Even a Dog Wouldn't Eat the Flame-Flame Fruit-Wait, You Actually Gave It to Me?!

"Hurry, hurry! I heard something inside just now. The summoning circle must have summoned someone again!!"

The excited voice and the increasingly rapid footsteps sent a chill down Hughes's spine. He looked around and realized in shock that he was in a sealed stone chamber!

The only light in the entire chamber seeped through what looked like a stone door ahead. Hughes hurried to his feet and hid in the corner closest to the entrance.

As everyone knew, when the enemy opened the door and found no one there, they would come in to search, giving him a chance to dash out.

As for whether guns and cannons or a vast open world lay beyond the door, Hughes didn't think that was something a mental patient needed to worry about.

As the footsteps drew closer, Hughes's heart beat faster, and he couldn't help grumbling to himself.

Damn it, when other people transmigrated, either everything went smoothly or they got all sorts of unimaginable abilities. My lousy system hasn't given me a damn thing!

"Almost there, almost there, the door's about to open..." As the stone door slowly swung open, the light called hope grew brighter, and Hughes's eyes gradually lit up.

Bam! A loud slam rang out, and the light of hope was snuffed out in an instant. The stone chamber remained pitch-black, and Hughes stood frozen.

"Why are you opening the door?! What if the person summoned is a mage? Didn't we make that mistake just a few days ago? Where's your brain?"

"Just let Lord Balrog out!!"

Hughes's mouth twitched at the scolding, which he could hear even through the stone door.

Damn, maybe I'm not the protagonist. The enemies I've run into actually have brains...

"Run! What are you still standing here for? Lord Balrog eats people fast. Do you want to stay here and be his extra snack??"

"Brother, give me a hand. My legs go weak every time I see Lord Balrog..."

Hiding behind the door, Hughes heard what they said and the sound of them running off, and cold sweat streamed down his face.

Before he had time to wonder who this Lord Balrog was, Hughes saw strands of flame flowing through the cracks in the stone door and into the sealed chamber.

The flames flowed like water, winding past his feet and streaming behind him.

The temperature in the chamber rose rapidly, and the eerie pressure slowly made it hard for him to breathe.

Hughes didn't need to look back to know that an absolutely terrifying, indescribable monster was forming behind him.

"Wait, is it supposed to be this intense right after I transmigrate??"

"Question for the internet: how do I transmigrate back?"

As his thoughts ran wild, a wild voice came from behind him, startling him into going rigid.

"Human, your heart and liver smell delicious!"

The next instant!

"Pfft!!"

A huge finger made of flames pierced through his body.

"Although your heart and liver smell delicious, I still have to cook them before eating them. A human's black heart and liver can't be eaten raw!"

Hughes slowly looked down. Just one of his opponent's fingers was as thick as his waist.

Are monsters in other worlds all this rude? It didn't even say hello first!

It's so big, it must hurt going in!!

"Pain? Huh??"

Hughes: (・∀・?)

It doesn't seem to hurt at all! My heart and liver feel warm and cozy. It's super comfortable.

"Wait, human, what are you doing??"

Under the slightly shocked gaze of Balrog the flame demon, Hughes, whose body he had pierced, actually began to move.

With a pfft, Hughes walked right off the tip of his finger. Hughes turned around with mild curiosity, and what met his eyes was a monster through and through.

Its entire body was made of black and red flames, enormous in size, with two horns of flame growing from the top of its head!

Hughes couldn't help wondering, Strange, did a monster like this ever appear in the Pirate King world?

[Ding! Devil Factors detected within the host. Searching for the corresponding Devil Fruit ability. Please absorb more Devil Factors.]

The system's sudden announcement interrupted Hughes's thoughts, but at least he finally knew why he was fine despite having a hole through his body.

My godfather finally made his move...

"So I need to absorb more Devil Factors to generate a Devil Fruit, right?!"

Hughes gritted his teeth. In this situation, he had no choice but to take a gamble!

Balrog the flame demon stood in place, watching Hughes advance with trembling lips. With a pfft, his finger went through Hughes's body again.

A big "?" appeared over his head. Balrog felt that there was nothing wrong with him, so the one with a problem was...

The flame demon's head, shaped like a fireball and bigger than Hughes's entire body, drew closer and closer. Hughes thought he couldn't accept Hughes changing from having his back to him to facing him, so he waved at him.

"Changing positions, changing positions. I can't really handle being penetrated from behind. It's easy to think of something else..."

"Human, you're a mage, aren't you?!" Balrog the flame demon, who had leaned in for a closer look, said in a buzzing voice.

Then he shook his head and muttered to himself, taking back what he had just said.

"No, the great Balrog can't smell any magic on you. You're just an ordinary person."

"Forget it. There are too many strange things in the magic world. Once I eat you, I won't have to think about it... Human, you really do smell delicious!!"

Balrog the flame demon opened his huge flaming mouth and lifted his finger slightly, raising Hughes into the air. With a flick of his finger, Hughes fell into his mouth.

Hughes had thought that once he fell inside Balrog the flame demon, he would find things like a stomach and digestive juices waiting for him. But when he looked around, there was nothing inside Balrog the flame demon except black and red flames.

Just like his exterior, Balrog the flame demon seemed to be a monster formed from a mass of flames that had gained sentience.

"But you smell delicious too!!"

Hughes hadn't noticed it outside, but once inside him, the masses of flame that made up his body gave off a wonderful aroma, like a feast of delicacies. The scent lingered around Hughes's nose, refusing to fade.

"I'll just try a tiny bit, just a tiny bit. If there's a problem, I'll spit it out right away."

Unable to resist, Hughes readily convinced himself. He turned his head and swallowed the flame closest to his mouth.

Hughes: (✧∇✧)

"Brother, you don't just smell good, you're useful too!!"

As soon as Balrog the flame demon's flames entered his body, Hughes felt much of his strength return. Even the hole through his body began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"I'll stop eating once my body's healed..."

One bite, two bites... Hughes paused, staring at his body, which was as good as new after just a few mouthfuls.

"That fast??"

"Since I'm already here... how about I eat my fill first!!"

[Ding! Large quantities of flame, heat, fire, and other Devil Factors detected within the host. Flame-Flame Fruit ability activated.]

Outside, Balrog the flame demon was greatly shocked to feel his strength and body growing weaker.

He closed his eyes and sensed what was happening. Then, in a rage, he thrust his hand into his flaming body, grabbed Hughes, who was feasting inside him, and flung him out.

Hughes fell to the ground, his body swollen like a ball. Every so often, he belched out a spurt of flame, making the throbbing vein on the forehead of Balrog the flame demon, whose body had shrunk considerably, bulge ever larger.

Balrog the flame demon had no doubt that if he hadn't gotten this human out of his body just now, the brat would have eaten every last bit of him.

"Hic... You didn't keep your word! You haven't eaten me yet!"

Hughes struggled to his feet, his eyes full of desire and madness, as though a different person had suddenly taken control of his body.

Flames rose from him and grew until they rivaled the black and red flames on the monster before him.

Shocked by Hughes, Balrog the flame demon backed away again and again. He couldn't understand why a human with no magic could unleash such blazing flames.

"You're scared!!" Hughes, dressed in a tattered blue-and-white striped hospital gown, slowly walked toward him, his mouth stretched into a grin and his eyes full of madness!

"How could a flame demon created by the great Zeref fear a human?!" Enraged, Balrog widened his fiery eyes. Black and red flames gushed forth, and his huge, fanlike hand came crashing down.

"Bam!"

Hughes had clearly been scattered into sparks, yet his wild laughter came from every direction.

"It's no use, no use! Your flames are too weak!"

Balrog looked down at the ground. There was a spark on the verge of going out, slowly turning back into that human before his eyes.

"Forget it, I'm done playing with you. I finally know what world I've come to..."

Hughes raised his right hand high and abruptly clenched it into a fist. Without warning, a fierce blaze erupted from beneath Balrog the flame demon's feet and soared into the air, searing and violent.

Balrog the flame demon, who had been flaunting his might just moments ago, was reduced to a mass of black and red flames in an instant, with no intelligence left to speak of.

As the owner of the Flame-Flame Fruit, destroying a demon created by transforming volcanic flames was as easy as drinking water.

Do you think you're magma or something?!!