Macao arc

Macaco arc is the first story arc in the manga series, Fairy Tail. It is the introduction to the series, the characters and the setting as a whole.

Lucy meets Natsu
The story begins with a magic council convening and discussing the matters of a Fairy Tail, which seem to have cause a bit trouble for them. Meanwhile in the town of Harujion, a teen name Natsu Dragnell and his walking talking cat named Happy have arrived, looking for an individual named Igneel.

Also arriving at the same time is a young girl named Lucy Heartfilia trying to find the guild of Fairy Tail. As she milling around shopping, she runs across a few girls pining over someone named Igneel literally throwing themselves at his feet. Lucy also nearly get swayed into falling for him but is brought to her senses when Natsu bumps into her from rushing into the crowd upon hearing Igneel's name. However finding out it wasn't who he thought it was, he goes to leave the scene which earns him the animosity of Igneel's fans. Igneel himself calms the crowd down before departing.

Lucy goes to Natsu, thanking him for breaking her out of Igneel's spell (explaining that he was using illegal magic to make the girls fawn over him) and offering Natsu a meal as a reward which Happy and he gladly accept. At the cafe, the two get to know one another. Natsu explains his quest for looking for Igneel which as it turns out is not a person, but rather a dragon who raised Natsu as a kid but left him alone suddenly one day, much to Lucy's surprise. The two then parts ways with Natsu vowing to pay Lucy back.

Lucy then looks over a magazine with pictures of Fairy Tail mages and expressing her wish to join their guild. "Igneel" suddenly appears and, infatuated with Lucy, invites her to join him for a party on his yacht. Lucy is initially suspicious but agrees to come when Igneel 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 Igneel and his relationship to Fairy Tail peeking Natsu curiosity.

Meanwhile Lucy is on Igneel's boat, whom constantly flirts with her. At one point he 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 he laced the wine with sleeping magic, 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 Keys into the water to keep her from trying anything. Just as Bora about to brand Lucy, Natsu suddenly crashes onto the boat and confronts Igneel about his relationship to Fairy Tail. During the ensuing scuffle Lucy is knocked overboard with Happy going in after her.

Natsu finds hampered in his attacks 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 onboard survive the crash and what more with the boat no longer rocking, Natsu can now focus and use his full fire powers. Which he does against Bora and his men angry that they would use the Fairy Tail name for their gain. The fire mage soon beats them but goes overboard and end up destroying most of the town in the process. Soon the police force arrive to which 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.