One Piece: Impel Down's Guard - Chapter 8
Sea Calendar Year 1420, Summer.
Outside Impel Down, the sky was clear and bright.
The sunlight shone on the windless sea area around the platform, reflecting a dazzling brilliance.
Suddenly, a massive shadow rose from the depths, gradually approaching the surface, covering a radius of a hundred meters. With a loud crash, an octopus-like sea monster burst through the water, crashing onto the platform of Level 0 of Impel Down!
The sea monster lay limply on the platform, its height exceeding thirty meters. Its tentacles extended over a hundred meters!
However, the dozen or so jailors waiting at the platform’s edge showed no panic. Once the splashing water had settled, they moved closer.
“So big!”
“Is this today’s lunch and dinner?”
“It looks delicious…”
“Deputy Warden, you’ve worked hard!”
At the edge of the platform, Figo, who had jumped onto the platform after the octopus, was bare-chested, wiping water off with a towel handed to him by a jailor. He responded to the jailors with an OK gesture.
Time flew by, and almost five years had passed in the blink of an eye.
Figo was promoted to deputy warden three years ago and has held the position since.
The five years hadn’t left significant marks on him—his face was only slightly more mature, and his physique hadn’t changed much.
The biggest change was his height!
At the time of his arrival, he was 1.8 meters tall, decent for modern standards but somewhat short in the pirate world.
But now, with the growth of his physique and strength, he seemed to have undergone a second growth spurt, his height rapidly increasing from 21 to 26 years old.
He now stood at an impressive 2.5 meters!
Handing the wet towel back to the jailor, who looked up at him, Figo took a sword from the jailor and said, “Everyone, step back!”
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Several silver flashes sliced through the air.
The massive sea monster was dismembered!
The jailors efficiently carried the segments to drain the blood and perform simple processing.
“Figo, you took longer than usual this time,” a voice called from the side. It was Cesar, now promoted to Warden, stepping onto the sea platform.
“No choice, it’s getting harder to find appropriately sized Sea Kings. I had to swim a long way to find this one,” Figo explained.
Cesar was even more exasperated, “Regardless, Sea Kings are one of the defensive lines of Impel Down. If you keep giving everyone extra meals, that line of defense will collapse completely!”
For nearly two years, Figo had been providing a Sea King daily.
The Sea Kings within fifty miles of Impel Down were almost extinct, with no new ones willing to move in.
This was indeed Figo’s fault.
He chuckled awkwardly, “Anyway, there’s only a month left. Once I leave, the Sea Kings will gradually return.”
Cesar asked, “Are you sure you’re leaving?”
Figo nodded, “Yes, it’s been almost six years here. I want to see the outside world.”
“Ah…” Cesar sighed, “We’ve all been here six years. I also want a transfer, but Kincaid is still lacking a bit. He can be Deputy Warden, but not Warden. Ideally, we could get a vice-admiral from headquarters, but all of them have their own tasks…”
Figo replied, “We just need to apply for the transfer. The Fleet Admiral and the World Government should make suitable arrangements.”
“Let’s hope so,” Cesar nodded, then added, “But at least we have one month left. Let’s finish our final tasks.”
Figo asked, “Is there a new mission?”
Cesar nodded, “I just received a call from the Fleet Admiral. There has been some turmoil on the sea lately. One of the dominant pirate factions, the Giant Warrior Pirates, shows signs of disbanding because their two leaders, Red Ogre Brogy and Blue Ogre Dorry, have suddenly disappeared.
“Red Ogre Brogy? Blue Ogre Dorry?
These slightly familiar names made Figo’s heart skip a beat—weren’t these the two legendary giants Luffy encountered in the Little Garden early in his journey?
After six years in this world, Figo finally heard something related to the anime’s plot!
Those two giants fought for a hundred years in the Little Garden… In other words, it was still a hundred years before the start of the One Piece storyline?
‘That means I’ll be around 126 years old when Luffy sets sail? So far away…’
Cesar continued, “Because the two leaders disappeared, several major pirates have targeted the Giant Warrior Pirates’ territory. The Fleet Admiral plans to intervene to dismantle the Giant Warrior Pirates and at least capture some giants!
“So, we need to organize the jailors to widen some corridors and add several cells in the fourth, fifth, and sixth levels that can hold giants.”
“Understood.”
…
Widening corridors and renovating cells.
In over twenty days, all modifications for imprisoning giants were completed. The Marine Headquarters did not let Impel Down’s efforts go to waste and sent a captured giant pirate.
This giant wasn’t strong, only suitable for the fourth level, but Impel Down showed due respect. Both Figo and Cesar were there to receive the ship.
Not only that, but newly promoted Chief Jailor Kincaid, the unnamed Deputy Chief Jailor, the three chiefs, and half the jailors were present.
In this era, without giant marines, the giant race was quite novel to everyone.
Soon, the giant arrived, leaving everyone with the first impression: how big!
Structurally and facially, they resembled ordinary humans but in a super-sized version!
There were pirates as tall as three or even four meters, but compared to the giant, they were just children! Generally speaking, the larger the giant, the stronger they were. Even this lackey among giants stood over eight meters tall!
At 2.5 meters, Figo felt small again.
He had to raise his leg high to kick the giant’s knee.
But while the size was impressive, the strength was not.
A lackey among giants could not surpass human powerhouses like Cesar and Figo, making the arrangements easier.
The baptism was skipped—there wasn’t a pot that big.
Prison clothes were prepared in advance.
They poured boiling water over him and dressed him.
Impel Down’s first giant prisoner was successfully imprisoned in the fourth level.
About half a minute later, Figo’s prison file automatically opened again, turning to a blank page and imprinting the giant’s image with text.
[Prisoner: Peter]
[Level: R8]
[Status: Imprisoned]
[Crime Index: 17]
[Capture Participation: 3%]
[Selectable Gains: Giant’s Strength (Rare), Giant Axe, Shipwright]
Figo thought, “As expected.”
Capturing a Fish-Man gave him Fish-Man Power.
Capturing a giant naturally gave him Giant’s Strength!
Fish-Man Power allowed him to swim like a Fish-Man; what would Giant’s Strength do?
Make him bigger?
Increase his strength?
Figo selected: Giant’s Strength!
[Gain: Giant’s Strength (Rare) +14 ? 14 (Level 1 Giant Juvenile)]
As with Fish-Man Power, selecting Giant’s Strength immediately made Figo feel like something had changed…
No, it felt like something was removed?
It seemed as if a certain restriction had been lifted, making his body feel lighter.
With his keen awareness of his muscles, Figo sensed a slight increase in strength, almost imperceptible compared to his current physique.
The change wasn’t just in strength.
Where did this lightness come from?
Breaking free from the limitations of ordinary human height?
Figo didn’t particularly want to grow into a giant.
“Giants… the giant race…”
Figo pondered. Besides their size, what else distinguished giants from humans?
His thoughts drifted to the Red Ogre and Blue Ogre, probably fighting in the Little Garden now, and to the storyline where Luffy encountered the two legendary giants…
Wait?
The two giants had been fighting for a hundred years at that time… They were still in their prime!
Figo’s heart jolted!
Giants lived to be 350 years old!
Could it be…
The effect of Giant’s Strength includes… increased lifespan?
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