It is a prequel to Mashima's Fairy Tail manga, depicting the events leading to the formation of the titular wizards' guild.

Seven years later, a trio of treasure hunters – Yuri Dreyar, Precht Gaebolg, and Warrod Sequen – come to the island in search of its sacred relic, the Sirius Orb.

Grateful for her company, Zeref agrees to teach the treasure hunters how to use magic so they can combat Blue Skull, becoming friends with Mavis in the process.

After Mavis and her friends successfully overthrow Blue Skull and capture Geoffrey, she discovers that the orb has become contaminated with evil magic.

Yuri ignores her warnings and takes the orb for himself, becoming possessed by its magic and unwillingly fusing with Blue Skull's massive skeletal dragon, which rampages mindlessly through the city.

Her popularity resulted in her making further appearances within the main story, and also inspired him to focus Fairy Tail Zero on how the guild was founded.

Mashima had planned the story to involve Mavis overcoming a hatred of guilds, but dropped the idea due to page limitations.

He also tried to keep Zera's identity a secret, although his editors already figured it out after reading the first chapter, and were surprised when she reappeared in the next one; however, he was able to fool Mavis's Japanese voice actor, Mamiko Noto.

[2] Hiro Mashima began writing and illustrating the series in the first issue of Kodansha's Monthly Fairy Tail Magazine on July 17, 2014.