That was interesting development. Who would’ve thought that a powerful dragon such as Acnologia used to be human?

Summary:

We’re back at the graveyard where Wendy is preparing a magic circle for “Milky Way” – a beautiful and sparkling magic that makes the dragon skeletons shake. Wendy finds something that turns out to be a dragon whose appearance frightens everyone, however, the dragon isn’t hostile at all.

The dragon introduces himself as Zirconis, the Emerald dragon, and he appears to be familiar with the summoning technique Wendy used. He seems to be quite a humoristic dragon. The Exceeds don’t wait, they get right down to business and ask Zirconis about this place’s history.

Over 400 years ago, the dragons owned the world. They were free beings and their world was prosperous. The dragons were the superior species while humans were considered as nothing but food, however, there was a dragon who questioned that and sought a world where humans and dragons could coexist. This proposal eventually led to a war among the dragons. The war went on for a long time without any results, that was until the dragons who supported coexistence taught humans the magic to slay dragons, and also, invited them to join the battle. With Dragon Slayers on the battlefield, the tables were turned and it was clear that the human loving dragons would win, however, there was one thing they forgot to include in their plans – the possibility of someone misusing dragon slaying magic.

Some powerful Dragon Slayers started killing the dragons on their side. There was one person whose name Zirconis doesn’t dare saying, who murdered countless dragons. Soon, he himself gradually started to look like a dragon, and he was the one who murdered all the dragons in the graveyard. He eventually became the king of dragons. The war was called “Ryuuousai – The Dragon King’s Festival”, named after the birth of the dragon king – who turns out to be Acnologia. Zirconis doesn’t get the chance to say more than that as his soul disappears.

Natsu wonders if using Dragon Slayer magic too much can result in him becoming a dragon but he is interrupted by someone who also listened to Zirconis’ story. The eavesdropping person turns out to be Arcadios who reveals that the historical facts in Zirconis’ story match his research. According to his conclusion, Zeref is the reason why Acnologia was born – he transformed a man into a dragon, so the first step to defeat Acnologia is to destroy Zeref. Arcadios finally shows his face and it turns out that he is accompanied by Yukino. He also happens to be the White Knight Charle had a vision of.

I’m so glad that Acnologia is back in the story. When he appeared and disappeared seven years ago during the S-class event, I was a bit disappointed that we weren’t given a chance to learn much about the dragon – but finally, he is back! Who would’ve thought he used to be human? I find this development very exciting, not only because of Acnologia’s history, but also because we now know why there are Dragon Slayers and what the purpose of their magic is, or was. I always found it quite weird that a dragon would teach a human how to slay his own kind, but now it all makes sense.

Isn’t it weird to call a war something as joyful as a “festival”? I don’t see any joy in Acnologia, only betrayal and devastation, and I wonder if the humans respect Acnologia for what he did. I can see why humans would call this a festival as they probably finally could walk freely without being looked at as food, but what Acnologia did wasn’t just to “save” the humans. Instead of being equal to the dragons as the philanthropic dragons wanted, the humans simply did what the dragons used to do – they became the superior beings instead. To me, it seems that the humans are worse than the dragons because there are hardly any dragons left.

Well, even if the story behind the Dragon Slayers wasn’t a very happy one, I’m glad it was told by someone very entertaining such as Zirconis. I enjoyed the dragon’s approach very much and I found myself laughing several times at his interactions with Natsu. It’s amazing how he who has every reason to be bitter at mankind could joyfully share such a tragic story with the race he hates, and on top of that, find interest in Wendy. Hmm, so Zirconis is into lolis…

With such a major plot bomb revealed to us, another one lies ahead – Zeref. It’s interesting how Zeref is somehow involved in almost every arc, and yet we know hardly anything about the man. And here I thought Jellal was a complicated character. Arcadios’ theory about defeating Zeref makes sense to me, but I don’t like that it’s coming from him, and it’s definitely not good to see him with Yukino. We already knew she was in his league of White Knights, but still, it worries me because I definitely don’t want to see her hurt again. I doubt Arcadios actually cares about Acnologia. It seems to me that this approach is a way for him to get in contact with Lucy. Obviously this is all related to Eclipse, I mean, Arcadios refers to Zeref as “Lord”, so this is definitely a trap, and it’s probably going to result in the future Levy was talking about. I hope the mysterious woman whom I assume to be from the future is here to stop it all.

Moete kitazou!

27 Comments

  1. Guys I was wondering maybe it will be better if Sting and Rogue remained in Sabertooth, with
    the way things are now with the third generation Dragon Slayers and their master gemma it
    seems as if those who are predicting that Sting and Rogue will join Fairy Tail are right.
    However I would prefer it if they remained at Sabertooth because too many Dragon Slayers at
    Fairy Tail(six including Laxus) is what I call overloading. They should remain at Sabertooth
    but get a new master that would create a bond for the guild because they will need a lot of
    bonds in that guild.

    K C M
  2. This should have been the 300th chapter imo that was the biggest story development we’ve gotten on the source of Natsu and the other dragon slayers powers since the story began. Fantastic chapter, waiting a week for the next one is sooo painful.

    Anza
  3. While I like this chapter and the backstory which helps in the development of the series, I can’t wait for the main event of the grand magic
    games, i.e the 5th and final day of the games competition where all 5 contestants battle it out in the name of their respective guilds. If I
    am not mistaken it will be a battle royal where all 30 participants of all six guilds fight for the no. one position in Fiore to determine the
    strongest guild, it’ll be like the royal rumble and wrestlemania of the Magnolia and I am rooting for my guild Fairy Tail to kick more butts
    (particularly Sabertooth’s butt).

    K C M
    1. I can’t wait for the main plot of the entire manga!

      Given Mashima-sensei’s past works, and assuming he’s in no rush to break his habits, all the arcs we’ve seen are a steady buildup to the main plot that, when it’s revealed, ties things together in a way that makes readers shit bricks.

      Whether they’re character arcs, relationship arcs, etc. And at this point, it seems Mashima-sensei is ready to drop some bigger bombs on the main storyline he has envisioned.

      He sure does love his dragons though!…In EVERY work!

      Jello
  4. I find it amusing tht Ft and TWGOK has dropped a plot bomb at the same time.

    For a dragon who oppose humans Zirconis seems like a pretty likable dragon with a good sense of humour…. Or was his attitude changed after he’s dead?

    WELP looks like Arcadious have finally make his appearance to the cast…. There just no way his plan is to just simply kill Zeref as stereoman noted he refer to Zeref as master… And his nose…. just his nose.

    D-LaN
  5. Arcadios has villain written all over his twisted face. The question now is the role he will play. Is he the man instigating everything, or is he working for someone else who is pulling the strings.

    I also doubt his word that Zeref is the one who turned Acnologia into a dragon. Maybe Zeref is involved in some way, but the last time we saw Zeref, he talked about Acnologia with a look of unease and fear. Perhaps the two were allied in the past, but when Zeref saw the destruction Acnologia caused, he realized his mistake and the significance of life. Then Acnologia turned on him and left Zeref with his “curse”.

    MasterDragonKnight
  6. Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo, Urahara is still…—

    Oh, wait. Oops.

    Zirconis was hilarious. And it makes me curious as to what the current position of dragon slayers is. When Zirconis was summoned, he sounded happy to meet Grandine again. Does that mean Grandine is on the side that wants to eat humans or coexist? Then why does she have a dragon slayer? Why did Igneel, Grandine, Metalanica train dragon slayers NOW?

    AAHHHHHHHH Mashima-san…so many more questions! So excited! Thank you for awesomeness that finally includes dragons into the plot <3

    Jello
  7. I was wondering why it wasn’t called Ryu Taijutsui (Dragon Martial Arts) instead of Dragon Slaying magic. But it make sense.

    The only question is the Milky Way spell. As far as I can tell, as implied from the dead dragon, there are only two people who are able to use that spell, which are the Wendy and her mom. With a little imagination that can be a very powerful spell. For example, if Wendy could use the Milky Way spell on a Dragon and that Dragon is willing to teach a human how to use Dragon Slaying magic then that would be something; as long as Wendy can use it for a lengthy amount of time. Since most dragon magic are lost magic, as in a lot of them are extinct, then this spell can be devastating, especially if it can apply to humans who were powerful mages that didn’t get the chance to pass down their magic.

    L002
  8. Honestly, I seriously don’t buy it with Zeref being responsible for turning Acnologia into a dragon. Why? Cause that information came from Arcadios, the most definitely untrustworthy man you’ve known. He’s obviously trying to push the heroes into his cause by making Zeref the ultimate source of all evil as exaggerated as possible, even though we know better that Arcadios has a more sinister agenda (and could possibly have an insane admiration for Zeref).

    The better question is; Who do you want to believe more? Arcadios, the man who lives in the present? Or Zirconis, someone who actually lived on that age and time?

    Krillos
  9. So… off subject question… Who wants to bet that the cloaked woman is Lucy from that screwed up future or something stupid like that? All screwed up from that Eclipse Plan or whatever the flip they are talking about. The girl obviously has a great interest in Fairy Tail and future Levy is writing letters to Lucy as if she disappeared….

    Ace
  10. A wild guess:
    Since that one particular DSlayer turned more and more into a dragon after bathing in multiple dragons’ blood while slaying them, there seems to be a connection to the Dragon Force.
    It even says “until that ‘man’s’ skin itself became scales” – which is kinda what happens to Dragon Force users. Zeref just pushed it further from there with his magic to form a complete dragon.

    So my theory is, that the 3rd gen slayers can achieve it so easily because they killed their dragons AND got Dragon Lacrima implanted which is most likely laced or even completely made out of dragon blood.

    2nd gen slayers have it easier too than the originals, since they got the Dragon Lacrima implanted (see reasoning above).

    From the 1st gen slayers, so far only Natsu managed to do it twice and it required a power source. Now you could argue that Ehterion may be powered by Dragon Lacrima (no one really talks about where the 2nd and 3rd gen got it from), in Jellal’s case the Flame of Rebuke could be similar or even having been tainted by him using Dark Magic (just like Zeref did his Black Arts, albeit in a weaker form) which caused Natsu being pushed towards a dragon form.

    Aryo
  11. somehow I get the feeling that with all these reveals it’s going to lead to the sole idea that the very person everyone deems as the personification of evil is actually the good guy and by that I mean Zeref. My theory is that he tried to stop the dragon slaughter back then knowing full well what Acnologia would become, and in his attempt he tried to create monsters that could fight against a dragon but he was unable to control any of his creations, hence the curse that fell upon him. Times passed and his story became legend, getting twisted in the process that portrayed him as the source of all evil.

    gawrshness

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