*A bit of an insight into my version of Big Mom*
She knew.
She always had some 'baggage'.
A volatile temper.
Bouts of what could only be called insanity, that layered upon her mentality like a red haze.
That she couldn't quite shake off.
It started in her childhood and it was a permanent companion throughout her life.
Some days were better, some were worse.
If she had to choose a favourite time in her life, not counting recent years, it would have been back then, when she was still part of the Rocks Pirates.
It was the time, that she had the most clear memories about, everything else was always layered with the haze.
Their doc, she couldn't remember his name, once told her, that the passive aura, that conquerors give off, had a stabilising effect on her mentality, and with multiple extremely strong conquerors being part of her crew, she was very nearly sane for a time.
It was then, that she decided to have an utterly ludicrous amount of children to make sure she'd be surrounded by strong people.
She also wanted to create a utopia for all races, her legacy and collection.
So why not combine both dreams?
She must have chosen her partners poorly, though, since most of her children grew up to be a disappointment.
Oh, there were some stronger ones, for sure, but out of all her children, only five or so had the potential to become a conqueror and awaken Haoshoku, and only two of them actually did.
Which led her directly to the reason of her rare introspection.
Charlotte Croquant.
Her 33rd son, and one of the two awakened conquerors.
He was a curious case.
From birth, he already passively radiated his potential as a conqueror outwards.
He wasn't awakened then, but it was clear, that he wouldn't need much stimulation to do so.
That it was her, that provided said stimulation wasn't something she was particularly proud of.
It happened at his second birthday party.
Some fool had first knocked over Carmel's photograph, and then, in his haste to fix the mistake before it was too late, ruined the birthday cake, a beautiful confectionary, that was styled like a wedding cake.
This sent her into a rage, second to none with waves of haoshoku radiating from her and an unprecedenced thick red haze descending on her mind.
Before she could even destroy the hall, an incredibly potent haki wave startled her out of her frenzy.
It came from Croccy, who held her gaze with a steadiness, that belied his few years.
There wasn't an ounce of fear in his eyes, instead he looked... stern.
The incredulity of the situation calmed her down completely, and she stepped in front of her son.
"Mamamamama" she laughed "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked him, her voice laced with amusement.
His answer got her thinking a bit, though.
"Strangers should be terrified of you, mom.
Family shouldn't."
It was a simple answer, but it also was the truth, at least for him.
He also called her mom sincerely and not out of fear.
She felt slightly uncomfortable then, and ended the conversation by sitting down besides the ruined cake to eat it.
No need to waste good sweets after all.
From that moment on, Croccy showed his excellence.
He learned to control his Haoshoku in record time.
He also absorbed everything anyone would teach him, and most of the time even surpassed his teachers.
There was one thing in which he was different to most awakened conquerors, though.
He had a rather benign disposition.
At least that's what everyone thought, until some idiot decided, that kidnapping little Nutmeg-chan was a good idea.
He was 8 at that point, and has been training for a while.
Already had he unlocked kenbonshoku and trained it to an adequate level.
His older brother and mentor, Katakuri, told him to wait a few years for Busoshoku, since his body had to mature a bit.
So here he was, an 8 years old boy with two out of three colours active, fantastic close combat skills, decent swordsmanship and a rage, that shook an island, literally.
He confronted the pirate crew, that managed to infiltrate Totto Land thanks to one of their crew mates having the Hide-Hide fruit.
Charlotte Linlin and her oldest children followed him, of course, but they wouldn't interfere until he couldn't handle it anymore.
It was a good chance to grow for him, after all.
He'd get some fighting experience against decent opponents.
He simply downed the goons with a wave of Haoshoku and proceeded to fight the captain, vice captain and navigator, who were the only ones still conscious.
They were New World pirates with a combined bounty of 320 Million Belli, he was an eight years old brat.
The winner should have been clear, right?
And it was just as expected at the start.
He fought like a demon, but he was on the loosing side, injuries slowly piling up.
But he learned. He was using them as a whetstone.
He used Kenbonshoku not only to avoid lethal injuries, but also to learn movement patterns, fighting habits.
Noting everything that could be useful, he adapted and overcame his shortcomings.
As the fight went on, he started suppressing them instead.
He honed his skills, dived deeper than ever into the marvel that is Kenbonshoku and then, he won.
For how long the fight raged, two hours, give or take, he won in an utterly anticlimatic way.
He never used Soru from the start.
So they were completely unprepared for his sudden burst of speed.
He knocked them out instead of killing then outright.
Everyone thought he was just his usual benign self, but those with advanced Kenbonshoku knew, that there was a dark, cold rage in his belly.
This would end differently, they thought, and they were right.
The next day, they were publicly bound and he personally removed their limbs before mercilessly beheading them in sight of each other, with the terrified captain being the last.
"No one touches my family."
After saying those simple words, he left.
She sighed as she stopped reminiscing about the first day she was truly proud of her son.
Nowadays she actually had a lot more clarity than usual, as both her strongest sons grew in power.
Their combined passive aura was enough to anchor her mind in reality, most of the time, since they were her blood, her own kin.
This helped her stay grounded even better than the ludicrous amount of conquerors, that Rocks had collected.
She even started to genuinely care for some of her children, even if they were disappointments.
And so, she also learned to worry.
Worrying, for example, about a son, who decided, that blowing open the Gates of Justice with his bare hands, utterly destroying CP9 and brawling with Garp, only to end up trading stories over selfmade rice crackers, was a good idea.
... At least she got some new and exciting sweets out of it.