Zeph grinned, sensing Franky's patience wearing thin, then shifted his focus. "Alright, Franky, I'll stop teasing you—don't want to blow a fuse or anything." He paused, then added, "Is Alice there?"
A familiar monotone voice echoed through the line. "Yes."
"Good. How's the Den Den Mushi network hacking going?"
Alice replied calmly, "I was able to gain access to the floor network, but I haven't broken through to the rest of Impel Down yet."
Zeph nodded, unbothered. "That's fine, Alice. I only need control over the sixth floor for now. Update me on the situation down here. Any surprises I should know about?"
Alice's voice crackled back, her report cool and clinical. "There's been a recent addition—a former Marine admiral taken in on suspicion of treason. They've heavily reinforced his cell. The guards aren't giving any more details, but word is they don't even let him see daylight."
Zeph raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. "A traitorous admiral, huh? Well, that could come in handy."
Alice continued, "There's also been heightened chatter about a breakout threat, specifically regarding a prisoner on the sixth floor with ties to the Revolutionary Army."
Zeph's mind whirred. "The Revolutionary Army? Perfect… their connections might be exactly what I need to shake this place from the inside out."
Alice hesitated. "One more thing: there's talk of an experimental Marine weapon being tested in the lower levels. The guards sound uneasy, even afraid."
"Afraid?" Zeph smirked. "Intriguing."
Zeph paused, fingers drumming against the metal cuff he'd pried off. His mind raced as he weighed his options: he needed to free Nico Robin, but this unexpected weapons project and the traitorous admiral were temptations he couldn't easily ignore. If the World Government was developing some new weapon, leaving without at least sabotaging it could be a risk he'd pay for later. But every second he delayed meant Robin was left alone in this hellish prison.
His jaw clenched as he reached for the Den Den Mushi again. "Alice," he said, voice low, "where's the weapons project located?"
There was a brief pause on the line before Alice's voice came through, calm and steady. "It's on level six, just a few corridors down from your position. Security is tight, but I can guide you through."
Zeph nodded, though she couldn't see him. "Alright. Get me there, but keep me updated on any guards in the area. I want this done fast."
With Alice's precise guidance, Zeph slipped like a ghost through the shadowed halls of Impel Down, sidestepping patrolling guards and dodging the faint beams of surveillance Den Den Mushis. His steps were silent, each footfall calculated, as he blended into the cold, eerie labyrinth of Level Six.
At one point, Alice whispered urgently through the black Den Den Mushi in his hand. "Guard incoming, two o'clock. Just around the corner."
Zeph pressed himself against the wall, heart steady, his gaze sharp as he waited. The guard rounded the corner, unsuspecting and carrying a set of keys. Without hesitation, Zeph struck, grabbing the jailer and yanking him into the shadows with one fluid motion. In moments, the guard was unconscious at his feet, and Zeph was changing into the jailer's uniform, adjusting his stolen cap low over his face.
Now, looking every inch the part of a prison guard, Zeph strode down the hall confidently. Alice's voice came back, guiding him once more. "Next corridor to the left. You're clear for the moment. The lab should be at the end."
As Zeph reached the end of the dimly lit corridor, the weight of reinforced steel doors loomed before him. Alice's voice murmured through the Den Den Mushi in his hand, "That's the lab. Sensors say it's clear, but be careful—these areas are usually heavily trapped or monitored."
Zeph took a breath, letting his fingers trace the hidden vial in his pocket. With a small spark from his magnet powers, he disabled the electronic lock, pushing the door open. Inside, his eyes adjusted to the sterile brightness of the lab, filled with an array of technology more advanced than he'd seen outside the prison walls.
In the center of the room was an array of blueprints, charts, and prototype weaponry. One blueprint in particular caught his eye: labeled in large, bold script, "Project Sledgehammer." A sleek, submarine-like vehicle was outlined, its hull reinforced with Sea Prism Stone, and designed to carry high-yield explosives. This "Sledgehammer" was a siege weapon intended to destroy any ship—even a Marine battleship or an entire pirate fleet—at close range.
Moving closer, he noticed rows of clear, glass containers filled with a faintly glowing, viscous liquid: weaponized Kairoseki, Sea Prism liquid, dangerous even in small doses. This compound could not only drain Devil Fruit powers on contact but could be infused into explosives, turning even a simple grenade into a devastating weapon for Devil Fruit users.
Then, at the far end of the room, Zeph found something even more disturbing—a holding tank filled with strange, dormant organisms, creatures half-machine, half-biological, each implanted with what looked like Kairoseki cores. The label on the tank read: "Goliath Units." These creatures seemed designed to hunt Devil Fruit users, tracking them by their energy signatures, immune to most physical attacks thanks to their cybernetic armor and Sea Prism cores.
Alice's voice crackled in his ear. "Zeph, are you seeing this?"
"More than I bargained for," Zeph muttered. "These weapons… they're designed for Devil Fruit users specifically. If the World Government finishes these projects, it'll be bad news for anyone with powers."
He weighed his options, knowing the clock was ticking. He could take some of these blueprints, destroy the lab, or leave it as it was, but if he wanted to sabotage these projects, he had to act quickly—and decisively.
But there was something else in the lab that caught Zeph's attention. As he grew stronger and more comfortable with the use of his devil fruit he also became more and more tuned to the elements especially metals. Every element to him had a tune, a melody almost, and this lab there was an element that didn't have a tune… It had a wail.
The shriek in Zeph's mind only grew sharper as he drew closer, a jagged, resonating note that seemed to slice through the hum of surrounding metals. This wasn't like any metal he'd sensed before—it was keening, wild, barely contained. His senses thrummed in alarm, a magnetic pull that warned of something raw, something dangerous.
As he reached the back of the lab, he paused in front of a large, reinforced cabinet, solid metal locks layered over with additional shielding. Whatever was inside, they didn't want it getting out, and his Devil Fruit powers seemed to twist at the presence of it, sparking erratically.
"Alice," he whispered through the Den Den Mushi, "what am I looking at?"
Static crackled before her response came through, wary. "I've got no information on it from here, Zeph. It's… it's giving off an energy reading, but nothing like Kairoseki. I'd be careful."
With a wave of his hand, Zeph manipulated the locking mechanism, feeling the metal pins within slide apart with ease, as if compelled by the magnetism of the entity inside. The doors groaned open, revealing a dense, opaque substance, dark and vibrating as though alive, filling the compartment with a nearly physical tension.
Zeph stared, transfixed. This… stone, or whatever it was, didn't just sit quietly. Its essence radiated an aggressive energy that rippled through the room, almost as if it were challenging anything nearby to come closer. Its vibrations—no, its violent, pulsing aura—felt like a live current. His senses screamed at him: this thing was explosive, primal, ready to unleash a force beyond even Kairoseki's capabilities.
Slowly, realization dawned on him, a name: Dyna Stone.
Zeph took a step back, his breathing steady, but his heartbeat quickening as he appraised the stone. Here was a weapon that even the World Government feared—a volatile, weaponized power source capable of leveling islands.
Zeph barely registered the warning as Alice's voice crackled through the Den Den Mushi, tension threading through her tone. "They're nearly there, Zeph. ETA, five minutes."
He nodded to himself, formulating a plan on the fly. With a flex of his hand, a series of metal cubes—small, compact, and unassuming—poofed into existence, hovering before him. His powers flared, and with a flick of his fingers, the cubes zipped to various corners of the lab, nestling into hidden crevices, ready to ignite on his signal.
He turned back to the Dyna Stone, that ominous presence still humming in the compartment like a live wire. Without hesitation, he reached out and with a subtle gesture, disappeared the Dyna Stone capsule into his inventory. He grabbed every blueprint, every research paper in sight, his eyes catching glimpses of names scribbled across them—Vegapunk, but also others unknown to him, mysterious and foreboding. Each document held secrets the World Government was desperate to keep, and now they were his.
"Alice," he whispered, glancing toward the door, "how much time?"
"They're right outside," she replied quickly.
"Good," he murmured, a grin spreading as he used his Devil Fruit powers to slam the heavy lab doors outward. The jailers were hit hard, knocked to the floor in a stunned heap as Zeph darted out into the corridor, barely sparing them a backward glance.
And then, with a snap of his fingers, he triggered the cubes.
The explosion erupted behind him, a cacophony of metal, glass, and fire. The impact shook Impel Down to its foundations, the force nearly taking him off his feet as he sprinted down the hall. The corridor buckled, and the entire lab caved in, swallowed by the detonation as smoke and debris billowed out. Zeph smirked to himself, steadying his pace as alarms began blaring all around. He'd left a scar on Impel Down, one that the World Government wouldn't forget anytime soon.
With the Den Den Mushi close to his face, Zeph's voice came in short, urgent breaths as he ran. "Alice, where's Robin?"
Alice's reply crackled back, calm and efficient despite the tension. "She's on Level 5, just above you. Head straight down the corridor, take the first left, then keep following the signs until you reach the stairwell. There's a shortcut just past the checkpoint."
He sprinted through the maze of prison corridors, his heart pounding as he thought of Robin, trapped here, his nakama, his friend. He wasn't going to leave her to rot in this place, not after everything they'd fought for.
Yet, unbeknownst to Zeph, with every step he took away from the destroyed lab, he'd unleashed a force neither he nor the government could possibly anticipate. The volatile remains of the Dyna Stone were now exposed to chaos, and the blast he'd left behind had shifted something dark and deeply rooted within the bowels of Impel Down. Somewhere in the void where his sabotage had torn through walls and reinforced barriers, an ancient threat stirred—a menace far older than blueprints or inventions, something that would make Dyna Stones and weapons projects seem like toys in comparison.
But Zeph was oblivious to all of it, too focused on reaching Robin.