In the sky at an altitude of ten thousand meters:
Golden Lion approached Uranus with great joy, but just as he got within a hundred meters of Uranus, a surge of dark power suddenly enveloped the entire Uranus.
"Who dares to steal my ancient weapon!"
Seeing this, Golden Lion furiously manipulated the surrounding air currents to wrap around Uranus, attempting to forcibly seize it.
"Whoosh!!!"
However, the Uranus, shrouded in dark power, suddenly erupted with incredible speed, transforming into a streak of black light that swiftly broke free from Golden Lion's encirclement.
After searching for over a decade, Golden Lion had finally found Uranus; how could he allow it to slip away right under his nose?
"Stay right there!!"
Without hesitation, Golden Lion activated his Devil Fruit Awakening power, affecting all matter within a ten-thousand-meter radius, even the air was influenced by the floating fruit's abilities.
When Golden Lion tried to use the power of his Devil Fruit to affect Uranus and materialize it, he found that his Devil Fruit powers could not influence Uranus at all.
So, Golden Lion shifted his strategy to use his own powers to restrict Uranus, preventing it from escaping further.
"Lion's Might · Thousand Cuts Valley!!"
At the same time, the twin swords at Golden Lion's waist were drawn in an instant, mercilessly slashing towards Uranus with all his might.
Even if he couldn't control Uranus, he would destroy it; he absolutely could not allow Uranus to remain under the control of the World Government!
As two immensely powerful slashes struck Uranus, they were suddenly absorbed by the dark energy enveloping Uranus.
At the same time, the dark energy within Uranus intensified, forcibly breaking through Golden Lion's restrictions, transforming into a black light that vanished from Golden Lion's sight in the blink of an eye.
"Stand still!!"
Golden Lion was now completely frantic, recklessly chasing after it, but he couldn't even catch a glimpse of Uranus's shadow, having searched for a long time without seeing anything.
"Damn it!!!!"
Filled with infinite rage, Golden Lion violently stirred the clouds in the sky to vent his anger! After spending over a decade searching for the ancient weapon in the sky, he finally found it, only to have it escape right before his eyes. How could he accept that? He absolutely could not!
"World Government, you wait for me! I will definitely reclaim my ancient weapon from your hands!!"
Even in his fury, Golden Lion realized it was futile; the fact remained that he had finally found the ancient weapon but could not control it. All his efforts over the past decade had been in vain! After venting all his anger, Golden Lion finally calmed down, returning to the Flying Pirates with endless frustration. "Reinhardt, gather everyone with flying abilities, and let's set off to the skies to search for the ancient weapon. And when they find it, they must not approach it!"
After returning to the Flying Pirates, Golden Lion felt increasingly unwilling to accept the situation, so he summoned Reinhardt and mobilized all the resources of the Flying Pirates to search for the ancient weapon.
Based on his previous deductions, he concluded that the ancient weapon was mobile and flew at a fixed altitude.
He had not approached it before because the ancient weapon had been flying at a constant speed; it was only when he got close that the ancient weapon exhibited abnormal behavior.
This indicated that as long as someone approached a certain range, the ancient weapon would behave abnormally. If they did not get close, it would not show any anomalies, which was Golden Lion's opportunity.
"Captain, do you have specific news about the ancient weapon?"
Reinhardt asked curiously.
"I found the ancient weapon, but it escaped from me!"
Facing his absolutely trusted deputy, Golden Lion had no intention of hiding the truth, so he recounted his previous experience.
"What? The ancient weapon really exists and is moving at such a high altitude! No wonder we haven't found it after so many years!"
"Captain, we must do everything we can to find it. If we can locate and control the ancient weapon before the great battle begins, the Flying Pirates will undoubtedly be the ultimate winners!"
Reinhardt said excitedly.
With the clues provided by Golden Lion, the difficulty of searching for the ancient weapon was greatly reduced! Infinite Pirates: "Husband, the Flying Pirates are making unusual movements."
Such a massive entity as the Flying Pirates could not hide its actions from the Law Network. Shakky received the news immediately and relayed it to Li Yuan.
"Oh? The originally normal search for Uranus's flying power has been mobilized. Could it be that Golden Lion has discovered the trace of Uranus?"
Seeing the information in his hands, Li Yuan was very curious. With the battle not far off, Golden Lion's unusual movements were quite intriguing! "Husband, should we join in?"
Yadina, who was beside Li Yuan, also saw the information. In her view, if the Infinite Pirates could gain control of another ancient weapon, their chances of victory would rise to an unprecedented level!
"Let's move. According to Shakky, Golden Lion and his crew have locked their altitude to nearly outer space. We will also deploy all our resources that were previously searching for Uranus to this height. Perhaps we will find unexpected surprises."
Li Yuan nodded. Since they were going to search anyway, it was better to follow Golden Lion's trajectory rather than search aimlessly. After all, they had been searching for over a decade without success. Changing direction to follow Golden Lion might lead to a discovery. Or if they couldn't find it themselves, discovering that Golden Lion had found it would still be a form of indirect success, right?
Mary Geoise, Pangea Castle: "Who on earth could trigger Uranus's self-protection program!"
Compared to Golden Lion's inability to accept the situation, Imu was even more unable to accept it.
He never expected that Uranus would one day activate this program, something even Joy Boy could not achieve! Uranus operated in the sky, and aside from him, it was impossible for anyone to find it.
In eight hundred years, he had never encountered such a situation. Even now, Imu found it hard to believe that someone could find Uranus and nearly steal it away! Just moments ago, Uranus had sent him a message indicating that someone had approached it, prompting him to activate the contingency he had left within Uranus, along with Uranus's self-protection system, to successfully escape.
If he hadn't left a contingency on Uranus, it was likely that Uranus's self-protection program would not have been able to escape the other's control.
"Ask the Five Elders to see what has been happening at sea recently!"
Imu was unsure who the intruder was, so he decided to consult his subordinates for information.
"Lord Imu has awakened! We must hurry over!"
"But it's not time for Lord Imu to awaken! Why has he woken up? Did he sense something?"
"We still don't know why, but if Lord Imu inquires about recent events, how should we respond?"
"What else can we say? We must answer truthfully, but we shouldn't let Lord Imu think we are incompetent. We need to show our confidence that we can definitely win this war!"
"…"
After being summoned by Imu, the Five Elders immediately set aside all their tasks and headed to Pangea Castle to meet with Imu.
(End of Chapter)