บท 510: Another Quest on the Sea

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Akane Beach.

November, x786.

Time passed quickly after Irene and Brandish decided to betray the Alvarez Empire. Not long after Alfonzo took them from beneath his mansion, they were brought to the Fairy Tail guild hall. And as soon as they entered, they were met with many hostile gazes.

However, the two ex-members of the Spriggan 12 were not in the right state of mind to even register the gazes of so many people who were weaker than they were. Instead, they were too busy marveling at the inside of the guild hall. A place they had never been able to glimpse the inside of with the [Magic Power Detection] they picked up during their investigation.

Not long afterwards, they were brought to the top floor of the guild hall to meet with the guild's S-Class wizards. From there, they told Ur and the rest why they were in Magnolia.

Needless to say, when they found out that God Serena was a traitor, the wizards were… not as surprised as anyone would expect. Especially after finding out about how he treated Alfonzo before their duel. However, this information was eventually sent to Makarov so that the magic council could deal with it.

Irene and Brandish then went on to explain their mission. A mission that was not going very well thanks to the guild's suspicion. One thing Irene did not mention during this meeting, however, was the fact that Erza was her daughter. Something Alfonzo and Elicia expected.

In the end, both Irene and Brandish entered Fairy Tail as wizards. Though, they were both on a probationary period. And during that period, Alfonzo made some more changes to the bracelets that they wore. For Irene, her magical power output was capped at Gildarts level.

As for Brandish, because there were more than a few wizards in the guild that could defeat her, despite the fact that she was as strong as God Serena, Alfonzo removed the restriction that stopped her from gathering magic power.

After all that happened, Fairy Tail went back to business as usual. And not long after that, the Harvest Festival came around again. And like always, Fairy Tail put on their three big annual events.

First, the Miss Fairy Tail Pageant. Many of the female wizards participated. In the end, Levy came out as the winner. Despite the fact that she was not as busty or curvy as the other ladies. And to no one's surprise, the first people to congratulate her were Jet and Droy.

However, their sycophantic congratulations ended up annoying her to the point that she stormed off without a word, taking Gajeel with her as she went. Naturally, this left Jet and Droy heartbroken, for the lack of a better word.

After the pageant, the Battle of Fairy Tail tournament was next on the agenda. However, there were some differences between this year's tournament and the previous one. For example, instead of teams of four, the tournament would be between teams of five. Also, the winner of the tournament would be the team representing Fairy Tail in the upcoming Grand Magic Games.

In the end, the Thunder God Tribe was the team that won. However, Laxus was not happy with the victory. And the reason for that was simple, Alfonzo and Elicia did not participate in the tournament.

Since Alfonzo was almost certain that he would be working through that time while he was working for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. On top of that, thanks to the message he received from Tsunade, he knew that Elicia would be coming with him.

Elicia would not be the only one to accompany him, however, as he was told he could bring up to three guests with him. However, other than him, the rest would have to be blindfolded to keep the location of the village hidden, a measure that Alfonzo understood, but he felt was completely unnecessary.

Finally, the Fantasia Parade once again went off without a hitch. All the wizards of Fairy Tail, along with the residents of Magnolia, enjoyed it. After that, things around the town went back to normal.

And today, Alfonzo, Cana, and Sun were taking a quest at Akane Beach. Rather, they quest objective was off the shore of Akane Beach. Meaning, they were currently on Sixth Sense, making their way towards the objective.

"*Sigh* I hate taking quests on the water." Alfonzo muttered as he steered the ship to the quest objective. "Every time I do, something goes horribly wrong."

"Oh, stop it." Cana said with a smile. "You've only ever taken one request on the water."

"Yeah, and I got my left arm ripped off." Alfonzo replied with a deadpan.

"Don't worry, Alfonzo." Sun said in a determined tone. "I'll make sure to protect you."

"Sun, you are so cute." Cana said as she pulled Sun into a hug.

"Uh… Thanks?" Sun replied, not sure what was cute about her declaration.

"Either way…" Alfonzo said as he watched his two fiancée. "… I wouldn't have even taken this quest if it wasn't for what we're supposed to be hunting."

"Yeah, a big crab means big crab legs." Cana said with a smile. "I hope we have enough butter back at home."

"Yeah, the Emperor Guillotine Crab is the biggest crab in all the seas, ya see." Sun replied happily. "And they're really good if you steam them, too."

"Well, I've never had one before." Alfonzo replied. "But stopping it from attacking fishing vessels is the perfect excuse to catch one, isn't it?"

*Splash!*

Before either Cana or Sun could replied, Alfonzo hurriedly levitated the ship out of the water. Then, not even an instant later, a large, thirty-foot long crab claw broke the surface of the water.

"Damn, this thing is even bigger than I expected!" Cana exclaimed as she reached into the card pouch that is Hoyle. She then continued as she flung a handful of cards at the giant pincer. "[Card Magic: Sun's Strength]."

In the next instant, while on the way towards the crab claw, all the cards Cana threw burst into flames. Unfortunately, not all the flaming cards were able to hit the crab claw, as it was quickly drawn back below the surface. However, there were a few that did make contact. And as they did, they exploded.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

"Something tells me that didn't do that much damage." Alfonzo said just after the crab claw was completely submerged.

"*Sigh* I shouldn't use fire and lightning to fight it, anyway." Cana said while shaking her head. "It might damage the flavor.

"At least it's not like regular crabs." Sun said as she approached the deck's railing. "WE don't have to catch this one alive before we cook it."

With that, Sun leapt overboard with Kanade in hand.

"Wait, are you serious?" Cana asked in a tone filled with disbelief. "You have to cook regular crabs while they're alive?"

"Yeah, otherwise, they're pretty poisonous to humans." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "Oh, Sun's about to do something."

"[Sing, Kanade]." Sun chanted as she pointed the blade of her shirasaya towards the sea surface. More specifically, towards the Emperor Guillotine Crab.

In the next instant, Kanade transformed into a double bladed katana. At the same time, Sun took a deep breath.

"[Voice Magic: Howling Voice]." Sun shouted towards Kanade. A moment later, Kanade was thrust into the water, with its tips pointed between the Emperor Guillotine Crab's eyes. "[Sound Spear]."

Just as Sun chanted her spell, she was also submerged in the water. Meanwhile, a highly compressed sound wave was shot at the crab. Then, with her sound attack gaining an additional five times its potency in the water, after being hit, the giant crab began to release bubbles from its mouth as it struggled in pain.

A moment later, Sun's legs were wrapped in yellow light. Then, when the light dimmed, her legs were replaced by her pink, scaled fish tail. With that, Sun began to swim at supersonic speed as she slashed the crab's shell over and over.

{"Clear the area, Sun."] Alfonzo said telepathically as Sun continued her onslaught.

At the same time, Sun, having heard Alfonzo's telepathic message, stopped her attack. Then, she quickly swam towards the surface to get out of the blast radius of Alfonzo's incoming attack.

The Emperor Guillotine Crab, on the other hand, was enraged by the small animal that hurt it so badly. So, just like Sun, it also began swimming towards the surface. However, it's speed was much slower than the mermaid it was pursuing.

A moment later, Sun burst through the surface. Then, while she was mid-air, her legs returned to their human form before she landed on Sixth Sense's deck. At the same time, as soon as she was out of the water, Alfonzo fired his [Railgun] into the water. An instant later, water shot up into the air.

Once all the water rained back into the sea, Alfonzo lowered Sixth Sense back onto the surface. At the same time, thanks to the Emperor Guillotine Crab being cut in half by the [Railgun], Alfonzo, Cana, and Sun noticed that a stretch of the water hand changed color.

"*Sigh* It's a good thing it chased Sun up here." Cana said while looking over the bloody sea water. "Otherwise, fishing it up to the surface would have been a lot more troublesome."

"Not really." Alfonzo replied as he created a couple of sturdy chains with his [Metal Magic]. "Thanks to the [Railgun], the entire crab was magnetized. So, all I needed to do was give the tow chains an opposite charge. Then, finding the parts would have been simple, theoretically, anyway."

With that, Alfonzo sent the chains into the water. Then, he wrapped them around the electro magnified halves of the crab. After that, he changed the magnetic charge on the chains to one opposite the crab's.

"Alright, that's a wrap." Alfonzo said with a smile. "Now, let's go home. I wanna cook this thing."

In response, both Cana and Sun smiled. Then, they turned to get comfortable. At the same time, despite the fact that Alfonzo was not in the wheel house, the ship began turning back towards the shore. Before the ship could go too far, however, Alfonzo frowned. A moment later, both Cana and Sun frowned, as well.

"*Sigh* And this is why I hate taking quests on the water." Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone. "Even when they seem like they're done, something always goes wrong."

*Splash!*

In the next instant, a long, cylindrical, metal object shot through the surface of the sea. Then, when it lost its momentum, it flopped against the surface. However, it did not begin to sink. Instead, it floated with its front pointing towards the Sixth Sense.

"What the hell is that thing?" Cana asked.

At the same time, a hatch on the top of the object opened. And as it did, what appeared to be a space suit popped its head out of the hatch just in time to hear the rest of Cana's exclamation.

"It looks like a giant penis!" Cana exclaimed.

Hearing that, the person in the space suit stumbled. However, they quickly regained their balance. Then, when they heard Alfonzo and Sun laughing at Cana's exclamation, they turned their gaze towards the laughter.

"Sun! I've finally found you!" The person in the space suit, which was clearly a young man if based on ehte sound of the voice, shouted once their eyes landed on Sun. "And now that I've found you, we can be together for the rest of our lives!"

Immediately, the laughter aboard the Sixth Sense stopped. While Cana looked at the person in the space suit with pity, Sun looked on in confusion. Alfonzo, on the other hand, was glaring very unamused.

"Oh, this guy is screwed." Cana said as she reached into her [Storage Card] for a bottle of booze while she enjoyed the show.

And Although Cana was right, Alfonzo was glaring at more than just the person in the space suit. Instead, he was also glaring at the submarine, as well. It had been decades since he saw any anime from his past life. So, he was having trouble putting together who the person that stopped them was.

However, had Alfonzo used his [Archive Magic] to look through his memories, he would have recognized the interloper immediately. Unfortunately, he has not spent enough time using it to do so reflexively.

Meanwhile, the person standing on the submarine was overjoyed. Since the moment he stood atop his submarine, his gaze had never left Sun. And he could see her staring at him intently.

'Ha, it would seem Sun has missed me as much as I've missed her.' The young man in the space suit thought to himself happily. 'I've spent the last five years looking for her to declare my love and ask her to be my wife. And now, it has all paid off.'

"Um… Who are you?" Sun asked in a thoroughly confused tone. "And why would I want to spend the rest of my life with you?"

With Sun's question, the atmosphere froze. Then, the young man in the space suit fainted before falling backwards into the hatch.

Naturally, this caused the atmosphere to become even more awkward than it already was.

"So, what she we do about that?" Cana asked while pointing at the submarine.

"Maybe we should see if he's okay?" Sun asked while tilting her head.

"Nah, don't worry about it." Alfonzo said while waving dismissively. "I can hear people moving around inside that thing. So, I'm sure he'll be fine. Anyway, we need to go and get this thing on ice. We wouldn't want it to go bad, would we."

As Alfonzo spoke the last part, he pointed back at the Emperor Guillotine Crab. Then, he steered the ship around the submarine and made his way back to the shore. All the while, he was thinking about who would talk about Sun like that.

'It's gotta be Kai Mikawa.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'He's the only weirdo from Sun's franchise that would wear something like that. He's… agoraphobic… I think. Anyway, I think he'll show up at the villa sometime soon. So, I can deal with him later.'