Chapter 188: Before The Banquet Begins
Three days later, Candy Island Dock—
All the representatives who came to attend the ceremony were gathered in the plaza that had been expanded in advance, preparing to head to Cake Island in order.
“Welcome to ‘Whole Cake Island’, everyone!”
“I, Perospero, Mother’s eldest son, the Candy Minister of ‘Whole Cake Island’, hereby express my heartfelt thanks to all who have come to attend the Founding Ceremony. Perorin~”
As he spoke, Perospero, standing in front of the crowd, elegantly bowed.
This perfectly measured respect and generous, appropriate demeanor made many older steering hands of major factions nod approvingly in their hearts.
It seemed that Big Mom’s Pirate Crew had its reasons for developing to this scale in just a few short years—beyond Big Mom’s own martial prowess, her sons were excellent enough as well.
“You are too courteous, Lord Perospero.”
“For the crown prince of ‘Whole Cake Island’ to personally guide us—what an embarrassment that makes us feel~”
Many minor factions who had luckily obtained anonymous invitations quickly seized the chance to flatter this real power holder of ‘Whole Cake Island’.
As Big Mom’s eldest son, he would likely inherit the throne without accident and become this country’s next king.
They had to seize the moment to get on familiar terms.
Of course, this was the limitation of minor factions.
Even slightly larger factions knew that although Perospero was the eldest son, the throne was not necessarily his.
His other brother was equally a strong contender for the next king of ‘Whole Cake Island’.
Whether it would be primogeniture or merit-based succession would depend on their respective popularity and abilities at the time.
But for other factions, this was quite a ‘fortunate’ worry—after all, whether Perospero or Katakuri, both were rare excellent talents.
『A pirate nation bound by blood relation… That woman really found a special track~』
Old Medic sighed in his heart, then looked toward his son, only to find him looking around.
“Hm? Caspar, what are you looking at?”
“Ah~ Father.”
Hearing the familiar call, Caspar stopped his wandering gaze and replied.
“I’m looking for the Beasts Pirates people. Do you know their location?”
“Beasts Pirates?! What do you want with them? I should have told you not to proactively provoke those guys, right?”
Compared to the brash young Caspar, Old Medic’s sense for danger was far sharper.
Countless near-death choices had made him very clear on which factions could be provoked and which could not even be touched.
And now, he sensed that familiar scent of death from the Beasts Pirates.
It was a terrifying beast.
“Naturally, to discuss cooperation—as newcomers just stepping into the arms industry, they need our family’s connections, don’t they?”
“And we need their martial prowess to deter other families—this is clearly a win-win.”
“Plus, I hear the one who designed that pistol on the Beasts Pirates side is a little girl executive~”
Caspar’s tone was full of superiority and smugness; by the end, he even hummed lightly.
In contrast, Old Medic’s eyes were bulging wide.
Cooperation? Win-win?!
With the Beasts Pirates?!!
And that girl executive—how dare he?!
Knowing his son’s special fetish, Old Medic’s heart nearly jumped out.
This, this was really his son?
How was his personality nothing like his own?
He had walked on thin ice his whole life, not yet reached the other shore, and his son was already playing pile driver on the ice.
“Caspar! This old man warns you! Absolutely! Absolutely do not provoke the Beasts Pirates people!”
“That’s not something we businessmen can afford to provoke!”
“If the Beasts Pirates want the New World market, let them have it! The Four Seas are so vast anyway—our family can still call the shots there.”
“The foundation built by generations of our family cannot be used by you as a firecracker!”
“Cough!”
“Cough cough!”
Perhaps due to his advanced age, or maybe from being too agitated, Old Medic directly clutched his mouth and coughed nonstop.
“Got it, got it~”
Seeing his father’s disheveled state, Caspar agreed verbally, but in his heart grew even more resolute in his intentions.
『Sorry, Father. Weakness like yours is no longer suited to surviving on this great sea.』
『After this, you can go back home and retire in peace—I’ll take the Medic family to new heights!』
……
“Mama~ Mama~”
“Is the ceremony all prepared, Katakuri?”
In Cake Castle of the capital ‘Sweet Metropolis’ on Cake Island, Charlotte Linlin was eating breakfast while asking her second son, who sat beside her.
Piles of sweet, greasy cream puffs like little mountains were stuffed into her mouth handful by handful—her eating manner had not a shred of a lady’s elegance.
But though she had already borne several children, this pirate queen’s figure remained curvaceous.
It was just that her height of over eight meters was truly daunting.
“Rest assured, Mother.”
“Longbread Master in the kitchen is already making the birthday cake and celebration cake—won’t disappoint you.”
“As for the ceremony proceedings, Big Sister Compote has taken Daifuku to check them again—no oversights expected.”
“Security is being final-checked by Oven right now—no issues found so far.”
“And the guests? When do they arrive?”
“Soon.”
“Shiki, Newgate, and Kaido’s people have all arrived too?”
Among these many guests, what Big Mom cared most about was the attitudes of these ‘old friends’.
After all, only they were truly on equal footing with her—those so-called ‘underworld’ bosses could be killed off without a thought.
In this world, only powerful strength was hard to replace in short order.
“All present, though I hear there was some conflict between the Beasts Pirates and Whitebeard people—nearly came to blows when boarding the island.”
“Oh? Something like that happened?”
“Mama~ Mama~ Looks like that brat Kaido stirred up quite a bit in places I didn’t know about…”
Big Mom laughed heartily, unconcerned.
Anyway, this time they had only sent underlings—in her territory, with her there, they couldn’t stir up waves.
Rather, if these guys were all amicable, she’d find it strange and be on guard.
“Brother Perospero just sent word—the guests have set off from Cake Island.”
“I’ll go to the dock to greet them shortly.”
“Mama~ Mama~ Good then.”
Hearing everything was smooth, Big Mom was naturally in high spirits.
“Tell everyone below—this is the most important celebration since our pirate crew’s founding. I absolutely will not tolerate any oversights or accidents.”
“Otherwise, I will get angry~ Mama~ Mama~”
“Understood.”
Katakuri tightened his scarf, stood, and walked out of Cake Castle.
Being one who demanded perfection in all things, he still needed to personally check the preparations for each segment before the guests arrived.
……
Working overtime on field duty every night this week, so updates will be late.
