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The dark guild had been expecting them, that much was clear. Since Fairy Tail had participated in the defeat of the three corners of the Baram Alliance, a lot of dark guilds had popped up out of nowhere, trying to vie for the top. They were weaker than Grimoire Hearts or Tartaros had been, but some of these guilds were similar to Oracion Seis, although with far more members needed to reach the same threat level. It was one of the jobs of the legal guilds to take them down, especially once they became too big for the Rune Knights to take care of. It was for that very reason that Gray had infiltrated Avatar.
And then, Alvarez had attacked Fiore, resulting in the death of a huge part of Fiore’s mages, all ready to lay their life on the line to ensure Fiore’s survival. Legal or not, guilds of all kinds had banded together temporarily to defend against the invader, and dark guilds had been just as affected by the following massacre.
Even if it had taken longer this time, dark guilds had started to form again after they successfully repealed Alvarez and dealt with Acnologia.
Wassergreife had been smarter than many others. They had been aware of the overwhelming strength of Fairy Tail. The guild's reputation had skyrocketed after their public defeat of the strongest members of Alvarez. Not even Sabertooth or Lamia Scale could compete in sheer popularity, despite having been instrumental in their victory and already having their own sizable fanbase. Where other dark guilds had seen it as a boom, wanting to take them down and assuage their authority, the members of Wassergreife had seen Fairy Tail for the threat it was.
Thus they had taken steps to ensure their survival. The problem however was that Fairy Tail, just like many guilds, boasted of a very diverse set of magic users, and it was impossible to shield a building against every kind of power, as Raven Tail’s scattering had proved. So they had taken the idea to the next step.
Magic sealing stones were extremely rare, and extremely pricy. The magic council had exclusivity on their use and had kept their supplier secret. Lunalicht, the founder of Wassergreife, had traveled across Ishgar in search of new and illegal knowledge and had fallen across their quarry by pure luck. That had allowed him to build his evil lair almost entirely with those stones, with hidden paths for his guild to move through while keeping access to their magic if needed.
They had also tried to stay discreet while proceeding with their evil plan, not wanting to try their defenses if they could just avoid any problem by being undetected. Sadly for them, and luckily for every citizen of Fiore, their attempt to create a magical flood that would swallow the whole country had caught the attention of the magical council. Despite what their detractors would say, they kept a keen eye on the trade of magical items, even having access to part of the black market. The new council had decided that it was better to allow evil to prosper where they could monitor it rather than risk plans succeeding in the shadow because the guilds had been sneaky enough to avoid detection.
As was usually the case once they found something that was too big for them to handle, the magical council charged Fairy Tail to get rid of the dark guild.
However, when Fairy Tail tried to lead the assault, they found themselves losing their magical abilities as soon as they stepped inside the building, losing at the same time the element of surprise.
It had barely slowed down Team Natsu, with Natsu, Erza, and Gray running inside without a care. Lucy had hesitated at the entrance, but with a put upon sigh, had grabbed her whip and followed them.
“Now that the more reckless members have left, what’s our plan of attack?” Asked Bickslow, one hand on his hip. His babies were hovering cautiously around him. He knew that if he stepped foot inside this building, he would lose his control over his dolls, which removed almost all of his attacks. Given that he wasn’t monstrously strong, like Natsu or Erza were, he didn’t want to enter this place without access to his magic.
“Those stones only affect magic from the inside. Can’t we take down the building from here?” Asked Mirajane. Given the reputation of this particular dark guild, with its member not hesitating to sacrifice themselves if it meant taking out their target alongside them, it had been decided that the Strauss siblings, as well as the Raijinshuu, would go on this mission alongside team Natsu with the goal to send enough people at once that they wouldn’t have the time to pull any kamikaze act.
“Sealing stones are unbreakable.” Answered Laxus. When the Magic Council Headquarters had been destroyed, the only thing left standing had been the cells made out of the sealing stones, and Jackal’s explosive curse was a very destructive power. If it hadn’t been able to destroy those stones, despite being a curse and not magic, then the stones were near unbreakable. The way they were mined was a secret guarded so closely that less than three people in the whole country knew about it.
“You need very specific spells to break them, and I don’t know any of them.” Added Freed.
“If they planned that far, they’ll have a plan to defeat us.” Said Lisana, peering worriedly inside the dark building.
“They must have expected us to be totally useless without our magic. But we’re not.” Pointed out Laxus.
“Well, some of us are.” Scoffed Evergreen. She, Lisanna, even Bickslow, weren’t able to do much without their magic. Freed at least had his sword and knew how to use it.
“They wouldn’t have built their headquarters entirely out of magic stealing stone, that would be stupid.” Reasoned Mirajane. “It’s either a trap and this isn’t their base at all,” which she doubted, because Levy had worked with the Runes Knight to find out where their base was, and Levy wouldn’t be mistaken, “or they have some other way to move inside.”
“You think there are secret tunnels?” Asked Lisanna.
Laxus crossed his arms over his chest. “They know we’re here.” He reminded them. “We can’t risk losing any more time. We’ve only become aware of their existence because their plan to destroy the whole country is getting close to succeeding. They’re not going to give up now that they’re so close to their goal and they’re going to risk everything to succeed. We all know how dangerous that makes them, even more than usual. We don’t have the time to look for whatever path they are using.”
“We’ll be killed if we go in there powerless.” Pointed out Bickslow.
“Let’s go forward.” Decided Mirajane. “Team Natsu, Laxus, Freed, Elfman and I will be able to fight even without our powers. That’s enough people to try and put a stop to what they’re doing.”
“The three of us will look for those secret paths during that time.” Agreed Lisanna.
~~Fairy Tail~~One Piece~~
The battle had been going well enough. The dark mages had tried to hit them from their hidden positions behind the walls, but the Fairy Tail members retaliated quickly. Sadly, their enemies were true believers and didn’t hesitate to blow the tunnels behind them to prevent them from being used if they were found out.
“The concentration of Ethernano in the air is getting bigger.” Warned Freed, ducking under a body thrown by Natsu.
“I still can’t feel anything.” Answered Erza, deflecting a spell with her sword as she punched someone in the face, knocking him out. Freed had been feeling the magic for a few minutes by now, but he was the only one able to detect anything strange.
“It must be some sort of ritual, then.” Said Laxus. While everyone with magic was able to sense magical power, Freed was far more sensitive to ritual magic due to the nature of his powers. Likewise, Bickslow could detect mind control or illusionary magic easily, without even needing to remove his visor.
“Are they trying to enact their plan now?” Wondered Lucy, before turning toward Freed. “Can you tell where the magical energy comes from?”
Laxus glanced at her, vaguely noticing that once again half of her shirt had been ripped out at one point during the fight, but she didn’t seem bothered. Lucy’s clothes getting destroyed when she was fighting was at that point just as inevitable as Gray losing his. She usually had that maiden spirit of her around to make sure she didn’t end up entirely naked, but with her powers cut off from her, she had resorted to tying the tatters together over her boobs.
“I can tell it’s close, but that’s all.” He answered, shaking his head.
“We need to spread out.” Ordered Laxus, taking a look at the battle. “We all reunited in the same room, but they are only trying to stall-” He cut off as the wall exploded behind him, huge debris flying across the room and hitting the fighter indiscriminately.
He shielded his face with his arm even if it wasn’t turned toward the explosion, feeling numerous projectiles hit his back and tear through his coat.
Small debris weren’t the only thing that had been propelled by the explosion, Lisanna landing close to him followed by one of the biggest parts of the wall.
“Laxus.” She coughed as she swallowed a mixture of smoke from the explosion and dust from the normal stones used in the building getting pulverized. Laxus quickly went to help her, muscles bulging as he removed the heavy obstacle from on top of her. “I’ve seen it, the ritual they’re trying to do, the room is just close by. They blasted me away almost immediately, but I had the time to notice…” She struggled to get back to her feet, a cry of pain escaping her as she put weight on her right leg. Laxus stabilized her before she could fall, and she grabbed her arm. “Laxus.” She repeated her name for emphasis. “I don’t know anything about that kind of magic, but it looked close to completion. We need to stop them!”
A glance around told him that they would be alone in this. The members of Wassergreife had thrown themselves into the battle desperately, even leaving the safety of their hiding places where they could cast magic, to try to slow down and distract the Fairy Tail’s mages by any means necessary. Which meant that they were well aware that they only needed to stall for a little while before their attempt to kill everyone in Fiore by drowning succeeded.
“Where was it?” He asked her.
“That way.” She answered, pointing. “I don’t know where Evergreen or Bickslow are, we spread out once we found their tunnels.”
“Tell the others I’m going there.” He ordered.
“You can’t go alone-” She started to protest.
“We can’t waste any more time, and you’re unable to walk.” He countered. Oh, he had little doubt that she was able to walk. If there was one thing everyone in the guild shared, it was their determination and their ability to work through the pain. However, she wouldn’t be able to run, and he needed to be as quick as possible. “Go tell the rest, I might need help.” He repeated, before taking out in a run.
He jumped over the wreckage, feeling the tingling that indicated a spell was being cast grow the closer he got to where Lisanna had indicated.
It can’t be good if even I am able to feel it. He cursed in his head.
He reached a dead end, but there were hints that the wall had been magically formed and he took a few steps back before once again protecting his head and ran at the wall, impacting it at full speed, shoulder first. He broke through it, rolling into the room in a heap, and instantly felt his access to his magic come back as he left the part of the building that was surrounded by sealing stones.
The people inside gasped in surprise at his entrance but it wasn’t enough to make them lose their concentration entirely. Laxus jumped back to his feet, only to see that the eight people inside were creating a magic seal in between them.
“No!” He shouted as he felt the spell activate, an overwhelming amount of Ethernano getting released in the air. He had a second at best to react before they were doomed. Without thinking, he released lightning around him, pure lightning, not even calling out a spell. He needed to interact with the seal and imbalance it enough to stop it from working.
There was a reason it took people months to learn a single spell when it wasn’t innate magic to them. To get a seal to function correctly involved a high level of mental work, calculations that were needed to force the Ethernano into the correct form. Trying to interact with a seal was dangerous enough when you knew what you were doing; Mystogan hadn’t been part of the S-class because he was mysterious. His ability to combine up to five seals at once was unheard of -or it had been, until Jellal had learned the same magic for the Grand Magic Games- and such a feat had been more than enough to destroy the opposition.
Trying to modify a seal cast by someone else, when you weren’t aware of what it was doing, was the height of stupidity. Doing so would cause an implosion that risked taking out the building and would at least kill everyone in the room by an overload of Ethernano, but it was better than letting them succeed.
Come on, overload, come on... He pleaded as the amount of Ethernano in the air became too uncomfortable to bear and he felt his consciousness start to leave him.
“LAXUS!” The cry tore through the air and he raised his head to see Freed wide eyes looking at him in horror, before the seal collapsed under him.
And he knew no more.
~~Fairy Tail~~One Piece~~
The Whitebeard's pirates had lived through a normal day, so far. No freak New World storm coming out of nowhere, no Marine or other pirate crews trying to pick up a fight, and Thatch and Haruta hadn’t pranked anyone yet. Marco was sitting on Whitebeard’s shoulder, openly keeping an eye on him so no one would try to sneak him alcohol. It had been Atmos’s birthday two days before, everyone was still trying to get over their hangover, and Newgate had drank far too much that day for the nurses and Marco’s liking.
“I’m fine.” The Yonko grouched. He hated how closely his sons kept an eye on him. Even if they did it out of love, it wasn’t a child's place to worry about their father, and their constant micromanaging was tiresome at times.
“Oyaji…” Marco didn’t say anything more, letting his tone speak for himself. His father’s health had gotten worse recently, and he wasn’t supposed to drink any alcohol with the medication he was on. Of course, nobody was expecting him to comply, but Marco would have liked it if he at least acted like he cared and didn’t flaunt the rules openly.
“You worry too much.”
“I worry just enough.” Marco couldn’t help but pout.
“Birdbrain just wants to take care of the nest.” Called out a mocking voice.
Marco slowly turned his head, glaring at Thatch. The chef just looked unrepentant, proud of his joke as if Marco didn’t hear a variation of it daily, and not at all intimidated by Marco’s glare.
“Did you come here to say anything interesting or just to bother me?”
“Bothering you is a nice bonus, but I initially came here to give you the updated shopping list. We have more stock left than I would have thought, so it isn’t urgent.”
“We can get most of that on our next stop.” Said Marco, giving a quick glance at the list. There was a very specific kind of beer on it, the kind Thatch liked and was difficult to find, but he would manage to get some of it, even if it took him flying to another island in his phoenix form to do so. The other ingredients were far more common and could be found anywhere. Thatch, as the head chef of the crew, knew very well what kind of dishes he could make on the sea.
“Haruta told me that she would need-” He cut himself off, head snapping up, staring at something behind Marco.
Marco turned around to follow his gaze, half expecting it to be a distraction. “What’s that?” He asked, looking as writing appeared in the sky. It created a circle, before filling it with all kinds of shapes, and glowing a bright green once it was finished.
“That’s some sort of devil fruit power.” Muttered Thatch, grabbing his swords.
“Do you think it’s an attack?” Marco wondered, sliding from Whitebeard’s shoulder.
“Gurarara. If it’s someone trying to attack us, let them try!”
The seal glowed even brighter until it seemed to explode on itself, the blast big enough to be felt from their position on the ship but not to harm anyone.
“It spat something out!” Warned Thatch.
“Shit, is that a human being?”
“The circle disappeared.” Noticed one of the pirates that had joined them.
“Should we fish him out?”
“It might be a trap.”
“It’s not like there’s anyone who would be a threat to me underwater.” Countered Namur.
“Go rescue them.” Ordered Whitebeard. “Whoever this is, they must be interesting to suddenly appear right next to us.”
Marco sighed, before he shifted into his phoenix form, following Namur from the sky. It didn’t take long for the Fishman to dive deep underwater and come back up with a body in his arms.
There was little doubt that the unknown person was a man, short strands of hair stuck to his forehead thanks to the water. He was about as large as Namur but seemed entirely human, while Namur’s physique came from his Fishman origins. Most of his body was still hidden underwater as the eight’s division commander started to drag him toward the Moby, but Marco still took in everything he could see.
He landed on the deck as his siblings started to help Namur get up the ship. They started to crowd around them, but it only took a sharp glance for them to take a step back.
“Is he still alive?” Asked Thatch, hands on his swords. His posture was relaxed but he was still ready to jump in should the man try to attack any of them.
“Yes.” Answered Marco, quickly checking him up for injuries. “He was already unconscious when he hit the water.” He noticed. If he hadn’t been then he would have inhaled water, it had taken them a couple of minutes to reach him. But Marco couldn’t hear anything obscuring his lungs.
“He was definitely involved in a fight before he landed here.” Said Namur, grabbing the man's shoulder and turning him around, showing his torn-up coat. Interestingly, while there were specks of blood on his clothes, he didn’t seem injured at all, the tear in his clothes only showing unblemished skin.
“What do you want us to do?” Marco asked, looking up from his crouching position toward his father, who had leaned forward in his chair to look at the proceeding.
“Gurarara! Let’s wait for him to wake up.” Decided Whitebeard.
Marco nodded, not having expected anything else. His father could be trusted to be constant on this kind of thing, and as long as his family wasn’t harmed he didn’t see any problem in rescuing people left and right. Not that he would complain, it was how he had joined the crew.