One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 4 Early Warning Mechanism

Cake Island, Library.

The huge skylight filters the sunlight in, scattering dappled light into the wooden bookshelves that exude a natural feel. There seems to be a hint of cream in the air, suggesting that this isn't strictly a reading room, as people can eat inside.

Garette, sitting in the chair, kept swinging her white legs. On the table was a cherry cake covered with cream. The bright red color and the smooth cream complemented each other perfectly, making it look very appetizing.

However, Garrett's gaze was not on the cake at the moment, but on the somewhat decaying book.

Charlotte Linlin's greed was not limited to treasures and sweets, but included everything of value. Even though she didn't particularly love books, she still chose to plunder them and even set up a library for them.

If you look closely, you can see old bloodstains and scratches on some of the gold-framed book covers, as well as broken fingernails hidden on them.

The pink nail polish suggested a young woman. She had just been reading when the person suddenly burst in, startling her. Fear made her clutch the book tightly; she likely didn't die on the spot, but rather tried to grab onto something, and then…

Stop, don't become more and more like a pervert.

Garrett stopped imagining; the sudden appearance of the fingernails killed her appetite, and she threw half a cream cake into the trash can.

However, she then greeted the visitor, saying, "Brother Mondor."

The visitor was Mont-d'Or, Sanji's nineteenth son. Unlike his impulsive older siblings, he was intelligent, resourceful, and valued the power of strategy. He trusted his own eyes more than intelligence. In the original story, Operora accidentally allowed Luffy and Nami to escape. Fearing his mother's punishment, he claimed to have killed them, but Mont-d'Or suspected him and used this to test Sanji.

Fourteen-year-old Montor still looked quite young, but Garette couldn't understand why he was putting face paint on himself. However, it wasn't a big deal. He was already one of the few rational people in the family, one of the few who could communicate well with words.

"I heard that you scolded almost all the younger children during class. That's pretty impressive, Garrett."

Yes, you heard right, Mondor really was praising Garette.

Even though she slapped Merry until her mouth bled, sent Barbaluya and Snag to the hospital, and threatened her other siblings, all of this was seen as her being a formidable Charlotte.

This is the unique family atmosphere that belongs to the Charlotte family.

This jungle-like lifestyle stems from the cold attitude of their mothers towards their children.

Charlotte Linlin spends all her time engrossed in her future plans and hardly participates in raising her children; she only favors the best among them.

If her child is bullied, she will only think that her child is useless.

Besides, she doesn't lack children at all.

Although they were siblings, Garrett knew their relationship was more like that of competitors.

Within royalty, the probability of siblings getting along harmoniously is not high, because it involves the issue of future succession to the throne.

For pirate royalty like them, things are only worse. Although they are not competing for the throne now, the competition for resources is still very real.

Charlotte is currently in a period of expansion, and the territory she has already acquired has been basically divided up by her older brothers and sisters. The young children haven't even had a taste of the spoils yet.

However, this is only temporary, and the Charlotte family will continue to expand.

Weapons, fruits, land, money, official positions.

These things are essential if you want to gain status in the family.

Although I don't value those things that much, and I don't intend to serve this family forever, it is indeed a good starting point.

To get something better, you need to cooperate.

"Brother, I just long for peace and quiet. After all, only a quiet atmosphere can help my brain think better."

"Think?" Montor smiled, clearly not taking Garrett's words seriously.

After all, she is still very young. Even if she has talent in combat, how deep can her thinking be?

"For example, how to establish a sound early warning mechanism."

“Warning?” Montor turned around and looked at Garette, signaling it to continue.

"Didn't Mom and Katakuri go on a voyage? Cracker is the main force left behind to guard the area, right?"

“That’s right. Brother Cracker’s fighting talent is extraordinary. He defeated those villains in just a few rounds. Their corpses have been turned into candy sculptures by Brother Perospero.”

Unlike Charlotte and her siblings who lived in comfort, the children born before the founding of the nation had shared joys and sorrows, making them more united.

But making candy sculptures? That's really perverse!

"Doesn't this already explain the problem? Brother, we can't just wait until the invaders land on the island to find out. We should send Homies to besiege them as soon as they intend to set foot in the Kingdom of Tottoland. So, isn't it necessary to establish an early warning system?"

"What you said...makes sense."

Montor listened.

Although he had complete trust in his mother and brother's strength, as a strategist, he could not focus solely on power.

"Should we use manatees?"

"What is it? Where did you learn about these strange things, Garrett?"

“Read more books. The power of knowledge is endless, isn’t it, brother?” Garette turned the pages of a book, and an article entitled “On the Importance of Intelligence Systems” was laid out before Montor.

Even if it weren't for them, the Kingdom of Tottoran would eventually value intelligence. The reason it hasn't formed a system yet is because the Kingdom of Tottoran has only been established for a little over ten years, and many things are still incomplete.

My mother is busy building her empire, getting pregnant, building her empire again, getting pregnant again. My older siblings are busy running around with my mother, taking care of their newborn brothers and sisters, and then they have to be careful not to offend my mother. They also have to take care of the house. They are really overwhelmed, so it's not really their fault that they are not very good at politics.

How many pirates value political ability? Let alone pirates, even 90% of marines trained by the system don't have much political ability; that's something only the higher-ups need to consider.

However, with the trend of pirates becoming kings, having political ability has become an important matter. Compared to the future empress who only owns one country and Doflamingo, Charlotte Linlin, who owns 34 islands, naturally needs political wisdom and political organization.

Of course, Charlotte Linlin couldn't accomplish this alone, so she delegated power to her children, relying on blood ties to maintain her rule. For Big Mom, who possesses absolute power, betrayal means death, so everyone will shine for Totto Land.

However, this was not what she had hoped for.