As soon as I started to work on Realizing Dreams, I had another idea for a Charlotte Pudding-centric challenge story from looking over Chapter 880. I must say that I am quite happy and excited that Oda decided to give her a chance in the manga, even if he probably won't end the manga with some pairings like her and Sanji among others. Hopefully, once we see the Vinsmokes again and I get a better idea of what Yonji's Modified Human as well as Reiju's Devil Fruit abilities are, then I can get to work on Smoking Wine and Enterprising Rejects. Before we get started, here's some guidelines and a disclaimer.
No unnecessary bashing: seeing characters grow up and show hidden strengths is all good until it looks like the writer is purposefully making the character in question look like an unlikable nuisance at best and a complete villain at worst. Trust me, it's best to show both the positives and negatives of those in a story. And since this is an AU, I'm working forward to some people growing up differently, especially in a positive manner.
No slash: I try not to judge people who have different "bonding" preferences compared to mine, but I really don't think that characters that weren't listed as canonically yaoi in nature should be depicted as such. Not that I like gender bending much either.
Keep the content at a controlled level: meaning that it's probably best to be mindful of which direction the story/stories will go. I like straight lemons as much as the next fellow, but given how things all are iffy on certain websites like FFN, it would probably be wise to just walk first before jumping.
Be mindful how the story goes: as much as I want to see how this goes, we have to remember that a lot of Pudding's relatives haven't been identified by appearance, name, or age among other things and I'm kind of iffy about making OCs in a story that doesn't exactly require them as well as giving them a big role, whether it be a love interest, or a prime antagonist, which is why I tend to ignore stories on FFN that list "OC" in the character section. So please be mindful if and when you decide to show more of the Totto Landers, Big Mom Pirates, Charlotte Family members, and any other affiliated/likewise groups than what is being currently shown in the canonical manga/anime.
Don't shy away from asking me for advice or beta reading: however, I won't dictate your execution as it should ultimately be your decision. I'm doing fine with it so far with digemsmack over his Fairy Tail story which I gave my patronage for, Ascension of the Second Apocalypse.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does.
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Caramel's East Blue Branch
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Nearly twenty-two years following the execution of the King of the Pirates known throughout the world as Gold Roger, one of his old rivals, Charlotte Linlin, the sole woman among the Four Pirate Emperors and Queen of Totto Land, had entered into talks of marrying her thirty-fifth daughter, Pudding, to the Germa Kingdom's missing third prince, Vinsmoke Sanji, in order to gain access to Germa 66's resourceful army and advanced cloning technology for her own uses, even if she had to betray the Vinsmoke Family to get what she desired. Unfortunately, being missing, not even Sanji's own father, King Judge, knew where he was. As far as anyone could do tell, he was last seen in the East Blue Sea, therefore, Linlin called upon her eighth daughter, Brûlée, to user her Devil Fruit power to survey the East Blue through all the mirrors in it until the Big Mom Pirates were able to find the wayward prince working as a sous chef at a seagoing restaurant known as the Baratie. Now, all that was left was to decide on a course of action that would bring Sanji to Totto Land for the eventual wedding.
Pudding, being the deceitful actress, had one such idea that promised to ensure Sanji's cooperation with the wedding, but it required her to leave Totto Land for a time with few helpers from home. At first, Linlin was reluctant to have her daughter of Three-Eye descent out of her sight, considering her potential racial ability was the key to finding Raftel and obtaining Roger's previous title as her own, but Pudding eventually persuaded her that claiming everything the Germa Kingdom has to offer was worth the risk. She made fine points that Linlin couldn't exactly ignore, thus, she gave her the supplies needed to make and run her own seagoing restaurant that would keep up with the Baratie before sending Pudding on her way. Linlin still wasn't happy, but nonetheless looked forward to seeing things confirm to her way soon enough.
"Fighting fire with fire isn't all that bad." As Pudding told her before parting.
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In the Sambas Region of the East Blue Sea, the restaurant ship Baratie was currently being managed by the Sous Chef Sanji, considering that the Head Chef Zeff and a few other cooks were buying supplies for themselves and their customers elsewhere. Although when Zeff told Sanji he was to stay at the ship, the tone of his voice was as clear as a teacher scolding a student that Sanji was forbidden from leaving until he got his act together about interacting with women.
"I'm a bad influence when it comes to romance, he says." Paraphrased Sanji as he sat at one of the empty tables. "I need to get a good leash around my neck, he says." He then fumed in anger. "Is it seriously that wrong of me to find love with all the beautiful women that I share this world with?! Damn that old geezer! Damn him!"
"Sanji, shut up and help us mind the ship like you're supposed to, you lovesick, womanizing, poop for brains freak of nature!" Snapped one of the other remaining cooks with his coworkers nodding in response.
Sanji decided not to take that laying down. "You shut up, you obvious virgins!" He then got angrier when they started laughing loudly. "What's so funny, you bastards?!"
"Like you're one to talk about being a non-virgin." The leading cook retorted. "Name one girl who's even given you lip contact, let alone some bedroom action."
Sanji's affronted sputtering made the cooks laugh even harder.
"Hey, what kind of ship is that out there?" One of the cooks asked as he pointed through a nearby window.
The ship in question was larger than the Baratie and seemed to have been designed to be a similar eatery. Upon closer inspection, a person could see a plaque at the front with the name Caramel 2.
"What the hell?!" Sanji's coworkers exclaimed after a moment of surveying the vessel. "We're going to have to deal with a copycat rival?! Unbelievable!"
"Quiet, idiots!" Sanji snapped to shut them up. "I'll be the judge of that!"
Walking outside the interior, Sanji took a closer look at the ship before calling out to any passengers or crewmembers aboard. "Excuse me, but who's in charge here?"
His mind then stopped when he heard a woman giggling and saw the source with his own eyes as she stood on the Caramel 2. She was brown in both hair and eye color, had bangs upfront and pigtails at the back of her head, was exceptionally curvy, and wore the attire of a chef with a wide smile. All in all, she had the markings of Sanji's ideal woman. Therefore, his reaction was predictable.
"Oh, my godly goodness gracious gratefulness!" He proclaimed in a lovestruck manner. "It's like I died, went to Heaven, and met the loveliest goddess of them all!" He then bowed submissively. "I am Sous Chef Sanji of the Baratie, my dear lady! Who do I owe this fine pleasure to?"
The woman giggled before introducing herself in a kind voice. "You don't need to bow to me, Mr. Sous Chef. I'm Head Chef Pudding of the Caramel Two. You could say we're a Grand Line café version of your restaurant. I hope you don't mind any competition between ourselves."
"Not at all, my love Head Chef!" Sanji declared as his coworkers facepalmed in exasperation. "You are more than welcome to cook and sail in the same place as us! I hope we'll grow from rivals to become friends and eventually lovers!"
Pudding giggled again and showed a sly smile. "Aren't you such a darling?"
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Think of this as a more canonical version of the rivalry the anime gave us between the filler character Carmen and the Baratie cooks, but with the promise of some future action in addition to the potential romance. I didn't show much because while I can imagine the group of thirty-one Head Chefs from Whole Cake Island coming along for the ride and the Caramel 2 being a regular, smaller ship version of the Queen Mama Chanter, we still have much to learn about either of them and One Piece as a whole. And it could go hand in hand with some other ideas like Losers, or Winners? as one example. Anyway, I hope you all got the general idea and I wish you the best of luck should you uphold this challenge.