Chapter 83: Major Wood defected from the Navy!

There was a reason Wood released 150 prisoners instead of just 100.

Wood's mission required him to help 100 prisoners successfully escape from Impel Down. The key word here is "successfully," meaning only those who actually made it out of Impel Down would count towards the mission's completion.

Even though most of Impel Down's forces were focused on stopping the Golden Lion, there were still some defenses in place. Wood couldn't guarantee that all 100 prisoners would make it out safely, so he decided to release a few dozen more as a precaution.

However, releasing all the prisoners from Level 1 would have been risky. If there were too many, things could easily spiral out of control, and Wood feared that he might fail.

As a large number of prisoners escaped their cells, the surveillance Den Den Mushi naturally triggered the alarm. But because of the ongoing crisis with Shiki the Golden Lion, the warden and Magellan, who were on the sixth floor, couldn't spare anyone to respond.

In fact, the chaos had escalated to the point where the warden of Impel Down was killed on the spot by Shiki due to a moment of carelessness!

With the death of the warden, the balance of power in Impel Down shifted dramatically. Shiki began to fight Magellan and his men alone, tipping the scales in his favor.

Meanwhile, the few guards left on Level 1 were overwhelmed and unable to stop the escaping prisoners. After sacrificing twenty or thirty guards, the prisoners made their way through the thorny Crimson Hell and finally emerged outside the walls of Impel Down.

"Boss Wood, the warships you arranged are over there. The navy will arrive soon to suppress the rebellion in Impel Down," one of the prisoners said, pointing toward the ships.

After seeing the sky again and breathing in the fresh air, the prisoners were determined never to return to the hell that was Impel Down.

Wood understood that, with his current actions, he had effectively become a traitor to the navy. While a few high-ranking officials like Marshal Sengoku might know he was undercover, the other naval officers would not.

To avoid being accidentally targeted by the navy when they arrived to quell the uprising, Wood led the prisoners aboard the warships he had prepared earlier.

These warships had been readied by the naval team stationed at Impel Down, who had no idea that Wood intended to use them for his escape.

They thought Wood had requested the warships for a routine mission, not to make a grand getaway!

"What baffles them even more," Wood thought, "is why a rich kid with strong connections and a bright future would do something as crazy as orchestrating a prison break!"

"Hey, guys," Wood called out to the naval officers, "you mentioned wanting to stick with me before. Still interested?"

Now that he was officially going undercover as a pirate, Wood realized it was necessary to form a crew. But currently, he didn't have one, which was unacceptable.

He had no intention of relying on the prisoners he had released from Impel Down. In fact, he didn't plan on letting them live. So, he turned to the naval officers from the Impel Down squad, hoping to recruit them.

"Major Wood... No, you traitorous bastard! You tricked us!" the captain of the Impel Down squad exclaimed as he realized they were all now aboard Wood's pirate ship.

These officers had originally thought Wood was an untouchable, well-connected officer and had hoped to ride his coattails to success. But now they found themselves in deep trouble, betrayed by the very man they had hoped to align with.

"You can't say I lied to you," Wood replied with a smirk. "I did mention I might get into some trouble. And back then, you all swore you'd stick with me through thick and thin."

Wood shrugged, feigning innocence. The captain and the others were left dumbfounded. They had been trying to flatter Wood, never imagining that their flattery would lead to such a disaster.

They certainly hadn't expected the "trouble" Wood mentioned to be something as catastrophic as this!

"So, what's it going to be? Are you coming with me?" Wood asked. "After today's events, I doubt the navy will be too forgiving. Even if this wasn't your fault, you'll still face punishment."

The captain's face turned grim. The situation was indeed dire, and the fact that they had provided the warship for the escape wouldn't go unnoticed by the Navy Headquarters. They were likely to be seen as accomplices, regardless of their intentions. Continuing with the navy seemed impossible; worse, they might even find themselves thrown into Impel Down as prisoners.

Having been stationed at Impel Down for so long, these officers knew better than anyone how terrifying that place could be. After only a moment's hesitation, the captain decided to follow Wood onto the warship.

Seeing their captain make a decision, the rest of the officers followed suit. They had no other choice. They were on this pirate ship now, and there was no turning back.

But after boarding Wood's pirate ship, the former navy officers quickly realized that even as pirates, their situation was far from ideal.

Before they were out of danger, the prisoners from Impel Down had been relatively well-behaved. But as the ship moved farther away from the prison, Wood could sense the prisoners' hostility growing.

"Captain Wood," one of the former navy officers—now a pirate under Wood's command—said nervously, "I feel like we escaped Impel Down only to die on this ship. Are you sure these prisoners actually recognize you as their leader?"

There were more than 150 prisoners originally, but after losing 20 to 30 during the escape, over 120 remained. Meanwhile, there were only fifteen former navy officers on the ship, including Wood. Even an idiot could sense the malice emanating from the prisoners.

"Captain," Wood said, addressing the former navy captain, "take the others to the control room. Leave the rest to me. Things are about to get messy."

"Captain, we're no longer in the navy. Just call me Russ."

"Russ? I thought it was Loser..." Wood teased, mispronouncing the name deliberately. "Are you sure it's okay for you to leave me alone?"

Before Russ had joined Wood's pirate ship, he had been a navy captain. Even though the prisoners from Level 1 of Impel Down were relatively weak by pirate standards, most had bounties of around 10 million berries. Russ knew that while it wouldn't be hard for a major like Wood to defeat one or two of them, facing over a hundred was a different story.