In the bustling D Block Colosseum, the battle had reached a fever pitch, with flashes of swords and sabers, and the deafening roars and crashes of skill collisions.
Like surging waves, one after another.
In stark contrast to the Colosseum's clamor was the medical room for defeated contestants located underground.
At this moment, in the long corridor extending from the treatment room, the dejected figures of defeated contestants appeared one after another, and the entire atmosphere was exceptionally oppressive.
Just then, the record keeper in the medical room slowly opened the door to the treatment room and shouted loudly down the contestant corridor, "Next! Is contestant Old Cai from the Flower Country here?"
After he shouted, only his voice echoed in the corridor, with no one responding. So he raised his voice again and called out, "Next contestant??"
Old Cai stood there, watching Chinjo, who hadn't come out yet, already feeling impatient. He lunged forward, grabbed the record keeper's clothes, widened his eyes, and roared, his face flushed with anger.
"My Grandson has been in there for so long, why hasn't he come out yet! Is he dead in there! Hey!"
His posture seemed to vent all the anxiety and dissatisfaction in his heart.
Upon hearing this, the record keeper's mouth twitched a few times, and he looked at this seemingly "filial" Grandson with a helpless expression.
He patiently explained, "Contestant Chinjo didn't not come out; it's just that the exit is on the other side. Even after treatment, he wouldn't return here."
Old Cai was stunned when he heard this, then scratched his head, a hint of embarrassment on his face, and quickly said,
"Ah...is that so? I'm so sorry, I was too anxious and didn't understand the situation."
As he spoke, he even knelt on the ground remorsefully and began to pound the floor. The Eight Treasures Navy beside him looked at him somewhat awkwardly.
"Sorry, my big brother gets emotional very easily, sorry."
The record keeper still looked at him expressionlessly and said in a flat tone, "Since you understand, please come in."
With that, he reached out and led Old Cai to a treatment table, pointed to it, motioned for him to lie down, and then said:
"Then please lie on this bed and close your eyes."
Seeing Old Cai obediently close his eyes, the observer nodded slightly, his expression as if everything was proceeding according to plan. Just then, a staff member standing nearby reached out and pulled a switch. With a dull thud, the iron bed Old Cai was lying on instantly opened like a door to an unknown world, and the bed board quickly flipped downwards.
Unprepared, Old Cai only felt his body suddenly drop, and he quickly slid down the suddenly appearing passage.
A chill permeated the passage, so dark that he could barely see his hand in front of his face, making him unable to control his body. He could only helplessly descend, down, down... He didn't know how long it had been.
With a "thud," Old Cai finally fell into the eerie abandoned toy processing factory.
All around was dead silence, and he could faintly smell an old, decaying odor, as if countless eyes were peeking at him from the shadows, sending shivers down his spine.
Once upon a time, this processing factory was piled high with all sorts of discarded toys, including plush dolls with missing limbs, small race cars with broken wheels, and so on. But in the end, they were all repaired by the persecuted Sugar.
Now, those toys had long since vanished without a trace, leaving only the defeated contestants in this vast and silent space.
The cold walls all around them held them firmly captive here, and the dull, oppressive atmosphere seemed to make even the air thick, almost suffocating them.
As soon as Old Cai fell into this abandoned toy processing factory, he immediately went into a boisterous mode, shouting loudly,
"What is this place? What in the world is going on? Hmph!"
While he was shouting, he suddenly spotted Chinjo not far away. His eyes lit up, and he quickly rushed over, calling out with a face full of pleasant surprise, "Ah, Grandfather, you're safe and sound! That's great, I was so worried about you! I thought you were dead!"
Chinjo, on the other hand, looked at his impulsive Grandson with a speechless expression, his brows tightly furrowed, and he reprimanded him irritably, "What's so great, you idiot! You're the one who's dead!"
Hajrudin of the Giant Race simply sat there quietly, watching the boisterous Old Cai, without the slightest extraneous reaction on his face, like a steady statue.
After a while, he slowly spoke, "Everyone gathered here are all the defeated contestants. All the losers have been thrown in here."
Upon hearing this, Old Cai's eyes widened, his face filled with shock. He quickly looked around, shouting anxiously,
"What did you say??? What in the world is going on here? Where's the way back?!" His panicked demeanor was like an ant on a hot pan.
The strategist fat man who had previously mocked Bartolomeo was now also full of resentment, gritting his teeth and saying fiercely,
"Hmph, there's no exit at all! We've all been tricked by that hateful Doflamingo. I don't know what kind of evil scheme he's up to, to trap us all in this wretched place!
Your Majesty! This is clearly a declaration of war against us!"
Elizabello II looked at his fist and nodded helplessly.
"Hmm, but it's too strange that even my King Punch can't break through these walls."
The fighter Brusque couldn't help but glance at the narcissistic king, pouting his lips with a hint of sarcasm.
"Hey, hey, you should think about it. This is underground, which means these surrounding walls are equivalent to the earth.
No matter how powerful your heavy punch is, it's impossible to break the earth. Don't waste your energy."
The Fishman Hack sat in the corner... There was no one around, and he wanted to speak but closed his mouth, after all, the urine on his body was almost dry.
The losers underground were all guessing what Doflamingo's purpose was in imprisoning them here.
As for why Doflamingo planned to imprison these warriors,
Firstly, he was stubborn. Even though he had a vague feeling that he might lose in this struggle,
But his unwillingness to admit defeat kicked in, and he felt that things weren't entirely without a turn. Maybe there was still a chance to win, even if it was only one in ten thousand, he didn't want to give up easily.
(Orochimaru scoffed, 'With me here, even if you could win, you'd still lose.')
Secondly, in his opinion, these people were originally meant to stop Straw Hat, but they ended up being completely useless.
Although they didn't play a big role in the Colosseum, they were still a ready-made workforce.
Adhering to the "might as well use them" spirit he caught from Orochimaru, he thought about exploiting all these people.
Anyway, for him, as long as they were somewhat useful, he didn't care about the lives of these warriors; exploitation was the way to go.
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