One Piece: It's always been you

Chapter 39 The Misty Forest (1)

"Sit down, don't move."

Yu reluctantly prepared and delivered Katakuri's afternoon tea to his room. If it weren't for the chess pieces pleading one by one, wearing down Yu's patience, he wouldn't have bothered coming to see him at all.

Now look what's happened, the lamb has fallen into the tiger's den.

Adhering to the idea of ​​doing more and talking less, Yu obediently found a chair and sat by the door, keeping her distance from Katakuri.

"The reason I stopped you that day and didn't explain was because your mother's people were there. If I had told her, Lola wouldn't have been able to leave." Although Yu didn't want to talk, he had to stay, so he would explain.

"Your idea of ​​helping Lola is good, but it's too obvious. Luckily, Brûlée discovered Mom's plan through the mirror; otherwise, Lola wouldn't have escaped, and you wouldn't have escaped death either."

"Simply put, I'm not smart enough, right? Okay, I understand."

"...You know that's not what I meant." Katakuri sighed, then pulled out a jar of candy and asked, "Want some candy?"

"Don't eat!"

"You really won't eat?"

Katakuri shook the jar of candy beans, which made a "shush-shush" sound inside. The temptation was effective; Katakuri saw Yuu cover her ears and close her eyes, trying to ignore it. But her throat betrayed her, as she kept swallowing.

Katakuri figured Yu was probably no longer angry, since she had listened to his explanation and Yu was never one to make a fuss unnecessarily. She was just throwing a little tantrum.

Katakuri didn't say anything more and enjoyed his afternoon tea. What did it matter if Yu didn't speak? Her presence was enough.

Fortunately, she doesn't have mind-reading abilities. If she did, she would know what Katakuri is thinking and deliberately get furious. From the beginning, her anger wasn't entirely about Lola.

Judging by the time, Katakuri should have finished his afternoon tea. Yu peeked open one eye and, sure enough, he had already put on a scarf. His arms were getting sore from holding it up.

"Bang!" That was the sound of the door closing. You was gone.

She didn't want to do that chore of delivering afternoon tea anymore.

"From now on, you adults are responsible for making your afternoon tea! Don't come looking for me, do you hear me!"

"Yes! Master Yu!"

The chess soldier, thinking it was Lord Katakuri speaking, quickly replied.

After finishing afternoon tea, there was still one thing that bothered me – that jar of candy!

"Little Pudding~ Can you do me a favor?"

"Sister You, just tell me, and I'll definitely help you."

"Could you go to your brother's room and bring me that jar of candy from his desk?"

"This... I can't help you. No one has ever been in Katakuri's room except for Yu-nee, I'm too scared..." Pudding was absolutely sincere; no one had ever been to her brother's room, not even Brûlée! "Yu-nee, you can go by yourself. If it were you, your brother definitely wouldn't say anything."

Of course I know he won't say anything; that jar of candy was meant for me, but I don't want him to know! "Okay, I'll think of something else." Should I try to get him out of there?

"We'll be at the next island soon. We can go to the town to buy some things, Yu-jie, what do you say?"

"It's not impossible." But we can't let Katakuri's jar go either; its final destination will definitely be Yu's stomach.

The group arrived at the island the next day.

Yu, Pudding, and Brûlée excitedly disembarked to play. (The kind without Katakuri.)

"Lord Katakuri has been abandoned. How tragic." The chess pawns, as usual, started their self-destructive antics. In the sunlight, Lord Katakuri's solitary figure looked somewhat forlorn.

"What's wrong, sir? You still haven't appeased Lord Yu? Sigh, I'm all alone."

Katakuri shot him a murderous glare, his face turning as black as could be.

Why is this soldier everywhere? Sooner or later, we'll have to take the soul out of his body!

Coming to this island wasn't accidental; on the other side lies a forest. And it's no ordinary forest. Not long ago, a thick fog enveloped it, deterring the locals from venturing in, who said they'd see something unusual. The more terrifying it's described, the more pirates it attracts; such a dangerous place might hold some treasure.

The three of them went to the town, which gave Katakuri the opportunity to go to the forest alone.

"Lord Yu, Lord Katakuri has gone out."

"Great, I'll be right there."

The people who were supposed to go out with Brin and Brûlée appeared on the ship. Yuu didn't go at all; she ran off shortly after disembarking, saying Katakuri needed to see her. Brûlée and the others didn't think much of it and went to town. Yuu, on the other hand, waited for Katakuri to leave not far from the ship.

"Little soldier, well done." Yu put the jar of candy into his small cloth bag and praised the chess soldier he had bribed.

"At your service, Lord Yu!" The foot soldier saluted.

Look closely, and you'll see this little foot soldier is the chess piece that always courts death in front of Katakuri. With Yu's protection, it's become incredibly arrogant, though Yu doesn't know what it said to Katakuri. She knows she absolutely won't let it do that.

Now that I have the candy, it's time to take a stroll around the town.

"Lord Yu, are you going to disembark by yourself?"

"Yeah. What's up? You want to go too?"

"Lord Yu, Lord Katakuri said you shouldn't wander around alone, please let me go with you."

"...I'll just walk along the coast and be right back. You shouldn't follow me. Don't worry, I won't get lost."

"But..."

Seeing that the infantryman was about to continue nagging, You darted away and disappeared.

Yu wandered around aimlessly, not knowing where she was. She stopped at every shop she passed to look around for a while, but never bought anything, not even the candy she liked.

"Miss, I've seen you wandering around the street for quite a while, but you haven't bought anything yet. Is it because you haven't seen anything you like?"

A gentlemanly man appeared before Yu. He was impeccably dressed from head to toe, even his hands were covered with snow-white gloves. However, what caught Yu's attention was his neck. Even though it was covered by his collar, scars were still faintly visible, seemingly from burns.

"I wanted to buy some candy, but I didn't see any I liked," You waved her hand in disappointment.

"If you don't mind, Miss, you can come to my shop. My sister happens to be able to make all kinds of candies, and maybe you'll find something you like."

"Is that alright? Then you can lead the way."

"This way, miss." He gestured for You to come this way. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sai Langlang, and my sister's name is Sai Lulu."

“A single character, 悠.”

You followed behind Sai Langlang, her eyes constantly scanning the surroundings.

The two walked a long way, leaving the town and reaching the edge of the forest. Sai Langlang showed no intention of stopping, leading You into the forest.

"My sister and I don't live in this small town, please forgive us, miss."

"It's alright, I was just thinking of going to explore the forest myself. If you live so far away, your shop probably won't be doing very well."

"My sister is shy. Whether the business is good or not is not important. As long as she is happy, that's all that matters."

You smiled to indicate that she understood, but did not reply.

They didn't chat for the rest of the way. Sai Langlang led the way, seemingly walking very slowly, but You realized they had crossed almost half of the forest.

"Miss Yu, we've arrived."

(Updated! Starting today, the update time will be 11 PM every night. I should have mentioned this yesterday QAQ. The Lola's runaway wedding chapter has ended; a new chapter begins now.)

(I've never really been good at striking the right balance between romance and action. I feel like since this is One Piece fanfiction, too much romance wouldn't be good. Oh well, I'll just write it based on my gut feeling, hehe.)