"I'm on Level 2, with Buggy and Mr. 3."
Su Lin sent a message through the private chat interface.
"Jinbe and I will meet up with you right away!"
After that, they safely followed Buggy and Mr. 3 to rendezvous with Straw Hat.
There were far too many prisoners being held, and once they were released, the Beast Guards were completely useless.
Su Lin moved with the crowd as he headed toward Buggy and the others ahead.
A Dharma Artifact that automatically concealed itself and protected its owner floated around him. The barrier it generated blocked several pirate attacks from people trying to sneak up and steal his clothes.
Su Lin then easily knocked out those blind fools and left them in Impel Down as punishment.
He was not ready for all that killing yet.
"Where's Magellan?" Su Lin had already guessed the answer.
"I sent him flying." Luffy grinned confidently.
Well, no wonder Ivankov and Scissorhands were both here now.
Judging by Ivankov's expression, he probably had not recovered from the shock of Luffy suddenly becoming overpowered. But in that case, Magellan's Fruit could not be copied.
[Library Series—Ability Record] had now recorded and stored the abilities used by most of the people present. Thanks to Crocodile still using his ability even while running away, Su Lin could at least turn into an element now.
Come to think of it, could the stored books not be destroyed?
Within his mental world, Su Lin gave up on tearing apart Ivankov's ability. Forget it. It was not a crossdressing ability; someone had merely used it to become a crossdresser. Right, the ability was innocent. The ability was innocent.
That huge head really was hard on the eyes.
He picked up the book related to the Sand-Sand Fruit, ready to open it and switch abilities at any time. Why not use it now?
What a joke. He did not want to attract Crocodile's attention.
"Straw Hat Boy, is this rather strange-looking boy your friend?"
"Yes. His name is Su Lin. He's the one who brought Jinbe and me here."
"You and Jinbe?"
"Your Excellency Ivankov, we can discuss that later. Your Excellency Su Lin, this belongs to you." Jinbe handed over a pocket watch as he ran.
"It fell out earlier and nearly got lost. Good thing Jinbe picked it up, hahaha." Luffy laughed.
Su Lin's hand trembled as he took the pocket watch, and sudden fear washed over him.
"Do you know that if this watch were gone, we wouldn't be able to return?!"
"Eh, really? It was that important?!" Luffy's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, perhaps a side effect of the Nika Fruit.
A bead of sweat slid down Jinbe's forehead. It was not from exhaustion after running for so long, but because his captain had frightened him.
When Luffy had used Gear Fourth and Armament Haki to leap into the air and send Magellan flying, this thing had fallen from midair as well. If Jinbe had not reacted quickly...
Meanwhile, Ivankov and the others were utterly bewildered.
"Mr. 2!"
Su Lin silently stored the pocket watch in his item space. He had only been in the Pirate World for a short time, yet these scares had already surpassed everything he had encountered in the first half of his life. "Mr. 2!"
"Were you calling me~?" Bon Clay spun over to Su Lin's side.
"We'll split into two groups. Jinbe will go with the main force to seize a warship. Luffy and I will help Mr. 2 disguise himself as Magellan and reach the Level 1 power room, where we'll make the prison guards open the Gates of Justice."
"Who are you, brat? You've been standing there since the beginning. How come I've never seen you before?" Buggy's head floated forward. "Why should I listen to you?"
"What does Lord Buggy think of my suggestion?"
"Uh, hmm, it's fairly clever. Fine, we'll do as you say. You go open those Gates of Justice or whatever." Most of Buggy's body reassembled and floated into the air. "Men! Follow me! Let's seize the Navy warships and escape this place together!"
"Yes! Our Savior, Buggy!"
He was so easy to fool. Everyone thought the same thing.
Disguised as Magellan, Mr. 2 carried Luffy and Su Lin to the power room, successfully tricking the guards into opening the power gates.
"Then let's get going." Luffy clapped his hands.
All the guards around them had already been beaten unconscious. Su Lin had not directly taken part; he had only used sand to blind them and destroy their communication devices, preventing information from leaking out.
He then switched to the Op-Op Fruit's ability.
"Room."
The three used teleportation to catch up to the warship in time. Without Magellan pressuring them this time, Jinbe had not summoned the Sea Kings he was close with to help in these waters. Instead, everyone boarded in an orderly line, like passengers getting onto a cruise ship.
"Little Bon—!"
After boarding, Luffy hugged Mr. 2 and laughed through tears.
"What is it?! Luffy Boy, I know you're happy to have escaped, but there's no need to get this excited."
"Thank you, Bon Clay." Jinbe also placed a hand on Mr. 2's shoulder and solemnly said, "That said, Your Excellency Su Lin, thank you as well for giving us this opportunity. This time, the course of history will change."
"I have my own purpose too, so there's no need to thank me." Su Lin smiled and waved his hand. "Change... for different people, is it truly good or bad?"
Amid the ruins on Level 3, Magellan's finger twitched. "Straw Hat... How did he become so strong? Haki..."
"Haki infused into his fist. It struck me without even making contact."
Within the ruins, the gradually recovering Magellan recalled what had just happened. He had clearly been fighting Ivankov when Straw Hat Kid and the former Shichibukai Jinbe suddenly appeared.
Their presence and power had been completely different, as though they had become different people.
That form of Straw Hat Kid had caught him off guard and actually knocked him unconscious for a brief moment. Had that bastard been hiding his strength from the start? No, absolutely not.
After carefully considering Straw Hat Kid's behavior from beginning to end, there were far too many mysteries. But now was not the time to think about such matters.
He felt that he had recovered enough.
This was no time to rest. He had to stop the criminals from escaping.
"Hm?!" Magellan's pupils constricted. The sight filtering through the cracks in the rubble enraged him even more than being defeated by Straw Hat Kid. "Shiryu! You bastard!"
The Blackbeard group he had defeated on Level 4 was actually traveling with Shiryu of the Rain, the former Chief Guard, passing by the ruins.
"Vasco Shot, Avalo Pizarro, Sanjuan Wolf, and Dark Moon Hunter."
"Zehahahahaha! What a mess." Blackbeard looked at the ruins ahead. "Looks like someone had a huge battle with Magellan here."
Burgess slammed his fists together and laughed arrogantly. "I really want to fight that strong guy, hahaha."
"But by now, he was probably already dealt with by Magellan." Shiryu took a drag from his cigarette and blew out a smoke ring. "Bad timing. I really wanted to personally give the Warden a slash."
The group chatted and laughed as they leisurely headed toward the path to Level 2, completely failing to notice the dark purple liquid slowly seeping out from the rubble behind them.
(End of Chapter)