Three days later, at the temporary docking point for incoming spacecraft outside Xandar.
"Mr. Hawking, welcome to Xandar. We hope you have a pleasant journey!"
After checking Hawking's identification, a beautiful pink-skinned Xandarian staff member with large wavy curls smiled and handed him a clearance permit.
"Thank you!"
Hawking took back his identification, walked out of the docking point, and stepped onto the bustling streets.
Why had he come to Xandar?
Naturally, to find Star-Lord—and Star-Lord's adoptive father, Yondu.
He needed Star-Lord as a stepping stone to get onto Ego's Planet.
As a living planet that had existed for millions of years, Ego might not be as powerful as the Judges, but his strength was certainly not to be underestimated.
A mere avatar of his could instantly destroy hundreds of the universe's most advanced spacecraft. He could also scatter seeds across so many planets and turn them all into his avatars.
More importantly, Hawking did not intend to destroy Ego outright. He wanted to capture Ego alive and use the enormous life energy of a Celestial to cultivate the Divine Tree Fruit.
Therefore, the best approach was not to immediately attack after locating Ego's coordinates. Instead, he would use Star-Lord to lower Ego's guard, then secretly infiltrate the brain at the core of his weakness and directly take control of it.
As for Yondu, only Yondu knew the coordinates of Ego's Planet. To go there and plant the Divine Tree Fruit, Hawking first had to find Yondu.
The planetary coordinates Ryder the 20th had given him did not include Contraxia, the Ravagers' gathering place.
After all, it was separated by an entire star system. Zenn-La was not the Kree Empire and did not possess such a powerful intelligence network. It only had the coordinates of some relatively famous planets in