The instant a blinding white light flared from the muzzle, Gray slammed both hands onto the surface of the reef. He tore off his soaked coat and flung it aside as freezing cold burst from his palms and raced across the sea. Beneath the water, ice twisted and grew, like countless tentacles wrapping around the keels of three warships. Metal screeched under the strain. The hulls lurched violently, the main cannons' charging sequences were cut off, and energy detonated inside the barrels, erupting into clouds of white vapor.
Absolute Zero · Ice Abyss Chains!
Gray roared. He spread his arms wide as ice spikes burst from the sea, forming a circular blockade that sealed off the fleet's retreat. The ice continued to expand, creating jagged barriers around the reef and completely cutting off any chance for the navy to approach.
Erza swept her gaze across the battlefield and spoke coldly. "A landing squad is coming."
Several small boats were closing in from the flank. More than a dozen fully armed navy soldiers crouched low, using the spray of the waves as cover as they rushed toward shore. They carried rifles loaded with Seastone magazines, with electric batons hanging at their waists.
Erza vanished in a flash. The light of her armor transformation traced afterimages through the air. In the next instant, the 'Heavenly Wheel Armor' enveloped her body, dozens of glowing swords materializing around her, their tips all aimed at the incoming boats.
Star Diagram · Thousand Sword Stream!
The swords poured down like a storm, precisely piercing the engines of each boat. Explosions tore through the hulls, black smoke rising as the vessels spun helplessly on the waves. Just as ropes were thrown toward the reef's edge and the remaining soldiers struggled to gain their footing, Erza had already switched to the 'Adamantine Armor', swinging her massive blade in a wide arc.
The shockwave blasted everyone away. They hit the water before they could even react, flailing helplessly. Not a single one lasted more than three seconds in front of her.
Happy spread his wings and circled above the reef, then suddenly turned back. "Someone's charging in from over there!"
Everyone followed his line of sight. On the southeastern coastline, dust billowed into the air. A group of over thirty bandits barreled forward in modified wooden carts, wheels crushing over gravel and dead grass, leaving long trails of dust behind them. They wielded iron clubs, machetes, and even a few antiquated muskets. Their leader bore a flame-shaped scar across his face, his upper body bare, muscles knotted and thick, a necklace of gray-black stones hanging from his neck.
Natsu sniffed the air, frowning. "There's something weird about them… that mineral smell."
A faint notification chime sounded in his ear as the 'Marine Magic Codex' automatically displayed data
> "Low-purity magi-mineral radiation source detected within moving targets."
He grinned, flames igniting in his fist. "So they brought something good with them."
Luffy hopped to his side, casually swinging his rubber arms. "You said you'd fight after eating. You're done eating now."
Natsu shot him a glance. "Then let's burn them together!"
They stood shoulder to shoulder, battle intent surging.
Erza issued orders swiftly. "Gray, freeze their advance route. I'll clear the front. Natsu and Luffy, take down the leader!"
Gray nodded and pressed his hands to the water. Ice spread once more not as a defensive formation this time, but pushing forward like an advancing wall. The waves froze solid, the ice extending all the way to the shallows and completely blocking the bandits' path.
The wooden carts slammed into the ice wall. Front wheels snapped, carts overturned, and bandits tumbled onto the ground, cursing as they scrambled to their feet only to find the ice too slick to run or brace themselves properly.
"Get them all!" the scarred leader roared, raising his machete toward the reef. "Kill them! Everything they have is ours!"
Erza charged first. She ran across the ice at incredible speed, her armor gleaming coldly in the sunlight. The first bandit swung an iron club down at her. She blocked effortlessly, then struck his chest with the sword hilt, sending him flying.
The second raised his blade she was already at his side. A kick crushed his knee, followed by a downward strike with the flat of her blade, knocking him unconscious. The third and fourth attacked together. She spun and leapt, her glowing swords sweeping out, and both collapsed instantly.
Her movements never paused, mechanical, precise, brutally efficient. Every strike robbed an enemy of the ability to fight.
Natsu and Luffy headed straight for the leader. Seeing them charge, the bandit chief sneered and tossed a smoke bomb. Black smoke billowed, obscuring vision.
"Trying to hide with that?" Natsu closed his eyes and locked on by scent, his flame-wrapped fist blasting forward. The air boomed as the heat vaporized the smoke, the punch slamming directly into the leader's abdomen.
The man grunted, his body folding but he didn't fall. He looked down at the fist buried in his gut, a twisted smile creeping onto his lips.
"You think this is the end?" he rasped. "This mineral… wasn't meant for you!"
Before the words finished, the gray-black stones around his neck began to glow hot, hairline cracks spreading as dark red energy seeped out and surged into his body through his veins. His muscles swelled rapidly, skin taking on a metallic sheen, eyes turning a dull, bloodshot red.
Natsu pulled back, stepping away with a frown. "This guy… changed?"
Luffy didn't hesitate. His right arm stretched back and slammed down hard.
Gum-Gum Pistol!
The blow smashed into the leader's face, but he merely shook his head, grabbed Luffy's wrist with terrifying strength, and grinned savagely. His free hand rose, a dark red sphere of energy forming in his palm.
"Try this!"
The projectile shot out faster than the eye could follow. Natsu shoved Luffy aside and twisted away. The blast skimmed past his shoulder and slammed into the reef behind them.
Boom.
Rock exploded into fragments, chunks flying everywhere. A scorched crater smoked where it hit.
"That thing can blow up rock?!" Luffy stared wide-eyed.
Standing atop the ice, Gray stared at the residual energy. "Something's wrong. This isn't a naturally formed substance."
Erza arrived beside them, her expression grim. "It's interfering with magical readings some kind of contaminated magi-energy source."
Natsu clenched his fists, flames flaring again. "I don't care what it is. If it hits us, we burn it!"
He drew in a deep breath, his chest heaving as the Dimensional Flame Core within him began to turn. Power from deep within his bloodline stirred, answering the threat before him.
Luffy rolled his shoulders and grinned. "I'm not losing to some fire-spewing guy!"
They charged again.
This time, Natsu held nothing back. He kicked off the ground and became a streak of fire. The bandit leader raised his arms to block but the flames swallowed them whole, charring his arms black.
He screamed and staggered back. Luffy leapt into the air, legs together, plunging straight down.
Gum-Gum Storm!
The blow smashed the leader's head, driving him into cracks in the ice.
As the dust settled, the bandit lay prone, his necklace shattered, fragments of the mineral scattered across the ice. The dark red energy faded, and his body began to shrink back to normal.
Natsu walked over and picked up one shard, examining it closely. It looked ordinary, but faint veins pulsed inside it, like the blood vessels of a living thing.
"Can this still be used?" he muttered.
Erza took it from him. Pain stabbed her fingers instantly, and she dropped it at once. "Don't touch it for long. It erodes the nervous system."
Gray crouched to inspect the others. "There's more on the carts hidden in wooden crates."
Happy shouted from above. "Five crates total! All locked and wrapped in cloth!"
Erza scanned the surroundings, her voice firm. "These can't be left in their hands."
Luffy wiped sweat from his face and looked at Natsu. "So what now?"
Natsu stood and gazed toward the distant shoreline. A dilapidated village was barely visible there crooked rooftops, little smoke rising. The bandits had come from that direction.
"First, we deal with these crates," he said. "Then we ask who gave them this stuff."
Gray joined him. "I've frozen their retreat and sealed the path ahead. But they're not the only ones who know about this place."
Erza nodded. "Someone is supplying them from behind the scenes. Their goal is unclear."
The three exchanged a look silent understanding passing between them.
Natsu tightened his grip on the shard in his hand. Flames wrapped around it, reducing it to ash.
The sea wind rose, carrying the ashes away.
Happy continued circling overhead, then suddenly lowered his voice.
"Wait… the stuff inside the crates is moving."