The Escape Plan Begins

Come to think of it, Chen Qiang wasn't from the world of pirates at all. He was a transmigrator. Before arriving here, he had been nothing more than an ordinary young man, with nothing particularly remarkable about him.

But after transmigrating, he appeared directly inside Impel Down. The Jailer Beasts discovered him and captured him, and Hannyabal subjected him to inhuman Torment every day, trying to find out why he had come here.

No matter how Chen Qiang explained that it had all been an accident—even telling them about his transmigration—Hannyabal refused to believe him and kept Tormenting him day after day.

If not for the cheat he'd received, Chen Qiang would have been Tormented to death long ago.

The cheat he'd gained through transmigration gave him just one ability: super-speed regeneration. No matter how badly his body was injured, it absorbed energy from its surroundings and healed rapidly. Even if he was blasted to pieces, his body could quickly re-form on the spot and recover. What's more, whenever his body healed, it grew stronger, making him more and more powerful.

Once Chen Qiang figured out what his cheat was, he could no longer put up with the inhuman Torment. He immediately began his escape attempts, making more than thirty of them in the first month alone.

At first, the Jailer Beasts were able to capture him by relying on their numerical advantage. But as the number of escape attempts increased, Chen Qiang grew stronger, until ordinary guards could no longer catch him at all.

Then the Jailer Beasts were sent in. They beat Chen Qiang badly and captured him a few times, but as he continued to grow stronger, even they were no match for him. Magellan had to capture him personally and lock him up on Impel Down's Sixth Level.

Even so, Chen Qiang kept trying to escape every day. His repeated attempts kept Magellan stationed there all day, leaving only to use the bathroom. He couldn't leave for even a moment, and Chen Qiang might try to escape while he was on the toilet. It had left Magellan utterly exhausted.

But yesterday, when the Empress arrived at Impel Down and Luffy caused chaos inside the prison, Chen Qiang didn't try to escape. Magellan took that as proof that his nail-biting method had worked, so he felt safe leaving the Sixth Level to deal with the backlog of official business and capture Luffy and the others.

--

"Let's get moving. We're heading to Marine Headquarters. We have to save Ace!" Once Chen Qiang had fully recovered, Luffy shouted.

"Crocodile! Inazuma!" Luffy called out, then looked at Crocodile and Inazuma behind him.

"What a pain." "Understood!"

Inazuma nodded in reply, while Crocodile clicked his tongue in annoyance. Even so, he didn't slow down what he was doing.

Crocodile raised a hand, and a small desert whirlwind appeared in his palm. Then a violent blast of sand burst from his hand and shot toward the ceiling of the Sixth Level.

"Boom!"

A powerful corrosive force punched a huge hole through the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Inazuma rapidly snipped at the floor with the two scissors in his hands. Once he had cut through enough, he gave a light toss, and the section of floor he had cut free flew up to connect with the hole Crocodile had just made, forming a staircase that spiraled upward.

"Great! Let's go!"

The passage leading upward had appeared. Without hesitation, Luffy charged up the spiraling steps. Seeing him move, the others followed one by one.

Before long, they had climbed along the spiraling steps to the gap on the Fifth Level of Impel Down, where they began discussing their next move.

"We don't have enough people right now. If we want to escape, we need to release more prisoners and have them throw the whole prison into chaos. Then we'll have a chance!" Ivankov was the first to speak.

"No problem. That's what I was thinking, too!" Crocodile nodded in agreement.

"You go ahead. I'll open the Gates of Justice, and we can meet up at the prison entrance!" Chen Qiang had no objections to the plan. He had watched the anime before, after all, and knew that after leaving Impel Down, they would still need to open two sets of Gates of Justice.

Blackbeard's side would hypnotize the people at one gate, so that one wouldn't be a problem. But they would have to open the other gate, near the prison, themselves.

In the anime, Mr. 2 had disguised himself as Magellan and gone there to open the Gates of Justice.

But since Chen Qiang was involved now, he wasn't going to let people who weren't supposed to die end up dying. So he volunteered for the mission. There was another reason, of course: he remembered that in the anime, Hannyabal had been hesitating in the passage between the Fourth and Third Levels. Chen Qiang wanted to get there first and deal with him. He couldn't wait another moment.

"Chen Qiang, do you know where the control room is?" Ivankov asked.

"I went there once during an escape attempt. It's on the Sea Level, next to the interrogation room," Chen Qiang replied with a nod.

Chen Qiang hadn't been familiar with Impel Down's layout at first. But after trying to escape dozens of times, he had been to nearly every part of the prison. There was hardly anywhere he hadn't seen.

"Then that's settled! We'll release the prisoners. We're counting on you to handle the Gates of Justice!" Hearing this, Ivankov and the others had no objections.

"Good! Let's get moving!" Once they'd settled on the plan, Luffy urged everyone to act.

"Wait!" But at that moment, Chen Qiang interrupted him again.

"What is it?"

"When we get there, make sure you leave Deputy Warden Hannyabal to me. I still have a score to settle with him." In response to Luffy's question, Chen Qiang flicked the weapon he had gotten from Ivankov and spoke with a cruel look on his face.

"No problem!" This time, it was Ivankov who answered, not Luffy.

For prisoners like Chen Qiang and Crocodile, who had been released from the Sixth Level, Ivankov wouldn't refuse any other requests, as long as they didn't interfere with the escape plan.

For instance, Crocodile had just asked him for a cigar and a cape.

"Since that's settled, let's go!" Seeing that no one objected, Chen Qiang rose to his feet and addressed the others.

"Let's go! Save Ace!"

"Charge!"

A group of prisoners rushed out of the Fifth Level and quickly reached the Fourth Level. But as soon as they arrived, they ran into a large group of guards blocking their way.

"Tiger Roar!"

Chen Qiang, already at the front, saw the guards blocking the way and held his sword across his body. At the same time, a gigantic blood-red tiger appeared behind him.

He swung his sword forward, and the blood-red tiger leaped from behind him, pouncing into the crowd of guards.

"Bang!" The guards blocking their way were sent flying by the blood-red tiger.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!"

"Sandstorm!"

"Death Wink!"

"..."

Once Chen Qiang attacked, the others didn't hold back either. They all launched attacks at the guards ahead.

The other prisoners following behind also quickly engaged the guards.

"Go release the prisoners. I'll head on ahead!" Seeing the others locked in battle with the guards, Chen Qiang left them with those words and charged straight toward the passage leading to the Third Level.

"What a dependable young man!" Ivankov said with a sigh as he watched Chen Qiang's rapidly retreating figure.

"He really is dependable!" Luffy nodded emphatically.

"Tch!" Crocodile wasn't impressed by Chen Qiang's actions. After taking care of some of the guards in front of him, he headed toward the nearby cells.

--

Relying on the fact that he was impossible to kill, Chen Qiang soon charged toward the passage to the Third Level, enduring the guards' attacks head-on. He cut down every guard who stood in his way with a single stroke of his sword.

As he pressed forward, he soon reached the passage on the Fourth Level. But by then, the door to the passage had already been shut.

"You think a door can stop us? How naive!" Chen Qiang muttered disdainfully as he faced the door blocking his way.

"Tiger Rend!"

As he spoke, a deep crimson power burst from Chen Qiang's body and rapidly gathered in the long sword in his hand. He brought it down in a roaring slash, striking the tightly shut door.

"Crack! Boom!"

When Chen Qiang's strike landed, huge cracks appeared across the door and quickly spread. Then, with a boom, the entire door was shattered.

"Hannyabal!"

With the door broken, the passage behind it was revealed. Chen Qiang rushed up the passage and, after just a few breaths, spotted Hannyabal hesitating there.

As the saying went, seeing an enemy only made you angrier. The moment Chen Qiang saw Hannyabal, his eyes blazed red, and he charged straight at him.

"Huh? Who's calling me?" Hannyabal, still torn over what to do, suddenly heard someone call his name from behind and turned around in confusion.

"Deputy Warden Hannyabal, watch out! It's the Undying, Chen Qiang! He's escaped again!" Hannyabal hadn't noticed what was happening, but the guards had been watching. They immediately recognized the man charging toward them and hurriedly warned him.

"Ah!" "Bang!"

Before Hannyabal could say a word, Chen Qiang's sword sent him flying. If he hadn't instinctively raised the Blood Sucker in his hand to block the blow, Chen Qiang might have cut him in half.

"Deputy Warden Hannyabal!"

When they saw Hannyabal sent flying, some of the guards hurried after him to see if he was all right. The rest stayed behind and quickly raised their guns.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "..."

Without hesitation, they opened fire on Chen Qiang.

"Tch! After all this, how do you still not get it? Those guns are useless against me!" Chen Qiang didn't bother defending himself against the bullets. They tore wounds into his body, but the injuries quickly disappeared, and the bullets were forced back out by his muscles.

"Tiger Pounce!"

Without hesitation, the blood-red tiger appeared behind Chen Qiang once more. As he swung his long sword, it pounced straight into the guards ahead.