Chapter 277

"Fire Fist!"

A blazing punch slammed into a Dark Hunter, sending them flying. Flames ignited across their body.

In Gik City, aside from Gonte and Ina, the other Nen users were significantly weaker. 

There were two A-rank Nen users: Gonte and Ina. 

And only one B-rank, who had died in Ina's squad last time. 

The rest were all C-rank or D-rank Nen users.

They were no match for Eli at all. Ralph had already been knocked out.

Ron and Wendy had just emerged from behind a collapsed portion of the base when a huge fireball hurtled straight at them. 

Wendy reacted on instinct.

"Wind Blade!"

A sharp gust sliced the fireball in two, preventing it from landing directly on Ron and Wendy. It didn't extinguish the flames, but at least it kept them from crashing down upon them.

Eli turned toward them. 

"You actually cut my fireball in half?" 

"Interesting."

In a flash, Eli zoomed in on their position with startling speed, wearing a vicious grin and emanating potent killing intent.

"You little punks from Fiora—die!"

Ron frowned. 

He'd debated whether or not to get involved in all this, but now there was no choice.

Eli's flaming fist smashed down toward Wendy.

"Akutagawa Ryuunosuke!"

At Ron's command, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's figure appeared.

"Jaw!"

A dark-red set of jaws lunged at Eli, snapping viciously. 

Bang!

Eli quickly retracted his fist, avoiding the bite, and delivered a punch straight to the jaws instead. The tremendous force, along with a surge of flames, knocked Jaw backward, dragging Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's entire form with it.

"Not bad!"

Eli's gaze flicked toward Ron. 

"Didn't expect to meet two relatively strong brats here. Now this is fun. Killing you two will be quite the blow to Fiora, yes? Then let's get started—right now!"

Excitement filled Eli's eyes.

"Hanma Baki!"

A figure appeared at Eli's flank. At the same time, behind Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, another dark-red presence formed.

"Gyō!"

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke pounced at Eli in a fierce assault while Hanma Baki circled to strike from the side. 

Wendy gathered aura into her hands.

"Blade Storm!"

Eli fought two-on-one without yielding, continuously spewing flames in all directions. The entire area looked like a raging sea of fire. A nearby Dark Hunter collapsed from the residual force of Eli's attacks.

Meanwhile, Aikeny kept retreating, using buildings—and the people around her—as cover. She hunted down an already safe Dark Hunter who was trying to escape and slit his throat. Gonte burned with fury. Things were worse than the worst-case scenario he'd imagined. The Dark Hunter base was gone, and few members remained alive.

He couldn't manage to kill Aikeny. She was too good at dodging, hiding, and running. 

Meanwhile, Ron and Wendy were clearly at a disadvantage against Eli.

At this point, Gonte didn't care about Rosgel's head anymore. He wasn't even thinking about avenging Ina. But he could not bear to see Ron and Wendy die here. Wendy was a Dragon Child—one of Fiora's future pillars. Ron, coming from the Zoldyck Family, couldn't die on Fioran soil.

"Get out of here!" 

"Scatter!"

Gonte's loud roar reached Ron's ears, and Ron's eyes flickered. 

"Wendy, we should leave. In this situation, it's our best choice. Staying longer won't help Senior Gonte—in fact, it'll just drag him down."

Wendy nodded with reluctance. 

"Alright."

The two simultaneously launched attacks at Eli, then abruptly fell back.

"Trying to run? Not a chance!"

With a cruel laugh, Eli gave chase. The battle quickly shifted across half the city in no time.

"Break!"

Eli's flaming fist struck Hanma Baki's torso, tearing a huge gap clean through it. Hanma Baki's body was critically damaged. Even so, in that instant, the gravely injured Hanma Baki clung to Eli's arm with all his remaining strength. At the same time, Wendy manipulated the air currents, swirling wind around Eli's body and hindering his movements.

Above Eli's head, a massive dark-red Jaw formed again.

Crunch!

It bit down viciously.

"Did we do it?" 

Wendy's eyes lit up with hope.

"No."

Ron shook his head, looking serious. The Jaw struck home, yet Ron didn't sense Eli's life force dropping.

Boom!

In the next moment, Eli's entire body ignited, becoming a blazing inferno. 

"What a pity—you sacrificed a Nen beast in that attack. Against anyone else, it might've left them gravely wounded. But you're unlucky you ran into me!"

Eli grinned. 

"No amount of simple physical attacks will ever harm me. Because I am fire! Now it's my turn. Since you forced me into this state, I'll use it to defeat both of you. And, hey, consider it an honor to die in this form."

"Tell me your names—I, Eli, will remember you."

Ron narrowed his eyes. Seeing Eli's current condition, he couldn't help recalling a few things from other worlds. 

Wendy's expression grew even more grim. 

But neither of them answered Eli's question.

"His whole body turned into flames?" 

"Elementalization?"

At the first sight of Eli's new form, Ron thought of Devil Fruit powers in the One Piece world. Specifically, the Logia-type abilities, which let one transform their body into a particular element—fire, lightning, ice, sand… By transforming into an element, you become immune to physical attacks.

But Ron quickly reminded himself that Eli's skill might not be a perfect counterpart to that kind of "elementalization."