BOOK 2 - Fairy Tail (Pirates) AU: Dark Pirate's Chest

CHAPTER V: The Souls and the Helpless

Natsu, Gray, Gajeel and Erza kept on looking for clues about the key and the chest they were looking for. They inspected every corner of the aground ship, but they soon realized they weren't exactly safe. Suddenly, an entire creepy and terrifying ship came out to the surface from the depths of the ocean. It was Zeref's real ship: the Flying Spriggan.

What is more, lots of weird humanoid creatures covered in black marks stepped out of the ocean and onto the aground ship. Those creatures were part of Zeref's crew. Natsu and the others startled and immediately drew out their swords. They started fighting such mutants covered in coral and barnacle. But in the end, it seemed useless.

One of the creatures managed to land a punch on Gray, knocking him down. The creature then put a knife against the raven-haired boy's neck. He threatened Natsu and the others with killing him. However, one last person stepped out of the ocean at that moment. It was Zeref himself.

"What happened here, Mard?" Zeref asked his second in command.

"Sir... These pests appeared out of nowhere and interfered with our job" Mard replied.

Zeref turned to look at the apprehended Gray and at Natsu. Then, he ended up recognizing the pinkette at last. "Oh? Who would've said I would find you here out of all places... Natsu Dragneel" Natsu tensed up as Zeref approached him with an angry expression.

The pinkette was able to see Zeref's face very clearly now. The dark pirate had lots of black marks all over him, and also many remains of barnacle and coral stuck to his face. "Y-you... You are Zeref?" Natsu asked.

"The one and only. And if I recall correctly, your father has an unpaid debt with me. I saved his son's life 19 years ago. In return, he had to send the souls of lost men from the living world into the underworld. That was the agreement!"

"My dad told me all about it. But come on...  Even you have to admit that the amount of souls you demanded was impossible to achieve. Besides, if you really wanna get paid with souls, then why don't you just pick up 2 other people and leave my dad and I alone?"

"You don't understand... One soul is not equal to another!"

"Aha! We just established that my proposal is sound in principle. Now we just need to discuss the real price"

Zeref startled at Natsu's unexpected words. "Price?"

The pinkette then approached and faced Zeref directly. "Just how many souls do you think mine and my father's are worth?"

The dark pirate remained pensive for a while. "I want 100 souls... You have 3 days, starting now"

Natsu smirked in return. "Thanks, pal. Give me my friend back and I'll get on with it immediately"

"Your friend stays with me!" Zeref firmly claimed. "He's a good-faith payment! Now all you need is 99 more souls! HAHAHAHA...!" Zeref's entire crew started laughing along with its captain. Then, they all got onto their ship again while taking Gray along with them.

Erza, Gajeel and Natsu could not believe what had just happened. They really had met the dark pirate himself and lived to tell the tale. However, they now had an even harder task at hand.

They went back to their ship and got ready to sail. Juvia startled in shock and concern when Natsu explained everything to her. Gray really was gone, and the poor bluenette couldn't be more heartbroken.

"We... We are going to save Gray-sama, right?! Natsu?!" Juvia asked, but the pinkette faced downwards in return. "Y-you... You can't be serious! We can't just abandon Gray-sama! We can't!"

Juvia started crying and begged Natsu to reconsider, but then Erza and Levy tried to console her. The girls agreed with Natsu and considered that the best move was to get rid of Igneel's unpaid debt first. After that, they needed to find the key and the chest. And only when they finally had those in hand, would they be able to save Gray without problems.