Synopsis:
The Duke is offended by Lucy's accusation that he's an enemy of
literature, proclaiming himself to be highly educated. Lucy makes a
crack about his taste in women, and he pulls on her arms giving her
pain. He demands to know what the secret is, and Lucy's keys are out
of reach on the floor, but she refuses to answer. He threatens to
break her arms if she won't talk, but she sticks her tongue out at
him. He says that both the book and the secret are rightfully his
anyway, as he was the one who made Kemu Zaleon write it in the first
place. Lucy is shocked at this, but before either can speak again,
Happy arrives and dropkicks the Duke in the head, allowing Lucy to
get away.
Lucy
thanks Happy, who jumps into a nearby drainage of water, which Lucy
informs him is sewage. She holds one of her keys out towards the
Duke, saying that the tables have turned and if he gives her the
book, maybe he'll forgive her. The Duke remarks on her being a
Stellar Spirit mage and a fan of literature, but chastises her for
misusing the phrase, saying one should only say 'the tables have
turned' when it's to their advantage. He proclaims that she won't be
able to defeat his 'Diver' magic just because of Happy's presence,
and dives back through the ground.
Happy
is surprised that the Duke is a mage, even if it does explain what
he's been doing. Lucy says it was written about in 'Day Break', which
is a horrible novel with the Duke as the main character. The Duke
says him being the lead is the best part, but the contents are crap
even if Kemu Zaleon wrote them. Lucy asks how he can act so high and
mighty when he forced Zaleon to write it in the first place, but he
says that he really is high and mighty and that Zaleon should have
treated it as an honor, and what he did to make Zaleon concede was
his own fault for ever refusing in the first place.
After
Zaleon refused to write the novel the first time, the Duke said he
would reject the citizenship of all of his relatives, rendering them
unable to get any type of work. Happy wonders how the Duke even has
that much power, but Lucy says that some parts of the land still
operate under feudalism, so that even a guy like the Duke can have
absolute authority.
The
Duke dives back into the ground again after he and Lucy have
continued to attack and dodge each other throughout this
conversation, and shoots his arm out of the ground to grab her ankle.
He says that in the end, Zaleon caved and wrote the book, but angry
at being rejected even once, he forced the writer to write the book
in a solitary cell over three years, crushing his pride as a writer.
Lucy asks him how he could go so far to get what he wants, and if he
can imagine how Zaleon must have felt. The Duke says he realized how
great he (the Duke) was, but Lucy says it was it was a fight with his
own pride, that wouldn't allow him to write a proper novel about such
a person even if his family was in danger.
The
Duke is perplexed at how Lucy knows so much, and she says it was all
in the book. The Duke says he's read the book and that's not true,
but Lucy explains that you wouldn't notice unless you released the
magic on the book. Using the last of his magic, Zaleon had cast a
spell on the novel to reveal it's true written form only after the
magic had been undone. Lucy says the main purpose of the novel was
never about the Duke, but the real 'truth' is something else
entirely, which is why she cannot give him back the book.
Lucy
angrily uses her key to summon Cancer the Crab, a man wearing
sunglasses and holding a pair of scissors in each hand, crab legs
growing out of his back, and his hair styled like pincers. Happy is
overjoyed to see Cancer, assuming that he will speak by saying 'Kani'
(meaning 'Crab') at the end of his sentences, but he disappoints both
by asking Lucy what hairstyle she'd like today and ending his
sentence with 'Ebi' (meaning 'Shrimp') instead. Lucy tells Cancer not
to worry about that and to take down the Duke instead.
The
Duke begins to worry about the 'truth' in the book, wondering if it's
about the illegal nature of his business. If such a thing got out,
he'd be ruined, so he angrily whips out a Key of his own and summons
'Virgo'. Lucy and Happy are shocked that he's also a Stellar Spirit
Mage, and even more shocked when Virgo is revealed to be the huge
maid, who crashes down with Natsu holding on to the back of her
uniform. Natsu explains that she had started to move all of a sudden,
so he 'followed' her, then before he knew it and without realizing
what was happening, they were there. Lucy realizes that by 'followed'
he meant he 'grabbed' her, which means he traveled through the
Stellar Spirit World, which should be impossible.
Natsu
asks Lucy waht he should do as the Duke commands Virgo to take them
all down. Lucy tells him to take down the maid, and he does with a
brutal punch to the face. Lucy finally pulls out the whip she carries
with her, and manages to catch the Duke around the neck with it while
he's in shock, to stop him from burrowing anywhere. She whipps him up
into the air towards Cancer, proclaiming that he shouldn't be
anything more than a supporting character. He crashlands unconcious
onto his maid, before his mustache, eyebrows, and what little hair he
had all falls off as Cancer asks Lucy if she likes this haircut.
Natsu
and Happy laugh happily while Lucy clings to Day Break, and Natsu
commends Lucy on a job well done, saying that she's truly a mage of
Fairy Tail.
Thoughts:
The revelation that the Duke made Zaleon write this book took me by
surprise, but now it's all starting to fit together in my mind. The
Duke, in the arrogant mindframe that he lives his life in, forced
Melon - who is actually Zaleon - to write this awesome book about how
totally awesome he was, but he hid something else in secret in the
book, and now Zaleon wants to unleash the truth within!
...At
least, that was my first thought, until I stepped back and looked at
the rest of the evidence we have so far. Zaleon used 'the last of his
magic' to put the truth in the book secretly. That sounds an awful
lot like he died to me. And I can't imagine the Duke letting him go
free when he could probably report his illegal incarceration,
couldn't he? So Zaleon probably isn't Melon at all. But if so, who
the heck is Melon and how is he connected to all of this? Also, if
the two had been the same, then what would Zaleon have gained from
the book being destroyed along with this secret? It's all really
curious, and even as we get more pieces of the puzzle, we're not
entirely sure how it all connects just yet.
Happy
saves the day, and continues to be a weird cat. I mean, talking and
growing wings are one thing, but willingly jumping into water? That's
just crazy. Not to mention it being sewage...I had no idea that Lucy
had gone into a sewer from somewhere in the house until that moment
though, so maybe it was mostly done to give us a better grasp of what
the background scenery here meant?
I
was surprised at first that it was a type of magic the Duke was
using, but it makes more sense than him just randomly being able to
burrow everywhere without magic really.
So
the book 'Day Break' is actually about the Duke, right down to his
use of 'Diver' magic. That makes me wonder why it's called 'Day
Break' then, but I have a feeling we'll find out why it's titled
that. I wonder exactly what about the book is 'crap' though, that
both Lucy and the Duke don't seem pleased after reading it.
It
might sound silly to some people, but I can actually fully understand
the notion of 'writer's pride'. I often struggle with the thought of
it myself, and how would I handle certain things if I ever get that
far as a writer. Anyone can say that, if they had just finished
writing a book, that they wouldn't allow their agents to suggest
changes to it that would make it easier to be printed, but would you
really? Getting published is the goal of any author, so whether you'd
really be able to stand your ground on something like that is a
really sticky question. It's not always about artistic integrity. All
that aside, being forced to be in the cell and write for three years
must have been hard on Zaleon.
Cancer
the Crab wasn't anything like I'd been expecting. I had been
picturing an actual crab of some sort, but instead we get a weird
barber guy who says 'shrimp' after everything...I 'LOL'd'. With
Lucy's reaction to his first question about hair styles, I can't help
but wonder if she usually uses him to get free haircuts or something.
I'm
also left wondering the exact nature of the Duke's business that's
illegal and he doesn't want found out. He locked up an innocent man
for three years, so it's obvious he's a pretty unscrupulous guy, but
what else is he up to?
I
hadn't been expecting the maid to actually be a Stellar Spirit at
all, but then again, I hadn't expected the Duke to be that type of
mage either. Since he can do that and Diver magic both, I guess you
really can use multiple types if you want. But wait...the maid also
sprung from the ground before, so is Virgo also able to use 'Diver'?
And what of the four other maids? We don't see them here, so I have
to assume they're real people and not Stellar Spirits, but they
seemingly were using 'Diver' as well.
And
of course Natsu grabbed hold of the maid's uniform to see where she
was going, he's that kind of guy. Based on the freaked out look on
his face when they first arrive, you have to wonder how much of the
Stellar Spirit world he got to see, and what it's like.
In
the end, Natsu takes out the maid again with a single punch. I guess
it's not really a letdown since he's already taken care of her with
ease before now, but after it being revealed that she's a spirit, I
was expecting a little more honestly. I'm not disappointed with how
Lucy's fight with the Duke went however. There was a lot of
exposition that the two had to trade in this chapter, but Lucy still
managed to get quite the badass moment in the end, showing that even
without her spirits she's a force to be reckoned with. As Natsu said,
she really is a worthy addition to Fairy Tail after all, and I'm glad
that we finally got to see what she's capable of.
The
Duke actually did turn out to be a contender, at least for someone of
Lucy's level, so she did need Happy's help after all - but only
briefly. For the most part she did handle this herself, so I'm not
really sure how to call my prediction there. I guess mostly wrong
since he actually was pretty tough. The maid did re-appear, but
didn't really do anything after all. And it's looking like I was
wrong about the chapters left, because now I'm thinking this was the
final battle chapter, and the next one will be the 'bookend'.
Unless...
Okay,
here's my new set of predictions. We either do have two chapters
left, or just one. If we have two left, it'll be because Melon really
is up to something crafty, and they're going to have to deal with him
in the next chapter. Possibly Natsu will even need Lucy and Happy's
help to take him down, though I'd say more because of something he
has up his sleeve rather than him being that strong. Don't know how
his wife would play into this. Or, if this next chapter is the last
one for this storyline, then Melon isn't a bad guy at all, and we
mostly just get a lot of talking. Either way, I say we definitely
find out what the 'truth' in the book is next time.
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