Merienda

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Luffy finally commits to Gear Fourth. He bites into his arm, pumps air into his body, and declares, "MUSCLE BALLOON!" as the force builds with "FWOOM!" and "FULL POWER!" His body swells into the heavy, armored form needed to fight Katakuri directly. Katakuri watches without panic, but the transformation is not clean or gentle; Luffy jerks, gasps, and strains through "GUHH!" "GUH!" "BUH!" and "JERK" as Haki spreads over his inflated arms. When the power finishes surging, Luffy's massive body launches backward across the Mirror World with "WAAGH!" The page is the start of his counterattack, but it also shows how costly the form is: Luffy has to force his wounded body into the shape of a weapon before he can try to break through Katakuri's control.

Katakuri studies Luffy instead of rushing him. He says, "AS I FIGHT YOU, I REMIND MYSELF WHY, WHEN FACED WITH AN OBVIOUS POWER-UP, IT'S ESSENTIAL TO JUST SHUT UP AND OBSERVE." Luffy slides through the Mirror World, and Katakuri calls after him, "OI, STRAW HAT LUFFY!" Then he states the result of his observation: "KNOW THIS: I HAVEN'T UNDERESTIMATED YOU IN THE SLIGHTEST!" Luffy tries to answer with the inflated power he has gathered, but Katakuri's grip and the awakened mochi around the battlefield keep the pressure on. Luffy reacts, "WHA-" and then realizes the substance around him is closing in: "MOCHI?!" The room itself is becoming part of Katakuri's attack, and Luffy understands that Gear Fourth alone has not freed him from the enemy's terrain.

Huge mirrored masses of mochi descend from above as Katakuri names the technique, "MIRROR MOCHI!" Luffy sees the scale of it and panics: "CRAP! IF I GET CRUSHED BY THAT AMOUNT OF MOCHI, I'LL BE BURIED ALIVE!" The mochi slams down around him, and Katakuri answers with cold certainty: "INDEED... YOU'LL SUFFOCATE!" Luffy is caught in the swelling pile with "UWA-AAH!" as the battlefield closes over him. Katakuri stands before the enormous mound and apologizes only because the fight has disrupted his schedule: "SORRY FOR FINISHING THINGS UP LIKE THIS. I WAS STARTING TO GET A LITTLE PEEVED." It looks, for the moment, as though Luffy's Gear Fourth has been smothered before it can begin.

Katakuri explains the true reason for ending the fight so abruptly: "BECAUSE I WAS TIED UP DEALING WITH YOU, I MISSED MY MERIENDA TODAY BY 40 MINUTES." A note clarifies that the kanji reads "snack time," and that a merienda is a snack-like light meal. Katakuri leaves the battlefield and tells his attendants, "YOU'LL BE AT PEACE SOON." They answer, "YES, SIR!" and call out, "PATISSIER!" The cooks are anxious because their master is so exacting. They say, "WE WERE SO VERY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT WAS TO COME OF YOUR SNACK TIME TODAY!" and "WE'VE BEEN STANDING AT THE READY SINCE 3, BUT..." Another apologizes, "WE ARE SO VERY SORRY THAT YOU, LORD DOGTOOTH, BEING THE PERFECTIONIST YOU ARE, WERE FORCED TO RESCHEDULE THE MERIENDA YOU SO PUNCTILIOUSLY ENJOY AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY!" Even the tea is a problem: "AND AS FOR THE BLACK TEA, WHAT WITH 40 MINUTES PASSING SINCE IT WAS PREPARED, IT'S GONE COMPLETELY COLD, AND..."

Katakuri accepts the cold tea without complaint: "ICED TEA WILL DO, THEN." The attendants are moved by how he handles even a ruined schedule and cry, "HOW MAGNANIMOUS!" They announce, "TODAY'S MERIENDA IS CHOCOLATE AND WHIPPED CREAM DONUTS, LORD DOGTOOTH." Katakuri answers, "SUGAR IS THE WELLSPRING OF STRENGTH!" and adds, "I SHALL INTAKE THESE NUTRIENTS. NOT A SOUL IS TO ENTER MY SHRINE." The attendants obey at once: "OF COURSE! WHO WOULD DARE DISTURB YOU?! PLEASE, TAKE YOUR TIME!" They continue praising the mystery of his ritual. "NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN LORD DOGTOOTH EAT," one says. Another imagines, "WHAT A DELICATE SOUL. A MEAL IS WHEN A MAN LETS DOWN THE WALLS AROUND HIMSELF." A third adds, "HE MAKES EVEN THE TEA TIMES HE OUGHT TO SPEND IN THE CAREFREE COMPANY OF OTHERS..." The shrine closes around Katakuri's secret meal.

Outside the shrine, Katakuri's followers continue turning his isolation into legend. They say he takes food "INTO SOLITARY, STOIC, COMPOSED SUPPLEMENTATIONS OF NUTRIENTS," and describe him as "SUCH IS THE MAN WHO HOLDS UP THE BIG MOM PIRATES THEMSELVES, THE 1 BILLION BOUNTY HIMSELF!" Then the image of perfect control breaks. Luffy bursts free from the huge mound of mochi and bellows, "BAAAAAAHHHHH!" The attendants scream, "WHAAA-?! STRAW HAT?!" and ask, "HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU GET OUT OF THAT HUGE MOUND OF MOCHI?!" Luffy answers in misery, "I FREAKING HATE EATING MOCHI!" and yells, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! WHAT'S WITH MY FIGHTS WITH THIS PIRATE CREW?! CAN I NOT WIN WITHOUT EATING?!" He has survived by eating his way out of Katakuri's suffocating trap, turning the enemy's technique into another grotesque meal.

The attendants panic because Katakuri has left the battlefield: "WHERE'D HE GO?!" and "L-LORD DOGTOOTH HAS... HE'S LEFT MIRROR WORLD!" They explain, "HE HAD SOME IMPORTANT BUSINESS, AND..." Luffy senses the answer himself. He thinks, "CRAP! OBSERVATION HAKI!" and says, "I CAN FEEL THE VOICE OF A STRONG PERSON FROM INSIDE THERE." The cooks insist the ritual cannot be interrupted: "LORD DOGTOOTH IS CONVERSING INSIDE THAT SHRINE WITH BOTH HIMSELF AND THE SPIRIT OF WAR ITSELF! THIS IS A SACRED RITUAL! NO ONE CAN INTERFERE!" Luffy smells the truth and asks, "HE'S EATING DONUTS, ISN'T HE?" The cooks are shocked: "IS THAT HAKI TOO?!" Luffy, still catching his breath, sits on the mound and says the situation plainly: "HE'S SITTIN' PRETTY ON HIS VICTORY, ISN'T HE?"

Luffy rushes toward the shrine, still swollen from eating his way out of the mochi. The attendants shout after him, "WHERE ARE YOU RUNNING OFF TO?!" and mock him: "WAHAHA! YOU FOOL! I GUESS YOU'RE JUST THE MEASLY CAPTAIN OF A SECOND-RATE CREW!" Another points out his round body: "HE'S BURNT OFF HIS FAT!" Luffy ignores them and prepares to attack, but they block his path and shout, "STOP! DO NOT APPROACH THE SHRINE!" He says, "ALRIGHT! I'M READY TO GO!" while someone asks, "WAIT, DOES THE HUMAN BODY EVEN WORK THAT WAY?!" Luffy tries to start a technique with "GOMU GOMU NO..." but is interrupted as an enormous black fist smashes out from the shrine. The blow is Katakuri's "ELEPHANT GUN!" and the attendants scream while one cries, "LORD DOGTOOTH, I AM SO VERY SO-" before the attack scatters them.

The shrine breaks open, revealing what no one was supposed to see. The cooks' worshipful phrases about Katakuri echo over the truth: "HE LOOKS DOWN ON THE GROUND ITSELF!" "NEVER ONCE HAS HE EVER LAID DOWN!" "ALWAYS GALLANT," "CALM-HEADED, AND POWERFUL," "EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM IS PERFECT," and "OUR BROTHER DOGTOOTH IS!" But inside, Katakuri is lying on his back amid donuts, grinning with a huge mouth full of sharp teeth. He chants, "AAAAH! DONUTS! YUMMY YUMMY DONUTS!" and "NOM NOM" while eating messily. He even says, "EVEN THE HOLES ARE YUMMY!" Then he reaches bliss and declares, "THESE MOMENTS ARE TRUE BLISS. YUMMY DONUTS!" The page exposes the secret behind his composed image: the man who supposedly never lies down hides in a shrine specifically so no one sees him eating while sprawled on his back.

Katakuri realizes Luffy and the attendants have seen his private meal. With food still in his mouth, he says, "SO YOU SAW IT, DID YOU..." and names the offense: "MY MEALTIME SCENE..." Luffy does not retreat. He steps forward and shouts, "THIS FIGHT ISN'T OVER!" Katakuri answers by killing the witnesses in front of him. The attendants barely have time to react before his spear tears through them, and they scream "GYAA AAH!" as blood sprays across the broken shrine. The moment is not embarrassment alone; it is lethal shame. Katakuri's perfect public image has been punctured, and he immediately tries to erase everyone who saw his true face and eating posture.

The cooks beg for their lives, insisting they will keep the secret. They cry, "PLEASE, MERCY, MY LORD..." and "WE DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!" Another promises, "WE WOULDN'T TELL A SOUL, EVEN IF OUR MOUTHS WERE TORN OPEN!" Katakuri's face hardens, and he asks, "WHOSE MOUTH DID YOU JUST CALL TORN?!" He attacks with "BLOCK MOCHI!" while one victim screams, "NO! PLEASE!!" Luffy is thrown aside with "GYA!" and a heavy "GSSHHIT!" as Katakuri returns his attention to the fight. Katakuri tells him, "SO YOU'RE STILL ALIVE, HUH? MY APOLOGIES. IT SEEMS I DIDN'T SEE YOUR END THROUGH AS THOROUGHLY AS I SHOULD HAVE. I SIMPLY COULDN'T WAIT ANY LONGER." The scene confirms that Katakuri's calm mask has cracked; his impatience over merienda left Luffy alive.

Luffy and Katakuri lock back into close combat. Both stare with full focus, then move at the same time. Katakuri thrusts Mole while Luffy darts in under the attack, and the clash splits the panels with sharp impact. Katakuri declares, "THERE ARE THINGS THAT SURPASS ARMAMENT." His meaning is immediate: Luffy's Haki is not enough if Katakuri can read, harden, reshape, and strike with superior timing. Luffy still refuses to yield. He takes the hit with "GUHH!" but drives forward, while Katakuri's mochi arm throbs with power and Luffy yells "UWAAH!" under the pressure. Katakuri's final line on the page makes the stakes personal: "I CANNOT LET THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN MY TRUE FORM LIVE!" The fight is no longer just about stopping the Straw Hats; it is about Katakuri erasing the humiliation of being seen.

Luffy changes his rhythm. He breathes out with "FWOO OO!" and his arms swell again, but this time he watches Katakuri closely. Katakuri closes in, and Luffy meets him with a sudden kick that lands cleanly. Katakuri's head snaps back, and Luffy is shocked by what just happened: "HE DIDN'T DODGE IT?" Then he realizes, "I EVEN GOT IN A KICK!" Katakuri recovers with a wipe of his mouth, but the page has already shifted the balance. For the first time, Katakuri's flawless evasion has failed. The secret meal, the broken composure, and the anger over being seen have all made his future sight less perfect, giving Luffy a real opening where before every attack had been predicted and countered.

Katakuri snaps, "YOU DID, SO WHAT?!" and attacks again, but Luffy now understands the weakness. After watching the failed dodge and feeling the exchange, Luffy says, "I GET IT NOW. YOUR POWER." Katakuri launches "RAINDROP MOCHI!" from above, but Luffy prepares his answer and shouts, "GEAR FOURTH!" Katakuri, still furious, asks, "HUH?! WHAT DO YOU GET?" and insists, "I'VE TOLD YOU TIME AND AGAIN. YOUR POWERS COULD NEVER HOPE TO DEFEAT MINE!" The page ends with Luffy driving into his full transformation under a storm of falling mochi. The important change is not just strength; Luffy has identified that Katakuri's dominance depends on calm observation, and that anger makes him hittable.

Luffy gives Katakuri the blunt answer: "BUT YOU'RE NOT INVINCIBLE!" Katakuri answers with his own certainty: "YOU'RE DEFINITELY SUPER STRONG," but Luffy presses forward anyway. He begins, "GOMU GOMU NO..." and launches with Gear Fourth's full force. The finishing blow of the chapter is "KONG GUN!" Luffy's massive Haki-coated fist drives straight into Katakuri, smashing through the motion lines as the impact fills the page. Katakuri is still a monster, but the myth around him has been cracked: he can be disturbed, he can miss a dodge, and he can be hit. The chapter closes on "ONE PIECE CH. 883 END" and the margin teaser "A CHANCE AT VICTORY!"

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