Chapter 523: A Hell of an Old Friend
Although Impel Down was massive and Ian and his group had no map of the place, Ian never worried about getting lost.
Because there was only one direction to reach the bottom of Impel Down: downward!
Even if they couldn't find the entrance to the lower level right away, they could just break through the floor and drop down. With the strength of their group, that wasn't impossible at all.
After arriving at Level 2, what greeted Ian and the others was a giant cockatrice monster!
However, this time, before Ian and his group could even act, the prisoners released from Level 1 were already howling and charging forward!
Perhaps knowing Ian's identity as a jailbreaker gave these prisoners immense courage. Facing such a monster, they showed no fear at all. Carrying double-bladed axes they'd snatched from the Blue Gorilla guards, a group of prisoners directly surrounded and beat the cockatrice to death. And you know what? Although some were injured by the cockatrice, in the end, the prisoners actually managed to chop it to pieces!
"Heh, is this their letter of fealty?" Trafalgar Law remarked with a hint of sarcasm.
"That's fine too," Ian said with a smile. "It saves us some energy."
Level 2 of Impel Down was called the Beast Hell. As the name implied, the guards on this floor were a group of ferocious monsters rarely seen in the outside world.
Ian walked over to the cockatrice the prisoners had cut down, crouched down, and examined it.
The so-called cockatrice was a gigantic rooster, but strangely, its tail was a long snake tail.
Clearly, this creature should be a mythical beast. Looking at the monster, Ian couldn't help rubbing his chin in thought.
He didn't believe these creatures were naturally occurring. In Ian's opinion, such mythical beasts were either mutants or artificially created!
Thinking this, Ian couldn't help but think of Lineage Factor. He suspected these creatures might be Vegapunk's experimental subjects...
Oh, right, Ian suddenly remembered that on Punk Hazard, there was also a dragon!
Shaking his head, Ian stood up. For some reason, he always felt that whether it was this cockatrice or the dragon on Punk Hazard, if these creatures were really the result of Vegapunk's research experiments, there might be some deeper meaning behind them.
He believed that a scientist like Vegapunk wouldn't create these things for fun. He might be trying to develop some kind of biological weapon, or there could be another reason.
In any case, Ian made a mental note of this...
This cockatrice wasn't the only monster on the second level. As Ian and his group went deeper, more cockatrice monsters appeared, further convincing Ian that these creatures were man-made. Mutants wouldn't have so many identical ones; the number of cockatrices here was enough to form a population!
Faced with so many cockatrices, the prisoners from the first level were no match, so Luffy and Law also joined in.
After spending some time defeating these cockatrices, the prisoners, without Ian needing to instruct them, had already found keys and began opening the cells on the second level one by one.
"Haha, awesome, brothers! Thank you!"
The prisoners released from the second level shouted excitedly.
"Hehe!" The ones who released them cackled and said, "If you want to thank someone, thank Lord Ian, the Warlord! We're his followers now."
Hearing this, the newly released prisoners were stunned. They quickly put away their arrogance, came before Ian, and respectfully expressed their gratitude.
Ian said nothing, only stating, "Leave some people to clean up the guards on the second level and hold the passages as best you can. Wait for us to return."
"No problem, Lord Ian!" The newly freed prisoners licked their lips with fierce expressions. "We've been wanting to properly 'thank' the guards for their 'care'..."
With that, the prisoners scattered to settle scores with the guards.
Ian and his group continued forward. As they walked, Nami quietly asked Ian, "Big Brother Ian, is this really okay? If we actually take these prisoners out, it might cause even greater panic!"
Ian had already considered Nami's concern. Indeed, everyone locked up in Impel Down was a vicious pirate or criminal, with bounties starting at tens of millions. If Ian really brought out so many prisoners, they would end up harming ordinary civilians.
But Ian wasn't worried at all. Although the prisoners, relying on their numbers, were currently beating the guards bloody, the true power of Impel Down hadn't even shown up yet!
You could say that even if all the guards in Impel Down died, as long as Magellan, the Chief Warden, appeared, he could suppress all the prisoners!
How many of these released prisoners could survive Magellan's deadly poison was still a big question mark!
For Ian, even if he released so many prisoners, someone would help him filter them out...
So he winked at Nami and said, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!"
Hearing that, Nami didn't ask any more questions.
Just then, a voice suddenly shouted, "Ian!? Is that you, Ian!?"
Everyone stopped in their tracks. Ian turned to look in the direction of the voice. In a cell not far away in a corner, a red-nosed guy was staring at him in shock.
"Oh!? Buggy!" Ian called out. "You're here!"
Buggy, wearing a prison uniform, gripped the cell bars with both hands, his eyes wide and his face blank as he stared at Ian. A strand of snot dripped from his big red nose without him even noticing.
Something had gone wrong. After Kuina caught Buggy and sent him to Impel Down, for some reason, Buggy, who should have been locked up on Level 1, was now on Level 2. And because the guards on Level 2 were stronger than those on Level 1, Buggy hadn't yet found a chance to sneak out of his cell.
Most importantly, it seemed Buggy's identity as a Devil Fruit user had been discovered, so he was locked up alone in a cell, and the shackles on his hands and feet were made of Seastone...
In other words, if Ian hadn't come to Impel Down to break people out this time, Buggy would probably never have escaped...
"B... Buggy Captain!?" Cabaji and the others saw Buggy too. They immediately burst into tears and rushed over to his cell, saying emotionally, "Buggy Captain, we finally found you! You have no idea how hard we've worked to save you!"
"Y... you guys!" Buggy suddenly saw his old subordinates appear, and they were here to rescue him. His eyes instantly reddened, and he looked like he was about to cry too. Through the bars, he hugged Cabaji and Mohji, and the three of them wailed loudly, a perfect picture of master and servant loyalty.
"Move aside!" Ian walked over, kicked Cabaji and Mohji away, and stood in front of Buggy. He looked Buggy up and down, then clicked his tongue and said, "Buggy, long time no see. Old friend, you seem to have gained a bit of weight!"
"It really is you!" Buggy rubbed his eyes hard, then pointed at Ian in disbelief. "Why are you here? And wearing a Marine uniform? Was that commotion just now caused by you?"
"I'm here to rescue someone," Ian said, resting his hand on the hilt of his Thousand Cherry Blossoms. "Of course, I can save you too, if you want to get out."
"Of course I want to get out!" Buggy stomped his foot. "Only an idiot would want to stay in this place!"
"Alright, step back," Ian signaled him to move back, then drew his sword and directly sliced open the cell door.
Buggy was finally free. Cabaji quickly found the keys and removed Buggy's Seastone handcuffs. Feeling the weakness leave him, Buggy felt completely relieved.
"Alright, let's go!" Ian said, putting his arm around Buggy's shoulder.
"Are we leaving?" Buggy was delighted.
"No," Ian shook his head. "We're going down to Level 5!"
Hearing this, Buggy was startled and screamed, "What!? I'm not going! People really die there!"
Ian's face darkened, and he said, "What kind of talk is that? Since we're old friends, since I let you out, you should at least help me out, right?"
"Who's old friends with you!?" Buggy roared angrily at Ian. "Ever since I met you, you've always been the one bullying me! What kind of old friend is that!?"
At that moment, Buggy recalled the fear of being dominated by Ian and finally exploded, rattling off every single thing Ian had done to bully him...
He sounded like a nagging old woman...