"Ehhahaha! If it's about slaying the Celestial Dragons, I have no problem with that. But there's one thing I hate the most—betrayal. You understand what I mean, right?"
Souta Kiryuu dragged the heavily wounded Magellan across the scorching floor, tossing him to his crewmates. After they clasped a pair of seastone cuffs around the warden's wrists, Souta turned toward Shiryu of the Rain with a faint, dangerous smile.
"As long as I can cut down Celestial Dragons and the strong, that's all that matters to me."
Shiryu bit down on his cigar and smirked, a sharp gleam flashing beneath his wide jawline. He swung his blade, scattering Enel's lightning once more, and charged straight toward Souta Kiryuu.
"Enough, Enel. Don't bother fighting him," Souta ordered casually, raising his hand.
Enel frowned in frustration. "Tch! Every opponent I pick ends up off-limits for one reason or another. Just my luck…"
"Three former Warlords of the Sea… The strength of your crew is truly terrifying," Shiryu said as he sheathed his cursed blade, Thunderstorm. He took off his hat—a rare gesture—and bowed slightly before Souta, showing respect and acknowledgment between killers.
"You're strong as well," Souta replied, a faint smile curving his lips. "Welcome to the crew, Shiryu of the Rain."
And just like that, the infamous blood-soaked jailer of Impel Down became a member of the Kiryuu Pirates.
Between the strong, words were never needed—only recognition.
"I can't wait to slice through Celestial Dragons, Emperors, and Great Pirates alike," Shiryu said, his eyes gleaming with madness. Finally, he could leave this suffocating prison behind. Cutting down convicts had long lost its thrill.
"Let's go," Souta said with a greedy grin. "Show me the so-called legends locked within Infinite Hell."
Shiryu's voice turned low and serious. "Those monsters won't be easy to handle. If not for the World Government's direct order to leave them untouched, I would've tested my blade on a few already."
"It's not like I need to recruit them," Souta said indifferently. To him, even if they refused, their Devil Fruit abilities and bloodline genetics were treasures worth claiming.
"If you could actually control that bunch of lunatics, not even the Four Emperors would stand a chance against you," Shiryu muttered, leading the way. He knew those prisoners—men with the will of kings—would never bow to anyone. Their pride rivaled even that of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.
"Even without them, the Four Emperors still won't be our match," Souta replied, his tone deep and certain.
After the war on the Divine-Demon Island and the invasion of Impel Down, his Six Paths of the Wild Dragon would finally be complete.
The second generation of Seraphim would also gain their own extraordinary Paramecia-type abilities.
His true goal had never been the Four Emperors—
It was the World Government itself.
"Yoh-hoho! Legendary pirates, eh? Let's capture them all and haul them back!" Jewelry Bonney laughed proudly, her eyes filled with excitement. Following Souta meant one thing—anything was possible.
Each day brought a new world-shaking event.
Beside her, Bartholomew Kuma's gaze softened. His massive eyes looked toward the endless abyss below—where his brother, Emporio Ivankov, was imprisoned.
Souta had actually done it. In just two years, he had led Kuma deep into Impel Down.
Even Dragon had never accomplished such a feat.
"I'm coming for you, brother…" Kuma murmured, his voice trembling with emotion. His eyes glistened faintly.
Since joining Souta, Bonney's terminal illness had been cured, Ginny's revenge fulfilled, and now, he could finally save Ivankov.
His tragic life had begun to find fragments of happiness.
Meeting Souta Kiryuu was the greatest fortune of his entire existence.
Meanwhile, deep within Level 5.5—the Newkama Land—a wild celebration of transvestites and revolutionaries came to a halt. Ivankov's keen eyes turned upward. He had noticed the tremors—the unmistakable sign of a major disturbance above. For the first time in decades, a glimmer of hope sparked in his heart.
Hidden passages connected each level of Impel Down to Level 5.5—through the needle mountain of the Crimson Hell, the beasts' lairs of the Wild Beast Hell, the fiery seas of the Blazing Hell, and even beneath the corpse piles of the Freezing Hell.
"My beloved New Humans!" Ivankov roared dramatically, his face lighting up. "Go! Scout each level! The true sunlight may finally be upon us!"
The okamas cheered wildly, rushing to investigate. Beside him, Inazuma frowned in thought. "This commotion… it feels far too massive."
At that same moment, guided by Shiryu, the Kiryuu Pirates passed through the icy wasteland of Level 5 and reached the silent, endless abyss of Level 6—Infinite Hell.
There, darkness and stillness reigned eternal.
Time had no meaning. Light had long been forgotten.
The prisoners barely clung to life, conserving every bit of energy. Movement was a luxury. Noise was forbidden. To waste strength was to die before the next meager meal arrived.
As the group arrived, Law tossed an island's Light Dial into the air. The sudden glow split the darkness, igniting the abyss in ghostly white.
The prisoners stirred. For the first time in ages, they thought food had come.
From the deepest cells, monstrous eyes slowly opened.
This time… their visitors were not ordinary.
"Ehhahaha! Wake up, scum! Magellan's been beaten half to death! If any of you still have the guts to live, get up and show me!"
Souta's roar shook the entire Infinite Hell. His Conqueror's Haki exploded outward like a hurricane of raw willpower, flooding the dungeon. Countless inmates trembled as if struck by lightning—their eyes snapping open in terror and awe.
"Ehhahaha! Shiryu, where's the cell that holds Bundy Waldo?" Souta asked with a predatory grin, scanning the awakened monsters.
The name sent a chill through the darkness.
Bundy Waldo—the World Destroyer. His More-More Fruit had been so dangerous that the World Government froze him solid thirty years ago just to keep him contained.
That alone showed how desperate they were to reclaim that Devil Fruit.
The power of the More-More Fruit rivaled that of Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit—a Paramecia worthy of the highest tier of the "Native Extermination Tournament."
It could increase the size and speed of objects a hundredfold.
A single bullet enlarged and accelerated by that power could annihilate a pirate ship—or an entire fleet.
A sword a few meters long could instantly become a hundred-meter titan's blade—slicing battleships in half like paper.
Magnify an explosive shell a hundredfold, and its power reached island-erasing levels.
That was how Bundy Waldo earned his title—the World Destroyer.
The fruit could even enhance the user's own speed.
A tenfold boost already surpassed the Navy's Six Powers: Shave.
At a hundredfold increase—if the body could endure it—the user would move like a living natural disaster.
Souta's eyes gleamed with anticipation. The potential of the More-More Fruit, especially combined with his other weapon-based and gene-line abilities, was immense.
A walking "Pluton" warship—an army unto himself—was no longer just a dream.
"You even know about that man?" Shiryu muttered, genuinely shocked. The World Government had erased nearly every record of Bundy Waldo. How did this young pirate, sailing for just two years, know of a monster who had been frozen for three decades?
"My knowledge," Souta said with a faint, knowing smirk, "goes far beyond your imagination."
He followed Shiryu deeper into the darkness, as the Infinite Hell filled with the restless stirring of awakening legends.