章節 414: Secret Revealed

"You can't poison the cake," Sanji firmly rejected.

"FINE! Okay! I get it; I won't poison the damned cake," Bege relented. "But we're still going to take the opportunity to kill Big Mom if we can!"

"Just as long as it happens after she eats the cake," Sanji added.

"Right right, of course," Bege sighed.

"I'd be surprised if she's even capable of eating it, though," Sanji said.

"As much as I would like that to be the case, there is no way that Big Mom didn't beat Cheapshot by an overwhelming margin," Bege said.

Sanji smirked at him confidently. "You want to bet on it?"

"I'd never say no to free money," Bege shot back.

"If Cherry-chan is on the Thousand Sunny when we meet up with it, and in good health, then I get all of those fancy cooking gadgets in your kitchen," Sanji laid out his terms.

"And you'll give me the equivalent in Beri. How much did your kitchen cost again, darling?" Bege asked Chiffon.

"About 60 million Beri," Chiffon said, making a few of Bege's crew choke at the extravagance.

"Deal," Sanji held out his hand and Bege shook it firmly.

Just then, the Thousand Sunny was spotted on the horizon from the crows nest.

"Do you really think Cherry can handle Big Mom so easily?" Reiju quietly asked Sanji.

"I'm confident in her, of course, but…" Sanji glanced at her conspiratorially. "Even if she lost one-sidedly, there's a good chance she's on the Sunny, and she's almost certainly in good health."

Reiju just took this to mean that he believed Cherry could easily escape unharmed. She hadn't seen Cherry recover after being reduced to a smoldering skeleton like Sanji had.

Bege eagerly watched the Straw Hat ship. He was quite certain that he would win this bet, since it not only required Cherry's presence on the ship but also that she wasn't injured. Sixty million Beri wasn't a huge amount of money to him, but it was a fair sized chunk of change for his pocket, especially after this fiasco of an assassination attempt.

As the two ships drew closer and Bege saw Cherry standing on her own two feet on the other ship's deck, seeming perfectly fine except perhaps a bit tired, his eager smile turned into a scowl. Sanji was beaming brightly at him.

"Better get a move on. We can't waste all night moving my new kitchen equipment to my ship. Ha!" Sanji barked a laugh at his own success.

Bege grumbled, then shouted at his men to hurry up.

Vigo discreetly asked, "Why don't we just forget about the bet, godfather? It's not like they can afford to fight us over a kitchen."

"Shut up, Vigo! I may be a traitorous wretch, but I'm still a man! A man ought to pay up when he loses a bet fair and square!" Bege said.

The truth was that he didn't want to find out what would happen when Cherry caught whiff of this bet if he didn't pay up like he agreed. He half expected that she would take the whole kitchen from floor to walls to ceiling without anyone knowing, then leave a horse's head in his bed for good measure.

Vigo and his crew just took it the most flattering way they could though, chattering to each other about what a man's man their godfather was. Gambling wasn't his vice of choice, so it's not like they knew if what he said was true or not.

Cherry vanished from view, much to everyone's confusion until they heard someone speak behind them.

"Oh heavens above that is good~" Cherry hummed with half a mouth full of icing from over by the wedding cake. "It'd be a real shame to give this to Big Mom; I doubt she'd fully appreciate it. Oh well."

"Hey! Don't touch that!" Bege shouted at her.

"Huuuh? Cherry-chan can have the whole thing if she wants it, so shut your mouth!" Sanji perfectly played the role of a common gangster who shakes people down for protection money.

Before the two could butt heads, Cherry said, "No, no he's right, Sanji. You'll just have to make me a better one sometime."

"Of course, Cherry-chwan~!" Sanji danced delightedly.

"Tsk," Pudding clicked her tongue, glaring at Cherry. "There's no way to make a better cake than this so casually! Don't ask the impossible of my hub- AHEM! - of Sanji!"

Cherry looked at Pudding curiously, then smiled at her in a way that sent shivers down her spine.

"Oh my oh my oh my~" Cherry had her arm around Pudding's shoulders before she even noticed that Cherry had moved. Cherry whispered in her ear, "Did someone have a little crush on our chef~?"

"W-what? Of course, n-not!" Pudding denied immediately, though she kept her voice down so as not to be overheard by Sanji.

"Hehehehe~" Cherry was downright tickled by this turn of events. "Liar~ Shall I tell him for you? I bet he hasn't even noticed, has he?"

"NO!" Pudding shouted, then slapped both hands over her mouth as everyone looked at her.

"Well, I suppose you have something to think about," Cherry said. "We aren't going to stick around Totto Land much longer, you know. Time is tick- tick- ticking away by the second. I can't say that I approve of you and Sanji, what with the way you hide your true face… figuratively speaking of course. Maybe you could change my mind, though."

"I am NOT going with you- you losers!" Pudding whispered venomously.

Cherry caught the fear that lingered underneath the outrage, her mask slipping due to her heightened emotions. "Suit yourself. I just thought you wouldn't want to stay here, given how weak your mother has become. The vultures are bound to start circling once the news goes out to the world."

"Huh?" Pudding was genuinely confused about that, but Cherry was already walking away.

"Hey, Sanji. Why are Bege's goons bringing all that stuff onto our ship?" Cherry asked.

"I bet that you'd be fine after fighting Big Mom," Sanji said proudly.

"Did you, now?" Cherry looked at the things they were bringing over with renewed interest. "You could have gotten more out of them than some kitchen appliances."

"Ah, but these are top of the line models! State of the art! If you thought my cooking was good before, then wait until I start using these babies!" Sanji spoke confidently.

"Your cooking would improve by leaps and bounds if you just stopped smoking, you know," Cherry said.

"Geh?!" Sanji bent over, clutching his chest like he'd been physically attacked. "You can taste the smoke?! I worked so hard to make sure, though…"

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to tell you that," Cherry scratched her head awkwardly. "It isn't your fault, really. I can even tell the difference in quality between individual grains of rice as I eat; my sense of taste is just that good."

Cherry felt a bit bad seeing how despondent he was. She had managed to keep that little secret for over two years now, then she went and ran her mouth off without thinking.

Sanji shot up, back ramrod straight and eyes burning with fiery passion. "I'll quit!"

"You don't have to," Cherry sighed.

"No, I do! Zeff always told me that my cigarettes tainted my cooking, but I arrogantly believed I could prevent it by being especially careful! Now I see that I was a great fool!" Sanji's head collided with the wood of the deck with a hard *thunk*. "Please, forgive me! I'll do better in the future!"

"Fine, whatever! Just get up, you're embarrassing me like I'm some sort of food snob," Cherry got him up and pushed him towards the Sunny.

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章節 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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