Chapter 73

Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down

The large entourage traveled through the heat of the third level and soon arrived at the stairs which lead to the fourth level, the burning hell. At the top of the stairs the group was already able to see the light of the distant fire's that flickered in the fourth level, tormenting and torturing the captives in one way or another.

They ventured down the long stairs and were met with the origin of the heat on the third level, smashing into the large groups faces like a child that ran into a brickwall, head first.

Most of the people had thought the heat on the third level to be terrifying already but were now met with the real deal, and to think that many prisoners had to permanently stay on this level send shivers over many backs.

"Urgh, so hoooot. I think I'll die of a heatstroke..." Chopper whimpered from ontop of Azuls shoulder, making Azul grin and the rest of the group groan under the heat with proclamations to please go back up into the cooler level, only to be rebuffed by the raging Sanji that was burning himself somehow.

Soon after the group had entered the level their presence had been noted by the working prisoners, making a lot of eyes widen at the sight with hopeful proclamations in between which resulted in the group to swell even further. Now and then a small scuffle would break out in between the hundreds of prisoners though those were swiftly subdued by Azul simply gazing at them with calm eyes, making the offenders straighten their backs with many unmanly squicking sounds accompanying the action.

Azul meanwhile had grown a little suspicious at the little resistance they had encountered. Where were all the guards? Weren't they supposed to stop them or something?

As his thoughts reached this stage his peripheral haki senses picked up a large life signature that headed towards the groups direction, making Azul stop in his tracks, bringing silence to the following crowd with the weaker ones from the upper level wondering why they stopped and the stronger ones from the lower level growing weary in worry. After all this level was home to the office of the supreme warden of Impel Down, Magellan. And many prisoners had had unpleasant encounters with the large fellow in the past.

"Stay out of this." Azul said to the group behind him, picking up Chopper from his shoulder whom he handed to Nami that was dripping from sweat, just like the rest of the group, soaking Chopper even further until his fur bulged, transforming the reindeer into a pure ball of fur with a face and a hat on top of it, looking rather comical.

Not long after he had said those words the reason for them became apparent as Magellan walked into their direction, making a lot of the prisoners cry out in fear, not having witnessed how strong their leader was yet and thus afraid that they would get punished or worse by the warden.

"This is as far as you'll go!" Magellan said, his body beginning to turn purple in colour, until the first drops of the fluids his body now consisted of dropped onto the ground, sizzling and steaming slightly with purple gas in the process.

"A devilfruit hmm? Now this will make this more interesting..." Azul mused out loud, already forming ideas about the capabilities his opponents fruit possessed.

'Acid maybe? Or some kind of poison? Hmm, better not to get hit by it in the first place to find out...'

his thoughts wandered while his body transformed into his 5,5 meters tall, canine form, bathed in the flickering light and heat that his body produced, raising the temperature of his surroundings even higher.

"So you possess a zoanfruit? Mythical maybe? No matter. You'll die either way for breaching my prison. Now die! Hydra!" Magellan spoke out in a strong, deep voice, creating three snake like heads behind his back, consisting of the purple fluids which rushed towards Azul who swiftly stepped aside.

Though the hydra didn't seem to care as it rushed towards the group that had gathered behind Azul, making his eyes widen at the deviousness of the warden.

The hydras head though was cut of from Zoro who had taken out his swords in preperation already, while the rest of the group rushed backwards to seek cover behind different buildings or other things.

Bringing his focus back onto his opponent, Azul took to the air with a snarl at the lack of honor his opponent had shown, though he wasn't surprised much since he was a warden of this sadistic abomination of a prison in the first place.

With a boom of displaced air, accompanied by a veil of flames that left red blurs behind Azul, he dashed towards his opponent, while clothing his claws in armament haki, not sure if Magellan was a logia or not. In the end though it would not matter, he knew.

While he was flickering through the air, Magellan tried to send his hydras after his opponent but was simply outclassed when it came to speed and thus called them back, building a protective shell around himself, which would harm any physical attack that he would face.

Azul meanwhile had observed his enemy's strategy and had to admit that it was a good plan. Unfortunately for Magellan, Azul could raise his body's flames to ridicolous levels for a none logia, evaporating the fluid in seconds on contact, which Magellan realised rather late with growing horror at the realisation.

Thus Azul, having appeared right in front of Magellan in a crouched position, increased the heat on his body, making them glow in a nearly white light, and with a sweeping kick pulled the legs out from under the huge mans body, smashing him into the ground, followed up by a dropkick into the mans sternum, which resulted into an agonizing scream that was backed by the sizzling of Magellans burning skin. Increasing his weight on his stomping leg, Azul attempted to impale the man with his leg. His insticts though told him to retreat instead and so he did, not a second to late.

The grievous injury on Magellans c.h.e.s.t had turned the mans eyes crimson which resonated with the fluids around him that grew from purple to a glowing red.

"Urgh! You will regret this...!" Magellan g.r.o.a.n.e.d out, holding his burning c.h.e.s.t that had a black burnmark on it. Behind Magellan a humongous creature grew, towering five meters over Azuls already impressive height, steam rising from its mouth to the not far away prison ceiling, creating a thin smoky blanket that spread further and further.

"Venom-Demon: Hell's judge!" Magellan roared in fury, his construct responding in kind. Azul meanwhile had distanced himself further from the man, shrinking his form to his normal height while remaining in his canine body, his flames in the process growing larger and hotter, rising further up his arms and legs until they completely consisted of fire, only his torso and head remaining normal.

'Going by its name I believe it is safe to say that the fluid he produces is poison, though I've never heard of a poison that acts like a virus... Admittedly, I know nearly nothing about poison so that's that...' Azul mused in his mind, falling into his prefered combat stance, waiting for Magellan to make his move so he could exploit the opening it would create and finish the fight as fast as possible, simply because the spreading poison created a unique environment that Magellan would have an advantage in while fighting.

Azul didn't have to wait too long though as the venom-demon sent a punch at Azul who ducked under it, leaving the arm to crash into the ground, splintering it in the process. Ignoring the sizzling arm above him, Azul rushed towards the origin and weakness of the humongous creature. Would Magellan perish, so would his creation along with him.

Pushing off the ground to evade the spreading poison, Azul ascended into the air, swivelling on the air's currents, clawing at Magellan who raised his large right arm protectively before his c.h.e.s.t, which Azuls burning claws ripped right through, making Magellan scream once more, while commanding the venom-demon in the process to send another punch at the beast, that didn't wait for the punch to come but instead sent a piercing thrust formed from his conqueror's haki into Magellans mind, making said man spit out a mouthful of blood as he staggered backwards with a groan from the pain he was feeling.

Magellan, after his mind had received this sharp invasion into his mind had problems seeing clearly as a result and thus ordered his venom-demon to cover his front with punches to stall for time so he could recover. Though his plan seemingly failed as the next thing Magellan felt was a scorching claw that ripped through his c.h.e.s.t from behind him, impaling his heart on the claw, which slowly but surely burned to ashes as the beating pulse subsided and along with it, Magellans eyes closed, shutting down for the last time.

With a thud Magellans huge frame fell forwards while the venom-demon collapsed on itself, making Azul jump backwards to dodge it. As a result the floor of the fourth level caved in, sending all those that stood on top of it and hadn't retreated far enough away down into the next level. The freezing hell.

Those that remained on the fourth level though decided to not follow the group further down, now that their biggest and most fearsome enemy had fallen. Instead they rushed towards the warden office, keen to plunder what they thought to be of value and finally get the hell out of this place.