Light At The End Of The Tunnel And The Sea Beyond!
Level One
“Crap! Crap! Crap!” Buggy cursed. Prisoners flew in all directions around him like ragdolls. He galloped at top speed since no one could carry his hooves at the moment despite Mr. 3 running right next to him. Their course had taken a harsh one-eighty away from the final exit and back into Impel Down’s depths. “We were so close!”
“I know but...” Mr. 3 glanced back. A cloud of dust partially obscured the carnage, but allowed the upper bodies of all four Jailer Beasts to be seen. Stone Wall, clad in bandages here and there, led the vicious assault and mowed through prisoners with his club. The other Beasts were slow and their legs shook every few feet, but they nevertheless carved a swath through the prisoners and scattered their escape attempt. Mr. 3 gulped and spun his head around, only to smack into Buggy, who had in turned smacked into another pony. “Hey! Can’t you see the Jailer Beasts are co—”
Mr. 3 swallowed his words at the sight of the golden hook attached to the pony’s leg. His eyes dared to wander up and took in the line of stitches across the pony’s face that rested below freezing cold eyes. “C-crocodile!”
“What?” Buggy screeched. He scuttled away to put some distance between himself and Crocodile. “Why’s he out?”
Crocodile ignored Buggy and looked down his muzzle at Mr. 3. “What’s a piece of crap like you doing here?”
“Ah... ah...” Mr. 3 choked.
“Captain Buggy!” a prisoner called out. Buggy and Mr. 3 expelled their breaths when Crocodile turned away from them. Their mouths both dropped at the sight of all four Jailer Beasts piled atop one another and not moving. Changelings covered them, but it was easy to see a few swollen areas on their bodies where massive blunt trauma had been applied. Two figures, a tan pegasus in a straw hat and a large blue fish/pony hybrid stood over the scene. “These guys took out the Beasts like it was nothing!”
Luffy flexed his wings back to his sides and turned around to smile at Buggy and Mr. 3. “Oh, glad you guys didn’t die.”
Before the guilt could smack Buggy and Mr. 3 in the face, an actual hoof did. The blows sent them to the ground with Trixie looming over them. She raised up her front hooves and trodded over them. “This is for abandoning me!”
“Us too!” Bon flew out of nowhere and landed swift kicks to the sides of Buggy and Mr. 3’s faces that Trixie hadn’t slapped.
A rumble went through the Level. Luffy blinked and turned his head over to the entrance to Level Two. Shadows convulsed across the walls of the stairwell but quickly turned three dimensional and purple. A thick sludge exploded out of the doorway and surged through the Level. Prisoners didn’t have time to scream before the substance washed over them. Any rubble left in the way was quickly covered in the gunk and melted away into nothing. The front of it bubbled up and Magellan popped out to its head. “Straw Hat!”
“Run!” Mr. 2 screamed.
Nearby, Chrysalis and her hive took the air and buzzed at full speed, yet some drones in the back were still swallowed Magellan’s flood of poison. A few changelings at Chrysalis’s sides looked at her and them back at Magellan. She reached out with a hoof and grabbed the nearest one. “Don’t waste that love I gave you on this.”
“But he will not stop, your highness,” a changeling replied. “We must slow him.”
“No!” Chrysalis barked, but it was too late and a large chunk of the hive encased themselves in goo and launched themselves at Magellan. A few of them managed to get past the acidic slime and slammed into Magellan. He gave a grunt when the attacks hit his barrel and limbs, but it only stopped him for a few seconds. Any changelings that made it to him soon succumbed to the poison and sunk into Magellan’s attack.
“Fools!” Chrysalis hissed. She glared at the remaining changelings and lit up her horn. A spasm of pain went through them, but not enough to send them to the ground. “I’ll drain whatever is left of the love I gave you if any of you try that again! Now, retreat!”
The corrosive wall continued to gain on the escape party. Mr. 3’s breath quickly turned ragged and his speed plummeted. He spun around and planted his hooves in the ground. “Enough! I got us past your stupid poison block in Level Two, so I’ll seal you off here! Candle Wall!”
A deluge a liquid wax poured out of Mr. 3’s hooves and shot up all the way to the ceiling. Magellan’s attack sloshed against the wall, but didn’t instantly disintegrate it. Mr. 3 held his breath as Magellan himself raced over as the wax continued to climb. He closed his eyes as Magellan got within striking distance with his horns, but the attack only met a hard wall of wax. When Mr. 3 dared to open his eyes, the sight before him was of a massive block of wax that bisected Level One. He raised his forelegs to the air and shouted, “Haha! I did it! I stopped him!”
“You stopped nothing!” Magellan roared. Behind Mr. 3, the white wax distorted and sections of it putrefied. Gas hissed off of it as more and more of the haphazard structure dissolved. The toxic substance seeped through the cracks and again spilled over the floor.
Magellan’s head busted through the defense. By now, Mr. 3 had taken a good number of steps away from the wall. Magellan grunted and more wax dissolved around him, but not enough for him or his attack to fully get through. “Smooze is my most dangerous poison. Impel Down is in danger of destruction as long as I use it, but it will end this escape of yours!”
~~~
“Those bastards,” Crocodile cursed. The planks beneath his hooves swayed back and forth slightly. The foggy sea was spread out in front of him, Mr. 1, Buggy, Chrysalis, Jinbei, and a collection of the faster prisoners. It was just the sea, not a single ship listed in Impel Down’s small dock.
“No!” Buggy buried his front hooves in his face and moaned into the sky. “So close!”
Chrysalis looked at the changelings that had followed her and sunk a fang into her lips, drawing ichor. “Too far to fly on our supplies.”
Jinbei breathed in the briny air and savored the salty smell. His eyes sharpened and spotted the shadows of sails in the distance. He trotted over to the gate he’d just run out of and clasped one of its large doors with his mouth. To prisoners’ gasps and awes, he grunted and tore the door out of the stone wall, hinges and all, and then chucked it into the sea. “I’ll get the ship, but some help would be obliged.”
He jumped into the water and sunk under the floating door. Crocodile, Mr. 1, Chrysalis, and Buggy hopped on without hesitation. Jinbei positioned himself so that his lower back and head propped up the door. “That should be good.”
Suckers! Buggy thought. Anything is better than facing Magellan.
The makeshift raft and its occupants disappeared in an explosion of water that soaked everyone that had made it to the exit. When the waves generated by the burst receded, the raft was already vanishing into the nearby fog where all the shadows were.
The distinctive whiz of a cannonball cut through the air. The raft swerved the right seconds before the sea close to explode from the ball’s impact. Above the raft, the armada of ships was now in full view and so were all the weapons aimed at Jinbei’s group. Waves of cannonballs crashed down from warships, but Jinbei’s adroit movements kept the raft in one piece.
“Pests.” Chrysalis spread out her wings and flew to the nearest ship. The cannonballs stopped and screams drifted through the fog.
“Looks like that’s our ship.” Jinbei sunk below the water and the raft leveled out.
“Hey!” Buggy stomped a hoof to the wooden boards, much to Mr. 1 and Crocodile’s annoyance. “Don’t just leave us here! Those ships still have their gu—”
“Fishman Karate, Water Heart!” A torrent of water sprouted up from under the raft and launched it high into the air. Jinbei was connected to the end of it and whipped his hooves and tail through the water like it fabric at his disposal to shape. The water serpent continued along Jinbei’s itinerary and crashed into the ship Chrysalis had landed on.
Crocodile jumped away before any water could splash onto him and sent out a sand wing that mummified a group of nearby marines. Mr. 1 wasted no time either and first cut some nearby marines’ weapons and then sliced their holders. Chrysalis wasn’t in view, but two identical yellow ponies yelling for troops to attack the other one caused confusion among the crew. Buggy coughed up some sea water and shook off his coat.
Their fighting came to a halt when a spear of water shot out of the sea and pierced through part of the ship’s cabin like butter. A gaspipe or gunpowder was struck with enough friction that it fireball issued forth from the cabins and took out a good portion of them. The rest of the ship groaned from the explosion but stayed aloft.
“Hmm, we were supposed to steal that ship,” Jinbei lamented as he lowered his tail. “Best take some precautions.”
~~~
The smooze strained against a paper-thin blue barrier of magic that reinforced Mr. 3’s crumbling wall. Trixie gasped for breath and closed her eyes in concentration. Magellan rammed his head against her magic and it shuddered and flickered. Trixie’s head snapped backwards and the whole thing shattered into ethereal splitters that evaporated into nothing. The backlash sent Trixie flying next to Luffy.
Luffy bent down and hefted Trixie onto his back. Behind him, Magellan and the smooze oozed forward with nothing to impede them anymore. Mr. 3 shot his hooves down and pillars of wax popped up across the floor; anything to delay Magellan.
“This isn’t going to hold him!” he yelped. Up ahead, the dim light of day spilled in through the prison’s entrance. “The exit!”
Smooze lapped at everyone’s hooves and dragged many prisoners to their doom. Its false eyes swiveled in all directions, as if everything was a target.
“Oi!” Luffy called out to Mr. 3. “I need you to make another wall!”
“I don’t have time!” Mr. 3 replied.
“Just make the biggest thing you can!” Luffy chomped down on his hoof and blew into it. At the same time, Mr. 3 gulped and summoned as much wax as he could with Magellan just a few yards away. Luffy’s right hindleg ballooned in size and he careened it into the wax sculpture. “Gum-Gum Giant Buck!”
The wall pushed against Magellan. Gas spewed out of it and Magellan grunted under its weight. His hooves dug into the ground and the smooze’s eyes sharpened and both he and his creation drove all their power at the wall, but the effort failed and they were hurtled back a few feet.
Luffy’s form shrank and he darted away from the scene before he could admire delaying Magellan. He and the rest of the prisoners stopped when the ground in front of them rose up like dough. The bulge cracked open and Iva’s battered form along with Inazuma’s flopped onto the floor. “Iva?”
“Straw Boy? I don’t remember turning you into a ki—” Iva stopped when Luffy’s form reinflated back to its normal size. His eyes partially rolled to the back of his head “Oh, I think this day has been a bit much.”
Magellan raced at them once more and the smooze was even faster. Dash shouted through the stone, “Run, you idiot! Fly! Do something!”
“That’s it!” Luffy bit down on his hoof again, but this time, his wings expanded until they reached both sides of Level One. Luffy strained to keep them upright. “Everyone, get on! Iva, do that wink thing! Do it now!”
“Okay. Hell...” All the prisoner clasped onto Luffy’s wings as tightly as they could. Magellan coalesced the smooze so that it rolled upwards into a devastating wave. It crashed down just as Iva closed his eye. “... Wink!”
Iva, Luffy, and all the prisoners blasted off into the air and out into the sea around Impel Down. Victorious cheers and cries went up over escaping Magellan, then quickly turned into concerned mutters about the ocean below. Luffy and Iva turned white at sight of the blue stretched out before them.
“This might be bad,” said Luffy as he canceled Gear Three and shrunk again.
“Well, we still ticked off Magellan and technically escaped Impel Down,” Iva sighed. The cold water splashed against him and he, along with the prisoners, braced for the chill and the prospect of drowning. Yet, only a slight wetness no worse than a damp coat afflicted them. The sea had became a smooth rubbery substance with a blue and white polkadot coloration. An ethereal nautical sound filled the air. “Huh?”
“Oh my,” Fluttershy cooed through Luffy’s stone. “I heard that noise, but I can’t believe it.”
Fins and tails flipped through the water around the prisoners. The “sea” they’d fallen on was actually the backs of multiple, wide grinned whale sharks. They kept together like a carpet and transported the group all the way over to the ship.
“I never knew whale sharks were that friendly,” Fluttershy gushed. Luffy returned to normal size, smiled, and climbed up onto the ship the whales had carried him too. “I mean, I read they’re very nice creatures, but they’re so big... and sharks.”
“Glad they saved us though,” said Luffy. He swung his legs over the edge of the ship and planted his legs on the deck. “It was pretty nice of them.”
“Indeed.” Jinbei trotted over and looked down at the school of whales congregated below. All the prisoners had gotten off them now, but they kept their faces pointed at Jinbei. A series of high pitched squeaks came out Jinbei’s mouth and the whales responded with their own squeeks. “They have my thanks for going into such dangerous waters.”
Fluttershy gasped. “You can talk to them!”
“It is nothing Miss...” Jinbei tilted his head around and looked at Luffy. “Uh, who exactly was that?”
Luffy tapped on the now-yellow stone on his leg. “A friend, kind of a wuss though.”
“N-nice to meet you M-mr. Fishpony, sir,” Fluttershy stuttered.
“An honor.” A cannonball rushed through the air, but Jinbei kicked out a leg and it harmlessly crashed into the sea. He spun around and took hold of the ship’s wheel. “But the pleasantries can wait, we’re not out quite yet.”
“Please,” Chrysalis huffed. Her eyes went over the changelings that had made it to the ship. With a slight movement of her head, a party of them went into the air each of them zipped over to one of the nearby ships. Gunfire still surrounded the area, but the shots soon went in random directions. “They’ll be too confused over who is who to fight us.”
Crocodile raised his hook and pointed at a titanic shape: The Gates of Justice. “There’s still that.”
Buggy spewed out some water from his mouth at the sight. “Ah! We’re gonna cras—”
The groan of massive gears silenced Buggy. Above him, the Gates shuddered and the waters around them churned and clashed in a chaotic brew. In relative terms, the gap that opened up was small, but it was enough for the commandeered ship to squeeze through. Luffy’s smile widened. “That sure is lucky.”
Jinbei’s face turned down in a mirror version of Luffy’s happy expression. He reached into his mane and produced a small dendenmushi. “About that...”
~~~
Magellan watched the sea battle unfold from Impel Down’s exit. When the Gates opened his clenched his teeth and darted back into the prison and made a beeline for the control room. He barged in and was met with the sight of himself lording over the few remaining guards. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Oh dear...” said the second Magellan. His eyes went over to a screen that showed the stolen boat’s stern disappearing past the Gates. He smirked as his form was consumed in green flames, leaving a changeling in his place. “Looks like I fooled you again!”
~~~
“We have to go back and get him!” Fluttershy shouted.
“Yeah!” Luffy yelled. Already, the Gates were shrinking behind them and the tiny exit was closing.
“Don’t be a fool!” Jinbei retorted. “Someone had to stay behind and open the Gates. Your friend knew he’d be the perfect one to fool the guards and willingly sacrificed himself so that we could escape. You would invalidate his work and everything you’ve gone though?”
“But Bon’s my friend!” Luffy replied.
“Then let him know that.” Jinbei held out the dendenmushi to him. “Here, the signal won’t last long.”
“Ugh, this is sickening,” Chrysalis muttered.
Luffy gently took the receiver. “Bon? Bon, can you hear me?”
Back at Impel Down, a similar snail repeated Luffy’s question to the control room. Bon’s eyes veered away from Magellan and he sucked in his breath.
“Bon! Why’d you do it? This is just like last time!” Luffy berated. Droplets of water formed in the corner of Bon’s eyes. “Bon, the gate’s about to close! I just want to say... thank you!”
Tears fell, unstopped, out of Bon’s eyes. He bit his lip in heartbreak and sobbed a couple of times. The snail’s eyes began to close. He sniffled and shoved his face next to the snail. “Go save you brother! I know y—”
Whatever else Bon had to say was cut off when the Gates closed. Luffy set the snail down and stared at it for a second before tears spilled down his face. A few of the prisoners nearby who had heard the whole thing sniffled too. Fluttershy’s sobs could be heard from the stone. “Bon!”
Chrysalis went onto her haunches and raised and hoof to her mouth. Her chitin gained a sickening yellow sheen that concentrated around her cheeks and the tip of her horn. The few changelings that had survived through Impel Down and made it to the ship collapsed onto the deck and clutched their stomachs, all a similar color as their queen. ”No... not again.”
Crocodile’s mouth kept the same stiff expression, but his eyes briefly lit up at Chrysalis’s condition.
~~~
The tears were now gone from Bon’s face. He gave a maddened grin that showed off his fangs to Magellan. His wings shot out and he readied himself.
Magellan sent out a wing and constricted a massive amount of poison around it. It gained a blade-like edge and vicious fumes that stung Bon’s eyes even at a distance. “Any last words?”
“Satisfaction,” Bon replied.
~~~
A loud snap echoed throughout Level Four. Shiryu wrapped his serpentine form around a nearby fence that leaned over the boiling lake and took a puff from his cigar. He blew out the smoke and created some weapons and a skull with it. “You’d be dead if I hadn’t shown up, you know.”
“Zehahah!” Blackbeard cackled. “Getting you on our side really did turn out for the best. Zehahaha!”
Impel Down Escape Account
Successful Prisoner Escapes: 241
Successful Equestria Political Detainee Escapes: 23
Time Until Ace’s Execution: Four Hours
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That last moment with Bon and Luffy was one of the saddest moments I had ever seen in anime. He dressed like a woman, talked like a woman, but was more manly than any who would dare to call him gay.
3070288
Funny how things involving friendship seem to work like that.
3070308
Coincidence, or the workings of the Goddess of Friendship herself: the almighty Faust?
3070288 want to know what's funny? He is later revealed to have survived and rule over level 5.5
3070707 YOU RUINED THE MOMENT!!!
A moment of silence for Mr. 2 Bon Clay. The greatest companion in any piece of literature.
Is Shiryu a Naga or something like that?
3070884
He's a Draconequees, like Discord.
Wow. Just read all the chapters in a day, and... just, wow. You have such an amazing talent for weaving a fantastic tale, I'm totally hooked! Keep writing, I'm definitely gonna enjoy reading this!
3070707
I call BS, we never see the new "Queen's" face.
It's like rewatching the anime with a much better view
...
...
...A Whole New World~! A new fantastic point of view~!
What's wrong with Chrysalis again?
Also is that stone the only way the Mane 6 and Luna are gonna be in the story from now on?
3072755
Ever eat something so rich that it made you feel a queesy afterwards? Imagine that but full on nauessa for her and a punch to the gut for the drones
3072787
Ah. Too much friendship.
3070288 Iva was freaky as hell though... especially considering the obvious influence behind the character.
1.bp.blogspot.com/_rYCMzyyQpzY/TE41-lz-G9I/AAAAAAAAAac/AzCPpRC19AM/s1600/Frank+N+Furter.jpg
DO NOT WANT!!
I would have read this..... if you didn't turn Luffy into a darn pony
3076725
Well he's only a pony in Equestria. He'll change back once he leaves the environs.
3080554 no.... what I mean is that I hate it when any human goes to equestria... I hate it when they are turned into ponies, I'd rather see the interesting side of of ponies dealing with someone with both alien mind AND BODY.
3080568
Eh, then I'd just have people make the opposite argument. Can't please everyone
3080568 So do you hate humans being in Equestria because they are turned into ponies? Or do you hate having humans in Equestria at all? If so, then what would you like to see come to Equestria instead of humans?
I can justify the whole turn into a pony thing, in context with equestria being an island in the one piece world. An island that is "cursed" to turn every Human into a pony can make sense in the One Piece universe and it does indeed sound very much like an island that fits into their world.
In anycase, now that they go to Navy HQ, the characters will turn human again, at least for the battle, since Celestia already disguised herself as human. This is gonna be one hell of a surprise for Trixie though
This arc was pretty dang good overall. One of the best things about it in general was the the fact that we got to see Luffy really out of his elements. Oh no, not that he isn't at home in the field of battle, but I mean without his crew. And this is what helps him be different from the usual shonen hero character. Seriously, if this was say, Naruto or Goku, they would've been able to get through this prison with little problem at all, but Luffy has issues, why? Becaquse he is without that key component, his crew. This arc proves that, for all of his strengths and skill, Luffy is still just a man...A man with te power of a devl fruit and the abilty to hit high speeds, but a man nonethless.
I find myself looking back on this arc and think to myself, what would've happened if the straw hats were united as a team. Would Magellean have an easy time affecting say, Brook? Or would he end up facing down a ver mad doctor. How easy would've it been to get a key thanks to Mr. Prince himself. And I think that's what makes this arc for me...it's a counter to the Ennis lobby arc.
Think about it, Ennis Lobby shows that together, this team of pirates can take on the world, and several ships all at once. Hell, even the towers are different, one is reaching for the sky, while the other is reaching down to hell. One has Luffy reaching higher than he has ever soared, while the other has him falling down lower and lower. Even with the assistance of previous villans, Luffy is no match for the horrors of the prison.
The newer characters that are introduced, also support this theme of seperation and weakness. Because magellean and Hannyibal are at each others throats, they lack the strenght to hold together to stop a breakout and breakin. hell Magellean is a combination of many different poisons, that don't fit together and cause him pain and suffering. Thgis is why I like him as an arc villian, as well as Hannyibal. I have to admit, both villians, while not as intimaing or developed as the villians that have come before him, are a nice reprieve from the dramatic seriuos and dark badasses of sagas past. Sadly, we won't be getting to one of those until Don Flamingo.
Another new character that I simly adored wa Iva. Isane, funny, and a hoot, she perfectly encapsulates the weirdness of Oda's brand of humor. The idea tha she was able to to do all of this and still is a trasvestit s both empowering and awesome. Yes, I said empowering as I did do a check on the One Piece reddi about the representation of Ts/TG people on the show, and most said they loved it, findingn it hilarious and cool that most of the time, these guys are not whimps, but badasses all the saem..
The returning characters, plus the new one Jimbe (Who is so badass that I could spend an entire page on him alone) feels like a time skip was inveitable, as most of them were not only villians of seasonss past, but most were the ones Luffywas able to take on with a little assistane from the others in some way or fashion. Again, touching upon the theme of seperation, and the need to have someone to stand by yourside in times of need. While the prvious arc was good to show Luffy's adventours side sans team, this shows Luffy as a warrior without the others. In a away, it helps us appreciate the captain all the more.