BOOK 1 - Fairy Tail (Pirates) AU: The Curse of the Black Fairy

CHAPTER II: The Raven-Haired Blacksmith

Natsu was walking away, but apparently the problems weren't over yet. Just before the pinkette could move any more, many guard officers of Magnolia arrived, led by none other than commodore Loke himself.

This one approached Lucy and helped Levy get up. Then, he turned to Natsu. "Sir! Could you come for a moment, please?!" Loke yelled as Natsu hesitated. But in the end, the pinkette had no other choice. "Thanks a lot, sir. Apparently, you saved these 2 young ladies' lives, and that deserves gratitude"

Loke stretched his hand for Natsu to take, but the pinkette was still doubting. "I... I'm fine. It was nothing, really" Natsu said with a fake grin.

But Loke insisted and Natsu finally accepted. He held Loke's hand, but the commodore took this chance to quickly rip a bandage that was covering the pinkette's right shoulder. There was a red mark under it. The mark of a pirate.

"I suspected it. Have we met somewhere before, mister pirate?" Loke asked as Natsu, Lucy and the others startled. "Your face seems very familiar. Oh! Now I remember. Natsu Dogneel, was it? I believe we had an encounter before at the capital city where you managed to escape. How unfortunate that you didn't run with the same luck this time"

Natsu twitched in annoyance a bit. "Okay, first of all, it's 'Dragneel'. And secondly, I have no idea what you are talking about. I've never met you before in my entire life"

That was obviously a lie. Commodore Loke noticed it and asked for his men to take away Natsu's stuff: his belt, hat, compass, pistol and sword. Then, he ordered his men to arrest the pirate, but Lucy protested at that moment. "Hey, wait! You can't do it!" Lucy said. "I'm sorry, Loke, but I don't agree with you arresting this man. He saved my life"

Loke then tried to convince her to move without success until Natsu saw his chance and used his cuffs to restrain Lucy by her neck. "My stuff, commodore... Now"

Loke had no choice but to obey. He gave Lucy the pirate's stuff and then this last one forced Lucy to put the belt, hat, compass, pistol and sword back where they belonged. "You... You are despicable" Lucy told Natsu this time.

Then, Natsu tossed Lucy towards the commodore and began running away. The guards began chasing after him, but it was clear that Natsu was way more sneaky than they thought. Natsu used the alleys, the roads and even the roofs of the buildings until he managed to lose the guards.

The pinkette ended up inside an old workshop. The workshop belonged to none other than commodore Loke's personal blacksmith. Natsu inspected the workshop for a while until he found a way to break the chains restraining him. He proved how creative he could be by forcing a mule to move a pair of gears in order to cut the chain.

Someone then entered the old workshop and Natsu had no other choice but to hide. The man who had just entered was the blacksmith's apprentice. Another 19-year old boy with black raven hair whose name was Gray Fullbuster.

The moment he entered, he noticed the mule moving for some reason. He calmed it down and then realized someone had tried to use his anvil and hammer. After that, he saw a hat that wasn't his nor his master's at one side. He tried to grab it, but was quickly stopped by Natsu, who came out and threatened Gray with his sword.

"Don't touch that, pal" Natsu said.

"You... You are the one they are chasing, aren't you? The pirate?" Gray asked.

"Me? A pirate? Nah... You are mistaken, buddy. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go"

Natsu picked up his hat and headed to the exit. However, Gray quickly grabbed a sword that he had hanging at one side and stepped in front of the pinkette. "You are not going anywhere, pirate" the raven-haired boy claimed.