Sanji served afternoon tea with his usual impeccable elegance.
Brook sipped his coffee, lifting the cup slightly before taking a drink.
"Yo ho ho ho ho ho! Chopper, aren't you excited about the wedding?"
"Brook, a lot of people are going to die in this war…" Chopper lay on the sofa, his tone deeply melancholic, ears drooping and gaze distant. "Why does the World Government want to kill Luffy so badly?"
"Because Luffy is a thorn in their side." Sanji lit a cigarette, slowly exhaling the smoke as he sat down and looked out the window, as if trying to see beyond the horizon. "Don't be so down, Chopper… if we lose, everyone dies."
"Yohohoho! Chopper, most tragedies in the world happen because people lack spirit at the crucial moment!" Brook added in his peculiar way, trying to lighten the mood without denying the harsh truth behind his words.
Brook set his coffee aside, raised his skull theatrically, and produced three fruits.
After carefully placing them on the table, he said:
"These are what Luffy gave me. They're called Awakening Fruits. After eating one, the power of a Devil Fruit can awaken. There are three in total—one for each of us."
Chopper and Sanji immediately leaned in to take a closer look.
All three of them were ability users.
"Chopper, once a Zoan fruit awakens, your combat ability increases dramatically." Sanji chuckled lightly.
Brook picked up one of the fruits and handed it to Chopper.
Without much hesitation, Chopper took a bite… and finished it.
He blinked a few times.
His expression went completely blank.
"Well?" Sanji asked, curious.
Chopper looked at his hands, moved his legs, took a deep breath… and then replied:
"It feels like nothing changed…?"
Luffy's Nika form is incredible, and Sengoku's Buddha form is absurdly powerful. Both are Human-type fruits… both allow transformation… right?
"Brook… did you grab the wrong fruit?!" Sanji was completely stunned.
"Impossible…" Brook replied, clearly confused.
Without wasting time, Brook picked up another fruit and ate it.
In the next instant—
BOOM!
His spirit burst out of his body.
The activity room suddenly turned freezing cold.
A chill from the underworld spread across the floor, and the coffee on the table froze in seconds.
Above Brook's head, his soul took on a monstrous, almost demonic form—its terrifying appearance completely at odds with his eccentric personality.
Chopper was shocked at the sight.
"It's real…" Sanji muttered, freezing for a moment before grabbing the last fruit.
Without a second thought, he ate it.
Suddenly, his body changed uncontrollably, taking on a hybrid form of human and pink dragon. Scales emerged across his skin, and heat radiated from his body.
"It's real!" Sanji declared with conviction.
Chopper:
Why?
Why leave me out?
Did I fail to awaken?
Impossible! That should be absolutely impossible!
Chopper burst into tears, completely devastated.
---
Wedding Day
A joyful atmosphere filled Cake Island.
The flowers and plants that had been given souls sang in unison, their voices forming a bizarre yet festive melody.
"Click—click—"
The sound of wheels echoed.
"Let's begin—"
"Let's begin—!"
"The wedding Mama has been waiting for is about to start—!"
"The carriage is arriving quickly!"
"Can you make it?"
"I'm going to be late!"
"Hurry up!"
"A distinguished guest has arrived—!"
In front of the cake castle, the flowers lining both sides of the path sang strange songs, swaying in the wind as if celebrating the event.
Several carriages came to a stop, and the guests began to step out one by one.
These were the emperors of the underworld.
Absolute rulers in their respective domains.
They might not possess the overwhelming strength of the Four Emperors of the sea, but the forces they controlled were capable of influencing the entire world.
"Oh my, this is a wedding between members of two Yonko crews… what an honor to receive an invitation!" said the King of News, Morgans.
No one knew his true face, as he always appeared in his hybrid form.
"You've been doing quite a few 'interesting things' lately, haven't you? The World Government is hunting you… and yet you still dared to come, Morgans," said Umit.
"If he didn't attend an event that will shake the world, he wouldn't be Morgans," commented a man with a cigar in his mouth, exuding the air of a magnate.
It was Du Feld.
"Guhehehe… I can smell money on you from miles away!" said a man with a massive scythe resting on his shoulders, wearing a half-mask.
It was Drug Peclo.
"Gulu—gulu—"
Drinking wine straight from the bottle, a long-nosed man belched. "If you ask me, this wedding's going to turn into a battlefield! Right, Stussy?"
He was Giberson, a prominent figure in the storage industry.
The only woman in the group, dressed with extreme elegance, smiled faintly.
A fashionable pink dress, a white hat adorned with flowers, a delicate handbag, and perfectly painted nails.
"How disgusting… I was only in deficit for a short time. What a narrow-minded man," she replied disdainfully.
It was Stussy.
The group moved forward and arrived at the castle gates.
The doors opened.
Charlotte Perospero extended his long tongue and made an exaggeratedly polite gesture:
"Hehehehe… this way, please!"
After guiding the guests through a long corridor, they arrived at the main hall.
A spiral staircase immediately caught everyone's attention.
"Please, come with me. Mama hates tardiness," Perospero said with a crooked smile.
"There's always something new when I come here." Stussy smiled. "How has Linlin been lately? It was quite surprising to see in the news that she's marrying one of her daughters to a member of the Straw Hat crew."
"The real surprise is yet to come," Perospero replied casually.
Climbing the stairs, they soon arrived in a room filled with a heavy, sweet aroma.
But someone was already there.
Sitting on the sofa, a man wore an extravagant pink suit, with gold rings on every finger.
The moment they saw him, everyone was surprised.
"The Golden Emperor…"
"Tesoro!"
"What a surprise… the King of Gold in a place like this?"
Gild Tesoro narrowed his eyes, clearly disdainful.
As the richest man in the world and a true underworld emperor, he saw everyone there as nothing more than inferiors.
Meanwhile, he calmly ate delicacies covered in gold leaf.
"It's too noisy… can you all keep quiet?" he said coldly.
"What did you say?" Peclo responded, visibly irritated.
Tesoro snapped his fingers.
A golden ring flew from his hand, deforming midair like liquid.
In an instant, it wrapped around Peclo's face.
"What are you doing?!"
The gold transformed into a thin thread, coiling around his neck.
The other end was held between Tesoro's fingers.
"What do you think will happen if I pull?"
Peclo's face twisted in anger, but he showed no fear. "So what?"
"Hehehehe… distinguished guests, please calm down." Perospero intervened with a calculated smile. "Today is the wedding… Mama won't appreciate any trouble."
He paused before adding:
"Ah… and the Straw Hats… they should be arriving at any moment, shouldn't they?"
At those words, the room fell silent for a few moments.
Big Mom was already a well-known figure.
But the Straw Hats…
That monster who dared to invade the Holy Land and massacre the Celestial Dragons.
Stussy completely ignored the tension and simply sat down on the sofa.
"Well then…" she said, elegantly crossing her legs, "let's wait for the wedding to begin."
(End of Chapter)