By the time the sword had finally been reforged, they had run into three people and ended up facing a manhunt from the entire city, forcing them to band together against their enemies.
Watching this unfold from the rooftop, Morin was quite speechless.
Though he knew that, given the nature of the Phantom Troupe and the crew's personalities, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.
He just had not expected them to cause such a huge mess in this small city right after leaving Meteor City.
"Looks like we can't stay here anymore?"
Looking at the flames below, the crashing and wrecked vehicles, and the thunderous explosions, Morin shook his head and turned to leave.
He had no intention of stepping in to clean up after the four of them.
Whoever caused the trouble should bear the consequences.
Besides, with the four of them being as alert and capable as they were, escaping alive should not have been a problem.
Well, they would have to suffer a few injuries.
When the four returned to the independent space of the Door of Nothingness, all of them were covered in the smell of smoke and gunpowder.
"Hahaha, that was great! These past few days have been truly exhilarating! Hiss—"
Uvogin, who had been about to boast about his accomplishments over the past few days, suddenly furrowed his brow tightly.
"Don't move!"
Machi said calmly as she stitched Uvogin's wound.
Of the four, Uvogin had drawn the most hatred and suffered the worst injuries.
Feitan and Machi were both calm and knew how to assess the situation.
Nobunaga had joined later, so he had attracted nowhere near as much attention as Uvogin.
"Looks like our time in this city is over."
Chrollo closed his book, his expression placid. Clearly, he had long considered this possibility.
"We weren't planning to stay here for long anyway."
Morin looked at himself and could not help but smile.
His trump cards had increased quite a bit.
To him, time meant strength and more trump cards.
"So what do we do next?"
Machi asked after biting off Uvogin's stitching thread.
The pain made him grimace.
"A spider missing legs is destined not to travel far." Chrollo smiled. "I plan to find five more members."
"Will you come with me?"
He looked at everyone in the room.
"What do you mean?"
Nobunaga asked in confusion. "Come with you? Are we splitting up?"
"That's right."
Chrollo continued smiling faintly. "My original purpose in creating the Troupe was to give us better opportunities, not to bind and restrict us."
"Each of us is an individual. As long as our greater goal remains unchanged, we all have our own pursuits."
"What I hope for is that each of us makes great progress and brings glory to the Troupe, rather than becoming an appendage of it."
Chrollo made his stance clear.
The others understood and fell into thought.
"I'll go with you."
Franklin raised his broad, thick hands.
"If whoever you find doesn't meet my standards, I won't let them join."
Feitan also walked over to Chrollo's side.
"Besides, the Troupe was not easy to establish. If something happened to the Leader while he was out traveling, that would be far too ironic."
As Feitan spoke, a flicker of fire clearly flashed in his eyes as he looked at Chrollo.
"You just want to spar with the Leader, don't you?"
Machi said calmly, her arms folded across her chest.
"You could say that."
Feitan turned his head away.
"After all, Specialist Nen users should be quite rare in this world, right?"
Feitan narrowed his foxlike eyes slightly. "I want to see how Specialist Nen differs from the abilities of the other categories."
"Rare?"
Uvogin and Nobunaga looked at Morin, Pakunoda, and Chrollo, then tilted their heads in unison.
After all, their tiny Phantom Troupe already had three Specialist Nen users.
"Why don't you want to fight Pakunoda or the Vice-Leader?"
Nobunaga tucked his hands into his sleeves and rested his sword on his shoulder as he asked.
"You can tell at a glance that Pakunoda's Nen wasn't made for combat, so she isn't suited for fighting. As for the Vice-Leader..."
Feitan glanced at Morin, who was standing there, then quickly withdrew his gaze and said decisively:
"I don't know why, but I feel like fighting the Vice-Leader would be very boring."
Pakunoda's Choice
Very boring?
Uvogin and Nobunaga recalled the scene in the abandoned factory, where Morin had used the Float Gun to subdue his opponent, and nodded in deep agreement. Nen abilities involving tools with such strange effects were indeed rather unsolvable and frustrating.
Although Uvogin and Nobunaga had not seen Morin fight seriously very often, they could tell from his Nen that Morin was definitely not weak. The two of them had long wanted to spar with Morin and see how far they were from skilled Nen users.
But when they thought about having to break through layer after layer of tools Morin had set up before even confronting him head-on...
Forget it.
The two shook their heads inwardly in unison.
Who knew how many tools Morin had, each with all kinds of bizarre effects?
Even a battle maniac like Uvogin could not get interested in that kind of fighting. It even made him feel sick.
As for asking Morin to put away his tools before fighting, that would defeat the purpose of the battle itself.
It would be like forbidding Uvogin from using his fists or Nobunaga from using his sword.
Nen abilities were a user's trump card. How could one possibly forbid the other side from using them?
As for whether an ability was strong or weak, troublesome or difficult to deal with, those were matters to consider during battle.
Whether the cat was black or white, a cat that caught mice was a good cat.
No matter what kind of Nen ability it was, any Nen ability that could win a battle and prove useful was a good ability.
But if Uvogin and Nobunaga had to face it themselves...
Well, forget it.
They wanted to temper themselves, but that did not mean they wanted to suffer for no reason.
"I'm planning to go to Heavens Arena."
Machi smoothed the ends of her hair, as if using the small movement to conceal something.
"I can meet more people there and hone my combat skills."
You just want to fight there and make money, don't you?
Morin silently mocked her in his heart.
"That sounds great!"
Uvogin's eyes lit up as he slammed his fists together. "I was planning to check that place out too!"
"Now that we have identification, we can register there."
Nobunaga rubbed his chin, where a little stubble had grown in. "There must be plenty of swordsmen there, right?"
"What about you?"
Machi looked at Morin. "Are you coming with us?"
"I'll go."
Morin smiled and shook his head. "But not yet."
"What do you mean?"
Machi's tone did not change, but she wanted an answer from Morin.
"I want to see more of this world first."
Excitement flickered in Morin's eyes.
"There are too many interesting places in this world waiting for me to see them!"
"And too many incredible secret realms and Magical Beasts waiting for me to explore and capture."
"If I can, I'd really like to catch a flying dragon and stew it to see what it tastes like."
Hmm, it seemed the Zoldyck Family kept flying dragons. If it was convenient, perhaps he could ask where they had caught them.
"If you make it into a dish, remember to save me a piece of meat."
When it came to food, Uvogin had never been polite with Morin.
As for Morin having such an idea—
Uvogin found it perfectly normal. At the very least, it was far more normal than most people from Meteor City.
"What about you, Pakunoda?"
Chrollo looked toward Pakunoda, who had remained silent as if she were pondering something.
"Will you come with us?"
"...No."
To Chrollo's surprise, Pakunoda shook her head.
She turned toward Morin instead.
"I plan to follow the Vice-Leader for a while."
Follow me?
Morin, who had not paid much attention, was slightly stunned.
"Is that so?"
Chrollo's gaze moved back and forth between Pakunoda and Morin before he nodded.
"You aren't good at fighting. I originally wanted you to come with me so I could look after your safety."
"If you follow Morin, then I won't need to worry."
Chrollo's thoughts were simple. He was purely considering the safety of his members. After all, he was a rational man—rational to a frightening degree.
Before you continue