Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 14, x788.
Just before noon of the same day, Elicia, Naruto, and Jiraiya climbed into Elicia's Z3 to return to Magnolia. Luckily, at thirteen years old, Naruto was not very tall. Therefore, putting him in the back seat of such a small vehicle was not too uncomfortable for him.
A few hours later, the Z3 pulled up in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall. When driving through the town of Magnolia, Naruto was amazed by the tower that was the Fairy Tail guild hall he could see from the distance. However, Jiraiya, who had been to the Village Hidden in the Rain, which turned out to be an independent territory from all the other countries on Ishgar, had seen similarly sized metal towers in the past.
Yet, both Naruto and Jiraiya showed looks of awe when they saw it up close.
"Well, allow me to welcome the two of you to Fairy Tail." Elicia said after taking a few steps forward and turning her back to the guild hall with her arms spread wide.
While Naruto and Jiraiya were looking up at the height of the guild hall, the sliding doors opened. Through the open doors, Alfonzo walked out, followed by all the girls who were familiar with the people from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, as they were all looking forward to Naruto's arrival.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo arrived behind Elicia and wrapped her in a hug from behind. And he was just in time to hear Naruto's following words, which made him smile like a Cheshire Cat.
"Wow! It's so big." Naruto said in an amazed tone.
"Don't you do it." Elicia said while rolling her eyes.
"That's what she said." Alfonzo said, ignoring Elicia's uninspired attempt to stop him from making his usual joke.
Alfonzo's voice snapped Naruto and Jiraiya from their astonished states, causing them to turn their attention to the source of the crass joke.
While Naruto smiled brightly at the sight of Alfonzo, Jiraiya put on a perverted grin and raised his right thumb in Alfonzo's direction.
"Nice." Jiraiya said cheerfully.
In response to Jiraiya's antics, Elicia, Wendy, Carla, and Saeko rolled their eyes. Cana and Rika laughed uproariously, as they also liked these kinds of jokes, while Laki and Shizuka wore their usual smile.
"Big Bro Alfonzo!" Naruto shouted as he rushed forward. "It's only been a few days, but it feels like it's been such a long time."
"What's going on, Kid?" Alfonzo asked as he released Elicia and raised a hand for a high five.
In response to Alfonzo's reaction, Naruto, standing at only 4'9", had to jumped to clap hands with Alfonzo, who stood over a foot and a half taller than him. Even so, the reunion was satisfying.
"By the way, where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked curiously. "How come he didn't come outside."
Not only Naruto was curious about that, as Elicia and Jiraiya thought Sasuke would like to see a familiar face after being so far away from home, as well. Meanwhile, Alfonzo smiled awkwardly as he turned back and looked into the guild hall over all the ladies' heads.
Seeing that Alfonzo, instead of answering Naruto's question, looked into the guild hall, Elicia, Naruto, and Jiraiya also looked into the guild hall. When they did, Naruto and Jiraiya were dumbfounded at what they saw. Meanwhile, Elicia smiled awkwardly like Alfonzo.
"Well, I guess he's fitting in well." Elicia said.
"Yeah… A little too well, I think." Alfonzo replied while shrugging his shoulders.
The reason for Naruto and Jiraiya's dumbfounded expressions and Alfonzo and Elicia's awkward smiles was because Sasuke, who only joined the guild yesterday, was currently weaving in and out of an ongoing brawl.
What made the sight even more crazy was the panicked expression on his face while Erza was chasing him around with wrath burning in her eyes.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked in a confused tone.
"To make a long story short, Sasuke bumped into Erza while she was carrying a slice of strawberry short cake." Alfonzo said, as if that would explain everything. "And that made her drop it."
And for Elicia, it did. But Naruto and Jiraiya were not familiar with Erza, so they had no idea what that had to do with the situation they were seeing.
"Erza has an extreme…" Elicia said, beginning to explain what Alfonzo meant.
"Way too extreme!" Cana, Laki, Wendy, Carla, Saeko, and Rika shouted.
"… fondness for strawberry shortcake." Elicia continued, unbothered by the interruption. "So, if anyone causses her to lose it, they have to deal with her like that."
As she came to the end of her sentence, Elicia pointed at Erza, who looked more like Erza Knightwalker than Erza Scarlet in terms of her aura.
"Wow! She's quite the woman." Jiraiya said with a perverted expression on his face while watching Erza chase after Sasuke. "I think she would be perfect for my--- Urgh! *cough* *Cough*"
Before Jiraiya could finish his sentence, he covered his throat and started coughing from the jab to the throat he just received from Alfonzo.
"Just to let you know, we may be a guild full of ruffians, Jiraiya." Alfonzo said in a menacing tone. "But we are not a group of sex offenders. So, if you try any of that shit you're so well known for, I'll make you regret it. Then, I'll send your beaten and broken ass back to Master Tsunade with a formal request for compensation. And if you try that shit with any of my wives, fuck the alliance we have with the village, I'll send your headless body back instead."
Understanding that Alfonzo was the one who hit him and sent him into a coughing fit, Jiraiya glared menacingly at him. However, when he saw the look in Alfonzo's eyes, he balked before turning away. Then, after a few moments, he nodded his head in understanding, albeit unwillingly.
"Good." Alfonzo replied with a nod of his own. "anyway, the two of you need to go see Ur so she can add you to the guild's roster. Lici, can you take them up to see her?"
"Of course." Elicia said cheerfully while looking at Jiraiya with a note of schadenfreude. "I was planning to do that, anyway."
The reason behind the expression Jiraiya received from Elicia was simple. All the way from Shirotsume Town, Jiraiya had been saying inappropriate things while blatantly staring at her chest. However, because she was driving and engaging Naruto in conversation, she decided not to do anything about it. However, she had promised to herself that if it happened while she was not behind the wheel, she would make him regret it.
Luckily, she would not have to get her own hands dirty, as her husband did and said everything she wanted to. so, in a good mood, she skipped over to Naruto, took him by the hand, and pulled him into the guild hall.
"Come on, Naruto." Elicia said happily. "Let's introduce you to Ur. She'll let you know everything you need to know about the guild. She'll give you the guild mark, too."
"Okay." Naruto replied just as energetically. "This is gonna be awesome. I'll be able to choose my own missions as long as I'm here."
"You should go with them.' Alfonzo said in a dry tone. "Ur wouldn't like having to say the same thing twice, you know."
In response, Jiraiya shot Alfonzo the stink eye. However, he eventually followed Elicia and Naruto into the guild hall. All the while, his gaze scanned over all the women in the guild hall. Though, he made sure not to be as obvious with his perversions as usual.
"Well, that was fun.' Alfonzo said while watching Jiraiya leave with narrowed eyes. "Even though keeping that guy in line will be a monumental task, having someone as experienced as he is in the guild will be good for the younger members."
"I think we should castrate him first." Laki said in a cheerful tone.
The contrast between Laki's tone and her words made Alfonzo and Jiraiya, who should not have been able to hear her over the ongoing brawl, shudder while covering their crotches.
"*Cough* Anyway, I guess it's time to end this little scuffle." Alfonzo said, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. "I have to start cooking for the welcome party, after all."
"Don't be so nervous, Fonzie." Cana said as she slid over to Alfonzo's right and put her left arm on his shoulder. "I still wanna have kids at some point, too. So, I'll protect you from Laki's insidious grasp."
"That's right, I still wanna have a baby, too!" Shizuka shouted as she bounced over to Alfonzo's other side. "Why don't we go home now and try again?"
As she asked her last question, Shizuka looked up at Alfonzo with a gaze that Alfonzo did not know was possible. On top of using puppy dog eyes to soften Alfonzo's heart, she somehow added more than just a hint of seduction to that gaze, as well.
"*Sigh* She's doing it again." Rika said while shaking her head.
"I still don't understand how she mixes those two expressions like that." Saeko said.
Meanwhile, Carla flew up to cover Wendy's eyes.
"Wendy, don't look!" Carla ordered. "You shouldn't learn such things."
"Carla~~~!" Wendy whined while trying to move Carla's paws away from her eyes. "You've gotten better, I can admit that. But stop treating me like a kid."
"I can't back down on this one, Wendy." Carla said. "Although you may be an adult, it's too early for you to be learning things like that."
"Carla, stop it!" Wendy shouted in protest.
While the two best friends continued their back and forth, all the older members of the guild only looked at them warmly.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Cedar.
At the same time, in the port of Cedar, a large, foreign ship had just docked. From the ship, other than the crew manning it, three women, each wearing predominately black outfits stepped onto the gangway.
"So, this is Ishgar, huh?" A beautiful young woman standing at about 5'8", appearing to be in her early twenties with long, wavy, blond hair, blue eyes, full lips, a beauty mark under the left side of her mouth, and a curvaceous figure with very large breasts wearing a black kimono, quite similar in design to Retsu's, though the front was opened quite widely showing off quite a bit of cleavage, with a pink scarf hanging from her right shoulder, a thin golden necklace around her neck and hanging between her breasts, and a katana strapped on her left hip, said while looking around the port. "The architecture certainly is different here."
"Yeah, it really makes you understand that you're not at home, doesn't it?" A woman with brown skin, long purple hair tied into a ponytail, yellow eyes, and a slim, yet curvaceous figure, replied while looking around nostalgically. "*Sigh* It's been over two years since the last time I saw this scenery."
"Are you sure it was a good idea to come back, Lady Yoruichi?" The third woman, a short, petite, woman with black hair tied into two ponytails that hung behind her back and grey eyes, said with a scowl. "I believe that man's women will be rather hostile to know that you've come back.'
"Well, I can't say that I don't deserve it." The brown-skinned woman, Yoruichi, replied while smiling bitterly. "Besides, I didn't exactly have a choice. The Shihouin Clan is pretty pissed off at me, too, and gave me an order. But there's nothing to worry about, Bumble Bee. At the worst, I'll just live on this continent for the rest of my life."
Hearing that, the black-haired woman, Sui-Feng, bit her lips in frustration. However, there was nothing she could say. After being re-educated, her habit of speaking and acting out of turn had basically been beaten out of her by the staff that trains the servants of the Shihouin Clan.
"Speaking of 'that man.'" The blonde woman said while tapping her chin with her left index finger, "I'm really looking forward to meeting the man who could make you do something so dumb, Yoruichi."
"*Sigh* And you will, Rangiku." Yoruichi replied while shaking her head. "But not now. For now, we need to go to the guild hall. Then, we'll register you with the guild and start training with the girls for the Grand Magic Games."
Reaching that point, Yoruichi raised her head with determination shining in her eyes.
"This year, Mermaid Heel will be named the strongest guild in Fiore." Yoruichi said with fervor.
"I'm glad you feel that way." A female voice said from the bottom of the gangway.
Looking towards the voice's source, Yoruichi, Sui-Feng, and the blonde woman, Rangiku Matsumoto, saw Retsu standing there with her usual gentle smile on her face while Kagura stood behind her with her usual stoic expression.
"Master Retsu." The three women greeted simultaneously.
"But where is Master Tsunade?" Yoruichi asked, confused why her guild master was not here to greet her as well after her long absence.
"Oh, Tsuna was called back to her village to become its leader." Retsu replied. "For now, let's go back to the guild hall. I'll catch you up on everything you missed while you were away. Then, you can tell me what happened back on the Soul Continent and how you convinced those old men from your clan to let you come back."
Nodding in response, Yoruichi led Sui-Feng and Rangiku down from the ship to join Retsu and Kagura. Then, the group of five headed towards a pair of magic vehicles, one Retsu's motorcycle, and the other a black S 600 the guild bought recently after no longer having the fear of Tsunade gambling all the guild's liquid funds away. Then, once they were ready, they headed back to the Mermaid Heel guild hall.