The Fated One, Piccolo

"You're short on money too?" Julia knew Lucky's identity.

"I don't want to rely on my father." Lucky answered casually, set down the book in his hand, and picked up another.

"Oh." Julia did not dwell on the matter.

Instead, she asked, "Then what kind of books do you still need?"

"No need. Does the Conrad Family have a publishing business?" Lucky placed all the books into the backpack he had prepared.

Julia found that strange. "Do you want to publish something?"

She had met Lucky four years ago, when he had only been eight and the Conrads had not yet fully settled down.

For a child that young to come alone to her bookstore was quite unusual.

Especially after his second visit, he had caught her attention. After making a few inquiries, she learned Lucky's identity.

There had even been one occasion when she witnessed Lucky in action.

"I haven't decided yet." After putting away the books, Lucky prepared to leave.

Julia replied, "We do have a publishing business, but there isn't much of a market for it."

That business existed only because of Julia, and was specifically used to print educational books.

As the eldest daughter of the Conrad Family, she believed that a Mafia family could not merely know how to fight and kill; they also needed knowledge.

Lucky stopped and thought for a moment.

"I understand. Thank you." Lucky had not fully made up his mind yet.

Then he left the bookstore.

Watching Lucky's departing back, Julia murmured, "Publishing?"

What would he publish?

From what he had learned through books, Lucky knew that this world was even more isolated than he had imagined.

Of course, this isolation was not only due to certain countries' "closed-door policies," but also partly due to external factors.

The three major means of transportation had all been invented by this time.

Yet because of the Hunter World's environment, travel conditions remained extremely harsh.

The harshness did not come from the terrain, but from the various animals in the wilderness.

The animals of the Hunter World were far more ferocious than those from Lucky's previous life, and large land creatures were everywhere.

In his previous life, there had been protected animals.

In the Hunter World, there were only danger-level classifications for species.

Whether on highways or railways, similar accidents could occur.

They might even encounter even more terrifying Magical Beasts.

Ships faced the same conditions. There were even more types of creatures in the sea, and they were larger as well.

Every exploration of a safe route required enormous expenditures of manpower, materials, and money.

Even by the time of the anime's plot, a place like Greed Island had yet to be discovered, which was enough to explain many things.

Air travel was even worse.

In the era Lucky currently lived in, airship airlines existed, but there were very few of them.

The dangers in the sky were no less than those on land or at sea. There were not only dangerous flying creatures, but also all kinds of extreme weather, and the farther one went, the worse it became.

Even by the time of the anime's plot, the Hunter World had no satellites. Otherwise, many of the Dark Continent's secrets would surely have been uncovered.

This era had something of a "rebuilding from ruins" feeling to it.

Lucky paid attention to novels because he could learn information from them.

Naturally, he had also chosen this as his first source of capital.

His Nen Ability training could no longer achieve a breakthrough in a short period of time. It was time to turn his attention to other directions.

He planned to train his martial arts, while also taking good care of his body.

The Dark Continent was his grand goal, but there was no need to consider it for now.

For the moment, Lucky's goal was to cultivate while making some money on the side.

This was a different world, so copying works should be fine, right?

As Lucky pondered, several people unknowingly surrounded him.

"Kid, hand over all the money on you right now." A group of thugs blocked Lucky's path.

Lucky was puzzled. Another bunch of idiots who did not know their place?

This was not the first time Lucky had been robbed while out.

Keli City was famous for the Heavenly Arena, but this was far from Gon Freecss's era. Order was still a major problem.

He had traveled this route for several years. Every time he was robbed, it only added to his reputation. By now, very few people dared to rob him.

Were they new punks?

"Hand over the money, now." These punks could no longer hold themselves back. Their first target was Lucky's backpack.

Lucky sighed and flashed forward.

The punks only felt their vision blur before pain struck the backs of their necks. They all passed out.

When Lucky said he lacked combat experience, that was only in comparison to opponents who could truly fight.

He had plenty of experience dealing with punks like these.

He looked into the distance, where a figure that had been about to rush over stopped in his tracks, an astonished expression appearing on his face.

"You actually..." Piccolo stared at the scene before him in shock.

He had originally thought that, with how little money he had left and the injuries he was carrying, he probably could not keep climbing to higher floors.

Under those circumstances, he had planned to find some temporary work in Chris's place, at least enough to keep himself from starving.

Unfortunately, looking like this, no ordinary place would hire him, much less with both his hands still too weak to use.

However, he had learned that a nearby bookstore hired temporary workers, so he had come to try his luck. Then he happened to see the punks surrounding Lucky.

He had been about to step in and help, but he had not expected to see Lucky make a move instead.

Of course, he recognized Lucky as well. That little referee was actually this strong?

It was simply unbelievable.

Lucky noticed him too.

"This is the third time. Looks like we do have some fate between us," Lucky said.

He was normally a man of few words. As someone reborn into this world and absorbed in training, Lucky did not have many friends.

"I was going to help you, but it looks like you didn't need me at all," Piccolo said regretfully.

He had thought that if he helped someone, he could at least earn himself a meal!

If he could not get the temporary job at the bookstore, he could at least secure dinner.

"Thank you." Piccolo thanked him once again.

Growl!

Piccolo's stomach rumbled at that moment.

It made him feel a little embarrassed.

The bread he had eaten at noon had not filled him up at all.

Seeing the shy look on his face, Lucky had already guessed why he might have come here.

It was a pity for someone like this to fall in with the Mafia.

"Since we ran into each other, it must be fate. I'll treat you to a meal. Let's go," Lucky said directly.

"Ah!" Piccolo did not understand why, but he followed anyway.

Perhaps it was because he had heard there would be food.

In fact, if he had gone a little farther, he could have found temporary work, and his food and lodging problems could have been resolved as well.

Many people came here hoping to make a living through fighting, but when they could never climb to the higher levels of the Heavenly Arena and could no longer support themselves, very few were able to hold onto their bottom line.