Let's rewind to about half an hour ago.
Deep beneath the ocean surface in a certain part of the New World, a massive current, like a winding white dragon, stretched into the depths.
And within this powerful current, a fleet of ships was sailing.
Each ship was not only covered by a huge bubble but also had chains extending from its body. The ends of these chains were attached to a team of Sea Beasts.
The giant Sea Beasts were paddling furiously even amidst the turbulent current, pushing the fleet's speed to the limit.
"Who would have thought that these white dragons of the deep sea could be used like this?"
Jinbe stood on the deck of the leading ship, his arms crossed, his tone filled with genuine admiration. "I have to say, that guy Roa truly is a genius!"
The New World was certainly full of chaotic currents.
But many of them were temporary, just like the New World's bizarre weather patterns.
However, there were, of course, continuous and stable currents.
Like the one they were currently riding.
Over the past few years, exploration teams from Fish-Man Island had documented many such currents across the world. While they couldn't guarantee passage to every single corner of the globe, they could reach most sea areas.
"I heard from Neptune that the World Government has even been secretly contacting him," Fisher Tiger said calmly, standing beside Jinbe. "It's quite interesting, isn't it? Fish-Man Island joined the World Government 170 years ago, but no one ever cared about our kingdom."
"And now, because we're cooperating with a great pirate like Roa, the World Government suddenly sees our value."
"The World Government can never be trusted."
Jinbe asserted. "Traveling to so many countries over the last two years, I've seen the true nature of the World Government. They are no different from the pirate monarchs of the New World. The Celestial Dragons are squeezing the life out of the entire world."
Many of the affiliated nations he once thought were peaceful and prosperous were actually struggling just to pay the Heavenly Tribute.
Jinbe let out a cold laugh and shook his head. "No, the seas ruled by Charlotte Linlin are even slightly more peaceful and harmonious."
"They'll spare us a glance when we're valuable to them, but the moment we lose our value, we'll be turned back into slaves immediately."
Tiger nodded in deep agreement.
He then spoke with a hint of deeper meaning, "So, between the Celestial Dragons and Roa, which is better?"
"Uh!"
Jinbe was instantly tongue-tied, then scratched his head. "Tiger-nii, do we really have to compare which pile of mud is the worst?"
"Hahahaha!"
Tiger burst into laughter.
Yes, two piles of mud.
Well, if he had to choose, Roa was probably the worst one.
At least the Celestial Dragons ruled the world for 800 years and never created an area called the Freest Sea in the World.
Roa's madness was, perhaps, slightly beyond even that of the twisted Celestial Dragons.
However, Fish-Man Island truly had to align itself with Roa.
At least this guy hadn't harmed Fish-Man Island. He was quite lenient toward things that were useful to him.
In fact, due to the existence of the Deep Sea Logistics Company, a significant influx of capital had allowed Fish-Man Island to achieve substantial development.
However, Fish-Man Island was recently facing some troubles.
Since the world-shattering execution, the number of pirates passing through Fish-Man Island had drastically increased, causing considerable problems.
And this was probably just the beginning of the chaos.
According to the media, an unprecedented Great Age of Pirates was dawning.
When that happened, even more pirates would surely flock to the New World. What misfortune would then befall Fish-Man Island, located on the mandatory route?
Tiger's scalp crawled just thinking about that future.
But for the moment, he didn't know how to handle it. Should he ask Roa for help?
Given Roa's current reputation and power, protecting Fish-Man Island should be a simple matter of a single command, shouldn't it?
As he pondered, Tiger suddenly heard Jinbe's startled cry, "Tiger-nii! Something is coming!"
Tiger snapped his head up and saw Jinbe looking toward the dark deep sea on one side with a mix of fear and alarm.
There was naturally no light in the deep sea, and the fleet relied on the headlights mounted on the Sea Beasts and the ships for illumination.
But now, in the distant, normally pitch-black depths, a faint golden light suddenly appeared.
"A Sea King?"
Tiger immediately turned back and shouted at the Fish-Man sailors on deck, "Lights out! Extinguish all the lights! Don't let it be drawn here!"
They weren't afraid of ordinary Sea Kings, but if they had to engage one in such deep water, the fleet would most likely be lost.
So, all lights were extinguished, and the current became completely dark.
Tiger and Jinbe held their breath, intently watching the approaching golden light in the distance.
Closer and closer, until the fleet was lit up again!
Then, the speed of the approaching golden light suddenly exploded!
Tiger instantly roared, "It's coming straight for us! Prepare to fight—"
His voice cut off abruptly.
Because Tiger finally saw the enormous creature behind that golden light!
"How can this be!!"
Jinbe gasped in disbelief. "How can a Sea King be so massive!"
The golden light was now as dazzling as the midday sun, illuminating the entire sea area clearly.
And behind that golden light was a monster even larger than an entire island!
"Run! Run now!!"
Tiger instantly shrieked in terror, "Get away from the Sea Beasts! It's here to hunt!"
But it was already too late.
The colossal creature plunged into the huge current, and then it opened its mouth.
Simply by opening its mouth, it was as if a passage to another dimension had been opened. The seawater, and everything within it, was sucked toward the opening.
"Waaah!"
The Fish-Men screamed in terror, and the Sea Beasts struggled helplessly. It was meaningless. They were instantly swallowed by the huge vortex, disappearing into the colossal creature's enormous maw the very next second.
Boom!
The massive monster closed its mouth, generating another enormous shockwave in the deep sea.
The Fish-Men who had miraculously avoided being swallowed because they were at the back of the fleet were flung away by the shockwave.
Their eyes burned with anguish as they watched the gigantic Anglerfish, which had swallowed everything, swim away leisurely as if nothing had happened.
"Tiger-nii and the others were swallowed!!"
"What do we do! We have to rescue our Big Brothers from its stomach!"
"How can we rescue them! With that size, all our attacks would just tickle it!"
"Call for help! We can only call the Disaster Company for help now! Roa can definitely handle this!"
"Okay! Immediately contact Umit! Tell him to relay the message to Roa! We'll follow the monster and make sure it doesn't get away!"
And so, the call was placed to Roa.
"Something like that actually happened?"
Roa curved his lips with genuine interest.
"I truly cannot imagine it," the voice of Umit on the other end of the line was thick with astonishment. "I even suspect the Fish-Men were just panicking and misjudged the size. Does a Sea King larger than an island really exist in this world?"
"This world is much wider and more boundless than we imagine, Umit," Roa said with a smile. "Zou the Elephant is a good example, isn't it?"
"I see! I was too narrow-minded, Boss!" Umit quickly apologized.
Roa chuckled. "So, where is that fish now?"
It really seems to be the Giant Anglerfish.
Fate truly favors me.
Is Pure Gold about to fall into my hands?
Though, honestly, that thing wasn't much use to him.
He was already immortal, wasn't he?
But if he were to give it to his subordinates—sigh, if too many people became immortal, wouldn't it seem cheap?
Besides, having just one immortal person (himself) should be enough, right?
Hmm, but on the other hand, if all power holders could live forever, wouldn't the class conflict become extremely sharp?
That would be interesting too.
Never mind. Pure Gold isn't true immortality anyway.
It merely slows the aging process to an alarming degree, greatly extending a person's lifespan.
It doesn't mean they can't die of old age.
He'll just go get it first.
"The Fish-Men have been following it, and it's now drifting toward the latter half of the New World, into the Golden Lion's territory!"
"Mhm." Roa nodded. "Then I'll go over there myself."
The Anglerfish's size was genuinely exaggerated. Ordinary people really couldn't handle it.
Since Bullet and King haven't returned yet, he'd have to go personally.
"Yes, Boss!"
Thus, the colossal Floating City began to move swiftly toward the latter half of the New World.
About two days later, the City of Disaster arrived over a certain sea area.
Roa flapped his wings and slowly descended toward the ocean surface.
"Lord Roa!"
A few Fish-Men bobbed on the water, urgently shouting their pleas.
"That monster is down in the deep sea!"
"Please hurry and save Tiger-nii and the others! The monster's size is so huge, the space inside its stomach must be enormous! Our Big Brothers must still be safe!"
"That's right! Please, Lord Roa, hurry and lend us your aid!"
Roa ignored them, his eyes fixed on the water below.
He couldn't see anything with his eyes alone, of course.
But Observation Haki was different.
The deep seawater could greatly obstruct the spread of Observation Haki.
However, the thing deep below was simply too enormous, so Roa could still clearly sense its presence.
"This is genuinely a bit exaggerated," Roa muttered in amazement.
Although he knew from the original anime special that the Giant Anglerfish's stomach contained several islands, meaning its sheer volume must be unbelievably large—perhaps even comparable to Zunesha—actually sensing it with Observation Haki still made him marvel at its shocking size.
It's too big!
Just how deep is this ocean?
He wouldn't even mention the huge cavity above Fish-Man Island that allows Sea Kings over 5,000 meters in size to move freely.
The fact that this colossal behemoth could still hide successfully in the deep sea, undiscovered by most, made Roa unsure how to even describe the depth of the water.
Exaggerated.
"Lord Roa!" The Fish-Men on the surface were still shouting loudly. "We'll go into the deep sea immediately and try to force it to the surface!"
"No need for all that trouble." Roa said flatly.
"I'll make it come up obediently right now."
At that instant, black lightning struck the ocean below.
The Fish-Men on the surface passed out almost immediately.
The ocean abruptly became turbulent and violent.
The Conqueror's Haki lightning released by Roa was like Nezha's Celestial Silk, churning the entire sea area into chaos.
In the original story, Shanks's Conqueror's Haki from outside Wano was able to knock out Greenbull who was in the central area.
Roa believed his current strength was equal to or greater than Shanks at that time, so—
A mere ocean? Watch me cleave it with Conqueror's Haki!
The Conqueror's Haki instantly pierced the ocean, reaching the deepest parts of the seabed.
The colossal Anglerfish was struck dead-on.
"Aaaangh!!"
In the deep sea illuminated by the golden light from its lantern, the immensely large monster suddenly howled in agony.
Its body, larger than an island, twisted and writhed in pain.
The Giant Anglerfish instinctively tried to flee toward the surrounding sea areas.
However, every time it turned in a direction, the intensity of the Haki slamming into it increased.
Haki lightning surrounded it from all sides, driving it upward.
Driven by intense pain, the behemoth frantically paddled toward the surface.
Meanwhile, inside the Giant Anglerfish.
Within one of its stomachs, on a small island.
"Hey! What's going on!"
Tiger raised his head in shock. The powerful tremors were shaking the island relentlessly. The seawater—or rather, the Anglerfish's stomach acid—around the island was also churning violently.
"Is it under attack?"
"Attack? What kind of creature in the deep sea would dare attack Lord Anglerfish!"
The speaker was a slightly plump man with messy, unkempt yellow hair.
He was cradling a little girl, also with yellow hair, in his arms.
These two were encountered by Tiger and his companions after they were swallowed by the Anglerfish.
Initially, Tiger thought they were all doomed, but upon truly entering the Anglerfish's stomach, they discovered a hidden world!
There was an island inside the stomach, and living creatures on the island, including a human being. Who would believe such a story?
But after gathering all his compatriots, Tiger truly did meet the little yellow-haired girl named Olga in that stomach.
Through conversations with Olga, Tiger was astonished to learn that the little girl, who looked no older than six or seven, was actually from over 170 years ago!
She explained that her father had created a metal called Pure Gold. That metal emitted a beautiful golden light, and people bathed in this light would have their aging process dramatically slowed down.
Tiger was utterly dumbfounded upon hearing this.
Isn't that practically immortality?
However, Olga seemed to despise the existence of Pure Gold. According to her, her father's research into Pure Gold had attracted pirates, which led to her mother's death.
Even the Giant Anglerfish was attracted by the Pure Gold. It had taken a huge bite out of Olga's hometown island.
Since then, Olga had been living inside the Anglerfish's stomach.
The little girl was very excited about the arrival of Tiger and his group.
After all, despite having lived for over 170 years, she hadn't interacted with the outside world, so her experience hadn't grown. She was still essentially just a little kid.
Although Olga said that once swallowed by the Anglerfish, escape was impossible, Tiger and the others didn't believe it.
They explored the Anglerfish's stomach and found a second stomach.
In this stomach, they met Olga's father, the scientist who developed Pure Gold, Miskina Asier.
He was also still alive. By disguising himself as a young dinosaur, he had tricked adult dinosaurs into feeding him, surviving for over a hundred years—yes, the creatures living inside the Anglerfish's stomach included a group of dinosaurs, and all these creatures were bathed in the golden light penetrating the Anglerfish's body, thus also gaining extended longevity.
Upon their reunion, Olga immediately gave her "bastard father," as she called him, a good beating.
But she soon learned from her father that she had been terminally ill, with no cure available on the high seas. Asier had desperately researched Pure Gold solely to extend his daughter's life.
With the truth revealed, father and daughter embraced, weeping.
Tiger was genuinely touched by the scene.
But still, they needed to figure out how to escape.
And now, the Anglerfish was growing restless.
"Something is definitely happening outside!" Jinbe's face was grave.
"But there's nothing we can do!" Tiger felt frustrated.
The Anglerfish's size was too enormous. Even an expert like Jinbe was helpless against it!
"If only the Transponder Snail still worked! I wonder if our compatriots have called for help!"
Strangely, while the light of Pure Gold could penetrate the Anglerfish's body, the radio waves from a Transponder Snail could not.
At the same time, outside, in the sky above the ocean.
Roa looked down at the sea surface with interest.
Boom!
The ocean suddenly became turbulent and violent.
The monster is coming.
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