Luo Ya crouched halfway down, leaning on Scorching Cloud as he gasped for breath. Black Flame surged all over him, yet the blood still streamed from his wounds.
Kuma stood not far away, a huge blue paw-shaped bubble compressing around the pads of his palms.
The battle ended with Luo Ya gravely wounded and Kuma's clothes only slightly dirty.
"If you leave now, I won't stop you," Kuma said, speaking for the first time since the battle began.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. The victor is still undecided." Luo Ya rose, gripping Scorching Cloud with its tip angled toward the ground.
Flames surged along the blade before gathering into its edge.
The blade, originally dark red, had grown even deeper in color.
Kuma was too tough to beat with powerful attacks alone. But Kuma's strongest moves all had one drawback: they needed time to compress and build up power.
Luo Ya had to meet speed with speed and seize the initiative if he wanted to win.
He realized this too. After a brief moment to catch his breath, he took advantage of the bubble in Kuma's palm not yet being fully compressed and slashed toward Kuma's waist.
Clang! Kuma abandoned compressing the air and deflected Scorching Cloud with his pitch-black paw pad.
It seemed that aside from his paw pads, the rest of his body couldn't withstand the terrifying heat.
That made sense. If the Paw-Paw Fruit covered his entire body, then given Kuma's level of mastery, Luo Ya would believe he could make an atomic bomb out of air.
Luo Ya abandoned his flashy techniques and launched a relentless assault on Kuma with the basic swordsmanship he had honed through hard practice.
Horizontal slash! Downward strike! Upward thrust!
Relying on his immortality in Black Flame Mode, he completely gave up on defense and evasion, focusing solely on attacking.
He also compressed a vast amount of flame into Scorching Cloud. Under the pressure of all that flame, Scorching Cloud grew scorching hot,
its temperature rising from 1,500 degrees to nearly 2,000.
The killing power of the heat, combined with his all-out attack, made Kuma struggle to keep up for a while.
After all, swordsmen were naturally high-damage fighters. This swordsman's attacks were absurdly powerful, and he was incredibly durable to boot.
Kuma's attacks landed on Luo Ya, but Black Flame surged forth, restoring him to normal.
Meanwhile, a slash from Scorching Cloud at that temperature would inflict devastating damage if it struck any part of Kuma other than his paw pads.
As Scorching Cloud grew hotter and hotter, Kuma struggled more and more to keep up.
At last, Luo Ya seized an opening. He kicked Kuma in the side with his left leg, making him stumble, then used that moment to slash Kuma across the waist and abdomen.
Even with Armament Haki protecting him, the blow carved a huge wound, exposing charred flesh and revealing a glimpse of his red organs.
Kuma seized his chance and blasted Luo Ya in the head with a Pressure Cannon, blowing it apart.
The headless body flew away on its momentum, while the scattered pieces of his head turned into flickering Black Flame and gathered above his neck.
Even with Black Flame's remarkable regenerative power, it was no Logia intangibility. A vital part like the head took time to repair after being blown apart.
Kuma, whose abdomen was injured, clutched his wound and sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. The agony of the scorching heat was hard even for him to bear.
And while they were both recovering, something unexpected happened.
The rare ore used to forge Scorching Cloud grew sharper as its temperature rose, but all ore had a limit to how much heat it could withstand. That went without saying; otherwise, it wouldn't have been forged into a Famous Sword.
Besides, the intent behind a flame sword was usually fierce and scorching, but its temperature was nowhere near that limit. Even Akainu's Magma-Magma Fruit reached only around 700 to 1,200 degrees.
The Mera Mera no Mi was even less worth mentioning. Anyone in the New World could produce flames, and it was said to be a fruit not even a dog would eat.
Scorching Cloud had been with Luo Ya for two years, mainly serving as a vessel for the illusory Ryujin Jakka.
In his battle with Kuma, it had also absorbed a great deal of flame, compressed within it as it maintained the Setting Sun Blade state.
So, just as expected, Scorching Cloud began to melt. But instead of dripping to the ground, it merged with the roiling Black Flame, revealing Ryujin Jakka's true appearance.
A flood of memory fragments poured into Luo Ya's mind, but he had no time to sort through them.
Ryujin Jakka, having absorbed Scorching Cloud, became fully tangible. It was an ordinary-looking katana with a deep purple handle, an oval guard, and a brown scabbard.
The memories welling up in his mind made Luo Ya understand. Famous Swords were said to be the longtime weapons of renowned swordsmen, continually nourished by Haki and sword intent.
The sword intent stored in their blades could be considered a soul of exceptionally high quality—far more powerful than what Luo Ya gained from killing ordinary pirates.
Scorching Cloud's dissolution had, by sheer coincidence, restored a considerable part of Ryujin Jakka.
"Ha ha ha ha! Kuma, don't die from my next move!" Luo Ya laughed. He gripped the scabbard with his left hand and the hilt tightly with his right, then charged toward Kuma.
When he reached a short distance from Kuma, the Black Flame that had been surging all over Luo Ya went out completely. For the moment, he had to set aside the many wounds covering his body.
After two days and two nights of fighting, both of them were on the verge of exhaustion. They were prepared to let this final blow decide the victor.
He channeled all his stamina, Haki, and spiritual energy into Ryujin Jakka. The temperature inside its scabbard climbed at a terrifying pace.
1,500 degrees, 2,000 degrees, 2,500 degrees.
At last, when it reached its limit, Luo Ya unleashed a single iaido slash!
At the same time, Kuma crouched halfway down, clasping his right wrist with his left hand. A pale-blue paw-shaped bubble shot from the palm of his right hand.
It instantly swelled to several times its size and hurtled toward Luo Ya.
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