"Mamamama~ You must be Black Leg Sanji, right? Such a shy child. Come, meet your fiancée. In a few days, we'll all be family.
Pudding, come out."
A girl with light brown hair stepped forward at Charlotte Linlin's command—the 35th daughter of the Charlotte Family, Charlotte Pudding.
One of Charlotte Linlin's few attractive children, her third eye hidden beneath the bangs on her forehead.
As everyone knew, Charlotte Linlin had dozens of husbands from different races, and Pudding's father was one of the rare Three-Eye Tribe. It is said that when a member of the Three-Eye Tribe awakens their third eye, they could read the Poneglyphs.
This was also Charlotte Linlin's method for deciphering the Poneglyphs.
Due to information gaps, she never knew that the scholars and books from Ohara had already been taken away by the Beasts Pirates, nor did she know that Kaido already had his own way to decipher the Poneglyphs.
In her mind, this was her unique advantage.
Charlotte Linlin was well aware that this daughter of hers excelled at acting and mimicry, and was also the user of the Memo-Memo Fruit. With her appearance, she could deceive people more easily, which was exactly why Linlin chose her as the marriage partner for this political alliance.
Sanji himself had no interest in the arranged marriage. On the other hand, his brothers all had hearts in their eyes the moment they saw Pudding. Even though they were supposed to be emotionless, they still retained this feeling. Just like their curly eyebrows, it was a rather unique family trait.
For now, Pudding's role was just that of a weak girl. She didn't say much, and Sanji showed no interest, so this meeting ended up being one where everyone was happy except the main parties involved.
"You don't seem too familiar with each other yet, but that's fine. After all, it's a political marriage. As long as our interests align, that's enough. Don't you agree, Judge?"
"That's right. But if the children can live happily, that would be even better."
Judge acted like a loving father, but Sanji couldn't help but scoff in his heart. When the meeting ended, Charlotte Linlin let Pudding and Sanji spend some time alone to get to know each other.
And over the next few days, Sanji was attracted to a side of Pudding she showed him.
Within the Big Mom Pirates, children without strength or a way to show their value would gradually lose Charlotte Linlin's trust and could even earn her disgust.
Before the age of ten, Charlotte Linlin's motherly instincts still had an effect. But once they passed that age, things were completely different.
Because of her natural third eye, Pudding was mocked by others as a child. She didn't have Katakuri's strength to shut everyone up, so she chose to hide behind acting and worked hard to show her value.
This skill was honed for survival, and with Judge's threats on top of it, Sanji was conflicted about the political marriage, which made him waver a bit.
As they got to know each other, Pudding, trying to establish a certain image, brought Sanji to the kitchen of Whole Cake Island.
"Come on, Sanji, the kitchen on Whole Cake Island is really something special."
When their hands touched, it was as if a switch flipped in Sanji's heart. At that moment, he even imagined the names of their future children. What snapped him back to reality was a wave of the scent of wheat.
"Is this... high-quality wheat?"
As a chef, Sanji had a deep understanding of the cooking skills and was especially strict about ingredients.
Cooking skills could enhance flavors, but if the ingredients themselves were lacking, no amount of technique could fully make up for it; it's not something you could fix just by "pouring your heart into it."
Sanji took a handful of wheat from the bag, chewed it thoughtfully, and the sweetness on his tongue confirmed his suspicion.
"How is it? Amazing, right? This is top-grade wheat we could only get thanks to Mama's reputation."
There was no brand or logo on the bag, just a smiling dog head, but this was wheat produced by Beasts Fruits. Totto Land's dessert output was among the highest in the entire sea, and flour was an indispensable ingredient in many of those desserts.
This wheat would be milled into different flours according to its intended use, and unhulled wheat could better preserve the aroma of the grain, which was why it was kept whole here.
"This is the best wheat I've ever seen. Where did you get it?"
"The Beasts Pirates! They have islands specifically for growing wheat, but aside from Mama, outsiders generally can't buy this wheat."
Within the Beasts Pirates' territory, there were several islands full of plains. Besides the farmers and machinery working the fields, packs of dogs could be seen running through the wheat.
As they dashed through, they trampled some wheat seedlings, but no one scolded them; in fact, there were people dedicated to looking after their rest.
On a nearby clearing where wheat was drying, several similar dogs were also lying there. As the sunlight fell on their bodies, their fur gradually grew slightly stiff, while releasing a faint aroma.
It wasn't that their bodies were being roasted. The scent was a unique ability of their species.
These dogs, whose bodies resembled twisted dough and bread, were called Dachsbun, the Dog Pokémon. The aroma they emitted could promote the growth of wheat.
The effect of this scent surpassed any known fertilizer, though it was only effective for wheat.
Food was one of the fundamental pillars of any force and couldn't be entrusted to outsiders. That's why several islands dedicated to agriculture in the Beasts Pirates' territory used the abilities of Pokémon to grow crops.
Wheat had become the main staple crop and was rarely sold outside. Only Charlotte Linlin, thanks to her connections, has access to a portion of it. Beyond that, it's mainly used to "harvest" the Celestial Dragons.
Seeing this high-quality wheat, Sanji, who hadn't cooked in a long time, felt his hands itch to try, planning to show off his culinary skills.
The cake kitchen was filled with pastry chefs, so Sanji decided to start there too. Nearby, there was freshly milled flour, and after getting everything ready, he began searching for yeast.
For flour-based foods, fermentation is like a unique deity. Through fermentation, the dough's original properties change, making food softer and fluffier.
But Sanji didn't find the yeast he was expecting. Instead, a compressed gas cylinder came rolling over.
"Please use me, Chef."
The cylinder also had a smiling dog head, but it wasn't a Dachsbun; it was a cute yellow puppy.
Meanwhile, on the wheat-growing island, a pack of yellow puppies ran with the island's children.
Machinery had improved productivity and freed many hands, so the children who once had to help with farming now had other things to do.
It seemed like they were playing wildly, but in fact, they were helping out.
These yellow puppies were the pre-evolution form of the Dachsbun - Fidough.
They couldn't promote wheat growth, but their mouths contained a unique type of yeast. While playing, the collectors hanging from their necks would gather the gas they exhaled, which, after filtering, became a special yeast.
These canned yeasts were then given souls by Charlotte Linlin on Whole Cake Island, leading to this strange scene.
As an appropriate amount of yeast was sprayed into the dough, it rose visibly, completing in a minute a fermentation process that would normally take 25 minutes.
"This is like magic!"
"Isn't it? There's a lot more like this. Cream, milk, they're all very special and of course, they all come from the same place, the Beasts Pirates.
They have all sorts of fantastic creatures that provide these incredible ingredients. Mama has always wanted those animals to live on Whole Cake Island, but the Beasts Pirates have never agreed."
Pudding was lowering Sanji's guard by sharing this information. After all, none of it was important enough to matter whether she told him or not.
What she'd just mentioned was the "Alcremie ban," along with a series of related bans. Because of Charlotte Linlin's instability, Totto Land had become a forbidden zone for Pokémon.
Sanji then witnessed the entire process of dessert-making on Whole Cake Island. The cream sprayer Homies Pudding mentioned assisted the chefs in making desserts.
The chefs and Homies worked like an assembly line, continually producing new desserts for all parts of Whole Cake Island.
While the cakes were baking, Sanji started preparing other things. Through a brief introduction, Sanji realized that the kitchen here was almost entirely filled with rare items that ordinary people couldn't buy.
After dealing with all sorts of magical ingredients and kitchenware that could move, he finally saw an ordinary bottle of salt.
Charlotte Linlin didn't like salty desserts, but salt was still essential in the kitchen. Just a bit of salt could further enhance a food's sweetness.
Likewise, a small amount of sugar can also make the taste of salt more pronounced.
"This salt—"
"That's right, it's from there too."
This time, it wasn't from a wheat plantation island, but the familiar Udon Mine, where several rock giants were walking.
Nearby, two Graveler had fought to attract a Gigalith's attention. Now, they lay exhausted on the ground, even with cracks appearing on their bodies.
Even for Rock-type Pokémon, these were serious injuries. Seeing this, a rock giant came over and rubbed its fingers above the Graverlers, showering them with lots of salt.
As their wounds were covered in this special mineral salt, their stamina quickly recovered, and before long, they were back on their feet.
Udon Mine's new warden and medic - Garganacl. The salt it scattered was tremendously effective at healing Pokémon's injuries, and also contained substances beneficial for their growth.
That's why many Pokémon followed it, collecting the salt it dropped.
This healing only worked for Pokémon. For humans, it had to be processed into medicine through special methods. Without those, it was just high-quality mineral salt.
Because of its special properties, Garganacl's salt could be found everywhere in the area it lives, and after being collected, was turned into a product.
With their wounds healed, the Graverlers regained their energy. But their efforts were not in vain; thanks to their hard work, they eventually caught Garganacl's attention...
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