Impel Down houses some of the strongest criminals in the One Piece universe. Here’s a closer look at the legendary prison.
As a series that focuses on grand adventure, One Piece has so many fascinating places to see. From the baffling Sky Island to the perplexing Mermaid Island, and from the dangerous Punk Hazard to the mesmerizing Sabaody Archipelago, it doesn’t take a long time for you to find a place that could awaken your sense of curiosity.
One of those places is actually a building made by the World Government. As a matter of fact, this particular building is actually part of the World Government’s three major strongholds, along with Enies Lobby and Marine Headquarters. This place is called the Impel Down Prison, and it is way more fascinating than you might think.
The Outer Structure
From the outside, Impel Down looks like an imposing castle that stands proudly in the middle of the ocean. At a glance, the design of this building looks quite similar to a medieval European castle, with its thick walls, humongous doors, and long corridors. But upon closer looks, it is actually much more complex than just a simple castle floating on the ocean.
As a matter of fact, the structure of Impel Down prison actually extends all the way to the ocean floor. What we’ve seen on the surface is actually just the entrance of the building. There are six more levels below the water, each act as prison for some of the most dangerous criminals in the world. Level 1 is closer to the surface, while level 6 lies at the bottom of the ocean.
Impel Down is specifically built to hold devil fruit users. That means it has all kinds of features to prevent the prisoners from escaping. For starters, the walls of this prison are made out of Seastone, which is the weakness of every devil fruit user. Furthermore, since Impel Down is built on the Calm Belt, that means sea monsters can freely swim around the prison and devour any prisoners that try to escape. As if that’s not enough, there are also numerous fully armed Marine Ships patrolling the area. So it’s nearly impossible to escape the infamous Impel Down Prison.
The Inner Layers
As mentioned above, the inner layers of Impel Down are divided into six different levels, each level is meant to house certain kinds of criminals based on their bounty rewards or danger level. The deeper you go, the higher the bounty and the danger will be. Each level has its own unique kind of torture, so here’s a brief rundown of every level inside the Impel Down Prison.
- Level 1: Crimson Hell. Upon entering the first level, you’ll notice a landscape filled with red trees and grass. Those trees have leaves that are as sharp as blades, while those grass are as sharp as knives. The prisoners will be forced to run across the floor while being chased by dangerous creatures, all the while getting shredded to bits. Their blood painted the trees and the grass red.
- Level 2: Wild Beast Hell. Those who are shoved into the second level, will be forced to navigate a complex labyrinth while being ceaselessly chased by hungry giant beasts. There’s sphinx, manticores, basilisk, minotaur, and many other kinds of ferocious beasts. Most of which have human-like faces, and can voice simple words, which makes them so much eerier.
- Level 3: Starvation Hell. Unlike the other levels, this one is especially dependent on the other level, specifically the 4th level. The extreme heat produced in level 4 is carried through to level three, which makes the entire floor look and feel like the ultimate dessert. The heat, the dry air, and the fact that the guards barely provide any food makes it such a devastating hell.
- Level 4: Blazing Hell. This particular level is the most representative of the word hell, because as the name suggests, there is a literal blazing hellfire here. At the center of the heat is a ginormous pool of boiling blood, which dissipates extremely hot streams of air that can easily scald the human skin. Even the floor and the walls here can burn you.
- Level 5: Freezing Hell. Contrary to raging fire in level 4, level 5 is all about freezing its tenants to death. This floor is so cold that it’s normal for the prisoners to get frostbite upon setting foot in this level. If that’s not enough, there are packs of hungry, malicious monster wolves. The wolves will stalk and hunt the prisoners, and slowly hurt them before eventually devouring them.
- Level 5.5: Newkama Land. This is actually a secret level between level 5 and level 6, that not even the guards, and the warden knows about. Long time ago, a prisoner with a digging ability created this safe haven. Furthermore, they also construct secret passageways to every level that comes before it. It used to be under the control of Emporio Ivankov, but now Mr. 2 becomes the supervisor of this special place. A paradise within hell.
- Level 6: Eternal Hell. Not many people know about level 6. Some even consider its existence as a mere myth. But this is actually a place designed to contain the most dangerous criminals and devil fruit users in the world. Sengoku even said that every single level 6th prisoner has the ability to single-handedly destroy a nation. Interestingly enough, unlike the previous levels, there’s no particular torture mechanism here. After all, every single one of them is so powerful that none of the methods mentioned above can affect them. So they simply chained and caged, waiting for their death sentence.
There is so much more to the Impel Down prison that we can talk about, but for now, those are the key components that make this place so fascinating and terrifying at the same time. So much interesting storytelling can be done in just one single place.
