Rhett stood at the bow of the ship, staring at the rolling waves in the distance, lost in thought.
"Tezoro."
"Hm?" The Golden Emperor was sipping wine elegantly while Stella fed him fruit. He glanced up at Rhett's sudden call.
But Rhett found he suddenly didn't feel like calling his name anymore.
A thought struck him. When Luffy finally came of age and set sail, that's when the original story would truly begin. Rhett could remain forever young and immortal thanks to his power, but his crew… they couldn't.
By that time, if he was leading a ship full of middle-aged uncles and aunties, while he himself was just a man in his twenties that wouldn't look very dignified at all.
"Tell me," Rhett muttered, "in ten or twenty years… will we all end up as a bunch of washed-up old timers?"
The deck fell into an awkward silence.
Moriah, lounging in a chair with a watermelon, suddenly spat out a mouthful of seeds. "Captain, what the hell are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Truth be told, Moriah was already well on his way to becoming a shut-in couch potato.
Enel crossed his legs arrogantly, his face full of disdain. "A god never grows old. I am Kami."
Perona floated over, pinching Rhett's cheek. "Rhett-sama, did Mihawk hit you too hard? I'm still so young, I want to hurry up and grow up."
Rhett swatted her hand away, his expression deadly serious. He thought of it clearly: Roger had been executed at 53, Whitebeard had grown old and hooked to IV drips, Rayleigh had turned into a wrinkled old man coating ships, and Jabra's kids might end up towering five or six heads taller than him…
He slammed his palm against the railing, blood mist swirling around his fingers. "I'll be damned if decades later especially you, Moriah you end up as a bald, beer-bellied, greasy old pirate!"
Rhett looked around at the crew. His tone was light, almost casual, as if he were only deciding what to eat for dinner. "I don't want to go through the pain of losing my family all over again."
The crew fell silent. Even though Rhett hid it well, they could all feel the deep sorrow radiating from him.
Tezoro adjusted his glasses, the gold rings on his fingers glinting. "So what's your plan?"
"So—" Rhett grinned, flashing his sharp white teeth. "We're going to find Pure Gold."
Pure Gold, the legendary metal said to grant immortality.
Two hundred years ago, the scientist Misgina Olga had successfully refined it, but the entire research team had mysteriously vanished, leaving only scraps of legend behind.
"They say anyone wearing Pure Gold… can live forever."
Tezoro frowned. "That's just a fairy tale, isn't it?"
"No." Rhett shook his head. "It's real."
Lina unrolled the nautical chart, her finger sliding over a blurred patch of sea. "According to the stories, this region once had rumors of immortality… but we have no idea how to actually find Pure Gold."
Rhett smirked, full of pride. He had searched for it before. "We'll need to find a lanternfish. Inside its lantern lies what we want."
"Lantern… Lord?" Perona tilted her head. "What's that?"
Rhett's eyes darkened. "A colossal lanternfish that's lived for over a thousand years! If I catch it, it's finished."
Laboon made a low sound. "...Ooo?" (Somehow, this feels ominous.)
Moriah raised a lazy hand. "Can I skip this one? Sounds like a pain… oh, and Captain, do you still have any more of that black fizzy drink you were experimenting with?"
That "black fizzy drink" was Rhett's homemade recreation of soda his version of "otaku cola." A shut-in with cola was truly unstoppable.
"No way!" Rhett grabbed Moriah by the collar. "If you don't start moving, you're going to rot into the floorboards!"
Enel snorted. "Mortals are such a bother."
A swirl of blood mist slapped his face. "Then don't come! When we're young forever, you'll be the only one falling apart. Let's see how godly you look then."
Enel twitched, then quickly walked over to Rhett, poking his arm. "Captain Rhett, you'll need muscle, won't you? I'll help you… expand our territory."
Tezoro sighed, golden light flashing from his ring as the entire ship was coated in gold plating. "If we're going, we're going prepared."
The Bruma Jackson had already been circling the target sea for two full weeks.
Rhett lay sprawled on the deck, bored out of his mind. "Lina, weren't you supposed to be reliable? What's going on?"
The moment he asked, he regretted it. She was the one navigating the ship right now.
Veins popped on Lina's forehead. "I'm a navigator, not a treasure-hunter, Captain."
Rhett suddenly felt like Spencer scolding Roger for wasting money. The irony hit hard now it was his turn to be nagged.
He sulked off into a corner, drawing circles on the deck.
"Captain, are you sure it's here?" Moriah asked weakly, flopping across the boards. Even his shadow was drooping. "If we keep going in circles, I'm going to get seasick…"
"The intel's right!" Rhett scratched his head furiously. "The lanternfish should be in this region!"
Enel perched impatiently on the mast. "Why don't I just drop a Divine Judgment into the sea and blast it out?"
"No!" Lina snapped. "If it flees, we'll never find it again. Do that, and I'll confiscate all your golden figurines."
Enel immediately sulked and went to squat beside Rhett, drawing circles with him.
And then
"Wooo—!"
Laboon suddenly let out a sharp cry. Everyone turned in time to see his little dried fish snack slip into the sea!
"My special spicy fish jerky!" Laboon flailed desperately. Tezoro had bought it at a high price from the gourmet city an exclusive limited edition.
The poor whale looked so frantic he was about to start speaking human.
Rhett sighed. "Fine, I'll buy you another—"
Before he could finish
Splash!!!
The sea erupted as a massive maw burst out of the waves, swallowing the fish snack and a great surge of water in one gulp.
"The lanternfish?!"
Laboon's eyes turned red instantly.
"WOOOO!!!" (Translation: Give back my jerky!!!)
He pulled a ball of mist from his hat, slapped it onto himself, and dove into the sea. His body began to swell, rapidly shifting back toward his massive island whale form.
The crew froze in shock, but there was no time to hesitate.
Beneath the waves, Laboon was already brawling with the lanternfish. And don't forget Laboon had eaten the Human-Human Fruit, Fighter Model!
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!!!"
His fins pummeled the lanternfish's face in a flurry, each strike carrying the devastating power of an island whale. The lanternfish writhed in pain, thrashing wildly and stirring up massive waves that tossed the Bruma Jackson violently.
But the lanternfish was still larger. Inside Laboon was a theme park. Inside the lanternfish… a whole kingdom.
"This is bad!" Lina gripped the railing. "If this keeps up, the ship will capsize!"
Rhett grinned, unbothered. "So what? Everyone—"
"Get ready for a one-day trip to fish belly island!"
The lanternfish, driven mad with pain, suddenly flipped and opened its maw wide.
BOOM!!!
The Bruma Jackson, crew and all, was swallowed in a single gulp.
Inside the ship, everyone was thrown about.
Perona floated midair, her face pale. "Uuuuh… are we going to become fish food?"
Tezoro's ring glowed, illuminating the darkness. "Don't panic. The ship's coated we won't dissolve in stomach acid… at least not right away."
Rhett's grin widened.
"Well then…"
"Looks like we've finally found it."
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