Chapter 48: The Mad Emperor’s Alliance Invitation
BIG·MOM is a mad Emperor.
Prince Elus confirmed this without a doubt. After just ending a fierce battle of three days and two nights, BIG·MOM actually brought up the matter of rejection once again. She wanted Prince Elus to become her ally.
After asking Prince Elus for his thoughts on the identity of 【Pirate King】 and receiving the sincere reply, “I’m not a pirate at all, Pirate King or whatever······ To be honest, I have no interest whatsoever!”, BIG·MOM became even more enthusiastic about establishing a reliable alliance with Prince Elus through marriage.
To show her sincerity, BIG·MOM even invited Prince Elus aboard the Queen Mama Chanter.
This was not some trap,
but genuine sincerity.
Letting Prince Elus board the ship was not like smashing a cup as a signal for the axe-wielders to swarm and chop him into minced meat. On the contrary, this action essentially handed the lives of most of BIG·MOM’s children on the ship over to Prince Elus.
At such close range, even with BIG·MOM’s interference, Prince Elus was confident he could kill more than half of BIG·MOM’s children.
Handing the safety of her children over to an enemy she had previously wanted to kill with the cruelest methods—this act could only be said to truly live up to BIG·MOM’s name as the ‘mad Emperor’. However, Prince Elus had to admit that with such courage and boldness, BIG·MOM did not disappoint the grand reputation of Pirate Emperor at all.
Mad, cruel, tyrannical,
The outside world’s descriptions of BIG·MOM were endless negative ones, yet no one ever thought BIG·MOM unworthy of the position of the Four Emperors. As the only woman among the Four Emperors, BIG·MOM had carved out the throne of Pirate Emperor with her genuine power.
Prince Elus had little interest in marrying, but visiting the Queen Mama Chanter was not bad.
After all,
The three days and two nights of battle had taken them over three hundred kilometers away from Saiboi Island. Flying back on wings····· would absolutely be dull, so Prince Elus gladly accepted BIG·MOM’s invitation and came aboard the Queen Mama Chanter as a guest.
“Mamama!”
BIG·MOM laughed happily.
Her joyful yet mad ferocious smile was like jumping back and forth between hell and purgatory.
She sat in the chair on the deck large enough for her massive body, raising her thick, powerful arms high, and issued an extremely warm invitation to Prince Elus sitting opposite her. “Prince Elus, please enjoy yourself! After three days and two nights of battle, anyone would feel hungry. Let’s eat our fill before discussing serious matters!”
As she said this,
she had already picked up sweets from the table and started swallowing them.
Due to the limited kitchen space on the pirate ship, the sweets had been made as large as possible, but in front of the eight hundred eighty centimeter tall BIG·MOM, even cakes the size of beef cattle were just a single bite for her.
The chefs were working late into the night, sending up a flowing stream of all kinds of sweets like egg tarts, pudding, tiramisu, fruit cakes, ice cream, sabayon······ and many things Prince Elus could not even name.
And,
Without exception, all the food served was sweets. Aside from sweets, there were no ordinary foods like meat or vegetables.
“This taste······ delicious!!”
After two days and three nights of nonstop battle,
Prince Elus’s stomach was indeed hungry. Though the sweets on the table looked so sugary they made his scalp tingle, after carefully tasting one, the flavor was truly excellent—even the chefs in his family’s royal palace could only barely match this level with their best sweets.
With the Hogyoku’s protection, Prince Elus was not worried about any tricks in the food from BIG·MOM. He unhesitatingly began sampling the handiwork of BIG·MOM’s pirate crew’s master chefs.
Speaking of which, BIG·MOM’s pirate crew’s chef team was also renowned in the New World!
A huge long table,
with only BIG·MOM and Prince Elus sitting at its two ends.
The two swept through the sweets on the table like a whirlwind, well, saying “the two” was inaccurate—BIG·MOM had devoured ninety-nine percent, while Prince Elus had eaten only about one percent. Yet even that one percent meant he probably would not touch sweets again for a long time to come.
Sweet foods,
should really just be tasted occasionally.
He took a sip of water to clear the sweetness from his mouth. Prince Elus glanced at BIG·MOM still focused on eating, then quickly turned his gaze to the other members of the Charlotte Family on the deck, such as Charlotte·Katakuri leaning against the ship’s side.
“Hey, Minister of Pink.”
Prince Elus stood up and walked over.
“Is there something you need? Prince Elus.”
Katakuri asked calmly.
Given Mom’s undisguised intent to ally with Prince Elus, plus Prince Elus’s strength, it was enough for Katakuri to show him sufficient respect.
Of course,
this man, hailed as the top of the Sweet Three Generals, had not let his guard down. Mom could invite Prince Elus aboard with her broad-mindedness, but that did not mean he truly saw Prince Elus as a guest. His fully unleashed Observation Haki was constantly predicting Prince Elus’s next moves.
“Charlotte·Katakuri······ bounty over one billion Beli. Your head is worth quite a bit!”
This provocation-laden greeting immediately made the tense Charlotte Family members around draw their swords and weapons, blades and gun muzzles all aimed at Prince Elus. If not for Katakuri raising his hand to stop his younger siblings’ impulsiveness, someone might have already fired.
“Bastard prince, do you want to resume the war?”
The hot-tempered Charlotte·Owen glared furiously at Prince Elus. He was a Paramecia·Heat-Heat Fruit ability user, Whole Cake Island’s Minister of Yellow. Additionally, he was triplets with Katakuri and Charlotte·Daifuku.
Brotherly bonds made it impossible for him to tolerate Prince Elus provoking Katakuri.
“Owen, don’t be impulsive. Don’t forget Mom’s will.”
Katakuri placed a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder.
The phrase “Mom’s will” calmed the most volatile-tempered Minister of Yellow.
After soothing his somewhat hot-tempered sibling, this top General coldly eyed Prince Elus and said in a deep voice: “Prince Elus, you are Mom’s guest, that’s correct, but please don’t forget that Whole Cake Island won’t unconditionally tolerate obnoxious guests either!”
This resounding reply brought excited looks to the faces of the surrounding Charlotte Family members.
If not for the terrifying scene of Prince Elus’s battle with Mom still fresh in their minds, it would not have been impossible to immediately open fire and take out this trash-talking bastard guest. BIG·MOM’s pirate crew honestly had few good-tempered people—plenty of ruthless ones.
“Charlotte·Katakuri, as expected of the pillar of BIG·MOM’s pirate crew. If not for your bloodline······ a talent like you is really someone you’d want to recruit! And······ sorry, that joke earlier was over the line.”
Prince Elus apologized with a smiling face.
Though everyone could see there was not a shred of sincerity in this Black Prince’s apology.
But no one demanded more.
Truth be told, they had not expected this young monster who could rival Mom to apologize at all. After Katakuri’s tough words, he had been preparing to let it slide, but now with Prince Elus’s apology—even insincere—it was already giving Katakuri full face.
The New World law where the strong are revered,
was embodied to the fullest in this brief verbal clash.
Without the three-day-two-night fierce battle with BIG·MOM that ended without victory or defeat, if Prince Elus dared provoke Katakuri like this, the Charlotte Family members would have opened fire on him long ago. But now, because Prince Elus had demonstrated Four Emperors-level combat power, even with his malicious provocation and no substantial damage yet, they did not dare strike first.
After all,
Leaving aside what consequences provoking a Four Emperors-level monster like Prince Elus would bring,
just disrupting Mom’s plan,
even as Mom’s children, they would absolutely not have any pleasant outcome. Their younger sister (older sister), Charlotte·Lola, ranked twenty-third among all daughters and former Whole Cake Island Chocolate Minister, had rejected a marriage proposal from the prince of the world’s strongest nation, Elbaf Giant Kingdom, and fled Whole Cake Island.
She remained a major grudge in Mom’s heart to this day.
Lola had been smart about it, completely vanishing these past few years. Otherwise, if Mom learned her whereabouts, even a quick death would be impossible.
“Prince Elus, the chefs are preparing a special dish for you. Would you please sit down and wait a moment?” The one who spoke to ease the tension was Charlotte·Broille, BIG·MOM’s ninth daughter and Whole Cake Island’s Minister of Protein Wafers.
This beauty nearly forty years old but looking only in her twenties smiled and broke the stiff atmosphere.
“A special dish? Though I ate quite a bit earlier······ I’ll look forward to it.”
Prince Elus smiled and nodded.
This brief, not-so-pleasant exchange with Katakuri was enough for him to recognize that the Whole Cake Island Kingdom, built by BIG·MOM with blood ties as bonds, was indeed extraordinarily united. Poaching talent would have an extremely high difficulty level.
「Well! That’s within expectations.」
The idea of poaching had been a whimsical, unreliable thought anyway—just a post-meal digestion exercise. Compared to failure, success would actually be more of a headache! Another fierce battle with BIG·MOM? Sorry, he temporarily had no desire to continue such a grueling fight with no sign of victory.
In battle with BIG·MOM, he could currently only manage a draw.
“If I may be so bold, Prince Elus, you have a younger brother, right?”
Charlotte·Broille led Prince Elus back to his seat and suddenly asked.
“······”
Prince Elus did not answer immediately.
His gaze did not linger on the beauty before him but turned to BIG·MOM, who had slowed her eating.
“My younger brother is only six years old this year.”
“Mamama! If marriage is too soon, they can get engaged first!” BIG·MOM gripped a chocolate cake, devouring it in big bites, while not forgetting to let out her cheerful, booming laughter. “My youngest daughter, Anana, is only three, but she’ll definitely be a beauty in the future. Perfect match for Prince Elus’s younger brother.”
“A six-year-old and a three-year-old? That’s······ a bit too young, isn’t it?”
Prince Elus was almost moved by BIG·MOM’s unyielding tenacity.
Seeing he absolutely refused marriage,
she had set her sights on his six-year-old younger brother.
“It’s just political marriage—age doesn’t matter at all. As long as our interests don’t conflict, there’s no problem. Prince Elus, you’re not a pirate, and you have no interest in Pirate King. So we have no irreconcilable conflicts whatsoever.
We can form an alliance, take down Kaido, Red-Haired, even Whitebeard. Then I’ll become Pirate King, and Prince Elus’s kingdom will become a great kingdom dividing the New World equally with Whole Cake Island. Such a future sounds great, right! Hahahahahahahaha!!!”
BIG·MOM opened her abyss-like mouth and once again invited Prince Elus to ally. Her expectant laughter echoed over the deck, lingering for a long time.
As one of the New World’s four Pirate Emperors, BIG·MOM had always thought there were too many Pirate Emperors, making the title less resounding than Pirate King despite its grandeur. Thus, she had always sought overwhelming power to eliminate the other three Pirate Emperors.
In the past, when the prince of the world’s strongest nation, Elbaf Giant Kingdom, fell for her daughter Lola, BIG·MOM was overjoyed. If she could bring the Giant Race warriors of Elbaf under her command, she would likely be the New World’s sole Pirate Emperor by now.
Unfortunately, there are no ‘ifs’ in the world.
The fact was her daughter rejected the proposal and even fled Whole Cake Island, shattering her plans for the future and reigniting enmity with the Giant Race.
Now, Prince Elus’s appearance gave her new possibilities.
As she said, Prince Elus was not a pirate and would not compete with her for Pirate King’s glory. With no irreconcilable conflicts, they could ally to dominate the New World—at least, that was the beautiful vision in her plan.
On the deck,
Charlotte Family members, passing chefs and homies all looked at Prince Elus, awaiting his response.
“Alliance, huh?”
Prince Elus pondered with his head lowered for a moment, then lifted it with a brilliant smile and said:
“Sorry, I don’t see any benefit in allying with you. Things like dominating the New World—I have no such plans for now!”
As his words fell,
The deck fell silent, with only the sound of sea wind and waves.
The pleasant smile on BIG·MOM’s face gradually turned ferocious, like a demon tearing off its human disguise to reveal its terrifying true face. Just as the Charlotte Family children waited in dread for Mom’s thunderous rage, that ferocious smile slowly smoothed away.
In front of Prince Elus, her anger would not sway his will—only highlight his strength further.
“I’ll look forward to you changing your mind, Elus··· Prince!!”
“You’ll understand eventually. Strength breeds ambition. Even if you truly have none, others will force it upon you.”
