Chapter 38: Dino's Mission History
Just outside the village lay the forest. Because this island was known as Demon Island, almost no outsiders came here. Even pirates dared not visit. The environment remained completely untouched and wild.
"As expected of an S-Class mission, it just feels different!" Natsu had returned to his usual self after a night's sleep. He was completely the type to bounce back like nothing happened.
"Dino, what's the difficulty level of S-Class missions like?" Dino was the only one here who could be considered a veteran S-Class mage. He was second only to Gildarts in becoming an S-Class mage at Fairy Tail.
"I don't know. All I do are subjugation missions. I've never taken on curse-breaking quests like this one."
Natsu's eyes lit up. "A subjugation mission?! So the things you fight must be really powerful, right?!"
"Strong enough to beat you ten times over, so you'd better keep training."
"Ten?!" Everyone reacted in shock. Natsu's strength was considered top-tier among Fairy Tail's mages, and his Dragon Slayer magic packed incredible destructive power.
But the real advantage was the inhuman physical toughness that Dragon Slayer magic granted him. His fighting style was simple: tank ten hits, land one devastating blow, and win. His defense was practically broken.
"Aye! Natsu's become a unit of measurement!" Happy chimed in.
"Dino, what's the most powerful monster you've ever fought?"
Dino thought back for a moment. "The most powerful one? That would be a Ten-Year Quest—an Abyss Demon Dragon. Can't quite remember its name. Supposedly, it descended on that country's capital one day and turned the entire city into a hellscape."
Everyone shouted in shock. "A DRAGON?!"
In this world, anything related to dragons was terrifying. Dragons possessed strength that humans simply couldn't match.
"Was its name Igneel?!"
Lucy sweatdropped. "Igneel is a Fire Dragon, not a Demon Dragon!"
Natsu grabbed Dino's shoulders excitedly. "Then maybe it knows where Igneel is! Dino, did you slay that dragon?!"
"Slay a dragon? That's impossible! Those are just myths and legends!" Lucy and Gray shook their heads in unison. Even knowing how powerful Dino was, humans definitely couldn't defeat a dragon. Dragons were comparable to gods themselves.
Dino shook his head with a slight smile. "Kill it? Don't be ridiculous. How could I? It's a dragon, after all! And a high-ranking dragon at that. Plus it could fly—not exactly easy to finish off. That thing's body was incredibly durable. Even my full-power punches only left minor injuries."
"In the end, I just beat it badly enough that it fled. No idea where it went after that. Since that country's request was just to drive the dragon away, the mission counted as complete."
Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Happy all stared at Dino with their mouths hanging open, completely slack-jawed, as if they were looking at some kind of monster.
You told us not to be ridiculous, but aren't YOU the ridiculous one?! they all thought. They couldn't help but imagine the battle in their minds.
The mental image was a dragon getting pummeled into the ground by a human. The scene was so absurd they could barely process it.
"Monster! There's a monster scarier than dragons in Fiore!" they all screamed internally. If the King and the Magic Council knew about this, they probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
"Well… you don't have to look at me like I'm some kind of freak. I'm not as powerful as you're thinking. Physically speaking, Natsu's constitution is way tougher than mine."
Suddenly—"SQUEEEAK!" A massive ten-meter-tall rat burst from the underbrush and charged straight at them.
"AAAAH! GIANT RAT!" Everyone screamed.
Dino's eyes sharpened. "Get lost."
The enormous rat's fur stood on end immediately. It looked at Dino with absolute terror in its eyes, slowly backed up several steps, then turned and fled with a pitiful squealing cry.
Gray's face turned serious. "Was that… Conqueror's Spirit?!"
Lucy's eyes went wide. "Amazing! Just one look scared off that huge rat! He really is a monster who drove away a dragon!"
"Aye!" Happy nodded vigorously.
Natsu turned to Dino with stars in his eyes. "So cool! So awesome! How do you do that, Dino?! Teach me!"
Gray shot Natsu a serious look. "Idiot! That's killing intent—the kind you can only develop after taking countless lives in battle. You can't just learn it! For all we know, Dino might've destroyed an entire country with his earthquake powers!"
"COUNTLESS LIVES?!"
Lucy and the others looked at Dino with even more horror now, their expressions shifting from "looking at a monster" to "looking at a mass-murdering demon."
Bonk! Bonk! Bonk! Dino flicked each of their foreheads in turn. "What are you idiots thinking?! That was my magic. I use my voice to transmit vibrations that simulate a mental shockwave."
"It's just a little spell I created to keep my training environment quiet."
When he used to train in remote locations, creatures would constantly disturb him. Dino would use vibrations to drive them away, but they always came back. So he decided to make sure they'd remember not to return.
After capturing several creatures and studying them extensively, he discovered the vibration wavelength that triggered primal fear in nearly all living things.
That's when he realized that not only matter, but consciousness itself could be vibrated. Perhaps this was the key to Devil Fruit awakening—but he had no intention of vibrating his own brain. That would just give him a concussion.
As for the creatures Dino experimented on… well, they all took their own lives immediately after he released them.
So after half a year of research, his greatest achievement was developing an effect similar to Conqueror's Haki.
Everyone thought simultaneously: "THAT'S considered a little spell?! Then what counts as a big one?!"
Natsu stepped forward eagerly. "Dino, use it on me at full strength! I wanna see what it feels like!"
Dino shook his head. "I'd advise against it. Every creature I tested it on committed suicide afterward."