The Dark Leader of the Outlaws (Chapter 3)
By Leogan
The Bandit's Secret |
Chapter 3 - The Bandit's Secret
With the exception of Chrollo Lucilfer, it is the first time
for the members of Genei Ryodan to fight other Nen users.
Being new on fighting another Nen user like herself was not
a problem for Pakunoda. She was fast enough to guard her left cheek with the
free left arm, decreasing the damage that she received from the blow.
“Tssssk.” Paku whined.
She was about to answer their opponent with an attack using
the butt of her revolver but the old man quickly moved backwards as if he
already knew Pakunoda’s next move.
Her wrist did hurt and a couple of bones in her left arm
were broken. Although she was a bit injured, that didn’t stop her from chasing
the white-haired man. Since her bullets couldn’t hit the target, she decided to
entrust everything to her own speed and power. The blonde jumped to the air,
readied her right legs and aimed for a spinning heel kick.
Pakunoda throws a kick |
The guy who’s already on his fifties was confident that he
could easily evade the blonde’s assault. Her moves were indeed fast, but not
fast enough to land a single hit on him. That last kick was another wasted
effort. He escaped by turning on his left.
“I can see your potential. Too bad you’ll be another meal
for my indoor fish,” Jero told Pakunoda.
The old guy had suddenly felt a strong presence and it was
approaching him. He realized that there was another person that he needed to
worry about.
“There he is.” His calmness didn’t last long when he saw the
good-looking guy at the corner of his eye.
Chrollo was holding a conjured book called the Bandit’s
secret on his right hand while trying to hit their opponent with a left hand
chop. His attack missed, but the other one did not.
Another Chrollo came from the other side and struck him with
a right hook. It hit Jero’s chin which sent him flying towards Pakunoda’s
direction.
Pakunoda raised her left leg and mashed his body with her
heel pinning him down to the floor. She pointed the tip of her gun’s nozzle
straight to his face in order to make sure that the bullet would hit if she
pulled the trigger.
Astounded by the situation, Jero couldn’t help but wonder if
the infiltrators share the same Nen abilities.
“Impossible,” he told himself. “The assassination teams which
are always being sent by the mafia are well proportioned. They wouldn’t waste
it on hiring duplicates."
“Or could it be that,” the old guy was hit with an idea.
“Can he copy the abilities of other Nen users? If that was the case, then he
might use indoor fish against me anytime soon.”
What Jero didn’t know is that, Chrollo Lucilfer could only
steal someone’s Hatsu. By fulfilling four conditions of his Bandit’s Secret, he
would be able to access someone’s Nen ability and use it according to his will. The
strict conditions include:
1. Chrollo must be able to see the ability being used with
his own eyes.
2. He should ask something about the Hatsu and be answered
by the target.
3. The target must touch the hand print of the Bandit’s
secret.
4. Everything must be done in an hour.
Witnessing the Nen ability in action with his own eyes. |
Besides the above conditions, the former owner of the skill must be kept alive. Otherwise, the skill will vanish from the book and Chrollo won’t be able to make use of the Hatsu anymore. In order for him to access the ability, he must keep on holding the Bandit’s Secret on his right hand.
The target’s skills were able to give Chrollo the advantage.
Since the indoor fishes continued to exist on the same room, it kept Sholt
alive for the meantime letting the Phantom Troupe’s head to temporarily make
use of his power.
“If that’s the case,” Jero came up with an idea. “Then I
must act fast.”
Suddenly, Pelt’s shout echoed inside the room. Like his
partner, he was bitten into half by the indoor fishes.
“You can stop there. Time to change targets now.” The
adversary commanded its minions.
Pakunoda and Chrollo were surprised by the turn of events.
The girl was about to pull the trigger when the boss stopped her, “Don’t do it yet
Paku... I’ve got an idea.”
While the two were distracted by the deadly fishes coming
their way, Jero took the chance to escape from being pinned by the female Genei
Ryodan member. He grabbed her foot and tried to throw her away so that he could
get up and do his next moves.
Pakunoda was able to quickly see through this. She
somersaulted to free herself from the old man’s grip. Upon landing, she quickly
aimed her revolver on his direction but her target disappeared quickly. She was
too caught up about the old man and completely forgot about the upcoming
threat.
One of the indoor fishes had opened its mouth to devour
Pakunoda. It was too late when she noticed it coming near her. By that time,
she was convinced that there is no way that she could evade it.
“Paku,” Chrollo with his immense reflexes and agility was
able to drive the fish away with a strong Nen-enhanced kick. On the other
hand, his other copy served as a distraction for the other fish.
“Impressive! No one was able to last this long in a battle
against me and the indoor fishes.” The professional Nen user praised the
members of the newly built group.
“Both of you could become the next best Nen users in the
future. In fact, I was thinking of taking you in and nurture your talent.
However, there is a huge risk of getting betrayed by a bunch of assholes again
like what the mafia is doing to me right now.” He continued.
“We would need his skill for future use,” Chrollo confessed
his intentions to Pakunoda.
“So what should we do right now?” Pakunoda asked her leader.
“Let’s catch him again. Once I’m done make use of your
skill. Be mindful of the fishes while we’re trying to do that.” The plan was intentionally
given to Paku in a fuzzy manner to confuse or at least prevent the enemy from
uncovering their true scheme.
“Okay,” she agreed.
Jero Pysgodu wondered as to why they didn’t kill him when
they had the chance. A bullet from the young lady’s revolver was enough to shut
him down. An idea struck him at once.
“I’m sending my indoor fishes away,” he announced.
Chrollo gave a surprised look. As soon as the indoor fishes have
disappeared, Pelt and Sholt had felt the blood spurting from the bites and
their dead bodies hit the floor seconds after. Sholt’s Hatsu was erased from the book.
Chrollo’s duplicate who used to play tag with the other fish vanished as well.
“Hahaha! It is just as I thought it would be,” Jero
rejoiced. “You can only make use of the copied ability if the original owner is
alive. Am I right?”
The head of Genei Ryodan only answered the old man with his
usual stare. Jero was now aware of his ability but not the whole of it.
Unfortunately, their opponent has now the edge. They’ve lost two people and
Chrollo’s skill was partly revealed.
Jero couldn’t help but smile about his recent achievement. He
was able to kill half of the team who had infiltrated the mansion. There are
still some assailants outside but he decided to deal with those later after he
fed the two to his indoor fishes.
A spark of an idea came to his mind. By giving more thoughts
about it he deducted, “I won’t die from this raid. I’m pretty sure about it.”
In his thoughts he continued, “The leader is interested on producing a copy of my power for his own use. That’s the only reason why they didn’t kill me when they
had the chance. If he tries to corner me again, I’ll destroy them first. The
problem is if they changed their mind and decided to kill me. Worst comes to
worst, I will let them copy my ability. With that I’ll remain alive and I’ll
just strike back at the right time.”
“But if he copied my Hatsu and kept me alive, it only means
that he would be betraying the mafia since the heads want me to die pronto. Nice one. I’ll take that as an
opportunity to contact the mafia heads and regain their trust. We’ll work
together to exterminate this group. Soon afterwards, I’ll feed the mafia to my
indoor fishes for my sweet revenge. That’s the alternate plan. For now, I’ll
finish them off.” Jero had concluded to himself.
Pakunoda reloaded her revolver and pointed it to their
target’s direction. The Bandit’s secret disappeared from Chrollo’s hand and he
took out his Ben’s Knife.
Pakunoda prepares her revolver. |
“Danchou, I tho---” Pakunoda was surprised.
“Change of plans Paku. The situation is now begging us to
assassinate him at once.” Chrollo Lucilfer stated as if he already knew his
subordinate’s query.
“Like what I have anticipated. Consider yourself dead!” Jero
started to make a move by conjuring the indoor fishes out of his aura. They appeared beside the master.
“Indoor fish... Eat!” Like a trained dog, the fishes made
out of Nen quickly followed its master’s orders by diving towards Chrollo and
Pakunoda’s direction.
Both were able to dodge the indoor fishes. Pakunoda escaped
to her right while her leader went to the other side. She quickly enveloped the
gun with her aura in order to make use of Nen bullets. She fired two shots on
the indoor fish that was pursuing her.
The indoor fish was badly hit by the bullets. The impact
pushed the Nen creature a few meters backwards to a wall causing a huge crack.
In the meanwhile, Chrollo was continuously being chased by
the other indoor fish. He saw what Paku did with the other fish and he came up
with a very good plan.
After the indoor fish attacked, Jero decided to take down
Chrollo first. Letting him live for long would only increase his chances of
losing or to make matters worse, dying. Once the mafia’s assassin copied his
ability and learned to use it, he would be in trouble. He thought, “What if
they are just planning to make use of the indoor fish and kill me afterwards? I
really need to kill them now!”
Going back with Chrollo Lucilfer, he stopped running from
the indoor fish and faced it. He stood there with his left hand in defensive
position while the right hand is ready to stab or slash with his Ben’s Knife.
Chrollo readies the Ben's Knife |
Everything is all set for Chrollo until he was attacked from
his right side. Jero threw a very strong kick on the Genei Ryodan’s leader
which hit him. Chrollo dropped the Ben’s Knife and tried to block the attack
but it was too strong that he was sent flying backwards and crashed to a wall.
He was about to stand up when the old man came rushing to
him. Jero grabbed Chrollo on his neck and pinned him against the wall.
“Danchou!” Pakunoda exclaimed. She stood a few meters away
from the target and started to aim the gun on Jero.
“I’ll take care of your leader while the indoor fishes are
devouring you.” Jero then sent the indoor fish that chased Chrollo to attack
the girl, while the other one had just pulled itself out from the wall crack.
He looked back at the Spider’s leader ready to rob him off of his life.
“Run Paku run! Bring the others here and finish the job
without me!” Chrollo calmly gave out what seemed to be his final orders.
“No...” Pakunoda’s voice became soft.
Jero looked at the girl’s direction. He was pleased to see
that his assailants were running out of will. “I want to finish it now,” he
uttered to himself.
“Come on, Paku. Remember what I told you,” Chrollo reminded
his follower.
“My orders are more important than my life... If I die, one
of you will have to replace me... Spiders must live on!” Chrollo’s words from her memories echoed
on her thoughts. She looked down as if she had already given up. “Not following my orders simply means that
you are betraying the Genei Ryodan.”
The indoor fish that she managed to repel is now ready to
attack back. The other one swam through the air to reach her body.
Pakunoda looked up and meet Chrollo in the eye. It was very
clear to him that Paku was just trying to keep herself from crying. He was
surprised by the next words that he heard from her.
“But I’m not just a follower. I’m not just a member of the
spiders. You're not just a leader. You are also a friend!” That was Pakunoda’s answer to Chrollo. “I am free to
do whatever I want to save you!”
"You're not just my leader! You are also a friend. I am free to do whatever I want to save you!" - Pakunoda |
“Four shots,” she mumbled.
"Four shots" - Pakunoda |
She fired two Nen bullets on the same indoor fish that she had shot earlier. It hit the same wall of the mansion again.
She turned back to
fire two shots on the last indoor fish that was trying to approach her.
Pakunoda then realized that she would get bitten before she could aim and fire
a single shot.
Too late to fire another shot |
“Haha. You are dead!” Jero was watching the whole time while he kept Chrollo deep in the wall crack with his left hand. “Devour that woman my indoor fish!”
The fish charged with its mouth open ready to consume
the member of the Phantom Troupe.
Split seconds later, the fish disappeared in front of
Pakunoda.
“ W-Wha-What happened?” Jero couldn’t understand what’s
happening. He directed his attention back to Chrollo who was now holding the
Bandit’s Secret with his right hand.
A loud explosion was heard after that. With his own eyes, Jero witnessed as to how
the last indoor fish appeared beside the first one and bumped the mansion wall.
The wall was hit badly that it created a huge hole where the outside can be
seen from it.
Since indoor fishes can’t survive in an open room, they
quickly vanished into thin air.
“Teleportation,” the leader of the Spider pronounced. “This
is one of the abilities that I’ve earned from my previous battles.”
Chrollo grabbed the arm of the distracted old man and
twisted it. He was forced to bow down because of what Chrollo did to his arm.
Pakunoda who is now back on her usual self hits Jero hard with the butt of her
revolver at back of his head. The white-haired man fell down on the floor
unconscious.
“I know exactly what you want to do right now,” Pakunoda
said while conjuring a special Nen bullet.
Chrollo’s done placing Jero’s palm on the hand print of the
Bandit’s Secret. He ran through the pages of the book and found the new Hatsu
written inside of it.
“What you have just done will only endanger yourself and the
other members of the spider. You have to follow each of my orders Pakunoda.”
Chrollo mentioned her name completely indicating that he is dead serious about
what he had just said.
“But...” She stopped
there and realized that her reasons are no longer important. “Yes, danchou.”
By removing Jero’s memory, they would be able to keep him alive.
He won’t = remember anything about what happened, his past life and
the usage of Nen. They would send him to the other side of the world, give him a new
life out of the money that they scraped from the mansion to ensure that
Chrollo would be able to use the indoor fish for a very long time. This would
also keep him away from the range of the mafia’s influence.
“Indoor fish is now mine,” He felt happy about
his new stolen Nen ability.
"Indoor Fish is now mine" - Chrollo Lucilfer |
“Now, finish your job.” Chrollo walked past her and opened the mansion door.
“Okay.” Pakunoda aimed her revolver at Jero’s head and fired
a shot, “Memory Eraser!”
------------
The exchange happened at night. Gon and Killua ran and
hugged Kurapika who redeemed them back from the Genei Ryodan by making the
deal.
The exchange |
Chrollo slowly walked towards the direction of the two Genei Ryodan members by that time – Pakunoda and Hisoka.
The exchange |
Pakunoda was very happy to see their leader alive. Though he won’t be able to make use of his Nen abilities while Kurapika’s judgment chain is buried on his body, what was important for the woman is it’s all over.
Chrollo walked past her as if he didn’t see anyone.
Chrollo walked past Pakunoda |
“I understand,” Pakunoda said to herself with mixed emotions.
“Paku, I would like to say a lot of things or just give you
a good stare at least but I couldn’t,” he thought to himself. “As much as I
would want to... But spiders must live on.”
Tears are flowing from his eyes as he slowly walked.
“Paku. Thank you for your sacrifice. I’m glad that you've been a member of the Spiders."
Now, he was able understand Paku's emotions. Thanks to his memories.
“Paku. Thank you for your sacrifice. I’m glad that you've been a member of the Spiders."
Now, he was able understand Paku's emotions. Thanks to his memories.
"More importantly, thank you for being my friend.”
That feeling when you couldn't say all the things that you wanted to say to someone who might be gone forever.
That feeling when you couldn't say all the things that you wanted to say to someone who might be gone forever.
Chrollo Lucilfer was certain that he would lose another limb. He felt the pain of losing a friend and a home. That was the night when Pakunoda went back to the Genei Ryodan's headquarters, broke the conditions of the Kurta by sharing her memories and breathed her last.
Chrollo walked to the edge of the cliff and savored each words from Neon Nostrade's prophecy:
The Prophecy |
Part of the precious calendar will be lost
the remaining moons will deplore this loss
the orchestra in his bereavement outfit will play his melody
when November will be taken away in the peace to the heights
Chrysanthemums will wither together with its leaves
Lying beside the scarlet eyes soaked with blood
Even then, your sublime status will never be shaken
Even if only half of your limbs will remain
To increase the fascination within the drama
Should a search for a new companion begin?
If so, then head to the east...
........You will definitely meet the one who is waiting for you.
"You will definitely meet the one who is waiting for you." |
to x be x continued
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