The Zoldyck Family had long been prepared for this day.
As an assassin family, childbirth naturally couldn't take place in a conventional hospital. Thus, a delivery room had been set up well in advance, fully equipped with everything that might be needed. In the days leading up to the due date, it was cleaned thoroughly every day.
The moment the signs of labor appeared, Kikyo was swiftly escorted by Tsubone, who had been on standby, into the delivery room.
As an outsider, Law quietly withdrew from the Zoldyck family's joyful atmosphere and left the house, stepping outside and letting the mountain breeze wash over him.
Standing there, the sky felt unusually close, and the wisps of white clouds drifted like sheer veils, almost within reach.
"Killua is born, which means Gon shouldn't be far behind.'
Law looked up at the white clouds, and his thoughts drifted to Whale Island, 'If I had the chance, I would like to go there to take a look.'
Beep beep.
The sudden chime of his phone interrupted Law's thoughts.
He took out his phone, and the only thing displayed on the screen was the word 'Unknown'. Without much thought, he pressed the answer button with his thumb.
"Law?"
As soon as the call connected, an unfamiliar voice reached Law's ears.
The voice sounded young and full of energy.
"Yeah. Who's this?" Law asked back.
This was his private number and only a handful of people knew it, so he wondered who was on the other end of the line.
"My name is Ging Freecss. I'm calling you because I want to make a deal with you." Ging introduced himself directly and got straight to the point.
Law was taken aback and immediately puzzled.
'Me and Ging should have had no connection whatsoever. Where had the other man gotten his number? And why propose a deal?'
For a moment, he fell silent.
Seeing that Law wasn't responding, Ging patiently waited.
After a brief pause, Law didn't follow up on the topic of the deal. Instead, he asked, "How did you get my number?"
"I asked Chairman Netero for it." Ging answered truthfully. In reality, there were many ways to obtain Law's number, but he had deliberately chosen to request it from Netero.
Hearing this, Law rubbed his forehead. Though he still had many questions, he decided not to press further and simply said, "I'm curious about this deal of yours. Tell me about it."
"I want to get some information from you, and in return, I will give you something of equal value in exchange," Ging said.
"Demon Island?" Law raised his eyebrows. He believed the only thing Ging would ask about from him was the Demon Island's incident.
There was silence on the other end of the phone. After a few seconds, Ging said, "That's right."
"What exactly do you want to know?"
Law pinched his chin lightly, his eyes showing a thoughtful look. Logically, information about Demon Island was supposed to be strictly classified, and the place had already been taken over by the government. However, he wondered how Ging knew about this.
"Let's discuss it in person. How about it?" Ging suggested.
Law hesitated for a moment, and said, "Fine. Time and place?"
"You decide." Ging said.
"Ten days from now. 5 PM. The World Tree." Law didn't hesitate before naming the meeting spot.
"OK. See you in ten days."
Ging showed no particular reaction to the mention of the World Tree.
"Mm."
The call ended. With that brief conversation, the two had arranged a meeting.
This was a meeting set between two parties who barely knew each other, and the entire seemed quite hasty from start to finish.
From Ging's perspective, this call was his first contact with Law. Knowing that Law likely knew next to nothing about him, proposing a face-to-face meeting right away was a gamble, as he could easily be brushed off or stood up.
That was why, during the call, when Law asked where he'd gotten the number, Ging deliberately brought up Netero's name. In fact, he had specifically requested the number from Netero before making the call.
There were many ways to obtain Law's number, but he had chosen to ask Netero for a reason.
In his view, mentioning Netero during the call would prompt Law, who knew little about him, to call Netero afterward for verification.
To lower the guard of someone unfamiliar, it was more effective to let them seek answers from a mutual acquaintance than to provide the information oneself.
At its core… there was another important reason: even if Law wanted to investigate him, ten days wouldn't be nearly enough time to dig up anything substantial.
Despite his careful calculations, Ging had no idea that Law already knew him, and he never thought that the information Law possessed far beyond what any conventional investigation could uncover.
…
Far to the east of the Yorbian Continent lay an island called Greed Island, both the name of a game released earlier this year and the real-world location that served as its map.
This game was an ultra-realistic fantasy game jointly created by Ging and his companions. The map was Greed Island itself, with its core framework built upon Nen Abilities. The objective of the game was to collect special cards.
Somewhere on the island, there stands a castle. This was where the game's creators resided, and ordinary players couldn't access that place.
Inside a spacious room in the castle, which was filled with a lot of household garbage, a man with messy, bird's-nest-like hair and a scruffy beard was yelling at another younger man wrapped in a white headband.
The young man with a white headband wrapped on his head was Ging. The current him was still quite young and looked 70% similar to Gon.
"Ging, have some respect for the rules. It's you who set these rules." The guy with the messy hair stared at the phone in Ging's hand in disbelief.
"Huh? What did you just say?"
Ging put away his phone and turned to look at the man with messy hair, looking genuinely puzzled.
"The phone! You actually made a call here!" The man with messy hair shouted.
"Haha, guess you caught me."
Ging grinned, completely unbothered. Before the other man could continue, he took a few steps, walked past the man, and walked straight for a plate of chow mein and a glass of water left on the floor. He plopped down, picked up the noodles, and started shoveling them into his mouth.
"Mmm, thanks for the meal."
Ging mumbled between bites.
"You bastard! You timed this just to steal my food, didn't you?!" The messy-haired man's face twitched with anger.
That meal had been prepared for himself. He had planned to take it back to his room and eat while working. But instead, he had walked in to find Ging making a phone call.
With a furious yell, he lunged forward, trying to snatch back his chow mein, but who knew...
His eyes filled with despair as he stared at the now-empty plate, with only a little juice left on it. When he shifted his gaze slightly, he saw that Ging's cheeks were puffed up. Somehow, in mere seconds, Ging had stuffed the entire plate of noodles into his mouth.
Gulp!
A few moments later, Ging swallowed everything down, then grabbed the glass of water and drank it all in one go.
He stood up with satisfaction, then patted the messy-haired man on the shoulder and said, "I've got some business to take care of, so I'll leave the island's affairs to you guys."
After saying that, he immediately ran away, leaving behind only the echoes of the messy-haired man's furious shouts.
…
The Zoldyck Family's Estate.
Less than ten minutes after Kikyo entered the delivery room, she successfully gave birth to a baby boy.
Killua was born.