'One Piece' Reveals Big Mom's Tragic Past

One Piece fans have been intrigued by Big Mom ever since the Emperor made her debut during the Whole Cake Island arc, and like most of One Piece's well-written villains, Big Mom has a tragic past.

The latest episode of the series has begun its dive into the big villain, and Big Mom's story is full of sad events that explain many of the eccentricities she has in the present.

The episode goes back to when Charlotte Linlin was 5, and she was a giant that had previously destroyed a few things and had thus been exiled from human society as her parents dropped her off at the island of giants at the beginning of the episode. After waiting in the cold throughout the day, she's found by Mother Carmel.

Mother Carmel is a nun who took in all sorts of unwanted kids and is now running an orphanage. Though Big Mom fits into this world better, as the Giants' land has things that finally fit her size, there was clearly something different about Big Mom even as a child.

Hints had been building through the episode about Big Mom's different, admittedly more selfish view of the world and it comes to a head as the episode comes to a close. After loving the sweet taste of the ceremonial semla cakes too much, her hidden Conqueror's Haki comes loose and it causes a major ruckus.

Not only does she tear down the Giants' homes, the Giants all want her dead. But the story of her past isn't over as the next episode promises answers to every question about Big Mom.

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has been collected into 87 volumes, with a few chapters yet to be included. It has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with 430 million copies sold worldwide.

Eiichiro Oda also revealed some upcoming news for One Piece's future at Jump Festa 2018. Not only will the manga see Wano sooner rather than later, the next villain of the series is "one of the legends which lurks in the One Pieceworld. The greatest enemy ever for Straw Hats will hinder their way...Can you believe Marineford Summit War will look 'cute' compared to that?

The new live-action One Piece series also got some new information as it was revealed that the series will portray the Straw Hats' adventures from the very beginning, and will take place in the East Blue. One Piece's anime series is currently in the middle of the "Whole Cake Island" arc and is now streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.