Shaya: Did I Ever Say I'd Only Marry One?!

"Ask Big Mom what exactly she wants!"

Shaya sat behind Stussy and spoke.

"Alright."

After nodding at Shaya, Stussy looked at the bright pink Den Den Mushi in her hand. She uncovered the Den Den Mushi's ears, which she had been holding down, and said softly, "Linlin, name your terms! Whatever conditions you set, I'm sure the Figarland family can afford them..."

"MAMA! MAMA!"

Charlotte Linlin first burst into laughter, then her eyes sharpened. "I know that brat from the Figarland family who wants to marry into my family is listening beside you! Tell him this: if he wants to marry my daughter, then make the Marines behave and stop getting in my way! I want a World Government-issued privateering license..."

Charlotte Linlin first gave Stussy and Shaya a show of force, making it clear that the daughters of the Charlotte family were not women one could marry whenever one pleased. Even Celestial Dragons had to pay a price!

Only then did Charlotte Linlin reveal what she wanted: a World Government-issued privateering license, to legitimize the BIGMOM Pirates...

After all, her Whole Cake Island did not possess the naturally advantageous, easily defended terrain of the Wano Country occupied by Kaido!

Nor did she possess the overwhelming strength of the current world's strongest man, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, who seemed capable of destroying the world itself and raising waves thousands of meters high.

Now that the Marines were growing increasingly powerful and executing legends at every turn, only a World Government-issued privateering license could preserve her foundation...

Of course, that did not mean Charlotte Linlin feared the Marines or the World Government! This was merely a temporary arrangement between her, the World Government, and the Marines. Nothing more...

As long as Charlotte Linlin completed a marriage alliance with the land of giants and gained the support of the strongest force on these seas, the warriors of Elbaf, she could bid farewell to her cooperation with that detestable World Government!

At that point, she, Big Mom Charlotte Linlin, would not only become the queen of Whole Cake Island, but the pirate queen of the entire New World, the entire Grand Line, and even the entire world.

At least, that was what Charlotte Linlin thought for now...

"Linlin, that condition of yours is..."

After hearing Charlotte Linlin's words, Stussy's beautiful willow-leaf brows immediately furrowed tightly, her eyes carrying a trace of anger.

In Stussy's view, Charlotte Linlin's demand was utterly excessive! Charlotte Linlin was already a dominant force in the New World...

If they granted a government-sanctioned privateering license to someone as rampant as Charlotte Linlin, who knew what kind of mess that mad queen would make of the New World?

By then, every island within hundreds or even thousands of miles around Whole Cake Island would probably suffer! Even passing Sea Kings would be hauled up, slapped twice, and released afterward...

"That's it?!"

Just as Stussy was about to lash out at Charlotte Linlin, Shaya, sitting behind her, looked puzzled...

Seriously? Seriously? Charlotte Linlin's demands were way too low. Who was she looking down on here?

"Stussy, give me the Den Den Mushi!"

With that, Shaya directly took the Den Den Mushi from Stussy's hand.

"Here!"

Seeing that Shaya wanted to speak to Charlotte Linlin directly, Stussy could not be bothered to act as the intermediary any longer and simply handed him the Den Den Mushi.

"Hello! Charlotte Linlin, I am Shaya Saint Figarland, and I am also the man intending to form a marriage alliance with your daughter..."

Holding the Den Den Mushi, Shaya gave a simple introduction.

"MAMA! MAMA..."

"Why aren't you hiding behind a woman anymore, brat?"

Hearing the low, authoritative voice from the Den Den Mushi, Linlin first laughed happily, then mocked Shaya.

"Charlotte Linlin, the condition you offered is..."

Unfortunately, Shaya seemed not to have heard Charlotte Linlin at all and continued speaking on his own.

"Too high?"

"Hey! Brat! Listen carefully..."

"I don't care whether you're a Celestial Dragon or that bastard Garin's son!"

"Who do you think I am? I'm Charlotte Linlin!"

"If you want to marry my daughter, then show me some proper sincerity!"

"Don't think that just because of your status, you can get what you want from me without paying anything! Celestial Dragon privileges do not apply in Whole Cake Island..."

"Do you understand, you little bastard..."

The moment Charlotte Linlin finished speaking, powerful Conqueror's Haki burst forth from her fierce eyes. The terrifying Haki shook the central island of Whole Cake Island without end.

"Mother! Put away your Haki already! Our brothers and sisters can't hold on much longer..."

Only after Katakuri, Charlotte Linlin's second son, spoke up to dissuade her did Charlotte Linlin calm down and suppress her Conqueror's Haki.

"I said the condition you offered is too low, Charlotte Linlin."

Only after Charlotte Linlin had finished speaking...

Did Shaya calmly and elegantly finish the words he had not completed earlier.

"Hm?!"

After hearing Shaya's words, Charlotte Linlin froze.

For a moment, she seemed to think she had misheard him. Unable to believe it, she asked through the Den Den Mushi, "Hey! Kid, what did you just say?"

"I said the condition you offered is too low."

"Who do you think I am? I'm a Celestial Dragon!"

"It's only a World Government-issued privateering license. How could that possibly be worthy of a bride price matching my status as a Celestial Dragon?"

"From today onward, Whole Cake Island will be a World Government-recognized member nation!"

Shaya laid out his terms for Charlotte Linlin.

"What kind of joke is this? I don't want to pay Heavenly Gold!"

Charlotte Linlin was first stunned, then shouted angrily.

"You're getting worked up again! Listen to me before you start talking!" Shaya frowned and snapped at Charlotte Linlin before continuing, "As for the Heavenly Gold that World Government member nations pay once a year, whatever amount Whole Cake Island pays, every island protected by the BIGMOM Pirates and every surrounding World Government member nation must pay the same amount! Whole Cake Island's payment will be returned in full, while the Heavenly Gold from the other nations will be split eighty-twenty between us..."

"As for the privateering license you mentioned, go ahead and do whatever you want! So long as it is not a nation protected by the World Government, plunder as much as you please. The Marines will not interfere in the slightest! But of everything you plunder, the Figarland family will receive eighty percent, just like Heavenly Gold..."

Immediately afterward, Shaya unilaterally approved Charlotte Linlin's privateering license.

"MAMA! MAMA!"

"Kid, you're just as greedy as your father..."

After hearing Shaya's words, Charlotte Linlin laughed madly.

"You disagree?"

Shaya asked Charlotte Linlin.

"Of course I agree!"

"Then let me congratulate us in advance on a successful partnership, brat of the Figarland family..."

Naturally, Charlotte Linlin agreed to Shaya's proposal.

With the incredibly generous terms Shaya had offered, she had no reason to refuse.

"Heh, then let us wish each other a successful partnership."

"Stussy will contact you later regarding the details of the marriage alliance."

After saying that, Shaya hung up the Den Den Mushi on his own.

"Shaya, isn't that bride price of yours a little too generous?"

Once Shaya shut off the Den Den Mushi, Stussy could not help asking him.

"Generous? Why do I think it's an excellent deal?"

Shaya smiled and countered.

"This is an excellent deal?"

Stussy was stunned. She suddenly became curious about Charlotte Linlin's fourteenth daughter! Just how beautiful was she that Shaya was so captivated by her...

At the same time, Stussy wanted to ask Shaya what kind of woman could possibly be worth such enormous terms just to marry her.

Beyond that, Stussy also felt a trace of jealousy. She thought indignantly, Damn it, was my bride price too low?!

"Since my bride price is making Whole Cake Island a World Government member nation and granting the BIGMOM Pirates a privateering license, then it is perfectly reasonable for the dowry of the woman marrying into our Figarland family to be the entirety of Whole Cake Island, right?!"

Shaya looked at Stussy and asked.

"Shaya, you're planning to take over all of Whole Cake Island?"

Stussy froze for a moment, then asked Shaya in shock.

"The phrase 'take over' sounds rather unpleasant..."

"No matter how powerful Big Mom is, there will come a day when she grows old!"

"When she grows old, or for some special reason can no longer protect the children she leaves behind in Whole Cake Island, where will those children go?"

"I have always been kind-hearted. I cannot bear to watch my mother-in-law's hard-earned family fortune get plundered by others! So I can only keep it safe for her..."

Shaya spoke with a calm, composed expression.

"Shaya, do you really think the Charlotte family will allow you to do that?"

"Even if Linlin truly can no longer protect the children she leaves behind in Whole Cake Island..."

"Linlin's second son, Katakuri, is no simple character either!"

Stussy looked at Shaya and spoke seriously.

"Katakuri? That guy is indeed quite formidable!"

"However, Katakuri has a fatal weakness!"

Shaya said softly as he looked at Stussy.

"What weakness?"

Stussy asked him in confusion.

"He loves his younger brothers and sisters deeply!"

"Since he cares so much about his family!"

"Then I'll just marry all of his sisters!"

"Stussy, did I ever say I'd only marry Charlotte Smoothie?"

Shaya looked at Stussy and asked.

"..."

Stussy fell silent for a moment after hearing that.

"It's just that Smoothie is the most suitable one at present!"

"If I can obtain Whole Cake Island, I do not mind marrying all of Smoothie's older and younger sisters! Every time Linlin gives birth to one, I'll marry one!"

"At the end of the day, it is only a matter of giving them a title. Even if I do nothing with them and merely keep them in the Holy Land, my Figarland family can afford to support them!"

Shaya crossed his arms, his expression unusually cold.

Honestly, the only problem was that Katakuri was not a woman. If Katakuri had been a woman, why would Shaya need all this trouble? He could have simply formed a marriage alliance with Katakuri and been done with it!

Well, come to think of it, using the Sickness-Sickness Fruit to turn Katakuri into a woman, then taking responsibility for fully awakening Katakuri's inner femininity... that did not sound bad either! Ahem...

"To be honest, if Charlotte Linlin's ambition were not simply too great, and if her talent and strength were not so overwhelming that she could not be controlled, the person I would most want to form a marriage alliance with would still be that monster Linlin..."

"If Charlotte Linlin and I had a child, the chance of that child inheriting her steel-like skin would be much higher genetically than if I had children with her daughters, wouldn't it?!"

Shaya calmly looked at Stussy beside him and spoke to himself.

Yes, Shaya had never cared whether Charlotte Linlin's daughters were beautiful or not. So long as they were Charlotte Linlin's daughters, that was enough! After all, no matter how beautiful Charlotte Linlin's daughters were, they could never be more beautiful than Empress Boa Hancock...

What Shaya needed was an identity—an identity that would allow him to interfere in the Charlotte family and, at the crucial moment, take over the entire Charlotte family!

As for everything else, those who accomplished great things never fussed over trivial details...

The point of a marriage alliance was mutual benefit for the forces behind both sides, not whether the man or woman involved was beautiful or ugly. Interests came first in everything~

"..."

After hearing Shaya's words, Stussy's eyes widened in shock. She had never seen a Celestial Dragon who understood how to make such use of his status and political marriage alliances.

"By this time, Vinsmoke Reiju should already have been born..."

Before Stussy could think further, Shaya looked at the fan in his hand as if he had remembered something. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and the corners of his lips rose.

"Hey! Stussy, contact Vinsmoke Judge of the Germa Kingdom. Tell him that the Celestial Dragon Figarland family intends to arrange an engagement with his daughter..."

Shaya looked at Stussy beside him and spoke with a smile.

"Huh? Vinsmoke Judge? He has a daughter?"

After hearing Shaya's words, Stussy froze, looking puzzled.

"She was either just born or about to be born..."

"Even if he does not have a daughter yet, once he learns that having a daughter would allow him to establish ties with the Celestial Dragons and the Figarland family, he'll immediately have one next year!"

"Don't forget, Judge is an expert in Lineage Factor! As someone who once came from MADS, you should understand that better than I do..."

Shaya yawned as he answered.

You really are a huge bastard!

After hearing Shaya's words, Stussy cursed him inwardly.

"As for the wedding, schedule it after his daughter comes of age!"

Shaya was a law-abiding man. He had no interest in minors.

Of course, even after getting married, Shaya might not necessarily do anything...

What he needed was the support of Vinsmoke and Germa 66. The marriage alliance and Judge's daughter could only be considered extras; he could not let the minor details overshadow the main matter.

Once they were truly married and had the title, she could do whatever she wanted. Shaya had never cared! After all, there were already too many women around him, and he could not possibly attend to them all.

A four-thousand-word chapter! Brothers, please keep reading!