"BigMom... he's a terrifying guy." Beckman rarely praised someone else as "terrifying."
"Huh? Old Bei, this isn't like you!" Sig looked over in confusion.
Beckman glanced at Sig, too lazy to correct his form of address, and instead reminded him, "Big Mom currently has 37 adult children, almost all of whom serve as officers in the Big Mom Pirates. Five years ago, this number was 27, an increase of 10. And in the next five years... this number will increase by another 20!"
This only includes Big Mom's children, not counting other newly joined executives... No other dominant pirate crew has expanded its executive ranks at this rate!
Lucky Roo then offered a professional analysis. "Well, it should be around twenty years ago that Big Mom achieved some kind of 'Life Return' training that increases the birth rate. Therefore, the next five years will be the peak period for the Big Mom Pirates' strength growth."
That's right, Big Mom is 56 years old this year—it doesn't sound very old, but considering she has given birth to more than 70 children, and nearly 60 of them will be adults in five years... it seems a bit scary when compared to her age!
Since giving birth to Perospero at the age of eighteen, she has had nearly two children a year on average.
Furthermore, Lucky Roo analyzed it from the perspective of Life Return, and indeed, although Big Mom spends most of her time pregnant, her fertility still undergoes cyclical changes.
The first peak occurred when she was in her prime, between the ages of twenty and thirty, and she had nearly 30 children!
Then came the God Valley Battle, which led to the collapse of the Rocks Pirates. Big Mom, who was 31 years old at the time, was indeed a Great Pirate. Her eldest son was 13 and her second son was 12, but life was not as "comfortable" as it is now—this can be seen from the childhood memories of her second son, Katakuri, which showed that it was a childhood full of battles.
However, in the following thirteen or fourteen years, the Big Mom Pirates grew rapidly because her children... came of age one after another, and although some were strong and some were weak, they all possessed a certain fighting ability.
In the thirteen or fourteen years since then, the Big Mom Pirates' growth has slowed down. Due to external wars and internal factors related to their physical age, Big Mom's fertility rate has averaged just over one child per year between the ages of thirty and forty...
However, after she turned forty, in the "Roger era," Big Mom's dominant position was established, and Lucky Roo suspected that she herself had also focused her "Life Return" on conception, which led to a surge in her fertility rate, giving birth to nearly twenty children in five years!
Now is the time when those "surge" of children are beginning to come of age.
"Hopefully, her Life Return, and she can cultivate more thoroughly... otherwise, the New World won't be peaceful for long," Beckman muttered.
Smoker clearly lacked the skill of a lookout like Yasopp, completely failing to spot the Red Force. By the time the Red-Hair Pirates approached Darn Island, the Juice had already docked in the "safe harbor."
The so-called "safe haven" is just a recessed area on the island's outline, with no man-made structures.
As the Red Force approached the island, from a distance, the entire Darn Island looked like it was supported by a "Pillars of Heaven," with countless bolts of lightning raining down upon it. Because they were so dense, it looked like a giant pillar.
Thunderclouds hovered over Darn Island, but no rain fell...
Just then, a small boat came along.
The small boat was not large, and the cabin on the deck was very large and high, which was obviously not suitable for long-distance sea voyages. At this moment, rows of oars could be seen extending from the cabin below the deck, indicating that it was being propelled by human force.
"Is that the umbrella seller the boss was talking about?" Yasopp asked curiously.
"Yes, that should be it." Shanks nodded; he had never been to this island either.
"Is there anything I should be careful about?" Lucky Roo asked, taking another bite of his grilled meat.
Shanks lowered his head slightly, the flashing lightning casting an eerie, somber light on his face, and slowly said, "It's said... when you encounter an umbrella seller, you either buy them all, or... don't buy any, otherwise you won't be able to leave this island!"
Glug--
Gennosuke swallowed hard, seemingly a little scared, as if he was falling for this act.
Sig rolled his eyes and said, "I'll try it in a bit!"
As the small boat drew near, Sig and the others looked up at its deck and saw some strange figures dressed in black robes.
"Umbrellas for sale... umbrellas for sale... are you planning to dock on the island? Then you can't be without Lightning-Repelling Umbrella!"
The leader, holding up a black umbrella, looked up at Shanks and the others, hawking his wares in an old voice.
In the distance, a flash of lightning illuminated the man's face—not only was his voice aged, but his skin was also covered in wrinkles, and... the whites of his eyes were extremely large, making him look somewhat frightening, especially with his slightly grimacing, ambiguous expression, which was enough to give anyone a nightmare.
"Lightning-Repelling Umbrella? This thing can protect you from lightning?" Sig looked at the black umbrella in her hand and couldn't help but feel curious.
In the original work, Urouge was sold an umbrella by these "strange people," but it was only in one panel, and there was no detailed description of what Urouge encountered on Thunderclap Island.
The elderly man, whose appearance was unclear—whether it was a wrinkled grandmother or a wrinkled grandfather—looked up at Sig and smiled even more eerily, "Sure, as long as we have our umbrellas, no matter what kind of lightning..."
The old man was speaking when Sig transformed into a bolt of lightning and appeared beside him—deliberately slowing down so that even his eyes, which were probably nearly blinded by the Inazuma, could see Sig transform into lightning!
"How amazing! It can even ward off lightning? Tsk tsk, I'll have to try it." Sig said, extending a finger that transformed into an electric shock shape towards the old man holding the umbrella.
Umbrella seller:???
Why aren't you playing by the rules?
"Wait... wait wait wait..." Before the umbrella seller could stop him, he was electrocuted by Sig and convulsed.
"What... this doesn't even have lightning protection!" Sig said disappointedly.
"That's because the umbrella isn't open yet!" the umbrella seller said irritably, opening the umbrella and holding it towards Sig.
The other crew members also did the same, surrounding Sig in the middle.
"Huh? Are you going to stretch it out? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Sig said, snapping his fingers.
"Then you do it..."
Then an Inazuma, as thick as a finger, fell from the sky and struck the umbrella seller, who was holding his umbrella horizontally, directly on the head.
"Come, come, come..." The umbrella seller was electrocuted again, causing him to convulse.
However, this time, everyone around gasped in surprise and put down their umbrellas.
"Huh?" Sig noticed their emotions were undergoing a dramatic shift.
Suddenly, all the figures in black robes knelt down and began to kowtow to Sig...
"God!"
"A god has descended!"