Hunter Exam — Swamp Exit
This kid… watching me?
Satotz's neck stiffened as Roy's blind eyes "swept" over him. His heart lurched, and he quickened his pace up the stairs.
"Huff… hurry up! Dawn's just ahead!"
The candidates burst out of the suffocating tunnel, gasping for air.
"Finally free…" Leorio yanked his tie loose, slumping in relief.
Kurapika shot him a look. "Don't celebrate too early. This is only stage one."
"That's right!" Gon grinned, then glanced at Roy. "Uncle, what's next?"
Both Kurapika and Gon had begun piecing it together.
Roy's warnings — "Silence is golden," "Beware the sly fox" — were never random.
Only Leorio still missed the obvious.
Roy tipped back his gourd for a lazy drink. "Didn't I already tell you? True and false… figure it out."
The blind man stepped out into the light, his shadow long on the ground.
"Uncle, wait up!" Gon barreled after him, sunlight glinting off his fishing rod straight into Leorio's eyes.
"Gon! You trying to blind me?!" Leorio shouted, staggering out of the tunnel on all fours.
Kurapika ignored them, scanning the swamp. Mist rose over the pothole‑riddled ground. So this is stage two…
Before he could ponder Roy's riddle further—
"Liar! That man's a fraud!"
A brown‑haired candidate stormed forward, clutching a struggling man‑faced ape… with Satotz's face. The crowd erupted instantly.
Hunter Association President's Office
Maha's gaze lingered on the TV screen — the human‑faced beast snarling in the candidate's grip. His own expression darkened.
"Seeing these monsters… brings back bad memories," he muttered. Then his tone hardened, eyes locking on Netero.
"Boy. I'm not here just to watch my grandson."
"Oh?" Netero sipped his tea through a straw, pretending calm.
"It's time you returned Jaeger's notebook to me."
The name froze the room.
Jaeger Zoldyck. Zeno's father. Maha's son. Netero's companion on the Dark Continent.
Together they'd done what most Hunters only dreamed of — gone beyond the known world and come back alive.
Netero had risen to lead the Association.
Jaeger… had returned home bearing something unspeakable — and died not long after.
"Old man, I've lived long enough," Maha said quietly. "But Jaeger's death… I'll never let it go." His voice shook with age and fury. "The notebook he left — I know it's here. Give it back."
"…"
Clatter!
The teacup rolled off the desk and shattered on the floor.
Beans flinched out of habit, but Netero didn't even try to catch it. He just stared at the spreading tea, lost in thought.
At last he looked up, expression grave.
"Grandpa Maha… the notebook is with me. But you don't want to read it."
"What nonsense!" Maha slammed his palm onto the desk. The red cedar groaned, caving into a deep print.
"Dark Continent, curse, disaster — call it whatever you like. I'm his father. I have the right to see it!"
Netero met his murderous stare without blinking. "If you attack me, I won't stop you. But know this—"
His voice dropped low.
"Keeping that notebook here was Jaeger's last wish. He said it must never return to the Zoldycks unless…"
"Unless what?!" Maha snapped.
"Unless one of his descendants breaks human limits — shatters the genetic barrier — and truly transcends."
Netero's eyes were cold steel.
"Only someone who becomes something… more than human has the right to read it."
"So tell me, Master Maha. Do you qualify? Does anyone in your family?"
Maha's breath hitched. His glare wavered, then slid to the TV.
In the crowd of Hunter candidates stood his blind grandson, calm as ever, pointing two fingers to his eyes as if sensing them even now.
The old assassin's fury melted into a faint smile.
"I'm too old. Some things… are for the young."
He straightened, voice proud.
"Netero. Keep the notebook safe. If I can't claim it… my grandson Roy will."
Netero's brows knit. "…"
For the first time in decades, the world's strongest Hunter had nothing to say.