BOOK 4 - Fairy Tail (Pirates) AU: On Magical Tides

CHAPTER VII: The Conflict of the Mermaids

The entire crew finally stepped into Akane beach. Hades already had a plan in order to capture a mermaid fast. He ordered his men to bring forth a bunch of nets they had prepared with anticipation. The crew placed such nets all along the shore and then headed over to a tall tower at one side.

Turns out the mermaids were very attached to the light produced by men. Therefore, they all decided to use the top of the tower to create a big source of light. After that, Hades selected a group of unfortunate sailors to act as bait. And so, such bait got on board a boat and waited at the very middle of the water for the mermaids to appear.

In between those poor sailors being used as bait were Cana and the missionary who previously dared to talk back to Hades. Following that, the poor sailors waited for many minutes non-stop. What is more, they even started singing an old tune because mermaids supposedly like songs a lot. But even with all that, the mermaids still didn't appear... until a lot later.

"No way..." Cana muttered in surprise.

She and the other sailors turned around at that moment and startled at the sight of a beautiful woman inside the water. She was leaning on the edge of the boat while staring at everyone with loving eyes. And she also had a long fish-like tail instead of a pair of legs. She was clearly a mermaid.

One of the many sailors found himself completely captivated by the mermaid's extreme beauty. Therefore, he quickly approached the gorgeous creature in an almost entranced state and started chatting with her.

Everyone around startled at this and tried to stop their comrade, but it was already too late. Once the sailor found himself close enough to the mermaid, the creature slowly dragged his face towards the sea. And then, her true dangerous colors were finally unveiled. The sea creature's face turned into one of absolute terror. And after that, she pulled the entire man into the ocean mercilessly.

Cana and the others exalted in shock. But then suddenly, even more mermaids showed themselves without a warning. One by one, they started dragging the poor sailors all the way to the depths of the sea. That's when Natsu, Lucy and the others on land finally realized what was happening.

The poor sailors on the boat were suddenly forced to get in the water and swim for their lives. Some of them, like Cana and the missionary, managed to reach the shore safely. But some others were unfortunately dragged into the water.

Hades then realized that the mermaids were still not close enough to the shore. And so, he used his witchery to take control of his ship from afar. He rubbed the mangle of his sword and caused the Revenge to face directly towards the shore. Following that, he rubbed the mangle of his sword once again and activated the frontal flamethrower of the ship.

This scared the mermaids so much that they had no other choice but to swim closer to the shore, where the many crew members were waiting with the nets in their hands. But suddenly, the mermaids started attacking from the distance by using some kind of vines. They tied the sailors with such vines and pulled them towards the ocean.

The once mermaid hunt mission they had started together suddenly turned into a human killing fest. "Everyone! Get back to land!" Natsu yelled desperately. "Quickly! Run for your lives!"

"Cowards!" Hades intervened. "Get back in the water! There will be no refugee for you in land! Get back now! Or you will die!"

Natsu realized he wasn't gonna be able to stop the mermaids from killing everyone at that pace. Therefore, he decided to do the only thing he could think of to stop the brutal carnage. He quickly headed over to the big and tall tower at one side, and started climbing all the way to its top. He was planning to get rid of the massive source of light attracting the mermaids.