Chapter 5:

Hey, everyone!

I stopped updating this like a year or two ago, but since I have nothing better to do this summer, I might write a few more chapters. I wrote this one back when the others were written, and my style of writing might be a little different. I'm also currently writing a litRPG story on RoyalRoadL. Yes, I'm a nerd. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Thanks for reading!

Spectators gathered in a circle around the subject of commotion, trying to find out what was happening. One man approached a middle-aged woman who watching the events transpire, as he was too short to see what was going on.

"Excuse me." he said, his family appearing behind him. "What's going on? We can't see with so many people around."

The woman turned to him, an excited look on her face. "There's a group of people here to challenge Fairy Tail! They're about to start fighting. Here, go in front of me. I'll still be able to see." She backed up and the family took their spot. They directed their attention to what was going on in the center field.

On opposite sides of the 'ring' formed by the crowd, stood two teams of three. On the left stood well-built Gajeel Redfox, who gazed at his opponents with a sullen look, and cool, collected, Gray Fullbuster, who was sizing them up in his head. Between the two of them stood Natsu Dragneel, a pink-haired boy, who was grinning widely and cracking his knuckles.

On the other side, stood three more fighters. Sanji had lit a cigarette and was scratching his goatee. Zoro stood with his arms crossed, his eyes fixed on the Fairy Tail wizards he faced. And behind them, Luffy eagerly waited for Erza, the announcer, to declare the beginning of the match.

Speaking of Erza, she walked up to the makeshift podium. "Are both sides ready?" she asked.

"YEAH!" yelled both Natsu and Luffy.

"Then, I bid you, begin!" She called out, initiating the battle.

Zoro unsheathed two of his katana. "Let's go! Don't get in my way, shitty cook."

"Same goes for you, marimo." Sanji grinned, taking off for his opponents. He sprinted straight towards Gray, who was right across from him.

At the same time, Luffy stood in place, smiling widely. His right leg, however, stretched up many feet into the air. It went high enough that his sandal was barely even visible.

"W-What kind of power is that?" asked Lucy.

"Watch out!" called one audience member.

"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy shifted his weight. "Axe!" His stretched-out leg began to contract as it shot towards the ground, going straight for Natsu. The Fire Dragon Slayer jumped to his right, barely avoiding it, but accidentally colliding with Gray. The mage's Ice Make pose broke, and the two collapsed in a heap on the ground.

A large crash sounded, as Luffy's heel smashed into the ground, kicking up a small dust cloud. Soon, it cleared to reveal a large crater in the ground.

"He did that with one kick?" asked Makarov, surprised. He raised his fist. "Go, Fairy Tail! Don't let them defeat you!"

"Roger, Gramps!" said Gajeel, rushing at Zoro as his arms turned into long, thick greatswords. Their sleek black form glinted in the sunlight. He raised the two of them in attack as he jumped towards the green-haired swordsman.

"That's some power you have there." said Zoro. He jumped up to meet Gajeel's swords with his own. The crowd oohed as their swords collided in midair, suspending the two of them there for a moment. Soon, they each rocketed back down towards the ground, landing squarely on their feet. The two fighters grinned at each other as they prepared for their next attack.

Meanwhile, Sanji was practically flying towards Gray and Natsu, who were more focused on fighting each other than they were on fighting him. When the blonde cook got to them, he stopped, skidding on the ground until he came to a halt right before them. He leaned over the two rivals, taking his cigarette out of his mouth and blowing smoke into the air. A furious look spread across his face.

"Oi." he said, causing the two of them to look up in confusion. "When you're in a fight, you need to pay attention to your opponents!"" He gave them a kick then, sending the two of them flying back a couple of feet before they landed on their feet.

"Bastard..." said Natsu, preparing an Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon as his fist became wrapped in flame.

"You'll pay for that!" said Gray, once again in his pose. "Ice Make: Hammer!" A huge hammer made of blue ice stemmed from his hands. He brought his hands down, and the huge ice sculpture careened down towards Sanji.

"Sanji-kun, watch out!" called Nami.

Sanji gazed at her, his eyes hearts. "Yes, Nami-san!" He jumped into the air, preparing a massive kick for the thing about to hit him. However, Gray made his hands go down faster, and it hit Sanji before he could kick it. The hammer smashed Sanji into the ground with a huge crash.

"Sanji!" called Luffy. He ran towards Natsu and Gray, his hands balled into fists. As he ran, he stretched his arm back as far as he could.

"It's that power again,,, He can stretch his arms and legs." said Gray to Natsu. "If that hits you, it won't be pleasant."

The Dragon Slayer scowled. "I know that! Try not to get hit, breathmint!" He ran towards Luffy. "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!"

"That won't work!" said Luffy, grinning. As the fire-covered fists arced towards his face, he simply tilted his head a little each time, and they missed him completely. Natsu wasn't done, though. He sent another flurry of fire-enhanced punches at Luffy, none of them making contact. As one final strike went towards him, Luffy went down to a squat and brought his stretched-out arm forward in a massive punch. "Gomu Gomu no..." Natsu was hit right in the chest and flew backwards, landing on the ground with a thud. "Pistol!"

"Natsu!" Lucy cried.

"I warned him..." said Gray. "Ice Make: Floor!" He placed his hands on the ground, and it began to turn to ice in a large area around him. Soon, the ground under Luffy and Sanji was completely made of ice.

Sanji struggled to his feet, rubbing his back. "Damn... that really hurt." he said as he finally took a solid stance.

"You can still stand?" asked Gray, grinning. "And on the ice, no less. I'm impressed. You must be one powerful guy."

"Would you like a demonstration?" asked Sanji, grinning back. "This floor of yours won't affect me in the least. I'll go over there and kick your ass."

"Oh?" asked Gray. "Well, why don't you try it?"

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" A swirling funnel of fire flew towards the two pirates with barely any warning.

"Sanji!" said Luffy.

"Roger!" Sanji used his Blue Walk to jump up in the air, dodging the attack, and run through the sky towards Gray.

Meanwhile, Luffy was still on the ground, in the path of the massive attack. He bit his right thumb. "Gomu Gomu no..." His arm swelled up to enormous proportions, turning black with Busoshoku Haki.. "Elephant Gun!" He sent the massive black punch straight into the stream of fire.

"His fist blew up like a balloon, and it turned black! What kind of magic is that?"

When it made contact with Luffy's Haki-enhanced fist, the fire was pushed aside in a huge corona. It, along with the punch, flew towards Natsu with devastating speed.

"W-What?" said Natsu. Then he grinned, having formulated a new plan.

The pink-haired Dragon Slayer did an acrobatic flip over the huge punch, breathing in with a huge inhale as he came close to it. As a result, all of the fire on the Elephant Gun was sucked up by Natsu. He wasn't done yet, though. Kicking off the back of the inflated part of Luffy's arm, he flew towards the Straw Hats' captain like a missile.

Luffy's eyes widened. "You can eat fire?!"

"Yep." Natsu called as he got closer. "I can do this, too! Brilliant Bullet of the Fire Dragon!" He raised a ball of fire up above his head, and as he flew at his opponent with speed that suited the naming. He soared like a bullet, straight at Luffy.

"T-This is bad!" said Luffy. He stretched his left arm up into the air, grabbing onto a tree branch.

Natsu was coming ever closer. It was quite obvious what the ball of fire would do on impact. He roared as he uised up more and more power on the already huge ball of Dragon Slayer magic.

"Gome Gomu no Rocket!" Luffy yelled as he disappeared from Natsu's sight.

"Huh?" asked Natsu, as he looked up to see Luffy far up in the sky. "How did you-" He stopped after his attention turned to what was in front of him. He was flying straight towards the fight between Zoro and Gajeel.

The two fighters turned to see Natsu surging towards them like a rocket. Gajeel's jaw dropped. "Salamander?! What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't stop!" yelled Natsu.

"Get out of there, Zoro!" called Usopp. "If that hits you, even you'll be a goner!"

"That's where you're wrong!" said Zoro, unsheathing his third blade and placing the hilt in his mouth. "Santouryuu..."

"Oi, green-hair! Stop it. That's going too far!" said Gajeel.

Zoro ignored him, moving into a threatening stance. The two swords he held in his hands were crossed over one another, and the one in his mouth intersected the same central point.

Natsu looked on with a mix of determination and surprise as the green-haired swordsman began to move towards him.

"Club of the Iron Dragon!" Gajeel yelled as he sent the pillar of metal at Zoro. However, he was too late.

Zoro was already executing the technique. "...Push of a Hundred Samurai!" The blunt side of the katana made contact with Natsu's side, changing his direction with the force of all three swords. The Dragon Slayer, looking like a lit match with the ball of fire he was holding, was deflected by Zoro, and now flew straight at Gajeel. However, the Steel Dragon Slayer's Club of the Iron Dragon was still flying forward... straight at Natsu.

The two of them realized what was going to happen. "This is bad!" they said in unison.

In the moments that followed, a lot of things happened. For one thing, Natsu got clubbed straight in the head by Gajeel. And the ball of fire he held above his head expanded and collapsed in a huge explosion of flame, engulfing himself, Gajeel, and Zoro. The onlookers began to realize how dangerous the scene was and started to back up or flee. And finally, Gray fired his Ice-Make: Arrow, in a alightly less sharp form to avoid killing his opponent.

"Oi! Natsu! Gajeel! You two alright?!" Gray called as Sanji danced through the onslaught of projectiles. The smoke it caused was thick and black, and nothing could be seen under its veil.

The Fairy Tail members looked on with a mix of worry and confidence in their comrades. "Come on! You can do it!" and similar encouraging cheers rang out over the field.

"Zoro's a monster." said Nami. "He's definitely alright."

"Right!" said Usopp. "Come on, guys! Beat them up!" This earned him glares from a lot of people.

Erza stood there with her arms crossed, watching the match carefully. They're holding back... and it's not just one side. Not a single one of them is using their full force, she thought.

In the center of the battlefield, where the smoke was clearing, it was not just one, but two... no, make that three figures standing tall. All of them had been unaffected by the enormous blast.

Well, not exactly. Natsu was standing just as firmly as the other two, but his magic power had been depleted considerably. The pink-haired Dragon Slayer's vision was starting to blur. He didn't want to use his Second Origin, but he'd used up way too much power in that last attack.

"You're looking pretty tired out there, Salamander. Sure this isn't too much for you? Gehehehe." asked Gajeel, laughing.

"Hey! You wanna fight, Gajeel?"

"Bring it!"

Zoro, appearing between them, seemed to be completely unharmed save for the scorch marks on his robes. "You guys should focus on your opponents! Santouryuu... Tatsumaki!" With a spin and a swing of his swords, Zoro had created a violent tornado that ravaged the ground under the two Dragon Slayers, and sent them spiraling up into the air.

"Oooh... I feel sick..." Natsu's face turned bluish and it looked like he was going to vomit.

Lucy yelled at him. "Now is no time for you to get motion sickness!"

Gajeel was also sent flying pretty far. However, he didn't seem to be sick like Natsu. "Roar of the Steel Dragon!" he called as he sent a swirling funnel of metal bits at the swordsman in the center of the whirlwind. The steel shrapnel was taken up by the tornado's winds, trapping Zoro inside. However, Gajeel was still caught up in the air. The red-eyed Dragon Slayer was trying to maintain his balance so as not to be thrown out of the vortex as Natsu had moments before. He intended to fight Zoro, one-on-one.

"This is our fight!" called Gajeel over the winds. "Scales of the Iron Dragon!" His body turned grayish as it was covered with thick scales of steel. Such an alteration caused his mass to go up considerably, and the winds could no longer hold him up in the air. He began to fall headfirst towards Zoro, fists pulled back in preparation for a double punch.

"Oh?" Zoro grinned. "This is getting interesting!" He swung his sword with such force that it sent an airborne shockwave up through the tornado.

"That won't work!" Gajeel punched with both fists, completely dispelling the airborne attack with a counter-shockwave.

"You're pretty good!" said Zoro.

"You aren't half bad yourself!" Gajeel yelled, grinning, as he descended onto the swordsman. Winding up for a massive punch, he pulled his right arm back.

Zoro sheathed all three of his katana, his hand on Shuusui's hilt. "Iitouryuu Iai: Shishi Sonson! (One Sword Style Draw and Resheathe Technique: Lion's Song!)" In a blue of movement, Zoro had unsheathed the heavy black sword and resheathed it with a clank. Before he could register what had happened, Gajeel was sent flying out of the tornado, and flew nearly fifteen feet before landing on his back on the ground outside.

"Gajeel!" called Gray.

Soon after, the tornado dispersed. Zoro strode out, his katana resting on his shoulder. "That technique is powerful enough to cut steel." he said, grinning. "This is just a practice match, so I just smacked you with the blunt edge."

"W-What?" Flushed, Gajeel hopped to his feet. "You dare to go easy on me?"

"Well, I just returned the favor. It's easy to tell you aren't using your full force either. Neither is our captain. And I don't know about either of them." He gestured toward Sanji and Gray's fight.

Sanji jumped over Gray's Ice-Make: Sword and aimed a perfectly executed kick right at the raven-haired boy's head. He simply dodged it and went for another round of slashes and stabs. After a minute or so of dodging, Sanji kicked the sword, causing it to fly right out of Gray's hands. It twirled around in the air until it embedded itself in the ground with a 'thud'.

Gray jumped back, once again in his pose. "Ice-Make: Lance!" Several long, pointed tendrils of ice shot out at Sanji, who quickly dodged them. However, they curved around, and began to come at him from behind. To further fool the pirate, Gray got into his pose again and pretended to be using a new spell.

The lances surged forward, threatening to impale Sanji from behind. By this point, they were less than a second from hitting their mark.

But they ended up crashing into the ground right in front of the blonde-haired cook.

"Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" asked Gray, confused. "I thought that was going to hit you for sure."

Sanji grinned. "You could say that." He ran at Gray once again, and jumped, doing a frontflip. He seemed to jump right over Gray. However, at the last second, he extended his leg, and his heel smashed into Gray's back, sending the Ice-Make wizard flying.

"Gray-sama!" called Juvia, worried.

Lucy was also worried for her team member. Sanji-san isn't even using magic, and he's beating Gray... Just what kind of place do these pirates come from? She directed her attention to the spectating Straw Hats, and noticed the orange-haired girl in particular. Nami, she thought. Her gaze was directed straight forward, at the fight that was going on, but her hands were otherwise occupied.

Nami was now pretending to move around in order to get a better view, but Lucy had seen things like this before and noticed what she was really doing.

Her hands were slipping into and out of people's pockets, taking whatever they wanted and storing them...somewhere she couldn't quite tell. As she waded through the crowd, Lucy could see her pickpocketing nearly every last person, not a single one of them noticing.

Wait a moment... could it be? Had the captain of the Straw Hats called for this fight for that exact purpose? So that they could get a bunch of spectators and then rob them all? That certainly seemed like the type of thing that pirates would do. Well, she wasn't going to let them do it. Determined, she made her way through the crowd, heading in the way that Nami went.

At the same time, Robin, who had not stayed to watch the fight unfold, was well on her way out of the town on the path they came in. She was worried about Chopper, and had decided to retrace their steps to find him and make sure he was alright. As she strode along the path, she read a book. It was one written by Levy herself, that told about the positions of the guilds, dark or not, at the current time in history.

She flipped to the section on Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail, it read. Founded in the year 696. Ranked as the strongest guild in Fiore, until the Tenroujima incident, during which the core members of the guild disappeared for two years. The guild's placing as number one was soon taken by a newly-reformed guild, named Sabertooth. Fairy Tail is now recognized as the weakest guild.

Weakest? Thought Robin. She'd seen the wizards' formidable display of power on the road to Magnolia. If they're the weakest, then that speaks volumes about the strongest.

She pondered this as she walked. Could it be that their power level remained two years behind everyone else's? So everyone else surpassed them?

That must be it.

Just then, a noise came from a bush to her left. Robin turned her head, curious. She saw the leaves rustle, and took a step closer.

They rustled again, parting in order for a large figure to come barreling out of the little bush. Robin jumped back. It was a large brown blur in the heat of the moment.

It stopped upon landing on the dirt road. Something was on its head... a hat. It was blue and a large, somewhat circular one, with a white 'x' inside a red section. The figure itself looked ragged and torn, even in the shade, and was carrying something on its back.

Robin recognized them immediately, although its face was concealed.

"Chopper?"

The large brown figure brought its head up weakly. Upon further inspection, Robin was able to verify that it was, in fact, Chopper.

"R-Robin..." he said weakly. "What are you doing here? I was heading to Crocus... Shouldn't you be in Magnolia? I was afraid if I went there, you guys wouldn't be there..."

"No, we met up with the rest of Fairy Tail. More importantly, are you all right? You look torn up." She put her hand on the side of his head, worried.

"I'm fine... but can you please carry them for me? I don't know how much longer my body can stand the weight." He turned to the side.

On his back were Wendy, Carla, and Happy. Robin scooped them up, holding Wendy's unconscious form wedding style.

"What happened? They're out cold."

"We... we got kidnapped by slave traders. We escaped, but Wendy used too much magic. She's been unconscious ever since." He looked over to the mid-day sun. "Where's everyone else? I need to perform proper first aid on them, and I haven't been able to do much for them in that dangerous forest."

"Follow me. You need some treatment yourself." Robin said.

The two started on their way down the road.

Meanwhile, at the battle raging by the guild...

Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray panted, standing opposite from Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji. They sized each other up, once again.

"These guys are insane. Two of them don't even have any magic." said Gajeel, who was badly bruised despite his tough skin.

"We'll need to step our game up in order to beat them." said Sanji on the opposite side, grinning. "Although, I wouldn't want to hurt our new friends too badly."

"They asked for this fight," said Zoro, "And that's exactly what they're going to get." He grinned.

From the audience, the Straw Hats continued to cheer their friends on. "Oiiiii! Luffyyyyyy!" called Franky. "Kick their asses!"

Nami and Brook were cheering, too. "Nami-san, would you like to make a bet?" asked Brook.

"A bet?" Nami's eyes glowed with lust for the money she might recieve. She couldn't resist this kind of thing. The, she glared at the skeleton. "Wait a second here." she said, swooping her hand up to pickpocket another unfortunate victim, and sticking the wallet in her pocket without even looking. "Her face was scrunched up as she looked at Brook. "You're not going to ask to see my panties in return, are you?"

Brook waved his hands. "Why must you villainize me?" he asked, in mock sadness. Then, his skeletal face took on a more serious look. "No, instead..." He whispered the rest in Nami's ear.

Her face lit up. "Sounds like a plan!" She smiled deviously. "I have a perfect plan to win this."

Nearby, Franky was pumped up for a fight. "Oi, Luffy! Let me join the fight! I'll help to finish this up!"

Luffy looked back at him, his hand on his chin in thought. Then, he pointed at his cyborg crewmate. "Great idea! Help us out, Franky!"

Franky struck his SUPER pose. "All right!" Get ready to SUPER taste defeat!" He hopped into the fight.

Natsu pointed at their side. "Hey, four-on-three? Are you guys really that desperate?" he asked, grinning.

"Yeah!" said Gajeel. "If you get a fourth fighter, so should we!"

"Go ahead." said Zoro, and the other three pirates nodded.

Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel exchanged a look. "We choose Erza!" The three wizards said in unison.

Erza, who had planned to be the referee, also seemed pumped up for a fight after watching the battle unfold. She stood up, in her refined, warrior-like stance. "Very well. I accept." She jumped down into the field.

Meanwhile, Makarov was starting to worry. "Hey! If Erza is joining the fight, then move farther away from the guild hall! Or do you want to lose this old farmhouse we have?" He realized that he really didn't care about the farmhouse. He liked the first Fairy Tail guild better. But, a guild was a guild. If their base of operations was destroyed, then how would they continue to remain one?

Unfortunately for him, he was completely unable to reach the youngsters fighting. Erza was already requiping into her Heaven's Wheel armor. That wouldn't be too destructive... as long as she didn't send it anywhere she didn't mean to.

Then he saw what he should really have been worried about.

"Here I go!" called Franky, as the hatches on his metallic red shoulder opened to reveal a large arsenal of missles.

Oh, no... thought Makarov.

The rockets flew straight at the quartet of wizards, leaving behind a trail of bright orange flame as they went.

"What are those?" asked Natsu. "They look like jellybeans!" He started to walk forward. "Attacking me with flaming jellybeans, huh? Well, try this!"

"Wait, stop!" Erza was too late.

Makarov buried his face in his hands as an explosion shook the guild hall.