Nobunaga: "I've long thought this person seems a bit off."
Feitan: "Not to mention the weird sense of familiarity, this arrogant style is one of a kind."
Oh man, I didn't expect that as a psychic, even when I try to hide it, I get exposed so quickly. I clearly didn't want the Phantom Troupe to know. After boarding the ship, everyone's relationships got really tense. It's not just simple teamwork anymore—everyone has their own hidden motives!
In this situation, hiding it further would be really tough. Do I have to admit it? That even after changing gender, I'm still a psychic.
As everyone questioned her, Saiki Kusuo sighed, about to speak up.
"You're... from the Zoldyck family, right? The legendary little sister?" Chrollo said.
Huh?
"Zoldyck family members all have that same smug look," Feitan said with disgust.
Who are you calling smug, you even smugger guy? My little brother isn't... Saiki Kusuo suddenly remembered the current Milluki, the old Killua, the current Kort, and even Illumi from way back.
Ah, uh, yeah... no, but it does seem...
"If it's someone from the Zoldyck family, we can't just kill them casually, right?"
"We're still in a partnership right now, and we don't plan to make enemies with the Zoldycks. So no killing, and we should treat her well."
"Does she have anything to prove she's from the Zoldyck family?"
No, that doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it. You guys should know the Zoldycks have five kids, and you've met them all?
Chrollo said: "Proof of identity? Isn't that simple? She might even be the butler. That symbol is exclusive to the Zoldycks, right?"
That symbol?
Saiki Kusuo heard from Chrollo's thoughts what he meant.
A mechanical cat was perched quietly on her shoulder, staying very obedient because of the mission to follow.
The mechanical cat had a pattern like a fork—that was Saiki Kusuo's mark of disaster.
"Meow!" Wapup raised its paw enthusiastically in response.
So what symbol.
Nobunaga: [There really is one, that gray symbol.]
I've never heard of any Zoldyck symbol in 19 years.
Feitan: [So there's that fork-like symbol, huh. Tsk.]
Why does having this symbol stop them from attacking? This symbol has nothing to do with the Zoldycks, right?
Chrollo: [Yeah, from the curve, the angle, and the shape, it's identical. That's the gray symbol carved on the Zoldyck gate. Illumi has it on his back too—it's definitely the Zoldyck family symbol. Even though this person doesn't have it on their clothes, the cat following them does, so they must be important in the Zoldyck family, right?]
Why is there this weird crossover between two worlds? The Zoldyck gate has numbers 1 to 9 on it!
Saiki Kusuo quickly glanced to check.
Ah, there really is a symbol on the gate.
Saiki Kusuo: ...
Chrollo, surprised: [Did he just cross his eyes?]
This is bad, Chrollo noticed...
[Zoldyck family members all like crossing their eyes, huh.]
? The Zoldyck family doesn't have that habit!
Saiki Kusuo couldn't help but wonder if he'd gone to the wrong place.
But his little brother's reaction earlier clearly shows this is right. Plus, there's a Dark Continent version of Greed Island here.
Of course, there's another possibility.
Though he doesn't have mind-control powers.
The other one lives a normal life by constantly using a ton of psychic powers.
Through various trials in building the game world, he might have learned psychic powers stronger than what Saiki Kusuo has now.
Just removing the psychic suppressor device from the seven-shaped banana ability alone could erase others' memories.
After letting it run wild for so long, maybe it's stronger than me... uh, probably not.
Being super powerful, whichever side is real would be a world-destroying existence, so they'd never decide a winner.
"Hey! Hey!!" Nobunaga shouted right by Saiki Kusuo's ear, reaching out to pat him.
Saiki Kusuo stepped aside to dodge.
Don't bother me—I'm thinking about world-ending stuff here.
"Our leader is asking you something!"
Oh, is he?
Saiki Kusuo looked up and saw Chrollo by the fountain.
At this time, that book had just appeared. You can only ask once per area per day—this is probably why Chrollo is hanging around here.
To be the first one to ask.
"The area you control is based on your 'aura.' People with strong enough aura will take more horizontal space," Chrollo said, fully focused on the book.
He's not even asking me anything.
"It should be a circle. Leaders get a chance to switch every week. Before the next week starts, we've become chips in this Zoldyck's hand. She can gamble our rights against people from other areas."
"That's probably what it means. Though I don't feel any control."
"What do you think, knowing all this? Planning to use us? By the way, what's your name? Saiki Kusuo must refer to someone else, right? Were you sent under orders?"
Nobunaga, finally getting a chance after waiting forever: "See, our leader is asking you something!"
That's taking too long, man.
A name? Can't you guys guess it yourselves? Saiki Kusuo looked to the left, not wanting to pretend to be his brothers, so.
[Gotoh. Caretaker of young master Saiki Kusuo.] Saiki Kusuo answered.
"Hmm, I see."
Even with the chip in Saiki Kusuo's hand now, the Phantom Troupe members showed no panic at all.
"Do you know how to clear this game?" Chrollo asked. "We have to beat it to get out. If you're here to find your family's young master, I think we're on the same side."
What clearing method? I'll just give you the chip and you handle it—no need to beat around the bush.
"Handing the chip to us is obviously impossible, and we wouldn't take it. It's your bargaining chip."
Tch, I was just looking for an excuse to toss this annoying responsibility away.
"Does everyone remember what we just heard? Guard and plunder. We already have a leader, so now we can head to other areas. We've also found the connected entrances in the past few days."
"Our territory here is great. Even we took some time to occupy it successfully."
I did the occupying, you know.
"Easy to defend, hard to attack. My suggestion is Phinks guards this place alone, and the rest of us go conquer the other territories."
I really don't want to get involved in invasions.
Saiki Kusuo felt totally uninterested.
"What do you think? Not interested?" [If she wants to hide like a turtle, it'll be tricky. We should find a chance to deal with her. The chip probably won't protect the leader from attacks.]
This two-faced guy.
Saiki Kusuo turned and headed east first. This choice was simple—they were actually at the westernmost part of the continent now. Going the other way would just lead to the sea.
[So many entrances, but he knows that's the right direction? Zoldyck family members really are something else. Maybe he hid himself with assassination skills and has been lurking for a while?]
You spiders are really something too, especially your always-suspicious leader brain.
Saiki Kusuo held up the chip.
He'd noticed earlier that the chip was made with psychic power, meaning some game rules were enforced by psychic power too.
If it were other algorithms, it would follow game rules, but psychic power...
Isn't that my own energy? What can it do? I don't even need to ask what the rules allow—I can just use it directly.
Saiki Kusuo's action put the Phantom Troupe on alert.
[Use the leader's chip: Revoke silent thinking rights.]
The spiders: ?!
It meant this group now had to say everything they thought out loud. Even Chrollo and the others had to watch what they said—better cut down on the doubts and guesses.
Feitan: "What kind of move is this? Zoldycks really are all annoying the same way."
Phinks: "Feitan, you said it out loud. Wait, mine will come out too. Will thinking about private stuff come out? Like, bar chi bar chi bar chi..."
Yeah, it comes out, but it gets censored because it can't be broadcast—dropped, you know.
Feitan: "Bar chi? Bar chi sounds better as bar chi bar chi bar chi."
Nobunaga: "What are you bar chi-ing about?"
Bar chi is too noisy, you guys.
"This is such a surprising move, but humans can't stop thinking. Have you considered how noisy that'll be? This Gotoh already looks annoyed. I think a lot normally. Now I have to go to those supply huts and grab extra water. What Phinks said about bar chi—what is it anyway? Compared to that, the one in front is more mysterious. This approach exposes our thoughts but ensures some safety, without ruining the partnership. It's actually quite gentle and clever. But my thoughts are faster than I can speak. Is this really okay? Ah, I'm tired already. Talking more might make me bite my tongue..."
Saiki Kusuo looked away. For him, the noise level was the same.
Machi: "Leader's so noisy. Knock him out. Gotoh, can you cancel this? And, do you guys always think about this stuff?"
What kind of talk from a loyal member.
Chrollo: "Haha, I don't want to either. Controlling it a bit seems possible... uh, I'm getting short of breath. Deep breaths."
Feitan: "I'm not going. Who knows what else I'll suffer if I follow. But I'll leave this water for the leader—don't die of thirst on the road."
"Thanks, cough. Feitan staying could help reinforce the defense a bit. This punishment should cancel when we meet others, right? After all, you can't win the game by blabbing everything."
[Is occupying other areas a game?]
"Yeah, if it's land without a leader, we join the occupation game together. If it has a leader, it's PK between soldiers and generals. Got it? Looks like you don't."
I guessed it right, didn't I? This guy talks to himself like he could finish several chapters alone.
By using the leader's power like this on his own, Saiki Kusuo actually had another selfish reason.
[How did you get from the ship to this place?]
Once asked, anyone would involuntarily think of the related memories.
And now they'd say those thoughts out loud, triggering enough discussion to spark more thoughts.
Sure enough, Saiki Kusuo soon heard about the ship.
That grand whale ship carrying many hunters to the Dark Continent.
It sank.
Oh, congrats—probably not a psychic who did it, right?
Chrollo: "Last I remember, the deck broke? Storm, tsunami, tornado... uh, mixing up memories. Anyway, the whole ship went down to a sea burial, right?"
Nobunaga: "Whole ship sea burial sounds pretty good."
Machi: "I remember it was pretty dangerous then. For some reason, once I fell into the sea, I couldn't move anymore. I don't remember what happened after that. When I woke up, I saw the leader."
Nobunaga: "Ah! Me too—no memory after falling into the sea. Woke up and saw the leader."
Chrollo: "Same here. Woke up and saw you guys. No memory after falling into the sea."
Saying it is like not saying anything—how did that happen one by one?
"Feels like some mysterious force bound our bodies so we couldn't move. Could Nen users lose free movement in the sea..."
You guys didn't eat devil fruits or anything.
Someone probably used psychic powers to save them, Saiki Kusuo thought.
[Any strange events before the ship broke?]
—"Yes!"
Good, that gives a lead.
Nobunaga: "Before the ship arrived, someone accused me of killing people. Why accuse us out of nowhere? It's too weird no matter how you think about it..."
That's your storyline, and it was your fans who did it for you. With the Phantom Troupe, deaths follow wherever you go—not suspecting you would be the weird part. Be more aware of your reputation.
Machi: "I searched the whole ship but couldn't find that bastard Hisoka. Though the Zoldycks got upper deck tickets, and Hisoka's close to them, we could only get lower deck ones. But I checked everywhere below and still no Hisoka—too strange no matter how you look at it..."
Illumi probably bought upper deck tickets for Hisoka. Isn't that obvious?
Chrollo: "Weird stuff everywhere. Like, after the deck broke, I clearly fell into the water, but when I woke up, I had a huge lump on the back of my head. Weirdly, every member has one on the back of their head. Unless we all luckily hit our heads on something hard. Besides that, after landing, I vaguely woke up once and saw a flash of white hair but couldn't make out the figure. At the same time, everyone was floating down to the ground one by one."
That guy probably used the banana to smash everyone and erase memories, right? That guy used psychic powers to bring everyone to the island.
"For a second, I thought it was a miracle or that white-haired person did something. I wanted to see clearly, but right after, I spotted someone dressed like a magician performing a levitation trick. Might be a Nen user, but I'd never seen them on the ship."
Magician, good job. But why hide it?
"Then we ended up here." Chrollo finished, though of course he couldn't stop talking—he'd just mutter quietly now.
---------------------------------------
You can read 15 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi