Oh man, I am so sorry for the LONG wait I gave you readers. Don't worry though, my arm is doing much much better, so I can get back to writing with barely any difficulty.

Chapter 7: Fights and Dates!

Thanks to Keira N. Nascele, my little sister, for her wonderful ideas.

Thanks to Kurogane Tsubasa for his ideas. Thanks man!

Thanks to Richboylion as well for his idea. Yours sounded too good to pass up anyway.

The Thousand Sunny docked back at Hargeon plus one: Ace. Erza and crew disembarked and headed straight back to the guild hall. Ace bombarded each of them with questions, which was to be expected. They answered them all as best they could, though an explanation for the typhoon fell flat.

"So you guys somehow ended up in this place as well, huh?" Ace said when they finished. "And this...Fiore is a world full of wizards and magical creatures like in the books?"

"That about sums it up," said Erza, poking a fork at her slice of cake. "We still have no clear idea about the typhoon that brought you all here; we don't know if it was summoned by a wizard or some kind of natural occurrence."

Ace continued to inquire about the land of Fiore the rest of the train ride. The gang led him to the guild hall to introduce him to everyone. The rest of the guild welcomed Ace with thunderous applause as well as food and drink, which Ace dug into. Everyone watched in bare amazement as he shoveled six dishes down his throat. It would have been greater if Natsu, Luffy, and some others did not eat there demonstrating their appetites. One cook came out with a new dish for Ace. "Here you are sir."

"Thanks." Ace bit into the meat and spat it out. "Gah! It's nearly cold!" Ace cupped his hands over his mouth and blew air onto the meal, heating it up and sending steam rising from it. He bit into another forkful and grinned.

"So you have fire dragon powers like Natsu?" asked Levy, poking her head over the table.

"Dragon powers?" Ace emptied his mouthful of food. "As in giant, winged lizards?" Levy nodded. "Ah ha ha ha! No, I ate the Fire-Fire Fruit and gained the ability to turn my body into fire as well as manipulate it. See?" With a snap of his fingers, a small flicker of fire appeared in Ace's hand, which he juggled between his fingers like a show. Levy watched while scribbling down notes, hoping to give them to Lucy for her novel.

"Well," Levy started, closing her notebook after finishing her notes. "Natsu is a bit like you sorta, except he ingests fire to fuel himself. A bit queasy at first sight though."

"Interesting guy, I'd love to meet him."

Makarov jumped in between them. "Sorry to interrupt, but have you by chance know of this insignia?" He hands Ace the guild emblem they plucked off Erigor before sending him to prison. "We do not know for sure, but some of us have an inkling that it may have to do with the Straw Hats's appearance."

Ace gazed at the emblem with a blank stare. It would appear to be a rather ordinary emblem, but set it apart was that it was of a dark purple bat with red slanted eyes. It's wings curved along the edges of the emblem in a menacing way, with a broken tombstone below it, as if the creature emerged from the grave. Above the bat was writing in an unknown language; scholars at the Magic Council sifted through all sorts of books concerning languages, both ancient and modern, but could not decipher the writing. Overall, the emblem could make one feel ill and deathly just from looking at it. Ace shrugged and handed it back.

"Sorry old man, I've never seen something like that before."

Makarov let out a sigh and scratched his beard. "Shame shame. This particular insignia has been bothering me for quite some time." He walked off while mumbling under his breath.

Team Natsu returned home within a couple hours. Imagine Luffy's surprise seeing his brother drinking a pint of ale in the Fairy Tail guild hall. Luffy was frozen in place for a moment, then he stretched his arms around Ace and rocketed himself into him in a big hug. "Ace!" screamed Luffy. "It's so good to see you again!"

Ace smiled and returned the hug. "Thanks Luffy, it's nice seeing you too." The two brothers began sharing their adventures of recent while Natsu watched them from a distance. Something wrong, Natsu?" Robin asked, strolling over.

"That Ace fellow," he muttered. "I saw him dance a ball of fire in his fingers; what can he do?"

Robin slipped a small grin, knowing exactly what Natsu was prying at. "He ate the Fire-Fire Fruit and he gained the ability to turn into flames and shoot fire from his fingertips but at the cost of never being able to swim ever again. Much like Luffy."

"You lot never cease to amaze any of us. Do you have any of this...Devil Fruit power, Robin?"

Robin chuckled. With a cross of her hand, an arm sprouted from Natsu's shoulder and plucked a few hairs from his head. He jumped at the sight and swung at the arm, but it disappeared without a trace. "What was that?!"

Robin broke into laughter. Two more arms sprouted from her body. "I myself ate the Flower-Flower Fruit, and now I am able to make any of my limbs sprout from anywhere I see, much in the manner of a flower. Impressive, no?"

Natsu was impressed alright. "You people are nut jobs."

Meanwhile, Gray and Nami were returning from their mission with their payment in tow. Gray split the earnings with Nami, who stuck the bills into a wallet not her own. "Nami, where did you get that wallet?"

Nami smirked as she peeled the bills like a deck of cards. "I received it as a reward from our employer. Well, to be honest, I snatched it from his pocket when he wasn't looking." Gray's eyes widened.

"You stole our employer's wallet?! Why would you do such a thing?!" He stared after the red-headed girl.

"I'm a cat burglar after all. Now c'mon, let's head back to the guild." They walked together for a while, not knowing that Juvia was hiding nearby, watching them.

When they turned the corner, they found Juvia in their path, and she did not look happy. "Juvia, what are you doing here?" asked Gray.

"Juvia has come to fight Nami-san for Gray-sama's love!" she barked, pointing a finger at Nami. "Juvia can not stand the thought of her Gray-sama with that evil minx! Nami-san, Juvia challenges you to a fight for beloved Gray-sama!" Her eyes were practically piercing Nami at this point.

Juvia turned into water and flew towards Nami with a raging fire in her heart, but Nami remained calm and drew her Climate Baton. She readied her trump card and stood calm as Juvia hurdled faster and faster towards her. Gray tried to stop her, but she sped past him. Juvia readied a watery fist and attacked, but Nami stuck out her baton. "Lightning Tempo," she said, and Juvia was electrocuted and went down in a daze.

"Juvia...is defeated. Juvia doesn't...deserve Gray-sama." Gray helped Juvia to her feet, where she proceeded to cry into Gray's shoulder. "Forgive Juvia. Juvia will leave Gray-sama alone. Gray-sama belongs to Nami-san now." With that, Juvia hung her head in a slump and walked back to the guild.

"That girl is a bit crazy, isn't she?" commented Nami.

"Yes, but she means well."

Back at the guild, Lucy was holding Natsu back from Ace. "Ace, I challenge you to a duel!" Natsu demanded. "A test to determine who's fire is greater!"

Lucy hit him on the head. "No you're not! We have our date tonight, and I am not seeing Aquarius with you in bandages!" She bashed his head again and had Happy fly him home to get ready for their date.

"Tell Natsu I accept his challenge," Ace called to Happy. Happy waved to signal he got the message and flew off. Lucy shook her head and headed off for home to prepare as well.

A few hours later, after a semi-nice, but near disastrous dinner by the lakeside, Lucy was being chewed out by Aquarius while Natsu and Scorpio were starting to fight over the remaining food. "For two young people in love, your boyfriend didn't show much interest in you, didn't he?"

Lucy sighed. "I give up. I convinced Natsu to do this just so I can get back at you."

"Huh?! So you ruined my date just to prove a point? You've got a lot of guts little missy!"

Lucy felt her blood boiling. "Oh yeah? Well I bet you cannot go one day without even seeing a glimpse of Scorpio!"

"Are you challenging me, one of the Zodiac Spirits?"

Lucy grinned. "What's wrong, afraid you can't do it?" Aquarius clenched her hands into fists.

"Alright, you're on. I will ask the Spirit King to allow me to remain in Earth for an entire day. Until tomorrow, ta-ta." With that, both she and Scorpio disappeared, leaving Natsu to snack on the remaining food. Lucy buried her face in her hand.

"Oi, Lucy," Natsu mumbled through cheeks full of food. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she answered. "I've just done something really stupid again. I'm such an idiot."

Natsu put a hand on her shoulder, making her look up. "Don't worry about it, you'll make it through this. C'mon, I'll take you home." Despite his behavior at dinner, at least he was a gentleman for doing this.

They both walked to Lucy's house, taking it a bit slowly and yet not noticing it at the same time. Amidst the city lights, the one thing that stood out for them was the crescent moon in the night sky. The couple gazed at the moon by the waterway for what seemed like forever until Lucy realized they were already near her house. She unlocked her door, but did not enter, making Natsu a bit confused, that dim idiot.

"Natsu," she said, fiddling with her fingers. "thanks for the walking me home, as well as going through with this dumb idea of mine. You know, as dumb as you can be at times..."

"Hey!"

"...You are also so sweet, especially to me. Thank you Natsu, good night." And without warning, she reached over and kissed Natsu's lips, breaking away and scurrying into her house, hiding her beet red face.

Natsu looked up at the second floor windows for a minute, then turned and walked home, touching the spot where she kissed him and blushed a little. Not even a block away, Natsu could hear Lucy screaming, "Nami! That's my novel manuscript! Gimme that back!"

Remember to leave a review, it helps a lot, and I'll see you next time.

If you have an idea for a chapter or scenario, PM me and I'll an acknowledgment in your name.