Inside the wax dome, the silence was suffocating.
Cracks now spidered across the inner walls, casting thin lines of fractured light onto the chamber floor. Bits of wax flaked from the ceiling, falling like slow snow. Luffy stood in the center of it all—shadow energy pulsing violently from his core, coiling around his body like black flame. His breathing was steady, but each exhale misted in the hot, pressurized air. The wax was too thick. Too strong. Too hot.
[SHADOW CORE STABILITY – UNSTABLE: 92%]
[FORCE OUTPUT OVERRIDE ENABLED – TIME LIMIT: 02:37]
The system glowed faintly in the corner of his vision, a cold reminder that time was closing in. But Luffy didn't hesitate. He stepped forward through the wax mist, eyes locked on the fractured ceiling above.
Outside, Mr. 3 was pacing now, teeth grinding behind a strained smirk. He barked orders at the swirling wax limbs that sprouted from the ground like tendrils.
"He should be sealed! That dome is my strongest structure—solidified under pressure, designed to withstand cannon fire!"
Goldenweek didn't respond.
Her brush, once fluid and graceful, now hovered midair, paused above a half-painted sigil. The lines were uneven. Her focus, broken.
Mr. 3 shot her a glare. "Continue your colors, girl. NOW!"
Goldenweek blinked slowly, but still didn't move.
Below them, the dome let out a low, vibrating crack.
Sanji turned toward it, his eyes narrowing. "That sound…"
On the opposite side of the battlefield, Vivi, Nami, and Usopp stood behind a wall of cracked trees, panting from the last wave of wax beasts.
"He's still inside there," Vivi whispered.
"And it's breaking," Nami added, gaze sharp.
"I-It's supposed to be unbreakable…" Usopp muttered, visibly shaking. "Luffy's not… normal anymore, is he?"
"No," Vivi said, eyes fixed on the dome. "He's more."
Inside the dome, Luffy crouched.
His hands pressed against the waxed floor, his body glowing with surging shadow energy.
"Shadow Drive…"
The veins along his arms pulsed black, shadow energy flooding into his legs.
"Breaker…"
He launched upward with a thunderous roar.
"IMPACT!"
The ground split with the force of a cannon blast. Luffy shot through the air like a meteor of darkness. His body twisted mid-flight, his fist shrouded in spiraling shadows as it smashed into the dome's ceiling.
The wax exploded.
Shards of hardened candle shot skyward. The sky opened like a wound, sunlight flooding in and painting the battlefield in sudden gold.
Every head turned.
The entire jungle froze.
Mr. 3 stumbled backward. "He… broke through?!"
From the broken sky above, Luffy descended—his silhouette outlined by the sun, his eyes locked onto Mr. 3 like a hawk.
The wax limbs snapped to respond. Mr. 3 snarled, hands raised. "SPEARS! NOW!"
Dozens of wax lances erupted from the ground around him, all converging on the air where Luffy would land.
But Luffy vanished.
[SHADOW STEP – ENGAGED]
He reappeared behind Mr. 3 in midair, silent and fast.
Mr. 3 turned in shock—just in time to see the black aura swirling around Luffy's clenched fist.
No words were exchanged.
No taunt. No roar.
Just movement.
The air around them cracked.
Time seemed to freeze.
Luffy's fist surged forward, aimed directly at the heart of the Baroque Works agent's wax tower.
[End of Chapter 116]
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