Chapter 37: I Am the Rules
"Please disembark, seventh examinee."
The beautiful guide's voice echoed across the empty shoreline.
Number 371 Goz stepped forward from the crowd, casting a contemptuous glance at Pokkle behind him.
In his view, surrendering without a fight was a disgrace for any martial artist.
Dressed in full martial attire, he descended from the large ship carrying his massive spear, swinging it forcefully.
The wind pressure generated by the spear's movement created ripples in the coastal waters.
Meanwhile, a new round of rock-paper-scissors had reached its conclusion.
The Nail Freak took a step forward.
This meant he would represent their side in this battle.
"The number tag I need to hunt happens to be yours. Everything is fate." A mechanical voice emerged from Illumi's mouth.
Showing no fear, Goz initiated the attack first.
"Whoosh!"
His spear whistled through the air like a dragon lunging to devour Illumi.
The spear thrust moved with dragon-like ferocity!
Mord's eyes lit up—this was truly excellent spear technique.
On the distant ferry, many examinees who witnessed this scene cheered enthusiastically.
"Great spear work!"
They had been suppressed by the previous eerie atmosphere for too long, and naturally wouldn't miss any opportunity to release their pent-up tension.
Only Pokkle sat at the back, continuously muttering under his breath.
"It's useless, you can't win."
...
Illumi nimbly dodged, his speed remarkable. Unlike Mord, this was pure physical speed.
He wasn't using Nen.
"Again!" Goz roared, his spear sweeping horizontally. After piercing through Illumi's afterimage, it smashed violently against a rock behind.
"Boom!"
The massive rock crumbled, sending stone fragments flying and dirt scattering.
"Excellent!"
Another round of cheers erupted.
On the ferry.
The eldest of the Amori Brothers spoke: "See, they're not that impressive after all."
The timid youngest brother cautioned: "But Hisoka is really terrifying..."
"Only Hisoka is somewhat fearsome. When we disembark, let's not rush to fight them immediately. Wait until everyone's together and attack as one," the second brother added.
Given their skill level and perspective, they could only grasp the surface of what was happening.
"That spearman uncle will definitely lose," Killua stated.
"Don't boost their morale while diminishing ours at a time like this. Whose side are you on anyway?" Leorio said with clear displeasure.
...
Back at the battlefield.
Goz once again thrust his spear into empty air and roared angrily, "Why? Why won't you fight back!"
As his words faded—
"Whoosh!"
A flying needle shot through the air like lightning, piercing through Goz's forehead.
The examinees on the ferry fell silent upon witnessing this, their arguments abruptly ceasing.
A deathly stillness fell over the shoreline.
Just then, a flock of seagulls flew overhead, their cries sounding like a lament for the deceased.
"Tap tap tap tap tap—" Illumi looked down at Goz lying in a pool of blood and spoke. "I fought back."
Another examinee had died before everyone's eyes.
Unlike the two previous battles that ended swiftly, everyone had witnessed Goz's strength firsthand. Yet even someone of his caliber couldn't withstand a single move from his opponent.
Just what kind of monsters were these three people?!
An aura of fear began to spread across the ferry.
The next several examinees all chose to forfeit immediately.
Like Pokkle, they didn't even have the courage to disembark.
The Amori Brothers, who had been boasting loudly earlier, were now trembling uncontrollably. Even when uttering the words to forfeit, their voices shook.
Only the elderly martial artist Bodoro managed to summon the courage to step off the boat.
He was fortunate enough to encounter Mord.
This time, Mord didn't use his Aura ability, instead using Bodoro as a practice partner.
While Bodoro might not have been particularly powerful, decades of training had given him valuable insights in the martial path.
In the end, Mord kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious.
Judging by the original story, this old man was a very upright traditional martial artist, which was why Mord didn't kill him.
Back on the ferry...
"Gon..." Killua looked at Gon's slightly trembling body and suddenly spoke.
"What?" Gon snapped out of his daze and responded.
"Are you excited, or are you scared?"
Gon thought seriously for a moment before answering, "A bit of both, I think."
Courage is resisting fear, mastering fear—not absence of fear.
When facing the great terror of life and death, no one can be completely without fear.
"Examinee number twenty-one, please disembark." The beautiful guide turned to look at the examinees, already expecting them to forfeit.
But contrary to everyone's expectations, this examinee stepped forward with determined strides.
"Forfeit, Kurapika! We can take the Hunter Exam again next year!" Leorio shouted loudly, trying to stop Kurapika from leaving the boat.
Kurapika turned back, his scarlet eyes freezing Leorio in place. By the time Leorio recovered and tried to stop him, Kurapika had already disembarked.
For Kurapika, there were things more important than his own life.
"Oh ho, finally someone interesting appears." Hisoka glanced back at Mord before adding, "That offer you made on the boat still stands, right?"
Mord spread his hands and said, "Of course."
Hisoka stepped forward directly to face Kurapika, whose scarlet eyes were now activated.
"Why is Hisoka fighting? You haven't even played rock-paper-scissors yet!" Leorio shouted from the distant ferry. "This isn't fair to Kurapika!"
Fair?
How naively laughable.
Rules?
The words of the strong are the rules.
Here, Hisoka is the strongest.
Hisoka had specifically mentioned on the ferry that when facing the little apples in his orchard, he would take care of them personally.
This was his chance to measure Kurapika's potential aura capacity once again.
Clearly, Kurapika with his Scarlet Eyes activated gave Hisoka quite a surprise.
Kurapika drew his weapons—two wooden swords—and charged at Hisoka.
Dual Wielding!
With his Scarlet Eyes activated, Kurapika's aura was completely different from before, his attacks becoming increasingly fierce.
Unfortunately, his opponent was Hisoka.
A man who had effortlessly eliminated the former Hunter Association examiner in Trick Tower.
After some testing, Hisoka was quite satisfied, but he feared he might lose control of himself, so he had to end the battle early.
Hisoka dodged Kurapika's swinging wooden sword once more while simultaneously raising his right knee in a knee strike that landed directly in Kurapika's abdomen.
Thud.
Kurapika clutched his abdomen with both hands, his knees giving way as he collapsed to the ground. The intense pain made sweat break out all over his body.
"What number is your target?"
"???" Kurapika looked up at Hisoka, his face full of confusion.
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