A person's race, talent, and bloodline often reveal themselves in the most direct way possible—through appearance.
The saying that only silver hair can inherit the Zoldyck line was no empty myth…
Maha noticed the change in Roy's hair color. Zeno, Silva, and Illumi noticed it too. That made Roy feel like the last one to realize something was different. He pinched a strand of hair between his fingers and studied it.
The brilliant gold at the ends was exactly like what he had seen when his swordsmanship reached Lv. 5 in the night—when he'd plunged deep into the sun, pierced through the photosphere, and witnessed that endless light and heat.
As he thought about it, he vaguely sensed something…
The stronger he became, and the farther he walked down the path of [Faith], the more "genetic limits" he would likely break—or begin to break.
Right now it was only his hair color.
In the future, it might not stop there.
Roy thought of the [Mystic Eyes] that Grandpa Zigg had altered by possessing him. He thought of [God].
Then he glanced at the back of his hand.
He wasn't sure whether it was a trick of the light, or just an illusion caused by the blazing halo radiating from the sun chariot, but—
the "hands" on the clock-like curse counting down his lifespan seemed to be moving a little more slowly.
It ticked from "7 years 9 months 13 hours 33 minutes 45 seconds" to "7 years 9 months 13 hours 33 minutes 44 seconds."
Ordinarily, that should have taken one second.
This time, it took two.
Which meant—
the unknown existence on the Dark Continent… was it gradually weakening its "gaze" on him?
Or its influence?
Roy's eyes flickered. A faint smile tugged at his lips. He turned to Zeno and Illumi and said lightly,
"It's just hair color. Don't worry about it."
Then he flashed away, stepped straight onto the chariot, grabbed the crimson-gold glazed reins, and said softly,
"Goldie. Let's go."
"Gah—oh!"
The golden crow spread its wings and cried out.
Then it slammed a wingbeat toward the ground.
A violent gust of wind rose, lifting the sun chariot into the sky. In the next instant, Goldie shot upward toward the horizon, pulling Roy with it like an arrow of light, tearing through the darkness and carrying with it an ancient, boundless mystery until it became a bright speck in the distance…
Whoosh—
The lingering wind stirred Zeno's white hair and Illumi's black hair…
Three generations of Zoldycks looked up at the sky in silence.
For a long moment, no one said a word.
Then, with his hands clasped behind his back, Maha slowly walked out of the mansion and let out a rough laugh.
"That brat sure ran off fast. Didn't even think to give the old man a ride."
Only then did Zeno and Illumi come back to themselves. One looked thoughtful. The other turned to Maha and asked,
"Grandpa… did our family ever have blond hair in the bloodline?"
Zeno's eyes were bright.
Illumi's hollow gaze shifted to Maha as well…
The few stubborn strands of hair left on the old man's bald head swayed in the wind. He stopped, then said flatly,
"No."
"And you before?" Zeno pressed.
"I was always silver-haired too."
Zeno frowned. The words branded across his chest—One kill a day, lifetime active duty—fluttered in the wind.
Then he fell silent.
The Zoldyck family had only ever produced silver hair and black hair.
And now… Roy was showing signs of turning gold.
Zeno raised his head and looked toward the fading point of light in the sky once more.
Roy's casual "it's just hair color" clearly wasn't the whole story.
"He's special," Illumi suddenly said.
The foolish little brother still had eyes full of the image of Roy boarding the chariot and departing with that radiant halo. He repeated, almost entranced,
"I always knew he was special."
Then he turned to Zeno and Maha.
"None of you can compare to him."
Maha kept looking at the sky, his old weathered face blank and unreadable.
Zeno, his white hair loose and wild, neither agreed nor argued. He only cast Illumi a sideways glance and said calmly,
"Illumi, don't always fixate on other people. Sometimes, you should pay a little more attention to yourself."
Zeno folded his hands behind his back like Maha. After a pause, he added,
"Don't end up not even being able to beat Gotoh. That'd just make you a joke."
"You were listening in on us?!" Illumi's catlike eyes narrowed at once. His black hair lifted slightly, almost like a bristling cat.
And yet—
Zeno turned away and said indifferently,
"My ears are right here. If they happen to overhear something, what's that got to do with me?"
Illumi: "..."
He stared at Zeno for a long moment. Then he turned his head away and looked toward the butler villa halfway up the mountain.
"Don't worry. I won't lose."
"Not ever."
"Is that so?" Zeno suddenly glanced toward the second-floor bedroom of the mansion. He still remembered Silva saying almost the exact same thing to him once. In terms of confidence, father and son were definitely cut from the same cloth…
Just like Zeno and Silva once were.
The question was whether this was really "confidence"—
or simple arrogance.
Then—
a soft splashing sound broke the mood.
At this not-yet-dawn hour, Maha untied his trousers and started fertilizing the lawn on the spot. Steam rose faintly in the summer heat, and bubbles appeared in the grass. Clearly… the old man had been dealing with a lot of internal fire lately.
"Heh heh heh… what are you two staring at?"
After airing out the bird in the moonlight, the old man gave himself a shake, pulled his pants back up, then smacked both Zeno and Illumi on the head.
"Learn properly. The day either of you can move through life as freely as I do, the old man will be able to die with his eyes closed."
Thunk. Thunk.
The two hits landed like drumbeats.
Zeno and Illumi both clutched their heads, standing there as if struck by sudden enlightenment. Then, almost in unison, they looked back at Maha…
But Maha had already taken a step and vanished from the garden, leaving behind only that steaming patch of urine on the grass.
Zeno and Illumi stared at each other in silence.
"As freely as one wishes… who can actually live like that?"
Dong—
The wooden clock struck five in the morning.
In the dim little room, mist rose. Betty Zoldyck, her ponytail tied just like when she was young, emerged from Maha's body, shot him an annoyed look, and said,
"You're too hard on the children. Not everyone can live as freely as they want. Besides you and Zigg—"
"No."
Maha lay back in the rocking chair, pulled Betty into his arms, and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"There's Roy too."
Then he gave a quiet grin.
"Weren't you asking what I'd noticed?"
"Only now do I realize it… Roy may have gone through a rare kind of spiritual transformation. Maybe it's related to the [Visualization Object] in his heart. Or maybe…"
Maha narrowed his old eyes, his gaze deep and unreadable.
"…it has something to do with someone he met, or something he experienced."
Betty Zoldyck looked puzzled.
"He's been at home, right under our noses. Who could he possibly have met?"
Maha only smiled and said nothing. He rocked gently in his chair and murmured,
"What you think of by day becomes what you dream of by night. That's the strange thing about dreams."
"You never know what's going to happen there…"
"Dreams?" Betty repeated, chewing on the word. She remembered the first time she met Roy—it had also been in a dream.
Vaguely, she sensed the deeper meaning behind Maha's words.
Her beautiful lake-blue eyes turned toward the sky outside the window.
At five in the summer morning, a streak of dawn pierced the horizon. Then another followed, spreading a whole band of morning glow across the heavens, tinting the sky red.
And in that glow, it almost looked like a sun chariot was turning in the distance, slowly driving back from the horizon—
like the morning sun itself, ready to leap out at any moment.
"Gah—oh!"
The crow's cry drew closer and closer.
Up in the sky, Roy sat on the sun chariot as Goldie made a simple test run, letting him try out [Chariot Driving]… then rushed back.
Dozens of kilometers there and back, and it had all felt like an instant.
It wasn't just fast.
It was steady, too.
At the very least… far steadier than the airships Roy usually rode.
And much steadier than Tsubone transforming into different vehicles with Yamato Nadeshiko Seven Transformations.
The one real flaw was…
the rate at which it consumed Nen was a little too fast.
Of course, that also had to do with Roy's current aura reserves, and with the fact that Goldie was still in its juvenile stage—not yet fully grown into a true Three-Legged Golden Crow.
"Master… I'm tired."
"Gah—oh."
Goldie flapped its wings heavily, visibly beginning to sweat.
The sun chariot rolled over a patch of cloud with a low rumble, and its speed noticeably dropped.
Roy gave it a look that was equal parts amused and helpless. Then he pulled the reins and began descending.
Buzz—
The hazy solar halo spread outward, bathing all of Kukuroo Mountain. The closer they came to the ground, the more clearly one could feel the light and heat contained within it.
Closer now.
Three thousand meters.
Two thousand.
One thousand.
Five hundred.
And finally—
touchdown.
The chariot landed smoothly before the butler villa.
Roy let go of the reins and let the chariot sink back into the void. Then, with the shrunken Goldie perched on his head, he stepped down and landed in front of Tsubone, Kuraging, and the others.
"I'm going to check on Gotoh."
The boy smiled and let out a breath. His beautiful silver hair still draped lazily down his back, the ends touched with gold after riding the sun chariot through the sky and across the moonlit night, not a strand out of place.
Tsubone immediately placed a hand over her chest and bowed together with Kuraging and several of the other butlers.
"Good morning, Young Master."
"I'll take you to him."
"No need." Roy raised a hand slightly.
[Breath of Wind] stirred, sending out a few cool gusts to gently lift them back upright.
Then he said warmly, "I know where he is. You should all go about your own work."
Tsubone lowered her head slightly and respectfully answered, "Yes."
Then, with the corner of her eye, she snuck a glance at Goldie on Roy's head, nodding off from exhaustion, and her emotions surged.
They were hard to describe.
But in that instant…
she felt a sudden sense of crisis.
Now that the young master had a personal means of travel, would he still need her?
Tsubone sighed inwardly.
Then she straightened, only to see Kuraging walking beside Roy, her golden ponytail swinging behind her, quietly saying something to him.
And suddenly, Tsubone felt another wave of envy.
Still, the young master was generous and broad-minded. He wasn't petty or narrow-hearted.
The uglier things from the past had already dissolved into time, and he no longer seemed interested in pursuing them.
For her, that was undoubtedly a blessing.
"Young Master… may I ask one thing of you?"
Morning broke. A brilliant dawn tore through the darkness.
As Roy appeared, Kuraging gathered her courage before leaving to guard the mountain and suddenly asked.
Roy had already stepped into the butler villa with one foot when he paused and turned back.
He saw the unease on her face—and the natural Nen drifting from above her head had turned a shade of blue, full of hesitation and uncertainty.
In that instant, he thought of the Kurta Clan.
In the original story, the Kurta massacre happened at about this point in time.
But because of Roy's interference, the Phantom Troupe had never fully fallen into darkness after Sarasa's death. Instead… Chrollo, Uvogin, Nobunaga, and the others had all become his believers.
Now they were following [Taiyi], learning [Meditation], and trying to guide the Nen inside their bodies in order to open their aura nodes on their own and awaken as Nen users.
Under normal circumstances, there was no way they would choose this moment to attack the Kurta.
But then Roy thought again…
The Scarlet Eyes, one of the "Seven Great Beauties of the World," weren't just rare. They were also deeply coveted by certain diseased collectors of human body parts.
One of them was the infamous Fourth Prince of Kakin, Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou…
And then there was Guzman—
the man Roy had seen in the palace of Kakin's First Prince, Benjamin Hui Guo Rou.
The world had changed because of Roy.
It moved because of Roy as well.
So if some unexpected event had arrived early, that too would make sense.
Roy looked at Kuraging gently and said,
"Don't be nervous. Just say it."
Kuraging wrung her hands together and quickly answered, "Yes."
Then she glanced at Roy shyly and said,
"Young Master… my younger brother is coming. I haven't been home in a long time, and I'm worried he'll get bullied if he's there alone. So I wanted to bring him here to stay for a while… and maybe show him around Kukuroo Mountain too."
"Your younger brother?"
"Yes."
"What's his name?"
"He's called Pika… Kurapika."
At the mention of her little brother, Kuraging broke into a bright smile.
Roy's gaze shifted at once.
So it really was that Kurapika—
the [Chain User] who, aside from Greed Island, had been involved in nearly all of Hunter x Hunter from beginning to end.
[Chain User]: one hand, five chains…
Thumb — [Holy Chain]: A cross hangs from the end of the thumb chain. Once activated and placed over a wound, it accelerates healing.
Index Finger — [Steal Chain]: The end of the index finger chain is fitted with a syringe needle, with a dolphin-shaped carving on the tube. By stabbing it into the target, it can temporarily extract and store the target's Nen ability. Continued extraction of Nen also forces the target into a state similar to [Zetsu].
Middle Finger — [Chain Jail]: A hook is attached to the end of the middle finger chain. This ability exists specifically to deal with the Phantom Troupe, and because of its vow and restriction, it can only be used on Troupe members. Anyone bound by it is forcibly placed into a state of [Zetsu] and cannot use Nen.
Ring Finger — [Dowsing Chain]: A ball hangs from the end of the ring finger chain. When activated, it can be used over a map and track a target based on the direction in which the ball moves.
Little Finger — [Judgment Chain]: A spike hangs from the end of the little finger chain. When embedded in the opponent's heart, it forces them to obey a condition or die. Kurapika also uses this chain on his own heart in battle, often in conjunction with Chain Jail.
Five fingers—
five Nen abilities.
And on top of that…
the power of the Scarlet Eyes.
Roy's mind immediately conjured up the image of a blond boy in traditional Kurta clothing.
He looked deeply at Kuraging, then said,
"Tsubone. When he arrives, arrange a room for him."
Then he gave the delighted Kuraging a slight nod, turned, and disappeared into the butler villa.
~~~
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