"Wait! The Heart of Gold!!"
A fragment of a memory from a movie I'd seen in my previous life flashed through my mind.
"What's wrong, Uncle? You surprised me, shouting like that."
Robin stood there with two mugs, eyes wide.
"Ah, sorry, Robin. I didn't mean to startle you. But let me ask—have you ever heard of an island called Alchemi?"
Robin set the mugs on the desk. "Alchemi... I feel like I've seen that name somewhere. Hold on a second."
She walked over to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, scanned the spines, and pulled out a thick, brown leather-bound book titled The Compendium of Nations. She flipped through the pages.
"Alchemi... here it is. An island once famous for alchemy—or what we'd call metallurgical research today. It was located in the South Blue but vanished about 200 years ago due to unknown causes. It's famous for the legend that they succeeded in refining 'Pure Gold.' What is Pure Gold, exactly?"
She went back to the shelf and grabbed an old, blue book titled On Alchemy.
"Let's see... 'Pure Gold.' A metal created in Alchemi. It is said to have 'immense value, enough to buy the world,' the 'pinnacle of alchemy,' a 'legendary metal'... It sounds like a fairy tale. I'm not sure why it's so valuable, specifically."
"That Pure Gold isn't a myth, Robin. It really exists."
"It does?"
"Haha, want to know more?"
"Wait," she said, her eyes sparkling with scholarly curiosity. "Let me look a bit more. If I can't find it, then you can tell me."
As she began digging through more books, I went over the details in my head.
Pure Gold. It's a synthetic metal. The light it emits has a truly broken effect: it can almost completely halt the aging and physical growth of living things.
It's not "eternal youth" in the sense of the Op-Op Fruit's surgery, but it's close. In the story, there was a girl who looked six but was actually 206 years old.
Her father had refined Pure Gold 200 years ago to stop the progression of her terminal illness.
But greedy men and pirates attacked the island for the treasure, the girl's mother was killed, and finally, a colossal anglerfish called Bonbori-sama—who loves the taste of Pure Gold—swallowed the entire island whole. That was the "disappearance" of Alchemi.
My plan:
Relocate the refugees to Faus Island and set up a temporary clinic using the Navy base facilities.
Have the medical team and Dr. Trafalgar search for a cure while I secure the Pure Gold.
Once the Pure Gold is secured, we use its light to halt the disease's progression, buying Dr. Trafalgar the years he needs to find a permanent treatment.
The Op-Op Fruit remains the final backup, but even if Law gets it, the stamina drain would make treating a whole population impossible without buying time first.
"I've hit a wall," Robin admitted, books spread across the desk. "All I've found is that it's a 'legendary island that vanished 200 years ago,' the name of a metallurgist named Myskina Acier, and his creation, 'Pure Gold.'
It shines in the dark and is worth the world, but brings ruin to those who hold it. That's all the books say. So, Uncle... what do you know?"
I sat her down and explained the truth: the reality of Flevance, the nature of Amber Lead, my plan for the Pure Gold, and the existence of the giant anglerfish, Bonbori-sama. I warned her that this was top-secret information.
"Halting growth... if such a thing exists, it would turn the world upside down," Robin mused. "But Uncle, if you're going to look for it... where is this Bonbori-sama?"
That's the problem.
Alchemi is definitely inside the fish, but I have no idea where the fish is. In the story, it was lured out by a small shard of Pure Gold, but I don't have one. The only shard is with the girl still trapped inside the fish's stomach.
"Robin, I need your help."
"Of course. What is it?"
"I'll pull some strings to get you access to the Navy's classified archives. I want you to look for common legends or sightings across the four seas and the Grand Line.
Specifically, any reports of a colossal anglerfish. If my guess is right, Bonbori-sama migrates through all five seas over a long period of time."
"I see. A creature that size wouldn't stay in one place. But can I really access the archives? Isn't that classified?"
"It requires approval from a flag officer, which I am. You're officially 'Dr. Nicola Olivier,' a civilian consultant.
They'll let you in. Besides, I'm not the academic type. I trust you with the research more than anyone. I'll have Sigma go with you as a bodyguard, just in case."
"Understood. Leave it to me. But if Sigma is with me... does that mean you're going somewhere else?"
"Yes. I need to reach out to Dr. Indigo and see if I can recruit more medical experts."
The next morning, the deadline for the search for Law passed. With a heavy heart and tears in his eyes, Dr. Trafalgar made the bitter decision to stop the search. Captains Jonathan and Ryudo set sail for Faus Island with four ships.
Meanwhile, I steered my warship toward Mary Geoise to fulfill the tedious task of delivering the corrupt royalty.
A few weeks after leaving Flevance, our ship finally arrived at Mary Geoise. I handed the former King over to the World Government officials, taking the opportunity to "snitch" on him—mentioning how he'd sold the rights to his country to neighboring nations and effectively triggered a state of war.
From there, I cut straight through Mary Geoise to Marineford. My first stop was Fleet Admiral Kong's office to report on the mission and secure permission to access the archives.
Regarding my "outburst" at the royals and the escape of roughly two hundred refugees, Kong was surprisingly lenient.
"…I'll handle things on this end. There's no need to report the refugees to the World Government," he said. We agreed to place a gag order on the incident to keep it under wraps.
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