Chapter Text
Pudding has always known what her role in life would be – marry some guy/gal that Big Mom could profit from, give a baby or two, and either kill or subdue her spouse. But most importantly, her role would always be to be Big Mom’s poneglyph decoder.
She was always loyal to Big Mom no matter what – because who else could love her hideous face and her eyes but the woman who was so unusual herself? There was simply no way someone could look at her and think “beautiful”.
Then came along Vinsmoke Sanji – a man who, at first glance, seemed like every other man, just attracted to her outer beauty. A man who, at first glance, also seemed so brow-beaten and defeated, not as if he were marrying someone who could elevate his family status.
Of course, after finding out who his chosen family was and how much they were willing to fight for him, she thought she could understand. But he was still a man and he would still hate how she actually looked.
But then the wedding happened, with all its chaos, and the revelation that Pudding was hideous and ugly – but he didn’t care. Vinsmoke Sanji took one look at her true self – had in fact known for quite some time that she wasn’t the pious girl everyone thought she was – and smiled. Had even said “what a beautiful eye!” Like it wasn’t creepy, like it wasn’t unlovable. Like she wasn’t unlovable.
All along she knew she’d have to marry someone whether she loved them or not, but she never expected that she’d fall in love but not get to marry them at the very last moment.
Pudding might have moments where she’s just so angry and full of hatred towards Sanji and at the very next second she’ll be full of love and joy when she thought of him. She herself couldn’t understand it much.
But she for sure knew which emotion was winning when she saw the newspaper that said her Sanji was now married to a brute of a man!!!!
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Katakuri always knew that there was something that bothered Pudding just the way he always knew when something bothered any of his siblings. But with her, he has come to realise that they both share similar feelings about their body.
Him about his mouth and she about her extra eye. Though Katakuri hadn’t gotten a chance to really observe Mugiwara’s reaction to seeing him eating when they were still fighting, when he looked back on that moment, all he saw was Mugiwara’s dedication to his crew. Not once did he say anything about Katakuri’s real face. He even covered up his face with a hat before he left, taking the time to do something… something he didn’t need to even as his crew was in trouble.
His crewmate and cook Vinsmoke Sanji had, in fact, gone a step forward and complimented Pudding on her most hated part of herself. He hadn’t expected it and neither had Pudding.
Now, Katakuri of course knew where her heart lay even if Pudding would sometimes curse him out. One does not have to look further than the moment when Pudding had punched Vinsmoke’s brothers when they were caught in Mont-d'Or’s prison.
But now she had the famous anger and rage that many of Big Mom’s children were known for. Katakuri idly pushed away Brulee before Pudding could hit her on her rampage attack at Whole Cake Island.
For some time now, they had been setting the Island to rights after the disaster that was Pudding’s wedding and the subsequent defeat of Big Mom at Wano. Turns out that Mugiwara is actually getting closer to his dream.
The repairs were on hold however after Pudding received the Newcoo for the day and had promptly begun destroying everything in her path that she could. After seeing the headlines, he wasn’t sure he could blame her either.
“How dare that bastard do something like this?!” Pudding shouted before knocking down another house. “And that too with another bastard! I’m going to kill him!”
Katakuri sidestepped her next swing and decided to just wait for the rage to lessen. Maybe they could start baking a cake for her as well? Or it may just remind her of Vins–Roronoa Sanji again. Katakuri was too old for this shit.
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Pudding still hadn’t cooled down after everything that happened but she was out of the rage zone at least. She still wanted to wring his neck but she also wanted to cry.
Currently she was at her place on the Island, sequestering herself to lick her wounds after big bro Katakuri had bodily picked her up and dropped her off forcefully, looking at the moment when everything changed.
“What a beautiful eye!” Sanji repeated for the nth time and she saw her own self cry out at the words she had never heard before. Then she saw the moment when she kissed him, when she let him go for his own sake, when she gave away her heart so that her love could survive. She kept watching these moments again and again and blushing each time, unable to let go of the feelings even as she felt angry.
Finally, she put aside the films and looked back at the newspaper article that started it all. Did he love that green haired man even when he complimented her eyes? Was he lying to himself and her when he said they’ll try to make the most of their marriage at their first meeting? Or was he inwardly laughing when he called her eye beautiful because to him, his cyclops of a husband was the epitome of beauty?
Pudding just didn’t know and that made it all worse.
But then, she’d see his face on the paper. She’d see him shouting at someone, possibly his captain, and she’d see him expertly balancing a cake on his leg – like the cake that they both made with love, though was it love for him too, oh god – and the green haired thief who ran along their side. She’d see happiness and lightness on his face and body in a way she hadn’t seen during their whole wedding debacle nor even in photos received post-Wano. He always looked like he was struggling or holding on to something quite heavy.
She’d see that he seemed more sure of himself now, when his name wasn’t associated with those that had harmed him for all those years. She had sensed, when they first met, that he hated parts of himself too.
Just as she hid her 3rd eye most of the time, he hid an eye and so much more behind a gentle smile and kind hands. Now that seemed less hidden and more out in the open. Now, though he was shouting, his visible eye was smiling and so full of joy making him look so much more handsome. Pudding blushed as that thought passed through her mind.
The world had known him as a faceless Sanji and then the prince of a ruthless kingdom as Vinsmoke Sanji. She wondered what the world, what she , would see from him as Roronoa Sanji.
Right after I kill him first though , she thought as she ripped up his face on the newspaper.