Beast Hell

In the deep prison cell where Fire Fist Ace is held, Jimbei lies chained and exhausted, breathing "Haa..." while Ace watches him from across the floor. Jimbei tells Ace that he is "just a pirate-hating pirate" and says he is totally different from the Government. Ace asks, "Pirate-hating...? You...?" Jimbei answers that it may surprise Ace, but he has visited Whitebeard's ship many times. He says Ace has class and traveled the sea floor doing his business, and adds, "I liked you guys..." The page shifts Jimbei away from the role of a simple Shichibukai servant. Even in chains, he explains that his loyalty is not to the Government but to a personal respect for Ace and Whitebeard.

Ace weakly says he seems to remember Jimbei trying to kill him a couple of times, and Jimbei answers, "...Same goes for you...!!" Jimbei says he only wanted to be useful to Whitebeard. He explains that Fishman Island is at peace now, and that it is all thanks to "your old man, Whitebeard...!!!" Jimbei lays out the danger: every pirate who advances through the Grand Line must pass through Fishman Island, and when the "Great Pirate Age" began, the island was thrown into chaos. An endless stream of human pirates and Marines pursued them, turning the island into a vulnerable crossroads. The page makes Whitebeard's protection a political shield for Fishman Island, not merely a pirate alliance.

Jimbei remembers that many fishmen and mermaids were abducted and sold, and that just as they were about to give in to despair, Whitebeard appeared. In the flashback, Whitebeard declares, "This island is under my protection!!!" Jimbei says he will never forget that day. With those words, nobody dared to lay a hand on Fishman Island. Jimbei explains that Whitebeard has several islands under the protection of his name and that it is not right to take him down just because he is a pirate boss. He worries that if Whitebeard dies, the Government is very well able to imagine what would happen across those seas. The page shows Jimbei's fear: Whitebeard's fall would create a power vacuum and revive old violence.

Jimbei says he wanted to stop the coming fight even if it cost him his life, and he wanted to get Ace out of here. Ace, chained flat to the floor, tells him, "...Jimbei... that's enough... You're just making it worse...!!!" Jimbei still refuses to give up, saying he has not given up hope yet and still has faith that a miracle or opportunity will present itself. In a nearby dark cell, another prisoner laughs, "Kuhahaha... Things are getting pretty interesting..." followed by "Kukukuku...!!" The page keeps Jimbei's desperation in focus while revealing that another powerful inmate is listening with amusement. Ace knows Jimbei's defiance only brings him more punishment, but Jimbei cannot abandon his justice.

The other prisoners explode with excitement at the idea of Whitebeard being vulnerable. Voices shout, "So you're telling me there's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to kill Whitebeard...!!?" and "That gets my blood pumping...!!" Others yell, "Kill Whitebeard!!!" "That bastard's gonna die!? Hyahoo!!!" and "That's great!!! That's the best!!!" A huge barred cell full of dangerous inmates erupts with cries of "Get me to the ocean!!! I'll be the one to kill him!!!" and "Lemme fight too!!!" Ace is furious and asks if they think they will take his old man's head. Jimbei shouts, "Shut up, all of you!!!" A prisoner answers that Jimbei and Fire Fist should remember well that there are no shortage of "silver medalists" shedding tears because they could not overcome Whitebeard and Roger.

The story cuts to the Great Prison Impel Down monitor room. Guards report that the Basilisk has crushed the Level 2 guard room and that they cannot contact the staff there. They ask, "Those two beat the Basilisk!? Where are they now!!?" and then stare at the screens in alarm. One guard demands, "What is going on at Level 2!!?" Another says he sees the shadows of the intruders, but something is wrong: "It looks like... there are three of them now...!!!" The page confirms that Luffy and Buggy's chaos has become harder to control since Mr. 3 has joined the escape. From the prison's perspective, the disaster is no longer a single intruder but a growing jailbreak party.

On Level 2, labeled "The Floor of Demon Beasts," Luffy, Buggy, and Mr. 3 fight together while a prison diagram shows Level 1 above them and Levels 3 through 5 below. Their attacks fire off in quick succession: Mr. 3 shouts "Candle Lock!!!" Luffy shouts "Gomu Gomu Pistol!!!" and Buggy shouts "Bara Bara Cannon!!" More monsters swarm in, and Buggy yells that they just keep coming. Mr. 3 explains that one giant centipede is made up of smaller puzzle scorpions and that they are super poisonous. A roar of "Vuoru-ruru-ruru!!!" interrupts them. Mr. 3 realizes the boss of the beasts in Level 2 is supposed to look like a lion and identifies the attackers: "Those are Manticores, man-eating lions with human faces!"

The Level 2 guards are identified by a caption as "Manticore." They roar "Vuoru-rururu!!!" and Mr. 3 warns that if they catch the escapees, they will even eat their bones. The Manticores shout prison phrases such as "The key!!" and "Give us the key!!!" causing Luffy to react in confusion. Mr. 3 tells him not to listen because the creatures have human parts and can imitate human speech, but they only remember what prisoners say and have no idea what the words mean. The Manticores keep repeating bizarre stolen phrases including "Strawberry panties," "Fundoshi," and "Beef steak!" Buggy shouts, "Don't respond!!!" The page turns the man-eating monsters into an absurd chorus of overheard prison vocabulary while still keeping them dangerous.

Luffy runs through the chaos and asks Mr. 3, "Hey, you said you'd help me, right?" He wants to know how to get down to Level 3. Mr. 3 is shocked and asks, "You're trying to save Fire Fist Ace!!?" He thought they were escaping upward to Level 1, not going deeper into the prison. Mr. 3 then thinks through the layout and says the stairs from Level 1 continue all the way down to Level 3. Privately, he plans to use Strawhat as bait for the beasts that guard the stairs and then escape himself. Luffy grabs onto the useful part of the information, demanding only to be told where the stairs are. Mr. 3 shouts, "Follow me...!!!" and Luffy cheerfully answers that they should go together.

A huge creature waits ahead, first muttering "Soumen..." and then roaring "Ramen!!" and "Tamen... Yakisoba!!!" A caption identifies it as the "Level 2 Guardian Sphinx," a human-faced, feathered lion. Luffy stares and says, "A... a lion..." then corrects himself with "No... a man?" while Buggy and Mr. 3 panic. Mr. 3 calls it the guardian of the stairs, the Sphinx. Buggy observes that it can only say the names of noodles, and a footnote explains the "Amen" joke as English rather than noodles. The Sphinx shouts "Amen!" while Buggy misreads it as praying. The page introduces the boss of Level 2's beasts: even sillier than the Manticores in speech, but much more dangerous as the gatekeeper to Level 3.

The Sphinx's huge paw comes down with a heavy impact, and the beast smashes the floor so violently that Luffy, Buggy, and Mr. 3 are thrown into panic. Someone shouts, "Uwohh!! This guy is bad news!!" The imprisoned men nearby also panic as the Sphinx goes wild. They say the Sphinx is going wild someplace far away and that they knew it was impossible for them to escape. The Sphinx's roar echoes through the cells as prisoners cling to the bars, realizing that opening their cages has not made them free if the floor boss can still crush everything in sight. The page turns the escape momentum back against the prisoners and makes the Sphinx feel less like a guardian and more like a walking disaster.

The Sphinx roars again, and Luffy asks what Buggy and Mr. 3 are doing as they scramble behind him. Mr. 3 and Buggy clasp hands and announce, "All right!! We're forming the jail-break alliance!!" Buggy says he is glad someone else is serious about escaping, while Mr. 3 says they can now put the "make-Strawhat-into-bait" plan into action. Luffy ignores the scheming behind him and launches forward with "Gomu Gomu..." before slamming the Sphinx with "Bazooka!!!" The attack crashes into the beast with a huge impact. The page is funny because Buggy and Mr. 3 believe they are manipulating Luffy, while Luffy is already doing exactly what he does best: charging straight into the strongest enemy blocking the way.

Luffy's attack enrages the Sphinx instead of stopping it. The creature roars "Vuoru-ruru-raah!!!" and Buggy yells that this is bad, while Mr. 3 asks why Luffy is angering it. Buggy declares, "Hah!! That's not fair, you two can get so high up!!" as he and Mr. 3 move in from the sides, trying to strike the Sphinx while Luffy is above. For a second it looks as if the three escapees might surround the beast, but the Sphinx swings its enormous paw down and smashes Buggy and Mr. 3 into the floor with a loud "Gashaan!!" Their plan to exploit Luffy's frontal attack collapses immediately. The page makes clear that the Sphinx is too strong to be handled by cheap opportunistic tactics.

Mr. 3 recovers by creating wax decoys, laughing that he fooled the simple beast with his Doru Doru powers. He says the copy is not complete without Miss Golden Week painting it, but it is plenty good enough to fool an animal. The Sphinx, still muttering noodle names like "Nyumen," attacks the wrong targets again and again while Mr. 3 taunts, "Come on, come on, which one is the real one!?" Luffy watches and says it is like whack-a-mole. Mr. 3 thinks the Sphinx is having fun and that now is his chance, but the ground begins to shake. Buggy asks what is going on and how badly they angered the Sphinx. The page turns Mr. 3's successful trick into a new problem as the beast's pounding starts damaging the floor itself.

The Sphinx's rampage finally breaks the floor beneath Level 2. Down on Level 3, guards hear something loud above them and ask if the floor is okay. Buggy and Mr. 3 briefly celebrate that their plan succeeded and that the gate to the staircase is open, but the situation is nothing like they imagined. The central impact tears a huge hole through the prison, and the Sphinx falls through with Luffy, Buggy, Mr. 3, and rubble around it. Luffy screams, "Uwaaaah!!!" while Mr. 3 says, "Oh no!!" and Buggy shouts, "We're falling down to Level 3!!!" Prisoners below yell that there is a giant monster falling from the ceiling, and someone reports that they cannot contact Level 2 and have no idea what is going on. The page ends the chapter by dropping the chaos directly into the next level.

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