A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Bucky panicked instantly, waving his hands frantically to stop Gildarts's idea: "Hey, hey, hey!! Don't look at me like that! I'm telling you this so you won't do anything reckless. You should know the strength of the people on our ship; they can't possibly handle those guys, right?!"

"Alright, alright... don't worry." Gildas smiled nonchalantly, clearly not taking Bucky's words to heart. "If anything happens to you, I won't stand idly by."

"Huh?! Well, thank you in advance... Why are you making it sound like something bad is definitely going to happen?! Can't we just get through these three days peacefully?!"

Ace, standing nearby, chimed in, "Buggy's right, Uncle Gildarts! The war in the New World is about to break out, I don't have time to linger here!!"

Buggy remained silent, his eyes secretly fixed on Ace, thinking to himself: 'The situation in the Torrent Sea is tense, what does that have to do with your Whitebeard Pirates? Sure enough, Ace is...'

Just as he was lost in thought, Ace suddenly changed the subject: "But then again, even if we hire the best coating artist to coat the pirate ship, it will still take several days. There's no use in rushing. Let's just enjoy ourselves on this island!"

Buggy thought about it and felt that Ace's words made sense. In addition, he had confidence in Gildarts's strength, so he stopped trying to stop him. He just continued to advise, "You can have fun, but... Ace, you know what's really troublesome on Sabaody Archipelago, right? It's not the pirates, but its administrators!"

"Administrator? Does that mean a position like mayor? Speaking of which, who decides the mayor of such a powerful island? The navy? They must have a lot of trouble dealing with those pirates, right?"

In Gildarts's mind, there were no unified kingdoms in this world, and the Navy was involved in something similar to the Magic Council, so they were the first ones he thought of.

However, things were much more complicated than he realized.

"The Sabaody Archipelago is close to the Marine Headquarters, and behind the Marine Headquarters is the 'Holy Land' Mary Geoise, so 'Celestial Dragons' who live there come here from time to time. Moreover, the Sabaody Archipelago is under the jurisdiction of the 'Celestial Dragons,' so the probability of encountering them is as high as 70%! The force that you absolutely cannot provoke on this island is them!!"

Upon hearing the unfamiliar term again, Gildarts looked puzzled: "...Celestial Dragons? What are those? Are they very strong? Could they be descendants of humans and dragons?"

In Gildas's mind, he had already imagined two completely different species born from the mating of a colossal dragon and a small human: a 'dragon-headed human' and a 'human-headed dragon'...

'If that's the case, their combat strength must be very high, right?'

"...No, that's not it!"

"Celestial Dragons are just ordinary people, they have nothing to do with dragons! Their characteristics are that they wear white clothes, transparent bubble hoods on their heads, they consider themselves superior, arrogant, conceited, ugly, stupid, and have extremely bad personalities. Their fighting ability is even worse than Ricky's, and they are always surrounded by a bunch of subordinates..."

Leakey raised its paws in protest: "Roar~ (Why am I being compared to them?!)"

Buggy recounted the characteristics of the Celestial Dragons in great detail, speaking with an air of familiarity and using an extremely sarcastic tone, which surprised Ace, Gildarts, and all the other members of Buggy's Pirates present.

Alvida tightened her grip on the spiked club with her right hand, "A Celestial Dragon... I did see one once before in the East Blue from afar, and the situation was exactly the same as what Buggy described. You could say his description was extremely accurate!"

Ace didn't have a good impression of the Celestial Dragons either, because Sabo was 'killed' by one of them, but at this moment, he looked at Buggy with a hint of surprise: "Buggy, why are you so familiar with the Celestial Dragons?"

"I've already told you, I, Uncle Bucky, have seen the world!"

Why are the Celestial Dragons said to be untouchable?

Buggy explained in a deep voice, "Because the Celestial Dragons are 'world nobles'! They call themselves 'descendants of God' and have enormous power in this world. The World Government and the entire Navy must obey their orders!"

"...Even you look down on them, so they must not be good people after all!"

Gildas clicked his tongue and said in a low voice, "I understand. As long as they don't appear in front of me, I will try my best to control myself and not provoke them."

Although he had been on Buggy's pirate ship all this time, based on past news reports, he had come to understand that this world was not as stable as Aslant, and the World Government and the Navy were not like the Kingdom of Fiore and the Council. They were neither noble nor just!

In contrast, not all pirates are vicious and ruthless. For example, Whitebeard, whom Ace mentioned, did 'good deeds' such as occupying territory and protecting civilians.

Actually, given Fairy Tail's temperament, they don't care whether the other party is a good person or not; if they don't like something, they'll just fight it. But Gildarts is an adult after all, with a lot of experience and knowledge, and knows what he should and shouldn't do.

Judging from the current situation, fighting a Celestial Dragon would be a world-shaking event. If I couldn't resist doing it, it might cause trouble for everyone in the guild.

Ace chuckled and chimed in, "Me too! I'm not in the mood to waste time with those guys right now!"

"It's good that you know..." Bucky breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. However, he was still vaguely uneasy. His intuition told him that these two were going to cause big trouble!

'No! I have to go with them from now on! Otherwise, if they cause trouble and it gets me involved, that would be terrible!!'

Bucky acted skillfully, dividing his men into two groups: one group went out to buy and store food and fresh water, while the other went to the shipyard to find someone to coat the ship. Bucky himself, along with Gildarts, Ace, Cabaji, and other core members, began their tour of the Sabaody Archipelago.

Chapter 906 Ace: You guys run away after giving birth, how can you be fathers?!

Bright flames exploded on the open ground with a deafening sound, causing the air within a hundred meters to tremble. The flames then quickly dissipated, leaving behind a charred ground and the fallen pirate hunters.

"I ran into a pirate hunter as soon as I arrived on the island. What bad luck!"

Ace gently blew away the flickering orange flames in his hand, then looked at the large tree behind him: "Hey! You can come out now!"

Several figures peeked out from behind the tree, their faces still showing signs of shock. It was Bucky, Alvida, Kabaji, Mochi, and Liki.

"Wow, amazing... As expected of 'Fire Fist' Ace, he took down so many pirate hunters in one move...!!"

"Nonsense! He's the captain of the second ship of the Whitebeard Pirates! How could he not be strong?"

"We've been having such a pleasant time these past few days that I almost forgot he's still a top-tier pirate..."

Buggy's subordinates were all incredibly useless, but he didn't look down on them at all, because he was just like them... cough cough, because his life goals didn't require him to rely on a bunch of powerful subordinates like Whitebeard, Kaido, Big Mom, Shanks, Luffy, and Blackbeard.

In his life, Buggy didn't seek immense power, vast territory, beautiful women, or thrilling adventures. He didn't want to uncover history or challenge the World Government, because dwelling on the past was meaningless. He didn't want to conquer the seas and become the Pirate King, because in his heart, only one person could truly deserve that title. He didn't want to draw world maps, because he knew how vast the oceans were and how wondrous the world was. He didn't want to invent a panacea, because he knew that human strength is finite, and everything has its limits…

At thirty, one stands firm; at forty, one is free from doubt.

At the age of 37, Buggy had long experienced the feeling of standing at the top of the world (riding the Pirate King's ship until it disbanded), and also experienced the misery of falling to the bottom of life (being defeated and losing his body by Luffy who had just set sail). He had long since achieved enlightenment, understood his own nature, and knew what he wanted in his heart. Even the legendary pirate Whitebeard only reached this level of thought at this age.

Bucky's original dream was to gather all the world's treasures in his arms and sleep soundly.

How simple and unadorned this is!

Look at his eyes again—clean and clear. They hold the innocence of someone who has witnessed the darkness of the world, and the resilience that remains unyielding after enduring the ravages of storms.

This is incredibly rare for someone who has lived as a 'pirate' since childhood!!

"Well done, Ace!!"

Bucky stood with his hands on his hips, confidently directing his underlings. His large, round, red nose gleamed in the sunlight, like a scarlet, alluring agate bead.

"Men, go! Take all their valuables!!"

"Yes, Captain Bucky!!"

Gildarts strode over to Ace, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a hint of approval in his eyes, "How about it? Flames with higher temperatures are indeed more powerful in battle, aren't they?"

"Yes... I never thought the Flame-Flame Fruit could be used like this before..."

Ace stared at his palms, a hint of surprise on his face, but he quickly composed himself and gave Gildarts a bright smile: "Thank you for your guidance, Uncle!"

"Hahaha... It's nothing, I just copied what others said."

"Are you referring to Natsu?"

"That's right!"

Ace noticed that every time they mentioned Natsu, Gildarts's eyes would light up with pride and smugness. He recognized that look; his own father had a similar look when he talked about his sons.

"You two really have a good relationship..."

"Of course! I watched him grow up!"

After Buggy finished looting the pirate hunters, the group had enough money for their trip to the amusement park, so they headed straight for the trees numbered 30-49.

……

"Hey, did you hear? A new tarot card reading shop opened on the shopping street near number 30!"

"Fortune telling? Isn't that all a scam?"

"You're right, I've never believed in divination or prophecy!"

"That's right, that's right... Including gods, demons, God, Buddha, they're all just psychological comfort sought by poor people or rich and idle people. In reality, they're completely useless! If you always live in a false world, sooner or later you'll become disconnected from the real world and become a walking corpse!!"

"But the fortune teller there is a very pretty, outgoing, and heavy drinker!"

The air fell silent for several seconds, and then those who had previously said they didn't believe in divination all changed their minds.

"I suddenly felt that it might not hurt to believe it, since it doesn't cost any money."

"That's right, it's better to believe something is true than not to believe it is!"

"That's right, that's right... spiritual nourishment is also very important. Without it, humanity will sooner or later degenerate into nothing more than pigs that only know how to indulge their desires! Just like the heavens..."

"Idiot! Shut up!! Bringing that name in a place like this, are you out of your mind?!"

"I'm...I'm sorry..."

Four ordinary-looking men walked past Gildas and his companions, chatting as they passed. During their conversation, the "very beautiful, very generous, and very good at drinking" young fortune teller immediately caught Gildas's attention.

"What's wrong? Are you interested in divination too?"

Bucky nudged Gildas, who was lost in thought, with his elbow. "Or are you interested in that fortune-telling girl they were talking about?"

Boom! !

Gildas punched Bucky right away: "Stop talking nonsense! I'm just concerned because I suspect that person is my daughter."

"Daughter?!" ×N

Ace, Buggy, and the others were instantly stunned: "Gildas, you already have a daughter?!"

Gildarts smiled and nodded: "Yes! Her name is Cana, she's a year older than you, Ace, and she's also an excellent mage!"

"Unbelievable! I thought you were the kind of person who'd wander off into the world, I never imagined you were already married..."

Married? I don't think I'm married yet...

Gildas's initial pride instantly turned into embarrassment and guilt: "Uh... well... you're not wrong about that, I do really enjoy traveling, and I often travel alone..."

The perceptive Ace quickly noticed Gildarts's change, and then, realizing his own situation, he frowned. "I say, Uncle Gildarts..."

"what happened?"

"You're not the kind of bastard who'd have a baby and then run away, shirking all responsibility, are you?"

"Cough cough... No... No, that's not it..." Gildas was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and gasped repeatedly.

hiss--!!

Are all the people in this world this smart and sensitive? Ace, that kid, usually seems so carefree and silly, but I never expected him to be so surprisingly perceptive when it comes to emotions…

"Really not?? You seem very guilty in your denial, you don't have any confidence at all!" Ace's gaze became increasingly suspicious.

Memories flooded his mind, and Gildas suddenly lowered his head in shame, murmuring, "When I left, I didn't even know she was pregnant..."

"I knew it! I never imagined Uncle Gildas was this kind of person! I misjudged you!!"

"That's right, that's right... Parents who have children but don't support them are utter trash!!"

In an instant, the group stood on the moral high ground and began to condemn Gildas.

Just then, Alvida noticed that Bucky was standing silently to the side, and a thought immediately crossed her mind: Had this red-nosed guy also done something like sleeping with someone and leaving? No, no woman could possibly be interested in him...