The timing Buggy had set his sights on was Big Mom's tea party, several months away.
To prepare for that tea party, the Big Mom Pirates had already sent out most of the invitations. A few days earlier, when they'd clashed with Katakuri, they'd happened to learn that he was transporting a shipment of sweets from Fish-Man Island.
So they bit the bullet and went straight at him.
Since Buggy's crew had no interest in the sweets themselves, Katakuri had lost the battle but the cargo remained intact. For Katakuri, that was enough.
Otherwise, if BIG MOM's eating disorder flared up, he'd have no way to deal with it either.
Compared to Charlotte Linlin's current aggressive expansion of Totto Land's territory in her bid to become a second Pirate King, her sons and daughters were relatively simple.
What most people didn't realize was that the members of the BIG MOM Pirates only looked glamorous from the outside. In truth, they lived every moment under Big Mom's suffocating shadow.
Once that woman went on a rampage, it wasn't just her subordinates at risk. She'd snatch away the lifespans of her own flesh and blood without a second thought.
Unlike members of other pirate crews who only had to worry about external threats, the greatest danger to those in the BIG MOM Pirates was Big Mom herself.
Thankfully, apart from anything involving sweets, Big Mom was generally tolerable.
Now Buggy planned to strike during the tea party, which genuinely startled Shanks.
"Hey, Buggy, you might not know this, but that woman treats sweets like her life. The tea party is the most important event in all of Totto Land. If we disrupt that banquet, there's no telling what might happen!" Shanks cautioned.
Back in the old days on Roger's ship, even the big shots wouldn't go after Big Mom's sweets, because it would only make that woman even more impossible to deal with.
"Don't worry, we've joined forces. Are we supposed to be scared of one Big Mom Pirates?" Buggy was bursting with bravado.
He waved his hand grandly and declared, "If the rest of you are scared, Enel and I will take on Big Mom ourselves. You guys handle the Sweet Commanders and Ministers."
"But if that's how it goes, we're taking eighty percent of the Big Mom Pirates' treasure and territory!"
"Treasure or no treasure, I don't care. But I hear BIG MOM has a rather interesting sword. I'd like to test my blade against it," Hawkeye said coldly.
His situation was similar to Crocodile's. Crocodile planned to challenge Whitebeard, while Hawkeye had originally intended to challenge Ren. Now that Shanks had pulled him into this, facing Charlotte Linlin was a decent warm-up for taking on Inazuma.
"You've got guts, swordsman," Buggy grinned. Hawkeye's words were clearly a statement of commitment.
Disrupt the tea party and risk facing an enraged Big Mom?
Shanks, however, wasn't quite so optimistic about this.
Attack? Attack my foot. He hoped they wouldn't end up getting pummeled by that old woman without knowing how to fight back!
"Fine, since you're all planning to make a move at the tea party, I'd look like a coward if I held back," Shanks said, shaking his head helplessly as he agreed to join in.
It was just one Big Mom. Nothing to write home about.
When the time came, the three strongest among them, himself, Buggy, and Enel, would team up to take down Big Mom. The rest of the Big Mom Pirates wouldn't pose much of a threat after that.
Katakuri was impressive, sure, but their side was no slouch either.
Beckman, Hawkeye, Crocodile, Felicity, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, Kawamatsu...
The real key was Big Mom herself. The other members of the Charlotte family didn't matter. Once Big Mom fell, the entire BIG MOM Pirates would scatter like monkeys after their tree toppled.
If you added up Totto Land's total military strength, they wouldn't be the ones with the numbers advantage. Just the Homies from the ancient ruins alone could overwhelm them.
"Security in Totto Land will definitely go up several levels during the tea party."
"That's exactly why we should strike then," Buggy said. "As long as we can drive Big Mom into a frenzy, we won't even need to lift a finger."
"That old woman will tear Totto Land apart herself. Her children will be scrambling to contain her, and that'll be our best window to strike."
The specific details still needed work. Just figuring out how to infiltrate the tea party alone would require careful planning.
And with several months until the tea party, there was just enough time to give Crocodile a crash course in Haki. At least getting him through the basics should be doable. The rest would have to come from real combat experience.
"Here's what we'll do. We'll split into two groups. I know a good island that's perfect for Haki training."
"The beasts on that island are incredibly strong," Red-Haired Shanks said.
The island he was pointing to was actually in the Calm Belt. After the Roger Pirates disbanded, he'd spent a few days there with Roger.
The other group would figure out how to get their hands on tickets to the tea party. They couldn't just barge in.
"If we're talking about Charlotte Linlin's tea party, the invitees are naturally big shots from the Underworld. Looking at it that way, we could approach things from the Underworld side," Felicity was working alongside him, which had Enel fired up like never before.
Enel's gaze drifted to the side, where a bespectacled dog-headed figure immediately caught his eye.
Inuarashi had no idea that in Enel's eyes he practically glowed brighter than a kilowatt searchlight, and continued on his own: "Speaking of the Underworld, those guys aren't pushovers. Can we really deal with them head-on?"
"Don't worry, we have an inside contact," Felicity raised her slender eyebrows smugly and went on, "I heard from Sister Molly that among the current uncrowned kings of the Underworld, some are already our people."
"Seriously?" Enel's eyes went wide, as if he'd never heard anything about this.
"Donquixote Doflamingo. This man has been one of Inazuma's people for many years now."
Felicity pulled out a wanted poster. "He's on Big Mom's invitation list for this tea party. Getting some invitations shouldn't be a problem."
"That underworld creep, he's actually Inazuma's man?" Enel couldn't believe that Doflamingo of all people was affiliated with Inazuma.
After all, they'd even had some friction back in Paradise.
And this guy, according to rumors, had a pretty extraordinary background.
"Just how vast is Inazuma's influence? Even the king of the Underworld is one of Inazuma's people. If Lord Ren suddenly announced one day that the World Government also belonged to Inazuma, I wouldn't be surprised at all," Inuarashi said with a face full of admiration.
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