Chapter 6: Seven Years Later and a Celestial Wizard
Seven years is more than enough time for children to become something else entirely.
Not different, exactly-the essential architecture of a person tends to set early and hold firm-but more. More settled in their own skin. More certain of the particular space they intend to occupy in the world. More capable, in every possible direction, of being precisely who they were always meant to be.
The five figures navigating Hargeon's bustling marketplace on a bright midday in early summer were not the same children who had arrived in Magnolia years ago. They were something Fairy Tail had spent seven years helping shape-and something the guild occasionally struggled to keep up with.
Hargeon was a port town in the way all port towns are-salt-bleached, sun-warmed, and pervaded by the sharp scents of fresh catch, tarred rope, and the restless commerce born where sea meets land. The marketplace was packed at noon, the crowd moving in that compressed, jostling cadence of people with places to be and a firm belief that the shortest route was directly through whoever happened to be in front of them.
Through this sea of people, the group moved with the unhurried ease of warriors accustomed to far more dangerous environments than a crowded port.
"Are you actually certain about this information?" Kizuna asked, his voice carrying the dry tone of someone who had asked this exact question dozens of times before without ever receiving a satisfactory answer.
At nineteen, Kizuna had grown into his frame with the straightforward composure of a man who had decided early on who he wanted to be and had put steady, quiet work into becoming him. His dark hair was tied back now-a practical concession he had stubbornly resisted for two years before the nuisance of fighting with long hair won out. The Fairy Tail mark resting on the right side of his neck sat exactly where he had placed it seven years ago. He moved through the crowd with an effortless, background awareness, perpetually reading the Ki of the room.
"Happy said it was reliable!" Natsu insisted, striding half a step ahead of everyone else, as he perpetually did regardless of destination. His signature scarf fluttered dramatically in the ocean breeze-a fact he seemed entirely oblivious to. "Igneel could be here, Kizuna. Here! We have to check."
"You have said that in seventeen different towns over the past two years," Uruk noted from Kizuna's left.
At eighteen, Uruk looked the part of a seasoned fighter-not with the clumsy bulk of a teenager still adjusting to a growth spurt, but with the settled, dangerous efficiency of someone who had refined his body into a weapon. The lightweight armor his mother had gifted him on his birthday bore small, visible scuffs from actual combat-a quiet badge of honor from the past year's assignments. He walked with a deliberate economy of movement, where both motion and stillness were conscious, calculated choices.
"And yet," Natsu countered, radiating the unshakeable confidence of a man whose stubbornness had long since crossed over into a personal philosophy, "I haven't found him yet. Which means I haven't been wrong-just early!"
"That," Kizuna observed dryly, "is a remarkable way to frame repeated inaccuracy."
"Thank you!"
On Kizuna's right, Sala-seventeen, carrying herself with the light, effortless confidence of someone who had grown into her strength naturally-caught her brother's eye over Natsu's spiky pink hair and offered a small, knowing smirk that clearly meant: You walked right into that one.
She had matured the way people who are deeply grounded always do-not changing into someone new, but becoming a sharper, clearer version of her younger self. She wore her dark hair down to her shoulders now, and the pink Fairy Tail mark on the back of her left hand caught the light whenever she moved, which she did constantly, her spatial awareness honed to a razor's edge. Her original pink wristbands had been replaced long ago after wearing out during intense training, but the jade necklace resting at her collarbone was the very same piece she had worn since she was a little girl. Some things never changed, simply because you didn't want them to.
Beside her, nudging her elbow with his arm, was Cumber.
Fourteen years old and recently certified as an official guild mage, his bright red hair defied every attempt at discipline with a cheerful, stubborn persistence inherited directly from his father. He had Gildarts' strong jaw and Teilanne's sharp, observant dark eyes-a boy overflowing with the boundless energy of someone who found the entire world thoroughly fascinating. His brown tail swished behind him in a steady, rhythmic sway, completely betraying how hard he was trying to act composed.
"This is my first real mission outside Magnolia," Cumber murmured to Sala, attempting a casual tone that didn't quite land.
"It isn't technically a mission," Happy chimed in, floating lazily above Cumber's left shoulder with the precision of a scholar correcting an eager student. "It's technically following a rumor."
"Still counts," Cumber insisted firmly.
Happy tilted his head. "Arguable."
"Still counts."
Happy apparently decided that further debate wasn't worth the effort and drifted off to inspect a nearby fish stall.
They heard the crowd long before they saw it.
It was a very specific sound-high-pitched, collective, and generated exclusively by a mob experiencing something they found overwhelming and delightful. It was the exact frequency of noise that, in Kizuna's experience, either preceded something truly impressive or something desperately trying to pass itself off as such.
"What's going on over there?" Sala murmured, squinting toward the plaza.
"Let's check it out," Natsu said, already picking up his pace.
A dense crowd had gathered in a ring around a man performing the theatrical work of existing purely to be admired. He had dark blue hair, a dramatic purple cape chosen specifically to draw the eye, and a flashy smile doing heavy structural lifting. He was introducing himself to the townspeople with the practiced smooth cadence of a con artist who had recited the exact same line so many times it had taken on the cadence of gospel.
"Salamander..." several voices swooned in unison, practically floating in adulation.
Natsu stopped dead in his tracks.
Kizuna felt the magic before he even saw the source-a strange, subtle tug at his consciousness, the sharp edges of his focus softening against his will. A wave of artificial warmth toward the blue-haired man washed over the crowd, completely unearned. Instantly, Kizuna's Ki flared inward, slamming his focus back into absolute clarity the way a shield deflects a weak strike.
Charm magic, Kizuna thought, analyzing the pulse. Layered. Heavy. Sustained.
He cast a quick glance at Uruk, who gave a faint, barely perceptible nod. He had felt it too, his disciplined mind effortlessly shrugging off the enchantment.
Beside them, Natsu had gone completely still-which, for Natsu, was an alarm bell in itself.
"Igneel...?" Natsu muttered uncertainly, his voice laced with the quiet hope of a boy who had spent seven long years searching, desperately trying to stretch the reality in front of him to fit his dream.
Then, Natsu blinked, his nose twitching once.
"Who the heck are you?" Natsu blurted out loudly.
The Charm spell-abruptly disrupted by Natsu's total, unfiltered lack of buy-in-flickered violently. Natsu hadn't even resisted the magic; his mind was simply so entirely occupied by his own singular focus that the spell found nowhere to grip. The illusion cracked around the edges. Several women in the crowd blinked rapidly, looking around in sudden, confused embarrassment as the uniform hypnotic adoration fractured.
On the far edge of the gathering, standing in the small gap created by someone who was physically present but entirely unswayed by the spectacle, a young woman stood watching the fake Salamander with a look of intense irritation. She had the expression of someone who hated being manipulated far more than she hated being disappointed.
She was, without a doubt, the most observant person in the square.
"Who am I?" the blue-haired man repeated dramatically, puffing out his chest as if the question were an insult to his very honor. "I am Salamander! The great Salamander, renowned across the continent-"
"Oh," Natsu interrupted, his voice dropping into a flat, thoroughly unimpressed tone. "You're not Igneel."
The sheer, unadulterated disappointment in Natsu's voice was so genuine and heavy that it accomplished what neither Ki pressure nor tactical analysis could-it made the assembled crowd feel thoroughly awkward about what they had been swooning over just a moment before.
"Kizuna," Sala whispered, leaning in close.
"Charm magic," he confirmed quietly. "Illegal ring spell."
"That is," Uruk added, his tone carrying the cold precision he applied to both tactical threats and moral violations, "a serious offense."
The crowd fractured completely into confused chatter. Some began wandering off, others looked embarrassed, while a few tried to maintain their admiration out of habit. The fake Salamander quickly pivoted to damage control, pulling out autograph cards and smoothly dropping invitations to an exclusive party on his private yacht-offering cheap glamour as a substitute for actual substance.
Kizuna watched the con man closely, noting every detail: The charm magic is still subtly leaking from his finger. The ring is visible if you actually look for it. The smile never reaches his eyes.
He filed the information away for later.
Meanwhile, the blonde young woman at the edge of the square let out a quiet sigh as the fake Salamander made his theatrical exit surrounded by his remaining brainwashed fans. As the crowd dispersed, she turned-and found herself staring directly at the five of them, including a pink-haired boy currently being picked up off the ground by a flying blue cat.
Kizuna watched her evaluate them. It was a fascinating process to observe-quick, sharp eyes taking in every detail, her expression shifting from cautious wariness to genuine curiosity in a fraction of a second.
She appeared to be sixteen or seventeen, her bright blonde hair tied up in a loose side-tail. Her dark eyes were bright and perceptive. And resting at her right hip, instantly recognizable to anyone versed in magical arts, was a leather pouch holding a heavy ring of celestial gate keys-both silver and gold, each radiating its own unique magical signature.
"Hey... thanks for that," she said, stepping toward them with a smile that was equal parts direct and slightly shy.
Natsu, still being dusted off by Happy, blinked in confusion. "For what?"
"The Charm magic," she explained, gesturing toward the plaza. "The spell broke when you yelled at him. I'd managed to resist it on my own, but... the magic was still heavy in the air. Your interruption snapped everyone out of it." She paused, offering a friendly nod. "I'm Lucy."
Sala stepped forward-naturally stepping into her role as the family's social bridge-and extended her hand with warm, effortless grace. "I'm Sala Clive. These are my brothers-Kizuna, Uruk, and Cumber." She gestured to each of them in turn, her fluid introduction refined over years of traveling together. "And that's Natsu and Happy. We're from Fairy Tail."
Lucy's eyes widened slightly as she took them all in-her gaze lingering on Kizuna's quiet intensity, Uruk's disciplined posture, Sala's warm smile, and Cumber's swishing brown tail-before finally dropping to the Fairy Tail marks proudly displayed on their bodies.
"Guild?" Lucy breathed, her dark eyes widening in disbelief. "You're... you're all wizards?"
"We're from Fairy Tail!" Cumber announced proudly, rolling up his sleeve to show off the deep red guild mark stamped on his forearm.
Lucy's hands flew to her face, a gasping breath catching in her throat.
Her reaction was entirely unfeigned-the pure, overwhelming delight of someone who had carried a dream for a very long time, suddenly finding it standing right in front of her.
"Fairy Tail?" she stammered, her face lighting up. "Really? That's-that's the guild I've been trying to get into! That's been my ultimate goal since..." She cut herself off, suddenly self-conscious about her sudden burst of volume, taking a quick, steadying breath. "That's... well, that's where I want to be."
"You're a wizard too?" Natsu asked, finally noticing the brass keys hanging from her belt with his usual total lack of situational awareness.
"Celestial Spirit magic," Lucy replied, her hand coming to rest on her key ring with the instinctive, protective warmth of a mage who deeply respected her craft. "I'm... still developing my skills, but I have a few gold and silver keys, and I've been working hard on my contracts."
"Celestial Spirit magic is rare," Kizuna noted softly. "Genuinely rare-not in the exaggerated way people throw the word around to sound important, but truly uncommon."
Lucy glanced at him, her expression softening. As Kizuna filed away his impression of her, he noticed she possessed a keen sensitivity for genuine honesty; a real compliment clearly meant far more to her than polite flattery.
"Thank you," she said softly. "That really means a lot."
"You should let us buy you lunch," Sala offered with a warm smile.
"Oh! I couldn't possibly-really, I should be-"
"Lunch," Natsu declared, his stomach instantly agreeing.
"Fish," Happy added with absolute finality.
The diner they settled into was a cozy, unassuming establishment near the docks-remarkable primarily because it was quiet and served massive portions. Kizuna picked a corner booth near the front window, a habit he'd picked up early in life that allowed him a clear view of both the restaurant's interior and the street outside.
Lucy's eyes, once they had adjusted to the overwhelming reality of sitting at a table surrounded by actual Fairy Tail mages, settled into a sharp, observant focus. She was clearly someone who paid attention to the finer details of her surroundings.
What she was currently observing was Natsu, Cumber, and Sala conducting a swift, relentless raid on the lunch menu, ordering with the absolute certainty of people who had never once hesitated over a meal. Across from them, Kizuna and Uruk ate with the efficient, practiced grace of seasoned martial artists, effortlessly maintaining decorum amidst the culinary whirlwind beside them.
"You're really all from Fairy Tail," Lucy mused aloud, as if testing the reality of the words one more time.
"We are," Uruk confirmed smoothly, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"I've read about the guild in Sorcerer Weekly for years," she admitted, leaning forward slightly. "Mirajane's modeling features, the grand mission reports, the legendary S-Class mages..." She paused, glancing over at Cumber, who was currently polishing off his third plate of roast pork. "You mentioned earlier that your parents are S-Class?"
"Mom and Dad," Cumber confirmed between bites. "Teilanne and Gildarts Clive."
The names hit the air with their usual profound weight.
"Gildarts Clive?!" Lucy nearly choked on her tea. "The Crash Magic user? He's-he's a living legend! There are entire volumes written about his solo quests! The SS-Class jobs that literally no one else on the continent can take-"
"Yep, that's my dad," Cumber grunted happily, puffing out his chest with uncomplicated, glowing pride.
"And our mother is Teilanne," Sala added with a fond smile. "She's the one who actually handled most of our training. Gildarts is Cumber's biological father, and technically our stepfather-though the 'technically' part has never really mattered to any of us."
"Not in the slightest," Uruk agreed quietly.
Lucy looked between the siblings, silently piecing together the family dynamic. Kizuna noted the way her mind worked-she didn't just listen to words; she read between the lines, tracking the implicit trust and shared history binding the family together. It was an impressive trait.
"So what brings a team like you all the way out to Hargeon?" Lucy asked.
Happy looked up from his fish. "A rumor about Salamander. Natsu thought it might be Igneel."
"Igneel?"
"His father," Uruk explained flatly. "He's a dragon."
"He was raised by one," Kizuna corrected gently, adding the necessary nuance for someone hearing Natsu's backstory for the first time.
Lucy blinked, turning to stare at Natsu, who was currently dousing his steak in hot pepper sauce. "A... dragon?"
"A Fire Dragon," Natsu said cheerfully around a mouthful of meat. "He vanished seven years ago on the exact same day as all the other dragons. So I've been traveling around looking for him."
"And we've accompanied him on seventeen separate iterations of this search," Kizuna added dryly. "Which we do willingly, because that's what you do for family."
"Even though we told him on every single occasion that the evidence was completely terrible," Uruk put in with deadpan precision.
Natsu didn't seem bothered by the critique in the slightest, letting out a fiery laugh.
Lucy let out a soft, genuine laugh-a slight edge of nervous excitement lingering at the borders of her voice. "You all seem incredibly close."
"We've had plenty of time to get there," Sala said softly, her eyes carrying the weight of seven quiet years of growth, training, and shared life.
They parted ways in the late afternoon under a warm summer sun. Lucy offered a final, grateful wave before heading toward the docks-holding the fake Salamander's party invitation in hand-while the Fairy Tail group began making their way back toward the coast road.
Or at least, they were supposed to.
Cumber was the one who stopped.
They were halfway down the harbor road, Natsu idly complaining to Happy about another dead end, when Cumber came to a complete halt. His brown tail, which usually swished with relaxed energy, went instantly rigid-standing straight up, locked in a tight, defensive posture.
"Hey," Cumber said softly.
The sharp shift in his tone brought the entire group to a dead stop. It wasn't the voice he used when he wanted to point out something cool. It was the voice-a tone Kizuna had learned to recognize over seven years-that meant his Saiyan instincts were sensing danger before his conscious mind could even put a name to it.
"That yacht," Cumber muttered, staring out across the water toward the flashy vessel anchored in the harbor. "The fake Salamander's boat."
"What about it?" Sala asked, stepping up beside him.
Natsu waved a dismissive hand. "Ah, it's just some fraud with a cape and a ring-"
"Natsu. Quiet," Kizuna commanded, his voice dropping into that flat, absolute authority that demanded immediate silence. He turned his full attention to his youngest brother. "What kind of bad feeling, Cumber?"
Cumber's tail twitched once, his dark eyes fixed on the distant ship. "The kind where I don't have a logical reason yet... but I know I'm not wrong."
Kizuna didn't hesitate for a second. He trusted Cumber's raw, unrefined combat instincts with the exact same confidence he placed in his own trained mind. If Cumber felt a threat looming, the threat was real.
Before anyone could speak, two local women walked past them on the cobblestone road, chatting excitedly.
"-so dreamlike! Salamander-sama's yacht party is going to be amazing-"
"-I know! Did you hear? Someone said he's actually a famous wizard from Fairy Tail!-"
The five mages froze in unison.
Unaware of the absolute, dangerous shift in the atmosphere behind them, the two women continued down the street.
Natsu's expression shifted into something that transcended disappointment, moving rapidly toward absolute, dangerous impatience. A small thread of orange flame flickered at the corner of his mouth-a detail he seemed completely oblivious to.
"Did she just say..." Natsu growled.
"Fairy Tail," Sala confirmed, her voice dropping into a quiet, cold register as sharp as a closing iron door.
"That man," Uruk said, his measured calm giving way to a dangerous edge, "is dragging our guild's name through the mud."
"Our family's name," Kizuna added flatly.
He stared out across the dark water at the lit-up vessel anchored in the harbor. He thought of Lucy-a young celestial wizard with bright eyes and genuine skill-heading straight into a trap set by a fraud with charm magic and a predatory smile.
Kizuna turned to the blue cat floating beside them. "Happy. Can you carry Natsu over water?"
"Aye!" Happy confirmed instantly.
"Cumber."
"Already ready," Cumber declared, his brown tail rigid, his dark eyes ablaze with the razor-focused readiness of a young warrior whose combat instincts had just been proven right.
Kizuna looked back at the yacht, then glanced at his brothers and sister.
"Let's move," he commanded.
The night sea was pitch black, the distant yacht glowing with party lights. The quickest way to cover the distance was a technique the Saiyan siblings had perfected years ago: channeling Ki through their feet to skim across the surface of the ocean. They sprinted across the dark waves with effortless speed, leaving thin trails of white foam in their wake.
Kizuna landed softly on the wooden deck, coming up into a low stance. A split second later, Uruk touched down on his left, Sala on his right, and Cumber right behind them.
A moment after that came Natsu-who hit the deck at an awkward side-angle courtesy of Happy's aerial transport-and immediately confirmed that his personal feud with boats remained completely intact by groaning on all fours.
The scene on deck resolved in an instant.
Lucy was backed against the wooden railing, her celestial key pouch missing from her hip. Her eyes held fear, but beneath the fear lay the stubborn, unbreakable core of someone who refused to surrender. Surrounding her were a dozen mercenaries in identical gear, and standing at the center was Bora-the fake Salamander-wearing the smug confidence of a man who had never had a scheme interrupted before.
"Actually," Kizuna announced, breaking the sudden silence his arrival had created, "someone does know what's happening."
"Several someones," Uruk corrected calmly.
"And we are," Sala added, her aura flaring with a bright, luminous blue, "extremely displeased about you using our guild's name."
"Our family's name," Cumber snapped.
Lucy let out a choked sound-a mix of total shock and immense relief. "How did you-?"
"Happy," Natsu groaned from the deck, his face pressed against the planks.
High above, Happy swooped down through the night sky, carrying Lucy's retrieved key ring in his tiny paws, dropping them precisely into her open hands with professional efficiency.
"My keys!" Lucy gasped, clutching the cold metal rings to her chest with the desperate relief of a mage reunited with her soul.
Bora recovered from his initial surprise, his face settling into a condescending sneer. "You've miscalculated, kids," he mocked, gesturing to his hired muscle. "I have a dozen armed men. You have four teenagers... and one guy who looks like he's about to throw up on my shoes."
"The floor and I are just working out a personal matter," Natsu muttered into the wood.
Kizuna didn't even look at Natsu. He turned his eyes toward his youngest brother. "Cumber. Would you like to demonstrate what you've been working on?"
"Please do," Uruk added. From Uruk, those two words were the equivalent of a standing ovation.
"Show them," Sala grinned.
Cumber stepped forward with a slow, deliberate stride.
At fourteen, Cumber carried his parents' legacy in every fiber of his being. He had spent seven years soaking in Fairy Tail's magic and training under a Saiyan mother who knew how to push her children past their absolute limits. For the past three years, he had been obsessed with a single tactical question: What happens when Saiyan Ki and Crash Magic share the same body?
The answer was about to be demonstrated.
A brilliant golden Ki aura erupted around Cumber's frame, warm and crackling with immense vitality. But laced through the gold were deep crimson fracture lines-kinetic fault lines pulsing with his father's destructive magic, stabilized and directed through a Saiyan's raw energy output.
Four mercenaries charged at him with drawn blades.
Cumber didn't flinch. He planted his feet, pulled his right fist back, and drove it squarely into the wooden deck.
BOOM!
It wasn't a simple smash, nor was it a basic explosion. It was a hyper-localized spatial fracture.
The wooden deck beneath the advancing men disintegrated into perfect, uniform wooden cubes that detonated outward like shrapnel. The floor beneath their feet completely vanished, dropping half of Bora's men screaming into the dark hold below before their brains could even process the hit.
Lucy stared at the massive square crater, then at Cumber, then back at the crater, her jaw hitting the deck.
"That," Sala explained to Lucy with an affectionate smile, "is what happens when you combine Saiyan energy with Crash Magic."
"He can break anything," Kizuna added mildly, "and choose exactly where the broken pieces go."
Bora looked at the gaping hole in his ship, then at the fourteen-year-old boy responsible, his cocky smirk vanishing into pale terror. "Attack!" he shrieked at his remaining men.
What followed was less of a fight and more of a masterclass in martial dominance.
Uruk glided into the remaining group with the fluid grace of water finding its path. He didn't waste an ounce of movement. Using high-level Ki perception, he read his opponents' muscle twitches before they even swung, stepping into their blind spots and delivering quick, devastating palm strikes to their pressure points. Four men hit the deck, unconscious before they realized the fight had started. Uruk calmly adjusted his sleeve, looking as though he hadn't moved an inch.
"Saiyan Tactical Analysis," Cumber helpfully offered to a shell-shocked Lucy. "He reads your movements in advance. With Ki enhancement, he doesn't waste energy."
Meanwhile, Sala decided the air was far more entertaining than the ground. Wrapped in a radiant aura of sky-blue Ki, she launched herself upward, darting through the air at blinding speeds. She struck from impossible overhead angles, dropping two more mercenaries with lightning-fast spin-kicks that sent them skidding across the deck.
Then came Kizuna.
Kizuna hadn't taken a single step.
Instead, with the calm precision of a engineer opening a valve, he simply lowered his suppressed baseline, allowing a tiny fraction of his true Ki to bleed into the open air.
CRACK.
The heavy oak deck beneath his boots splintered under the invisible weight. The air temperature dropped abruptly.
The four remaining henchmen assigned to deal with him froze in their tracks-not because Kizuna had attacked them, but because standing near him felt like standing at the edge of an active volcano taking a slow breath. The sheer, suffocating gravity of his restrained power made their knees buckle.
Kizuna took one step forward.
All four men collapsed onto their hands and knees, surrendering to the overwhelming pressure without him raising a single fist.
Lucy, watching from the railing, felt the edge of that suffocating aura from meters away, a shiver running down her spine.
"He keeps his true power locked down," Cumber whispered, stepping up beside her. His voice carried a rare, absolute seriousness. "He always has. None of us have ever seen what happens if he completely lets go."
"And...?" Lucy squeaked.
"And he works very hard," Cumber said softly, "to make sure nobody ever has to find out."
Bora, realizing his entire crew had been dismantled in under sixty seconds, panicked. Desperate for a leverage point, he aimed his ring directly at the unguarded blonde girl by the railing.
"Red Shower!"
A dense barrage of magical fire erupted from his hand, raining down toward Lucy-a dirty tactic designed to take a hostage.
SWOOSH.
Natsu moved.
He moved awkwardly-his inner ear still warring with the swaying of the ship-but he intercepted the blast, throwing his body directly between the fire and Lucy. The flames engulfed him completely.
"Natsu!" Lucy screamed out in horror.
The fire burned out.
Natsu stood right in the center of the scorched deck, inhaling deeply, literally sucking the residual flames directly into his open mouth. He swallowed with a satisfied sigh, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.
"Thanks for the treat," Natsu said, his eyes glowing with fierce heat. "I was feeling a little weak on an empty stomach."
He locked his gaze onto Bora-a look of pure, unadulterated fury from a Dragon Slayer who had spent twenty minutes being seasick and was now fully restored.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"
A massive torrent of roaring crimson fire burst from Natsu's mouth, tearing down the length of the ship.
Bora was fast, diving sideways just in time to avoid being incinerated by the main blast. But as he tumbled across the deck, he realized he had rolled directly into the middle of the four Saiyan siblings.
"There's one more detail we should mention," Sala said, landing lightly on his left.
"Our mother trained us to carefully control our output," Uruk added from his right.
"Unchecked, Saiyans tend to cause severe collateral damage," Kizuna noted from behind him.
"And we've been holding back," Cumber finished, hovering directly above him, "this entire time."
The combined burst of Ki they released wasn't a fancy named spell. It was simply four high-level warriors deciding to release a fraction more energy all at once.
BOOM!
The main mast snapped like a toothpick. The deck shattered, the hull cracked down the center, and Bora was sent flying through the ruined superstructure, crashing unconscious into the wreckage.
The yacht, having sustained far more structural trauma than any ocean-bound vessel was designed to endure, began groaning loudly as seawater rushed through its shattered hull.
"Oh," Sala said, looking down at the rapidly sinking deck. "We overdid it a bit."
"Again," Uruk added dryly.
"The ship is sinking," Cumber confirmed with clinical accuracy.
"We should depart," Kizuna decided, turning to Lucy. "The harbor authorities respond quickly to explosions, and their questions regarding property damage are historically tedious."
"But-" Lucy gasped as the water reached her ankles. "How are we supposed to get to shore?!"
The answer was already in her hand. Reacting on pure wizard instinct, Lucy pulled a heavy golden key from her belt.
"Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"
The key turned in the air with a flash of light, and a majestic, blue-tailed mermaid materialized above the water, carrying a grand urn and a look of supreme annoyance.
"You dropped my key in the ocean," Aquarius stated flatly.
"It wasn't my fault-!"
"Don't give me excuses," Aquarius interrupted, glaring coldly at her contractor. "I have a date with my boyfriend right after this, so I do not have time for your mess. One wave. Don't waste it!"
Aquarius raised her urn, and a gargantuan, house-sized tidal wave roared up from the harbor.
The surge picked up the sinking remains of the yacht, the unconscious mercenaries, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and the four siblings, sweeping them across the harbor in a single, roaring movement.
THUD.
The wave dumped everyone onto the sandy shores of Hargeon beach with a wet splash.
The ruined pieces of the yacht settled into the shallow surf behind them. In the distance, the town's alarm bells began ringing frantically.
"We should definitely leave," Uruk advised, wringing out his coat.
He reached down and helped Lucy to her feet with quiet courtesy.
Lucy stood on the sand, looking at the unconscious bandits scattered around them, then at the burning wreckage in the harbor, and finally at the five extraordinary people standing beside her.
"Hey," Natsu said, offering her a wide, toothy grin as he grabbed her wrist. "Come with us."
"To Fairy Tail," Cumber added with a bright, welcoming smile. "You said it was your dream to join, right?"
"I..." Lucy looked at their faces-at Sala's warm, inviting smile; at Kizuna's quiet, reassuring nod; at Uruk's calm presence; at Cumber's boundless enthusiasm; and at Natsu already tugging her toward the road. "I... yes! Yes, I want to come!"
"Awesome," Sala laughed. "Our parents are going to love you."
"Our mother especially," Kizuna noted. "She has a high appreciation for strong-willed women."
The warning bells from the harbor grew louder.
"Time to run," Uruk said.
They ran.
The road leading north out of Hargeon wound through rolling coastal hills scented with wild sea grass and late-summer warmth. It was a fine road for a nighttime sprint, especially in the company of people you had met only a few hours ago, yet already felt like you had known for years.
Natsu and Cumber were loudly debating whose attack had been more impressive, with Sala acting as an amused referee. Uruk occasionally dropped dry, deadpan comments that sent Cumber into fits of laughter.
Kizuna set a steady pace near the front, and Lucy found herself walking alongside him.
"Thank you," Lucy said softly, looking up at the night sky. "For coming back for me."
"Cumber had a instinct," Kizuna replied evenly. "We've learned never to ignore those."
Lucy smiled. "You really trust him."
"His combat instincts are sharp. It would be foolish not to trust a reliable instrument."
Lucy took in his tone-it wasn't overly sentimental, but it carried an absolute, unshakeable solidity. It was the kind of strength you could rely on without hesitation.
"Your guild..." Lucy mused quietly. "Is it really like the magazine articles say?"
"It's loud," Kizuna answered, a faint, rare smile touching his lips. "It's chaotic. And occasionally people destroy the furniture. Everyone there is either working through their past, or about to." He paused. "But as Uruk once put it... it's home. That's the word that covers all of it."
Lucy looked ahead at the group-at Cumber playfully jumping on Natsu's back, at Sala laughing under the moonlight, and at Uruk watching them with quiet pride.
She thought of the years she had spent dreaming of this moment, reading every article, collecting keys, and imagining what Fairy Tail was like from the outside.
And now, running down a coastal road under a blanket of stars with people who had risked everything to save her without a second thought... she finally knew what it felt like on the inside.
It felt like everything she had ever hoped for-and a million things she hadn't known how to ask for yet.
"Thank you," she whispered again to the road ahead.
The road stretched onward into the night, leading them all toward Magnolia.
Next Time - Chapter 7: Welcome to Fairy Tail