Manipulation

"First, I'm going to tell you about a strange ability that's fairly common among experts."

Standing on the shore and looking down at the newcomers, Ku'er Ya kept his face blank.

He wondered which bunch of fools had come after him this time.

Couldn't they just let him take a vacation?

Frowning irritably, Ku'er Ya couldn't think of anyone he'd offended.

After all, he'd killed too many people from powerful families.

The black, the white, and the gray.

He'd killed people from every walk of life.

"The ability to manipulate life energy—freely controlling the life energy, or aura, emitted from your body. When used for offense or defense, this power is called Nen."

He beckoned and slowly crept closer to the group that had just come ashore.

Ku'er Ya didn't stop talking.

They were still quite far from the attackers.

At this distance, Ku'er Ya had enough time to explain the basics to Coleman.

"Nen abilities are divided into the Four Major Principles: Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu. These are the fundamentals you have to master to learn Nen."

"You have to master each of these four abilities in turn. In other words, you need to learn them step by step. Once you reach Hatsu, your family will assign you a teacher to test your Hatsu type."

"For now, I'm just giving you a simple explanation."

Ku'er Ya was getting a headache. The body of knowledge was much larger than he'd expected, but once you started using Nen, all of this became quite simple.

But as a painter, he really wasn't good with words.

Especially when it came to explaining things to people.

If not for those lousy books, which weren't enough to help Coleman truly understand Nen, he wouldn't be teaching the kid at all!

After all, he'd figured it out on his own back then. Who knew how he'd managed to master it?

Oh, right. He might have asked an old man.

Who was that old man again?

He'd been part of the Hunter Association, maybe.

He'd forgotten.

Ku'er Ya dismissed the fleeting image of a white-haired old man from his mind.

Who knew who that eccentric old coot had been?

He'd met plenty of strange old men.

Keeping an eye on the idiots' movements, he continued.

"Hatsu has six types. Generally speaking, each person only awakens one."

Of course, there were oddballs who could awaken two.

"They are Enhancement, Emission, Transmutation, Manipulation, Conjuration, and Specialization. These abilities are generally related to the user's personality. For example, I'm nothing special, but I awakened Manipulation."

Fiddling with the thin thread in his hand, Ku'er Ya continued explaining. "This thread isn't anything rare. It's Spider Golden Silkworm Thread, a man-made material. It's extremely sharp and tough. And in my hands..."

As he spoke, he channeled Nen into the thread, reinforcing it to a certain degree.

The fine strand, which had been swaying in the wind, suddenly went taut and pointed in one direction.

It was as if something were controlling it.

"This isn't an ordinary Manipulation ability, of course. It's a Manipulation ability combined with Enhancement and Transmutation."

Fiddling with the thread as it floated and swayed, Ku'er Ya demonstrated for Coleman.

Ku'er Ya rolled up his sleeve, and Coleman could clearly see the fine strands wrapped around the bracelet on his wrist.

They were translucent.

They glimmered faintly in the moonlight.

"Step one: channel in your Nen."

He clenched his fist slightly and extended his arm.

"Step two: control your Nen and use Transmutation to soften the thread, giving it good flexibility."

The strands began to peel away little by little, floating into the air.

Like a silkworm spinning silk, they slowly crept outward, one strand at a time.

Like a snake slithering along.

"Step three: channel in more Nen to reinforce it, while using Transmutation to wrap it around your enemy."

Without the attackers noticing, the slithering thread wrapped around one man's ankles, wrists, and the back of his neck.

"Now you can tighten it and kill your enemy. But..."

But that wasn't where Ku'er Ya's ability ended.

He curled his lips into an amused smile.

"Watch closely. Don't blink."

Almost instantly, as the thread reached the right spots, it plunged into the man's skin.

A sharp sting and a tingling sensation made the man instinctively clutch the back of his neck, but he felt nothing there.

Just as he began to wonder what was going on, suddenly—

His body was no longer under his control!

His hands and feet wouldn't obey him.

"W-wait... stop! Get away from me, now!"

He couldn't help shouting, because he saw his own hand raising a knife and slashing at one of his companions.

The others turned toward the man who'd shouted.

They saw the blade fall.

Blood splattered across the ground.

Warm blood sprayed across the attacker's face.

Under the moonlight, everyone could clearly see the terror and confusion on his face.

"What are you doing?!"

A stern, angry voice rang out from the edge of the group.

The speaker was a rugged man in his early thirties, with a long scar across his face.

He demanded harshly, "What's this? We didn't find the treasure, so now you're turning on each other?"

Unfortunately, before he could get an answer, the controlled man raised his butcher knife toward another unlucky victim.

The bandits had already caught on. How could they let him get away with it again?

Some drew their knives, others hefted their clubs.

They stared warily at their suddenly erratic comrade.

The controlled man looked utterly confused and terrified.

Seeing everyone's suspicion, he could only speak up again.

"I don't know! I don't know! I... I can't control my body! Get out of the way!"

He'd been fine just moments ago. He had no idea what was happening!

All he knew was that his body was no longer obeying him.

The boss frowned at his subordinate, who stood rigid with fear.

After thinking it over for only a moment, he beckoned.

He had decided to abandon the man.

Though he didn't know why this was happening, the boss acted decisively. He wouldn't let the man kill any more of their own.

One of the lieutenants understood and circled behind the controlled man, knife in hand, slowly approaching him.

He murmured, "Sorry... but I have no choice."

Then he gritted his teeth and brought the blade down hard.

But the man, who had been standing rigid just moments before, suddenly dodged.

And he dodged in a way none of his companions had ever seen.

They were startled for a moment, but that only strengthened their resolve to kill him.

Someone must be controlling the man!

He couldn't possibly dodge like that on his own.

Kill him!!

The lieutenant subtly waved to the men behind him.

He was telling the others to get rid of the "traitor"!

"Don't... please, no! I'm just being controlled! There's still hope for me!"

After years in this bandit gang, how could he not know what the second-in-command was planning?

The second-in-command wanted to eliminate him as a threat!

But... but he didn't want to die!

"I... you can have my share. Please don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

They'd come to this lousy island to rob it.

He was willing to give up his share!

All he wanted was to be spared.

"But if you die, you won't get a cut of the money from the Scarlet Eyes!"

The second-in-command spoke ominously, his steel blade gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

"And don't forget, you just killed Heizi! You may have been controlled, but how can anyone trust you to watch their back again?"

His rebuke jolted the hesitant men out of their indecision.

They immediately stopped worrying about their leader abandoning one of their own.

Their minds filled with the thought that someone might stab them in the back.

In almost no time, the large bandit gang had rallied again.

They were going to execute the "traitor."

The circle closed in little by little.

Just as they were about to hack the man to death—

He suddenly sprang into action.

He raised his blade in a strange stance.

Taking two steps at a time, he rushed into the crowd.

He slashed with a sword style none of them had ever seen.

Unable to dodge in time, the others could only retreat a step.

"Ah!!!"

Suddenly, someone behind them screamed.

They instinctively turned and saw another man attacking one of his companions.

"Don't... don't look at me! I've been controlled too!"

"Quick, get away from him!"

If there was one, then there could be two, three, or four.

Nobody knew where things had gone wrong, but more and more of them were being controlled.

The once powerful, united gang of sea bandits fell apart in an instant!

Only then did the boss, standing at the edge of the group, realize what was happening.

He shouted, "There's definitely a Manipulation Nen user around here! Everyone, retreat!"

But it was already too late.

Chaos reigned.

They slaughtered one another.

Blood stained the beach red.

Severed limbs and mangled remains littered the ground.

Perhaps they had no choice. Perhaps they'd simply lost their heads.

Stirred into a frenzy by the blood, the bandits had no intention of listening to their boss.

All they knew was to raise their blades and kill whoever was trying to kill them!

Red.

Red everywhere.

The nearby waves were stained pale red with blood, but the color vanished as the water receded and flowed back into the sea.

The scene was utter chaos.

Meanwhile, the mastermind stood in the distance with his hands behind his back, smiling faintly.

"This is what makes Manipulation Nen users truly terrifying."

Control.

As long as your Nen was stronger than your opponent's, you could control them by force.

How long it lasted depended on the strength of their will.

"You controlled over ten people at once just now?"

Coleman frowned and asked warily.

If he'd seen correctly, Ku'er Ya's threads had wrapped around at least ten people.

Ku'er Ya shrugged, unconcerned.

"Yeah, but it was only for an instant. I released them as soon as they started attacking each other."

Otherwise, his Nen wouldn't have lasted.

So from that point on, it was simply a massacre they carried out under their own direction.

It had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"You should know, I'm a very kind person. I'd never manipulate others into committing something as heinous as a massacre."

See? I stopped, didn't I?

They didn't stop themselves. You can't blame me for that~

"Ah, one more thing. In principle, the Nen type you awaken yourself is the one you'll master fastest and use best. The other types are usually much harder to master, and it's perfectly normal to be unable to master them at all."

Hearing that, Coleman instinctively looked at Ku'er Ya.

You just used a whole bunch of them.

Though you were the one who told me what they were. I couldn't see them myself, so I didn't know whether you were telling the truth.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ku'er Ya replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I can use so many because I'm strong, of course."

The stronger you are, the more abilities you can master.

What's so strange about that?

"If you can't understand it, just think of me as a genius."

A genius has to do things ordinary people can't, or how else could they earn the title?

Chapter by Miao Shijiu, Hunter x Hunter: Ultimate Elegance