Chapter 48: Beware of fiery breath

Thanks to Miss Goldenweek's paint hypnosis pretty much draining my body of any motivation to do anything aside from lying on the ground, I was barely able to register my body getting dragged around by Mr 5, and that Vivi was in the hands of his partner.

"Rein! You have to snap out of it!"

The princess was shouting something to me, but my depressed mind found it too troublesome to even try and understand any of her words or even reply to her, no matter how much I wanted to.

Was this what it was like to be under her mental influence? To be unable to control my actions or even my own thoughts? Was this what Luffy felt when he was under her influence?

After a while, I felt my body getting thrown to the ground in a clearing somewhere, Vivi joining me a moment later with the same candle restraints around her legs.

And opposite me was the giant Broggy, restrained onto the ground within the same hard wax next to the supposedly dead Dorry.

Even when I know that he wasn't dead, the fact was that this was an incident I had failed to prevent and now I was paying the price for my negligence—

'Whoa, okay! If I was not careful, I risk my thoughts l becoming depressing too! I had to remain focused and not let the hypnosis completely take over.'

"Mr 5! Bring the swordsman and girl over here!" Mr 3 ordered, "It's time to begin! Giant Candle Service Set!"

A massive amount of molten wax poured out of his arms and onto the ground, where it piled up and began molding itself into a giant wax sculpture of a layered cake, along with what looked like a giant pumpkin with several lit candles atop it all.

A couple thuds echoed behind me, followed by Nami crying out in shock, "Wh-What is that thing!?"

"Nami! Mr Bushido!" Vivi cried out in shock, "You got caught too!?"

"Vivi!? Rein too!? Weren't you guys supposed to be with Luffy!?"

"We were, but…"

"If you are talking about Straw Hat, I've already took care of him." Mr 5 told us.

"Did you now?" Zoro scoffed before calling out to me, "Hey, Rein! Can you believe what this guy said?"

"…"

"…The hell's wrong with her?"

"It's that mark on her head!" The princess told him, "It's making her all depressed and lethargic!"

"Seriously!?" Our navigator cried out, "Damn it, Rein! You're not Luffy! Snap out of it already!"

"It's no use." Miss Goldenweek told them, "My Color's Trap hypnosis is unbreakable."

"Indeed, it is, Miss Goldenweek." Mr 3 snapped his finger, "Mr 5, Miss Valentine, please escort our dearest guests to their seats."

"You've got it."

"Kahaha! With great pleasure!"

It took quite the effort for the bombman and his partner to drag us onto the wax cake, everyone except me struggling against their grip as they planted our feet into its 'icing' like actual candles.

Thankfully, that meant that my body was forced to stand up and not plopped on the wax like some dead fish.

The moment the two agents left the 'cake', our restraints and my mask dissolved into the cake, and the pumpkin above us began to spin; as flickers of white powder descended down on us like snow.

"Huh, so this is what it's like to be a candle." Zoro noted.

"Damn it, our restraints are gone, but now we can't even move our feet…" Nami noted with a grimace.

Vivi opened her hand and allowed the wax snow to land on her palm, "What's this drizzling down on us?"

"Whatever…" I toned out.

"Fuahahaha! Welcome, ladies and gents, to my special Candle Service Set!" Mr 3 laughed, "As the candles above slowly melt, the mist of wax sprinkled down on you and eventually turns you all into perfect wax human figures that even my sculpting skills couldn't recreate! Wax dolls with true souls!"

"Like hell we are becoming your stupid art piece!" Nami turned to Broggy, "Don't just lie there, Broggy! Do something! You're going to be turned into a wax statue!"

"Why, it is futile no matter what you say to him!" The wax man laughed, "For only just now did he realise what had happened moments ago! Without even realising his friend was shouldering a fatal injury, he cut him down without mercy! Why, he was so filled with joy that he was shedding tears!"

"You sick bastard!"

"Fuahahaha! What simpleton you are, Red Ogre Broggy! Or perhaps, those tears were over the loss of your dear friend? Hm, whatever the case, it is far too late for you to do anything about it now!"

"…I…I knew…" Broggy pointed out , "From the moment I swung my axe, I knew that Dorry was hiding something from me."

"Hm? So you were aware about it? What lies are you spouting now?" Mr 3 chuckled, "Well, if that is so, why didn't you stop fighting? Those violent blows of yours didn't seem to bear pity or compassion."

"As if a dishonorable runt, who doesn't even comprehend what duels are, could ever understand the reason behind my tears! Or are you suggesting that I dishonor the warrior who fought on through the pain!? To show pity to the warrior who went to such lengths to honor our agreement!?"

"You… what are you—!?"

"But now I know exactly what he was hiding, and because now I know, in order to pay my due respects to the great warrior and my dear friend Dorry…"

Broggy's muscles tensed and bulged from exertion as the restraints around the giant's arm broke under his strength, while the rest of the wax holding him down started to crack much to Mr 3's horror.

"I shall settle things here with my own two hands—!"

"Nose Fancy Cannon!"

BOOM*

"Broggy!"

An explosion put an end to the giant's struggle, Broggy collapsing down onto the ground as smoke rose from his soot covered face.

Mr 5 letting out a groan in annoyance, "What a loud annoying freak…"

Miss Valentine let out a condescending laugh, "Kahahaha! What an idiot!"

"…to think that he broke out of my Candle Jacket… Perhaps I've underestimated the extent of a giant's strength. I won't make that mistake again." Mr 3 noted with a huff, molten wax began flowing out of his arms, "Doru-Doru Arts; Sword!"

His wax formed into a massive sword, which the officer proceeded to stab into Broggy's hands and feet like he was recreating the christening of Jesus, rivers of blood flowing out of the now screaming giant.

Never had I been so frustrated in myself for unable to stop this, and being unable to get the motivation to move my body at all.

"Trying breaking free now!"

"You vicious monster!" Vivi screamed at him.

"Thanks for the compliment!" Mr 3 snapped his fingers, "For that, let's speed up my Candle Service for you!"

On que, the pumpkin began spinning faster than before, with the amount of wax flakes snowing down on us increasing along with it; Nami and Vivi coughing up a storm from breathing in the particles as more of our bodies were getting covered up with wax.

All the while, my lethargic mind couldn't find the urge nor the motivation to try and stop this, even as I was screaming in my mind to do so; curse this Color Trap! If only I could do something about this stupid mark!

"Fuahahaha! Yes! YES! That's the face!" Mr 3 cheered, "That exquisite expression of pain! That is the very expression of art I seek!"

"You are one sick man, you know that!" Nami cried out, "Just you wait, you will experience karma for your inhumane actions!"

"Yes! More! More terror! More desperation!"

"Screw you, asshole! Zoro, don't just stand there! Do something!"

I was honestly surprised how calm the swordsman was, considering that we were mere minutes away from turning into wax statues and die from suffocation; and maybe it was the depression talking, but I was strangely calm over the prospect of dying like this—

Wait, calm…?

Come to think of it, Miss Goldenweek's Color Trap was based around the psychological and emotional effects certain colours had on a person's psyche, with each color corresponding to a certain emotional state.

So, what if I used that same reasoning to overwrite what emotion the mark was influencing my mind with; it might be a long shot, but I had to at least try.

Now let's see here… Blue was often widely associated with sadness and depression, but it was also used to give a more calming presence. Like how looking out into the sea could calm the nerves.

"M-My hand won't move! No! I can't die like this!"

"My body is hardening too! We don't have long!"

I imagine the ever familiar ocean, the calm moments as I held onto my fishing rod, listening to the sounds of the wave pushing and pulling along the shoreline, as every distraction faded away into a deep calm.

Within seconds, I could feel the depressive influence fading away and replaced with a familiar deep calm and focus, the lethargy within my body disappearing with it as I regained control over my body.

'Yes, it works.'

Though it had the side effect that any other emotion I regained from this had been slightly muted, like I could hardly feel happy from breaking free from the depression spiral or even scared over the looming death.

On the other hand, I found myself in a deep calm and more focused than ever before, which allowed me to consider my options to escape my wax restraints and free everyone else with me. Currently, two immediately come to mind.

The first was for me to transform into my full dragon form and break free from the wax with brute force; the problem here was that turning and maintaining that form of mine was extremely draining, so I could only stay in that form for a couple of minutes before collapsing from exhaustion.

And that was not including its size and my utter lack of fine control when in that form; if I was not careful, I may end up squashing both enemy and friend alike. It was way too risky to use here.

That left the other option out of this, besides waiting for Luffy to come rescue us; and that would be for me to finally learn to use my fiery breath to melt away the wax.

For the past two years, I had failed to recreate that same fiery breath on the same night I had eaten my Devil Fruit; no matter what advice Sen gave me or how much I try, the Breath Cannon move was the only thing I got out of it.

Now, in this extreme calm and focused state, I had a feeling that I might actually pull it off.

'No, I have to pull it off!'

"Hey. Can you still move, giant?"

"Hm? What are you…?"

"Tearing off your arm and legs is a much better alternative to being dead, right? So let's do that. I'll start with my own."

"Zoro, you're not actually planning on doing that, are you!? That is insane!"

Like how I use Breath Cannon, I focused on my lungs as I took a deep breath while trying to remember that feeling of that fateful night; of how hot my insides got right before I unleashed that torrent of flames at Sen, and captured that exact feeling.

I then recalled the first tip in that encyclopaedia I got from the god that sent me here, on imagining my form at the back of my mind, and did just that.

Only now it was the image of fire swirling within my chest, building up and waiting to be released.

After a while, as I heard the sound of Zoro unsheathing both Kitetsu and Yubashiri(I must be damn focused if I could differentiate them by sound alone), I felt a familiar heat growing inside my chest, like a raging fire had been ignited and was itching to get out.

"Then let's do this—!"

"RWAAAAARRRRHH!"

So I did, while facing down towards the wax restraining me to this sculpture and allowing the flames to burst forth from within my chest and out of my mouth in a massive torrent of fire, which engulfed the wax and heated up the immediate area around me.

It didn't take long for the wax around and underneath my feet to melt away, allowing me to slip right out this farce of a cake and take to the skies with several quick flaps of my wings.

And while everyone was still shocked at my sudden escape, I turned my attention to the spinning pumpkin and unleashed another blast of fire at it, melting it back into sloshy molten wax that pool around the rest of my fellow captives.

While still trapped, at least they wouldn't be in any danger of getting encased in wax and dying from suffocation; thankfully, Zoro hadn't started cutting into his legs.

"My Candle Service Set!" Mr 3 cried out.

"Rein! You're not depressed anymore!?" Vivi cried out.

"And you breathe fire now!?" Nami pointed out.

I let out a burp of fire before giving them a thumbs-up, "Yes, to both your answers."

"Why, you..!" The wax man turned to his partner, "How did she break out of your Colors Trap!?"

"That's impossible…!" Miss Goldenweek stumbled as she pulled out her painting tools, "My Colors Trap can't be broken—Gah!"

"Simple color theory." I told her after I slammed my talons down onto the little girl hard, "And blue doesn't always mean sadness."

"La-Laughing—Buh!"

"That's one down."

Before she could move her brush, I grabbed her head and slammed her face into the ground as hard as I could, knocking her out almost immediately.

With her taken care of, I flew back into the air and wiped away the mark, snapping myself out of my extreme calm state before giving the wax man a wide grin, "Now then, what did Nami just say about karma?"

"Damn you! Mr 5, take her down, now—!"

""OOORRRYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!""

Just as the bombman was about dig his finger into his nose, Luffy alongside Usopp riding on Carue came bursting out from the forest at top speeds while screaming with what I assumed was a battle cry of some sort.

"You there! Get ready to get your ass—Bwuah!"

They also flew right past the officer agents and across the clearing before crashing into the trees hard, leaving everyone utterly stunned, silent and confused over the absurdity of what just occurred.

All the while me alongside Nami and Zoro had our palms to their faces with a shared resigned sigh over our captain's usual unpredictable shenanigans, even if we were very grateful for his arrival.

Climbing out of the wreckage of trees they found themselves in, Luffy adjusted his hat and stepped forward with Usopp and Carue close behind.

"Let's do this, Usopp, Bird!"

"Roger!"

"Quawck!"

"Luffy! Usopp! Carue!" Vivi cried out.

"Usopp…!" Broggy muttered out.

The sniper adjusted his goggles before fastening it tightly, "Don't you worry, Master Broggy! We shall avenge your agony!"

"Alright!" Our captain slammed his fist into his palm with huff, "You bastards are the one that defiled the giants' duel!? For that, I'm kicking all your butts!"

"Tch, one after another…" Mr 3 clicked his tongue, before turning to Luffy, "Leave the Straw Hat and the interlopers to me. You guys deal with the White Devil."

"Whoa! He has a weird head!"

"Shut it!"

"It's a three! And it is on fire!"

"I said shut it!"

"No need to tell us twice." Mr 5 adjusted his shades as he pulled out a flintlock revolver from his coat, "We've been itching for some payback, White Devil."

"That's right!" Miss Valentine noted as she twirled her parasol around her arm, "This time, things will be different!"

"That remains to be seen." I unsheathed Ryuga before turning to the others still trapped in the wax cake, "Give me a second, I'll go free you guys after I dealt with them."

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Zoro asked me.

"Nah, I can take them."

"Alright then."

"Don't worry, Luffy, Rein!" Usopp called out, while hiding behind the trees with Carue, "You guys have my utmost support!"

"Never mind that, Usopp! Get some rope and oil!" I told him, "I need you to wrap it around that wax cake thing!"

"Why would you want—oh, OH! I-I'm on it! Let's go, Carue!"

"Kwuack!"

As they took off running, I turned my attention back to the two officer agents below me, Miss Valentine opening her parasol as her partner blew into his revolver's cylinder.

It was an odd design, seeing it was basically a flintlock pistol with a revolver cylinder attached to it; probably an experimental model created to test out the revolver loading system's capabilities.

"Gum-Gum Hammer!"

"Ca-Candle Wall!"

A glance over and I saw Luffy swinging from Broggy's sword restraint as he slammed his own restraints that Mr 3 had locked his legs in back at the wax man and his hastily built wall, both wax creations breaking apart upon impact.

He didn't stop there, as he swung down at Mr 3 and threw a Gum-Gum Pistol at him, the officer agent barely ducking underneath it before the attack before molding and throwing a wax harpoon at my captain, who easily dodged it.

"Keep your eyes on us!"

After he gave his revolver's cylinder a spin, Mr 5 popped it back into frame before pointing it to the ground beneath his partner and pulling the trigger.

An explosion erupted moments later and sent Miss Valentine flying towards me with an arm outstretched towards me in a grab; I easily swerved around her before swinging Ryuga at her when she floated in the air.

"Breeze Breath Bomb!"

But I wasn't able to strike her down when I was interrupted by the impact of several explosions engulfing me, burning into my jacket along with a few non-scaly parts of my body while hindering my vision with thick smoke.

It didn't take long for Miss Valentine to take advantage of it as her hands reached out towards me through the smoke, grabbing onto me before wrapping her limps around my arms and body tightly.

"Kahaha! Can't run now~! 10 000 Kilo Drop!"

"Guah!"

Her weight increased exponentially all of the sudden and had me falling out of the air with her, and crashing back first into the ground hard with her on top of me like an insanely heavy paperweight; Ryuga flying out of my hand and landing some distance away.

It was a good thing I retracted my wings before crashing, or I would be looking at some sprained or broken wings right about now; the phantom pain when I was in my human form was unbearable the first time that happened.

Within moments, Miss Valentine mounted me on my gut, her thighs holding down my arms tightly while keeping her weight the same as before, leaving me unable to move or get her off me.

She leaned down with a grin, "Told you things will be different."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "…You do know I can see your panties, right?"

"Grgk!" Her face flushed red, but she didn't make any movements to cover herself up.

"Miss Valentine!"

I looked over and saw Mr 5 just as he flicked something towards me with both his hands, his partner leaping off of me soon after with a laugh made me realise what they were doing and I immediately crossed my arms and braced myself.

BOOM*

"Rein!"

Moments later, I was enveloped in a massive ball of flames with a loud boom from his two explosive boogers, which was starting to hurt but my scales were still able to hold up against the explosion.

Unfortunately, little could be said about my jacket, it was nothing but burnt shreds of cloth at this point, which ticked me off a little; I really liked that one too.

Thankfully, the explosion also engulfed me in a cloud of smoke, which should hide me from the two officer agents' assault for a while, allowing me a bit of time to consider my next moves—

"10 000 Kilo Guillotine!"

I quickly jumped out of the smoke, just as Miss Valentine came dropping down with her leg out like a guillotine, and made a mad dash towards Ryuga.

Mr 5 fired his revolver at me a couple more times in an attempt to stop me, the invisible explosive rounds only managing to hit me once but I was able to handle it no issue; it didn't hurt as much as his two boogers did.

His partner then dropped down with a 10 000 Kilo Press just as I reached my sword, which I barely managed to evade as I scoop Ryuga off the ground; it also left her open for me to take full advantage of.

"Plunging Claw!"

She used her parasol to block my attack, pushing her back with the power behind the strike. Not deterred by the difference in strength, she leaped forward at insane speeds while thrusting the tip of the parasol at me.

"1 Kilo Stab—!"

"Ramming Horns."

"Gah!"

I redirected the thrust away before countering with my own, my sword stabbing into Miss Valentine's shoulder as she let out a cry of pain.

The officer agent stumbled back while clutching her new wound in attempt to get away from me, but I chased after her to take her down with another attack.

Though I quickly changed tactics when I heard the clicking of a pistol's hammer, grabbing by the collar and throwing her towards her partner's invisible bullets, a series of explosions engulfed her before leaving a smoking Miss Valentine to collapse onto the ground.

Funnily enough, she fell into the same Yamcha pose back on Whiskey Peak; on this time it made sense with the explosions and all that.

"Miss Valentine! Why you—!"

With a roar, I breathed out a huge torrent of fire right at Mr 5, the bomb man quickly leaped out of the way and allowed the flames to scorch the ground where he just was, swiftly regaining his footing before opening up the cylinder and began blowing into it again.

Seeing the opening, I rushed at him as fast as I could before he could finish reloading; but I was a few seconds too slow as he popped it back in and aimed his revolver at me before pulling the trigger.

His invisible rounds stuck into my raised arm as I took the brunt of several small explosions in a row, which did little to halt my advanced as I simply rushed right out of the smoke towards him.

"Breeze Breath—!"

"Tail Spike:Twin Lance!"

"Guah!"

Before he could pull the trigger again, I thrusted my sword forward and stabbed into both his shoulders in quick succession, both his arms drooping limp to his sides as his gun dropped out of his hand onto the ground.

Now that he was disarmed, both figuratively and literally, I rotated my grip around till I was holding Ryuga in the opposite direction, with its blade resting along my arm like a Chinese sword.

"You're done. Crushing Claw:Thrust!"

"Buah!"

I then thrusted forward and slammed my sword's pommel right into Mr 5's face, shattering his shades and breaking his nose with a satisfying crack, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed onto the ground with a thud.

Once I was sure none of them were getting up, I sheathed Ryuga and let out a long sigh, before grimacing when I remembered the total devastation of my jacket.

"I really liked this one too…" I groaned as I pulled off the remaining scraps of it, which was just one sleeve.

Carue then came running up to me with Usopp on his back, in his hand was the end of an oil-stained rope as he saluted me, "Rope is ready and waiting, ma'am!"

"Nice work, comrade." I saluted back, turned to our fellow captives, "Alright, we'll be getting you guys out now!"

"Please hurry!" Vivi cried out, "My toes are starting to itch!"

"Now, I must warn you! It's going to get hot—!"

"Like hell you will! Candle Champion!"

"Whooaa! Awesome!"

A loud cheer from Luffy drew our attention to his fight with Mr 3, the wax man engulfing himself in his molten wax and molding it into what I could only describe as a cartoony mecha armor, one that towered over all of us.

"Fuahahaha! Behold, my greatest masterpiece!" He boasted, "Wrapped in my iron hard wax, I have no weak points! In this form, I am invincible—!"

"Special Attack: Tabasco Star!"

"Bwuah! It burns!"

In a show of expert marksmanship, Usopp fired his special pellet into Mr 3's mouth, which had the immediate effect of him screaming in agony from the intense spiciness on his tongue.

That distracted him long enough for me to take the rope from the long-nosed sniper and blow a little fire on it, allowing the flames to travel down the rope as it grow into a large inferno within seconds that engulfed the entire wax sculpture.

"My Candle Service Set! No!" He screamed out before growling at me, "You are going to pay—!"

"Nope, you are!"

Before the wax man could react, Luffy grabbed onto his hair, which was still on fire, and twisting his arms around in a familiar stance.

Then, with both feet planted firmly into the ground and a wide grin on his face, he pulled Mr 3 and his mech suit over his shoulder as his arms unwound themselves and spun the wax man in the air.

"Gum-Gum Spinning Axe!"

With a great heave, Luffy slammed him into the flames and his now molten wax sculpture, screaming in pain as his suit melted away within the inferno.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" The wax man swam out of his own molten wax and he ran out of the flames, "Damn you all! I'll get you back for this—Bwuah!"

Just as he was about to get away, Nami dashed out of the flames alongside Vivi and they knocked him out with a quick swing of their respective weapons.

"Ah, that really burns…!" Nami cried out before shouting at me, "Couldn't you have done it in a better way!?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but you burn our shirts too!"

Vivi let out a sheepish laugh, "Yeah… this is a little embarrassing… at least we are free…"

As expected, both of them had lost their shirts in the process of escaping the flames, and leaving them in a scandalous bra and tank top respectively.

Though when I recall Nami's choice of daily attire post-timeskip, I wasn't sure if she was really that against showing that much skin; maybe it was because she chose to expose herself then?

Zoro also had his shirt completely burnt off when he leaped out of the inferno, but that didn't bother him at all as he simply patted down any flickers of flame on his pants.

In the same vein, Broggy simply rose out of the inferno, surprisingly without losing any clothes to the fire; giant clothing must be quite tough to be able to make it through fire like that.

"Heh, we're alive, giant." Zoro pointed out.

"Yes, we are." Broggy noted, "It is a shame that I could not settle things myself. Many thanks, little ones."

"It's no trouble, Master Broggy!" Usopp told him with a bump to his chest.

"What did you even do again?" Nami pointed out.

"Hey! Don't tell me you didn't see my epic shot just now!?"

Vivi walked up towards Broggy, "What are you going to do about Mister Dorry?"

Broggy looked back at his friend's body, "I will bring his body back with me to Elbaf. A honorable warrior like him deserved a proper funeral."

"Even if he's your enemy?"

"With the duel over, he is no longer my enemy. He is my dearest friend, a comrade-in-arms that fought beside me for many decades through thick and thin! But now…"

Usopp let out a sob as he rubbed his teary eyes, "Master Broggy…"

"Do not weep, Usopp." The giant told him, even with tears running down his face, "For Dorry had died as he lived, a warrior! I'm sure his soul has gained the favor of Elbaf and joined my many brethren in the great mead hall, waiting for my arrival with a mug of rum in hand!"

"Mm… more rum…"

"Why, I can hear him calling out for—Whuah!?"

Broggy almost jumped from shock with his eyes practically popping out of their sockets at the sight of the supposedly dead Dorry groggily getting up, and flinching in pain from the gaping wound on his chest.

It was the same with the rest of the crew, with everyone's jaws pretty much falling off with how far they dropped and their eyes on the verge of falling right out of their heads.

"DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh…Oh, your faces! Your eyes are—HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

A bizzare sight that got me laughing uncontrollablely like a hyena; though some of them didn't find my laughter a bit amusing.

Vivi glared at me, "You already know that he's alive, don't you!?"

"Gu…Guilty as charged…!" I wheezed as I got my laughter under control, "I…I mean… with weapons like theirs…"

"Weapons? Ah, of course!" Usopp snapped his finger in realisation, "Even the toughest of steels couldn't withstand all the stress of a century worth of battle! Their weapons must have been dulled for decades now!"

"It's a miracle that they remained intact and functional after years of constant use." Zoro pointed out, "A regular blade would have snapped by now."

"Then why didn't you say anything!?" The princess cried out, "You could save us so much heartache!"

"Well, first of all, I wasn't completely sure if he'll survive, especially with that wound of his." I explained, "And you already know the other reason."

"Which is?"

"Spoiler. Captain's orders, and all that."

That got Usopp and Vivi to glare at Luffy, the rubber man pondered over my explanation for a moment, before laughing and nodding in agreement, "Yeah, it is a spoiler!"

"Hah…" Nami sighed, "I swear, we are going to die because of that stupid order one day…"

"Gabababa! Thank the gods, you are alive, Dorry!" Broggy laughed as he embraced his dear friend, "Oh, what a splendid day, this is!"

"Gyagyagya…! You're not going to get rid of me that easily…!" Dorry laughed, "But seriously… stop hugging me… you're hurting my wounds…"

"Ah, but we must give thanks to Elbaf and celebrate! Let's head to my camp! I still have plenty of rum left!"

"You're that happy about making me pass out with that last blow?"

"You know that's not why, Dorry!"

"Owowow, stop touching my wounds already!"

"Oh, relax! Those are just flesh wounds! You've gotten worse before!"

"Yeah, and none of them are from you."

That last comment got Broggy riled up as he got into Dorry's face, "I can show you what real wounds are if that's what you're suggesting!"

Dorry glared right back, "Right back at you! I'll make sure to leave a scar you won't forget!"

"Seriously!? You guys want to fight again!?" Nami shouted at them.

Vivi let out a long resigned sigh, "I guess guys will be guys, no matter the race or species…"

"Tell me about it. And here I thought Zoro and Sanji were bad…"

…
To be continued…

This arc ended up being quite the short one, huh?

Still, after almost fifty chapters in, Rein finally unlocked fire breathing! Took her long enough, huh?

And for those who are wondering why this arc didn't change much from canon, or why Sanji wasn't involved much, it's because I couldn't see this happening any other way.

Also, Sanji was often being left off-screen doing all that spy stuff.

With that, I thank you all for reading this!