Chapter 76

Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down

Walking over to the newly arrived crew, Azul carefully laid Nico Robin down on the ground before him, motioning Chopper to come over, which he promptly did bustling to work.

He checked the various injuries while Azul stood to the side while observing the doctor working, impressed by the routine the little reindeer had ingrained into him.

"How are her injuries?" Azul asked the little doc while keeping his eyes on Robins unconcious form.

"She has various cuts, bruises and puncturing wounds, probably from some kind of needle that was shoved under her fingernails. Otherwise she seems fine. The only worry I have at the moment is her mental state as she hasn't woken up yet, despite her injuries being superficial at best." the reindeer listed of her maladies in a professional voice while Azul listened attentively, at the end simply nodding before turning around and walked over to the big cell area which housed the many prisoners on this level, an idea forming in his mind already on how to proceed from there.

The scene Azul came upon was that of walls lined with nothing but prison cells, filled with various haunted looking inmates that had fallen rather quiet when Azul had stepped on the scene, carrying his passiv conqueror's haki around himself like a cloak.

Checking the various cells Azul spotted a figure he thought he would find down here. Crocodile. Walking over to the man behind the bars Azul looked inside the crammed cell, causing some of the inmates to back up a little the closer he got.

"You look like shit, you know that?" Azul said into the dark cell, watching as the crouched down former samurai, now clothed in black and white striped prison clothing, stood up and returned Azuls gaze.

"All thanks to you you f.u.c.ker...!" Crocodile responded through grit teeth since he had not forgotten about the vicious defeat at the mans hands, leaving a nasty scar on his body.

"Though it seems you haven't lost your grumpy way of speaking hehehe... Listen, how about you team up with me for some time until we bust out of this prison? Originally I was planning to let all the prisoners on level six rot in their cells but after I took out Magellan there will be new trouble arriving. Possibly on the level of an admiral and as strong as I am, I can't take on a whole fleet plus an admiral all on my own. What do you say?" Azul asked watching Crocodiles reaction through the bars while around him the cells inmates had their spirits return slightly at the words of the man that had broken into Impel Down. Hope sparking in the men and women incarcerated for life in Impel Down.

"Oii, take me with cha, will ya? I'm strong ya know?" A slim man cried out before the rest of the inmates were able to soon filling the whole cellblock in proclamations of loyalty and submission.

Meanwhile Azul kept his attention on Crocodile who obviously was wrestling with his inner demons that demanded to refuse the mans offer out of hatred. In the end though he nodded in compliance, after which Azul smashed down the wall creating an opening for Crocodile to step out of.

While Crocodile went looking for his clothes in the nearby storage room Azul went down the isle to check out the rest of the prison cells. In the end he chose to not take anybody else with him.

Azul had formulated the idea that Crocodile could be used to occupy everything below admiral level, taking some burden away from Azul who knew that he needed at least one more pair of arms that could fight at that level. He had played with the thought of freeing some others but that would result in more trouble than it was worth in his opinion. Furthermore, besides Crocodile, he knew nobody on this level that was sitting behind bars.

Thus with Crocodile in tow Azul returned to the group that had prepared the elevator to go back up and so with Azul lifting Robin into his arms under Crocodiles widening eyes at the womans face, the group stepped onto the elevator, travelling upwards into the waiting chaos that had gripped the upper floors by now.

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Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down

While Kizaru and the fleet had spotted Impel Down in the distance the wardens of the prison had engaged in a fierce battle against the towering numbers of escaped prisoners.

To this scene the fleet of marine battlesh.i.p.s arrived, waiting for the admirals orders on how to proceed.

Kizaru meanwhile was humming to himself. He had decided to keep out of the battle for the moment as his involvement would speed up the subjugation but also endanger the prison from getting blown to bits in the process which he simply could not risk without reason of total escalation.

Thus he ordered his marines to join the guards in melee combat and support from the sh.i.p.s with normal guns to lighten the crowd of escaped convicts.

Halting his advance as well was the missing leader that had broken into Impel Down, making Kizaru warry of a possible ambush for his troups further down in the prison should they be able to push the prisoners back.

'Should everything go to shit I can simply order a bustercall on Impel Down. Sengoku said it would be the absolute emergency solution but he isn't here right now so who cares what he says...' Kizaru mused while jokingly playing around with the golden transpondersnail in his hands...