Divine Wrath Flame

The astonishing heat spread outward in an instant. The ground beneath Ian's feet melted, and even the scattered chunks of wood around him burst directly into flames.

The flaming wings on his back flapped. The agility stripped away in Ball Form finally showed itself once more. Ian became a gust of wind—a fiery wind that incinerated everything!

The scorching airflow stirred up by the mere beating of his wings had already set the wooden house beside him ablaze.

"What?"

Hyogoro felt the searing heat coming from behind him and turned around in disbelief.

What entered his sight was a winged figure wreathed in raging flames!

This temperature! It was even more terrifying than the flames from before!

Hyogoro did not dare advance any farther. If he really let this guy return to the battlefield, it would definitely become a disaster.

His left hand curled into a tiger claw, covered in pitch-black Haki, with invisible ripples coiling around it.

"Haah!"

With a booming shout, he thrust his left hand forward.

Haki instantly surged forth, becoming a powerful Haki Shockwave that struck Ian like a heavy cannon.

This was the flowing, emitted form of Armament Haki. It allowed one to fire Haki Shockwaves barehanded. If Armament Haki was trained to an even higher level, one could unleash an incredibly powerful wave spanning hundreds of meters with a single punch, just like Garp.

Ian was blasted apart in an instant, shattering into flames that splashed across the sky.

Yet before Hyogoro could even show a trace of delight, the flames gathered, and the winged figure of fire reappeared!

Meaningless.

Even the wind of Haki could not extinguish the flames of a god!

That was the mechanic, kid!

How could a stat monster beat a mechanic monster?

Hyogoro gritted his teeth. Haki covered his entire body as the blade in his hand swung again and again. In an instant, streaking Haki slashes cut Ian into piece after piece of flame.

Of course, that could not even stop Ian from approaching.

He threw a punch at Hyogoro.

His fist transformed into a surging pillar of fire. Scarlet and golden flames, the two colors perfectly fused together, roared forth with a thunderous blast.

He absolutely could not be hit!

Hyogoro's heart tightened. These flames were as scorching as magma! Even Flowing Haki would probably struggle to completely block their heat!

He punched again. His Haki Shockwave collided with Ian's fiery fist, and flames splashed everywhere amid the enormous explosion.

Wherever the flames fell, the ground melted and wood burned, creating a scene of apocalypse.

The scorching air made Hyogoro afraid to even take a deep breath, as though his lungs would ignite.

It had been blocked.

Ian was not too surprised.

Haki was still a bit too troublesome, especially high-level Armament Haki.

He needed a larger-scale move.

The wings on Ian's back trembled, and he accelerated to full speed, closing in on Hyogoro in an instant.

But Hyogoro's reaction was equally swift. With a backhand strike, he unleashed a Haki wave that shattered Ian's body.

Then, from within those shattered flames, even more fire surged out. Golden and crimson flames instantly swallowed everything around them.

Even the Haki wave Hyogoro hurriedly unleashed could not completely scatter the tidal wave of flames.

And so—

"Urgh!!"

Hyogoro cried out in pain amid the flames.

One thing needed to be clarified: it was not as though flowing, emitted Armament Haki was necessarily stronger than hardened Armament Haki.

Whether it was coating, hardening, emission, or Internal Destruction, they were ultimately all techniques—techniques that allowed Haki to exert greater power.

The true strength of one's Haki itself did not change.

Hyogoro had indeed mastered advanced Haki, but his Armament Haki was not even as strong as Moria's had been three years ago!

And over these past three years, Ian had become stronger, and the power of his flames had grown even more astonishing.

Hyogoro's Armament Haki could not completely resist Ian's two-colored flames, and his flesh howled beneath their searing heat.

But it was still not enough.

Hyogoro's body had been burned, but it was still far from enough to make him lose his combat capability.

This was why Logia types had fallen out of favor. Pure elemental attacks were not very effective against Haki masters.

It was time to use his trump card.

If possible, he really did not want to use this move at all.

But there was no helping it. The Divine Phoenix form could not last much longer.

Within the flames, Ian suddenly appeared before Hyogoro.

"Damn it!!"

Hyogoro, covered from head to toe in pitch-black Haki, roared as he smashed a fist toward Ian.

The principle behind flowing Armament Haki was to make the Haki throughout one's body flow, gather it together, and blast it out, thereby unleashing tremendous power.

And now, while Hyogoro was using the Armament Haki across his entire body to defend against the flames, he naturally could no longer unleash his greatest power.

He could not even fire a Haki Shockwave. This punch directly pierced through Ian's chest.

And Ian had already raised his right hand toward Hyogoro.

"Divine Wrath Flame!"

A pillar of fire, primarily scarlet and wrapped in a layer of golden flame, blasted from Ian's palm in an instant and swallowed Hyogoro whole.

The dazzling pillar of fire pierced through the surrounding flames, blew through several layers of walls, and surged into the courtyard.

"Wah!"

Yamato, who had just smashed a samurai into chunks of ice with a single swing of her kanabo, watched the pillar of fire streak past her and could not help shouting in complaint toward where it had come from. "Ian! Seriously, watch where you're aiming! Getting hit by that move of yours would be bad, wouldn't it?!"

"...Sorry."

Ian's somewhat weak voice rang out as he slowly walked in through a hole in the melted wall.

Ian had already exited his Divine Phoenix state and returned to Beastman Mode in Ball Form.

Rubbing his head, he said in a daze, "Still, luckily, I was better."

His voice sounded weak, but he was not the one who had fallen.

The ronin samurai were all stunned.

They looked at the figure that had been blasted into the courtyard.

Hyogoro was half-kneeling on the ground, his entire body charred black and radiating intense heat. The fur on his body had long since been burned away, leaving him almost unrecognizable.

"No way?"

Fukurokuju practically squeezed those words out of his throat.

Flower Capital's Hyogoro, Wano Country's number one ronin leader, had actually been beaten into this state by a brat?

To be honest, Fukurokuju had originally thought it would be enough if this kid could hold Hyogoro back!

But now!

"Th-then what was that?"

Hyogoro staggered to his feet. His voice was dry, as if he had swallowed three pounds of glass shards.

Why? Why could my Flowing Haki not block it?

The temperature had indeed become higher, but it was only heat. Its power should not have been that great.

I should have been able to block it completely!

"It was destroyed."

Ian slowly approached. "I destroyed your Haki."

The Divine Flame Cannon was Ian's second-strongest move.

But his strongest move was not Divine Phoenix.

Divine Phoenix was Ian's third form, and Ian's strongest move was precisely the technique exclusive to this third form.

He had named it Divine Wrath Flame.

It was a manifestation of Divine Phoenix's battlefield-clearing ability from the original work, the power to burn everything away.

It consumed a tremendous amount of stamina and mental energy to release flames that destroyed everything.

In terms of sheer power alone, these flames were not much stronger than the flames in Divine Phoenix form.

But these flames possessed a special trait.

The trait of "destroying" everything.

Objects that ordinary flames could neither blast apart nor burn through would be destroyed with the aid of that trait.

Haki was no exception.

"All right."

Ian had consumed a little too much mental energy and stamina. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, making even his speech sound airy. Yet when that airy voice fell upon the ronin's ears, it was like thunder.

"Samurai, it's about time to surrender."

See? Wouldn't it have been better if you had listened to me and talked things out properly earlier?

Hyogoro swayed, his voice dry but utterly resolute.

"A samurai never surrenders!"

Ian sighed. Was that so?

Please give the new book some support! Recommendations, monthly votes, bookmarks, and follow-up reads—don't hold back, bosses!