15 Part 2.4

Three hours. That's how long it took me to find the prisoner with the keys going around and releasing others. I thought that when I caught up with him he and I would have an epic confrontation where he would talk about how he wanted to cause a riot to escape, then I would go and tell him my beleifs and give a short speech. Then we would fight, and the side of good, myself, would win.

I would then take the keys from him and surrender both of them to the guards. I would be rewarded and everyone would be happy, especially me. I would get and extra ten years reduced from my sentence because of it.

That's not what happened. Instead, I found the guy curled up against a wall on the outskirts of Level Five. I kicked a little to turn him over. Big mistake. I ended up shattering half of the guy into pieces.

The cold air of Cocytus had frozen him solid. Normally prisoners can last a while here on Level Five, at least when they are in their cells. When they're outside of their cells it is a different story entirely. The cold blistering wind can literally freeze someone to the bone.

That's what happened to this guy. He was frozen solid. When I kicked him to turn him over, I broke the ice.

"Whoops." I said sincerely. I guess that meant I killed him. I don't like killing. Well, I don't like killing without a purpose. I don't like torture either.

Like Hannyabal I suppose. The Vice-Warden is famous amongst the guards and the inmates of Level Five for patroling Level Five without clothes and usually with no weapon. He handles all issues with just his fist.

I'd talked to him a few times and he remembered me. He seemed surprised that I ended up on Level Five, but when I explained how it was because I was allegedly too strong he understood. Hannyabal is a funny guy. He's usually not that serious, but I saw him get serious once. It was kinda terrifying. Mainly because his eyes turn red. Anyways, Hannyabal doesn't believe in torture. He believes that Impel Down should be torture enough for anyone.

The shattered guy in front of me is Hannyabal's proof that Impel Down itself kills a lot of people.

I leaned down and looked in the guy's hands. Sure enough, there was a ring of keys clutched tightly in his hands. I needed those keys.

I tried prying his fingers open, but ended up snapping them off instead.

"Double whoops."

I now had a ring of keys. Huh.

I examined them closely. There were five keys in total, and for some reason none of them were metal. They were all made from this weird white material. I rubbed one a little and found it had a weird waxy texture.

I pocketed the keys for later. I would give them to the first guard I found.

"Well, that's Target One out of the way. The plan is going good so far if you ask me. Ready to go after Target Two Gurry-Rōshi?"

"Ready as I will ever be. This walk is proving to be very entertaining. More entertaining than that oil spill, that's for sure."

"Oil spill?" I asked him as I began following the tracks back to the cells. I would need to track down the rest of the prisoners and return them to their cells. I would need to use the keys to lock them up again. Another reason why I went after Target One first.

Gurry nodded his head. "Yah. The whole reason I was banished from Fishman Island so long ago... Heresy and deliberate destruction of a few hundred coral reefs using oil."

I gave him a long look over my shoulder as I walked. I don't know how Gurry interpreted it, but underneath my mask was an expression of utmost confusion. "I'm asking you to go into greater detail Gurry-Rōshi."

"Well, it all begins with how much I hate the Celestial Dragons. Those bastards lorded it over us, and I hated it. I begged the king at the time to do something about it, but he was confident that we needed to do nothing and in the end everything would be fine. He told me that everything we could ever want or need was in the water surrounding Fishman Island and there was no reason to leave. I grew upset to say the least."

I'm listening and following the tracks at the same time. We've made it back to the community cells and I'm looking at where most of the footprints coming out of them lead. Gurry continues.

"At the time I thought that if I made Fishman Island desperate, we would be forced to attack the Celestial Dragons and stop them before they grew more powerful than they already were. At the time, the World Government was still new. It was a little under eight hundred years ago... Celestial Dragons are the most despicable humans to ever live, and humans are despicable enough as it is. So, I joined a cult."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. I joined a cult. Not just one cult either. A lot of them. In each one, I took their teachings for myself. Literally. I stole hundred and thousands of manuscripts and holy texts detailing my people's culture and history. I probably took most, if not all of them. Then I traded them all with giants."

"What did you trade them for?"

"Oil. More oil than you could possibly imagine. When giants make oil, they make a lot of it. If the king refused to stop the monsters because we had everything we needed in Fishman Island, I would have to take it away. Then we would have no choice but to attack the Celestial Dragons for resources and so we wouldn't appear weak. So I did."

Wait. Is Gurry serious right now? I stopped walking and looked at him. His face is dead serious, and consumed with sorrow and regret.

"I was so stupid. So young and arrogant. I thought I knew everything. I thought I knew people, and what they would do. I knew nothing. With the oil I had gotten from the giants in exchange for our culture and traditions, I poisoned and destroyed over 95% of the reefs that surrounded my home."

He sighed, running a hand over his face. "On that day, Gurry The Thinker died. From his corpse came the monster known as Reef Killer Gurry. I was immediately captured and sent here to Impel Down. I heard that my people struck some sort of deal with the World Government, and they have been on the decline ever since. I was so stupid... I picked up mediation while I was here, not like there was anything else to do. I became enlightened, and now I understand. I was the one in the wrong. I was the monster... Now I just want to make up for my crimes however I can."

Out of the trees three prisoners jump out of the snow with branches in their hands. They raise them above their head while screaming and charge me and Gurry.

Gurry takes a deep breath. He raises a single hand, then swipes down.

"Crushing Abyss."

The prisoners stiffen, then fall down. Knocked out cold by Fishman Karate.

I pick them up over my shoulders easily and walk to a nearby cell. I toss them in and lock the door.

Before walking off to find the rest of the prisoners I look at Gurry. "Thank you for telling me that. You didn't have to."

He laughs weakly. "I'm old. Really old. Just because I'm enlightened doesn't make my sins any less real. I have regrets and I need to get them out while I still have the chance."

We walk off. We have more prisoners to find.