This cream fruit pie is actually a sentry of the BIG MOM Pirates in the Tottland Sea Region. Any ship entering this sea area without approval may be directly attacked by it.
The firepower on this type of ship is not weak. It is the most basic battleship of the BIG MOM Pirates. Compared to ships of other pirate crews, the ships of the BIG MOM Pirates seem the least threatening.
The bow of the Hundred Beasts King is a dragon head with horns, while most ships of the BIG MOM Pirates have a smiling face.
"We've arrived, boys, perk up, don't let me lose face!"
For pirates, face is always a big issue. The members on this ship have all gone through numerous battles, making them the elite among pirates.
Not long after, a ship with a long-hat-wearing bow sailed toward them. The flagpole bore BIG MOM's flag, but the main sail did not have a pirate flag, only the word "CANDY" written on it.
The Sweet Candy, Perospero's ship, was dispatched by BIG MOM to greet Kaidou after receiving the news.
"Lick-lick~ It's been a long time, Mr. Kaidou. Mama's tea party is ready, please come with me."
As the eldest son of Charlotte Linlin, Perospero had seen that era too. Kaidou was only nine years older than him, and they had crossed paths on the Rocks' ship back then.
Perospero also observed the members on Kaidou's ship. The nameless minions could be ignored, aside from Kaidou himself, the only familiar face was Queen, and then there were a few children, among whom was a Fur Race child.
Olga's wanted poster still showed her in her Beast Form. At this moment, standing here, Perospero did not recognize her, or perhaps he simply did not remember those wanted posters. A bounty exceeding a hundred million is almost the baseline in the New World, and there are too many pirates with bounties in the tens of millions for him to possibly remember.
But for now, the Hundred Beasts' attitude appeared very friendly; otherwise, they wouldn't have brought several children along.
At this moment, the Tottland Kingdom had not yet grown as grand as it would decades later. The main forces of the BIG MOM Pirates were still in the process of developing, and Katakuri was even a year away from adulthood.
However, comparatively, Charlotte Linlin's strength had already reached its peak at the age of 37; she was in her prime, and had not been deformed from excessive childbirth, with her abilities still at their peak.
The current BIG MOM Pirates were not yet comparable to the BIG MOM Pirates thirty years later, but Charlotte Linlin herself was a different story.
"What a long tongue, even longer than Uncle Ankote's. People from the outside sea are so interesting."
Ankote, Anteater Fur Race from Zou Island, was the longest-tongued person Setsuna knew, but now Perospero had become the person with an even longer tongue.
She was merely whispering to Zeraora, but this voice was already quite loud for Perospero.
"Mr. Kaidou, it seems you've brought quite a few children this time as well." Back on Rocks' ship, only Charlotte Linlin always had a bunch of kids around. Expecting the crew of Rocks to care for the young and old was clearly impossible, but no one on the ship dared to bully them, mainly because Charlotte Linlin had fought them into submission. Years later, Kaidou's side unexpectedly saw a reemergence of a scene similar to those earlier days.
....
The Sweet Candy was in the lead, with the Hundred Beasts King following closely in the direction of Cake Island. Quite a number of ships were already docked at Cake Island's port; most of the invitees for this tea party had arrived.
Just stepping onto Cake Island, a sweet fragrance wafted into their noses. Most of the island's buildings were made of cake, and various edible items could be found almost everywhere on the island.
Not only the deceased but also the living: running cakes, swinging egg tarts, and talking teapots.
Those were Homies infused with souls by Charlotte Linlin. A large portion of the souls collected by the Tottland Kingdom was used for this purpose. After all, Charlotte Linlin is a Paramecia-type: Soul-Soul Fruit user. There is still some debate on what exactly she consumed to gain this ability, but that matter is insignificant.
Fruit Ability users of the Soul-Soul Fruit can manipulate human souls at will, allowing the souls to inhabit various objects and anthropomorphize them, though they cannot be placed into other people or corpses; other animals, however, are possible.
Chess Soldiers were patrolling the streets—a product of Charlotte Linlin's Fruit Ability—while Perospero led Kaidou and his group toward the tea party venue, handing out a few lollipops to children they encountered along the way.
The residents here did not exhibit any fear of the members of the BIG MOM Pirates, but rather a sense of awe, appearing to have grown accustomed to such a lifestyle.
However, as they got closer to the venue, Setsuna started sniffing the air.
"What's the matter?"
"I smelled something foul..."
"That can't be, little girl. There can never be any rotten food on Cake Island. They are cleared away by the demolition team before they're expired."
As the houses here are made of food, they need to be replaced periodically, and the demolition team consists of big eaters whose job is to consume the soon-to-be-expired buildings.
If Charlotte Linlin were to see rotten food here, even her children would not be spared from punishment. Upon hearing Setsuna's claim of smelling something foul, Perospero's first reaction was one of disbelief.
"Setsuna wouldn't smell wrong; it's not the smell of food, but a foul human scent, like that manager's stench."
She is of the wolf Fur Race, and wolves are a vengeful species. There were too many in the organ-trafficking assassination group for her to remember everyone, but she did remember the scent of a few key individuals.
Like that manager back then, and the person who captured her—specifically, the head of the merchandise capture department's scent. Just now, she caught a whiff of that scent.
Perospero couldn't understand what she meant, but Zeraora did. Ten days was enough time to get a rough sense of a person, not to mention Zeraora was on a mission to foster a good relationship with Setsuna.
"Mr. Kaidou, it should be someone from that group. Setsuna's nose is very keen."
This is BIG MOM's territory, hence whatever actions are taken follow Kaidou's discretion, as per Arceus's instructions before he left.
"No need to rush; they'll come to us on their own. Just wait."
The inherent instinct of the Fur Race is the intuition of a beast, and Kaidou has always trusted this instinct. A wolf's sense of smell shouldn't be wrong. He doesn't know how those people appeared here, but they're certainly not here for the tea party.
This is, after all, BIG MOM's territory. He doesn't plan to act first, and besides, this is her tea party. Anyone daring to create a disturbance now would undoubtedly face her wrath.