The Gate of E.N.D.

Chapter 13: The Boat

"It's been 5 minutes." Wendy said. "Let's go."

As they got up to leave, they suddenly heard a loud rustle in the bushes.

"Who's there?" Lucy demanded.

"Ugh! The nerve of that man! Can you believe he would charge so much for a simple trip? I should've gone and-" Erza stopped as she laid eyes on the others.  "Oh, uh, hello. Sorry we were late."

"We ran into a bit of a problem." Gray said, his face annoyed.

"Were you able to get a boat?" Wendy asked.

The duo exchanged glances. Erza cleared her throat. "Well, kind of. He's willing to bring us to Caracole Island, but for an outrageous price!"

"Only to Caracole?" Carla sighed.

"What kind of price?" Happy asked eagerly at the same time. He and Carla side-eyed each other.

"Nothing bad, Happy." Erza said as her angry eyes landed on him. "Just way too much money for a simple trip."

"Simple?" Happy muttered.

"How much?" Lucy held her breath as Erza opened her mouth.

"150,000 jewel..." 

"What?!" Lucy, Wendy, and Carla shouted.

"That's 25,000 per person!" Happy gasped.

"Why is it 25,000 for us?!" Carla huffed as she motioned to herself and Happy. "We're not people!"

"That's what I argued, but NO." Erza threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

"Well, it is a long trip." Wendy pointed out. "A couple of days."

"I guess. But that's why we were so late." Gray explained. "We were trying to bargain for a lower price. And no one else would take us, so he's the only choice. Unless you want to swim to Caracole."

"I'll pass..." Lucy muttered. "Do we even have that much money?"

"If we combined all of our money, we might be able to pay." Erza mused.

"But then we have none left over for Caracole or a ship to Alakitasia." Wendy pointed out.

"We could bring out Natsu and scare the guy into lowering the price." Gray suggested.

"That's risky and irresponsible." Erza said disapprovingly. "We might have to go with Wendy's plan. Letting ourselves be captured. We can always fight."

"Terrible idea..." The others said.

"It's the only option!" She barked. "Now, give me all of your money so we can see if we have enough." Everyone reluctantly obeyed. 

While she counted the money, the others moved away. 

"This is a bad plan." Gray groaned.

"Yeah, they'll be too strong for us to fight. Not to mention Alakitasia has Zeref!" Lucy exclaimed. 

"And the Alvarez army is massive!" Gray added.

"Last resort, we use you or Natsu." Happy said to Lucy.

"Happy, remember what Natsu told us." Wendy frowned.

"Done!" Erza announced. They made their way back to her.

"We can plan later." Carla whispered.

"And?" Gray asked Erza expectantly.

"152,000 jewel. Thank goodness I brought so much. We would've been screwed." Erza said happily.