Chapter Summaries

Mog returned to Meteor City and told the Troupe they would act together, but excluded Sarasa to keep her and her adoptive mother safe from the consequences. He gave Sarasa identity documents so she could take her adoptive mother to see the outside world, promising she would always have a place in the Troupe; Sarasa wept and asked if he meant it.

• Sarasa eagerly questioned Mog about the outside world and asked what he planned to do now that he had returned.
• Mog said the Troupe would take part in his plans together, but Sarasa would be excluded from the operation.
• Mog reminded Sarasa that her adoptive mother wanted to see the outside world and that her health was declining.
• Mog gave Sarasa identity documents for herself and her adoptive mother, along with a way to contact Shira and the others.
• Mog explained that the operation could bring danger and pressure, and promised Sarasa she would always have a place in the Troupe.
• Sarasa began crying and asked Mog whether there really would still be a place for her.

Sarasa promised Mog, Chrollo, and the others that they would remain friends before leaving to explore the outside world with her adoptive mother. Mog reunited with the growing group, confirmed that they had all become Nen users, and began discussing the team’s identity and name.

• Sarasa hooked pinkies with Mog and Chrollo, promising that they would all be there for one another.
• Sarasa took the identification documents Mog had prepared and left with her adoptive mother to see the outside world.
• Chrollo told Mog that he was a Specialization Type and Shalnark was a Manipulation Type, and Mog saw that Chrollo had opened his Aura Nodes.
• Mog learned that the Troupe members had trained and gained experience, with Chrollo and Shalnark guiding Franklin and Pakunoda as well.
• Mog said it was time to establish the team’s style, purpose, and final name, then began praising everyone’s efforts.

Mog reunited the Troupe with Machi and formally named their group the Phantom Troupe. He proposed playing cards as the group’s defining symbol and member codenames, while Chrollo considered the Troupe’s identity and rules.

• Mog said the group was ready to settle things with Lisnos and the [Children's Future] consortium.
• Machi returned and welcomed Mog, Uvogin, Nobunaga, Feitan, and the others back.
• Mog confirmed Sarasa and Shira as later members, while Machi said she had seen Sarasa leave.
• Mog named the group the Phantom Troupe, and the members accepted the name.
• Mog proposed playing cards as the Troupe’s defining trait and as the basis for its codenames and symbols.
• Chrollo recalled the Troupe’s spider symbol and his rule that the group’s survival mattered more than the leader’s life.

Mog proposed replacing the Phantom Troupe’s spider symbolism with playing cards and establishing himself and Chrollo as its two Jokers, representing a King and Queen. The members began selecting card numbers as their new codenames, but Phinks and Machi drew the same number and chose new ones instead.

• Mog explained that the Phantom Troupe could collapse if Chrollo died, so he wanted to change its structure and symbolism.
• Mog proposed that he and Chrollo become the two Joker leaders, and the members unanimously accepted the arrangement.
• The members began choosing numbers from a deck of cards for their codenames; Uvogin claimed 10 and Feitan chose 2.
• Franklin drew 7, Shalnark drew 6, Pakunoda drew 9, and Nobunaga drew a card but decided to call himself number 1.
• Phinks and Machi both drew 4, so Machi chose 3 and Phinks chose the number after 4.

Mog established the Phantom Troupe’s rules and dual-leader succession system, naming Chrollo his successor. At the end of 1986, the newly founded Troupe received its first mission: to punish Lisnos and the [Children's Future] foundation for harming Meteor City.

• Phinks chose Number 5, completing the founding members’ card-number assignments, while Mog reserved numbers for Sarasa and Shira to choose when they returned.
• Mog set rules against members killing one another and established red-or-black card draws to settle disagreements.
• Mog declared that Chrollo would succeed him and command the Troupe alone if Mog was absent, with the other members required to obey.
• The Phantom Troupe was quietly founded in an abandoned warehouse at the end of 1986.
• Mog ordered the Troupe to find Lisnos and make him and the [Children's Future] foundation pay, prompting Uvogin to enthusiastically call for their deaths.

Mog urged the Phantom Troupe to use their founding operation to avenge the abducted children and expose the Children's Future conglomerate without appearing to be indiscriminate criminals. After Mog supplied detailed information on chairman Lisnos, Chrollo saw an opportunity to act when Lisnos traveled to Yorknew City.

• Uvogin restrained his desire to attack the Children's Future conglomerate until the Troupe could strike effectively.
• Mog told Chrollo and the others that their revenge should reveal Meteor City to the world and uphold its creed of retaliation against those who harmed it.
• Chrollo shared the limited information he and Elder Babagra had gathered about the conglomerate and Lisnos.
• Mog handed Chrollo more comprehensive information, including Lisnos's schedule, that he had obtained from Ikshombe through the Network World.
• Chrollo learned that Lisnos was going to Yorknew City for business and recognized the trip as an opportunity for the Troupe.

Mog and the Phantom Troupe left Meteor City, traveled through Biggerchira City, and arrived in Yorknew City. As they explored the city, Mog recognized a crowd holding a Conditional Auction.

• Ikshombe provided Mog with the business activities and travel schedules of their targets, while refusing to violate his restrictions by obtaining private information.
• Mog and the Phantom Troupe left Meteor City in the RV, carrying identification documents Father Zhol had prepared for them.
• Phinks drove the group through Biggerchira City to the airport, where they boarded a direct airship to Yorknew City.
• Mog and the others arrived in Yorknew City in December and passed through the central square, where Shalnark asked what a gathered crowd was doing.
• Mog identified the event as a Conditional Auction, where a seller set conditions that someone had to meet to obtain an item.

Mog introduced the group to Yorknew City’s auctions and markets, and Shalnark reflected on how the city’s abandoned outskirts resembled Meteor City. The group settled into wallpaper rooms and planned to investigate the conglomerate chairman before attacking the foundation.

• Mog explained the Conditional Auction, Bidding Flea Market, and Dealer's Market, then led the group to an abandoned district outside Yorknew City.
• Shalnark compared the neglected outskirts to Meteor City, and Chrollo encouraged him to take time to experience the wider world.
• Uvogin and Phinks pasted Wallpaper Houses onto a wall, while Mog explained that someone had to guard them from outside.
• Feitan and Nobunaga refused to rely on the Wallpaper Houses for safety, while Uvogin demanded they find the foundation and fight.
• Mog urged the group to learn the chairman's movements first, and Uvogin volunteered to follow him despite being too conspicuous.

Mog used a [Spy Device] to monitor Lisnos, chairman of the [Children's Future] foundation, while the Phantom Troupe gathered inside a [Party Wallpaper House] to observe and collect information. Shalnark began recording what the device revealed as Franklin kept watch outside.

• Mog activated the [Spy Device] and sent its eyes and ears to monitor Lisnos in real time.
• Shalnark questioned whether the device could be detected, and Mog assured the group it would evade notice.
• Mog brought the device into a [Party Wallpaper House] and suggested they relax while gathering information.
• Franklin stayed at the entrance while Shalnark, Chrollo, and Pakunoda accompanied Mog inside.
• Chrollo and Pakunoda explained their trust in Mog and their resolve to protect him, and Shalnark began taking notes on the surveillance.

Mog let Shalnark and Chrollo use his [Spy Device] to surveil Lisnos at the Children's Future conglomerate while he planned the others’ approach. The device reached Lisnos’s office, where he questioned a bodyguard about a new supply channel for children.

• Mog handed the surveillance task to Shalnark and Chrollo and went to enjoy a parfait.
• Shalnark and Chrollo guided the [Spy Device] through the conglomerate’s headquarters, mapping routes as they went.
• The [Spy Device] waited outside Lisnos’s golden office door until a tall bodyguard arrived and entered.
• Shalnark and Chrollo recognized Lisnos as the chairman of the Children's Future conglomerate.
• The bodyguard reported preliminary talks with Yorknew City gangs about searching dangerous areas for discarded children, and Lisnos demanded more than mere searching.

Lisnos learned that Meteor City had tightened its defenses and cut off his covert purchasing channel, while Chrollo and Shalnark watched him through a spy device. Chrollo decided Lisnos would be the target of Meteor City’s effort to make its name known, as Lisnos’s subordinate worried that earlier purchases might still be traceable.

• Lisnos’s tall subordinate reported that Meteor City had discovered everyone sent there with malicious intent, and none had returned.
• Lisnos concluded that Meteor City welcomed genuine residents but had begun refusing to let outsiders exploit it, and he predicted that the city would soon make a major move.
• Chrollo watched Lisnos through the spy device and resolved to overestimate his opponents after hearing Lisnos’s analysis.
• Shalnark suggested attaching a miniature bomb to the spy device’s eyes and ears, but Chrollo rejected the idea as risky and chose Lisnos as a suitable target for Meteor City’s public debut.
• Lisnos’s subordinate assured him that recent purchases could not be traced back to them, then privately worried that the earlier buyers might still reveal information.

Shalnark, Pakunoda, and Chrollo secretly watched Lisnos enter a hidden chamber, hoping to find proof of his crimes. They discovered a room filled with the mutilated bodies of children, leaving Pakunoda horrified.

• Lisnos dismissed his secretary and ordered him to keep finding sources of goods without taking unnecessary risks.
• After the secretary left, Lisnos entered a secret passage hidden behind a cabinet, and Shalnark followed him with the spy device.
• Shalnark reasoned that the secret chamber might contain evidence to expose Lisnos and prepared to record what he found.
• Shalnark, Pakunoda, and Chrollo saw the chamber littered with severed limbs and the broken bodies of children.
• Pakunoda turned away and retched at the sight.

Mog, Chrollo, and Shalnark discovered a secret passage filled with the remains of murdered children and considered how Lisnos’s public image contrasted with his apparent cruelty. Shalnark rejected Lisnos’s suffering as an excuse for his crimes.

• Pakunoda and Shalnark recoiled at the remains of children mutilated and dismembered in the secret passage.
• Chrollo recounted how Lisnos’s young son had been killed in an attack that also left Lisnos gravely injured and unable to have more children.
• Chrollo explained that Lisnos later founded the [Children's Future] Foundation, presenting his grief as the motivation for helping children.
• Mog argued that Lisnos’s public story was unlikely to reveal his true nature and that trauma could drive people toward greater malice.
• Shalnark said Lisnos’s suffering could not justify imposing his twisted mind on others, surprising Mog.

Mog confronted Lisnos at the Children’s Future office and used a Truth-telling Sticker to force him to reveal why he had captured children. Lisnos admitted he planned to use them for a ritual.

• Shalnark recognized Lisnos’s cruelty as resembling the story of Beast King Blue’s enemy, and Mog ordered the group to remove Lisnos from World Online.
• Lisnos remembered his deceased son Palias while looking out over Yorknew City at night.
• Mog appeared in Lisnos’s office after bypassing its security and asked why he had captured children.
• Lisnos tried to deny knowing about the children, but Mog stuck a Truth-telling Sticker to his back.
• Lisnos’s mouth revealed that he had planned to use the children for a ritual.

Mog used the Truth-telling Sticker to make Lisnos reveal how the Kakin Empire had taught him to gather Vengeful Power in an attempt to resurrect his son Palias. Lisnos’s ritual failed, and Mog connected the power to Ged and the Hunter Association’s Shadow organization.

• Mog questioned Lisnos while the Truth-telling Sticker compelled him to answer honestly.
• Lisnos revealed that after Palias died, the Kakin Empire offered him a chance to bring his son back using Vengeful Power.
• Lisnos kidnapped children and gathered their fear, pain, and resentment to create Vengeful Power, which appeared like black electrical currents.
• Lisnos admitted that the ritual failed despite his efforts to revive Palias.
• Mog recalled that Nen abilities and post-mortem Nen could also resurrect people, citing Camilla and Hisoka as examples.
• Mog identified Ged, the former leader of the Hunter Association’s Shadow organization, as the leading authority on Vengeful Power.

Mog confronted Lisnos over kidnapping Meteor City's children and harming them in an attempt to revive his dead son, Palias. Lisnos tried to leap from his office window, but Machi caught him with her Nen threads and dragged him back inside.

• Mog learned that Lisnos had kidnapped children and abused them in an attempt to bring Palias back to life.
• Lisnos insisted his actions were justified and recognized Mog as the person behind Meteor City's strengthened defenses.
• Lisnos leaped through his office window, saying he was going to join Palias.
• Machi used her Nen threads to catch Lisnos and pull him back inside at Mog's command.

Mog, Machi, and Feitan prepared to interrogate Lisnos, while Uvogin, Nobunaga, Phinks, and Franklin subdued his guards. A captured employee realized the attackers might be from Meteor City.

• Machi used Nen Thread Stitching to restrain Lisnos, and Mog said Feitan should interrogate him.
• Feitan promised to make Lisnos confess, and Lisnos struggled in fear of torture.
• Uvogin revealed that he and the others had knocked out Lisnos's bodyguards in the corridor.
• Nobunaga explained Heaven's Arena to Franklin while the group chatted beside the fallen guards.
• A captured employee overheard the group and muttered, “Meteor City...”

The Phanom Troupe raided Lisnos’s company, obtained evidence of its crimes against children, and took key company data. After the operation, Chrollo’s group split up to retrieve the hidden evidence while Mog arranged for Nobunaga to leave a message at the scene.

• Pakunoda used her memory-reading ability on Lisnos’s secretary and learned where he had hidden incriminating evidence.
• Pakunoda told Chrollo that the evidence was sufficient to prove the company and Lisnos had harmed children, including children from Meteor City.
• Shalnark collected key company data while the Troupe’s fighters subdued the security forces and Mog confronted Lisnos.
• Chrollo led Shalnark, Pakunoda, Franklin, and Phinks to retrieve the hidden evidence.
• Mog had Nobunaga carve the Troupe’s message into the office with his katana.

After the Phantom Troupe killed Lisnos, investigators uncovered his secret room and suspected that the celebrated philanthropist had secretly abused children. Political officials suppressed the discovery, while Mog and the others watched the news from their hideout in Yorknew City.

• Feitan said Lisnos would be the most pitiful man that night, and the Phantom Troupe escaped after completing their operation.
• News of Lisnos's murder and the deaths of his bodyguards spread through Yorknew City and around the world, prompting public outrage and demands for justice.
• Investigators found Lisnos's secret room and concluded that his killers had likely come for revenge, especially after finding the message, "We reject nothing, but don't think you can take anything from us!"
• Higher-ups sent a man in black to assist the investigation, and officials suppressed the secret room's evidence to protect their connections to Lisnos.
• Mog and the others watched the news from an abandoned building as Shalnark set up their television, and they criticized the political figures for ignoring their own laws.

After finding the authorities had concealed evidence of Lisnos’s crimes, Franklin, Pakunoda, Chrollo, and Mog turned to Meteor City’s own methods. Elder Babagra’s men abducted television commentator Anfulik and ordered him to expose Lisnos’s crimes, leaving him to wonder what Lisnos had tried to take from Meteor City.

• Chrollo said civilization’s laws served the ruling class, while Mog declared that Meteor City had its own way of handling things.
• Anfulik finished his television program and returned to his villa, pleased with his privileged life and dismissive of his coworkers.
• Burly men ambushed Anfulik at his front door and dragged him inside.
• Elder Babagra called Anfulik and ordered him to denounce Lisnos on his next program and every program afterward.
• Anfulik read documents detailing Lisnos’s crimes and learned that Lisnos had disturbed Meteor City by trying to take something that belonged to them.
• Anfulik recalled the public speculation that Lisnos’s assassination might have had a deeper cause.