Magellan pushed open the heavy iron door.
In an instant, a scorching wave of air surged out from behind it like something solid, slamming into all three of their faces.
The hot air carried a pungent sulfurous smell and the stench of charring, making it almost impossible to breathe.
"Hey! Old man!"
Luffy raised an arm to shield his face, driven half a step back by the blast of heat. His face scrunched up, and he stuck out his tongue to cool down:
"What's going on?! This place is a steamer!"
Magellan did not answer. He led the way onto the stairs beyond the door and descended. His leather shoes struck the metal steps with crisp taps that echoed through the silent passage.
"This is a prison."
His voice came from ahead, low and calm:
"A place for locking up and torturing pirates, not taking vacations. Understand, brat?"
Ace said nothing, merely quickening his pace to follow. He unconsciously clenched his fists, feeling the temperature rise higher and higher. Fine beads of sweat had already appeared at his temples.
Luffy muttered a few complaints but followed anyway.
This was one of Impel Down's cruelest floors. An enormous pool of blood boiled and churned below, sending up scorching white mist. The entire space was shrouded in an eerie orange-red glow, reflected from the liquid roiling like magma beneath them.
Rows of iron-barred cages lined both sides of the narrow passage ahead.
The sight inside those cages stopped Ace in his tracks.
Those prisoners could no longer be called "human."
They huddled in the corners of their cages like dried bark, skin stretched tight over their skeletons, eyes sunken, lips so dry and cracked that they curled outward. Some had lost all signs of life, becoming dried corpses baked into blackened, hard