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 one 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 overall appears to be larger than her body. She is several times larger than her subordinate Bobbin, a very large character himself, making her larger than any known giant. It is unknown if she is an abnormal sized one, as her species is unconfirmed. She also has a very wide grin and long curly hair and large bulging eyes. She wears a polka-dotted dress.

Her Jolly Roger is a skull with thick lips and wearing a pirate tricorne, on a fluffy background (which could represent her hair in some fashion) with several canes crossed behind it (one on the right, three stacked together on the left), in place of normal crossbones. A tree is seen coming out of the cane on the bottom right.

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. Although she does not seem greedy, Charlotte seems to have somewhat of a capitalist mindset, as 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. Even refusing a proposal of money to repair two of her ships as well as double the amount of candy in change of 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. As the Minister was struck with apprehension and fear when it was realized her payment could not be made that month, and she is infamous for decimating islands over slight infractions. She is very voracious and is almost always seen drooling, and it appears she may even cannibalize some of her own crew members if hungry enough.

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

Monkey D. Garp
It is implied that she knows Garp, for when Luffy introduced himself, she referred to him as Garp's grandson.

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.

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

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. However, she rarely enforces the island's protection, doing nothing to protect it from the New Fishman Pirates' attack, and her "protection" is actually holding the island hostage, threatening to destroy it if they miss a payment, in a manner similar to the Arlong Pirates.

Fishman Island Arc
After the battle 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 is later seen on one of her islands. 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 went. He replies that 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.

Translation and Dub Issues
In One Piece Green: Secret Pieces, Linlin's epithet was romanized as Big Mom. But in Chapter 610, her name was romanized as Big Mam.

Then again, 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 Iceberg as well. As of now, the name with the most sources is "Big Mom" at 2-1.

"Mam" is the Welsh word for mother and is also sometimes used in several English-speaking countries such as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, northern areas of the United Kingdom and some areas of the United States.

Trivia

 * She shares her name with real-life pirates Charlotte Badger and Charlotte de Berry.
 * 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 Monkey D. Garp's description of her. 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.

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