After the whole ordeal with Porlyusica tending to Simon, I was 'kicked' out of her cabin and returned home to the guild, where Laki was kind enough to perform first aid on me. Then, I took the whole day off, sleeping around the guild, doing absolutely nothing, watching people argue, joke around, drink, fight, converse, etc.; everyday things at Fairy Tail.
The next few days were pretty dull. I would've spent them training, as a matter of fact, that is what I started off doing, but I barely managed an hour of training before Gramps prohibited me from doing so. So, I reluctantly spent it lazing about, doing absolutely nothing but drinking and eating.
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"B-Big bro, stop it, please!" "Tch, stop it, my ass! Next time, don't snitch on me to Gramps! I couldn't train because of you!" Holding Levy in a rear-naked choke, I dug my knuckles into her head, grinding them against her scalp while she pointlessly struggled for freedom.
"Big bro, don't you think that's enough?" "Y-Yeah, Levy is a fragile girl, you know." Jet and Droy attempted to dissuade me from punishing Levy further, but I responded by punching both of them, flinging their bodies head-first into the wall. "Any bastard that speaks on Levy's behalf is getting punched!"
Shooting the whole guild a wild, untamed glare, everyone quickly lowered their heads, averting their gaze from Levy, who was filled with despair as I continued her punishment. "H-Help! M-Master, help!" Holding her arms out to Gramps, who was sitting atop the bar with a drink in hand, he merely laughed.
"Hoho, what familial love, it's adorable." "Argh, I-I hate you, Master!" Once I felt like I'd punished Levy enough, I finally let her, causing her to quickly distance herself while holding her head with a teary-eyed expression. Seeing her shoot me a glare, I growled, causing her to flinch as she fled behind the bar, cowering beside Mira, who soothed her.
"So rough, big bro, you left a red mark on her scalp. What if this affects her hair in the future? You know how important a woman's hair is." Rolling my eyes at Mira's exaggeration, as I hadn't been that rough with Levy since I knew she couldn't handle it, I plopped onto a stool, sitting near Gramps while I raised a fist.
"My statement from earlier still stands, Mira." "Fufu, did I say something? I don't think I said anything." "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Dissmissively waving my hand, I plopped my head onto my arm while Mira handed me a bottle of our most potent alcohol, something even our local alcoholic can only handle a few pints of.
"I need something to take the edge off, though I wouldn't have this edge if it weren't for SOMEONE." Grabbing the bottle, I shot Gramps and Levy a glare, the two responsible for the past few boring days. I downed the entire bottle, which Mira promptly refilled while I downed a second one; after downing three more bottles, I finally began to feel a bit tipsy.
"Better?" Gramps looked at me in amusement, causing me to snort while I tossed the empty bottle at his head. "I want to fight." As I narrowed my eyes, I heard a whole bunch of running from behind, causing me to turn around, only to see nearly everyone running out of the guild in a panic.
"Oi, where the hell do you guys think you're going?" Clicking my tongue, I stood up and glared at the panicking group as they dashed out of the guild as if their lives depended on it. However, while doing so, I spotted one unmoving person in the corner of the room, trying to remain as invisible as possible.
"Perfect… I choose you, Gajeel." "Hoho, what unfortunate luck you have." "Do you want to be chosen, Gramps?" While pointing at Gajeel, who was clearly uncomfortable, I shot Gramps a glare, causing him to chuckle as he shook his head. "Where is the fun in beating up an old man? I'm past my prime; there wouldn't be much honor in that, would there?"
I couldn't help but click my tongue; I didn't care much about honor, but I personally didn't find it exactly enjoyable to fight someone past their prime. It just didn't seem as fun to me. "You've been pissing me off a lot lately, Gramps, you know that?" "It's good we feel the same way, Cooper." Winking at me, he took a sip, leaving me to grumble under my breath as I ignored him.
Approaching Gajeel, who was now rapidly looking for a path to flee, I quickly lunged forward, grabbing him by the head, before tossing him over my shoulder. "We'll return later." Waving my hand, I left the guild, carrying a confused and slightly scared Gajeel. I exited Magnolia and headed to my usual training area, which was basically a random, flat, destroyed ground.
Tossing Gajeel a few feet into the distance, he landed on his feet and faced me while his eyes continued to dart around, causing me to click my tongue. "Do you really think you could escape from me?" After a brief hesitation, Gajeel shifted his gaze to me. "No." "Good. Now let's fight."
Just as he raised his arms into a fighting stance, I lunged at him, punching through his guard and hitting his chest, causing him to be flung backward while I smiled. "Ah, hitting flesh, I've missed this feeling." Kissing my knuckles, I looked back at Gajeel, who had just stopped himself by digging his hands into the ground while he raised his head and took a deep breath, releasing a draconic roar.
Unlike Natsu's, which was trying to burn you alive with heat, or Laxus's, which wanted to electrify you to death with lightning, Gajeel's wished to rip you to shreds with tiny bits of metal pieces swirling about.
As I was enveloped within his roar, my bandages were torn to shreds, revealing my wounds, which were mostly healed, with only the injury on my stomach still being noticeable. However, his roar couldn't do anything else to me, causing me to dash through it as I outstretched my hand, clutching Gajeel's face and slamming him into the ground.
Lifting him up, I tossed him, causing him to skip across the ground like a stone before he regained his bearings and dashed at me, prompting me to do the same. As his skin turned into iron, he threw a punch, his arm transforming into an iron pole, though I met his attack with my own, punching the metal pole, deforming it under my strength and leaving behind a deep fist imprint.
Following up, Gajeel went with the momentum of my punch that knocked him off balance and kicked upwards, while a sharp, iron kunai extended from the base of his foot, causing me to tilt my head, evading it before kicking his back, flinging him once more while I followed after.
Reorienting himself, Gajeel kicked off the ground and raised his arm into the air, forming a massive iron sword with jagged teeth on the end of it, only for it to start spinning, like a chainsaw. As he swung it down, I swung my hair, letting Gajeel cut a few inches of my hair before clutching his arm, stopping the jagged teeth dead in their tracks while I clenched my hand, shattering the sword while I gave him a two-piece to his face and liver, causing him to wince.
Although Gajeel didn't have the strength to challenge me, he was a very experienced fighter and could just barely keep up with me. Of course, this was because I let him, but the fact that he could do so was impressive; when it came to pure close-combat, I've never lost, not to that demon, Torafuzar, or even to Gildarts. Granted, Gildarts was overall stronger than me.
'Hmm, I wonder if I can compare to him now? Last time, I could barely manage twenty exchanges. Over 100 if I overlfowed my body.' It's been a few years since I've fought Gildarts, so I was curious about my growth. Anyway, shaking my head, I shifted my focus back to the battle as I raised my hands, catching Gajeel's hands, which he'd transformed into mallets, and tried striking the sides of my head.
Digging my nails into the iron-mallets, I brought him forward, headbutting him, causing blood to gush from his nose, before slamming him onto the ground.
"Alright, I feel a bit satisfied now. We can call it a day." Dusting my hands off, slicked my freshly cut hair back and glanced down at Gajeel, who was groaning with every movement as he pushed himself from out of the crater his body made. "C-Coop-" Snorting, I punched his head, pushing him back into the crater. "B-Big bro?" "Hmph, that's more like it."
"B-Big bro, I-I'm sorry for what–" I cut off Gajeel before he could further speak. "Don't waste your words on me; I hardly care what you did to me. If you want to apologize, direct it to those who deserve it and do so with actions rather than words; no one's going to believe your words." Squatting down to Gajeel, I looked into his eyes, seeing genuine sincerity within them before standing up.
"Now c'mon, I'm a little hungry." Grabbing Gajeel by his hair, I lifted him over my shoulder, carrying him like a bag.