Recaps

Kite, Gon, Killua, and Cordis fought their way toward the Chimera Ant nest, where Cordis struggled with fear and Kite gave Gon Ging’s Hunter License to return. The story then shifted to the author’s personal analysis of Hunter power rankings, focusing on Hisoka, Chrollo, Netero, and the unexplained Wedding Ring contract.

• Kite used Crazy Slots’ scythe to cut down the attacking Chimera Ants and a wide swath of forest.
• Cordis sensed danger as the group approached the nest, while three Squadron Leader-level Chimera Ants watched them and then retreated.
• Kite admitted he was afraid but said he would risk his life to kill the queen and prevent Meruem’s birth.
• Kite gave Gon Ging’s Hunter License and asked him to return it, and Gon promised to find Ging after helping Kite finish the mission.
• The author began an out-of-story power ranking analysis, arguing that Hisoka and Chrollo were evenly matched and speculating about Hisoka’s contract with Illumi.

Kite, Cordis, Gon, and Killua encountered Neferpitou, who destroyed Cordis’s right eye and sent Kite flying. As Kite drew Neferpitou away and Gon and Killua tried to carry Cordis to safety, a Chimera Ant swarm blocked them, and Cordis hurled the boys away to face the swarm alone; the chapter ended with an author’s note discussing character power levels.

• Cordis urged Kite to run, but shoved him aside when Neferpitou attacked and lost his right eye to her claws.
• Kite summoned Crazy Slots and attacked Neferpitou, but she struck him into a tree and he fell, unable to rise.
• Neferpitou swallowed Cordis’s eyeball, while Kite ordered Gon and Killua to carry the badly injured Cordis away.
• Gon and Killua refused to abandon Kite, but Kite sent them to safety with Cordis and then lured Neferpitou away.
• A Chimera Ant swarm blocked Gon and Killua’s escape, and Killua fought until he ran out of electricity.
• Cordis hurled Gon and Killua away from the swarm, leaving himself behind to face the ants alone.

Cordis sacrificed himself to get Gon and Killua away from the Chimera Ants, and the boys searched through the bloodied forest for him. They found Cordis alive but gravely injured, and he collapsed unconscious after trying to reassure them.

• Cordis threw Gon and Killua to safety, then disappeared beneath the rushing Chimera Ant swarm.
• Gon and Killua searched the forest for Cordis, following the scent of blood and finding his button in the mud.
• Gon refused to believe the button meant Cordis was dead, and the boys continued to the place where Cordis had thrown them.
• Cordis emerged from the forest covered in wounds and missing one eye, then collapsed unconscious while trying to comfort Gon and Killua.

Cordis woke from surgery and reunited with Gon and Killua, then learned they had been unable to find Kite. After Cordis encouraged them to keep searching, his wounds began bleeding again, though the doctor was amazed by how quickly they were healing.

• Cordis woke during surgery and saw Killua watching through the operating-room door, so the medical staff gave him more anesthetic.
• Cordis woke five days later in a hospital ward, sat up, and reopened the wound around his right eye.
• Gon and Killua rushed to Cordis’s room, and Gon told him not to scare them like that again.
• Killua explained that Gon had gone looking for Kite but could not find him, while Gon insisted Kite might have reached Netero and the others or entered the nest.
• Cordis encouraged Gon and Killua to get stronger and find Kite, then coughed up blood as they called for a doctor.
• The doctor examined Cordis and marveled that his wounds had healed so much in five days.

Cordis refused a discounted artificial eye and tried to hide his grief over losing his right eye from Gon and Killua. After they left, Hisoka unexpectedly appeared at his bedside and teased him about his injury, but his smile faded when Cordis hurt himself.

• The doctor told Cordis his wounds would leave scars and offered him a discounted artificial eye, but Cordis refused it.
• Gon and Killua stayed with Cordis, shared news about Netero, Palm, and Biscuit, and left after he insisted he was fine.
• Alone in the dark, Cordis struggled to understand why he could not cry over his lost eye and the scars on his body.
• Hisoka appeared by the window, teased Cordis about his missing eye, and Cordis demanded to know how he had learned of the injury.
• Cordis's shout worsened his pain, and Hisoka's smile faded as he stood up.

Hisoka carried the injured Cordis to a mirror, where Cordis confronted how much his appearance had changed and broke down in tears. Hisoka comforted him with a white rose and promised to take revenge on the person who had injured him; Cordis woke the next morning with Hisoka’s warmth still beside him.

• Hisoka carried Cordis into the bathroom, where Cordis saw his bandaged, weakened appearance and angrily accused Hisoka of showing him how ugly he had become.
• Hisoka pulled Cordis into an embrace and tucked a fresh white rose behind his ear.
• Hisoka promised to gouge out the right eye of the person who had touched what belonged to him and give it to Cordis.
• Cordis cried, and Hisoka held him, kissed away his tears, and lightly kissed him on the lips.
• Cordis woke the next morning in bed with Hisoka’s warmth still beside him and remembered breaking down the night before.

Cordis left the hospital after recovering enough to train again, and Gon, Killua, Biscuit, and Palm gave him a gift that included a women's kimono. Biscuit scolded Cordis for trying to shoulder everything alone, while Cordis planned to build his stamina before returning to NGL and Palm offered to feed him.

• Cordis packed his belongings and insisted on leaving the hospital despite the staff's objections.
• Gon, Killua, Biscuit, and Palm surprised Cordis with a gift box containing a women's kimono, geta, and an ornate eyepatch.
• Cordis praised the kimono after Palm's unsettling stare made him nervous.
• Biscuit shouted that Cordis was part of the team and should stop trying to handle everything alone, then walked out.
• Gon and Killua left for training, and Cordis said he would work on his stamina before returning to NGL.
• Palm invited Cordis to come back at mealtimes while smiling eerily at him.

Cordis trained beneath a waterfall to build his stamina, then discovered that children had taken and defaced his kimono after Hisoka sold it to them as a prank. Cordis recognized Hisoka’s involvement but walked away, leaving Hisoka determined to pursue him that night.

• Cordis went to a forest waterfall and trained until nightfall by holding himself upside down under the rushing water.
• Cordis discovered that children had taken his kimono and covered it with drawings and footprints, then paid them to return it.
• The children told Cordis that someone had sold them the clothes, and Cordis found a piece of cloth attached to the hem that revealed Hisoka’s prank.
• Cordis threw a stone past Hisoka’s ear and knocked down the tree behind him, but then caught Hisoka’s playing cards and walked away.
• Hisoka watched Cordis leave and vowed that he would not get away that night.

Cordis spent the night with Hisoka, who returned Cordis's jewelry and told him about his recent adventures in NGL. Cordis headed into town to find Gon and Killua, but the crowd's stares and whispers made him cover his face with a conical hat.

• Hisoka stopped Cordis from leaving and spent the night with him.
• Cordis woke at dawn, and Hisoka returned the expensive jewelry Cordis had forgotten.
• Hisoka described fighting NGL security inspectors, eating a talking koala, and playing with other talking animals.
• Cordis put on his jewelry and left Hisoka, teleporting to the outskirts of town.
• Cordis walked toward the house Gon and Killua were renting, then bought a conical hat after townspeople stared at him and whispered.

Cordis returned to the rented house after nearly a month away and reunited with Gon, Killua, and Biscuit. As Gon and Killua continued training for their coming match against Knuckle, Biscuit told Cordis the fight was meant to teach them through defeat.

• Cordis arrived and found Gon and Killua practicing aura while Biscuit watched them.
• Gon, Killua, and Biscuit welcomed Cordis and scolded him for not contacting them during his absence.
• Palm brought out soup and warned Gon and Killua that they had to defeat Knuckle and Shoot so she could see Knov.
• Biscuit told Cordis that Gon and Killua would face Knuckle that night and explained that the match was for experience, not victory.
• Biscuit teased Cordis about what kind of men he liked, and he protested that he did not like men.
• After Gon and Killua trained for two hours, Palm brought them food, and Biscuit told them to eat before continuing.

Palm cooked a meal for Cordis, Gon, Killua, and Biscuit, and Cordis gave her a ruby-set ring after praising her food. After Gon and Killua completed three hours of aura training, Biscuit ordered them to fight Knuckle and learn from their defeats.

• Palm served an impressive meal, and Cordis gave her a ruby-set ring as thanks for her cooking.
• Palm reacted bashfully when Cordis said he liked the food, then went to the kitchen while Gon and Killua wondered about her behavior.
• Biscuit ended the meal and put Gon and Killua through another round of aura training, which they endured for three hours.
• Gon said he wanted to become stronger so he could find Kite, while Killua said he wanted to defeat the queen ant.
• Biscuit told Gon and Killua they would train for three hours each day and then fight Knuckle, retreating if necessary to protect their wooden tags.

Gon and Killua faced Knuckle for their duel, only to discover that his intimidating manner hid a tearful and eccentric personality. Knuckle challenged them to hit him without making him move, and Gon accepted despite knowing how outmatched they were.

• Gon and Killua approached Knuckle in the park while Cordis and Biscuit watched from a tree.
• Knuckle intimidated Gon and Killua, then scolded them for challenging him while exhausted and unprepared.
• Killua noticed Knuckle was crying, and Knuckle claimed his tears were from joy before demanding they hit him.
• Knuckle offered to stand still while Gon and Killua attacked, wagering that they would leave their wooden tags if they failed to move him.
• Gon recalled Kite's defeat by Neferpitou and Cordis's lost eye, then vowed to keep hitting Knuckle until he moved.

Gon knocked Knuckle unconscious with a punch, and Knuckle later gave Gon and Killua the wooden tag after admitting he had underestimated them. Knuckle revealed that he had joined the conflict to stop the extermination team, leaving Gon impressed by his resolve.

• Gon struck Knuckle in the stomach, and Knuckle fell unconscious despite protecting himself with Gyo.
• Knuckle woke up and offended Cordis by calling him a cosplayer, prompting Cordis to leave without giving him his food.
• Gon and Killua visited Knuckle, who offered them his wooden tag and acknowledged their strength.
• Gon and Killua told Knuckle they wanted to become strong enough to beat him fairly rather than claim the tag.
• Knuckle explained that he was trying to stop the extermination team because he refused to abandon those at the bottom.

Cordis left Gon and the others to search for Kite in NGL, where Netero and the Hunters had located a Chimera Ant nest. Netero sent Cordis to investigate a nearby village, where Cordis found a freshly killed man with a precise cut across his neck.

• Cordis told Gon he was leaving early for NGL to find Kite, and Gon wished him a safe return.
• After nearly a week, Cordis met Netero, Morel, and Knov near NGL; Knov dismissed his warnings about the Chimera Ants, while Morel and Netero took him seriously.
• Netero said the nest's location had been pinpointed, but warned Cordis that his injuries made it dangerous for him to join the assault.
• Netero sent Cordis to a nearby village where Chimera Ants had caused disappearances, then left for the forest without answering Cordis's question about Kite.
• Cordis reached the village and found a dead man whose neck had been cut cleanly.

Cordis encountered Hisoka in the forest while searching for Chimera Ants and looking for Kite. Hisoka offered to help Cordis enter and leave the ants’ nest safely, revealing that he wanted to see the queen’s upcoming child.

• Cordis followed a blood trail into the forest and found Hisoka beside two mangled corpses.
• Cordis asked Hisoka whether any Chimera Ants remained, but Hisoka said he did not know and followed him through the forest.
• Cordis killed two low-level Chimera Ants, then took shelter with Hisoka when heavy rain began.
• Hisoka asked Cordis whether he had found the ants’ nest, and Cordis admitted that he wanted to find Kite but feared being killed.
• Hisoka proposed a way to get Cordis into and out of the nest safely, explaining that he was curious about the queen’s coming child.

Cordis and Hisoka began their plan by surrendering to a group of Chimera Ants led by Colt. To avoid being killed, Cordis claimed they wanted to be eaten by the queen, but Hisoka challenged Cordis's claim that he was impotent.

• Cordis and Hisoka traded insults while waiting for the rain to stop, then Hisoka announced that their plan was starting immediately.
• Hisoka led Cordis toward a group of winged Chimera Ants, and both men raised their hands in surrender.
• Colt recognized Cordis as oddly familiar and lunged at him, pressing his claws against Cordis's neck.
• Cordis told Colt he was poisoned and wanted the queen to eat him so he could be reborn as a Chimera Ant.
• Cordis claimed Hisoka was impotent and ashamed to live, prompting Hisoka to angrily demand whether Cordis had tested that himself.

Cordis and Hisoka were taken to the Chimera Ant nest after surrendering, where Cordis learned that some ants could show compassion and Hisoka sensed that some were Nen users. They were brought before a butcher ant, and Colt asked him to deal with them, but the ant said his cleaver was broken and he could not do so until the next day.

• Cordis showed Colt his missing eye and said the poison had caused it, convincing Colt to take him and Hisoka away.
• Colt led Cordis and Hisoka to the nest, where Peggy met them and questioned why Colt had brought two powerful men in without restraining them.
• Cordis praised Colt and Peggy for not killing humans needlessly, and Colt said he only opposed meaningless slaughter.
• As Peggy led them through the nest, Hisoka sensed Nen users among the Chimera Ants and wondered how strong their future king would be.
• Peggy and Colt brought Cordis and Hisoka before a pig-like ant amid human remains, and Colt asked him to deal with them; the ant said his broken cleaver would not be replaced until the next day.

Hisoka and Cordis escaped their cell and wandered through the Chimera Ant nest, where they learned the Queen had given birth early and the King had emerged. Cordis contacted Netero and discovered that he and the others were already outside the nest.

• Peggy locked Hisoka and Cordis in a dungeon cell, but Hisoka passed the time building card towers while Cordis slept.
• Hisoka bent the cell door open and left with Cordis, who decided he wanted to find Kite.
• Hisoka warned Cordis that Kite was probably dead, and the two wandered through the nest without finding any other ants.
• Hisoka and Cordis followed two Chimera Ants and overheard that the King had emerged early and that the Queen was in grave pain.
• Cordis called Netero and told him the Ant Queen had given birth early; Netero said he and the others were outside the nest.

The King emerged from the Ant Queen, and Hisoka fled after sensing his power, leaving Cordis behind. Cordis later joined the others as the Ant Queen awoke and asked whether the King was safe.

• The King tore through the Ant Queen's abdomen and was born, while Cordis sensed his deadly presence.
• Hisoka disappeared, and Cordis realized he had fled; terrified, Cordis hid until Morel and Knov arrived.
• Knov entered with medical equipment, and Cordis joined the group tending to the Ant Queen, where he saw Knuckle and Colt.
• The Ant Queen awakened, and a Chimera Ant translated her question asking whether the King was unharmed.
• Colt and the others reacted with anguish at the Ant Queen's concern for the King despite her grievous injuries.

Colt lied to the dying Queen that the King was searching for herbs, giving her comfort as she prepared to die. Before passing away, she named her child Meruem and asked Colt to tell him; the story left Colt mourning her death.

• Colt told the Queen that the King was searching for herbs, and she urged him to flee with the Royal Guards and not worry about her.
• The Queen said she had fulfilled her duty and ordered Colt to live on, while Colt begged her not to give up.
• Colt offered his body to the doctor to save the Queen, but Cordis stopped him and reminded him to follow her order to live.
• The Queen told Colt that she had named her child Meruem, meaning “the light that illuminates everything,” and asked him to tell the King.
• The Queen died believing the King was searching for herbs, and Colt knelt beside her, saying he had failed to protect her again.

Meruem rejected Neferpitou’s prepared meal and demanded the rich-tasting rare breed he remembered from the Queen’s womb. While searching for food, he killed two farmers and was seen by their young daughter.

• Neferpitou served Meruem a meatball, but Meruem spat it out and said it tasted too weak.
• Meruem told Neferpitou and the others that he craved the food he had tasted in the Queen’s womb and wanted to eat it.
• Neferpitou and Youpi found food for Meruem and brought him toward it while Pouf carried him through the air.
• Meruem spotted golden rice fields, dropped into them, and killed two farmers with a sweep of his tail.
• A little girl arrived carrying a chrysanthemum and froze when she saw Meruem kill her parents.

Meruem and his guards entered a lavish palace, where he killed soldiers who tried to stop them. Meanwhile, the palace’s ruler ignored a call warning him about the intruders as Meruem approached.

• Meruem killed a fleeing girl and tasted her brain, then struck Neferpitou when she tried to explain how to identify rare human specimens.
• Meruem praised Neferpitou for surviving his attack, while Youpi ate the remains of the dead humans.
• Neferpitou led Meruem, Shaiapouf, and Youpi to a magnificent palace in the desert.
• Meruem swept his tail at soldiers who rushed him with machine guns, killing them as he entered the palace.
• The palace’s ruler received a call about intruders but dismissed the warning and returned to eating and watching the performers.

Meruem gained a surge of power after eating the rare specimen, then confronted the country’s king, Masadorudigo, and decided that he should rule the country himself. The chapter left Meruem facing Masadorudigo as Youpi dealt with the young women in the room.

• Meruem killed the rare specimen and ate a piece of his brain.
• Meruem’s aura surged after he swallowed the rare specimen, and Neferpitou realized he could grow stronger by consuming other people’s aura.
• Meruem and his companions entered the palace while Masadorudigo watched a performance, unaware of their arrival.
• Masadorudigo called himself the Supreme Leader and the king of kings, but Meruem dismissed him as incompetent and decided to rule the country.
• Neferpitou and Shaiapouf discussed Masadorudigo as food, while Youpi approached the young women and Masadorudigo angrily confronted Meruem.

Meruem killed Diego, dismissed the pleas of the dancers, and named his new palace the Flesh Grove. Elsewhere, Cordis, Knuckle, and Shoot encountered a figure who looked like Kite, but the light revealed a disturbing sight that crushed Cordis’s hopes.

• Meruem killed Diego with his tail, and Neferpitou asked to take the corpse to help Meruem rule humanity.
• A dancer begged Meruem to spare the women, but he compared them to livestock and let them be killed.
• Meruem surveyed the palace and named it the Flesh Grove.
• Cordis explored the abandoned Chimera Ant nest with Knuckle and Shoot, where a stiff, white-haired figure ambushed Knuckle.
• Cordis recognized the figure as Kite and moved toward him, but Shoot stopped him and urged him to look again.
• Light fell on Kite, and Cordis’s joy turned to despair.

Cordis and Knuckle were sent to patrol for a Chimera Ant, while Kite remained restrained after losing control. They found the ant, who attacked Cordis, and Knuckle began fighting him.

• Cordis, Knuckle, and Shoot restrained the deranged Kite with Shoot's Dark Inn, though they were injured in the struggle.
• Knov, Morel, and Shoot headed to NGL while Cordis and Knuckle stayed behind to patrol for a Chimera Ant.
• Cordis drove for two days as Knuckle complained about the delay and refused to take over because he had no driver's license.
• Nails punctured the car's rear tire, and a leopardlike Chimera Ant struck Cordis in the face, reopening the wound around his right eye.
• Knuckle confronted the Chimera Ant, charged him, and announced his name after the ant dodged his first punch.