An S-grade nen tool, even if usable for only a few seconds, can cause immense destruction as long as it's deployed at a crucial moment. Against A-level nen users, it's an overwhelming force. And considering Ron's own strength which was hardly low to begin with, even when facing someone like Oster, in a one-on-one, he didn't think he was at a disadvantage.
But Oster's presence in the Underworld Mafia was definitely never part of the original story. If not for Ron, Ponzu would have never uncovered the truth about her village. In the original timeline, without that intervention, Ponzu would've been eliminated early on by Oster's men—long before the Chimera Ant arc ever began. It was precisely because of Ron's interference that Oster's plans were derailed. The Three Hounds, the Four Beasts, and the Six Herd—all destroyed and Oster was forced to retreat.
Otherwise, by now, Oster would probably still be a minister in the Saherta Federation, or worse, might have succeeded in his plan and risen to actual power in that nation's hierarchy.
That leads to one major concern—the nen users affiliated with the Underworld Mafia will now grow stronger. With Experimental Base No. 2 reactivated, Oster's experimental research will bring changes to the organization, potentially causing the strength of the Shadow Beasts to increase dramatically.
In such a case, would the Phantom Troupe still be able to wipe them out so effortlessly?
In the original story, the Troupe members utterly crushed the Shadow Beasts. Uvogin alone defeated four of them, even though part of his advantage came from the Shadow Beasts underestimating him. Still, it showed just how powerful Uvogin was. Their leader Owl was completely outmatched when facing Feitan, and the remaining members—who weren't even combat-type nen users but support and utility types—were all defeated when facing the ordinary members of the Troupe.
The Shadow Beast's structure was nothing like the Troupe's; most of the Shadow Beasts were front-line fighters, yet even with that discrepancy, the Shadow Beasts lost without much struggle.
Ron didn't know how the current Shadow Beasts had changed, but he did remember their former state. Roughly half of them were C-rank nen users, and the rest were B-rank. That mix hadn't shifted back then.
..................
......
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One day later, Ron located Elita. She was now imprisoned within the second experimental facility, alone in a single cell, her body restrained with special chains that forced her into Zetsu, cutting off her ability to use nen. Her gaze was vacant. A surveillance camera pointed directly at her, though she had no idea the footage had already been streamed to Ron's laptop—retrieved and monitored by Chii.
"Judging from this, Elita hasn't betrayed me," Ron thought. "She really did choose me over the Underworld Mafia." But for now, she likely wouldn't be in danger. People like Elita weren't rare in Base No. 2, and she wasn't the first in line for experimentation. At the moment, they were only drawing samples of her blood.
Ron's gaze flickered slightly. The Underworld Mafia and Yorknew City both seemed to have returned to calm, but everyone knew that under the surface, powerful undercurrents were stirring. The auction was drawing near.
Killua and Gon had already arrived in Yorknew and were wandering through one of the many street markets. The Yorknew City Auction was one of the largest in the world, held once a year, and its influence had driven the city's economic expansion. People had gathered here from everywhere—some to attend the auction, while others simply stayed behind to trade. Some sold goods, others bought them, and eventually, a bustling marketplace emerged.
As the crowd thickened, so did the business opportunities.
"It's too expensive, seriously too expensive," Killua muttered as he thought back to the price he'd overheard for a Greed Island console. From what they gathered off the Hunter Website, the estimated starting bid for a Greed Island console at this year's auction would be more than 8 billion Jenny—a staggering amount.
Even after countless matches and victories at Heavens Arena, where both he and Gon had made it all the way to the 200th floor, their combined prize money barely scraped together a few hundred million Jenny. And that 8 billion was just the starting bid. Some speculated the final sale might push past 10 billion.
"Gon, do you think there's any chance we can make that kind of money here?" Killua didn't sound convinced.
Gon nodded earnestly. "I'm sure we'll find a way."
"And if we don't?"
"Then we figure it out when it happens. There'll definitely be a way."
Gon didn't have a concrete plan—he just believed this was something they needed to do. Whether it worked out or not didn't matter; they had to try. That was his way of doing things: cross each bridge when they came to it.
"I wonder where Leorio and Kurapika are," Killua said, glancing around the market. "They said they'd be coming too, and it's been so long since we last saw them. I hope they're doing okay."
Just then, Killua's phone rang. "Leorio? Are you guys here?" he said, picking it up.
"Yeah, I just arrived. Where are you guys?"
"We are in the marketplace," Killua answered and gave their location.
"Hold on, I'm coming."
Before long, Leorio came jogging up, and when he saw Killua and Gon, he broke into a smile. "Killua, Gon—it's been forever!"
"Yeah, it's been a while, Leorio!"
Leorio gave a nostalgic sigh. "Didn't think it'd be this long before we saw each other again. Gon, I heard you even gave back your badge to Hisoka at the Heavens Arena?"
"Uh-huh."
"That's amazing—you already reached the 200th floor."
He paused a moment. "So... both of you must've learned nen by now, right?" Killua and Gon glanced at each other, then nodded, but hesitated.
Then they shook their heads slightly.
Leorio blinked. "What do you mean?"
Killua replied, "We've learned the basics, yeah—but we're still far from becoming real nen users. The instructor the Hunter Association assigned us doesn't seem to want to rush our progress."
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