Luffy's expression shifted rapidly—from bewilderment to anger.
"Vice Admiral Carl! I also captured the suspicious figure who tried to escape!" Coffey, standing to the side, reported quickly.
Thankfully, Garp didn't appear to be in one of his rare, stormy moods where he lost all reason. He wasn't about to unleash a fury that would wipe them all out.
"Uh, yeah," Carl blinked slowly, already sensing something unusual.
Ordinary pirates would have already been reduced to dust in his presence. Then, turning to Luffy with a subtle frown, he said, "After all… all of you have already been defeated, haven't you?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous! Do you have any idea how heavily fortified Impel Down is now?" Carl continued, voice sharp. "Since the mass breakout led by you and that clown Buggy, the place has become a fortress! You think anyone can break out again?"
He wasn't only addressing Luffy—this was aimed at the whole Straw Hat Crew.
After all, Sengoku had used Ace's execution as a trap to lure Whitebeard out. It had been a setup from the beginning.
Luffy, half-stunned, clenched his fists and raised his voice. "No matter what kind of prison it is, it won't stop me! I'm going to be the Pirate King!!"
His resolve never wavered. Even if it meant breaking into the most secure prison in the world again.
Freedom may be a dream, but if everyone chased after it recklessly, the entire world would be plunged into chaos. That's why so many pirates had sunk before even crossing into the New World.
But Luffy wasn't like Ace.
As a boy, he had often been told by Garp to grow up to be a righteous Marine. He was supposed to walk a different path. Now, Garp had no choice but to put him in Impel Down. At the very least, it would keep him alive.
Yet the irony stung. During the Summit War, Luffy had been the one to stir chaos within Impel Down—rallying prisoners from Levels 5 and 6, breaching levels never breached before.
"There's an emergency!" Akainu's voice cut through the air, filled with tension. "That damn Garp! He took the Straw Hat Crew from you, didn't he?"
At the edge of the deck, Garp stood like a mountain—silent, unyielding.
Carl, watching everything unfold, nodded slightly at Coffey. "You've grown, Kofi."
But Akainu was just getting started. He roared, "That senile fool! He let them go?!"
Normally, Carl didn't remember the names of pirates or officers he had little contact with. But this was different.
"I don't care what you say! I'm not giving up!" Luffy shouted, eyes blazing.
"Shut up, boy," Sengoku finally stepped forward, voice grave. "Think about all this once you're locked away."
It was only after hearing Garp's words that Carl finally breathed a sigh of relief. The old man hadn't completely lost control. Not yet.
Of course, he still remembered what happened during the breakout—the Newkama Army's rampage through the prison, the humiliation dealt to the Marine force under Carl's command, and the cost of the chaos.
"Ow!!" Luffy yelped suddenly.
A meaty fist had slammed down on his head with bone-jarring force.
"Stupid brat!" Garp barked.
Luffy flinched, tied up and unable to defend himself. Of course, it was Garp's iron fist—legendary across the seas. He had hit Luffy without holding back.
And it was all because of him—because of Luffy—that Impel Down had been compromised in the first place.
But what haunted Carl even more was the fact that his grandfather, the man who should have stood with justice, was now protecting his pirate grandson.
"Yeah… I lost…" Luffy muttered under his breath. "That guy… He was too strong…"
"It's not up to you anymore…" Garp muttered, his voice low. He turned his head slightly, staring at the distant sea, eyes dark.
At Carl's command, the Marines had begun moving again, their ranks reorganizing into battle-ready formation.
The dull thud of Garp's fist echoed across the deck once more.
"But that Marine…" Luffy thought. That man—they called him Carl—had cast a long shadow over his heart. His power had been overwhelming, on another level entirely.
Luffy and Ace had once been nothing but street brats, born of bloodlines cursed by the world. But now? Now they were major players on the sea.
"I see," Carl said calmly, then turned away. "I'll report this. Over and out."
"Brrrr-blah-blah-blah…" the Den Den Mushi fizzled out.
If Akainu had taken the call, he would've barked something like, "Freedom? The world is built on order! Without it, everything crumbles!"
"Don't worry about him," Carl waved a hand, eyes narrowed. "He's irrelevant for now."
Because of Garp, Luffy and his crew were still alive. Carl could only accept it—at least temporarily.
As for those giant bugs earlier? They were summoned by Hercules, the eccentric "Beetle-Man" of the Kamabakka Kingdom.
If Garp kept ignoring Marine protocol, this would only spiral further out of control.
"Once you go in," Garp said grimly, "don't even dream of coming out."
His voice, calm but sharp, cut through the noise like a blade.
Bright, standing beside Luffy, bowed his head. "Understood."
"I won't accept this!" Luffy roared. "I'm the man who's gonna be King of the Pirates! I'll never rot in a place like Impel Down!"
He had been there. He had escaped once. And if he had to, he'd do it again.
"Freedom?" Garp echoed. He was stunned, just for a moment. Because there was no place more devoid of freedom than Impel Down.
If only Carl had remained on the ship a little longer…
Second, with the Marine Hero Garp stationed here, even Fleet Admiral Akainu couldn't simply drag Luffy to the execution platform. Not without resistance—public or private.
"There are countless people who dream of becoming the Pirate King. Why must it be you?" Sengoku spoke with his usual sternness, his arms crossed and voice deep. "Boy, you need to recognize reality."
Carl reached out and ruffled Emily's hair, smiling faintly. "Good job, Emily. You've done well."
Even if Garp bore the title of Marine Hero and was legendary for his strength in the times of Roger and Whitebeard, that alone could no longer shape the tides of the sea. His influence had limits. Moreover, the Revolutionary Army—what the World Government still labeled the "GM Army"—wasn't even within the Marine's full jurisdiction. They had always been under the surveillance and pursuit of CP0 and the Cipher Pol networks.
And yet, despite it all, no one from Luffy's crew had died.
Carl's transponder snail began to ring from his wrist. His eyebrows rose slightly, and he accepted the call.
Why now? Why show up here? In this world, defeat often meant death. Especially for pirates. And though Luffy was the son of Monkey D. Dragon, leader of the Revolutionary Army, even that background wasn't enough to grant him immunity. Shakky's Rip-Off Bar had been shut down. Even Shakuyaku herself was secretly imprisoned by CP agents stationed in the 13th district.
"Yes!" T. Penn finally snapped back to attention, his shock giving way to clarity.
Luffy raised his head slowly, his gaze locking with Garp's. "…Impel Down…"
"Report! Vice Admiral Carl, all the wounded have been treated!" Emily saluted crisply, voice full of determination.
The battlefield had seen many prisoners released—both intentionally and by consequence. And while it was true that Luffy had been captured by Carl, his fate hadn't yet been sealed.
Carl turned to T. Penn. "You heard the order, right? Get ready. We're moving."
Garp's thoughts were clearly different from Carl's. Their ideals, their generations—they stood on opposite ends of an evolving age.
"You…" Garp's voice cracked slightly as he looked his grandson in the eye, taking a long breath.
Even now, Carl couldn't believe that Garp—the same man who punched the Pirate King Roger countless times—might be the one forced to deliver this boy to a fate worse than death.
"Let it be," Sengoku said with a sigh, turning his back to the conversation and walking slowly toward the cabin of the Marine vessel.
In this world, losers had no voice—only silence.
Luffy blinked through the fog of uncertainty, then shouted, "Grandpa! Why did you hit me?!"
But Garp remained silent.
Solomon Carl—the name left an impression on everyone who heard it.
Whether Ace lived or died had always been a critical point, but to Sengoku, Whitebeard's death was the ultimate objective. With Whitebeard gone, the balance of power could shift.
Bright felt as though the world had turned against him, even as he stood on the right side of justice.
Luffy's sentence was clear: he would remain imprisoned in Impel Down, the underwater hell, for the rest of his life.
Sengoku frowned and glanced sidelong at Garp. Is this the grandson you raised?
As long as Whitebeard fell, the larger goal was achieved. Sengoku had made his decision, long before this confrontation.
Not everyone was meant to be a Marine.
Even Solomon Carl—still in his twenties—carried a will that frightened the old guard.
"Because I want to be the freest man on the sea!" Luffy roared.
"So, set course for Impel Down immediately!" Akainu's voice came sharp over the transponder snail. "If you catch up, re-capture the Straw Hat crew. If not—then detain that old man Garp. No exceptions!"
"Luffy," Garp said quietly, "Why can't you… just walk the path I laid out for you?"
Most people couldn't understand the two old men's real thoughts. They drifted on the sea, legends with nothing left but regrets and burdens.
"Eh?" Luffy blinked. "Wait! Why are you here?!"
"Report… Vice Admiral Carl…" Bright looked slightly guilty. "That 'Princess Mononoke' girl… Perona escaped…"
Carl raised an eyebrow just as the transponder snail changed, forming the stern visage of Fleet Admiral Sakazuki.
Elsewhere, in Sabaody Archipelago, where much had already happened…
The others had fulfilled their tasks. Bright's was the only failure.
Garp's eyes were clouded with a complex mix of emotion. He had seen the bottom of the sea, the waves of fate, more times than anyone.
He was the hero of Marineford—but his son led the revolution against the same government he once protected.
"Nothing is impossible!" Luffy bellowed, fists clenched and eyes blazing. "No prison, no chain can stop me from becoming Pirate King!"
But few took his words seriously now.
Both his grandsons had chosen piracy, regardless of what Garp tried to instill in them.
Instead of watching this one die on the battlefield like Ace, Garp was letting the World Government cage him like a beast.
But anyone with eyes could see he'd held back.
Most of the soldiers didn't even know what to say.
And behind Luffy's glare… there was still confusion in his eyes.
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