One Piece: It's always been you

Chapter 5 Joining the Big Mom Pirates (Part 1)

The next day, Katakuri came to the deck to see Yu, but the man was no longer there.

"What about the woman?"

"Lord Katakuri, she went into the kitchen early this morning, and we couldn't stop her..." the chess soldier said, somewhat troubled.

"Oh?" It's not as easily defeated as I imagined.

"Lord Katakuri, this woman is extremely arrogant because she thinks you can't let her die! Last night she even made us prepare food for her and bossed us around." A chess soldier, dissatisfied with Yu, directly exposed Yu's behavior, hoping to get Yu punished.

“She’s right. As long as what she says isn’t excessive, you can do as she says.”

Eh!!! Lord Katakuri is actually being so lenient with her!

Katakuri walked toward the kitchen, leaving the chess pieces on the deck bewildered in the sea breeze.

The closer he got to the kitchen, the stronger the sweet aroma of the dessert became. Katakuri remained impassive, but the sweetness was undeniably enticing.

The kitchen was perfectly organized; the woman was cleaning up leftovers, and the desserts awaited baking. Katakuri's arrival didn't disrupt the peace. The woman looked up and smiled slightly at him. This surprised Katakuri, yet warmed his heart. Everything seemed so perfect...

Although it only lasted for a moment, such a fantasy was quickly erased from Katakuri's mind.

The kitchen was a mess, with flour scattered everywhere and even batter stuck to the table; various food scraps were strewn on the floor. What Katakuri found even more unbearable was that this woman was actually eating hot ramen!

How could anyone accept hot ramen?! This woman was a real "surprise" to him; he wanted to throw her overboard right now. Even though her desserts smelled delicious.

"Who let you come here?!"

“I’m hungry and want to eat ramen, but your chef won’t make it, so I’ll have to make it myself.” Yu said, taking a sip of the soup and eating with relish. She didn’t seem to care at all about Katakuri’s deep expression in front of her.

"Since you're here, I won't have to look for you anymore. I want to make a deal with you."

"A deal? What makes you think you can make a deal with me?"

"Let me finish. It's common knowledge that your Big Mom Pirates have the most advanced intelligence network, so I guessed that you came to the North Blue to find people that Kaido wanted to recruit, and I am the one who refused Kaido."

"Why should I assume you're that person just because I heard your one-sided story?" Katakuri looked at Yu with great interest.

"Don't you already know in your heart whether that person is me or not? Otherwise, why didn't you throw me off the ship in the first place, and why did you tell your men last night to make sure I didn't die? I don't believe you are such a compassionate person."

What will you offer me in exchange?

Katakuri didn't dwell on the previous issues; as Yu said, he was certain that person was Yu. However, his last sentence...

"Your mother sent you to find me for two reasons: either to kill me or to recruit me. I lean more towards the latter. What do you think?"

"People who are too smart don't live long."

"You're not stupid, aren't you? You're still alive, aren't you? I may not be able to beat you, but I can still escape. I can temporarily join BIGMOM, and I'll leave to take my revenge when I'm strong enough."

When revenge was mentioned, Yu's eyes hardened and flashed with murderous intent.

"If you join the Beasts Pirates, Kaido might just help you take care of Doflamingo."

"Doflamingo is still useful to Kaido, and you saved me, so this is my way of repaying you."

"It's simpler than I expected."

"Of course, I have conditions. During my time with Big Mom, I can only go to sea with you, and the ministers of the pirate crew cannot interfere with me, nor can Big Mom."

"can."

"Then it'll be a pleasure doing business with you!"

Yu extended his hand to shake hands, and Katakuri understood and extended his hand as well. But instead of shaking hands with Yu, he reached out to deal with the kitchen scraps.

"I'll take care of it myself..." Yu was somewhat taken aback and wanted to stop him. After all, he was considered high and mighty, and probably hadn't done this kind of thing much before.

"You don't know how either."

"!"

The person next to her remained silent, standing still until the oven's "ding" broke the silence. You hurriedly took the dessert out and placed it on the table.

"I remember you like donuts, so I made these for you. Even though it's afternoon tea at four in the afternoon, they don't taste as good when they're cold. I'm a little sleepy, so I'm going back to my room." After saying this with his back to Katakuri, he turned and ran away.

Katakuri watched her hurried figure, somewhat puzzled. Her voice seemed choked with emotion. Was she crying?

Katakuri had someone deliver the donuts Yu made to his room, and then went to Yu's room himself. The crying stopped; instead, he heard the sound of teeth chewing coming from inside. "Stop crying?" Women change so quickly; one second she's fine, the next she's crying, and now she's eating again.

Yu didn't expect to cry. She used to like making her brother a bowl of hot ramen and dessert after he came back from missions. The kitchen would always be a mess, and her brother would clean it up for her. Whenever Yu felt that her brother was working too hard and wanted to stop him, he would say, "It's all talk and no action. I can't see you doing anything."

Katakuri's unintentional words touched on Yu's pain, and her emotions instantly turned into tears.

Honestly, why does Katakuri say the same things as his brother?!

He's not as kind and good as his brother!

Actually, Yu had calmed down quite a bit on her way back to her room. Once there, she remembered she'd taken some candy from the kitchen and didn't want to cry anymore. When she was upset before, her brother would give her candy to eat. Back then, she was little, and seeing candy would distract her and she'd stop crying. Gradually, this became a habit for Yu; she'd eat candy when she was feeling down.