Natsu Dragneel

For Natsu's Edolas counterpart, see Natsu Dragion.

Natsu Dragneel (ナツ・ドラグニル) is a Fire Dragon Slayer, a member of Fairy Tail, and the leader of Team Natsu. He is the main male protagonist of Fairy Tail.

Appearance
Natsu is a lean, well-built young man of average height with light tan skin, black eyes, and spiky rose-colored hair. He always wears a scarf that is detailed with white scales, given to Natsu by his adoptive father, Igneel. Natsu has a scar on the right side of his neck that is visible in the few instances he does not wear his scarf. His red member's stamp is located at the top of his right arm, just below his shoulder.

Natsu's outfit mainly consists of a black waistcoat with gold trimmings over his chest with no shirt underneath, short white trousers that go down to his knees, and a wide black wristband on his left wrist and sandals along with his scarf. He has also been known to wear a rolled up comforter strapped across his back, though he rarely carries it in battle.

Personality
Natsu is a carefree and reckless in nature and, despite his constant brawls with the other members of the guild, is a fiercely loyal and protective friend. He thinks things through in a straightforward manner that usually involves taking things "head on". Even when faced with obvious hostility or previous grudges, he rarely holds a grudge or negative feelings towards an enemy, usually seeing the good in them. He does, however, hold a grudge against Jellal Fernandes for some time, but eventually forgives him and comes to consider him an ally. He has also been shown to occasionally feel compassion for his enemies, such as when Cobra was betrayed by Brain.

Natsu constantly tries to prove his strength to others. He has challenged both Erza and Laxus to fight him in the past, only to be defeated both times. However, he holds no grudge against them as he considers any member of his guild to be his friend, even in Laxus's case when he threatens the lives of his own guildmates. Due to his reckless nature, any fight Natsu involves himself in usually ends with widespread destruction. His continuous desire to fight causes Natsu to develop great wit in battle, quickly identifying his opponent's weaknesses and forming strategies to block the plans of his enemies. At times, he even defeats enemies with just his wit and trickery without throwing a punch, such as during the Galuna Island arc against Toby. Natsu also seems to be very stubborn, hardly ever admitting defeat.

During the time of Lisanna's supposed death and disappearance, Natsu would get extremely upset whenever anyone carelessly brings up her name. Because of this, no one in Fairy Tail mentions her to him out of respect for his feelings. This, of course, changes after Lisanna is discovered to be alive and returns from Edolas.

He suffers from motion sickness from all modes of transportation, including trains, boats, and carriages. It is to the degree that he can get sick from simply looking at a mode of transport or thinking about it, and even when he is carried by another person. The only "transportation" that Natsu can freely travel on and not get sick is being carried by Happy.

History
Natsu was found as a baby by Igneel, a powerful Fire Dragon whom Natsu called his "father". Igneel raised him and taught him how to talk, write, and use a form of Lost Magic known as Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. On July 7, X777, however, Igneel mysteriously disappeared, leading Natsu to set out in search of him. He was eventually found by Makarov Dreyar, the master of the Fairy Tail guild, where he became a member and formed a close, sibling-like rivalry with Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet.

One day, Natsu found an egg in the forest east of Magnolia Town. Assuming it to be a dragon egg, Natsu took it to the guild and asked Makarov to make it hatch, but Makarov and Erza taught him that only Natsu could do it by watching over and caring for it. Lisanna offered to help Natsu to raise the egg until it hatched, which Natsu accepted happily. The two built a shack out of straw in the park to keep the egg warm, developing a very close friendship in the process.

The next morning, Natsu discovered that the egg had disappeared and assumed that someone had stolen it. After Natsu argued with everyone in the guild and fought with Mirajane over the egg, Elfman appeared with the egg and confessed he wanted to help Natsu and Lisanna raise it, but was too embarrassed to ask. Suddenly, the egg hatched and, to everyone's shock, a blue cat with wings was born. Because everyone stopped arguing and became happy upon the cat's birth, Natsu named him Happy.

A few years later, Lisanna left together with her siblings to go on an S-Class job to hunt a giant monster called "The Beast". Natsu wanted to go, but Elfman opposed as he felt he should be the one to care for his family. While on this mission, Lisanna was supposedly killed accidentally by Elfman after he lost control of himself while attempting to take over the monster. Though Natsu forgave Elfman, he was greatly saddened by the event.

Macao arc
Natsu receives a tip from Krov that a "Salamander" had been spotted in Hargeon Town. Convinced that the "Salamander" is Igneel, Natsu and Happy travel to Hargeon by train, but are sidetracked when Natsu passes out on the train and is forced to ride it a second time around. After finally getting off the train, the two stumble across a crowd of lovestruck young women eagerly shouting the name "Salamander." Excited, Natsu breaks into the crowd but, rather than seeing a dragon, instead meets a narcissistic fire mage claiming to be named Salamander. Downtrodden that the "salamander" wasn't Igneel after all, Natsu rejects an autograph from the imposter, causing the mage's legion of female fans to attack Natsu and drive him away.

Through these antics, he saves a traveling mage, Lucy Heartfilia, from the influence of "Salamander's" illegal Charm magic, which he used to infatuate the crowd of girls. Out of appreciation, Lucy pays a meal for him and Happy, and rambles on about her ambition to join a famous guild. During the conversation, they reveal their search for Igneel in town. They are taken aback when Lucy points out a dragon would never be found in the middle of town, as this had not previously dawned on them before. Lucy leaves the two to finish their meal, but Natsu and Happy are so grateful for her random act of kindness that they feel indebted to her since they hadn't meant to help her in the first place. Natsu offers Lucy the autograph "Salamander" gave him, but she immediately refuses it, and they part ways.

Later that night, Natsu overhears that "Salamander" is supposedly a member of Fairy Tail. Natsu immediately becomes suspicious and quite literally gatecrashes the party on the mage's ship, discovering Lucy to be on board as "Salamander" had tricked her into thinking he could get her into Fairy Tail. The ship's rocking motion immediately takes its toll on Natsu, leaving him defenseless against Salamander's crew. After being rescued by Happy, Lucy summons the celestial spirit Aquarius, whose powerful water magic washes the boat and everyone on it ashore.

With the ship on dry land and its rocking motion gone, Natsu regains his vitality and confronts "Salamander," declaring himself to be a member of Fairy Tail and exposing the fire mage as an imposter member. Though one of the impostor's crew members reveals his name to be Bora, Natsu shows no interest in his identity and is only concerned with his attempts to tarnish Fairy Tail's name. Their fight is short as Natsu easily decimates Bora and his crew, destroying a majority of Hargeon's port in the process. The fight attracks the attention of the Rune Knights, prompting him and Happy to flee with Lucy in tow. Lucy is initially chagrined, but Natsu, now knowing that Lucy wants to join Fairy Tail, invites her to join his guild, which she happily accepts.

Upon returning to the guild in Magnolia Town with Lucy, Natsu angrily attacks Krov for giving him false information on the "Salamander," starting a fight which swiftly evolves into a full-scale brawl. The unruly mages are stopped by Makarov, who reads out loud to them a list of various complaints from the Magic Council about the guild members, including (but far from limited to) Natsu's destruction of Hargeon's port. However, Makarov ultimately disregards the documented complaints and sets them aflame, giving his guild an inspiring speech (and giving the burning documents to Natsu as a snack).

After feasting on a fiery meal, Natsu goes up to the guild's job request board to find work for food money. While picking out a job, Natsu overhears Romeo Conbolt, son of Fairy Tail's Macao Conbolt, complaining to Makarov over how his father has not yet returned from his job in Hakobe Mountain to slay Vulcans. Empathizing with Romeo's troubles, Natsu leaves together with Happy to find Macao. The two are accompanied by Lucy, now an official member of Fairy Tail. The three reach the snowstorm-ravaged mountain where they are attacked by a Vulcan, which notices Lucy and whisks her away to its cavern lair at the peak of the mountain.

Reasoning that this particular Vulcan is responsible for Macao's disappearance, Natsu chases the Vulcan to its lair and demands to know where it has hidden Macao. However, the Vulcan tricks Natsu into coming near a hole in the cavern wall and pushes him out of it, sending him plummeting off the side of the mountain. Fortunately, Happy rescues him. Once back inside the cave, Natsu sees Lucy fighting the Vulcan using her celestial spirit Taurus and, mistaking the bull spirit to be another monster, sends him flying. He soon defeats the Vulcan, who is then revealed to actually be Macao, having been taken over by the Vulcan. Natsu's attack causes Macao to fall out another hole through the wall, but Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Taurus manage to pull him to safety. They find Macao to be seriously wounded, having fought nineteen Vulcans before being taken over by the twentieth. Natsu saves his life by burning the wound shut, and returns to Magnolia with his friends to reunite Macao with Romeo.

Daybreak arc
After Lucy gets settled into her new home, she finds that Natsu and Happy have shamelessly invaded it. While she scolds them, Happy sharpens his nails on the wall, distracting her from Natsu who peeks at her bundle of sheets. She dives for them, keeping them away from Natsu, and demands that they leave, to which Natsu refuses. Giving up, she offers the two a cup of tea and teaches them a little about Celestial Spirits. For a demonstration on contracting with Celestial Spirits, Lucy summons the Canis Minor Nikora, which she named Plue. She shows them the procedures that Celestial Wizards go through to contract with Celestial Spirits, telling them that she doesn't break promises. Plue suggests that they form a team, to which Natsu agrees to, and in turn, Lucy does. Their first mission is to steal a book which involves the book's owner hiring a blond maid. Using the Celestial Wizard's words against her, Natsu gets Lucy to join him in the job which makes Lucy think Natsu had prepared for it from the beginning.

When they arrive in Shirostume town, Natsu recommends they go to eat before their mission whilst Lucy went off elsewhere, declining his offer. Natsu and Happy are shocked to find that when she returns, she is adorned in a maid outfit when they had only been joking about it. Regardless, they make their way to the client's house, where Kaby Melon details their mission and stuns the three of them with the announcement that the reward had increased ten times in value. Impassioned, they head towards the mansion where Lucy is interviewed for the maid position by Duke Everlue.

After she is rejected for being too "ugly", they resolve to sneak into the mansion by having Happy fly them to the roof and Natsu melt a window to let them in. Quietly, they move around the mansion until they are confronted by Everlue's other maids who Natsu instantly deals with. They then discovered the library and after a quick search, Natsu locates the book DAYBREAK. Natsu was about to burn it when Lucy snatches it from his grasp as she saw it was a book by the famous author, Kemu Zaleon, and begged for him to let her keep it.

Just then, Everlue literally dives up from the ground, having previously held back to see what they had been up to, and calls on the Vanish Brothers to deal with them. However, Lucy declares that there was a secret in the book and runs off, asking Natsu to buy her some time. Everlue goes after her, interested about the secret, and Natsu tells Happy to follow them while he dealt with the brothers.

After a brief fight with the Vanish Brothers, Natsu quickly defeats the brothers and grabs the head maid when she begins to move. Consequently, when Everlue summons this head maid, who is actually the Celestial Spirit Virgo, he is pulled through the Celestial Spirit world back to the Human world. Lucy shouts for him to deal with Virgo while she defeats Everlue. He complies, delivering her a powerful blow.

Lucy makes them return the book to the client where he found out the truth about the book, and to whom the book was meant for; the group decides not to take payment for the job (much to Lucy's dismay) since they didn't specifically complete what was asked for: "destroy the book". They begin to return, with Natsu realizing that Lucy's earlier protectiveness was because the bundle of sheets was a novel she was creating, explaining her knowledge of books. She shouts at him to not tell anyone.

Lullaby arc
Natsu returns to the guild and gets into another fight with Gray, but Loke warns them that Erza has returned from her mission and they comically pretend to be good friends. Much to their dismay, Erza forces Natsu and Gray to go on a mission with her. When Erza finally arrives at the train station, Natsu issues her an agreement that he would only go if she agreed to fight him when they returned, to which she agrees. On the train, Natsu gets his usual motion sickness and Erza, in an attempt to make him feel better, knocks him out. The other members start to discuss their mission, but in the process, forget to wake up Natsu when they leave, leaving him on the train. Kageyama, a member of the Dark Guild Eisenwald that the group was discussing earlier, tries to start a conversation with him. However, Kageyama attacks him and the two get into a fight with Natsu quickly getting the upper hand when the train stops. During their fight, he notices the Lullaby flute, and before the train starts to move again, jumps out of the train's window and into a Magic four-wheel vehicle driven by Erza.

They return to the train station via the vehicle, causing Natsu to get motion sickness again, and requiring the assistance of Lucy (who is considered transport by Natsu) to drag him to the station. Although denied entry, they enter anyway and are confronted by the members of Eisenwald at the station platform. Upon hearing Kageyama's voice, Natsu revives and saves Lucy from being harmed by one of Kageyama's attacks. Erza then orders him and Gray to go after Erigor, and the two agree to split up to find him.

As Natsu searches, he starts destroying the walls to find him, despite the fact that doors were right next to him. Kageyama sneaks up bhind him and attacks him and after they exchange a few blows, he quickly overwhelms him and questions him on the whereabouts of Erigor, just as Erza and company arrive to question him on how to dispel the barrier of wind around the station. However, to everyone's surprise, Kageyama is suddenly stabbed in the back by one of his allies and Natsu, in rage, attacks the assassin and tries to avenge Kageyama.

Team Natsu is then freed from the wind wall by Lucy's new Celestial Spirit Virgo, who apologizes to Natsu for her previous fight with him and he quickly forgives her. Natsu then uses Happy's maximum speed to chase after Erigor. After he runs into him, he proves himself powerful enough for Erigor to evoke his Storm Mail spell. As the wind armor causes Natsu's fire to be put out and stops him from punching Erigor, Natsu becomes angry to the point of heating his flames using his emotions. Happy notices the effects of the superheated fire on Erigor's Storm Mail and provokes Natsu to increase his fire's heat by appealing to his sense of rivalry with Gray. This sends Natsu into a rage, and he is able to defeat Erigor.

When the others arrive, Kageyama steals the Lullaby flute and goes to the Guild Masters' meeting. The team quickly follows and are stopped from saving Makarov by the other Guild Masters, while Makarov convinces Kageyama to give up. Since Kageyama refused to play the flute and finish off Makarov, the flute turns into a huge beast. Seeing this, Natsu teams up with Gray and Erza to take it down. Unfortunately, the team destroys the Guild Masters' meeting place in the process. When the Guild Masters see this they turn around they see that Fairy Tail was already running away except for Natsu who offered to help chase his teammates unaware that he was being chased as well.

Galuna Island arc
True to her word, Erza begins her fight with Natsu, but just as it warms up, Erza is arrested for property damage amongst other crimes. To prevent him from recklessly going after Erza, Natsu is literally transformed into a salamander and stuck under a glass. However, it is revealed that it was actually Macao who had transformed himself to give time for Natsu to smash into Erza's court hearing, crudely dressed as her, and proclaim that he is actually Erza which results in them both being imprisoned for a short time.

Due to Erza's arrest being a mere formality, Natsu and Erza are soon released. Natsu once again tries to fight Erza, but is swiftly defeated with one blow. Natsu then tries to pick a fight with Laxus Dreyar, but is prevented from doing so by Makarov, who says he isn't allowed up to the second floor "yet". Later on, Natsu breaks into Lucy's apartment, much to her annoyance, and tries to persuade her to go on a S-class mission, 'The Cursed Island', with him and Happy. She initially refuses but then agrees when she notices that the award includes a Golden Key. Unable to find someone to ferry them across, Natsu falls on the idea of swimming to the island, but is soon stopped when Gray appears. Just as they begin to fight, one of the sailors who had previously refused, notices their Magic and agrees to sail them across. Natsu then quickly knocks Gray out and drags him onto the boat. The sailor leading then suddenly disappears, just before a tidal wave shipwrecks them on the island's shore.

With Gray now agreeing to help them, they go to their client, the mayor of the island, to find out about the curse affecting the inhabitants. Initially asked to do the impossible task of destroying the moon, they resolve to explore the island the next morning. In the forest they are confronted by a gigantic mouse, which they quickly defeat, and find a ruined temple. Natsu then stamps on the floor of the temple which causes it to crumble apart, and sends them hurtling down into a large cavern. The cavern contains a frozen demon Deliora, and the Mages Yuka Suzuki, Sherry, and Toby. Gray tells them that they are going to stay put until the moon comes back out and Natsu instinctively falls asleep at this piece of news. Night soon arrives, and they discover that the purple moonlight is hitting the frozen Deliora; they run up the surface to investigate and discover a ritual to free Deliora.

Natsu, enraged by Lyon Bastia's command to Toby and the others to destroy the village, jumps out from hiding and attacks, but is quickly stopped by Lyon's ice Magic and pushed down a hill by Gray. Natsu returns back up the hill to find a beaten up Gray, and carries him back to the village. When he arrives at the village, he falls into the trap that Lucy had previously placed for Lyon and his Mages. The village is then attacked by Lyon's Mages who use poison jelly to try kill everyone, but Natsu destroys a large amount of the poison with his Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame attack, and sends the rest to the outer skirts of the village. Natsu and Lucy are then confronted by Sherri, Yuka and Toby. After Sherri and Angelica leave to destroy the villagers, Lucy accidently grabs onto Angelica and leaves Natsu to fight Yuka and Toby. When Happy decides to go check on Lucy to make sure she’s okay, Natsu remarks that that’s fine and that he would take care of these two, and after a brief battle, he defeats Yuka and tricks Toby into poisoning himself.

The next day, Erza arrives and Natsu reappears alone, going into the temple from earlier. After he goes into the ruins, he begins breaking them to try tilting the temple so the moonlight wouldn't reach Deliora. He then starts to fight Lyon, but midway through is interrupted by Gray, who tells him that he'll fight Lyon instead. Gray attempts to use the powerful spell Iced Shell to kill both himself and Lyon, but is stopped by a punch to the face by Natsu. Enraged at being ignored by Zalty, he chases after him and falls into another fight.

Their battle leads into Deliora's cavern, where Natsu is shocked to find that Deliora's frozen prison is melting. Natsu eventually finds a way around Zalty's Arc of Time Magic and punches him away just as the ritual for Deliora's revival is complete. However, it is then revealed that Deliora had actually been long dead. They then realize, thanks to Erza, that the ritual had nothing to do with the villager's demonic transformations, but that it was instead excess Moon Drip Magic creating a barrier around the island, making the moon look purple and making the villagers forget that their demonic appearance was actually their true appearance.

Phantom Lord arc
As they return from their S-rank mission, they find the guild destroyed. They learn from Mirajane that it was their rival, Phantom Lord. Natsu argues with the master, telling him that they should fight back, but Makarov decides there is no point in getting angry with someone who attacks an empty guild, much to Natsu’s dismay. Later, they discover the heavily injured bodies of Shadow Gear's Levy McGarden, Jet and Droy nailed to a tree, and Makarov declares war on Phantom.

They rush to Phantom Lord's guild and directly attack its members. When they arrive, Natsu breaks down the door and the battle between the two guilds begin. When Makarov leaves to crush Phantom Lord's leader, Jose Porla, Gajeel Redfox joins the fight. He initially fights with Elfman before Natsu takes over, and the two dragon slayers have a fairly equal fight. However, the fight soon turns sour when Makarov falls from above after losing his Magical power.

After witnessing the Master’s apparent defeat, Erza orders them to retreat, much to the dismay of Natsu and the rest of the guild. Just as they are about to leave, Natsu overhears Gajeel and a member of the Element 4, Aria, saying they had captured Lucy. He kidnaps one of Phantom Lord's members, burning him until he told Natsu where Lucy may be. Out of fear of further injury, the member of Phantom Lord tells him that she was most likely at their headquarters. Natsu sprints to it, shouting Lucy's name, leaping in the air, and catching her as she deliberately fell from the headquarters's tower prison. Seeing as they were at the headquarters, Natsu wishes to continue the fight, but Happy and a tearful Lucy make him reluctantly agree to retreat.

Back at the guild, Natsu consoles a depressed Lucy, telling her that Fairy Tail is her "home". The guild begins to quake and they go outside to see a gigantic walking building: Phantom Lord's headquarters, which unveils its powerful cannon, Jupiter. Jose then orders the cannon to be fired, but Erza requips her adamantine armor and resolves to stop it, despite Natsu and the rest of the guild begging her not to. The cannon is then shot towards the guild, but Erza takes the full brunt of Jupiter, and prevents it from annihilating the guild. Jose warns them that another such blast will be fired unless Lucy is given to them, but every single one of them adamantly refuses. As a result, Jose tells them to shiver in 15 minutes of fear as it reloads.

Natsu declares that he'll smash it before this happens; Happy flies them to the building, but just as he is about to destroy the lacrima of the cannon, he is confronted by a member of the Element 4, Totomaru. Because Totomaru's element relates to fire, he is able to control any type of flame, and causes grief for Natsu before he figures out how to overcome Totomaru's control and destroy the lacrima the moment before the cannon fires. Enraged, Jose orders for the walking building to transform into a gigantic Mage; the transformation process caused it to temporarily turn into a vehicle, invoking Natsu's motion sickness, and Totomaru almost strikes him with his Rainbow Fire before the arrival of Gray and Elfman, who finish the Phantom member off. Happy rushes outside to see what has happened and informs them that the building has become a Mage and is about to unleash a massively destructive spell. They then agree to split up to find the source of the Magic.

As Natsu is searching, he meets the strongest of the Element 4, Aria. Natsu is dominated during the fight and nearly loses his Magic via Aria's Void; he is saved by Erza, who defeats Aria in one blow. Erza collapses from exhaustion moments before Jose announces (via loudspeakers) that they have captured Lucy. Erza shouts for Natsu to unleash his hidden power and protect them all. Natsu, inspired by this, discovers newfound determination and flames forward until he smashes through a wall and saves Lucy being impaled from one of Gajeel's daggers.

The two Dragon Slayers then begin their lengthy fight. Although equal at first, Gajeel takes the upper hand when he eats the metal tiles and restores his health. This abruptly changes when Natsu gets to eat fire thanks to Lucy's Celestial Spirit, Sagittarius, and he simultaneously defeats Gajeel with his Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon Fist, and destroys his guild. Natsu falls due to fatigue but stays behind in the guild as Happy takes Lucy back to Fairy Tail. Natsu questions Gajeel about where he learned his Magic; Gajeel replies from the metal dragon Metalicana who disappeared on the date 7/7 X777, similar to Igneel.

Whilst reconstructing the broken guild, Natsu carries a great deal many more wooden beams than necessary, and indirectly challenges Gray to carry as twice as many, who accepts and does so for a short second. Erza hits them and forces them to stop messing around before Loke gives Gray Lucy's keys, which she had lost when she was caught by Juvia Lockser. Natsu, Gray and Erza decide to go to her house for a short break, but find that she has left to go home. They rush to her house and are relieved to discover that she was only going to see her mother's grave. When they return, Natsu and Gray overhear Lucy’s conversation about the punishment she received from Aquarius from losing the keys, and ponders what expression Lucy would have if he made her butt hurt. He never follows through with this, as he is struck by a chair thrown by an enraged Erza. Her fury is directed at Laxus, who derides the weakness of Shadow Gear. Natsu throws a fist at Laxus who effortlessly dodges and then leaves with the affirmation that he will make the strongest guild. Erza tells Natsu to leave him, and then proposes that she, Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy should do a job together: attack an illegal Magic school. While doing the job, they destroy half a stretch of road.

Loke arc
Natsu is first seen incorrectly playing pool with Gray. After Lucy takes a “special job” from Mirajane, Natsu, Erza, Gray, and Lucy travel to their destination, and Natsu is seen laying on the ground, suffering from his usual motion sickness. Natsu and the others go to help a theater house by becoming actors for a play. However, Natsu's and the others' destructiveness cause the play to become apparently ruined, but, to their surprise, it becomes a hit anyway.

Later, Natsu and the others go to Balsam Village and after defeating some troublemakers in the area, decide to stay in the town for the night. As they are talking, they notice Loke in the distance and come over to speak to him, until he quickly runs away at the sight of Lucy. During their stay, Natsu, Gray, and Erza get into a serious pillow fight. Gray apparently wins, but Natsu wouldn't accept it so the two of them call on Lucy to decide for them. He later searches through the town for Loke, who had suddenly left Fairy Tail.

Tower of Heaven arc
Upon discovering that Loke is a Celestial Spirit, Natsu expresses his desire to be able to summon a dragon, claiming he wants a way to test the extent of his Dragon Slayer Magic. When Loke gives Lucy the tickets to a resort, where he had previously reserved rooms for himself and his girlfriends, Natsu joins her, Erza, and Gray in a break from the jobs assigned at Fairy Tail. After spending a day of relaxation at the resort with the other members of the group, Natsu tries his luck at roulette in the casino, but is attacked by Wally Buchanen in the middle of the game, who tries to kill Natsu by firing his gun into his mouth.

After the abduction of both Erza and Happy, Natsu, incensed by Wally's attempt to kill him, assists the others (with the newly arrived Juvia Lockser) in tracking Erza by using his sharp sense of smell to follow her scent across the sea to the Tower of Heaven. Upon arrival, the team uses Juvia's oxygen bubbles to sneak into the tower's basement through an underwater tunnel, and Natsu's desire for an open fight is fulfilled when they are challenged by the guards there. After meeting up with Erza, Natsu rushes off on his own to find Happy, and gets his revenge on Wally.

After finally arriving at Millianna's room, he tries on a cat-themed costume head, but finds that it is stuck. When Wally tries to ambush him again, he is saved by Millianna, who believes that Natsu is a real cat and doesn't want Wally to hurt him. He is nearly killed again when Wally convinces Millianna that he is not, in fact, a cat, and the two attack in tandem, but he is saved by Happy's return. He ends up defeating both Mages by using a joke-move, the "Ultimate Strike: Kitty in Pain", to invoke Millianna's pity and make her release him from his bonds, allowing his Magic to return and beating them with a single attack using his Fire Dragon's Wing Attack.

After Happy finally removes the cat mask off of Natsu, Wally attempts to continue their fight, but Natsu states that it is already over. Suddenly, dozens of mouths grow all over the walls, and Jellal tells everyone that they are part of the Paradise Game and explains the rules to them. Following Jellal Fernandes's beginning of the Paradise Game, Natsu tries to cheat by using Happy's Magic to fly to the top floor directly, but is intercepted by Fukuro. Simon tries to fight Fukuro in Natsu’s stead, but is easily defeated. Natsu and Fukuro then begin their battle. Fukuro takes advantage of Natsu’s motion sickness to incapacitate and then swallow him, thus absorbing his Dragon Slayer abilities. But the final stages of absorption are stopped by Gray, who, in a rage due to Erza's condition, battles and then defeats Fukuro with his Seven Slice Dance, freeing Natsu from his stomach.

After the fight with Fukuro, Natsu wakes up on Simon’s back. Simon takes Natsu and begs him to save Erza. Natsu refuses at first, saying that Erza needed to defeat her own opponent and that was something he didn't want to interfere, but he changed his mind once Simon told him that she can't defeat Jellal. He also states that she is still trying to save Jellal and that Jellal will take advantage of her emotions. Simon displays his concern that Erza might take advantage of the Etherion to die and take Jellal down with her, which makes Natsu reach his boiling point, and ask Simon about Erza's whereabouts. After the Etherion was fired, Natsu manages to arrive just in time to save Erza from being absorbed into the R-System lacrima and tells her that they need to finish their job, otherwise they won't make it to Lucy's rent on time. She tells him that she can't move, to which he comically tickles her. Erza then tells Natsu to leave and not to fight Jellal because he will only lose, and she tearfully begs him to listen to her. However, Natsu picks Erza up, asking her why she is like that and telling her that he'll win this fight, subsequently knocking her out. He turns back to Jellal, accusing that he was the reason behind Erza crying and he says she should be strong, mean, and scary,. Natsu says he hopes Erza will be the Erza he knew once she wakes up and that he'll fight Jellal for that and charges him.

Natsu fights Jellal and seems to dominate over him, before Jellal reveals that he wants to know the Dragon Slayer abilities. Natsu has trouble predicting a now serious Jellal's movement and is seemingly overpowered by Jellal's Grand Chariot attack. When Jellal talks about that the damage that he had dealt to the tower, Natsu takes advantage of his words and begins destroying some of the lacrima, saying that Fairy Tail mages specialize in property damage and that he's still able to fight. He tries to fight Jellal once more and destroys more of the lacrima; this prompts Jellal to prepare an attack that will finish off Natsu, but Erza wakes up and steps in, hoping that he wouldn't attack her. Jellal tells them that it doesn't matter anymore and launches his attack on them. Much to their shock, Simon steps in and sacrifices himself to protect them. While Jellal is mocking Simon, Natsu starts eating the lacrima, and he tells Jellal to shut up and punches him when Jellal says they will not escape. He eats more of the Etherion-infused lacrima and starts to go wild. Natsu experiences negative side effects from eating the lacrima, apparently being unable to handle the magic power of Etherion. He suddenly stabilizes and enters Dragon Force and is able to dominate Jellal. Jellal is able to get away and fly above the tower and attempts to use Abyss Break to defeat Natsu; however, a wound caused by Erza interrupts his attempt at casting the powerful spell. Natsu says there's no freedom for someone possessed by a ghost and takes advantage of this opening to attack and defeat Jellal.

Natsu faints after the battle and Erza carries him, but she realizes that the Etherion went out of control and will soon cause a giant explosion that will kill everyone around them. Erza decides to sacrifice herself and fuse with Etherion to save everybody. Natsu wakes up as she starts the fusion and asks Erza what she is doing. She replies that this is the only way to save everybody and she can't imagine the world without Fairy Tail or her friends. If she can save everyone, then she will do it without any hesitation. Erza finishes the fusion and says she'll always be with them as a crying Natsu begs her to get out of there; the tower then disappears. After this, Erza sees a vision of her funeral. In the vision everyone is very sad that she is dead except for Natsu who loudly denies that Erza is dead and is attacked by some attendees of the funeral and shoved to the ground. Seeing this, Erza realizes that her decision left her friends with a sad future and wants it to stop. She suddenly wakes up and realizes that she is alive and sees everyone running towards her. She notices that Natsu is carrying her, and he lets her down while stating that they are the same. Natsu, in tears, tells her not to do something like that ever again. Erza promises Natsu not to risk her life again and gives him a genuine thanks, realizing that she needs to live for her friends' sake to bring a happy future.

Natsu sleeps for three days straight and temporarily wakes up after Gray insulted him who also reminds him of how he got eaten by Fukuro. He suddenly falls asleep again. He feasts later that night after finally waking up from his Etherion injuries. As Erza starts her send off for Wally, Millianna and Shô, Natsu appears and says he hopes to see them again sometime soon and sets off fireworks, using his magic, along with Gray and Lucy as a farewell.

Fighting Festival arc
Natsu returns from the tower to find the guild rebuilt and two new members: Juvia and Gajeel. Provoked by Gajeel, he starts a huge fight with him, which quickly includes the other members. It appears he doesn't particularly like the new look of the guild as well, saying that it is not the same as it used to be. Later, he starts to suffer from some side-effects from absorbing the Etherion during his fight with Jellal. He leaves for home, but sleeps instead in Lucy's bed. Later, he returns temporarily to hunt a Sorcerer Magazine guy that he believes is destroying his reputation.

During the Festival, Natsu is still dozy as Evergreen froze the participants of the Miss Fairy Tail contest. Laxus, along with his bodyguards, the Thunder God Tribe, announced his "Fairy Tail battle", threatening to kill the girls unless everyone joined in, effectively making them hostages.

Natsu is suddenly rejuvenated by the prospect of a battle royale between guild members, and is back on his destructive feet. He leaps forward to attack Laxus, but a quick electric shock from Laxus deals with Natsu. Swiftly getting back on his feet, he sprints to join the fight, but is unable to leave the guild due to Freed Justine's enchantment (which affected Gajeel the same way). It is believed that, due to their Dragon Slayer Magic, they are unable to get out of the guild. He then tried to free Erza with Gajeel by heating her up. Inadvertently, they succeeded, but not without Erza punching them both for their carelessness and then running out to fight. Her reappearance in the battle came in tandem with the arrival of Mystogan. Despite Makarov's worries, Natsu still had faith that Laxus wasn't going to harm anyone. However, Laxus himself cast serious doubt on this when he threatened to destroy the entire town by activating his Hall of Thunder, in response to losing his hostages after Evergreen's defeat at the hands of Erza. Levy, now released from the stone enchantment as well, offers that she can break the barrier, allowing Natsu and Gajeel to enter the battlefield, and eventually manages to do so.

Natsu eventually finds and confronts Laxus at Caldia Cathedral and is just in time to catch a glimpse of Mystogan's face, which looks exactly like Jellal. Erza asks Mystogan if he is Jellal, but Mystogan denies this and says he only knows Jellal. Natsu then challenges Laxus, and while initially indifferent to him, Laxus starts to take him seriously after Natsu manages to score a few hits. As Erza leaves to deal with Laxus's Hall of Thunder, Natsu chides Laxus for not really wanting to carry out his plan, saying that he just wants his grandfather to give in (whom neither realize has fallen deathly ill). He has faith that Erza will stop the spell, despite Laxus's thoughts otherwise. Natsu's faith is proven as they see a report that the Hall of Thunder has been stopped due to Erza and the recovered Fairy Tail members. Though the town is spared from the Hall of Thunder, the inhabitants are now threatened by an enraged Laxus as he goes berserk.

Natsu holds his own for a few moments, but is soon overpowered. Gajeel then joins in, saving Natsu from a finishing strike, and both reluctantly team up to fight Laxus. After a few assorted combos of Metal and Fire Dragon Slayer techniques, after the smoke clears, a still-unharmed Laxus remains unimpressed and offers to show them both "true Dragon Slayer magic". Laxus releases a lightning version of the Dragon's Roar, inflicting critical damage and paralyzing both Natsu and Gajeel. Laxus attempts to use the extremely powerful Fairy Law to kill everyone, both from the guild, as well as the whole of Magnolia, but the attack fails.

Freed, still injured from his fight with Mirajane, appears and explains it is because Laxus's heart doesn't see the Fairy Tail members nor the people of Magnolia as enemies. Laxus vows to change the guild but then Natsu gets up, ready to stop him and prove that his comrades are precious to him. Natsu is then beaten into the ground by Laxus but keeps getting back up. Laxus is about to kill Natsu with another Lightning Dragon move, but Gajeel absorbs it by using himself as a lighting rod. Finally, Natsu comes back with a flurry of Fire Dragon moves in an eight-hit combo, defeating Laxus. Victorious, Natsu stands tall and yells at the top of his lungs.

After the fight, most of the members recover from the brutal beatings they had taken, Natsu included, whose mouth was bandaged shut, muffling his speech. When Laxus shows up at the guild to see Makarov, Natsu yells (his muffles translated by Gajeel) at him that he didn't consider the two-on-one as a fair victory, and that he wanted a rematch with Laxus. However, instead of the usual comeback, Laxus merely waves after the guild without facing them, earning him a confused glance from Natsu. Despite his injuries, Natsu takes part in the Fantasia parade in a fire-blowing float.

Oración Seis arc
The following week, his injuries healed, Natsu confronts Makarov about Laxus's excommunication, but is stopped by Erza. When Lucy worries about her lack of money, Natsu suggests they take a job, making her weep in joy. The next day they, along with Happy, Erza and Gray prepare to leave to find and capture the escaped convict Velveno. Lucy suddenly darts off - confused, the others follow her, but find that she is okay and had almost literally defeated a whole guild by herself.

As Lucy is short on payment for her rent, Natsu, along with Gray and Erza, help her by taking jobs as waiters and waitresses in a Magical restaurant. However, Natsu spends most of the time eating the food rather than serving it, and after all the work is done, supports a rather bloated figure. They return to the guild to find a drawing of the various factions of the Dark Guilds and the current strength of the Balam Alliance. Makarov then picks him and his team as delegates to go after Oración Seis.

As he ventures to the meeting point, he meets The Trimens and Ichiya Wanderlei Kotobuki, who were Blue Pegasus's delegates. He, along with Gray, is not impressed with them. Soon, they meet the Lamia Scale Guild members to join them and he becomes even more unimpressed in the form of two old foes, Lyon and Sherry, and one of the Ten Wizard Saints, Jura Nekis. However, as he meets the Cait Shelter Guild member, Wendy Marvell, along with her cat Charle, he gives an impression of recognizing Wendy's name. Later, he runs out looking for the Oración Seis to take them all on, one on one.

After the Oración Seis find them, Natsu is beaten by them and nearly killed until Jura Nekis arrives to save him and the others. As they discover Erza's poisoned state, Charle suggests that they find the captured Wendy, who is revealed to be the Dragon Slayer of the Sky, and Happy, so she can save her. With this, Natsu runs off with Charle and Gray, asking Charle along the way what element Wendy consumes using her Dragon Slayer powers, which happens to be air. Natsu wonders if it is tasty to which Charle replies she doesn't know, though Gray conjectures that it is the same as inhaling. They continue their search, only to find and beat the Naked Mummy Guild. After discovering Oración Seis's hideout, Natsu goes on ahead while Gray fights Racer. As he arrives, Natsu is met with a shock: Jellal is revived. Natsu takes his time to take Wendy back to Erza so she can heal her. Hibiki Laytis helps Natsu bring Wendy to Erza and she is healed. Suddenly, Nirvana is revealed, and Natsu rushes headstrong to stop Jellal.

On his way, he runs into Racer's personal guild Harpuia and defeats them easily. Natsu then finds an unconscious Gray floating in a river and tries to help him, but when he gets there, a raft pops up out of the water and Natsu's motion sickness takes over. Gray gets up, acting strangely, and prepares to make a killing blow. Lucy and Hibiki appear, halting Gray as the raft comes to a stop; despite this, Natsu still feels the effects. It is revealed that Gray was actually Angel's Celestial Spirit, Gemini. Lucy faces off against her and wins, but rapids suddenly appear and drag her and Natsu (by the raft) down the river and a waterfall. He later wakes up on dry land along with Lucy, and notices that Virgo has been taking care of them by treating Lucy's wounds and changing their clothes by her own will. Sherry, who has murderous thoughts due to Nirvana, appears suddenly and is about to attack Natsu and Lucy when Gray crashes in and holds her down, and Lyon shows up to be alive as well, making Sherry revert to normal. Natsu, along with Gray and Lucy, are caught up in the activation of Nirvana's second stage; they are later seen climbing up one of its legs.

As Natsu's motion sickness kicks in, Happy arrives to help him, so as he flies to stop Brain, Cobra takes to the skies as well to battle Natsu. As the two begin to battle, Cobra stays ahead of Natsu by reading his thoughts, but Natsu overcomes this by fighting on instinct. Natsu becomes shocked as he realizes that Cobra is the Poison Dragon Slayer.

However, he learns that Cobra is actually artificial like Laxus, so Natsu fights to defeat yet another artificial Dragon Slayer. After being infected with some of the poison, Natsu becomes enraged that Cobra considers all dragons extinct and tries to defeat Cobra again with a huge roar that shatters Cobra's sensitive ear drums. However, Cobra survives only to be defeated by Brain. With this, Brain reveals that he plans on using Nirvana to turn Natsu evil so he can serve him, but the timely arrival of Gray, Lucy and Jura save him. After Jura deals with Brain, Wendy and Charle arrive and Wendy heals Natsu's poison while temporarily curing him of motion sickness.

As the team is led into a trap by Brain, Natsu becomes enraged to see Jura nearly killed from defending them from it. When the seventh member of the Oración Seis, Brain's staff Klodoa, appears to him, Gray, Lucy and Happy, Natsu is unfazed by the fact that he is a talking stick and waves him around, demanding that he stop Nirvana.

Klodoa, however, frees himself from Natsu's grasp and tells him of their plan to destroy Cait Shelter so Nirvana cannot be resealed. Klodoa then starts whacking, but then abruptly acts nervously (due to Midnight's defeat at Erza) as he tells that since all the Oración Seis members have been defeated, a new side of Brain will emerge, codenamed Zero. This new personality then appears himself; Natsu comments that Zero's Magic feels disgusting, and attacks him when Zero easily smashes through Gray's Ice Shield. Zero dodges Natsu's attack and delivers a powerful one of his own, knocking Natsu down. After some encouraging words, Natsu wills himself back up and goes to Lacrima #1.

However, Zero awaits him and the two battle fiercely. Natsu even stops a spell Zero thought couldn't be stopped. Suddenly, Jellal appears and delivers a powerful Magic blast to Natsu, shocking both him and Zero, the latter asking if Jellal had regained his memories. In fact, Jellal's memories had not returned, but he does remember Natsu's name and calls him the ray of hope. The Magic blast was actually a powerful fire attack intended to give Natsu back his strength.

Initially, Natsu refuses Jellal's help and even proceeds to attack him. Taking advantage of the situation, Zero fires another spell at Natsu. Jellal defends him by taking the full force of the blast. This prompts Natsu to accept the Flame of Rebuke from Jellal to defeat Zero, and he receives a large boost in strength and speed. In his Dragon Force mode, he manages to beat Zero (after some initial trouble controlling his power) and destroys the Lacrima Crystal, along with the other five Mages in each leg of Nirvana.

At last, they manage to stop the Nirvana and the Oración Seis once and for all, but the celebration doesn't last long as the newly reformed Council shows up to take away Hoteye and Jellal into custody. While Natsu and Wendy protest against this, Jellal, Erza and everyone else only look on sadly.

Natsu tries to take Jellal back by force and attacks the council guards, but is stopped by Erza. He later appears at Cait Shelter and gets a new outfit to replace his torn up one and learns about Cait Shelter's disturbing secret. Natsu shows joy about being on a boat thanks to Wendy, but quickly gets sick again when her Magic wears off. He returns to Fairy Tail and tries to tell Elfman about his battle against Cobra.

Edolas arc
After finding out that Gildarts Clive was on his way back, Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail prepare for his arrival. Even the whole town gets ready, dividing in two in order to avoid Gildarts accidentally smashing through private houses. Upon Gildarts's arrival, Natsu immediately challenges him to a fight and charges at him, only to get deflected into the ceiling, where he comments on how strong Gildarts is. Gildarts invites him to visit him a bit later at his house. When Natsu and Happy arrive, Gildarts jokes about Natsu's relationship with Lisanna, but is shaken when Natsu tells him that she died two years ago while he was on his mission. Natsu tries to leave, but Gildarts mentions that he ran into a dragon while on his mission. He says it wasn't Igneel because it was a black dragon, not a red one. He recounts that he fought it and that it was the reason he failed the quest. Natsu decides he will go to the sacred mountain, Zonia, where Gildarts encountered the dragon, in the hopes of learning where Igneel is. Gildarts stops him and shows him the wounds he received from the dragon: the loss of his left arm, leg and an organ. Natsu runs out afterwards, saying a Dragon Slayer could defeat the dragon, tripping and falling into a pond before reminiscing about Igneel.

While asleep, the Anima absorbs the guild. Only he, Wendy, Happy, and Charle are left behind because of their Dragon Slayer powers. Here, Charle explains about "Edolas", a parallel world. Natsu then plans to go to Edolas to save the guild. As he goes to the Edolas version of Fairy Tail, he becomes amazed as he sees how everyone is so different. He then gapes at how scary the Edolas version of Lucy is from her counterpart.

Edolas Lucy quickly realizes who Natsu is, likely confusing him with the Edolas Natsu, and hugs him, asking where he's been before punishing him. Later, Edolas Lisanna shows up and Natsu quickly sheds tears of joy. Just as he is about to hug her, Edolas Lucy kicked him in the face, and he soon hears Charle saying that everyone here is not from their guild and that they are their Edolas counterparts. Just as he is about to search for his friends, news of the Fairy Hunter arrive, and the guild has to transfer away. He later learns that the Fairy Hunter is none other than Edolas Erza, and to get his friends back, he probably will have to fight her.

Upon escaping the Fairy Hunters, Natsu reveals that they came from Earth Land to save their guild, which surprises the Edolas Fairy Tail members. When he requests to know how to get to the Capital, just about everyone tells him to give up on that idea, as it is practically suicidal. However, even after hearing the history of Edolas on guilds and their master, Natsu isn't faltered and firmly says that he will save his guild and his companions. This shocks everyone in the guild, especially Lucy. Upon receiving the directions to the Capital, Natsu gets sidetracked and wants to capture a small, frog-like creature and give it to Earth Land's Lucy as a gift, to which Happy says it's a bad idea. The capture, however, is unsuccessful, as an extremely large frog-like creature appeared, and they are forced to run away when they realize that they can't use Magic. Out of nowhere, Edolas Lucy saves them, and tells them that she came with them because the area was dangerous, and not because she was worried. Upon hearing that, Natsu says that she's Lucy after all, to which Lucy responds by saying that was a twisted way of logic he was thinking.

Later, the group makes their way into the Town Of Luen, where Natsu purchases a Magic sword hilt from a secret Magic black market. When the Edolas Royal Army discovers them, he immediately puts his weapon to use, sending streams of fire at the soldiers. However, they use a Magic shield against his attack, and Natsu finds that he is unable to use any more Magic due to it being limited in Edolas. He then manages to escape for a short while with the rest, and is shocked to find out that Earth Land Lucy has managed to find her way into Edolas with the help of Mystogan.

Eventually, Natsu and the group made it to Sikka, where they decide to spend the night. While eating, he watches the two Lucys arguing about their bodies, to which Natsu retaliated with a question of why they were taking a bath with their counterpart. The next day, while listening to Edolas Lucy explain that a race called Exceed existed, they see an airship that belonged to the Royal Army. Natsu wants to ride on to get there, but when Wendy states she can't perform Troia here, he says that that was a bad idea after all. Watching Lucy fail to summon the correct Celestial Spirit due to one of Loke's dates, Natsu and Wendy decide to battle with their weapons fully recharged. They are defeated in matter of moments, however. When the airship flys off and they almost get captured, all hope seemed lost until Edolas Natsu emerges with his vehicle and escapes with the group. Experiencing motion sickness, he listened to his counterpart introduce himself as Natsu the Fireball.

Arriving at the outskirt of the capital of Edolas, Edolas Natsu threw everyone out. He explains that he doesn't want to fight the capital as it's extremely foolish, and says that the only reason why he even did them a favor is because Edolas Lucy requested him to help. Before Edolas Natsu has the chance to leave, Earth Land Natsu pulls him off his vehicle and asks why he won't get motion sickness. His counterpart's cowardly response off his vehicle surprises everyone else. Earth Land Natsu then comments on how Lucy should treat his counterpart better, even though she was only trying to introduce herself to his counterpart. Although Edolas Natsu says that they won't win against the Royal Army, Earth Land Natsu only gives a smile of confidence, saying that they will rescue their friends and companions from the enemy. Later, inside the kingdom, they find the Lacrima, which is guarded by the Royal Army.

While listening to the king's speech, they notice that parts of the Lacrima have been removed, and when the King chipped off a bit of the Lacrima, Natsu nearly loses it, had Lucy not held him back. Later, when Charle devises a plan to sneak into the palace, they take a path into an abandoned mine and once they make it out, they are captured by Edolas Erza. Natsu looks on, shocked at Happy, as the soldiers bow down to Happy and Charle. Natsu and Wendy are locked up in a jail cell; Natsu asks the guard what happened to Lucy. After hearing the guard say that they will execute her, he becomes furious and threatens to kill them if they touch Lucy. The guards later reveal that the Exceeds' mission was originally to assassinate the Dragon Slayers, but had been changed to capture them instead. Natsu is next seen unconscious as Byro prepares to extract his and Wendy's Dragon Slayer Magic. When Gray and Erza save Lucy, Happy, and Charle from Erza Knightwalker, Gray gives an unconscious Natsu an Ex-ball, a food that allows Earth Land wizards to use their unlimited Magic in Edolas. Upon waking up, Natsu sees his power restored, breathes out fire, and rushes to stop the Fairy Tail Lacrima from colliding with Extalia.

He eventually runs into Wendy, Charle, Lucy, and Gray. At first, Natsu is confused about the situation until Lucy and Wendy explain that Earth Land Gajeel, Gray and Erza showed up. Now cleared up, the group splits into two; Natsu travels with Lucy and Gray, and asks where the king is. Gray and Lucy suspect in some important place, but Lucy starts to wonder, since the courtyard and prison were in such strange locations for a castle. Natsu then says that in short, the place has a strange layout. Lucy responds, saying that she wouldn't be surprised if there was an amusement park, and coincidentally there was one right in front of them. Sugarboy and Hughes show up, stating how much they want unlimited Magic, and prepare to fight Natsu and the others. Hughes starts off by dropping a ship on Natsu, Gray, and Lucy, which is blocked by Gray's Ice Shield.

Natsu then attacks Hughes, demanding that his comrades be returned. Hughes denies Natsu and uses his weapon, Command Tact, to get Natsu onto a roller coaster which debilitates him. Gray throws Lucy onto the coaster to help Natsu, but the coaster track ends in a small lake. Hughes talks of how awesome Edolas Magic is, and why it couldn't be allowed to run out, which infuriates Natsu, as they are killing Fairy Tail and the Exceeds just for unlimited Magic. He says the important thing is that they are living things, that "These are lives, dammit!" Lucy proceeds to use Aquarius to attack Hughes, but Hughes' control of anything in the park overrides Aquarius' control of the water, and he collapses a large amount of water on Natsu, Lucy, and Aquarius.

The two are washed into the Monster Academy. Natsu finds Lucy inside a coffin that can change ones clothes, so he devises a plan to have Lucy distract Hughes with a sexy bikini, which ultimately fails. Hughes controls the monster dolls into attacking them, driving Lucy away from Natsu. As Natsu is getting beat up by the monsters, he becomes enraged and the form of a dragon could be seen in his smoke and fire, causing Hughes and his monster army to back away in fear. He is seen later punching Hughes through the Monster Academy sign, knocking out Byro at the same time.

Natsu later meets up with Lucy, and when Coco tries to give them a key to the king's plan, he is surprised, but is then caught off guard when Sugarboy glides past them and steals the key. After going after and defeating Sugarboy, Gray catches up with Natsu. When he catches up, Natsu is a little surprised to see the key destroyed, but then learns that Gray can create a replica and that they can use it to turn everyone back to normal. Shortly after, Erza Knightwalker (actually Erza Scarlet in disguise) shows up and captures them. He is later seen seemingly unconscious and tied up, being taken by Erza past a gate to where the cannon is. Erza tells Gray to create a duplicate of the key; they were secretly trying to hit the lacrima with the cannon, but when the plan failed (because of Gray not knowing how to use the cannon), Erza tells Natsu to move, knocking out some of the soldiers, taking the king as hostage, and ordering the soldiers to change the target of the cannon to the lacrima itself. Erza Knightwalker appears from above and attacks Erza, releasing the king and returning the cannon to its original target. When firing the cannon, Lucy arrives with Coco on a Region to take everyone to Extalia and stop the lacrima.

When the strength of the Mages was not enough, the entire population of Extalia, including the queen to the surprise of many, come to help and suddenly the lacrima disappears, leaving some smoke and the Mage Mystogan there, who explains that thanks to them, he was able to find an Anima large enough to send the Lacrima back to Earth Land and return everyone to normal. He then reveals himself as the Prince of Edolas who Pantherlily saved many years back. Suddenly, Pantherlily is attacked by Erza Knightwalker, who was going to attack the Exceeds with a group of soldiers on Regions. When Mystogan tries to stop Erza Knightwalker, the king appears inside an enormous dragon-like machine called Dorma Anim, which nullifies all external Magic attacks. The king orders the soldiers to capture the Exceeds and then shoots a Magic beam from the Dorma. Mystogan uses the Triple Magic Rune: Mirrored Water, to deflect the attack back to it, but it doesn't have any effect. Dorma Anim shoots again and takes Mystogan down. When the king is about to attack again, the Dorma Anim is suddenly beaten 3 times, revealing Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy, who had decided to take on the king, leaving the rest to deal with the soldiers.

Wendy casts a spell on Natsu and Gajeel while they fight with the Dorma Anim, making them faster and stronger. The king then fires some tracking missiles after Wendy, but Natsu intercepts and destroys them. When the king is about to shoot again, Gajeel hits the missiles before launch but gets hit by the tail of the Dorma. A group of missiles is fired again, but these ones explode before Natsu can hit them. The king gets surprised when Natsu eats the fire of the explosions while Gajeel starts eating the tail of the Dorma. Suddenly, the Dorma changes color and gains in power, as the king states that he is going to "Drain all the fighting spirits".

The new form of the Dorma Anim grants it a huge increase in power, turning the tide in the king's favor. Gajeel decides to try some different tactics, revealing that they hadn't been using full power because they didn't know what could happen. All three of them attacked at once with their respective roars, but it had almost no effect. The king proclaims victory, saying that although they have infinite Magic, it takes a while to recharge after it's all used up. Natsu gets up, saying he'll use tomorrow's Magic. Gajeel gets up and pins the Dorma Anim's leg down to the ground, telling Natsu to attack and that he was the only one who could do it. Natsu tells Wendy to aim a roar at him to boost his speed and succeeds in tearing through the Dorma Anim.

Seeing the islands falling, a tip from Nadi about Mystogan, and Pantherlily's conversation make Natsu decide to dress up and declare himself as the Great Demon-Lord Dragneel. Showing up with his servants and a tied up Faust on the Royal Capital, he declares that he was the one responsible for taking Magic away from Edolas. He commands his servants to destroy the streets of Royal Capital. Mystogan shows up, saying that there's no reason to fight anymore with the king defeated, but Natsu doesn't listen and reveals Mystogan's lineage towards the masses. The Great Demon-Lord then taunts Mystogan to either fight him or he will destroy the whole city. With Mystogan's arrival, Natsu taunts him by demonstrating his Magical power to the powerless prince and the crowd, in order to setup the perfect scenario. Though Mystogan continues to doubt the success of the plan, Natsu doesn't listen and starts a fist brawl against the prince. Knowing that Mystogan was still lacking confidence, he further taunts him to fight seriously, which causes him to receive a kick in the face. As the brawl continues, Natsu begins to tell Mystogan the three rules for leaving the guild as the final departing ritual.

With the final rule finished, Natsu falls with a smile, while hoping to see him again one day. With their bodies beginning to glow because of Anima, he, along with Gajeel and Wendy, pretend to be suffering, to further convince the crowd that Prince Jellal has defeated them. As Natsu leaves, Faust tells Natsu he forgot about so many things when he became a king. He then asks if being in a guild is fun. Natsu looks puzzled at first, but then replies with a big smile telling him that they are. When the crowd can no longer see them, they give a bright smile as a sign of good luck.

Afterwards, Natsu and the others cross through the Anima and see that their guild and Magnolia are back to normal. They get another surprise when they see all the Exceeds in Earth Land as well. However, after learning the truth involving the 6 year mission, he bears no grudge against them and they part on good terms. As they are about to head back to Fairy Tail, Pantherlily (in a smaller form) shows up, asking to join their guild. He pulls a suspicious person he caught out from behind a bush. Natsu then gets a major shock when he sees that it is the Edolas Lisanna, and wonders how and why she is in Earth Land. However, he is extremely happy when he figures out that she is, in fact, the Earth Land Lisanna. With this, he helps her back to her siblings for a tearful reunion.