__________ POV Narration__________
Perospero didn't quite know what to do about the situation.
Nothing was truly working out for him as of late.
At first, his idea of taking revenge on Enel for his impunity seemed like an intelligent thing to do. To prove that one couldn't just mess with the Big Mom Pirates and get away with it unscathed.
Then Enel had to go on and reveal himself as an actual Yonko-level figure.
It went from Persopero thinking that he'd be able to take care of things by himself, to wondering if he would even be able to react to Enel killing him.
So he had to scrap the idea of revenge altogether.
Spouts between Emperors always ended with destroyed islands, and since Enel had no territory, the most likely to be destroyed would be their Cake Island.
That in itself was frustrating, but Perospero was a grown man, he could forget about that without much trouble.
But it seemed that Big Mom had come out of her meeting with Enel as a different person altogether.
Whatever she had seen had shaken her to the point where she no longer ate any sweets, at least nowhere near as often, which led to her losing quite a bit of weight.
Her body was still just as strong as ever, but sometimes her mind wandered while in the middle of conversations as if she was thinking back to whatever she had seen back then.
She also started showing a bit more care towards her family. It was odd for Perospero as the big brother of the bunch to witness her slowly come out of her shell over time.
In the past, she had only bothered to show her appreciation to the children that stood out as they were useful tools to her.
Perospero was obviously aware of that, but now she was paying attention to her children equally. It was still far too early to tell if she still saw them as tools in the Big Brother's eyes, but only time could tell.
Still, one thing was pretty clear. Big Mom was mellowing out, and it was likely that the day of her retirement was getting closer and closer at a rapid speed.
This somewhat pleased Perospero, as he was the most respected among his siblings, and he was set to become the next captain and leader of Cake Island after Big Mom retired.
There were other problems besides that though...
Things were quickly shifting, and family dynamics were alongside them. A person that Perospero had deemed inconsequential in the past, now seemed to want to rise and take that spot from him. At least on the surface.
Oven, ever since returning to his home he had not rested a day. He was training like a man possessed, and had quickly grown stronger in both body and Haki.
He was now a force to be reckoned with, only Katakuri still being able to defeat him in a spar.
Though Persopero hadn't tried his hand, Smoothie had, and her loss was catastrophic, she had been taken down in under a minute.
The Big Mom Pirates spared no expense in rebuilding his limbs, buying him the most expensive and durable materials to rebuild his limbs, even going as far as to use Seastone to make his prosthetic hand.
More specifically, his palm was lined with seastone. Which made him a very effective close-range fighter against Devil Fruit users.
So effective in fact, that the second Oven managed to get close to Smoothie the fight was over.
Even when she tried to evade him, he took her by surprise, twisting his body in an odd way, making it look like paper, as his arm basically coiled around after her and still caught her.
His strong body covered in Armament Haki was also able to effectively block most of her attacks, so it was a decisive victory through and through.
These were the results of Oven's training. His hard work showed itself, as his muscles had become more and more well-defined, making him look absolutely shredded.
Katakuri was impressed by his brother's zeal and willpower, so he also started amping up his own training. This led to a competition between those two brothers.
'Who can make up the most masochistic training methods?'
It was an unspoken one, but the members of the Big Mom Pirates could only stare at them from a distance with odd gazes.
Now, Perospero was actually happy that Oven was becoming stronger to the point where he technically became a cornerstone of the Big Mom Pirates.
The problem actually came with the fact that he seemed a lot more approachable now.
It seemed that his stay with the marines had made him a lot more humble, and a lot more friendly, especially towards his siblings.
This led to former enemies turning into friends, and distaste turning into appreciation.
People that had looked at him with indifference were starting to warm up to him. Those that hated him started to talk more with him in between his demented training sessions.
Frowns turned to smiles...
Even if it was not intentional, Oven had now become a candidate for the title of 'Captain', one which was rightfully Perospero's.
Now, Persopero had to find out more about Oven's intentions and if he truly was a threat to his position, which was a true bother.
The fact that the marines had gone ahead and gotten themselves killed made him giggle a bit. It seemed to make Oven quite pleased as well, especially when hearing that Akainu died.
The problem was that the seas were now rowdier than ever. The revolts that had been happening all around the world also died down, not that the Big Mom Pirates were affected by that whole fiasco.
The shifts in power dynamics had affected some of their business, but it wasn't anything of note.
The problem was that now Big Mom was somewhat expecting Kaido to attack either her or the World Government any second. Saying that he was exactly the type to take advantage of such situations.
Whitebeard and Shanks were both huge question marks to the Big Mom Pirates, it was better to just not get involved, honestly.
But it seemed that they wouldn't have much of a choice, as the sky clapped with thunder and lightning sparked amongst the clouds.
In a flash of light, a figure appeared right at their front door.
A man leaning into a white metallic cane, missing an arm as he walked through the door to their sweet castle confidently.
Immediately, Katakuri appeared before him, reacting the fastest, as he had likely predicted where he'd land from the second he had heard the clouds churn.
Katakuri narrowed his eyes when seeing the person visiting them... A familiar face, but his state was not quite as he remembered.
It was an old 'acquaintance' basically. One that Katakuri wasn't exactly keen on seeing.
"Enel..." He said as his red eyes peered into Enel's greyish-blue eyes.
Although visibly injured, Enel still had a certain aura around him. Despite the fact that he was covered head-to-toe in bandages, Katakuri was not confident in taking him on. Missing arm or not.
"Katakuri! Such a pleasant coincidence~" Enel's playful tone seemed to betray the seriousness of the situation.
An emperor trespassing on another's territory unannounced. That would usually be a sign of war, quite an obvious one at that.
But for some reason, Katakuri doubted Enel would start a war while in his state...
The two of them were stuck in a staring match for a while, both looking into the future, and fighting with their wills only.
No Conqueror's Haki was involved, but they seemingly allowed their future selves to fight.
Each predicting an action before they were even close to happening, both showing off their foresight perfectly, fighting while not moving a finger.
Each thought created another possibility, each potential move closed off by the other in a rhythmic sort of dance.
This only happened for a minute though, as more and more of Katakuri's siblings encircled Enel. Then guards started appearing as well, forming an army around Enel in the blink of an eye.
"Perorin And why, pray-tell, is there an injured Emperor on our doorstep?"
Perospero walked out and spoke up with a threatening tone. Showcasing their lack of fear at facing him, no doubt emboldened by his current state.
'Revenge might be a possibility after all...' The eldest brother thought to himself as he licked his giant candy.
"Don't get any strange thoughts, and try to keep your tongue in your mouth." Enel frowned at the hostility the entire group was showing to him.
But it wasn't exactly outside of his expectations.
'I wasn't expecting a standing ovation, but this is a lot more extreme than I thought...'
"I am here to speak to Big Mom, nothing else. If I planned to harm any of you, I would not have landed on this island at all..." Enel said as he smiled a bit and narrowed his eyes at the crowd, his earlobes, as well as the empty sleeve, swayed in the wind as the situation was becoming tenser.
"Oh, so you think anyone can just come in and speak to Big Mom herself? Whatever it is, I'm sure you can speak to me about it, Perorin" Perospero tilted his head, as the First Mate, he didn't want Enel anywhere near his mother.
Especially not after the last time.
"I highly doubt you'll be able to help me... I need her specifically. A mere few moments of her time." Enel said as he waved his arm around a bit.
"... I wouldn't be the first to trust you around mother," Katakuri said as he looked at Enel, not bothering to hide his hostility.
'I guess he does care a lot about his mother... Even if she's an uncaring bitch, huh?' Enel's smile strained a bit.
"I am willing to vouch for him..." A voice came out from the crowd, and a large man walked forward.
Enel smiled when hearing that voice, turning around he clearly saw Oven making his way towards him.
At that point, everyone was silent, as Oven stared at Enel in shock. Even Perospero, whose rage silently boiled, as his authority was undermined right in front of their palace, in front of all of his peers.
"Though... I am a bit curious... Did you finally decide to cut off your earlobes? I can see that one of them is a bit shorter." Oven smiled widely as he slapped Enel on the back.
His siblings looked at him with wide eyes, as he openly interacted with the strange emperor in front of them.
"I see that mechanical arm is working well for you..." Enel smiled as he didn't react to the slap, though his injured body was screaming in pain.
He also decided not to comment much on the state of his body, seeing that, Oven decided not to press the issue.
"Heh, good as new!" Oven gave Enel the ok with his mechanical arm. It was made to look exactly like a human arm, making Oven more akin to a Cyborg than a metallic tin man.
"Really like the cannon though!" Oven's mechanical arm seemed to shift, his fingers bending strangely as a rather large cannon seemed to come out of his thick metallic wrist.
"Figured you'd like the addition. Doubt it'll do much against an Admiral, but it should at least take some people by surprise." Enel smiled as the two of them continued to talk, catching up like old friends would as they both seemed to ignore the somewhat strained atmosphere around them.
This managed to somewhat annoy Perospero even further. Who was about to walk up to them and say something, before Katakuri stopped him.
"... If Oven is willing to vouch for him, then I agree. But if anything happens to Big Mom he is to be held responsible." Katakuri said as his red eyes scanned the scene.
Oven nodded, and Enel seemed quite pleased.
'Good... Now all that's left is to convince her to help me... Why do I get the feeling that that's going to be easier said than done?'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Still here, ey?
It was a pretty shit day for me, but I did manage to write a bit yesterday, so I only had to continue it today ;))
Will likely end up taking a break at some point(probably soonish). But I'll announce it beforehand.
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
__________ POV Narration__________
Perospero didn't quite know what to do about the situation.
Nothing was truly working out for him as of late.
At first, his idea of taking revenge on Enel for his impunity seemed like an intelligent thing to do. To prove that one couldn't just mess with the Big Mom Pirates and get away with it unscathed.
Then Enel had to go on and reveal himself as an actual Yonko-level figure.
It went from Persopero thinking that he'd be able to take care of things by himself, to wondering if he would even be able to react to Enel killing him.
So he had to scrap the idea of revenge altogether.
Spouts between Emperors always ended with destroyed islands, and since Enel had no territory, the most likely to be destroyed would be their Cake Island.
That in itself was frustrating, but Perospero was a grown man, he could forget about that without much trouble.
But it seemed that Big Mom had come out of her meeting with Enel as a different person altogether.
Whatever she had seen had shaken her to the point where she no longer ate any sweets, at least nowhere near as often, which led to her losing quite a bit of weight.
Her body was still just as strong as ever, but sometimes her mind wandered while in the middle of conversations as if she was thinking back to whatever she had seen back then.
She also started showing a bit more care towards her family. It was odd for Perospero as the big brother of the bunch to witness her slowly come out of her shell over time.
In the past, she had only bothered to show her appreciation to the children that stood out as they were useful tools to her.
Perospero was obviously aware of that, but now she was paying attention to her children equally. It was still far too early to tell if she still saw them as tools in the Big Brother's eyes, but only time could tell.
Still, one thing was pretty clear. Big Mom was mellowing out, and it was likely that the day of her retirement was getting closer and closer at a rapid speed.
This somewhat pleased Perospero, as he was the most respected among his siblings, and he was set to become the next captain and leader of Cake Island after Big Mom retired.
There were other problems besides that though...
Things were quickly shifting, and family dynamics were alongside them. A person that Perospero had deemed inconsequential in the past, now seemed to want to rise and take that spot from him. At least on the surface.
Oven, ever since returning to his home he had not rested a day. He was training like a man possessed, and had quickly grown stronger in both body and Haki.
He was now a force to be reckoned with, only Katakuri still being able to defeat him in a spar.
Though Persopero hadn't tried his hand, Smoothie had, and her loss was catastrophic, she had been taken down in under a minute.
The Big Mom Pirates spared no expense in rebuilding his limbs, buying him the most expensive and durable materials to rebuild his limbs, even going as far as to use Seastone to make his prosthetic hand.
More specifically, his palm was lined with seastone. Which made him a very effective close-range fighter against Devil Fruit users.
So effective in fact, that the second Oven managed to get close to Smoothie the fight was over.
Even when she tried to evade him, he took her by surprise, twisting his body in an odd way, making it look like paper, as his arm basically coiled around after her and still caught her.
His strong body covered in Armament Haki was also able to effectively block most of her attacks, so it was a decisive victory through and through.
These were the results of Oven's training. His hard work showed itself, as his muscles had become more and more well-defined, making him look absolutely shredded.
Katakuri was impressed by his brother's zeal and willpower, so he also started amping up his own training. This led to a competition between those two brothers.
'Who can make up the most masochistic training methods?'
It was an unspoken one, but the members of the Big Mom Pirates could only stare at them from a distance with odd gazes.
Now, Perospero was actually happy that Oven was becoming stronger to the point where he technically became a cornerstone of the Big Mom Pirates.
The problem actually came with the fact that he seemed a lot more approachable now.
It seemed that his stay with the marines had made him a lot more humble, and a lot more friendly, especially towards his siblings.
This led to former enemies turning into friends, and distaste turning into appreciation.
People that had looked at him with indifference were starting to warm up to him. Those that hated him started to talk more with him in between his demented training sessions.
Frowns turned to smiles...
Even if it was not intentional, Oven had now become a candidate for the title of 'Captain', one which was rightfully Perospero's.
Now, Persopero had to find out more about Oven's intentions and if he truly was a threat to his position, which was a true bother.
The fact that the marines had gone ahead and gotten themselves killed made him giggle a bit. It seemed to make Oven quite pleased as well, especially when hearing that Akainu died.
The problem was that the seas were now rowdier than ever. The revolts that had been happening all around the world also died down, not that the Big Mom Pirates were affected by that whole fiasco.
The shifts in power dynamics had affected some of their business, but it wasn't anything of note.
The problem was that now Big Mom was somewhat expecting Kaido to attack either her or the World Government any second. Saying that he was exactly the type to take advantage of such situations.
Whitebeard and Shanks were both huge question marks to the Big Mom Pirates, it was better to just not get involved, honestly.
But it seemed that they wouldn't have much of a choice, as the sky clapped with thunder and lightning sparked amongst the clouds.
In a flash of light, a figure appeared right at their front door.
A man leaning into a white metallic cane, missing an arm as he walked through the door to their sweet castle confidently.
Immediately, Katakuri appeared before him, reacting the fastest, as he had likely predicted where he'd land from the second he had heard the clouds churn.
Katakuri narrowed his eyes when seeing the person visiting them... A familiar face, but his state was not quite as he remembered.
It was an old 'acquaintance' basically. One that Katakuri wasn't exactly keen on seeing.
"Enel..." He said as his red eyes peered into Enel's greyish-blue eyes.
Although visibly injured, Enel still had a certain aura around him. Despite the fact that he was covered head-to-toe in bandages, Katakuri was not confident in taking him on. Missing arm or not.
"Katakuri! Such a pleasant coincidence~" Enel's playful tone seemed to betray the seriousness of the situation.
An emperor trespassing on another's territory unannounced. That would usually be a sign of war, quite an obvious one at that.
But for some reason, Katakuri doubted Enel would start a war while in his state...
The two of them were stuck in a staring match for a while, both looking into the future, and fighting with their wills only.
No Conqueror's Haki was involved, but they seemingly allowed their future selves to fight.
Each predicting an action before they were even close to happening, both showing off their foresight perfectly, fighting while not moving a finger.
Each thought created another possibility, each potential move closed off by the other in a rhythmic sort of dance.
This only happened for a minute though, as more and more of Katakuri's siblings encircled Enel. Then guards started appearing as well, forming an army around Enel in the blink of an eye.
"Perorin And why, pray-tell, is there an injured Emperor on our doorstep?"
Perospero walked out and spoke up with a threatening tone. Showcasing their lack of fear at facing him, no doubt emboldened by his current state.
'Revenge might be a possibility after all...' The eldest brother thought to himself as he licked his giant candy.
"Don't get any strange thoughts, and try to keep your tongue in your mouth." Enel frowned at the hostility the entire group was showing to him.
But it wasn't exactly outside of his expectations.
'I wasn't expecting a standing ovation, but this is a lot more extreme than I thought...'
"I am here to speak to Big Mom, nothing else. If I planned to harm any of you, I would not have landed on this island at all..." Enel said as he smiled a bit and narrowed his eyes at the crowd, his earlobes, as well as the empty sleeve, swayed in the wind as the situation was becoming tenser.
"Oh, so you think anyone can just come in and speak to Big Mom herself? Whatever it is, I'm sure you can speak to me about it, Perorin" Perospero tilted his head, as the First Mate, he didn't want Enel anywhere near his mother.
Especially not after the last time.
"I highly doubt you'll be able to help me... I need her specifically. A mere few moments of her time." Enel said as he waved his arm around a bit.
"... I wouldn't be the first to trust you around mother," Katakuri said as he looked at Enel, not bothering to hide his hostility.
'I guess he does care a lot about his mother... Even if she's an uncaring bitch, huh?' Enel's smile strained a bit.
"I am willing to vouch for him..." A voice came out from the crowd, and a large man walked forward.
Enel smiled when hearing that voice, turning around he clearly saw Oven making his way towards him.
At that point, everyone was silent, as Oven stared at Enel in shock. Even Perospero, whose rage silently boiled, as his authority was undermined right in front of their palace, in front of all of his peers.
"Though... I am a bit curious... Did you finally decide to cut off your earlobes? I can see that one of them is a bit shorter." Oven smiled widely as he slapped Enel on the back.
His siblings looked at him with wide eyes, as he openly interacted with the strange emperor in front of them.
"I see that mechanical arm is working well for you..." Enel smiled as he didn't react to the slap, though his injured body was screaming in pain.
He also decided not to comment much on the state of his body, seeing that, Oven decided not to press the issue.
"Heh, good as new!" Oven gave Enel the ok with his mechanical arm. It was made to look exactly like a human arm, making Oven more akin to a Cyborg than a metallic tin man.
"Really like the cannon though!" Oven's mechanical arm seemed to shift, his fingers bending strangely as a rather large cannon seemed to come out of his thick metallic wrist.
"Figured you'd like the addition. Doubt it'll do much against an Admiral, but it should at least take some people by surprise." Enel smiled as the two of them continued to talk, catching up like old friends would as they both seemed to ignore the somewhat strained atmosphere around them.
This managed to somewhat annoy Perospero even further. Who was about to walk up to them and say something, before Katakuri stopped him.
"... If Oven is willing to vouch for him, then I agree. But if anything happens to Big Mom he is to be held responsible." Katakuri said as his red eyes scanned the scene.
Oven nodded, and Enel seemed quite pleased.
'Good... Now all that's left is to convince her to help me... Why do I get the feeling that that's going to be easier said than done?'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Still here, ey?
It was a pretty shit day for me, but I did manage to write a bit yesterday, so I only had to continue it today ;))
Will likely end up taking a break at some point(probably soonish). But I'll announce it beforehand.
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
