"That's the situation."
Roy called Android 18 and explained Ilo's situation to her, though he did not mention the one billion Jenny at all. He was not in a hurry to die.
"I see. That explains it. I did sense a rapidly moving aura earlier that felt a lot like yours, except with a bit of darkness mixed into it."
Android 18 had just finished her bath. Wrapped in nothing but a bathrobe, her figure was sharply outlined beneath it.
Once you reached the 100th floor and above in Heavens Arena, you got a private room.
"Do you want to come to Heavens Arena? Isn't this basically one of the best places to make money?"
"Not for now. I'm planning to head back to Old Silver Mountain City immediately and discuss the Dragon Ball anime adaptation with old Luke..."
After hanging up with Android 18, Roy finally let out a sigh of relief. But when he saw Zeno smiling beside him, his irritation flared right back up.
The Zoldyck assassin family might as well rename themselves the extortion family.
After thinking it over, Roy finally dialed old Luke's number.
"Hello, Mr. Luke, sorry, it's me, Roy."
"...Understood. Please calm down. I'll head back immediately... Where am I? Right now I'm in a, uh... very mysterious place. I'll return as soon as possible... Okay, okay, we'll talk when we meet!"
After hanging up, Roy learned that old Luke had already settled everything and finished the preparations. All that was left was for Roy to sign.
But if he wanted to leave...
In the end, after a long argument with Zeno, Roy signed an IOU for five hundred million Jenny.
It could not be helped. Mahā really had been the one to give him the Egg Pearl. Mahā had also been the one to point out his personal issue. On top of that, the fight between him and Ilo, plus the hole they blasted through the ceiling and the damage to the Zoldyck family estate, were all undeniable facts. He really did owe the Zoldycks a favor.
"Tch! Just you wait. Someday I'm coming back to take away your most talented direct descendant and corrupt him properly."
After signing the debt note, Roy went to the Gate of the Underworld and informed Gon and the others, who were still training their bodies there, then set off on the road back.
Meanwhile, on Ilo's side...
After flying away from the Zoldyck family estate, he first found a shop and grabbed himself a decent outfit. Then, following Roy's orders with great seriousness, he put a mask over his face.
"Roy-sama was right. And after putting on the mask, I feel even more handsome! Perfect!"
Although he obeyed Roy completely, he still possessed his own personality, just like Dabura in Dragon Ball after being controlled by Babidi.
He respected Babidi greatly, while still retaining the intelligence and personality he had as the king of the Demon Realm.
After that, Ilo ran off to a restaurant and stuffed himself with food, then successfully skipped out without paying.
Once he was full, he jumped up onto a tree branch and crouched there. He lit a cigarette he had taken along the way and began thinking about his next work plan.
At that moment, Ilo lounged there with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, looking every bit like a delinquent.
"According to Roy-sama, if I want to climb to the top, then I need to find a major organization. The Hunter Exam seems to have already ended this year, so if I want to become a Hunter, I'll have to wait until next year. The Zoldyck family is some kind of assassin organization that works for money? Too bad my last name isn't Zoldyck. There's also that V5... but for someone like me, with no identity or background at all, it'd probably be impossible to rise to any high position in the public world, right?"
Ilo scratched his head. "Looks like Roy-sama was right. The only option is to take the Ten Dons' route and replace them as ruler of the underground world. But starting from the bottom of the Mafia isn't my style. For someone like me, with absolutely no background at all... wait!"
A flash of insight crossed Ilo's mind.
"If I've got no background, then Meteor City... Phantom Troupe..."
A grin slowly spread across Ilo's face, until at last he burst into loud laughter.
"Good! It's decided! I don't know what kind of existence this Phantom Troupe is, but according to Roy-sama, they have some dealings with the Ten Dons. That means they should be a pretty special organization too. I'm going to check them out!"
Since Roy was traveling back alone, there was naturally no need for an airship. He simply erupted with Ki and used Flight to head straight for Old Silver Mountain City.
In Dragon Ball, at the start of the Z arc, when the Saiyans arrived on Earth, the bald Nappa could circle the entire planet in only three hours, and his power level was still below 5000.
So the distance between Kukuroo Mountain and Old Silver Mountain City only took Roy less than half an hour to fly.
That was even with him taking some time midway to avoid the various airships and planes traveling through the sky, and also to deal with the flying rare beasts that kept appearing recklessly in his path.
"Roy, you're back? Are you all right? Were you hurt during the Hunter Exam?"
When Roy saw the sincere concern in old Luke's face, his heart warmed, and at the same time he felt even more ashamed of his earlier behavior.
"I'm fine. See? I'm perfectly okay."
Old Luke looked him up and down carefully. After confirming that Roy had not been injured during the Hunter Exam, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Then he congratulated him.
"I really didn't expect you to return safe and sound from that Hunter Exam with such a terrifying death rate. And not only that, you actually passed and got a license! When I told my old friends, every single one of them stared with their eyes wide open like they couldn't believe it. Kuku!"
After the laughter died down, old Luke shifted into work mode.
They began discussing the anime adaptation of Dragon Ball.
Dragon Ball was currently the hottest manga in the world.
There was no equal.
Because of that, countless people had their eyes fixed on this huge piece of meat, all wanting to tear off a massive bite.
Anime, movies, merchandise, toys, games...
Every kind of distributor was waving checks with red eyes, practically howling for a chance, and old Luke too was staring at those checks with reddened eyes.
Old Luke had already negotiated with agents from every category regarding everything Dragon Ball could possibly be developed into. All that remained was for Roy to come back, discuss the pricing and compensation, and sign the contracts.
Over the next few days, Roy accompanied old Luke to meet with the major distributors. Then, during the meetings, Roy called Android 18 and put the phone on speaker, which had been something Android 18 strongly insisted on.
After that came a long series of intense bargaining and exhausting back-and-forth haggling, which ended up consuming more than half a month.
(End of Chapter)
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