One Piece really hit the ground running after the Zou arc with an immediate transition into the Whole Cake Island arc. Luffy just took down a Warlord of the Sea in Dressrosa, and now he’s aiming even higher. Sanji has been taken to Totto Land, and it’s up to the Straw Hats to save him from Big Mom in the Whole Cake Island arc!
Fair warning, this article contains spoilers for One Piece’s Whole Cake Island arc. The manga is available to read on Viz and MangaPlus online. So, that’s the only warning!
What is Whole Cake Island?
Whole Cake Island is the home of Big Mom, Emperor of the Sea. It’s also the capital of Totto Land, which is a massive expanse of sea and all the islands that Big Mom rules over. The most interesting about every island of Totto Land is that each one specializes in some different type of food, whether it be chocolate, biscuits, or even soda. When Luffy and the crew make it to the first island, run by Charlotte Pudding, Minister of Chocolate, they discover that everything on the island is made from the sweet, even the homes!
Of course, they discover this by Luffy, Chopper, and Carrot eat an entire house that turns out to belong to Pudding. Just so happens Pudding is also the woman Sanji is due to marry, and they hatch a plan with Pudding to save him, even though she says she loves him. Of course, Luffy doesn’t hold any suspicion for Pudding, but some of the other Straw Hats do, and it’s well-earned from the daughter of Big Mom.
Who Is Big Mom?
Big Mom is one of the Four Emperors of the Sea in the New World. She’s also one of the oldest, serving alongside her former crewmates from the infamous Rocks pirates, Kaido and Whitebeard. Despite their camaraderie under the nefarious Rocks D Xebec, they grow to despise each other over the years. Still, Big Mom is one of the most powerful pirates on the entire Grand Line, and she makes sure everyone in the New World knows it.
Though her real name is Charlotte Linlin, she puts on an air of loving motherhood for the citizens in Totto Land, so long as they play by her rules. Big Mom also has the power of the Soul-Soul Fruit, allowing total control over the souls of herself and others. She’s used this to populate all of Totto Land with soul-implanted inanimate or organic objects. Everything from flowers to household items gets a smiling, jolly face and disposition like an Alice in Wonderland nightmare.
Big Mom has three constant allies with her at all times, made from parts of her own soul. With that, these end up being extra powerful versions of her “Homies”, the artificial beings she creates. The first is Zeus the cloud, Prometheus the sun, and Napoleon who serves as her hat. Together they serve and protect Big Mom from all threats that may come near.
The Many Children of Big Mom
This is the other reason she got the name Big Mom because she has eighty-five children! Nearly all are from different fathers, though there are some cases of full siblings like Chiffon and Lola. There wouldn’t be near enough space to list out every single child she has, but the main ones that play into the Whole Cake Island arc are pretty easy to keep up with.
Big Mom’s first son, Perospero, is somewhat of her second in command and advisor. Katakuri, Smoothie, and Cracker make up the “Sweet Three” who are the strongest of the children. Of those, Smoothie never gets a whole lot of action but Katakuri serves as the arc’s secondary antagonist. He’s the second oldest son of Big Mom and the oldest of his triplet brothers Daifuku and Oven.
Rules For Living In Totto Land
Totto Land is a relatively peaceful place, all things considered, for regular people to live. There is one catch though- every citizen of Totto Land, every year, pays a tribute of two weeks from their lifespan to Big Mom. She extracts this life using her Soul-Soul Fruit powers from every person in the land as they approach her to pay tribute. The people gladly do it too, unaware of the terror Big Mom truly is or what they’re really giving away to maintain her power and lifespan.
Pudding’s Plan
When she first stumbles on the Straw Hats (while Luffy devours her house) Pudding tells them she doesn’t want to keep Sanji from his friends. To this end, she makes a plan with them to get him out of the wedding and Totto Land altogether. Pudding tells them to wait near Whole Cake Island and she’ll tell Sanji about their presence. She insists that all they have to do is wait there, and she’ll take care of getting Sanji to the Thousand Sunny.
As nearly everyone can predict, Pudding is lying and setting up a trap for the Straw Hats. They already had an entire plan to kill Sanji along with the other Vinsmoke family attending, all so Big Mom could take the power of Germa66 for her own. Of course, Vinsmoke Judge is none the wiser to it, and Niji, Ichiji, and Yonji are too stupid to figure it out. The only one who has any inkling that things are wrong is Reiju, the only Vinsmoke who actually cares about her brother.
Stealing the Poneglyph
While of course, they’re there to take Sanji back, there’s also the Straw Hats also need the Poneglyphs Big Mom has under lock and key. During the course of her time in power as an Emperor of the Sea, she’s managed to gather three different Poneglyphs, including a Road Poneglyph! The plan is to send Brook and Pedro in to make sketches of each one since they’re fast and stealthy, then have them back out by the time Sanji gets there. Naturally, everything goes straight to hell right from the start as Brook falls into the trap of Big Mom. Even worse, Pedro has a longstanding score to settle with Big Mom, especially her son Perospero.
Things still only get worse too, as the crew back at the Thousand Sunny figure out they’ve been betrayed and end up in Mirro-World thanks to Brulee and her Mirror-Mirror Fruit powers. Lucky for them, they knock Brulee out to start using her powers in their favor, traversing Totto Land through mirrors. Unlucky for them, Big Mom is holding on to Brook like he’s her new favorite stuffed animal, with an absolute death grip on him the entire time. With some quick thinking and deft movement, Luffy and the crew get Brook free from the Emperor’s clutches.
Sanji’s Decision
Meanwhile, at the center of everything, Sanji has been kept on Whole Cake Island by his father, Vinsmoke Judge. Ironically, the only reason Sanji complies with his biological father is because Germa is holding Zeff, his adoptive father, hostage! He despises his family, especially his three quadruplet brothers, but does have a soft spot for his sister Reiju. Sanji’s backstory gets more fleshing out, explaining that he was considered a failure by Judge as a child since he didn’t get the same powers as his brothers. When Sanji’s mother dies, Judge gives up on his weakest son too and throws him in a cell with an iron mask on.
Despite all this, Sanji manages to escape, and this in turn is how he ends up with Zeff. Out of love for his true father, with the belief that Pudding is innocent in her actions, Sanji agrees to the wedding. Instead of kissing him on the altar though, Pudding plans on putting a bullet through his skull after she reveals her third eye.
Mother Carmel
Big Mom has a whole hell of a lot of issues to unpack, and cannibalism is like the tip of the iceberg. Mother Carmel was the nun who ran an orphanage on Elbaph, home of the giants. One day when a young Charlotte Linlin woke up there, her parents orphaning her due to her monstrous appetites and rage fits, Carmel takes her in. Carmel becomes like a true mother to Linlin, something she never felt before. Every orphan under Carmel’’s care, and even those who just know of the orphanage, love her like a saint.
They don’t know that Carmel is actually a black-market slave dealer for the Celestial Dragons. Quite the shocker, but then she reveals she uses the Soul-Soul Fruit and is planning to sell Linlin as her next deal. She makes up a massive dessert for Linlin on her birthday that year, which the young woman goes into a frenzy eating because of how good it is. Linlin eats everything in ecstasy, and when she comes to nobody is around, and she’s left all alone. She finds herself with a new power now though, of the Soul-Soul Fruit.
The Tea Party From Hell
Either she’s in major denial or Big Mom just doesn’t realize it, because, at every tea party, she sets up a chair for Mother Carmel. A picture of Carmel marks her place at the table, and Big Mom takes this very, very seriously. That’s where Gang Bege’s plot to assassinate her stems from, wrecking the painting and buying them a chance at Big Mom being vulnerable. Bege of course doesn’t know that Pudding has a plan to assassinate Sanji, and Luffy already had a confrontation with him about returning. Tensions are high everywhere, but things are only about to get crazier.
The plan for the Tea Party goes straight to hell, just like every other plan the Straw Hats make. Luffy barges in, smashes the picture of Carmel, and demands Sanji come back. Meanwhile, Pudding falters when Sanji says her third eye is beautiful, realizing that there are people out there who don’t think she’s a monster. Oh, when Luffy broke through one of Brulee’s mirrors to smash the picture, he also smashed the huge wedding cake that was super hyped up to Big Mom. The resulting hunger and rage combo sends her into a massive frenzy, and she rampages after the escaping pirates.
Pedro’s Sacrifice
The fallout of the tea party is utter chaos, with Bege’s crew running away in one direction while the Straw Hats go in the other. They seem overrun from all sides, seemingly cut off at every turn by another of Big Mom’s forces. Luffy knows the danger Katakuri poses to the crew and knows that the Mirro-World could lead to Big Mom’s children getting onto the Sunny, so he grabs Katakuri, jumps in, and breaks the mirror behind him. Meanwhile, the Sunny and Straw Hats aboard are being chased by Big Mom and Perospero when they finally get off the island.
Pedro makes the ultimate sacrifice and reveals he never planned to leave Whole Cake Island alive. He unveils a massive amount of dynamite strapped to himself, throws his body at Perospero, and lights the fuse. Pedro dies, but in the process earns the Straw Hats a little time to escape. Now everyone has to make a plan, as Big Mom’s rampage is destroying the lives of thousands around Totto Land.
Luffy’s vs Katakuri
While the rest of the crew is figuring things out in the regular world, Mirro-World is the site of a battle unlike any other. Katakuri’s Observation Haki is something Luffy has never faced, as the son of Charlotte can read the future. As Silvers Rayleigh told Luffy though, Haki grows more powerful through use. Luffy manages to massively improve his Observation Haki throughout the next twelve hours, running from Katakuri when the need arises.
He also shows off a new Gear Fourth form, Snakeman. This form focuses on speed, and Luffy can chase enemies down with his rubber arms now, able to change direction while stretching. It’s a huge boost to his fighting ability, and despite interference from Charlotte Flampe and Katakuri unleashing his Mochi-Mochi Fruit Awakening, Luffy eventually makes it out with the win. Katakuri even gains a huge amount of respect for the Straw Hat Pirate and asks him to come back to fight again one day.
The Best Wedding Cake Ever
In the outside world, everyone is struggling to survive. The Thousand Sunny has had the metaphorical crap beaten out of it, and Big Mom is still on a hunger rampage. Sanji, along with Big Mom’s daughters Pudding and Chiffon, make their way to Pudding’s bakery and begin their work. Sanji manages to cook up the most delectable dessert anyone has ever tasted, sending everyone who tries it into a shock of heavenly bliss with just one bite.
They manage to time things just right and finish the cake early to load it onto Bege’s ship. The Firetank Pirate crew lures Big Mom further away with the cake while the Straw Hats are able to regroup, Sanji intervening to rescue Luffy from Chocolate Town and making his way back to the Sunny. With some fancy fighting by Brook and Carrot’s Sulong Form, plus help from a Coup de Vent, the Thousand Sunny ferries the Straw Hats away from Totto Land.
The Straw Heats Head For Wano
That’s not all though! Despite all the chaos going on around him, Brook still manages to get sketchings of all three Poneglyphs Big Mom has! He was able to conveniently hide them in his skull because apparently, his Fruit doesn’t need a brain for him to function! He wouldn’t believe his eyes if he had eyes! Yohohoho!
With their cook back by their side to feed them, the Straw Hat Pirates make their way toward Wano to reunite with the others. The country of Wano, home to the samurai, is their destination. There, they have a promise to fulfill to Kin’emon and Kozuki Momonosuke, to help them take back their homeland from Kaido!
Before that though, One Piece takes a little detour with the Reverie arc, which is up next in the series. This gives the main crew a little time as they travel to Wano and recover from the Whole Cake Island arc while taking a look at the rest of the world. Familiar faces are everywhere at this meeting of world leaders, and some Straw Hat friends will have quite a time meeting up!
