As soon as they entered the ruins, some hidden mechanism seemed to activate. Sharp arrows burst from the walls at high speed, streaking toward them from every direction.
It was completely useless.
The outward release of Haki formed an invisible barrier around Teach, effortlessly deflecting every incoming projectile before they could even come close.
Teach already knew where the laboratory was located, so there was no reason to waste time clearing each level one by one. He advanced directly through the ruins using the most efficient and violent method possible.
Even so, he remained cautious.
His Observation Haki continuously swept through the structure, searching for hidden explosives or unstable mechanisms. A trap powerful enough to threaten them likely did not exist here, but if the laboratory and its contents were destroyed accidentally, that would be an unnecessary loss.
Redyat and Baccarat followed behind him as the group quickly reached the deepest section of the ruins.
The laboratory soon appeared before them.
There was no Pure Gold inside.
However, signs of recent activity were everywhere. Drawers had been opened, tools moved, and several storage containers left empty. It was obvious that Olga had already been here and taken the hidden Pure Gold away before it eventually fell into Shiki's hands.
Teach did not care about that.
What truly interested him were the research materials scattered throughout the laboratory.
Experimental data.
Research notes.
Blueprints.
The possible technology used to create Pure Gold itself.
Teach exchanged a glance with Redyat.
The two immediately began sweeping the entire laboratory clean like professional bandits.
Books, documents, experimental records, machinery, equipment, samples, containers, notebooks, even broken instruments. Nothing was left behind.
Whether they understood the materials or not was irrelevant.
Someone could organize and analyze everything later.
With that, half of their objective had already been completed.
The remaining half was the Pure Gold hidden within the Giant Lantern Fish itself.
The light inside the creature was extremely bright.
Part of it came from the lanternfish's natural lantern organ, but most of the illumination clearly originated from the radiance of Pure Gold. The golden glow penetrated the creature's body, bathing the interior in warm brilliance rather than darkness.
"Come back," Teach said with a grin. "Next, we're taking the Pure Gold."
Redyat nodded.
He pulled Baccarat back into the shadow space before turning into a shadow himself and merging with Teach's own shadow.
Teach rose into the air.
His Observation Haki had already mapped out the Giant Lantern Fish's internal structure. He clearly sensed the route leading toward the enormous lantern above its head.
Dark Jade enveloped his body once more.
The black sphere moved rapidly through the creature's interior, passing layers of corrosive stomach acid as it advanced deeper.
The lanternfish's digestive fluids possessed terrifying corrosive properties capable of melting weaker lifeforms with ease.
Fortunately, Dark Jade isolated everything completely.
After passing through several stomach chambers, the path gradually narrowed into a long winding tunnel extending toward the creature's head.
Eventually, Teach reached his destination.
A long, narrow passage filled with mysterious liquid appeared ahead of him.
This was the biological tube connecting the lanternfish's body to its giant lantern.
Although narrow compared to the lanternfish's colossal size, it was still large enough for Dark Jade to pass through without issue.
Teach could have approached the lantern from outside the creature's body, but that method carried unnecessary risks.
They were deep beneath the ocean.
As a Devil Fruit user, Teach could not afford to remove Dark Jade's protection. The immense pressure of the deep sea, combined with the overwhelming buoyancy force constantly pulling upward, required continuous control through gravity manipulation.
Inside the creature's body, things were far easier.
It merely took longer.
Dark Jade slowly advanced through the biological tunnel, traveling more than a thousand meters before finally entering the giant lantern itself.
The moment they arrived, dazzling golden light flooded everything.
Even Dark Jade could not completely suppress it.
The originally pitch-black surface of Dark Jade became faintly golden beneath the radiance.
Standing inside, Teach could actually feel the presence of light pressing against the darkness around him.
That surprised him slightly.
Dark Jade was the ultimate condensed darkness, compressed to an extreme degree, yet Pure Gold's radiance could still partially penetrate it.
The miraculous nature of Pure Gold became even clearer.
It could halt time.
Heal injuries.
Suppress illness.
Grant a form of eternal life.
At the center of the enormous lantern floated a massive sphere of Pure Gold nearly one meter in diameter, resting inside a transparent membrane-like organ.
It radiated endless light like a miniature sun.
Throughout history, Pure Gold had appeared countless times across the seas. Each appearance brought disaster and greed before eventually being swallowed by this Giant Lantern Fish and gathered inside its lantern.
The amount here vastly exceeded the fragment Shiki had obtained.
Bathed in its light, Teach felt subtle changes within his body.
A sense of stability.
A strange stillness.
As though time itself had slowed around him.
His current physical state would remain permanently fixed beneath the influence of Pure Gold.
Teach no longer hesitated.
Dark Jade shifted shape as a sharp spike formed at its surface.
"Bang!"
The membrane shattered instantly.
The sleeping Giant Lantern Fish immediately opened its enormous eyes.
The pain itself meant little to such a massive creature, but the disturbance came from the most important part of its body.
Dark Jade surged forward.
The Pure Gold was instantly enveloped before any surrounding liquid could enter.
The massive sphere disappeared directly into Teach's dark space.
At once, the light filling the lantern dimmed drastically.
The Giant Lantern Fish froze.
Then rage erupted.
For countless years, it had basked beneath the radiance of Pure Gold. It understood instinctively that the light was gone.
Its colossal body suddenly began thrashing violently through the deep sea.
With the Pure Gold secured, Teach immediately retraced his path through the creature's body.
Before leaving, however, there were still two people he intended to take with him.
Olga.
And her father, Ashier.
A scientist capable of creating Pure Gold was far too valuable to abandon.
As for Olga, the Nightfall Pirates certainly had no issue feeding one more child.
Besides, the father and daughter each possessed small pieces of Pure Gold themselves.
If Teach left them here, they would die very soon anyway.
Because Teach had already decided to kill the Giant Lantern Fish.
Once the creature died, seawater would flood its stomach chambers, and the two of them would drown in the deep sea.
Killing the lanternfish itself posed no psychological burden to Teach whatsoever.
Pure Gold attracted Giant Lantern Fish.
A creature that lost its Pure Gold would likely go berserk and create unpredictable chaos across the seas.
It was better for it to die here.
Inside the first stomach chamber, the dinosaur-filled island shook violently as the furious lanternfish swam wildly through the ocean.
Dinosaurs scattered everywhere in panic.
This gave Olga and Ashier the opportunity to escape from the dinosaur nest where they had been hiding.
"Dad, what's happening?" Olga asked nervously.
Despite being nearly two hundred years old chronologically, her actual experience remained limited. Mentally, she was still very much a young girl.
Nothing like this had ever happened before.
Ashier frowned deeply.
"I don't know," he answered quickly. "We need to leave immediately and head toward the third stomach."
His body had become fat and bulky after two centuries of surviving inside the lanternfish, but his mind remained sharp.
Something was terribly wrong.
Just as the two prepared to move, a dark figure suddenly appeared before them.
"I'm sorry," Teach said with a smile. "But you'll have to come with us."
The moment Olga saw him, her face turned pale.
She recognized him immediately.
Dark Emperor Teach.
Ashier instinctively stepped forward and shielded his daughter behind him.
Teach had no interest in negotiating.
This was not a request.
It was a decision.
"The lanternfish is going to die soon," Teach said calmly. "You should understand what that means."
"As for the future, someone will arrange things for you afterward."
That was all he said.
Shadows spread outward.
Redyat moved instantly.
The father and daughter gasped in shock as the shadows swallowed them whole and dragged them into the shadow space.
"Where are we?" Olga asked fearfully after suddenly appearing in the strange dark environment.
"I'll explain," Baccarat said with a smile as she walked toward them from deeper within the shadows.
Meanwhile, Teach arrived near the lanternfish's brain.
Destroying a creature of this size normally required catastrophic force.
For Teach, however, the process was simple.
He extended one hand outside Dark Jade.
Terrifying energy rapidly condensed within his palm.
A dark sphere resembling a miniature Star of Annihilation formed silently.
Its range was far smaller than the original technique, but its destructive power remained horrifying.
Teach released it immediately before retreating at high speed.
Outside, the Giant Lantern Fish sensed overwhelming danger.
Its instincts screamed in terror.
Then the explosion came.
"BOOM!"
Deep beneath the sea, massive shockwaves erupted through the water.
The lanternfish's enormous body twisted violently.
Its head visibly collapsed inward. Inside its skull, the compressed gravity devoured everything instantly.
The lanternfish's eyes lost focus.
Its gigantic body stopped moving entirely before slowly beginning to sink into the endless darkness below.
The giant lantern atop its head dimmed further and further until no light remained at all.
Only darkness.
In the endless abyss beneath the sea, crimson eyes slowly began opening one after another.
Deep-sea predators had noticed the corpse.
Even this ancient monster that swallowed islands would eventually become prey itself.
After leaving the lanternfish's body, Dark Jade rapidly shot upward through the ocean, propelled by overwhelming buoyancy.
At night, the movement remained completely unnoticed.
Inside the shadow space, Ashier and Olga had already learned enough to understand their situation.
The Nightfall Pirates had effectively saved their lives.
Otherwise, they would have died alongside the lanternfish.
Baccarat calmly continued speaking.
"Even if you possess Pure Gold, you probably don't want Olga to remain like this forever, correct?"
"Southern Sea Emperor Fever was incurable two hundred years ago. Now there's already an effective treatment."
Ashier's expression changed slightly.
"Besides," Baccarat continued, "Olga's appearance has already been recorded by the World Government. Other forces may know about her too. Continuing to hide alone is extremely dangerous."
Both father and daughter understood that reality very clearly.
Olga had nearly been captured the moment she appeared on the sea again.
Ashier also understood another truth.
Pure Gold suppressed Olga's illness, but it also froze her growth permanently.
If she could live normally again, naturally that would be far better.
In truth, they had very few choices left.
The Nightfall Pirates were pirates, not saints.
After thinking carefully, Ashier finally nodded.
"…Fine," he said quietly. "We'll join you and work for you."
He had already realized many things.
The Pure Gold hidden in the laboratory had clearly already been taken.
Teach's group likely possessed even greater quantities from inside the lanternfish itself.
As a scientist, Ashier's reasoning ability remained excellent even after two hundred years.
He quickly pieced together most of the truth.
At the same time, the idea of joining a scientific research base filled with advanced researchers genuinely interested him.
Perhaps this outcome was not so terrible after all.