The Thousand Sunny sailed through the strange waters of Totto Land.
The ocean did not taste like salt. It tasted like sweet fruit. The water ran thick and pink.
Luffy hung over the railing of the ship. He held a large wooden bucket. He threw the bucket into the pink ocean, pulled it up, and drank the entire thing in three large gulps.
"Strawberry!" Luffy laughed, wiping his mouth. He threw the bucket down again.
Bonney stood next to him. She did not use a bucket. She leaned entirely over the wooden rail, opened her mouth, and scooped the pink water directly into her throat with her hands.
"It has pulp!" Bonney cheered, swallowing loudly.
Carrot bounced next to them. "It's completely pink! Garchu!" she cheered, dipping a paw in the water and licking it with a bright smile.
Sunny stared at the water. He licked his lips. He spun the wheel hard to the right.
The ship lurched.
"Sunny!" Nami yelled from the upper deck. She grabbed the railing to keep her balance. "Why did you turn?! The compass points straight ahead!"
Sunny pointed at a passing current. The water in the current ran dark brown.
"Chocolate syrup!" Sunny yelled back. "I want to sail through the chocolate syrup!"
"Get back on course!" Nami ordered, hitting the mast with her hand. "We are in an Emperor's territory! We cannot sail into every dessert you see!"
Sunny pouted. He spun the wheel back. The ship straightened out.
Ben sat on a lounge chair on the grassy deck. He watched the chaos.
They sailed past bizarre islands. They passed an island made entirely of stacked blocks of yellow cheese. They passed a sea where the waves looked like whipped cream. They sailed under clouds that dropped sticky drops of honey instead of rain.
The New World defied logic. Big Mom's territory defied reality completely.
"Land ho!" Chopper yelled from the crow's nest.
A large island appeared on the horizon. The ship sailed closer.
The island looked entirely brown. The buildings, the roads, the fountains, and the streetlamps all shared the same dark, rich color. A massive fountain in the center of the port shot liquid chocolate into the air instead of water.
Nami checked her maps. "Cacao Island. Chocolat Town. This is the border town of Totto Land."
"Dock the ship," Ben said, standing up. "We need to gather information."
Sunny steered the Thousand Sunny toward the docks. He dropped the anchor into the pink juice ocean. The ship settled against the wooden pier.
The crew walked down the gangplank. They stepped onto the island.
Luffy stepped onto the dock. He looked down. He scratched the wooden plank with his fingernail. He licked his finger.
"The dock is made of dark chocolate," Luffy announced.
Bonney knelt down. She bit the dock. She tore a chunk of wood-shaped chocolate right out of the floor and chewed it. "High-quality cocoa."
"Stop eating the floor!" Nami hissed, grabbing them both by their collars and pulling them up. "Act normal! We are trying to blend in!"
They walked past the docks and entered the town.
The streets bustled with people. Humans walked alongside minks, long-arm tribe members, and strange, talking objects. Anthropomorphic doors greeted people. Talking teacups hopped across cafe tables.
The buildings looked like gingerbread houses. The bricks consisted of solid milk chocolate. The mortar looked like white icing. The roof tiles resembled colorful hard candies.
The smell in the air was overwhelmingly sweet.
Luffy's stomach growled loudly. Bonney's stomach answered with an even louder growl. Chopper started drooling. Carue the duck quacked, snapping his beak at a passing butterfly made of spun sugar. Carrot hopped onto the nearest fence, her rabbit ears twitching at the sugary scent. Sunny bounced on his heels, vibrating with excess energy.
"We need to find a tavern or a cafe," Ben suggested. "We can sit down, order food, and listen to the locals talk about the Tea Party."
"I see a place over there!" Luffy yelled, pointing down a side street.
Luffy sprinted down the street. Bonney sprinted after him, refusing to lose a footrace to food. Chopper ran on all four hooves. Carrot leaped forward with a joyful shout. Carue flapped his wings and sped forward. Sunny dashed behind them, laughing wildly.
"Wait!" Nami yelled, reaching her hand out.
They did not wait. They turned the corner and vanished.
Ben sighed. He put his hands in his pockets. Nami rubbed her temples.
They walked down the side street, following the path of the six runners.
They turned the corner.
They stopped.
A large, two-story house sat on the corner of the street. It was built of dark chocolate bricks. White chocolate framed the windows. A large chimney made of chocolate truffles sat on the roof.
Luffy stood in front of the house. He opened his mouth wide. He unhinged his jaw. He bit the entire front door. He ripped the door off its hinges and swallowed it whole.
Bonney stood next to him. She grabbed a window frame. She pulled the white chocolate frame out of the wall. She snapped it in half and shoved both pieces into her mouth.
Chopper attacked the side wall. He used Heavy Point. He punched the chocolate bricks, shattering them into bite-sized pieces. He shoveled the pieces into his mouth rapidly.
Carue pecked at a chocolate fence surrounding the yard. The duck moved his beak like a jackhammer, destroying the fence and swallowing the chocolate splinters.
Carrot attacked the garden, happily gnawing on large flowers made of solid, brightly colored sugar.
Sunny climbed onto the roof. The avatar sat next to the chimney. He broke off the chocolate truffles one by one and tossed them into his mouth, chewing with a massive grin on his face.
"Delicious!" Luffy mumbled through a mouthful of wall.
"The icing is perfect!" Bonney agreed, tearing a chunk out of the second floor.
"More! More!" Sunny cheered, eating the chimney.
Nami stared in horror.
"THEY ARE EATING A HOUSE!" Nami screamed. "THEY ARE LITERALLY EATING SOMEONE'S HOUSE!"
Vivi covered her mouth with her hands. "Is anyone inside?!"
Ben watched them eat. The house vanished rapidly. The front wall collapsed. The second floor caved in. Luffy, Bonney, Chopper, Carue, Carrot, and Sunny tore through the structure like a swarm of locusts.
"Hey!" a voice yelled from the street.
Two large men ran toward them. They wore uniforms. They carried long spears. Their heads looked like giant chess pieces. A knight and a rook.
The chocolate police.
"Stop right there!" the knight chess piece demanded. He pointed his spear at Luffy. "You are eating private property!"
Luffy stopped chewing. He looked at the guard. He held half of a chocolate window shutter in his hand.
"Is this yours?" Luffy asked, his mouth full.
"It is against the law of Cacao Island!" the rook chess piece shouted. "You can eat the public chocolate fountains! You cannot eat the buildings without a permit! You are under arrest!"
Bonney swallowed a brick. She wiped chocolate off her face. "You want to fight? I will turn you into toddlers."
The chess guards raised their spears.
"Wait!" a soft voice called out.
A young woman ran down the street.
She wore a light pink dress. She had light brown hair tied into pigtails. She had a kind, gentle face.
She ran up to the chess guards and waved her hands in the air.
"Officer!" the young woman said quickly. "Please, stand down! It is a misunderstanding!"
The knight lowered his spear slightly. "A misunderstanding? Miss Pudding, these vandals are eating a residential structure."
The woman, Pudding, smiled warmly. She turned and gestured toward Luffy, Bonney, and the rest of the gluttons.
"They are not vandals," Pudding explained smoothly. "I hired them. The lease on this chocolate house expired yesterday. The chocolate exceeded its shelf life. I contracted this demolition crew to dismantle the building so we can build a fresh one tomorrow."
The guards blinked. They looked at Luffy. Luffy belched loudly, spitting out a white chocolate doorknob.
"They... they are a demolition crew?" the rook asked skeptically.
"Yes," Pudding nodded earnestly. "They are very efficient. Please, leave them to their work."
The chess guards looked at each other and lowered their weapons.
"My apologies, Miss Pudding," the knight bowed slightly. "We did not know. We will leave you to your business."
The guards turned around and marched away down the street.
Nami exhaled a sigh of relief. Vivi lowered her guard.
Pudding watched the guards disappear around the corner. She turned back toward the pirates.
Luffy, Bonney, Chopper, Carue, Carrot, and Sunny finished the house. They sat on the empty dirt lot. They patted their stomachs.
Pudding smiled at them.
"That was close," Pudding said. "You should read the signs next time. Eating private buildings carries a heavy fine."
Nami stepped forward. "Thank you for covering for us. We just arrived. We didn't know the rules."
"I could tell," Pudding laughed softly. "You look like travelers. I am Pudding. I run a cafe nearby. Would you like to come inside? It is much safer to eat the food in my shop than the houses on the street."
Luffy's ears perked up. "Cafe? Food?!"
Bonney jumped to her feet. "Lead the way!"
Pudding smiled and motioned for them to follow.
They walked down the street. Pudding led them to a beautiful, elegant shop called 'Caramel'. The interior smelled strongly of baking bread, melting chocolate, and fresh tea.
They sat around a large, circular table.
Pudding brought out trays of food. She brought chocolate truffles, caramel pastries, fruit tarts, and pots of black tea.
Luffy and Bonney attacked the trays instantly. Chopper and Sunny grabbed handfuls of truffles. Carrot nibbled rapidly on a large slice of carrot cake. Carue pecked at a bowl of mixed nuts.
Nami took a sip of tea. "This is delicious. Thank you again, Pudding."
"It is no trouble," Pudding smiled, sitting down across from them. She poured herself a cup of tea. "It is rare to see new faces in Totto Land right now. The borders are tight. Mama is preparing for a very important event."
"The Tea Party," Ben stated.
Pudding looked at Ben. She nodded slowly. "Yes. The Tea Party. It is a very special one this year."
Pudding looked down at her lap. Her smile faded. She looked sad.
She reached into the pocket of her dress. She pulled out a small, crumpled photograph and placed it face up on the table.
"It is my wedding," Pudding said quietly. Her voice trembled slightly. "Mama arranged it. I have no choice. She wants to ally with a powerful family from the North Blue."
Nami set her teacup down. She looked at the photograph on the table.
Nami froze.
Vivi leaned forward. She looked at the photograph and gasped softly.
Luffy stopped chewing a pastry. He looked at the picture and swallowed.
"Hey," Luffy pointed at the photo. "That's Sanji."
The photograph showed Sanji Vinsmoke. He wore his black suit. He had his blonde hair swooped over his eye. A cigarette hung from his lips. He looked incredibly suave.
Pudding nodded. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
"Sanji Vinsmoke," Pudding whispered. "I have never met him. Mama just handed me his picture and told me my life was decided. I don't even know what kind of man he is. He looks dangerous."
Dead silence filled the cafe.
Luffy stared at the picture. Bonney stopped eating. Chopper covered his mouth. Carrot lowered her fork, her ears drooping down.
Nami leaned back in her chair. She looked at Vivi. Vivi looked at Nami.
They both leaned closer together. They kept their voices down, whispering to each other across the table.
"Vivi," Nami whispered, her eyes wide. "Look at her."
Vivi nodded slowly. "She is beautiful, Nami. Very beautiful. And she seems very sweet."
"Exactly," Nami hissed quietly. "Think about our plan. The plan is for Sanji to fake the wedding, help us steal the Poneglyph, and escape."
Vivi swallowed hard. "I know."
"Now think about Sanji," Nami continued her frantic whisper. "Think about his personality and how his brain works when he sees a pretty girl crying."
Vivi's eyes widened further in realization.
"Oh no," Vivi whispered.
"Oh yes," Nami groaned, burying her face in her hands. "If Sanji sees Pudding. If he talks to her. If she cries in front of him. He is going to marry her. He will forget the plan. He will say 'I do' before we even reach the castle."
"It is highly plausible," Vivi agreed, dread filling her voice. "He cannot resist a damsel in distress. He will try to save her by marrying her."
Ben sat across from them. He heard the whispers. He sipped his tea. He did not disagree with their assessment. Sanji's chivalry was a massive wildcard.
Luffy crossed his arms. He looked at Pudding.
"Sanji is our cook," Luffy stated bluntly.
Pudding snapped her head up. She wiped her tear away. "He is... your cook?"
"Yeah," Luffy nodded. "He is on our ship. Or, he was. He left to come here."
Pudding stared at Luffy. She stared at Nami. She realized who sat in her cafe.
"You..." Pudding gasped. "You are the Straw Hat Pirates. You are Monkey D. Luffy."
Luffy grinned. "That's me."
Pudding looked terrified for a split second. Then, her expression softened. She leaned across the table.
"You came for him," Pudding whispered urgently. "You came to attend the wedding."
"We did," Nami confirmed, dropping the whisper act. "We need to get to Whole Cake Island. But the waters are impossible to navigate. The compass spins wildly."
Pudding stood up. She walked quickly to a counter in the back of the cafe and grabbed a blank piece of paper and a pen. She returned to the table and began drawing rapidly.
She drew islands. She drew ocean currents. She drew wind patterns.
"Mama controls the sea," Pudding explained as she drew. "She uses sea slugs to monitor the currents. She uses living homies to change the weather. If you sail blindly, you will be sunk in hours."
Pudding slid the finished map across the table toward Nami.
"This is the safe route," Pudding said firmly. "It bypasses the patrol ships. It avoids the boiling candy rivers. It will take you directly to the harbor on the back side of Whole Cake Island."
Nami picked up the map.
"Thanks," Nami said.
In this timeline, Luffy never challenged Big Mom at Fishman Island. Luffy never ate her candy. Luffy never declared war on her over the Transponder Snail.
Big Mom did not hate the Straw Hat Pirates here. She wanted them under her umbrella. She sent the invitation to absorb Luffy's rising power into her fleet. She expected them to arrive peacefully and join her.
Therefore, Pudding had no orders to assassinate them. She had no orders to trap them. She played her role as the reluctant bride perfectly, giving them the real map.
"We will take the map," Ben said. He stood up. "Thank you for the tea, Pudding."
Luffy shoved the last three fruit tarts into his mouth. He stood up.
"Thanks for the food!" Luffy mumbled through the pastry.
They walked out of the Caramel cafe. They stepped back onto the chocolate streets of Cacao Island.
Nami rolled the map up and tucked it into her belt.
"We have the route," Nami said. "We need to get back to the ship and set sail immediately."
She turned around to look at the crew.
Nami froze.
Luffy stood on the street. He did not look like Luffy. He looked like a giant, perfectly round beach ball. His arms and legs stuck out of the massive sphere of his torso.
Bonney stood next to him. She also looked like a perfect, flesh-colored sphere.
Chopper sat on the ground. The reindeer resembled a furry bowling ball.
Carue the duck looked like a massive, yellow egg with a beak.
Carrot resembled a giant, perfectly round snowball with long ears draped over the sides.
Sunny blurred, bounced up and down on his heels at supersonic speeds. His eyes spun in circles. Sugar rushed through his veins.
They had eaten an entire house. Then they ate three trays of pastries.
"I can't walk," Luffy groaned. His voice echoed from inside his spherical cheeks. "I am too full. Roll me."
Bonney burped.
Chopper groaned, holding his round stomach.
Nami slapped her forehead. "You idiots!"
Vivi tried to push Luffy. He weighed too much. She couldn't move him.
Ben sighed heavily. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He really hated traveling with gluttons.
Ben raised both hands. He pointed his palms at the spherical crew members.
He used Ruler's Authority to lift them.
Luffy floated off the ground. Bonney floated up next to him. Chopper drifted into the air. Carue ascended, quacking lazily. Carrot drifted up, lightly swaying in the air. Sunny lifted off the ground, his legs still kicking rapidly.
Ben walked down the street. He kept his hands raised. He dragged the six floating spheres behind him like massive, bizarre balloons on invisible strings.
"This is humiliating," Nami muttered, walking beside Ben.
"I feel like a cloud," Luffy sighed happily from the air above them.
They reached the docks. Ben floated the spheres over the railing and dropped them heavily onto the grassy deck of the Thousand Sunny. They bounced softly upon landing.
"Set sail," Ben ordered Nami.
Nami ran to the helm. She unrolled Pudding's map. "Raising anchor! Catching the wind!"
The Thousand Sunny pulled away from the chocolate dock. The ship sailed back into the pink juice ocean, leaving Cacao Island behind.
They sailed into the cotton candy fog, following the precise lines drawn on Pudding's map.
The journey to Whole Cake Island should have taken twelve hours.
It took two days.
The delay occurred primarily because the captain refused to stop eating the environment, and the helmsman refused to steer straight.
A few hours after leaving Cacao Island, Luffy digested the chocolate house. He shrank back to normal size.
He immediately ran to the railing. He pointed at a passing island.
"Look!" Luffy yelled. "The trees look like giant broccoli! Stop the ship!"
"We are not stopping!" Nami yelled from the helm.
Luffy stretched his arm. He grabbed the steering wheel. He yanked it hard. The ship spun wildly toward the broccoli island.
They crashed onto the shore. They spent three hours trying to pull Luffy away from eating the trees.
The next morning, Sunny took the wheel. The avatar still rode the high of the Cacao Island chocolate rush.
Sunny steered the ship perfectly for an hour. Then, he spotted a current of bright yellow liquid running through the pink ocean.
"Lemonade!" Sunny screamed.
Sunny spun the wheel. The ship drifted off Pudding's map. They sailed into the lemonade current. The current sped them up, shooting them toward a reef made entirely of sharp, jagged rock candy.
"Turn back!" Vivi yelled, grabbing the railing.
"I can't!" Sunny laughed hysterically. "The wheel is sticky!"
Ben had to step in. He opened a portal in front of the ship, teleporting them straight through the candy reef and depositing them back onto the safe route.
That afternoon, Bonney spotted an island made of massive, stacked donuts.
"Drop the anchor!" Bonney demanded.
"No!" Nami ordered.
Bonney used her Devil Fruit. She touched the anchor chain. The chain aged rapidly, rusting and snapping. The anchor dropped to the bottom of the sea, halting the ship next to the donut island.
Bonney jumped overboard and swam to the donuts. Ben had to use Ruler's Authority to bring her back while she chewed on a massive pastry tire.
An hour later, Carrot tried to jump overboard to reach an island covered entirely in marshmallow grass, forcing Ben to levitate her back to the deck by her suspenders.
They stopped constantly. They detoured wildly. The sugar rush made Sunny a terrible pilot. The endless supply of bizarre food made Luffy, Bonney, and the rest impossible to control.
Ben spent the entire two days reading his book on the deck, ignoring the chaos. He stepped in only when they were about to crash into deadly hazards.
The journey dragged on.
Finally, late on the second afternoon, the fog cleared.
The pink ocean smoothed out. The clouds parted.
Nami stood at the bow of the ship and looked through her spyglass.
She lowered the glass and took a deep breath.
"Everyone," Nami called out. Her voice lost all its frustration. It turned quiet and serious.
Luffy stopped trying to fish for gummy sharks. Bonney stopped chewing a piece of the railing. Sunny stopped vibrating. Carrot lowered her binoculars. Vivi looked up from a book she was reading. Ben closed his book.
They walked to the front of the ship. They looked at the horizon.
A massive island dominated the sea.
It looked exactly like a multi-tiered wedding cake. Giant candles burned on the upper layers. Massive rivers of icing flowed down the sides, forming waterfalls into the ocean. The capital city, Sweet City, sprawled across the lower tiers.
High above the city, resting on the very top layer of the cake, sat the Whole Cake Chateau. The Emperor's castle.
"We arrived," Ben stated flatly.
"It's huge," Chopper whispered.
Luffy stepped up onto the railing. He held his straw hat. He stared at the massive cake island.
Luffy did not look scared. He licked his lips.
"Let's go steal a rock," Luffy grinned.