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Chapter 396: I'm Not Staying in This Totto Land Hell!
On the turbulent, storm-tossed seas of the New World, the Queen Mama Chanter cut through the waves. The massive vessel remained as steady as a mountain amidst the fierce gale, yet the atmosphere on board was a hundred times more oppressive than the raging ocean itself.
On the deck, the children of the Charlotte Family held their breath in absolute silence. As one, their gazes all converged on the towering figure standing at the bow of the ship.
Charlotte Katakuri.
The head of the Three Sweet Commanders and the greatest masterpiece of the Charlotte Family.
At this moment, however, he stood bare-chested, unabashedly exposing his massive, fang-filled maw. The man who always concealed his face with a scarf to maintain a facade of "perfection" was completely gone. In his place stood an entity exuding a suffocating, bloody aura—a "Demon God" straight out of a hellish Asura realm.
Sitting beside him was a woman looking into a hand mirror. Brulee. The younger sister who was once mocked as a scarred old witch now had skin as white as snow and features as exquisite as a porcelain doll in a storefront window. That was the miracle brought about by an S+ rank reward.
"Big Brother Perospero, your candy is melting," Katakuri said, his voice deep and hoarse, not bothering to turn around.
Behind him, Perospero violently shuddered. The candy cane in his hand nearly slipped and hit the deck.
"Perorin…" Perospero swallowed hard, forcefully suppressing the terror in his heart as he stepped forward. He looked at this brother who felt simultaneously familiar and entirely alien, his eyes filled with absolute complexity. "Katakuri. Totto Land is just ahead. You can already see the silhouette of Whole Cake Island."
Perospero's voice trembled with the primal fear of the impending storm. "Have you… really thought this through? Are you truly going to go against Mama?"
The moment those words were spoken, the entire deck plunged into a dead silence. Daifuku and Oven jerked their heads up, their eyes brimming with horror.
Go against Mama? On the open seas, those words were synonymous with death and complete annihilation! That monster with the Iron Balloon physique who would kill even her own biological sons during her hunger pangs… She was the childhood nightmare of everyone present, a shadow they could never defy for their entire lives.
Katakuri slowly turned around. His crimson eyes flickered with an eerie light in the darkness of the night. It was the oppressive might unique to the "Progenitor of Demons," born from integrating Muzan Kibutsuji's cells.
He didn't answer directly. Instead, he reached out his large, broad hand and gently rested it on the top of Brulee's head. The gesture was as tender as if he were caressing a priceless treasure.
"Brulee," Katakuri called out softly.
"Big Brother…" Brulee lowered her mirror, her eyes slightly red, yet she smiled with incomparable brilliance.
"Look how happily she's smiling." The corners of Katakuri's mouth curled up slightly, revealing his two rows of ferocious fangs. But in Brulee's eyes, it was the warmest smile in the entire world. "For this smile. So that she will never have to hide in the mirror world and cry again. So that my younger brothers and sisters will no longer shiver in terror."
Katakuri raised his head, his gaze bypassing Perospero to stare directly at the massive Whole Cake Island in the distance. "I'm not going against Mama. I merely want to take away the younger brothers and sisters who wish to leave Totto Land."
BOOM!
Those words struck the top of Perospero's skull like a bolt of lightning. His eyes widened drastically, and his incredibly long tongue practically shot out of his mouth in sheer fright.
"Wh-What did you just say?!" Perospero shrieked, his voice turning shrill and piercing from extreme terror. "Take away our siblings? Leave Totto Land?! Are you insane, Katakuri?! This isn't just betrayal! This is destroying everything Mama has built!"
"Do you know what Mama sees us as? We are collectibles! We are tools! We are bargaining chips for political marriages!" Perospero frantically waved his arms, saliva flying from his mouth. "And you want to take away her collectibles? With Mama's temper, she will kill you! And not just you! Brulee, Daifuku, Oven… even me! Every single one of us will have our souls sucked dry to feed her Homies! You are going to destroy the entire Charlotte Family!"
Fear spread across the ship like a plague. The hand Smoothie used to grip her longsword was trembling. Cracker hid inside his Biscuit Soldier, not daring to show his face.
This was the deterrent power of BIG MOM. Even though Katakuri had slaughtered a god in the dungeon, in reality, the monster named Charlotte Linlin remained an insurmountable mountain crushing their hearts.
"Destroy the family?" Katakuri scoffed.
BOOM—!
A surge of black and red Conqueror's Haki suddenly erupted from his body. Mixed within this Haki was the chilling, bloody aura from the Demon Slayer world. It was a murderous aura condensed from devouring countless demons and slaying the Demon King, Muzan.
Crack!
The wooden planks on the deck splintered and fractured. Perospero's legs gave out, and he collapsed directly to his knees. He looked up at Katakuri in absolute horror. The younger brother standing before him had seemingly transformed into an ancient, ferocious beast ready to devour human flesh.
"Perospero. A place with nothing but fear, political marriages, and lifespan taxes… does it even deserve to be called a home?" Katakuri walked toward Perospero step by step. The shadow cast by his towering frame completely enveloped the eldest son. "That is hell. It's Mama's personal playground."
Katakuri crouched down, staring directly into Perospero's terrified eyes. "I've had enough."
His voice grew colder and colder, dropping the surrounding temperature so much that the air itself felt as if it would freeze.
"In the past, to protect all of you, I had to wear a mask of perfection and act as her sharpest spear. But now…" Katakuri slowly stood back up and spread his arms wide. The cape on his back snapped wildly in the sea breeze. "I have power. The kind of power that can shatter rules and confront monsters head-on."
He turned around, looking at the group of shivering siblings behind him. Daifuku, Oven, Smoothie… Within their eyes, beneath the overwhelming fear, a faint, tiny flicker of a flame called "hope" seemed to ignite.
"Whoever wants to leave, stand behind me," Katakuri said. His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed clearly across the entire ship. "As for Mama's fury…"
He tightened his grip on his trident, Mogura, and Armament Haki instantly coated the weapon. Black lightning crackled and danced across its surface. It was an ultimate, destructive power capable of blasting even the Progenitor of Demons to ash.
"I, Charlotte Katakuri, will bear all the consequences alone!"
Zing—!
The instant his words fell, a sky-piercing battle intent tore through the night sky of the New World like a sharpened blade.
Perospero sat slumped on the deck, staring at that back that resembled a Demon God. His lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal.
The winds were changing. The sky over Totto Land was about to collapse.
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