Chapter 838: Teamwork
Uranus's roar sounded extremely furious.
This might be because Pluton's cannon fire not only interrupted its healing but also reminded it of enemies from eight hundred years ago. In any case, after taking flight, Uranus immediately headed toward Pluton's location.
However, a figure blocked its path!
Although, in Uranus's eyes, humans all looked similar like tiny bugs and it couldn't distinguish them, the blazing golden aura around Ian and the black flame wings on his back made Uranus recognize him instantly.
During the battle at Amazon Lily, Ian had inflicted considerable damage on Uranus, causing it to slow down and become wary upon seeing him.
"Heh, looks like you remember me!" Ian chuckled when he noticed Uranus's reaction.
Drawing Thousand Cherry Blossoms from his waist, the blade spun nimbly in his hand once before he gently released it.
"Scatter! Thousand Cherry Blossoms Final Release!"
The falling blade of Thousand Cherry Blossoms sank into the void and vanished midair, replaced by countless sharp cherry blossom petals swirling around Ian.
Ian couldn't unleash his full power right away; he needed to hold back, so he started with the Final Release of Thousand Cherry Blossoms.
Seeing the billions of petals dancing around Ian, the Buggy Pirates quickly maneuvered Pluton to turn toward the next island. Their mission was to bombard nearby islands as fast as possible while Ian held Uranus at bay.
The Straw Hat Pirates, however, stayed behind for now. Ace was on their ship with the cooling device, but the Thousand Sunny also kept its distance from the battlefield. This left the Buggy Pirates' cameraman, who was broadcasting the fight live via a Video Den Den Mushi on the Sunny, quite frustrated—the battle footage looked very blurry from this far away.
"Hey, Coward Star! Get ready!" Luffy shouted from the ship's railing to Princess Shirahoshi. "Tell your Sea King friends that if that big guy up there tries to get close to the sea surface, have them attack!"
"O-okay, Luffy-sama!" Princess Shirahoshi nodded nervously, then dove beneath the surface to inform the Sea Kings.
Meanwhile, Ian had already engaged Uranus. Since they couldn't communicate, there was no point in saying anything before the fight.
With a wave of his hand, the countless cherry blossom petals instantly flew toward Uranus, forming a massive petal sphere that enveloped it. Under Ian's control, the petals began flowing at high speed, using their razor-sharp edges to continuously slice at Uranus's body.
But Uranus's hide was incredibly thick and tough—even the Evil King Flame Slayer Sword struggled to pierce it, let alone these tiny petal blades.
That didn't matter, though. Ian never expected this to actually harm Uranus; his real goal was to obstruct Uranus's vision with the petals.
Trapped within the petal sphere, Uranus's sight was blocked, and it momentarily lost track of Ian. This made it uneasy, so it opened its massive mouth and spewed flames, intending to burn away the petals.
From far below, observers saw a giant pink sphere in the sky, with pillars of fire constantly piercing through it, as if the sphere was about to explode—a truly breathtaking sight.
The flames Uranus spat seemed to burn through the petal barrier, but in reality, they only temporarily dispersed the fragments formed by Thousand Cherry Blossoms' blades. As long as Ian willed it, the vanished petals would reappear instantly.
While Uranus was wasting its efforts, Ian had quietly flown above its head!
With the sound of bells, the rune bandages on his right hand vanished, and black demonic flames rose from his right wrist. The Black Dragon Wave's flame tattoo also appeared on his arm.
"Not enough, I need more!" Ian gripped his right wrist with his left hand, continuously pouring more Psychic Power into the Black Dragon Wave.
During this time, Ian had been persistently investing and drawing cards, finally collecting all four-star cards from the Yu Yu Hakusho series. By sacrificing the Shadow card, he had successfully unlocked its "Inner" state!
The Inner state of the Shadow card was [S-Class Demon Energy]!
This state not only greatly increased the Psychic Power value bonus from the Shadow card but, most importantly, lifted the previous injection limit for the Black Dragon Wave!
Now, if Ian wished, he could pour all his Psychic Power into the Black Dragon Wave, enhancing its power, duration, and flight range!
And now, Ian was about to unleash a Black Dragon Wave under S-Class Demon Energy!
As vast amounts of Psychic Power were injected, the black flames rising from Ian's right wrist grew larger and larger. From a distance, it looked like Ian was holding a massive torch. Meanwhile, within a hundred-meter radius around Ian, the air itself began to warp visually due to the extreme heat!
Uranus had been spewing flames to destroy the annoying petals while searching for Ian, but suddenly it sensed an astonishing heat source above its head.
You see, Uranus, due to its enormous size and exceptionally tough skin, had always been relatively dull in perceiving its surroundings. That's why, during the Amazon Lily battle, Ian stabbing his sword into its skin barely elicited a reaction. Yet now, even with this dulled perception, it detected the temperature above—showing just how terrifying Ian's Black Dragon Wave had become!
Uranus looked up and finally spotted Ian's tiny figure. But as it raised its head, Ian struck!
A black fire dragon, far larger than any before, appeared in the sky, writhing menacingly. It radiated terrifying heat, distorting the surrounding light, and plunged downward toward Uranus with a fearsome momentum!
On the Thousand Sunny, the Buggy Pirates' cameraman stood dumbfounded alongside Luffy and the others, staring at the black fire dragon in the sky. The Den Den Mushi in his hands faithfully broadcast this scene to everyone watching the live feed worldwide.
It was only at this moment that many who had heard of Ian's epithet as a Four Emperor finally understood where his "Black Dragon" title came from...
The Shadow card was the first powerful four-star card Ian had obtained. Thanks to its strong skills, Ian rarely swapped it out. Instead, through continuous enhancement and strengthening, the card's skill power kept increasing. Now, this skill had long become his signature move.
As the massive Black Dragon Wave approached, even Uranus felt fear from the black fire dragon's heat. It frantically twisted its body, breaking free from the cherry blossom petal sphere, and flapped its wings to flee the area, trying to dodge the black fire dragon's attack.
But it didn't know that the black fire dragon was under Ian's control—wherever it flew, Ian could guide the Black Dragon Wave to follow!
Uranus was in a terrible state right now. Back at Amazon Lily, Ian had slashed one of its eyes severely. Though the strike didn't blind it completely, it left a massive scar on that eye. When Uranus fought Kaido, Kaido noticed this fresh wound and targeted that eye ruthlessly.
Then... Kaido successfully crushed Uranus's eye!
In fact, most of the reason Uranus had been hiding to recover was due to this blinded eye!
Additionally, there was a large defect below Uranus's neck, caused by Kaido biting into it while transformed into the Eight-Headed Serpent. Though Kaido didn't pierce through Uranus's neck, he tore off a huge chunk of flesh. Now, Uranus's neck still bore newly grown flesh, clearly different in color from the surrounding skin.
On its wings, the membranes of both wings were riddled with holes from Kaido's bites, now healed over. Especially on its right wing, near the abdomen, the wing bone had been broken by Kaido and was only just beginning to recover.
Battered and bruised, Uranus's mobility was severely impaired. It clumsily twisted its body, barely dodging the Black Dragon Wave's first strike, but the wave grazed its left abdomen.
The next second, a curved, pitch-black mark appeared on Uranus's left abdomen.
Strangely, Uranus felt no pain at all—instead, its left side went numb!
This was because the Black Dragon Wave's extreme heat caused no pain upon contact; the flesh it touched was instantly carbonized, and nerves couldn't even transmit signals.
Fortunately, Uranus's hide was thick enough to prevent the Black Dragon Wave from burning through its abdomen. Otherwise, its internal organs would have spilled out from the wound...
Though there was no pain, Uranus sensed a fatal threat the moment the Black Dragon Wave passed by. After breaking free from the Celestial Dragons' control, Uranus had reverted to its wild instincts. Now, facing a threat like a natural enemy, it grew even more enraged.
A wounded beast is the most dangerous. So when Ian guided the Black Dragon Wave back around, Uranus opened its mouth and fired a nuclear burst attack directly at the black fire dragon!
The moment Ian saw Uranus open its mouth, he knew something was wrong. He instantly accelerated to supersonic speed, flying straight upward, and used Twin Heaven Return Shield to protect his entire body.
The Black Dragon Wave collided head-on with the light ball Uranus spat out. The energy clash triggered the nuclear burst attack, and a second sun seemed to appear in the sky, blinding light sweeping across the sea!
On the distant Thousand Sunny, Luffy and the others had been warned beforehand. They wore sunglasses and quickly turned away as the light erupted, but their eyes still stung painfully.
That wasn't all. With the nuclear explosion, a massive shockwave erupted. Even from far away, the Thousand Sunny was lifted entirely by the violent blast.
"Gaon Cannon!!!"
Amid the chaos, Franky the cyborg activated the Gaon Cannon at the critical moment, using the recoil to successfully land the Thousand Sunny back on the sea surface.
In the process, they were blown nearly a kilometer away. Mr. 2, unable to secure himself, fell straight into the sea...
Fortunately, Princess Shirahoshi was underwater. Soon, a Sea King surfaced, carrying Mr. 2 on its back.
"Th-thanks!" Mr. 2 lay weakly on the Sea King's back, trembling as he pulled out a mirror to check his face. Dejectedly, he muttered, "My makeup is ruined..."
This was the first time Luffy and the others had witnessed Uranus's attack power. Realizing that their previous distance still wasn't safe, they moved even farther away.
On the Thousand Sunny, Ace watched Uranus's figure in the sky from afar, nervously wondering if Ian had survived the attack. He was very worried.
Uranus using its ultimate move right from the start was within Ace's expectations. Ian had said earlier that the more frequently Uranus used its Devil Fruit abilities, the faster it would need to descend to cool down. No matter which island it tried to land on, Ace and the others had to follow and seize the opportunity to drive the cooling device into Uranus's body...