Kaizen's eye twitched.
"Hello."
"When you made it to the 200th floor, I started paying attention to you. I didn't expect your record to get better and better. It's really amazing. The word 'genius' isn't enough to describe it..."
The young man kept rambling as he drove.
Kaizen nodded stiffly.
Whether in his past life or this one, he had never been good at handling this sort of thing. He would rather fight.
The airship station wasn't far from Heavens Arena. But with the non-stop chatter, time seemed to stretch endlessly.
Finally, they arrived.
The young man seemed reluctant to part ways, but Kaizen felt relieved. With Tessia beside him, he quickly got out of the car and entered the arena.
On the elevator, they didn't run into anyone familiar. But plenty of people recognized Kaizen—spectators, fighters, but none as overly enthusiastic as the driver. That didn't bother him much.
"Ding!"
The elevator doors slid open—200th floor.
Kaizen approached a door and knocked.
"Woof!"
Before the door even opened, Polar Bear's bark rang out.
Tessia instinctively took a step back.
The door swung open.
"Shizuku."
"Captain!"
Shizuku's eyes lit up in surprise.
Despite her short-term memory issues, she had no trouble remembering Kaizen.
However, when she noticed Tessia, she hesitated, flipping through her notebook.
"Shizuku, don't bother looking," Kaizen said. "This is Tessia, our new team member. You haven't met her before."
Shizuku closed her notebook.
Tessia examined Shizuku curiously.
Shizuku did the same, making mental notes about Tessia to jot down later.
"Tessia, this is Shizuku, one of our team members. You'll be working together from now on. She has some memory problems, so she might forget things. You'll get used to it."
Tessia nodded. "Nice to meet you, Shizuku."
She extended her hand.
Shizuku shook it.
"Shizuku, where's Nina?"
"She's fighting."
Shizuku suddenly seemed to recall something. "Captain, I promised Nina I'd watch her match. This is her first fight since reaching the 200th floor!"
Kaizen frowned slightly. "Nina made it to the 200th floor?"
"Yeah, a little while ago."
"When does the match start?"
"In about ten minutes."
Kaizen turned to the living room's TV. It wasn't just for watching Heavens Arena matches—it also allowed ticket purchases.
A few clicks later, he found Nina's match.
Plenty of tickets were still available.
Kaizen bought two.
"Shizuku, let's go."
"Okay, Captain."
Kaizen and Tessia set down their luggage and left the luxury suite with Shizuku.
Only Polar Bear remained in the room.
"Woof!"
The bear wagged its tail, looking somewhat dejected.
A trio of fighters made their way through the ticket gate.
Since they had purchased tickets separately, Kaizen and Tessia were seated apart from Shizuku.
Once inside, they split up.
Kaizen took his seat and glanced toward the ring.
To be honest, he rarely watched matches in Heavens Arena.
For him, most fights weren't worth the time.
When he first arrived, he was already stronger than the majority of competitors on the 200th floor. Only Floor Master battles held any value.
And after the biennial tournament, he had even fewer reasons to watch fights.
But this time, his perspective was different.
Before, he studied fights to learn.
Now, he was just watching. Like any other spectator.
"Most fighters on this floor shouldn't be a match for Nina," he thought.
"Her starting point is much higher than most Nen users."
Since she had undergone the "Synthetic Beast" process, her aura nodes were fully opened from the start.
With Kaizen's personal training, she had already mastered the basics—Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, Gyo, In, and Ko.
Unlike most newcomers, she wasn't stepping into the ring blindly.
At Kaizen's insistence, she had fought numerous matches below the 200th floor without using Nen, sharpening her fundamentals.
Now, when she finally used it, she would explode onto the scene.
"Come to think of it, the Heavens Arena tournament should be happening soon."
"Time flies."
"It's been nearly two and a half years since I started learning Nen."
"Killua arrived at Heavens Arena a year and a half ago."
"If nothing changes, he'll fulfill Silva's requirements in six months and move on to other training."
The crowd continued to file in.
The announcer's voice rang through the arena.
The referee stepped into the ring.
A fighter emerged from the tunnel.
"Let's welcome our first competitor, Tro!"
"So far, he has competed in one match on the 200th floor."
"His record stands at one win, two losses."
"His performance in the last fight was particularly impressive. Let's see what he brings this time!"
A young man hobbled forward, using a cane—he only had one leg.
Most likely, he had fallen victim to the brutal "welcome match" tradition, where seasoned fighters crushed newcomers to assert dominance.
His expression was grim.
"And now, let's welcome our second competitor, Nina!"
"She hasn't been on the 200th floor long, but below that, she built an impressive streak."
"A flawless victory record!"
"And she's still young."
"Perhaps another prodigy is rising in Heavens Arena!"
"Let's wait and see."
"Fight!"
Nina stepped into the ring.
After confirming both fighters were ready, the referee signaled the match to begin.
Tro lunged forward instantly.
Even with only one leg, he moved fast.
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