Chapter 14: Explore! The Exceed Kingdom – Extalia!

Wealth, fame, power…Gold Roger, the king of the pirates obtained this and everything else this world has to offer. And his dying words drove countless souls to the seas.

"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I've gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!"

These words lured men into the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they've ever dared to imagine. This is the time known as 'The Great Pirate Era'.

Finally reaching the city of Edolas, Luffy and the others have the lacrima that their friends were trapped in. To get to the reverse the spell, our heroes decided into the castle through a mine shaft outside of the city. But as they got closer to their destination, our heroes fell into a trap. After their capture, the secret of Carla and Happy was revealed.

"Great exceeds…" Edo-Erza said, confusing Happy and Carla. Then Edo-Zoro, Edo-Erza, and the Edolas soldiers kneeled before the two cats.

"We're honored to welcome you home." Edo-Zoro said. The Earth Land wizards and the Straw Hats looked at the scene in front of them with widen eyes.

"I don't understand." Nami said. "What's going on?"

"Who are you, Happy and Carla?" Wendy asked shocked. "I thought you were our friends."

"We are most grateful for your help on capturing the intruders." Edo-Erza said. Happy looked at Carla with a scared look on his face as Carla looked at the ground, saddened about what just happened.

Inside the castle, Hughes and his men tossed Luffy and Chopper into one of the prison cells. "Why you!" Luffy shouted, charged towards Hughes as the door closed between them. "Where are the others?!"

"Others?" Hughes questioned with a smirk.

"Yeah! Where are our friends?!" Chopper shouted. "Lucy, Nami, Natsu, Wendy, Carla, and Happy!"

"Lucy? Nami?" Hughes said. "Oh, you mean those two bimbos. Pretty little things, aren't they? Unfortunately, we have no use for them. So they will be executed."

Luffy hit the cell bars, shooting a death glare at Hughes. "If you lay one single finger on my friends, I swear you're gonna pay!" Luffy warned.

"Aren't you a scary one?" Hughes taunted. "So tell me something, are all pirates on the Grand Line are just as ferocious as you are?"

"You're going to execute them?!" Chopper shouted in anger. "What will happen to Natsu and Wendy?! And what about Happy and Carla?!"

"No need to worry about the exceeds."

"Their names are Happy and Carla!" Luffy shouted. "Get it straight!"

"The exceeds had accomplished their mission." Hughes continued. "So we took them back to their homeland. Right now, I bet they've claimed their reward and having a big feast as we speak."

"What are you talking about?! What mission?!" Chopper shouted.

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?"

Outside of the castle, Edolas soldiers surrounded the lacrima, guarding it under Faust's orders. One of the soldiers looked behind his shoulder and saw a man wearing a black suit, black hat, looking like Ace, writing something down on his notepad. Edo-Ace looked up and saw the Edolas soldiers surround him.

"What are you doing?!" The soldier demanded.

Edo-Ace looked down for a second and said, "Thanks for all your hard work."

"Who are you?!" The soldier asked.

"Oh I'm just your average journalist." Edo-Ace said. "I'm covering the ceremony and I would love to ask you few questions. That is if you wouldn't mind."

"I got no comment, so beat it!"

"I see that the king has troops stationed around the northern side of the plaza. Is it safe to assume that there are soldiers on the southern side of it as well?"

"Get out of here!"

"Sorry gentlemen, I didn't mean to disturb you." Edo-Ace said as he walked away, hiding the smirk on his face.

Close to the lacrima, Gajeel looked down on it from the top of one of the buildings. "That's just great." He said. "I can't rush in with those people down there. They could wind up getting hurt when the soldiers attack. What am I going to do now?" Gajeel looked down and saw Edo-Ace walking towards the lacrima. Edo-Ace looked up and gave Gajeel a small nod.

Elsewhere in Edolas, Happy and Carla were lying on a bed unconscious. Happy slowly opened his eyes and quickly sat up. "What the…" he said, looking around. "Where are we?" He shook the white cat next to him lightly. "Hey Carla, wake up."

Carla opened her eyes and said, "Tomcat, what is this? What in the world…happened to us?"

"All I know was that we were knocked out and woke up here. This weird place…" Happy stood up from where he was sitting. "I know I've never been here before." A sadden look appeared on Carla's face, catching Happy's attention. "Are you ok?"

"It seems like my information was actually a trap." Carla said sadly, remembering what to her and Happy's friends.

"That's not true." Happy said. "I'm sure that it was a coincidence that they found us. It wasn't your fault, Carla."

"I betrayed dear Wendy." Carla said, balling her paw. "I swore that I would protect her, no matter what."

(Flashback)

"I must protect her." Carla said. "She is the only thing that matters to me."

(End of Flashback)

"This is all my fault." Carla said. At that moment, the sound of a door opening caught Happy and Carla's attention as a cat wearing a soldier-like uniform with white gloves, looking like Ichiya appeared. This is Nichiya.

"I beg your pardon." Nichiya said. "Are you the one who recently completed their Earth Land mission?"

"It's Ichiya?!" Happy exclaimed as a picture of the Blue Pegasus wizard ran through his mind.

"Meow, nice parfum." Nichiya said.

"Wait a second, you're a cat?"

"Don't be silly, I'm no mere cat. I'm an exceed just like you."

"Mr. Nichiya, I've been told this is the first they've been to Edolas." A new voice said as a black exceed with his right arm continuously shaking. "In fact, I doubt that they've seen another exceed before."

"Really?" Nichiya said. "Well I had no idea. Welcome, I am Nichiya, the captain of Extalia's Royal Guard, meow."

"And my name is Nadi." The black exceed said. "I'm otherwise known as Extalia's minister of state. Congrats on your mission."

"Our mission?" Happy questioned confused. He looked at Carla, who still had her head down in shame. "It'll be ok, Carla."

"I know this is rather sudden but the queen would like to see you. Follow me." Nichiya said as he left the room.

"The queen, seriously?!" Happy looked at Carla again and said, "Don't worry! Leave everything to me! First thing we need is get the lay of the land. I promise I'm going to protect you, Carla."

A door opened between two large gray exceeds, who were guarding it, and Nichiya and Nadi walked through it with Happy and Carla behind them.

"Excellent work, men." Nichiya said to the guards.

"Meow, sir." The gray exceeds responded.

"There are cats everywhere." Happy said, looking at the guards.

"I bet that you're excited, aren't you?" Nadi asked.

"I might be if what the heck is going on." Happy said. The four cats continued to walk through the corridor to the outside of the building. Happy widen his eyes as he saw a town filled with cats just like him and Carla, walking, talking and buying items like the human do.

"Hey baby, wanna go share some milk with me?" A cat asked, hitting on a pink cat with a bow near her ear.

"Hello ma'am, may I interest in freshly caught fish today?" A cat dressed like a fish shop owner asked the white cat wearing a bright orange dress.

"Yes." The white cat replied, pointing at the nearest bowl of fish on her left. "I'll take those and one of the fish over there please."

"Sure thing!" The owner picked up the bowl that the white cat pointed at first. "Tell you what, since you got so many young ones at home to feed, I'll throw in some extra for free."

"Thank you! This is so incredibly kind of you, sir!"

"I figure that I should spread the wealth since the queen's generosity is the reason why I make a living each day."

"Well my kittens and I thank you."

"No problems."

Not too far from them was a group of cats sitting around at a table and talking with each other. "I swear I'm not lying." The blue cat wearing an olive green shirt said. "I went to the surface the other day to gather info and when I saw it."

"Are you going what you saw down there or what?" The orange cat wearing a black cowboy hat said.

"I came face to face with a caterpillar that was this big!" The blue said, separating his arms apart to emphasize the length of the caterpillar.

"Quit pulling my leg, kid." The orange cat said. "You don't really expect me to believe that caterpillars grow that big, do you?"

Not far from them, a brown cat with white hair and a beard stood in front of a class of kitten, teaching them about their race. "In other words, rather the king knows it or not, he's under the exceeds' control just like any other human." He said.

Happy continued to look around in shock, seeing cats of size and colors do things he normally see human does. "It's a land of cats." He said.

"Hey look, it's Sir Nichiya." One of the cats said and Nichiya acknowledged him with a nod.

"Sir Nadi, how are you doing today?" Another cat asked.

"I'm doing great." Nadi said. "Thank you for asking."

"Hey check it out, is that them?" A brown cat wearing glasses asked, looking at Happy and Carla.

"Yes, they're the one who completed their Earth Land mission." A tan cat replied. Happy and Carla looked at the other cats with an uneasy look on their faces.

"You guys rock!" A cat wearing a purple-striped sleeveless shirt shouted. "You're heroes!"

"That chick is pretty hot." The gray cat next to him said, looking at Carla. "I wonder if she's with that guy."

"Everyone is a cat here." Happy said, looking at the citizens.

"I'm afraid that you're wrong, my friend." Nadi said. "We're exceeds here. We stand above the humans. It's our duty to guild them each and every day."

"I never heard of you."

"And that beautiful sight before you is the exceed kingdom, Extalia." Nadi said as Happy looked at the giant castle that Happy and Carla are being taken to.

Back at the Royal City of Edolas, people started gathering around the lacrima as the soldiers started marching towards the plaza. Edo-Ace walked up to one of the soldiers with Edo-Gajeel and said, "I see that things are finally getting under way."

The soldier nodded and said, "The kingdom will be much more stable after this."

"We're on the southern side of the plaza. Let me ask, is security is tight on the eastern and western sides as it is here?"

"No only because there's not enough room to hide there." The soldier said.

"Oh really, is that so?"

"Please don't write that in the article! It'll get me in trouble."

"We'll never do such a thing." Edo-Gajeel said. "Me and my friend are completely aware of what's appropriate to write and what isn't. We strive to be fair journalists."

The soldiers continued to march towards the lacrima as Edo-Gajeel walked to a different spot in the crowd.

'There are troops stationed on the north and south sides.' Edo-Gajeel said. 'However just north of the south side is undermanned. According to my sources, the ceremony will be held south of the lacrima.'

Gajeel looked down at his Edolas version and saw him pointing at an area on the other side of the plaza. Gajeel smirked and said, "I see. Here goes nothing."

To be continued…

Next Chapter: Fireworks is the Signal! Gajeel Goes into Action!