Blackbeard Arrives

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Bone-chilling cold poured from Jiang Lin's body, freezing every incoming cannonball and the entire sea. The sheer scale of his power stunned all the Marine Soldiers into forgetting to attack.

"Ace! I'll ask you one more time. Do you want to soar over this sea as freely as that gull in the sky?"

Jiang Lin's voice pierced the warships, Impel Down, and even the frozen sea, reaching every corner of the prison.

"I... I..."

Ace looked at the Marine warships around him, then at Admiral Aokiji of Marine Headquarters in the distance. At last, his eyes dimmed.

"I'm sticking with my choice. Jiang Lin, take care of Luffy for me. Thank you!"

In the end, Ace chose the darkest path. He knew hope stood right beside him, but he could not let Jiang Lin fall into ruin for the sake of his own hopes.

"I understand! Leave Luffy to me!"

Jiang Lin chose not to take Ace away. He swept a cold gaze over Aokiji and the imposing warships around him, then turned and walked slowly toward the entrance to Impel Down.

"Attack!"

The Marine Soldiers aboard the warships loaded their cannons and prepared to fire again. But Aokiji, who had watched everything in silence, stopped them.

"Stand down! Taking Ace back is enough!"

Aokiji's commanding gaze made every Marine Soldier's heart jolt. They hurriedly called off the attack.

"Admiral Kuzan, will you be returning with us?"

After ordering his men to escort Ace aboard the warship, Vice Admiral Onigumo extended the invitation to Aokiji.

"I'll make my own way back. You should get moving too!"

Aokiji gave a slight wave, then walked toward the gates of Impel Down without looking back. Jiang Lin was moving too. Neither spared the other another glance, but each had come to regard the other as an opponent.

For the battle at Marineford was inevitable.

Inside Impel Down, Magellan had begun suppressing the unrest as soon as Ace was taken away. At his command, waves of Prison Guards and jailer beasts rushed toward Level 6.

But by the time they arrived, Level 6 was empty.

Luffy and the others had already taken a spiral passage out of Level 6 and into Level 5.5!

"Luffy, I'm coming... to find you!"

Once Jiang Lin was back inside Impel Down, he descended from the top floor, level by level. Every enemy he encountered was frozen or turned to stone by his powers. Starting at the top, the prison gradually fell silent.

"Vice Chief Warden, Pirate D has passed the top floor and is heading for Level 1. We... we're no match for him!"

Shrill alarms kept sounding around the Prison Guards in the surveillance room. Staring in terror at the hellish scenes on their monitors, they reported what they saw with trembling hands to Hannyabal, who was coordinating operations inside the prison.

"There are prisoner riots on Level 4 and Level 2 now, too. A large number of inmates who vanished during the 'Ghost Sleeve' incident have appeared on Level 4. And on Level 2, Buggy and Galdino have let all the prisoners out of their cells again."

Reports from across Impel Down poured through the Den Den Mushi to Hannyabal.

The flood of reports drained the color from Hannyabal's face as he stood in the passage between Level 4 and Level 3. Magellan had yet to arrive, leaving Hannyabal as the prison's highest-ranking decision-maker. But faced with this situation, he had no idea what to do.

"Crescent Cutlass!"

"Gum-Gum... Rain!"

"Arabesque Brick Fist!"

On Level 4, Luffy and the others fought their way upward with overwhelming force, battering through Impel Down's defenses.

Meanwhile, the cellblock on Level 1 lay buried beneath white ice and snow. Everywhere Jiang Lin passed, cells, walls, floors, Prison Guards, and pirates alike were covered in ice.

Anything that stood in Jiang Lin's way was frozen solid.

As chaos swept through Impel Down, a Marine warship suddenly arrived. When it docked, five men smashed through the prison gates by brute force and strode toward Impel Down, ignoring everyone who tried to stop them.

"No need to be so unfriendly! We're with the World Government!"

Facing the Prison Guards' resistance, a deep voice rang out at Impel Down's entrance. Blackbeard and his four men had forced their way ashore.

"Report! Every Marine aboard Blackbeard's warship is dead!"

Once the Marines discovered what had happened aboard Blackbeard's ship, a Marine officer immediately ordered his men to intercept him.

"Stop right there!"

At the order, a large group of Marine Soldiers raised their rifles and shouted for Blackbeard to halt.

"Liberation!"

Blackbeard answered the Marines' challenge with a booming laugh. He turned and unleashed his power.

Thick black mist billowed from Blackbeard's body. Everything he had absorbed while coming ashore—objects and Prison Guards alike—burst back out all at once.

The Marine Soldiers who had just trained their guns on the Blackbeard Pirates were thrown into disarray by the people and debris raining down on them.

"An intruder! It's Marshall D. Teach of the Shichibukai!"

The desperate cry rang through Impel Down. With Blackbeard's arrival, the prison's already chaotic situation grew even more unpredictable.

The jailers on the top floor sent their report, but Hannyabal, already at his breaking point, gave no orders. Soon, endless darkness swallowed the entrance to Level 1.

"Hannyabal, can you hear me?"

As Hannyabal stood helpless, Magellan's voice came through the Den Den Mushi.

"W-Warden Magellan? Where are you?"

Seizing on that lifeline, Hannyabal excitedly snatched the Den Den Mushi from a Prison Guard's hands.

"I'm on Level 2. I just finished dealing with those rioting fools!"

By the time Magellan's voice came through, he had sealed every passage on Level 2 with poison.

"Poison?"

Descending from Level 1, Jiang Lin reached the passage to Level 2. Pale purple liquid clung to the entire doorway like a giant wad of chewing gum.

Jiang Lin stepped straight into the deadly liquid as though it were not there. Beyond the "poison gate," he found Level 2 prisoners with their bodies covered in venom.

"Magellan's already dealt with this place?"

After a moment's thought, Jiang Lin ignored the prisoners and walked on.

Poison splashed around Jiang Lin's feet, but he paid it no mind. He stepped over the prisoners' bodies and headed for the passage below.

"Shiryu, I'll leave Blackbeard to you!"

While turmoil gripped Impel Down, Magellan released a prisoner on Level 6. The man wore a white cloak with the character for "prison" written large across its back.

"Kill... them all!"

A flash of steel brought a splash of blood to the quiet of Level 6. Shiryu of the Rain had drawn his blade and cut down every Prison Guard who had come to release him.

Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 6—unexpected events erupted almost simultaneously on every floor of Impel Down.