After receiving Kuroro's urgent message, the remaining members of the Troupe were confused. They hadn't sensed any danger, and the battlefield was entirely in their favor.
The local gangs were nothing compared to them, they were tearing through opposition without breaking a sweat.
Still, no one disobeyed the order. Kuroro's commands were law, and for him to call for a retreat mesomething was very wrong.
Some of them exchanged uneasy glances as they moved through the backstreets toward the rendezvous point.
Among them, Machi was the most disturbed. Her instincts screamed at her. Something bad had happened. Something irreversible. Her sixth sense was never wrong in moments like this. And her gut told her they were already too late.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, one of them wasn't who they thought.
"Feitan," embedded within the Troupe, silently received Kuroro's message like the others. But unlike the rest, he didn't act out of loyalty.
He passed the intel straight to Larry.
"Oh? An emergency retreat?" Larry leaned back in his chair, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Did you suddenly pull back because you found out something happened to Nobunaga and the others?"
He was still in his room when he got wind of the Spiders retreating, and while he wasn't entirely sure how, he figured shalnark had probably slipped Chrollo a message.
"So… what's next?" he muttered to himself, the glint in his eyes sharpening with interest. "Are you coming back for revenge? Or running with your tail between your legs?"
Inside a dilapidated, abandoned building, tension filled the room.
"Captain, what's going on? Why the hell did you suddenly say we all had to gather?!" Phinks barked the moment he stepped through the door.
His fists were clenched, and his bloodstained tracksuit told a story of his recent battles. He was still itching for a fight.
Chrollo glanced around. Everyone was accounted for. No more casualties. For now. He quietly exhaled, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"Since everyone's here, I'll explain why we need to retreat, "
"Wait a second," Machi interrupted, her voice low but tense. "Nobunaga and the others… they're not back yet."
The moment the words left her mouth, a creeping dread tightened around her chest.
A gut feeling, one she hated gripped her. 'Could it be…'
Chrollo raised his head, staring up at the pale moon that hung over the night sky. His voice was flat, devoid of emotion. "Nobunaga and the others… are dead."
The air turned still. No one moved. No one spoke. The silence was deafening.
"…Are you kidding?" Phinks finally said, his voice trembling with restrained anger. "That's not funny, Captain. Not even a little."
They'd already lost everything in the last heist. If Chrollo's words were true… if Nobunaga, Franklin, and Shalnark were really dead…
What the hell kind of monster could take down all three of them?
Phinks shook his head, refusing to believe it. "There's no way. I mean, yeah, that Chain Dude was tough, but taking down all three? That's impossible!"
His bloodied appearance might have made him look wounded, but it was just from the enemies he'd crushed earlier. He hadn't even broken a sweat.
In his mind, Nobunaga and the others were far too strong to be wiped out like that.
"Could it be the Nostrade family? Maybe they saw this coming and hired other family to step in," Phinks said, trying to stay rational.
Pakunoda, one of the more level-headed among them, crossed her arms. Her brows were furrowed in thought. "That actually makes sense. If they shelled out the money, they could've hired a heavy hitter. Someone strong enough to pull this off."
But Chrollo cut through the speculations with cold finality. "It wasn't the Nostrade family. And it wasn't the Zoldyck either."
He met everyone's eyes, his voice calm but heavy with truth. "Nobunaga and the others are dead. And the one who killed them… was Larry."
A chill ran through the room. There were no more questions. Just the weight of a name, and the storm it carried with it.
"Larry… I think the shalnark mentioned he's supposed to be really strong?"
Shizuku, usually absentminded, frowned slightly as she tried to recall what was said the day before. Shalnark's warning had been vague, but the name stuck.
'Larry…?!' The moment that name left Chrollo's lips, Machi's entire body froze. Her cold expression cracked, eyes widening with a flicker of fear.
Now it all made sense. That persistent sense of unease her sixth sense had been warning her all along. Warning her about Larry.
She had felt it back in Heaven's Arena, that eerie pressure from someone who barely even acknowledged them.
After arriving in Yorknew, that instinct had only grown stronger, buzzing in her mind nonstop. But now, hearing that Larry had personally killed Nobunaga, Franklin, and Shalnark… it finally clicked.
Larry was in Yorknew City.
'Why? What was he planning?'
Machi's mind flashed back to the bounty poster she'd seen not long ago.
Larry, listed as a one-star bounty hunter. But clearly, that label meant nothing. Everything about him was far beyond what any rating could reflect.
Hidden in the shadows, Hisoka tilted his head with a grin that was all too familiar, playful, eerie, and dangerous. 'Hehehe… We're one step closer. Uvogin, Nobunaga, Shalnark, and Franklin, all dead. But I really didn't expect Larry to show up here.'
The amusement in his expression faltered for a moment. Hisoka suddenly remembered, he still owed Larry a piece of information about the Dark Sonata. His grin vanished, replaced by a rare look of seriousness.
If he wasn't careful, he'd be the next one lying cold on the ground.
Back in the building, Chrollo calmly spoke again, his voice cutting through the heavy atmosphere. "Earlier, I tried hiring the Zoldyck family to deal with Larry."
The others immediately perked up at the mention of the infamous assassin clan. "But they refused. Flat-out rejected the request."
He looked at each of them, letting the words sink in.
"They said one thing: the only target they would never accept a commission for… is Larry."
The room went quiet. The world's top assassin organization, proud of taking on any job for the right price, had just declared one man completely untouchable.
It wasn't about money. It was about survival. The silence among the Spiders turned heavier, filled not with questions, but understanding. Larry was in a league of his own.
"So cautious… Did I spook them that badly last time?" Larry leaned back, listening in through his own means, smirking with amusement.
He figured Chrollo might try something, and sending killers made sense. But the fact that even Silva had turned down the contract was a surprise.