Chapter 6: The 'Candle Service Set'

Running as fast as they could (which was quite a feat for Genevieve, as she preferred to take things slow and easy), the trio of people still had not reached the Baroque Works Agents that were targeting the princess. Sanji did his part to clear the path by kicking away any stray dinosaur that they came across. Bringing up the rear was Steven, who clutched onto the straps of his Cheeseburger Backpack with his life.

In the distance, a giant figure revealed itself. Looking similar to a giant birthday cake, Steven could make out three figures on top. "Birthday candles?"

"Mr. 3 ate the Wax-Wax Fruit. He's created the 'Candle Service Set,'" Genevieve explained.

"Thanks for that amazing insight, kid. Think you can tell us what that thing actually is?" the pirate asked impatiently.

"I just did."

Sanji ground his teeth in irritation. "But what does it do?!"

"Oh. It basically turns its victims into permanent wax sculptures," she elaborated. "I typically would paint them."

"Did you say 'permanent wax sculptures?!' How can you say that so calmly?!" Steven yelled incredulously.

"Hey, give me a break! This has been my life for the past few years. I'm kind of used to this."

"Less talking, more running! Damn it! If that is Nami-san or Vivi-chan, I'm gonna ram my foot so far up that shithead's ass that..."

"Ahh! Too much bad language!" Steven covered his ears.

"Kid, what exactly do we need to do in this kind of situation?" Sanji asked, preparing to relight his cigarette.

The girl stopped and looked at the now glowing stick of tobacco and pointed to it. "We need that."

"But my dad says smoking is terrible for you! His friend Marty smoked sometimes and now he's dead to him!" Steven pointed out.

The two just looked at the kid and shook their heads. "Trust me. We'll need that, Mr. 3's colognes, and your lighter...oh. I'm going to paint on your shirt too."

"Wait...what?!" Sanji said, trying to read the girl's intentions. Before he could, the girl pulled out her brush and got to work.

"Genevieve, what are you doing?!" Steven asked.

"My work as Miss Goldenweek," she told him calmly. Flicking her brush onto Sanji, a painted symbol now adorned his suit. "Colors Trap!"

*AGITR*

"Hahahaha! Truly this is my greatest masterpiece yet!" Mr. 3 yelled to his fellow Agents. "What are your thoughts, Mr. 5? Miss Valentine?"

The giant wax sculpture truly gave off the impression of a giant birthday cake. There were multiple layers of wax that culminated with a single giant pillar in the middle. On top of the pillar was a smiling circular dish with burning candles on it. The dish was then circling around, spreading bits of wax all throughout the air.

Unfortunately for the Straw Hat pirates, three of their numbers were forced into the layer next to the pillar with no way of escaping. There was an orange-haired teenager wearing a long sleeved shirt and a miniskirt, a blue-haired teenager with a green button up shirt, and a green-haired young man with a sash holding up a sword. Though they were not completely enveloped in wax yet, they found themselves unable to move.

Near them was another form covered in wax: one of the giant warriors Mr. 3 hoped to collect the bounty on. Beside him was the battered forms of the people the "Mr. 5 Pair" dealt with before: the long-nosed pirate, the duck, and "Straw Hat" Luffy.

"Seems like a bit much for a simple mission," Mr. 5 admitted. "Just get it over with already. You have the girl..."

"Tisk tisk, Mr. 5. I expected more from you," the sculptor sighed and wagged his finger. "Do you not see it at all? This is not just purely a perfect piece of physical art. That goes without saying."

The man smirked at the Straw Hat pirate and moved toward him. "No, this goes much deeper than that. This will be the slow, agonizing ruination of a noble spirit who got in the way. You shouldn't have crossed Baroque Works, 'Straw Hat' Luffy...your friends will die due to your choices..."

Before the pirate could react, the candle-man was ready. "Candle Lock!" Mr. 3 yelled, sending a ball of wax flying toward the youthful pirate. It surrounded his legs and bound them together.

"My feet! You've turned them into a hammer!" the pirate smirked.

Though annoyed, Mr. 3 was not ready to quit. "That's not all I can do. After I bind your hands, I will force you to watch your friends and your charge die in front of your very eyes. Then I'll burn your ship for good measure. It is only then, when your soul is crushed beyond repair, that I will be generous enough to end your bothersome life."

"Luffy!" the orange-haired girl yelled. "You can do this! You've still got your hands! Destroy the pillar before we get stuck as wax statues forever!"

"What?!" Luffy's jaw literally dropped. "Is that what's happening?!"

Mr. 3 shook his head and looked to the others. "This idiot is the one who gave you such an issue before? You really are weak, aren't you?"

The two were about to say something before a voice called out from the side of the forest clearing. "Hey! I told you not to make fun of them!"

Mr. 3 frowned as the familiar forms of Steven Universe and Miss Goldenweek made themselves known. However, he could not hide the surprise of seeing a new face: no doubt a member of "Straw Hat's" crew that he missed.

"Steven?!" Miss Valentine yelled out to him. "What are you doing here?!"

"SANJI!" Luffy roared. "What are you doing?!"

"Miss Goldenweek asked me to come here. I'm just doing what my friend asked me to do," Sanji cheerfully responded.

She pointed her paintbrush towards the giant wax sculpture. "Go sit over there underneath the 'Candle Service Set.' Don't move no matter what and do what I asked you to do."

"Anything for you!"

As the man moved past the Baroque Works Agents, they all realized what was going on. "My, my. 'Friendship Yellow-Green.' Good choice, Miss Goldenweek."

"More members of Baroque Works, Vivi?!" the green-haired swordsman called over to the blue-haired princess.

"That's Miss Goldenweek: the second half of the 'Mr. 3 Pair,'" Princess Vivi explained worryingly. Her eyes landed on the younger boy. "But I've never seen him before."

"Hello!" the boy waved. "I'm Steven!"

"Oh! Hi! I'm Luffy!" he waved back.

"DON'T GREET THE ENEMY!" everyone shouted at once, save Miss Goldenweek (who couldn't be bothered), Sanji (who wasn't told to), and the duck (because it was a duck).

"Mister Universe, this is a surprise!" Mr. 3 narrowed his eyes. "I thought you were staying back at the house?"

The boy pointed to Miss Goldenweek. "But she told me to follow her after we found the pirate-guy and talked on the snail thing."

"What?!" Mr. 3 snapped. "Mr. 0 called?!"

"Yeah," Miss Goldenweek ate a rice cracker that she brought along with her. "Crocodile wanted to know the status of our mission, so I told him we killed them."

The man nodded, looking relieved. "A bit premature, but assured nevertheless." After a moment, he relayed exactly what she said back to him. "WAIT, DID YOU SAY 'CROCODILE?!' AS IN THE 'CROCODILE?!'"

Princess Vivi darted her eyes around. "What?! She knows Crocodile's identity?! How did that happen?!"

"A Shichibukai is our boss?!" Miss Valentine nearly passed out to the floor.

"Miss Goldenweek, how did you come about this knowledge?!" Mr. 3 demanded of her.

The painter pointed to Sanji, who was fiddling with something at the base of the "Candle Service Set." "He told me. It's the boss' secret," Miss Goldenweek nonchalantly explained. "Thought you should know."

"NO, MISS GOLDENWEEK! I DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW THAT! HE'LL KILL US IF HE KNOWS THAT WE KNOW!" Mr. 3 panicked.

"Wait!" the long-nosed pirate interjected as he bunched forward somewhat comically. "If you know that, then maybe we don't need to fight anymore! Let Brogy be and we can end this!"

The candle-man let out a cold laugh. "Are you joking? This just means I have to kill you all faster before the boss realizes anything! I have no problem keeping that a secret...but clearly you all do!"

The long-nosed pirate inched back a few steps. Mr. 3 pointed to him. "Redeem yourself, you two. Kill him and the duck."

"Quack?!"

"Gah!"

Miss Valentine looked remorsefully to Steven but none the less jumped in the air. The long-nosed pirate started to scream while Luffy just watched.

"What is he doing?!" the princess asked incredulously. "Why isn't he trying to save us?"

"He's watching to see how this will turn out," the swordsman said. "As am I."

"How can you say that, Zoro?! We can't even move and you are talking about waiting it out?!" the other girl yelled. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Just watch, Nami. There's something going on here..."

High up in the air, the blonde-haired woman bit her lip. 'I'm sorry that you have to see this, Steven, but I'm not about to risk my dream,' she thought to herself. "10,000 Kilo Guillotine!"

Miss Valentine plummeted down toward the pirate, who tried to run but was blocked by Mr. 5. Again, Luffy did nothing to help his friend, but just watched.

"USOPP!" the princess and Nami yelled.

"No!" Steven interjected. "Don't hurt him!" With a shining burst of light, Steven's gem produced his pink shield and protected the cowering pirate. Miss Valentine continued her descent and landed squarely on the defensive Gem weapon. The look on her face was one of horror.

"My, this just got interesting," Mr. 3 muttered.

"COOL!" Luffy and Usopp yelled at once.

Miss Valentine just shook her head incredulously. "Steven?! Why..."

"This isn't you, Miss Valentine! You might have done bad things before, but you don't have to now! Just stop it; if not for them, then for me!" Steven implored.

She jumped off of his shield and landed on the ground. It was clear she was hurtful and conflicted right now. "I NEED to do this, Steven! You don't get it! A perfect country all to ourselves..."

"But is that any way to live?" Steven looked into her eyes. "This fighting is stupid! In the end, nobody will be happy."

"You can't possibly..."

"But I can!" Steven started to tear up again. "My friend Lapis was imprisoned in a mirror for years because her gem was cracked and when she got out, she did some bad things too. She attacked me and the Gems, broke my dad's leg, and tried to steal the ocean."

Steven looked now not only to Miss Valentine but to Usopp and Mr. 5. "Lapis was willing to do anything to get back to Homeworld and didn't think about what she was doing. I helped her get better and in the end she made it back home...but when she got there, it was miserable."

Steven's tears started to turn to legitimate crying. "Now's she's stuck fused at the bottom of our ocean with Jasper and there's nothing I can do to help her, especially when I'm stuck here in this world!"

Steven walked over to Mr. 3 and looked him straight in the eyes. "You've already won, but at what cost? Is this perfect country of yours going to be what you wanted if you have to keep hurting everyone around you? Just stop! Please!" Steven begged. Unfortunately, Mr. 3 was not amused.

"Oho? The puppy-dog is going to tell me what to do on my own mission?" Mr. 3 sauntered closer to the boy and turned his hand into wax. "The only reason you are alive was because of those weaklings. I could snuff you out right now and there wouldn't be a damn thing you could do about it. Do yourself a favor and shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

"What is your problem?!" Steven stood his ground. "Why do you even want to do this? I don't know what a Shichibukai is, but I can tell that you all don't like it! Let it go!"

In one swift motion, the candle-man grabbed Steven by the throat and raised him in the air. The boy's eyes widened as he started to choke. "Le...let go!"

"You talk too much," he replied venomously. "I'm doing your parallel dimension a favor by shutting you up! Miss Goldenweek, please assist me in incapacitating 'Straw Hat' before he tries to damage my masterpiece."

"You don't need to worry about 'Straw Hat' damaging it," she told him.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because it's on fire," she pointed to the giant wax creation. Mr. 3's eyes bulged out of his glasses in shock.

"HOW COULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED?!" he narrowed his eyes. "Miss Goldenweek, what did you do?!"

"I had the Straw Hat with the eyebrows douse that with all of your cologne. It's very flammable," the painter explained to the furious wax-man.

"MY GOOD COLOGNE?! THAT WAS SOME OF THE RAREST ON THE GRAND LINE! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY POSSESS YOU TO DO THAT?!"

"I don't want to be Miss Goldenweek anymore. I just want to paint," she told him. "I want to be the best painter in the world!"

The fury etched on Mr. 3's face was legendary. He looked to his former partner and then to the choking boy in his hands. "I don't give a damn about what you want! You...telling us about Crocodile...it was a distraction for that pirate to burn down the 'Candle Service Set!' My plans...this boy put you up to this, didn't he?!" He raised him even higher. "You don't deserve to die by my hands, but what the hell? I can make an exception for..."

"Nose Fancy Cannon!" a voice interjected. At once, Mr. 3 started to catch fire, letting Steven go, who now was gasping for air. The boy coughed as hard as he could when he finally saw his savior.

"Mr. 5! But..."

"Don't talk, kid. Save your breath," he told him. The man adjusted his sunglasses and sent another explosive hurdling toward the "Candle Service Set," spreading the fire to the rest of the wax.

Still burning intensely, Mr. 3 dropped to the ground and started to roll around, trying to extinguish the flames. After a few moments, he did and discarded his ruined clothes. "Are you...are you insane, Mr. 5?!" Mr. 3 panted. "Do you have any idea...what I will do to you?! The price for betrayal is death, you idiot! I..."

"The name...is Damian!" Mr. 5 kicked him in the jaw with all of his might, causing him to fly into the smoldering wreckage of his creation. By this point, the flames all but consumed it and the three companions of Luffy were able to move. As the pirates backed away from the defeated Mr. 3, Mr. 5 simply went back to picking his nose. "He talked too much. Damn hypocrite."

"That was so cliché," Miss Goldenweek pointed out.

"I don't care!" Steven weakly got up. "You told me your name!"

The former Mr. 5 folded his arms. "Don't let it get to your head."

"But why?" Steven coughed.

He looked away and started to walk to the giant fire. "I figured I owed you more than just letting you borrow my clothes. You saved my life, so I saved yours. Now you owe me new clothes before we get you back home."

As he walked he passed by Miss Valentine, who was still in shock over what just happened. "Am I wrong on that, Miss Valentine...or should I call you Petrea?"

The usage of her real name snapped her out of it. "You knew my name?!"

"You talk in your sleep. Be thankful I never reported it to the boss," he smirked and gave her a wink. The woman blushed furiously and then made her way to Steven. He waved to her, coughing a few more times.

"Your name is Petrea!" the half-Gem laughed. "I know your name now!"

"And I know that you still need manners in etiquette!" Petrea punched him in the shoulder, which caused him to wince. "Oops."

"Ow!" Steven rubbed his arm. He then looked over to the former wax weapon, which now melted into a flaming giant puddle. "Wait, is he...?"

"Dead? No, just knocked out. Mr. 3's too powerful to be taken down completely like that," Damian yelled to him. "Don't worry about it."

"Hey!" a voice yelled to them. Petrea found herself face to face with Usopp and Luffy. "Just because we know your name doesn't excuse what you two did! You tried to kill us and interrupted the giants' duel! What do you have to say to that?"

Petrea looked to Steven and shut her eyes. She put the boy behind her and hung her head. "I have nothing to say. Words can't change actions. Everything I did was to follow my dreams...dreams that I can see were never going to be achieved through Baroque Works..."

"'Dreams?'" Luffy repeated.

"I...want to be a chocolatier!" she admitted. "Everyone always told me it was a stupid idea...that I'd never amount to anything. When Baroque Works told me about their utopia, how could I say no?"

Steven went wide-eyed. He tried to get up but stumbled. "You made that chocolate from yesterday!"

She nodded. "And you told me I was gifted."

Stars filled Steven's eyes. "You remembered!"

"Not that all of this isn't entertaining," Usopp interjected. "But the facts are facts! You still have red in your ledger, missy!"

"But that was Mr. 3! He forced them to do it!" Steven protested. "You can't..."

"Steven, let me do this," she smiled weakly. "He's right. I have some terrible things...heinous things. I'm not the good person you thought I was."

"But now you can be!" Steven implored. "If you want to do it, then do it! You are a good person, you've only forgotten!"

The boy hobbled over to Luffy and Usopp and bowed. "Please forgive them!"

"Okay!" Luffy smiled.

"WHAT?! JUST LIKE THAT?! BUT THEY KILLED DORRY!" Usopp yelled.

"He's not dead," Damian called from the other side of the clearing. He had pulled out the four pirates from the flames, including Sanji, who had not been told to move. Mr. 3 was also among them, but immediately discarded and thrown to the side. "I gave him a weak blast. Unless the other giant was trying to kill him, he should be fine."

He walked over to the other giant, who was shaking off his own wax and stared him in the eye. "Look, I'm sorry for interrupting the duel. If there is anything..."

"You said Dorry isn't dead?" Brogy made out, coughing some wax out of his throat. "If that's the case, then we can continue our duel when he gets better...or you can give me the same grog and I'll be even with him!"

"You just nearly got turned into a ball of wax," Genevieve pointed out. "I think you'll be on equal footing."

The giant warrior blinked and then smiled. "I do believe you're right! Gabababababa!"

The giant used all of his energy to get up and went to seek out his friend. Genevieve smiled and then walked over to Sanji, whose clothes were mostly still intact. "Oops. You are still painted. Let me fix that..."

She rubbed the paint off of his back. The blond blinked and shook his head. "What the hell was that?"

"My 'Colors Trap,'" she explained.

"...and what exactly is a 'Colors Trap?'"

"Hypnosis," she shrugged.

The pirate shook his head and grumbled until he got a look at the two women beside him. The one eye that was visible away from his hair turned into a heart. "NAMI-SAN! VIVI-CHAN! YOU BOTH LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL TODAY!"

Nami then knocked him on the back of the head. "You're hopeless!" she then joined the now full congregation of people. Steven was explaining everything that happened to him, and she let him talk. It was a very interesting story.

Steven smiled and tried to gesture to everyone. "And now everybody is okay! Nobody was turned to wax and the 'Mr. 5 Pair' is turning over a new leaf! That's a good ending in my book!"

"But what about my people?" Vivi asked. "Baroque Works is literally suffocating my country to make the utopia you all were promised!"

"Well, there is only one thing to do: I am going to help you!" Steven smiled.

"What?!" Petrea asked. "And go up against Crocodile?!"

"Good guys help people," Steven said sternly. "Since I can't get home yet, I want to help!"

The blue-haired princess shook her head. "You don't know the kind of people Baroque Works employs. Murderers, bounty hunters, assassins..."

The comments turned Steven's face a shade of red. "'A...assassins?!' I..." he tried to put on a brave face. "It's what my mom would do. She fought for my planet, and now I'm going to fight for yours! Will you let me help you?"

Luffy thought about it for a second and nodded. "Sure...but what can you do? I'm looking for very specific people to join my crew."

"Uh...I can sing?" Steven shrugged hopefully.

"PERFECT! We need a musician!" he jumped for joy.

"But I don't have my instrument!"

"We will get you some! A musician is the most important member of my crew!"

The boy clapped his hands, but then he turned to the Baroque Works Agents, who were talking to each other in private. Finally, it was the former Mr. 5 that broke the ice.

"Well you won't be alone, kid," Damian put his hand on his shoulder. "You still owe me clothes. I guess that means I'm coming with you."

"Really?!" Steven said excitedly.

"If 'Straw Hat' will let me."

"And me," Petrea smiled.

The boy looked to Genevieve, who shrugged. "Yeah. Okay. Me too."

Nami shook her head. "No! We can't trust all of you, especially after you tried to kill us! I don't care what you did today, you've been part of..."

"Fine with me! You all can come!" Luffy nodded, shaking Damian's hand.

"YOU ARE TOO TRUSTING!" Nami yelled. "And WHERE do you think you will get the money to pay for all the extra food that we will need or for the kid's instrument?!"

"I don't care how we do it! I'll cook for Petrea-chan for free!" Sanji cozied up close to her, who giggled. Damian's eye twitched but said nothing.

"Mr. 3 has a lot of treasure on his ship," Genevieve said calmly. "You can have it. I don't think he'll be needing while he is knocked out."

"TREASURE?!" Nami jumped up and down for joy.

"Just to be clear though," Damian made a face. "We are here to help the kid and to make up for the things we did under Crocodile. Don't think we are part of your pirate crew or anything."

"Shishishi! I understand!" Luffy smiled. "Well since we now have a new nakama and new friends, I think our musician should sing us a song to put all of this behind us!"

Steven smiled and looked to his new crewmates, who sat down to listen, besides Zoro, Sanji, and Damian, who stood with their arms crossed. The boy started to tap his foot to find a rhythm, which was followed by Luffy and Usopp. As his new friends kept the time, Steven started to sing. "Little Garden was a place where time was left behind. The dinosaurs who roamed the land were really very kind. But Mr. 3 did things that were really kind of mean. So 'Straw Hat' Luffy saved the day and we all joined his team! We will travel the seas to try to save the day. Do not doubt the Straw Hat pirates, they will find a way! The princess will get home in one piece safe and sound! Crocodile won't stand a chance with all of us around!"

After a second to make sure the short song was over, the various pirates, former bounty hunters, and royalty clapped their hands. As Luffy declared him to be his nakama no matter what, Steven couldn't help but think about his family back home. 'I'm going to help them fulfill their dreams...but I know my dream will come true. I know I'll be back home! Dad... Garnet... Pearl... Amethyst... Connie... Lion… I'll come back to you!' he told himself and rejoined the party that was about to begin. 'I just hope that they are all okay...'