136: Chapter 136 Return! The Reappearance of the Ultimate MoveAs it spoke, it turned its head with great effort, looking excitedly in the direction of Lucy, who was protected by the clockwork.
"I see."
Natsu, unusually, put his rarely used brain to work, and then suddenly had a flash of inspiration, remembering a lost technique from a fragment of a blond ninja's memory that was said to have miraculous effects on adults and certain creatures—the Sexy Technique!
He was about to form the hand seal when he suddenly stopped, a look of disgust on his face:
"Hmm.This kind of shameless thing.I'd better leave it to Gray to do!"
With that thought, his chakra surged, and his appearance instantly transformed into Gray, who was only wearing underwear!
Then, he tried hard to recall, and changed again—became a female version of Grey with Grey's face but a hot body with a curvy figure!
The female version of Grey winked at the bound Vulcan and said in a affected, coquettish voice:
"Hey~ tell me~ where is that human man named Macao?~"
Vulcan's eyes instantly turned into huge pink hearts, he was panting heavily through his nose, and drool was almost dripping from his mouth.He was clearly overwhelmed by the sudden beauty.
Even Lucy, who saw this scene through the clock face glass, was so shocked that she opened her mouth wide and uttered a few words silently.
The Horologian faithfully relayed, "'You.how come you're more skilled than me?'.That's what she said."
Having been successfully seduced, Vulcan honestly replied, "The human man.Macao.has already been.eaten by me."
"What?You've already eaten it?"
Natsu instantly reverted to his original form, his anger erupting like a volcano.He grabbed Vulcan's fur and roared!
Just then, Happy flew over and explained, "Hey!Natsu, calm down!When it says 'eaten,' it probably means that Macao was 'acquired' by this Vulcan, right?"
The clockwork relays Lucy's question: "'Has it been received?'.That's what she asked."
Harpy continued, "It's magic that takes over bodies.Vulcans are monsters that maintain their survival and power by 'receiving'—that is, taking over the bodies of other creatures, especially humans."
Upon hearing this, Natsu's anger subsided slightly, but his eyes sharpened even more.He rubbed his fists together, and blazing flames rose from his knuckles.
"That makes things easier!All we need to do is take down this usurper, right?"
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
The heavy fist, enveloped in flames, slammed into Vulcan's stomach!
"Awooo—!"
Vulcan let out a piercing scream, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.
Sure enough, as Vulcan fell unconscious, a beam of light flashed from its body!
Its enormous, yeti-like body rapidly shrank and deformed, eventually transforming into a wounded, unconscious middle-aged man—it was Macao!
Seeing Macao covered in wounds and barely breathing, Natsu frowned.
He roughly pulled open the door of the clock stand and, without a word, dragged Lucy, who was still shivering inside, out, and also ripped off the blanket she was tightly wrapped in.
"Hey!Natsu!It's so cold!What are you doing!" Lucy protested.
Natsu completely ignored her complaints, carefully wrapped the unconscious Marcao in a scarf, and then, like stuffing luggage, carefully shoved him into the relatively spacious clock cabinet of the clock stand.
"You have to take good care of him!" Natsu commanded Clockwork, then slammed the door shut.
"Natsu!I don't have a scarf!I'm freezing to death!" Lucy exclaimed, jumping up and down outside while hugging her arms.
"Enough talk!Let's get started!"
Natsu said impatiently, ordering Happy, "Happy!Hold on to me!"
Then, he stretched out a rubber arm and tightly bound Lucy's body, while his other arm bound the heavy Horologian.
"Hey!Wait!That's too rough!Aaaaaah—!"
Ignoring Lucy's exclamations and complaints, Natsu's legs once again compressed to their limit like springs!
"Rubber-Rocket-!"
With a low growl, he launched himself off the snow like a human catapult, carrying Lucy, Happy, and the clockwork containing Macao, and sped off towards the guild in the distance with incredible efficiency!
Each landing and subsequent ejection elicited a terrified scream and a jolt of complaints from Lucy, but Natsu, eager to get home, completely ignored them, wanting only to return his companion to Romeo as quickly as possible.
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The setting sun painted the sky a warm orange-red.Romeo sat alone on the steps in front of his house, tears still wet on his face, lost in his own sorrow.
He wiped away his tears, muttering, "I'm sorry, Dad.I shouldn't have looked down on you because you're an unknown mage.Please come back.I'll never say those things again."
Just then, a familiar voice called out from afar: "Romeo—!"
Romeo suddenly looked up and followed the sound, only to see Natsu walking towards them.
He held Lucy, who was dizzy and seemed to be nauseous, in one arm, and a huge, ancient-looking clock in the other.
When Romeo's gaze fell on the transparent glass door of the clock, his heart almost stopped beating—inside the clock case was his father, Macao, whom he had been thinking about and worrying about so much!
"dad!"
Romeo immediately jumped up from the steps and rushed over like a cannonball, hurriedly and clumsily opening the glass door of the clock.
As soon as the door opened, the unconscious Macao slumped out and was caught by Romeo.
Seeing his father's eyes closed and a trace of white foam still lingering at the corner of his mouth, Romeo looked up in alarm and asked:
"Dad!Wake up!""Natsu!What.what happened?What happened to my dad?"
Natsu touched his orange-red hair sheepishly and explained:
"Uh.he's probably just carsick.Okay, take him home and get some rest."
He clearly didn't intend to explain the details of how to get back, finding it troublesome.
After saying that, he stuffed Lucy, who was also dizzy from the high-speed rubber rocket journey, back into the clockwork's body without saying another word.
Then he hoisted up the heavy-looking, dizzy Clockwork Celestial and turned to walk towards the guild.
Watching Natsu's departing figure, Romeo steadied his father and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Natsu!Happy!And the dizzy big sister!Thank you—!"
Natsu didn't turn around; he simply raised his other hand high and casually waved goodbye.
Happy, equally dizzy but still stubbornly clinging to Natsu's shoulder, subconsciously and weakly responded:
"Love."
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