Return of the Captain

When the Big Mom fleet appeared on the horizon, Big Mom herself waving frantically in their direction (or more accurately, in the wedding cake's direction), they knew it was time to leave.

Bege's goons had just finished loading their entire kitchen onto the Thousand Sunny, so it was fairly good timing.

"Don't you dare poison that cake just because I'm not there to stop you! I swear I'll hunt you down if you do!" Sanji called out one last warning to Bege.

"Don't worry, Blackleg, I won't let him," Chiffon assured him as she waved goodbye.

Sanji accepted her guarantee. He had seen how easily she cowed Bege, so he had no doubt that she could keep him in line.

The two ships separated and turned away to sail in different directions.

"Did you decide to come with us, after all?" Cherry subtly asked Pudding.

"O-of course, not! I just chose the ship that wouldn't be followed by Mama, that's all!" Pudding denied vehemently.

Cherry knew that answer was perfectly reasonable, but she laughed at Pudding anyways. She whisper-sang, "Pudding and Sanji, sitting in a tree~"

"Shushushushushush!" Pudding tried to stop her, but Cherry effortlessly kept her at arm's length.

"When did you two become such good friends?" Sanji asked.

"Huh? I-I'm not- We're not-" Pudding scrambled for an explanation.

"She's just so fun to tease, I can't help it," Cherry answered.

"Ah, is that so?" Sanji walked away to sort through the cooking equipment.

Pudding heaved a disproportionate sigh of relief. She leveled a glare at Cherry as the woman approached Nami and Jinbe.

"So, we can't leave Totto Land until Luffy gets back, because I'm not sure what the range of Brulee's Mirro-world is. Also, we have to find an island and drop Pudding off discreetly," Cherry said.

"Eh?" Pudding muttered in dismay.

"Luffy has already been in there for hours. Just how long can a fight last?" Nami asked, not hearing Pudding.

"Well, it's a fight between men, so who knows? Maybe they'll be at it for the next hundred years, hehehe~" Cherry chuckled.

"Don't even joke about that!" Nami groaned.

"I don't think even the most determined and equally matched men would fight for that long," Jinbe said.

"You've not met many warriors from Elbaf then, I imagine," Cherry said.

"Oh, you're talking about Brogy and Dorry, right?! From Little Garden before you met me at the Drum Kingdom?" Chopper asked. Usopp had told him a few stories from back then.

"Yeah, I spent a year with them. They were my first armament haki teachers, in fact," Cherry said.

Chopper had sparkles in his eyes. "You learned haki from giants. Usopp will be so jealous when I tell him…"

Cherry barked a laugh. "Probably. Maybe he'll even beg me to train him with the same methods; wouldn't that be funny?"

Usopp had always been the biggest complainer when she took to training the crew. Perhaps if he believed he was getting secondhand tutelage from Brogy and Dorry, he would be more amenable? He didn't need to know which parts of the training she got from them, did he?

"Sanji, can you make me a carrot cake?!" Carrot lost her patience watching Sanji set up the new kitchen layout.

"Of course, Carrot-chan~" Sanji agreed immediately.

"Prepare a whole feast, Sanji! Luffy's going to be hungry when he gets back!" Cherry added.

Sanji got even more fired up and started to cook up a storm.

…

*THUMP*

Katakuri collapsed, falling right onto his back, which no other man had ever managed to make him do.

Luffy stood amongst the rubble, heaving great breaths and covered in blood both his and not, but ultimately victorious.

Luffy started to walk and almost stumbled over himself, but managed to keep his feet beneath him just barely.

"Straw Hat…" Katakuri said, making Luffy pause to look at him tiredly. "You may have beaten me, but only barely. You can't beat Big Mom; not as you are now."

"I'm going to be king of the pirates," Luffy reiterated. "I don't have to beat her right now, anyways…"

As Luffy trudged away, Katakuri understood what he meant by that and gave a cough-chuckle. "You have that much faith in your crew, huh…?"

Luffy didn't answer. He focused entirely on finding Brulee so he could get back to his crew before his adrenaline wore off.

Fortunately, he didn't have to look around for very long.

"You knocked down Katakuri! I can't say I expected that!" A mysterious lion mink wearing a pin mask declared, holding a tied up Brulee over his shoulder. "Who am I? I am Mystoms!"

"It's good to see you're okay, Pekoms," Luffy smiled weakly.

Pekoms was caught slightly off guard that his disguise was seen through immediately, and by an idiot no less.

"W-well… This counts as my debt repaid for Cherry busting me out of jail, you hear me! You never would have escaped the Mirro-world in the state you're in!" Pekoms declared.

"Okay, thanks," Luffy said. He figured if Cherry didn't agree that it counts that he could just take on Pekoms' debt in his stead anyways.

"Let me go, traitor! How dare you manhandle me with your big, strong paws!" Brulee cried in outrage.

Pekoms thought that that sounded a bit suggestive, but considering the tone she used, he assumed he was just overthinking it.

Pekoms and Luffy kept an eye out for mirrors to the Thousand Sunny, one of which they happened to find after a little while of walking about aimlessly.

Using Brulee like a key, they hopped through the mirror and landed on the lawn of the thousand Sunny's deck.

"Ah! Luffy!" Nami shouted and rushed over to him, Chopper following closely behind.

They did a quick assessment of his injuries and found that he wasn't in grave danger or anything, but Chopper got to work cleaning and dressing his wounds regardless.

"It's about time you showed up, the food was starting to get cold," Cherry said. "I'll take that, Pekoms."

"Food?!" Luffy's energy suddenly skyrocketed, although the sudden movement made all his aches and pains get more achy and painful.

Pekoms let Cherry take Brulee from him like the woman was just a coat to be politely taken and stowed away until the dinner party was over.

"You want to go back with Brulee, or do you prefer to be dropped off at an island, Pudding?" Cherry asked.

"Huh? Er, well, um, I'm not sure…" Pudding hemmed and hawed, unable to make a decision, and kept shooting glances at Sanji.

"Pudding?! What are you doing with the enemy?!" Brulee cried out.

"Relax, it's not like she could resist us if she tried. I don't see you trying to bite me or anything," Cherry defended.

Brulee was pretty sure the insinuation that Pudding was here involuntarily was nonsense, but Pudding was one of her more pleasant sisters, so she could look the other way so long as she wasn't actually betraying their crew or anything. "Ah, is that how it is? Alright, then."

Brulee's casual acceptance wasn't bought by anyone either.

"Going once, going twice?" Cherry watched Pudding as she held the tied up Brulee over a mirror. Not hearing any objections, she let go. "Gone."

"You're a real handful, you know that? Even though you're technically one of our enemies, you want us to go out of our way to get rid of you," Cherry shook her head in mock annoyance.

Pudding opened her mouth to finally let Cherry have it, but squeaked in fright instead as Luffy's head snaked past her ankles towards the dining room, even as his body was held down by Chopper as he treated him.