Meanwhile, the Shokuma's Vivre Card had completely burned away, and the World Government received confirmation that every dispatched agent had been wiped out. The culprit behind it all was none other than the Golden Lion, Shiki.
The Pure Gold had naturally fallen into Shiki's hands.
They had never expected this operation, which they considered foolproof, to fail once again and be intercepted midway by the Flying Pirates.
The moment they noticed the large-scale movements of the Flying Pirates, they had already developed a bad feeling. Then the information leaked, spreading to numerous major forces across the seas.
The World Government was furious.
Internal traitors were something they absolutely could not tolerate.
It was easy to imagine that another purge would soon sweep through the World Government.
Previously, because of Sengoku's report, the defeat in the Golden Sea Battle had already been linked to a mole within the World Government. Information had supposedly leaked in advance, allowing the pirate alliance to prepare ahead of time.
Back then, the World Government had indeed conducted an internal cleanup, but due to the unstable overall situation, it remained superficial at best.
If they had launched a truly thorough purge at that time, panic would have spread through the organization. The already unstable structure of the World Government might have genuinely fractured.
Now, however, things were different.
With the Heavenly Tribute flowing in again and some of their strength restored, the World Government had finally regained a measure of stability. Compared to a few months ago, their condition was far better.
And now this incident had reignited everything.
The hidden traitors had become a thorn lodged deep in their throats.
Even the Five Elders had made up their minds. The person leaking intelligence had to be someone high within the World Government itself. They intended to investigate thoroughly and root out every hidden spy, especially the one responsible for leaking the World Government's strategy during the Golden Sea Battle.
As for the Pure Gold, now that they knew it had fallen into the hands of the Flying Pirates, there was no possibility of simply giving up.
No one knew what Golden Lion Shiki would do after obtaining Pure Gold.
If Shiki gained enough lifespan and time, then his enormous ambitions would once again gain powerful support. That outcome would be extremely disadvantageous to the World Government.
Meanwhile, in the front region of the New World, countless forces continued searching that stretch of sea.
Minor clashes erupted repeatedly between various pirate crews and intelligence groups, yet after searching for a long time, nobody found any trace of the Pure Gold.
The blonde little girl had vanished completely.
Even the surrounding sea regions were searched thoroughly, but nothing was discovered. Some people even began wondering whether the entire incident had merely been a fabricated rumor.
Others believed the opposite.
After all, she was only a little girl with virtually no combat power. Many believed she had already been captured by one of the major forces.
About a month later, the various factions gradually gave up and withdrew one after another, unwilling to waste more time and manpower.
Then suddenly, at that exact moment, a new rumor exploded across the seas.
The Pure Gold had supposedly fallen into the hands of the World Government.
No one knew where the rumor originated. It spread abruptly and wildly, like sparks tossed into dry grass.
The credibility of the information was impossible to verify, but according to existing intelligence, the World Government had indeed been the first to discover the little girl.
As a result, many people believed the probability of the Pure Gold ending up in the World Government's possession was actually quite high.
Various forces immediately shifted their attention toward the World Government, placing tremendous pressure upon them.
Naturally, some also suspected the Flying Pirates were deliberately throwing blame onto the World Government before the World Government could leak the truth first.
Soon afterward, another piece of information surfaced.
This time, the World Government publicly claimed that the Pure Gold had fallen into the hands of the Flying Pirates.
Then came even more rumors.
Some said the Whitebeard Pirates had seized it.
Others claimed the Beast Pirates possessed it.
Additional stories spread in every direction, each more chaotic than the last. None carried enough evidence to truly convince anyone, leaving the world unable to determine whose hands the Pure Gold had actually fallen into.
Still, among all the rumors, the earliest two remained the most credible.
One thing, however, was now essentially confirmed.
Pure Gold had truly appeared upon the seas once more, and someone had already obtained it.
Inside the Night Palace, Redyat looked toward Teach.
"So who actually got the Pure Gold?"
"It doesn't matter," Teach replied with a smile, lightly shaking his head.
"Time will prove the answer. It's either the World Government or the Flying Pirates. If it's the Flying Pirates, then Shiki's appearance and physical condition won't change in the coming years."
After pausing briefly, Teach continued.
"Besides, according to the previous divination, it should have fallen into the Flying Pirates' hands anyway. The future isn't fixed. That was only one possible outcome. Various factors could've changed events along the way."
Then he glanced at Redyat.
"If you're still uneasy about it, ask Baccarat. Her ability should be enough to determine who obtained the Pure Gold."
After all, this was merely a multiple-choice question with only two likely answers.
For Baccarat, the user of the Lucky-Lucky Fruit, something like this was extremely simple.
Redyat nodded thoughtfully before taking out a Den Den Mushi.
Why wait years for confirmation when they could simply learn the answer now?
Meanwhile, inside the Battle Pyramid, Baccarat sat leisurely in a luxurious viewing room overlooking the arena below.
She crossed her long legs elegantly while sipping expensive wine, calmly watching the ongoing battle beneath the glass panels.
Then the Den Den Mushi rang.
"It's me, Redyat," came his composed voice.
"What is it?" Baccarat asked with a smile.
"I want to know which side obtained the Pure Gold."
"Oh?" Baccarat chuckled softly. "I've already tried several times. Every flip of fate keeps landing on the side representing the sky."
"The Flying Pirates, then."
Redyat nodded slightly.
"Thank you."
After speaking, he hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Confirming the truth behind the rumors caused little emotional reaction among them.
The value of Pure Gold was enormous.
The benefits it provided far exceeded even the Super Gene Serums. Despite still possessing abundant time, Pure Gold remained an item they absolutely desired.
In some ways, it even symbolized immortality itself.
There were very few secrets left in the world that could still truly tempt them, and they now stood among the players moving the world's chessboard.
From their perspective, it was actually good news that the World Government had failed to obtain the Pure Gold.
To preserve their rule, the World Government might have used Pure Gold to buy support from powerful factions or even sold portions of it in exchange for massive profits.
If that happened, the negative consequences of the Golden Sea Battle could disappear rapidly. The World Government might even recover to greater heights than before.
Money itself was a terrifying form of power.
The Nightfall Pirates' rapid development had only been possible because they possessed overwhelming wealth. With enough money, they could build freely, expand freely, and act without financial restraints.
On the other hand, if Shiki possessed the Pure Gold, then the greatest benefit was simply that his condition would no longer decline with age.
Although this created additional pressure for Teach and the Nightfall Pirates, countless other forces would inevitably target the Flying Pirates in hopes of seizing the Pure Gold for themselves.
And once the truth became public, once the world learned that Shiki possessed enough Pure Gold for multiple people to use, the Flying Pirates would face destruction even without the Nightfall Pirates personally intervening.
After all, the Flying Pirates were one of the greatest obstacles standing in the Nightfall Pirates' path.
Just as Teach had said earlier, time itself would reveal the answer.
Then suddenly, Teach seemed to remember something.
He rose from his seat.
"Let's move as well. First, we need to find that Giant Lantern Fish. The Pure Gold's light attracts it. It'll become troublesome if another force discovers it."
Teach felt slightly uneasy about the matter.
If Shiki casually wandered around carrying the Pure Gold, causing the Giant Lantern Fish to appear repeatedly across the seas, the situation could become extremely dangerous.
Even if people did not initially understand the significance of the Lantern Fish, investigations would eventually expose the truth behind the Pure Gold.
And once that happened, the seas would descend into unimaginable chaos.
A world filled with effectively immortal enemies was not a future Teach wished to see.
Legends of Pure Gold had existed for centuries.
Throughout history, every fragment of Pure Gold that surfaced on the seas had eventually been swallowed by the Giant Lantern Fish. Its stomach acid would dissolve the gold, transferring it into the lantern atop its head for storage.
In other words, the lantern itself contained an enormous amount of Pure Gold.
And within the third stomach of the Giant Lantern Fish rested the Steel City of Alchemi, the very island it had swallowed centuries ago.
Inside that ruined city lay the laboratory of the scientist who created Pure Gold, and possibly even the method of manufacturing it.
Compared to Pure Gold itself, that technology was even more valuable.
"We should secure it first," Teach muttered.
Only by truly possessing it would they feel at ease.
The group moved quickly.
There were only three of them.
Teach.
Redyat.
And Baccarat.
Baccarat would locate the Giant Lantern Fish, while Teach and Redyat handled the rest.
The Giant Lantern Fish was both a Sea King and a beast possessing territorial instincts. It did not endlessly wander the seas.
Even if it occasionally migrated, within such a short period of time it was highly likely to remain within that same sea region at the front of the New World.
After informing Mostima, the three departed the Sageros sea through the skies ten thousand meters above the ocean.
Although the probability of complications was low and the mission itself should not take long, necessary precautions still had to be made.
Ares did not participate in the operation.
He remained within the Battle Pyramid, continuing to digest the gains from the recent war while further refining his Conqueror's Haki coating and attempting to master the advanced internal destruction technique of Haki.
During his battle against Zephyr, Ares had already successfully used Conqueror's Haki coating once.
Battle remained the fastest path toward growth.
Although Ares could already wield Conqueror's coating proficiently, there was still room for improvement, and that naturally required further training.
As for internal destruction, even with Teach and Redyat personally guiding him, it remained an extremely advanced Haki application. Mastering it within a short period was unrealistic.
Because of that, Ares had temporarily shifted his focus toward improving other areas instead.
Still, after battling Zephyr continuously for nearly half a year and personally experiencing the destructive force of internal destruction countless times, the sensation had already become ingrained into his body like muscle memory.
At this point, Ares was no longer far from truly mastering the technique.
And once he did, his offensive power would rise to yet another terrifying level.
Night covered the endless sea below.
No islands could be seen anywhere.
"Baccarat, is it here?" Teach asked.
"Yes. Directly below us."
Baccarat herself was hidden inside Redyat's shadow space, while Redyat in turn hid beneath Teach's shadow.
Then a dark jade emerged, transforming into a spherical shell that completely enveloped Teach's body.
Like nested dolls, Teach controlled the dark jade and descended into the ocean depths.
The surrounding water pressure posed no problem for the dark jade whatsoever.
Teach released his Observation Haki to its absolute limit, continuously probing deeper into the abyss.
How deep was the sea truly?
Certainly not merely ten thousand meters.
The true deep sea resembled another world entirely.
As the dark jade continued descending, it passed beyond the portions of the ocean familiar to humanity and entered a massive undersea trench before plunging even deeper into a silent and mysterious abyss.
Although Teach could not physically see the outside environment, he could easily imagine it.
Utter silence.
Endless darkness.
No light at all.
No.
There was light.
Because they were already approaching the Giant Lantern Fish.
Its body was unimaginably enormous, many times larger than a normal island, stretching over seven thousand meters in length.
It was even larger than the legendary supermassive Sea Kings.
In truth, humanity had never been the true ruler of this world.
The real masters of the seas had always been the Sea Kings themselves.
Among the Three Ancient Weapons, Poseidon, the power capable of commanding Sea Kings, was the one closest to truly controlling the world itself.
Unlike Uranus or Pluton, which were artificial creations, Poseidon was born naturally from the world.
If this were a story, Poseidon would undoubtedly be the world's chosen child.
As Teach reflected upon these thoughts, they finally arrived directly before the Giant Lantern Fish.
Compared to its colossal body, they were no more than dust particles.
Naturally, there was no possibility of the sleeping Lantern Fish noticing them.
Teach ignored the massive glowing lantern atop its head for now and instead controlled the dark jade, forcing it through the Giant Lantern Fish's tightly sealed mouth and into its body.
Because they were so tiny, the Lantern Fish never reacted at all.
Teach's Observation Haki quickly sensed numerous lifeforms inside the enormous creature.
Those were likely the dinosaurs living within the first stomach.
At the same time, he sensed two human presences.
So the little girl had survived after all.
She must have been swallowed back into the Lantern Fish.
Although events had deviated somewhat from Teach's memories, the changes were relatively minor.
As for the second person, it was likely the girl's father, the scientist who created Pure Gold.
The dark jade sped past them without slowing.
Teach completely ignored the father and daughter, who were disguised among the smaller dinosaurs.
It seemed they had already reconciled.
For over two hundred years, Olga had hated her father because the creation of Pure Gold brought disaster to Alchemi and led directly to her mother's brutal death.
But after reading his research notes, she finally understood the truth.
Her father had created Pure Gold solely to preserve her life.
Ignoring the dinosaurs wandering throughout the stomach island, Teach guided the dark jade through the first stomach, then the second, finally arriving within the third stomach.
There rested the Steel City of Alchemi.
To save time, Teach flew directly toward the ruined laboratory complex.
His Observation Haki had already located the scientist's research facility.
A complete three-dimensional image of the structure formed clearly within his mind.
The dark jade disappeared.
Redyat emerged from the shadows, followed shortly by Baccarat, whom he released from the shadow space.
"Finally out," Baccarat sighed brightly, stretching slightly before glancing upward at the fleshy crimson ceiling overhead.
"Are we really inside the Lantern Fish's stomach?"
"That's right," Teach replied with a nod as he walked deeper into the ruins.
"You can explore around if you want, or come with us."