BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
Amidst the surging, exploding water columns, two figures clashed head-on in a furious battle!
"Get lost, you little brat who doesn't know his place!"
Shiki's hair stood up in anger. He roared and kicked away the two swords that came at him. At the same time, his other leg, with the Kogarashi tied to it, slashed horizontally towards Nao's waist and abdomen.
But Nao dodged just in time, wrist flicking deftly to deflect the lingering force of Shiki's swing. Letting out a low growl, he slashed again—crossing his twin blades in a deadly counterattack!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!!!
Both were dual-wielding master swordsmen, and their attack speed was so blistering that it became a blur to the naked eye.
Sparks flew with every blow, and the metallic clang of blades colliding rang out in a relentless, deafening rhythm.
In just a few short minutes, the two had already exchanged hundreds of blows.
—
Up in the sky…
From behind the clouds, several flying pirate ships emerged—each with its deck packed with pirates.
They stared at the two figures battling below—initially stunned, and then their expressions shifted to confusion and unease.
"What's going on?! Lord Shiki hasn't entered Impel Down like we planned?"
"Wasn't that old bastard Pablo already dealt with?"
"Someone else is blocking him... Who the hell is that guy? He can go toe-to-toe with Lord Shiki's swordsmanship?!"
Down on the sea, Aokiji—who had been watching the duel, ready to step in if Nao faltered—also noticed the pirate ships emerging from the clouds.
His brow furrowed. His eyes turned grim.
Just as expected.
Shiki, who had always preferred amassing vast power and calling himself the ruler of the seas, still hated fighting alone, even after all these years.
And now, he had brought a whole fleet of subordinates...
—
"Barely in your twenties and already a master swordsman, huh... No wonder the old geezers at Marine HQ gave you a Vice Admiral's rank."
From high above, Shiki looked down at Nao, who was fiercely countering his slashes.
But despite the faint flicker of surprise in his eyes, his expression remained scornful.
"But this is as far as you go… in front of me! HAH!!"
The moment the words left his mouth—
Shiki suddenly poured every ounce of strength into his legs, manipulating the surrounding air and releasing a terrifying, torrential force down through his blades!
"Golden Lion Slash: Ten-Thousand Severing Doom!"
This was Shiki's full-power strike—a monstrous, overwhelming blow far beyond anything he'd thrown before.
Feeling the crushing, warping pressure in the air, Nao's pupils shrunk to pinpoints. Without hesitation, he summoned everything he had, unleashing his strongest technique:
Two-Sword Style: Jade Shatter Slash!
As his swords slashed upward in a crisscross arc, the very air around them twisted—even the light grew dim.
The air in a radius of several hundred meters was instantly sucked away, leaving behind a suffocating vacuum that rushed against Shiki's descending sword energy with explosive force!
BOOM!
The ocean, which hadn't calmed since their battle began, now surged into towering waves hundreds of meters high.
Whirlpools churned. Storm winds howled. Seawater erupted into the sky—and as the two titanic sword techniques collided, the impact exploded outward in all directions!
A clash of swordsmen—turning heaven and earth upside down!
The shockwaves continued rippling through the sea long after, and the two figures in the sky were blasted backward over a hundred meters each.
Nao crashed into the ocean with a splash, but resurfaced immediately, springing out of the water like a fish.
Shiki, meanwhile, managed to stop himself midair after being blown back, glaring down with a dark scowl.
The two faced each other from a distance—neither speaking.
But up in the sky, the Flying Pirates watching this scene from afar collectively gasped.
Earlier might've been excusable—but that slash? That was Captain Shiki's ultimate sword technique, unleashed with all his strength. And that guy blocked it?!
"When did the Marines produce such a monster…?"
"Wait a sec..."
One of the pirate officers suddenly widened his eyes in shock. As if he had remembered something, and exclaimed, "I know who that guy is! That's Nao—Natsuya Nao!"
The moment he spoke, the other pirates snapped out of their daze.
Natsuy Nao.
That name might still be unfamiliar to ordinary people in the Four Blues.
But for them—veteran pirates of the New World, loyal to the Golden Lion—they'd definitely heard of him.
This was the Marine who, as a rookie, had killed a Warlord of the Sea named William. The same man who had defeated Drought Dugalio, a pirate with a bounty over 500 million, and thrown him into Impel Down.
He had also fought Katakuri to a draw in the New World—and escaped from Big Mom herself without a scratch.
"Shit!"
A pirate cursed, "Why now of all times?! We finally launch our revenge plan, and this bastard just happens to be inside Impel Down too?!"
At that moment, Shiki—still hovering in the air—seemed to hear the murmurs among his subordinates.
He turned around and glared at them, face twisted in fury.
"What the hell are you all waiting for?!"
He bellowed like a beast.
"Do I still have to teach you what you're supposed to be doing right now?"
With a wave of his hand, all the hovering pirate ships lurched forward, accelerating as they flew straight toward Impel Down.
Wind howled past their ears as the ships dropped rapidly through the sky. Finally snapping back to their senses, the pirates gathered at the front of the ships under the lead of their senior officers, preparing for a full-scale assault.
Shiki then turned his gaze back to Nao, eyes filled with a cold, sharp glint.
"I'll admit it… kid. Your sword skills are freakishly good. You're almost at my level…"
"But!!"
He sneered, and suddenly thrust out his right hand—fingers splayed—as he roared:
"I didn't dominate the New World just with swordplay! You haven't even seen my real power yet, brat!"
BUZZ!
At that very moment, a strange, invisible force suddenly expanded outward.
Below, the exposed upper levels of Impel Down began to shake. As if pulled by unseen hands, the massive stone buildings cracked and tore away from the structure, rising violently into the air!
"HELP!!!"
"NOOOOO!!"
Panicked screams rang out.
There were no prisoners on the first level, but plenty of jailers—now lifted into the air along with broken debris. Many flailed helplessly in the sky before crashing to the ground—some with bruises, others knocked out cold.
"Damn it…"
Magellan reacted instantly—grabbing a few nearby subordinates and diving into the lower sea level to avoid the calamity.
When he reappeared above the water and saw the wreckage around him, his expression turned grim.
The Float-Float Fruit, in Shiki's hands, was just too terrifying.
If Impel Down weren't so massive—and most of it wasn't underwater—the damage just now could have been catastrophic...
—
Elsewhere—
The flying debris in the sky gathered into a massive stone lion, hundreds of meters tall, which roared as it charged toward Nao.
At the same time, Shiki, now with his right hand free, suddenly thrust it out in another direction.
"Lion Might: Ocean Coil!"
Gales howled. Just like what had happened to Warden Pablo before, the sea itself was pulled upward—waves towering high as they transformed into countless lion heads, all roaring as they charged toward Nao!
In an instant, Nao was surrounded 360 degrees by lethal threats—each one monstrous enough to rip him apart like an insect.
But—
At that exact moment—
SWOOSH!
A subtle sound of air being split echoed out, and just as the roaring waves came crashing down, Aokiji appeared in the sky.
Expressionless. Eyes half-lidded.
He slowly spread his crossed arms wide and then slammed them out to either side.
"Ice Age!"
In a deep voice, a wave of bone-chilling cold burst from him in all directions like a shockwave.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
Frost exploded outward. In mere seconds, hundreds of hectares of ocean around Impel Down froze solid, the sea transformed into a frozen wasteland!
All the lion heads formed from the sea instantly froze mid-pounce, becoming colossal, majestic ice sculptures, standing proud atop the icy expanse.
"Thanks!"
Nao, who had been bracing himself grimly, now let out a hearty laugh.
Without hesitation, he drew his blade and slashed apart the stone lion charging from another direction—shattering it into pieces that scattered across the frozen sea.
In a matter of seconds—
Shiki's deadly pincer attack using the Float-Float Fruit was completely neutralized by the duo's flawless teamwork!
Shiki's face darkened even further.
"I can't do more than this," Aokiji said quietly, glancing at Shiki high in the sky. He turned to Nao and said solemnly:
"I need to go help Magellan. If the Flying Pirates break into Impel Down and free the prisoners, the consequences will be unimaginable. So…"
"No problem."
Nao looked toward the prison, then nodded without hesitation.
By now, Shiki's fleet was nearing the lower altitude and would soon land on the sea platform outside Impel Down.
And with Warden Pablo missing and presumed lost at sea, expecting Magellan and the jailers to stop them alone was unrealistic.
Shiki, after all, had stormed Marineford solo in his prime and gotten caught only due to overwhelming odds. His forces hadn't suffered major losses back then.
After regrouping, even if he wasn't at full strength, his pirates included many formidable enemies.
Some of the top officers alone carried hundred-million-berie bounties, with strength on par with Calamity or Sweet Commanders.
Even Aokiji might struggle to handle them all at once.
"Go! Hold the line at Impel Down!"
Nao didn't look back, gripping his swords tight once more.
"As for Shiki... leave him to me. You wanna start your Marine revenge by attacking Impel Down?"
He looked up at the scowling Golden Lion and suddenly grinned wide:
"Then I've got bad news. You ran into me. And that means your plan's already doomed. Better get out while you still can, Shiki!"
BASTARD!!
Shiki's face twisted with rage. He let out a lion-like roar and suddenly thrust down in mid-air, driving the swords beneath his feet toward Nao in a crushing overhead slash.
"Arrogant little punk—DIE!!"
"You were warned. Don't come crying later!"
Nao launched himself forward without fear, blades drawn, charging Shiki head-on.
You have to hold on, Nao. Since you said so… I'm leaving Shiki to you!
Though worried, Aokiji turned toward the crumbling prison ruins—he could feel the situation worsening there by the second.
He took one last look at Nao's fading figure—
Then turned and vanished toward Impel Down with Geppo, at full speed.
—
Impel Down, Underwater Prison
When the sea-level structures were almost torn from the ocean floor and giant waves rocked the area, even the imprisoned pirates began to sense something was happening above them.
It started on Levels 2 and 3, then reached even Level 6—the Eternal Hell.
The legendary pirates held in the lowest depths stirred from slumber, looking upward with interest at the shaking above...
"Kehehehehe… Looks like the dogs upstairs have run into some real trouble…"
A cold voice laughed from a dark corner.
"From the sound of it… it's even bigger than when Shiki escaped last time…"
Other voices responded from nearby cells:
"Could it be… someone's trying to break into the prison and save someone? Or is it just a simple act of destruction?"
"Who knows?! Hahahaha! Either way, things just got interesting."
Whispers and chuckles spread through Level 6.
"Not like us bottom-dwellers can do anything… but those idiots up on the higher levels? Bet they're already squirming."
"Ehehe… more like already moving."
These old monsters had been imprisoned for years—but their instincts were still sharp.
And they were right.
Just minutes ago—
On Levels 3 and 4, riots broke out almost simultaneously.
Due to the emergency, most jailers and jailer Beasts had been called to the first floor to defend against the Flying Pirates.
Security on the lower levels was critically thin.
A young jailer, trembling with nerves, had huddled too close to a cell while staring up at the shaking ceiling—
Too late.
Two inmates reached through the bars and snapped his neck, clean and quick.
Before his body hit the floor, they snatched his key ring.
CLANG!
Cell doors burst open. Inmates poured out with animalistic cries, using the keys to free even more prisoners.
Within moments, Levels 3 and 4 descended into complete chaos—further complicating an already dire defense…