Freezing Hell

After dark, once the Marines had left Saul's side, Ye Chen hurried back into the woods. Under cover of night, the two hid beneath Saul. To ordinary people, Saul was simply too enormous; even frozen solid, he was still like a gigantic iceberg. No one would have expected anyone to be hiding there. Soon after, the giant fleet the Marines had summoned arrived. Several giant Marine soldiers carried Saul onto a warship. Aokiji came over to give a few instructions, and the warship raised sail and departed Ohara.

As for where they were headed, Ye Chen had no idea. In his view, Ohara was far too dangerous. The Marines kept searching the island, and if they stayed, they would eventually be discovered. But how could he have known that this massive warship was headed for an even more terrifying place?

After sailing at sea for several days, the huge warship finally stopped. Those days had been miserable for Ye Chen and Olvia. Olvia was far too weak; not only could she receive no proper treatment, even finding food had become a problem. Ye Chen had no choice but to scrape some ice off Saul's body to eat. It had no taste and nearly cracked his teeth, but at least Ye Chen survived. He had no intention of starving to death.

Although the ship had stopped, Ye Chen did not dare stick his head out to see where they had been taken, fearing discovery. He only sensed that after Saul was carried off the warship, they seemed to enter an exceptionally gloomy and terrifying place. Chilling winds swept around them, while cries constantly drifted into his ears.

"Let us out! I want to leave this damned hell!"

"I've had enough! Please, let me go! I don't want to die in Impel Down!"

...There were all kinds of shouts. But from their words, Ye Chen realized this should be Impel Down, a place much like a prison. He regretted it bitterly. Hadn't we just escaped the wolf's den only to enter the tiger's lair?

Prison. The name alone made cold sweat break out. During the journey, Ye Chen had considered jumping into the sea and escaping, but the ocean was too dangerous. He might be eaten by monsters in the water. Besides, Olvia was injured and had trouble moving, so Ye Chen abandoned the plan to flee midway.

He did not know how long they traveled, only that they seemed to turn through several corridors before finally reaching a floor covered in ice and snow. The escorting Marines were all shivering from the cold and cursing nonstop. After finding a cell and setting Saul down inside, they hurried away. The surroundings soon fell quiet. Other than the howling wind, there was only an endless expanse of snow. Ye Chen sneezed from the cold, crawled out from beneath Saul, and looked around. He froze in shock.

The place he was in was an enormous cell. Saul was so huge, yet he did not seem cramped inside it at all. This was probably a cell specially prepared for giants. Calling it a cell was not quite right, though. Ye Chen knew Saul was frozen solid; to him, this was more like a warehouse for storing him.

There was no need to lock him up at all. Once frozen, Saul was like a dead man. He had not moved in the slightest.

Outside was an icy wilderness, vast and empty. The cell Saul was in had only three walls. The remaining side was open, fitted with many iron bars. Cold wind howled in from outside, cutting across Ye Chen's face like blades. Even snowflakes blew in with it, making Ye Chen shiver all over as he kept breathing warm air into his hands. Those prisoners had been right. This place truly was hell.

Seeing that Olvia had not come out, Ye Chen hurriedly crawled back beneath Saul in concern. Olvia's face was flushed red, and she kept letting out soft groans. Curled into a ball from the cold, she trembled all over. Ye Chen reached out and touched her forehead. His hand was instantly scorched, burning as if he had placed it on a stove.

"No, it's far too cold here. I have to find something to keep her warm." Having made up his mind, Ye Chen saw that the gap in the iron door was wide enough. After all, he was only six years old and small-framed. He tried it and found that he could just squeeze through.

Ye Chen hugged his shoulders and hopped out of the cell. His legs never stopped moving; otherwise, they would surely freeze stiff.

The biting wind howled as snowflakes danced wildly. Ye Chen could not understand how a prison could contain such a damned place. It could freeze a person to death. The area was incredibly empty. Aside from numerous stone cells, there was nothing else—not even a guard. On second thought, Ye Chen felt there was no need for guards here. The extreme cold was like an ice cellar. What prisoner could escape from this place? Given enough time, they would freeze to death. Sure enough, as he passed several nearby cells, the prisoners inside were like ice sculptures, all motionless. Some were alive, while others had long since died. No one cared. There was not even anyone delivering food. One shivering prisoner stuffed something like a stone into his mouth.

Crunch. After one bite, his front tooth snapped off.

"Huh?" Someone spotted Ye Chen and widened his eyes in surprise. "Why is there a child here?"

"What a pity. He was thrown into Freezing Hell at such a young age," someone replied weakly with a sigh.

"Is he a prisoner too? Why would he be sent to the fifth floor, Freezing Hell? Probably not. That child isn't wearing shackles. If he were imprisoned, how could he be outside the cell?"

The prisoners immediately perked up, pointing and discussing him nonstop. Although the weather was brutally cold, these were powerful pirates with bounties close to a hundred million. They would not freeze to death so easily.

"I think he must be someone's child. There's no need to put shackles on a child that small. He'll probably freeze to death before long anyway. What a pity."

Ye Chen had no time to pay attention to them. He only wanted to find something that could keep them warm. Braving the wind and snow, he had only walked a few dozen meters when a snow-white wolf suddenly emerged from the snow ahead, its eyes glowing green.

"Kid, run! That's a War Wolf. It'll eat you!" an older pirate kindly warned him.

"War Wolf?" Ye Chen paused. He had killed wild wolves in the forests of Ohara before. Looking at the War Wolf's smooth, silky, snow-white fur, Ye Chen's eyes suddenly lit up. It was too cold here. If he could kill the War Wolf and skin it for Olvia to wear, she should be warmer, right?

At that moment, Ye Chen had no idea how terrifying a War Wolf was. He thought it was merely an ordinary wild wolf.

The moment they clashed, Ye Chen instantly regretted it!

The War Wolves here were exceptionally vicious. Their limbs were powerful, their bodies nimble and agile, and they were incredibly fast. They could easily tear a person to pieces. The reason there were no guards here was that these War Wolves alone were enough.

If the War Wolves were released onto the upper floors, they would eat all the guards and monster sentries there.