Night fell, and the sea was unusually still.
While most people slept, several shadows streaked across the sky.
"This is my second time here!"
A thousand meters above Impel Down, in the first half of the Grand Line, several uninvited guests had arrived.
Golden Lion Shiki looked down at the familiar prison and grinned. Whether from delight or nostalgia, even he could not have said.
After all, nearly twenty years had passed since his last visit.
That operation had brought the Rocks Pirates enormous potential gains.
He had returned for the same purpose: to seize Impel Down, free the vicious criminals the Navy had imprisoned over the years, and bring them into the fold.
The difference was that Shiki had only taken part last time. This time, he was in command.
Moments like this reminded him how quickly time passed. Since reaching his peak, Shiki had often found himself looking back.
The Navy and the World Government had already lost control of the New World.
Even most of the central waters of the New World Front had become a playground for pirates, known as the "pirates' beginner zone."
They had noticed nothing of the Flying Pirates' movements.
And that was despite the Flying Pirates being a major focus of their attention.
The Flying Pirates were cautious by nature. Both Golden Lion Shiki and Uranus Reinhardt regularly vanished without a trace.
At regular intervals, the Flying Pirates' intelligence network conducted a thorough sweep of the Main Hall.
They rooted out spies hidden within their ranks.
Even without proof, a mere suspicion was enough for Reinhardt to quietly transfer someone elsewhere.
And even if the Navy and the World Government learned the Flying Pirates were making a move, they would have struggled to guess that Impel Down was the target.
The Flying