16 Part 2.5

I've never seen a penguin. Interestingly enough, I know what they look like. Short flightless black and white birds that live in cold conditions. I have a memory of them.

A line of penguins all walking in a row, back to belly to conserve warmth. Black and white birds in the cold. Where they're going, I have no clue. But man, they can walk forever.

That's what I thought of when I found the escaped prisoners of Level Five. Penguins. They were in a line huddling together and wandering around. It took me hours to find these guys! I had no idea what they were thinking wandering to the ass-end of Level Five.

I didn't actually need to know what they were thinking. As I walked towards the line of prisoners I could hear them talking. I took my time walking torwards them. I stayed in the middle of a small blizzard so they wouldn't see me.

"Tch. Just our luck. We get out of our cells, but Impel Down still gives us a kick in the balls."

"Hey, quit your bitching. I've been hearing it ever since we got out. We just need to find the exit and get to Level Four. It'll be smooth sailing from there!"

They're all heading I'm the exact opposite direction of the exit. I don't have the heart to tell them that.

Wait. Yes I do.

I step out of the blizzard and some prisoners immediately see me.

"Hey, Dalt. Who's that over there?" I heard one prisoner ask.

Then I heard another prisoner shout panickedly. "Oh shit! That's 10013! Run for it!"

They ran in the opposite direction from me. I called out to them, jogging so I was right behind them. "Hey! Look behind you! I need to talk to you!"

"Suck my balls!" One called out.

How rude. Well, if they won't look back, stop, and talk to me so we can both work together to correct their misbehavior I'll just have to compromise.

"Fine. Look in front of you."

I increased my speed a Hundred-Fold and got in front of them. I kicked up a bunch of snow in the process and then I was standing in front of them, arms crossed. I towered over a lot of these guys.

"Ahhhhh!" Some of them scream. They turned around and began running away again.

Of course I increased my speed and ran through the line of prisoners until I was in front of them again.

"Surprise. I'm everywhere you are not." I stated plainly.

They mostly just stopped and gave me terrified looks. A few looked like they were going to run of course. I pelted them with a Five-Fold snowball each.

None of them stopped running and now I was just looking at them. I shook my head side to side in disappointment.

"Really guys? Escaping? What's the point? This is Impel Down, and none of you are Shiki."

One giritted his teeth furiously. "You bastard snitch! What do you know! You may be content to spend the rest of your life here, but we want out! Our freedom!"

"What's the point in freedom if you're just going to be captured again?"

"That's not a certainty! The Marines could fail to capture us! They're too busy preparing for the upcoming war to waste time going after us anyways!"

I blink. "What war?"

The prisoners look at each other. Then back to me. "You know... Fire Fist Ace, 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates is here in Impel Down. I think they're going to execute him in what?"

Another prisoner answers. "A few hours now I think..."

Wow. "I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of context... Well, you guys need to go back to your cells and I need to return these." I say holding up the keys I had gotten earlier.

"Hey! Those were the keys the weirdo gave to Dale. What happened to him?"

"He's dead." I explain.

There's silence, except for the blowing wind. Then they all screamed.

"Ahhhhhh! He killed Dale!"

That's not what happened...

"Technically I killed him." I clarify. He was kinda dead when he was frozen already. When I shattered him it was kinda like... I can't think of a phrase that puts me in a good light. Shut up.

One prisoner gasps. "I used to be a lawyer! Technical murder is the worst kind of murder!"

"Well, other than accidental muder." I admit.

This doesn't calm them down. In fact, they're all freaking out even more.

I sigh. It's hard dealing with people. "Alright everyone. Here's the deal. I'm going to take you back tot he cells and lock you back up. Then I'll return these keys to the guards. Good plan?" I nod to myself. "Good plan." I agree.

I point off into the distance. "That's where the the central tower is. I'll guide you guys back up there and lock you up."

They look like they're going to protest. Good prisoners don't protest. I kick some snow in their direction. I increase the size so they're all up to their neck in snow.

"I said, let's go back and lock you up. That's not a suggestion. I don't suggest. Understood?"

All of the prisoners mumble general agreements and begin digging themselves out. When they were ready to travel and shivering in the cold I grunted.

"Let's get moving."

They lined up and I watched them behind in case there was a runner. I gave them instructions every once in a while to make sure they kept moving in the right direction.

Gurry followed behind me. He chuckled. "Heh. It's odd seeing you tell people what to do. You seem to like giving people grief. I thought you would spend time making yourself a gang boss or something."

I shake my head. "There's no point. All of these guys are dead men anyways. No point in getting to know them in my opinion, and forming a gang isn't good behavior."

I was so focused on keeping track of the prisoners I almost missed the faint warm breeze. A warm breeze in a frozen over hell.

My eyes narrowed. "Something isn't right."