Lucy's Question

The boundary between barren frozen soil and lush dense forest.

The group walked slowly and steadily toward Old Man Warrod's secluded cabin, their feet sinking into the soft grass and soil.

Natsu clasped his hands behind his head, kicked a small pebble, and turned to grin at Gray beside him.

"Gray, when that demon jumped out of the village just now, you were moving as slowly as a tortoise. If Jiang Bai hadn't intervened, you would have been swallowed whole and turned into fertilizer."

Two veins bulged on Gray's forehead, and he grabbed Natsu's white scarf with his backhand.

"Huh?! You bastard, which eye of yours saw me slow? It was clearly you, you idiot, who almost walked headfirst into the devil's mouth!"

"Want to fight, you bastard!"

"Come on! I'm not afraid of you!"

Their heads were pressed together, nose to nose, and saliva sprayed all over each other's faces.

Lucy, walking in the middle of the group, didn't bother to mediate the fight. With her hands in her coat pockets, she quickly took a few steps to get to Jiang Bai's side.

Lucy turned her head to look at the black-haired young man beside her, who was walking leisurely with his hands in his pockets. Finally, she could no longer suppress her long-suppressed curiosity.

"Hey, Jiang Bai."

Jiang Bai didn't even pause for a second, casually replying.

"What do you want? Don't you have any money to lend?"

Lucy rolled her eyes in annoyance and nudged Jiang Bai lightly with her elbow.

"Who asked you for money! I want to ask you something serious!"

Lucy composed herself slightly and spoke seriously.

"Just how incredible is your true strength now?"

A crisp, clear voice drifted away on the wind.

Natsu and Gray, who had just been bracing their foreheads against each other, froze instantly, like puppets whose reset button had been pressed. They simultaneously released their grip on each other's collars and quietly turned their ears to the side.

Wendy had been walking to the side counting the leaves, stopped in her tracks, and Carla, who was floating above her, also stopped flapping her wings.

Happy flew through the air in an arc and landed on Jiang Bai's shoulder with its two cat ears standing straight up.

The entire team's attention instantly and completely focused on Jiang Bai.

Lucy took small, backward steps towards Jiang Bai, counting carefully on her fingers.

"Look, from the moment we met you until now, whether it's the Phantom Lord, the Grimoire Heart, the monsters at the Grand Magic Games, the adult dragon that descended from the rift in time four hundred years ago, or any other enemy..."

"No matter how terrifying or ferocious the enemy was, or how powerful their forces were, you maintained a relaxed demeanor from beginning to end, hands in your pockets, without breaking a sweat."

Lucy took a deep breath of the cool air and asked the question that everyone had been holding deep in their hearts.

"Aside from facing the world-destroying black dragon Acnologia on Tenrou Island, you seem to have never truly gone all out."

"Are you now... absolutely certain that you can completely defeat Acnologia?"

As soon as those words were spoken...

Natsu unconsciously clenched his fists, a faint spark flickering in his palms.

Gray held his breath, his hands hanging at his sides.

Wendy was also clutching the hem of her skirt tightly, her big eyes fixed on Jiang Bai's face.

For the core members of Fairy Tail who experienced the Tenrou Island catastrophe, the name Acnologia is an insurmountable mountain of despair hanging over the heads of everyone in the entire magical world.

The black dragon that brought about the end has almost become a synonym for invincible destruction.

Hearing Lucy's serious question...

Jiang Bai turned his head and looked at the blonde girl, whose face was full of curiosity, with a half-smile.

"You really want to know?"

"Uh-huh!!"

Lucy nodded her head frantically, like a chick pecking at rice.

Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Carla, and Happy behind them all nodded their heads in unison, like rattles.

He was surrounded by the expectant gazes of his companions.

Jiang Bai pulled his right hand out of his robe pocket, casually flicked the fallen leaves off the hem of his clothes, and a calm and composed smile appeared on his lips.

"About Acnologia..."

Jiang Bai looked up at the azure sky above, his tone as casual as if he were discussing casually swatting a mosquito.

"Five years ago, I stopped worrying that guy could cause any trouble."

Right now, I'm simply waiting for an opportunity to encounter it again.

A few simple words, falling lightly onto the grass.

Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and the others exchanged glances, and almost simultaneously, four words flashed through their minds—"Just as I thought!"

If any other mage dared to make such an outrageous statement in public, everyone would spit in their face and call him a delusional madman.

But when Jiang Bai said it, no one doubted it for even half a second.

Everyone knew better than anyone else that when they encountered the Black Dragon on Tenrou Island, if it weren't for protecting the entire guild and preventing them from moving, and if it weren't for those idiots in the Magic Council on using their Etherion to cause trouble at the crucial moment, they would have been able to escape.

Even if Jiang Bai couldn't kill Acnologia head-on, with his unpredictable spatial abilities and pure physique, no one could stop him from leaving or staying if he wanted to.

Before leaving, Jiang Bai was absolutely capable of tearing a layer of blood off the black dragon and severely injuring the arrogant Dragon King, forcing it to retreat.

Not to mention that after several years, Jiang Bai's overall strength has undergone a terrifying transformation.

Defeating Acnologia was clearly no longer a pipe dream in Jiang Bai's mind, but an inevitable fact.