The first day aboard the ship, they passed various islands and landforms, at which Brulee regaled her son with stories of those places, real and imagined. With the world being what it was, they were nearly indistinguishable. The most notable landmark, however, was a massive mountain called Reverse Mountain, which they saw as they exited the East Blue.

After several hours of sailing in the grand line, Luffy began to get bored and hungry, and began to fall back on old habits. He saw a loose plank and coil of rope on the deck, fashioning a makeshift hook out of the wood of the plank, he broke a small piece of meat off the large strip of jerky that was a gift from Makino. Within a few minutes of casting the jury-rigged fishing pole, he got a bite and managed to pull a large fish out of the water. The fish was long and had sharp teeth at the end of a comically wide mouth. When Brulee and Katakuri came back onto the deck to find Luffy trying to start a fire to cook it, they were equal parts disgusted and amused. Amused because he was utterly failing, disgusted because it had never even crossed his mind to even try to ask for food. Katakuri was more in the former camp and Brulee in the latter. Bulee was worried sick because Luffy would not come to her when he was hungry. Katakuri had to convince a crying Brulee that it was due to his ingrained habits, not her ineptitude as a parent.

When Luffy saw her crying he ran to her and gave her a enormous hug, trying to correct whatever he did wrong. When Brulee felt her child wrap his arms around her, she stopped crying, as she finally had her boy with her, and it felt as if all was right in the world.

When they finally made it to Sabody archipelago, Luffy was enamored with the sights of the towering mangroves that pushed bubbles into the sky. The charlotte siblings needed to get their ship coated too get under the red line again. While they were discussing it with a coater, Luffy wandered off. Luffy meandered through the large groves and before long, was entirely lost. Searching desperately, Luffy soon found a man with long graying blonde hair and scar around one eye coating a beautiful ship, and humming to himself absently. There was nothing about the man that was threatening, but somehow Luffy knew that this man was strong, stronger than anything Luffy had experienced, save for possibly Uncle Katakuri. So obviously, Luffy being who he is, walked straight up to him and tugged on his pant leg.

Halting his jaunty tune, the man turned around, seeming to notice Luffy for the first time.

Getting down on his knees he appraised the young boy, noticing the hat on Luffy's head, but ignoring it.

"Ho there young one, how can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Monkey-Charlotte D Luffy! I'm kinda lost, can you help me find my mama and uncle?"

"Sure, little one, I'm always open to guide a lost one home"

After about 45 seconds, the man paled. Luffy didn't seem to notice, busy goggling at all the sights around him. "That bloodline, what the hell? This kid is stacked in the genes department!"

It was then that Luffy ran into exactly the people they were searching for. He almost got whiplash when he was snatched into his mother's arms. He saw that his uncle Kata was standing between him and the nice man.

"Rayleigh" Katakuri was tense, and you could hear him speaking through grit teeth.

Luffy tugged on his mother's sleeve "Why is uncle Kata angry with the nice man?'

At this, Katakuri relaxed, if only slightly, still ready to fight at a moments notice.

"Ah, one of Linlin's kids, eh? Can't say I'm incredibly surprised that you're here. That he's dragon's kid? That, that was unexpected."

At that Rayleigh laughed uncontrollably, all while the tension drained from katakuri's shoulders.

"Ah, well, I'll let ya get back to that, mr dogtooth, and see you, maybe."

After that point it was all a blur, with Luffy being scolded and the ship being encased in a giant bubble. Luffy remembered looking out and seeing fish bigger than the entire ship, and sailing past an enormous bubble with a city inside, before eventually surfacing near daybreak.

The next day was an absolute mess aboard the ship. Wind and rain ravaged the boat, and the only sights anyone was able to see were through the windows. After that, however, the weather was as pleasant as they could've asked for. The sun shone bright and there wasn't a single cloud for miles around. Eventually, after a few more days of sailing, they arrived at Whole Cake Island.

As the ship pulled up to shore, it collided with the rock-esque M&M coast. The sea crashed and slammed into the granular, cakelike land. The flowers and trees were singing and the chocolate beach was slightly melting in the sun.

Luffy stepped off of the Charlottes' ship and onto the large island. His eyes immediately caught on the massive cakes dotted across the island, wondering how no one had eaten them all yet. The bases of all of them were pink, striped in darker pink. Frosting dripped down the sides.

Equally sweet looking houses lined the pathway across the island, citizens going about their daily lives as if they weren't genuinely surrounded by every dessert or candy imaginable. The grass was so green that, when combined with the sweets around, it could be mistaken for easter grass. Some of the buildings were built inside some of the much smaller cakes. Fudge fountains and waffle cones were scattered around, making for the messiest dessert buffet imaginable.

Luffy's self control lasted all of 10 seconds, barely long enough for anyone else to get off of the ship, before launching himself at the nearest edible structure. His teeth gnawed at a massive sprinkle that was held by white frosting to a large cake, barely managing to scrape a thin layer of it off and into his mouth. He was about to scoop some of the frosting with his mouth, but instead felt a warm hand grab him and drag him back over to the ship. He attempted to split into glass, but the hand was coated in a solid black substance that was able to pull him anyways.

"Mooooom!" Brulee sighed. It hadn't even been a week and he was already giving her gray hairs.

"If I had let you try to eat any more of the island, you'd have either broken your teeth or gotten a sugar high, and today is your first impression on everyone here."

Once everyone had gotten off the ship, Brulee led Luffy down the path to a massive set of decorated doors.

As the imposing doors of the great hall slid open, Luffy, Brulee and Katakuri were met by an impressive sight. A long table, stretching the entire length of the gargantuan room. Large arched strut seemingly made of wafer held up the spongy ceiling, giving it the feeling of some church that was centric around food and merriment. And in a way, it was. The charlotte family sat eating and laughing, all seeming to center around a incredibly tall woman with pink hair and a polka dotted dress. A disproportionately large hat was balanced effortlessly on the top of her head. she seemed to be surrounded by surrounded by a sun and a cloud.(A/N she kept the figure from when she was 28 since she never gave into gluttony like in canon) As people started to notice the trio, all chatter slowly trickled to a halt, as all eyes turned to them, Luffy got uncharacteristically fidgety, looking down, and rolling marbles around in his hands, making the tiny Luffy on the inside warp and shift. The tall woman stopped shoveling candies into her mouth, and turned to the her entering children and grandchild.

"MAMAMAMA, you kids are finally back from finding the small one, eh?"

Charlotte Linlin, more commonly known as big mom, or simply mama, crouched down to Luffy's level and smiled a kind smile.

"Hello grandon, I am Linlin, but you can call me mama or baachan."

Luffy stared back at the massive woman in wonder and said the only thing that came to mind.

"You're very tall"

A beat of silence, and then

The entire room burst into deafening laughter, even stoic Katakuri chuckled a bit.

"MAMMAMAMA, I suppose you're right about that, little one. Luffy, am I right?"

"Yeah, baachan, I'm Luffy and I'm going to be a great pirate!"

The imposing woman reached out a hand and ruffled her grandson's hair.

"Well then, little grandson, you're in the right place. You can become an amazing pirate and one of the strongest in the world."

Luffy's head was spinning. He had been approached by al 85 siblings and he tried his best to remember them, he really did, but seriously, there were too darn many. he stumbled back to his room in the massive residential wing of the chateau, and he flopped onto the impossibly soft mattress that he really shouldn't eat. He dumped his rucksack onto the floor next to his bed, his few belongings unceremoniously spread on the floor. 5000 berries, the marble, his two changes of clothes given to him by Makino, and a rock that he found on the beach and thought looked cool. As he was just drifting off to sleep, he felt a weight settle on the base of his mattress. He never opened his eyes, but he felt a gentle hand caress his face, and heard a soft lullaby, and on the borders of dreamland, heard a whispered

"Sleep well my little firecracker."