Chapter Text
Pages (Mont-d’Or)
~ 22 years ago ~
Mont-d’Or (age 16)
There was no wind in the Calm Belt, no waves. Brother Cracker’s battleship sliced through the still water on silent candy-coated paddles, its engine noise muffled by marshmallows. 16-year-old Charlotte Mont-d’Or leaned on the railing and dreamed of his destination at the end of the voyage.
.
Mont-d’Or had always been an oddity amongst the numerous Charlotte siblings. He was pale and small, all uncoordinated gangling limbs and brittle bones. He hated violence and prefer to shy away from physical exertion. Personality wise he was prone to run his mouth and easy to anger, but unfortunately without the strength to back up said quick temper. As a result he was bullied a lot as a kid, often sporting blossoming bruises in blue and purple. To add insult to injury, his tormentors were usually family members around or even younger than his age group, which was rather sad and pathetic on his own part.
Some of his older brothers and sisters would step in when things got too bad, especially Brother Katakuri who often worried, but the majority of them had duties as ministers and entire islands to govern. They could not always be there to watch after a single troublesome child.
To escape the perpetual problems of his daily life, Mont-d’Or found refuge within the gigantic Chateau Library. There, he discovered the nature of his true talent. Books and artistry, though useless as it might seem on the high seas. Mont-d’Or memorized the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia and read through recipe books from over seventy different countries. He absorbed knowledge like a sponge cake about unique plants and exotic animals from across the globe, and he taught himself how to draw. He was happy.
“Hey, Come quick, Poire! Mont-d’Or is in the library again!” Galette’s high-pitched voice shouted, echoing down the hall. Mont-d’Or groaned.
The twins Galette and Poire were eight years younger than him but were both belligerently outgoing, and they constantly made his life a living hell. Especially Galette. She pushed Mont-d’Or onto his butt and ripped the book he was currently reading from his hands. “Stop being such a nerd, Monty.”
“Give it back, Galette!” Mont-d’Or yelled.
Galette ignored him, throwing the book to Poire. The younger twin then threw it to Citron, who was attracted to the library due to the loud commotion with Cinnamon in tow. Mont-d’Or wanted to cry. The half-longleg triplets were three years his junior and were already absurdly tall even at their youthful age, and of the three triplet girls only Smoothie ever showed him any compassion. Unfortunately for Mont-d’Or, Smoothie wasn’t there, so that probably meant he was never getting his research studies back.
Citron flipped the book over to read the front cover. “West Blue: Notable Locations and Recent History,” she looked down at her small older brother, who could barely reach her waist. “That sounds dreadfully boring, even by your standards, pipsqueak.”
“Then give it back, Citron! I’m your older brother, where’s my respect?”
Cinnamon took the book from her sister. She giggled. “Why are you reading this crap anyway? West Blue is like, on the other side of the world.”
Mont-d’Or fumed, indignant. He had his reasons, it was just not yet the time to share.
.
When Mont-d’Or was fourteen years old, Gold Roger’s execution was known throughout Whole Cake Island. That night, Mont-d’Or snuck into Mama’s treasury and stared at the blood-red Road Poneglyph until images of its intrinsic meaningless carving forever etched into his mind. He thought of the man who could somehow decipher its secret, and the elusive island hidden behind these symbols.
So for over a year he researched, painstakingly digging through the large archives of the Chateau Library for any related information. Then on his sixteenth birthday, Mont-d’Or cornered Brother Perospero at the tea party and requested for a very specific gift. A ship and a crew capable of traveling across the perilous Calm Belt, to reach the West Blue beyond.
“I want to become a scholar of Ohara,” Mont-d’Or told his eldest brother. “That is what Mama would need still, for her to become the next Pirate King.”
Brother Perospero took him to see Mama the very next day. A week later, Mont-d’Or had a ship and a crew, and the younger of the only two Sweet Commanders assigned as his personal escort.
Charlotte Cracker was twenty-three and the third strongest fighter within Mama’s growing empire at the time. He was flighty and maybe not always reliable, but he understood his priorities. For faster travel through the dangerous Calm Belt, Cracker handpicked a small crew of only a dozen men and women to board his customized battleship. If he needed more hands he could create for himself.
“Are you ready, little brother?” Cracker smirked at the much smaller teen, a hand placed firmly on his thin shoulder. He knew his introvert little brother hadn’t been out to sea since their family first settled on this island thirteen years ago. “Hopefully you won’t be seasick.”
Mont-d’Or swallowed, already trembling in his shoes. For fear or excitement he did not know. He was about to take the initial step onto the ship, when disturbance sounded from the gathering crowd. Smoothie showed up, using her towering height to push people gently aside, before crouching down to give Mont-d’Or a tight embrace.
“I will be here waiting for your safe return,” Smoothie said earnestly. “Take care, big brother.” Mont-d’Or hugged her back. Of all the siblings within his age group, he would definitely miss Smoothie the most.
Once everyone boarded the battleship, Brother Cracker gave out the order to pull the anchor. They were ready to set sail. That was when a furry pink ball of energetic child leaped from the shore, with a perfect landing, and balanced herself precariously on the ship taffrail. It was Galette.
“I want to come, too,” Galette declared.
“No, you can’t!” Mont-d’Or cried, pulling at his messy hair in frustration. He wanted to leave his troubles behind, not to have his most annoying trouble follow him around the world.
They both looked to Brother Cracker, who had the ultimate say. Unfortunately for Mont-d’Or, too many older brothers within the Charlotte family had the tendency to be particularly weak to little sisters’ petulant pleas. Galette knew this, so she immediately puckered her lips and pouted. “Crybaby Monty gets to come, so why can’t I?”
Cracker almost caved instantly, but he forced himself to first think it through, doing a quick calculation in his head. A week to travel through the Calm Belt and another to reach the island of Ohara, he would in theory be able to return home with Galette within a month. “Okay fine, princess,” Cracker relented. “But you have to behave and follow my instructions, understood? Brother Katakuri would kill me if I let anything happen to you.”
“Yay!” Galette threw up her hands happily. Mont-d’Or groaned.
.
They were attacked by a seaking much larger than any they had previously encountered during the final stretch of their trip through the Calm Belt. Its size easily twentyfold of their battleship, with massive fins that caused tidal waves and a ballooned head that blocked out the sun.
Cracker put his younger siblings into a suit of biscuit armor and ordered men into battle, but their cannon fire bounced harmlessly off the seaking’s gleaming scales. From within the biscuit soldier, Mont-d’Or quivered like a leaf. Galette touched him on the arm, but for once her confidence wavered. “Brother Cracker is strong,” Galette said, but she could not fully hide the uncertainty in her tone.
As if hearing their apprehension from across the deck, Cracker threw his younger siblings a devious grin. He then leaped from the tallest mast on the ship to land upon the seaking’s torso section, a writhing mass half-submerged in the foaming tides. This was the first time Mont-d’Or and Galette ever seen Brother Cracker fought seriously, and he was magnificent.
Cracker ran along the seaking’s length with astonishing speed, fleet-footed jumping to keep himself carefully above water even as the creature thrash and twist. Dozens and dozens of biscuit soldiers were summoned, like ants crawling all over the seaking, and together they dealt puncture wounds with their swords all over the serpentine body. Cracker himself reached the creature’s ballooned head and with his haki hardened black Pretzel sword, gouged out its eyes and hacked off a pectoral fin. This was the power of Commander Cracker, who proved that even ants could take down a titan with a thousand small cuts.
When the seaking began to sink on its deathbed, the battleship had already been pushed some distance away, too far for Cracker to reach. The ocean was an unforgiving reaper for devil fruit users. If he fell, it would be his end.
Mont-d’Or and Galette had scrambled out of the protective armor by then, and were screaming for their big brother from the ship stern with fear in their eyes. So Cracker, with a clap of his hands, performed his last magic trick for his little brother and sister to enjoy.
He leaped into the sea...
... and promptly stepped onto a floating biscuit platform.
As the biscuit itself began to flood, Cracker leaped again, throwing himself into the air, purple half-cape billowing, before clapping his hands once. Like skipping stones on water, he made his way back onto the battleship. Sweet Commander Cracker of the Big Mom Pirates was among the very few devil fruit user who could traverse water, and would not sink.
.
They reached West Blue without losing a single crew member, which was a fine accomplishment, but not without bad news. The last seaking attack severely damaged their paddle-muffling system, that a return trip through the Calm Belt would be imprudent. Cracker might be willing to brave the chances if it was any other time accompanied only by an expendable crew, but with two of his precious younger siblings on board, it was a risk he would rather not take.
Den-Den Mushi telecommunication was strictly restricted as they crossed the seaking nest, to avoid attracting unwanted attention from down under. Now that they had arrived on the other side, Cracker would need to report back to Mama and his older siblings, to both inform of their safe voyage and update on their current less-than-ideal vessel situation.
Mont-d’Or at the moment was scouting the sky. News Coo did not travel to the Calm Belt, and for someone like Mont-d’Or, a week away from current news was a week too long. Soon enough, a medium-sized white bird approached their ship.
Mont-d’Or did not know the carrier seagull would bring him the most devastating headline of his life.
.
“Ohara, is gone.”
Mont-d’Or felt dead inside.
He lay on his back, on deck, eyes staring vacantly up at the empty cloudless sky. It had been three days. The ocean was tranquil, the wind was merciful, and the scenery was boring. The Big Mom Commander battleship drifted along the West Blue with no clear destination in mind.
Galette came to sit by her brother. Her gaze, too, turned upwards. “You haven’t eaten for days,” she said. She nudged Mont-d’Or with her foot, but received no reaction. “Brother Cracker is worried.”
“... Ohara is gone,” Mont-d’Or said, blankly.
Galette sighed. She twirled at her short fuchsia curls with a slender finger, resigned.
Brother Cracker came up from the lower galley, to join his younger siblings on the open quarterdeck. “I’ve contacted home,” Cracker announced, voice sounding disturbingly loud due to the depressing atmosphere. He crossed his long legs and sat down on his little brother’s other side. “Brother Peros agrees it would be too risky to cross the Calm Belt in our current state, so I’ll be taking you two through Reverse Mountain and Fishman Island. We could check out what Paradise is like. It’ll take a much longer time though.”
“Mama agrees, also?” Galette asked, uncertain.
Cracker shrugged. “Brother Katakuri would convince her, somehow.”
Galette nodded slowly. “Have you ever been to Paradise, Brother Cracker?”
“Nope. It will be an adventure for all of us. Sounds like fun, hmmm?”
The two conversing siblings looked to the boy between them, but Mont-d’Or still remained completely unresponsive. Cracker ran a hand through his violet hair, pulling his wild hairstyle loose. “I have a compass for West Blue travel, but I’ll have to also get a single-needle Log Pose. We would need to stock up on fresh water soon as well, and food,” Cracker said. He clapped his hands, pulling a biscuit from thin air and took a bite. “Unless you’re willing to eat nothing but biscuits for the next month.”
Galette buried her face into her arms. “I want buckwheat flour pancake, with peach and blackberry filling,” she mumbled. “Monty would probably want brie cheese with cream.”
Cracker looked to his younger brother. “Is that right, Mont-d’Or?”
“... but Ohara.”
The older Charlotte brother let out a patient huff. “Well, we could still go. To the island of Ohara, I mean,” Cracker offered gently. “Not sure what we’re going to find there apart from dead bodies, but if you needed some form of closure...”
Mont-d’Or blinked.
“Do you want to go?”
“... yes.”
.
So they went to Ohara. Or, whatever was left of the island of Ohara.
Brother Cracker was right. There were a lot of dead bodies, bombed down buildings, and—to the pirates’ bewildered surprise—skeletal debris of several marine warships floating along the coastline that required skill to navigate around. Mont-d’Or was at a loss.
The newspaper claimed an 8-year-old girl escaped Ohara by destroying six navy ships. Cracker called absolute bullshit on that of course, because even a monster like Brother Katakuri would stress to manage one single warship when he was eight. There was just no way some little girl from a scholar island could do six. Yet the girl’s abnormally high bounty was real, the destroyed warships were apparently also real, and everything had the dirty taste of government conspiracy beyond their simple understanding.
As the three Charlotte siblings made their slow course inland towards the famous tree, they encountered a couple straggling marine foot soldiers who didn’t have enough sense to run when they saw Mama’s pirate flag. Cracker made sure they wouldn’t cause a problem.
At the center of the island was the charred remnant of the Tree of Knowledge, and a deep lake filled nearly to the brim with books. Mont-d’Or sat down by the steep ledge of the lake, knowing his journey had come to an end. His dream died here, by this cliff, on an island erased from the world map.
Galette looked at her brothers, then turned to inspect the weird book lake. She contemplated, before coming to a decision. She took off her fur coat and red dress, stripping down to her frilly underwear.
“What are you doing!” Cracker exclaimed. Before he could stop her, Galette jumped, diving into the lake with a wet splash. “Galette!”
“I’m fine, Brother Cracker!” Galette called, waving from the water so far down below. “I want to find something, wait for me!”
So Galette swam, away from the safety of the lakefront, before dipping into the water to begin her search. With Brother Cracker as a devil fruit user and Brother Mont-d’Or as the most useless big brother ever, Galette knew this was something only she could do. She was going to find a souvenir, a memento to prove that the island of Ohara always existed.
It was... a lot harder than she thought. Galette rummaged through stacks and stacks of books underwater until her air ran out and she had to resurface before repeating the process, but nothing of significance caught her eye. Her brothers were getting anxious back on shore because the sun was low near the horizon, and Galette was beginning to fatigue. Or perhaps she could just take the next book she find? So Galette reached out in a random direction and grabbed something from the middle of a tall pile, books and scrolls tumbled. Having gotten what she came for, Galette turned towards the shimmering surface, when a sudden soft clinking of metal drew her attention.
There was a wooden box with rusty broken lock half buried under the fallen pile. Curiosity piqued, Galette dived one last time to check it out.
Galette swam back to her brothers half an hour later. The cliff was too precipitous for her to scale, so Brother Cracker first created a biscuit platform for her to climb onto before leaping down himself to carry her up. And then Galette, half-naked and dripping wet from head to toe, walked up to Mont-d’Or and held out her arms.
“Happy belated sixteenth birthday, big brother,” Galette said. There in her hands rested a book titled SUSPENSE and a fruit that her nerd brother immediately recognized. It was also the first time Galette ever addressed him with an honorific.
Finally, since that damned seagull, Mont-d’Or cried.
.
It took over two weeks to reach the Ohara remains in West Blue from the Tottoland archipelago via the Calm Belt. The return trip took almost three years, for they had to travel the long route home.
During this time Brother Cracker’s bounty almost tripled, breaking the five hundred million mark. He became a man widely feared as someone who could spawn an unending army, who could quite literally command a thousand arms. Though the incompetent government were still unable to identify his true visage.
Mont-d’Or grew up significantly in these years, finally reaching his growth spurt and got up over two meters tall. He learned how to properly shoot a rifle at the age of sixteen, first killed at the age of seventeen, and became a wanted man at the age of eighteen with a bounty of forty-six million on his head. It raised to eighty-six million by the time they reached Sabaody. He was given the epithet ‘Scribe’ Mont-d’Or, who kept the book that held numerous exotic creatures and people alike forever hostage.
After Ohara and the fruit and a couple more near-death experiences later, Mont-d’Or learned to care for Galette like all other adept Charlotte older brothers—aggressively overprotective yet easily tolerant. They became inseparable, both as close friends and as siblings.
.
When they finally returned home, Smoothie welcomed them at the port as promised, as the newly assigned Sweet Commander. She was taller than even Brother Cracker now when three years ago she fell a bit shorter, and a formidable fighter already at the tender age of fifteen. Galette and Poire had an emotional reunion, sharing tearful hugs for having been apart from each other for so long. Brother Katakuri also showed up, to greet Cracker personally with a heartfelt half-embrace and a congratulation on his job well-done. They were all taken to meet their newest siblings 1-year-old Panna in the playroom, and the baby twins Mascarpone and Joscarpone in the nursery.
As a gift and an apology for his failure, Mont-d’Or gave his Mama a book that she would always cherish, the first of her eventual collection.
.
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