'Mr.0?' Sanji thought. 'If I remember correctly, Mr.0 is the boss. Which means that the guy on the other line...is one of the Seven Warlords. Crocodile!'
"Well Mr.3?" said Crocodile on the Den Den Mushi. "I'm waiting. Have you eliminated Vivi, Miss Valentine, and the Straw Hat pirates or not?"
"Yeah." Sanji answered back. "All of them are dead, so further pursuit is no longer required."
"Good." Crocodile said. "I've sent the unluckies with a package."
"A package?" Sanji said.
"Yes. An Eternal Pose for Alabasta." Crocodile said. "When they arrive, you and Miss Goldenweek are to head for Alabasta. The final stages of my plan are upon us."
"Uh...right." Sanji said as he was now staring at an otter and a vulture, both of which were glaring at him through sunglasses before they started attacking Sanji. "QUIT IT YOU REJECT WEASEL!" he shouted before kicking the otter into the wall. He then ran over and got the vulture's head between his feet. "YOU TOO, YOU UGLY ASS CHICKEN!" he shouted before twisting it's head around backwards. After they were both out, Sanji went back to talking with Crocodile, who was asking what all the noise was. "Sorry about that. One of the Straw Hats were playing dead on me, but they're dead now." he said. Nothing could be heard on the other line for a moment.
"You said," Crocodile said as the glass of water and flower he was messing with started to dry up and disappear. "They were all dead."
"Yeah. Sorry about that, but they tricked me." Sanji said.
"So you lied to me. Is that right?" Crocodile asked.
"Technically, yeah. But all of them are dead for sure, so there's no need to keep hunting them." Sanji said. Another moment of silence was heard before Crocodile spoke again.
"After you get the package, return to Alabasta. Good luck Mr.3." Crocodile said before hanging up the phone. "Miss All Sunday." he said.
"Yes?" Robin answered back from inside the room.
"Contact Mr.2 and have him sail to Little Garden to intercept and assassinate Mr. 3. I have enough agents to carry out my plan."
"Understood." she said with a smile.
-Back with Sanji-
Sanji had just hung up the Den Den Mushi before noticing an hourglass shaped pose next to the otter that read 'ALABASTA' on it. "What's this?"
-At the Giants Battleground-
Both giants were on there last legs in their duel before they nailed each other in head with their shields again, resulting in another draw. Both laid flat on the ground for a moment before laughing.
"GABABABABA! YET ANOTHER DRAW!" Brogy laughed.
"GYEGYEGYEGYE!" laughed Dorry. "YEAH, LOOKS THAT WAY!" Both kept laughing before getting up...or tried to get up. "Huh?!"
"What?!" they both said as they looked down at themselves, only find that they'd been covered with wax.
"What is this stuff?!" Dorry said. "I can't move!"
"Me neither!" Brogy said. Both giants kepts struggling before they heard someone else laughing and looked to see Mr. 3.
"Sorry giants," he said in a smug tone. "But I believe that your duel will forever remain a draw."
"Who are you?!" Dorry yelled, only for Mr. 3 to chuckle.
"My name is Mr. 3. I'm just a simple artist." he said before Mr. 5 and Miss Goldenweek came out of the jungle with Nojiko and Vivi. "And these are my associates. Mr. 5, a bomb man, and Miss Goldenweek, a painter."
"Mr. 3!" Vivi shouted as Nojiko began to stir.
"Princess Vivi." he said. "Glad you could make it. You and your other friends are just in time for my masterpiece." he said before looking around. "I see Miss Valentine is absent."
"You gave me orders to kill her, so I'll do it my own way." Mr. 5 said before dropping a semi-conscious Nojiko onto the ground.
"Ow." she said before sitting up and looking around. "What happened?"
"CANDLE LOCK!" Mr. 3 shouted as he used his wax powers to bind Nojiko and Vivi's legs in wax. "Very well then Mr. 5. Bring the others here before you go then." he said before looking back at the struggling giants. "Stubborn, aren't you?"
"Be silent!" Dorry shouted.
"A little squirt like you will not stop our duel!" Brogy shouted before the wax around his arms began to crumble, startling Mr. 3. Before they could stand, Mr. 5 had sent an explose booger at both giants heads, stunning them and giving Mr. 3 time to bind them again with spikes through their hands.
"Never thought they could break my wax." Mr. 3 said. "Deal with the traitor and her friends." he said as Mr. 5 brought the others one-by-one to him. "Time for my masterpiece!"
-With Luffy's group-
Luffy was still laughing his ass off, which slowly woke the others around him. Valerie, Usopp, and Carue were a bit dazed before they remembered what happened and slowly stood up. Usopp and Carue were looking at Luffy, wondering how to help him with the laughing before Valerie walked over and smeared the paint. Luffy immediately stopped laughing and started catching his breath.
"Thanks...Valerie." Luffy wheezed before he stood up and smashed his fists together.
"Yeah...you're welcome." she said in a quiet voice. Luffy looked back at her as Carue and Usopp started walking towards the jungle, looking pissed for different reasons before they noticed that Luffy and Valerie weren't moving.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Usopp asked.
"Valerie?" Luffy said as he noticed her trembling. "You okay?"
"No...I'm not." she said in a broken voice before falling to her knees with her head down. She kept trembling as Luffy looked down at her before seeing a drop fall onto her legs. Soon more drops were seen before she continued. "We're all fools."
"Hey!" Usopp shouted before Luffy raised an arm to stop him.
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked.
"This 'ideal nation' that we were all led to believe...hearing it was a lie hurt." she said. "All that we did was for nothing."
"Then why'd you work in Baroque Works in the first place?" Usopp asked.
"It wasn't a choice." she said. "If you knew about Baroque Works, you'd either been part of it, or targeted by it." she said.
"So, work or die?" Usopp said as he looked a little scared at that thought.
"Right." she said. "At first I didn't like it, but then the thought of an 'ideal nation' sounded like what I needed."
"Needed?" Luffy asked. "What did you need?"
"A chance to make my dream real." she said.
"Your dream?" Luffy said with a bit of interest.
"Yes." she said. "But it's not just me. Lots of of in Baroque Works have dreams that we wanted to come true. Even Mr. 5 has one."
"That booger bomber guy?" Usopp asked.
"Yes." she said as more tears fell. "But...if what you said was true," she said before looking at them all. Her face was flowing with tears with a little bit of snot in her nose. "THEN NONE OF IT MATTERS BECAUSE NONE OF THOSE DREAMS WILL COME TRUE!" she shouted before breaking down. They looked at her as she cried her eyes out. Luffy removed his vest and knelt down at eye level with her before holding it out to her. "Huh?"
"Don't have a rag. Will this do?" he asked with a smile. She just looked at his vest before taking it and wiping her eyes and nose.
"Sorry." she said. "I just...couldn't hold it in any longer."
"No worries." Luffy said as he stood up and held out a hand for her to take. "So, you gonna sit there and cry, or are you gonna fight with us?" She looked up at him and saw all three of them smiling down at her.
"I'm gonna fight!" she said after taking Luffy's hand and standing up. "Come on. We gotta save your friends."
"Wrong." Luffy said, startling them. "We gotta save our friends." he said with a smile, which was followed by each of them. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up." he said while stretching.
"Right." they said before they all left, leaving Luffy back in the clearing. When they were gone, he looked out at the jungle in another direction.
"I know you're there." he said as he stared at a figure through the trees.
-At Mr. 3's Masterpiece-
All of the captured Straw Hats were now standing on a giant cake made of wax like candles with a giant on each side. Gin, Johnny, Alvida, Nami, Zoro, Vivi, Yosaku, and Nojiko all stood side-by-side.
"I can't move my legs." Nami complained.
"And there's not enough room to slip out of this stuff." Alvida said.
"I can't believe this." Gin grumbled.
"HAHAHA!" Mr. 3 laughed. "Why so glum? You should all feel honored. I'm about to make you all a work of art." he said before he used his powers to form a column behind them with a giant smiling cake and lit candles on top. Everyone looked up to see the cake beginning to spin around in a circle.
"What's that?" Yosaku asked before they saw a white mist falling around them.
"What is this stuff?" Nojiko asked.
"Wax?" Vivi said.
"Correct." Mr. 3 said as Miss Goldenweek munched away on her rice crackers. "The wax mist will cover your bodies. Soon, all of you will turn into my greatest work of art. Candle dolls with souls!"
"WHAT?!" Johnny and Yosaku yelled.
"Hey candle man!" Zoro called in a bored tone. "Where are our friends?"
"It's a pity, but they can't join you in my art." Mr. 3 said with a dark look in his eyes. "They're already dead."
"Oh? Is that so?" Zoro said with a cocky grin. "And you know that for a fact huh?"
"Of course." Mr. 3 said. "A kid in a straw hat, a duck, a traitor, and a man with a long nose are nothing compared to us in Baroque Works."
"Then who are they then?" Gin said as he and everyone else looked behind Mr. 3 to see Usopp, Carue, and Valerie all walking towards them.
"Oh?" Mr. 3 said in a bored tone. "Still alive are we?"
"That's right!" Usopp yelled. "No man who tries to stop an honorable fight can take us down! he shouted as Carue quacked in anger.
"Please. A duel that's been going on for 100 years between a couple of giants for no reason?" Mr. 3 mocked. "How stupid can you all get?"
"TAKE THAT BACK!" Johnny yelled.
"HOW DARE YOU INSULT THEIR DUEL IN SUCH A MANNER!" Yosaku shouted.
"And what exactly can you two do stuck to *cough* this stupid cake?" Nojiko said before some of them started coughing from the wax mist.
"If this gets into our lungs *cough* we'll be turned into candles from the inside!" Vivi gasped out.
"Yes. That look of fear and desperation is what I crave for my art." he said before he made some wax run down his arm. "And you three will be nice additions, along with that failure Mr. 5!" All three of them took defensive stances before they heard someone walking behind them. They turned, hoping to see Luffy, but gasped when they saw Mr. 5. "Well, about time you showed up." Mr. 3 said as Mr. 5 blew his breath into a gun. "Now I have everyone here for my candle ser-"
"Explosive BREATH!" he shouted before firing the gun six times, aiming at Mr. 3.
"WHAT?!" he shouted in astonishment before the bomb exploded around him. Everyone looked at the smoke that was billowing out from the explosion before they looked at Mr. 5.
"Mr. 5?" Valerie said in confusion. "But...why?"
"I heard what you said." Mr. 5 said.
-Flashback-
Mr. 5 was walking through the jungle looking to finish off the four he left. He was about to clear the jungle fauna and began to pick his nose.
"This 'ideal nation' that we were all led to believe...hearing it was a lie hurt." Valerie said. Mr. 5 stopped picking his nose at those words.
'A lie?' he thought before he got a little closer while staying hidden. He listened in as Valerie began crying and speaking about how she, her fellow agents, and others had dreams, but wouldn't come true. He waited there as they kept talking, thinking about what he just heard.
"I know you're there." he heard Luffy say. He looked up to see Luffy staring in his direction before walking out into the clearing.
"I heard." he said. "Is it true? What Miss Valentine said?"
"Yeah." Luffy said. "So now that you know, you still gonna try and kill us?" he asked before getting into a fighting stance. They stared at each other before Mr. 5 sighed.
"Nah. No point now." he said. "If what you guys said is true, then I'm doing all this for nothing as well."
"Ah." Luffy said before standing up straight. "So what will you do now?"
"Seeing as how I've been lied to and how I've failed in killing you all, I guess Baroque Works will come after me as well." Mr. 5 said. "I hate to ask, but I don't have a lot of options...You guys need an extra hand?"
-Flashback Ends-
"So...you're helping us?"
"Just until you guys stop Baroque Works. Then I'm gone." Mr. 5 said.
"Well if you are on our side," Alvida said. "Then how about doing something about this wax?"
"He can't break it." came Mr. 3's voice. Everyone looked at the smoke to see it clear up and reveal a wall made of wax before it too disappeared, showing a calm, but very angry Mr. 3 in a battle suit made of wax. "Very foolish Mr. 5."
"Didn't you hear what we just said?!" Usopp yelled.
"I heard." Mr. 3 stated. "Even if it's true, I have no intention of being targeted for failing to kill you all."
"Shit." Mr. 5 said.
"This is bad guys." Valerie said. "He took down a pirate worth 42,000,000 berries."
"Then don't worry about it." Usopp said. "Our captain is worth 48,000,000 berries."
"Is that so?" Mr. 3 said with a smirk. "Then it looks like my reputation will increase after killing him...if he bothers to show up that is." he laughed before telling Miss Goldenweek to paint his Candle Champion a cool color.
"Can I take a nap afterwards?" she asked in a bored tone.
"Whatever!" he shouted. "It's not like you need to help anyway since I'm already strong enough to beat him! I am invicible!" he shouted as she finished painting it. "Now then, where is that captain of yours?"
"He said he'd be here in a minute." Usopp said before looking at Mr. 5. "Didn't you say you spoke with Luffy?"
"I did. I don't know why-" Mr. 5 said before a the ground shook lightly. "Huh?"
"What was that?" Valerie asked as another rumble was felt under their feet. Off in the distance, they could hear birds and other animals making sounds as the rumbles got louder and more violent. "Feels like a giant's walking nearby."
"Impossible! There are only these two giants here!" Mr. 3 shouted.
"Then what's that?!" Gin shouted as he pointed out towards the jungle. Everyone looked to see a giant shadow, about as tall as Dorry and Brogy, moving through the jungle towards them.
"Was there another giant here after all?!" Vivi shouted. No one had an answer as the figure soon appeared before them all. Everyone was stunned silent as they stared up in shock and/or horror."
"SHISHISHISHI!" laughed the giant.
A/N: Surprised, aren't you all? If you're wondering how, I'll explain next chapter. Remember to leave a review please.