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"It might actually work but I'm gonna 'ave ta say bye-bye to my 'souvenier'" she thought with a pout.
She felt something coming at them at nearly full speed and quickly kicked hre feet up to reach the surface in time. As her head broke the surface to be greeted by the sight of a weirdly colourful ship.
"Ahoy down there! Give up in the name of the Big Mom pirates!" a strange man with a sneer on his face, pink eyes and purple hair to match that was ties up in a high bun, like, an annoyingly tall bun over the top of his head.
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"What the hell is going on now?" Anamaria sighed before turning to the strange man "Oi! Who ta fuck are ya?!"
"Give...huh? What do you mean who am i?! I'M A BIG MOM PIRATE!!" the purple haired man shouted, his head snapping to her "Just give up and I won't destroy your ship!"
"Hah?!" Ana sneered and pursed her lips to whistle for Sable who the man had apparently not seen was completely strewn across the deck of her ship but Ace covered her mouth and hissed to the snake to go under water without being seen "Waf?!"
"The Big Mom pirates are very well known. Don't you remember what Shanks told us about the Yonkos?" he then whispered to her while removing his hand from her mouth.
"Oooooh. This is one of 'em's kids?" Ana scratched the top of her head and looked at the fuming purple haired man that was trying to catch their attention.
"HEY! Don't ignore me!"
"What do ya want?!" Ana asked him monotonously.
"You're on Mama's land, so you're going to have to come with me, Charlotte Cracker" the man said proudly "Or we'll board you're ship"
There was a moment of silence until Ana began to shake, her body hunching over and making Ace shake his head in disbelief at what she was doing. Cracker smiled, thinking that the woman was now trembling in fear but that soon fell when he heard the chuckles that were leaving the woman.
"Ye've got some guts, buddy. But I don't think ya understand who yer dealing with" Ana wiped a tear from her eye, still chuckling making the purple-haired man's face contorted with rage.
"You insolent brat! You'll regret crossing the Big Mom Pirates!"
"Sure big guy. How 'bout ya just do yer job and I'll make sure we leave your home with compensation" Anamaria was the one to sneer this time.
Cracker's face turned red with anger and he huffed, turning around and walking back up with some huge men made of what appeared to be biscuits.
"Hey" Ana nudged Ace as the Sea Serpent was hooked to the back of the man's ship "Why are these men made of cookie?"
"Big Mom is well known for her desire for sweets. Most of her children have sweet powe..." Ace was interrupted when Anamaria's eyes brightened exponentially.
"Di ya say sweets? LET'S GO WEIRDO!"
"I'M NOT A WEIRDO!!"
Ф
Ace was sitting on the Sea Serpent while watching how Sable followed them underneath the ship, her large nostrils coming up every thirty minutes or so to breath a bit before going back down.
The snake hadn't been noticed since Anamaria was now on the Big Mom pirate ship bothering Cracker enough so that he was distracted by her running around.
"So they're really made of cookies?" Ana asked the tall man who was trying to make sure she didn't harm his ship after seeing who she was when she took off her mask "That's amazing!"
"Indeed it...HEY! DON'T EAT HIS...NO!" Cracker panicked when the woman latched herself onto one of his puppets and took a bite out of its arm, her teeth easily sinking straight into the usually hard cookie armour they had "LET. GO!! THEY'RE NOT...! I'M NOT MADE OF SWEETS!"
Cracker ran away from the woman who was now chasing after him with a big smile on her face. It had been so long since Ana had had proper sweets and she was willing to get a sugar crush right now if that meant she ate some of them. She grabbed the man's large arm and tried to take a bite from his biscuit shaped skirt.
"I NEED SWEETS!"
Ace sighed and shook his head, trying to keep the amused smile that was coming onto his face away since they were in a precarious situation. He looked forward to see the oncoming land and steeled his nerves. He had very little confidence about them getting out of there in one piece but he trusted Ana.
He turned to look at the woman who had just seen the sweet shaped island and was now trying to jump out of the ship with the Big Mom pirate holding her back onto his crew.
"Oy you! Come hold your friend down!" Cracker shouted at Ace making the masked man catch Ana when she jumped back onto the Sea Serpent.
Anamaria stared in disbelief at what she would consider one of her heavens as the Big Mom ship steered the Sea Serpent closer to the island after passing several others.
The vibrant colours of the candy-coated landscape danced in the sunlight, creating a surreal and enchanting scene. The scent of sugar and confections permeated the air, overwhelming the woman's senses in the most delightful way possible.
"Let me go! I need to explore that place! It's like a dream come true!" Anamaria, still captivated by the sight of the sweet island, struggled against Ace's hold.
"We can't afford to cause trouble with Big Mom. We'll find another way to enjoy the island without getting on her bad side" Ace sighed, realizing the predicament they were in.
Reluctantly, Anamaria ceased her struggles, knowing that Ace was right. The Sea Serpent continued its approach, guided by the Big Mom ship, and soon they docked at the candy-covered shores. They disembarked, with Cracker and his cookie subordinates keeping a watchful eye on them.
Ace made sure to stay near Ana as she whispered some things to Sable underwater telling the snake to hide until they called for her. Cracker was staying close but far enough from the woman so that he wasn't at arm's reach, most likely in caution.
"Come on" Cracker grumbled before making his biscuit soldiers nudge Ana and Ace forward "Mama is going to want to see the people who tried to enter her territory"
Anamaria scoffed but still led Ace behind her, sharing a look with him to tell him to keep him mask on whatever happened. The man had to keep his hold on her when she saw the sweets on the island.
Soon, they arrived at the towering and decadent Sweet City, the heart of Big Mom's empire apparently. The towering structures made of candy and confections loomed over them, and Anamaria couldn't help but marvel at the sheer extravagance of it all and the sight of sweet shaped things around her.
The streets were bustling with a diverse array of inhabitants, each seemingly lost in the world of their own sugary delights. Anamaria saw how most of the inhabitants were moving away from them at the sight of Cracker, what kind of name was that?
"You really are tha' ugly huh?" she asked loud enough for the purple haired man to hear her. She smiled when she saw the irk mark that came up to his forehead as he tried to ignore her.
"Don't provoke him. Not yet at least" Ace hissed at her while they continued forward.
Ana observed every movement that was going on around her as Cracker continued to lead them into the huge palace, was it a palace? And down the halls. A tall woman was coming towards them with long strides and she first walked up to Cracker who told his soldiers to back off.
"Brother! You're back!" she shouted.
"Hello Brulée" Cracker said as he tried to walk around her to continue forwards.
"Who do you have here?" Brulée asked him while poking her head around his large from. The sight of the pretty woman behind him was already making her envy rise at her nice skin.
"Some intruders that tried to sneak into Mama's lands" Cracker explained when he was finally able to go on.
"Why are you so pretty? It just makes me want to..." Brulée was cut off by Anamaria coming close to her face all of a sudden.
"That's a cool look! Wer'd ya get that scar?" Ana asked her as she saw the scar.
Brulée didn't know how to feel about the question since she didn't think she would act so...positively, like that at her appearance, but her scar was a weak spot for her.
"I-you-it..." the Charlotte daughter stayed in place due to shock while Anamaria and Ace continued to walk, leaving her there. Cracker came up to a large door and knocked loudly.
"Mama! I've come back with something for you!"
A biscuit shaped person opened the door for them and Cracker made Ana and Ace walk in front of him. As they entered the room Ana nearly choked on her spit at the sight of the woman in front of them.
She was guzzling down huge cakes that seemed to be bite sized for her and were piled high at her side. The apparent Yonko that was in front of them was not at all what she was expecting.
The Yonko, the very embodiment of power in the pirate world, was hunched over, consuming massive cakes with a fervour that seemed proportionate for someone of her stature and size.
Ana's eyes widened, and she discreetly elbowed Ace, who shared her astonished expression. This wasn't the image of a feared Yonko they had anticipated. The woman's cheeks were smeared with frosting, and her laughter resonated through the room like the cackling of several hyenas.
The Yonko, known as Big Mom, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and regarded Ana and Ace with a curious glint in her eyes. Her demeanour shifted from indulgence to an intensity that made the air feel heavy.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Big Mom's voice was both childish and chilling as she turned to look at Ana and Ace.
"Mama I've brought these intruders that I saw near our borders trying to sneak in" Cracker, standing stoically behind them, announced.
"We were just passing through...ma'am" Anamaria told the huge woman.
"Passing through, you say? Cracker here seems to think otherwise" she gestured towards the towering figure of Cracker, who stood like an immovable fortress behind Ana and Ace, his biscuit sword at the ready.
"Well no offence but he dont seem like the brightest one out there" Ana continued despite feeling the nervousness coming out of Ace.
"Why you...!" Cracker went to raise his sword when his mother burst out laughing.
"MAMAMAMAMAMA! I like you. You're entertaining. Join me for tea!" Big Mom demanded.
"I..." before either Ana or Ace were able to deny the invitation, the Tonko called out.
"PUUUUDIIIIIING!!" the Yonko shouted in a wail.
The door opened once more and a small girl with brown hair came in a bit shakily before she came to stand in front of her large mother.
"Yes mama?" she called out.
"Take these two to get dressed" Big Mom pointed at the two who were staring at each other in question "They're joining us for tea"
Not entirely sure how she would act in cases like these so she might be a bit OOC
"Yes mama" the girl named Pudding motioned for them to follow her and on their way out Anamaria poked her tongue out at Cracker who scowled back at her.
"Yer name's Pudding" Ana asked the girl that was leading them forward silently.
"Yes" the younger girl replied shortly.
"That's a cool name" Anamaria said, resting her arms behind her head when Pudding remained silent.
"In here please" she motioned for them to wait in a room and left them there.
"Do you have a death wish Ana?" Ace asked the woman with a sigh.
"Maybe" she replied before she saw the glare he was giving her behind the mask "Fine, I'll be more careful"
Ace nodded once she had reassured him and they waited in silence until Pudding came back with some homies carrying huge clothes in their arms.
The girl tried to ask Ace to take off his mask but Ana insisted that he was disfigured so badly that she didn't want him to ruin the tea making Pudding reluctantly agree.
Ace decided to keep his clothes but Ana was forced into the changing room. She came out with several outfits but Pudding ended up convincing her to wear a red and white dress that she told the older woman was inspired in a candy called peppermint.
"Looks like you clean up well" Ace remarked, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips. Ana shot him a playful glare, not missing the subtle compliment beneath his words as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"And you apparently do not" she retorted.
Someone knocked on the door and the woman with the scar on her face, Brulée she was called Anamaria recalled, and asked them to follow her. Anamaria and Ace shared a nervous look before doing as she asked. Pudding was silently walking behind them while curling in on herself a bit.
They entered a room where Big Mom had seated herself at the head of a looooong table with other very different people sat around her. There were hundreds of sweets and a nice tea set placed on the table that looked extremely delicious.
"MAMAMAMA! You're here already. Good" the huge woman said as she started to shove more cakes into her mouth "Now sit down" she ordered.
Anamaria and Ace awkwardly sat down right in front of Cracker who was glaring at her and another huge male wearing a scarf across his face and with bright pink hair.
"Who are they mama?" a tall woman asked Big Mom as cautiously as she could.
"Guests...for now" the huge woman's tone of voice lowered at the last sentence and Ana saw a shiver go up Ace's back as the Charlotte matriarch released a bit of her Haki.
The table was laden with an array of decadent treats, from towering wedding cakes to delicately crafted pastries. It was a stark contrast to the underlying tension in the room. Anamaria couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding, wondering what had led them to this moment. First Kaido and now this.
As the feast continued, Cracker's eyes bore into Anamaria and Ace. The intimidating presence of the sweet commander made it clear that they were not ordinary guests. Anamaria couldn't shake the feeling that beneath the sugary façade of the tea party, there was a storm brewing.
"Why aren't you eating?" Big Mom asked them "Have a cake"
Ace looked down in hidden disgust at the singing cakes and pastries in front of them and he grimaced when he saw Anamaria stare at the piece of singing chocolate doughnut she was holding before shrugging and taking a bite out of it.
"Ana" he whispered at her.
"What? They're delicious" Ana stated out loud gaining Big Mom's attention.
"You like them? MAMAMAMA! I like you!!" she cackled before continuing to shovel the food into her mouth.
The few people eating were her and Anamaria and even the rest of the Charlotte family was sweat dropping at the stranger who had made herself comfortable at the table with their mother.
They all tensed when Anamaria took the last of Big Mom's favourite pastries and waited as the large woman's face began to turn red. Scared for another tantrum from her, they prepared their weapons as her Conqueror's Haki began to come out.
Anamaria kept eating without a care and when she felt the pressure getting too big she released her own Haki like she had practiced with Shanks, the two women's forces hitting against each other. Nothing was going to keep her from her sweets after going for so long without them.
Big Mom and her stopped eating and their eyes met, the younger woman refusing to lower her gaze as the larger woman did the same. After a while Big Mom slowly began eating once more the food that the cooks kept bringing out making all her other children sigh in relief as she was satiated.
It became evident that Anamaria's display of strength had earned her a place, however precarious, amongst the Big Mom pirates, for now.
The other members of Big Mom's crew, her children, eyed Anamaria with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. She had proven that she wasn't just a mere intruder but someone who could command respect even in the face of overwhelming power.
"Why don't you marry one of my sons?" Big Mom suddenly asked after swallowing "I'll even give you the honour of choosing which one"
Anamaria and Ace chocked on their spit and Ana had to swallow hard so that she was able to speak up.
"Sorry ma'am, but I got someone I got me eye on right now" she saw as carefully as she could. Although she was able to withstand her Haki, she wasn't confident enough that she would be able to handle the woman if they had a full on fight.
"Oh really? Who is that?" Big Mom asked with little curiosity.
"Ah, can't really tell ya. Don't really know ya" she said precariously when the woman at the front of the table stopped eating and stared at her in silence.
"MAMAMAMAMA! You've got guts!" Big Mom shouted with a laugh "I'll let you stay on our territory for a few days if you'd like, but if you're not willing to marry one of my sons then you'll have to go after that time"
"Sure" Ana shrugged.
She and Ace waited for a bit more under the tense gaze from the rest of the people and homies around them. After a few more minutes they started getting up from their seat with the rest of the woman's children leaving Big Mom to eat by herself.
Ana was looking up at all the huge people around her wondering what kind of food did they have to eat to grow so tall as they were led out by Pudding and the man with the scarf and bright pink hair.
As they walked, the atmosphere lightened, and Ana felt a sense of relief washing over her. It seemed that leaving the dining hall had removed the oppressive weight that hung in the air.
Anamaria had sneaked a few treats out for Ace to be able to have after they left the 'palace' and she was in the process of slipping them to him when the scarfed man intercepted her.
"Yes?" she asked, tired of having to look up to look people in their eyes.
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"Are you this person?" the man pulled out a random paper from behind him and showed it to her, watching her read it and flinching back when she suddenly shouted.
"DUDE LOOK!" Anamaria pulled Ace over to her making him choke since she had grabbed him by the neck of his hood and shoved his face in the poster "LOOK! WHERE THA FUCK DID THAY GET THAT PHOTO?!!!"
"YOUR NEARLY AT 1 BILLION!! HOW?!!" Ace shouted back at her as he took the poster for himself, both pirates ignoring Katakuri who was just standing there (precious boy).
"I DON'T CARE 'BOUT THAT RIGHT NOW!! DO YA NOT SEE HOW GREAT I LOOK HERE!!" Anamaria shouted back at him.
"HOW THE HELL IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT!!"
The fuchsia haired man was standing in front of the two in complete befuddlement at their different reactions. He walked to see if they would follow and the two did so while still looking at the poster.
Katakuri sighed, resigned since he somehow knew he wouldn't get any other answer from them and just asked Pudding to guide them back to the changing rooms so they could leave before he got a headache.
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