Strangely enough, this time Da Hong had no carrots, no magazines, and no canvas sneakers to calm him down.
Yet after .bullet collapsed onto the floor in complete despair, the rabbit's berserk state gradually faded on its own.
Before long, Da Hong returned to normal.
Then, right in front of the horrified eyes of the prisoners, he casually picked up one of the dirty canvas sneakers, sat back down on the toilet, and began polishing it with rhythmic little squeaks.
"Hurry! Hurry!"
In the Warden's Office, the moment Magellan saw this through the surveillance Den Den Mushi, he wasted no time grabbing another Den Den Mushi.
"Take advantage of this now! Put .bullet back in restraints and lock him inside his own cell!"
The order went out at once.
A group of jailers rushed into Eternal Hell.
This time, however, none of them dared come empty-handed. The moment they stepped into Da Hong's cell, some began cleaning up the mess, some carefully sorted his magazines and sneakers, and one particularly sharp-witted guard even offered him a fresh carrot.
Da Hong ignored them all. He simply turned his head, bit into the carrot, and kept polishing the sneaker.
Just as two jailers were fastening the restraints back onto .bullet and preparing to drag him away, Da Hong suddenly looked up.
His brow instantly furrowed.
In that instant, every jailer froze stiff.
No one dared so much as breathe.
After a brief moment of terror, the two guards dragging .bullet reacted first. Without the slightest hesitation, they hauled .bullet over and dropped him at Da Hong's feet.
The next second, Da Hong planted one foot directly on .bullet's face and resumed polishing his shoe.
Seeing that, the jailers all let out silent sighs of relief.
No one dared try to move .bullet again.
After tidying the cell as quickly as possible, they fled at top speed.
"What exactly is going on?"
Watching the scene through the surveillance feed, Magellan looked baffled.
So the rabbit wasn't satisfied with beating .bullet just once?
Did he really intend to keep him around as a stress-relief toy?
For a brief instant, Magellan felt a trace of sympathy for .bullet.
A man who had once chased after the Pirate King's shadow, now reduced to the status of a living punching bag.
What was this, if not the collapse of human dignity?
Realizing his own thoughts were starting to drift in strange directions, Magellan coughed twice and forcibly cleared his mind.
Then he grabbed another Den Den Mushi and dialed out.
The call connected quickly.
On the other end came Sengoku's worried voice.
"What now? Something happened again?"
"Quite a bit, actually. .bullet nearly escaped."
Magellan did not hide anything. He recounted every detail of what had just happened in Eternal Hell, from .bullet provoking Da Hong into breaking his restraints to the beating that followed.
By the time he finished listening, Sengoku—now back in his own office after the meeting—felt a cold sweat on his back.
Back then, it had taken both him and Garp working together to lock .bullet away in Eternal Hell.
Over the years, he had kept close tabs on the man's condition, and he knew .bullet had never once stopped training during those twenty years in prison.
Sengoku had long worried that .bullet might one day escape just as Shiki had once escaped Impel Down.
Thankfully, Da Hong had been strong enough to smash that possibility to pieces before it could become reality.
Otherwise, Impel Down would not only have become a laughingstock again—
it would have released a monster back into the world.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
Magellan's voice sounded again.
"As for the Red Rabbit, just let him stay in Eternal Hell with food and comforts. Based on everything I've seen and everything in the reports, I can already conclude that he possesses an immortal body."
"If Holy Land insists on executing him to satisfy the Celestial Dragons, then move him to Mary Geoise and handle it there."
"Because if they keep forcing the issue here, Impel Down won't just lose a few prisoners."
"It may end up getting torn apart."
"What nonsense are you talking about?!"
The moment Magellan suggested transferring Da Hong to the Holy Land, Sengoku nearly exploded.
"Move him to Mary Geoise? What, do you think he hasn't killed enough Celestial Dragons already?"
"Forget the execution for now. I'll consult Holy Land."
He cut the call immediately.
Then, without wasting another second, Sengoku picked up a different Den Den Mushi and called the Room of Authority in Mary Geoise.
The one who answered was one of the Five Elders—
Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, the Warrior God of Science and Defense.
Dressed in a black suit, with white curled hair and a full white beard, Saturn glanced at the Den Den Mushi as it rang and spoke calmly.
"Sengoku. What is it?"
Sengoku did not hesitate. He gave a complete report, from the failed public execution to Da Hong being sent to Impel Down and the disaster unfolding there.
When he finished, Saturn's brows drew together slightly. Then he turned his head toward the other four elders seated in the Room of Authority.
"Charloss's death is not the important part."
Seeing that none of the others objected, Saturn continued in the same flat tone.
"What matters is that the authority of the Celestial Dragons has been trampled in a way it never has before."
"Still, considering the criminal's unusual nature, keep him in Eternal Hell."
"So long as he does not cause a truly major disturbance there, let him remain imprisoned forever."
Then Saturn's eyes sharpened.
"Also, based on the latest intelligence from our agents, the Red Rabbit did not act alone."
"Sengoku, the Navy's work has been inadequate."
"Explain yourself. Why have you allowed that traveler to remain at large?"
The instant those words fell, cold sweat broke out across Sengoku's back.
He had intended to report the matter earlier.
But one crisis after another had erupted.
The Red-Haired Pirates had recently been moving with increasing aggression in the New World, and their friction with the Whitebeard Pirates was growing by the day. A large-scale war could break out at any moment.
And then the East Blue had produced several bizarre animals that not only devoured the Arlong Pirates, but also sank the entire Krieg fleet with all five thousand men aboard.
With one fire after another breaking out, he had simply failed to submit the full report in time.
After a moment of silence, Sengoku drew a measured breath and answered carefully.
"According to all the intelligence we've gathered, this traveler, Kairo, has not personally committed any act that violates justice."
"When the Red Rabbit killed Saint Charloss, Kairo was in Foosha Village."
"When the Red Rabbit was taken to Loguetown for execution, Kairo was in Syrup Village."
"And even now, after the Red Rabbit has been sent to Impel Down, Kairo has made no move at all."
"So if we forcibly arrest him now… wouldn't that be somewhat…"
"Somewhat what?"
Saturn's brow creased.
"The Red Rabbit is his pet. Simply allowing his pet to commit such crimes is already enough to justify punishment."
Then his tone turned colder.
"But leave that matter aside. You will not handle it."
"I will have CP0 follow up on the traveler."
"As for you, your only tasks are to ensure the Red Rabbit does not escape Impel Down—and to extinguish the fires spreading through the New World."
He paused for only a breath before continuing.
"Shanks wants to become the next Emperor of the Sea, does he not?"
"Then let him become one of the Four Emperors."
"Until now, the New World has been dominated by Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom—survivors of the Rocks era in one form or another."
"Letting Shanks, once a member of Roger's ship, rise into that position will create a new balance among them."
And with that, Saturn ended the call without giving Sengoku another chance to speak.
Then he reached into the pile of documents before him and drew one file out.
His eyes narrowed.
It was a dossier sent up by CP0.
The contents matched what Sengoku had already reported:
Kairo's record was clean.
But Saturn did not believe that for a second.
Because neither CP0's files nor Sengoku's report contained any trace of Kairo's existence before his encounter with Garp near Loguetown waters.
In the simplest possible terms—
before that point, Kairo had not existed at all.
He was as if he had appeared from nowhere.
And that, no matter how one looked at it, was deeply suspicious.
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