Returning to Marco's perspective—
He had originally thought this would be a simple errand of delivering people, never expecting that the two little brats on his back would make trouble the entire way.
Marco felt his temples throbbing and finally experienced, in a very real way, just how difficult it must have been for Pops back then, bringing along an entire ship full of "sons."
He had been flying steadily through the clouds with his flaming phoenix wings spread wide.
After spotting the target island, he was just about to adjust direction and dive down when a loud, booming shout that made his scalp go numb suddenly exploded behind him.
"ACE, GRANDPA IS HERE!"
That lousy old man Garp, who had earlier smashed a solid Iron Fist onto his head, had appeared out of nowhere in midair, charging straight at him like a cannonball.
Marco's heart jumped.
He hurriedly flapped his wings to dodge, but Garp moved much faster than he had expected.
That rough, powerful hand grabbed his ankle in one move and refused to let go no matter what.
"Hey! Old man, are you insane?!"
Marco was both furious and anxious, beating his wings so quickly they blurred into afterimages, working even harder than an actual seabird.
This was several thousand meters up in the sky, and he still had three people on his back!
If they fell, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Ace, frightened by Garp's sudden appearance, instinctively followed his baby body's instincts.
His little face flushed bright red as he burst into loud wailing.
'Old man! Th-this is the sky! How did you even chase me all the way up here?!'
Beside him, Yamato also opened her little mouth and cried noisily.
'Hungry! I'm so hungry! I want food!'
Hearing the babies crying, Garp instantly calmed down.
The strength in his hand unconsciously loosened a little, and he was filled with confusion over why this pineapple head was flying around in the sky with children.
Then, using Marco's ankle for leverage, he stepped on the air with Geppo and began slowly bouncing along in midair, at least helping Marco take on some of the weight.
Just like that, they wobbled unsteadily as they slowly flew toward the island.
…
"That's about what happened."
Marco rubbed his aching temples and, together with Katakuri, who stood beside him with his arms folded, explained the earlier incident to Sengoku, Gloriosa, and Shakky, who had just arrived.
"Then how did they fall in?!"
Sengoku's voice instantly rose, clearly frantic over Cain, Garp, and the others being dragged into the barrier one after another.
Marco's face was full of helplessness as he added with a headache,
"When we reached the airspace above the island, Bonney had been maintaining her ability for too long and her stamina completely failed. Yamato and Ace directly returned to their normal size. I couldn't carry that much weight at all, so we started falling."
During the fall, Garp realized that there were no babies among the people dropping and had only just breathed a sigh of relief when his peripheral vision caught sight of Ace.
His eyes instantly lit up, and he twisted his body in midair, forcing himself upward a few times before pouncing straight toward Ace.
The result was that Ace, his face full of disgust, raised his leg to kick him away, only for Garp to grab his ankle tightly instead.
Ace urgently tried to break free and grabbed Yamato beside him in the process.
Yamato panicked and hurriedly caught Bonney. Bonney, in turn, clung tightly to Marco's bird claw.
With all of them suddenly strung together like that, the sharply increased weight made it impossible for Marco to stabilize his flight path.
Unfortunately, Bonney's strength was too weak, and after only a few seconds, she lost her grip.
The whole string of people was flung away by inertia and slammed straight into the barrier.
Only Marco, still flying in the air, and Katakuri below remained, staring blankly at the situation.
Normally, even if they fell, with Garp supporting them from below, there should not have been any problem, much less any chance of getting pulled inside.
But Garp refused to behave.
Instead of trying to stabilize himself, he had pounced onto Ace and clung to him without letting go.
'So this whole thing was Garp's fault!'
"That idiot!"
At that moment, Sengoku, Gloriosa, and Shakky all instinctively covered their heads.
Then, remembering the Monkey family's ability to cause trouble, they realized this really did seem like something he would do.
…
The scenery inside the barrier was completely different from the outside.
Luffy was the first to slowly wake up.
He opened his eyes in a daze.
Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, he froze on the spot.
They had clearly been on the island earlier, so why were they now inside a dark, damp warehouse?
Rather than a warehouse, it was more like a crude prison. Cold, rough stone walls surrounded them on all sides, and the air was filled with a faint smell of rust.
No, it was more like the smell of blood.
All kinds of people were imprisoned inside the cell: men and women, young and old.
They wore ragged clothes and curled up in the corners, their eyes hollow and their faces without even the slightest hope of survival.
They simply stared blankly at the ground.
The scene reminded Luffy of Impel Down, yet it was completely different from Impel Down. Even the prisoners there, no matter how desperate, still carried some resentment or ferocity.
The people here had only numbness left.
"Mm…"
A soft groan came from beside him.
Luffy turned and saw that Sabo, Jinbe, and Koala were all there.
There was also a warm body pressed tightly against him.
Luffy looked up and saw Hancock, who was hugging him tightly and refusing to let go.
"Sa—"
Luffy had just been about to greet Sabo and ask what was going on, and why they had suddenly appeared in a place like this, when Sabo abruptly reached out and clamped a hand tightly over his mouth, using his eyes to warn him not to make a sound.
Luffy froze for a moment, then followed Sabo's gaze.
At the end of the prison corridor, guards in uniform carrying long blades were constantly moving back and forth, searching the area.
Only after those guards walked farther away and their footsteps gradually disappeared into the end of the corridor did Sabo slowly release his hand.
"Phew. You can come out now," Jinbe said quietly, his voice deep and steady.
The moment his words fell, three figures slowly emerged from behind him.
Luffy recognized them at a glance.
His eyes instantly widened, and then he abruptly looked back at Hancock, who was still holding him.
Shocked, he instinctively cried out, "WHY ARE THERE TWO HANCOCKS?!"
That's right.
The three people who had emerged from behind Jinbe were unmistakably Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold.
They looked only around their early teens, yet their eyes carried a fear that was difficult to notice at first glance.
It formed a sharp contrast with the mature, beautiful, and extremely possessive Hancock behind Luffy.
Sabo patiently explained to him, "Luffy, I know this is unbelievable, but it really happened. We've come to thirteen years ago."
"THIRTEEN YEARS AGO—MMPH!"
Luffy's eyes widened, and he instinctively shouted, only for Sabo to hurriedly cover his mouth again.
Jinbe also added solemnly.
"That's right. This should be Mary Geoise's slave prison, and the point in time we are in is the very night Boss Fisher Tiger climbed the Red Line and rescued the imprisoned slaves."