"Who are you?"
Being targeted by Elior, Crocodile felt a rare sense of unease. The freezing power Elior had just displayed was so intense that even from over 30 meters away, Crocodile could feel the biting cold. And now, to his shock, he noticed that Douglas Bullet was standing right behind Elior.
Bullet — his old rival. Their battles were legendary, and their clashes had made Crocodile famous. But while Crocodile had plateaued, Bullet had skyrocketed, becoming a monstrous force within Roger's crew, standing shoulder to shoulder with legends like Rayleigh.
And now, this proud monster was standing behind a mysterious, powerful young man?
As for Elior, this enigmatic figure gave Crocodile not just an aura of mystery but an overwhelming sense of strength.
Stronger than Crocodile himself.
Yes, that was the feeling.
It shocked Crocodile, making it impossible to ignore Elior.
"Who I am doesn't matter" Elior smiled. "What matters is, Crocodile, do you want freedom?"
Freedom?
Crocodile froze. In Impel Down, freedom was the one thing every prisoner craved above all else. Who wanted to rot in a dark, damp cell?
And Crocodile, of all people, had been humiliated — defeated by a rookie like Luffy, who exposed his weakness and crushed him. To make things worse, he was then captured by Smoker, dragged to this prison like a pathetic prize.
Crocodile, the infamous desert king, locked away in Impel Down.
Perhaps no one in the entire prison felt more disgraced than him.
Of course he wanted freedom.
"I want freedom" he growled.
"Good" Elior grinned. "Join me, Crocodile. Become part of my crew."
Crocodile hesitated for five seconds before nodding.
As Elior shattered the cell and released the seastone shackles, Crocodile immediately used his abilities to form a cloak out of swirling sand. In an instant, he no longer looked like a prisoner but like a king reclaiming his throne.
"Abomination" he sneered, glaring at Bullet.
Like mortal enemies meeting again, the hatred was palpable.
Crocodile shot a contemptuous look at Bullet.
Bullet, towering over him, sneered back. "Funny meeting you here, Crocodile."
Bullet's strength had long surpassed Crocodile's. Despite being imprisoned for 20 years, Bullet had never stopped training. His monstrous workouts had honed his body to the limit — his power hadn't deteriorated, it had evolved.
He was approaching the realm of the strongest beings in the world.
In Elior's mind, Bullet was the perfect vice-captain.
"Gentlemen, let's keep things civil," Elior chuckled.
"Besides, Magellan has probably noticed us by now. He should be arriving soon, right?"
Elior pointed to the wall-mounted surveillance den-den mushis. Hundreds of tiny eyes stared at them, broadcasting their every move to the monitoring room on Impel Down's third floor.
But Elior wasn't the least bit afraid.
And of course, neither were Bullet or Crocodile.
"Get ready for a brawl."
Elior laughed.
"I want to cut Straw Hat to pieces," Crocodile growled, still burning with resentment. He had never tasted humiliation like that before.
"If you're breaking out, take me with you."
A low voice echoed from another cell — a solitary one.
"Shiryu of the Rain. Magellan locked him up for slaughtering too many prisoners" Bullet muttered, eyes narrowing.
Shiryu was a powerhouse — one of Impel Down's two strongest enforcers. But now he was just another inmate, scheduled for execution after Ace's public execution. Except unlike Ace, Shiryu would be erased quietly, in the shadows of Impel Down.
Elior knew the value of strength. Recruiting Shiryu wasn't a mistake — in the original timeline, Shiryu became Blackbeard's most lethal subordinate, a swordsman possibly on the verge of being a true great swordsman.
Without hesitation, Elior smashed Shiryu's cell open.
"Don't try anything stupid" Elior warned, a sadistic grin curling across his face. "I can freeze you solid and shatter you into pieces. Don't test me."
He released an overwhelming wave of cold, his aura crackling with raw power.
With the Demon's Extract, combined with a body as durable as Kaido's, Elior was an absolute monster.
"Let's hope I made the right choice" Shiryu muttered, stretching his limbs.
Elior chuckled. "To be precise... you didn't have a choice."
"Now, let's break out of this hell."
"The legendary Shiki the Golden Lion had to cut off his legs to escape. But us? We're walking out the front door — and tearing Impel Down apart on the way out! Let the Marines and the World Government tremble in fear!"
Elior roared, glaring into a surveillance den-den mushi. The creature itself trembled in terror.
Three minutes earlier, Magellan, reeling from a nasty bout of diarrhea, had received the emergency report.
Upon hearing of the chaos in Level 6 — Eternal Hell — the warden's body shook.
He immediately assembled a strike force and rushed toward the lowest level of the prison.
Impel Down itself seemed to shudder.
The storm was about to begin.