Impel Down was a living hell for the prisoners on every level. Watching those cruel tortures day after day would put unbearable psychological pressure on any ordinary person. That was probably why the jailers who guarded Impel Down were all such bizarre creatures.
Most of the Jailer Beasts took pleasure in torturing prisoners. So even the Marines generally disliked entering the levels where prisoners were held, for fear of having nightmares.
That was also why the Marines stationed at Impel Down kept their distance from its staff.
They figured that anyone who could make those vicious Jailer Beasts obey must be even more ruthless.
The Marines stationed at Impel Down disliked entering the areas where prisoners were kept, but sometimes they had no choice.
With so many pirates locked up, some were naturally taken away for execution every day. When that happened, no matter how much they hated it, the Marines had to go and witness this real-life hell for themselves.
In the past, whenever it was time to execute pirates at Impel Down, the Marines would pass the task of retrieving the prisoners around, each trying to avoid getting stuck with it.
But ever since Wood had come to work at Impel Down, they no longer needed to draw lots.
They had heard that Wood was a rookie who had just graduated from the Marine Academy. And seeing how young he looked, they had assumed he was just a fresh-faced recruit.
But the veterans hadn't expected that the first time Wood went into Impel Down to escort pirates due for execution, he wouldn't suffer even the slightest psychological trauma. He'd even started treating those monstrous Jailer Beasts like old buddies!
Since the rookie was even more capable than they'd thought, Wood naturally ended up handling every trip to Impel Down to bring out prisoners from then on.
Wood had tried to fight back, but it was completely useless. He'd thought that, as a seaman third class stuck in a place where birds didn't even shit, he might at least manage to become a Squad Leader.
As it turned out... the Marine squad stationed at Impel Down had only ten people in total. Most of them held the rank of sergeant or corporal, and one was even a lieutenant.
In terms of experience and seniority, Wood was the newbie among them, having only just graduated from the Marine Academy.
As for rank, he was a seaman third class—in this little squad, he was firmly among the exploited.
They called it fostering good relations between Marine Headquarters and Impel Down, but in reality, they were just dumping the job nobody wanted on Wood.
The squad leader wasn't a devil, though. He frankly told Wood that since he'd "volunteered" for such a demanding task, he wouldn't have to handle clerical work anymore.
And at the end of the year, the squad leader would write to his superiors and commend Wood for his excellent performance.
After hearing all that, what could Wood do?
Besides, compared to spending every day in a tiny room handling paperwork about pirate prisoners, Wood really did prefer the atmosphere at Impel Down.
The so-called Jailer Beasts were vicious, but only relatively speaking. As long as he could beat them into submission, he could recruit them as underlings just the same.
Since he and Saldeath had hit it off before, and Wood had already seen the general layout of Impel Down in the anime, he got along remarkably well there.
He even quickly got on good terms with some of the management, thanks to knowing each person's personality and preferences.
The current warden of Impel Down wasn't Magellan, who would hold the post later. Magellan was only the deputy warden for now. Wood had crossed paths with him once or twice, but the difference in their positions was too great for them to have a conversation.
As for Shiryu of the Rain, who would one day be locked up on Impel Down's sixth level, he was still the Chief Warden.
It had to be said that the Marines stationed at Impel Down had good reason to avoid entering the prison and steer clear of its management.
In a way, some of Impel Down's administrators really were rather twisted.
Setting Shiryu of the Rain aside, most people who knew the story knew that he had been locked up on the sixth level because he used excessively cruel methods and kept killing prisoners.
One thing to note: Shiryu of the Rain had been locked up on Impel Down's sixth level for killing prisoners. As long as you didn't kill them, merely torture them, that was actually permitted at Impel Down.
To people on the outside, those imprisoned at Impel Down were all so-called villains and scum.
As long as you didn't kill them, taking pleasure in torturing them was actually allowed at Impel Down.
The classic example of someone who loved torturing prisoners and took pleasure in it was Sadi, the Chief Jailer.
At first glance, she was a beauty with curly blond hair, bangs covering her eyes, white candle-shaped earrings, a pink skintight leather outfit, and pointed high heels with spikes.
In reality, this beauty commanded the four Jailer Beasts on Impel Down's LEVEL 4, "Blazing Hell," and had authority equal to the warden's.
Sadi also had a terrible personality. She was a full-on sadist, and her favorite thing was listening to people moan and taking pleasure in it.
The four Jailer Beasts under her command—Minotaurus, Minokoala, Minorhinoceros, and Minozebra—were just as violent and vicious.
Neither Saldeath, the Chief Jailer, nor Sadi, the Chief Jailer, looked much different from when Wood had watched the anime.
With their demonic getups, Wood had even wondered for a while if those outfits were the real deal. Otherwise, there was no explaining why their appearances hadn't changed at all over the more than ten years that followed.
The people Wood was currently closest to at Impel Down were Saldeath and Sadi. As for Magellan and the others, either they were too high-ranking, or their personalities were too different for them to get along.
Unlike Sadi, who was a sadist, her cruelty was reserved for prisoners. She believed that anyone brought in was basically a villain or scum, and that such trash didn't deserve mercy.
Shiryu of the Rain was different. His cruelty was part of his nature, and it had nothing to do with whether his victims were prisoners. He simply enjoyed killing.
Wood still remembered the first time he met Shiryu of the Rain. The look in the man's eyes that day had stayed with him ever since.
It was the look of someone who'd found an interesting prey. Compared with prisoners who couldn't put up much of a fight, the swordsman's aura Wood gave off clearly interested Shiryu of the Rain much more.
Fortunately, Shiryu of the Rain hadn't yet reached the utterly reckless stage he would enter later. After seeing Wood in a Marine uniform, he left with a disappointed look on his face.
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