(Originally pending — Pudding’s wavering from Big Mom’s plan and her developing feelings for Sanji were planted as a forward seed @0862; the lasting heart-turn now pays off on-page @0902 as above.)
Earliest known caller
(Unrecorded.)
Why this matters
A chekhov-explicit emotional seed: the wedding-trap’s own architect is handed a single sincere kindness — the first praise of the feature she has been ostracized for her entire life — at the exact moment she is supposed to kill. Oda plants the crack in Pudding’s loyalty precisely when the plan should be airtight, loading her later change of heart toward Sanji so it reads as earned. Cross-link Charlotte Pudding, Sanji, Charlotte Pudding’s Hidden Third Eye, Three-Eye Tribe.