Deep within the forest.
Roya was standing in a distant standoff against the Level One Beast, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape that had suddenly appeared.
After killing the Level Three Beast, the giant wild boar, Roya had been preparing to sheath his sword and leave when the enormous Brown-Backed Giant Ape suddenly emerged from the forest ahead.
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape was nearly three times Roya’s height.
Standing there, it resembled a small mountain, radiating a tremendous sense of pressure.
Its arms were extraordinarily thick, and the explosive muscles covering its entire body made it obvious that it possessed terrifying strength.
A giant wild boar like the one from earlier could probably be torn apart by it with its bare hands!
This Brown-Backed Giant Ape was clearly on an entirely different level from the giant wild boar.
Looking at the creature, Roya’s expression finally became serious.
“So this really is an island of monsters.
A beast of this level…
even ten ordinary recruits together probably wouldn’t be enough to keep it from tearing them apart.”
ROAR!!!
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape seemed to have been pursuing the giant wild boar.
It had originally regarded the boar as its prey, only to discover that the seemingly frail human in front of it had killed it.
Its prey had been stolen.
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape was naturally furious, feeling as though its territory had been violated.
It roared and pounded its massive chest before a vicious glint suddenly appeared in its eyes as it stared at Roya.
Whoosh!!
In the next instant, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape charged straight at Roya.
Its speed was astonishing, far beyond that of the giant wild boar from before.
As its enormous fist swung toward him, Roya instinctively retreated.
Yet almost at the exact same moment, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape’s massive fist came crashing down.
Facing the enormous fist, Roya didn’t hesitate.
He swung Engetsu and brought the blade down viciously against it.
Slash!
A bloody gash appeared, and blood sprayed through the air.
Even the Brown-Backed Giant Ape couldn’t easily withstand the sharpness of Engetsu.
However, its defenses were far stronger than those of the giant wild boar.
The slash merely cut through its finger.
It failed to sever the tough bone beneath.
“ROAR!!”
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape had expected to eliminate the tiny insect in front of it with a single punch.
Instead, that tiny insect had actually injured it.
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape finally became enraged.
In this forest, aside from a handful of other Level One Beasts, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape was practically the strongest creature around.
Even the other Level One Beasts did not dare provoke it.
It was virtually the undisputed ruler of this territory.
And now, it had actually been injured by Roya.
Naturally, it was completely enraged and intended to tear apart the tiny creature that had dared to challenge it.
“The skin and muscles can be cut, but I can’t sever the bone?”
Roya used the force of his previous slash to retreat more than ten meters before coming to a stop.
“It’s really tough…”
He paused.
“No.
I should say that my strength is still too weak.”
“To encounter such a powerful Beast so soon after entering…”
Roya lowered his head slightly.
When he raised it again, however, there wasn’t the slightest trace of fear in his eyes.
Instead, the corners of his mouth curved upward.
It looked like a bright, sunny smile.
Yet for some reason, it gave off an unsettling feeling, as though something unimaginably dark was concealed behind that radiant smile.
“So…”
Roya smiled as he looked at the Brown-Backed Giant Ape.
“Is this good luck or bad luck?”
As he spoke, Roya slowly raised Engetsu.
He held the blade horizontally before his chest, then extended his arm.
The edge of the sword pointed directly at the Brown-Backed Giant Ape.
The creature had clearly realized that it was the sword in Roya’s hand that had injured it.
This time, when it charged forward with a furious roar, its eyes remained fixed on Engetsu.
When Roya suddenly raised his sword and brought it down, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape reacted with astonishing speed.
It directly caught the blade of Engetsu between two fingers!
An enormous force abruptly halted the downward momentum of the sword.
A human-like look of contempt appeared in the Brown-Backed Giant Ape’s eyes.
It was about to yank the sword away with brute force.
First, it would take away the weapon that had injured it.
Then it would properly teach the tiny creature that had dared to hurt it a lesson.
However—
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape failed to notice that when Roya brought down his sword, a flicker of flame-like light flashed through his eyes.
Vmmm!
Almost at the exact moment the Brown-Backed Giant Ape caught Engetsu between its fingers, before it even had time to pull—
A mass of blazing golden flames suddenly erupted from the blade of Engetsu with astonishing speed.
The sudden appearance of the flames caused the Brown-Backed Giant Ape to freeze for an instant.
BOOM!!
In that instant of hesitation, the blazing golden flames surged forward like a cloud of golden-red sunset and engulfed the Brown-Backed Giant Ape’s face.
The flames struck it head-on.
Only then did the Brown-Backed Giant Ape realize what was happening.
Its enormous eyes filled with terror, and it immediately attempted to retreat.
But it was already too late.
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape retreated quickly.
The flames moved even faster.
In almost an instant, they swept over the top of its head, engulfing it completely and setting its brown mane ablaze.
Royaring flames suddenly surged into the sky.
Like a burning crimson cloud, they completely enveloped the Brown-Backed Giant Ape, transforming it into a gigantic creature wreathed in fire.
Under the scorching flames, the forest was filled almost instantly with sizzling sounds and the smell of burning flesh.
ROAR!!!
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape’s furious roar had become a heaven-shaking scream of agony.
The flames that had erupted so suddenly had not only burned its eyes but had transformed its entire body into a living inferno.
Its entire body was engulfed in crimson flames.
Overwhelmed by pain, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape no longer had any thought of fighting Roya.
It smashed backward through a tree as thick as a man’s arm before collapsing to the ground and rolling frantically, desperately trying to extinguish the flames consuming its body.
But—
No matter how violently it rolled, setting nearly every nearby bush ablaze in the process, the flames refused to go out.
Instead, they grew larger and larger.
It was as though they intended to turn the entire surrounding area into a sea of fire.
…
“What?!”
“That’s impossible!”
Almost the instant flames erupted from Engetsu, countless exclamations rang out simultaneously inside the surveillance room aboard the Marine warship.
“Flames?
Sword Intent?!”
“Hey, hey!
You’ve got to be kidding!”
Every Marine officer present widened their eyes as they stared at Roya on the surveillance screen, their faces filled with disbelief.
Because Roya was the first person to encounter a Level One Beast, he had attracted the attention of most of the Marine officers.
When they had initially seen Roya forced backward by the Brown-Backed Giant Ape’s punch, followed by the giant ape catching his descending sword between its fingers, they had all assumed that Roya was about to be torn to pieces by the enraged beast.
But who could have imagined that flames would suddenly erupt from the edge of Roya’s sword?
The flames swept forward and instantly engulfed the Brown-Backed Giant Ape!
Every Marine officer present was left utterly astonished.
This was especially true of Roya’s former Rear Admiral instructor.
When he had witnessed Roya kill the giant wild boar with a single slash, he had been surprised by Roya’s enormous improvement over the past month.
But that had been nothing more than surprise.
Now, however, after seeing the flames erupt from the blade when Roya swung his sword, he nearly popped his eyes out of their sockets.
You’ve got to be kidding!
Roya wasn’t a Logia user of the Flame-Flame Fruit.
If he were, Garp should have mentioned it.
Moreover, judging from Roya’s previous performance, he didn’t seem like a Logia Devil Fruit user at all.
And the flames had erupted from the blade rather than from Roya’s body.
That left only two possibilities.
One was that the speed of the sword slash had reached an extreme level, creating enough friction with the air to produce flames.
The other was…
Sword Intent!
A fire-type Sword Intent!