Macao arc

The Macao arc is the first story arc of the Fairy Tail series. It centers around two events: Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel stopping Bora's criminal actions, and them rescuing Macao Conbolt from Mt. Hakobe. A group of Mages known as the Magic Council meet and discuss the problems that the Fairy Tail Guild has caused for them. Meanwhile, in the town of Hargeon, a teenager named Natsu Dragneel and his blue talking cat named Happy arrive, looking for an individual named Igneel. At the same time, as a young girl named Lucy Heartfilia is milling around shopping, runs across a few girls pining over someone named Salamander, literally throwing themselves at his feet.

Lucy also nearly gets swayed into falling for him but is brought to her senses when Natsu bumps into her after rushing into the crowd upon hearing Salamander's name. However, upon finding out it wasn't who he thought it was, he goes to leave the scene, which earns him the animosity of Salamander's fans. Salamander himself calms the crowd down before departing, inviting them to a party on his private yacht. Lucy goes to Natsu, thanking him for breaking her out of Salamander's spell, explaining that he is using illegal Magic to make the girls fawn over him. Lucy offers Natsu a meal as a reward, which he and Happy gladly accept. At the cafe, the two get to know one another. Natsu explains his quest to find Igneel, who, as it turns out, is not a person, but rather a Dragon, much to Lucy's surprise. The two then part ways, and Natsu vows to pay Lucy back. Lucy then looks over a magazine with pictures of Fairy Tail Mages and expressing her wish to join their guild. Salamander suddenly appears and, infatuated with Lucy, invites her to join him in the party on his yacht. Lucy is initially suspicious, but agrees to come when Salamander promises to show her the way to Fairy Tail. Night soon falls and Natsu and Happy are having no luck in their search. As they're resting for the day, they overhear some girls talking about Salamander and his relationship to Fairy Tail, peaking Natsu's curiosity.Natsu arrives. Meanwhile, Lucy is on Salamander's boat, who constantly flirts with her. He then uses his Magic to make the liquid in the wine float and tries to get Lucy to drink it. However, she realizes its another one of his tricks, specifically that he'd laced the wine with sleeping drugs, and confronts him on it. Indeed, he comes clean revealing himself as a Mage named Bora who was using his Magic to lure girls to his boat, drug them, then sell them into slavery.

His henchmen soon reveal themselves, restraining Lucy and tossing her Celestial Spirit Gate Keys into the water to keep her from trying anything. Just as Bora is about to brand Lucy, Natsu suddenly crashes onto the boat and confronts Bora about his relationship to Fairy Tail. Happy carries Lucy off to safety using his Aera Magic, but it wears off mid-flight and both Lucy and he fall into the ocean. Natsu dragging Lucy. Back on the boat, Natsu finds himself hampered by his chronic motion sickness. Lucy manages to find her keys and summons Aquarius who, despite her moody attitude, uses her powers to sweep the boat onto shore with a tidal wave. Those on board survive the crash and, with the boat no longer rocking, Natsu can now focus and use his full powers revealing that he is a member of Fairy Tail and has never seen Bora before at the guild. Bora tries to attack him with some Fire Magic but Natsu simply eats it then goes on the attack. Happy explains to Lucy that Natsu's Magic is that of a Dragon Slayer, which was taught to him by Igneel himself. The Fire Mage soon beats them but goes overboard and ends up destroying the port in the process. Soon, the military arrives, at which point Natsu, Happy and Lucy run for it. Along the way, Natsu promises to show Lucy where the real Fairy Tail is, much to her joy. The Magic Council soon receives word on their antics but one of the members, Siegrain, defends them and tells the council to leave them be as the world wouldn't be fun without them.