One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Forty Six [Rewritten]

-Chapter Forty-Six-

"Mr. Three!" Luffy angrily shouted the moment he spotted the man.

"Yeah, what he said" Usopp nodded as he looked towards me.

"Isn't he the guy that owned that ship you all were worried about back when we first arrived here in Alabasta?" I asked.

"Uh-huh" Nami and Usopp nodded.

"Mr. Three? What was he doing in the belly of a Banana Gator?" Vivi asked, baffled by this sudden turn of events—not having expected one of the gators to just cough up an apparent enemy of ours.

"I'm alive again...I thought I was a goner..." Mr. Three desperately gasped as he shakily stood, wiping at his mouth with his arm before taking in large gulps of air as if he had been deprived of it for so long that he needed to replenish his lungs.

"Uh...interesting hairstyle you got that" I raised an amused eyebrow as his hair sprung up into the shape of a three.

"Stupid Crocodile, you thought you could get rid of me? But you didn't try hard enough—the moment I was swallowed, I used the last of my powers to create that Wax Wax Ball," he monologued mainly to himself, "that was how I survived" he grinned, wax now dripping from his fingertips as he pointed in a random direction as if expecting someone to be standing there. Instead, he found a key dangling from a piece of debris. "A key?" he questioned, tilting his head as he curiously picked it up and started to examine it. It was at that point that Nami, Usopp, and Luffy started to scream in an attempt to catch the man's attention.

"Ah! Not you guys again!" he screamed when he finally noticed them before owlishly blinking. "Wait...now I see what's happening here" he grinned, looking between the key in his hand and the cage we were trapped in with a look of understanding.

"Mr. Three, I presume" Sanji said, casually strolling right up to the man.

"How do you know who I was?!" Mr. Three jumped, grabbing his chest in surprise.

"Well, your hair gave it away" Sanji pointed out. "I'll take the key—toss it here" he said, now holding out his hand as if he expected the man to comply.

"Sure thing, here it goes" Mr. Three slyly grinned before twisting on his heel and tossing the key between a bunch of Banana Gators.

"Hey!" Sanji snapped in irritation.

"I don't know who you are, but if you want the Straw Hats out, you're no friend of mine" Mr. Three stated as he turned back to face the blond. "You want the key—go find it!" he sneered. "Good luck, you'll need it with all those alligators around—trust me, I know" he laughed.

"Jerk!" Sanji growled.

"Better find it soon, that water's rising" the wax man simply mocked.

"That bastard!" Zoro growled.

"That was a dirty move, even for that creep!" Luffy angrily huffed.

"Tell me about it, quite a petty thing to do out of hatred towards us..." I grumbled, doubting that he actually did it because he was still loyal to Crocodile. No, I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to continue helping the person that had tried to kill them...well, I could only assume that's what he was implying earlier when he was monologuing to himself.

"We're running out of time, hurry!" Nami anxiously stressed.

"Lousy good-for-nothing wax guy!" Sanji sneered, though none of his insults seemed to get to Mr. Three as he boredly examined his nails—unbothered by the blonde's vicious tongue.

"Wait a minute, Sanji, he might be good for something" Usopp suddenly piped up. "Like using his wax powers to make a key" he suggested.

"Oh! That's a great idea" I perked up.