Chapter 91: Snake Pit (2)

Gear 5! Woohoo, here we go!

____________________

In the fourth level of the Impel Down, the thunderous noises repeatedly boomed across one after the other. Judging by the horrendous stench that was foul, bitter, and simply unpleasant, there was no doubt that the Warden of the Impel Down, Magellan, was having yet another diarrhea.

The doorway to Magellan's Office was unlocked and opened. Numerous jailors made their way in it, hoping that he'd get out of the washroom and resolve this situation.

"G-gahh!! Warden!! We're in an emergency right now!! Things are happening in literally the hidden level!! And it's being broadcast all across the world!! We need you right now, so hurry up please!!!" One jailor pleaded while holding down his nose. However,

BRRRRRGH!

The only response from Magellan was to release the gas that swept across all the awaiting Impel Down staff. Unable to handle the stress, few fell unconscious, and the others swayed, unable to remain sane in front of a horrible smell.

"...Huhu,"

And in this situation, there stood one jailor. Lowering his eyes, he looked at the keys hanged around one fallen jailor's waist.

"Now, I used to romanticize the thought of working here... because I believed that I would be granted a right to kill any criminal as I saw fit." Then he frowned, "But such authority was granted to the Head Warden only. A disgrace really, for I can see that I won't be becoming one for a while—with you sitting on that seat, Magellan."

Withstanding the foul stench that emanated all around in Magellan's Office, the man continued walking. At the end of his walk, there was one set of keys.

"I imagined myself working here for years. The result of such simulation was, that I'll probably go crazy, filled with nothing but boredom. And while worrying about my future, here came the opportunity."

Taking the hold of keys, the man smiled,

"I heard that a Cipher Pol agent is authorized to kill without consequences. And the one below there, fighting against a criminal, is the chief of CP0 himself. So, if I successfully help him in suppressing the criminal... won't I be able to get what I want?"

Staring down at one unconscious jailor, his eyes flashed in lust. His hand slowly reached for a sword sheathed around his waist, but he managed to restrain his vulgar temptation, stopping his hand from unsheathing it. Chuckling, he walked out of the room, while saying,

"It was nice working under you... for a month that is, Magellan."

He was Shiryu, a no-name swordsman. And while all this was happening, Magellan had no way of knowing, for he was occupied with a stomachache worse than ever.

__________

"...Getting started, you say."

From the dark, the man in a white suit stood back up. Holding a stoic expression along with cold eyes that exhibited a cold gleam, he, Blaise, gazed at the one named Smoker, standing across him.

"Getting started. Getting started... hm."

Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Blaise exclaimed,

"I don't understand the logic behind your words."

Disregarding that his face was now shown all around the world, Blaise leaned down and picked up the white hat that he previously wore. It seemed torn and ripped, and its clean and mesmerizing quality could no longer be seen. Looking at it in disdain, Blaise eventually threw it away.

"Did you, perhaps, think that a small improvement in your battle prowess will make a difference in the outcome?"

Smoker watched as the entire surroundings began to churn. From the walls, non-seastone cells, cuffs, and all that were registered as non-living objects, the jacket snakes arose. Countless in number, they crawled across the ground and slowly moved toward Smoker—just like how a snake approaches its prey.

In this dark environment full of snakes, Blaise's eyes glowed dangerously. Seemingly red in colour, he then stated,

"One second after, you would leap at me."

Smoker, about to dash at Blaise, stopped on the spot, with his eyes narrowed.

'Even his Observation Haki...'

Blaise chuckled, "Oh? The future changed just now."

Swoo...

At the next moment, snakes simultaneously flew at Smoker like a tidal wave. It was frightening and to some extent, ominous; the unveiled scenery was something that even Gion and multiple prisoners of level 6 were unable to maintain their calm for.

Shifting his eyes all around him in a quick moment, Smoker reacted immediately,

'White Blast.'

A vigorous blast of white smoke dispersed upon smashing into the approaching wave of jacket snakes. Dashing back,

'Transmutation: Black,'

Smoker controlled said white smoke through a wisp of smoke connected between it and his arm,

'Black Spark.'

BOOOM! An abrupt explosions occurred all over the approaching jacket snakes. Many of them burst and loosened back to the stones and other objects that they once used to be. A few of them were set on fire, which quickly spread over the fabric-made snakes.

Blaise, watching Smoker's retaliation, stated, "...If I were to mention, the jacket-on-fire is still a jacket nonetheless."

Upon the man in white suit's finger snap, the burning wave of jacket snakes spun like a vortex as they resumed their travel toward Smoker.

"And though you may be immune to smoke... fire is a different story, isn't it?"

BOOM BOOM BOOM! Multitudes of snakes crashed from left and right like a rain of fire. Brightening up the dark and gloomy floor in a horrifying crimson, the incoming snakes and spreading fires made Smoker far too occupied in simply evading all of them.

BOOM! Shift to the left, morph into the smoke to swiftly fly through the deadly snakes, and—

—CLANG!

Few snakes among countless were imbued by the Armament Haki. Blaise, taking extra care in controlling those, utilized his Observation Haki: Future Sight to its full extent. Smoker, being unable to dodge them, was forced to apply his newly attained Armament Haki: Internal Destruction to effectively repel them away from him.

BOOM!

And finally, as the final jacket snake missed and crashed onto the ground next to him, the entire level 6 was now filled with cracks and damages all around. Few cells were rendered broken by Blaise's technique, but surprisingly, none of the freed ones dared to exit their cells, knowing that there was no way for them to survive against someone of Blaise's caliber.

Smoker, however, was found sweating ever so slightly. After all, though he's taken a substantial degree of damage from 'Rokuogan: Golden Roar' last time around, his durability and stamina were on the level of absurdness—all thanks to Garp's training and various experiences of his.

"Good." And upon observing Smoker's tenacity, Blaise—with cold eyes—opened his mouth, "It would be far too anti-climactic for this to be the end of you."

He then raised his arms up. In correspondence, the walls, cells—they began to morph into another batch of countless jacket snakes.

"Let's dance for a little longer."

"..."

Smoker grimaced upon coming across such a scene. Gion, on the other hand,

"...No way..."

murmured with a pale expression—flabbergasted by how strong Blaise was.

Then, as Smoker's hair stood up—instinctively warning him for the incoming attack—he dashed back,

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

just in time before the multiple jacket snakes slammed right on the ground he was standing by. Subsequently, quickly raising his left arm,

BOOOM!

Smoker blocked an incoming Shigan from Blaise. Blaise's Armament Haki attempted to flow into Smoker, dealing internal damage, but Smoker's own retaliated with its own flow outward—

BOOM!

—and simultaneously, Smoker was struck on the back by the jacket snakes, which piled up on one another to form a hammer-like shape. Also imbued by the Armament Haki, Smoker was sent flying toward one set of metal bars—ones that was partially made out of seastone.

'White Clone!'

Poof!

Right at the last moment before he came in contact with it, Smoker formed a clone of himself from white smoke, and pushed his body off of said clone to reduce the momentum. As the clone dispelled, he morphed his body into smoke and flew upward, successfully preventing the collision with the seastone bars.

Ssss...

The jacket snakes, pursuing him tenaciously, instantly circled around him in an attempt to entrap him. In response, Smoker swept his right arm in a circular motion,

'Black Impact!'

BOOOM!

A vigorous blast of black smoke was released all around Smoker. Converged with the 'flow' of Armament Haki, the black smoke directly pierced into the jacket snakes and blasted them from the inside.

Swoosh…!

But then, Blaise, suddenly found right in front of Smoker as the ruined jackets fell to the floor and morphed back to the stones that they used to be, held his hand out right at Smoker's chest. As Smoker's eyes widened from the sudden attack,

"Conspicuous Suppression."

Blaise's hand, zipping open into numerous pieces of a jacket, swiftly surrounded Smoker and hardened with the imbuement of Armament Haki.

"Tch...!"

Smoker immediately acted,

'White Mail!'

BOOOM!

The thick layer of white smoke quickly surrounded Smoker's body. And just as the jacket strips gripped onto Smoker's form, he hardened said layer of white smoke with the utilization of Armament Haki.

But regardless of his technique, Smoker was now fully caught by Blaise's jacket-turned hand,

"Checkmate."

And in this state, Blaise coldly stated,

"Rokuogan: Serpent's Damnation."

BOOOOM!

Smoker, even after having blocked Blaise's technique with his utmost capability of fruity ability and Armament Haki, received an incredible surge of pain coursing throughout his body. The Haki on white smoke retracted and the smoke itself dispersed away—revealing the body covered by the blood from head to toe.

Thud.

As Blaise dropped him, Smoker flopped to the ground with his mouth agape, and the blood oozed out of him, painting the floor red.

"Huff... huff..."

Smoker, at the shortness of breath, watched as Blaise turned away from him.

"...And that's the end of the story. This time around... even someone of your tenacity won't be capable of getting back up." Blaise, certain that Smoker won't be standing back up this time around, muttered, "Die a slow death, dear pompous criminal."

Currently, Blaise's eyes were headed at the Den Den Mushi-holding Gion. Smoker saw this through his hazy vision, and gritted his teeth, ignoring his body's screaming and trying to stand back up.

"...Did you enjoy the show? Unfortunately, it's over now. And Rear Admiral Gion... for your act of treachery, you will be considered a criminal of equal standing as 'White Hunter' Smoker."

Blaise, with his eyes glowing in deep red, took a step at Gion, with the intention to cut the Den Den Mushi's signal. He, initially taking a step, then began walking with a sense of elegance.

"As per the treatment, you'll be executed on the spot—"

His footstep stopped. With eyes shaking, Blaise stood still. Though he didn't see by sight, he felt... the still-blazing Haki—one that was somehow stronger than before. In a deep frown, he turned around.

Plop. Plop. The blood dripped out of his body like a mild rain. But nonetheless, Smoker was found standing for another time—with his grin still intact.

"...What in the world."

Blaise, whispering in vexation, stomped his foot on the ground. The waves of jacket snakes rose for the third time, and they slowly crawled at Smoker who seemed nearly dead at this point.

"Why aren't you staying down?" With genuine curiosity, Blaise asked, "Why choose a hard path of getting back up when you can have a painless death by staying down?"

Flabbergasted, he then mumbled,

"...No. Before that, why did you even bother to risk your life for this show? By the broadcast, what else do you attain other than the 'chance' of convincing the public?"

Snake. This animal was probably the one that best resembled the man named Blaise. And right now, he was unable to comprehend the fellow 'snake' named Smoker.

"If you've been freed secretly, you could've attempted an escape like Golden Lion once did. Instead of wasting your energy on something as useless as this, you could've been more efficient... hah, what am I saying." Blaise laughed, "Sahaha... just die."

Then, all jacket snakes simultaneously flew right onto the standing form of Smoker in an instant—at a speed that raised goosebumps out of Gion. And in this circumstance, Smoker spoke through his tired breaths,

"That 'chance'... huff... is worth much more than you think."

Since the very start, the World Government was the one in the wrong—at least in Smoker's opinion. The deaths of his friends, in the end, were essentially caused by the World Government's decisions.

"Hu..." Smoker, then closing his eyes and ignoring the incoming jacket snakes, said, "Gion. Brace yourself."

Blaise raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what Smoker had in his mind. Then, he flinched upon seeing the split-second into the future—

"Black Out."

BOOOOOM! The entire floor shook from the impact as the tremendous volume of black smoke was expelled out of Smoker's body at the next moment. Covering up the entire room and exploding in a disastrous manner, Gion quickly lowered her body to the ground, unable to breathe properly in this environment of smoke. Then, the air suddenly returned back to her—as the blazing smoke suddenly rushed out of her.

Additionally, the screams of agony resounded, as the scorching smoke entered through the lungs of prisoners—burning them from the inside. Scarily, even their screams were muffled in this thick layer of smoke, and in the end, they were burned to death before dying by suffocation.

"...!" Even Blaise, caught off guard by Smoker's terrifying technique, found his partially burned skin tingling in pain. Though he quickly encased his entire body in Armament Haki: Emission to repel all the smoke, his white cloak and pants have long been burnt, reducing his overall 'exquisiteness.'

And then, there was another problem. With smoke dominating the entire floor, and the majority of oxygen having been utilized for the combustion of the black smoke previously, the air has become scarce. Blaise found his breathing quickened, trying to inhale the small wisp of air that remained around him.

"C-Cough, cough!!!"

"K-Kek... there's... no way... haa... that I'm dying... here… from suffocation..."

CLANG! CLANG!

"L-LET ME OUT!!!"

The still and silent prisoners acted in desperation, knowing that their lives were at stake now.

"C-CP0!!!" One among them cried, "KILL WHITE HUNTER!!!"

Blaise's face darkened. Lowering his head in this situation, his body shook in a silent rage, embarrassed by the fact that this scene was currently being broadcasted live. Raising his hand up, he then clenched it into a fist, and simultaneously, a huge zipper was formed on the ceiling and was zipped open; a cold air from the fifth level blew in, and the good amount of hot smoke was expelled out.

Just then, someone jumped into said zipper-formed hole from the fifth level, causing Blaise to narrow his eyes.

"...Huff... huff..."

Meanwhile, from some distance away, Smoker huffed heavily while genuflecting to support his weight.

'Internal Destruction. Flow. Smoke Smoke fruit. Flow... gas.'

Gion, watching Smoker worriedly, opened her mouth as if about to speaking something. However, before she could say so, she had to dash forth in a panic—with Den Den Mushi sitting on her previous spot—

—CLANG! In order to block one incoming sword right at Smoker's exposed neck.

"...Oh?"

"Who are you?" Gion growled, pushing the mysterious foe's sword away from Smoker and herself. Blaise too stared at the sudden intruder, and said intruder bowed at Blaise.

"Former Admiral Blaise or CP0 Chief Pierro, whatever you may prefer..." He raised his head up, showing his eyes beneath the jailor's cap on his head, "I am Shiryu, the aspiring candidate for the position of a Cipher Pol agent."

Smoker's half-lidded eyes headed at the man, filled with a glimpse filled with many emotions.

'...Shiryu of the "Rain."'

"...Hah?" Blaise initially revealed a puzzled expression. Then, he eventually came to laugh out of amusement, "Sahahaha!"

Shiryu, smiling shrewdly, asked, "Well?"

Then, Blaise's laugh abruptly stopped. In a cold expression, he ordered, "If you manage to destroy that Den Den Mushi, then I may consider."

"Roger that, chief."

"Gion," Smoker, at the same time, whispered, "Can you stop him?"

"But...!"

"We have to keep the Elders' attention diverted and lower the chance of their potential involvement to Marineford. The call is yet to come, right?"

"Yes, but still—"

"Gion."

"..."

Gion, gritting her teeth, looked at Smoker in nothing but a worry, before eventually dashing back,

"...You better not die."

Smoker smiled softly, "...Of course."

CLANG!

.Gion and Shiryu clash their blades against each other, generating a metallic noise that seemed fresh in his mind. Taking in a deep breather, Smoker lifted his body back up from the genuflecting position.

'...Flow. Smoke.'

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Smoker stared at Blaise in seriousness.

'If facing you at my current maximum isn't enough, then I'll simply go beyond.'

Vroooom...

The ground nearby cracked and trembled from the sudden intensity on the atmosphere. The Conqueror's Haki, it corresponded to Smoker's blazing heart, the will that has been trained and honed through countless experiences up until the present.

"Seimei Kikan,"

The dispersed smoke, all of a sudden, began to swirl back into Smoker's body. Then, they were expelled back out—like how a steam locomotive does.

Tsss...

"Steampunk."