"Okay, okay… let me think about how to explain everything to you. I'll come back tomorrow."
Anna looked at Doflamingo's expression and sighed. She couldn't bring herself to say anything harsh to him. Part of her worried she might blurt out something she'd regret in the heat of the moment.
Better to wait — to think things through. Tomorrow, she'd decide what to tell him.
Leaving Doflamingo's dream, Anna floated in the void of the dream world, deep in thought. Who should I find to help me train?
She didn't want to reveal her Devil Fruit ability unless absolutely necessary. If word ever spread that she could peer into other people's dreams, that would be… very bad.
"Wait," she muttered, tapping her chin. "What if I just… create a new identity for myself?"
Her eyes lit up.
She remembered catching a glimpse of Katakuri's dream before, back when she'd been collecting dream energy. Katakuri trained even in his sleep — relentless as ever — though sometimes he'd simply lounge around eating donuts.
If she could enter his dream under a different form — something harmless, something that made sense — maybe she could get away with it.
"But what should I be?"
Anna conjured a fluffy white dream cloud and shaped it into a full-length mirror. She stood before it, inspecting herself thoughtfully.
"Hmm… if I can't just barge in as me, maybe I could be… a dessert elf?" she mused aloud. "Katakuri loves sweets more than anything. If a dessert elf suddenly appeared to make him tons of donuts, that'd totally make sense!"
She giggled at the thought. "And if it goes wrong, I'll just poof out before he can figure me out. Easy."
With renewed energy, Anna began designing her disguise.
"Well, since I'm an elf, I definitely need wings… fluffy, like whipped cream. The skirt should feel light and bouncy — like bread dough! Oh, and I'll sprinkle some sparkly icing all over."
She leaned closer to the mirror, considering the color scheme. "Hmm, in the anime, Katakuri's donuts are chocolate-colored. So let's go with that — chocolate brown and gold tones for the outfit!"
In moments, a tiny figure stood in the mirror — an adorable girl with sugar-glazed wings, a puffy caramel skirt, and a gleaming magic wand made from dreamlight. Except for her face, she was almost unrecognizable.
Anna sighed, half-amused. "Guess it's true what they say — clothes really do make the person."
Raising her wand, she practiced her lines with a sweet smile. "Hello, hello! I'm the Dessert Elf! I heard your wish for endless sweets, so I came to make it come true!"
She nodded, satisfied. "Perfect. Showtime."
With that, she dove straight into Katakuri's dream.
The moment she entered, she spotted him — the towering figure of Katakuri himself, sitting cross-legged and munching happily on a massive donut. Perfect timing, Anna thought with a grin.
"Hello there, big guy!" she called out, landing gracefully on a nearby puff of whipped-cream cloud. "I'm the Dessert Elf! Your love for sweets was so strong that I sensed it — and came to meet you!"
Katakuri froze mid-bite, blinking in confusion. "...Dessert elf?" He turned toward the voice and actually saw her — a tiny, sparkling girl hovering in the air.
Anna, staying perfectly in character, pointed at him dramatically. "Oh my! What a big mouth you have! No wonder you can eat so many desserts at once. It's the perfect mouth for sweets! No surprise I was summoned by you!"
Katakuri blinked again, still not sure what was happening. "Do… dessert elves really exist? Am I dreaming?"
Anna barely managed to keep a straight face. Are you seriously asking that? Of course you're dreaming! she groaned inwardly.
But aloud she simply said, "If you can complete the Dessert Elf's challenge, I'll grant you three wishes! Anything you want. What do you say?"
His eyes narrowed slightly. "Three wishes? Any wishes?"
"Of course!" Anna twirled her wand with flair. "It's my reward for your undying love of desserts. Only true dessert lovers can summon me, after all!"
Katakuri frowned thoughtfully, adjusting the scarf over his mouth. "So, if I defeat you… will that count?"
Anna nodded confidently. "That's right! If you can beat me, you earn your wishes."
Inside, she smirked. No way you can actually hurt me in a dream. This is perfect.
Her plan was simple — let Katakuri go all out attacking her, so she could study his fighting style up close, learning and improving her own moves without risk of injury.
"Alright," Katakuri said at last, his voice low. "Let's begin."
He vanished from sight — and then his attacks came one after another, lightning-fast and precise. Each strike exploded with force, shaking the dreamscape.
Anna dodged wildly, barely keeping up. None of her counterattacks even grazed him.
As expected of him… she thought, sweating. His Observation Haki is insane. He can literally see the future. I'm lucky I can't get hurt in here — otherwise I'd already be wrapped up like a rice ball in mochi!
Meanwhile, Katakuri seemed to grow even more convinced that she was real — an actual Dessert Elf. Her strange resilience, her sparkle, the way she glowed when hit — all of it just made him believe harder. He threw himself into the fight, faster and fiercer.
Under the constant barrage, Anna began to piece together her own techniques. She could feel her rhythm improving, her timing sharpening. Yet, she was running out of dream energy fast.
"Okay, okay — you passed!" she called out between breaths. "You can make your first wish now!"
Katakuri paused mid-attack, lowering his scarf. "Then I wish… for the scar on my sister Brûlée's face to disappear."
Anna froze. "Are you sure? That's your wish?"
She hadn't expected something so… sincere. If he'd wished for a mountain of desserts, she could've handled that easily. But healing a scar — that wasn't something her limited dream energy could truly achieve.
"I'm sure," Katakuri said firmly. "I want Brûlée's scar gone."
Anna sighed softly. "You really love your sister, huh? Alright then… I'll try."
She raised her wand dramatically, though in truth she was just focusing her remaining dream energy. She conjured a vision — a delicate pudding creature, softly glowing like moonlight. It wasn't a real being; her energy wasn't strong enough to create complex dream lifeforms. But it looked convincing enough.
"Thank you, Dessert Elf," Katakuri said earnestly. "Please… heal my sister's face."
Anna waved her wand, chanting playfully, "Cake, donuts, cake, donuts — make Brûlée's scar vanish!"
Golden light swirled around them — pure illusion, but beautiful all the same.
In the shimmering glow, Katakuri saw Brûlée's scar fade away. His eyes widened in disbelief — and joy. The emotion hit him so hard that he jolted awake, breaking the dream completely.
Anna was flung out of the dream world with him.
Floating in the empty void, she chuckled softly. "He really does love his sister. I remember from the anime — that scar on Brûlée's face was because of him, wasn't it? Maybe this is the regret he's carried all along…"
She watched the fading glow of Katakuri's dream bubble and sighed.
"But hey, this method actually works. Maybe repeating these dreams isn't so bad after all."
She was about to drift toward another dream orb, humming cheerfully — when she noticed the dreamscape trembling. One by one, the glowing dream bubbles around her began to burst.
"Oh no, time's up already?"
Anna smiled ruefully. She always used one dream as her alarm clock — an old man with an incredibly regular routine.
Whenever his dream orb shattered, it meant only one thing.
It was time for her to wake up.