After the rules were explained, both sides entered the match.
On Ronin's side, there was him and seven shadow clones that looked exactly like him. Their auras were identical, making it extremely difficult to tell which one was the real body.
On Razor's side, there was him and seven marked Nen beasts.
Both sides sent seven members onto the court at the same time, but before the match began, an eighth Nen beast appeared beside Razor.
The mark on it was 0, representing the referee.
Ronin had no objection to this at all. In fact, he already understood what strategy Razor was about to use.
With a whistle, the referee tossed the game ball high into the air.
Seeing that the opposing players had no intention of jumping, Ronin's shadow clone easily scooped the ball into his hands.
Sure enough, it was the same strategy Razor had used against Gon.
The shadow clone holding the ball didn't use ninjutsu. He simply erupted with Enhancement-type Nen, then covered the ball with aura, forming Shu around it.
The abilities most suited to this kind of dodgeball rule set were Emission and Enhancement.
Emission, because if you wanted the ball to unleash powerful force, you needed to leave enough aura on it.
And this kind of attack, where aura separated from the body, was what Emitters specialized in. After all, an Emitter's aura would not weaken even after leaving their body.
Enhancement, meanwhile, was strong because Enhancer Nen was naturally suited for combat.
Although using Enhancement aura to coat the ball would be weaker than pure Emission in terms of maintaining aura after release, the explosive strength and speed of an Enhancer, as well as their reinforcement of the ball itself, surpassed Emitters.
So from the very beginning, this match was destined to be evenly matched.
Ronin understood that very clearly, so he had no intention of probing with the first throw.
What he wanted was for the shadow clone to go all out.
Razor's plan would definitely be to let several of his players get hit and move to the outer court first, making it easier to attack.
Bang!
Tremendous power, paired with a textbook throwing form, gave the ball in the shadow clone's hand unbelievable speed.
The moment that explosive sound rang out, even Razor's narrowed eyes opened slightly.
Because the Nen beast beside him marked with the number 1 had its body directly pierced through by that throw.
What power.
This was the first time Razor had encountered something like this. Even back when Ging had played this game with him, Ging only instantly wiped out his Nen beasts after getting serious and unleashing his ability near the end.
And at that time, it hadn't been only the Nen beast marked number 1 that had been destroyed.
But right now, the opposing player who had attacked his Nen beast wasn't even Ronin's main body.
It was one of his separated Nen-beast-like clones.
That forced Razor to take him even more seriously.
"So I have a question. Are you allowed to recreate eliminated players?" A smile appeared on Ronin's lips.
He was very satisfied with the shadow clone's full-power throw.
Neon and the others watching from the sidelines didn't feel much from it. After all, they had long since understood how powerful Ronin was.
In Neon's words, Ronin was already something completely inhuman.
She even felt that Ronin was currently the strongest Nen user in the world.
Ronin simply shook his head at that and humbly said he was still far from that level. The strongest modern Nen user was undoubtedly the Hunter Association chairman, Isaac Netero.
He was the publicly acknowledged strongest.
But Neon could tell there was fighting spirit in Ronin's eyes.
Unlike Neon and the others, who already had some understanding of Ronin's strength, the pirates' side believed Captain Razor was the strongest.
In their usual recreational matches, forget having a Nen beast blown apart—even forcing one of Razor's Nen beasts to go all out required them to give everything they had, and even then they might only barely have a chance.
Yet now, such a powerful Nen-beast player had been blown apart by the opponent's single throw.
The opponent's strength was simply unbelievable.
Especially since the attack had come from only one of his clones.
Compared to the shock off the court, Razor had a new thought in mind—a guess about Ronin's clones.
Could his ability allow him to transfer his strength between clones? In other words, can any clone burst out with the power of his real body?
"No," Razor said, rejecting Ronin's question.
Although allowing that might have benefited him too, he disdained doing such a thing.
And with Razor's refusal, possession returned to Ronin's side after player number 1 was eliminated.
But Razor's side still had seven people left.
The shadow clone holding the ball went all out again. Wrapped in aura, the ball shot at incredible speed toward the player marked number 2.
Player number 2 chose to dodge.
But the ball was too fast. Almost the instant number 2 moved, it struck him in the abdomen.
This time, however, the attack failed to blow apart number 2's body. After hitting its target, the ball dropped lightly to the ground.
Ronin looked at the spot where number 2 had been struck and saw that more aura had gathered there.
In that instant, Ronin understood Razor's strategy.
The dodge had only been a feint. What Razor's Nen beast had really done was gather more aura at that specific spot and deliberately place it in the ball's path.
Using a technique almost like Ko to increase the defensive power of one part of number 2's body was indeed the best way to block an attack like a dodgeball, whose impact area wasn't especially large.
Ronin had thought player number 3 or number 5 beside number 2 would merge with him, raising number 2's strength to the level of number 7 to block the attack.
That's right.
The numbers on Razor's Nen-beast players didn't just represent their labels. They also represented their strength.
And Razor had the ability to merge his Nen beasts at any time, creating even stronger ones.
But from the look of it, Razor didn't intend to reveal that ability yet. He was probably keeping it hidden to catch Ronin off guard later.
Player number 2 voluntarily walked out of the inner court and moved to the outer court.
The ball returned to Ronin's shadow clone, but player number 2 had already moved behind them, forming a pincer with Razor's position.
This time, the shadow clone didn't just burst out with Enhancement aura. Before throwing, he used a taijutsu technique.
Taijutsu: Monster Strength.
This was Tsunade's ability, a powerful burst of monstrous strength capable of cracking the earth in an instant.
And Ronin applied that ability to his next throw, just like when he had combined Cherry Blossom Impact with Super Destructive Fist before.
Even before the ball was thrown, Razor sensed something unusual.
It was still a perfect throwing form.
Still a ball flying at extreme speed.
But this time, the explosive sound only rang out when Razor caught the ball with both hands.
Razor had changed his strategy.
He personally blocked the throw.
~~~
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