Chapter 669: An Unexpected Situation
Ian stood there, staring at Capone Bege, deep in thought.
He didn't doubt Capone Bege's words. In the original timeline, Capone Bege had indeed formulated a plan to assassinate Big Mom. Even without encountering Luffy and his crew, his Fire Tank Pirates would have launched the attack on their own.
If one were to talk about sheer audacity, Capone Bege was no less bold than Ian.
And now, with Ian's appearance, it was a far better alliance than the Straw Hat Pirates. No wonder Capone Bege had brought this plan forward ahead of time.
"What do you want to do?" Ian asked him.
"Before you arrived on the island, I hadn't figured out how to deal with Big Mom," Capone Bege said, spreading his hands. "But my Fire Tank Pirates are experts with guns and explosives. I've got several powerful bombs in my possession right now. Maybe we can work something out from that angle. Big Mom has skin like iron. Simply detonating these bombs externally probably won't do much to her. So I'm thinking, maybe we can get her to swallow them..."
"You mean... the wedding cake?" Ian said, somewhat surprised.
"Yes!" Capone Bege grinned darkly. "Turn the bombs into remote-detonated devices and hide them inside the cake. Big Mom has been looking forward to the wedding cake; she'll definitely eat it without a second thought. The moment she swallows it, we detonate the bombs in her stomach. Even if it doesn't kill her, it'll weaken her significantly. But... there's one problem."
"Katakuri?" Ian asked directly.
"That's right, him," Capone Bege nodded. "Looks like you already know. Katakuri is the strongest person on Whole Cake Island besides Big Mom. He has an extraordinary level of Observation Haki that lets him see a short distance into the future. If he foresees the bomb explosion..."
"So you need to find a way to interfere with Katakuri first, right?" Ian rubbed his chin and asked. "You want me to handle that?"
"I just need you to keep him from focusing his mind before the bomb goes off," Capone Bege said, puffing on his cigar. "That shouldn't be too hard for you, should it?"
Ian thought it over. Distracting Katakuri's attention for a short time shouldn't be too difficult, so he nodded in agreement.
But then he pointed at Charlotte Pudding, who was lying on the ground, and asked, "What about her? If she was sent to modify my memory, she'll have to report back to Big Mom, right? If she doesn't return to report, Big Mom will know she failed. What then?"
However, Capone Bege said, "Don't worry, I'll hide her for now. At least until the wedding, she won't show up."
As he spoke, Capone Bege grabbed Pudding and tossed her behind him into his own body!
A strange scene unfolded. Pudding's body instantly shrank into a miniature version of herself, and a door opened on Capone Bege's chest. Her body was thrown through that door!
This was the ability of Capone Bege's Castle-Castle Fruit. People he allowed could shrink and hide inside his body. Ian even saw that inside that door, there were several of Capone Bege's Fire Tank Pirates subordinates. After Pudding was thrown in, they quickly tied her up with ropes.
After closing the door on his chest, Capone Bege said, "See? My men will keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't escape."
"But doesn't that mean she's gone missing?" Ian frowned. "Big Mom will get suspicious, won't she?"
"No... she won't. Next, I'll have Chiffon go to Mama and report that Pudding is accompanying her on the night before the wedding," Capone Bege said. "Chiffon is the bride, and the person she gets along best with on the island is Pudding's other personality. Mama will probably allow it. As long as we can hold out for one night, we won't have to worry by daytime. Tomorrow's wedding will be very busy. As long as you cooperate and act like your memory has been modified, there won't be any problems."
Ian's eyelids twitched. "Wha... what do you mean? What does acting like your memory has been modified look like?"
"You'll probably have to act very infatuated with Smoothie," Capone Bege said. "At the very least, you can't show any resistance to the marriage alliance Big Mom proposed. I'm guessing that besides making you forget the unpleasantness of the day, Pudding's task was also to set you up with Smoothie."
"Very... infatuated?" Ian's face turned green. Just thinking about having to act lovestruck in front of Smoothie, a woman who towered two heads above him, made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
First impressions were bad, and psychologically, he was resistant to it.
"Is there no other way?" Ian said, his head aching.
"...Of course, it's not impossible," Capone Bege said. "But think it over. If you don't act the way Big Mom expects, she'll definitely hold Pudding responsible. She'll start looking for her. If she finds out Pudding is missing, our plan might be exposed!"
"Then let it be exposed. We'll just fight head-on!" Ian shot him a look. "Even if your plan succeeds, once the bomb goes off, we'll still have to fight. Don't tell me you haven't thought about that."
"...Alright, you have a point," Capone Bege shrugged. "But have you considered this? If we're exposed too early, how are you going to get information about Kaido out of Big Mom?"
"Is this even real?" Ian asked him doubtfully. "Does Big Mom really know something about Kaido? You've been on Whole Cake Island for a while now, haven't you? Don't you know?"
"Unfortunately, I really don't," Capone Bege said. "But from what I've gathered, among the Four Emperors, the one who has dealt with Kaido the most is probably Big Mom. That guy Kaido is a madman. Every time he meets Shanks or Whitebeard, it ends in a fight, without exception. But Big Mom seems to have cooperated with him once. She might really know some unknown details."
Hearing this, Ian fell silent, frowning as he tapped his fingers on the armrest of the chair, deep in thought.
Given Ian's current situation, he was actually in the same boat as many pirates entering the New World. They either challenged the Four Emperors or submitted to them.
But unlike those ordinary pirates, the Four Emperors might not think much of these newcomers, even the Supernovas. However, they were extremely wary of Ian.
This wasn't just because of the formidable combat strength Ian and his Dragon Hunter Pirates had shown, but also because the territories of the Four Emperors had long been divided, and their power maintained a delicate balance. Ian's appearance was like a ball bearing on a tray. Wherever the ball bearing rolled, the tray would tilt. In simple terms, he was the one who broke the balance.
Unless Ian was content to stay put and not make a single move, any little thing he did would be seen as a signal to challenge the existing power structure of the Four Emperors.
And Ian couldn't afford to stay completely still. So, no matter what, he would end up clashing with the Four Emperors.
Given his good relations with Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks, the most likely to come into conflict with him were the Big Mom Pirates and the Beast Pirates.
Passively taking a beating was never Ian's style. Since, for him, fighting Kaido was the same as fighting Big Mom, and now that he understood Big Mom's goal was to recruit him and his Dragon Hunter Pirates, Ian had no choice but to prepare for battle.
Looking at it that way, whether or not he could get information about Kaido from Big Mom didn't really matter. If he took down Big Mom, he could still claim the throne of the Four Emperors.
But if Capone Bege's plan succeeded, Ian would save a lot of effort. A fully powered Big Mom and an injured Big Mom were two different things.
At the same time, because of what happened in Wano Country, Ian would likely have to rush there next. If he could pry some information about Kaido out of Big Mom, it would be beneficial for dealing with that troublesome madman.
"Alright, let's give it a try," Ian decided.
"It's settled then!" Capone Bege said, overjoyed. "Tomorrow, after the plan succeeds, my men will be responsible for guarding the castle entrance to prevent reinforcements from arriving and to hold off Katakuri and the others for a while. You need to find a way to kill Big Mom in the shortest time possible. No problem, right?"
"Mm. My pirate crew will also arrive tomorrow," Ian nodded.
Hearing this, Capone Bege gained even more confidence. "Good. I'll go make the arrangements. Remember, tomorrow, the moment the bomb explodes in Big Mom's mouth, that's the signal to start the fight!"
After finishing their discussion, Capone Bege was about to leave. But just then, both of them heard a commotion coming from outside the castle.
"Hm? What's going on?" The two of them walked over to the window in confusion and looked outside...