Shizuku's experiences also gave Kurapika a sense of empathy.
Both of Shizuku's parents were dead. She'd sprinted down the road of revenge, and she'd even injured her head in the process.
Neon was more emotional. At first she'd worried Shizuku might be hard to get along with, and had even been thinking about how to act cool and aloof.
But after hearing Shizuku's story, she went teary-eyed and immediately clung to Shizuku's arm and refused to let go.
Shizuku tried to pull free a couple times. When she couldn't, she simply let Neon hold on.
Ronin drove without speaking.
How easy Shizuku was to "recruit" had honestly surprised him. Before coming, his biggest worry was that Shizuku might already have deep ties with the Troupe.
But now it seemed that before the Spence incident, Shizuku—someone who still had parents—wasn't on the same road as Chrollo and the others at all.
Shizuku was born in Meteor City, but her life environment was closer to an ordinary person outside Meteor City.
Maybe damaging her head had even been "good" for her, in a grim way.
Ronin couldn't help thinking: if her parents had died so horribly, how devastated would she have been?
Was her forgetfulness—and her detached calm—some kind of psychological defense mechanism?
The car slowly left the forest and returned to the trash-filled districts.
While Ronin's group was tearing through Spence's manor, Meteor City's elders held an emergency meeting via remote communication.
The agenda had only one item: how to kill the outsider who dared to cause trouble in Meteor City.
"Contact Chrollo. After Spence dies, we can give him an elder seat. Then let the Troupe clean up the outsider."
After heated arguing, that suggestion silenced most of the room.
Ronin's strength was obvious, and no one wanted to lose important subordinates. The Phantom Troupe—an oddball force within Meteor City—became the ideal hired gun.
"But before the Troupe deals with him, do we just let him run wild in Meteor City? Today it's Spence—who's next?"
That harsh, aged voice dropped the room into brief silence.
No one stepped up.
"Hmph."
The old man who'd challenged them was about to say something uglier—but someone cut in.
"Wait—was Elder Theodore not here?"
The question made everyone freeze as the image of that extremist surfaced in their minds.
Theodore was one of the most rigid elders in all of Meteor City.
His creed was simple: if an outsider attacked Meteor City residents, he would turn their own people into bombs to "make a statement."
To him, humans were tools for slaughter—slaughter could express an opinion, or blow the offender into nothing but scraps.
"He's what a true Meteor City elder should be." The old man's tone carried a faint lament. "I'm old. If even Theodore fails, then I hope we can unite.
With an enemy at the gates, killing him is the most important thing. I'll wait in my villa. If my guess is right—if Theodore doesn't kill him—he'll come for me."
As soon as he said that, many elders understood.
Ryan had definitely been involved in Spence's affair.
Yes—this speaker was Ryan: the one who turned Hiroki against Spence, and one of the key figures behind Shizuku's family's ruin.
But whatever Ryan had done was an internal Meteor City matter.
The one who killed Spence was an outsider—so Ryan was right: killing the outsider came first.
"Fine. I'll send people to you."
Voices immediately agreed—many of them.
Ryan's lips curved slightly. Those filthy insects were still far from being able to touch him.
…
On another street, Ronin's group was intercepted.
Blocking the car were people draped in rag-like cloth. They wore masks, walked barefoot, and stood in the messy streets with no guns at all.
At first Ronin didn't take them seriously. He tried to brute-force the car through—
but one of them slammed into the vehicle first, and the instant he collided, he exploded.
The car had to stop. The windshield cracked in a spiderweb pattern. Even though the car had been modified by Spence, it couldn't shrug off that blast.
Ronin got out and looked at the leader.
That man was maintaining Ten.
And from the earlier explosion, Ronin had already begun to suspect something.
From the thug's memory he'd read earlier, Ronin hadn't seen any information about this man—meaning this wasn't Ryan.
But the scene lined up with something from Ronin's memory—
a panel shown when Chrollo introduced "Sun and Moon" during Hisoka vs. Chrollo.
That Meteor City elder, the one with that ability, dressed exactly like these people.
A hoarse voice came from Elder Theodore beneath his cloak and mask.
"Meteor City isn't a place where outsiders can run wild. So… die."
As he spoke, figures leapt down from rooftops on both sides of the street.
They were dressed exactly like Theodore—like copies of him.
And as they fell, every single one of them made the same motion: bringing both hands together.
Sun and Moon.
That was the ability stored in Chrollo's Bandit's Secret—a technique that carved positive and negative marks onto targets, then caused an explosion when the marked points touched again.
Clearly, everyone who jumped down had already been marked by Theodore.
And the two-hands-touching gesture was meant to trigger detonation.
Ronin's eyes sharpened.
These ragged people were being trained as disposable bombers.
Both eyes snapped into Mangekyō. Susanoo manifested around him, and the skeletal hand—driven with thunderous force—swept upward, swatting the falling bombers away like flies.
But explosions still went off the moment marked points touched.
At the same time, from alleys all along the street, more ragged figures poured out—wild-eyed and fervent—charging straight at Ronin's group.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 70 Chapters Ahead of Others!
Patreon.com/Bleam
– Gifting Patreon Membership in my Patreon Page! Check it out!