--January 4, 1518
Surveillance Center.
As the hub of the Global Satellite System, it had staff on duty even during the New Year holiday.
"So... the signal from that Lanternfish has started coming back?"
Sephiroth stared at the screen before him, the shadows under his eyes rather pronounced. Over the past few days, he had felt his basic physical stamina actually improve.
Even ordinary exercise had started producing results.
What could he say? A Mythical Zoan really did live up to its reputation.
"Yes, Lord High God. But there is another issue."
The surveillance officer brought out some earlier satellite photos. It had been less than a month since they last spotted the Lanternfish, and Marine warships had appeared in the waters where it was active.
"These warships are behaving strangely. They aren't patrolling. We suspect they might also be searching for this fish."
"...Hmm."
--That makes sense.
Although the story of Heart of Gold should, in theory, have taken place in 1522.
The World Government had never stopped searching for pure gold, starting long ago-possibly even throughout these past two hundred years.
After all, in the original story, that blonde "girl" who had lived for two hundred years was captured by the Marines not long after she appeared.
If the World Government truly knew nothing about the matter, they could not have dispatched troops so quickly.
That also showed just how long the World Government had been watching this matter.
"And, Lord High God, there is another strange incident. We aren't sure whether it was a false report. Someone claimed to have seen an unidentified, bizarre warship studded with diamonds, but it vanished into thin air afterward."
The officer sounded quite puzzled, since none of the relevant eyewitness reports seemed particularly reasonable.
*--Those are the treasure hunters hired by