Time quickly advanced to eight in the morning. Just as Statiw was sleeping soundly, the door was suddenly slammed open. Natsu, with Happy, ran to Statiw's bed in a few steps, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him repeatedly.
"What's going on? Is it an earthquake?" Feeling the world spin in his dream, Statiw suddenly opened his eyes and saw Natsu and Happy's faces close to his own: "Natsu? Happy?"
"You're finally awake." Seeing Statiw open his eyes, Natsu and Happy immediately jumped up excitedly.
"What do you two want?" Rubbing his eyes and confirming that it was indeed Natsu and Happy, Statiw sat loosely on the bed and asked.
"The duel, our duel. Did you forget?" Noticing that Statiw was still in a daze, Natsu immediately reminded him.
"Ay~" Happy then listlessly raised his small paw and said: "Statiw and Natsu agreed yesterday to duel today. Because of this agreement, Natsu was too excited to sleep last night and only slept for a while in the morning, which also kept me from sleeping. I'm still sleepy now."
"A duel?" Statiw quickly recalled what he had promised Natsu yesterday after hearing what he said. He raised his hand and yawned, saying: "Ah~, I remember now. But, is it necessary to be this early?"
"It's not early anymore, Statiw." Happy flew in front of him and said: "It's already eight o'clock."
"It's only eight o'clock." Statiw looked at his watch, still with no intention of getting up.
"Hurry up, Statiw. Everyone is waiting." Natsu didn't care whether he wanted to get up or not. He grabbed Statiw's neck and intended to drag him to the guild.
"Wait, Natsu." Statiw immediately felt something was wrong. He quickly stopped him, saying: "I still have something I haven't gotten. Even if we go to the guild, we can't duel."
"Huh?" Natsu, with Statiw's neck in his grasp, had already reached the door. Hearing this, he had no choice but to let go and say: "Then hurry up, everyone at the guild is waiting."
After speaking, he excitedly threw a few punches into the air.
"Yes, yes." Realizing that sleeping any longer was impossible, Statiw turned to wash up, then prepared all the necessary items one by one before leaving with Natsu for the guild.
Arriving at the guild entrance, they pushed open the door. Everyone inside saw Statiw, Natsu, and Happy at the door, and it immediately became lively.
"They're here, they're here. Statiw, Natsu, are you ready to duel?"
"Place your bets, place your bets. I'm betting on..."
Ignoring the commotion of these troublemakers, Statiw quickly walked to Mirajane's side and handed her all his possessions, saying: "Help me bet later, bet on me to win."
"Oh? It seems you're quite confident." Mirajane took the money Statiw handed her and teased with a smile: "But what if you lose?"
"Of course, I have absolute confidence." Statiw said with a confident expression, then continued: "And even if I lose, it doesn't matter, don't I still have you?"
As soon as Statiw finished speaking, Mirajane's face immediately turned red, and she said: "I won't bother with you."
As soon as she finished speaking, Statiw immediately interjected: "No way, Mirajane. My cooking skills are terrible. Can you really bear to watch me eat half-raw food? And if I get a stomach ache, I won't be able to go on missions."
"If you can't go on missions, I can go with Elfman or Lisanna." Mirajane glanced at Statiw, then turned her head away and said with her eyes closed.
"Hey, hey, hey, we're a team, is it really okay for you to say that?" Seeing her turn her head away, Statiw, who didn't understand what she meant, immediately said.
"Hmph, I'm too lazy to bother with you." With that, Mirajane walked towards the counter.
Before Statiw could figure out what was happening, Mirajane had already returned with a plate of breakfast and placed it in front of him, saying: "Eat quickly. Later, give Natsu a good beating and take down Team Erza's arrogance."
"No problem." Statiw smiled slightly and gave a thumbs up.
"Alright, hurry up and eat." Mirajane gently pushed Statiw's shoulder and said with a faint smile.
As soon as she finished speaking, Natsu jumped over with a grin, patting Statiw's shoulder and saying: "Statiw, are you ready? Let's start the duel."
At this, Mirajane's eyebrows furrowed, and her expression immediately darkened, saying: "Natsu, don't you see Statiw is eating breakfast?"
"Uh, I did see him, but..." Natsu scratched his head, looking puzzled: "Can't he eat after we fight?"
"No, he must finish his breakfast before we start." Mirajane flatly refused, then turned to look at the others around her, saying: "What? Do you have an opinion?"
"No, none." Seeing Mirajane's grim expression, everyone immediately shook their heads and replied.
However, although these guys didn't dare to provoke her, their eyes were fixed on Statiw, which immediately made him feel the pressure. Left with no choice, he quickly stuffed his breakfast into his mouth and began to chew.
"Eat slowly, it's not a big deal anyway, why are you in such a hurry?" Seeing him so rushed, Mirajane frowned and advised.
"It's okay, I just want to win early." Statiw defended himself.
"Suit yourself." Mirajane, of course, knew why he was in such a hurry. She turned her head and glared fiercely at the guys around her. Seeing her look over, they immediately turned their heads in other directions, some even whistling.
"Alright, can we start now?" At this moment, the single-minded Natsu, seeing that Statiw had swallowed all his breakfast, immediately asked excitedly.
"Let's go outside, don't break anything in the guild." After a little preparation, Statiw patted Natsu's back and said.
"No problem." Natsu was already extremely excited at this point and ran out without a word.
Seeing Natsu run out, everyone in the guild followed. Taking this opportunity, Mirajane also went to the person running the betting pool to place her bets, and not just with the money Statiw gave her; she also put in some of her own to bet on his victory.
Arriving at the open space outside the guild, the mages of Fairy Tail had already formed a large circle. Natsu and Statiw stood inside the circle, ready to begin their fight.
Just then, a figure gradually approached the guild from a distance. When this figure reached the outer edge of the circle, she patted someone's shoulder and asked: "What happened? Why are you all gathered here?"
The person whose shoulder was patted turned around, immediately startled, and said: "Erza, when did you get back...?"