Deep in Freezing Hell, on Impel Down's fifth underground level.
Crack!
A long whip sliced through the air and struck a man wearing a flight cap and a black prison guard's uniform.
The whip, coated in Haki, had left his uniform in tatters.
Savage wounds lay exposed across his body. Frost formed over them in the bitter cold, deepening his pain.
Yet no matter how much the lashes hurt, he made no sound.
"Shiryu, I believe I told you: everything in Impel Down is the property of the Celestial Dragons. That includes you."
Luca Doto, Impel Down's current warden, kept lashing the young man chained to a cross before him.
"Why did you kill those pirates and damage the Celestial Dragons' property? Well?"
Doto spoke without once slowing his hand.
Other guards watched from a distance, but none dared approach.
Over the years, they had learned exactly what sort of man the warden sent from Mary Geoise was: a vicious one.
He looked down on them all.
And he enjoyed torturing prisoners.
Blaming Shiryu was nothing more than an excuse.
Plenty of prisoners had died at Doto's hands, too.
All the guards could do was fear him.
Shiryu's refusal to take Doto seriously infuriated him, so he was always looking for reasons to put Shiryu down.
Doto had even blocked Shiryu's request to leave Impel Down.
That only made Shiryu more brutal. In retaliation, he drew his sword and slaughtered a great number of pirates.
In the end, it came down to strength.
Doto was stronger, so he could keep Shiryu under his thumb.
But Doto did not dare offend Impel Down's other young monster, Magellan, with his terrifying Devil Fruit ability.
Blood filled Shiryu's mouth as he stared Doto down. His bloodshot eyes looked ready to kill him.
His