章 415: Return of the Captain

When the Big Mom fleet appeared on the horizon, Big Mom herself waving frantically in their direction (or more accurately, in the wedding cake's direction), they knew it was time to leave.

Bege's goons had just finished loading their entire kitchen onto the Thousand Sunny, so it was fairly good timing.

"Don't you dare poison that cake just because I'm not there to stop you! I swear I'll hunt you down if you do!" Sanji called out one last warning to Bege.

"Don't worry, Blackleg, I won't let him," Chiffon assured him as she waved goodbye.

Sanji accepted her guarantee. He had seen how easily she cowed Bege, so he had no doubt that she could keep him in line.

The two ships separated and turned away to sail in different directions.

"Did you decide to come with us, after all?" Cherry subtly asked Pudding.

"O-of course, not! I just chose the ship that wouldn't be followed by Mama, that's all!" Pudding denied vehemently.

Cherry knew that answer was perfectly reasonable, but she laughed at Pudding anyways. She whisper-sang, "Pudding and Sanji, sitting in a tree~"

"Shushushushushush!" Pudding tried to stop her, but Cherry effortlessly kept her at arm's length.

"When did you two become such good friends?" Sanji asked.

"Huh? I-I'm not- We're not-" Pudding scrambled for an explanation.

"She's just so fun to tease, I can't help it," Cherry answered.

"Ah, is that so?" Sanji walked away to sort through the cooking equipment.

Pudding heaved a disproportionate sigh of relief. She leveled a glare at Cherry as the woman approached Nami and Jinbe.

"So, we can't leave Totto Land until Luffy gets back, because I'm not sure what the range of Brulee's Mirro-world is. Also, we have to find an island and drop Pudding off discreetly," Cherry said.

"Eh?" Pudding muttered in dismay.

"Luffy has already been in there for hours. Just how long can a fight last?" Nami asked, not hearing Pudding.

"Well, it's a fight between men, so who knows? Maybe they'll be at it for the next hundred years, hehehe~" Cherry chuckled.

"Don't even joke about that!" Nami groaned.

"I don't think even the most determined and equally matched men would fight for that long," Jinbe said.

"You've not met many warriors from Elbaf then, I imagine," Cherry said.

"Oh, you're talking about Brogy and Dorry, right?! From Little Garden before you met me at the Drum Kingdom?" Chopper asked. Usopp had told him a few stories from back then.

"Yeah, I spent a year with them. They were my first armament haki teachers, in fact," Cherry said.

Chopper had sparkles in his eyes. "You learned haki from giants. Usopp will be so jealous when I tell him…"

Cherry barked a laugh. "Probably. Maybe he'll even beg me to train him with the same methods; wouldn't that be funny?"

Usopp had always been the biggest complainer when she took to training the crew. Perhaps if he believed he was getting secondhand tutelage from Brogy and Dorry, he would be more amenable? He didn't need to know which parts of the training she got from them, did he?

"Sanji, can you make me a carrot cake?!" Carrot lost her patience watching Sanji set up the new kitchen layout.

"Of course, Carrot-chan~" Sanji agreed immediately.

"Prepare a whole feast, Sanji! Luffy's going to be hungry when he gets back!" Cherry added.

Sanji got even more fired up and started to cook up a storm.

…

*THUMP*

Katakuri collapsed, falling right onto his back, which no other man had ever managed to make him do.

Luffy stood amongst the rubble, heaving great breaths and covered in blood both his and not, but ultimately victorious.

Luffy started to walk and almost stumbled over himself, but managed to keep his feet beneath him just barely.

"Straw Hat…" Katakuri said, making Luffy pause to look at him tiredly. "You may have beaten me, but only barely. You can't beat Big Mom; not as you are now."

"I'm going to be king of the pirates," Luffy reiterated. "I don't have to beat her right now, anyways…"

As Luffy trudged away, Katakuri understood what he meant by that and gave a cough-chuckle. "You have that much faith in your crew, huh…?"

Luffy didn't answer. He focused entirely on finding Brulee so he could get back to his crew before his adrenaline wore off.

Fortunately, he didn't have to look around for very long.

"You knocked down Katakuri! I can't say I expected that!" A mysterious lion mink wearing a pin mask declared, holding a tied up Brulee over his shoulder. "Who am I? I am Mystoms!"

"It's good to see you're okay, Pekoms," Luffy smiled weakly.

Pekoms was caught slightly off guard that his disguise was seen through immediately, and by an idiot no less.

"W-well… This counts as my debt repaid for Cherry busting me out of jail, you hear me! You never would have escaped the Mirro-world in the state you're in!" Pekoms declared.

"Okay, thanks," Luffy said. He figured if Cherry didn't agree that it counts that he could just take on Pekoms' debt in his stead anyways.

"Let me go, traitor! How dare you manhandle me with your big, strong paws!" Brulee cried in outrage.

Pekoms thought that that sounded a bit suggestive, but considering the tone she used, he assumed he was just overthinking it.

Pekoms and Luffy kept an eye out for mirrors to the Thousand Sunny, one of which they happened to find after a little while of walking about aimlessly.

Using Brulee like a key, they hopped through the mirror and landed on the lawn of the thousand Sunny's deck.

"Ah! Luffy!" Nami shouted and rushed over to him, Chopper following closely behind.

They did a quick assessment of his injuries and found that he wasn't in grave danger or anything, but Chopper got to work cleaning and dressing his wounds regardless.

"It's about time you showed up, the food was starting to get cold," Cherry said. "I'll take that, Pekoms."

"Food?!" Luffy's energy suddenly skyrocketed, although the sudden movement made all his aches and pains get more achy and painful.

Pekoms let Cherry take Brulee from him like the woman was just a coat to be politely taken and stowed away until the dinner party was over.

"You want to go back with Brulee, or do you prefer to be dropped off at an island, Pudding?" Cherry asked.

"Huh? Er, well, um, I'm not sure…" Pudding hemmed and hawed, unable to make a decision, and kept shooting glances at Sanji.

"Pudding?! What are you doing with the enemy?!" Brulee cried out.

"Relax, it's not like she could resist us if she tried. I don't see you trying to bite me or anything," Cherry defended.

Brulee was pretty sure the insinuation that Pudding was here involuntarily was nonsense, but Pudding was one of her more pleasant sisters, so she could look the other way so long as she wasn't actually betraying their crew or anything. "Ah, is that how it is? Alright, then."

Brulee's casual acceptance wasn't bought by anyone either.

"Going once, going twice?" Cherry watched Pudding as she held the tied up Brulee over a mirror. Not hearing any objections, she let go. "Gone."

"You're a real handful, you know that? Even though you're technically one of our enemies, you want us to go out of our way to get rid of you," Cherry shook her head in mock annoyance.

Pudding opened her mouth to finally let Cherry have it, but squeaked in fright instead as Luffy's head snaked past her ankles towards the dining room, even as his body was held down by Chopper as he treated him.

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章 416: Sulong

Almost everyone sat around the dining table as they ate, only Jinbe remaining outside to keep the ship on course. Sanji had prepared a right and proper feast for Luffy's triumphant return, and Cherry had promised to save enough for Jinbe from Luffy's blackhole of a stomach.

There was even a carrot cake for Carrot, much to the young rabbit mink's delight.

"How did the fight with Katakuri-chan go, Luffy?" Cherry asked curiously. She wondered if the man had gone easy on her little captain or not.

"It was so annoying! He kept predicting all my moves with his haki and I could barely hit him or dodge any of his attacks!" Luffy spoke through a mouth stuffed to the brim with surprising eloquence. He did have a lot of practice, though, Cherry supposed.

Pekoms couldn't get over the fact that Cherry had just said 'Katakuri-chan'.

"How did you beat him, then?" Chopper asked curiously.

"I took a break on a peanut island. Rayleigh told me a little about people who could see the future with haki, so I figured out how to do it myself," Luffy drained a jug of water to wash a bowling ball sized mass of food down his throat.

"Pffft," Cherry burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Name asked her.

"Most people never manage to see the future with observation haki, but our favorite idiot here did it just because he decided to; and in a ridiculously short amount of time, no less. That's hilarious," Cherry explained.

'As expected of a child of destiny. Completely unfair,' Cherry thought.

Even thinking as such, she wouldn't trade places with him in a million years. Too much trouble came with that much of Fate's attention.

"It is indeed quite impressive," Pedro complimented.

Chopper and Carrot watched Luffy with wondrous eyes, whilst Pekoms was choking on a chicken bone that he swallowed in shock from that revelation.

"What happened when you went back?" Cherry asked.

"We fought like men! I won!" Luffy declared simply.

"Mm, sounds about like I expected then," Cherry nodded, like what he said wasn't glossing over a bunch of details.

"WE'VE GOT SHIPS INCOMING!" Jinbe called out from above.

"The Big Mom pirates sure are a bunch of busy bodies," Cherry sighed. "Why can't they just sit back on their haunches and relax? I guess I'll go kick their asses again, you guys just enjoy yourselves."

Carrot and Pedro shared a look. Carrot said, "Let us handle it. It would be a shame to let a beautiful moon go to waste."

"That's not cryptic at all," Cherry said, causing Carrot to giggle. "I'm guessing you're talking about that secret weapon Dogstorm and Cat Viper talked about?"

"That's right. Are you coming, Pekoms?" Pedro asked.

"I think I've betrayed my old crew enough, thank you very much," Pekoms said. "It may not be enough to repay everything they've done for our people, but I do still have my pride."

Pedro nodded in understanding.

As Carrot and Pedro stood to go outside, Cherry gathered up Jinbe's share of the meal to bring it up to him.

Reiju stood to go as well, though only out of interest in what the minks' secret weapon could be. She was sure that whatever it was, Judge would love to know about it and she would be delighted to know something that he doesn't.

The others started to shovel food into their mouths so that they could be ready by the time they made contact with the enemy. Luffy seemed to take that as a challenge, because he sped up too.

"Here you go, Jinbe. I'll take the helm," Cherry said, handing over a bundle of food.

"Thank you," Jinbe said. "Perhaps I should eat afterwards, though?"

"Those two have it handled, apparently," Cherry said, gesturing to the two minks who stepped out with her.

And as it would soon turn out, they most certainly did have it handled.

The fleet of ships ahead of them neared quickly on account of the fact that they were paddle boats. While they needed a lot of fuel to keep themselves going at speed, in the distance between the islands of Totto Land, this wasn't an issue.

Carrot and Pedro cast their gaze up at the full moon. A change beset them that Cherry marveled at even more than the others since she could see what was happening on the inside.

Their fur lengthened and became stark white, and their eyes sharpened with barely contained fierceness. Their claws and fangs caught the moonlight, gleaming and ready to draw blood. Electricity buzzed across their entire bodies, making the hair of everyone else stand on end.

"Incredible," Cherry muttered. Sadly she didn't think that this was an ability that she could replicate, a power that was buried deep in their bloodlines. "Carrot, you look so cooool~!"

Carrot, who had taken on a colder and more serious appearance, had her ears twitch and she turned away to cover her face in embarrassment.

"No time to waste, Carrot," Pedro said, leaping clear across the large stretch of ocean between the new fleet and the Sunny in a single bound, and making it look easy too.

Carrot leapt over to the other side of the approaching fleet, her own jump looking much more graceful compared to Pedro's show of raw strength.

From there, the two of them began to tear the enemy ships apart. Masts were snapped like twigs, helms ripped from their decks, the large paddles jammed or outright shattered.

"Pedro?!" That was a voice that Pedro didn't expect to hear again. Perospero glared at him hatefully, still bearing wounds from his close encounter with death thanks to Pedro and still missing an arm from the experience. "How are you still alive?! I watched you blow yourself up!"

"Tsk, why could I have blown that tongue tongue off instead of your arm?" Pedro responded. "No matter, I can remedy that right now!"

Pedro let out loud, bestial growl as he leapt at Perospero, who panicked at the sight of his speed. The lackeys aboard the ship couldn't even muster the courage to attack Pedro, cowed by his ferocity.

Arcs of electricity lit up the night like a light show made just for the Straw Hats to watch.

Not even ten minutes after it all started, Pedro and Carrot returned to the Thousand Sunny with most of the enemy fleet disabled, or in some cases outright sinking.

The two minks heaved large sighs of relief as they hid their eyes from the moon, their bodies returning to their normal state.

"It really sucks to come down from that…" Carrot complained.

"It can't be helped. That is the price we pay for such power," Pedro said.

"Are you okay? Are you injured anywhere?" Chopper asked, even as he looked them over.

"No, no. We'll be fine," Pedro explained. "Sulong is powerful, but consumes a great deal of stamina. A major downside is that you can't even tell how much energy you've used up until you drop the transformation, so it is very possible to inadvertently fight until we drop dead. That's why it's better in short bursts."

"Oh! You two should go rest, then! Don't let us keep you," Chopper insisted.

Cherry overheard Chopper start muttering about possibly altering his rumble ball formula to draw out that transformation in minks, even without the full moon. She scooped him up in a hug, "You little genius! I like the way you think! I'll help, so let's get started right away!"

"Eh?!" Chopper yelped in surprise. "P-put me down, you bastard! Don't call me a genius!"

He said that, but he had a goofy smile adorning his face.

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