Super Card System

After chatting with Ian for a while, Reiju finally found the opportunity to ask, “Is my father… also invited to this tea party?”

“Of course!” Katakuri nodded, with a subtle glint in his eyes. He spread his hands and explained, “About ten minutes before you arrived, Germa’s ship docked at the northern port. He was greeted by our eldest sister, Charlotte Compote, since the Germa family is an important guest at this tea party.”

Charlotte Compote, Big Mom’s eldest daughter and one of the thirty-four ministers, the “Fruit Minister,” was the child who most resembled Big Mom in appearance.

Hearing this, Ian couldn’t help but glance at Katakuri and Perospero. He knew very well that the Big Mom Pirates had long coveted Germa 66’s scientific power. Judge’s desire to collaborate with Big Mom was a case of mutual interest, a partnership that naturally came together. However, Ian wasn’t sure if the relationship had progressed to a “honeymoon phase” where they might be discussing a marriage alliance.

After asking about her father, Reiju remained silent. She only needed to know if he had arrived.

At that moment, Katakuri noticed Caesar following behind Ian and Reiju. He, of course, knew who Caesar was but was puzzled as to why he was riding in their carriage. Pointing at Caesar, Katakuri asked Ian, “What’s going on here?”

“Oh!” Ian laughed and replied, “This is a new friend we met along the way. He wanted to check out Big Mom’s tea party, so I brought him along. That’s alright, isn’t it?”

Caesar, rubbing his hands nervously, said to Katakuri, “Please forgive me, Lord Katakuri. I didn’t have an invitation, so I had no other choice but to join them this way.”

Katakuri looked at Caesar, momentarily speechless at his shamelessness. He understood exactly what Caesar was after. Among all of Big Mom’s children, Katakuri was the most perceptive, and it was clear to him that Caesar was just trying to find an opportunity to ask Big Mom for more research funding.

However, money wasn’t really an issue for the Big Mom Pirates. Since Ian had spoken up for Caesar, Katakuri decided to give him that courtesy, especially since their previous collaboration in the Golden City had gone smoothly. Nodding, Katakuri tacitly approved the situation.

As for whether Caesar could actually convince Big Mom to give him more money, that would depend on his own skills—just as long as he didn’t upset her.

“Come on, the welcome banquet is about to start. Mama has invited quite a few guests this time, and I’ll introduce you to them!” Katakuri gestured for them to follow. The singing flowers along the path began swaying again, cheerfully guiding them into the castle.

Meanwhile, as Katakuri welcomed Ian and the others, inside the castle, the island’s ruler, Big Mom, was meeting with a rather unusual guest…

“Mamaaa mamaaa!”

In the room, Big Mom, as large as a small mountain, sat on her specially made enormous sofa, letting out a booming laugh of joy.

She wore a wide, pink dress with polka dots, thick red lipstick, and light purple eyeshadow. Her massive grin resembled a bottomless black hole. With her immense size and overwhelming presence, Big Mom’s appearance was far from pleasant, and even her laughter felt unsettling.

After her laughter subsided, Big Mom leaned forward, looking at the man sitting across from her on another sofa. He was dressed in white clerical robes. Smiling, she said, “Father Arest, I didn’t expect you to come to Cake Island at this time. Just in time, my tea party is about to begin. There will be a delicious wedding cake—stay and enjoy it with us!”

The man, known as White Wolf Arest, who had shed his Navy coat and returned to his original clerical attire, held his signature holy book in hand. Grinning, he replied, “That’s exactly what I intended! Linlin, I hope you don’t mind me intruding!”

Hearing this, Big Mom burst into laughter once again, raising her arms in joy. “Wonderful! I was just wondering who I could get to officiate my daughter Chiffon’s wedding. Now that you’re here, Father Arest, you can be the officiant! This will be a grand and joyous wedding!”

The two floating entities with faces—one made of fire and the other of thunderclouds—that hovered beside Big Mom’s hat echoed her enthusiasm, saying, “That’s wonderful, Mama!”

These were Prometheus, the flame, and Zeus, the thundercloud—two elemental beings infused with souls by Big Mom, giving them personalities and intelligence. They were powerful allies in her battles.

When Big Mom was happy, every object in the room that had been given simulated personalities began chattering and celebrating as well.

Arest watched all this quietly, a smile on his face, but said nothing.

After Big Mom finished laughing, she suddenly remembered something and looked down at Arest, asking, “Oh, right, Father Arest. Did you come here because you’ve found news about Sister Carmel?”

Sister Carmel, known secretly as “Mountain Witch,” was a human trafficker who posed as a nun, adopting orphans only to sell them to the World Government or other underground organizations once they grew up. Despite this dark reality, she maintained a perfect facade of sainthood to the public.

Of course, Big Mom was completely unaware of Sister Carmel’s true identity and had never known the truth.

In Big Mom’s memories, Sister Carmel was the person who treated her the best in the world. After being abandoned by her parents, Big Mom was taken in by Sister Carmel at the “House of Lambs,” where she made many friends and grew up happily.

However, decades ago, on one of Big Mom’s birthday tea parties, Sister Carmel and all the children from the House of Lambs suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Since that day, Big Mom had been searching for Sister Carmel, never giving up, even after all these years.

As she rose to the position of one of the Four Emperors, with vast territories and influence, Big Mom met many powerful people along the way—Arest being one of them.

This was evident from the way Arest addressed her…

Arest, who was about the same age as Big Mom, called her by her name directly. Only her friends could address her like that.

Due to her longstanding affection for Sister Carmel, Big Mom had a strong fondness for anyone with a nun or priest’s title, always assuming they were like Sister Carmel.

In fact, Big Mom’s friendliness toward clergy was no secret in the New World. It even led to many audacious con artists disguising themselves as priests or nuns to visit Cake Island and scam Big Mom. Without exception, these con artists easily managed to get money from her…

Of course, though they got the money, not a single one of these scammers left the island with it. Big Mom’s many children weren’t fools—while Big Mom might be naive, they certainly weren’t. All of these con artists were dealt with in secret.

As for Arest, he hailed from the Church Nation and was a monk of the Holy Cloth Order, making him a legitimate clergyman.

Although Arest harbored a deep hatred for pirates, the Big Mom Pirates were the one exception. The reason was simple: the Big Mom Pirates had once helped the Church Nation.

In this world, many people are deeply religious, and the Church Nation received generous donations from believers every year, making it a wealthy country. However, this wealth also attracted frequent pirate raids and attacks, leading to the deaths of countless innocent people each year.

Growing up in the devout atmosphere of the Church Nation, it’s easy to understand why Arest harbored such deep hatred for these faithless pirates.

Interestingly, in several of these pirate invasion incidents, the Big Mom Pirates intervened and helped fend off the attackers.

It was under these circumstances that Arest and Big Mom met by chance.

However, despite their encounters, the Big Mom Pirates were still pirates, and as one of the Four Emperors, they couldn’t openly protect the Church Nation due to political reasons. As a result, Arest didn’t maintain a close relationship with the Big Mom Pirates, and their interactions remained distant and respectful, a bond that resembled a formal, restrained friendship.

Because of this distance, Arest was still selected by the World Government during their conscription campaign. After all, they wouldn’t have chosen someone with too close a connection to an Emperor’s pirate crew to become a Navy admiral.

However, it was this very subtle and distant relationship that made Arest’s appearance this time all the more remarkable. Arest had never come to Cake Island of his own accord before, and for Big Mom to meet him personally while ignoring so many other guests showed just how happy she was to see him.

“I’m sorry, Linlin,” Arest said, shaking his head after hearing Big Mom’s question. “I still haven’t found any trace of Sister Carmel.”

Big Mom had asked Arest to search for any clues about Sister Carmel in the Church Nation since Sister Carmel originally hailed from there. Though Arest wasn’t aware of the exact connection between Big Mom and Sister Carmel, he had been diligently helping out, partly due to the times Big Mom had assisted the Church Nation.

“Oh… is that so…” Big Mom’s face showed a hint of disappointment. However, after so many years of receiving similar reports, she had grown accustomed to such news. Her mood didn’t stay down for long, and soon she was happily chatting with Arest again.

Arest, ever patient as a priest, continued the conversation with her calmly. Patience, after all, was one of his greatest virtues.

As the conversation continued, Arest finally found the opportunity to ask, “Linlin, earlier you mentioned that among your invited guests is the former Warlord, Black Dragon Ian, correct?”

“Yes,” Big Mom nodded.

“What made you decide to invite him?” Arest asked casually. “If I recall correctly, wasn’t he associated with the Whitebeard Pirates?”

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