Friends, Meet Family
AU. When news got back to Tottoland that battleship of a certain Charlotte daughter was spotted within the mysterious Florian Triangle, Katakuri was tasked with the mission to retrieve his runaway little sister, with Panna and Nougat tagging along. They arrived on Thriller Bark the same night a certain rookie pirate crew made their entrance.
Katakuri does not have the epithet 'Dogtooth' since his teeth is supposed to be a secret. He will be called whatever I want until his epithet is officially revealed.
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Cheese Course
The ground rumbled, turning soft and malleable. A burst of beautifully blinding white spread from beneath Katakuri's left palm, his awakening ability a direct visual reverse to Moriah's ominous shadow absorption skill, and reaching just as far and wide. The sharp contrasting imagery, as if to symbolically commemorate the ending of this decade-long nightmare, that darkness on this day did not reign supreme.
Gekko Moriah was defeated, taken down by Monkey D Luffy's fists, and the Warlord shrunk as hundreds of inky shadows escaped from his control racing back to their original owners across the world. Luffy collapsed due to extreme exhaustion, falling from up high exposed in the open, too tired to seek shelter, before he was caught by a familiar cushion of soft rice cake. Luffy breathed, closing his eyes. The morning sun shined bright, in that crucial last second, was blocked off when miles and miles of pure white surround wall shoot into the sky like celebration fireworks.
Rolling Pirates and people of Victim's Association cheered, welcoming back their wayward shadows. Panna and Nougat laughed, hugging Lola tight. Katakuri secretly smiled, knowing his job was done, and let his awakening power dissipate by exploding them into a shower of edible mochi confetti.
"Looks like we survived," Zoro said, inspecting the sticky sponge floor underneath his combat boots, that was slowly returning to its original concrete texture. He directed a wary glance at the tall gothic man that had just shown up across the plaza, suspecting it was his doing. A devil fruit power?
"It's beautiful," Robin noted appreciatively, holding out her arm and let the sprinkle of mochi flakes fall into her palm.
"Robin-chan~" Sanji sang, twirling in a circle. "Are you alright?"
"That was so close," Nami let out a relief sigh. "I'm glad no one disappeared."
The Strawhat Pirates came over, gathering around where their captain had fallen. Chopper curiously probed the makeshift bed supporting Luffy, before taking out the portable medical kit to tend to his wounds. "It is the same kind as those sweet cots on that bread ship," Chopper said, poking at the bed. "Did they help Luffy?"
Zoro turned to his small reindeer friend. "I doubt it," he said. "That crew didn't exactly have an affable reputation."
Usopp dusted off a rock, to sit down next to where Luffy was resting. "Oh yeah, I remember you mentioned something about recognizing their flag before," Usopp said, holding his knees in worry as he examined his best friend's sleeping form. "If there are even stronger enemies ahead—"
The unmistakable clanking of blades interrupted Usopp's words, as if to reflect on his anxiety, coming from the other side of this open area. Strawhat Pirates turned, to see people of Victim's Association had their various weapons out, and them were all glaring angrily at the three Charlotte siblings...!
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It shouldn't have happened like this.
Everyone was high on happy victory, after their group's chairman showed up, when one young crew member of the Rolling Pirates called to their captain. A title so thoughtlessly given.
"Captain Lola! We should thank the Strawhats, for what they did for us—!"
Risky Brothers immediately slapped their hands over the teen's mouth, knowing that particular crewman only joined them in Paradise and knew nothing about their crew's true history, but it was way too late. The three other Charlotte siblings all clearly heard. Panna and Nougat gave their older sister a blank expressionless stare.
"Why do they call you that, Sister Lola?" Panna asked quietly, her cheery demeanor abruptly flipped. "Captain? Really?"
Katakuri sighed, he uncrossed his arms and let his hands fell to the sides, hooking thumbs into his leather belt. He was disappointed, but had sincerely hoped that he could at least remain ignorant.
"Please, let me explain," Lola tried to say.
Panna was feeling utterly betrayed. "We don't need to hear your explanation," she hissed. "Do you have any idea what Mama told us, before we left home? She said you are a traitor, but none of us wanted to believe her!"
Nougat was even more outwardly aggressive and uncompromising, and he was the first to unsheathe his blade. "The sea is harsh and unforgiving, so we take care of our own as family," Nougat echoed quietly, the motto taught from brother to sister to brother, his katana steadily trained on his own older sister. "So are you with us, Sister Lola? Or are you against us?"
Rolling Pirates reacted by drawing their weapons, in defense of their captain's honor, loyalty overcoming their fear of the unknown. Lola was put in this delicate situation, being the center of conflict. Risky Brothers were nervously chewing on their fingernails, trying to calm everyone down, since they were among the very few who actually knew how precarious a circumstance this was.
"Hey, hey. Are they serious?" Usopp exclaimed, he could not understand how everything fell apart this quickly over matters that seemed so insignificant.
Zoro scowled, clutching at his own blade. There was a worrisome chance they could get involved, and Zoro hadn't forgotten his duel with that Nougat kid which was only temporarily put on hold. Nami though was focused on a different subject. "Is Lola their captain?" Nami asked, searching around the agitated crowd for that alleged captain, since she recognized the name of her newfound friend. Her eyes however first landed on that conspicuously tall man in black leathers, and immediately she recalled another related confrontation.
"Oh no," Nami gasped quietly. "I forgot something really important...!"
"What is it?" Robin asked.
Nami urgently turned to address her crewmates. "Everyone, there is another Warlord on—"
"He is already here," Katakuri interrupted, gesturing with a small tilt of his head.
Bartholomew Kuma sat atop the crumbling hull of that fallen main tower, and there was a Den-Den Mushi in his hand. "This is a direct order from the World Government," the transponder snail relayed. "Obliterate the Strawhat Pirates, and everyone else on Thriller Bark. Leave no one alive."
Rolling Pirates and people of Victim's Association were horrified by those callous words, and they immediately redirected their blades at this new arrival, but the cyborg Warlord's emotionless gaze was fixed solely on the Sweet Commander of Big Mom Pirates. Charlotte Katakuri was giving Bartholomew Kuma the best you can try taunt with just his crimson eyes.
"There might be an unforeseeable complication concerning this matter," Kuma said into the mushi receiver, but didn't elaborate before disconnecting the line. He then stood, removing his glove, before pseudo-teleporting in front of the survivors group.
"Just when we're about to obtain freedom! We are not going to die here!"
"Let's get him! Take him down!"
"Stop it, all of you! The opponent is too strong!" Lola cried, in vain, as her comrades still rushed in to get devastated in one hit when an invisible paw cannon ripped through them all.
Risky Brothers could not bear the pain of watching their friends killed before their eyes. There was only one person who could save everybody on this island, even if they had to put aside their dignity and beg. "Lord Katakuri, please," Risky Brothers pleaded, bending their knees and groveled on the dirt, trying to appeal to the Sweet Commander's occasional kinder nature. "You can help us, please."
The second prince of Tottoland gave them an icy glare. "I have no obligation to help anyone who are not family," Katakuri said coldly. "Mama is not happy with you guys either, for abandoning the crew without appropriate repayment. You know the rules. You want to leave, you spin the wheel."
"What the hell! They are already begging on their knees!" Usopp shouted, shaking his fists in outrage. "I thought you were a decent guy, for your hospitality, but are you actually an asshole?!"
Panna would not tolerate such blatant disrespect. "Just who do you think you are, talking to Brother Katakuri like that," Panna snarled. She gripped Usopp by the front collar of his cape, violently lifting him off the ground. Usopp choked.
Sanji tried to pacify her irritation. "Panna-chan, we shouldn't fight among ourselves...!"
Panna was still extremely peeved, but at the same time she really didn't want to quarrel with this blond man. Panna tsked, casting Usopp aside.
Sanji let Usopp face-plant into the rubble, wheezing and grumbling about unfair treatment. Sanji was reluctant to be seen fretting over a male crewmate when there was a beautiful lady present, but he had firm grasp on where to place his true loyalty, so he subtly positioned himself between Usopp and Panna in case he needed to further intervene. Situation was escalating into disaster, Warlord on one side and infighting on another, with Luffy still unconscious to make everything worse. Sanji chewed on the cigarette in his mouth, trying to decide which was the more pressing problem...
... when Bartholomew Kuma appeared right next to Zoro, having chosen his first target. "Roronoa 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro, shall I begin with you?"
Zoro was prepared to face down this impossible adversary. "I accept the challenge," he said, moving Sandai Kitetsu to the left side of his waist to setup his opening move.
"Moron, why don't you run?!" Nougat shouted at that boneheaded swordsman. "You're already wounded!"
"This sort of misfortune is just how the world is," Zoro grinned, manic and fearless. "Excuses won't delay catastrophe, I don't need your help nor pity."
Nougat took a half step in his direction, unsure of what to do. His older siblings were indifferent and seemed content to watch this crew get annihilated, but Nougat was torn. He kind of wished that green-hair swordsman could at least survive.
Zoro dashed forward, his two swords unsheathed in a flash to perform his most powerful quick draw technique. "Nitoryu Iai, Rashomon!"
Kuma vanished, dodging the attack so effortlessly, to show up instead behind Zoro before reaching down with his menacing right hand. Zoro rolled to the side to evade the hit that carved a paw-shaped indent into concrete, then swung back his torso to avoid another invisible shockwave cannon.
Zoro was tired, panting heavy. He swiveled Sandai Kitetsu in a circular motion to send out an aerial strike, but even that was deflected with a simple raise of the Warlord's hand.
This was going to be an ugly one-sided massacre. Nougat couldn't stand it, and was already moving before he could second guess himself again. He sprinted around and then leaped, to attack Kuma from behind. If the Warlord was surprised, he didn't show it, instead he calmly lifted his other hand and caught the blade in his paw, before propelling that young Charlotte son a fair distance backward.
"I told you to not get involved," Zoro said, adjusting the grip on his sword.
Nougat picked himself up, there were bloody scuff marks on his cheek and temple. "I swear, you're just trying to get yourself fucking killed before our rematch...!" Nougat seethed. He glared at the intimidating Warlord, before sneaking a brief glance at his older brother. "If I could—"
"Nougat, stand down," Katakuri warned.
Nougat bit his lip, knowing Brother Katakuri was telling him to not attempt what he had in mind, always so perceptive due to his precognitive haki. Nougat could threaten his older brother into action by putting himself in danger, to perhaps save this not-unlikable maybe-enemy, but at what price? Brother Katakuri would be so disappointed in him.
"Sorry," Nougat finally said, reluctantly putting away his blade. "You're on your own."
"It's fine," Zoro answered, preferring it like this anyway. "If I die here and now, that's as far as I am meant to go."
Kuma lowered himself to a battle stance, legs apart and hands on his knees. "Your time is up, Roronoa Zoro," Kuma said. He used his devil fruit to swiftly repel air at the Strawhat swordsman, creating a barrage of pad cannon bombardment.
Zoro managed to somehow evade the merciless onslaught, but he was at his physical limit. Sanji intervened just as the Warlord appeared right next to Zoro again with that freakish cheating teleport ability, by directing a destructive 'Concasse' at Kuma's jaw after spinning rapidly through the air to gain momentum...
... when Sanji howled in pain, his leg spasmed after crushing against unbreakable reinforced steel. That human bear cyborg didn't even flinch.
"They're going to get destroyed," Panna said with a wince, only reacted when she saw Sanji struggle with injury. Panna gazed away, to look at her taller brother instead. "Are you okay with that?"
"Our mission is to bring Lola home, nothing more," Katakuri answered, but then he suddenly became somewhat infuriated, as tendrils of white unfurled from beneath his boots. "Looks like that Warlord did not get the picture though, to stay away from our business."
Panna was confused, turning back to the scene of battle, in time to witness Kuma spreading his arms wide. The Warlord was repelling the air against itself, to make a huge compressed shockwave bomb capable of enveloping the entire barque plaza...!
"I am willing to spare everyone's life," Kuma said, holding the delicate air bomb between his paws. "In exchange, I'll be taking 'Strawhat' Luffy."
Usopp clenched his fists, trembling in anger. "You're telling us to betray our friend...!"
"Now, bring 'Strawhat' Luffy to me."
The Strawhat Pirates and the Rolling Pirates shared an understanding look, wordlessly coming to a silent agreement. Katakuri sighed, knowing his involvement was now inevitable, before everyone shouted in unison, loud and clear.
"HELL NO!"
"That's a pity," Kuma dispassionately responded, and released his bomb. "Ursus Shock."
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There was a forbidding thrum that reverberated among the people, with everybody else ducking frantically for cover, when Katakuri motioned with a simple gesture from his hand. Mochi awakening sprung from the ground like flowing white ribbons, suffocating the air bomb by encasing it inside hundred layers of haki hardened shell. The bomb exploded, the blast neutralized, splattering sticky rice cake everywhere.
"W-what? What just happened?" Usopp asked numbly, heart thundering in his chest and still in a state of unadulterated terror, with globs of tacky white substance over his face and torso. Usopp tentatively took a lick, it tasted sweet.
Risky Brothers bursted into thankful tears. "Lord Katakuri, thank you...!"
Katakuri ignored the commotion. He walked to stand before the taller Warlord, annoyance evident in his posture.
"I thought you would not interfere," Kuma stated. "Charlotte 'Clairvoyant' Katakuri."
Katakuri scowled, his left arm splitting open to reveal his famous three-pronged weapon. "I don't care about anyone else on this island barque, but you should not have made a bomb that would involve my adorable younger siblings," Katakuri replied, brandishing his trident and leveled it at the Warlord. "You're just following orders, anything else you want to add as your last words?"
"I'm just following orders," Kuma belatedly echoed, monotonous. He used a rainfall of pad cannon shelling as diversion, before abruptly vanishing, his pseudo-teleportation faster than the naked eye could see. Those two powerhouses clashed in an instant amongst dust cloud created by shockwaves that missed their target, causing intense gusts of backlashing wind that push people down cowering among broken bricks and debris. Kuma needed to end the conflict as quickly as possible, by sending this troublesome opponent to another island far away. He appeared next to the Sweet Commander, reaching out with his right hand paw.
The glint of crimson gaze followed his movement, dissecting his every motive before he could put intent into action, because predictable linear speed was irrelevant against someone with future sight haki. A black buckled boot then slammed down on the Warlord's wrist, deliberately timed, to keep his right hand flat and harmless on the ground.
"Don't even try," Katakuri warned.
Kuma still did, this time in a futile attempt to raise his left hand, but a split second saw Mogura's sharp prongs burying halfway into the Warlord's left shoulder, short-circuiting his cyborg composition. Katakuri narrowed his eyes, leaping back and with a swing of the trident, completely slicing off the Warlord's left arm.
Someone among the spectators screamed. It was Chopper, who wasn't expecting such visceral brutality. The Strawhat Pirates were in varying degrees of awe and distress, unable to comprehend how the dangerous Warlord whose presence had threatened them all mere minutes ago was now being toyed around like an amateur.
The mechanical limb landed with a thump.
"You possess one of those tricky devil fruits that could conclude a match through touch, but the universal weakness is the requirement for hand contact," Katakuri summarized, pointing his trident at the Warlord's right shoulder. "I am going to sever your right arm next, if you don't back off now, before I lose the little patience I have."
This was a veteran, with lifelong experience in the New World, where devil fruit users were bountiful.
Bartholomew Kuma took a step back, before giving each member of the Strawhat Gang a careful glance, his gaze lingering on Monkey D Luffy as he calculated the odds. Big Mom Pirates were known for their whimsical childlike cruelty, a gamble to leave this rookie crew at their mercy. It might be necessary to carry out his leader's plan earlier than intended. This could cost him everything, his life forfeited either way to government or to pirates. Kuma was willing to take this risk, to at least secure safety for Monkey D Dragon's only son.
He still had one remaining hand, and that was enough. Kuma swirled around, going after his most important objective—
—Katakuri raised his left arm and clenched his fist. The rice cake mattress underneath the Strawhat captain promptly extended like a venus flytrap, caging Luffy inside a solid mochi enclosure. Franky reacted by pulling Chopper away from the suddenly animated food stuff. Robin and Brook divided their attention between the Warlord and that Sweet Commander, cautious as they identified Katakuri as the cause.
Kuma's outstretched hand stopped a centimeter away, his access blocked off and his last attempt thwarted, because this was what it meant to have every move foreseen like an open book.
"Why are you going after him?" Katakuri asked. "Who is he to you?"
Kuma lowered his hand, knowing he lost, utterly and completely. "I will leave as per your request," he finally said.
Fate of the Strawhat Pirates were in the hands of destiny now. Bartholomew Kuma gave a silent apology to the revolutionary leader that was also his friend, for failing to protect his heir when most needed. He retrieved his severed machine arm, trusting Dr. Vegapunk would be able to work repairs, before leaving as suddenly as he came.
Katakuri let him go.
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Luffy stirred in his sleep, blinking groggily awake, roused by the delicious aroma of quality sweets. He was so tired and physically drained and his energy wholly depleted, but there was food all around him giving off this alluring scent.
Only one logical action to take at this point, so Luffy reached out and start eating the mochi dome holding him captive.
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Author Notes
Complete series can be found on AO3, including spin-offs with Explicit ratings.
