The Wind Rises for Buggy

Four days later, Impel Down, the great deep-sea prison.

The sixth level held a group of powerful pirates, the silver medalists of the seas. To prevent the prisoners from rioting, they were given only enough food to keep them from starving to death.

The reason the prisoners were kept alive was not due to merciful policy. Many of them possessed powerful Devil Fruit abilities, and this prevented powerful fruits from being lost outside and creating another great pirate.

The sixth level was damp and pitch-black, without even a single torch.

Inside one cell, a grandfather and grandson sat cross-legged facing each other, separated by the bars. The prisoner had his hands shackled in Seastone.

He was twenty-one years old, with black hair, ordinary skin, freckles across his cheeks, and a bare upper body that revealed the Whitebeard Pirates' emblem tattooed on his back. He wore black shorts below the waist.

He was the fuse that had ignited the war, the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander, Portgas D. Ace.

The man sitting opposite him was the legendary Marine hero, Monkey D. Garp, the adoptive grandfather of Fire Fist Ace, though they shared no blood relation.

Garp had short white hair and wore a Marine officer's suit. His burly body radiated terrifying pressure.

At that moment, the top powerhouse who had roamed the seas clenched his teeth, his face filled with pain.

"The war can no longer be stopped. We have enraged the King of the seas."

Then Garp thought of his two grandsons' personalities and let out a sigh.

"I originally wanted you and Luffy to become Marines. Now, forget becoming Marines—you two have both become infamous villains of the seas. Luffy stormed Enies Lobby and declared war on the World Government. After that, he even beat up Celestial Dragons at the Sabaody Archipelago. You two really give this old man a headache."

"And when I told Luffy about his father, that brat was so shocked that he actually said, 'I have a father too?' Only an idiot would say something like that."

Ace, who had kept his head lowered in silence, finally spoke.

"Whether we know about that or not, it is trouble either way. Luffy and I both inherited the blood of world-class criminals. How could we become Marines? Even if I inherited my mother's name, 'Portgas'..."

"The half of that bastard father's blood flowing through me still makes me ashamed, because he never gave me any memories or kindness."

Seeing that Ace still held prejudice toward his biological father, Garp's close friend, Garp wanted to explain.

"Even so, he also..."

"So..."

Once again hearing his father mentioned, Ace emotionally cut Garp off. Lost in his memories, he spoke with conviction.

"Old man, on these seas, I have only one father. Only Whitebeard."

"..."

Garp had nothing to say. Edward Newgate, known as the strongest man in the world, one of the Four Emperors, and one of the only two gold medalists of this era—his care and affection for Ace after Ace had gone to sea absolutely deserved Ace's acknowledgment.

The grandfather and grandson's renewed silence was interrupted by approaching footsteps. Fire Fist Ace was about to be escorted to Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

A warship had already approached the Gate of Justice.

The Gate of Justice was a gate used by the Marines to control the Marine-exclusive ocean currents. Those Marine-exclusive currents were the means the Marines used to quickly travel between their three central institutions.

Enies Lobby, Marine Headquarters Marineford, and the great deep-sea prison Impel Down—these three institutions were the Marines' most important locations.

As long as one boarded the Tarai Current, a journey that normally took several days could be shortened to less than an hour.

A soldier on the warship reported.

"Vice Admiral Momonga, a pirate ship has been spotted in the distance."

Momonga found it strange. A pirate ship had actually approached so close to Impel Down. Could it be one of the Whitebeard Pirates' subordinates?

Through the magnified telescope, he saw a medium-sized pirate ship flying a pirate flag that looked like a clown. Its huge red nose was particularly eye-catching.

"Ignore them. Just notify Impel Down. If they dare approach, sink them."

"Yes, Vice Admiral Momonga."

In the distance was a ship belonging to the Buggy Pirates. Ever since Buggy the Clown had been imprisoned in the great deep-sea prison, Buggy's subordinates had constantly clamored about rescuing their captain, so they had come.

The Buggy Pirates' loyalty to their captain could rank among the best in the world.

However, no matter how impassioned Buggy's subordinates were, they could not move the crew's current acting captain, Alvida, the user of the Smooth-Smooth Fruit.

This beautiful female pirate had once been an ugly, fat woman. After Luffy sent her flying, she had luckily eaten the Smooth-Smooth Fruit, said to be the Plastic Surgery Fruit, and became a curvaceous, sexy beauty.

Alvida lowered her enormous iron club and said,

"I'm not going with you to die. If you want to go, take a small boat and save your Captain Buggy yourselves. I won't stop you."

"How can you do this?"

Buggy's subordinates cried out miserably. If they took a small boat, they would surely be eaten by Sea Kings before they got very far. This was the Calm Belt, a place that made ordinary pirates tremble in fear.

Faced with the choice between life and death, everyone ultimately abandoned their beloved Captain Buggy and sailed away.

At Impel Down's harbor, Momonga's large warship had already arrived at the entrance. Five Marine branch vice admirals guarded this place, with ten large warships under their command surrounding Impel Down to guard against an attack by the Whitebeard Pirates.

Magellan personally received the Pirate Empress Hancock and the other Seven Warlords. It was both a show of respect and a form of surveillance.

Hancock, dressed in a cheongsam, once again captivated everyone. The pathetic Marines were turned to stone again, leaving even Momonga, who led the group, speechless.

"Please spare me. I do not want the Marines to lose face again."

Magellan, nearly four meters tall, felt a little stirred deep down upon seeing a beauty of Hancock's caliber. But thinking of his duties, he pretended to remain calm and said,

"Welcome to Impel Down, Pirate Empress. The deputy chief warden and I will show you around Impel Down."

Not long after Hancock and the others entered Impel Down, Luffy carefully disembarked from the ship while wearing an invisibility cloak. He remembered Sal's instructions: he absolutely could not appear near Magellan. That top powerhouse would definitely discover him.

Luffy slowly waited for someone else to open the gates again, then slipped inside without any trouble.

The prison's dark cyan interior was filled with an oppressive atmosphere. Taking the elevator down to the first level, he saw that it was like a maze, with cells of all sizes packed with prisoners.

Most of the prisoners held in Impel Down's first level, Crimson Hell, were rookie-level pirates. Only the second level, Beast Hell, held pirates with bounties in the tens of millions.

The third level, Hunger Hell, held pirates with bounties around thirty million. The fourth level, Burning Hell, held those around sixty million. Every prisoner on the fifth level was a great pirate with a bounty of over one hundred million Beli.

As Luffy passed through a narrow corridor, he suddenly heard movement above him. Several large traps dropped down. Though startled, Luffy calmly dodged them.

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, dozens of spears shot out from the walls.

Luffy narrowly dodged the traps again. With his limited brainpower, he could not understand why he was still being attacked when he was clearly invisible.

Suddenly, a commotion sounded in the distance. Looking over, he could see a red-nosed prisoner being chased by a group of blue-clothed ape guards. As he ran, he kept pressing buttons on the walls.

"It's Buggy the Clown. I'll ask him where Ace is."

Seeing someone he knew, Luffy happily chased after him, completely forgetting that Buggy being here was half his fault. Luffy called out behind Buggy.

"Buggy! Buggy!"

Buggy, who was fleeing, jumped in fright when he heard the voice. He immediately looked around but could not find where it was coming from, and asked with a terrified scream,

"Who's there? Come out! I've already found you!"

A Straw Hat head suddenly extended from the space ahead. Luffy said happily,

"Buggy, so you found me already! You're amazing! And Buggy, long time no see."

"Straw Hat, it's you? How did you get in here too? I didn't hear that you were captured."

Luffy pulled back his cloak and kept pace with Buggy as they fled. He could have simply pulled Buggy under the cloak, yet he insisted on exposing himself.

"I came in on my own."

Buggy immediately began imagining things, thinking Luffy had come to rescue him. Though he was a little touched, he still pretended otherwise and said,

"How stupid are you? You actually came to save me."

"No, I came to save Ace."

"..."

Great Captain Buggy had been flattering himself.

At the same time Luffy and Buggy met inside Impel Down, Sal rode the Kuja pirate ship back to the Sabaody Archipelago.

The moment his left foot stepped onto the harbor, he could not help saying,

"Sabaody Archipelago, I'm back."