The evil Mother Teresa
"Gourmet Knight" Streusen
Hello everyone, today I am planning on proposing two villains from One Piece! As some of you may know, there aren't a lot of villains in One Piece that are ranked here, but this is especially the case with the IH and NPE wikis. Though, considering how long the series has gone for, there are definitely lots of prospective candidates for the villains moral ranking wikis. I mainly bring this up because of possible plans of Charlotte Linlin/Big Mom being removed, so I thought I'd rank two villains that played very important roles in her upbringing. Without further ado, let's get to it!
What is the work?
This is One Piece, one of THE LONGEST running mangas of all time, running since 1995, and it has been gaining popularity ever since. This series revolves around Monkey D. Luffy, a childish but determined and optimistic pirate who one day ate a Devil Fruit, which gives anyone a supernatural power, with his being the Gum-Gum fruit giving him the power of rubber, and has a lifelong dream of finding the One Piece, in order to become the Pirate King. He gradually recruits a crew first consisting of a swordsman, a navigator, a sharpshooter, and a cook, all in the first arc, the East Blue arc taking place before his entrance to the Grand Line, then expanding to include a doctor, an archaeologist, a shipwright/engineer, a musician, and finally fishman warlord. His original plan was to gather a crew of 10 members, so as far as we know I don't think anybody else will be added, especially considering how long and how far in we are in the story.
On his journey he goes through various countries and islands usually for a reason relating to his goal of becoming the Pirate King, meets various people on said country, is told of a great threat on the island by friends he makes on the island, encounters said threat, and defeats said threat, with their battle usually lasting a reasonable amount of their arc. These threats first included small-scale pirate captains or villains, then as the stakes of the series rose, included warlords, slave owners, a pirate-hunting organization leader, and eventually emperors. He also encounters threats that he loses against, including the Fleet Admiral of the Marines (Akainu), or an opposing pirate captain who seeks to become king of the world (Blackbeard). But nevertheless, he and his members get more and more powerful as the story goes on, with him at the level of Emperor as of now, having beaten one (Kaido), and with him and his team members having taken on one of the Leaders of the World Government, which the biggest threat in the series and it is basically as it sounds, and survived. It is only a matter of time before our rubbery protagonist becomes the Pirate King, reunites with his idol, the renowned Emperor and Pirate Captain Shanks, and defeats Blackbeard, and hopefully even fights the Leader of the World Government, Imu, himself.
Anywho, let's talk about our villains in question.
Who are they? What have they done?
I'm going to talk about the two villains in chronological order of when they appear.
Mother Carmel
Don't be fooled by her youthful and innocent appearance...
She is essentially a parody of Mother Teresa, thought to be a noble orphanage owner who adopted numerous children of various races, earning herself the name of the "Holy Mother". She was known for her good nature by nearly everyone throughout her life. However, in reality this was all a facade for the rest of the world to mask her heinous activities as a child trafficker for the Underworld, where she actually sold all of those children to the highest bidders for very high bounties.
Her children that she sold included Giants, Humans, and many others, with her specifically valuing Giants because they would allow her to produce better quality children that she could sell to the World Government to be trained as Cipher Pol agents. Cipher Pol is essentially a clandestine organization within the World Government consisting of the most powerful spies and agents trained heavily to carry out secret missions and the dirty work of the World Government. She can be considered to be One Piece's evil version of Mother Teresa.
She was first mentioned by Big Mom in Chapter 865 of the manga, and Episode 835 of the anime, during Katakuri's fight with Luffy as he tries to show her parts of Mother Carmel's broken portrait. Bege, Jinbe and Pedro defend Luffy from Katakuri while he tries to run to Big Mom, and Brook tags in as well, while Sanji tries to rescue his family from Perospero. Eventually Luffy is able to stretch his arms and show Big Mom the pieces of the broken portrait, prompting her to scream in sadness and anger causing everyone to freeze in shock, because the portrait is broken. She calls out to Mother Carmel and asks where she is, leading into a flashback in Chapter 866.
She is in no position to be asking forgiveness on behalf of someone else.
137 years ago, not long after the Giant Warrior Pirates, a pirate crew of giants on the island, lost their captain, Marines started to execute members of the crew one by one, until Mother Carmel, as Sister Carmel then, arrived and convinced the Marines to stop the execution, telling them the giants would seek revenge against them, and tells them to forgive the giants. She then tricks the giants into thinking she believed in their religion and into thinking that she would "form a world where all races coexist in great harmony", opening her orphanage called the Sheep's House, allowing to her to stay in Elbaph for the time being, only this was nothing but a cover-up for her to sell these children to the highest bidders. It was later shown that she had actually staged this event with the Marines so she could get high-quality giant children. 37 years after, Big Mom, or Charlotte Linlin, was just five years old when her parents left her on Elbaph Island due to the damage she caused, hoping Mother Carmel would save her, though over time while Linlin waits for them and cries wondering why they haven't returned (yup, Big Mom is already too tragic for this wiki). Mother Carmel would meet her and tells her that she'd take care of her and tells her to make friends with everyone at the orphanage, comforting her, in spite of all the other children continuing to be rude to Linlin and make fun of her for wanting her parents back. One day, when Linlin saw a wolf and a bear fighting, she wanted them to stop fighting and hit the bear with such force that the bear was killed. This surprised Mother Carmel, realizing how much potential she had for being sold at a very high price, and would continue to act nice toward Linlin, pardoning any unintentional violence she would inflict. Around 10 months later, Linlin would meet Oimi and Kashii, Loki son of Harald would be born, and she would be told to fast for 12 days before the Winter Solstice Festival, though after a week Linlin would not be able to bear the starvation and cause a rampage, but one of the former Giant Warrior Captains Jorul would attempt to kill her, only to be stopped by Carmel. Linlin would stop Jorul and be given her favorite food semla, and Carmel would then convert the flames caused by Linlin's rampage into a sun, telling them that it was the "Sun God" that did that, effectively claiming to be able to summon Nika, and would continue to prevent the giants from hurting Linlin, asking for forgiveness of Linlin's rampage and would then leave Elbaph with Linlin. It is also heavily implied that she was the one who taught Linlin of her religious beliefs given how impressionable she was as a child, which effectively makes her indirectly responsible for all of Big Mom's beliefs as an adult. This is likely partly why she was afraid of Luffy upon awakening his Devil Fruit powers and unlocking Fifth Gear as Nika. Moreover, her later formation of Whole Cake Island and her empire was also speculated to be as a result of her waiting for Mother Carmel's return, meaning that Big Mom essentially never changed from when she was a child, therefore Mother Carmel essentially is the reason for most of Big Mom's actions. Even the fact that Big Mom would eventually grow to become a large woman who would go on hunger rampages is reminiscent of who she was when she was younger, though this isn't exactly as a result of Mother Carmel's interference but rather her experiences with the giant race as a youth.
Not long after Carmel arrived at her other island and a new Sheep's House was built, one day she said she would leave for some groceries, only to go to a World Government ship with CP0 agents. This is where we learn that Mother Carmel had actually been trafficking these children as an undercover agent for the World Government and selling them to the Marines to become soldiers, rather than putting them in homes. This essentially makes her potentially responsible for numerous deaths of Marines and the suffering they would undergo under the harsh training of the World Government. It is also revealed that the only reason she was kind to the giants was because they would sell for the highest price. Anywho, she met with them to tell them that this was her last deal and was planning to retire, showing pictures of giant children, including Linlin, and put up Linlin for a very high price compared to the others. She then took her leave back to the orphanage, planning on celebrating Linlin's birthday before selling all of the children she had to Cipher Pol the next day. They presented Linlin with croquembouche, something of a French dessert consisting of several cream puffs (though in this case, the puffs were alive) made of the sweet bread rolls Linlin liked, called semla (which caused her to go on a rampage during the fast out of a desire to eat them). However, she was so happy that she immediately started to eat even the table, but when she finished eating, all the children and Carmel were nowhere to be seen, heavily implying that she ate them, Carmel included. Linlin then started crying over Carmel's disappearance, genuinely wondering where everyone went. Sad for the children but for Mother Carmel, good riddance.
Streusen
By that look you can tell he's up to no good...
"Gourmet Knight" Streusen was once the chef of a pirate crew that fell apart long before he met Linlin as a child. He essentially met Linlin right after she unceremoniously ate her fellow orphans and her attempted trafficker, which is where we leave off from Mother Carmel's story. Upon seeing her and thinking what happened before him to be funny, withholding his knowledge of what happened to the orphans and Mother Carmel from her, he effectively decided to join up with her. They would both decide to make the island they were on to become Linlin's dream country, which would later become Whole Cake Island, where "all races coexist together in great harmony". They would go on to join the Rocks Pirates, where Rocks would explain his desire to take over the world, and how he needed two devil fruits to do so, and presumably wanting Linlin for her power, and it is also implied that she did this partly out of a desire to find Mother Carmel.
After the Shakuyaku kidnapping inciden, then the Rocks Pirates breaking into Mary Geoise, followed by Rocks' incident of getting Domi Reversi'd, and getting killed by Garling, and the Rocks Pirates being disbanded, Streusen and Big Mom would go onto form the Big Mom Pirates.
Streusen's best act of saving everyone in Totto Land
Essentially, he would serve as the Executive Chef of the Big Mom Pirates, having over 60 years of culinary experience, and would try to calm Big Mom after Luffy ruined Sanji and Pudding's wedding cake, and would save the Big Mom Pirates by turning the collapsing Whole Cake Chateau into cake, preventing much damage from occurring to his fellow pirates.
What Makes Them Close to Being Pure Evil?
Mother Carmel
Well, for Mother Carmel, she is a child trafficker in the world of One Piece, which is like none other than Donquixote Doflamingo himself, who basically committed nearly every crime under the sun. However, unlike him who has a crew and is a warlord with an arsenal of resources at his disposal, she does not have any resources at all except her wits and charisma. As such, she does not have to compete with him. Another possible competitor could be Disco, who ran that Sabaody Human Auctioning House, as he appeared to lack many resources like Mother Carmel. However, the difference between the two is that she actually personally takes the children under her care and sells them, while he just auctions off anybody of any race if they are sold to him. The pirate Caribou in the Fishman Island arc also tried to capture and sell as many mermaids as possible for the highest price, and was also a murderer justifying his murders in the name of his God. However, Mother Carmel out-heinouses Caribou as well since he just tries to physically kidnap these mermaids without much use of intelligence, and the fact that Carmel sells children and poses as a benevolent figure makes her even worse. The other villains guilty of trafficking are all Celestial Dragons, which are all obviously far more resourceful than Carmel, so she doesn't need to compete with them in terms of villainy. So, she easily stands out as one of the most prolific and heinous traffickers there are in the story.
Her heinous deeds are tricking the entire nation of Elbaph into thinking that she was staging a rescue from the Marines in order to form an orphanage of humans and giants to form a "brighter world where all peoples join hands and laugh together". However, she was really just lying and was just trying to get high-quality children in order to sell to the World Government. She was also revealed to have STAGED that whole event just so she could get those giants and kidnap them.
This also makes her responsible for potentially many deaths in the Marines and the torture of many Marines or CP agents when they would be sent to the Marines to be trained heavily to exhaustion or even death. Given that Cipher Pol consists of agencies 0 to 9, in order of the importance of missions assigned to them, and the fact that CP9 has the authority to kill anybody who does not cooperate with the World Government, this essentially means that these children are turned into monsters who would commit many more atrocities for the World Government. While the worst case we've seen is possibly Rob Lucci, it is not too far off to assume that there are other agents who would commit such killings like him, though of course that is ultimately unconfirmed. As such, this means that Mother Carmel is indirectly responsible for the dozens to possibly hundreds of deaths that would be caused by CP agents that were originally children under her care.
Moreover, the care she showed these children was all nothing other than pragmatism, and she was willing to ruin countless lives for her own benefit and nothing more. She even said to the CP0 agents in her final meeting that Linlin could be the "greatest shield the Celestial Dragons could ever want". The fact that she did this for 37 years before she met Linlin, and that there were at least six children with her when we saw her take in Linlin, that means that she is likely responsible for sending hundreds of children to their deaths and by extension possibly hundreds to thousands of deaths that would be caused by these children as Marines. The fact that she was never truly punished for her crimes and remained as a benevolent figure to the public makes her even worse.
Streusen
This little guy is a harder case, but I think he could pass for one reason: he accompanied Big Mom throughout essentially all of her life, and even though we don't get much info on Big Mom's life from when she was 5 years to 29 years old, when she joined the Rocks Pirates, she was already quite the formidable and conniving pirate at that age, which may imply that he in fact groomed her into becoming the force of nature she is. This effectively makes him indirectly responsible for most of her heinous acts as captain of the Big Mom Pirates after the disbanding of the Rocks Pirates. Again, considering how impressionable Big Mom was, I think it isn't too far off to say that he effectively molded her into a ruthless pirate captain and tyrannical ruler of Whole Cake Island. It is true that her childish tendencies were as a result of her time on Elbaph with Mother Carmel and the giants, but her ruthless and impulsive nature, as well as the damage she would cause throughout her later life would likely result from her time with and influence from Streusen. Essentially, this puts the blood of possibly thousands on his hands.
Mitigating Factors
Mother Carmel
Care?
Nope. She did not at all care for any of these children as all seeming kindness she exhibited was just a front to get them to trust her, and her asking the giants and Marines for "forgiveness" due to Linlin's damage was only so that she could keep her alive as a child to be sold to the World Government. Presumably she would treat the other giants for the same reason.
Loyalty?
She conducted these orphan sales for her own benefit, and nothing else. It is not at all indicated that she had any sort of loyalty to the World Government. A potential factor relating to loyalty that could be brought up is her sticking to her ends of her deal, however there is no indication that she didn't do this out of pragmatism. All in all, her relationship with the World Government was entirely selfish on both ends.
Honor?
No honor, given the fact that in her meeting with Cipher Pol on her last deal, she explicitly says "It's my last big score...and YOU'RE gonna pay up!". This essentially says that all she really cares about is getting as much money out of her deals as possible.
Overall, Mother Carmel has no redeeming qualities.
Streusen
Loyalty?
He does exhibit loyalty toward his fellow pirates in the Big Mom Pirates Crew, given the fact that in spite of initially joining Linlin out of pragmatism, he still chose to help her and the Rocks Pirates, and stuck with her for the rest of her life. In addition, he would help them in their deeds of taking Shakuyaku back from the Celestial Dragons who would take her to God Valley, and also in stealing treasure from God Valley upon their rescue mission. The whole mission was pragmatic on the parts of all the other pirates, but he still chose to help out alongside Big Mom.
His loyalty would be proven in the Whole Cake Island arc, where he would end up saving his fellow pirates from being crushed by the debris in the Whole Cake Chateau when the Fishman Island National Treasure, the Tamatebako dropped to the base of the castle and exploded, as he turned the falling castle into cake.
Care?
Similar to the previous point, even though he initially used Big Mom for his own purposes, he did grow to care for her and the residents of Totto Island, as he made sure to calm her down when her wedding cake was ruined, and begged her to stop crying when the Fire Tank Pirates would come and try to assassinate her. His most important act is, of course, turning all of Whole Cake Chateau into cake to protect the citizens of Totto Land from being killed by the castle falling.
What Prevents Them From Being Pure Evil?
Mother Carmel
Given that there is not a lot of confirmation as to exactly how many children that Mother Carmel sold over her 37 years as a child trafficker, even though we can only assume it is a lot, she still suffers from Fridge Horror. Moreover, the children she would sell to Cipher Pol and the Marines would grow to become soldiers, and while we can infer that they would suffer harsh and grueling training and possibly die, this is still partly an assumption. So, her only prevention is fridge horror.
Streusen
Streusen has shown he cares for Big Mom and the citizens of Totto Land, which he helped Big Mom build, and by extension he is loyal toward Big Mom since he stuck with her throughout her time as a member of the Rocks Pirates. While it can be reasoned that he did so out of pragmatism, he still would help the Rocks Pirates alongside Big Mom, and would remain her chef as part of the Big Mom Pirates all throughout the rest of her life, which shows there is some level of loyalty.
Verdict?
This is up to you all to decide.