Earth Land.
The current time is July, X785.
It seems that in Earth Land, just like in the One Piece world, about a year and a half has passed.
"So everyone really is gone?!"
"Is it because that bastard Precht tampered with the magic circle?!"
"To think I, just like old man Makarov, actually believed that guy Precht could turn over a new leaf. What a huge mistake."
"The next time I see that guy Precht, I will definitely not spare him!"
After searching Tenrou Island to no avail, Eden wasn't too worried.
He had absolute confidence in his comrades' strength...
Even if, by some mishap, everyone from the guild was scattered across the world, or even lost in another world?!
Eden believed that with the strength of old man Makarov, Natsu, and the others, they could wait safely for him to find them, just like in the world of pirates.
But before that, Eden's most important task was to return to the Fairy Tail guild first, to let everyone know he was safe.
"I'll head back to the guild first."
After speaking, Eden's figure vanished from Tenrou Island.
"Huu..."
After Eden left...
Precht's remnant soul finally dared to show itself. Watching Eden depart, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
The Kingdom of Fiore.
The brand-new guild hall, built after the battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord.
The usually bustling guild had become desolate since Eden and the other core members of Fairy Tail had left.
If not for the words "FAIRY TAIL" written on the main gate, Eden would have thought he had come to the wrong place.
"It's really desolate!"
Eden sighed, then skillfully kicked open the guild's main doors and strode into the hall.
"I told you, our guild doesn't have any money for you right now!"
"Once our guild wins the championship at the Grand Magic Games, we'll pay back the money we owe, doubled!"
"You should know, our mage guild, Fairy Tail, defeated Phantom Lord, the strongest guild in the Kingdom of Fiore, a year ago..."
The moment Eden kicked the guild doors open...
Macao and Wakaba, who were inside drinking and smoking sullenly, shot up from their seats as if by reflex and roared at Eden, who was standing at the entrance.
"Wait, you are..."
But when Macao and Wakaba got a clear look at who was standing at the guild entrance, all their emotions subsided, and tears began to stream uncontrollably from their eyes.
"Yo!"
Seeing this, Eden smiled. He looked at Macao and Wakaba, who had been forced to carry the entire guild after the main members left and had aged considerably in the past year and a half. He gave a small wave to liven up the atmosphere, "Yo, long time no see, everyone. How've you been?!"
"Eden!"
Before Eden could say more, Macao and Wakaba rushed over and hugged him tightly, crying their eyes out. "Eden, you're all okay? So those bastards from the Magic Council ERA were lying to us! They said you'd met with disaster and were all killed in action."
"We're fine, we're fine."
"Not just me, but the old man Master, Natsu, Laxus, Lucy, Gray... they're all fine."
Eden patted Macao and Wakaba's shoulders reassuringly.
After a brief embrace, Eden, Wakaba, and Macao sat at the bar, drinking and chatting.
"By the way, Eden, where have you all been for the past year and a half?!"
Wakaba was the first to ask, naturally curious about the glorious deeds of Eden, Makarov, and the others over the last year and a half.
"Just as the people from the Council said, on Tenrou Island, we unfortunately encountered a powerful enemy, the Demon Dragon Acnologia, a dragon that can ignore any magic and devour any magical power."
Recalling his encounter with Acnologia on Tenrou Island, Eden's hand, holding the wine bottle, couldn't help but tighten slightly.
Even now, with his all-around evolution and strength far beyond what it used to be, if Eden were to face that guy Acnologia again, he would still have no choice but to flee for his life.
That guy Acnologia... is a complete and utter monster!
"Eh?!"
"A dragon that even Gildarts couldn't defeat?"
"Faced with that kind of monster, how did you guys escape, Eden?"
Macao looked at Eden with a shocked expression and asked curiously.
"Of course..."
"At the critical moment of the black dragon's invasion, I stepped forward with the resolve to die and activated a Super-Dimensional Transportation Magic, and that's how we managed to escape!"
As Eden spoke, he clenched his fist, putting on a look of noble self-sacrifice.
"Eden, you're amazing!"
"It's a good thing you were there, Eden!"
Upon hearing this, Macao and Wakaba spoke with immediate admiration.
"It was nothing, really!"
"Just a little bit stronger than that guy Laxus."
"Hahaha..."
Eden smiled calmly, hiding the fact that he had originally activated the Super-Dimensional Transportation Magic to send Acnologia away, but because Acnologia was immune, the magic had been reflected back.
Eden also omitted that because of Acnologia's final roar, space-time was thrown into complete chaos, sending them directly to the world of One Piece, and scattering them at that.
"Anyway, because of that guy Acnologia, we ended up in a world completely covered by the sea!"
"And then, this and that happened... and so on and so forth... and we eventually defeated that guy Imu, successfully crushing the World Government's monopoly on power."
Eden told Macao and Wakaba their stories from the world of pirates, one by one.
"Ah..."
When the two finished listening to Eden, they were too shocked to speak.
Macao's jaw dropped, and he said with an admiring expression, "What can I say? As expected of you guys!"
Hmm, causing destruction wherever they go... only the main force of Fairy Tail led by Makarov could pull that off, right?!
"Worrying about your safety was completely unnecessary after all."
Wakaba laughed, wiping away the tears from the corner of his eyes, and spoke with relief.
"Haha."
"Sorry, I've been talking too much about what happened to us this past year. After we left, has Fairy Tail been doing okay?"
Eden asked Wakaba and Macao with a light chuckle and a relaxed tone.
"..."
After hearing Eden's words, Wakaba and Macao fell silent.
"We've had a great year!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Without that noisy guy Natsu around, even the Magic Council ERA comes by less often."
"Also, also, Bisca and Alzack got married~"
"We held a grand wedding for them."
"Also, I became the guild's Fourth Master, so you'd better show me some respect, you brat, Eden."
"And I'm the Master's advisor!"
"And... without you guys, it always feels a bit lonely."
"Hey, hey, Macao, you can't say that!"
Macao and Wakaba spoke while shedding tears; they had really missed Eden and the others so much.
"You've worked hard."
"Don't worry, Fourth Master and Advisor 'sirs'."
"I'll take responsibility for bringing everyone in the guild back."
Eden promised Macao and Wakaba.
"Bring them back?!"
As Eden's words fell, Wakaba and Macao immediately looked up. They looked at Eden suspiciously and asked, "What do you mean, bring everyone in the guild back?!"
"Er, well~"
"Hehe..."
Hearing this, Eden gave an awkward laugh and said helplessly, "In short, a lot of things happened in between."
A few minutes later.
"Damn Precht, that guy's ghost just won't go away!"
"Expel Precht from the list of Fairy Tail's past Guild Masters! He must be expelled immediately!!"
Wakaba and Macao roared angrily after hearing that the magic circle had been tampered with by Precht.
"Don't worry!"
"You don't have to tell me, I'll go looking for trouble with old Precht myself."
As Eden said this, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.
"By the way, even if the guild's appeal declined because we temporarily disappeared on Tenrou Island, isn't it a bit too empty in here?!"
Eden scratched the back of his head, looking at the excessively empty guild hall, and asked in confusion, "It can't be that everyone ran off just because we disappeared, right?"
"Er..."
"It's not that bad."
"After you all disappeared, the guild did lose some members."
"But the vast majority stayed."
"It's just that they all went to the capital of the Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus, the Flower Capital, to participate in the Grand Magic Games hosted by the king."
Hearing Eden's words, Macao, afraid Eden would misunderstand and think all the members left due to his poor management, quickly explained.
"Crocus, the Flower Capital, huh?"
The moment Eden thought of the Flower Capital, he thought of a certain gullible little princess.
"Speaking of which, our mage guild, Fairy Tail, was specially invited by the royal family of Fiore to participate..."
"Because of that, we skipped the preliminary round, which originally required one hundred and thirty-five guilds to compete, and went straight into the final eight."
At this point, Macao puffed out his chest, put his hands on his hips, and smiled, "Thankfully, the Fiore royal family knows what's what. They know the strength of our Fairy Tail guild."
"Is that so?!"
"So, what's Fairy Tail's current national ranking?"
Eden smiled and asked.
"This..."
When Eden finished speaking, Macao and Wakaba hesitated again, their words faltering as they dared not say more.
"Ah..."
Seeing this, Eden guessed the result.
"Hmm?!"
Just as Eden was about to say something else, his Observation Haki suddenly sensed something, and he quietly turned his head...
At the same time Eden turned, the Fairy Tail guild doors were kicked open once again.
A group of vicious-looking thugs, carrying spiked clubs, machetes, and greatswords—clearly not good people—barged straight into the Fairy Tail guild hall. Looking at Eden and the others, one of them laughed, "Your guild is especially empty today, huh?!"
"Is it because your mage guild, Fairy Tail, performed so poorly in the Grand Magic Games, always stuck in last place..."
"that you're now known to the world as the ones who got into the finals through cheating and connections, so everyone got embarrassed and ran away?!"
The leader of these vicious-looking thugs, who were dressed like common street punks, sneered at Macao and Wakaba.
"Hahahaha..."
As the leader finished speaking, his underlings behind him all burst into roaring laughter.
"Bastards!"
"I told you, we will definitely win the Grand Magic Games championship and pay back all the money we owe you, with interest."
Macao said helplessly, looking at the group of thugs.
"You think you can take first place?!"
"Don't make me laugh..."
The thug leader sneered after hearing Macao's words, then said angrily, "Today, if your mage guild, Fairy Tail, can't pay back the debt you owe us, Twilight Ogre, then hand over the guild as collateral! There's nothing else to talk about."
"You bastard... We clearly agreed on a repayment period of another six months."
Hearing this, Macao and Wakaba shot up from their seats, looking at the untrustworthy thugs and shouting angrily.
"Heh."
"The condition for the six-month extension was that Fairy Tail could become number one in the Kingdom of Fiore."
"Unfortunately, you failed, so the extension is off."
The thug leader sneered and explained softly.
"Nonsense!"
"The contract doesn't say that."
Wakaba said, pulling out the IOU they had signed and began to read it carefully.
"Eh."
"You need to look with a magnifying glass."
The Twilight Ogre thugs just raised their eyebrows disdainfully at this and tossed a 1000x magic magnifying glass to Wakaba.
"You bastard, this is too much."
After Wakaba took the magnifying glass from Twilight Ogre, he found that there was indeed a clause added at the end of the terms: if Fairy Tail failed to become number one in the Kingdom of Fiore at the Grand Magic Games, then all previously agreed-upon extensions would be void.
Seeing this, Wakaba was already thinking of fighting.
"What, you want to fight?!"
Seeing this, the Twilight Ogre thugs also drew their weapons. They weren't afraid of the current Fairy Tail.
"How much does Fairy Tail owe you?!"
After taking everything in, Eden roughly understood what was happening. He first gave Macao and Wakaba a look to calm them down, then asked the thugs softly.
"What?!"
"You want to stand up for Fairy Tail?"
"Don't blame us for not warning you, Fairy Tail owes a lot of money."
The Twilight Ogre leader said softly to Eden.
"I asked you how much. Cut the crap."
Eden couldn't be bothered to waste words with these thugs and asked directly.
"Ten million Jewel!"
The Twilight Ogre sub-leader said tentatively.
"You're full of shit!"
As the sub-leader finished speaking, Wakaba and Macao couldn't sit still. This Twilight Ogre really had the nerve to make such an outrageous demand!
"Eh!"
"It's merely ten million Jewel."
"Is this enough?!"
Eden said, pulling a large, glittering piece of gold from his storage space and tossing it in front of the Twilight Ogre members.
"Enough! It's more than enough!"
Seeing this, the Twilight Ogre members felt as if their eyes were being blinded by the gold. They nodded excitedly and were about to pick up the gold from the ground.
"Wait."
Just as they were about to touch the gold, Eden snapped his fingers lightly, and the gold instantly vanished.
"Our gold?!"
The Twilight Ogre mages were furious. They looked at Eden and shouted angrily, "What is the meaning of this?"
"Want the gold?"
"Fine!"
"Give me the guild's IOU first."
Eden said, beckoning to the Twilight Ogre mages.
"Sorry, sorry, we forgot."
The Twilight Ogre sub-leader cursed Eden's cunning inwardly. He had originally planned to take the gold and leave, then use the IOU to extort Fairy Tail again in a few days. It seemed that plan was now impossible.
The sub-leader said, took out the IOU, and tore it up in front of Eden.
"How about this?!"
The sub-leader's eyes were now filled with gold. After tearing up the IOU, he looked at Eden anxiously and asked.
"Very good."
"Now, let's settle the score between you and Fairy Tail."
"Our guild's main door is made from a branch of the Tenrou Tree. The Tenrou Tree is an ancient tree that has lived for over a thousand years, and a single branch is worth about one hundred million Jewel."
"Now, hand over the money!"
Eden held out his hand, demanding payment from the Twilight Ogre thugs before him.
Hmm, the door of the Fairy Tail guild isn't something just anyone can kick! That's the exclusive soccer ball for Fairy Tail members! No one else is allowed to touch it.
"Are you kidding me?"
"A door worth a hundred million?"
"You say it's worth a hundred million, so it's worth a hundred million?"
The Twilight Ogre thugs were dumbfounded and roared at Eden.
"Correct."
"I say it's worth a hundred million, so it's worth a hundred million."
After Eden finished speaking, his body instantly expanded, transforming in front of everyone into a giant dragon over fifty meters long that nearly filled the entire guild hall. He looked down at the Twilight Ogre members below, breathing out hot air, and said coldly, "Either pay up, or..."
Eden didn't say the rest. He thought the Twilight Ogre members should understand his meaning.
"Ah..."
At this moment, whether it was the Twilight Ogre mages or Macao and Wakaba, they all stared at the massive dragon before them with wide, shocked eyes.
"Hehe..."
"It's just a mere dragon."
"We must be dreaming!"
"We just need to wake up."
Before Eden could finish speaking...
The Twilight Ogre thugs first sneered, then gave a disdainful laugh, and collapsed, fainting dead away.
It's good to be young, you can fall asleep at the drop of a hat.
"Huh?!"
Seeing this, Eden reverted from his dragon form. He looked at the fainted Twilight Ogre members, his eye twitching slightly. Did I unconsciously use Conqueror's Haki?!
These guys have no guts at all, do they?
"Eden, what's going on with you?"
After Eden reverted from his dragon form, Macao and Wakaba immediately came closer and asked anxiously.
"In my quest to slay dragons, I trained hard in Dragon Slayer Magic, and eventually became a dragon myself, that sort of thing."
Eden summarized simply.
"Anyway, let's pay a visit to Twilight Ogre first."
Eden then said with a smile.
"What are we going there for?!"
Wakaba and Macao asked, stunned.
"To collect a debt!"
After speaking, Eden activated his spatial magic, and they all disappeared from the guild hall.
Twilight Ogre.
"So, are you here to pay back the money?"
The Master of Twilight Ogre, a pot-bellied middle-aged man, asked as he looked at the suddenly appearing Eden.
"I can't be bothered with too many words."
"Let's decide the ownership of all of Twilight Ogre's assets with a duel!"
Eden said, stretching his limbs with a smile.
"Huh?!"
Hearing this, the face of Twilight Ogre's Master, Banaboster, changed slightly.
"BOOM!!"
With a tremendous roar...
The entire Twilight Ogre guild instantly exploded on the street. The whole guild became history.
"The money we owed you is cleared."
After doing all this, Eden felt refreshed. He looked at Macao and Wakaba, who had been waiting outside the Twilight Ogre guild, and smiled, "Alright, we can set off now~"
"Ah..."
Macao and Wakaba stared at the scene in shock, at a loss for words.
As expected, it takes someone like Eden, one of the S-Class mages personally trained by Makarov, to be this ruthless! The number one person for physically clearing a debt.
"GO! GO! GO! Time to set off!"
After settling the grudge between Twilight Ogre and Fairy Tail, Eden looked at Macao and Wakaba and said eagerly.
"Huh?!"
"Where are we going next?"
Wakaba and Macao looked at Eden, bewildered.
"To the Flower Capital, of course, to win the Grand Magic Games championship!"
Eden replied with a smile.
"Eh?!"
"How can we possibly get to the Flower Capital, thousands of miles away, in just one day?"
Wakaba and Macao said, completely baffled.
"We don't need a day."
Eden said, holding up his hand to Wakaba and Macao, showing five fingers.
"Five hours?!"
"It can't be five minutes, can it?"
Wakaba and Macao muttered to themselves, stunned.
"Voom!"
A ripple in space...
In an instant, Eden, Wakaba, and Macao arrived in the sky above Crocus, the Flower Capital.
At the same time, Eden closed his hand and smiled, "It was zero-point-five seconds."
"This is completely beyond comprehension."
"Eden, are you a monster?!"
Wakaba and Macao were numb. Eden's strength had completely surpassed anything they could have imagined.
Honeybone Inn
The inn where the Fairy Tail guild participants were staying.
"It's no use."
"There's no way we can win the final day's team battle."
The participating members—Alzack, Bisca, Jet, Droy, and Max—sat exhausted in the inn's hall. They had already lost for four consecutive days. No matter how you looked at it, they had no chance of winning the final team battle, right?!
"You will win."
Just as the Fairy Tail mages were in despair, Eden walked straight into the inn's hall with Macao and Wakaba. He looked at Alzack and the others and smiled, "Because I'm back."
"Eden!!"
"You're finally back!!"
When everyone in the hall saw clearly that the person who spoke was Eden, they all burst into tears.
Hmm, now victory is assured.
(End of Chapter)
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