Chapter 799: First Battle with Uranus
As Ian and the others looked over, Uranus, which had been motionless before, seemed to begin to "awaken."
Its originally folded wings slowly began to open, casting a sky-covering shadow over Amazon Lily.
From within its massive mouth, a tongue extended through the gaps of its sharp teeth, which were as dense as piano keys, licking its upper palate. With this movement, saliva flowed down like a small waterfall. Then its two nostrils flared, snorting out a breath that brought a string of blue flames from its mouth.
Uranus's dragon eyes stared down at Ian and the others from above. It was only then that Ian noticed its eyes—a pair of greedy and ferocious beastly pupils.
Ian suddenly understood: if the records on the Poneglyph were true and Uranus was a sentient life form, then he believed that its intelligence must also be greedy and evil. After all, dragons were inherently irritable and violent creatures; Ian didn't think it would be a gentle being.
If that were the case, this creature complemented the Celestial Dragons perfectly. The Celestial Dragons controlled and fed it, and in turn, it acted as their accomplice in tyranny.
"Here it comes!" Ace stared intently at Uranus, warning Ian.
Facing this legendary Ancient Weapon, even Ian dared not be careless. His muscles were already tense, fully on guard, and Doflamingo, standing a bit behind, was the same.
The next moment, Uranus suddenly raised its head and, toward the direction where Ian and the others were, violently spewed out a massive torrent of blue flames!
"Move!" Ian shouted, and he and Ace, one left and one right, instinctively leaped apart in different directions.
Doflamingo, standing behind Ian and the others, saw the flames approaching and, with a sharp intake of breath, quickly jumped up as well. The scorching flames swept beneath his feet, instantly turning the rock on the ground into flowing magma!
As for Little Ian, she had already floated high into the air on Ian's orders, awaiting commands.
After leaping to avoid the flames, Ian had the best mobility. In midair, he suddenly accelerated, instantly closing the distance between them and Uranus, landing above its massive dragon head.
Uranus's size was enormous—its head alone felt as huge as a warship. Ian pressed his body down and dove straight toward the bridge of Uranus's nose!
Compared to Uranus, his body was tiny. Before Uranus could notice him, Ian had already landed on its head. Once steady, he realized his feet were on a dragon scale larger than a door panel, covered in wind-eroded marks accumulated over the years.
Without further thought, Ian reversed the black flame blade in his hand and drove it down with both hands into the scale!
This blade in his hand had no physical form—like the White Emperor Sword from before, it was merely a blade formed from condensed energy. Its shape wasn't fixed and could be molded by Ian's imagination. This sword, made entirely of flame energy, possessed sharpness far surpassing ordinary steel blades; it was essentially an enhanced version of the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword.
Uranus's dragon scales were undoubtedly incredibly hard, but before Ian's sword, they were still pierced!
Feeling the strong resistance, Ian still managed to drive the blade in. But... Uranus showed no reaction at all!
It was only then that Ian realized the sheer size difference between them. Compared to Uranus, he was like a sesame seed next to an egg. His even smaller blade was practically insignificant to Uranus—like being pricked by a tiny needle.
Even if he had pierced it, the blade's length likely wasn't even as thick as Uranus's scale. Uranus naturally emitted immense heat, making it highly adapted to high temperatures, which also gave its scales exceptional heat resistance. The flames on Ian's sword were just a drizzle to it...
No good! I need another way!
Just as Ian drove his blade into Uranus's scale, Ace flew from another direction to beneath Uranus's belly.
The scales on the belly looked thinner than those on its back, with a different color. Ace picked a spot, clenched his right fist, and with all his strength, slammed his white-flame-covered fist down!
However, this punch instead caused Ace considerable pain. On the contact surface, his fist was certainly solid, and the rebound force was so immense that Ace almost thought his hand had broken...
Still, this blunt force from the punch was more effective than Ian's blade. Uranus felt the force of the blow, dipped its head, and craned its long neck to find Ace, then opened its mouth to bite at him.
Because of this movement, Ian couldn't stay steady on Uranus's head and had to float back into the air.
Seeing that Uranus had spotted him, Ace quickly flew away to dodge.
Just then, Doflamingo's attack arrived. He unleashed a Super-Impact Whip, striking from below upward at Uranus's lower jaw, causing its head to jolt violently.
Seizing the opportunity, Ace actually mimicked Ian's technique, releasing a white fire dragon from his hand toward Uranus's open mouth.
This move was a variation of the Black Dragon Wave, which could be called the White Dragon Wave...
The white flame dragon, claws bared, flew toward Uranus's mouth. Just as it was about to enter, Uranus suddenly spewed another massive pillar of fire from its mouth, meeting Ace's white dragon and quickly neutralizing its flames.
But at that moment, Uranus caught sight of a rapidly approaching shadow in its right eye's field of vision.
Ian flew in from the right. After realizing Uranus's body strength far exceeded expectations, he naturally sought to attack its weak points, and the eyes were the best choice.
Arriving at Uranus's right eye, Ian raised his blade high and slashed down with all his might!
This strike carried an unparalleled momentum. Uranus only had time to close its eyelid, but Ian's blade still left a long gash on the eyelid!
This time, Uranus finally felt the pain. Though protected by the eyelid, the eye was still a vulnerable spot. Enraged by the pain, it violently shook its head, slamming its entire head toward Ian. Ian had just withdrawn his blade and couldn't accelerate away in time from such a massive head charging at him. He could only hastily shield his body with Armament Haki before being struck head-on by Uranus!
With a thunderous crash, Ian was knocked from midair like a cannonball, smashing into the ground and creating a huge crater.
"Pfft!" Fortunately, Ian wasn't seriously injured. He quickly climbed out of the crater, spat out the dirt from his mouth, and launched himself back into the air.
By now, Ace had also taken Ian's hint and chosen to attack Uranus's eyes. Uranus kept flapping its wings and swiping its claws at Ace, but its enormous size was both a blessing and a curse. Ace, now more skilled at flying, always found gaps to slip through, evading Uranus's grasp.
Meanwhile, weaving through the air was also Doflamingo. As Uranus kept attacking Ace, Doflamingo, standing on the ground, didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. Using his String-String Fruit ability, he shot threads to wrap around Uranus's neck, swinging his body back and forth like Spider-Man.
In the process of swinging, Doflamingo kept attacking Uranus, weaving his threads into a massive net to entangle its wings while continuously tightening them.
However, his threads, which could easily cut through human flesh, had no effect. Uranus barely exerted any force to break free, then flapped its wing toward Doflamingo.
Doflamingo quickly controlled his threads to pull himself up, dodging the strike. But the flap of Uranus's wing stirred up a fierce gale, blowing Doflamingo forward. Its head, which had been swaying back and forth to prevent Ace from attacking its eyes, suddenly opened its mouth and snapped at the drifting Doflamingo!
Ian, having just risen again, saw this scene and was momentarily stunned.
Huh? What's going on? Why does it seem like Doflamingo is drawing more aggro than Ace?