Chapter 53
"Colors Trap vs Fire Star! Both sides play their last trump cards!"
The heavy hitters are now on the scene! It's time to swim or sink! Luffy… Usopp! Please, save us!
"Yosh… now that Luffy's around, the table's gonna turn to our… huh? Zoro, can you tell me why are you making this pose?", I said.
He was with a hand in his waist and the other outstretched, wielding one of his swords.
"Well, if I'm gonna turn into a statue, don't you think it's better to make a pose?", he said.
"Zoro… is this really the time to joke around!", Nami snapped.
"Mister Bushido…", Vivi couldn't react otherwise.
"I'm not joking!", he said with a straight face.
Nami then stared at his shins and told him: "For now, please do something about your legs! It hurts me just by looking at it!"
He: "Then don't look at it!"
While they were quarreling, I looked the other way and saw Vivi's face. She was staring in awe.
"I can guess what you might be thinking now.", I told her.
"Hm?", she then glared at me.
Me: "Hmm… let me guess… 'in this situation in which we're about to die, they aren't concerned even a bit', right?"
She only nodded.
Me: "Yeah, to be straight, I also cannot grasp how they can keep their cool in the midst of the panic. That's why the best answer to these times is not to think about it. Doesn't look like it, but I, just like them, put my hopes in the rest of the guys. They're the only ones who can save us now. If we were in their shoes, I'm pretty sure they would do the same."
She didn't reply, but I could notice by her eyes that she understood… or at least knew what I was talking about.
"I guess I'm gonna make a pose as well. If I'm gonna die, I wanna look good.", I said just to get looked at by Nami. "I'm surrounded by idiots…", she ought to be thinking.
"Hey, brat, did you stop resisting yet?", we heard Broggy ask. Zoro answered: "Yeah… looks like it's time to end our turn and make way. Girls, if you wanna make a pose, now's the time! Hurry!"
Nami: "Y'know, keep me out of this, will ya?"
Vivi: "Please, Mr. Bushido, take this seriously!"
Zoro: "I am taking this seriously."
Me: "Can we stop the chitchat already?"
I tuned the bickering out and turned my eyes back to what was going on down there. Mister 3's partner was sitting down in a picnic, eating a cookie… while I saw Mr. 3 visibly affected with all of this. He doesn't have a clue of what my captain's capable of! Little bastard!
"Mr. 3!", the henchmen are back.
Mr. 5: "Let us kill him."
Mr. 3: "Do not make me laugh… Your attacks were ineffective against him, therefore, he is alive and standing. You are not a worthy opponent for someone in his level. Take care of the other two if you will."
I then saw him preparing a stance.
"I will personally take care of the effort of adding Straw Hat Luffy to my prize collection… Hohohohohohoho!"
Meanwhile, Usopp and Carue were slowly walking away from the "main stage"…
"Ah… I'm gonna back you up…", Usopp must be planning to do this.
"Now, let's begin! Candle… Lock!"
Mr. 3 produced more of his infamous wax and… locked Luffy's legs.
Zoro: "What the hell… you're already caught?"
Nami: "Clumsy!"
Me: "Oh for the love of… Before being caught, at least make some resistance, will ya?"
"This was easy…", Mr. 3 said. "Now to the hands… Candle… Lock!"…he then made more wax…
"Luffy! Watch out!", I screamed. He swerved in the nick of time, being able to move even with his legs locked in wax! "Wow… sugee!", I admired. He then gave a frontflip, stretched his arm, putting it around one of the horns in Broggy's helmet.
"Ooorryyaaaa! Giant ossan! I'm gonna use your head for a second!"
He then took advantage of the moment to start spinning… spinning… and spinning… spinning even faster… Broggy was already getting dizzy… Luffy now were getting closer of the pillar until…
"Gomu Gomu no… Tonkachi! (Gum Gum Hammer!)"…he broke it in half, also breaking the hammer in his legs! I don't know why, but I felt uneasy about that… maybe it was because…
THE FREAKIN' PUMPKIN HEAD WAS ABOUT TO FALL ON US!
…
To our relief… what it did was to stop over the third floor of the cake.
"Lucky! The hammer of my legs is broken! Hihihihihih…"
I looked to the sides and saw both Nami and Vivi sighing hard in relief… but… was it me or that didn't change our situation in the slightest? Then it hit me. I was "enlightened"…
"Ah, so that was it… CONGRATULATIONS, DUMBO! You did nothing but to make our situation worse!", I didn't wait for him to answer and talked to myself: "Nice… now we're gonna get covered in wax even faster."
"Wow, that was close! Why didn't you run?"
"WE CAN'T MOVE! IF YOU SEE YOU'LL GET IT!"
Vivi, angrily: "Can we really trust our lives to this guy, Mr. Bushido?"
Zoro, calm as always: "I guess we don't have much of a choice at this point… Not to mention that my arms are already frozen…"
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!", Vivi then snapped.
Yeah, so that was it… Luffy brought the pillar down… and sped up the process!
"Oi, are you really turning into wax statues?", YOU'RE F**KING SLOW!
Vivi: "That's what we've been trying to tell you centuries ago! Please, do something, Luffy-san!"
"Okay, right, I get it!", Luffy answered, but…
Mr. 3 wasn't going to just stand there and watch! "I will not allow you! Doru Doru Arts… Harpoon!"
He then molded a wax harpoon heading straight to pierce our captain. At the same time… I saw a bullet being shot from the trees… aiming at Mr. 3.
Luffy swerved the harpoon that swooshed past, cracking part of the wax in Broggy's helmet and Mr. 5 got on the way of Usopp's star… and ate it! It exploded inside his body, but since he's a walking bomb, it didn't matter for him. He even burped smoke and licked his lips…
"Hm… pretty bitter… tastes like cheap gunpowder…", Mr. 5's 'rating'.
On our side… "Ouch… it's really bad now… glad I thought of doing a pose…"…Zoro, you…
"IDIOT!", Nami yelled at him.
"Please, Luffy-san! Hurry up!", while she still could talk, Vivi was already begging.
Luffy then stretched his arms… "Gomu Gomu no… Bazooka!" but…
"Candle… Wall!"
The punch was stopped by the wall of hard-as-steel wax… I can imagine how it can hurt… except that I'm under a layer of wax.
"Hey, get out of the way!", Luffy shouted.
Mr. 3 replied: "Heheheh… that is my line. I will not let you stand in the way of my art! Candle… Lock!"
Luffy jumped to evade, but purposefully let his arm in the way to get another wax hammer.
"Now I got another hammer!", he said, grinning.
Mr. 3 quickly realized his mistake. "Oh no!" Immediately he produced another wall of wax to remedy the problem.
"Gomu Gomu no… Tonkachi!" / "Candle… Wall!"
The wax props cancelled each other… Luffy got his hand free and advanced… hitting a direct punch in Mr. 3's face! Way to go! GO, LUFFY!
Nami: "Great, Luffy! Now take the chance and destroy the pumpkin!"
"No."
Zoro: "What do you mean by 'no'? Quit the jokes and come help us!"
"No."
Vivi: "Please, we're begging you, Luffy!"
"I… I don't wanna save you…"
Me: "Hey! Luffy! Are you nuts? Just what the hell are you… hey! Wait a second…"
Nami, slowly: "What… what's that supposed to mean?"
Zoro: "Oi, Luffy! Stop fooling around! We're running out of…"
"Wait, look!", I interrupted.
"What's up, Dan?", he asked.
"Look at the grass! Luffy's stepping on some black marking… what's that? Vivi-san, do you recognize it?"
She stared for some time and appeared to recall something: "Ah… that mark! That's…"
A small silhouette came out of the shadows while stating: "Colors Trap: Black of Betrayal.", she's Mr. 3's little partner.
"Miss Golden Week… So it was you, wasn't it?"…so this is her codename.
"Yup. Black of Betrayal will force any person to disobey any orders, no matter how urgent may they be. It doesn't matter how precious you are to him, he will betray you all.", Ms. Golden Week exposed.
Nami: "Ho… how? What is she doing?"
Vivi: "She's a realist painter. She can bring forth the emotions represented by each and every color!"…Eh?… "She can use her special paintbrush to influence the mind of a person…" Oh bollocks…
Zoro: "Luffy's so naive that doing it to him is a piece of cake!"
Me: "But he needs to step out of the marking to get free, right?"
Nami: "Luffy! You gotta move!"
Vivi: "No, it's not gonna work!"…she then shouted to Luffy this: "Luffy! Do not move from there, no matter what happens! We don't want you to save us!"
He: "No."…he then stepped back, leaving the black marking.
Me: "I see… the old trick of reverse psychology…"
"Are?"…he came back to his senses. "I… I felt something really weird right now…"
Me: "Screw that! Destroy this pumpkin, please!"
"Ok! I'll get you out in a second!"…he then started spinning his arm… but slowly stopped… and started laughing his ass off!
Nami: "What… the…?"
Zoro: "You…"
Me: "Idiot!"
Vivi: "What's going on now?"
"Colors Trap: Yellow of Laughter!", that kinda sums it up nicely.
Nami: "This time it's painted in his clothes… Take off your shirt, Luffy!"
Me: "That's not gonna work either! This time he only cares about laughing his ass off! Someone's gotta blur the mark! Usopp-kun!"
Zoro: "Dammit… at the rate the flakes are falling down… we're only gonna hold out for a few minutes more…"
Suddenly… Usopp and Carue came out of the forest being chased down by the other couple of agents! In a come-and-go routine, they ran back and forth, back and forth… until stepping over Luffy!
"Look! The mark's blurred!", I 'pointed'. No need to explain the apostrophes.
Luffy, while recovering from the shock: "Oi! Stop doing this shit! You bastard! Oh, who cares… I gotta destroy that pumpkin! Gomu Gomu no…"
"I will not let you! Colors Trap…"…oh noes… what now!
"Red of the Raging Bull!"…she painted a red mark where Luffy stood.
"BAZOOKAAaaa… nyan, nyan…"…and the bazooka landed there.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU AIMING AT, MORON!", Zoro yelled…
"There's a red mark in the grass, Zoro…", I said.
Golden Week: "Like an angry bull running behind a bullfighter's mantle, the attacks you send are only gonna hit this mark. Tough luck, eh…"
"AH… YOU BRAT! GO YIFF YOURSELF! GOMU GOMU NO… BAZOOKaaaa… nyan, nyan…"…there's no need for details here… the results are the same. Just imagine.
"Oh crap… he can't get out of this…", I mumbled.
"As a bonus…"…there's more? "Mixing the Blue of Sadness with the Yellow of Laughter… I give you the Green of Tranquility!"…now there's a green marking in Luffy's back! Now he's… calming down and sitting to have a sip of tea with the enemy!
The four of us: "NUMBSKULL!"
Nami just sighed and said in a defeating voice: "Now, what do we do?"
Zoro: "See? I told you to strike a pose when you could. Don't tell me I didn't warn you."
Me: "Zoro… can you shut up with your pose thingy?"
Vivi: "How can you be so nonchalant at a time like this?"
I then asked the wind: "Changing the subject… where the heck's Usopp?"
Moments later, I guess the wind replied… because Usopp was back!
"Usopp… kun…", I asked.
"Dan! Guys! I'm gonna save you!", I could still hear him.
Well, my entire body was already covered in hardened wax and petrifying… I was totally immobilized. The final touch was the face. I was already struggling to move my mouth, but I still could spew some last words…
"Ple… plea… please…"…that was my last word. I had to close my mouth to avoid more powder entering after having inhaled that much. Only my eyes were free.
I saw Usopp getting near where Luffy was. Now he could blur the mark in his shirt and free our captain from the hypnose!
"Hissatsu! Kaenboshi! (Final move: Fire Star!)"
"Breeze Breath Bomb!"…I heard the noise of shots… It was getting hard to see anything… then the sound of a blast! Usopp had been hit for sure… but I couldn't see by what. He and Carue fell down.
I heard Mr. 5's voice: "I forgot to tell you that even my breath is explosive."
Usopp: "Bastard… with no bullets? Carue… are you alright? Luffy! Are you back?"
I saw Luffy standing back up and coming out of the bushes: "Yeah… I'm fine. I won't fall for that anymore! Now I'm pissed off!"
My sight was getting blank… Everything ahead of me was already blurred… I could only try to figure out what was happening from the voices I heard… Then from now on my vision was totally white. I was completely encased in a cocoon of wax. Do not wait for a butterfly to come out of it, folks…
Luffy… Usopp… we're counting on you!
"Hahahahahah… You got all ticked off back then, but still, your friends are like this…", Mr. 5, gloating already…
"Who cares? They're still alive, I know it!", Luffy, angrily…
"Hahahahahahah… or are they? After Miss Golden Week gives a little paintjob on them, they're gonna be complete and glorious wax statues… admit it, it's too late to save them, Straw Hat!", Mr. 5…
"That is correct… Everything is over! Have a little taste of what is endless despair … that is… my most powerful sculpture ever!"…this voice… Mr. 3? He's still packing a punch?
I heard sounds of modelling wax and then, I started to hear the noise of trees being uprooted. Alongside with robotic steps… What the hell is Mr. 3 planning to do? If it wasn't for the stupid wax blocking my eyesight!
"Candle… Champion!"…Mr. 3 announced.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!", Usopp and Carue screaming…
"Ah… it's come out… how he managed to defeat the owner of a 42 million beri bounty…", Mr. 5…
"Mr. 3's greatest masterpiece…", Ms. Valentine…
I wanna see it! What on earth is happening down there!
"In this armor, I am pretty much invincible! My body is wrapped inside an absolutely impenetrable armor made of wax as hard as steel! The I as it is now… has no weak points!", Mr. 3… exposing his last trump card…
"Cool!", Luffy… if he's wasting time fanboying over whatever it is, it must be quite something. Well, considering it's Luffy we're talking about, everything's quite something…
Usopp, yelling at him: "NO TIME TO ADMIRE! FIGHT!"
"Gomu Gomu no… STAMP!"
"Hahahahah… Champ… Fight!", Mr. 3 fought back…
Usopp: "Oh no… But wait… Wax powder…"
There were some moments of silence… then…
"I got it! Luffy! We have to set the wax on fire! No matter how hard it may be, but wax is still wax! It melts with fire!"…Usopp shouted. Then it finally hit me.
Goddamn it! It's so freakin' simple! The answer was lying right above me! Why didn't I figure that out earlier!
"Even if Master Broggy and the others are in this state, we can still save'em! We still got time on our hands!", Usopp announced.
Nice one, Usopp! Let's go! I'm already with lack of air… my lungs hurt… guys, hurry up!
"Hahahahah! You may possess the knowledge, but that will not pay off! In a few minutes, their hearts will stop beating due to lack of oxygen and they will die!"
No… NO! I don't wanna die like this… I'm still too young… I have a long life ahead of me… I don't wanna die now!
"They are agonizing with their last moments of consciousness! They are having the taste of a horrible, painful and slow death! Haaahahahahahah…"
"Hissatsu… Kaen-"
"BREEZE BREATH BOMB!"
Suddenly… an explosion.
"USOPP!", Luffy screamed. Then I heard grunts of pain… and a thump. Usopp fell down.
"Didn't listen? You have no chance against us!", Mr. 5…
"Hahahahahahahahah…", Ms. Valentine…
"Damn… we're out of time!", Luffy…
"Just give up!", Mr. 3…
I then felt the ground shaking. After that, silent moments. Luffy had been hit for sure.
"RUUUN! No matter what happens, you have to run as fast as you can! Wrap this rope around the cake!", I heard Usopp screaming. Then sounds of shots… There were lots of things happening at the same time… everything was confusing… I was already losing consciousness… no, I've gotta fight!
Goodbye, cruel world…
…
"GUYS, WAKE UP!"
…
I heard the noise of something combusting… there was something on fire. I slowly regained myself… and I realized I could open my eyes! I could see the wax coming out of my eyesight and letting me see what was ahead of me… Slowly, I began to notice that I could move my arms and legs! That's it! THE WAX IS MELTING DOWN!
I blinked and got startled to see a wall of fire right in front of me. "Ouch! Fire!"
I then let the warm wax slide away and took out the excess. I then smiled broadly… my comrades are also returning!
"Vivi-san! Nami-chan! Zoro!", I looked in both sides, smiling. They started moving as well.
"Phew… right on time…", Nami said while cleaning the wax away from her body.
"Ow… it's really getting hot around here… Hey, what took him so long, huh…", Zoro said.
"Ah… I really thought I was about to die…", Vivi, relieved, let it out.
Me: "Guys… WE'RE BACK!"
"You did it, little punks!"…this voice… "Enough fooling around! Now I'm serious… I will break your little neck in shreds!"…we saw a blur soaring rapidly into the sky…
Nami and Vivi: "Miss Valentine!"
Me: "Guys, it seems our comrades are in danger. What do you think of returning the favor?", I looked both ways and they replied with a simple nod.
"Then… a pair to its target! Guys, let's turn the tables with a pair of double attacks! LET'S GO!"
The girls then set up their weapons.
"10,000 KILO GUILLOTINE!"…Miss Valentine came down.
"Girls, now!"
Them: "Right!"…they jumped out of the fire.
"I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY FULL-BODY EXPLOSION! YOU PUNY PIRATE! EVEN YOUR BONES WILL BECOME TOAST AFTER THIS ONE!" Mr. 5… he's ready to do one of his tricks again!
Me: "Looks like it's our turn now! Let's get back at them! With style!"
Zoro: "Yeah."
He drew out his swords. I turned my pencil into a spear.
Us: "Let's go!"
Finally we jumped to the fire. It burned. But we had more urgent matters to care about.
"Yosh! I'll go ahead!"
I saw Mr. 5 binding Usopp. He struggled… He was about to take a full-body explosion! We couldn't let this happen!
It's go time!
"BURNING… CLIMAX!"
"YAKI… ONI… GIRI!"
"Impossible…! AAAAARRRGHHH!"
Two flaming slashes and Mr. 5 was taken out!
Zoro: "Blades on fire… not bad, huh?"
Me: "Heh… that's what I call getting back with a blast!"
"Zoro! Dan!", the girls.
"Heheh… The End. By… Zoro and Dan."
My pencil was back to normal and Zoro sheathed his swords back. Broggy was also back in action. The giant turned his eyes to his fallen comrade and I saw the sadness in his face.
Me: "Broggy-san… Is Dorry-san gonna be alright?"
He, as he heard this, faced me and laughed out loud: "Gebabababababa! Do you think a giant that fought so hard for over a hundred years is going to fall just because of one silly wound? Gebabababa! He'll be fine, don't worry. Just a good ol' rest and he'll be shiny and new."
Usopp: "Master…"
Broggy: "Guys… there's still two to take down, huh?"
Me: "I guess there's already someone taking care of that."
Vivi: "Where's Carue?"
Me: "Probably, he and Luffy are chasing down the other two. But… the most important thing right now is that…"…then I took a deep breath to scream: "WE'RE ALIVE!"
Everyone smiled in joy!
That made me cough all the wax I inhaled back then…
I then sighed in relief, taking some seconds to register what was happening… and just like that, out of the blue, a thought came in my head: Aren't we forgetting someone?
Dan: "Phew... We are alive! Thank goodness we got out of that!"
Zoro: "Just in time like always."
Nami: "All thanks to Usopp's quick wits!"
Vivi: "Luffy-san... did he defeat Mr. 3 already?"
Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine finally were defeated! The situation is practically over. But there's someone missing... the group's cook is still wandering in the middle of the forest and it'll be tough to find him... unless...
Everyone: "IMPOSSIBLE!"
What will happen next? Don't forget to find out in the next chapter!
