His First One-on-One Melee Fight

The Archive was a little over ten square meters-not large, but piled high with all kinds of documents.

They were strong enough to empty the entire Archive, but they had no container large enough to hold all the documents.

They could only pick out the important ones to take.

But Kite's En had a radius of just over forty meters, which meant the pursuing Chimera Ants were already close.

"Leave them to us," Killua and Gon said at the same time.

Clearly, the earlier fighting hadn't satisfied either of them. As for Joey, he had no intention of volunteering to fight the Chimera Ants. He would be better off using that time to recover more of his strength.

Kite nodded. He did need some time. "Don't go too far. Call for backup immediately if anything unexpected happens. Joey, go with them. You can't help here anyway."

Joey felt that Kite was a little too good at putting him to work. But that was precisely why he felt Kite didn't want to kill him.

In fact, judging by everything Kite had done, Joey felt he genuinely intended to let him off, perhaps even train him. But why?

Joey didn't understand, but he didn't object either. He followed Gon and Killua out of the Archive.

Meanwhile, outside the Archive, in Zaiyilo's "Throne" hall deep within the base, the first Chimera Ant had arrived.

It was a Chimera Ant shaped like a giant shrimp, with sturdy pincers. It held them up as though shielding itself from a possible attack.

But what greeted it was Killua's figure flashing past at incredible speed, and its shrimp head vanished from its shoulders.

Killua shook his hand, tossing the shrimp head aside. "If only it were a real lobster. One this big would taste great grilled."

"And you even removed the inedible Shrimp Head. How thoughtful." Joey raised his rifle, copied Kite's earlier movements, and unleashed a burst of gunfire into the Chimera Ant's still-living body.

Only after making sure it was completely dead did Joey lower his rifle.

"Guns really do come in handy sometimes," Killua remarked.

Beside them, Gon had already taken a defensive stance. Clearly, he had no intention of joking around before a fight.

Joey's gunfire also made it easier for the Chimera Ants to locate them, and the footsteps of one ant after another began echoing through the passage.

Killer Queen appeared beside Joey at just the right moment, with some aura covering his body, but Joey didn't release Chariot.

Without knowing how many Chimera Ants were out there, Joey wasn't about to send Chariot out recklessly.

If something went wrong and he couldn't retrieve it, things would get troublesome. Besides, Chariot's explosions consumed his stamina too. He might as well use this opportunity to try fighting a Chimera Ant at close range.

With Killer Queen supporting him and Killua and Gon nearby, this was the best training ground Joey could ask for.

So he voiced his idea directly. "Can you leave these small fry to me? I'd like to try fighting them up close. Of course, if things get dangerous, I'd appreciate you stepping in to save me."

Joey wasn't embarrassed about asking. Wasn't getting along with people all about give and take?

They helped him now, and he could help them later. Through that back-and-forth, bonds would gradually form and friendships would last.

Joey had always dared to take that first step, so he hadn't lacked friends before crossing over.

Yoshikage Kira, on the other hand, probably had no friends apart from his coworkers, as far as Joey knew. He was a freak who liked being alone-no, a freak who liked eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner alone with a severed hand.

"Sure." This time, Killua agreed before Gon could.

Joey smiled and nodded at him, then advanced with his Stand toward the first Chimera Ant to enter.

The Chimera Ant seemed to understand Joey's intentions as well, and actually reached out to stop its companions behind it.

The horse-headed Chimera Ant had an exceptionally sturdy body, and the hooves at the ends of its long legs struck the floor with heavy thuds.

Joey quickly formed Ten around his body with his Nen, but he hesitated when it came to choosing a stance.

After all, he had only ever watched old men practicing with swords and sabers, tai chi, and bagua in the mornings. He didn't know how to fight at all.

The only thing he had ever learned was probably the Military Boxing taught during military training at school.

So Joey spread his legs into a horse stance and adopted the opening posture of Military Boxing. But then he hesitated again. The opening stance started with a horse stance, right? Or was I supposed to stand upright and stretch first? Should I just copy Wing Chun Ip Man's stance instead?

"Has he never been in a fight?" Killua asked from behind him, amused.

"Yeah, he looks like a beginner." Gon nodded and offered a very accurate assessment. "Could someone at this level really be a leader in the Narcotics Organization?"

"Organizations like that often care more about brains and connections than fighting ability. Joey probably has some talent in those areas." In the end, Killua couldn't resist adding, "I mean connections."

"His Nen Beast's ability is strong," Gon added after a moment's thought.

Killua nodded. Despite having seen Joey's ability only once, he had already analyzed it. "That's true. It seems similar to Genthru the Bomber's ability, but it's easier to trigger, and it's pretty powerful too. If we ever fought him, we'd have to watch out for even the most ordinary things around him."

"It seems like anything he touches becomes a bomb, and when that bomb touches someone, it makes them explode? But there are quite a few strange details. It's hard to judge after seeing it only once." As Gon spoke, he had already activated Gyo in his eyes.

Gyo was an application of Ren, one of the Four Major Principles of Nen. It concentrated aura in a particular part of the body to enhance that part's capabilities.

For example, by concentrating aura in his eyes, Gon could not only see through an opponent's In, but also closely observe every trace of aura flowing through their body during combat.

Of course, being able to track an opponent's aura flow in combat required extensive practice and actual fighting experience.

As for In, it was likewise an application of Zetsu, one of the Four Major Principles. It made the use of Emission difficult for an opponent to detect by rendering aura semimaterial.

While Gon and Killua offered their commentary, Joey had already squared off against the Chimera Ant.

The Chimera Ant attacked first. As Joey settled into his stance, the Horse-Head Chimera Ant burst forward at tremendous speed and charged at him.

But Joey was watching its every movement. After all, he had already made a basic judgment based on its appearance.

Apart from running fast, horses didn't immediately bring any other traits to mind. At least, that was true for Joey.

So he had been fully alert to its speed from the very beginning.

Sure enough, the Horse-Head Chimera Ant behaved just as he had expected, but it was clearly slower than Killua and Gon.

Since Joey could already just barely follow Killua's and Gon's movements with his eyes, he could see every detail of the Horse-Head Chimera Ant's movements.