Chapter 6: Beauty and the Plague

In light of the incident, the five groups have decided to discuss their next steps. The Academy City group was all inside the storage room of the ship.

Touma's eyes fluttered open as he found himself facing a wooden ceiling. Slowly, he sat up rubbing his forehead.

"Well look who finally woke up from his nap," Accelerator announced, getting everyone's attention. Familiar with the voice, Touma turned his head to find Accelerator, Misaka, Index, Last Order, Wannai, Awatsuki, Tsuchimikado , and Kuroko staring at him.

"Where a-" Touma was about to ask, but he was embraced by Index. His chest was soaked in tears as she sobbed.

"I'm so glad you're okay Touma," Index happily sobbed.

At first, Touma was confused, until he remembered the fight he had with Jackal. He hugged her back. "I'm sorry for making you worry like that."

"Normally I would punish you for getting into trouble. But I'll let it slide for now," Index said with a smile, wiping away a stray tear with her shoulder.

Seeing Touma's bare chest, Misaka blushes slightly. Looking at the nun and boy embracing, she felt a mix of jealousy in her stomach. Tsuchimikado noticed this and couldn't help but grin at the situation.

Kuroko cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Now that the ape's awake, we can finally get down to business."

Touma was puzzled by what she meant by 'business' as Kuroko began pacing back and forth, with her hand on her chin. "As you all know, the events that occurred on that island were not normal from an Academy City perspective."

"No shit Sherlock," Accelerator scoffed.

"SHH! Misaka hushed Accelerator," Last Order put her finger on her lips while staring at Accelerator who just grunted annoyed.

"Based on what we heard, all of the tourists and worker androids began attacking within seconds after the hotel bombing," Kuroko explained. "Also, it appears that this act was caused by four individuals. One of them Accelerator described was a woman using some sort of illusion ability to summon tails."

"A woman who summons tails?" Misaka asked, glancing at Accelerator.

"I know what I damn saw," He harshly said.

"However they weren't the only threats," Kuroko continued. "According to Index, the demon man the ape fought was the cause of the pillars of lights that appeared for a brief moment."

"He called himself Jackal, and was a demon from some organization called Tataros," Index replied.

"I've heard about that," Tsuchimikado said. "It comes from something from Greek mythology right?"

Index nodded. "Tartarus is an abyss used as a dungeon for the wicked to be punish-."

"Anyway," Kuroko interrupted Index. "What happened next was the black hole appearing out of nowhere and engulfed the entire island. We would've been dead if it weren't for the boy launching us out of there and landing on this outdated boat."

"I think the long nose man called it the Going Merry," Awatsuki said.

"That's a really odd name for a boat," Misaka bluntly said. "And it kind of looks like a pirate ship."

"Come on Sissy," Kuroko chuckled. "These people are probably playing pretend pirates or something.

"I don't know Kuroko," Wannai replied uneasily. "They don't sound like they're pretending."

"Well once we get back to Academy City, Judgement will take these weirdos into custody," Kuroko harshly said. "I mean these guys talking about magic, devil fruits, superheroes, and pirates? What a bunch of kids."

While the conversation went on, Touma silently took in all the events that occurred after he beat Jackal. He was kind of surprised by a black hole appearing in the resort but wonders if it's a magician who caused the black hole to spawn. He might need to ask Index about it in private.

"Ahhh~! I'm so tired!" Cure Princess sighed as she set her head down at the table. The Pretty Cures were inside the kitchen area of the ship.

"Me too!" Summer did the same thing. "I wasn't expecting to be fighting robots and demons~!"

"It's hard to believe that the whole resort was an elaborate scam," Flamingo said while leaning on the wall. "Those people sound and look so normal. At first glance, you wouldn't expect them to be androids."

"Yeah," Lovely nodded a bit down.

"Is something wrong Lovely?" Princess asked.

"Sorry, I was just wondering about Suu,"

"Suu?" Fortune questioned.

"Oh, that little brat who was tossing us all around with her giant crabs," Princess pouted annoyedly.

"She called herself the Ultimate Robotic Engineer," Lovely said. "She sounds so young and cheerful. Yet at the same time, a little frightening."

"Yeah, it's like she doesn't care if people around her are hurt by her robots," Coral added sadly. "It seems weird for her to be involved in terrorist acts."

"The same I could say about the blond girl," Fortune said, agreeing. "She looked like a child, and yet she was able to crush one of the androids with no problem. It looked like that Gajeel guy was bruised up when he caught up to us."

"There were some interesting people we've come across," Honey said.

"Yeah, you should have seen the people I met ~!" Summer suddenly announced eagerly. "The straw hat boy was able to stretch his limbs like rubber! Then the pink-haired guy can spit fire out of his mouth~! Oh and then there was the woman who had some cool robot armor~! Those three had taken out all the androids without a problem."

"Those don't sound like normal people," Princess mumbled with a sweatdropped.

"Oh~! There was also that spikey-haired boy~!" Summer almost forgot. "What was his name?! I forgot~!"

'You were the one who encountered him out of the six of us~!' Flamingo and Fortune face-faulted.

"I think the nun called him Touma," Coral recalled.

"Yeah, Touma that's his name~!" Summer smiled. "He was amazing at how he handled the weird dog person~! He even stops the entire island from being blown up!"

"Really?!" Lovely and Princess asked in awe.

"I didn't see how though, but once the light was gone I saw the demon with a nasty fist print on his cheek!" Summer explained jumping up and down like a child. "I don't know how to describe him! He looks so normal but he'-

"Some kind of monster,"

All the girls glanced at the mermaid who jumped out of the tablet on the table.

"L-Laura?" Summer blinked at her words.

"You weren't able to sense him but…" Laura shuddered. "I felt a sudden chill when I first laid eyes on him."

"Chills?" Papaya asked.

"Hey, don't you think you're a bit too harsh?" Flamingo glared at Laura. "As I recall, Touma was able to fight against the demon and now you call him a monster?"."

"I know," Laura declared firmly before being quiet. "He doesn't seem like a bad person. But at the same time, he's not normal as well."

"Not normal?" Summer repeated a bit confused.

"Just, keep him away from the Tropical Pacts or the Mermaid Aqua pot," Laura sternly instructed. She returned to the Mermaid Aqua pot before the girls could ask her.

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting for things to turn out like this," Marie said.

"The black hole? Or the fact that we've been saved by a pirate ship?" Hibiki asked. While the members of SONG decided to stay at the stern of the ship, Fairy Tail was at the bow of the ship.

"Both along with everything else that's happened on the island," Marie replied, recalling seeing Sanji and Cure Honey's strength.

"There were a ton of things on that Island that made no sense," Chris admitted. She then revealed a brown piece of paper that had Luffy's picture on it, grinning. "Especially this."

"What's that?" Shirabe asked.

"It's a Wanted Poster for the straw hat moron," Chris replied.

"EH~?! L-let me see~!" Hibiki snatched the paper and glanced at the picture. Her jaws dropped. "N-No way~ Luffy's a criminal!?"

"T-That's a lot of zeros!" Kirika blurted out with the same reaction as Hibiki. "But he doesn't seem that intimidating though."

"I have to agree," Tsubasa said. "Still, if he's a criminal then we need to apprehend him and his crew."

"W-Wait right now?!" Hibiki exclaimed, startled. She stood up. "B-But he and his crew haven't done anything bad though on the island!"

"Then how do you explain his wanted poster then?" Tsubasa questioned sternly at her.

"Calm down Tsubasa," Marie said, comforting her. "They're not the only ones on the ship. If we attack them right now, we might be stranded."

"Unless we pummel his captain and persuade their crew to bring us back to Japan," Chris said with an eerie grin.

"I get it, brute force~!" Kirika nodded in agreement. "What do you think, Shirabe?"

The girl just stared out at the vast ocean horizon. She was so consumed with thought that she barely heard their conversation. 'Where are you?'

"Um Shirabe?" Kirika glanced at her friend.

Chris tapped Shirabe's shoulder, getting her startled. "Huh?"

"What's wrong with you?" Chris asked. "You've been acting strange ever since we got on this boat."

"Oh, it's nothing," She replied, turning away.

"I think I know~!" Hibiki said, grinning. "She is probably thinking of the boy who saved her from the hotel right?"

"I suspect he is somehow tied to the black hole," Chris suspected. "I mean he was the first one to notice it. So he must be part of those terror-"

"You're wrong~!" Shirabe snapped at Chris. "I saw him unleash a hurricane to get us far away from the black hole! I-If it weren't for him, then we wouldn't be here!"

The girls were silent after the girls outburst. "Shirabe…" Kirika spoke a bit startled.

"I didn't e-even get the chance to thank him a-after all that's happened," She meekly said, feeling her eyes were watery. She clenched her fist tightly. "H-He might've risked his life to save us…"

"Don't think like that Shirabe," Hibiki gently placed her hand on Shirabe's shoulder, "I'm sure he was able to escape from the black hole as well."

Gray slowly awoke after the incident with Chris. But the minute he sat up, Juvia immediately embraced her crush.

"Juvia is glad that you're okay Gray my darling!" Juvia shouted crying anime tears.

"Can't…breath…" Gray gagged trying to escape her death grip. The Fairy Tail mages were sitting at the front of the ship. Natsu, Cynthia and Gajeel were sprawled out on the ground on their stomachs, their faces swelling up like they were going to barf.

Once Gray escaped Juvia's love embrace, he turned to the others, rubbing his head. "What happened?"

"You got your butt kicked by the white haired gorilla," Happy answered immediately, trying not to burst out laughing.

"Hehe," Natsu weakly laughed. "That's what you get for being a loser perverted ice cube."

"Sais the guy who looks like a retarded starfish," Gray shot back with a mocking grin on his face.

"WHADDA CALL M-Ugh!" Natsu yelled only for his stomach to interrupt him as his face swelled up again.

"Please Wendy…" Cynthia weakly dragged herself towards her best friend. "...I can't take this anymore. At least cast a Troia spell on me."

"H-Hey!" Gajeel and Natsu weakly yelled, raising their heads.

"W-What? I'm the second youngest so I should get healed by the Troia spell!" Cynthia yelled back.

"Sorry Cynthia, but Natsu's already immune to my Troia spell and I don't want the same to happen to you two as well," Wendy sadly replied, causing the three to groan.

"Tch…" Everyone turned to the Tartarus demon Jackal who had his hands handcuffed behind his back, and his legs tied together. He looked annoyed at the sick Dragon Slayer he fought. "I can't believe you Fairies have been causing us so much trouble."

"Remind me again why we're not kicking him off the ship?" Cynthia asked, groaning.

"Yes, it's rather uncomfortable being on the same boat as the one that tried to kill us," Charla agreed.

Jackal chuckled. "Wouldn't you like that don't you? Getting rid of me like you did with Erebus and Seafall?"

Hearing the two demon's names caused Lucy, Cynthia and Wendy to shudder, having painful memories sprung into her mind.

"Then again, those two were weak," Jackal continued, shrugging it off. "To think that those two little girls and the blond bimbo were able to kill them."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BLOND BIMBO~!" Lucy retorted with shark teeth.

"That reminds me!" Levy shouted suddenly, getting everyone's attention. She dug into her pocket and took out three small white pills. She then walked over to Gajeel and kneeled beside him. "Here, eat this."

Gajeel groaned as he opened his mouth, causing Levy to hesitate at first, but she lightly threw one at his mouth. Once he swallowed it, the pain in his stomach suddenly disappeared. "What the…" He slowly stood up on his feet, which surprised everyone, especially the two dragon slayers. "My stomach feels fine…"

"WHAT!?" Cynthia and Natsu cried, their eyes comically widened in shock. They then turned to Levy with glowing red eyes gazing at the two pills in her hand. Feeling a dark aura surrounding the two Dragon Slayer mage's body, she set it down on the deck and stood back as Natsu and Cynthia crawled towards the pills, each swallowing one.

"YEAH~!" Natsu roared as he's up on his feet. Fire spewing out of his mouth. "I FEEL GREAT~!"

"And noisy," Charla said with a sweatdropped pouring down her head.

"Thank you thank you thank you very much, Levy," Cynthia said happily as she shook her hand.

"Don't thank me, the small reindeer was the one who gave it to me," Levy replied.

"That kind of makes sense since he's a doctor," Cynthia said, remembering how Chopper treated Touma. She flinched when she saw Natsu punching the unexpected Gray in the face, causing him to stagger back.

"What the hell was that for!?" Gray asked angrily.

"You didn't think you would get away with calling me retarded starfish you Frosty Stripper?" Natsu grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

"Why you!" Gray growled as he got to his Ice-Make stance.

"Natsu, Gray!" The two boys shivered as they turned to Erza, who was staring at the ocean's horizon. Even though she wasn't facing them, they can tell that she was furious with a dark aura surrounding her body. "Mind explaining why the water slide was frozen at the resort?"

"Well uh…" The two stuttered trying to think of a good excuse. "It was all his fault!" Natsu and Gray yelled, pointing their fingers at each other. "My fault?! You're the one wh-"

"SILENCE!" The two comically shrunk by Erza's voice as she turned around giving them a dangerous glare. "I don't care who's fault it was. Both of you were near the area and that means that you two are the prime culprit." She walked towards the boys while cracking her knuckles. Despite being rivals, Gray and Natsu clung to each other shivering. "Now stand still and accept your punishment!"

"GAH!"

Erza began pummeling the two up in a dust cloud, causing the rest to sweatdropped by how violently she was with the two, but just shrugged it off and began talking to each other. Lucy began to give Levy the round down of what happened, Gajeel, Happy and Lily and Jackal were amusingly watching Natsu and Gray getting chased by Erza, and Wendy and Cynthia were having a conversation. Charla was silently listening in but froze when she suddenly had strange visions in her head.

A tall diamond-like tower in the middle of an island. The sky had dark green clouds hovering over the tower.

Cure Summer who was covered in blood stared horrified at the disembodied arm flop on the ground in front of her.

The boy stared with his eyes widened in horror. In front of him was Cynthia. Her blue eyes that were once life were now empty gazing at him with a pleading expression.

It was then revealed, the boy had his right arm form as a wind sword pierce through her chest.

"W-Why? Why does this keep happening?"

A city was in ruins when a serpentine dragon had glowing yellow patterns all over its body hovered above it. It then launched a powerful stream of dark air at a white mansion, obliterating it.

When the visions were done, Charla had a mixed expression of puzzled and horrified by what she just saw. She didn't even sense Cynthia's finger poking her cheeks.

"Are you okay Charla?" Wendy asked, looking concerned for her companion.

"Yeah you zoned out for a second there," Cynthia said as she stopped poking the white cat.

"I'm fine," Charla answered. "I was just thinking about our predicament."

Curiously, the two were about to ask Charla, but the sound of the door creaking got the mage and the SONG group's attention. The two groups both noticed Usopp peeking his head out, with a microphone near his mouth.

"Attention guest! Attention Guest~!" Usopp announced, causing the Pretty Cure's and the students from Academy City students to come out of their rooms. "We have made our decision. Please come below deck in an orderly fashion. Thank you~!"

Some of them sweatdropped as the sniper slowly returned back down below deck. Academy City students went down first, followed by the Precures, and Team Natsu with Erza carrying the KO'ed Natsu and Gray on her back.

The members of Song were the last to go down. However they noticed Shirabe staring at the distance.

"Shirabe?" Kirika was about to walk up to her, but Marie stopped her.

"Leave her be, she just needs some time alone with her thoughts," Marie reassured.

"B-Bu-," Kirika testified.

"Don't worry Kirika," Shirabe called out, giving her a reassured smile. "I won't do anything reckless."

"Okay," Kirika finally gave in and climbed down the trapdoor. This led Shirabe alone on the deck, with her thoughts.

'Maybe Hibiki is right and that he escaped,' Shirabe thought in her head. 'Still, I wish I could at least thank him for everything...'

The girl slowly glanced up at the Crows Nest, which triggering a theory in her head. "I wonder if..."

Slowly, Shirabe began climbing the ladder to the top of the Crows Nest. Upon reaching the top, her eyes grew wide in surprise. Laying on his side was the boy she met in the hotel. She wasn't able to see his eyes, but could tell by the boy's slow breathing that he was sleeping.

'Hibiki was right, he did survive.' Shirabe said with a small content smile. 'He must've used the last bit of strength to fly up here,'

Sitting silently opposite him, Shirabe watched the boy curiously. While Wendy was able to heal the wounds he had, Shirabe could still see some scars on his hands and arms. 'I wonder why she called him a plague? All that stuff that happened at the island wasn't his fault. Only…'

Shirabe shuddered when she recalled him killing Naru, '...It was like a different person was contr-'

"I-I'm sorry,"

Her thoughts were interrupted when he spoke. Shirabe glanced at him, and saw him trembling, his expression depressed and hurt. "I-I'm sorry…I didn't mea- n-no~!" He was gripping his shoulders tightly and began leaving marks on it. "S-Stay away from me. P-please~! I-I don't want to y-you to d-die!"

Shirabe noticed the boy digging his nails into his skin, purposely trying to inflict damage to himself. In concern for his well-being, she went over to him and gently shook his body.

"Hey, Hey~!" Shirabe called out.

The boy stopped trembling, and instantly sat up. Shirabe didn't have a chance to react to his sudden action as his forehead accidentally collided with her.

"Ow~!" The two were seeing stars as they clutch their heads groaning in pain. The boy was the first to recover and glanced at Shirabe.

"Ah~! I-I'm so sorry!" He said, panicking. "I-I didn't mean to h-harm you! I sat up too q-quickly!"

"No, it was my bad," Shirabe recovered a bit quietly. "You're mumbling in pain, so I want to wake you up."

"I-I was? I'm sorry if my voice was annoying you!" He apologized sincerely.

"…Gee," Shirabe just stared blankly at him. Despite the boy's bangs, he shifted his eyes away from hers, sweating nervously.

'S-She m-must really hate me right now,' The boy thought, feeling her eyes were on him, despite turning away.

'Why would he apologize for something like that?' Shirabe asked, a bit puzzled. 'It's like he thinks his every action is a hassle to other people.'

He quickly turned around, his face turning red. "I'm so sorry if my presence is bother-"

"Stop apologizing," Shirabe interrupted, pouting a bit.

"Bu-,"

"But nothing!" She grabbed his shoulder quickly and whipped him around so that she could look at him straight in the eyes. "How can I thank you properly when you're being too hard on yourself!?"

Her outburst did not startle the boy, but rather those words did.

'Thank you,'

'W-Why is she thanking me?' The boy asked, confused. 'I...I don't deserve it…Because of me, their lives were in danger. S-She should be hating me for that!'

Shirabe couldn't see his eyes due to his bangs covering them, but she somehow could tell he was shocked speechless. She decided to continue, "Not only did you protect me from the bomb, you helped those girls fight off the woman, and saved us from the blackhole. Don't think I'm so shallow that I don't show gratitude for what you did."

Hearing those words, the boy felt conflicted in his mind. "You…don't think of me as a plague?"

"No," Shirabe answered instantly. "I don't understand why you're called a plague, but it doesn't matter to me! What happened at the resort wasn't your fault. Got it?"

The boy slowly nodded without a word.

"Good," Shirabe said, a bit softer. 'Normally Kirika would be the one to introduce me to new faces due to my shyness. But something about this boy and how he just talks to himself like he's a worthless person made me so angry.'

"Um…" Her thoughts were interrupted when the boy spoke, turning away. "S-Sorry for asking but…would you please stop staring at me so intensively?"

Shirabe realized that she was still holding onto his shoulder, "O-Oh, sorry." Shirabe let go, blushing a bit.

"No worries," He replied quietly. Back on the island, he recalled how she never once treated him like a monster when he revealed his powers.

'How long will this last I wonder?'

"Are you okay?" The boy's thoughts were shattered by the girl's voice. He then realized that he'd been staring at Shirabe for a while, causing his face to turn red, as he quickly looked down.

"Y-yeah, I'm f-fine," He stuttered, nervously. "Sorry, I-I zoned out a bit…"

"You really need to stop apologizing," Shirabe mumbled with a sweatdrop. "I was wondering about your wounds. When we met, you were beaten up…"

"P-Please don't worry a-a-about m-me," He stuttered, attempting to hide his surprise expression. "I-I'm okay, r-r-really. I-I'm j-j-just glad that n-n-no one died this time!"

Shirabe just started with a straight face. 'He sounds so...insecure. Like this was his first time talking to someone. And what did he mean by this time?'

"Um…" The boy stuttered quietly. It was a struggle for him to look at Shirabe directly in the eye.

"One day you won't need to be afraid. You will be able to make friends." The man said to the younger version of the boy.

"Really?" He asked.

"Sure, I know you have a fear of people staring at you," The man replied. "But, there will be at least one person who you trust."

The boy glanced at Shirabe with a nervous smile. "M-My name is S-Shervan K-Kazero. I apologize for n-not introducing m-myself sooner..."

Shirabe's eyes were widened, a bit startled by his sudden introduction. She shook it off and gave him a warm smile. "My name is Shirabe Tsukuyomi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Shirabe…" Shervan repeated, feeling a warm feeling in his chest.

At the bottom of the deck, the room was silent. Everyone was staring at Luffy who had a wide grin on his face.

"That idiot," Zorro mumbled facepalmed.

"W-Were dead… We're so dead," Usopp and Nami clung on to each other, crying anime tears.

Sanji (who had hearts for eyes), Robin, Tsuchimikado , Cure Lovely, Summer, Last Order and Jackal were the only ones who were smiling at him, while Natsu, Chopper, and Index stare with a puzzled look.

Accelerator, Cure Honey, Erza, Gajeel, Lily, Papaya, and Tsubasa were startled, but not compared to the rest of them who had their jaws dropped to the ground and their eyes widened in disbelief.

"Y-You want us to be what?" Cynthia asked. She hoped that this was all a dream, but Luffy's grin grew wider as he answered her question.

"I've decided that I'm going to force you all to join my crew!"

Next chapter: Cast Introduction