Flying Freely in Your Heart

July 1, X778, Fairy Tail calendar. Auspicious for travel and training; avoid water and flying.

The blazing sun scorched his backside as Hughes waved goodbye to his luxurious little villa and walked to the guild alone, yawning all the way.

Last night, Makarov had made a special trip over with Laxus to congratulate Hughes and the other three on their new home. Before leaving, he told Mira and her two siblings to come to the guild early the next morning, so he could teach them the secrets of Take Over Magic there.

The evil Strauss family had rushed to the guild before dawn today, without even having time to make Hughes breakfast.

As he walked, Hughes gently rubbed his empty stomach. "Whose tab should I put today's guild expenses on?"

"Elfman, Gray, Cana, Lisanna..." Hughes, who had trouble making choices, muttered to himself for quite a while. Just as he was struggling to decide, an image of Natsu wreathed in flames popped into his head.

"I choose you, Dragon Son!" A strange smile appeared on Hughes's face as he hit upon a good idea.

Natsu was a good choice! Easy to trick... no, easy to trade with.

He would treat Natsu to flames, and Natsu would treat him to a meal. His flames cost nothing, and Natsu was young enough to eat at the guild for free. Everyone benefited and won, and they all had a bright future.

Inside the Fairy Tail guild, Natsu, Mira, Gray and the others sat cross-legged on the floor with their eyes closed in contemplation, while Makarov sat upright at the bar, patiently instructing them.

Hughes had intended to kick the guild doors open and announce his presence, but when he saw this, he tiptoed inside, afraid the slightest sound would disturb them.

Standing in a corner, Hughes twitched his ears slightly and listened to Makarov's words.

"Magic is the power of the heart. Only those with firm resolve can master advanced magic. Meditation and contemplation of magic are essential daily exercises for a mage. Take a deep breath and seek the call of the magic within you..."

Hughes blinked, unable to understand what Makarov was talking about. Did the mages of Fairy Tail actually need to train too?

Didn't they just need to learn the art of BGM, carry a giant speaker, and shout in anger, "We're Fairy Tail!"

Then they could sweep across the world, slaying any demon or dragon that stood in their way!

Perhaps Wakaba and the other adults had known in advance that Makarov would be teaching magic at the guild this morning. Hughes waited in the corner for a long time, but none of them showed up.

Sitting alone with nothing to do, Hughes grew bored and sneaked out the back door to the lake outside the guild.

Fishing?

He'd quit! Don't bother him!

He was an eager learner, and he was here to train.

Sitting by the lake, Hughes slowly dipped his feet into the water, then his lower body, until his entire chest was submerged.

"Glug, glug!"

Bubbles kept rising to the surface around Hughes, followed by wisps of steam. A glow of fire was faintly visible beneath the water.

Leaning against the bank, Hughes enjoyed his sauna, so comfortable that he almost made a sound that could easily be misunderstood.

He didn't know whether it was because this was a different world, or because his Devil Fruit ability had awakened through absorbing Devil Origin.

But the weakness of Devil Fruit Users being vulnerable to water did not apply to Hughes.

Hughes had discovered that while taking a bath.

"Oh! Oh! Oh~"

As Hughes let out those inexplicable cries, the flames beneath the water grew brighter. The lake seemed to have been brought to a boil, bubbling over a wide area as though it were about to erupt.

Finally, with a bang, the lake exploded, sending a column of water dozens of meters into the air.

The lake water rose high into the sky before pouring back down like hail, pounding the surface into a succession of hollows.

Hughes stood up in the lake and shook the water off. Heat from the Flame-Flame Fruit rose from his body, drying his soaked clothes in no time.

"Tsk, I lasted two minutes before shooting this time. Progress, progress!"

Hughes was satisfied with the result. He had just been using the pressure of the entire lake to temper his flame abilities.

That way, he could develop Flame-Flame Fruit techniques, such as Ace's Flame Commandment and Mirror Flame, both large-scale moves that combined offense and defense.

The three moves he currently knew-Fire Fist, Divine Fire: Shiranui, and Firefly: Fire Daruma-were all focused solely on attack.

Although he had two defensive techniques, Elementalization and Perfect-Level Tekkai, who would complain about having too many ways to deal with an enemy?

Knowing a technique and not using it was worlds apart from needing one and not having it.

Of course, what Hughes wanted most was to develop the Flame Ring series of techniques. But after thinking it over, he gave up. Without even trying, he knew that with his Flame-Flame Fruit at only 30% Awakening, he probably couldn't even touch the threshold for an island-destroying move like that, so there was no point wasting time.

As for developing other Flame-Flame Fruit techniques?

Why think when he could copy? A mental patient wouldn't dare use his brain too much.

Hughes was shamelessly lazy!

A transparent panel slowly unfolded...

[Fruit ability: Flame-Flame Fruit · Initial Awakening (Awakening: 30%)]

[Supreme techniques: Tekkai (perfect level), Geppo (perfect level)]

Hughes's gaze lingered on the fruit ability for a while before moving down to the supreme techniques.

Hughes pretended not to see the damned Perfect-Level Tekkai and focused all his attention on Geppo.

Geppo was a technique that enabled aerial combat. Who could resist the temptation of flying freely through the vast sky?

[Geppo: Step on the air to move freely through the sky.

Note: This skill has reached the perfect level, allowing the user to change course at will in midair.]

The brief introduction made Hughes's eyes light up at once. He had long since memorized the trick to Geppo; all he lacked was practice. Ever since obtaining it, Hughes had never used it once.

Hughes acted on the thought immediately, kicking off the ground and leaping into the air. Before he could fall, he stepped on the air with his right foot and rose again. When he began to fall once more, he stepped on the air again and stood still in midair.

He moved freely wherever he pleased, as though he were climbing stairs in the sky, paying no heed to Newton whatsoever. No... he had practically ripped the lid off Newton's coffin.

As Hughes enjoyed himself in the air, he suddenly remembered how he had compressed flames beneath his feet to increase his speed.

If he combined that flame-thruster-like method with Geppo, would he go a little faster?

The idea had barely surfaced in his mind when flames erupted beneath Hughes's feet. He adjusted his direction in midair while controlling the compression and eruption of the flames beneath his soles.

In a blur, a streak of flame flashed across the sky...

Makarov and the others, drawn over by the sound of the lake's explosion, watched the scene with mild surprise.

"Was Hughes just flying?" Lisanna asked Natsu uncertainly.

Natsu scratched his head. "I guess... maybe Hughes was flying!" He hadn't eaten breakfast and was very hungry, so his attention had been fixed on the lake.

For some reason, lots of delicious-smelling grilled fish had appeared in the lake, and Happy was already eating...

"Damn it, Happy, save some for me!" The more Natsu thought about it, the angrier he got, and he plunged headfirst into the lake.

"Hey, Natsu, look, so many fish!" Happy held out a grilled fish twice as big as he was to Natsu. Two more were already hanging behind him.

"Happy, you're the best!"