The Misunderstood Daifuku

"Indeed." Mousse nodded as well, affirming his second brother's view. Although Charlotte Linlin herself was impervious to blades and bullets, and even if the enemy plotted against her, it would still be difficult for them to do much to her, Totto Land had countless brothers and sisters, as well as even more citizens!

Therefore, Katakuri could only remain in Totto Land as a precaution. The operation to travel to the Pudding Kingdom and obtain the secret of the King's Fist would be led by Charlotte Oven, its greatest beneficiary.

Fortunately, the latter's Observation Haki had already awakened. Though it was not yet mature, it specialized in sensing the target's emotions and was sufficient for Mousse's lie detection needs. There was even less need to worry about his strength.

As for the one thing people had to worry about—his brain—Katakuri had specifically instructed this full brother to discuss everything with Mousse, so there should not be any major problems.

Aside from Katakuri, the exceptionally intelligent and capable Baron Tamago would not be boarding the ship either.

Fortunately, the others, including Zeus and Charlotte Brulee, would still be going along.

In addition, large mirrors would be prepared both in Totto Land and aboard the ship this time. Should they encounter danger, the team could either escape back to Totto Land through the Mirror World or directly request reinforcements from Totto Land. Their safety was far greater than during the previous trip.

However, this also meant that the voyage required more time to prepare, so Katakuri suggested that Mousse use the time to give further guidance to the other brothers and sisters who had eaten Devil Fruits.

The situation was now extremely dire. Every bit of improvement to the family's strength was beneficial, and the sooner, the better.

The first person Mousse sought out was Charlotte Daifuku, the only one among Katakuri's triplet brothers who had not gone to the Faros Kingdom. He suggested that Daifuku follow Charlotte Oven's approach and heat up his own body to improve his Combat Power.

Due to the limitations of the Puff Puff Fruit, Daifuku could only heat himself to water's boiling point.

Moreover, while that temperature could be raised through pressure, the Puff Puff Fruit was also a cooking-type fruit and had its limits. At most, it could only reach the level of a pressure cooker—around 120°C—making it completely incomparable to the effects of the Heat-Heat Fruit.

However, Katakuri knew that the Puff Puff Fruit's ability to protect its user's body was stronger than that, and based on this, he had come up with a "combination technique": have Fourth Brother Oven heat his elder brother Daifuku. That could reach 300°C, which was the limit of Daifuku's body temperature tolerance.

But after hearing this idea, Mousse did not think highly of it. On one hand, Oven's own Combat Power was stronger, so he could not possibly stay behind Daifuku as support all the time. Once Daifuku left his heat source, he would no longer be able to maintain his high temperature.

On the other hand, heating up to 100°C was actually enough, because the burst power it could provide had already exceeded the limit his muscles could withstand. The actual increase in attack power was no different from Oven's high-temperature Overheat.

As for the boosts to reaction speed, bodily agility, and perception, an increase of nearly tenfold was already extremely significant—more than enough to crush the vast majority of opponents at the same level.

And if the enemy was too strong, or had mastered more advanced Observation Haki, no amount of quantitative change could compare to qualitative change. No matter how high the multiplier, he still would not be able to win.

"Brother Oven can heat himself conveniently, for one thing. For another, among you three, his original speed—both mental and physical—and perception were the worst, and by quite a margin, so he needed a greater boost. But Brother Daifuku has no such need. In the end, this move trades lifespan and stamina for a short-term increase in strength. The price is enormous. As long as it meets the need, that is enough. If you insist on pursuing the absolute limit, you'll only lose more than you gain." After Mousse's analysis, even Katakuri had to admit that he had oversimplified the matter.

Carried away by the discussion, Mousse went on to criticize Charlotte Daifuku's previous development of the Puff Puff Fruit. "No matter what, the Puff Puff Fruit finally has a relatively practical move now. What exactly was Brother Daifuku developing before?"

"Isn't the Djinn quite useful? Although its attack power is somewhat lower than Daifuku's own, it can fly, it's fast, and it can't be killed! It can't compare to Overheat, but it's still a pretty decent development, isn't it?" Katakuri was somewhat puzzled by this.

In Katakuri's view, Charlotte Daifuku had actually managed to connect steam with the magic lamps from myth and legend and successfully develop it into an ability. That imagination was practically beyond the heavens.

After all, the only connection between steam and a magic lamp was that, in the legends, steam would emerge when one rubbed the lamp and summoned a Djinn.

But Mousse then pinpointed the serious flaw in this development path. "The Djinn is indeed useful, but while Brother Daifuku controls it, he cannot fight himself. Over time, he'll get used to hiding in the back and letting the Djinn charge ahead. That is safer, but without the tempering of intense combat, his Body Techniques and Haki will suffer greatly. Furthermore, this development direction actually conflicts with improving his own Body Techniques and Haki. No matter how strong the Djinn is, it is ultimately just flying cannon fodder. The way it is used is completely different from how Brother Daifuku fights himself. So if he spends too much effort and time developing his Devil Fruit ability, it will delay the improvement of his own Combat Power, and vice versa. In that regard, it is not even as good as Brother Cracker's Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit."

Katakuri was suddenly enlightened after hearing this and finally realized that his third brother's Devil Fruit development had indeed gone down the wrong path.

However, just as Katakuri was about to habitually pat Mousse on the head in praise, he suddenly thought of something. The look he gave his younger brother immediately became subtly different. "These ideas weren't something you just came up with, were they? Why did you wait until now to say them?"

Having been exposed by his second brother, Mousse blushed somewhat for a moment before immediately making an excuse. "Brother Daifuku is so fierce. How would I dare say it to him?"

"But you could have told me!" Katakuri's single sentence exposed Mousse's lie.

However, Katakuri did not continue blaming his younger brother. Instead, to Mousse's surprise, he showed a face full of guilt. "You can't be blamed. With Daifuku's usual attitude, I'm afraid none of his younger brothers or sisters would like him, right? But what you don't know is that Daifuku cares for all of you just as much as I, Oven, and Brother Perospero do!"

Seeing Mousse's disbelieving expression, Katakuri hesitated briefly before revealing the truth. "Fine. You're different from ordinary children, especially after eating the Book-Book Fruit. Your maturity has even surpassed that of the vast majority of adults. It's all right to tell you now."

It turned out that both Perospero and Katakuri knew that blindly showering children with love and protection was not beneficial to their growth. Therefore, among the older brothers, someone had to step forward and play the villain.

Daifuku's appearance and temperament seemed rather gloomy, so he took on that responsibility.

Thus, while Perospero and Katakuri were deeply respected and loved by their younger brothers and sisters, Charlotte Daifuku became someone they feared and even resented.

Katakuri could have filled that role as well, but because of Brulee's matter, he had been playing the perfect older brother ever since then. In the end, Daifuku, his third brother, had to bear the burden, and Katakuri felt especially guilty toward him.