Chapter 205: Charlotte-Related
New World - The Outskirts of Totto Land.
Charlotte Katakuri sat on top of a blood-soaked man, his trident Mogura resting on his shoulder as he panted slightly.
Behind him, his young sister looked at his broad back, her eyes filled with an unshakable adoration.
Less than two days after the news of Big Mom's defeat had spread, the wealthy Totto Land had already been attacked dozens of times. The executives of the Charlotte Family who had been left to guard Totto Land had all suffered injuries to varying degrees. This was no exception, even for Charlotte Katakuri, the masterpiece of the family.
Brrring~ ru~ ru~
With the ringing of a Den Den Mushi, the one on Katakuri's body opened its eyes.
Hearing the ring, Katakuri slowly stood up. While answering the call, he strode toward a giant full-length mirror. Behind him, a group of Big Mom Pirates grunts saw this and skillfully tied up the man on the ground.
Click—
The call was connected, and an excited voice that was very familiar to Katakuri came from the other end. "Brother Katakuri!"
Hearing the voice, Katakuri seemed to have already understood, and asked casually, "Is it the island you're in charge of that's been attacked this time? I understand. I'll be right over through the mirror passage."
From his words, it was clear that he had already experienced this many times.
However, the next moment, the words that came from the Den Den Mushi made him stop dead in front of the mirror.
"No, brother! A low-ranking leader who was released by the Archangel has returned to Totto Land! He brought news from Mama!"
"..."
A few minutes later, Katakuri, after transferring several times through the Mirror-World, arrived directly at his destination. The mirror rippled like the surface of water, and immediately after, Katakuri's tall figure strode out of it, appearing in front of a low-ranking leader.
"Speak. What news did you bring back."
The low-ranking leader, covered in blood and his clothes in tatters, looked up at Katakuri's tall figure, a hint of fear in his eyes. "That Archangel..." he said, trembling, "he said that if you want to ransom the executives and Mama... you must prepare a sufficient price."
Hearing these words, Katakuri, whose mind had been stretched taut, felt his heart relax. Although his expression remained calm and indifferent, as if nothing in the world mattered to him, he was saying in his heart with great relief, "He's willing to talk... that's good—"
Willing to talk meant that Archangel Louis's desire to kill Mama, Perospero, Smoothie, and the others was not high. By paying a certain price, he could still bring Mama and the others back.
What Katakuri had feared most was that the Archangel wouldn't want anything, and would simply want to kill Mama and the others. In that situation, he would have been powerless.
On one hand, those captured were his treasured younger siblings. On the other hand, he had to admit that although he was confident he could protect Totto Land without Mama, his name alone did not have the power to deter other pirates from attacking.
Soon, Katakuri turned again and stepped into the mirror. "To Whole Cake Island. I need to go to the treasury—"
Dressrosa, in the Gothic castle.
"Squard wasn't killed by us?"
In the main hall, Louis's slightly surprised voice echoed in the wide, open space.
At the time, seeing Whitebeard's furious appearance, Louis had truly thought that his people had killed that hard-headed guy. But since Whitebeard already looked like he was going to tear down Dressrosa, Louis had just assumed his people had done it and hadn't paid it much mind.
But now, he had actually heard from his subordinates that Squard had already been dead before they even arrived.
"When I followed the smoke over, they were already cooked. That Squard guy was also nailed up. And you know, if I had done it, they wouldn't have been left so... complete," Asmodai replied nonchalantly, and from her fourth-dimensional pocket, she took out a stack of developed photos and placed them in front of Louis.
Louis casually spread the photos out, taking in their contents. "Traces of being burned by fire, nailed up—"
"Was this the World Government's doing?" Louis's first thought was of the World Government's agent organizations. For this sea, any case where the perpetrator couldn't be found... just blame it on the World Government. It might not be 100% correct, but there was a 70-80% chance of being right.
But for some reason, Louis thought of how the Big Mom Pirates had arrived on the battlefield not long after it had begun, and that she had acted the first moment she received the news. And among them, there just happened to be an ability user related to fire, Charlotte Oven.
Thinking of this, Louis's expression gradually became subtle.
Asmodai saw this and raised an eyebrow. "What, do you know who did it?"
"Go ask Charlotte Oven. See if he did it." Louis pushed the photos back to her and replied casually. "With your hobbies and skills, you might even be able to dig up some of the Charlotte Family's secrets."
"Secrets—" Asmodai subconsciously repeated the word. Soon, as if she had registered a keyword, her entire demeanor underwent a strange change. Then, she gave Louis a sinister, eerie smile. "Digging up other people's secrets, you say? I would be more than happy to—"
Louis watched Asmodai leave with a happy spring in her step, heading straight for the dungeon.
Just as Louis was about to return to his room to rest, a commotion from another, more secret dungeon made him frown.
"She's finally awake?"
Then, Louis stood up and went in the other direction, entering the second dungeon.
As he entered, he saw Big Mom, dressed in a pink dress and tightly bound by chains, looking with great interest at Yelena, who was sitting outside the cell.
"Hey, brat! Do you have a mouth? Hello? Can you talk?" Big Mom's voice gradually became stranger. Her gaze fell on the horns exposed on Yelena's head, and a hint of memory flashed in her eyes. "Ma~ma~mama... Tch. You're really not going to say a single word? You're even more boring than your father, Kaido!"
Seeing Yelena's silence, Big Mom, who was tightly bound, pouted.
Just then, Louis's voice came to their ears. "Even as a prisoner, your mouth can't rest, can it, Big Mom—"
"Hm?" Big Mom looked in the direction of the voice. After taking in the full appearance of the speaker, an ugly smile appeared on her face. "Ma~ma~mama. You've come, Louis! I was just feeling a bit regretful that you didn't drown," Louis said, crossing one empty cell after another and sitting down beside Yelena, gazing expressionlessly at Big Mom.
"Who would be drowned by a little seawater!" Big Mom looked at Louis's eyes, narrowed her own, and said bluntly, "Hey, Louis! Open this up! Let's fight again!"
Louis lowered his eyes and said with a blank expression, "Go to sleep. You'll have no such luck, not even in your dreams."
Hearing this, Big Mom's expression became ferocious again. "Where are my Napoleon, Prometheus, and Zeus?!" she asked fiercely.
"The result is obvious. They're locked up in another place."
Louis wasn't Kaido. He wouldn't leave his enemies' weapons with them. Big Mom's Homies were, of course, locked up separately.
"You've been asking all the questions. Now it's my turn, isn't it?"
Louis's gaze fell on Big Mom's face, and he posed a sharp question. "Are you Charlotte Linlin, or are you Mother Carmel?"
"Carmel..." Big Mom was taken aback, in a brief daze. It took her a while to come back to her senses. "What do you mean by that?" she said in a deep voice. She guessed that Gerd and the others had told Louis about Carmel's existence, but she didn't understand what he meant by the question.
Louis took in her current appearance and said nothing, but posed another question. "Back then, in the God's Knights at God Valley... who were their members? What were their abilities? What was their strength level?"
Hearing this, Big Mom raised an eyebrow, and her expression gradually became meaningful. "I see. You want to understand your enemy's abilities and prepare countermeasures? That's right, you're a Lunarian, and you've gathered so many individuals here. You will definitely confront them."
Suddenly, Big Mom's tone changed, becoming incomparably cold. "But why should I tell you? You've tied me up. This doesn't look like you're asking for advice!"
To this, Louis replied casually, "You answer, and I'll give you a bowl of white rice every three days. If you don't answer, you'll starve."
Louis was not at all afraid of Big Mom's hunger pangs. Seastone and high-strength steel chains... and beneath her cell was a channel filled with a lot of seawater. If Big Mom were to have a hunger pang, Louis would just drop her into the seawater to cool off. Louis was not Katakuri and the others. He would not spoil her.
Hearing Louis's response, the look in Big Mom's eyes became strange. She repeated his words in a dazed tone. "Three days... one bowl... of white rice?"
"That's too inhumane! Forget about no sweets, how can I fill my stomach with so little?!" Big Mom stated that Louis's treatment of prisoners was too poor.
To this, Louis did not answer, but just quietly stared at her.
"..."
Perhaps Louis's threat had worked, or perhaps she was brewing some conspiracy in her heart. Big Mom finally gave Louis the answer he wanted. And Louis, after getting the answer, changed the "one bowl of white rice every three days" to "one bowl every two days."
Then, under Big Mom's "you're trash" glare, Louis left with Yelena.
In the dim corridor, Yelena suddenly spoke. "Do you really believe the answers she gave you?"
"Not entirely. But I will verify it with the others who participated in that battle."
The next day.
Louis stood at the edge of the King's Plateau, watching as Hajrudin transformed into a pink—no, a peach-colored—dragon and flew into the sky on a cloud of flame.
This time, Hajrudin was leaving to carry out the order Louis had given him: to use his flame clouds to move small islands and bring them back to Dressrosa. And Louis, in turn, would control Gaea to piece them together into a single, connected continent.
A high-altitude continent that could withstand a great flood.
Therefore, the number of small islands Hajrudin needed to move would be an astronomical figure.