Big Trouble

"This is big trouble." After Katakuri and Mousse learned of it, they both saw deep concern in each other's eyes.

If they had died before Katakuri's group arrived, Charlotte Linlin would at most have been upset for a while. But they had come, and Grandma had still died. What kind of reaction would Mom have then? Just thinking about it frightened them.

"Even if she doesn't blame us and pins it on the Marines instead, that won't be a good thing either!" Mousse had thought more deeply about it, but that only made his worries worse.

After considering it over and over, Katakuri decided it would be better to report directly to Mom after everyone had returned.

For one thing, it would give them more time to think of a solution. For another, even if Mom got angry or even went berserk then, there would at least be more people to handle her. That was still better than having her explode now and leaving Big Brother in Totto Land to face her alone.

To make it easier to explain things to Charlotte Linlin, Katakuri's group also looked into the situation in the Pharaohs Kingdom, as well as King James Glenn's motives for deciding to withdraw from the World Government.

As a result, Mousse, who had initially held this king in somewhat higher regard, discovered that he had simply been overthinking things.

"So after years of disasters, the treasury was strained and they could no longer afford the Celestial Gold. Whether they paid it or not, there was no good outcome, so they withdrew only with a break-the-pot mentality. That's nowhere near as courageous as I thought. No wonder he doesn't have Conqueror's Haki." Mousse curled his lip in disdain after hearing this.

Mousse had once specifically studied the known list of powerful people in the world who possessed Conqueror's Haki. Adding in those mentioned in the original work, he had tentatively summarized a few patterns.

In Mousse's view, if James Glenn had voluntarily withdrawn from the alliance because he could no longer endure the Celestial Gold's exploitation of the country of Pharaohs, then he would actually have had a good chance of awakening Conqueror's Haki.

But if he had merely done it out of helpless desperation, then James Glenn could forget about it for the rest of his life.

To awaken Conqueror's Haki, one must first possess the will to never submit to anyone. One must also make the resolve to pay any price for it. If this king truly could stand up for his people and resist the World Government's tyranny, then his own strength was quite decent for his race and age. The stronger one was among their own kind, the easier it was relatively to awaken Conqueror's Haki—though lacking strength did not mean one absolutely could not awaken it. He was actually fully qualified. Mousse thought with some regret.

Still, Mousse had to admit that this king was indeed quite shrewd. Perhaps it was precisely because the man was too clever that he could not become a true "king"?

Because many of the World Government's major atrocities throughout history had been tightly covered up and were unknown to the public, and because the Pharaohs Kingdom had not been under the World Government for many years, James Glenn believed that even if he withdrew, they would only try to kill him by proxy.

Thus, relying on his country's martial customs and the presence of two experts, himself included, whose strength rivaled Marine Headquarters vice admirals—though the stronger of the other two had not expected the Marines to attack directly and had been ambushed and killed while greeting them at the docks—this king believed weak pirate crews were nothing to fear.

As for those they could not defeat, they could seek protection from the Whitebeard Pirates, who had nearly dominated the New World after the Roger Pirates disbanded. Their protection fees were less than one-tenth of the Celestial Gold, something the Pharaohs Kingdom could still afford.

But this king was young, after all, and had underestimated how much importance the World Government had attached to the Farol Islands ever since that major shift in the geopolitical landscape years ago. If Katakuri's group had not happened to be there, both king and kingdom would already have perished.

Compared with the Whitebeard Pirates, the BIG Pirates were not only considerably weaker, but also had a far worse reputation.

The level of protection fees was secondary—the BIG Pirates' fees were not particularly high either. Based on the prices stated by the author, in the original story Fish-Man Island's monthly ten tons of sweets only cost a little over ten million Berries, and they collected local specialties rather than cash, so they did not have to be exploited by merchants another time. The key was that Charlotte Linlin had a bad temper.

Even a slight shortage or delay could lead to a devastating disaster, with absolutely no room for negotiation. Moreover, once someone joined her banner, they were never allowed to leave, unlike the Whitebeard Pirates. That was why James Glenn had not considered them before.

But now that they had been saved once and formed a favorable connection, while the Marines were very likely to return soon, James Glenn changed his mind and wanted to cling to the BIG Pirates.

What the king had not expected, however, was that Katakuri did not immediately accept his request for the entire nation to join them. He demurred, saying that he would have to report it to Mom after returning and wait for her to decide whether to protect the Pharaohs Kingdom.

Given Katakuri's standing in the Charlotte Family, there would have been nothing wrong with acting first and reporting afterward.

But now both Grandpa and Grandma were dead, especially since Grandma's death had been unnatural.

If Mom learned of it and took out her anger on this country, Katakuri would be in an awkward position if he had already agreed to accept the Pharaohs Kingdom.

Katakuri avoided future awkwardness, but left King James in an awkward position right now.

Fortunately, Mousse made a suggestion that somewhat eased the king's embarrassment and anger. "If Your Majesty has already made up your mind, then you can begin preparing a large mirror at least eight meters tall and three meters wide. Once Mom agrees, whenever your country needs aid, we can send people here directly through the mirror. Then we won't have to worry about losing several days and giving the enemy an opening."

Mousse made this suggestion mainly because Eighth Sister Brulee had made major progress in developing the Mirror-Mirror Fruit.

Following Mousse's earlier suggestion, Charlotte Brulee had restricted the size of mirrors included in the Mirror World, retaining only large mirrors that people could pass through. As a result, she discovered that the area the Mirror World could affect in reality had greatly expanded.

If the threshold were raised further and the total mirror area were limited to within fifty square meters, its control radius could even reach four to five hundred kilometers. Then the Mirror World could directly link Totto Land and Pharaohs, eliminating the need to spend two or three days sailing slowly.

An enormous mirror eight meters tall and three meters wide would be enough to let Charlotte Linlin personally arrive in the Pharaohs Kingdom at any time. Even if Sengoku or Garp came then, they could handle it, instead of finding a fight against a Kizaru who had not yet reached his peak so nerve-racking as before.

On the other hand, in the far-from-industrialized world of One Piece, a mirror that large was a rare item. If James Glenn could truly prepare such a large mirror, then his sincerity would be fully proven.

Clearly, Mousse still hoped deep down that Totto Land could control the Pharaohs Kingdom—or rather, the Farol Islands.

That was because, to express his gratitude, the king of Pharaohs had previously allowed him to enter the still-intact Royal Library and read freely. As a result, Mousse discovered that the value of the Farol Islands went far beyond their important geographical location.

Thanks to reader "AyaNami" for the monthly ticket. Following updates is the most crucial thing right now, so please don't let chapters pile up—read them when they're released. ^_^