Inside a concealed building some distance away from the Big Mom Pirates, several top Marine officers—excluding Sengoku—were observing them through Surveillance Den Den Mushi. More precisely, they were watching Charlotte Linlin reaction.
"What the heck, isn't this completely useless?"
Garp said in a bored tone while picking his nose. "If you ask me, there no need for all this fancy nonsense. We should've just rushed in and beaten them up. Whoever we can take down, we take down."
"Don't be so impatient. This situation was actually within our expectations,"
Vice Admiral Tsuru explained calmly. "Don't forget how Totto Land was formed in the first place."
Back when Charlotte Linlin founded Totto Land, she didn't yet hold the title of one of the Four Emperors.
Though she was already quite famous, she was nowhere near capable of rallying a massive following with a single call—especially when she needed people of many different races.
As a result, she carried out a great deal of population trading back then, which became the foundation of Totto Land.
After finishing her explanation to Garp, Vice Admiral Tsuru turned her head toward her disciple, Gion Momousagi, and gave the order: "Begin. Add some fuel to Charlotte Linlin fire."
At her command, a massive screen suddenly rose from the center of the Big Mom Pirate building complex. Immediately afterward, the image of Mother Carmel appeared on it.
"Mother!"
Charlotte Linlin let out a cry of delight and lifted her foot, rushing toward the screen.
However, Katakuri beside her suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing several seconds into the future, he gritted his teeth and wanted to shatter the rising screen—but then he saw a vision of his soul being taken by Big Mom. His hand, raised halfway, instantly froze in place…
"Everyone, continue to retreat farther back! The rest of you, prepare for battle!"
Katakuri knew that the situation could no longer be stopped and could only quickly warn his younger brothers and sisters who lacked strength to retreat to the side.
Just as the Big Mom Pirates were making preparations in response to the onset of Big Mom hunger pangs, the image on the screen had already reached the part where Mother Carmel was "selling" Charlotte Linlin to CP agents.
Naturally, the footage being played was not real. After all, this had happened decades ago.
The CP agents at the time could never have imagined that something like this would one day be useful, so there was no reason for them to deliberately record it.
The image before them had been fabricated based on the memories of an old agent who had once come into contact with Mother Carmel.
Aside from the fact that the people themselves were fake, the content was basically real—even the dialogue between both sides had been reconstructed according to that agent recollections, without any deletions or alterations.
"Mo… Mother?"
Charlotte Linlin stared blankly at the unfamiliar Mother Carmel on the screen, the smile on her face gradually stiffening.
"Oh no! Everyone, keep retreating!"
"Motheeeeeer—ahhhhhhhhhhh——!!!!!!"
The moment Katakuri words fell, Charlotte Linlin—her mind struck by an overwhelming shock—threw her head back and let out a furious roar.
Invisible sound waves, accompanied by her rampaging Conqueror Haki, spread violently in all directions.
The ground and buildings around her, as well as the screen that was still playing, were all shattered by the terrifying sound waves.
Even Katakuri and the others who had already retreated far away were not spared.
Although the members who had gone to sea this time were all fairly strong and at least capable of withstanding the pressure of Conqueror Haki, they had been completely unprepared for Big Mom terrifying wailing. All they could do now was clutch their ears in agony.
"Mom! Calm down!"
Katakuri struggled to move closer to Big Mom while shouting at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, his voice was completely drowned out by Charlotte Linlin anguished cries and never reached her at all.
On the other side, faced with the screen that had suddenly gone dark, Vice Admiral Tsuru issued the order without the slightest hesitation: "Move out!"
Although it was unclear what exactly had happened, judging from the brief images before the screen went black, one thing was certain: Charlotte Linlin had been enraged.
"Hahahahaha! These old bones of mine could use some exercise!"
Garp laughed loudly as he walked outside, and the other Marines who had been lying in ambush also began to move.
Akainu was even more direct—right after stepping out of the building, he launched an attack.
"Meteor Volcano!"
Countless magma fists were hurled into the sky, flying toward the cluster of buildings where the BIG MOM Pirates were located.
…
"Damn it! It the Marines!"
Katakuri, who had been trying desperately to wake BIG MOM, quickly foresaw Akainu attack. Forced to split his focus, he activated his Devil Fruit ability while shouting to the others,
"Everyone, be careful! The Marines are here! Go protect the other brothers and sisters, now!"
With his warning, the other members of the BIG MOM Pirates gritted their teeth, resisting the mind-piercing demonic sound while launching attacks into the sky, trying to intercept the massive magma fists crashing down toward them.
However, most of the BIG MOM Pirate Devil Fruit abilities were related to food, many of them heavily restrained by the extreme heat of the Magma Fruit.
On top of that, under the influence of Charlotte Linlin sound waves, they couldn't fully exert their strength. As a result, quite a few magma fists still broke through their defenses and slammed down mercilessly.
One of those fists flew straight toward the still-howling Charlotte Linlin.
"Mom! Watch out!"
While protecting his younger brothers and sisters, Katakuri once again foresaw the future. Although he didn't understand why Charlotte Linlin, known as the "Iron Balloon," could be injured so easily, he still charged forward without hesitation.
"Grilled Mochi!"
Even though Katakuri used a move imbued with flames, the Mochi Fruit was still somewhat restrained when facing the Magma Fruit.
As a result, he failed to completely block this Meteor Volcano, and a small amount of splashing magma still dripped onto BIG MOM body.
"AAAAAAAH—!!!"
With her defenses weakened, BIG MOM let out a scream of agony, but she also snapped out of her dazed state.
"Magma? Akainu? The Marines?!"
Charlotte Linlin glanced at the burn wound on her shoulder, and the expression on her face gradually twisted into something ferocious.
Perospero seized the opportunity to step forward and shout, "That right, Mama! This is all a Marine conspiracy—don't let them fool you!"
He actually understood that saying this would keep the enraged BIG MOM from retreating easily, but compared to her remaining in that previous state with her defenses lowered, staying here to fight the Marines head-on was already the more optimistic outcome.
"To dare use Mother Carmel to deceive me… all of you, get out here right now! Marines!"
Charlotte Linlin didn't think it through at all and directly accepted Perospero explanation, because she simply couldn't accept that Carmel, who had always been so kind to her, had actually planned to sell her to the World Government.
Therefore, this could only be a Marine conspiracy!
The furious BIG MOM directly removed Napoleon from atop her head, transforming it into the shape of a curved blade. At the same time, Prometheus attached himself to Napoleon.
She then raised the curved blade high over her head and viciously slashed downward toward the distance.
"Emperor Sword: Blaze of the Blade Mother!"
A gigantic slash wreathed in flames flew toward the distance, annihilating everything along its path.
"Hahahahaha, this move really looks like that kid Sherwin technique!"
Garp laughter rang out ahead of the flaming slash. Immediately after, he leaped out from behind the buildings that blocked the line of sight, raising a fist wrapped in Armament Haki and Conqueror Haki, and smashed it straight down toward BIG·MOM flaming slash.
"Impact!"