Chương 371: Arranged Marriages
"There might need to be a change of plans," Big Mom said, with only Smoothie still in the room with her aside from her homies.
Smoothie nodded; she understood what her mother meant by this.
"If we kill that Sanji, then we'll likely lose Cherry at the same time," Smoothie spoke aloud what Big Mom was thinking of.
"Mm, but this is not a difficult matter. My little spies have told me that that girl thoroughly thrashed the other three Vinsmoke boys in a particularly malicious manner. It should be fine if we kill the rest and spare Sanji." Big Mom nodded with a vicious grin.
"What about Pudding and the wedding?" Smoothie naturally raised this issue.
"Pudding may not be happy with it, but those two have shared interests. That's more than some of her siblings got from their marriages, so what can she possibly complain about?" Big Mom spoke dismissively.
In her mind, her children had no right to refuse her orders, no matter what they were. Only her Sweet Generals had the luxury of raising objections because of their inherent value. If she upset one of them and they ran off like that ungrateful wretch of a daughter, Lola, then she would suffer a big loss! So she had to balance her demands carefully, and even use persuasion instead of threats at times.
Naturally, Pudding simply didn't have the same value to Big Mom as her Sweet Generals did. If her daughter had awakened the future predicting abilities of her father's race, then she would have far more sway with her mother. Unfortunately, all she has received from her father is that ugly third eye that she hides behind her bangs.
"I see. What about Katakuri, then? I don't think he'll easily agree to a marriage with… that." Smoothie suppressed a shudder. She didn't envy the interest her elder brother had drawn from Cherry.
"I'll ask him. If he doesn't want to, then we'll see if Cherry likes any of my other boys. Or girls, for that matter; her eyes kept wandering up and down your legs, you know. Mama Mama!" Big Mom laughed at the shocked and almost fearful look on Smoothie's face when she revealed that little tidbit.
"Call Katakuri and Pudding here!" Big Mom ordered her homies.
It didn't take long for the message to find the two of them. Homies were littered across the entire chateau and were able to spread Big Mom's word faster than even the rumor mill of Whole Cake Island.
Katakuri was the first to arrive. When he entered the room he saw Smoothie, but Cherry was nowhere to be found. He furrowed his brow; had Cherry snuck away and they wanted his help to find her?
"Good, you're here, Katakuri. Let's wait a bit longer for Pudding." Big Mom said.
'Pudding? Is this related to the wedding, then? Did something go wrong?' Katakuri wondered.
He prepared his mindset for battle, just in case he was ordered to go out and use force against Germa. They weren't his match of course, but it was necessary to defeat his enemies as flawlessly as possible for the sake of his reputation.
Soon enough, Pudding arrived as well. Her reaction to seeing who was in the room was very different from Katakuri's.
'Oh cream puffs, am I in trouble?! What did I do wrong?!' Pudding started to panic inwardly, but managed to keep her exterior relatively calm.
Facing Big Mom was nerve wracking enough on its own. Having two Sweet Generals flanking her on her left and right on top of that gave her the feeling of being surrounded, trapped.
"Now that the two of you are here, I need to discuss the weddings with you." Big Mom nodded.
""Weddings?"" Katakuri asked and Pudding squeaked, both noting that the word was plural.
"Yes. Firstly, Pudding, I've decided to change our plans for the Vinsmokes slightly. Sanji alone will be spared and will truly become your husband," Big Mom dropped a bomb.
"Huh…?" Pudding was too shocked by this sudden change to say anything else. For her, this was too much to drop in her lap all at once.
The wedding was going to happen tomorrow and now she only had a single day to come to terms with it! If it had been this way from the start, she would have had months, MONTHS!
"For what reason?" Katakuri wouldn't object to making this change, but he was curious as to why.
"We're going to rope Harpin D. Cherry to our side, so naturally we can't have the murder of one of her little friends to sour our relationship. Which brings us to the second wedding…" Big Mom explained.
Katakuri's eyes suddenly flashed, his advanced observation haki showing him a threat to his very life.
"I REFUSE!" Katakuri shouted, cutting off his mother's words.
This sudden outburst was completely out of character for him, which was the reason for the stunned silence that came right afterwards.
Smoothie and Pudding gawked at him in disbelief. Smoothie could count the number of times she had seen her usual stoic elder brother act so emotionally on one hand. For Pudding, this was the first time!
"You haven't even heard what I was going to say, dear." Big Mom spoke. Her words were sweet in both cadence and content, but hiding beneath the words was a dangerous warning.
"Yes, Mama…" Katakuri calmed down quickly. That terrible future he witnessed had shaken him to the core.
"Will you marry Cherry for me?" Big Mom asked softly.
"I REFUSE!" Katakuri erupted again. He couldn't help himself; reality was even more horrible than his vision.
This time Smoothie and Pudding were well and truly dumbfounded. Neither of them could have guessed they would see Katakuri act in this manner AFTER he composed himself.
"Don't be like that, dear. She's a nice girl, isn't she? She's pretty, powerful, and just the right amount of vicious. Perhaps she is a bit young for you, but that won't matter with what she can offer us." Big Mom patiently persuaded.
"What she can offer us?" Katakuri asked for clarification.
"Long life." Big Mom drooled just at the thought.
Katakuri understood why this was happening now. Certainly, a long life was something no amount of money could buy. He wasn't aware that Cherry could offer such a thing, though.
When he actually stopped to think about the proposal, he found that perhaps he was overreacting. Cherry was… a nuisance, to say the least; but beyond their first less than enjoyable meeting, hadn't Cherry been a positive addition to his life? To Brulee's life?
"I'll… think about it." Katakuri finally said.
Marriage wasn't something he ever thought he'd get involved with, but he could at least give it some serious thought. Especially if it was for the sake of the family.
"Very well then, but don't take too long. It's best to rush these things so the prey doesn't get away." Big Mom insisted.
Katakuri gave a stiff nod and directly walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
"That went better than I expected, especially after those two outbursts of his." Smoothie said. "I thought for sure he'd-"
*SLAM!*
"I REFUSE!!!" Katakuri didn't take long to mull it over.
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