Chapter 17: Salamander

Beta read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi

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Hargeon Town-

"Wow, you're pretty strong! Fight me!"

The voice of a young man grabbed Broly's attention from behind. When he turned to see who it was, he was able to get a look at the person. He had spikey salmon-color hair, black onyx eyes and light tan skin. The grinning man was wear a white scarf with a scale-like pattern, a black waist coat with gold trims and no shirt underneath, allowing everyone to see his defined six-pack abs and chest—like Broly himself tended to do. A black waist coat over white baggy pants that reached below his knees while wearing black sandals. He also noticed that he was carrying a large backpack.

Before he could ask what did he want, the stranger had already thrown a kick to his head.

His gaze flickered to an animal that was beside the man. "A flying cat?" Rather than his attacker, Broly was interested in the small blue feline with wings on his back as it flew in the air.

"Aye!" The blue puffball waved at him, ignoring the weird looks that it was recieving.

With much effort on his part, Broly was able to grab the man's kick, while making sure to not hurt him with his grip. Despite the attack, he couldn't sense the malicouse intent behind it. To diffuse the momentum, he brought his arm backward and gently threw the pink-haired man to the ground. He dealt with enough 'normal' humans that he learned to hold back enough to fatally harm them. "Who are you? And why are you attacking me?" Broly hoped that he wasn't associated with the Salamander guy he just launched earlier on.

"Oh right, I'm Natsu Dragneel!" He answered with a wide grin, not at all phased by how Broly just easily deflected his attack. "And this is Happy!" The cat waved his little paws once again, and the Saiyan returned the gesture. "I saw you punch that guy earlier and sent him flying. You look strong. So fight me!"

Natsu jumped off the ground and headed straight back at Broly with a roar as fast as he could. He raised a fist that was thrice as small as the Saiyan's and swung up, trying to uppercut him. Though he was fast to anyone else and even to Lucy, Broly easily tracked his movements like they were moving in slow motion. A simple step back allowed him to successfully dodge it, much to Natsu's shock.

A shock that soon turned to excitement.

Not wishing to harm Natsu too much, Broly quickly stepped forward, using his entire frame as a battering ram, and launched him so far backward that he ended up crashing through a wall and destroying someone's living room.

"Natsu!" Happy cried in fright.

"Oops…" Broly felt bad. He merely wanted to create some distance and didn't expect that his ram would pack so much power.

"Are you okay?" he asked, hoping that he didn't break too many bones. After all, it wasn't like he was dealing with Gorians and other magical beasts in the forest. Those things were far more durable than humans, and wasn't afraid to kill them for food. He even sparred regularly against Lucy's Celestial Spirits.

"Oh wow!" Natsu burst out from the rubbles unharmed—much to Broly's intrigue and Lucy's shock. "You hit as hard as gramps!" His eyes shined in eagerness for another round of fighting.

Happy sighed in relief after seeing his partner still fine and just shrugged at Natsu's unruly behavior. He floated back towards Lucy, the latter looking at him with suspicion. "You have some fish?"

"What? Of course not!" Lucy exclaimed. "Tell your friend over there to stop attacking Broly!"

"Heeeeh, so no fish? I guess you ate all of it with how fat you are." He said with a twisted smirk.

"What did you say, you damned cat!?"

Bang!

Their attention turned back to Broly and Natsu battling each other.

Natsu released a fury of kicks and punches at Broly, who stopped them cold with a single hand. His frown got increasingly fiercer as he couldn't manage to hurt or even move his opponent from his spot. He got stopped in his assault when Broly grabbed his wrist and flipped him over. He hit the ground hard, the stone ground not breaking, fortunately. Broly wasn't trying to permanently disable Natsu after all and not cause property damage.

"Can you stop?" He asked nicely, but the latter just continued to grin, prepairing for another attack.

"Not until I get serious. I'm getting all fired up!"

Broly immediately let go of Natsu's hand as the fire burst from them. "Oh?" He watched in fascination at seeing someone else use fire magic for the first time in his life. If it were any other Saiyan, their blood would boil from the anticipation of a battle, even against someone weaker than them. That was how the warrior species were. They lived on the battlefield, each of their cells craving for an intense battle and coupled with the need to get stronger every day.

But Broly was different from them.

He was born already possessing everything a Saiyan could ever desire. A power level that kept growing every year even if he stopped training—not that Paragus would have ever let him—Broly suspected that he would have continued to grow stronger naturally. He trained not to surpass his limits but instead to set one. The giant even lacked the battle lust and desire to fight every day. He wanted to live among the people of this new world and experience everything he missed out on while living in Vampa along with his father.

"A… fire Wizard?" He asked Natsu while looking at the burning fists curiously. Once again, marveling at magic's diversity. In no way was Ki not diverse in its own way, but it is still not comparable to magic in most aspects. Ki surpassed magic in terms of destructive capabilities but lacked creativity in comparison.

"Hehehehe! Get ready!" Natsu got into a stance. "Get ready for a real fight! Fire Dragon's Iron F—"

"Water Pillar!"

Before he could even finish his phrase, the ground around him burst with a large amount of water that shot Natsu a few hundred meters in the sky. It happened so quickly that Happy continued cheering even after Natsu had already reached the sky—only realizing what truly happened a few seconds later.

"WAAAAAAHHHHH! HAPPYYY!"

"I'm coming, Natsu!" screamed Happy as flew towards him, but not before giving a wave of goodbye to the others.

"That was quick…." Broly looked at Lucy, who was holding a golden key. He smiled at the new arrival, "I think you went a bit too strong there, Aquarius."

She hadn't changed a bit throughout the years like him and Lucy. His face returned to what it used to be, and the Saiyan race kept their youthful appearance for far longer than most species. Lucy now looked exactly like her mother when she was younger, according to the servants. Aquarius, on the other hand, looked the same, same length of light blue hair with the golden ornament on her forehead. She wore little like always, enough to protect her modesty.

Still the same beautiful woman that they met all those years ago.

Broly didn't wait for an answer as he opened his arms and welcomed the mermaid in a heartfelt embrace. This became their routine whenever she got summoned, and he didn't mind it one bit. In fact, Broly quite enjoyed the interaction from the Celestia Spirit, as he never got to experience àanything close to this, and it also calmed his mind.

"Hey there, Broly, liking the new look," Aquarius said in a chipper mood, making sure to squish her breasts on his chest. The Celestial Spirit hoped that she could entice him for some fun, but sadly he didn't noticed.

"Haha, I bought it recently, and Lucy got herself a new key. How have you been lately?"

"Scorpio's been bugging me back in the Celestial world and always tries to take me back. Humph, that fucker even cried when I rejected him, and when I turn my eye away for five minutes, there he goes flirting with other spirits. Hugh, just what did I ever see in him in the past!?"

Since Celestial Spirits were immortal beings, they existed for far longer than anyone could imagine. During those years, she and Scorpio broke up and made up countless times. She did date other spirits, even Leo, once but found him to be too much of a playboy and lame in comparison to Scorpio. Of course, the latter turned out to become a bigger playboy than she had imagined at first. Was it his new master that changed his attitude? Aquarius believed that the holder of his key was someone named Angel.

She already sounded like an insufferable brat!

Before she met Broly, Aquarius had broken up with Scorpio for the nth time. It had become a routine at some point, not like there were other spirits who checked every requirement on her list. But then, after she set her eyes on the Saiyan—it was basically love at first sight. That love grew every time she interacted with him. He could be brutal and savage while also being a lovable teddy bear.

"I can't say much about Scorpio since I never met him, but I believe that it's better you just talk things out and let him know that you want to be friends, like us."

"Oof!" Aquarius recoiled, feeling as if someone had punched her in the face. Broly just gave her an innocent look, honestly being confused at her reaction. "B-Broly… you accepted being my b-boyfriend… right?"

"I did," that relieved the stress on her heart, but just as she was about to ask him if he wanted to go on a date and invite him for dinner, Lucy barged in between the two.

"Can you two please stop flirting in the middle of a destroyed street where the local guards might arrive at any moment? We need to leave quickly!"

"Tch, fucking pest," Aquarius whispered quietly but loud enough for Lucy to hear her. And the angry scowl that she was giving her wasn't helping either.

"Hey, don't call me that!"

"What else do I call you? A nuisance?"

Before the girls could enter another argument. "Kya!" Broly had just lifted Lucy off the ground and ran across the streets when he sensed the presence of multiple people approaching the area fast.

"Sorry about this, Aquarius. We'll meet again soon, I promise." He gave her an apologetic smile which the Spirit couldn't get mad at, despite the fact that Lucy was being carried by him.

"Alright, listen here, brat! Summon me sooner next time, or else I'll drop a tsunami on your head!" Gold-colored light shined across her body as she returned to the Celestial world. "See you soon, darling!"

Lucy merely rolled her eyes. She didn't like how Aquarius kept getting more intimate with Broly and wanted to have some time with him as well.

Running across the town and making sure that they weren't spotted, the duo stopped at a street corner and decided that they would be cautious about taking a walk to the docks and waiting for things to calm down.

"What do you think happened to the fire Wizard and that weird cat?" she asked, genuinely worried that Natsu might have gotten hurt with Aquarius's previous attack. "I don't want our journey to Fairy Tail to start with having to deal with the authorities." That would just ruin her plan and set her back for quite a few days. "Why can't we just fly to Magnolia like you did last time?" Lucy asked curiously.

The Saiyan shook his head.

He had learned a lot these past few years. Broly got to explore more about the world's beauty and its small intricate details by glossing over everything at his own pace. "We need to experience the journey rather than skip everything. It would make it less fun and wouldn't exactly count as an adventure if we miss all of it. And look, you even got yourself a new key. We wouldn't have gotten it, if I had flown to Magnolia."

Before leaving, Broly got to read from a few books he was given to practice his reading. Though he didn't like it at first, spending more time with Lucy and the others made it worth it in the end. And he managed to learn a lot from those lessons. The world was big, with much more to discover here than in Vampa. Flying immediately to Fairy Tail would have made him miss out on so much he wanted to experience now that there were no Paragus or monsters he needed to battle every day for survival. He's got better control over his inner anger, making it less frightening to interact with others and not fear losing control.

"The only thing I learned is that there are a lot more weirdos around than I initially thought," Lucy recalled how the blue-haired wizard from before used the rings to steal her attention and nearly charmed her. That thought alone made her want to throw all of her Golden Spirits on him! "We met that Salamander guy on our first day! Imagine what would have happened if we weren't there… wait… what would have happened?"

"Lucy?" Broly looked back as he saw Lucy suddenly stop walking.

"That guy… he must have had other reasons to use those forbidden rings. If it was just for fame, then he wouldn't have gone to such length to gather those objects. The Magic Council put some heavy embargo on those, and the only way of getting some would be either some sketchy deal or through a Dark Guild."

Something didn't add up here…

Broly's eyes narrowed.

"You think he's a…" he didn't need to finish his sentence to convey what he was suggesting.

"I… can not say for certain." The last thing Lucy wanted was to falsely accuse anyone of being associated with a Dark guild, as the consequences were so drastic that it could lead to their images getting permanently damaged. "He could just be an arrogant man who wishes to gain the affection of girls just because he can. But still…,"

As both pondered on the possible truth, a group of girls hurriedly passed by them.

"Let's go buy new dresses at Olivia. Her designs are just flawless!" One of the girls said to her friend. "Imagine if we manage to get inside the Fairy Tail guild with these!"

"Silly, my mother got two limited-edition Heart Kreuz party dresses she paid a fortune to buy. We can wear that for the invitation to Salamander-sama's party! The flyer I saw said that it would start in a couple of hours. Let's hurry!"

They both ran off to a random decision leaving a further suspicious Lucy and a confused Broly behind.

"Eh? Fairy Tail? That Salamander!?" To say that Lucy was shocked would be an understatement.

"An unexpected coincidence, right?"

"Fairy Tail!" Lucy brought out

"Why don't we just check out the place before this 'party' starts?" Broly proposed.

"Good idea!" As soon as she said that, she was quick to rush at the direction to where the women left, with Broly following behind.

{Break}

-Hargeon Port, docks-

They reached the location. The place was filled with fishing boats and merchant vessels carrying passengers and goods from far away lands. "It's gonna be a pain to find the boat. There are so many!" said Lucy.

"I found it."

"Eh?" Her head turned towards the location Broly was pointing his finger at and saw a large luxurious boat with a sign at the entrance saying—'Night party with the famous wizard, Salamander from Fairy Tail!'

"Oh… that was easy."

They approached the boat, and the closer they got, the more they noticed something unusual.

"Why are they all panicking like that?" Lucy wondered. They were scrambling around the deck of the ship with weapons drawn and seemed like they were fighting against something.

"—ons roar!"

She didn't need to wait for long when suddenly, the haul of the ship exploded with fire spewing out of it.

"What is going on!?" Lucy exclaimed in surprise as Broly shielded her from stray debris with his body. "Look, it's that pink-haired guy from before!"

As if on queue, the figure of Natsu with Happy holding him in the air came to view. A heavy frown was visible on his face, separate from the cheery attitude he displayed earlier. From the rubbles came out the figure of a battle-beaten Salamander who still was missing some of his teeth with a large bruise on his cheeks from Broly's previous attack.

"The fuck is your problem!? Do you have any idea who you're dealing with!? I am Salamander, the famous fire Wizard from Fairy Tail!" He screamed in anger.

Happy let go of Natsu as the latter landed on the ground. "A Fairy Tail wizard?"

"Yeah, right, scared now!?"

"I ain't got no idea who you are," Natsu grabbed his jacket and ripped it off, showing the prominent red sigil of the Fairy Tail guild. "Cause I'm Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail and I ain't never seen your ugly mug anywhere in my life!"

Lucy's jaw dropped while even Broly widened his eyes.

"Natsu!" He left Lucy's side and came closer and approached the duo. "What is going on here? Who is this guy?"

"Oh, it's you! I'm still mad about that sneak attack from earlier. I will fight you again!"

"Of course," Broly didn't mind the man. "I give you my word."

"Yosha!" Natsu cheered before reverting back to a serious face. "After that water attack sent me hurtling through the air, I crashed inside the boat where I found an empty hidden cellar with leftovers women's belongings, I questioned one of the guy's after beating him, and he revealed that they kidnapped young women from many ports, then have them handcuffed and drugged with something." he snarled when he glared at the blue-haired man. "He said that 'Salamander' invited them to a party, and the next thing they knew, the girls got caged up and sold as slaves.

"Aye, I heard some men call their Boss Bora." Happy chimed in with more information. "I remember hearing the name of Bora, the prominence who got expelled from Titan Nose guild."

"I read about him!" Lucy shouted. "He got caught in some cases of thievery or something."

"And now he started working with human trafficking…." Broly realized. He wasn't stupid enough to not realize what would have happened to Lucy and every one of the Celestial Spirits in her possession if she had gotten charmed by Bora if he weren't there. His eyes narrowed as a slight amount of killing intent spewed from them before he suppressed it in an instant.

Whoosh!

A torrent of purple suddenly engulfed both Natsu and Broly.

"You two talk too much!" Bora shouted as he grinned, looking at the purple inferno in front of him. His men cheered while both Lucy and Happy looked neither shocked nor worried about those two.

"Don't worry, cat, your friend is fine."

"Don't worry, Luke, your friend is fine."

""Eh?""

Both of them spoke at the same time.

"My name is Lucy, you damn cat!" She shouted at Happy, who had just chewed on a piece of fish he got from his bag. "And the last thing you need to worry about is Broly." Lucy puffed her chest as if bragging about herself. "He's undefeatable."

"Aye, can you summon that fish lady from before? I'm hungry, and this is my last fish."

"..."

She would rather not talk with the cat anymore.

As the flames quelled, both Bora and his men were shocked to see an unharmed Natsu and Broly. The giant man has his hands extended with a green shield enveloping both of them.

When the shield dissipated, Natsu reached out for some of the remnant fire and licked it. "Ew! Tastes gross!"

"You can eat fire as well?" asked a puzzeled Broly. Just how bizarre was this guy?

"Of course, he can eat them!" Happy came along, now his turn to brag. "Because he is a fire dragon slayer!"

"Huh!?" Lucy reacted flabbergasted, along with Bora and his men.

"Wait, I recognize you!" Bora said, feeling his confidence crumble from the realization. "Pink hair, white scaled scarf, and eating fire? You're Salamander!"

"Heh!" Natsu smirked. "Got it right! Now I'm going to teach you the consequences of dirtying the name of Fairy tail!" His hands cupped in front of his mouth as Natsu took a deep breath, expanding his chest many times over.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" A torrent of angry red fire streamed out of his mouth and headed towards Bora.

The man tried to block it but easily got overpowered.

Before the fire could spread around and cause more destruction or, worse, injure one of the civilians—another green dome stopped surrounding Bora.

"Argh!" The former member of Titan Nose fell to the ground. Burnt, bruised and defeated.

"You got carried away," Broly stated as he grabbed the unconscious Bora by the neck. "You could have easily caused a lot of damage to the surrounding port and destroyed the boats of people who have nothing to do with these guys." He could feel the itch inside him as he held Bora. A primal feeling inside of him edged the Saiyan to add a bit more force to his hole. Just that small bit to end the life of a man who was planning to ruin Lucy's life.

He didn't squash it down like before.

"Guards!" Happy shouted in fear, waving his little cat paws in a panic, which Natsu did the same. "We need to run!"

"Why? We didn't do anything bad and caught a criminal." Both Happy and Natsu looked lost for a bit at the Celestial wizard's words before realizing that they actually didn't destroy any buildings, and the town was fine!

"Gramps' gonna be so proud of us!"

"Aye!! We didn't wreck the place for the first time!"

Lucy sweatdropped at the duo's behavior as they danced and cheered in happiness. She was familiar with Fairy tail's infamous reputation of destroying a lot of properties during their quests, but she didn't expect them to react to such a thing.

Just how often did these guys destroy stuff?

"Hold!" The main guard arrived with his squad and immediately rounded on Broly. "Please hand over the criminal know as Bora. You shall be compensated for your duty and will receive no charges for causing a heavy disturbance in the port!" His voice quivered a bit as he faced the menacing giant who gave him an impassive stare. He could not point out why, but something felt very wrong when emerald eyes gazed at him for a sec before returning to charcoal black.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a tiny green speck the size of a dust particle formed on Broly's palm. Neither could anyone sense it or see it, but that small green speck left the palm and flew inside Bora's mouth, no one noticing the event.

"Of course," he said with a calm voice. "Here." He haphazardly threw the body at one of the guards and went back to join Lucy and the others.

"You are not as weak as I initially thought."

"Of course I'm not weak!" Natsu shouted with pride. "Igneel trained me as far as I can remember. It would be embarrassing if I wasn't the strongest Dragon Slayer. Now… fight me!" He couldn't even walk two steps further before crumbling on the ground.

Growl…

"I'm hungry…" he moaned, unable to get up from the ground.

"Eh!? That's the lamest thing I've ever seen!"

{Break}

-Vino's Restaurant-

The customers of the establishment watched in horror as two monsters devoured a literal mountain worth of plates filled with food while not showing the least sign of slowing down or stopping. Some of their faces turned a sickly green color before running to the bathrooms and emptying their stomach or just leaving the restruant.

"You know…" looking at her once again empty wallet, Lucy wanted to cry but just didn't have the tears. "I couldn't even hold on to the Bora reward money for even an hour…."

"Tfanks wor da foosh!" Natsu said with a mouth full of meat.

Happy just waved at her as he ate a piece of raw fish which he requested to not cook.

"Are you eating that? I'll take it."

"Don't steal my food, Broly!" The pink-haired dragon slayer shouted at the giant nearby, who ate an equal amount of food.

"Can both of you calm down? You're getting it all over me."

"That's what she—"

"Shut up, cat!" She was going to throw that cat to the sharks one day, mark her words. "By the way, glad that we got to capture Bora. Can't imagine what would have happened if he got away." Lucy shivered to imagine her fate if she hadn't gotten woken up from the charms beforehand. No wonder those things were banned.

"Hehehe, mo froblen! Yor fish lashy just happeneshed to prow me at the righsh plashe!"

'I think she was trying to drown you.' Lucy thought, familiar with Aquarius' way of thinking. "Can you finish eating before talking, it's hard to understand you and it's really gross."

"Aquarius can be a bit extreme when angry." Broly realized the irony of calling someone else too angry when remembering his past history of tempertantrums. "You said that you're from Fairy Tail… Lucy wants to join."

"Don't say it like that!" Her heart nearly stopped at just how casual Broly said such a piece of important information. She wanted to get in but didn't know if the requirements were strict or not. "There are a lot of things to do as a wizard, but ever since I was a small girl, I always wanted to join a guild. Then I met Broly, we quickly grew closer, and my goals changed from getting into Fairy Tail to now including the both of us and becoming S-class wizards as shown in 'Weekly Sorcerer.' Being famous like Mirajane Strauss and have Broly become recognized by the whole world. He's too shy and reclusive. If I didn't push him to come with me on this journey, he would have most likely continued to live all by himself… anyways! I hope you could show us the way and help us become Fairy Tail wizards, if possible. I don't want you to feel forced or anything!"

Everyone just stared at her, looking confused.

"You talk too much." Happy commented, making Lucy's eyes twitch in irritation. This cat just knew when to push her buttons, and she was getting closer to summoning Cancer on him!

"What did she say?" Natsu asked Broly.

"Take us to your guild."

"Oh, sure! Why didn't she say that before?"

"Don't know, according to Hansel, women are weird and difficult to understand."

Both Natsu and Happy nodded their head in solem understanding.

"True, Lucky does seem to be an airhead."

"Do you have a death wish, cat!?"

Both Dragon Slayer and Saiyan laughed at those two.

"Sure! I'll lead you to Fairy Tail, and I can't wait to fight you again, big man!"

"I can," Broly said in between, shoving more food inside his mouth. "Let me finish eating first."

"Oi, that's mine!"

Lucy sighed, but she had smile on her face.

Welp, at least Broly found a food lover like him. Maybe they could even become good friends in the future.

{Break}

-Jail cell-

In a boat heading towards the main prison island—Bora awakened.

Gasp!

"Wh-what happened!?" He said to himself before realizing the chains and prisoners' clothes on him. As well as seals placed on him to block his use of magic. A few seconds later, the memories of how he was first hit in the face by a giant man and then faced the real Salamander rushed into his mind.

"Those fuckers!!!" He shouted in anger, not willing to accept this reality. He was this close, this close to getting that large Jewel reward from delivering the next batch of girls! From there, he could have started his own slave trade company and had others do the job for him!

"When I get out of here, I'll make them pay!" even though the chances of him escaping were quite low, they weren't none existent.

Unfortunately, fate wouldn't be so kind to him.

"Hurgh! Wh-what's going on!?" He clutched his stomach and began hollering in pain. So much so that even the guards were alerted of his cry and came to check up on him.

"Prisoner 268, what is going with you!?"

"Aaaaarg!!!! It hurts! IT HURTS!" His stomach felt like it was being cooked from the inside! "NO, MAKE IT STOP!!!" He begged and pleaded, but no one could realize what was going on with him!

Both Bora's eyes and mouth glowed green, with the pain intensifying further than he could endure.

"Take cover!" The prison guards immediately realized something was wrong and put as much distance between themselves and Bora's now green-lit cell.

Boom!

A huge explosion shook the ship, and the man's body having expanded and blew up with a large shockwave, his body turned to ashes.

On that night, Bora the prominence died due to unknown reasons, which some estimated to be a safety measure a member of the dark guild put on him in case he ever got captured and interrogated.

Broly hated conflicts and killing, but he realized that there were times when he needed to cross that line for a bit in order to protect those he loved.

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword having 3 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Snafu and Fairy tail (NEW!!)