Punk Hazard

Punk Hazard is an island located in the New World and was the first island the Straw Hat Pirates disembarked on (after receiving a distress call from someone on the island) after arriving in New world. According to Nami, none of her compass needles pointed to it, which she considered odd, even for a New World island. It is where Akainu and Aokiji battled for the position of fleet admiral for ten days.

Layout
The island is surrounded by a sea of fire on one side and icebergs on the other. In the center, there is a hole where with seawater flowing into it, which separates both halves of the island and sharks live within. This hole has fierce wind and currents running across it. As touched upon by Robin, the extreme temperature differences between the ice and magma lead to an equally extreme difference in air pressure, forming massive gale-force winds. The lake was originally a crater formed at the epicenter of Akainu and Aokiji's fight and then later filled with seawater. The entrance is bolted with a danger sign, hazard stripes, and the logos of the Marines and World Government. The external border is heavily fenced in and inside lies a military base, which consists of buildings that seem to have partially melted due to the intense heat. Also, there is a partially melting skull of a certain creature, which is larger than a giant, lying among the ruins.



According to Nami, the clouds above the island made it appear as though the other half of the island had a climate with a temperature below freezing and surprisingly she was right, which fitted with the call the crew received when a victim from a samurai attack talked about being freezing cold.



Robin states that the island appears to have not always been on fire, leading her to wonder if it was a natural disaster or an accident that caused the island to burn on one of its sides. Later Smoker mentions that this was the battlefield where Admiral Akainu and Aokiji fought for the title of fleet admiral. He also mentioned that the battle was so fierce that it changed the weather on the island; half of the island being ice and half on fire is a byproduct of their two Devil Fruit powers (thus answering Robin's question on the origin of the fire).

It is also mentioned by the marines on Smoker's ship that before the duel, and indeed the reason why it was picked, was because the island was abandoned. This was due to an accident which resulted from Caesar Clown's poison gas bomb experiment four years before the present time. Arriving at the island, most of the poisonous matter should have disappeared before the admirals' duel, but Smoker was surprised to see there is poisonous gas still leaking out of the island (a tactic used by Caesar Clown to keep away any marine ship).

On the frozen side of the island, there appears to be a prison where Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and Franky were being held captive along with Kinemon's head (still alive), and a room full of giant-sized children called Biscuits Room. There is also a freezer room full of frozen prisoners.

PH-006 (Vegapunk's Former Research Institute)
In a different area on the frozen side of the island, Brook found a building marked PH-006. PH-006 is built into the base of a mountain and has a natural harbor in front connecting to the river. The building was originally the lab in which Vegapunk carried out his chemical weaponry experiments. There are many different levels in the building, and each building is surrounded by balconies. There are chemical chimneys on the roofs. There is also a gaping hole on the right side of the building. Due to being on the cold side of the island, most of the facility is covered in snow and ice. Trafalgar Law calls this place his vacation house.

Behind the Institute, there are ruined sections of the facility that had been destroyed in an explosion. These sections were the labs where the chemical experiment that ravaged the island 4 years ago was done.

Inhabitants
While there is no longer any civilization on the island, it is home to a variety of bizarre creatures based on Greek mythology, most of which, aside from a Dragon, are half-human hybrids, such as a Harpy called Monet, and Centaurs with the former pirate Brownbeard as their leader. There is also a group comprised of Satyrs in hazmat suits, and their leader, Caesar Clown, a mad scientist who ate the Gasu Gasu no Mi. There are also a group of children held in a nursery room in the facility who were individually kidnapped from their home islands and secretly subjected to a drug whose addictive properties prevent the children from leaving.

The bizarre creatures were originally prisoners who were brought to the island to be used as human experiments. When the disaster occurred, they were left behind to die in the poisonous gas. Those that didn't die were paralyzed from the waist down. When Caesar Clown arrived on the island, he created balloon powered legs for the prisoners, but limited their movements. When Trafalgar Law arrived on the island, he used his Devil Fruit ability to join the prisoners top halves with the lower halves of various animals, transforming them into hybrids.

History
Four years prior to the current storyline, Dr. Vegapunk performed experiments with chemical weaponry on the island. Caesar Clown, second in command of the science team conducted a secret experiment with a poison gas bomb. The weapon detonated accidentally, spreading poisonous gas throughout the island. Its inhabitants were evacuated while the prisoners that served as test subjects were left behind. It was at this time that it was closed off by the Marines and the World Government.

One year after containment, Caesar Clown returned to the island, where he used his devil fruit ability to purify the island of poisonous gas. He also recruited the surviving prisoners and gave them artificial legs since they were left paralyzed from their lower bodies due to the poison gas.

After two years, when most of the poison gas had dispersed, the island became a large, abandoned wasteland making it the perfect battleground for Aokiji and Akainu's battle over the position of fleet admiral, after the end of the Battle of Marineford. The duel lasted for ten days and the impact and scale of their battle caused one side of the island to permanently be embroiled in flames, including the water around it, while the other half became permanently frozen over. In the end, Akainu emerged victorious and the island was left transformed into it's current state, a nightmarish wasteland of fire and ice.

Brownbeard eventually arrived at Punk Hazard on his own after suffering a crippling defeat at the hands of Basil Hawkins at Foodvalten, leaving his legs useless. He was rescued by the paraplegic ex-prisoners of Caesar Clown and in gratitude, became Caesar's subordinate.

A few months before the Straw Hat's arrival, Trafalgar Law arrived on the island and made a deal with Caesar Clown, who agreed to keep Law's presence a secret in exchange for healing his subordinates. Law, using his devil fruit power, turned the surviving ex-prisoners, Monet, and Brownbeard into half-animal, half human creatures. Kinemon arrived on the island some time later looking for his son who was kidnapped and taken to the island. While on the island he was confronted by Trafalgar Law and was quickly defeated, being cut into three pieces with his head taken to the facility while his torso and legs were left out in the raging elements. The torso, still retaining its arms and Kinemon's swords, blindly attacked centaurs until one survivor managed to send a distress call which was picked up by the Straw Hats and Tashigi who intercepted the call. The Straw Hat Pirates decided to head to Punk Hazard and investigate the distress call, not knowing that Smoker was following their trail.

When Smoker, Tashigi and the G-5 marines arrived near the island, Smoker was surprised that there was still so much poisonous gas coming from the island, when all of it was dispersed two years ago. This prompted him to investigate the island. The group eventually discovered the lab facility and encountered Law at the entrance who claimed it is his vacation house.

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