Ever since obtaining the Mark of the Empty Throne, Carl had felt an overwhelming sense of omnipotence—as if he could control and rewrite everything.
He lightly ran his hand over the exaggerated split in Poire's mouth. Golden light shimmered from between his fingers, and to Poire, it felt like warm sunlight gently spilling across her face.
In the next moment, a miraculous scene unfolded before Galette's stunned eyes. The tear that had stretched all the way to the edge of Poire's ears began to close, like a wound healing in real-time, shrinking visibly by the second.
The split mouth gradually retracted before Galette's shocked gaze, until it became a neat little "cherry-shaped" mouth.
And yet, the transformation wasn't over.
At this moment, Carl felt like he was customizing a 3D character back on Earth. To him, Poire's lips were still far from perfect—especially those jagged, serrated teeth. Even now, just opening her mouth could still scare people stiff.
So Carl continued.
Golden light poured into Poire's mouth. She didn't know exactly what was happening, only that opening her mouth suddenly felt like taking in far less air than usual.
Galette, meanwhile, had already stopped breathing in awe.
As the golden glow in Carl's hand finally dimmed, Poire's mouth revealed two rows of gleaming, perfectly aligned white teeth.
Carl tilted Poire's chin side to side, examining his handiwork for a moment, before finally cracking a satisfied smile.
"Hm. Even better than I expected."
Poire blinked in confusion.
"Saint Carl-sama, what do you mean, 'even better'… eh? My voice?!"
She suddenly noticed something was wrong. Her usual booming voice had gone—replaced by a soft, delicate tone that made her extremely uncomfortable.
In fact, back on Earth, this kind of voice was often called a "chipmunk voice."
It made sense—her entire mouth and teeth had just been reshaped in an epic-level makeover, and naturally, her voice would be affected too.
Galette suddenly sprang forward and hugged the bewildered Poire, shouting in delight:
"This is amazing! Just wait here, I'll go grab a mirror right now!!"
She whirled around to run off, only to be stopped by Carl's calm voice:
"Wait—no need to bother."
To Galette, Carl was like a god. She immediately halted and looked back expectantly.
Carl drew a line through the air, and a glowing light screen emerged, reflecting Poire's new face.
On it appeared the image of a graceful young woman with a stunning, vibrant beauty. She looked fresh, radiant, full of life.
When Poire saw the reflection, her first thought was that her sister Galette was wearing the same clothes as her.
But then she realized something was off.
She stood frozen for a few seconds, then turned to Galette, her voice trembling as she pointed at the image.
"Sister... is that really me?"
Galette nodded forcefully, eyes bright.
"Yes! That's you, Poire! That's the way you were always meant to look!"
Carl rolled his eyes slightly. With a casual wave of his hand, a massive decorative battle axe flew from its place on the wall and landed in his grip with a heavy thud.
He held the polished side of the axe toward Poire and said, slightly annoyed,
"Here. Go ahead and double-check."
Poire stared into the axe's reflection and finally accepted that the image was real. Overwhelming joy welled up inside her.
She gently touched her new lips with trembling fingers, tears welling up in her eyes.
"It's real... it's really real! I finally look just like my sister!"
Galette's eyes grew moist as she watched her sister cry tears of joy. She knew all too well what this meant to Poire.
And deep within, her gratitude toward Carl only grew stronger.
Carl looked thoughtfully at the two sisters. Now that the flaw in Poire's face was gone, she and Galette truly looked like a pair of flowers blooming side by side.
Unlike Monet and Sugar, whose resemblance was more subtle, these two shared strikingly similar faces and figures—so much so that at a glance, one might mistake them for twins.
Among the diverse species of the Charlotte Family, they were easily the top beauties—excluding Brûlée, who had long left the group. The gap in appearance between them and the others was immense.
...
Just then, a woman's voice called out from the entrance of the hall.
"Galette-san! Something's wrong! Just now—eh?! Saint Carl-sama!"
Carl turned and saw the speaker—Charlotte Praline, the half-mermaid who once stood up to Big Mom on Cake Island.
Carl had a favorable impression of Praline. He gave a small nod and asked,
"What happened?"
Seeing Carl, Praline visibly relaxed. With him here, there was no way anyone could stir up trouble on the Sweet Islands.
After steadying herself, she replied quickly,
"Saint Carl-sama, just now there was a terrifying burst of energy on the island. A lot of people still can't even stand up!"
Hearing that, Carl—who was, in fact, the "culprit"—glanced at Galette. As the Queen, she quickly stepped forward and addressed the situation.
"That was simply residual energy from Saint Carl-sama's ability. Don't be alarmed, Praline-chan."
Praline patted her chest in relief.
"So that's what it was... then everything's fine."
But she couldn't help wondering what sort of ability Carl had used. If just a bit of "residual energy" could unleash a power greater than even Conqueror's Haki...
As she was lost in thought, a new voice called out—
"Praline-chan!!"
"Huh?"
Praline lifted her head, confused, and looked toward the voice. She saw a slender figure behind Galette, waving at her energetically.
Poire stepped aside, giving Praline a full view of her face. For a moment, Praline was stunned. Who was this person? Why did she look so much like Galette?
She blinked, stared again... same outfit, and that unmistakable panda-themed headgear...
Her eyes widened in shock.
"Y-You're... Poire?!"
Seeing the disbelief on Praline's face, Poire's smile grew even brighter. She nodded vigorously, confirming it.
Praline stared, speechless, at Poire's rosy lips and flawless teeth. It took her a long moment to recover from the shock.
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+120 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg