Of course, in the end, everyone still did not leave the entire mess for the guild to deal with.
Instead, Laki stepped in and effortlessly repaired the damaged parts of the guild building.
"Ugh, damn it. Something as fun as Kabe and Gildarts fighting, and you didn't even call me. That's just too much."
Inside the house that Kabe and Mirajane rented together, Natsu hugged a sofa cushion with a gloomy expression. One hand held a glass of orange juice, the straw clenched between his teeth as he complained.
Gray, who at some point had already taken off his shirt, leaned one arm against the back of the sofa and crossed his legs, immediately firing back.
"And whose fault is it that you hid deep in the Eastern Forest for so long? If it weren't for Kabe's perception, we wouldn't have been able to find you at all."
"I was training!" Natsu shouted back indignantly. Then his face lit up with excitement as he provocatively looked at Gray.
"After this training, I'm way, way stronger than you now."
"Aye! Natsu and I worked really hard too!" Happy jumped out to echo him.
Gray instantly grew unhappy when he heard that. "Don't joke around. Training for just a few days, what could that even do? If you want to surpass me, wait another ten thousand years!"
The moment those words fell, Natsu's eyes flared with anger as he locked gazes with Gray.
Seeing that the two were about to start fighting, Cana crossed her legs with an annoyed expression, folded her arms, and spoke up.
"I'm saying, you two. I finally come back once in a long while. Can't you at least give me some face and stay peaceful for two days?"
"Who wants to be peaceful with him!" *2
The two shouted in unison, faces full of resistance.
Then they turned to glare at each other again, snorted coldly, and looked away. That was them giving Cana face and stopping the argument.
"Aha! The third woman who can restrain Natsu has appeared.
The first two who scare Natsu that much were Erza and Mira.
And now those two…"
"Dead cat, are you looking for death?!"
A merciless big hand grabbed Happy by the head and lifted him straight up from the coffee table.
Happy's eyeballs trembled as he glanced sideways at the owner of that hand.
Immediately, Kabe's face, filled with killing intent, appeared in front of him.
Terrified, Happy hurriedly covered his mouth with his paws, instantly muting himself, and shot Kabe a pitiful, innocent look.
Kabe snorted coldly, tossed the cheap cat onto the sofa, and spared him for now.
But that made Cana a bit unhappy.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?
After Mirajane and Erza became your girlfriends, did your guts shrink or something?
You used to be pretty bold, you know. Always cracking dirty jokes at me."
Kabe never backed down. He followed along with her words smoothly.
"If you want to hear dirty jokes, I can tell you some right now."
As he spoke, he even sat down right next to Cana.
During the movement, his arm brushed against her slender waist without much restraint.
Cana felt like she had been shocked by electricity. Her body shuddered abruptly.
Immediately, her tone softened.
"Don't, I was wrong, I surrender~"
Seeing her chicken out so quickly, Kabe let out a disdainful chuckle, stood up, and walked straight to the sofa on the other side.
Mirajane and Erza, who had been quietly chatting with Laki and Levy, consciously moved apart when they saw him approach, leaving space for him.
He did not stand on ceremony at all and sat down openly and confidently between the two of them.
Everyone present, plus Lisanna and Elfman who were washing fruit in the kitchen.
Their group of ten people and one cat basically represented the entire new generation of Fairy Tail.
Unfortunately, Laxus and the others were not here. If he and his Thunder God Tribe were also present, this gathering would have been even livelier.
Kabe thought with some regret, but it did not really matter. As long as they were still guild companions, there would be plenty of chances to gather again in the future.
With the eleven of them together, there were naturally endless topics to talk about.
But today's main character was Cana, and everyone was very curious about what she had experienced over the past year, so she naturally became the center of the conversation.
"Cana, if you've got time these next few days, fight me."
The one who could say something like that was, of course, Natsu.
In his empty head, aside from fighting, perhaps only news about his foster father, the Fire Dragon King Igneel, could truly interest him.
What surprised everyone was that Cana, who usually rarely joined their fights, actually agreed very straightforwardly.
"Hmph, no problem. I'm so strong now that even I'm afraid of myself.
Natsu, just wait to be defeated by me."
Watching Cana stretch out her arm and strike a flexing pose, Natsu felt like his entire body was burning up.
If it weren't for Mirajane on the other side staring at him fiercely, he would have wanted to spit out some fire to vent the excitement boiling inside him.
The others were not as simple minded as Natsu. Seeing Cana so confident, Levy suddenly had a flash of insight and asked in surprise.
"Cana, don't tell me you've already learned that magic?"
"Hehe, that's right. After a full four years, I finally crossed that threshold."
As she spoke, Elfman and Lisanna happened to walk over carrying the freshly washed fruit.
Cana's eyes lit up. She waved at Lisanna, took an apple, and said to everyone.
"Watch closely. I'll show you my new magic right now."
Holding the apple up in her palm, she waited until everyone was looking, then shouted softly.
"Crush!"
As soon as the word fell, the apple was cleanly and neatly split into six equal pieces.
She picked up one piece and stuffed it into her mouth. The remaining five pieces were handed out to the girls present.
The girls did not eat immediately. Instead, they held the apple pieces and examined them for a moment.
Looking at the extremely smooth cuts, Laki could not help but praise her.
"That's impressive. Worthy of being Gildarts' daughter. You really mastered his magic."
"Hehe, of course. To learn this magic, I really suffered a lot over these four years.
I even completely gave up card magic and devoted myself entirely to learning this new one."
At this point, Cana almost wanted to wipe away tears for herself.
Gildarts usually treated her with extreme care, but when it came to teaching magic, he was truly ruthless.
To let her properly master Crush magic, he directly threw her into a remote valley with barely any human presence, and even confiscated all of her cards.