"Are we almost there?"
Dragon pushed open the cabin door and walked out, asking Rear Admiral Avène, who was watching the sea on the deck.
At this moment, the five headquarters-class warships he led had already returned from the South Sea to the first half of the Grand Line. By his estimation, they should be arriving soon.
"Rear Admiral Dragon, you've suffered such severe injuries. You should rest more. I'll handle the handover of the prisoners to Impel Down," Rear Admiral Avène said with a smile.
"No, I've said it before—I will personally deliver the Slave King into Impel Down!" Dragon walked over to Rear Admiral Avène and gazed at the Gates of Justice appearing in the distance. "This holds deep significance for me."
"If you insist, then fine. Later, I'll escort Colonel Hansa and Colonel Will to Enies Lobby for trial. After that, let's meet up at Marineford and have a drink, how about that?"
After the battle in the Thutmose Kingdom, Rear Admiral Avène's attitude toward Dragon had become even more respectful and awestruck. On one hand, the strength Dragon had displayed left him thoroughly convinced. On the other hand, Dragon was sure to be promoted to vice admiral upon their return.
"Alright," Dragon agreed without hesitation. He was quite fond of drinking, after all.
At that moment, a white-masked figure silently emerged from the cabin and walked onto the deck, standing quietly in a corner.
Rear Admiral Avène glanced over and asked in a low voice, "How much longer are these Cipher Pol agents going to follow you?"
He knew that on another nearby warship, there was another white-masked agent. These two, one near and one far, had Dragon under tight surveillance.
"Don't mind them. They'll disappear when the time comes," Dragon replied without even turning his head. He had already abandoned any thoughts of defecting from the Marines and was prepared to observe the subsequent changes in the World Government and the Marines.
It had to be said, this mission had allowed him to fight to his heart's content and had also given him a glimmer of hope.
Half an hour later, the Gates of Justice slowly opened, and the five warships immediately diverged. Dragon led one ship, following the left current toward Impel Down, while Rear Admiral Avène took the remaining four ships, swiftly heading toward Enies Lobby via the right current before returning to Marineford.
This was the triangular current formed by the three Gates of Justice connecting to a massive whirlpool. Its flow was incredibly fast, and Dragon's warship arrived at the gates of Impel Down in less than ten minutes.
Shortly after, two headquarters majors wearing Justice Coats brought King Taklama out from the cabin's cell and escorted him onto the deck of the warship.
The former Slave King of the underworld now had his hands shackled with Sea Stone Handcuffs. His steps were weak, as his injuries had not fully healed, and his mood was even worse.
"I told you, justice will always triumph over evil. I will personally send you into Impel Down—and now, it's done!" Dragon calmly met King Taklama's fierce gaze as he spoke.
"..."
King Taklama gritted his teeth but couldn't utter a word. His emotions were incredibly complex at that moment—he wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to begin.
If he had to describe it simply, it would be something like wanting to roar at Dragon: "You're fucking cheating!"
But now, the Slave King, who was so aggrieved that his lungs were about to explode, could only gasp for breath in silence. As for cursing, he had already exhausted all his insults during the journey over the past few days.
He was utterly worn out from cursing. The handover process went very smoothly because the identity of this prisoner was special, so Director Columbus personally came out to receive him. Among the prison guards behind him, the figure of Gecko Moriah could also be seen. His enormous size was indeed too conspicuous to miss.
Speaking of Moriah, these days had been much easier for him. For some reason a while back, the Director had stopped him from continuing to cut the shadows of prisoners from the first four underground levels and even demanded that he return all the shadows he had taken.
To be honest, he was furious at first and unwilling to comply. After all, that was the fruit of his hard work over a long period. Now he was being asked to release them all, which would mean all that time had been wasted. It also felt like he was being played.
Therefore, with his short temper, he immediately confronted the Director, not backing down at all despite the other's position. He directly adopted a stance of "if you don't give me a proper explanation, I'll just start a fight."
Gecko Moriah's thinking was simple: he had agreed to work as a prison guard for the World Government here, but he hadn't promised not to beat up the Director, right? As long as he stayed in Impel Down after the fight, he wouldn't be breaking the agreement!
Fortunately, Columbus told him, "Who has time to mess with you? The higher-ups have other plans for these prisoners from the first four levels, so they can't be without their shadows. Besides, how long would it take you to cut the shadows of hundreds of thousands of prisoners? Aren't you tired?"
Moriah thought about it and realized it made sense. Although the time he had spent before was wasted, he would save a lot of time in the future! So he happily accepted the explanation. Now, his job had changed to cutting the shadows of heavy criminals with bounties over a hundred million from the fifth level, the Freezing Hell, and the sixth level, the Infinite Hell. However, the shadows he cut had to be handed over and stored in the Director's office on the fourth level, the Blazing Hell.
With the workload drastically reduced, he finished the job in just two days. Normally, he only needed to patrol back and forth, occasionally delivering food to his fellow tribesmen in the cells and chatting with them.
The reason he came out this time was mainly because this 'Slave King,' King Taklama, would be imprisoned in the sixth level, the Infinite Hell, so he needed to cut his shadow as part of the process.
After handing over the prisoner to Impel Down, Dragon turned and left, heading to Marineford to report. Meanwhile, King Taklama was thrown into boiling water at a hundred degrees for sterilization and disinfection, a so-called "baptism."
But with his strength, he gritted his teeth and endured it.
It was equivalent to an ordinary person taking a scalding hot bath. After that, he was given a standard zebra-striped prisoner uniform and had Seastone Shackles placed on his feet.
Once Moriah came over with his giant scissors and cut his shadow, the basic procedures were complete.
Finally, he was taken directly to the bottom level, the Infinite Hell, via the internal elevator.
Under the watchful eyes of Director Columbus and several prison guards, he slowly walked into his assigned cell.
At this moment, Director Columbus raised his hand and waved, signaling the prison guards to leave on their own.
Then he walked into King Taklama's cell.
"You?" the latter turned around, on guard.
Director Columbus chuckled and said, "Don't be nervous, let's have a chat."
"About what? I don't recall us knowing each other before," King Taklama remained vigilant. The former smiled and asked, "Don't you think there's something missing from the prisoners here?"
King Taklama was filled with confusion, furrowing his brows and lowering his voice, "What exactly are you trying to say?"
In the dimly lit cell, the Slave King and the Director of Impel Down stood in a standoff, though the atmosphere was somewhat eerie.
"I'll give you two choices."
"One, continue to be a prisoner here. Two, come out with me and become a jailer. How about it? Shouldn't be a difficult choice, right?" Director Columbus smiled.
"What?!"
King Taklama was stunned, immediately understanding what the other meant by the prisoners here missing something.
"You've taken a fancy to my Pet-Pet Fruit ability and want me to put pet collars on the prisoners here!"
Director Columbus nodded, "Correct, so what's your decision?"
"It's indeed not a difficult choice," King Taklama laughed. Compared to staying in the cell reading newspapers, moving around the corridors outside would definitely be more comfortable.
"I agree, but shouldn't my shadow be returned to me?"
Without his shadow, he always felt something was off. He didn't think Impel Down would cut off someone's shadow for no reason; there must be some use for it!
Director Columbus glanced at the empty ground beneath his feet and smiled, "You'll have to talk to your colleague Gecko Moriah about that, after all, he's the Shadow-Shadow Fruit user."
"Gecko Moriah."
The Slave King recalled the tall figure who had cut off his shadow on the first floor of the sea. It seemed he would need to find an opportunity to ask about it.
From then on, the process for heavy prisoners in Impel Down added another step: baptism, shadow cutting, and collaring.