[Prisoner: Raul] [Level: SSR4] [Status: Incarcerated] [Crime Index: 37] [Capture Participation: 100%] [Available Rewards: Navigation, Thievery, Swordsmanship, Blade Forging, Commerce] [Character Event 1: Inactive] [Character Event 2: Cannot Be Activated Yet] [Core Event: Cannot Be Activated Yet]
Selected reward: Swordsmanship. [Reward: Swordsmanship +2960 → 77650 (Level 4 Swordsman)]
He sure knew a lot of different things. Blade forging and swordsmanship, too. Why'd he throw away his sword? Had he only been training his Devil Fruit abilities? Figo glanced at Raul, bound in Seastone Handcuffs and unconscious in the cell, then flicked a finger and sent an air bullet at him. "Wake up!"
The air bullet smacked into Raul's stomach. He coughed and spat out several mouthfuls of seawater. His blurry vision focused. He weakly tugged at the chains around his wrists, then struggled to sit up.
The moment he lost consciousness, he'd known what sort of situation he'd wake up in. He had the bearing of an admiral, at least, and didn't waste his breath roaring in anger. He looked at Figo through the bars, then turned to the old man in the next cell.
The old man was beaming as he praised Figo. "You can project the force of Finger Gun? I don't remember teaching you that move. You came up with it yourself, didn't you? Hahaha! Excellent, excellent! Back in the elite class, you were already very good at the Six Powers. Looks like you never stopped training all these years. The Six Powers will become even stronger in your hands! I, Doug, have no doubt about it!"
He'd learned them very well, yet hadn't mastered a single one?
Figo smiled along, helplessly.
Raul's eyes lingered on Doug's unrestrained hands and feet. "You're deliberately helping Gaston Figo, aren't you? Vice Admiral Doug, do you know what you're doing?"
The old man lifted his chin, refusing to look Raul in the eye. "What, our fourth Admiral's been locked up, and he still has the energy to lecture an old man?"
Figo really had defeated Raul. Doug was so pleased that the corners of his mouth seemed permanently fixed in a grin.
Raul had only made a fool of himself. There was nothing he could do about this senior, either. He coldly turned away, just in time to see Kinch approaching from a distance. "Kinch, you're joining them in this rebellion, too?"
He'd used the word "rebellion."
Kinch looked uneasy. When Raul had been Jailer Chief, Kinch had been his deputy. He'd once admired and envied Raul's strength. He never could've imagined that when they met again fourteen years later, Raul would be a prisoner in Impel Down.
But one year of working under Raul couldn't compare to fifteen years with Figo. Kinch might have desperately coveted the Director's position, but in the end, he'd chosen to support Figo.
Avoiding Raul's gaze, he didn't answer. Instead, he told Figo, "I've informed all the jailers of the general situation from the monitoring room."
There hadn't been much commotion when they'd "arrested" Doug, but the tremors from the fight just now couldn't possibly be kept from the jailers and prisoners in Impel Down. If they didn't explain, panic was sure to spread.
As for the jailers' reaction...
Kinch didn't need to say a word. The faint shouts coming from the distance said it all.
"The Director really is the strongest!"
"So what if he's a Marine Admiral? He's no match for our greatest Director!"
"If the Director chose to defy the World Government's orders, then there must be something wrong with those orders!"
"Director rocks!"
Doug burst out laughing.
Raul could hardly believe what he was hearing.
Weren't most of these jailers from Marine Headquarters? I'm a Marine Admiral! Figo actually dared to tell them the truth?!
Now that they knew the truth, why were they still going crazy alongside Figo? Why would they dare to say the World Government's orders were wrong?
Had all of Impel Down gone mad?!
Figo squatted across from Raul with his hands behind his back, smiling as he shook his head. The jailers in Impel Down were ruthless and brutal when punishing prisoners, but they spent year after year cut off from the outside world, confined to this little patch of land. By comparison, they were almost endearingly simple.
Their trust weighed heavily on him.
Now, all that was left was to wait.
Raul, still questioning his own reality, fell silent. Doug, beaming, kept talking and talking, cheering everyone on until Figo's head began to ache. He casually activated Doug and Raul's Character Events to watch their animations.
[Character Event 1 (Activated): Ten years ago, Vice Admiral Doug's son and daughter-in-law were aboard a warship when they encountered Hell of a Man Rebrus. Both lost their lives, leaving behind only their two-year-old grandson, Kong. After this tragedy, Vice Admiral Doug's memory began to decline, and his body gradually weakened. Though consumed by grief, he never spoke of revenge. The Hell Pirates, one of the New World's two great powers, are extraordinarily strong. At least two Marine Admirals would need to lead the operation to have a good chance of crushing them. The stakes are enormous, and Vice Admiral Doug is unwilling to start a large-scale war in the New World over a personal vendetta. Event Requirements: Capture or kill Rebrus and crush the Hell Pirates!]
The animation was brief, but the written description was quite detailed.
This was going to be difficult.
This was basically asking me to crush a Four Emperors crew and kill one of the Emperors, wasn't it? No wonder I'd only seen Kong at the old man's house last time, and not Kong's parents. Good thing I hadn't asked.
The old man had been carrying all that inside him.
It was difficult, but there was still a chance of completing it. Raul's Character Event, on the other hand, was impossible.
[Event Requirements: Have Raul defeat Gaston Figo, or help Raul capture him.]
Meanwhile, news of Raul's defeat and capture by Figo spread rapidly.
Only the higher-ups at Marine Headquarters, Vice Admirals and above, had received the general news. They'd heard the name Figo before, but no one could have imagined that Figo—the man who'd refused the Vice Admiral rank and returned to Impel Down as its Director—had quietly "become" an Admiral!
Seazer was dumbfounded. Miya, who had just been promoted to Vice Admiral, was delighted, but also worried about Doug and Figo's situation. She went to see Fleet Admiral Kong.
Kong was repeatedly calling the Five Elders on his Den Den Mushi. His expression wasn't especially grim; if anything, he seemed relieved and at ease. He told Miya not to worry.
Holy Land Mary Geoise.
The Five Elders had gathered again. Saint Mendsbin tersely explained the cause and course of events to the other four, then slammed the table in anger.
"This is an unprecedented act of gross misconduct. It must be punished severely! I want to send a Divine Army Admiral with Moka to capture him!"
The Divine Army was a special force directly under the Five Elders, made up in part of the Celestial Dragons' elite. It was a fourth military branch, separate from the three forces under the World Government's commander-in-chief!
As the World Government's highest authorities, the Five Elders didn't all need to possess the highest level of combat strength—but they couldn't all lack it, either. Throughout the generations, at least one of the Five Elders had to possess power that stood at the very pinnacle of the pirate world!
When young, this individual had usually served as a Divine Army Admiral. He was a powerful fighter, no weaker than a Marine Admiral and even stronger than most. He was also one of the cards that had allowed the Celestial Dragons to maintain their rule for seven hundred years!
But the other four Five Elders didn't agree on Saint Mendsbin's proposal.
"Are we really going to deploy the Divine Army? Can't the Marines resolve this?"
"Do we have to disturb Lord Im?"
"Saint Mendsbin, you oversee the Marines, Judicial Island, and Impel Down—the World Government's three major institutions of force. Such a major incident happened on your watch. You can't escape blame!"
"Now isn't the time to discuss responsibility. Openly defying the Five Elders' orders, Gaston Figo is the first to do so during our tenure. If we don't resolve this decisively..."
"No matter what method we use, he defeated one of the Marines' greatest fighters head-on. How are we supposed to resolve it decisively? Better not to deploy the Divine Army. If we do and still fail, the World Government's authority will plummet!"
The five of them broke into an argument. Saint Mendsbin couldn't even remember how many times he'd cursed the other four in his heart. After arguing for a long while without reaching a decision, they had no choice but to answer the repeated calls from Fleet Admiral Kong and hear what he had to say.
Kong had only three things to say.
"Five Elders, Figo is a just Marine who grew up at Marine Headquarters. He has the makings of a Marine Admiral—no, he's already surpassed mere potential. Are we really going to let an internal dispute become a joke for the whole world?"
"You should know that Figo often swims fifty to a hundred miles out from Impel Down to capture Sea Kings. His swimming ability and physical strength are extraordinary. All three Admirals, myself included, are Ability Users. Even if we went together, we might not be able to capture him. We'd only drive him toward becoming a pirate!"
"No, he won't become a pirate. This incident began with the Revolutionary Army's Blind Witch. I don't need to repeat what that girl went through. Figo's demands aren't unjust, either. Are you not even a little worried that Figo might defect and join the Revolutionary Army, ally himself with that girl, and truly bring about a crisis that could overthrow the World Government?!"
No one knew which of Kong's remarks had done the trick.
At last, the debate over the incident came to an end.
The Five Elders agreed on a solution and left it to Kong to carry out... Then Saint Mendsbin went back and smashed the table.
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