The forest fell silent again.
Yujiro Hanma stood among shattered trees, his chest rising slowly with each breath. Blood from the bear still stained his knuckles, but his eyes weren't on the fallen beast anymore. He gazed up at the open sky, something catching his attention—something massive.
A thunderous roar echoed from above, shaking birds from their nests and rattling the leaves like a storm. Clouds spiraled unnaturally, forced apart by the sheer presence of the creature that soared across the sky.
Yujiro squinted, his lips curving into a grin.
"Heh… now that's more like it."
High above, with massive wings slicing through the sky, flew a dragon. But not just any dragon—his scales gleamed like lightning dancing on an ocean of sapphire, and his body moved with the grace of a god and the weight of a natural disaster. His glowing eyes scanned the forest like a predator seeking its equal.
Veldora the Storm Dragon, one of the remaining True Dragons of the world, circled above, his expression unreadable.
"That human..." Veldora mused from the sky. "No aura... no magic... and yet he crushed that Forest Grizzly like a bug."
Veldora's instincts—ancient, sharp, and rarely wrong—were caught in conflict. There was no energy, no spiritual pressure. But the human below moved like something untouched by natural law. Unrestrained. Unbound.
"No mortal should be that still… unless they're death itself."
Veldora roared once more and descended in a spiral, landing with a thunderous quake, flattening the land with the sheer force of his landing. Trees collapsed in waves, and shockwaves rippled outward. The ground cracked beneath Yujiro's feet—but he didn't move.
Dust cleared.
And there he was.
Veldora, in all his draconic majesty, stood tall—towering, shimmering, terrifying.
Yujiro, however, did not flinch.
"What is a puny human like you," Veldora rumbled, his voice like rolling thunder, "doing in my forest… without my authorization?"
The moment struck oddly quiet. Yujiro blinked once, then cracked his neck slowly.
"Puny?" Yujiro said, staring up at the towering dragon. "Funny... that's what I was about to ask you."
Veldora narrowed his glowing eyes. The dragon could not believe what he just heard. No fear. No reverence. Not even caution.
"This forest…" Yujiro said, stepping forward, "...is mine now."
Veldora's body trembled—not in fear, but amusement. Then, like clockwork, he began his infamous three-stage laugh:
"Haha…"
"Haha…"
"Hahahaha! Interesting human! I like your guts!"
Lightning cracked across the skies as he roared with laughter. Then he lowered his massive head, bringing it inches from Yujiro.
"You speak boldly for one who possesses no magic, no aura. Tell me your name, madman."
Yujiro grinned wide, his teeth bared like a lion ready to strike.
"Yujiro Hanma."
He cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing like distant gunfire.
"And I'm what is beyond power."
Veldora's laughter paused. His glowing draconic eyes locked with Yujiro's crimson stare. That confidence… it wasn't arrogance. It was truth. The dragon had seen gods, demons, and legends. But never a human who spoke like this—with absolute authority in every syllable.
"Very well, Yujiro Hanma," Veldora said. "Let's see what you got."
"Now you're speaking my language."
Yujiro widened his stance—his signature anti-stance. Arms slightly raised, loose but threatening. Not just defense. It was a warning.
A declaration.
Veldora's pupils narrowed.
"You dare posture before me? I am Veldora Tempest—the Storm Dragon! One of the True Dragons, apex beings of this world!"
Yujiro's grin only grew wider.
"Then it's about time this world met something beyond the apex."
Without another word, Veldora charged, his body cutting through air like a comet. Trees burst into flames as raw energy scorched the land.
Yujiro didn't move.
He waited.
The ground cracked beneath his bare feet as the dragon's claw surged toward him like a mountain crashing down—
And then—
BOOM.
Yujiro's fist met the dragon's claw mid-strike.
The shockwave split the air, tearing apart the earth in a giant ring around them. The forest was leveled for a hundred meters. A crater formed beneath their clash. The sky above darkened, clouds spiraling unnaturally.
Yujiro stood, unmoved, his fist buried into Veldora's palm. The dragon's eyes widened. The force… the pressure… it was inhuman.
"W-what…?" Veldora growled. "He stopped me... with one arm?"
Yujiro exhaled through his nose. Calm. Focused.
"Not bad," he muttered. "But if that's your best, this'll be a short conversation."
Veldora snarled, flapping his wings and launching backward to gain distance.
"You're no ordinary human…"
Yujiro rolled his shoulders and stepped forward, cracking the ground with every move.
"I'm not a human. I'm the Hanma. Now fight me like you mean it, lizard."
Veldora's eyes flared with blue energy.
"Very well, Hanma! I shall fight you with the full fury of the storm!"
Lightning cracked around Veldora as magic surged. He opened his jaws wide, drawing energy into his core.
But Yujiro just chuckled.
"Now we're talking…"
As energy built, the world held its breath.
The Storm Dragon.
The Ogre of Earth.
Two titans, both convinced of their supremacy, about to collide.
And in that moment, the Jura Forest witnessed something it hadn't in ages—
The birth of a legend.
The skies were painted black with clouds rolling like angry tides. The trees shook. The wind screamed. The heavens themselves seemed to recoil from the two presences standing at the heart of the storm.
One was ancient. A beast carved from legend. A storm given form.
Veldora — the Storm Dragon, a True Dragon, pride of the skies.
The other stood barefoot on crushed earth. Arms folded. Eyes calm. Unmoving, like a god who had already seen the end of the battle before it began.
Yujiro Hanma — the Ogre of Hell. The Apex Predator. A man who called nothing above him.
Veldora's massive form hovered above the forest. His wings stretched wide, crackling with static. A growl echoed from his chest, rattling the earth.
"You're strong, human… too strong. But I am a True Dragon. Your muscles alone won't save you."
The air thickened. A spiral of wind surged around Veldora as he opened his jaws. The sky dimmed.
"Let me show you the difference between mortal flesh… and divine might!"
Storm Blast.
A beam of compressed wind and magic shot forward, tearing the land apart in its path. Trees disintegrated. The air imploded. The sheer force could wipe a nation from the map.
But Yujiro… didn't move.
The blast struck.
KRAKADOOM!!!
A thunderclap echoed across continents.
The impact carved a canyon into the earth.
When the light faded…
Yujiro Hanma stood at the center of a smoldering crater, arms still crossed.
Steam hissed from his shoulders. His pants were torn. His hair blew in the wind.
But his body?
Not even scorched.
He tilted his head slightly, eyes like a disapproving teacher watching a student try too hard.
"That it?"
Veldora's eyes widened. His claws clenched.
"What are you…?"
Yujiro didn't answer. He stepped forward—slowly. Each footfall cracked the ground. The pressure around him grew.
Then, Veldora activated it—Investigator, his Unique Skill.
"ANALYTICAL APPRAISAL!"
Lines of magical data scrolled before his vision, attempting to decode Yujiro's biology.
"Error."
"Target cannot be analyzed."
"System Overload. Data exceeds cognitive threshold."
His dragon brain accelerated into THOUGHT ACCELERATION, calculating millions of possibilities.
None of them ended in victory.
Panicking, he activated SPATIAL MOTION—blinking instantly across the battlefield, appearing behind Yujiro in less than a heartbeat.
He brought down a claw the size of a cathedral.
SHOOOM!!
Yujiro side-stepped like he was dancing. He grabbed Veldora's talon in mid-swing.
Grabbed it. Stopped it.
"All this speed," Yujiro muttered, "but you still can't hit me."
With a grunt, he twisted.
CRACK!
Veldora howled. The bones in his claw cracked—something that hadn't happened in thousands of years.
Yujiro leapt onto his arm, sprinting up his foreleg like it was a flight of stairs.
With every step, he punched.
Once to the shoulder—BOOM!
Once to the neck—THUD!
And then he reached the head.
And slammed his fist into the dragon's jaw.
THWACK!!
The shockwave flattened the forest below.
Veldora reeled, flapping his wings desperately to stabilize, but Yujiro was already above him, both fists clenched together overhead.
"You ever been grounded, lizard?"
SLAM.
Yujiro crashed both fists onto Veldora's skull.
The True Dragon's massive body plummeted like a meteor.
KRAKOOM!
A mountain exploded on impact. Dust and rubble spiraled into the sky.
Yujiro landed on top of Veldora's massive snout. His eyes narrowed.
Then, slowly… he turned around.
And Veldora saw it.
The Demon Back.
Muscles flexed and separated like unfolding tectonic plates. His back became a mural of monstrous anatomy. In the middle of it—a demonic face sneered from beneath the skin.
Veldora—one of the oldest, most powerful beings in existence—felt something ancient curl in his stomach.
Fear.
Not fear of death.
Fear of subjugation.
This was no man.
This was something that dominated the concept of battle itself.
"You feel that?" Yujiro asked, without looking back. "It's not just fear. It's instinct. You're wired to obey me."
Veldora growled, resisting.
"I… am a True Dragon…! I am one of the mightiest existences in this world! I will not… kneel to muscle!!"
With a mighty roar, he tried to rise.
Yujiro spun and punched his eye, knocking him flat again.
"You already have," Yujiro muttered.
The battlefield went quiet.
Even the wind dared not speak.
Minutes passed.
Then, slowly, a rumble came from deep within Veldora.
Not a growl.
Not a roar.
A laugh.
A deep, echoing, booming laugh that shook the trees and cracked the sky.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!"
Yujiro blinked.
"What's so funny?"
Veldora lifted his head slightly, smiling through broken scales and bruised pride.
"You're the first in all my life to bring me down like this… Not with magic… not with tricks… but with hands."
Yujiro shrugged.
"It's the only way to fight. Everything else is an excuse."
Veldora chuckled again, groaning as he lay back down.
"You've earned my respect, Hanma. And my friendship, if you'll have it."
Yujiro looked down at him, silent for a beat.
Then… a small smirk crept across his lips.
"Fine. You're not bad… for a lizard."
The forest slowly began to breathe again.
Storm clouds dispersed.
And somewhere in the distance, the wind carried whispers of a new legend—
The day the Storm Dragon met his match.
And chose to befriend him.
Thus began the unlikely alliance between Yujiro Hanma… and Veldora Tempest.
One, a dragon born from the storm.
The other, a man born to dominate it.
And the world would never be the same.