"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
Bone-chilling cold poured from Jiang Lin's body, freezing every incoming cannonball and the entire sea. The sheer force of it stunned the Marine soldiers so badly that they forgot to attack.
"Ace! I'll ask you one more time. Do you want to soar over this sea as freely as that seagull in the sky?"
Jiang Lin's voice carried through the warships, through Impel Down, and even across 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 not far away. At last, the light faded from his eyes.
"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 was right beside him, but he could not let his own hope condemn Jiang Lin to ruin.
"I understand! Leave Luffy to me!"
Jiang Lin ultimately 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!"
Aboard the warships, the Marine soldiers had reloaded their cannons and were preparing to fire again. But Aokiji, who had watched in silence all along, stopped them.
"Stand down! Taking Ace back is enough!"
The authority in Aokiji's gaze made every Marine soldier's heart lurch. They hurriedly halted their attack.
"Admiral Kuzan, will you be coming back with us?"
After ordering his men to escort Ace onto the warship, Vice Admiral Onigumo invited Aokiji along.
"I'll make my own way back. You should get going!"
Aokiji gave a slight wave of his hands and headed toward the gates of Impel Down without looking back. Jiang Lin was moving too. Neither man glanced at the other again, but each had already come to see the other as an opponent.
The battle at Marineford was unavoidable.
Inside Impel Down, Magellan had begun suppressing the unrest as soon as Ace was taken away. Under his command, waves of Prison Guards and jailer beasts rushed toward Level 6.
But by the time the Prison Guards reached Level 6, everyone was long gone.
Luffy and the others had already left Level 6 through a spiral passage and entered Level 5.5!
"Luffy, I'm coming... to find you!"
After returning to Impel Down, Jiang Lin made his way down from the top floor, level by level. Every enemy he encountered was frozen or turned to stone. From the top down, the entire 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!"
In the surveillance room, piercing alarms rang incessantly in the Prison Guards' ears. They stared in terror at the hellish scenes on the monitors and, with trembling hands, relayed what they saw to Hannyabal, who was coordinating operations inside the prison.
"There are prisoner uprisings on Level 4 and Level 2 as well. Large numbers of prisoners who vanished during the Ghost Sleeve incident have appeared on Level 4. And on Level 2, Buggy and Galdino have released all the prisoners from their cells again."
Reports from throughout Impel Down poured in over the Den Den Mushi.
The flood of bad news drained the color from Hannyabal's face as he stood in the passage between Level 4 and Level 3. Magellan had yet to arrive, making Hannyabal the prison's highest authority for the moment. But under these circumstances, he had no idea what to do.
"Crescent Sand Dune!"
"Gum-Gum... Rain!"
"Arabesque Brick Fist!"
On Level 4, Luffy and the others relied on overwhelming force to drive upward, battering their way through Impel Down's defenses.
Meanwhile, the cell blocks on Level 1 lay buried beneath white ice and snow. Wherever Jiang Lin passed, the cells, walls, floors, Prison Guards, and pirates alike were covered in ice.
Anything that stood in Jiang Lin's way was frozen solid.
Amid the chaos inside Impel Down, a Marine warship suddenly arrived. Once it docked, five people smashed through the prison gates with brute force and marched inside, ignoring everyone who tried to stop them.
"Don't be so unfriendly! We're with the World Government!"
That deep voice rang out at the entrance as Blackbeard and his four subordinates forced their way into Impel Down.
"Report! All the Marines aboard Blackbeard's warship are dead!"
Once the Marines discovered what had happened aboard the warship, their commanding officer immediately ordered them to stop Blackbeard.
"Stop right there!"
At the order, a large group of Marine soldiers raised their rifles and shouted for Blackbeard to halt.
"Liberation!"
Blackbeard answered their challenge with a booming laugh. He turned and unleashed his power.
Thick black mist billowed from his body. Everything he had absorbed while coming ashore—objects and Prison Guards alike—burst out all at once.
The Marine soldiers who had just aimed their rifles at 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. Already in chaos, the prison grew even more unpredictable with Blackbeard's arrival.
Hannyabal, already at his breaking point, gave no orders in response to the report from the top floor. Soon, endless darkness swallowed the entrance to Level 1.
"Hannyabal, can you hear me?"
Just as Hannyabal stood helpless, Magellan's voice came through the Den Den Mushi.
"Ch-Chief Warden Magellan? Where are you now?"
Hearing Magellan, Hannyabal seized on the lifeline and snatched the Den Den Mushi from a Prison Guard's hand.
"I'm on Level 2. I just finished dealing with those rioting fools!"
By the time Magellan spoke, 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 an enormous wad of chewing gum, sealing it shut.
Jiang Lin stepped straight into the poisonous liquid as though he had not seen it. On the other side of the "poison door," he found the prisoners of Level 2 covered head to toe in venom.
"Magellan's already dealt with this place?"
After a moment's thought, Jiang Lin ignored the prisoners and continued forward.
Poison splashed around his feet, but he paid it no mind. He stepped over the prisoners' bodies and headed for the entrance to the level below.
"Shiryu, I'm leaving Blackbeard to you!"
As chaos engulfed Impel Down, Magellan released a prisoner on Level 6. The man wore a white cape with the word "Prison" written in large characters across the back.
"Kill... without mercy!"
A flash of steel brought blood into the stillness of Level 6. Shiryu of the Rain drew his blade and, in a single stroke, killed every Prison Guard who had come to release him.
Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, Level 6—unexpected events erupted on nearly every floor of Impel Down at once.