Chapter 6: Ambushing the Enemy
The battle against Ajeel's army in the West Cliffs was underway. Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy alongside Sanji and Fujika joined in the action.
Fujika smiled at some of the soldiers. "So, these are Ajeel's soldiers." She sensed their power levels due to her Haki. "Not bad, but, their power level isn't something to brag about."
Sanji lit a cigarette. "Is that so, I can detect their power level too." He blew some smoke out of his mouth. "Pathetic might as well get this over with. " He twirled around rolling his legs around and kicking the soldiers away.
Other soldiers were surprised at their companions being easily kicked away.
"That weirdo is strong!"
"He's kicking every one of our comrades with those kicks!"
Kareem sensed something off about the blonde man. "Something is wrong, I don't detect magic power from him...how can someone with no magic be this strong?"
Natsu was busy fighting against Bakel as he blocked one of Bakel's attacks. He retaliated by delivering a punch that was engulfed by his flames. Natsu's attack struck Bakel and was enveloped by the fire as it pushed him away.
Seeing Sanji's fight was something, but, seeing Natsu's strength was another. "He's pushing Captain Bakel back?!"
"But I thought strength was the Captain's forte?"
"That's the only thing good about him."
Sanji scoffed. "Natsu...he's not going to show me off." He kept kicking away the Ajeel soldiers again and again.
Fujika was approached by several of Ajeel's soldiers wielding magic staffs. "Fire!"
They fired magic bullets at the amazon girl, but, to their surprise. Fujika avoided each magic bullet using her Observation Haki with ease.
"How is that chick evading our magic bullets?!"
"Is she predicting our magic bullet's hits or something?!"
"Is she psychic?!"
"I admit those bullets are something, but, how each of them is fired is like facing off marines with guns," She commented with a calm expression. "Now, my turn!" She quickly threw a potion that exploded like a bomb and blew away some of the soldiers.
Bakel kept his grin aimed at Natsu. "Hey, that's a nice scarf you got, boy."
His soldiers cheered for their captain. "He's okay!" That punch didn't affect him at all!"
Happy came up to Natsu while holding a stick in his paws. "Natsu gets serious, would ya! If you use your full power then we'll be done here in no time!"
Of course, Natsu realized that already but the only difference is the battle right now is more different than ever. "I know, but...I don't know how many more enemies are lurking after he's beaten. I can't go at all out just yet you know."
And after that, Happy felt his brain explode. "Natsu...thought ahead..." He had never been so proud of his best friend. "I can't believe how much he's grown..." He felt someone's elbow hit the back of his head which was Carla's. "Move it!" She kicked the next soldier she saw on the right side of her head.
Lily dealt with a couple of soldiers on his side.
"Iron Dragon's Club!" Gajeel's attack struck several soldiers at once.
He then sensed something and managed to avoid Kareem's surprise attack and it struck the ground. Kareem continued his attack on Gajeel but the iron dragon slayer kept avoiding them. His new opponent caught his interest. "Kareem of the Ajeel squad reporting for duty."
Sanji was interested in his opponent and smirked. "He's an underling of that big dude moron."
Hearing that made Kareem sneer. "How dare you insult my captain you blonde lowlife!" He decided to attack the pirate cook.
Sanji smirked and easily avoided his opponent's attack. "After observing your attacks on iron guy, I can avoid them easily."
Gajeel growled. "What'd you call me curly perv?!"
As much as Sanji hated that name, he kept his focus on the enemy. "I think it's time I kicked your ass." He delivered a quick kick to Kareem's face. "Jabot!"
Kareem fell on his back and was unconscious.
"Oh no!"
"That bastard took out Kareem with one attack!"
"Kill that man!"
Sanji fixed his collar. "It's about time I show them who's going to be the top chef that knows how to kick ass."
B
Meanwhile Gray, Juvia, and Miyaka were holding back the second group of the Alvarez soldiers in the western part of Magnolia. Dealing with them was more troublesome than Gray thought it would be. "The numbers are unbelievable..."
Juvia could see that, but to her, it wasn't so bad. "But, it's still less than what we had to die with back during the Avatar battles."
Miyaka thought otherwise. "No..." Her words got the attention of Gray and Juvia. "My Haki can sense their power levels, each one is the same, but, I can sense more on the way."
"Observation Haki..." Gray presumed. "I expect no less."
Juvia's cheeks puffed with envious. "Hmph..."
Miyaka's assumption was right, another group was heading their way. "This is bad, if this keeps up, we'll be surrounded."
As the next group approached them, Elfman came out from the sky and crushed several enemy soldiers. "Let a real man lend a hand!"
Gray was surprised to see him. "Elfman?"
Lisanna kicked another soldier that was close to Juvia in her animal soul bird form. "Lisanna?"
Mirajane was behind them and swung her arm to the side. "Satan Soul" She completely transformed into a familiar Tartaros demon. "Mirajane Seilah!"
Both Gray and Juvia were surprised to see who Mirajane turned into. "What the?!"
"She was taken over?"
Lisanna opted to explain this to them. "Well, she would've died if we left her like that...plus we kinda knew about her new powers back when we were part of Night Raid."
Elfman couldn't help but feel a little sad. "My sister...is too sweet sometimes."
Gray didn't see how this was better. "Sweet huh...she stole her body..."
Miyaka was surprised. "I heard of Mirajane's power, but, witnessing it was something else." She then saw more enemy soldiers. "Take this!" She fired countless normal bullets using her pistols each soldier fell in defeat.
"Impressive, Gray said you were an amazing sniper." Mirajane praised. "Now watch this...I order all of you..." The soldiers stopped and stumbled before dropping to the ground. "To fall asleep."
Gray was surprised that more soldiers were taken out once more. However, there were more that weren't easily influenced by her Marco. "Mira! Some of them are still awake!" Lisanna warned her older sister.
Mirajane didn't see a problem with that. "Well, for those..." She had a bright smile and winked. "I guess we'll have just to give them a smackdown."
And Elfman cried more with tears again. "That's so manly!"
Wall observed the battle and saw what happened. "Marco...I see...she's playing with one of Emperor's disregarded toys then?" He then observed Miyaka. "Strange, I don't sense magic power from her...though, she's a skilled sniper..."
The soldiers approached Gray and the others and they were prepared to take them out. "As the first one in front came close. Something or rather someone also descended from up above and swiped down on him. The soldier stopped and so did the rest as they saw Akame right in front of them. The first soldier could only stare at the former assassin.
The sight was horrendous to the rest of the soldiers and some took a step back. "S-she killed him. what the hell!?"
Akame didn't waste any time rushing towards the rest of the group and swung Murasame at them a few times. She got in a few cuts before the soldiers could do anything to stop her. Before jumping back to safety, Akame managed to cut one more soldier on his hand. The soldier hissed in pain. You bitch! I'll-" He then gasped in pain as he felt something was wrong with his body. "I can't...breathe...well." He saw black markings appear on his cut wound that spread quickly throughout his arm. "W-what's going on?" He wasn't the only one. Other soldiers that were cut by Akame were acting the same and then all of them dropped to the ground.
While the other soldiers were freaking out, Wall was intrigued by what he was seeing. "How interesting. A sword that can kill with one strike. Her sword might exude a type of poison once it cuts its target." Not once had he seen anything like Akame's weapons, but, mostly his thought of Miyaka was still fresh in his mind.
The soldiers in the back had no idea what was going on. "Why's everyone freaking out all of the sud-" A giant needle of light just dropped from the sky and impaled the soldiers by the head. The surrounding freaked out as they stepped back to see what happened to their ally before more large light needles rained down upon them and impaled the soldiers before they stood while screaming to their deaths.
Chelsea was on top of the buildings while seeing the whole thing happening. "At least that'll be easier. Akame takes out the front and I handle the back. Still..." She looked in the direction where Wall was, he had a calm look on his face even though his men were impaled. "Why isn't he panicking? He's way too calm plus there's something weird about that guy, not just because of his looks. I can't sense...his aura."
The soldiers in the front looked back as they heard screams coming from behind. "What the hell is going on here!"
Smash
The soldier's question would be his last before being smashed into the ground by Leone in her beast form. Upon her arrival, Leone grinned wickedly at the soldiers in front of her. "I hope you all said your prayers because this will be the last time you'll see night!" Leone roared as she pumped up. "Take Over: Lionel Beast Soul Combination!" Leone's fur turned orange as well as her feline-like tail with strips on her upper back to her tail. Her arms and biceps pumped up. Each of the tops of her hands was covered with bone-like armor which extended to her forearms. The same armor covered the lower half of her face. Her feline fangs grew larger like that of a tiger and her eye pupils were that of a feline with orange color and her feline feet's toes had sharp nails as well as her fingers. "Devil Tiger Beast!"
Gray could only think of one description of Leone's transformation. "Holy crap, what kind of beast did she take down while training with Lamia Scale?"
Miyaka shared the same reaction. "I heard her transformations rival Elfman's, but her power is more stronger than I heard."
Leone leaned forward and rushed to the first soldier she could reach and delivered a sky uppercut and sent him flying. "Man, it's been so long since I got all out!" She put her hands out and her claws grew long. "Time to claw these pests." She slashed through another soldier's face and next one, another, and another. "I ain't done" She began to dash on all fours like a real feline and charged through a row of soldiers and sent them crashing roughly on the ground. "Brings me back when I fought against those Danger Beasts!"
The remaining soldiers were beginning to have thoughts about what they were seeing. "What the hell are they?"
"Are they really with Fairy Tail?"
More soldiers screamed as they were impaled from the back by Chelsea as she landed in between them. She quickly jumped to where Akame and Leone were and turned around while her hand was placed up. "Needle Storm Fall!" Countless light needles appeared in the air and were embedded into the soldier's chests as they screamed and dropped to the ground.
Gray wasn't too surprised after the months he spent with Night Raid. "Once again, they're strong, I'm glad that they're on our side."
Lisanna was impressed. "They're strong as always." Remembering the times she was told by Leone about Akame's history as an assassin. "She's also lethal as well."
Miyaka was firing more bullets at the soldiers. "These guys are tough." She then noticed the three assassins looking at one enemy that was in the back. "Something wrong you guys?"
Chelsea eyed the former marine before she looked ahead. "Yes, Leone, Akame, I take it that you spotted the enemy, right?"
Akame and Leone's eyes looking in the direction that another assassin was looking in confirmed her question.
Miyaka took note of this. "Yes, I can sense something off, his aura isn't showing."
Akame had to share her thoughts. "Yes, he doesn't have one, though, if he had one, it wouldn't make any sense to hide since he's out in the open."
Leone had to agree on that. "Damn, this guy must be someone who knows how to kick ass." She had other thoughts as she peered closely. "His gaze is so calm not even flinching out how we're making easily do of his men."
Akame narrowed her eyes at the enemy before them. "We'll worry about him after we finish the rest of them off."
Back at the airship, Era was still struggling against her fight against Ajeel. "Dry up already. It won't be long till my sand squeezes the moisture out of your body."
Hearing that reminded Erza of someone. "So, he's got the same power as Crocodile." She recalled after hearing about the battle at the Alabasta Kingdom, Crocodile one of the former Warlords and the boss of Baroque Works."
She attempted to use her requip magic but, her magic wasn't working. "Oh no, my requip isn't working!"
At the guild, Mavis saw the trouble Erza was in. "Osprey Squad. Erza's having a problem in the upper sky battle! How long until Jupiter recharges!" She didn't reply and turned to Warren. "Warren, please I need your telepathy to replay my orders!"
Jimbei noticed the telepathy mage wasn't replying he was just in deep despair after the news he informed his friends of. "No matter how we survive this wave...we'll just have to face more of them!"
Mavis needed to snap Warren out of his despairing mood. "Give my orders right away!"
Warren didn't reply as tears continued to fall from his eyes.
Max was about to make a move until...
Bonk
Jimbei delivered a bonk on the telepathy mage's head. "Enough!" He said leaving a red lump on the man's head.
Warren turned his head while rubbing his head. "Jimbei..."
"Listen, you can't lose focus if your panic will also affect others in the guild. If this continues, we'll all be doomed! So, pull yourself together and do what Mavis is ordering you to do!" Jimbei stated with a serious look on his face.
Everyone was stunned at Jimbei's words as Max suddenly kicked Warren in the nads. "He's right, we're all scared but this is our home and we've got to protect it!"
Mavis was impressed with the speeches she heard of Max and Jimbei.
Warren snapped out of it but not before he took a broom and impaled Max from behind with it the handle. "Okay...next time, don't hit me so hard!" He yelled comically and then proceed to do what Mavis told him to do earlier. "Osprey Squad, do you hear me, this is Warren.."
Bisca heard him and gave him the update on their next chance. "Yes, only another five minutes for the Jupiter recharges."
It was good enough for Warren to hear. "We're leaving it to you then. Save the guild!" He cut off communication with Osprey. He then was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "Max...Jimbei...thank you, guys."
Out of nowhere, Warren grabbed Max roughly by his shirt still a little pissed off. "Don't kick in me the balls again and don't hit me on the head either!"
Jimbei sweatdropped without saying a word, however, Max and Warren started to horsing around.
While Makarov was glad that Warren snapped out of it, he couldn't help but sigh at his and Max's behavior. "Sorry about their vulgar behavior."
Brook laughed. "If you think that's bad, you should see Luffy's vulgar behavior!"
"I don't think that'll be necessary," Jimbei sweatdropped.
Usagi couldn't but smile. "It seems that I picked the right place to call my new home." He wondered if the other Minks were okay.
Mavis giggled at the comical display and she was most impressed with Jimbei's words. Still, this battle was far from over, she had no choice but to come up with different strategies and to believe in her guild members. "It'll be all over if we give up. I need to think of something else and quick."
At Lucy's apartment, rather than her bathroom, the blonde was confronted by Brandish who was taking strangely enough. "W-what are you doing here?"
Brandish didn't reply instead just stared at her for a few seconds. "Join me..."
Lucy wasn't perplexed at that reply, she certainly not expecting that. "Excuse me, first you sneak into my apartment, and now this, are you insane?!"
"Don't make me repeat myself..." Brandish interrupted with a cold stare that made Lucy freeze until the green-haired woman held Marin and presented him to Lucy. "Ah, I see, it's because he's here."
"Come in A-plus, no need to be shy!"
Brandish put Marin in a small make-up container which he didn't like. "Hey, m'lady, what are you doing?!"
"Well, that's solved, come in,"
Lucy still thought her enemy's offer was crazy. "No way!"
Brandish leered at the blonde's resistance. "You don't have a choice, you remember my magic power, right, with a blink of an eye, I can turn the size of this entire town as small as an ant hill, so, you'd better do what I say. So, I'd rather relax and enjoy some company." Lucy knew she was right and she had no chance of a sneak attack. "You do what I say, I'll spare your life. I take good care of my pets."
She began to wave the container that Marin was still in. "Pet, do you mean me?!"
"Why are you doing all of this?" Lucy asked.
Her answer was responded to by Brandish snapping her finger and a large rumbling sound was heard from outside. "W-what was that?!"
"The building next to this one..." Outside Lucy's apartment, the building next door shrunk drastically. "I shrunk it. I'll give you orders, join me now."
Marin couldn't believe what he was missing. "Come on, can't I get a little peek...just kidding."
Lucy knew that was Brandish's last warning, another could end her life, and she remembered Marin's magic too. "I can't use my magic with that guy around." She slowly began to undress.
Minutes pass as the two girls stare at each other without making a sound. Marlin was complaining though. "C'mon Brandish, please let me out!"
They ignored him and Lucy decided to ask to Brandish the same question she asked earlier. "Why are you here?"
Brandish simply ignored her question. "You're not so cute." She took a cat's head into her hands. "Try this on."
"Are you serious?!" Lucy comically asked.
She wore the headband anyway. Brandish marveled at the way Lucy looked right now. "Oh my...you look adorable!"
Lucy questioned the awkward situation she was in. "What is this girl's deal?!"
Brandish quickly returned to her serious side. "I've...seen you before...but, where?"
Realizing she was getting somewhere with Brandish, she had more questions. "Did you see me in Sorcerer Weekly, I mean I worked as a reporter and did some shoots for model gigs."
Brandish didn't care about that. "We don't get your eastern magazines in Alvarez."
That was a bust to Lucy as she opted for something else, "What about the Grand Magic Games?"
"What is that?" Brandish asked with a curious look.
Lucy couldn't believe she was hitting a deadline again. "Hold on, did you come just for that!?"
"Yeah, so what...speaking of, how can we have a serious conversation with you wearing cat ears," Hearing that made Lucy frustrated. "Anyway, will you wash my back for me?"
They exited the bathtub and Lucy began to scrub Brandish's back, she couldn't believe what she was doing. "What is your name?"
That was the first question she was asked by the Twelve. "It's Lucy."
As Lucy continued to wash Brandish's back, Marin was making the container hop around. "Come on A-plus, I'd be happy to give you a good scrubbing!"
Lucy ignored the pervert and saw her opportunity. "This is my chance...I'll take out one of the Twelve..." She held Aquaius' key and attempted to stab the girl.
"Are you Layla's daughter?" That made Lucy stop abruptly upon hearing her mother's name wasn't what she'd expected. "You know, my mother?" She began to wonder if she was suspicious about her identity when they first met.
Brandish needed the details she wanted. "So it's the truth then." She looked back at Lucy with a deadly look in her eyes. "Layla's only daughter, that's what you are."
There was another rumble and Lucy looked up to see her room was coming down. "The room's getting smaller!?" She quickly made her way escape out of the bathroom while quickly snatching a pink towel. "This is bad..." She entered her room which was shrinking as well. "My room!" She gripped momentarily but continued to run. She tumbled down the stairs and made it out barely.
Her apartment was shrunk and the size of the dollhouse. "To think you'd live in this dumb." Brandish was standing in front of her.
Lucy wanted one more question. "Who are you and what connection do you have with my late mother?"
Brandish gave the blonde a threatening look. "It's too much of a hassle to explain."
"Get away from her you weirdo!" Brandish noticed cards that were flying at her and evaded them.
Cana arrived just in time, but, she wasn't alone.
Nico Robin was there with her. "Good, you're safe Ms. Celestial girl."
"My name is Lucy," The Celestial wizard sweatdropped.
Cana looked at Lucy and smirked. "Someone seems to have a kinky moment."
Lucy yelped and covered her chest with her arms. "It's not what it looks like!"
Robin was a little surprised though she didn't show it. "I heard of you enjoyed doing nudes from Natsu and Happy, but, I never knew you were that kind of girl."
"Those morons..." Lucy thought with an irritated look.
Brandish was intrigued by that black-haired woman. "Strange, I don't sense magic from her, who is she?"
Lucy focused on the situation. "Anyway, I'll take care of this!" She held the container that had Marin in it and tossed it on the ground smashed thus crushing Marin.
Robin saw the tiny man. "Whoa, how did he get there?"
Lucy took out one of her keys. "Now I can use my magic again!" She went from naked to fully dress in one of Star Dress keys. "Stare Dress: Aries Form."
Robin was more intrigued than ever. "So, that's another power of the Star Dress."
Cana is feeling nostalgic about her teaming up with Lucy. "Oh, brings me back memories on Tenrou Island."
Robin was ready herself. "Allow me to assist you two."
Lucy saw no harm in that. "The more the merrier!"
Cana agreed with a smirk. "You bet sister!"
Brandish didn't seem worried while Marin reached his hand out toward Lucy. "You got exclusive feet...A-plus you get..." He was out like a light.
Up on the airship, with Marin defeated, Erza noticed a significant change. "My Requip is back." She quickly requip into different armor and blew away the sand that was surrounding her which surprised Ajeel. "Wind God Armor!"
Erza dashed at Ajeel and struck him back to a wall. However, he emerged from the wall and was not even injured which he chuckled. "Is that all?"
At the West Cliffs, Natsu and Gajeel were panting slightly as the soldiers they fought were laying down on the ground.
Happy was impressed by how long they lasted. "They were quite a handful even for you two, huh?"
Natsu had a reason for that. "Give me a freaking break, I couldn't go all out."
Gajeel turned to his rival. "Yeah, I gave one hundred percent of my power."
Natsu looked back at Gajeel. "Oh yeah? then I was at point-one percent?!"
Gajeel questioned Natsu's statistics. "That means you struggled more than I did!?"
Sanji was lighting a cigarette and putting it on his lips. "..." He blew some smoke out slowly. "I admit these guys are tougher than the Fishman Pirates we fought against."
Fujika was panting slightly. "It's a pain, I'm a former member of the Kuja Pirates and I'm nearly beaten."
Wendy smiled at the former Kuja Pirate. "Don't worry...we'll just keep up the faith."
"Hey!" Luffy was approaching the group.
"Luffy!" Wendy called out.
"It's about time," Sanji smirked. "Where's Zoro?"
"Not sure, I thought we were on our way and I lost track of him," Luffy replied.
Sanji facepalmed. "Crap, that moss head must've gotten lost again."
"That's Zoro for ya," Happy commented.
Just then Sanji felt his transponder snail ring. "Hello..."
"Sanji!" It was Nami's voice.
"Nami, my love!" He swooned.
"We're about ten minutes away, we'll be there soon!" Nami continued.
"Nami, I'll be hoping to see you again!"
"Don't forget about the others too," Carla reminded with a sweatdrop.
"Look more airships!" Lily pointed out.
Carla was exchausted. "There's not going to be an end to them."
Suddenly, Bakel woke up and attempted to slam his fist onto Natsu, only it was blocked by Luffy's fist. "Hands off my friend!"
"What the hell!?" Bakel cursed in shock, but he also sensed something. "He doesn't have magic, who is this runt?!"
"My turn...Gum-Gum Bazooka!" He thrust his palms into Bakel's chest sending him skyrocketing to the airship that Ajeel and Erza were on.
His crash caught Ajeel by surprise, Erza was happy to see this, realizing that Natsu's group was successful. She ran over to Ajeel and attacked him once more with her sword while passing him by. However, this time, she was able to land a hit on Ajeel and he screamed in pain. "Natsu...Luffy...thanks for your fighting...spirits!"
Ajeel was taken off guard by the sudden damage he just took. "Im..possible..." Erza came at him once more and took another swing at him with her sword. Ajeel tried to block the attack only to feel pain again. He wasn't understanding what was going on. "Everything that touches me turns into sand. Your sword shouldn't hurt me!" He got a good look at Erza's sword and what it looked like surprised him. "A water sword?"
Erza swung her sword down at Ajeel but he managed to avoid it. "Neptune's Swords has the power to harden sand." She recalled hearing Luffy doing the same thing using liquid like water and his blood against his fight with Crocodile so she decided to do the same thing.
Ajeel jumped back to the ship's broken mast and he was not happy that the fight was turning out in his way. "Dammit...how dare a lowly soldier like you make me angry!" He threateningly glared at Erza.
The sand surrounded Erza once more, but, this time she was prepared. "That won't work this time...I figured out how your magic works. "She switched to another sword and swung it to blow away the sand from her. "The Wind God's Armor can blow the sand away easily because sand is so feeble in so many ways."
Ajeel just grinned. "Is that so, perhaps a sandstorm will change your mind!"
A giant sandstorm engulfed the ship and the others caught up in the sandstorm. "Huh? A sandstorm out of the blue?"
"Crap, where'd this come from?" Fujika asked.
Wendy had one answer. "Could this be the work of that sand wizard that chased us?"
Happy didn't like the situation. "I can't see!"
Their situation was about to get a whole lot more difficult as Lily saw. "This is bad. The enemy's still coming!"
"Crap, Usopp, Franky, Chopper, you guys need to hurry up!" Sanji thought.
"Even Crocodile wasn't able to do something like this," Luffy said.
Gajeel growled as he thought of something to do while being in the sandstorm. "Back down cats! We'll use our strong sense of smell to find the enemy!"
The other Fairy Tail wizards and their allies were affected by the sandstorm. "What is this?!"
Mavis pointed to the doors where the sane was getting in. "Close the doors at once please!"
Brook wasn't affected by the sandstorm. "Oh my, this sandstorm came out of nowhere."
Jimbei sensed something was off. "This sandstorm is nothing compared to Crocodile's sand powers."
Lucy, Cana, and Robin were struggling against the severe weather. "What is this?"
"Quite the sandstorm," Robin thought.
Brandish, unfortunately, was caught in the storm, though, she knew who was causing it. "Ajeel...that jackass."
Gray and the others were struggling as well. "I can't see!"
"My love, where are you!?" Juvia thought she was hugging Gray, but, she was accidentally hugging Lisanna.
Leone snarled at the situation they were in. "The hell is the sandstorm coming from?"
Akame remembered someone. "It must be that sand wizard that chased us!"
"That guy can make a sandstorm this powerful!?" Chelsea screamed.
Wall, who wasn't affected by the sand, just smiled. "Sand Word. So someone's finally forced him to go all out."
The Thunder Legion were having problems of their own. "The enemy's flooding in from the Jutsu Shiki's cracks and entering the down!"
That wasn't what Freed wanted to heart. "Damn it!"
Evergreen held her fan to her face. "Crap, I thought Magnolia's hay fever was a problem."
Temukai and Pango covered their faces with their hands. "Snort...snort...snort...too much sand."
"I can hardly see anything!"
Zoro was suddenly appearing in the sand storm in West Cliffs. "Hey, guys, where are you!?"
"Zoro, how'd you get here?" Carla asked.
"Nevermind that, what is the deal with this?" Zoro asked.
"Not sure, but, I think an enemy is using it on the ships," Luffy replied. "I believe it's the one in the front."
Zoro sensed the enemy's power and smirked. "Luffy, can you send him flying up there?"
Erza was able to grab a brief glimpse of the state the entire town was in and couldn't believe what she was seeing. "No way...the entire town is a sandstorm too!?" She could scarcely believe the power her enemy is capable of. "The power to shrink an entire island and to control a sandstorm of this size...they are on a different level compared to the enemies we fought in the past."
"Let me welcome to the Sand World...in this...I'm a god!" Ajeel's face appeared above Erza, who switched her Neptune Sword to counter. "The sand swirled around him and fired countless sand blades at her. "Ramel Sayf!" The attack pelt Erza and was pushed back while yelling out in pain. "The fear of not being able to move freely and the fear of the invisible attack...I see it all. That fear of yours when you're up against us..."
Erza was able to pinpoint where Ajeels' voice was coming from and swung her sword in the general direction. "There!" Her attack manage to divide the sane apart, but there was nothing. "Crap, if only I mastered my own Haki..." She recalled her fight against the Vice-Admiral in Water 7.
"Not going to work!" Ajeel's hand came out of nowhere and grabbed Erza's by her throat. "Revere me like a god and maybe, I'll forgive you. At least I'll promise to give you one blow so that you won't suffer much."
Erza felt weaker than ever like her body was getting dry. "My energy's...draining..."
Ajeel laughed at Erza's soon-to-be demise. "Feeling slow...my magic can drain the moisture out of your body like a milkshake!" Erza struggled to talk. "C'mon...call me God already..."
Instead of doing that, Erza just gave a raspy yell and Ajeel's grip tightened even more around her throat. "Even if you are a god...that doesn't mean my friends and I won't fear you, no matter enemies we face...we stand together...I'll be sure my new friends will be helpful..." She took out a strange shell and put it straight in front of Ajeel's face. "Flash Dial!"
An extremely bright flash of light flashed in front of Ajeel's face. "Aahhhhhhh!" He screamed as he covered his eyes in pain and let go of Erza, who faintly smiled. "Usopp...thank you."
"What the hell did you do?!" Ajeel growled rubbing his eyes as his vision was a bit blurry. "Alright, I have had it, no more games!"
Just when his vision started to get to normal, a shadowy silhouette was seen and landed on the deck and behind Ajeel. "Who's there?!"
"Is this sandstorm you doing?" It was Zoro's voice.
Erza was happy to see the other swordsman on the other hand she was a bit surprised. "Zoro, how did you get here?"
Zoro smirked. "I'll tell you later, in the meantime, I'll handle this bastard."
Ajeel just laughed. "I don't who you are, but, my sandstorm will make you unable to move-" He stopped abruptly as he saw Zoro slowly approaching him. "Huh...what's going on, my sandstorm should be stopping you!"
Zoro had his good eye closed and was approaching closely to Ajeel. "If you think using a sandstorm is going to stop me then you're even dumber than you look."
Ajeel gritted his teeth at the sudden remark as Zoro continued. "You must enjoy hiding in the sand instead of facing your opponents like a man."
That comment further infuriated Ajeel as his body tensed with rage. "That's it, I'll kill you first and then I'll go after this loser of a Fairy Tail wizard!"
He quickly dashed toward Zoro, who took hold of one of his swords.
In a split second, Ajeel felt a large gash on his chest "One Sword Style: Lion Strike." Zoro whispered who passed the sand mage.
"How did that happen..." Ajeel questioned as he was starting to lose consciousness.
Erza saw her chance. "Morning Sun Armor!"
While this was going on, Bisca saw the light beaming through the sandstorm. "Light...must..be..." With a target now visible, Bisca took her aim and fired the second Jupiter Cannon shot at the light. "Erza's light!"
The shot traveled fast to where Ajeel was and he couldn't avoid it in time the shot blasted him away while dealing massive damage. "Im...possible..."
Erza kneeled on the deck and transformed into a powerful set of armor. She jumped to where Ajeel was and delivered an overwhelming final blow to the Desert King as well as destroying the ship. "Nakagami: Starlight!"
Her attack caused the sandstorm Ajeel to cease and Wendy along with Gajeel saw a bright twinkle in the sky. "The sandstorm..."
"It's disappearing."
Natsu smiled at Erza's victory.
Luffy smiled too. "Zoro...Erza...well done." However, in the wreckage of the ship, he along with Natsu saw Zoro falling while he was holding Erza, who was out of her Nakagami Armor.
Luffy quickly used his Second Gear and appeared below the two sword users. "Third Gear..." He put his thumb. "Gum-Gum Giant Balloon!"
He managed to give his friends a good landing and Zoro bounced off with Erza in his arms. "You guys okay?" Wendy asked.
Zoro smirked. "Yes."
"Wait, when did you get here?" Gajeel asked.
"Zoro! How long are you going to hold Erza like a bride!?" Sanji roared with an envious look on his face.
Zoro realized what he was doing and gave her to Natsu. "Phew, you had us worried, Zoro, Luffy, thanks."
Luffy chuckled. "No need to thank me."
Zoro just turned his head. "Just following my captain's orders."
Fujika was relieved. "It's over for now."
Just then, Usopp, Franky, and Chopper appeared while riding Franky's robots.
"Did we miss something?" Usopp asked.
"Expect the sandstorm, that was intense," Chopper answered.
"No joke, I thought we were going to die in the sand," Nami commented a bit shaken.
Franky saw the unconscious Erza. "Whoa, what happened to Erza...?" He also noticed Zoro. "Zoro, when did you get here?"
"Long story..." Zoro answered without blinking.
"We're not out of the woods, yet, the other airship fleet is still on their way!" Nami pointed out.
Franky smirked. "I think it's time we took them down!"
Usopp agreed while putting his finger on his goggles. "Yes, it's time we show what us Straw Hat pirates are made of."
With the sandstorm gone, Magnolia was cleared of it, and the battles that were happening continued.
One of them Cana, Lucy, and Robin continued theirs against Brandish. "The sandstorm stopped."
"Sheesh, that didn't take long."
"If the sandstorm is gone, then..."
"It means that Ajeel was defeated..." The three looked at Brandish, who was just calm. "Oh well, I'll finish you guys off."
Robin quickly crossed her arms. "Dos Fleur!" Two arms sprouted and Brandish's bottom legs were instantly grabbed tightly causing her to trip and fall flat on her face.
Brandish seemingly lift her head though she had a bruise on her forehead after landing her face on the hard ground. "Ow...what...was that..." She began to sniffle. "Ah-choo! Ah-choo!" She groaned at the amount of seeing she was doing.
"Damn it..." She cursed wiping her nose. "This city has weird pollen everything."
Cana and Lucy found this hard to believe this was happening to her. "She has..hay fever."
Robin had an answer to that. "That sandstorm must've brought a large amount of it in the air."
Cana saw a one-chance opportunity. "Suck punch!" With one punch from her fist, she was able to knock out Brandish.
"Looks like she's out cold," Lucy commented staring at the unconscious woman.
Cana had to admit that she was a tad disappointed in their enemy. "This is the power of the Twelve, talk about a letdown."
Robin begged to differ. "I think we only had a chance because this girl's allergy kicked in."
Lucy had one question in her mind. "What do we do with her?"
The answer was obvious to Cana as she placed the Spriggan Twelve woman on her shoulder. "What else...we take her prisoner." She then looked at Robin. "You weren't bad Robin, good job."
Robin just giggled at the praise.
Back at the Tartaros guild
Mard Geer was having a meeting with Jackal, Aquaius, Syka, and Goliath. The others Demons were watching from the side.
Syka had her first question for the Underworld King. "Do you have a mission for us, my king."
"I do, the others will remain here to prepare for a full attack, in the meantime, I'll have you four watch the war between Alvarez and Fiore. Keep me updated on the war."
"Sure, but, do we have to stand by and watch," Jackal pouted. "I want to blow some humans away!"
"Mard Geer's given us our orders, we can't disobey him," Aquaius warned much to Jackale's disappointment. "Besides, if Zeref is truly the ruler in Alvarez, he'll be sure to invade Fiore himself."
Rachena had to agree. "Yes, if Zeref decides to make his move, we'll be able to find him and destroy him."
Leon grinned. "Yes, for master Zeref!"
Shino smiled evilly. "Heh...heh..."
Kay chuckled deeply. "Zeref..."
"Fufufufu...Lamy laughed while cupping her hands. "Master Zeref...we shall meet soon!"
"We all do for our lord Zeref!" Kay stated.
"Lord Zeref!" The others Demons proclaimed at the same time as they went to their post while Jackal, Aquaius, Syka, and Goliath left the guild on their mission.
As soon as the room was cleared. Mard Geer began to have some deep thoughts. "Zeref...if E.N.D is truly who I think it is, does this mean you..." He began to mumble his last words, it was clear he was having more of an idea of E.N.D's true identity and that Zeref even knows as well maybe even from the start.
Aquapad and the others including the minks will fight soon. Don't judge this chapter.
End of chapter
