Breaking Out of Prison at the Drop of a Hat

They had actually become master and disciple in Eternal Hell.

The prisoners in the other cells were dumbfounded, unable to say a word.

Compared to the two suddenly clashing with Conqueror's Haki and then becoming master and disciple, this turn of events was truly absurd beyond imagination.

Come on, face reality, will you? This was Eternal Hell, the world's most heavily guarded Underwater Prison. Over the past several hundred years, only the legendary Golden Lion had successfully escaped—and even then, he had severed both his feet and barely escaped with his life.

Studying under a master? Training? Here, where they could not even eat their fill and their bodies were imprisoned in cages, it was utterly meaningless!

They might as well sleep.

Still, with the Night Emperor and Ye Qiong present, the other prisoners did not openly mock them. Hearing what seemed to be mutual admiration between the two, they merely rolled their eyes and continued with their own affairs.

Ye Qiong had just wanted to discuss training with the Night Emperor when he saw the Night Emperor in the opposite cell shake his head and raise a finger to his lips, stopping him.

The next moment, the Night Emperor's aged voice rang out in Ye Qiong's mind.

"Disciple, let us communicate like this from now on."

Ye Qiong looked at the Night Emperor in surprise, unable to process it for a moment.

A Devil Fruit ability? Voice transmission? Or telepathy?

"Don't be surprised. It's merely a deeper application of Observation Haki." The Night Emperor seemed to know what he was thinking and answered him.

Observation Haki?

Ye Qiong only half understood. After all, he knew that Roger was rumored to possess the power to hear the voices of all things.

"I used Observation Haki to construct a thread of the mind between us. I can speak to you directly with my thoughts. Though I cannot fully receive your thoughts, I can still perceive most of them," the Night Emperor explained.

Ye Qiong's expression turned a little strange. This would indeed make communication much easier, especially in Eternal Hell. But then he quickly realized that wouldn't everything he thought be known by some old man from now on?

"Ahem, once you begin mastering Observation Haki, you will be able to block or isolate the probing of high-level Observation Haki."

Ye Qiong breathed a sigh of relief. Good. When he dreamed about Robin in the future, no one would be peeping in on him for no reason.

"Disciple, what exactly are you thinking about..." Cold sweat appeared on the Night Emperor's forehead.

"Master, how do you intend to teach me?" Ye Qiong asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Hmph! Ever since I was defeated by that person, I, the Night Emperor, had my limbs broken and was thrown into Eternal Hell. It has now been forty years!"

"For those entire forty years, if I had spent some time considering how to break out, how could this mere Eternal Hell possibly hold me?"

The Night Emperor's aged voice rang out forcefully in Ye Qiong's mind, carrying the sharpness of sword intent.

"Disciple, you will understand in time. Eternal Hell cannot trap a true powerhouse."

Ye Qiong fell silent. Though he had a rough idea of just how strong the world's top fighters were, he might as well have known nothing.

True powerhouses were like the man standing at the top of the food chain, Kaido of the Beasts, said to possess the strongest body and incapable of dying no matter what!

Or Whitebeard, the strongest man to shake the seas. His Tremor-Tremor Fruit ability could destroy heaven and earth, and he alone represented an era!

"Master, teach me!"

Ye Qiong craved strength. Only after being forced into a dead end did one understand just how important strength was!

Without strength, one could only be slaughtered and trampled by others!

"Of course." The Night Emperor grinned.

"Right now, the most important thing is leaving this place..."

"Leave that to your disciple." Ye Qiong's eyes brimmed with confidence as he conveyed his words. "I have a way to get out of here!"

In truth, as his body recovered, he had become increasingly certain of escaping Eternal Hell. By today, after killing the bearded man who had once been a Marine vice admiral, he was fully confident he could leave.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Familiar footsteps sounded. Ye Qiong and the Night Emperor severed their mental connection. He quickly walked to the bearded man's body in the pool of blood, removed something from the Marine coat, then quietly returned to the corner and lay down.

The food bearer placed the meal inside the iron door and glanced around the cell. Upon seeing the bearded man's corpse, he froze briefly before quickly leaving.

Before long, a squad of Marines entered Eternal Hell.

The iron door to Ye Qiong's cell creaked open.

More than a dozen Marines cautiously surveyed the cell. When they saw the bearded man's gruesome corpse and Ye Qiong curled up in the corner, they swallowed nervously, looking at him as though he were a Sea King.

Several Marines removed the chains locking the bearded man's limbs, carried his corpse out of Eternal Hell, and briefly cleaned the blood from the cell.

Throughout the process, Ye Qiong remained motionless in his feigned sleep, not displaying the slightest threat. Yet the leading Marine kept a wary eye on him, while nearly half the Marines aimed their guns at him, fully on guard.

Serving a ruler was like living beside a tiger!

The prisoners on the sixth level were simply too dangerous! There was no room for the slightest carelessness.

Ye Qiong felt that if he showed even the slightest hint of hostility, these Marines would pull the trigger and shoot him dead on the spot!

Ye Qiong cooperatively pretended to sleep, not provoking their taut nerves.

Only after finishing the cleanup did the Marines lock the cell door and hurriedly leave.

Once Eternal Hell had fallen silent again, Ye Qiong slowly sat up, ate both meals, and saved the drinking water to wash the sticky blood from his arm.

"Disciple, what is this method you mentioned for leaving Eternal Hell?"

The Night Emperor's thoughts reached him. He sounded somewhat puzzled.

"Did you forget? I'm a Devil Fruit user!" Ye Qiong pointed to the Seastone shackles around his ankles.

"Don't tell me you intend to imitate Golden Lion and cut off your feet?" The Night Emperor was shocked. "There is no need for that. You can wait for me to..."

Ye Qiong merely smiled without speaking. Whether in strength or Devil Fruit ability, he was inferior to Golden Lion in every way, but he possessed one ability no one else would think of.

"Master, cutting off your feet to escape shackles is the stupidest thing possible!"

He took something from his chest. It was the military rank insignia he had removed from the Marine coat earlier.

Ye Qiong straightened the insignia and pulled it into a thin metal wire, then inserted it into the keyhole of the ankle shackles.

"Could it be..." The Night Emperor's eyes widened in surprise. Following Ye Qiong's thoughts, he watched as Ye Qiong lightly twisted it a few times. With a soft click, the Seastone shackles opened.

The Seastone shackles that had bound Ye Qiong's feet, the restraints that had trapped countless powerful prisoners, had been unlocked just like that.

"Tsk, tsk. I'm much rustier than before. A retro lock like this used to take me less than ten seconds."

Ye Qiong casually removed the Seastone shackles and stood up, free at last. The power that had been suppressed within him was instantly released, and the long-lost feeling of controlling space surged through him.

"Disciple, you're going to make Golden Lion lose all face..." Even the Night Emperor was left speechless. After dominating the seas for decades, he had never seen anyone unlock shackles with a single piece of wire.

The first restraint of Eternal Hell, the shackles that limited the prisoners' strength, had been undone just like that.

It was so simple, so inconceivable.

After I get out, I'll have to charge for taking disciples. Unlocking Marine shackles included—one hundred million Beli guaranteed.

Ye Qiong stood and stretched his limbs, thinking smugly.

The Night Emperor had no response. Ever since Ye Qiong released Conqueror's Haki, he had gradually become unable to see through just how many secrets this disciple held.

"Very good. The shackles are off. Master, are you ready?"

Without drawing the attention of the other prisoners throughout the entire process, Ye Qiong had already stood freely inside his cell.

"Ready for what?" The Night Emperor was utterly confused. He felt as if he could no longer keep up with Ye Qiong's train of thought.

"To break out of prison, of course!"

Ye Qiong smiled and extended his left hand.

The long-unused power of his Devil Fruit space ability rapidly gathered and burst forth.

"R!"

A circular space expanded outward, enveloping Eternal Hell.

"Hm?" Ye Qiong frowned slightly. He could feel that the space had difficulty covering the walls surrounding Eternal Hell. The building likely contained Seastone, obstructing the spread of his spatial ability and causing his space to expand unevenly.

But it was already enough for him to detect the location of Eternal Hell's exit, as well as the surveillance Den Den Mushi monitoring every passage.

"Everything is going smoothly."

Ye Qiong's figure flashed, disappearing from his own cell. The next instant, he appeared out of thin air in the cell opposite his—the one imprisoning the Night Emperor.

Watching Ye Qiong teleport over, the Night Emperor was somewhat speechless. This disciple of his was certainly willful.

He really did break out of prison at the drop of a hat.

Ye Qiong raised his left hand. His spatial cutting ability activated, milky white light flowing along his arm and gathering into a gleam. Then, he swung his arm down at the chains binding the Night Emperor's limbs.

Clang!

The four chains fell to the ground with crisp rings.

"Master, let's go!"

Ye Qiong placed his arm over the Night Emperor's shoulder and activated spatial teleportation. The two vanished from the cell, as if evaporating into thin air.

"What happened?!"

The other prisoners were startled awake by the sound of chains hitting the ground, and countless streams of Observation Haki probed in every direction.

But Ye Qiong had already teleported away with the Night Emperor, leaving behind two empty cells.