Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach

It was late at night when Hughes and Makarov walked out of Clover Station.

Despite having already slept on the train, Hughes couldn't help but yawn. "Old man, let's find a hotel for the night. The Guild Alliance meeting doesn't start until tomorrow anyway."

Makarov glanced at the pitch-black night; this was indeed not the right time to head to the Guild Alliance meeting.

"Let's go find something to eat first, then we'll look for a hotel!"

Makarov was clearly familiar with the Clover Town, and even late at night, he led Hughes to find many stalls that were still open.

After indulging in a hearty meal, the two found a nearby hotel to stay in.

Full and wide awake, Hughes was wide awake and lay on the bed with his legs crossed. "Guild Master, do we have a conflict with the Phantom Lord Guild?"

At over eighty years old, Makarov is at an age where he needs less sleep. Like Hughes, he also has trouble sleeping. He just pulled out a notebook from his luggage and has already read dozens of pages.

Hearing Hughes's question, Makarov answered while flipping through his book, his tone flat. "It's not so much a contradiction, but minor conflicts and frictions are common, especially during missions."

However, these kinds of trivial issues are commonplace and don't really constitute a conflict. After all, even we and Blue Pegasus have our share of clashes from time to time, but that doesn't affect the brotherhood between our two guilds."

"But the Phantom Lord's predecessor was the Blue Skull, which was destroyed by the First One!" Hughes reminded him.

"I know, according to the current Magic Council's definition, the Blue Skull is definitely a dark guild; but that was almost a hundred years ago."

The Phantom Lord severed ties with the Blue Skull from its inception. The current Phantom Lord is a legitimate guild, and the number one legitimate mage guild in the Kingdom of Fiore.

Hughes, lying on the bed, shrugged at Makarov's statement. "Makarov considers the Phantom Lord a legitimate guild, but Guild Master Jose might not be. That old bastard is petty and wicked!"

Otherwise, they wouldn't have openly violated the rules of the Magic Council and started a guild war six years later.

Seeing that Makarov didn't understand his hints, Hughes simply reminded him to be careful and watch out for Jose Bora at the meeting!

The following afternoon, after traversing a large forest, Hughes and Makarov finally arrived at the venue for the Guild Alliance meeting.

The cacophony of sounds gradually entered my ears through the door.

At the gate, guards were verifying Makarov's identity to prevent impersonation.

With nothing to do, Hughes gazed at the somewhat luxurious castle before him and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "What a rich bastard!"

"Hughes, alright, let's go in!" Makarov called out to those behind him after verifying their identities.

Hughes strolled after him.

Upon entering the venue, Hughes glanced around briefly. There were at least a hundred people in the conference hall. He recognized many of the faces, but there were far more unfamiliar ones.

The Guild Alliance Conference is open to all legitimate mage guilds in the Kingdom of Fiore, which currently has at least a hundred mage Kingdom of Fiore.

It's strange that the Kingdom of Fiore, a small, permanently neutral country, has hundreds of mage guilds, while the entire Ishgar Continent only has around 500 mage guilds.

Did Hiro Mashima write it wrong, or is his memory playing tricks on him?

As Hughes looked on in confusion, Goldmine, the guild master of the Quatro Cerberus Guild, came over to greet him, "Makarov, what brings you so late?"

Makarov was naturally delighted to see his friend. The two chatted back and forth, occasionally lamenting how time, like a stubborn donkey, would run and never stop, and how in the blink of an eye, they had both grown old.

Gradually, Hughes noticed that more and more people were gathering around them...

"Hey bro, you look unfamiliar. Are you a new member of the Fairy Tail guild?"

A sticky, indescribable sound came from behind him. Hughes turned around curiously; in an instant, a chill ran from the soles of his feet to his spine, Hughes, whose hair stood on end, uncontrollably took several steps back.

Chairman Bob's destructive power is terrifying!!

A plump woman named Bob, dressed in a red tank top and striped shorts, with white wings on her back, was looking at Hughes with a coquettish expression.

Humans aren't scary, nor are demons, but who wouldn't be afraid to encounter a transvestite in real life...?

"Hey bro, let's get acquainted. I'm Bob, the president of Blue Pegasus!" Bob, standing on tiptoe, squinted his eyes shyly and extended his hand to Hughes.

Dry!

Hughes stared in shock, took several steps back to Makarov's side, and shielded Makarov in front of him.

Hughes: (╥╥)

Hughes would rather die than shake hands with Chairman Bob; it would definitely leave him with psychological trauma!

The moment Makarov saw Bob, he immediately understood why Hughes had pushed him over. He said a few words to Bob in an annoyed tone and sent him to Goldmine's side.

"Hughes, don't have bad thoughts about Bob. Bob may be strange, but he's a good person!"

"President, I saw it all. You didn't even dare to shake hands with President Bob..."

Makarov:... He's just a hindrance to Hughes.

Bob, the guild master of the Blue Pegasus Guild, Goldmine, the guild master of the Quatro Cerberus Guild, were both members of Fairy Tail before, and were even in the same team as Makarov and Porlyusica.

As Guild Master Bob focused his attention on the young people from other guilds, Makarov in Hughes's hands became useless. After pushing Makarov next to Guild Master Oba of Lamia Scale and spinning them around together, Hughes ran to a secluded corner.

The younger generation in Fairy Tail are all goofballs now, and Hughes feels no pressure at all being with them.

But the older generation of Fairy Tail were pure perverts. Hughes worried that if he spent too much time with them, he would die young before he could enjoy all the good fortune.

Undisturbed and enjoying his freedom, Hughes poured himself a drink, took a small sip, and gazed curiously at the hall.

At this moment, the meeting hall was clearly divided into two groups.

A group of people, led by Makarov, gathered on the right, laughing and joking.

A group of people, led by Jose Bora, the Phantom Lord, gathered on the left side of the hall, the atmosphere tense.

Suddenly, a system notification sound, which he hadn't heard in a long time, rang in Hughes's mind.

[The Four Emperors, Blackbeard, has been detected. Defeat him!]

The quest "Challenge the Four Emperors - Blackbeard" is now active!

Hughes paused slightly, then raised an eyebrow and looked at Jose Bora.

He is the only one who fits Blackbeard's characteristics of patience, ambition, and ruthlessness; even Jose Bora's Darkness Magic and Marshall D. Teach's Dark-Dark Fruit have similarities.

A transparent page unfolded before Hughes' eyes...

[Challenging the Four Emperors - Blackbeard:...]

Note: A descendant of a king, he endured half his life in silence, finally obtaining what was destined for him; a ruthless hero among ruthless heroes.

This was the first time Hughes had ever seen such a high evaluation of a person in a mission description.

Blackbeard doesn't dislike Hughes; in a sense, Blackbeard is also a pitiful person.

[Task Reward: Significantly improves physical fitness]

Hughes glanced at the mission rewards and then accepted the mission.

Task penalty...

Even a drunk Makarov could take on Jose Bora single-handedly, let alone with Hughes present now; how could he possibly fail?