The sky parted like silk beneath his wings.
Agni soared through the upper layers of the atmosphere, leaving trails of flame behind him as his body cleaved through the clouds. His speed had increased tenfold since the transformation. The wind roared in his ears, but his mind was quiet, focused.
"What now?" he muttered, golden eyes scanning the ocean below.
He didn't have a plan. Only an instinct.
Reclaim what is mine.
With a sudden drop in altitude, he folded his massive wings inward and dived like a comet toward a distant island—O-Kan Island, the land of sacred beasts. The place where he'd slain the Kirin Lion and where, once, a throne had waited for a king.
He hadn't been able to claim it then. Not with the Straw Hats watching.But now… there was no one to stop him.
As he descended, the forest canopy below trembled. Animals fled in terror—giant birds, serpents, and simians scattered at the heat in the wind.
He landed like a meteor in the center of the island.BOOM.The ground cratered beneath his feet.
Smoke billowed from the crushed earth. The trees nearest him caught fire and bent away, as though bowing.
The silence that followed was chilling.
Then—a thunderous roar.
From the jungle ahead, a massive rhinoceros emerged, nearly 10 meters tall. Its eyes were blood-red. Twisted, black horns protruded from its skull like a crown. At its feet, half-buried in the dirt, was the skeleton of a small boy—tattered clothes still clinging to the fragile bones.
Agni walked forward, kneeling beside the body.
"…Monabby," he whispered. "I knew this would happen."
The boy had tried to stop the beast. Maybe to protect the throne.But in front of a monster like that… a child never stood a chance.
Agni's eyes turned cold as he stood again, the fire around him intensifying.
"That rhino… It must've consumed the remains of the Kirin Lion… and the throne. Now it thinks it's king."
The beast pawed the ground and charged.A mountain of fury and muscle, horn aimed at Agni's chest.
But Agni didn't move.
He let the horn strike him head-on. His body shimmered with Hardening Quirk, skin turning metallic black.
CLANG.
The rhino bounced off.
Agni stood tall, unmoved. "Good. Let's test what I've become."
His body began to change again—flames erupting from his joints, wings spreading wide. Fire Dragon blood surged through his veins. His muscles grew, his stature expanding by three feet. Scales began to rise along his arms, shimmering red-gold in the light.
He roared back, and with it came heat—searing, suffocating.The rhino screamed as its skin began to boil just by being near him.
Agni leapt, wings igniting, lifting him high above the trees.
"Let's try something fun…"
He flew above the cloudline. The air was thin. Stars were visible.Then, he flipped and dived again—faster than sound.
Like Charizard's Seismic Slam, he dropped from the heavens, both fists hardened and ablaze.
CRASH.The impact shook the entire island.
The rhino's head was pinned into the ground. It struggled.Agni snarled and raised a claw, his arm turning jet black and scaley.He drove it through the beast's chest—straight into the heart.
A final groan. The beast collapsed.
Panting, Agni stood over the fallen creature, eyes locked on the strange jagged crown atop its head—made of bone, stone, and old gold.
He picked it up.
Then—grinning—he crushed it into a ball in his hand and ate it.
Immediately, agony.
His body trembled. Scales burst from beneath his skin. Horns elongated. His eyes turned slitted, his spine extending. A tail burst from behind. His flames turned blue—a deeper, hotter fire.
Half-dragon. Half-man.
His breath was lightning. His veins pulsed like lava.
Then he opened his mouth.
"Dragon Breath."
A massive sphere of blue fire formed in his mouth.He launched it down at the island.
BOOOOOOM.
The island lit up in white-blue flames. Trees, stone, rivers—all gone.The earth cracked and buckled, folding in on itself as fire consumed the land.
Within seconds…O-Kan Island was gone.
Only black sea and rising smoke remained.
Agni hovered in the air, eyes wide. Breathing heavily.Then—slowly—his pupils returned to normal.
"...Damn," he muttered. "Did I just lose control?"
He looked down at the sea.
He hadn't meant to destroy it. He only wanted the throne.
But the power was getting harder to rein in. Each transformation, each awakening—it chipped away at what made him human.
Still, he didn't regret it.
"The world's not gonna kneel to kindness," he said, hovering in place, wings flapping slowly. "This is survival. This is evolution."
He turned toward the horizon.
"Time to test what else I can do," he whispered. "And time to build my empire."
He spread his wings.
And with a trail of blue fire, he vanished into the sky.