Hello everyone. Please, read this.

I'm writing this story because I really liked the idea of Escanor and Merlin together. That's why I'm writing my own version of the main story. Since Escanor haven't showed us what he can really do yet, I can't write with precision, so I'll just create some skills for him, and as the main story progresses, I can come back and rewrite certain parts. I don't mind it. Well, just enjoy it and let me know what you think!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Nanatsu no Taizai.

It was about 17:48 PM. The sun had just started to set. As the colossal ball of fire slowly moved, it left beautiful shades of orange, yellow and red in the sky. There were very few clouds in the sky, so the setting sun could be seen in all his majesty. Slowly, the sky was turning darker as the sun kept hiding behind a mountain, indicating the end of yet another day and the beggining of the night.

On top of a large rock, a lone man stared emotionlessly at the sun. The cold breeze gently moved his hair and mustache, along with some trees, which made a very harmonic and relaxing sound. Any person would die for a chance of being where the man was and to enjoy such a relaxing show. But the man showed anything but pleasure at the beautiful sight in front of him.

He was a very tall and muscular man. He was standing still with a fixed gaze at the sun, but his mind was somewhere else. He was lost in reveries, thinking about a certain person he hadn't seen in a long time. Ten years, to be exact. And now, all he had were his precious memories of that person and a wanted poster of her at his bar. He sighed and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the refreshing gush of wind.

His clothes could barely contain the enormous mass of muscle the man had, and there were even a few torn pieces of it because of his behemoth-like body. There was a large one on his back, which revealed a dark tattoo of a roaring lion. There he stood, the Lion's Sin of Pride of The Seven Deadly Sins, Escanor, in all of his glory. To any bystander or any person passing by, he would look like a God. His prideful stance made him look like as if the entire world was his. He looked like as if anyone or anything would bow to him if he commanded, as if his sole presence was enough to make a person be consumed by fear.

And it was true.

No one could tell if it was a curse or a blessing, but to him, all the power he had was the worst curse there could be. Why would he think that? Because he was dangerous. Whenever he went, his arrogance and absolute power would make ANY enemy cower in fear and run, or even beg for their lives. But that didn't mean that his allies wouldn't fear him as well.

Demons, fairies, humans, animals, and even giants would fear him, and the greatest proof of that was his own teammate, a girl called Diane. On a certain ocasion, he heard her tell someone that he was the only person that she wouldn't like to become an enemy of. His own teammate feared him, and she wasn't the only one. He was pretty sure that even the Fairy King, who was also his teammate, and at the time was being known as 'King', also feared him. Most of his other teammates also felt the same, but they wouldn't dare show it. Even his leader hesitated to use his powers in combat.

That is why he isolated himself. That is why he lived most of his life in loneliness. Because no matter where he went, be it ally or foe, he would always be seen as nothing more than a threat. He would only be called in situations where there was extreme danger, and even so people would fear using his power. To him, a person who was the incarnation of pride, that shouldn't be much of a big deal. Everyone considered him an arrogant narcisist at day-time, as someone who didn't care about anything but himself. But they were wrong. Even he had feelings, and as much as he grimaced admitting it, it hurt him. It hurt him to be considered a monster by every single person he knew.

Except for one person.

Only a single person showed genuine interest in him and actually cared about how he felt. That person was his teammate, the Boar's Sin of Gluttony, Merlin. She is the woman who made Escanor, the Master of the Sun, feel doubt and hesitation for the first time on his life (at day time). Not just that, but somehow, she's the only one who can stop him when he goes on a rampage. Like twelve years ago, against the vampires of edinburgh. Merlin, along with the Goat's Sin of Lust, Gowther, had to combine theirs powers to render Escanor unconscious until night-time. As far as he remembered, she was always the last thing he saw whenever he lost control.

"Merlin..." He muttered. The word vanished in thin air as soon as it appeared. His usual tone of pride was filled with melancholy as he remembered with grief the last time he saw the woman he loved. He couldn't even see her face since she was wearing her armor at the time. He had no idea what she felt for him, because at day-time he usually isolated himself from the others, and at night he was too shy to approach her. He even bought her a bouquet of flowers once, but got too scared to give it to her.

Everyone saw her as a cunning, mischevious woman, but Escanor failed to acknowledge that. He simply couldn't see why people thought that. He once described Merlin as beautiful, intelligent, kind and cheerful to his captain, but from the latter's reaction he could see that they had different opinions.

Before he could question himself again about why people had suspicions on Merlin, he suddenly opened his eyes. After some moments, he finally moved his body and jumped. His feet pushed the ground with such force that it cracked, all the while raising a large cloud of dust. With that, Escanor launched himself kilometers high in the sky. He landed on the ground with another loud crack, and soon launched himself forward with amazing speed. As he ran, he could feel his speed, his strenght, his muscles, all of them slowly decreasing. Eventually, though, he managed to reach his destination in one piece.

If anyone looked at him now, no one would recognize him as the proud and strong man from moments ago. Instead, what was there to be seen was a frail, weak little man in over-sized clothes. He was at least two times shorter than before, and instead of muscles, he was now very thin and skinny. Even his expression changed to one that matched his now weak frame. He looked like as if he'd catch a cold simply because he was standing outside of his 'house', so he hurried inside. The first thing he did was watch the clock. 18:00 PM.

"Phew... I'm glad I made it in time..." He thought as he slowly entered the cave in front of him and turned the lights on, revealing a medium-sized bar. Sighing, he opened a door behind the counter and revealed something like a house inside.

Atchoo!" He sneezed pathetically as he removed his over-sized clothes to get dressed in his working outfit. When he found himself comfortable enough in his new change of clothes, he left his 'house' and went to his working place. His own bar, called 'My Sweet Gluttony'. He turned on the bar's music and switched the plaque on the door to CLOSED to OPEN. Finally, he sat behind the counter and started cleaning a few glasses.

He had a habit of letting everything prepared for the next day after the bar closed, so that he wouldn't have to bother doing so in the morning. So, everyday he'd stay inside the cave doing nothing or, just like today, leave the cave to explore the wilderness a little, since staying in a cave could be VERY boring. At night, he'd work until very late and then let everything ready for the next night. That has been his routine for ten long years.

Surprisingly enough, his bar was actually very famous, despite being in a cave in the middle of the forest. If not for the posters he spreaded through the nearby town, the flyers he distributed and a few contacts he made when delivering ale, not a single person would know of his bar. But he had quite a lot of loyal customers, who got interested in his splendid work. Escanor was always quite knowledgeable about alcoholic drinks, even though he wasn't a heavy drinker like most of his teammates. That, along with the fact that he knew some cooking from watching his teammate, the Fox's Sin of Greed, Ban, cook everyone's dinner, made him very successful at running his bar (ironically, even more than his captain's bar, of which he had no knowledge about.).

After a few minutes, the first customer entered, which surprised Escanor since he was distracted. Escanor greeted him with a nervous smile.

"G-Good evening, Frank. You startled me... How are you doing tonight?" The weak bartender politely bowed to the man, who just shrugged and extended his hand for Escanor to shake, which he did.

"How's it going, Jera? Give me the usual please. A bottle of Bernia Ale."

Escanor nodded "Coming right up."

As he turned back to look at the wide array of bottles he possessed, Escanor took some time to think about the fake name he'd been using. Ever since he and his allies had been labeled as criminals, he decided that using his real name could draw in some unwanted attention, since he had posters of his entire squad on the wall next to him. Even though his wanted poster's photo had nothing to do with him (for some reason that even he failed to understand), having the same name of the criminal could raise suspicion. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but just to make sure, he told every customer he was called Jeraziah. That way he could work without any worries.

Time passed and soon more customers arrived. Most of them knew each other, so now there was a happy talkative atmosphere between the customers. Sometimes Escanor joined them in their conversations and their table games, but due to his shyness and the fact that talking to a bunch of drunk guys could be annoying, he passed most of times. He worked really hard for a lot of reasons, so he couldn't let himself to be distracted very often. His job was important because from it he could get money for his livings, have a bit of social interaction, he enjoyed it and, most importantly, he only had to work at night. So he did his best to maintain his bar in great condition.

As he served a customer on some Aberdeen ale, he couldn't help but listen to a conversation between a few customers nearby.

"Dude, look at those wanted posters. I could totally have a go with that Diane. She seems to be very hot from this picture, hahahaha!" He laughed out loud.

The other man shook his head with an expression that was close to disbelief. "What? No, no, dude. Look at that bitch, Merlin. SHE looks pretty hot." At this Escanor flinched. A hint of anger built inside him, but of course, he remained silent.

"Haha, yeah, I could totally bang her too. Dude, too bad those whores are criminals, otherwise..."

Escanor gritted his teeth. Yet again he heard a certain person being called certain names. And hell, if he wasn't so weak right now, he'd definitely blow his own customers up.

"Criminals? Oh, no dude. Haven't you heard? Someone set them up. Looks like they weren't the oness who killed the badass holy knight."

At this, Escanor stopped what he was doing. His heart was pounding. They weren't wanted anymore? That meant he could stop going into hiding. That meant he could leave, find his teammates and... see Merlin again. Hope and enthusiasm filled the frail man's heart as he approached the two bastards who insulted his beloved one.

"Hey, is that true?" He asked, trying his best to not show the men how he felt like strangling them.

The two turned to him "Sounds like it is, Jera. Seems like it was some crazy holy knight's idea. Hell, there are even people saying he was trying to summon some demons, but I think that's bullshit."

"Dammit, that's good to hear. If I ever see any of these bitches then I'll have my way with them both. Too bad there are only two hoes in their group. Bunch of sissies."

"Haha, yeah. Which one of those bitches wouldja pick, Jera?"

Escanor forced a smile the best he could. On the inside, he was filled with murderous intent, something very rare for his night form. "W-Well..."

"It's Merlin, right? Please dude, don't tell me you'd pick the other one. Only retards would pick the other."

"The fuck you sayin' man? Look at that Diane, she's way better than this trash Merlin. Stop talking shit, dumbass!"

"Fuck you!"

Without warning, one of the men launched a fist at the other's face, knocking him down to the ground. Rising to his feet, the other man jumped on the first and both fell to the ground, where they pathetically exchanged a few punches and kicks and insulted each other. While the other customers laughed at the scene, Escanor got a bit calmer. The guys he was more than angry at were beating each other up. He wanted to punch them himself, but that was actually enjoyable. Without notiicing the customer called Frank approached Escanor, which startled the poor bartender.

"Hey, aren't you going to stop them like you always do?" The man asked, not understanding why the bar owner was just watching the scene like everyone else.

"O-Oh. Uh... I-I think it's pointless to stop them, you know... And to be honest I don't even think I could." Escanor lied. The man seemed to have bought it and returned to watch the fight. Escanor sighed in relief and enjoyed the show, until they finally stopped. It was then that Escanor had an idea.

"H-Here, guys. I'll give you a free drink each if you stop fighting..." He said, adjusting his glasses. The two men looked at him with surprise and excitement.

"Free drinks? I'll never fight again!" One of the men said as he laughed outloud at his own joke. He picked a glass of ale from Escanor's hand

"You're the best, Jera!" The other said as he did the same as the other. Both forgot their differences and toasted, drinking the contents of their glasses in nearly a single gulp. Escanor smiled mischeviously and the night kept going on.

After hours of hard work, it finally came the time to close the bar. The last customers were already leaving, still remembering what had happened earlier and laughing to themselves. After the ridiculous fight between the brutes, Escanor had put a very strong laxative in the free drinks he gave them. The result? After an hour or so, they were so drunk that they didn't even notice that they had dirtied their pants. When they did notice, everyone was laughing at them already. They left the bar in hurry, but they were known at the bar for being assholes, so everyone had a good laugh at their karma.

When the last customer paid and left, Escanor sighed and started cleaning the mess. He wiped the floor, cleaned the tables, the windows, the counter and, finally, the used glasses and plates. After another hour cleaning, he finally laid down on his bed, exausted. Yet something kept him from sleeping. The news he had heard. If the sins weren't considered criminals anymore, then he had no reason to go into hiding anymore. He could return to his allies and go back to being called by his real name. Of course, his day-time personality was a problem which required his isolation from everyone, but who cares? Escanor had something important to him. And he was tired of not being close to it.

"Sigh... Merlin... It doesn't matter how many poems I write for you... It means nothing when you're not around..." The sin thought as a familiar pain found it's way to his heart. The pain of love. Even worse, the pain of missing the person you love. In fact, it was even worse than that. What he actually felt was the pain of loving someone who was far away, and at the same time, he had no idea what were that person's feelings for him. As far as he was concerned, in those ten years she could have even found a person for her to love. That's what pained him the most. It scared him. Would she like a weak good-for-nothing like him at night? Or could she cope with his arrogant form during the day? Or even not be scared by his absurd power?

He had no idea. Yet he felt that he should be next to her. After ten years looking at a poster and dreaming about her, Escanor finally made a decision. The next day, he would go after her. He would stop hiding, he would leave that cave and would finally go after his team. Then, with that, he'd finally meet up with Merlin again. He smiled to himself as he slowly drifted into sleep...

The blonde haired man finished getting dressed in his usual clothes and smiled at his reflection on the mirror. He then jumped in place a little, feeling stronger than ever. After recovering his powers that were sealed away, the man had never felt better than now. He had forgotten how it was to be insanely strong, and he had to admit that having all that power back was very good. Satisfied, he left his room with a smile, catching the attention of those around him.

"Meliodas-sama!" A white-haired woman approached the blonde with a cheerful smile. A few other people who were next to her also smiled and approached the small man.

"Yo, Elizabeth." The man raised his hand in his usual manner whenever he greeted someone. Just then his eyes darted from the woman's face to her stunning body, and in a few seconds, his hands made their way to her breasts, making her yell in embarrasment and the others to avert their gazes from the situation.

"Kyaa! M-Meliodas-sama...!"

The man made a confused face. "Hm? What's wrong?"

"'What's wrong', you say?!" A loud, angry voice snarled at Meliodas from below him. It belonged to Hawk, the pig. "Will you quit touching her like that?!"

Smiling, the man slowly let go of Elizabeth, who sighed in relief and embarrasment. Her face was still red, but she managed to smile at the captain's antics. She enjoyed the attention he gave her, but it embarrassed her to no ends his shameless acts from time to time.

"Now, now... No need to get angry, you two. We have business we have to attend to." A tall, blue haired man said. It was none other than Hendricksen, the former Great Holy Knight of Liones, and the antagonist from some time ago that, under the influence of demons, nearly destroyed the entire kingdom and many innocent lives. He was stopped by Meliodas and his group, and now, to atone for his sins, he is working under Meliodas at his bar. He wishes to do things right this time.

"He's right. We have to focus on what's important now, guys." This time it was Arthur Pendragon who spoke. The kid was the king of Camelot, and he was now offering his assistance into defeating the Ten Commandments.

"Sure." Meliodas said, his carefree attitude completely opposing his sin. "Now that we got stronger, what should we do?"

"There are a few things we can do now." A female voice came from a floating orb. The magic artifact, called Aldan, belonged to none other than Arthur's mentor and one of the most dangerous and intelligent members of the Seven Deadly Sins, Merlin. The soul of the sorceress was inside the orb, since after a tragic battle against one of the commandments, her body was turned into stone. Now, only a person from the Goddess clan could turn her body to normal.

"Like what?" Hawk asked. In his mind, the devastating power Meliodas had should be more than enough to defeat the commandments.

"For now, we should focus on finding the remaining sins. We still lack the power to face them." The orb said. Everyone in the room nodded in agreement. "King and Diane left recently, so I might be able to find them with my ability, 'Location'. Ban left for quite some time, but I also might be able to find him. The problem will be... finding that man."

Meliodas nodded and his face got a bit more serious. "Yes... His power will really come in handy..."

"Um... Who is this?" Arthur asked, confused.

"We're talking about the strongest of all sins... The Lion's Sin of Pride, Escanor." Merlin answered.

Hendricksen's eyes widened. "The strongest...? Are you saying he's even stronger than Meliodas?"

The captain of the sins smiled. "Yeah. He's way stronger than me." These words made everyone in the room to widen their eyes in surprise. Except for Gowther, of course, who curiously tried to understand everyone's expressions. "His powers will be useful, but they are... kinda troublesome to use. We have no choice though."

"What do you mean, troublesome?" Slader said. He was the leader of a group called 'Dawn's Roar', which was supposed to be the Seven Sins's replacement when they were framed as criminals.

"It's hard to explain, and we don't have time for that.." Merlin said. Everyone focused their attention on her. "We should focus on finding him and the others first. Then we can deal with that problem." The sorceress said, a rather serious voice in her tone. The same seriousness was present in Meliodas's face, which made everyone uneasy somehow.

"U-Um... Why don't we try to find the others for now? I mean, wouldn't it be easier?" Elizabeth suggested. Everyone seemed to consider that a pretty good idea, since most people present nodded.

"Yosh, then it's decided! Right now, we have to get stronger, so we need to find the other sins!" Meliodas raised his hand in the air in a commanding manner

"Yes!" Everyone answered.

The blond man smiled "Nishishi... Now, where were we? Oh, that's right." He said as he once again started touching Elizabeth. This time on her butt.

"U-Uhm... Meliodas-sama..." Elizabeth timidly moaned in embarrasment. The others weren't sure if they should laugh or ignore the scene. Fuming, Hawk ran at Meliodas's direction.

"Damn you, Meliodas!" Hawk the jumped at Meliodas comically, while the others just watched in amusement as the princess was saved by a pig.

It was morning already. The man knew without even having to look outside. Without wasting time, and with a goal in mind, the man started packing up. He hated going outside in the mornings, but today was different. He had something he wanted to do and someone he wanted to see. Nothing would stop him, not even the trivial things that he disliked. He picked clothes, bottles of alcoholic drinks, food, and some other stuff. Feeling satisfied, he grabbed his bag and left the cave/bar. A very warm day greeted him. The sky was clear and in a vivid blue. He looked one last time at his bar. The place he stayed for the past ten years.

Memories started coming back to him. Like when he had no idea where to go after running from Liones. When he found that cave. When he thought about what he'd do for a living. When he worked into someone's restaurant to raise money. Then, he finally remembered the effort that it took to gather enough money to turn his cave into a bar, and how satisfying it felt to have his own business and a bed. The difficult days in which he had to sleep on the ground also came back to him. But these were long gone.

And now there he was. Saying goodbye to everything he built over the past ten years. He'd abandon it all for the chance to see his beloved one again. A hint of melancholy and regret started to reach the prideful man's heart. Deep down his enormous mass of muscles, an inconvenient pain made his question if he was doing the right thing. He loved his job, and to think he'd have to abandon everything...

"...I'm taking it with me." A sudden decision. Without giving it a second thought, the prideful man finally decided that he wouldn't abandon his bar. Rather, he'd take it with him on his journey. "Being built by none other than myself... That place is beffiting only for myself. I will not leave it here." He told himself.

Having decided himself, Escanor figured he'd have to find a way to transport his bar, and he knew exactly how. He turned to look at the mountain. A mountain that was different from the others.

"The red mountain... It is said that the legendary Chimera lives there. If that is true, then that beast shall consider herself lucky to be tamed down by me." Escanor told himself as he jumped in the direction of the mountain, which was kilometers away from him. He'd take at least two hours to get there, even with his insane speed.

"I can't waste any time here... I'll have to use my power more throughly." He said as he began engulfing his body with light.

The sun is a giant ball of fire. That ball of fire emits light beams. Light beams travel at the speed of light. Escanor was the master of the sun... The light rays he emitted were a part of him. Which meant... he could travel at the speed of light if he used his powers a bit more seriously. He rarely needed to do it, though. After all, his opponents never needed much to be eliminated.

In the blink of an eye, Escanor used one of his rarely used techniques. "Sun Travel..." and so there he was, at the head of the mountain already. There was a cave in front of Escanor, and he didn't hesitate to enter it. Inside, he found the legend to be true, and a gigantic creature was lying in the ground before him. It had a two heads, one was a lion and the other was a goat. It's body started as one of a lion and ended as one of a goat, with the two back paws being different from the front ones. It also had a large green tail, which ended with a snake's head. Finally, it had giant red dragon wings.

Upon recognizing the man's presence, the creature's eyes gazed intently at Escanor, and soon the creature got up, emitting a very loud war cry. Any other living being would be terrified by the deafening sound, the creature's appearance, it's size and the viciousness it demonstrated. But Escanor... he didn't even flinch. Not even when the beast raised one of his enormous paws and swinged it at Escanor with full force. The beast's claws were bigger than Escanor himself, and they seemed like they could pierce, crush and rip apart anything.

...Except for Escanor.

Without the slightest effort, the man stopped the beast's attack, by grabbing it's pawn with a single hand. He held it with such force that the creature couldn't pull it back from him. Soon, burning light started enveloping the man's body. The creature then understood the clear difference between them. The heat emanating from the man reached upon the beast, and it released a cry or fear. Escanor then let go of the beast's pawn, and she immediately pulled back in horror.

"Bow to me." Escanor said. His intimidating presence made the beast lay on the ground in seconds. The beast stared at Escanor in silence, while he did the same to the beast. "You belong to me now." He slowly extended his hand towards the beast. It seemed like it could understand him, as all three of the beast's heads made something like a nod, and slowly it extended it's large pawn towards Escanor's hand, touching it gently. Satisfied, Escanor let out a small smile, before engulfing he and the beast in light.

"Sun Travel..."

In another blink of an eye, Escanor was back to his cave. This time, in the company of a giant winged chimera who had no idea what just happened. All of it's heads, including the one on it's tail, scanned the place trying to figure out where they where. Until a sound brought their attention. It was Escanor, who was lifting the entire cave from the ground. The creature stared in awe as he pulled the enormous piece of land from the ground with seemingly no difficulty. With a light blow, Escanor made the excess piece on land break, reducing considerably it's weight. He then approached the chimera.

"Lay down. You'll be carrying this for me." Escanor said. His deep voice giving the beast goosebumps. "Obey me and you'll not feel my wrath."

Immediately, the creature laid down, and Escanor placed the piece of land in it's back. "Don't move." He then picked some ropes and started to attach the land to the beast, in a way that it would be impossible for the cave to fall down by accident. After quite some time working on it, Escanor finally felt satisfied. His cave was safe and ready for the journey. The chimera then made a sound.

"Hm? You are hungry...?" Escanor questioned. Somehow he could understand the beast as well. "...Well, you have been obedient so far. I guess you deserve some reward." Escanor said before dashing away with menacing speed.

After some time, he returned. He had a lot of dead animals with him, and the beast looked at them with interest. Escanor threw one of the dead bisons to the beast, and it happily ate it with a single bite. Escanor kept doing it until the animals were over. "Well?"

The beast made something like a purr, and it's heads approached Escanor and started licking him. "Hmph... I'll take that as a 'I'm satisfied'"

Without wasting time, Escanor jumped and landed on top of his cave. "Fly."

The creature let out a large roar before flapping his wings and slowly ascending from the ground, bringing along Escanor and the cave. With two ropes attached to the beast's necks, Escanor could control the direction it would fly. After ascending, the beast started flying forward, increasing it's speed. As it moved, Escanor stood still in silence.

"...Wait for me, Merlin."

This is it for the first chapter. Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought of it!