Chapter 18: Paying the Price
After Dino and Natsu finished eating, they headed to the beach. A ship was sailing in the distance across the sparkling water.
"Looks like the ship's already left port," Dino observed.
"Ship? Ugh~! No! Just looking at it makes me seasick!" Natsu clutched his stomach, his face turning green at the mere sight of the vessel.
Happy fluttered his wings. "Dino, I can fly you out there if you want!"
"Won't be necessary." Dino smirked. Though seawater could weaken Devil Fruit users, his current strength meant brief contact wouldn't be a problem—as long as he didn't fall completely into the ocean, he'd be fine.
Dino clenched his right fist. A white, translucent sphere of energy formed around it, humming with barely contained power.
Natsu's eyes lit up like stars, practically vibrating with excitement. "Ooh! Here it comes! Man, it's been too long since I've seen this!"
"Aye! Dino's attacks are always so cool!" Happy added, his tail swishing eagerly.
Every time they witnessed Dino's Tremor-Tremor powers in action, it was a spectacle—the way he could shatter space itself with a single punch was the ultimate display of raw power.
After drawing back his fist, Dino thrust it forward into the empty air. "Haaah!"
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Spider-web fractures spread through the very fabric of space, the air itself splintering like broken glass.
Meanwhile, aboard the ship, Lucy had just seen through the sleeping magic trick and was mentally kicking herself for being so gullible—all because of her dream to join Fairy Tail. Just as tensions between her and the fake mages reached their peak, the entire vessel lurched violently.
"Wh-What's happening?!" someone screamed.
Everyone in the cabin lost their footing, tumbling across the deck in a heap of flailing limbs.
"What's going on?! Did we hit something?!"
"Gah! Lord Salamander, save us!"
A lookout's face went pale. "N-No! It's a tsunami! A massive tsunami heading straight for us!"
"What are you babbling about?! There's no way—" The speaker's words died in his throat as he spotted the towering wave in the distance, easily ten meters high and rushing toward them like a liquid wall of doom.
Back on the coast, Natsu pumped his fist in the air. "Here it comes! Here it comes!"
"Aye sir~!!"
CRASH!!!
The enormous wave slammed into the ship, carrying it on a wild ride straight toward the shore at breakneck speed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The vessel was hurled onto the beach with tremendous force, crashing down on the sand. The tsunami continued rolling into the port, smashing docks and scattering cargo everywhere.
Watching the destruction he'd inadvertently caused to the harbor, Dino's eye twitched. His mission reward money was probably going to cover these damages. "Happy, Natsu—we never mention that I did this. Got it?"
Happy gave him a flat look. "I don't think we can keep this a secret…"
"Aye…"
When the ship capsized, the women who'd been under the sleeping spell began waking up, screaming as they scrambled away from their captors. Lucy took advantage of the chaos to escape, and her eyes widened when she spotted Dino and Natsu waiting on shore.
"You two?! What are you doing here?"
"Explanations later," Dino said curtly.
"Don't let that girl escape!"
Several thugs burst from the overturned ship, charging straight at Lucy with weapons drawn.
Lucy's face paled, but then Dino stepped forward and took a deep breath.
"GET LOST!!!"
WHOOOOOM!
"GYAAAAH!" "UGHHH!" "WAHHH!"
The thugs were blown backward as if struck by an invisible hammer, their bodies ragdolling through the air before crashing down in heaps.
Lucy's jaw dropped. He just… with a shout? No spell? No weapon? What kind of magic is that?!
The man who'd been impersonating Salamander—Bora of the Prominence—stepped forward with a scowl. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"
Natsu yanked off his vest, revealing the red Fairy Tail guild mark on his right shoulder. His expression was dead serious. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, a mage of Fairy Tail. And I've never seen you before in my life, you fraud!"
"Wait, Mr. Bora!" one of his lackeys stammered. "These guys are the REAL Fairy Tail mages!"
Happy crossed his tiny arms. "Bora of the Prominence—you were kicked out of the Titan Nose guild years ago for dark dealings!"
Lucy's eyes widened further. "They're human traffickers! They were going to sell all the women on that ship to a slave market in Bosco!"
"Human traffickers?" Both Dino and Natsu's expressions darkened simultaneously, their casual demeanor evaporating. Frauds were one thing. But slavers? That was unforgivable in any world.
Natsu cracked his knuckles, flames starting to lick along his hands. "You ready to pay the price for dragging Fairy Tail's name through the mud, you bastard?"
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The ground began shaking violently beneath their feet. Cracks spiderwebbed across the cobblestones, and buildings groaned ominously.
"KYAAA! An earthquake?! First a tsunami, now this?!" Lucy shrieked, struggling to keep her balance. "What is with these crazy natural disasters happening one after another?!"
Happy munched casually on a fish from his knapsack. "They're not natural—that's all Dino!"
One of Bora's men went white as a sheet, pointing a trembling finger at Dino. "I-I recognize him! The black-haired one! That's him! Wherever he goes, earthquakes and tsunamis follow! He's Fairy Tail's 'Walking Disaster'—one of their S-Class mages!"
Another thug quivered. "A-And that pink-haired guy with the scarf—he's the real Salamander!"
Bora's face twisted with rage despite the fear in his eyes. "I don't care if they call you a 'disaster' or a 'dragon'! You've ruined my operation, and nobody does that to Bora! Kill them all!"
"This fake's all mine!" Natsu charged forward, his fists igniting with roaring flames. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
The remaining slavers rushed at Dino with swords, clubs, and magic at the ready.
"Look out!" Lucy called, genuinely worried despite having just met them.
Happy remained completely relaxed, nibbling his fish. "Don't worry about Dino. Even if there were a thousand of these guys, they couldn't scratch him. He's the strongest mage in Fairy Tail!"
"Strongest in… Fairy Tail?!"
VWOOM!
White light enveloped Dino's fist as he activated his Tremor-Tremor powers, the air itself vibrating with barely contained force. He drew back and punched forward.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Lucy's eyes nearly popped out of her skull. "The space—THE SPACE IS ACTUALLY SHATTERING!"
BOOOOOOM!!!
"GYAAAAAAAH!" "NOOOOO!" "SOMEONE HELP—!"
A devastating shockwave exploded outward from Dino's fist. The ground split open with an enormous fissure, and every single slaver was sent flying like rag dolls, their weapons scattering uselessly. Even the large party ship anchored nearby was caught in the blast radius, splintering apart like matchwood.
Lucy stood frozen, mouth agape, her brain struggling to process what she'd just witnessed. "One hit… He took down all of them AND destroyed that ship… with ONE PUNCH?! Is this… is this the power of Fairy Tail's mages?!"