"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 mont he stood, the world spun violently around him.
Bang!
He crashed right back onto the floor.
"Sir, scans indicate your body currently resembles sothing flushed through a toilet tens of thousands of tis. Would you like to initiate ergency counterasures?"
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 tis 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 dication, Rocket and Yondu had already started arguing nearby.
"What exactly are you trying to save him for? So 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 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 . I know your type."
Yondu stumbled toward the pilot's seat.
"You don't know shit about , you washed-up loser!"
Rocket glared at him.
"Hah. I know everything about you. I know you pretend to be the toughest, anest bastard around, but really? You're the one who's most afraid."
This ti Yondu didn't yell.
He sounded calm, as though rely 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——into slavery! I know exactly what you are, kid, because you're just like !!"
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 mont, 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 imdiately 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 an?"
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 imdiately 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.
---
anwhile, Quill was still listening to Ego's story.
"The aning 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 beca engulfed in deep blue radiance.
"This… this is beautiful…"
Blue starlight reflected in Quill's eyes as he stared at the planets consud 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 beco all things. I will turn everything into ."
Ego gazed at the blue-consud 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 innurable offspring.
"I had Yondu bring those children back to . 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 disappointed . 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 sothing 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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