The instant he confirmed there was no room for negotiation, Ronin's hand yanked on the Fun Fun Cloth that had been sitting in his pocket the entire time.
Inside the Fun Fun Cloth, Owl, under the control of puppet strings, immediately created a new Fun Fun Cloth. The newly formed cloak then flew straight out from inside the original one, which had been folded up like candy wrapper.
But at the same time the Fun Fun Cloth flew out, Ronin's hands had already completed the cross-shaped seal.
The instant a shadow clone appeared, it grabbed the Fun Fun Cloth as it flew out.
At first, the Fun Fun Cloth had been extremely small, but before the shadow clone even touched it, it began expanding at high speed. By the time the clone fully gripped it, it had already unfurled completely and was billowing in front of him.
Ronin's real body grabbed Kurapika and immediately turned to rush toward the treasure vault.
No matter what, he was not going to give up on the Scarlet Eyes that were almost within reach.
Kurapika still didn't understand what Beyond wanted him for, but the moment Ronin moved, he already knew what he had to do.
His eyes swept over Ronin, and there was resolve in them.
He knew exactly what the current situation was. Ronin had nearly wiped out the remaining Phantom Troupe members single-handedly, which meant his current condition had to be close to its limit.
If the fight continued, their odds of victory were no higher than thirty percent.
So if necessary, Kurapika himself would become the trump card that protected Ronin's escape.
"Don't overthink it," Ronin said.
How powerful was the Sharingan's insight? Kurapika's gaze couldn't escape his observation at all.
And with Ronin's understanding of Kurapika, he understood exactly what Kurapika was thinking in an instant.
But things had not reached that point yet.
The immediate priority was to find the Scarlet Eyes and then regroup with Shizuku and the others. Only then could he activate his trump card and leave this place.
As for leaving Kurapika behind, he had never even considered it.
Especially after Beyond had clearly stated that becoming his companion meant being affected by his ability, Ronin was even less willing to let Kurapika jump into that fire pit.
Beyond was a schemer through and through.
Even from their brief contact, Ronin could tell with absolute certainty that the man was self-centered. It would be completely normal for someone like Beyond to use any means necessary to achieve his goals.
As for "companions," to Beyond, they were probably nothing more than tools who could help him accomplish his objectives.
Ronin absolutely could not allow Kurapika to fall into the hands of someone like that.
With that thought, Ronin simply twitched his fingers and brought out a second Fun Fun Cloth. Without giving Kurapika any time to react, the cloak came down over his head.
In the current situation, Kurapika would be of no help in battle. On the contrary, he might become a restraint on Ronin.
In that case, it was better to store him inside the Fun Fun Cloth first. That way, Ronin could move alone, making it easier to break out of Beyond and the others' blockade.
At the same time, he also stored Kortopi and Chrollo away.
Kortopi still had a breath of life left in him, while Chrollo's corpse was important material for Edo Tensei.
But the moment he finished all that, the shadow clone behind him suddenly burst apart.
Ronin had no idea what had happened. The chakra he had split off returned to his body at once.
His brow lifted slightly, but his speed did not slow at all. He had already tossed the Fun Fun Cloth containing Kurapika, Chrollo, and Kortopi into his pocket and reached the entrance of the vault.
With both hands now free, he formed another seal in front of him and prepared to unleash a new ninjutsu.
But a figure appeared less than three meters behind him like a ghost.
Ronin's heart jolted. His movements were not slow. The ninjutsu activated instantly, and surging chakra turned directly into fire dragons—one charging forward into the vault, and the other blasting backward toward the figure chasing him.
A soft "Hm?" came from inside the vault.
So there had been someone hiding in the vault from the very beginning, and Ronin's attack just happened to disrupt their attempt at an ambush.
Ronin had long had some guesses about Marione's ability. It shouldn't have been capable of placing suggestions on Kurapika, and since that puppet-like girl could be regarded by Ging as a major enemy, Ronin didn't think she was likely to specialize in this kind of scheming ability either.
So in Ronin's judgment, there was a high chance that more members of Beyond's team were hiding nearby.
The Fire Release attack had been a probe.
If there really had been no one inside the vault, it would have saved him a lot of trouble.
Now that an enemy had actually appeared inside the vault, Ronin's greatest concern was whether they had already gotten their hands on the Scarlet Eyes.
Following that soft sound of surprise, the person who emerged from the vault shattered the fire dragon with a single punch.
Ronin saw the person clearly. It was a young man whose appearance somewhat resembled Popeye.
His arm muscles were swollen, and his fists were covered in powerful Nen. From the look of him, he didn't seem like the kind of person Ronin had guessed would specialize in sneak attacks. Instead, he looked more like an Enhancer-type Nen user.
But Ronin didn't stop moving. Instead, the moment the man appeared, he accelerated even more.
If he counted carefully, there were now only a few members of Beyond's team who still had not appeared.
And among them, the ones most likely to possess this sort of scheming or ambush-type ability were either the young man with glasses or the pink-haired girl.
But whichever one it was, Ronin could not allow them to take the Scarlet Eyes from the vault.
Also, the appearance of "Popeye" gave Ronin another possibility to consider: this man might not necessarily be the Enhancer he seemed to be. He might actually be an Emitter.
With that thought in mind, lightning began appearing around Ronin's body, and his hand shifted into a two-finger thrusting posture.
This was Lightning Release Chakra Mode combined with the Two-Finger Nukite.
All kinds of thoughts crossed his mind, and since he still couldn't confirm the situation inside the vault, Ronin had only one choice left.
Defeat the person who came out of the vault as quickly as possible.
The Popeye-like young man was named Usamen. He had not entered the vault alone.
And his target was precisely the Scarlet Eyes.
He had never expected Ronin and Beyond's negotiation to collapse so quickly—so quickly that he only had time to let Pekotero, who had already placed the Scarlet Eyes in his backpack, leave first through the tunnel they had opened. Then he had to turn around and face Ronin.
Now, seeing the lightning rising around Ronin's body, alarm bells rang wildly in Usamen's heart.
Before coming here, he had already learned from Marione and Myuhael how powerful Ronin was, so he didn't dare be the slightest bit careless when facing him.
As his palm turned, a can of spinach actually appeared in his hand.
His large hand squeezed the can, and the spinach inside was forced out, flying straight toward his mouth.
~~~
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