(One Piece) Book of Oneshots and Such

Pack Of Gangsters

(One Piece) After a particularly messy incident leaves their business in hot water, Katakuri takes his siblings to an isolated cabin as a safe place to lay low. Completely unaware of the unusual neighbors shadowing them in the night.

(Author Note: Can you guess what the AU of this one shot is? I didn't really have enough juice to make it obvious but there are subtleties!)

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By the end of the road trip, Katakuri was just about done with everybody.

He loved his siblings, he'd die for them, he really could, but there were just so many times a man could stand to listen to the same songs over and over again on repeat.

For five hours straight.

Once that lofty, secluded cabin peeked out from the curtain of endless pines and birch, a roar of serotonin nearly made him groan in pleasure.

Perospero, and all the other elder siblings seemed to have shared the same sentiments as they all flew from the doors the moment the vehicle slid to a stop.

The children who caused such strain weren't far behind, as they chattered and cheered to themselves and practically flung themselves into the snow.

Katakuri- in this rare moment of privacy, took the chance to lean his head up against the wheel and simply let the building pressure release.

Everything up to this point was an absolute nightmare, without Mama to take the lead many were thrown out of their comfort zones, even with Katakuri taking the reins.

At first he was given great pains over his decision to take them all to this forgotten safe house, most of the family were adamant on getting their head out of this situation they've fallen into immediately.

In the end he was only able to convince a miserable handful of his siblings to follow him to safety, and from what he was able to get out of the news along their way, the rest have expectantly been thrown behind bars.

Maybe in the past, he'd let the guilt swell and fester underneath the skin, of not being able to save them all, not preventing all of this in the first place..

But that would've been useless now, they all made their choices, they all played their cards, now they all had to deal with the outcome like adults.

At least he was able to save some of them.

"Thank you, brother Katakuri"

The redhead jerked up to see a smiling Brulee sitting next to him, watching the younger kids band together in creating some iced menace.

"For what?" Damn, was that really him? He sounded so tired, he couldn't even notice when Brulee came back.

"For bringing us here.. for looking out for us.. I know this all must've been tough on you, especially since the others..."

"They made their choices" Katakuri made his peace with that, they weren't kids anymore, he couldn't hold himself responsible for everyone else anymore.

Brulee softened, whether it was in a sad way or in a proud way, he wasn't quite sure, "yeah, they did"

Neither of them probed the matter any further, and instead focused on moving all of the supplies into the building.

The rest of the night was spent with real family bonding, and a smaller dinner than usual- but filled with more sincerity than ever.

Just beyond the gloss of the warm and bright windows, a few meters into the shadows of the howling woods, there stared a pair of small, beady eyes.