Magellan turned around. The Venom Demon shifted, raising a crimson hand to swat the cook out of the air like a bothersome fly.
Sanji's blazing leg collided with the demon's palm. The intense flames of Diable Jambe were snuffed out in an instant, suffocated by the sheer chemical density of the poison. Sanji felt his Haki buckle. The red venom splashed across his trousers, burning straight through the thick fabric.
"AGH!"
Sanji hit the stone wall of the corridor with a sickening crunch, coughing up a massive mouthful of blood mixed with a dark, unnatural bile. He slid down to the floor, his vision swimming, completely unable to command his legs to stand. The poison was already shutting down his motor functions.
Within ten seconds, the impenetrable vanguard of the Straw Hat Pirates was utterly decimated.
"NO! NO! PLEASE, STOPPP!"
Ace tore at his heavy Seastone chains, his wrists completely raw and bleeding profusely. The sound of heavy iron links rattling violently against the stone echoed down the cell block. Tears of pure, absolute despair poured down Ace's dirty face. He was forced to watch the people he loved most in the world get slaughtered right in front of him, and he couldn't do a single thing to stop it.
"Luffy! Get up! Run away!" Ace sobbed, his voice breaking into a hoarse, guttural wail that tore at the throat. "Please! Just leave me here! Don't do this! Please!"
Luffy was on his hands and knees, gasping desperately for air. His skin was blistering rapidly, the red poison actively destroying his body.
"...Ace..."
In the absolute chaos of the one-sided massacre, Bonney gritted her teeth.
She wasn't going to sit back and watch them die. But looking at the massive, skeletal demon made of red venom, her sharp instincts kicked in. She knew that charging in physically was an absolute death sentence. Her Haki was nowhere near strong enough to resist that thing, and her Devil Fruit required physical touch.
Her pink eyes darted around the corridor, assessing the situation. Magellan didn't know who she was. The guards had been too busy dealing with Luffy's explosions and Zoro's flying slashes. As far as the Warden knew, she was just a random someone who had tumbled down the stairs with the intruders.
Bonney made a split-second, incredibly pragmatic decision. She would catch the Warden off-guard and touch him!
A pulse of warm, pink energy washed over her body. In a fraction of a second, the tall, athletic, heavily-armed pirate vanished, replaced entirely by a small, frail, crying ten-year-old girl in oversized clothes.
She dropped to the cold stone floor, burying her face in her tiny hands, and let out a piercing, genuinely terrified wail.
"WAAAAAAAH! HELP ME!" Bonney shrieked, her high-pitched voice echoing piercingly off the cell walls. "The mean pirates! They took me away from my mommy! They dragged me down into the dark! Please don't let the scary red monster eat me!"
Magellan froze.
The massive, skeletal hand of the Venom Demon, which had been winding up to deliver a crushing blow to Sanji, stopped.
The Warden's eyes widened behind his toxic, dripping mask. He looked down at the tiny, pink-haired child crying helplessly on the floor of the Eternal Hell. He looked at her trembling shoulders, the sheer terror in her tiny voice. His gaze snapped back to Luffy, who was twitching in agony on the floor.
Suddenly.
The absolute, murderous fury in Magellan's eyes amplified tenfold, shifting from a cold professional anger to a deep, visceral disgust.
"You abducted a civilian child...?" Magellan growled, the red venom around him bubbling with unprecedented rage.
Magellan was a ruthless monster to the criminals of the world, but his strict, unyielding moral code as an officer of the law forbade him from harming the innocent.
The very idea that these pirates would kidnap a child from the surface, use her as a hostage, and drag her down into the deepest, most dangerous pit of Hell to use as a human shield... it made him physically sick!
"You brought an abducted child into the crossfire?" Magellan roared at Luffy. "Your resolve was admirable but this?! You sicken me, Straw Hat!"
Luffy couldn't even speak to defend himself; his throat was paralyzed.
"Chief Warden!"
A figure came limping frantically out of the dark stairwell behind Magellan. Vice Warden Hannyabal, his face heavily bruised and his pharaoh headdress cracked from Luffy's earlier punch, had finally caught up. He was panting heavily, clutching his pitchfork in one hand and a pair of heavy Seastone handcuffs in the other.
"Hannyabal!" Magellan barked without looking back. He was actively pulling the red poison away from the scene, ensuring she wasn't exposed to the lethal fumes. "Secure the child immediately! Do not let a single drop of this poison touch her! She is a civilian hostage!"
"A... a hostage?!" Hannyabal blinked, looking at the crying child. His eyes lit up. Paranoia and strict administrative protocol overrode his common sense. "Y-yes, Chief Warden! Standard procedure for unauthorized civilian extraction in an active combat zone! I'm cuffing you for your own safety, little girl! It's protocol!"
CLACK.
To everyone's astonishment-
Hannyabal snapped the heavy, adult-sized Seastone handcuffs onto Bonney's tiny wrists, the iron swallowing her small hands.
'What.'
Bonney... she was stunned.
The moment the sea prism stone made contact with her skin, the ocean's curse flooded her veins. Her Devil Fruit powers were completely locked. She was permanently trapped in her ten-year-old form, her physical strength completely evaporating.
She really couldn't believe it.
Bonney cursed viciously in her mind, realizing she had just played herself into captivity?
Damn it all!
WHO DOES THAT!
Is this guy stupid?!
Am I...
Am I stupid?!!
But outwardly, she kept crying crocodile tears, burying her face in Hannyabal's chest to maintain the cover.
Bonney was genuinely panicking now.
How! How could she save everyone now!!
"Got her, sir!" Hannyabal cheered, lifting the 'kidnapped' child away from the toxic puddle. "I rescued the hostage! Oh, Headquarters will definitely hear about this! My promotion to Chief Warden is practically guaranteed!"
Magellan ignored his subordinate's babbling, turning his attention entirely back to the fallen captain.
Luffy was trying to push himself up. His arms trembled violently. Every muscle fiber in his body was screaming in agony.
But despite everything. Ace was right here.
Luffy raised his head.
His dark eyes, though clouded with pain and exhaustion, were locked fiercely onto Magellan. There was no surrender in his gaze. There was only an unyielding, terrifying stubbornness.
"I'm... not... done..." Luffy choked out.
Magellan looked down at the boy. For a brief, fleeting moment, a shadow of genuine respect crossed the Warden's face. To survive even a minute of exposure to the Kinjite poison without instantly dying was a testament to a willpower that defied human limitations.
"Your resilience is admirable, Monkey D. Luffy," Magellan said coldly, raising his massive, venom-drenched hand. The red sludge gathered heavily in his palm, preparing to deliver the final, lethal dose that would completely stop the boy's heart.
"But justice in Impel Down is absolute."
"Your journey..."
... it ends here."
.
.
.
A/N: Sadly, Bonney doesn't possess her experience like in the original story. F.
Uploaded this since I felt pacing was too slow. Hmm, just a little more wait now... chapter 71! Is going to be awesome!
Bonus chapter for 50 powerstones!
{Read 30 chapters+ ahead at: patreon.com/Glivaria }