Luo Ya made full use of the Jet Propeller to speed up the whole way. He had to admit, six propellers were incredibly fast. Twice, he nearly crashed into merchant ships because he was going too fast. Luckily, he turned in time. The Black Pearl's seastone-coated bow would have been fine, but the ships he hit would have been wrecked, with everyone aboard killed.
The reason he was speeding the whole way was that the next island was the one Annajia had mentioned—the island where a dragon lived. The Supreme Grade Sword was there, too.
Amid sparks and flashes of lightning, Luo Ya reached the island marked on his sea chart as Lava Island.
It was an uninhabited island, with no humans living there, so naturally it had no port or dock.
It had earned its name because the climate was extremely hot and an active volcano at its center erupted from time to time.
Most ships went around the island. There was simply no reason to land.
Of course, with Luo Ya's personality, even if no one had told him about the island, he still would have explored it if he came across it.
After securing the ship, Luo Ya went ashore with a large supply of drinks. Given the temperature on the island, finding water to drink would probably be very difficult.
As soon as he set foot on the island, a wave of heat washed over him. He had only walked a few steps before he was drenched in sweat.
There was no helping it. Luo Ya took off his shirt and went bare-chested as he made his way through the woods.
Although they were called woods, the trees here weren't very tall, and their trunks and leaves were crystalline. Their red-glowing leaves looked beautiful.
Luo Ya plucked a few and found that they were far tougher than ordinary leaves. He slipped a few into his pocket as souvenirs.
As he ventured deeper, Luo Ya encountered the first creature on the island: a strange-looking ostrich.
It looked a lot like an ostrich and stood about two meters tall, but its body was covered in large, glossy red feathers.
When Luo Ya spotted it, it was eating leaves from a tree. After noticing him, it let out a strange cry and ran off on its long legs.
Before Luo Ya could figure out what was going on, a gust of rancid wind swept out of the woods to his right.
Instinctively, Luo Ya gathered Haki and kicked out. Drill Dragon Nail!
With a bang, a huge tiger was sent flying, its colorful guts spilling onto the ground.
It seemed to have mistaken Luo Ya for prey. Too bad the tables had turned, and it was about to become Luo Ya's meal.
Before Water 7, the tiger probably wouldn't have hunted Luo Ya. Back then, killing intent practically poured off him, and on the few summer islands he'd visited, he'd been like a walking air conditioner.
Even Bruu hadn't dared take him sightseeing in Water 7.
But after perfecting his Demon Form in Water 7, Luo Ya had gained even greater control over himself. His techniques had changed in various ways, and he'd learned to keep his killing intent in check.
So in everyday life, he looked no different from an ordinary passerby.
To put it in one sentence, there wasn't much to say about Luo Ya these days except that he was handsome.
After chopping off the tiger's limbs and packing them up, Luo Ya noticed that it was getting late and found an empty cave.
He built a campfire, ready to see what the red tiger tasted like.
Luo Ya evenly spread seasoning over the tiger leg. As it roasted over the flames, it crackled and dripped red grease, filling the air with the aroma of grilled meat.
"It smells pretty good. The color looks a bit like it's been glazed with sugar." Luo Ya studied the tiger leg.
"Whatever. It won't kill me." When the leg was done, hunger drove Luo Ya to take the plunge and dig in.
He grabbed a roasted leg and started eating.
After one bite, Luo Ya froze. The roasted leg was unexpectedly delicious—rich but not greasy, melting in his mouth, with a hint of sweetness.
Luo Ya immediately began wolfing it down, washing it down with the beer he'd brought.
Sadly, beer was best served ice-cold. At room temperature, it was horse piss. But this hot beer tasted strangely good.
Once he'd eaten and drunk his fill, Luo Ya spread the tiger skin he'd peeled off on the ground and went to bed early. But before long, he woke up drenched in sweat from the heat.
With no other choice, Luo Ya got up early, ate some leftover tiger meat, and headed for the center of the island.
He'd thought the weather might be cooler early in the morning, but Lava Island lived up to its name. The temperature stayed constant around the clock.
The farther Luo Ya ventured into the island, the more his Observation Haki sensed something.
Of course, Luo Ya's Observation Haki was pretty weak. He could only vaguely sense that an animal was approaching, and that it seemed quite large.
Roar! With a mighty bellow, a wild boar charged out, its two tusks pointing skyward and its body covered in red scales.
Luo Ya dodged to the side, and with a bang, the boar crashed into a thick tree, knocking it down.
The boar was a dark red color. Even on all fours, it stood at least four or five meters tall, and it was well over ten meters long.
Seeing that its charge had missed, the boar bellowed at Luo Ya again, as if trying to drive him away.
"Interesting. You think I've invaded your territory?" Luo Ya grinned and snapped his fingers, lighting a cigarette.
The boar saw that the little guy still hadn't moved, even after being roared at and chased off. Angry, it pawed at the ground a few times.
Then it lowered its head, bellowed, and charged at Luo Ya again.
With a bang, Luo Ya's Haki-covered hands formed claws and seized the boar's two enormous tusks.
Man and boar began to grapple.
With its tusks caught by the little guy, the boar bellowed and scraped its hooves wildly against the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
As the boar pushed harder, Luo Ya gritted his teeth and let out a roar. He hoisted the beast up and threw it away.
The boar crashed into several trees with a thud. Luo Ya, drenched in sweat, grinned and said, "Stop trying to get yourself killed."
The boar staggered to its feet, looking as if the impact had left it dazed.
It tried to steady itself, failed, then collapsed with a thump. It panted heavily, fine white foam gathering at its mouth.
Luo Ya smiled at the sight and continued deeper into the island.
The farther he went, the more he discovered how strange the island was. Every stretch farther inland brought another, stronger animal to block his way.
All of them were extremely territorial. Even just passing through was enough to provoke an attack.
And each one was stronger than the last. Some had even mastered Armament Haki. Stranger still, some were no longer covered in scales or feathers.
Instead, they had transparent shells resembling scales. After examining them closely, Luo Ya discovered that the shells were hollow, with fine streams of magma flowing inside. They were far more durable than the red feathers and scales found on the island's outskirts.
At last, with night drawing near, Luo Ya reached the foot of the mountain.
A dark peak stood before him. Thick black smoke and fire rose from its summit, while magma flowed all the way down to the foot of the mountain, forming cracks as though the entire mountain were about to split apart.
With night approaching, the volcano looked even more dangerous, like a rift in hell.
A large number of animals had gathered at its base. They all shared one feature: those strange hollow shells. They were drinking the magma flowing down the mountain.
Many of the animals drank, let out a few cries of pain, then collapsed to the ground. They writhed briefly and fell still.
A few, however, grew brighter red after drinking. Magma surged faster through their shells, and their bodies grew several times larger.
Luo Ya was stunned by the strange sight. There were really creatures that survived by drinking molten rock. All he could do was marvel at the diversity of life.
Gradually, once the animals at the foot of the mountain had drunk their fill, they scattered and left.
Luo Ya surveyed the volcano below him, then took out the drinks he'd brought and checked his supplies.
He'd finished all the alcohol, and only one waterskin of fresh water remained.
After thinking it over, Luo Ya raised the waterskin and guzzled down all the water, filling himself up.
"Since I've come this far, how can I not take a look up there?" Luo Ya wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, dropped the waterskin, and headed up the mountain.
The mountain didn't look very big, but climbing it turned out to be extremely difficult.
The whole black mountain was made of volcanic rock that hadn't cooled yet. It was still fluid, leaving him with no footholds.
Luo Ya could only dig his fingers in, grip the rock, and climb upward one handhold at a time.
When Luo Ya reached the summit, he found a wide stone ledge encircling the crater. He climbed onto the ledge and headed toward the crater.
Here, smoke and fire stung his eyes until he could barely keep them open. Fortunately, the volcano wasn't erupting. Otherwise, the ledge would have been covered in magma, leaving him nowhere to stand. That would have been the least of his worries, though: the force of a major eruption might not kill him, but it would send him flying into the sky for a little free flight.
Luo Ya walked to the edge of the ledge and peered into the volcano.
The sight that met his eyes made them widen. Vast amounts of magma churned inside, bubbles occasionally rising to the surface.
And within the magma, a huge Fire Dragon lay coiled. Though Fire Dragon might not be quite right—strictly speaking, it was a Magma Dragon.
Just as Annajia had said, the Dragon was red all over and looked almost exactly like an Eastern dragon.
He had horns, whiskers, and claws, but his whole body flowed and shifted like molten magma.
If Luo Ya's eyesight hadn't been so sharp, he might not even have noticed that a Dragon was lying in there.
As Luo Ya watched, he spotted a strangely shaped long sword on the Dragon's body, rolling along with the magma.
The blade was long and narrow, a bright red like the Dragon itself. Its hilt looked partially melted and somewhat damaged.
The patterns on the blade resembled those on Scorching Cloud, but weren't quite the same.
When he saw the sword, Luo Ya excitedly let out a shout. Back when he'd chosen Scorching Cloud as the vessel for Ryujin Jakka, he'd looked into its origins.
Scorching Cloud had been modeled after the Supreme Grade Sword Flame Evil.
The sword Flame Evil was known as the Blade of the Fire God. Supposedly, it hadn't been made by a blacksmith but discovered by a Great Swordsman inside an erupting volcano.
The records didn't mention whether there was anything else remarkable about it.
But that didn't matter. What mattered was that Supreme Grade Swords represented the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
The main difference between ordinary mass-produced swords and Skillful Grade Swords or better was the material.
The materials used in Skillful Grade Swords and Supreme Grade Swords might differ somewhat, but not by much. The main difference lay in the sword intent and Haki within them.
After all, it was people who made swords great, not swords that made people great.
Only when a top swordsman nurtured a sword with his sword intent and Haki for many years could it become a Supreme Grade Sword.
As for the Twenty-One Great Grade Swords, they were simply missing either a top-tier owner or the passage of time.
Luo Ya's excited shout woke the sleeping Dragon.
The Dragon's enormous eyes opened. His fiery red, slit-pupil gaze settled on Luo Ya, and he let out a tremendous roar.