Ha! What'd I tell ya! Lucy gets two more ke...wait what?
Chapter 282: Ten Keys and Two Keys
What Went Down: So we pick up with Yukino meeting up with Lucy, Natsu and Happy and offering Lucy the Libra and Pisecs keys as she was going to give them up after the tournament. But feels now is a good time since she no longer with Sabertooth. Astonishingly Lucy refuses as she doesn't wish to break the bonds between Yukino and her keys. We also learn that Yukino was just a place holder for another Sabertooth member meaning we haven't seen all of them yet. As well as the key to the changing world (she also surprisingly brings up material from the latest anime filler).
As Yukino leaves, Natsu and Happy chase after to apologize for their rude behavior when meeting her and learn of her ex-communication from Sabertooth which of course hits Natsu's berserk button. We get a little look in on Ezra and Gray (with the former trying to push him to return Juvia's feelings, lol). More of Arcadios's plotting before getting back to the main situation as Natsu suddenly attacks Sabertooth's headquarters looking of Jiemma. This...can't end well.
Cheers and Jeers: Well color me shocked, a lot of folks called it that Yukino would give away her keys to Lucy, was even planning on it much later. But Lucy refusing was quite surprising and I like it. Its in her nature after all I mean she was hesitant to take Virgo's key since she thought Happy stole it and only accepted the other keys when their masters were defeated since they were being used for evil. This time someone was offering it to her because they felt they weren't worthy and Lucy refuses as it still technically her keys and there no reason to take them. So yeah kudos on Lucy for that.
Some interesting exposition here as well with first, Yukino mentioning the Zenotopia incident which, from the panel, is the Key of the Starry Sky arc in the anime (clever tie-in there) plus The Gate of the Changing World. Add in with the eclipse thing Arcadios was talking about before and suddenly the puzzle pieces start falling into place. Once again I like it as it shows why the gold keys were so rare in the first place. How Lucy ties in with this though remains to be seen but Yukino apparently knows something we don't. Oooh intriguing.
Sadly no advancement on Ezra's little dilemma other then seeing her fret about it but it was cute that she was trying to get Gray to at least acknowledge Juvia's love for him. So yeah there you go Gray/Juvia shippers, lap it up.
And no surprise on Natsu actions at the end, you can pretty much countdown to it once Yukino told him what happened. I'm pretty sure this is going to end up with him flat on his face. Seriously he's in enemy territory by himself with none of his team knowing he's there, strong he is but I doubt that special treatment gonna kick in now. It'd be a miracle if he can get out and be able to fight come the new portion of the tournament. But hey Mishima been throwing some good curve balls lately, so we'll see.
Overall great chapter, the intrigue piles up and we got a excellent cliffhanger to boot. Gold star.
Grade: A+