Magellan's body convulsed, his mouth twitching as he lay broken on the ground. His breaths came ragged, each word forced through clenched teeth.
"I… I can't… let a monster like you escape," the Warden rasped. His pride as the guardian of Impel Down would not allow it.
Ashveil walked calmly toward him, his shadow stretching over the fallen man. He looked down with cool detachment. "You're dedicated, Magellan. I don't want to kill you, but you should stop wasting your strength. Standing in my way will only end in one result."
Magellan tried to reply, but as his lips parted, a biting chill suddenly swept through his body. His eyes widened in horror.
"Ice Emperor's Age."
In an instant, frost spread across his body. The cold was absolute, merciless. Before he could even scream, the Warden was entombed in solid ice, his last expression frozen in place.
Silence gripped the Sixth Floor of Impel Down. The gathered criminals—monsters who once shook the seas with their names—could only stare in stunned disbelief.
One move to cripple him. One move to end him.
That was all it took for Ashveil to bring down the Warden of Impel Down.
The infamous prisoners swallowed hard. Crocodile, Ace, Catarina Devon, and even lesser names like Sanjuan Wolf and Vasco Shot—all stared at Ashveil with dawning dread. A young man, had subdued a nearly Admiral-level opponent as if swatting a fly.
Even Douglas Bullet, whose arrogance knew no bounds, could not deny the truth. His expression darkened as his fists tightened. Even I wouldn't be able to put down Magellan in two strikes…
Kaido's eyes narrowed. He had fought Ashveil himself, had tested the boy's strength firsthand. Yet what he saw now went beyond what he had imagined. Was he holding back against me?
The thought unsettled him more than he cared to admit. Until now, he had placed Ashveil somewhere near Roger—formidable, yet within reach. But seeing this overwhelming display, Kaido was forced to reconsider. Perhaps his evaluation had been too conservative.
"Conqueror's Haki greater than Rocks, strength beyond Roger…" Kaido muttered under his breath. "Just what kind of monster are you?"
Even Bullet, recalling his old captain, felt a chill. Could this kid have already surpassed Roger? His jaw clenched as his blood boiled with fury. He had sworn never to be overshadowed again, yet here was a newcomer eclipsing the very man Bullet had spent his life trying to surpass.
Meanwhile, Red Count observed in silence, the faint red glow of his Vampire fruit flickering in his eyes. Unlike the others, he was calm—but no less shaken. He had believed no rival remained on the seas after his old enemies aged or died. Yet here stood a young man who might have already climbed beyond his peak.
The Sixth Floor trembled not with fear, but with something else—expectation.
Ashveil turned away from Magellan's frozen husk and approached Ace's shattered cell. The bars had been blown apart earlier, but Ace still hung in chains, Sea Stone cuffs binding his wrists and ankles to the wall.
"Captain Ashveil," Ace said, his voice thick with disbelief. He strained against the cuffs, but they held firm, sapping his strength.
"Don't move." Ashveil's voice carried quiet authority.
He raised his hand, his Conqueror's Haki weaving like a pale mist into the keyholes of the Sea Stone restraints. A sharp metallic crack rang out.
Clang. Clang.
The chains fell to the floor one by one. Ace stared at his freed hands, stunned. The shackles that had defied all effort for days now lay in pieces at his feet, undone with casual ease.
The prisoners around them fell silent. Their gazes shifted from the broken chains to Ashveil. For the first time in decades, they tasted the possibility of freedom.
Crocodile's lips curled into a smile. Shiryu of the Rain's eyes sharpened. Even the more grotesque monsters of the Sixth Floor leaned forward, hunger glimmering in their expressions.
They had rotted here for years. Decades. Forgotten in the darkness. And now… release was right before them.
Ashveil's lips curved slightly as he met their stares. His voice was calm, yet carried the weight of command. "If you want freedom, then earn it. Fight with me against the Marines, and I'll release you."
The words struck them like thunder.
The Sixth Floor erupted in chaos. The prisoners roared, their pent-up desires bursting loose. The promise of freedom, dangled in front of them by a man strong enough to shatter their chains, was irresistible.
After so many years in the abyss of Impel Down, the path out had finally appeared. And the one holding it open was none other than Ashveil.
The savior of the damned.
The one who shattered shackles with nothing more than will.
The man who froze the Warden without effort.
For the first time in ages, the Sixth Floor shook not from despair, but from hope.
And Ashveil stood at the center of it all.
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