At this moment, deep within the forest.
Roya was facing off at a distance with the suddenly appearing Level 1 ferocious beast—the Brown-Backed Giant Ape.
After slaying the Level 3 ferocious beast, the giant wild boar, Roya had been about to sheathe his sword and leave when this massive Brown-Backed Giant Ape suddenly emerged from the forest ahead.
The ape's towering figure was nearly three times Roya's height. Standing there, it was like a small mountain, radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Its incredibly thick arms and explosively powerful muscles all testified to its terrifying strength. A creature like the giant wild boar could likely be torn apart by it with sheer brute force!
This Brown-Backed Giant Ape was clearly not on the same level as the previous giant wild boar.
Looking at it, Roya's expression finally turned serious.
"So this really is an island of monsters. A monster of this level—ten ordinary recruits combined probably wouldn't even be enough for it to tear apart."
Roar!!!
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape seemed to have been chasing the giant wild boar. It had already regarded the boar as its prey, only to find that it had been killed by Roya, this seemingly insignificant, skinny little creature.
With its prey stolen, the ape was naturally enraged. Feeling insulted, it let out a furious howl, pounded its massive chest, and a fierce killing intent 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. Almost the moment Roya instinctively tried to retreat, the ape's enormous fist had already smashed down toward him.
Facing that massive fist, Roya did not hesitate. He swung Engetsu directly, slashing hard toward the ape's fist.
Slash!!
A streak of blood appeared instantly, and blood splattered everywhere.
Even the Brown-Backed Giant Ape could not completely withstand Engetsu's sharpness. However, its defenses were clearly far stronger than the giant wild boar's. This strike only sliced open its fingers and failed to sever its tough bones.
"Roar!!"
Expecting to crush Roya with a single punch, only to be injured instead, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape finally erupted in fury.
Within this forest, aside from a handful of other Level 1 ferocious beasts, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape was almost unrivaled. Even other Level 1 beasts dared not provoke it.
It was virtually a tyrant of the island.
Now that it had been wounded by Roya, its rage exploded completely. It was determined to tear this insolent little insect into pieces!
"I can cut through its skin and muscles, but not its bones? That's really tough… No—more like my strength is still too weak."
Using the momentum of his slash, Roya retreated more than ten meters before stopping.
"To run into such a powerful ferocious beast so soon after entering…"
Roya lowered his head slightly. When he looked up again, there was no trace of fear on his face. Instead, a faint curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
It looked like a bright, sunny smile—but for some reason, it sent a chill down one's spine, as if behind that sunlight lurked absolute darkness.
"So then… is this luck, or misfortune?"
As he spoke calmly to the Brown-Backed Giant Ape, Roya slowly raised Engetsu, holding it horizontally across his chest before extending his arm straight out.
The sword tip lightly pointed toward the ape.
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape clearly understood now that it was the sword in Roya's hand that had injured it. This time, as it roared and charged forward, its gaze was locked tightly onto the blade.
When Roya raised the sword and suddenly brought it down in a slash, the ape reacted swiftly—using two fingers to clamp down on Engetsu's blade!
That tremendous strength forcibly stopped the downward slash.
A trace of human-like disdain appeared in the ape's eyes. It was about to yank the sword away, intending to first disarm Roya and then thoroughly "teach a lesson" to this little insect that dared to wound it.
However—
The Brown-Backed Giant Ape failed to notice that, as Roya swung his sword, a flicker of flame-like light flashed through his eyes.
Buzz!
Almost the instant the ape clamped onto the blade—and before it could even begin pulling—a mass of scorching golden flames suddenly erupted from Engetsu's blade at lightning speed.
The sudden flames caused the ape to freeze for an instant.
Boom!!
In that brief moment of hesitation, the blazing golden flames surged forward like a cloud of crimson-gold sunset, burning straight toward the ape's face.
Only then did the Brown-Backed Giant Ape realize what was happening. A look of extreme terror filled its enormous eyes as it tried to retreat without hesitation.
But it was already too late.
The faster it retreated, the faster the flames surged. In an instant, the fire poured down over its head, immediately igniting all of its brown fur!
Roaring flames shot skyward like a crimson cloud, completely engulfing the ape and turning it into a gigantic fire ape.
Under the searing flames, sizzling sounds rang out almost instantly, accompanied by the smell of roasting meat.
Roar!!!
The ape's roar had turned into a thunderous scream of agony.
Those suddenly erupting flames not only scorched its eyes, but transformed its entire body into a blazing inferno, red flames raging from head to toe.
In its agony, the Brown-Backed Giant Ape could no longer think about fighting Roya. After smashing its back through a tree as thick as a bowl, it screamed and rolled madly across the ground, trying desperately to extinguish the flames.
But—
No matter how wildly it rolled, even setting nearby bushes ablaze, it could not put out the fire. Instead, the flames only grew stronger.
As if they were about to turn the entire area into a sea of fire!
---
"What?!"
"That's impossible!"
Almost the very moment flames erupted from Engetsu's blade, shocked cries rang out simultaneously in the surveillance room aboard the Marine warship.
"Flames? Sword aura?!"
"Hey—hey—are you kidding me?!"
All of the Marine officers stared wide-eyed at the image of Roya on the screen, their faces filled with disbelief.
Since Roya was the first to encounter a Level 1 ferocious beast, he had drawn the attention of most of the officers.
When they saw Roya forced back by a single punch, then watched his sword get caught between the ape's fingers, they had all assumed he would be torn apart in the next moment.
But who could have imagined—
That flames would erupt from the edge of his sword, instantly engulfing the Brown-Backed Giant Ape!
Every Marine officer wore an expression of utter disbelief.
Especially Roya's former rear-admiral instructor. Earlier, seeing Roya split the giant wild boar in half with one strike, he had been surprised by Roya's progress over the past month—but only mildly so.
Now, witnessing the flames bursting forth from Roya's sword with that single slash, he nearly bulged his eyes out of their sockets.
What kind of joke was this?!
Roya was not a Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit user—otherwise Garp would have said so. Moreover, judging from Roya's earlier performance, he did not resemble a Logia Devil Fruit user at all.
And the flames had erupted from the blade itself, not from Roya's body.
That meant there were clearly only two possibilities.
One: the sword had been swung at such extreme speed that friction with the air produced flames.
The other…
Sword aura!
Flame-type sword aura!