Chapter 498: Showdown on the Seventh Floor

“Can’t you old guys quiet down for a second?”

Isaac walked over, rubbing his neck as he came.

The seventh floor deep beneath the sea was shrouded in such intense cold that even Video Transponder Snails couldn’t survive here. That meant there was no way to keep watch except by listening in with hidden microphones.

A moment ago, Isaac was still upstairs when sudden violent tremors rocked the place from below. The constant chaos seriously annoyed him. Would these old men ever settle down? He’d just wanted to spend a peaceful afternoon fishing upstairs.

To make himself comfortable, he’d built a massive house right in the middle of the island. It was brightly lit inside, and he’d knocked out a hole straight through to the sea. He could sit in his room and fish quietly, sheltered from wind and sun.

“What the… what’s that?”

He had just come down from the bright room. At first, nothing seemed odd, but after a few more steps he noticed a golden mini-sun glowing right in the center of the cell block. That’s when he realized something big was happening.

But this was the seventh floor, not his house. Why would something like this be here?

Weren’t all those old geezers locked up in Seastone Cells?

Could someone have escaped?

In the next instant, Isaac’s eyes sharpened. He saw bloody pieces scattered on the floor—and standing there, gripping Halberd, was Karl.

“You’re… Karl of the Four Emperors?”

“Not bad, you’ve got some brains. I heard you’re the warden down here.”

“But what I really want to know is… can I take these people with me?”

“Take them? If you want out, you’ll have to walk over my dead body first. Conqueror’s Fist!” Isaac might not know how Karl managed to get to the seventh floor, but he’d promised the World Government—no one escaped from here.

Even if this was a Four Emperor, it made no difference. Besides, he’d never actually fought one before.

Boom!

Karl swept his Halberd in a wide arc and sent Isaac flying.

“With strength this weak, how’d you wind up as warden of the seventh floor?”

Isaac was clearly outclassed. Why would the World Government trust him to guard the most dangerous floor?

Every inmate here was stronger than those on the sixth floor. Was Isaac really able to keep this place locked down?

Did they just rely on those cells that looked tough but were actually fragile?

“Tch!” Isaac spat out a mouthful of blood, glared up, and said, “You want to find out? Try for yourself!”

“Demon Muscleman!”

Isaac slammed a red button at his waist. Instantly, thick steam billowed around him, and in the blink of an eye an armored steel suit enveloped his entire body.

“Armored Warrior?”

Karl was honestly surprised. That transformation looked just like the power Smith unlocked after awakening the Suit-Suit Fruit.

If Smith hadn’t been so weak and untalented—his armor only worked for himself—Karl would have tried to get his hands on a set just for fun by now.

This had been his childhood dream, especially the Emperor Armor.

“Ha, you guessed it. The concept was inspired by Armored Warriors.”

“Honestly, Karl, I should thank you. If all those movies and shows you put out hadn’t spread around, I might never have realized how much potential suits like these really had.”

“Today, let me show you with my own hands the Demon Muscleman I built!”

“Steam Fist!”

Isaac had swapped out the suit’s power source for a steam engine, letting it launch iron punches at hypersonic speeds. Even a Vice Admiral-level fighter would have trouble blocking a hit like this.

And his Demon Muscleman’s shell was made from meteorite ore—harder than Seastone itself. Just anyone couldn’t come along and break this armor.

“Interesting. Tech versus magic, is it?”

“Then let me show you what a Four Emperor can do.”

“Frostbite Slash!”

With Halberd, Karl unleashed a devastating strike powered by both Ice Element and Conqueror’s Haki, ramping up its power exponentially.

Clang!

At the moment of impact, both combatants were blown apart. Pillars of ice shattered in a hundred-meter radius. Several cells collapsed. The more alert inmates had already crouched by the door, and when the cells came down, they made a break for it and avoided being buried alive.

After a brief separation, Isaac stared in shock at his right arm—the steel plating now ran a jagged crack a full ten centimeters long. Fear crept into his heart.

No wonder the Four Emperors had their reputations—just one clash had already messed up his armor. He immediately resolved to coat the suit in Armament Haki to avoid being cleaved right through in the next round.

“Hahaha, again! Let’s go again!”

Karl hadn’t held back at all, yet his full-power strike had actually been blocked. It was the first time he’d unleashed himself since his recovery—just what he needed to warm up for the real fight ahead.

Clang, clang, clang!

The two clashed like lightning, moving so fast they left only afterimages—a golden blur and a silver streak darting across the cell block, colliding and breaking away over and over.

Anyone paying attention could see the silver gradually faltering, while the gold only grew stronger by the second.

“That… that power’s just insane!”

“Yeah, I mean, it even smashed through that hard black iron. And Isaac said the guy’s some kind of outside Four Emperor… does that mean there’s a whole new generation of rulers out on the sea?”

“Unbelievable. Completely unbelievable. Out with the old, in with the new, I guess. Even if I got my full strength back, I’m not sure I could have blocked a blow like that.”

A few of the escaped elders huddled in the far end of a cell, staring wide-eyed as Karl and Isaac kept battling in the distance.

As the fight grew, ten more cells around them burst apart. That sent even more old-timers rushing out.

They quickly joined forces, using their abilities to rescue the living from collapsed cells and carry out the dead—no sense leaving anyone buried in this frozen prison. After that, everyone retreated deeper, quietly watching the duel unfold.

Meanwhile, up on the fifth floor, Luffy and his crew were scouring the cells for Ace and Ye Fan. Arms folded, they all felt the tremors shaking the floor beneath them.

“What do you think is going on down there?”

“Below us? That should be the sixth floor of Impel Down. Did something happen down there?” Brook took over the conversation from Chopper.

The whole crew was on high alert. They had to rescue everyone before Magellan made it back.

“Buro buru!”

“Hello? Uh—hello!”

Sanji was probably the most reliable out of everyone, which is why he was in charge of the Den Den Mushi.

“Ogadada!”

Click.

“Nami just sent word—Magellan’s already returned to Impel Down. Maybe he’s onto us, so we need to pick up the pace.”

“What? If that’s the case, let’s split up. We’ll find people faster that way.”

“We can’t.” Chopper interjected with some solid advice. “If we split up, we’ll just get lost in here. Even if one of us finds someone, we won’t be able to regroup in time.”

His warning made sense, especially with a directionally-challenged swordsman like Zoro in the group. Once separated, getting everyone back together would be a nightmare.