No matter how powerful your background is, you have to stay alive to see it pay off.
Before the Marineford War, this kid Luffy actually died once.
The scene changes.
Impel Down, Underwater Great Prison Level 5, Freezing Hell.
Luffy’s entire body was purple, venom corroding his skin.
He was curled up in the snow, his breathing nearly cut off.
Magellan’s Venom-Venom Fruit.
For an ordinary person, a single drop would turn them into a puddle of blood.
Luffy took a full set of Hydra attacks head-on and was thrown into Freezing Hell to die.
Is it over?
There was a pause of two seconds.
Austin’s voice chimed in at this moment, his speaking pace slowing down.
No.
Because he is Monkey D.
Luffy.
The screen cut to Level 5.5, Newkama Land.
The Okama King, Emporio Ivankov, made his entrance.
A massive afro, purple fishnet stockings, and exaggerated makeup.
Healing Hormones.
At the cost of ten years of life, they stimulate the body’s self-healing limits.
Survival rate: two percent.
On the sky screen, Luffy was locked in a secret room, his screams penetrating the stone walls.
He wailed for a full twenty hours.
The moment the door opened, he was alive.
His first word was ‘Meat!’ The entire world watched as the Straw Hat kid stuffed food into his mouth like a starving ghost, completely stunned.
This vitality…
is he a cockroach?
The scene shifted.
Luffy bounced up from the bed.
Outside the sky screen.
Impel Down, Underwater Great Prison Level 5.5.
Ivankov himself, who was watching the sky screen, dropped his wine glass, and it shattered on the floor.
The surrounding okamas all turned their heads to look at him in unison.
Fortunately…
fortunately I am here!
Ivankov took a deep breath, his tone shifting from shock to determination.
If that boy really comes to Impel Down, it’s simply heaven’s arrangement!
I, Ivankov, am in this prison, guarding this place!
The leader entrusted his son to fate, and fate sent him to me!
He punched the stone wall, hot tears shimmering in his eyes.
Dragon…
rest assured!
With me, Ivankov, here, no one will take your son’s life!
The surrounding okamas were infected by his momentum, raising their arms and shouting in unison.
Ivankov tilted his head back, looking toward the sky screen that pierced through heaven and earth, murmuring to himself: Perhaps…
this is the meaning of me being imprisoned here.
Not imprisonment, but waiting.
Waiting for the most critical moment to protect the most important person for the leader.
Baltigo, White Soil Island.
Dragon stood in the wind, watching his son on the screen frantically eating meat.
He didn’t say a word, just pulled his hood down a bit further.
Sabo, standing beside him, scratched his head.
Leader, your son…
has quite an appetite.
But for some reason, he looks a bit familiar.
Dragon glanced at him but remained silent.
On the side, Bartholomew Kuma adjusted his glasses and memorized the Straw Hat kid on the screen.
Austin’s voice began to sound excited: After being reborn, Luffy climbed up and continued to charge down.
Level 5, Level 5.5.
Fighting all the way, releasing people all the way.
Mr.
3, Buggy, Ivankov, and even the former Shichibukai Crocodile.
Luffy took a stroll through Impel Down and picked up a bunch of tough characters who were supposed to rot in jail until they died, forming a temporary ragtag army.
The images on the sky screen flashed quickly, but every frame was explosive.
Luffy stood among a group of escapees, waving his arms and shouting, ‘Let’s go!
Save Ace!’ Behind him, a group of fierce-looking heavy criminals followed him as they charged out.
The scene was chaotic to a ridiculous degree.
The largest mass breakout event in the history of Impel Down since its construction.
The instigator: Monkey D.
Luffy, seventeen years old, from East Blue, with a bounty of 300,000,000 Belly at the time.
On the Windmill Village pier, when Luffy saw that number, his teeth almost bit through his tongue.
Three…
300,000,000 Belly?!
He stared at the bounty poster in the sky, counting it three times.
300,000,000 Belly!
He hadn’t miscounted!
I’m worth 300,000,000 Belly?!
Luffy jumped up, making the small boat rock violently.
The village chief’s legs went weak on the pier, and he slid down while holding onto a post.
300,000,000 Belly…
that brat is worth 300,000,000 Belly…
Makino opened her mouth to say something, but it turned into a bitter smile.
300,000,000 Belly.
Money that everyone in Windmill Village couldn’t earn in a hundred lifetimes.
The head of that brat who always stole her tavern’s stock was worth 300,000,000 Belly.
Luffy didn’t care about any of that.
He slapped his Straw Hat onto his head and grinned so wide his face wrinkled.
300,000,000 Belly!
Amazing!
I’m going to be a 300,000,000 Belly great pirate in the future!!
He didn’t realize at all what a high bounty implied.
He just thought the number sounded cool.
A line of summary popped up on the sky screen: [System Notification: Impel Down Security System costs tens of billions of Belly.] [System Notification: Time needed for a rubber boy to break through is less than one day.] Holy Land Mary Geoise, Room of Authority.
When the Gorosei saw the information of 300,000,000 Belly and breaking through Impel Down stacked together, the air turned cold.
The blonde elder flipped through the intelligence files in his hand, reaching Luffy’s page, which was currently blank.
This name had never entered the Gorosei’s field of vision before today.
East Blue, Windmill Village, a seventeen-year-old greenhorn.
He hadn’t even touched the gates of the Grand Line.
But the sky screen said he would be worth 300,000,000 Belly in the future.
300,000,000 Belly wasn’t the most terrifying part.
What was terrifying was a 300,000,000 Belly rookie, charging into the Underwater Great Prison single-handedly, turning the entire Impel Down into a mess, and taking away a group of Level 6 monsters.
What did this indicate?
It indicated that this kid’s growth rate wasn’t linear; it was exponential.
He hasn’t set out to sea yet, the bald elder holding a sword spoke up.
The five of them exchanged glances.
Issue a bounty.
The elder with the handle-bar mustache set his teacup on the table.
He hasn’t done anything yet.
On what grounds?
We don’t need grounds.
The elder with the long beard stood up.
The whole world has seen what he will do in the future.
Breaking into Impel Down, participating in the Marineford War, disrupting the entire world order.
Although these haven’t happened yet, the information from the sky screen already constitutes sufficient grounds for a threat assessment.
Issue an initial bounty.
It doesn’t need to be too high; 100,000,000 Belly is enough.
The curly-haired elder tapped his cane.
100,000,000 Belly?
Giving 100,000,000 Belly directly to a brat who hasn’t even gone to sea?
Too high?
It’s not that it’s too high.
It’s the fear of a backfire.
Once a 100,000,000 Belly bounty is issued, bounty hunters and pirates across the sea will go looking for him.
But at the same time, it’s equivalent to telling everyone that the World Government is afraid of a seventeen-year-old child.
Silence.
This was the trickiest part.
Capture him, and they would have to bear the risk of public opinion.
Don’t capture him, and once he truly grows up, the consequences would be endless.
The blonde elder closed the file and leaned back in his chair.
Issue an internal wanted notice first.
Don’t make the bounty public, and don’t go through the standard Marine procedures.
Have CP9 take a trip to the East Blue and track his movements.
If we can deal with him before he sets out to sea…
He didn’t finish the sentence.
The bald elder with the sword interrupted him.
It must be kept secret.
Don’t let the Marines know, and don’t forget Garp.
That old man said in the sky screen, ‘Whoever dares touch my grandson, I will definitely not forgive them.’ The five of them fell silent once again.
A seventeen-year-old brat.
Behind him stood the Navy Hero and the Revolutionary Army leader.
He himself also possessed the lineage of D.
Trouble.
Big trouble.
Enormous trouble.
Now we can only act in secret…
In the past timeline, the tavern.
After Roger finished watching the segment of Luffy wreaking havoc in Impel Down, he was silent for about three seconds.
Then he slammed his palm onto the table.
Hahahahahahaha!
The laughter shook the tavern’s roof so hard that dust fell.
Rayleigh, did you see that!
This kid!
Storming Impel Down single-handedly!
And he even brought a bunch of people out with him!
Rayleigh had a cigarette in his mouth, his expression neutral.
I saw it.
He has my style from back then!
…He is Garp’s grandson.
So what!
Roger slapped his thigh.
That old bastard Garp couldn’t teach that kind of guts!
This is innate!
The Will of D!
Marineford.
Sengoku turned around.
Garp stood three steps behind him, chewing on rice crackers, crumbs falling all over his collar.
The old man’s expression was subtle; his mouth was moving, his eyes were watching the sky screen, and his face wore an innocent look of ‘it has nothing to do with me’.
Sengoku stared at him for five seconds.
Garp.
Hmm?
Look at what you’ve done!!!
This shout flew out from the Fleet Admiral’s office window, and all the Marines in the entire Marineford plaza heard it.
Several soldiers who were whispering to each other shrank their necks.
Garp crunched on his rice crackers, his expression unchanged.
Why are you shouting so loud?
I’m shouting?
Shouldn’t I shout?
Sengoku pointed at the sky screen in the sky, his fingers trembling.
Impel Down!
How much money did the World Government spend to build it?
Your grandson rushed in alone and turned it upside down!!
Garp stuffed the last piece of rice cracker into his mouth and brushed the crumbs off his hands.
Well, that hasn’t happened yet.
Hasn’t happened yet?!
Look at that screen!
With your grandson’s style of doing things, storming Impel Down single-handedly…
is that something he would do?
Garp tilted his head and thought about it.
He thought for about 0.3 seconds.
He would.
Sengoku’s temples were throbbing like a drum.
And you have the nerve to say it!
You’re the one who raised this child!
Is this how you taught him?!
Garp crumpled the rice cracker wrapper into a ball and accurately tossed it into the trash can three meters away.
I taught him to be a Marine.
And the result?!
He doesn’t listen.
Garp spread his hands righteously.
This child takes after his father; he’s stubborn.
The sky screen did not stop because of everyone’s shock and continued to say: Originally, Garp wanted to train Luffy as a Marine, but the person who prompted Luffy to take the path of a pirate was someone else…