After confirming that the eliminated Tsezguerra was at least safe, Gon's team held a brief strategy meeting while holding the captured ball.
"What do we do? Right now, Biscuit in her true form can output maximum power, but you're not transforming this time, right?"
"We'd stand out too much. Show me the results of your training this time. Besides, I'm bad at throwing and catching—even in true form, I don't think I could beat him within dodgeball's framework."
Biscuit, Gon's team's strongest force, had understood from the brief exchanges so far both Razor's high abilities and that within the sport of dodgeball, he could display power exceeding her own.
Additionally, she'd never liked her true appearance to begin with, and with many eyes around currently, she couldn't bring herself to go all out.
"Then there's something I want to try—is that okay? I'll need Killua's help though."
Hearing Gon's explanation, Killua grimaced significantly but reluctantly accepted the proposal, thinking it might work now that Gon was weakened.
Holding the ball, Killua stood near the court's center, gripping it from above and below with both hands, taking aim at the smallest opponent in the enemy court—Number 3.
"First comes rock...!"
Aura erupted from Gon's small body, all concentrating via Ko into his readied right fist.
"Jajanken!"
While surroundings reeled in shock at that childlike yet overwhelming aura, Razor calmly watched Gon while paying attention to Goreinu, relaxing and raising his aura.
"Rock!!"
The ball fired from the cannon named Killua approached Number 3 at speeds exceeding Razor's ball, sending him flying like a traffic accident and crashing into the outfield wall.
"...Absurd power."
After grabbing Number 3—whose limbs bent in unnatural directions from being struck by the ball—and tossing him, Number 5, who'd been in the outfield from the start, caught him and absorbed his aura.
When a Nen beast appeared as Number 8 with an even better build, Kurapika—watching from the outfield—asked the referee a question.
"Razor's team now has seven total. Is that allowed under the rules?"
"They had eight at match start, so no problem. Of course, exceeding eight would be a foul."
The situation was hard to judge as good or bad, but for now the match resumed with Gon's team's ball.
"You alright, Killua? At your current level, I thought you could do that without damage."
Biscuit's concern was for Killua's hands, which had gripped the ball without aura to avoid reducing the ball's power.
Normally such recklessness would leave him tattered from the aftershock, but Biscuit predicted Killua—whose sense she acknowledged—could execute it unharmed.
"Nearly got friction burns, but no problem. This doesn't even need aura protection."
In fact, Killua exceeded Biscuit's predictions, perfectly fulfilling the cannon's role at impeccable timing while only his hands lacked aura.
While just punching with full force, he'd simultaneously been conscious of Gon's fist heading toward the target, microadjusted the ball's position for hitting the opponent, and released the ball unharmed himself.
"Still, Razor's seriously incredible. He was thoroughly paying attention to Goreinu and the gorillas in case Number 3 got swapped. Surprise attacks won't work, huh?"
Moreover, he'd even spared consciousness for Razor—not directly involved—and even Biscuit had to admit she'd find such meticulous action difficult.
(How many more times will these kids shock me? Not just Gon, who doesn't seem weakened at all, but Killua's sense and sharpness are abnormal. In physical ability, Gon is already at the level I reached in my thirties. Killua too with his sense!)
Leaving behind the quietly trembling Biscuit and simply speechless Goreinu, Gon concentrated even deeper and stood before ball-holding Killua.
(More, give it more full power!!)
The moment Gon's eyes widened, aura far surpassing before erupted from his body.
"First comes rock!"
In the direction Killua aimed stood Razor, surprised by Gon's aura yet preparing naturally.
"Jajanken!"
While allies except Kurapika and Leorio watched Gon like viewing a monster, the strike—perfect Ko with excessive aura—exploded into the ball.
"Rock!!"
The ball receiving that strike approached sound speed, completely vanishing from everyone's sight except Biscuit, Killua, and Razor.
(What an absurd monster. But how unfortunate!)
Though the ball landed on Razor's arms at super speed, he absorbed the impact with his arms and whole body like a volleyball receive.
The ball—making an anticlimactically light sound—soared high. Razor, unharmed despite being blown to the outfield, leisurely returned to the court and caught the falling ball.
"No way?! What just happened?!"
"With that physique, such flexible movement—does he surpass even Gon in body control?!"
Leorio and Kurapika, who could only watch, were shocked anew at Razor's abilities. Gon's team facing him in the court felt his strength even more vividly.
"...Amazing!!"
"Seriously? He caught that so easily?"
Killua wore an expression like chewing bitter bugs while shaking his slightly injured hands. Gon praised Razor's strength with a beaming smile.
(This man is truly strong! A fighter who might beat me even in serious combat. Moreover, from a sports perspective, he's undoubtedly world-class!!)
(Before entering Greed Island, I couldn't have kept up with this battle. Challenging this game and meeting Gon's group—I can call it my life's greatest fortune.)
Biscuit praised Razor in her heart considering morale, while Goreinu thanked from his heart for being present here and now.
(Rejoice, Ging—Gon is definitely your kid.)
And Razor, rubbing his numbed arms, also sent maximum praise to Gon in his heart.
Razor could nearly nullify Gon's ball mainly for two reasons.
First, though fast, it was a reactable speed, and what hit was a softer ball, not a fist.
The second and biggest reason: due to the restriction of "Power Is Everything," the ball Gon punched carried no aura whatsoever.
Aura's presence or absence had the power to reverse the strength relationship between infant and adult. World-class Razor possessed not just outstanding total aura but extraordinary output and control.
Since such a Razor seriously cloaked himself in aura and mobilized all techniques to respond, naturally he could defend against an aura-less ball.
(Damn, I went pretty serious yet just pure kinetic energy numbed me. If even a bit of aura had been in it, I might not have deflected it.)
However, Gon's strike had broken Nen's principles, succeeding in damaging Razor, albeit slightly.
Though even Nen users might suffer fatal wounds if shot by rifles, breaking through aura walls with a non-penetrating ball was unprecedented.
The fundamental premise was this feat couldn't occur without the match ball being granted "indestructibility" by the game system to withstand Razor's full power.
As everyone froze in shock with a slight pause, Gon—looking at Razor—made a request.
"Sorry, could I have a little time for strategy discussion? I won't take long enough to recover."
"I don't mind. I'll give you about three minutes."
Also buying time to recover his arm's numbness, ball-holding Razor acknowledged the strategy meeting and crossed his arms.
"If I push a bit more, the aftereffects of my borrowing-muscle hell should probably release. So I want to temporarily go to the outfield and concentrate. I want everyone to buy time meanwhile."
At Gon's words spoken with conviction, from the match's progression so far, Killua and the others judged that was best for victory. They concluded they needed to evade with full force since Razor's side held the ball.
"I'll use Godspeed at worst, but what about Biscuit and Goreinu? Considering unforeseen events, at least two people must stay infield or we're screwed."
"Honestly, it's tough for me. I can deflect or parry unharmed easily, but I'm not confident about perfectly dodging or catching."
This wasn't Biscuit being weak—just fighting style incompatibility.
While Killua specialized in evasion leading to vital strikes, Biscuit, who'd purely mastered martial arts, wasn't adapted to dodgeball rules.
"Then when the time comes, I'll use my trump card. It's my first real combat since completion, but the opponent is more than worthy!"
At Goreinu's strong words, Gon nodded and declared he'd go to the outfield. The referee emphasized he couldn't return infield without using "Back," so he exited the court with Gin.
Stopping a short distance away and closing his eyes, Gon appeared relaxed to outside observers and stopped moving.
Examining that standing posture, Leorio sensed muscles pulsating while consuming terrifying calories beneath seemingly tranquil skin and broke into cold sweat.
Furthermore, when Gin decompressed and stood blocking Gon's front, he glared at Razor with a low growl, declaring no stray bullets or interference would pass.
"I noticed you weren't just a small animal, but not a magical beast—a Nen beast? Even outside Greed Island, such things exist."
Though Razor had no intention from the start of attacking outfield-moved Gon, he understood he'd need full seriousness to get past Gin's protection.
Then, eyeing the three remaining infield, he raised his aura—also signaling he wouldn't deliberately wait for Gon.
"Now then, how far can you struggle?"
As if mocking the three bracing themselves, Razor threw the day's fastest ball.
In less than two minutes—a mere hundred seconds—the number of times Razor and the Nen beasts threw the ball reached several hundred.
Killua continued evading with innate dynamic vision and explosiveness. Biscuit predicted by reading throwing forms and gazes from years of experience. Goreinu grasped overall positioning and ball trajectories through vision shared with Nen beasts—each continuing evasion.
The match—where even the number-fillers and Tsezguerra's team had become irrelevant—moved at the moment Razor himself threw yet another fastball.
The underhand-thrown ball headed toward Goreinu near the infield center. Considering Biscuit immediately to his left, he took evasive action rightward.
"?! Biscuit!!"
"!!"
What Killua—diagonally behind Goreinu—saw was the ball curving at right angles while maintaining speed, closing on Biscuit.
Simultaneously with Killua's voice, Biscuit leaped back, the ball passing barely past her before Number 8 caught it and threw again toward still-airborne Biscuit.
"Take this—hup!!"
Biscuit somehow twisted her body to deliver an axe kick to the ball. The ball slammed into the ground and bounced, where Goreinu barely secured it.
"Biscuit out! Ball restarts from challenger team."
"Sorry. Taking everything just to make it our ball."
"No, if you think we bought more time, it's still good. Only the gorilla could properly move in the outfield anyway—perfect timing. Wait, Biscuit's a gorilla too."
Biscuit, nearly reaching out, calmed herself thinking this was Killua's clumsy encouragement. Telling Killua and Goreinu she left the rest to them, she moved to the outfield.
"So? Now that we're down to two, you're finally doing that, Goreinu?"
As Killua looked over interestedly, receiving this, Goreinu performed rule confirmation with Number 0 again.
"Confirming once more—Nen beasts can increase or decrease as long as not exceeding eight, correct? And no problem even if Nen beasts' appearances change?"
"No problem."
Nodding at that answer, Goreinu temporarily released his two Nen beasts, raising concentration and aura to activate his newly acquired ability.
"Uohhh! Come forth, my new power gorilla! Pink Gorilla!!"
"Uho ♥"
What materialized had the same build as the black and white gorillas but with shocking pink fur grown in a bikini pattern—a female gorilla with twin tails and garish makeup.
"I'm going straight to ability activation! Strongest Me Descends—Gorinu Mode!!"
"Uhohoh ♥"
Pink light overflowed from Pink Gorilla and Goreinu, barely visible outlines slowly overlapping into one.
Eventually the light gradually weakened. What appeared in the vision of those who'd blinked dazzled eyes was—
"Teehee☆ Gorinu has arrived♪"
Goreinu in chestnut semi-long hair tied in two, wearing flashy makeup and a pink cheerleading uniform, bowing toward Razor while facing him.
"...?"
While Killua and Leorio burst into laughter and Biscuit and Kurapika smiled wryly, everyone else fell silent unable to comprehend the situation. Completely ignoring the unbearable atmosphere, Goreinu—now Gorinu—roared.
"Gon-chan asked me to buy time, but there's no problem if I just blow him away myself!!"
The erupting aura surpassed Goreinu's. From the figure roughly gripping the ball, glimpses of strength exceeding Goreinu's showed.
"Razor, let's have an honorable match☆"
Truly surpassing his own limits as Goreinu, the Strongest Me—Gorinu—had descended upon Greed Island.
***
Author's Note:
A brief supplement about Pink Gorilla (will elaborate more next chapter):
Pink Gorilla (Pink Goreinu)
Ability: Swaps the gender of whoever merges with it.
Unlike the black and white gorillas, this manifests a shocking pink gorilla that acts autonomously. Perhaps because merging is the premise, it only makes noisy, annoying movements and is utterly useless in combat.
When merged, "Strongest Me Descends (Gorinu Mode)" activates. Though it looks like crossdressing, the user legitimately becomes female.
Currently can only swap Goreinu's own gender, but continues training to eventually swap opponents' genders too.
Goreinu may or may not have referenced a certain tourism ambassador.
***
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