Lost Boy

I do not own One Piece or any other works that I may have referenced or took inspiration from. They all belong to their respective Authors.

~Line Break~

Using his Kenbunshoku, he could see everyone around him, like the cell across from him with a young man on his knees, with both hands spread out to his side and coated in Kairoseki chains. There were a few other pirates in the eternal hell, like crocodile in the cell next to the young man in front of him. There was also a group of giants nearby, but the young man in front of Carter seemed to be the only person who was younger than 30 on the whole floor.

'Ace,' Thought Carter, 'He is the only young pirate that warrants being thrown into the eternal hell at the moment.'

He knew that he had roughly a week until Ace would be taken for his execution, and Luffy would arrive to try to break him out, so he could at least try to befriend the guy, and give him a hand in the War to come. Although Carter was easily captured by just two of the stronger people working for the world government, he knew it was because he was far too relaxed and held back too much. He was being cautious and leaving a lot in the tank so that he could surprise any enemies of his, but that was his downfall. He also was not used to fighting multiple opponents, so his Kenbunshoku was only ever used to focus on one opponent at a time and his mind automatically ignored others. When Doflamingo wrapped Carter in strings, it wasn't a direct danger to him, so he didn't sense it.

As soon as the marines and jailers had left the room, Carter made use of Seimei Kikan to defrost his whole body. He started vibrating his whole body to force it to heat up and gain more and more heat to dissipate the cold.

Across from him, Ace was observing the new arrival. He saw them carry in a young man who was completely frozen, head to toe. His feet seemed to be in a wide fighting stance, and his arms were both held behind his back. His face, however, was the picture of calm. Even through all of the ice, it was clear to see the young man appeared to just be sleeping.

When the guards finally left, Ace was left with nothing to do but just observe the new man. His cell was set up in such a way that he could only see the cell across from him, unable to see any of the other cells in the building. He had only spent a day down here, but he had already observed his entire cell, counting every bar, every stone block, every imperfection in every piece, just trying to keep his mind occupied and away from his coming fate.

Watching him now, Ace could see water dripping off of the ice statue at a faster and faster rate, as the ice visibly seemed to disappear from his body. His body was rapidly regaining its color from his previously pale demeanor.

Carter started to focus on ensuring his organs were all working, before focusing more on his muscles, skin, and bones. He slowly reinstated every single organ that had been frozen for a few days now, as he slowly defrosted. Finally, after ten minutes, he was finished. His entire body was unfrozen. He slowly opened up his eyes, to take in the sight of the young man across from him.

Seeing the completely shocked visage Ace sported, Carter chuckled and said, "First time?"

"W-what?"

"Is it your first time seeing someone unfreeze themselves?"

"How did you do that? You have Kairoseki cuffs on, so it can't have been a devil fruit."

"No, it wasn't, just body control. I used my control of my body to keep my brain functioning after Aokiji froze me. I then used it to heat up my body to defrost myself."

"How is that possible though?"

"An ability called Seimei Kikan, which allows someone to control their body's biological functions. Some aspects come naturally to people, like those who can control their heartbeat to keep it slow and increase their stamina, or those who can naturally digest any food they eat to heal themselves quicker." Carter explained calmly.

"Like Luffy?" Ace whispered to himself, "how did you learn this?"

"9 years of training to gain absolute control of my body, so that in a fight a will not waste a single movement. It kind of came naturally to me after I managed that. Though, I only know of two other people in existence who have mastered it to a similar state as myself, and they are both members of the World Government. I am sure there are quite a few more hidden away though."

Ace just looked at Carter for a moment, before seeming to slip back into his depression as he looked back at the floor.

"Why are you so down?" he asked curiously. Of course, he knew what Ace was going through, but it seemed like those with Haoshoku were those who would always strive to keep moving forward, no matter the obstacle.

"Are you stupid? In my hunt to try to catch a traitor to our crew, I lost to him and was captured. The marines are now using me to start a war with my pops, and it is all my fault. How else am I meant to feel?" Anger started seeping into his tone at the end.

"Oh? Is that so?" Carter asked. "And what traitor would this be?"

"Blackbeard! Marshall D. Teach! The coward who committed the worst crime a pirate can commit! Fratricide!" Ace growled out his answer.

"So, you are giving up? Because you let someone beat you once, you give up?"

"It is not about me losing, it is the fact that I was overconfident and have now put my pops in danger!"

"Did you though?"

"W-What?"

"Did you really put the old man in danger? The marines are holding your execution in order to try and set up a battlefield they feel confident in killing him in. He would obviously be smart enough to understand that, so if he was to come anyway, is that your fault?"

"Ye-"

"No." He cut Ace off, "If your pops is running into a trap to help you, it is not your fault, it is just proof of how much he loves you. And yet, here you are, acting like your life is worthless. It is worth more than enough for Whitebeard to come to your rescue, so stop looking down on your old man!"

Ace was introspective for a moment, before another voice chimed in, "The Marines are trying to kill whitebeard? Seems like things have gotten pretty interesting out there! Hahahahaha! I'd like to be there, to take his head myself! Hahahaha!"

Silence rained for a moment, before Ace looked straight at the hook handed man and said, "you're saying you want to take the old man's head?"

"I ain't the only one." Crocodile replied calmly, before the whole of level 6, Eternal Hell erupted into chaos.

"Kill Whitebeard!" "The Bastard's gonna die, you say? Yahoo!" "Now, I like that! Sounds great!" "Let me out to sea. I'll be the one to take his head!" and many other similar calls went up from around the prison. The whole level started going crazy at the thought of getting rid of one of their rivals.

"Fire Fist, Remember this well. Try and count the people who were forced to swallow their tears after being unable to beat Whitebeard or Roger… And you will find thousands of them across the sea!"

"Hahahahaha!" Carter laughed out loud, slowly silencing the ruckus throughout the prison. Although many people were laughing, everyone felt like this laugh was mocking them. "You pathetic losers want to take down Whitebeard? So, you wait for him to be in a dangerous position before challenging him? So pathetic! Hahahaha!"

"You think a little bastard like you can talk?" Crocodile growled.

"Hahaha! Of course, I can! Instead of running away like a coward and trying to find better weapons, I train my body harder, I strive to become stronger, faster, better in every way. You though? You got taken down by a paradise pirate who couldn't even use haki! And you think you have the right to challenge the strongest man in the world? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!" Carter yelled out the last sentence, completely silencing almost the whole level. Unknown to him, a wave of pressure was emitted from his body as he yelled. It barely seemed to leak out of his body, showing the strong will that ran through his very soul, the will to keep going no matter what until he reaches the top of the world.

None of the pirates on the level were knocked out, however, they all did gain a sudden inexplicable fear of the young man.

Ace looked straight at the man across from him, and asked, "You seem to have a lot of respect for Pops, are you planning to join him?"

"Join him? No, it is my dream to be the strongest being in the world! To do that, I need to challenge the strong head on and win. The fact that this group of losers think they can take out a man known as the strongest by using tricks is deplorable and made me a little mad. Hmm, do you have a dream, Ace?"

Ace stared at him for a moment, before saying strongly, "Of course I do! My dream is to make Whitebeard the King of Pirates!"

"No." Carter said simply.

Ace stared at him for a moment longer, before gritting his teeth, "What?"

"That is not your dream."

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it isn't. Do you know even what Whitebeards dream is?"

"Of course, I do! His dream is to be the King of Pirates!"

"No."

Ace was beginning to get truly angry now, this pirate in front of him whose name he didn't even know was trying to tell him how the man he respected most in his life thought. "Who the hell do you think you are!"

"My name is Rei D. Carter, and I will be the strongest being in the world!" Carter said, "And you are someone who is so hung up on your own beliefs about your Pops that you can't even see the truth!"

"Oh, if you know so much, then what is his dream?" Ace grumbled.

"Whitebeard is so powerful and has such a strong crew that if he wanted to become Pirate King, he would have done so by now. Do you know why he hasn't?"

"Tell Me!"

"Because that is not his dream! It never has been! It is clear to see that Whitebeards only dream is to have a big family, and he got strong to protect them!" Carter finished strongly.

Silence rained around them once more, until a derisive voice cut in, "Dreams? Only losers like you care about dreams! Why would Whitebeard care about a mere dream! Everyone knows they are just the delusions of the weak! The Strong just kill who they want and take what they want!"

Silence followed for about a minute, before Carter spoke up quietly once more.

"Why are you all so preoccupied by bloodshed? It's true that men possess a side that is rather savage, but its purpose is to win things that are precious, as well as protect them. You could say it's like a double-edged sword. Love and Honor are both important things to people; they are the reason that people take up a sword to protect their home, they are the reason that people follow a moral code, and they are the reason that people fight against those like us. However, for a man, there is something that goes far beyond that, something that is even more precious." Carter paused for a moment to let everyone think.

"They're driven to pursue it, so driven they do it entirely for their own sake, it's their dream! A dream… Men yearn for their dreams regardless of their birth and no matter what their achievements have been, one can be sustained by their dream, hurt by their dream, revived by their dream. Or even killed by it. And though one might be abandoned by his own dream and find it out of reach, even then it will smolder in his heart forever. One should know what it feels like to strive for such goals, to willingly martyr yourself to the concept of a dream!"

"I find it abhorrent to simply live out my life for no other reason… than I was born into it." Carter finished with a conviction that would have completely surprised anyone who knew him in his past life. That is the exact way he had spent most of his last life, just surviving day by day because he could. He built this conviction throughout the last 11 years of training himself diligently. He was no longer willing to sit around wasting his life, and instead wanted to reach a peak no one else before him had.

After about 5 minutes, Ace finally spoke once more, "But how do I find my own dream?"

Carter thought for a moment before replying, "It doesn't matter how you find it. It doesn't matter what your dream is. It won't matter at all if you just give up now. If you want to find your own dream, you need to survive. So don't go hanging your head, to smile in the face of utter defeat is the sign of a true dreamer!"

~Line Break~

It had been three days since the Bonney Pirates were forced to leave their first mate behind to escape from Admiral Aokiji, and Bonney was pissed.

"Where the hell are ya, Bastard!" she screamed, as she trashed the island they were on. 3 days ago, Carter had promised to meet them here, and follow right after them, and yet he hadn't.

'What happened to you, Carter?' She thought inwardly worried but outwardly furious.

The whole crew was in the same state of mind, worried about their crew member and trainer, and what could have happened to him to make him not be able to meet them here.

"In 4 more days, it will have been a week since we had to leave Sabaody. If Carter is not here by then, we will go back and see what happened!" Bonney announced to the crew.

~Line Break~

five days after Carter had woken up in the cell at the bottom of Impel Down, Carter was already extremely bored. As Shiryu said when he got let out of his cell, "It is enough to make a man want to kill himself from boredom."

Carter could quite easily break out right now if he so wanted to. He had the absolute cheat power of Seimei Kikan, after all. His body wasn't weakened much by the Kairoseki after training his body to adapt to the energy, so he was still capable of using his normal strength. There was enough energy of still water to stop him from using his devil fruit, but not his normal strength or skills like Seimei Kikan. He could quite easily control his long hair to pick the fairly primitive locks of his cuffs and escape the prison with ease.

The problem he faced, however, is if they find that he has escaped they will likely place an Admiral in the prison to make sure Ace doesn't escape. In which case, Luffy will likely die in the prison. He also didn't know the exact day Luffy broke into the prison. By his estimation it will only be another day or so until Luffy arrives. And then another day after that to get to Eternal Hell. After all, they were set to come pick up ace in just over a days' time.

As Carter sat there thinking to himself, he thought over what his plans should be at The War, because he will be going. Should he continue to hold back, or go all out? Probably better to go all out so as not to get blindsided again and captured. He also needs to practice his Kenbunshoku against multiple opponents and try to sense things that aren't going to hurt him.

While waiting, he suddenly sensed some people coming down into the Eternal Hell. A large blue Fishman with a traditional Kimono and wooden clogs on his feet came walking in slowly with chains on his legs and arms. He was surrounded by multiple guards, and even Warden Magellan.

They walked to Ace's cell, and took him straight in, chaining him to a separate wall of their now shared cell.

"Jinbei, what are you doing here?" Ace asked calmly. Since the talk with Carter about his future, about his attitude, and about his dreams, he had been spending all of his time being introspective about what he wants in life. After re-examining his own decisions and his own wants, he has started to calm down, and his willpower has been growing.

"Ace. When I heard what happened to you, and the war that the World Government planned, I refused to Partake. When I tried to stop them, we fought! And now they have locked me in here so that I can't stop them!" Jinbei declared.

"You should not have done that, Jinbei." Ace declared calmly. "You are putting Fishman Island in danger by doing this. I do not fear death, but I do not believe that I will die any time soon. The Marines are underestimating Whitebeards strength if they think they will be able to take the old man out." His eyes now held something extremely dangerous at the thought of what was coming.

Jinbei was completely shocked at Ace's current demeanor. He thought that he would be completely downcast, and struggling with his mistakes, and yet, he seemed to be of a completely sound mind yet entirely indifferent to what was coming. And yet, even so, Ace still had an undercurrent of self-pity that had stuck with him his whole life. It is hard to get rid of 20 years of thinking that it would be better if you were never born in the first place, after all.

A companionable silence fell in their cell as Ace sat there brewing in his slight pity party and Jinbei observed him before they heard a voice singing a song nearby. (Lost Boy – Ruth B, Slowed, Reverb)

"There was a time when I was alone,

Nowhere to go and no place to call home,

My only friend was the man on the moon,

And even sometimes he would go away too."

He sang out slowly and quietly, but in the silence of the underground prison, there was not a single person who didn't hear him.

"Then one night, as I closed my eyes,

I saw a shadow flying high,

They came to me with the sweetest smile,

Told me they wanted to talk for a while.

They said "Capitan that's what they call me.

I promise that you'll never be lonely,"

And ever since that day."

Every single pirate in the building who was not a captain themselves thought of their own captain as he sang.

"I am a Lost Boy, from the ocean,

Usually hanging out with, My Captain,

And when we're bored, we play in the sea,

Always on the run from, The Marines,

"Run, run, Lost Boy," They say to me,

"Away from all of reality,"

The ocean is home to Lost Boys like me,

And Lost Boys like me are free."

This time, every pirate in the room thought of their time sailing the sea, when they were all still free. Ace thought of his time with the Spade Pirates. He thought of how he freely sailed around the sea, challenging anyone he came across, until he challenged the Strongest Man in the World. Whitebeard, the man who would become His Father. How whitebeard was willing to take him in as his son, even though he had tried to kill him. Whitebeard had seen Ace's longing for a father, having practically raised himself and been constantly told he needs to die because of his birth father's identity.

"They sprinkled me in pixie dust and told me to believe,

Believe in them and believe in me,

Together, we will sail away, in a sea of green,

To our beautiful destiny,

As we sailed from the town that never loved me,

I realized, I finally had a family,

Soon, enough, we reached the ocean,

Peacefully, my feet hit the sand,

And ever since that day."

Few pirates were not emotional after this verse. The crew being their family is something that a lot of them believed in. Some of them, like Crocodile, did not believe in trusting his crewmates, so they were not able to relate to that part of the verse, but they all agreed that the sea held their destiny.

Carter repeated the chorus twice more before he stopped. He then waited for a while longer before a calm settled over the whole prison.

"Have you calmed your mind now, Ace?" He asked.

"Yeah, thanks."

Seeing their conversation, Jinbei piped up with, "Who is he, Ace?"

"Hm, That's Carter. He is a rookie, or was a rookie, before he was caught and thrown in here." Ace answered before asking, "How were you thrown in here, anyway?"

"Made a small mistake underestimating an opponent and ended up being caught. It really isn't a big deal though; I could escape whenever I want to. I just don't feel like it right now." Carter said nonchalantly.

"Hahaha!" Ace chuckled, "He has been saying that since he got put in here."

"And what opponent was this?" Jinbei inquired.

"Aokiji. I could have easily handled him if I tried, but I underestimated him a bit. Thought he was too proud to work with others. When I found myself wrapped up in a bunch of string, I realized I was wrong. Hahaha!"

"You could easily handle an Admiral?" Jinbei asked quietly, already regarding the young man in the other cage as a braggart. "And what did you do to get an admiral and a Shichibukai to come after you?"

"Hm, not much. Just punched one of them bubble headed world nobles so hard he will probably never walk again. But I doubt that's what did it, I wasn't the first there to attack one after all."

"Who else was stupid enough to attack a World Noble?" Ace asked curiously.

"One of the other members of the so-called Worst Generation, Straw Hat Luffy." Carter answered cheerfully, knowing exactly what Ace's reaction will be.

"L-Luffy? What has that idiot gotten up to now?"

"Oh, you know him, Ace?"

"He-he's my little brother, but he's always so stupid, rushing headfirst into anything and making me worried."

"He punched the World Noble after they shot his friend. Although he is pretty stupid, he is also very noble and cares a lot about his friends. It is likely that after hearing that you had been captured that he will try to break in here, or maybe even go straight to Marineford."

"B-but he will be captured, there is no way he would be able to get in and out of here in one piece."

"Meh, don't underestimate him too much, Ace. If he does get captured, I'll break him out as well on my way out."

~Line Break~

A small group of people entered the 6th level of impel down, Eternal Hell, and walked straight in the direction of Ace's cell. This group consisted of Warden Magellen, Vice Warden Hanyabal, Head Jailer Domino, Vice Admiral Momonga, a Snake, and the Shichibukai Boa Hancock.

Hanyabal walked right up to Ace's cell and said, "You have a special visitor, Ace! Guess who's here. Jinbei, even you have never met her before so there's no way that Ace can guess who it is. She's well-known but never shows herself! She leads the Kuja – the tribe of warriors! She's a Warlord of the Sea!"

He stepped out of the way, and said, "Strong, noble, and the most beautiful woman in the world! She is the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock!"

He then proceeded to dance around her asking her to marry him before Magellan stopped him. As soon as he stopped and all of the pirates in Eternal Hell set their sights on her, they started going completely crazy.

"Wow! Is she it?! She is so beautiful!" "So she's the Snake Princess of the Kuja? Hey, turn around!" "Hancock-chan!" "Look at how sexy she is!" "Young lady! Come to our cell!" and many other obscene words.

Hancock ignored them all and walked forward to Ace, and stared straight at him until he spoke.

"What do you want from me?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to take a look at you. Because you will become the cause of the war that I will take part in."

"So I'm worth a look then?"

Jinbei then spoke up, "You've always been an empress with a strong will who never obeyed any summonses, but you're taking part in this war? Suddenly, you value your title of Warlord of the Sea?!"

"So you're Jinbei. Don't snarl at me."

While this conversation was going on, pandemonium was still present within the prison, as prisoners called out for Hancock's attention.

"They're talking! Shut your mouths!" Ordered Magellan.

"Shut up. Magellan! Go have a shit as always!" Yelled one pirate.

Finally, Hancock turned around and looked at the other pirate prisoners and said, "You guys! You keep taunting me with those coarse voices… I'm scared!" while putting on a fake vulnerable pose.

A lot of the people present in the prison went mad when they saw what had happened, including Magellan. The noise suddenly kicked up a notch before Vice Admiral Momonga said, "This is the vilest place in the world! It makes me sick!"

After being made fun of by both the prisoners and Hannyabal, and being called Shitman a bunch, Magellan got angry. He suddenly started using his poison to attack everyone that made fun of him. In the meantime, Hancock moved forward to whisper to Ace and tell him that Luffy had broken in to save him.

Hancock, Magellan, Hannyabul, Momonga, and Domino all left soon after, leaving Ace sitting in his cell with a shocked look on his face. Jinbei and Ace started whispering to each other about what Hancock had just said and they were quiet enough that no-one else heard them.

"What was that about, Ace?" Carter asked.

"Sh-she said that Luffy is here." He replied quietly, so that Carter who was close by could hardly hear him.

"Is that so?" Carter asked, "Are you worried about him?"

"Of course, I am. That idiot has dived into hell for me, what am I meant to do now, he will be trapped here for the rest of his life."

"No, he won't. If he can't make it out of here alone, I'll take him with me when I break out."

"Be serious for a moment!" Ace growled, "My brother is going to be stuck in here and all you do is go on about how you will escape! That's impossible, so stop being stupid!"

"How exactly is that impossible?" Carter asked curiously, "If even someone like Shiki can escape from here, how could I not?"

"Shiki was a legendary pirate from the same generation as Pops. He often went against Roger, and he even had to give up both his legs to escape. And you think you could just waltz out of here whenever you want?" Ace growled. Although usually Ace found Carters blind faith in his own ability to be endearing, right now he was just getting annoyed.

"You are right, that normally it might be a little bit difficult. But the Idiotic World Government decided to lock Shiryu away down here. If he was still loose and guarding the place, I might be worried, but with only Magellan and the grunts, it would be super easy to break out."

Just then, while Jinbei and Ace were both silently thinking, a deep voice rang out through the prison level, "Oh, you seem to have a high opinion of me, pirate scum."

"Of course, Shiryu of the Rain. Master of Swordsmanship. Master of Stealth. Master of Slaughter. Although Magellan is decently scary with his poisons, he is far too weak and far too slow to really do anything at all. You though, pretty sure you'd be able to keep up with me."

"Is that so." He said, with a smug tone.

"Somewhat," Carter replied, "I would most likely be able to take you down in a 1v1, but if you were to work with Magellan it would be annoying."

"You have a high opinion of yourself, don't you, scum."

"Yep." He said, popping the P.

~Line Break~

Later that day, they finally came for Ace. Magellan, Domino, and a bunch of unnamed guards and jailers had arrived in front of Ace's cell.

"Alright, Portgas D. Ace! We will take you to Marineford… where the execution ground is!" Magellan said.

They then dragged Ace out of his cell and over to the elevator, throwing him in and surrounding him with many guards holding pitchforks.

When they got to the top, a guard suddenly rushed up to Magellan and reported to him.

"Straw Hat Luffy has entered the final level of Impel Down!"

"Understood! Release the Sleeping Gas! It is only a matter of time until Straw Hat Luffy is apprehended. Freezing Hell was not enough of a punishment for a criminal like him, and now that your old cell is free, Level 6 is where he will spend the remainder of his days!"

~Line Break~

at the same time that The Elevator was raising up towards the top of Impel Down, Monkey D. Luffy, Ivankov, and Inazuma were running down the final flight into Level 6, Eternal Hell. Ivankov was holding a Guard on his shoulder who he had grabbed earlier. Luffy called out for Ace multiple times, but received no response.

Ivankov then put the guard down and yelled "Female Hormone!" while injecting him with the necessary hormones to turn him into a female.

"Wh-what is this? I look so beautiful! Thank you my queen!" She shouted as she saw her new appearance.

"Where is Ace?" Ivankov questioned.

"Over there!" she pointed towards the cell Ace previously shared with Jinbei.

Luffy ran straight to it and stared into the cell, where Ace used to be restrained. Jinbei saw him, and immediately was shocked. "You're Straw Hat Luffy, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"They took him just now! Go! They've taken Ace-san to the elevator! Go! You can still catch them!"

"Who're you, old man?" Luffy asked.

"He's a big deal!" Ivankov exclaimed.

"Okay! I've got it! Thanks, whoever you are!" Luffy turned around to leave when a voice interrupted him.

"Wait." Carter said calmly, stopping Luffy in his tracks as he slowly manipulated his hair to pick the locks on his cuffs., "You are too late, the Lift has already risen, and the passage has been sealed. They have likely already sealed off the stairs so you can't leave that way, you will have to find another way."

"Ahh, You're the guy who destroyed the Auction house! Why're you here?" Luffy exclaimed, confused that Carter was there.

"Hmm, I'm just hanging out here, it is where all the coolest pirates go on holiday." Carter said as he finally picked the locks and had them fall to the ground. Standing up, he stretched his arms up, popping all his joints into place and releasing the pressure built up from his week of not moving.

"Yo-Yo-You broke out!" Ivankov exclaimed, shocked.

"Of course, I did. I don't know what idiot thought that a weak prison like this could ever hold anyone strong, but they should probably be executed for their incompetence." He stated simply, infuriating the many pirates all around him. "They will probably try flooding the whole level with some sort of poison gas to get rid of the threat without having to actually fight anyone."

Carter then walked toward the bars under the shocked gazes of all observers. Jumping, he span around in a roundhouse kick and increased his weight to 10'000 kg right before his foot hit the bars. The large set of Prison bars went flying right out of the stone wall, and crashed into the cell across from it, before falling to the ground. At this move, everybody in the prison was completely shocked at his strength. None of them knew he had a devil fruit, in fact the only people who knew were his crew, and none of them would go around saying he had it.

"You could actually break out at any time?" Jinbei asked, shocked.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be able to?"

Luffy had started off again toward the stairs, but before he could get close, sleeping gas started rushing down the stairs, filling the underground prison and knocking out anyone nearby.

"Get back from that sleeping gas, Mugiwara!"

In the meantime, Carter stayed back next to Jinbei's cell, and said, "We are going to be breaking out of here soon. Probably going to head straight for Marineford. You in?"

"Hm, If we have even a chance to save Ace and stop the World Government, I need to take it!" He declared.

"Good enough for me." Carter said, as he opened the cage door and approached to take off Jinbei's cuffs.

Inazuma had begun cutting the floor with his scissors, before he threw the sheets of flooring he had cut up to seal the stairway up, so no gas could enter the sixth level. Even after the sleeping gas had worn off, Ivankov saw Luffy was still there sleeping.

"Wake up! I'm fighting off the urge to sleep but I… I… Don't Sleep!"

Waking up with a start, Luffy said "Oi, I wanna keep going, Crab-guy. You've blocked the staircase but now I can't catch up with Ace!"

"That was the only way to stop the gas! If you fall unconscious, you can't save him!"

"I'll save him even if I'm unconscious! I don't want him to die!"

"Don't be ridiculous! It's simple but their plan has defeated us! We're confined to level 6! There's no way for us to get out!"

"I'm sorry, but this is all I can do for now!" Said Ivankov, as they sent a shockwave from their wink at the recording Den-Den Mushi on the wall. "Now they can't see us! You have to realize—we're too late!"

"I wouldn't say that" Carter interrupted, as he and Jinbei walked over to join the pirate and the two revolutionaries. "Although you may not be able to do anything, doesn't mean there is no-one down here who can."

"But even if we can get out, we would then have to attack Marineford! There is no way we could survive that, so let's not bother. I-I mean, lets trust whitebeard to save him!" Ivankov said.

"I'm going!" Luffy declared.

"Huh?!"

"I'm gonna go to the Navy Headquarters, Marineford!"

"Don't be stupid! There's a battle brewing between the world's two leading forces! What can you do?! Do you know how strong Whitebeard is?! What about the Admirals, Vice Admirals, and the Shichibukai on the Navy side?! Don't you remember that you fought just Magellan and almost died?! Do you have that many lives to spare?!"

"If I give up now… I'm gonna regret it!" Luffy said with a determined look on his face.

'I've seen this face before!' thought Ivankov, 'It's exactly like looking at dragon!'

"But first of all, how can you get off of this floor?!" Inuzuma asked.

"Heh heh heh heh heh heh!" A random laugh interrupted them. "If you wanna get out of here, set me free! I can create a hole on the ceiling! What do you think?"

Luffy was incredibly shocked seeing the newcomer. He had not seen him since Alabasta where he was forced to fight against him to help Vivi protect her homeland. This was the ex-Shichibukai, Crocodile.

"You're being held here?! Crocodile!"

"It's been a while! Mugiwara!" Crocodile declared. "I thought that there was no reason to get back on the seas, but Whitebeard and the Marines are gonna start a war? It's my chance to finally bring down that old man!"

Luffy stared straight at his old foe before Carter spoke up. "Shut up, sandman. You and I both know that you couldn't do a thing to Whitebeard. Before you even got close you would be cut down by one of his many commanders. Though, Luffy, this guy could be useful."

"You want me to let the guy who tried to destroy Vivi's home out of prison?!" Luffy growled at Carter.

"Luffy. Crocodile is a weakling. He needed to do that to let himself feel powerful, but he is useful now. If he tries anything like that again we can just beat him up!"

Crocodile stood there in front of the bars gritting his teeth while looking at Carter, before saying, "The brat is right! That was a long time ago, I lost interest in that country!"

While Luffy was just gritting his teeth and thinking, Ivankov walked up behind him, "Let's release him, Mugiwara Boy! His power will aid us greatly."

"What?! Ivan! If you knew what he's done…"

"You wanna keep going, right?! If you want to make it to Marineford, you need him!"

Crocodile now growled while looking at the revolutionary, and said, "Ivankov!"

"Long time no see, Croco boy!"

"Y-You know him?"

"Just a passing acquaintance! I met him when he was just a rookie! Don't worry though! I can bring him under control in case he tries to betray us. I can't trust him at all! Hmhaha! But I know one of his weaknesses!"

"Hey! If you so much as say it…"

"Oh? Do you want to take that tone? If you like, I can just reveal you past here."

"No need, Ivankov." Carter said while looking between the two, "It is pretty easy to guess what has happened between you both in the past, though I've got no confirmation. Luffy, our current group has 4 people who are all most likely capable of beating Crocodile, so lets just use him to get to your brother quicker."

"Why don't you release me too?!" Another pirate nearby yelled, "Me, too! I have something against Whitebeard!" "Let me out, too!"

"Shut up!" Ivankov growled, before attacking them all, "DEATH WINK!"

After staying quiet for a little longer, Luffy simply said, "Alright." While looking toward Crocodile. Inuzuma walked over to the bars and cut Crocodile free from his cuffs.

"A Warlord and a former Warlord both on our team." Inuzuma said.

"Two of them?" Luffy questioned, "Who is the other one?"

"Hmph! Maybe you can stop the war between the Whitebeards and the Navy, but it's a waste of time. Because I am gonna get that old man anyway!"

"I won't let you even touch good old Whitebeard, Crocodile!" Jinbei declared.

"Then do you want to fight me here?!"

Before anything could happen, Carter stepped next to Crocodile and grabbed him on the arm just under his hook with a Busoshoku enhanced hand and squeezed. "Stop messing around, Sandman! We don't have time for this."

Crocodile was shocked by the pain coming through his arm, before he scoffed and turned away.

"We don't have much time." Carter said, "But we have one more stop before we can leave."

"What, where?" Questioned Luffy.

"This prison is filled with the worst of the worst. There are many criminals down here who deserve to rot for eternity, but no matter what crime they commit, there is one type of person I can never stomach leaving in a place like this!" Carter declared, as he walked with the others following behind.

"Who's that then?" Luffy asked.

As Carter stepped in front of a small cell in the corner of the room, he said a single word that the others immediately agreed with. "Children!"

Coming in front of the small cell, everyone could see who he was talking about. A small blonde girl who looked about 13 years old was sitting hugging her knees in the cell with a dreamy look on her face. She was wearing a standard white and black striped prison uniform and had two Kairoseki cuffs around her feet.

"Inazuma." Carter said calmly, and they proceeded to cut a hole into the bars. Carter walked in and crouched before the young girl. "Hello, my name is Carter, what is yours?"

Her eyes didn't focus on him, but she still replied in an equally dreamy tone. "Hello, my name is Luna."

"Hello Luna. We are going to be leaving here now, would you like to come with us?"

"I suppose I could. It has been ever so long since I last saw the sky. That would be nice."

"Okay, let's go out together, Luna. Inuzuma, cut her loose." Inazuma then proceeded to cut her cuffs off, and Carter picked her up in a princess carry. As they walked out of her cell, Carter asked her, "Why were you down here, anyway, Luna?"

"Oh? I'm not really sure. Last thing I remember was my Daddy being killed by some Marines, so I killed them all in return. Then someone grabbed me around the neck, and I woke up here."

"Oh, how did you manage to do that, Luna?" he asked as she snuggled into his neck.

"My devil fruit powers. I ate the Eikyo Eikyo no Mi and am an Impact person. I control the force of impacts, so when they hit me, I would return all of the force back to them and knock them around. It was really fun."

"That does sound quite fun." Carter stated kindly but was inwardly a little panicked. 'Impact Manipulation? So Kinetic Energy Manipulation? So basically, a simple version of Accelerators abilities from the Index series? No wonder she was able to do that, but got taken down by a simple chokehold, since there isn't much kinetic energy. If she had a strong body, she could double the strength of her punches, as she pushes all of the force from the impact into whatever she is punching so she gets no rebound. She could also let someone like Garp punch her but redirect all force back into his arm and send him flying away. As long as he doesn't use Haki, at least.'

"Well, Let's go see the sky again, Luna! We just have to beat up some people on the way up!"

"Yay, let's go!" she said happily.

Inazuma soon made the spiral path up to the next level, while Crocodile created a hole in the ceiling.