High above, Kaido clashed one-on-one with Saint Nusjuro, while Marco was forced to hold off three Gorosei alone. As their battles raged, Uranus finally pushed free of the spatial wormhole.
The colossal weapon—nearly ten thousand meters across—hung in the sky. Even without firing, its mere presence made the Pirates on Egghead Island tremble. The gigantic, disk-shaped saucer that had emerged from the darkness felt like something out of a nightmare. Many of the Pirates found themselves wishing they had more legs just to scramble onto the warships faster.
But those already aboard the warships were no calmer. Even on deck, they knew they weren't safe. Staring up at Uranus, a trace of despair flickered in their eyes.
This was an ancient weapon—Uranus—the same thing that could wipe out Wano Country with a single blast.
How could anyone hope to escape something like that?
Marco's gaze locked onto Uranus, his expression dark. Hemmed in by Saint Peter, Saint Saturn, and Saint Warcury, he had no way to strike at the weapon itself. He shouted down to the pirates below, "Run! Get away from Egghead Island, now!"
Saint Saturn let out a cold sneer. "Hmph. It's far too late to run."
As his words fell, the saucer-shaped Uranus began to bristle with electromagnetic cannon barrels, which unfolded from its underside. White energy started to gather at their tips.
"Damn it…" Marco's eyes narrowed. The light was so intense he could barely look directly at Uranus, but he realized what was happening: the weapon was charging. If its energy shield weren't active right now, this might be his only chance to destroy it.
The energy on Uranus's cannons built higher and higher, the white glow growing so blinding that the fights around Egghead briefly stalled.
Saint Saturn and the others spoke calmly, almost bored. "Once the charge is complete, Egghead Island will vanish. Even if a few of you manage to flee by pure luck, the Phoenix Pirates will all die here today."
"So bright…" Pirates on the ground threw their arms over their faces, shielding their eyes from the searing glare above. The beams from Uranus's electromagnetic cannons bathed the entire island in white, like a gigantic circular ceiling lamp hanging overhead, making it impossible to even open their eyes.
Marco also noticed the blinding light tearing across the sky. A thought flashed through his mind: with light this intense, Saturn and the others shouldn't be able to see him clearly either. Just like him, they'd have to rely on Observation Haki to track each other's positions.
With that realization, Marco started suppressing his aura and shot straight toward Uranus.
"How could this be..." At that moment, all four Gorosei were stunned—their observation Haki could no longer pick up Marco's presence.
Yet with Uranus blazing like a sun, they couldn't lock onto him with their eyes either.
"It's Observation Kill, damn it..." Saint Warcury reacted first, face darkening.
"Not good; he must be trying to destroy Uranus!" Saturn shouted immediately.
The moment his words fell, the other four Gorosei snapped back to their senses and all rushed upward, flying toward the sky above Uranus.
By now, Marco had already climbed higher than Uranus itself, reaching the airspace above it—roughly seven thousand meters from the ground. Looking down at the top of the massive weapon, he spotted something like a gemstone constantly pulsing with red light.
"Is that it?" Marco fixed his gaze on the gem crowning Uranus. Even from here, he could feel the immense energy sealed inside the stone.
"Is it an energy stone like Emit's?" The style and structure of the crystal were almost identical to the one Emit had torn from his own chest back then—but this one was far larger.
Most of the gigantic energy stone was buried in Uranus's machinery, with only a small portion exposed. But even that exposed part alone was more than a hundred meters across.
Black flames ignited around Marco as he spoke. He dived toward the energy stone, Haki blades forming around his right hand as he poured all his haki into it. "If I destroy this, Uranus should stop, right?"
The Haki blades were wrapped in black flames as he roared, "Destruction Phoenix Sword!"
Boom—! Crackle crackle crackle—!
Marco's Haki blades drove straight into the energy stone. Purple lightning erupted wildly from the crystal, arcing and dancing as it crackled nonstop.
"As expected, the energy shield is gone."
At that moment, the electromagnetic cannon barrels of Uranus, which had been brimming with energy and were just about to fire, suddenly went dark. The white light coursing along them faded out, one after another, as if someone had cut the power in an instant.
On the ships of the Three Emperors Alliance, pirates stared up in confusion. The attack had clearly been about to launch—and then the gathered energy just vanished.
"Did Marco stop Uranus?" Jozu immediately wondered.
Big Mom bellowed, "Doesn't matter! Full speed ahead and get away from Egghead Island now!
At her command, every ship in the Three Emperors Alliance surged forward, hastening their escape from Egghead.
High above them, at the very top of Uranus, seven thousand meters in the sky, Marco drove more and more force into the Haki blades around his right hand. With a sharp crack, a fracture split across the energy stone crowning Uranus. The moment that crack appeared, it was like smashing the main switch—lightning exploded across Uranus's massive body.
The Gorosei and their group, having just flown up, arrived in time to see it. Their pupils shrank in shock. Saturn, his face twisted with fury and disbelief, shouted, "Marco, stop!" You cannot destroy that thing…!"
As he yelled, the four of them burst forward, accelerating straight toward Marco.
Catching them in the corner of his eye, Marco let out a cold snort. "You tell me not to destroy it, and I'm supposed to listen? So this really is the core of Uranus… That just means I have even more reason to take him down."
Black flames erupted from Marco's body like a volcano blowing its top, surging wildly. The Haki blades in his hand grew denser and sharper as he roared, "Aaaah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!!!!"
With that ferocious shout, Marco flooded the cracks in the energy stone with Armament Haki, hammering it from within while he kept twisting and driving his strength from outside. Under the combined internal and external assault, more and more fractures spread across the stone. At last, it couldn't endure any longer.
With a thunderous boom, Marco's arm punched straight through the energy stone. Gripping his Haki blades like a spear, he thrust again and again, ruthlessly tearing the energy stone apart.
"This is bad..."
As the Gorosei watched the energy stone shatter, their expressions twisted in shock, pupils tightening in unison. They all understood what the destruction of the energy stone meant.
Up above, the instant Marco smashed it apart, a chill ran through him. Something was wrong. The scattered fragments of the energy stone suddenly flushed red, then began to blaze with a blinding crimson light. Every shard was brimming with terrifying power.
'This is going to explode...' Marco's pupils shrank violently as a suffocating sense of death closed in on his heart.
He tried to move, to get away, but it was already too late. He was completely surrounded by the floating fragments, each ruined piece of the energy stone now shining with an intense red glow.
An instant later, the massive energy stone crowning Uranus flared with a blinding white light that swallowed everything.
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