One Piece: It's always been you

Chapter 42 The Misty Forest (4)

“Miss Yu is indeed clever; I didn’t choose the wrong person. But how do you plan to get to the Candy House and find me?” Sai’s ethereal voice echoed around Yu and Katakuri.

"What should we do? We've run out of candy."

"Then... behind the fourth tree on the left front."

Just a second ago, Yu was extremely distressed that the candy beans she had used to scout the way were gone. The next second, upon hearing the direction Katakuri gave, she slapped the ground with her palm, and thick vines rose up from the ground.

"what!"

Just when Sai Langlang thought he was at his wit's end, Katakuri accurately revealed his location. Before Sai Langlang could react, vines rapidly grew around him and surrounded him.

"How did you find my location? Aren't you unable to use Observation Haki?!" Seranglang remembered Katakuri saying that he couldn't use Observation Haki because he couldn't see clearly.

"It seems you know nothing about the three colors."

Seeing that the vines had surrounded Sai Langlang, You stood up, leaving Katakuri behind, and approached Sai Langlang.

"What do you mean?"

"You're a pirate, after all. The use of Observation Haki has absolutely nothing to do with whether you can see or not. Don't you even know that?"

"You're lying to me?" Sai Langlang asked incredulously. Since he could always use his Observation Haki, why would he pretend not to see and use candy beans to find his way?

"If I don't pretend I can't see you, how can I lure you out?" A confident smile flashed across You's face. "I told you, you'd come out on your own."

This was a play she and Katakuri put on especially for Celantha. After eating the candy Celantha gave to Yu, their vision began to slowly return.

But You, who has no sense of direction, really didn't know where the Candy House was. So she pretended that her vision was still blurry, hoping that Sai Langlang would lower her guard and let her out.

To make the effect more realistic, Yu clung to Katakuri's arm the whole way. She wouldn't have gotten close to Katakuri if it weren't to lure him out.

“Speak! Why did you put all the men in town into a hallucination, making them wander like lost ghosts in this forest?”

After the candy took effect and restored her vision, Yu saw what the forest looked like. It was filled with emaciated men from the town, trapped in a hallucination, oblivious and feeling nothing. They had never eaten, and some had long since become starving corpses on the ground.

Yu was terrified by the inhuman, ghostly appearance of these people, but she had to pretend she didn't see them. She had to find the culprit!

"Why? Then ask them first, ask them what they did!" Sai Langlang lost her temper, her angry roar completely out of place with her suit.

The burn scars on his body, the medicinal smell hidden beneath the sweet aroma of the candy house.

"It's because they hurt you and your sister."

"Injured? That's too mild a statement!"

You's words touched a nerve with Sai Langlang, and he didn't want to waste any more time talking to You.

The person surrounded by vines turned into a phantom, and thousands of monsters appeared around Yu, this time Yu was the one being surrounded.

"You think you can hurt her with just a mere illusion!"

Katakuri leaped into the air, his leg abilities splitting into millions of legs as he attacked the illusionary monster.

Dust flew around Yu, the Katakuri Mushimochi was finished, and there were no monsters left. Yu simply stood there, doing nothing and saying nothing, and all the danger around him was eliminated.

Katakuri didn't linger, pressing Serang's neck against the Dragon Slayer Blade.

"Tell me, why did you come looking for You!"

With so many people in town, why bring You into the forest of all people? He didn't believe Sai Langlang had done it unintentionally.

"Don't hurt my brother, I'll tell you everything!"

The girl wheeled herself between Katakuri and Sailanglang.

You remembered her; Sai Langlang's younger sister, Sai Lulu, was the one who gave her the candy that restored her sight. However, she was different from before; she had no legs and could only move around in a wheelchair. Her face was haggard and lifeless.

The medicinal smell I smelled then was actually from Celluloid.

Your legs...

“That’s right, my leg was caused by the townspeople. The townspeople were often exploited by pirates, and they resented my brother becoming a pirate. Although my brother never robbed the townspeople and stopped being a pirate afterward, they still wouldn’t let us go.”

“One night, they set fire to our house in town. My brother was burned, and my leg was broken afterward. We moved from town to the forest.”

"That's your reason for hurting them."

Looking at the brother and sister, Yu thought of Doflamingo and Rosinante.

"Please don't hurt my brother. He was only doing this for me. The men from town attacked us, and my brother didn't hurt any women. Besides, I was the one who gave you the candy that was the antidote for the tragedy. I just wanted my brother to stop," Celluloid pleaded for Sai Langlang.

"Lulu, don't worry about me, they deserve it. You're a disgrace to pirates, aren't you going to attack?" Sai Langlang was one step behind, and he didn't care whether he was alive or not.

Katakuri wanted to ask something more, but seeing Yu's expression, it no longer mattered.

"Have your brother break free of the illusion." Yu gestured for Katakuri to release Serang. "You're luckier than my brother; at least he won't think of killing you now."

You emphasized the word "kill" in her last sentence. Celluloid ruined Sai Langlang's plan, but her brother didn't blame her.

"Brother, what are your feelings towards Doflamingo? Do you hate him?"

During her time with Rosinante in the Don Quixote Family, Yu always kept her words and actions to a minimum. Doflamingo and the others always thought her brother was mute, and Yu, to avoid giving herself away, also spoke little, only speaking on her brother's behalf at important moments to minimize her own presence.

She only returns to her true self when the two of them have separate missions and are not surrounded by members of the Don Quixote family.

"Perhaps. He killed his father, but that's his freedom. He was born different from his father and mother; he was a demon."

"Would you kill him?"

"No, it is justice that is punishing him, not me."

However, Yu never expected that Doflamingo would eventually kill her brother.

Her brother has always been a kind person, but Yu isn't. Justice isn't just about the Navy; anyone can be justice. She won't let them get away with it.

Sai Langlang dispelled the illusion, and the people woke up. Sai Langlang pushed Celluloid away, heading towards the Candy House.

“I never said I would let you go. You had a million ways to stop him, but you did nothing. Your brother deserves to die, and so do you.” Without hesitation, You swung out the vines.

"gone."

Katakuri didn't say anything about Yu's actions, only that they should go.

"If you're going to leave, then leave. Take your hand off me." A weight landed on Yu's shoulder as Katakuri draped his arm over Yu, almost half his weight on him.

"I'm injured."

"That move you made just now was quite powerful. You should be fine now. Take your hand away."

"The power was indeed considerable, and as a result, the wound reopened."

Katakuri showed no sign of letting go. Yu wanted to object, but then she remembered that she was injured because of her, and that she had just been trying to save her. So she let it go.

Even though Yu knew Katakuri was faking it, he still helped him walk.

Yuu's lips curled up beneath Katakuri's scarf; he still cared about him. Though he didn't say it, his actions spoke volumes.

After the two people left, Celluloid, who had been dead in the wheelchair, opened her eyes, and her body was no longer empty; she had grown legs.

"You really underestimated me."