Event and Argument

[Prisoner: Raul]

[Grade: SSR4]

[Status: Incarcerated]

[Crime Index: 37]

[Capture Participation: 100%]

[Available Rewards: Navigation, Theft, Swordsmanship, Blade Forging, Commerce]

[Character Event 1: Pending Activation]

[Character Event 2: Temporarily Unavailable]

[Core Event: Temporarily Unavailable]

Select reward Swordsmanship. [Reward: Swordsmanship +2960 → 77650 (Level 4 Swordsman)]

'He knows quite a mix—blade forging and swordsmanship both—so why throw away his sword and just train his Devil Fruit ability?' Figo glanced at Raul, unconscious in his cell with Seastone cuffs binding him, then flicked a compressed air bullet from his finger: "Wake up!"

The air bullet smacked into Raul's stomach, making him cough up several mouthfuls of seawater. His blurry vision focused, and Raul weakly tugged at the chains on his wrists before struggling to sit up.

The moment he lost consciousness, he understood what kind of situation he'd face when he woke. Still carrying some of an admiral's bearing, he didn't waste breath on useless roars or curses. He looked at Figo through the bars, then turned his gaze to the old man in the next cell.

That old man's face was ruddy with excitement as he praised Figo: "Firing the power of Finger Pistol as a projectile? I don't recall teaching you that move—you developed it yourself, didn't you? Hahaha, not bad, not bad. Back in the Elite class, Figo, you learned the Six Powers well. Looks like you haven't stopped training all these years. The Six Powers will grow even stronger in your hands! I, Doug, firmly believe that!"

Learned them well—meaning he didn't learn a single one?

Figo gave a helpless chuckle along with him.

Raul's eyes lingered on Doug's unrestrained hands and feet as he said, "You're deliberately cooperating with Gaston Figo, aren't you? Vice Admiral Doug, do you even realize what you're doing right now?"

The old man lifted his chin, refusing to look Raul in the eye: "What, our fourth admiral's already locked up, and you still want to lecture me?"

Figo had actually defeated Raul—Doug was so pleased his mouth kept twitching upward, unable to stop.

Raul, having gotten nowhere, had no way to deal with this senior either. He coldly averted his gaze and happened to see Kinch approaching from a distance. He added, "Kinch, are you rebelling alongside them too?"

He used the word 'rebelling.'

Kinch's expression turned awkward. When Raul had served as Jailer Chief, Kinch was his deputy, once greatly admiring and envying Raul's strength. He never expected that fourteen years later, Raul would become a 'prisoner' in Impel Down.

But one year of superior-subordinate relations couldn't compare to fifteen years with Figo. Even if he craved the Director's position desperately, he ultimately chose to support Figo.

He avoided Raul's gaze, didn't answer him, and said to Figo, "I've already informed all the jailers of the general situation from the monitoring room."

Arresting Doug had gone quietly enough, but the shockwaves from the recent battle couldn't possibly be hidden from the jailers and prisoners of Impel Down. Without an explanation, panic would surely break out.

As for the jailers' reactions...

Kinch didn't need to say it—the faint shouts drifting from a distance already told the story.

"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 refuse the World Government's orders, then those orders must be wrong!"

"Director is the best!"

Doug burst into laughter at the sound.

Raul, however, couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Aren't most of these jailers originally from Marine Headquarters? I'm a Marine Admiral! Figo actually dared to tell them the truth?!

Now that they know the truth, why are they still going along with Figo's madness? How dare they say the World Government's orders are wrong?

Has the entire Impel Down gone insane?!

Figo crouched opposite Raul with his hands behind his back, shaking his head with a smile. The jailers here, though ruthless and brutal when punishing prisoners, had spent years cut off from the outside world, confined to this little patch of ground. They were simple to the point of being endearing.

That trust carried a heavy weight.

So now... it was time to wait.

Raul, doubting his whole existence, fell silent. Doug, beaming, kept rambling encouragingly. Figo's head ached from it, so he casually activated both Doug's and Raul's Character Events to watch the cutscenes.

[Character Event 1 (Activated): 10 years ago, the warship carrying Vice Admiral Doug's son and daughter-in-law was attacked by Hell of a Man Rebrus, killing them both, leaving behind only their two-year-old grandson, Kong.

After this blow, Vice Admiral Doug's memory began to decline, and his body gradually deteriorated. Though grief-stricken, he never once spoke of revenge. As one of the two poles of the New World, the Hell Pirates are immensely powerful, requiring at least two Marine Admirals to lead an operation for a reasonable chance of dismantling them. The stakes are too high, and Doug is unwilling to start a large-scale war in the New World for personal vengeance.

Event Requirement: Capture or kill Rebrus, dismantle the Hell Pirates!]

The scene was short, but the text description was plenty.

Hard enough.

This is basically asking me to dismantle a Yonko crew and kill a Yonko, isn't it? No wonder last time I visited the old man's place I only saw Kong, not his parents. Good thing I didn't ask.

The old man's been carrying something inside.

Still, as tough as that is, there's a chance to complete it. Raul's Character Event is the real dead end.

[Event Requirement: Have Raul defeat and capture Gaston Figo, or help Raul do so.]

Meanwhile, the impact of Raul being defeated and captured by Figo spread rapidly.

Within Marine Headquarters, only high-ranking officials at the rank of Vice Admiral and above received the general news. The name Figo was not unfamiliar to them, but no one had expected that the man who had refused the rank of Vice Admiral and chosen to return to Impel Down as its Director had quietly 'become' an Admiral!

Seazer was dumbfounded. Miya, who had been promoted to Vice Admiral, felt both joy and concern for Doug and Figo's situation, so she went to see Fleet Admiral Aokiji.

Aokiji was repeatedly dialing the Den Den Mushi of the Five Elders. His expression was not particularly grim; instead, it carried a hint of relief and ease as he told Miya to calm down.

Holy Land Mary Geoise.

The Five Elders gathered once again. Saint Mendsbin succinctly explained the cause and process of the incident to the other four, slamming the table in anger:

"This is an unprecedented malicious incident that must be severely punished! I hope to mobilize the Divine Army Admiral to go with Moka and capture him!"

The so-called Divine Army was a special force directly under the Five Elders, assembled from a portion of the elites among the Celestial Dragons. It was the fourth military force beyond the three armies under the command of the World Government's Commander-in-Chief!

As the supreme rulers of the World Government, the Five Elders did not necessarily all need to possess the highest combat power, but they could not be entirely without it. Among each generation of the Five Elders, at least one had to wield strength standing at the very apex of the Pirate world!

And that individual, in their youth, had mostly served as an Admiral of the Divine Army. They were warriors no weaker than Marine Admirals—indeed, slightly stronger than most Marine Admirals—and one of the trump cards that allowed the Celestial Dragons to maintain their rule for seven hundred years!

Hearing Saint Mendsbin's suggestion, the other four Elders were divided in opinion.

"Are we really going to deploy the Divine Army? Can't this incident be resolved through the Marines alone?"

"Are we to disturb Lord Im?"

"Saint Mendsbin, the Marines, Judicial Island, and Impel Down—the three direct armed forces of the World Government—are all under your management. For such a major mishap to occur, you cannot escape blame!"

"Now is not the time to discuss blame. To openly defy the orders of the Five Elders, Gaston Figo is indeed the first during our tenure. If we don't resolve this decisively..."

"No matter what method we use, he has openly defeated one of the Marines' top combatants. How can we resolve it decisively? If we don't deploy the Divine Army, fine, but if we do and still fail to achieve results, the World Government's authority will truly plummet!"

A quarrel broke out among the five. Saint Mendsbin cursed the other four countless times in his heart. After lengthy debate with no result, they finally answered the incessant calls from Fleet Admiral Aokiji, wanting to hear his thoughts.

Aokiji said only three things.

"Elders, Figo is a righteous Marine soldier who grew up at Marine Headquarters. He possesses the talent to become a Marine Admiral—no, it's more than talent now. If we let an internal conflict erupt, do we want the whole world to laugh at us?"

"You should also know that Figo often swims fifty to a hundred miles out from Impel Down to capture Sea Kings. He has extraordinary swimming ability and an extraordinary Physique. Including myself, all three Admirals are Ability Users. Even if we move together, we may not be able to catch him, and it would only drive him toward the Pirates!"

"No, he won't become a Pirate. The cause of this incident is the Revolutionary Army's Blind Witch. I don't need to repeat that girl's plight. Figo's demands are not without justice. Are you not at all worried that Figo might defect and join the Revolutionary Army, unite with that girl, and truly bring a crisis of upheaval to the World Government?!"

Whether it was one of those statements that took effect.

The debate over this incident finally came to an end.

The Five Elders worked out a solution and handed it to Aokiji to execute... Then, Saint Mendsbin went back and smashed his table.