Chapter 83: Major Wood Defects from the Navy!

As for why Wood released 150 prisoners instead of just 100, there was a reason. Wood's task required him to assist 100 prisoners in escaping from Impel Down. Note that the requirement was for the prisoners to successfully escape, meaning only those who left Impel Down would count towards the task completion.

Although most of the forces in Impel Down were busy dealing with the Golden Lion, some defensive power still remained. Wood couldn't guarantee that releasing 100 prisoners would result in all of them escaping safely, so to be on the safe side, he released an extra few dozen.

If he released all the prisoners from Level 1, it could be problematic because the sheer number might overwhelm him and cause his plan to fail.

As the large number of prisoners began escaping from their cells, the surveillance Den Den Mushi naturally triggered the alarm.

However, with the chaos caused by the Golden Lion Shiki, the warden of Impel Down and Magellan, who were in the sixth level, couldn't respond quickly even when they received the news.

In fact, the warden was caught off guard by the sudden emergency and was killed on the spot by Shiki!

With the warden's death, the balance of power in Impel Down, which had initially held Shiki at bay, was completely shattered. Shiki then started to dominate the fight, overwhelming Magellan and the others.

On the other side, with only a few guards left in Level 1 under the command of Hannyabal, they couldn't stop the prison break. After losing 20 to 30 men, the prisoners from Level 1 crossed the thorn-filled Crimson Hell and finally emerged outside Impel Down.

"Boss Wood, where's the ship you arranged? The Navy will soon come to suppress this situation."

Seeing the sky for the first time in ages and breathing the outside air, the prisoners were determined not to return to the hell of Impel Down.

Wood understood that he was now considered a traitor to the Navy. Fleet Admiral Sengoku and a few other high-ranking officers might know his undercover status, but the rest of the Navy wouldn't.

To avoid being mistakenly targeted by the Navy reinforcements, Wood boarded the ship he had prepared with a large group of prisoners.

The Navy ship had been prepared by the small detachment stationed at Impel Down on Wood's orders.

However, they hadn't realized that when Wood asked them to prepare the ship, it was not for an official mission but for an escape!

What puzzled them even more was why Wood, who had a bright future and a powerful backer, would commit such a crime as breaking prisoners out of Impel Down.

"Brothers, you all said you'd stick with me through thick and thin, right? Do you still have that thought now?"

Wood had already thought it through—if he was going to be an undercover pirate, then forming a pirate crew was essential. However, he didn't have any subordinates yet, which seemed a bit odd.

The prisoners he had released from Impel Down weren't people he planned to keep around, nor did he intend to let them live.

So, he enthusiastically extended an invitation to the small detachment of the Navy that had been stationed at Impel Down.

"Major Wood... No, Wood, you bastard, you tricked us!"

The detachment's captain and the others, realizing what Wood had done, couldn't believe they had been tricked into helping him.

They had initially thought Wood was some hidden noble, planning to cling to him in hopes of a brighter future.

Who could have guessed that Wood, after barely calling them his brothers, would drag them into such a disastrous situation?

"You can't say it like that. I never lied to you, did I? I told you I might get into trouble, and you swore that you'd share in the troubles and take the blame if necessary."

Wood shrugged, indicating that it wasn't his fault; after all, they had promised to follow him no matter what.

Hearing Wood's words, the captain and his men were left speechless. They had been trying to flatter Wood but had never expected that their words would land them in such a mess.

Moreover, they hadn't expected that when Wood said he might cause trouble, it would be something as catastrophic as this!

"So, what's the plan? Are you coming with me? After what happened today, Impel Down will probably ban the Navy from entering. Even though this had nothing to do with you, you'll likely be punished."

Hearing Wood's words, the captain's expression turned even more bitter. The situation had escalated so much, and with the prisoners escaping on the ship they had prepared, it was unlikely they'd just be punished.

It was more likely that the Navy would consider them accomplices of Wood, and they might be thrown into Impel Down themselves.

Having been stationed at Impel Down for so long, no one understood its horrors better than they did. So, after a moment of hesitation, the captain decided to follow Wood onto the ship.

Seeing their leader make the decision, the others naturally followed suit.

They had no choice but to continue down the path they'd started...

But after boarding Wood's ship, the detachment of Navy soldiers realized that even defecting with Wood didn't make their situation any better.

The prisoners they had helped free had been relatively obedient up to this point, but as the ship moved further from Impel Down, Wood could sense their increasingly hostile stares.

"Major Wood... No, Captain Wood, I feel like we might survive Impel Down only to die on this ship. Are you sure those prisoners genuinely accepted you as their leader?"

Out of the 150 prisoners who escaped, 20 to 30 died during the breakout, leaving about 120.

Meanwhile, there were only 15 of them, including Wood. Even a fool could sense the rising hostility from the prisoners.

"Captain, you and the others go to the control room. I'll handle the cleanup. I don't want you getting splattered with blood."

"Captain, we're not Navy anymore. Just call me Russ."

"Russ? Loser? That name suits you..."

"Captain, it's Russ, not Loser! And are you sure you'll be okay handling this alone?"

Before joining Wood's "pirate crew," Russ had been a Navy captain. While the prisoners from Level 1 were the weakest in Impel Down, most of them still had bounties of around 10 million berries.

This level of pirate wouldn't be too difficult to defeat one-on-one, but over a hundred of them...