Chapter 148: The Charlotte Family Undergoes a Dramatic Change
"Mom, we're here."
In the castle corridor, a mixed group of men and women filed forward. In the hall ahead, a slender woman sat in the seat of honor, her presence eclipsing everyone else in the room.
Charlotte Linlin sat quietly, regal and breathtaking, her gaze sweeping over the children she had taken in.
A ring rested on her thumb. If someone removed it and examined it closely, they would find a tiny piece of pure gold set inside.
A thumb ring was a symbol of confidence, and authority.
Unlike the original timeline, Charlotte Linlin had never taken a lover, never married, never had children of her own.
These were not blood heirs.
They were children she had gathered from various nations during her campaigns, orphans she had claimed from a cruel world.
With pure gold in her possession, Linlin stayed eternally youthful. The ring on her right ring finger was the one she wore while waiting for her brother, Roy, to return.
And the final stage was the left ring finger.
A woman's rings carried meaning.
Later, Linlin asked other women about it and realized she and Roy had skipped a stage. They were missing the ring on the right hand's ring finger.
And history was strangely consistent, almost as if it liked repeating itself in a different font.
She never became the kind of Queen she was supposed to be.
None of those unlucky men were hunted down by her.
They found their own clans, their own lovers, and lived ordinary lives.
The truth was simple: Linlin's goal had changed.
In the past, her dream was to build a nation where all races could live together. Anyone who understood what that meant also understood why she would have carried it out personally.
But now, in Linlin's heart, Roy mattered more than Totto Land. So she waited.
Dreams always had a reason.
And the men who would have been dragged into her life in the original history changed too, because of the woman who stood beside her. Their bloodlines continued elsewhere.
They had children who resembled some of the Big Mom Pirates from the original story, but with clearer racial traits.
Of course, even if some faces looked similar, they were no longer the same people.
Some of these children had their families torn apart by war, or by pirates running wild.
And by coincidence, they were adopted by Linlin.
In other words, some of the Big Mom Pirates' children still appeared in this world, but they were not the originals. They were only a portion. Some were never adopted by Linlin, some died, and some never mattered enough to be recorded at all.
Using the premise of the Red Haired Monsters book, it was like a similar bouquet of flowers.
Even more coincidentally, Linlin deliberately kept her figure and refused to overindulge in sweets, all because she was waiting for Roy.
To commemorate the joy she was forcing herself to abandon, snacks, she renamed many of the children. Most of their names were tied to food.
For example, there was the little orphan girl from the Snake Neck Tribe.
She had been born into a Snake Neck clan family, only for pirates to tear it apart. She survived by digging through garbage for scraps. Linlin took her in because of her rare race, and from that day on, she lived in wealth, then trained under Linlin to become a swordswoman.
Linlin renamed her Charlotte Amande, the same name carried by a Charlotte in the original story.
A pure blooded Snake Neck woman, her neck was even longer than the original version's, and her face resembled that woman by about sixty percent.
But add a cold expression and the way she held a cigarette, and it jumped to eighty percent.
Amande, after all, meant almond in French.
Linlin did not only pick up orphans of rare races. Roy was an ordinary human, so she adopted plenty of homeless human children too.
To be honest, Linlin truly believed that taking in orphans and raising them was far more impressive than simply having a biological family.
If the children she raised grew up capable, then the Charlotte Family, made of adopted sons and daughters, would become even larger than the Charlotte Family in the original story.
After all, the sea lacked many things, but it never lacked orphans.
How many Linlin adopted each year was not determined by how many orphans existed.
It was determined by how much money she had.
There were simply too many.
Even though the World Government despised her, this action earned her praise from countless people around the world.
Linlin was stunned by it herself.
She had become the first Pirate King level figure in history to be praised by most of the world, excluding the World Government.
If Roger heard about it, he would probably explode.
"Mom, did you summon us because you have something to tell us?"
Charlotte Katakuri stepped forward, a scarf pulled high to hide half his face.
He was not the Katakuri of the original story. His talent was just as monstrous, and his appearance was similar, but he was not that person.
The most frustrating part was that this Katakuri seemed even fiercer than the original.
His teeth were sharper and longer. Even with his mouth closed, jagged points still showed. When his mouth stretched wide, it became more terrifying than the original ever was, the kind of mouth that made younger sisters cry.
"You…"
Linlin frowned at her adopted son.
This child was too cold. Cold outside, warm inside, yes, but still too aloof, too distant.
She decided it would be better not to hand that investigation to him.
If he accidentally ran into someone who was a Tsuru, it would be disastrous if he picked a fight.
Linlin looked over the many adopted sons and daughters kneeling before her.
Then a purple figure caught her eye.
"Charlotte Galette, stand up. Everyone else, leave."
Linlin waved toward the young, beautiful adopted daughter.
"Yes, Mom. Then we'll take our leave."
Katakuri nodded, then turned and led his siblings out of the castle.
...
Outside the castle.
A man dressed in a ridiculous outfit stood there, a lollipop in each hand. He even shared the same name as the Big Mom Pirates' leader from the original story. He was teasing a group of children with a grin.
Nearby, the oldest adopted daughter, the plump and warm Mond, was also smiling as she played with another group.
Perospero's candy was delicious, and Mond looked comforting to children, round, cute, and safe.
Although the two of them were the earliest adopted, making them the oldest brother and sister among the adopted children, they were also the most popular, aside from Katakuri, who spoiled his younger siblings the most.
At the same time, this Katakuri was not as gentle as the original. He was a little less patient, a little less soft.
So the two older siblings became even more loved.
...
Inside the castle.
Linlin studied her twenty ninth daughter, Charlotte Galette.
The Charlotte Family's structure and members had changed drastically because it had become a family of adoption.
Yet the positions of the two leaders remained the same.
Still, there were subtle differences.
For example, Galette, who had once been the eighteenth daughter, was now the twenty ninth.
She had countless younger siblings now, and many older siblings too.
"Mother, please tell me what task you wish to assign," Galette said respectfully.
"Galette, I need you to go to the East Blue and investigate something. Here's the location…"
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