In the forest.
A small group of recruits had banded together to attack a Level Two Ferocious Beast.
With reasonably coordinated teamwork, they finally managed to kill the Level Two Ferocious Beast, though it had been an arduous battle.
“No wonder it’s a Level Two Ferocious Beast… That was seriously dangerous!”
“But we still managed to kill it, didn’t we?”
One of them was covered in blood and injuries.
He forced a relaxed smile, but in the very next moment, his expression suddenly froze.
Seeing his reaction, the others also looked puzzled.
They followed his gaze and immediately saw that the entire forest in that direction had turned red.
Taking a closer look, they realized that it was actually a sea of flames!
“Is that… the forest on fire?!”
The few recruits stared in astonishment.
Once they realized what was happening, they could only look at one another in shock.
“Is this part of the examination too?
You’ve got to be kidding!”
“No, this must be an accident.
The instructors will probably put it out soon.
Otherwise, if this keeps spreading, there’s no way we’ll be able to continue the examination.”
“That’s strange.
How did the forest suddenly catch fire?”
The recruits were shocked and uneasy, but none of them had any intention of going over to investigate.
They weren’t idiots.
Only someone with a death wish would deliberately walk toward a raging sea of flames.
Most of the other recruits reacted in much the same way.
Whenever they saw the sea of fire, they retreated from it, keeping their distance.
Not a single person dared to approach, and they could only watch from afar, some astonished and others frightened.
The area engulfed by the flames continued to expand.
Eventually, nearly every recruit in the forest noticed the fire.
By then, some of them had even begun to feel a sense of dread.
If this continued, there was no way they could carry on with the combat examination!
The Ferocious Beasts throughout the forest seemed to be gradually going berserk because of the wildfire.
The danger level of the forest had increased by at least twofold.
At this rate, the recruits would suffer heavy casualties before the flames even had a chance to spread across the entire island.
In fact, at that very moment, the Marine officers inside the warship’s monitoring room were also having a headache over the situation.
At first, when the Marine officers saw Roya’s flame abilities, they had all been astonished.
But as the fire continued to spread, their astonishment gradually turned into shock.
And when the forest was eventually transformed into a sea of flames, their jaws nearly dropped to the floor.
Every one of them wore an expression of disbelief.
Roya’s sword intent of flame could actually be unleashed without any apparent limit?!
You’ve got to be kidding!
Was this really sword intent of flame, or was it the power of a Logia Devil Fruit—the Flame-Flame Fruit?!
With nearly the entire forest turned into a sea of fire, if this continued, the combat examination would probably have to be forcibly suspended.
And the reason for suspending it would actually be that Roya, a recruit participating in the combat examination, possessed power beyond what the examination grounds could contain.
That was simply absurd!
For a moment, all the Marine officers were left with a headache, unsure of how to deal with the situation.
By rights, they should stop Roya immediately.
However, the examination regulations did not explicitly state that destroying the forest was prohibited.
“Five monitoring devices have already been burned.”
“Is this a combat examination or a forest-fire examination…?”
At this point, nearly every Marine officer was staring at the monitor.
On the screen, Roya was repeatedly swinging his sword, sending wave after wave of flames surging outward.
Every one of them was utterly exasperated.
They had conducted combat examinations many times before, but they had never encountered a situation like this!
The problem was no longer how many points Roya could earn.
The problem was whether this combat examination could even continue.
Even Zephyr couldn’t help but smile wryly.
“Garp, if this continues, we’re going to have to stop him.”
“That brat really does whatever he wants!
Hahahaha!”
Garp had already completely relaxed after watching Roya casually crush the combined assault of more than a dozen Ferocious Beasts.
He simply continued eating his senbei.
Zephyr was speechless at Garp’s reaction.
Only then did he remember that Garp himself was an especially reckless man.
His son was even more reckless, having gone so far as to oppose the World Government and establish the Revolutionary Army.
And now this nephew of his was just as fond of causing trouble.
Even if he joined the Marines, he would probably become a huge headache in the future.
The thought alone gave Zephyr another headache.
Just as Zephyr was preparing to stop Roya and put out the fire so that the combat examination could continue, Roya finally stopped hunting the Ferocious Beasts.
The expansion of the sea of flames also abruptly came to a halt.
Under Roya’s control, the flames covering an area that amounted to nearly one-tenth of the entire island gradually weakened and died down.
Seeing this, all the Marine officers present breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, they looked at one another in disbelief.
A mere recruit from the ordinary camp had nearly ruined an entire combat examination and given so many Marine officers a collective headache.
Keeping a recruit like this in the ordinary camp was practically a joke.
The Elite Camp, filled with monstrous recruits, was where someone like Roya—an absolute freak—belonged!
…
Amid the towering sea of flames.
The fire suddenly split apart, as though welcoming a Flame King.
Roya slowly emerged from within, holding Engetsu, its blade wrapped in flames.
He looked around at the surrounding landscape, rubbed his chin, and muttered to himself,
“This should probably be enough.
If I keep burning things, the examiners are probably going to lose their patience.”
With that thought, the corners of Roya’s mouth lifted slightly.
He brought Engetsu, still wrapped in flames, in front of him.
Then he brought the index and middle fingers of his other hand together and lightly brushed them across the blade.
Silently.
The flames wrapped around the sword gradually dissipated.
As the flames around the blade disappeared, the enormous burning forest behind Roya seemed to freeze for an instant.
Then the flames began to weaken.
Finally, the entire sea of fire was completely extinguished, as though everything that could possibly burn had already been consumed, leaving nothing behind.
Once the flames died out, they revealed a vast stretch of land devoid of any greenery.
Only charred black earth and crimson-red patches remained.
“The flames… have gone out?!”
Behind Roya, Hina stared at the scene and couldn’t help murmuring in astonishment.
Hina had been following Roya the entire time.
By the time she recovered from her initial shock, the area around them had already been transformed into a sea of flames.
She could only continue forward by following Roya; otherwise, there was no way she could have escaped the inferno.
Roya didn’t mind Hina following him.
Hina wasn’t completely useless, either.
From time to time, she would attack Ferocious Beasts that Roya didn’t have time to pursue.
After all, she was armed with firearms, so her effective attack range was still greater than Roya’s current range, since his flames could only extend a few meters around him.
At this moment, even Roya himself couldn’t help revealing a trace of surprise as he looked over the scorched earth.
The flames had concealed everything before.
Only after they had completely died down could he finally see just how enormous an area he had destroyed.
Roya quickly recovered from his surprise.
He temporarily ignored Hina, who was still stunned by what she had witnessed, and focused his mind.
A translucent status panel appeared before his eyes.
Stage Two: Ancient Sword Soul +6
Attributes: Attack Power +75, Strength +20
Special Attribute: All Things in Creation, Turn to Ashes!
— Sword attacks can freely be imbued with fire damage.
(Evolution Conditions not met.)
Enhancement Energy: 70/70
“I didn’t expect that even this chaotic kind of fighting would increase my Enhancement Energy by so much.”
Seeing that his Enhancement Energy had reached its maximum and that he could perform another Enhancement, a trace of surprise flashed across Roya’s face.
However, he didn’t hesitate.
He immediately selected Enhancement.
Buzz!
A golden flash of light, visible only to Roya, flickered past.
When the status panel appeared again, it had already changed.
Stage Two: Ancient Sword Soul +7
Attributes: Attack Power +80, Strength +22
Special Attribute: All Things in Creation, Turn to Ashes!
— Sword attacks can freely be imbued with fire damage.
(Evolution Conditions not met.)
Enhancement Energy: 0/80
“Before I knew it, I’ve already reached +7.
It looks like the Third Stage isn’t far away anymore.”
Roya looked at the status panel and muttered to himself.
When he had reached +6, it had still felt as though there was quite some distance to go.
But now that he had reached +7, he suddenly felt that the evolution to the Third Stage was already within reach.