A banquet was underway aboard a luxury cruise ship. Lucy, formally dressed in a red evening gown, had been given a room to herself.
"Well, I just have to put up with it a little longer. As long as I can join Fairy Tail, it'll be worth it. Hang in there."
A little figure in Lucy's mind was desperately cheering her on.
Then another thought occurred to her. But would Fairy Tail really let someone like that join the guild? She shook her head and focused. Forget it. I'll see how things go first and stay alert, so I don't end up falling for some strange magic again like I did in the park today.
While Lucy was still thinking, the purple-haired man posing as the Fire Dragon pushed the door open and entered, carrying two glasses and a bottle of juice. He still wore that conceited smile.
The fake Fire Dragon smiled as he discreetly looked Lucy up and down with a revolting gaze. Well, she really is a top beauty. Could she be a mage too? Looks like I'll have to deal with her carefully.
"Your name's Lucy, right? What a lovely name. I'm Bora."
"Thank you." Lucy felt sick, but she forced herself to respond politely.
"Let's have a drink, to getting to know each other properly."
Bora snapped his fingers. At the sound, the juice floated into the air under the influence of his Magic Power, and he used his ring to cast Sleep Magic on the suspended liquid.
"Smack!"
Lucy snapped to attention, sensing something. She shot to her feet and slapped the liquid out of the air. Her expression serious, she demanded, "What are you trying to do? You cast Sleep Magic on that juice, didn't you?"
"I didn't expect you to know so much. You caught it even though I was so discreet?"
"Clap, clap~"
With his magic foiled and his intentions exposed by Lucy, Bora dropped the act. He immediately put on an arrogant expression, looking as though victory was already his, and clapped his hands. "Come on out, boys."
The girls who had been laughing and chatting on deck moments ago were brought out one by one, unconscious, carried in the arms and over the shoulders of a group of bandits.
"Damn you! How could you do something like this, you scum?"
While Lucy and Bora were confronting each other on the luxury yacht, elsewhere, on the observation deck...
"How dare he pretend to be a Fairy Tail mage... Unforgivable."
Natsu gripped the railing with both hands, staring intently at the luxury cruise ship sailing on the sea. He had just heard the girls beside him talking about how Lord Fire Dragon of Fairy Tail was holding a banquet aboard the ship.
"Happy, let's go."
"Aye~"
Happy had just raced over the ship with Natsu when a ring of keys fell into the water in an arc.
"Boom! Crash!"
Natsu smashed through the cruise ship's ceiling with one punch, making a spectacular entrance. But he couldn't keep it up for more than a few seconds. "Ugh, I feel sick. I'm gonna puke." Covering his mouth, Natsu bent over and threw up.
"Whoa, how lame." Lucy's initial surprise and delight vanished as Natsu's rapid collapse left her stunned.
"Lucy, what are you doing here?"
Happy flew in the air on his wings, asking Lucy in surprise.
After all, once they had eaten at the restaurant, they had thought Lucy had set off to find the guild she had always dreamed of joining. They hadn't expected to see her here.
"Don't ask. I was tricked. He said that if I came here, he could get me into Fairy Tail. Wait, hang on, why do you have wings?"
Lucy had been speaking normally, but when she suddenly noticed that Happy had wings, she cried out in surprise.
"We'll explain later. Let's get out of here first."
Happy offered no explanation about himself. He wrapped his tail around Lucy and flew up into the sky.
"Hey, hey, hey! What about Natsu?"
"I can't carry two people, but don't worry about Natsu."
"Damn it, you're not getting away!"
Seeing the two fly off, Bora worried that they would report him to the Magic Council and hurriedly unleashed his fire magic in pursuit.
"Fire magic: Flame Whip!" Several long, whip-shaped streams of purple flame attacked the two from different angles as they dodged from side to side.
Just as several Flame Whips were about to strike Happy and Lucy, Happy swerved sharply and dodged them.
"Damn it, that cat sure is agile."
"Fairy... Tail. How dare you pretend to be a Fairy Tail mage and do something like this?" Natsu blocked the blows with one arm and glared viciously at Bora.
Bora and the others were drawn to Natsu and looked over, failing to notice that Happy and Lucy had already disappeared.
Elsewhere...
Several figures floated in midair, enveloped in golden light... Their forms were hidden by the reflected light.
"Hey, Happy, long time no see. You're still the same size; you haven't changed a bit." A right hand bearing the golden-yellow Fairy Tail mark reached out and rested on Happy's soft head.
"Z-Zorn, I missed you so much! What took you so long to come back?" Looking at Zorn, who hadn't changed a bit in two years, Happy's eyes filled with tears of joy. He threw himself into Zorn's arms and rubbed his head against him, expressing his happiness.
Zorn didn't mind at all. "You're still such a crybaby. I'm back now, aren't I? All right, all right, or someone might laugh at you."
"Y-you're Lord Zorn, who became one of the Ten Wizard Saints while still a boy. Hello, I'm Lucy. I've always wanted to join Fairy Tail."
Lucy wasn't about to laugh at Happy for losing his composure. She had a hand over her mouth, utterly shocked that she could meet the legendary mage who had shaken the entire continent before she had even joined Fairy Tail.
After taking a deep breath and calming her shock, she respectfully voiced her long-held wish, stumbling over her words a little.
"Mm, haha, that's a bit much. Just call me Zorn. Also, these should be your keys, right, Celestial Spirit Mage Lucy?"
A little embarrassed, Zorn rubbed his head and unhurriedly used Holy Light Magic to hand Lucy the Celestial Spirit Keys he had already fished out of the water.
"Ah, my Celestial Spirit Keys! Thank goodness, thank goodness!"
Overjoyed to have her precious keys back, Lucy hurriedly accepted them and rubbed them against her cheek, clearly treasuring them.
"Celestial Spirit Mage?" Sitting on Zorn's shoulder, Happy looked at him with a questioning expression after hearing a term he didn't know.
"It means a mage who uses special keys to form contracts and summon Celestial Spirits from another world to fight. A mage who uses that magic is called a Celestial Spirit Mage."
"Is it strong?"
"Very strong."
"Lucy, would you mind showing us this Celestial Spirit Magic? And Natsu seems to need some help right now. Just send the ship back to shore."
Zorn looked down at Natsu. Although Natsu could barely use his fists and feet to fight back against the beating, he was still suffering from motion sickness and struggling to counterattack.
"Use this ball of water." Zorn moved a ball of water surrounded by Magic Power in front of Lucy.
"All right, leave it to me!" Lucy was eager to show her magic in front of a Wizard Saint so she could successfully join Fairy Tail.
But she didn't know that even without Zorn to lead her, she was destined to join Fairy Tail in this life under the guidance of the person fated to do so.
"Open, Gate of Aquarius!"
Holding Aquarius's key in her right hand, Lucy channeled her Magic Power, swept the key downward, and thrust it into the ball of water before her. A blue magic circle opened, and a mature-looking mermaid with long blue hair reaching her waist appeared before them.
"Aquarius, quick, use your power to push the ship to shore."
"Tch~ Lucy, if you lose your keys again, just you wait."
Lucy immediately jumped in protest and began chattering away. "Did you just say 'tch'...?"
"What a talkative brat. I'll help you this once. I'm in a hurry to see my boyfriend, you know. My boyfriend."
Ignoring Lucy's complaints about her showing off her boyfriend, Aquarius raised the jar in her hands. A powerful torrent gushed out, sweeping up the waves below and surging toward the ship.
Once she was done, she tossed her head haughtily and disappeared.
"Hey, boss, look behind you..."
One of Bora's underlings pointed at the enormous wave that had suddenly appeared behind them and warned him, his face full of fear. But it was too late. The wave overturned the entire ship and sent it tumbling toward shore.
"Amazing!"
"Right?"
"Lucy, thanks for your help. Come eat with us. I bought a local snack on the way here: sugar-roasted chestnuts. They're delicious."
Zorn used Holy Light Magic to materialize several chairs and a table, then sat down to eat, remembering to invite Lucy to join him.
"By the way, Zorn, why didn't you help Natsu take them out directly?"
"It's a test. This is a good chance to see if Natsu's been slacking off these past two years."
Seeing that Zorn wasn't putting on airs at all, Lucy felt relieved. Her nervousness vanished at once, and she began eating in the same manner.
If she knew Zorn was also afraid of his wife, who knew what expression she would make?
Haha, getting off track.
In town, Zorn had already used magic to move the girls from the ship into the city. Once they realized they were safe, they screamed and scattered, no longer wanting anything to do with what was happening by the shore.
To be continued~