"Why are you bullying a child?!" Nami said, unable to stand by as Miss Goldenweek cried pitifully under Tom's spanking. The little girl's innocent face was streaked with clear tear tracks. Crystal tears welled in her eyes as she sobbed, her cute little nose trembling slightly with each sniffle. The expression of infinite grievance on her face was truly pitiful, prompting Nami to intervene.
"You weren't saying that earlier. Didn't you say she needed to be taught a lesson? That it'd be best to punch her off the island?" Tom replied, very surprised.
"Even so, you should know when to stop. She's just a child. How can she take this?" Nami pulled Miss Goldenweek away from Tom, comforting the still-weeping, tearful girl.
"You're right. It wouldn't be good to bruise her little bottom. Hahahaha," Tom laughed, scratching his head.
As soon as he said this, Nami's face darkened, her lovely brows twitching. "How can you say something like that?"
"You keep an eye on her," Tom said to Nami, then looked at Miss Goldenweek, who was hugging Nami's leg and hiding behind her, still sniffling. "Behave, little girl. Otherwise, I'll have to educate you again."
After walking a few steps forward, Tom turned back, came up to Miss Goldenweek, and took her palette and brushes. "Hah, confiscating the tools of the trade. That should do it, right?"
Miss Goldenweek was now terrified of Tom, thinking he was the scariest man she'd ever met. Seeing him take her palette and brushes, she desperately wanted to snatch them back but was too afraid of another "educational" session from Tom. She just watched with teary, pleading eyes as he pocketed her important tools, on the verge of crying again.
Unfortunately, Tom completely ignored Miss Goldenweek's puppy-dog expression. Taking her palette and brushes, he walked off without a backward glance, patting his butt as he went. Without her tools, Miss Goldenweek was no different from an ordinary little girl. Nami watching her alone was enough for Tom.
By now, Luffy was already fighting Mr. 3, while Usopp and Karoo battled Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.
Seeing his partner, Miss Goldenweek, subdued by Tom, Mr. 3 was growing anxious, wanting to rescue her but being held back by Luffy.
Mr. 5 had insisted on dealing with Luffy himself, but Mr. 3 pointed out that Mr. 5's ineffective attacks were precisely why Luffy was still alive and here. Clearly, Mr. 5 couldn't handle Luffy. Mr. 3 ordered Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine to deal with Usopp and Karoo, while he would handle Luffy personally, vowing to turn him into one of his wax collections.
Initially, Mr. 3 tried to taunt Luffy, saying someone like him was the highest bounty in the East Blue and that the Marines had no taste. But when Luffy first saw Mr. 3, he shouted about his hair being on fire and how weird it looked, saying the '3'-shaped hairstyle was ugly. Mr. 3, who had wanted to anger Luffy, ended up furious himself.
Meanwhile, on the wax tower, Vivi and Zoro, their feet immobilized, were now over halfway covered in wax, their bodies gradually stiffening.
Seeing that Luffy and Tom didn't seem to notice their plight, Vivi urgently called out to them. Only then did the two realize the others were in dire straits, nearly turned into statues. Compared to Vivi, Zoro remained much calmer, claiming he was completely fine.
But in Vivi's eyes, how could Zoro be fine? His feet were bleeding profusely, crimson blood staining the silver-white wax platform a shocking red. The swords in Zoro's hands were covered in fresh blood. Vivi estimated Zoro had driven his blades deep into his own feet. If Luffy and the others had been a second later, he would have truly severed them.
Compared to Zoro, Vivi had been half a beat slower. Her blade had cut her foot, but the wound wasn't deep, not a big issue. But the injuries on Zoro's feet were severe enough to make anyone wince just looking at them.
Hearing Zoro had wounded his own feet, Nami scolded him, "What were you thinking, trying to cut off your own feet to escape?"
"I never said that. I only wanted to cut off my feet to fight the enemy," Zoro retorted.
"Isn't that even crazier?" Nami stated her honest opinion. Zoro decided further conversation was pointless.
"You all really aren't tense at all," Miss Goldenweek said to Nami beside her. Without her palette and brushes, she truly had nothing to do. With tears still at the corners of her eyes, she actually spread out a small carpet, set out a teapot, and started munching on senbei rice crackers.
"You're one to talk," Nami said, a sweatdrop appearing on her brow as she watched Miss Goldenweek preparing to sit and enjoy tea and snacks.
"Ow, that hurts." Miss Goldenweek had just sat down when she immediately jumped up, gently rubbing her bottom with her small hands, her eyes becoming teary again.
That idiot really hit her hard, Nami thought, looking toward Tom.
"You go break that thing. We'll handle them," Luffy told Tom. Clearly, he really wanted to punch someone, and that someone was Mr. 3.
"Usopp, sure you don't need my help?" Tom asked as he walked toward the large wax tower, addressing Usopp, who was riding Karoo and fighting Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.
"No need! Today's me is different from before! Just watch! This is a fight a man has to face!" Usopp flatly refused, his meaning crystal clear: he didn't want Tom interfering.
Since Usopp insisted, Tom said no more and headed straight for the wax tower. Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, seeing Tom approach, were initially very worried. But hearing Usopp's words, they unconsciously sighed in relief. If Tom really attacked them, they'd probably just flee.
Though Usopp spoke with great momentum, when he saw Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine approaching, he habitually hid behind Karoo, gripping his slingshot tightly, telling Luffy he'd handle covering fire.
Brogy, lying nearby, seeing Zoro seemingly giving up the idea of cutting off his feet to fight, asked if he had given up struggling. Zoro bluntly said yes, because the ones who needed to struggle now were different.
"You two hanging in there?" Tom asked, seeing that Zoro and Vivi, their feet fixed to the wax platform, were at least two-thirds covered in wax, nearly indistinguishable from statues. He knew they couldn't delay.
"We're okay. But what's with your right hand? It doesn't look like those guys did that," Zoro asked, noticing Tom's right arm still hanging limp.
Vivi was amazed that Zoro, almost a wax statue, still had the mood to chat with Tom. Weren't they still in danger? Why was he so calm?
"It's nothing serious. Ran into a little trouble on this island earlier," Tom said, eyeing the large wax tower. Destroying it would likely be harder than breaking the Candle Shackles. Just as he prepared to test it, Luffy's voice rang out.
"Move aside!"
"Huh?"
Tom turned to see Luffy, his arms stretched out, grabbing the giant sword impaled in Brogy's hand. He swung around in the air a few times, making Brogy cry out in pain. Just as Tom was about to ask what Luffy was doing, he saw Luffy release the sword and go shooting toward him.
It turned out Luffy's feet were bound by Mr. 3's Candle Shackles. So he had a bright idea: while smashing the shackles on his feet, he could also help Zoro and Vivi. He used the Candle Shackles on his feet as hammers, swinging them at a large pillar on the wax platform.
As Luffy expected, the Candle Shackles on his feet shattered after breaking the pillar on the wax platform.
But what Luffy didn't anticipate was that breaking the pillar supporting the rotating Halloween pumpkin at the tower's top didn't help Zoro and Vivi escape their crisis. Instead, it accelerated their deaths.
Without the pillar's support, the rotating pumpkin above fell, crashing heavily onto the top of the wax platform, now much closer to Zoro and Vivi. This meant wax flakes would fall on them even faster, greatly shortening the time until they became statues.
When they first saw the large wax pumpkin falling from above, Zoro and Vivi thought they were about to be crushed. Luckily, they weren't.
Luffy even asked why they hadn't dodged when it was so dangerous.
"They couldn't dodge! Look what you did! I said I'd handle this thing. You just focus on punching the enemy away!" Tom said displeasedly to Luffy. His words shocked Vivi, who thought this guy was incredibly dense.
"Fine. I'll leave this to you," Luffy said before returning to fight Mr. 3.
Usopp took advantage of Mr. 3's focus on Luffy to shoot a Hoshi Boshi from his slingshot. But Mr. 5 swallowed the flaming star whole. With a Boom!, Mr. 5's stomach expanded in an explosion, black smoke pouring from his mouth. But he acted like it was nothing, saying Usopp used poor-quality gunpowder, making the Hoshi Boshi taste terrible.
Seeing Mr. 5 swallow explosives unscathed, Usopp and Karoo were stunned, jaws agape. They were soon chased by Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, screaming and running everywhere. Luckily, Usopp was riding Karoo, who was fast enough to stay ahead for now.
"Usopp! Lend me that big hammer you made last time!" Tom remembered accidentally seeing Usopp make a large hammer and wanted to borrow it to smash the wax tower from above.
"Take it!" aggregate Usopp threw a large hammer to Tom before he and Karoo, pursued by Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, ran off into the forest.
While running, due to the intense jostling, Usopp accidentally fell off Karoo. But the panicked Karoo didn't notice, continuing to run forward, leaving Usopp far behind. Seeing Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine closing in, Usopp was terrified, eyes bulging, snot and tears flowing, his face twisted in fear. He screamed for Karoo to wait, that he wasn't on board yet.
Hearing Usopp, Karoo finally realized he was gone. But when it turned and saw Usopp's abnormally terrifying expression, it was so frightened it quacked loudly, running for its life without looking back. Usopp, seeing Karoo run off without stopping, loudly questioned why it was so afraid of him.
Meanwhile, Tom, catching the hammer Usopp threw, felt it wasn't very heavy but didn't think much of it. He immediately jumped up, left hand gripping the hammer tightly. "Watch me smash this thing in one hit!"
Tom descended from the sky, slamming the hammer down onto the top of the wax tower with great force. Everyone, seeing his overwhelming momentum, thought he'd succeeded.
With a Poof!, the hammer in Tom's hand, just before hitting the wax platform, burst like a balloon. Only the handle remained, the hammer head gone. Tom, still in mid-air, was so shocked his jaw dropped. "The hammer burned up in the fire!"
Vivi and Zoro were also dumbfounded, never expecting Tom's hammer to be so flimsy, disappearing upon contact with fire. In reality, the hammer head was a balloon that popped instantly when touched by the flames on the wax tower.
"What are you doing?! Waving around a hammer made of balloons?!" Nami shouted, having been impressed by Tom's momentum just moments before, only for it to end like this.
"I'd like to ask you the same! How can you leisurely drink tea?!" Tom retorted as he landed, nearly turning to stone on the spot when he saw Nami sitting on the carpet with Miss Goldenweek, enjoying tea and senbei.
"You don't know, this tea is really good. But you're right, I did forget to do something," Nami said, taking a sip of tea before putting down her cup and calling out seriously to Luffy. "Luffy! Please beat the enemy in front of you until he's unrecognizable, then punch him somewhere far away!"
"I will! Because they stained the giants' duel!" Luffy called back.
At that moment, Mr. 3 unleashed his Candle Champion Cup, boasting it was his greatest artwork—his body, except for his head, encased in candle armor shaped like a giant robot. He claimed to have defeated a 42,000,000 Berry bounty hunter with this move. Mr. 3 had originally hoped Miss Goldenweek could color his armor to enhance its power.
Earlier, Mr. 3 tried to block Luffy's attack with a Candle Wall, but Luffy, with Candle Shackles on his fists, shattered it with one punch, hitting Mr. 3 squarely in the face and sending him flying, forcing him to use his strongest technique.
Unfortunately, Miss Goldenweek was now a prisoner of the Straw Hats, drinking tea with Nami. Plus, her palette and brushes were confiscated by Tom. Even if she wanted to help Mr. 3, she couldn't.
After yelling at Luffy, Nami shouted to Tom, "You need to rescue them quickly, you hear?!"
"So that's what you call doing something? You're an idiot!" Tom said, taking out his fishing rod from its sheath and berating Nami. Then the two started arguing as if no one else was around.
When Luffy saw Mr. 3's robot-like candle armor, his attention was instantly captured. He was mesmerized, eyes shining as he stared at the armor, exclaiming, "So cool!"
"Mr. Bushido... are we really going to be okay like this?" Vivi asked worriedly.
"All we can do now is believe in them. Luckily, I've already struck a pose, so it's fine," Zoro said.
"You little... I've got something to say to you," Tom said, gripping his fishing rod with his left hand, jumping, extending the rod, and swinging it hard at the rotating pumpkin atop the wax tower.
Hearing Tom's words, Nami clenched her fists, her terrifying aura nearly making the tea-sipping Miss Goldenweek cry again.
With a Bang!, the rapidly spinning pumpkin on the wax tower was struck by Tom's rod. It didn't fly off but instead tilted toward Zoro and Vivi.
Seeing the pumpkin about to fall, Tom quickly took a sharp spearhead from his belt and attached it to the rod's tip.
As the large pumpkin fell, Tom used the spear in his left hand to prop it up. The weight from above forced his heels to sink into the ground.
"My body is getting harder and harder. I can't move at all," Vivi said.
At this rate, they're done for!
Tom's pupils turned blood-red as he pushed upward with all his might, sending the pumpkin flying away.
Just then, Usopp and Karoo returned, still pursued by Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.
The chili projectile burned Mr. 5's mouth terribly, eyes red and spewing flames as he ran screaming.
Seeing Usopp return covered in wounds, Tom asked why he'd given him a fake hammer.
Mr. 3 was eventually defeated, the wax melted, Zoro cut down Mr. 5, and Miss Valentine was knocked out by Nami and Vivi working together.
"Burning Ghost Slash!"
Zoro sheathed his swords.
"You're all still alive?!" Miss Valentine gasped before falling unconscious.
"It's so hot!" Nami complained.
"Fix this for me when we get back to the ship," Tom said, noticing his arm sheath burned.
Brogy extinguished the fire.
Mr. 3 fled into the jungle and was finally punched unconscious by Luffy, defeated by instinct.
Elsewhere, Sanji impersonated Mr. 3 over the Den Den Mushi, casually lying to Mr. 0 and unknowingly sealing Mr. 3's fate.
Back with the giants, Dorry and Brogy reunited, cried heroically, then argued again.
Vivi felt guilty but was comforted.
Miss Goldenweek lost her senbei and wanted to cry.
With the Eternal Pose obtained, the crew departed.
At the river mouth, the dead goldfish blocked their path.
Dorry and Brogy split it in half with a mighty strike.
The Going Merry sailed onward.
That evening, Tom trained relentlessly at the bow, determined to grow stronger.
Nami watched quietly.
"Dinner's ready," she said.
The sunset's afterglow bathed them in gold.
And the Going Merry sailed on.
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T/N :
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