As more and more people in Impel Down died, Rosse's experience points continued to soar upward.
In the three minutes he had spent releasing the seawater, his accumulated experience had already reached SS rank.
[Power: 100 million / 200 million (SS rank)]
To level up to SS+, the required experience doubled.
But to Rosse, that wasn't really a big number.
After all, in Impel Down right now, there were still at least 1.2 million "high-quality experience babies."
Rosse wasn't deliberately hunting them down, this was seawater he had created himself. As long as someone died inside it, it counted as his kill.
Humans couldn't breathe underwater, and among them were quite a few Devil Fruit users. Their deaths were only a matter of time.
Every single minute, every single second, experience notifications popped up one after another:
[E-rank defeat completed! Power +100]
[D-rank defeat completed! Power +1000]
[E-rank defeat completed! Power +100]
[C-rank defeat completed! Power +10,000]
[C-ran....]
Unfortunately, the strongest prisoners in Impel Down were only a handful of A-ranks; there weren't even that many B-ranks.
And those A- and B-ranks were especially hard to kill, just suffocating them to death would take quite some time.
Most of the experience fodder ranged only from E-rank to D-rank.
But with such vast numbers, even these became Rosse's main source of experience.
Waiting was always tedious.
To make the process a little more interesting, Rosse swept his gaze over the barren surroundings.
Impel Down was primarily underground, with only a simple entrance on the surface, surrounded by a ring of guard bases to prevent escapes.
Ever since the last breakout by Golden Lion, the watch over this place had become much stricter.
"As the largest prison of the World Government, Impel Down is still a little too small."
In his future plans, this place would become the world's greatest execution prison, one he would visit every few years for a cleanup.
Before, with over a million prisoners crammed inside, it had already been overcrowded to the extreme.
Since he was here anyway, Rosse decided to expand it a bit.
Right before the Marines present, Rosse lightly waved the Sea God's Trident.
Wong! At that instant, the sea itself roared and trembled.
It wasn't a slow retreat of the tide, it was sheer, violent force.
The waters surrounding Impel Down seemed struck by some kind of repelling force, pushing outward endlessly.
The sea around the prison was as if hit by an invisible meteor, blasted away with brutal immediacy.
Torrents of seawater surged high into the air, transforming into a mist that was then compressed by subsequent force into an indestructible wall of water, towering a hundred meters away from the island.
In just a breath's time, the prison's foundation lay completely bare.
A circular vacuum zone a hundred meters wide appeared, like an ugly scar seared forcibly into the ocean's surface.
When that hundred-meter-wide circular trench fully formed, everyone held their breath.
"So magnificent…"
"This is power like that of a god."
"The water looks like it's hitting an invisible barrier. It stopped exactly a hundred meters out."
"So terrifying…"
The Marines watching couldn't help but stare, stunned, at the scene before them.
Those present were all naval elites, at least officer level (D-rank).
But Rosse's display of power was simply too outrageous, so much so that it felt like they were dreaming.
"Sakazuki!"
At Rosse's call, Sakazuki immediately understood his meaning, but his face stiffened slightly.
He'd only been told to come watch the sinners be buried alive, not to do hard labor.
But it was Rosse's command, and it would help his future as well. So Sakazuki could only grit his teeth and walk to the edge of the island.
Looking at the open chasm around the perimeter, he took a deep breath and shouted, "Magma!"
No fancy techniques, just a straightforward volcanic eruption.
Thick magma flowed from his arms, pouring into the vast hollow Rosse had created.
Filling the sea with cooled magma was, after all, a natural way to create new land.
But this particular project was enormous, even for Sakazuki, it was a heavy burden.
He didn't even have the stamina to fill Impel Down itself, let alone expand the island's radius outward by another hundred meters.
It might look like "just" a hundred meters, but with Impel Down's original radius of three thousand meters, that outer expansion actually increased its total volume by ten percent.
And that was without counting the solid sections of the prison. Considering those, the magma required would still be roughly thirty percent of what it would take to fill the entire prison.
And this, Sakazuki could foresee, was only Rosse's first phase.
Knowing Rosse's personality, he'd probably end up doubling the island's radius before he was satisfied.
Fortunately, Rosse didn't intend to make him do all the heavy lifting alone.
He bored through the seafloor magma veins, letting molten rock gush up naturally.
With the two forces combined, the filling process accelerated rapidly.
And as soon as the magma filled the void, Rosse cooled it with seawater, instantly forming igneous rock.
The resulting terrain would certainly need later reconstruction, but the groundwork was complete. The follow-up would naturally be handled by more specialized people.
Under Rosse's direction, Devil Fruit research had become a major department at Rosse University, dedicated to exploring every possible use of these powers.
Many Fruits weren't suitable for combat, but were excellent for construction. Rosse naturally wouldn't let such abilities go to waste.
They were all his personal assets, so he made sure every one of them pulled their weight.
No slacking allowed, starting with the Devil Fruit users.
As the sea-reclamation and land-expansion project continued, Rosse's experience finally reached a new threshold.
In an instant, his power advanced to SS+.
[Power: 200 million / 500 million (SS+ rank)]
[Note: Advancing to SSS rank requires the Heart of the World!]
Even though it was only his physical power that had reached this level, Rosse still felt a complete difference from before.
No exaggeration, it was like he could now defeat two of his former selves at once.
If he faced Imu now, he could crush her easily.
As for the system's hint about the Heart of the World, Rosse already had a vague idea.
It was the core of this world itself.
In other words, to advance to SSS rank, he would have to sacrifice this entire planet, this entire dimension.
At this level, Rosse felt as though he'd touched something unseen.
Through the release of his Conqueror's Haki, he seemed to have brushed against the core and boundaries of this world.
To sacrifice this world meant to approach its heart.
And once he crossed those boundaries, he could reach other dimensions, other worlds. [T/N: F**k! A crossover?]
Now, it was only a matter of what choice he wanted to make.
But after thinking briefly, he suppressed the thought of sacrificing this world.
If he did that, he'd be forced to wander through other worlds with only his followers.
Rather than that, it would be better to use this world as his foundation, then explore and devour the others.
Of course, the next world couldn't be too strong. Otherwise, he might be crushed like an insect.
And to find a suitable world…
"Pirate… no, Rosse's World. You'll tell me the answer, won't you?"
The corners of Rosse's lips lifted slightly, forming a meaningful, knowing smile.
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