One Piece : Strongest Vice-Captain Mr. 3!

"Grand Candle Eruption!!!"

The fluid candle, which has been enhanced to its maximum strength and density, erupted with tremendous force as Mr. 3 swung his fist.

Wrapped in this "special candle," the tiny explosives inside were all ignited, and the interaction between the candle and the gunpowder caused the explosion's power to increase exponentially.

When the destructive force built up to its limit and the fluid candle could no longer contain it, the terrifying shockwave...

Boom!

The deafening roar echoed for a hundred meters. The destructive force contained in the candle's giant fist was entirely focused on the now pale-faced Stainless.

At first, Stainless had not taken Mr. 3 seriously, but now, he had lost the advantage of initiating the fight and the chance to dodge. He could only watch helplessly as the fiery candle fist rapidly grew larger in his line of sight.

"Don't come near! Slash!"

Stainless, a seasoned Vice Admiral of the Navy Headquarters, quickly reacted. Realizing he couldn't avoid the attack, he immediately drew his katana, channeling all his Armament Haki into the blade and unleashed his strongest slash.

Zzz!

The deep yellow slash clashed head-on with the explosive shockwave of the candle giant fist. The forces collided with an ear-splitting roar, and the center of impact was a constant burst of sound, sending ripples through the air in all directions.

Taking the initiative, Mr. 3 was unwilling to give Stainless any breathing room. All his strength focused into his right arm, gathered just before the fist. The precision of his Devil Fruit ability was fully unleashed, swallowing the slash in a wild, reckless manner.

Bang!!

The candle giant fist, like a battering ram, slammed into Stainless.

The residual shockwave tore up and shattered the ground beneath his feet.

Countless drops of candle wax came rushing at him, splattering across Stainless' face, searing his skin with intense burns.

Stainless, with no way out, braced against the overwhelming pressure and forced his arm to twist, struggling painfully to launch another slash.

This time, even though the slash was still sharp, the candle giant fist seemed a bit less threatening.

This was the inevitable flaw of the Grand Candle Eruption technique: its power came mainly from the extreme temperature released by the burning candle and the explosive impact of the miniature bombs. 

However, these two factors—both sources of maximum lethality—were things Mr. 3 couldn't fully control.

After the first wave of attack, both the temperature and explosive force would drastically decrease in effectiveness.

More importantly, Mr. 3 couldn't keep using his ability to replenish the liquid wax; first, its power would no longer be as potent, and second, his right arm, which lacked sufficient Armament Haki, would be severely damaged from the subsequent attacks!

In the end, the sharp slash cut through the candle giant fist just one second before the energy dissipated, successfully withstanding Mr. 3's strongest attack.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The burning liquid wax split into two parts, falling to the sides of Stainless. It resembled two fiery pathways to hell, menacing and terrifying.

"Soru!"

The moment the candle giant fist was cut, Stainless, now fully alert and no longer underestimating his opponent, swiftly moved his feet in a blur. In a near-instant, he appeared behind Mr. 3.

A cold glint flashed as the sharp blade of his sword swung down toward Mr. 3's unprotected back!

Although Mr. 3 couldn't see the trajectory of Stainless's movement, his observation haki had improved from a beginner level to an average one. At the critical moment, he sensed the attack coming from behind.

"Candle Wall!"

His ankle shifted slightly, and the grayish-white liquid wax surged. It solidified behind him, forming a sturdy wax wall like an impenetrable fortress.

Clang!

The instant the wax wall appeared, Stainless's katana struck down. The collision made a harsh screeching sound of steel scraping against steel.

'The hardness of this wax… It's almost as tough as steel!'

Looking at his katana, which had only sunk into the wax wall by a few centimeters, Stainless couldn't help but feel a surge of caution.

Just as he was about to pull his katana out and attack again, the solid wax that had seemed as hard as iron moments ago quickly began to melt and returned to its sticky liquid form.

The liquid wax, almost like a living thing, wrapped tightly around the blade of his katana and began spreading up the sword toward Stainless's hand!

"Crescent Tempest Kick!"

Stainless reacted quickly, raising his foot to execute an enhanced version of the Navy's Six Styles.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

The crescent-shaped kick landed precisely on the liquid wax. While it didn't entirely strip the wax away, Stainless cleverly used the resulting rebound to break free from the wax wall, pulling both himself and the sword out of its grip.

After distancing himself, Stainless's muscles bulged as he gripped the black katana tightly, veins popping along his arm.

He twisted his wrist, gathering power, and controlled the katana to spin and slash in a clockwise direction.

"Tsunami Roar!!"

A mass of deep yellow blade lights piled up like crashing waves, transforming into a devastating cylindrical slash aimed straight at Mr. 3.

Mr. 3 raised his left arm, activating the powers of the Wax-Wax Fruit, and formed a massive solid wax glove around his fist. Without hesitation, he swung it to block the incoming cylindrical slash.

Pssh, pssh, pssh.

As expected of a Navy Vice Admiral, Stainless's full-powered strike was terrifying. The regular wax fist simply couldn't withstand it and was torn into countless wax shards that scattered across the ground.

Mr. 3's expression became serious. He didn't dare to take the hit head-on. Large amounts of wax surged from his arms as he both blocked and retreated. After retreating several meters, he finally managed to barely deflect Stainless's cylindrical slash.

"As I expected, this guy's wax is as tough as steel, yet as soft as clay, but it's completely helpless against continuous slashes in a strangling state!" 

Seeing the attack succeed, Stainless, who had successfully found the weakness of the Wax-Wax Fruit, pressed on. He used a few Moon Walk to ascend into the air, looking down from above to strike Mr. 3 with a second cylindrical slash!

Mr. 3 didn't dare to be careless. He quickly formed massive wax fist gauntlets with both hands to absorb the slash, weakening its power before quickly running along the ground to evade further damage.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The cylindrical slash relentlessly pursued Mr. 3 like a maggot, and wherever it went, the wax shattered into pieces, scattering in the air, covering the ground with wax dust.

In the blink of an eye, the ground beneath Mr. 3's feet was already covered in a thick layer of wax shards.

After several rounds of this, Mr. 3, exhausted and on the run, found himself cornered with no way to escape.

"Candle Wall!" 

With no other choice, Mr. 3 abruptly spun around, bracing himself against the ground as he summoned a wax wall, trying to block the cylindrical slash.

"Now's my chance! You're dead, Mr. 3!" 

At the same time, Stainless, who had been waiting in midair, suddenly erupted into motion, diving downward at an incredible speed.

Just as he was about to collide with the wax wall, Stainless vanished with an eerie move, appearing behind Mr. 3, who was struggling to maintain the wax wall.

"You rely too much on your Devil Fruit ability; that's your fatal flaw!" 

A vicious glint flashed in Stainless' eyes as he raised his katana and slashed down at the exposed neck of Mr. 3.

"Is that so? Are you sure it's not that you're underestimating my Devil Fruit ability?" 

A slight smirk curled on Mr. 3's lips as he remained completely calm.

Even with his back turned to Stainless' katana, Mr. 3 didn't bother to look back.

The unnervingly calm voice filled with an icy chill reached his ears. Just as the blade was about to sever Mr. 3's head, Stainless was horrified to realize...

He... couldn't move!

Slowly lowering his gaze, Stainless' eyes suddenly widened in terror, his expression filled with panic:

He saw that the wax shards scattered from the cylindrical slashes had somehow reformed, creating a wax pool several dozen meters in diameter.

And now, having carelessly entered this "Wax Territory," he was completely covered in solidified wax, like iron chains, rendering him completely immobile!

That damn Mr. 3... it turns out he had been pretending to be defeated from the start, using the illusion of retreat and evasion to secretly set up a trap, deliberately leaving an opening to draw me in!

So… damn devious!!

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