Chapter 796: A Belated Judgment
When Ian arrived, he did not immediately descend but instead floated in midair, his vigilance and wariness directed at two entities.
One was the Uranus, the other was the Golden Lion Shiki, drifting in the distance.
Whether due to the orders of the Celestial Dragon secretly controlling it, Uranus halted its movements upon Ian and Ace's appearance, retracting its form. It did not attack anyone but instead retreated slightly.
The situation was clear: it seemed the Celestial Dragon controller wanted to watch Ian and the others harm each other with Golden Lion and Blackbeard...
Ian stared at Uranus. He couldn't shake the feeling that Uranus's body seemed somewhat smaller than what he had seen in the live broadcast, but he couldn't make a definitive judgment. After all, this was his first time standing before Uranus. Regardless of whether Uranus had truly shrunk, its body remained colossal. On its broad dragon back, it carried an island and terrain.
This made Ian wonder: where exactly had the Celestial Dragons hidden Uranus? To form a crust, it would naturally need to come into contact with corresponding rock...
After retreating to yield the battlefield, Uranus's body once again emitted intense heat, like a massive furnace. Some trees beneath it that had already been extinguished reignited due to the heat it radiated.
This guy was trying to dissipate heat quickly to restore combat power!
Ian immediately understood, realizing what the Poneglyph mentioned about Uranus needing to land periodically. He just didn't know how long the landing interval was.
Ian's mind churned as he turned to look at Golden Lion Shiki and spoke: "Golden Lion Shiki, are you staying to start a war with us?"
When Ian had arrived earlier, he had clearly seen from the sky that while Uranus was chasing and tormenting Teach, Golden Lion Shiki had no intention of saving Teach. He had simply flown up on his own, but he hadn't flown too far away. Unsure of his intentions, Ian decided to ask.
Golden Lion Shiki, a cigar dangling from his mouth, took a couple of puffs and looked at Ian. "Kid, so what if you've become a Yonko? Is that how you talk to your senior? When I made my name, you were still sucking on your mother's milk!"
Hearing this condescending remark, Ian chuckled but said nothing. He exchanged a glance with Ace from afar and nodded slightly.
Then, Ian drew Senbonzakura and Black Wing Demon from his waist, gripping them in his hands.
"Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
With a wave of his left hand, the blade of Senbonzakura dissolved into countless cherry blossom petals, swirling around Ian.
"Seal, Black Wing Demon!"
With a wave of his right hand, the blade of Black Wing Demon also vanished. Simultaneously, the pink petals around Ian turned a deep black. The Flame Wings behind him gradually materialized, and a pair of massive demonic wings emerged from the flames. The golden aura from Ian's Super Saiyan state shifted from gold to black!
Countless black raindrops began to appear in the sky, falling to the ground. As the Final Release completed, a terrifying pressure emanated from Ian!
This pressure instantly enveloped the entire Amazon Lily. The scattered flames still burning on the island were extinguished by this oppressive force...
The cigar in Golden Lion Shiki's mouth fell with a plop. He stared wide-eyed at the transformed Ian. Doflamingo, held upside down by Ace, was equally dumbfounded. As for Teach, his back was drenched in sweat.
"Big Mom... was taken down by him like this?!"
Ian's current form was too terrifying. Seeing it in a newspaper photo was completely different from experiencing it firsthand.
But it wasn't over yet. A small figure appeared beside Ian!
It was the clone Little Ian. When Ian summoned Little Ian in his full form, Little Ian naturally inherited Ian's current state, his entire body burning with black flames, a pair of small demonic wings on his back.
Dark cherry blossom petals swirled around Ian. He reached out, and a cluster of petals formed into a black blade in his hand. Holding this blade, he pointed it at Golden Lion Shiki and said, "Now it's three against three. Don't say I don't respect my senior. If you want to fight, I'll personally deal with you!"
Ace, pointing at Teach on the ground, said coldly, "Teach, your opponent is me!"
Doflamingo, still in Ace's grip, felt a chill in his heart. "Damn it! So my opponent is that little kid?!"
Just as he thought this, Little Ian shook his little fist at Doflamingo, shouting "Ian! Ian!" as if to say, "I'm super fierce now!"
Far away on the sea around Amazon Lily, Boa Hancock was holding a telescope, watching the scene on the island. When Little Ian appeared, she almost had stars in her eyes.
"Oh my! That child is... so, so cute!" Boa Hancock murmured, covering her mouth with one hand. "He looks exactly like Ian-sama! Could it be... Could Ian-sama and I have a child already, even though we just got married?"
The Kuja warriors behind her were covered in black lines, waving their hands in unison. "No, no..."
Snake Princess-sama, who taught you this logic?!
First of all, you and Ian-sama aren't married yet, and besides, men can't have children...
On the island, facing Ian's declaration of war, Golden Lion Shiki's expression wavered. He hesitated over whether to save Teach and Doflamingo.
It had taken Teach considerable effort to find Golden Lion Shiki's floating island and persuade him to come out. Unlike schemers like Doflamingo, Shiki still had some pirate honor. Otherwise, he wouldn't have single-handedly challenged Marine Headquarters and the World Government after Roger's death. Now that Teach and Doflamingo were at least nominal allies, it would be hard to justify not saving them.
But if he wanted to save them, he would have to fight Ian. Honestly, after being chased by Uranus for so long, even losing his flying ship, and seeing Ian's eerie form now, even the legendary pirate Shiki felt a bit uneasy.
While Shiki hesitated, Doflamingo's eyes darted around, weighing the strengths of both sides. Feeling their side was at a disadvantage, he couldn't help but speak up: "Hey, Ace, let me go. You want to take down Teach, right? I can help you kill him. How about that as a condition for releasing me?"
Before the battle even began, Doflamingo had already chickened out. Ian had originally brought him along to use him to hold off Uranus, but now Uranus was just watching. Doflamingo didn't want to wait until Ian ordered him to fight Uranus. Compared to facing Uranus, he thought beating up Teach would be no problem...
Hearing this, Teach was furious. "Damn it! I knew this teammate was unreliable, but you're cowering before the fight even starts! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Although their villain alliance was built on deceit, each hoping to kill the other after success, seeing Doflamingo betray them on the spot still made Teach curse: "Doflamingo! You idiot! The three of us together—if we can't win, can't we at least escape?! Do you have to start infighting at a time like this?!"
"How do we escape?!" Doflamingo gritted his teeth and retorted. "Damn it, Ian wants you dead the most, don't think I don't know! He can fly. How the hell are you going to escape?! And even if we do, radiation sickness will kill us anyway!"
"Radiation sickness?! What's that?!" Teach and Golden Lion Shiki were stunned.
"Simple. It's one of Uranus's abilities!" Ian said coldly to the three. "You survived the explosion, but you've been heavily irradiated. Within two months at most, you'll all die. Devil Fruits and Haki can't stop this bodily mutation disease!"
Hearing this, Teach was dumbfounded. Golden Lion Shiki stared blankly at his own hands, then suddenly asked Ian, "Can this disease be cured?"
"Who knows?" Ian replied. "If you can find a skilled doctor, maybe it's possible."
After hearing this, Golden Lion Shiki was silent for a long time. Then, without a word, he turned and flew away, never looking back.
Needless to say, Golden Lion Shiki felt there was no point in fighting Ian. They had met for the first time, with no grudges between them. Now that he knew he had only two months to live and his teammate was shamefully infighting in front of him, what was the point of fighting Ian?
Better to leave. This was no longer the era for old-timers like him. With two months left, if he couldn't find a doctor to cure him, perhaps he should spend his final days visiting old friends...
With him gone, Teach was even more despairing. Ace, after consulting Ian, released Doflamingo.
As soon as Doflamingo landed, he immediately used his ability to create a Birdcage!
Countless threads rose vertically from the ground, converging in midair, completely cutting off Teach's escape routes.
He was using actions to show Ian his stance. Although he knew Ian wanted to kill him too, there was still a glimmer of hope, wasn't there? Survival instinct drove him to make the choice that benefited him.
Now, Ian, Ace, Little Ian, and Doflamingo surrounded Teach alone.
"Come on, Teach!" Ace took off his hat, his face serious. "This is the Whitebeard Pirates' belated judgment for your murder of our comrade! Prepare yourself!"