The Power of One Dream (A One Piece x Fairy Tail Story)

Part 28

[Back in the Infirmary]

Charlotte Fullerman looked dismissively at the pile of defeated Manticore Sting grunts before him, then looked to the Fire Dragon Slayer and the Rubber-Man Pirate Captain both wearing determined grins. And smiled back derisively. "So, Dragneel, Mugiwara? You plan on 'kicking my ass'? Well, such a grand spectacle deserves an equally grand arena. Wouldn't you agree?"

And before either had a chance to DISAGREE, Fullerman opened another portal and jumped backwards into it. Natsu looked at Luffy who looked back at him. Fullerman was surely leading them both into a trap. But when had that stopped a member of Fairy Tail, OR a pirate, ever before? Without another word, they both turned to face the open portal, and dashed through.

.........

Natsu looked around at the landscape he and Luffy had stepped into. For as far as he could see the landscape was completely aquamarine crystal. That is what he could see between the gaps of enormous crystal clusters encircling the area around them. Clusters in the rough shape of steps and pillars, giving their immediate environment the appearance of an ancient ruined colliseum. And the artificial night sky above them was decorated by stars shooting across its expanse.

"CAN'T COME UP WITH ANYTHING ORIGINAL, CAN YOU FULLERMAN?!?" Natsu called aloud, comparing this arena-scape to that of his and the other Dragon Slayers' last fight with Acnologia, and trying to goad Manticore Sting's 'Maw' into revealing himself. But all around them in that vast space, their true enemy was nowhere to be seen.

"You have more to worry about than that malcontent Wizard, Natsu."

Natsu snapped around to the direction of that all-too-familiar voice, and clenched his fists. Lord Zeref stood some way off to his right with an indifferent expression, and an odd and unsettling aura coming from directly behind the Dark King. "The Hell are you doing here... (Natsu growled both confused and irritable)?... I saw you disintegrate into light along with Mavis-", "You'll never be truly free of me Natsu... (Zeref interrupted dispassionately). I am always with you, for you are my legacy upon this world. And my greatest sin. But then... you are also guilty yourself of an equally heinous sin."

He paused leaving Natsu all the more confused, and on edge. But the Fire Mage's scowl soon fell, becoming rising anxiety as the source of that other aura stepped out from behind him. Under the demonic horns and leathery wings, surrounded by blackened scaly skin and burning red eyes... was the figure of a young girl who stood beside Zeref. A girl with an obscure and yet slightly familiar scent and even more familiar long pink hair, and tears falling from her red-irised eyes.

"Who..........who the heck is the kid??" Natsu asked anxiously, still not entirely sure what was going on, but fearing in his heart that he already knew the answer to his question. "I suppose we are both failures as parents Natsu.. (Natsu's ears spiked at the use of the word 'parent').. How can a father not recognise their own child?"

As Zeref's words finally hit home, he actually fell to his knees beholding the girl's misery. And the Dark King looked down on him with a hand on the girl's shoulder, still dispassionately. "She is your own legacy Natsu. And your own curse on this world. Your future. The Demon Seed I forced upon you which you will pass to her, to her eternal suffering. As those whose lives you touch also suffer. As the one you love will also suffer, because of her, and because.. of you."

.........

"N......Nutso...??" Luffy (who had kept quiet but resolute up to this point) stuttered unsure what else to say at this scene. He was equally unsure what exactly was going on. But also beginning to understand what it is to see your child in pain.

"You shouldn't interfere with the bond between parent and child Luffy..."

Luffy likewise snapped around to the source of the voice all-too familiar to him, and froze. ".... but then again, I'm not exactly the model of a 'good' parent, am I?" Standing tall in baggy pants and a loosely-buttoned shirt under a long, high-coloured black cape that concealed the stump of a missing left arm. The three slash-scarred face wearing a sad smile under a mess of red hair was this time undeniably....