Here's the next chapter! 3 more after this one. Sorry about this chapter being so short. Next one should be longer. Enjoy~
p.s. I hate Flampe.
Luffy didn't notice, but Brulee did when she came over, that Katakuri was much happier being around Luffy now. She had a feeling it had to do with her brother not having his scarf on! He made eggs and bacon for breakfast, which Luffy loved. Brulee had some too and was amazed that he had cooked them well. She'd never have seen he'd cooking real meals one day. Or smile like he was at someone, anyone.
After breakfast, after Luffy said he'd train by himself by running around the house, with Katakuri's haki focusing on him, she asked what had happened. Why he wasn't wearing his scarf. He smiled.
"Last night, he saw me without the scarf and didn't freak out at all. And then he said he didn't think my mouth was that bad and he wasn't scared. I didn't even notice that he could see while he talked to me. He didn't even give a reaction. It surprised me, but at the same time, I feel like I shouldn't have been. After all, he wasn't afraid of Mama at her scariest.
"He told me he ate his Devil Fruit as a baby, and that he yelled at a 'dragon' (which I assume he meant a Celestial Dragon) when he was caught.
"I have heard people claim that young children can't eat Devil Fruits, but obviously it's just a rumor. But really, who would let a baby or toddler eat a Devil Fruit? I don't know if it was the same back then, but since Luffy eats whatever looks edible, I'm not surprised. Devil Fruits do look appealing, though they taste horrible." Luffy ran back into the room, bouncing up and down asking what they were going to do today. Where they were going to go on a run.
"We're changing the training now. We're gonna start sprinting, but not for too long. Run really fast for a short time," Katakuri elaborated. Luffy nodded and ran to his room to get his comfy clothes, pulling on socks and little tennis shoes that were bought for him.
He hurried back into the kitchen where Brulee was sitting. Her brother had gone to change himself. Luffy grinned at her. "I got better at running! You should come with us," he said happily.
"I'm not much into exercising. Besides, I'm sure Katakuri likes running with you more."
"I like him. He's nice to me and takes care of me," Luffy told her. She smiled.
"I'm sure he likes you, too, Luffy." Luffy grinned in response.
Luffy and Katakuri were in his large backyard, which Luffy had played on the swings that some of Koori's siblings made for him. But they were out here for Luffy to sprint from one edge of the fence to the other. It was proving tiresome, but he never gave up, like usual. He'd never thrown in the towel even when he was so tired he was hurting and sore.
Koori wasn't running with him, considering he couldn't sprint with how big his footsteps were. He timed Luffy, who was a slow sprinter, but they both knew he'd get better, like he had with the long distance jogging.
This continued for a few days, and soon turned into tag, which was foreign to Katakuri, but Luffy wanted to do that more than just sprint back and forth. Plus, he had to be fast for the large man could catch up to him in only a few steps.
"No! Not eat me!" Luffy laughed as Katakuri chased him around, telling the little boy that if he was caught, he would be eaten whole. Of course, Luffy knew that wouldn't happen, but this was fun anyways.
Katakuri had also been studying up vigorously on cooking, making Luffy large and healthy meals. He himself was also feeling better with eating healthier than he used to. Everything had been turned upside down when he took in Luffy, and he wasn't upset about it. Not even a little.
But, eventually, duty called and Katakuri was sent on a job from Big Mom. He didn't decline for the sake of Luffy the most. When he told Luffy, he took it in stride, even though he was sad Koori was leaving. But he assured Luffy that he could see him through mirrors if he was with Brulee, who would be babysitting him while Katakuri was on his mission. No one told Luffy the mission involved killing. Luffy didn't need to know that.
When the news that Katakuri would be leaving for awhile, and Luffy of course wasn't going with him, spread, many of the man's siblings offered to babysit him or take him somewhere. Katakuri made sure to tell everyone that if anything happened to Luffy while he was gone, they'd have hell to pay.
"Okay, Luffy. I'm going now. Make sure you are a good boy while I'm gone. And practice with Brulee while I'm away. Okay?" Katakuri asked as he crouched in front of Luffy. The boy nodded his head vigorously.
"I will be good when you're gone! Promise," Luffy said with a smile. He was going to miss Koori, but he'd be back. "When I get stronger, I can go with you!"
"Maybe someday, but you have a long ways to go until then." Luffy gave him a hug and said goodbye as they walked to Katakuri's docked ship, his crew already on. They waved to Luffy from deck and told him they'd take good care of Koori for him. The man turned around and scowled at them. Of course it wasn't a dangerous look, just telling them to shut up, which they did.
Katakuri waved to Luffy as the ship sailed away. Luffy immediately ran back home, Brulee having trouble keeping up with the boy who was in good shape after all the training he'd been doing for the past couple weeks.
The rest of the day, Brulee supervised him in the backyard while he sprinted, much more boring without Koori there. When he took breaks for water or just to rest, he went inside to play with his multitude of toy figurines of all of his aunts and uncles (to him that is).
The second day, a reluctant break day ordered by Brulee, he wanted to see Koori, so asked if Brulee could let him see him through the mirror. He was a bit sad when Katakuri didn't answer the transponder snail, but Brulee was not surprised. He was on a mission after all, and those demanded full attention. Oh well, she'd call later, before Luffy went to bed.
Since it was a long wait for night time to come, his first baby sitter came to get him. It was Pudding, who was going to bake food for the little boy. He was very excited to do so and had fun on the flying carpet they both sat on to get to Pudding's home.
He wanted to eat her house made of chocolate, but he refrained and spent his time watching Pudding bake delicious cakes and food for Luffy to eat to his heart's content. Katakuri wasn't there to tell Luffy or Pudding that he had a limit to his sugar intake. Luffy didn't realize that it wouldn't help him stay in shape by binging on sweets like no tomorrow, but he had fun and everything was delicious!
"Pudding, why do you cook?" Luffy asked as he ate brownies with powdered sugar on them. "It makes a mess." Pudding sipped her tea.
"It's fun to me. Plus, by the end, there is delicious food to eat or share with others," she explained. Luffy hummed and shoved another brownie into his mouth, not trying to be neat, not that Pudding really cared if he got chocolate on anything. Cleaning wasn't hard, especially since her baking made a mess sometimes anyways.
"I'll bake you some more some time. I'll make you a big cake and you can get Katakuri to eat it, too. He doesn't like sweets too much." Luffy cocked his head.
"He like donuts I think," he replied. "Lots'a donuts!"
"Really?" Pudding asked, surprised. She hadnt known her brother like any kind of sweets. Maybe she'd make him some some time, even if he probably wouldn't accept it, liking donuts or not.
There was a knock on the mirror on Pudding's wall, which was Brulee coming to get Luffy. It was dinner time and Luffy had wanted to talk to Koori before he went to bed. Luffy hopped off his chair and ran to the mirror. "We going home now?" he asked happily. Brulee nodded and reached her hand out of the mirror to let him in.
"Bye Pudding! Your food was yummy," Luffy said cheerfully.
"You're welcome back any time," the young woman replied. Luffy took Brulee's hand and they walked through the mirroworld to Katakuri's mirror. Pudding cleaned everything up, smiling about the way Luffy seemed to radiate cheerfulness, rubbing off on those around him. No wonder Katakuri adores him. She might not see them much, but it was clear the few times she'd come over to help him learn to cook. It was strange, but endearing.
line
Luffy swung his legs over the crate that was his booster seat as he waited for Brulee to finish her cooking. She wasn't the best cook, but at least she didn't have him eat only toast and sandwiches. She made pasta, which Luffy was happy with. He was so hungry.
"After we eat, I can see Koori, right?" Luffy asked as he ate his spaghetti.
"Yes, I'll try calling him again, and we can see him through the mirror." Luffy cheered, eating faster, wanting to see Koori as fast as possible. Though he hadnt improved in his sprints, he was still doing them, even with his coach not present. He also left the house, which he hadnt done in a while. Last time was when he and Katakuri went clothes and shoe shopping in the town. The two lived further from the town, somewhat between the coast and forest. No one bothered him there. Luffy only went with him when he went into town to do his business as boss of the island while in his pocket. Citizens didn't know why he had Luffy, or even if he stayed in the same place as him.
They'd be surprised to know the cold sweet commander Katakuri had taken in a little boy. More like a son now than a student, or whatever he'd been before.
Luffy sat in front of the huge mirror in the living room as he waited for Katakuri to answer the transponder snail. Finally, he answered, and Luffy could hear Brulee in the kitchen asking him if it was a good time to see Luffy through the mirror. He started bouncing slightly, excited to see Koori. Luffy wondered how his mission was going, and what it was. He wished he could have gone, but he would be able to go if he were stronger. If he could protect himself.
The boy had really liked the sea, and being on the pirate ship. The people there were nice and fun. And the sea and sky had been so pretty. He wanted to go back, too! Oh well, this was a reason he had to keep training to get stronger. So he could be with Koori more.
Luffy jumped up in excitement when Brulee came over and Katakuri appeared in the mirror as if there was a window between him and his boy. Katakuri smiled at Luffy. He could only tell that because of the crinkles in the corners of his eyes, since he had his scarf on.
"Hi, Koori! Guess what?" Luffy asked excitedly, not waiting to get into his conversation.
"What is it?" the man asked kindly. Luffy stood up and told him that he was still practicing at home, and that he'd be better when the sweet commander came back home. He told him about his day with Pudding, and asked what he had been doing away. Katakuri said he was delivering some important things to another person far away. In reality, it was an assassination he had left for. Some idiot pirate crew had messed with one of Big Mom's protected islands. It was genocide on the crew of idiots.
The conversation wasn't long, since Luffy said he had to go to bed early that night to be able to practice a lot tomorrow. Katakuri wished him goodnight and then talked to Brulee about how it had been going. Of course, he wasn't surprised that Luffy was behaving well, like the little boy had said he would.
Katakuri had been bored on the ship, with things too quiet. Something he thought he'd never think. He missed Luffy already, but was trying not to hurry with the job to show Mama he can do his duties just fine while still having Luffy to care for. When he did get to the crew they had found came into view, Katakuri left no time between docking and finding the unfortunate pirate ship, which thought they'd stay safe in the docks after hurting an island protected by Big Mom. What idiots. They were easy to kill.
After they'd gotten rid of the bodies, Katakuri headed into town to look for some sort of souvenir for Luffy. He came across an expensive panda cup with built in straw. Luffy'd love it. It was going to take time to get back to Totto Land considering the weather at present. The ship was docked at an island while one of those spontaneous and devastatingly destructive storm struck.
If the ship ever did sink or catch on fire, there was the fallback of Brulee's mirror dimension to evacuate through, though that would be thoroughly embarrassing to all of Katakuri's men and he himself.
At least this gave Luffy time to get better at whatever he was training with at the moment.
Luffy stood in the backyard, frowning at what Brulee was saying. He hadnt improved and it had been days after Katakuri and he had the first mirror talk. Luffy said he'd be better, but right now he was no different than before. He was worried he'd disappoint his father figure. So he was working extra hard. But he was about to just give up for the day. Brulee had put the timer down and went inside to get Luffy some cold water and some left over lunch.
Luffy'd try just one more lap to improve when she came out. Then he stared in horror as the plate of meat was falling onto the muddy grass after Brulee accidentally fumbled it. He shot forward to save the food but instead he rammed into the fence, the meat on the dirty ground.
"Ugh…" Luffy said, disoriented. "What happened?" he asked. Brulee was staring at him in shock, since Luffy had been on one end of the yard a second ago and was now here, a bump on his forehead showing from the harsh impact. But then she laughed. Katakuri would be very entertained to find out that Luffy finally used one of his powers out of desperation for his food not going bad.
"What happened?" Luffy asked again, wondering why Brulee was laughing at him.
"Luffy, you just used your Devil Fruit. It only took you a second to get from there to here. All because of your lunch." And she laughed again. More like cackled, but it didn't bother Luffy.
"Really?!" he asked excitedly, before he frowned at his discarded lunch, laying on the grassy ground. He could eat it still, but Koori would frown at that. He went to walk towards Brulee, only to shoot off again, and this time trip over a potted plant and skid across the grass, his whole front now having grass stains scrubbed into the fabric and skin.
"I don't like this…" Luffy mumbled as he again shot forward. Now that he could do it, he couldn't even control normal walking. Though he thought it was amazing that he could suddenly be somewhere he hadn't a second before, he was tired of running into things. So, he asked Brulee to just bring him food while he was in bed, because he was tired and didn't want to run into anything anymore. He was just hungry and wanted to go to bed. Plus, he was sad about all of that meat being wasted.