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As a consequence of one of the most important battles in One Piece, Kaido and Big Mom were defeated, causing them to lose their titles as two of the Four Emperors. Engaged in a heated fight with Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid, Big Mom, whose real name is Charlotte Linlin, let her guard down, which proved to be a fatal mistake.
Exploiting their numerical superiority, the two young pirates used their Devil Fruit abilities to strike her several times. Injured but still fully conscious, Linlin was pushed into the void, which resulted in her defeat as she was unable to ascend. Like Kaido, she ended up in a subterranean erupting volcano.
Whether the two Emperors are now alive is currently unknown and basically left up to speculation, as no direct confirmation of their status has been given. Big Mom was never beaten unconscious by Law and Kid's attacks, so it's not impossible that she survived, especially as her character might still have something to say.
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Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1091.
With her alleged death being very ambiguous, Big Mom may return in Elbaf, the setting for One Piece's next arc
A brief overview of Big Mom
Ever since she was a child, Charlotte Linlin has been considered a freak of nature for her abnormally tough body and her insane physical strength. She was raised by Mother Carmel, a child trafficker who used to run an orphanage as a facade to hide her exploitative business.
Carmel never bothered to teach Linlin any morals. She just took advantage of her naiveté. This caused her to grow up as a selfish person with several personality disorders she couldn't control, occasionally escalating into brutal and yet childish cruelty.
Linlin eventually became a core member of the mighty Rocks Pirates, along with Xebec, Whitebeard, and others. She met and eventually befriended Kaido, who, at the time, was a young apprentice in the crew.
One of the few people born with the very rare Conqueror's Haki, Linlin holds the powers of the Soul-Soul Fruit, which enable her to manipulate human souls, even using them to animate lifeless things. As such, she can create creatures called Homies, which can assist her in battle.
Her most powerful Homies didn't always remain the same, as she replaced the unreliable Zeus with Hera, which she added to the faithful Prometheus and Napoleon. The combination of her Haki, her Devil Fruit abilities, and her innate physical features make Linlin a fearsome individual.
Also owing to her large and very powerful crew, which is mostly composed of her numerous children, Linlin became famous as the ruler of Totto Land, as well as one of the mighty Four Emperors. She is not only the captain of the Big Mom Pirates, but the matriarch of the Charlotte Family.
Aiming to crush both the Navy and the Worst Generation Supernovas, Linlin eventually formed a partnership with Kaido, but the two Emperors and their crews ended up defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates and their allies.
Big Mom's fate is absolutely unclear
After overpowering Law and Kid, Big Mom fatally lowered her guard, which was a tremendous error as the two rookie pirates, roughed up but still not totally down for the count, got back on their feet and attacked her. Eventually, Linlin was overwhelmed by their numerical superiority.
Previously hit by Law's Puncture Wille technique, Big Mom was sent falling into the hole created by the former's attack by Kid's Damned Punk, a powerful electromagnetic blast. Even though she endured the combination of strikes while remaining conscious, Linlin was unable to stop her free fall.
Impressively, she wasn't knocked out even when a bunch of bombs detonated right on her. As the fall continued, Linlin reached Wano's mainland, where she plunged into underground lava.
Admittedly, no clear indication of whether Linlin died or survived was ever offered to viewers. Under normal circumstances, what she went through should have been enough to consider her dead, but Big Mom's physique is absolutely out of the ordinary.
Moreover, right before being caught in the final explosion of the bombs, Linlin was still totally conscious. She cursed Gol D. Roger for not revealing what the One Piece is and yet starting the Great Era of Piracy, which caused rookie pirates to rise, among which were Law and Kid, the two who put her through so much trouble.
The subsequent chapters didn't dispel the doubt regarding Big Mom's fate, as, in truth, they even fostered it. In One Piece 1064, Charlotte Pudding, one of Linlin's daughters as well as a member of the Big Mom Pirates, pronounced a sentence that seemingly hinted at Big Mom not being dead.
While Pudding didn't openly declare that Big Mom was alive, she certainly didn't seem to rule out such a possibility. Imprisoned in a cell by the Blackbeard Pirates, Pudding said:
"If Mama is still alive, you won't be talking like that much longer!"
Admittedly, what Pudding said is intriguing. She didn't speak using the past tense but the present and the future, which implies that, at least in her opinion, Big Mom is alive and may come to rescue her at any moment.
While this may have been just Pudding's wishful yearning, it could also be interpreted as One Piece author Eiichiro Oda's way of foreshadowing that Big Mom didn't die and lies somewhere, waiting for the right opportunity to make her move.
Concerning how she survived, it must be noted that it was stated that Kaido is indebted to Linlin for life, as she is the one who gave him his Mythical Zoan Fruit. With both on the brink of death, drowning in the magma of Wano's subterranean volcano, Big Mom may have collected her credit.
Using her Devil Fruit abilities, she sucked Kaido's leftover soul energy, which she employed to survive the lava. Then she was definitively rescued by her underlings, who were navigating the waters around Wano.
If Big Mom is alive, Elbaf would be the perfect place for her final stand
The latest installment of Eiichiro Oda's manga, One Piece chapter 1090, foreshadowed that the Straw Hat Pirates would soon head to Elbaf, the fabled island of the giants. Interestingly, Big Mom is heavily linked to the same location. Assuming that she is still alive, she may have a final stand on the island, the same place where her story started.
Abandoned on Elbaf by her parents, Linlin was raised as an orphan by Mother Carmel, of whom she soon became fond. In truth, however, Carmel was a child trafficker who, upon discovering Linlin's uncontrollable strength, planned to sell her to the World Government, which was interested in her future potential.
As such, Carmel never loved Linlin or the other orphans, despite seemingly taking care of them. One day, Linlin, gripped by a hunger craving, devastated a village. As an old giant named Jorul attempted to stop her, she violently struck him, causing his death.
Frantic, Jorul's comrades were about to kill Linlin, but they spared her after Mother Carmel begged them to stop. Still, following this event, the giants started hating Big Mom. Their hatred towards her only grew as, one day, a giant witnessed Linlin being involved in an even more horrific moment.
Eating her birthday meal with such tears of joy that she literally couldn't see anything until she was done, Linlin ended up eating Carmel and the other orphans alive. This gruesome event was not openly shown, but the implication is clear.
Carmel and the orphans, who were next to Linlin as she was eating, suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace except for the former's dress. Moreover, Carmel's Soul-Soul Fruit powers were immediately transferred to Linlin, which is another clear clue to what happened.
When a Devil Fruit user dies, his powers respawn somewhere around the place where he passed away. Still, in this absolutely unique issue, Big Mom obtained Carmel's Devil Fruit abilities by consuming the latter's body.
Several decades later, Big Mom tried to reconcile with Elbaf and the giants, arranging a marriage between Loki, the island's leader, and Charlotte Lola, one of her daughters. However, Lola ran away right before the wedding, ruining her mother's plans to integrate Elbaf's militia within the ranks of the Big Mom Pirates.
To this day, Big Mom is still unaware of what happened to Carmel and the others. She also never learned about Carmel's true intentions. All of these events happened in Elbaf, the place where she went on a rampage as a child and tried to make peace as an adult, ultimately failing.
The connection between Big Mom and Elbaf is significant, and yet it's missing its final closure, which may arrive when she arrives on the island, only to meet the giant who saw her killing Mother Carmel and the others. The shocking revelation could cause Big Mom a devastating mental breakdown.
Moreover, Luffy swore in Big Mom's face to beat her up after doing the same with Kaido. With the Straw Hats arriving on Elbaf, Big Mom could also resurface on the island of the giants. Law and Kid weren't able to properly defeat her, but should she reappear, Luffy could beat her once and for all, as he promised to do.
Big Mom's arrival on Elbaf would also allow an unexpected and yet exciting moment of glory for Usopp. The Straw Hats' sniper could prove that he has become worthy of being regarded as a brave warrior of the sea by resisting Big Mom's dreadful Soul Pocus, which is a sort of test of courage.
Usopp dreams of visiting Elbaf ever since he saw the fight between two mighty giants, Dorry and Brogy. Thus, the island may host his greatest moment of growth. Likewise, it would harbor the closure of Big Mom's character.
Be sure to keep up with One Piece's manga, anime, and live-action, as 2023 progresses.
