A blur of motion appeared before Ron. Ponzu tensed up on instinct. When she saw who it was, her wariness only grew.
"Hey, cousin Illumi ."
Illumi glanced at Ponzu, then quickly shifted his gaze back to Ron.
"Killua's fight is about to begin. Want to go check it out, Ron?"
Illumi and Ron walked in front, with Ponzu following behind. Previously, when Ron dealt with Ruco, Ponzu had noticed Ron vanish briefly. Back then, she assumed Ron had been negotiating with Gittarackur about Ruco. Now, hearing Ron call Gittarackur his cousin, she realized that was never the case.
"Ron calls him Illumi—so this 'Gittarackur' name was fake, and his real name is Illumi? And Ron is his cousin?"
Ponzu was stunned. She would never have guessed that two of the three strongest participants in this year's Hunter Exam were actually related—members of the same family. After a moment's thought, though, it made some sense.
"Of course the strong are connected to other strong people. But what about Hisoka? He seemed to know Illumi, too. And who's Killua in all of this?"
She recalled Killua as one of the youngest participants this year, along with Gon. Both were surprisingly capable for their age—otherwise they wouldn't have gotten this far.
Soon, the three arrived at a mountaintop overlooking a forest.
From above, they could see four figures facing off in the woods below, apparently unaware of Ron's group.
On one side stood Killua. Opposite him were the three Mori Brothers.
By most measures, the Mori Brothers were decent fighters. With three of them working in concert, they could pose a challenge to many exam participants, and they trusted one another completely.
Ponzu focused on the four below.
"Ponzu," Ron asked quietly, "who do you think will win?"
"My guess is the Mori Brothers," she answered. "They aren't weak, and there are three of them. If I had to face them head-on, I'd likely lose—unless I stayed hidden and attacked with my bees. Even then, if they were on guard, it wouldn't be easy."
Just then, the Mori Brothers each moved into a different position to surround Killua. But before they could make their move, Killua vanished in an instant.
A heartbeat later, Killua reappeared behind Amori, his hand flattened like a blade against Amori's neck. A trickle of blood oozed out.
"Hand over your tag, or I'll kill him."
Imori had no choice but to toss his tag over to Killua. Killua caught it, checked it, then released Amori.
Ponzu stood there, speechless. Moments earlier, she'd said the Mori Brothers would probably win, and then Killua took them out so easily.
"That's it? That's all the Mori Brothers had?"
"How can Killua be that strong?"
She was finding it hard to believe.
"If Killua is that powerful, why didn't the queen bee sense a threat from him as strong as the one she felt from Ron? Then again, the gap between me and Ron might be unimaginably huge. Reaching his level might be impossible."
Killua looked at the Mori Brothers and toyed with the newly acquired tag. He was about to say something when, all of a sudden, a figure dashed toward him at high speed.
Killua's pupils contracted.
A flurry of fierce blows rang out. The Mori Brothers froze. Compared to either Killua or his attacker—whoever it was—this fight was on a whole different plane.
"This is…incredible!"
"Who knew someone this strong was taking the exam?"
"It's way beyond our league. If we do manage to pass this stage by sheer luck, we definitely won't stand a chance in the final phase."
Illumi gazed down at the two fighters: Killua and Hanzo. He frowned.
"Why would that guy attack Killua? Their targets aren't each other."
Killua's designated target wasn't Hanzo.
Hanzo's designated target wasn't Killua.
So there was no real reason for them to fight—but apparently they were fighting anyway.
"I asked him to," Ron replied. "I met Hanzo earlier and made a little deal. I asked him to fight Killua once on Zevil Island—no holding back."
"Hanzo's strong enough to serve as a perfect opponent for Killua. Before this, Killua never faced any real hurdles in the exam. That's why I wanted to add some difficulty for him."
What Ron was doing for Killua now was similar to what Zeno had once done for Ron: arranging strong opponents as both test and training. During Ron's time at Heavens Arena, Zeno even hired assassins to go after him, though he kept watch from the shadows, prepared to step in if things got out of hand. In the end, Ron had grown too quickly for those assassins to keep up. By the time Ron reached the 200th floor, their attacks served no further purpose, so Zeno stopped hiring them.
Illumi nodded. "Not a bad idea."
Ponzu froze again. It was becoming clearer that Killua and Ron—and even Illumi—shared a certain connection. Apparently it was a good one, too. But the fact that Ron felt the exam wasn't challenging enough for Killua, and actually hired someone else to fight him, left her stunned.
"They're treating this Hunter Exam so casually…"
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