Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

After Katakuri spoke up, everyone obediently shut their mouths. Only Mont-d'Or frowned and said, "Katakuri, I'm not questioning you, but Brulee is already a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, and she's also their intelligence agent. Isn't it a bit inappropriate to have her participate in such an important matter for us?"

Katakuri's reputation within the Big Mom Pirates has now completely surpassed that of Big Mom, so Mont-d'Or also holds Katakuri in high esteem.

Ever since Big Mom was rescued, she has been going crazy frequently. Now she has locked herself in her room and is not dealing with the affairs of the pirate crew. Katakuri is basically handling all the affairs of the pirate crew now.

"Katakuri-nii-san!" Upon seeing Katakuri come out, Brulee's eyes lit up, and she immediately rushed forward.

"Long time no see, Brulee. How have you been lately? You seem to be doing well!" Katakuri asked quite gently.

Brulee smiled and nodded, replying, "It's alright!"

She was surrounded by people who were already dissatisfied with her, and she wouldn't choose to say anything to provoke them at this time.

Katakuri knew this wasn't the time for reminiscing, so he didn't say much. Instead, Brulee greeted Smoothie, who was standing next to Katakuri.

"Smoothie, it's been a long time!"

"Brûlée, it's been a long time!" Smoothie looked at Brûlée with a complicated expression. She was glad that Brûlée had gained a foothold in the Whitebeard Pirates, but she also hoped that Brûlée could return to the Big Mom Pirates and fight alongside her.

"Brûlée, come with me. Now is not the time for catching up!" Katakuri beckoned to Brûlée and said.

“Okay, Katakuri-nii!” Brûlée obediently followed behind Katakuri, and together with Smoothie, Montor, and the others, they entered a small room.

When she went inside, she found that most of the people there were core members of the Big Mom Pirates, but she didn't see the eldest son, Charlotte Perospero.

She learned that Perospero's brother had died. Perospero had perished in the last great battle, a great loss to their Big Mom Pirates.

"Alright, everyone's here. I specially invited Brulee to be our witness!" Katakuri spoke first. "This is a crucial meeting about the future of our Big Mom Pirates, so I hope everyone can share their thoughts so we can communicate better. And I hope everyone can promise that once we leave this meeting room, nothing we discuss here will be leaked, or I will personally hunt them down!"

Katakuri's words were quite serious, making Brulee realize that the Big Mom Pirates might be in serious trouble.

"Katakuri-nii, is it really okay for you to call me here for something so important?" Before the others could speak, Brulee spoke first.

She had already seen the suspicion in the eyes of the others.

Katakuri was silent for a moment before speaking, "Actually, I called you here for another reason, you'll find out soon enough! I hope you won't blame me then!"

Brulee was taken aback, looking at Katakuri with confusion. After a long pause, she finally spoke, "If there's anything I can do to help, I certainly won't hesitate! But... is Katakuri trying to use me to scheme against the Whitebeard Pirates?"

Katakuri lowered his head and did not answer; if he could, he wouldn't want to do this either.

“Brûlée, we didn’t intend to scheme against the Whitebeard Pirates. With our current strength, provoking them wouldn’t be good for us! It’s just… we might need their help with some things!” Smoothie quickly said upon seeing this.

Brulee was still a little confused. If the Whitebeard Pirates weren't willing to help, why would she help them when she was here? And she was waiting for Katakuri's explanation, believing that he would never harm her.

“Why be so hesitant? The deed is done, and Brûlée has arrived as agreed. Can’t we just proceed according to plan?” Charlotte Owen said directly from the side.

Owen's words made Brulee even more curious. What exactly were Katakuri and the others planning to do?

Finally, Katakuri sighed and said, "I'll explain this myself! If Brûlée doesn't want to participate, you can leave after you've heard my explanation!"

"Katakuri!" Everyone except Brulee looked at Katakuri.

"I can't let our situation put Brûlée in a difficult position!" Katakuri shook his head and said, "Brûlée, don't say anything more. Let me finish speaking first, and then you can choose!"

Chapter 1317 The Current Status of Big Mom

Hearing Katakuri's words, Brulee became even more curious. What was it?

Soon, Katakuri overruled the objections and said to Brûlée, "Mom's condition is getting worse and worse. She's only lucid for less than an hour a day, and the rest of the time she's in a state of confusion. Sometimes she even comes out of her room and hurts people! So... we're going to... imprison Mom completely!"

Katakuri eventually revealed the details of their discussion.

"What?" Brûlée's eyes widened as she stared at Katakuri in disbelief. "But... but with Mom's strength, this is simply impossible, isn't it?"

Of the original Four Emperors pirate crews, Whitebeard was the strongest at his peak, capable of rivaling former Pirate King Roger and Marine hero Garp.

Furthermore, Shanks, who has grown up, is also quite powerful. Although he mysteriously lost an arm in the East Blue, it only affected his swordsmanship. His overall strength is still a notch above Kaido and Big Mom.

As for Kaido and Big Mom, Big Mom is obviously more talented, but she is weaker than Kaido because Big Mom relies entirely on her talent.

Looking at the world of One Piece, when it comes to innate talent, not counting the bonuses from Devil Fruit abilities, even Luffy can't compare to Big Mom. As a child, Big Mom was someone who could destroy a village of giants. At that time, she hadn't trained at all; she did it all through her talent.

Later, she accidentally obtained the Soul-Soul Fruit, and coupled with her food cravings, her mental energy began to become chaotic. From the beginning until now, Big Mom has hardly trained at all. Although she has mastered the giant race's ultimate move, her fighting style is basically based on her fruit ability and physical talent.

Her physical gifts grant her near-invincible defensive capabilities, but she lacks offensive methods. She merely uses her Devil Fruit powers to combine elements for attacks, and she hasn't even fully developed her Conqueror's Haki.

Even so, she was still one of the Four Emperors, which shows how terrifying her physical talent was.

However, this also led to her becoming the weakest of the Four Emperors.

As Big Mom's child, Brûlée was well aware of Big Mom's terrifying power. Her almost invincible physical talent made her someone that ordinary people could not resist, even when she was mentally confused.

Although she admired Katakuri, she didn't think highly of them.

“That’s why…we invited you here!” Katakuri said, giving Brulee a deep look.

"Huh?" Brûlée hadn't reacted yet. She wasn't good at fighting, so even if she were here, she wouldn't be of much help, right?

“You are now one of the Whitebeard Pirates’ executives. If you encounter danger here, they will not stand idly by. Once the Whitebeard Pirates get involved, this matter will become very simple!” Smoothie explained softly upon seeing this.

"Huh?" Brûlée's eyes widened, and she said with some fear, "So... you mean you want me to fight Mom?"

"What an idiot! How are you going to survive in the Whitebeard Pirates like this?" Mont-d'Or couldn't stand it anymore and said directly, "We'll make Mom lose control, and then you can contact the Whitebeard Pirates and say that you've encountered danger here and ask for help! As long as we hold Mom off until the Whitebeard Pirates arrive, we can work together to control her!"

“We weren’t planning to tell you this! But Katakuri obviously didn’t want you to be in real danger, nor did he want to deceive you, so he explained it to you. Do you understand now?” Owen said in a deep voice.

"So... what Katakuri meant by 'using' before?" Brûlée asked, her head bowed, after a moment of silence.

Katakuri nodded without saying a word.

“Hehehehe…” Brûlée suddenly looked up and laughed, saying, “But this is completely unnecessary! First of all, the captain and the others don’t know I’m here! Also, if I send out a distress signal, the captain and the first mate will probably just send someone to rescue me, and their impression of me will become very bad, thinking that you guys want to hurt me! It will be even more difficult for me to help Katakuri in the future!”

Because she already liked calling Whitebeard "Old Man," Brulee almost said it several times.

In any other place, it would be fine for him to call Whitebeard that, but this is the Big Mom Pirates, and Big Mom is his mother. Calling Whitebeard "Dad" here would probably cause dissatisfaction among the others, so he changed his address to "Captain".

"Ah, this~~" Everyone was dumbfounded upon hearing this.

Indeed, the Whitebeard Pirates could have easily sent someone to rescue Brulee; there was absolutely no need to fight Big Mom. If they had provoked her, things might have turned out badly!

"What should we do then?" Smoothie looked at Katakuri. Without the help of the Whitebeard Pirates' strong members, controlling Mom would be an almost impossible task.

Although Big Mom's mind is currently in a state of extreme confusion, her strength remains undeniable, and they simply cannot contend with her, regardless of their numbers.

As the children of Big Mom, they have lived under Big Mom's terrifying shadow for many years. Their fear of Big Mom is ingrained in their bones. In addition, the Soul-Soul Fruit is good at controlling the power of fear. They have absolutely no chance of defeating Big Mom.

Katakuri breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and said with a smile, "In that case, let's cancel this operation!"

He felt genuinely relieved that he didn't have to rely on Brulee.

“Katakuri…we don’t have time to wait!” Smoothie said, frowning.

"Katakuri-nii-san!" Brûlée stepped forward and said, "Why are you all in such a hurry to control Mom?"

"Because Mom's mental state is extremely chaotic right now, and the intervals between her episodes are getting shorter and shorter, if this continues, our Big Mom Pirates will be doomed!" Montor said anxiously.

Brulee took a deep breath and said, "I don't know if you all can trust me, but if you can, I can contact my father! I can tell him about what's going on here and ask for backup!"

The group exchanged bewildered glances. To them, the idea seemed far-fetched, as it was highly illogical for an intelligence agent to target one of the Four Emperors. This was precisely why they had devised the plan to deceive Brulee.

If their members were in danger, they would have no choice but to send someone to rescue them. However, Brulee's words broke their defenses, because the Whitebeard Pirates might just rescue Brulee and leave them alone.

Chapter 1318 Brulee's Request

The group didn't think Brulee's suggestion was very reliable. If they were the Whitebeard Pirates, they would be doing a favor by not taking the opportunity to swallow up the Big Mom Pirates. Why would they come to help you? It's a pipe dream.

They are pirates, not philanthropists.

Only Katakuri hesitated for a moment, because he sensed that Brûlée spoke with great confidence.

“Brûlée, do you think the Whitebeard Pirates will help? They won’t get anything out of this, and Mom isn’t an ordinary pirate. They’ll have to send at least a captain-level member for it to be of any use. Sending ordinary members would only be a death sentence!” Katakuri asked after thinking for a moment.

“I can’t guarantee it either, but one thing is for sure: even if Dad doesn’t agree to come and help, he will never take advantage of someone in distress. So if it’s just an inquiry, there shouldn’t be any problem!” Bry said seriously.

"I object!" Montor stood up and said directly, "Just because of your feelings, we're going to take such a big risk. I don't think that's appropriate!"

This wasn't Mont-d'Or targeting Brulee; rather, he genuinely believed that telling the Whitebeard Pirates about this would be far too risky, and relying solely on Brulee's guarantee wasn't enough to be considered safe.

The others shared similar views with Montor, except for Katakuri, who was willing to believe Brulee, but he couldn't ignore the opinions of the others and act unilaterally.

Because he has now been elected as the new captain by the crowd.

Therefore, he cannot ignore the opinions of others. Even if it's just for show, he cannot become a dictator.

Seeing this, Brulee couldn't say anything more, even though she knew that Whitebeard looked down on the current Big Mom Pirates. But in this situation, she simply couldn't bring herself to speak.

The original plan was not working, and they were unwilling to accept Bryant's opinion, so things seemed to have reached a dead end.

At this moment, Katakuri looked at Brulee, who had been silent all along, and said, "You all know the current situation. Either give up the operation now, or... try Brulee's method!"

This time, no one stood up to object. Katakuri, seeing that the time was ripe, spoke again: "Brûlée's method does have some risks in our view, but it's much less risky than us rashly launching our plan, right? First of all, if the Whitebeard Pirates really wanted to eliminate us, they wouldn't need to use such an excuse. To be honest... right now, they probably wouldn't even consider us a threat!"

Katakuri felt somewhat helpless, but that was reality.

Seeing the uncertain expressions on everyone's faces, while Brûlée looked on with agreement, he knew that he was probably right.

"Secondly, everyone is quite clear about Mom's strength. Just the Soul Spell alone is enough to prevent many of us from participating in the battle! With the help of the Whitebeard Pirates, we will have more manpower! Of course, it's too early to say all this now, the Whitebeard Pirates might not even help us!" Katakuri said with a wry smile.

By this time, everyone had realized that with their abilities, it would be difficult to succeed, so they could only try Brulee's method.

They had previously looked distrustful of each other, but now they were worried that Brulee might actually bring in reinforcements from the Whitebeard Pirates.

Katakuri naturally realized this as well, so he planned to ask Brulee for help himself. However, before he could speak, Smoothie spoke first.

“How about this, Brulee, you ask the Whitebeard Pirates first. If any captain-level powerhouses are willing to come and help, that would be great. But if they're not willing, we won't force them. What do you think?” Smoothie winked at Katakuri and then said to Brulee.

“Okay!” Brûlée didn’t think much of it and immediately took out a Den Den Mushi to contact Whitebeard.

“You’ll be our captain from now on, so we can’t lose face here. It’s better if we do this kind of favor!” Smoothie whispered when she saw Katakuri’s puzzled look.

Montor, Owen, and others standing to the side all looked on in agreement.

Katakuri sighed but didn't say anything more.

Soon, the Den Den Mushi on Brulee's end was connected, and Whitebeard's voice came from the other end.

"Is that Brulee? What do you want?" Whitebeard had just finished the banquet and seemed to be resting, his tone somewhat languid.

"Dad, you've been drinking again? Didn't the first mate say you should drink less alcohol?" Brulee didn't directly address the issue, but instead "reprimanded" Whitebeard in a slightly coquettish tone.

Owen and the others looked at Brulee in astonishment. How could she speak to Whitebeard like that? If it were them, daring to talk to Big Mom like that would probably get them wiped out from the world.

"Gurararara... Baka (idiot), how could a pirate be absent from a banquet? And a banquet without drinks is like a banquet without a soul!" Whitebeard replied with a loud laugh.