The Gate of E.N.D.

Chapter 14: Caracole Island

-A Couple of Days Later-

"We're here." The old man grunted. "Now get off my ship."

"I missed the land..." Wendy sighed in relief as they walked towards the town.

"I'm hungry." Happy whined. "Can we get some food?"

"We just ate an hour ago!" Carla exclaimed.

"I know but the heat sucked out all my energy."

"We don't have money for food." Gray said firmly.

Erza nodded before noticing the star mango stand. She quickly approached. "Well, maybe we can spend a bit of it..." Her eyes lingered on the stand.

"You want to spend the last of our money on mangos?" Gray asked incredulously. She nodded.

"We need to save it." Lucy said. "So we can bribe people or other important things."

Erza cried loudly as they passed the stand. "But I want a mango!"

"Who knew Erza could be so childish?" Carla whispered to Happy. He giggled.

The owner noticed and hurried over. "Hey, don't cry. I'll give you guys one, on the house."

Erza immediately brightened. "Really?!"

"You don't have to do that, man." Gray said assuringly.

"It's okay. I have plenty of money and mangos. I can stand to give away 6."

"That's very generous!" Wendy smiled at him brightly.

"What brings you to Caracole Island? If you don't mind telling." He asked as he handed out mangos.

"We're just here to shop." Lucy said quickly. "And my friend," she motioned to Erza, "really wanted to try the star mangos."

"Well if you like to shop, they have a nice clothing store down the street." He motioned towards his right. "I can't believe you guys came all the way here to shop. It's quite a journey."

"Yeah." Gray nodded as he stood next to Lucy. "But we thought we'd enjoy ourselves for one day."

The owner nodded knowingly. "There's a nice gift shop across the street if you want to buy something for your girlfriend." He motioned to Lucy.

Lucy choked on her mango. Gray chucked awkwardly. "Oh, she's not my girlfriend, she's my...little sister." He slung his arm around her shoulders and ruffled her hair.

"Hey!" She yelled as she wiped mango and hair off of her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He apologized. "You guys just looked a lot like a couple."

"We get that all the time." Gray said easily. What the hell did I just say?! Lucy noticeably gagged.

"Why is Gray so good at lying?" Happy asked Carla, concerned. She shrugged.

"Thank you for the mangos!" Erza smiled brightly. 

"It was my pleasure. Have a good day." The owner waved goodbye.

"You too!"

"Well that was embarrassing." Lucy huffed.

"You can say that again." Gray grumbled.

"But you guys are a lot like siblings!" Happy pointed out. Gray and Lucy exchanged glances.

"Gray, how did you make that up so easily?" Wendy asked. 

He shrugged. "I'm good at lying."

"That's not something to be proud of." Carla muttered.

"That was so good!" Erza said happily as she rubbed her stomach in satisfaction.