In the night, on the boundless calm sea, a lifeboat floated.
Kisho stood on the lifeboat, looking toward the ship not far away.
Blazing flames reflected in the boy's eyes—when leaving, he hadn't forgotten to set one more fire.
The seabed was the best place, a grave to bury those sins.
Whether it was those guys from the Bankro family, or the monsters trapped in a tiny space and tortured endlessly.
Kisho murmured, "May you be reborn as ordinary people in your next life."
Speaking of which, from the day he arrived in this world until today, he hadn't lived even a single day as an ordinary person.
He was almost forgetting how ordinary people lived. He was even starting to doubt whether ordinary people truly existed in this world at all.
"…Living an ordinary life might also be a kind of happiness."
He curled his lips into a smile, seeming mocking, yet also like a sigh.
From behind came that inescapable voice:
"I don't think so~"
Kisho: "..."
"Just where did you pop out from?"
Unable to hold it in anymore, he questioned the someone sitting leisurely on the other side of the lifeboat, playing cards.
"Eh ya ya, asking like that really hurts a little~"
With a flick of his fingertips, a playing card shot flamboyantly into his other hand, caught between two fingers.
He smiled. "You sank that ship, so of course I followed you over here~"
"That's not what I want to know!"
Kisho's forehead twitched. He leaned back against one side of the lifeboat, watching him warily.
"What exactly do you want with me?"
After hearing Kisho's question, the young man actually didn't say any nonsense this time, answering directly:
"Well, helping Chrollo bring you a message, and by the way, taking a look…"
He let out a soft laugh. The battle intent hidden in that laughter, together with his suddenly surging aura, made Kisho feel like he was facing a great enemy.
"Whether the little apple has reached harvest time."
Kisho: "Get lost!"
Of course, he only dared curse that way in his heart.
"…No, not ripe, can't ripen in this lifetime—!"
Kisho not only rejected him three times in a row, he even tried to shift the trouble elsewhere:
"You love fighting so much—why didn't you fight that guy on the ship just now?"
"Because the situation just now wasn't suitable for making a move~"
He answered with a smile.
"Outside there were lots of 'terrifying' monsters; inside the room there was a strange little kid; and up in the airship above, there were two pretty strong guys."
He seemed to sigh regretfully.
"A fight that can't be one-on-one isn't very interesting."
"But this trip was definitely worth it~ That guy, I've remembered him too."
Kisho: "..."
Allow him to observe three seconds of silence for "that guy."
"Oh right."
His interest in Kisho didn't seem to wane because of the triple rejection.
"That blue-eyed guy—what's his relationship to you?"
Kisho: "..."
The young man stared at Kisho, then began analyzing on his own:
"Is he your second personality? When you run into trouble you can't solve, he comes out to help you?"
"Or maybe that technique of turning your eyes blue to amplify aura is some weird ability researched through human experimentation by those guys from Lashan Mountain?"
"Or else…"
As his analysis went on, increasingly terrifying aura enveloped the entire lifeboat.
Between his fingers was a Joker card:
"You… are actually a disguise created by that blue-eyed guy, aren't you?"
Kisho: "…Please stop for a moment."
The young man froze. "…?"
Kisho said seriously, "We're on a boat. If it flips over, it'll be very troublesome."
Young man: "..."
The young man, whose spellcasting had been interrupted, instantly deflated.
"…So who are you?"
Seeing his battle intent return to a normal range, Kisho quietly breathed a sigh of relief, then continued,
"…And what message did Chrollo ask you to bring me?"
"Well, you finally remembered to ask my name~"
The young man narrowed his eyes.
"I've been waiting a long time."
Kisho decided to ignore him.
So the best way to deal with this person was to ignore his sudden bouts of inexplicable weirdness without warning; and if he wanted to fight, then make himself look as non-threatening as possible—
—Probably.
"Hisoka." He chuckled lightly, the ending note lifting slightly. "You'd better remember my name."
Kisho: "Oh."
Hisoka: "So cold."
Kisho: "..."
He felt that he still had to be the one to save this constantly derailing conversation:
"…So what message did Chrollo want you to bring me?"
"Ah, right." Hisoka seemed to remember. "He said for you to go back to Meteor City before September."
Kisho frowned.
Although he had decided that one day he would go find Chrollo to get his aura ability back, but… in the short term, it probably wasn't feasible.
The more he had seen the vast world outside, the more he could feel how terrifying those NPCs in the newbie village back then had been.
He felt maybe it was better to farm a bit longer…
"You made a bet with Chrollo, right?"
Hisoka asked, "About you becoming the Troupe's number eight member."
Kisho nodded. "Mm."
"I couldn't understand before why that guy would want you to join the Troupe, but…" Hisoka stared into his eyes. A trace of interest crossed his face, and his gaze turned sharp again.
He looked like he was studying how to bring that silver-blue guy out.
"I roughly get it now. What he's interested in should be your other part."
Kisho: "..."
"His exact words were: from the moment you left Meteor City, your bet with him was already a loss for you."
Hisoka wore an expression of "don't go back, I want to watch the show," and continued:
"After you finish what you're doing, if you don't return to Meteor City before September, you'll be treated as a traitorous member."
Kisho: "..."
Kisho's brow furrowed even tighter as he recalled the specific contents of that bet.
...
"…If you can survive in Meteor City for half a year, I'll let you go."
"…During that time, if you change your mind, you can also come back."
Because before the betting period ended, he had already left the arena…
In a certain sense, it really was his loss—my ass!
Damn it!
Head of a band of thieves, are you really worthy of your status by splitting hairs like this!
After thinking for a moment, Kisho asked,
"What happens if I don't go back?"
"That would be great~" Hisoka smiled.
"In that case, I wouldn't need to bother killing other members. I could directly take your number and join the Troupe."
Kisho's face darkened. "So if I don't go back, it's assumed I'm dead, right."
Although Hisoka didn't know exactly what "dead" meant, he still understood it eerily well.
"That's right."
"Well, if you don't plan on going back, instead of letting Chrollo kill you…"
Battle intent began to surge again:
"Why not call that blue-eyed guy out and have a life-or-death fight with me~"
Kisho: "No."
Hisoka: "…How boring."
Kisho seemed to think of something. He looked at the deflated Hisoka.
"You said just now, killing other members—what does that mean?"
Hisoka explained it to him:
"If the Troupe is short-handed, Chrollo, as leader, will personally select people to join; if it isn't, and others still want to join, they can kill a member and take their place~"
After hearing this, Kisho fell into silence.
This kind of "last-place elimination" carried out with lives really resembled the ways of Meteor City people.
The members of the "Phantom Troupe" could easily accept someone who killed an original companion, letting that person become their new companion.
This kind of thing… he probably would never be able to understand.
"…So last time, you wanted to kill me and then join the Troupe?"
Kisho asked. "May I ask why you want to enter the Phantom Troupe?"
"Isn't it because that Chrollo guy just won't fight me?"
After hearing Kisho's question, Hisoka's expression filled with deep resentment.
"That guy either can't be found at all, or always has two or more members with him."
"It's so hard to get a one-on-one fight with him!"
The resentful look turned into longing.
"If I became a member, maybe I could create a situation to fight him one-on-one?"
The longing turned into battle intent:
"Then I could properly fight him to the death~"
Kisho: "…Alright then, that's your style."
He asked again, puzzled, "Then why did you suddenly decide to let me go that night?"
"Well~"
Hisoka raised a finger and wagged it.
"Naturally because at that time, you still weren't at the stage where you could be harvested."
Kisho: "..."
Hisoka was still smiling. That ever-changing, unfathomable aura like a magician's, after the tail end of the previous sentence fell, turned extremely dangerous again:
"But when I think the time is about right, I'll come find you again."
The night wind swept over.
The once calm sea began to churn.
"When that time comes, let that you come out and have a proper fight with me."
"Betting our lives, until death~"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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