"Cheers!" x N
Before the Winter Solstice Festival arrived, the giants of Elbaf ate large amounts of nutritious food to prepare for twelve days of fasting. Even the children were no exception.
People in this world were generally quite hardy. Otherwise, going so many days without food and drinking only water would have left them seriously ill afterward, even if they hadn't starved to death.
Charlotte Linlin was undoubtedly the one who enjoyed eating the most.
"So sweet—"
"So delicious!"
The giants gathered around a huge table for their last dinner before the Winter Solstice Festival, but Linlin alone polished off most of the food.
"Linlin, wait! You're eating too fast. There won't be any left for the rest of us!"
The giants on either side tried to stop her, but they were afraid of hurting Linlin, so they couldn't do anything to keep her from eating.
In fact, scenes like this had been occurring from time to time over the past six months.
Whenever she came across something delicious, Charlotte Linlin seemed to lose her mind. Eating was the only thing left in her thoughts.
Even Mother Garumoro, whom she respected most, couldn't stop her.
Mongge couldn't possibly turn a blind eye to this.
"Linlin!"
His calm voice rang out across the table. Almost the instant she heard it, Charlotte Linlin stopped moving the food toward her mouth.
Linlin wasn't the only one who stopped. The two giants nearest to her couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat, either.
Conqueror's Haki!
After six months of effort, Mongge could now focus his Conqueror's Haki within a certain area, targeting a small group of people.
At that moment, Charlotte Linlin saw Mongge as a stern father.
She stopped what she was doing without even realizing it.
"Linlin, don't eat so fast. You're a girl, so you should try to be more graceful."
"Aw, fine."
Linlin didn't know what "graceful" meant, but she understood that Mongge wanted her to slow down. Once she came to her senses, she reluctantly put down the desserts, even though they tasted delicious.
"The whole point of good food is to enjoy it together. Linlin, it's wrong to eat everything all by yourself."
While Charlotte Linlin was still young, Mongge thought he had to teach her the right values, instead of letting her grow up to become the kind of villain who would kill, plunder, and do every other evil deed, as she did in the future.
Of course, she would be doing it as a pirate.
He wanted to teach Charlotte Linlin what she could and couldn't do.
After Mongge scolded her, Charlotte Linlin almost instinctively looked toward Sister Garumoro. When she saw Garumoro nod in agreement, she lowered her head in dejection.
"I understand..."
Whenever Charlotte Linlin did something wrong, Garumoro often chose to forgive her because she was only a child.
But Mongge wouldn't do that.
Right was right, and wrong was wrong.
If Charlotte Linlin were just an ordinary little girl, her mistakes would affect, at most, herself and those around her.
But Charlotte Linlin wasn't ordinary.
As one of the future Four Emperors, Charlotte Linlin had been born with a gift countless people could only dream of. Compared to her talent, even Rocks's seemed insignificant.
After the last supper, Mongge called Rocks and Lipri over.
"During these twelve days before the Winter Solstice Festival, the giants will be at their weakest. To guard against outside threats, they'll step up their patrols."
"I'll help them patrol, too."
Although Mongge was a transmigrator, that didn't mean he could predict the future.
The story of this world that he knew took place a full sixty years later. In the manga, the story of his group would be a prequel to the prequel.
So Mongge had no idea whether anything major would happen in the world at this point in time.
And Mongge's arrival had already thrown this world into chaos.
A butterfly flapping its wings could cause a storm thousands of miles away.
Mongge's reckless actions might even completely change the course of the future.
The simplest example:
If Mongge had killed Rocks when they first met, just because he couldn't stand him, there would never have been an Overlord of the Sea named Rocks in the future.
So even though he remembered that, in the original story, nothing major happened during this Winter Solstice Festival apart from Linlin's Gluttony Disease sending her into a rampage, Mongge still decided to patrol alongside the giants.
This would also serve as a test for Rocks and Lipri.
"If nothing unexpected happens, I'll invite Linlin to become the fourth member of our crew when we leave. Your task for these twelve days is to take good care of her."
In the original story, Charlotte Linlin's Gluttony Disease had driven her into a rampage. She had destroyed most of the giants' village and accidentally killed Yoruru, the old giant who had always disliked Mongge.
To protect Charlotte Linlin, Garumoro had been forced to give up the giants' protection and establish Home of Lambs somewhere else.
Mongge wanted to prevent that from happening.
"Charlotte Linlin? You mean you want that chubby little girl to join us?"
Rocks frowned and complained.
"Captain, I know that chubby little girl has some talent, but she's only five. If she joins our pirate crew, won't we have to take care of her every day?"
Seeing Rocks's expression, Mongge chuckled but didn't explain.
Rocks had made real progress over the past six months, but Mongge would bet that if he fought Charlotte Linlin one-on-one, she would definitely win.
That was right: twenty-one-year-old Rocks couldn't beat five-year-old Charlotte Linlin in a one-on-one fight.
Forget about whether he could beat her.
He'd have to get through her defenses first!
Although Charlotte Linlin's special constitution, the "Iron Balloon," hadn't fully developed because of her age, Rocks wasn't the only one who couldn't break through her defenses. Even Mongge might fail if he didn't take the fight seriously.
Looking back over all the battles Charlotte Linlin had fought in the future, Mongge knew of only one time when her defenses had been broken—when her ability was rendered ineffective.
They had never been broken at any other time.
So Mongge wasn't counting on Rocks to stop Linlin if she went on a rampage.
"Lipri, I'm counting on you!"
"Mm, leave it to me!"
Lipri nodded with a cheerful smile. She didn't understand why Mongge cared so much about a little girl, but she could see that as time passed, Mongge's spirits had grown better and better.
Now, he was completely like he had been ten years ago, when they first met.
That was the pirate captain she had always admired!
Still, perhaps Mongge was worrying over nothing. Seven whole days passed without anything happening. Even Linlin, who should have gone on a rampage during that time, seemed to have managed to suppress her hunger.
Until the eighth day arrived.
Before you continue