Being an Emperor of the Sea, Big Mom is one of the greatest adversaries the Straw Hat Pirates face in One Piece.

She’s a menacing, sweet-toothed giant who lets absolutely nobody get in the way of satisfying her cravings. When a good number of the Straw Hats infiltrated her territory and sabotaged her tea party, she naturally had no plans of letting them leave the island alive. Given her despicable, spoiled behavior, Big Mom has been a target of many since childhood. Even so, one character has shown her what affection is like, and that’s her foster parent Mother Carmel.

Mother Carmel was a missionary nun known as “Holy Mother.” She took in abandoned, rejected kids and gave them shelter in her orphanage. One of those children was the young Linlin, who was left behind on the island of Elbaf by her own parents. The nun took her in while she was still a 5-year-old brat and catered to her wants and needs. Arguably, that was the greatest year of Big Mom’s life. However, that didn’t last for too long. During Big Mom’s sixth birthday, the nun and all the other orphans suddenly vanished. And, at the age of 68, Big Mom herself is still clueless as to where all of them went.

How Did Mother Carmel Meet Big Mom?

5-Year-Old Charlotte Linlin Was Abandoned on Elbaf

Big Mom, or Charlotte Linlin, is a unique case among One Piece characters, as both her parents were ordinary-sized humans. And yet, she was several times larger than them when she was barely five years old. It seems that she had unknowingly destroyed a lot of her original home, leaving her parents no choice but exile. They took the child to the island of Elbaf, where Mother Carmel was known to reside in the Sheep’s House.

Despite promising to come back, Linlin’s parents would never be seen again. She was eventually found and taken in by Mother Carmel, who was known to be a famous caretaker of rejected orphans. Linlin had no idea about her strength at this point, which was how she accidentally killed a bear while trying to admonish it for fighting with a wolf. She also hurt a lot of her friends by playing with them too hard, but Mother Carmel constantly asked her other charges to forgive Linin.

1Why Do the Giants Hate Big Mom?

She Killed Jorul and Couldn’t Even Remember It

Mother Carmel and the Sheep’s House kids partook in the feast before the Winter Solstice fast, where she devoured copious amounts of semla. Unfortunately, Charlotte Linlin couldn’t tolerate the fast for more than a week, and went around destroying the Giants’ village in her bid to acquire some semla. The infuriated villagers attempted to stop her, including Jorul, the former captain of the Giant Warrior Pirates. However, a determined Linlin managed to flip Jorul over with such force that he received a mortal injury.

Institution: Sheep’s House

Role: Orphanage (allegedly)

Location: Elbaf

Debut: Episode 835, “Run, Sanji – SOS! Germa 66”

After obtaining her precious Semla, Linlin fell asleep immediately, leaving Mother Carmel to beg Jarul for mercy. Although the giants eventually relented and didn’t take their revenge on Linlin, they were further enraged because she failed to remember attacking Jorul. The peace on Elbaf effectively destroyed, Mother Carmel decided to relocate the Sheep’s House to another island. Some of the giants helped her reconstruct another building, where she and the children could stay. This was where Linlin’s favorite birthday took place, one that ended under extremely suspicious circumstances. All things considered, however, Big Mom has never regained the goodwill of the Giants, explaining why she was so furious at Lola for rejecting her Giant royal suitor.

What Happened to Mother Carmel and Her Orphans?

Big Mom Probably Ate Them Without Realizing It

When Big Mom was explaining how her foster family suddenly vanished, the manga made it seem that Mother Carmel and the children simply left the young Linlin. After all, she was crying in ecstasy at the time. She was so delighted by the semla croquembouche the other orphans prepared for her that she couldn’t see through her cascading tears. She merely kept eating until she was satisfied, and when she could finally open her eyes once more, everybody else was gone. While the manga didn’t explicitly explain what happened to the nun and the orphans, there were numerous hints pointing to their gruesome demise.

There were at least ten children in addition to Big Mom.

Mother Carmel had already planned to sell them to Cipher Pol.

There was more than one witness to this horrific massacre.

Instead of leaving the monstrous 6-year-old Linlin, the reality is that the young Big Mom cannibalized Mother Carmel and her foster siblings. And that occurrence was the first of many other binge-eating sessions. When Linlin opened her eyes, what greeted her wasn’t peaceful abandonment. The place was messy, with debris littered on the ground. Linlin herself admitted to eating pieces of the table in her delight. However, the table wasn’t the only supposedly inedible object she consumed. Among the debris was tattered clothing with clear bite marks on them.

A visiting Giant who inadvertently viewed the gruesome scene returned to Elbaf with the news, where it was strongly suggested that the Giants had begun hating Linlin even more. In addition to everything else, it was after that incident that she ultimately acquired her Soul-Soul Fruit powers — the very same Devil Fruit power that Mother Carmel possessed. As such, this theory suggests that Devil Fruit powers can be transferred to someone if they consume the current user.

Big Mom Is Who She Is Because of Mother Carmel

The Straw Hats Try to Weaken Her By Destroying Mother Carmel’s Portrait

Mother Carmel might seem like a big-hearted philanthropist, but she was far from being a saint. While it was true that the old nun took in and fostered numerous troublemakers, she only did so for her own benefit. She was only known as the Holy Mother on the surface, but underground she was an infamous child trafficker. She sold the children she was raising to various forces, including the World Government. Given that Linlin was her biggest catch, the young girl was also supposed to be her last gig. Unfortunately for her, she was eaten before she reaped the product of her hard work.

But despite her true motive, it doesn’t change the fact that Mother Carmel is the closest person to Linlin, as well as the former Emperor’s role model. Mother Carmel died before Linlin learned about her true identity. Even at present, Big Mom sees her as nothing more than a loving mother figure, so much so that seeing Mother Carmel’s picture getting destroyed sends her into shock. Big Mom is also trying to create a world where everybody, regardless of race, can look at each other on equal grounds, since that’s the core value that Mother Carmel instilled in her. While that doesn’t absolve her from her sins, it is arguable whether the nun received what she deserved. After all, One Piece is ruled by crime and violence.

6Big Mom Might Show Her Face Once the Straw Hats Reach Elbaf

She Was Never Confirmed Dead After Disappearing in the Wano Country Arc

Facing two Supernovae at the same time was nothing more than a minor nuisance for Big Mom, at least until Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law used their Awakened Devil Fruit abilities. Unable to destroy Big Mom, Kid and Law managed to push her into the volcanic depths below Wano. Kaidou, another Emperor of the Sea, was also sent into the same magma pits. Both Emperors are still missing, but fans remember the alliance that was promised between them. As long as Big Mom and Kaidou — two of the most indestructible characters in One Piece — survive being immersed in a pool of boiling lava, their partnership remains a major threat. For now, however, they have been categorized as missing characters.

One Piece‘s Final Saga has recently crossed the Egghead arc and entered its second storyline, known as the Land of Gods arc. The Straw Hats, Lilith, Jewelry Bonney, Bartholomew Kuma, and the Giant Warrior Pirates set sail for Elbaf together, much to Usopp’s delight. However, Luffy, Chopper, Nami, Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji are mysteriously separated from the rest of their crew and allies. They end up in the Land of Gods, a gigantic diorama ruled by Road of the Giants under the guise of the Sun God. Now that Elbaf is barely a few chapters away, fans are wondering if Big Mom will show her face again. After all, she did find Mother Carmel on Elbaf, and the Giants have a pretty big score to settle with her. It’s also a great time for some extra backstory about Loki, the Prince of the Giants and former suitor of Big Mom’s daughter Lola.