Three Plans

With great effort, he shifted his body from the center of the inner wall to the right-hand corner.

This spot formed a blind angle with the right-hand cell across from him. No matter how sharp that Monkey's eyesight was, he could not see through the wall and observe this place.

As for Observation Haki, not every pirate had mastered it, and it could not be maintained twenty-four hours a day.

Especially for prisoners in Hunger Hell, whose bodies were already weakened to the limit. Recklessly using Observation Haki would only speed up the depletion of their stamina.

Wang Gao himself possessed both Observation Haki and Armament Haki. After all, he had spent six years in the New World with Ochoku and had even become the person in charge of a pirate ship. Without strength, the grass on his grave would have grown three feet tall long ago.

Though Observation Haki varied in strength, it had one broadly shared effect: when someone used Observation Haki to spy on him, he would sense it to some extent.

Among the more than a dozen cells around him, he had confirmed three people possessed Observation Haki. One was the crippled Longleg Tribe member across from him, and another was someone who had been interrogated by Shiryu of the Rain alongside him that day. However, that fellow had probably died.

The last was a Sky Person four cells away. He had been sent in around three months ago, and the moment he arrived, he released Observation Haki.

But after starving for over three months, that fellow probably did not have much strength left.

After observing the surrounding environment, Wang Gao began considering how to remove the Seastone Shackles. When he said he had at least three plans, he had not been joking.

Focusing his mind, he slowly permeated the shackles with Observation Haki. He picked up the chain connecting them and lightly knocked the shackles together several times.

He knocked them against the stone floor a few more times, then lightly tapped the shackles with his hand. After withdrawing his Observation Haki, the rise and fall of his chest showed that those actions had not been easy.

But the gains were substantial. He had already estimated the general vibration frequency range of these Seastone Shackles. With a few more attempts, he could lock down an exact vibration frequency.

Seastone was indeed extremely hard, but nothing in this world was absolutely indestructible. At the very least, the Seastone Shackles before him were not indestructible, or they could not have been processed in the first place.

His weakened body truly had no way of breaking free from Seastone through brute force.

But as long as he understood Seastone's fixed vibration frequency, he could use an extremely precise resonance effect. By striking the two shackles against each other, he could gradually cause the Seastone crystals to crumble.

That was the first plan.

The problem was that this plan had two fatal flaws: it would make quite a lot of noise, and it would completely destroy the Seastone Shackles.

The first problem would draw the attention of nearby prisoners and might even alert the guards.

The second meant he could no longer keep up the disguise, because Impel Down attached great importance to Devil Fruit users like them and conducted inspections once a month.

Once the Seastone Shackles were destroyed, he would either have to escape immediately or be captured again. If his escape failed, both his hands and feet would likely be cut off.

Wang Gao had assessed all the current conditions. His greatest chance of successfully escaping was around 12.7%, and that was only with Golden Lion's help.

With such a low success rate, he would not choose to escape now unless he had no other choice.

Therefore, the plan of using resonance to destroy the Seastone Shackles was temporarily put on hold.

The next two plans did not require directly destroying the Seastone Shackles, but they required his body to make certain sacrifices.

The second plan was the Hand Bone Displacement Method. He could directly shift the bones in his palms and slip the shackles off his hands.

However, the side effect was that the process would be extremely painful. After resetting the bones in his palms, even with the astonishing physical recovery ability of humans in this world, he would still need about a week of rest.

Though he would not need to cut off his hands, a week in a crippled state would leave him with almost no ability to move, and his combat strength would decline even further.

If he encountered a surprise inspection, it would be difficult to quickly put the shackles back on. It was another plan that would be exposed the moment it saw daylight.

The second plan was shelved!

The third and final plan was the safest one, and it would also allow him to put the shackles back on at any time.

That was...

Wang Gao stuck his index finger into his mouth and bit down with savage force, directly biting off his index finger near its root by the palm.

But he did not release it. Instead, he continued holding the wound in his mouth and drank the blood flowing from it. In Hunger Hell, blood could not be wasted, and neither could the flesh on his index finger.

Half a day later, he had gnawed the flesh off that index finger clean, like the braised chicken feet he remembered.

Finally, he picked out the proximal phalanx from the index finger. It was the longest and thickest of the three finger bones. Combined with his own 2.73-meter body size, this bone was long enough.

Before doing this, Wang Gao had roughly measured the length of his index finger and the depth and width of the shackle's keyhole. The difference between them was not great.

Wang Gao, who possessed Observation Haki, had long understood the keyhole structure of this old-fashioned shackle like the back of his hand.

However, the freshly made finger-bone key was still only a semi-finished product. It needed to dry for several days before being ground into a suitable shape.

As for why he had used self-mutilation to obtain a bone, it was mainly because there was nothing else in the cell that he could use.

The food was all mush. There was not even a scrap of bone in it. If he did not use his own bones, what else could he use?

Bone Dust, silence, and dry heat were what set Hunger Hell apart from the other levels.

Before he knew it, it was time for the once-every-five-days meal again. It was still those two guards, One-Eye and the Bearded Man.

A ladleful of mush was poured into the feeding trough.

Only after the cart had passed did he crawl over and eat all the food inside. Then he leaned beside the bars and silently observed the surrounding situation for a while.

Then he crawled back into the corner. By then, the bone key in his hand had been roughly shaped and could fit right into the keyhole.

But he did not act rashly. Instead, he closed his eyes and continued resting. The surrounding prisoners had just eaten a little, so they would recover some strength. If someone suddenly used Observation Haki, they might notice something unusual about him.

To be safe, Wang Gao did not act rashly and continued lying low.

The next day.

The moment he opened his eyes, the surrounding cells had returned to their usual deathly silence. He took out the bone key. Rather than a key, it was more like a bone needle.

After inserting the Bone Needle into the keyhole, he lightly picked at it six or seven times. The shackle gave a faint click, and the shackle on his left hand opened.

Repeating the process, the shackle on his right hand opened in less than twenty seconds.

As the Seastone Shackles left his body, he instantly felt a surge of power. It was his Devil Fruit ability, as well as his suppressed physical strength.

Although he had opened the shackles, Wang Gao did not become carried away. He was still inside the prison, and Impel Down lay beneath the sea in the Calm Belt. Without a flying ability like Golden Lion's, trying to escape was no different from seeking death.

Even though his soul had fused with Wang Gao's, his own will remained dominant. The pirates' arrogance, conceit, and ignorant fearlessness found it difficult to influence his will.

To leave Impel Down, brute force alone would not work. A brain was a good thing, but the individual strength in this world was too great, leaving many people unaccustomed to using their brains.

With his current abilities, as long as he was given some time, he could also escape Impel Down without a sound.

A new book was setting sail. Investments were welcome. (ω｀)