New World — Totto Land, Cacao Island
The workers in the chocolate factory did not move at first.
They simply stared.
At the crater in the middle of the floor.
At the ruined ceiling above it.
And at the unconscious green-haired Marine sprawled in the center of the wreckage, his coat torn, his body scraped and battered, his breathing slow and steady in the deep, stubborn way of a man who had survived far too much to be brought down by a mere landing.
Pudding stood nearest to him, still blinking in disbelief.
A Marine.
An actual Marine.
On Cacao Island.
Inside her workplace.
One of the workers finally found his voice.
"P-Pudding-sama… he's a Marine."
That pulled the others out of their shock.
Another worker stepped back nervously, eyes darting between the unconscious Tenjin and the ruined ceiling.
"The enemy of Mama…"
"We should report this immediately!"
"Yes! If Mama hears that we hid a Marine—"
"No," Pudding said.
The word came fast enough to cut through the panic.
Everyone looked at her.
Pudding had already stepped closer to the crater, eyes fixed on Tenjin's face. Even covered in dust and lying flat on his back, he looked absurdly out of place here. Not because he was a Marine, though that would have been enough. But because he looked like someone who should have crashed through a fortress wall, not a chocolate factory.
"He's badly injured," Pudding said, keeping her tone steady. "If you report him now, there'll just be chaos."
The workers hesitated.
One of them swallowed hard. "But Pudding-sama, he's still a Marine. Mama hates Marines."
Pudding's gaze didn't leave Tenjin.
"I said no."
Her voice was softer this time.
But firmer.
No one argued after that.
That was one thing the workers of Cacao Island knew well. Charlotte Pudding might not be the most frightening of Big Mom's children, but she was still one of them. And when a daughter of the Charlotte Family gave an order in Totto Land, ordinary workers were not expected to weigh in with opinions.
Pudding crouched beside the crater and looked at Tenjin more closely.
There were burns on him.
Cuts.
Bruises.
And the rough aftermath of a body that had clearly taken far too many impacts before being launched halfway across the world.
'What kind of fight were you in?'
She placed one hand lightly against her cheek, then stood.
"Help me carry him."
That got several startled looks.
"Carry… him?"
"Yes."
"To where?"
Pudding turned to them.
"To somewhere private," she said. "And then we're treating his injuries."
The workers exchanged uneasy glances.
But in the end, they obeyed.
Because whether this was foolish, dangerous, or strangely kind, Pudding had decided it.
And so the unconscious Marine was lifted carefully out of the crater and carried away from the ruined production floor while the workers muttered prayers that Big Mom would never hear of this.
---
Totto Land moved at Big Mom's pleasure. The vast archipelago surrounding Whole Cake Island was her kingdom, its many subsidiary islands each ruled by one of her children as ministers, and all of it ultimately bent beneath her will.
Inside her castle, Charlotte Linlin sat in a place built for her size, her temper, and her appetite.
The room was enormous, lavish, and heavy with sweets, silk, and authority. Sunlight spilled through great windows. Rich carpets rolled across the floor. Servants moved with terrified precision. The sheer scale of everything seemed built to satisfy a woman who had never once believed the world should deny her anything.
Big Mom herself sat at the center of it all, immense and imposing, pink hair spilling down her shoulders, eyes bright with that terrifying mixture of childish hunger and imperial entitlement that made even her moments of calm feel dangerous.
Standing before her was Perospero.
Charlotte Perospero, eldest son of the Charlotte Family, officer of the Big Mom Pirates, and Minister of Candy.
Big Mom bit into a sweet with loud satisfaction, then looked down at him.
"Perospero," she said. "How are the departments of Totto Land doing?"
Perospero smiled his long, unpleasant smile.
"Everything is in order, Mama," he said. "The outer islands are stable, the sweets routes are moving, and the ministers are handling their territories properly."
Big Mom chewed.
Swallowed.
Then asked the more important question.
"And Pudding?" she said. "Has she finally learned how to use that third eye of hers?"
That changed the atmosphere at once.
Perospero's smile remained, but his answer came more carefully.
"…No, Mama. There haven't been any proper signs yet."
Big Mom stopped chewing.
For a single beat, the room held its breath.
Then her face darkened.
"Still not?!"
The scream shook the room.
Servants flinched.
One dropped a tray.
Big Mom slammed one hand against the arm of her seat, cracking the surface with ease.
"That girl is supposed to be useful!" she snarled. "What is the point of that bloodline if she can't awaken it?!"
Perospero kept his posture respectful, but even he knew better than to interrupt the storm once it began.
Big Mom's eyes burned with irritation.
Pudding's third eye. Her link to the rare Three-Eye Tribe wasn't just some family oddity to Linlin. In Big Mom's mind, it was a tool. A key. Something that, once awakened properly, might allow Pudding to hear the Voice of All Things and help decipher the Poneglyphs that stood between pirates and the true road to the world's final secrets.
And right now—
That key refused to turn.
Big Mom clicked her tongue in open fury.
"Get her to me," she ordered.
Perospero bowed slightly. "As soon as possible, Mama."
Big Mom's expression remained ugly.
"I'm tired of waiting."
Perospero nodded once more.
"Yes, Mama."
---
Several hours passed before Tenjin finally opened his eyes.
The first thing he felt was softness.
A bed.
Which immediately made him suspicious.
The second thing he felt was pain.
Everywhere.
His ribs hurt.
His shoulder hurt.
His side still carried the dull, deep ache of being sent flying across the world by force he had not been able to resist.
The third thing he noticed was the smell.
Sweet.
Ridiculously sweet.
Chocolate, cream, caramel, sugar, roasted cocoa.
Tenjin frowned and slowly opened his eyes.
The ceiling above him was unfamiliar.
The room around him was small but neat, decorated in warm colors and carrying the same dessert-heavy scent as the rest of the island. He lay beneath clean blankets, his wounds bandaged more carefully than he would have expected.
He pushed himself up slightly.
And immediately regretted it.
A sharp pain ran through his side.
"Don't move too much," a voice said.
Tenjin turned his head.
Pudding sat nearby.
She was watching him with open curiosity, one hand resting lightly near her cheek as though she had been waiting for the exact moment he would wake up.
"So," she said, "you're finally awake."
Tenjin stared at her for a second.
Then looked around the room again.
Then back at her.
There was a tray nearby.
On it sat an absurd amount of chocolate.
Bars. Squares. Truffles. Coated biscuits. Little filled sweets. Enough variety to start a business.
Pudding noticed where his eyes landed and smiled slightly.
"You must be hungry," she said. "So I brought you some."
Tenjin looked at the tray.
Then at her.
Then back at the tray.
He was not ungrateful.
He was, however, deeply perplexed.
"…That's a lot of chocolate."
Pudding blinked once, as though the statement itself were strange.
"This is Cacao Island."
That did not answer enough of his questions.
Tenjin sat up a little more carefully this time, one hand pressing lightly against his side. His expression had gone from groggy to guarded in a matter of seconds.
"Where am I?"
Pudding answered simply.
"Totto Land."
Tenjin's eyes widened.
Very slightly.
Then narrowed.
"Totto Land?"
Pudding nodded.
"Yes."
A pause.
Then, as if she were delivering the final line in an already terrible joke—
"You crashed through my chocolate factory."
---
Find early chapters and daily updates on my patreon
[Patreon.com/tenten100?]
Follow me on Instagram [www.instagram.com/tenten100_?]