The battleships' massive bows smashed through the raging waves, their pitch-black seastone heavy cannons lowering in unison through the thick fog, sealing every ocean-current outlet leading out of Impel Down.
Dozens of naval field officers held the regulation swords at their waists as they hurried back and forth across the ships' decks in orderly strides.
"Reporting, sir! The first through fifth Interception Squadrons are all in position!"
A lieutenant commander rushed up the flagship's command tower and saluted the figure before him.
"Seven layers of Seastone Nets have been laid beneath the currents. No coated ship stands a chance of escaping through the deep sea!"
"Good. Drive all the Deep-Sea Gravity Anchors into the bedrock. Lock down these waters completely."
The naval rear admiral on the flagship's deck looked stern and cold as he drew his sword and pointed it at the enormous black tower below.
"The Five Elders personally issued the Heavenly Punishment Extermination Order. No matter who they are, no one is leaving Impel Down alive today!"
Rumble-!
Before the rear admiral finished speaking, the entire churning sea suddenly began to shake violently.
An incomparably savage shock wave erupted from the seabed thousands of meters below, driving tens of thousands of tons of seawater outward in a wild surge.
The naval battleships, which had been holding steady on the water, were abruptly hurled several meters high by the towering waves, their steel keels giving piercing groans as they twisted.
"What's going on? What happened on the seabed?!"
Thrown off balance, the rear admiral grabbed the solid steel railing beside him and cried out involuntarily.
"Report! The monitoring instruments show that the Seastone Barrier Gate on Level Six... was completely shattered by that man with a single punch!"
The Den Den Mushi in the communications soldier's hands trembled violently,