My Family Doesn't Need Desserts

Rektol looked at the dessert houses covering the island and let go of Cracker's collar.

Cracker dropped onto his butt. Rubbing his neck, he followed his brother's gaze.

He had just opened his mouth to say that the chocolate fountain looked delicious.

Without a word, Rektol's feet erupted with blue light.

His three-year-old body shot straight into the air.

The sea breeze tousled his short pink hair. Rektol hovered fifty meters above the ground.

He stared expressionlessly at the colorful camp below.

He raised his right arm. His fingers spread wide.

"Ten Thousand Thunder."

Two hundred million volts surged from his fingertips and poured straight into the sky.

The cloudless sky instantly churned and darkened. Several blinding snakes of lightning flashed beneath the clouds.

The next second, dense blue-white lightning pillars crashed down like torrential rain.

The lightning struck the chocolate rooftops with pinpoint accuracy. The intense heat instantly carbonized the candy.

The smell of caramel was replaced by a pungent burnt stench.

The wafer walls collapsed with a roar, crashing into the cream-paved streets. The sugary syrup ignited under the lightning, burning with oily green flames.

Several three-story cake towers were split in half by the lightning pillars. Cream splattered across the faces of the nearby pirates, scalding them until they covered their faces and rolled across the ground.

Perospero, who had been eating candy on the lawn, burst into terrified sobs. He scrambled behind a stone house, leaving candies scattered all around him.

Several pirates who tried to save the treasure were struck by lightning. Black smoke poured from their bodies as they collapsed and convulsed on the ground. The rum bottles in their hands exploded, scattering glass shards through the muddy water.

Deep within the camp, a roar that sounded nothing like a human voice suddenly erupted.

"My... caramel cream puff tower!"

A hard-candy castle that had not yet completely collapsed was smashed to pieces.

Charlotte Linlin charged out.

She had originally been wearing that loose polka-dot dress, but its entire hem was now burned to a crisp.

Her eyes had rolled back, leaving no pupils visible. Drool ran from her chin down her chest in long, sticky strands.

Her Hunger Pangs had fully erupted.

Linlin had lost all reason. Her thick legs pounded across the ground. Every step left a half-meter-deep crater in the scorched earth.

A nearby pirate stood frozen with terror and failed to dodge. Linlin snatched him up in one hand.

"Cream puffs... Such sweet cream puffs!"

Linlin opened her huge mouth full of serrated teeth, about to bite the pirate down like a dessert.

The pirate lost control of his bowels. He desperately hacked at Linlin's arm with his short sword, but failed to leave even a white mark.

In midair, Rektol snorted coldly.

His figure blurred, transforming into a bolt of lightning as he dove.

His right leg came down with a violent roar of wind, smashing into Linlin's wrist like a battle-ax.

The monstrous strength supplied by his three hearts exploded forth.

"Crack."

Linlin's wrist dislocated. The pirate fell from midair and landed in a pool of mud, narrowly escaping with his life.

With her food stolen, Linlin completely lost control.

She threw back her head and let out a shrill scream. A dark-red surge of Conqueror's Haki burst from her body.

The shock wave sent rubble and charred remains flying. The air grew thick and sticky as glue.

Linlin swung her enormous fist, thick as a water tank and wrapped in black Armament Haki, straight at Rektol.

The force of the punch made Rektol's cheeks ache.

Rektol did not dodge.

Inside his chest, three heartbeats overlapped, booming like war drums.

The sound of blood pounding through his veins drowned out the surrounding thunder.

Rektol clenched both fists. Blinding lightning coiled around his arms, while his muscles swelled against all reason.

"Bang!"

Two fists, one large and one small, collided.

The ground collapsed with a roar. A visible ring of shockwaves spread outward.

The few remaining dessert houses were completely pulverized by the blast.

Rektol shook his numb knuckles.

A three-year-old child's bones had taken the brunt of an adult monster's strength, putting him at a slight disadvantage. But he had plenty of trump cards.

Two hundred million volts surged through the point of contact between their fists, violently flooding Linlin's body.

"Bzzzt—"

Blue light completely enveloped Linlin's massive body.

Linlin let out a terrible scream. The fat covering her body trembled violently, and tiny beads of blood burst across her skin.

Her Armament Haki was forcibly dispersed by the high-voltage current.

Her huge body was sent flying. It crashed heavily into the scorched lawn, creating a crater more than ten meters wide.

Rektol had no intention of stopping.

He leaped into the crater after her.

His leather boot landed directly on Linlin's stomach.

He seized Linlin's wildly flailing arms with both hands and drove his knee into her chin.

His left hand pressed against Linlin's forehead, and another electric shock struck.

This time, he lowered the voltage but increased the stimulation.

"Wake up."

Blue light flickered.

Linlin's rolled-back eyes jolted violently. After rolling several times, they finally regained their focus.

She gasped for breath, exhaling a plume of white smoke.

The smell of caramel had completely dispersed from the air.

Linlin looked at Rektol straddling her and shook her head, still numb from the electricity.

"Rektol... You little bastard, you nearly broke my back!" Linlin cursed through clenched teeth.

She struggled to get up. Her muscles were weak and sore, and she failed to throw the three-year-old brat off her in one motion.

Rektol released her. He jumped down from Linlin's stomach.

The soles of his shoes crunched across the scorched earth.

He dusted off his hands and looked down at his mother.

The pirates huddled at the edge of the ruins with their weapons in hand, not daring to breathe too loudly. Even the pirate who had just escaped death knelt in the muddy water and kept kowtowing.

Perospero clutched his head in a crack between the rocks, a large wet patch spreading across his crotch.

"Are you lucid now?" Rektol kicked a piece of charred debris beside him.

Black ash flew up, making Linlin cough twice.

"These soft, fluffy candies are useless for anything except turning you into a mindless lunatic."

Rektol turned around to face all the pirates in the camp.

He was young and short, but the pressure radiating from him now made hundreds of adult pirates lower their heads.

"From today onward, the Charlotte Family has no need for weak things like desserts."

Rektol extended his right hand and snapped his fingers.

Cracker, who had been frightened into sitting on the ground, made a sound like a drunken belch.

His chubby fingers waved twice.

The iron nails scattered around them, the discarded swords and knives thrown away by the pirates, and several pieces of rusty sheet metal responded to the call of the Magnet-Magnet Fruit.

They vibrated with a buzzing hum and flew into the air.

The metal fragments fused together in midair, producing a harsh scraping sound.

A few seconds later.

A heavy steel shield slammed down at Rektol's feet, splashing mud everywhere.

Several crude iron-barrel cannons were forcibly molded into shape and mounted on either side of the ruins.

"What we are going to build is an invincible fortress filled with steel and gunpowder."

Rektol planted one foot on the shield.

"If anyone dares ship a single pound of sugar onto this island again, I will turn him and this pile of trash into ash."

His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached every ear in the silent camp.

Several logistics pirates responsible for buying food were so frightened that they dropped their abacuses and fell to their knees with a thud.

No one dared to object.

Using the most violent means possible, Rektol completely seized absolute authority over the island. Even Linlin sat in the crater, tacitly accepting the result.

At the edge of the camp, behind a collapsed stone wall,

a pirate in a ragged vest clamped both hands over his mouth, preventing himself from making a sound.

He held a blue Den Den Mushi in his hands.

The Den Den Mushi's mouth had been stuffed shut with a strip of cloth. Its shell was covered in cracks from hitting the ground earlier.

It was one of the spies Rocks had planted on the various allied islands.

The pirate swallowed, then shakily pressed the dialing button.

In a distant sea,

aboard the flagship of the Rocks Pirates at Hachinosu,

the air was oppressive inside the dim captain's cabin.

The mother Den Den Mushi on the table suddenly rang.

A withered hand reached over and picked up the receiver.

The Den Den Mushi's appearance instantly changed. A pair of mustaches curled upward, and its eyes became lifeless and glassy. It vividly imitated the terrified expression of the pirate on the other end.

"C-Captain..." a trembling voice came from the Den Den Mushi.

"That kid from the Charlotte Family... He nearly killed Linlin just now. The entire camp is listening to him now."

"He said he wants to build some kind of steel fortress. He doesn't respect the rules of our flagship at all."

Rocks leaned back in the broad chair covered in animal hide.

His legs rested on the edge of the table. His bloodshot eyes stared at the ceiling.

He casually shook the rum bottle in his hand.

"A steel fortress?"

Rocks's voice was like sandpaper scraping rusted iron, cold and grating.

"That brat's ambition is far greater than his mother's appetite."

Rocks sat upright. He slammed the bottle onto the table, cracking the wood.

He issued a secret order through the Den Den Mushi.

"Go tell Rektol."

Rocks tugged at the corner of his mouth, exposing his uneven teeth.

"Tell him to come see me on the flagship alone."