You Bastards, Stop Right There!! / You're Reliving It, Aren't You? That's Exactly What You're Doing!!

Mog had plenty of ideas about that and wanted to see whether he could bring them to life one by one.

Just as Mog began his research, elsewhere...

"What an obnoxious, arrogant bastard. He actually wants us to beg him..."

On the garbage mountain outside, Uvogin walked in front, grumbling as he went:

"Isn't it just a bite or two of food? As if nobody's ever eaten before."

"I used to think he was a decent guy, but now it seems~~~"

"He's just like those bastards who always sneak into my turf to steal things!!"

Machi, following behind him, kept thinking about that strange [Mochi Maker] and those planting and harvesting items.

Every last one of them was incredibly miraculous to her.

She was very curious about how those things had appeared.

Or rather, how that man had [invented] them...

Lost in thought, Machi caught off guard and ran straight into Uvogin's back.

"What's wrong?"

She staggered back two steps, then raised her head and looked at Uvogin, who had stopped ahead of her.

She saw Uvogin gritting his teeth, staring fixedly at the three figures moving about within his territory.

Machi poked out her little head and saw the three of them as well.

And what do you know, they were all familiar faces~~~

Uvogin took a deep breath, puffed out his chest, and let out a thunderous roar in their direction:

"Chrollo~!!!"

"You bastards actually came to my turf again to steal things. You've got some nerve!!"

"Today, no matter what, you lot are staying here!!!"

With that, Uvogin charged downhill without another thought.

"Wah! It's Uvogin!!"

"We were just saying how nice it would be if this wasn't Uvogin's territory, and then he showed up?"

"That can't be right. This shouldn't be the time Uvogin is active, and didn't he just finish chasing another group? How did he suddenly show up so fast?!"

You Bastards, Stop Right There!!

At Uvogin's roar, the three figures searching below were all startled.

They immediately tucked away what they had found and scattered in every direction.

As they ran, the small figure at the very front wore a puzzled expression.

Based on what he knew of Uvogin and his usual schedule, Uvogin should have gone home by now.

If Machi had not happened to run into them a few times before and gone to get Uvogin, they would not have been discovered.

Truth be told, Machi had exposed them every single time before.

It was as though Machi could somehow sense whenever they came here.

But regardless of the reason, once Uvogin spotted them, they had to flee immediately.

And when it came to running away, they were exceedingly practiced.

Yeah, it was obvious they had snuck around Uvogin's territory plenty of times. They had even mapped out their escape routes perfectly.

"You bastards, stop right there!!"

With his explosive temper, Uvogin was not about to let those thieves escape right under his nose.

He immediately swung his arms and gave chase.

"Wah, Uvogin's catching up!!"

The kid in the trio with a missing tooth, yet still unable to hide his handsome face, was the first to cry out.

"Huh? Why does he have so much stamina this time?!"

The delicate-looking boy at the front wore a puzzled expression.

"Now isn't the time to figure that out. How about I stay behind and stop him!!"

The taller, sturdier boy at the back, with a resolute face and the bearing of an older brother, stopped in place.

He turned around and faced the charging Uvogin head-on.

"You want to stop me again, Franklin~~~?"

Uvogin wore a savage grin, and his pace did not slow in the slightest.

"Today, none of you are getting away. You, Shalnark, and Chrollo are all staying here!!"

"In your dreams!!"

Franklin shot back without backing down.

Whenever their trio was discovered by Uvogin in the past and could not immediately get away, Franklin would stay behind to keep Uvogin occupied.

Although Uvogin had the advantage in size and strength,

Franklin was a little older than Uvogin and had the advantage in physical development.

As a result, whenever the two clashed, they often fought fiercely for quite some time before a winner could be decided.

While Franklin held Uvogin back, Chrollo and Shalnark would take the opportunity to slip away.

Their trio had escaped Uvogin this way several times already.

So in Franklin's mind, this time would be no exception.

"Chrollo, you two go first. I'll stop Uvogin."

As he spoke, Franklin glared at Uvogin and assumed a blocking stance.

"Um..."

A weak voice came from behind Franklin. "It looks like we can't run right now."

"Hm?!"

Franklin instinctively turned around and saw that directly in front of Chrollo and Shalnark,

a nearly scrapped motorcycle was parked across the only path they could take to leave.

Sitting on the motorcycle seat were two bikers, one large and one small, staring straight at Chrollo and Shalnark.

"Yo, little Chrollo..."

The punk driving the motorcycle had clothes covered in patches and hair spiked high like a hedgehog's. With one hand in his pocket, he brazenly sized up Chrollo at the front.

"Looks like you got your hands on something good again this time~!!"

As he spoke, the little punk raised his eyelids.

Why his eyelids instead of his eyebrows...

Because he had no eyebrows.

"We're much friendlier than Uvogin..."

As he said that, a very "kind" smile appeared on his face. "Hand the stuff over nicely!!"

"Afterward, I'll give it back to you!!"

Behind the browless punk, on the motorcycle's back seat, sat a short little fellow.

He had a messy head of fluffy hair and carried a battered baseball bat on his shoulder that seemed even taller than he was.

Backing up the browless punk's words, he looked as if he was ready to whack them with the bat if they refused.

He looked completely smug and cocky.

"Phinks, and Feitan..."

The delicate-looking Chrollo looked at Phinks, whose seemingly kind expression was actually terrifying, and the cocky Feitan.

"This is Uvogin's territory. Your usual territory shouldn't be here."

"Heh..."

Phinks snorted at that.

"Do you think we're as stupid as that idiot Uvogin, talking about territory in a place like Meteor City?!"

He said disdainfully, "As long as we want to, we can go anywhere!!"

As he spoke, he patted the nearly scrapped motorcycle beneath him.

Well, with such a convenient means of transportation, they really could go anywhere.

"Besides..."

As if recalling something unpleasant, shadows fell across Phinks's face.

"That bastard Uvogin stole our things before, so of course we can come steal his!!"

Phinks wore a vicious expression, as if he wanted to bite Uvogin to death. "We're taking it back!!"

"Uvogin stole your things..."

Chrollo remembered hearing about that.

You're Savoring It, Right? You're Definitely Savoring It, Right?!

Chrollo was a frequent visitor to the Church. Whenever he had the chance, he would run over there.

He was also quite familiar with Father Zhol of the Church, and the kindly Father Zhol thought highly of him.

He had received quite a few benefits from the Church.

Some time ago, Chrollo had vaguely heard that the Church had obtained a small amount of a food called mochi and distributed it to some particularly devout children.