Kurapika's guess was right on the money.
The Phantom Troupe was indeed in a bind.
Chrollo shared his theory with the members, and Shalnark was the first to agree with his deduction.
When Machi also agreed, the rest of the group accepted it as fact. They were convinced that Chrollo had uncovered the secret behind Ronin's rapid power growth.
After all, Machi's intuition had been flawless since they were kids.
But that led to the problem.
They were the ones who had sold the Scarlet Eyes, but they had no idea who most of the buyers were.
To Chrollo, the Scarlet Eyes had merely been currency—a tool to open a specific information channel.
That channel was connected to the murder of Sarasa in Meteor City years ago. Chrollo had narrowed it down to a specific, exclusive website.
It was a network built entirely by Nen users and powered by special artifacts—what Chrollo theorized were "Divine Artifacts." This network stored vast amounts of data, including the video of Sarasa's death.
If Ronin hadn't interfered, Chrollo's next move would have been to investigate that website.
But now, with Ronin in the picture—and potentially wielding another Divine Artifact—Chrollo decided to switch priorities.
If Ronin truly possessed such an artifact, seizing it might be the key to cracking the security of that mysterious website.
"By now, Ronin should have collected five pairs of eyes," Shalnark said, tapping away on his phone as he calculated. "His father's pair, the pair he bought while at Heaven's Arena, the pair from Omokage, and the one from the underground auction in Kakin."
"Correct. There should be two more pairs in the mafia-run auction houses here, and another one at the Southern Peace auction on the 5th," Chrollo confirmed. "We must secure these three pairs before Ronin does."
"I'll head to Southern Peace to negotiate. If I offer enough money, I'm confident I can buy the eyes directly from the auction house before they go on the block," Shalnark said confidently.
His bank account could easily handle the expense.
And if money didn't work, robbery was always a solid Plan B.
Chrollo nodded. "Take Machi, Nobunaga, Feitan, and Phinks with you. The remaining five will stay with me as a rapid response team."
"You think Ronin might ambush us at Southern Peace?" Shalnark asked.
"Better safe than sorry. Also, Isori needs to be extra careful. The Zoldyck duo is definitely targeting you," Chrollo warned. "Try to figure out who hired them. If you can't pinpoint the exact person, write down a list of everyone who might want you dead."
Chrollo knew how the Zoldycks operated.
If Isori could provide a list of potential employers, Chrollo would hire another Zoldyck to assassinate everyone on that list.
If the employer died, the contract on Isori would be voided.
Isori gave a bitter, lopsided smile on his gaunt face. "I'll try. But you know... I've pissed off a lot of people."
"Maybe think about which disgruntled mistress hates you the most. That might narrow it down," Machi snorted.
"Hey now," Isori protested weakly. "Those were all true love!"
Machi rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful.
Chrollo ignored the banter, his mind already on the next problem. While he didn't remember most of the buyers, he certainly remembered the biggest one.
The Fourth Prince of the Kakin Empire, Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou. A man with a gruesome hobby of collecting human body parts.
Kakin was a deep, murky pond.
Retrieving the eyes from Tserriednich would be no simple task.
He would have to go to Kakin eventually, but not yet.
By his count, including Ronin's father's eyes, there were 35 pairs of Scarlet Eyes left in existence.
Ronin had 5. There were 3 publicly available in Yorknew. He had sold 11 to Tserriednich. That left 16 pairs unaccounted for.
Leaving Tserriednich for last, the race was on for those 16 scattered pairs.
He also needed to dig deeper into the Kurta Clan's history.
And he had to be careful. While they hunted for the eyes, there was a very real danger that Ronin would turn the tables and start hunting them.
The predator and prey roles were starting to blur.
Chrollo pulled out his phone. He was going to need some outside help.
---
September 4th.
The biggest news in Yorknew wasn't the "deaths" of the Phantom Troupe members. It was the auction prices.
Item X sold for a record-breaking sum! Person Y made a fortune finding a hidden gem!
During the seven-day auction festival, money was the only language that mattered.
Ronin had a free day.
Yesterday, he had absorbed his eighth pair of Scarlet Eyes. His strength had ticked up again, but the increase in aura capacity alone wasn't satisfying him anymore.
The bottleneck was still the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Until he found the trigger, absorbing more eyes just increased his aura reserves and gave him a vague sensation that power was accumulating within his eyes, waiting to be unleashed.
Maybe there would be a surprise waiting for him once he finally awakened them.
During his fight with Uvogin, Ronin had realized something. The Third Raikage's strongest lightning jutsu wasn't as effective when he used it.
Compared to the Third Raikage, Ronin's output was lacking.
If the real Third Raikage had been there, Uvogin would have been turned into paste in seconds.
The issue was his body. His physical durability was nowhere near the Raikage's level. The idea that ninjas were glass cannons was a stereotype Ronin needed to unlearn.
The physical stats of high-level Taijutsu specialists were monstrous.
It made sense. The Third Raikage could tank a Tailed Beast Bomb and fight the Eight-Tails to a standstill. His body was practically indestructible.
Ronin needed to train harder. If he could toughen his body, the power of his Lightning Chakra Mode would scale up with it.
Then there was his aura capacity.
Being an Enhancer gave him incredible recovery speeds.
On September 1st, he had fought two battles back-to-back with minimal rest. Despite using Shadow Clones and Multi-Shadow Clones repeatedly, he had managed to recover about 80% of his strength quickly thanks to Kurapika's support and his own use of Zetsu.
That recovery rate was his biggest asset right now.
Wearing a disguise, Ronin left the hotel with Neon.
He planned to take her to a few auctions today. They were in Yorknew, after all; they might as well experience the main event.
"Let's get one thing straight—this is not a date," Neon said, putting on a serious face.
"Keep dreaming," Ronin rolled his eyes. "I have zero interest in undeveloped brats."
"Oh! I get it now," Neon said, nodding with exaggerated wisdom. "You like Millia."
"Since when are you two close?" Ronin asked, confused.
Neon gave him a smug 'I knew it' look. Since he hadn't denied it, that counted as a confession in her book. "Hehe, none of your business."