Katakuri: Uncle Oak, Mom Says It's Time to Eat

"So, do you still want to learn?"

After explaining the technique of Conqueror's Haki Infusion, Newgate looked at Oak with a faintly amused smile.

"If you still want to learn, I'll teach you myself. When the time comes, I won't hold back. Even with your physique, getting hurt will be unavoidable."

Just as expected!

Oak did not answer right away. Instead, he put on an expression of helpless resignation, as if he had seen this coming all along, and held his forehead with one hand in a miserable grimace.

When little brother Kaido had leveled up into Teacher Kaido, this was how he had taught Luffy Conqueror's Haki Infusion too.

One club for Ryuo, one club for Conqueror's Haki Infusion, one club for awakening!

Kaido could practically be called the guiding beacon on Luffy's path to becoming one of the Four Emperors. He had dumped every good thing he had onto that kid, only to ultimately be betrayed by his own student and knocked into magma by him.

So Oak had long suspected that the fastest way to master Conqueror's Haki Infusion was to get beaten senseless by that very technique.

But it was definitely going to hurt!

Just thinking about voluntarily asking to be beaten made Oak's teeth ache.

But for greater power, he had to endure it no matter how much it hurt. So he nodded firmly at Newgate.

"Then it's settled. You'll teach me Conqueror's Haki Infusion. We start tomorrow!"

"Me too!"

Kaido silently raised a hand from the side, showing that he wanted to learn as well.

"Then you're paying the bill today!"

After clinking glasses with Newgate and reaching their pleasant agreement, Oak said this.

"Why?"

Kaido was indignant.

"Consider it your tuition fee!"

Not giving Kaido a chance to argue further, Oak grabbed Newgate and vanished from the tavern in a flash.

And Kaido clearly saw that when Newgate left, he was carrying several huge barrels of fine liquor in his arms.

Taking more to go again!

Dissatisfied with Newgate's drinking habits, the resentful Kaido still obediently pulled out what little money he had left.

Under the setting sun,

Kaido, half the size of a giant, sat on the edge of a cliff. Oak, who looked rather small by comparison, sat on his shoulder. One was bruised and battered, the other had a swollen face, and together they gazed mournfully at the distant sea.

It had already been a month since Newgate agreed to train them in Conqueror's Haki Infusion. Neither of them had learned it, but both had gained a body full of injuries.

"Little brother Kaido!"

"What?"

Oak called out softly, and Kaido responded with an eye roll.

"Nothing. I just felt like calling you!"

Oak leaned back and hooked his legs around Kaido, hanging upside down from him.

Although Newgate had used the flat of his blade when striking them with Conqueror's Haki Infusion and had not left any fatal injuries, getting smacked by the flat of a blade still hurt like hell. After all, it was Murakumogiri, one of the Supreme Grade Blades, coated in Conqueror's Haki.

And after taking beatings for an entire month, they still had not learned Conqueror's Haki Infusion. Oak felt like he had suffered through that month of punishment for nothing.

Why had Luffy learned it after taking just one hit from Kaido?

Oak refused to accept that. He did a sit-up and sat upright again, then slapped Kaido on the head.

"What now?"

Kaido turned back and glared at him furiously.

"You're annoying to look at!"

Oak bluntly declared his displeasure.

"I've put up with you for a long time!"

That sentence made Kaido even angrier.

"Get down! I'm not letting you sit on me anymore!"

Kaido reached out, trying to tear Oak off himself, but Oak clung to him like sticky candy. No matter how Kaido pulled, he could not peel him off.

"You're already this big, yet you still act like an elementary school kid."

Oak rolled his eyes at him.

After the two messed around like that for a while, they were interrupted by a sudden shout from behind them.

"Uncle Oak, I finally found you!"

Oak turned around and saw a small figure sprinting toward him. The boy had short crimson hair and wore a black leather vest, black jeans, and large spiked boots. He ran with an unsteady wobble, like a child who had only just learned to walk.

In fact, he really was a child, only four years old this year.

"So it's Katakuri!"

When the child reached Kaido's feet, Oak leaned back and pulled him up, seating him beside himself on Kaido's shoulder.

Up close, the little boy should have been quite handsome. Even at such a young age, his face carried an air of cold pride. But the beauty was ruined by his mouth full of sharp teeth and the long stitched scars at both corners of his mouth.

Those scars had come from last year, when the little boy had greedily eaten so many donuts that his mouth split open. Oak had always found it a pity. Otherwise, he would definitely grow up to be a handsome young man.

"What did you come looking for me for today?"

Oak asked the boy, then flicked him on the forehead with a sharp snap.

"And how many times have I told you? Don't call me uncle. We're the same generation, and I'm only eleven years older than you. From now on, call me Brother Oak!"

Oak was deeply dissatisfied with being called uncle. He was only fifteen this year. What kind of uncle was that? This little brat was making him sound old.

"Mom told me to come get you for dinner at our house, and Mom was also the one who told me to call you uncle."

Katakuri rubbed his head unhappily, making it clear that this was his mother's fault, not his.

"Eating at your place again?"

Katakuri was Linlin's second son, so going to his house for dinner naturally meant going to Linlin's house for dinner.

The moment he heard that Linlin was inviting him over for dinner again, and for supper at that, Oak instinctively rubbed his lower back, which somehow began to ache.

"Since when did you get so close to Linlin?"

Kaido shot him a puzzled look, wondering when Oak and Linlin had become so close. Over the past month, Oak had often gone to Linlin's house for dinner after training, and every time he went, he stayed the entire night, only returning the next morning.

"None of your business!"

Oak answered him with an irritated eye roll.

Something was off!

Yet Kaido did not let the matter drop. Instead, his gaze grew even more suspicious.

"You wouldn't be..."

Thinking of the many rumors about Linlin, as well as the origins of the dozen or so children in her home, Kaido had not even finished voicing his suspicious guess before Oak hurriedly interrupted him.

"That's nonsense, bullshit, I didn't!"

Oak fired off a three-part denial in one breath and raised his fist threateningly. Only then did Kaido obediently shut his mouth. But judging from the contemptuous look on Kaido's face before he did, who knew how filthy he had already imagined Oak to be.

"Uncle Oak... Brother Oak, are you going or not? Mom specially asked Mr. Streusen to make a whole bunch of delicious desserts. There are even tasty donuts waiting for you!"

Katakuri urged him from the side. But after seeing Oak's fierce glare, he wisely changed uncle to brother for the moment.

At the mention of desserts made by Streusen, especially donuts, he instinctively licked the corners of his mouth, impatient to return and taste all that delicious food!