**Chapter 17: No Matter How Far**
"Kid, who the hell are you?"
*Bang!* A figure appeared in front of a slaver minion and slammed into him, sending him flying.
"Wahhh!!"
*Boom!!* A large hole was smashed into the cabin.
Looking up, they saw Happy flying in mid-air, carrying Natsu.
Natsu shouted angrily, "I am Fairy Tail's Natsu! I've never seen a guy like you before!!"
"Fairy Tail?! Natsu is actually a Fairy Tail Mage?!"
Lucy was shocked to hear Natsu's words. She had never imagined that Natsu would be a mage of Fairy Tail.
"Look at that emblem!"
"This is bad! Mr. Bora! It's the real deal!!"
Seeing the Fairy Tail guild mark on Natsu's shoulder, the slaver minions immediately turned pale.
"Idiot... Idiot!! Don't call me by my real name!!"
Happy said, "Bora... Bora of Prominence, the guy who was kicked out of the 'Titan Nose' Mage Guild a few years ago."
Lucy finally understood that the slavers who captured her weren't Fairy Tail mages at all.
"Bastards! What are you looking at? Do it! Kill them!"
The others snapped out of their daze, raised their guns, and fired at Ren and Natsu.
Happy flew Natsu into the air to dodge the bullets.
Ren, however, stood still in his original spot.
"Ren! Careful!!"
Seeing this, Lucy couldn't help but close her eyes, not wanting to see Ren turned into a sieve by the bullets.
*Ding! Ding! Ding!*
All the bullets that hit Ren bounced off; he didn't suffer a single scratch.
**Hierro.** An Arrancar's body is covered by skin as hard as armor that cannot be pierced by blades, known for its high spiritual pressure hardness.
Ordinary attacks couldn't break through the defense of Hierro at all.
Ulquiorra's Hierro allowed him to block a Hollowfied Ichigo Kurosaki's Getsuga Tenshō with his bare hands, suffering only minor injuries.
The defense was incredibly high. Although Ren's skin didn't look like armor, the defensive strength remained unchanged.
"How... How is that possible?!"
Everyone on the ship was in disbelief. Was this person invulnerable?
**Sonído!**
Ren instantly appeared in front of a minion.
*Splurt!*
The Zanpakutō slashed through the man's body. The minion collapsed before he could even utter a word, a look of terror in his eyes.
**Sonído!**
Ren instantly appeared in front of another minion, his Zanpakutō slicing across the man's neck. Another minion fell.
"Bastard! Go to hell!"
Bora unleashed a raging torrent of fire toward Ren.
*Whoosh!*
A figure appeared in front of Ren and was hit by the flames.
"Natsu!!"
Lucy couldn't help but cry out, as it was Natsu who had rushed in.
Suddenly, inside the flames, Natsu began to swallow the fire little by little. Natsu's voice came from within the inferno.
"This tastes terrible."
"What is this stuff? Are you really a fire mage? This is the first time I've eaten such disgusting fire."
"?!!"
Aside from Ren and Happy, everyone on the ship was dumbfounded by this scene.
"Hah! Thanks for the meal!"
"Wh... wh... is this guy human?!!"
"Fire?! He ate the fire?!"
Lucy's eyes widened. "I've never seen this kind of magic!!"
"Now that I've eaten, power is surging out." Natsu began to take a deep breath.
One of the minions seemed to realize something, pointing at Natsu in horror. "Mr. Bora!! I've seen this kid before!!"
"Huh?"
"Cherry-pink hair and a scale-like scarf... It's definitely him!! This kid... is the real..."
*Fwoom!*
*BOOM BOOM BOOM!!*
"Wahhh!!"
Violent flames erupted from Natsu's mouth, incinerating the men.
"Salamander..."
Lucy, who followed Fairy Tail news frequently, recognized him. Natsu was the real Salamander.
*Bang!* Stepping on red flames, Bora rushed out of Natsu's fire.
Seeing his ship destroyed and his subordinates taken out: "You two damn brats! You dared to ruin my ship!"
Bora desperately wanted to kill both Natsu and Ren, but he also realized that neither Ren nor Natsu were people to be trifled with.
"I'll let you off this time. Next time we meet will be your death date!"
After leaving his harsh words, Bora turned to flee.
Seeing this, Lucy shouted, "Oh no! He's going to escape!"
"Happy! After him!" Natsu said to Happy, but as he turned his head, he saw the wings on Happy's back disappear.
"I'm out of Magic Power."
"Wahhh!" Natsu and Happy fell from mid-air.
Seeing Natsu and Happy fall, Bora relaxed a lot.
"Haha! If you want to catch up to me, wait another ten years!"
Although the loss was significant this time, it wasn't catastrophic.
The subordinates he lost were just some ordinary traffickers; he could easily recruit more.
This was just bad luck, impersonating Fairy Tail's Salamander only to run into the real one.
As long as he was alive, he could stage a comeback very quickly.
*Hum~ !*
Suddenly, Ren's voice rang out: "Smearing my Fairy Tail's name and running away? There's no such good thing in this world. Those who offend Fairy Tail will be executed, no matter how far away they are!"
A small emerald-green sphere of spiritual pressure gathered on his right index finger.
**Cero!**
*Shoooom————!!*
Hearing Ren's voice, Bora instinctively turned his head, only to be blinded by a dazzling emerald-green light that completely engulfed him.
"Noooooo!!" Bora screamed in terror.
After the light dissipated, Bora's figure had vanished completely.