Chapter 310: Weitian's Life on the Line

"Uncle!" Flames suddenly surged across Weitian's body as a pair of blazing wings unfurled, carrying her soaring into the sky.

"Weitian!"

Seeing Weitian abruptly charge forward, Drake stood stunned for a moment. Uncle? What on earth?!

By the time Weitian had already reached high altitude, Drake finally snapped back to reality, his expression changing drastically. "It's dangerous!"

He knew Im's terrifying nature better than anyone. Taking a life was child's play to her, even if the target was an Admiral-level combatant!

"Phoenix Radiance: Floral Shadow!"

Soaring through the air, the massive divine phoenix spun violently, unleashing torrents of searing flames as Weitian fully transformed into a ten-meter-long celestial phoenix.

The moment she arrived before Im, her wings snapped shut, compressing the surrounding flames until the phoenix head pierced through the atmospheric tempest like a razor-sharp blade.

Im tossed Kizaru aside, raised a single hand, and clenched her fingers. In an instant, the swirling black fog coalesced into a black dragon dozens of meters long. As Weitian surged forward, the beast snapped open its abyssal maw.

Lined with serrated fangs and swirling with a vortex of dark mist, a single glance into its depths was enough to drag one's soul into oblivion.

"That is..." Dragon murmured, his expression shifting subtly as he watched the abyssal creature take form.

Im offered a cold, faint smirk.

This technique had been copied directly from her recent exchange with Dragon. Yet despite its visual resemblance, the internal principle was entirely distinct.

Dragon's technique relied on the properties of a cyclone, with its core power rooted in sharp, cutting winds that granted the dragon terrifying tearing force. The black dragon forged from dark fog, however, drew upon an entirely different source of power.

Under the horrified gazes of the onlookers, the celestial phoenix Weitian had transformed into was swallowed whole by the black dragon's maw.

In an instant, a burst of fiery crimson flared inside the dragon's throat as Weitian attempted to incinerate the fog from within.

Yet that fire flickered for only a few moments before all commotion within the dark mist ceased completely. From the outside, not a single trace of movement remained.

Inside the dark fog, Weitian was desperately attacking the surrounding darkness. At first, the unique flames of the celestial phoenix could contest the fog on equal footing.

Gradually, however, Weitian realized the flames she could produce were dwindling. The surrounding mist flowed ceaselessly, relentlessly surging into every opening to constrict her.

It felt like falling into a bottomless abyss; the more she struggled, the deeper she sank.

SHING!

The tip of Drake's blade thrust forward, piercing through layered planes of space. The black fog possessed extreme viscosity, making it nearly impossible for ordinary fighters to escape once snared.

While it could trap others, it could not hold Drake, whose mobility relied entirely on spatial power.

Puncturing the localized spatial fabric, Drake plunged straight into the black fog. Tearing through the spatial layer forced open a massive rift in the mist, and Drake slipped inside instantly.

"Drake!" Ace roared, stepping forward alongside Sabo and Luffy to confront Im.

"How is Drake doing?" Luffy asked frantically.

That sudden maneuver had startled him as well. For Drake to dive directly into the black fog seemed far too reckless.

"Why is he being so impulsive?!"

Hearing Luffy's words, both Ace and Sabo wore bizarre expressions.

Luffy was arguably the last person on the sea qualified to criticize anyone for being impulsive. He was the one who never used his brain before acting, yet here he was lecturing others about rashness.

"What's wrong?" Noticing their strange looks, Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"N-Nothing... Luffy, you're right. Drake was too impulsive," Ace said, waving his hand before pulling down his hat, his gaze turning grim. "Sabo, Luffy, that black fog likely requires her active manipulation. We need to disrupt her control."

"With Drake's strength, he should have no trouble breaking out as long as she isn't actively directing it."

"Got it!" Luffy clapped his hands together, his legs coiling with explosive force as he launched himself forward like a rocket.

"Hey, Luffy! Don't run off on your... own..." Ace paused, then let out a helpless chuckle. "Forget it, you wouldn't listen anyway."

"Ain't that the truth," Sabo smiled as he stepped forward. "Let's back him up, Ace!"

The three brothers charged at Im once more.

Confronted with their synchronized offensive, Im advanced instead of retreating. In contrast, not a single member of the Five Elders dared step forward to assist her, choosing instead to fall back thousands of meters.

Inside the black fog, Drake traversed continuously. The dark mist possessed the property to sever all external perception; neither his Observation Haki nor his scouter display could detect a thing.

"Weitian!" Drake called out anxiously. If she remained trapped and immobilized within this mist, it wouldn't be long before...

With no time to overthink, he executed continuous, uninterrupted spatial warps to search the void. Minutes ticked by, yet not a single trace of Weitian appeared.

According to Drake's mental calculations, he should have swept through every sector of the fog by now.

He had mentally divided the fog into dozens of distinct spatial zones. Had Weitian still been actively resisting, the space she occupied would certainly be larger than one of those zones.

This meant she had already been completely incapacitated, bound tightly in layers of black fog and unable to move.

He had to hurry, or the situation would become fatal!

No one knew whether being trapped inside would cut off her oxygen supply. The longer she remained trapped, the worse her condition would become.

"I have to narrow down the search grid!" Drake made his decision instantly, pushing his spatial warps to maximum output without pause, determined to find her even if it drained every ounce of his stamina.

He moved so rapidly that afterimages blurred across the void. Just as he was about to complete eighty percent of the grid, Drake's pupils contracted sharply, his face darkening to the extreme.

The volume of the black fog had expanded.

Originally, the fog had been relatively contained; at his velocity, sweeping through it once took less than a minute, as non-stop spatial warps yielded unimaginable search speed.

Now, its volume had increased tenfold!

This was not merely a matter of time. A larger volume meant his stamina consumption and required search duration would multiply drastically.

Whether his stamina could hold out long enough was now a serious question!

After all, his physical reserves were not limitless.

"No time to think!" Drake shook his head, diving straight back into the needle-in-a-haystack search.

Five minutes passed, and his stamina was nearing total exhaustion. Just then, an ominous premonition crept into Drake's chest.

As if confirming his dread, a pair of colossal eyes materialized directly before him, shifting their gaze to lock onto Drake.

"Are you trying to find that woman?"

The moment those eyes appeared, Drake knew searching on his own was futile. Within this domain of black fog, relocating Weitian was effortless for Im.

Without precise positional data, finding her was mathematically impossible. Furthermore, since Im's manifestation could appear here, it proved she could pinpoint his exact location at all times.

When the enemy knew your position, keeping something hidden from you was laughably easy.

Drake did not bother replying, instead frantically calling out to the system within his consciousness.

System! You damned system! If you don't show up right this second, don't ever bother coming out again! We're completely done! Driven by sheer desperation, Drake discarded all patience, laying down his absolute ultimatum.

[I'm here, I'm here. Good grief, your temper has certainly flared after just a few days apart.]

System, this is a life-or-death emergency! Give me a solution, fast! Drake summarized the situation with maximum brevity and precision, staring tensely at the interface.

This time, the system did not make him wait, delivering the solution immediately.

While Ace and the others were watching the black fog with deep concern, brilliant arcs of lightning suddenly erupted from within the darkness, sending spatial rifts tearing across the sky.

The black fog was cleanly dismantled and partitioned into isolated fragments. Within one of those detached sections, a stunning, delicate face faintly emerged—though Weitian had already fallen unconscious.

Like a rainbow streaking across the sky, Drake materialized before Weitian in an instant. Placing his palm against the fog, he tore through the spatial fabric, utterly dispelling the dark mist.

Losing her support, Weitian began to plummet from the sky, but Drake wrapped an arm around her waist, catching her securely against him.