"Ever since you started talking about Ego, I could tell you thought he wasn't a good person. We need to rescue Quill and the others as fast as possible."
Rocket tried to push himself up, but the moment he stood, the world spun violently around him.
Bang!
He crashed right back onto the floor.
"Sir, scans indicate your body currently resembles something flushed through a toilet tens of thousands of times. Would you like me to initiate emergency countermeasures?"
JARVIS's voice sounded in Tony's ears.
Tony lay sprawled on the ground, eyes lifeless. This trip had truly been unforgettable. He felt like he'd been twisted into a pretzel.
"JARVIS, if you keep making jokes at times like this, I really am going to replace you with Friday."
Thanks to the armor, Tony was in slightly better shape than everyone else. But as a human from Earth, his physique simply couldn't compare to the others', so his reaction was still pretty severe.
Just as Tony prepared to inject himself with anti-nausea medication, Rocket and Yondu had already started arguing nearby.
"What exactly are you trying to save him for? Some bullshit sense of honor?"
For Ravagers, honor was a real thing. That was precisely why Yondu had once been exiled.
"Bullshit honor? I'm saving Quill so I can prove I'm better than him! I'm gonna mock him with this for the rest of his life!"
Rocket forced himself upright and shouted back.
"Hahaha!!! Oh, give me a break!"
Yondu staggered to his feet, laughing loudly.
"What the hell are you laughing at?!"
Rocket roared.
"You can fool everybody else, but you can't fool me. I know your type."
Yondu stumbled toward the pilot's seat.
"You don't know shit about me, you washed-up loser!"
Rocket glared at him.
"Hah. I know everything about you. I know you pretend to be the toughest, meanest bastard around, but really? You're the one who's most afraid."
This time Yondu didn't yell.
He sounded calm, as though merely stating an ordinary fact.
"I know you push away everyone willing to tolerate you, because even the smallest bit of affection reminds you how empty you really feel inside."
"Shut up! I said shut up!!"
Rocket snapped.
Because Yondu was right.
Rocket was a coward.
He feared losing things—feared losing anyone or anything—so he never dared get close to anyone at all.
"I know the scientists who made you never cared about you!"
Yondu grew more emotional as he spoke. He saw his own reflection in Rocket.
"Just like my parents. They sold their own son—me—into slavery! I know exactly what you are, kid, because you're just like me!!"
Yondu crouched down until they were eye level.
His eyes burned with fury—fury toward the parents who abandoned him, fury toward the scientists who abandoned Rocket, and even fury toward Ego.
Rocket's anger faded.
He stared blankly for a moment, then sighed helplessly.
"We really are a pair of screwed-up bastards…"
"Yep. And probably a pair of screwed-up bastards about to fight an entire planet."
Yondu stood and walked over to the controls.
"What?! What did you just say? Fight a planet?"
Rocket froze and immediately caught the important part.
Weren't they going after Ego? Since when had this turned into fighting a whole planet?
Nebula helped support the still-dizzy Tony as they walked over. Since most of her body was cybernetic, she hadn't suffered nearly as badly from the jump sickness and was one of the few still able to move normally.
"You said a planet? What do you mean?"
Tony asked while staring out the window at the crimson world ahead.
"As you can see, Earthman—that planet is Ego."
Yondu casually pointed toward the red planet.
"What?! You're saying Ego himself is the planet?!"
Rocket immediately understood.
As a seasoned galactic drifter, he had seen and heard far more than Tony ever had.
"What?! How the hell can that old bastard be a planet?"
Tony found it impossible to believe.
A lifeform whose true body was an entire planet? That completely violated every law of biology and life itself.
"Earthman, you've still got a lot to learn."
Yondu didn't bother explaining further because even he didn't know why Ego was literally a sentient planet.
Rocket didn't know either.
In fact, no one aboard the ship knew.
---
Meanwhile, Quill was still listening to Ego's story.
"The meaning I discovered… is expansion. And now, that is your purpose as well."
As Ego spoke, countless planets appeared before Quill, each marked with a glowing blue point.
Then suddenly, the blue lights erupted outward, spreading across every world until each planet became engulfed in deep blue radiance.
"This… this is beautiful…"
Blue starlight reflected in Quill's eyes as he stared at the planets consumed by the glow.
"Every world I visited, I planted part of myself within its core. I seek to fulfill life's one true purpose—to grow, spread, and cover everything. I will become all things. I will turn everything into me."
Ego gazed at the blue-consumed planets with longing and anticipation burning in his eyes.
"But right now, I have one problem. A single Celestial doesn't possess enough energy to complete such a grand undertaking."
He turned toward Quill.
"But perhaps two Celestials can."
"My favorite thing I ever did… was grafting my genes onto other species. I believed that would provide enough power for the Expansion."
The egg-shaped device shifted again.
Countless versions of Ego appeared across countless planets, mating with alien species and producing innumerable offspring.
"I had Yondu bring those children back to me. It violated Ravager code and honor—after all, Ravagers strictly forbid child trafficking. But I compensated him generously. And to reassure him, I promised I would never harm them."
So that was the truth.
Yondu really had been threatened by Ego.
For the sake of his crew, he had compromised.
"I kept my promise. But every child he brought me disappointed me. None of them carried the Celestial gene…"
Ego's gaze locked onto Quill.
"Until I found you, Peter."
His tone remained utterly indifferent, as though those children had never been his at all.
Like Cronus from Greek mythology, devouring his own offspring one by one.
Hearing this, Quill suddenly stiffened.
He sensed something deeply wrong.
"Out of all my descendants, only you inherited my gene—the true Celestial gene."
As Ego spoke, Quill's expression softened again, as though his thoughts were being subtly controlled.
---
Back in Karl's room, everyone sat in horrified silence after hearing Mantis's story.
A father consuming his own children was simply too horrifying.
Even Gwen and the others had only ever heard of such things in mythological tales.
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