Chapter 24: Time Limit - Deliora's Resurrection Begins!

"Ur is still alive." Lyon widens his eyes in shock. "The Ice Shell doesn't kill its caster. It uses their body to form the barrier. The ice that is keeping Deliora sealed away, the ice you're trying to melt, is actually Master Ur. She isn't dead. She lives on as that ice." Then Gray eyes widen as a tiger made of ice started to form on his back, piercing him in the process.

"Gray!" Luffy shouted as Gray fell to the ground.

"You idiot." Lyon said, smiling wickedly. "I know how the spell works. I can ensure you, she's not alive anymore. That is nothing more than a chunk of ice." Then Lyon felt a fist hitting him in the face, making him crash into a wall. "What?!"

Gray looked at where the attack came and saw Luffy retracting his arm. "Luffy…" he said, standing back up.

"Gray, leave this guy to me." Luffy said, looking at the ice-make wizard. "This time, I'm shutting this bastard up for good!" Luffy bend his knees, putting one fist on the ground and pumping his legs. "Second Gear!" Steam started to come out of Luffy's body and his skin turned into a pinkish color. Luffy took a stance, lifting his hand up. "Gum-Gum…"

"Whatever this is you're trying to do won't work." Lyon smirked. "It's a useless effort."

"…Jet Pistol!" At an unseen speed, Luffy punched Lyon at the gut; his fist came out as a blur. Lyon was sent flying back, crashing into a wall and breaking the ice covering it. "You need to step your game if you want to beat me!"

Outside of the temple, The Straw Hats and Fairy Tail wizards continue to fight off Lyon's minions.

"Noticed anything strange, Lucy?" Erza asked.

"Yeah." Lucy said. "Even though there's a bunch of them, their magic seems weak for some reason."

"Exactly," Erza said. "As far as I can tell, there are only five wizards among them."

"Ah man, that means I have to go easy on them." Happy said.

"Keep telling yourself that." Lucy said with a sweatdrop.

"Do you think you can handle this one?" Erza asked.

"Oh, you bet!" Lucy said, taking out one of her keys. "Open, Gate of the giant crab, Cancer!" Then a man with black hair braided in red corn rolls with a shape that looks like crab's pincers, wearing a blue striped shirt, black pants, and sunglasses, with six crab legs on his back appeared.

"What the…" Usopp said surprised, looking at Cancer. "Where the heck did that guy come from?!"

"That's so cool!" Chopper said with stars in his eyes.

"We've met before, haven't we?" Erza asked the spirit.

Cancer got down on one knee and present Erza a bouquet of roses. "Indeed we have, Miss." He said. "And as always, I'm at your service."

"That's supposed to be my line, crab bastard!" Sanji shouted angrily at Cancer.

"And I thought you always said, 'baby!'" Lucy added. "What's with you saying 'Miss?!' And aren't you supposed to be at my service?!"

"Someone's jealous." Robin said.

"Take them down!" Lucy ordered, pointing at Lyon's minions. "But kill them, just wrap them ok."

"Alright baby, I mean Miss." Cancer said, as he charged towards the minions.

Inside the temple, Lyon struggled to get to his feet. He used the ice wall that he made to help himself up.

"The cold emperor…" Lyon said, glaring at Luffy. "Defeated in battle by the likes of you? I won't stand for it."

Luffy narrowed his eyes and said, "Then get over here and fight."

Lyon gave the pirate a fierce glare and stuck his hand with a magic circle appearing. "Ice Make: Snow Dragon!" A dragon made out of ice appeared and launched itself towards Luffy.

"Gum-Gum…Jet Whip!" Luffy fired a high speed kick the ice dragon, destroying it completely. As the dragon fell apart, Luffy glared at Lyon. "Bastard, I thought you weren't going to that magic stuff."

"Don't be a sore loser." Lyon said. "This duel was pointless from the start. Deliora will be revived either way. Alas, it's far too late to stop me now."

"We'll see about that." Luffy said, balling his fist.

"Think that all you want." Lyon smirked as he removed his cape. "But Zalty is preparing to start the Moon Drip ceremony as we speak."

"Natsu won't let him." Gray said, getting Lyon's attention. "Trust me, the second you underestimate that guy is the second you'll lose."

In the cavern underneath the temple, Zalty walked up the frozen Deliora. He smirked and said, "At long last…"

"There you are!" A familiar voice shouted. Zalty looked behind him and saw Natsu charging towards with his fist engulfed in flames. "I'll burn that stupid grin off your face!" Natsu threw a punch at Zalty, who dodged out of the way the attack.

"Ha, ha, must've taken you a while to come up with that one." Zalty taunted as he landed on the rock taller than the one Natsu is on. "By the way, how did you manage to find me?"

"I followed my nose, that's all." Natsu answered. "For some reason, you totally reek of ladies' perfume."

Zalty grinned and said, "I would love to stay and chat but I got more important things to do right now. Like reviving Deliora."

"Just forget about that because it's not going to happen, ok?"

"Oh really? And why is that?"

Natsu pointed at Zalty and said, "Because Gray and Luffy are going to kick that ice guy's ass! And at any minute now, I'm going to kick your ass! Like a billion times! And then, this will all be over."

Zalty looked at the frozen Deliora and smirked. "We'll just have to see about that."

Natsu looked at the creature and his eyes widen. "That's moonlight!" he said, looking at the purple light shining on Deliora. "There are people there doing the ceremony now?!"

On the roof of the temple, magic circles hover below the moon as the purple light beamed down to the roof and Toby was on his knees, bowing to that light.

"There's only one person, which means that the Moon Drip isn't terribly powerful right now." Zalty said. "However, that's hardly any concern since we already gathered plenty of moonlight. We just need to give it a little nudge to finish the job, like this…" And then a piece of the ice shell broke apart from the moonlight as it begins to melt.

"This can't be good!" Natsu shouted. "Deliora's ice is melting like crazy!" Natsu turned around and started to run out of the cavern. "I gotta stop that guy before things get ugly!"

Zalty smirked as the piece of the ceiling started to fall and crashed behind Natsu, stopping the dragon slayer. "Sorry, but you're not going anywhere." He said. "Looks like chasing after me was a mistake after all, Salamander. Better luck next time, aye."

Outside, all of Lyon's minions were on the ground defeated by the Straw Hats and Fairy Tail wizards.

"Excellent work, now let's head to the temple." Erza said.

"No wait!" one of the fallen minions said, stopping the group. The minion revealed to be an elderly dark-skinned woman with gray hair. Behind her was a tall dark-skinned young man with black hair. The both of them were wearing some sort of head piece. "We won't let you interfere with the cold emperor."

"Listen, you already lost so just give up!" Franky shouted.

"Those head pieces, you people are from the city of Brago." Erza said, identifying the two. "You want revenge." The elder woman narrowed her eyes, remember what to her city.

Inside the cavern below the temple, the ice encasing Deliora continues to melt. Natsu charged towards Zalty, throwing another flaming fist at Zalty. Zalty dodged the attack and jumped onto another rock.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Zalty questioned. "Using your fire magic at a time like this? It might make the ice sealing Deliora melt even faster." Natsu jumped to where Zalty is and throw a flaming kick at him.

"If it could be melted by fire magic, then you wouldn't go through all of this trouble." Natsu said. "Laugh all you want but once I'm done here, all I got to do is stop that Moon Drip and its game over."

"Ha, ha, ha, I must say that I took for a fool." Zalty said with a smirk. "But push comes to shove, you're surprising clever, Salamander." Then the ground began to shake underground and inside the temple.

"I got a bad feeling that it's not Natsu." Gray said.

"The ceremony is finally reaching completion." Lyon said, smirking. "The ice sealing Deliora is finally begun to melt away. There's nothing either of you can do. It's too late to stop me. You and your friends have failed." Then ice particle surrounds Lyon as he looked at Gray. "Do you any idea how long I've waited for this moment, Gray? Since the last I saw you, I've been gathering knowledge and allies who aid me. I was fortunate to discover this place. An island on the Grand Line where you can collect the light of the moon, Galuna." Then ice eagles appeared from behind Lyon and rushed toward Gray and Luffy.

"Gum-Gum…Jet Gatling!" Luffy fired a barrage of sound speed punches, easily destroying the eagles. Then the steam disappeared from Luffy as Second Gear wore off.

"It wasn't an easy task to transport Deliora from Brago!" Lyon shouted as more ice eagles appeared and were fired at Gray and Luffy. "And the moon drip had taken three years!"

Gray quickly created an ice shield in front of him and Luffy, causing the ice eagle to crash into it. "You've wasted your time on this stupid plan for three years!" Gray shouted.

"Stupid?!" Lyon shouted back. "How dare you?! You spend the last ten years in foolish guild, meddling your life away!" Then a huge ice eagle appeared and was launched towards the two, destroying the shield and making them jump out of the way.

"That's because I put my faith in what Ur taught me!" Lyon widen his eyes at Gray said.

(Flashback)

"In the western countries, even in the seas of the Grand Line, there are people who are powerful than me." Ur said.

(End of Flashback)

"So I went west and made to Fairy Tail." Gray said. "And she was right, the guild was full of powerful wizards. I couldn't believe it."

(Flashback)

"I don't think I can help you." Marakov said to the young Gray. "The ice shell is based on the will of its caster. Because that will is absolute, a third party cannot melt the ice no matter what magic use."

"No way!" Gray shouted. "You mean to tell me with all of the strong wizards you got, you can't break the spell?!"

"Actually now that I think about it, there might be a way." A smile appeared on the young Gray's face. "On second thought, that's not a good idea." Then the smile disappeared. "If you melt, it would be no matter different than killing your master."

(End of Flashback)

"I don't know it at the time." Gray said. "But the old man was talking about the Moon Drip when he said that. After everything Ur did for us, you'll kill her without a second thought. You make me sick."

"So what you will, I don't care." Lyon said coldly. "My entire life has led up to this moment. Our master is long dead! If we want to surpass her in her absence what are we do to? Think Gray?" Lyon covered his hand in ice forming into a tiger head and charged towards Gray. "The answer is Deliora! By defeating the thing that she could not!" As Lyon was about to hit Gray, he felt something grab his arm, and stopping his attack. Lyon and Gray looked at who stopped the attack and saw Luffy. "Straw Hat! Stop interfering! This matter doesn't involve you!" Then the grip tightened on Lyon's arm and cracking the ice covered hand.

"I don't care!" Luffy said, destroying the ice on Lyon hand. "I don't who your master was but she didn't sacrifice herself for you to destroy the legacy that she made!" Luffy stretched his arm back. "Gum-Gum…Bullet!" Luffy punched Lyon in the gut but the wizard turned into ice and was shattered. "Wha…"

"Fooled you, didn't I?" Lyon said, appearing behind Luffy. "Ice Make: Snow Tiger!" A tiger appeared behind Luffy and charged towards him.

"Ice Make: Prison!" Gray created a cage made out of ice, entrapping the ice tiger.

"Gray!" Luffy shouted as the Fairy Tail wizard jumped on top of his cage.

"See Lyon, this is you!" Gray shouted. "A beast in a cage, lashing out at a world he doesn't know!"

"What nonsense!" Lyon said, commanding his tiger. "I'll make quick work of that spell of yours." The ice tiger tried to destroy the ice cage but couldn't. Lyon looked at the caged tiger confused.

"See? Single-handed spell casting is too unbalanced." Gray explained. "Your creations will let you down when you need them the most."

"Damn you!"

"Gum-Gum…" Luffy stretched both of his arms back and charged towards Lyon. "…BAZOOKA!" Luffy hit Lyon with a double open-hand strike, sending him crashing through a wall and knocking him out.

"Ur taught us that, remember." Gray said, then he wrenched in pain from the wound Lyon inflicted on him earlier.

"You ok?" Luffy asked, looking at Gray.

"I'm fine." Gray said, using his ice to close his wound. "I just forget to close my wound up earlier." Then a monstrous roar sounded off throughout the entire island.

"AHH…MY EARS!" Usopp yelled in pain, holding his ears much like everyone else expect Zoro, Sanji, Robin, and Erza.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Nami yelled.

"MY EARS WEREN'T READY FOR THIS!" Happy yelled.

"That doesn't sound promising." Erza said.

"I guess they were too late." Zoro said, grabbing the hilts of his useable swords.

"IT'S SO LOUD!" Natsu yelled, covering his ears. He looked at the ice and saw red eyes glowing from the ice. The ice then broke, releasing the demon.

"Yes, it's free!" Zalty shouted triumph. Deliora let out another ear-piercing roar that is heard from inside the temple.

"OW, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" Luffy shouted, holding his ears. "IT'S HURTING MY EARS!"

"That roar…" Gray said, remembering the one thing that what can cause that roar. "I can never forgive that sound."

The roar has woken Lyon up as well. "De…li…ora…" he said, knowing that monstrous roar.

Gray balled his fist in anger. 'They did it.' Gray thought. 'They actually revived him. There's only one thing I can do now. Ice Shell…'

To be continued…