Chapter 40. The End of the Beginning
Chapter 40. The End of the Beginning
Across the vast reaches of the universe, disquiet grew — a cosmic unease that had taken root for a reason. Destiny had been defied, not once, but countless times, and now the consequences were beginning to unravel.
---
The sharks came at me with brutal speed and ferocity, their attacks relentless. Every strike put me on edge as I fought to defend myself, my heart pounding in my chest. But I pushed through, clearing them away with savage punches, splitting them apart. The blood flowed freely, but survival wasn't my only goal. I had to get to the siren — the one who summoned these predators to drown me in the sea.
My aim was simple: to push her over the edge and make her drown as she tried to do to me.
Step by step, I kicked off one shark after another, my smaller size giving me the agility to outmaneuver them.
One by one, I devoured them. Until the mist parted, revealing a girl so distressed that, for a moment, my heart faltered.
In that split second, her story flashed through my mind, stirring a flicker of pity. But it was quickly snuffed out by the spite and malice she had provoked, her insidious attacks leaving me no choice.
With a powerful thrust, I sent her tumbling over the Arena's edge.
As she fell, she managed to grab me by the severed Love String, her eyes shimmering with a hopeless hope, a plea I couldn't understand. But my resolve was stronger. I grew, my body melting and slipping from her grasp, sending her plunging into the sea. Her strength drained away as she sank, the water consuming her.
Just as quickly, the mist cleared, and the sharks scattered in fear, as if sensing an impending tsunami.
The commentary cut through the silence, solemn and final. "Hela has been sunk. The giants lose, and The Contract has been shredded."
"Big Mom reserves the right to select a giant for her crew. The giants have one last chance to reclaim Lola."
Hela's body would be fished out within an hour's time, long after she had drowned to death.
For reasons unknown, Loki and his giants only wept quietly, offering no protest to their crewmate's sinking. A part of me suspected that Big Mom would have done the same if the roles were reversed.
"What a mess," I muttered after suspending her drowning body with her part of the Love String, before walking away to tend to my wounds.
---
The final game was the Love Festival, also known as The Eating Contest. This event was chosen with Big Mom's competitive spirit in mind.
To prove her commitment to fairness, Big Mom had no prior knowledge of the foods both sides would be consuming.
The Love Festival was divided into three courses:
In the first course, Smoothie would face off against Fenrik, the First Mate, in a drinking competition.
In the second course, Big Mom herself would compete against Ragnor in the Main Course.
And in the third course, Loki would square off against Lola in the Desserts contest.
The first competition kicked off with a burst of energy as Smoothie and Fenrik faced each other across a long, polished table. On it were rows of drinks, ranging from vibrant juices to potent cocktails, and heavy brews. The crowd buzzed with anticipation, the atmosphere electric.
A gong sounded, and the contestants grabbed their first drinks. Smoothie started with a tall glass of a rich, red juice. She tilted her head back, her throat moving rhythmically as she swallowed the drink with an effortless grace. The juice left a bright red stain on her lips, which she licked slowly, her tongue tracing her full lips with deliberate sensuality. The crowd erupted in cheers as she slammed the glass down, earning her first point.
Fenrik was already on his fifth cup of the brew, earning him a total of fifteen points.
Smoothie moved onto the cocktails, choosing a glass with a suggestive curve, filled with a glowing, swirling liquid. Instead of gulping it down, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a slow, teasing sip, her eyes locked onto Fenrik's.
One would be a fool not to catch on her seductive gestures, making Fenrik no fool as he blushed at her antics.
Smoothie made a show of it, tilting her head just enough to expose the long line of her neck, her lips curling into a playful smirk as she drank. The liquid slid down her throat, and she made a soft, almost moaning sound, as if the taste was ecstasy itself.
Fenrik, caught off guard, stared at her, as he downed more brew than the judges could keep track off, lost in the moment.
The surrounding crowd kept on hooting and temporarily tranced when she lowered her glass, her tongue flicking out to catch a stray drop of the cocktail that clung to her lip.
She leaned forward, just enough for Fenrik to catch a glimpse of her cleavage. The giant nervously drank, clearing out the table of the brew before the ten-minutes time limit could be reached.
"Ding! Ding! Ding!" The bell rang, declaring the contest over with Fenrik on the lead with seventy percent of the points that could be earned throughout the drinking contest.
However, Fenrik didn't look like he was done drinking as his nervous hands found their way to the cocktails, even as Smoothie victoriously walked away with a seductive sway of her long hips.
By losing, she had fulfilled Mama's wish, and she had done it smartly.
---
The second course was highly anticipated: Big Mom versus Ragnor, with the stakes set high. Both waited with bated breath as Streusen approached, carrying a massive structure draped in cloth. Despite the mystery, Big Mom's resolve was clear — she had no intention of winning. Her lips were pressed together, and her gaze wandered skyward, only a hint of curiosity betraying her steely exterior.
But when Streusen dramatically unveiled the dish, the atmosphere shifted in an instant. The cloth fell away to reveal an enormous, intricately designed wedding cake. The moment Big Mom laid eyes on it, her face lit up with childlike glee, her excitement unmistakable.
"Wedding cake!" she exclaimed, her voice brimming with joy. But the moment quickly soured when Streusen sliced the cake into two equal halves. Big Mom's expression darkened, fury flashing in her eyes as she nearly lunged at him for the perceived insult. Only the competition rules saved Streusen from her wrath.
Each participant was given half of the cake, with the simple rule: the first to finish wins. However, this was no ordinary cake. It was said to be so sweet that anyone who ate it could die from the sheer intensity of its sweetness. A delicacy of this magnitude was both a blessing and a curse, requiring not just appetite but resilience.
What happened next was inevitable. Despite her earlier resolve, Big Mom's self-control crumbled. She devoured her half of the cake with ferocious speed, the overwhelming sweetness fueling her desire rather than deterring it. Ragnor struggled, barely making a dent in his portion as the saccharine overload became too much to bear.
But for Big Mom, it wasn't enough. With an insatiable hunger, she turned her gaze to Ragnor's untouched half. In a blur, she seized it and began devouring it with the same ferocity, leaving nothing behind. Ragnor, overwhelmed and outpaced, could only watch in disbelief as she finished what should have been his victory.
When Big Mom finally snapped out of her cake-induced trance and realized she had not only won but consumed the entire cake, the look on her face was priceless — an unguarded moment of surprise and satisfaction, followed by a totally confused grin.
---
This far in the Love Festival, Fenrik had triumphed over Smoothie, and Big Mom had bested Ragnor, bringing the competition to a tie that could only be broken by the final participants.
And just as fate would have it, it was Lola facing off against Loki in the Desserts Contest — a match that would decide not just the winner of the festival, but whether Lola would accept Loki's long-standing proposal. What a roundabout way of doing things!
The contest began, the battleground set with an enchanting display of flowers and confetti, swirling gently in the breeze. The desserts were arranged in all manner of lovely ways — towers of delicacies stacked on top of each other, rivers of chocolate fondue, mounds of fruit, sugar sculptures…. The setting was almost magical, as if love itself had manifested in the form of these delectable creations.
The rules of the Desserts Contest were simple but challenging: each participant had to eat as many desserts as they could within a set time limit. Points were awarded based on the complexity and size of the dessert consumed — simple pastries earned 1 point, elaborate cakes 3 points, and the most intricate and difficult-to-eat creations, like sugar sculptures or multi-layered treats, 5 points. The winner would be the one with the highest score at the end of the round.
The contest started, and both Lola and Loki dove in determined to win. They matched each other bite for bite, their eyes locking over the table as they ate. The air got thick and uncomfortable from both the competition and the unspoken emotions between them.
As they worked their way through the desserts, something remarkable began to happen. What started as a fierce rivalry slowly softened into something more tender. With each bite, each shared glance, the contest started transforming into a dance of affection.
Lola, her heart pounding in her chest, found herself watching Loki more than the desserts in front of her. And Loki, already in locked in love, noticed this.
The crowd, sensing the shift, fell silent, captivated by the budding romance playing out before them.
Then, as if by magic, something even more extraordinary occurred. The Love String that had been severed during the Heartbreaker's contest mysteriously mended itself by connecting Keki's part that he had left on the Sea Arena to the knotted part that was suspending Hela's drowned body.
All those who noticed it were shocked. Whispers spread through the crowd, disbelief giving way to awe as theories came into play.
As the contest came to a close, neither Lola nor Loki cared about the desserts anymore. Their eyes were locked on each other, the competition forgotten. And then, in a moment that would be remembered for centuries, they leaned across the table and shared a kiss — a kiss that sealed the outcome of the contest and their fate together.
The crowd erupted in cheers, flowers and confetti swirling around them in celebration.
Even by rule of the Davy Back Fight, Loki's giant appetite had already triumphed over Lola's.
—
By the time the kiss happened, Big Mom had already summoned the Priest! The Homies were already singing wedding carols, and the gown was being delivered by the maids. All that was missing was the wedding cake!
But before things could proceed, Loki stepped forward with a lingering question for Big Mom.
"Is she ready?" Loki inquired, his voice calm yet carrying an undercurrent of urgency.
The question was strange, catching everyone off guard. It led to a series of events that left the crowd in stunned silence.
With the Love Festival concluded, Hela's body was finally eligible to be fished out of the sea. The task was solemn, but the timing felt eerily coincidental. As the Fishmen began their work, the tension grew.
The Love String, the very thread that had bound Lola and Loki's fates, was used to pull Hela's suspended. Slowly, they pulled her up by that string, her lifeless form emerging from the depths.
When Hela's body broke the surface, the sight was harrowing. Her expression was now slack, her skin pale and pruned from the water. Her clothes clung to her frame, heavy with seawater, and her long hair floated like dark tendrils in the current.
She had spent over an hour in the sea, ultimately defeated by the sea's hate for devil fruit users.
As the Fishmen brought her onto the platform, the crowd held its breath. They checked for a pulse, their faces grim as they found none. Hela wasn't breathing. The declaration was solemn: she was dead.
Yet, even in the midst of this tragedy, Loki's eyes remained fixed on Big Mom. He kept glancing at her, his gaze filled with a strange mix of hope and anticipation. Something was brewing beneath the surface, something I could sense but not fully understand.
Then, against all odds, something much more extraordinary happened. Hela's dead body suddenly took in the deepest breath, her chest rising sharply. The gasp that followed was immense, echoing through the silence like a thunderclap. It was as though she was pulling the very life force back into herself.
As the breath escaped her, a massive chill filled the air, and a dense mist erupted from her mouth, spiraling outward and enveloping everyone in a freezing fog. The mist was so thick, it clouded not just our vision but our thoughts, leaving us all in stunned disbelief.
The impossible had happened. Hela, who had been declared dead just moments before, had seemingly come back to life. And with that breath, everything changed!
-—
For reasons known only to her, Big Mom seemed amused by what had happened with Hela on the day she died.
In the years that followed, the mystery surrounding Hela's miraculous return remained unsolved, eventually becoming a norm — especially since Hela had been recruited to join the Big Mom Pirates, swearing her loyalty to the captain.
During those years, Big Mom was the happiest she had ever been, her joy amplified by the alliance with the giants following Loki's marriage to Lola. This alliance brought her more than just power; it brought a sense of fulfillment and triumph she had long sought.
Loki, in gratitude for what Big Mom had done to help Hela regain more than just her personality, promised her a special unit of giants in a gesture of fealty. Though the unit had yet to be dispatched, the promise was enough to prompt Big Mom to finally make her move against the world.
Impel Down, Mariejois, Whitebeard, Kaidou, and even Shiki — they all had been a long time coming. And now, Big Mom was coming for them with extreme zeal that…
...nearly dissipated in the wake of her untimely death!
Big Mom's sudden demise sent shockwaves through the New World, leaving everyone reeling as they struggled to comprehend how such a powerful force could fall.
While the event was undeniably shocking, the circumstances surrounding her death were not entirely shrouded in mystery. The truth was known: the formidable Emperor of the Sea had been felled by a stealthy assassination, carried out by a man who soon became known as the Most Dangerous Man in the World.
His identity was no secret, and the Big Mom Pirates, now under the leadership of Charlotte Keki, vowed to hunt him down and claim his head as a symbol of justice!
Notes:
- End of Mama's Child Volume 1: Early Life
- Next up - Mama's Child Volume 2: Worst of the Generation (WOG) - I'll post as a different thread because it's Slice of Life & Harem mostly.
- Food for thought: Has any of you ever wondered what Big Mom's Awakened Soul-Soul Fruit can do? I bet Oda will show it.