And thus, the plan for infiltrating Impel Down was hatched. Sabo had never gone to Impel Down before, but he did visit the Amazonian islands long ago as one of the missions to gather information about a Shichibukai.
Apart from Mihawk, who seemed to roam around all the time, he, with the help of the Revolutionary Army, knew where each of the Shichibukai were located. But Impel Down was different. One couldn't simply infiltrate it. Of course, one could do so forcefully, but that would trigger the Admirals and open a can of worms.
The reason why Luffy was able to escape during the war was that the chaos provided an opportunity. At a different time, he would have died. Actually, scratch that, if it were not for Ivankov, he would have died. If the brothers forcefully barged in, it would be even more problematic, as Ken was sure that Marijoa would send the Holy Knights.
They weren't ready to take on the Holy Knights just yet. CP0 (post time skip) was powerful, and even Luffy would have a hard time. Ken would have to use everything in his power to actually defeat them.
In addition, they needed someone on the inside, and Hancock was perfect for the job. So the next day, Hancock wore the ornament on her wrist while Sabo instructed her on how to signal them once she reached inside Impel Down. With the instructions in mind, she left, and the long wait continued.
"Luffy, how come you've been silent all this time?" Ken said, noticing that Luffy had been incredibly quiet since they brought Hancock to them. He didn't utter a word and let Ken do all the talking, which was definitely weird by his standards.
"Well, I was thinking if there are no men, how come there were so many women on the island?"
This made both Ken and Sabo fall to their knees. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Luffy and thinking? And such deep thinking at that? Were the characteristics of Hiruzen and Jin Mori actually rubbing off on Luffy a little too much?
"How did you think of that?" Sabo asked, still unable to believe that Luffy asked such a good question. Luffy just shrugged, signifying that it just came to his mind.
"We don't know, and you better not go and ask Hancock about it," Ken warned. They were already not welcomed by the three sisters, and he didn't want another misunderstanding. Luffy looked disappointed that he couldn't ask. He had been trying to find the answer himself but failed.
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But now he couldn't even ask. What a load of bullshit!
Meanwhile, Hancock had arrived at Impel Down after a long day. The Navy felt a little weird that she wanted to meet Ace, but she was given the chance to only look at him and not talk with him.
She accepted. She only needed to go inside Impel Down, and it would be over.
After a long wait, Sabo's magical ornament lit up. Being all knowledgeable and Sorcerer Supreme, he could create some magical ornaments too.
"She has given the signal. Let's go," Sabo said as he touched the ornament that looked exactly like the one he gave to Hancock, following that Luffy and Ken did the same too. And just like magic, they vanished from the island.
Very few of Amazonians knew that men had been living on the island and from then on two men would continue living on the island until they moved somewhere else. The brothers appeared again and this time in Impel Down.
Level 2: Wild Beast Hell
"Yosh.. Let's go and save Ace." Luffy shouted the moment he appeared in Impel Down and was ready to run but was stopped by Ken and Sabo.
"Stop. We need to think of what we need to do." Sabo held his cheek and was not letting it go.
"Let me go Sabo, I will not stop now."
"How did this guy go from an intelligent man to a dumb man in a matter of minutes." Ken mumbled.
"It's your Captain. You should know," Sabo ridiculed.
"This is Level 2. We need to go deeper to Level 6," Ken said, not answering Sabo and looking around.
"Let's find the stairs and then go deeper."
Ken could feel the desolate, chilling realm within the infamous prison. His Haki told him about the presence of venomous snakes slithering in shadows, massive arachnids with razor-sharp claws lurking in corners, and winged predators.
"Did they boost Impel Down or something? Why are there so many animals in this level?" Ken mumbled. With his Haki, he also came across interesting people. Buggy, Mr. 3, and Mr. 2. All in the same level. They had really come to Impel Down accepting Ken's orders at that time. The surprising part was Buggy. Did he come intentionally, or was he just caught?
Not thinking much, Ken sensed the entry to the next level and ran towards it with Luffy and Sabo. On the way, they could pick up the other three. And of course, Luffy, on the way, made noise, which was followed by vicious animals coming after them.
"Luffy, I told you not to make noise," Sabo was furious.
"I am sorry," Luffy looked genuinely sorry.
"It's fine. Reaching the 6th level couldn't be done in silence anyways. So let's let loose," Ken said as he stretched his arms and legs, seeing the animals coming after them. The Impel Down was alerted that three people had barged in from somewhere. Hancock had been very clever about her way of calling them, as she threw out the ornament after activating it on the 2nd level, just as Ken had asked for.
Ken brought out his Stormbreaker, smashing through venomous snakes that crossed their path. Luffy, seeing his brother shining, couldn't be left behind and started attacking any random huge animal that came after them while on the run. Sabo, with his formidable mystical abilities, provided them with crucial defensive shields and opened portals to facilitate strategic escapes.