Tea Party and the Queen of the Pleasure District

"Is that Totto Land's center, the headquarters of the Charlotte Pirates, Cake Island?"

"This is just too beautiful, it's practically like a fairy tale kingdom from a legend!"

Breathing in the sweet scent of juice and gazing at the colorful sea of juice, both Baby5 and Violet wore expressions of astonishment, and even longing.

There was no helping it; Cake Island fit the scenes of fairy tales far too well. Although, if one were to look closely, it was actually more of a dark fairy tale, but on the surface, it was identical to a standard children's story, enough to greatly stir the girlish hearts of Baby5 and Violet.

What's more, while Minos had long since grown tired of sweets, for girls, sweets were always stored in a separate stomach!

"It feels so lively here. I doubt the annual foot traffic in Dressrosa even equals a single day's traffic on Cake Island," Violet remarked, clicking her tongue in surprise.

"No, even in most cases, Totto Land doesn't get this many visitors," Katakuri said, standing on the deck to explain to the group. "But Mom's Tea Party is different. At this time, basically every underground king operating in the New World comes to Cake Island to pay their respects!"

Compared to Kaido's Beasts Pirates or the Whitebeard Pirates, the Charlotte Pirates were the crew with the most extensive network of affiliated pirate crews and various factions.

This was all thanks to Charlotte Linlin's incredible fertility. With so many sons and daughters—subtracting those who were too young, those who were too strong for her to let go, and other family members—the entire Charlotte Pirates had at least forty or fifty married men and women. Their spouses were, at the very least, factions on the level of Supernovas.

The interest-based community formed by the interlocking of these factions could encompass almost the entire New World's underground, with tentacles even extending into the Four Seas and the Grand Line.

To put it bluntly, don't look at how Doflamingo acted like he could command the wind and rain in the underground world after becoming a Shichibukai in the original story; compared to the influence the Charlotte Pirates held in the underworld, he was just a little brother.

As for Big Mom's Tea Party, besides humoring Charlotte Linlin, it was also the best venue for everyone to negotiate and divide interests among themselves.

After all, those underground bosses wouldn't feel safe negotiating anywhere else; who knew if they might end up dead if a talk went sour? That kind of situation couldn't happen on Cake Island—everyone had to give Charlotte Linlin some face.

Before that destined protagonist, the Sun God, turned the place upside down ten years later, the safety rate of this Tea Party was 99%.

Well, the remaining 1% of danger came from Charlotte Linlin herself. After all, this Big Mom was a dangerous person who might kill a collaborator simply because she didn't like a gift or the food didn't taste good.

But even so, these kings of the Underworld and the various factions of the New World had never missed a single Tea Party. After all, Charlotte Linlin might not remember who gave her a gift, but she would certainly remember who didn't.

"These people don't look like ordinary characters. Are they all subordinates of the Charlotte Pirates?" Upon entering Cake Island, Violet looked at the various faction leaders, each exuding a faint scent of blood and dressed in a way that felt completely out of place on this fairy tale island, and spoke in a low voice.

"Some count as allies," Katakuri nodded. "But, by and large, the vast majority are subordinates."

Even among so-called allies, there was still a hierarchy; it was clear that the Charlotte Pirates held the dominant position.

"That's the Sea Transport King. It's said he controls the routes for many secret ocean currents."

"And that guy is the funeral parlor tycoon, Drug Peclo. In reality, he's a guy who traffics human organs and also moonlights as a hitman."

As Katakuri introduced them, he was also letting the group show their faces before the many underground kings. Charlotte Linlin only cared about collecting money; it was clearly Big Mom's children who maintained the relationship network.

By showing their faces to these underworld giants, they could gain intelligence and logistical support for various future operations.

For instance, Morgans, the president of the World News Agency—in terms of intelligence-gathering ability, he was likely no worse than the World Government's CP agent organizations. The reason the Charlotte Family was known as the best-informed pirate crew in the New World had everything to do with this media tycoon.

And the Sea Transport King—the current charts in his possession were also of immense help whenever the Charlotte Pirates carried out their various plans.

However, the person Minos paid the most attention to was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in fashionable attire, with an elegant appearance and a lovely face.

Katakuri was not particularly surprised. In his view, it was perfectly normal for a boy of Minos's age to be interested in a pretty girl. Nevertheless, he still offered a reminder: "That is Stussy, the Queen of the Pleasure District. Be careful; she is not someone to be trifled with. Many people in the Underworld who have tried to make a move on her or offended her have disappeared without a trace."

"Furthermore, her age does not match her appearance. She is even considered one of Big Mom's closest friends."

Being on good terms with Big Mom was no simple matter, but of course, if it were Stussy, it made perfect sense. After all, this person was an agent of the CP0 organization.

The reason Minos was paying attention to Stussy was not because he saw a beautiful woman, but because he had an idea to stir up some trouble. After all, one can never have too many Devil Fruit points!

He frowned slightly, and as a thought crossed his mind, a plan began to form. He spoke to Katakuri, "Brother Katakuri, I'm afraid this Queen of the Pleasure District is suspicious."

"Hmm?" Katakuri was slightly taken aback. He knew Minos's personality well; he would never make baseless accusations. He couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "What is it? Did you see something?"

Minos spent his days using his Thousand Mile Eye to look around while training his vision. Occasionally, he would stumble upon many secrets, and Katakuri had long since grown accustomed to him suddenly knowing things that others did not.

"I once saw this Queen of the Pleasure District meeting with members of the CP organization," Minos said. "And based on the situation at the time, this Queen of the Pleasure District wasn't in a cooperative relationship with them—she was their absolute leader."

"What!?" Katakuri's expression changed. It was perfectly normal for these underground organizations to have dealings with government intelligence agents. One could even say that all the factions present, including the Charlotte Pirates, would not rule out cooperating with government agents if there was profit to be made.

But if she were capable of commanding government agents, then Stussy's identity was worth reconsidering.