Makarov Rescue Operation

Makarov Rescue Operation is an event that takes place during the Alvarez Empire arc.

Summary
Team Natsu alongside Wendy, Carla and Mest depart on a ship towards Caracol Island, in order to rendezvous with their contact that holds valuable intelligence concerning Makarov Dreyar's location. As the Fairy Tail mages approach the island, they notice Alvarez Navy ships moored at the bay and realize they have to use stealth in order to hide their allegiance. They present themselves as Cait Shelter mages while being subjected to routine check by the marines and are allowed to enter. While there, they notice a child desperately looking for his father, which annoys an Imperial marine, who promptly attacks him with a knife. Seeing this, Team Natsu rushes in to defend the child and defeat the marines.

Shortly after beating the reinforcements, Team Natsu rests at a gelato shop, which is destroyed by a member of Alvarez Empire's Brandish Squad, Marin Hollow. As Erza and Lucy attempt to fight him, their powers are rendered useless by his Spatial Magic's Edicts of Space, and are captured by Marin, who teleported them into his personal dimension. He also releases battered Mest, before being engaged by Natsu and Gray, who are countered by Marin's spatial prowess. Shortly after, his supervisor, Brandish μ of Spriggan 12 appears, chastising him for toying around.

However, Brandish is not interested in fighting Fairy Tail mages, revealing that she came to the island only to eat Star Mango Gelato, albeit to no avail, as Marin has already destroyed the stand. Brandish then orders Marin to release the Fairy Tail girls, but he refuses, angering her, what leads to Brandish's usage of Mass Manipulation which changes the altitude of Caracol Island. Marin then fearfully obeys the order. Natsu also tells Brandish that he cannot allow the attack on his comrades go unpunished, and she decides to disintegrate Marin as a compensation. She also reveals that Makarov is alive, but warns Fairy Tail not to interfere, because it might not end well, shrinking the entire island in the process.

The people of Caracol, alongside Team Natsu are picked by the fishing fleet that happened to be nearby. Mest then recuperates slightly and transports his comrades to Olympia, Sorano's submarine. Sorano reveals that she knows the location of Makarov and takes them to Alakitasia.

Meanwhile, Makarov had an audience with Emperor Spriggan, who was revealed to be Zeref. After learning of his goal to eradicate humanity, Makarov is timely rescued by Mest, who warns his comrades about Zeref's presence. Everyone is surprised to learn the fact that Zeref is Alvarez Empire's emperor, and Makarov is bitter because his attempts were doomed to fail from the start. However, he is comforted by everyone and they prepare to return to Sorano's submarine, but are intercepted by Azeal Lamur, who tracked them down. Makarov then tells them to retreat, as they have no chance of fighting a Shield of Spriggan. They head to the magical vehicle, and try to run away while Gray and Lucy attempt to fend off Azeal's sand minions. However, they are stopped by his Antlion Larva Pit, which stucks the vehicle and forces them to engage Azeal head-on.