Black Jack and Pinoko fly to Asia to treat a 200-year-old man. Miriam, the man's descendant, wants him to live long enough so he can tell her how to find the phoenix, a glowing bird whose blood supposedly grants everlasting life. Black Jack cures the old man, but the legend turns out to be a hoax. The man gained his long life from sheer will power, and the phoenix is really just a bird covered in luminescent bacteria.