A Taste of Forever (Katakuri x Reader)

Chapter 41 - A helping hand

A/N:

Wordcount: 4400+

The sun was glistening brightly, soothing shades of orange and yellow indicating that the day was approaching its end as the warm rays illuminated the deck.

Soft waves tickled your ship, their whites crawling up the browns of the wood and painting a picturesque drawing of a day that almost seemed too calm for it to be in the New World.

The only colours that disrupted the warm oranges of the sun were shimmers of dark magenta and silver cutting through the air before they both landed back in your hands, a satisfied smile curling your lips as you looked at your weapons.

It was great to have two boomerangs again.

"Don't look," Katakuri scolded from the bow, and you instantly shut your eyes again as you heightened your senses.

The rattling of his spurs, the soft crashes of the waves and the quiet whispers of your crew rung in your ears. Your skin basked in the warmth of the sun and –

Found you.

Turning swiftly on your heel, you flung one boomerang into the air where you had heard a mochi doughnut appear while you pulled the other up to cover your side, successfully blocking another mochi fist. However, much to your dismay, the impact still managed to knock your feet out from under you. A frustrated grunt escaped you upon impact, but before you could tumble to the floor, another mochi fist wrapped around your hand and pulled you back up.

Since your time on the ship, Katakuri had taken it upon himself to train with you, even though he wasn't a huge fan of the arrangement in the beginning. Although you had become stronger as a result of your training with his siblings, there was still an astronomical difference between Katakuri and your strength-, agility-, and speed-wise, and he didn't fancy the idea of attacking you with Mogura or his devil fruit. Still, he eventually agreed.

It was also in his interest for you to get stronger, after all.

Katakuri's teaching style was quite different from Smoothie's and Perospero's. Smoothie was much more brute force, while Perospero was a little piece of shit – oops semantics, 'trickster' – and required you to fight smartly. Katakuri on the other hand focused heavily on strengthening your Observation, hence why he mainly let you train with your eyes closed to allow you to anticipate his attacks.

Blindly wrapping your fingers around your returning weapon, you turned around and flashed Katakuri a large smile. "Smoothie would be proud. I finally cover all my sides," you jested.

"I'm behind you."

What?

Your eyes flung open, and indeed, you were talking to the main mast, your crewmates chuckling in the background and almost falling into the sea from laughter as the majority of them were sitting on the railing.

You gotta be kidding me.

Snapping your head to the side and glaring at your crewmates whilst suppressing the urge to push them into the ocean yourself, you eventually turned around and looked at your husband who was leaning against the railing of the bow, his hip against the wood whilst his arms were folded over his chest, one foot crossed over the other.

"I guess Smoothie wouldn't be proud," you attempted to jest with a sheepish smile as you mentally headbutted the next wall.

"Maybe not quite yet."