"Has no one contacted you with additional information?" Pokkle asked as they ran, clearly hoping to extract more details about the base.
"No. I haven't received anything since I left the village," Joey replied honestly.
The answer didn't satisfy Pokkle. Still, from their brief interaction, he had already formed a rough understanding of Joey's intentions.
Joey wanted to leave NGL—safely.
Everything he had revealed so far, from the information he shared to the phone and map he had produced, pointed to a single goal: convincing them to take him out of NGL as quickly as possible.
At the same time, that only made Joey's warnings more credible.
If he was this desperate to leave, then the threat he described was likely real.
"Were there multiple creatures chasing you earlier?"
Joey understood what he meant and raised four fingers.
"I encountered four in total. One looked like an ape, another like a wolfhound—both were shot dead. There was also one that resembled a pill bug. I hit it with a grenade and damaged its insides, but I'm not sure if it died. That thing was incredibly tough."
He didn't try to hide how he had dealt with them.
Guns. Grenades. Nothing more.
Pokkle had already seen enough to make his own judgment.
Pokkle nodded slightly. Since he hadn't sensed any Chimera Ants nearby after arriving, Joey's account was likely accurate.
His gaze shifted back to Joey.
Based on experience, Pokkle was fairly certain—Joey did not know Nen.
He was over eighty percent confident in that conclusion, judging from Joey's behavior and subtle habits.
And yet… there were contradictions.
First, Joey—who supposedly couldn't use Nen—possessed something resembling a Nen beast.
Pokkle didn't have deep expertise in this area. Despite having learned Nen, his experience was still far inferior to that of veteran Hunters.
Still, from what he had seen earlier—the disappearance of the "Nen beast" and Joey's control over it—it was clear Joey could command it to some extent.
That likely explained how he had made it this far alive.
Combined with the earlier explosion, Pokkle judged that the ability in question was likely a combat-oriented Nen beast.
And not a simple one.
There was no way that explosion alone represented the full extent of its power.
A humanoid, muscular construct like that would almost certainly excel in close combat as well.
The second point…
Joey could see Nen.
If Joey truly hadn't awakened Nen, that would make no sense.
And yet, Pokkle's judgment was based on direct observation.
His earlier "archery" gesture had been a deliberate test.
If Joey couldn't see Nen, he wouldn't have noticed the red arrow Pokkle had formed. His reaction wouldn't have been one of tension or resistance—it would have been confusion.
After all, mimicking a bow-and-arrow motion with empty hands would look ridiculous to someone unable to perceive Nen.
But Joey had reacted immediately.
His gaze had locked onto Pokkle's hand, and his expression had shown clear displeasure at the implied threat.
That reaction was proof enough.
And yet, it raised a deeper question.
How could someone who hadn't awakened Nen perceive it?
Was Joey hiding his true ability?
Pokkle's thoughts drifted back to the moment he first saw Joey in the village.
Back then, Joey had behaved like an ordinary person—someone ignorant of Nen.
And yet, that same person had a Nen beast by his side.
Strangely, Joey had never once looked directly at it.
Could it be… that he couldn't actually see it?
Then why had he reacted to Pokkle's test?
The contradiction lingered.
Pokkle's mind returned to an earlier memory—his surprise upon spotting "Kira Yoshikage" and that strange entity beside him from afar.
Because of that unease, he had quietly investigated the boy in the village.
The results had been… underwhelming.
To most villagers, Yoshikage Kira was nothing more than an ordinary farmer.
A few found him odd.
At fifteen, he consistently refused matchmaking attempts with polite firmness.
His lifestyle was unusually structured for someone his age—almost obsessive.
He maintained his fields with meticulous precision, striving for symmetry and perfection in every detail, even arranging scarecrows in identical fashion.
Beyond that, however, he was unremarkable.
And yet…
When someone had suddenly called out his name—a stranger he had never met—Yoshikage had reacted with unnatural composure.
Too calm.
The reaction of someone accustomed to being watched.
Moreover, his proficiency with weapons confirmed something else.
He wasn't just a villager.
In NGL, only organization members and visiting volunteers had access to firearms—and volunteers didn't live in villages.
Which meant Yoshikage Kira belonged to the former.
That alone was enough to warrant caution.
Pokkle's earlier probing gestures hadn't just been tests of strength—they were meant to gauge how much Joey knew about them.
And the result was unsettling.
Joey likely knew more than he let on.
That conclusion came from a small detail.
His gaze.
Earlier, Joey's eyes had swept across the surrounding bees.
Ponzu had deliberately gathered most of them, leaving only a few scattered in the forest.
Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't have stood out at all.
Yet Joey had noticed them.
Which raised a troubling question:
How did he know Ponzu could control bees?
Lost in thought, Pokkle glanced sideways at Joey as they ran.
At that exact moment, Joey looked back.
Their eyes met briefly.
They exchanged a polite nod—then both looked away.
Joey, of course, had no idea what was going through Pokkle's mind.
His own thoughts were tangled in a different problem.
Why could he see Nen?
He was certain he hadn't awakened it.
And yet, he could clearly perceive it—at least when it was sufficiently concentrated.
When he first saw the red arrow, he hadn't understood what it was.
Only after seeing Pokkle appear, his eyes reinforced with Nen, had realization struck.
He couldn't use Nen.
But he could see it.
Was it due to his mental strength?
Or… was it connected to his Stand?
At that thought, Joey suddenly remembered his wallet.
The faint white shimmer surrounding it—
What he had perceived back then… was that Nen?
The question lingered.
But there was no way he could test that theory on Pokkle.
Almost instinctively, Joey glanced at him.
Only to find Pokkle already looking in his direction.
A flicker of unease passed through Joey.
He gave a small, restrained nod and quickly averted his gaze.
Yet for some reason…
Pokkle seemed just as wary.
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