The Talking Toad

Happy was so frightened that he nestled on Natsu's head, his tiny Cat Claws covering his ears, his eyes tightly shut into slits, and his whole body trembling.

Seeing that Hughes had dealt with the table that Laxus had thrown at them, Natsu quickly picked Happy up from above his head, patted its little head, and comforted it, "Happy, it's alright!"

Happy quietly opened his eyes, peeked for a moment, and then imitated Macao by taking deep breaths to relieve his inner tension.

Oh my god, that scared the cat to death...

Having already shown signs of his mischievousness, Happy, after catching his breath, angrily pointed at Hughes and shouted, "Hughes, do you want to fight?"

"Huh?"

The crowd was shocked. Natsu covered Happy's mouth tightly, anxiously saying, "Stop talking, Happy! Hughes might really fight you!"

Unable to vent his frustration, Hughes' eyes widened upon hearing Happy's words, and he glared at it angrily. "Very well, Happy, you're the one!"

In an instant, Happy, the king of words Happy, opened his eyes twice as wide as usual, his tail stood straight up and bristled with fear, and after flailing his Cat Claws around for a while, he simply covered his eyes.

"Hey, Hughes, I was just kidding! It was Natsu, Natsu said he wanted to fight you!"

"Bang!"

After a deafening sonic boom, Hughes suddenly appeared in front of Happy, fist raised high.

"Close your eyes, you'll still get beaten even if you close your eyes!" Hughes sneered.

Happy was so scared that he stomped his feet on Natsu's head, tears streaming from his covered eyes.

"Hey, Natsu, save me!"

"Bang!"

After a crisp sound, Gray, who was completely unprepared beside Natsu, instantly transformed into a streak of light and disappeared after crashing through the guild's wooden door.

"Gray, don't think I didn't hear your pleas just now. If you hadn't kept praying that I would lose, how could I, Hughes, have lost two games in a row!" Hughes said angrily, shaking his wrist.

Natsu scratched his head, his brows furrowing deeply. "Uh, it probably has nothing to do with Gray. Lisanna said you've always been unlucky, Hughes..."

"You fly too!"

Hughes continued to swing his fist, urging Natsu to follow Gray as they searched for the distant horizon.

"I've never seen anyone so clueless, haven't you, Lisanna!" Hughes glared at Lisanna and brandished his fist at her.

Lisanna took two steps back in fear, hiding behind Macao and the others, her eyes brimming with tears. "Macao, Wakaba, will you save me?"

Lisanna's pitiful appearance immediately touched the hearts of the two new fathers. They quickly shielded Lisanna behind them, then angrily rolled up their sleeves. "Hughes, how dare you bully Lisanna!"

"Ha?"

"Bang, bang!"

Hughes showed no mercy, flashing over and delivering a punch to each of them, forcing Macao and Wakaba to face reality.

With her useless backer dealt with instantly, Lisanna swiftly knelt down and admitted her mistake. "Hughes, I was wrong. I won't speak ill of you again!"

"Tsk, tsk!"

Before Hughes could even utter a victory speech, suddenly, a pair of dark arms reached out from behind Hughes and tightly bound him.

"Everyone, hurry up and get me! I can't hold on!"

"Well done, Nab!" Wakaba jumped for joy, his pipe billowing with smoke, and a fist of smoke, as big as two people, suddenly took shape.

"Smoke Attack!"

"Bang!" The giant fist of smoke slammed down, knocking Hughes and Nab down together.

"I... I haven't escaped yet..." These were Nab's last words before he fell unconscious.

"Nab, everyone will remember you, go in peace!" Macao said ruthlessly, his Purple Flare Magic, known as the Undying Flame, already fully charged.

"Purple-Red Sky Net!"

Macao shouted, releasing purple flames from his hands into the sky, forming a net-like cage woven from purple flames that fell from the sky and trapped Hughes.

"Let's all attack together!"

Happy responded and led the charge, "Hey! Happy Punch!"

The reformed Reedus picked up a paintbrush and swung it across his bloated body. Two lifelike wild boars suddenly leaped out of his body, snorting and snorting as they charged straight at Hughes.

Marcus hid behind them, secretly making sand and piling it on Hughes, slowly building a grave for Hughes.

Lisanna stood out of Hughes's sight and used the Take Over Magic: Animal Soul to transform into a bird that Hughes didn't recognize. At that moment, she was flapping her wings incessantly, generating dense wind blades that relentlessly attacked Hughes.

"You bunch of bastards, none of you are getting away!"

Hughes exerted force suddenly, and Macao's purple flame net sizzled before snapping with a bang.

Having broken free of his restraints, Hughes appeared beside Macao in an instant, his right fist raised high...

"Bang, bang!"

With two punches, Macao landed safely next to Nab.

"Your turn, Wakaba..." Hughes looked at Wakaba and grinned maliciously.

The sight of those fiery eyes sent a chill down Wakaba's spine. He quickly addressed Warren and the others, signaling that they needed to unite to deal with Hughes.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The guild was instantly thrown into chaos, with countless tables and chairs smashed.

Seeing the scene before him, Makarov's forehead veins bulged, and he clutched his heart with his right hand. His heart ached terribly; his savings were about to run out again...

"Laki, after they've finished causing trouble, remember to use Wood Make Magic to repair the guild gate and the tables and chairs!"

"Okay, President, I'll use the Love's Shy Dam to fix them!"

Makarov:... What kind of lousy name is this? I'm so tired, I just want to retire...

Meanwhile, Erza and Mira were sitting in a corner, whispering to each other.

"Mira, you deliberately only put out three lots, didn't you? You must have known Hughes would draw last!" Erza said with a serious expression.

Mira nodded. She knew Hughes's personality too well. The more you let this idiot draw first, the more he'd want to draw last.

"Why did you do that?" Erza asked curiously.

Mira didn't answer Erza, her cheeks just flushed slightly. Hughes had just told her he was going to take her to catch Kailinfu and make her clarify that she wasn't a scoundrel.

Mira doesn't want that; Hughes's scoundrel label is best left intact.

This way, the other women will be wary of Hughes...

Erza looked at Mira, whose cheeks were slightly flushed, and nodded thoughtfully.

It seems Lisanna is right... However, having a child now would violate the laws of the Kingdom of Fiore!

While Erza and Mira were lost in their own thoughts, Natsu suddenly kicked open the guild door, which was only half open.

"Look everyone, I caught a really, really big toad! It can talk, and it's even wearing clothes!" Natsu grinned.

A talking toad, and it's even wearing clothes?

The commotion subsided slightly as everyone looked at the monster being dragged to the ground by Natsu with suspicion.

Makarov froze for two seconds, then was so frightened that he spat out the wine in his mouth. He jumped up in anger and punched Natsu away again.

"Damn it, Natsu! That's an envoy from the Magic Council!"