Two more [Bronze Trophies] were newly obtained.
Storm checked his ability list and separately invested the two trophies into [Tekkai] and [Kami-e].
The stars beside the two abilities fluctuated for a moment before changing into—
[Tekkai: ★★★] [Kami-e: ★★★]
If he wanted the actual levels of [Tekkai] and [Kami-e] to catch up with their displayed data,
the best method was to train and improve through actual combat!
Storm once again turned his gaze toward the group of Blue Gorillas.
However.
The Blue Gorillas now didn't dare make eye contact with him at all.
Some looked up at the sky, some lowered their heads to stare at the ground, some picked at their fingers, and some groomed their fur...
The Blue Gorillas' reactions were exactly like students in class who were terrified of being called on by the teacher.
Under Storm's watchful gaze,
one Blue Gorilla suddenly grabbed the Double-Bladed Axe beside it.
But it wasn't attacking. It was using the axe as a mirror.
If the Blue Gorilla could speak, it might have said—
Hey, this axe... really is an axe!
There was no doubt about it.
The entire group of Blue Gorillas had been thoroughly "conquered" by Storm.
Even when Storm urged them to come before him,
the Blue Gorillas remained as motionless as if they had taken root in the floor.
"I seem to remember someone telling me before that Burgers aren't very intelligent?"
Storm was rendered speechless.
Since the Blue Gorillas were unwilling to serve as sparring partners,
Storm had no choice but to make one himself!
[Clay Clone]!
With a thought, Storm released clumps of white clay and manipulated them into merging together.
In less than a moment,
a white Clay Doll identical to Storm except for its color appeared.
This was a [Clay Clone] created using the four-star [Clay Fruit] ability.
Its basic attributes, whether strength or speed, were all at the four-star level!
The only flaw of the [Clay Clone] was—
it possessed no intelligence and could only mechanically carry out Storm's commands.
But that was enough!
Using the [Clay Clone] as a sparring partner, Storm trained his [Tekkai] and [Kami-e] abilities.
Half the morning passed.
Sweating profusely, Storm finished his training.
"Tsk! This feeling of stopping so abruptly is really unpleasant!"
The burst of inspiration brought by investing points into a [Big Trophy] had a duration.
Once Storm's actual level caught up with his displayed data,
the endless inspiration in his mind was like someone grabbing him by the lifeline and squeezing it dead in an instant.
It was like activating a cheat halfway through, only for the power to suddenly be cut off.
What an incredibly frustrating feeling.
It was like starting to sneeze, opening your mouth wide and filling your stomach with air, only for the sneeze to fail to come out.
Edge control was the deadliest of all.
Storm unhappily looked toward the Blue Gorilla unit.
Why couldn't these Blue Gorillas provide higher-level [Big Trophies]?
It was definitely because they weren't working hard enough!
A beast's instincts were extremely keen.
The Blue Gorillas seemed to sense the malice in Storm's gaze.
They threw down their axes one after another, lay flat on the ground, clasped their hands over their heads, stuck out their butts, and showed no intention of resisting.
In the past, Sadie-chan had needed to lash this group of Blue Gorillas with a whip to control them.
But Storm only needed a single look to make the Blue Gorillas submit completely.
These Blue Water Monkeys had already become his shape...
"Go into the sea!"
Storm waved at the Blue Gorillas.
The latter acted as if they had been pardoned, squealing and scrambling away until they were out of the Jailer Chief's sight.
As the wardens of Crimson Lotus Hell,
apart from suppressing the prisoners there,
these Blue Water Monkeys also bore the important responsibility of supplying Impel Down with food.
Simply put—
they went into the sea to catch fish.
"Sea Kings..."
Storm put away the [Clay Clone] and fell into thought.
He now needed to find a new source of [Big Trophies].
After some initial consideration, he came up with two directions.
One was Impel Down beneath his feet.
The other was the Calm Belt beside it.
There were indeed many pirates in Impel Down.
But the number of Sea Kings in the Calm Belt was no smaller—in fact, there were even more!
Storm had yet to fight a Sea King.
But since even Blue Gorillas could provide [Silver Trophies],
Sea Kings naturally could as well!
"...I'd better go below to find pirates. It's closer."
After thinking it over, Storm decided to temporarily abandon the Sea King trophy-hunting route.
Come to think of it, there were quite a few powerful nonhuman creatures inside Impel Down...
Storm changed into the Jailer Chief's uniform, equipped the [Alcohol Iron Ore Katana], and hid the [Seastone Tonfa] inside his clothes.
What did one call a restrained, abstinent male god again?
Storm strode forward toward the large elevator hall on the First Sea Level.
Compared with the outside world, Impel Down's "technological level" was fairly decent, and electrical tools had been widely adopted.
Just as Storm was waiting for the elevator,
the doors to the elevator hall opened, and a group of medical personnel hurried out carrying a stretcher.
Storm saw clearly that the person on the stretcher was none other than Sadie-chan, whom he hadn't seen for some time!
"What happened to Sadie-chan?"
A weak reply drifted from the stretcher.
"She was ambushed by a Prison Beast..."
"She can still talk, so it's not serious."
Storm shook his head, and the heart that had just leaped into his throat instantly settled back down.
He then paid Sadie-chan no further attention, walked directly into the elevator hall, and gave the command—
Crimson Lotus Hell!
The overall structure of Impel Down resembled a pyramid. The farther down one went, the larger the area and the more expansive the space became.
Crimson Lotus Hell was several times larger than the First Sea Level.
But unlike what Storm remembered, Crimson Lotus Hell was not entirely covered in forest.
The "outer ring" of Crimson Lotus Hell consisted of prison cells of varying sizes, all under tight security.
There were luxurious single-occupant rooms as well as cells shared by multiple prisoners.
Only the "inner ring" contained a blood-red forest filled with "sword trees" and "needle grass."
Every movement a prisoner made there would bring injury and torment from all directions.
That forest was the true "Crimson Lotus Hell"!
The prisoners held in Impel Down were generally assigned to floors according to their bounty amounts.
The prisoners in Crimson Lotus Hell generally had bounties below ten million Beli.
Very few prisoners had bounties exceeding ten million Beli.
Holding the list of Crimson Lotus Hell prisoners he had requested from the archive upstairs, Storm walked calmly along the prison corridor.
Thanks to the Jailer Chief's uniform he wore, virtually no prisoner dared to provoke him openly.
Most prisoners who tried to provoke a jailer would be thrown into the blood-red forest to taste the true agony of Crimson Lotus Hell.
While patrolling Crimson Lotus Hell,
Storm encountered only one small problem—
a riot had broken out in one of the mixed cells, where old inmates were bullying newcomers.
This kind of situation was difficult to avoid.
It was not difficult to resolve.
Storm beat every prisoner in the cell!
He did not hit them too hard.
An eight-person cell
ultimately provided only eight Bronze Trophies.
After dealing with the riot, Storm left the quiet mixed cell and casually opened the prisoner list.
"Mixed Cell Four. The highest bounty is 9.31 million Beli, and the lowest is 3.64 million Beli. Not a single one exceeds ten million!"
"All the trophies these prisoners provide are two-star Bronze Trophies."
"If bounties are used as the standard of division,
"then are all pirates with bounties under ten million only able to provide Bronze Trophies?!"
Storm wanted to verify this guess.
Thus, he went to find the prisoner currently held in Crimson Lotus Hell with the highest bounty.
A bounty of twelve million Beli was already the ceiling for prisoners in Crimson Lotus Hell!
Yet this ceiling was as fragile as a membrane before Storm.
Storm found an excuse.
—He didn't like black-and-white clothes today.
Then he dealt with the man simply.
At the instant the prisoner with a bounty as high as twelve million Beli lost consciousness and collapsed,
a dazzling Silver Trophy appeared before Storm's eyes.
"As expected!"
Storm finished his routine patrol and returned to the First Sea Level.
"Below ten million is bronze; above ten million is silver."
This discovery caused Storm to modify the "trophy-hunting plan" he had previously devised.
He was now the Jailer Chief of Crimson Lotus Hell.
But there were very few pirates in Crimson Lotus Hell whose bounties exceeded ten million Beli.
Beast Hell on the second underground level
held prisoners whose average bounty reached fifteen million Beli.
Every prisoner was a Silver Trophy.
"No!"
Storm suddenly realized something.
"Silver Trophies are becoming less and less useful to me now!"
Storm's [Physique] and [Clay Fruit] had both reached the four-star level.
Three-star Silver Trophies could not improve four-star abilities.
Storm needed higher-level trophies!
Golden Trophies!
Storm recalled the relevant information about Impel Down.
The bounties of Crimson Lotus Hell's prisoners were generally below ten million Beli.
The average bounty in Beast Hell exceeded fifteen million Beli.
The prisoners in Hunger Hell on the third level all had bounties of at least fifty million Beli.
"If I want to hunt higher-level [Big Trophies], I'll have to go to the third level, Hunger Hell, at the very least!"
Storm immediately settled on his target.
"But if pirates with bounties in the ten-million range can provide at most [Silver Trophies..."
"Then I'm going to the fifth-floor Extreme Cold Hell!"
The criminals imprisoned in the Extreme Cold Hell all had bounties of at least one hundred million Beli.
If they were placed in Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line...
Every criminal in the Extreme Cold Hell would be enough to become a "Supernova"!
Storm recalled Sadie-chan, who had suffered severe injuries in the elevator just now.
He immediately called the Scorching Hell on the fourth floor.
"Warden! I crave opponents worthy of greater value!"
"What did you say? I don't understand."
"I want a promotion!"
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