" Rebecca! You stay in the sky and watch my Vivre Card. Fisher Tiger and I will go into the lanternfish's belly to save them!"
Vic greeted Rebecca in the air, then flew towards Fisher Tiger with his lanternfish. Once he reached Fisher Tiger, he reeled in the fishing line and held the golden ball in his arms.
With the golden ball in Fisher Tiger's arms, the giant lanternfish had gone mad. It no longer cared about Vic and Fisher Tiger. It swam over with its huge lantern glowing and swallowed them both whole.
Vic, who intended to enter its stomach, naturally did not resist, and the two of them were swallowed up. Then the lanternfish sank to the surface and disappeared without a trace.
Rebecca remained expressionless, but the intelligence agents around her were shocked. That lord had actually been eaten? How could that be? They hadn't heard what Vic said to Rebecca; Vic hadn't allowed them to approach.
The lanternfish has a huge internal space; how could a fish that can devour an entire island be small? It took Vic some time to follow his Observation Haki and bring Fisher Tiger to the island inside the giant fish's belly.
There were only two people on the island. Vic and Fisher Tiger quickly found a fat man who looked like a beggar and a blonde girl. It was Olga and her father. The two had lived in the belly of the lanternfish for nearly 200 years, but time had not passed much on them. No, it had hardly passed at all.
The effect of this Pure Gold is even longer than the lifespan of the God Realm, which is somewhat cheating. However, more than obtaining the Pure Gold, Vic wants to know why Pure Gold has such an incredible effect.
Once you understand this, the ability to live forever will be yours to keep, and you will no longer need to rely on external things. That is true freedom.
"Who are you? Were you also eaten by Lord Lantern?"
Upon seeing Vic and Fisher Tiger's arrival, Olga asked warily, while her father seemed indifferent, perhaps having lived too long and no longer wanting to live, unconcerned about danger.
He also agreed with his daughter's statement that no outsiders had come in all these years, and they had been unable to leave, living in solitude for nearly 200 years.
"We came in on our own initiative. Did you know you've lived inside this fish for nearly two hundred years?"
I overheard your story by chance, and I've also heard the legend of Pure Gold, so I'm very interested in Pure Gold. Judging from your appearance, I know the legend of Pure Gold is true.
How about this? I'll rescue you and protect you from further harassment; in return, you'll let me study Pure Gold. How does that sound?
Vic did have the power to take it by force, but he didn't. Olga and her father weren't bad people, and they couldn't escape the lanternfish's belly anyway. Vic still had a moral bottom line.
The father and daughter preferred to live in the outside world rather than with Pure Gold, so Vic wasn't worried that they wouldn't agree to his conditions. Moreover, with his protection, the father and daughter could live a good life.
"What? Two hundred years have passed? Are you lying to us? You just want our Pure Gold?"
Olga became even more wary after hearing Vic's words, and stood in front of her father, glaring at Vic and Fisher Tiger with a fierce but weak expression.
Living inside the lanternfish's belly, where there is no cycle of day and night, time has long become blurred for the two of them. They know that a long time has passed, but they have no idea that two hundred years have passed. This fact is too shocking for them, so they instinctively do not want to believe it and instinctively think that Vic made up a lie to get the Pure Gold.
"Clang!"
"With my abilities, would I need to lie to you?"
Upon hearing Olga's words, Vic instantly drew his Blood Wither from his waist, raised his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, a deep abyss appeared where the blade pointed, splitting the island in two. Vic didn't use much of his strength, probably enough to cut the lanternfish in half with a single strike, but it was more than enough to intimidate the two ordinary people.
"This... this..."
" Olga...! You... you..."
Seeing Vic casually cleave the island in two with a single swing of his sword, the father and daughter were stunned into silence. Such power was undeniable, and they believed that Vic and his companion had willingly entered the Lord Lantern's belly. They also believed Vic's claim that two hundred years had passed. Now, they were considering Vic's terms.
Fisher Tiger was also surprised to see Vic make a move. He knew Vic was strong, but he had never seen Vic fight since Vic Victor's pirate crew. Although he had heard from others that Vic had defeated Big Mom, hearing about it was nothing compared to seeing it with his own eyes. Just look at how Vic's casual slash was already the strongest move of many strong people in the New World. You can imagine the difference between them.
Tiger glanced at Vic, then at the blonde loli and the disheveled, obese middle-aged man before him. Fisher Tiger was extremely curious: how did Vic know there was someone inside the lanternfish? And what about the 200 years?
He had never heard of the legend of Pure Gold; how could the World Government possibly leak such top-secret information?
There are many other top-secret messages like these, such as the Dyna Stone and the Endpoint. It would be impossible for anyone other than the Navy's high command and the World Government to know them. If Vic hadn't been a time traveler, he wouldn't have known either. His seniority in the Navy was too low, and many top-secret intelligence messages were kept from him.
After much deliberation, Olga's father finally made his decision. He didn't want to stay in this godforsaken place for even a day longer. He had discovered Pure Gold and lost his wife; he had no purpose in life anymore. Staying in this dark and hopeless place would be unbearable!
If Vic hadn't come along, he wouldn't have cared; he could have just coasted through life. But with hope, things were different; his yearning for the outside world reached its peak.
Furthermore, Vic doesn't seem like a bad person. When he and his wife first discovered Pure Gold, it attracted pirates who tried to steal it, and his wife died as a result. So if Vic were a bad person, there would be no need to negotiate with him.
" Pure Gold is indeed not gold with 100% purity, but a product of a special arrangement and combination of gold atoms. This special arrangement and combination can actually gather the free-floating Primal Spirit in space! This is somewhat similar to the spirit-gathering formation in the world of cultivation!"
The fact that a rich Primal Spirit can inhibit cell aging and division—is this proof that cells, once free from the threat of death and achieving immortality, will cease dividing?
This is the reason why Pure Gold can slow down growth and extend lifespan; no wonder those giant Sea Kings with extremely high levels of Primal Spirit energy within them can live for so long!
Diamond and graphite are both made of carbon atoms, but their different internal atomic structures result in two completely different substances.
Pure Gold is also formed by the different arrangements and combinations of gold atoms into a special structure. Although it looks somewhat similar to gold, it is a completely different substance. Pure Gold has a stronger metallic luster and also has magical effects that ordinary gold cannot match.
With his eyes closed, Vic held the Pure Gold that Olga carefully handed him. He used his Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability to probe the Pure Gold and came to this conclusion.
He also thought of some speculations about the continuation of the race in his previous life. When the external environment is not good and not suitable for survival, organisms will enter a period of dormancy and wait for the next day. When the external environment is good, they will awaken and reproduce in large numbers to ensure that the population can continue.
The fact that cells no longer age and die means that this race will not become extinct. In that case, it wouldn't matter if they didn't reproduce. It's also reasonable that cells no longer divide. Olga's body no longer growing is proof of this!
In addition, considering Vic's early experience of replenishing his Primal Spirit by preying on sea Sea Kings, and the fact that different creatures at different levels of the food chain have different levels of Primal Spirit, this also shows that organisms instinctively gather Primal Spirit to achieve longevity.
All of this confirms the enormous influence of the Primal Spirit on the lifespan of living beings. Since the Primal Spirit is related to the generation of Armament Haki, is there any connection between Armament Haki and human lifespan? Vic doesn't know yet, but after breaking through to the God Realm in the future, he should be able to fully control his body, and at that time he should be able to find the connection between them.