As Qi Yan spoke, he moved to rush out, his stance immediately startling everyone in the guild. It felt like Qi Yan was genuinely going to slaughter Natsu and the others.
Gray and Elfman quickly stopped Qi Yan. The two of them, one holding Qi Yan's waist and the other blocking his path.
"Qi Yan... don't be rash! Don't be rash!"
"That's right! Don't be rash! They don't deserve to die yet!"
Makarov also broke into a sweat hearing Qi Yan say that. He knew how obsessed Qi Yan was with S-Class quests, but he wanted Qi Yan to save people, not kill them.
Mira quickly said, "Wait! Natsu and the others secretly went to do the quest, and it hasn't been officially accepted, so it doesn't count as taking an S-Class request. That means you can still take this quest."
Qi Yan stopped when he heard Mira's words: "Really?"
"Of course, it's real."
"That's good. Master, I want to take that S-Class quest."
"Alright! I approve!"
[Ding! S-Class Quest accepted: Save Our Island!]
Seeing the system prompt, Qi Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. If an S-Class quest was lost just like that, he wouldn't kill Natsu, but he would definitely teach him a lesson he'd never forget.
"Qi Yan, this quest is for you to complete. You must bring Natsu and the others back."
"Don't worry, Master, I will definitely bring them back alive. As for whether their body parts will be intact, I'm not sure. So, I'm off."
Qi Yan gritted his teeth and left with a sinister smile. Although the quest was saved, Natsu stealing his quest couldn't be let go so easily.
Qi Yan's words made everyone in the guild worry for Natsu and the others. Qi Yan was usually very easy to talk to and had a good personality. No one expected him to change so drastically when an S-Class quest was touched. It was too scary.
"Gray, you go with him. Keep an eye on Qi Yan and don't let him cripple Natsu."
Makarov was still a bit uneasy. Qi Yan would definitely bring Natsu back, but if he really crippled Natsu and the others, that wouldn't be good.
"Understood!"
Gray enthusiastically agreed when he heard Makarov's words. He had long wanted to do an S-Class quest. Even if he didn't need to do anything this time, he still wanted to go and watch.
Elfman going on an S-Class quest had made him incredibly envious.
****
Hargeon Port
"Wow! It's so nostalgic! This is where we first met."
Looking at the familiar scenery, Lucy couldn't help but exclaim, "I remember this place was completely destroyed by you back then, but now it has all recovered. Only Qi Yan's punch mark is still left on the cliff face."
Natsu asked curiously, "Wasn't that just a while ago?! Is there a need to be so emotional?"
"Let's find a boat to Galuna Island first."
As soon as Natsu heard Lucy mention a boat, he was startled and said nervously, "A boat?! No, no, didn't we swim there?"
The Iron Forest incident a few days ago had left Natsu with lingering fears. He had never been on a vehicle for so long. Trains were fine; he could barely tolerate them, but Erza's magic four-wheeler almost killed him.
Lucy looked speechless: "Isn't your idea the unreliable one?!"
The two immediately went to the port to look for a boatman, but all the boatmen, upon hearing that Natsu and the others wanted to go to Galuna Island, refused. The infamous Demon Island made even pirates turn away.
Finally, a boatman said, "Although I don't know what you're going to do, there definitely won't be any boatmen willing to go to that island. Even pirates avoid that island."
"Oh no! What should we do?"
Since all the boatmen refused to go, Lucy was at a loss. Without a boat, she couldn't reach Galuna Island, and if she didn't complete the quest, she wouldn't get the Golden Key.
Natsu, hearing that no boat would go, became Happy instead: "We can just swim there!"
"Huh!"
The boatman, hearing Natsu's words, couldn't help but say, "Swim there? Are you trying to commit suicide? There are big sharks in here!"
"I'm not scared at all!! I'll roast it into fish jerky! Then eat it!"
As Natsu spoke, flames burst from his hand.
The boatman's expression changed instantly upon seeing the flames in Natsu's hand. He spoke with some excitement, "Fire?! You... are you Mages?! Are you here to break the curse of that island?"
"Yes!!"
"Come on board."
"Really?!"
"That's great!"
Both of them cheered at these words and quickly got on the boat.
The boat sailed towards Galuna Island.
"Ugh~~!"
As soon as Natsu got on the boat, he started to get seasick, feeling nauseous and wanting to vomit.
"I don't know why, but I'm only starting to feel a little scared now..."
Lucy was excited when she first got on the boat, but now that she thought about it, she was going on an S-Class quest. It was an S-Class quest where even S-Class Mages could lose their lives if they weren't careful.
"Uncle, weren't you unwilling to sail just now? How come you're willing to sail after knowing we're Mages?"
The boatman uncle explained, "My name is Bobo. I used to be a resident of that island. I later escaped from that terrifying island."
Happy asked curiously, "Boatman uncle, since you're a resident of that island, you must know what the curse is, right?"
"This is the curse..."
As the boatman uncle spoke, he revealed his arm from under his cloak. The three of them were startled by the sight of this arm. What kind of arm was it?
The arm was covered in black carapace and had sharp claws, looking like a demon's arm.
"If you go to that island, calamity will also befall you. Can you really break that curse? Break that demon's curse."
****
"They've been gone for three or four hours."
"These idiots, they run pretty fast!"
Qi Yan and Gray arrived at Hargeon Port and easily found out Natsu's whereabouts. After all, people who go to Demon Island are rarely seen in a year, and Natsu, Lucy, and Happy—one with cherry-red hair, one with golden hair, and a small blue cat—had too obvious features, so they naturally remembered them.
"What should we do since the boatmen here won't go to Galuna Island?"
When Gray was asking about Natsu and the others, he naturally also asked the boatmen if they could take them, and as expected, all were refused.
"It doesn't matter. If they won't go, we'll go ourselves."
Qi Yan said, using his Take Over Magic.
"Full Body Take Over · Ace!"
Ace's freckles began to appear on Qi Yan's face, an orange cowboy hat appeared on his head, he wore black shorts, and a tattoo of the Whitebeard Pirates' flag appeared on his back. This was Qi Yan in his Ace Take Over form.
Then, Qi Yan consumed magic power, and a small boat materialized before him.
The small boat wasn't large; rather than a small boat, it was more like a single-person speedboat. There were three flame jets at the back of the speedboat, the rearmost one for propulsion, and the two on the sides for changing direction.
"Get on the boat, we're going after them."