"Mr. 5!!"
Miss Valentine saw her partner sent flying by Tom's punch, his face completely distorted. Trying to stop Tom from further attacking Mr. 5, she used her Kilo-Kilo Fruit ability to float into the air, drifting above Tom. "10,000 Kilo Press!"
Though Miss Valentine changed her weight to ten thousand kilograms, plummeting like a rapidly falling meteor from the sky to crush Tom as he walked toward Mr. 5, Tom easily avoided it.
With a boom, Miss Valentine crashed heavily into the ground, creating a deep crater.
Tom glanced at Miss Valentine in the crater. "You'd better stay right there and don't move. Otherwise, I don't mind using you to warm up!"
Seeing Tom was completely serious, Miss Valentine had an instinct that if she climbed out now, Tom would really beat her violently. Her smooth forehead was covered in cold sweat. For a moment, she didn't dare move, utterly terrified.
This wasn't the first time Vivi had seen Tom beat Mr. 5 without him being able to fight back at all. But this time, Tom seemed to be hitting him especially hard. She even felt Tom was deliberately avoiding fatal vital points, not letting Mr. 5 pass out, so Mr. 5 could be beaten while fully conscious.
Tom was indeed furious. He'd spent considerable effort severely injuring the prehistoric Pliosaur and was about to finish the hunt when Mr. 5 interfered, killing his prey. This depressed him to no end, so he had to brutally deal with the culprit.
"You're still so rude! Either littering with snot or stealing someone else's prey!"
After beating Mr. 5 beyond recognition, Tom grabbed his collar with one hand and lifted him. "The one who spots the prey should be the one to deliver the final blow. You couldn't possibly understand that feeling. So I'll explain it with my fists."
Poor Mr. 5. Last time, a sober Tom found him too noisy and littering with boogers, beating him half to death. Now, Tom was furious he'd killed his prey and beat him within an inch of his life again, even shattering his glasses.
"I'm a senior agent of Baroque Works! How dare you treat me like this?!"
Being restrained single-handedly by Tom, Mr. 5 was utterly terrified. Since joining Baroque Works and becoming a senior agent, aside from the setback at Whisky Peak, he'd never been beaten so thoroughly he couldn't even resist. Facing this nightmare again, his hair stood on end, face pale, but he still tried to hold on stubbornly.
To some degree, Mr. 5 wasn't someone who gave in easily, even though he was arrogant and not very strong.
"Even if you were the President of Baroque Works, you shouldn't have touched my prey."
Tom punched Mr. 5 fiercely in the face, sending him flying with a crooked nose and twisted eyes. He landed, rolled back over ten meters, knocking down several trees, and finally stopped, lying face-down on the ground motionless, temporarily unable to get up.
Just as Tom walked over to take out more anger on Mr. 5, a sinister voice rang out. "Found you!"
"Mr. 3?!"
Vivi had been about to attack Miss Valentine, who was stuck in the crater, when Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek blocked her path.
Not only that, but Mr. 3, before Vivi noticed him, had used wax from his body to form shackles, binding Vivi's ankles.
"Trapped by my Candle Shackles, you won't escape now, Princess Vivi."
Mr. 3 looked proudly at Vivi, who had lost her balance and fallen. "You made me suffer quite a bit earlier. Now I'll return it double!"
"What happened to you, Mr. 3?"
Miss Valentine was somewhat surprised to see Mr. 3 appear, but what surprised her even more was Mr. 3's wretched appearance—his clothes in tatters, many bloodstained wounds on his body. Who could have done this to him?
"Don't ask what you shouldn't. I know you chased us here to complete the President's mission. But you're too weak. If you get in my way..."
Mr. 3 glanced at the distant Mr. 5, then at the standing Miss Valentine, his face dark. "For now, let's deal with the enemy. We'll talk about other things later."
As he spoke, Mr. 3 walked toward Tom, not wanting to give him a chance to rescue Vivi.
Hearing Mr. 3 call them weak, a resentful-looking Miss Valentine wanted to retort, but seeing the hint of killing intent in his eyes, she swallowed her anger. With Tom here, now wasn't the time for internal conflict.
When Tom attacked Mr. 3 from the air on the Quetzalcoatlus, he hadn't seen him clearly. Now face-to-face, he noticed Mr. 3's hair was actually shaped like a '3'.
"Your hair is so weird. It's ugly."
"Shut up! Don't talk about my hair! Stay right there! Take one more step, and I'll kill Princess Vivi!"
Hearing Tom call his hair ugly, Mr. 3 couldn't endure it. Having experienced Tom's strength earlier, he naturally used his hostage to threaten him.
"If you do that, it really puts me in a difficult position."
Tom stopped walking forward, speaking awkwardly to Mr. 3.
"I don't care! Even if you die, you have to come save me!"
Vivi, on the ground, didn't want to drag down Tom and meant to tell him not to worry about her. But the words that came out of her mouth were completely different.
Unbeknownst to Vivi, Miss Goldenweek behind her had taken out a brush and painted a strange black circular pattern on her back—Betrayal Black. Upon contact with this pigment, no matter how important the comrade, the person would want to betray them. Thus, Vivi, who originally worried for Tom, now didn't care about his life or death.
This was a deep psychological suggestion. Even Vivi herself didn't know her emotions were being influenced by Miss Goldenweek's paint.
"I'll save you soon. Be quiet and stop shouting nonsense."
Hearing Vivi's words, Tom thought she was being selfish. But they had promised to escort her to Alabasta, and she was in danger while with him. He decided to rescue her first.
"I don't want you to save me! Leave me alone!"
Influenced by the Betrayal Black pigment, Vivi firmly shouted words completely opposite to her earlier sentiment.
"What? Why are you so willful? Is this所谓的公主病?**"
Tom was about to rescue Vivi when she shouted loudly not to, seeming emotionally agitated. He was utterly confused, unable to understand what was in her head.
They say women are changeable. Vivi is a prime example.
As Tom thought this, he saw Mr. 3 throw a glob of white, sticky liquid at him. "Candle Shackles!"
Seeing the situation turn bad, Tom immediately took the fishing rod from his arm sheath, planted it on the ground, and used the extending rod to vault into the air.
"How dare you still dodge! Aren't you afraid I'll kill Princess Vivi?!"
Mr. 3 didn't expect that even with his threat, Tom dared to ignore it.
"I did as you said—I didn't take another step forward. You just can't hit me. Not my problem."
Tom had indeed stayed put. Holding the top of the rod with one hand, he looked down at Mr. 3 and said honestly, "You're just too incompetent."
"You damn brat! Still mocking me!"
Mr. 3 said angrily, "Get down here now and stand still! Otherwise, I'll make a move on Princess Vivi!"
"Mr. 3, why not just kill him directly?"
Miss Valentine thought someone as dangerous as Tom should be eliminated. Why capture him alive?
"I want to make him into a collectible artistic wax doll statue. I won't let him die so comfortably."
Remembering being whipped brutally, Mr. 3's face grew even more gloomy.
Tom was still thinking whether to use his not-yet-mastered Soru to circle behind and rescue Vivi or charge head-on, when he accidentally saw a Candle Shackle had formed on the end of his planted rod, making it look like a hammer. Estimating the distance to Mr. 3, he immediately knew what to do.
While Mr. 3 was distracted talking to Miss Valentine, Tom took the Soft-Flow Particle accessory from his belt and attached it to the rod's tip. Still holding the top of the rod before landing, he rapidly extended the rod again and pressed downward, the water regulation and powerful growth properties activating.
Whoosh! Mr. 3 had just finished speaking when a hammer-like object flew at him with lightning speed. As he tried to dodge, it struck his chin, sending him flying. His jaw throbbed with pain, his head spinning, extremely uncomfortable.
Mr. 3 had no idea Tom's rod could transform in so many ways. He thought even if Tom jumped from the rod to ambush him, he'd have time to react. He didn't expect the seemingly rigid rod could turn into an extremely elastic pole in an instant.
In addition, the Candle Shackle on the rod's end added over twenty centimeters, leaving Mr. 3 without enough time to dodge, taking the hammer blow solidly.
After sending Mr. 3 flying, Tom gripped the rod and jumped forward, following up with a kick, kicking the falling Mr. 3 away. The movements were smooth and continuous, exceptionally agile. Then he aimed at Vivi's feet, raised the rod high, and smashed downward.
Thud!
The Candle Shackle on Vivi's feet and the one on Tom's rod collided and both shattered into pieces.
Miss Valentine reacted half a beat too slow. By the time she came back to her senses, Tom was in front of her. "Don't you move!"
As he said this, Tom lifted Miss Goldenweek like a chick, who was standing beside Vivi. The little girl had two sheep-horn braids, wore a red hat, and had distinct light-pink blush on her cute face, looking adorable.
"Take her and get out!"
Tom and Miss Goldenweek looked at each other for a few moments. She didn't seem threatening at all, so he casually threw her into Miss Valentine's arms.
Seeing Tom rescue Vivi in the blink of an eye, and even the stronger Mr. 3 falling for his trick, Miss Valentine just wanted to stay far away from Tom. She wouldn't say a word of refusal.
"Why aren't you getting up? Let me help you."
Tom vaguely felt something was wrong. Was it an illusion? When he was about to smash the shackle on Vivi's feet, she seemed very unwilling, trying to avoid it.
"I won't get up, and I don't want your help! I want to sit on the ground!"
Seeing Tom's hand reach out, Vivi actually slapped it away, saying forcefully.
"Enough! I don't have time for your nonsense tantrums!"
Tom's heart was also filled with anger. Vivi seemed like a completely different person, extremely hard to deal with. He reached out again, intending to forcibly pull her up.
Just then, two small, round objects flew over.
Boom! Kaboom!
Explosions erupted near Tom, instantly filling the area with billowing thick smoke. As Tom's hand grabbed Vivi and pulled her up, Mr. 3 used the black smoke to block their vision to fire two more Candle Shackles at Tom, trying to trap him.
"Cough, cough... That snot-man's move again. All he does is make the place a total mess."
Tom wanted to lead Vivi out of the thick smoke to avoid choking, but then he realized something was wrong.
Very soon, the black smoke dispersed with the wind. Tom then saw his left hand and Vivi's right hand were locked together by Candle Shackles. Even their left and right feet were shackled together.
Tom was completely dumbfounded. Hands and feet bound with Vivi, and enemies still present... How was he supposed to fight?
"Well done, Mr. 5."
Mr. 3 was very satisfied seeing Tom and Vivi trapped.
"Only because he's truly difficult to deal with would I cooperate with you."
Mr. 5, his face swollen beyond recognition, still maintained an arrogant attitude.
Mr. 3 didn't mind much. The priority was eliminating Tom. He could settle accounts with Mr. 5 later.
"Listen, if you coordinate my movements well, we can still deal with them."
Seeing Mr. 5 and Mr. 3 closing in, knowing they wouldn't give him time to break the shackles, Tom said to Vivi.
By Tom's estimate, the Candle Shackles were as hard as iron, not easy to destroy.
"I refuse! I won't cooperate! If you go left, I'll insist on going right!"
Vivi stiffly rejected Tom's proposal, making him instantly furious. "At a time like this, you're still throwing a tantrum?! My patience has limits!"
Tom thought in this critical situation, Vivi wouldn't act up. Who knew this woman was still so unreasonable. He really wanted to properly educate her about knowing the bigger picture.
"Yahahahaha! It's useless! She's fallen for Miss Goldenweek's Color Trap! Whatever you try, she'll want to betray you."
Miss Valentine, holding the petite Miss Goldenweek, said with a smug expression to Tom.
What? Color Trap?
Tom suddenly remembered earlier seeing Miss Goldenweek paint something on Vivi's back. He thought it was just a little girl's prank and didn't pay attention. Who knew it would become so serious.
"Huh? What's wrong with them?"
While Tom was still thinking how to escape the predicament, he saw Mr. 3 and Mr. 5, who had been closing in, turn and run with terrified faces, as if they'd seen a ghost. Even Miss Valentine let out an exaggerated scream, hugging Miss Goldenweek and ran without looking back.
With a perfect chance to attack him, the enemies all fled in an instant. This bizarre event left Tom completely confused. Before he could sort out his thoughts, a huge shadow enveloped him.
In an instant, Tom felt his scalp go numb, as if plunged into an icy abyss, a chill running from head to toe, as if being targeted by something terrifying, making his heart race with fear.
"Wh... What is that???????"
Tom and Vivi, bound together by the shackles, slowly turned their heads. Off the coast, a colossal goldfish had appeared, its size much larger than the previous prehistoric pliosaur, estimated to be as big as an island.
This enormous goldfish floated on the sea, its big, round, bulging goldfish eyes fixed on Tom and Vivi on the shore. It slowly opened its mouth—large enough to swallow a small island whole—leaving the man and woman petrified on the spot, their jaws dropping simultaneously.
Elsewhere, on the Going Merry, Nami, after turning her bookshelf upside down, finally found the book recording information about Little Garden. Running out to find Usopp, who was also on the ship, she saw a giant roughly thirty to forty meters tall walking toward the Going Merry docked ashore.
Each step caused slight tremors in the ground. Nami was so scared her mouth hung open, her book involuntarily dropping.
A light breeze blew, coincidentally flipping the book on the deck to the page about Little Garden. Clear lines of text were written:
"To those who live here, this island is like a small garden. So let this land be called 'Little Garden.' —Explorer Louis Arno."
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T/N :
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