Chapter 160: The Charlotte Family
Louis's words made the Golden Lion, who had sat down with an arrogant posture, freeze for a moment and fall into thought. Soon, he came to a conclusion. If he were still in the East Blue and Louis had asked him for ten Devil Fruits, he really might have just hung up the phone and continued down the path of destroying the East Blue until the very end.
Afterward, the Golden Lion casually tossed aside the cigar in his hand and, with a clear sound of his sword-legs scraping against the ground, stood up, quietly watching Louis.
"Well then, this negotiation is over. When I've collected the fruits, I will come back to find you and begin the official treatment."
"You're welcome anytime." To this, Louis's gaze flickered, his tone extremely casual.
Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, the Golden Lion slowly rose into the air, gradually flying toward the floating islands that were slowly drifting toward Dressrosa. Immediately after, the stone table and chairs that had been deeply embedded in the ground also slowly floated up, following him.
The group saw this and looked at each other, at a loss for words for a moment.
"This guy..." At this moment, even Louis was speechless at the Golden Lion's stingy behavior. To even take away the stone table and chairs he had just cut out... there was no one else like him. How did this resemble one of the three legendary pirates who shook the seas?
"As I thought, after that rooster comb got stuck in his head, his mind also became abnormal." After some thought, this was the only conclusion Louis could come to.
The Golden Lion quickly returned to the largest of the islands, landing slowly in his magnificent palace. Facing the man and gorilla who approached him, he spoke with an arrogant laugh, "Indigo, Scarlet, how many powerful Devil Fruits do we have in the warehouse?"
"If we count the unknown fruit we seized from the World Government not long ago, there are three," the man in a white lab coat, dressed like a scientist, replied quickly after some thought. "The other three are all useless Paramecia and Zoan fruits."
Hearing this, a thoughtful look appeared on the Golden Lion's face. "So, I'm only two decent Devil Fruits away from my peak form?"
Beside him, the man and the gorilla exchanged glances. Then, the man in the white lab coat tentatively suggested, "Then, should we go back to the entrance of the New World and lie in wait at the lift?"
?
The Golden Lion heard him and gave him a blank look. "Are you an idiot? Or are the people of the World Government idiots?"
Then, as if he'd suddenly thought of something, a strange smile appeared on his face.
"Shishishishi—"
"Go to Hachinosu! I want to see an old friend from the past, and see if I can get some fruits from him!"
On the lower level of the King's Plateau.
Katakuri looked up at the sky, his gaze fixed deeply on the floating islands that were gradually moving away from Dressrosa. The floating archipelago reminded him of a man as proud and untamable as a lion.
When Charlotte Linlin was still in the Rocks Pirates, Katakuri and several of his siblings had spent a considerable amount of time on Hachinosu. Therefore, Katakuri clearly remembered: the Devil Fruit ability possessed by the man known as the Golden Lion was the Paramecia-type Float-Float Fruit, which could even lift islands and make them hover in the air.
And witnessing a suspected trace of the Golden Lion here made Katakuri realize that there might be an unknown connection between him and the Archangel's group.
Behind Katakuri, his two brothers saw this, and thoughtful looks also appeared on their faces, which then turned grim at a visible rate. The other siblings, however, looked as if they had seen a ghost, not reacting for a moment, and not even realizing who was behind the floating archipelago.
The scene displayed by the Charlotte Family members made Yelena, who was observing their reactions, realize that something was wrong. "Perhaps, the 'friend' of Big Mom they were talking about is not the Golden Lion." Yelena realized her previous judgment was wrong. The friend Katakuri had spoken of was not Shiki, but someone else.
"Then, who is Big Mom's friend?" Yelena thought to herself, a strange light in her eyes.
Although she was still thinking, Yelena impassively led the members of the Charlotte Family through the giant gate guarded by pirate grunts, into the vertical passage carved out by the Fantasy Species Gaea, and stood on a part of its body.
Behind her, the Charlotte siblings all followed.
Katakuri felt the life signature hidden in the surroundings, and a strange light appeared in his eyes. "This is the same as those things we saw at the entrance to the New World." Not only that, but Katakuri even felt that these things, which were clearly creations of a Devil Fruit, were extremely similar to Mama's Homies.
Then, Gaea controlled the rock and soil, and like the lift at the edge of the Red Line, it rose rapidly, heading straight for the top.
Soon, under Gaea's temporary service as a lift, the group from the Charlotte Family finally arrived at the King's Plateau.
The dazzling light made the group, who had just adapted to the dim light of the passage, subconsciously narrow their eyes. By the time their eyes had readapted to the sunlight, what entered their view was a huge Gothic building. In front of it was a huge plaza that seemed to be one with the plateau under their feet. Four giant figures, over ten meters tall, stood quietly. At this moment, they stood with various heavy weapons on their backs. Their massive figures and the murderous aura left over from long-term slaughter made them radiate a thick, powerful pressure.
"Giants. And very powerful giants." At this moment, the group of youths who had followed Katakuri felt the powerful pressure and thought to themselves. At this moment, they somewhat understood why Mama was so obsessed with obtaining the power of the giant race. Just four giants were giving them such immense pressure. It was hard to imagine what it would be like if all the giants of Elbaf came out in full force and launched an attack on a certain power.
In the wide and clean plaza, Hajrudin and the others coolly glanced at the arriving Charlotte Family members and then looked away, as if they were completely uninterested in them.
Katakuri, Smoothie, Daifuku, and Oven ignored their younger siblings, who had various thoughts. Instead, they met the gazes of the others and walked straight toward the young man in front with snow-white wings on his back, a tall and straight posture, and a head of loose, pale-golden hair.
Soon, led by Yelena, Katakuri and the others arrived a dozen or so meters from Louis. And Yelena, after completing her task, just stood quietly by Louis's side with her arms crossed. Her scarlet eyes, through the lenses of her gas mask, quietly watched the Charlotte Family members.
Katakuri glanced around, taking in the loosely standing group. His gaze then fell on Louis, and he spoke in a calm tone. "Lord Archangel, I have come this time under Mama's orders, to invite you and her friend to Totto Land to participate in her wedding banquet."
As Katakuri's words fell, everyone present looked over, a lingering strangeness in their eyes.
Daz Bonez said to himself, "Charlotte Linlin... isn't she afraid we'll ruin her wedding and tear down her Totto Land while we're at it?"
The others who heard this also found it hard to imagine why Big Mom would make such a decision.
Unlike the others, Hajrudin and Gerd's focus was not on the invitation and the wedding, but on the word "friend." The two exchanged glances, confirming that their inner thoughts were not wrong. Here, the only one who could be connected to Charlotte Linlin was Gerd.
"Inviting me to attend Big Mom's wedding banquet?" Louis asked back in the cold wind.
"Yes. Mama hopes to make friends with Lord Archangel," Katakuri said, his face unchanging, as half of it and his neck were covered by a scarf.
Beside him, Smoothie, with her long, wavy silver-white hair and slender, rounded legs, turned and met Gerd's complicated eyes. "Miss Gerd, ever since Mama saw your bounty poster, she has been thinking of you and looking forward to seeing you again."
"..."
At these words, a hint of confusion flashed in Yelena's eyes. She hadn't expected that the person Katakuri had spoken of was actually Gerd. But thinking about the relationship between the giant race and Charlotte Linlin, it was understandable why Gerd was unwilling to mention this.
Uta, Kuina, and the others heard this, and their minds also went blank for a short time. It took them a while to gradually recover.
However, Gerd, the person in question, was not in such a beautiful mood. She pushed the memories of playing with Charlotte Linlin in Elbaf decades ago out of her mind and tried to make her tone as calm as possible.
"First of all, I do not recognize her as a friend." Charlotte Linlin had destroyed a giant village and killed an elderly hero of the giant race. Gerd would naturally not show her a pleasant face.
"Secondly, I am now a member of the Archangel Pirates. Unless the captain orders it, I will absolutely not go to see Charlotte Linlin." To this, Gerd stated that all her actions followed the captain's orders. Unless the captain specifically gave an order, she wouldn't even spare Charlotte Linlin a glance.
At these words, the faces of the Charlotte Family members instantly turned cold. The group of youths glared angrily at Gerd, and even the eyes of Daifuku and Oven flashed with fire. They guaranteed that if they weren't worried about angering Archangel Louis, they would have already drawn their weapons to make the person who had been disrespectful to Mama pay the price.
To this, Louis turned his head slightly, and his calm gaze fell on the several members of the Charlotte Family.
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