"Roy Zoldyck, currently twelve years old. Skilled with the blade, possesses extraordinary talent in swordsmanship. Suspected 'Enhancer'..."
"Eye-catching performance on the Poseidon. Once trained his swordsmanship while withstanding a storm. Later repelled a 'Conjurer' Nen user named Pariston, ranking first in the point battle..."
"Encountered the Kiriko family after the Quiz Town. Conjured a crow-shaped Nen beast and set a mountain forest on fire. Suspected 'Emitter'..."
"At the official venue, encountered an illusion. Data is missing, unable to determine his exact actions. Following that... was the battle with Botobai Gigant... There is video footage... He once demonstrated an ability similar to 'Transformation', allowing him to change his appearance by touching others. Suspected 'Transmuter'..."
"In summary, I have sufficient reason to suspect that he is essentially a 'Specialist' Nen user. For some reason, he can utilize the powers of at least 'Enhancement', 'Conjuration', and 'Transmutation' to one hundred percent efficiency. Or perhaps... even more..."
Yorbian Continent, West Coast, the seaside city of Willbes. On a cliff overlooking the sea.
Elena, her blonde hair tied in twin tails, stared at the light screen before her. While browsing the collected intelligence, she made her report... Not far in front of her, a man wearing a worn-out hood sat fishing by the sea. He had stubble on his chin, and the fishing rod in his hand was specially inlaid with a red bead. He listened silently to the woman's analysis without saying a word.
"Is what I said incorrect?" Elena pushed up the blue-light glasses perched on her nose. She knew Ging; he wasn't the type of man who liked to be direct. His personality tended to be awkward. If he encountered a statement he didn't quite agree with or approve of, he would generally choose silence rather than direct rejection. He was likely... thinking about how to phrase it.
"The rest is fine, there's just one premise..."
The fishing float dragged the red bead downward. At that precise moment, the man grasped the rod and jerked it upward violently. A massive flying fish struggled as it was flung into the sky. When it fell, it hit a giant rock on the cliff, its eyes rolling back as it fainted on the spot.
Ging was very satisfied with the size of the flying fish, thinking about stewing it into fish soup later to nourish Vivian. His hood was lifted by a sudden gust of sea breeze, but he quickly raised his hand to press it back down. He made a hushing sound and said, "All categories ultimately point to 'Specialist'."
"That is to say..." Elena mused, "Roy Zoldyck isn't a 'Specialist', but one of 'Enhancer', 'Conjurer', or 'Transmuter'?"
"I didn't say he wasn't a 'Specialist'." Ging performed a beautiful cast, sending the float and red bead plunging back into the sea. He spoke softly, "Elena, I just want to tell you..."
"What is powerful is not the category, but the person."
Ging's gaze was distant as he looked at the sunlight shimmering on the sea surface. Deeply, he said, "Whether it's you, or me, or Roy Zoldyck, every one of us is an independent individual. We are all different. Strictly speaking, because we are 'different', we are 'special'. Therefore, we are all 'Specialists'..."
"It's just that we display the side we are more skilled at outwardly, differentiating into various categories, that's all."
"A very interesting theory. Where did you read it?"
"Can't it be something I summarized?"
Ging turned his head to meet Elena's skeptical 'Do you think I believe that?' look. He sighed, looking rather 'hurt', and said, "Alright, my ancestor said it."
"Don Freecss?"
"Yeah."
Ging turned his head away, obviously unwilling to say more.
The matter involved Don Freecss... the "Journey to the New World" and that legendary unknown land—the Dark Continent. Even if Elena was curious, she stopped talking in time. Thoughtfully, she played with a strand of hair hanging by her ear, until...
At ten o'clock in the morning, a yellow taxi stopped on time on a potholed small road near the cliff.
The car door opened, and two people stepped out.
The two silent figures turned to look. A boy with black hair draping over his shoulders, a pure white slender katana hanging at his waist, and a separate cane held in his hand. He was clearly only twelve or thirteen years old, yet his stature rivaled that of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth. He walked in the lead. Behind him... followed a butler with a beard on his chin and gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. The butler's expression was slightly melancholic, and his gaze, while cast forward, did not lack sharpness...
Elena glanced up at the 'fat chicken' nesting on top of the boy's head... This person, one butler, plus a fat crow, were exactly the people they had been waiting for!
"Gah-oh~" A crow's cry broke the immersion of the seaside...
As Roy's constitution increased step by step, Xiao Jin's body shape had also become noticeably rounder. Carefully parting its dense feathers, one could even see that its third leg protruded outward a bit more than before.
[Xiao Jin: Three-legged Golden Crow]
[Status: Larva (15000/100000)]
[Rank: S+]
[Manifested Aura Output: C (9640/100000)]
[Potential Aura Output: ?]
[Racial Talent: Sun Chasing (To be activated)... Control Sun Flame: lv2 (5410/10000)... Chariot Driving (To be activated)]
[Evaluation: Growth-type Nen Beast, infinite potential]
"Roy Zoldyck."
"Ging Freecss."
Before they were close... separated by the cliff head, a boy and a young man looked at each other and called out each other's names.
Gotoh, carrying the luggage, narrowed his eyes at Ging and whispered to Roy, "Young Master, this guy... seems far from simple."
Since the butler's constitution had increased, jumping from D to C, his eyesight had also become sharper. Just from the temperament, or rather the aura, emitted invisibly by a person, he could judge certain things. This indirectly proved... Gotoh was no longer the weakling from the original work who could be toyed with and eventually killed by Hisoka at will, but had truly transformed into... a powerhouse with one foot in the C-rank ranks!
"No need to be nervous." With the cane sword in hand and Yukibashiri at his side, the boy paced forward with the Golden Crow on his head...
Elena pushed the glasses on the bridge of her nose and proactively made way for him. Together with Gotoh, they stood to the left and right behind Roy and Ging respectively, falling five to six body lengths behind the two.
"Finally waited for you." Ging stood up to his full height. He thrust the fishing rod in his hand into the ground like a javelin, embedding it firmly in a rock crevice. This single move demonstrated his extraordinary strength.
"Actually, you didn't have to wait for me." Roy pretended not to see Ging's small display of skill. Brushing past the man's shoulder, he came to the edge of the cliff and sat down cross-legged on his own. He flicked the cane sword in his hand, using it straight as a fishing rod. A milk-white Nen thread suddenly extended from the tip, acting as a fishing line, and in an instant, it crossed a height of nearly a hundred meters to probe into the water... This control and application of 'Nen' had obviously reached a level of proficiency and even... faintly, a state of 'freedom'.
[Hint: Host's current 'Nen Ability' Shape Transformation level is: lv2 (584/1000)]
[Remark: Small achievement attained]
However... compared to his swordsmanship, which had one foot in the 'Bankai' realm and reached lv4, it was still far behind... Roy turned his back to Ging and said, "To deal with Razor, with your level, you don't need anyone's help at all."
Ging sat down next to the boy and laughed, "Hookless fishing? That is indeed a good method to temper Nen abilities."
He pressed down on his hood, glancing at the boy out of the corner of his eye, sizing him up. He pulled up his fishing rod and sat side by side with Roy. With a trace of melancholy and reminiscence, he said, "You don't understand. I... from beginning to end, I just don't like being alone."
"Humans are social animals, not Magical Beasts. Acting alone... is meaningless."
"Your son Gon doesn't think so," Roy said abruptly. The sentence was like a muffled hammer, suddenly striking Ging's heart.
The man looked at the boy in surprise. He examined himself for a second, his eyes gleaming, and said to Roy with appreciation, "What sharp [En]. I thought you were only relying on it to search for swimming fish on the seabed. I didn't expect you to have the ability of 'Mind Reading' as well. Zoldyck... lives up to the reputation."
'Mind reading... This person can capture the inner voice of others through [En]? There is no record of this in the intelligence.' Behind Ging, Elena keenly sensed something strange. Her consciousness sank, and she drove her 'Nen' to block the aura that swept over her. She looked at Roy again, her gaze grave... She even took a few extra looks at Gotoh beside him, noticing that the other party was expressionless, standing quietly behind the boy like a rock. He seemed to know nothing, yet also seemed to know everything. She quietly raised the 'weight' of the other party in her assessment.
"My grandfather told me that when I'm out and about, I shouldn't act under the banner of the Zoldycks... If you say that, he will be unhappy..."
"Hehehe..." Ging pressed down the brim of his hat and chuckled low, "Which one? Is it that Zeno who kills one person a day, or someone else?"
Roy didn't answer. He flipped his hand up, pulling out a fat-headed fish. Like a small boat, it flew out of the sea surface. Looking at it... it was even bigger than the flying fish Ging had just caught!
"It's a 'Greedy Whale'. This guy isn't easily seen in shallow waters," Ging said.
The fat-headed fish flew out of the sea, its massive body blocking out the sunlight. Immediately... a large shadow was cast down...
At that moment, the boy asked, "Can it be eaten?"
Ging shook his head, "No."
"The meat is too rough; it hurts your teeth to eat."
Roy gave a light 'mn', loosened his hand, and let it fall back into the sea, kicking up waves. The fish fled in panic without looking back. Roy spoke calmly, "My younger brother is about to be born too. Before leaving... Father specifically instructed me to go home quickly, so... please hurry up."
Ging: "Have you picked a name?"
"Killua."
"Killua... same age as Gon." The man smiled, "Maybe they will become good friends in the future."
'Become good friends, and then what? Accompany Gon to play the game of a little tadpole looking for his dad?'
Roy recalled that in the original work, Killua and Gon went through hardships to find Ging. While Ging certainly had the intention of training Gon, it also satisfied his bad taste.
Roy cast a faint sidelong glance...
Ging suddenly felt baffled. He scratched his face and asked, "Is there a problem?"
Roy withdrew his gaze and simply changed the topic, "Let's talk about the jailbreak. What do you need me to do?"
"Elena."
Two golden ponytails swung. Receiving the signal from Ging, Elena immediately revealed the action plan established beforehand, telling Roy and Gotoh everything in detail.
To summarize...
"You just need to hold off Ginta and buy me time to defeat Razor."
Ging stood up to his full height. He flicked the fishing rod and carried it on his shoulder. The man looked at the boy with burning eyes and said, "No problem, right?"
Roy stood up, leaning on his cane sword. "You will handle the follow-up impact caused by the jailbreak."
He extended his hand. With a 'snap', he shook hands with Ging.
"Happy cooperation."
"Happy cooperation."
"Whoosh~" A gust of sea breeze blew, fluttering the hood and causing the Hanafuda earrings to sway...
At 6:47 PM that day.
On a minivan branded with the divine script 'Custody' driving from Willbes to the suburban Tibilisi Prison, the brakes were suddenly slammed, drawing two long tire tracks on the uneven road surface.
A man whose hands, feet, front chest, and back were securely confined by handcuffs, shackles, and chains was sitting quietly in the carriage with his eyes closed, resting. Opposite him, a man who was even taller than him, sporting a fluffy afro and a naive face, was dozing off. He suddenly woke up with a start...
Just as he poked his head out through the car window, he heard several gunshots and a loud shout exploding in the sky!
"Watch the prisoner, someone is breaking into the jail!"
"Clatter~" Two more car doors slid open. On the road, from the other two vans sandwiching the middle van, a small squad of fully armed prison guards filed out... Razor and Ginta, who was responsible for guarding him, heard the commotion. Razor suddenly opened his eyes... his long, narrow eyes immediately narrowed into slits, keenly capturing a trace of unusual Nen aura.
[Parasitic Dream]: Forcibly hypnotize others through 'gaze' or 'words'.
Roy and his group blocked the front of the vehicle. A mass of looming gray mist climbed into his eyes... Under the bewildered gazes of Ging and Elena, without the boy making any movements, he simply said one phrase: "Sleep."
"Thump... Thump..." The prison guards rushing up with guns suddenly met Roy's gaze and heard his murmur. They only felt 'sleepiness' surging like a monstrous wave, dragging them into a boundless sea of sleep. One after another, their eyes rolled up...
Like dumplings falling into a pot, they collapsed onto the ground one by one!
'Dream realm or psychological suggestion... This way of forcibly hypnotizing others... doesn't look like [En]!'
Ging's eyes moved, and he took his hand out of his pocket. "Let's start, there are three more!"
Razor... Ginta... and another person...
As Ging's voice fell, a black curtain suddenly rose into the sky, then descended, instantly forming a black dome that inverted on the ground, enveloping Ging, Roy, their group, and the three minivans entirely within it...
Obviously, this was a... Nen ability unleashed by that third person!
"Young Master." Gotoh, following beside Roy, immediately pulled out the 'Infinite Handguns'. "Click," he pulled the slide and said in a deep voice, "The opponent seems to be a 'Control Type'!"
"Leave him to you." Roy noticed two figures, one large and one small, appearing. Behind them, a prisoner with squinty eyes was faintly visible sitting there.
The boy held dual blades in his hands. "Clang," they unsheathed. In an instant, they turned red and ignited, surging with two streaks of fierce flames as he slashed towards the burly man with the most massive body...
That burly man had a naive face. Instead of retreating, he advanced, smashing a fist forward that instantly enlarged...