Chapter 119: Chapter 111
My exams are coming… this might be the last chapter of this month in the worst case.
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and have a wonderful weekend!
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[Mariejois, Pangaea Castle]
Within a large and bright room with sunlight shining through the large windows, five elderly-looking men were seen to be sitting down on the comfy-looking couches. Although it initially didn't seem much, if one takes a closer look at the scene, one would notice just how intense the atmosphere was.
"The war has begun." One elderly-looking man stated calmly. "The execution of Gol D. Ace, along with the Whitebeard's death. Sengoku is a smart man. If all goes according to his plan, the marines will gain more control over the sea, and this may result in the potential abolition of the Seven Warlords system."
"Good... and bad at the same time." Another elder carried on after taking a sip of tea, "The balance must be maintained. If the Whitebeard fleet was to fall today, then there must be another force to fill in the gap."
The elder with glasses, who was wearing a white haori unlike the other elders, who were wearing black suits and ties, spoke up, "Sengoku thought well in regards to bringing an end to the Great Age of Pirates, however, failed to account how Whitebeard will behave. If everything goes according to our calculation, this war will lead to another surge of pirates."
Lowering the cup of tea he was holding, the fourth elder placed a newspaper on the table, "Apart from the war itself, there lie two more matters that we must discuss of."
Lowering his gaze onto the newspaper, the fourth elder opened his mouth in serious demeanour, "First is the re-emergence of Rubber Rubber fruit. Or should I say, Human Human fruit, model: Nika..."
The newspaper that the fourth elder placed was on the eighth page. It stated:
[The rampage upon the Spriggins, and the defeat of two well-known bounty hunters, 'Grey Wolf' Larch and 'Super Speed' Karl, by a new pirate crew: the Strawhat pirates! A potential Supernova perhaps? Recognizing the deed, the marines decided to raise the threat level of Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of these newborn pirates!]
Below the context, there lied a bounty poster of one very familiar individual:
['Strawhat' Luffy. Bounty: 47,000,000 Beli. Wanted Dead or Alive.]
"The fruit that ran away from us for hundreds of years," The last elder leaned in, "and eaten by a boy wearing a straw hat... is this a mere coincidence? I think not."
The room fell silent momentarily before all elders spoke at once,
"""""He has to be caught immediately."""""
"It doesn't matter if Monkey D. Luffy is the grandson of Garp. We shall send Cipher Pol Aigis Zero and take this matter without anyone being aware."
"If that fruit will never come into our hands, our next best option is to lock up its user. Even if that fruit hasn't been awakened for years, it isn't worth a risk to let him roam freely."
The elder with glasses adjusted his glasses as he turned his eyes away from the newspaper, "And finally, Nico Robin."
"Now officially confirmed to be a member of none other than the Grimheart pirates." Another elder massaged his forehead while sighing, "A troublesome crew."
"Grimheart, Rowan, Youchiha Bob, Demon of the East Blue... a man who goes by many names now—an anomaly indeed." The fourth elder placed a hand on his chin,
"If we were to look at his deeds up until now, he isn't proactive. In most cases, he waits for the others to strike him first, and counters such assaults. No harm was inflicted upon the civilians, which may suggest that he is closer to a Peace-Main rather than a Morganeer.
However, destruction of the Marine Base G-11, incredibly fast growth of strength, along with... the dangerous influence he had over the East Blue... he might have the backing of someone influential, such as Dragon of the revolutionary."
"Bounce Bounce fruit... to think it was capable of this much..." Another elder sighed, "A fruit known to be quite underwhelming. This fruit is said to 'bounce' from one individual to another very frequently, due to the fact that most of its users end up having themselves killed with the strange ability of bounce. Much of its mechanisms are not understood, and we didn't know that this fruit was able to affect the Logia-fruit users like Crocodile."
"He is proving to be quite a threat, let us not stray away from the topic." The first elder tapped his fingers on the table, "According to the report from down, he and his crew are in the Impel Down at the current moment. This is probably the best opportunity we will find to attain Nico Robin."
The second elder shook his head, "The problem lies in time. By the time we assemble the necessary force, they will be long gone—hold on. Don't tell me-"
The first elder nodded, "Grimheart freed Jinbei as well. Based on this information, it is likely that they will head to Marineford, in order to rescue Gol D. Ace from his execution."
"If so, we shall position the agents at some distance away from the island. When they begin to flee from exhaustion, our force will interfere and seize Nico Robin, as well as recapture Grimheart and the rest of his crew." The elder with glasses followed up.
All five elders nodded in agreement.
"Let us proceed accordingly."
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[Impel Down, Level 4: Blazing Hell]
Within the astoundingly hot environment of level 4, Magellan was seen to be standing with his arms crossed and his eyes shadowed. It seemed as if he was waiting for something.
From behind the bars, one man was watching Magellan with his fists clenched in frustration.
'Damn it, to think I am stuck in this jail! And there's still so many more treasures for me to exploit!!'
The man was none other than Mad Treasure, who was previously delivered by Marshall D. Teach, Blackbeard.
Mad Treasure, with his jailer uniform on, was seen with many wounds and dried blood all over his body, due to the tortures he received since his arrival.
'And just before, those who defeated Magellan and his goons... if I am not wrong...' Mad Treasure gritted his teeth, as he remembered the faces that he saw from the bounty posters, 'They gotta be Grimheart's tools. F***, where's Psycho P and Naomi when I need them for once?!'
Even with piling anger within him, there was nothing that Mad Treasure could do. With Magellan right in front of him and the horrific environment taking his strength away, Mad Treasure simply sat down and continued to swear within his mind.
But at the next moment, within Mad Treasure, even the thoughts had to stop. From the entrances from either end, which either leads to level 3 or level 5, two groups of people stepped out, and Magellan's murderous glare flashed at both groups expectedly.
The atmosphere of the room began to get intense as both groups came to a stop with Magellan standing in the middle.
One group consisted of none other than Marshall D. Teach the 'Blackbeard' and his crew. On the opposite side, the other group, 'Grimheart' Rowan, his crew, and allies, were seen to be standing by with neutral expressions.
"...You must be Magellan." A gruff voice was heard from Teach, as his face morphed into an amused grin, "Zehaha, you've been hiding here, I see! I thought you decided to run away out of cowardice, you know!"
"Blackbeard." Magellan gritted his teeth as the poison began to bubble around him, "The cause of Hannyabal's death."
Jinbei watched the scene with a cold sweat, "Blackbeard... the one responsible for the arrest of Ace, as well as Magellan, the notorious Chief Warden of the Impel Down. This isn't good, Rowan-san. We have to quickly bypass them and reach Marineford before Ace's execution."
Rowan's eyes narrowed as his eyes glanced over Teach and Magellan impassively. Rolling his right shoulder with his left hand on top of it, Rowan began to take steps forward and approach their foes.
"Ah, so you are the Grimheart that's been giving the marines many troubles! Zehaha, I've heard some about you from Ace!" Noticing Rowan's approach, Teach's grin widened as the wisps of darkness began to emanate from his body.
"All of you parasites of this world... shall no longer be allowed to live." Simultaneously, the concentrated poison began to enlarge and form into a shape of a gigantic demon, with Magellan embedded within.
Dan's eyes widened upon sighting the majestic view of Magellan's transformation, "Damn... he wasn't going all out last time?"
Nami's unconscious gulp was heard from the back.
Right off from the bet, the Grimheart pirates and Nami, who encountered Magellan just some time ago, knew that the current poison secreted by Magellan was much more dangerous than the previous one. One indication was that the floor underneath Magellan was quickly being overwhelmed by the uncontrollable poison. This was kinjite, Magellan's forbidden poison.
In contrast to his crew, without any hint of surprise, shock, or fear, Rowan continued to walk daringly, with the veins popping out from his clenched right fist.
"Your Haki is quite strong... perhaps stronger than Ace. However, does it matter?! Unlike me, who attained the power of darkness itself, you have a power as silly as a bounce! Zehahaha, the moment you decided to show up here, your loss was guaranteed, Grimheart!!"
Teach stated confidently, although his eyes were locked onto Magellan's horrifying form with a slight uncertainty within his gaze. Nonetheless, the wave of darkness expanded and creeped out from Teach, with the intention to lash out against both Rowan and Magellan.
"Venom Demon: Judgement of Hell!!"
Magellan made a motion of slamming each of his fists to either end, intending to strike the Grimheart pirates and the Blackbeard pirates at once. Mimicking his motion, the venom demon's poison arms began to travel towards Rowan and Teach.
"Zehaha... Dark Matter!!!"
Teach placed his palms toward the direction in which the venom demon's fist was approaching, and subsequently, the wisps of darkness around him immediately clustered into a dense black ball in front of him.
Much to Magellan's surprise, the poison arm of the venom demon was attracted by the black ball, before completely breaking off from the shoulder of the venom demon; the gravitational force exerted by the black ball was simply astounding.
Meanwhile,
"Bounce and Armament Haki Emission... one should be enough." Rowan stated as the venom demon's other fist was traveling towards him.
'Bounce is weak? Ha, that's gotta be the funniest thing I've ever heard for a while.'
Rowan blasted his right fist forward,
"Juggernaut Blast."
In the next moment, the whole floor collapsed.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*
The boiling pot of blood, the insanely potent poison, and the cluster of darkness all alike, were blasted by one punch from Rowan, breaking through the whole floor.
In one punch, Magellan's ultimate technique was immediately broken off, and Magellan himself was sent all the way down to level 5 with severe bleeding.
In one punch, the whole Blackbeard pirates were engulfed by immensely hot blood being spilled over them as they fell to level 5, with,
"HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!!!!!!!!" Teach's painful screech resounding throughout the whole area as most of level 4 collapsed onto level 5, bringing unbelievable destruction upon the Impel Down.
Only few sections of the floor of the level 4 stayed intact, including the platform where Rowan, his crew, and his allies were standing onto.
*BOOOOOM*
"AHHHHHH!!!"
"H-help!!! I don't want to die here!!!"
With the cold environment of level 5 and the hot substances of level 4 mixed all alike, the prisoners all began to cry in desperation. The screams were heard everywhere, and with the huge volume of steam and dust covering the view, the whole scene resembled that of hell.
"What... the f***, captain?" Cavendish slowly opened his mouth in stupefaction, "Just what happened to you during the days behind the cell?!!"
Rowan gazed at the bottom with a cold look within his eyes, which were glowing in purple and amber colours. His right hand seemed to be encased in the black-coloured substance that was crackling madly; it was none other than the 'Manifestation' of Conqueror's Haki, which was the ability granted by his eye. After a millisecond passed, the glows on his eyes and the Manifestation on his hand faded before anyone could notice.
"Oh, you have no idea, Cavendish." Rowan gave a slight smile, before turning his eyes to one particular cell that lied on the side.
Unlike most of the other cells, that cell was still on top of the intact floor of level 4.
"It's been four years, hasn't it," Rowan's eyes met the eyes of a very familiar face, which were shaking in fear, "Mad Treasure?"
Mad Treasure couldn't even dare to reply. Just earlier, when Rowan's blow was dealt, Mad Treasure felt a soul-crushing blow to his soul, which was brought upon by Rowan's Conqueror's Haki. He was horrified beyond belief, and his whole body froze, not knowing what to do.
"...N-no." Gulping with difficulty while beginning to sweat profusely, Mad Treasure muttered fearfully, "No... no no no no no... how, how have you become so strong..."
Rowan raised up his hand, with his index finger pointing at Mad Treasure's forehead, "I believe that you have a price to pay."
Although Rowan knew that Teach arrested not only Ace, but Mad Treasure and Baten as well, it was unexpected for him to find Mad Treasure here. However, regardless of such fact,
the very event that led to the deaths of his first crew—it was time to end it once and for all.
"T-there's still so much more treasure for me to find-"
*PUK*
A sickening sound was heard, as a concentrated force of bounce blasted off of Rowan's finger and penetrated through Mad Treasure's skull—exploding the latter's head into a gory mess.
*Thud*
The headless corpse fell with a thud—signaling an end to the life of a pirate known as Mad Treasure.
'Rambo, Jerry, Brandy, everyone from my previous Angel pirates... although it may have been a bit late...' Rowan closed his eyes in a grim expression, 'I hope you rest in peace.'
Rowan opened his eyes back with determination,
'And I promise, that I won't let another person of mine die, ever again.'
Turning around to his crew and allies, Rowan said,
"Let's go."
It was time to save an idiot from his execution.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone