Magnolia, Fairy Tail—
Standing in front of the guild's main entrance were two men, one woman, and a flying blue cat— it was none other than Raizel and his group, who had just returned from Hargeon Port.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Happy raised a paw as he introduced the guild to Lucy.
Lucy, pulling her red suitcase, looked up at the Fairy Tail guildhall with an expression full of anticipation.
"I've always heard Ultear and Erza talk about life at Fairy Tail. Now I finally get to see it for myself!"
"You know... Erza..."
Natsu, who already suffered from severe motion sickness, seemed to have developed a psychological aversion to even hearing Erza's name— it was no surprise, given how often she beat him up.
But he quickly brushed it off, there were more important matters at hand.
BAM!!!
Fueled by anger, Natsu delivered a powerful kick.
This time, the door suffered deeper wounds than ever before.
Of course, Natsu only dared to do this because he knew Erza and Kagura were out on a mission.
Though angry, he wasn't stupid.
The commotion caught the attention of everyone inside the guild.
"We're back!" Natsu loudly announced.
"Hey, I heard you guys caused quite a stir again! Over in Hargeon..." A man with two prominent buckteeth started taunting Natsu.
However, before he could finish, the sole of a shoe rapidly expanded in his vision.
Natsu's foot instantly stamped onto his face, sending him flying across the room.
"You jerk! The intel you gave me about the Salamander was all fake!" Natsu stood on a shattered table, glaring fiercely at the bucktoothed man.
"How was I supposed to know it was fake? I was just kindly passing along what I heard!" the man retorted angrily as he quickly got back to his feet.
Their argument didn't end there.
The verbal spat soon escalated into a physical brawl, and gradually, the chaos spread throughout the entire guild hall.
Amid the disorderly scene, Lucy, still holding her suitcase, couldn't help but marvel.
"It's wonderful—I've really made it to Fairy Tail!"
To ensure her moment of awe went uninterrupted, Raizel stood beside her, deftly swatting away various flying objects and bodies that came their way.
"So Natsu is already back."
Gray, currently shirtless and wearing only his boxers, turned around and glared angrily at Natsu.
"Let's settle this once and for all!"
"Put some clothes on first before you talk!"
"You're so noisy in the middle of the day! How old are you? If you're real men, express yourselves with your fists!" Elfman shouted.
"Stay out of this!"
Natsu and Gray were surprisingly united in moments like these.
With one punch each, they sent Elfman flying.
Lucy stood to the side, flipping through a copy of Sorcerer Weekly and crossing out various Mages one after another.
Just moments ago, she had witnessed firsthand that even Loke— a mage that ranked high on the list of "Most Desirable Boyfriends"—was far from impressive in real life after he tried to flirt with her while shielding two other girls.
"You must be the new one, right? I'm Mirajane," Mira said as she approached with two glasses of alcohol, smiling warmly at Lucy.
"Thanks, Mira," Raizel said casually, taking one of the glasses.
"That'll cost you by the way."
These days, Mirajane wasn't doing magazine covers or photo shoots anymore.
She occasionally took on delivery missions for letters or valuable items, and combined with her work as the guild's head waitress, it was enough to get by.
"Hello, I'm Lucy. Um... is it really okay not to stop them?" Lucy asked, pointing at the members brawling violently in the background.
"It's fine, they're always like this. Besides, it makes things more lively, don't you think?"
Raizel swiftly kicked Elfman back when he was thrown their way, preventing Mirajane from getting knocked out by the flying giant.
As the fight escalated, everyone started getting serious and began using their magic!
"They use magic for fighting?!" Lucy grabbed Happy and held him in front of her chest for protection.
"Aye!"
"STOP THIS NONSENSE, YOU FOOLS!"
A loud boom echoed as a gigantic figure appeared in the center of the guild hall.
"So big!" Lucy stared at the giant in panic.
"Master, so you were here after all!" Mirajane greeted Makarov with a squint-eyed smile.
"Gramps, don't scare the new girl." Raizel raised his glass in Makarov's direction.
"Master? Gramps?" Lucy looked on in confusion.
Everyone wisely stopped fighting when Makarov got angry—except for Natsu, who stood with his hands on his hips, laughing heartily.
"Looks like you're all scared! That means I win this time!"
SPLAT.
The result was Natsu getting flattened into a paper-thin shape by a giant foot.
"Are you new here? Pleased to meet you."
The giant figure gradually shrank until it became a short old man, raising his hand with a cheerful greeting.
"So small... and he's actually the Master of Fairy Tail?"
"Yes, this is Master Makarov. What you saw earlier was his Giant Magic."
Makarov leaped up, spinning as he attempted to land coolly on the second-floor railing.
However, he miscalculated the distance and crashed headfirst into it instead.
Being thick-skinned, he just coughed into his fist a couple of times as if nothing happened.
After properly positioning himself on the second floor, he pulled out a thick stack of documents and addressed the Fairy Tail members below.
"You troublemakers! Look at this—the Council sent me this huge pile of complaint forms again! Because of you, I keep getting scolded by the Council members!"
He paused, then tore the papers in half, throwing them into the air.
"But you know what? FUCK THE COUNCIL!"
"Listen carefully: the power to surpass limits all comes from unwavering conviction. Magic isn't some miraculous power. It is the energy flow within us that merges with the natural energy flow of the world, only then manifesting as tangible power. Only by pouring your soul into it can you create this magic."
"If you're always worrying about what those in power think, you'll never advance your magical path. Don't be afraid of those Council members! Move forward on your own path—that's what makes us Fairy Tail Mages!"
"WOOOO!!!" The guild members responded with Fairy Tail's signature hand gesture, cheering wildly.
"Mira, please help Lucy with the membership procedures."
After Raizel communicated with Makarov, the Master approved Lucy's guild membership.
"Alright, leave it to me." Mirajane took out the necessary forms from behind the counter—mostly basic information like age, hometown, and type of magic used.
"A Celestial Spirit Mage? And so many Zodiac keys!" Makarov glanced at the information Lucy had filled out, looking somewhat surprised.
"Yeah, I knew her before. I even gave her some of those keys."
Raizel, leaning against the bar counter, offered an explanation.
However, he noticed Lucy hadn't written "Heartfilia" on the form—it seemed she didn't want to mention her family name, so he wouldn't bring it up either.
"I see. That's fine then." Makarov nodded thoughtfully.
As the pink Guild Mark was stamped onto the back of Lucy's right hand, she excitedly turned to Natsu.
"Natsu, look! I've joined Fairy Tail too!"
"Huh? Really? That's great, Luigi."
Natsu, who was looking at the Request Board, replied absentmindedly.
"It's Lucy!"
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