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In the sky, a giant blue cat flapped its magical wings, soaring over mountains and flying toward the Kingdom of Fiore.
"Wow!"
"Happy, you're really soft and comfortable!"
Natsu was currently like a panda rolling in the snow, constantly burrowing into Happy's fluffy back, his excited expression like that of a child.
Because they were in a remote location, Gildarts had planned to find a magical vehicle on a nearby transport route, drive to the nearest train station, and then transfer back to Magnolia.
But to his surprise, Natsu refused outright upon hearing the words "magical vehicle" and "train."
Being captured and locked in a warship's brig, the severe motion sickness that lasted for a week had truly traumatized Natsu.
Gildarts knew Natsu's forgetful nature too well, understanding that the boy was genuinely terrified of motion sickness from vehicles, but if they didn't use transport, it would take them ages to walk back to the guild.
Just as Gildarts was troubled, Lucy remembered that Natsu didn't get sick when Happy carried him, and Brandish's Command T magic could change the size of living beings.
So, after obtaining consent from both parties, "Happy-go-lucky," magnified a hundredfold by Brandish's magic, took flight.
Watching Natsu rolling on Happy's back, Lucy couldn't understand how the side effects of Dragon Slayer Magic were determined; even though he was flying with external help, Natsu showed no signs of motion sickness, instead being full of energy.
After much thought, Lucy could only find one explanation.
Perhaps Happy, in Natsu's perception, was a "companion" rather than a "vehicle," so he never experienced motion sickness symptoms when flying with Happy.
So, it was a matter of perception?
Forget it, magic didn't need to be understood so thoroughly.
Just as Lucy was lost in thought, a gaze was fixed intently on her. Brandish's eyes made Lucy quite uncomfortable, so she decided to take advantage of the travel time to clarify the misunderstanding between them.
As Lucy revealed the truth about Grammi's death, Brandish finally understood why her mother had left when she was young and never returned.
Years of entanglement finally found resolution.
The only regret was not being able to personally kill the enemy who murdered her mother.
However, upon hearing Lucy say that Zoldeo, who had backstabbed her mother, also met a tragic end, Brandish let go of her resentment.
With the misunderstanding resolved, Brandish and Lucy's relationship improved significantly, progressing quickly to becoming friends.
This pained Dimaria, who was watching from the side. She, a proud blonde, had her most important friend, a green-haired girl, stolen right in front of her by another blonde.
This was beyond insult.
It was an utter humiliation!
Dimaria secretly resolved to win Brandish back and, while she was at it, also conquer the somewhat attractive Lucy.
Lucy, unaware that she had been targeted by a lesbian, was currently chatting with Brandish about their respective experiences. Unbeknownst to them, their pasts had many similarities.
For instance, both their mothers unfortunately passed away on the same day.
And that day was also the day their lives underwent tremendous changes.
Brandish, having lost her mother, was adopted by the Wizard King and subsequently made great strides in the path of magic; Lucy, however, was forbidden from learning magic by her father after her mother's death, forced to hide and secretly study, delaying too much of her growth.
Both Lucy and Brandish had an important Celestial Spirit companion in their childhood—the Celestial Spirit, Aquarius.
She didn't know why, but whenever Aquarius was mentioned, Lucy always felt Brandish got a little too excited, like a puppy hearing its owner's name.
It was probably a misconception...
Knowing that Brandish had a very close relationship with Aquarius in her childhood, Lucy thought about opening the Aquarius Gate to let Brandish and Aquarius meet.
However, summoning Aquarius required "water."
But the entire "Happy-go-lucky" only had two bottles of alcohol that Gildarts carried with him, barely enough to meet the requirements for summoning Aquarius.
If they used alcohol to summon Aquarius... Lucy and Brandish involuntarily shivered. If they really dared to do that, they would definitely be severely scolded by Aquarius.
Just thinking about this, even Brandish, who was very much looking forward to seeing Aquarius again, temporarily quelled her excited heart.
Happy, magnified a hundredfold, flew both fast and steadily.
Because his body's Magic Power was also magnified by Brandish, Happy's endurance was also hundreds of times stronger than his original size, flying long distances without even panting.
Two and a half hours later.
The giant blue cat appeared in the sky above Magnolia.
It attracted the attention of many residents, but when the city guards discovered the drunkard on the back of the "Fairy Tail" mascot, a sharp bell rang out across all of Magnolia.
Dimaria, with her military background, was all too familiar with this; she immediately knew it was meant to warn the town residents that a great danger was approaching, and she promptly looked at Lucy.
"Hey, your city's soldiers have mistaken this big cat for an enemy. Let's land quickly and have Brandish change it back to its original size."
Lucy also didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble and was about to tell Happy to land outside the city, but before she could speak, she heard the city's magic loudspeakers begin broadcasting.
"Emergency announcement! Emergency announcement!"
"Magnolia will change to Gildarts Mode!"
"Residents, please proceed quickly and orderly to the designated locations."
"Repeat, Magnolia will activate Gildarts Mode..."
People in the city scattered in all directions.
At the same time, the entire city was undergoing tremendous changes. Buildings seemed to move, and two tall city walls rose from the ground, extending a wide avenue straight from the city gate.
And at the end of the avenue was the location of Fairy Tail.
Watching this scene, Lucy, Brandish, and Dimaria were bewildered, not understanding why the city was changing this way, or why it was called "Gildarts Mode."
It was Natsu who explained to them: "Gildarts is sometimes muddle-headed and accidentally Crushes things that block his way."
"To prevent Gildarts from causing too much destruction, the city was redesigned by the mayor's plan, approved by over ninety percent of the residents' votes, and rebuilt with huge investments."
The three of them—Lucy, Brandish, and Dimaria—suddenly understood.
After all that talk, wasn't it just "making way for the big shot"?
Speaking of which, just how much destruction had this drunkard uncle "accidentally" caused to make an entire city suffer, reflect, and specifically create a "Gildarts Mode" just for him...