"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.