"Celestial gold? Is that the legendary Celestial gold that can grant eternal life?" Brook widened his eyes in astonishment. Even he hadn't expected that the treasure mentioned in today's meeting would be this legendary gem.
"We only have some information at the moment, nothing confirmed yet. But according to the intelligence provided by the captain, that giant lantern fish that was sighted might very well be the enormous island-eating fish that caused Alchemy to perish."
June looked at the others calmly as she spoke.
"But does Celestial gold really exist? The idea of something granting immortality always sounds strange," Simon voiced his doubts.
The legend of Celestial gold spread widely after Alchemy disappeared, but the information about it granting eternal life came from an unknown source. After all, pirates, treasures, vanished islands, and giant monsters are practically the four main elements of maritime folklore.
"The legend of Celestial gold does indeed exist, but the island of Alchemy, where Celestial gold was supposedly refined, disappeared over a hundred years ago. Nobody knows if this rumor is true or false. When I was sailing, many people still believed that finding the lost Alchemy could grant immortality," Brook added.
Sitting at the far end, Katie tried to look mature as she pondered, "Moreover, Celestial gold is said to grant humans eternal life, but according to the principle of equivalent exchange, there must be some unknown drawbacks to this eternal life."
"It's indeed hard to say. It's been too long, and no research materials related to it have been circulated. So, no one really knows the principle behind this legendary metal granting eternal life to humans," June supplemented.
"Yo ho ho ho! Eternal life is indeed a tempting concept," Brook, the skeleton musician, chuckled. The others cast disdainful glances at Brook because, after all, this guy who had eaten the Yomi Yomi no Mi probably didn't even know when he would die.
Just then, the door to the meeting room opened, and a man nearly two meters tall, with messy long hair and explosive power hidden beneath his clothes, walked in.
"Celestial gold isn't actually that complicated. It's simply the essence extracted from a large amount of gold through special means, mixed with other materials. It influences the wearer's body with the inert characteristics of the metal, slowing down cell aging, thus achieving the goal of immortality. However, the price to pay is that it's challenging for the wearer's strength to improve while wearing Celestial gold ornaments."
"Captain!"
Seeing the newcomer, everyone in the meeting room stood up excitedly.
It was unexpected for Nicholas to attend the meeting of the Freedom Pirates, considering he had chosen to seclude himself in training on Raijin Island, which was covered with thunderstorms for most of the year, since the end of the Cake Island battle.
However, nobody complained about it. After all, for the New World pirates, the captain's strength was the best deterrent. The stronger the captain, the more transcendent the pirate group's position.
"Yeah, please be seated."
Nicholas sat in the main seat and addressed the others.
"However, this kind of eternal life is more like pseudo-immortality. After all, a person's lifetime cell division is limited. Although Celestial gold can delay this process, ultimately, death is inevitable."
As the ship's manager and ship's doctor, June had a significant say.
Upon hearing June's words, Simon expressed his disdain, "So, it's not real eternal life. I thought that Celestial gold could truly grant immortality. In that case, I might as well hope for Brook to awaken his fruit before I die. Then, when I die, he can just bring me back from the Underworld."
"Yo ho ho ho! Rest assured, I'll do my best. When the time comes, we'll all sail together as skeletons," Brook joked. However, both June and Katie immediately rejected the idea. For young girls, becoming a skeleton was worse than being killed directly.
"So, Captain, are we going to fish for that giant lantern fish?" Katie looked at Nicholas with anticipation. After all, the liver of the lantern fish, especially one as enormous as that, was a delicacy. Its ingredients must be even more delicious.
"But how do we fish for it? For such a monstrous creature, the bait needed to lure it must be massive, right?" Katie thought of the giant lantern fish's size and felt somewhat at a loss. Fishing for such a large creature would be different from fishing for other fish.
"It's not that complicated. Based on my speculation, the reason that giant lantern fish swallowed Alchemy island might have been attracted by the light of Celestial gold. So, if we gather enough gold, we might be able to lure that lantern fish out."
"Gold?"
"That's right."
"But there's one more thing: we must find the approximate range where that lantern fish usually appears. Otherwise, no matter how dazzling the light is, it won't be able to attract it across the vast ocean."
...
Several days later, in a vast sea area, the water churned violently.
The pirates on board were all in a panic, barely able to look down at the sea below.
However, one glance almost scared them out of their wits.
Underneath the sea surface, there appeared an enormous black shadow.
This monstrous size even surpassed that of large sea king species, making their ships seem like mere shrimps in comparison.
"What kind of monster is this? Help!"
"Quick, flee!"
"Send a message to Lord Simon!"
Then, the enormous shadow gradually emerged from the sea surface, so immense that it was even larger than a medium-sized island.
Finally, they could see clearly—it was a giant lantern fish.
What's even stranger was that its lantern was shimmering with dazzling light.
At the same time, a huge ship raced towards them from a distance, so fast that it seemed to split the ocean apart.
The five figures on the deck, including one skeleton, showed no fear in the face of this creature almost as large as a medium-sized island.
"What an impressive creature," Vista, holding an axe, tightened his grip, as if he could chop down this behemoth with his axe. After all, for those who wielded blades, facing such a large creature made them want to take a few swings.
"Fish of this size are challenging to deal with," Katie, standing beside Vista with twin swords at her waist, said with a troubled expression.
After all, such a massive size would make it inconvenient even to cut with Flying Slash attacks.
As they spoke, the enormous lantern fish, shimmering with dazzling light, finally opened its gaping maw to swallow the entire sea.
Meanwhile, the Sea sovereign ship was speeding towards the mouth of the giant lantern fish.
For Nicholas and his crew, even if they were swallowed, there wouldn't be much danger.
As for the pirates responsible for searching for the lantern fish, after some contemplation, surprisingly, not many of them chose to escape from the giant lantern fish's swallowing range.
Evidently, upon seeing Nicholas and his crew's actions, these people also realized that there was something extraordinary inside the lantern fish.
Without greed, without desire, would they be pirates?