Since the time they arrived at Gran Tesoro, it was already night. The little squad slept until the afternoon and were currently eating lunch.
'Snake is still wearing the magic glasses…' Shun thought before deciding on something
They were seated at one large table in the VIP room, as Baccarat was in charge of assisting VIPs in Gran Tesoro. The seven dwarves, one bird, Baccarat, and Shun were the only ones in the room. Since they were accustomed to Shun's cooking, they were not particularly excited about the food, even though it was luxurious enough that it would be difficult for even nobles to obtain.
"Lately, I've been interested in crafting magic items," Shun said, suddenly breaking the silence.
"So, I'll give you guys some gifts," Shun said, then created clothes similar to what their original versions wore, just in different colors.
First, Shun created a small version of Hancock's dress. Then, he added purple letters on the inside of the fabric.
"Here you go. It can change its temperature depending on the surroundings, it is heat and cold resistant, and it will grow along with the wearer." In the Fairy Tail world, there are countless magics, and the three Shun added were among the simplest ones.
"Really?!" It is not hard to imagine the reaction of Snake, who was happy even about the simple glasses. She was 'so happy' that she jumped to hug Shun.
"…"
After that, Shun gave each of them a set of clothes in different colors. The color-changing magic was actually already a popular magic tool in the Fairy Tail world; there was even an episode where Lucy had one.
Baccarat and Biri were staring expectantly as well, so Shun made them clothes, too. Shun did not know what to make for Baccarat, so he simply copied her current outfit and added the magic features. Baccarat was fine with it, but the bird was quite shameless. Shun made a hat and coat for the bird as well.
'Magic items, plus the clothes, plus the fusion-fusion devil fruit ability, it was a simple path to becoming a legendary craftsman.'
After giving out the gifts and accepting their gratitude, Shun opened the newspaper. There were a bunch of big headlines, such as the battle between Shiki and Shun. It detailed how strong Shiki actually was, and how the poor honorary admiral was manipulated into a brutal fight with him. All of it was the result of Rayleigh's lies and manipulation.
"Heh." Shun let out a small chuckle while reading the paper, surprising the little group at the lunch table. The rest of the news covered a terrorist attack on the entirety of Sabaody Island, but Shun ignored the rest.
After finishing lunch, Shun sent them back to where they were yesterday with their ship.
'Though it might look like I'm bad at parenting by letting them gamble or do whatever they want, my deal with them was to give them freedom in exchange for mutual cooperation,' Shun justified himself, then…
POP-!
It was time to hop back into his world.
——
It was already afternoon in the world of Fairy Tail.
Shun repelled the light around him and turned invisible. Then, he entered the guild. Most of the members were gathered around two bald old men: Makarov and the magic council chairman. Ignoring them, Shun went toward a blue-haired girl reading a book.
Shun created a pen and ink to recreate the situation that had caught him off guard a few days ago. He moved undetected through the guild. Normally, Levy would have joined the crowd, but she had had an incident a few days prior. After the incident with Shun, when she came home and looked in the mirror, she found a black dot made of ink on her cheek. Everything clicked after that realization.
'Aghh, begone, my dark history!' Levy shook her head wildly.
"!"
"Did I shake my head too hard? I'm seeing things now…"
In front of her, Shun sat looking at her. But what made her feel embarrassed was not just her imagination. It was that on this illusionary Shun's cheek, there was a dot made of ink…
Seeing her stare, Shun smiled and said, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
"…"
"Y-You're a real one?!" Levy came back to her senses to answer his question. She pointed toward his cheek.
"Ah-!" Only then did Levy realize that he was teasing her.
Levy was making all kinds of noises, but no one paid attention to their table, as if the space around them blocked sounds from leaking out. It was just like the time Shun used the calm-calm fruit ability.
"Thanks for the offer, but not here. Invite me sometime again later," Shun said and stood up.
"…"
After cancelling the calm-calm fruit's ability, the rest of the guild soon noticed him. Meanwhile, Levy was left stunned and speechless with a red face. Seeing him appear out of nowhere, the two bald old men felt a headache coming on, imagining how much trouble they would have persuading him to do his damn mission.
Surprisingly, Shun called out to them. Usually, he would try to ignore him, and the poor old chairman would struggle.
"Chairman."
"Y-Yes?"
"I finally came up with an idea for my reward." Shun's words gathered everyone's attention. Currently, except for Gildarts and Laxus's team being away on missions, everyone else was there.
"O-Oh! Good, tell me what it is!" The chairman had been getting desperate lately.
"Let's create a tournament."
"Tournament?" the chairman asked curiously.
"Yes, a tournament to decide the strongest guild in the world."
"!"
Shun's wish was to make the original Grand Magic Games into a worldwide tournament rather than a continental one.
"T-That's too big of a wish!" The chairman was visibly nervous for obvious reasons. He was struggling to deal with a man from his own continent, but Shun was talking about the whole world?
"Then leave. I don't care either way if that random guy is dead or not." At this point, Shun did not care about the details of the mission, even if the assassination was supposed to be a secret.
"…"
The chairman remained quiet, hoping to negotiate somehow, but he did not have a card to play.
"Let me ask for the others' opinions…" the chairman said, pulling out a magic circle, this world's equivalent of a den den mushi.
The chairman explained the current situation to the other elders in the magic council, expecting long discussions and disagreements, but…
"All agreed?!" The chairman was surprised, then turned to Shun.
"It's approved, but we need to have discussions about the details later in a meeting…"
"I see." Shun nodded, then called the name of someone unexpected.
"Levy, bring me a map to reach the Alvarez Empire."
"Eh? Okay." Hearing Shun's serious tone, Levy came out of her daze. She ran to the second floor and came back with a paper.
"Here."
"Thanks."
'So we have a map on that floor?' Shun learned something new about his own guild today.
"All right then, I'll come back soon," Shun said, grabbed Mavis and Sorano's hands, and walked out of the guild as if it were a normal thing.
When they got out…
"Wait!!" For some reason, it was Natsu's voice.
"Huh?"
Natsu was followed by his team: Gray, Erza, Lucy, and Happy…
'Wendy and Carla too?' Shun was impressed by Lucy's ability to recruit.
"Take us with you," Natsu said with a smile.
"Why?" Shun asked, without any emotion other than curiosity.
"Because it's the first time I'm seeing you do a mission!"
"…"
'His reasoning is surprisingly normal, I guess.'
"Are you guys okay with that?" Shun asked the whole team.
"I'm just curious how strong the mages from other continents are," Gray said.
"I have something to ask you," Lucy said with her eyebrows furrowed, as she had been a bit stressed lately.
"Yes." The others just nodded.
"I see. Then let's go," Shun said and enveloped them in a bubble, but…
"Wait, there is a commotion in the shopping district," Erza pointed out.
"She is right, I hear something too," Wendy added.
'I've been hearing it for some time and tried to ignore it… well, it seems like it's her fate to witness it.' Shun sighed, then steered the paw bubble, his usual transportation magic, into the sky so they could see what was happening.
There, a bunch of magic council soldiers in their usual uniforms were surrounding a man with blue hair and a weird tattoo on his face.
'Those magic council soldiers must have come with the chairman. And Jellal… he was on the Nirvana that night. I thought he went somewhere, but he stayed in Magnolia?'
"That guy! Why is he here?!" Natsu, who had a face that looked like he was about to faint just a moment ago, forced out an expression of anger.
"Someone you know?" Sorano said, though no one realized she was holding Wendy's hand.
"…"
'This girl still has that obsession, huh?' Shun did not even care about Jellal being arrested.
"He seems strong enough to shake them off, why is he not doing it?" Shun said, not expecting an answer.
"His expression is different…" Natsu said with a confused expression, his careless words causing a reaction from Erza.
"Should I go save him if you're friends with him?" Shun asked, feigning ignorance while emphasizing the word 'friends.'
Hearing Shun's innocent question, Lucy, Gray, and Natsu turned to look at Erza for an answer. Erza remained quiet under their gaze, until finally…
"…No, let's go," Erza said, turning away from the commotion.
"All right," Shun said, and lifted the paw bubble mercilessly.
On the ground, Jellal was arrested.
"…"
'I really messed up this guy's future, huh? Well, it's not like he had any better things waiting for him even without me interfering. Anyways, it'll leave a bad taste in my mind, so I'll try to get you out of there later. Just stay there for a month or two,' Shun thought before finally starting toward the Alvarez Empire.
——
Now inside the paw bubble, Shun created a simple house with rooms enough for each member.
"Woah! It's amazing!" Wendy was making all kinds of noises walking around the paw bubble.
Despite being a Dragon Slayer, she was not suffering from motion sickness because she used a magic called Troya on Natsu and herself. Thanks to that, both of them were fine. Erza was holed up in her room, but except for her, everyone else was gathered outside the house surrounding a big circular table.
"So…" Surprisingly, it was Shun who started a conversation. "Natsu. Is there anyone you like in the guild?"
"Huh?"
Shun's question caught everybody off guard.
'Is this something you should be asking now? Also, is this the person you should be asking that?' was what everyone except Wendy thought.
Natsu was silent for a second, then…
"I like everyone in the guild… except Gray, Gajeel, Laxus, Erza, and Mira."
"…"
"Hah, are you a kid?" Gray laughed at him openly, which almost started a fight as usual.
"Let me rephrase the question. Do you have anyone of the opposite gender that you like a lot, and miss them when you don't see them for even a day?" Shun wanted to know what this guy thought.
"…" Natsu turned silent again. Everyone else gulped, waiting for his answer. Shun's innocent question was gaining everybody's attention.
"Someone I like a lot? Layla!" Natsu answered with a big smile.
"Huh? Who was that again?" Shun was momentarily confused until… a blonde girl got up and delivered a jumping kick at Natsu.
"Agh-!" Natsu went flying dramatically.
'Layla is Lucy's mother?!' Even Shun was shocked by this.
'How and when did Natsu turn into a homewrecker? Even I never do that, only villains do that.'
Natsu got up soon and tried to explain. "She just smells really good!"
"…"
"So, what happened to your dragons? I forgot to ask since the incident." Shun, without any emotion on his face, forcibly repelled the tension in the atmosphere and changed the subject.
"…"
"She said she is busy trying to prevent me from turning into a dragon, and that she can't help again," Wendy spoke with a red face.
"Igneel has said the same," Natsu added, without any of the embarrassment from earlier.
The group talked about small things for a bit longer and spent three hours reaching their destination.
——
Erza had joined the group about an hour into the travel. Everyone noticed her eyes were slightly red, but no one talked about it. The paw bubble was now floating above the Alvarez Empire.
The Alvarez Empire was a grand, sprawling capital city centered around Vistarion, a magnificent and imposing palace characterized by towering, stone-crafted spires and classical Western-style architecture.
"If I'm remembering correctly, everyone there is a magician." Shun provided a short explanation.
"There are twelve strong mages called Spriggans, and my mission today is to kill one of them," Shun suddenly dropped a bomb on them.
"!!"
"The target is a guy named God Serena, he defected to the Alvarez Empire. He was originally the top-ranked Wizard Saint. The magic council is worried that he will sell our continent's secrets."
'Like the magics Etherion and Face. Without them, the Fiore continent can't keep the Alvarez Empire at bay, after all.'
Shun finished explaining and descended the bubble without any plan.
"H-Hey! Shouldn't we try to be stealthy?!" Carla, Wendy's white cat, shouted nervously, as she too could feel that everyone in this empire was strong, especially in the direction of the royal palace.
The group had become silent with nervousness and a tiny bit of excitement.
"When I fought you guys that night…" Shun ignored the cat and spoke his mind. "I thought you guys were quite weak."
"!"
"So, I'll especially train you guys as the guild master."
"Really?" Now they were all getting excited.
"Yes. First, you guys will try to fight Serena on your own. Feel with your own body the difference between your strengths," Shun said and cast a territory magic that enveloped the entire royal palace. The size of the bubble territory was massive.
'Holding back seems stupid, ever since the incident with Shiki,' Shun sighed and added scripts using word magic to the territory.
"Anyone not from the Fairy Tail guild isn't allowed. A guy named God Serena is allowed inside." As soon as Shun finished speaking, the script was complete. Magically, everyone inside the territory who did not meet the criteria was repelled out.
POP-! POP-! POP-!
Soon, in a huge empty area inside the royal palace, God Serena stood facing Natsu's team. Sorano and Mavis stayed with Shun in the far distance inside the territory.
'I guess the Spriggan Twelve mages aren't at the empire every day, most of them aren't here. Currently, there is only the sand user guy, Serena, one guy with a really sharp-edged chin, and finally, my stepson.'
"What is this supposed to be?" Serena asked as he saw a bunch of weaklings in front of him. He did not ask the question to them, but to Shun, who was standing in the distance with two women.
"Our guild received a mission to take care of a traitor," Shun explained shortly.
"It's a very unique magic," an old man with white hair and a magic wand spoke while observing the paw-shaped bubble space.
Seeing his stepson might try to fight, Shun thoughtfully addressed him. "It's our continent's issue. Don't mind us."
"…"
"Look around! You made a lot of mess here. You don't seriously believe you can leave here alive?!" The sand user named Ajeel showed up.
'Now that I remember, wasn't Makarov hyping this guy up so much, and was even about to fake his death again against this trash?' Shun got a bit angry remembering it.
"Shun?" Sorano and Mavis were a bit surprised by this turn of events. Usually, Shun was the one to provoke, but this time he got provoked instead?
"Ah, it's just that his face reminded me of something annoying."
"…"
"You bastard!" Shun's innocent remark got Ajeel to lose his temper and release his magic power.
Natsu's team and Serena wanted to start their fight, but Shun arguing around was taking all their attention. Ajeel, the sand magic user, created a giant sand monster and attacked the bubble, only to be repelled back. Confused, Ajeel returned and continued his rain of attacks, only to get no results.
Shun ignored him completely and spoke to Serena.
"Start."
Ding-!
Before anyone realized, Shun had a bell to signal the start of the duel. As soon as the fight started, the two cats rushed back toward Shun's side.
"Why were we even there?!" Carla asked angrily. They were just cats.
Shun just shrugged his shoulders.
Serena was completely confused about this sudden turn of events; just a few minutes ago, he was minding his business in the royal castle. He stole a glance at Shun, then toward August.
'Luckily, August is here today.' Serena let out a sigh of relief, then decided to crush the weaklings before him.
Meanwhile, Natsu's team became somewhat timid, feeling the magic power of the people of the Alvarez Empire.
"I see now, he wasn't exaggerating," Natsu smiled despite his nervousness.
As always, when Natsu takes the first step, the team follows. Wendy buffed the whole team.
"She isn't supposed to be able to do that; previously, tasting the temporary power-up from her dragon widened her view of the world."
Shun was working as a commentator at this moment.
"…"
Meanwhile, Serena…
"Purgatory Dragon's…" Serena chanted and blew a fire breath from his mouth. He had no information on his enemies.
Seeing fire magic, Natsu smiled and walked forward and ate the whole magic, but someone did not like that. That someone was Shun.
"Natsu! Did you just eat fire that came out of another man's mouth?!"
"Huh? What else am I supposed to do?" Natsu, who had a power-up, turned back.
Even the sand magic user, Ajeel, stopped his attack toward the bubble space.
"If it were me, I would have tanked that with my body."
"…"
——
Ten minutes later…
"Gray! Use ice hammer and don't even think about Iced Shell!"
"Erza, use your Flame Empress Armor with sea king weapons!"
"Lucy, summon something."
"Wendy, eat some air and replenish magic."
"Yes…"
Only Wendy replied to the backseat driving.
"…"
The little group from Fairy Tail was initially happy that Shun said he was going to train them, but…
'He is going to backseat the whole fight?!' was what they all thought, but Shun wasn't done.
"Natsu! Use the Dragon Force, just focus your magic power in your back. Feel the tingly feeling in your back."
"…"
They didn't even know if he was fooling around or being serious.
"Are you playing or being serious?" Luckily, Mavis asked from the side.
"Fifty-fifty," Shun admitted without any emotion.
"…"
"Serena isn't going all out, hoping to buy time so more soldiers gather, huh? Despite how he looks, he has a brain," Shun muttered in a low voice.
The magicians from the Alvarez Empire wanted to attack, but August was not giving a sign. When the emperor is not around, August or Irene usually take command of the empire. August initially wanted to attack Shun immediately until he saw who was standing with him. After that, he remained silent and signaled not to attack. Ajeel, on the other hand, had already given up on attacking the bubble.
They were all watching the battle inside the bubble. Suddenly, a strong magic power surged up. It was Natsu's…
"It really worked!" Natsu smiled wide, as he was familiar with this power.
"It's Dragon Force!!" Carla and Happy commented, shock visible on their faces.
"This guy was giving serious advice?!"
'It actually worked?!' Shun was not spared from the shock as well, but he did not show it on his face.
'Natsu probably had learned something from the previous battle when Igneel lent him magic power. His belief in my words worked wonders somehow…'
With Natsu actually becoming a threat, Serena decided to get serious, too. The clash restarted between them.
A man named Neinhart, one of the Twelve Spriggans of the Alvarez Empire, had been observing the situation this whole time. He finally decided to make a move. His magic was named Historia of the Dead; it could basically make a replica of dead people that the target has fought in the past. It was not only limited to fighting; they could be friends, lovers, or someone who left a deep impression on the target. It could not create a replica of someone who was still alive.
Neinhart had looked into Shun's heart and decided to use his magic, successfully creating two figures.
Pant-! Pant-!
As a result, he panted heavily; even he was surprised by how much magic power he needed to use to make those two replicas. One of them had golden hair that looked like a lion's mane; the other had long silver hair and red eyes. Overall, both looked like villains.
'It's this blonde guy that consumes an immense amount of magic from me; just how powerful was he when he was alive?' Neinhart thought, then decided to command the two to attack Shun and his group.
"Kill them." His orders were simple, but…
An enormous pressure radiated from the golden-haired man's body.
"!"
It attracted the attention of everyone around.
"…Neinhart, what did you do?" August muttered in a low voice.
"Who do you think you're ordering around?!" The golden-haired replica, whose name was Shiki, had taken control of his body with Conqueror's Haki, shouted in anger, and instead attacked Neinhart with his sword, which was also his leg.
"!"
Alarmed, Neinhart commanded the other replica, whose name was Master Zero, to defend himself, but…
"Trash," Shiki muttered and used his fruit's ability, which worked like telekinesis, to stop Zero's movement and slashed his body horizontally. Master Zero was destroyed in only a few seconds.
"…"
Seeing this, Shun was speechless.
'That's usually what happens when you use mind spells on Conqueror's Haki users. That damn Nirvana magic was abnormal.'
'But that magic called Historia is interesting. I'll take it,' Shun thought as he continued looking.
"Die," Shiki said as he waved his hand. The land within a kilometer rose and rushed toward Neinhart and buried him inside… he would have suffocated and died if a guy named August had not interfered.
"August!!" Neinhart sighed in relief; it was the first time he had lost control of his own replica.
August used a shield-type magic.
'It's weird… I can't copy his magic,' August thought.
'Why isn't he just cancelling his magic? Is he unable to? But this guy Shiki… is he going to haunt me forever? When I go to a different world he somehow shows up, when I visit the seven dwarves his corpse is there…' Shun sighed, though it was mostly his own doing.
Clang-!
Shiki's sword met August's magic shield. The battle went from Serena vs. Natsu's team to Shiki vs. August. The two clashed wildly.
'As expected, this Shiki is weaker than the original. August will win in a few minutes,' Shun thought before casting Time Stop.
The world had stopped moving in the Alvarez Empire.
"This guy exhausted his magic creating those two… I guess mostly Shiki's replica, huh? Which means he is weakened enough." Shun closed the distance and…
POP-! With the sound, a purple-colored paw bubble came out of Neinhart's body.
"Om nom nom." Shun devoured it, then turned to Serena.
He used Fairy Law in the stopped world. With enough magic power, the Fairy Law would be a fatal attack, as it was a dangerous magic that consumed the life force of the caster and the victim.
"Fairy Law. Activate." Shun chanted, and a light covered the area for a few seconds.
When it cleared, Serena's skin became visibly wrinkled. His hair turned completely white from its original orange color. Shun did the same to Serena as he did to Neinhart, but while Neinhart only lost his Historia magic, Serena would be losing everything, including his life.
"It's a rare color," Shun muttered as he saw the rainbow-colored paw bubble.
"Om nom nom." He ate it, too.
After taking his magic, Shun put Serena on fire that would turn him into ashes, but not here.
POP-!
Shun sent him to Tenroujima.
'He will turn into ashes on the way there. I can't be killing people around those guys.' Shun cared about his image at least in front of them
With that, time resumed.
"Huh? What's happening?"
"Shun? Why are you here? Where is Serena?"
A bunch of questions were asked, but Shun did not answer. Instead, he looked at Shiki, who still existed even when Neinhart didn't have the magic anymore.
"We're leaving," Shun said without hesitation, and shrunk the paw bubble space that enveloped them, then looked one last time at August, who was clashing and was almost defeating Shiki's replica.
Noticing his stare, August stared back sharply.
'Huh? Is that how you look at your stepfather?' Shun wanted to give some words of scolding but decided not to this time.
POP-!
Shun touched the now-shrunken bubble and teleported them away.
——
They were in the sky above Tenroujima.
"What happened, why are we leaving?" Natsu asked, still in his Dragon Force.
"Because the mission is completed."
"!!"
Only now did they understand; Shun had used Arc of Time.
"I didn't need you guys to win that fight or lose that fight. The goal was to let you guys see the outside world, and how weak you were. Now I'll help you guys become strong."
"…"
No one argued; they realized Serena wasn't taking them seriously. Even that Ajeel guy, who looked like a joke earlier, would have been able to beat them.
"…Are you going to backseat us again?" Gray asked.
"No. There is a way to make you guys increase your magic power limit."
"What? Really?" Natsu asked with excitement.
"Yes." Shun nodded, then asked, "Have you guys ever felt like you are at your limit, but… suddenly you get a burst of magic power?"
"…"
Shun's question sounded oddly familiar to them; for Natsu, it happened in almost every big fight.
"That's called Second Origin. Magicians have a second container for their magic power that they don't use normally. When you feel that sudden increase, it means that you're subconsciously using magic power from your Second Origin."
"…"
The Fairy Tail team, who initially thought Shun brought them along to make fun of them, now listened with full attention. Natsu's team especially felt goosebumps hearing that what they thought was the power of friendship was actually a phenomenon that had a name and a reason behind it. Seeing their reaction, Shun smiled, then spoke again.
"I can make you guys release that Second Origin and be able to use that power whenever you want."
"Really?!"
"Yes, but it'll be excruciatingly painful. So I won't force you guys. Walk forward only if you are ready."
Hearing this, their excitement instantly cooled down.
"We'll pass," Happy spoke for himself and Carla. They were just cats. What would they do with Second Origin? Fly more?
"Wendy, you are too young," Carla said to Wendy.
"But…"
The group started conversing among themselves. After three whole minutes… all six of them, including Sorano, decided to try the challenge to become strong. Shun did not try to persuade Sorano or anything; he respected her wish to become strong.
"Let's start after landing," Shun said and smoothly landed the paw bubble on Tenroujima.
Once landed, for the next hour, sounds of agonizing screams filled the island.