Carl hovered midair, his gaze locked onto the foaming sea below where the monstrous figure of Charlotte Linlin had vanished beneath the waves.
"Ma… Ma—Maaa!!"
From the distant deck of the Queen Mama Chanter, Perospero and several members of the Big Mom Pirates were already rushing toward the site of her fall, expressions painted with dread.
"I can't linger here any longer…" Carl exhaled heavily, his chest rising and falling with each strained breath. He pressed his feet into the air, utilizing Geppo, and rocketed skyward, soaring toward the horizon.
His stamina was almost entirely spent. Since mastering Advanced Armament Haki—Ryuo—this was the first time he had felt his internal organs nearly seize up under prolonged strain.
In this condition, facing the oncoming flood of elite Big Mom Pirates like Smoothie or Oven would be sheer suicide.
"But it's also a bit problematic… I don't have a permanent log pose," Carl muttered, slowing after flying full-tilt for several minutes. His senses pulsed with Haki, sweeping the unpredictable New World currents beneath him.
In this stretch of the Grand Line, permanent log poses are essential to safely navigate between islands. Without one, a person may drift forever—or crash into an Emperor's territory again.
"Forget it… this way will do." A crimson light flickered in his right eye as he instinctively chose a direction and flew on, tracing the will of the wind.
—Cake Island—
The once magnificent island now looked ravaged. The northeast had been gouged out by Carl's [Lion: Thousand Slice Valley・Change], while the west side was blackened by residual Prometheus flames. The entire surface was littered with enormous gashes and scorched terrain, as if a natural disaster had swept through.
Under the combined effort of Perospero, Smoothie, and several Homies, the hulking, 8.8-meter-tall body of Charlotte Linlin was finally hauled from the sea.
"Ma-ma-ma-mama!"
"Is she okay?!"
"No way she's…?"
"She can't be dead, right? Right?!"
Fear and disbelief rattled the core members of the Big Mom Pirates. Even seasoned officers like Daifuku and Compote dared not voice what they suspected.
"Silence!" Smoothie barked, her long legs carrying her toward the unconscious Yonko. With Katakuri absent, she was the current anchor of the crew.
"Mom will recover," she muttered, trying to convince herself more than the others.
She knelt by Linlin's colossal form. Her chest rose and fell faintly. But what stunned them wasn't that she was alive—it was the wounds.
Carl's slashes had bypassed even the fabled defenses of the steel balloon—a body so naturally durable that even cannonballs bounced off.
Cut marks, some shallow, others terrifyingly deep, marred Linlin's flesh. Most disturbing of all was a jagged incision starting at the collarbone and running diagonally across the abdomen.
Streaks of black lightning flickered and snapped at the edges of the wounds—a signature of Advanced Armament Haki: Internal Destruction.
"Hiiiss—"
Gasps echoed. Even hardened veterans like Oven and Mont-d'Or couldn't believe their eyes.
If Carl had stayed a moment longer…
Would they really have dared to attack him?
Or had their mad rush to "save Mama" nearly become their last mistake?
"Cough… cough…"
Suddenly, the Yonko's massive body convulsed with a raspy cough. Everyone froze, their breath catching in their throats.
"Mom… is awake?!"
No one moved. It wasn't reverence—it was fear.
If Linlin awoke enraged, her rampage could kill them all indiscriminately. She had once knocked out her own children during a hunger pang.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly.
"I'm… where?"
Her voice was unmistakably hers—booming, coarse, but strangely… childlike.
The crew blinked. The tone didn't carry her usual domineering fury. Instead, it sounded lost. Naive. Innocent.
Perospero, Cracker, and Smoothie exchanged glances. What was this…?
Was she playing a trick?
"Wh-what is this?! It hurts!"
Suddenly, Linlin clutched her side and screamed in pain. Her shriek rang like a thunderclap.
"Why is my body bleeding?! Why does it hurt so much?!"
A pulse of pure Conqueror's Haki exploded from her.
BOOM—!
The ground quaked. Buildings shattered. Dozens of weaker Homies and subordinates fainted instantly, their eyes rolling back as their ears bled.
Charlotte Linlin—sobbing.
Like a child.
The great calamity of the seas sat there, wailing in pain, tears streaming down cheeks bigger than men.
A strange pink aura, reminiscent of her Soru Soru no Mi soul power, rolled over the island. But unlike her usual tyrannical oppression, it was… confused. Reactive.
"Mom, please—!"
"Calm down, Mama!"
Perospero and Smoothie cried out, but even they struggled to endure the pressure. Their bones creaked under her uncontrolled Haki waves.
She stared wide-eyed at their strained faces. Her crying slowly stopped.
"It hurts so much… Did you hit me?"
Her eyes locked onto her children. A look of betrayal, confusion, and heartbreak flickered in her massive pupils.
She looked like a wounded giant toddler.
"Why… did you hurt me?"
She sniffled, then tilted her head. "Wait, what's my name again? Linlin? Who's that? Is that me?"
A heavy silence descended.
The Big Mom Pirates were stunned. Not by her rage—but by her words.
"Cough… um…" Perospero stumbled to his feet, struggling to remain composed. "Mama… did you really lose your memory?"
The question hung in the air, but no one dared to press it.
Even if it was obvious, even if her demeanor had changed completely—
Who would dare confirm the impossible?
Charlotte Linlin, the Emperor of the Sea…
Had amnesia.
The coercive fear that Mother had long embedded in their hearts was far too deep-rooted.
Whether she truly had amnesia or not, no one dared act rashly in her presence.
"Amnesia?" Charlotte Linlin tilted her massive head, blinking in confusion. "Did I lose… my memory?"
She closed her eyes for a moment, as if trying to recall something—but the vast sea of memories she once wielded like a weapon was now completely blank.
"Then… do you know me? Who am I? Who are you? Where is this?"
Her voice, while still carrying its immense power, now sounded like a lost child's—her questions came one after another, filled with wide-eyed curiosity.
"This…"
Perospero exchanged glances with Cracker and Smoothie, then stepped forward and forced a smile. "You are our mother. We're family, Mama. All of us are your children."
…for flowers…
Regardless of what had happened, Charlotte Linlin's terrifying combat strength remained the cornerstone of Totto Land.
In truth, the entire Big Mom Pirates and their massive archipelago nation had been built upon her absolute power alone.
Without that monstrous strength, their Four Emperors crew would quickly collapse—no different from the way Whitebeard's remnants crumbled after the Payback War.
Even now, the Whitebeard Pirates were still locked in conflict with Blackbeard's forces, barely holding onto fragments of their former glory.
And every passing day, more new-generation pirates arrived in the New World, eager to claim the vacant throne of an Emperor.
Realistically, only three true Yonko crews remained in the current era.
Neither the scattered remnants of Whitebeard nor the predatory rise of Blackbeard could truly be considered stable Four Emperors.
"I'm… your mom?" Charlotte Linlin's immense face twisted with skepticism.
She slowly lifted her hand and looked at it. Her fingers, which had once shattered ships and crushed giants, now bore deep cuts and crooked bends—scars from Carl's [8th Blade Form] slash earlier.
"Yes! You're Charlotte Linlin, our beloved Mama. We're the Charlotte family! A big, happy family of 85 children!" Perospero declared with a forced grin.
Cracker, Smoothie, and the others all echoed him, their voices cheerful on the surface—but their hearts were frantic.
They prayed with all their might that she'd believe them.
Whether she had truly lost her memories or not, her burst of Conqueror's Haki earlier had made one thing clear—her raw strength was still intact.
If she became emotionally unstable or misread the situation, she could still obliterate them without hesitation.
"Alright then… Charlotte Linlin it is," she mumbled. "Anyway… I'm hungry!"
Linlin's giant palm pressed against her stomach. She stared down at them, wide-eyed and expectant.
"Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving right now!"
"Yes! Yes, we do, Mama!" Perospero and the others snapped to attention and scrambled to prepare food.
"Yay!" Charlotte Linlin's face lit up like a child's, her massive teeth gleaming as she giggled.
Within moments, cartloads of desserts were rolled in—towers of cream puffs, cakes, and glazed donuts arranged in tribute.
"Hmm?! What is this? It's so delicious!"
Her eyes sparkled with wonder as she took a bite of a donut.
Then, like a typhoon, she opened her maw wide and devoured the entire mountain of sweets in seconds.
Not far off, the remaining officers watched with dread and disbelief.
"Mom really did lose her memory… What do we do now?" Perospero's expression was heavy.
"We stall for time," Smoothie said firmly. Her eyes were cold, calculating. "Or else…"
She didn't finish the sentence, but everyone understood. They'd seen what happened to the Whitebeard Pirates.
A mother without her memories would undoubtedly be weaker.
Combat instinct, tactics, mastery over her Soru Soru no Mi—all of that had been honed over decades.
Now, those memories were likely gone.
If this leaked, if the other Emperors caught wind of it, if even the Worst Generation learned the truth—
Countless enemies would descend upon Totto Land, seeking to destroy or dethrone them.
"Just like that…" Perospero sighed.
But deep in his eyes, there was an undeniable flicker of relief.
Because this version of Linlin… this amnesiac, cheerful Linlin…
Was far less terrifying than the manic tyrant they had feared every day.
Her hunger pangs, violent tantrums, and unpredictable mood swings had always kept the crew on edge.
Now, perhaps, they could breathe—if only temporarily.
—
Far above the clouds, Carl continued drifting through the sky.
His breathing had stabilized. His Haki had begun to regenerate.
He had no idea…
That one strike from his blade—
Had reduced the most terrifying woman on the seas to a child-like amnesiac.
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