Clutterstep stared at the orange pony in front of him. Flames leaked from all parts of the stallion’s body and where his red mane had previously been a single line of fire emerged from his back. He was crouched down in an offensive stance, ready to charge at the Warden, while a firestorm raged on all around them.
Clutterstep realized that the firestorm had somehow saved them from the Warden’s attack. The fire around them was hot, but it still didn’t feel uncomfortable. He remembered that Buggy had mentioned something about a pirate named ´Fire-Fist´. Was this stallion that pirate?
The pony turned his head to look at Clutterstep, a confident grin on his face. “Thanks for opening those cuffs. I’m Ace.”
Clutterstep stared back at him for a moment before he remembered to say something. “C-Clutterstep,” he stammered.
“Well, thank you, Clutterstep.” Ace turned his head back to the wall of fire that was slowly clearing to reveal the Warden and two of his poisonous hydras. “I’ll take care of this guy. Still got a bone to pick with him.” He reared up and stomped his front hooves down, sending two lines of flames along the ground towards the Warden.
Clutterstep stood there for a second before he remembered to start moving. He galloped back to Buggy, Trixie, Mr. 3 and the other prisoners who were watching the fight between Ace and the Warden.
Buggy turned around to the crowd of pirates. “What are you waiting for? We can’t do anything to help Fire-Fist. Let’s move on to the exit!” The crowd cheered and began to move, led by Buggy and Mr. 3.
Trixie kept to Clutterstep as they galloped to the front of the crowd. “You are the most insane pony Trixie has ever seen,” Trixie told him, “and Trixie has seen a lot of nut jobs.”
“It never seems to work out for me,” Clutterstep chuckled, “but I guess it always does, anyway.”
Trixie and Clutterstep caught up to Buggy and Mr. 3 and galloped alongside them. “I never expected to run into Ace,” Buggy said to them. “They probably wanted to escort him to Marineford for the execution. I didn’t think that was today already.”
“Wait a moment,” Mr. 3 said. “If they were going to escort him, doesn’t that mean–”
They turned around a corner and were suddenly facing a squadron of ponies in white and blue vests. Clutterstep noticed that one of the ponies had a white and blue coat draped over his back like a cape. “Erk–“ Buggy staggered a few steps back as the ponies all aimed their rifles at them.
“Candle Wall!” Mr. 3 jumped forward, shooting a flood of wax from his forehooves. Within seconds the corridor was sealed off. “That should hold them off for a while.” He panted a little as he trotted back to the rest of the group.
“I don’t get it. I know they’re a problem, but we already took on the guards on Level Two, right?” Clutterstep asked.
“This is different,” Mr. 3 replied. “If those Marines are really the escort for Ace, they have at least someone the rank of a Captain with them. Whoever it is, they’re going to be too strong for us to take them on in a fight.” He looked back to the white seal. “My Candle Wall will buy us some time, but right now we’re pretty much trapped here.”
“Alright,” Buggy commented, “we’re going back to Fire-Fist. If anyone can break through all of those Marines, it’s him.”
Clutterstep could hear the roar of the fire before they even got close to the fight. The walls of the hallway were burned and had scorch marks, and a few holes showed where drops of the poison had melted the stone. Ace had already driven the Warden all the way back to the stairs with his attacks, but it seemed that he was starting to grow tired. His attacks were slower than they had been at the beginning of the fight and he had to retreat a few steps as the Warden sent another shot of poison in his direction.
Unlike Ace, the Warden was fighting more violently than at the beginning of the fight. He had covered himself completely in his poison and three gigantic hydra heads towered over his head, ready to strike. He was sweating, but showed no other signs of fatigue.
Clutterstep watched as Ace lost more ground to the poisonous demon. If the firepony couldn’t defeat the Warden, nopony else in their group stood any chance. He hesitantly took a few more steps towards the fight… and tripped.
He looked down to see a pair of hoofcuffs tangled with his forelegs, the same pair he had taken off Ace a short while ago. Clutterstep groaned. Fortunately, neither of the cuffs had snapped shut during the accident. He had lost his wax key – it had probably melted in that firestorm – and he would have had to get another to get those annoying metal rings off his legs – again.
He blinked.
Clutterstep looked back towards the fight between Ace and the Warden. Not far away from them – right at the wall – lay the metal bar and the pair of hoofcuffs he had dragged there all the way from Level Three. They were still exactly where he had taken them off.
Clutterstep’s mind raced as he tried to remember everything he had learned in this prison, trying to make sure he got all the facts right. If it really worked the way he thought… Was it really that simple? He scrambled back to his hooves as fast as he could, the pair of hoofcuffs in his mouth. He galloped back to the three ponies he actually knew, who were standing in front of the other prisoners, watching the fight, and dropped the hoofcuffs in front of them.
“I need your help with something!”
Clutterstep started galloping as soon as he saw the Warden make another move. Ace countered the attack with one of his own and Clutterstep saw some of the poison splatter to the sides as he quickly came closer to the battle. Within moments he had reached his goal. He quickly bent down to adjust the position of the metal bar. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another attack of the Warden get blocked by a jet of fire – far too close for his liking. He could hear Trixie groan loudly as a drop of poison hit his back and tried to burn itself through the protective spell, but the unicorn’s magic held up.
Clutterstep decided not to waste any more time and turned on the spot. Shifting his weight onto his forelegs he gave the best buck he could manage – and hit the metal bar at the completely wrong angle. It bounced high into the air between the two fighting ponies, spinning around wildly. It hit the wall and bounded off with little force, harmlessly falling onto the Warden’s shoulder.
The Warden screamed in pain. The three purple hydra heads collapsed behind him. It was a mere second before the bar of seastone fell off his shoulder and clattered onto the ground, but it was enough that the Warden was only barely able to block Ace’s next attack.
“You won’t get away with this!” New poison began to form around the Warden. “I will– ARGH!”
Clutterstep, Ace and everypony else stared at the Warden’s left foreleg. A metal ring had snapped shut around it. A white rod was attached to the first ring of the hoofcuff’s chain.
The head that had held the wax rod in its mouth floated back towards the prisoners. “Gyahahahah! Look at me! No one can stand against the Great Captain Buggy!”
“Captain Buggy!” the prisoners cheered. Some of them were crying.
“He defeated the Warden!”
“He really is a great pirate!”
Buggy reunited with the rest of his body, laughing loudly. I thought I was going to die, he thought. I can’t believe that worked. He turned away from the cheering crowd. “Alright, Ace. Now that the Warden is taken care of, you can help us get out of here.”
“Ace went back down to find his brother,” Mr. 3 remarked flatly. “Clutterstep and Trixie already went after him.”
“What?” Buggy galloped back towards the stairs to Level Two. “Hey! Don’t just leave me here!”
“Look! Captain Buggy selflessly wants to help Fire-Fist again!”
“He can’t wait to get back into the fight!”
“We’ll follow him to the end of the world!”
“Captain Buggy!”
Clutterstep, Trixie, Mr. 3 and Buggy walked up to Ace, who was standing on one of the higher points of Level Four, a stone platform with a good view of the exit to Level Five. Clutterstep noticed a small army of guards in front of the large wooden door, staring at it. He flinched as the doors suddenly crumbled and turned to dust.
Five ponies stepped out of the doorway. Clutterstep recognized one of them as Sanji.
“Stop right there, pirates!” The leader of the guards announced. “I will be Ward– I mean, we will not let you go any further!”
A tan pony with a Straw Hat stepped forward. “Get out of the way! I’m going to rescue Ace!”
Ace grinned and walked up to the ledge. "I’d listen to him, you know!”