Two new [Bronze Trophies] had been acquired.
Storm glanced at his ability list and allocated these two trophies to [Iron Body] and [Paper Drawing].
The stars marking these abilities shimmered briefly before transforming into—
[Iron Body: ★★★]
[Paper Drawing: ★★★]
To bridge the gap between the actual proficiency and the numerical data of [Iron Body] and [Paper Drawing], the best method was to train and improve through real combat!
Storm once again turned his gaze toward the group of Blue Gorillas.
However.
These Blue Gorillas now avoided eye contact with him entirely.
Some stared at the sky, others at the ground, some picked at their fingers, while others groomed their fur...
Their reactions were eerily similar to students desperately trying to avoid being called on by their teacher.
Under Storm's intense scrutiny.
One of the Blue Gorillas suddenly grabbed a nearby double-headed axe.
But instead of attacking, it used the axe as a mirror.
If Blue Gorillas could speak, this one might have said—
"Hey, this axe... is truly an axe! No doubt about it."
The entire group of Blue Gorillas had been completely "subdued" by Storm.
Even when Storm urged them to approach him.
They remained rooted to the ground, unmoving.
"Didn't someone once tell me that Brugri aren't particularly intelligent?"
Storm couldn't help but feel exasperated.
With the Blue Gorillas unwilling to serve as sparring partners.
Storm had no choice but to create his own training companion!
[Clay Clone]! With a thought, Storm released clumps of white clay, manipulating them to merge together.
In no time at all.
A white Clay Doll, identical to Storm in every way except color, stood before him.
This was a [Clay Clone] crafted using the four-star [Clay-Clay Fruit] ability.
Its foundational attributes—whether strength or speed—were all at the four-star level!
The only drawback of the [Clay Clone] was—
It lacked intelligence, capable only of mechanically executing Storm's commands.
But it was more than sufficient!
Storm used the [Clay Clone] as his sparring partner to train his [Iron Body] and [Paper Drawing] abilities.
After a little over half a morning.
Drenched in sweat, Storm concluded his training.
"Tch! This abrupt cutoff is so frustrating!"
The burst of inspiration from allocating [Grand Prize Trophies] had a time limit.
Once Storm's actual proficiency caught up to the numerical data.
The endless stream of inspiration in his mind was abruptly cut off, as if someone had squeezed the life out of it.
It was like having your cheat suddenly disabled mid-use.
An incredibly sour feeling.
Like sneezing halfway—mouth wide open, belly full of air—only to have it stuck.
Edging is the deadliest.
Storm glowered unhappily at the Blue Gorilla troop.
Why couldn't these Blue Gorillas provide higher-tier [Grand Prize Trophies]?
It must be because they weren't trying hard enough! The beasts' instincts were sharp.
The Blue Gorillas seemed to sense the malice in Storm's gaze.
They dropped their axes, prostrated themselves on the ground, covered their heads with their hands, and stuck their butts in the air—utterly surrendering.
In the past, Sadie had to use a whip to control these Blue Gorillas.
But Storm only needed a single glance to make them submit completely.
These Blue Water Monkeys had already been molded into his shape...
"Go to the sea!"
Storm waved his hand at the Blue Gorillas.
As if granted amnesty, they screeched and scrambled away, fleeing the Warden Chief's sight.
As Prison Guard Beasts of Crimson Hell,
these Blue Water Monkeys were responsible not only for suppressing the prisoners in Crimson Hell
but also for the crucial task of replenishing Impel Down's food supply.
Simply put—
they had to dive into the sea to catch fish.
"Sea Kings..."
Storm retracted his Clay Clone and fell into thought.
He needed to find a new source of Grand Prize Trophies.
After some initial consideration, he came up with two options.
One was the Impel Down beneath his feet.
The other was the Calm Belt nearby.
The number of pirates in Impel Down was indeed high.
But the number of Sea Kings in the Calm Belt was even greater! Storm had never fought Sea Kings before.
But if Blue Gorillas could provide Silver Trophies,
then Sea Kings naturally could too!
"...Better to go downstairs and hunt pirates. It's closer."
After a moment's deliberation, Storm decided to temporarily abandon the Sea King trophy-hunting route.
Come to think of it, Impel Down housed plenty of powerful non-human creatures...
Storm changed into his Warden Chief uniform, fastened his Goethite Sabre, and tucked his Sea Stone Baton into his coat.
Now this was what you called an "untouchable male idol"~
With long strides, Storm headed toward the large elevator room on the first floor of the sea level.
Compared to the outside world, Impel Down's "technological level" was fairly advanced, with electric tools widely used.
Just as Storm was waiting for the elevator, the doors slid open, and a group of medical staff rushed out, carrying a stretcher.
Storm looked closely—the person on the stretcher was none other than Sadie, whom he hadn't seen in a while!
"What happened to Sadie?"
A weak voice drifted from the stretcher.
"Got ambushed by Warden Beasts..."
"Still able to talk? Not a big deal, then."
Storm shook his head, his momentary concern instantly fading.
Without another glance at Sadie, he stepped into the elevator and commanded—
"Crimson Hell!"
Impel Down's structure somewhat resembled a pyramid—the lower the level, the larger and more expansive it became.
Crimson Hell was several times bigger than the sea-level floor.
But unlike what Storm had imagined, Crimson Hell wasn't entirely a forest landscape.
In its "outer ring," there were heavily guarded prison cells of varying sizes.
Some were luxurious single rooms, while others were crowded multi-occupancy chambers.
Only in the "inner ring" of Crimson Hell did the true blood-red forest grow, filled with Sword Trees and Needle Grass.
Here, every movement a prisoner made would result in wounds and torment from all directions.
This forest was the real "Crimson Hell"!
Prisoners in Impel Down were generally assigned floors based on their bounty.
Those in Crimson Hell typically had bounties below ten million Belly.
Very few prisoners here had bounties exceeding that amount.
Storm held the prisoner list of Crimson Hell he had retrieved from the archives upstairs, walking calmly down the prison corridor.
Thanks to his Warden uniform, few prisoners dared to provoke him outright.
Most inmates who tried to challenge the Wardens ended up thrown into the Blood-Red Forest, where they truly tasted the horrors of Crimson Hell.
During his patrol of Crimson Hell,
Storm encountered only one minor issue—
A disturbance in one of the mixed cells where veteran prisoners were bullying newcomers.
Such incidents were unavoidable.
But resolving them wasn't difficult.
Storm simply beat up every prisoner in the cell! He didn't hit them too hard.
An eight-person cell.
In the end, it only yielded eight Bronze Trophies.
After handling the disturbance, Storm left the now-quiet mixed cell and casually flipped through the prisoner list.
"Mixed Cell No. 4—highest bounty 9.31 million Belly, lowest 3.64 million Belly. Not a single one over ten million!" These prisoners all provided two-star Bronze Trophies.
"If we categorize by bounty amounts…
"Anything below ten million is just a Bronze Trophy?"
Storm wanted to confirm this theory.
So he sought out the prisoner with the highest bounty currently held in Crimson Hell.
A bounty of 12 million Belly—already the ceiling for Crimson Hell's inmates! Yet this "ceiling" was as fragile as a thin film before Storm.
Storm found an excuse—
He didn't like black-and-white clothing today.
Then he swiftly dealt with the man.
The moment the 12-million-Belly bounty prisoner lost consciousness and collapsed,
A gleaming Silver Trophy appeared before Storm's eyes.
"Just as I thought!"
Storm concluded his daily patrol and returned to the first underground level.
"Below ten million—Bronze. Above ten million—Silver."
This discovery made him revise his earlier "Trophy Hunting Plan."
As the current Warden Chief of Crimson Hell,
The number of pirates with bounties exceeding ten million Belly here was extremely limited.
The second underground level, Beast Hell,
Held prisoners with an average bounty of 15 million Belly.
Every inmate there was a Silver Trophy.
"Wait!"
Storm suddenly realized.
"Silver Trophies are becoming less and less useful to me now!"
Both his [Physique] and [Clay-Clay Fruit] had reached four stars.
Three-star Silver Trophies couldn't enhance four-star abilities.
What Storm needed were higher-tier trophies!
Golden Trophies!
Storm recalled information about Impel Down.
Prisoners in Crimson Hell mostly had bounties under ten million Belly.
Beast Hell's average bounty exceeded fifteen million.
The third level, Starvation Hell, held prisoners with bounties starting at fifty million Belly.
"If I want to hunt higher-tier [Grand Prize Trophies], I'll need to go at least as deep as the third level—Starvation Hell!"
Storm instantly set his sights.
"But if ten-million-Belly bounties only yield Silver Trophies at best…
"Then I'll have to go to the fifth level—Extreme Cold Hell!"
The criminals imprisoned in Extreme Cold Hell all had bounties exceeding one hundr
ed million Belly.
If this were in Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line...
Every criminal in the Extreme Cold Hell would be strong enough to become a "Supernova"! Storm recalled his recent encounter with the severely injured Sadie in the elevator.
He immediately dialed the warden of the fourth level, the Scorching Hell.
"Warden! I crave more worthy opponents!"
"What? I don't understand."
"I want a promotion!"