Hey all! This is my first story and I hope it will be enjoyable for most! This is a fanfic so there might be things that don't make sense. This might seem like the start of the series but in this story, Lucy and Natsu have already been friends for years. Essentially an alternate universe. There will be an increasing amount of changes as the story continues. Without that bit of info, it might be slightly confusing. Please leave reviews!
"Speech"
'Thought'
Chapter 1: Prepare for a Bloodbath Fiore! The Pirate Dragon Arrives!
There was a lone ship, sailing across the sea, devoid of any sounds. The black matted hair of a young Enca pirate, who was about twenty two, stuck to his sweaty face uncomfortably. He was lying on the deck, hungry and dehydrated. Red eyes pierced into the sky, there wasn't much of anything he could do but wait. He had eaten all of his rations and ran out of drinkable water shortly after. He thought that the trip to Fiore would be relatively easy since he had managed to make it to other places across the globe. He was wrong.
It wasn't the first time he had stolen a ship. He just wasn't as lucky this time, since there were limited resources. The heat of the sun beamed down onto his body and drained him. He had long since discarded his shirt to the vast emptiness of the ocean. He was close to chucking his black slightly loose pants and brown boots. What once seemed like a great idea at the time, probably could have been solved through various methods. The X-shaped scar on his chest glistened with sweat as time seemingly stretched on forever.
It was a great thing he picked up on perception magic at a relatively young age, not that it helped with his boredom. The only other things he had to accompany him on his trips were the seemingly endless pages in the Earthland hit list, that he stole, and the occasional person who asked for help to get to a new country. It's unfortunate the last one had been over a year ago though.
"Life fucking sucks…" His stomach growled for the umpteenth time, pissed off the pirate even more. "I really can't wait until I get to that damn commission. Hopefully there'll be food." He closed his eyes and rolled to his side, pulling his dagger towards his chest for comfort. "At least you will always be with me, mom." He drifted off to sleep, dreaming of his various past adventures.
Nightfall
There wasn't much happening on the shore of a beach, somewhere in Fiore. All except for the huge party that was going to be held none other than 'Salamander' himself. Every woman in town had been informed of his ship party and they couldn't resist.
The loud cheers of everyone on board had unfortunately awoken a slightly aggravated pirate from probably the best sleep of his life. Further into the ocean had been a wooden pirate ship with only a single large sail. It had been maintained well, but it wasn't the best vessel to be on the seas. The great thing about being a pirate though was that he could pretty much do whatever he wanted. A blessing was upon him.
"Well, can't say this day can't get any worse. Seems like I was drawn right to them." He slowly arose from his prone position, settling his dagger on his hip. The cool night air felt nice against his skin, which he had always enjoyed. He had been hot the entire day and this was a nice change of pace.
Looking towards the sound that had awoken him, the scarred man noticed a luxury cruise docked at a beach.
"What do we have here?" He slicked his hair back so he could see a little better. He made a loud whistling sound. "That's a pretty vessel. Seems like a pretty stuck up guy to have such a pretty thing carry him around… Well, it's not too far-fetched considering…" He pulled out the hit list and flipped to a page closer to the middle of the book to the first face not crossed out
After a little while of adjusting the sail and planning how the hell this would go, the pirate finally made it to the cruise, but not without noticing the lack of cheers.
"What is that?!" There was a shrill cry from the crowd of people. The shirtless man paused his ship right in front of the cruise and dropped the anchor. After the cruise came to a stop, a blue haired man stepped up to the head of all the people.
"Who the hell do you think you are to stop Salamander's great party!" There was no doubt in the black-haired man's mind that the person speaking was the same one on his hit list.
"You, with the stupid face! You're Bora, aren't you?" He had his foot up on the railing with his hand on his dagger. "It's pretty convenient for me to have run into you here!" What was a simple ship jacking, turned into a full blown manhunt.
"Who is this Bora you speak of? I am the Salamander of Fairy Tail!" The now named Bora denied any of this man's proclamations.
"Yeah right! And I'm the president of Fiore! Cut the shit and stop hypnotizing these people." There was a slight chattering amongst the people of the cruise and it quickly turned bad for the pirate, before he heard a small cry for help. His perception was much greater than anyone else's on the cruise and he knew trying to use that as evidence wouldn't do him any good. He had to improvise.
"Oh, my mistake, 'Salamander'. It's just that I got you confused by someone I met a while back." He hopped from his vessel to the next, right in front of the fraud. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find a man named Bora, would you? He has a handful of charms and-." He quickly snatched his arm and raised it up. "Kinda like these! And a ship full of women, like this one!" Soon after, people started looking at the charms on the man's fingers, realizing what they were only after they had been pointed out.
"Hang on a sec-"
Before Bora could finish his thought, the pirate's instincts kicked in, allowing him to dodge a punch coated in flames. That's something else he was looking for, pink hair, fire, and the smell of a dragon.
"Bora! Where is she?!" The loud fire mage shouted, with a small winged cat carrying him
"Aye, Bora! You better let our friend go!" The small blue feline shouted.
"Looks like you're a really wanted man, Bora. Maybe we should work out a deal… I can get rid of that loud fire mage if you agree to release all these people…"
"What do you mean?! I need no protection, and these people came here willingly!"
Soon after, most of the people aboard were broken out of the spell and are just now becoming fully aware of their situation. And that quickly escalated into a revolt. All according to plan.
"Well, you had better convince yourself of it first. They're breaking out of your control, and that Pinkie seems hellbent on getting your head. Be sure to make it snappy since I'm low on time."
"I am Salamander though! You will all praise me!" Bora was being rushed by all the people aboard.
'Perfect, now I can go see where all that noise is coming from.' Before he could make it, another flame covered appendage shot towards him.
"You're with Bora right?! I'm gonna kick your ass for helping him kidnap my Lucy!" There was another strike and the pinkette hit thin air again, but his target wasn't in the same area anymore. "What the hell?! Where'd he go?!"
The pirate managed to slip away, making down a set of stairs. He was led to a long, dim hall. Even though there was an endless amount of rooms, he pinpointed the exact location of the stifled wails.
He came across a door further off to the side and opened was a young blonde being gagged and tied up. The men tying her up were pretty large but they didn't have any real presence of magic. 'They might just be for intimidation… Like that'd even work. A pirate knows how to deal with situations like this.'
He had to improvise again since it was a four on one.
"The boss sent me down to check on the girl, since he's up there dealing with some fire mage. He needs one of you to turn this lux around so we can go around the mage's ship. The rest of you will need to go up and help him since you all are stronger than I am." Hopefully this worked. There'd be no need to spill blood. "Since you all were going to have your way with her, I might as well open her up for when you get back." He gave a dark smile.
After a while of the men figuring out who would go to Bora, they dispersed.
"Shit… I can't believe that worked…" The man scratched his head and the ring he stole from Bora a while ago shone in brilliance. He then shifted to the petrified blonde who had rivers of tears pouring out of her eyes. A stifled cry caused the pirate to turn his attention down. "Oh my… Seems like you've been roughed up pretty bad." He casually walked to the girl as she slowly inched away in fear. It was then that he noticed the various wounds she had adorned. A punch to the abdomen, a slap to the face, forcefully dragged by the legs.
"You think I'm going to do horrible things to you? Don't worry, I used this to trick them." He held up his left hand with the charm on his finger, being something that offset the blonde. "I'll make sure they don't harm you anymore." He slipped the ring off and crushed it in his hand before drawing his lucky dagger, which was a weird cosmic, space color. It gave off an ominous aura shortly before it was used to cut the binds swiftly.
It wasn't a natural thing though. The girl didn't see or hear him cut the binds, it was just done. The man sat in front of her and removed the cloth from her mouth.
"Thank… you…" It was faint but she at least had the energy to thank her savior. Who knows what those guys would have done to her.
"Don't worry about it~" He gave a toothy grin and put a hand on her head. "You're safe now…" There was a loud explosion on the upper deck, which caused his face to quickly turn serious. "Salamander's on board and he's making quite the commotion. Unfortunately, I'll be the one to put down Bora and his men." He looked her in the eyes. "You're pretty, so I see why he grabbed you, but you seem too young. How old are you, Blondie?" He waited a second before she decided to answer.
"L-Lucy…" It was a whisper.
"Hmm? Could you repeat that?"
"My name… Is Lucy… Lucy Heartfillia, and I'm seventeen…" She still seemed slightly hesitant but this man couldn't be all too bad if he just saved her from a fate worse than death.
"I figured you were too young for me. Very well, Lucy! You can call me Marco, Marco Nebula. I'm a pirate who takes bounties, and you just so happened to be the person for me to save on this one. Lemme know where you're headed when I finish up here." He lifted her up, much to her surprise, and carried her through the halls of the ship until he reached the outside again.
There was a loud bang when he opened the door causing Bora and Salamander to stop fighting. He really didn't want to believe his eyes, but unfortunately, he knew how sharp they were. This was all real.
Everything was ablaze, the ship was mostly destroyed. Luckily it didn't spread to his ship, but he was really looking forward to an upgrade.
"Aw dammit! I leave for like five minutes and this place is destroyed!" Bora noticed the pirate and the blonde he was with.
"YOU!" He pointed at the duo and he was really starting to lose it. "You stole my ring, and you set everyone free! I'll make you PAY-"
"LUCY!" The pink haired man ran to the blonde and checked on her. "What happened?! Did he hurt you?" It seemed like almost an unnatural response but he did owe her for lunch since they were friends.
"Natsu!" She couldn't even stand from the damage to her legs. This got the fire mage's blood boiling.
"You would hurt a girl this badly?! For what?!" He was talking to Marco who was staring Bora down with his red eyes, drilling into his soul.
"No, Natsu… The man with the scar, Marco, helped me… I'm alright now thanks to him…" She seemed sincere and it also got Natsu to calm down. He just looked on at the two men before him, the two seeming to not be moving.
"Hey, Salamander! Get ready to use those wings to fly Miss Lucy to the shore. If you don't think you can make it, take my ship. I'll see you both shortly. You don't want to see what I'm about to do to this disgrace of a human being."
Natsu looked down to Lucy who gave him a look to just go along with it.
"Look, I don't know who you are, but thanks for saving Lucy. I don't know what I would've done without your help." He looked serious.
"Just call me Marco. Go ahead and get on my ship. That blue cat looks tired." The small mammal had swirls in its eyes. "Take this with you. So long as you have it I'll be able to find you, no matter where you are." He took his dagger and its holster and handed it to Lucy. "Now get outta here. This'll be bloody." He gave Bora a feral look, his eyes fierce.
Natsu put the small cat on Lucy's stomach and lifted her up.
"You'd better explain when we see you. There's something about you that seems too familiar." A few minutes later, the trio were on the old wooden ship and it began moving towards the harbor.
Once they were out of earshot, Marco took in his surroundings again. The embers were demolishing the exterior of the ship and the railing had already been destroyed by Natsu. He thought for a quick second, trying to figure out if there was a way to save the beautiful cruise.
"It's a damn shame Bora… You had such a nice ship." Bora was slightly sweating, but put his own feelings beneath him.
"I've tangled with the Salamander of Fairy Tail! What can some wandering nobody hope to do?!" He was full of himself. There was no getting him off of his high horse. People like that just needed to be shown the true horrors of the world.
"There's no way that you're beating the five of us! Salamander could barely hold on during our fight! And now-" He was cut off when Marco seemed to not be paying attention. "Look, you aren't even paying attention in your final moments on this planet!" His blood was boiling.
Marco took in a breath of air, which seemed like an invitation for Bora and his men to charge.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" It was as if the very Earth was being shaken by a bone chilling roar. The water rippled away from the vessel and the sand from the beach had been thrown in the other direction.
The men halted immediately as the old embers and fires on the ship were dispersed instantly.
"W-what was that?!" Natsu had a sweatdrop rolling down his cheek. "A dragon?"
Lucy was in the fairly same boat. She was confused but looked to Natsu for information.
"What do you think that was Natsu?" The blue cat spoke up, awoken from its slumber.
"Happy… Be ready to come with me. That sounded like a dragon!" He looked steely in the direction of the sound. "I was curious at first, but I just have to check this out.
He was about to grab Happy, but was stopped by Lucy.
"N-no Natsu. We should stay and watch Marco's ship… I can't go since I'm still hurt, and Happy needs to recharge." She pleaded with her best friend until he finally caved in.
"Fine. He had better hurry…" His eyes were still in the direction of the roar, until Lucy slowly tried to embrace him. Forcing him to calm down.
"W-what the hell was that?!" One of the men shouted.
"Whew, that takes care of the fire…" He looked at the four men who had tied up Lucy earlier. "Now-" There was a sharp, cutting sound. It was fast and undetectable.
"AAAAHHHH!" The first man who spoke had his hand sliced off by Marco's magic.
"W-what just happened?!" Bora was now terrified. While he tangled with Natsu, he didn't really land any lasting damage. This man just cut off one of his men's hands without moving from that spot.
"There are six bodies on this ship right now… Only two will make it off tonight…" He slowly sheathed his dagger. "Now, Bora… do you think you're one of those two…" He gave a dark glare.
"I-I don't care what kinds of tricks you have! Your scare tactics won't work on me!" He ran at Marco wildly, the three unharmed men followed behind him.
"Your final moments will be the most agonizing of your life, Bora!" Marco spun around one of the larger men and twisted his arm behind his back, smacking it hard at the elbow.
"Huh- *CRACK* AAAAH" His arm snapped as swiftly as it was grabbed. He was then elbowed in the spine, paralyzing the man. The pirate then used his head as a springboard to dodge the other two, whose weapons clashed into their ally's body, killing him almost instantly.
"N-NO!" One of the two looked up at the last moment to see the pirate's heel slam down onto his head, forcing it into the deck.
The only other physically unharmed man went for a hail mary, vertically bringing his ax down until he struck something. "RAHHH! His eyes were closed as he hoped he hit his target.
He peeked slightly, and unfortunately, it wasn't what he wanted to see.
"AH! Y-you coward! Come out!" Having cleaved through his friend's skull, he looked around frantically for the predatory man.
Bora was watching it all and it still was unbelievable. That pirate was avoiding everything. It wasn't a matter of him doing it, it was how he did it.
"W-what the hell is he?!" Bora was scared "H-He's like a ghost!"
Marco seemingly fazed through each attack and teleported all around the ship.
Quickly, the other man was disposed of. Death by suffocation, the gurgling sound stopping signaled the last stretch of life leaving his body.
At last it was just Bora, his one armed man and the pirate.
"You see how easily you can slip into the endless abyss of the Great Beyond? Unfortunately, these men are all as selfish as you, so you all will get sent straight to hell…" He was fuming. "They were going to abuse that girl in more ways than one while you partied, had I not stepped in." He manifested a cosmic blade on the end of his hand. "Your connecting of slave-trade routes ends here… Living must've not been hard enough so I'll gladly take your pain away so you don't have to worry anymore…" He slowly walked towards Bora.
"H-hang on! If it's women you want, or even men, just name it! You want money? I'll get you as much as you want! Please! I want to live!" This act of desperation got the pirate to think.
"Maybe you will be the second one to leave this ship tonight… considering you know what a man wants." Marco turned away. "I'll take all the valuables you've got." This relieved Bora and he quickly got back to his feet from his beginning position on the floor.
"Y-you won't regret this! I promise!" He ran below the deck to retrieve something.
As he rummaged around, the last man who was cradling his sliced limb looked fearful. Fearful that his life was about to come to an end.
Soon there was a scream that ripped through the night sky almost as loudly as the roar a few minutes ago.
Bora cursed to himself as he had to hear the horrid slashing and gushing sounds, followed by the screams of his final worker. There was no conceivable way to get him out of this situation and he was glad that the pirate would go away with the proper bribe.
After what seemed like an eternity of wails and slashes, Bora came back to the deck of his sundered ship with a large sag of what sounded like gold and jewelry. He nearly passed out from the sight.
"Took you long enough…" Marco had what appeared to be half of a person's rib cage in his hand as he was crouched over the bloody deck, comprised of wood, ripped off limbs, and the mutilated bodies of the once ever so prominent sex-slave owners. Marco just looked on with a bored expression as Bora dropped the bag, making a loud *cling* sound. "I got bored so I had a bit of fun. Hope you didn't mind the decorating…" He looked as if it were a regular day.
If by decorating he meant desecrating, then yes, he minded, but who was he to deny this man's 'creativity'.
"N-not at all!" Bora was scared shitless, but cautiously picked up the bag and tossed it over to the pirate. "There! I-I've done my part of the deal, now you have to let me go!" Part of him was sad about his men who he had traveled with for the past few years, but he was also glad his life remained intact. "Hmm?"
"You guys really do suck. Every last one of you!" A pair of red eyes looked fiercely at Bora and with increasing malice. "You really think that after all this time of me searching for you, that I'd just let you go? AFTER ALL THE LIVES YOU ENDED?!" There was a thin black layer of magic surrounding him with small colorful dots floating around it. His face hardened. "Let me ask you one question… And if you can answer it correctly then you can go…" The sweat was really rolling now. Bora wasn't ready.
"I've traveled beyond my hometown of Enca, from Sin all the way to Bosco! There was one little girl with sea blue hair and powerful wind magic! Apparently, one morning, I woke up and she was nowhere to be found… What did you do with her?!" Marco did want to end his life to continue in his crusade, but the one thing he couldn't get over was how he had lost a very important family member, and family was something he didn't play around with.
Bora was at a loss for words. He had encountered a plethora of women in his past and he couldn't remember a single one by that description. He could barely remember the girl he had just kidnapped. He had to think quickly. "S-she's right here in Fiore! Yes! I was just about to return her to your country!" Nice thinking.
"Very well… I guess I can take your word for that…" Bora felt as if a weight had been removed from his shoulders. It had felt even better when the veil of black left the pirate's body. "Except… no one who ever visits Enca and isn't a resident ever comes back a second time. I would know, since I've lived there and worked for their militia for the past eleven years." His fiery gaze forced Bora to his hands and knees. Marco slowly walked towards him. "...Stand..."
The blue haired man was confused at the request, seemingly stunned.
"STAND!" This got the sex trafficker to his feet.
"I-I'm s-! gAACk!" He didn't finish as he was dropped to the floor once again by a knee to his crotch. He grabbed it profusely to alleviate the pain.
"Did I say you could get back on the ground? Stand up." He used his blood stained boot to lift up Bora by the chin. "Your pathetic ass can't even stand up to someone like me let alone Salamander… I don't know how you got off, tricking all those people into believing that fib… Then you mess with a man's family… That's just something you don't do, and stealing brother Salamander's woman at that… You're gonna feel every… last… BLOW!" It was too quick to comprehend, especially in his stupor. He was lifted up by the foot , into the air and clobbered square in his face.
"I won't let him or anyone hurt you ever again Lucy…"
"Aye…" Natsu and Happy were both consoling Lucy as she was bawling her eyes out at her near life ending situation.
"Let it out… All of it…" He held her close with Happy on top of her head. "We're gonna be okay, I promise."
"Gahhh!" The man was bruised and beaten beyond belief. His arms were broken, he was missing teeth and there were razor sharp cuts all along his torso. His butchered body was caved into the side of the staircase leading to the top deck.
"You don't even deserve last words, you pile of filth." He reared his arm blade back and ended the misery of the toxic person known as Bora.
There was a moment of silence before Marco took out his book of wanted criminals and crossed out Bora's face with his own blood.
"Next up is…" An unknown age and face tattoos… Brain: Crimes consist of world domination and the ending of countless lives, all for the sake of- "MAKING A FUCKING ROCK MOVE?!" He couldn't contain himself as this was just too much. This man needed to be found and brought to justice. Maybe even asked 'why'.
Back on Marco's Ship
There was an air of silence as the sea rocked them slowly. Lucy had long since stopped crying and was just enjoying the embrace. Everything was turning out okay until the dagger in its holster started moving on its own.
"Hmm. What the hell?"
Natsu was blinded momentarily by the dagger giving off a bright light. Suddenly, Marco appeared on the ship, with a back of loot, a new shirtless jacket, and… blood?!
"Whew. Glad that's taken care of." Marco chucked his bag of riches to the side.
"How did you-!" He stopped at the sight. "Why do you smell like fresh blood…"
"It's fine Salamander. Besides, I'm more worried about your little girlfriend." Even though it was a serious situation, Natsu still blushed slightly at the mention of him and Lucy being a couple. "I will need to talk to you, to see if you remember anything, since you didn't recognize me earlier." He motioned for the other man to follow him. "Bring Lucy and your cat too. There are rooms below the deck. We should leave first thing in the morning though, since we still need to find a few people."
Natsu was very confused at the mention of 'we'. He didn't know of anyone he had to be looking for.
"Wait, but you haven't even explained why you're here!"
"Fine, I'll explain once you've set the girl and cat in a room… Meet me back up here when you've found a suitable spot." He hopped to the upper deck and sat on the railing.
Natsu couldn't help but think in the back of his mind. 'This guy is definitely familiar… It's almost like I've already had this conversation…'
Please let me know how the first chapter went. I'd appreciate any form of help to get this story to the liking of you guys and gals!