Five Years Later

In the year 155 of the Sea Circle Calendar, five years had hurried by since Ohara Island silently vanished from the map of the world.

The Four Blues and the New World were plagued by endless conflicts during the Great Age of Pirates, growing ever more chaotic and violent.

No one spared Impel Down a glance.

Even Sengoku, who had only recently become Fleet Admiral, had completely forgotten the monstrous young prisoner from years ago.

At this time, Level 55 of Impel Down.

Ye Qiong closed his eyes and floated in the air within a faintly glowing circular space enclosed by barriers.

He was nearly sixteen now and had been in this world for ten years. Ten years marked a full cycle.

Ye Qiong's body had fully developed. Nearly 1.8 meters tall, his bronze skin gleamed brightly, and his lean yet muscular body bore not a trace of excess flesh, making him look exceptionally capable.

The childishness had completely faded from his face. With a cropped haircut and sharply sculpted features, he looked sunny and handsome.

Suddenly, Ye Qiong opened his eyes. His golden, flowing eyes shone as brightly as stars.

His presence was imposing. The sharpness he had acquired through years of sword practice was like a famous blade tempered to perfection, its unstoppable edge inspiring fear.

The gains from five years of training were beyond imagination.

Ye Qiong had mastered an incredibly diverse range of abilities: martial arts, swordsmanship, Haki, and Devil Fruit powers.

Though none were fully mastered, he had continued to grow, making breakthroughs in every field. Even the Night Emperor could only sigh in admiration.

"It's about time to leave this place." Ye Qiong revealed a contemplative expression, then his figure flickered and vanished from the space.

There was another enormous space beneath the ground, covering nearly all of Level 55. Ye Qiong controlled the repulsive force in the space downward, creating something akin to a gravity field.

Within it, Crow King and White Snow were sparring in martial arts.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Their Armament Haki clashed continuously, sending tremors through the air.

"White Snow, it's just a spar. Why are you hitting so hard?"

Crow King complained as he passively endured White Snow's fierce attacks.

White Snow did not respond. Armament Haki covered her delicate palm as she viciously struck Crow King's raised arm.

"Wah! I'm dying, I'm dying!" Crow King cried out, but layers upon layers of Armament Haki formed his defense, leaving him completely unharmed.

Crow King's talent for training Armament Haki had been acknowledged by the Night Emperor, yet he used it entirely as a turtle shell. Still, that suited his naturally shameless personality.

White Snow's eyes grew increasingly cold, her entire body radiating chill and killing intent, making Crow King uneasy.

"Hey, hey, White Snow, you don't really want to kill me, do you? Hey, hey, I taught you Haki, and not only do you refuse to call me Master, now you want to murder your teacher?"

Crow King rattled off another stream of nonsense, causing an icy gleam to flash in White Snow's eyes.

Whoosh!

Black flames ignited in White Snow's hands, while the huge phantom of a Nether Wolf emerged from her back.

She pressed down with both hands, unleashing hellfire that threatened to reduce Crow King to ashes.

"Damn!"

Crow King let out an exaggerated cry and burrowed into the ground, his whole body sinking below the surface and leaving behind a bottomless hole.

White Snow stepped forward and placed her hands over the hole as black flames surged madly inside.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground all around burst apart and collapsed. A massive pangolin clad only in shorts burrowed out from another hole, followed by a pillar of erupting black flames.

Black flames clung to Crow King's back, but the Armament Haki covering half his body kept them at bay, leaving his exposed flesh unscathed.

"White Snow, I was wrong. Today I'll help clean up the place—uh, though it seems I'm always the one doing it. Fine, I won't peek at you bathing anymore."

Before Crow King could finish, Black Flames spread through the air from all around. The black fire coiled and danced together, forming the outline of an enormous black flame flower. Every petal bloomed with the breathtaking beauty of black fire, and every petal gave off an extreme sense of danger.

Before the giant black flame flower even formed, the temperature on Level 55 soared in a straight line. If Ye Qiong's gravity field had not continued to hold and reinforce the surroundings, the flames' heat alone would have nearly destroyed everything nearby.

"Red Spider Lily!"

Crow King's eyes widened. His ever-playful expression finally changed as he stared in horror at the black flame flower in the air. He had not expected White Snow to truly lose her temper!

"White Snow... this..."

Crow King's face went pale. After years together, he knew all too well just how terrifying this move was.

The black flame flower condensed, dazzling to the extreme, seductive and gorgeous. It was about to take shape and could no longer be withdrawn!

It carried the aura of hell, ready to bury everything with a single strike!

Just as the enormous black flame flower was about to crash down, Ye Qiong teleported over and pressed his palms together.

R!

The circular space that had been maintaining the gravity field abruptly contracted, firmly enclosing the black flame flower.

R Break!

His active spatial power gathered in his hand, milky-white radiance wrapping around his fist as Ye Qiong struck powerfully at the space before him.

Bang!

The blow directly shattered the void, blasting a fist-sized black hole into the air.

Ye Qiong supported the circular space containing the black flames with his other hand and pressed it into the black hole, inch by inch, until it completely disappeared into the air.

"Huff, huff."

Seeing that the danger had passed, Crow King returned to human form and wiped away his cold sweat.

Ye Qiong teleported over and supported White Snow's somewhat weakened body.

"I already forbade you from using that move, but you wouldn't listen."

Ye Qiong frowned as he reprimanded her. White Snow remained silent, lightly biting her lip. Usually so cold and proud, she now looked like a somewhat aggrieved girl, making him unable to resist channeling the self-healing power of his vitality into her.

"Brother Ye, I want some too."

Crow King approached with a grin, only for Ye Qiong to raise his leg and kick him away. He glared at him irritably. "You nearly caused a disaster, and you're still fooling around. I told you not to joke with White Snow."

Only after White Snow had recovered somewhat did Ye Qiong teleport away. The day of their prison break was drawing near, and much preparation remained to be done.

After Ye Qiong left, Crow King moved close to White Snow. "White Snow, sorry about that. But you really can't take a joke."

White Snow merely stood there with her head lowered, touching the lingering warmth in her palm, lost in thought.

Crow King gave her a puzzled look before suddenly saying, "White Snow, don't tell me you like Brother Ye? Ahahaha, that's really interesting..."

Bang!

Black Flames appeared and swiftly pounced at Crow King.

"Wah! Help!" Crow King fled in defeat.

The Night Emperor sat quietly amid a cluster of rocks he had created, seemingly deep in thought. His frail, aged body looked no different from that of an ordinary old man. No one could have imagined that he had once been a legendary great swordsman renowned across the seas.

"Master."

Ye Qiong walked over.

"You're here." The Night Emperor turned around, his face even older than it had been five years ago.

After his obsession had been severed, his life force had instead grown ever weaker.

Ye Qiong felt distressed and did not know what to say.

"Cough, cough. It's almost time. I can still hold on until you become a great swordsman."

The Night Emperor seemed to understand what he was thinking. He patted the space beside him, signaling for Ye Qiong to sit.

"Master, I've decided to break out tomorrow." Ye Qiong sat down, his resolve firm.

Whether for Robin, the Night Emperor, or even himself, he could not possibly waste too many years here.

The Night Emperor nodded. "It is time. There isn't much more I can teach you. The rest will depend on you to comprehend and master on your own."

"I believe that once you leave Impel Down, you will surely become a figure who stirs the times. As long as you make Dark Night Style renowned across the seas and pass it on, I will have no regrets."

The Night Emperor looked at him with gratification.

He truly had no regrets. To encounter someone in Eternal Hell who could inherit his swordsmanship was perhaps the greatest fortune of his life.

"So what if I grow old and die here..." the Night Emperor said with emotion. He knew that with his current half-ruined body, he was not merely incapable of fighting but would be a burden.

"Master! Don't say that again!"

Ye Qiong's tone was firm and left no room for doubt.

"Tomorrow, I will definitely take you out of here! If you won't leave, then neither will I!"