Kai's eyes widened at the wanted poster. "Luffy!" he shouted and snatched the newspaper from the fellow inmates' hands. He didn't listen to their shouting as he began to read the details of the bounty poster: The highest bounty in the East Blue. Monkey D. Luffy. 30 Million Berries.."
"Holy shit. This is it! If the story goes the way it did," he muttered to himself as his mind raced on. "He should be here in a couple of months. I should use that time to train and find a way to increase my Rune level."
Kai pulled up his User Interface for a final look at the mission to kill a Wild Beast from Level Two of Impel Down. He then clenched his fist. "Easier said than done!" he growled under his breath, knowing full well that the beasts in Impel Down were no joke, and facing them with his current stats would be a certain death sentence.
"Luckily I didn't skip One Piece, and I know there's a safe place in this prison. Level 5.5," he continued with quivering intonation, mixing fear and resolution into his voice. "But getting there will be HELL! FUCK!"
He clasped his head in his hands and began pacing back and forth as he tried to think of some kind of plan. His circumstance weighed heavily upon him—the reality of being trapped in Impel Down, the weight of which grew heavier with every ticking moment.
Rondo and the rest of the inmates looked at him with a mixture of pity and frustration. They had witnessed so many break under pressure, and to them, Kai was just another victim who had lost his mind.
Kai took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. He forced a laugh that bordered on a cry, clenching his fists as he spoke to himself: "I am the fucking Elden Lord. This is nothing."
He walked up to the old man then, his voice steadier. "When will they let us out of these cells?"
The elderly man riveted his gaze on him wearily. "You must have taken a harder knock on the head than I thought.. The truth is, sometimes they open the cells here just for sport. They wait for prisoners to do something stupid, like trying to escape. It pleases the wardens, and they get to set the beasts on us. I hear it's much worse in the levels below.".
Kai's face darkened at this. "Fuck me, I forgot that One Piece could be as twisted as Elden Ring in some aspects. These bastards…"
The older man's voice was gruff as he continued, "I said they wait for prisoners to make a move LIKE YOU. You tried to escape, and nearly got yourself killed. Next time, keep your head down and stay put before you lose it completely. And stop asking questions you should already know the answers to."
Anger flared in Kai, and he muttered to himself, "Fuck you, old man! I understand why he might think like that, though."
He sighed, determined to be more strategic. "I'll just have to ask questions indirectly from now on," he thought as he began to formulate his next steps.
Kai, trying to act cool, casually asked, "So, do you guys know why they always send one wild beast after us?
The old man's eyes seemed to narrow a bit. "Because we're scum, not worthy of more. One beast is more than enough to annihilate everyone on this level."
A sly smile spread across Kai's face as he muttered under his breath, "Good thing these idiots aren't too bright. so they send only one, good."
Kai decided to wait until the next time they opened the cells to make his move. He checked his UI and inventory, noting the items there for the Prisoner class. "Normally I'd say this is more than enough, but the crazy part is I'm no longer behind a controller!" he said with a mix of disbelief and resignation. "I'll sleep it off. Maybe this is just a bad fucking dream."
He huddled in a corner of the cold cobblestone cell and drew his knees up against his body. He forced himself to sleep, and as he drifted off, slipped into some kind of weird dream.
Kai now found himself inside his gaming rig, streaming his Elden Ring playthrough. He buzzed his chat in such an embarrassing and over-the-top fashion. "CHAT! I just had the wildest dream! Miquella got salty enough to punish me IRL! Hahaha! F in the chat, boys, for this crappy boss!"
His chat blew up with play and mocking comments; Kai laughed at just how ridiculous his dream really was. Just as he was about to go into another hilarious commentary, a very loud, jarring noise shattered his dream.
"WAKE UP, FILTHY CRIMINALS!" came the harsh voice of a warden, with clanging noises of batons against cell bars.
Kai started up awake again, groggy and confused; the dream vanished fast. He blinked against the poor light of the cell as, once again, the cold reality of Impel Down settled onto him while the wardens continued their raucous wake-up call.
"Yeah. jokes on me," he muttered to himself, still adjusting to his surroundings. He sat up against the dim light and pulled up his user interface. Well, at least this wasn't a dream. The glowing display reassured him about that much
He went to his inventory and surveyed his options: Estoc, Glintstone staff, Rift Shield, and Magic GlintBlade. He frowned. "I can't go using the Glintstone staff or shield—magic would be too exposing. And the shield's a dead giveaway too," he thought about his circumstances. "The Estoc's my best bet. But I need to hide it from the wardens. First thing's first… I've got a devilish idea. Yeah, baby…"
Kai tilted back to meet Rondo's half-sleeping eyes. "Hey, Rondo, buddy! Quick question—do the inmates here often fight with each other?"
Rondo furrowed his eyebrows slightly towards him. "Rarely. And when they do, it most of the time means crap's about to go down. The wardens love that kind of thing. Why?"
Kai smirked at himself. "Just curious.".
Later, as the prisoners were herded out of their cells and into the dim, cobblestone corridors of Level 2, Kai kept a close eye on the wardens. They stood off to the side, smirking as they watched the prisoners, obviously waiting for someone to do something stupid.
"Oh, you fucking bastards," Kai thought, clenching his fists. "Just wait. You want a scene? I'll give you one."
Without warning, Kai sucker-punched the nearest inmate. The man stumbled back, crashing into another prisoner, who immediately turned on him, yelling, "You motherf—!" Chaos spread as prisoners began brawling, creating the perfect distraction.
"Well, that worked better than I thought," Kai mused, slipping through the chaos. "This is my chance to head for Level 5.5".
He glanced around, looking for a way out. "FUCK! I'll head the opposite way the wardens are!" he cursed under his breath and bolted into a sprint.
But before he could travel very far, another inmate sucker-punched him in the side. The blow was weak, more of a nuisance than anything life-threatening. Kai's eyes narrowed. "That was pathetic," he thought, and without any further hesitation, he equipped the Estoc and stabbed the inmate.
A pop-up flashed in front of his eyes: [+300 Runes].
It hit him like a truck. "Killing people here gives me runes too," he thought, quickly hitting the unequip on the Estoc as he continued running, his adrenaline pumping. His eyes darted left and right, scanning the view around him as his lips whispered fast, "I really hope that son of a bitch Magellan doesn't show up. Otherwise, I'm dead!"
After what seemed like an eternity dodging through hell, Kai came upon the end of the corridor and saw, with eyes lit in recognition, a big ominous-looking door with a huge spiral staircase beyond. That's gotta be it, he muttered, still hopeful.
Rondo suddenly rocketed down the hall, yelling, "Yo, Kai! Watch out!"
Kai spun around and flashed a shaft of irritation across his face. "Why is this moron following me?" he snarled, but a sudden screech made his blood run cold.
A monster attacked from the darkness, an abomination of a crow and basilisk mix, wings outstretched and eyes fixed on Kai. He was paralyzed with pure panic. "Fucking hell, this thing is ugly! Why is it coming after me and not the massive riot behind me?!"
It then clicked. His eyes flashed to the walls, and there they were—the surveillance snails, their staring eyes following each and every movement he made. "Shit!" Kai cursed under his breath. "I completely underestimated this place… totally forgot about those damn snails."
The beast let out another ear-piercing screech, its razor-sharp beak snapping dangerous inches away. Kai's mind was racing wildly as Desperately, he tried to think of a plan at the suddenly realized twisted surveillance system within Impel Down.
The beast let out another ear-piercing screech as its razor-sharp beak snapped a little too close to his face, and panic jolted in him as his mind scrambled for a plan, realizing just how twisted and dangerous Impel Down's surveillance system was.
But then, to his utter disbelief, the beast's beady eyes locked on his, and in a guttural voice, it spoke, "Bend over!
Kai's body froze, his heart missing a beat as confusion and horror washed over him. "Wait. what?!" he stammered, quite bewildered and disturbed with what he had just heard.