Luffy's boots landed hard on the strange wax platform. He straightened slowly, eyes narrowing at the towering wax giant before him. The Candle Champion stood over twice his height, sculpted from solidified candle wax, with shoulders as broad as a ship's hull and limbs like polished tree trunks. Its mask—grinning, featureless—sent a shiver of disgust through Luffy's spine.
"Big," he muttered under his breath. "But slow."
Up on a rising pedestal of wax, Mr. 3 watched with a theatrical sweep of his arm. "Magnificent, isn't it?" he declared. "A monument of design! Every contour calculated, every angle optimized. Not brute force, but art!"
Luffy didn't respond. His right hand curled into a fist, black wisps of shadow licking around his knuckles.
The Champion moved suddenly.
Its enormous wax blade-arm crashed down with the speed of a falling boulder. The air cracked as it sliced downward. Luffy side-stepped, his feet gliding with a burst of shadow.
Fwoosh—CRACK!
The wax blade split the ground where he had stood. Chunks of hardened wax exploded around him.
He reappeared to the left, crouched low, eyes blazing.
"Shadow Burst—Strike!"
He launched forward, and his fist—boosted by swirling shadow force—slammed into the Champion's chest. A shockwave rolled through the arena, but the wax giant barely budged.
"Tch… tough."
"Indeed," Mr. 3 said, fingers twirling a candle wick lazily. "Unlike you, I sculpt perfection."
At the Going Merry, tension gripped the crew like a vice.
Nami stared at the Log Pose, her brows furrowed. "It's still locked on this island, but the air… it feels wrong."
Usopp paced, eyes darting. "I told you I saw something moving! A wax golem with a thousand teeth!"
Sanji lit his cigarette calmly, but his eyes were serious. "Something's definitely out there."
Vivi gripped the railing. "It's the Baroque agents. They're luring us in."
The fog around the ship thickened unnaturally, swallowing the lower masts and muting the world beyond. The jungle had disappeared behind a veil of white.
"I'll go find him," Sanji said.
"No—" Nami began, but Sanji had already swung off the side.
"Hold the ship," he called. "I'll bring the idiot back."
Then he vanished into the mist like a ghost.
Luffy dodged another swipe, but the terrain beneath him shifted suddenly.
Mr. 3's voice echoed from above. "The stage bends to my will!"
The ground rippled like liquid. Wax tendrils emerged like vines, coiling toward Luffy's legs.
He twisted, jumped—but one tendril snagged his ankle. Another wrapped around his wrist.
The wax surged like an avalanche. In seconds, it was climbing his legs, chest, arms.
"Shadow Pulse!"
Black energy flared from Luffy's body, but the wax was too dense. His mobility dropped, limbs locking tighter.
[Shadow Output Reduced – 52% Mobility Impairment]
Luffy gritted his teeth. "No… I won't be a statue…"
Farther in the jungle, Zoro carved a path through overgrowth, blades flashing. The shadows shifted strangely here—too still, too quiet.
Then he entered a clearing and froze.
Two massive wax statues stood silently.
Dorry. Brogy.
Frozen mid-roar. Their eyes wide in silent agony.
Zoro's jaw tightened. "They… turned them into this?"
A faint laugh echoed behind him.
He spun.
A young girl in overalls stood with a paintbrush in hand, her expression blank. Miss Goldenweek dipped her brush in pink and calmly stroked a wooden board.
Back in the wax arena, Luffy's arms were locked above his head. The wax had sculpted itself into a collar and base.
Mr. 3 gestured with flourish. "And now, behold: the Giant Candle Service Set!"
The Candle Champion raised its arm again.
Luffy's breathing grew heavy. His shadow pulsed, flickered, then roared behind his back.
"Not done…"
The wax cracked at his elbows. With a guttural growl, he ripped one arm free, and in a surge of fury, headbutted the wax monster in the chest.
BOOM!
The Champion stumbled backward.
Mr. 3's smirk vanished for a second.
Then—
A blur of black crashed down between them.
Sanji landed with both legs, coat fluttering behind him, cigarette still lit.
"Party's started without me?"
Luffy blinked. "You—?!"
Sanji winked. "Nice statue pose."
Mr. 3's eyes narrowed. "Another rat."
Before they could act, the wax beneath them shivered.
Walls rose like waves between Luffy and Sanji.
"Separate them!" Mr. 3 shouted. "Divide and finish!"
Luffy shouted through the wall. "Don't let him trap you!"
"I wasn't planning to!" Sanji yelled back.
The wax tendrils writhed upward, locking into a circular formation.
A dome. A prison.
The Candle Service Set was fully forming—massive, elegant, and terrifying.
Luffy's system pinged in red.
[Countdown Detected – 600 Seconds Until Full Encapsulation]
He stared at the wall.
"Then I'll break it before time's up."
[End of Chapter 114]
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