A/N: Why didn't anyone remind me I forgot Carrot in the latest chapters. Don't worry I added her to previous chapter. Nothing changes so you can read it again if you want, but I don't recommend.
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Music thumped through the grand hall. Guests laughed, drinking from chocolate fountains and eating spun-sugar appetizers. Underworld bosses mingled with the Emperor's children.
A loud, theatrical voice cut through the noise.
Standing in the center of the room, Head Chef Streusen raised a massive, ornate cutting sword. The small, round man twirled on his toes, singing a joyful, operatic tune. Drawing upon the power of the Cook-Cook Fruit, he slammed the blade against the floorboards.
The ground rumbled. The marble tiles parted smoothly, sliding away to reveal a massive hydraulic lift.
A shadow fell over the banquet tables.
Rising from the depths of the chateau, the wedding cake emerged. It was not a pastry; it was a mountain. Five distinct tiers stacked upon one another, reaching toward the ceiling chandeliers. Rivers of white vanilla icing cascaded down the sides like real waterfalls. Entire forests of fresh strawberries decorated the borders. A solid chocolate castle sat upon the highest peak, serving as the altar for the bride and groom.
Silence swept across the room. The guests stared in awe at the architectural marvel of sugar and sponge.
Near the front of the hall, the Straw Hat table looked like a disaster zone.
Empty plates stacked dangerously high. Sucked-dry lobster shells, bare bones, and licked-clean serving platters littered the tablecloth.
Dropping his final empty plate, Luffy stared upward. His jaw detached slightly.
Next to him, Bonney stopped wiping her mouth. Chopper dropped a half-eaten breadstick. Sunny froze mid-bounce.
Four pairs of eyes morphed instantly into giant, shining stars. A collective, synchronized gasp escaped their lips. Thick strings of drool hit the floor simultaneously. The appetizers were forgotten. The main course had arrived.
At the very top of the cake, Sanji stood waiting.
The cook wore his pristine white tuxedo. He kept his hands at his sides, staring at the chocolate altar.
Walking slowly toward him, Pudding looked beautiful in her flowing white wedding dress. A thick, opaque veil covered her face. She carried a bouquet of frosting flowers.
Reaching the altar, she stopped. The priest, a Homie shaped like a tall candle, began reading the ceremonial vows.
Pudding gripped her bouquet tightly. Beneath the veil, she braced herself. She knew the plan. She knew her role. Mama wanted the Vinsmoke cloning technology. Mama wanted the Germa fleet. The moment the veil lifted, Pudding was supposed to reveal her third eye, shock the groom into a stupor, and shoot him through the heart. It was a simple, brutal assassination.
The priest finished the opening vows. He gestured toward the groom.
Sanji reached forward. Catching the edge of the delicate fabric, he lifted the veil smoothly over Pudding's head.
Pudding opened her third eye.
The crimson pupil rested perfectly in the center of her forehead. She glared at him, waiting for the disgust. She waited for the horror. She waited for the look of revulsion she had received from every single person in her life, including her own mother.
Sanji did not flinch. He did not pull away.
Looking down at the three eyes staring back at him, the cook smiled. It was not a mocking smirk. It was a soft, entirely genuine smile filled with absolute warmth.
"What a beautiful eye," Sanji whispered softly.
The words shattered the script.
Pudding froze. Her breath caught in her throat. The hidden pistol in her dress felt incredibly heavy.
Nobody had ever called her beautiful. Nobody had ever looked at her true face without screaming.
Tears welled instantly in all three of her eyes. Her knees buckled. Dropping the frosting bouquet, she fell to the chocolate floor of the altar. She covered her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. The tough, cruel facade melted away entirely, leaving only a broken, overwhelmed girl.
Sanji knelt beside her, his expression turning to immediate concern.
Down below, standing among the Charlotte family commanders, Katakuri saw the future.
The tall, imposing Sweet Commander looked through the veil of time. He saw Pudding dropping to her knees. He saw her crying. He saw the assassination failing completely.
Action replaced observation instantly.
Raising his right hand, Katakuri flicked his thumb. A single jelly bean shot forward. Coated in dense, black Armament Haki, the candy projectile cut through the air faster than a bullet, aimed directly at Sanji's skull.
At the top of the cake, a sharp prickle of warning fired through Sanji's mind.
Observation Haki flared. Without looking down, the cook tilted his head sharply to the left.
The black jelly bean whistled past his ear, missing his skin by a millimeter.
The projectile did not stop. It struck the candle priest standing directly behind Sanji. The impact shattered the wax Homie instantly, blowing the priest apart in a shower of sparks and hot wax.
Chaos erupted across the banquet hall.
Guests screamed. Chairs scraped against the floor.
Seeing the assassination attempt fail, Perospero laughed. The eldest Charlotte son slammed his candy cane staff against the floorboards.
"Plan B, then!" Perospero cackled.
Thick, yellow candy syrup surged across the room. It crawled up the legs of the chairs at the Vinsmoke table.
Judge, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji tried to stand. They could not move. The syrup hardened instantly into unbreakable candy iron, encasing their boots, their arms, and their waists.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Judge roared, struggling against the hardened sugar. He looked around the room, seeing the guns drawn and pointed directly at his family. The betrayal hit him like a physical blow.
While the Vinsmokes panicked and the commanders mobilized, another movement occurred entirely unnoticed.
Ignoring the gunfire, the screaming guests, and the trapped royalty, four figures made a beeline for the wedding cake.
Luffy stretched his rubber arms, grabbing the lowest tier of the cake, and launched himself forward. Bonney scooped a handful of chocolate that was flowing. Chopper transformed into Heavy Point, bounding up the side of the pastry mountain. Sunny simply ran straight up the vertical wall of icing, his shoes sticking to the sugar.
Landing on the second tier, Luffy unhinged his jaw. He bit a hole the size of a cannonball directly into the strawberry sponge.
"So good!" Luffy mumbled, chewing rapidly.
Shoving both hands into the chocolate ganache, Bonney ripped out a massive chunk and swallowed it without chewing. Chopper buried his face in a pool of vanilla cream. Sunny drank from a waterfall of liquid caramel, laughing hysterically.
Down at the Straw Hat table, the rest of the crew reacted to the sudden violence.
Kicking her chair back, Nami spun her Clima-Tact. The polearm extended, crackling with faint static electricity.
Vivi stepped away from the table. She took the Vibranium spear from her purse.
Jumping onto the table, Carrot slipped her hands into a pair of sleek, custom metal gauntlets Ben had forged for her. Sparks of blue Electro danced across the metal knuckles.
The three women formed a tight triangle. They stood with their backs to the table, their weapons facing outward, guarding the center.
Sitting calmly in the middle of their defensive perimeter, the clone of Ben poured another cup of tea. It did not flinch at the sound of gunfire.
"Could someone pass a napkin?" the clone asked in a flat, bored tone. "Someone spilled jelly."
"Shut up and drink your tea!" Nami snapped, keeping her eyes on the approaching biscuit soldiers.
At the head of the room, Big Mom stood up from her throne.
The Emperor ignored the screaming Vinsmokes. She ignored Sanji at the altar. She looked directly at her masterpiece. She looked at her mountain of cake.
Giant chunks of sponge were missing. Rivers of icing were diverted.
She saw the boy in the red suit eating a hole straight through the fourth tier.
Rage twisted the Emperor's features into a demonic mask. The veins on her forehead bulged. Her eyes rolled wildly.
"MY CAAAAAAKE!" Big Mom shrieked.
The scream was not just sound. It carried the dominating will of an Emperor.
Conqueror's Haki exploded outward.
A wave of invisible, crushing pressure rolled across the banquet hall. Black and red lightning sparked in the air.
The weaker guests collapsed instantly. Underworld bosses foamed at the mouth, falling face-first into their plates. Waiters dropped trays of food, hitting the floor unconscious. The sheer weight of the Haki cracked the crystal glasses and shattered the windows of the chateau.
Nami and Vivi were already used to it so it didn't effect them much, but for Carrot it was overwhelming, she dropped to all fours, panting heavily.
The clone continued sipping its tea, completely unaffected by spiritual pressure due to its lack of a real soul.
On the cake, the gluttons did not stop.
Luffy chewed a mouthful of strawberries. Bonney swallowed a chocolate brick. Chopper licked cream off his nose. The Haki washed over them completely ignored. The desire for food vastly outweighed the spiritual pressure of the Yonko.
Big Mom stomped forward. The floorboards splintered under her boots.
"Monkey D. Luffy!" Big Mom roared. Her voice dripped with murderous fury. "I thought you came to become a part of my family! I thought you came to work under me! I did not think you would disrespect me by eating my masterpiece!"
Pulling his head out of the cake, Luffy stopped chewing.
He swallowed the massive bite of sponge. He wiped frosting from his chin with the back of his hand.
Tilting his head to the side, a large, imaginary question mark appeared over the captain's head.
"Work under you?" Luffy asked, sounding confused.
He turned his body fully toward the Emperor. He stood on the ruined ledge of the third tier and looked at the massive, raging woman.
The confusion vanished from his face. A wide, fearless grin replaced it.
"I am Monkey D. Luffy," the captain declared, his voice cutting clearly through the chaotic hall. "And I am going to be the King of the Pirates!"
Luffy pointed his thumb at his own chest.
"Why would I work under you?!"
The declaration hung in the air. The conscious commanders stared in shock. Nobody spoke to Mama like that. Nobody rejected her family and survived.
Luffy did not wait for a response.
His smile faded into a look of intensity.
Luffy released his own will.
A second wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted. It blasted outward from the cake, meeting the Emperor's pressure head-on.
The air in the banquet hall warped. Invisible forces clashed violently in the center of the room. The clash generated a shockwave, blowing tables backward and shattering the remaining candy pillars. The black and red lightning multiplied, crackling across the ceiling like a severe thunderstorm.
Big Mom's eyes narrowed into burning slits of pure hatred.
"You insolent brat!" the Emperor bellowed.
She lunged forward. Drawing her massive right arm back, she coated her giant fist in incredibly dense, advanced Armament Haki. The black coating gleamed with lethal intent. She threw a devastating punch aimed directly at the boy standing on her cake.
Luffy biting his thumb, he blew a massive amount of air into his bones. His right arm inflated instantly, growing to the size of a giant's limb. The rubber turned pitch black, shining with his own advanced Armament Haki.
"Gear Third!" Luffy shouted.
Leaping off the cake, Luffy flew through the air to meet the Emperor.
"Elephant Gun!"
He threw his massive, blackened fist forward.
The two fists collided in mid-air.
They did not touch.
A gap of several inches remained between the rubber fist and the giant knuckle. The overwhelming output of their colliding Haki created an impenetrable barrier between them.
The impact sounded like a cannon firing inside a drum.
A sphere of destruction expanded from the point of the clash. The shockwave blew the roof off the banquet hall. Sugar glass rained down on the surrounding city.
The force traveled upward, shooting into the sky above Whole Cake Island.
High above the chateau, the thick, cotton-candy clouds ripped apart. The sky split perfectly down the middle, parted by the sheer will of the colliding conquerors.
Hanging in the air, trading pressure with an Emperor of the Sea, the boy in the red suit did not yield a single inch.