Turning Enemies into Friends

After taking two punches from Ian, Ankeli finally fell in line.

As a Nen user capable of standing alongside Mizaistom, she was no fool, and she quickly understood.

The doll in Ian's hand had somehow become linked to her.

Though... she didn't know how he had done it...

But he had already met the conditions and activated his Nen Ability.

She was in a very bad position.

Hearing Mizaistom's apology, Ian said calmly,

"If saying sorry was enough to make up for doing something wrong, there wouldn't be so much chaos in this world..."

"You're a professional Hunter, right? Have you ever seen anyone make up for a mistake with an apology alone?"

Mizaistom fell silent for a moment.

He also reflected that the moment he and Ankeli had attacked, things had reached a point of no return.

"I'm willing to pay a sufficient price..."

"If possible, I hope you'll let Ankeli go. She was dragged into this mistaken fight because of me."

Hearing that, Ankeli hurriedly shouted,

"Hey, Mizaistom! Don't do this because of me..."

"Shut up!"

Ian covered the doll's mouth again, and she lost her voice in an instant.

"If it weren't for your impulsiveness, we might have been able to clear things up from the start..."

He rubbed his forehead helplessly and said irritably,

"I really don't know why an impulsive person like you isn't an Enhancement type."

Ian was conflicted too.

They had attacked him and his companions, after all.

If he just let them go, wouldn't they have been ambushed for nothing? Uvogin had even been injured because of it.

But there was no point in continuing to fight them, either.

Setting aside how difficult Mizaistom was to deal with, Ian no longer had enough Nen to keep fighting.

Most importantly,

Mizaistom really hadn't meant to target them. At the very least, he hadn't intended to kill them.

He had probably... really treated Ian and the others as vicious criminals...

But how was that possible? This was definitely a misunderstanding!

Ian had never considered himself a criminal, nor did he think there was anything wrong with what he, Uvogin, Nobunaga and the others had done!

They had neither stolen nor robbed anyone. All they had done was deal with a few pieces of trash.

How could that count!?

In the Hunter World, what they had done practically made them model citizens!

Seeing Mizaistom's attitude, Ian wrestled with the decision.

After thinking for a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up. Then he pretended to ponder it and said,

"It's not impossible for us to settle this."

"You just said you were willing to pay for your recklessness, right?"

Of course, Mizaistom wouldn't lie. He nodded earnestly and said,

"As long as you agree to let Ankeli go and release her from your Nen Ability, I can hear your demands. Of course, I won't do anything illegal or criminal."

At that, he hesitated for a moment before explaining,

"That's a restriction on my Nen Ability, so I hope you can understand."

Ian knew something of Mizaistom's character in the original story, so he was naturally reassured.

At the very least, the man before him wasn't the sort of scoundrel who said one thing and meant another.

He could believe what Mizaistom said.

"A completely meaningless fight..."

"And you caused all of it. So my condition is that you, Mizaistom, teach my companions about Nen Abilities and how to use them!"

Ian slowly removed the hand covering Ankeli's mouth and said with feigned impatience,

"If you agree to that condition, I'll release the Nen Ability I used on this woman."

"Of course, if this woman goes crazy, you're responsible for stopping her!"

Hearing Ian's words, Mizaistom fell silent for a moment.

It wasn't because the condition was too difficult. On the contrary, it was too easy.

It even happened to suit his wishes, giving him an opportunity to get to know these geniuses.

He still couldn't connect the children before him with the cruel slaughter in that alley.

After clashing with them here for so long,

he finally understood where that faint sense of discord came from!

It was because... there was something wrong with the way these children thought!

The children before him were far too mature and cold...

Especially the boy who had used himself to test the effective range of his Nen Ability.

That attitude, as if he didn't even care about his own life, was completely unlike the mindset of a child his age.

Mizaistom didn't know their pasts.

But that didn't stop him from realizing at once that they must have grown up in circumstances utterly different from those of normal children.

He wanted to use the opportunity to teach these children about Nen Abilities to correct their misguided thinking and prevent them from taking a criminal path in the future.

So he answered calmly and seriously,

"All right!"

For the moment, this decision was the most suitable choice for both sides.

Ian had no intention of continuing to hold the Ankeli doll.

One look was enough to tell that this woman had an ambiguous relationship with Mizaistom.

Killing her wasn't a good option, and he had no interest in venting his anger by torturing her.

If he kept her in doll form, he would have to keep expending Nen. However he looked at it, that was a losing deal.

He might as well use this opportunity... to gain the truly precious knowledge and techniques for using Nen Abilities in the Hunter World.

These were secret skills that virtually every school and faction kept to themselves.

Regardless of whether Mizaistom had inherited a detailed body of knowledge about Nen Abilities,

the fact that he would rise to become one of the Hunter Association's Zodiacs in the future was enough to show that he had his own unique insights into Nen Abilities.

That was a Nen user's most important asset.

Just how important was an excellent Nen Ability teacher?

Gon and Killua's talent was already one in a million.

But so what?

The difference between their strength after growing on their own through sheer talent and their strength after receiving Biscuit Krueger's guidance in Nen Abilities was anything but small.

The gap was big enough for one of the latter to take on ten of the former!

And a Nen user's main period of explosive growth was during adolescence.

With guidance from Mizaistom, who was even stronger than the future Biscuit, how much could the Phantom Troupe members, each already possessing top-tier talent, grow?

Ian didn't even dare imagine!

They would all be helping Ian in the future, so the Nen Ability instruction gained through this compromise was well worth it!

Knowledge was priceless...

Thus, both sides reached an agreement, each believing it had gotten exactly what it wanted.

Ian slowly raised his hand and summoned the Cursed Camera.

The next moment, the Ankeli doll in his hand slowly turned to dust and scattered.

Mizaistom was taken aback at the sight.

He hadn't expected Ian to trust him so completely.

"Hey, hurry up and take this woman to the hospital for treatment. As for you, I assume you won't go back on your promise."

"We have other things to take care of. Once you've made up your mind, come here and teach us..."

"We'll be waiting for you here. This house will be our base for the time being."