"Oh?"
Law raised an eyebrow.
"If you knew the true power of this gold," Ian said seriously, "you'd understand that even a single grain from this golden mountain—something as small as a grain of rice—would be valuable enough to buy an entire nation."
"Huh?"
The smile on Law's face froze.
A piece the size of a rice grain could buy a whole country? Then how many bowls of rice would it take to equal this towering mountain of gold, dozens of meters high?
"So according to you," Law said in a slightly sarcastic tone, "doesn't that mean this golden mountain is enough to buy the whole world? Guess we've really struck it rich."
"Exactly!"
Ian ran his hand along the golden mountain, his lips curling into an even broader smile. "To ordinary people, its worth might even surpass the legendary One Piece itself."
"So, Ian," Yamato tugged at his sleeve, her eyes full of curiosity. "What does it actually do?"
Ian raised his right hand toward the dazzling golden glow. The light reflected off his skin, making his entire hand shine as if it were cast from pure gold itself.
"Can you feel the golden light?" he asked.
"Is there something special about it?"
Law lifted his own hand, grasping at the air as if trying to catch that glow.
But he felt nothing unusual.
"This metal is called Pure Gold," Ian said with a faint smile. "Its only power is to emit this golden radiance."
"What's remarkable about it," he continued, "is that all living beings bathed in this light experience their growth—or rather, their aging—slowed down to nearly a complete stop."
"Eh?"
Yamato tilted her head, stunned. "Stopped?"
"In other words?"
Law swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt it this parched.
"If someone were to wear an ornament made of Pure Gold and never take it off," Ian said with a light laugh, "they could easily live for tens of thousands of years. Perhaps even longer… Oh, of course—assuming they don't get killed before dying of old age."
"There's… something like that?"
Law's mouth felt dry as dust, and for a moment, he couldn't even produce saliva.
He just stood there, staring blankly at the mountain of gold before him.
"Wait, seriously? The immortality everyone has dreamed of… we got it this easily?"
"That's right."
Ian grinned. "After all, this is a beautiful world where no miracle is too shocking to believe."
"So that means…"
Yamato finally snapped out of her daze and hugged Ian's arm excitedly. "We'll be together for tens of thousands of years?"
Ian corrected her gently. "At least tens of thousands."
"Yay!!"
The girl cheered with joy.
"Hold on," Law suddenly remembered something. "Ian, didn't you say earlier that a piece of pure gold the size of a grain of rice could buy an entire nation? So… that small?"
"Maybe even smaller," Ian said after thinking for a moment.
He recalled the ring that little girl wore in the special episode—the pure gold in it wasn't even the size of a grain of rice.
"I already told you, right? You just need to be bathed in the light of pure gold—not your entire body, just a part of it."
Ian chuckled. "As long as a part of your body is touched by the light, that's enough."
"Hiss—!"
Law sucked in a sharp breath. "If that's the case, then that's way too crazy!"
He looked up at the massive golden mountain before them. "Just how many people could this thing make immortal?"
Enough for every person in the world to have their own piece of pure gold?
"Ian! We have to hide this!"
Law said seriously, "If word gets out, the world will descend into chaos!"
Creating miracles was fine—but if too many people gained immortality, that would be a disaster.
Not to mention the wars that would erupt over the pure gold.
Just imagining it was terrifying.
"Relax," Ian said with a smile. "This isn't all of it."
"Not all of it?"
Law felt his brain go numb.
Something this incredible… shouldn't it be incredibly rare?
Why did it suddenly feel like they'd stumbled into a wholesale market—with so much that it almost felt cheap?
Ian stomped his foot. "There's a father and daughter inside this Giant Footballfish's stomach. Get them out."
"In this Sea King's stomach?"
Law froze for a moment. "How do you even know it's a father and daughter?"
Ian's Haki was terrifyingly strong. His Observation Haki mastery was easily among the best in the world—if not the very best.
But still… could he really distinguish gender just from that?
"They're the ones who benefited from Pure Gold," Ian said calmly. "Ancient humans who've lived from two hundred years ago until now."
He continued, "And among them, the father possesses the technique to extract Pure Gold."
"Hiss—!"
Law sucked in a sharp breath.
Didn't that mean they could have an endless supply of Pure Gold?
But…
What's the point?
They already had more Pure Gold here than they could ever possibly use!
It was ridiculous—something so rare and precious was starting to feel… cheap.
Still, he thought to himself, it never hurts to have more skills.
Law clenched his hand lightly, retracting the ROOM he'd previously deployed. A swirling current of energy began to rise in his palm again.
"ROOM!"
With a low shout, a massive spatial dome expanded outward—so huge that it enveloped more than half of the enormous Giant Footballfish's body!
In terms of sheer length, it easily surpassed five kilometers!
And yet, Law didn't look strained at all. His expression was calm and composed, as if it were nothing.
Ian nodded slightly in approval.
This kid Law hadn't neglected his training over the years.
The Ope Ope no Mi was a fruit that consumed stamina rapidly, yet now he wielded it effortlessly.
After all, he had even mastered Awakening—his strength might already rival, if not surpass, the level he had before being defeated by Blackbeard in the original timeline.
He was now absolutely at a level close to that of a Marine Admiral.
"Where are they?" Law asked.
His Observation Haki could cover the entire Giant Footballfish, but it lacked the pinpoint precision of Ian's.
Ian immediately pointed him toward two specific locations.
"Scan!"
Relying solely on the two rough directions Ian had pointed out wouldn't be enough to pinpoint the exact location, so Law activated his ability again, beginning to scan everything along the way.
"Found them!"
Law let out a light chuckle. "Come over here!"
The flashy ability of the Ope Ope no Mi activated, and instantly, two masses of air in front of Law vanished, then two figures appeared before the three of them in the blink of an eye.
"Eh?" "Eh?"
One of them was a little girl holding a somewhat strange-looking lizard. She wore a black dress and had golden hair, appearing to be around six or seven years old.
The other was a middle-aged, chubby man dressed in a bizarre dinosaur costume, with puffed cheeks and a round belly.
Both of them looked up at Law in confusion, not understanding what had just happened.
"Eh! Where… am I?"
The little girl suddenly screamed.
Hearing her voice, the middle-aged man's body trembled. He turned his head in disbelief.
When he saw the screaming little girl, tears suddenly welled up in his eyes.
Without hesitation, the man leapt forward and scooped the unsuspecting girl into his arms.
"Olga! My Olga! I'm so glad you're safe!"
**********
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