Don't Be An Impel Down-er (One Piece SI)

AN: I read This Bites. I've read the other One Piece SI's. Now, I do my own.

XoXoXoX

Warden Magellan's footsteps were loud. Very loud. His feet echoed loudly due to the lack of ambient noise. In this corridor of the prison no one talked. They didn't scream in agony either. It's probably because they were to busy suffering.

Level 6. The level of the prison where the World Government placed prisoners that they deemed to dangerous for a public execution for whatever reason, bit didn't want them to have the mercy of death. They sat here in the dark, surrounded by the ocean on all sides, and they suffered.

This was Absolute Justice.

He was patroling this level of the prison because he had heard from one of the surveillance snails that there was a prisoner making a lot of noise in their cell. It was his job to see what the problem was, and quiet the prisoner if need be.

As he got closer to cell 10013 he could hear the commotion. The woman inside was screaming. Loudly. None of the other prisoners were doing anything, and were instead cringing away from him or he passed or staring at the walls apathetically.

When he got to the cell, the woman was on her back screaming. The reason was obvious.

She was giving birth.

Warden Magellan prided himself on being calm and stoic. Doing his duty without question and with pride. His title of 'Warden' gave him the same rank as a Rear Admiral. With that position came the need to know what to do in any given situation.

"Ma'am. I-" The prisoner screamed and something broke.

Magellen vomited. "Oh God! It's everywhere!"

The woman had the audacity to grit her teeth and scream at him. "Help me you asshole! Catch him you piece of-"

She grunted.

Magellen panicked, and opened the cell door with his key and knelt. He had no idea where to put his hands, and just started wringing them over and over again. She said catch him... Did that mean he had to?

"It helps if I'm not wearing pants!"

Good lord. Magellen could feel his stomach clenching in agony. He didn't know if he could deal with this. This wasn't in the job description! How did no one notice this prisoner was pregnant anyways!

He gave the only advice he could.

"Push."

XoXoXoX

The baby wouldn't stop crying. Magellen carefully held the newborn in his massive hands and looked at him. The child literally fit in the palm of his hand.

His mother was dead. She died from exhaustion it seemed. She never had the chance to name her child.

With care, he wrapped the babe in a portion of his massive coat he had torn off. He walked out of the cell, leaving the body of his mother. Cleaning personnel would be along shortly to take care of it.

Soon, he arrived at the hidden elevator. With it, he could travel directly to the administrative level of the prison. After a few minutes, the child stopped crying and opened its eyes.

He swore, it was looking right at him. After a few moments, it began crying again. Instead of the screaming wail it had done earlier however, it almost looked as if the baby was sobbing.

The elevator dinged, and he arrived at his office. He placed the child on the desk, and pulled out a Den Den Mushi. He needed to call his superior.

XoXoXoX

Magellen hung up the line.

He wasn't happy. But orders were orders.

The child's mother's crimes were great. Very great. She had stolen secrets from the Celestial Dragons and she was to die in her cell, far away from home and anyone who knew her. A life sentence. He didn't even get the woman's name, just her seriel number.

His question about what to do about the kid was apparently taken up and down the chain of command until he received an answer. The child had 'bad blood'. His mother's crimes were not his, but letting him go was 'not an option'.

He was ordered to take the child into custody. He was given a fifty year sentence for the crime of 'being born'. Less with good behavior. He would serve as an example, apparently, that crimes against the Celestial Dragons would carry a punishment to the criminal's entire family. Even those who hadn't been born yet.

This was 'Absolute Justice'.

The child on his desk had stopped crying entirely, and was now sleeping. Was he hungry?

There would be some logistics work to be done. They didn't carry infant sized prisoner uniforms, and he needed to be fed.

He didn't even have a name...

The warden needed to begin the paperwork to process the new prisoner, but instead he sat at his desk unmoving. He just looked at the child, sleeping soundly.

Magellen didn't know why, but this entire incident... It made him sad.

XoXoXoX

And So The Clock Turns

Life sucks... That is all.

Oh, you want some context? Okay. My life sucks.

I sat in my cell on my bench at kicked my feet, bored, tired, hungry, and sore. I was going to be seven years old tommorow according to Magellan. Or as I called him 'Warden'. I knew it was the proper title to call him, but whenever I called him Warden it reminded me of Superjail.

I bet I had it better than every other asshole in this prison. I knew I had it better. Life still sucked.

I sat in my cell most of the time. Except when the cell door opened for whatever reason. Like food.

Then I had to dash away and get some glop. They served the 'food' down the hall from where I was in a big empty room with several troughs. You had to scoop some up and eat it. Of course, it wasn't just me that ate there.

This is a prison after all. When I ate, the pirates would make a run for it too. They wouldn't be afraid to kick the shit out of me if I got in their way. The guards would stop them if it ever went to far, but I still got my teeth kicked in once. Thankfully, they came back.

To be fair, the other prisoners have good reason to beat me up. It was a well known fact that I was a snitch. A big fat one. I reported everything I heard to Warden whenever I saw him. Then he would go and lay the poisonous smack down.

I had good reason though. I'm almost seven you see. I've been a kiss ass for as long as I could talk because I remember Warden telling me something when I was young about my sentence. Fifty years, or less with 'good behavior'.

I don't want to be an old man when I see the sky in this world for the first time.

That's right. I said this 'world'. I was born here, but I used to be somewhere else. Earth.

I remember dying. Horribly. There I was, handling explosives, when I made a mistake. I had forgotten to electrically ground myself before grabbing something. I'll let you use your imagination to picture what happened to me afterwards.

Anyways, I'm a snitch. Snitches get stitches. Literally. I have a few already from the shankings I've endured so far, and it's probably only going to get worse as I go on.

Don't get me wrong, I'm more than just a punching bag. I can fight back and win sometimes. Even most of the time if it's one on one. Different story if there's more people. I fight dirty and I fight to win. I always have. I know it's weird that I'm stronger than anyone my age should be, but I'm not complaining. I need every advantage I can get in here.

I hear footsteps. Very familiar clanking footsteps.

I plaster a grin on my face. Soon, the Warden comes into view. His imposing form casting a shadow into my cell, the horns of his outfit making him appear even more intimidating than he already is.

"Good afternoon Warden!" I tell him.

He nods, his face unmoving as always. I have trouble reading him. He comes and sees me personally a few times every week, so I guess he expects me to get all this fat and juicy prison rumors for him.

"Good morning Prisoner 10013."

Oh yah. I forgot. That's my name. Prisoner 10013. Well, not my real name. It's my name in this world however.

"Do I have some news from the grapevine for you Warden! All kinds of-" He raises his hand and I stop.

"Tommorow is your birthday Prisoner 10013. Did you know that?"

I nod. "Yes sir."

He looks at me for a few moments, like he's trying to pick apart every single thing I say. "It is against Government policy to form any kind of relationship with a criminal. Did you know that?"

I didn't actually. "No sir."

"However, you're crime of 'being born' is not a felony, even if it is a crime that resulted in your incarnation."

What does that have to do with anything?

He continues on. "Thus, you and I can interact. A thought occurred to me last night. I am the individual you have known and interacted with the most your entire life. Am I correct?"

"Yes Warden."

He nods. "Yes. I am correct. I believe that makes me your friend."

Huh... I guess.

"As such, with tommorow being your birthday, it is the social obligation of friends to give each other gifts. What would you like for your birthday Prisoner 10013?"

I gasp. "Anything I want?!"

"No. You are still a prisoner and contraband will result in punishment, as will attempting to leave Impel Down."

My shoulders sag. "Okay. Well, it's kind of silly..."

I channel my acting skills. I'm a Bane wannabe who doesn't know anything of the outside world.

"I heard some other prisoners talking about things you can eat that isn't glop. Do you think I could have something like that to eat Warden?"

He doesn't reply, and I'm afraid that he'll just say no. Instead, much to my relief, he speaks. "That is acceptable and doable. Have a nice day Prisoner 10013, I must resume my patrol."

He then walks off, his foot steps fading away into echoes as he distances himself from my cell.

I laugh bitterly to myself when I think he's out of earshot.

"Another day down. One day, I'll see the sky."