Chapter 3



9.25 a.m., Impel Down, level four, close to the stairway connecting level three to level four

The guards were a joke. Cutting a way through them was surprisingly easy.

Then again, fire was kind of hard to fend off…

Ace didn't care and sent a new round of fire bullets at a group of guards, who thought targeting Luffy was a good idea. The smell of burned flesh intensified even more. As if Ace would let them get close enough to Luffy even to touch him. Not on his watch.

Or Sabo's, for that matter.

His long-lost brother – and Ace was curious as hell about his excuse, it better be a good one, or he will hit him extra hard for making Luffy cry – was taking out another group of guards, who were very irritated to get attacked by a colleague. Ace shook his head. Sabo really should get rid of that awful uniform. He even put those ugly sunglasses back on, which a good bunch of guards also wore.

"I can't get recognised by other guards."

That had been his explanation for Luffy's and his own curious looks.

As if that monstrosity of a beard covering the lower half of Sabo's face wasn't enough! By now, whatever shape the beard once had was lost forever, and it made Sabo look only wilder while he was bashing on the heads of the confused guards.

That's when he heard the terrified screams of this Ivankov person's people and the prisoners, who had gotten released by these strange people to expand the chaos. But, really, what kind of people did Sabo know? And Sabo dared to scold him for being friends with Jinbe?!

Ace looked back and saw all the jailor beasts aiming for these so-called candies, spinning their bloodied maces.

"Oh no!" breathed Ace, his face getting dark. He had gotten to know these mindless beasts quite well in the first week of his stay. Two times per day, one of them would show up to torture him. And as Jinbe joined Ace, they did the same to him. And he had been unable to do anything to help his friend. But not this time! Not! This! Time!

Turning around, Ace pushed his way through the fleeing candies and prisoners.

Behind him, he could hear Sabo's screaming at him. "Ace! Where are you going? Ace! Damnit! Ace, that's the wrong way! Fuck! Luffy!"

"Follow him! I will help your little brother!" Ace faintly heard Jinbe shout.

Behind him, he could hear Sabo shout for him as he followed him through the panicking masses of candies.

"Get out of the way!" Ace shouted as he closed in on the jailor beast. Flames started to lick up his arms.

The candies and prisoners screamed out in fear, tried to get as far away from him as possible, and opened a free path for Ace to these god-awful beasts. A joyless halve smirk spread over his lips as he stopped and faced the four jailors. The air around Ace flickered from the heat surrounding him.

"Damnit! Ace!" he heard Sabo curse him somewhere behind him.

The jailor beast looking like some strange version of a zebra broke out of the line and directly headed for Ace. He wordlessly raised his hands, and waves of flames broke free. The already unbearable heat of level four increased even more.

The prisoners and candies screamed in panic and tried to get as far away as possible from the sea of flames he had created.

Ace released even more flames.

The smell of burned flesh intensified.

The flames grew until they covered the whole hallway.

Inhuman screams echoed from within the crackling of the flames.

And Ace watched with raised hands.

A wooden beam crashed into the flames, catching fire instantly as tiny sparks soared into the hot air.

Ace turned around and walked up to Sabo, who stood a safe distance away, where the heat didn't threaten to scorch everybody's lungs if they weren't a living flame like Ace himself. Over the rim of his useless sunglasses, the sky-blue eyes of his brother flashed with anger. "Was that something personal?" he snapped.

"Kind of.", answered Ace calmly.

"Well, try to suppress more impulses of personal revenge." Sabo pushed the glasses up his nose and turned stiffly around. "We are trying to get out of here and not get caught by the god-damn chief warden."

Well, shit! It looked like he made Sabo angry there.

"Let's go." Ace offered him a weak smile.

Sabo snorted but fell in step with Ace as they weaved their way through the candies back to Luffy. With wary looks, the candies and prisoners let Ace pass. He didn't care. They didn't have to like him.

They turned around a corner, and through the masses of prisoners and candies, Ace caught a glimpse of an even bloodier Luffy standing before – if his memory served him right – vice-warden Hannyabal, just as bloody as his idiot little brother, swinging a double-bladed naginata.

"Oh no! That asshole will not do that!" was all Ace heard of his blond brother before he practically flew over the masses of candies and prisoners. Sabo raised the standard-issued bludgeon of the Impel Down guards and caught Hannyabal's naginata before it could touch Luffy.

"Wha- "started Hannyabal, confused upon seeing a guard stopping his attack on a criminal.

"Sabo?" gasped Luffy whipping blood from his mouth. But something in the tense back of his blond older brother held him back from protesting.

"You will not touch him!" Sabo growled angrily and managed to disarm the vice-warden with a move so fast that only trained eyes could follow him. Shocked, Hannyabal stumbled backwards while his double-bladed naginata landed with a clang far away from him.

"Do you have any idea what you are doing, guard?", Hannyabal asked, moving further away from Sabo and his murderous glare that not even the tinted glasses of his sunglasses could hide. "These- all these men and women are criminals! The scum of the world! By hurting and endangering innocent people, they create a reputation for themselves that strikes fear in the hearts of the innocents and robs them of their peaceful sleep because they fear for the lives of their loved ones. That's why they got imprisoned here in Impel Down, the hellish prison. We – every guard working here – do our duty so that innocent people can live a peaceful life without fearing for their loved ones. That is why we keep the scum of the world imprisoned here until justice decides their verdict!"

Ace pushed himself through the masses until he stood beside Luffy – who close up looked even more horrible and still gasped for breath – when Hannyabal finished his little speech.

Sabo took a shuddering breath. "They are the scum of the world? They are imprisoned here until justice decides their verdict? Do you want me to believe that shit after everything I have seen going on in this hellhole?! You want me to believe that any of you is better than these criminals?"

Ace could see the tension in Sabo's shoulders. Shit! He was beyond enraged. You don't anger Sabo to the point of him getting seriously pissed off if you don't want to pay the price. But the vice-warden didn't know this and had dug his own grave. Ace suppressed a wince.

"What?"

Sabo tightened the grip around his bludgeon, and Ace – after the many lessons in haki that Thatch had given him, it hurt remembering this brother of his – could easily recognise the armament haki his brother pushed into the blunt weapon.

"Guard, do you know what you are doing? You will suffer the same fate as the scum- "started Hannyabal.

It was like something snapped in Sabo. He stiffened one second, then ripped off his sunglasses, exposing the vice-warden to his unrestrained glare. "My brothers are no scum!" Sabo screamed, enraged.

Hannyabal recoiled.

At that exact moment, Sabo moved forward, raised his bludgeon, jumped, and struck the vice-warden on the head with an ugly crack.

It's probably a testimony to the circumstances in which Ace and Luffy grew up, but they were two of the few that did not flinch upon the sound of breaking bones or the view of the heavily injured face of the vice-warden as he fell unconscious to the ground. Breathing heavily, Sabo stood over the prone form of the vice-warden, murderous glare now directed at the heavily armed guard unit blocking their way. Fear flickered in the men's eyes, and – to Ace's surprise – several dropped their weapons under Sabo's glare before fleeing.

Something crashed loudly behind them.

One guard dared to raise his bazooka with shaking hands. And as if that had been the signal, everybody had waited for all the candies and prisoners rushed past Ace, Luffy and Sabo. They were screaming and shouting as they descended upon the guard unit.

Ace instinctively reached for Luffy's hand so he wouldn't lose him. Then he pushed his way through to Sabo, who stood stock-still.

"Sabo? Are you alright?" asked Luffy, worried.

"Hey, what was that about personal revenge you just reprimed me about?" asked Ace. "Because that just now looked a hell of a lot personal to me."

"Shut up, Ace.", growled Sabo and took a deep breath. "Let's get out of here."

Dropping his awful – and now useless – sunglasses in favour of grabbing Luffy's other hand, Sabo pulled them past Hannyabal's body to the door leading to the stairway up to level three.

"What about your glasses?" asked Luffy innocently.

"I don't care anymore."

Luffy snickered while Ace sighed.

Sometimes Sabo made as much sense as Luffy: none!

Why the hell had he missed that idiot?

.

At roughly the same time, Impel Down, level four, at the door at the top of the stairway connecting level four with level five

"Chief warden!" A panicking guard screamed upon seeing Magellan.

"Report!" Magellan bellowed, already pissed off because Hannyabal called him away from getting Fire Fist somehow out of the locked-up level six to handle another riot.

"Last report was that we lost over 90 per cent of the surveillance. And it looks like part of the communication snail system is also affected.", reported the guard, distressed while running next to Magellan. "Vice-warden Hannyabal moved different units to encounter the rioting group of prisoners within level four, but most were defeated. Within the group of rioters, the prisoners' Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace, Strawhat Monkey D. Luffy, Knight of the Sea Jinbe, former warlord Sir Crocodile, Daz Bone alias Mr 1, Bentham alias Mr 2, as well as Okama Queen Emporio Invankov and Inazuma from the revolutionary army have been identified. And it also appears a guard is with them, giving directions on where they must go. And he seems to help them willingly. The last report was that the rioters were moving on the main hallway to the stairway connecting levels four and three, so the vice-warden decided to head there to stop them."

"Fire Fist is under the rioting prisoners?" asked Magellan with disbelief. How was that possible? All means to reach level six were unusable. And more importantly, when did Fire Fist get out of his cell? The report from 7 a.m. reported that Fire Fist was awake and very quiet in his cell.

"Eh- yes? Vice-warden Hannyabal nearly fainted as he was informed about Fire Fists' appearance.", the guard answered, sounding scared.

A loud crash echoed through level four.

"And the main hallway is on fire thanks to Fire Fist's powers. All efforts to extinguish the fire have failed so far. So, it is spreading through the whole level." the guard sounded close to tears.

Magellan's face darkened.

"There are also reports about a new riot in level two."

"I will catch them all and make them pay! They will learn why Impel Down is viewed as hell!" Magellan swore, squinting his eyes.

.

Same time, Impel Down, a hallway on level two

"All hail to Captain Buggy!"

"Hail our hero, Captain Buggy!"

"Hail, Captain Buggy!"

Buggy stood upon the roof of an empty cell, hands raised high, and Galdino was hanging off the edge, unsure whether he should join his new partner.

"Buggy! Buggy, gane!" he hissed to catch his partner's attention.

Buggy caught his eyes momentarily, letting him know he was listening.

"Hail our savour!"

"We should start moving. Who knows how long it will take until the chief warden gets informed? And I really don't want to meet that guy, gane."

A wide smile spread over Buggy's face. "Don't worry, my friend. I can feel it! Lady Luck will be with us!"

.

.

10.05 a.m., Impel Down, on the main hallway leading through level three

The sweltering heat of level three made the air flicker before one's eyes. The ground itself was heated so much from the uncontrolled fires of the level below that one could feel the heat through its shoes.

"Oh, why did I not think about taking the keys to another level?" lamented the strange young blonde boy in the uniform of an Impel Down guard while sending nasty looks at the baby transponder snail with green and white strips resting on his shoulder – it was the personal transponder snail of vice-warden Hannyabal, which he claimed to have swept from him.

Another whizzing sound and Jinbe lunged forward to catch the seastone net aimed at Ace and little Luffy. Nimbly catching the net, he turned his angry gaze in the direction it originated from to find a small unit of guards on a higher ground overlooking the main hallway and its surrounding cells. "You can keep that!" growled Jinbe, throwing the net back at them. The last thing he saw of them was a group of Ivankov's revolutionaries climbing over the railing surrounding the uprise and attacking the surprised unit from behind.

Jinbe hurried to catch up to Ace and the two boys, who were practically glued to his side.

"-set on fire.", he caught Ace saying.

"No!" answered the blond boy forcefully.

"Why not?" Ace frowned at him.

"Because it is hot enough without you creating extra heat.", interfered Jinbe, pushing Ace in the back to get him moving forward and glanced at the smallest boy.

Sweat was running down little Luffy's face and every visible part of his body, drawing lines in the layers of dirt and fresh blood, which mostly came from wounds inflicted in his confrontation with the vice-warden on level four, that covered the whole boy. In the pale light of level three, little Luffy looked worse than Ace after all the torture he had lived through in the past weeks. And Jinbe had noted that since his fight against the vice-warden little Luffy seemed unsteady. And with the way the blond boy was also sneaking glances at little Luffy – Jinbe couldn't help but grow suspicious.

Was something wrong with little Luffy?

"But the fires slowed him down!" insisted Ace.

"Inazuma is cutting through all bridges we cross to slow the chief warden down.", countered Jinbe, not stopping shoving Ace to keep him moving forward. They had to get as much distance between themselves and the chief warden as possible, but Ace was being difficult. So far, they – blond boy, little Luffy and Jinbe himself – have managed between the three of them to keep Ace moving further up instead of rushing off to face the chief warden.

Just the thought of Ace facing the chief warden made Jinbe's blood freeze.

He knew it would be a confrontation that would not go over well.

"Do we know if it will slow him down?" asked Ace sending an unfortunate guard flying with brute strength.

"It will!" answered the blonde boy hitting a guard who tried to sneak up on Jinbe.

Jinbe glanced at him as he turned up on his other side. He didn't look as confident as he sounded.

"Thanks." Jinbe nodded at him before intercepting another net aimed at the brothers. These guards were getting irritating with their nets.

"No problem.", blond boy answered, fending off a net himself.

That blond boy was mysterious. Ace must know him, know him very well, because, for a reason unknown to Jinbe, Ace trusted him. Trusted him in a way, Jinbe never expected Ace to trust anybody. Then there was the hug – or how the blond boy called it "their moment" – down in level six. And the blond boy was constantly calling the other two boys brothers, a claim neither of them refuted. And then there was the way Ace and little Luffy fought alongside the blond boy, so fluently, so intertwined – all three had to know each other.

So, was blond boy really another brother of Ace?

And why had Ace never spoken of him? Jinbe knew of little Luffy. Ace always appeared to be unable to shut up about his little brother.

So, why had Jinbe never heard of the blond boy called Sabo, who was here with them, wearing a prison guard's uniform, fighting alongside them against the forces of the prison he should side with and instead was working together with the two very well-known revolutionaries Okama Queen Ivankov, who right now was at the front of their forces, and Inazuma to help them break out.

"Should the chief warden find a way to catch up to us, I will find a way to stop him permanently.", growled the blond boy diving out of the way of a round of bullets that didn't do anything to Ace and little Luffy aside from making them angry. "You should know that, Ace!" he called after the two black-haired boys, who had raced off to take out the sniper unit, before sharing a look with Jinbe and rushing off himself.

Jinbe followed them.

He hadn't forgotten that little Luffy had supported Ace's wish to free him or that the blond boy had carried the keys to Ace's freedom and his own. That's why he had sworn, deep below in level six, as he had stepped through the open cell door, that he would do everything in his power to ensure the escape of Ace, his little brother, and the mysterious blond boy. It was the least he could do to repay his debt.

.

Same time, Impel Down, harbour, battleship of vice-admiral Onigumo

The vice-admiral was standing at the railing of his ship and staring at the locked gates of Impel Down.

A low click announced the soldier saluting next to him.

"Have you been able to find anything out?"

"Sir! No, Sir!" answered the soldier straightening even more. "Impel Down isn't reacting to any attempts of contact."

Onigumo frowned and turned around. "We can't wait any longer. We must inform headquarters about the situation. At this point, we won't be able to stay on schedule." White coat swinging with every step, Onigumo left the deck. "I hope Magellan has a good explanation for this mess."

.

Same time, Marineford, Sengoku's office

Garp was eating crackers.

Very loudly.

And spreading crumbs all over his little seating area.

Sengoku pressed a hand against his head. He already could feel the headache coming. No, he had felt it the past few days if he was honest with himself, especially with what was supposed to happen on this day. And Garp, his dear friend and colleague, wasn't making things easier for him. And while Sengoku could understand him – hidden deep inside so that he would never have to admit it – he really, really wished Garp would help him by simply doing his job instead of sitting in his office and eatingcrackers!

Just as Sengoku opened his mouth to say something, a rear admiral stumbled through the door. "Fleet admiral! Fleet admiral!" he wheezed, saluting.

"What?!" Sengoku feared more bad news. A little bit over 24 hours ago, Garp's not-so-innocent younger grandson invaded Impel Down, where the vice-admirals also not-so-innocent older grandson has resided the past few weeks, creating a massive mess in the prison's security proceedings and it took Magellan himself to stop the rookie captain's advance. The last report from Impel Down in the wee hours of the morning implied they were still busy resecuring the prison and cleaning up the mess left behind by one Strawhat Monkey D. Luffy.

In addition, they could not confirm the location of the Whitebeard Pirates or any of their allies. That meant they could not determine the arrival time of the enemy's fleet. For all they knew, Whitebeard could be lurking somewhere close by to intercept the transportation fleet of his commander.

"Vice-admiral Onigumo called.", the man said, slowly regaining his breath.

Threat filled Sengoku.

Had the Whitebeard Pirates ambushed the transportation fleet of Fire Fist?

"He said that there seems to be a problem in Impel Down. They are still docked in the harbour and waiting for the handover of Fire Fist Ace. They won't be able to stay on schedule, Sir!"

At that moment, another rear admiral rushed in and saluted. "Fleet admiral! A battleship is missing from the harbour, and the warlord Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach, Sir."

"Well, that is shaping up to be a great day.", Garp announced from his seat, putting another cracker in his mouth. "Whitebeard should be here in a couple of hours, and the man he wants is not here. He sure will like that."

With murder in his eyes, Sengoku turned to Garp, who met his gaze calmly. "Garp! If-"

"If what?" Garp was unimpressed by Sengoku's angry gaze. "Do you want to imply that one of my family members is responsible for whatever is going on? Again?" The calm with which Garp spoke was jarring. "You read the same report that I have read. Magellan poisoned Luffy within an inch of his life. It will be a miracle if he is even alive at this point. And you probably know better where all the other members of my family are than me. Trust me, I am all out of family members that could cause trouble for you." Dark shadows clouded Garp's eyes.

And no, no, Sengoku wasn't feeling sorry for his comrade in arms, his old friend, who would lose both of his grandchildren within two days.

.

.

10.55 a.m., Impel Down, some hallway leading through a cell block in level two

The cut-through bridges hadn't delayed Magellan much.

Or the cut-up stairway connection level two to three.

On the contrary, Magellan caught up to them even faster than Sabo anticipated. And now he was poisoning his way through the rioting prisoners of level two to catch up to the fleeing prisoners from the lower levels.

Sabo looked over his shoulder to his two brothers, which had a tight grip on this strange Mr. 3 person that Luffy called out. All four were crouching behind a dent cell.

In fact, if Luffy hadn't gone on a rage fit about how disappointed he was in Buggy person and Mr. 3 person upon seeing the two and told them what powers they had, Sabo never would have had this idea to stop Magellan. But it was the only chance Sabo saw to – hopefully permanently – stop the chief warden from his pursuit so they could escape. And that didn't solve the problem which awaited them once they forced their way through the main gate of Impel Down.

Because in the harbour still moored all the battleships of Ace's escort to Marineford, which included fucking five vice-admirals. Now, Sabo wasn't afraid to battle a vice-admiral or two. And he was sure Inazuma, Ivankov, Jinbe and Ace, as well as a good bunch of other freed prisoners, wouldn't have much of a problem either – well, Ace under normal circumstances, but right now beaten up like he was it was probably another matter –, but Luffy?

Sabo glanced at his little brother.

Luffy would never stay away while they tried to eliminate the vice-admirals. He would follow them just like he did – together with Ace, because of course his two hart-headed, danger-loving brothers had to – as Sabo took off to stop the chief warden, leaving Ace and Sabo with no chance to keep Luffy somewhere safe should they fight the vice-admirals. And he couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong with his little brother. There was a sluggishness in his movements that Sabo wasn't familiar with. It made his stomach clench in worry. And Ivankov's warning that his little brother shouldn't overdo it rang in his ears.

Sabo shook his head as the pain-filled screams of the prisoners grew louder.

First, Sabo had to solve the problem with Magellan. After that, he could think about the battleships with the five vice-admirals and later worry about Luffy. Because Sabo trusted in Luffy's strength, his little brother had already beaten warlords and the special agents of the world government. Luffy could pull through this.

Another worried clench of Sabo's stomach.

"Sabo?" whispered Ace.

"What?"

"Don't you think it would be better if we try it from up there?" Ace pointed at a low-hanging beam a little further away from their position.

Sabo's eyes roamed over the beam. "We don't have any cover there."

"This is madness, gane.", the Mr. 3 person injected.

"Shut up.", all three of them told him.

Luffy was obviously still pissed at him, and Sabo and Ace, as good big brothers, were pissed at him on Luffy's behalf.

"What if we try to stick close to the wall?" asked Ace. "Look how many prisoners are running around in that hallway. He won't have time to spare a look at the beam."

Sabo looked at Ace with a gaze that should tell him how insane he thought he was right now.

"I think Ace is right!" Luffy chimed in. "It will be easier to jump that poison dude from up there."

And that's why Sabo wanted not only Luffy to go with Ivankov to level one but also Ace. They both lack common sense and love danger too much.

"There is no cover! If he so much as glances up, heck, if he senses us up there, we join all these idiots in the hallway.", hissed Sabo.

Ace snorted. "I don't think he will be able to sense us to the point of locating us. There are too many people running around."

And Sabo was seriously questioning the haki skills of his older brother. But then again, it was Ace! He was always more of a brute force type of fighter; chances are high he favoured armament haki over observation haki, which required more mental training. "We are speaking about the freaking chief warden of a high-security prison. Do you think he isn't good with observa- "started Sabo.

"Poison, gane!" Mr. 3 person suddenly squeaked and pointed at a dark purple fluid, which slowly flowed over the floor, unfortunately, also in their direction.

"Fuck!" cursed Ace pulling the man up.

"We have to get higher." Sabo grabbed Luffy to get him moving faster.

"The beam!" Luffy shouted.

"This is madness, gane."

"No!" countered Sabo catching Luffy's arms and pulling him away from the poison. A strange-looking smoke was hanging over the liquid, and Sabo wasn't interested in finding out if that was also poison. "Move, Ace!" Climbing over several damaged cells, they reached the top of an intact but empty cell. Sabo sacrificed a few precious seconds to look around for the chief warden and cursed upon spotting the man trenched in the same dark purple poison not even fifty meters away from them.

If the man looked up, he would spot them right away.

"Move! Move! Move!" Sabo urged them, pulling Luffy over the rows of cells and cages to get some distance between themselves and the chief warden.

"The beam!" Ace attempted again.

"No!" Sabo rushed past the beam Ace so stupidly insisted on. He would not risk Ace's and Luffy's safety more than necessary. Without turning around, he knew Ace was drilling a murderous glare into his back as he followed him – much to Sabo's relief because, fuck, Ace could be a difficult git in the most inappropriate moments – over the cages and cell to avoid getting stuck in the panicking mass of prisoners trying to escape the raging chief warden.

"What's with that beam?" Luffy suddenly wheezed.

"What?"

"There!" Luffy pointed at a beam quite a distance away. It was a beam like all the others in this area but with one tiny difference: on each side, where it connected with the wall, something that looked like a wooden wall was erected up to the ceiling creating a structure that looked like a den. Probably a resting place for the animals, usually roaming around on level two. It wouldn't be a lot of a cover, but better than nothing.

Sabo speeded up. "That could work! Let's move. We must reach that beam without Magellan noticing us!"

Behind himself, he heard Ace silently cursing as he pulled the lamenting Mr. 3 person along while he tightened his grip on Luffy, who stumbled alongside him. He sent another worried glance at his younger brother as his concern about his little brother grew. Luffy looked more and more tired. Hell, he hadn't looked good as he found him in Ivankov's hideout within the prison – but back then, Sabo was too relieved to see Luffy alive and smiling to wonder how his little brother could be up after getting trenched in Magellan's poison – and his encounter with Hannyabal sure as hell hadn't helped to improve his state.

"Hold on tight.", he prompted as they neared the beam, changing how he griped Luffy and jumped. Luffy clung to him like a little monkey while Sabo pulled them up to the beam and quickly ducked behind the wooden wall. Seconds later, Ace appeared with an angry scowl on his face and pushed past them. Cautiously, Sabo peeked past the edge of the wooden wall.

"Get ready!" he hissed.

"This will never work, gane.", lamented Mr. 3 person.

He was seriously and slowly getting onto Sabo's last nerve!

"Just create that god-damn wax dome to trap that idiot in!" hissed Ace angrily.

Ace really hadn't changed. Weaklings and cowards still anger him.

His punch gonna hurt so, so much later. Because Sabo knew Ace would punch him for never letting them know he was alive. But fuck, Sabo hadn't remembered shit for years! And as his memories slowly started to return – thanks to all the trouble Ace caused, which guaranteed for him to land in the newspapers and who would have thought that the familiar face of his older brother would trigger the return of his lost memories – hadn't anticipated that they knew of his little incident with that world noble.

And maybe Sabo was a little bit afraid of the reaction of his brothers for selfishly leaving them behind.

Sabo shook his head.

He didn't have time for that right now.

"Okay, wax-man, we- "started Sabo letting go of Luffy to grab his unwilling aide.

An error Sabo realised one second too late.

Luffy, who seemed to be able to pull energy from some unknown source, pushed past him with surprising force, pulling Mr. 3 person along with him.

"No!" Sabo and Ace silently shouted simultaneously but couldn't stop Luffy. All they could do was watch Luffy run along the beam, steam rolling off his body as he jumped high to get over the head of the chief warden. Mr. 3 person's panicked screaming mixed itself with the screams of the prisoners below.

Sabo leaned further forward.

The chief warden looked straight at Luffy, face twisted with anger.

God-damnit!

In the next second pure white wax flew through the air, encountering poison that splashed in every direction. More and more wax poured out of Mr. 3 person's hands, surrounding the chief warden and forming a dome.

Nimbly, Luffy landed on top of the dome, and the Mr. 3 person collapsed next to him.

With smoke still rising from his body Luffy turned to them, a bright smile on his bloodied face. "That worked really well.", laughed Luffy.

Sabo could only gawp at him.

"God-damnit Luffy! Have you lost your fucking mind? What in fuck's name were you thinking? No, don't answer that! Knowing you, you probably didn't think at all! That was fucking dangerous!" cursed Ace next to him and crawled out of their hiding place. Then, with arms crossed, he looked down at Luffy, who tilted his head to the side and blinked.

"You planned to do the same. I know it!" pouted Luffy crossing his arms. "I was just faster."

His brothers really didn't have any awareness of danger.

Sighing, Sabo followed Ace.

Below them, the prisoners of level two stopped running as no more poison was chasing them. Then, in confusion, they looked at the wax dome with Luffy and Mr. 3 person on top of it.

"Okay, I would say we- "

A muffled scream resounded from within the dome, which began to shake.

"Pour more wax on that thing!" shouted Sabo, wide-eyed. "We can't have him get out!"

His whole body trembling, Mr. 3 person poured out even more wax to entrap the chief warden in more and more layers of wax. Right next to him, Luffy jumped from one foot to the other to not get trapped in the fast-hardening wax. After several tense minutes, Mr. 3 person stopped.

Tense Sabo listened, but he couldn't hear anything anymore. "I think- now we have trapped him."

And that's when the prisoners started to get lively.

"Hey, isn't that the friend of Captain Buggy?"

"He saved us!"

More and more prisoners joined in the cheers that started to rise.

"Are you also friends of Captain Buggy?"

"You guys are real heroes!"

"Hail our heroes!"

With growing horror, Sabo watched the prisoners below cheer at them. He glanced at Ace and then at Luffy, and both wore looks of pure disgust.

"Let's go!" Sabo snaped.

Ace nodded and jumped onto the closest cage. "Luffy! We are leaving!"

"Hell, yes!" Luffy shouted.

Without a look back, Sabo followed Ace.

"Hey! Wait for me, gane!" Mr. 3 person screamed. "You can't get me into mortal danger and then leave me behind."

"Then get moving!" Luffy shouted back at him.

As soon as Luffy caught up with them, each grabbed one of his hands. "Heroes!" spat Luffy with disgust. "Who in his right mind wants to be a hero?"

Behind them, they still could hear the cheering prisoners.

"Not me!" Sabo and Ace answered.

.

Roughly the same time, Impel Down, harbour, battleship of vice-admiral Onigumo

"Sir! The Gate of Justice is open!" saluting a marine reported Onigumo. "And a battleship passed through it, but it doesn't react to any attempts of contact, nor does the crew identify itself."

Onigumo frown. "Did the headquarter announce any ships heading for Impel Down?"

"No, sir."

Onigumo walked over the deck until he reached a point from which he could see the Gate of Justice and a lone battleship, which slowly drew closer through the mist surrounding the gate.

"What's the meaning of this?"

.

Same time, sea by the Gate of Justice, on the unknown battleship

"Captain, there are a lot of battleships around Impel Down.", Van Auger shouted down from the lookout.

"So what?" called Teach back. "We will sink them, and that's that."

He wasn't worried about a few battleships. He still couldn't believe his luck! Little Strawhat invades Impel Down in a fruitless attempt to rescue his brother and, in the same move, messes up the security of the prison to an unheard-of level. Luckily, Lafitte got his hands on the reports from Impel Down to Marine headquarters reporting the incident from the previous day. That was the perfect opportunity to gain a few new crew members from the hell hole. And thanks to Ace, all the attention was on the old man and Marineford.

"But captain, I think I saw the vice-admirals Onigumo and Mozambia on two of the ships." Van Auger answered him.

Teach frown. That could be annoying.

"Why the hell are two vice-admirals here?" asked Burgess, stepping up to Teach. "Aren't they all supposed to be in Marineford because the old fart could turn up to rescue Fire Fist?"

"Hm?" Lafitte hummed thoughtfully, jumping up the railing and looking at Impel Down.

Teach turned to the lanky man. "Spit it out?"

"I could be mistaken, but if I remember it right, then Onigumo and Mozambia belong to the escort fleet for Fire Fist." Lafitte glanced at Teach. "But them being here should be impossible because Fire Fist was scheduled to be transported to Marineford early this morning."

.

.

11.20 a.m., Impel Down, level one, main hallway

Bloody Strawhat!

He always destroys his plans!

There he was, innocently releasing prisoners and starting a riot to create as much chaos as possible to be able to slip away together with Galdino at the right moment and escape this hell hole, only for a stream of other prisoners from the lower levels to turn around a corner screaming about the chief warden following them.

And who in the sea's name was within the crowd?

That thrice-damned Strawhat.

And what did he do once he spotted Buggy and Galdino?

He started screaming about them being cowards for doing the logical thing, running away from the chief warden, and ensuring they stayed alive.

Even the blackmailing okama was harping at them.

And because it wasn't bad enough to be once again caught up in whatever disaster Strawhat was causing, no, that guard clued to Strawhat's and Fire Fist's side got suddenly excited after hearing of Galdino's devil fruit. Within the blink of an eye, the guard whisked Galdino away, Strawhat and Fire Fist hot on their heels and without a care for people like bloody Jinbe, knight of the seas and warlord, or that freakish dude with the too-big head for a human freaking out, because they would try to stop fucking chief warden Magellan!

And Buggy himself?

He got pushed on by that ridiculous dude with scissors for hands and the blackmailing okama because the okama wanted to have a word with him later about abandoning friends. As if! He and Strawhat weren't friends!

Buggy scowled while running through the hallways of level one.

Why – why – must this always happen to him?

And why was Strawhat always involved?

"Hey! We are back!"

Speaking of the devil.

Buggy dared to glance behind himself.

Yup, there he was again. Arms waving, Fire Fist and that guard guy on each side, the three were jumping over the rows of cells from level one.

And a little bit further behind the three was Galdino. Buggy felt relieved seeing the man again. He never expected to meet somebody he could get along so well with, like Galdino, in a hell hole like Impel Down. Damnit, Buggy was thinking about inviting the other man into his crew. He could see him fitting right in. Eh, maybe Moji and Cabaji would be in a strop for a bit, but they would surely recognise what fine addition Galdino could be to their crew. – If the sly man would accept his offer.

"Strawhat-chan!" the okama cried, dancing in circles.

Really, why was he so happy that the idiot was back?

All he could do was cause trouble for everyone around him.

But the okama wasn't the only one relieved to see them again. Other prisoners around Buggy were also voicing their relief about the trio returning. None of them had a word for Galdino returning safely. But, with the attention on Strawhat, Fire Fist and the guard guy, nobody paid attention to Buggy, who gradually slowed down until he stopped so that Galdino could catch up to him.

"Nice seeing you again.", Buggy teased with a lopsided smirk as Galdino climbed down a cage beside Buggy. "How did it go with the chief warden?"

Galdino glared at Buggy. "Shut up! I thought I would die down there, gane.", Galdino snapped.

"You look very much alive to me, my friend.", Buggy said, eyes roaming over the figure of the other man. "I don't see any severe injuries."

Galdino looked miffed. "Do you have any idea what Strawhat did with me? That maniac pulled me along and then held me over the pissed-off chief warden without warning." Galdino started to tremble. "I barely managed to release any wax before the chief warden attacked us, gane."

"You didn't get into contact with the chief warden's poison?" asked Buggy, worried.

Galdino shook his head. "No, by some miracle, I didn't get hit with it, gane."

Buggy sighed, relieved. "And? Did you manage to entrap the chief warden?" he asked tentatively.

"Yes!" Galdino pushed past him. "He is now buried under I don't know how many layers of my hardest wax, gane."

A smile spread over Buggy's face. He detached one arm to sling it over the other man while starting to run. "That is some good news. Now all we must do is get away from Strawhat and whatever disaster he will cause next."

"We better do that fast." Galdino sent a sideways glance at him. "That guard guy intercepted another call to the vice-warden. Something is going on outside of the prison. I only could catch the end of the conversation, but it didn't sound good."

.

Same time, the sea between Gate of Justice and Impel Down, battleship of vice-admiral Onigumo

"Continue to fire!" Onigumo's voice echoed over the sound of the cannon fire. Then, tightening the grip on his sword, the vice-admiral searched for his second-in-command. "Is a division ready for capture once we have closed into the other ship?"

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" the man answered.

Onigumo eyed the man, who had served for several years as his second-in-command. And the little twitch in the man's hands revealed that he knew something but didn't know how to tell him.

"Anything else to report?" asked Onigumo with an annoyed undertone.

"Sir! We managed to get briefly into contact with Impel Down."

Onigumo scowled as he ran past the row of cannons.

"We informed them about the situation outside and advised them to raise security at the top level. Unfortunately, the officer we spoke to couldn't give us any information relating to the handover of Fire Fist before the connection broke off.", the man dutiful reported. "We also received a message from Marineford. They did not send the warlord Blackbeard Marshal D. Teach. They- "

"That they did not send that pirate is very obvious, wouldn't you agree?" interrupted Onigumo the other man.

After the unknown battleship failed to identify two battleships guarding the prison cleared the port to stop it from getting closer to Impel Down. They got sunk before another ship could reach them for support. Fearing an attack by the Whitebeard Pirates, more battleships left their position to intercept the lone ship. Given that they did not know who was on board the vessel Onigumo and his colleague decided to support them. And found themselves in a sea fight against the newest appointed warlord.

"Eh, yes.", the man stuttered.

Another volley of cannonballs got swallowed by the black mass coating the sides of the lone battleship while Teach laughter rang out.

.

.

11.45 a.m., Impel Down, top level of the prison

It didn't escape Jinbe how many of the prisoners coming along with them suddenly pressed to one side of the wide path. But a glance to the other side explained to him why. They were passing by the bars, which separated this part of the hallway from the hallway all prisoners took upon entering the prison. He has also been forced to walk that way not even a week ago.

It hadn't bothered Jinbe much. The heat of the boiling iron bath and the baptism have been nothing compared to the pain in his heart at that time.

Jinbe glanced at Ace. His young friend was running just a few meters ahead of him, covering the backs of his brother and blond boy. In the brightly lighted hallway, he could see Whitebeard's flag forever engraved into the skin of his younger friend. They would have to contact the old man as fast as possible. Jinbe was sure he was already on his way to Marineford with his whole fleet to rescue his son. A son who wouldn't be at Marineford.

But it was as blond boy appropriately has pointed out just a little bit early, after telling them about the ongoing sea-fight, which they learned of because he once again intercepted a message for the vice-warden: they had to solve one problem after the other.

First, they would need to get out of Imple Down.

Second, they had to get a ship to escape.

Third, escape the calm belt.

Everything else could come later.

Suddenly loud cheering resounded as with a low groan, which echoed through the vast foyer of the prison, the gigantic main gate of Impel Down opened. Right next to one of the double wing doors, Jinbe could make out the enormous head of Ivankov, who had taken over to spearhead the whole break-out before vanishing outside. And it was under his direction that the prisoners had overcome the last units of guards standing between them and their path to freedom.

Jinbe speeded up to close the little gap between the brothers, blond boy and himself.

"Look, Ace! We are nearly out!" shouted little Luffy excitedly.

"Yeah!" Ace answered.

And Jinbe could hear the faint disbelieve in the voice of his young friend.

Pushing their way through the prisoners because some stopped running once they reached the sunlight falling through the opened gates of Impel Down and down the stairs to the massive pier, which breached the outer defensive wall of the prison. Finding Ivankov in the mass of prisoners was easy. "Let's go to Ivankov.", suggested Jinbe, gently herding the three boys in the direction of the revolutionist.

Loud cracking told Jinbe that the fight blond boy told them about was still ongoing.

Ivankov was close to the end of the shipless pier.

As they got closer, they could catch glimpses of what was happening in the sea between Impel Down and the Gate of Justice. Dread started to coil in Jinbe's stomach upon realising how fierce the sea fight was. And while he could leave by simply swimming away, neither of the three boys, whom he has sworn to help escape, nor the other prisoners would be able to flee. They needed a ship!

Suddenly Ace gasped. "That's Teach!"

And he raced to the pier's edge, roughly pushing away the people standing in his path.

"Ace!" With a loud cry, the other two boys followed him.

Jinbe also hurried to follow them.

"Vhat is it nov?" asked Ivankov confused as he followed Jinbe.

"I don't know.", answered Jinbe. "Ace said- "

Shocked, Jinbe stopped and watched as a battleship sank under the onslaught of hundreds of cannonballs, which emerged from an unshaped black mass hovering over it. All around him, prisoners gasped and pointed to the ship, which vanished between the waves.

"-no, you will not!"

Blond boy's loud voice broke through the astonished muttering of the prisoners.

"Sabo! That's Teach!"

Right, his name was Sabo.

"I don't care who that is!"

Jinbe turned to the three boys.

"Do you-"

"I don't care!" Sabo shouted angrily.

What Jinbe saw of Sabo's face was flushed red, and his whole body shook. He wondered what was suddenly wrong with the young blond for a moment. Since his slip-up with little Luffy in level four, he had kept a close eye on the three boys. Or as close as he could because all three demonstrated how good they were at slipping away – if they wanted to – before anybody could stop them as they went off to stop Magellan.

"I don't care who the fuck that is out there! All I care about is us getting away from here. And that includes you, you stubborn, reckless, selfish, idiotic dumbass!" Sabo gripped Ace's beaded necklace and pulled him closer. Anger radiated off the young blond, making everybody slowly back away aside from the black-haired brothers. "I spent one – you hear me one – fucking month playing guard! I had to escort prisoners to torture! I had to watch them getting locked in cells, only for other prisoners to kill them. I watched other guards beat prisoners to death just for fun and had to laugh with them! I had to listen to them cursing you and Whitebeard and your crew out because the marines are fucking paranoid and feared that Whitebeard would attack the prison! Why the fuck do you think I did all of that? For fun? Or so you could rush off to fight some douchebag? Rush off and fucking die? Because you are injured and spent weeks and months chained to a wall in the god-damn worst prison of the world! Why the fuck do you think Luffy is here? Because he had some free time? Because he is bored? Because he thought it would be fun to visit a prison? He is here to bust your fucking ass out just like me!"

Ace flinched under the verbal bombarding of his brother as he got louder and louder.

"I so fucking hate how you always just do what you want! You never do what Luffy or I want!" Sabo took a deep breath. "But not this time! You hear me, Ace! Not this time! This time you will do what we want! For once in your god-damn life, you will do what we want! You fucking owe us that! Do you hear me? You owe us!"

Angrily Sabo rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

"We will look for a ship, and we will leave! And you will come with us and not fight this Teach guy! And that's final!"

Never had Jinbe seen Ace look as vulnerable as he did at this moment with Sabo, who was shaking with anger, staring at him while little Luffy peaked with a pleading face over the blonde's shoulder at him.

"Sabo is right.", little Luffy added with underlying stealth in his voice. "Ace must come with us! That's why we are here. We came to free Ace." With a bloody hand, little Luffy reached for Ace's hand. "We will leave now together. Nobody will stay back. Not even Ace!" And there was something in little Luffy's body language which even made Jinbe feel like he had to obey whatever the boy ordered.

Shoulders hunched, Ace carved under the gaze of the two boys and nodded.

Huffing, Sabo turned to Ivankov, but Jinbe noted how he continued clutching Ace's beaded necklace like he wanted to ensure the other didn't rush off the moment, nobody was watching him anymore. "We need to go look for a ship somehow. To my knowledge, twelve ships are tasked with guarding Impel Down. Plus, the ships form the escort fleet, making it a total of seventeen battleships stationed around the prison. I don't believe they use all ships to fight off this Teach guy.", said Sabo harshly.

"You have no idea how strong he is.", mumbled Ace with a dark look on his face.

Sabo sent a glare at Ace.

"We somehow have to check if there are still ships moored around the prison.", Sabo continued.

Jinbe smirked. "Leave that to me! I have an idea!"

.

Same time, Marineford, Sengoku's office

"Why is Teach at Impel Down?"

None of the officers in his office dared to meet Sengoku's eyes, not even the poor rear admiral, which relayed the last message from vice-admiral Mozambia to him.

Or Garp's. The man had stopped eating crackers for the first time since stepping into Sengoku's office this morning, and a deep frown formed on his face. "How many ships are involved in the fight?" Garp asked, breaking the silence.

The poor rear admiral cleared his throat. "All ships of the escort fleet and nine out of twelve ships stationed around Impel down, but six of them have been sunk by the warlord and his crew."

Silence filled the office.

Sengoku could feel Garp's gaze resting on him.

His head was throbbing with the worst headache ever.

That was an utter disaster!