The alarm bells of Impel Down screamed like dying beasts.
"BUSTER CALL! BUSTER CALL!"
Magnus lifted his head. Even in the depths of the prison, the thunder of cannon fire rolled through the walls like the heartbeat of a god of war. The very sea roared as fleets of Marine battleships encircled the infernal fortress, their muzzles glowing as they spat iron death.
The first volley struck.
The world shook as stone walls cracked like glass. Whole sections of the upper floors caved in as fire rained down, engulfing towers in crimson. The sea boiled where shells landed, geysers of steam rising higher than the watchtowers themselves.
Magnus's cloak of black lightning flared as rubble crashed around him. His crew Bullet, the towering giant he had freed, and the handful of broken men who had chosen to follow stood against the storm.
"Move," Magnus commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos.
Bullet laughed like a madman as a flaming boulder of debris crashed before him. "Now THIS is the kind of battlefield I was born for!"
He hurled himself upward, smashing through collapsing walls with his fists, carving a path toward the light above.
Vice Admirals descended like hawks, their coats whipping in the storm of fire and smoke. Each one was a titan in their own right, wielding blades, fists, and haki strong enough to level armies.
"PRISONERS OF LEVEL SIX!" one bellowed, his voice carried by Haki itself.
"BY DECREE OF THE WORLD GOVERNMENT, YOU WILL DIE HERE!"
Magnus stepped forward, Shusui already humming with his will. The black blade cut the air once, releasing a slash that sheared through a collapsed tower in silence before it detonated in an eruption of stone and fire.
"I decide where this story ends," Magnus said. His eyes gleamed like steel, unshaken even as cannon fire screamed past.
The climb began.
Every step toward the surface was drenched in blood and chaos. Marines swarmed from every corridor, Vice Admirals dropping in to cut them off. The giant swatted soldiers aside with fists like siege engines, his roars echoing through the burning fortress.
The rouge marine fought not like a prisoner, but like a soldier reclaiming his freedom. Every thrust of his spear struck true, sweeping aside Marines who dared to bar Magnus's path.
"Vice Admirals or not," the man spat, spinning his spear through another trio of enemies, "I swore myself the moment you opened my cage, Magnus. My life is yours."
Magnus glanced at him only once, Shusui humming in his grip, its edge glowing faintly with black lightning. "Then don't waste it."
The rogue Marine bared his teeth in something like a grin. "I'll carve our way out, Captain."
The crew pressed forward together. Bullet laughed in the storm, the giant bellowed war cries, and the rogue Marine's spear gleamed like a lance of judgment his strikes cleaner, colder, and far more disciplined than the raw fury of prisoners.
And at the center, Magnus cut through everything. Vice Admirals fell upon him, cannon fire engulfed him, but Shusui drank his will and sang through the chaos.
Above them, the ceiling collapsed under another wave of cannon fire. Fire and seawater poured in.
The fortress screamed as if the sea itself was trying to drag it into the abyss.
And through it all, Magnus raised Shusui, the cursed blade howling with his will.
"Forward," he said, calm amidst the apocalypse.
And the monsters of Level Six followed.