Mother Carmel might be Big Mom’s most revered character, but she suddenly disappeared on the Emperor. What exactly happened to her in One Piece?

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.

Updated on February 7, 2024, by Ajay Aravind: As of the latest chapter in One Piece‘s Egghead Arc, fans still don’t know what happened to Big Mom after her defeat at the hands of Kid and Law. Although the former Emperor promised to get even with her enemies, there’s still no information regarding her fate. That said, it is extremely likely that Big Mom will return at some point, considering that Luffy has yet to defeat her decisively. A character as complicated as Big Mom definitely needs more backstory, which is where her childhood comes into play. As such, we’ve updated this article with some more relevant information.

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.

Why 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.

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.

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

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.