Magellan's expression shifted as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He immediately pushed the reporting duties onto Hannybal, saying, "Write the report and inform the higher-ups. I'm going to the bathroom first."
Looking at the empty report, Hannybal also felt a massive headache. Not only were the prisoners on the first three floors dead, but even several prisoners on the sixth floor had been killed by Hera.
The main instigator of the incident, Luffy, was now nowhere to be found. The Jailer Beasts had searched the entire fifth floor, but the bodies had vanished into thin air, and his current whereabouts were unknown.
Buggy and Galdino, however, had been re-arrested. Now, only these two remained on the first and second floors. Consequently, Magellan imprisoned them on the fourth floor on charges of attempting to escape.
Upon learning the follow-up news, Sengoku also felt a headache coming on. He wasn't as optimistic as Hannybal and shouted into the transponder snail, "What do you mean 'life or death unknown'?"
Hannybal said, "Luffy was hit by various toxins from the Warden. Ordinarily, he wouldn't survive, but since no evidence of his death has been found, we say his status is unknown. He's likely dead."
Sengoku rested his palm against his forehead. He didn't believe for a second that Hera would just stand by and watch Luffy die; he had most likely already escaped.
"What about the casualties? What are the prison's losses?"
Hannybal replied, "There are only a few lightly injured Prison Guards. No one died except for the prisoners. Many Prison Guards said that just as they were about to be heavily injured, a black shadow teleported them away."
Hearing this, Sengoku felt a bit better. "That's fine. If the prisoners are dead, then they're dead. It'll just happen to reduce the pressure on you all. How many prisoners died?"
Hannybal paused for a moment to compose himself before saying, "Most of the prisoners from the first three floors and the sixth floor."
Sengoku nodded. "Hmm, most of the prisoners from the first three floors and the sixth floor... Wait, what do you mean by the first three floors?"
Once he realized, Sengoku almost screamed the second half of his sentence. He even doubted his own hearing and Hannybal's ability to express himself. What did he mean by the first three floors? Hadn't he asked how many prisoners died?
Hannybal's tone was filled with helplessness. "That's right, the first three floors. Luffy and his group liberated the prisoners there, and they were all wiped out by Hera, who came as backup."
Sengoku's vision went dark again. He felt that Hera must have done it on purpose. Her goal might have been to find an excuse to turn all the prisoners here into nourishment for herself.
Only then did Sengoku remember the purpose of his call. He said to Hannybal, "Pay attention. Blackbeard is sailing toward the prison; he might have some sort of scheme."
After conveying the news about Blackbeard to Hannybal, Sengoku pondered for a moment. He then thought of Knight of the Sea Jinbe, who was still on the sixth floor. There were reports that Hera had a very good relationship with Fish-Man Island.
Sengoku finally connected all the dots. There was no time to worry about the defense of Impel Down; the most important thing now was to transport Ace to Marineford.
On the sixth floor of Impel Down, Jinbe, whose injuries were gradually healing, silently gathered his strength. As the Knight of the Sea, he wasn't someone these chains could hold.
Under Ace's watchful eyes, Jinbe exerted his full strength, and the chains on his body began to snap. Seeing that things were going south, a Prison Guard hurriedly struck Jinbe with a club, trying to prevent his escape.
Jinbe strained his arms, coating himself in Armament Haki. He violently broke free from the chains and, ignoring the Prison Guard's interference, grabbed the cell door with both hands. With a sudden burst of strength, he tore the cell door in half.
With one punch each, Jinbe knocked out the two Prison Guards. Then, he forcefully pulled the iron chains off Ace and gripped the seastone handcuffs on Ace's wrists.
"Brother Ace, bear with it. This might hurt a bit."
Jinbe applied sudden force with both hands on the seastone handcuffs, unexpectedly crushing them directly. The crisp sound of the cuffs hitting the ground rang out, and Ace stood up, his body wreathed in flames.
From a nearby cage, Sir Crocodile's voice drifted out: "Are you two heading to Marineford? Take me with you. I need to go there as well."
Ace was about to refuse, but Jinbe stopped him. Jinbe said, "I know you, former Shichibukai Sir Crocodile. Give me a reason to take you along."
Sir Crocodile replied, "You want to go to Marineford, right? Take me with you. I want to see Whitebeard. Besides, you'll need more help if you want to leave this place."
Ace and Jinbe exchanged a look and agreed to Sir Crocodile's request, rescuing him as well.
The prison broke into a riot once more. Other prisoners on the sixth floor, seeing the trio passing by, also clamored to be rescued.
"Let me out! I'll help you escape too!"
"Hurry up and let me out! I'm going to kill these Prison Guards!"
The three ignored them. They were confident in their own strength and believed they could escape on their own, so they naturally didn't want to deal with these desperate criminals.
Just as the prison rioted again, Blackbeard and his crew arrived at the gates of Impel Down. Blackbeard kicked the gates open and staged a forceful invasion.
Hannybal, who was writing a report to the World Government, heard the alarm. Alarms blared from both the upper and lower levels simultaneously, leaving the prison short-staffed in an instant.
Hannybal was at a loss. "What do we do now? Blackbeard is invading from above, while Jinbe, Ace, and Sir Crocodile are below. Four Shichibukai-level figures have arrived here at the same time!"
Magellan emerged from the bathroom, clutching his stomach. The situation was urgent; he had to finish his own battle quickly and move on to the next.
Magellan said, "Don't panic. Calm down. The only good news now is that we have no prisoners left on the first three floors. Have the Prison Guards concentrate on the fourth floor; we'll engage the enemy there."
After entering the first floor, Blackbeard burst into laughter. In his high spirits, he didn't consider anything else and didn't even use his Observation Haki to scout.
"Zehahahaha! Prisoners, your freedom is coming! Are you willing to follow me and take down these Prison Guards who imprisoned you?"
He was met with deathly silence, and an awkward atmosphere filled the air. Van Auger, who had already scouted the situation, said coldly, "There's no one on the first three floors. I don't know what's going on."
Blackbeard's suspicion flared up. It seemed he thought he had fallen into some kind of trap, and he instinctively wanted to leave.
But after sensing the gazes of his crew members behind him, he regained his confidence. "Zehahahaha! Is this Magellan's scheme? Let's go! I won't be scared off by an Empty City Ruse!"
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