Though it was just a generic uniform, it really could save your life at certain times.
From then on, Wood had deliberately avoided Shiryu of the Rain, steering clear of any chance to be alone with him.
It wasn't because he feared Shiryu. Wood simply didn't want to clash with him too soon and ruin the goodwill he had worked so hard to build in Impel Down.
Shiryu of the Rain was said to be a man who could rival Magellan, the strongest chief warden, but this was not twenty years in the future.
The first time Wood had met Shiryu, the man had seemed strong, but not dangerous.
As a swordsman, Shiryu was unquestionably a Swordsman, or even beyond that level, and was slightly stronger than Wood.
But if he went all in and wagered everything, Wood felt he had a good chance of going fifty-fifty with the Shiryu of today.
As for Magellan, Wood had no chance of winning at his current level.
There was no other reason: Magellan's Venom-Venom Fruit ability was practically impossible to counter. Wood hadn't yet learned Busoshoku Haki, so facing a Paramecia as troublesome as a Logia Devil Fruit was basically hopeless.
Wood knew Saldeath, the jailer chief, because of what had happened before. As for Sadi, the chief jailer, he'd met her when he once entered Impel Down to collect a prisoner for execution and Jailer Beast Minotaurus mistook him for an escaped convict.
The Jailer Beast was strong enough, but its intelligence was clearly a weakness. Unable to understand Wood's explanation, Minotaurus had simply swung its spiked club at him.
To avoid having the pirate due for execution die prematurely and somehow making himself the scapegoat, Wood had naturally fought back. Bare-handed, he'd beaten Minotaurus into the ground!
Sadi had rushed over with the other three Jailer Beasts after hearing the commotion. They'd ended up fighting, but Wood had also made her acquaintance that day.
Over the next six months, thanks to his knack for appealing to her tastes, Sadi had come to regard Wood as one of her kindred-spirited friends.
In the past six months, he'd also become a regular at Impel Down. The jailer beasts and Jailer Beasts there all recognized him as a familiar face.
Even those with poor intelligence had come to treat him as one of their own.
As for the small Marine detachment stationed at Impel Down, although Wood was still officially part of the Marines, they had practically forgotten he even existed.
As jailer chief, Saldeath commanded various jailer beasts, including the Blugori and Sphinx, and wielded considerable authority over Level 1 and Level 2.
Sadi was chief jailer, with authority on par with the warden's, and controlled the prisoners on Level 3 and Level 4.
At first, Wood's efforts to befriend Saldeath and Sadi had been less than pure.
Rather than spend his days doing clerical work in a cramped little room, Wood worried that his body would grow weak over time and that he might even lose strength.
As for why he liked the atmosphere of Impel Down, it was because the prisoners held there weren't just prisoners to him. They were one excellent sparring partner after another!
Don't forget: anyone captured and sent to Impel Down was a person of some importance. Even those with bounties of only a few million Belly weren't worthy of being sent here.
Besides, the criminals gathered in Impel Down came from all over the world. Among them were martial artists, Swordsmen, Devil Fruit users, and even Fish-Man karate experts.
After his two previous life simulations and the two years of training at the Marine Academy, Wood's strength had improved at an astonishing pace.
But that rapid improvement also had its drawbacks.
Compared to how quickly his strength had grown, Wood had far too little combat experience.
Strictly speaking, aside from his encounter with the Iron Arm Pirates, he had never truly faced a life-or-death crisis.
A drastic surge in strength without the combat experience or mindset to match it was not a good thing.
It was like carrying water in a plastic bag. The bag might hold just as much water as an iron bucket, but it was nowhere near as sturdy. The slightest outside force could make all the water spill out at once.
Wood's rapidly growing strength was the water in that plastic bag, and now he wanted to pour it all into a sturdy iron bucket!
Saldeath, who had a sense of humor but took his work very seriously, had initially turned down Wood's request to fight the prisoners.
Sadi, on the other hand, had agreed at once, and she personally attended every one of Wood's fights.
It wasn't because she wanted to cheer him on. She regarded Wood as a fellow pervert who enjoyed hearing people groan in pain... No, as a kindred spirit.
In Sadi's eyes, the prisoners on Level 3 and Level 4 got beaten by the Jailer Beasts, and they got beaten by Wood too. There wasn't much difference between the two.
And after being beaten so often, the prisoners on Level 3 and Level 4 now instinctively cowered at the sight of the four Jailer Beasts. They didn't even think of resisting, which left Sadi feeling rather bored.
By comparison, Wood was still a new face to the prisoners of Impel Down. And what could a mere nobody who wasn't even worthy of a Marine coat possibly do?
The prisoners spent every day doing hard labor in the prison, and were sometimes pinned down and crushed by the massive Jailer Beasts. They needed to let off steam too.
And since there weren't any women around, they could only vent their excess anger and frustration through fighting.
Wood had beaten Minotaurus, so naturally he had no trouble handling the prisoners on Level 3 and Level 4.
But there were plenty of criminals locked up here, and Wood always fought wearing an absurdly heavy set of Weights.
The prisoners on Level 4 generally had bounties close to a hundred million. One-on-one, they couldn't beat Wood, but with so many of them, they could gang up on him and take turns.
Compared to the wild boars in the back hills of the Marine Academy, even shackled Level 4 prisoners were far more troublesome.
Unlike the not-so-bright beasts, the prisoners here were ruthless, despicable, and cunning. They knew how to retreat and how to launch sneak attacks.
So the first few times Wood went in to use these prisoners as sparring partners, he was beaten half to death almost every time.
Sadi had originally wanted to hear the prisoners groan, but in the end, she'd wound up listening to Wood scream instead.
Still, while taking those beatings, Wood had accumulated a great deal of combat experience. His opponents included martial artists, Swordsmen, and karate experts. In just six months, Wood felt he'd improved even more than he had at the Marine Academy!
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