Chapter 42: Become My Son-in-law!
“Is he really that powerful?”
Snack furrowed his brows.
He wasn’t doubting Brother Katakuri’s prophecy; on the contrary, it was precisely because he firmly trusted this pillar of the Charlotte Family that he couldn’t help voicing the disappointment in his heart with such a question. For Snack, who aspired to turn the Sweet Three Generals into the Four Sweet Generals, this was quite a blow.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the one sitting in the carriage was that Black Prince who was said to be only twenty years old. Twenty years old… To make Brother Katakuri show such a serious attitude at just twenty years old was truly enviable!
“Snack.”
As if seeing through this ambitious younger brother’s dark thoughts, Katakuri spoke again: “Jealousy won’t help you progress further than yesterday. Only effort—effort will let you continually approach the ideal in your heart. Don’t let trivial emotions cloud your eyes.”
“I understand, Brother Katakuri.”
Snack lowered his head, temporarily calming down and suppressing the jealousy swelling in his heart.
Queen Mama Chanter was entering the port.
But now the distance to the dock and land was already very close, and that luxurious carriage inlaid with gold and silver jewels was even more clearly reflected in the pirates’ eyes.
“Brother Katakuri, leave the vanguard work to me!”
The voice
came from the mouth of a burly man wearing a horned helmet, with long whiskers, and clad in black-and-white cookie-style armor. He held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Just from this appearance, he was unmistakably one of the Sweet Three Generals from the Navy’s bounty poster.
Whole Cake Island’s Minister of Biscuit, known as “Thousand Arms” and also called the “Biscuit Knight,” Charlotte Cracker.
“Cracker, do you want to go?”
This time, Katakuri didn’t deny it.
He still trusted this younger brother’s abilities, especially since his combat style was very suitable for vanguard probing of the enemy’s depth.
However, this time, it wasn’t up to him alone.
“Mom, for this hunt, is it okay to let Cracker go?”
This pillar of the Charlotte Family turned around and looked toward the massive meat mountain sitting high on a huge chair full of fairy-tale style. No, she was a tall, obese woman, with thick lipstick and light purple eyeshadow, wearing a red pirate hat with yellow trim, and a wide pink dress with red polka dots.
She was—
Charlotte Linlin.
One of the Pirate Emperors dominating the New World, the Queen of Whole Cake Island, captain of the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew, a mad emperor who would launch a war of extermination for sweets.
At this moment,
this mad Emperor Your Majesty was intently devouring the sweets served up by the chefs like flowing water. Devouring, not eating—this wasn’t a misused figure of speech; on the contrary, it was the more accurate description.
That ferocious and greedy intoxicated smile, that blood basin big mouth opened like an abyss—it was impossible to think she was dining. This scene was more like a beast cloaked in ugly human skin devouring everything tangible.
“No!”
She roared loudly.
Crumbs of sweets at the corners of her mouth flew forward with the sound waves. The three Generals standing on the ship’s bow deck silently shifted their steps, avoiding the sweet crumbs stained with saliva like sulfuric acid.
An unexpected rejection.
Katakuri was slightly silent for a moment. Though somewhat surprised, …it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
“That’s my prey.”
The mad emperor, temporarily sated with her desire for sweets, stopped eating. She lowered her head, looking at her sons and daughters standing on the deck, a happy smile appearing on her face. “Katakuri, that’s my sweet. No one can touch it—not even my son!”
“Mom, we won’t touch your sweets. We just want to deliver the treat to you.”
Katakuri knelt on one knee on the ground, and his younger siblings behind him all knelt down in unison.
“mama~~”
Charlotte Linlin let out a joyful laugh.
“Katakuri, I won’t let you touch the prey I’ve set my sights on. Such a delicious sweet… mama, I’ve never encountered one before!” The happy laughter echoed on the deck. As her children, Katakuri, Smoothie, Cracker, Snack, and the others could all tell that Mom was genuinely happy.
They hadn’t heard Mom laugh so happily in a long time.
If memory served, the last time Mom laughed like this was when Pirate King Roger was executed?
At this time,
Accompanying Queen Mama Chanter’s entry into the port, the carriage stopped at the port dock finally stirred.
······
“Your Highness, are you sure you really want to do this?”
“Of course.”
“Even if one misstep means lives lost, that’s fine?”
“I’ve been impatient to do it.”
Yes!
Already impatient. Elus lifted the carriage curtain and stepped out, his feet landing on the ground paved with large granite blocks. He flexed his wrists, his emerald eyes burning with hot yet calm flames.
After defeating Umit without much effort, Elus had developed a lingering confusion.
He was very confused about what height he currently stood at. He urgently needed a touchstone to test his mettle, but the problem was that even Umit couldn’t help him pinpoint his level, leaving him momentarily without a suitable touchstone.
He had even considered challenging Whitebeard after finishing with the maritime transport network.
Unexpectedly, before the idea of challenging Whitebeard could be put into action, another Pirate Emperor had appeared before him.
“Your Highness, that’s one of the Four Emperors. This time, we might really be done for.”
Fran stood beside Elus, smoothing the wrinkles on his clothes while still trying to persuade him not to take such a risky action.
“Enough, Fran. You talk too much. Instead of worrying about me, worry about yourself first! The enemies aren’t just the Pirate Emperor—there are also our mad Emperor Your Majesty’s loyal subordinates. If you don’t leave soon, you might have to fight later too. If you don’t want to get involved, hide far away first.”
Elus flicked his sleeve.
Good,
mental state excellent, physical condition optimal.
“Eh?”
Fran, dressed in a maid outfit, widened her eyes and pointed at her nose with her finger. “I have to fight too?”
“After all, they’re subordinates of one of the Four Emperors. Fran, step back for now! You’re not yet a match for those monsters.”
“I understand, Your Highness.”
The maid finally gave up persuading, having tried all the way with no effect. Continuing now probably wouldn’t help, and staying might really get in the way and hinder His Highness Elus’s actions.
So,
“Then, Your Highness, please excuse me as I withdraw first.”
With that final apology, a pair of extremely gorgeous wings wrapped in illusory gold-red flames suddenly sprouted from the maid’s back. She flapped her wings and shot into the clouds like an arrow from a bow, fleeing in the direction opposite to the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew’s approach.
Naturally, everyone in the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew saw Fran flying away.
But,
Without Mom speaking first, no one dared to act. If Mom thought they were trying to steal this prey, they’d absolutely be eaten.
“Now, I can finally move freely.”
Elus withdrew his gaze from the sky and directed his sight toward the massive pirate ship slowly docking at the dock, as if it had sailed out of a fairy tale world, and toward BIG·MOM appearing on the ship’s bow deck, like the most vicious and ugly witch from a fairy tale world.
The next instant,
A wail of the atmosphere being torn echoed from mid-air.
Meat mountain,
descending from the sky.
The dock built from large granite blocks was smashed into a huge crater, the entire dock trembling from this terrifying impact. The smoke and dust kicked up blew outward like a storm. At the center of the crater stood a woman as burly as a giant.
“But it’s really unimaginable! How did she turn from a beauty into this?”
Elus waved away the smoke and dust flying toward his face. He hadn’t retreated a single step, merely tilting his head slightly to look up and down at BIG·MOM, who was a full eight hundred eighty centimeters tall. What a huge size! Taller than Whitebeard by a head. His own two hundred five centimeter height made him look like a second-class cripple in front of BIG·MOM.
“Kid, is it you? The one who killed Umit.”
BIG·MOM lowered her head, looking at this very handsome young man.
Pretty nice!
Too bad she already had human children; otherwise, she could capture him to be her husband.
“That was me.”
Elus smiled and nodded.
“……Kid, you’ve got guts! Facing me without a hint of fear, mamamama~~~” BIG·MOM let out a loud, piercing laugh that lasted a good while before subsiding. Then the smile faded from her face, her swollen flab squeezing out a terrifying, ferocious angry expression.
“Kid!”
“You killed Umit, causing my Tea Party to lose a guest. I was going to eat you, but seeing how pretty you are, I’ll give you a chance. Become my son-in-law. As long as you become one of us, I can spare your life.”
Elus was dumbfounded.
Good grief,
What was this about?
This plot development didn’t match his expectations at all. Shouldn’t they start fighting upon meeting? Why did it suddenly turn into a son-in-law recruitment plot?
Not only was Elus stunned, but even Katakuri and the others on Queen Mama Chanter were nearly thrown off balance by Mom’s sudden antics. Snack’s mouth gaped wide open under his scarf, shocked to the extreme.
“Brother Katakuri, is this… okay?”
Amid the surprise, Snack habitually looked toward Katakuri, whom all the siblings saw as their anchor.
They were originally supposed to eliminate Elus, the killer of Umit, to soothe the turbulent hearts of the Dark World. But Mom suddenly pulled this move—what if it caused the magnates of the Dark World to lose heart? That would be trouble.
“What problem could there be? If Mom thinks there’s no problem, then there isn’t.”
Smoothie, tall with long legs and beautiful wavy white long hair, said coldly.
“Snack, your resolve is too weak. Don’t think those rats in the Dark World are that powerful. In front of Mom, whoever doesn’t submit just dies. The New World is the Four Emperors’ New World, not the New World of those Dark World rats.”
“I understand, Sister Smoothie.”
Snack shrank his neck.
Among the BIG·MOM Pirate Crew’s Sweet Three Generals, he feared this sister the most, who would coldly squeeze the moisture from subordinates who erred, turning them into human jerky hung at the ship’s bow as a warning.
Well, as long as they didn’t err, Sister Smoothie wouldn’t slaughter subordinates groundlessly like Mom.
“Recruiting a son-in-law! Wonder which sister Mom plans to have this Black Prince marry?”
Cracker interjected.
“Hard to say! This Black Prince is said to be only twenty now. Among the family, sisters around that age are only Chiffon, Marble, and a few others. Though it’s not great to say as a sister, but… that Black Prince might not take a liking to Chiffon and them.”
Smoothie slightly furrowed her brows, pondering which sister Mom planned to marry off.
If Galette were a few years younger, or Brulee a few years older, either could be used to subdue this Black Prince. But Brulee was only ten, really too young, while Galette was just twenty-five—the age gap wasn’t that big…
“Chiffon and Marble them… yeah, not really a match!” Cracker glanced at the handsome-faced Elus on the dock and laughed impolitely. Anyway, these sisters had stayed in Whole Cake Island and hadn’t come along. If it were face-to-face, mocking the sisters like this as a brother would definitely get him beaten by Brother Katakuri, but now—
“Cracker, shut up.”
Katakuri just scolded him once, and Cracker obediently stopped laughing.
He then continued: “Whatever Mom does is Mom’s business. We just need to do what we’re supposed to. Cracker, Snack, go have the ships behind pull back further. Don’t get caught in Mom’s combat fallout.”
“Isn’t the current distance enough?”
Cracker looked back at the numerous Egg Tart Ships moored outside the port, not entering with Queen Mama Chanter—a measure precisely to prevent Mom from wrecking her own home when she got excited.
“Just do it.”
Katakuri didn’t explain.
Cracker didn’t dare argue further with Brother Katakuri and went with Snack to direct the Egg Tart Ships behind.
“Brother Katakuri, could it be that Black Prince dares to reject Mom?” Surprise flashed in Smoothie’s eyes.
“Just wait and see.”
Katakuri simply said that, his sharp gaze fixed on the figure confronting Mom on the dock.
Rejection?
Or acceptance?
His Observation Haki couldn’t yet ‘see’ that far into the future, but proceeding on the assumption of preparedness, he had prepared with Elus’s rejection in mind.
