Posted by 
This was expected, but I was hoping this could’ve been slower paced.
Summary:
Moving on from where we were left last week, Natsu’s confrontation surprises most of the members of Sabertooth. Jiemma doesn’t consider Natsu being a worthy opponent of him and tells Dobengal to fight Natsu instead of him. Natsu knocks Dobengal out and rushes forward towards Jiemma. Sting tells Jiemma that he’s able to fight Natsu but Jiemma stops him and prepares for a fight with Natsu.
Jiemma blocks Natsu’s first attack but after that, he gets hit several times by the angry Natsu before getting the final blow – Raienryuu Hono Gekitetsu (Dragon’s lightning flame – Iron strike), a powerful attack that launches Jiemma out through the guild.
Outside, we find Minerva, who uses some form of shield magic to block the ongoing battle between Jiemma and Natsu. Minerva who speaks very formal Japanese, tells Natsu that her father (referring to Jiemma) got fired up and had a hard time backing down from this challenge. But fighting Natsu who is participating in the Grand Magic Games would cause troubles for Sabertooth in case Natsu got eliminated through this battle (she assumes that Jiemma will win).
Minerva appears to have kidnapped Happy at some point and uses Happy to make Natsu back down from this challenge. Minerva tells Natsu that this incident will simply be overlooked. Taking Happy with him, Natsu leaves Sabertooth’s lodgings. But before leaving, Natsu tells everyone in the guild that FAIRY TAIL won’t lose to them. He also tells them that as a guild, they should treasure their members better.
Having that said, Natsu and Happy leaves the guild, leaving most of its member in deep thoughts. It seems that Sting didn’t expect Natsu to be this strong. The chapter ends with Sting laughing in an evil way, thinking about Natsu’s strength.
While this chapter wasn’t as fantastic as I’d expected it to be, it was quite good.
I expected the battle to last a bit longer, or Natsu taking some damage, but since the main story surrounds the games for now, it will always come back to that. I did not consider the fact that hurting a participant may cause trouble, so Minerva’s conversation with Natsu was pretty much of a “Why didn’t I think of this?”-moment.
And speaking of Minerva. I am very interested in her. Her lady-like mannerism was quite refreshing to see in this series because, as far as I know, most female characters in FAIRY TAIL are pretty neutral, simple, and some are very wild. I’m a bit surprised she managed to convince Natsu so easily. I know Natsu and Happy share a strong bond, and Natsu would do anything for his friends, but this fight was interrupted in such an anticlimactic way. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. I’d much rather read about “Eclipse” than one of Natsu’s fights. I guess next week’s chapter will surround Eclipse, and probably Lucy and Yukino too.
The last page of this chapter made me wonder when we’ll see Natsu and Sting having an epic fight (yes, I’m absolutely sure that we’ll see a battle between them soon). And speaking of fights, Yukino was kicked out because of her “poor” performance at the games, but in this chapter, we saw guild members being instantly knocked out by Natsu one by one. I wonder how Jiemma will handle them… Although, I doubt we’ll see any more members being kicked out, considering Natsu’s “warning” at the end.
I know many people are tired of Natsu’s “nakama” talk, but personally, I think that’s a part of this series’ charm. I love Natsu very much, and I think his love for his friends is one of the traits that makes him who he is. It may be repetitive, but I still love it!
Having that said, I hope we’ll get to know more about “Eclipse” next week, but whatever the next chapter brings us, I’m ready for it!
Moete kitazou!
I have a strong feeling that Rogue from Sabretooth will join Fairy Tail after this arc.
His reactions since Yukino left really felt as if he wasn’t happy with his guild, also how he felt about nakama. Till now it also seemed somewhat customary for all dragon slayers to end up at Fairy Tail, so maybe Sting will end up joining Fairy Tail as well (I hope so).
You didn’t find it fantastic huh? I might be quite shallow minded here, taking all entertainment shoved towards me, but this was definitely one of the more interesting chapters lately. It got to show that Sting, and some of the other Sabertooth members really shouldn’t be such arrogant idiots. Aside of that it proved what the power up did to Natsu, and how the guild would react to Fairy Tail’s attack. Though short, it actually gave away quite a lot. Spreading it over 2 chapters wouldn’t be of much use because this was more of an indication, a development, than an actual battle, so I think that’s why Hiro kept it this way. I’m really looking forward to the rest of this arc, if only the battles will be more than one chapter long for the main cast. (and Gajeel, who gets way to little ‘screen-time’)
After seeing page 22 of chapter 258. I wonder if its safe to assume that Minerva is the Sky Dragon Slayer.
If what you said was right, which could easily be, than she will be the one who replaces Yukino too, huh.
woah two sky dragon 😮 i was always thinking they might be refering to Wendy but yeah i guess possible she doesn’t have, that of a strenght to be acknolwedge
I rather hope she is the waterdragon slayer instead of the sky dragonslayer
what a strong chapter! and i agree, wish there be more fight between Natsu and the master!
I for one am not tired of Natsu’s “nakama talk”, as I think that’s one of the reasons I like Natsu. I guess it also has to do with how manly how goes about things.
I’m also not surprised that the fight got broken up. It was too early for Fairy Tail and Sabretooth to fight, but Natsu did do the most important thing while he was there, leaving an impression. Impressions, regardless of them being good or bad are essential as it means at least the people acknowledge you instead of passing you off as some nobody.
Ganbatte Natsu!
The “nakama” thing is only annoying because of the word itself is so cliched. If it were replaced by something more natural, like “allies,” it probably wouldn’t be so grating.
I don’t think changing it to “allies” or anything else would really fix that, not that I see it as a problem myself in the first place. Love the word “nakama” in One Piece and Fairy Tail.
Yeah, the whole “nakama” thing is just stupid really. I get that the word has different meanings based on context, but not translating it is just plain lazy. Just say “friend” or “crew” or “guild member” or “buddy” or something. Don’t leave a half-translation there just because you’re lazy. One Piece translators are big culprits of this too.
You can’t be a Fairy Tail fan if you don’t like the nakama talk, that’s the series’ entire theme; nakama and second chances. Just like how Naruto’s about passing the torch.
Well the Nakama reference is quite grating for me and I wouldn’t mind Natsu or Fairy Tail if they replaced Nakama with Family. I find that family emphasises the bonds and how much their guild means to them.
Nakama and bonds is actually one of Fairy Tail’s main theme and strong points. Look at the entire series. Old rivals and nemesis are constantly joining Fairy Tail, and the guild keeps expanding with tons of likeable characters.
Fairy Tail is honestly one of those rare manga’s that not only introduce a multitude of characters, but also one that I hold no scorn towards anyone. There isn’t a single character i dislike in this manga. It goes to show that the author does a pretty good job using this theme in his interesting fictional world.
Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I don’t like the theme of bonds, loyalty, friendship, etc (I wouldn’t read the manga up to this point if I didn’t like it). It’s the fact that the translators are too lazy to actually translate the word “nakama”. I don’t like reading a translated work when many of the words aren’t translated, and “nakama” is an easy word to translate, so why not just write down the correct English word to correspond with the context?
Probably because it was deliberately left as it is? I highly doubt its laziness on the translators. Sometimes words have more impact in their original language.
One Piece translators keeps Nakama there all the time.
Well, the way I see it is they’re lazy. Nakama is one of those words whose meaning changes based on how its used. It can mean things like “crew member”, “friend”, “family”, “buddy”, “associate”, “comrade”, “gang”, etc. Why not just use the appropriate English translation?
In One Piece back in the early days, Arlong calls Nami his Nakama, but he really means that in the context of crew member, gang member, associate. He uses the word in a way that implies she’s not important to her. Luffy on the other hand calls Nami his Nakama, but uses the word in a way to imply she’s closer to a friend or family member. Natsu in this chapter uses the word Nakama in the same way Luffy did.
Because the word can mean different things, that makes it all the more important to properly translate it. Not translating it is pure laziness on the part of the translator, because they’d rather just leave it alone and let the reader figure it out.
Here’s an example using German. The word “Mann” can mean man, male, guy, or husband in English. Imagine reading a translation that said “Hey, Mann, could you do this for me?”. Which meaning of Mann was really intended? If a woman said it with a smile on her face, you’d assume she meant husband. If a woman said that with a frown you’d assume male. If a man said that you’d assume he meant guy. If an alien said it you’d assume it meant man.
Not translating Nakama is no different from that example.
@anon234
I don’t think it makes it all the more important to properly translate it from what you described. In your example, translating it to something such as “friend” would still leave the same connotations. There’s plenty of American movies in which the word “friend” is used in the same manner, as a term of endearment as well as a degrading mock.
A relevant link :http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Nakama_Translation
Especially the part, “The word DOES get used during some high-emotion scenes, but those scenes have just as much high emotion if the word is translated, because it’s the weight of the scenes and the character relationships. When Luffy says “NAMI!! OMAE WA ORE NO NAKAMA DA!”, you feel for the scene, not because of a word, but because it’s the emotional cap on everything they’ve been through. When Usopp says “I’m leaving the Crew” (crew being “Nakama” in Japanese) you get emotional over the scene because Usopp is leaving after being with them for 200+ episodes, NOT because of the word used. Leaving the word untranslated also has the adverse effect of making the word out to be something it’s not, so when characters use it when it has little importance, it ends up seeming like a bigger deal than it really is.”
I don’t like Sting’s yandere-ism. He’s a character that I truly dislike in this series next to Flare Corona. I hope Natsu beat the pulp out of him in the most embarassing way.
Sting X Natsu :3
Why does it always end up as yaoi… ;__;
Why not Natsu x Sting instead?
Because you guys aren’t fussed with Yuri pairings. Don’t complain if you don’t do double standards.
In the latest episode of the anime they mentioned the name of the floating fortress/thingy and called it Zentopia which definitely makes it clear that the incident that Lucy and Yukino refered to a couple of chapters back is the current filler anime arc.
And I think Minerva is packing some punch.
Nice “Eclipse” reference there, Stereoman.
Frankly, I for one, did not expect tht Natsu KO Jiemma tht effectively. But yeah, he should settle the score during official competition. Sting look lk he hav foe-yay with Natsu….. (=.=|||) Beat him up plz, someone.
I still think that it would have been interesting to see a fight between Natsu and Sabertooth’s Leader.
But…..Natsu ieuwowekfnwevklwn
My mind was blown after this chapter
Natsu is a beast nuff said.