So Useless

In fact, from Mousse's observations, even if Charlotte Linlin was not particularly concerned about her other children, her attitude was nowhere near as cold as she had been portrayed in the One Piece manga.

He did not know whether this mother's temperament had changed later on, perhaps after being traumatized by that incident, or whether the world Mousse had transmigrated into was not entirely the same One Piece world from the manga.

Thinking of this, Mousse could not help turning his head to look at his twin sister beside him, Charlotte Galette. Thank goodness he had been born in the same litter as these two sisters, or his good looks might have gone to waste!

In his memories, Charlotte Galette would grow up to become the beauty of the Charlotte Family, while her twin sister Charlotte Poire would still be adorable despite the serious flaw of her cleft mouth.

Mousse had become triplets with the two of them in this life—meaning he was the extra one, as he had not existed in the original story—so naturally, he would not be ugly either.

In fact, unlike his sister, whose lack of eyebrows might have been caused by Fish-Man blood and slightly marred her otherwise flawless appearance, Mousse's looks were even more perfect.

While Mousse was distracted, his impatient sister had already taken the first bite of her fruit. Her cute little face immediately scrunched up as if she were about to cry. "Ptooey, ptooey! It tastes awful!"

Oh well, I had to take this hit sooner or later. Mousse felt a little intimidated at the sight, but there was no backing out now. He could only steel himself, pick up his own Devil Fruit, and take a bite.

Mousse's face immediately turned green. "What the hell is this taste?"

Compared to the two little ones, their half-sister Smoothie, who was four years older—though still a child—and tall because she was from the Longleg Tribe, which was the main reason, already looked somewhat like a young lady.

Smoothie had arrived first, yet she was in no hurry at all. Only after her younger siblings had eaten did she leisurely pick up her fruit and take a bite.

Naturally, her reaction afterward was not much different. It was so disgusting that no one could stand it.

"Ah!" Charlotte Galette was the first to discover the changes in herself. Sticky, slippery butter began pouring uncontrollably from the surface of her body.

The originally delicate and adorable little girl soon became sticky all over. Uncomfortable and disgusted, she burst into tears with a wail.

"Don't be afraid. Once you get used to it, you'll be able to control it and stop it from coming out whenever it wants," Mousse hurriedly comforted his sister.

Meanwhile, Smoothie found that her body had become incredibly elastic. She could twist her limbs around several times without feeling any pain at all, and juice even seeped out of them.

Smoothie was several years older than Galette and had begun to understand things. She also already knew the name of the fruit she had eaten, so she did not panic. She even twisted herself a few more times because the sensation of having juice squeezed from her body felt rather pleasant.

But she had not expected that what she was squeezing out was actually the water in her body. Before long, Smoothie's lips felt dry, and her whole body went limp.

The young girl finally realized the danger and promptly stopped her reckless behavior. Then she pitifully threw herself into her second brother Katakuri's arms, acting cute and coquettish.

Katakuri affectionately patted his sister's head, then instructed the servants to immediately bring some of Smoothie's favorite juice for her to replenish herself with.

Unlike his two sisters, who had noticed changes immediately after eating their fruits, Charlotte Mousse experienced nothing unusual apart from feeling that his thoughts seemed a little more active.

Fortunately, as a transmigrator with an adult's knowledge and experience, Mousse immediately guessed where the issue lay. His eyes shifted as he called out, "Are there any books here? Someone bring me one. Any book will do."

"Will this work?" Upon hearing that, his eldest brother Perospero immediately pulled a draft roll of design blueprints from his pocket. Broadly speaking, it did count as a "book."

"It should work. Bring it over and let me try." Mousse nodded. Just as he was about to jog over and take the blueprints, Katakuri, standing beside their eldest brother, suddenly transformed his left arm into mochi and stuck it to the papers. With a light flick, he sent them flying straight to Mousse.

But Mousse knew that his second brother's control over his abilities had long since reached perfection, so he was already accustomed to such things. He simply reached out and caught the blueprints, without the slightest surprise on his face or any concern that they would be dirtied or damaged by the mochi.

"As expected, the Book-Book Fruit's most basic ability is controlling books. Books in the broad sense—even blueprints count." With a thought from Mousse after receiving the plans, they immediately underwent a strange transformation. They flapped like a bird's wings and rose into the air from his hand!

Although further tests proved that Mousse's control over books was not like the animation of objects in certain fantasy works, where one could completely fire and forget, and that any book controlled too far away would revert to normal, there was no doubt that the Book-Book Fruit's most basic ability was controlling books.

Mousse then began actively working his mind, silently considering the possible developments of this ability.

"Ma-ma-ma-ma! Smoothie, you must properly develop the Squeeze-Squeeze Fruit's abilities and squeeze the finest juice for Mama and your brothers and sisters! Little Galette, Mama is looking forward to the butter you make too." As Charlotte Linlin spoke, drool began running from the corner of her mouth without her noticing.

Though this future Yonko's intelligence was not actually low, and her many years as a pirate had even cultivated considerable political and diplomatic ability in her.

Still, the fact that food was always the first thing she thought of made it clear that, at forty-three years old, Charlotte Linlin's values remained at the level of a child.

Thinking of this, then looking at the pink polka-dot dress on his mother, whose style and pattern had not changed since she was five years old, Mousse unconsciously sighed to himself.

She was clearly just an oversized brat, yet back then she had chosen the bizarre method of desperately having children to build her own pirate crew and nation. He really did not know whether it was her misfortune, or the misfortune of her many children, Mousse included.

Mousse looked at his mother and kept sighing, while Charlotte Linlin also felt disappointed in her favorite son.

The Book-Book Fruit was said to be a rather powerful Devil Fruit. It had cost far more than the other two combined, yet who would have thought it could only control books? What use was controlling books?

Could he ride them to fly?

She could achieve that anytime by making a Homies for her son!

It really was not worth spending so much money on it!

"It can only control books. So useless." The extremely hurtful truth slipped naturally from Charlotte Linlin's lips.

Katakuri, who stood nearby, immediately frowned slightly. He knew that their mother did care somewhat for everyone, especially Mousse, who was her most favored child. It was simply that, because of her personality, she found it difficult to keep her thoughts to herself, especially around family.

Yet such honest words often wounded people deeply, especially children whose hearts were still fragile.

But Katakuri did not dare criticize their mother to her face for saying such things. He could only use her words as a lead-in and encourage his younger brother indirectly. "Mousse, as long as you develop it well, even an ability that does not seem particularly outstanding can be extremely useful."