Out for Karma: One Piece

Chapter 76: Home is where one starts from

Moving through the secret passages between the walls and floors of Impel Down; Rick, Jimbei, Ivankov and his subordinates were making their way towards the top of the prison. Even though they were moving fast it took some time to reach level 4 from Level 5.5. Not fast enough for Rick but it couldn’t help it; the tunnels were a real maze and he didn’t spend years learning  every inch and corner of it. They stopped all movements when Ivankov received a call on his mini-den den mushi from one of the newkama who stayed in NewKama Land. Apparently Luffy was making his way down to level 6, where to his knowledge Ace was supposed to be. Now the kicker was that Magellan himself was after him. Rick knew he had to get to Luffy and fast otherwise he would not survive the warden’s deadly poison.

“Lead the way.” was all Rick said to Ivankov who simply nodded before instructing his subordinates to go on higher and to wait for them. They quickly reached a secret exit, nearly getting caught by a group of guards running fast towards some location. Probably where trouble was, meaning where Luffy was.Following them they arrived at tome kind of balcony circling around a giant room. Down below on the floor, Luffy was fighting the poison man. Without wasting any time, Rick sent the guards flying away and created an arm on Luffy’s shoulder. A purple aura manifested itself around the newly made limb and the liquid poison going towards Luffy was repelled. At the same time Magellan was, like his guards a few moments before but more violently, sent flying head first towards the nearest wall.

“Luffy!”
“Rick! You’re out!”
“I am, but we need to hurry!”
“Why?”
“Ace has already been transferred.”
“Transferred?”
“He’s probably already at the marines’s HQ for his execution.” replied Jimbei.
“Who’re you?” asked Luffy
“That’s Jimbei, one of the Shichibukai, he’s… kinda a friend of Ace. He’s with us.”
“You’re strong then!”
“Luffy, focus! We need to leave this place now!”
“And you think I would let you?”

Rick was barely in time when he repelled once again poison aiming at Luffy. It seems the intimate introduction Megellan’s head had with the wall was not hard enough to properly knock him out.

“Not really, but it would be preferable as it would benefit you and the marines a lot.”
“As if!” answered Magellan.
“Oh I’m totally serious. I mean the only people who know I’m here are you, your subordinate, Boa Hancock and that moustached Vice-Admiral. Honestly I leave and no one would find out since to begin with I’m not officially here. Neither are everyone else. I mean, Ivankov and his people are supposed to have disappeared and died, Jimbei is here temporarily because he wouldn’t participate in the war, so you can claim he changed his mind. See? Everyone wins. Besides, haven't I been a good inmate? I mean I broke out sure, can’t really blame me for that, no one wants to stay here, but I could have broken free everyone in Level 6 and 5, let them cause chaos, free others inmates it would have been hell! And yet I didn’t.”
“How generous of you.” replied the warden in a sarcastic tone.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” said Rick with a fake surprised face adorned with a smug smile.
“Blackbeard is here and causing havoc upstairs. My money on why is because he’s intending to do a bit of recruitment here.”
“You’re lying! I won’t hear anything more!”

Negotiations ended right there as Magellan unleashed a wave of poison from a swing of his arm. At the same time you diverted the dangerous liquid coming your way Inazuma acted too and erected a wall by cutting down the floor.

“Wow! What kind of power is that?” asked Luffy.
“I’m a scissor man, I can cut anything as if it was paper.” answered Inazuma.
“That’s awesome!”

While Rick agreed that it was a very useful power he was more focused on Magellan. He was between the exit of the room and them. They couldn’t go back to the secret passageway, the warden would simply follow them and unleashed his toxic gas. Since the tunnel was tight they would be absolutely doomed. Inazuma could have blocked it but looking at the erected wall before him dissolving rapidly, he knew it wasn’t an option. Rick didn’t have time to ponder more as his fear realised before his very own eyes. Gas was starting to spread their way.

“Let’s see how you can block and divert a poisonous gas!” yelled the warden.

‘Damnit, if only there was an air vent… sys..tem.’ thought the straw hats Vice-captain before turning around looking at Luffy with a mischievous smile.

“What?” was all Luffy could ask before Rick grabbed him and ordered Inazuma to make something very specific which the latter quickly complied to do.

~~~~~

It took a few minutes for the wall before him to melt completely before Magellan moved forward. He could have used more poison to make it quicker but decided against it. Their group was cornered with nowhere to go but towards him and with the wall blocking their way he just had to wait a bit for his gas to take effect. The fumes of the melted wall cleared and the warden was finally able to see the bodies of his opponents.

Or so he thought.

Every single one of them were unarmed to his astonishment.
“How?!”

By having a better look he saw Rick waving something big in his hands, looking like a giant fan.

“How did you get a fan to blow away my gas?!”
“I present to you, Monkey D. Luffy, future pirate king, rubber man and last but not the least…. My biggest fan!” answered Rick with a cheeky grin, waving the giant makeshift fan around.

Besides him everyone minus one was dumbfounded, both at his joke and his actions. Asking Inazuma to cut the floor into two long but thin lines connected at one end in a V shape was an odd request for sure, but with no better idea they went with it. When they saw him attached his own Captain and little brother on one side and pulled hard to tie it to the other, they thought had lost his mind. In the end they lost theirs by watching him waving it around with a lot of strength his new “fan”, blowing away the gas.

The only one not in a state of pure shock was Luffy who looked so green you’d think he would regurgitate his last meals.

“Let’s be real for a moment here. Your poisons, either liquid or gas, are now ineffective so…”
“QUIET!” Magellan said cutting him off.

He fired poisons after poisons; gas, liquid, he sent everything towards Rick and his group, to no avail. Rick quickly got enough of this and sprouted one arm on each wall of the room and one for each of the ceiling and the floor right below and above the warden. Once his limbs were in place he used gravity to pull Magellan from all sides, not heavily enough that he was shredded apart but enough to suspend him in the air unable to move a muscle.

“Well, that’s that. We better hurry.” Rick said before running towards the exit.

The others were stuck where they stood, still slack jawed at what he did and only started following him when he yelled at them to move. Once far away from Magellan, Luffy was released from his restraints but was still a bit wobbly and ended up being carried by Rick on his back.
They were approaching the central elevator when they saw it descending and stopping at their floor. Out of it came Blackbeard and his crew.

“Oh?! What a surp …”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Rick threw them against the wall on their right, without him and the rest of the group stopping for the confrontation. They got on the elevator and went upwards. With Blackbeard’s antics they were unhindered by any guards or marines and it took them only a few minutes to get outside the prison where they witnessed the results of Blackbeard’s assault. A shout coming from one of the few ships left intact drew their attention. Invankov’s me.. wom.. people. Invankov’s people had secured one of the ships and were ready to leave immediately, just waiting for their boss.

“Great! We can get out of here to where Ace is!” said Luffy jiovaly.
“Not yet.” replied Rick.
“What? Why?!”
“Because the way to Marine Ford is closed. Remember the big door in the sea when we fled after saving Robin?”
“Yeah? What about it?”
“We could only escape because the door was open, otherwise we would have been drifting in an endless loop and got caught. Now, there is a similar door on the way to Marine HQ.”
“Can’t you make us fly over there then?”
“I can, but not everyone.”
“What are we supposed to do then?” asked Ivankov, interrupting Luffy and Rick's conversation.
“Right now? Get on the ship and start sailing, I’ll go back inside and open the door.”

Without waiting for anyone to answer, Rick went back inside Impel Down. With everyone either knocked out or on the lower levels because of Blackbeard, he was free to search and explore the upper levels. It took some time but he finally found the security room. In there marines were panicking as they watched Blackbeard doing his thing and transmitting to the rest of the guard his whereabouts. He quickly knocked them out by sprouting arms on their back and strangling them. Looking around, it didn’t take long for Rick to spot the door’s mechanism. After opening it he was about to go out the door when he saw a door with an interesting name on it.

“Inmates’ Property Room? With a bit of luck…”

He entered the room and saw a dozen shelves with cardboard boxes. He opened one and found what he thought: personal effects.

“Why keep those? Anyone ending here is in for life.”

He didn’t ponder any longer, time was of the essence after all. He sprouted arms and eyes to check multiple boxes at the same time. It didn’t take long but he found what he wanted and without any delay turned back where he came from. On his way out he saw Blackbeard approaching Magellan and released the latter. He doubted Blackbeard would die but from what he recalled he only survived because he got help. With a bit of luck he wouldn’t get any this time.

Finally being outside he started floating towards Marine Ford. As expected the ship with Luffy and the rest of the crew was already on their way and had just gone through the door. Soon enough their destination was in sight when a huge wave came from behind. Rick quickly split it in two with his gravity so the ship would not be swept away. It turned out to be a really good idea when the wave, as it was about to hit Marine Ford, froze along the sea water in the surroundings.

“Ice-guy is there!” announced Luffy.

“Ice-guy?” asked Ivankov.

“Admiral Aokiji. Him and probably every high officer of the marines are there.” answered Rick

“This is war after all, but we may not be too late.” added Jimbei.
“No, but the path into the port is blocked by the ice.” noted Ivankov.

Rick turned to the revolution army’s leader thinking before speaking again.

“You and your subordinate should go. I’ll take Luffy and Jimbei to the fight.”
“...Are you sure? “
“Yes, this is between Marines and pirates. There is no need for the RA to get involved, besides you helped us a lot already for a fight that isn’t yours to begin with.”
“Yeah! Thank you for that but we got it from here!” announced Luffy with his famous smile.

Ivankov looked at the two of them for a moment, nodded and ordered his subordinates to change course.

Rick made his two companions float and took up high in the air. With speed he flew towards the inside port of Marine Ford.

“Shall we make a flashy entrance captain?” the ex-marine asked.
“Hell! Yeah!” replied Lufy.

Rick pushed them down with a good deal of force and landed in the center of the bay after using his gravity to clear the space of people. Everyone stopped what they were doing and averted their eyes to look at what was happening. All they could see was three people standing side by side. A fisherman, a young man in flip flop and a straw hat and finally a tall man with a white overcoat.

“Home, sweet home.”