Chapter 1

## Chapter Chronology

**Chapter 1** is the first chapter of the *Fire Punch* manga series.

## Summary

A flashback scene depicts two children, Agni and Luna, trekking through a barren, white landscape. A blizzard rages around them, and as Agni carries Luna on his back, he begins to beg to God to save Luna, stating that he doesn't care if he dies as long as Luna lives. As he begs for His merciful flame, he begins to mentally recount how the world got to this state. He explains that people born with special powers are called "blessed," and that one particular blessed, the Ice Witch, enveloped the world in "snow, starvation, and madness." As everything goes dark, he states that "the freezing masses yearn for fire."

In the present day, Agni makes Luna chop his arm off and, as he is blessed with regeneration, his arm grows back within a few seconds, albeit with great pain. They chop a few more arms before going to distribute them to other people in their village. Luna wants him to chop her hand tomorrow, but Agni is against it, as her regeneration is slower and takes a hour, which would put her in excruciating pain. On their last drop, they see an old man who has died as he refused to eat Agni's flesh. Agni blames himself for not realizing sooner, but Luna assures him that it wasn't his fault and the man was always against eating human flesh. At home, Luna prepares dinner, but Agni doesn't want to eat as he would be fine with his regeneration, but Luna forces him to eat. Before going to sleep, Luna read about the world in the past and Agni mentions that since he is older than her, he remembers some of it and how pleasant it was to enter in water when it was a comfortable kind of cold as opposed to the "bone-chilling cold" which the world is covered in now. Luna suggests that they go travel when the world becomes hot again. Before they go to sleep, Luna pecks Agni on the cheek, but Agni protests, stating that he is fifteen and too old for cheek kisses. Luna stays silent for a few moments, before leaning back over and sharing a much more intimate kiss. Agni allows to happen, but when Luna requests they have a child together, he begins to protest, bringing up the fact that they're siblings and it would be wrong. Luna disagrees, saying she loves him. Agni agrees, but still refuses the idea, leaving the two to sleep.

On the next day, the village holds a funeral for the deceased old man. A citizen gives Agni and Luna some milk he got from a traveler. Agni protests, but the man says that he doesn't need the nourishment, and that if they succumb to the cold, the village will be doomed. He then recalls how they came to the village three years ago and how they used the little wood they had to warm them up and nursed them back to health. Later, Agni manages to shoot a deer, commenting to himself how rare wildlife is nowadays. As he carries the deer back to the village, he decides that he will give the meat to the families that won't eat human flesh, and he'll give some to Luna too. Suddenly, he remembers Luna's request from last night and begins to sweat, but is quickly distracted by an airplane flying overhead, directly towards the village. He runs back to investigate, and a group of soldiers with guns surround the villagers. One soldier expresses anger at the fact that everyone is eldery, but one of the soldiers in charge tells him to watch his language and show respect, as they aren't there to collect slaves. Agni confronts him, and the man introduces himself as Doma. He explains they are not there to fight, but there is war not far from there and they need to rest and resupply. Agni protests, explaining that they don't have enough supplies for them and they need to leave. Doma says that they're still going to take what they need, but he offers to take Agni back to Behemdorg. He explains that it's a city of freedom where Agni can rise up through the ranks and earn his own slaves, and that one day, when they have enough manpower, they will take down the Ice Witch. Other soldiers then come to report to Doma that they have found human meat in the villagers' houses. Doma instantly changes his mind and tells his soldiers that they are leaving and that this village doesn't exist, stating that "these things aren't people." He asks Agni if there are blessed in the village, and Agni lies and denies this. Doma reveals he is blessed as well and that his king wouldn't allow village of cannibals to exist. He rises his hand at Agni, saying that his flames won't extinguish until their "fuel" has perished.

Moments later, the village has been burned to the ground with the villagers in it, leaving Agni in a non-stop cycle of burning and regenerating. Suffering from the burning, he prays to God once again to protect Luna from the burning and keep her safe. While he curses his blessing, Agni discovers that if he focuses hard enough, he can prevent himself from regenerating and decides to let himself die and be reunited with his family. However, Luna, also burning, begins to call out his name and approach him. Agni is overjoyed, realizing that once the burning is over, the two will go to Heaven and be reunited with their family. He daydreams about swimming in rivers, showing her flowers, letting her pet cows and sheep, letting her eat cheese, and having a child with her. As Agni daydreams about this, he is happy that he can share his final moments with his sister, and he extends his hand for a fist bump. However, Luna tells him only one word: "Live." Immediately after saying this, she dies, leaving Agni to stare at her charred remains and contemplate her final word. Because of this, he decides to fulfill her request and live through the pain. He begins to recount the series of events that follows. During the first two years, all he could do was lay on the ground and scream in agony, stating that the flames didn't die down even during the roughest storms. By the third year, he was able to pick himself up and walk, although coughing up blood the entire time. To distract himself from the pain, he bit his own tongue off countless times. By the fifth year, his brain got used to the pain to the point where was able to move and walk freely, although still unable to breath. However, by the eighth year, he had taught himself to control his regeneration to an extent, confining the flames to the lower parts of his body. For the first time, he was able to breathe air again, and clenched his hand into a fist. As he walks through the charred remains of his village once again, he sees a buried picture of him and Luna. Motivated by the pain and memories of Luna's wishes, he states that he will burn Doma to death for his actions, using his flaming fists to turn him into ash.

A caravan of large trucks, equipped with snow treads and escorted by soldiers, plows through the snow. Inside the trucks are groups of slaves, and a soldier in one of the trucks asks the driver what will happen to them. The driver answers that the attractive ones will be sold to rich members, the unattractive ones will be bred until they die, and the men will be worked until they die. The driver says that they're lucky to be slaves of Behemdorg, and that anywhere else they would freeze or starve to death. One of the drivers suddenly interrupts, yelling that he needs to pee. The caravan stops, and the man, identified as the captain, assures it won't take more than ten seconds. As he pees in front of the truck of slaves, he states that it contains lots of pretty ones, and requests for "the redhead" to be put in his cab. Then, he orders the soldiers to kill the elderly slaves and to cover the children with blankets. As he asks if anyone in the truck is blessed, one of the slaves begs the soldier for some water, stating that their boy needs it desperately. The captain considers this, before forming a cup in his hand from nothing. He explains that he can form iron from thin air, and that it's not a common blessing. However, instead of filling the cup with water, the captain instead pees into it and extends it to the parent. While the parent hesitates, the captain tells him that it is "the piss of someone blessed by God," and demands that they make him drink it. A crowd behind him laughs, and the captain gives the parent ten seconds to make him drink it before he kicks them off the van. While the parent holds it up to the child's lips to make it appear as if he is drinking it, the other soldiers laugh, which the captain scolds. While this is happening, a young slave inside the truck, Sun, looks at the captain. The captain notices and demands to know why he's staring. When Sun doesn't answer, the captain says that he hates people that don't know their place and orders the soldiers to kill Sun. Sun is lined up with the other elderly slaves and, one by one, they are each shot in the head by a soldier. Sun begins to pray, but when the soldier reaches him, he stays still. The captain asks why he isn't shooting, and the soldier states that "there's something walking this way." In the distance, Agni begins to walk toward the crowd of soldiers and they correctly deduce that he is a blessed, although their assumption of his blessing being fire-related is wrong. The captain states that he hates being interrupted and coats his arms, mouth, neck, and hands in spiky plates of armor. The captain says once again that this will take him ten seconds and begins to walk toward Agni. Sun drops to his knees, and Agni observes the bodies around the caravan. He correctly guesses that this is the work of Behemdorg soldiers and walks right past Sun, to Sun's awe. Agni mentally recounts the Ice Witch's role in covering the world in ice, and as the captain launches his fist toward Agni's face, he reiterates that "the freezing masses yearn for fire."

All around Agni lay the charred bodies of the Behemdorg soldiers. As the title of the manga is displayed in large text Agni stands with his fist through a flaming soldier's stomach. As the soldier burns, he begins to groan with pain, confused as to why the flames won't extinguish. With his final breaths, he desperately questions why Agni won't die, before turning into ash and being ripped in half with Agni's fist. Along with the now-freed slaves, Sun looks on in awe at the flame-covered man in front of him.

## Characters

* Agni *(Debut)*
* Luna *(Debut)*
* Doma *(Debut)*
* Sun *(Debut)*

## Trivia

* This chapter, specifically the title drop scene, is parodied in the Shonen-published Marvel manga *Deadpool: Samurai*. In chapter seven, Deadpool confronts a Hydra soldier while on fire and asks "since we're naming characters and organizations after myths, you think Jump+ would be fine with calling me Agni?" After saying this, he punches the soldier through the chest and lights him on fire in the same manner Agni does, and the words "FIRE PUNCH" are displayed in large text.