Level 5, Freezing Hell

In Impel Down's medical wing, Bon Clay explodes at the doctors: "What did you say!? No... what!? Stop joking around!!!" The doctors explain that nobody who has fought Magellan and been dosed with that much poison has ever survived. They say one poison is bad enough, but there is no way to create a single antidote for multiple types of poison, and any attempt to cure Luffy would only hasten his death. Bon Clay refuses to accept it, demanding, "This is no joke!!! Do something!! We need to hand Strawhat Luffy over to the Marines alive!!"

The doctors insist there is no way to save Strawhat and that fighting Magellan and surviving would take a miracle. Bon Clay freezes at the word "miracle" and remembers a person in Impel Down: "The 'Miracle Worker,' the Okama King Iva...!!!" He explains that people doctors had given up on, even countries on the verge of ruin, were saved by Iva, the strongest star of the okama world. Bon Clay says their only hope is to find Emporio Ivankov, while others ask who he is.

At the Level 4 employees' stairway, Bon Clay asks whether the stairs lead to Level 5, and a guard confirms that those prisoners have been sentenced to freeze. Bon Clay says they have no choice and tells Straw-chan to wait. Reading the Level 5 prisoner list, he notices something strange: "Emporio Ivankov" has a line through the name. The staff wonder whether Iva was released or executed, but Bon Clay knows Iva as history's strongest Okama King and begins chasing the only lead he has.

Bon Clay questions the guards about Ivankov. One guard says Iva was there long ago, and another mentions an incident from several years earlier. A guard explains that from time to time prisoners simply disappear from Impel Down without a trace, even in front of other prisoners, as if taken by demons. These unnatural disappearances were greatly feared, as though the missing prisoners had been pulled to the gates of hell, and people said they had been "demoined away." Bon Clay realizes Ivankov may have vanished through this mystery rather than by normal execution or release.

Bon Clay and the guards arrive at Level 5, but the cold hits them immediately. Prisoners complain, "So cold!!! The door's not even open yet!!" and the guards say they are already wearing thick coats. Bon Clay is ordered to enter the Freezing Hell unarmed and unclothed, because that is his chance to prove his conviction as the vice warden. They laugh that it would be laughable for the prisoners to wear coats and warn that Den Den Mushis do not work in the cold. Bon Clay charges in despite the conditions.

Level 5's cold is shown as a brutal open wasteland of ice, snow, stone and wolf howls. Prisoners cry, "Uwooh, it's so cold!!" and "It hurts!! It's so cold it hurts!" Bon Clay counts the beasts and asks whether they are the wolf squad. A guard explains that if the wolves were released on Level 2 they would devour the Basilisk, the Sphinx and the other beasts because they are extremely aggressive. Bon Clay refuses to slow down, shouting, "Well then, let's put our hearts into it!! Let's save Straw-chan!!!"

In the Freezing Floor Central Tower Cells, Luffy lies poisoned in the snow while prisoners watch from nearby cells. Someone asks if they are in charge of seeing him off, and another says, "Looks like we got a good one here." Luffy coughs and pants, barely alive, while the huge frozen cell block and jagged ice cliffs surround him. The page emphasizes that Level 5 adds freezing cold, isolation and predatory inmates on top of Magellan's poison. Luffy is not merely jailed; he has been discarded into an execution ground.

Luffy groans, "It hurts...!!!" and struggles in the snow with poison still covering his body. A prisoner tells him it is pointless: there is no way he will live after taking that much poison, and his eyes are already done. Another says it is like an ant in a storm, blown away and unable to do anything. Luffy still cries, "No!!! I won't die!!!" while the prisoners tell him to be quiet and accept death. Even with his body failing, Luffy's refusal remains the only thing keeping him moving.

Luffy crawls through the freezing ground and declares, "I... won't die!!! Not until I save Ace...!!" The prisoners mock him for thinking of others and say that in Level 5 everyone looks out only for himself; nobody is coming to help, and everyone is alone. They explain the prison's logic: to survive the sea of fire, one must climb over bodies; to escape a monster, use the next person as bait; if you worry about others, you lose your life. Luffy hears someone approaching and a prisoner notices that it is not a guard or worker.

Bon Clay appears in Level 5, standing bloodied and nearly naked in the snow, shouting, "Straw-chan...!!! I came to help you... in the name... of friendship!!!" The prisoners stare at him and note that he is covered in blood. Bon Clay apologizes for running away earlier, saying, "I'm sorry... for running away!!!" His arrival directly answers the prisoners' claim that nobody comes to help anyone in this hell. For Luffy, who can barely see or hear, Bon Clay's voice becomes proof that a friend has reached him.

Luffy asks weakly, "Who... are you?" and Bon Clay answers, "A friend!!!" He tells Straw-chan, "I won't let you die!!!" Bon Clay has even brought keys, and the prisoners realize he left them behind in the snow. One says he never even thought about escape, showing how hopeless Level 5 feels. While Bon Clay stands between the cells and Luffy, the snowy silence and his battered body show how much he sacrificed to reach this place. The chapter's title becomes literal through Bon Clay's answer.

The prisoners ask about Iva, and Bon Clay says he has no idea where that okama bastard went. Some recognize the name Emporio Ivankov and say Iva was here long ago, wondering whether he died. Bon Clay, still searching, calls, "I'm looking for someone named Iva!" Prisoners ask why he is looking for someone who is not there and, more importantly, how he got out of his cell. Bon Clay asks about a forest, and prisoners point out an abandoned guardhouse and a weird man who left there, suggesting the wolf den may hold the next clue.

Bon Clay heads into the snowy forest, believing Ivankov did not disappear for no reason. He says he has never met Iva, but Iva has already created so many miracles that he is sure Iva can do it again. Crying, he begs, "God of the okama world! Please, save Straw-chan's life!!!" He adds that if there is no antidote, only Iva can save Luffy, and he will not give up on that. Around him the wolf squad begins to gather in the forest, stalking the desperate rescue attempt.

The wolves attack Bon Clay in the snowy forest. He fights them hand to hand with Okama Kenpo-style kicks and strikes, smashing one wolf with a long-legged blow and leaping away from another. The page is mostly action and SFX, with wolves lunging from every direction while Bon Clay's wounded body keeps moving. Though there is little dialogue, the visual story is clear: the wolf squad is not a background threat, but a lethal obstacle between Bon Clay, Luffy and any chance of finding Ivankov.

The wolf pack overwhelms Bon Clay. He keeps fighting, but the wolves surround him and bite, claw and smash into him from multiple sides. He shouts and coughs while Luffy, barely conscious nearby, senses the attack and asks, "Are you doing to Bon-chan...!?" Bon Clay gasps, "... Straw-chan...!!!" as the wolves snarl and close in. The page turns the rescue into a reversal: the friend who came to save Luffy is now being torn apart in front of him, and Luffy's poisoned body can hardly respond.

A wolf attacks Luffy, but he erupts in fury despite the poison. He drives himself up and roars, "Gyaaa-aaahh!!!" frightening and striking back at the beasts around him. Luffy asks himself, "... What the hell..." as his body reacts, and the wolves stare in shock at his sudden strength. The scene shows that even while poisoned, frozen and nearly blind, Luffy's will to protect Bon Clay forces him to move. The pack's confidence breaks for a moment as his anger pushes through the poison.

A powerful command suddenly cuts through the wolf pack: "Get back!!!" The wolves recoil and the scene falls into a strange hush. Luffy, still collapsed, murmurs, "Straw-chan..." and the battered Bon Clay is surrounded by beasts that no longer attack. Someone wonders, "Was that...?" while the pack backs away through the snowy trees. The interruption is not from a guard but from an unseen force strong enough to stop the wolf squad instantly, setting up the reveal of the person who controls this hidden place.

A tall, dramatic figure appears in the snow beside the fallen Luffy and Bon Clay: Emporio Ivankov. Iva stands calmly with a glass in hand, framed by the frozen trees and the shocked silence after the wolves retreated. The page also cuts to the countdown: Time Until Ace's Public Execution: 26 hours. Ivankov's reveal turns Bon Clay's desperate search into a real possibility. The miracle worker who vanished from the prison records is alive, and he has appeared at the moment Luffy and Bon Clay are out of options.

No description for this page.