Chapter 240: Inside the Lanternfish: Reunion and Revelations

“But first, I need to test something. I wonder if Pure Gold can be stored in the System space.”

“If I can’t store it, carrying Pure Gold around is just begging for the World Government to find me.”

Karl didn’t believe for a second the World Government wasn’t monitoring every rumor about Pure Gold. For immortality, those people would do anything.

Didn’t they even put a five billion bounty on the Ope-Ope Fruit?

All because the Ope-Ope Fruit offers the Immortality Operation.

Keeping things quiet, Karl decided to run a little experiment. He slipped right into the Lanternfish through its massive mouth—don’t ask how, fish open and close their mouths underwater all the time, it’s not like they keep them clamped shut.

As someone who’d watched both the original series and the movie, Karl knew the mighty Lanternfish had three stomachs.

He quickly reached the first stomach but paused, thinking aloud, “If I remember right, Olga and Achille are both in the first stomach.”

He let his Observation Haki flow, easily covering all three of the Lanternfish’s stomachs.

Earlier, he hadn’t used Observation Haki fully because the Lanternfish’s skin had a strange membrane blocking his senses from going deeper.

But things were different inside. The three stomachs were connected—release Observation Haki here, and he could lay bare every detail of the Lanternfish’s insides.

“Ah, found them.”

With Observation Haki, he quickly spotted two humanoid life forms.

Deep in a green jungle, a blonde girl was scrambling up and down a thick tree, collecting fruit.

“Elizabeth!”

“The fruit’s ripe again. Tonight, let’s eat our fill and stuff ourselves, alright?”

“Chuu chuu chuu!”

A green lizard looked up, answering the blonde girl.

“You must be Olga!” A strange voice suddenly echoed out.

Olga was startled, lost her grip, and tumbled from the tree. “Ah!”

“Thud thud thud…”

She spun around at the sound of footsteps behind her and saw what looked like a giant?

“Who are you?”

“I’ve lived here for over a hundred years and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a human,” the giant replied.

Olga’s sharp eyes flickered. She darted to Elizabeth’s side. “As long as I’m by Elizabeth, I can run whenever I want—no one can catch me.”

Karl smacked his forehead and muttered, “Figures. You do realize you’re saying all your thoughts out loud, right?”

“Aha, so you heard me. So what?”

“If I want to go, I’ll go whenever I feel like it.” She hopped up onto Elizabeth’s back.

Watching the wary Olga, Karl rifled through his memories.

In the original story, Olga first lost her guard after the Lanternfish spat her out and she met others. In this timeline, she hadn’t been outside, so staying on high alert was only natural.

“Do you want to see your father?”

“Or maybe you want to know why your father created Pure Gold?”

“I promise, your father had his reasons.”

Olga had just been about to bolt, but froze when the stranger mentioned her father.

“That man?”

“He’s probably been dead for ages.”

“And why did he even make Pure Gold anyway?”

Anger flashed across Olga’s face. Because of her father’s research, Pirates had stormed the island, killed her mother, and wreaked havoc. She’d always resented her father for making something like that.

If it weren’t for Pure Gold, she’d still be living with her parents right now.

Karl cut right to the heart of it. “Your parents created Pure Gold because you caught the South Blue Emperor’s Fever.”

“A hundred years ago, that sickness was incurable. Your parents made Pure Gold solely to keep you alive as long as they could.”

“There’s a cure for Emperor’s Fever these days, and your father is alive—he’s on the other side of this island.”

Karl pointed across the sea of stomach acid to where part of another small island rested. If he remembered right, Olga’s father was in that clearing. The reason father and daughter never met was the long pool of stomach acid dividing them.

But really, the main reason was both of them believed the other was dead, so neither had searched for each other over the past century.

“Wait, really? You’re not lying, are you?”

“My father’s actually on the other side, and I really had the Emperor’s Fever?” Olga clutched her head, barely able to believe it.

She’d never even thought along those lines. But looking back, it made sense—she’d spent her days bedridden, and only got better after her dad slipped the Pure Gold ring on her finger. She hadn’t had a single relapse since.

Could it actually be true?

She slipped the ring off and turned it over in her hand. A tiny chip of Pure Gold inside shone with dazzling brilliance.

“Of course! I can introduce you to your father right now—let’s go.”

Saying that, Karl stepped in, scooping up both Olga and the big lizard Elizabeth in one hand. He used Moonwalk and soared across to the other side of the island.

“Aaaah!”

“Chuu chuu chuu!”

Their voices echoed through the air.

Guided by Observation Haki, Karl brought Olga and Elizabeth to a dinosaur’s lair.

“We’re here. Your father’s inside the dinosaur cave. He got dragged here to be fed to the baby dinosaurs.”

“But his disguise is ‘too good’ so the babies never noticed him. He’s stayed hidden here for over a hundred years.”

When Olga heard they’d arrived, she pried open her tightly shut eyes.

“Wow, you can even fly! That’s amazing!”

“Chuu chuu chuu!”

Karl had no idea what Elizabeth’s chirping meant, but he figured it was praise.

“Roar!”

A red dinosaur burst out from within, sensing a strange presence at its den’s entrance.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

The dinosaur’s face twisted in disbelief.

It hadn’t expected this human to be even bigger than itself.

Just as it turned to bolt back into the cave, Karl wasn’t about to let a meal slip away—perfect opportunity to taste some dinosaur meat.

He stepped up, threw a punch, and crushed the dinosaur’s skull. Its body flopped limply to the ground.

“Wow! Incredible! That was awesome!”

“You’re just too amazing!”

“Finally, I can—finally, this guy—” Olga clenched her fists in excitement.

“Finally, you can eat him, right?” Karl finished for her, deadpan.

Olga’s face fell. “How’d you know what I was about to say?”

“You’re no fun at all.”

She whipped out a tiny knife, started carving up the red dinosaur, and drooled straight away. She’d been craving meat for over a century—fish didn’t count.

“Achille, your daughter Olga is outside. Come out!” Karl’s shout echoed.

Hearing Karl’s voice, Olga snapped out of her excitement and remembered why they were here. She turned slowly to look deeper inside the cave.