At the guest room door in the sunlit corner of the second floor of Whole Cake Island's castle, Perospero was prying at the door with his hands, trying to wedge his head inside.
Ortoren stood inside, pushing the door back, trying to keep him out.
Honestly, if he used just a bit of force, he could've slammed it shut—but he was genuinely afraid of crushing Perospero's head!
"You're really not going to invite me in? I'm your big brother! Don't tell me you've been blinded by Katakuri?" Perospero grunted as he struggled, his bizarrely long tongue nearly drooling.
"Are all of you Big Mom Pirates this overly friendly?" Ortoren dodged the tongue in disgust and couldn't help but complain.
"I just want you to join my faction!" Perospero suddenly stopped trying to force the door and blurted out.
Ortoren froze. Had the power struggle within the Charlotte Family and the Big Mom Pirates really escalated this much?
It was obvious—Perospero, being the eldest son, and Katakuri, the most favored son of Charlotte Linlin, were both prime candidates to inherit her legacy and command.
But if he remembered correctly, Perospero's popularity dropped off significantly compared to Katakuri in another twenty years.
Could it be that the eldest son had already realized he was at a disadvantage?
And after noticing Ortoren's talent, he wanted to recruit him early?
Would there be perks involved?
As these thoughts swirled through his mind, Ortoren eased up a little on the door. After all, he was just a poor country kid—not even close to these royal brats of Totto Land. Maybe there really was something in it for him.
He might not be into this sort of thing, but that didn't mean he was about to turn down free handouts.
"What faction?" Ortoren asked, his tone dropping as he gave a serious look.
Seeing his change in attitude, Perospero straightened his collar with both hands, taking on a solemn air.
"The Candy Faction, of course!"
"Huh?" Ortoren looked at him, completely dumbfounded. "That's your faction's name? What does that even mean?"
"It means exactly what it sounds like! We're uniting everyone who loves candy to rise up against the donut tyranny of Katakuri and his two brothers! Our goal—make the world fall in love with candy!" Perospero declared with a dead-serious expression.
Ortoren's face twitched, then he slammed the door shut and yelled, "Ghost!"
Perospero was stunned. He looked around in confusion and muttered, "Ghost? Where?"
Still unwilling to give up, he knocked on the door again—only to be met with a fresh string of curses from Ortoren. At last, he left, clearly annoyed. As he went downstairs, he couldn't help but grumble about how rude this new little brother was. What kind of attitude was that toward his older brother?
"He shut the door the moment I mentioned donuts... Don't tell me Katakuri's already brainwashed him? Damn it!" Perospero muttered to himself.
...
Back in the room, Ortoren dropped onto the sofa, staring at the closed door with a troubled look.
"Does the Charlotte family have some kind of hereditary mental illness?"
Katakuri never sleeps lying down. He claims that letting his back touch the ground is a disgrace to both a man and an older brother—so he either sleeps standing or leaning against a wall.
One night aboard the ship, Ortoren couldn't sleep and stepped out for some sea air, only to be scared half to death by Katakuri snoring like a ghost while standing in the corridor.
Honestly, Ortoren still couldn't figure it out. What does sleeping on your back have to do with anything? Especially when you're secretly munching on donuts while lying down?
Then there's that guy Cracker, who walks around all day encased in biscuits like some kind of fancy armored freak. If that's not mental illness, what is? Hiding your real face out of paranoia? Classic persecution complex.
And now Perospero—what was with him? First time meeting, and all he talks about is some candy faction? Ever heard of personal boundaries? Didn't he feel even a little awkward?
Thinking about it gave Ortoren chills. He quickly shook off those chaotic thoughts and turned to the small box on the table.
Before arriving, Katakuri had mentioned that Charlotte Linlin had a gift prepared for him.
Now it seemed that was true.
But what was inside the box?
Without wasting time guessing, Ortoren reached out and opened it—only to see a strange fruit covered in bizarre patterns.
A Devil Fruit.
The unique product of this oceanic world. Mysterious, powerful, and capable of granting all sorts of bizarre abilities to whoever ate it—but in exchange, it cursed them, making them unable to swim and causing them to sink like a stone the moment they touched seawater.
Devil Fruits were everywhere. In the New World, it felt like every random pirate had some kind of odd ability.
But even so, they were incredibly valuable. Known as treasures of the sea, even the weakest Devil Fruits went for starting bids in the hundreds of millions on the black market.
Ortoren had been in this world for over ten years but had never seen a Devil Fruit in person. He'd seen users—low-level pirates and gangsters near the docks sometimes had weird powers—but the fruits themselves? Never.
Still, he'd heard enough stories. So the moment he saw it, he knew what it was.
Staring at the fruit, Ortoren's expression shifted—surprise, then shock, and finally a hint of realization.
"She's seriously generous..." he muttered, smacking his lips in disbelief.
If it were just some no-name fruit, he wouldn't have recognized it—he'd never studied any Devil Fruit encyclopedias. But this one... this was different.
It was famous. Powerful. Unforgettable.
This was the kind of Devil Fruit you recognized at a glance.
At first glance, it looked like a flashy hedgehog hairstyle, glowing golden yellow. But look closer, and those jagged patterns weren't just spikes—they carried the aesthetic of lightning slashing through storm clouds.
No doubt about it. This was the so-called "invincible" ability, one of the most tragically wasted powers in the original story.
The legendary... Logia-type Goro Goro no Mi.
He vaguely remembered—when Katakuri first met him and tried to recruit him into the Big Mom Pirates, Ortoren had played along and told him a bunch of absurd things about his background. One of them was the need for a special stone for crafting a warhammer—plus a powerful Devil Fruit.
Back then, he was just joking, saying his father once told him that on the legendary White-White Sea ten thousand meters above the ocean, there was a Sky Island called Birka, where the so-called invincible Goro Goro no Mi could be found. If they were really sincere, they should bring him that fruit.
Sure, the stone had been delivered. But the Goro Goro no Mi? Katakuri never brought it up again. Ortoren figured they hadn't taken him seriously. I mean, who would go chasing down some baseless story like that? Let alone give you the fruit afterward?
Even if they somehow believed it and found the thing—would they actually hand it over?
Well... Charlotte Linlin really was on another level. Whether she believed it or not, she'd actually gone out, found the Goro Goro no Mi, and now... she'd given it to him.
O-Lin, you're actually serious?
In that moment, Ortoren's opinion of Charlotte Linlin improved significantly.
...
(50 Chapters Ahead)
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