AN: This story was inspired by ServicePrivacy and his fanfic called Quake! The only thing that would overlap in our stories would be the use of a devil fruit or rather the powers of one, nothing else. I would highly recommend checking out his story because it is one of my favourites on this site even though it was never finished.

I don't own anything regarding to Fairy Tail or One Piece.

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Our story begins in a small village in the Northwestern side of Fiore. A small river village with nothing to do but fish and try to make a living. It was quiet and serene for all who lived there, perfect for simple people who wanted to live simple lives. Nobody in the village knew magic or anything of the like. Except one.

A small boy who looked to be around 10 years old was slowly making his way through the dirt roads throughout the settlement. He wore a bandana around his head that kept his short brown hair out of his face. It swept off to one side slightly and even the slightest touch on face bothered him immensely. His mother had given it to him when he was very young, noticing how much her son hated the annoyance. Every time he would have to take it off to bathe the boy would be constantly reminded of his enemy as well as forever thanking his mother for her gift. The bandana was a light gray in colour with criss-crossing blue zigzag lines going all the way around. Moving further down you could see more simple clothing on his person. A white t-shirt and dark blue pants covered the rest of his body. Finishing with a pair of old and worn out shoes. Overall there was nothing that made the boy stand out. But then again, that's how he liked it.

Simply passing through town, looking for anything he could scrounge together that would somewhat amount to a full meal. Of course, he was having no luck. Cursing his misfortunes he didn't notice a tall man slowly approaching him from the front. If he were to have been paying attention to his surroundings, his instincts would have told him to stay away from tall, dark and scary. But alas that was not meant to be. Only noticing him after being flagged down, the older man bent down and seemed to pause for a second. Possibly noticing the partially frightened look on the small child's face. Unexpectedly, the giant of man who only got bigger the more the boy looked at him, asked a simple question.

"Hey, do you know where I can find the nearest bar in town? I've been searching for almost an hour and can't find anything that resembles one."

On the outside the boy was the perfect representation of calm and collected, not at all phased by the man's seemingly stupid question. On the inside however, he was already becoming increasingly frustrated with the newcomer. Obviously he wasn't a native to this village by not knowing where the local bar was. Not his fault the boy guessed.

After seeming to think for a few seconds he pointed in the opposite direction he had been walking, indicating where the man needed to go. A smile adorned the giant's face after receiving the answer and let out a loud thanks in return. Slowly rising to his feet and walking away leaving the child to continue his hunt for food.

"What an idiot." the boy let out in almost a whisper. Not trying to be loud enough that the surrounding villagers would hear him.

"Who in their right mind would ask a child where the local bar was?" the boy thought questioningly.

It was this thinking that brought on the bad mood that was now forming. Being a local, might make the situation a little more bearable but unfortunately that wasn't that case either. He could have asked anything of the tens of villagers lining the streets at that moment but instead the man had to choose the only person in the whole town who hadn't originated from the immediate area. So, in a fit of karma, the boy had just pointed in a random direction to spite the traveler.

The rumbling of his stomach snapped the boy out of his stupor as he continued and failed to find food for himself. What he didn't know was that he would be seeing that man again, and much sooner then he would have liked.

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A mere few months later we can find the same boy traveling through an ordinary town, this one being much larger than the last one, but still of no real importance. After asking for directions form a local farmer, he learned that the town was called Shirotsume. Walking past a rather large mansion, the boy thought to himself how nice that family must have it to be able to afford such a luxurious estate. These kinds of thoughts were nothing new as he had always dreamed of having somewhere nice to spend his days. After his mother and father died in a raid by dark wizards in his hometown, he had to fend for himself. Obviously going back was pointless simply due to the fact that after everything valuable was taken, the evil wizards had burned down the rest of the town. He was fortunate enough to escape without being seen but nobody else made it out as far as he knew.

This town evidently was an upgrade from the last as there were a lot more people to steal money from. Stealing was never the first option but was his only one as there was no work to be found for a 10 year old boy. Unless he could somehow convince a legal guild to accept him, the life of a petty thief would have to do.

Suddenly the boy felt a rather large hand place itself on his shoulder startling him slightly. He mentally reminded himself to not get caught off guard again because if this was going to become a habit, it would annoy him even more than his hair. Turning around to face the person who had actually noticed his presence amongst the crowd of people he was met with a face of dread. It was the same man that he had met in the river village a few months back! This was bad. Was he mad about giving him wrong directions? It seemed harmless enough, after walking around for a bit he could just ask another person who would surely point him in the right direction that time. Or maybe he was so angry that he wanted to take his revenge for the kid that caused him so much trouble? Was he a Dark Mage? A quick scan only furthered that thought as a guild mark couldn't been seen. Then again, all he could see was his exposed arm that was attached to his own shoulder and the man's neck and above. Getting a closer look the boy was met with a stern face and long, slicked back orange hair and stubble lining the man's face. The large man was mostly covered in a long, black, high-collared and tattered cloak with shoulder plates. Peeking out from underneath the cloak where heaving boots that were surprisingly simply looking.

"Aren't you the kid I met in the other town? I looked all over and couldn't find the bar you pointed to! I guess my sense of direction really is bad!" the giant said laughing at his own misfortune.

"And sorry I didn't introduce myself last time, I was in a bit of a hurry since I had been traveling for a while and hadn't eaten in a few days. " he continued.

At least that was why he looked scarier the last time I saw him. Definitely a hundred times more friendly looking now.

"I guess he's not mad at me either, best case scenario worked out I guess." the boy thought mentally.

"The names Gildarts, and I'm a wizard from the Fairy Tail guild." the man spoke up once again.

"Shota." the boyresponded in a whisper.

"Sorry what was that?" the now named Gildarts replied back.

Attempting to make actual conversion was harder than Shota thought but he would have to try at least. "Shota. That's my name." he said casually.

Over the past year Shota had only spoken to a handful of people, only really being talkative with his parents. But without them there was nobody to really talk to and he was really shy around strangers. Gildarts was probably the only person that actually spoke to him in that time frame.

"Oh! Sorry about that, couldn't hear you the first time." Gildarts confessed. A smile rejoining his facial expression after the confusion.

Just then, at the worst time possible. Shota's stomach shook again, loud enough that Gildarts could hear it. Honestly, it was embarrassing the first person he talks to in over a year and this has to happen. Probably karma for tricking Gildarts the last time they met.

"You sound hungry. Why don't you come with me to grab something to eat really quick? Think of it as a thanks for helping me out that time." the mage quickly offered.

Not being one to pass up on a free meal Shota quickly accepted the offer and joined Gildarts on their short walk to the nearest restaurant. Surely nothing can go wrong by getting something to eat with a person he has only known for all of 2 minutes. Right?

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On the way, Shota noticed a change in atmosphere around him, mostly pertaining to Gildarts and the way he carried himself in public. Not being overly opposing but instead only giving off a vibe of confidence. Whether that was because he was arrogant or actually strong remained to be seen. Maybe he just took a couple low ranked missions and is riding on that streak. Completing easy missions always brings the spirits up. But no matter how strong Gildarts was or wasn't; there was no way he would measure up to the power passed down to him from his Grandfather. Shota never really knew his Grandfather, only coming to visit every once and while, and to train the young boy in his magic. Of course being so young, Shota was only shown the basics and was left to develop his own mastery by himself. And that is just what he did. Over the past year he travelled all across that country, attempting to master his magic. Never being able to stay in one place because of how destructive it was, and not wanting to be linked back to the incidents his magic caused. Always on the run and always alone. Perfectly describes his life up until this point.

Again, berating himself for zoning out, they arrived at the restaurant. Oddly enough the sign on the front of the building only said 'Food', showing how small the town really was. The two sat down in a booth together and while Shota conservatively ordered a small sandwich, Gildarts ordered one of everything off the menu.

"What kind of monster lives in your stomach for you to be able to eat all that?" Shota said with his mouth practically on the table.

"Well, a big man like myself needs a big meal to satisfy my hunger!" Gildarts responded cheerfully. "Now why don't you tell me a bit about yourself Shota? Why were you travelling alone? Do your parents know where you are right now?"

"There really isn't much to say. I just kind of roam around wherever I feel like and try to keep myself alive. And I was by myself because my parents are dead. They were killed by a Dark Guild last year when they raided my town." Shota replied meekly.

That was definitely not what Gildarts was expecting when he asked his question. This is their second time meeting and both times he has seen the kid, it was when he was by himself. Obviously not thinking much of it the first time. The safety of the town would protect the kid from any unwanted trouble and as long as his parents trusted him not to come home too late it would fine. But now seeing the kid a couple towns over the response he got made sense. At this point, what Shota said really sunk in to Gildarts' mind.

My parents are dead.

Out of everything Gildarts could have said, why did he have to asked about the kid's dead family! Seriously were the odds of that happening?

Trying to cover up his mistake, "Oh wow, I'm really sorry. I didn't know."

"It's fine, nothing really I can do about it know. Just my luck I guess. Out of all the children in the world to lose their whole family, it had to be me."

Feeling even worse than before, Gildarts could only hang his mouth open. For the first time in a while, Gildarts was honestly speechless. What this child had to go through as young as he is, and act so maturely. It was almost unheard of. From that moment on the Fairy Tail mage knew this kid was special. Before he could speak again, Shota suddenly countered with a question of his own.

"You said you were a Fairy Tail wizard right? Is that a guild?"

After hearing that, Gildarts' mood almost did I 180 and instantly he was prepared to give the kid the whole lecture.

"Of course I am, Fairy Tail is the number one guild in the entire country! I was actually just coming back from a mission at the Holy Castle, just west of where we first met. Why the sudden interest?"

Shota was kind of overwhelmed at just how loud and powerful Gildarts' voice was. "Well yeah, right now I only scrape together what I can and live off of that. It would nice to join a guild and get real work. And then maybe I could get some advice on how to control my magic a little bit more." The last sentence only came out as a whisper but the other man heard the whole thing.

"Hey, how about this, I've got another job to do before I can return to the guild. You come with me and I'll test how strong you are. If you can impress me with your skills you can join the guild no problems."

After hearing this, Shota immediately perked up at the prospect of going to join an actual Legal Guild. Finally he wouldn't have to steal from various people across town. Finally he would not have to sleep in tree when all he wanted was a warm bed. Finally. He might have people to replace the ones he lost.

A determined look appeared on the young boys face as mentally prepared for whatever challenge Gildarts could throw at him. Unbeknownst to him however, Gildarts was watching the myriad of expressions on Shota's face with high interest. Going from excitement, to sadness, to what looked like hope. Of course, Makarov would take the kid in a heartbeat, no questions asked but Gildarts wanted to test the boy. To see what he meant by trying to control his magic more. Out of all the people in the world, he was the one who could relate to that prospect the most. Being the cause of half the destruction across Fiore a prime example.

After inhaling an inhuman amount of food, the two set off towards the Mysterious Canyon described in the job request. The request specified at least 2 highly capable S rank wizards to complete. Remembering the location of the job, Gildarts wonders if he should have said that they would be going on an S rank mission.

"Pfft, I'm probably strong enough to take on a simple S rank mission by myself. Even if it is a bit harder now that I have to protect the kid while doing it."

Little did he know then, but Gildarts was in for what would be the craziest mission he had ever been on. Past, present or future. Nothing could prepare him for what he would see from the small boy he was currently walking with.

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And that's it! Hope you enjoyed, I already have the mission planned out and ready to go, just need to go into some fine details to flesh it out. Drop a review if you want, I would really appreciate it! This is my first story ever so give feedback! Peace!