Chapter 46: Preemptive Justice
Magellan and Sakazuki stared, speechless. The other pirates of Level 6, still trembling on their knees, looked on with a growing, superstitious dread. Levi's casual brutality, his clinical detachment, and now his announcement that he would be staying… it painted a picture of a predator moving into the henhouse. To them, he seemed even more terrifyingly unpredictable than the famously ruthless Akainu.
A Marine Admiral taking up residence in their hell? What fresh nightmare was this?
"Ah, this is…" Magellan began, turning to Sakazuki with a look of helpless confusion. What do we do? Is he just another Shiryu? But infinitely more powerful? The thought was chilling.
Sakazuki met his gaze, his expression stoic, but internally he was just as confounded. What do you expect me to do? Outrank him? We're equals. Intimidate him? Look at what he just did. Fight him? The outcome is… unfavorable. He saw the pragmatism in Levi's actions, even the cruelty had a cold logic, but this new whim was disruptive.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku's order was for one of us to remain at Impel Down as a precaution," Sakazuki stated, his voice cutting through the tension. "A deterrent. Not… not to conduct personal purges of Level 6." Even he, who believed in absolute justice, understood the political and strategic value of keeping these pirates contained, if not alive.
"I only eliminated two," Levi replied, his tone reasonable. "And there are so many left. I've stated my intent to cease killing. Accidents may occur, but I will endeavor to minimize them." He shrugged slightly.
The prisoners listening felt a fresh wave of impotent fury. "Accidents"?! At your hands?! There was no difference to them.
"As for my stay," Levi continued, "Garp has undoubtedly returned to Marineford. Sengoku-san is likely… preoccupied with that diplomatic headache. My presence here avoids potential… friction." He left the implication of a clash between himself and the Hero of the Marines hanging in the air. "Besides, I'm merely curious."
"Curious about what?" Sakazuki pressed, his brow furrowed.
"About many things," Levi answered, his gaze drifting over the cowed prisoners. "The structure of willpower under duress. The limits of Haki when the spirit is broken. Simple curiosity."
He then turned to Magellan, a faint, knowing smile on his lips. "Oh, Warden. You might want to check on Shiryu of the Rain's cell. I suspect you'll find a… surprise."
Magellan's toxic features hardened. "What do you mean?"
"See for yourself."
Without another word, Magellan turned, his body morphing into a Venom Road that sped down the corridor. He arrived at Shiryu's special confinement cell to find a peculiar scene.
Marshall D. Teach stood nonchalantly nearby. Inside the open cell door, Shiryu was calmly wiping his sword. A dead jailer lay between them.
The atmosphere was thick with unspoken conspiracy.
"Blackbeard," Magellan's voice was a low, dangerous rumble. "What is the meaning of this? Shiryu…"
Blackbeard immediately plastered on his wide, gap-toothed grin, oozing false camaraderie. "Warden! Just in time! I saw this prisoner out of his cell during the riot! Thought I'd lend a hand and corner him for ya! We're all on the same side here, right?" The lie was smooth, his demeanor perfectly calibrated to that of an over-eager new "ally."
Shiryu didn't even look up from his blade. "It seems my assistance is no longer required." His tone was bored, flawless in its feigned innocence.
On the surface, it was plausible. Blackbeard was the "hero." Shiryu was a powerful, if imprisoned, guard. But the timing, the location, the dead man… it stank.
Back at the main entrance, Levi sighed audibly. "Magellan, are you a herbivore? The stench of conspiracy is overwhelming."
Sakazuki and Magellan, listening via the open comms, remained silent. They sensed it too—the wrongness. But sense was not evidence. Confronting a newly minted Warlord and a former Head Jailer on a hunch, without proof, was a political minefield. Even Sakazuki's brand of justice had to navigate the bureaucracy of the World Government.
"Really," Levi's voice carried a note of genuine exasperation. "One of you is called the 'Demon of Impel Down,' the other 'Absolute Justice.' And yet you hesitate in the heart of your own fortress, during a riot no less. This is where the rules are meant to be bent. Allow me."
Levi had largely ignored Blackbeard's scheming. The man' ambitions concerning Impel Down were of little consequence to him. But during the Reiatsu suppression, Levi's enhanced perception had caught it—the repeated, calculating, hate-filled glances Blackbeard had shot his way from the shadows. Not once, but multiple times. The man wasn't just planning; he was factoring Levi into his plans as an obstacle, perhaps a target.
Once was observation. Twice was calculation. Three times was a declaration of hostile intent.
And Levi did not tolerate hostile variables lurking in his periphery.
He began walking down the corridor towards Magellan's location, his steps measured. "Unstable factors with clear malicious intent," he said, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "They should be preemptively crushed. Eliminated. It's the most logical course of action. Do you understand?"
He wasn't asking Sakazuki or Magellan. He was stating a principle, one he was about to enact. As he turned the corner, coming into view of Blackbeard and Shiryu, his Reiatsu didn't flare. It simply solidified around the two men, a cage of invisible, suffocating force that pinned them in place more effectively than any seastone.
He looked at Blackbeard, his eyes devoid of anger, only a cold, analytical finality. "Three glances, Teach. You factored me into your equations. A miscalculation."
The message was clear. In Levi's calculus of convenience and threat, Blackbeard had just moved from 'irrelevant variable' to 'active liability to be resolved.'
And in Impel Down, under the cover of a riot, resolutions could be permanent.
(End of Chapter)
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