On Cake Island, several members of the Charlotte Family watched with visible reluctance as their four older sisters boarded Souta Kiryuu's Ark Veritas.
Sisters of Smoothie in particular looked uneasy.
With their strongest triplet—Smoothie—gone, the two remaining sisters had just lost their greatest pillar of support.
In the sprawling Charlotte clan, made up of children from different mothers, small cliques were common.
Strength was the only true measure of status.
Without Smoothie, the two remaining triplets knew their position might drop sharply.
Sooner or later, they might even need to rely on their new brother-in-law Souta Kiryuu to maintain standing.
Meanwhile, Big Mom was happily inspecting a brown-skinned, white-haired Seraph.
This was the Seraph Lucci.
It was still a version that hadn't been infused with any Paramecia Green Blood.
The Big Mom Pirates had prepared their own Paramecia power to hand over to Kiryuu's crew, for them to manufacture a Green Blood version.
Of course, this excluded Mama's own Soul-Soul Fruit and Brûlée's Mirror-Mirror Fruit.
Neither side mentioned why. Nobody needed to.
Anything Kiryuu had already taken as spoils of war was off-limits to Big Mom anyway.
And Mama only possessed Level Three authority over this Seraph.
Level One and Level Two permissions were held by Souta Kiryuu and Dr. Vegapunk.
In truth, Mama only had the right to use the Seraph, not truly own it.
After some discussion, Mama decided to commission a Katakuri-type Seraph next, sending Katakuri's biological material to Kiryuu for processing.
She stressed repeatedly that she wouldn't tolerate anyone siphoning off Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit ability.
Souta Kiryuu didn't care for such a "small profit" anyway. He had no interest in taking a mochi-based power.
In exchange, the Mythical Zoan fruit Kiryuu traded to Mama was the Kappa Model Zoan that Shiryu of the Rain had dismissed as worthless.
The other Zoan fruits available were defective Caesar-made artificial versions.
As Big Mom inspected Seraph Lucci and then patted the two Pacifista Kuma units standing nearby, the real Kuma felt his eye twitch from afar.
He immediately returned to Gran Tesoro, unable to stomach the sight.
Mama felt she had scored a massive bargain.
Two Seraphs, two Pacifistas, and a Mythical Zoan fruit… the value far exceeded the worth of four daughters.
Kiryuu also felt satisfied.
After all, he controlled the highest authorization levels for all these bio-weapons.
He could reclaim control at any moment.
Everyone walked away happy.
Big Mom had even fulfilled her dream of collecting both Lunarian and Buccaneer traits.
With Smoothie gone, the Big Mom Pirates reverted back to the "Three Sweet Commanders."
The eldest son Perospero, with a bounty of 700 million, surpassed the former Commander Snack and was worthy of the title.
Mama also declared Seraph Lucci the new candidate-Commander.
She then displayed the Mythical Kappa fruit, announcing a competition among her stronger children.
Whoever won and consumed the fruit would earn the right to challenge for the candidate-Commander position.
Among the competitors who had never eaten a Devil Fruit, the strongest included:
• The 3rd daughter, Lady Amane, wielder of the white-scaled famed blade "Whitefish."
• The 15th son, Minister of Finance Nocette, also a firm contender.
…
Souta Kiryuu didn't bother paying attention to the internal matters of the Big Mom Pirates.
He had already taken his "new wives" and departed Cake Island.
The Ark Veritas returned directly to the colossal Gran Tesoro.
For the Charlotte sisters—especially Brûlée, who had never left Cake Island—the sheer extravagance of the Golden Entertainment City was overwhelming.
If Cake Island was a kingdom of confection, the Gran Tesoro was a kingdom of gold.
Bonney belched and patted her round belly, speaking like an elderly woman to the much-older Yamato, who was now stuffed with food.
"Yamato, quit obsessing over that broken little Wano. You need bigger horizons.
Follow Kiryuu-baba and liberate the world. That's a hundred times grander than liberating one tiny country."
She thumped Yamato's shoulder like a senior lecturing a junior, totally ignoring the fact Yamato was twenty-seven while Bonney was eleven.
These days, Yamato had read something that shook her more than Oden's travel journal:
The Chronicles of Souta Kiryuu, Enemy of the World.
His fearless rebellion against fate and the World Government fascinated her.
This "hero" felt even more compelling than Kozuki Oden.
Bonney kept nudging, whispering temptations, reshaping Yamato's narrow worldview.
While Bonney worked on Yamato, Souta Kiryuu personally explained his household rules to the four Charlotte sisters.
Once they became his wives, his interests came first.
The Charlotte Family would come second.
Most of Mama's children secretly feared her anyway.
If forced to choose between Big Mom and a good husband, many would choose the husband.
Praline—the half-mermaid 21st daughter—had betrayed the Big Mom Pirates to follow her husband Aladdin.
Kiryuu fully expected the four sisters to reach that level of loyalty someday, and he intended to treat them well enough to earn it.
He genuinely hoped he wouldn't have to resort to memory alteration, the final and darkest measure.
…
Inside a luxurious palace of the Golden Entertainment City, Souta Kiryuu smiled lightly at the four somewhat nervous women.
"Now that you're marrying me… would you be willing to take my surname?"
In this world, women usually took the husband's family name.
Vivi's mother became Nefertari Titi.
Toki became Kozuki Toki after marrying Oden.
Roger, on the other hand, never married Rouge, then made her conceal Ace for more than twenty months until it killed her.
Neither woman nor child ever carried the name Roger.
The question stunned the Charlotte sisters at first.
Then Brûlée nodded immediately.
To her, a three-eyed outcast, being Charlotte Brûlée or Kiryuu Brûlée made little difference.
As long as Souta Kiryuu didn't reject her, she was content.
"We're willing," the other three soon replied.
Since Mama had already given them to Kiryuu, he was now their entire future.
As long as there were no conflicts, they'd still help the Charlotte Family where possible, especially since their siblings remained there.
Only Brûlée, as a lone Three-Eyed Tribe member, had no siblings at all.
"Good," Souta said with a satisfied smile.
"When we return to Sky Island, we'll hold a joint wedding—me, the four of you, and Yamato."
A new name was the first step.
From there, he would work slowly, shaping them, one step at a time, until he fully won their hearts and souls.