"What do you want?"
Hearing Charlotte Linlin's question, Link closed the case. "If I win, I'm taking your thirty-fifth daughter, Charlotte Pudding."
The hall froze.
"Eh…"
Barely not knocked out by Conqueror's Haki, Pudding raised a trembling hand at herself. "You want me?"
Linlin blinked, then laughed. "Ma-ma-ma. So you've taken a liking to my daughter. In that case there's no need for a Davy Back Fight at all. I can simply betroth Pudding to you.
"I believe she'd be delighted to follow a man of your stature, right, Pudding?"
Meeting her mother's gaze, Pudding understood at once. She put on her best act, cheeks flushed as she stole a glance at Link. "I will follow Mother's arrangements."
Karina, watching from the pocket space, snorted. Her thirteen-year-old self and Nami could outact Charlotte Pudding with ease.
Link saw through it as well, but he did not care about Pudding's true nature.
He smiled and declined. "No betrothal. I want her completely severed from the Charlotte family, and I want her to swear to Davy Jones that she will serve me for life."
Both Linlin and Pudding sneered inwardly. In this day and age, who still believes oaths can bind loyalty.
Linlin also knew a straight marriage was impossible. They were not on the same level. Push it and she would only be insulting Link.
"So if I win," she said airily, "all five Devil Fruits are mine, yes?"
"Do you think that's possible, Senior Linlin?"
Link's look said it all. Human form of gluttony indeed, with an appetite to match.
Linlin kept selling. "Pudding is the Memo-Memo Fruit user and a half-blood Three-Eyed. If her third eye awakens, she can even read the ancient script.
"Pudding is my most beloved daughter."
In short: sweeten the pot.
Link shrugged. "I already have scholars who can read the ancient script. I don't care about the Three-Eyed Tribe's ability. Mother-daughter bonds do not warrant a higher price.
"If you win, you may choose two of the five fruits."
"Deal."
Linlin agreed at once, as if afraid he might take it back a second later.
So a trade in people was settled. Aside from Charlotte Katakuri, who burned with anger, the rest took it in stride. This was their mother who would even take a child's lifespan for mistakes. A favored child could not choose their fate. If profit outweighed affection, Linlin would sell them without a second thought.
Clearly, Pudding's Memo-Memo Fruit and Three-Eyed blood did not outweigh the five fruits before her. Understandable. Any one of those five could change a nobody's destiny into a top-tier power. With two in hand, Linlin could quickly raise two top officers. Not wastes like Charlotte Snack, but cadres just below her masterpiece, Charlotte Katakuri. With advanced Haki infusion, they might even surpass that masterpiece.
One Pudding was nothing.
Linlin's quick assent had another reason. She saw that Link had come with courtesy first, force later. With a Door-Door user under him, he could have seized Pudding without a sound. If all he wanted was the Memo-Memo Fruit, he could have had Blackbeard steal the power afterward. The world knew that Puncture Duke Link and Marshall D. Teach, the top two of the Worst Generation, were close as brothers.
Yet Link did not do that. He sent a visiting card and chose a Davy Back Fight to claim Pudding. That meant he truly wanted her loyalty.
If Linlin prevented him from taking Pudding the gentle way, he would surely take her the pirate way.
Linlin did not fear war with Link, but doing so would be foolish. She would eat this fish several ways. She would fight the Davy Back, take two fruits if she won, and still hand Pudding over without marriage or alliance. So long as her daughter was with Link, he would not strike at Totto Land. Even in defeat, the same held. Linlin was confident that even if Pudding went to Link, her heart would remain with her mother. Through Pudding, she could grasp Link's secrets.
Win or lose, she would win. Why refuse.
Link did not know her calculus. If he had, he would have laughed. It was hard to blame Linlin for her strange confidence. Pudding's mask had been perfect, and she had indeed darkened a bit. She was not evil by nature. Bullied since childhood for her three eyes, she learned to wear armor and to hurt first, so as not to be hurt. In truth, she was easy to win over.
With the stakes set, Linlin could not wait. "How do we play? How many rounds?"
"One match, winner takes all."
Link raised a finger and smiled. "This world bows to strength. At the summit, any scheme can be shattered by force.
"Since it's a pirate's game, we fight the pirate's way. The strong will take the victory."
"Ma-ma-ma."
Linlin rose with a feral grin.
A storm of pressure no weaker than Link's burst invisibly from her.
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