Charlotte Linlin

Charlotte Linlin, best known as Big Mom, is the captain of the Big Mom Pirates, and the only woman among the Yonko. She is the matriarch of the Charlotte Family, which makes up the infrastructure of her crew, consisting of herself, and her dozens of children and husbands. She also, from Whole Cake Island, rules over Totto Land as its queen, allegedly seeking to form it into an utopia where all the world's races come together to be treated equally, without discrimination or segregation.

Linlin was the last Yonko to be named. Her epithet was first mentioned just after the Battle of Marineford by Eustass Kid, and her real name by Pappug on Fishman Island.

Along with the Vinsmoke Family and their organization, she and her crew form the main antagonist groups of the Totto Land Arc, and central antagonists groups of the Yonko Saga.

Appearance
Big Mom is an incredibly large and obese woman with a wrinkled face, almost no jawline, and a chin that barely sticks out of her rotund torso. Most often wearing a gleeful grin, she has a very wide mouth, with full lips sporting red lipstick, large, round teeth, and a long, thick tongue that often sticks out. She also has much long, curly light hair that juts out wildly and goes halfway down her back, as well as bulging, bloodshot eyes, a massive, beak-like nose, and plump, round cheeks. A dark-colored tattoo is also on her left arm, partly on and below the shoulder, consisting of a large, standard-shaped heart, framed by thin lines that curl at their bottom ends, which tops a far smaller heart shaped the same.

She is often seen drooling large amounts of what appears to be acidic saliva. When in her frequent fits of rage from not having certain food at her direct disposal, her eyes become swirly as if hypnotized.

Big Mom wears a dark bicorne hat bearing a jolly roger on the front and a large fluffy light feather, the former having been seen in two versions: the older one consisted of a standard skull with crossbones behind it, as well as large flame-like patterns to the sides, whereas her current has two crossed sabers instead of crossbones, and its lateral flame patterns are smaller (the current one is also alive, changing expressions); on its top the hat is edged with a thick light streak, it has a strip snap-fastened to it, and beneath it is a light, polka-dotted bandana. That aside, Big Mom dons a pink dress with red polka dots and white ruffles on its neckline and bottom edge, with a wide, rippling light cape attached to its back, falling to the ground. The outfit is completed with dark blue high heels, one turquoise pearl wristband on each of her wrists at one point, and golden, jewelled rings on all her fingers.

Personality
I wonder if we can explain the situation? She is like a monster who would destroy a whole country for sweets! One of the Yonko... Big Mom!

Big Mom loves sweets, making all the islands under her external protection (outside Totto Land) pay her in whatever kind of confectionary they can produce. She seems to be obsessed with sweets to the point that her likes and dislikes are heavily based on them, being willing to destroy a country for failing to deliver them. Despite this, she does not lose control when Luffy claimed to have eaten all of her candy; instead, she is perceptive enough to see through his lie to protect Fishman Island.

In addition, Big Mom has a peculiar eating disorder where from time to time, she becomes fixated on a specific food item to the point of entering a crazed rampage in search of what she wants to eat. In this state, she will destroy everything in her path, be it her own castle, subordinates, and will even kill her own children, until she receives the food she wants. When rampaging, her eyes become crazed and swirly. Once her cravings are satiated, she becomes more affable, while having no recollections of her actions done during her rampaging state. Even when in a normal state, Big Mom is voracious to the point of eating some of her own subordinates when she is hungry, and also eating them when she wants to quiet them.

Big Mom appears to have a rather businesslike mindset. She strongly believes that a pirate must accept no compromises or delays for something they want. Pappug thinks she is protecting Fishman Island with a business perspective, since the deals made with the candy qualify as racketeering, even though she prioritizes sweets over money and treasure. She initially refused an alternative payment of treasure when the candy tribute could not be met, and she also doubled the required amount of candy in exchange for a deadline extension of merely two weeks. This even extends among her allies and crew, where no matter what reason they choose of abandoning her, she penalizes them by making them lose something that belongs to them. Similarly, she expects all citizens of Totto Land to sacrifice portions of their lifespan as the price of residing in her country, further illustrating her desire for compensation for everything she provides.

She is also obsessed with having power, being determined to gain it by marrying off her children to powerful groups. Big Mom has some interest in the poneglyphs despite the fact she can't read them.

She appears to be quite ruthless, being famous for destroying countries over slight infractions, though most often when they fail to make their payment, disregarding any reason for the failure, and rationalizing that she despises people unable to keep their promises. Generally, there are two things she dislikes: bitter treats, and invitees not showing up for her tea party. Demonstrating herself to be very brutal, she does not forgive those who refuse invitations to her tea parties, and she will kill people precious to the absentee as a "present". As Vito put it, "even demons come when being called by Charlotte Linlin".

Big Mom also has a desire to create a nation where all races can happily live together due to wanting to become "family" with individuals of all races in order to have a diverse family of children to dine with at eye level. Big Mom was so dedicated to such a dream that she is willing to invest massive amount of money in Caesar's research, even building a lab replica of Punk Hazard and offering more financial support. Her fixation on this dream rendered her oblivious to how Caesar was simply embezzling money out of her for his own indulgences. Her obsession with diversity is not just limited towards her family, as she also wishes to collect rare and unique animals for her own pleasure, as explained by her 8th daughter who also claims that Big Mom wouldn't be satisfied with just having all the races of the world for herself. She is very jolly when in a good mood, and she enjoys celebrating the fulfillment of her ambitions with song and dance. However, the cheerfulness betrays an underlying sense of malice, as she is unfazed by the violence necessary to achieve her goals. She is also willing to completely disregard any of her children's wishes on marriage for the sole sake of strengthening her crew. She also seems to see everyone for their lineage first and foremost, as she will often only recognizes people by relation to their parents and grandparents. Overall, she seems to believe that children in general should be completely subservient to the wishes of their parents, despite their individual wishes.

In summary, Big Mom is focused on asserting her authority and power over others above all else. Whether it be through receiving lavish tributes of candy and souls from those under her "protection", or crushing even the slightest dissenters or challenges to her authority in the most sadistic way possible, regardless of their reasons for doing so. She even goes so far as to specifically instruct her children and other subordinates to give her enemies false hope before crushing their spirits as brutally as possible.

She refers to herself with "ore" (おれ), a very masculine way of saying "I", instead of the gender-neutral "watashi" (私) that most other females use.

Just like many other people, she has her own distinct Laughter Style "Mamamama".

Crew and Other Subordinates
Her subordinates call her "Mama" (ママ), and most seem to be afraid of her. Since she is willing to eat her subordinates when she is hungry (although perhaps only the animated sweets), she doesn't seem to care for their well-being very much (at least of lower subordinates, if not those outside her direct bloodline). So far, only the unnamed three-eyed girl and Bobbin appear to be unafraid of her. Bobbin even had a friendly chat with Big Mom after returning to her at Whole Cake Island. She scolded Tamago for being willing to deal with Luffy for treasure in exchange for a deadline extension.

To sail under Big Mom, new enlistees must have their bloodlines tied to the crew; because of this policy, the patriarch of the Vinsmoke Family arranged for his third son to be wed to the 35th daughter of the Charlotte Family. However, in the event that a bride or groom from an outside family has multiple existing affiliations, they must sever those connections that are external to the political agreement; this was the case with Sanji, with Pekoms disclosing that Big Mom is only interested in Sanji's Vinsmoke heritage, rather than his present membership of the Straw Hat Pirates. For those who wished to leave the crew, Linlin would allow them, but only if they give something valuable as compensation (such as a limb); it is shown that she uses a roulette to determine the exact nature of the price to be paid.

Jinbe
Sometime after the Battle of Marineford, Big Mom has allowed former Shichibukai Jinbe and his crew to serve under her. This was partially done as Big Mom has placed Fishman Island her control, although she allowed them to do as they pleased. Jinbe isn't really loyal to her and is thinking of leaving her but does worry of what she'll do to Fishman island. Jinbe had stated to the Straw Hats that he'll join them once he settles his business with her. When he appeared before her with important matters, she assumed with an eerie look that he intends to leave the Big Mom Pirates. When Jinbe made his intention clear, Big Mom was displeased and demanded him to give up something in return.

Capone Bege
Big Mom and Capone Bege are affiliated, as Bege's crew became subordinates of the Yonko during the timeskip. In order to seal the alliance, Bege married Charlotte Chiffon (the twenty second daughter of Big Mom) with whom he has a son. Bege appears to be loyal to Big Mom as he followed her orders in bringing Caesar and Sanji to her and shot Pekoms for going against them.

Family
Big Mom has 39 daughters, 45 sons, and 43 husbands, with the latter scattered all around the world. From her 85 children, Linlin also has some grandchildren such as Capone Pez.

According to Purin, Big Mom uses her children's marriages to strengthen her own crew and does not give her own children a choice on whom to marry. At the same time, they know her personality as stubborn, and Purin herself claims that she cannot defy her mother, and that they already gave up on their dreams of marrying someone of their own choice. However, Lola was undeterred from finding a husband of her own and left the New World to find one.

Her 35th daughter, Charlotte Purin, stated that she would never harm any of her children. However, during one of her cravings, Big Mom did not recognize Charlotte Moscato as her 16th son and killed him for blocking her path. In general, Big Mom seems to view her children as little more than a means to an end, and that children should naturally be subservient to the wishes of their parents.

According to Cracker, her husbands mean nothing to her due to lack of "blood relations", as she discarded Pound once they had Charlotte Chiffon and Lola.

Big Mom claims that her dream is to turn her diverse children into giants so they can dine together at eye level.

Vinsmoke Judge
Big Mom has formed an alliance with the patriarch of the Vinsmoke Family, Vinsmoke Judge. Through the family, she plans to gain access to the advanced battle technology employed by its "mythical" army, Germa 66; in turn, Judge desires the use of her forces in order to help the Vinsmoke Family reclaim their former empire across the whole of North Blue. Despite the alliance, however, Judge views Big Mom as a "madwoman"; for this reason, he deliberately seeks out his estranged son Sanji in order to meet her demands for a blood connection to her family, as he refused to consider handing her one of his "valuable sons".

Protectorates
Given her capitalist mindset, Big Mom only imparts protection upon her chosen territories for as long as they can meet the demanded candy tribute and will not hesitate to have them destroyed if they are unable to pay it. Her idea of "protection" specifically offers only protection from external pirate attacks, as her crew stated that the local uprising on Fishman Island was none of their concern. The sweets produced by Fishman Island were a particular favorite of hers. She refuses to give any period of grace under normal circumstances, but was willing to do so once for Fishman Island simply because she was amused by Luffy's declaration of war against her.

Monkey D. Luffy
Big Mom knows of Luffy's relation to Garp and of his involvement in the events at Marineford. When she sends her subordinates to collect the candy tribute from Fishman Island, Luffy talks to her via a Den Den Mushi, claiming that he is responsible for the island's lack of candy. Big Mom accuses him of lying and refuses the treasure that he offers as a replacement. She admits the Supernova has nerve for standing up to her and decides to target him instead of Fishman Island. In response, Luffy notes that he can't leave Fishman Island under the protection of someone who would destroy it on a whim. He declares that he would defeat her in the New World and claim Fishman Island as his own territory.

Luffy's friction with Big Mom further intensified when he discovers that Sanji has been coerced into a political marriage with one of Big Mom's daughters, and which will result in him leaving the Straw Hat Pirates. Knowing this, Luffy decided to sneak in and ruin the ceremony.

Monkey D. Garp
It is unknown what her relationship is with Garp, but it is known that the first time she talked with Luffy, she identified him to be as "Garp's Grandson" which is something that he is rarely addressed as.

Sanji
In order to gain access to the technology of Germa 66, Linlin agrees to an alliance with Vinsmoke Judge. In accordance with her usual terms, she demands a family connection to seal the alliance, and Judge, in turn, offers his third son, Sanji, to be wed to her 35th daughter, Purin. Because of this, Linlin primarily refers to Sanji as "the Germa boy", and specifically orders her subordinates to ensure that Luffy and his team do not succeed in meeting up with Sanji on Whole Cake Island.

However, in addition to his political value as a member of the Vinsmoke Family, Baron Tamago informs Sanji that Linlin has great respect for Sanji's immense cooking skills and his amazing pirating exploits as a member of the Straw Hats; Tamago further intimates that, if Sanji cooperates with the wedding, it is likely that Linlin would offer him an even better position within her crew than the one he currently enjoys with the Straw Hats. Sanji, however, flat out rejects this offer.

Caesar Clown
In the past, Caesar Clown was commissioned by Big Mom for research on perfecting gigantification. However, Caesar has long since came to the conclusion that it is an impossible goal for him to achieve, and each time when she inquired for progress he simply asked for more money to help further his progress; he instead spent the excess money on hedonism. When her crew attacked the Thousand Sunny to retrieve him, Caesar begged the Straw Hats to protect him from her, fearing she would discover the embezzlement should she catch hold of him. When she finally caught up with him, Caesar managed to make her believe that his "hard work" research was destroyed by Luffy and Trafalgar Law during the Punk Hazard incident, though she constructed a replica of the required facility and continued to offer more funding for him to rebuild and finish the gigantification drug within the fortnight that the scientist claimed he needed, making the scientist fear for what could be the last two weeks of his life.

Abilities and Powers
As one of the Yonko, Big Mom is one of the four most powerful pirates in the world. It was stated by the Gorosei that she is one of the few people capable of stopping Blackbeard. The Straw Hat Pirates even recognized that she could crush them quickly and easily.

Through her strength as one of the most powerful pirates, Linlin has managed to amass a very powerful crew, as well as several strong subordinates such as Jinbe, a fishman and former Shichibukai, and Capone Bege, one of the members of The Worst Generation. She has a high influence over the underworld as well, having connections with the Vinsmoke Family, which lead the legendary Germa 66. Those that marry her children automatically become part of her crew.

While under Big Mom's protection, Fishman Island is protected from pirate attacks, indicating a powerful influence similar to that of the late Whitebeard. She has been stated to be able to destroy entire countries over sweets. She is intimidating enough that even her underlings Pekoms and Tamago, who are powerful themselves, are afraid of talking to her when she is angered., and Pekoms laughed uncontrollably at the mere notion of Monkey D. Luffy invading her territory and stopping her plans.

Big Mom's overall influence seems to allow her to gather information about the backgrounds of people that might be of her interest, with said information possibly being used to issue threats and demands. It is said that even demons of Hell would attend her tea parties if they are invited, and anyone who does not show would be choked by regret the next day.

Physical Abilities
Big Mom has immense physical strength, being capable of climbing buildings, throwing punches with tremendous destructive power, and throwing her servants with great force. When she becomes hungry, she produces abnormal quantities of a highly corrosive saliva.

Devil Fruit
Big Mom has eaten the Soru Soru no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows her to manifest the soul of whomever she touches into an ethereal substance. She can grab hold of this substance and extract it from the victim, taking away their lifespan by an amount of her choice and absorbing it into herself; if taken at a sufficient number, it will kill the victim.

She is also able to put the harvested souls into non-living things in order to give them life or put them into animals to give them human abilities. Those creatures are named Homies. Unlike the Kage Kage no Mi's powers, she is not able to put souls into dead corpses or somebody else's body. She can also create incarnations of her own soul that will complete the task of collecting souls.

Past
Sometime in the past, Big Mom commissioned the rogue Marine scientist Caesar Clown for research on gigantification so she could turn her family into giants. However, he embezzled a large sum of money from her to fund his own research. She seemed to have not noticed, but Caesar feared that if she ever caught him, she would find out for sure.

During the Timeskip
After the Battle of Marineford and the death of Whitebeard, Fishman Island was once again vulnerable to pirate attacks and to the slave trade. Big Mom decided to protect it in Whitebeard's place but demanded large amounts of candy as payment, thus leading to the Candy Factory's creation. The Sun Pirates would also ally with her crew for protection due to Jinbe having resigned from his position as Shichibukai. Although she kept Fishman Island safe from pirate attacks, she did not actually care for the island's well-being. Her "protection" was more like holding the island hostage, threatening to destroy it if it missed a monthly tribute.

Fishman Island Arc
After the Straw Hat Pirates and the Ryugu Kingdom defeated the New Fishman Pirates, Big Mom sent two of her subordinates to collect the monthly candy tribute, unaware that the factory had been destroyed in the fighting. She was excited for an upcoming tea party at which she anticipated eating the candy from Fishman Island. She asked some of her subordinates if they were also excited but then apparently ate them, saying they could continue being excited in her stomach. Shortly thereafter, Bobbin returned from destroying an island that had failed to make its monthly candy tribute, reporting that everything had gone up in flames. Pleased, Big Mom commented that the baked sweets from that country were delicious and that the island must have smelled wonderful as it burned down. When she learned that Fishman Island might not be able to make their monthly payment, she ordered a call to be made to the island at once. Pekoms and Baron Tamago were too nervous to answer when the call went through, so Luffy answered it instead.

Luffy claimed that he had eaten all ten tons of the candy meant for her tribute. Big Mom accused him of lying, but Luffy insisted that he spoke the truth. When Luffy offered her their treasure as a replacement, she was greatly offended, saying she would only accept candy and that she couldn't eat treasure. Tamago informed her that Eustass Kid had recently sank two of their ships and they were in need of money to cover the damages, so they should accept the gold and allow Fishman Island two weeks to recover and make new candy. Big Mom was further insulted by the suggestion, believing that pirates should not compromise.

However, she told Tamago that she had become interested in Luffy, and so she shifted the target of her wrath from Fishman Island to Luffy alone. She also agreed to take the offered treasure as compensation and gave the island extra time to make their payment, although she doubled the amount of candy required. Luffy decided that it was too dangerous to leave Big Mom in charge of Fishman Island and declared that he would defeat her when they meet in the New World. He announced his intention to claim Fishman Island as his own territory, utterly infuriating Big Mom.

Zou Arc
Sometime after Sanji and his group arrived at Zou, Big Mom and Sanji's father arranged a political marriage between Purin and Sanji to unite the bloodlines of the Charlotte and Vinsmoke Families.

Totto Land Arc
Three days before the tea party, Big Mom oversaw the wedding preparations. As she sang and danced with her underlings, she looked forward to the wedding and stated that she heard of Luffy's presence in her territory.

Some time later, Big Mom suffered from some craving for croquemboche and started throwing a tantrum, eating anything in her path. As she rampaged in Sweet City, her sixteenth son tried to calm her down, but she ended up killing him by taking away his lifespan. Jinbe arrived and stopped her by giving her the sweets she desired. After she calmed down, Big Mom thanked Jinbe for the Poneglyph he delivered. Jinbe then wished to discuss something important with her and Big Mom wondered with a frightening expression if Jinbe intended to sever their alliance. Jinbe later explained to her about his desire to leave her crew. Big Mom was unconcerned about his reasons but was greatly displeased. She then demanded him to give up something in return.

Caesar Clown was brought to her castle a day later, and Big Mom asked him about his research. She then revealed that her dream is to make a huge family consisting of all the races of the world as well as making all her family members giants using Caesar's formula. Caesar claimed that it was progressing but was hindered by Luffy, Law and the destruction of his lab on Punk Hazard. Big Mom then provided Caesar a new lab and gave him two weeks to complete his research.

Translation and Dub Issues
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces, Linlin's epithet was romanized as Big Mom. However, in Chapter 610, her name was romanized as Big Mam. Later, in Chapter 651, her name was again romanized by Oda as "Big Mom", when Sanji was fantasizing about her appearance. Occasionally, errors in romanization occur, and Oda simply makes mistakes. This has been evidenced in the past concerning Alabasta and Iceburg as well.

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X

Trivia

 * When Tamago stated that the sweets-loving Big Mom was a female pirate, Sanji imagined her as an attractive redhead.
 * Brook believes that Linlin earned her epithet as "Big Mom" because she is the matriarch of a family of 129 that are scattered across the world.
 * She shares her name with the real-life pirates Charlotte Badger and Charlotte de Berry, although in their case Charlotte is their given name.
 * Similar to Kaido, the real appearance of Big Mom differs considerably from the silhouette shown during Monkey D. Garp's explanation of the Yonko. Unlike her early silhouette, she has a rounder nose and rounder teeth. However, this may have been due to changes in her appearance over the timeskip or because her character design was not yet complete.
 * While the Big Mom Pirates, and Totto Land as a whole, seem heavily inspired by fairy tales and fantasy fiction, Big Mom in particular appears to be based on several characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland novel:
 * The Queen of Hearts with their extreme selfishness, their similar appearances (obese, bulbous nose, and a very wide grin), abnormally size, and their way they dress. They both also have the tendency to order people decapitated.
 * Big Mom's obsession with tea parties seems based on The Hatter.
 * The Duchess with her insane mood swings, oversized head, ugly face, and treating her children, and anyone else she sees as subservient to her, in ways only convenient for herself.
 * During Big Mom's rampage through Sweet City due to craving croquembouche, she climbed a tower, roared, and waved her other hand in rage, similarly to the famous actions of King Kong.
 * Her rampaging for sweets is similar to the children that were experimented on by Caesar Clown at Punk Hazard during their candy rehab. It was later discovered that Big Mom was the one who ordered and financed that experiment.
 * She is the only Yonko who has not been shown to be using a weapon.

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