The Devouring Dragon-Chapter 104: Food

"Kawamatsu," I hummed, standing in front of a cell towards the side of Rock Quarry, peering into the darkness at an inhuman-looking man, "How’d you like something other than fish for a change?"

The prison cell in front of me was in a rather strange place, as while there were various iron doors around the Rock Quarry leading to cells, this one didn’t have a door. Instead, it was simply pushed into the wall, as there were iron bars wedged between the white stone surrounding it.

On the inside, instead of multiple cells in a single room, there was just one small cell with a view of the entire Rock Quarry. This cell was different from the others, and that was because it held the man who was possibly the most dangerous in the entire prsion - though you wouldn’t know it from how he looked.

The man sitting in the back of the cell, with both chains wrapped over his body and cuffs over his wrists, was less of a man and more of a fish - a pufferfish to be exact. He had green skin, a somewhat cute chubby face, and an overall pretty round body. If you excluded how large he was - as he was nearly nine feet tall overall - he was pretty unintimidating.

Despite that, his level showed that he was anything but weak.

[Kawamatsu] [Nine Red Scabbard] - Level 220

Reputation: Neutral

Despite being fed nothing but poisonous fish for years, Kawamatsu was still a formidable fighter. In the grand scheme of the world - both this one and the DxD one I resided in - he wasn’t that impressive, but he wasn’t a pushover either.

He was roughly a bit under Benemue’s level, as while he definitely didn’t have the destructive or versatile light-based techniques the woman did, he was a skilled fighter with a supernaturally strong body.

Overall, he’d be a nice addition to my army.

"...Who are you?" The pufferfish man answered me cautiously, narrowing his eyes through the bars at me, "I saw you kill those guards, but... I don’t recognize you."

"I wouldn’t expect you to," I just grinned at his words, "I come from outside of Wano. I’m Valon - the Beast King and ruler of the Underword. But, for now, you can consider me an ally."

I casually lashed out with my sword, causing the man’s eyes to widen as I cut through the bars as if they were butter. They split in half, crumbling and falling to the ground with a clang, and I stepped into the cell.

"You... are strong," Kawamatsu muttered, his eyes still looking cautious and untrusting as I entered the cell, but I ignored him. He knew what was coming next, and he held up his arms as I sliced through his arm restraints easily, and then the chains wrapped around him afterward.

"I am, but you don’t need to be cautious," I just hummed, "Come on, we have a prison to conquer, don’t we?"

And, I didn’t think that goal would be very difficult to achieve.

Taking down Udon Prison was surprisingly simple, at least in theory. In the Executive Tower, there sat the Warden Babnuki, Vice Warden Dobon, Vice Warden Daifugo, and Vice Warden Solitaire.

They were all decently tough, but compared to myself? They’d be lucky to survive a single swing of my blade. If I simply broke into the Executive Tower, climbed up to the top, and kicked their asses, then taking over the rest of the prison would be childs play.

It was the most efficient way, and I’d said I would be efficient in clearing out this world. By every metric of sensibility I had, I should just bust into the Executive Tower, kill the leaders, and then free the prisoners with the condition that they bend the knee. It was simply the most effective way to operate.

Which is why I had to silently apologize to my past self, as I instead decided that having the biggest prison break this world had ever seen - or, the second biggest if Luffy had already broken out of Impel Down at this point - would be much more fun.

Hey, I was a King, y’know? If I wanna have fun, then I can damn well have my fun!

So, as I headed back to the group of prisoners, all of whom were now free as their restraints had been cut in half, I started my preparations.

"I suppose you guys will need some food before you can run wild, huh?" I smirked, and the expressions of all the prisoners, even Hyougoro, brightened at the mention of food.

These prisoners were malnourished, and in a world where Luffy healed by eating meat, food was essential. If I wanted to create a massive prison break, boost morale, and let the prisoners run wild and kill their captors, then they needed a big meal first.

"F-Food? I like the way you think!" One of the prisoners, a rather tall man who somehow managed to still be pretty fat despite all the prisoners not having access to much food, cheered.

I didn’t recognize him from the series, and he was overall just a low-level background character, but his words were pretty infectious.

"Y-Yeah! Let’s go get some food!"

"I haven’t had anything but kibi dango in so long! Let’s go raid the food storage!"

"Yeah! You saw how quick he took out those guards, right?! We can really get some real food, then break out of here!"

I just grinned as the morale of the prisoners was instantly raised, and I casually turned around, striding towards the steel door that led to the interior of the prison.

"Where do they keep the food?" I called back to Hyougoro, and I was right in the assumption that he would know.

"The kibi dango is kept out here, and with all the guards dead, we could go take it," Hyougoro said, though he wrinkled his nose a bit at the thought, "But, for real food... it’ll be in the Executive Tower. Probably on the bottom floor."

"Then, that’s where we’ll go," I said simply, walking forward casually, "Stick with me, boys, and I’ll have a feast prepared for you in no time!"

"YEAHHH!" The morale boosted even more as a roar of cheers came, and I silently glanced back at Hyougoro, speaking only to him as he walked a bit behind me.

"What’s the layout of the prison?" I asked bluntly, "Are there any other strong prisoners here, or any strong guards?"

I already knew some from the series, as there were other Yakuza being held captive here along with the Warden and Vice-Wardens being the only real ’threats’ amongst the guards, but that knowledge couldn’t be trusted right now. I didn’t know at what point in the timeline I was, as from Hyougoro and Kawamatsu being here I just knew it was sometime within roughly ten to fifteen years of canon, but before Luffy arrived in Wano.

If I were early in the timeline, that actually would’ve been safer, as I could better predict world-shaking events, and the threats here would overall be weaker. But, in a different vein, I actually hoped I was at least post-timeskip, because that meant the potential subordinates for me to gain would be much stronger.

"You broke into this prison, and you don’t even know that much?" Hyougoro looked at me dryly, "How reckless can you be?"

"I’m not from within Wano," I justified with a chuckle, "I know a rough layout, but I don’t know the personnel in here. Just give me a quick rundown."

"...Most of the prisoners here are here for a reason. There are less intense prisons for normal criminals." Hyougoro didn’t answer immediately, but started after a pause, "They’re here because they refused to accept Kaido’s rule. To have the balls to do that, they’re all at least somewhat skilled, but after years of barely eating and drinking polluted water, they won’t be much help. If you really want to break out of here, there are a few youngsters I used to know that are also locked up in here..."

I simply nodded and assumed by ’youngsters’ he meant the other Yakuza, as while they definitely weren’t actually that young, probably being in their 30s or even 40s, compared to Hyougoro they probably were pretty young.

"The layout is simple. There’s the Executive Tower in the middle," Hyougoro pointed forward as I casually pushed open the iron door, walking into the interior of the prison, "It has multiple floors, and the Warden and Vice-Wardens tend to stay at the top. Then, there are four other working sections like this one where prisoners are held, but they’re monitored by Gifters. A Headliner or Calamity comes through sometimes, but there shouldn’t be one nearby right now."

Then, it was just as I expected - if I take down the Warden and Vice-Wardens, then the prison will be mine pretty easily. After that, I can bring some of my forces through and stabilize the prison, turn it into a stronghold in this world, and then start expanding out into the rest of Wano, and inevitably take down Kaido.

I glanced around the interior portion of the prison, which didn’t look all that different from the cell I had first arrived in. The walls were made of stone, the ceiling sat high overhead, and the narrow hallways were pretty dim overall. As I entered first, a figure called out.

"Wait, why are all the prisoners coming in already?! The day just started! And where are your cuffs-" A guard walking down the hallway spotted us quickly, but he would’ve been better off if he hadn’t.

In the blink of an eye, I disappeared, and so did his neck. His head rolled off his shoulder, and I just called back as I continued forward.

"Stick with me," I order simply, smirking as the body flopped to the ground behind me, "And we’ll be out of here in no time."

"YEAH!" A cheer came, and the morale was really through the roof now as I just chuckled.

Getting to the Executive Tower after that was pretty easy, as both Hyougoro and Kawamatsu were strangely good at leading us despite being locked up for decades. That was literally true for Kawamatsu, as he was considered too dangerous for the normal guards to ever be let out of his cell, yet he still knew the layout of the prison pretty well.

So, with just a few more guards casually dying, we reached the Executive Tower. I’d have to go back later and use [Devour] on the bodies, and while I doubted I’d get anything good, I at least wanted to get the skills from the Gifters within the prison. But that would wait for later, as I didn’t want to freak out the prisoners too much yet.

We reached the Executive Tower quickly, bursting into the room on the bottom floor. It was much larger than the thin hallway, having a couple of chairs, a large couch, and even a desk with a guard sitting behind it. However, most notably, there were literally sacks labeled ’food’ sitting in one of the corners.

I know they’re the ’Beast Pirates’ and really not that organized or professional, but seriously, labeling the food sacks with the word ’food’? They couldn’t even specify what type of food it was?

"W-Who the hell are you-" The guard lost his head pretty quickly from a casual swipe of my sword, and I quickly strode over to the sacks of food, reaching down and hoisting one up.

I swiped my sword across the bottom of it, letting the contents fall out and scatter onto the floor, which was... bones of meat?

They were comically cliche pieces of meat that were impaled with bones. And, as I looked down at the various pieces of meat, I wrinkled my nose. They were definitely not fresh, as they looked stale and even had small bugs crawling around in them.

Well, this was an annoying delay. Even if the prisoners hadn’t had a good meal in decades, even they wouldn’t want food like this. I’d have to put aside my fun for now and just take out the Warden-

"MEAT!" I blinked as one of the prisoners, the fat man whose physique went against the laws of nature for a starving person, literally lunged forward and grabbed one of the bones of meat off the ground. He started digging into it, chewing on the meat viciously.

Well, I guess one of them was willing to eat the shit-meat, but there’s no way the rest of them-

"This... this is so delicious..." I looked down blandly as Hyougoro bit into one of the pieces, tears literally forming in his eyes, "I... I never thought I’d be able to eat something this delicious ever again..."

I just looked at him blankly. I know this is a pirate world, and they probably aren’t the most hygienic, but this moldy, spoiled meat was a delicacy?

"After so many poisonous fish... this is so... beautiful..." I glanced over as even Kawamatsu was shedding a single tear, cradling a spoiled piece of meat as he chewed on another one.

Seriously? I know they’re hungry, but damn!

Would I become a god in this world too if I just brought through some actual food? Would they worship me for a prime piece of steak?

"It’s all thanks to Valon!" The fat prisoner from earlier cheered, grinning at me as he raised a piece of meat in my honor, "Cheers for Valon!"

"Yeah! Valon! Valon!" Another one followed, and the cheer caught fire.

"We can eat like this because of Valon!"

"Valon!"

"I’ll follow you forever!"

"Yeah! I’ll fight even Kaido if you order me to!"

I chuckled lightly at their energetic words. I was sure they were exaggerating, as if I really sent one of them to challenge Kaido they’d run away from the Yonko with their tail between their legs, but the glazing was appreciated nonetheless.

I was starting to see how Blackbeard had managed to tame so many of the powerful prisoners in Impel Down and add them to his crew - when someone had been locked up and starved for so long, and they didn’t have anything waiting for them on the outside, then they’d stick to their savior like glue.

I was hoping to abuse that strain of logic here, and so far, it was working.

"What the hell is going on in here?!"

Unfortunately, the prisoners wouldn’t have much time to enjoy their meal, as the roar of cheers didn’t go unnoticed. The door behind us came bursting open, and not just one, but two men came barging in.

"Prisoners?! Eating our food?!" The first one was someone I didn’t expect to see, as he was one of the Vice-Wardens in the prison.

He had long legs, six of them in fact, that weren’t humanoid, as they looked like the reddish-purple legs of a scorpion, and there was a large stinger behind him. Those six legs met in the middle to form a normal muscular torso, and the Vice-Warden had on a metal helmet with a mouth guard.

[Daifugo] [Headliner] - Level 150

Reputation: Neutral

I frowned as I looked past him, as the man looked easily close to fifteen feet tall with all of his legs, but the hallway he came from had a roof that was barely ten feet in the air. How the hell did he fit in there?

He also wasn’t where I expected him to be. I thought all the Vice-Wardens hung out near the top of the Executive Tower, but he was already here? Did they catch on to our prison break this quickly?

The next man who walked in with Daifugo was also tall, being not quite as large but easily ten feet tall, and also looked only half-humanoid. Most of him was human, as he had a tall and muscular body, a normal, though very ugly-looking, face with a thick curly beard, and a bald head.

However, the non-human part came from the massive, purple shell on his back, which looked like an armadillo’s shell. It covered his entire back, hovering over him like a massive backpack.

[Madilloman] [Gifter] - Level 47

Reputation: Neutral

"For your first offense, we usually just cut off the arms, but for stealing food?!" Daifugo laughed loudly, stomping forward with a large smirk, "We’ll get straight to the executions!"

That was exactly how long it took my ’loyal’ and ’devoted’ prisoners to crumble, as they dropped the meat immediately, everyone but Hyougoro and Kawamatsu stepping back and staring up with fear in their eyes.

"I-It’s Vice-Warden Daifugo!"

"A-And Madilloman!"

"We’re dead! We’re so dead!"

"It was him! He made us do it!"

Wow, what good subordinates I’m getting, huh?

Madilloman might’ve been the least intimidating name I’d ever heard, but it was enough to strike fear into most of the prisoners.

"Heh, realizing how badly you fucked up, huh?! You should just work like good little prisoners!" Madilloman shouted, stepping up with a large smirk as he reached into his waist, pulling out two pistols, "Wait, where did you get that armor? W-Wait..."

As Madilloman spotted me, my naturally high [Presence] took effect, and the man took a shaky step back. As if instinctively, the shell on his back shot outward, wrapping in front of him like a protective shell.

"What the hell are you doing? Pissing your pants over a mere... prison...er..." Daifugo stepped back as he looked at me as well, his eyes going wide with fear and confusion, "W-Why do I... feel..."

"Your Conqueror’s is really like none I’ve ever seen before," Hyougoro muttered, an impressed tone in his voice as the guard and Vice-Warden were practically shaking in fear from looking at me, "You’re not even doing anything, and yet..."

It wasn’t Conqueror’s Haki that I was using, but it was arguably more overpowered. I had realized it in the HOTD world when the humans were practically falling over themselves and calling me a god, but having a high [Presence] was really nice. Even without using [King’s Aura], my presence was still high enough with my armor to make weaker beings shake just from looking at me.

And, now I would abuse that. I activated [King’s Aura], and stepped forward.

"Fall," I said simply, and both Daifugo and Madilloman stumbled backwards in response, falling onto their asses as they looked up at me with wide eyes.

"W-Who... what..." Daifugo stuttered, his body tensing as he raised his hands defensively, and I just grinned.

"I am Valon. The true Beast King, and the ruler of the Underworld, but that doesn’t really matter to you," I hummed, stepping forward as my shadow cast over the Vice-Warden, and the prisoners behind me watched with baited breath and wide eyes, "Titles and names don’t matter to dead men, do they?"

I raised my sword, and as the prisoners watched my blade cut through Madilloman’s shell like it was nothing and split the man clean in half, their eyes were wide with awe.

In that moment, they truly understood just how invincible I was. But they were just the first.

Soon, not just Wano, but this entire world would know about the might of the true Beast King.

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