In front of the gates of Impel Down.
A warship slowly sailed through the open Gates of Justice.
Onboard, Vice Admiral Momonga escorted Ace, whose hands were bound with Seastone handcuffs. He glanced at Vivian, who was waiting at the port, with a somewhat guilty expression.
"Vivian, long time no see," he said.
"Yeah, it's been a while, just over a week, right?" Vivian replied.
"Uh…"
Momonga scratched his head. "I was a bit reckless sending you to chase the Straw Hat Pirates last time. But working at Impel Down isn't so bad. At least you don't have to patrol the seas, and it's much safer."
"So, I should thank you, Vice Admiral Momonga?" Vivian smiled.
Momonga: "…"
Seeing that Vivian seemed to hold a grudge, Momonga turned to Magellan. "This is Portgas D. Ace. I'm handing him over to you. Remember, there's a strict order from above: even if it costs your life, you must not let him escape."
"Don't worry, Vice Admiral Momonga. This is Impel Down. No criminal has ever escaped from here," Hannyabal said.
Impel Down had a history of over a hundred years, and apart from the man known as Golden Lion, no pirate had ever escaped. Even Golden Lion had to sacrifice his legs to regain his freedom.
"That's good."
Momonga nodded and continued, "Additionally, the World Government has ordered you to extract any valuable information from him. Because… in about a month, he will be publicly executed at Marineford."
"At Navy Headquarters?" Magellan was surprised.
"Yes."
Momonga revealed the shocking secret recently uncovered by CP0: "Ace is the biological son of the former Pirate King, Roger. We need to use his public execution to intimidate pirates worldwide."
Of course, he didn't mention that the real goal was to lure out the Whitebeard Pirates and capture them all at once.
"What?"
"The son of the former Pirate King, Roger?!"
As expected, everyone except Vivian was shocked, including Fujitora.
"So Roger had a son…"
"And not only that, but he also became a division commander on Whitebeard's ship?"
Hannyabal and Sadi-chan whispered to each other.
Hearing this, Ace spat on the ground in disdain.
The son of the Pirate King?
He had always hated this identity.
Especially after joining the Whitebeard Pirates, he grew to despise the name Roger even more.
"My only father is Whitebeard, Edward Newgate!" Ace shouted angrily at Momonga and Magellan.
Vivian: "…"
Ace really is a devoted son.
But honestly, having read the original story, Vivian didn't think Roger was a qualified father either.
"Enough talk."
Momonga handed the chain holding Ace to Magellan. "Lock him in Level Six and increase the guard. In a month, the Navy will send someone to take him to Marineford."
"Understood!"
…
Every morning, Vivian would wake up, wash up, and join over a hundred guards in exercising on Level One. Then, he would have lunch in the scorching heat of Level Four. In the afternoon, he would hand over his guard duties to Domino and play mahjong with Fujitora and the others. After dinner, he would return to his dorm, watch anime and movies all night.
Life seemed quite fulfilling.
But since Ace was imprisoned in Impel Down, Vivian had an additional task every night: delivering food to Ace and spending two hours trying to extract any valuable information from him.
It was Magellan who suggested that Vivian help, saying that since Vivian was assigned from headquarters, he should have learned a lot of interrogation techniques.
However, Vivian responded that he had only been at headquarters for less than two months and hadn't even started learning the Six Powers or Haki yet. Interrogation techniques? What a joke.
"Hey, it's mealtime, Portgas."
Vivian placed the fried rice from the kitchen on the ground in front of Ace, who skillfully bent down and started eating with just his mouth.
To be honest, Ace seemed quite carefree. Despite being imprisoned in Impel Down for several days, he ate and drank well every day, showing no signs of depression. It was as if he was on a vacation rather than being a death row inmate.
"Is it good?"
"It's okay."
With his face covered in rice grains, Ace replied expressionlessly.
"I know your brother Luffy." Vivian suddenly said, causing Ace to pause for a moment.
"How should I put it, I don't really have anything against the Straw Hat crew. The same goes for the Whitebeard Pirates."
"Don't try to get close to me. If you're trying to get information about Pops from me, you're wasting your time," Ace said.
Vivian: "…"
"It seems you're a bit smarter than your brother Luffy."
"Yeah, my brother isn't very smart," Ace nodded in agreement.
Vivian: "…"
That was too quick to agree!
Luffy would want to punch someone if he heard that.
As Vivian was organizing his thoughts to find another topic to pass the two hours of interrogation, Ace suddenly looked up and said, "Hey, it's really troublesome to eat like this. Can you take me down from the wall? I'm wearing Seastone handcuffs and shackles, so I can't escape anyway."
Before Vivian could respond, a prompt appeared:
[Option 1: Help Ace unlock the chains and take him down from the wall. (Reward: Random skill experience max)]
[Option 2: Ignore Ace's request. (Reward: Random basic attribute +1)]
"Uh…"
Based on these options…
If I take him down, he'll definitely try to knock me out, right?
Vivian thought.
But since the reward is just random skill experience, it shouldn't be too dangerous.
With this in mind, Vivian walked up and removed the chains connecting Ace's wrists to the wall.
But in the next second…
Click!
As expected, Ace immediately swung the chain forward, choking Vivian's neck tightly.