Almost at the same time Sherwin and the others boarded the Valstrax subspecies, the BIG·MOM Pirates, under the guidance of CP agents, arrived at a secret island located within the Calm Belt.
This place had once been used as a CP training base. It was later abandoned, but it still belonged to the CP organization. There were indeed some intelligence materials stored on the island, and among them were records related to Mother Carmel…
To lure BIG·MOM all the way here, lies alone would never be enough. So even before this, the World Government had already released quite a bit of information related to Carmel, using it to keep Charlotte Linlin hooked and moving step by step toward this location.
Likewise, in order to keep BIG·MOM on the line, the intelligence the World Government provided was only fragmentary.
At most, it allowed Charlotte Linlin to confirm that they truly had connections with Carmel, but as for what those connections actually were, everything was deliberately kept vague and obscured.
"Mamamamama… I wonder what kind of thing the Navy will take out this time."
Charlotte Linlin said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes as she stepped onto the island.
Neither she nor her children were fools—they could naturally sense that something was off along the way. But her confidence in her own strength made Charlotte Linlin ignore all of that.
Of course, the most important reason was that the intelligence released by the World Government truly was related to Carmel, which was why Charlotte Linlin had been patient enough to accompany them in this little "game."
However, as time dragged on and she still hadn't obtained any truly useful information, her patience was now wearing thin.
"Perospero, where are the nearest Marine bases and allied nations to this place? If the intelligence they give us this time is still the same as before, we'll go destroy them and then head back."
Charlotte Linlin said this without the slightest attempt to hide it, even deliberately raising her voice.
"Understood, Mama!"
Everyone who had gone to sea together with Charlotte Linlin let out a sigh of relief. None of them wanted to be ambushed by the Marines over someone who had already been dead for years, just because their mother insisted on pushing forward and they had no way to stop her.
Now that they heard Charlotte Linlin was preparing to give up, Perospero and the others relaxed for a moment—then immediately tensed up again…
The words had just been spoken. If the Marines wanted to make a move, this was the only window they had.
Thinking of this, Perospero glanced at Katakuri.
From the moment they set sail, Katakuri had maintained his focus, constantly keeping watch with his Observation Haki. He gave a slight shake of his head.
His Observation Haki could only foresee a few seconds into the future and had no particular advantage in range, so he couldn't sense the Marines hidden on the island—let alone the few Shichibukai like Sherwin who were still on their way.
"Everyone, be ca—"
Perospero had only just started speaking when Charlotte Linlin, accompanied by Prometheus and Zeus, was already striding toward the somewhat dilapidated cluster of buildings at the center of the island.
"…sigh… hurry up and follow her!"
As the strategist of the BIG·MOM Pirates, Perospero had long since grown used to situations like this. He could only sigh helplessly, then quickly call for his younger brothers and sisters to follow.
Before long, they arrived at the buildings. The CP agents and BIG·MOM had already formed an unspoken understanding—at the beginning,
they would still put on a show and send people to put up a token resistance, but now they couldn't even be bothered to arrange anyone inside, allowing them to freely search for clues.
However, this time the clues were different from before. Inside, they had placed Mother Carmel's criminal records from back then, along with information related to the House of the Lambs.
Charlotte Linlin naturally wouldn't personally rummage through the place, so these materials were discovered first by her children.
"This…"
Smoothie, the first to uncover Sister Carmel's criminal record, stared at the thin sheet of paper in her hand and felt completely numb.
"Perospero, big brother, come here for a moment."
Unable to make up her mind, she hurriedly called over her eldest brother and the strategist of the pirate crew, then handed him the criminal record in her hand.
After seeing its contents, Perospero was just as stunned.
He had indeed suspected that these materials might have been fabricated by the World Government, but he quickly dismissed that thought.
If they really wanted to do that, there was no need to go through such a roundabout process. So there was a very high chance that all of this was real, which meant…
That so-called "Saint Mother" back then had actually intended to sell Mama to the World Government!
Perospero instantly figured everything out and also guessed the World Government's intentions.
However, he soon fell into confusion again…
In Perospero's view, doing this served no purpose other than provoking Charlotte Linlin, and he could not understand why the World Government would deliberately lure them here when they could have released these materials much earlier.
Because the "Sister Carmel photo incident" had not happened at this time, Perospero had no way of imagining what kind of devastating impact this would have on Charlotte Linlin.
Of course, the World Government knew even less about that. They simply wanted to enrage Charlotte Linlin so that she would not be able to escape so easily.
As for why they went to such great lengths to lure the BIG·MOM Pirates here…
First, they needed time to assemble the Seven Warlords and gather their forces. Second, in the Calm Belt region, it would be much more troublesome for the BIG·MOM Pirates to withdraw.
Moreover, just like Sherwin and Koby, when the World Government formulated this plan, they themselves did not hold much hope of actually dealing with Charlotte Linlin directly. Their real objective was to weaken the strength of the BIG·MOM Pirates as much as possible.
Because unlike other pirate crews, the core officers of the BIG·MOM Pirates were basically all Charlotte Linlin's children, it would not be easy for her to "replenish" any vacancies.
Even if Charlotte Linlin were forced to restructure the pirate crew afterward, that would likewise give CP agents an opportunity to plant spies within it.
Beyond that, this ambush also carried other considerations, such as provoking a confrontation between the Seven Warlords and the Four Emperors, and testing the reactions of the other Four Emperors.
At the same time, however, the World Government had not abandoned the idea of achieving everything in a single decisive strike. After all, if Charlotte Linlin were truly eliminated, then even if all her children survived, they would no longer pose any real threat.
Just as Perospero was feeling completely at a loss, more members of the BIG·MOM Pirates began to uncover related intelligence one after another.
Like Smoothie, they did not dare make decisions lightly, so they all called over major officers such as Perospero and Katakuri.
But in doing so, they inevitably drew the attention of Charlotte Linlin, who had originally intended to stand aside and reap the benefits…
"What did you find? Bring it here and let me see."
Charlotte Linlin beckoned to Charlotte Highfat, who was closest to her.
Tall in stature but rather mediocre in strength, Highfat did not dare defy his mother at all. With a pained expression, he could only hand over the intelligence in his possession, then, while Charlotte Linlin focused on the information in her hands, he immediately and furtively moved away from her.
His brothers and sisters reacted much the same way. Those with weaker strength retreated to the side, while those with greater strength, like Katakuri, instead stepped forward…
Big Mom's hunger pangs were nothing new. They had experience dealing with it.
However, the development of events was not what Perospero and the others had feared. After reading the information in her hands, Charlotte Linlin actually…
Laughed.
"Ma ma ma ma! So the Holy Mother actually had an experience like that, ma ma ma ma…"