"He's coming… the more dangerous one."
Almost as soon as Karin's words fell, a dull sound came from beneath the sea. Immediately after, the surrounding sea water began to ripple.
Mad Treasure and the drunken woman hadn't reacted yet, but Olga was the first to realize something.
"It's Lord Lantern! Lord Lantern is here!"
When she shouted this, her face was full of panic. Then she took off the ring on her hand to check it.
"But that's not right… The ring is still safely on my hand. Why would Lord Lantern chase us here?"
Hearing this, Karin looked over and saw an extremely faint golden light inside the ring Olga was wearing.
"Is that the [Pure Gold]?"
Hearing Karin's abrupt question, Olga immediately reacted, instinctively trying to hide the ring behind her back. But the vibrations around them reminded her that Lord Lantern was about to arrive, and hiding it now didn't mean much. So, after hesitating for a few seconds, Olga still told the truth.
"Yes, there's a piece of Pure Gold embedded in my ring. That's why I've been able to live for over two hundred years. Lord Lantern loves the glow of Pure Gold the most. If the ring falls into the water, no matter how far away it is, he will definitely come."
After saying that, she quickly added,
"But my ring didn't fall into the sea. In theory, Lord Lantern shouldn't have noticed us."
Before Olga could continue, a huge shadow appeared beneath the sea surface. The shadow alone was as large as an island. The next moment, the shadow surfaced.
It was a super-giant anglerfish, its size even exceeding some Sea Kings. Dangling in front of its head was a glowing organ like a small sun, emitting golden light. That was probably the source of its name.
This anglerfish, called 'Lord Lantern', leapt out from the seabed and directly bit the Stranded Turtle to pieces. Compared to its size, the Stranded Turtle might not even compare to one of its teeth. Its movement also pushed the Shark Emeralda far away, the huge waves nearly capsizing the ship.
It was easy to imagine that if they had still been on the Stranded Turtle, they would have been swallowed by now.
"Aaaah!! What is that?!"
The drunken woman let out a sharp scream, but no one was in the mood to pay attention to her now.
"That's an exaggerated monster…"
Even Mad Treasure couldn't laugh when seeing such a colossal creature. And at that moment, Karin transformed into the golden Valkyrie, manipulating a hurricane to wildly blow against the Shark Emeralda, pushing it away from this big fish.
It was also after Karin transformed that the golden light radiating from her body reflected into the giant anglerfish's eyes. The anglerfish, originally satisfied from swallowing its target, suddenly became greedy. With a flick of its tail, this fish, several kilometers long, turned around and chased in Karin's direction.
Seeing this, Karin looked down at Olga, then at herself.
"…Looks like this guy is coming for me."
Yes, in Lord Lantern's eyes, the golden light radiating from Karin was no less dazzling than Pure Gold. It devoured Pure Gold not for its life-extending effect, but simply because it was attracted by that glow. Just like other deep-sea fish are attracted by the lantern hanging in front of its head.
Even with Garuda controlling the hurricane, the Shark Emeralda's escape speed was far behind the pursuit speed of this giant beast.
Watching this shocking scene from afar, the CP0 agents' eyes couldn't help but widen.
"That monster… is it a Sea King?"
Kaku wiped the sweat from his head, his tone somewhat dry. If it were just a sea beast a hundred meters in size, he, possessing Haki and a Devil Fruit, wouldn't be afraid.
But the anglerfish in front of him was several kilometers in size. Even if he used all his strength, he might not be able to break its skin.
Kalifa adjusted her glasses. Although deeply shocked inside, she still spoke up to deny Kaku's claim.
"No, it doesn't have the characteristics of avian, amphibian, or reptilian creatures. It's a pure deep-sea anglerfish."
Based on the various pieces of information collected by the World Government, the largest Sea King witnessed so far was one near the Fish-Man Island. Its size exceeded five kilometers, and its every move could easily destroy a country. In comparison, this anglerfish was more like the [Island-Eating Fish] that appears in giant adventure stories.
Lucci, holding down his hat blown by the hurricane, narrowed his eyes, looking into the distance without saying a word. The anglerfish had already opened its huge mouth. Seawater surged, pouring into its mouth. The Shark Emeralda, with Karin's wind assistance, could barely maintain a steady speed moving outward. It seemed the other side should be able to escape from the big fish's mouth.
-If they didn't intervene.
"Bring the ship closer! Fire when we reach firing range!"
"Ah?!"
Not only Kaku and Kalifa, but even the other low-level agents and crew members hearing the order were stunned.
"Didn't you hear what I said?"
Lucci frowned. The ferocious aura of someone who had once killed 500 kingdom soldiers erupted, making the subordinates tremble all over, not daring to hesitate any longer.
There was no helping it… on this ship, Rob Lucci truly had the final say. The other two, who had trained with him since childhood, only frowned, wanting to dissuade him but hesitating to speak up. They knew Lucci's personality; once he decided something, it was hard to change.
So, the warship approached the anglerfish at a moderate speed, stopping immediately upon reaching the maximum range of the cannons.
"Fire! Target that ship!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Over here, Karin had just driven the hurricane to bring the ship near the big fish's mouth when she heard the sound of cannon fire.
"These annoying people… at a time like this."
A golden flash, and Karin appeared in mid-air. The wind wall, under her control, perfectly blocked the cannonballs. Then she directly turned the wind into a slingshot, firing the cannonballs right back where they came from.
"Help!!!"
The drunken woman's scream came. Hearing this, Karin looked down. Without her control, the large ship was quickly pushed by the currents towards the giant anglerfish's throat. Unlike the screaming drunken woman, Olga just stood on the deck, blankly watching Karin, with no intention of calling for help.
"Tsk…"
Another golden flash, Karin flew back inside, returning to the deck just before the big fish's mouth closed. She picked up the little girl and was about to fly out.
To be honest, if it weren't for being reluctant to part with her newly acquired flagship (Mad Treasure: Hey!), Karin could have flown away with the little girl long ago. The big fish's mouth closed faster than Karin expected. After just this short delay, there was almost no gap left at the fish's mouth.
"No choice, hold on tight!"
Saying this, Karin was about to transform into a golden cannonball, blasting a hole right through the fish's mouth. But her action was stopped by the little girl.
"Wait! Wait! No need to rush!"
"Hmm?"
"Lord Lantern won't hurt us."
Karin floated in mid-air, looking down at the Shark Emeralda, which was about to enter the esophagus, then looked at Olga. The meaning was clear.
'Are you serious?'
"Hey! It's true! Aren't you looking for [Pure Gold]? I can take you there. [Alchemi] has actually always been inside Lord Lantern's stomach. In exchange, go save Elizabeth for me, quickly!"
Karin followed the little girl's pointing finger. The large lizard called Elizabeth, without its master's guidance, could only run around like a headless fly in the face of the surrounding chaos. In the turbulent currents, the Shark Emeralda, with no one at the helm, was also about to crash into the rocky-like inner wall of the mouth along with the water flow.
"…Alright."