I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

The war is over.

Golden Lion used the power of the Float-Float Fruit and the Cloud-Cloud Fruit to lift the pirates into the air and leave, while Barrett escaped the Navy's pursuit in a submarine.

In the end, this battlefield, which had become ruins and wreckage, was left with only a scene of devastation.

Marshal Sengoku remained on the battlefield. Although the war was over, the aftermath was still causing him a great deal of trouble.

The Navy suffered heavy losses after facing attacks from top-tier fighters such as Whitebeard and Barrett.

Although Shiki, Higuma, and the others did not defeat the Marines, their successful raid on Impel Down and escape was already a huge victory for the pirate alliance.

Sengoku strolled across the ruins of Impel Down, now reduced to rubble. Before him, several Marine Titans were attempting to clear a staircase by moving rubble and debris.

"Marshal Sengoku! This is the passage leading to the first basement level of Impel Down!"

"Sig's attack did not completely destroy Impel Down; it only destroyed the above-ground portion of Impel Down!"

"The underground prison section where the prisoners are located was largely unaffected... except for the sixth level."

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, a wry smile appeared on Sengoku's face.

Was only the above-ground portion destroyed?

The most dangerous sixth level, Infinite Hell, has been escaped by all those legendary pirates.

At that moment, another subordinate jogged over.

"Marshal Sengoku, we have successfully made contact with the Impel Down forces on the first basement level. Magellan, the warden of Impel Down, is seriously injured and is currently receiving treatment in the infirmary on the first basement level of Impel Down."

"Oh? Take me to see him," Sengoku said immediately, and followed his subordinate into Impel Down.

A moment later, Sengoku met Magellan by his bedside in the infirmary.

"Marshal of the Warring States... I cannot shirk my responsibility for this incident..."

Magellan lay on the hospital bed, his body wrapped in bandages, speaking haltingly.

"Don't bring up things like that."

"Magellan, I'm asking you, has the list of escaped prisoners from the sixth level been confirmed?" Sengoku asked again.

Magellan nodded, beckoned a Impel Down official to him, and handed him a list and a stack of bounty posters for the prisoners.

"Including [The Lone Red] Redfield, [Devil's Descendant] Barrett, [Evil King] Abaro Pizarro, [Moon Hunter] Caterina Devon, [Giant Battleship] San Juan Wolf, former Vice Admiral Saul of the Marine Headquarters..."

"All the prisoners in the sixth level of Infinite Hell have escaped; a total of 55 people."

"If we include Shiki the Golden Lion, who escaped from prison ten years ago, then there are actually 56 escaped prisoners currently at Impel Down."

Upon hearing those names and seeing the shocking numbers on the stack of bounty posters, Sengoku fell into a deep silence.

He suddenly remembered that before the Impel Down war, he had personally listened to the interrogation of the fishman Arlong.

At the time, Sengoku even concluded from this that Sig might be a mountain bandit who longed to live a secluded life...

"Retire in seclusion my foot! After destroying half of the Holy Land and half of Impel Down, and participating in such heinous events, how could he possibly retire in seclusion!"

Thinking about this, Zhan Guo's forehead was covered in black lines.

"Marshal of the Warring States, there is one more thing," Magellan said, struggling to speak from his sickbed.

"Sig exhibited unusual behavior while inside Impel Down."

"After I was defeated by the Golden Lion, I returned to the first level of Impel Down and encountered Sieg, only to find that Sieg had disappeared on a dead-end road leading to the storerooms..."

"This strange thing even happened a second time."

"When we used the Seastone Gates to completely seal off Impel Down, Sig was trapped inside just like Shiki, but he mysteriously disappeared and suddenly reappeared outside the gates of Impel Down..."

These words caused Sengoku's brows to furrow immediately:

"What are you trying to say, Magellan?"

"Marshal Sengoku, Sieg... seems to know everything about Impel Down. He may have access to a secret passage that even our Impel Down forces don't know about, allowing him to quickly travel between the inside and outside of Impel Down!"

After hearing these words, Zhan Guo's expression darkened even further.

The above-ground portion of Impel Down is now completely destroyed, making it impossible to verify the authenticity of the secret passage.

But the Warring States period considered a very bad possibility.

"Why would Sig know about the so-called secret passage? Could he have been a prisoner in Impel Down?"

Upon reflection, Zhan Guo felt a growing sense of powerlessness.

Sig is too mysterious.

Leaving aside the Impel Down secret passages, let's just talk about the key prisoner who escaped this time: Douglas Barrett.

Sieg's treatment of Barrett was somewhat strange, and in the end, he didn't kill Barrett, sparing his life...

"Did Sieg and Barrett have some complicated relationship in the past?"

There are too many mysteries surrounding Sieg, too many enigmas, the more I think about it, the more my head aches.

The Impel Down war was full of twists and turns. The Navy once had the upper hand, but after Barrett attacked in her Impel Down Titan form, they even started to lose ground.

But no one expected that when the Navy faced a major crisis... Barrett would instead fight with Sieg, ultimately ending the war prematurely.

However, Sengoku also learned something very important from this Impel Down war.

"Pirates are not a monolithic entity!"

"In fact, the alliance between Sigurd, Shiki, and Whitebeard is an anomaly in itself!"

"Pirates are ultimately just a rabble! Even when they have the upper hand in a war, they will suddenly start fighting amongst themselves."

"Among the prisoners on the sixth level, there must still be people like Barrett! So the situation our navy is facing is not as bad as we imagined."

After much deliberation, the Warring States period had roughly devised a countermeasure.

Divide and separate.

The Navy is the most powerful military force in the world, possessing the most powerful individuals, unmatched by any other force, not even the Four Emperors.

But in reality, there are far more pirates in the world combined, and they are far stronger. If all the pirates could unite, no force could resist them, but that's impossible.

Just like how the proletariat could unite and the capitalists could no longer run rampant... it sounds wonderful, but it's impossible.

And this tactic of sowing discord is an absolute weapon against pirates who are already divided!

"Barrett...this person deserves our close attention. He's practically an uncontrollable rabid dog; apart from Roger back then, no one could tame him. Such a character might be very useful in the current situation..."

Chapter 556 New Card: Zhang San, the Outlaw

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Chapter 557 Sig, Who exactly are you?

At the banquet beside the peach blossom grove.

After everyone finished their drinks, the bald man walked over, picked up his camera and Den Den Mushi (a type of electric scooter), and suggested taking another group photo.

Whitebeard exchanged a glance with Shiki and Sigurd.

Whitebeard said:

"To have breached such a formidable stronghold as Impel Down and returned safely is certainly something to commemorate once again."

Sieg's eyes were slightly unfocused at this moment, and he nodded in agreement:

Me too.

The golden lion was slightly taken aback, but said nothing and readily agreed.

So the three of them stood side by side and each raised their weapons.

Whitebeard wielded the large naginata Murakumogiri, while Shiki wielded two straight-bladed longswords, Sakura Ju and Kareki.

As for Sieg... he glanced at the swords in the hands of Shiki and Whitebeard, and silently took out the two-meter-long sword and spear that he had photoshopped from his inventory.

The peach blossoms were in full bloom, petals fluttering down, sunlight falling on their shoulders, and the three of them clashed swords in their hands.

........

After taking the photos, witnessing the legends of the old era gathered together, both the white-bearded man and the golden lion felt a surge of emotion.

"I suddenly remembered what happened back when I was with the Rocks Pirates."

A look of reminiscence crossed Golden Lion's eyes as he gazed at the group of old-era pirates around him and said:

"Whitebeard, there are more than just the two of us former Rocks Pirates members here now. This scene seems familiar... it's like going back to those days."

Whitebeard, however, shook his head.

"This is not quite the same as it was back then."

"The members of Rocks' pirate crew spend their time killing each other, and they rarely drink together."

"Moreover, compared to that era, there is one person missing."

Whitebeard and Golden Lion exchanged a glance and fell silent simultaneously.

Sieg poured himself a drink, then interjected:

"Yes, someone is indeed missing."

"Golden Lion, did you forget to take Barrett with you when you left?"

"Although Barrett is relatively young, she was once a famous newcomer who was active in the old era."

These words caused both Shiki and Whitebeard to pause slightly, their earlier enthusiasm waning somewhat.

The golden lion immediately snorted coldly:

“Sig, at a time like this, don’t mention that unpleasant name.”

"If it weren't for his meddling, we might have had a chance to compete with the Navy this time."

It wasn't just Golden Lion; the group of old-era pirates around him also looked slightly grim.

Which of these legendary pirates from the old era wasn't an arrogant and unruly figure with lofty ambitions?

Many of them were figures who had once clashed with Roger, Whitebeard, and others, and they feared no one.