[I'm going to put a condition and chains on you, Uvogin.]
Found them!
Saiki Kusuo teleported to the source of the thought. The two were fighting, surrounded by rocks. He landed behind a giant boulder.
No need to stick his head out—x-ray vision was enough.
Uvogin was now completely bound by chains, clearly unable to break free with brute strength alone.
Kurapika's eyes were bright red. He reached out toward Uvogin, a chain floating from his pinky, ending in a curved hook.
This is…
Saiki Kusuo felt a little puzzled. Why chains set by an oath? Wasn't Kurapika planning to kill Uvogin?
Right now, Kurapika didn't seem as calm as he looked.
[Is this really okay? No, I already decided to do this, didn't I? The vow was set long ago…]
[The Troupe's crimes aren't just burning my village back then. They kill, burn, and commit every evil act imaginable!]
[To this day, no law has punished them. Worse, they've inspired countless other criminals to follow their lead.]
[I will become a bounty hunter and bring these criminals to justice. I can't let hatred blind me. These guys aren't afraid of death. Taking away their powers and cutting them off from their comrades—that's the real punishment.]
[Only then can I… wipe out the Phantom Troupe at its roots.]
…
Kurapika wasn't blinded by hatred, and he didn't plan to kill the Troupe…?
are you an idiot?
If The Phantom Troupe finds out, they'll kill you without mercy. Showing kindness to the enemy is the same as being cruel to yourself!
The night wind blew as Uvogin, covered in wounds from Kurapika's blows, spat at him. Kurapika leapt aside to dodge.
"I won't say anything." Uvogin's resolve showed how loyal he was to the Troupe.
"I won't kill you either," Kurapika said. His spirit seemed shaken, but he was still firm. "If I kill you all, then I'll be no different from you scum. I won't do that."
Saiki Kusuo: Even after losing his blood relatives, he still won't kill? But no law in this world can punish them. Even if he handed them to the Hunter Association, it would only spark war between both sides, and the Association might not even bother.
The world of Hunter x Hunter is far more cruel than the one Saiki Kusuo came from.
People each have their own views on life and death.
So then, what will Kurapika do? Saiki Kusuo waited behind a rock. If Kurapika didn't plan to wipe out the Troupe completely, yet still had such strong restrictions and vows binding him, what had changed in his will?
Kurapika: [Only you, only The Phantom Troupe are special. For that, this ability was made for you.]
"Uvogin, the chain on my little finger will connect to your heart and set the condition."
"One: from now on, you can no longer use nen. You'll be in an absolute zero state."
"Two: from now on, you cannot talk to or approach any Troupe members. You are forbidden to act under the name of the Phantom Troupe. If you do, the chain will tighten inside you, crushing your organs until you die. Don't even try."
"Three: you cannot reveal any information about me to anyone. The chain will stop you. If you insist on speaking, you'll die."
[This ability must be used while my eyes are scarlet. Since it takes away another person's nen and even threatens their life, the target must have killed someone before. If they haven't killed, I'll die instantly.]
[Other than death caused by the target breaking the vow, I can never kill a person in my life. If I do, I'll die instantly.]
Die instantly, huh. So dangerous that he risks his life even before attacking.
Through x-ray vision, Saiki Kusuo saw that the chains in Uvogin's body avoided the heart.
Now, Kurapika wasn't carrying a "die together" kind of revenge. His resolve wasn't to kill the Troupe outright. His goal had shifted—from revenge on the specific members who stole his people's eyes—to erasing the Phantom Troupe as a group.
The hatred and the price had lessened, and so the chain's power also lessened. It couldn't set an absolute kill condition anymore. Instead, it bound itself around several organs.
Thinking about it, in the original story, Kurapika's condition that directly caused death… just how heavy a price did he pay to achieve that?
Now instead…
If there was intent to expose Kurapika's personal info, or to talk with Troupe members, the chain would tighten, strangling the throat, even breaking it.
If he got close, or acted as a Troupe member, the chains would squeeze his organs. Without nen protection, such weak organs would easily be crushed, leaving the bound person in extreme pain, and then death, like any normal human body.
Sealing nen also cut off the chance of acting alone and causing harm.
But what if Uvogin swore to tell the Troupe no matter what?
No, impossible. Once he got close, his body would feel it. The closer he went, or the more he tried to speak, the nearer he'd get to breaking the condition. The chains would act early as a warning. With organs wracked in pain, he'd realize he was killing himself. Most people would hesitate and stop long before stepping onto the road of suicide.
Which meant, even suicide couldn't leak useful information.
…
Kurapika had already left the scene. Uvogin was left bound in place, poisoned so badly he couldn't move for 24 hours.
Uvogin had already been poisoned twice. So that's why the Zoldyck family trained poison resistance from childhood. Every nen user in a fight uses poison—how is anyone supposed to deal with that?
Saiki Kusuo thought as he stepped out, not looking at Uvogin but staring far off at Kurapika's back.
"You!! So you're with the Chain User too?!" Uvogin roared.
?!
Without nen, Uvogin's voice was normal, no power behind it. It couldn't hurt anyone, but it startled the psychic.
Saiki Kusuo shivered, whipping his head around like he never expected Uvogin to suddenly talk.
Hey, don't scare me like that.
Though yeah, this sort of thing can happen, a chance slip—just now he hadn't heard Uvogin's thoughts at all!
"Heh, the Chain User is gone already. You're here to finish me off, right? Make it quick, kid."
So why are you assuming I'm Kurapika's ally? Isn't it possible I came here to save you?
Saiki Kusuo turned to face Uvogin, covering his mouth in thought.
Yare yare, I was planning to save Uvogin's life so we'd be even. But Kurapika widened his vision—he decided not to kill, and will never kill. The only way someone can die… is by breaking the chain's condition. And that, I can't save anyone from.
When it comes down to it, if someone dies under the condition of a chain vow, that counts as suicide. A person who chooses death with their own will can't be saved.
So what should he do? Help remove Uvogin's chain ability? But he couldn't! Psychic powers and Nen are two totally different systems, only the locals here have Nen! Except for that one accident on the ship where a curse caused a strange burning Nen flame, he never had any ability that could affect Nen.
Wait a second—does this mean the Phantom Troupe won't lose anyone in the future? Even though in the manga so far no members have been killed, the most important first part of the story has already changed. What Uvogin might do later was completely unpredictable, and it could seriously affect the story. Didn't the prophecy poem say that half the members would die?
At this moment, Saiki Kusuo's mind was running quick calculations about all the possible butterfly effects that could happen in the future.
His psychic brain imagined countless outcomes. Maybe because of that, he overlooked a small thing happening outside.
In his vision, whatever Uvogin did was always within his sight. An ordinary person like Uvogin—even one with Nen—couldn't harm him at all.
Saiki Kusuo, always under 100% safety, rarely had any sense of danger.
Then, right in front of him, in the blink of an eye, a pale green filter slowly dropped over his vision. The strange feeling lasted only a moment, then faded as if the thin lens had been seen through.
What just happened?
Everything in the world has a lifespan, and one day reaches its limit, then breaks…
The frame cracked, the green-lensed glasses hit the ground, and before Saiki Kusuo could react, Uvogin in front of him had already turned to stone.
Uh… what?
Saiki Kusuo's face darkened. He had just been about to chase after Kurapika, but now, in this situation, didn't he have to find a place to put Uvogin away first?
This wilderness seemed fine enough. Surely no one would bother smashing a giant gorilla statue, right?
No, still too risky. If a meteorite happened to fall and crush Uvogin = Uvogin dies = the Troupe comes for revenge = a whole lot of trouble. Better bury him. That's the safest way.
But burying him alive sounded even worse.
After a lot of thinking, Saiki Kusuo put his glasses back together, wore them, and carried the stone Uvogin into a cave.
Inside the cave, a black bear roared at him, defending its territory. Saiki Kusuo locked eyes with the bear.
3, 2, 1…
The black bear stuck out its tongue, bowing step by step as it crawled out of the cave. Then it sat at the entrance.
[Good. Protect this statue.] Saiki Kusuo gave the bear the order as he left.
Of course, he wouldn't just bully the weak because he had power. This was a trade. As payment, he promised that at the same time tomorrow, he would go to Yorknew City and buy dozens of kilos of meat for the bear. That was the deal.
The bear didn't understand why, but just nodded.
Good grief, he hadn't even started yet but had already spent a lot of money. Anyway, now he could finally focus on following Kurapika.
Kurapika was driving alone. He had just used his chain ability, and his condition clearly wasn't good.
Using that power consumed a huge amount of Nen, and probably hurt his life force too.
If nothing unexpected happened, Kurapika absolutely couldn't use it 12 times in a row to take down the entire Troupe.
Clearly, Kurapika also realized it. The Phantom Troupe members were all very strong. Using that much power just to hold them back was too much of a cost.
[Catch the leader first. The next target should be their boss.] That's what Kurapika decided.
Maybe to calm himself down, Kurapika had all the car windows open. The wind roared in, and invisible Saiki Kusuo slipped quietly into the back seat.
Good grief, to keep his promise, he now had to keep track of Kurapika's movements. After most of a year, he had already memorized Kurapika's appearance clearly. If needed, though it was a hassle, his clairvoyance could still find Kurapika in the city.
As long as Kurapika wasn't wearing makeup.
If he put on makeup, it'd be impossible to find him. Saiki Kusuo wasn't yet familiar enough to recognize him "even if he turned to ashes."
But it didn't matter. A smart psychic always has a solution. For example…
Saiki Kusuo reached into his pocket and pulled out a chip the size of a fingernail.
Sometimes it's worth trusting technology. The Zoldyck family had plenty of handy tracking devices.
While Kurapika's mind was still fully occupied with how to deal with the Troupe, Saiki Kusuo easily slipped out Kurapika's phone.
As long as Kurapika carried his phone, Saiki Kusuo would always know where he was.
He placed the phone back into its original spot.
By now, the car was almost in the city. Saiki Kusuo had no plans to get out. Watching Kurapika for a while longer to check his situation wasn't a bad idea.
"Ring ring, ring ring…" Kurapika's phone rang.
Kurapika freed one hand from the steering wheel to pick up the phone.
"…Melody, what is it?"
The voice on the other end was clear enough that Saiki Kusuo could hear it too.
"Kurapika, are you heading toward the city? Is there… anyone else in the car with you?"
What?!
Melody, who is extremely sensitive to sound, could detect things in a quiet environment beyond even the passive range of Saiki Kusuo's telepathy!
In the car, two heartbeats would definitely be heard. Even he couldn't stop his heart from beating!
Saiki Kusuo quickly jumped out of the car window, hitting the ground with a sudden stop! Kurapika glanced back but didn't notice anything unusual.
Yeah yeah, Saiki Kusuo stood up. This invisibility power had a lot of downsides when in use—like he couldn't fly, couldn't teleport, and many other psychic abilities were limited.
He pulled out his phone. On the big screen, it already showed Kurapika's coordinates moving farther away. Stopped—probably because he had run into Melody.
Can't get closer. Better to back off even more… retreat.
Saiki Kusuo released his invisibility and teleported straight to Yorknew City, to the restaurant where he had once eaten with Milluki.
The place hadn't closed yet, but there wasn't a single customer inside. Saiki Kusuo appeared directly in the shop, giving the uncle wiping tables quite a scare.
"Whoa, young man, when you left there was no sound, and now you've come back without a sound either." [What are you here for? That bowl of food you ordered was eaten by the guy who said he was your brother. Don't tell me that kid tricked me? But I'm not making another bowl!]
Oh, Milluki isn't here? Then bye.
The uncle tried to stay calm, but in the blink of an eye that person disappeared again.
"A ghost?! I really saw a ghost today!!"
Outside the door, Saiki Kusuo paused for a moment. Yeah yeah, better just contact Milluki directly.
He picked up the phone, traced the line, and arrived beside Milluki, who was—still—in a restaurant.
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