Chapter 2. Mama's Child

Chapter 2. Mama's Child

The labor room was a grand chamber, bedecked with festive decorations. Streamers of pastel pink and blue hung from the high ceiling, twinkling fairy lights casting a warm glow over the space. The walls were lined with garlands of fresh flowers, their sweet scent mingling with the celebratory songs of the Homies - anthropomorphized objects, foods, and animals given expressive life by Big Mom's ability.

The central area hosted a massive bed, with white, colored, and creamy liquid flowing on the already wet sheets.

Large windows let in beams of golden sunlight, illuminating the polished cake floors that some of the Charlotte family members stepped on as they processed the new information. For nine months, their head of the family, Charlotte Linlin, had been pregnant, and no one took any notice! They had simply dismissed her hunger for birthday cakes as one of her usual cravings, except this one had unusually extended for months - nine to be exact.

Moreover, Big Mom being pregnant was not something you could easily deduce from simple visual cues, considering the general size of her mature body.

Finally, the baby came - the newest family member of the Charlotte Family.

---

After being born, I found myself in Big Mom's enormous hands, held aloft like a speck of dust to a gigantic face. She alternated between screaming for a birthday cake and recognizing me as her beautiful baby.

"It's beautiful as cake," she said, her eyes kind and warm, her voice a gentle lullaby.

Then, her voice transformed into a roar, her eyes maddening with desire, "Now, where is my birthday keki?"

In response, the doors swung open, and a team of chefs emerged, struggling under the weight of an enormous cake. Four visible chefs carried it on a large, ornate platter, their faces red and dripping with sweat from the exertion of both carrying it and baking it.

The cake that came in was a marvel, towering to nearly match the size of Big Mom. Layers of rich chocolate and creamy vanilla stacked high, each tier decorated with colorful sugary flowers that seemed to bloom right off the cake. The top was crowned with caramel ribbons, glistening like liquid gold under the lights. The smell was intoxicating, a heavenly blend of cocoa, vanilla, and caramel that filled the air with birthday sweetness.

At the sight of it, Big Mom's eyes widened, giving her face the expression of a zealous child. Roughly, she set me aside. I was thrown like a rag-doll, but before I could hit the cradle and smash to the ground, a long tongue caught me mid-air and balanced me to a pair of sticky hands.

"Perorin, careful, little brother," Perospero, Big Mom's eldest child said, placing me gently in the cradle. His tongue swayed sideways as he gave me what I interpreted to being a reassuring smile as he handed me a big, sticky candy.

"Mama will be fine once she eats the cake," he said softly, his warm voice betraying no hint of reassurance. However, he was a comforting presence, his big candy and gentleness making me feel a little safer in this strange, frightening world.

While processing everything that was transpiring, I turned my attention back to Big Mom, who in a cruel twist of fate, happened to be my mother now. My eyes were just in time to see her dive into the cake after appreciating and adorning it with all manner of kind words of adoration. Then, she plunged into it with the ferocity of a starving beast.

Her hands, large and powerful, tore into the cake, fingers digging deep into the soft layers, ripping out chunks and stuffing them into her mouth. Frosting smeared across her dribbling face, and crumbs scattered like confetti in a storm.

Each bite seemed to disappear instantly as it met with her enormous mouth, the cake transforming from a pristine creation into a disheveled mess. The layers crumbled and collapsed under her insistence, the delicate decorations crushed and smeared. Her growls of incoming satisfaction were deep and guttural, vibrating through the room.

I could see the frosting smeared on the front of her maternal clothes, the crumbs clinging to her wild hair, as the cake became a mere memory, reduced to streaks of color and lumps of broken confection. As she came to a closing, the once towering masterpiece now lay in ruins.

"Keki?" Big Mom wondered as she licked her fingers clean, an unsettling emptiness filling in her eyes. She started to look stunned as incomprehension seemed to settle on her. "Where did it go?"

She remained in position, her features stunned as she stared at the blank space. Either sorrow or horror engulfed her face as she continued staring, her expressions beginning to wrinkle.

"Mama," Perospero started, fright evident in his words. "You ate the cake."

"It was a big cake, mama," Compote, Big Mom's eldest daughter, a heavyset mature woman with very long and bushy teal hair, with a strong resemblance to her mother, said. She had a large bowl of fruit parfait on her head. "We thought you would be finally satisfied. It should have been enough"

"E-en... enough? Keki?" Big Mom stuttered. Her expression started changing, the crimson glow in her eyes becoming more prominent. Any sense of warmth or kindness she had evaporated as swiftly as the drool on her mouth formed.

"More keekii!" She roared, gesturing with clenched fists. "I want more keeeekkkiiii!"

The joyful songs of the Homies died down and dulled as the atmosphere began rapidly shifting to intense. As Big Mom's hunger pangs started, the relatively happy ambiance that had been in the room transformed. Her eyes blazed with an insatiable hunger, eyes colored red, her face already twisted to that of a rageful and desperate monster.

My mother became a rabid beast, driven by a primal need that could not be sated.

"More keki!" she bellowed, her voice booming through the room like a clap of thunder. The sound reverberated off the walls, making the crystal chandeliers tinkle in alarm. The Homies scattered in panic, their animated faces forcing fearful expressions, against their cheerful nature.

Mama's breath came in heavy, hot puffs. When she stomped her feet, the cake floor cracked under the massive weight, revealing the soil beneath. Her enormous fists pounded the cake walls, sending tremors through the room that rattled the windows and made my cradle bounce. My delicate form nearly smashed against the caked edges of the cradle, but Perospero grabbed me, holding me tightly against his chest.

"Mama, you have to calm down," Perospero said, his tone sharp and pleading. "You'll scare the baby. You'll make him-"

He glanced at me, studying me closely, perhaps searching for tears or screams of terror. I wasn't sure until he pinched me. Instead of crying, I winced at the pain. The shock of being in Big Mom's world, especially during her rampage, was enough to keep my tears and voice locked away.

"The baby isn't crying!" Perospero shouted over to his siblings, panic in his voice.

"Is it breathing?" Compote asked, her voice as calm as ever.

Perospero examined me with a keener eye, noticing the rapid heaves of my chest, and replied, "Yes."

"Then he is okay. He's just one of the strong ones, like brother Katakuri," Compote replied, without any hint of worry or pride in her words.

"More birthday keki! I want more!" Big Mom roared wildly, her voice still echoing like a thunderclap. Her enormous hands, capable of both gentle caresses and terrible destruction, lashed out with reckless abandon. She tore through everything close to her, turning walls of cake into crumbling ruins. Everyone present knew better than to stand too close, and they scampered away, the chefs stumbling and falling from the exhaustion of being overworked.

"We have another cake, mama" one of the chefs said in terror. "It should be coming in soon."

"No! You idiot!" a stout chef with a beard ridiculed, shaking his head. He didn't look as terrified as the others, but he still kept his distance. "The second cake is meant for the child."

"It's for the child, in case he happens to be similar to Big Mom," the chef added, then affirmed. "It's for the child, and the child alone."

"Big Mom will have to suppress her hunger pangs, or you find her another cake," the chef continued. "It's your choice on which is more practical."

"But Streusen," Compote pleaded with the stout head chef. "If there is another cake, give it to her or she will destroy the entire Whole Cake Island. The baby is clearly fine. He hasn't turned out to be like Ma-..."

"BORRBORRGGMMUSS!" The timing was terrible, but the demand was necessary. My stomach rumbled, a sound that matched Big Mom's roars and clashes. The hunger was setting in, a gnawing emptiness as if I hadn't eaten in forever. Already used to being fed sugar in the womb, my body craved the sweet sustenance that was now rapidly being consumed by the shock of watching Big Mom in action.

"I know what Big Mom is capable of," Streusen replied coldly. "But the child is my first priority in the current matter. You will have to find another cake."

"But you are the executive chef!" Perospero protested. "Where can we possibly find another cake if not from you?"

Big Mom grabbed a nearby table laden with gifts and food, lifting it above her head as if it were a mere toy. She lowered her body, her massive frame bending in a futile search for the cake beneath where the table had been. "Is it here?" she asked, gently-ier.

With a mighty heave, she flipped the table aside, sending the remaining gifts scattering across the ground.

"Where is my birthday keki? Where did it go?" she screamed, her voice a terrifying blend of a child's petulance and a beast's ferocity.

"Mama has no idea she ate the cake," one of the family members muttered under his mask, standing stoically with the others. "It wasn't enough.

Big Mom's eyes darted around the room, frenzied and unfocused, desperately searching for the elusive cake. Her nostrils flared, inhaling deeply as if hoping to catch a whiff of the cake. The smell of smashed cake and flowers filled the air.

"Is it outside?" she wondered aloud, her voice tinged with a frantic hopefulness. She charged through a series of walls, her powerful frame smashing through the delicate cake structures.

"My birthday cake," she repeated, the words a haunting refrain. "I'm coming... keekiii..."

"Whole Cake Island is in danger if we don't do something already," a tall, large and muscular, male, family member with blond-orange hair said. "What do we do, big brother Perospero?"

"We need another cake," Perospero replied, the hidden terror in his voice rippling through my body from our point of contact.

"BORRBORRGGMMUSS..." My stomach protested.

"We need two cakes," Perospero amended, responding to my involuntary contribution to the conversation. "Even more if we can manage it."

"But from where?" a female member asked worriedly.

"I'll rally every chef in Totto Land to bake as swiftly as possible," Perospero declared.

"Oven and Katakuri will mobilize all available forces to gather ingredients," he continued, laying out the plan with urgency.

"And you, Compote, will keep Mama occupied and prevent the total destruction of Whole Cake Island until we have a cake, or enough," Perospero turned to his sister, assigning her a crucial role.

BORRBORRGGMMUSS...

"What about the baby?" Compote asked.

"I will take him, and feed him," Streusen, the chef said as he reached out to gently scoop me from Perospero. "Poor thing must be in shock from all this chaos. Just look at his expression."

One glance at the closest, half-broken mirror, and I was met with my own reflection, capturing the raw emotion of my infantile bewilderment. My wide eyes were filled with pure terror, the innocence of infancy juxtaposed against the destruction around me.

I gazed at the tiny, fragile creature staring back at me, struggling to comprehend all that was unfolding. From going to bed to sleep, to being stuck in a cake womb for nine months, to somehow existing in One Piece!! How did all this happen?

And why?

---

Streusen carefully balanced me in his arms, his touch gentle and firm. Despite being the executive chef of Whole Cake Island, he was not a towering figure like Big Mom. In fact, he was rather short compared to some of the other family members, and I couldn't help but notice how I could easily grow bigger than him in just a few years.

We were now in a quieter room, away from Big Mom's rampage. Streusen began to speak softly, his voice soothing.

"It's alright, little one," he murmured, his tone filled with compassion. "You must be so confused by all of this. But don't worry, I'm here to take care of you."

Before us, there was a towering cake, resembling the one Big Mom had consumed, except it remained intact, untouched by her voracious appetite. Carefully, Streusen portioned out a small serving of cake, breaking off minuscule crumbs and pieces to offer me. I observed him closely, my wide eyes focused on the sugary temptation in front of me, my stomach churning with hunger as if it were on a wild roller-coaster ride. My inexperienced lips salivated and drooled.

"Now, I know what you're thinking," Streusen continued his monologue, unaware that I could understand him. "A baby eating cake on a first day? Unheard of, isn't it? But you see, little one, you're not just any baby. And you are not like any of your siblings."

He chuckled softly at a thought that had crossed his mind.

"You," he said as he brought the morsel of cake closer to my small lips, the aroma of chocolate and vanilla getting more intense. "You are something else. Something I've been waiting and wanting to see."

"Now, go on, give it a try," Streusen encouraged, his smile warm and reassuring. "You might just find that you like it."

"I have no doubt that you will find it easy to swallow too," Streusen added.

I opened my mouth, ready and zealously waiting for the cake to melt inside. I allowed Streusen to feed me the small morsel of cake. The taste trickled on my tongue as my senses got reacquainted, then the sweetness exploded, sending a shiver of sweetness down my delicate spine.

The cake was unlike any I had ever tasted, and I was tempted to change my label on the best cake ever. Just like Streusen had said, I found it easy to swallow it as I waited for more to come. I wanted more, and as Streusen kept feeding me, I wanted more and more. It felt like there would be never be enough cake.

However, as the feeding continued, I couldn't shake the feeling of unease that gnawed at the pit of my stomach. With each passing moment, the tremors from Big Mom's rampage grew more intense, the ground shaking with each thunderous roar. Cries of cake demands filled the air, even reaching to our quiet locale.

I knew for a fact that Big Mom's (Mama's/Mom's/Mummy's) rampage would only continue until she got the birthday cake she wanted and got satisfied with it.

With every fiber of my being, I wanted to tell Streusen to take the cake he was feeding me, to bring it to Mama and end her madness once and for all. But try as I might, I was powerless to do anything but submit to the relentless feeding, my gestures of protest silenced by the relentless rumbling of my hungry stomach.

And so, I continued to eat, each bite bringing me closer to a truth I was not yet ready to face. With the kind of hunger I was experiencing, I had a feeling that... I was no different from Big Mom!