Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Fairy Tail
...
"Why does she get to compete again?" asked Luffy as his attention drew towards Kagura, recalling how the swordswoman had battled Zoro the previous day. Only the captain of the crew along with the swordsman and sniper currently remained, Sanji having rushed off to the infirmary to make sure that Nami was alright.
"The fights are organized by the crowds," explained Usopp. "Basically you can't fight unless the crowd wants you to fight."
"So basically because of the performance we put on yesterday people decided that they wanted more," stated Zoro as she watched her last opponent fight it out on the battlefield once more. Whilst the girl from Sabertooth would make for some tough competition for most people in this tournament he could see that he had succeeded in lighting a fire in Kagura's eyes. Her attacks were fiercer and hardly a single move was going to waste. This fight would be over shortly.
"That's not really the problem here though," said Usopp as his thoughts returned to one of the previous bouts of the day.
"Save it for another day," said Zoro as he turned around and started making his way towards the exit. "Whether or not he fights us or we fight him, considering the amount of people here it would be stupid for any of us to do anything rash. We may have been able to outrun the marines back on the Grand Line but the city guards aren't marines. Add on top of that the other amount of magic users in the city for the tournament and we could have a full scale war on our hands."
"Sounds like fun," said Luffy showing off a goofy smile.
"We've already gone to war with one world but that was over a nakama," stated Zoro not bothering to look over his shoulder. "If push comes to shove, we will kill Blackbeard."
The smile dropped from Luffy's face while Usopp began to shiver, the thought of going toe to toe with Blackbeard again nearly making him faint from the horrible thought. It didn't help that they weren't quite sure just what they would be facing if they fought against Blackbeard again now that he had taken away Tobi's magical power and added it to his own. Of course that was just the one extra ability he had gained that they knew about, there was no way of telling just how strong he was.
"If he dares to threaten my nakama, nothing in this town will stop me," declared Luffy boldly. Hearing Luffy's words of reassurance, Zoro resumed his walk, disappearing through the doorway without saying another word.
...
"And with that thrilling battle day two of the Grand Magic Games comes to a close!" shouted Chapati, the audience cheering loudly after having witnessed the multiple spectacles for the day. "After today's competition the leaderboard has been shaken up something fierce with Raven Tail leading the competition with 32 points after Teach's dominant performance. Second is Mermaid Heel, the victory in both the stage part of the competition as well as the battle portion giving the all female guild twenty points for the day which leaves them on 29. Coming third is Lamia Scale with 24 points but they may have lost a player at the cost of being so high up the leaderboard. Fourth is Sabertooth and I imagine many could never have predicted that last year's winners would only have 21 points at this stage of the competition. The Straw Hats are currently in fifth position with 16 points with Fairy Tail A right on their heels with 15 points. Fairy Tail B are five points behind their counterparts and currently have ten points. Secured at the bottom of the table is Quatro Cerberus who have only secured three points after two days yet with three days still to go there is still hope for the hounds."
"This competition is so COOL!" shouted Jason making sure he got one final word in before the end of the day.
"I look forward to seeing how the rest of the competition unfolds," said Yajima having been pleased with the display that he had seen today.
"Thank you all for coming and we hope that you come enjoy the festivities with us over the next few days," concluded Chapati as the mikes cut off and the audience started to make their way out of the arena.
"Well I guess with everybody else having had a shot I'll take on the task for tomorrow," declared Ace as he titled the hat upon his head up the slightest of margins. "Take it you guys will have no qualms with that."
"Not at all," said Erza standing nearby, her body bandaged up from the final attack that Bacchus had delivered to her.
"Go for it, wouldn't want you to be on uneven ground now would we," said Natsu and the rest of the group had to pause momentarily as they wondered whether or not Natsu had actually said the saying correctly.
"I wonder who Luffy would send forth," muttered Ace as he looked towards where the Straw Hats were located, or at least would be located if they hadn't already vacated the premises.
"Well if we were to mention that you'd be competing then he'd jump right on the bandwagon wouldn't he," stated Gray knowing roughly what Ace's brother would do. It had been a similar session with him and Lyon on the first day and knew that the rivalry they shared was almost mimicked entirely by the two pirates.
"Perhaps I'll leak some false information or something, mess with his head a little," said Ace with a menacing chuckle.
"You're truly evil you know that," said Lucy getting the rest of the group to smile as they all turned towards the exit.
"Anyways, I'm going to go check up on Wendy and tell her the results so far," stated Ace as he started to jog, weaving his way through the corridors of the building as he made his way to the infirmary. Natsu had informed them all earlier about how Raven Tail had seemingly attempted to kidnap the youngest member of the team and the former pirate wanted to make sure that she was alright. Yet the former captain found himself in a predicament as he found himself standing in front of Sabertooth, Yukino with her head bowed deeply as a woman wearing a blue outfit stood in front of her.
"Pathetic," declared the woman in an accent that Ace couldn't quite pick up. He hadn't seemingly been noticed at this point and slunk behind the nearest corner intending to just watch what happened for the moment as the woman continued her declaration. "Father instructed me to come post-haste once Rufus had been deemed unfit to battle for the coming days and now you've gone and disgraced the guild in such a pitiful manner."
Yukino said nothing and dared not even lift her head, whether to hide the wounds from the fight with Kagura or out of shame it was hard to tell. Seemingly unsatisfied with the silence, the overly pompous woman lashed out with her foot, kicking her guildmate in the stomach hard enough that blood splashed out of Yukino's mouth, making the celestial wizard drop to her knees. Seemingly that wasn't humiliation enough as the woman's foot was placed on top of Yukino's head before driving the girl's face into the floor with a sickening thud. None of the other three members of Sabertooth did anything as they watched the display, knowing simply of the strength that the woman still standing possessed.
Ace meanwhile had seen all he had needed to.
"That's enough!" he shouted as he made his presence known. Sting's eyes sharpened slightly as he looked at the member of Fairy Tail, his hand had not quite healed since that day.
"Oh, a jester makes his presence felt," stated Minerva, not lifting her foot off of Yukino's head as she applied more pressure making the girl beneath her squeal out in pain, unseen tears rolling down her face.
"A jester I may be but I cannot sit by and watch as you treat one of your nakama like this," he said through clenched teeth, his rage slowly boiling.
"Nakama," repeated Rogue, the word seeming foreign in concept considering that Sabertooth valued nothing more than strength and power. Friends and comrades weren't even part of the guild.
"Nakama? Do not preach your worthless words," said Minerva. "This trash has disgraced our guild and I have deemed it that she is no longer worth keeping within our walls."
"She loses a single battle, and you have the thought that she's no longer worthwhile," said Ace slowly, his mind dropping back to when he was captain of his own pirate crew. If he had had the same mentality of this woman then he wouldn't even have had a crew, all of them would have been abandoned. Such a thought... "DON'T FUCK WITH ME!"
The members of Sabertooth couldn't help but take a step back at the fierceness of his words not to mention the blunt rage that had been directed at them. "Oh, the kitten roars," mocked Minerva, the only one who hadn't backed down from Ace's challenge.
"Yukino," said Ace with contained fury, his eyes looking down at the girl who was struggling to get to her knees, "Is now under the protection of Fairy Tail. We believe that those who treat their comrades like trash are worse than trash themselves. If you so much as think of striking her once more than no rules in this competition can keep you safe from my rage."
This had mixed reactions from the members of Sabertooth, many of which wondering whether or not it truly was a good idea to provoke this enemy any further. While they had no doubt that they could easily take him it wouldn't put the guild in good standing to decimate a rival in the middle of the arena outside of the scheduled fights. Minerva however didn't think in such a way as she lifted her foot back before punting Yukino across the side of the head, knocking the white haired girl out cold.
Flames began to leap off of Ace as he stepped forward with a purpose, his eyes focused directly on the one who drew his anger. As the distance was closed however, he opted not to strike out at the foe in front of him but rather slowly dropped down to a single knee before scooping up Yukino in his arms, holding her bridal style as he got back to his full height. Turning on his heel, he began to walk away which caused Minerva to scoff.
"Pitiful, here I was thinking that you had some bite to you. Clearly however you are no more than a pup among wolves who can barely yip," decreed Minerva which caused Ace to pause in his place.
"At sundown, all four of you meet me on the arena floor," stated Ace not bothering to turn around. "At that time there will be no guards and you can enter via the competitors entrance, if anybody is to ask state that you are merely going to participate in some training activities. Given your reputation you should have no problem getting in."
"You think you can truly take us on?" shouted Orga believing that he was being looked down upon.
"Meet me at sundown and you'll find out, who knows you may even get vengeance on the brother that took down your other teammate," said Ace as he began to walk away once more, the distance between the two groups growing.
"We should ignore this challenge," stated Rogue not really wanting to show off his abilities just yet.
"No, that would be rude of us," said Minerva as she watched the retreating boy with interest. "If we fail to come it would be seen as a sign of weakness, something we do not tolerate. We shall be here on time and teach this fool the true strength of Sabertooth."
...
"What's happening?' shouted Wendy as she turned towards the sound of the door being slammed open. While part of her believed that this was going to be another kidnapping attempt by Raven Tail (though this time she was going to defend herself) she couldn't really believe her eyes when she saw Ace walk in with the broken and beaten form of a member of Sabertooth.
Without a word, Ace laid the white haired girl down on the bed, tucking her under the blankets to make sure that she would remain warm. "Wendy," he said turning towards the youngest person in the room. "Could you do a quick check over her body and make sure she's not suffering from anything life threatening?"
Wendy nodded in understanding, knowing that Ace didn't really want her to waste too much of her energy while there were still several days of the competition to go. With green glowing hands, Wendy began her diagnostic analysis and after several minutes she concluded that there wasn't anything too be worried about. Or at least that was the case until the rest of the team showed up.
"Yukino!" shouted Lucy as she looked at the form of the other celestial mage, quickly noticing that she was far more damaged than she had been directly after the fight with Kagura.
"Don't tell me..." started Erza as her mind already raced to the conclusion.
"Natsu, Gray, come with me," stated Ace coldly as started walking towards the door. Neither of the other two said anything as they began to follow.
"Wait!" shouted Lucy as she reached out to her comrades only to be stopped by Erza.
"Let's wait here and make sure Yukino's alright when she wakes up," said the swordswoman knowing that things would only get complicated if Lucy was to join the boys.
While she didn't like it, Lucy dropped her head in acceptance as she looked over at Yukino with a worrisome look on her face, both over the health of the girl and the hope that Ace wouldn't do anything too foolish.
...
The three members of Fairy Tail strode with purpose, nothing slowing them down as they made their way through the busy streets. The setting sun created a picturesque scene over the town as amber light danced upon windows and rooftops yet few paid attention to it as they went about their business.
Ace did come to a stop however as he saw his brother along with his first mate walking around in front of him. "Zoro, you said there'd be meat," whinged Luffy.
"I know where we're going," declared Zoro as he walked towards where he believed the food shops were. Sadly they were in the complete other direction.
"Hey," shouted Ace getting their attention, a broad smile immediately covering Luffy's face as he rushed over to where his brother was standing.
"Hey Ace, do you know where the meat is?" he asked.
"If you want to give me a hand I'll shout you dinner," stated Ace, something which immediately set Luffy's eyes alight.
"What do you need a hand with?" asked Zoro getting in on the conversation.
"Sabertooth," said Gray with his hands in his pockets, his clothes remarkably still on his body.
"What about them?" asked Luffy tilting his head to the side.
"That girl who fought for them today was kicked out of their guild," said Natsu who was seething with fury at just the thought of what had happened. During the walk Ace had explained just what had happened between the members of the opposing guild and his words created a fire within his guildmates eyes that would not settle until the blood of Sabertooth was spilt.
Hearing Natsu's words both Zoro and Luffy lost their cheerful dispositions, the two pirates quickly coming to the same conclusion despite no words being said. "So we're going to go kick some ass," said Luffy without missing a beat.
"More than that," said Ace. "We're going to humiliate them."
...
"What a waste of time," complained Sting as he held his hands behind his head, his fingers interlocked with one another. Sundown had come and gone and while the members of Sabertooth had patiently waited for Ace to make his appearance he had never shown up.
"He must have realised that he had no chance," declared Orga a little upset that he hadn't had a chance to stretch his legs as it were.
Rogue and Minerva remained silent on the matter, both of them wondering whether or not there had been some plan behind Ace having called them out. Their troublesome thoughts turned out to be true as they reached the place where their guild was staying to find the front door having been blown off its hinges, splintered wood covering the ground in all directions.
"The hell..." said Sting as he sprinted through the carnage, quickly followed by Orga and Rogue while Minerva simply bowed her head already knowing what it would likely look like on the inside.
"Well played jester," she said before stepping forward, her pace not having increased in the slightest.
For the other three members of Sabertooth, they couldn't believe their eyes as they looked at the destruction in front of them. They had arrived at the central foyer and had found a truly devastating sight as each and every member of their guild was sprawled out on the floor, scrapes and bruises covering their bodies as droplets of blood dripped from various wounds. "What happened here?" said Sting in complete and utter disbelief.
"Sting-kun!" shouted Lector as the small cat ran up from his hiding place, Frosch quickly following as the frog suit wearing cat quickly found his way into Rogue's arms.
"Lector, who did this, what magic did they use?" asked Sting wanting to get some sort of answer out of his companion.
"None," replied Lector which made the others pause momentarily. "They didn't use any magic. There were five of them and none of them used magic!"
"All this...just with brute force," said Rogue slowly as he overlooked the carnage, not even the guild master had been spared.
"He wanted us out of the way," said Orga as the cogs turned into place, his palm balling into a fist making his knuckles go white.
"We should tell the authorities," said Rogue.
"No," said Minerva as she made her presence known. "This was a message, plain and simple. Tomorrow on the battlefield we shall return our message in kind and show them that they were foolhardy to make enemies of us."
...
Hope you enjoyed.
