3 Naked Butt Not Afraid

The great beam of magic, that was originally heading towards Erza, suddenly moved in the opposite direction as Meliodas swung the stick. Everyone's eyes opened wide and their jaws dropped open as they witnessed the mysterious naked blond boy easily reflect the Jupiter cannon's deadly blast with only a stick.

The beam continued in its new direction until it collided with the cannon that had originally shot it out. The barrel of the cannon was swallowed up whole by the beam as a large explosion of debris from the castle filled the sky with black smoke. The legs of the gargantuan forretress in front of them collapsed as the rest of the building fell into the lake.

A nearly tsunami-like wave washed over the shore where the mages were standing on. Several of the stronger mages held their ground and helped their comrades up before they were swept away by the rushing water.

Erza looked around for the young boy who had just saved them from the attack as the rushing waters swept away the area, but among the water and floating debris, she could not find him.

----

Meliodas walked atop the roofs of the large bustling town. In his heart, he felt good he was able to help those who he felt deserved it, but felt no need to get further involved with them as he was not related to this conflict.

As he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, thinking of ways for him to possibly get back, a wave of fatigue and lethargy like none other swept over his body as he lost his balance, causing him to fall onto the streets below. As Meliodas fell, he could only speculate as to why his body felt so weak. Did Cath do something to seal his original strength? Or did traveling through that rift damage him in ways he was not aware of? Those thoughts eventually vanished as he hit the hard ground and blacked out.

"Hey, come here, some guy just passed out!" A young man said as he stared at the unconscious Meliodas.

"Why is he naked?" Someone else replied.

"What should we do with him?"

"I don't know, but we can't just leave him in the middle of the street."

"Just throw him in the alley, I don't want to get involved. What if he is a Phantom member!"

"You're right."

---

For what had seemed like a few hours, was actually fifteen days as Meliodas opened his eyes again. He lay looking up at the blue sky above for several moments until his senses were shocked by a foul stench. Meliodas jumped up from his spot, his body now filled to the brim with energy from much needed rest, as various debris of soiled paper, empty cans, boxes, and the like, scattered around him.

As Meliodas landed on the stone floor, he realized he had been sleeping in a large pile of trash in the corner of an alleyway. Confusion swept over him as to how he had ended up in there as he last remembered falling onto the main street. 'Someone threw me in a trash pile… there is something wrong with this city.' Meliodas shrugged the thought as he brushed off a banana peel that was still on his head.

"Hey you! Give me everything you got!" A voice called out from behind him.

Meliodas turned around and saw a tall, bald, lanky man towering over him, wearing a white sweater, brown baggy pants, and black boots. On his face, neck, and hands, were several large scars, suggesting he had been in plenty of deadly fights in the past. In his right hand, he held a long, sharp dagger that he brandished. Meliodas looked at him confused before looking behind him then back to the man again.

"You talking to me?" Meliodas answered back with a cheeky smile.

"Who the hell else would I be talking to?!" The man responded, visibly annoyed at Meliodas's smug response.

"I think you're talking to the wrong person pal. As you can see, I'm naked and have nothing on me." Meliodas said to him with a calm grin, as he walked out of the darkness of the alleyway into the light where the thug was standing. The man's light complexion suddenly turned red as he realized Meliodas had made a fool of him.

"You little-"

The thug attempted to shove the knife into Meliodas's face but found himself unable to push forward as Meliodas grabbed the blade between his thumb and index finger. The thug's angry face changed as his eyes widened, now displaying a face full of shock and regret. Not regret that he had just tried to stab the young boy, but regret that the young boy was far stronger than he had originally thought. 'Shit...'

Meliodas suddenly vanished from the thug's field of view. As the thug questioned in his mind what had just happened, he felt a sharp pain, at the back of his neck and fell to the ground, remaining motionless.

"How convenient!" Meliodas smiled as he began to strip the thug of all of his belongings until he left lying in his undergarments and boots as he laid unconscious on the cold floor.

"Hehe, I'll leave you with some dignity, and your shoes don't fit…" Meliodas said.

Meliodas put on the thug's clothes, which smelled no better than he did, but at least he wasn't naked anymore. However, the clothes were very baggy on Meliodas, with the bottom of the sweater nearly going down to Meliodas's knees. With quick and swift cuts using the thug's dagger, Meliodas somewhat tailored his clothes to fit him better, but they were still very baggy on him.

Meliodas looked back one more time at the unconscious man and laughed at the thought that what he just did to the thug was something Ban would have done. After sheathing the dagger and hiding it underneath his large sweater, Meliodas walked out of the alleyway.

The bustling and happy atmosphere of the cheerful street filled with the happy faces of people disappeared as every person's face turned into disgust. Several people held their breaths while others covered their face with their clothes. A lone, blond young boy walked along the sidewalk, with people moving out of the way as he walked by.

"Wow everyone is so nice here! They're moving out of the way for me!" Meliodas said out loud to himself, actually aware that the reason they were moving out of the way was because of his unpleasant odor.

"No you idiot! You smell nasty!" A young man approached Meliodas, pinching his nose. "There's a bath house a few buildings down the street. Go use it!"

"Thanks for the information!" Meliodas grinned at the stranger before walking by him. Several buildings down the road, Meliodas arrived and stood in front of the bath house. On the front, was a large sign displaying the words "Magnolia Public Bath."

Upon walking in, Meliodas saw the bath house was empty, with only an old man who worked there in the main lobby with him. The old man smiled as Meliodas approached.

"Welcome to Magnolia Public Bath. The-" Before he could finish his sentence, the old man immediately covered his nose with his hands and began to gag. As he continued to gag, he pointed at a sign next to the register, which read "500 Jewels per person."

Meliodas remembered that the thug he stole the clothes from had a wallet in the back pocket. Meliodas reached into his back pants pocket and pulled out the wallet. Luckily, there were 20,000 Jewels inside, most likely the money from previous thefts. Meliodas paid the old man 500 Jewels and began to walk to the locker area.

"Hey kid, I'll even let you wash your clothes here, free of charge!" The old man yelled while gasping for fresh air. He pointed towards a room next to the bath area entry that had "Laundry" written on a sign above it.

"I'm not a kid, but thanks!" Meliodas responded as he walked through the curtains into the bath area.

"Not a kid?..." The old man looked at Meliodas, perplexed by his statement.

A couple of hours later, Meliodas emerged from the bath house, his body now clean and his clothes now smelled of a fresh aroma. During his time in the bathhouse, Meliodas thought about his process of finding his way back to Britannia. As his first step, he was to find out information on this new land. Before leaving the bath house, he had asked the old man for general information and was told to go to a place nearby called "Book Land."

As Meliodas exited the bath house and walked down the street, he felt a grumbling in his stomach. As a demon, he did not need to eat as frequently as a human but with his body in its weakened state, the pangs of hunger were overbearing. Meliodas looked around on the street he was on and noticed a restaurant just across the street, identifiable by a sign hanging above the door displaying the words "Eden's Kitchen."

Meliodas walked in and took a seat at an empty table. The inside of the restaurant was made out of wood, with the chairs and table being made of a darker polished wood. The lighting was dim but bright enough to see clearly. The restaurant was somewhat empty, with only a few tables having people eating at them. Meliodas looked at the menu briefly before the waiter approached him and placed an ice cold glass of water on the table.

"Hello, my name is Becca and I'll be your waitress for today." The waitress said cheerfully. Meliodas looked from the menu and looked at the waitress. She was a young girl with blue eyes, fair skin, and wavy blonde hair.

"I'll have the pork simmered in ale." Meliodas said as he read through the menu. Becca nodded and quickly wrote down the order before leaving the table. Meliodas reached for the cold glass of water and took a sip. Sitting there waiting for his order, he thought about possibilities to find a way back to Britannia. 'I've never even heard of Magnolia...where is this place?'

Several minutes later, Becca returned to the table and placed Meliodas's meal down. Meliodas took a look at the food in front of him. It was cooked to perfection, with the perfect golden coating and a light glaze over it. Place neatly around it were various colorful vegetables.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Becca asked.

"Actually...do you know how to get to Britannia?" Meliodas responded. Becca looked at him confused, having never heard of Britannia.

"I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with that place." Becca answered with a nervous smile. Meliodas nodded and looked back at his food as Becca walked away.

Meliodas quickly finished his food and walked out of the restaurant, with his hunger now satiated. He had spent 2000 jewels on the meal in addition to a 500 jewel tip to the waitress. Meliodas continued his stroll down the busy streets of town with a full belly.

He spent half an hour wandering around town, taking in the environment and geography before he found himself in front of the bookstore, Book Land, the one that the old man at the bath house had told him about. The store was a large pink, two story building with a sign shaped like a book above the two green doors for an entrance. Inside, was a wooden counter manned by a single clerk. There were no customers inside but instead, rows of shelves filled to the brim with various books.

"Welcome to book land, how may I help you?" The clerk greeted Meliodas. Meliodas approached the clerk and asked for a map of the country.

"We do have an atlas that contains the information you are looking for. It's 1000 jewels. If you want, you can buy a book bag to go with it. Normally it would be an additional 1000 jewels for the bag as well, but if you buy them together, I'll take off 300 Jewels for a total of 1700 jewels."

"Make it 1500 and you got a deal." Meliodas countered.

"You got yourself a deal." The store considered for a brief moment before replying. He placed the Atlas in the book bag before handing it over to Meliodas.

"Thanks." Meliodas grabbed his purchase and walked out of the store.

He slung the bag over his shoulder before finding a bench to sit on. There, he read through the atlas, looking for any familiar landmarks or continents. As he had originally suspected, he was in an entirely different world and was currently in the town of Magnolia. Meliodas shoved the atlas back into his bag and slung it over his shoulder with a sigh. 'Nothing seems familiar, and I don't know anyone here.' Meliodas laid on the bench as he was lost in his thoughts.

'Well, maybe the bookstore has something related to magic that would be of help to me.' Meliodas thought to himself before walking back into the bookstore.

"Welcome to Book- I mean welcome back to Book Land!" The clerk greeted Meliodas as he reentered the store.

"Hey do you have books on magic?" Meliodas asked.

"Hmm… there should be a few in the corner. You can look there." The old man replied.

"Thanks." Meliodas said before walking to the corner. There were only a few books that were related to magic. He leafed through them all before shaking his head.

"Are you sure you don't have any more books relating to magic? Anything related to spatial magic?" Meliodas asked again.

"Sorry kid, what you see is what I have." The old man replied.

"Anything close to it?" Meliodas continued asking.

"Look, If you want more information regarding magic, it would be impossible to find it in a place like this. That kind of information is heavily regulated by the Magic Council so I can't help you there. I suppose you could always check with official mages. We have a guild right here in Magnolia that has some extremely powerful wizards. Maybe one of them would be able to assist you. Although, their guild was recently damaged in a fight against another guild but they're in the process of rebuilding."

Meliodas immediately thanked the clerk and rushed out of the store. He remembered the guild location from the atlas, he made his way over. He felt that the direction was familiar, and recalled the location he had rushed over to before passing out. 'So they were Fairy Tail huh...'