A Taste of Forever (Katakuri x Reader)

Chapter 5 - Three, two, one

Curled up in a tanned chest, you raised your head to peer up at the man beside you. Shanks' eyes were focused on the void in a corner of the room and a subtle frown had crept on his face, pulling the man's face into an unusually serious expression, especially with you by his side. Noticing your eyes had rested on him, Shanks met your stare with a smile. However, something about his smile was different. You couldn't point your finger at what struck you as strange and therefore decided not to press it. Maybe it was just your imagination. Still, the smile was tainted by a hidden sadness. He must have noticed your confusion as his confident smile faltered for a moment before he bent down and kissed your forehead.

"I'll always watch over you, (Y/N)."

Liar...

The next day he told you to get lost, setting sail without you while your pleas and cries got lost in the wind.

A soft knock against your cabin door stirred you awake. Turning towards the origin of the sound along with a displeased groan slipping past your lips, you squinted at Smoothie who had just entered your room, the tall woman smiling slightly at you.

It had been days since you had left your home on Voire and everything that had happened since then was a blur.

You remembered how you had gotten on a small boat and approached the massive ship which had anchored far off the shore. You also remembered how your jaw had almost dropped on the floor at the sheer size of the ship. The Moby Dick was large, sure, but the Queen Mama Charter was massive. Your initial awe, however, ended abruptly when you heard the ship talk to you, making you almost jump off the boat and into the black waters below. Somehow being eaten by a Seaking sounded more inviting than going on a ship that sang to you.

You hadn't seen Perospero since he had left your home and honestly, you couldn't care about him. Smoothie, however, was surprisingly pleasant to you. Though her height and reputation intimidated you, she was much nicer company than her older brother. Not that that was difficult considering how you and Candyman had met.

Locked up in your cabin for the entirety of the journey, Smoothie was the only company you had. She and the conversations the two of you shared were the only things that felt normal about this entire nightmare. Even if you didn't like the circumstances that surrounded you two meeting, you came to appreciate her presence in a time where everything else felt uncertain and scary. Funny how the woman who literally smoothied people to death was growing on you.

Everything else was left in a haze. You couldn't remember whether you had talked to anyone else on the ship or whether you had just forgotten about them, and you also had no recollection of how the journey had been going or for how long you had been travelling. You only hoped that it was going to end soon.

Sitting up on the large bed, you brushed a few errand strands out of your face as you watched Smoothie coming closer.

"Still in bed, sleepyhead?" she laughed, pulling the curtains of the porthole to the side and letting the bright yellow rays of the morning sun flood your cabin.

Another annoyed groan escaped your lips as you hid your face in your hands, shielding your eyes from the invasive light that now illuminated your room. Smoothie watched your grumpy morning-self with a smile on her lips before she walked over to you and dropped herself next to you on the mattress, almost throwing you off balance in the process.