Soul Scream

The Charlotte Family had always avoided conflict with the Marines, so the "high-grade" souls capable of using guns and cannons had mostly come from fellow pirates.

But there were not many pirates they could capture to begin with, and even fewer who were skilled with firearms. Even if they managed to create a few advanced Homies, they were only enough to meet the needs of those six main warships. At present, among the Charlotte Family's second generation, only Katakuri's Triplet Brothers, the eldest son, and the eldest daughter—five people in total—had their own Homie Flagships.

In fact, even more than twenty years later in the original story, the BIG Pirates' Angry Army still used cold weapons.

Although the arrival of the Great Pirate Era had increased the sources of high-grade souls, wartime losses had increased as well—for example, the two ships Kid later sank.

More importantly, so many children had gradually grown up. The number of Homie ships had greatly increased, along with the need for all kinds of technical personnel. There had never been enough high-grade souls to go around.

Thus, the Angry Army, which was positioned as cannon fodder, could only remain cannon fodder.

The value of these several thousand Marine soldiers was therefore obvious. Once several thousand fearless Homie soldiers were armed with guns and cannons, at the right moment, they could even wear down a top-tier powerhouse without AOE attacks through sheer numbers.

They were undoubtedly far more useful than tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand, Chess Pawns that could only brandish swords and spears for show!

Besides, there were quite a few officers among the prisoners. In particular, the souls of those powerful commissioned officers could be made into Combat-Type Homies comparable to, or even stronger than, their original selves. Their value far exceeded that of ordinary Marine soldiers!

What a pity. Aside from that Marine Rear Admiral captured at the beginning, all the other commanders were killed, Mousse thought regretfully.

Still, Mousse understood Katakuri's reasoning at the time. If they had not decisively killed those commanders immediately, and Kizaru had later rescued even a few of them, the situation might very well have been reversed.

Almost none of the Chess Soldiers aboard could use guns or cannons, but quite a few could sail ships. Thus, bringing along six Marine warships did not noticeably slow their speed.

Furthermore, Borsalino had remained unconscious for quite some time, and the Marines had spent a while figuring out the details of the battle at Pharaohs. They encountered no attacks along the way and returned safely to Totto Land.

Totto Land was safe as well, which allowed Katakuri, who had been made somewhat anxious by Mousse's words earlier, to let out a slight sigh of relief.

But it was only a slight relief. For one thing, the crisis had merely been delayed, not eliminated. For another, he was worried about how Mama would react upon hearing the report.

After coming ashore, the two first sought out their eldest brother, Perospero, and informed him of the situation, asking him to make arrangements for several possible outcomes.

Charlotte Linlin was innocent and childish, but she was not stupid. The moment she learned that her children had returned, she was immediately overcome by intense unease.

She even forgot her usual catchphrase and directly asked Katakuri, "Why did you come back so quickly?"

Though he felt somewhat afraid, he had no choice but to speak.

Katakuri could only steel himself and honestly tell Mama what had happened on this journey. "I'm sorry, Mama. By the time we arrived, the Marines were already massacring the city at Pharaohs. Grandmother was seriously ill and bedridden at the time. The fright was too much for her, and she..."

"Ah! Ah!" Charlotte Linlin painfully tore at her hair and screamed, while a terrifying aura that made people tremble spread in all directions.

Under that immense pressure, even Katakuri, whose strength had improved considerably again, turned slightly pale because he had deliberately chosen not to wear earplugs in order to test his current limits. The others were completely unable to move.

Mousse alone was an exception. He had never been particularly afraid of Conqueror's Haki or the Soul-Soul Fruit's power, and he had anticipated this beforehand and prepared earplugs. He felt even less pressure now.

She had only just found reasons to forgive her parents, only to discover that death had forever separated them and she would never see them again. And if she had not stubbornly refused to look for them all this time, Mother probably would not have died, and perhaps Father would still be alive as well. She must be filled with regret and guilt. With a mental age that may not even be ten, this blow is simply too heavy, Mousse thought, unable to help feeling some sympathy for Charlotte Linlin.

But Mousse's attention was soon drawn to the sudden scene before him.

Her knee really did split open and bleed! So it isn't necessary for Mother Carmel's Photo to be destroyed for her to become vulnerable. A mental breakdown alone is enough. But one question remains: why would one's mental state affect the physical body's strength? And to such an extent? That makes no sense! Once Mousse's curiosity was aroused, it quickly overwhelmed the bit of emotion in his heart.

Then Mousse came up with an extremely bold idea. Perhaps... perhaps her physical strength was never affected at all. Maybe Mama's body was never as indestructible as we believed. The reason she is normally impervious to blades and bullets could be something else, such as Armament Haki?

Yes, it must be Armament Haki. The reason her body becomes vulnerable while she screams is that Mama, in the midst of a mental breakdown, is constantly releasing Conqueror's Haki at maximum intensity. She therefore has no spare strength to maintain the Armament Haki that normally passively reinforces her defenses.

The more Mousse thought about it, the more logical the idea seemed.

When Katakuri had taught them before, he had said that the power of the three types of Haki was interconnected. If one type was pushed too hard, it would affect the use of the other two. It could be understood as the three types of Haki sharing a fixed maximum output; if one type's output increased, the other two would have to decrease accordingly. This perfectly explained Charlotte Linlin's weakness.

However, if Charlotte Linlin truly relied mainly on Armament Haki to become impervious to blades and bullets, and could even maintain it passively at all times, then the strength of her Armament Haki was probably far greater than that of any powerhouse in the world.

That included Garp, the Marine Hero whom Mousse had considered to possess the strongest Armament Haki before his transmigration. After all, Garp's fists were hard, but even Morgan could cut him while he was asleep.

Garp probably uses Armament Haki better, so his attacks are more powerful. Just like Qiao Feng in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils—his inner strength was not the greatest, yet the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms he unleashed were unstoppable. Uh, now that I think about it, Mama is actually a lot like Xu Zhu, one of the three brothers in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Replace Northern Darkness True Qi with Armament Haki, and they're practically identical.

At that thought, Mousse could not help revealing a strange smile.

Fortunately, Charlotte Linlin was currently going mad. Everyone else had either fainted or was struggling to resist, so no one noticed his bizarre expression, which was completely out of place with the situation.

Still, she isn't even as fortunate as Xu Zhu. Xu Zhu at least learned the basics at Shaolin Temple, later received guidance from the Child Elder, and finally could cultivate profound martial arts by following the diagrams on the stone wall. Unlike Mama, who never had even a single teacher from childhood to adulthood and could only fumble around on her own, Mousse thought regretfully, unconsciously sighing.

But then his heart suddenly stirred, and he realized that this was actually a good thing for the current Charlotte Family.

After all, Charlotte Linlin's current level of strength was already an established fact. On that foundation, the fact that she only knew Turtle Fist meant that she still had plenty of room to improve!