Chapter 86

Still and silent. Excluding the plopping noises generated by the droplets of water, the Eternal Hell or 6th Level of the Impel Down seemed never-changing—frozen almost.

Some has recently been placed, while some lived here for countless years. Though there were drastic difference in for how long they've been in here, one thing was for sure: as time passes by, people will gradually come to forget them. No matter how infamous they used to be, people's attention will shift to the superstars of the new generation. They will rot in this mundane prison for eternity—until their death arrives in the name of salvation.

And in such a place, Smoker looked relaxed.

Eternal? No way out? None of them were of his concern. Actually being refreshed for once after many sleepless nights, he was more energized than ever—in this gloomy dungeon that is.

"...So," Gazing at the ceiling in a relaxed form—though he was fully cuffed—he asked Whitey Bay, the woman cuffed right across him, "How did you end up here?"

'That's the first thing on your mind?' Thought Whitey Bay, unable to believe how uninterested Smoker looked at his current circumstance. Few moments ago, he woke up and lazily looked around himself, and instead of lamenting over his imprisonment, decided to ask her such a question.

...To some extent, Smoker reminded Whitey Bay of Whitebeard himself, the man who sleeps soundly in the middle of the battlefield.

Eventually, Whitey Bay responded with a snort, "That's what I'd like to ask you. The infamous rookie known as 'White Hunter' or 'White Snake,' assumed by many to be the future Admiral of Marine until his corruption, suddenly ended up here. Don't you find this more ridiculous than my situation?"

"...Hah," Smoker's body shook in a silent laughter, before he replied, "I suppose that you aren't wrong."

Logical-wise, Smoker's circumstance wasn't good. Having earned the hatred of Celestial Dragons and World Government, the only reason why he was still alive, was thanks to the presence of Monkey D. Garp.

"...I simply revealed my fangs far too early, far before I was ready to go."

Swallowing the saliva and wetting his dry lips, Smoker continued,

"I had choices. I could either ignore the injustice in front of me and pretend to be one of their loyal dogs, or to stop said injustice. In a way, it was the question of whether to sacrifice a few for the sake of saving many in return... but hey, isn't it idiotic to value human lives by quantity alone?"

"...Don't get me involved in your morality shit." Whitey Bay rolled her eyes, to which Smoker laughed in return. She then dropped her head and sighed,

"Well, at least my part is more straightforward than yours." She said, "I'm here because of one betrayer."

"...Betrayer?" Smoker found himself interested, "Among your Ice Witch pirates?"

"Tch... no. Among 'Whitebeard pirates.'"

"...What?"

Not noticing the gleam in Smoker's eyes, Whitey Bay growled, "That damn Teach!! Calling himself Blackbeard and attacking me in the middle of the party, graaahhh!!!"

Smoker opened his mouth, but no word came out. Blinking his eyes, he thought,

'What the fuck. Is the year 1522? Did I somehow travel 16 years into the future?'

"If only pops didn't give that accursed Dark Dark fruit to him!!"

'He even has that fruit?'

Smoker felt a sudden rush of headache. Groaning, he closed his eyes and rolled his brain,

'...Damn it. The question of "how" doesn't matter. What's important is that acquiring that fruit removes Blackbeard's reason to stay in Whitebeard pirates.' Smoker then came to wonder, 'But judging by Whitey Bay's nuance of speaking, Blackbeard wasn't perceived as a betrayer before attacking her, and he was personally "given" the fruit by Whitebeard himself. If I were to put these altogether... why did Blackbeard betray in the first place?'

In the canon. Blackbeard 'betrayed' in order to steal the Dark Dark fruit from Thatch, one of the Whitebeard pirates. Subsequently, he ran away and built his own crew from scratch. Then, adhering to his plan of trying to become one of the Seven Warlords by catching a pirate whose bounty amounts to a 100 million Beli or more, he initially chased after Luffy before changing his target to Whitey Bay—

"—Wait." Smoker asked astutely, "He caught you alive and handed you over to Marine."

"Hmph... yes, in exchange for acquiring the title of a Warlord."

'Then the next step of his plan might be...!'

Smoker's eyes widened as he instinctively raised his body up. The cuffs clanged in response, resisting his pull. Coupled with the fact that the cuffs contain seastones, Smoker helplessly flopped back onto the floor, huffing from the sense of fatigue that overwhelmed him.

Watching his abrupt action, Whitey Bay muttered, "...What's with you all of a sudden?"

Just then, the walking noises echoed along with the sound of chains clanging against one another. Turning her gaze, Whitey Bay saw multiple jailors coming toward the two of them.

"Prisoner Smoker, you have a visitor!"

With a genuine surprise, Whitey Bay asked,

"H-huh? You saw them coming?!"

"Ha..." Smoker, letting out a sigh, said dryly, "Let's go with that."

As the cell was opened and the chains were detached from Smoker's seastone cuffs, many eyes peered onto him. Watching as he was getting pulled out by the prisoners, some whispered angrily, "What even is this? A visitor in the Impel Down? To one placed in here, the lowest floor, of all levels?!"

"OI!!!"

BOOM!

Then, along with a growl, one prisoner slammed the bars, "LET ME OUT ALSO!!! AND I PROMISE YOU, THAT I'LL KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU HERE AS PAINFULLY AS POSSIBLE!!!"

"..."

Smoker came to a stop as the prisoners holding his arms ceased their walks.

In the front of the group, there stood the newly promoted Warden, Magellan, glaring at the mad prisoner in contempt.

There were no words of reply. Magellan simply raised his hand up toward the prisoner, and,

"Hydra!"

in a split second, burst out a deadly wave of poison engulfed the entire cell. Drenched in purple, the screaming prisoner, along with his jail-mates, stood with their bloodshot eyes reflecting the agony they were undergoing through.

"G-gahhh..."

"W-why attack us also…"

With a thud, they helplessly fell. Acting as if he hasn't seen anything, Magellan continued to go his way, to which the other jailors naturally followed with Smoker in their hands.

However, Smoker wasn't paying any attention to the fall of fellow prisoners. Instead, he was looking elsewhere, into the dark where one pair of eyes stared back at him.

'He is...'

Then, one jailor's body blocked Smoker's view. Taking his eyes off of that particular direction, Smoker relaxed his body and let himself be guided.

Beyond the several layers of metal bars, there was one metallic elevator, large enough to contain multiple at once. Smoker was brought inside this machine after Magellan, and then Magellan stated,

"Clean up the corpses and continue on with your duties."

Upon the pull of a lever by Magellan, the elevator door closed and began ascending—carrying only Smoker and Magellan.

__________

"...Damn it."

Reading the newspaper in her hands, Robin snarled. It was deep into the night, and she was currently wearing a pajama. Below her were many female trainees, those who also were under Zephyr's care at the current moment.

Wrinkling up the newspaper in anger, Robin whispered, "Becoming wanted and then getting caught... of course you'd act in accordance to your emotion even if you knew the risks. You've always been like that, Smoker."

Robin recalled back in the past, that doomsday of Ohara. Even during that day, Smoker saved the 'Demon Child' and willingly placed himself in danger—simply because he believed that that was the right thing to do. And then, going as far as fighting the 'Nightmare' for something like creating an alibi... he truly was a reckless fellow.

"But what now?" Robin grimaced, "How are you going to get out of that prison in the first place?"

The more that Robin stayed in this organization, the more she realized how corrupt it was. The connection that Marine had with the World Government was deep, and instead of righteousness that Smoker valued, only the hypocrisy could be seen in her eyes.

Robin closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, calming herself down. Biting on her lips, she mumbled, "I have to do something."

Smoker was her only hope. He was the only one whom she trusted with her life. If he were to fall, there will be no way to bring down the World Government, that despicable organization that not only killed her mother but also the scholars whom she admired and followed.

'...But how?' Thought Robin, 'What can I do in this situation?'

"Hm, why aren't you sleeping yet?"

At the next moment, a voice was spoken from Robin's side, causing her to panic. Turning to the direction that the voice came from, Robin was met with the sight of one girl with long and light-red-coloured hair.

"…Kujaku."

__________

The metallic noises of gears cranking and skidding entered his ears as they slowly moved up. Not minding them, Smoker looked to the front in silence.

'Visitor, they say?' Smoker couldn't help but think, 'Who can it be?'

Then, Magellan spoke,

"...We're currently on our way to my office, located on the 4th Level known as the Blazing Hell."

As Smoker raised his eyebrow, Magellan continued,

"I've been following the news regarding you since the start. As the Warden of this prison and the worker of the World Government, I should treat you the same as any other prisoner, but..." Magellan stared at Smoker grimly, "This time, even I came to question, of what truly is the right thing to do."

The elevator came to a stop, before the door re-opened. Beyond the door was the fine-looking office that contains a floor covered by a red carpet, a round table that supported a candle that was lit, and...

"...Fleet Admiral?" Muttered Smoker, as Sengoku, munching away a rice cracker and leaving crumbs all over the table, flinched upon noticing Smoker and Magellan's arrival. Quickly gulping down the entire rice cracker, Sengoku put on the serious face of a Fleet Admiral,

"You're finally here, Smoker."

Ignoring Smoker's deadpan, Sengoku tapped the seat next to him,

"Come take a seat next to me."

Processing this sudden development, Smoker slowly turned and looked at Magellan questioningly. Magellan looked back at Smoker with uncertainty on his face, before sighing lightly and speaking to Sengoku, "You have one hour, Fleet Admiral. I can't give you more than that."

"Thank you, Magellan."

Guiding Smoker's powerless body, Magellan dropped Smoker on the seat pointed by Sengoku, before walking out of the room.

"So," Taking in a deep breath, Sengoku said, "Shall we talk?"

Smoker sat still with his eyes squinted in thought. Then, he spoke up,

"That rice cracker you just ate. Is it from Cookabooka Town?"

"…Eh?"

"Seemed like it from what I could tell."

Sengoku was left dumbfounded.