One Piece: It's always been you

Chapter 88 Don't Call Me Mom, Lingling

Katakuri fell silent.

Was his worry a bit unnecessary?

Cracker breathed a sigh of relief seeing his mother eating the pastries without posing a threat. "I'll eat!"

"I knew you'd be here, Little Firecracker. I made you some cookies, butter cookies and Linz cookies. Which do you want? Or maybe some Ikere?" Yu had no idea how much of a shadow her last sentence cast on Cracker.

Even though the older woman was already enjoying her ice cream, she was still very sensitive to those three words. Especially after hearing that her dessert was going to be shared with others, she immediately exuded a domineering aura, "Cracker, you want to take my dessert!"

Cracker wasn't planning on eating it anyway, who knew Yu would say that! "Mom, I didn't!" She immediately cowered away from Yu and the Ikere in her hand, hiding behind Katakuri.

"Lingling, you can't do that. There's still a lot of delicious food to share."

Katakuri was worried for Yu. But his mother, like a child who knew she was wrong, nodded sadly and then asked Yu to share the Ikere with Cracker.

Cracker dared not accept it, but her mother looked as if she would not forgive or accept her apology unless she accepted it, so Cracker could only nervously accept this hot potato.

"You, didn't Lingling do a great job?"

With a smile, You praised, "Lingling did a great job!" She then gave the last few ice cream cones in the basket to the older woman.

The woman ate happily, and after finishing, she was completely satisfied and fell asleep on the floor.

"Katakuri...Mom...she's asleep?!" Cracker felt the world must have gone mad, or maybe he was the one who had gone mad. "Am I already dead? Is heaven really this wonderful?"

Katakuri was puzzled, but being the older brother, he didn't show it. He glanced at Cracker with exasperation, then said to Zeus, "Zeus, take Mother back to Whole Cake Castle to rest."

Watching his mother being taken back by Zeus, Katakuri took the dessert basket from Yu's hands, tossed it to Cracker, and led the two back to the Cake Castle.

Perospero was filled with questions when he saw Katakuri and Cracker return, followed by Yu. Having found the long loaf of bread, the two quickly organized the chef and prepared all the ingredients, waiting only for Cracker to return and tell them what the dessert would be.

After waiting and waiting, they finally saw Zeus carrying his mother back to her bedroom.

Katakuri told them to go back to their own business, as their mother's food cravings had stabilized.

Inside the workroom, Cracker and Smoothie wisely sat in a corner, but on the small table in front of them were desserts made by Yu.

This is the safest place where you won't be affected, and also the best spot to watch the drama unfold.

As the eldest brother, Perospero would never be so spineless, so he sat down a spot away from Katakuri and pretended to be reading a book.

Katakuri sat down in the room with a serious expression, ignoring Yu.

On the way, Yu heard Cracker whisper a reminder—Katakuri was angry. Yu naturally noticed, but she was a little confused. They were fine just a moment ago, so why did he suddenly get angry?

But after thinking it over, I couldn't think I had done anything wrong. So I followed them into the room and found a seat.

Calm and composed, Katakuri remained silent; she would absolutely not speak first.

You need to project a strong presence! Otherwise, you'll definitely be manipulated every day!

Sure enough, Katakuri's interval between closing and opening his eyes this time was rather long. Yu could already imagine that Katakuri must have let out a long sigh under his scarf.

“Mom’s unusual behavior just now was due to a food craving. Every time it happens, she won’t return to normal until she gets the dessert she craves. During this time, she’ll destroy anyone or anything she sees without any reason,” Katakuri explained. “I pulled you away so quickly because I was afraid you’d get hurt.”

Yu thought about it carefully and realized that was indeed the case.

She had planned to visit Katakuri on Whole Cake Island today to bring him some afternoon tea desserts. However, upon arriving on the island, she found the older woman not far away.

Yu had a phobia of the older woman, so she tried to avoid her whenever possible. She took a detour and walked away, but unexpectedly, the older woman behind her suddenly started going berserk, and there were cries for help.

He ran back and used vines to rescue the people, letting them go first while he dragged the old woman along.

"At first I thought it would be a tough fight, but who knew Lingling..."

Katakuri interrupted, "Don't call Mommy Linlin." Katakuri just felt something was off, and besides, she was afraid that if Yuu got used to calling her that, her mother would start calling her that even when she wasn't having an episode. The consequences wouldn't be so peaceful.

“Lingling made me call her that, I can’t help it.” You had no choice, it was the aunt who insisted that she call her that. “Don’t interrupt me. Where was I? Oh, Lingling suddenly sniffed the air, and then looked like she had discovered a treasure, and started to act like a little kid, begging me to give her some Yi Ke Lei.”

Cracker, munching on a biscuit, interjected, "Then why did Mom still launch an attack on you?"

Yu didn't understand what Cracker was referring to. "Rin..." Receiving a warning look from Katakuri, Yu obediently changed his way of addressing the old lady, "BIGMOM isn't going to attack me."

Katakuri added, "When we arrived, Mom was spinning around." That was her gathering energy for a move.

You understood and laughed, "That's because she thought it was so delicious that she was happily spinning and dancing. So you thought that BIGMOM was going to make a move against me at that time, which is why she hurriedly pulled me away."

Yuuka hadn't forgotten that when Katakuri saw Big Mom's hand reaching out to her, he was already preparing to take out the Earth Dragon. It seemed that, in Katakuri's heart, she was a little more important than Big Mom.

Thinking about it, You felt much better. It was worth all the effort she put into preparing the ingredients last night and making the dessert this morning.

"Let me know in advance if you're coming to Whole Cake Island next time."

Katakuri was still a little worried. This time, they were lucky that Yu brought some desserts that her mother wanted to eat. If they weren't so lucky next time, Yu might suffer a bit.

She once said that she was afraid of pain.

Yu sat down next to Katakuri and comforted him, "He probably got sick because he smelled the Ikere I made." Yu was very confident in his cooking skills.

"I find your mom quite adorable, like a little kid, just a bit big." You recalled how the older woman had been begging for dessert earlier and found it cute. Naturally, she forgot what the older woman used to look like.

Seeing that Yu didn't seem to think the situation was serious, Katakuri felt a headache coming on.

“From your description, Mom’s condition this time is indeed different from her usual episodes. However, we can’t guarantee that it will be the same next time or when Mom wakes up.” Perospero also felt it was not very reliable.

Mother's food cravings are probably the most troublesome thing in the world, even more troublesome than a foreign invasion. Even though this time it turned out alright, we can't assume it will be the same next time.

“Food cravings are an illness, and it’s hard to predict what will happen during an episode, so don’t have any expectations,” Perospero said bluntly.

Yu had finally developed a liking for the older woman, only to have it dampened. She couldn't help but feel a little down.

Katakuri noticed this. Although he had been minimizing Yu's contact with her mother, it would be best if the two could get along peacefully. "No matter what, next time you run into her, run first and protect yourself." Even with some expectation, Katakuri still gave Yu his advice.

"I know, I know." Even if it was a relapse, the way she looked just now was so different from her usual self.

It's as if there are two people.

It goes in through the left ear, filters out half of it, and comes out through the right ear.

For some reason, her intuition told her that the older woman was actually just a child.

Cracker ate a cookie and nudged Smoothie with his elbow, saying, "I knew it, my brother wouldn't really get angry at Yu."

"Eat your food." Smoothie rolled her eyes; even food couldn't shut him up. Wasn't he afraid his brother would hear and get caught in the crossfire? They weren't like Yuu; they didn't have that kind of special privilege.