A few seconds before 4:00 AM.
The wooden grandfather clock leaning against the corner chimed...
Roy opened his sleepy eyes and was immediately met with Gotoh's anxious gaze. He froze for two seconds. Then, he turned his head to look out the window. The heavy darkness of the night had yet to fade, but a ray of dawn was already stirring beneath the darkness at the horizon. His nose twitched as he took a deep breath of the fresh air blowing from the peak of Kukuroo Mountain, and he sat up from the bed.
Today was an auspicious day, good for childbirth, bad for funerals. It was a day of... new life.
The young man withdrew his gaze. Gotoh had already handed over the clothes prepared in advance. Roy put them on, got straight out of bed, and washed up simply. This time... he didn't go for his usual morning run.
His body blurred into light, passing straight through the wall. In the blink of an eye, followed by the young butler's stunned gaze, he arrived and stood firm in the mottled corridor outside the door, a place steeped in the aura of time.
"Let's go," he said.
"Yes." Gotoh adjusted the glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, recovered his wits, and watched him leave before heading down to prepare breakfast.
Master and servant strolled under the interweaving of darkness and morning light, heading in two different directions. Watching the maids hurrying by and listening to the low chirping of birds, Roy walked slowly toward the spacious master bedroom on the second floor.
*Tap... tap...* Along the way, a string of footsteps appeared beside him at some point...
"Killua is about to be born." Illumi was wearing a green vest and navy blue martial arts pants, with double rows of nail-like buttons pinned to his chest. With his hands in his pockets, he looked over with his usual hollow, lifeless expression. He tilted his head and asked, "Do you hope he has black hair, or..."
"Silver hair."
"Silver" was the color of the family head, representing the inheritance of the Zoldyck family.
Some people claimed not to care much, but when the moment arrived, their hearts fluctuated wildly. Clearly... he was far less calm than he appeared on the surface.
Roy didn't look at Illumi, keeping his eyes only on the path ahead, and replied casually, "Either is fine."
His thoughts, however, drifted away with the wind. He suddenly remembered the words his great-grandfather had once said to him... Those who walk the path of [Faith] must be clear about their future. Not for a family, but for... a nation made up of thousands of small families who believe in you, worship you, and follow you!
Therefore, bloodline inheritance was confined to the family, but it was far from the path he was currently walking and would walk in the future...
"You know, whether he has black hair or silver hair, I..." Illumi opened his mouth, but a sharp glare from Roy cut him off.
"You can shut up now."
"Don't say another word."
Illumi: "Okay."
Roy sighed silently in his heart.
As the saying goes, a leopard cannot change its spots. Right now, he didn't expect to be able to straighten out his foolish little brother. He simply let him be. However, as they rounded the corner, he called out to Milluki.
It was too early. Milluki had never gotten out of bed this early before. The chubby boy was carried down from his bed by Luca in a daze, riding on his back. Luca was walking ahead, and upon hearing the noise, he stopped and turned to greet Roy and Illumi...
"Young Master, wake up. It's the Eldest Young Master and... Young Master Illumi..."
"Emmm..." The chubby boy didn't even notice when he heard Roy's name, groggily refusing to open his eyes. But the moment he heard Illumi's name, he shuddered, his eyes snapping open as he slid down from Luca's back.
"Big Brother."
"Illumi."
"What did you call me?" Illumi glared dangerously at Milluki.
The little fatty already showed signs of his future plumpness. He simply narrowed his long, slender eyes, a cold glint occasionally surfacing beneath them... He stiffened his neck, looked up, and glared back at Illumi without saying a word.
The atmosphere in the corridor instantly froze...
Luca lowered his head and wiped his sweat, unsure if he was tired from carrying Milluki or chilled by the atmosphere. He quietly stepped aside.
Roy stood by with his hands behind his back, watching with interest. Seeing Illumi pull his hand out of his pocket, unable to resist the urge to strike, Roy grabbed Illumi with one hand and Milluki with the other. Just like holding Shisui and Itachi, he gently led them forward. "No fighting."
"Hmph!" Milluki, led by Roy, turned his head away in a huff, refusing to look at Illumi.
Illumi felt a warmth in his palm. He clearly froze for a moment, then lowered his head and stayed silent, taking small steps to keep up with Roy's large strides, enjoying a rare moment of peace.
*Tap...* The three of them walked together, taking up half the corridor's walkway, with Luca trailing behind.
Roy held Illumi and Milluki on either side. Passing by a dimly lit small room, he led his younger brothers to bow toward the room. *Creak...*
The door opened, letting out a sliver of sound from a cartoon, and then... Maha and Zeno walked out.
"Great-grandfather, Grandfather..."
"Mhm... Everyone's here... Let's go..." Starting with one person, joined by three midway, and then two more, making five in total... Aside from Silva, who was guarding Kikyo and already waiting in the second-floor bedroom.
Maha, Zeno, Roy, Illumi, and Milluki... formed a line from front to back, silently heading up to the second floor. As soon as they arrived, they saw Silva's tall figure standing with his arms crossed, waiting in front of the door...
Maha, sporting a stubborn tuft of hair right in the middle of his bald head that refused to fall, casually found a window to stretch his old back. The others found their own spots and waited in silence...
*Whoosh...* A gust of wind blew away the chill of early spring, bringing the heat of early summer. A trace of summer heat rose, and the ray of light floating beneath the darkness at the horizon finally tore open a gap, revealing a touch of fish-belly white.
"It looks like the weather will be quite nice today." Before the red sun had even leaped over the horizon, it had already burst forth with ten thousand rays of rosy clouds to pierce the night... Zeno strolled over to Roy's side, leaning against the window frame with him to admire the sunrise... In those sharp, eagle-like eyes that also held a trace of cloudiness, there was an unconcealable exhaustion from traveling through the night.
"Grandfather."
"Mhm."
"Did the mission go smoothly?"
"Smoothly, yet not smoothly..." Zeno's white hair fluttered as he looked at Roy and said, "Just like you, I killed the person, but unfortunately... it wasn't the main target either."
"A body double doll?" Roy frowned.
Guzman's "death" in Meteor City was still vivid in his mind. A few days ago, he heard Gotoh mention that the intelligence gathered by Hall had been sent over, saying that... the [Truth] cult was growing rapidly across several continents like a spreading wildfire, which had already attracted the high attention of the V5, Kakin, and the Hunter Association... The other party's unscrupulous behavior, completely disregarding the continents... was truly arrogant enough. It was just...
He wondered who was more despicable: them, or Beyond and Pariston, who had schemed against Netero by deliberately capturing "Ants" and throwing them into NGL to start a Gu-poison ritual!
Roy's eyes flickered. He suddenly remembered something he seemed to have forgotten, turned his head to look at Zeno, and asked, "Grandfather, who was the client?"
There were many people who wanted Guzman dead, but there weren't many who were familiar with his situation and could provide intelligence to Zeno at any time.
Zeno narrowed his eyes and chuckled hoarsely. "It was a very interesting kid."
"He hired me to kill Guzman, to help him draw fire and create an opportunity for a one-on-one duel. Let me think, I believe his name was..."
"Hisoka Morow."
The Lord of [Truth]... Lord Hisoka...
The [Perverted] King of Duels... Hisoka Morow...
In the original story, he joined the Phantom Troupe just to find a chance to fight Chrollo... And now, joining the [Church of Truth] just to find a chance to fight the other archbishops... There didn't seem to be much difference...
"Sounds like something he would do." Roy nodded.
Zeno looked over in surprise. "You know him?"
"We've met once. I once smashed him into a wall."
"Hmm..." Zeno patted Roy's shoulder. "Based on my understanding of that kid, you might be on his list too."
Roy shrugged, noncommittal.
Obsessed with dueling as he was, he even dared to say in front of Netero on the Hunter Association's airship that his purpose for taking the exam was nothing else but to duel Netero... It wouldn't be that surprising for Roy to be on his list.
"Let him be," Roy said indifferently. "If he doesn't come, he lives. If he comes, he dies. It's that simple."
The young man casually glanced at his status panel. His "evaluation" had long since grown from a "green apple seedling" to a "fruit-bearing apple tree." Who was the fruit farmer, and who was the apple...
A gust of wind blew, causing Roy's black hair to sway slightly... The two of them spoke in low voices without avoiding anyone. Off to the side,
Illumi leaned against the wall, rubbing a wooden needle, silently taking these words to heart... Church of Truth... Hisoka Morow...
*'Since he's hostile to my brother, then...' *
*'I will...' *
*'...kill them all!'*
The young boy's black hair was even longer than Roy's, cascading down to his waist like ink. A layer of dark light flickered in his palm. It was exactly the [Ken] he had recently mastered after learning [Nen] from Maha!
Perhaps it was fate... or perhaps perverts were always drawn to each other like birds of a feather... or perhaps it was the "Law of Convergence for Extraordinary Malice"...
On this morning, before the red sun had leaped out, but the morning glow had already torn through a corner of the darkness...
Feeling the bloodline bonds of his older brothers like Roy, Illumi, and Milluki in the corridor steeped in the aura of time outside the bedroom door,
The anxious waiting of his father Silva, who maintained a steady facade but was burning inside,
And the expectations of his grandfather Zeno and great-grandfather Maha...
*Waaah...* A loud cry, accompanied by a muffled, hysterical groan from Kikyo... drifted out from the crack in the door and the window from afar...
Roy, Zeno, Illumi, Silva, Maha, and the groggy Milluki, who had yawned and was now wide awake, all looked up in unison...
*Creak...*
The bedroom door opened.
Coming into view... two pink pigtails emerged, holding a delicate baby...
"Master, he's born. It's... silver hair!" Tsubone carefully held Killua, revealing his tender pink little head. A few wet silver hairs lay softly on his head... she said with undeniable excitement.
Silva stepped forward, took Killua from Tsubone's hands, and held him in his arms. Looking closely, he lowered his head, his eyes full of gentleness. "You've worked hard."
The man smiled, a rare sight.
He gave a slight nod to Tsubone, then looked at Maha. "Grandfather,"
Maha swept past like a gust of wind. Before Silva could react, Killua was already in his arms... The old man didn't even look at him, snapping grumpily, "Why aren't you going in to see your wife?"
Facing Killua, the man beamed with joy... The speed at which his expression changed was a rare sight in the world...
Roy and Zeno exchanged a glance, both looking at each other in dismay.
"When I was born, I never saw him this happy." The words "A Kill A Day, Never Retire" on his chest swayed with the wind. Zeno shook his head and said to Roy, "Only you, back then, could compare to... Killua."
As Zeno spoke, before Roy could recover from his daze, he brushed past Roy's shoulder and crowded around... The old man put his hands behind his back and said faintly, "They all like you. Your father, your great-grandfather... even your two younger brothers like you."
Roy leaned against the window frame, behind him the myriad rays of morning light successively breaking through the darkness. He reached out to catch a ray and smiled... Who could say otherwise?
The mediocre me from the past was me, and the slightly grown me now is me... The tide of Padokea arrives, and today I finally know who I am. It was nothing more than this...
*Thump...* A faint heartbeat came from the tiny baby held in Maha's arms.
Roy gently touched his chest, hearing his own heart let out a muffled *thump*, like the tolling of a massive bell, resonating with Killua, resonating with Illumi who silently stepped forward, and resonating with Milluki who curiously crowded around... He silently experienced the wondrous feeling of being "connected by blood." Looking up again... he hazily seemed to see a corner...
The curtain of an "era" was slowly rising.
Yorbian Continent, Northeast Sea, Greed Island.
A man and a woman, holding a baby in their arms, gazed out at the sea, their expressions differing.
The man had his hood pulled up, holding a small baby in his arms, about two months old. Afraid the baby would catch a cold, he had wrapped him up tightly like a dumpling, leaving only his eyes exposed, his mouth sealed by a pacifier... His face was grim, seemingly trying to make her stay. "Can you not go back?"
Ging's sideburns were messy. Since parting ways with Roy, he had visibly grown much more haggard, whether from staying up late or from worry. He looked eagerly at the woman in front of him.
The woman named Vivian had a face as cold as black ice, only occasionally showing a rare touch of gentleness when looking at Gon in Ging's arms. She firmly and slowly shook her head. "I have already repaid your kindness. We agreed back then... after giving birth to Gon, I would leave, and you wouldn't stop me."
Ging frowned. "Is the Dark Continent really that good?"
Vivian remained silent. Her beautiful hair swayed in the sea breeze, strands blowing across her face, slightly messy. Her gaze, however, looked far, far away into the depths of the ocean, toward the other shore, the profound, lofty, unimaginably massive continent separated by Lake Mobius. She said calmly, "It's not good, but... that is my home."
"I came from there, so I should return there."
"What about Gon? What will happen to Gon?" Ging supported Gon with one hand and grabbed Vivian's hand with the other. "You can wait. Wait until I get the permit, and I'll personally escort you home."
"You know I love adventure too. My ancestors once set foot there, and sooner or later... I will definitely go too!"
"I believe you." The woman leaned down and kissed Gon on the cheek. With reluctance yet absolute resolve, she straightened up and forcefully broke free from Ging's large hand... She didn't dare look at Gon again, nor did she dare look at Ging. She simply turned her head away, still gazing into the depths of the ocean, and said, "I can't wait that long."
As she spoke, she began to petrify from head to toe, until she turned into an ordinary stone...