"So the grown-up Kusuo, you're a free person. As long as what you do doesn't threaten the Zoldyck family, anything is allowed. As for whether we support it or not, people our age can decide for ourselves, and the elders above Dad will just go along with it."
Yeah, got it. So it sounds like no one will complain if I leave in a year. How about going to the Dark Continent then, and later faking my death by going missing there.
"The only one who needs strict discipline is Killua."
Poor Killua, even though he's the freest one right now.
Illumi kept talking, while Saiki Kusuo just kept nodding.
Illumi reminded him: "Let me make this clear, Kusuo. You can bring a boyfriend or girlfriend home, and Mom and Dad won't mind. The family is more open than you think."
[There's really no such thing.]
How did it suddenly jump to this topic? I almost nodded.
People with psychic powers really don't feel things like love; I can't understand it at all.
"Yeah, I believe you." Illumi nodded without any doubt, even though he questioned it every day through his actions. "Sounds like something's happening downstairs?"
Saiki Kusuo used his x-ray vision to look down. Yeah, there was a lot going on below.
Ever since Chrollo got his Nen back, Hisoka had been following the troupe more or less. Since he owed Chrollo some cards, Chrollo specified three very rare ones and sent him out to get them.
The witch's love potion, the elder's energy booster, the mad doctor's pheromone drug.
Everyone who heard about these three cards thought the same thing: Youko probably suggested them just to gross out Hisoka.
All three drugs fit Hisoka's usual wild style perfectly.
Right now, Hisoka had gotten one of them, and Chrollo finally left that house no one else could enter. They ran into each other by chance and came together.
Kikyo, and Chrollo brought the whole spider troupe with him.
The one who opened the door for them wasn't any of the three kids downstairs, but...
With a huge grudge-based Nen beast on Chrollo's body, he opened the door and saw a face that looked as unreal as a mask, with eyes and mouth like black voids, making him almost think the Nen beast had done something to make him see the kid's face wrong.
"...Hello?"
"Hello." Nanika said.
"Can I come in?"
Nanika turned around: "Alluka... Alluka..."
"Sure! This is Mr. Chrollo!" Alluka called back from the kitchen.
The room layout felt odd, with a sofa right near the door, but the troupe could accept anything weird, so Chrollo sat down on his own as soon as he entered.
"Are your brothers home?"
"Yes." Nanika followed Chrollo obediently.
Chrollo looked down at the kid responding to him.
...This kid is really creepy. Hasn't anyone told him what's going on?
He just asked Alluka, could it be Alluka's Nen? That kid doesn't look like the type to develop that kind of ability from her clothes... Wait, humanoid.
"A humanoid Nen beast? Does that mean we can clear the One Piece coastline now?" Chrollo said thoughtfully.
The other troupe members came in one by one too, some sitting on the floor, some heading to the living room, and someone already planning to go upstairs.
Illumi came down and ran right into Nobunaga who was about to explore upstairs.
"Are you here to rob the place?" Illumi said.
"No, the boss wants to talk business with you Zoldycks and take care of the One Piece coastline task early."
"Oh, please stand. There aren't enough seats." Illumi walked through the troupe crowd alone and sat on an empty sofa on the other side.
Hisoka squatted by the coffee table, playing with things on it, when he suddenly noticed the cookie box design looked familiar.
The packaging style was a bit like the pill box he just got.
He quickly put the box down and focused on the weird fruit plate Illumi made, eating a slice of apple and holding the plate up to Machi to offer her some.
Feitan's umbrella tip poked it, and he took the plate away.
Hisoka shrugged, and with his fingers extending and retracting freely, Ai used her ability to grab some snacks from the fruit plate for him. But food stuck with Nen like that, no one else would want it except him.
Nearby, Chrollo and Illumi were talking about more info on Nen exorcisers.
After he got the exorciser's ability, he really couldn't use it on other troupe members, so he still needed to find one.
The Zoldyck info network was very good. With Silva's years of business built up, finding an exorcisier was possible.
But he had to say the treatment target was the Phantom Troupe, so whether they'd agree was hard to say.
"I still hope to give it a try." Chrollo thought. "How much deposit?"
"No need. If the deal goes through, we can talk then. I'll ask Dad. Ah, you've paid the two leave cards already."
"That card is almost monopolized by you, isn't it? It's really hard to find on the surface now."
"Oh, is that so." Illumi was pleased with the news.
He crossed his arms over his chest, propping his chin with one hand, looking at the Nen beast on Chrollo.
Chrollo didn't mind the look: "I have my own way to deal with this Nen beast. But it's been inconvenient for the Greed Island operation lately. I'll steal a few Nen abilities here and then leave."
Greed Island, entry requirement: Nen users.
A hunter's paradise for Nen thieves. Even though getting rid of the Nen beast was urgent, it would be a loss for him not to take more things before leaving, especially with all the spider legs here—kidnapping would be too easy.
Illumi was happy with the troupe's plan to leave.
Behind and above Illumi's chair, a hand held a plate right in front of him.
The nails showed it was Hisoka's hand, and the aura felt familiar too. Illumi naturally reached with a needle to stab an apple, but since it was an apple, it reminded him of Hisoka's weird thing for apples.
Hisoka looked down at him with bright eyes, like he had some scheme. Knowing what strange stuff Hisoka had been after lately, Illumi turned his hand and stabbed a safe cookie instead and ate it.
The cookies were his little brother's snacks, so no problem.
"Heh heh heh... Um~ Chrollo, want to try some?" Hisoka spoke, but his voice made both of them pause in surprise.
Chrollo broke from his thoughts and looked at Hisoka, sizing him up from the side. He noticed right away the weird swelling in Hisoka's chest.
The muscles on his body had shrunk a lot too, making him look more slim and less strong.
...Is this something light fakeout could do?
"Boss, try some." A strange male voice surprised Chrollo. He turned and saw the familiar purple hair.
Machi?
Machi held an apple and a cookie in her hand.
Machi's inner voice: [Snacks are out. If the apple is the problem, beat Hisoka.]
"Can I eat the apple?" Machi asked.
Chrollo felt Machi's rare unhappy mood, like she wanted revenge on someone.
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"...Of course." Chrollo took the apple without another word and ate it.
Machi's gaze focused on him intensely, making Chrollo feel unusually uncomfortable.
Chrollo scanned the room and finally noticed a change slowly.
Everyone had changed gender?
"My body doesn't seem changed." Chrollo patted his own chest to prove it. "But maybe because I'm not a player. What item changed you all? When did you transform?"
"Right after eating from this fruit plate." Feitan's voice was low, still raspy but not as dark. Chrollo looked at him and noticed his hair was softer than before.
"Less than a minute after eating, my body started changing." Machi said. "Illumi ate a cookie, Phinks ate a snack, Boss, you ate the apple. Why didn't you three change?"
"Is that so." Chrollo was surprised. He took the cookie from Machi's palm, glanced at Illumi who hadn't changed, and chewed it slowly. "Where are the snacks?"
"Heh heh heh... Want to test it yourself, Chrollo?" Hisoka, walking in heels, brought the plate back to Chrollo's front. He had adapted to his changed body well.
Illumi tucked his long hair behind his ear, one hand pressing his chest, pushing the long needle that looked like decoration further into his clothes.
He knew the problem was...
At the same time, Saiki Kusuo, knowing the One Piece coastline task was now on their schedule, went to find Bisky.
He pointed out the location to Bisky, watched her turn to light with magnetic force and vanish into the sky, then Saiki Kusuo strolled slowly into a park in Masadora, sat on a swing.
He had a feeling that going back would lead to something bad.
...
The villa was lively until Bisky rang the doorbell.
After a moment of quiet, everyone watched the nearest man, Machi, go open the door.
At the door stood a little girl who looked about 13 or 14, in a pretty Lolita dress. But she gave off a strong, murderous aura.
"Who are you?" Machi asked warily.
"I'm here for the One Piece coastline task, introduced by Saiki Kusuo." Bisky bowed to Machi, thinking even though the other had long hair, the build was very fine—a very eligible handsome man! And a whole house of people; this was exciting!
Bisky's gaze swept inside, her inner voice showing she was holding back while observing everyone.
[Dressed like a man, but female.]
The huge Nen beast on him was the main point, right.
[Weird dark-style dress, female.]
That was Feitan.
[Full of Ten, but female.]
Peeling off Paku's outfit made it kind of bad for a woman.
[Clothes wide open like a bathrobe, but female.]
Nobunaga finally knew the importance of dressing properly.
[Glasses guy... but wearing a skirt!]
That was Shizuku.
[What kind of people are these!?]
Yeah, what kind of people were these? A group of powerful Nen users who scared everyone, how did they end up like this.
Saiki Kusuo watched remotely with clairvoyance and had similar thoughts.
This couldn't be the "peach blossom" prophecy from a few years ago coming true so fast.
Bisky stood stunned at the door for a while. Her decades of life in the Hunter Association had shown her tons of weirdos, but she still worried if she'd gotten the wrong door and walked into some strange place.
"Ah, you're Bisky? Saiki told us about you. We're discussing the task right now." Chrollo broke the awkwardness first.
The gender changes didn't matter to Chrollo; people were still people, and clothes were mostly decent. Even Nobunaga, who usually showed his chest, had his belt tied.
"Now Bisky and Alluka each have a Nen beast." Chrollo started counting people.
Alluka protested: "Nanika isn't a Nen beast!"
"Hm? Then what is he?" Chrollo asked naturally.
The question was casual, but the brother took it seriously. Illumi got alert right away, his gaze sweeping over.
"Nanika is my friend!" Alluka said seriously.
"...Ah, okay." Chrollo nodded. "So now with your family, 5 people, our troupe's 7, Hisoka one, and Miss Bisky counts as two."
"Numbers are good. Everyone knows each other's abilities, so if we work together openly, we can speed run it, right? Miss Bisky, what reward do you want?"
Bisky's eyes lit up. She could tell this group's auras were all wonderful; even the kid was a rough diamond waiting to be polished.
One kid named Alluka, and the other two must be the ones Saiki wanted her to train? They already showed signs of Ren training. With so many strong people here, why seek her out specially?
"I have a copy card. When the time comes, let me use the copy card to copy the One Piece coastline." Bisky said.
"Our troupe has no issue."
"The Zoldycks don't either." Illumi fixed his clothes and stood up.
"Then..." Chrollo stood too, and the troupe behind him started moving.
Chrollo: "You all head out directly."
Illumi: "We'll act tomorrow."
The two leaders had different opinions.
"Is there some worry? Illumi."
Illumi said: "Who did the gender-change drug come from? What's the purpose? Though right now it's just gender change, who knows if there'll be unexpected side effects?"
"The fruit plate that appeared, isn't it from your house?"
"No, the effect might be from some powder drug added by a malicious Nen user. In the fruit plate, only I made the apples, and the kids' snacks. Who would eat that as a snack?"
Everyone: Isn't it the Zoldycks? Before Illumi clarified, everyone thought it was the Zoldycks' bad taste.
Illumi: What do they think we Zoldycks are? Why would we give guests something like that.
"So that's it. No wonder your outfits looked so strange after changing gender." Bisky lifted her skirt hem and walked in. "For gender-change item cards, it's only the hormone cookies. Changes gender within 24 hours of eating."
"Who would use something like that?"
A small hand slowly raised.
Alluka grabbed her skirt with one hand and raised the other high, under the adults' gazes: "Brother... it was me."
Everyone: Someone really wanted to change gender on purpose.
"I can't summon Nanika directly yet, so I tried changing gender. These past two days I just found I can practice Ren like this."
Alluka said while fiddling with her fingers.
Illumi: ...
"An ability you can only use after changing gender? What if there's no cookies left?"
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