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Chapter 585
🕑 Added 2025-06-02 15:04:01 +0000 UTCChapter 585
"The situation I witnessed at the time was like this," Machi said. "For the specific details, you can ask Hisoka."
Shalnark turned his gaze toward Hisoka. "Hisoka, can you describe it in detail?"
With a flick of his wrist, Hisoka sent a card spinning through the air before catching it again. "I did lose," he said. "During our fight, Ron used several types of abilities. One was Nen bullets—multiple varieties: flame, frost, explosive, storm, corrosive, lightning."
"The second was a position-swapping ability. Ron could switch places with his Nen Beasts using that technique. At the time, two Nen Beasts appeared—one specialized in fire, and the other could use both fire and lightning. Both were very powerful."
Shalnark frowned. "Is Ron an Emission-type?"
"Unknown," Hisoka shook his head.
Franklin spoke up. "I can attach certain elemental properties to Nen bullets, but as you all know, attribute transformation is part of Transmutation. And for Emission-types, aptitude in Transmutation is not high. If I tried developing Nen bullets that way, their power would be greatly reduced."
"Spatial abilities do fall within Emission-type tendencies. But Hisoka, do Ron’s Nen Beasts lean more toward Emission or toward Conjuration?"
Nen Beasts involve two aspects: one is aura leaving the body, which is Emission-type content; the other is making aura take physical form, which belongs to Conjuration. Most abilities are formed through the fusion of multiple Nen categories—only a very few are purely of a single type.
Gon's "Rock, Paper, Scissors" is one such example: Rock is Enhancement, Paper is Emission, Scissors is Transmutation.
Hisoka shook his head again. "I can't determine it. Those two Nen Beasts can’t be seen by ordinary people—only visible under Gyo—but both specialize in mid-range attacks. They might lean toward Emission, or possibly Conjuration, but there are definitely restrictions or conditions involved."
Chrollo raised his head and looked at Hisoka. "Even at full strength, you couldn’t defeat Ron?"
Hisoka was silent for a moment. "Not currently."
"Then how do you think Ron's strength compares to mine?"
Hisoka’s brow lifted slightly. "I don’t know."
"Have you thought of any strategies that could counter Ron?"
"No," Hisoka replied bluntly, though he withheld much information. For example, he didn’t mention Ron’s other abilities: the Gravity Game, which Hisoka was aware of; the fact that the Nen bullet ability wasn’t Ron’s innate skill, but a Nen tool; or the Rotten Life Blade Ron carried at his waist, which Hisoka had seen him use when facing the Six Herds from the Saherta Federation.
Nor did he mention that Ron was a member of the Zoldyck family.
Chrollo withdrew his gaze and looked back at Machi. "As for inviting Ron into the Phantom Troupe, don’t bring it up again. Your intuition rarely fails, and Ron has no reason to join us."
"But," he continued, "you encountered Ron on the airship—was he coming to Yorknew as well?"
Machi nodded. "Yes."
"For the auction? Or something else?"
"Not for the auction," she said, shaking her head. "He’s here for another matter, though I don’t know the details. It likely won’t interfere with our plans."
Chrollo nodded. "We’ve spent a long time preparing for this operation. It must not fail. If Ron truly becomes someone standing in our way, then I’ll handle it personally."
"Let’s return to the plan. Since everyone is here—Shalnark, explain the operation in full."
Shalnark nodded. "Yes, leader." He stepped forward. "This operation targets the Yorknew Auction. Our objective is everything inside—to take all the items and steal them completely."
"This is a massive fortune. But more importantly, through this act, the name of the Phantom Troupe will rise once again."
"Being just an A-class wanted group isn’t enough for us. We aim to become an S-class criminal syndicate."
Chrollo had long harbored an obsession with the S-class designation. The KUTE Bandit Group, which once sacrificed countless lives in Meteor City to create the Four Disasters, was considered an S-class criminal group. Chrollo didn’t want the Phantom Troupe’s name to fall below theirs.
Without that notoriety, how could they inspire fear? How could they draw powerful criminals to them? How could they protect Meteor City and prevent its tragedies from recurring?
He needed the Phantom Troupe to possess a reputation terrible enough to keep the world cautious. Even S-class was, in his eyes, only the beginning. He wanted to shape the Phantom Troupe into the most fearsome criminal group in human history—without peer.
"Before the auction begins, we must investigate the venue's layout, its security, and where the auction items are being stored," Shalnark continued. "This part will be handled by Pakunoda and me. Our abilities are best suited for this task."
Suddenly, Phinks interrupted. "Shalnark, from the moment you started explaining, something’s been bugging me. We’re not all here, are we? Where’s the new No. 8 member?"
Shalnark smiled and pointed toward a corner. "Right there. Didn’t you see?"
"Where?" Phinks looked over and suddenly his pupils shrank. Standing in the corner was a figure—but when one wasn’t deliberately looking, it felt like he wasn’t there at all.
"Hello." The young man raised his hand and greeted Phinks.
But his appearance was entirely unlike that of an ordinary human. Two white ears, resembling a wolf’s, protruded from the top of his head, and his skin seemed to be marked with faint white scales. A cold, eerie aura leaked from his body like that of a predator silently lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike.
