"Vanished... But why?"
Nami proceeded to explain her hypothesis through the mirror, though in truth, no one could be completely certain of the mechanics involved.
Listening to her words, Kenshin's brow furrowed. Traversing dimensions directly? Does Drake truly possess a sub-space capability of that scale? How did I not know about this? He was well aware that Drake could teleport across long distances, but this sounded different.
If Nami's deductions were mathematically correct, it meant the combatants were no longer within the perimeter of the Whole Cake Chateau—they might not even be on Whole Cake Island!
Still, since Drake had initiated this maneuver, he undoubtedly had a calculated strategy. Given Drake's tier of strength, Kenshin remained confident that he wouldn't suffer a tactical defeat.
"It's fine. Since Drake is on it, everything will be perfectly fine," Luffy grinned broadly. He then shifted the topic, informing Nami and the others through the shard of glass about the potential plan to forge an alliance with Capone Bege.
A series of firm, deliberate footsteps echoed outside, pacing rhythmically toward the entrance of the castle. Moments later, two figures strode past the threshold.
Leading the way was the commander-in-chief of the Sweet Commanders, Big Mom's second son—Charlotte Katakuri! He was a monster who had mastered Future-Sight Observation Haki, carrying a bounty that breached the one-billion threshold.
Inside the Chateau's conference hall, the numerous siblings of the Big Mom Pirates had gathered, with Smoothie standing at the front.
Just a short while ago, they had received reports indicating that their mother had completely vanished. Initially, no one believed the data. However, as time ticked by, there wasn't a single trace or message from the Emperor, and the scout teams dispatched across the grid returned empty-handed.
Gradually, a dense panic began to consume the room. And then, the battered, bandaged Smoothie had dragged herself into the hall. To think that two of their three Sweet Commanders had been severely compromised within a single day was a reality none of them had anticipated.
"Smoothie! What the hell is going on here? Where exactly did Mama disappear to?" the eldest son, Charlotte Perospero, demanded, locking his eyes onto her. The remaining siblings all stared at her with grim, anxious expressions.
They simply couldn't fathom what kind of entity possessed the capability to reduce Smoothie to a state of severe trauma right under Big Mom's nose. In their minds, inflicting that level of damage on Smoothie should have been statistically impossible.
She was one of the three Sweet Commanders—the absolute pinnacle of the Big Mom Pirates' executive branch and the pride of their family!
Facing their collective, questioning glares, Smoothie didn't offer an immediate answer. Instead, she continuously calculated her options. The current parameters had devolved past the point of a disaster; for Mama to go missing was a variable they had never factored into their equations.
The Straw Hat Pirates from the Worst Generation were already an unpredictable element, and now this man named Drake had materialized, somehow causing Mama to evaporate from the physical sector entirely. She didn't know the precise nature of Drake's Devil Fruit ability, but she vividly recalled the suffocating, catastrophic aura radiating from his body—a tier of power she stood zero chance of resisting.
It was exactly the same brand of overwhelming presence she felt when standing before her mother. Could that man, Vale D. Drake, actually possess a combat power that sits firmly in the Yonko tier?
The moment that hypothesis took root in her mind, Smoothie's heart sank. This was exceptionally bad news.
"Smoothie!" Perospero barked, his brow furrowing deeply as he watched his sister space out.
"Brother Perospero, the situation has breached our standard safety protocols. If we mismanage our next few moves, it could trigger a catastrophic downfall for the Big Mom Pirates!" Smoothie snapped back to attention, her voice dropping to a sharp edge as she commanded the room. "Listen up, everyone! Mobilize the full force of our army immediately to sweep every single quadrant of Whole Cake Island. Locate the Straw Hats, and find any trace of Mama's position!"
The siblings exchanged tense glances. Standing near the back, his body wrapped entirely in thick layers of medical gauze, the scribe Mond'Or held a profoundly grim expression. He had witnessed Drake's offensive output firsthand, so he harbored no doubts regarding the man's terrifying capabilities.
If someone told him that Drake possessed the leverage to lock down Big Mom, he would accept the data without hesitation. In his equations, Drake was nothing short of a freak nature.
If anyone had suggested to him a few hours ago that a mere rookie could intercept the Emperor on equal terms, he would have scoffed at the notion. Intercept Mama? Impossible! Utterly ridiculous! What do you think a Yonko is—some common vegetable you can pick off the street? Forget matching Big Mom; if someone told him a rookie could trade blows with a Sweet Commander, he wouldn't have believed a word of it.
"Everyone needs to move fast. The current parameters are highly unfavorable for us," Mond'Or added, his voice heavy with anxiety.
"Understood!" Just as the siblings prepared to disperse to execute the dragnet, the sound of slow, heavy footsteps drifted into the hall from the outer corridor.
Right on cue, a guard pushed the heavy doors of the conference hall open.
"K-Katakuri-niisan!"
The man who stepped through the threshold possessed a towering, powerful frame and a pair of exceptionally sharp, piercing eyes—the strongest of the Sweet Commanders, Katakuri!
Thud, thud... clack...
Katakuri offered a curt nod to his gathered brothers and sisters before speaking in a low, resonant tone. "I have already processed the situational data. Our primary operational bottleneck right now is Mama's sudden disappearance."
"We are all well aware that tomorrow's tea party and wedding ceremony are events Mama has anticipated for a very long time. Even though our current data suggests it is strategically unsound to proceed with the ceremony under these parameters..."
"Tomorrow, the event must move forward exactly as scheduled!"
As the words left his lips, a flash of sharp, crimson light erupted within Katakuri's eyes.
The expressions of everyone in the room turned deeply troubled. They knew all too well that unless Mama explicitly issued an order to cancel the tea party, the event had to take place as planned. Otherwise, the sheer scale of the Emperor's wrath would be something none of them could survive.
They knew how intensely Mama had craved this specific tea party. If she returned only to discover that they had taken it upon themselves to cancel her grand event, the consequences would be catastrophic. Within Big Mom's psychology, even her own flesh-and-blood children were assets that could be instantly discarded or slaughtered if they crossed her boundaries.
"He's right... Mama has been looking forward to the wedding cake for ages. If even a single detail fails to meet her specifications..." One of Big Mom's younger sons shivered violently, his imagination vividly rendering the image of his mother flying into a world-ending rage.
Hearing that, the rest of the siblings fell silent, their faces masks of lingering dread.
"That is the reality of our situation. Given Mama's raw power, there is absolutely no mathematical need to worry about her physical safety," Katakuri said, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes as his gaze swept across the room. "Where is Brûlée?"
"She isn't in the hall. Where did she disappear to?"
"Brûlée? She should be operating within her Mirro-World," the scribe Mond'Or noted after a moment of calculation. "She was tasked with neutralizing two members of the Straw Hat crew."
"Then I believe I know exactly where Mama is right now." Katakuri's gaze locked onto a large mirror lining the wall of the conference hall.
"Could it be..."
Realization simultaneously dawned on the rest of the siblings, their faces turning into masks of sudden clarity.
"How did I completely overlook that? Mama couldn't have just evaporated into thin air; she must have entered Brûlée's Mirro-World!"
The sons and daughters of the Charlotte family looked at Katakuri with eyes full of absolute reverence and awe. This was the brother they took immense pride in—the ultimate pillar of their family.
Katakuri walked slowly until he stood directly in front of the smooth glass surface. "Brûlée, can you hear my voice? Brûlée?"
He called out several times, but the reflective surface remained completely dead, returning nothing but a hollow silence.
"Brûlée has likely been captured by the infiltrators."
Katakuri turned back to face his siblings, his voice dropping to an authoritative edge. "Commence operations. Place the entire city under absolute martial law!"
"Tomorrow's wedding will proceed exactly as planned. When the curtains rise on the ceremony, I calculate that the enemies lurking in the shadows will begin to manifest, one after another."
"Yes, Brother Katakuri!"