his temples. Of the 427 prisoners killed, eight had been Devil Fruit users.

Aside from Grizzly Boom, the other seven Devil Fruit users had all been cut down by Rain's Shiryu.

This was also what gave Columbus a headache. With so many Devil Fruit user prisoners dying at once, it would be difficult for him to explain it to the World Government.

However, this had been a prisoner riot, not Rain's Shiryu slaughtering people for no reason. All he could do was report the situation truthfully to his superiors.

Furthermore, Martin had died in battle, while Dra's strength had deteriorated further after suffering severe injuries. He would likely have no choice but to retire early, further weakening Columbus's reserves.

Combined with the heavy losses among the jailers on the fourth level, Columbus had no choice but to accelerate the promotion of a new generation of guards.

"Carrie."

"Warden, your orders?" Carrie, the Warden's secretary, stood up.

Columbus instructed, "Notify Cook and Dagama to come here."

"Yes."

More than half an hour later.

Cook and Dagama appeared in the Warden's office.

Dagama had been personally promoted by Columbus. He was only forty-one years old and at the peak of his strength. He had a very stern appearance, stood around 1.83 meters tall, and wore a beard.

Columbus, on the other hand, was a massive man, standing around 5.2 meters tall. He had curly brown hair and a huge mouth, seemingly an effect of the Munch-Munch Fruit.

"Cook, you performed very well this time. I intend to apply to the World Government to appoint you Chief Jailer of Extreme Cold Hell. Are you willing?"

"With the greatest pleasure!" Cook revealed A hint of a smile.

Columbus nodded. "The formal appointment should arrive next month, but you can report to Extreme Cold Hell in advance."

"Understood."

Columbus Turned His Head and instructed Dagama, "Dagama, Martin has fallen, and I have decided to approve Dra's early retirement. Therefore, you will need to concurrently serve as Chief Jailer of Scorching Hell."

"Yes, Lord Columbus." Dagama had no objections.

Although he was one of Columbus's trusted men, his strength was neither outstanding nor poor. Even now, he had only risen to Deputy Chief Jailer. Meanwhile, the much younger Rain's Shiryu had become Chief Jailer, which made it clear that Dagama was noticeably inferior in strength.

Had he not followed Columbus all these years, his strength would have been enough to make him, at most, a Chief Jailer. He was only slightly stronger than Hannibal at present.

Through the battle with Grizzly Boom, Columbus had already roughly assessed the strength of Cook, Shiryu, Hannibal, Magellan, Dagama, and the others.

If they were divided into tiers, then he and Cook were on the same level—both roughly Admiral-class.

With Impel Down's terrain and the power of the Venom-Venom Fruit, Magellan should be at the Quasi Admiral level.

Shiryu possessed the strength of a veteran Vice Admiral, while Dagama and Hannibal had the strength of ordinary Vice Admirals.

After this lesson, Columbus intended to adjust some positions to ensure Impel Down was secure beyond doubt.

Transferring Cook to Extreme Cold Hell as Chief Jailer was both recognition of his strength and a matter of putting his talents to proper use. After all, it was somewhat inappropriate for Cook, whose strength rivaled an Admiral's, to continue idling under Hannibal.

Although the heavily damaged Scorching Hell was guarded by Columbus himself, that did not mean it was completely safe. Just like this time, a prisoner riot had broken out the moment he left Impel Down.

To ensure that similar incidents would not happen again, he planned to station Dagama and Rain's Shiryu permanently in Scorching Hell. Together with himself and Torresd, they would be more than enough to guarantee Scorching Hell's security.

If an important prisoner needed to be escorted next time, Cook could be dispatched to Marineford, while Dagama or Shiryu could temporarily manage Extreme Cold Hell.

Two days later.

After completing the handover with Dagama, Cook moved into Extreme Cold Hell with his adjutant Zachary and the seven-man guard squad.

Apart from 2,000 jailers, Extreme Cold Hell also contained a large number of military wolves. It was a world of year-round Low Temperature and snow.

As for the prisoners, there were currently 836 of them, far fewer than Scorching Hell's 3,726—not to mention the Hunger Hell, Beast Hell, and Crimson Hell above.

In truth, of Impel Down's several hundred thousand prisoners, the overwhelming majority were concentrated in the upper three levels. The combined population of the lower three levels did not even reach 5,000.

Yet the prisoners on the lower three levels became more terrifying with every descending floor. The prisoners of Infinite Hell in particular were all extremely difficult to deal with.

That was why Magellan had not dared to leave Infinite Hell lightly before.

Extreme Cold Hell, the Chief Jailer's office.

Cook silently smiled as he looked Outside the Window. Amid the ice and snow of Extreme Cold Hell were prisoners shivering in their cells and savage packs of military wolves prowling through the snow.

Under Wang Gao's instructions, he had secretly orchestrated this prison break. Its purpose was not merely to weaken Impel Down.

Another objective was to eliminate certain Devil Fruit users. The seven Devil Fruit users killed by Shiryu had been among the targets marked for removal.

Because those people were all stand-ins, failing to dispose of them quickly could lead to certain secrets being exposed.

The World Government had kept these Devil Fruit users alive partly to prevent their fruits from reincarnating and partly to use them for experiments.

After monitoring Impel Down for more than a year, the Human Reform League had long since figured out some of the unspoken rules here. For example, every quarter, people from CP3 would come and take away a batch of Devil Fruit user prisoners.

Usually, there were ten each time, most of them Zoans.

Naturally, those prisoners were not taken away to be released or secretly executed. More likely than not, they were used for experiments.

Such as Devil Fruit recovery experiments, Zoan awakening experiments, Devil Fruit weapon experiments, and the like.

There were currently twenty-six Devil Fruit user prisoners Samael had taken from Impel Down; including Wang Gao, the total was twenty-seven.

Over the past year, Samael had deliberately engineered various accidents, making thirteen of those Devil Fruit user prisoners appear to have died.

Including Wang Gao's "suicide" and the removal of seven Devil Fruit users from Scorching Hell during this breakout, a total of twenty-one Devil Fruit user prisoners had plausibly died.

Now, only the six stand-ins on the other levels remained, and they needed to be gradually cleaned up as well.

It was already May 28th.

Cook becoming a Chief Jailer had actually been part of his calculations. He had meticulously arranged this prisoner riot to weaken part of Impel Down's forces while displaying a portion of his own strength.

Having lost two vice-admiral-level experts, as long as Columbus had not lost his mind, he would definitely prioritize promoting people from within rather than asking the World Government for assistance.

And Columbus's actions were indeed as Cook had expected. He promoted him to Chief Jailer—the Chief Jailer of Extreme Cold Hell, no less.

Within Impel Down, the position of Chief Jailer was already an important post in charge of an entire level of hell. Not only could he cultivate a group of his own people, but it could also provide certain conveniences for the next stage of the plan.

After all, Wang Gao's targets were not limited to Golden Lion, Bundy, Bullet, and the others in Infinite Hell.

The Human Reform League also intended to swallow up all of Impel Down, using its shell to provide nourishment for the organization's growth and expansion.

And in this process, the greatest obstacles were the current Warden, Columbus, and Deputy Warden Magellan.

Unless those two were removed, it would be difficult for Cook to gain full control over Impel Down.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀). Thanks to readers "A Sword Returns to the Ruins," "Little Greenwood Chu," "I Am a Copywriter," "Daoist Jade Light," and "Sunny Day One" for the tips!