Chapter 52 - Chapter 54

Out on the sea. In the middle of nowhere. A one-man boat was drifting along, seemingly without a goal in sight. The boat had no sails to use to propel it forward. A strange energy surrounded the boat and it was that strange energy that currently made the boat move.

The complete random directions that the boat was drifting in was caused by the fact that Gildarts destination could not be reached with normal means. A very special and rare item that only existed in legends and rumors were needed to reach it.

This item and the items creator were the only ones that could reach the island. The island itself was protected with many layers of powerful illusion magic. If you somehow got past that without the required item, the sea monsters living around the island would attack and aim to kill you if you did not carry the item on you.

People of this world have been searching for this island for years, but so far no one has managed to find it. Be it civilians or the powerful mages known as saints. They all failed and kept drifting around and sometimes they even passed by the island itself. But they simply could not detect it because of all the magic that was protecting it from outsiders.

Right now on this little one-man boat. A boy with slicked-back dark brown hair and an immature childish face was sitting and drawing on a map. Like he did back at his guild, he was detailing his adventures in the world.

'What is going on? Why can't i figure out how to map this out?' The boy that was the son of the worlds most powerful mage thought. He had a frustrating and annoyed look on his face because he could feel the islands presences through the badge.

But every time he drew or wrote something that pertained to the location of his father's island. Nothing about what he put down would make sense. He knew the route he wanted to map out, but when he put it down on paper, it became nonsense and unreadable.

Little did he know that all the people that had searched for the island had encountered the same problem. And that only added to the mystery and legends regarding Paradise Island.

Gildarts knew he was closing in on it. He could feel the islands magic signature through the badge in ways he could not explain. It was like the island itself was calling for him and he just simply needed to let the badge guide him. And so far, that had worked splendidly.

Suddenly from nowhere, a thick fog started to appear.

"Fog?" Gildarts looked around and noticed that the fog had covered everything. When he looked over railing of the boat, he couldn't even see the water of the ocean anymore. The fog was everywhere.

'This must be it! I can feel it!" Gildarts spun around multiple times on the small space that he had on the boat. He looked in every directions but he still could not see anything at all. While looking around he suddenly felt some heat in one of his pockets.

He took out his badge and looked at it. The little piece of mystery in his hand was glowing in bright white light. It was glowing brighter every second and it almost forced him to close his eyes.

"Are you trying to tell me something? Am I close to the island?" Gildarts stood and stared at the badge while squinting his eyes from the bright light it gave off.

Just as he asked the question. The bright white light exploded out and his boat was covered with the same white energy. And from that same white light that now surrounded the boar in a barrier. A small strand off it extended outwards and pierced the fog and disappeared into the distance.

"Is that the right way?" Gildarts asked while staring at the barrier and the small strand of visible energy that was stretching into the distance.

The boat started moving, almost like the white-coloured energy was pulling him towards something. The boat was moving at a fast pace and soon Gildarts could see the fog letting up. After a few minutes, the boat left the fog behind completely. And then he saw it.

Before his eyes appeared a gigantic landmass. A stretch of sand was the first thing he saw. The sandy beach stretch around the entire island and after that was a 50-meter tall cliff sidewall that you had to scale before you could even see what existed on the island itself.

"I-Is this it? Did i find Paradise Island?" Gildarts observed the water all around him. The water here beyond the fog and around the island was bright blue and you could see all the way down to the seafloor.

"It's beautiful..." He didn't know what to say or feel now that he finally was face to face with the legendary island that millions of people dream about visiting.

"Is father really here? Did he create this?" Gildarts asked himself as the energy had finally pulled him up to the beach itself. He stared at the massive cliff wall and only one thought came to mind.

'Screw Zeref!'

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End