Chapter 69

Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down

The entourage of wardens and captives slowly made their way down into the depth of Impel Down. Soon they had reached the first level, earning gasps of horror from the prisoners at the sight that presented itself to them.

Trees, as far as the eyes could see, but not normal ones. No. The trees in the first level were deep red in colour and glinted ominously in the dim light of the prison, reflecting of their cystalized branches that had been coated in dried blood, telling volumes about their sharpness. Screams from tortured prisoners filled the air, bringing shivers to the faces of the crewmembers while the guards of Impel Down grinned savagely at the fear they could smell in the air.

"You and you will spend your time on this level. I hope you'll enjoy your stay in my prison." Magellan spoke in his deep voice, pointing at Nami and Chopper whos eyes widened at the realisation that they would be seperated from the rest of the crew while they were staying in Impel Down.

"Stop it! Get your hands away from them!" Luffy's enraged voice resounded through the prison while he was being restrained by a group of sweating guards, who obviously had trouble at carrying out their task to keep him from running amok.

"Take them away!" Magellan spoke, ignoring the rebelling rest of the crew while already walking on, towards the second level.

Meanwhile Nami and Chopper were shivering in fear at the malice that greeted them as they were thrown into a group cell, already inhabited by the sc.u.m of society. And what did that say about themselves if they ended up in the same place now? Where they just as bad?

Just when the group of prisoners decided to have some fun with the 'fresh blood' Chopper to transform into his heavy point-form, having been knocked out early on in the fight against the vize-admiral, who simply didn't know that the reindeer possessed a devilfruit himself, making short work of the inmates, making both Nami and Chopper breath out in relief. Though soon they would have to make their first run through the forest and none of the two were looking forwards to that.

While Nami and Chopper had found their homes for the foreseeable future, the rest of the group tracked down further into the depths of Impel Down, all of them depressed and angry to no end.

The hope they still had felt a while ago, thinking they may be able to escape from this hell on earth was beginning to twindle rapidly at the horror's they came across on their way down.

The second level they had crossed was one giant horror version of a petting zoo. Inside the level, not the humans were petting the animals, no. It was the other way around and the animals were gigantic, bloodthirsty versions of the ones from the regular petting zoos, chasing the prisoners through the level until they were unable to move further, due to the fatigue and strain they were put through, until they were caught and beaten to death in the process.

After the groups excourse down horror road they arrived in a desert like level. The starving hell! Contrary to the previous level, in this one the horror's weren't enforced by brute force, though the giant animal guards were still present for the worst case, no. On this level starvation and dehydration were the enemy. The enourmous heat that was produced on the fourth level rose up and boiled the inhabitants on this level, pretty much literally, alive.

"Here ends your excourse through the wonders of my prison. I hope you'll enjoy your stay..." Magellan spoke in a strained voice as his urge to take a shit grew steadily by the minute, though his pride denied him from telling the group to hurry up. He motioned for the guards to push Zoro, Luffy and Sanji into a cell, while walking forwards towards the deeper level of Impel Down.

As the rest of the captors and the remaining captive, Nico Robin, disappeared in the distance, enraged roars and rattling noises could be heard from the newly inhabited cell, but soon even that subsided, bringing back the eerie silence that permitted the third level from all the dried up corpses and dehydrated/starved humans that remained here.

Robin meanwhile had pulled herself back into a secure shell deep inside herself that she had build early in her life, having nearly given up all hope to escape this place alive. She still had a slimer of hope left, but only a tiny one, which she guarded ferociously inside her shell like a lioness her recently born cubs.

As they descended further down they passed by level four, where prisoners were being boiled alive, or otherwise tortured. Normally, every newly arrived prisoner had to go through this ceremony of cleansing as an introductory rite so to speak, meaning they were pushed into the giant boiling pot in the middle of the level, though today Magellan was in a hurry since he needed to take a gigantic crap as soon as possible and he always had the possibility to come back another day if he wanted to.

Throwing over a yearning gaze in the direction of his bureau and the sacred toilette therein, Magellan motioned for the group to march forwards, descending into level five, the freazing hell.

Though this was not their end goal, no. What rarely anybody outside of Impel Down is aware of is that there is another level at the literal bottom of the ocean, reserved for only the most notorious or dangerous of criminals. The sixth level, endless hell.

As they arrived in the dark abyss of Impel Down, after their shiver enforcing track through level five, what greeted them was crazy laughter, curses thrown at the guards or invitations yelled for the beautiful Robin to come a little closer for 'inspection of injuries' hidden behind greedy faces, not having had felt the soft c.a.r.e.s.sing of a womans touch in a long time.

Here Nico Robin was pushed into a cell, luckily for her, seperated from the rest of the prisoners, but that was as far as her luck got, since she was informed that soon somebody, a 'professional interogator', from the world government would arrive and have a little chat with her. After those words her prison bars were slammed shut and the guards left, leaving Robin to pull her knees to her c.h.e.s.t while burrying herself in the corner of her cell, focusing all her attention inwards on the small spark that prevented her from becoming nothing more than an empty shell. Hope.