Chapter 802: Underground Hall
Ian had not given Little Ian any specific orders before, nor had he instructed him on what to do.
In this situation, Little Ian was also somewhat clueless, acting purely on instinct. Since he had never attacked Uranus, Uranus naturally did not see the little one as an enemy. So, when Uranus tried to fly up earlier, Little Ian somehow ended up landing on its back.
To be more precise, when Uranus took off, it happened to allow Little Ian, who was in midair, to make contact with its back, and the little guy landed there.
At first, after landing on Uranus's back, Little Ian didn't know what to do. He just ran around in place. Uranus was enormous, and over the years, its broad back had gradually developed land similar to that on Zunesha's back. However, most of the land on Uranus's back consisted of dry, black, hardened ground. This was because Uranus's body constantly emitted high temperatures and radiation, making the ground a dead zone. Only some mutated plants could survive on such terrain.
Even so, the area on its back, as large as a small island, was enough for Little Ian to play around to his heart's content...
However, before Little Ian could run far, Uranus was knocked down by the combined attack of Ian and Ace. During this process, Little Ian lost his footing and tumbled and rolled along Uranus's dragon back toward its tail...
He barely managed to grab a protruding black rock on the ground with his small hands to steady himself. After Uranus crashed to the ground, Little Ian got up and realized he was lost...
He couldn't remember where he had been, but he still recalled Ian's standby order. So, he turned his head, looking left and right, trying to find his way back to his original position.
At that moment, Doflamingo used his Parasite Thread to temporarily restrain Uranus. Although he couldn't control Uranus's movements, he managed to keep it immobile. So, at this time, Uranus's back was at its calmest.
Little Ian then moved his short little legs, picked a direction at random, and ran off. The little guy had forgotten he could fly, and his antenna-like hair bobbed up and down as he ran...
Before he could get far, Uranus's body suddenly trembled violently. The muscles on its back twisted, causing the originally hard black ground on its back to bulge and crack in various places.
Needless to say, this was Ian and Ace attacking recklessly while Doflamingo played a crucial role in restraining Uranus.
Ace used Fire Fist to blind one of Uranus's eyes, while Ian directly extracted one-tenth of Uranus's soul. It was a massive ball of soul light. When Ian crushed the light ball, even Uranus writhed in agony.
This desperate struggle of a wounded beast made it impossible for Doflamingo to maintain control. Uranus, having suffered unprecedented damage, twisted its entire body, snapping several of Doflamingo's Parasite Threads spread across it.
Doflamingo, drenched in sweat, strained to pull the threads, barely suppressing Uranus's writhing again. He then shouted to Ian and Ace, "Hurry! I can only hold on a little longer!"
Ian naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity to easily extract souls from Uranus. He plunged his hand into Uranus's neck again...
While they were ganging up on Uranus, Little Ian on the dragon's back was thrown off balance again by Uranus's earlier twisting. The cracked and raised ground tripped the little guy, making him bounce like a ball twice before landing face-first on the ground.
"Ian..." Little Ian got up, dizzy and disoriented, rubbing his nose with a hint of grievance.
Then, the little guy suddenly froze.
Because he saw a small hole in the ground not far ahead. Peering into the hole, he could see some man-made staircase-like objects.
"Ian?" Little Ian tilted his head, thought for a moment, then trotted over. He lay down at the hole's edge and peered inside.
This hole was originally covered by a large black iron plate. The color of this iron plate matched the black ground on Uranus's dragon back. It was clearly a well-camouflaged spot. Since confronting Uranus, Ian had been searching for where the Celestial Dragon might be hiding. But unfortunately, unless he had time to land on Uranus and search inch by inch, finding this hole from the air was a pipe dream!
Now, due to Uranus's painful writhing, countless cracks had appeared on its back. The squeezing and movement of the ground had exposed a hole at the side of the iron plate.
Ian had been unlucky with his card draws all these years, but it seemed all his luck had been inherited by his clone, Little Ian. By sheer coincidence, Little Ian discovered this hole the moment it was exposed.
The funny thing was that the exposed hole was very small. If it were Ian, he would have had to blast away the thick iron plate covering it to get in. But Little Ian didn't need to. His tiny body fit perfectly through the opening.
So, Little Ian crawled in curiously. As he crawled inside, his antenna-like hair twitched, measuring the hole like a cat's whiskers...
After entering the hole, there was a staircase leading downward. Little Ian fell in and tumbled down the stairs with a clatter.
The Ancient Weapon, Uranus, was the Celestial Dragons' last trump card. With Uranus's power, the Celestial Dragons intimidated the World Government and various nations, maintaining their privileged status. So, they were very serious about controlling Uranus. They knew that as controllers, if exposed, they could easily be killed by Uranus's enemies. Thus, they had dug into the hard ground on Uranus's back and built a deep underground chamber beneath the thick crust.
The entrance to this chamber was originally connected to the underground of Mary Geoise. During its slumber, Uranus was hidden in a cavern within the rock layer beneath the Red Line at Mary Geoise. When the Celestial Dragons wanted to activate Uranus, they would first gather all the Identity Chips, open the passage to the underground in Mary Geoise, and then use this passage to directly enter the underground chamber on Uranus's back...
When Little Ian tumbled down, he saw a vast, spacious hall. The walls, pillars, and floor of this hall were all pure white and gleaming.
If Trafalgar Law were here, he might recognize that the material used to build this hall was a unique mineral from his hometown, Flevance: Porphyr Lead!!
This mineral was actually toxic, but it was a type of lead. The Celestial Dragons discovered that this mineral had excellent properties for blocking Uranus's deadly radiation, so they used it to build this chamber.
However, even with the radiation blocked, the conditions in this chamber were extremely harsh. Staying in this chamber not only exposed one to the toxicity of Porphyr Lead but also, as Uranus's body constantly generated heat, the chamber became like a scorching hell. Without strong vitality, staying in this chamber for any length of time would likely lead to death.
So, even the Celestial Dragons from Mary Geoise, after entering here, would only hurriedly use all their Identity Chips to activate the special "Guide" device that could communicate with Uranus, then quickly leave. As for controlling Uranus and giving it orders to act, that was left to their "Ancestor," who had gained immortality through the Surgery Fruit...
This device was now right in front of Little Ian. It was placed in the center of the hall and looked similar to the devices Ian and his group had found on the Sky Island at Gray Terminal, as it was originally technology from the Moon People.
Besides this device, on the wall at the far end of the hall, there were several screens. If one looked closely, the images on these screens showed views from various directions around Uranus's body!
These images came from the vision of special Video Den Den Mushi. These Den Den Mushi had mutated due to the radioactive effects of Uranus's Devil Fruit. They had protective coloring, making them invisible, something unseen elsewhere in the world.
These Den Den Mushi, with their protective coloring like invisibility, were placed on Uranus to monitor blind spots that Uranus couldn't see, helping the controller direct Uranus in battle.
Not far in front of these screens, a Celestial Dragon, fat as a pig and wearing a glass helmet, lay on a recliner, watching the images.
However, perhaps due to a limited number of Den Den Mushi or the Celestial Dragons' confidence in the camouflage of the entrance, no Den Den Mushi had been placed on Uranus's back for surveillance. So, when Little Ian entered, this pig-like Celestial Dragon was completely unaware. He was cursing and watching the images, seemingly communicating with Uranus, shouting for it to move quickly and shake off Doflamingo's control...
So, Little Ian stood behind him, biting his finger and tilting his head, watching him with a curious expression...