In a tavern in Nanohana, a port city in the Alabasta Kingdom—a superpower in the first half of the Grand Line, 'Paradise,' with a population exceeding ten million and a standing army of over a million soldiers.
"Gulp, gulp, gulp!"
"Finally, I feel alive again."
"We haven't had a drop of water for half a day."
"This is the first time I've ever realized..."
"...that anything ice-cold can be this delicious."
After downing the chilled beer, Eden's group finally showed smiles of blissful rebirth.
At the same time, Eden complained with some annoyance, "If I'd known the climate here was this brutal, we should've gone to rescue that Gray guy first! If he were here, we could be enjoying shaved ice 24/7."
That's right. When watching the anime, Eden couldn't empathize with Luffy's group in Alabasta. But now that he had personally experienced the harsh climate, the complaints started pouring out.
He had also, finally, discovered the importance of having an Ice Mage on the team.
"Aye~"
Happy, sitting next to Eden and hugging a large mug of iced milk, nodded vigorously in agreement. He was starting to miss that Gray guy too.
"By the way, I remember you're a Water Mage, right, Eden?"
"Why can't you provide water for us?!"
"Besides, I remember you Dragon Slayers can replenish your energy by eating elements of your own type, right?"
"So why can't you just produce your own and eat it?" Nami asked, a look of confusion on her face as if a thought had just struck her.
"That's not how it works!"
"We Dragon Slayers can't replenish our energy by eating the elements we produce ourselves~"
"As for why I didn't produce water for you?!"
"Aren't we comrades?"
"Comrades are supposed to share in both the sweet and the bitter!"
"How could I be the only one who gets no replenishment while you all get to enjoy the pleasure of drinking cool spring water?"
Eden's words were delivered with perfect, twisted logic...
Leaving Nami with a belly full of retorts she couldn't wait to unleash.
"Huh?"
"Is that how you interpret 'sharing the bitter and the sweet' among comrades?" Nami asked, staring at him.
"Precisely," Eden nodded firmly.
At least in their guild, Fairy Tail, "sharing the bitter and the sweet" meant: if I can't have it, none of my friends can either. We either all enjoy it together, or we all suffer together!
"Shouldn't being 'comrades' mean you sacrifice yourself for the good of everyone else?" Nami pressed on.
"Hahaha..."
"I'm not an idiot, why would I do that?!"
"Of course, I make sure I'm satisfied first. Comrades come later."
Eden laughed, gave Nami a thumbs-up, and answered her question.
However, he immediately added with a grin, "Of course, I'm just kidding~ Hahaha~"
"So, what it all boils down to is..."
"Not only do you have a terrible personality, Eden, but you also love telling stupid jokes," Nami concluded, summarizing his character.
Yes, Eden was the type of guy you could absolutely trust your back to when comrades were in danger. He could even become a savior who turned the tide and solved the crisis.
But when there was no crisis, this guy with the terrible personality was the biggest crisis for his comrades.
As for Natsu?! He was very similar to Eden, the type to become a savior in a huge crisis.
But there was one key difference...
*If Eden was the crisis itself, then Natsu was the crisis starter.
It was no exaggeration to say that ninety-nine percent of all crises were single-handedly caused by that guy.
Like right now, for instance.
While Eden, Nami, and Happy were sitting at the bar, enjoying their cold beers and teasing each other...
Natsu had locked horns with a young man wearing a sun hat, who was a few years older than him—around the same age as Laxus and Eden.
"Boss, one Alabasta special fried noodles!"
It started when the young man, shirtless due to the sweltering heat, ordered some fried noodles.
"Boss, I'll have the same..."
Which led to Natsu, who couldn't read the Alabastan script and had no idea what to eat, piggybacking on the young man's order.
"Boss, one steak!"
"The same for me..."
"Boss, one special grilled Bananawani meat!"
"The same for me..."
"One octopus parfait!"
"The same for me..."
After that, no matter what the young man ordered, Natsu would follow up with "the same for me."
"Hey! You bastard..."
The shirtless young man, after being repeatedly provoked by Natsu's "the same for me," finally couldn't take it anymore. He whipped his head around and glared at Natsu, demanding, "Stop saying 'the same for me' and copying me! Do you really want to eat the exact same thing as me that badly?!"
"The same for me."
Natsu, who had been burying his face in his food and was completely oblivious to the situation, subconsciously said it one more time...
This left the young man utterly speechless. He looked Natsu up and down and asked, "Are you provoking me?"
"Huh?"
Natsu blinked, finally realizing that his actions could indeed be seen as provocative. This young man had been holding back his temper this whole time, which showed considerable restraint. If it had been Laxus (rebellious phase version), a lightning bolt would have probably struck by now.
Clack~
Just as Natsu was pondering how to answer the young man's question, the tavern door was suddenly pushed open with force...
A man with slicked-back hair, a cigar dangling from his mouth that he puffed on with a 'smack, smack' sound, strode right in...
"Hm?!"
The man's gaze swept across the tavern, finally landing on Eden's group and the young man in the sun hat.
The moment he saw them, the man's pupils shrank slightly. He whispered, "I never expected this! I was just acting on intel, planning to ambush the Straw Hats here, but I ran into some unexpected big shots instead?!"
"So, tell me, the infamous Supernova 'Sea Emperor' Eden's crew, and the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, 'Fire Fist' Ace. Why have you two great pirates, both with bounties over 100 million, gathered in this country?" the man with short gray hair—or more accurately, Marine Headquarters Captain Smoker—asked loudly, his gaze fixed intently on Eden and Ace.
"What?!"
"They're the famous Eden's crew?"
"Who cares about Eden's crew?"
"That young man is a member of the Whitebeard Pirates!"
"You know Whitebeard, right?"
"The Uncrowned King of the Seas, the most fearsome pirate in the world, bar none."
'Shh, keep it down! Be careful not to piss them off, or they'll kill us.'
The moment Smoker revealed the identities of Eden's group and the young man in the sun hat—the famous 'Fire Fist' Ace...
The entire tavern fell silent! Whether they were local thugs or officials with powerful backgrounds, everyone held their breath, terrified of provoking Ace and the others.
"Looks like we won't be able to eat in peace. What a shame!" Ace said, as his body erupted in roaring flames.
Huu, huu~
As for Smoker, with the cigar still in his mouth, his body began to dematerialize into thick smoke the moment he saw Ace enter a battle stance, swirling together with the smoke from his cigar.
"Interesting."
"Are we gonna fight?"
"I'm all fired up after eating!"
"Count me in!"
Just as Ace decided to exchange a few quick blows with Smoker and then make a run for it, not wanting to attract unnecessary trouble while hunting for Teach, Natsu, now full and energized, also burst into flames.
"Eh?"
Seeing this, Ace's eyes went wide with shock. "What kind of Devil Fruit did you eat?! Why can you use fire too?"
"Huh?"
"Why can't I use fire?"
"Is fire supposed to be some kind of rare ability or something?" Natsu asked, looking at Ace with a completely bewildered expression.
~# Every 30 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter