Arc of Fairies

by XxOneTrueEnigmaxX

Tenrou Island was eradicated by the Dragon King Acnologia, leaving behind no survivors. Or so the citizens of Earthland believed. A vicious twist of fate has scattered Fairy Tail's mages into an unknown world where the concept of magic is laughed at but phone snails and power-granting fruits are an acceptable every day thing. Soon!

7. Chapter 6: The Storm, Part 3 (Final)

Quick A/N: I made a mistake the other night where I erased the author's note I had posted months ago, but I didn't have the chapter completely ready and it counted as an update so a lot of people thought there was a new chapter... I am truly very sorry for the mistake and inconvenience. But, here's the chapter now.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything... but soon, I shall own all.

-"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship."

~Louisa May Alcott

Arc of Fairies

Chapter 6

The Storm, Part 3 (Final)

---

\.~0~./

Little Garden...

Lucy's screams died out and she was left trembling and gaping at the scene before her.

The skeleton was grotesquely slumped over the steering wheel of the ship, almost as if hugging it like its life had depended on it... because maybe it had. The rags that clung to his bones almost like a replacement of human skin suggested that they had, at one point, been pristine and of the most expensive quality, while the large hat that was somehow still holding on to the skull, suggested that this was the man that had commandeered the ship and its crew before they met their demise.

Lucy's entire body shook in fright, her gaze was fixated on the rotted body of what used to be a living, breathing human being.

"Lucy!"

Lucy's scream once again echoed through the jungle and she jumped at the sound of a familiar, yet guttural voice.

A nauseated Natsu stood next to her on shaky legs, barely managing to hold his footing on the ship that was hardly even moving in the first place.

Lucy regained her composure at the sight of her friend and clenched her fists angrily. "You scared the life out of me! What are you doing?!"

"I ferd fou sreemin' (I heard you screaming)," he muttered. He gagged and put his hands on his mouth.

"Idiot!" cried out Lucy, "Get down before you throw up all over the place!"

"Bu' fu'll b on fyour own. (But you'll be on your own)."

Lucy tensed. She glanced at the large skeleton sprawled over the steering wheel and gulped silently. Despite her deep affirmation that ghosts weren't real, there was no way that she was willing to explore this ship on her own.

She glanced back at Natsu who looked like he was about to collapse on his feet at any second. His cheeks were full from what she knew was vomit.

Even so, despite her fear, Lucy needed whatever information she could obtain from this ship and the previous people who had ventured the oceans in it, and she doubted that the other ships were void of any human bodies. Her and Natsu might not take this ship due to its size because it would make it difficult to navigate, but there had to be maps or compasses that should be able to help them leave the island and go out into the ocean to find their friends.

At the thought of their missing comrades, Lucy scowled.

"Natsu," she voiced sternly.

Natsu barely managed to raise his eyes and make eye contact with Lucy, who stared back at him with newfound determination.

"Head back to land and find a small ship that we could use."

"Fut bout fu? (What about you?)"

Lucy smiled. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. There doesn't seem to be anything dangerous in this ship."

Her hand clenched on her keys, strapped to her waistband. "Besides, if anything happens," she continued, "I've got my Celestial Spirits with me."

After helping Natsu get off the ship so he could recuperate on land where he regained his energy, she proceeded to further venture into the large vessel.

\.~0~./

Shingu Island

"We need backup in Shingu Island -Gah!"

Kidd watched with mild amusement as Gajeel knocked out the marine with a metal fist and grabbed the Den Den Mushi in the soldier's limp hand that he had used to call for reinforcements.

Gajeel frowned as he stared inquisitively at the creature which began to break down in nervous sweat due to the man's intimidating gaze.

"What the hell is this thing?" he asked.

Kidd sweatdropped but didn't comment on the strange question. (Seriously though, how could he not know what a Den Den Mushi was?) Instead, he decided to focuse on the incoming danger.

"Men!" he called out to his crew, "It's time to leave! Reinforcements will be here soon, and who knows who'll be leading them!"

"Hai, Captain!"

With that, Kidd turned back to the two strangers who seemed to have taken a newfound interest on the poor snail and were currently bickering like an old married couple.

"It's mine! I found it!" yelled Gajeel, who held the Den Den Mushi back and away from his partner.

"Gajeel~!" whined the small woman, "I just want to take a look!" yelled Levy who tried to reach for it.

Gajeel raised his arm holding the Den Den Mushi, and Levy fumed in frustration while the taller man smirked victoriously.

"Give it!" Levy began to jump up and down in an effort to reach the Den Den Mushi, only for Gajeel to laugh mockingly.

"Go ahead and get it Shrimp! Gihihihihihi!"

Kidd sweatdropped once again at the sight, but cleared his throat in an effort to gather their attention.

"Oi," he called.

The two strangers ignored him as they continued to argue amongst each other. Kidd raised a brow in amusement as Levy evidently grew tired of Gajeel's antics and raised her foot up, harshly connecting with Gajeel's manhood so painfully that it had him yelping and groveling on the ground while Levy grabbed the Den Den Mushi from his hands and smiled victoriously.

"Oi!" he called out a bit louder.

Still they didn't hear as Gajeel began to curse at the young woman, who simply stuck out her tongue at the man, only for him to reach out with one hand while the other remained in his bruised crotch area, and grabbed the woman's ankle. She cried out as she was sent sprawling backwards to the ground.

"OI!"

Gajeel laughed while Levy simply glared at him.

"WOULD YOU IDIOTS LISTEN TO ME!"

Finally, Kidd managed to grab Gajeel's and Levy's attention, who turned to look at him as if they barely realized he was there.

"Oh, you're still here," voiced a hardly amused Gajeel who began to slowly stand up from the ground.

Kidd growled, but decided to continue now that he had their attention before he lost it again.

"Listen, my crew and I are leaving. There are more reinforcements coming and we certainly don't want to be here when they arrive."

"Alright then," deadpanned Gajeel as he made a 'shooing' motion with his hand. "Go away."

Kidd frowned. "Shut up, idiot!"

"Who you calling an idiot!?"

Kidd growled once again and was ready to initiate another fight with the raven-haired man until a heavy hand placed itself on his shoulder. Kidd glanced to his side to see his first mate, Killer, looking at him (at least, he assumed he was looking at him considering the mask made it impossible for Kidd to see his expressions) and sighed.

"Look," he continued more calmly "I'm offering both of you guys a spot on my crew."

Gajeel scoffed. "Why would we want to be a part of your crew?"

"I don't know, maybe because these guys are going to label you as criminals and hunt you down?" Kidd replied sarcastically.

Gajeel scoffed. "We can deal with them."

"Yes, except that judging by your question earlier, I doubt that you have a ship to escape the island," Kidd smiled, "and I also doubt anybody here is going to be willing to hide your poor assess from the marines who will definitely be looking for you."

Levy's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the man. He had a point. From the intel she's managed to gather during her time on the island, the marines were the police force of the ocean around these parts, and no doubt their recent actions would result with them trailing after them.

So, really, Kidd's offer was rather tempting.

But, there was also the fact that Kidd gave her an awfully bad feeling.

She glanced at the unconscious marine officers that Kidd had brought down, eyeing the different cuts and bruises that could've been fatal, or would be fatal if they weren't treated soon. Nobody had died in the conflict, but something told Levy that Kidd wouldn't have cared much either way if somebody had.

This man wasn't just a fighter. Something told her that he was willing to take a life simply for the fun of it. So, despite the fact that they were in the kind of predicament that only Kidd's offer could get them out of, she was definitely not riding on the same boat as that man.

"Thanks, but we can handle our own. Right, Gajeel?" Levy glanced at her partner only to be astounded by the serious look in his eyes as he stared at Kidd in consideration.

Her eyes widened immediately. "You can't seriously be considering it."

"Think about it," Gajeel voiced, "We need to find a way out of the island, and with more of these guys coming, leaving the island is going to become much more difficult."

Levy frowned. "I knew you were a moron, but it looks like even I overestimated you."

"Oi!"

Meanwhile, Killer proceeded to speak quietly with his Captain.

"You sure about this, Captain?" asked Killer.

Kidd nodded. "Did you see these guys in action? I think that they would be a nice addition to the crew."

Killer hummed thoughtfully as he eyed the two strangers who continued to argue quietly. "The guy seems a bit too reckless to me."

"Yeah," agreed Kidd, "But the shrimp seems to have him under a leash, at least."

"I HEARD THAT!" Gajeel yelled at Kidd.

"SO WHAT?!" Kidd yelled back.

Gajeel growled at the man and clenched his fist. This guy really liked to dig under his skin.

"Gajeel."

Gajeel's growling stopped and he turned back to Levy who looked rather irritated that she had been interrupted.

"We don't know his intentions," Levy whispered angrily. She strained her neck looking up so she could glare into Gajeel's red eyes. "How can we get on the ship of a man that you were just fighting mere minutes ago?"

Gajeel scoffed at the accurate accusation before looking away. "It's his fault for being an idiot," he muttered.

"Gajeel," she said his name in a reprimanding tone.

Gajeel sighed and he leaned in so he could whisper into Levy's ears.

"Besides," he whispered, "We don't really have to join his crew. We just hitch a ride to the next island, gather whatever intel we might need from them, and ditch them."

Still, Levy didn't look convinced. "I don't know Gajeel."

"We don't have all day," called out Kidd.

"Shut up!" Gajeel yelled back before shifting his attention to Levy. "Shrimp, I know that I'm the last person you want to be stuck with, but trust me on this," he said, "it's our best bet."

Levy eyed him carefully, examining the (almost) pleading eyes and serious expression that is different from his usual angry ones. Yup, he was serious about this.

What Gajeel said wasn't true, though: he wasn't the last person she wanted to be stuck with. In fact, he was at the really top of the list. Sure, he could be a moron sometimes with headstrong issues, but Gajeel had his moments where he was smart. Like his actions in Tenrou Island. Gajeel may be dumb, but he was also smart when needed, strong, and willing to take risks. So, yes, she could trust him on this. Didn't mean she wasn't going to have trouble doing so.

She sighed, and nodded slowly.

They both turned back to Kidd who had an expectant expression on his face. "Well?" he asked.

"Alright, Clown Face," smirked Gajeel, "You got yourself two new members."

Kidd smiled widely. "Very well then."

Minutes later, Kidd, his crew, and his new members, would be sailing away from Shingu island and towards a new location.

From a distance, a marine ship sailed close to Shingu Island. A tall man wearing the familiar white uniform eyed the dark ship of the Kidd pirates from a distance with a telescope.

He moved the artifact away from his eye and frowned.

"Follow them."

\.~0~./

Yuki Island

Laxus groaned as he was once again sent crashing against a building, making his already injured body screech in agony.

"Shit," he cursed.

"Not as tough as you made yourself out to be now, are you?"

Laxus blurry vision cleared as he looked up to see Raiden walking slowly - almost mockingly - towards him. Unlike Laxus, Raiden was the one who had taken less damage throughout their battle. But, it was impossible to so much as scratch him with that coating ability of his.

The blood that Laxus had seen pouring out of Raiden's grey skin from the beginning turned out to not be from the injuries he sustained at Thatch's hands. Rather, it derived from a hippo's natural ability to sweat a red liquid from their pores that just so happened to look like blood.

Raiden managed to further develop that ability of his to somehow use the sweat as a form of slippery body armor that made it near impossible for Laxus to hold on to him. Like, really slippery. He made the mistake of trying to grab Raiden from the shoulders in order to push him away, only to have his hands slip on the guy's skin, resulting in him tripping and Raiden using it to his advantage to attack him on the back.

'Heishi no Koto.' That's what he had called that ability of his.

So much for coming to the rescue.

Not to mention that throughout their battle, certain parts of Raiden's body (such as his arms, legs and chest) would turn into some kind of hard, metallic armor that made his attacks more painful and protected him from being injured by Laxus' own attacks

"Don't worry," Raiden stopped a few feet away from Laxus. "I'll make sure your death is as painful as possible," he chuckled.

Laxus struggled to his feet, using the rubble around him to help him stand up on his shaky legs. He glared at the hippo-man as lightning sparked from his body.

Raiden chucked mockingly at the tough act. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"

Laxus smirked. "You kidding me? It's only now getting interesting."

Raiden cracked his knuckles, bent his knees, and charged. Laxus was taken by surprise by the giant hippo-man charging towards him faster than any carriage he's ever ridden, and he swore he could almost hear the sound of cannons firing off every time his large feet touched the ground.

As soon as Raiden began to move, Laxus raised a clenched fist to the air. Streams of lightning erupted from his arm and began to form a giant ball of lighting in the air.

"Resounding through the air, the roar of thunder-"

The air surrounding Raiden's form seemed to ripple and tense before spreading out with the intensity of a storm, destroying the houses surrounding him.

It truly was like a large cannonball coming towards him.

"Plunge from the heavens and reap destruction!"

Laxus planted his feet on the ground and waited for the right timing when Raiden was a few feet away.

"Kaba Kyanonboru."

Laxus used the strength of his legs to jump back and out of the way, his arm still raised and lightning still pouring out of his arm and towards the massive lightning ball in the sky.

Laxus then motioned his hand towards Raiden.

"Rejingu Boruto!"

The ball of lightning descended upon Raiden's form which was still running like a charging rhino, until the bolt of lightning struck.

The lightning was weaker than usual, but it was still one of his strongest moves and one that had, regrettably, been used against Natsu during their battle when he had been bent on destroying the Fairy Tail Guild. The lightning roared and exploded, nearly blinding Laxus.

Laxus landed roughly on the rooftop of a nearby building, his injured legs nearly folding painfully beneath him before he forced them to straighten up. He turned to look back at the sight of the impact and watched as the lightning of his attack slowly dissipated.

That had to have done something. Despite the weakness of the attack, Laxus knew that it should've been strong enough to so much as incapacitate anyone even slightly.

His eyes widened however, when his attack cleared to reveal a slightly singed Raiden, covered in that same metallic shield this time extending throughout his whole body; still standing on a puddle of water where the lightning had melted and vaporized some of the snow, wearing a large smile on his face despite the small shivers coursing through his body.

"That all you got?" smiled Raiden.

Laxus' eyes narrowed.

"No."

Raiden's smile widened.

"Good."

Laxus watched from his position on the rooftop as Raiden jumped out of the small puddle of water and landed on the snowy ground, a few feet away from the building Laxus was currently on top of. He bent his knees once again, before raising one of his legs and bringing it back down to the snowy ground, making it shake slightly. Then he raised his other leg and brought it back down.

Laxus raised a brow curiously. Was this guy a sumo wrestler or something?

The air around hippo-man once again tensed, and Raiden raised his head to smile at Laxus.

"Soru."

Before he could react, Laxus felt a strong impact on his back, one that had him gasping for air, making it impossible to scream out the pain he felt upon being hit with the force of a cannonball on his already injured back, which felt damn nearly broken.

"Kaba Kaba Taiho Panchi."

The force of the hit sent him flying across the town, through the empty streets littered with rubble and citizens' personal belongings.

"Kaba Kaba Hanma!"

Laxus had no idea how he did it. He had no idea how the man could move so fast. Every thing about him should've pointed to the fact that he was very slow. His form, his weight, his fighting style that seemed to take after sumo wrestling - it all indicated to a slow and heavyweight fighter. But, instead, this guy moved faster than the average human. Even Laxus who specialized in lightning, and could move as fast as a lightning bolt, was having a hard time keeping up with the guy.

So, he had no idea how the man managed to appear on the other side of the town where Laxus had been sent flying, where the hippo-man proceeded to bring down his overgrown fists onto the back of Laxus' head, smashing him against the ground.

Laxus hacked up blood and groaned when the man's hand yanked his blond locks, pulling him back and forcing him onto his knees.

"Come on, this can't be all you have."

Laxus cursed his own stupidity. What exactly made him think that he could help Thatch in any way when his own body was still heavily injured from a previous battle that took place not long ago? He had been foolish and careless...and so out of character. Despite the reputation of his guild and the thrill for battle that he held, Laxus was never the kind of person to rush into battle headstrong without a sort of plan, which is exactly what he had done in this kind of situation.

"Come now, open those eyes so I can see that miserable look."

He hadn't even realized that he had closed his eyes. He wanted to open them, knowing that that was the strategically wise thing to do. But there was that accursed stubborn part of him that made him refuse his enemy's orders just to spite him.

He felt another fist collide with his cheek, this time without any sort of powerful force behind it aside from the man's actual muscle strength.

"What did I say?" growled Raiden.

Laxus coughed up some more blood, but didn't dare open his eyes. Instead, he began to think, despite Raiden's meaty fist once again colliding with his head.

Raiden's blood coating ability gave his body a slippery defense that made it difficult to hold onto him. And that iron shield of his made it nearly impossible to injure him. Even his lightning ability had barely made any damage at all.

Another punch made its way onto his head.

It was obvious that Laxus couldn't cause more harm in the state he was in, and there was no lightning around here that he could consume in order to raise his power, so instead, he had to find a different way to amplify his lightning and create more damage.

Sure, Raiden's defense was hard to scratch, but it wasn't invincible. Thatch had somehow managed to damage him with his sword, as proven by the large and small cuts that ran on his body, and despite them not being deep or fatal, it was still proof that Raiden could be damaged. His lightning had also caused minimal damage that didn't slow him down, but had still somehow hindered him in a way.

So, how could he defeat this guy? What was his weakness?

Another punch hit him across his cheek, this one so strong it forced Laxus' eyes to open wide. He gasped for breath as his head tilted back from the impact. His vision was a blurry mess and the only thing he could see was white. White everywhere.

As his vision cleared, so did his mind, and an uncharacteristic thought made itself known.

'It's snowing harder than before,' he realized.

The flurries of snow were floating down harder, increasing the inches of snow that were covering the ground. Before arriving to the island, Thatch explained to him that Yuki island was a place where it never stopped snowing. He never explained, however, why the island wasn't a pile of snow, or why the villagers' village didn't have as much snow as the rest of the island. If it always snowed and the temperature was always like this, then how the hell did the snow melt? His eyes widened as another thought crossed his mind.

"Devil fruit eaters all have one weakness, and that's water."

Water.

He tilted his head back down to see Raiden's fist about to collide with his head once again. Lightning sparked in Laxus' fists, but he didn't need to do anything as somebody else cried out.

"Tora Kiba!"

Raiden cried out and released Laxus' hair, making him fall towards the floor, barely managing to catch himself by landing on his arms.

Raiden clutched onto the wound on his hip and turned to glare at the newly awakened Thatch barely standing with one arm clutching his stomach, and another one holding onto his sword that was dripping with Raiden's blood.

"Why you little-"

The sound of what sounded to be a thousand birds chirping behind him caught his attention, and Raiden turned back to see Laxus with a lightning covered fist.

"Rairyu no Hoken!"

The fist collided against Raiden's side, and despite the fact that it hardly caused any damage, the force was still strong enough to send him flying against a building.

"Thatch!" yelled Laxus, grabbing the man's attention, "You okay?"

Thatch nodded, but winced slightly when he felt the fresh wound in his abdomen pound painfully as if somebody was constantly punching him in the stomach with a gavel.

"A bit sore, but nothing a little mobility can't fix," he replied with a painful smirk.

Laxus didn't look convinced. "You should step back, you don't look so good."

Thatch scoffed, "Kid, if I can't manage myself in battle, then I have no right to call myself a division commander of Whitebeard's crew."

Laxus eyed him carefully before finally sighing in resignation. He knew a stubborn man when he saw one, and there was no way Thatch was backing down from this.

"'Sides," continued Thatch, "This is my battle. Ain't no way I'm letting you take my prey."

Laxus scoffed with a smile, "The guy practically pummeled you to the ground like raw beef."

Thatch's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "Only cause you got in the way!" He winced and bent over in pain, clutching his heavily bruised abdomen. Yup, there were definitely broken ribs and bones.

Laxus winced as well when his mistake was mentioned. "Sorry, that was careless of me."

"You're damn right it was," grimaced Thatch as he attempted to stand as straight as he could. "A man should know not to butt into another man's battle."

Laxus' eyes widened.

"Well, then, how sweet is this?"

The two comrades resumed their battle positions as Raiden emerged from the rubble of the destroyed buildings.

"The two of you coming together against me," he smiled darkly, "Ain't that fair?"

"Nothing is supposed to be fair in battle, Raiden," answered Thatch.

"Oh, I know," replied Raiden, "What I meant to say, was that it is now a fair battle for you."

He crouched down and lifted his fists, preparing himself for the continuation of the battle.

"But, even so, not even you two will be enough to defeat me," Raiden chuckled cockily, "Both of you are heavily injured, and none of you can so much as harm me with my Armament's Haki, or even grab me with my coating ability."

"Haki?" Laxus questioned quietly.

Raiden's smile widened, "It's hard to defeat somebody with a body of impenetrable iron and slippery skin."

Thatch smirked painfully. "Well, I've always liked a challenge."

Raiden chuckled darkly. "I can say the same thing for myself."

With that, Raiden stomped his feet once more before charging ahead, once again his feet were making the sound of shooting cannonballs.

Laxus tensed his body as Raiden rushed towards them, preparing for whatever the man had in mind. He saw Thatch from the corner of his eye crouch down as well with his sword clutched tightly in both hands.

Raiden smirked. "Soru."

As soon as he was a few feet away from both combatants, Raiden disappeared, leaving Laxus stunned. The next thing he knew, he felt a pair of strong, slippery arms wrap around his arms and torso, and pulling him tightly against the hard, slippery body that appeared behind him, nearly cutting off his breath.

"Laxus!" he heard Thatch cry out.

Then, he was lifted up into the air, struggling the whole way as he felt Raiden's body bend back. Shit, he knew what was coming.

"Kaba Kaba..."

Laxus thought fast. As soon as he felt his body bending back along with Raiden's, he immediately covered his body in lightning, feeling the sparks bounce off of Raiden's weird skin.

"Drill!"

Before his head could hit the ground, another voice cried out and rescued him from a sure concussion.

"Ame Gekido!"

Raiden cried out as several vertical slashes cut into his skin until he activated his Armament's Haki, but not before dropping Laxus. Thatch had somehow managed to jump above Raiden and created several slash attacks by stabbing the air rapidly above Raiden, making it seem like rain itself was cutting onto his skin.

Laxus dropped unceremoniously to the wet ground, while Raiden jumped back and away from the two.

He winced and stood up, feeling the cold air of the area stroke his wet clothes, making it even colder for him.

Wait... wet?

Laxus' eyes widened and he looked down. The snowy ground where Raiden and Laxus once stood was covered in water, the result of his lightning melting the ice. He looked back up and eyed Raiden, noting the way the cuts that did land ran deeper than before. But, above all, Raiden looked exhausted. He was panting as if he had just run a marathon despite the fact that he had been running circles around them just minutes before.

'Water,' recalled Laxus.

He eyed the area around him, noting the various puddles of water that had collected where Laxus had used his lighting.

He turned back to Raiden and noticed the way he was panting out of breath and standing on shaky legs, all signs of weakness that the Marine was desperately trying to hide.

Laxus smirked.

\.~0~./

Amazon Lily

They had been moving for a while now. Running at a fast enough pace to make space between themselves and the women chasing them.

"It's been a while," noted a breathless Freed, "you think they gave up?"

"Who knows, but we can't stop now," Mira answered as she ran alongside him.

Freed eyed her in concern when he heard the strange tone in the woman's voice. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Mirajane remained quiet, unable to find the words to explain what she had just felt. She had felt it a while ago, not long before she had attacked the woman Freed had called Marguerite. A strange presence that had appeared somewhere within the island.

It had invaded her senses full force, but instead of making her cower in fear, there was something oddly interesting about it.

It wasn't magic. At least, not exactly. The presence that she felt was familiar, but she couldn't place it. She knows she's confronted it before, she just couldn't remember where for some reason.

It was similar to magic, but not exactly. If there was one way to describe it, it was darker. Much more darker than magic. Kind of like her own. Like, curse magic.

"There's something coming," she decided to finally say.

Freed seemed confused. "What do you mean."

"I don't know what or who it is, but they're powerful, and we have to get as far away from them as we can."

Freed's eyes widened. Well then, if Mirajane, the Demon of Fairy Tail, wanted to get away from something, then they were definitely getting away.

"Sure, whatever you say," agreed Freed. Whatever it was that had Mirajane so worried was definitely disconcerting.

It had been a while, but Freed could feel something in his magical reserves. It was small and not enough to face any strong foes, but at least he had something after being so long with nothing.

"There's something that's been bothering me," he stated, grabbing Mirajane's attention. He glanced at her, "Our magic, it's taking a long time for it to replenish for some reason."

Mirajane didn't answer for a few seconds until she finally responded with a firm, 'yes.'

"It's odd," he commented. "I've been awake for a while, but for some reason, my magical reserves are almost the same as they were back in Tenrou Island. I feel like I've recovered some of it, but it's not a lot and it's taking longer than usual.

"Not to mention that earlier I felt this... strange magic pulse," he continued, recalling his confrontation with the blonde woman, "I don't know how to describe it, but it felt like something suddenly filled up my magical reserves for a minute, but it didn't feel like my magic. It was... weird."

Mirajane mused over Freed's words. As far as she could tell, the magic in this island was... what would be the best way to describe it? It felt like it was hardly concentrated. Magic derives from the connection between the physical spirit of an organism and the spiritual flow of nature. It is through the particles of Ethernano that magic comes to develop inside a mage's body.

Mirajane didn't have the ability to sense the flow of Ethernano in nature with as much clarity as Makarov, so it was only a theory of hers that perhaps magic just wasn't as concentrated in the area here. She didn't understand why, but the only plausible explanation was that there was something disrupting the flow of Ethernano in the island. Something that could be causing the Ethernano particles to have a hard time finding their way to Mirajane's and Freed's magical reserves.

As for the sudden magical energy that Freed described, now that one threw Mirajane for a loop. She's never heard of something like that before. Sure, she's heard of very powerful mages transfer some of their magic into other mages without harming them - how the process was done Mirajane has yet to learn - but they had to be in close contact with each other in order to make the process successful. So, Freed's situation was rather odd. Perhaps Freed tapped into some magic hidden within his reserves as a reaction to his situation?

She did know that powerful mages could turn their life force into magic, but that power came at the cost of their own lives.

It was strange, and her thoughts were only a theory. A theory she formed in the span of the minute they were running in silence. A theory that could've seemed almost plausible. A theory she would've voiced once she had her thoughts together and let Freed know.

If only they hadn't been interrupted.

"You!"

Lost in her own thoughts, Mirajane had no time to react before something hard struck her from the side of her head, hitting her temple and knocking her to the ground.

It was in the span of the few seconds she had before hitting the ground and diving in the world of unconsciousness that realization truly hit her. The presence she had felt before finding Freed... it had been familiar. Familiar to her own power. And while it intrigued her, she realized that - subconsciously - she had been attracted to it as well.

It was when she hit the ground along with Freed that she realized she was never running away from that presence.

A heeled shoe appeared before her darkening vision.

She had been running towards it.

\~.0.~/

Sabaody Archipelago

He so hadn't expected that.

The man had moved fast, too fast. Gildarts' eyes had barely managed to catch him the second Kizaru appeared in front of him with one leg raised and ready to strike before the attack was stopped by Rayleigh.

Rayleigh stood before him with one leg raised to block Kizaru's own, one that surely would've sent Gildarts flying. Gildarts' and Cana's eyes were wide in shock over the surprise attack, but Kizaru was by no means surprised that Rayleigh had managed to block the man's kick.

Kizaru's leg was covered in a shining yellow light that nearly had Gildarts cover his eyes from the sheer intensity of it.

Whereas Kizaru's leg was imbued in light, Rayleigh's own was covered by what seemed to be iron and reminded Gildarts of Gajeel's own iron scales ability. The force of both attacks connecting created a large crater underneath their feet.

All in all, it left Gildarts and Cana in awe over both men's small display of terrifying power.

Kizaru hummed. "Oh, you aren't going to make this easy for me, are you Rayleigh-saaaaaan?"

Rayleigh smirked in response. "Sorry, but I've grown to like these two young ones. I can't let you take them in when they've barely just started their adventure."

"And you think you are enough to stop meeeeee?"

Rayleigh's smile widened. "Of course."

He pushed back against Kizaru's leg and reached into the folds of his clothing to pull out a large blade. He glanced back at both mages who were standing back the whole time and watching the scene in awe.

"Both of you, get out of here. Head to Grove 59 and look for a ship with no flag and the head figure of a salamander. Tell the captain that Rayleigh sent you. Just in case, say 'The crows go silent at midnight.'"

"But, Rayleigh-" Cana wanted to argue, only to be interrupted by Kizaru creating a large sword of light that he swung Rayleigh's way.

"Don't argue with me!" yelled Rayleigh, making both of them flinch. "Just do what I say," continued Rayleigh as he shifted his complete focus back to his opponent.

Cana opened her mouth to protest once more, only to have her old man beat her to the punch.

"Screw you, old man," said Gildarts, surprising both Rayleigh and Cana. "You see, the thing about our guild is that there's nothing more important than the lives of our friends. We are not leaving you behind."

Rayleigh glared at the younger man before sighing and letting a small smirk grace his features. "Well, I was never good at dealing with your type of people."

"Hey! What does that mean?!" yelled Cana. Gildarts simply smiled.

"Guiiiiiiild?" Kizaru looked intrigued. "So, there are more of you guyyyyyys?"

"We don't have to answer that," answered Cana, pulling out her set of cards.

The marines cocked their weapons and aimed.

"Well," Kizaru took a step forward, "I guess we'll find out soooooon. Nooo?"

\~.0.~/

Little Garden

Lucy peeked her head through the crack of the door she had opened and looked around. The room was dark, and quiet. What little light came in through the broken windows wasn't enough to illuminate the entire place thanks to the thick vegetation around the area that made it nearly impossible for any light to shine through in the ship graveyard.

Her eyes glanced around nervously until a small glint managed to catch her eye. Slowly, Lucy opened the door and crept in, sticking close to the wall until she was sure that no ghost or monster would pop out of nowhere and attack. Once she figured it was safe enough to go further in, Lucy walked towards the small glint of light that had caught her attention in the middle of the room.

When she was close enough to see what it was, she gasped and her eyes widened almost comically.

A knife. A bloodied knife to be exact lay in the middle of the chaotic room.

Lucy gulped and stepped over it, wanting to forget about it entirely. Instead, she looked around the room even more. It was a mess; papers were strewn all over the place, the desk that stood in the far opposite wall had been moved out of place, and its chair laid completely destroyed on the left side of the room. If Lucy had to guess, this had been the captain's quarters.

The image of a skeleton hanging limply over the steering wheel made her shudder.

Still, she shook it off and walked closer to the desk. She eyed the various papers that were still lying on top of it, noting various different notes and... maps!

Her hands eagerly began to roam over the papers, grabbing onto each map she could find in order to study later. Once she had the maps gathered in her hands, she looked at the notes and squinted her eyes at the awfully small handwriting that was barely readable due to the fact that they seemed to have been smudged by water, causing the ink to completely blur and loose its original format. There was only one word that Lucy could make out and that was 'Piece'.

Once she managed to find blood smeared on some papers, she gulped and moved on, deciding that they were pretty much useless in the state they were in.

'Let's see, what else?' she wondered as she looked over the desk. She walked to the other side and eyed the small little cupboard on the side of the desk. Her hand slowly reached out to pull it open.

The first thing she saw was some kind of strange watch.

'No, not a watch.'

She reached for the object and pulled it out of the cupboard, holding it close to her face to examine it closely. It was kind of like a watch. It had the ring to put it on your wrist, but there was a small sphere at the top with a needle in the middle that looked a lot like the ones you find in compasses, except it didn't have the N, S, W, or E written on it, and the red tip of the needle was pointing slightly to the left in front of her, and as she moved it around, the needle moved to point in the same direction.

Lucy shrugged. Might as well take this back as well. If it was a compass then it might as well be broken, but it could come in handy.

She looked into the cupboard once again and found what seemed to be a brown leatherback journal. Lucy pulled it out, noting the amount of dust that had accumulated after what could've been years. She blew on it to get rid of the specks and began to rummage through its worn pages.

Unlike the notes, the journal seemed to have been untouched by the water. And though its pages and ink were worn out, they were still readable to Lucy's eyes.

'A Captain's log?'

Lucy opened the pages to the first page, only to realize that the first few pages seemed to have been torn off.

"That's weird," she whispered. Nonetheless, there were till more than half the pages left in the journal and Lucy began to read the first one that hadn't been damaged.

"Captain's Log, June 15th, 1506

"My crew and I have departed Loguetown and are finally close to Reverse Mountain. A storm has hit us hard, but that does nothing to lessen the spirits of the crew to reach the brand new world ahead of us.

"Tensions are high, and the excitement is palpable. Pretty soon we will be able to make our dreams a reality, and find the 'One Piece' treasure that Gol D. Roger hid so many years ago."

'One Piece?' Lucy wonders as she recalls the only word she could read in the notes on the desk.

"Though we are fearful yet of what's to come, we are confident that with our combined prowess we will be able to make it to the end of the Grand Line and find the hidden treasure. Though we have been warned of the dangers that are to come, and we are aware of big names such as Fisher Tiger and the Donquixote Family, us, the Silver Fang Pirates will prevail and claim that which is ours."

- Captain Glau Ceta

Lucy rose a brow at the first entry, quickly moving onto the next page to continue reading, only to be stopped by a voice outside.

"Oi! Lucy!"

Lucy looked up from the writing before closing the book and moving to the closest window. There was Natsu, standing on the river's edge with a huge smile on his lips.

"What?" called out Lucy.

Natsu's smile widened and he pointed to his right. "I found us the perfect boat! Come see it!"

"Coming!" She called out.

Moving back inside the cabin, Lucy grabbed all the papers she had found along with the journal and compass-thingy.

She looked at the room once more before opening the door and walking out.

\~.0.~/

Amazon Lily

God, the voices wouldn't shut up. They irritated him and made his head throb painfully. Like there was a bass drum banging inside his skull, making the walls reverberate and causing his brain to jumble around as a result like a ping pong ball.

Freed groaned as his mind brought him back to the world of consciousness, once again making him aware of the injuries he had sustained in the Tenrou Island battle that had him nearly incapacitated, and the weakness in his body that was slowly beginning to recede as magic began to slowly form at his core.

'Now if only those voices would shut up,' he thought in irritation.

They were jeering and booing. Making their discontent with him known.

'The hell did I do anyway?'

Slowly, his lids began to open and he was greeted with the light of the sun that burned his cornea and forced him to shut his eyes closed. Freed groaned once again and shifted his body so he could lie face down and began to pick himself off of what felt to be concrete floor.

"The man has awaken!"

"Give him death!"

"Kill him, Gorgon Sisters!"

'Oh, great.' Hesitantly, Freed opened his eyes once again and was greeted with an even more unforgettable sight like the one that had greeted him the first time he awoke in this damn place.

'An arena?'

He slowly stood up and looked at his surroundings in awe. He was in the middle of a large stadium, with women just like from before sitting on the surrounding seats, booing him and jeering at him and looking at him with deep seething hatred in their eyes.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

"Man!"

A loud booming voice, one more commanding and louder than the others that surrounded him, grabbed his attention and he turned to look at what was the front of the stadium.

There, at the far end of the stadium, was a long staircase leading up to a throne with a large red and white serpent coiling around it and resting its head on the shoulder of what Freed considered to be one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on.

Freed stared at her features in awe, admiring the smooth pale skin and delicate features that would make many women jealous.

She was tall, with a slender slender figure and long black hair that extended past her waist with locks of hair that framed her face down to her chin, pale skin, large breasts, a high forehead, and dark brown eyes.

He practically ignored the other two tall women standing at that particular woman's side, looking him down with the same hatred that all the other women in the stadium had for him.

However, none of their hatred could compare to the hatred in the raven-haired beauty's eyes. Which stared into his soul and made him want to crumple into a little ball from the sheer intensity of the glare.

"For the crime of entering Amazon Lily, I, its Empress, Boa Hancock, call for your execution!"

The women cheered.

Freed's eyes widened. "Wait, what?!"

"You heard me well," she spoke again with that commanding voice of hers.

Freed gaped at the beautiful woman, too shocked to so much as utter one single word in his defense. However, a small pained groan to his left caught his attention and Freed shifted his gaze to be met with the sight of Mirajane waking up from unconsciousness.

"Mira!" he called out as he bent over to help her up.

Mira pushed herself off the ground with her elbows and glanced at Freed with cloudy eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Freed?" she asked as she shook her head in an effort to clear her vision, "What happened? Where are we?"

She glanced around at the arena, taking note of the crowds of people jeering at her and Freed.

"Come on, Gorgon Sisters!"

Mira's eyes narrowed in confusion. Freed helped her up and she looked around, confused by what was going on. But, as soon as the same presence from before hit her, Mira's eyes widened and she turned in the direction from where she felt it.

There. Sitting on a throne with two taller women on either side radiating the same presence, she found what has been bothering her since before she found Freed in the middle of the jungle. A presence that reminded her of her power. But, it wasn't just one now, there were two more. Similar, yet different. And it confused her.

"For the crime of aiding a man infiltrate our island, I have no choice, but to condemn you along with him." Still, the beautiful woman did not look remorseful or guilty, there was only a cold expression set on cold stone. "That is the punishment that befalls all women who dare commit the crime of aligning themselves with Men."

"Seriously?" questioned a stunned Freed, "Please, we did not come here to cause harm, what we want is to get out of the island and find our friends."

The Empress' eyes narrowed angrily. "You should've thought about that before entering our island.

"Which, brings us to my question," stated the woman, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward slightly, "How, and for what purpose have you come here?"

"But, it's true!" yelled out Mira, choosing to ignore the dark presence the Empress emitted for as long as she could. "We did not come here of our own volition. It was an accident that caused us to stumble across your island and Empire. All we want is to leave."

"Fool," muttered the Empress, "It is your alliance with that man that has made you so foolish and a liar. See here!" she called out to the woman gathered "This, is the result of a man tainting a fellow woman."

The women jeered.

"He tainted her!"

"Can men mind control people?"

"The ignorance..."

"Now, enough with the lies," Hancock stated, "Tell me your purpose here."

"We have no purpose," state Freed, "Empress, we never meant to come here. We were sent here-"

"I knew it!" yelled out the Empress.

Freed cursed internally as soon as he realized his mistake.

"Sent by who?"

"N-no one," stuttered Mira, raising her hands up. "It was our enemies that sent us flying here in the midst of battle-"

The Empress stood up, immediately silencing Mira and all those around them. She glared coldly at both intruders, and spoke "I've had enough of these lies," she stated coldly, "I will not let a Man further taint anybody else on this island. For your crime, you shall die fighting for your lives."

"Bacura!"

Before Freed and Mira could retort, a giant Black Panther bigger than any they've ever seen appeared before them. The panther roared and snapped his jaws threateningly at both mages, but made no further move.

"This is Bacura, Amazon Lily's executioner and the one who will make you pay for your sins today," voiced the Empress.

Freed and Mira narrowed their eyes, each taking their own battle positions, as the large cat snarled at them.

"Bacura!" called Hancock, and she extended her arm as she demanded "Kill!"

The cat roared and pounced on both mages.

Freed smirked lightly before he and Mira jumped out of the panther's way. Bacura ended up landing on nothing but concrete, but Hancock didn't worry. That was, until Bacura suddenly roared in distress and dropped to the ground where he proceeded to writhe in agony.

Hancock's eyes widened. "What?"

"Dark Ecriture," Freed smirked, "Fear."

Bacura roared loudly once again and continued to twist, before picking itself up and crawling away from something that only he could see. Hancock squinted her eyes and finally spotted the strange purple letters written on Bacura's hind fur.

"What's going on with Bacura?"

"Did they do something to him?"

"I didn't see them do anything aside from them running like cowards."

The crowd spoke among themselves in concern.

"Good job, Freed," smiled Mira proudly.

Freed's smirk grew. "Thanks, my magic may be low right now, and my sword would be useful, but at least I can still do some spells."

Hancock's eyes narrowed as she shifted her eyes from the scared pussy to the convicted intruders.

"Marigold. Sandersonia." Both sisters turned from the strange sight to the Empress. "Handle them," Hancock spoke coldly.

The sisters nodded.

Both Mira and Freed continued to eye the panther as it continued to whimper and shrink until eventually, it curled up into a ball and continued to shake in its misery. Freed released the spell and watched as the panther's breathing calmed down, and fell asleep.

Freed nodded in satisfaction when suddenly, the ground shook slightly, taking both mages by surprise.

They both turned to see the women who were by Boa Hancock's side, now standing in front of them.

They were both bigger up close. One of them was slender, with a large head that was topped with long, green hair that color matched her eyes. Just like the other women in the island, she also wore revealing clothing. One of the most odd features about her, aside from her height, was the long, forked tongue that stuck out of her mouth like a snake. She also had a long cape covering her back.

The other woman was just as tall, only thicker and more muscled. She had oddly styled, orange hair that covered her whole back and dark brown eyes. Just like the other green-haired woman, she wore revealing clothing and had a long cape covering her back. And on her right hand was a large halberd-like pole.

The crowd cheered in excitement as the Gorgon sisters took the stage. Their arms crossed and glaring at Freed and Mira. Freed cursed while he and his partner got into a fighting position.

Sandersonia smiled, "You guys aren't very smart are you?"

"You could've had a less painful death with Bacura," spoke Marigold, "yet you fools chose this."

"How about we choose neither?" spoke Freed.

Sandersonia and Marigold smirked.

"You don't have a choice now."

Freed and Mira watched in shock as their large bodies began to shift and twist. Their legs disappeared and in their place was the long scaly tail of a snake, their necks extended and their eyes changed color and irises slitted.

'Take-Over Magic?' thought Mira.

Both women were no longer fully human. Instead, they had turned into giant snake-like hybrids that reminded Mira too much of the transformation magic her siblings and her were talented in.

The sisters smirked darkly, and Mira now finally learned what a "snake-like smile" looked like.

Both sisters circled them, surrounding the mages with their snake bodies, forcing both of them to stand back-to-back to each other.

Marguerite eyed the fight from her seat alongside Sweet Pea and Alephandra, intrigued just like all her other sisters.

'That woman,' thought Marguerite as she eyed the silver-haired woman inquisitively. Marguerite's shoulders were shaking lightly, 'I don't have a good feeling about this.'

"Freed," whispered Mirajane.

Freed glanced behind him to look at her. "How are you feeling?" she asked sincerely.

Freed sighed, and eyed the orange snake-woman in front of him, smiling and hissing at him like a really hungry cobra would at a cornered rat. "I may not be in tip-top shape. But, I can stand my ground."

Mirajane nodded satisfactorily. "Good." Her eyes glowed a menacingly red color. "Cause we're gonna have to get out of this alive if we want to see our friends again."

\~.0.~/

Yuki Island

He was surrounded by water.

He should've known that the stupid wads were planning something. It had been rather evident, but his arrogance blinded him to the tiniest smug smirks and he refused to seek for an explanation as to why the battle against a White Beard division leader and an unknown man had become much easier than it had been.

It was because of his stupidity that he was stuck in this situation.

He was standing in knee-deep water, a result of all the piled up snow in their battlefield being melted completely by the blonde's lightning powers after forming a giant lightning bolt that nearly obliterated the whole area and melted the snow into a giant puddle of water.

If Raiden hadn't have activated his Armament's Haki, he would've surely been killed. Now, he was just stuck in knee-deep water.

It was in moments such as this that Raiden ultimately hated his Devil Fruit ability. Running water such as rain, or streams had no effect on Devil Fruit users, but once a user was put in a position where he/she was standing in deep, still water, then that was a problem. A problem he was currently facing.

He was bending down slightly, feeling his legs quake beneath him as he slowly, but surely, shrunk in size and felt his animalistic features trying to dissipate, leaving him behind with only a body shielded in haki armor, and even that was beginning to weaken.

He cursed as he noted the red sweat that had covered his body begin to drip down and stop its production. The water was starting to take its effect.

And yet...

He looked up from his own pitiful, weakened body to see the man responsible for this - Laxus, if he remembered his name correctly - who was standing in the same water, but due to his height being shorter than Raiden's own, the water reached up to his elbows. And yet, he was standing perfectly fine, a bit weakened, sure, but with a tall stance and lightning still sparking from his body.

He narrowed his eyes. Laxus had the ability to produce and manipulate lightning with his body, and yet, despite standing in deep water, he was perfectly fine. No sign of weakness anywhere that any Devil Fruit user might display. He was fine.

"How is this possible?" he muttered in frustration, hating the way his voice quivered slightly.

Not only that, but if Laxus was indeed a Devil Fruit user, then it was obvious that it should be a logia type. And yet, despite the fact that Raiden landed hits without using his Armament's Haki sometimes, he was still able to damage the younger man.

Things just weren't adding up...

"What's wrong, Raiden?" teased Thatch, who was standing a few feet away to Laxus' right, the water reaching up to his midsection . Thatch didn't look that much better than the two other combatants. The man looked like he had been mugged and hit by a horse, and it was obvious that the hit Raiden landed earlier was still affecting him as he seemed to be having trouble breathing and was crouching slightly, barely noticeably.

"Finally ready to give up?" continued Thatch with a painful looking smirk.

Raiden released an animalistic growl. No. He couldn't just give up here. He had to finish the mission, otherwise, it would be him who would get chewed up and spit out by the higher ups.

So, instead of giving a clear response. Raiden laughed.

Loudly.

Laxus and Thatch looked confused as the behemoth of a man who they had finally backed into a corner and was clearly debilitated and done, cackled loudly and inhumanely to the sky. Either the guy lost his marbles, or he just thought of a really good joke. Laxus couldn't tell which one would give him more peace of mind as he got into another battle stance. Something was telling him that this fight wasn't over.

Thatch's eyes narrowed. Something wasn't right. Devil Fruit users were weakened by deep, still waters. Didn't matter what kind it was, yet Raiden was still standing. Shaky, but standing. And his animalistic features were barely visible, yet it was evident that Raiden was trying to make sure that they stayed where they were. Looks like this guy was much stronger than Thatch anticipated, scarily so.

Raiden's laugh echoed throughout the snowy valley, the mountains of snow surrounding them making it seem even louder, until, finally, he stopped.

Raiden's boisterous laugh was reduced to mere cackles, and he made it as if he were wiping a tear from his eye, before sighing, and glaring at his two opponents.

"Screw you, Thatch-san. You really expect for a man like me to accept defeat? Just like that to a filthy pirate, such as yourself?"

Thatch scoffed, "I gotta say, I really hate how far your arrogance has brought you, Raiden-san."

Laxus glanced at Thatch and saw the bead of sweat that was rolling down his temple, and immediately knew that that wasn't a result of being tired. Thatch was nervous, just like him.

Raiden smirked, even though Laxus could see that the man was struggling to stand still and his animalistic features have by now completely disappeared, revealing the man he had seen before, only more bruised and bloody. "This battle isn't over."

Thatch chuckled lightly, "See? That's where you're wrong, mate," he said. "Did you really think that I wouldn't call upon reinforcements when I saw your ship on the island?"

Raiden's smirk disappeared and was replaced by a look of confusion.

"Sir!"

A group of marine soldiers who seemed to have managed to evade Thatch's crew ran up to the the edge of 'pond'.

"It's - a ship is approaching!" continued the hysterical marine, "And it seems to be led by Portgas D. Ace!"

Raiden's eyes widened.

Laxus nearly sighed in relief and he glanced at Thatch once more, to see the same relief cross his face and a small smirk formed on his lips. He should have known that Thatch wasn't stupid enough to approach an army of marines with just six people and two injured passengers without calling in any reinforcements.

Laxus smiled. "Looks like I underestimated your intelligence," he muttered. Thatch chuckled.

A low growl caught Laxus attention and he looked up to see Raiden with the most furious expression he has seen the man wear so far. His veins were popping out of his forehead and his face was contorting in a seemingly painful manner that the man was clearly numb to.

Laxus suddenly remembered the conversation Thatch had with his crew minutes before they ventured into Yuki Island to fight the invading marines.

"Even Ace had trouble fighting the man."

Laxus' eyes widened. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring in Ace after all. "Scratch what I just said earlier," he muttered again. Thatch didn't respond. Instead, he was eyeing Raiden carefully with a concentrated expression etched on his face.

"Portgas D. Ace?" growled out Raiden.

The marine, who was standing a good many feet away from his Vice-Admiral where the snow was still intact, gulped and nodded.

"Y-yes, s-sir."

Raiden's fists were clenching tightly, and the man's growl seemed to deepen. Laxus noted the way his body was struggling to shift into their hippo features, but it was obvious the man wasn't going to be able to do so by now.

Raiden fell to his knees, and had to use his hands to stop himself from falling completely resulting in the water covering a good portion of his body. Instead of the deep growls he had been emitting just seconds before, Raiden was now left panting in exhaustion as the effects of water began to fall on him.

"It seems to me like you have two options, Raiden," spoke Thatch coldly, in a tone that surprised even Laxus, "You can either stay there on your knees and wait until Ace arrives and destroys the rest of your crew and takes you down with it, or you can leave in your ship and never come back to this island."

Raiden growled once more.

"If I were you, I'd choose the latter option."

Raiden did not respond, but his entire large body was shaking in either anger, or exhaustion. Laxus thought it was most likely both.

The tense silence that followed was enough to choke all those surrounding the three fighters, and Laxus honestly felt the tension seep into his body and making it stiff.

Finally, Raiden spoke. "Men!"

The marines flinched, but dared not move.

"We're leaving."

Laxus' body nearly fell. Raider's words finally broke the tension and time seemed to move once again. The marines seemed to take longer than necessary to move into action, but Raiden's bark triggered them to do so.

"Move!"

The marines finally moved and some got into the water to grab Raiden's large form and pull it out of the water.

Laxus was not surprised to see that it took five marines to drag Raiden's large body out of the pond of water and onto the snowy ground where he finally seemed to get a hold of his footing.

Raiden stood on the snow, head down and with his soldiers waiting for the next orders.

Laxus' eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists, letting lightning spark lightly across his arm as a way to warn the man that he was still willing to fight.

Finally, Raiden raised his head and met Laxus' eyes. The younger man nearly flinched and had to hold back the small twitch of fear as he saw the most furious, hate-filled eyes he has seen since landing in this world.

"This is not over, Laxus-san."

Laxus watched in still silence along with Thatch as Raiden turned around and began walking away from the wrecked, snowy town, past the destroyed gates, exiting the valley and disappearing into the forest.

Laxus wanted to sigh in frustration.

Not even one week in this place, and already he made his first enemy that wanted him dead.

What a great start to a new adventure.

\~.0.~/

Sabaody Archipelago

To say that Kizaru was amazed would be an overstatement. To say that he was intrigued, though, would be an appropriate way to put it.

When Kizaru first heard of the new wanted man, Gildarts, he hadn't thought much of it. It was just another rookie who had a stroke of luck. In fact, he initially believed that the story of him knocking out a Vice-Admiral and destroying part of Sabaody's Marine Base was just an exaggeration.

Turns out, that might have not been the case.

Kizaru's crew was completely annihilated in the span of five seconds as Gildarts released a blast of energy that destroyed the entire area - stunning the Marines for enough time to have the young lady, Cana, throw a set of glowing green cards at the surrounding Marines that when it hit them, they fell asleep.

"Sleep," he remembered hearing her say before his crew was hit by the cards and were knocked out, filling the entire area with sounds of snoring as they slept.

He hummed in thought. "I didn't expect thiiiiiiissss," he stated, "You're much stronger than I thouuuuuught."

Gildarts, Rayleigh, and Cana stood tall in front of Kizaru, over the destroyed ground. All three of them were tense. Despite the fact that they eliminated the numbers, they still knew that Kizaru was not a man to take lightly. His personality did not match his terrifying power, and that made them have their guard up at all times.

"Oh, well," he sighed, "I guess I'll have to do all the work agaiiiiiiin."

"Ama no Murakumo."

Cana flinched as light emitted from Kizaru's right hand and she was left in awe as it turned into a long sword of yellow light. Then, he moved.

All it took was less than one second. Less than one second for Kizaru to disappear and reappear in front of Cana with his sword. Gildarts eyes widened as he barely caught the movement of Kizaru raising said sword before Rayleigh appeared and stopped the attack again with his own sword.

Cana's eyes were completely wide. 'I didn't see him at all,' she thought with fear.

"Oi! You two!"

Cana was snapped out of her trance as Rayleigh called out to him, all the while continuing to struggle with overpowering Kizaru with his sword. Rayleigh did not remove his eyes from Kizaru's own, forcing both mages to look at his back the whole time he spoke.

"Remember what I told you two! I get it you want to help, but your best bet at this point is to make it out of the island. Kizaru won't be the only person they'll send if things get too rough, so you need to leave, now!"

Cana wanted to object, "But-!"

"Cana."

Cana flinched and she turned to her father who was staring at the battle with a serious expression. Then Cana remembered how this man had moved at the literal speed of light and how she would definitely not be able to take this 'Admiral' on at all. He would decimate her in the span of a second. She would be nothing but a distraction to both Gildarts and Rayleigh who would have a better chance against the man.

Cana clenched her fists. Nothing annoyed her more than becoming a nuisance in battle. She hated weakness, and in this moment, she had to do nothing but admit that she would be a weak link if they did stay to fight Kizaru.

Rayleigh was right. If more people like Kizaru came, then it would turn into a total shitstorm for them. They had to leave now, while they still had the chance.

So, swallowing her pride, Cana nodded. "Yeah."

Gildarts smiled in an effort to comfort and ease Cana's insecurities, and though that did kind of help and Cana smiled back lightly, she still felt fearful that if this world was inhabited by more people like Kizaru, then she would be nothing but a burden for her father.

Gildarts turned back to Rayleigh and smiled, "Thanks for everything, Ossan! We'll make sure to credit you for anything we do that garners attention."

Rayleigh smirked as he clashed his sword against Kizaru. "Would love nothing more."

Gildarts grabbed Cana's wrist, who was surprised by the sudden action, and began running past both combatants with her in tow.

"Eeeeehhhhhh? Leaving so earlyyyyy?"

"Yup!" called Gildarts as he ran over the destroyed ground and jumped over the sleeping marines.

"I'm afraid I can't allow thaaaaaaat."

Kizaru clashed with Rayleigh's sword once again but took one of his hands off his light sword's handle and stretched it out.

"Yata no Kagami."

Light formed in the middle of Kizaru's palm and a huge ray emitted from it, heading towards Cana and Gildarts. Cana's eyes widened as she glanced back and caught sight of the attack, but she didn't have to worry as Gildarts suddenly stopped and pulled her behind him.

Gildarts extended his hand towards the attack and called out "Disassembly!"

A white light emitted from his hand in the shape of a net and once the attack hit it, Gildarts' attack cut Kizaru's attack into small squares that then disappeared.

Kizaru's eyes widened but he had no time to ponder the move as Rayleigh went back to attacking Kizaru with his sword. It took Kizaru a second before he realized Rayleigh was back to attacking him, but he managed to defend himself with his light sword.

"Go!" called out Rayleigh.

Gildarts didn't pause for a sec as he continued to run before disappearing through the foliage with Cana in tow.

Kizaru narrowed his eyes, his playful expression completely gone, and failing in making Rayleigh the least bit nervous.

"Why did you help theeeeem?" asked Kizaru. "They are strangers to you from I've seeeeeen."

Rayleigh smirked. "What can I say? They're endearing."

Kizaru smirked, playful expression back on his face. "I'll admit they've intrigued meeeee. But, I can assure you, Rayleigh-san, that your efforts to help them and cheer them on, will be for nauuuuuught."

Rayleigh smirked. "Well, we'll see about that, won't we?"

He raised his sword in the air and pointed it at Kizaru.

"Cause I can tell, that these two guys will give you Marines one hell of a ride."

\~.0.~/

Amazon Lily

Freed gasped as he felt his body being slammed to the ground, cracking it from the force and forming a small crater. He groaned. He wouldn't be surprised if multiple of his ribs were broken from the impact.

"Freed!" he heard Mira call out his name. A sudden gasp caught his attention and Freed struggled to open his eyes, barely just in time to see Mira jump out of the way to avoid getting sliced by a large axe.

"Mira!" he called out. He yelped when he felt the grip on his waist tighten, further injuring his already damaged ribs and torso.

"If I were you, I would focus on your own predicament."

Freed frowned and glared at the large, green, snake-woman that had been a regular female human just a few minutes ago, still taken aback by the change in appearance and her strength. It didn't take naught but one minute for the two women to gain the upper-hand and beat both mages to the ground.

To be fair though, things would be much easier if Freed had his sword.

Still...

He flicked his wrist and traced his fingers on the tail making sure that his touch was as light as possible so it wouldn't be noticed. He gasped in shock when he suddenly felt his body being lifted off the ground and into the air, further aggravating his injuries.

"You and your... friend, aren't the smartest of people, are you?" hissed the green woman.

Freed glared at her through pain-ridden eyes, but said nothing. Focusing instead on the letters he was carving on the scales of her tail.

She leaned in closer to the man in her grasp and chuckled lightly. "I really thought you would make things fun for me, but it appears like this really is it for you," she hissed.

Freed struggled to breathe in her grip, feeling his ribs being crushed and his lungs constricted. Still, the woman chuckled and never did she notice the last letter he was carving on her tail…

Until it was too late.

"Dark Écriture…"

Sandersonia's eyes widened.

"Pain!"

---

Marigold laughed as she continued to wildly swing her axe around, purposefully missing the silver-haired girl who dodged every swing with weakened legs.

Mira gasped as her foot slipped slightly. The cobra woman's axe swung just above her head before she ducked, cutting off a few of her silver strands of hair.

Marigold continued to laugh. "Let me ask you this, you traitorous woman…"

Marigold swung her axe, making Mirajane jump out of the way, only to be hit by an orange tail that struck her body hard and sent her flying and skidding on the floor.

Mira coughed and wrapped an arm around her midsection. She attempted to lift herself off of the floor with the other arm, only for Marigold's tail to slam on her back, pinning her to the floor cracking underneath her.

"Why would a woman such as yourself align with a man?" asked Marigold, almost coldly.

Mira didn't answer. She was in pain. Her body was killing her, both from exhaustion and the newly added wounds from this battle. In fact, she wondered how it was possible that she was still conscious and so much as breathing.

"Hm? No answer?"

She felt the tail wrap itself around her waist, causing her to yelp in pain as she was lifted up into the air.

Marigold held her in front of her giant face and stared down at her curiously.

"You know, you could've easily kept your life if you had just denied any alliance to the man," Marigold raised her axe so that a part of the large blade was directed at her neck. "And yet, you decided to act just as foolish as him. Why a woman would willingly work with a man, is beyond me."

"He's…"

Marigold raised a brow. "Hm?"

Mira coughed and struggled to let air into her lungs. Her blurry vision made it impossible to see, but she noted the blurried spots of red liquid that fell on Marigold's tail before she lifted her eyes to try and meet where she figured Marigold's own eyes were.

"He's… f-friend…"

"Friend?" repeated Marigold before she burst out laughing. "With a man? Wow, you really are foolish!"

She leaned in close to Mira's face and smiled.

"If he really is your friend, then I'm going to enjoy tearing him apart bit by bit."

Mira's eyes widened.

"Too bad I am far too merciful; I'll kill you before I let you see that."

Marigold brought her axe back and brought it down, ready to slice the woman in two. Only to be stopped by a familiar, loud scream that made her actions freeze.

"Gyaaaaaaahhhh!"

Her eyes widened and she turned around to see Sandersonia writhing on the ground, screaming in agonizing pain.

The arena went silent, and everybody's eyes widened in horror.

"What happened?"

"Did anyone see anything?"

"What did he do?"

"Nothing!"

"One minute she was completely decimating the man and the next…"

Meanwhile, in the crowd, Marguerite was eyeing the scene with wide, frightened eyes.

'I saw it.'

Boa Hancock straightened in her seat and leaned forward. Watching with wide eyes at the scene as she tried to maintain her cool.

'What's happening? What is this?'

"Sandersonia!"

Mirajane felt the grip on her waist disappear and the effects of gravity taking place before her body hit the ground. Hard.

She gasped. She couldn't take it anymore. Her body hurt and her magical reserves were far too low for her liking. If it hadn't been for her wounds… if it hadn't been for the fact that she had used Satan Soul earlier for just one second to fight off Freed's attacker, then maybe they would've had this in the bag.

Mira rolled to her side and attempted to clear out her vision by shaking her head slightly.

Once her vision cleared, she saw the giant forms of Marigold attempting to control her sister who was flailing around and coiling into herself as she screamed in pain, making her sister's attempts to calm her down and figure out the problem mute.

'Freed?'

She moved her eyes around until finally, she spotted Freed, and her eyes widened.

Freed looked bad. He was bloody and his face was bruised along with several other parts of his body. His left wrist seemed to be broken judging by the fact that he was holding onto it and cradling it to his chest as if it were a baby.

Still, his sole eye looked up to meet her own widened eyes.

He opened his mouth to say something, only to be stopped by a large orange, scaly hand rapidly wrapping its fingers around his entire body, leaving only his head uncovered, and lifting him up into the air.

"Freed!" Mira called out with a broken voice as Freed cried out in pain from the way his already torn body was being handled.

Freed looked up and his only,visible eye widened from the furious look in Marigold's expression.

"You bastard! What did you do?!"

Sandersonia continued to writhe and scream in agony. The small letters on her tail shone brightly, and though he felt his little magic reserves leave him, Freed did not call off the spell.

"Stop it!"

Marigold's hand tightened and Freed screamed.

Sandersonia continued to scream.

"I told you to stop it!"

Mira pushed her self off the ground, flinching noticeably as she heard Freed's screams grow louder. She looked up and glared at the cobra woman before her.

"S-stop…" she gritted out.

Hancock tilted her head slightly to the side as she saw the woman lift herself slowly. Something was… odd here. Something didn't feel right.

Still, she did not stand from her seat, opting instead to remain her usual collected self and watch the show from the sidelines.

It should be over soon.

The intruders were far too injured to continue fighting and it was evident that Marigold and Sandersonia were, once again, the victors.

Just like always.

And though Sandersonia seemed to be in pain from a mysterious attack, if Hancock's knowledge on devil fruit users was correct, then there was an alternative, much easier way to stop that attack.

Marigold growled, "If you don't stop," she pulled back her axe, "Then maybe death will make you!"

Mira's eyes widened as she saw the axe move towards Freed's head.

"Stop!"

One word.

One word was all it took for Marigold's movements to stop. One word was all it took for the whole arena to be silent, for Sandersonia's scream to stop, for Freed to be knocked unconscious.

One word was all it took to make Boa Hancock feel fear for the first time in years.

\~.0.~/

Sabaody Archipelago

Cana ran as fast as she could through the green groves, trying her best to keep up with her father who was just a few steps ahead of her, making sure that she didn't leave his sight.

Rayleigh instructed them to head to Grove 59 where his contact would be located before he stayed behind to fight off the powerful man.

Kizaru.

The supposedly Admiral of the 'World Government' who could tear the most powerful people to shreds from what she understood. A man who could've damn near obliterated her had Gildarts and Rayleigh not been there.

Cana chuckled.

Gildarts rose a brow and turned his head back to look at her curiously.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Cana's chuckles stopped, but the small, fond smile remained on her lips as she looked at the view ahead of her.

"Barely one day here, and already we're in a lot of trouble.

Gildarts smiled and laughed out loud.

"Yeah, that's true, isn't it?"

His smile grew.

"Wonder what the rest are up to…"

\~.0.~/

---

"Captain's Log, June 18th, 1506,

"The stories I've heard of the Grand Line since I was a child never cease to amaze me...

---

"You guys wear these things?" Gray grumbled as he continued to fidget with the hem of his uniform by pulling it down. "They're so uncomfortable."

Tashigi sighed and pushed her glasses up. "Well, they're for incoming trainees or seaman recruits. The lowest hierarchy of the Marines."

Gray scoffed, but said nothing else.

The seaman recruit uniforms consisted of a white, sleeveless, button down top with a blue bonnet tied at the neck, as well as dark blue trousers and black boots. It also came with a white cap that had the words 'Marine' imprinted on it in blue.

"I think it looks cute."

Tashigi turned to see Erza admiring her new outfit. Tashigi had to admit, the uniform didn't look good on many people, but thanks to Erza's beauty, she still somehow managed to pull it off.

"It looks good on you," Tashigi found herself commenting.

Erza smirked and placed her hands on her hips proudly. "Yes, I am aware."

"Ok, we changed. What are we doing next?" asked Gray.

Tashigi turned to face Gray, only for her jaw to fall to the ground and her cheeks to become a dark, tangent red.

"W-w-where are your c-clothes?" she stuttered.

Gray looked surprised and looked down at his bare torso. "Shit! Not again!"

Tashigi sighed as Gray scrambled to look for his clothes when her eye caught sight of the strange tattoo on his chest. She turned to see Erza smiling fondly at the man, and noticed the same tattoo on her arm, except it was a lighter blue color.

"By the way, Erza-san?"

Erza turned to her curiously, noting the way she was eyeing her forearm.

"I've been meaning to ask, but," she pointed at the strange marking, "what does that tattoo mean?"

Erza smiled.

---

"Indeed, it is a new world of adventure, danger, but most of all, the place where both men and women venture into in order to pursue dreams greater than any imagined...

---

Gajeel's eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"What do you mean you don't have a navigator?"

Kidd shrugged nonchalantly, as if the pouring rain and hail and the way his ship kept swaying wildly side to side like an amusement park ride didn't faze him in the slightest.

"We've been looking for one, we just haven't found the right one," was his deadpanned response.

His brow twitched again and he felt the short girl next to him sigh in irritation as well.

"How the hell have you made it this far?!"

Kidd frowned and pushed aside a crewmember that brushed by him on his way to help out the rest of the crew get through the storm.

"Because I'm great, that's why! Don't you have any navigation skills?"

"Of course I don't!"

"Then you're an idiot! Idiot~! What was the point of me recruiting you then?!"

They slammed their foreheads together and growled like a bunch of pitbulls, pushing against each other as they continued to argue.

"Me the idiot!? You're the one whose sailing without a navigator, stupid! What kind of captain are you if you can't control your own ship!?"

They continued to bicker, all the while ignoring the disastrous weather around them that rocked their ship and had their crewmembers panicking. Killer being the only calm one, who was succesfully steering the ship and as such, couldn't stop his captain from trying to pick a fight with their new crewmember.

Levy sighed once again. They haven't been on the ship for more than an hour and already things were disastrous.

What did this say about their uncertain future?

And throughout the storm, throughout the sound of thunder booming in the skies, two angry voices joined in together to overpower all other sounds.

"You wanna fight, idiot!"

---

"It is where you make enemies beyond your wildest dreams, but also meet the most fascinating people you will never meet unless you leave the calm, humble place that is your home island...

---

She stood shaking slightly before glancing nervously at the poor creature before her.

The giant tiger was cut cleanly in half, and though the sight of blood and internal organs spilling out of the body disgusted her and made her want to throw up, she couldn't help but feel relived that she was at least safe. Even if she did feel bad for the poor tiger.

The wood she had collected laid splintered and broken on the ground, courtesy of the giant mammal's powerful jaws. Had she not put the wood between them both, surely it would've been her those jaws would've snapped in half.

And if she had just been paying attention, she wouldn't have been taken by surprise by the giant tiger that jumped out from the bushes and pounced on her.

She nearly could've died due to her carelessness. She was lucky she had gotten away with a few small scratches and that there weren't more tigers around.

She looked up and smiled shakily at her savior.

A tall man with one of the most attractive appearances she had ever seen that would surely make her fellow male guildmates jealous and have Cana head over heels.

"Thank you, um…"

She hesitated.

The man sheathed his sword and for the first time, the girl noticed the letters tattooed on the man's hands and she held back the need to gulp.

Maybe she should've just asked her partner to come with her.

The man looked up and eyed her with cold, calculating eyes.

He seemed to notice that he was making her nervous for his eyes softened and his lips twitched slightly.

"Law. Trafalgar Law."

The girl smiled.

"Thank you, Law-san!"

---

"I've been told that my dreams are nothing but the aspirations of a fool; idiotic visions that will never come true. But I see those mocking insults only as a motivator to keep fighting in order to achieve my dream. To sail the Grand Line and find the treasure that the great Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, left behind as his last legacy...

---

Laxus continued to eye the spot where Raiden and his crew had disappeared into the piny woods.

"You're going to get hypothermia if you stay any longer in the water."

Laxus turned and saw that Thatch had finally gotten out of the water and was extending a hand towards him with a wide smile on his face.

Laxus sighed and smiled lightly before he grabbed onto Thatch's hand so he could help get out of the water.

Thatch smiled and slapped his back with a large hand, causing Laxus to yelp and keel over. Still, the man seemed to ignore the man's obvious pain and continued to laugh cheerfully.

"Still, didn't expect such a fight from you!" he said, "You did great! I honestly thought Raiden was going to kill you for a sec!"

Laxus looked insulted. "Excuse you!?"

Thatch laughed for a bit. When the laughter faded though, Thatch turned serious.

"Lax-san..."

Laxus in turn looked at him curiously, surprised over the strange, uncharacteristic expression Thatch was now wearing. "What?" he asked.

Thatch remained silent, eyeing him carefully, which made the blond man nervous.

Finally, Thatch smiled. "Nothing. We'll talk about it later."

---

"It honestly wasn't hard to leave my home behind. They called me a fool, but in my eyes, they were the fools. They were the ones who chose a life of peace and contempt. Just utter dullness. No adventure. No drive. What kind of life was that? IF it was one at all?

---

The large man sighed and leaned back onto the cold cobalt wall behind him.

He was exhausted.

He had to hand it to them. Their prison bars were much stronger than what he was used to. They were obviously used to handling strong people.

He glanced to the side.

"So… any ideas?"

There was a feminine sigh.

"What do you think, big man?"

---

"It took long for me to traverse the wonders of the East Blue and find the perfect people for my crew once I left the island I knew as my home. But the hard work was worth it, and now we find ourselves inching our way towards Reverse Mountain; the gate and entrance to the Grand Line, where we will pursue our dreams and create our legacy that will be written in history books...

---

This was wrong.

He looked around himself. Watching intently and hiding the horror he felt upon what he was seeing.

This was wrong.

Wrong in so many ways.

It made his stomach curl in on itself, it made his throat go dry like sandpaper.

It physically disgusted him.

Which was actually a very hard thing to do, considering the type of person that he was.

And yet, everybody in the town walked around like there was nothing wrong. They were smiling and laughing and interacting.

Because they couldn't feel what he felt.

They couldn't see what he saw.

They were kept in blissful ignorance.

"Is Bickslow-kun ok?"

He glanced to the side, seeing the worried look upon his partner's expression.

"No," he responded coldly.

"Nothing is okay here."

---

"We will come across enemies, and the vilest creatures to ever exist, that is for sure...

---

"Kyaaaaahh~!" The delighted scream echoed throughout the building, nearly deafening all those within and outside its walls.

"I've never seen anything like it!" she continued to yell out as she grabbed them in a tight hug.

"You guys are so cute!"

---

"But I wouldn't want to face these struggles, fight these battles, and make these memories, with anybody else aside from my crew by my side...

---

Lucy smiled.

"I think I know why you picked this one," she stated.

Natsu smiled back as he eyed the ship himself. "I thought it looked cool. Plus…"

He pointed at the large figurehead. "It suits us!" He cried out cheerfully.

Lucy snickered and looked up at the ship that Natsu had picked out for them. It wasn't as big as the other one she had ventured into, but it wasn't too small either and it looked to be in rather good shape.

Overall, it was manageable.

Sure the paint looked chipped off and a bit worn down, but that wasn't what appealed to Natsu anyway.

Of course he would pick the boat with the dragon figurehead.

It was a crappy dragon styled from the old wood of the boat, the paint was chipped off as well but it was obvious that it had been a bright red at one point due to the maroon coloring it now possessed. Still, it was a dragon nonetheless and that is what mattered to Natsu.

Lucy's smile widened and she raised her fists excitedly.

"Alright, let's do this!

Natsu's eyes widened. "Wait, are we actually getting on the boat?"

"Of course you idiot!"

---

"I know that together, we will flip this world upside down, and leave our mark behind.

"Now off we go, into this brand new adventure...

"To the Grand Line."

- Captain Glau Ceta

Chapter End

---

A/N:

Fun-Fact: Glauketas was a privateer who is recorded in Greek inscriptions describing how the Athenian navy under Thymocares of Sphettos raided his base on Kythnos and captured him and his men. Supposedly, this recorded event "made the sea safe for those that sailed thereon."

Holy... Crap...

How long has it been?! OMG I can't believe I took this long.

Ahem... how are you guys?

Yeah I know I'm a jerk for hardly updating... if at all. I've just been busy with stuff... and writer's block.

But, hey! At least I updated! After like a year. I actually feel ashamed that in the span of three years since I posted this story, I've only managed to upload like, what? Six chapters? I don't even know the length of my own story any more. But, at least I tried to make up for it by writing this long ass chapter that was more than 15,500 words long.

Come on, give me some credit for that.

In all honesty though, the reason I haven't updated in so long is because so many things happened after my high school graduation, then I started college, and the elections here in the U.S. happened, then I got a job, and it was just a mess. A mess we will not talk about.

Also I may have joined a new phandom... I mean fandom- that I continuously obsessed over for like two-three months. So yeah, that played a part as well.

Anyway, I hope you all are doing great! I know that the recent Fairy Tail and One Piece arc has got us at the edge of our seats and clinging onto our sanity(at least, that's my experience), and a lot of us are stressed out from both real life and fictional events, but I hope this chapter gave you guys... some happiness? I don't know, just a certain pleasant emotion.

I am proud to announce my return though... for like, the tenth time. Even though I started my spring semester of college which already has me stressed out so bad. I mean, I'm stressed about the stress I don't have yet. But, I do have future chapters planned for this story as well as others (*cough* No Capes *cough* Partners *cough* *sneeze*), so do look forward to that!

Oh, and I'm sick by the way.

Review Responses:

JadeOccelot: You always review in this story and I can't thank you enough for that because your reviews are always so nice and they give me a nice, warm feeling inside! I'm so glad you enjoyed the previous chapter, and I do hope you enjoyed this one as well! I can't wait for you, as well as others, to read what I have in store for you all.

nightmaster000: Thank you so much! I've read your reviews before ( I think you've reviewed other stories of mine as well), but I don't know if I've ever thanked you for those before so I want to thank you now for all of them!

Daxen123: LOL! Well, I wouldn't call them all great, but thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed this story so far! I do hope you are still reading LOL! and of course they would get freaking Kizaru. I was originally planning on having somebody else, but I thought Kizaru worked best honestly.

TheHufflepuffYoshi: Of course it doesn't! That joke is forever immortalized!

Yo(guest): Hmmm, well this story takes place before canon in One Piece, so it's safe to assume they're doing whatever it is they were doing before Luffy started his journey. But, yes, you're right: the Will of D will create a storm.

12Rayne: No spoilers! I can't tell you guys when they will come in, but they will! Just... not yet.

Leila(guest): Thank you so much! And I do have that scene planned out already actually... It's pretty darn sad.

FShield96: Thank you so much! I'm really flattered that you would say that because, honestly, I've read better stories IMO xD! And I can't remember wheren I had Gajeel use that move but I do know which move of Laxus' you are talking about. The thing is, when I wrote his move down I think that it was actually only used in the Anime version. Not so sure though. I'm going to go back and fix some things anyway, so...

Lord Nuel: Thank you! Glad you liked it!

WaterStar45: Thank you so much! I do try to keep every viewpoint added, but I will be doing something different from now on, because doing the same thing I'm doing now would be waaayyyy too difficult.

donkike07: Thank you so much! As for Juvia... well, we'll be seeing that soon actually.

Mr.E: Thank you! Welllll... this chapter kind of revealed it already! XD

Guest: Thank you so much! And I have many scenes I have in mind, so don't worry!

Mordalfus Gaea: Thankfully, I did get the laptop... sadly, I didn't get rid of the virus on my PC. At this point, it would be better to just buy a new one LOL. Thank you for reviewing!

Axalion(guest): I did buy a Mac! And I absolutely LOVE IT! Thank you for the recommendations!

Arttailfox021: I could... if I didn't have so many fines. I kid you not, my fines have gone up to be $43 at the public library. No, I am not joking...

Angelflight(guest): Well... I'm barely managing LOL. But! At least I'm alive!

The Keeper of Worlds: Honestly, I love your name. It's freaking amazing! I believe I've seen you review either this story or another one, but just in case, I want to thank you for reviewing! Reviews are my gas to keep writing! ... That sounded weird out of context, I'm just going to go now.

Battlesny: Yup... Freaking unlucky. Thank you for reviewing!

Pokipo: Thank you so, so much! And we are actually getting closer to that part, so do look forward to it!

PirateEmperor2(guest): I think you're overestimating them a bit. Yes, Fairy Tail mages such as Gildarts and Laxus are terrifyingly strong, but you have to consider the fact that they just fought a hard battle and are still wounded and tired out. They're not at their full potential at the moment. Not to mention that Gildarts has to consider the safety of Cana and those around him (he knows his power is too destructive). Buuuut, we'll see how Gildarts does against future combatants such as Admirals aaaaand maybe his 'Brother'. ;)

Guest: I'm a huge fan of both manga as well! Glad you enjoyed this!

fairytailcrossover: AAAAAHHHHH I've been meaning to answer back to you! OMG I barely realized that you wrote 'Protecting Hogwarts'! I began reading that story a long time ago but forgot to add it to my favs and so I didn't keep up with the updates! Glad to know that you've been back to writing! I do know that you took a break, but hey, it's fine cause I take long-ass breaks as well LOL! Writing is stressful and hard after all! I'll also make sure to read your new re-written version of Trapped as soon as I can! Thank you so much!

IceBlossom513(Guest): I posted! Finally! Thanks for reviewing!

lizard-senpai: I'm glad you enjoyed! I honestly love writing Kidd's and Gajeel's interactions xD. They're my favorite to write!

Review Responses End.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Except, without the stress. And... well, I didn't particularly like this chapter all that much since I had so many issues with it, but hey! At least it's out.

We are finally truly beginning this story; the intro is done and I will proceed to do something different.

And by that I mean I won't have that many scenes in one chapter.

I want to thank all of you for reading, favoriting, and following! It really means a lot to me and motivates me to continue with this story! It's the first one I've ever posted (we don't talk about the real 'first fic') and I'm so glad to see how far it's come in the past two years! (Even if it's only been seven chapters...)

Please, tell me what you guys thought about this chapter by the way! I struggled so much with it and was really scared to post it, so some feedback would be nice!

I especially want to thank my awesome friend and beta TheCatLounge for helping me so much with this story! I honestly think I would've stopped this story long ago if it hadn't been for her. Thanks!

(*Cough* Follow my Tumblr *cough*)

Oh, yeah, again I'm sick guys and one of my symptoms is that I keep promoting my other social media... oops.

Thank you all for the support! And I hope to see you all again soon! (Well, not 'see' because technically I can't see you, but you get what I mean... I'm just going to go now. Bye.)

---

Next Chapter:

"Aperito"

Summary: Some things are better left unsaid...

Now I'm off to work on 'No Capes'! 'TIL NEXT TIME!(?)