Chapter 75: Tower of Heaven (2)
"Whoa!" Simon's body suddenly vanished, and everyone watched in shock as he became trapped inside a card in Sho's hand. Simon desperately pounded against the card's surface, his muffled shouts barely audible.
Millianna and Wally froze when they heard Simon begging Dino to help destroy the Tower of Heaven.
Then Sho suddenly attacked Simon, sealing him away, and the two of them stood there completely bewildered.
Sho shouted at Millianna and Wally: "Millianna, Wally, let's take Erza-nee back together and kill everyone else! Simon has betrayed us—he's not our companion anymore!"
"I don't care if he's one of the Ten Wizard Saints or whatever! Everyone who tries to stop us from achieving our dream is our enemy!"
Sho pulled out several more cards, preparing to unleash his magic on Dino and the others.
Dino clenched his fist, and instantly a white spherical aura—the signature of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit—enveloped it. He thrust his fist forward.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!" The very air began to shatter like glass, and all the cards Sho had thrown were destroyed by the shockwave before they could even activate.
"Kyaaah!"
"Don't you dare bully Sho!" Millianna, the cat-like girl, swung her binding whip toward Dino. He simply raised his hand, and the whip wrapped around his wrist.
Dino clenched his other fist. "Buzzzz!" The power of his Devil Fruit vibrated through the whip. "Snap! Snap! Snap!" The magical restraints shattered into pieces.
At that moment, Wally suddenly appeared behind Dino, pointing a pistol at the back of his head. Before Dino could react, Natsu appeared out of nowhere and punched both the gun and Wally's hand.
"You bastard! Trying to shoot someone from behind!"
When Lucy saw Natsu, she shouted with relief: "Natsu! Thank goodness you're okay! Where are Gray and Happy?"
"I'm here!" Gray's voice called out as he appeared with a strange blue-haired girl following behind him.
"Who's she?"
Gray scratched his head awkwardly. "I'll explain later."
Suddenly, Simon reappeared—the card imprisoning him had been among those Dino shattered. He quickly positioned himself between Millianna and Wally, facing Dino and the others. "Please, everyone calm down! They've just been deceived by Jellal all this time!"
"Ah! It's you!" Gray said, recognizing Simon immediately.
Simon raised his hand toward Gray. "Sorry! We'll settle our business later!"
Erza stepped forward, looking at Simon with complicated emotions. "Simon… you…?"
"I always believed that Erza-nee never betrayed us, but none of us understood why you left without saying goodbye. Can you finally explain it to us now?"
"Simon… thank you for believing in me."
Erza began to slowly reveal her past. Dino and the others listened quietly. While Dino had some vague knowledge of what happened, most of the details had faded from his memory of the series.
Erza explained how she was once captured by the dark mage cult as a slave and forced to build the Tower of Heaven—the R-System. She and her friends staged a revolt and successfully overthrew their captors. But afterward, Jellal, who had been possessed, expelled her and threatened the lives of Simon and all the other former slaves if Erza ever told anyone the truth.
After hearing Erza's story, everyone felt burning anger toward both the dark mages and Jellal for continuing their cruelty toward Erza and her childhood friends.
"Erza-nee… is this really the truth?" Sho, the blonde boy Dino had knocked away earlier, had regained consciousness at some point.
He seemed to have heard everything Erza said, and his eyes showed utter disbelief. After all, everything he'd believed for eight years had just been revealed as a lie. The fact that he hadn't completely broken down showed impressive mental fortitude.
"Sho, think about it—when has Erza-nee ever lied to us?"
Erza began crying, her voice breaking. "I'm sorry! I never came to save you all. I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"
"Erza-nee, you don't need to apologize to us. You were the one who was misunderstood all this time! We're the ones who should apologize!"
"But this time, I won't run away anymore. I'm going to end things with Jellal once and for all!" Erza's eyes sharpened with determination as she made her resolve clear.
"We're going with you!" Natsu declared immediately, flames flickering around his fists.
"That's right! Anyone who makes Erza cry needs to get their ass kicked!"
Dino looked at Erza directly and said: "Erza's problems are my problems. Whether it's a person or a thing that makes Erza sad, I'll destroy it."
Erza's eyes widened as she met Dino's intense gaze. Complex emotions swirled in her expression, but Dino didn't look away.
Lucy glanced between Dino and Erza suspiciously. "Did something happen between you two? The atmosphere's been weird between you since we were at the resort."
Erza's face flushed slightly as she panicked. "N-Nothing happened! Nothing at all! We should get going—there's no time to waste!"
Dino and the others boarded the boat that Simon's group had prepared and sailed toward the Tower of Heaven. During the journey, they also formally met the girl Gray had brought along.
Only then did Dino remember her properly—Juvia Lockser, one of the Element Four from the Phantom Lord Guild, who seemed completely smitten with Gray.
When he'd fought against Phantom Lord, Dino had clashed with Gajeel, the Iron Dragon Slayer, and Jose, the guild master himself. But he'd never actually fought Juvia, so his impression of her was vague.
Dino said casually: "You're that girl who's been sneaking around our guild and secretly following us to the theater, right? The one who screams whenever Gray takes off his shirt. Kind of hard not to notice."
Juvia's face turned bright red with embarrassment. "Wh-What?! You noticed all of that?!"
"Yeah, you weren't exactly subtle about it. Happened enough times that everyone noticed eventually. If you want to join Fairy Tail, just talk to Gramps when we get back."
"You… you don't object? Even though I was part of Phantom Lord? I helped destroy your guildhall…"
Among all the Fairy Tail members, Juvia feared Dino the most. She could still vividly recall the terrifying scene of him parting the ocean itself with a single punch.
Dino waved his hand dismissively. "I already killed Jose. Nobody's going to hold a grudge against regular guild members who were just following orders. Besides, I don't let revenge drag on—I settle things immediately."
At that moment, Simon walked into the cabin. "Erza-nee, we've arrived at the Tower of Heaven."