Time to Break Out!
8: Byrnndi World!
Time to Break Out!
Chapter 8: Byrnndi World!
Time to Break Out!
Boom.
That was the sound of a cannon shell exploding.
Whoosh.
That was the sound of flames spreading.
“World!
Run!” That was his brother screaming.
“Hahahaha!
World, I’ll be taking your head!” Who was that?
Right.
The traitors!
Those damned traitors!
‘Who…
am I?’ Before he could figure it out, flames swallowed him.
A blade stabbed through his body from behind, while bullets tore through his chest.
‘Kill them.’ ‘Kill those traitors…’ “What a miserable sight.
Have you really spent all these years wandering through the same nightmare?” Suddenly, he saw someone.
The figure was completely shrouded in light, leaving only the vague outline of a human body visible.
“It’s time to wake up, Byrnndi World.” ‘Byrnndi World…’ Then he sensed it.
He was being invited somewhere.
Some incomprehensible force was trying to carry him away from this place.
‘Wake up…’ He accepted.
In the next instant, the nightmare vanished.
He appeared on an endless open plain.
His muddled consciousness gradually cleared, and the memories that had remained blurred for more than twenty years finally sharpened.
‘I am—Byrnndi World.’ ‘The World Destroyer!’ “AAAAAAAH!!” The tall, muscular man wearing a horned helmet threw back his head and roared at the top of his lungs.
He had wandered through that nightmare for more than twenty years.
Only now had he finally reclaimed himself.
The traitors.
The Cipher Pol agents.
The Marines.
Everything came rushing back.
“Kill!” “Kill!” “KILL!!” World screamed like a madman.
“I’LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!!” Nate quietly watched the crazed man.
“You want revenge?” Only then did World finally notice him.
The man, completely consumed by rage, lunged at Nate like a rabid beast.
In the next instant, invisible gravity crushed him flat against the ground.
World struggled desperately, but it was useless.
“Take your revenge, or keep rotting inside that nightmare.” Nate raised one hand, and a sphere of light formed in front of World.
“The choice is yours.” The madness in World’s eyes gradually faded.
He stared at Nate, though the light still prevented him from seeing Nate’s appearance clearly.
Then he reached out and grabbed the glowing sphere.
“Good.” Nate nodded in satisfaction.
The most crucial piece of his plan had fallen into place.
The single most useful person here was now his.
With World on his side, even Magellan wouldn’t necessarily be impossible to fight.
After thinking for a moment, Nate waved his hand.
Buckingham and Weevil suddenly appeared before him, both looking completely bewildered.
“Mom!” Weevil immediately threw himself at his mother and hugged her excitedly.
“This guy is…
Byrnndi World?” Buckingham instantly recognized the man who had just climbed back to his feet.
World had been quite famous in their era.
Then she noticed Nate.
‘Could he be…’ “We’re preparing a prison break.” Nate looked at her.
“Buckingham Stussy, make sure your son listens to orders.” “Buckingham Stussy?” World turned toward her as well.
This woman had been even more famous than him.
‘She’s gotten this old?’ ‘Just how many years have passed?’ “Yes!” Buckingham responded immediately without the slightest hesitation.
Then she turned sharply toward Weevil.
“You heard him, Weevil!
Cooperate fully with this lord, then come rescue your mother!” ‘So this is the mysterious ability user?’ “Got it, Mom!” Weevil nodded vigorously.
Nate chuckled and lightly snapped his fingers.
All three disappeared.
“Hm?” World remained standing there alone, completely confused.
‘What about me?’ …
Eternal Hell.
“Huh?
I’m out of my cell!” After returning to his own body, Weevil shouted in delight.
The other prisoners stared at him blankly.
‘He’s back to how he was at the beginning?’ Redfield watched with obvious amusement.
Even Bullet glanced over in mild surprise.
At the same time, Nate began examining his new body.
It was completely frozen inside solid ice, and even the brain had almost stopped functioning.
Fortunately, Nate didn’t need World’s brain.
‘All right.’ ‘Time to break the ice.’ Haki began surging through the body.
Haki was itself a product of physical and spiritual strength working together.
Even though Nate had kicked World’s consciousness out, part of the Haki within his body could still be used.
That power mixed with Nate’s own will and formed a new Haki.
Wherever the Haki spread, the frozen body gradually began awakening.
Then transparent material seeped out from the body’s surface and started taking shape.
Crack!
A chain of sharp fractures rang out.
The huge block of ice encasing World instantly shattered.
White frost exploded outward as Nate staggered out of the frozen cell.
This body was far weaker than Weevil’s.
No matter how powerful Byrnndi World had once been, spending more than twenty years frozen solid had weakened his body to an extreme degree.
Most of that damage was probably irreversible.
‘No wonder Luffy took him down with a Red Hawk right after learning Armament Hardening.’ But the body’s weakness didn’t matter much.
The More-More Fruit alone was enough to make Nate abandon Weevil’s body in favor of World’s.
Even if Nate could only draw out part of its power, that was more than enough.
He looked around at the bewildered prisoners.
“Let’s go.” “It’s time to break out.” The prisoners stared at him.
‘Wait.’ ‘Who the hell are you?’ Only Redfield looked at Nate in shock.
“No.” His eyes narrowed.
“You’re not World.
You’re that brat from earlier, aren’t you?” He leaned forward with growing interest.
“Are you some kind of ghost that can possess people?” Just what sort of ability was this?
“…” The other prisoners immediately went pale as they stared at Nate in disbelief.
Nate remained calm.
“Would you like to experience what happened earlier again?” “No, my lord!” The prisoners shuddered and hurriedly lowered their heads.
‘He changed bodies?’ ‘Just what kind of monster is this mysterious lord?’ Nate turned back one last time toward Redfield and Bullet.
“I look forward to our next meeting.” “Interesting.” Redfield merely smiled.
‘So someone this fascinating appeared on the seas while I was locked away?’ Bullet also frowned, but ultimately said nothing.
He cared about only one thing.
Becoming stronger.
Until he surpassed Roger.
Nate could only say that the man’s horizons were far too narrow.
Roger was already falling behind the current power scale.
Level Six had an elevator leading to the upper floors.
Even better, it wasn’t locked down.
Perhaps Impel Down had remained peaceful for too many years since the Golden Lion’s escape, causing the guards to become somewhat careless about security.
Nate casually pulled the control lever and called the elevator down.
Then he led the prisoners inside.
Unfortunately, the elevator could only travel as high as Level Four.
If Nate remembered correctly, Level Four housed the Chief Warden’s office.
It also had another elevator that traveled directly to the surface level.
Presumably, the transfer system existed specifically to prevent Level Six prisoners from taking a single elevator all the way to freedom.
Either way, the machinery rumbled as the elevator slowly began rising.
Behind Nate, excitement appeared on the prisoners’ faces.
Freedom was already within reach.
‘Hm?’ As the elevator climbed, Nate suddenly sensed a large number of living presences beyond one of the walls ahead.
‘That should be the hidden space excavated by Morley of the Revolutionary Army.’ By now, it should already be occupied by the Okama King.
‘Might as well plant a sleeper agent here.’ ‘It’ll make future visits more convenient.’ With that thought, Nate activated the Dream-Dream Fruit.
Someone who happened to be sleeping beyond the wall was instantly dragged into the Dream World.
While splitting off part of his consciousness to deal with that lucky individual, Nate calmly glanced back.
“Introduce yourselves.” Every prisoner immediately straightened.
“Yes, my lord!” They hurried to begin their introductions.
Out of the thirteen, Nate only bothered remembering two names.
The first was Solt.
He was short and stocky, and before his capture, he’d been a pirate with a bounty of 430 million Berries.
He was a Paramecia-type Speed-Speed Fruit user.
Its ability was exactly as straightforward as its name suggested—it allowed him to make himself extremely fast.
He also claimed to be a swordsman.
The other was Anthony.
A tall, powerfully built middle-aged man with an unusually righteous-looking face.
He had once served as a general in a World Government member nation, but was arrested after conspiring to overthrow that country’s government.
Anthony possessed an Ancient Zoan.
The Bear-Bear Fruit, Cave Bear Model.
These two were the strongest among all the prisoners.
Their presences were considerably stronger than Nate’s real body.
A person’s presence alone couldn’t determine absolute combat strength, but at the very least, these two should both be fighters around Tobiroppo level.
If Nate weren’t personally controlling World’s body, even World himself might struggle to defeat them now.
Among the remaining eleven prisoners were two more Devil Fruit users.
One possessed the Paramecia-type Salt-Salt Fruit, allowing him to create and manipulate salt.
The other possessed the Paramecia-type Shield-Shield Fruit, which allowed him to transform any part of his body into an extraordinarily durable shield.
As for the remaining nine, Nate couldn’t even be bothered paying much attention to them.
The only thing remotely worth noting was that one of them was a woman.
Before long, the elevator stopped.
A freezing wind immediately swept inside.
They had reached Level Five beneath the sea— Freezing Hell.
“Go.” Nate looked at the prisoners.
“Release as many prisoners as you can.” Magellan’s strength was beyond doubt.
Especially inside an enclosed environment like Impel Down, even everyone gathered here might not be enough to defeat him without Nate’s involvement.
After all, the only truly powerful fighter among them was Weevil, and Weevil barely had a functioning brain.
And then there was Shiryu.
‘Making things even more chaotic won’t hurt.’ Besides, the prisoners on Level Five were at least somewhat capable.
“Yes, my lord!” The prisoners immediately rushed into action.
Nate looked upward.
‘Level Five alone isn’t enough.’ ‘Let’s throw Level Four into chaos too.’ He smiled faintly.
‘So, Magellan…’ ‘Are you ready?’ …
Not long afterward.
Surface Level, control room.
“Huh?
What’s going on?” A guard stared at the monitoring equipment.
“Why did all the Transponder Snails on Level Six suddenly lose their signals?!” Another guard’s expression changed instantly.
“Something’s wrong!” “Contact the duty room and the Chief Warden immediately!” “We’ve got a situation!” …