Charlotte Linlin

Charlotte Linlin (シャーロット・リンリン), also known as Big Mom (ビッグ・マム), is the captain of the Big Mom Pirates. She was the last Yonko to be named, and is the only female of the four. Her epithet was first revealed just after the Battle of Marineford and the death of the Yonko Whitebeard, and her real name was first mentioned by Pappug in the Fishman Island Arc.

Appearance
Linlin has only been seen partially from the shadows, but it is clear that she is an incredibly large and obese woman whose face appears to be larger than her body. She also has a very wide grin, long curly hair, large bulging eyes, and a round nose and cheeks. She wears a polka-dotted dress and what appears to be a tricone.

Personality
She loves sweets as she makes all the islands under her protection pay her in whatever kind of candy they can produce. She seems to be obsessed with them and would destroy a country all for the sake of sweets. In spite of that though, she didn't lose her cool when Luffy claimed to have eaten all of her candy. Although she does not seem greedy, Charlotte seems to have somewhat of a capitalist mindset. Pappug thinks she is protecting Fishman Island with a business perspective, since the deals made with the candy do qualify as racketeering, although she seems to prioritize sweets over money and treasure. From her point of view, pirates do not accept compromises as she even refused a proposal of money to repair two of her ships and in turn, double the amount of candy for a simple two week wait.

It also appears that she is quite ruthless as she decided to burn a country down when they failed to make their sweet payment, disregarding any reason for the failure, under the reason that she hates people who cannot keep their promises. The Minister of the Left was struck with apprehension and fear when it was realized her payment could not be made that month. She is infamous for decimating islands over slight infractions, and is very voracious and is almost always seen drooling to the point that, when Luffy offered her treasure, she believed that he expected her to eat it in place of the candy. It appears she may even eat some of her own subordinates if hungry enough.

Crew
Her subordinates call her "Mama", and most seem to be afraid of her. Also, she is willing to eat her underlings when she is hungry. 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.

Monkey D. Luffy
When Charlotte Linlin sent her underlings to collect the candy from Fishman Island, Luffy talked to her via a Den Den Mushi claiming that he is responsible for the lack of candy. However, Big Mom easily saw through his lie. She refused to take the treasure that Luffy offered in place of candy but admired the Supernova for standing up to her; and so she decided to target Luffy instead of Fishman Island. In response, Luffy notes that leaving Fishman Island under the protection of someone who would destroy it on a whim was out of the question. Thus, he declared a war saying that he would defeat her in the New World and that he would make Fishman Island his own territory.

Protectorates
Given her capitalist mindset, Big Mom only seems to impart protection upon her chosen territories for as long as they can meet the demanded candy payment and will not hesitate to have them destroyed if there is even a chance that they won't be able to pay.

Abilities and Powers
As one of the Yonko, Big Mom is one of the four most powerful pirates in the world. She has a mouth large enough to devour an entire person. Moreover, her saliva seems to have corrosive effects, due to her powerful stomach acids. It was also stated by the Gorosei that she is one of the few people capable of killing Teach.

While under Big Mom's protection, Fishman Island is protected from pirate attacks, indicating a powerful influence similar to that of the late Whitebeard.

After the Whitebeard War
After the Battle of Marineford and the death of Whitebeard, Fishman Island was once again vulnerable to pirate attacks. Big Mom then decided to protect it in Whitebeard's place with candy as payment, thus leading to the Candy Factory's creation. The Sun Pirates would also join her crew for protection due to Jinbe having forfeited his title. Even though she kept Fishman Island safe from pirate attacks, she does not actually care for the island's well-being as she did nothing to protect it from the New Fishman Pirates' attack and her "protection" is actually holding the island hostage in a manner similar to the Arlong Pirates, threatening to destroy it if they miss a payment.

Fishman Island Arc
After the battle between the Straw Hat Pirates and the New Fishman Pirates concluded, she sends two of her men to collect the monthly candy payment, unaware that the factory was destroyed. The Minister of the Left then reveals that Big Mom would be infuriated with the lack of payment, possibly even destroying Fishman Island to get the candy.

Linlin first appears on Whole Cake Island. She is excited for a tea party coming up in four days as that means she will soon be able to eat the candy from Fishman Island. She asked a subordinate if he was excited. Even though he agreed, Linlin apparently ate him, saying he would continue his excitement in her stomach. Shortly thereafter, Bobbin announces himself and Big Mom asks how his job of destroying an island that failed to make its monthly candy tribute went, to which he responds everything went up in flames. Linlin is pleased, commenting that the baked sweets from that country were delicious, and that the island must have smelled delicious as it was burned down, saying the loss of that candy is a shame. She then comments that she doesn't like people who don't keep their word, especially when candy is involved. When she learned that Fishman Island could not make their monthly payment, she ordered for a call to be placed to the island at once. When the call goes through to the island, Bokoms and Tamago are too nervous to answer it, so Luffy does. When Luffy tells her who he is, she remembers his actions in Marineford and his relation to Garp. Luffy then tells her he ate all ten tons of the candy. Linlin calls him on his lie, but Luffy tells her he speaks the truth. When Luffy offered her their treasure as collateral, she was offended saying she would only take candy. Baron Tamago then tells her that Eustass Kid sank two of their ships and they need money to cover the damages, so they should take the gold and allow the island two weeks to recover and make new candy. Linlin is then insulted further still, saying that pirates do not compromise.

She then tells Tamago that she has become interested in Luffy, and will change target of her wrath from Fishman Island to Luffy alone. Luffy then tells her that it is too dangerous to leave her in charge of the Fishman Island and he will defeat her when they meet in New World. Luffy then declares he will make Fishman Island his territory when he defeats her. Big Mom's face can only twitch at Luffy's words.

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.

Trivia

 * She shares her name with real-life pirates Charlotte Badger and Charlotte de Berry.
 * "Charlotte" is also a type of dessert.
 * Big Mom, living on Whole Cake Island and eating her underlings, is possibly a reference to the cannibalistic hag in Hansel and Gretel, who lives in a house made of cake and confectionery.
 * 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, as well as more round teeth. However, this may have been due to changes in her appearance over the timeskip or because her character design was not yet complete.

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