Undying Black Flame

Emilisha hummed an unfamiliar tune, picked up Scorching Cloud, and gave it a couple of swings. Satisfied, she nodded.

With a light step, she cut off the heads of Principle and Honey Badger, then bundled all three heads together.

She crouched and searched Principle's body for something. As the leader of a faction, he was bound to have some belongings on him, and Emilisha began rummaging through them.

She failed to notice that behind her, Luo Ya's headless corpse and severed head were slowly catching fire with black flames.

"A Pure Gold lighter. Mine, mine." Emilisha muttered as she kept searching through Principle's pockets.

Behind her, Luo Ya's headless body had already risen to its feet. His head had completely turned into black flames and floated back to his severed neck.

The severed arm in the distance did the same.

Roiling black flames covered Luo Ya's body. His eyes snapped open, glowing crimson.

A katana with a deep purple hilt slowly materialized in his right hand. It was Ryujin Jakka. Usually, Luo Ya wielded it by attaching it to Scorching Cloud.

Using it without something to attach it to consumed too much stamina and mental energy.

"Why's it getting hotter?" Before Emilisha could finish speaking, she suddenly pitched forward. The hair on her head sizzled, and the smell of burning hair filled the air.

"Monster! How can someone survive after getting their head cut off?" When she turned and saw Luo Ya, black flames raging all over him, Emilisha was horrified.

Luo Ya fixed his crimson gaze on Emilisha and exhaled a mouthful of black-red mist. Without a word, he rushed at her again.

Clang! Scorching Cloud and Ryujin Jakka clashed. A tail tipped with a hooked stinger and covered in chitin shot through the air behind Emilisha, stabbing into Luo Ya's chest.

Squish! The hook emerged from his back, but Luo Ya seized the tail and cut it off in one stroke.

Squelch! Green blood sprayed out. With a sizzling sound, Luo Ya pulled the tail from his body and casually tossed it to the ground.

"Ah!" Emilisha screamed in pain as her appearance changed drastically. Chitinous plates had sprung up all over her body, and with her tail severed, it wasn't hard to guess what kind of Devil Fruit she had eaten.

"Scorpion Lailai?" Luo Ya looked at Emilisha, who was sprawled on the ground, and shook his head in disappointment.

Though both were Zoan Devil Fruit Users, Emilisha and Principle weren't even in the same league. Aside from its unmatched sharpness, Ryujin Jakka's greatest feature so far was the unbearable pain it inflicted when it wounded someone.

Even a tough guy like Honey Badger couldn't take it. You could say it was a minnow's worst nightmare.

After all, the defining trait of the strong in the world of the Pirate King was an iron will. They were practically too tough to get through a high-speed train security check.

Luo Ya had been dismembered countless times by Stickman in the world of souls before he could endure it without so much as a change in expression.

Watching Luo Ya walk toward her, Emilisha forgot all about the agony of her severed tail. "D-don't kill me. I have plenty of treasure. If you spare me, I'll do anything you want."

As she spoke, Emilisha tore open her dress, revealing her curvaceous figure. Unfortunately, the tears and snot running down her face spoiled the view.

"Too bad. You're not my type." Luo Ya shook his head and swung his sword. A streak of black sword energy passed through Emilisha, splitting her in two from forehead to groin.

Her multicolored innards spilled across the ground.

Luo Ya lowered his head and walked over to pick up Scorching Cloud, wiping the blood from its surface. The black flames roiling over his body surged into him and vanished.

"More useful than I expected. Combining Armament Haki with Ryujin Jakka..." Luo Ya murmured as he hurried toward the docks.

After years of training, Luo Ya had actually brought his Armament Haki to the hardening stage. But with Ryujin Jakka at his disposal, it had seemed a bit redundant for offense.

On a mission in the Underworld, Luo Ya had once encountered a Snow-Snow Fruit User. It was the same fruit eaten by Monet in the original story.

Luo Ya discovered that even elemental transformation could be attacked with Ryujin Jakka. After studying it closely, he realized that Ryujin Jakka drew on the power of the soul.

After all, a Zanpakuto would be pretty pathetic if it couldn't attack souls. Haki, on the other hand, was a combination of physical and mental power.

Armament Haki in particular. Luo Ya had tried combining it with Ryujin Jakka and developed a new power.

Since its black flames resembled Stickman, he named it Undying Black Flame. The idea of making it undying came from the Snow-Snow Fruit.

The roiling black flames hadn't improved much in temperature or destructive power, but they could now transform into Luo Ya's body, just like a Logia Devil Fruit User.

In this state, unless Luo Ya's soul ran out of power, even wounds like a severed head or a pierced heart would heal beneath the roiling black flames.

As for what would happen if his soul power ran out, he'd just have to take things as they came.

If Undying Black Flame had one weakness, it was that it consumed too much energy. The first time Luo Ya used it, he healed his severed arm and passed out for a whole day.

As the old saying went, expensive things had only one flaw: they were expensive.

"Haah! Haah!" Huo Lun leaned against Treasure Tree Adam, panting with his wolf's mouth wide open. Several corpses lay at his feet, while the sounds of battle and gunfire rang out all around him.

Treasure Tree Adam was just the spark. The blood-crazed people only wanted to hack down every living thing in front of them.

Luo Ya arrived at the docks and was overwhelmed by the chaos. At least a thousand people were fighting in front of him, not counting the bodies already strewn across the ground.

After a long silence, he took a deep breath. "Everybody get the hell out of here!"

At his roar, the crowd gradually stopped fighting and turned to stare at Luo Ya with bloodshot eyes. I think I've just taken this tough-guy act too far! With so many murderous eyes on him, Luo Ya felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Kill him!" A huge crowd roared and charged at Luo Ya. The rest went right on fighting among themselves.