At the same time, on Whole Cake Island in Totto Land.
Charlotte Linlin, dressed in a pink queen's gown, sat on her throne, "elegantly" enjoying her dessert.
"I've been away from home for so long, and that brat hasn't even called me on the Den Den Mushi. Guess he doesn't care anymore…" she muttered.
Katakuri, who had been speaking with Perospero below, froze for a moment. He thought… she must mean Ortoren. But honestly, it's not like there was ever some deep bond between them, Mama.
Then again… he looked toward his mother and asked, "Mama, have you even exchanged Den Den Mushi frequencies with Ortoren?"
Charlotte Linlin paused, then fell silent.
Come to think of it—no, she hadn't.
In fact, she didn't even know if that kid had a Den Den Mushi at all.
"If he doesn't take the initiative, do you expect me, his mother, to take the first step? Who does he think he is? Next time we meet, I'll make sure he understands the true depth of a mother's iron-fisted love!" she said, embarrassed and irritated.
Katakuri chuckled. "Ortoren should be doing well in the Marines right now. We should keep our distance—for our sake and his."
Charlotte Linlin didn't respond. Of course she understood that; she'd just been speaking offhandedly.
Moments later, the Den Den Mushi Perospero carried rang. Without hesitation, he answered it on the spot.
"Perospero-sama, we've received new intel!" reported a subordinate of the Big Mom Pirates from the other end.
Perospero licked the candy in his hand and asked calmly, "What intel?"
"There's a scientist in the underworld named Caesar who seems to be looking for a new employer…" the subordinate replied.
Perospero asked curiously, "And what's so special about that?"
"This Caesar is the same researcher behind the chemical weapon we tried to get before. If we could bring him in, we could produce those weapons ourselves. Also, Caesar's been spreading word in the underworld that his research group has made a major breakthrough. The technology is incredibly advanced—something about life modification. Apparently, they can even create giants…" the subordinate continued.
Charlotte Linlin, who had barely been paying attention at first, suddenly perked up. Her eyes lit up, and she set her pastry aside. "What do you mean, create giants?"
"Mama?" the subordinate asked in surprise, then quickly answered nervously, "He didn't go into much detail, but from what I gathered, the technology can alter life—giants included, but not limited to them. It seems they can modify other races as well, though the method isn't fully developed yet…"
Aside from her ambition to become the "King of the Seas," Charlotte Linlin also had another dream: to create a "utopia" where every race in the world could live together.
For most people, it would remain just a dream. But as the Queen of Totto Land and a great pirate of the New World, she had the means to pursue it. Since her youth, she had worked toward that vision, arranging marriages and births with many unusual races. Now, Totto Land truly was home to a wide variety of intelligent species from across the seas.
Fish-men, Longarm Tribe, Minks—she had them all.
Among these, she had a special fondness for the Giant Race, and had always wanted either to marry a giant herself or to form an alliance with Elbaph.
But due to certain events in her childhood, her relationship with the giants had always been strained, and she had made no real progress in that area.
Hearing this news, Charlotte Linlin was naturally intrigued. If the conditions were right, they could form an alliance with the Giant Race through marriage. If not, well… creating their own Giant Race wasn't out of the question either.
"This news only started spreading in the Dark World two days ago. And with the kind of weapons that research group has released before, they're bound to draw a lot of attention, Mama!" the subordinate added.
Before long, after gathering more detailed intel, Perospero hung up the Den Den Mushi. Charlotte Linlin's eyes were already shining, her eagerness impossible to hide.
"Mamamama! Excellent, this is perfect!" she laughed loudly, patting the armrest of her throne. "Katakuri, prepare the ship! I'm going to see this technology with my own eyes!"
"Yes, Mama," Katakuri replied at once.
...
It wasn't just Charlotte Linlin who had received the news. Over in the New World, in Wano Country's Onigashima, Kaidou was scratching his head.
"So you're saying this guy named Queen contacted us first?"
Inside the grand hall, Kaidou's towering frame was half-reclined in his seat, a gourd of sake in hand as he drank and spoke.
Standing opposite him was another tall figure with a pair of black wings on his back—his little brother, Arber… though now everyone knew him as King.
"That's right. Kaidou-san, weren't you looking for a new line of business? We set our sights on Wano for its top-tier cold weapon forging, but I think our arms trade shouldn't be limited to swords and spears. We need someone skilled in firearms and heavy weaponry too. This Queen is a scientist well-versed in those areas, and he's also an Ancient Zoan user…" King explained.
Kaidou didn't care much for weapon experts, but the moment he heard "Zoan," his interest shot up. "Ancient Zoan? Now that's promising! Sounds like someone who'd make a fine subordinate for me!"
If Charlotte Linlin was an all-inclusive "race collector" dreaming of a utopia for every race, then Kaidou's dream was probably to run the world's biggest zoo.
"Exactly. And Queen also said their MADS research team has developed a new technology. If they succeed, they'll be able to mass-produce Zoan-type Devil Fruit users…" King added.
Kaidou, who had been merely intrigued before, now sat upright. "Where is this guy? I'm going to see for myself!"
...
Elsewhere in the New World, on the deck of the Whitebeard Pirates' flagship, the Moby Dick—
Marco grinned as he handed something over. "Oyaji, a letter for you."
"A letter?" Newgate took it from him, puzzled. "Who's it from?"
"The signature says it's from your old lover. I don't know the rest. It was dropped off at our island base while I was there buying sake, so I brought it back," Marco said with a mischievous smile.
Hearing "old lover," Newgate scratched his head. After a moment, he seemed to recall something, a flash of embarrassed irritation crossing his face. "Buckingham? That woman's always spouting nonsense."
He tore the envelope open and read. Moments later, with a look of pure distaste, he tossed the letter straight into the sea.
"Oyaji, what'd it say?" Marco asked, clearly curious about his captain's romantic history.
"Nothing. Just a troublesome woman trying to drag me into a mess. I've got no interest in the rubbish she wrote," Newgate said with a dismissive wave.
"Huh?" Marco blinked, then eyed him suspiciously. "It's not some tragic tale? An abandoned woman, wandering all these years, finally finding a way to reach you—the heartless man who left her? The letter full of years of sorrow and—"
"You little brat, you want me to sink you to the bottom of the sea?" Newgate shot him a glare, both annoyed and embarrassed.
"Hahaha, just kidding, just kidding! So we're not going to bother with it then?" Marco laughed, stepping back out of range.
Newgate truly had no interest in whatever scientific nonsense Buckingham had mentioned in the letter. Calmly, he shook his head. "Not worth our time. Speaking of which… I wonder how Oden's doing?"
"Last I heard, he'd left the New World and was heading for Skypiea or something. But that was over three months ago. For all we know, they might have already come back down," Marco replied.
Newgate's gaze drifted out to the open sea. In a low voice, he murmured, "Laugh Tale, huh? How boring… Roger, you old fool."