Patience was never one of Natsu Dragneel’s strong suits, and five years was the absolute limit of his tolerance.
Standing atop the colossal tree branch that had served as his vantage point for half a decade, Natsu let out an annoyed huff.
The morning breeze ruffled his pink hair.
The dense forest below was seemingly endless, stretching as far as the eye could see like a monotonous sea of green.
Makarov wasn’t coming.
That old man—or anyone else from Fairy Tail, for that matter—was never going to emerge from these damn trees to pick him up.
“Enough is enough,” Natsu muttered, his voice brimming with absolute resolve.
“If they aren’t coming to find me, then I’ll just go find them myself.”
Natsu leaped down from the branch, landing seamlessly on the ground without making a single sound—a testament to his now-flawless physical control.
Before embarking on his long journey out of the forest, he walked toward the clearing where he had spent the last several years.
In the center of the area stood a small mountain made of millions of magical crystal stones—the remains of the monsters he had slain.
The mound of stones radiated a blinding glow and an incredibly dense magical aura.
Natsu stared at the pile of crystals for a moment.
To him, they were nothing more than shiny monster rocks he occasionally used as fuel for his fire.
He had absolutely no idea that in the outside world, these stones were called Maseki (Magic Stones), the most valuable commodity that powered civilization.
The mountain of stones before him was worth billions of Valis, enough to buy a small country.
However, in the young man’s memories, the only valid and valuable currency was the Jewel, the metallic coins of Earthland.
“There’s no way I can carry all this junk,” Natsu said, rubbing his chin.
As a final farewell to his hellish training ground, Natsu clenched his right fist.
Without using any complex magic, he punched the empty air in front of the mountain of stones.
The shockwave from his raw, tremendous physical strength shot forward, slamming into the pile of crystals.
BOOOM!
The mountain of magic crystals violently exploded.
Millions of precious stones shattered into fine dust that scattered in the wind, leaving behind a small crater in the earth.
From the remnants of the rubble, Natsu simply picked up ten small crystal stones that radiated the brightest hues of red and blue.
“The colors are pretty nice.
They might make good toys,” Natsu chuckled.
He stuffed the stones into the pockets of his tattered pants, pivoted on his heel, and began his trek through the dense forest.
However, underestimating the vastness of the forest was a mistake.
It took a full month for Natsu just to find the edge of the giant trees.
For that entire month, he never stopped moving—leaping across branches, dashing through thorny underbrush, and punching out any unfortunate monster that dared to block his path.
Until one sweltering afternoon, the leaf canopy obscuring the sky gradually began to thin out.
The air, which had previously felt ancient and oppressive, now became noticeably lighter.
Natsu’s nose twitched.
Amidst the scent of damp leaves and earth, his dragon instincts caught a whiff of something he had desperately missed: woodsmoke and the rich aroma of meat broth.
Natsu’s dark eyes lit up brilliantly.
“Food!
Civilization!” he shouted in sheer joy, accelerating his sprint until he left a trail of dust in his wake.
He burst out from the edge of the forest and was immediately greeted by a vast expanse of rolling meadows.
In the distance, a small settlement surrounded by a simple wooden fence came into view.
Without a second thought, Natsu bolted down the hill toward the village.
On the outskirts of the village, several farmers working in the fields halted the swing of their hoes.
Their eyes widened in pure terror as they spotted the figure emerging from the dark tree line in the distance.
That forest wasn’t just any ordinary woods.
To the inhabitants of this world, that region was known as the Unexplored Area.
It was a deadly territory beyond the reach of the law, uncharted by any nation, and entirely dominated by surface-dwelling monsters and the extreme laws of nature.
No sane human would ever dare approach the place, let alone enter it.
And now, someone had just walked out of it alive.
The villagers held their breath as Natsu approached.
The young man’s appearance was genuinely pathetic, looking no different from a beggar or a wild savage.
His vest was torn in multiple places, his tattered pants were covered in dirt stains, and his pink hair was more than a little messy.
Yet, it wasn’t his ragged appearance that made the farmers tremble in fear; it was the aura exuding from him.
Even though Natsu had suppressed his magic deep within, the residual magical pressure of a fighter on par with the Spriggan 12 unconsciously seeped out, making the surrounding air feel heavy and incredibly intimidating.
Noticing the terrified stares from the villagers, Natsu paused his steps.
He blinked in confusion for a moment before his human memories reminded him of basic manners.
He flashed a massive smile, displaying a row of pearly white teeth, and raised a hand in greeting.
“Yo!
Sorry to bother you,” Natsu greeted with a cheerful, laid-back tone that utterly contrasted with his daunting aura.
“I’ve been lost in that damn forest for years.
Is there anywhere to eat in this village?
I’m starving to death here!”
Hearing Natsu’s stomach let out a thunderous growl—a ridiculous sound that completely shattered the tension—the villagers’ fear gradually began to fade.
The young man’s smile was far too innocent and friendly for him to be a threat.
A middle-aged man, who appeared to be the village chief, finally mustered the courage to step forward, pointing toward a wooden building in the center of the village.
“T-there’s a small tavern in the middle of the village, young man.
Y-you can eat there.”
An hour later, the wooden table in the corner of the village tavern was completely covered by a towering stack of empty plates.
The tavern patrons and the owner could only stare in sheer disbelief at Natsu, who was still casually gnawing on an entire roasted pork leg.
After chugging a massive mug of water, Natsu let out a loud burp and patted his stomach in satisfaction.
“Ah!
Now that’s what I call real food!” he exclaimed happily.
The tavern owner, a stout man with a thick mustache, approached with an awkward smile.
“Glad you liked it, lad.
But…
where exactly are you from?
Your clothes are strange, and walking out of the Unexplored Area…
that’s pure suicide.”
Natsu turned to him.
“Oh, me?
I’m just trying to find my way back home.
Hey, old man, if I want to get to the Kingdom of Fiore, which way should I head?”
The tavern owner frowned, glanced at his other patrons, and then looked back at Natsu.
“The Kingdom of Fiore?
I’ve never heard that name in all my life.
Is it some small nation out in the far east?”
Natsu furrowed his brows as well.
“There’s no way you don’t know it.
Fiore is huge.
Well then, what about the Continent of Ishgar?
Alakitasia?
Or Guiltina?
You guys have to know at least one of those, right?”
Now, the entire tavern was whispering in confusion.
The names mentioned by the pink-haired youth sounded entirely alien, like a dead language from a long-lost civilization or fairy tales that had never been told.
“Sorry, lad,” the owner said, shaking his head slowly.
“I was a traveling merchant in my youth, and I’ve never once heard of any continents or countries by those names.”
Natsu fell silent.
An eerie feeling began to creep up the back of his neck.
He thanked the man, placed one of the pretty “monster rocks” he had picked up on the table as payment—which nearly made the owner pass out upon seeing the sheer quality of the pure Maseki—and promptly left the village.
Perhaps, Natsu thought at the time, this village was simply too isolated.
They might just be rural folks ignorant of world geography.
With that in mind, Natsu decided to continue his journey.
For weeks, Natsu wandered across various regions.
He stopped from one village to the next, entered bustling border towns, and even visited major trade hubs.
Yet, every single time he opened his mouth to ask, the answer was always the same.
There was no Kingdom of Fiore.
No Continent of Ishgar.
No Magic Council.
And, most heartbreaking of all, not a single living soul had ever heard the name Fairy Tail.
The world outside the forest felt overwhelmingly alien.
People wielded ordinary swords and spears.
A few could use magic, but their spells felt rigid, constrained by long chants, and entirely lacked the freedom and fluidity of the mages back in Earthland.
The climax of Natsu’s confusion occurred when he arrived at a large, bustling city.
In the middle of the town square, Natsu intercepted a richly dressed older man who looked like a scholar.
“Old man, listen to me.
If no one knows about Fiore, someone has to know about Guilds, right?!
Headquarters for mages?
Fairy Tail?!
Where can I find the center of the Guilds?!” Natsu asked, his frustration bleeding through.
The old man was startled but soon let out a gentle chuckle.
“Young man, what are you talking about?
Mages?
We call them adventurers.
And of course, there is the Guild.
The Guild operates all over the world to manage adventurers.
But, if you are looking for the center of all Guilds…
the very center of this world…
there is only one place.”
Natsu strained his ears.
“Where?”
“Orario,” the old man said, his eyes gleaming with deep reverence.
“The Labyrinth City of Orario.
It is the center of the world, the only place where Gods and Goddesses have descended from the heavens to live alongside us, bestowing Falna upon their children and guiding the adventurers.”
Those words hit Natsu like an invisible sledgehammer.
Orario.
Gods and Goddesses descended from heaven.
Adventurers.
Falna.
Natsu stood frozen amidst the hustle and bustle of the town square.
His blank stare pierced right through the cobblestone streets beneath his boots.
Inside his head, beneath the layers of draconic instinct and demonic darkness, the fragmented memories of his first life on Earth suddenly spun into overdrive.
The titles of manga and anime he used to read lit up vividly in his mind, perfectly matching every single keyword he had just heard.
This wasn’t Earthland.
This wasn’t the world where dragons ruled and mages sought shelter under the banners of magical guilds.
“Gekai…” Natsu whispered, his voice hoarse, his eyes widening as the absolute truth finally clicked into place.
“The Lower World.”
He hadn’t merely gotten lost passing through the Eclipse Gate; Natsu finally understood.
He had most likely been thrown entirely out of his universe.
Natsu Dragneel was now standing in the world of Danmachi.