The gap was too big!
Every time Magnus made a move, Rocks deeply felt the distance between himself and Magnus.
Dean, Rocks, Newgate, and Linlin had attacked the lantern fish for over ten minutes, and it had only sustained negligible injuries.
If they wanted to bring it down, even with unlimited air in their coating bubbles and going all out, it could have taken them days.
Magnus did it in ten seconds.
Still, it wasn't as effortless for Magnus as Rocks imagined.
A Devil Fruit's power depended on its user.
As his cellular activity grew stronger and his physique improved, the attributes Magnus could draw from his Fruit had also steadily increased.
Even so, freezing the lantern fish had taken him ten seconds.
First, he stunned it with Conqueror's Haki.
Then he sealed it with his ice powers.
If he had relied on ice alone, there was a chance it could have broken free.
After all, this was deep underwater—touching seawater weakened his abilities, and ice was not his main power to begin with.
"Back to the ship!"
At a certain level, Magnus could use Conqueror's Haki to communicate with Dean, Rocks, and the others through seawater.
Once frozen, Ripley didn't need to use her power underwater; the ice block would naturally rise to the surface with the lantern fish trapped inside.
"Let's ascend!"
Catching the lantern fish meant their mission was complete.
Easier than expected—after all, intelligence had rated it only medium difficulty. Even if they'd failed, Rocks and the others were strong enough to retreat unharmed.
The only real danger was the super-massive Sea Kings in the Calm Belt.
Magnus could feel them watching.
'They've taken the lantern fish!'
'Should we attack?'
'Forget it—that human is trouble. I don't want to become food.'
Over-five-kilometer Sea Kings had a certain level of intelligence. They were strong individually, but not united.
Magnus knew they'd only rally under two circumstances:
Their "king" commanded it, or they faced a crisis threatening their entire species.
One captured "kin" wasn't enough.
So they only watched as the White Wolf Pirates carried off the lantern fish until they vanished from sight.
"They… actually succeeded!"
When the Thousand-Year Falcon surfaced towing a frozen island-sized sculpture, Amatsuki Toki finally realized what they'd done—attacked and captured a three-kilometer Sea King in the deep sea.
"Ripley, shrink the ice a bit," Magnus said.
"Leave it to me!"
Shrinking such a massive creature was no easy task for Ripley, requiring time and stamina.
While she worked, Magnus took stock of their surroundings.
"Impel Down?"
It wasn't hard to recognize—looming over the sea was a massive steel gate emblazoned with the World Government's insignia.
The Thousand-Year Falcon and the frozen lantern fish were caught in a massive whirlpool current carrying them toward the next destination.
And that destination?
Marineford—the Navy Headquarters.
Magnus realized he'd miscalculated. The deeper currents had been slow enough to avoid notice, and now they were in Navy territory.
They were in a whirlpool triangle bordered by Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Marineford.
With the fixed currents, ships could only move with the flow.
Still, Magnus wasn't worried—he wasn't here to attack Marineford. Getting out was easy enough.
Ordinary pirates might be trapped, but with Dean, Rocks, and Newgate to push the ship, they could beat any current.
For now, priority was securing the lantern fish.
—
Navy, Gates of Justice.
The moment the massive disturbance was detected, the gate's watchmen reported to Impel Down's current Chief Warden, Diodosi—a man in his fifties who, while not Admiral-level, could hold the prison against any single invader.
"What's going on?"
"Monitoring inside the Gates of Justice spotted a huge block of ice rising from the depths. Through the scope—it's a ship alongside it!"
"A pirate ship!"
Diodosi's eyes narrowed. So it was a ploy after all.
But the watchman suddenly went pale with fear.
"What did you see?" Diodosi demanded.
"It… it's the White Wolf Pirates' flag!"
The room fell silent.
For the Navy of this era, the White Wolf Pirates were a living nightmare—Sphinx, Elbaf… each encounter a humiliation.
"Why are they here?"
"Are they attacking Impel Down?!"
"Call Headquarters—now!"
The operations room erupted in panic.
"Quiet!" Diodosi's voice boomed, silencing them.
"They're just a pirate crew. We guard the world's greatest prison—none have ever escaped in 800 years. That won't change today!"
"All units fall back into Impel Down!"
"Signal Headquarters. We only need to hold for half a day. Reinforcements will arrive, and if the White Wolf Pirates are still here, this prison will be their grave."
The orders calmed the troops. Yes—this was Impel Down. Even Magnus couldn't simply walk in and out unscathed.
—
Headquarters was thrown into chaos when the news reached them.
"What? White Wolf Magnus is attacking Impel Down?"
"This is revenge!"
"We should have been ready for this!"
Fleet Admiral Shanford convened the Vice Admirals and above. Even he hadn't expected Magnus to target Impel Down.
"Send reinforcements. Diodosi's opponent is White Wolf Magnus," said Chief of Staff Portman Nissen.
"Dispatch Kong and Xiwen. Recall Lorna from the New World—someone must guard Mariejois during the World Conference."
Shanford nodded. Kong and Lorna were young Admirals still in their prime, while veterans like himself and Nissen had begun to decline in stamina.
Ortega Xiwen, 59, was at his absolute peak and rarely left Headquarters—but now, Shanford wanted to gauge Magnus' true level. If he hadn't grown stronger, Shanford was ready to risk casualties to bring him down.
"And tell Lorna to behave. Protecting the kings at Mariejois comes first, even if it means tolerating the Celestial Dragons."
—
At Akropolis Port, Lorna received her orders without visible emotion.
"So it's come to this?"
She'd promised Magnus she'd go to Mariejois to free the slaves—but now she had the perfect pretext: replacing Admiral Xiwen and guarding the visiting kings. Alone in Mariejois, she could do as she pleased.
"Tch… I wonder what idiot thought of attacking Impel Down. Now Headquarters can't sit still."
—
Gates of Justice, whirlpool sea.
Magnus had no idea that his mere appearance before Impel Down had thrown the Navy into Admiral-level mobilization.
He and his crew sat before the towering steel doors, unmoving—and the Navy inside Impel Down dared not act first.
Not out of strategy, but because Ripley was too slow.
She'd promised to shrink the lantern fish directly… but it took her over an hour to get the frozen mass down to house-size, small enough to fit in a large tank.
"Captain, it's not my fault! Who knew shrinking something this big would be so exhausting? I'm practically close to awakening!"
"You said that last month. By your giant's sense of 'soon,' that means next year," Magnus said dryly.
"Hehe, you know me best, Captain."
Ripley's Mini-Mini Fruit could reduce size but not strength, meaning the 3,000-meter lantern fish at 30 meters was more dangerous than ever.
Magnus could already feel his ice control weakening.
Time to settle things.
Releasing the freeze, he set his blade on the fish's head.
"Two choices. One—submit to me, I'll feed you well, and you'll share some Pure Gold with me.
Two—I kill you, and my crew gets the meat they've been eyeing."
Smiling kindly, Magnus asked:
"Which will it be?"
(End of Chapter)
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