Chapter 107

With a calm attitude, Rowan turned his gaze down and inspected his body, which seemed to have been healed by a good amount, although the light-purple-coloured bruise remained on his chest.

Simultaneously, Rowan noted just how awoke he felt, with his whole body brimming with dense spiritual energy, which now contained a certain ferocious characteristic lingering within it.

"Jinbe, the execution of Ace you say?" Rowan asked Jinbe with sharp eyes, "When?"

Jinbe shook his head dejectedly, "I have no idea. It's hard to have a good grasp of time in this prison."

Looking around his surrounding, Rowan noted that the intense pressure seemed to be expelled out of the cell that contained him, which indicated the Seastone. Judging by the way he was imprisoned, breaking out of the prison didn't look possible.

Besides, although Ace was a good friend of his, Rowan's first thought after waking up was his crew instead, wondering if they are doing fine.

However, he soon facepalmed, knowing just what his reckless crew members would do.

'Those idiots... they are going to come all the way here, aren't they.' As the captain of his crew, Rowan knew his crew members better than anyone. He wasn't certain that Robin would come, but he found the chance of the rest of them coming here guaranteed.

"What's wrong, Rowan-san?" Noticing Rowan's behaviour, Jinbe couldn't help but ask in curiosity, upon seeing how relaxed the latter seemed to be in such a bleak circumstance.

"Breaking into the most secure prison in the world... bohaha!!" Rowan broke out into laughter, before shifting his eyes to Jinbe.

"Once we get out of here, let's head to the Marineford immediately. If we are on time, we save Ace. If it's been done already..." Rowan stated as his laughter died down, "...we will at least have to retrieve his remains."

"Out? How?" Jinbe looked confused by Rowan's declaration, but Rowan's attention has already moved away from him.

Although it pained him to be separated from his crew and to hear that his friend was in a dire situation, there was no point thinking about them, when currently, nothing could be done. Instead, Rowan decided to prepare himself for an upcoming fight.

'Conqueror's Haki.' Rowan thought to himself as he quietly raised his right arm, which has now been fixed.

In the next moment, as Rowan reminded himself of the red-black-coloured electricity around Garp's attack and the 'manifestation' done by Bob, the colour of his left eye slowly changed from amber to deep purple.

'Thinking about it, that Garp... his name is Monkey D., just like Luffy.'

*Paz* *Paz*

"W-what?!!"

Under Jinbe's confused eyes, the same phenomenon that occurred to Garp and Bob began to arise from Rowan's right hand, before,

*BOOOOOOOOOM*

An absurdly strong Conqueror's Haki was burst out of Rowan, as his right hand was now covered in red-black electricity, indicating the infusion of Conqueror's Haki.

Jinbe witnessed the immensely strong Conqueror's Haki of Rowan in astonishment, as,

*Thud* *Thud*

Many other prisoners around them fell unconscious to the ground with a thud—even though this was known as level 6, the Infinite Hell of the Impel Down.

"Ho, what a potent Conqueror's Haki."

Suddenly, a loud voice throughout the floor, earning Rowan and Jinbe's attention.

*BOOOOOOOOOM*

Subsequently, a ferocious burst of Conqueror's Haki challenged Rowan's, causing Rowan to grin as the infusion upon his right arm died down.

Much to the demise of the rest, Rowan's golden-yellow-coloured Haki and the man's dark-blue-coloured Haki clashed against one another, causing the whole floor to shake unstably.

"Kahahahaha!!! The Conqueror's Haki of this caliber—how long has it been since I've found someone worthy of fighting?!!!"

As the Conqueror's Haki from both sides died down, one man, from another cell at some distance away from Rowan's cell, revealed himself from behind the bars. Standing with his very large and muscular body frame, the man with long blonde hair behind his back crazily grinned towards Rowan, whose left eye returned back to an amber colour swiftly.

"That man is...!!!" Jinbe's eyes widened in horror, "'Demon Heir' Douglas Bullet, one whose strength was known to rival 'Dark King' Rayleigh!!"

It would be an understatement to say that Jinbe was shocked. The one standing right in front of his eyes was someone capable of an incredible feat, and he was shaken to the core that such a man was imprisoned close to him all along.

"Douglas Bullet?" Rowan smiled impassively, not even afraid by the slightest, "You surely are big."

Rowan felt that he has changed slightly. It was as if he was incapable of feeling fear any longer. Theoretically, after having been defeated by Garp, and now facing a monster whose strength rivals a pirate who fought against Garp, any normal person would cower and choose to be submissive out of instinct.

Apart from those who fell unconscious, the other imprisoners, currently having gone through a sudden nightmare, silently watched the interaction between the two with nervousness.

"Hmph... interesting." Bullet's grin widened, "So you are the so-called Grimheart that the guards were talking about?"

Rowan chuckled as he casually leaned backward with his hands behind his head, "And you may as well be considered as an old fossil by now. For how long have you rot in this prison?"

'R-Rowan-san...!!!' Jinbe's jaw dropped as he stared at Rowan, unable to believe that a mere rookie like Rowan would dare to stand against Bullet without any hint of fear.

"Heh, cheeky."

*BOOM*

Immediately after hearing Bullet's remark, Rowan calmly tilted his head to dodge a sharp wave of pressure that suddenly burst forth all the way from Bullet's finger.

"Shigan?" Rowan quirked his eyebrow, with his eyes glowing brilliantly as he assessed the mechanism behind it, "Interesting. You can make it fly even without a fruit ability."

Breaking into a grin of his own, Rowan similarly raised his finger, and blasted a pressure wave just as Douglas previously did, with no fruit ability involved.

*BOOM*

"Oh?" Bullet remarked in amusement as he too tilted his head, dodging the attack with ease, "You know how to use Tobu (Flying) Shigan."

'Rowan-san...!!' Jinbe helplessly thought within himself.

_______________

[Impel Down, Monitor Room]

"C-Chief Warden Magellan!!" One guard, who was fearfully staring at the sight in front of him, shouted into the Den Den Mushi, "T-they've come!! The Grimheart pirates!!!"

"U-ugh, please... n-not right—hnnnnnnnggg—now..." From Den Den Mushi, Magellan's replied with a difficulty, before hanging up the call.

In front of the outer wall of Impel Down, Prominence, which domineeringly flew towards the prison, could be seen.

Atop the Prominence, six individuals and one horse were standing by on the deck, with their eyes in determination.

"Max 120 Million Volts," Dan raised his hand up, which began to crackle in bright blue lightning, "Discharge."

*PAZZZZZZ*

The large wave of lightning spread throughout the whole structure, and at the next moment, the guards in the monitor room found that all the screens have gone black, with Dan's massive-scale attack having destroyed most of the surveillance Den Den Mushis.

Subsequently, without even opening the entrance to the inner wall, Prominence simply bypassed the structure with ease by flying.

Staring at the massive-sized building below them, Carina stated, "I got no idea what's the layout down there, but if there is one thing we are sure of..."

Alfred carried on, "Captain Rowan must be at the bottom-most floor."

Nodding in agreement with Alfred, Carmen's body began to transform into an incredibly hot white flame, as she floated atop of the air and expanded her arms to the Impel Down.

"Flame Ediction... Prominence."

The area in front of Carmen's palms began to lighten up with the concentration of white-coloured flame, which eventually enlarged into a sun-like shape. Afterward,

*BOOOOOOM*

The white sun was blasted forth, burning the hard surface of the building into ashes, and creating a large crack on its inner layer.

"*Huff* ...It's hard." Carmen stated while huffing in slight exhaustion.

"Well done, Carmen. As planned, defend the ship." Carina commanded, to which Carmen nodded with seriousness.

"Let's go."

Subsequently, all of them, except for Carmen, dropped themselves from the Prominence, and towards the large hole ahead of them.

"How lowly do they think of the marines, to blatantly invade the greatest prison of the whole world?!!!" Stepping out to the platform next to the Impel Down, Hannyabal, the Vice Warden of the Impel Down, stated in a mix of anger, before stopping in disbelief upon noticing a large hole that lied on the surface of the Impel Down.

As the Grimheart pirates were dropping from the sky, Cavendish, whose eyes were glowing in hollow-blue, unsheathed his sword and pointed forward,

"Noble Phantasm: Silent Strike." Stabbing his sword forward, dense energy was expelled from Cavendish's sword, before blasting onto the crack formed by Carmen's attack.

Subsequently, Dan used Geppo to propel himself downward, clenched his hands into fists, and encased them with Armament Haki, as they began to crackle with electricity,

"Max 120 Million Volts: Consecutive Lightning."

*BOOMBOOMBOOM*

Upon Dan's non-stop punches smashing into the crack on the surface of exposed level 1 repeatedly, the crack increasingly became larger and larger under the shocked eyes of Hannyabal and other staff.

"And here comes another." While his sword was still in midair, Cavendish stated as he threw his Haki-imbued sword like a lance, "Noble Phantasm: Breakthrough."

*BOOOOOM*

As Dan stepped back and Cavendish's sword was impaled in the middle of the enlarged crack, the thick roof of the Impel down finally broke, allowing the Grimheart pirates an entry into level 1.

"D-damn it!!" Hannyabal snarled in a cold sweat, "How is that possible?!!!"

Turning around to one guard, Hannyabal immediately asked, "Where is Chief Warden Magellan?!!"

The guard sighed, "I assume that he's in the washroom, having diarrhea as always."

"Truly unreliable for someone at the position of the Chief Warden!!" Hannyabal stated in a displeased tone, before ordering, "Raise the security level to maximum, and monitor their ship afloat over there!! Since they willingly entered, don't let them escape ever again!!"

_________________

[Impel Down, Level 1: Crimson Hell]

"Ahh, it's the outside!! Outside!! Let me out!!!" A voice belonging to a random escapee was heard, but as the individual frantically stared at the hole above while running underneath it, Carina casually kicked him away as the crew entered the floor.

"..Who are these cuties?" Upon landing, Robin stated as the crew noticed that they were surrounded by many horrific-looking blue-coloured creatures, known as the blue gorillas or Blugoris.

The Blugoris simultaneously lifted up their axes, but before they could do any more, they fell down to the ground with a bleeding hole on their neck due to Carina's instantaneous strikes.

"E-eh?!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard by the Grimheart pirates. Turning to the source of the voice, Carina's eyes narrowed upon sighting the Twin Cats pirates behind the bars.

Nami, Nojiko, and their crew members were all seen to be wearing a standard prisoner uniform, as they stared at Carina and the other members of the Grimheart pirates in stupefaction.

With sharp eyes, Carina quickly cut the bars to allow their escape, before asking, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Ahaha... we thought we found a treasure," Nojiko rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "but it turned out to be a marine base."

"For real?" Carina asked with squinted eyes, unable to believe Nojiko's words, "...Well, no comment there."

"I mean, after we saw just how much you guys had," Nojiko shrugged helplessly, "how can we not go crazy?"

Unlike the usual chatters that they would've had, the other crew members of the Grimheart pirates didn't bother to speak, with no hint of goofiness on their demeanours.

"Regardless of that, thank you so much for freeing us from this despicable place." One member of the Twin Cats pirates sighed.

Nami, whose eyes were shadowed behind Nojiko, looked up to the crew with determination in her eyes, "You are here to rescue Rowan, aren't you?"

During their stay in the Impel Down, the Twin Cats pirates managed to eavesdrop on many conversations between the jailers, while using shrewd means to avoid the tortures. Among them, there was one piece of information that shocked them to the core few days ago: Rowan's incarceration.

"Nami," Nojiko's eyes widened, "don't tell me-"

"I know where he is." Nami stated as she placed his hand into her prisoner top, and took out a neatly-folded map, "Few days before, the whole Impel Down staff were talking about it. They would've thought that they were being discrete about it, but not to me."

Staring at the map in her hand, Nami stated seriously, "Years ago, Rowan saved our village and me from Arlong's reign. Now, it's my turn to return what I owe."

"Carina, what do you say?" Dan asked Carina.

Carina placed her hand on her chin, 'If I were to be in her shoes, I definitely would've acquired much information regarding this place. Direction-wise, we would simply have to rely on the map and Observation Haki. However, she must know various short-cuts, places to avoid, and other useful knowledge.'

Previously in Alabasta, Carina and Nami weren't on good terms, which originally stemmed from their rivalry from years ago. However, the fact that Rowan was imprisoned, made them set those feelings aside in mutual understanding.

Carina finally answered, "She's coming with us."

Turning back to Nojiko, Nami stated, "Nojiko, I think we should separate."

"I..." Nojiko seemed conflicted. Judging by Nami's logic, she too owed to Rowan. However, she knew that one of them had to lead the crew out of this place.

In the end, Nojiko nodded, "If you insist. We will go and seize a marine ship. But Nami, this means-"

"As soon as you guys are ready to go," Nami interrupted Nojiko mid-way, "leave without me."

Nojiko bit on her lips as she lowered her gaze, having expected Nami to answer in this fashion.

"C-captain Nami! Are you really sure about this?!" Spadina retorted in a cold sweat, "You know just how dangerous those prisoners at lower floors are!!"

"Don't worry about me, Spadina. I may not be able to defeat them, but," Nami looked resolute as she replied, "they won't be able to catch me if I decide to run away."

"Sabaody Archipelago." Watching the interaction between the Twin Cats pirates, Carina stated as she turned with her back facing them, "Retrieve Nami there. We have to go to that place to coat our ship anyway."

With Nami giving Nojiko a final nod, the Grimheart pirates swiftly left the site along with Nami.

Nojiko and the rest of the crew momentarily stood by, before hastily moving out as well.

All that remained on the site were a large number of Blugoris lying down, dead.