Did Hannyabal's words hold any weight?
Storm couldn't be sure yet.
After a rather lavish lunch,
Storm, now well-fed and satisfied, took the elevator down to the second level of Impel Down—
Beast Hell!
Whether Hannyabal could actually get him promoted remained uncertain.
But Magellan's "promotion transfer order" was absolutely legitimate! As the newly appointed Warden Chief of both Crimson Hell and Beast Hell,
Storm's first order of business was naturally to beat up (scratch that)—
meet his subordinates!
Unlike Crimson Hell,
Beast Hell had no natural scenery to speak of.
Instead, it was filled with endless rows of cramped prison cells, towering corridors, and—
an unceasing cacophony of roars and screams.
"GROOOOOWL—"
"RAAAAAWR—"
The moment Storm stepped into Beast Hell, he was assaulted by a terrifying wave of sound.
It was as if at any moment, a horrifying monster could leap out from the dark, shadowy corridors! An ordinary person standing here would likely be scared out of their wits.
"So noisy..."
Storm dug at his ears nonchalantly and set off toward the warden's office in Beast Hell.
He planned to retrieve a list of prisoners held in Beast Hell from the office.
This would make his subsequent "Grand Prize Trophy hunting plan" much easier.
But he hadn't gone far when
a flurry of chaotic footsteps echoed from the dark passageway ahead,
accompanied by furious roars.
"Keys!"
"Give me the keys!"
Storm halted, his brow furrowing as he glanced up at the Surveillance Den Den Mushi in the corner.
A prison break in Beast Hell? But why hadn't the monitoring room alerted him?
Preparing for battle, Storm waited silently until the angry "escapees" finally appeared.
However, contrary to his expectations, these "escapees" weren't prisoners in striped uniforms.
Instead, they were a pack of ferocious, human-faced giant lions—the Prison Guard Beasts of Beast Hell, the Human-faced Lions.
As Storm spotted them,
the Human-faced Lions also noticed him.
To be precise,
they had charged here precisely because they had caught the scent of an unfamiliar presence.
Now that they had found their target, the Human-faced Lions immediately roared and lunged at him.
As they charged, their roars were...
somewhat nonsensical.
"Fundoshi fundoshi!"
"Loincloth loincloth!"
Hearing their cries,
Storm's face darkened.
"What kind of nonsense have these Human-faced Lions been learning?!"
Despite their human-like faces and ability to speak,
their intelligence was only marginally better than the Blue Water Monkeys of Crimson Hell.
They could mimic human speech, but they had no understanding of what the words meant.
"Monkeys that dive into the sea, lions that talk..."
Storm stood his ground, gathering his strength as a metallic black sheen spread across his skin.
"What kind of freaks are these?! Iron Body! Hah!"
The roaring Human-faced Lions closed in on him at terrifying speed.
Storm could see his own reflection in the pupils of these Human-faced Lions! Just then.
The fastest one had already charged right in front of him.
It suddenly reared up on its hind legs, raising its massive lion-like paw the size of a palm-leaf fan, and swiped viciously at the human before it.
Bam! The Human-faced Lion's paw struck Storm's body with tremendous force, producing a dull, heavy impact sound.
It was as if its claws hadn't hit human flesh, but tempered steel instead! Crack!
Accompanied by a crisp, almost musical sound of bone breaking.
The leading Human-faced Lion's paw suddenly twisted at an impossible, unnatural angle.
"ROAR!!"
The Human-faced Lion let out an agonized howl.
Forgetting its prey, it immediately dropped to the ground, writhing and wailing in pain.
One Human-faced Lion down.
More came charging forward.
Yet.
The Human-faced Lions were like crashing waves.
Storm stood firm as an unyielding reef.
The waves surged and receded, the tides rose and fell, but the reef remained unmoved.
In less than a moment.
The once-ferocious pack of Human-faced Lions now lay sprawled across the corridor floor.
Some with broken paws, others with shattered teeth, all whimpering in pain.
Against the defense of [Iron Body], the strength of Human-faced Lions was utterly insufficient!
On the contrary.
The harder they attacked, the more severely they injured themselves! "These Human-faced Lions don't seem stronger than Blue Gorillas..."
Storm deactivated [Iron Body], adjusting his slightly torn uniform.
Then he spread his fingers—clay gushed forth, forming giant fist-shaped constructs the size of millstones.
"Clay Barrage!"
Storm clenched his fist, and the clay constructs descended with pinpoint accuracy onto each Human-faced Lion's head.
Thud! Thud! Thud!—
The unique sound of knocking on watermelons echoed continuously through Beast Hell's corridors. Every Human-faced Lion that had attacked was instantly knocked unconscious.
[Silver Trophy: Human-faced Lion]*9 After subduing the pack, Storm turned his gaze once more toward the Surveillance Den Den Mushi in the corner.
"Wardens of Beast Hell, come collect your stray cats!"
Inside the nearby cells.
Not a single prisoner who had witnessed the entire fight dared to make a sound now.
They didn't even dare to think about making noise!
To Storm, the Human-faced Lions were just "stray kittens" to be casually dealt with.
But to the prisoners of Beast Hell, any one of these creatures was a lethal threat! Only when Storm's figure had completely disappeared into the dark passageway, his footsteps no longer audible.
Did the prisoners of Beast Hell dare to speak again.
"So terrifying! He took down all those Human-faced Lions in an instant..."
"That's a warden's uniform! The prison's got itself one hell of an officer now!"
"I still prefer Sadie from before..."
"Better than Shiryu."
Among the prisoners, the name "Shiryu of the Rain" seemed to carry a peculiar magic.
Just the mention of "Shiryu" silenced all conversation among them.
Finally, only one "prison veteran" heaved a long sigh.
"This... is Hell..."
Meanwhile.
Storm successfully obtained the prisoner list for Beast Hell from the warden's office.
Additionally, he obtained a daily activity map of the Prison Guard Beasts in Beast Hell.
The map meticulously recorded the routine locations of the animal Prison Guard Beasts in Beast Hell.
The wardens had even thoughtfully assigned a threat level to each animal Prison Guard Beast.
According to the wardens' assessment,
the Human-faced Lion Storm had just encountered was merely the lowest-threat Prison Guard Beast in Beast Hell.
Beyond that, there were other beastly Prison Guard Beasts like flying mantises, burrowing rats, big-mouthed hippos, jigsaw scorpions, and so on.
Storm ignored these ordinary beastly Prison Guard Beasts, setting his sights on the "Monster Boss" and "Monster Second-in-Command"—
the Cockatrice, Basilisk! And the Sphinx!
As per the wardens' claims,
among all the animal Prison Guard Beasts in Beast Hell, the Sphinx was the most powerful.
Even if thrown into the fifth level, Extreme Cold Hell, it would still qualify as a Prison Guard Beast—
provided the Army Wolves didn't devour it.
"That doesn't sound all that strong..."
Storm muttered to himself.
Holding the prisoner list and the Prison Guard Beast activity map, he patrolled around Beast Hell.
Eventually, he arrived at the connecting staircase between Beast Hell and Starvation Hell.
Storm wasn't planning to descend into the lower Starvation Hell.
He came here because the Sphinx was also here! Blue gorillas and Human-faced Lions could at best offer a Silver Trophy.
The Sphinx was currently the strongest Prison Guard Beast Storm could normally encounter.
He wanted to see just how powerful the Sphinx truly was!
On the staircase,
a massive creature crouched on the steps.
It had a lion-like body, with a pair of light brown wings growing from its back.
Beast Hell's Prison Guard Beast—the Sphinx! As Storm reached the staircase,
the Sphinx caught the scent of a stranger.
Slowly rising to its feet, it revealed a dark, human-like face of enormous size.
"ROAR—"
The Sphinx bellowed at the stranger.
It raised an arm as thick as several men combined and swung it down at Storm.
[Moon Walk]! Storm stomped heavily on the ground, propelling himself into the air like a bird and dodging the attack.
BOOM! The Sphinx's claw struck the ground, unleashing an ear-splitting crash.
The entire floor of Beast Hell seemed to tremble slightly from the impact.
"Incredible strength!"
Storm nodded slightly.
"That slap could at least knock out a water monkey or a Human-faced Lion.
"No wonder the Sphinx is the 'Monster Boss' of Beast Hell!"
Missing its target, the Sphinx roared in fury once more.
"ROAR—"
But this time, Storm had no intention of holding back.
He extended his right hand toward the Sphinx, unleashing the full power of the [Clay-Clay Fruit].
In moments, white clay spread across the entire staircase entrance.
SLAP—SLAP—
The Sphinx looked puzzled, slapping at the soft white clay beneath it, but to no effect.
Trapped, completely unaware.
With a thought from Storm, the white clay split into two.
One part formed a massive white net, restraining the Sphinx's movements.
The other part molded into enormous clay fists.
"Clay Meteor Fist!"
Countless giant clay fists rained down like a super meteor shower, bombarding the immobilized Sphinx.
Boom! Boom! Boom—
The merciless beating continued for several minutes.
Until suddenly, a resplendent [Grand Prize Trophy] materialized before Storm's eyes.
[Golden Trophy: Sphinx]
[Trophy Rating: ★★★★]
(End of Chapter)