Big Mom was a mad emperor.
Aleus had no doubt about it. After their fierce battle, which had lasted three days and two nights, Big Mom had brought up the matter he'd already rejected once again. She wanted Aleus to become her ally.
After asking Aleus what he thought about becoming the Pirate King and receiving his sincere answer—"I'm not even a pirate. The Pirate King and all that... Honestly, I have no interest in it!"—Big Mom became even more eager to form a reliable alliance with him through marriage.
To show her sincerity, Big Mom had even invited Aleus aboard the Queen Mama Chantilly.
It wasn't a trap,
but a genuine show of good faith.
Inviting Aleus aboard wasn't some signal for the crew to smash a glass and rush him with axes, chopping him into mincemeat. On the contrary, it was tantamount to entrusting the lives of most of Big Mom's children aboard the ship to Aleus.
At such close range, even with Big Mom trying to stop him, Aleus was confident he could kill more than half of her children.
Entrusting the safety of her children to the enemy she'd just been planning to kill in the most brutal way possible—only Big Mom, whose title of "Mad Emperor" was truly well deserved, would do such a thing. But Aleus had to admit that her courage and audacity lived up to the grand title of Pirate Emperor.
Madness, cruelty, tyranny—
The outside world had countless negative things to say about Big Mom, but no one had ever claimed she was unworthy of her place among the Four Emperors. The only woman among them, Big Mom had claimed her throne as Pirate Emperor through sheer, undeniable strength.
Aleus wasn't interested in a marriage alliance, but a visit aboard the Queen Mama Chantilly sounded nice.
After all,
their three-day-and-two-night battle had taken them more than three hundred kilometers from Saiboy Island. Flying back on his wings would be... incredibly tedious. So Aleus accepted Big Mom's invitation and went aboard the Queen Mama Chantilly as her guest.
"Mamama!"
Big Mom laughed merrily.
Her twisted smile, at once gleeful and crazed, made it seem as though she were hopping back and forth between hell and purgatory.
She sat in a chair on the deck large enough to accommodate her massive body. Raising her thick, powerful arms, she extended an enthusiastic invitation to Aleus, who sat across from her. "Prince Aleus, please enjoy yourself! After fighting for three days and two nights, anyone would be hungry. Let's eat our fill before discussing business!"
As she spoke,
she had already picked up a dessert from the table and swallowed it.
The kitchen aboard a pirate ship was limited in size, so even though the desserts had been made as large as possible, the largest cakes were only about the size of a beef cow. To the eight-hundred-and-eighty-centimeter-tall Big Mom, one was no more than a single bite.
The cooks were working through the night, sending out all sorts of sweets in a steady stream: egg tarts, pudding, tiramisu, fruitcake, ice cream, zabaglione... and many other things Aleus couldn't even name.
And,
without exception, everything they served was dessert. There was nothing ordinary like meat or vegetables to be seen.
"This tastes... delicious!"
After three days and two nights of nonstop fighting,
Aleus was indeed hungry. The desserts on the table looked sickeningly sweet, but after trying one, he found it genuinely delicious. Even the royal palace chefs could only match this with their best desserts.
With the Hogyoku protecting him, Aleus wasn't worried that Big Mom might have tampered with the food. He helped himself to the creations of the Big Mom Pirates' chefs without hesitation.
As it happened, the Big Mom Pirates' chef squad was famous throughout the New World!
At the enormous long table,
only Big Mom and Aleus sat, one at each end.
The two of them swept the desserts from the table like a whirlwind. Well, it was more accurate to say Big Mom devoured 99 percent of them, while Aleus ate around one percent. Even that tiny portion was enough to keep him from touching another dessert for a long time to come.
Sweets,
after all, were best enjoyed only once in a while.
After drinking some water to wash away the sweetness, Aleus glanced at Big Mom, who was still eating with complete concentration, then quickly turned his attention to the other members of the Charlotte Family on deck. For instance, Charlotte Katakuri, who was leaning against the ship's railing.
"Hey, Powder Minister."
Aleus stood and walked over.
"Is there something you need, Prince Aleus?" Katakuri asked calmly.
Given the alliance Big Mom had openly expressed her interest in forming with Aleus, and considering his strength, Katakuri had ample reason to show him the proper respect.
Of course,
the man hailed as the foremost of the Sweet Three Generals hadn't let down his guard. His mother might have welcomed Aleus aboard with open arms, but that didn't mean Katakuri truly considered him a guest. With his Observation Haki fully active, he continually read Aleus's next move.
"Charlotte Katakuri... With a bounty of over a billion Berry, your head must be worth a fortune!"
The provocative greeting immediately put the tense Charlotte Family members around them on edge. They drew their swords and weapons, aiming their blades and gun barrels at Aleus. If Katakuri hadn't raised a hand to restrain his younger siblings, someone might already have opened fire.
"You bastard prince! Are you trying to start another fight?"
Charlotte Oven glared furiously at Aleus. He was a Paramecia-type Heat-Heat Fruit user and Totto Land Kingdom's Yellow Minister. He was also one of a set of triplets, along with Katakuri and Charlotte Daifuku.
His feelings for his brother made him unable to tolerate Aleus provoking Katakuri.
"Oven, don't be rash. Don't forget Mother's wishes."
Katakuri placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder.
The reminder of "Mother's wishes" calmed the fiery-tempered Yellow Minister.
After settling his rather hotheaded triplet, the foremost of the Sweet Commanders gave Aleus a cold look and said in a low voice, "Prince Aleus, you're Mother's guest, that's true. But please don't forget that Totto Land won't tolerate an obnoxious guest unconditionally!"
His forceful reply brought a look of excitement to the faces of the Charlotte Family members around them.
If the terrifying battle between Aleus and their mother weren't still fresh in their minds, they might well have opened fire at once and killed the foul-mouthed guest. To be honest, there weren't many good-tempered people in the Big Mom Pirates. Plenty of them were ruthless.
"Charlotte Katakuri, you really are a pillar of the Big Mom Pirates. If it weren't for your bloodline... I'd truly want to recruit someone as talented as you! And... I'm sorry. I went too far with that joke."
Aleus smiled as he apologized.
Everyone could tell that the Black Prince's apology held not a trace of sincerity.
But nobody demanded more.
To be honest, they hadn't expected the young monster who could stand against their mother to apologize. After Katakuri had made his threat, he'd been ready to find a way to smooth things over. Now Aleus had apologized. Even without an ounce of sincerity, it was enough to show Katakuri respect.
The New World's rule that the strong were respected
was fully on display in that brief verbal clash.
If Aleus hadn't fought Big Mom to a draw over three days and two nights, the Charlotte Family would have opened fire on him for provoking Katakuri like that. But Aleus had revealed the strength of a Four Emperor, so even when he deliberately provoked them, they didn't dare strike first unless he actually harmed someone.
After all,
setting aside the consequences of provoking a monster with the strength of a Four Emperor,
if they ruined their mother's plans, then even as her children, they certainly had nothing pleasant to look forward to. Their younger sister (older sister), Charlotte Lola, the twenty-third of all their daughters and former Chocolate Minister of Totto Land, had rejected a marriage proposal from the prince of the world's strongest nation, the Elbaf Giant Kingdom, and fled Totto Land.
She remained a thorn in their mother's side to this day.
Lola was clever enough to disappear completely over the past few years. Otherwise, if their mother learned where she was, she wouldn't even be able to hope for a quick death.
"Prince Aleus, the cooks are preparing a special dish for you. Would you mind sitting down and waiting a little?" Charlotte Brûlée spoke up to ease the tension. She was Big Mom's ninth daughter and Totto Land's Crème Brûlée Minister.
The beautiful woman, who was nearly forty yet looked only in her twenties, smiled and broke the awkward silence.
"Something special? I'm pretty full after all that, but... I'll look forward to it."
Aleus smiled and nodded.
His brief, unpleasant exchange with Katakuri was enough to show him that Totto Land, built around Big Mom's blood ties, was indeed exceptionally united. Recruiting anyone away from it would be incredibly difficult.
"Well! That was what I expected, anyway."
The idea of recruiting them had been an unreliable impulse in the first place, just something to do after a meal. In truth, a successful attempt would have been more troublesome than a failure. Fight Big Mom again? No thanks. He didn't want to continue a battle with no end to victory in sight.
At present, all he could do in a battle against Big Mom was avoid defeat.
"If you don't mind my asking, Prince Aleus, you have a younger brother, don't you?"
Charlotte Brûlée led Aleus back to his seat and suddenly asked him.
"..."
Aleus didn't answer at once.
He didn't linger on the beautiful woman in front of him. Instead, he looked over at Big Mom, who had slowed down her eating.
"My younger brother is only six."
"Mamama! If they're too young to marry right away, they can get engaged first!" Big Mom held a piece of chocolate cake and gobbled it down, not forgetting to laugh heartily as she did. "My youngest daughter, Anana, is only three, but she'll definitely grow up to be a beauty. She and your younger brother would be a perfect match, Prince Aleus."
"Children who are six and three? That's... far too young, isn't it?"
Aleus was almost moved by Big Mom's never-say-die determination.
When she couldn't get him to agree to a marriage alliance no matter what,
she'd set her sights on his six-year-old younger brother.
"It's just a political marriage. Their ages don't matter at all. As long as our interests don't conflict, there's no problem. Prince Aleus, you're not a pirate, and you have no interest in becoming the Pirate King. That means our interests don't conflict at all.
"We can form an alliance, take down Kaido, Red-Haired, or even Whitebeard. Then I'll become the Pirate King, and your kingdom will become a great nation that shares the New World with Whole Cake Island. That sounds like a fine future, doesn't it? Hahahahahaha!"
Big Mom opened her mouth like an abyss and once again extended an invitation to Aleus to form an alliance. Her expectant laughter echoed over the deck, lingering in the air.
As one of the four Pirate Emperors of the New World, Big Mom had always believed that four Pirate Emperors were too many. Even as Pirate Emperors, their titles weren't as impressive as that of the Pirate King. So she had always sought to acquire enough power to eliminate the other three Pirate Emperors.
In the past, when the prince of the world's strongest nation, the Elbaf Giant Kingdom, had fallen for her daughter Lola, Big Mom had been overjoyed. If she could have brought the Giant Race warriors of Elbaf under her command, she figured she would have become the New World's sole Pirate Emperor long ago.
But there were no ifs in this world,
and the truth was that her daughter had rejected the proposal and even fled Totto Land. That had utterly shattered her plans for the future and once again created enmity between her and the Giant Race.
Now that Aleus had appeared, she saw a new possibility.
Just as she had said, Aleus wasn't a pirate and wouldn't compete with her for the glory of becoming the Pirate King. Their interests weren't irreconcilable, so they could become allies and rule the New World together. At least, that was the beautiful future she envisioned.
On the deck,
the members of the Charlotte Family, the cooks moving to and fro, and the Homies all looked at Aleus, waiting for his response.
"An alliance?"
Aleus lowered his head and pondered for a moment. Then he looked up again and said with a bright smile,
"I'm sorry, but I don't see what I'd gain from an alliance. I don't have any plans to rule the New World for now."
When his words fell,
the only sounds on deck were the sea breeze and the waves.
The gleeful smile on Big Mom's face slowly twisted, as though a demon had torn through the human skin disguising it and revealed its terrifying true form. Just as the Charlotte children nervously awaited their mother's wrath, that twisted smile gradually smoothed out again.
Her anger wouldn't change Aleus's mind. It would only make his strength stand out even more.
"I'll look forward to you changing your mind, Prince Aleus!"
"Sooner or later, you'll understand. Power will fuel a person's ambition. Even if you truly have no ambition, others will force you to develop some."
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