(Au! One Piece X Undead! Reader) Not Quite Dead

Who You Are

Katakuri knew the moment you were getting overwhelmed, he could feel it vividly.

And that did little for his own mental health when the other Whitebeards just kept getting in his way with their thinly veiled bullshit.

"Ay ay ay, where you going off to in such a rush, Katakuri?"

"Katakuri! Do you have a minute?"

"Hey a moment of your time before the recess ends?"

The fuckers were blatantly doing it on purpose at this point, and while on a somewhat conscious level he understood he had to true obligation to be held back by them, but the thing was that they themselves weren't aware of the situation.

So if he were to react so strongly to such minor provocations, they'd surely escalate the situation, which was the last thing he needed with you so close to cutting off the end of your rope and using it as a chew toy.

How the fuck was he supposed to explain the way he could feel your mounting psychotic break as if it were his own? And if you were to go apeshit, then everyone would be in mortal danger?

Coming up with a solution wasn't made easier with the fact that he felt he was suffocating.

Practically choking with anxiety, as it were- enough so that the fear of snapping himself was becoming less a back-minded worry and more a genuine concern.

The Strawhats seemed to have caught on- which was worrying just as much as it was relieving, because that would stand to insinuate his poker face was slipping and nothing else was more terrifying than letting it drop in front of all of their allies, when you were in imminent danger and practically screaming for help no less.

The problem was that the Whitebeards were keeping watch over them as well.

Nobody was let near the balcony he'd seen you slip into- the balcony he saw the old man slip into not long after- ohfuckohfuck you were in trouble...!

And then the shouting began.

And even before the first comprehensible word could be made out, he already knew..

"Zombie..!"

Everything went straight to shit.

'Fuck it'

No longer caring for appearances, Katakuri took advantage of the momentary confusion to plow through the people previously standing in his way, and from the corner of his eyes, he could catch the Strawhats doing much the same.

Before anyone else could react, he motioned his siblings to take over damage control and handle the crowd in his absence.

Though.. when they all finally managed to force their way outside, the mess laid before them was nothing less than everything they had feared.

Your body was near completely hanging over the edge of the railing, tense and hunched over in a position that looked both defensive and ready to attack, especially with the way your jaw was open - your facemask on the floor - teeth bared and unhinged as if in preparation to take a big bite.

Worse yet, the object of your hostility? Edward fucking Newgate.

The man had his arm outstretched, with your own clamped around his wrist in what could only be a death grip- as a previous victim of your undead strength, he knew well how that must've felt.

The only thing more terrifying than the prospect of you potentially mauling Whitebeard in a defensive panic attack, was the fact that, now that he could focus again, he realized he couldn't feel your panic anymore at all..!