Natsu was impressed by how well Mirajane could track. She was able to locate a trail of Gray's boot prints in seemingly no time at all. But unfortunately the trail ended by a raging river.

"What happened here?" Natsu asked.

"Let me see." Mirajane said looking around. Not only were Gray's boot prints found here but so were the boot prints of some other people and a body print was there as well. Last thing she found were some marks in the dirt that could only be made by someone who had been dragged. "He wasn't the only one here."

"Was he attacked?"

"There was a confrontation here alright but I can't say for sure how it went down." She checked the boot prints left at the edge of the river again. "I'd say from the looks of it he jumped."

"Jumped?" Natsu said unsure that he hehard right. "Gray jumped into the river? Into water?"

"Judging by the fact the his prints are faced forward and elevated a little yes."

"But that's not possible. Gray can't swim, he's afraid of the water. He wouldn't just jump."

"Pushed then perhaps but it would't explain the elevated part."

"Oh God." Natsu's face turned pale as he began to worry for the life of his longest friend who he also saw has as a brother. "What if he drowned? Can you tell?"

"No and if he is dead drowning wouldn't be the only possible cause for his death."

"What do you mean?"

"This is no ordinary river. There's a charybdis at the end of it."

"A what?" Laxus asked.

"A charybdis. They're large monsters who dwell in seas and rivers. When they hunger, they suck up a huge amount of water which drags down everything in it like whirlpool except once you reach the bottom of that whirlpool you're swallowed by the giant jaws of a beast."

"Gray was eaten?!" Natsu cried out in horror.

"Possibly or possibly he managed to somehow escape the current before it was too late."

"He can't even dog paddle, how could he swim good enough to escape a strong current? He's gone. My best friend is gone. Oh God!" He said in sorrow. "Oh God please don't take him! He's too young and religious! He didn't deserve to go yet! I know I always said I didn't like him but I didn't mean it!"

"Well don't be quick to draw up funeral plans yet." Laxus said.

"Why?"

"Because I see smoke in the distance."

Laxus pointed toward the sky wear a stream of smoke was rising up from the trees. They followed the smoke and saw that the source of it was a leftouver camp fire that had gone out in the night. By lying across from the burned piles of logs was Gray, alive and fast asleep with his arm securely around the waist of a sleeping woman. He was shirtless and she only wore enough clothing to cover two parts of herself.

"Oh my." Mirajane said with blush.

"I guess this is what holy boy would call a divine reward from Christ." Laxus said. "Lucky bastard."

"Wake up!" Natsu said shaking Gray.

"Huh? Wha...What's going on?" He said waking up. "Oh hey guys, when did you get here?"

"I oughta maroon you on this island!" Natsu shouted. "What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You leave us in the middle of the night, don't come back, scare me into thinking you've drowned or something worse but it turns out you just sneaked away to get frisky with some random woman! Everyone always looked at you like you were some chaste gentleman like guy but not me! I always suspected you were secretly perverted! It's always the religious types!"

"What are you-" But when his vision cleared and he became more aware of how this looked he turned bright red in the face. "Oh no! No! No this isn't how it looks! I...I would never! At least not in this situation and this isn't some random woman! This is Juvia! I found her last night!"

He gently woke her up and when she sat up, Natsu and Laxus could recognize her better.

"Oh hi Juvia." Natsu said. "Are you alright? What happened to you when you swam off?"

"I'm fine and after I left you all I was captured by this other pirate crew but they were nothing like you all. They were cruel, horrible, monstrous even. They wanted one of my tears so they tried to kill me to get me to cry."

"Was Lucy with them?"

"Yes but they took her away after they left me to be eaten by a charybdis."

"Was she still alive?"

"Yes she was. He threatened to shoot her but I don't think he's killed her yet. I think he needs her alive for some kind of ransom."

"Ransom?"

"At least that's what I think I heard him say. We mermaids have excellent hearing and as I was being brought to them I tried to listen to everything each of them had to say. I was a little far so might have misheard but I believe I heard the captain say he was going to barter Lucy to you for the items you collected to make the sacred key."

"Why am I not surprised?" Natsu said with hate in his eyes. "That's how Mard works. He twists people's emotions and plays with their heads. The sick son of a bitch!"

Juvia was surprised by the amount of rage in Natsu's eyes. She had seen him angry before but not like this. This was beyond anger. In fact this wasn't anger at all. This was hate. Pure undaunted hatred. Something she was certain that someone like Natsu wasn't capable of feeling.

"Do you know where they took Lucy?" He asked her.

"No."

"Are you sure? They didn't mention any place on this island?"

"No. Nothing. I'm sorry. I wish that I was able to find out something that could lead you to where they are but I couldn't."

"In that case our best bet is to go where Mard's prize is located. We have to go to where the book of E.N.D is."

"We can't go there." Mirajane said.

"We have to. That's where we'll find them."

"But if we try to go there we'll all die. No one is allowed to reach the book of E.N.D. The island makes sure of that."

"What do you mean the island makes sure of that?" Gray asked. "Are you saying the island is alive?"

"In a way. This island was given a type of life by spirits so that it would be able to keep the book hidden and locked away. It wants to ensure that the book is never opened. That the atrocities in that God forsaken piece of literature are never released into the world. If anyone tries to take the book the island will do everything in it's power to stop them even if it means killing them."

"You neglected to tell us about that little detail Natsu." Gray said glaring at him.

"Well right now we don't care about the book. We only want to rescue Lucy." He turned to Mirajane. "Will this island try to kill us if we only go near the book but have no intention of taking it?"

"I do not know." She said. "The island can sense someone's intentions. That is why my people have lived here peacefully. But then again with something like E.N.D chances can't be afford to be taken. In other words it's a half and half chance we'll all come back alive."

"Well I always take chances." He said. "Gray, Laxus, if you all want to go back be my guest but I'm going."

"But Natsu you don't know for sure that they're where that book is." Gray said. "You could die for nothing."

"Maybe so but if I don't act fast Lucy could be killed by that miserable excuse of a human being and I'm not about to let history repeat itself." He said before going off somewhere.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mirajane asked the crew. "History repeating itself? Has something like this happened before?"

Laxus and Gray looked at each other knowingly before one of them answered her.

"Sort of." Laxus said. "Natsu's never been to Tendrou Island before but this isn't the first time Mard Geer went after someone he cared for."

"Mard Geer? Is he the captain of the pirate crew you all are pursuing?"

"Yes he is. The demon of the sea is what many people have called him. He's taken thousands of lives without any pity or remorse."

"And he's also the man who killed Natsu's father." Gray added.