As I said back in Uneasy Travel and Technically Not Quitters, here's the third Charlotte Pudding-centric challenge story I had planned to work on. Admittedly, I started to have some concerns on how to present this, considering that part of this challenge deals with Linlin herself getting wrapped up in a manner of speaking which would allow her crew and family to go through some character development, but BlueThief on FFN gave me their support when I told them about this by Personal Message, so I'll see what I can do. And hopefully, any takers I get will help expand on what I showed. 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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Realizing Dreams
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Nineteen years following the execution of the King of the Pirates, Gold Roger, a radical situation developed at the Whole Cake Chateau of his onetime rival, Charlotte Linlin of the Big Mom Pirates. At the meeting room of the second floor, tensions ran high among the gathered Charlotte Family members and other Big Mom Pirates, from the Ministers of Totto Land to the Pirate Sweet Commanders due in no small part to the recklessness of the thirty-fifth daughter, Pudding, and the use of her Memo-Memo Fruit on Big Mom herself.
"This is inexcusable, you three-eyed brat!" The thirdborn son, Daifuku, snapped at Pudding's shaking, yet defiant, resolve. "You are going to get Mama out of that flashback trance this very instant, or suffer the consequences!"
The second oldest son, Katakuri, decided to intervene before any of his siblings did something rash. "Restrain yourself, Daifuku. It's true that none of us are proud of Pudding's actions, but I doubt Mama would approve of us depriving her of her Poneglyph translator."
The issue being discussed was the earlier event regarding Pudding stumbling upon Big Mom abusing the twenty-second daughter Chiffon and proclaiming her intent to have Chiffon's younger twin Lola killed for running away from a crucial marriage alliance. Being closer to the twins than most of the people in her life, Pudding tried to reason with Big Mom to leave them unharmed which quickly spiraled into a verbal conflict that Pudding decided to resolve by using her Devil Fruit ability on Big Mom's mind which plunged her into a catatonic state reminiscing about the happier moments of her childhood. It had been hours since that incident, and Linlin hadn't regained her awareness, despite her supporters' attempts to rouse a single reaction from her. Therefore, Pudding was being interrogated and pressured into changing what she had done.
"I won't!" Reaffirmed Pudding. "We all should've recognized that Mama never cared about anybody other than herself from the start." She sighed. "Brothers and sisters, I know that it's hard to wrap our heads around this, but has Mama ever sought doctors to help with her eating disorder, felt bad about her past rampages, or at the very least, treated us, her own children, with anything that showed that she actually cares about us?"
Not even the oldest among them, Perospero and Compote, could refute her words. Nonetheless, the fourteenth daughter, Smoothie, felt a good point had to be remembered. "Even so, we need Mama's Devil Fruit and reputation to keep Totto Land secure."
A concerned Chiffon decided to speak up. "No one outside this chateau has to know what has happened to our Mama. We can just say she's sick, but no less strong and alive. As for the Soul-Soul Fruit, I think so long as Mama remains alive we won't be losing the Homies." Turning her eyes across the room for all her attending siblings to see her. "If Mama has always said she's Totto Land's Queen, that makes us her heirs, and to have an heir implies that the future is protected, and with the future, things can change. We can present something new to Totto Land. A chance to reinvent our country and ourselves, but only if we decide to act on it." She sighed. "I might be a bit biased about this, but I vote that we speak for ourselves from now on. What say the rest of you?"
A grave silence filled the room before Smoothie spoke up. "If we're going to move forward, one of us we'll have to serve as Mama's regent."
Streusen, Big Mom's oldest crewmate who had been oddly silent throughout the meeting, decided to inject with a small smile of his own. "I wholeheartedly agree. Perhaps a vote amongst the crew will be helpful?"
With Streusen speaking in favor, the meeting seemed to be taking a good turn before they received a report that Pekoms' former crewmates had somehow got past Totto Land's security which prompted a response of whatever was deemed necessary, considering Linlin's usual reaction was out of the question.
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A bit shorter than I would've preferred, but it was all I could think of. I know those who saw Chapter 850 and onwards would be a bit baffled, but I think that while Pudding might've been a bit messed up as she aged, I do think there's some evidence throughout the series that shows that even when she's at her worst, she tries to at least care about those who have treated her nicely before, such as Chiffon and Lola, who from what I understand, helped taught her how to cook or something. I vote for Smoothie to take the regent job, for being more serious on and off job than her fellow Commanders and Ministers among other things, but it's your decision. And while I know the entire Charlotte Family hasn't been listed from oldest to youngest in a way that we can all understand, I think there's some evidence from the manga SBS that the youngest kid might be seven or eight, so around the time Pedro and Zepo would've met their turning point sounded like a good idea.
If you haven't already understood the point I'm trying to get across with this challenge is for the Big Mom Pirates to be more stable as an Emperor crew in between Shanks and Kaido. Originally, I thought of Linlin herself getting in on the change, but I'm not exactly how different she would become and she looks alright as an antagonist as is, so you know. Just let Streusen wake her up at the right time, and then crap can hit the fan. I'm sure those interested will figure something out along the lines.
Now I'll be taking a break from One Piece writing to think about other fandoms. I have Hopeful Alternatives for Naruto to wrap up alongside the video game stories I've got, I'd like to get back to Dragon Ball Alternate Paths, and I also have been thinking of doing similar different power/romance one-shots for Issei of High School DxD, Goku of Dragon Ball, Izuku of My Hero Academia, and Lelouch of Code Geass in addition to Luffy of One Piece, Naruto of Naruto, and Natsu of Fairy Tail, so if any FFN authors have written stories from those fandoms before, please find ways to add female characters to those categories when they aren't there. Hope you all find them interesting, and please let me know if you are interested in taking my challenges. And look at Undying Soul98 on FFN at some point, since some of their challenges sound inspirational in some areas, especially the One Piece idea listed as The Empire.