A Different Set of Keys

Chapter 7: Cursed Island, Ho!

Disclaimer: I own neither Fairy Tail nor One Piece they belong to Mashima Hiro and Oda Eiichiro respectively

A/N: Hey, new chapter. I had been putting off starting this chapter due to my dislike of the Galuna Island Arc (this being the only one of my fics that will ever actually cover it entirely), but I got hit with the mood to write some more One Piece stuff so here it is.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon/Dragon Talking"

'Demon/Dragon Thinking'

'Flashback'

Magic/Magic Item

Location/Time Change


Hargeon Port

Lucy looked out over Hargeon Town with a wide smile. "I haven't been here in a while." She said with nostalgia lacing her voice. "This is where we first met, isn't it?"

Natsu and Happy's reactions were more subdued. "It hasn't been that long." Natsu told her.

Happy giggled into his hand. "Lucy's acting like an old lady."

Lucy rolled her eyes and began to walk into town. "Yeah, yeah. First thing to do is get to the docks and set sail."

Natsu rushed in front of Lucy and stopped her. "A ship?! No way! We're swimming!"

"That's impossible." Lucy told him in exasperation. "Come on."

Natsu continued to protest using a ship all the way to the docks to no avail. Lucy knelt down at the end of a pier and pulled out a light blue key. "How are we even going to find a ship around here? It's hopeless. Let's just swim." The Dragon Slayer continued to ramble.

Lucy ignored him and activated her magic. "Open. Cabin of the Ship, Sunny-go!" A large ship with red and white designs across it appeared in a flash of light and displacement of water. It had two large masts with a covered crow's nest at the top, a closed observation platform near the rear overtop of a large cannon, and the figurehead was a lion with a stylized mane. A gangplank was lowered over the side by magic and landed in front of Lucy, who gave an overdramatic bow to Natsu and motioned to the ship. "All aboard." She told him with a slight smirk.

Natsu and Happy were staring at the ship with slack jaws. When they managed to recover they turned to Lucy with stars in their eyes. "Lucy, that's so cool! How long have you been able to do that?"

"You already knew about Sunny's key. I showed it to you right before I summoned Chopper for the first time." She reminded him. Seeing that the two were distracted, Lucy pointed to the deck. "Look. It's got grass and even a garden."

"Cool!" The pair repeated and took off to explore the ship some more.

'Boys.' Lucy sighed at their antics and boarded the ship herself, the gangplank rolling up behind her. The ship lurched to a start and Natsu immediately started to suffer from his motion sickness again.

"Crap." He muttered as he crawled over to the side of the ship as Lucy and Happy watched.

"Sunny, could you tie a rope to him and make sure he doesn't fall overboard?" Lucy seemingly asked thin air.

Happy looked at her like she was crazy until a rope started to move on its own and tied itself around Natsu's waist. "Lucy, how did you do that?" He asked in wonder.

"I didn't do anything; it was all Sunny." Lucy told him.

"Huh? How did a ship do that then?"

The blonde gave him a knowing smile. "Sunny isn't the ship, she's the spirit of the ship." Seeing Happy's expected confusion, Lucy went into more detail. "The Key of the Ship summons the klabautermann of a ship and it controls the entire vessel."

"What does a clobber-man look like?" Happy asked.

"Klabuatermann." Lucy absently corrected. She remembered when she first summoned Sunny and botched the name herself. "See for yourself." Lucy then pointed to the front of the ship where the ship's wheel was located. Happy went off to investigate and when he was gone, Lucy turned to a swing located on the deck where a small glowing figure in an orange raincoat and boots was swinging. She couldn't make out any features under the hood, but the spirit didn't have any anyways. The entire ship was her face, just on a larger scale than her body. "Hello, Sunny-chan."

"Lucy-chan!" The spirit said with a voice that made no actual sound, but echoed through her mind. "Are we off on another adventure?" She asked with childlike glee.

"Yeah. Can you take us to Galuna Island?" She requested.

The spirit nodded her head and the entire ship began to shift positions as it unfurled to full sail. Lucy felt a hum through the planks and knew that the second engine under the ship had been deployed in case they hit some still waters. "Thank you."

"Of course." The spirit told her. "Is there anything else you need?"

Lucy thought for a moment and looked up at the main sail. A smile appeared on her face. "Don't you think that it's about time we got a symbol for our flag?"

Even though the embodiment of the ship didn't have a mouth, Lucy would swear to anyone that it was wearing a giant smile at the moment.


Later Happy flew back to find Lucy alone on the swing. "Lucy~. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find the clause-man." He whined.

"Klabautermann. And I don't know what to say, Happy. Maybe she's being shy." Lucy attempted to lie, but the smirk forming on her face gave her away.

Thankfully, Happy didn't see it. "I wanted to meet her." He said in disappointment.

Lucy gave him a small smile and leaned in close. "Do you want to see something even cooler?" She asked in a faux-whisper. Happy perked up and nodded his head. "Then come here." Lucy picked up the blue cat and walked over to where Natsu was lying against the side with the rope taunt around his waist. Apparently Sunny had learned of his attempts to escape for "freedom". "Natsu, you should see this too." The man moaned in response and Lucy took that as an "okay". She dragged him over to the front of the ship and pointed up at the sail. "Look."

Happy and Natsu followed her finger and broke into a pair of wide smiles when they saw what she was pointing too. A large red Fairy Tail guild mark was proudly set in the middle of the sail and outlined in gold. Atop the crow's nest was a smaller black flag with a matching pink symbol. "I had Sunny add it while you two weren't paying attention. I thought that it was only appropriate." Lucy said.

Natsu motioned to Happy who picked him up so that he could talk. "It's perfect, Luce. After all, you're a member of Fairy Tail, so your partners are members too."

Behind them at the wheel, a small unseen smile appeared on Sunny's normally featureless face.

"You know, klabautermanns are known as water spirits for the most part, but they are believed to be something else sometimes." Lucy said, piquing Natsu and Happy's curiosity. "Some people believe them to be water fairies."

The pair's eyes widened and then they smiled again. "That's even better."

Lucy matched their smile. "I thought that you'd think that."

Nothing more was said for a while as the three of them continued to look at the flag while the spirit guided them. No one wanted to break the magic of the moment.


Galuna Island

"Land ho!" Happy called out from the top of the crow's nest. He floated down to join up with Lucy. "Galuna Island is just ahead of us."

"Great. We made it here faster than I expected." Lucy said.

"Yay…" Natsu weakly groaned from his position hanging over the railing. The Sunny-go ran aground on the shore and he immediately perked up. "Alright, let's go exploring!" Natsu declared before jumping off of the ship followed by Happy.

"You guys, wait! We have a job we're supposed to do!" Lucy yelled at them.

"That's why we're exploring!" Was Natsu's reply.

'No it isn't.' Lucy thought before sighing at their antics. "Hold on." She walked over to the wheel where Sunny was waiting. "Thanks for your help, Sunny-chan."

"Of course. It was nice to meet your friends, they're fun!" The spirit said.

"Yeah, they sure are." Lucy waved to the spirit as she descended the gangplank and she waved back before the whole ship disappeared in a flash of light right as Lucy stepped on the sand. The blonde turned to where Happy and Natsu were waiting impatiently. "Hold on, you two."

"Come on, Lucy. It's a huge island and we should take some time to explore." Natsu pleaded.

"No way." Lucy vigorously denied. "This is an S-class job that you stole from the request board. We're going to solve it as fast as we can." She began to head into the jungle that made up most of the island. "There's a village on this island that sent out the request. We should speak to the mayor first."

Natsu and Happy groaned, but followed Lucy inland with no further complaints. They walked through the jungle for several minutes and followed a seemingly man-made path until they came across a large wall made of tree trunks sharpened into points at the top. There was a gate denoted by its carved posts and the thicker logs that made it with a large "Keep Out" sign on the front.

Not to be deterred, Lucy called out to the empty gates. "Hello! Could you please open the gates?!"

"This sucks." Natsu complained not even waiting for Lucy's echo to disappear. "Let's smash it."

"NO!" Lucy told him with an angry look. Seriously, he had been so eager to get here and do the job and now he wanted to jeopardize said job just because he couldn't stand still for five seconds.

Before an argument could start, two figures holding spears appeared on top of the gate. "Who goes there?" One called down.

"We're mages from Fairy Tail. We're here about your job request." Lucy explained.

The figures looked at each other in confusion and then back down to the mages. "Fairy Tail? We didn't hear that you took the job." The same man said.

"Well, um…" Lucy stuttered out while she tried to come up with a reasonable excuse. She had forgotten that since they stole the request they clients wouldn't know that they were coming.

"Oi! It's not our fault that someone else screwed up. We're here to do the job, so let us in!" Natsu yelled up at the guards, saving Lucy from having to come up with a believable excuse

They conversed with each other for a moment and then the one spoke again. "Show us your guild marks." He commanded. Natsu showed off his shoulder, Lucy held up her hand, and Happy moved his backpack and turned around. "They seem legit." The guard told his companion.

The other guard rubbed his chin in thought before speaking for the first time. "Strip the girl."

"What the hell does that have to do with this?!" Lucy demanded in anger. Natsu began to pull off her jacket only for her to kick him away. "Don't listen to him!"

On the gate the first guard slapped the second over the head and he looked away shamefully. "It was just a joke." He told them. Seeing the glare Lucy sent his way he quickly made his retreat. "I'll get the mayor."

The gate was raised up and the Fairy Tail mages walked inside the village. The remaining guard led them through the rows of wooden huts to the middle of the village where all of the villagers had gathered. Strangely, with the exception of the two guards, they were all wearing cloaks, hoods, and masks. A short man with tribal designs depicting the moon on his cloak walked forward with the aid of a staff topped by a crescent moon. "Thank you for coming, mages. I am Moka, mayor of Galuna Island." The man introduced himself. "This may seem sudden, but look at this." With a gesture, all of the villagers removed their cloaks to reveal that they all had a portion of their bodies turned into that of a demon. Moka—now seen to be a tan-skinned old man wearing a white kilt, blue cape, large tooth necklace, and several golden bands on his arm—held up his right arm that was a blue, clawed demon hand from the upper arm down. "Are you surprised?" He asked.

"Whoa!" Natsu yelled. "Your sideburns are awesome!" His attention seemed more focused on the large gray sideburns that made up the only hair on the village leader and hung down to his hips.

"I was referring to my hand." He muttered in disbelief. He cleared his throat and continued. "Everyone on this island, from the animals to the humans, are under the effects of this curse."

"Are you sure that it's a curse?" Lucy nervously asked. She didn't like the looks of those mutations and was starting to feel a worm of doubt building up in her mind. Maybe there was a reason you had to be qualified for these types of jobs.

"I've taken this to many doctors and none of them were able to determine the cause."

Damn. There went her idea to have Chopper fix whatever was wrong with them.

"This is caused by the moon's magical power." Moka told them. "Ever since ancient times the moon has shone especially brightly on this island, making the island beautiful and shine like the moon itself." The mayor's tone turned somber. "But a few years ago the moon turned purple and so did the moonlight."

"Purple? I've never seen a moon like that." Natsu skeptically said.

"That's what all you mainlanders say." Moka dismissed his comment. "But on this island the moon has turned purple. Now whenever the moon appears are bodies are forced to change."

The Fairy Tail mages were getting a little worried with the mayor's story and Happy glanced up at the sky nervously even though it was still a few hours away from sundown. The vague image of the moon could just barely be seen in the sky.

Moka noticed his gaze and nodded. "Yes, because the moon is visible to a degree all day on this island we maintain a portion of our demon forms. But when it fully rises and the moonlight shines upon us all we are forced to change into complete demon forms." His hand tightened on his staff hard enough to turn his knuckles white. The villagers looked away from the mages and unconsciously clutched or tried to hide their deformities. "If this isn't a curse then what is?" The mayor said through grit teeth. He took a moment to regain his composure and then continued. "In the morning we revert back to normal, but recently some people haven't lost their demon forms."

"That's awful." Lucy muttered in horror. Stuck as a demon while everyone you knew returned to a somewhat normal state.

Moka's voice began to waver as he continued. "The village decided that we would kill anyone that had lost their soul and turned into a true demon."

"Even if there's a chance that they could turn back to normal?!" Natsu asked with a shocked tone.

"There's nothing else we could do. If we let them live then they could end up killing other people, and they're too strong to remained locked up." The old man's voice had become noticeably thicker with emotion and he reached into a pocket on his kilt to draw out a picture of a smiling young man with tan skin, dark eyes and hair, and a black moustache that reached his jawline. "That's why… I had to kill my son." He said as a tears began to fall. "My son that lost his soul."

The mages were horrorstruck at what had happened and were unable to react. The mayor bowed this head to them with tears still flowing. "I beg of you, famous mages, please save our island. If this continues then we… we'll all lose our souls." The other villagers had also begun crying at this point and had bowed their heads as well.

"I won't let that happen!" Natsu declared for all the island to hear.

"There is only one way to get rid of this curse." Moka informed them. "You must destroy the moon." He declared while pointing at said moon.

The trio stared at the old man in shock with slack-jaws at his ridiculous statement. "EH?!"


The villagers had offered the Fairy Tail mages a hut to stay in while they were on the island and the three were making themselves comfortable while casting nervous glances to the purple moon that had fully risen. Watching the effects of the curse take over the rest of the villager's bodies had been disturbing to say the least.

"The moon gets creepier the longer you look at it." Happy remarked while hanging on the windowsill. Lucy told him to stop and he dropped down and walked over to where Natsu was sitting with a pensive look on his face. "What's the matter, Natsu?"

"I can't figure out how many punches its gonna take to destroy the moon." He told him.

"Don't be ridiculous." Lucy, now dressed in a simple shirt and pants for sleepwear, told him. "It's impossible to destroy the moon."

"But if we don't destroy the moon then we'll fail the job, and if we fail the job we'll hurt Fairy Tail's name." Natsu reasoned.

Lucy sighed. "Look, we're only being told to destroy the moon because that's what the villagers believe is the problem. If we look around the island we should find another way to break the curse. Even if that fails I'm sure that there is still an alternate way to break it."

Natsu frowned at the thought of not getting to punch the moon, but decided that he was too tired to argue. "Fine. We'll explore tomorrow." He declared before collapsing onto his bedroll, followed by Happy. Before he could fall asleep he felt a prod in his side and opened his eyes to see Lucy moving him across the room with her foot. "What gives, Lucy?"

"I'm not sleeping next to an animal like you. There aren't any other rooms so you get this half and I get mine." She informed him.

Natsu just rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, yeah. Goodnight." He said before nodding off.

"Goodnight." Lucy echoed before crawling into her own bed. However, she wasn't prepared for the sudden climate shift from the tropical heat during the day to the cold night. Lucy tossed and turned in her sleep and unconsciously started to migrate across the room to a certain source of constant heat. By midnight, Lucy and Natsu were peacefully sleeping next to each other with smiles on their sleeping faces.


On the Other Side of Galuna Island

A familiar dark haired and shirtless mage finally made it to Galuna's shores. He was panting and sweating heavily from having to run all the way here while using his magic and stood bent over with his hands on his knees. Behind him a bridge made of ice shattered into little ice crystals that fell into the ocean.

Gray glanced up with a very annoyed expression. 'When I find those assholes I'm going to freeze them solid and use them as icecubes.' He silently raged. There would be hell to pay… tomorrow. First, he needed to sleep. With a quick use of the last of his magic, Gray made an igloo and collapsed down on the sand inside of it, regardless of the way it stuck to him. The exhausted man had a decidedly more uncomfortable night than his quarry did.


A/N: I'm going to end it there for now. I have a big paper due on Tuesday that I've been putting off and I really want to get this chapter posted before then. Next one will be longer and I hope to finish the arc with it. Until then, later.