Big Mom Pirates

The Big Mom Pirates are an infamous and powerful pirate crew led by the Yonko Charlotte Linlin, better known as "Big Mom", and they are in control of the powerful nation of Totto Land, with their captain ruling it as its queen and their base of operations being Whole Cake Island, the country's main island.

Due to their actions, they are the main antagonist group of the Whole Cake Island Arc, and one of the central antagonist groups of the Yonko Saga.

Jolly Roger
The Big Mom Pirates' Jolly Roger is a skull with thick lips and wearing a pirate tricorne based on their captain's appearance, on a fluffy background (which could represent Linlin's hair in some fashion) with several candy 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.

Like the Whitebeard Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates have a simpler Jolly Roger, consisting of the normal skull-and-crossbones, but retaining the large lips of the original. In addition to these, though it has yet to be shown clearly, Charlotte herself also has a unique personal Jolly Roger on her tricorne hat more akin to a traditional skull and crossbones that appears to have swirling patterns resembling flames to the sides of the design. Her living hat had a different Jolly Roger when her appearance was fully shown later. This one had swords instead of crossbones with a curl design under each. The skull had pupils in its eyes and an open mouth. It is unknown if this was a redesign or just a different hat (or even if it's also alive).

Recruitment
For a crew to sail under Big Mom, new enlistees must have their bloodlines tied to her family (consisting of Linlin herself, 43 husbands, 39 daughters and 45 sons); this requires a political wedding. The foundation and infrastructure of the Big Mom Pirates is therefore built around her bloodline. The crew's recruitment process is that Linlin would marry off her children, mostly without taking their own interest into consideration, with the goal of bolstering her pirate group. Her children have thus long since given up hope of finding a spouse of their choice, knowing that they cannot defy their mother's exploitation of their marriages.

In the event that a bride or groom from an outside family has multiple existing affiliations, they must sever those that are external to the political agreement with Big Mom. This was the case with Sanji, whose membership of the Straw Hat Pirates was a loyalty outside the arrangement agreed between the Vinsmoke patriarch and the Charlotte matriarch, and which was therefore required to be forfeited.

Organization
Like most Yonko crews, the Big Mom Pirates are organized around a central group of pirates that sail directly under Big Mom, and various subordinate crews that work directly on her orders. As mentioned, the Big Mom Pirates are built around the bloodline of their captain, with her children comprising a portion of her crew; however, it is unknown which, and how many, of her children are direct members of her crew, with Cracker, Smoothie, Opera, Galette, and Mont-d'Or being the only confirmed cases thus far. Nevertheless, most of her children, especially the older ones, seem to at least be privy to and affiliated with the operations of the crew, as seen with Perospero and Brûlée. Crew members, like their captain's children, call Big Mom "Mama", although most fear her as she frequently throws violent rages when she is displeased (especially when she does not receive the candy she expects).

Three Sweet Commanders
The Three Sweet Commanders (スイート3将星) are Big Mom's executive officers and have the highest authority, respect, and fighting prowess amongst the crew (barring Big Mom herself, of course). There were originally four Sweet Commanders, until Snack was defeated by Urouge and his/her position subsequently vacated and removed. The strength of a Sweet Commander is considered so great that the defeat of one is considered a moment of crisis to the crew, and results in a swift and furious retaliation from Big Mom, as she would send her army of troops, of which includes several infamous and powerful pirates (some of them her own children), to deal with the responsible party. Big Mom would also subject the responsible party to a fierce weatherstorm as a manifestation of her rage.

Of the three current Sweet Commanders, the two that have been revealed, Cracker and Smoothie, are seen to have some of the highest active bounties revealed in the series thus far at '860,000,000 and '932,000,000 respectively, being second only to Yonko commander Jack of the Beasts Pirates. This provides further credence to their threat level.

Combatants
Some of the regular crew members or subordinates captains can also be combatants appointed as a rank within the crew, with the ranking following the pieces of a chess game:
 * The Rooks, such as Capone Bege, who are in charge of the security during events such as the Tea Parties;
 * The Knights, such as Tamago;
 * The Bishops, such as Bobbin.

Subordinates
The Big Mom Pirates have various subordinate crews, some of which were already famed pirate groups in their own right. These include the Sun Pirates, captained by a former Shichibukai, Jinbe, and the Fire Tank Pirates, captained by one of the Worst Generation, Capone Bege. Per Big Mom's requirements, the vice captain of the Sun Pirates married her 29th daughter, while the captain of the Fire Tank Pirates himself married her 22nd daughter.

Germa 66, an Underworld army commanded by the Vinsmoke Family, is currently in the process of becoming subordinate to Big Mom. As part of an agreed exchange with Vinsmoke Judge, Big Mom seeks access to the army's advanced technology; Judge, in return, seeks the use of her forces to retake his family's former control over the North Blue. This deal is to be sealed with a (pending) marriage between Judge's third son, and Big Mom's 35th daughter. However, Big Mom wants solely their cloning technology, and nothing else from the royal family, thus this wedding was nothing more than a sham, with the Big Mom Pirates preparing to massacre the unsuspecting Vinsmoke Family during the ceremony.

Crew Strength
This place you're standing at now...is the place where all dreams come to die in the New World!!! "Standing toe to toe with a Yonko"?! Hah, talk about wishful thinking! You won't even get the chance to lay a finger on Mama!!!

Captained by a Yonko, the Big Mom Pirates are one of the four most powerful pirate crews in the world. Several members shown have been proven to be capable fighters able to battle and take down notable and infamous rookie pirates such as Caribou and some members of the Worst Generation. Due to Big Mom being able to place souls into animals and inanimate objects, she has innumerable legions of warriors knowns as homies that can overwhelm even strong opponents, especially within Totto Land. The Sun Pirates, a powerful crew of fishmen, were frightened at the possibility falling out of favor with Big Mom and prepared to flee should that be the case.

Even without Big Mom in the equation, the rest of the crew carries enough power and influence to do a wide range of activities. Big Mom fully entrusted some of her subordinates to massacre entire islands to get cake ingredients, and the members of her crew are very confident in their ability to dispose of enemies without Big Mom having to get involved at all. Four powerful pirate crews belonging to the Worst Generation invaded Big Mom's territory, with three of them being forced to flee and one becoming subservient; of those crews, only one actually managed to make an impact in their invasion, and all of them were quickly dispatched before they could meet Big Mom herself. Charlotte Brûlée compared the vast difference in power to hitting a wall, saying that challenging them would only cause the challenger to fall into despair. The fact that many of Big Mom's subordinates are frightened of her despite having great power of their own indicates that the full strength of the crew is well beyond what most other pirates can reach or even fathom. The sheer militarized might of the crew is so immense that they were even able to overwhelm Luffy (albeit when he was weakened after fighting one of their commanders for 11 hours). It was said that if an island does not pay its tribute she will destroy it using her army of "monsters". Indeed her crew so far has been quite varied, consisting of a long-legged person, a talking lion capable of turning into a tortoise, a wide-faced mask-wearing man, and an anthropomorphic rabbit who rides a crane, making her crew one of the most diverse since the Straw Hat Pirates themselves.

Even the demons of Hell will come when called to Mama's tea parties! Furthermore, Linlin has several islands under her control, and the citizens of Fishman Island, fearing her wrath, agreed to produce the ten tons of candy she orders every month. It is common knowledge to everyone in the New World that Big Mom's "invitation" to her tea parties is in name only, and that it is an absolute summon order that, if declined, would result the invitee to be choked with regret. It is said that even demons from hell will attend the party when invited by Big Mom. Refusal would result in the invitee being sent a box containing the head of someone they personally know, even if that person is someone of notable strength or in another part of the sea beyond the Calm Belts and Red Line; this demonstrates how far reaching the crew's power is.

They also have multiple ships and allies, some of which were sunk by Eustass Kid. After Whitebeard died, the Sun Pirates apparently joined with them so Fishman Island would be under her protection, which increased the Big Mom Pirates' power. Jinbe, however, is not really loyal to her and is thinking of leaving her. Also Capone Bege, a rookie pirate captain from the Worst Generation has aligned with the crew. A single Road Poneglyph and two regular Poneglyphs are currently within the possession of Big Mom and her crew.

Like many elite New World pirate crews, the Big Mom Pirates (along with several of Linlin's children and her affiliates) have far more Devil Fruit users in their crew than is typically seen in less perilous seas. Most of them (such as Charlotte Cracker and Big Mom herself) are shown to have very powerful or useful abilities and are highly skilled and creative in their usage; as a result, attempting to engage her crew (especially several members at once or deep in their territory) can be extremely unpredictable and dangerous for the unprepared.

The crew is also connected with the activities of the Underworld, especially through its involvement in brokering, as Pekoms and Tamago were seen paying attention to Caesar Clown's broadcast of an illegal chemical weapon of mass destruction. Big Mom has also recently boosted her crew's strength in the Underworld by aligning herself and her family with the notorious Vinsmoke Family; through them, she has access to Germa 66, who are renowned throughout the world as an evil mythical army.

Singing Ship


One of the Big Mom Pirates' ships is referred to as "Singing Ship" by Nami. It is enormous, easily over twenty times the size of the Thousand Sunny; putting it in perspective with the Thousand Sunny, Big Mom's ship could tower over 500 meters. It has a prevalent confectionery theme, having frosting over its railings, ice cream cones at the top of its masts, candy canes and wafers on the sides of the main deck, and a large candle-lit, double-layered cake directly behind its figurehead. The clown-shaped figurehead, wearing a tricorne hat and a crown, seems to be alive, continuously singing about itself being a ship. Other parts of the ship likewise appear to be alive, such as the door to Sanji's quarters. The ship has numerous cannons mounted on its side. Several returned cannonballs damaged the starboard side.

List of Protected Territories
The Big Mom Pirates are known to have the following territories under their protection:


 * Totto Land (an archipelago composed of 35 islands under the rule of Big Mom and her crew)
 * Whole Cake Island (the base of operations) in the center
 * Cacao Island
 * Jam Island
 * Nuts Island
 * Cheese Island
 * Biscuits Island
 * Candy Island
 * 28 other unnamed islands
 * Fishman Island (protectorate)
 * Unknown country (former protectorate, burned down)

In Totto Land's sea, territorial sea slugs send out automatic Den Den Mushi warning signals for nearby ships to warn them about the danger of having entered Big Mom's immediate territory. Unauthorized entry is not tolerated, and intruders would be shot down.

Past
At some point, Big Mom commissioned the rogue scientist Caesar Clown to research artificial gigantification, that she may satisfy her long-held dream to have a tea party with her children at eye-level. Caesar's efforts were able to accelerate and extend the growth of children, but with long-term health issues. Knowing that permanent artificial growth was impossible, Caesar took the money anyway to finance a lifestyle of excess.

Three years before the start of the series, the Big Mom Pirates overwhelmingly defeated the trespassing Nox Pirates, and Pekoms defected from the latter to the former. While Big Mom killed Zepo of the Nox Pirates, she had mercy on the captain, Pedro, and gave him a few more years to live by not taking all of his remaining lifespan.

During the Timeskip
Sometime after the Whitebeard War, Big Mom's crew agreed to protect Fishman Island in exchange for ten tons of sweets a month. Around this time, the remnants of the Sun Pirates, including Jinbe, would come to work under Big Mom, although she primarily let them do as they pleased. Also during the time-skip, Kid, Apoo, Bege, and Urouge attempted to invade Big Mom's territory. Other than the Fire Tank Pirates, who allied themselves with Big Mom, the crews of Kid, Apoo, and Urouge were forced out of Big Mom's territory. Urouge managed to defeat one of the former Four Sweet Commanders but was later defeated by Cracker.

Some time before the Straw Hat Pirates arrived to Fishman Island, Eustass Kid sank two of Big Mom's allies' ships.

Fishman Island Arc
After Fishman Island was nearly destroyed by the New Fishman Pirates' coup d'état, Tamago and Pekoms arrived to collect the candy payment while disregarding the civil war. Meanwhile, Bobbin had finished attacking another of their territories due to the failure of delivering Charlotte Linlin her candy payment. Back at Fishman Island, when Tamago and Pekoms found out about the situation, they reported it to Bobbin, who told Big Mom, who in turn phoned Fishman Island. Luffy answered and took responsibility for the lost candy right before declaring war against Big Mom, stating that it was dangerous to leave the island under the control of someone who would destroy it just for candy. Pekoms later defeated Caribou with a single punch after he tried to retrieve the treasure Luffy had given them as compensation for the candy.

Punk Hazard Arc
Pekoms and Tamago were later seen watching Caesar Clown's Den Den Mushi broadcast on his chemical weapon of mass destruction. After seeing Caesar's defeat by Luffy, Tamago suggested they call Big Mom, in part so that they could collect Caesar and inquire into his research.

Dressrosa Arc


The crew approached Dressrosa on their ship, with the intent of capturing Caesar and sinking the Straw Hats. However, the Sunny protection team launched a successful counterattack, creating a large explosion and escaping through fog.

Later, some time between their encounter with the Straw Hats and their arrival in Zou, Big Mom and Vinsmoke Judge arranged a political alliance between the Charlotte and Vinsmoke families. Per Big Mom's policy, the alliance was to be sealed with a wedding between the third Vinsmoke son, Sanji, and the 35th Charlotte daughter, Pudding, during an upcoming tea party. However, Big Mom's true plan was to massacre the Vinsmokes during the wedding in order to gain full control over their kingdom's advanced technology. Sometime during their pursuit of Caesar, the Big Mom Pirates received additional orders to retrieve Sanji unharmed, in order to bring him to the tea party.

Zou Arc
After the Curly Hat Pirates arrived on Zou, the Big Mom Pirates managed to follow their trail due to overhearing their destination. They were able to locate and reach Zou due to having a native on board, and they arrived seven days later, with Pekoms and Bege going ashore.



Bege and Pekoms reached Zou, and Pekoms became enraged when he saw his homeland destroyed. He reunited with his tribesmen, and Sanji made contact with Bege in order to settle their dispute over Caesar's captivity. Pekoms thanked Sanji for saving the minks and offered to fail a second, undisclosed mission (later revealed to be the retrieval of Sanji) if Sanji handed over Caesar. Angered that Pekoms was disregarding their complete orders, Bege shot him in the back. The Fire Tank Pirates then came out of his body and surrounded Sanji and Brook, with Nami and Chopper being captured by Vito. Bege took the Straw Hats inside his castle body, where he revealed to Sanji that he had been arranged to marry Pudding at Big Mom's tea party.

Sanji refused, but Bege did not give him a choice as Vito revealed a secret about him that they knew. Sanji agreed to come along if he could write a note to his crew. As Sanji talked with his captured crewmates, he suddenly threw them out of Bege's body and held Caesar at gunpoint in order to keep the Fire Tank Pirates from harming his friends. Bege was then confronted by Nekomamushi, who wanted to know what happened to Pekoms. In a bad situation, Bege escaped from Zou with Sanji and Caesar inside him, leaving Pekoms behind.

Two days later, a recovering Pekoms met the Straw Hats that had just arrived and told them more about the Vinsmoke Family and the arranged marriage. He intended to return once his injuries had healed, and Luffy ordered him to take him to Big Mom's tea party.

Whole Cake Island Arc
En route to Whole Cake Island, Tamago attempted to persuade Sanji to join Big Mom's crew, by informing him that Big Mom was impressed by his skill set and would likely offer him a good position in the crew. Sanji refused, countering that he will not cook for people with no respect for their own crew members.

Pekoms guided the Sanji Retrieval Team through Totto Land, claiming to guards that he had hijacked the Thousand Sunny. However, he was kidnapped by the Fire Tank Pirates on Cacao Island.

A few days later, Big Mom prepared for the wedding to be held in three days' time. She had Randolph, Amande, and Diesel gather ingredients for the wedding cake on faraway islands by killing the people guarding them

Days later, Big Mom developed a craving for croquembouche and went on a rampage in Sweet City, causing her crewmates and the citizens to panic. She ate everything and killed everyone in her path, including her son Charlotte Moscato. However, Jinbe arrived and gave her croquembouche, then asked the clear-minded Big Mom if he could leave her crew. Big Mom seemingly agreed, but said Jinbe would have to lose something in return as she pulled out a roulette wheel with pictures of body parts on it. It was later reported that Jinbe backed out of the deal.

Meanwhile, in the Seducing Woods, Randolph and Charlotte Brûlée, who were ordered by Big Mom to deal with the Sanji Retrieval Team, showed up to attack them. While Brûlée was dealing with Luffy by taking his appearance thanks to her powers and imitating all his moves, Randolph started to chase Nami, Carrot, and Chopper on his crane. Carrot started fighting with him, but they finally ran back to Luffy to leave the woods together. However, Luffy turned out to be Brûlée in disguise, and Brûlée and the homies managed to scatter the Straw Hats and defeat Chopper and Carrot.

Later that day, Big Mom brought Caesar Clown before her to inquire about his gigantification research. Caesar replied that the Straw Hat and Heart Pirates had destroyed his research, and Big Mom revealed that she had her son Charlotte Perospero construct a replica laboratory on Whole Cake Island. She gave Caesar two weeks to finish the impossible research, or else Perospero would turn him into candy.

On the northeastern coast of Whole Cake Island, the Fire Tank Pirates shot the captured Pekoms into shark-infested waters in order to eliminate him. However, Pekoms managed to survive due to Jinbe spotting him.

Back in the Seducing Woods, Sweet Commander Charlotte Cracker confronted Nami and Luffy while Pound was giving information about Big Mom to them. Cracker was about to execute Pound, but Luffy stopped him and initiated a fight with him while Brûlée and her minions went after Nami. After an initial struggle, Luffy managed to land a hit on Cracker using Kong Gun. Nami also managed to defeat Brûlée using Thunderbolt Tempo. Luffy apparently split Cracker's body in half, but the real Cracker appeared from what was revealed to be a Biscuit Soldier, which he could manipulate with his Devil Fruit powers. They fought for 11 hours, until a fat Luffy activated his Tankman mode and finished Cracker off by absorbing him and launching him far away.

After two of the Sweet Commanders gathered at Big Mom's castle and Big Mom went to meet the Vinsmoke Family, Cracker crashed into a large building in Sweet City. His siblings were shocked at his defeat and put Whole Cake Island in a state of alert. Eventually, they formed an army of which included several of their strongest and most notorious members from their crew while Zeus and Prometheus created a massive storm. The army then marched on towards Luffy to avenge Cracker. Nami advised Luffy to run, saying he could not defeat an army of that size in his current state, but Luffy, determined to wait for Sanji, refused to move and prepared to fight. During the battle, Amande sliced King Baum for supporting Luffy and Nami. Even though Luffy defeated most of the army, the higher-ranked members eventually overwhelmed him. Luffy and Nami were then captured and the Big Mom Pirates took the Vivre Card Lola gave to Nami. The army then returned to Sweet City with the captured Straw Hats.

Meanwhile at the Room of Treasure, Tamago increased security and guarded the three Poneglyphs in Big Mom's possession alongside Sweet Commander Charlotte Smoothie. Big Mom also had a conversation with Sanji, who requested her to allow his friends to leave Whole Cake Island in exchange for not running away. Big Mom then stated that as long Sanji complied with the wedding, she would be willing to overlook Luffy's transgression against her.

Soon after, Brook managed to infiltrate the Room of Treasure and lock Smoothie out while Pedro attacked the Chess Soldiers in the hallways, forcing Tamago to go after him. Upon hearing about the intrusion, Big Mom broke into the Room of Treasure and confronted him herself, while Tamago cornered Pedro in the third-floor courtyard. The two of them dueled, with Pedro managing to horizontally bisect Tamago.

While this occurred, some members of the Big Mom Pirates like Randolph and Diesel gathered at Brûlée's house in order to cook Carrot into stew and eat her. However, Carrot and Chopper managed to devise a ruse, and they unleashed a surprise ambush on the houseguests. After everyone else was defeated by a few strong attacks, Diesel ran to report this to Big Mom, but Carrot caught and defeated him. She and Chopper then forced Diesel to transport them through the Mirro-World.

Big Mom managed to easily overwhelm Brook in the Room of Treasure, and in the Prisoner Library Opera received orders from her to find out Lola's location from Nami, threatening to torture Nami should she not comply. However, Jinbe then entered the Prisoner Library despite not being allowed in the Whole Cake Chateau, and when Opera turned his attention to him, he hit Opera in the stomach with a powerful Gosenmaigawara Seiken, knocking him out. Jinbe then freed Luffy, Nami, and many other prisoners by burning the book they were in, and a massive horde of Big Mom Pirates rushed into the library in response to the disturbance. Luffy raced into the horde and started choking one of the pirates in order to find out Sanji's location; he then fought through everyone in his path in order to reach Sanji. Meanwhile, Smoothie plotted to seal off the uprising in the third floor and deal with it herself, not wanting Big Mom to learn about more troubles.

Big Mom defeated and captured Brook, but kept him around due to being mesmerized by him. In the third floor courtyard, Tamago evolved into new forms with his Devil Fruit power that gave him more and more chicken features, but as he prepared to evolve into Count Niwatori, Pedro blew up a large collection of explosives in his jacket, causing a massive explosion. However, Niwatori survived and joined a meeting with several of the Big Mom Pirates, where they went over the statuses of the Sanji Retrieval Team and the Vinsmoke Family. However, Opera lied that he had killed Luffy and Nami and denied any knowledge of Jinbe's rumored presence in order to save face and avoid punishment. With everyone seemingly accounted for, the meeting adjourned, though Mont-d'Or had the Chess Soldiers keep watch over the Chateau. Meanwhile, Jinbe and Nami raced through the Chateau, taking out any soldiers they ran into before they were pulled into a mirror by Chopper and Carrot. In another hallway, Bobbin approached Sanji and pulled out a piece of meat Sanji had made for Luffy. Without thinking, Sanji kicked Bobbin into the wall to get the meat back. Bobbin recovered and went to deal with Sanji himself, putting his nearby crewmates to sleep. Meanwhile, Big Mom went to sleep and had Brook stolen from her after the Sanji Retrieval Team staged a covert mission to retrieve him. Brook then revealed that he had acquired copies of Big Mom's Poneglyphs, much to Brûlée and Diesel's shock.

As he went outside, Bobbin was shot by Vito and collapsed.

Trivia

 * The Big Mom Pirates have the second highest total bounty of any currently known pirate group, being the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance.
 * While Big Mom is known for sending gruesome presents to those who refuse to go to her tea parties, she has ironically received one of her own, courtesy of Luffy: the Tamatebako box, which the Minister of the Right has rigged to explode if anyone tries opening it, though Luffy was not made aware of this even after he had given away the box to Pekoms and Tamago, thinking it would appease Big Mom.
 * The theme of this crew is that of the works of fairy tales and fantasy fiction.
 * Additionally, associated groups and locations share the crew theme:
 * Some of the crew captain's family.
 * Parts of the crew main territory in the New World.
 * The references are mostly from Lewis Carroll's most famous series of novels, "Alice" and its adaptations.
 * There is also a Chess theme to the Rank System. The significance of each Rank has yet to be revealed.

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